Greg Miller
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Writing For
IGNLatest Reviews
Having no impact is kind of the M.O. of Prototype 2. I enjoyed leveling up Heller and completing side quests, but none of it really meant anything to me. Outside of the Trophies I have for my efforts, I doubt I'll remember much of Prototype 2's sterile side missions and curse word-laden dialogue. Prototype 2 is fun, but it sure is forgettable.
IGN defines a 10.0 -- a masterpiece -- as "the pinnacle of gaming, a masterpiece may not be flawless, but it is so exceptional that it is hard to imagine a game being better." That's Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. From start to finish, single player to multiplayer, this game sings. The characters, the graphics, the sound, the story – they’re all top notch. If you’re willing to skip Uncharted 3, be prepared to miss one of gaming’s finest moments.
Batman: Arkham City isn't perfect, but listing the little things I didn't like gets in the way of all the stuff I adored. The voice acting, the challenges, the amazing opening, the unbelievable ending and the feeling of being the Dark Knight -- these are the things that standout looking back. I've beaten this thing twice and still want to call in sick and chase Riddler Trophies.
Dead Island probably won't win any game of the year awards. It's got visual bugs, the controls take a bit to feel normal, and the presentation in general isn't up to snuff. But the game gets a lot right. There is a huge world to explore, thousands of zombies to kill, and tons of side quests to take. Here on the other side of a 25-hour playthrough -- where I skipped a lot of side quests after Act 1 -- I'm anxious to get back into Dead Island, and despite the game's flaws, that's not something I say often.
Dead Space 2 is more than just an action game and it's more than a survival horror game -- it's a game that tells a really personal story about a guy who has been seriously scarred by the events around him. That premise alone makes it interesting, but Visceral Games melds it with rewarding combat, shocking enemies, and huge set pieces before tossing it into a world that's truly creepy and scary. I didn't find multiplayer that interesting and would've liked to have seen Isaac stop being an errand boy, but none of that spoils what you're getting here. The shocking moments, the gruesome deaths, and the fun of playing through this experience again and again are what I took away from this one.
In spite of the moments where I lost my mind over a cheap death, I enjoyed Dead Nation. It's a thing of beauty to sit in a chokepoint and tear apart an army of zombies or watch a maxed out landmine go off several times and clear out dozens of roamers. Still, Dead Nation's missing that punch to really make it sing -- it has no personality and I never felt like I had to get back to playing it. The upgrades and loot are nice touches that make Dead Nation a deeper experience than most of its twin-stick zombie shooters brethren, but it still feels like just another zombie shooter in the end. My memories are a mix of having a ball trying to survive and being ready to quit the game once and for all in frustration.
Again, Dead Rising 2 has issues. It’s not the smoothest game and it can feel like the last one, however that doesn’t mean a thing when the game’s this much fun. Using a car battery and a Street Fighter mask to electrocute the undead and a set of knives and a pair of boxing gloves to make Wolverine claws are all great times. Watching Chuck get covered in blood as he slays thousands of zombies, changing outfits so that one minute you’re in a toddler clothes with a LEGO head and the next you’re in a sundress, and listening to completely whacked out boss stories – that’s what I remember about Dead Rising 2. Any issue the game might have just falls to the backburner.
Mafia II is an interesting mobster tale with some great voice acting and cool cutscenes; if you have a "made man" itch, feel free to scratch it here, but be prepared for a pretty standard third-person shooter in the gameplay department. The ";take cover, kill everyone, do it again" mechanic didn't wow me, but it didn't let me down either. Mafia II is a solid little game that'll give you a fun ride -- just don't expect the world.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is the greatest comic book videogame of all time. This is an adult Dark Knight story that is well-told, packs some truly fun gameplay elements, has topnotch voice talent, and feel like it's part of Batman canon. If I have to nitpick, I wish the cutscenes looked better as they can distract from the tale and that the AI was a bit more responsive, but those are tiny flaws that shouldn't distract from the big picture.
In December, I played Infamous for the first time and told you that it was awesome. Five months later, I'm standing by that statement and backing it up with about 30 hours of playtime. Cole's powers are cool, the graphic novel cutscenes are stunning, the story is intriguing, and the city is alive. I could go on and on about this game -- about my hunt for the final few Blast Shards, about the sick joy in blasting a pedestrian and then sucking his bio-energy, about the subtle Sly Cooper references -- but to truly appreciate what Sucker Punch has created, you'll have to sit down and play this game.