James Stevenson, Insomniac’s Senior Community Manager wrote:

“One of the biggest questions we’ve gotten in the last few years is “When are you going to make a Ratchet & Clank movie?” The truth is, we’ve wanted to do a movie for a long time! Ratchet & Clank’s action, humor and galaxy-spanning adventures have really been the basis for a fantastic game series, and we think it’d translate perfectly to the big screen.”

The script will be penned by the same writer behind the videogames, T.J. Fixman, so you can expect the same high level of storytelling that the series is known for.

The announcement came with the following first-glimpse trailer:

Things aren’t looking great for the nameless sorcerer in the beginning of Soul Sacrifice. Imprisoned in a hellish cell, and having witnessed another man eviscerated at the hands of the sorcerer Magusar, it’s only a matter of time before the same fate befalls him. And yet there is a glimmer of hope. A book. A talking book at that, but one that may just provide the key to salvation if its secrets can be unlocked.

Soul Sacrifice is the brain child of Kenji Inafune, of Mega Man fame, but is as far from the iconic character as one could possibly be. The book in question resembles the Necronomicon from the Evil Dead movies, and the same aesthetic carries across the entire work. There’s a demonic look to Soul Sacrifice that I would liken to the Dark Souls series with monsters appearing suitably grotesque. Librom, as this incarnation of the book is known, acts as the central point of focus from my time with Soul Sacrifice. By reading its entries, the player is able to relive its tales as phantom quests and take on the beasts described. As well as that, the book provides access to character customisations, magic upgrades, as well as pages and pages of back story on the individual beasts and lore of the game world. There is a wealth of information to be devoured. Not all of the book is available from the off, and progressing through the quests reveals more and more pages.

Once a quest is chosen, combat switches to a third person perspective. It’s clear where the comparisons to the Monster Hunter franchise have come from. At a very basic level, each quest comes down to a team of players (in this case, sorcerers) taking on a giant beast. Yet that is where the similarities both begin and end. Each sorcerer has a palette of 6 abilities, referred to as offerings, available to him/her. These are mapped to the square, triangle and circle buttons in two banks of three (which can be switched between with a press of the right bumper). These abilities run the spectrum in regards to function, ranging from up close melee and elemental attacks, to long range projectile fire and healing spells. Each ability has only a certain number of uses before it ceases to function, meaning it’s not possible to spam a single attack, although there are ways to recharge your offerings. Your sorcerer also has “black rites” available to him. These attacks are extremely powerful, but require your sorcerer to give up a part of himself, an effect which carries over across quests. For instance, the “Infernus” rite engulfs the enemies in flames, but must be paid for with your own skin, reducing your damage resistance by half.

Once you have slain your enemies, you have the ability to either save them, or sacrifice them (giving the game its name). Save a foe, and you’ll receive upgrades to your life force and defensive capabilities. Sacrificing them, on the other hand, gives more power to your attacking abilities. It’s hard to tell if this mechanic will have more influence beyond the black or white effect evident currently, but it provides an interesting nuance in the heat of battle. This element of sacrifice also applies to your own comrades as well. If an ally, or indeed you yourself, fall in battle, you can choose to revive them at the cost of your own health, or use their essence to launch a devastating attack but making them unavailable for the rest or the quest.

Outside of combat, the absolute wealth of options is staggering. The abilities assigned to your sorcerer’s palette can be completely customised, enabling players to shape their avatar to their own playstyle. Each offering can similarly be boosted, providing the player has the necessary materials, allowing for increased damage output or increased number of casts before the offering stops. New offerings can also be fused by combining several existing offerings. There’s a whole meta game here that isn’t fully reveled in the build I played, but should become more clear in the full game.

From what I’ve gotten my hands on, I’m optimistic about Soul Sacrifice. What I’ve played wasn’t perfect – I had some camera issues that had me wrestling for control on occasion, however that was mostly mitigated by the lock on function. Also, if the preview did represent the beginning of the game as I suspect, it points to the need to grind for experience right from the get go. Yet, the gameplay on offer was satisfying and well developed, and the sheer depth of customisation on offer has me excited to get my hands on the full game in a month’s time.

