Forza Motorsport 4 Review

Forza Motorsports 4        9.5 out of 10

“An entirely new car experience” (quoted from back of case)



The Quick Review:

The Forza series is quite simply designed for car enthusiasts of every kind. Whether you like to race, drift, paint, or tune there is something here for you. Beautiful race tracks and car interior designs with the power of Kinect you feel like you are in the excitement. So if you are a true Forza veteran, like myself, or brand new to the series you will find countless hours of enjoyment from this title!  

 

Game Junkie’s Review:

Single player: 

Forza is at heart what you make it. Single player starts off a little slow, literally, with F class cars. Don’t be discouraged as it will pick up as you rank up. One of the best changes in this installment of Forza is the A.I.  They are MUCH better drivers and they tend to be much more aggressive then they have ever been. So much so that they will even try to spin you out when you take a corner. IT IS FREAKIN AWESOME! Also the career mode has changed slightly. You now get a few choices as to what class of car you race on a specific race track (most of the time) the only annoying part is listening to the announcer over and over and over….. The paint shop has also improved with two new tabs of user created shapes to create with. I myself love painting and have more time logged in paint shop then I do in racing. I’ll show some of my art at the end of the review. The tuning is also more refined and you can tell they put more thought into the true physics of tires and curb weight. Basically the single player is awesome, once you have finished the career you can race everything else in event mode and get any races you missed. (Which will be a ton)

Multiplayer:

Everything that makes single player great is transferred to multiplayer. Unlike previous Forzas, you can race against up to 16 players online in lots of fun modes. You have everything from straight up races and drag races, to drift races and car soccer, yes you read right car soccer. You can now get your buddies together into a car club and challenge rival racers in rivals mode. Rivals mode is a new mode where you attempt to collect “bounties” by beating other players times or drift scores on a specific track with a specific car type. So my opinion is that multiplayer will keep you laughing at awesome wrecks you cause with your buddies for hours unknown!

Graphics:

The graphics in this game are amazing. From the interior views to the mountains in the background it will make your jaw drop. Even the sun plays a major factor in races now with the new lighting Forza developed for their game. I can’t tell you how awesome (and frustrating) it is to go up a hill and feel like you have just been blinded by the sun for a few seconds. I’m not sure how Turn 10 is going to amp up the real life experience any more for future Forzas but I can’t wait to see.

Sound:

Ok I have two opinions here. On the one hand the car sounds are amazing and crisp. Having been in some of the cars before the sounds are spot on. However the background music is HORRIBLE in my opinion. I usually turn all game music down and play my own tunes if I want to listen to something.

Controls:

The controls in this game are easy to understand. Your basic controls are right trigger gas, left trigger brake, left stick steer, and right stick free look. You can up your difficulty and add gear shifting to your control set up. You can also buy one of many aftermarket steering wheels that up the realism of the game.

Replay value:

This title is all about replay. I have at least 70 hours wrapped up in it so far and I’m still loving it. I highly recommend this game to any fellow gear heads out there looking for a real racing experience.

Drunk Man’s Review:

Drunk Man was not available for this review. Which didn’t hurt my feelings much as I get this one all to myself.. *insert evil laugh here*

Some of my paint jobs.

Written by Game Junkie

Mass Effect 3 Review

Mass Effect 3             9 out of 10

“Earth is ground zero in the war to save the galaxy, and how you wage that war is entirely up to you.  Groundbreaking interactive storytelling drives the heart-pounding action in which each decision you make could have devastating and deadly consequences.” (quoted from back of game case)

In Mass Effect 3 you are Commander Shepard, a hero that is trying to save the universe in a galactic battle that threatens to end all life.  For starters if you haven’t played the first and second installments of this game I highly suggest you play them. 

