Bioshock

I recently downloaded Bioshock for my Mac and I had forgotten how fun this game is.  The game starts off very mysteriously and just keeps getting weirder and weirder.  Even after playing this game several times it is still a bit disconcerting when confronted with the choice regarding the little sisters.  Not to mention confronting the truth about your character about half-way through the game.  The claustrophobic aspect of the game is also a bit chilling.  You are constantly being confronted with the reality that you are in a city under water that is slowly falling apart.

The combat mechanics are very interesting.  You can switch between traditional weapons and plasmids, or powers.  The controls are very seamless and it is quite effortless to switch between the two combat aspects, especially for combinations.  

The enemies are quite varied and somewhat horrific.  They all seem to have gone way too far with plastic surgery and now are quite deformed and mad.  Sometimes they come at you from all angles and make combat quite tricky.  Thankfully there are various turrets and security cameras that you can hack so have some allies.

All in all this game is just as fun as when it was released in 2007.  There aren't too many games where I could make that claim.  If you haven't had the opportunity to play this one yet I highly recommend it.

Super Smash Brothers

I have to say this is a pretty fun game!  There are a ton of characters to choose from, each with their own special abilities.  With that said, I really don't have a clue what I am doing when playing it.  I think there are ways to level up your character, but not sure how to do it.  I spend most of my time just button mashing and losing to my 10 year old nephew!

I have been primarily using Dark Pitt and seem to do okay with him.  Kirby is also fun to play, but I have not been too successful with him.  I think I may need to spend some time looking for tips online, which is something I never expected to do with this game.  It seemed deceptively easy until I started playing the nephew.

inFamous: Second Son

Ever since I purchased my Playstation 4 I have been waiting for a good next-gen game that was developed specifically for this system. inFamous: Second Son is that game and more. The visuals are stunning and the gameplay is solid, though a bit repetitious at times. In the game you can choose to be a hero or a villain.  I started off my first run through on the hero side of things on the normal difficulty setting.  It was a blast!  Some of the boss battles were a bit frustrating, but not overly so (boss battle video: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152331049620692).  I was able to complete the game at 100% and it was interesting leveraging the different powers to defeat different enemies.  Now I am working on the villain side of things as there are different powers available.

In one of the recent updates to the game Sucker Punch added a feature called photo mode.  This feature, once enabled, allows you to pause the game at any point, manipulate the camera in a variety of ways and take a picture.  These pictures can be shared on Facebook and Twitter. You can see a sample from my "villain" game below.

You can manipulate the camera quite a bit in this mode, even the f-stop! One gamer site, NeoGAF, is running a photo contest for photos from the game and some of them are pretty spectacular:  http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=805887

So, if you have a Playstation 4 and are looking for a great game with some interesting extras you should check out inFamous: Second Son.

Beyond: Two Souls

I recently picked up the game Beyond: Two Souls for the Playstation 3.  I am only a couple of hours into the game and it has been quite entertaining.  There are some elements I haven't tested out yet, like the co-op play or the mobile app integration.  The game controls are a quite a bit different than most other third-person perspective games and that has taken some time to get used to.  I like that it is a very story-driven experience and the way it jumps around to critical parts of Jodie's, the protagonist, life where she deals with an entity that is connected to her.  The game makes good use of the motion capabilities of the PS3 controller and provides a unique experience when controlling the entity.  Currently the most challenging aspect of the game for me is avoiding obstacles as I try to elude an enemy.  I can't even count the number of times that I have hit my head on a tree branch or tripped over a log.  Character control issues aside this is one of the most visually stunning games I have seen on the PS3 console.  The characters are very realistically rendered and the game play is extremely immersive.

Once I become coordinated I feel confident that I will have greater success in the game.  I will post more information on the narrative and my ability to avoid obstacles as I progress further in the game.  

Grand Theft Auto V

Wow!  This is one stunningly beautiful and incredibly huge game.  I have only played for a few hours so far, but this is a pretty amazing addition to a great franchise.  I have been able to unlock all three characters and the ability to switch between them is very cool!  One thing I have noticed is that the gameplay is pretty challenging even if you have put a lot of hours in the previous installments.  In the previous games if you were in a car you were pretty much invulnerable, but that is not the case in V.  The driving and flying aspects are pretty challenging as well.  I really like the fact that you can plan out your "heists" and choose the people (in some cases individuals you have found in side-missions) you want with you in your crew.  There is an amazing level of detail in this game and it looks fantastic on my current gen Playstation 3.  If you are a fan of this franchise you won't want to miss out on Grand Theft Auto V (and with 1.57 million copies sold on day one I can assume most of you aren't).

