So I'm sure vizzed giveaways are dime-a-dozen, but who doesn't want more vizzed points? Everyone loves to watch a number grow and grow! The details of the giveaway are simple- simply be an active member of chat on my Twitch Stream at www.twitch.tv/siksiksikki and I'll be giving away a specific amount randomly.

The amounts are:
50,000 - One Lucky Person
25,000 - One Lucky Person
10,000 Two Lucky People

   And no, I didn't accidentally add any 0's. Those are the gigantic sums of Viz to win for absolutely nothing and I plan on doing WAY more than just this one today. Since I already have the systems I would play mainly, and the games here are fairly cheap and I do so enjoy doing my video game reviews, I'll be keeping this thread up specifically for when I do my Vizzed Giveaways- so subscribe or whatever to this thread for notifications, and follow my Stream on Twitch and you'll increase your chances of getting enough Vizzed to make- perhaps- even David raise an eyebrow. But probably not that much.

This Giveaway specifically is JUST for today which is 6/8/2015, so jump on it! I'll be streaming here soon!

thing1 : I'd like to grab one. I've got a Twitch Stream with a weekly schedule, a youtube channel that I'm still trying to get exclusive content on, and a facebook page for both of them.

Davideo7 : I'm curious on something: I'll be taking a 2-3 week vacation here soon, and I may end up not being able to stream from vizzed for a month or so. I'll be able to stream in general, just not from vizzed specifically since I won't have access to a computer, but will have access to an XBox One. Is there anyway I might be able to take a month break from vizzed without being taken off of the Twitch Partners list? I do absolutely plan on returning and streaming from/for vizzed asap once I get back.

   Borderlands 2 was a grungy and in-your-face first person role-playing game with a heavy emphasis on cooperative multiplayer that released in September of 2012. After the commercial success that was Borderlands, Gearbox decided to go bigger, better, and ultimately funnier as they worked on it's sequel which is heavier in plot-content and contained hundreds of thousands more guns than it's predecessor. Combined with an oddly unique love for the community which resulted in constant updates and multiple events that practically anyone could participate in and a plethora of DLC and free goodies- Borderlands 2 is easily one of the greatest and most addictive games I've ever played (with over 100+ hours no less).

GRAPHICS - 8
   Right from the very beginning with the original Borderlands Gearbox traded off realistic and polished graphics that the majority of shooters actively strive for in lieu of a cel-shaded comic book style which favors thick and heavy black lines over minimal cartoonish textures. It's a style that is applied to literally everything in the game, from the characters and monsters to the architecture and landscape. A fantastic move for a developer who doesn't work on Nintendo games- since more animated and exaggerated styles tend to be a little more timeless instead of eventually feeling outdated like graphics that strive to be 'real' due to being stuck in the technology available at the time.

   This time around with the sequel Gearbox added on a number of new visual features that stick out really well on top of the aforementioned cel-shaded modus operandi. A subtle depth-of-field is the main feature noticeable from the onset of the game since you start out in the middle of a blizzard and continue on into a snowy region for awhile before seeing more color aside from white, but it's effective nonetheless making the foreground feel brighter and closer compared to the blurry backdrop of mountains and other regions. Later on as you move in and out of dungeons and through various and unique areas the depth-of-field is combined with a beautiful ambient occlusion system that gives every section of the map a memorable feel that sets them apart from other each other.

   Another notable inclusion that I, personally at least, felt was very refreshing in an open world environment such as Borderland 2 was the ability to actually see other areas. Check it out if you ever find yourself playing Borderlands- While standing in Thousand Cuts I can easily see the huge Hyperion tower that serves as an important location in the plot later on, and while standing on the platforms of that Hyperion tower I can see off to Terramorphous Peak which is the location of a frustration inducing end-game raid boss and- wait, is that? You can even see the frustration inducing end-game raid boss ITSELF from this vantage point!

   Borderlands 2 isn't perfect, of course, though the issues it does have are minute and easy to ignore. A missing texture or two can be seen in locations that players aren't generally meant to see or explore anyways, and you can also find areas where there are holes in the landscape geometry that you can actually fall through if you're really trying your best to look for them.

SOUND - 8
   The music in Borderlands was very hit-and-miss for me. The opening theme song was fine enough, but with such big boots to fill with Cage The Elephant's "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" prefacing the previous game, it fell kind of short- though the opening cinematic itself was great. The combat music felt like combat music with no real frills or thrills, and the same goes for a majority of the other background tracks in the game.

   The voice acting is where this game really shines- and when I say shine, I mean like the good 'ol sun in the center of solar system. The original Borderlands didn't exactly have a convincing or elaborate plot- and I'll talk more about that later- so the characters didn't really have much to say outside of their combat dialogue. With Borderlands 2 engaging story-line, however, the original four characters were given prominent roles and they use them well. Our 6 possible protagonists in this one, unfortunately, get the Borderlands 1 treatment and are likewise restricted to combat dialogue, but are at least given unique reactions to some of the games situations.

   Of all the cast, however, the antagonist- Handsome Jack- stands above the rest. Never have I encountered a villain I've loved so much, and his voice follows every nuance of his crazy personality perfectly. When he's joking, he makes you want to kill him, and when he's angry, you almost feel a little scared for what might happen next.  Other than Jack there are a crazy number of other characters with zany and well acted voices that I just couldn't take the time to name- though I'll at least give some spotlight to Tiny Tina who is voiced by Ashly Burch from the popular youtube series "Hey Ash, whatcha playin'?"

ADDICTIVENESS - 10
   Never have I ever played a game as addicting as Borderlands 2. Sure, Borderlands was great and all, but the sheer amount of content in Borderlands 2 has me still discovering new things to do and interesting encounters to- well- encounter. With over 100+ hours in the game that I've logged so far, I still haven't seen everything this game has to offer and I'm beginning to get the feeling I never will. There's a lot to talk about here, so I'll try my best to break it down into the basics.

