We're still here!!

Hey everyone.  I just wanted to let you know that the G4F crew is still alive and kicking despite the absence of new posts lately.  We have a lot going on right now that is sadly not game related, and spring can tend to be a pretty hectic time.  Nevertheless, we are working on a number of projects at the moment that should provide a bit of content for you all to feast on in the coming weeks. 

Just to shed some light on what we actually have been doing, here's a glimpse into how the past few weeks of my gaming schedule have looked. 

• Starting April 1, did a repeat play through of Mass Effect 1 and 2 to prepare for long awaited Mass Effect 3 (I know it launched almost 2 months ago at this point) and effectively put the ME trilogy to rest. 
• Completed Mass Effect 2 on 4/20 with my entire team intact (woot) and without any help from online FAQs or walk through guides.  Began Mass Effect 3 the same day.  Still playing in little chunks when not tending to real life crises not involving Reapers or the impending doom of sentient life in the galaxy.
• On 4/23 obtained and began digging into the XBOX 360 version of The Witcher 2 (this game is completely badass so far) and put in about 3 hours so far. Expect videos on our YouTube channel soon.
• CasualFiddle and I have been working on building a following on our Facebook page to promote the blog and the upcoming website.  CasualFiddle is building the website a little more every day.

This all may not seem like much, but given the fact that we are one console down for games reviews, and with everything else we are working on in our personal lives this seems pretty reasonable for now.  I'm going to start putting some more video segments together for the YouTube channel, and more reviews will be coming soon as more games come out.  Look for a Prototype 2 review to pop up in the next week or two, but The Witcher 2 looks to be quite a chunk of game, so that one may not be out as soon.  There are plenty of reviews of the PC version out there, but the console version looks to be pretty solid so far if not as visually dazzling as its counterpart.

As usual, keep looking for more content as the weeks go by!

~Krimmit

Binary Domain Review

This alone is motivation enough to play this game.

Sega's recent contribution to the Spring 2012 lineup proves that the all but diminished publisher still has some spark with the recent release of Binary Domain.  This third person shooter certainly borrows a few concepts from other popular titles like Gears of War and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, but the Japanese flair of BD makes this title stand out amongst its peers in a nostalgia inducing way.  Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing even though this game has been sorely overlooked since its release.  Even if Binary Domain comes across as a formulaic and generic third person shooter, there's still plenty here to make it worthwhile for any fan of Japanese action games.

The single player element uses a squad mechanic that is similar to those used in the Rainbow Six and Ghost recon games published by EA, and your success at moving through corridors and arena areas relies on your ability to successfully command your team.  The neat thing about this is that you have the option to give commands and initiate team banter through voice commands by using a headset connected to your favorite gaming system.  For example, if you want your squad mates to provide cover fire while you flank your enemies, you can shout "Fire", or "Cover me" and your team will provide the appropriate response.  This mechanic works well in most instances, but the voice recognition requires a little bit of tweaking to filter out the ambient noise in your play area.  If the sensitivity is too high, and a TV is playing in the background, you are bound to have some funky playback issues as a result. 

For those who don't like the voice command system, the menu allows you to change to manual command inputs that are issued by pushing one of the shoulder buttons along with a controller face button.  This proves to be somewhat awkward during more intense battle sequences, but it works in a pinch.  Your squad mates' responses to simple commands are also dictated by their level of trust for your character which is influenced by dialogue responses, time spent in your squad, poor command choices, etc.  The more an NPC trusts you, the better they follow your commands or provide automatic combat support functions and vice versa.  As you progress through the game, several segments allow you to change which team members will be assigned to your squad.  The choice doesn't affect the ultimate outcome of the game like it would in a Mass Effect game, but the dialogue options change to fit different squad members, and the scripting never sounds awkward when squad members are swapped around. Each NPC has his/her own skill set that can give your squad certain tactical advantages, so it becomes important to make wise squad selections on higher difficulty settings. 

Binary Domain also makes use of skill points that are doled out during combat as you take out your robotic foes.  Effectively, the more damage you deal to enemies before they collapse, the more reward credits you receive.  Credits are then used to purchase weapon upgrades and character buffs such as increased health or agility at in game kiosks.  The process is efficiently straight forward, and you are only allowed to buy upgrades for characters that are currently in your squad and typical upgrades include increases to rate of fire, damage, accuracy and so on for each character's primary weapon.  Additional weapons and grenades are available for purchase at kiosks as well, but only your main weapon can be upgraded, and will therefore be your go to gun for most of the game. 

Despite the fact that Binary Domain is fraught with plot holes, over the top drama, and equally cheesy dialogue, the story is what ties this whole game together.  Binary Domain is a game that doesn't take itself too seriously, and that is something that has been sorely lacking from many contemporary titles.  While it's clear that a great deal of care went into crafting the world of Binary Domain, the plot never hammers you over the head with dark commentary or overly moody atmosphere.  The environments are believable and appropriate, but there is just enough over the top sci fi action to keep things entertaining.

There is a multiplayer mode to Binary Domain, but the entire endeavor felt tacked on and somewhat obligatory when compared to how the rest of the game performed mechanically.  Online services are really what sets this mode back with continued issues being tied to input lag, and exceptionally spongy enemies with inconsistent hit registration.  The multiplayer cooperative mode is definitely not competition with the likes of Mass Effect 3's more polished combat system.

