EB Games Expo 2012

EB Games Expo 2012, what an amazing spectacle.

From the FMX stunt team, to the dancers, to the amazing amount of epic loot available and amazing presentations. I'm one sore reviewer.

The Sydney Olympic Park was packed at all time and game queues had many people waiting in excess of two hours just to get a taste of some of the amazing games heading out to a games store near you, soon.

The only thing I suggest for people next year is: get the Express pass. It's well worth the money.

EB Games really put on a fantastic show and the running of it was executed amazingly.

Also, props go to the Just Dance 4 dancers who danced for days and days and never showed any fatigue at all. Great work.

I personally would like to thank all the EB staff and helpers, game devs and publishers and media for making this the best show we have seen thus far.

What we played and how we felt:

BEST IN SHOW
Assassin's Creed 3:
Although the level we got to play was "more of the same old", the story and the game play seemed much better. The AI of the enemy is a little more forgiving and I can see this being a top seller for sure.

Injustice, Gods Among Us:
Simply amazing, this Mortal Kombat based DC fighting game was nothing short of amazing fun. Kicking ass as some of our fave DC heroes and villains was fantastic, the detail and graphics were amazing and the game play was button spam HEAVEN

Medal of Honor: War Fighter:
I have already stated my love for this game, and it was echoed by fans young and old as they raced around ganking each other in the multiplayer. I also got some time on the single player and for me, this is where this title really shines.

Skylanders: Giants: I was a little disappointed with this sequel as they didn't really add much to the game and it feels even more like a money sink hole than the first.

CoD: Black Ops 2:
More of the same? not exactly. Same game, new maps, better kill streak rewards. It was a lot of fun to play and even more fun to play with a bunch of other gamers. The game feels new and makes me wish I did actually pre-order it.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance:
Blown away. This is the only way to describe the game play and feel of MGR:R. The AR mode we got to try just felt like a new IP, it did not feel like "much the same copy paste bored now" like some of the previous MGS games.

Zombie-U:
If ANYTHING would make me buy a Wii-U, it would be THIS GAME. Look for a review on why, soon.

WORST IN SHOW
Marvel The Avengers: Battle for Earth:
Kinect games always make me wonder why they bother at all, and this game is no different.  The sensor wasn't picking my movements up very well, the game play was chunky and slow and it felt like a turn based game. Not the exciting action we were hoping for. Nothing like the trailers.

Fable The Journey:
Please no, no more Kinect. Just say no. This was for sure one of the worst games of show. If you want a kinect game, go buy Star Wars Kinect, it is actually BETTER than this game has thus far shown.

The Wii-U: still not 100% sold on it as a console.

Borderlands 2 Review: XBox 360

            A BAZILLION GUNS!!

There is something to be said about any game where you lose track of time and play for hours on end and suddenly realize you have been playing for six hours. And it can all be summed up by one simple statement: if you loved borderlands, you will love Borderlands 2.

The story so far:
Handsome Jack, evil CEO of weapons manufacturer Hyperion. Jack takes credit for finding and opening the Vault from the first game and is massively mining the alien substance, Eridian, and looking for an even bigger vault. He's ruthless and takes pleasure in killing anyone that gets in his way. It's now up to you along with a few returning characters and the resistance to defeat Jack before he discovers the new Vault.

BL2 is far superior to the first art wise, with blues, greens, purples just popping out of the game like a comic book. The level design is fantastic, and not the same "mostly brown" that BL1 gave us thanks to the addition of areas filled with ice, grass and volcano surroundings.

The game play is very fun, however at times it gets a little tedious when you run out of ammo. Gearbox Software must have realized from the first game that the ammo vending machines were not getting used much at all, but I can't help but feel that when they decided to reduce the ammo drops, they actually made it a lot harder as you will find yourself with no ammo with your two primary guns and having to run a good five minutes back to an ammo vendor to be able to continue a quest or instance you're doing.

The enemies you face have been upgraded and the AI is much better than the first game, some of you may remember you could pull aggro and run backwards with a conga line of baddies, mercilessly pumping round after round in to them. Now, the enemies roll out of the way, dive for cover and some even try and flank you.
Also there is not just new types of bad guys, some level up if not killed pretty much straight away and this can lead to some fun and challenging kills.

The story line is great, but I haven't felt like it's really epic. More to the point, I feel the focus is still on the loot rather than on the story, and I'm OK with that. Anyone how played the first and will play the second  mainly for the loot and shooting things in the face with a wide variety of weapons.

