GI Joe The Rise of Cobra Stats and Records

Stats time!

PS3 Trophy% 41%

Stage Stats Briefcases Info Cards Contact Tags Ranks

Arctic 1 2/2 3/3 1/1 3/5
Arctic 2 2/2 3/3 0/0 3/5
Arctic 3 2/2 3/3 1/1 3/5
Arctic 4 4/4 3/3 1/1 3/5
Arctic 5 0/2 4/4 0/0 3/5
Arctic 6 1/1 1/2 1/1 3/5
Desert 1 0/1 1/4 1/1 2/5
Desert 2 1/3 2/4 0/0 3/5
Desert 3 1/1 1/2 0/0 2/5
Desert 4 1/1 2/3 0/1 2/5
Desert 5 1/1 2/4 0/0 3/5
Desert 6 0/1 0/2 0/1 0/5
Jungle 1 1/2 1/4 0/1 1/5
Jungle 2 1/1 0/2 0/1 2/5
Jungle 3 2/2 2/4 0/0 2/5
Jungle 4 0/1 3/4 0/0 2/5
Jungle 5 0/1 0/3 0/1 0/5
Tundra 1 2/2 3/3 0/0 2/5
Tundra 2 1/1 3/4 0/0 3/5
Tundra 3 1/1 1/2 3/3 3/5

GI Joe The Rise of Cobra Review

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GI Joe is one of those games that you really can’t help, but check out. It’s the very definition of a movie tie in as it has everything that you would expect one to have. I think that one of the ways that you can tell whether a game is big budget or not is the little things. As a whole, this game may look like any other overhead shooter, but it’s the small things that keep it from reaching the heights of other great shooters. No matter, it is still a pretty fun game and one that definitely gives you your money’s worth.

The Joes have captured Baroness and the Cobra organization appears to be gone for good. Everything is right in the world until they are attacked and Baroness escapes. It appears that Cobra may not be dead after all and they are using their new teleportation technology to create a lot of havoc. Duke is going to have to go back on the field with the other Joes to stop the enemies from gaining ground. The only question on everyone’s minds is…”Can Cobra really be back?” Time to find out!

There are 20 levels to be found here, which is a pretty reasonable amount. The levels are long enough so that they can’t be called short while not being nearly as long as a War for Cybertron or Shattered Dimensions stage. I’d say that they’re juuust right if you ask me. The levels are pretty repetitive as you go on, but the actual gameplay is always fun so I wouldn’t really count that as a negative. The gameplay is similar to Centipede Infestation or Alien Syndrome. It’s overhead, but close enough to the ground where it can almost feel 3D. You won’t realize that it is overhead until you are done…or that is typically the case anyway.

You take out your guns and try to quickly destroy all of the enemies who are in your way. Typically, your objective will be to destroy certain objects along your way to the end. This means that you can actually skip a lot of the enemies if you really don’t want to bother facing them. I do recommend fighting them since it’ll help you earn points to get more badges, but it’s your call. Beating the levels on casual difficulty will let you quickly get through them, but you will not be able to get 5 star ranks that way so it’s a double edged sword. The gameplay never gets old and it’s a lot of fun to just blast everyone in your way. You’ll rarely need to resort to hand to hand combat, but it can be fun to use once in a while as a change up.

Graphically, the game definitely doesn’t impress. The facial expressions can definitely look pretty bad, but it can be in a humorous way so I can’t really fault it. It’s pretty sub standard for a PS3 game, but I didn’t expect anything more than that. The graphics still look pretty good during the gameplay, which is what counts. No frills or extra things to polish up the graphics, but that’s all right. The soundtrack can be a little uneven as some themes are just really loud. Notably the “Go Joe” theme that plays when you activate your power up. Mixed in with the sound of your gun constantly firing, you’ll be tempted to lower the volume. The stage themes are pretty unmemorable, but they aren’t bad. The characters can sound pretty intriguing though and Cobra Commander is the best example of this. The writers definitely are not familiar with his character since he sounds nothing like the villain that we’re used too. He’s constantly losing his cool and shrieking. The Commander doesn’t even try to keep up a tough facade as he panics when the Joes break in. It’s tough for his fans to watch, but you will likely get a good chuckle out of him.