Kratos returns with huge fanfare, after his illustrious trilogy of games, to his beginnings and what brought him to defy the gods in the first place.  The story this time isn’t the best of the series but does carry you along at a ripping pace of colossal set pieces and intimate fights.  It starts off huge and never really lets up with relentless bloodletting which will make even the most hardened gamer look away in disgust.

Ascension begins with just such a gruesome scene, protagonist Kratos, chained atop a stone column, is being tortured by one of the Furies, a repugnant netherworld goddess who slashes at our hero before seeping attack bugs from her pores.  Once you break free of her grip and it’s mythology as usual as you’re propelled through the world, dissolving grunts into a crimson mist with your Blades of Chaos.  Larger foes are dispatched with a series of divisive QTE finishing moves plus you can haul yourself through the scenery by latching onto the glinting hook points.

All of this seems like business as usual but Ascension refines the old dynamic with subtle refinements, the QTE events pop up not only the symbol you need to hit but also show them in the corner of the screening where the buttons appear on the controller, making it that little bit easier to see them and make your move.  This time you can counter enemies also and take their weapons to use against them which is a nice addition too.

This time Kratos only uses the Blades of Chaos rather than discovering new weapons along the way.  It’s no great loss though as  instead the variety comes as you absorb different powers into the Blades along the way, the Fire of Ares torches enemies alive; Ice of Poseidon freezes foes; Lightning of Zeus delivers a vicious electric attack and the Soul of Hades calls upon the undead for help.  This really elevates the battles as you can switch between them at will, utilising them differently throughout any skirmish.  Using the different blades of chaos abilities also gives the player varying rewards, if you use lightning you’re rewarded with magic-restoring blue orbs, do the same with the Soul of Hades and green health-giving orbs are yours for the taking.  All of this adds an increasing amount of depth to the game.

The magic system has changed slightly with the super-powerful magic attacks being locked away further down the weapon upgrade tree, meaning you cannot rely on them as heavily as you might’ve done in previous games.  It’s a positive step because it really encourages you to think wisely about where to allocate experience points from the beginning. It’s at these moments when Kratos is overwhelmed with enemies that magic provides his only lifeline.

Difficulty throughout is, for the most part, balanced and well-considered.  Although some difficultly spikes can be quite annoying, this is slightly waylaid with checkpoints being more commonplace this time around so it softens the burden a little.  But at times Ascension takes challenge to the next level by throwing so many bad guys on screen it’s hard to actually figure out what’s going on.  Dying in these situations feels cheap and frustrating.

New to the GOW world is the inclusion of multiplayer and it is here where Santa Monica Studio hopes to make up the thrill shortfall from the single player campaign.  Far from a half-hearted add-on, Ascension’s multiplayer component is weighty and distinguished, and the battle system’s range and flexibility shine in this competitive context.  You begin in the Rotunda of Olympus, where you must select an allegiance to one of the four gods, essentially choosing a character class: Warrior, Stealth, Mage or Support. Each class has its own intricacies and winning matches will earn experience points which can be used to acquire better equipment.

Favour of the Gods is the most enjoyable of the modes on offer, with two teams going toe-to-toe to catch the eye of Olympus’ elite.  It’s essentially a high-score race, with points awarded capturing bases, opening chests, collecting valuable items, and of course killing your opponents.  Then you’ve Match of Champions which is a free for all death match, Trial of the Gods has you fighting hordes of opponents and capture the flag does exactly what it says.

While multiplayer has its moments, the combat doesn’t really offer the depth to make it a truly engaging experience.  In fact, the only real way to prove your dominance in multiplayer is through the countless unlocks and weapon upgrades available but with XP being dished out so generously there’s no real reason to  play skilfully.  Because of this, multiplayer feels more like a curiosity which provides a few hours of enjoyment rather than being an essential addition.

So God of War: Ascension is an adequate game with some truly mesmerising visuals and heart racing action beats but lacks depth and the staying power of the series previous iterations, hopefully the inevitable next game will bring something different and innovative to this failing franchise or Kratos will have a new enemy to bring to his blades of chaos.

