Naruto Shippuden : Ultimate Ninja Impact

Naruto Shippuden : Ultimate Ninja Impact

Much like the yearly Dragon Ball Z games, Naruto seems to be popping up across consoles and handhelds with his familiar storyline of a nine tail demon fox housed inside a rambunctious young spiky haired kid and his adventures. This portable iteration takes players through the beginning of the Shippuden storyline, all the way up to the Five Kage Summit Arc, though it takes some liberties in terms of a gameplay standpoint.
Someone over at Namco Bandai must have heard my pleas to combine the gameplay styles of the Dynasty Warriors series with a Naruto game, and the result is actually quite entertaining. I can already hear the masses of people complaining that the Warriors' series are straight up button mashers, and to an extent, they are. But they're also the type the game that you can boot up, take down hundreds of enemies, and just feel like a bad ass doing it. The same applies to the Impact. The game is structured through Acts that play out on map menus. Each space is either a key plot element or a battle that lets you Rasengan a bunch of people straight in the face!

Impact borrows some elements from almost every past Naruto game, while mixing up some new ones. The crazy, over-the-top action sequences from the Storm series make a return when fighting bosses. The simple control scheme from past Naruto is back as well, with one attack button, one chakra button, and one projectile/item button. The biggest change, however, is how you progress through each level. As I previously mentioned, you will take control of your favorite Naruto character and dispose of hundreds of lifeless drones as they spawn on the map, which ultimately leads to a boss fight.
Though most of the characters control similarly, it's their special moves that set them apart. Naruto has his clone combos as well as his powerful Rasengan, Gaara takes control of the sand to punish his enemies, Kakashi has his Lightning Blade, and so on. It's amusing to test the limits of each character, as well as unleashing their ultimate attacks. Characters can be powered up via a card system, where various cards are unlocked through beating stages. These cards will raise certain stats such as more chakra, hit points, and damage. Certain cards are also part of sets that give additional bonuses when equipped together.

Naruto fans will be pleased that the entire game is voice acted, save for a few parts, with all of the respective voice actors from the show belting their lines out. From a graphical standpoint, the game doesn't look half bad either. It's not on par with the Storm series, obviously, this is the PSP after all, but some of the action elements, such as the giant boss battles, look just as stunning and action-packed as they did on the consoles. Of course, know that you'll be facing off against hundreds of "clone" enemies that tend to stand around more than they actually fight, but that's just something that comes with the territory.  It doesn't deter from the overall enjoyment.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact is a fun romp through the Shippuden storyline mixed in with some Warriors'-style gameplay. It's not the deepest game when it comes to gameplay mechanics, and a lot of it will stem out of button mashing. For those wary of the orange and black jumpsuit-wearing ninja, this might not be the best game to ease you in, but for Naruto fans this is a no brainer.

Five Lessons GTAV Could Learn From Saints Row: The Third

Five Lessons GTAV Could Learn From Saints Row: The Third

The Saint's Row series began life as little more than a sillier Grand Theft Auto. The original game seemed to wear its GTA-knockoff moniker on its sleeve. Yet with every subsequent sequel the series has diverged further and further, and Grand Theft Auto IV took another step to cement the divide between the two series. With Saint's Row: The Third, Volition has created an open-world game with an identity all its own, and important improvements to the formula that make it not only unique, but an important step forward in the genre.
There are things that Saint's Row: The Third could do better, and Rockstar is still king when it comes to crafting a serious narrative, but the sheer amount of fun I had with SR3 made GTAIV seem like work in comparison. That's why I think Rockstar should be paying attention to this game, and if they took anything away from it, I hope it's these five lessons.

#1 – Consistency and Identity – While Grand Theft Auto IV certainly took the road less traveled in terms of narrative goals, it faltered far too often. By the end of the game Nico Bellic had lost the sympathy of most players. The schizophrenic jumps between vehicular manslaughter and introspective narration were jarring. Saints Row: The Third, surprisingly, doesn't have this problem. While completely ridiculous, the game is so sure of its identity that you're never questioning your character's motives. Sure, being ridiculous and over-the-top in a video game is a lot easier than being dramatic and thoughtful, but I applaud SR3 for sticking to its guns throughout. I can only hope GTAV, whatever tone it takes, it takes with the same level of consistency.