   Characters- There are 6 characters you can possibly play as, 2 of which are DLC, and every character has 3 skill trees. Every skill tree has about 10 possible skills, and the majority of these skills have multiple levels. In short, there are about a hundred ways just to BUILD a character, let alone play them. While some of the characters are BASICALLY designed for specific weapons in mind, Gearbox knew that a player might want to- say- run around with rocket launchers as Zer0, and they made sure there are plausible ways to build Zer0 so you can do just that. And with the addition of Bad A** Tokens, which are minute bonuses to character attributes like reload time or melee damage that stack up to big changes, there's likely never to be a character you make that is the same as someone else's unless you're following a specific build.

   Weapons- Weapons are the cornerstone of Borderlands. "Well, of course it is, weapons are always important in a first-person shooter." Well, that is very true, but even more so in Borderlands where there are thousands- heck, thousands OF thousands, of possible weapon combinations. You may get a shotgun with exploding rounds that you also throw a copy of like a grenade when you reload. You might get a sniper rifle that shoots a three round burst that ricochets between enemies or off of walls when you're scoped in. You might just get yourself a nuclear rocket launcher that explodes into 3-5 smaller nukes upon detonation- combined with the possible character builds this already presents hundreds of play-through possibilities

   Co-operation- Borderlands games can be solo'd, sure, but they are at their heart cooperative titles. Whether it's split-screen or online, playing with friends provides an alternative to many fights in the game, but the enemies do get bonuses while other players are in the campaign as well. You're a sniper, one friend's rolling with a shotgun, another provides a pinning offensive with an assault rifle, and your good friend Wild Bill is reeking havoc with a rocket launcher. Or if you're more like me and my friends, everyone's got their trusty sniper rifle and you're picking everyone off like fish in a barrel- there is NEVER a dull moment when you're duking it out with your best buds while taking out hordes of bandits, psycho's and Hyperion Loaders.

   New Game+- Are you done with the game? You saved the day from Handsome Jack and Hyperion? Nope. Do it again on True Vault Hunter Mode where the enemies are tougher but the loot is so much sweeter. Did you take down Jack once again and Pandora is at your feet? Nope, do it again on Ultimate Vault Hunter mode with even TOUGHER enemies and SWEETER loot- and on top of that you can also now collect Seraph Crystals from Ultimate Raid Bosses to truly max out your character to OP8 (which are 8 levels ABOVE the max level. A weird system, but unique and fun!)

STORY - 8
   The original Borderlands was very light on story- It was very cut and dry: You're adventurers, there's a vault with treasure, and some seemingly mystical pretty lady telling you where it is. The DLC for the original were fun, but overall contributed nothing but a couple characters into the Borderlands canon and interestingly enough the plot for the first game was retroactively made more interesting by Borderlands 2, which explained the former's events in what is meant to be it's true context. Borderlands 2 is where Gearbox really showed off their story-telling chops.

   The game opens up with an unfortunate and unintended scuffle between the new Vault Hunters and the global powerhouse Hyperion ends with the protagonist(s) face down in the snow and left for dead before being rescued by everyone's favorite robot: R2- wait, no,  CL4P-TP aka Clap Trap! With a bounty on your head from Hyperion's head-of-command, Handsome Jack, and the mysterious beauty Angel speaking words of wisdom and guidance into your ears you'll head out on your way to meet new enemies, old friends, and find out a conspiracy that reaches back far and deep as you search over the torn world of Pandora in search of a way out of this messy situation and maybe even a Vault full of ancient alien treasure.

   Borderlands 2 is full of twists, turns and enough story that you might as well throw away that copy of The Fault In Our Stars you've been reading. Every single inch of this game is riddled with interesting dialogue and uniquely odd/oddly unique quests ranging from a guy who wants you to shoot him in the face (aptly named Face McShooty) to a mission in which Handsome Jack will ACTUALLY PAY YOU TO KILL YOURSELF (warning: in game suicide only). And, for those interested, Gearbox even has a metric buttload of references to memetic subjects like double rainbows or phrases like "u mad bro?" If those aren't your thing, then you can take solace in enemies like Rakkman and or Donkey Mong.

DEPTH - 9
   I've already mentioned a plethora of features that can keep you playing this game from character creation to the seemingly infinite combinations of weapons. The story itself feels like a good 6-7 hour trek when you're doing nothing BUT the main quest, and side missions and exploration can add well over 20 extra hours on top of that. Combine that with the multiple difficulties and the DLC and you've got yourself an action packed adventure that makes Skyrim look like a middle school student's short story by comparison.

DIFFICULTY - 7
   The difficulty in Borderlands 2 can be hard to pin due to all the factors that may or may no be involved. From the perspective of a single player adventure on, say, normal difficulty it's pretty straightforward and acts like a rather traditional rpg. You fight enemies on your level in a specific area, and they may or may not get more and more difficult the closer you get to the next  boss. Attempting to move further than these areas, or other offshoots generally meant for side-quests, will have players pitted against tougher and more difficult enemies until they level up to the appropriate strength necessary to take them on. A skilled or knowledgeable player can generally ignore these ancient rules of adventuring and run headlong through the quests until they end up fighting things that will probably kill you in one shot.

   Adding in other players to the mix will have the game remixing and buffing enemies so that they are prepared for multiple targets of different strengths however, and this can sometimes get pretty messy and doesn't feel too balanced if you're rolling with a team of less than 4 members, but as long as you keep your head down and your shields up you shouldn't have too many real issues. Keep your wits about you and experiment with weapon and elemental types to play on the natural weaknesses of your enemy and you should be able to solo even True Vault Hunter mode.

   OVERALL Borderlands 2 could arguably be the most enjoyable game I've ever played. It's been awhile since I've had a game that has offered me a challenge, a great story, a fun mayhem filled experience, and barrels upon barrels of laughter all in one sleek and smooth cel-shaded package. Though I've stopped playing it without experiencing 2 or 3 of the games many DLC, I would highly recommend this title to anyone and everyone regardless of their preferences towards playing with others or not- if you want a good time, look no further than Borderlands 2. (I'd highly advise the purchase of the Game of the Year edition, just saying.)

