Uncharted 2: Review

The new big purple elephant for PS3 gaming is Uncharted 2. To kick things off, Uncharted 2 is EXTREMELY pretty. Most people will say its on the edge of uncanny valley, I say, "close". When you first jump right into the single player story, you immediately get cast into a hard situation, one of which I will not spoil. The way Naughty Dog presents the Intro of the game is amazing. The story of Uncharted 2 is one of the main points to keep playing. The story is full of twists and irony that just keeps on tying itself into a knot that eventually unfolds into something amazing. The main mechanic is platforming with a side dish of 3rd person shooting. The platforming is done very well and adds a new dimension to combat and level crawling. The shooting needs some work but the upgrade system and boosters really help to go through the game. While in the single player, there is always at least one other person with you, but they really don't help, they just make the enemies hunch over to give you a chance to shoot them. There is a pretty big variety of weapons, in which you can dramatically change the play style. The upgrades and boosters, as I mentioned earlier, really help with...well...killing dudes. Next is the multiplayer. The multiplayer works, that's basically all I have to say. Your boosters also carry over to the multiplayer, and the maps are interesting and work well with the ten player limit. There is also a co-op mode which is pretty much horde mode. There is some objective type stuff, such as; get the treasure to the chest on the other side of the map. Co-op is, in my opinion, one of the reasons to play this game. At the very most, the worst thing about this game is the shooting. The shooting isn't bad, it just isn't on par with the other big third person shooters. Everything other than that is amazing, and the game isn't focused on shooting, so that's ok. Story, multiplayer and co-op are all reasons to get this game, and hey they are the only thing in this game, so that is why Uncharted 2: Among Thieves deserves Game In A Nutshell's very first 10 out of 10.

Wallace and Gromit' Grand Adventures Episode 3...FOR FREE!

To celebreate the 20th anniversary of Wallace and Gromit, Telltale is giving Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures Episode 3 for free. Click the title or go here. Get it while you can, it's not going to last forever.

Boxhead on Kongegate

I just wanted to tell you guys about something I found on Kongregate called: Boxhead:The Zombie wars. It's basically a zombie survival game with little box people, there are weapon upgrades and such, you can place explosive barrels, and the enemies get tougher through the levels. But the mode that really stands out is the defense mode. In defense mode, you have a little bunkered area with turrets, rocket launchers, and grenade launchers. Ever once and a while you will be able to place barricades, and more turrets. The game is extremely fun and it's also free. Go check it out.

'Sup.

Hey, guys.

I'm the new writer in town. My name's Callum, but you can call me whatever you want based on how much you like my articles.

I'm 15, live in Australia, and I've been a gamer for about 10 years now. My first console was a Nintendo 64, and my first game was Donkey Kong 64 (which I still love to this day).

My console of choice for this generation was the Xbox 360. It's the mid-point between the Wii's affordability, and the PS3's excellent specs. I also use a PC, but I'm more of a console gamer. I still have quite a few PC games, and a Steam account that I use every day. I still prefer my 360 for gaming, though. It's just easier.

My top 5 games of all time are:

1. Donkey Kong Country: Diddy's Kong Quest
2. Super Mario World
3. Half-Life 2
4. Donkey Kong 64
5. Call of Duty 4

I'm guessing that this list is going to change once Modern Warfare 2 is released.

When I'm not gaming, I'm either drumming or practicing Parkour. I'm also an actor.

There you go. That's the lowdown on me. I hope the time I spend here at GiaN is worthwhile, and you guys get a kick out of reading my articles.

- Callum

Nintendo Wii Price Drop

Nintendo's already extremely successful system, the Wii, has just got a price drop to $199.99. Now Nintendo can finally compet...I mean make a ton of more money with no discretion. Earlier, Nintendo said that they were not going to drop the price of the console, but look at it now. Still, if you are going out to the store with $200 and looking for a video game system, you could either get the gimmicky Wii that only plays party games, or you can get the Xbox 360 that has a HUGE install base and a great online experience. Not sure why they dropped the price, it's not like they are having a hard time selling the thing. Oh well, less money the soccer moms have to spend.

