Some people may say this is MW 1.5, but there are two things that make this more than just a reissue with a new name and paint job. The first is the game engine. Much has been written about the fact that the game now uses the new 4.0 game engine which IW says not only creates better environments but also allows the NPC’s to react differently to your actions each time you encounter them, essentially creating a new experience each time you play a level.

In terms of the environments, the most impressive display of the updated graphics are the snow storms that you play in early on in the story. No matter where you are taking the fight however, everything around just has a pop to it. There are occasional graphic glitches here and there, but nothing that seems to be recurring in any specific area.

Hearing that the enemy soldiers would react differently each time you confronted them was something that I had to see to believe. True to their word, on one of the mini-game missions you have to navigate across a bay bridge to the other side. I replayed the level a couple times and I did notice that depending on the route I took the oncoming soldiers would take cover behind different objects or sometimes not even press to me, just sitting back waiting for me to come to them. In another level, set in a small village, most of the gang members that I had to track down never seemed to be in the exact same spot with each play through. More time should be spent with it to see exactly to what degree this game play mechanic is effective.

Overall, the single player campaign is varied enough to offer something new to the experienced player without it feeling like a rehash of the same old thing.

Then there is online multi-player where the maps are bigger, the guns badder, and the perks more rewarding.

Most of the 16 maps have everything for everyone. You will be able to find a good sniper spot, navigate hallways, or ally ways for close combat encounters on almost every map. In the first few days of playing, I have yet to play a map that I didn’t like.

The five classes of guns are back from the previous versions. The main big difference is the type of secondary weapon you can choose. You now have the option of a pistol, automatic pistol, shotgun, or grenade launcher. These too will have attachments that you can add as they are unlocked.

There have been changes to the perk system to incorporate the “Pro” version of each. The upgrade version basically adds another trait to the normal perk. The selections that I am personally looking forward to are the Bling Perk (allows two attachments on a weapon), the Cold Blooded perk (undetectable by UAV, air support, sentry guns and thermal vision. The pro version does not show your name or a red cross hair when targeted) and the ninja perk (invisible to the heartbeat sensor attachment…think the tracker from “Aliens”).

Speaking of attachments, each gun has several options that are unlocked just like in the previous game. The difference here is that you must, at times, use the newly unlocked attachment for a set amount of kills to unlock the next attachment. The most interesting is the thermal scope. Looking through the scope give you a gray toned picture with only the soldiers appearing as bright white ghosts.

Finally, there are no Nazi or even Russian Zombies. However, there is a mode call “Special Ops”. This consists of five different packages of timed, survival, and objective based missions that can be played online or with a friend locally. There are some missions that do require two people and there are no options for Bots.

Each package has five different missions and each can be played on three different difficulty settings. A successful completion of a mission will award you a star. The higher difficulty, the more stars awarded. In order to unlock the next package of missions, a certain number of stars must be earned. While playing these missions, you can obtain the same requirements for achievements that you can in the campaign.

In order to advance to the later packages, it will be necessary to complete most if not all of the missions on the hardest level. Prepare to be challenged.

If you are wondering if the novelty of these mini-games will wear thin, the answer is probably yes, but they are a lot of fun. Even my wife, whose video game experience has been Mario Brothers and the occasional UNO game, played the AC-130 mission with me for about two hours. I never thought she would get so excited about blowing up a truck full of soldiers as they drove down the road.

Why you should play it: Great graphics, intense game play. The ability to own the annoying 13-year old from the belly of an AC-130 plane in multi-player.

Why you shouldn’t play it: Shooters with a lot of blood, guts and language are not your idea of a good time. You tend to break your controller after being owned by the annoying 13-year old from the belly of an AC-130 plane in multi-player.

————————————–

John (360 gamer tag J La Flum Boise) is a 32-year old avid gamer going on 20 years. He grew up on the Atari 2600 and now plays on the PS3 and 360. He has been married to a non gamer for almost 7 years and prefers it stays that way because he does not like to share his toys.

The most common thing about all this performance art-related media seems to be a general positive outlook on the whole prospect. The idea that being beautiful and talented and passionate is all you really need in this world to make it.

And then there was Fame.

