Batman - Arkham City: not just for fans!

Batman: one might say that's not exactly a gory game or doesn't fit into my other more serious games. But believe me this, even if were talking about a game based on a comic character, the atmosphere and graphics are realistic and have a serious touch to them.

This game was received well by critics and definitely tops its predecessor "Arkham Asylum". You're fighting against a great variety of Batman villains, starting from Penguin to Joker to Mister Freeze. Every character in-game comes with its own bio and information, so that people who never heard of that comic can understand the background of the story of the game.

This game clearly is not just for children, I might even say its for mature player. The hard difficulty really is hard. You have to get a hang of the combat controls to succeed, and in the beginning this means not dying instantly. I suggest you start of by medium difficulty and after you master the combat system you're free to move to hard. 

2 Reasons why this game stand out: 

1. You move freely in a huge city, using your hook and glide ability. You actually feel more like Spiderman than Batman when it comes to traveling, which I find great.
2. The main story is compelling and along the way you're confronted with a lot of rewarding side-quests.

Ninja Gaiden 2 - Tekken for gore fans

This game has been around for a while and I'm happy to finally have a look at it. As you might know Ninja Gaiden 2 didn't pass the self-regulation test in Germany and thus was not being sold here.

The gameplay feels a lot like Tekken 6 single-player, where you move through the world with raised fists, mobilizing all of your move arsenal against hordes of fighters and stage-bosses.
The biggest difference is that Ninja Gaiden 2 in that respect is f**** bloody! Plus, your moves are not bound to your fighter, but your weapon. That means that every weapon has its own list of moves, a lot of moves!

This game goes beyond hack-and-slay games like God Of War, Bayonetta, Star Wars Force Unleashed and so on...
You have to learn which weapon is most effective against which opponent type, and you have to know the move-combos. You might get away with button-smashing on the easiest difficulty, but the sooner you actually learn to fight the more effective you become. And fights will look way cooler, if you do a 10-hit combo instead of interrupted stabs.

This is what I see as the most challenging and innovative part of the game: you have to learn to fight to survive. There are lot of games out there where you get rewarded every few minutes for something, where everything is just so challenging that you feel having reached something. That's bulls***! I even hate the new Starcraft for throwing around with achievements. You made 5 battles and no matter if you won or not, you'll get an achievement!

I like challenging games with a learning curve. Gory and bloody games with a learning games are even better.

If you like gameplay of fighting games like Tekken, where you're provided with a bunch of moves, but always wanted more story, weapons and blood, you should definitely go for Ninja Gaiden 2.

Dead Island - Say Goodbye To Dead Rising 2

For me the new first-person zombie-splatter by the Polish game-developer Techland cleary is the unofficial sequel to Dead Rising 2. 

There are a lot of similarities regarding gameplay, mechanics and story. Obviously both games are video game realizations of the movie "Dawn of the Dead". Therefore you find yourself in a world crowded with brain eating zombies, with the goal to survive by all means.

So what exactly are those similarities?

In Dead Rising 2 you where able to pick up virtually every item lying around and use it as a lethal weapon against your opponents. Even teddies, guitars and giant lipsticks.
In Dead Island you can also grab frying-pans, hut-stands and shovels, besides the usual arsenal which consists of machetes, bats, axes and later guns. Usable items in Dead Island are not as funky as in Dead Rising, but a lawnmower would make no sense in a jungle!

Another fun aspect of Dead Rising 2 was that you could craft your own weapons at a workbench. Same is true for Dead Island! The workbench in Dead Island furthermore allows to upgrade existing weapons, improving their stats. This means increased damage and more durability. Yes you heard right, weapons in Dead Island also have durability. But unlike in Dead Rising you can repair broken items at the workbench! 

You earned experience and leveled up killing zombies in the Dead Rising series. This improved your stats and you could chose from different abilities. In Dead Island you level up killing zombies and according to the character you have chosen at the beginning you pick from individual abilities. Those either improve stats like attack or rage gain or grant new moves. (Rage is new to Dead Island: once activated you are granted superpowers for a short time.)

Even when it comes to brutality, both games are on the same level. If you think chopping limbs of in Dead Rising was fun, you will definitely love Dead Island. The more you progress in game, the more powerful weapons you get, with all the messy effects! 

More pros on Dead Island:

• Better graphics with high detailed environment, zombies and gore !
• Autosave function! oh how we hated saving our game in toilets...
• More authentic NPCs
• Deeper story
• Interesting side-quests

Dead Island is my recommendation for everyone who loved Dead Rising 2 for its splatter action, but always wished the game to have more depth. 

- Hawke

Welcome on board.

Hello everyone,
welcome to my video game review blog.

There are thousands of blogs out there in the universe, so that I had to ask myself: "What does my blog make special?"

This blog is for everyone who needs a quick insight into the newest highlights for XBox360. I was bored by reading 5-page-long reviews on the web, when I just wanted to know if a game is worth playing or not. If you guys are facing the same problem, here you are!

I will give you a short summary of what a game is about, list the pros and cons and recommend which target group definitely should buy the game. That's it!

Just a note about myself: I have been into video games for a decade, starting with Super Mario Bros on NES in the 90's. Having played more games than a year has days I finally decided to share.

- Hawke