GI Joe definitely shines when it comes to the Replay Value aspect. There are 130 emblems to get, which will take you some time since getting 5 stars on every stage is truly a feat. You will need to find several collectibles in each level which can be tough and let’s not forget the trophies. They’re all pretty fair and while they can be time consuming, none of them feel cheap. If you really want to get the Platinum in this game, I’m confident that you will be able too. I’ve thought about it and I may get it at some point, but I’ll settle for obtaining most of the trophies for now.

The ending to the game is pretty unsatisfying though. First of all, there is no final boss. That’s pretty discouraging since each world had a final boss aside from the last one. Instead of fighting Cobra Commander, we got to fight a few generators that some minions were protecting. The game also plays it a little too safe with the story and all of the villains end up getting away aside from Baroness. That means that we go right back to the status quo from the beginning of the game where this was the case…..a bit lazy if you ask me.

Now, I mentioned that it’s the little things that separate this from a high budget shooter. One example of this is naturally the minor glitches. Nothing major luckily, but sometimes your gun will just go through an opponent and you’ll need to stop shooting and quickly start again. That’s not terrible and it’s quite rare, but it’s a little thing. Camera angles can be tricky and it’s easy to get lost in some of the levels. The gameplay is a lot of fun, but it’s not very deep so you really need to enjoy it or you will definitely find it repetitive. I recommend always choosing Heavy Duty since he has the best super attack in the game.

Overall, GI Joe The Rise of Cobra is a pretty fun PS3 game. It won’t be winning any awards in the near future, but it’s the kind of game that really goes by quickly. You’ll never feel bored as you tackle the Cobra agents and the plot is decently engaging. I’m glad that we do get actual cutscenes so the game definitely didn’t skip out on the budget. At 20 levels, it’s definitely long enough for you to spend a few days on it and more if you want the Platinum. I recommend this to all action fans who own a PS3.

Overall 7/10

Playstation All Stars Battle Royale Stats and Records

Stats time!

PS3 Trophies 27/55
General Combat Trials 3%
Character Combat Trials 1%
Goals for Game 4/39
Goals for Online Games 0/78
Goals For Ranked Matches 0/80
Goals for Arcade Mode 9/151
Goals For Combat Trials 1/96
Goals for Versus Mode 3/19

Character Levels

Kratos 1
Fat Princess 1
Parappa 1
Sweet Tooth 1
Radec 3
Sly 1
Nathan Drake 1
Cole 1
Evil Cole 17
Ratchet 27
Toro 5
Jak 1
Big Daddy 1
Dante 1
Heihachi 1
Nariko 1
Raiden 1
Sackboy 1
Sir Daniel 1
Spike 1

Digimon All Star Rumble Review

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After all these years, Digimon has finally gotten itself another fighting game. I had a lot of fun back in the day playing Rumble Arena 2 and I just barely missed out on the original one. This is essentially the Rumble Arena 3 that we’ve been waiting for all these years and it’s definitely worth it. The game didn’t get a whole lot of publicity before it came out so hopefully the sales are still strong since this could be the start of a new series!

The game actually has a small plot. It’s not much of a story, but it certainly beats not having one. Essentially, a tournament is starting and a lot of Digimon want to enter it to win. They don’t know exactly why they want to enter…it’s almost like it’s destiny! They follow their primal instincts and quickly get ready for the fight of their life, but is there something more to this tournament? Then you pick the fighter that you want to play as and you’re set. I naturally played the game with Agumon the first time around, but I’ll beat it with everyone at some point for that shiny Platinum trophy!

The roster is pretty small considering that it’s a PS3 game. I think they definitely could have doubled or tripled the character selection, but with a limited budget I suppose that it would have been difficult. What would have helped is if they let some of the Mega Level Digimon be playable from the Get Go. I have unlocked all of the characters except for 3 starters and I do not have access to nearly any of the alternate Mega Digimon. Those will likely pop up along the way in the Story Mode paths. Counting all of those figures, the roster looks a lot better.

