Game Review: Dishonored

If you haven't watched the trailer I recommend you do before reading the review... You watched it right? Wasn't that awesome? Dishonored is the story of Corvo Attano who is the bodyguard of Empress Jessamine Kaldwin in the city of Dunwall. Upon Corvo's return from a mission he is on his way to see the Empress and when he gets to her to give his report some assassins teleport in and murder her and kidnap her daughter. Corvo is then framed for the murder and kidnapping and is thrown in jail to await his execution. He receives a note from "A friend" that gives him details on how to escape and thus starts Corvo on his path to revenge by becoming an Assassin in order to clear his name. At some point in the game, Corvo gains access to supernatural powers through an entity only known as The Outsider who is neither good or evil. I must say that the story for the game is pretty good and even though they said this game was not an open world game like the Fallout series by Bethesda, it is still possible to explore different sections of the city through each mission and it is recommended in order to find items that will greatly help you in the game's progress. While Corvo does not have access to a lot of powers, the ones he does get are pretty useful and more than make up for the lack of variety, I didn't even get them all but depending on your play style you'll find some more useful than others. It is also not possible to get them all in your first play through but believe me, there are some powers I was just unwilling to use because of the way I played the game. Some of the powers Corvo has access to are Blink which is a teleport spell that is probably the single most useful spell, but he can also use Bend Time, which slows or stops time altogether depending on your level, there's also Possess that allows you to possess animals and at higher levels humans in order to bypass areas or get into secret areas, and these are only a few. While the game is fun and has a good story there was also a few things that ruined it for me. First of all is the length of the game, it only takes about 10-15 hours to complete, making it a rather short game. The graphics also have some problem when rendering in some parts giving the game a blurry look for bit, while it doesn't hurt the gameplay it can be bothersome as it goes from blurry to grainy and it can be distracting. The single most hated part for me however was the fact that even though Corvo becomes an assassin the whole point of the game is to not murder anyone, not even boss characters. It is entirely possible to go the entire game without killing anyone as there as different methods to avoid kills but if you saw the trailer for the game you can tell how fun those kills look, it would have been awesome to do that but if you kill too many people a few things happen in the game. First of all you get a lot more enemies called weepers which are pretty much zombies that vomit on you and they are pretty powerful in later levels. See the more you kill, the more rats in the city, the more rats there are, the more they spread the plague in the game and that creates more weepers, as if this wasn't enough the game has a chaos meter and more kills generate more chaos if you finish the game at high chaos you get the bad ending. If you play the way I did the game is still a lot of fun and you'll finish it with low chaos which guarantees the good ending, but I feel like I missed an opportunity to make the game more fun by actually performing kills like those in the video. The game also allows you to upgrade not only your powers but your weapons too, giving them more damage, range, different ammo and better blocking for your sword, sadly I fired my gun about 3 times the entire game, never used my mines, grenades or incendiary bolts and while you can upgrade to carry more ammo, it doesn't let you upgrade the carrying capacity of sleeping darts which where my best friend the whole game as I didn't want to kill anyone to get the good ending. Still I consider Dishonored to be one of the best games I have ever played I just wish I could have been a bit more of an Assassin in my game about an Assassin.

