My first 10 hours of InFAMOUS!

I've played about 3 or 4 sittings of this game so far since I bought it last December in the US, amounting just over 10 hours of gameplay. If you have a PlayStation 3 then it is highly likely that you've heard of this 2009 smash hit by dev team Sucker-Punch. It even has a sequel which was released last year!

You play as Cole MacGrath, a bike messenger caught in the epicenter of an explosion that devastates several city blocks of the fictional Empire City. The explosion sends the city into chaos while Cole finds himself with new electricity-based super powers. Though the game's story follows Cole using his new abilities to restore some semblance of order to Empire City, the player is given several opportunities to use these powers for good or evil purposes in the game's Karma system. These choices ultimately affect character growth, the reaction of the City's populace towards Cole, and finer elements of gameplay and the story.


The game is an open-world action and adventure with a lot of comic book style cut-scenes. One of the highlights of the game other than being able to awesomely fry your enemies with a number of electrical-based attacks is the free-running and climbing ability of Cole which allows you to fall from any height and practically climb anything in the game that isn't to high to reach. My only problem with the climbing is that a lot of the time it can just feel like you're pressing X and holding the analog stick forward, not really doing much - seeing as you will be climbing something nearly every minute this can seem a little tedious at times. However, one benefit is the cool and stylish buildings of which are immensely varied across Empire City's apocalyptic-like streets.

The graphics are decent, taking in the fact the game was produced nearly 3 years ago. There is lots to do as well, you can complete side-missions which in turn reward you by taking over districts of the city and giving you XP which you can spend to upgrade Cole's abilities and skills. There are also 350 'blast shards' scattered across the city! That's 350 individual collectibles, they are very common to find but even so it takes a long time to get them. So far I have just over 90 of them, baring in mind I've been playing for over 10 hours you can sort of get a feel of the scale here.


I'm actually really enjoying this game and to be fair, I didn't think I would! When I first saw it I thought it looked like nothing too special but I can see now that it is truly a masterpiece of game design. More on this game in the coming weeks!

Thinking about Elder Scrolls VI

Okay I know that Skyrim was released a couple of months back, but I've been thinking: where will the next game be set and in what era?

In Skyrim the empire has been taken over by the Thalmor so that will definitely effect whatever region Bethesda choose to use for the next game. Personally I'd like to see either Hammerfell (Redguard homeland) or Elsweyr (Khajit homeland) in the next game. Hammerfell sounds interesting and is covered in many harsh deserts which would make an interesting change from Skyrim's harsh, snowy mountains. Elsweyr is said to have many different terrains such as badlands, thick jungles and vast flat plains so I think - for the next gen consoles - it would definitely look outstanding and be a big challenge for Bethesda to achieve. The only problem is the lore of the Khajit. They are very different to the other races as they don't even worship the Nine Divines! Elsweyr sounds mysterious and weird and I think it would be very interesting to see Khajit custom and culture in The Elder Scrolls VI.

So, what do you think?

Gamingheap Special: SKYRIM - Part 5

 Gamingheap Special: SKYRIM 

Part 5

*** THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS! ***

I have now (finally) hit 100 hours + of total Skyrim gameplay, a respectable amount I believe seeing as there is said to be over 300 hours worth of gameplay. I decided to follow more of the main quest, so much so that I have only a single quest to complete until I have finished the main story. However, I will most likely stay true to Elder Scrolls tradition and finish that last story quest after I have finished everything else!

One of the quests saw me delve deep into a dwarven ruin to...

SPOILER :

transcribe a blank lexicon and retrieve an elder scroll!

This took a fair amount of time as it was a sprawling labyrinth of a dungeon filled with locked gates and small nooks and crannies to explore. As I progressed through the dungeon I came across several journals and their deceased owners laying next to them (covered in blood of course!). Reading the said journals told the story of how a small expedition crew came to seek treasure in these ruins but a violent storm stopped them from getting back out again. The later journals and the bodies nearby told the story of how slowly each and everyone of them got picked off one by one by the blind Falmer that dwell in within. I think this sort of 'side-story' is really cool to see and adds to the game making it so much more than a bland and repetitive dungeon adventure. This style is actually used so much in the game in lots of detail; it is very impressive!