The gameplay is like Rumble Arena, but it’s in 3D. I suppose that you can picture Naruto Ninja Storm as an example. It’s a 3D playing field and you have your standard attacks, power attacks, and your projectiles. You can mix and match to make various combos and the goal is typically to defeat your opponent. (Although other modes feature games like capturing the flag so vary up the action) Once your meter is charged you can transform into an immensely powerful Mega Digimon. Once you’re in that form, you’re basically ready to rock and roll!

There are also items of course and they can really change the course of a battle. One of the items makes a twister form around the player. Another one lets you turn the opponent into a ball of living slime and the best item in the game allows you to instantly Digivolve. You cannot begin to compare that to any of the other items because it is so great. A thunderbolt is probably the second best item as it does some serious damage and it also stuns the opponent. It’s like a double effect for the price of one!

Surprisingly, the game actually goes up to 4 players. I don’t know many people who actually have 4 remotes, but it’s great that we are actually given the option. It’s certainly something to consider and I do have 3 remotes over here so at least I can go almost all the way. Every fighting game gets more and more fun as you increase the amount of players. It’s just common video game logic! Things get more chaotic and it will definitely test your mastery over the game.

The computer A.I. is decent, but it’s not great. You should be able to crush the hard difficulty level with ease after a handful of battles. Ah well, that’s not so bad since we have multiplayer mode and the computer is not downright easy either. I’m sure that a case can be made for it being just right.

The graphics are very bright and it works pretty well for the game. It may not be the most stylish game, but you would never mistake it for a last gen title. All of the character models are sharp and they really stand out no matter which stage you are on. I’m satisfied with the amount of stages as well as there are around 10-12 of them. Some of them even have gimmicks like a fog that will damage your fighter if you go near it.

The soundtrack is pretty nonexistent. I suppose that it would have been pretty tough to have had a pretty memorable one alongside everything else, but it certainly would not have hurt. There aren’t any real battle themes either, which is odd considering that it is a fighting game. How awesome would it have been to have had the Digimon theme song for the first few seasons included during the battles? That would have definitely been a lot of fun!

Surprisingly, there is no online capabilities in this game. I’m fine with that since it’s not the kind of game where I would play online a whole lot, (Madden and Smash Bros are really where I have fun online. Other than that, I typically stay local) but it’s still pretty surprising. Maybe they just didn’t think that enough people would be playing it right away to warrant a purchase of a few servers to run it on.

Some of the trophies are a bit of a grind, but none of them are really that hard. Waiting for the 50 hours to show up on your PS3 may be the toughest part or collecting the Digi cards, but it’s only a matter of time. The toughest trophy to get skill wise is probably beating the game with every character, but I’m sure that you’re up to the task. I only need 13 trophies left so that should be a breeze.

Overall, Digimon All Star Rumble is a solid addition to the Digimon franchise. The campaign mode is very short, but the multiplayer mode makes up for it. This gives it infinite replay value and that’s more than enough for you to be content. While the character roster may be pretty limited we do get fan favorites like Agumon and Guilmon. Old timers may be disappointed that some of the Season 1 stars were cut out, but maybe they’ll make the sequel. I’m sure that they would since a sequel would likely fill out the rest of the spots for the main characters from season 1 and season 3. No guarantees on season 2 of course, but those guys likely wouldn’t be missed quite as much. This is definitely a title worth obtaining if you want some solid action!

Overall 8/10

NCAA Football 2011 Review

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This is the first college Football game that I’ve really gotten to play extensively. I own quite a few of the other titles, but I have so many sport games that I typically just play them for a game or two and then move on to the next one. That’s why I love the trophy system on the PS3. It gives me a good reason to keep on playing long past the point where I would have stropped otherwise. The gameplay style may take a teeny bit of adjustment at first if you’re used to Madden, but it’s still EA so the control scheme is similar. It’s a pretty great and while I’ll always prefer Madden, I’ll always be up for a game here!

