Gauntlet

Platform: PC

Genre: Action RPG

Release Date: September 23rd, 2014

Date Reviewed: September 29th, 2014

      Finally a new Gauntlet game. Well....it's a remake of the original Gauntlet. It feels and looks new. Gauntlet is back, better than ever for PC only. You can get this game for $19.99! Gauntlet plays just like the original. You start off with 4 classes (like in every Gauntlet) and you can choose between a Warrior, a Wizard, a Valkyrie, and a Ranger. Each class are unique and have their own strengths and weaknesses. when you start the game there is a mini tutorial that lets you try a quick demo of each class to get a feel for them. After you complete the tutorial you are able to choose what class you want to play as. After you choose the class it will give you an option to play with mouse and keyboard or a gamepad. The mouse and keyboard work well for the Ranger, Warrior and Valkyrie. However, the Wizard is a bit more complicated and is easiest with the gamepad. You start off in the Gauntlet and if you complete that Gauntlet you will be rewarded with piles and piles of gold and riches. However, as you play through that doesn't seem to be the case at all...

      A lot of people compare this game as a Diablo clone. They are all false. Gauntlet is it's own style and has it's own very unique gameplay. Gauntlet has never been a Diablo clone, it has been out for a long time and was always a different style of gameplay. Gauntlet is however an action RPG but there are no levels, no experience, no loot, just lots and lots of gold. In this version of Gauntlet you go through each dungeon to get the shard which lies at the very end. There are three zones, and each zone has 4 levels. Each level has 3 levels of it's own where the final area in each zone is always a big boss battle. Gauntlet is very challenging especially on the higher difficulties. With this Gauntlet you earn gold, you use this gold to buy items which you can equip two at a time with your "Q" and "E" keys. Each relic does something to help you out. It could be summon clones of yourself or create a crystal that taunts enemies and blowing up after it is damaged enough. You can also use the gold to upgrade these relic to make them more powerful.

The Mastery System.

       As I said earlier there is no loot. As a reward for completing certain difficulties you can unlock and purchase cosmetic armor for each class with gold. Each class also has a mastery tree. Every time you complete a mastery like "Kill 12,000 Monsters" you will earn a buff for that class. Each mastery starts off as bronze and goes to gold. One buff can increase your damage by 10%, others will give you more gold from breaking crates or vases. With Gauntlet there isn't ALOT of replay value but there is some. After you have completed the 4 hour game you can go back with different classes, play a higher difficulty to get more cosmetic armor, or even complete all of your masteries. Do not forget there is also co-op mode which is way more fun and frustrating playing with your friends.

       There is nothing really visually amazing about Gauntlet. If your PC can run it on Max setting which should not be a big problem for most PC's running this game then it will look pretty good. The visual effects are nice, the level designs are repetitive but look good. Each level is not randomized, it is always the same design which is okay but this day in age a lot of games are taking advantage of that technology. The music is fantastic as well as the audio effects. Has a classic Gauntlet sound to it which I think people who've played the original Gauntlet will enjoy immensely. Even when you pick up items it still used the classic sounds from the original game.

Big Bosses.

       Overall it is a good game, nothing spectacular but a great nostalgia trip and is much more greater with your friends to experience Gauntlet. Playing on normal you will complete it in about 4 hours. Play on hard or Unfair mode and it will take you much, much longer. Overall I give gauntlet......

GOOD GAME

7.5/10



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The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

Console: Nintendo 3DS

Genre: RPG

Release Date: November 22nd, 2013

Date Reviewed: December 27th, 2013

Gameplay:

LOZ: A Link Between Worlds is the newest game added to the Zelda series. A Link Between Worlds is a direct sequel to A Link to the Past for the SNES. After many long years they finally decided to do a sequel to the original. A Link Between Worlds is pure gold and is a must own for everyone. The game is like the original where the camera is a top view camera of Link. It does an excellent job as staying to it's roots from the original with the camera view, the enemies, the temples, and you are in the exact world from A Link to the Past. You start off by sleeping in of coarse and the Blacksmith's son comes to wake you up because you are late as usual for work. When you arrive to the blacksmith's shop he is talking to someone very important. As soon as the important figure leaves the blacksmith proceeds to give you trouble for being so late. After he finished yelling at you he notices that the man forgot his sword. Your errand is to find the man and give him is sword. From this point on, your adventure begins. A Link Between Worlds uses the 3DS extremely well. The game runs at a smooth 60 frames per second with no FPS drops at all. The biggest feature I love about this game is you can do the temples in any order you choose. You don't find your items in the dungeon anymore such as the bow or hook shot. Instead you can rent out all of the items or purchase them for yourself with rupees. This is a very smart thing to be added to the game because with this feature, the game allows you to do any of the temples in any order you choose. There is not a wrong way of doing things. This makes the world feel very open.