The original Fame was a film that came out in 1980 and followed a series of students through four years at New York City’s High School for the Performing Arts (A real place, for the record, today known as “Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts”) where they would spend a full half their time devoted to intense study of their chosen artistic outlet and the other half taking on a full academic course load.

Fame was extremely different from most movies of this sort, this was the story about how brutal the entertainment and artistic industries can be. Promising graduating seniors were reduced to serving current PA students in a run-down diner after utterly failing to make anything of themselves in the real world. Students were lured into fake screen tests and tricked into undressing in front of a camera for the amusement of some sleazy stranger. A student had to have an abortion to take a spot with the ballet and continue with her dream.

The new Fame is not nearly so dark.

The core concept remains the same. It follows a group of impossibly talented teens (Note: NOT the same characters as the original) as they make their way through four years at PA, but the focus is quite different. It doesn’t appear to want to make you feel like being famous has much of a cost at all. The worst thing that happens is someone who finds out he isn’t as talented as he wants to be contemplates tossing himself in front of a train (A throwback to a scene in the original film) but is pulled from the edge by his friends, and he ultimately decides it’s not so bad after all. Most of the other “harsh” moments stem from things like horny older guys who use screen tests as an excuse to make out with younger actresses for a few minutes and producers who only want one person out of a group of performers, but dammit, they’re not going to take that deal because they’re going to make it their own way.

So, it’s Fame defanged, in short. Does that mean it’s bad?

Not necessarily. The music is pretty solid, the visuals are well executed, and there are certainly worse movies out there. This version of Fame just isn’t nearly as original or interesting. It’s the same as any number of other movie-musicals about young artists. It even has a lot of the same tropes and idioms (Like a lunchroom Jam Session that starts with a couple people and soon has damn near the whole school playing instruments, singing/rapping and dancing), and while they are executed well enough, there’s no reason this is going to convert you to the genre if it’s not already your thing.

Why you should see it: You’re into the whole musical thing, you think Glee is the best goddamn show ever, you liked the idea of Fame, but the original was too dark for you.

Why you shouldn’t see it: People bursting into song makes you physically ill, you’re a devotee of the original Fame, you were hoping for a pure remake, and not a new group of characters.

He's the Goddamn Batman

A couple different Superheros could probably vie for the title of most beloved overall, but if you ask your average joe who their favorite comic Badass is, Batman may well stand alone.  It’s somewhat surprising, then, that Batman’s history with video games has been somewhat problematic. Most of the caped crusader’s interactive media exploits have, till now, received moderate praise at best.

Arkham Asylum breaks this trend in the most spectacular of ways. The game opens with Batman having just stopped the Joker’s latest crime, but is unsettled by how easily the Clown Prince of Crime gave himself up, and chooses to see him into Arkham’s holding cell before disappearing into the night. Once they get very deep into the complex, the Joker’s men spring a trap, and Batman finds himself trapped in an Arkham Asylum run by the Joker and crawling with his cronies and other Super Villains.

Arkham is expertly detailed, and as you travel location to location, you’ll have a constant running commentary from your arch-nemisis who tells his thugs what you’re up to. While Batman is more than capable of handling large groups of thugs in a relatively simple combat system, he becomes quite less able when you realize that in this game guns are fucking dangerous. If you openly approach anyone with a firearm, you are probably going to die or only just escape with your life. Batman must rely on his stealth skills and take on his opponents one at a time to have any chance of survival.

Fortunatley, the old Batman tropes are present. You start out the game with Batarangs (blissfully, there is no ammo count on Bat-a-rangs) and a gas-powered grapple gun, but you’ll add Explosive Gel, The Batclaw (a hookshot like item you can you to draw objects towards you) and various modified versions of these items. Each experience level lets you pick an upgrade to one of your gadgets, so you can make your explosive gel act like a proximity mine, or add the ability to throw two or three bat-a-rangs at once.

There’s a surprising amount of content on the island. As you travel around, you’ll find riddles to solve from Mister Edward Nigma, collect interview tapes on the various Arkham Super Criminals, and learn about the richly detailed origins of Arkham Asylum itself, which is very much a character in this outing.