The gameplay style is a little faster than the average Madden game. You can pick what kind of offensive style you want before hand and then it’s off to the races. That’s actually a very cool gimmick to have and I got to test a few of the offensive formations out. I don’t remember all of the names, but I do like the Spread Offense and the Air Raid team is the best. In case you didn’t guess…I’m a pretty big passing fan. The problem with running the ball is that there’s more chance involved then when you’re passing it. For the most part, you can tell if you just threw a possible TD or a pick six right after you throw it.

I haven’t tackled the strongest A.I. level yet so I can’t comment on how difficult it is, but based on the previous levels it’s sure to be a nice challenge! Running the ball with your QB is easier in this game than usual and that’s a good thing since I love to do that. It’s good that it’s not too easy of course, but it’s a really effective way to move the ball when your receivers are covered. It can be tough to know when to look to run and when to pass, but the challenge of finding a nice mix is what makes this move so deadly!

I’ve gotten quite a few trophies so far although I’m probably not going to end up Platinuming this title. I won’t rule it out, but a few of the Dynasty/Career trophies seem like they would be a little too much work. I applaud EA for resisting the urge to add online trophies to the game so that the Platinum trophy is still a possibility. It was a pretty good move on their part and it’s one that I shall not forget very soon.

The game has your usual modes like Play Now that Madden has and there’s also it’s equivalent to Franchise Mode in Dynasty. There’s also a Road to Glory mode where you start out in Highschool and it looked interesting so I decided to go for it. It’s only four games long and it was pretty fun. The gameplay will certainly get you into the action very quickly and I still like the new style where you can pick a player to progress as you go through the career and then you just play when he’s on the field.

That being said, it’s a nice thing to give yourself a change of pace, but I still like to be in control for every facet of the game. You won’t catch me missing the point after attempts quite as much as the CPU and their defense tends to crumble when the going gets tough. This game has a ton of replay value since it’s Football and there are always more games to play. It’s tough for any title to even dream of matching it in replay value and the only other game that can give it an even fight is probably Super Smash Bros.

The graphics are pretty good. I’ve always thought that EA’s games looked very good and they definitely spend more time perfecting the graphics than the average game. It can be seen as excessive or underwhelming depending on the player, but it just looks great for me. The plays are always clear and you can see who’s open and who isn’t with a single glance.

If I had to list a negative for the game, it may be the soundtrack. At times, trumpets will sound and all of the music will instantly be obliterated. That’s not a bad thing per say, but the game can be more fun at times with a nice background theme. If the game is going to be silent then I think that cutting out the trumpets would help. It just doesn’t work with the style of gameplay. To counter this, NCAA has an exclusive feature where you get to run to the mascot for a celebration after each scoring play. That’s pretty cool and it’s a nice way to motivate your opponent as well.

This may have been the first NCAA game that I got to play a lot, but that won’t be the case for very long. I am planning to dig out the previous year’s game shortly to gather some trophies and then I’ll be sure to review that one as well. I expect it to be pretty good as well, but this one will likely stay on top. Where do I go from here? Well, I’m planning on tackling the full season soon so this game won’t be biting the dust just yet!

Overall, NCAA Football is a pretty great title to play and it’s one of those games that will continue to be fun long after you’ve played your 100th game. It’s just hard not to get excited while playing it and especially when the score gets tight. You just need to remember your training and you’ll be fine. The servers are down, which unfortunately halts online play, but it’s a game that is actually still a lot of fun to play with computers. If the price is right, you may still want to buy the latest version, but if not…2011 is the way to go!

Overall 8/10

Lego Marvel Superheroes Update

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All right, we now have the Platinum in Lego Marvel Superheroes! Time to add that big trophy to the pile and we can really consider the game to be complete now. There are more things to do in this massive title so stay tuned. Meanwhile, just keep looking at the 100% epicness next to the title!

Enemy Territory Quake Wars Review

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It’s time for another first person shooter! TimeSplitters was pretty good so it’s safe to say that I had some reasonable hopes for this game. The level designs looked pretty intense from the back of the cover and it has a pretty sweet opening cutscene. I was all set for a pretty intense adventure, but this title is unfortunately not nearly as it could be. There’s a huge reason for this…so let’s get to it!