Disney Infinity

A few weeks ago I picked up the Disney Infinity starter set (and a few extras) for the Wii U.  I have to say this is a pretty impressive game.  Essentially you get multiple games in one package.  Each of the figures in the starter pack have their own game world plus you have access to the Toy Box world.  

The concept of the system is pretty interesting.  You can place up to two figures on the game pad (included in the starter set and connects to your system via USB) and the game world piece.  In addition you can add up to two power up discs under your figure and if you are just going to play around in the Toy Box you can add a disc there instead of using the game world piece.  This gives you the ability to expand the game easily by purchasing additional figures or game expansions.

I have played all three game worlds (Monsters U, The Incredibles and Pirates of the Caribbean)  and so far I like the Pirates world the best. It is quite fun to sail a pirate ship around the sea and attack other ships.  I did also pick up the Cars expansion but haven't played that one much.  For me the most interesting thing about the game worlds is trying to track down all the Toy Box pieces.  Some of them require certain characters to access (so you gotta buy 'em all!).

The Toy Box aspect to the game is very interesting.  Essentially you get to use all of the items you have found in the games to build your own world.  You can spawn bad guys to fight, build racetracks and all kinds of mini games.  You are mostly limited by your imagination!  I haven't had a lot of time to explore the Toy Box area yet but will do so and post my thoughts (and screenshots)! 

Wii U

There have been a lot of posts out there stating that the Wii U is dead and that Nintendo is in trouble, so I won't talk about that here.  This post will cover my interactions with the system.  I only recently purchased the Wii U Deluxe system.  There were a couple of reasons why I picked this system up; TVii and Pikmin 3.

TVii

I am very intrigued by the TVii application, but it still needs quite a bit of development work.  I like the fact that I can use the Wii U Gamepad to control my TV and that I can interact with others via the TV Tag as I am watching TV shows.   This is a great feature, but limited to live TV.  It would be great of the TVii could interface with TiVo or some other DVR system and let you interact with recorded shows since there are a lot of people that are "time shifting" their TV watching.  People are really starting to leverage the "second screen" during TV shows and TVii could be a real asset to the Wii U.  The best part about TVii is that the Wii U doesn't necessarily become your media machine.  You can still use your standard cable box and DVR.  The Wii U then stands out from the Xbox One as it doesn't try to become your home media machine.

Pikmin 3 

Now I have never played Pikmin 1 or 2 but when I read a review of this game I thought it sounded pretty interesting.  I really like strategy games and this one had a different twist to strategy than most games. 

The graphics on this game are superb.  It is really fascinating to walk around Earth as a miniature creature, plucking Pikmin out of the ground and hurling them at enemies and barriers.  This game is challenging from the beginning and makes you want to keep playing.  I have been using the Gamepad to play this game and the controls take some getting used to.  I have read that using the Wiimote and Nunchuck make the controls a bit easier so will have to give that a try.

Playstation 4

On February 20th, Sony announced the new Playstation 4.  The specs are much more advanced than the current Playstation 3, but nothing earth shattering.  It looks like their focus will be on some interesting social sharing features of the system.​

Here is a video showing the video capabilities of the system:

​This video discusses the development process and some of the social sharing aspects of the system:

​I am very interested in the social sharing aspect and can't wait to see the great content that gamers share with this system.

Muscle Memory

Muscle memory helped me "school" the younger generation this weekend. On Saturday I picked up the latest installment of the "Mortal Kombat" video game series. My stepsons and nephews were pretty excited and quite certain they were going to mop up the floor with the "old man". Little did they know that I had spent quite a bit of time in my youth playing the original game and that the latest installment of the series brought back some of the classic characters with their signature moves. I was amazed at how my hands were able to recall all of those previous hours of "practice" and allowed me to easily dispatch the younger generation. Sometimes being old isn't all that bad.