Application for Review Writer

Overall Qualifications and Practices:
-10 reviews written in the past 2 months
-Majority of written reviews featured
-I have and plan on writing more reviews for Video Game Room titles that have no reviews on top of classic games
-Always play the game in question prior to writing review
-No bad ratings thus far
-huge library of games, old and new, even outside of the Vizzed Catalog

Best Rated Reviews:
Metal Gear Solid - https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=86217
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=87434
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis - https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=87368
Syphon Filter - https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=87392
Super Mario Sunshine - https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=85615

I've already written many reviews for this site and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. As of recently, with practice, my reviews have been reaching well over the 2000 word mark and higher. While I do include my own experiences and opinions in my reviews, I generally disregard them as much as possible in lieu of a general standpoint- I always understand that while I may not enjoy a game, other people could find it amazing and I try my best to look for every possible selling point a game might legitimately have without ignoring it's problems as well. 

And as a Silver Status streamer I always have a reason to keep returning to the site to fill out these reviews- as I'll always be playing something from the Vizzed Catalog and will have something to write about as long as I keep exploring titles I haven't previously played as well as the titles I have already done when I was younger (like Metal Gear Solid and Syphon Filter.)

And, of course, I have no issues playing through the games that not everyone plays. I'm sure everyone and their mother has a review ready or planned for Final Fantasy VII or Banjo-Kazooie. It's one of the reasons I went ahead and tackled Syphon Filter, since I've never heard ANYONE talk about that game outside of this site and even then it was after I made said review.

I may not have Trusted Status, but it isn't listed as a prerequisite on the 2nd Wave Application, nor was it in the first wave... So... Here's hoping! I'd love to be able to contribute to this site with a higher rank!

rebelyell : I actually just finished replaying it myself, and I already plan on doing it again in it's Subsistance form. Not sure if you're a fan of streams or let's plays, but you can follow me on twitch at www.twitch.tv/siksiksikki if you ever want to chill out and relax with other MGS fans. I've also got a 25k Viz point contest going on for my twitch followers as well!

Glad you liked the review and I'm honored that it could it would make you want to play such an amazing title again!

   Fallout 3 released in 2008 to an excited, loving, and BOOMING reception. Fallout 3 was born out of an agreement between Bethesda Softworks and Black Isle Studios (who created Fallout to begin with) to create a modern
entry in a series that hadn't seen a new game in over 4 years since Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel released on Playstation 2 and Original Xbox. Due to the critical failer that WAS Brotherhood of Steel, Fallout 3 was a breath of
fresh air- and with Bethesda behind the wheel after the success story that is The Elder Scrolls, nothing could go wrong- and nothing did. Almost. While the game was widely recieved on launch, it didn't walk through the door without a fair amount of controversy surrounding it's blood and gore, use of drugs, and even it's nuclear content wasn't well-recieved in Japan. (I mean, sure, it makes sense- but the game is called FALLOUT, Japan. Take it all, or have none of it.) Regardless, following the open-world third/first-person action of The Elder Scrolls series, Fallout was given a new perspective that was sorely needed as the age of isometric turn-based strategy was dying.

GRAPHICS - 8
   2008 was an interesting time for graphics in video games (though it could be argued that every year is, I suppose) in that one game might have fantastic visuals with terrible gameplay, or mutated looking potato people with
great gameplay. Fortunately, Fallout 3 has a very generous mix of both, though it can fallout in some ways on both ends as well. Starting the game, the player is greeted by a beautifully pre-rendered cutscene showing off the broken
and dilapidated Downtown Washington, D.C. before panning out to show a gruff and weathered Brotherhood of Steel patrol sporting new and improved armor over the previous games representations.

   Further gameplay reveals that Bethesda worked HARD on character creation this time around after the hideous monstrosities you could create even after hours of care with sliders in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion creation
screens. Sure, you certainly couldn't create drop-dead characters and the colors are an absolute pain to work with (which is an issue even that's easy to see even with in-game characters- keep an eye out for Moira Brown's apparent
moustache. Blegh.) but at least you were able to create something remotely HUMAN.

   The world of Fallout 3, dubbed the Capital Wasteland as it takes place in and around Washington DC, is a barren irradiated mess- which is exactly how it SHOULD be. I'll go more into actual content later- but Bethesda effectively
nailed the atmosphere one might want. While the green haze that seems to blanket the Capital Wastes can become somewhat of an eyesore during extended gameplay but it contributes to the overall feel very well given that the world was destroyed in a large scale nuclear war. The environment is inhospitable, and the player knows it right as they step out from Vault 101. Everything from the retro-futuristic designs to anything one might see as a relic of the pre-war
time period (it all looks as if everything was designed by a sci-fi artist from the 50's or 60's) to the overall design of the mutated creatures and characters all feels fresh and goes to make a truly unique post-apocalyptic scenario
that makes the game stand out among the genre.

SOUND - 8
   Prepare yourself for an onslaught of earworms that will inevitably make you wish you lived in the golden age of America- a time when backyard barbeque's and baseball reigned supreme and Harry S. Truman was rocking the Whitehouse with post-war work to rebuild Europe and fight the ever-present threat of Communism. The aforementioned opening cutscene of the Brotherhood of Steel patrol is accompanied by what was once a popular tune back in the day "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire" by the early blues and rock'n'roll group The Ink Spots- a band who's tunes are very common even among the tracks in the OST to the game and whose song "Maybe" was the theme song for the first Fallout game. It serves as a clearly ironic note that is signature in the Fallout universe in both message and tone which is a theme shared even by the unsuspecting song "Civilization (Bongo Bongo Bongo)" by Danny Kaye and the Andrew Sisters with the line "They have things like the atom bomb- so I think I'll stay where I am- Civilization, I'll stay right here."Outside of these tracks, the in-game radio station Galaxy News Radio features many other pre-war records and tracks including but no limited to "Way Back Home" by Bob Crosby and the Bobcats and "Let's Go Sunnin'" composed by Jack Shaindlin and sung by an unknown vocalist. While songs like these are all largely up to personal opinion- there are a few songs that end up causing me to just turn off the radio, like "Butcher Pete Part I" and "Mighty Man" both by Roy Brown.

