Write a Game Review for Dishonored

           For those of you who have read my previous article;welcome back!

           For those of you searching for a way to make a game review, you can make a review of the game below by CLICKING THIS LINK. This will send you to a ten question survey. I will post the names and results of each and every person who completes this survey on my next post. If you want me to link it to a website, please let me know in the comments section below OR email me at trscully9@gmail.com.

As for those of you who have kept with me, some of you might have noticed that my last review of said game was a little harsh. I did not recieve any negative comments about this matter, for which I am grateful.

It would be a nice looking kill if the animation wasn't so sloppy

That being said; speak up. I understand that Dishonored and other games like it have their strong points and their weak points. You can make a survey above if you want, or just leave a comment in the space below. Don't be shy :)

As a collary to that statment, I will not apologize for my rough treatment. We as gamers and consumers need to hold supposed triple A titles like Dishonored to a higher level. The Walking Dead (the game, not the show) is reaching this level with character conflict and meaningful experiences. Uncharted 3 is making gaming history with its movie-esque quality and performances. Dishonored  Plays more like a game from 1999. It would have made gaming history in that era. 

I know that by most standards Dishonored is a good game; many other mainstream reviewers would gladly argue it's a great game, and they often have a point. Reguardless, the first five minutes were predictable, most of the game was a toss up between combat kills, stealth kills, and simple puzzles. Is it a good game? Arguable. Is it the super-spectacle they promised us at E3? I disagree. Take it or leave it.

Anyway, here is my

 Seven Word Synopsis

Solid Play

Sloppy Design

Just Rent it

There you have it: its not the worst game you will play by a longshot; just don't let E3 influence your decision in buying it. 

Tommorow I will post something special for you and your non-gamer fans out there-while playing the game on the right for review.

Dishonored is a Disappointment

Hello again gamers. 

By the looks of my slow but steady incline of views, it looks like I have a following. Kudos to those of you who liked me on Google+. Now all I need to really get this blog going is some more recent post topics and a few comments from you the readers. 

I will address the later by simply saying how much I appreciate you guys taking just a few seconds each day to view my posts. I know there aren't many of you yet, but I want to let all of you who enjoy reading these post that I value your feedback and that there's a nice little comments section right at the bottom when your done. Don't be shy; lend me your ears!

As for more recent post topics, I decided to buy a brand new copy of a game that just came out and make a review as soon as possible. As promised from my previous post, it is the brand new game that is

You might have no doubt heard of Bethesda studio's brand spanking new stealth/action game. Many of you have no doubt seen it's dazzling debut trailer at E3; if not live, then certainly amongst gaming websites and youtube. For those of you who lock themselves in during the day and have no internet access or cable, let me give you the brief overview of what this game is about:

You are a royal bodyguard turned magic assassin framed for murdering the queen in a rat infested, steam-punk dystopia version of London.

Check out the debut trailer one more time for a taste.

         


                 Pretty impressive, huh? That what I thought when I saw it at E3. It looked like it had a solid story, a sufficiently mysterious backdrop, and several unique ways to get your blood pumping. I went so far as to pre-order it upon finishing my last review and was willing to spend that precious $60 that Naughty Dog seemed so content on making a movie ticket.
            Come the 9th when I came to pick it up, I noticed that there wasn't much of a line there. I wondered why but shrugged as the GameStop cashier rung up my card. I opted to play the game as soon as I could if only to review it faster. Thoughts of wondrous inventions, stunning new mechanics, dazzling visuals, and creepy special effects danced a merry jig in my cranium as I tenderly unwrapped the box like a gift on Christmas morning. I popped the CD in the tray and hit the y button on my Xbox. I remembered seeing in the advertisments on my favorite web videos how it managed to score 50 awards at the E3 showing. I played the game about half-way and the game was...disappointing.  
             To be blunt, I expected way more from a game with this kind of hype. The graphics looked outdated by about a decade. The AI of enemies are easy to fool. Almost all of the mechanics are borrowed from the games sitting on my shelf, the aesthetic of the environment is minimal at best, and the characters are uninteresting and bland. The slick intro that I showed you did not make it into the game in the slightest, and you don't meet "the outsider" until the resistance had helped you break out of prision. It seems all the dranatic tension and presentation of the trailer is lost on the game itself. What happened?
              Probably what usually happens to over-hyped video games; the design studio put too much emphasis towards the trailer and demo reels and not nearly enough of their time resources into the actual game. This often occurs when the publishers want to make a big splash and get overexcited about showing their game off at E3. They basically tell the whole team to drop everything, make a trailer/demo/video/you-get-the-idea that will leave the E3 audience breathless. To that end, Bethesda studios succeeded. Only thing is, they fouled up on the game itself.
              Can basically sum up the Dishonored Experience with the moral of an old Aesop Tale, in which a big mountain splits open only to reveal a mouse;