The voice acting is, of course, fantastic, with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hammil returning to their roles as Batman and The Joker respectively. One might worry that after all these years they would have gotten tired of playing the characters and given a half-hearted performance. These fears turn out to be unfounded, as both actors give some of the best performances as these characters they’ve ever given. It’s a little jarring at first to hear the voices from the cartoons coming out of these extremely high resolution models, but it will be hard to find an appropriate replacement when these two retire.

All in all, this is hands down the best Batman game they’ve made yet, and it shows that to make a good Superhero game you don’t need to create a huge sandbox world full of anonymous crimes to punch out. A small and richly detailed setting provides just as much awesome and more.

Why you should play it: You’re a Batman Fan; Stealth Action Games are your bag; You were a big fan of Batman: The Animated Series or the Justice League cartoons; You’re looking for a new Superhero title to fill the void in your life after Infamous and Prototype, but Champions Online is still too far away.

Why you shouldn’t play it: You think Cristian Bale’s “Batman With Strep Throat” voice is the best acting ever, You want a sandbox Batman game, “Superman could have taken care of this situation in like 10 seconds”

Through their battles with the eight Devils of Kimon Kagero wants nothing but to make things even between her and Jubei.  Dakuan reveals to her that Jubei has been poisoned and there’s only one antidote that can cure him.  An antidote that Kegaro holds.  Jubei soon learns that an old foe he thought dead has returned to life as the leader of the Devils of Kimon.  His goal through the film is to hunt down his nemesis and end his life for good.

Cast/Crew- This film was brought to us by director Yoshiaki Kawajiri.  Who also direct the series X and Vampire Hunter D.  Our vagabond, Jubei was voiced by Koichi Yamadera and Bradley Lavelle.  Most of Bradley’s work has been in video game voice overs.  A few of these are Big Mutha Truckers, X3: Reunion, and Driver.  Jubei’s love interest, Kagero, was voiced by Emi Shinohara and Wendee Lee.  Wendee Lee voiced Charlotte in Vampire Hunter D and also Tatsuki Arisawa from Bleach.  Unfortunately, I can only find the English voice actor for our instigator of the film, Dakuan.  He was voiced by Jimmy Theadore.  Jimmy has also voiced for El Hazard, Trigun, and Serial Experiments: Lain.  Most of the voice actors for this film have had smaller parts in some larger series, but they all flow well together in this film.

Reflection- Ninja Scroll is not my typical cup of tea, and I can’t say I greatly enjoyed it.  The story is dark, intense, and a little difficult to follow for the the casual viewer.  I tend to like my anime on the light and funny side.  I do, occasionally, enjoy something a little more dark, but this just didn’t fit the bill.

I’ve heard nothing but good things about this film, and watched it upon recommendation from multiple people.  The story was good, and I’m sure I would enjoy it better after a second viewing.  I just couldn’t keep focus on the story.  Jubei was a great character.  I wasn’t a fan of Kagero though.  Her character seemed to never have a focus.  She was strong and proud one minute, and a crying little girl the next.  She is a woman, though, so that probably explains the mood swings.  I would say this is definitely a mans anime.  A lot of blood and violence.  Very little of anything else

Over all, it’s a good story, the art is typical, and the characters entertaining.  I could watch it again, and am actually listening to it in the background while writing this, but I doubt this will ever be part of my collection.

Why you should watch: You enjoy typical hack and slash ninja anime with a decent story.

Why you shouldn’t watch: You’re not a fan of violence and naked boobies, or you prefer a lighter story with more humor.

Link to Wiki

Made my Studio Radiolaris, this game mixes a R-Type-like ship you control with your left thumb, and a cursor you control with your right thumb Rez style.

The object of the game is to chain as many ships together in one swipe as you can (max of 4 in one swipe) to collect points. Ships you destroy also leave behind red pellets you pick up, which advance you through the levels. In later levels you do run into massive swarms of enemies, and you’ll need to be pretty quick about getting them all to survive. It gets hectic, but not overwhelmingly so.

The same bills itself as a music game, but I did not notice much of an impact on the soundtrack as I would in a game like Rez. The soundtrack is good, although the confirmation sound when you swipe across enemies does sound suspiciously like the sound effect from Rez, as does the destruction of enemies sound.