#2 – RPG Elements and Progression – Saint's Row: The Third's character progression is phenomenal and addicting. Money has a very tangible value in the game, letting you improve yourself, your arsenal, and expand your property. Much like a western RPG, you create your character from scratch, and the game gives you endless options for improving them and making them your own. The magic is that while you can dress them up like a cross-dressing furry, Volition still managed to craft a character with a clear identity, much like Mass Effect's Shepard or Dragon Age II's Hawke. Rockstar creates fantastic characters, but they hold most of them (except maybe CJ in San Andreas) a bit too close to the vest. For GTAV, I hope Rockstar lets us take a more active role in our character's progression, just as Volition has allowed with SR3.

#3 – Playability, Above All Else – This one is tricky for me, because I found the finesse required to drive, fly, and move around GTAIV very compelling. Saints Row throws finesse out the window for the sake of sheer playability, and the result may be a bit fake, but ultimately much more fun. Some things, like jump kicking through car windows to steal them, are too silly for GTA, but if Rockstar could come up with a realistic alternative, GTAV might feel a bit less bogged down in monotonous minutiae. Top that off with more ways to quickly get a vehicle or jump to destinations, and GTAV could be mature and artful without devolving into a chore.

#4 – More Activities, More Distractions – Saints Row: The Third follows the same narrative structure as the GTA series, offering up one or two story missions at a time and following a mostly linear narrative. That said, the game never feels like a mission grind the way GTA does. There was always so much to do in SR3 that I could spend hours ignoring the main plot and still not only have a ton of fun, but advance my character in meaningful ways. If Rockstar gives players more genuinely compelling alternatives to the main missions in GTAV, I think more players will be driven to actually finish the game.

#5 – Make Missions Special – I can list off at least a dozen amazing mission moments in Saints Row: The Third, yet for a game that was twice as long, I can only remember one amazing mission from GTAIV – the bank robbery. For GTAV, I hope Rockstar takes a more discerning approach to their mission design, giving each mission an identity and purpose the way Saints Row: The Third has done. I don't expect to jump out of a plane in a tank or travel to cyberspace, but a little more variety could go a long way.

Whatever Rockstar chooses to do with Grand Theft Auto V, even if it's the most self-serious and deliberately-paced entry in the series, I hope it's at least as engrossing and absorbing as Saints Row: The Third. That may be asking a lot for a game that will surely be innovating in other ways, but if anyone can pull it off, I think it might be Rockstar

MW3 vs Battlefield 3 Final Verdict(PS3)

MW3 vs Battlefield 3 Final Verdict(PS3)

The first-person shooter genre has undoubtedly thrived on this generation's consoles, but none more than 2011. This year was arguably the biggest year for the genre with two juggernaut titles: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. The Call of Duty series has ruled the genre for the last half-decade, and is wrapping up its biggest series in franchise history. Battlefield, on the other hand, is looking to stake its claim as the true king of FPS. Both titles have been out for weeks now, and it's time to finally crown this year's top military shooter.
Single-player: 
The Modern Warfare series has brought gamer's countless hours of action and thrilling cinematic appeal. The third installment of the series not only went back to its roots in terms of gameplay, but offered players a whole new way of storytelling. The series has introduced dozens of characters and landmarks all across the globe, which has created a blurry story - rightly so. MW3, though, answered all the questions and told a fantastic story. The game utiltized its personal feel with characters like Captain Price and evolved the game around their stories. By the end of the campaign, you were emotionally attached to the main characters, and were gasped by each's fate. Though the story used action sequences seen in past games, they were amped up to an extra level and were brought out in full force. The short campign offered a satisfying close to the series and tied off all loose ends.
Known as a multiplayer developer, DICE promised its community a worthwhile story that player's could fully invest it. Hype was built through successful TV ads, and it looked like BF3 was going to be the "complete experience." The downside to the campaign, ironically, is that it tried to coppy what CoD has done. DICE turned away from their past campaign formulas that added its own flavor: comedy, squad involvement, and vehicles. Instead, DICE took a serious, more straight up shooter path, which was a worthwhile "clone," but never seemed like a Battlefield game. The campaign offered several fantastic cenimatic moments, but you never really cared about what was happeneing because there was no emotional attachment with the characters and their mission.
Winner: Modern Warfare 3 

