The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Game: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Developer: Bethesda Studios
Platform: Xbox 360
Score: 3/5

Because this game is older and I own it I will not be in a hurry to run through it like I was with AC3 but I will give you the rundown so far on it and will do update posts later on in the future as new and exciting things happen. I will say that I have never been a huge Elder Scrolls fan but since it came with my Xbox I may as well play it. First this game is massive and not just on scope but the quests. I am still in the first major town and have been there for almost 6 hours working on side quests. I have been enjoying this game so far and plan to put a few days of my life into this game. This being a digital download I have had a few problems in load screens where it would completely lock up my system and I would have to physically remove the power cable to reset everything. While creating my first character (wood elf) it took forever to load the features on my character which could be due to the digital download.

Visuals: A
Its not the best texture ive seen for an open world game but its not awful either. I dont like the AI player templates, they seem too square for me like they were built in minecraft. The graphics may not be the best but that could be because of what is going on in the world around you so they keep that low to help with refresh rate. First thing I noticed was the clouds in the sky moving and not going too slow nor too fast. The water just doesnt seem to be realistic maybe due to lack of reflection but it just looks off. The lighting on the the characters are amazing and spot on with the light source of the area. When I looked up it took the game a second for my screen to adjust just like your eyes would in real life. The game to me in general seems really dark so I turned my display settings up all the way and it made a huge difference. The one major thing that I love is the slow-mo killing blows especially as an archer and seeing 2-3 arrows in your victim.

Controls: B-
The game play controls are pretty easy to figure out, but its getting a weapon (even when you favorite) is annoying, navigating for quests, and your map could be redone. It has taken me longer to get used to the controls than I would have liked to. 

Audio: B+
Title screen song is amazing, The gameplay music is really good and makes you feel apart of that world. Then when you get into combat the song changes and picks up the pace and it makes my heart beat a little faster. The SFX are pretty good nothing that caught my ear but I havent encountered any problems yet.

Game play: A
Shooting fire with your left hand and bashing someone in with a mace in the right can do no wrong in my book. So going with how big this game is almost everything is interactive. Wanna steal that bread go for it, sit on a bench take a seat. When it comes to buying and selling things I must say it is poorly done. It should give you a character sheet to see what you got in each spot and be able to compare easily what you got and what you find. I havent messed much with the potions or alchemy but I did find myself eating random things to see there effects. My big gripe is finding the mats, I can not really tell whats part of the game and what is interactive in the open world. I killed a boss and was like oh there is a mining vein right in front of me. Since I have just played a little bit I do hope that the armor variety gets better. Everyone I kill has the same 3 sets of armor. At least they could have mixed it up a bit more in the opening area. So questing oh boy there is a lot of them. You do get some at the beginning you wont use for a while unless your just running through the game. I would like to see icons above everyone that has a job or a quest for you to do instead of talking to everyone and asking if they need help. If you do happen to fail a side mission it is failed and you move on unless you have a prior save point and you really want it.

Replay Value: B-
This game is so massive I just dont see a replay value you unless your going after achievements you can only get if you join a certain group and thats only if the game doesnt allow you to join a guild because you joined another first. I will play through and get as many achievements as I can with my archer then ill make a new character and play through most likely as a pickpocketing mage. 

Forza 4

Game: Forza MotorSport 4
Developer: Microsoft Studios
Platform: Xbox 360
Score: 3/5

So we finally upgraded our Xbox and Forza 4 came with it alone with Skyrim which will also have a review here soon. I will say that I am not a big racing fan but I have enjoyed Forza and my wife even laughed at me since it may have been the first time shes seen me play a racing game. It is the Xbox rival to Gran Tourismo. I will say that I am not a car guy, most important thing for a car to me is getting me from point A to point B. This game is not all about high end cars but just about any decent car out there. My wife and I just bought a 2010 Honda Fit well the night before I said you wanna test drive it? She did!! The cars range from Le Mans cars to a Gremlin. The car list is massive and some companies just have one car in the game like the delorean which if you purchase and hit 88mph you get an achievement which was so funny since I didn't look at the achievement list before hand and was doing it to just do it. The one major setback I did have was that the online community isn't that big since it is an older game and Forza Horizons is the newest one. If you buy the Xbox bundle that this and Skyrim comes in don't sell this game short it was very fun even for a non car guy like me.


