This game caters to all even for those of you who may not be familiar with the series.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Naruto, there is no need to fear the long game install is here, the game requires you to install some of the game data physically onto your console, during that time you are brought up to speed on the Naruto lore although it is a rather long read its better than watching the loading bar!

It’s also a rather good story.

So now that you are up to speed prepare to be thrown straight into it, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 doesn’t mess around, you are thrown straight in to battles of epic proportion and fast paced awesomeness, with monsters bigger than mountains or downright bad-ass looking foes.

The Ultimate Ninja Storm series at its core is heavily based on it battle gameplay which they have developed throughout the series, out of all the Naruto games out there Ultimate Ninja Storm by far boasts the most fluid and beautiful battle gameplay, although it may not be the most complex battle system with a bunch of controls to execute moves like other fighting games, it does what a game is meant to do, keep the consumer happy and making sure there is never a dull moment in a fight.

Another new feature in this installment called Mob Battles is a battle mode where you are pitted against a wave of enemies, this battle mode makes you feel like a total boss, you take down a wave of enemies using fast paced combos and using an interactive cinematic type battle functions almost like what we see in games like God of War, where you are prompted with ‘press this button’ to execute a finisher move or to swiftly move behind another target as you kill one.

Although this isn’t a major part of the story, it really is an awesome addition to break up the storyline and just take a break as you travel through the main storyline.

There is also online/local play for player vs player, which is similar to the previous installments with not much change.

Playing with other players does present a new challenge but it also presents a problem with re-playability.

As you verse other players you’ll start to see certain moves being repeated  and the spamming of ultimate moves, which in general is a given since the battle system doesn’t really allow for strategic fighting as seen in games like Tekken.

If you’re a competitive player looking for a strategic battle approach using complex button combos then you will most likely find the play vs player of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 dull very quickly, in saying that the awesome battle visuals and fast paced battle system makes for a fluid battle that novice players are able to pull off with ease, unlike other fighting games where all you know how to do is kick, punch and block.

Although the Ultimate Ninja Storm series focus point is the battle gameplay, with this third installment in the series they have really taken the original story and stuck with it, giving the game great fidelity to the original Naruto series.

Everything in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is exactly what you can find in the original Naruto series. The game however offers some alternate paths during the story mode, displaying never before seen scenes (a bit of a tongue twister there), but ultimately you end up arriving at the same goal/point in the story.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 doesn’t exactly boast the greatest free roam but it overcomes its restraints in free roam by turning the game into a more of a movie type experience, as you walk the linear routes, it’s almost like watching a movie with the camera angles they use and the way the environment has been setup.

Also if you have access to a 3D television this will open a totally new experience, I have played this game in 3D throughout my play and I must say it really does give the game a lot more depth, it may sound like ‘woopdidoo it pops out the TV abit’ but it really does give you a different experience while playing, it’s the same concept as if you went to watch a movie in 3D it’s a better experience.

In conclusion Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is the best Naruto game adaption to date as a whole (in my opinion), with its awesome battle gameplay and visuals, great storyline and faith to the original Naruto series.

Although I would have liked to see a vast free roam system/world as seen in other Naruto games like ‘Naruto: Rise of the Ninja’ by Ubisoft.

But at the end of the day if you are an avid fan of the series you won’t be disappointed and if you are a new comer to the series this is a good place to start!

The post Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 – Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

On your journey you are accompanied by the king of fairies called Drippy whose pudgy looks and red lantern nose piercing make for a fun sidekick and funny journey, but he isn’t the only quirky character in Ni No Kuni.

There is a wide variety of unique and somewhat quirky friends and foes which never fail to put a slight grin on your face.

Colourful characters isn’t the only thing that will have you glued to the screen.

Ni No Kuni’s storyline and gameplay work very we’ll together. It is by far the best J-RPG I have played which has had me fully immersed, it’s as If I walked into an anime.