   Outside of the beautiful and well-thought out selection of songs, Fallout 3's original compositions tend to be very minimal but not bad. The music that plays during combat is enough to get a player the effect one should desire,
and the adrenaline is left mainly up to the creatures, enemies and situations themselves. The UI feels sleek even though it too has the retro treatment, and the sound just feel write to the sound of scrolling to just pressing the use
button on that Super Stimpack you need because of the Super Mutant Behemoth that's pummeling you into submission. The ambiance works out well and I personally feel the game has two peak locations to check out the effects of such- Rivet City, which is a carrier-ship-turned-city where every step is greeted by a resounding metal sound and every moment is accompanied by the groaning and moaning of the steel that one should hear in naval based locations- and The Dunwich Building which I won't spoil, but try not to mess yourself too bad.

   The voice acting is the usual Bethesda fare, so you can take that how you will. You'll find the usual revolving cast of around 8-10 voices behind the majority of NPC's you'll meet in the Wasteland. This, as usual, can be
overlooked of course (except for when you're talking to ghouls who literally all share 1 voice, which is sad as I find them extremely interesting) and even more so with the handful of unique voices you can find. Among these unique
voices include Erik Todd Dellums who voices the charismatic Three-Dogg, and even Liam Neeson- yes, that's right, Qui-Gon Jinn- who voices your characters dad James.


ADDICTIVENESS- 9
   There is a LOT to do in the Capital Wastes. This game is HEAVEN for roleplayers, and HELL for collectors and completionists. The main quest is relatively lengthy and there are a metric butt load of side-quests to compelete,
locations to explore, and what are basically dungeons to raid. As with most Bethesda games, the developers even went so far as to throw in many easter-eggs to amuse players. From my own personal experiences playing this game I've  managed to logged hundreds of hours across the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game. There are hundreds of ways to spend your time. Are you more worried about your weapons? Level up your skills and collect items and you won't have to worry since you'll be able to repair them on the go and even CREATE new ones with some of the miscellaneous clutter you can pick up in the game that seemingly have no use- my own favorite being the Rock-It-Launcher which gives even more use to literally everything you can pick up since it is now ammo. Nothing is quite as satisfying as blowing the head off of an Enclave goon with a teddy bear flying at 80 MPH.

   Maybe your a collector? Collecting items can be a fun way to spend your time while you're on your quests and a hobby that many players have taken up. In my Megaton house I have a room dedicated to an enourmous pile of pre-war money- which makes up in absolutely no useful way for the lack of caps I always seem to have. Of course Bethesda saw fit to reward collecting as well- having a handful of NPC's who will reward the player with higher than average caps for certain items than one might get for simply selling them at a local trader. Among these valued items are scrap metal, Sugar Bombs, pristine pre-war books, and sadly Brotherhood of Steel holotags that can be looted from the corpses of fallen Steel knights and paladins.

The locations were all crafted with a huge amount of love and care- every single town or cave feels as unique as it possibly could be. Combined with the fact that there are a mindboggling TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE marked locations on TOP of many, many UNMARKED locations will have the player hardpressed not to go off the path to their next objective to find out what exactly that abandoned building might have in store for them- whether it's new encounters, treasure, or a lump of nothing. And with the Game of the Year addition which adds 5 new DLC in Operation: Anchorage, Mothership Zeta, Broken Steel, Point Lookout, and the Pitt- it almost feels like you just DON'T HAVE THE TIME to explore everything that Fallout 3 has to offer- but don't worry, it's possible. Or maybe I just don't have a life...

STORY - 10
Story? Does Fallout 3 have story? Fallout 3 has more story than the families war veteran who fought through Vietnam without a leg and only a stick. It has more story than priceless artifact dug up in an archeological dig somewhere deep in the deserts of Egypt. Fallout 3 has more story than Stephen King. Okay, these might all be slight exaggerations, but it does have more than enough to tell and not nearly enough time to tell it. 

   Fans of the franchise may be familiar with it's history, but I'll give the basics here for you. For the most part, history played out relatively the same as our own with small and minute exceptions that end up mounting to huge differences. After World War II ended the world marched on, but one small thing was never created- transistors. An invention that is credited with the rapid miniaturization of technology that is so important to us today. Instead, scientists opted to work on finding new and exciting ways to expand on nuclear power and it's applications. However, much like Mad Max, the world began running out of fossil fuels which caused conflict between Europe and the oil-rich nations of the middle east which ended up culminating nuclear dogfights between the two. The United Nations, powerless to stop these open conflicts, was disbanded. Shortley after, the Chinese landed on American soil and America opted to annex Canada to ensure the defence of Alaska and the United States. Everything came to a head during the Great War- a two hour event in which China and The United States threw warhead after warhead at eachother, ending in the nuclear apocalypse that lead to the events from Fallout 1 up to Fallout 3.

   Fallout 3 takes place takes place in 2277, two hundred years after the devestating Great War. The player takes on the role of the Lone Wanderer who was, seemingly, born in Vault 101 which was one of many supposed safe havens
designed and built by the economic powerhouse Vault-Tec in preperation for the Great War which many seen coming. The player follows the Lone Wanderer from the time he/she is 4, to 19, in which the players father James, again voiced by Liam Neeson, has fled the vault which is a HUGE no-no as the Overseer and it's inhabitants feel that the only place that is safe is in the vault. Your character is more or less forced out, and it's time to search far and wide across the Capital Wasteland to find your father and find out why he fled Vault 101. 