The Shop where you buy/rent items!

 

Each temple is fun with clever boss mechanics in each temple. Some of the bosses are beyond easy but what do you expect in a Zelda game now. There will always be a few easy ones. As you progress you discover that you can go into an alternate Hyrule. This place is called Lorule that is ruled by Zelda's counterpart Hilda. In order to access this world you are able to turn into a painting and walk along walls into tears which teleports you into Lorule. Although the overworld is largely the same as that of A Link to the Past, all the dungeons are totally new. Exploration of dungeons utilize the game's 3D effects and feature Link jumping between levels to solve puzzles and advance. It feels very smooth when you transition into new areas.

Like in previous Zelda titles there are always collectable items to be found. When you find all of the babies you get a new attack for your sword. Every time you return 12 at a time the mother will upgrade any of your items of your choosing to make them more powerful. Rupees are much more important in this game because you have to buy the items and they are not cheap. However, rupees are extremely easy to find and add up quickly.

2D Painting of yourself!  

Overall the gameplay is truly remarkable. It has a lot of nostalgia for the old fans and well as some new ones for people who started the series later on. This game has something for everyone. The world is huge, lots to explore, lots of puzzles, and collectables. All of these encourage the play to explore both worlds of Hyrule and Lorule.

Graphics:
The game follows the top-down two-dimensional gameplay of various Zelda games, especially A Link to the Past, though it is now presented with stereoscopic 3D graphics when played on the Nintendo 3DS. The top screen is used as the main screen, while the bottom touch screen contains the map, gear, and items. The loading screen consists of a black screen with a Triforce in the lower right corner. It runs smoothly at 60 FPS with new reduce in frames anywhere in the game. It is very colourful, the environments are large and very beautiful and full of life.

Comparison.

Sound:
The game features slightly updated sound effects from A Link to the Past. The music tracks are arrangements of the originals. In addition to the music from A Link to the Past, the Streetpass battle mode of the game includes two remixed and rearranged versions of the Temple Theme from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The Streetpass mode is inspired by the final "Shadow Link" boss fight from the NES game. It sounds fantastic and has a lot of nostalgia while just listening to the music.

Conclusion:
A Link Between Worlds is a highly recommend, must own game for the Nintendo 3DS. It is one of the best Zelda games ever created. New fans and old fans alike will find something they love about this game. Whether it be the nostalgia, music, graphics, or game play in general, people will find something they love about it. This game provides a lot to do and you can do it in any order you choose to. Fantastic, I hope to see more. Also, when you beat the game, test your skill in Hero Mode.

Overall Score:

10/10

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Mini Review: Brutal Doom

Brutal Doom is a MOD the someone created for Doom 1 and 2 for the PC. This MOD adds a ton of new features to the games. Such as unique gun animations, updates textures to enemies, fire, and special effects. The game is unchanged from the original story but adds a more modern feel to Doom. You can zoom in with each gun as in scoping in, and each gun as a reload animation. The guns are updated as well. Each gone as a new texture to it and the pistol is now an assault rifle. Each gun has it's own unique animation and they all look incredible. Every monster in this MOD also has new some new animations to it. The gore is much more intense, hence the name. When you shoot and kill an enemy blood sprays everywhere and sticks to the walls and ceilings. The blood also drips off of the ceilings. The explosions looks really good as well and the glow from the barrels are great.

Brutal!

Brutal Doom also adds a ton of new options and difficulty settings. There are 7 different difficulty settings each have a challenge of their own. There are also other options as well to make it feel like a more modern FPS game. You can make it so you can look around and control the view with your mouse like in modern FPS game which is needed for Brutal Doom. You can even add a cross hair to your view to make it easier to aim. The features added to Brutal Doom is a great touch. I love running through the game with the shotgun and blasting them to bits. The shotgun animations are incredible and make you feel god like. This MOD does a fantastic job of keeping it "Doom" like. It does not change the story or gameplay. Just updates them. Fantastic MOD, I recommend it to all Doom fans. 

There is only one small minor problem with this MOD. When you reload your guns it does not tell you how much ammo is in the clip, only how much ammo you have left over after reloading your ammo clip and can get annoying at some parts. But it is a very minor thing and you get used to it right away. One other feature is executing. When you boot an enemy and go up to them with your fists you have a chance to perform an execution. These are brutal!

The flame effects and the assault rifle.

The MOD also offers an all new soundtrack. It is the same music from the Original Doom games but re done with a metal sound to it. It is truly incredible. You can also insult the enemies. From flipping them off your telling them to "F*ck off"!