"Much outcry, little outcome."

That's it for now. 

But before I wrap things up here, Let me give you guys a crack at reviewing today's game via this handy dandy survey link. Just read the statements and tell me how much you agree with them. Come next review I will go over the survey results and see how many of you agree with me. Do it for science!

Until Next Time!

Top Ten Worst things about Uncharted 3:Drake's Deception

Hello again.

Welcome to another exciting review by yours truly, Ryan Scully.

You might have noticed a few changes after coming back here. For starters, I renamed the post "Ryan's video game Reviews" and listed the url as www.ryansvgr.blogspot.com. I was cleared for it by Google and it sounds a lot better then my first title. Plus the fact that I have the words "video" and "game" in it should make the SEO better.

Don't judge me; I need Google hits!

Also, you might notice with surprise and delight that I am posting on this blog earlier then I said I would. I did have my heart set on not posting for a week, but we got some hot AAA titles that came out this week and will come out on the next, so I want to blow this post out of the water and get started on some more recent titles. But as promised, this next post is about Uncharted 3:Drake's Deception.

 

In an effort to maintain journalistic integrity and make you pee your shorts in laughter, I will now charge in the opposite direction of my previous internet article and give you ten reason not to buy this game.

Why? Why Not. I feel it is my duty to at least make some attempt at objectivity and scrutiny, as it is my firm belief that the reviewer's job is not to promote games but to inform consumers about them so they can spend their money wisely.

Keep in Mind that these are my educated opinions. These are not meant to be insults. I have no delusions of intellectual superiority, and while the game industry is far from perfect, I write this not merely to rip on everyone's favorite game or prove myself a better designer/planner/player/thinker/whatever, but to illustrate things you might want to watch out for if you plan to spend $60 bucks of your hard earned cash on a high end luxury item like this during an economic recession.

 If you disagree with my comments, be civil about it. If I get so much as a whiff of one trolling fanboy on my comments section, I am banning commentary privileges from all of you. So don't be a douche, and read my ten compliments on the game here before mouthing off about how biased I am.
That being said, leave a comment and get to shout "first".

Okay, now that the necessary public service announcement and the unnecessary ramblings are over and done with, time to show all you happy people what you've been searching for.

Here are ten scenes, mechanics, and other things about Uncharted 3 that I hated:

#10:Waiting to play during a long cinema
Okay Naughty dog; I get it. Dialog in video games sucked the big one, and you turned it up a notch for all of us. We a gamers thank you for it. Really. I place this only at number ten because you do this so well.
 




But if we really wanted to spend three to four hours of our free time watching a movie, saving sixty bucks would be as easy as ordering Netflix. Quit jerking us around! I say this not because I don't want better story; I just would like to participate in it. I say this to all of you flashy game artists out there...

 Kojima...

I am looking at you.

 #9:Inconsistency of Plot between Game Play and Cinema.

Now that I divulged the audience in this teed-bit of game design wisdom, let me buffer my earlier statement with what you would think was pretty obvious; If you are going to all the trouble of making a decent cinema please be certain that IT MAKES SENSE WHEN YOU ACTUALLY PLAY!

Example; the main protagonist. Nathan Drake; lovable, brilliantly clever, and compassionate to his fellow man. At least that what the cinemas suggest.

