After being informed of this game via Twitter by a good friend, I resorted to check out the trailers and the first 10 minutes of gameplay, after which, I shall admit, I was deeply hooked. A simple side scroller with a lot of heart and a lot of love. The plotline is as follows: Seven people, all seeking something they desire, travel to the one place where they know they can achieve it, this place is The Cave. However, darkness lies in all of their hearts and the cost for their dreams may be too high. Characters are only known by their appearance: From left to right - The Adventurer, The Scientist, The Knight, The Monk, The Twins, The Hillbilly and The Time-Traveller. Each playable character has their own story to tell; one is looking for love, another redemption, another freedom and so on, not even to mention each character's special ability. While the game has seperate stories for all the characters, three main missions will have to be completed throughout your playthrough, not counting the Gift Shop. The game is narrated by The Cave and the game makes light about this. "Yes, I'm a talking cave. D-d-d-d-d-don't laugh. It makes dating hell." The Cave is voiced by Stephen Stanton and his low monotone voice matches the comedic style of a Double Fine game extremely well from punchlines to sarcasm.
The game's audio is limited, but well thought out. The squish of a hot dog to the crunch of sand, the audio is effective in this retrospect. While the musical score is very, very limited, the sudden onrush of success after beating a puzzle makes the completion of a task much more satisfying. The only level (That I have thus found on two playthroughs) that has any constant music is The Carnival, which happens to be The Hillbilly's storyline.
Gameplay is addictive, but quite flawed. Missing crucial means of completing a task will cause characters to die over and over and more often than wanted, glitch through walls. This has happened several times, however only during The Adventurer and The Scientists' main mission. The Zoo is definitely the place for bugs, as using The Knight's ability of no damage while free-falling has caused me to continutely fall over and over.
The storyline of the game has many twists and plots within plots you can swear that the game was designed by M. Night. Shyamalan. Many plot points will have you going "No way, that's evil!" and curse the characters you have chosen. And while many main critics are unimpressed with the lack of increasing difficulty of puzzles throughout the game, I applaud it. I have no shame to admit that I struggle with puzzle games, especially side scrollers. For me, each puzzle was especially difficult, even more so if you did not have the right tool, forcing you to backtrack through the confusing paths. The brilliantly smart gameplay and interactive storyline are the main attraction of the game, the puzzles (In this gamers eyes) are just the bonus.
Overall, The Cave offers gamers an addictive side scroller, with seven main stories to finish to a horrifying end (my favourite/most horrified ending is The Twins), a bunch of hidden backstory Cave Drawings to find and much more, The Cave is definitely worth a look at for lovers of a 2 hour game.
Out of 10, I give The Cave an 6.5/10
Good points + Storyline was amazing for Indie Title + Gameplay was simple, yet fun. + Endings will definitely leave you wanting more
Bad points - Glitches are never fun, tend to repeat - Lack of sound effects/musical score - Voice acting limited to few - Lack of checkpoints = lack of allies following - Price is a bit much for an Arcade title...
In the end of a game series, producers always try their hardest to make the last game in the series as best as they possibly can, so their product can be remembered for years to come. Ubisoft has definitely brought their A game when it comes to Far Cry 3. In all honesty, I have never played a single Far Cry game before this one, but I am glad to has purchased it this time around!
Ubisoft has always credited itself for their excellent choices of voice actors and a first person protagonist that talks is quite rare indeed. As the game opens with a quote from Alice In Wonderland (Which will reappear during Chapters. Note: Ubisoft used the same opening quote in Far Cry 3 in Assassin's Creed 3 as well during its first few moments) with Jason Brody and his friends having fun with ATVs, driving, skydiving, we find young Jason and his older brother Grant stuck in a cage, Vaas interogating them both while commenting that "This is a nice f**king phone". Michael Mando (Voice and face of Vaas) does a brilliant job both in his acting and his explanation, one of his now famous lines that I personally too like is "Do you know what the definition of insanity is?" which he askes Jason over and over throughout the game. Not only does Mr Mando sell the act of insanity in his character too, his range as a voice actor is undeniably brilliant and I expect great things of this man. Robert Crooks (Jason) voice range is excellently done, going from scared and innocent right at the beginning to Jason's decent into madness as his lust for killing takes over. The back and forth between Vaas and Jason is just to great to ignore. The rest of the cast performs such great work throughout the game that there simply isn't enough time to mention them all. Musical score is a mixture of all sorts of music, going from Rock to Regge to Dubstep to techno and so on. While dramatic music plays during cutscenes, the lack of music is greatly done as well, especially during take overs of Outposts. However, music never really fills the gap during travel across the island. Graphics and sound effects are well done throughout the entire game; IGN hit the nail on the head when they said quote "Like Skyrim, but with guns.". The game features rolling hills and brilliant scenery in both Campaign, Co-Op and Multiplayer.
