Gran Turismo 5 Review

Gran Turismo 5 is out. No more delays, pushbacks, or excuses. The release is enough to get any serious automotive gaming fan excited, and by the time this review is published, I am nearly certain that die-hard automotive fans will have already picked up and played this title. But for those of you who aren't willing to brave the midnight launch or who are wondering what all the hype is about, I'll let you in on a little secret: Gran Turismo 5 is amazing. If you are on the fence about this title, or favor another automotive brand, it's time to put away your prejudices and get ready for an awesome experience.



Gran Turismo 5, at its heart, is exactly what fans expect it to be. The game's racing credentials are as solid as they have ever been, and racing around the track with your ride of choice is at once incredibly challenging but deeply enjoyable. The simulation-style mechanics have been re-tooled for Gran Turismo 5, and you can tell that a lot of work went into the minutia of each car. Driving a VW Golf around the High Speed Loop and driving around the Rome location track with a tuned Ferrari California are two completely different experiences with their own unique set of challenges. The Golf is a low-level car, and you'll be able to speed up at a reasonable rate, but keeping up with the competition and controlling your turns will be where the game's difficulty ramps up. And although you may believe that the better the car, the smoother your ride will be, Gran Turismo 5 makes sure the challenge stays constant, as high performance cars can be difficult to navigate through hairpin turns. Each car in the game feels different to drive, and with the game's 1,000+ garage, the gameplay never gets stale. There is constantly a new experience waiting for you as you unlock more cars for your personal garage.

In addition to the massive garage, the game also features tuning options. While the breadth of the tuning options isn't all that deep, you can replace basic parts like shocks and tires, as well as swap out drivetrains and chassis. Each car has three levels of customization for each area, and the development for each car is unfortunately linear. Still, saving up the cash to tune up your favorite car is a rewarding experience, and you'll see a difference in performance after every tune-up.

Let's shift gears for a moment (pun intended) and talk about the actual gameplay. The game's main mode, GT Mode, includes every mode you'll need (except for arcade mode and local co-op) and includes a plethora of modes that will keep you busy for months. The primary mode is the A-spec racing mode, which gives players a chance to enter tournaments, win prizes, and increase their driver rank. Although there is no over-arching structure to the A-spec mode, this works in the game's favor, as you can play to your strengths by playing tracks that are optimized for your cars as you unlock them.

Final Fantasy XIV Online Review

Whenever you load Final Fantasy XIV, the game warns you about the perils of MMO addiction. Enjoy the game, a popup cautions, but don’t get so engrossed that you forget your real-world.

That’s a little presumptuous. FFXIV has the potential to become a phenomenally successful game, but it will need a lot of improvement before people start ignoring their families over it.

Put simply, for a game that’s supposed to be more accessible than other MMOs, FFXIV is pretty tough to get the hang of. Even setting it up is a pain; you have to fill out numerous forms and enter numerous codes, and then “Add a Service Account” to create a character. Those with codes for bonus items have to create another “Service Account” for the items, and must enter their codes before creating a character. (As we learned the hard way, the bonus items are given only to new characters.) Then there are updates to download, which took us several hours, though hopefully the servers are less clogged by now. Also, once your free 30-day pass expires, playing costs $9.99 plus $3 per character each month. To pay, you can either have your credit card charged by a company in England, or purchase some of Square Enix’s inconvenient “Crysta” currency.

Things don’t get much smoother during the game itself. The lack of direction is astounding. There are tutorials, but they’re not particularly informative, and they may not be available when you need them. It will take some time (and a few trips to Google) before you learn to handle even the most basic tasks, such as starting a quest, crafting an item, and equipping a weapon. Sometimes you’ll have to look at an online guide to figure out where you’re supposed to go next, and even when a location is marked on your map, the mark shows up only when you access the map through your journal, rather than through the normal map function. Also, the menu system is frustrating to navigate, the keyboard controls are clunky, and it’s remarkably difficult to trade with other players (this game absolutely needs a search function so you can find the items you want). This is all made slightly more bearable by the well-done and soothing music, though the hard rock tune that blasts during the fight scenes is cheesy and synthetic.

FFXIV also provides a huge world full of diverse characters. There are five different races (with two sub-races each) and three starter cities to choose from, and each city features a different storyline. The character-creation system is simple, but also broad enough that you can make your avatar look however you’d like. (Well, almost however you’d like: emo hair is not optional.)

This game introduces a new character-leveling system that works quite well. While you choose a character class at the beginning of the game, changing classes is as simple as buying a different weapon or tool and equipping it to your character’s main hand. Each character has a “physical level” that stays the same when he changes classes, but also a separate level (or “rank”) for each class. This way, a single character can conjure spells, craft items, and slaughter creatures, and the more time he spends on each skill, the better he gets at it. You also receive skill points you can distribute with each level. The new system makes each player somewhat self-sufficient, though of course different players have to specialize in different things and help each other if they really want to get ahead.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Review

With all the uncertainties surrounding the Activision/Infinity Ward debacle that took place back in March, many pondered an inevitable fall from grace for the Call of Duty franchise. With Medal of Honor's impending preempt release, that speculation was still debatable. However, hardly anyone ever considered the opposite. Except for maybe those who were hard at work behind the doors at Treyarch. They were given an opportunity to prove to the naysayers of the Infinity Ward fan club that they could bring the franchise to bigger and better heights. Even with that hideous monkey called skepticism on their back, the team at Treyarch knew what was at stake and have made their point very clear.

Call of Duty: Black Ops took a lot of risks by stepping away from the norm, particularly in terms of storytelling. Players primarily take the role of Alex Mason, a man who is being held captive and interrogated for information concerning the Ascension Group. A seemingly random sequence of numbers is being broadcast at an unknown location, and his captors believe he has the answers to unravel their mystery. It's hard to speak too much on the plot's topic without giving away any spoilers, but I will say this; their new formula was a huge success.

The story still has plenty of the blockbuster elements that the franchise is known for, but manages to portray itself in a much more intelligent light. It's not just the typical action for action's sake type of game. The story has a well-written narrative that conspiracy buffs will surely love. Not only that, but the main character has a more vocal presence than any previous Call of Duty. The developers even decided to take a slightly more cinematic approach with the addition of a few cutscenes, rather than having dialogue throughout loading screens to help with the pacing. They managed to keep a good balance between set piece moments as well, which are just as intense as ever. Some of the most brutal melee kills are executed during stealth segments, and I imagine that's why they included an option to turn off "graphic" content at the start of the game.

The single player campaign wasn't the only bold evolution that took place, as the multiplayer component had its fair share of alterations. The most prominent is the new currency upgrade system. This new progression method allows players to earn "COD" points in addition to experience points during matches. Not only is this improvement leaps and bounds over the old, but it also gives players a level field by having all perks and attachments available for purchase at the start. Also, once you've unlocked the appropriate categories through ranking up, you can acquire any kill streak reward you wish or invest in an insane amount of customization options. Higher-tier weapons are still unlocked at certain ranks as well, but the advantages they once held are now an issue of the past.

Treyarch even threw in all-new Wager Matches to give those big-talking COD players the chance to put-up or shut-up. These new Free-For-All playlists let you gamble all your hard-earned points in four different game-types: One in the Chamber, Sticks & Stones, Gun Game, and Sharpshooter. Mark my words; these will be some of the most frenetic multiplayer matches you will ever play, bar-none. There are three separate buy-in levels depending on the amount of currency you're willing to risk, and each mode is very addicting and unique.


Source : Cheatcc