I like that you can continue from where you left off when you leave the game, and that if you die you can start on any of the arcade levels you wish to. Bomb Run, honestly, I had no idea what was the difference between that and Arcade was. Flow is a mode where you take no damage, so it’s just a chillout mode. The game does connect to the Steam/PSN/XBL-esque Feint network, which is pretty cool. It can also connect to Facebook and Twitter to send out acheivement notices, which is sort of neat.

For 99 cents, it’s really hard to go wrong with the game. It’s pretty fun, and even if you only get an hour or two our of it, that’s pretty damn good for the price.

Why You Should Buy Radio Flare: 99 cents, fun, good soundtrack

Why You Shouldn’t Buy Radio Flare: You don’t have 99 cents, hate fun, don’t like music

Synopsis-

 Cast/Crew-ADV Films brought us this Gainax series directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga.  Yamaga also produced several episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion.  Our intrepid warrior, Satoshi (Sasshi) Imamiya, was voiced by Tomo Saeki and Luci Chirstian.  Luci also voiced Komachi Mikumari from Samurai 7.  Sasshi’s long time best friend Arumi Asahina was voiced by Yuki Matsuoka and Jessica Boone.  Jessica and Luci worked together on multiple series including Full Metal Panic.  Eutus, a secondary, but very important character, was voiced by Rikiya Koyama and ChrisPatton.  The vocal talent was well selected for this series and extremely entertaining.

Reflection- This is a not so well known series that has always been in my top 10 list.  Each world you encounter is new, exciting, and always geeky in some way, shape, or form.  Tons of action, lots of light comedy, and a little side of compassion.  It’s a well written series with decent animation.  I’m no animation expert though.  If you don’t find yourself at least giggling at the fart jokes then you are more mature than I am.  So good for you!

The series is going to take you all over the place, and it may be hard to follow in the beginning.  I believe, though, if you stick with it through the end you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Why you should watch: You enjoy crazy changing worlds, science fiction, and a heartfelt story.

Why you shouldn’t watch:You don’t get sci-fi, geek, nerd, or dork reference, and you dislike scantily clad women.

Link to Wiki

Nausicaa’s small valley first sees trouble when an airship from a neighboring nation crashes into the cliffs. Attempting to save a young girl from the wreckage Nausicaa learns there is cargo from the airship that must be destroyed.

Shortly after this the village receives guests from Tolmekia, the owners of the airship that crashed into the village. These guests were extremely hostile and assassinated Nausicaa’s father, the king of the Valley of the Wind. The entire valley is taken hostage by Kushana and her army. Once settled into the valley Kushana decided the cargo from the airship cannot be moved so they must stay and revive the monster where they were. She attempts to return to Tolmekia to tell them of the news when her airship, holding Nausicaa as a hostage, is attacked by a small Pejitan gunship. Nausicaa and another hostage attempt to escape in a small gunship, but Kushana soon joins them. The small Pejitan gunship along with Nausicaa’s crash deep inside the toxic forest. The noise disturbed some of the gigantic insects, and Nausicaa is forced to communicate with them in an attempt to calm them. While doing this she learns that the pilot of the Pejitan airship is still alive. She soon finds the pilot, and it is revealed to her that he is the Pejitan prince (Asbel) and the young girl Nausicaa attempted to save was his sister.

The plot continues to thicken as Nausicaa and Asbel, together, attempt to save her valley.

Cast/Crew- This movie was directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki. He also brought you Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, among other titles. Unlike most anime this movie has a well known English voice acting cast. Our young heroine, Nausicaa, was voice by Sumi Shimamoto and Alison Lohman (Drag Me to Hell). The valley’s greatest hero, Lord Yupa, was voiced by Goro Naya and Patrick Stewart (X-Men Origins: Wolverine). Yes that Patrick Stewart. I was surprised also. Our overbearing villain, Kushana, was voiced by Yoshiko Sakakibara and Uma Thurman (My Super Ex-Girlfriend). Lastly, for our starring cast, we have the young rebel love interest, Asbel. Asbel was voiced by Yōji Matsuda and Shia LaBeouf (Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen). I’m always skeptical when it comes to English voice actors and anime, however, this cast has blown me away with their talent.