The next quest saw me...

SPOILER :

Capture a dragon in Whiterun and interrogate it to find out where Alduin fled to after I defeated him atop The Throat of The World in the previous quest.

During these quests I obtained a substantial amount of soul-gems which I really want to use to further level my enchanting skill. I've also been fooling around with pick-pocketing something I never really did on Oblivion (kind of ironic seeing as my character is a sneak-bowman!). I like the inventive skills such as Smithing, Alchemy and Enchanting the most as they seem to pay off the most and it's fun to collect the ingredients and ores etc. needed to forge certain items.

Strangely enough, I have played so much of this game but I still don't know how I will shape out its review or how it's going to come out. I will probably piece it sometime this week or next. One thing I'm not sure whether to do is to compare Skyrim to Oblivion. They are obviously both outstanding games but I just don't think it is fair to do so as everyone is going to have different opinions and as Todd Howard himself said: There's always going to be people that say 'oh Oblivion was the best' or 'Morrowind was better'. Anyhow, until then I will probably keep updating this series. I hope you are enjoying it!

A new detective game for the next gen consoles?

I was browsing through a list of upcoming titles on AmazonUK and came across one that piqued my interest earlier today. The game itself is called 'The Testament of Sherlock Holmes'. Now I really enjoy detective/crime drama on the TV and just recently the second series of the BBC's Sherlock (a modern take on the famous books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) ended. I was also thoroughly transfixed when L.A. Noire was released in early 2011. So, when I saw this I got a bit excited and decided to see if there were any trailers or gameplay videos on youtube. Here's the E3 Trailer...



Yeah... the trailer is really crappy but at least it shows us that the visuals aren't all that bad, although they have nothing on L.A. Noire and that the game appears to be set in the late 1890's. You seem to have to walk everywhere as well...


Here's what IGN say about the story...


1898, London. All the evidence of police investigation points at Sherlock Holmes as the main suspect in a case involving theft, fraud and double-crossings. Unable to prove his own innocence, Holmes is rapidly losing London’s trust as doubt spreads through the city like wildfire. Even Doctor Watson's faith in his friend begins to waver, as the famous detective flees Scotland Yard and raises further suspicion; prowling around at night, destruction of evidence... would Holmes go so far as to commit murder?

'Prowling at night' tells me that there's probably some sort of sneaking or infiltration involved in the game which will hopefully deliver a sinister atmosphere to the game and prevent it from boiling down into something horrifically tedious and boring

From the information I've read it seems to play a lot like what you'd expect. You enter crime-scenes and analyse clues, you can choose to ignore some clues you think may be irrelevant to the case or record others to refer to later. Apparently there are interrogation scenes which I assume play out a lot like L.A. Noire's did although I haven't read anything about any action scenes. I'm sure they'll be some sort of action scene otherwise the game wouldn't be a whole lot fun to play or indeed very interesting.

I'm not sure about this title yet, I may decide to preorder when I hear more about it. It's rumored to be released early this year.

Gamingheap Special: SKYRIM - Part 4

 Gamingheap Special: SKYRIM 

Part 4

Well, well I seem to have sort of ditched writing these specials up for some reason. Luckily right now I'm going through another Skyrim phase so I've decided to update this series! I'm sure you're happy to know :)

Plundering many dungeons, caves and forts and slaying any beasts that stand in my path I have amassed a small fortune of 40,000 gold - unfortunately not enough for the 'Golden Touch' trophy which requires 100,000 gold. I've begun to dabble in alchemy and have made several trips out to the forests and highlands of Skyrim to pick mountain flowers and find other natural alchemy ingredients. Making potions and poisons with alchemy is not only beneficial in battle but brewing those concoctions also fetches a pretty penny at any store. My ingredient collection isn't the only collection I have either! I have well over 100 books all retrieved (or stolen!) from the clean shelves of the court-mages to the dusty, cobweb covered shelves of the deepest dungeons. I have read only a handful of these books and I have to say, they are definitely one of the most interesting and enjoying parts of the game! Some books tell stories, others describe Skyrim's many wild beasts and of course there are the books that tell the lore of the elder scrolls series. I will probably sit down one weekend and read them all just for the full experience. I also have a mean cheese collection!

