MediaBlog by www.Dee-London.com

First of all I have to confess that I’m such a huge fan of Ratchet & Clank Tools of Destruction that I even made two of my friends to play that game. But my eagerly awaited Ratchet & Clank Quest for Booty ruined all my expectations- yeap, I can’t recommended the game neither for fans nor for new-comers. How come? The game’s engine is the same, the assets are the same, the story is being continued… But the level designs are annoyingly unbalanced- and that includes missing checkpoints (or weapons) in the most difficult parts of the game. The only exception is Morrow Caverns chapter where Ratchet explores an abandoned (and very atmospheric) cavern with monsters and ghosts. I should say that it’s the best level I have played in Ratchet & Clank franchise! Another great thing is the return of Cap’n Slag- so we will meet him again next year in, hopefully, full game.

Don’t miss this demo video of Pendulum’s AlterEgo software- it’s really so cool!

More about ‘digital actors’ (with more videos) and more about AlterEgo

- It grows on you. Soul Calibur IV is not only a fighting game- there is fairly more than that. Exploration of characters and their fighting styles, creation of your own ultimate anti-heroes, finding out tactics against tougher enemies, enormous amount of moves and combos- all this together makes the game highly addictive.
- Creativity of styles. There are such wicked mates like Voldo or Tira that were not particularly advertised, but actually they make Soul Calibur IV such an outstanding fighting game. In fact, you won’t experience that in any other game.
- Strategy. There’s a very interesting feature- swapping your chosen characters during a fight (R1 button). So when you’re facing several different enemies in a row, such swapping lets you to adapt and win. A successful set of your ‘warriors’ will bring you a victory- you just have to find out that works the best for you.
- Treasures of Tower of Lost Souls. That’s quite an interesting challenge here. You not only have to fight increasingly tougher enemies to ascend in Tower of Lost Souls, but also to figure out what the riddles mean in order to get those treasures.
- Controls. I have mixed impressions on this. On one hand, the control scheme is quite sophisticated, so a novice can just jump into the game and enjoy randomly performed combos. On other hand, this sophistication makes more difficult to perform more complicated combos. I miss here clarity & sharpness of Devil May Cry 4…

Anyway, so far I’ve played for more than 30 hours and enjoyed every minute of it. Soul Calibur easily became one of my most favourite games on PS3.

Soul Calibur IV Tower of Lost Souls Walkthrough on IGN

Soul Calibur IV unlockable characters & secrets on IGN

All those conspiracy theories are invented by Sci-Fi authors or homeless madmen. There is simply no place for such in our real world that spins around democracy and humanism.

However, my mind started to change after watching The Real News Network for several hours in a row- it was rather a ‘cold shower’ experience.

Are you ready for a professional and rather painful vivisection of the modern world? I mean, believing everything we see or hear would be the most unwise, but to view events from a different angle is always healthy.

The Real News Network Official Site

The Real News Network on YouTube.com

2003 (US)- 2005 (UK), South Korea & USA

In one sentence: it’s a wonderfully animated forecast for global warming, pollution and… the new social system.

Sky Blue is also known as Wonderful Days (US)- in any case, most of anime/animation fans already saw it, just maybe forgot about it (like myself). It’s phenomenal how this visually gorgeous animation with a decent plot manages not to leave a strong impression. I don’t know the reason, though. Plot, atmosphere, visuals remind me of Ghost in the Shell, maybe it’s just not the same level crystal or striking.

However, the story of Sky Blue tackles with now actual problems and takes them further. It’s about the deadly polluted earth, where air is so poisoned that people can survive only in specially designated areas like this genetically engineered living city Ecoban. And here we go- there’s an elite community that owns Ecoban, and there’re ‘diggers‘ that work as slaves just for the sake of surviving. The funniest point here is that there is chance to clean the atmosphere and get rid of toxics, but Ecoban’s elite prefers the actual ‘ecological’ and, most importantly, social system.

I would definitely recommend watching Sky Blue again- it’s not only eye-candy, but its message became more than interesting in the light of our own global warming crisis. Besides, it’s no brainer when you can find Sky Blue Collector’s Edition for ~£6 and that includes 2 DVD, nice booklet and a real slide from the film reel.