Visuals: A+

Beautiful!!! Not only did the cars look great but the scenery when you got a chance to look around was amazing. I would recommend that out of all the driving views go with the first person inside the car for the best views. Not only is the car interior a match but you get to see the landscape also the rear view mirrors help as well. After you get to pick a car for gaining a new level you can pick a base color but don't worry you can go to your garage and paint it for free. They have just a basic paint, chromolugen, and metallic paint schemes. I did notice that on some cars I could just change the base paint and not accent paint. I could be just overlooking it but did not see it. You also have the ability to had decals and do custom designs which you can sell in your store front for some extra credits. While your racing if you like to use the other cars as a braking assistant while making a turn you will damage your car. I never did it enough to have my car effected other than the paint job being rubbed off and the amount of damage you take is reflected in credits after each race. They have a mode called auto vista which allows you to get into a few cars and get a more in depth look at them and get information about certain parts. If you are new to racing games don't worry the game lays down a race line with green, yellow, red arrows for you to learn how and when to brake.

Controls: A
Its a car game so the controls are pretty straight forward with a gas and a brake, you are able to rotate the view all around your car to see other cars in a blind spot. I did have issues with racing some of the high end cars with just flooring it and spinning it out so that was something I had to get used to was just easing down on the trigger. The braking seemed too sensitive and I was barely touch it and I was be all herky jerky. 

Audio: B
So there wasn't anything special about the soundtrack it sounded very arcade style to me. It wasn't bad but it wasn't spectacular. The cars on the other hand were amazing. Getting into a a Enzo and reveing it up made the hair on my arms stand up a bit. The announcer is a from the UK so if you can get over the accent he will be okay. Him doing it gives more of a world game feel to it not just an American. 

Game play: B+

Its not a NASCAR game so you turn right a lot also. I am doing season mode right now and it does get repetitive but they do mix the season up with a different challenge. The first season I drove around the Top Gear test track knocking down over sized bowling pins. The next challenge I was racing on a Japanese mountain side with traffic (only one direction) against just one car on who could get to the bottom. The difficulty is really easier and made for beginners. I had to move it up to the 2nd hardest difficulty before it was somewhat challenging. Don't worry if you don't win you still get plenty of xp and credits also.  Yes the AI does make mistakes so if you are trailing you can catch up. While in career mode you can choose between 3 different races per event and each gives a different reward. One issue I found was doing a Camaro V. Mustang race well I was the only mustang going up against 9 camaros, it should have been half and half depending on what you picked. I did notice that you do level pretty fast and can get overwhelmed with the amount of cars in your garage. I have tried to keep certain cars in certain class types and trying not to duplicate care manufactures. If you race with certain manufactures and do good you will receive Affinity points which can lead to getting discounts from that company on cars and parts. When it comes to parts I must say tuning your car is very detailed and since I know nothing about cars I just left it alone and did fine, I'm sure it matters online but I haven't messed with it much. One of my favorite feature is the race rewind. It allows you to rewind your race back to where you need it and it has helped me by winning a few races.

Replay Value: B-
As far as I can tell there is none. The game is really big to start with so it will take awhile to play through. Right now I am in season mode and there are 10 seasons. I am in season 3 and there is a total of 30 some races so far. They also have event list races. I didn't count but there is a lot and you can only race some with certain class of cars some I haven't played enough to get yet. You can only upgrade your cars to a certain point then race online. The online community isn't that great unless you race on a Friday or Saturday night.

Star Wars The Old Republic Rant

Ok so I paid for a month of it to try it out and see if there was a huge difference. Well I managed to get a sage to level 25 in that time span. I then moved to other characters and since I was no longer paying for it I did not feel the need to play all the time since it was consuming all my extra gaming time. I go to log back on today on my sage and it wont let me. I have found out that if you are Free 2 Play there is a lvl 15 cap on it. Also since I am no longer a subscribed member I can only create 2 characters per email. Well I dont want to give up on my lvl25 so I guess ill create a toon. Play to level 15 and be done with it. Time to move onto another game. Thats my rant for the week.