Co-Op and Multiplayer is quite well done; The addition of mini games and huge objectives makes the game much more a challenge. Weapon loadouts with weapons you've unlocked through the Campaign and DLC is quite a great touch as well. One of the main faults I find with the game is how the game slows incredibly during the Campaign. We start off with a huge bang but immediately afterwards, things slow down quite fast, with task tutorials repeating over and over. Also, while the driving mechanism is a great feature in such a huge map, I felt that driving bikes and cars was too much of a hassel; the controls were too sensitive, no matter how far I turned down my own sensitivity. Add in the high hills and small roads and expect a tumble down the hill...again and again.
Regardless, Far Cry 3 is definitely recommended with much enthusiasm. As a gamer who has never played a Far Cry game beforehand, you will not feel any regret in this purchase.
Out of 10, I give Far Cry 3 an 9.5/10
Good Points + Utterly brilliant Campaign + Voice acting/sound effects/graphics = Brilliant + Excellent us of waypoints + Animal hunting is brutally fun!
Bad Points - Cars and bike handling issues - Game take a while to get going... - Liza breaks my heart! </3
Far Cry 3 is out now for the standard price of $88
In anticipation of my review of the game, and since I haven't written one of these in an extremely long time, I'm back to give you tips to boost your Gamerscore!
WARNING! Possible spoilers ahead!
1: Unheard 20 Gamerscore The requirements are quite easy for this one: Liberate an outpost without triggering an alarm. Now this can be done in several ways. Remember that high vantage points from hills above these outposts will be your best friend for tagging enemies. From here, you'll need a silenced weapon. I'd suggest either a sniper rifle or an SMG. (This next part works well with certain parts of the Tatau unlocked) From here, you either have to be extremely quick or quite stealthy. To be quick, take out any snipers or any enemies in a higher position, enemies by themselves will make easy prey from your knife and eliminate any remaining enemies. BUT always be wary of the alarm system. Either keep it in your line of sight to shoot or head for the stealth option. Also make sure there aren't any other Alarm boxes in the outpost, shooting one doesn't disable another. For stealth, take out your sniper rifle and pick off any enemies in high or higher positions then yourself. If you don't have a sniper rifle, slide down to ground level and use your camera to find the alarm system. From here, distract/kill any guards in your way. When the alarm system is off, either stick to stealth or go guns blazing. Either way, the alarm can't be triggered.
2: Needle Exchange 15 Gamerscore Again, simple, craft 25 syringes. I found this easier with just using one type of syringe, health syringes. You will loose heaps of health and a lot of these will come in handy.
3: Love The Boom 10 Gamerscore: Fully distract 25 enemies with rocks. This is pretty easy to get it, with a bit of patience. Read carefully as the description says to "Fully" distract them; they must leave their current post, walk over to the area and stand there looking. If they become alerted to the rock, the game won't count it. This is easiest done around Outposts you have yet to capture. Don't get caught, sneak around and throw rocks. Heading to restricted areas also heaps greatly too, as well as dressing in the Pirate uniform and headind around towns and areas. Find a nice spot, throw a rock, get up, walk to new enemies and repeat.
4: Poker Bully 20 Gamerscore This achievement is simple, even if you don't understand poker too well. Win $1500 in a poker match. The game makes it easy by telling you what you have and how good your hand is. Remember that Full House is better than a Straight and other basics, fold when necessary and its as simple as that.
5: Hunter Hunted 10 Gamerscore This is one of the earliest achievements you can unlock, simply kill a preditor animal. As you first start out in the main storyline, you'll be asked to skin some boars. Boars are preditors, so simply antagonise one by going up to it, let it attack you once then shoot it down. This popped the achievement for me, but if it fails, remember to head to hunting zones and find preditor animals with your camera. But don't go bullying a Tiger till you're fully equipped!
Well, there you have it folks! Happy hunting! The Far Cry 3 review will be out asap. Thanks for watching!
G'day there guys and gals! Some folks out there may have forgotten about this little gem, but many gamers were surprised when Microsoft released DLC for the game only a week ago. Entitled "City Lights", this new content add 15 new challenges including Las Vegas, London and a remake of the Japan levels seperate from the original called "Japan - Easy" due to many of the players being unable to complete the game's achievements. One of my great praises about the game was the simplicity but how great the game became addictive. City Lights mixes up the gameplay with different obsticles, much more complex designs and newer ways to get a speedier time. Although the design of the game can be a tad bit boring, the real appeal are the new concept of the map lay outs. Adding in faster speedways, bumpers, balloons to lift you high into the air and even top hats to shoot through the air. New animations while waiting for the game to begin are entertaining, but with only two of them, they repeat often and frequently and do become more irritating than enjoyable. The easier Japan levels are still as fun as they were, but to date my times on the harder tracks are much better than the easy version. And of course, with new content comes new achievements. Many are simple for veteran players but the majorit only ask you play the new locations.
Overall, Doritos Crash Course has had huge success for a free to public title, although we're seeing a brand new DLC for the game, my only hope is for more. Crash Course is a title you won't regret.
Out of 10, I give City Lights DLC an 8/10
Good points + New Maps and Japan remake + Easy achievements for the hunters + Major update to screen and animations
Bad points - Menu screens now ask for more confirmations - A one and only...?
City Lights DLC is out now for 160 MSP ($2 - AWESOME)