Hell, it was a cool ride! Salem and Rios kicked all the bad asses for good- they’re definitely worth the heavy cash they earned. Good work, mates!

Army of Two is basically a proper shooter with some little, but sweet innovations that are much appreciated by hardcore shooter fans. You play from third person perspective, which is more then welcome because of the gorgeous character models and their animations. In the single campaign you ‘re directly controlling your chosen character (either Elliot Salem or Tyson Rios) and giving the orders to your comrade (8 commands with four direction D-pad).

And here comes the most important novelty feature of Army of Two- Aggro. That’s basically a level of not welcome attention from your enemies for your “activity”- firing. The more you shoot, the more aggro (and bullets) you get. The same applies to your comrade if you command him to stand in aggression mode. In fact, you can sneak around comparably safely while your partner has all the aggro- and that adds some strategy to the gameplay. On other hand, if you keep the aggro on yourself for too long, you can enter so called Overkill mode (”bullet time”)- “Look, Tyson, I’m a killing machine!”.

Army of Two didn’t receive overwhelming reviews, because, actually, the shipped game was a bit too short. On top of that the ending is a bit disappointing and leaves you wanting more. However, free downloadable Veteran Map Pack adds two big levels to the single campaign, so it fixes the issue.

Other key features of Army of Two:
- Back to Back mode- you’re standing back to back with your comrade and shooting enemies in slow motion. Though, I wish it happened more often in the game :P
- Parachuting- that’s a very sweet spot. One is controlling the parachute, another firing (sniping!) enemies below.
- Death- you’re not dyeing instantly in Army of Two. If your partner manages to get to you in time, drag you into a safe corner and make an injection (10-20 seconds?), you’re good to go. However, please note, that there some so hot situations, that this won’t help :]
- “Play Dead”- that’s another cool and very welcome feature. When the things are way too bad, you can pretend to be dead and enemies will leave you alone. Though, you can fool them only once…
- Interaction with your comrade- you can slap your partner or give a high five, you can play “guitar” on your machine gun or swap guns with your partner.
- The control scheme here is one of the best I have encountered in console games.
- AI (artificial intelligence) is very good and even cunning. Though, it’s not perfect.
- You earn money by completing tasks and spending them on the beefy amount of weapons and cool customisations

Verdict: if you’re a shooter fan, you don’t want to miss Army of Two.

Visit the official Army of Two site

Well, I can’t make my final verdict on Soul Calibur IV, because it’s huge in meaning of the content and I played only 4-5 hours

However here are few notes:
- Yeap, it’s a fighting game, but it’s a fighting game on steroids.
- It’s quite flexible in meaning of gameplay- you can button-mash through Soul Calibur IV, but there are quite complicated combos for each character. However, I didn’t sink my teeth into the last feature too much, so I can’t say if the fighting is the same rewarding as in Devil May Cry 4.
- Character creation feature is enormous and highly enjoyable- I spent half of my time just tweaking my character (Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica :P)
- There are few modes to play- so if you’re stuck you can play a different one for a change
- There’s such amount of unlockables- including characters, their powers and customisation items- that the game feels next to infinitive!
- Graphics of Soul Calibur IV are not as crystal as in Metal Gear Solid 4, but the lighting engine, colours, designs- everything is maxed out. It’s a gorgeous and very charming game
- Darth Vader fits quite nicely in this universe and he is really fun to play
- It’s rather a sexy game. The female fighters look like the most desirable actresses, especially if you decide to play them in underwear only… :D On top of that, there is the whole set dedicated for creating a geisha character!
- While Soul Calibur IV is highly accessible for such sort of games, it’s still very challenging- hardcore gamers will have enough of satisfaction here

So my overall impressions are quite satisfactory- Soul Calibur 4 is a unique and enjoyable game.

I recommend reading Soul Calibur IV full review on IGN.com

The great white shark looks line an anchovy in comparison to now extinct super shark- Megalodon. They were 16 m long, weighted 100 tones and they bite with a force of of between 10.8 to 18.2 tonnes. The funniest point here is their “diet”- whales and seals :D

Full story on BBC.co.uk