The way the story is told through the game is very well done, even the typical walking from here to there to complete Missions or quests in traditional RPG’s doesn’t feel agonizing,

It feels like I am taking a stroll within a magical world, as opposed to it being just a way to progress to the next stage.

The anime cut scenes in Ni No Kuni are vibrant, lush and just pure awesome, it makes me go into fanboy mode forLevel-5 (the Animators).

The emotion of the characters is very well expressed and the detail in the scenery and background are superb. The voice overs are also top notch.

Vast landscapes and beautiful scenery is to be expected as in most J-RPG’s they have mastered the art of making linear maps with a free roam feel.

They also pay attention to all the little details which make a greater overall experience for example the way Oliver’s cape sways or if there is a change in the environment, you’ll notice the characters reactions will express it, for example, if it’s cold and snowy they shiver and their walking style changes.

The Menu layout and GUI is probably one of the most user friendly layouts I have ever used, all the items you acquire are automatically separated into different tabs into your bottomless bag aka inventory which is a god send.

I’m sure most of you would agree that sorting out your inventory in a game is by far one of the most agonizing tasks in any RPG.

The Menu is also setup in a way so that you never neglect things that could help you throughout your journey with only a few thumbnails to choose from you aren’t bombarded with a wall of text and your eyes won’t be busy wondering all over.

Combat is a mix between Pokémon and the Tales series. As with most RPG’s you have HP and MP, HP being your health and MP your Magic/Mana-points used for executing spells/stronger moves.

The Battle UI is very simple to use with the use of a cog like wheel menu selection on the bottom left and L1 to switch out your familiars/allies in battle.

The only real downside I encountered was that I couldn’t change quickly enough. For example if I were attacking the enemy and suddenly he is charging up to do some colossal damage, I couldn’t change in to defense mode as quickly as I would like to.

If they had made use of some of the other buttons and included some short cuts instead of just using the menu wheel it would have made it a tad better.

Enemy encounters is by far one of the most annoying things in RPG’s, when you run into a monster it suddenly cuts to battle mode.

I know that fighting every monster/enemy is good for Leveling and what not but I know everyone has tried to avoid a monster by running or trying to sneak past it, since you just want to carry on with the main storyline.

But Ni No Kuni has monster awareness which tends to be on both Speed and Steroids.

I would be trying to sneak past a monster when suddenly it sprints towards me at the speed of light, it’s almost impossible to sneak past a monster and if you manage to make it past them you’ll find that they are still chasing you.

My advice would be turn around before it initiates the fight and gets the first strike, coz 99.99% of the time they will catch you and start a Battle.

In conclusion Ni No Kuni is in my opinion probably one of the best J-RPG’s I have ever played.

It will never fail to surprise you throughout your play and will have you fully immersed into that virtual world.

If you call yourself an RPG fan this is surely a title you do not want to pass on by, to fully understand the genius of this game you must play it!

Genre: Japanese RPG

Platform: PlayStation 3

Publisher: NamcoBandai

No. of Players: 1

Website

The post Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch – Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Once the games loaded up it takes you straight into character creation which allows you to make your own customized character.

The creator actually allows a lot of customization options, hairstyle, skin tone, facial structure, tattoos and more, Although some of the options are quite limited. I’m guessing they try to keep the characters as realistic as possible for example the physique only has 2 options “normal” or “ripped”.

After character creation you are thrown straight into it. Literally.

Once you’re on the main game “Home” menu the game doesn’t prompt you with any type of direction as to where you should start.

So using my great deduction skills I selected the middle option on the home menu where it showed “Thunder @ Heat” which takes you into a quick game style format allowing you to choose your team and your opponent. Once I had my teams selected and started the match there was a short prompt on a new control for NBA 2K13 “Match Stick” which wasn’t in the previous titles.

But after the explanation I still had no idea how to play properly and there was no guidance on what the basic controls were, let alone a tutorial mode to help new players not familiar with the series.

After countless boo’s from the in game audience I decided it was time to read up on the controls for the game.