Even though Binary Domain offers little in the way of innovation or dramatic spectacle, Sega knows how to stir memories and emotions of how games used to make me feel before there was such an emphasis on having the best game on the market.  I'm not saying that this game doesn't show a level of polish or effort that makes it worthy of being a current gen title, but rather it offers a level of simplicity that hearkens back to older generation games that appeals to me.  I remember dumping hours into games like this in the glory days of the Playstation 2 or the original Xbox, and that is what I love about this game.  Binary Domain may not hold up well in comparison with upcoming titles such as Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, but it does such a good job of bringing classic elements into the current generation of games. 



Overall Score: 3/5


~Krimmit

Over 1000 hits!

Wahoo!  G4F's blog hit over 1,000 views over the Easter weekend!  We know at least a few of those hits are the result of us looking at our page having not selected the "don't track my own page views" button, but we're still pretty pumped.  That many views are pretty good for a blog that we launched just over two and a half months ago, and we are still trying to push out new content as often as possible.  We've been working past some personal roadblocks lately which explains the recent lack of new reviews, but rest assured that we are looking to remedy this as soon as possible. 

We have also been working on building the official website which will feature content not shown on the blog such as exclusive videos, news articles, etc.  It's a slow process, and it gets difficult to post content, find time to play new games, and work our regular full time jobs, but we aren't giving up any time soon.  The Binary Domain review kind of fell by the wayside for a while, but I will post it soon, and I also have writeups for Ninja Gaiden 3 and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City on the way.  In the meantime, hang in there for new content!

~Krimmit

G4F's New Scoring System

Hey, all.  Going forward we will be using a different scoring system for how we review games in place of the old 10 point scale.  I have personally never been a fan of 10 point systems since most people equate the numeric value with a percentage of how good or bad a game is rather than as a representation of enjoyment.  Instead, we will be using a 5 point scale with tiers that reflect different criteria.  Of course these criteria are fairly subjective and there is room for some interpretation, but here's a breakdown nonetheless.

• 1/5:  This game is either completely unplayable or suffers from technical issues that make it completely devoid of any enjoyment or reasonable amusement.  Burn any copies you come into contact with.
• 2/5:  This game is worthy of rental or borrowing from a friend who was naive enough to purchase it, and that's being generous.  Wait for this one to hit the bargain bin before you shell out your hard earned dough.
• 3/5:  There is definitely some potential with this one.  It offers solid performance, but may be lacking in certain aspects.  Give this one a look for sure, but don't expect anything mind blowing.
• 4/5:  This game encompasses everything that we have come to expect from a successful, interactive, electronic entertainment experience.  There is little in the way of innovation, but you would have to completely hate video games to say that this game is not enjoyable.
• 5/5:  We don't believe there is such a thing as a perfect video game, but this one comes close.  You will find it difficult to pull yourself away from this title, and it will most likely be a good candidate for the best game that you are playing right now, or for the entire year.

We are also working on a graphic to depict the scoring system for the blog and for the website which is still under construction.  Feel free to sound off in the comments with any suggestions you might have.  That's all for now!


~Krimmit

Battlefield 3 Adds Rent a Server to Consoles

G4F doesn't typically touch the breaking news scene, but when we heard about this, it was hard not to be excited. Unfortunately this news is a day or two old, but players booting up their copies of BF3 in the last 2 days found themselves staring at DICE'S latest multi player update. After years of begging, console fans of the franchise have finally been given the ability to rent their own multiplayer servers for either private or public online play.


The update forum states that administrators who rent this service are able to set lobby limits and restrictions to customize matches to their specifications. Limits include member participation, map rotation, vehicle spawns, and more. We haven't had the opportunity to try things out yet, but this feels like an important move in the right direction toward closing the divide between PC and console versions of the game. Although pricing for this service is broken into daily, weekly, and monthly subscriptions. Pricing can be found on the battlelog online or through your respective console copy's BF3 store menu.


See you on the battlefield!


~Krimmit

Premier Video: Part 2

Here's part 2 of the "Works in Progress" video where we take a look at Ninja Gaiden 3.  The game play shown here shows several of the differences in direction that the latest NG game took, and perhaps some of the reasons that most people have been unhappy with this title.  I will be doing a full write up of the review in the coming days, but enjoy the video for now.


~Krimmit

Premier Video!

Hey G4Fers!  I finally got some video content edited and posted for your viewing pleasure.  Apparently, editing is a difficult and time consuming process.  Regardless, I am posting the first part of a two part series I recorded, but when I loaded the first video to YouTube, the last 10 or 20 seconds got cut off.  It took about 2 hours to load the thing, so I won't fix that one, but I should have all of the kinks ironed out for future videos.  Take note that I changed my username on the blog to reflect my Xbox Live and Playstation Network gamer tags as well.  At any rate, enjoy the video below!


~Krimmit


Edit: I'm working on getting the video fixed right now.  Evidently, there was a setting that I missed when uploading the video that directly asked me if I wanted to truncate (see shorten) the edited footage to conserve space.......DERP!  Should have the updated link and part 2 posted later today.


Edit #2: OK, the complete video is now active on the blog.  For those of you who were aching to see the last twenty or thirty seconds, consider your dreams fulfilled.