   The character is met by a number of interesting characters along the way, like Colin Moriarty who is the proprieter of Moriarty's Saloon in Megaton, who had apparently came "across the sea" to the US and other characters like Fawkes, a Super Mutant who was more or less able to retain his sanity after his mutations. With the Broken Steel expansion you can play past the stories usual credits to wake up two weeks later and help ferret out the remaining Enclave forces who serve as the main antagonists of the game. Operation: Anchorage allows the player to experience the lore first hand as they step into a high-tech virtual simulation made for would-be soldiers to experience and ready themselves to fight the Communist Chinese threat before the war. The Pitt will take the player out-of-state to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where disease and slavery is rampent- will you help or hinder? Point Lookout will have the players explore the Maryland State Park of Point Lookout and the tourist town of the same name and help discover and end a 200 year old conflict. Mothership Zeta, my least favorite of the bunch personally, has the players abducted by aliens and trying to fight their way out of the alien mothership alongside other abductees from across Earth's history- including a samurai, which is pretty cool I guess.

DEPTH - 10
   There isn't much to say here that I haven't already said. The game is long and has a lot to offer- even if you're a gamer who's only in it to complete the game, you'll be sinking anywhere from 6-15 hours into the game. Achievement hunters will be given a headache in all the content you'll have to find- and it will warrant multiple playthroughs due to the fact that some missions can be cut off depending on certain choices the player can make. If you're a good character, karma wise, some evil choices aren't available and vice versa. Fallout 3 encourages heavily encourages experimentation, and experimentation is probably half the fun of the game to begin with.

DIFFICULTY - 7
   This can be very, very dependent on the player. Fallout 3 offers a handful of difficulties to tackle, but none are required for achievements or anything like that. Base game, on normal, the game is only difficult to a player who
doesn't pay attention. There are a handful of difficult situations, to be sure, but the forced difficulty is few and far between. A lot of the more stressful situations come from specific encounters- like if you're hunting down the
Super Mutant Behemoths that are in the game or if you're surrounded and you used one too many stim-paks in your last fight becuase you were being overly cautious. The fact that you can quick travel takes a lot of the punch out of the game unfortunately, since tough situations can easily be remedied by walking out the front door of a dungeon and fast traveling to a hub town and sleeping or buying important supplies.

   With the DLC's installed, though, the difficulty ramps up largely, but not to impossible standards. Operation Anchorage strips the players of any items they have outside the simulation and forces them to make do with items they
gain while inside. There are infinite ammo-stations throughout the simulation, though, so it's kind of null-and void. Point Lookout, though, definitely requires the player to be a high level and will still be challenging even then. It
seems to me that Point Lookout might actually be the only DLC that Bethesda took the time to balance out for end-game wanderers.

   Higher difficulties remedy this, of course, since it makes enemies harder to take down while making the player much easier to kill. Stimpaks become much more important, and the medicine skill is essential since they can be hard
to find- especially in later parts of the game in which Super Stimpaks will be what the player will be hunting for. OVERALL, though, Fallout 3 is something I'd recommend to every gamer I'll meet whether they are hardcore RPG lovers, FPS players, or just your simple casual gamer. The huge amount of content, unique and miscellaneous encounters, and the hundreds of ways to play the game make it accessible to almost ANYONE.

   Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes serves as the third chapter in what could be called the 'prequel arc' of the Metal Gear solid franchise and serves mainly as a teaser in both plot and gameplay for the next title The Phantom Pain. The short and satisfying entry released in March on the Playstation 3, 4, Xbox 360 and One consoles before being released later that year in December for PC through the Steam digital distribution platform. On launch the game was received relatively well, though there were definitely a notable amount of complaints regardless.

GRAPHICS – 10
   Mind blowing, to say the least, Ground Zeroes truly shows the power of Kojima Studio's proprietary Fox Engine. From the sweat and rain that trickle down the subtle wrinkles on Big Boss' face and sleek Sneaking Suit to the surprising render distance and lighting mechanics once could log a couple hours in the game just by admiring the details that have gone into this appetizer.

   I searched for anything- ANYTHING- that I might be able to toss a complaint at and failed as spectacularly at that mission as usually do at any other mission in any of the Metal Gear games: which is to say very, very badly. No obvious seams, no missing textures where a player may never even try to look, and not once in my many breakthroughs did I experience any even minor 'whoopsies'.

 Even on the lowest settings in the graphics menu Ground Zeroes looks better to me than many other next-generation games that have released so far- though this can be easily attributed to the fact that it is such a small game.

SOUND – 7
   Oddly enough, the sound design in Ground Zeroes will receive a lower score than I generally tend to give titles from the Metal Gear franchise. Sure, everything combat and ambient related is there and sounds just as good as it has in prior installments, but not much of the soundtrack outside of the song “Here's to you (Nikola and Bart)” really stood out. It's nice that they went back and added a few classic tracks from the first Metal Gear Solid for the Deja Vu mission, and a couple songs from Zone of the Enders for Jamai Vu- but the game still offers little in the way of original music scores. 

   At least they brought back the ability to listen to music which was a feature present in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and when playing on the Playstation 4 you have the ability to substitute your own music into the game. The custom music ability, however, isn't present on any other version of the game including, unfortunately, the pc version though with some tweaking and adjusting you can weasel your Green Day albums into it with mods.

ADDICTIVENESS – 9
   This game, even more so over previous entries in the franchise, offers a SURPRISING amount of replayability despite it's size and scope. Ground Zeroes functions mainly as a playground for gamers to test out the new mechanics and playstyles that will be present in The Phantom Pain. For the first time the story is no longer linear- requiring the player character to traverse through multiple areas to reach his objective. Instead, Ground Zeroes drops Big Boss into an open world environment with a vague objective that will lead Big Boss to his overall goal for whichever mission he might be playing and from that point on it is entirely up to the player to decide where to go, how to get there, and whether or not you might need to take a detour to for ammo or to gather information from guard interrogation. 

