Sins of a Solar Empire

To be honest I was not too sure about this game when it was released. I read the reviews on IGN.com and other websites like that, and they gave it rave reviews. Those big gaming websites give good reviews all too often, so I wasn't sure what the game was really like. Anyway, I got the game last week and I'm happy to say that the reviewers got it right this time! Sins is a 4X RTS that is set in space. It's got fantastic depth and even though it lacks a single player mode, all the other modes more than make up for it. There's a lot of freedom in this game. You don't have to play big scenarios if you don't feel like it. There are plenty of small to medium sized maps that you can play and thoroughly enjoy. The layout of the game is very neat and does not feel overly cluttered with information. The game has a nostalgic feel to it. There are no elaborate cut scenes and the graphics are above average. The voice acting is cheesy but that's done intentionally. You don't need a super computer to run this game. It's all about making bad ass ships that you can use to conquer other planets! You can set your empires public policy and how you choose to develop each planet under your control. I found the black market aspect of the game very cool. You can buy and sell goods and that has an affect on the market. The online aspect of this game is also superbly designed. You can play Ironclad sessions which can last a long time. Or you can just log in and play online with random people or friends. The game runs smooth online. Overall Sins of a Solar Empire is an excellent game. A game that any RTS fan should definitely check out. Also, people new to the genre should play this game. It takes ten to fifteen minutes to get a grip on things but once you do it's a very easy game to play. Peace!

More Locusts Will Die....

Epic Games have announced the sequel to the mega popular Gears of War.Epic
will release the game this November, right before the holiday season on the Xbox 360. Surely this is big news for Microsoft and 360 owners. The previous holiday season saw some big name franchises returning and new one's being born. Anyway, I liked the single player mode on the first Gears of War. The multi-player was fun, but became very repititive for me. Hopefully they will expand on the multi player more and make it more like Call of Duty 4. Also, let's see some backstory on Marcus Fenix. The story line was mostly ignored in the first game. Probably done purposely because the game's aim was to "kick ass" first then talk later. When the first Gears was released it was a benchmark game for the 360 in terms of the graphics, the style of gameplay, and the multi-player. I don't know if it still will have that novelty aspect to it when the sequel is released. Rest assured Microsoft will hype this game up which will drive up sales. The guys at Epic are first class first person shooter creators. Unreal Tournament is one of my favorite games of all time and the frantic nature of their games are a lot of fun to play. Let's hope Epic will go for quality instead of worrying about the quantity. If the game is good people will buy, if not it will be chainsawed by the masses.

Mass Effect DLC Coming Soon

Bioware and Microsoft announced today that they will be releasing new downloadable content for Mass Effect. According to the IGN
article the new content will let us explore a new uncharted world and we get to meet the Batarians. Hopefully this "exploring" won't just involve you getting in your Mako and driving to an outpost shooting down some turrets and aliens along the way and then it's over. Mass Effect is woefully short on exploration depth. It involves you getting on your Mako and repeating the above mentioned task multiple times. There is no real depth to those side missions. Don't get me wrong, I love Mass Effect and I've already played it four times but compared to a standard rpg it's not very deep. It took me about 14 hours to finish the game the first time through. I didn't do most of the side missions but still that's way too short for a game that was marketed as an "Epic rpg", and the story which was good but is no way an epic. Knights of the Old Republic is a great example of an epic story. Anyway, I've completed most of the side missions on my second and third playthrough and it was extremely boring. The side missions don't really have any impact on your major story line and it feels rather pointless in the end. Back to point, I hope this new content will actually have a more traditional exploration that we are used to seeing in rpgs. That's the reason people play rpgs, so that we can explore, interact, discover, and make an impact within that game's universe. Also, as suspected the whores at Microsoft will be charging $5 for this new 90 minute content. So I'll wait and see actually what the content is like before I decide to send my $5 to Microsoft. Cheers!