God Mode Review

Game: God Mode
Year (s): 2013
Company: dev. Old School Games
pub. Atlus
Engine: Saber 3D engine v.S4 with Havok physics
Type: Co-Op Arena, Old School gameplay
Viewpoint: Third-person
Metacritic Score: 58
My Score: A game for people that liked Quake, but thought it had too much plot.


Price (as of , 2014)


Regular list price on Steam: $9.99
Lowest Buy-It-Now on eBay: Not Available




Obligatory Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaTYLOuD2W8






Plot and Gameplay


“Welcome to Hades! That's Hell in a toga.” You're a descendant of a god, you're dead, and each time you start you hear how you died. Means of death are generally funny acts of stupidity told in a very sarcastic manner. That's it for plot.


There are five, “mazes.” Each one is a level made up of several seperated sections. Finish one area, go to the next. Pick up health, armor, and ammo by running over it.


Five levels? Well, it's not so simple. Each independent part of a maze will have a random Test of Faith. These span a range of modifications that very from silly (all enemies wear hats), to easy (infinite ammo and no reload), to difficult (enemies are larger and tougher).


Gameplay is run and gun, with magical abilities that must be charged by killing monsters. As you progress you gain experience and gold. Experience levels allow you to buy more weapons, abilities, and upgrades, and skins with your gold.




Engine


Saber 3D Engine is a new one for me. It looks about as good as anything else, and does a solid job of supporting the large numbers of enemies that will be on-screen at once. That being said, it's not perfect. Every so often the game would fail to launch correctly, and I'd have to exit out and try again. While playing, alone or with others, I would sometimes notice significant lag.




Expansions / DLC / Sequels
There is no further content, sequel, or fan-created mazes that I could find. With how prevalent the term God Mode is, and the relatively low popularity of the game, it's difficult to search for information on the internet.




Final Thoughts


God Mode is a pretty great ten dollar game. It's a little silly, and has some mindless repetitive replay value (boosted further by all of the unlockable items you can buy). On any difficulty, the number of monsters is fixed, so playing co-op is a lot more fun and allows the player to do something other than easy mode. All that being said, the biggest downside of this game is that, even with a couple dozen different Tests of Faith, there's only five levels.



So while I like the game in general, and would recommend it if you have a four-player posse for some mindless fun, I wouldn't recommend it for long-term solo action unless you are really, really bored.

Far Cry 3 Review

Game: FarCry 3
Year (s): 2012
Company: dev. Ubisoft
pub. Ubisoft
Engine: Dunia Engine 2
Type: Open world shooter with some RPG elements
Viewpoint: First-Person
Metacritic Score: 88
My Score: 85


Price (as of September 2, 2014)


Regular list price on Steam: $29.99
Lowest Buy-It-Now on eBay (new, with shipping): $11


My Game Time: 45 hours


Obligatory Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJpBeBllyxA






Plot


A bunch of twenty-somethings party on a remote island, then get kidnapped by the local pirates. You escape and fight with the natives of the island against the pirates to free your friends.


Dunia Engine 2


This engine looks pretty good, and there isn't any lag while wandering around the enormous landscape. I ran into glitches a few times, but these could be remedied by relaunching the game.


Save System


Manual Save? Yes
Quick Save? No
Area Load Save? Yes
Checkpoint Save? Yes




Combat and Gameplay


Far Cry 3 is a shooter in which you rarely are required to use stealth. The sneaking around system in this game is pretty easy to get the hang of. There are lots of weapons you can get, as well as weapon modifications. As you level up, you can choose different perks to enhance your preferred gameplay method (the three trees are tank, stealth, and long range. You are not restricted to one tree).


Hunting is an option that lets the player craft items that will allow them to carry more weapons, ammo, loot, etc.


While there are a few confined areas, most of the game is done in an open world environment, allowing the player to approach encampments from any direction. Jungle cover is plentiful.




Expansions / DLC / Sequels
Far Cry 3 has a 2-player Co-Op campaign. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon uses the same engine and a lot of the same mechanics for a great little game that has nothing to do with the rest of the franchise. Far Cry 4 is due out late this year.


The Good
This game can be quite long, and it has some pretty fun moments. At times it's like you're the hero of a movie. Characters are memorable.


The Bad
I did a lot of sidequests and hunting, and this diluted the scarce plot. I didn't like the endings (there are two). I didn't like being forced to sneak at times, and some of the side quests were a huge pain. Stab two bears to death? I already killed six leopards with a bow, give me a break. I bitched quite a bit while playing through this one, and didn't get 100% completion.




The Verdict
I LOVED Blood Dragon. This game is not as distilled. The main storyline, while not the best, had some very enjoyable moments. Gameplay was average, but the abundance of sidequests, hunting, and exploration give this game a lot of game time that sets it above average. I don't consider Far Cry 3 a great game, but I would recommend it for people that love open world shooters with a good amount of hours per dollar.