Reflection- Studio Ghibli, thankfully, put together a great cast.  This is, and always will be, one of my absolute favorite Miyazaki films. The characters and story are all well written. Though I will say that about most Miyazaki films. I’m a little bit of a fan girl. It’s a story about war, about hope, about believing in and doing what’s right. You’ll love some characters, and you’ll hate others. As it should be in any good story.

I have no bad things to say about this film. Nausicaa is by far my favorite character from the movie. She’s strong and moral. A good role model for any young girl, in my opinion.  The movie was originally release in 1984 and brought over with English voice actors in 2005. The story is timeless, and, in my humble opinion, holds something for everyone. There’s enough action to keep the men entertained and enough heartfelt story for the ladies.

Why you should watch: It’s a great story full of fantasy and action.

Why you shouldn’t watch: Giant insects of doom give you nightmares.

Link to Wiki

Swinging — the application of centripetal force on a moving object to create a circular motion. It is used in playgrounds to entertain children, in amusement parks to thrill visitors, and has recently become a trend in gaming to captivate players. Games like Tomb Raider and Little Big Planet use it as a key to solving puzzles, while games like Spider-Man and Bionic Commando use it as a focal point of their combat and exploration. However, no game has solely explored the entertainment value to be found in swinging quite as deeply as CarneyVale Showtime, now available on Xbox Live Community Games.

The idea here is simple. Players take control of an up-and-coming carnival performer in it to make fans and put on a show. This is done through 19 different stages, each beginning with the player being expelled from a cannon, and ending when said player manages to launch themselves through a large ring of flame. This is done using a series of grapple points on each stage, each activated by holding the A button whilst in range. This causes an arm to swing the player and constantly spin until released, sending our carney friend soaring in whatever direction their momentum dictates. Once airborne, players can influence their direction with the left thumbstick, but ultimately gravity and the timing of release mostly determine their fate.

After successfully navigating a stage, players are then graded on their performance on a five-star scale. Unlike most games that use this approach, CarneyVale assigns these stars based on accomplishments done during their journey into the sky. Collecting balloons, finding a hidden token, not taking damage, and finishing quickly all add points to a collective total, gradually increasing your rank and circus appeal. While these may be rather minor goals at first, the latter half of the game takes a turn for the brutal, requiring certain mastery of both the quickly-unlocked dash move and the game’s use of rotational physics in order to circumvent a variety of electrical and fire hazards. These hazards, like the game itself, seem almost harmless initially, but soon conspire to offer a challenge that is both very strong, but also very rewarding. The downside to all of this comes from the game’s length, taking only an hour or two to finish, though there’s plenty to keep perfectionists busy.

Xbox Live Community Games are mostly created by hobbyist developers, and as such, are often lacking in audiovisual flair and polish. Playing CarneyVale, it would be difficult to see why. The carnival theme is out in full force, with environments looking, sounding, and feeling all very cheery and fun like one would expect. The animation is surprisingly fluid and well-done. The visual effects beautifully jump off the screen when collecting balloons or flying through a ring of fire. Even the game’s music and sound effects do a great job of providing a cheerful atmosphere to the experience. The only real negative that could be found in this regard is the quality of the introductory voice overs – a problem affecting nearly every community game that uses them.

To anyone looking for a good entry-point into the community games area on XBL, look no farther than CarneyVale Showtime. The game offers a very fast-paced swinging experience in a platformer that is like no other. Charming style, simple yet challenging gameplay, and numerous extras (including a level editor) all compose a package that provides more content and enjoyment than several Live Arcade games at only half the cost.

Why you should play: Swinging mechanic is a blast, challenging in a fun way, great style/atmosphere, a freaking level editor!

Why you shouldn’t play: Only 19 stages, VERY short (near an hour to beat), may not heal painful childhood carnie memories.

CarneyVale Showtime — 400 ms points.

At its simplest, Metal Gear Solid was a re-envisioning of the Metal Gear series that made its debut on the MSX home computers, and later appeared on the Nintendo NES in North America. Many of the gameplay elements are clearly transplanted almost directly from those old 8-bit games, such as the fixed top-down camera, the shoehorned-on inventory controls and the tiny portrait windows for the numerous codec conversations. However, due to brilliant level design, completely voiced dialog delivered by a spectacularly first-rate cast, a rousing and incredibly memorable score, and the stunning (by PS1-in-1998 standards) graphics, you’ll hardly notice that.