Under “Controller Setup”, the controls seem fairly simple but putting them into play is a different story, if you’re not familiar with the NBA 2K series you might find yourself having quite a bit of trouble trying to play properly just like I did.

NBA 2K13 has a “My Career” game mode where you play as the character you created at the beginning of the game. The aim is for you (the rookie) to progress further up in the basketball world. In “My Career” you play solely as yourself, you only control your character and the rest of the team is CPU driven.

I thought it was going to be easier focusing on one player rather than switching players in a normal type game, but I was wrong. I actually found it to be a lot harder for me and boring when you are not in control of the ball.

I also had no idea what the positions are in basketball so I picked what sounded cool and I found myself without the ball for the majority of the game.

With that being said “My Career” is very well done it gives an RPG like vibe; you start off in a rookie game trying to show off your skills with hopes of getting drafted to a NBA team, once you’re in the big leagues you can even have sit downs with your general manager complimenting them or maybe doing something bad that might get them fired, this will affect how your teammates, media and your fans feel about you.

This game has so MUCH to offer that it would take a daunting wall of text to read, so I’ll cut a long story short.

NBA 2K13 is a great game for any Basketball fanatic or anyone who has the time to practice and pick up on the MOUNTAINS worth of controls and putting them into play. Graphics and gameplay are fluid and smooth and with JAY-Z in the mix you can expect to hear some great music that never ceases to make you tap your foot or bob your head to. The online play is what most would expect from a sports game.

NBA 2K 13 is both exciting and challenging and somewhat addictive.

Genre: Sports

Platform: PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360

Publisher: 2K Games

No. of Players: 1 – 2 + Online

Website

The post NBA 2K 13 – Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

When you first pop in the disc it kicks off with a beautiful anime style cinematic showcasing the characters you meet throughout the game and there progression towards adulthood, hyping you up for the actual gameplay.

In Tales of Graces F you play as “Asbel Lhant” who is the heir to the land of Lhant, He discovers a mysterious girl who seems to have amnesia, on one of his rebellious escapades with his little brother Hubert, they set off in hope of recovering her memories along with their fellow friends Cheria who is madly in love with Asbel and Richard the Prince, the story obviously progresses to be a lot more intricate but I won’t go into that much detail since no one likes a spoiler!.

With most JRPG’s the game centers around friendship, when I started playing I got that nostalgia feeling I was playing Kingdom hearts mixed with Zelda except the prologue on this game is EXTREMELY long it took me around 5 consecutive hours to finish it, but those hours pay off later on in the story, a lot of what you do in the prologue strongly shows as you progress, it also allows for the player to really relate to what’s happening  in game it gives you that feeling like “oh wow I was there and I did that” not like other games where they show a cinematic or tell some back story as to why a certain event has taken place.

The free roam is actually very good in my opinion although it is still linear they overcome this with making the landscapes wide and giving them a good amount of depth so you don’t feel confined as much traveling a predetermined path. Also as you travel you have specific spots where you can initiate a “skit” which is a short conversation your party has with relation to their current objective this is a very nice feature they have added to the game allowing the player to change gears and not constantly just run around to get to point A to point B.

Dual what? Dualizing! Tales of Graces F has a feature to combine items for a small fee at shops or wandering merchants called “Turtlez” creating things that can be sold for pure profit (Gald the in game currency). You can also add shards to a weapon or costume, adding status effects. After a while a weapon will become tempered allowing you to dualize it with another tempered weapon. This sets both weapons back to its original state with a slight increase in base stats. It also creates a crystal bearing traits from both weapons which can be used to add more status effects to a character or to be dualized even more! The possibilities are almost endless.

As for the battle system it’s a bit confusing and takes a while to master (to be honest I haven’t quite mastered it myself), but it’s like that with most RPG’s so you shouldn’t be surprised they all want their games to have a unique mechanic/style to it and allow the player to have a colossal amount of options to suit their play style.  As you roam you can initiate battles with enemies/monsters simply by walking into them similar to games like final fantasy and lost odyssey which once initiated takes you to a new playing field resembling your current surroundings, which I find quite annoying sometimes especially when I’m just trying to get somewhere to continue with the main storyline, I just try to dodge them all which is not a good idea since later on you wish you had grinded to help with the tougher battles later on but nothing a difficulty change can’t fix!