Multiplayer: 
It was known for months leading up to MW3's release that the multiplayer formula was not changing. Instead, Activision and Sledgehammer Games were polishing up the foundation and adding new features that would hopefully satisfy fans. The experience works, there is no argument there, but it feels as though Activision got complacent - afraid to step out and try something new. It can definitely be argued that the multiplayer is just a large DLC, adding new maps and modes, but whether you agree or disagree with that statement, there's no arguing that the multiplayer is the smoothest and most polished component to date.
Battlefield 3's online experience can be described as one simple word: spectacular. DICE's expertise with multiplayer is carried over to BF3. The entire experience feels like an innovative push. Vehicular combat is back and better than ever, and the addition of jets creates a whole new battlefield in the air. Class restructurization has proved to be one of the highlights for multiplayer, creating balanced gameplay among the four class options. Each match feels like a fresh experience, and unlockables can keep players playing for months. BF3's multiplayer is arguably one of the best multiplayer military shooters in years, and should not be passed up by anyone. Period.
Winner: Battlefield 3
Online Application: 
If you've been living under a rock lately, you're probably unaware that each title offers an online application for multiplayer: Battlelog for BF3 and Call of Duty Elite for MW3. Deciding which application is better is definitely tough at this point because both services have experienced problems. Call of Duty Elite has had the rockiest start with its servers being overworked, but Battlelog has also had a rough start with certain features unavailable due to problems. For 4200 MSP, I really expected a deeper experience with Elite. For free, Battlelog offers many of the features that Elite does, and is somewhat easier to access. Nonetheless, I expect Call of Duty Elite to evolve into a unique service, but for now, it's questionable if it's worth the yearly fee.
Winner: Battlefield 3 

After analyzing each component of both titles, it's time to reveal the final verdict. The head to head winner is....Battlefield 3! 
Battlefield 3 triumpths over MW3 due to its push for innovation. While both titles are worth your money, Battlefield 3 is unlike any other FPS you will ever play. The experience is unique, action packed, and will have you playing for a substantial amount of time. Simply put, Battlefield 3 is a title you should not pass up, whether you are an avid FPS fan or not.

The 5 Coolest Time Periods Assassin’s Creed 3

The 5 Coolest Time Periods Assassin’s Creed 3

I’m excited, you guys. I’m excited because I love Assassin’s Creed, and because Assassin’s Creed Revelations came out this week. I mean, seriously, there might as well have been a pool of pee pee collecting beneath my feet over at the E3 Ubisoft multiplayer demo booth. Seriously, if Ezio Auditore was a cake, I’d be the insatiable fat kid engorged with his deadly sweet frosting-covered flesh. I LOVE Assassin’s Creed. It’s super cool.

Me, playing Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Speaking of things that are super cool, leave it to Ubisoft to, just a week before their holiday tentpole drops, tease the next entry in the series for 2012. Even cooler is the popularly held idea that this game will be none other than Assassin’s Creed III. Of course, Ubisoft is being understandably tight-lipped about this to keep the focus on Ezio and Altair’s swan song, but I say it’s never too early to start speculating.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, get your history books and your hidden wrist blades ready. Let’s take a minute to talk about the five coolest time periods Assassin’s Creed III could be set in, in no particular order.

When a game has the word “Assassin” in the title, the mind immediately goes to ninjas, right? Shurikens, katanas, nunchaku, and smoke bombs, guys! Not to mention, samurai and ronin and feudal lords! And like, cool tall grass in the rain scenes? Come AWHN! The high drama of the goings on in feudal Japan is like the perfect setting for a game about assassins! People were probably straight up murdering each other all the time!

YES. YES. YES.

The ninja, oftentimes also called shinobi, are so mysterious that no one really even knows for sure if they ever existed. Historically, they were known to be sort of like, secret agents for hire, known to suddenly appear from someplace near the Iga and Koga regions of Japan somewhere around the 17th century, and then just as quickly, they sort of vanished into myth. That’s why we don’t know that much about them, because it’s tough to separate real accounts of ninjas from like, stories of their magic, where they can like, turn invisible and like, sprint across the water. Perfect fodder for a game, you guys! Let’s see this!