For the uninitiated, Metal Gear Solid sees protagonist Solid Snake brought out of retirement for one last mission. A nuclear weapons storage facility on an Alaskan island has been taken over by terrorists, and Snake is sent in alone to stop them carrying out their threat of launching a nuclear warhead. It all sounds very by-the-numbers on the surface, but it becomes apparent very quickly that it’s anything but that; and if you’re at all familiar with the sequels, you’ll know this is a saga that is ultimately long, convoluted and anything but clichéd.

The camera dynamically shifts to cinematic views when you push up against cover.

What this means in terms of playing the game is that you’d be utterly outgunned and hopelessly outnumbered if you charged in like a one-man army. Snake is, for all his legendary hero status, largely an everyman; thus, his best option is stealth. Metal Gear Solid, though, doesn’t rely quite as heavily on total stealth as certain of its late-’90s sneaky contemporaries, such as the PC’s Thief series, and its 8-bit roots become quite apparent in the blatant limitations of its enemy AI – they can’t see you unless you’re quite nearby, and if they do spot you, hide long enough and they’ll forget you were ever there. Still, the game probably wouldn’t have worked any other way.

Metal Gear Solid also redefined narrative in action games. While the lengthy cutscenes and codec conversations may elicit groans from some gamers of the modern era, it’s worth remembering that in 1998, no-one else even tried to create such depth of plot; Half-Life, which hit PCs the same year, is quite literally the only possible comparison in any kind of action-based genre. By the end of the game your mind will be reeling from the revelations. When I originally played MGS in 1998, my closing opinion was that while it might not be the best game ever made, it was definitely one of them; and it was also quite possibly the most memorable, and thankfully for all the right reasons.

Snake heads into the unknown with a jammed radar making his immediate future rather uncertain.

$9.99 on PSN for Metal Gear Solid is a steal. It’s a great trip back in time for any PS3 owners, especially those who have played the PS3’s own Metal Gear Solid 4 and are wondering about the story’s origins. It’s even better for PSP owners, who can finally (legitimately) play this classic game on the go, and on the PSP’s 4.3″ screen, the aged appearance of the PS1’s graphics becomes far less of an issue than it would be on a modern high-definition TV. Added to that, the controls lend themselves perfectly to the PSP, requiring only two shoulder buttons and totally eschewing the home consoles’ right analog stick. It’s not the longest game, but it offers some bonus VR missions and definite replayability to add some hours to your purchase.

Why you should play it – One of the original PlayStation’s seminal classics that begat one of gaming’s most loved and revered franchises; reinvented narrative in gaming almost single-handedly; still a total blast to play despite occasionally feeling archaic.

Why you shouldn’t – If you can’t handle decade-old graphics, in which case try the Gamecube remake Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes instead; you’ve already played it a bazillion times and still have the PS1 discs kicking around; you hate fun.

Cover art for The Sims 3 (US)

There are few franchises as big as The Sims, and none that were launched in the last ten years. It’s the fourth biggest franchise, and the only franchise with only three main games to its title.

Those are some big damn shoes. So how does it measure up?

The short answer is “Exceedingly well.” Sims 3 expands and improves upon almost every aspect of game play from the Sims 2. Gone are tedious loading screens when your Sims move from one lot to another – it’s now a seamless transfer, you can zoom out from your lot to see the entire neighborhood at any time. When set on the Autonomy Level of “High Free Will”, your Sims do a much better job of taking care of their needs, including making smart decisions about when to sleep, eat, and head for the bathroom. And while the new “Story Progression” option is a bit controversial, it finally adds a missing “world simulation” feel to the game. The graphics are improved, with better draw distance and more scenic vistas. A trait system has been added, allowing you to specify five points of distinction in your Sim’s personalities. Skills have been improved, adding more ways to interact between Sims and several interesting goals to achieve within each Skill. Careers have been improved with the ability to change your actions at work (like Suck Up To Boss, Hang Out With Co-Workers, or Work Hard), and some now branch (the Criminal Career branches into “Thievery” and “Evil”). The list goes on, and on, and on. In my opinion, this game is fantastic.