In Uncharted 2, his backstabbing accomplice Flynn gave him a silenced pistol. Nathan complained until he was told they were just tranquilizer guns.

In Uncharted 3, he gives his blonde girlfriend Elena a silenced pistol, emphasizing how he hopes they don't have to use it.

In both games, I eventually see
Drake shooting up mercenaries and pulling guards off high ledges


What gives?

Seems almost painfully obvious that somewhere in Naughty Dog studios there is a lack of communication. By the looks of things, its likely to be between the movie makers and the game developers. Next time you guys think this is going to happen, call someone. Or better yet, answer the phone yourself!

Speaking of Bad Communication

#8: Talbot's unexplained luck

SPOILER ALERT

It has come to my attention that I am starting to ramble with what are supposed to be brief observations. I will cut to the chase this time; Why did Charlie Cutter not kill Talbot half way through the game? Seriously, put that legendary dialog to good use and explain how he survived a shot to the chest.

#7: Constant Puzzles
 

Let's face it; there are a lot of puzzles in this game. And most of them are simply a way to flex the player's brain muscle between point A and point B.While its good to know that hard, solid research went into making this game, we as gamers would get our money's worth if they weren't forced down our throats between firefights and ledge climbing.

#6:Monotonous Climbing 

 It's bad enough we have to waste an hour and a half waiting for the hint to drop for a ridiculous puzzle. It's even more frustrating to spend most of a level climbing up and down walls and shimmying on ledges. It's good every once in a while, but gets more and more redundant each time.

#5:Not getting to fight Rameses

In case I wasn't clear the first few times, let me make my point clear; I WILL NOT PAY $60 TO WATCH A FRICKIN' MOVIE!

That goes double for the main antagonists. If you want me to hate and fear the ring leader of a gang of Pirates, let me finish him myself! Your game is an interactive medium, dev team! Let us interact!

#4:Mediocre Sneaking levels.
I like stealth mechanics.  Let me take out enemies quietly and I will feel like a super ninja commando in an action movie.

At least, until I try to sneak up on someone and get spotted out of sheer chance. Then I feel more like a  retard playing hide and seek with gun monkeys.

If there is a particular order you want me to snap enemy necks in, please let me know before I die 8 million times in a row. Kinda enhances the game.

#3:Not being able to Face the Villianess

SPOILER ALERT

This is just lazy development. Seriously. You spend the entire game building up a single character as the main antagonist for what? To see her sink in quick sand while Drake tries to save her for no other reason then another futile attempt to make our hero heroic. Lame and Dumb.

I am going to save you the reader some trouble by not describing the countless things wrong with this strategy and instead give a little example of how this scenario could be vastly improved.

Picture this Naughty Dog: No cut scene, same dialogue. Only this time you are actually playing the game while Marlowe is sinking into the ground. The player is given a choice. Choice one; leave the crumbling ruins thus dooming Katherine Marlowe to a well deserved death, all the while further motivating Talbot to hate Drake's guts. Choice two; walk up to the sand to try and save her, start a quick time event in which you struggle to set her free, only to have her try to stab you in the back (literally). Give the player one chance to dodge it, and once Drake ducks have Sully Bull Rush his one time lover over Drake's back right into the quick sand. Talbot hates Sully now, and you have Marlowe's dagger in hand when you duke it out.

There. Simply by replacing the complicated cinema with a choice and quick-time event, I made the process of saying goodbye to miss-big-and-bad all the more satisfying. I came up with that in less then a minute. Can I have your jobs now?

#2: Not getting to fire the Rocket Gun

When you give me a weapon, I expect to be able to use it. IN GAME! Cinemas just don't cut it boys.

#1:Cutting Charlie Cutter Out!

Here is a good way to tick off players; have a side character, make him more developed and endearing then anyone in the game, and then take him out of the game half way through without so much as a goodbye. If Clint Eastwood can take a five minute scene to say good bye to his partner in Dirty Harry one, how hard is it to say goodbye to Charlie while getting on the plane? Or better yet, take all of this character development and put it in the Blondie Drake meets up with in every single game!

