A look at the new Magic the Gathering Deck Builder’s Toolkit. The Deck Builder’s Toolkit gives your collection a jump-start with 225 semi-random cards. Perfect for building several different decks! Plus, you’ll get a guide containing info on how to build your own customized deck. And since no two Toolkits are quite the same. You and a friend can challenge each other with a variety of custom-built decks!
This is the ideal second purchase for a new Magic player, it gives them all of the tools they will need to build several Magic: The Gathering decks. Included in the kit are 100 lands, 125 key commons and uncommons (with semi-random content), and 4 booster packs from current Magic sets. The total card content in this box is 285 Magic cards. An instant collection!
This is an demo of the new Playstation Move out this fall. Sony is trying to get a piece of the Wii market by offering a motion controlled system. It works with the Playstation Eye, a web camera of sorts, and the controller with the glowing orb on top of it. Also there will be additional attachment that connects to the controller, but that will be optional and not mandatory. The total price starts around $100 and goes up from there.
NCAA Football is the little brother to Madden. NCAA Football started off years ago as Bill Walsh’s College Football and has evolved into the premiere college football game it is today, or the only one. Most non sports fan do not like the fact that a new game comes out every year, they always call it the $60.00 roster update, and to some point they are right. But in defense of the sports game most sequels to games are just minor changes to the original, so do not throw stones. With that being said, maybe a reduced price or an every other year release probably would not be bad either but money wise I do not for see EA doing that.
NCAA Football 11 has everything a college football fan would want, authentic playbooks, team specific entrances, college feel and great gameplay. The no huddle offense has been improved this year, you can hold the triangle button to run to the line and a section of your playbook will open while on the field for you to choose from. In past versions no huddle was just your audibles to choose from, now you have a lot more options. The ESPN branding has been incorporated more this year, but it still has not been fully integrated as you would think.
There are many modes to choose from, play now, dynasty, mascot games, online play including online dynasty and Road to Glory. The first knock on this game is the Road to Glory, they tweaked the gameplay some but the highly hyped Erin Andrews is the exact same video clips from last year’s game, they did not bother to bring her in to film new segments. Other major flaws in this game are the glitches, I have never played a sports game with so many. As of writing this the EA servers do not work and the stats you play for your games will not get uploaded. Also there are numerous gameplay glitches, even with the patch they sent out. There is a fumble glitch, freezing glitches and my favorite, the Quarter Back Play Action glitch. What happens with this glitch your quarter back fakes the hand off and then passes, but instead your quarter back stays in the hand off animation and drops back 30 yards and then gets sacked.
With some patches this can be one of the greatest football games ever made, the game play is great, the graphics are top notch and most importantly the game is fun, just the glitches really hamper the experience.
Red Dead Redemption is the best Western game ever made, but the competition is not all that great. If you took a Clint Eastwood western and mixed it with the HBO show Deadwood, then you have Red Dead Redemption. The story telling in this game is top notch, you would expect this from Rockstar, the company that brought you the Grand Theft Auto Series. Like Grand Theft Auto, this game contains some very colorful characters that make you really enjoy the game.
The game is an open world game, which means you have the choice to do the main story missions or other activities and there are a ton of things to do in this game, from hunting to playing poker, if it was done in the old west you can do it in this game. The graphics are good, they really capture the feel of the old west. The towns look rustic and the environments look realistic. There are some clipping issues, such as people disappearing into boulders or sides of trees but nothing too distracting.
The controls are very similar to Grand theft Auto, the same button to steal a car is the same button to steal a horse and so on. The one option you will find very useful is the camp option. When you camp you can auto skip to your destination, if you don’t and you ride, it could take you up to twenty minutes to get where you are going. There is also a great array of weapons and items to help you through the game.
As great as this game is there are some downsides, the first that comes to mind, is this essentially is a Grand Theft Auto with a old west coat of paint, but if your going to copy a game, at least it was a good one. The major knock on this game is the glitches, I experienced quite a few while playing. Some are minor and not a big deal, such as characters walking weird or not controlling properly, but I did experience at least three different freezes that caused me to reset the game. These are not game breaking glitches, but should be addressed with a patch. Red Dead Redemption continues in a great line of games from Rockstar, they add so much content in their games that you do not regret buying the game.
So much to do, you will need to buy it, but be aware of some glitches.
For you older gamers out there, if you can remember Golden Ax or Rastan, then think of what you would want if those games were created today, and the God of War franchise is it. The God of War franchise captures a sense of scale better than any game out there. God of War 3 picks up right where God of War 2 left off, Kratos is riding the back of a giant Titan climbing Mount Olympus to kill all of the gods and especially Zues.
The story is pretty basic, the Gods have betrayed Kratos and he wants vengeance on them, so he sets out to kill them. God of War 3 looks phenomenal, there are textures on the skin of the characters, great lighting effects, and the environments look detailed and huge. God of War 3 gives an epic movie feel better than any game around, they set the bar in this area. Game play has not changed much from the second one, there are some new powers and weapons, and a major plus for this game is they do not remove all your powers at the start of the game, you get to keep the powers you received from the second game.
The voice acting is well done, but one interesting thing is that some of the voice actors from the second game have been changed for this one. Another knock on the game there is no controllable camera, it is a set camera just like the other games, I guess they do this to give you some of those cinematic views in certain parts. There is also no multi player, but everyone knew this going in, but once you finish the story there really is no need to play it again. There are challenge type rooms, but what is the point of those, who actually likes these? Most action games these days have those, but I do not know anyone who likes them.
Those are some minor gripes, God of War 3 is an excellent game, that any PS3 owner should have in their collection. This third installment of the series is supposed to be the last for Kratos. They will most likely head in a different direction from here, but to leave such a popular character out of game is hard to believe. Kratos will most likely still be tied into this series in one way or another.