Also, it wouldn’t hurt your feelings as much as some OTHER ninja games.

The only real hard sell for me is that I can’t imagine a real, solid way for the current storyline to smoothly tie in, with it being so Western-centric, but the concept of being a ninja with gameplay as satisfying as we get in Creed is exciting enough that I wouldn’t really mind whatever stretch they needed to implement to make it work. I bet a lot of you agree with me, too. When I ran a Google image search on “Feudal Japan”, not even mentioning anything about the game, one of the results on the first page was the fan-made concept art I used right up there! Outrageous. We all want this. It would be amazing.

This one comes from a theory I have about where Ubisoft’s ideas for time periods come from: the adventures of Robert Langdon. In Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, we learn a lot about the Holy Grail and the history of the Crusades. This is also the setting of the original Assassin’s Creed. We also expand upon this, and figure in the Vatican setting from Angels and Demons in Assassin’s Creed II. Heck, my boy Da Vinci’s is in the game! So, considering the Freemasonry lore, early US history, and conspiracy theory we see in The Lost Symbol, it’s not out of the question to think that maybe this post-Revolutionary War America is a good guess. Plus, how dope would that be?
Imagine riding a horse through a Washington D.C. under construction. At night, the lamplight casts long shadows on the brick buildings as you climb up a nearby overhang as you pass it, with a long blackpowder musket slung across your back. You make your way up a bell tower and use your hidden wrist blade to neutralize a guard in the top before using the tower as a sniping position. Or imagine perching in the rafters, and listening in on a meeting of the inner sanctum of the Freemasons, and learning about how they’re connected to the Templars! DUN-DUN-DUNNNNNNN!

  A screenshot from my dreams. This is basically what it would look like, right?

All I’m saying is, we’ve seen a little too much of deserts, wide-open fields, and Mediterranean zones so far. Gimme some lush forests! Let’s get out of Europe! Let’s see some cold weather! There’s more to Western Civilization than cool Bible stuff! Let’s see some cool, secret George Washington stuff, bros! The Templars are coming! The Templars are coming!

Oh man, this one is exciting. In my brain, for this game to be as awesome as possible, it would not only have to take place in the deep jungle of Central America, but in a version of the Aztec Empire where Montezuma II’s already been killed, the area is rife with sickness, and the Spanish presence is positively stifling. I’m not the only one who thinks this idea is fantastic. In fact, Assassin’s Creed II came really close to being set a little earlier than this, in the Mayan-era Aztec Empire. Also, Borgia already visited the Aztecs in an official Assassin’s Creed Facebook game called Project Legacy from last year, so precedent totally exists!
In my fantasy scenario, the Templars have come over from Europe to find some alien artifact that was left with the Aztecs. An Assassin is hot on their heels, but before he has a chance to stop them, he starts to die of smallpox, and has to teach an Aztec native who stood out to him in eagle vision about his destiny as a killer. The game could play off of how the Spanish would not count our hero as a threat, and all the bloodsport and human sacrificing in Aztec life would be so dope to see in 1080p. Also, are you kidding me? Who doesn’t love ancient alien theories?

If anyone has ever thought of it, high quality fan art already exists. #protip

Also, it’s super-rare to see heroes of Mexican ancestry in video games. The only one I played that had one this whole last year was Shadows of the Damned’s Garcia F**king Hotspur, and I really feel like it added a fresh feel to the game. I had a great time with it. Also, look how cool this freakin’ white and red Aztec-style assassin’s outfit looks! Dope as hell, right?

At first, this one doesn’t seem too exciting, but only because there’s not really any sort of romantic, cool idea of England in the 1800’s, except for really dirty poor people, child labor, and the mutilated corpses of prostitutes, courtesy of Jack the Ripper.  Yikes. But think about what we’re not considering! Miles and miles of slanted rooftops of stone and iron! Smokestack forests! Cranking gears and wheels! Steam power! You guys, a game in the Industrial Revolution is the closest we’ll ever get in history to a Steampunk Assassin’s Creed!
I just want to give you a few visual touchstones for what I’m imagining here: That cool birdcage apparatus from The Prestige, the atmosphere of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, the weird secret society-type goings on from From Hell and Leauge of Extraordinary Gentlemen, those weird torture devices and surgical tools from Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, and screw it, that giant spider from the 1999 film adaptation of Wild Wild West. Picture all that stuff, imagine it’s like, perpetually dark and foggy, and imagine a scruffy little orphan, clothed in rags, being whisked away from his crappy life to learn to kill rich old dudes who sit around looking at naked chicks and pretending that magic is real.  The awesomeness practically becomes tangible.