   Outside of the main mission, the game also offers a handful of alternate objectives the player can pursue including but not limited to two extra missions called Jamais Vu and Deja Vu where the player instead fills the roles of Raiden from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Solid Snake from the first Metal Gear Solid game respectively and have slightly different gameplay attributes depending on the mission.
   
   Going futher- there are also multiple things to discover and even collect throughout the missions including many cassette tapes in each encounter. A plethora of weapons, and the different difficulty settings provide a player with even more reason to hit play again and try to 100% the game.

STORY – 7
   Again while this may be attributed to the relatively small size of the game overall, Ground Zeroes is pretty light on plot. After the Peace Walker incident which was chronicled in the game of the same name, Big Boss and Kazuhira Miller find out the location of the double agent Pacifica Ocean AKA Paz who was more or less the main antagonist. Paz was captured and brought to a maximum security prison in Cuba after she was found afloat in the Carribean for interrogation. After a botched rescue attempt by Chico, another character introduced in Peace Walker, Big Boss and Miller decide the best course of action is to liberate Paz and Chico as Paz is the only link to the organization that used her to infiltrate Big Boss' soldiers paradise of Militaires Sans Frontiers and their headquarters on Mother Base.
   
   The game opens with an interesting cutscene involving a new character, Skullface, who appears to be in charge of Camp Omega which is the prison facility in Cuba that Paz and Chico are being held. As Skullface leaves the compound, Big Boss makes his move- while a curiously timed UN nuclear inspection is scheduled for Mother Base.
  
   I won't spoil the little bit of plot left once the main story mission is complete suffice to say that it leaves a lot of questions and a cliffhanger that will naturally be picked up later in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

DEPTH – 6
   As I've said multiple times already- the game is short. Of course, the game does have a large list of reasons to keep playing past the credits, but with the main story itself it's still a short title. This can, of course depend on the gamer themselves- if you find stealth games challenging to begin with, and this one can be when you don't know where to go or where the enemies are, it may still take you awhile to finish up. On harder difficulties this is, as one might expect, even more true with Big Boss going down in just a few shots and the enemies view-of-field and sense of sound be expanded drastically.

   Repetition, however, will definitely win out to a point that even someone who isn't all that great at stealth games will eventually be able to finish the main mission in an hour and a half.

DIFFICULTY – 9
   See Depth. Expanding on it slightly- the difficulty can also stem from the varied missions as well, which can be extremely hard on two in particular in which you have to hunt down 2 specific soldiers and execute them without alerting any guards lest the other one will be notified and start his escape and another in which you have to take out the anti air defenses before fighting your way out through heavy opposition including a tank.

   OVERALL I'd say that one COULD pass the game if they wanted- but I'd highly recommend against it. The game may have been overpriced when it launched for the amount of content you got, but it has since been drastically reduced. And with the Steam version which will give both the DLC missions, it's definitely worth every dollar- especially if you want a leg up on the gameplay before The Phantom Pain releases later this year.

endings : I do my best to keep from bashing titles entirely and instead do my best to look for any points that might be a saving grace. I was really hoping this game WOULD be good, too, since I actually played a lot of it and enjoyed it as a kid when I would only get like 30 minutes to play it on my older brothers playstation.

Eirinn : Thanks again! I'm beginning to think I might have a fan here on the site Hopefully I'll be able to snatch up one of the three review-writer positions that are open and I'll have a legit reason to post more of these aside from getting points to use for contests on Twitch.

   Syphon Filter is a third-person shooter game that released on the Playstation 1 console early in 1999. According to it's specific wikia page, since every title for everything has it's own wiki now, tells me the story revolves around Gabriel Logan as he investigates a terrorist faction that is behind a series of biological attacks across the globe before the opening of the game which comes to a boiling point as they strike out at Washington, D.C. which sets the stage for the first level of the game.

   I've played many Playstation games in my day, but non have been able to lose my attention quite as quickly as Syphon Filter, which is why after playing through about half of the game I still wasn't able to follow the story very well and had to resort to wikia surfing which I can't stand doing if I can help it. Let's get into who, what, where, when, and most importantly- why?

GRAPHICS - 7
   Surprisingly enough, graphics are actually one of the strong points in this action shooter- depending on where you're looking. The in-game models and level design holds up relatively well as it gives players a rather sizable world-space to explore for such a linear game. The levels are well crafted and as a whole is able to achieve and maintain a somewhat interesting atmosphere that doesn't break very often.

   Character wise, we of course have your standard polygonal affair which is of course natural for Playstation titles. The characters are unique, and have a nice look to them that fits well into the aforementioned "somewhat interesting atmosphere". Despite this uniqueness, however, the whole thing feels relatively generic and had me thinking quite often throughout my playthrough of a weird love-child between Metal Gear Solid and James Bond.

   The FMV's are severely lacking compared to the in-game graphics as well as FMV's from other games from the time period like Final Fantasy or Resident Evil 3. Generally in a well made pre-rendered cutscene you're not supposed to have the ability to point to a background element (since the story is achingly boring to the point that you're likely paying more attention to anything but the plot) such as a window and clearly say "oh that's just a VERY poorly compressed jpeg that's plastered on the wall like a poster". Looking closer at the character models shows that the faces are poorly drawn and animated faces on a very flat surface with the only break being a triangle for the nose.

SOUND - 6
   Sound isn't necessarily a hard thing to get wrong in video games. It doesn't take a colossal effort to take some stock sound effects- gun shots, explosions, some ambient noises- and trick them out to sound rather believable. Sure, Syphon Filter has it's fair share of these effects and they are in fact done up well enough to pass the bar, but the soundtrack doesn't have a single song that I would be able to point out and recognize years later. The background music tends to be flushed out by the action, and quite frankly is easy to simply ignore while you're shooting your way through a level.

