Binary Domain

Quick review to get my thoughts down on this because I just finished Binary Domain. Summary: Fun, worth the $40, got about 9 hours from campaign.

As a great man... well, bitter man at least *coughYahtzeecough* once said, if you're going to have quicktime events, make them a core part of gameplay. Binary Domain makes a cardinal sin of there's about 5 quicktime events in the entire 6 chapters of the game, and at least 2 are in the last chapter. First time one showed up, I boffed it because I had no idea what was up, since I was over an hour in to the game. And realistically, they could have done more QTE in the cinematics, since there's lots of action, and it would have made them a bit more interesting. There's a decent selection of guns, but for the most part, you'll probably stick with the default assault rifle, since you actually get to upgrade it and your squadmates' primary guns over the course of the game, and there's not a lot that doesn't go down quickly if you're a decent shot.

Saints Row: The Third (Edit: NOW WITH A VIDEO!)

Fair warning. I can be incredibly juvenile, and I love low brow humour. Therefore I absolutely loved Saints Row 2, and was mightily looking forward to The Third. I've played it through the main story once, so I feel like I can justifiably say that I really love this game. But it's not perfect. But does it need to be?

Gothic 4: ArcaniA

I've not yet played any of the other Gothic games, so I don't know if G4 is like any of the other games. I'll find out eventually, since I got a deal for all four. I figured I would play the newest one first, since I'd played the demo and it seemed interesting and fun, and not terribly tied in to the previous titles. Well, I'm thirteen hours in, now, and I'm pretty comfortable in saying that unless you're a big fan of the Gothic series, or you're starved for an actiony RPG, you can safely skip this game.

Prototype

I wanted to like this game. I really did. Running around the city is awesome. Poking around for the collectables is fun. The side missions are rather varied. It reminds me in great part of Spider-man 2 for the X-Box, which I thought was pretty much the best movie-to-game adaptation ever. But I simply cannot get past my frustrations with this game. Prototype is flawed, and to me, fatally so.

Fallen Earth (warning: High Jargon Content)

Fallen Earth is an MMORPG that flew under my radar until it was on sale on Steam. I grabbed it, since it was less than $20 for the game, and a free month of gameplay. MMOs are traditionally hard to review, since there's a butt-ton of content, and many places to visit, etc. etc., but Fallen Earth is actually really easy. It's Fallout 3 blended with Everquest II. If you like MMOs and post apocalyptic settings, this is the game for you. There's a few things to keep in mind, though, if you do decide to play (note, I'm only level 18, and the current cap is 50).

Singularity

Bought it yesterday, completed it today. Want the short version? Don't buy it at full price. It's competent, even cool, but in no way worth $50. Want the long version? Here we go:

Alpha Protocol or: How to Abuse Stealth Mechanics

Alpha Protocol (An Espionage RPG) is a new game by Oblivion. Oblivion carries a lot of baggage with them. They're notorious for making buggy sequels to excellent games. Alpha Protocol, however, is new ground. How do they do when they're not working with something someone else created? Well, pretty good, actually. It's far from perfect, but it's a solid game. I'll discuss it in more detail mechanics-wise, but I'm not going to give any plot spoilers.