I have attempted several times now to decorate my manor house, but with no avail! It takes a heck of a long time to actually get the item you want to sit right on a table and then when it does you either end up knocking it off or it will be on the floor the next time you enter your house due to an unfortunate glitch. One thing that did end up alright however is a large tray in the basement of my home filled to the brim with valuable stones (emeralds, amethysts, garnets etc.).

In combat terms my bow skill is now 100. Because of this I have decided to switch to one-handed combat to further vary my fighting ability. My favourite combat style at the moment is a sword or dagger in one hand and a spell in the other (usually Magelight so I can send an orb forward to light my path if it is dark). I have done a few more quests and killed a lot more dragons too! One highlight I must mention is when I found my first dragon priest - Krosis - and after a tough battle managed to loot its mask which gives me +20 alchemy, lockpicking and bow skills. Other quests included obtaining daedric artifacts such as mehrunes dagger which has a chance to one-hit kill any enemy. One particular quest saw me scale a tower filled with witches and hagravens with a priest and then kill the master witch and looting a unique fire staff from her.

I will probably get around to doing a proper review on this game sometime this week or next - I warn you, it will be a hell of a long review! Yes, I'm having a heaven (or should I say Sovemgarde?) of a time with Skyrim and today I finally hit my 100th hour and I'm not looking to stop now!
How's Skyrim going for you?

Zombie Skull, Meet Hammer!

His head will explode in 3...2...1...

I've been playing a fair bit of Dead Island today. As you can tell from the name, if you haven't heard about the game already, it takes place on an island (Banoi) in Australia where a freak zombie apocalypse has infected the local populace. You are one of 4 people that happen to be immune to the virus and therefore stand a much better chance at cracking open their mouldy skulls, which of course is what the game is all about.

The island is surprisingly big loads of buildings you can break into to take supplies or meet people and do quests.   There are weapons literally everywhere you look and there are so many of them, whether it be a hammer, a sickle, knives, baseball bats and even boating oars you can use all of them to bludgeon helpless animated corpses! The story is pretty weak, nobody knows where the virus came from or how it spread so fast and you don't know how you're immune (although that is probably revealed later on i'm guessing). At least the gameplay is highly satisfying! You can break any part of a zombie's body if you hit it hard enough - you can sever limbs, decapitate or just stab them in the stomach if you so wish. The physics work great and the combat is mostly fluent with the zombies falling in realistic ways. Sometimes it can feel clunky and repetitive like you're just mashing the shoulder buttons but for the most part its highly satisfying to see zombie brains splatter onto the ground.

I want to spend quite a lot of time on this game in the future, I've always liked the whole survival aspect in zombie themed video-games and this one seems to hit it right on the nail.

Trying to Platinum Saints Row: The Third

I spent most of today working through various activities and side-missions in Saints Row: The Third trying to get trophies and eventually the platinum. There are some tough trophies to get however and I need to play through the game again and make different choices to get some of the trophies. I raised enough money to buy the collectibles map upgrade which allows me to see where every collectible in the game is on the map. I spent 30 minutes flying around on a hover-bike and managed to collect 40 of the 80 collectibles bagging myself a bronze for getting over 25% of them. I'll get another trophy when I get all 80. One thing that's slowing me down is various bugs and glitches. I am supposed to liberate all of the hoods to get a gold trophy but some of the activities I need to do to achieve this are not showing up on the map and indeed in the game. Hopefully it's just a random bug that'll sort itself out otherwise I won't be able to get that gold!