More than two decades ago, Solid Snake was introduced to this world. Today, he is still as badass and ready to kill anything standing in his way. This game is set in the date of 2014, five years after the Big Shell incident (which is from MGS2: Sons of Liberty.) The world economies strive on the fact that there are continuous wars being fought. These wars are fought by PMC’s (Private Military Company.) These PMC’s outnumber the government military forces, and the PMC are armed with nanomachines to give them an extra edge on the battlefield. The Sons of the Patriots created the nanomachines, and Liquid Ocelot is preparing to hijack the whole system. Oh that Liquid. You play as Old Snake so it’s your duty to stop him, with the help of Octacon and Sunny providing mission support from the Nomad aircraft.

This game is “supposed” to be Snake’s final mission. After more than 20 years of faithful service, Snake has become a legend, and is finally receiving an honorable discharge. But Snake is not going on some joy ride. Oh, no. He is out to stop the infamous Liquid Ocelot.

The villains in this game are just straight up crazy. SERIOUSLY. THEY ARE CRAZY. The villains include Laughing Octopus, Raging Raven, Crying Wolf, and Screaming Mantis. They are all very beautiful women that are drugged up and put in some sort of a bionic suit. Each bionic suit is different from the last in both style and ability. Once you defeat these villains, they come out of their suits, and try to “attack” you without any protection. I put quotations over the attack because they just walk toward you, unarmed, just laughing. You have a pistol, you shoot them a couple times, and they die. Poor girls…. Don’t you hate it when beautiful women are drugged up and put in bionic suits and are just so crazy that all they want to do is kill you?!? Ummmm…… ok….. On with the review!

You will spend most of your time watching really long cinematics. I’m talking about REALLY long. But anyone who has ever played through any MGS game knows that this is just the way it is. I’m not complaining. This game was beautiful. The graphics are so amazing, you feel like your watching an animated movie.  The scenes where Raiden fights Vamp is one of the most incredible animated action sequences I have ever seen in my life. Then the cinematic is over, and you realize, “OH $H!7 I’m still playing a video game!”

Since you are Solid Snake, you can pretty much play the whole game avoiding almost all enemies. There is still the cardboard box and a barrel that you can acquire and equip to roll around without being detected. This game is pretty awesome for the simple fact that you can seriously do some damage while not being all sneaky. You can honestly play through this game a variety of ways. You can play it “run and gun” style, or you can use the old MGS style and sneak around everything. Everything in this game is integrated so well. You will not feel that the guns are uncomfortable to use and won’t think that these guns shouldn’t be in a stealth game.

The iPod is a great addition to the equipment you are able to receive. You can collect iPods throughout the game that contain music from previous Metal Gear games. My only issue with the iPod though is the fact that you are not able to use any other item while it’s equipped. So it’s cool for about 10 minutes, or at least until you completely forget about it and never use it again. Otacon also provides you with the Mk. II droid that allows you to go spy on people or go around corners via a little droid with wheels.

There is not actually much I can say about his game without ruining major plot points in the story. So play the game. It’s a great game. A MUST HAVE! Oh yeah, and Raiden is a bad ass……

The idea of running, or driving, through a barren wasteland of mostly sand and rotting towns to complete an objective or look for someone to to kill may not be to appealing. Add it to Borderlands’ highly-addictive leveling system and RPG style character-building elements and you have a game that any First Person Shooter fan can instantly fall in love with.
Lets be honest, Borderlands looks awesome. The “concept art” style shaded graphics creates a completely new look. The style adds vibrance to a barren wasteland of dirt, and that is saying a lot in itself, but the players and enemies look great too. I played the Xbox 360 version, which surprisingly held up well, only slowing down when action got extremely intense with a lot of enemies on the screen at once.

Unfortunately, the storyline lacks, well… a story. From the beginning, you are thrown from quest to quest searching for fragments of a key to a vault, all instructed by a girl who randomly pops up in the upper right-hand corner of your screen to give you instruction. She never tells you who she is, why she is talking to you, what is in the vault, or why you are collecting the pieces.

When you begin borderlands, you are introduced to a planet named  are asked to choose between one of four main characters, each of which comes with their own special abilities and weapons of choose. The four main characters are Roland, Mordecai, Lilith, and Brick. I chose Mordecai because his weapon of choice is the sniper, and I always enjoy sniping in other FPS games. After choosing your character, you meet a claptrap, a small robot that you will encounter several times throughout the game  you are thrown into a small battle where you will learn the majority of the very basic, FPS-style button controls.

Now that you are accustomed to the controls, you will start taking on quests from non-player characters or bounty boars that you find throughout the world of Pandora. Players start the game with the ability to use two weapons, but later gain the ability to carry up to four weapons at a time, as well as slots for energy shields, grenade modifications, and a class modification that gives specific upgrades that provide bonuses to your character’s and/or teammates abilities.

weapons, class mods, shields and a host of other things can be purchased at vending machine style stores throughout the game. Items, as well as money, are dropped by your opponents when they are killed. You can also find money and items hidden in small boxes and chests in the game. For the most part, items dropped by opponents are pretty regular, unless it is a boss.