Halo 3: ODST Review

Halo 3 ODST was not as hyped as Halo 3, it did not have a huge luanch event or a helmet packed in with the special edition. Most of all, some people didn’t even think the game was going to be any good, boy were they wrong.

When you first drop into ODST you experience a little prelude text movie, I have to admit it was not all that great, it made me feel like I was 5, because of all the simple words. But as you get into the main menu screen, you see It is very similar to Halo 3, well of course. The other menus are a lot sleeker, and the games load a heck of a lot faster. There is not much customization that you can do with your character, other than taking their helmet off, and that looks pretty dumb. OK, so into the game. You are introduced with a cutscene where the ODSTs are about to drop into New Mombasa to take over a covenant ship. This game takes place in the events of Halo 2, by the way. As they drop, regret jumps into slipspace, causing an explosion that makes the drop pods go off course, but does not kill everyone. Your drop pod gets stuck in some debris and the tutorial begins, when you finish you jump don into the street, and, you take fall damage! Yes, that is new, so you can’t just jump from 200 yards and not have your legs cave in from under you. Your health is also extremely low, so, when your main health bar gets low, you better run for cover and wait for your “stamina” to recharge. Back to the game; Your first impression is, “Wow, it’s really dark,” until you turn on your VISR. Your VISR is basically your night vision, it puts orange lines around geometry, red lines around enemies, green around frindlies, and lights up objects of interest which you have to find to find out what happened to your squad. The new weapons are extremely effective, and you are never going to want to put them down, but they do run out of ammo pretty quickly. As you first encounter the super intendent you receive uplinks to the city’s navigation (that means you get a fancy world map) where you can place markers to follow. So as you find the objects of interests, or beacons, you trigger a cutscene and then a mission; where you play as one of your squad mates to find out what happened to them. When you get into the mission, it is light outside, which means the game takes place all in one day. The graphics are a bit more refined than Halo 3, and the AI has definitely been improved. The one new enemy is the engineer which is a pain in the but. You don’t get to see Elites (well there are some dead ones, but still). The story is pretty interesting and the characters are funny and you will love them till the end. Firefight is the big purple gorilla in this bundle. Sure it also comes with the Halo 3 multiplayer, and that’s cool at the very least. But firefight is a huge step forward. It basically works like this: There are 5 waves in a round and 3 rounds in a set, if you finish the set, you continue on a different map. Between waves, sets and rounds, there are weapon drops and bonus rounds. The bonus rounds are just tons of grunts pouring in and you have to kill every one that you can (did I mention all the skulls are on). Speaking of skulls, as you progress there are different skulls that turn on to make everything harder. Bottom line; firefight is the new horde.

With everything ODST has to offer I say it’s defiantly worth the sixty dollar price point. And with the new features, modes, and campaign, ODST gets a…9.5 out of 10

ODST: First Ten Minutes

No this is not a Live Play, I will do one of those for firefight. This is just my impression of the first ten minutes of the game.

The first thing you realize is that you walk slower and you jump slightly less high. This is obvious because you are not a super awesome spartan. When you first enter the "Hub World", everything is dark, therefore you have to use your visor. The visor is pretty cool and very useful. The visor puts orange lines around geometry, green lines around friendlies, and red line around enemies, it also lights things up a bit so it isn't so dark. You start out with the silenced SMG and the silenced mag. The SMG is alot more powerful than th older versions, and the pistol is back to it's Halo 1 days where it's basically a cannon in your hand. All the weapons have kickback, so you will have to fire in short accurate bursts, well, you should be doing that anyway. Then finnally, at the last part of the first ten minutes there is the Super Intendent. The SI helps you through your merry way along the huge mege city, he goves you hints to where things are, and every now and then you wll see signs that say: Go This Way or have an arow pointing to the side. Another cool thing it the squad system. The squad system is basicallly this: the enemies are program into squads, which patrol the area every now and then, so you wont be fighting covenant in the same area twice, or, at least, in that same exeact area.

Overall the first ten minutes are a great introduction to the game, the cutscene is awesome and the training part is helpful and well integrated. I cannot give a score based on just this segment, but expect a review up soon, as well as the firefight Live Play.