Skill trees have been vastly improved not only aesthetically pleasing, but the skills have been vastly improved.

Vehicles are still more than anything, horribly useless. Mainly used as transport and still no flying machines for you to use (or so far as I have seen). The vehicles drive better, but you will still find yourself crashing into a raised section of road now and then or trying to steer around something and fail.

Some new features have been added and some completely reformed to better utilize them.

BAD-ASS RANKS: for certain things like killing x of creature type x there are skill points that can be put into things like extra accuracy and shield recharge.

CUSTOMIZATION: Loot drops can some times be skins for your characters outfit, head or vehicle.

SHIFT ACCOUNT CODES: Gearbox have stated you will be able to get codes for Golden Keys, all you need to do is link your BL2 account in the settings/extras menu and keep an eye on Gearbox's twitter. AMAZESAUCE!

MULTIPLAYER LOOT: I have big issues with multiplayer loot, it still comes down to the system of "whats mine is mine and what drops is mine", there is no roll system and I think this does hurt the multiplayer a little, play with your fiends and avoid loot ninjas.

The other issue with loot seems to be that even though you share cash and ammo when picked up, you are unable to trade them, making it feel like a set back when your sniper runs out of ammo and you can't give them more when you don't use that ammo.

All in all, this is still an amazing game and the pros definitely outweigh the cons.You can tell that Randy and his team at Gearbox Software put a lot of time and love into this game.

SCORE:8/10 Claptraps.

Charlie And The Borderlands2 Gun Factory

Ok, so it's not a chocolate factory, but it's that DAMN good we have to share this.

Gearbox Software made a forum post a few hours ago about the special Golden Key that is obtained via the Premiere Club with pre-ordered copies of Borderlands 2.
The Golden Key opens a "one use only" loot chest in the city of Sanctuary and contains scalable very rare (purple) weaponry/loot.

There will be only ONE chest and ONE key per pre-ordered game.

From the Gearbox forums, The Golden Chest.

"This is amazing!! Scaled weapons?!?!?!" Yes and no. The chest is scaleable, the weapons are not. The loot contained in the chest are suitable for your current level ONLY  and you only get ONE KEY.
You CAN however SELL the loot when you need to, the Golden Key can't be traded or sold.

Gearbox forces a tough decision on the player, do you get it at level 20 or do you wait it out until max level to claim and reap the rewards of your purchase?

In this bloggers honest opinion, there will be plenty of loot drops and I see this as a fantastic way to get level appropriate gear for questing as by the time you get to cap or near cap level, you should have found a few better weapons.

-Al.

 

Borderlands 2 Mechromancer And More!

So the big news that hit yesterday was that the Mechromancer class (class number five) was given a release date of 16th October 2012.

The Mechromancer will be FREE for Premier Club members (available free with most pre-orders) and will be around $9.99 (800 MS points for XBox) after release for non-members.
Gaige the Mechromancer will have her very own robot mech and Gearbox have been saying her skill tree will provide extra bonuses for use with her mech such as skill stacking (staking bonuses) for things such as extra damage.

In other BL2 news, a few things have come to light that make us here VERY happy, you will be able to CUSTOM assign your controls so that you have your buttons where you want them (not like BL1 where tthe "use" button was not in the usual place of most games and took some time to get used to).
This opens up for a much better game play experience as you will be able to stick that use button where you want as well as still offering pre-set configurations.

The enemies you will be facing vary, but the big news around this is some monsters will "level up" if not killed straight away, this means if you hit one of these bad guys once, they grow and grow until they are potentially un-manigable and will tear through you and your party with ease.

Unlike the Borderlands 1 game, the environment is not set mainly in a desert, there will be icy tundas, lava filled regions and green flowing pastures to explore.

I'm even MORE excited now than ever before, only eight more days!
HAPPY HUNTING!

Borderlands2, You Got Dem Skills!

So, Borderlands 2 is mere days away and 2K Gmes/Gearbox is ramping up to Zero hour.

Four skill tree builders have been released so far over at http://www.borderlands2.com/us/

They are  Axton, Salvador, Zero and Maya.

Left clicking to add points is live, but the right click to remove it seems has yet to be added or being able to share your build with others, either way I'm getting more excited each day.

BRING ON THE CE LOOT CHEST!

Borderlands 2, Loot Chest Edition

EBGamesAus just announced on Twitter at 12pm tomorrow, EB Games Australia will have an EXTREMELY LIMITED stock of Borderlands 2 Loot Chest Editions on their website.

So get your credit card ready and keep F5 at the ready!!

CLICK HERE!