   The voice acting seems to be all over the place. We have our main character with two first names, Gabriel Logan, who has an okay voice actor which was the main thing that made me think of Metal Gear Solid due to how close he sounded (to my ears at least) David Hayter's gravelly voice used for the main character Solid Snake. The secondary character, Lian Xing, has a decent enough voice as well despite being highly unmemorable. The rest of the cast is absolutely RIDDLED with God awful accents that seem heavily over acted and had me wanting to find a way to just disable the voices overall.

ADDICTIVENESS - 4 
   A lot of things that would tie in to the low score on the scale of addictiveness and replayability will also be points on the Depth scale down below. There isn't anything random about the levels, so everything tends to be cut-and-dry. Memorizing enemy layout is easy, and depending on the players ability to dodge makes the levels laughable.

   There is, however, one shining light of hope for the addictiveness in this game and gave me many MINUTES, that's right entire periods of 60 seconds each, of joy: The Taser. The taser, which you get right from the beginning does almost exactly what you'd expect. It shocks people- shocking, I know. However, hold the taser on to an enemy long enough and they'll burst into flames AND YOU CAN STILL HOLD IT. This is, sadly however, the only thing I was really able to take away from my experience with the game.

STORY - 5
   Every single minute of "story" in this game feels like it was taken directly from the script of a failed B spy film from the late 70's or early 80's. A criminal syndicate is trying to set off viral bombs and you're tasked in hunting them down after they've reached American soil and are attempting to take out the nation's capitol. Later on some pharmaceutical company is implemented a la Umbrella Corporation, and there's something about a missile somewhere? I had honestly checked out by the cutscene that explains your characters motivations just prior to the first level.

   It isn't all bad though, admittedly. While the overarching plot is yawn-worthy and great if you're trying to do something to make you tired before your curfew- the events that take place in the levels can actually be rather exciting. The second level comprises mainly of the D.C. subway system where Gabe has to disarm a handful of boring plot devices (viral bombs) before they explode. Gabe arrives too late, no matter what, to the final one and it goes off and the best FMV I seen in the game is displayed where subway trains are derailed and everything descends into chaos.

   The first "boss" character, while frustrating, is an interesting twist as Gabe chases her down a two-way train tunnel while huge hunks of speeding metal are going back and forth along the tracks- one small step and you're gone, which adds an extra layer of creativity which was honestly a breath of fresh air.

DEPTH - 6
   With 20 levels, a load of weapons, and the difficulty is the next talking point the game actually has a surprising amount of depth to it. The stages can be relatively lengthy for a new player to the title who is still learning where each bad guy is, and where all the weapons and items are located through out each scenario. However, the difficulty is what really makes this game feel longer than it is, but we'll talk more about that-

Difficulty - 8
   -now. Depth got a relatively low score BECAUSE of the difficulty in the game, which is sporadic. Upon loading into the first level an enemy ran up to me while I was figuring out the controls and I was able to test every single button (shooting him once in the process) and not once did any of his shots hit me. The Stormtrooper-level accuracy isn't always consistant, however, as during the second level while ducking and dodging over subway tracks it seemed like every single enemy decided to remember all at once that they are professional mercenaries and/or soldiers and stepped up their aiming skills to MLG Call of Duty 360 no-scope levels and landed headshots damn near every single time.

   Likewise the creative bossfight I mentioned earlier also seems to change every other time I experienced it. I died maybe 4 times the first time I played through it- chasing some lady with a terrible accent and attempting to shoot her while dodging subway cars speeding forward and backwards. On one life, I shot her maybe 2 or 3 times before her and her cronies shot me down. The next 2 lives were taken by misplaced combat roles that landed me in on-coming traffic, and the fourth time seemed to have been a lucky headshot as I went from full health to 0 immediately (with no trains in sight, mind you). On my fifth and successful try, I had been chasing her EXACTLY as I did before but every single round from my assault rifle apparently found their mark and she was gone in SECONDS and ended up feeling rather anti-climactic.

OVERALL 
   While the game is terrible generic in my mind, and filled with absolutely mind numbing plot devices, I'd personally say that the game is maybe worth picking up at least once- even if it's just to tase a bad guy until they want to return in the next game boasting black armor, a red sword, and a serious case of asthma.

Eirinn : Thanks! And yeah, the first 3 Resident Evil games as far as I remember (I'll be playing both the first and second one soon on Twitch as I played 3 right before my review) the voice acting has always been... Off, to say the least. I had actually completely forgotten that I meant to have voice acting as a point under audio which was actually the reason I gave it a 7 instead of an 8.

Jill's voice is fine, and even Dario- a character you meet about 2 minutes into the game- has decent enough voice acting as well, but it seems every other character who has a speaking role in this game has some sort of weird accent that JUST misses the mark. With the notable exception of Carlos who, ironically enough, brags about his accent in his first couple of lines yet has easily the worst one of the bunch.

And thanks for noticing the little joke in the title,

   Resident Evil/Biohazard is widely known as the father of the survival-horror genre in video games. Even though it's not the FIRST title to belong to this niche, your common gamer would be hard pressed to think of another title outside of the classic zombie shooting, puzzle solving, item hording thriller. Sure, Silent Hill is a great runner-up, but nothing comes close to the stress of running out of ammo AND ink ribbons. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis follows the events of the first title- simply Resident Evil- and takes place in and around the same time as the sequel, Resident Evil 2. You'll step into the surprisingly fashionable boots of one Jill Valentine after her escapades in the Spencer Estate as she lockpicks and scrounges her way through the many twists, turns, alleys, and streets of Raccoon City.

GRAPHICS - 10
   Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, or Biohazard 3: Last Escape if you will, released in 1999 during the golden age of graphics among the more popular titles for the Playstation 1, and it certainly didn't fail to impress following the effects used in the previous game. The breathtaking FMV sequences are more than pleasing to look at even today even though they are clearly outdated. The effects were outstanding, from explosions, to the sheer multitude of terrifying zombies and monsters that would appear- especially during a specific sequence involving a certain pharmacy at some point in the game.