Overall Rating:

8.5/10

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Grand Theft Auto V

Console: Xbox 360, PS3

Genre: Third-Person Action

Release Date: September 17th, 2013

Date Reviewed: November 10th, 2013

Gameplay:

Grand Theft Auto V is the fifth instalment for the GTA series. GTA V is the biggest video game launch of all time, shattering records. Within three days of the game being available, they made $1 billion in sales. GTA is a series that is very popular and strikes a lot of controversy with parents. GTA V takes place in the city of Los Santos, where the player controls three unique characters. Each character has their own story and own mission you can unlock in order to progress their story. Each character is easily switched to on the fly. What I did like about this feature is whenever you switched to one of the character you controlled, they can be in the middle of the most random events. You could be playing with Michael and decide you want to switch over to Trevor to do some of his missions. When you switch to Trevor he could be laying on a train track in his underwear, hung over. It is always different when you switch too one of the three. The city of Los Santos is huge. There are a lot of mission, side missions, events, clothing stores, jobs to earn money, sports, etc.... to do within the city. The possibilities never end it seems, there is always something to do which I do give credit GTA V for. GTA V, personally was a let down. The last two GTA titles have been very boring to me, with IV being the worse of the two. Yes, there is a lot of things to do but it gets repetitive, boring, and uneventful. I admit when I first put in this game I was excited to play it. I thought that Rockstar would finally fix their mistakes from the fourth GTA. At first I was having fun doing the missions, side missions, races, and exploration. I did everything I possibly could before completing the mane game. I was wrong.

The Los Santos Map.

I feel as they lost their roots. My all time favourite was GTA III and San Andreas. I loved those two games a lot. Every since the fourth game I have been very disappointed in the series. Yes, there are a couple of things I did enjoy about the game. GTA V has a lot of humour as it always has. Each character has a unique story to them and you feel as you can relate to them or feel apart of their story. GTA V does a lot of things to make you feel attached to the characters. After the first few missions in the main campaign it feels very bland and repetitive. I was excited to do my first heist and plan it out. I could either go in smart, or loud and dumb. I wish they gave you more options for each big heist. You pick how you want to execute it and then you hire a few people to help you out. The better that character is you hire the more of the cut they get resulting in less money for you overall. I tried to find something in GTA V that would suck me and and hopefully change my opinion of the game. You can customise your character with tons of clothing, accessories and tatoos. You can fully customise your cars, buy a garage, and even properties. You can play darts, golf or even arm wrestle. If that is not your cup of tea then go do some racing. It can be on the streets of Los Santos, dirt biking or quading in the outdoors or even race on Sea-doos. You can even do a triathlon where you race on foot, on a bike, or do both!

Graphics:

The graphics in this game are outstanding. Each character is very unique with their own style. The animations for all characters, even the thousands of NPC's are very well done. There are a few very unrealistic animations when you get hit or die in the game. They look for cheesy and lame. Another thing I appreciate is the fact that most of the NPC's look different. Considering there are thousands of NPC's just walking around in the game amazes me. The weather effects are outstanding, weather it be raining, storming, or even sunny. The weather system is very realistic and well done. When you are near the ocean the tide rises and lowers as well. The night time visuals are colorful and full of life. The physics are unrealistic in the game but that's what you can expect from any GTA game in the series. There are also a few graphical errors in the game as well but you can expect that because of how big the game is. Overall, it is a beautiful game and should be taken notice.

Beautiful outdoors.

Sound:

The soundtrack in GTA V is huge. Like in previous titles you have a choice to choose between several radio stations while driving around in Los Santos. I was disappointed that there was no metal radio station in the game. I personally am a huge fan of metal. There is almost every other genre of music, even 90's pop which was exciting and my personal favourite. The voice acting is top notch. Like I said earlier, each character has their own unique feel to them and the voice acting makes it much more true of a statement. Every possible sound in the game is the real thing. From swimming, walking on the beach, running, biking, racing, and especially the cars all sound incredible. You can tell a lot of time was put into this area as well as the graphics. When I was playing the game I very rarely found some sound glitches like skipping while driving. This was very rare and again is expected in this type of game. Overall, great sound.

Los Santos.

Conclusion:

My conclusion for this game is overall I did not like the gameplay. I enjoyed and appreciated the sound and the graphics with the game. I even enjoyed the story telling and how each character felt unique. I even grew attached to Trevor. He is a psycho path but hilarious at the same time. I know they spent $270 million to make this a great experience for everybody, and you can tell. I just think it had the same problem with GTA IV. It felt to repetitive, boring, and bland in some cases. Some of the main missions I hated doing with a passion and it really annoyed me that is was part of the main missions because I wasn't able to skip it like most of them. If you're a fan of the GTA series then you will enjoy this game. I am a fan of the series but the last two were both let downs. It is over hyped and the review scores are way to high. If possible try to rent or borrow the game before dropping $60 on this game. 

Overal Score:

6/10

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