Elementary my dear...Assassin! (I apologize for this joke.)

Also, speaking of Sherlock Holmes, how about this tasty, little, extra crispy chicken strip of an idea? What if the assassin character can’t let anyone know he’s an assassin, but a Sherlock-style detective is hot on his case, complicating the situation at every turn? This would be a nice complimentary idea to the game, I think, especially considering how sh**ty some people are at stealthily murdering even a guard or two in these games. Having to create alibis for ourselves and properly disposing of our victims would really keep us from giving up, sprinting around, and stabbing every single person all the damn time.


First of all, I’m going to assume that many of you aren’t fully sure of what the hell time period this is. Secondly, I’m going to tell you that it’s the one with like, Anastasia and Rasputin and Czar Nicolas II near the end of Russia’s Imperial years at the turn of the century. This is the time period that some of the series’ writers have expressed interest in doing, and really, it’s pretty perfect. People were murdering each other for power constantly, the entire royal family and even the country’s system of government was on thin ice, and you have like, the perfect real-life built in villain in Grigori Rasputin. That’s right, that weird bearded guy who’s always falling apart in the film version of Anastasia is a real guy.

Apparently, the character of Bartok the Bat was based on that creepy look in his eyes.

He like, dabbled in the mystical arts, had most of the royal family under his thumb, and the real way that he was killed was basically a real life boss fight. He was poisoned, stabbed, beat, sliced, shot, and thrown into ice cold water with his hands tied before he went down, and when they found his body, he had already freed himself from his ropes. Yikes. He also rarely showered or took any real steps to clean himself, and it’s very likely that he once raped a nun. Double yikes. But yeah, can’t you imagine this guy in some like, crazy Hellboy-esque wizard’s robes, casting spells and tapping into the power of the Pieces of Eden?
Plus, just do a quick Google image search on the House of Romanov and check out how beautiful those buildings are! They like, fully look like they fit in with the established Assassin’s Creed style, without keeping the same tired settings we’ve seen in the last three (and the recently FOURTH!) game. The inclement weather would also be a neat new element, and would probably drive more of the action inside of these beautiful palaces, but also, white robes are hard to see in snow, aren’t they? Think about it. SO cool.

Runners Up:

Listen, Assassin’s Creed is a well-loved franchise, and sure, there’s a bunch more places that we all want this game to be. Even I had a few more that I wanted to write about, but as I thought about them more and more, they all seemed to have a nagging little something that kept me from writing full-fledged entries on them. Here they are, for my (and hopefully some of your) personal satisfaction.

World War II

As much as I’d like to see this, with a wrist blade used to kill Hitler, and the rumor of a strong female assassin going around attached to this rumor, I agree with Patrice Désilets, recent ex-creative lead on the series. He said in an interview with MTV Multiplayer, “I ask myself, how many games can we make in World War II? That's maybe the only [setting] I'd say is not interesting to me.”

Modern Day

This is another fun one to think about, especially since the character of Desmond is so developed now, and we now feel like we have a little stock in his storyline, but I also think that taking the historical aspect out of the formula might ruin a lot of what makes these games fun.

Ancient Egypt

This one could be real awesome, especially considering that it could be done in either the glory days of the New Kingdom, or when Alexander or Rome started creeping in, and, with all the ancient alien theories floating around, it would fit in perfectly. However, I think it would be too weird to go so far back in time when the focus of the game is on 2012, and each entry moves close to that point.

The Far Future

This one is a dark horse, and mostly far-fetched, but how cool would it be if the “present day” of Assassin’s Creed III was 1,000 years in the future, after whatever happens with Desmond and Lucy and those weird-ass aliens, where you play as a descendant of Desmond who goes back into the Animus to relive the events of 2012? Even I don’t know how I feel about this, but you know, might as well mention it. Play Assassin's Creed Revelations to see if all revelations are... well... revealed.