Weapons are one of the best things in this game. Weapons and items are randomly generated when you kill foes, find them in storage chests, buy them from vendors, or get them as a quest reward. Estimated, the random weapon generator can generate over 17 million variations of weapons. This randomly generated content is also used in other aspects of the game for other items, money, and even with the characteristics of the foes that you meet in the game.

Completing a quest is ofter awarded with a cash reward, experience points, and sometimes a special item. You also gain experience points throughout the game when you kill a foe, small or large. Experience points help you level up, which allows you to use more advanced weapons. When you level up, you are also rewarded with a specialization point that can be distributed among three specializations for each character; for example, Mordecai can become specialized in sniping, gunslinging with revolvers, or going rogue and using his pet bird Bloodwing to assist in kills and gathering.

The game can be played single-player, or multi-player with up to four players at a time. Single player will take you a long time to complete, and will get a little boring. Multi-player can be set up and played in a custom game with friends, or you can choose a quick match, which will pair you up with the best possible people in the same area of the game that you are in. While in a multi-player game, you can also duel someone you are playing with by male attacking them. A ring will pop up around you and it’s a fight to the death.

You will also find some downloadable add-on packs associated with the game. So far, The Zombie Island of Dr. Zed and Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot. If you plan on getting Mad Moxxi, plan on having some friends to help you, because she is one tough opponent.

When it comes down to it, this game is one of those games that you and your friends will continue to com back to time and time again just for fun. It has highly addictive gameplay and you will need to go through the story line three times with a single character to get a hold of the rarest weapons. This game is a blast, so definitely buy it or stick it on your GameFly Que.

It seems it is going to be a good year for gaming. 2010 brings along with it another great set of games that people just can’t wait to get their hands on. I know, becasue I am definitely one of those people. And before you ask your self “Hey? What does this guy know?” you should know, I have been playing video games since the Atari days. I. AM. GAMER.  I am extremely excited to get my hands on all of these games that I am about to list.

And now, in alphabetical order, these are the most highly anticipated games of 2010.

3D Dot Heroes

www.3ddotgameheroes.com

Long ago, the Kingdom of Dotnia was threatened by the nefarious Dark King.

A hero rose to the challenge and defeated him. The Dark King was sealed away, but not destroyed. Now, the story has faded into legened, but a new evil threatens the kingdom… Will a new hero appear? Retro chic meets modern sleek in this new action adventure game for Playstaion 3 entertainment system.

Alan Wake

www.alanwake.com

Alan Wake, a bestselling writer, hasn’t managed to write anything in over two years. Now his wife, Alice, brings him to the idyllic small town of Bright Falls to recover his creative flow. But when she vanishes without a trace, Wake finds himself trapped in a nightmare. Word by word, his latest work, a thriller he can’t even remember writing, is coming true before his eyes. He somehow knows it’s his story without any memory of writing it.

Bioshock 2

www.bioshock2game.com

Set approximately 10 years after the events of the original Bioshock, the halls of rapture once again echo with sins of the past. Along the Atlantic Coastline, a monster has been snatching little girls and bringing them back to the undersea city of Rapture. You are the very first Big Daddy as you travel through the decrepit and beautiful fallen city. Chasing an unseen foe in search of answers and your own survival.

Multiplayer in Bioshock 2 provides a rich prequel experience that expands the award winning Bioshock gameplay. Set during the fall of Rapture, players assume the role of a plasmid test subject in the underwater city that was first explored in the original Bioshock. Players will need to use all the elements of the game’s toolset to survive as the full depth of the Bioshock experience is refined and transformed into a unique mulitiplayer experience that can only be found in rapture.

Brink

www.brinkthegame.com

Brink™ is an immersive shooter that blends single-player, co-op, and multiplayer gameplay into one seamless experience, allowing you to develop your character across all modes of play. You decide the role you want to assume in the world of Brink as you fight to save yourself and mankind’s last refuge for humanity. Brink offers a compelling mix of dynamic battlefields, extensive customization options, and an innovative control system that will keep you coming back for more.

Story:

A man-made floating city called the Ark, made up of hundreds of separate floating islands, is on the brink of all-out civil war. Originally built as an experimental self-sufficient and 100% “green” habitat, the reported rapid rise of the Earth’s oceans has forced the Ark to become a refuge for humanity.  Crammed with the original Ark founders, their descendants, as well as tens of thousands of refugees, the Ark exists in total isolation from the rest of the world. With 25 years of social unrest, the inhabitants of the Ark have reached their breaking point. It’s up to you to decide the future of the Ark and the human race.

Castlevania – Lords of Shadow

www.konami.jp/kojima

Caslevania is a third person action adventure title with combat, platforming and puzzle elements. The lot of the game is during “the end of days”. A malevolent force known as the Lords of Shadow has threatened the Earth’s alliance with the Heavens. The souls of the dead, as well as evil creatures inhabit the dying land. They attack living people and are making life hard for the commoners of the land. Gabriel Belmont, the main character (voiced by Robert Carlyle) is a member of a elite group known as the Brotherhood of The Light. His wife is brutally murdered, so of course, you are hell bent for revenge.