Lets get the obvious out of the way: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is Sony’s take on the Smash Bros. franchise. While conceptually bankrupt, not all games have to reinvent the wheel.
Having played this a few months ago at Fan Expo, I came out of it with a fairly positive impression. Now that I’ve gotten to play a bit more of it through the public beta, my feelings towards the whole thing have cooled off some.
After months of pain and suffering, our ragtag group of survivors have finally reached their promise land. All that stands between them and freedom is a boat. Or at least that’s the hope upon arrival. Spoilers: it’s not that easy.
Welcome back to the planet of Pandora, Vault Hunter. If it’s been awhile, things may appear much like how you left them last time. The cell-shaded art direction is seemingly the same. Many of the friends (and enemies) make a return. And of course, your primary motivation to explore this world is to collect increasingly superior loot.
But as you play through Borderlands 2, it’s clear that this isn’t just a new coat of paint. Granted, the added polish on the graphics look great. However, almost every other aspect of the game has seen meaningful upgrades that really refine the original vision.
For much of Rayman’s life, he’s suffered from an identity crisis. After his stunning debut outing, Super Mario 64 seemingly made 2D platformers obsolete. Ubisoft felt obligated to move Rayman into the third dimension, which led to a string of mediocre 3D platformers. Eventually, Rayman would find his name slapped on the Raving Rabbids mini-game collections, where he ultimately got out-shined by his insane rabbit compadres.
With seemingly nowhere else to go with the franchise, Ubisoft takes him back to his 2D platforming roots with Rayman Origins. Within minutes of playing this reboot, it’s clear that he never should have left.
Since the release of Borderlands 2, my site has been slammed with traffic from users searching “Borderlands 2 third person” and all variations of that query. It seems like a lot of you want to know if/how to play Borderlands 2 from this particular camera angle, and coincidentally, my blog is called In Third Person. Though I appreciate all of the extra traffic to my site, I really hope Google isn’t driving people here that will ultimately be disappointed when my posts don’t answer the question. With that in mind, I’ll answer this seemingly burning question:
“Can you play Borderlands 2 from a third person perspective?
In just a few days, Capcom is scheduled to open the fighting game vault once again and release Marvel Super Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom 1 together as Marvel vs. Capcom Origins for XBOX Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Though this pair of vs. games may not have the legacy that Marvel vs. Capcom 2 does, they were considered great for their time.
The original Borderlands ate me alive. I could not stop playing that game until I had done everything their was to do, and it was awesome. For the past 3 years, I’ve been fiending for my next hit. With Borderlands 2, I’ve relapsed hard.
Asura’s Wrath suffers from a problem that exists outside of the game itself. It’s a problem that has divided the critics. A problem that factored into the game’s poor sales. A problem that Capcom probably could have addressed with better marketing. Granted, this was never expected to sell like Call of Duty, but I feel like Capcom did this game a disservice by not emphasizing the game’s biggest strength…which is also its biggest weakness.
When it comes to video game franchises and their influence on my life, not too many rank higher than Rock Band. Besides the hundreds of additional songs I’ve purchased, and the countless hours I’ve spent rocking out with plastic instruments, the franchise inspired me to graduate to real instruments. I am by no means the next Keith Moon, or Geddy Lee, but I know just enough about playing the drums, and bass to actually play in a band. Even without ambitions of unleashing my real-life rock star, those games were the best the genre had to offer.
Years after the genre collapsed, Harmonix is back with a downloadable music game devoid of the peripherals that defined the Rock Band experience in the first place. Is Rock Band Blitz enough to breathe new life to the genre, or is it way too late to the party?
The Walking Dead series has been my biggest surprise of 2012. Going into it with no real interest in the franchise, or adventure games, its first two instalments have taken me on an emotional roller coaster unlike any other game has before. Based on what I’d seen of the trailer for The Long Road Ahead, I had concerns that the base premise wouldn’t be as interesting as the one in episode 2. However, all my fears were quickly quashed as revelation after revelation took place.
In Third Person 