Drake's Review's Score 8 out of 10

Game Review: Borderlands 2

If you haven't played Borderlands this may be a good time to start, and I do mean both games. This review will focus on Borderlands 2 but believe me the first one is just as good as the second one. In Borderlands 2 you can choose from 4 different characters, 5 if you get the DLC. These characters are in search of the Vault just like the ones from the first game. The story starts out by the characters arriving on Pandora and surviving an assassination attempt by a man called Handsome Jack, who has taken over Hyperion corporation from the first game and has taken over Pandora as well and taken credit for opening the vault from the first game as well as the monetary gains from it and has attempted to kill the original 4 members from the first game. Handsome Jack has made it a point to murder new Vault Hunters so that he has no competition in looking for another Vault in Pandora because he is after the treasures the new Vault may offer. After this we are introduced to a player select screen and the new characters which are Maya "The Siren" Axton "The Soldier" Salvador "The Gunzerker" and Zer0 "The Assassin" Each characters has his or her specialties not only with weapons but also with powers. Maya the Siren for example can stop enemies on their tracks and act as a healer or severely damage enemies through elemental damage. Axton can toss out a turret than can shoot bullets and rockets and cause explosions as well and can gain extra gun damage through perks. Salvador is pretty much a tank but he is also able to dual wield in Gunzerker mode and can heal and regenerate ammo, and Zer0 is an expert with Sniper rifles and melee damage, gaining a great deal of extra damage through perks and he can also become invisible for a couple of seconds to either escape or deal extra damage while unseen. Borderlands 2 however really excels in its storyline, this is one of those games that pays A LOT of attention to creating a storyline that really absorbs the player and it also incorporates many pop-culture elements such as memes, the Ninja Turtles and Batman to name a few. The game is full of surprises and even though it boasts a huge world map it still excels in back tracking a few times for extra surprises. I hate doing spoilers but I'll say this much, the ending is pretty good and a bit shocking it certainly didn't disappoint us here at Drake's Reviews. The game does have some flaws though, the graphics sometimes take time to render and can make the game look blurry in some parts for a couple of seconds, it's not a game killer but it is rather bothersome. There's a few places where your vehicle or character can get stuck and you may have to restart from your last save or it may take some time to get out of that situation. The fact that you can pick up millions of different weapons is awesome the bad part is that it is really dependent on luck and while you may pick up a weapon that is powerful and awesome on your first run, you may also pick up nothing but underpowered weapons for your level and have a harder time completing missions. The game is very challenging but to a fun degree and it has a lot of exploits that can help you out, sometimes though missions glitch and your enemy never comes out or gets stuck somewhere unreachable or can even be locked in position allowing you to kill them with no problem and this doesn't make for a very fun play through. The game is best played with a friend or with a couple of friends as loot gets better and while it becomes a bit more difficult having your friends there makes it more enjoyable and working in teams is a must. In Drunken Monkeys' and my playthrough we played as Gunzerker and Assassin, he was the tank while I covered with Sniper fire and homing grenades, or if we were in an enclosed space I would do reconnaissance and assassination before he went in guns blazing. When it came to loot we picked up as much as we could but we shared the weapons each of us preferred and when we both liked a weapon we would just clone it through an exploit cuz that's what friends do right? Hahahaha. If you're in the mood for a good multiplayer game Borderlands 2 is a great choice even for single player but as mentioned before it is better to play with a friend.

Drake's Reviews Score 9 out of 10

Move Review - Frankenweenie

Your second choice for a family friendly halloween movie this year is Frankenweenie and what a great choice it is indeed. The best way to describe this movie is "WOW". It is a very powerful movie and not just because lightning brings a dog back to life. Frankenweenie is the story of Victor Frankenstein, an elementary school student who loves science and his relationship with his dog Sparky. Now this movie I really do not want to describe too much because I really want audiences to watch it and enjoy every minute of it without spoiling even a second of it, so all I will say about the plot is the following. Victor's dog, Sparky dies in an accident and Victor tests out something he learned in science class to bring Sparky back from the grave because he misses him so much. The plot sounds simple but it's a story that is full of love, and if by the end of the movie you're not at least teary eyed then you are probably a robot and the machine uprising has begun just like the movie Terminator predicted! In all seriousness though this movie deals with themes such as the death of a beloved pet, learning to let go and even responsibility for our actions. The movie is entirely in black and white but it will not bother you at all and I watched it in 3D and haven't regretted it one bit. Frankenweenie is funny as well as emotional so if you do decide to see it don't forget your box of tissues to wipe off the tears.

Drake's Reviews Score 10 out of 10

Movie Review - Hotel Transylvania

If you're looking for a family friendly halloween movie you've got two really good choices at the moment. This review will focus on Hotel Transylvania one of those two choices and you can read about the second one Frankenweenie in the next review.

Hotel Transylvania is the story of Dracula in his constant effort to provide a safe haven for monster to rest at. In this case a hotel, he does this to protect them from humans. This is done because monsters are scared of humans as they hunt them and always want to cause them harm while monsters only want to live in peace with their kind. Dracula does this in order to protect his daughter Mavis because Mavis's mom was killed by humans when Mavis was born. Now in Mavis's 118th birthday, the time when a vampire becomes an adult, Dracula is planning a big party for her and has invited all the monster around the world to come celebrate, such monster include Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Invisible Man, The Mummy and many others. Everything seems to be going well until the arrival of Jonathan, a human guest who find the hotel by accident. Dracula tries to get rid of him to no avail and thus decides to make him pass for a monster to keep him a secret. Mavis however starts falling for Jonathan as he is supposedly a 121 year old monster and according to Dracula is also Mavis's party planner. I will not get further into the story but you must know that this movie teaches quite a few valuable lessons for both children and adults. It teaches kids about tolerance of those who are different from us, and also to not judge a book by its cover. It teaches adults that sometimes they just don't want to let their kids grow up or see them leave but it is just part of the parenting process amongst other important things. I rarely think a movie is worth a second watch even if it's good, but Hotel Transylvania is a real charmer and a MUST SEE for the entire family, it is funny, just the right length of time, and adults will recognize a lot of the characters in it even if not all children do as well as being aware of how it makes fun a other pop culture themes through simple jokes that are in no way harmful to children.

Drake's Reviews Score 10 out of 10