There is no real story mode. Let that sink in for a few minutes. There is a campaign mode and their are several countries to choose from, but it’s basically just a team Deathmatch like in Transformers. You can play them in online mode or offline. Naturally, it’s been a long time since this game came out so I didn’t even bother to check the servers. I jumped into the offline battle and it’s definitely not quite as entertaining on your own. You fight the enemies, but there is no plot and everything resets once you finish the level so you can try it again. You keep the level ups, but it’s really just like playing an online match by yourself.

I give the game credit for how big the levels are, but it’s not really enough to make this game a winner in my books. A story mode is a must or at least some more variety. There is seriously nothing to do in this game. I could play a lot of “multiplayer” matches by myself, but finishing one level was tough since it’s just so long. I definitely wouldn’t want to try the levels too many more times. You can optionally lower the timer to 10 minutes, but you still wouldn’t be accomplishing something. It would be another story if this game had trophies, but this was before the PS3 started giving them out to all of the games. Either way, I have a feeling that most of them wouldn’t be achievable anymore.

The gameplay is rather deep for an FPS. I dare say that it may be a little too complex, but I’m sure that Call of Duty fans will appreciate how much effort was put into this. You get 5 different weapons that you can shift between and you get to pick your class at the beginning of each match. Once you decide whether you want to be an alien or a human, you get to go onto the battlefield. You want to fulfill your objectives and conquer as much land as possible. The stage is so big that the battles easily take up the 40 minutes. I ended up dying about 50 times in those 40 minutes.

It’s similar to Star Fox Assault in that the vehicles are pretty overpowered. Your attacks don’t do all that much damage to them and a single hit will wipe you out. The enemy had a ton of objects at the ready to blast you with and my army felt pretty unprepared. You can also jump and duck. It’s a pretty realistic shooter as far as the mechanics are concerned. It’s also pretty cool to be able to coordinate such a large army and it’s like a beat em up, but without the fun parts. (The beating everyone up in fluid/fast gameplay that makes everything exciting.

The graphics definitely hold up rather well. A lot of detail has been added to the game and considering that this came out about half a decade ago, it holds up well. The enemy attacks really look cool and the opening is definitely something that will catch your attention. It’s very realistic, which works for the setting that this game has. I think the grenade explosions could be a little better, but this will have to do. There’s not much of a soundtrack here to speak of. It got lost in all of the shooting that was going on!

This game could have easily scored a 7 with a decent story mode. At least give us a 1 on 1 option for some local multiplayer! There really isn’t anything wrong with the gameplay and the levels really give you a lot of options. You can swim so you can go around the enemy base through water or you can set up ambushes in a factory. This game is really extensive and you could certainly make some real plans as long as you got the microphone for the PS3. On your own, none of that is an option and the game loses over 95% of its replay value. Fighting against computers isn’t very exciting and there are no real rewards, which also takes away the incentive of playing it. A game should always prioritize story mode over the online functions or at least make sure that it is a reasonably good option. This game had a lot of potential, but it ultimately blew it.

Overall, Quake Wars was definitely not as good as TimeSplitters. At its peak, I’m confident that it will have still lost since I preferred the gameplay in the futuristic title. It may have been rather simplistic, but that’s definitely okay for an FPS. The speed of the gameplay was important as well. Quake Wars is a dependable game if you just want to earn exp on your own against some computers, but know that there isn’t anything to do with it. It’s like questing by yourself in an MMO with no story and no ultimate goal. For that reason, this game is almost unplayable. You can definitely get it for a low price, but if you want to play a real FPS, check out Agent Under Fire for Gamecube! Now that is an FPS with a story that also contains a very solid multiplayer alternative.

Overall 4/10

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations Stats and Records

Naruto stats! Another Platinum is down the drain, but it presented a worthy challenge!

PS3 Trophy% 100%
Play Time 30hr
Online Battle Play Time 3h 58m
Titles 483/551 87%
Card Imaged 80%
Substitution Items 94%
Ninja Tools 91%
Free Battle Record 503/9
Most Consecutive Wins in Survival 30
Total Ryo Earned 5229726
Online Record 2-11
BP 5150