   The pre-rendered backgrounds are fantastic- Where anything from a simple concrete alley to the more elaborate set pieces of the Raccoon City Police Department and the local Hospital all share a very seamless and daunting atmosphere. Not a pixel was left that doesn't seem to be lovingly crafted into the panorama of Raccoon City that players will traverse over the course of the game.

   That's all big talk, but I'd by lying if I said it was 100% perfect. Naturally in such a large game with large goals, some areas felt a little TOO cluttered and can somewhat be confusing to look at. Players will have to really stop for a moment, assuming the zombie hordes will allow them too, to really scope the area for items that they might otherwise miss without the telltale flash which isn't shared by every single thing you can interact with or pick up.

SOUND - 7
   The sound design in Resident Evil has always been well made, but what would you expect from an early horror title? Today's horror titles tend to lean more on shock factors and jump scares to get their players hearts beating- but back in the hay-day it was more about ambiance and atmosphere. Well, that and worrying about whether or not there might be a Green Herb around the corner that you so desperately need. It should be noted that even today while playing ANY game- not just horror titles- I'll hear that door opening sound, or the footstep that I KNOW I've heard a hundred times in these games. Lazy? I wouldn't think so. Even if they are stock sounds to some degree, Capcom has managed to use them to the best of it's capacity.

   On the more musical side of things, Resident Evil 3 isn't lacking. The ambient tracks of the dead city nights, or the dark and dank dripping sewers are more than enough to make a players hairs stand on end. The music which is few and far between are sad and moody, which helps push the emotional situations in the games and make them feel a little more clear. You'd be surprised at how hard it can be to convey personal characteristics in the characters of zombie titles, especially in earlier games. It all comes to a head when you FINALLY get to that long awaited respite when the credits roll, and the final track starts playing.

ADDICTIVENESS - 7
   Despite the very linear nature of Resident Evil games it would be a blatant lie to say that the games don't have any replay value. Not all, but many of the rooms and areas of the games have different combinations of enemies that might spawn per play-through. Stepping into a room where zombies bust through the windows might change to a couple of- shivers- spiders the next time you're trying your speed run. Even some of the puzzles and passwords can change up along with these enemies as well.

   On top of the rooms and puzzles with built-in RNG, the absolutely unheard of number of TWO WHOLE GAME MODES actually have a lot going for them as well- Each of them still retains the random set ups previously mentioned, but they both effect game-play adversely as one might expect. Easy Mode starts the players off with a lot of freebies, from an Assault Rifle with enough ammunition to last you almost the entirety of the game to a handful of First Aid Sprays in case you make a slip up. It also comes with the handy side effect of providing the player with much more generous item drops. A hallway with 2 herbs in Hard Mode might yield 3 Green Herbs AND 2 Blue Herbs on Easy.

   Hard Mode offers much more challenge to knowledgeable players than simply restricting the starting inventory to 6 slots and only giving them a handgun and a few magazines as well. Generally throughout the game you're trying to avoid the titular antagonist Nemesis, but taking him down in each encounter on Hard Mode and net the player some WELL deserved drops- including the aforementioned Assault Rifle you start with in Easy Mode.

   Not enough for you? Both mods also have a NEW GAME PLUS feature which has quite a few bonuses that I don't entirely feel like spoiler here in this review- you're gonna have to face your fears and escape Raccoon City yourself to find out. Or google, that would probably help too... Okay, costumes. That's one of them. Only freebie you'll get from me though.

STORY - 9
   The high score I bestow upon this Playstation 1 title is largely due to the huge canon it belongs to. The stories inherent in Resident Evil 3 do not start nor end in this game. The events, as one might expect, start in Resident Evil 1 where Jill Valentine and other members of her S.T.A.R.S. unit are called to check out weird reports surrounding the Spencer Estate just outside the city limits of Raccoon City. While in the abandoned halls of the mansion the group falls onto a deep and dark secret that incriminates not only Spencer, but many government officials in Raccoon City as well as the pharmaceutical powerhouse Umbrella Corporation.

   For those who played Resident Evil 2, in which you take control of a new character Leon as he goes about his first day as a police officer in the RCPD to find that the chaos has already started, you should note that RE3 actually takes place before AND during the events of RE2. While Jill Valentine fights to escape the city while being hounded by S.T.A.R.S. hunting Nemesis, Claire and Leon are trying to escape Mr. X in a different part of the city.

   Little bits of RE2's story are scattered about through RE3, whether it's large area's you'll visit or a little corpse that might be familiar to players of both games.

DEPTH - 8
   On the depth of the game, there really isn't much to be said that hasn't already been stated. If you need a refresher, scroll on up and read the Addictiveness section.

   As for how long the game is it depends on the playstyle and knowledge of the individual player in question. A knowledgeable player who knows the in's and out's of the game should find it relatively easy to beat the game in 3-4 hours even on the Hard Mode difficulty. However, if you're new to the title you're in for a ride- the applications in which you'll need to use items to advance can be so obtuse yet so disarmingly simple that it's a wonderful challenge for anyone who thinks puzzle games are above them.

Difficulty - 9
   As mentioned before, the game offers two modes which are VASTLY different. Easy mode is laughable when you know what you're doing. You generally won't even need to waste half the ammo you start with as long as you can zig, zag, juke and jive through the enemies in the streets. Even if you slip up and get hurt you won't feel it too harshly since there's Green Herbs and FIrst Aid Sprays aplenty to take advantage of.

   Hard Mode however, can get a little dicey- You don't have infinite Ink Ribbons, which means your saves are in fact numbered. And since you don't star with enough ammunition to arm a small militia, you really have to work on your dodging skills or your knife skills and make every single shot count until late game- you'll definitely need the ammo later on.