The Quick Review:

The quick break down of this game is it’s a space RPG, third person shooter, and well written story.  Starting on Earth the game is fairly fast paced feeling compared to the starts of the other Mass Effects.  Kinect voice commands work fairly well.  Multiplayer is pretty much Mass Effects version of a horde mode with support for 4 players and diverse classes, customizable weapons loadouts and armor.  This game is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a good story, after all being made by BioWare, the story is deep enough that once you start playing you’ll look up and realize three hours went by without feeling like you’ve played for that long. 

Game Junkie’s Review:

Single player: 

In my opinion, Mass Effect 3’s single player is where it’s at!  It starts strong and ends strong. Characters are well rounded and well developed, you can absolutely get lost in the story of this game.  It presents you with so many meaningful choices that truly affect the end of the story.  The RPG elements in the game are simple enough for even Drunk Man to understand, and the combat feels similar to Gears of War.  Basically if you like games on a galactic scale and you like story driven titles this game is a sure bet to leaving your wife all alone in bed on Saturday nights.

Multiplayer:

The multiplayer is also very inspired by Gears of War. It is essentially horde mode Mass Effect style. You start off on a map of your choosing and combat is fairly fast paced with each wave getting progressively harder.  After every third wave you get a special round. The special rounds are objective based and can be anything from turning off monitors or killing special baddies.  So if you like horde mode styles you will love the Mass Effect multiplayer experience.

Graphics:

Graphics in this game are great.  Character models look great and facial animations are spot on.  Environmental designs are awe inspiring and the Normandy has never looked better.

Sound:

Voice acting at its greatest, the dialog is amazing. The sound track is fitting for the gameplay and feels natural with what you are doing at the time.

Controls:

Very simple controls help you make important combat decisions.  The A button does all your running and puts you into cover. Left trigger zooms in on shots and right trigger fires. The B button does your melee. Left bumper chooses combat abilities for you and your party and right bumper gives you weapon choices.

Replay Value:

With multiple endings and engrossing storyline that can change with your decisions,  not to mention a fun multiplayer mode,  the replay value is high! Basically if you don’t like this game you are a communist…

Drunk Man’s Review:

Single Player:

Ok so basically this game is a third person shooter based in space.  I have never been a big fan of third person shooter I prefer first person simply because I am a simple man.  I prefer to be able to look down the sights and see the look on the face of my enemy at the moment he knows his head is going to cave in.  Now keeping this factoid in mind this was still a damn good game.  The story line was outfreakinstandingly awesome to say the least.  It was as if u were watching a really good movie but getting to choose what the main character said and does.  It was quite easy to get lost in this storyline for hours on end while thinking only a few minutes had passed.  Now a couple of things I wasn’t a fan of with this title was the controls I really was not a fan.  The controls in this game seriously cut into my drinking time and have a very negative affect on my buzz.

Multiplayer:

For this game's multiplayer mode I was pleasantly pleased and surprised at the fact that it is basically a survival mode.  I have always been a fan of survival mode and just hammering away at wave after wave of my enemies.  It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes of all time "kill 'em all and let god sort 'em out."  Now again this is all in third person mode.  The only way multiplayer could have been improved in the eyes of Drunkman is make it first person, but that’s just the opinion of one person.

Graphics:

The graphics in this game actually surprised me.  I have never been very impressed with the anime looking faces of most space games but I was impressed by the uses of drop shadows and bone structure in the faces of the characters.  The backdrops that were used in this title were quite detailed and it did not go unnoticed.  A lot of time was consumed in the details of every aspect of this game from the characters to designing the hospital and it was time well spent.

Controls:

As I said earlier I'm not a fan of the controls used.  They were quite sketchy in the beginning but as u play things do start to click some.  However I found that I was still repeatedly finding myself cussing the game and myself for taking too long to figure out what was going on. 

Replay Value:

Replay value for this game quite simply it’s a must.  Every choice u make including what to say make a drastic change in the storyline.  So only playing this game once is about as smart as buying a unicorn from a one eyed liger named Steve. (Simply said not a good idea)

Written by Game Junkie and Drunk Man