Food for thought.






Well that almost wraps everything up for this review. Ladies and Gentlemen, for the first time ever in Ryan's Video Game Review, please allow me to introduce the

Seven Word Synopsis

To summerize, it is basically when I use two words to describe why the game is good, then give two words why it isn't, and lastly give three words on what I think you should do about it. Ready? Go!

Great Dialog

 

Mediocre Game

 

Recommend Renting it.

And that was Uncharted 3! Next review: Dishonored!

See you soon!

Top ten best moments in Uncharted 3

Hello everyone. My name is Timothy Ryan Scully, and this is my video game review site.

I call this site "Review of Ryan" not because it is a review about me; I know for a fact you got better things to do then to read about how much I hate homework. Life is complicated enough without reading someone else's worries. I merely call it that because "Ryan's Reviews" is already taken.

The only thing being reviewed in this blog are the things I love most; Video games!

Today's game up for review is... (drum roll please)...

You guessed it

Now that we got the corny introduction out of the way, lets get down to the business of the review. Since I like to do things a little differently, and enjoy being easy to find on Google, I think we will begin this review with something that is a little odd for a game review, yet all too common for the internet at large.

Namely, a Top Ten list.

Since this is a fresh blog, we will start on a relatively positive note, mostly by listing

The Top Ten Best Moments in Uncharted 3.

Uncharted 3 is by no means a perfect game. Reviews wouldn't be of much use if any game was. The following moments listed here are specific scenes, mechanics, and events that are found within the game that I find to be most remarkable. If all goes well, you'll be seeing another post about some of the worst things in this game. For now, glean the good parts of this game when you consider whether to buy this game in stores.

Keep in mind that there are some spoilers in this review, and each moment that does so is marked 

SPOILER ALERT like so. Enjoy the review, and leave your comments below.

#10: Gunfights while Climbing. Its a little campy, true, and its just about the only new mechanic in the game. But we don't gauge Uncharted 3 by its game play; its the story and cinematics that count. That being said, its nice to shoot at things from a different perspective.

#9:Groin Kicking! Lets face it; its just plain awesome to make a seven foot tall muscle man hold his junk in pain.

#8: Running from the water. Few scenes make your adrenaline pump like dashing for your life from an oncoming flood in a capsizing boat. Be even better if it didn't seem more like a borrowed Hollywood cliche'.

#7:Bathroom Brawl. Beating the crap out of someone in the mens room has become something of a cliche' in video games as of late. Making the guy your facing taller then you does mix things up quite nicely.

#6:Drake and Sully's past. Nothing makes a story worthwhile then getting to know your protagonists. Its about time they showed us who it is we're playing as. Makes Marlowe seem even nastier too.

#5:Charlie Cutter's Brute Force Method.
Charlie Cutter is a character that gamers will remember for a long time. I already see several fan arts on Google images, and it's obvious the design team wanted us to feel for him. One scene, which I am unable to show you as of yet, you get to climb up a drainage pipe to try and unlock a gate from the other side, only to discover that Charlie broke it with one shove. Way to defy expectations, Naughty Dog!

#4:Marlowe's final quote. SPOILER ALERT 

"Prove your worthy of the name Drake!"

"I got nothing to prove."

 

Classic Dialogue.

#3:Introduction to Charlie. No better way to introduce a character then a good old fashioned plot twist. Makes for a dramatic opening for the game as well.

#2:Charlie's Phobia. SPOILER ALERT 

This is what makes games like Uncharted 3 worth buying. Very rarely do you see such time and effort built into creating an encounter. This not only made Charlie a well rounded character, but made the fact that he was being brainwashed seem all the more dire. In particular, when you realize he needs to traverse tight spaces...

\

#1:Death of Sully. This last statement may seem like a spoiler all by itself. It's not, and I dare you to find out why. But until you do, know that this is one of the best scenes in all of video game history... and only gets better.

That's it for right now. Next week, you will get to see the top ten worst moments in Uncharted 3. Read that before you go out and buy the game.

Until next time!