The battle gameplay itself is very fluid and looks very good, the special “finisher” arcade type moves are awesome showing a small cut scene before going full bad-assery (yeah cool word) on your opponent. The game also allows you to view enemy’s weaknesses during battle by holding down R1 so if you’re finding it difficult to kill something, checking there weakness will help you a lot.

There were some things in the game they could have improved for example the objective’s that are brought up by holding L1 are very vague and has made me wonder pointlessly sometimes, still a few bugs in game, sometimes I wouldn’t be able to get out of the menu trying to change my titles. I would have to change my titles twice before it let me press “O” to get out.

Being my first Tales series game that I have played, I can say I’m very much a fan now, If you can tough it out and play through the long build up you won’t regret it in the long run, like the saying goes “good things take time”. If you’re looking for something different and want a game you can really get in tune with I’d recommend this as a good play.

Genre: Action

Platform: Playstation 3

Publisher: NamcoBandai

No. of Players: 1

Website

The post Tales of Graces F – Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The storyline for Borderlands 2 is a bit cliché the typical “save the world from destruction and defeat the bad guy” but it makes sense and isn’t all that bad and the funny original comedy of the in game characters is truly great! The gameplay is fast paced and will never give you a dull moment, the vast world and landscapes are breathtaking and the somewhat comic like graphics make it feel vibrant and not too intense, It’s the kind of game you could play for hours on end and not get bored.

The random loot system will have you opening every little chest/box you see hoping to find a rare item with good stats to help you on your journey of Pandora (that’s the world you are trying to save), every time I find a big chest I get that warm fuzzy feeling that “this could be the jackpot” which isn’t the case most of the time, but it’s one of the things that makes this game so addictive. Although when playing multiplayer online the loot is shared so it’s first come first served type basis which is quite annoying but at times can be quite exhilarating as it keeps you tuned in with your utmost attention hoping to get that loot before someone else does!.

Can anyone say guns?! Yup that’s right Borderland’s still keeping true to its unique and COLOSSAL arsenal of weapons “870 Gajillion more guns!” There are also elemental weapons, which help defeating specific types of enemies, if you’re finding it hard to kill enemies with shields try using a “shock” weapon to melt that shield like butter or maybe there is that annoying heavy armored enemy that nothing seems to work on? That’s what a “corrosive” elemental weapon is for! Melts away the armor making them easier to kill!

Funny, Scary, Freaky, Creative, Wacky and downright weird Borderlands 2 massive amount of unique and diverse world of monsters and enemies will make you say “whoa” no repetitive waves of enemies, I mean who wants to be killing the same thing over and over right? The variety makes for good adventure and the boss fights are always good fun. Also the NPC’s have great character designs

The skill point system has greatly improved compared to borderlands 1 giving the player more ways to customize their class to their particular type of game style which can also be changed over and over for a small fee in game if what you get isn’t your cup of tea you can also pull the switcheroo!

Unlike the first Borderlands the sequel allows some character customization although I am disappointed in it seeing as borderlands is also meant to be an RPG which traditionally most allow quite a fair bit of character customization that being said the subtle changes you can make are still cool.

There have also been a bunch of other tweaks to Borderlands 2 like a constant on screen mini map (no more getting lost or bringing up the world map!) also the way the menu is a lot cleaner and pops out in front of your character.

You can also expect to see some great DLC in the near future for Borderlands 2 just as Borderlands 1 had

There is so much more to this game that I could go on about forever, but to keep a long story short this is a game that any avid gamer shouldn’t be without!

Genre: FPS / Action / RPG

Platform: Playstation 3 / Xbox 360 / PC

Publisher: 2K Games

No. of Players 1 – 2 + Online

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The post Borderlands 2 – Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.