Eating by the beach

Well, that’s the good. What’s the bad? If you’ve been playing The Sims 2 with any expansion packs, you’re going to miss those. No university, owning your own business has been reduced to buying an existing business, no pets, no weather, no apartments. Bet your bottom dollar that many of these things will be coming back via expansion pack. And that ties directly into what many people will say is their biggest gripe with the game: EA has integrated an online store into the game. The Exchange is still there, allowing you to upload user creations (at least, those created within the bounds of the game), but right along side it are for-pay items that cost Simpoints. These items tend to be ridiculously priced. You get $10 (1,000 in Simpoints) with the purchase of the game, and there are furniture sets that run 2,000 points (yeah, you read that right: $20 for 37 pieces of furniture). Individual items (clothing, hair styles, ) run about $0.50 – $1.00, with the occasional branded item (like the Fanta(R) Fridge) being free. My biggest gripe is that there is apparently no way to create your own neighborhood from scratch directly in the game. The Sims 2 shipped with three, and I could create as many as I wanted in addition to that. The Sims 3 comes with one, and one more can be downloaded after registering. That’s a bit stifling for my tastes.

Rummaging through the trash

There are also a few bugs, the most major of which is being unable to turn off the “Story Progression” option. This means that anytime you’re playing one household, all the others are also advancing. They’re eating food, going to work, making and breaking relationships, and aging. If you’re playing “Sim Neighborhood,” and want to control every aspect of every Sim’s life you’ve touched, this is probably going to bother you. Luckily, there’s an official workaround and an unofficial fan patch. Which segues nicely into my final issue, which is less an issue with The Sims 3 and more an issue with EA’s approach to the game. Mods are, officially, forbidden now. If you follow the politics of gaming (or gaming news in general), you’ll probably remember that The Sims 2 drew fire from certain groups asserting that it contained obscene material. Modifying the game is still possible, and there are already a few out there. Just don’t talk about it on the EA forums unless you want to be removed.

A view of the neighborhood

But if you’ve never played the Sims before, talking about “What’s Better?” and describing “What’s Worse?” doesn’t really describe the game for you, or give you a good idea if you’ll like it or not. This next section is for you.

The easiest way to describe The Sims 3 is to call it a life simulator. You create one or more virtual people – called Sims – and “simulate” their life. They start off with some money, you move them into a lot (or house, furnished or unfurnished) of your choosing… and then see where their life takes you. You can build a house, or build additions to an existing house. You can furnish that house – pick the floors, paint the walls, install windows, hang pictures, place cabinets, purchase stoves, tables, chairs, dressers, bookshelves… basically, look around you. Just about everything you see has an analog in the game. You can get your Sim a job, or have him lounge about and get fired. Your Sim can make friends, fall in love, have children, have grandchildren… and they can die. They can drown, or be burned to death, or be electrocuted, or starve.

A typical Sim family

This may sound too realistic, too maudlin. But it’s all in how you play it. There’s an aspect of the cartoonish to Sims that keeps them from feeling too real. Even the most cruel actions are broken up with a bit of levity – an Evil Sim can steal candy from a baby, and does so with a Bond-villain flair. It’s camp. Take, for example one of the current Sim fads: playing a hobo. The Sims 3 doesn’t require you to have money, or house, or even a bed. You can sleep on park benches, grab a shower at the local gym, even mooch from unattended picnic baskets (or acquaintances). If you need money, you can plya a guitar for donations or write a novel at the local library. One of the modern societal ills has been robbed of its edge and turned into a game. Simply put: your Sims are what you make of them.

If any of this sounds vaguely interesting, you owe it to yourself to check it out. There’s no other series out there quite like The Sims, and The Sims 3 is an excellent time to jump in.

Create-A-Bum

Why you should play: It’s a significant upgrade to The Sims 2, there’s a lot of fun to be had, and – it’s more Sims!

Why you shouldn’t play: Some people won’t like this style of open-world, make-your-own-story game.

]]> http://www.geeksofunusualsize.com/video-games/review-the-sims-3/feed/ 1