Saints Row: The Third Impressions - Stupid fun in all the right ways

I had hoped to be able to get a full review of Saints Row: The Third ready for you this week, but unfortunately I’ve only been able to get about half way through the campaign so far. And with The Old Republic beta testing happening this weekend there is a snowballs chance in hell of me spending time on wrapping up the game.

But I have played more than enough to give you my initial impressions of Saints Row: The Third. 


Here’s a hint: It’s pretty crazy

Saints Row has always tried to be the crazy cousin to the Grand Theft Auto series. In Saints Row 2 for example, you were able to steal a sewage truck and spray the innocent citizens with the slushy contents.

That’s the kind of humor that you need to appreciate if you’re going to enjoy Saints Row: The Third. If a giant purple dildo mounted on a baseball bat makes you do the Picard Facepalm rather than chuckle with pubescent amusement, then you need not apply. The wacky and often below-the-belt humor of Saints Row: The Third is a big part of what makes it fun to play, so you got to roll with it or go back to something more somber like Batman: Arkham City (But why so serious?).

Even the logo is silly, with silhouettes of women and guns all over the place 

If you *do* enjoy the crazy humor in Saints Row: The Third however, then you are in for a great experience. So far I’ve skydived onto a penthouse apartment to the tunes of Kanye West’s “Power”, saved a pimp that speaks only in auto tuned sentences from a SM themed brothel and driven a convertible across town with a tiger in the passenger seat.

Gears of War 3 Review - Duck and cover FTW!

The "Gears of War" series is one of the console defining games of the Xbox 360. Combining great visuals with satisfying cover based 3rd person shooting, it provides a thrilling action packed experience, whether you play alone or with friends.

The third game in the series promises to provide us with a satisfying conclusion to the games story line, as well as giving the multiplayer modes a new coat of paint and ensure that you'll have fun killing Lambet and Locust for months to come.

I think these guys work out

I have personally never really been all that into Gears of War. I played through the first game and found it to be enjoyable enough, but it did not set my world on fire and make me yearn for the sequel. So when Gears of War 2 came around I actually ended up giving it a pass.
It was therefore with some shoulder shrugging that I greeted the announcement of Gears of War 3. I had no doubt that it was going to be a competent shooter, but I did not think it would really be for me.

But as more footage of the game was shown, I was really blown away by how gorgeous the game looked, and how fun the gameplay appeared to be. I realized that in the years since the first Gears of War, I had not really played any 3rd person shooter that presented such a smooth and polished experience as the original Gears did.

This lead me to ultimately decide to pick up Gears of War 3 and give it an honest try.
And I'm glad I did.

Orcs Must Die! Review

Following up from our previous coverage of "Orcs Must Die!", which has been a video look of the demo and a Q&A with developer Robot Entertainment, it's now time for a review of the game.

Over the course of the weekend I've been murdering why way through the game and am now ready to render a verdict on the qualities of the game.

In this game the orcs must die. And so they do.

Orcs Must Die! is another entry in the growing niche of "tower-defense-meets-3rd-person-action" games, which have most recently been successfully visited in "Trenched" and "Toy Soldiers: Cold War".

Dumping you into a colorful fantasy world of poorly planned fortresses and inept orcs with extreme suicidal tendencies, Orcs Must Die! gives us a fairly fresh setting to play tower defender in.

As the inept, wisecracking wizard apprentice, you find yourself as the last hope of the world against the orc hordes, after your master is killed in an unfortunate intestinal slip incident.
Not easily deterred, you immediately set about defending the magical "rifts" (no affiliation to "Rift" the MMO, as far as I can tell. At least no weird tentacles coming out of these ones), which are located in 24 different fortresses that comprise the main campaign of the game.

Relic talks about Space Marine - Could have been better

An article on Eurogamer presents an interview with Relic that talks about Warhammer 40k: Space Marine and it's reception by reviewers and gamers.

The interview touches on Relics thoughts of developing the game, their ambitions and how they felt it all panned out in the end.

"Can you kill Orks? I guess that's good enough. Let's ship it, guys!"

Basically the whole interview has a slightly depressing tone to it, as Relic pretty much states that they made a mediocre game and the were fully aware of it.

Orcs Must Die! Developer "Robot Entertainment" answers a few questions

We're very happy to bring you a short Q and A with Community Manager Justin Korthof from "Robot Entertainment", makers of the just released and very well received game "Orcs Must Die!".

We previously did a small video look of the demo, which pits your skills against the enemy greenskin hordes of the first three levels of the game.

This pretty much sets the tone for "Orcs Must Die!"

We contacted Robot Entertainment to learn a bit more about the game, which seems to have gotten off to a good start:

Orcs Must Die -Video look at the demo

I figured I should get my moneys worth out of Fraps, so I went ahead and made another video.

This time I've looked at the silly, but appropriately, titled "Orcs Must Die" demo, which is available on Steam.

It's a slightly zany 3rd person action tower defense game in the vein of "Trenched", tasking you with defending a castle from hordes of marauding orcses.

These guys. These guys must die!

The video shows me taking on the 3rd and last level of the demo and should give you a good indication of what the game is all about and if this is something for you:

(Note that I say the game is coming out tomorrow, that is actually only for Xbox. On PC the release date is the 12th of October)

Here's the video:

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine - number 1 Ork carving simulator

Having just gushed about my love for all things Warhammer 40k I think it only natural that I take a moment to talk about the just released 3rd person action game Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, which I have just played through this week.

The Dawn of War RTS series has been the premier Warhammer 40k video game presence for a long time, but I'm happy to say that Space Marine takes a decent stab (pun intended) at giving video gamers a more action oriented view into Warhammer 40k and the life of a Space Marine.

Simply put this game is a gory Ork snuff fest with the main Space Marine character slicing through thousands of Orks with his trusty chainsword, power axe or thunder hammer. The way you regain lost health is even by doing bloody "execution" finishing moves on your hapless and stunned opponents, which includes timeless classics such as lifting up your victim by the tip of your sword and revving it gleefully or throwing him to the ground and curb stomping his head with your heavily armored foot (and who said video games were full of meaningless violence?)

If you look at this picture and go "Awesome!" then Space Marine is for you