The email reads:

We’re sending you this message because you have an account on RockBand.com, DanceCentral.com, and/or Creators.RockBand.com. We are investigating an apparent attack on our servers that we detected this week.

The security of your Harmonix user information is very important to us. We’ve taken the sites down while we investigate this incident and determine how our systems and the information we maintain may have been compromised. At this time, we have not found that any of our users’ information has been published or misused. None of our sites maintain any credit card information, social security numbers, or financial account numbers for any of our users.

As a precaution, we have disabled your Harmonix password. We’ll send you a notification when the sites are back up. When you log back in, we will require all users to reset their passwords. If you have been using your old Harmonix password on other sites, we recommend that you change those passwords too.

We’re sorry for this inconvenience. Stay tuned to Harmonix on Facebook and Twitter for further updates.

The four new maps include Vertigo, Encore, Magma and Studio and the add-on also includes a “zombie adventure” called “Mob of the Dead”.

Regarding the maps: Vertigo takes place in a futuristic high-rise in India, Encore is set in the aftermath of a London music festival, Magma is a Japanese village beside an active and menacing volcano, and Studio is an updated version of Firing Range from the original Black Ops.

The zombie content is set in Alcatraz prison during prohibition years, features new guns, and voice work from Ray Liotta, Chazz Palminteri, Joey Pantoliano and Michael Madsen.

You can expect to pay 1200 Microsoft Points for the DLC or it will be free if you’ve already purchased the season pass. The content should be on PC and April in mid-May.

Source: The Examiner, Official Web Site

At the 2013 Game Developers Conference, Epic showed off their Unreal Engine 4 using the “Infiltrator” tech demo, which you can view below. It looks really purdy but it’s not just another rendered video. At the GDC presentation, Epic claimed that it was running in real-time and, to prove it, they switched between filters and effects on-the-fly.

While the video may not mean much to most gamers, it’s worth bearing in mind that the engine could be what’s powering a lot of games for the next generation.

That’s the case on most next generation systems but, unfortunately for Wii U developers, Epic’s VP Mark Rein said that UE4 won’t run on Nintendo’s latest machine, that “if you want to make a Wii U game, we have Unreal Engine 3, and it’s powering some of the best games on the Wii U already”.

It was already announced by DICE that the Frostbite 3 engine, used to develop Battlefield 4, won’t run on Wii U either.

So, for gamers, it could potentially mean that a lot of our favourite games won’t see ports to Wii U.

Source: Joystiq

The last time we’ve seen Sly Cooper and his lovable crew of eccentric thieves they were putting their criminal days behind them. Nearly eight years later, the gang is back for another round of hijinks and deception with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, a new adventure that taps into the nostalgia of the series from the PS2 era.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is the first entry in the series to be developed by a team other than Sucker Punch. With Sanzaru Games proving their passion and respect for the lore when handling the HD collection, they scored a chance from Sony to pick up where the last entry left off. A new villain has appeared named Le Paradox, a thieving skunk who has targeted specific items throughout history. Causing a ‘butterfly effect’, his actions are causing the pages from the Thievius Raccoonus — the legacy of Sly’s thief family-line, to vanish. Sly and his team catch wind of this, and with the help of Bentley’s new time machine, must travel back in time to eras based on the Ice Age, Medieval England and Arabia, Feudal Japan and the Old West. The story and settings doesn’t alter the dynamics of the genre, but each character is superbly voiced and the cheesy writing will remind you of a Saturday morning cartoon.

For those unfamiliar with the Sly Cooper formula, Thieves in Time present a very easy to ingest, explore an assortment of lavish, detailed sandbox hubs while completing various jobs tied into progressing the story. Within each hub is the Hideout, a place where all the characters congregate and you are presented with a range of options to choose from like playing ping pong, browsing through treasures, change a character, and purchasing upgrades from Thief-Net. Outside the Hideout are various jobs that range greatly depending on the character that you are currently controlling. The jobs associated with Sly are easily the most fun as they focus on stealth; infiltrating buildings, stealing keys, pickpocketing, etc. Bentley’s jobs usually involve hacking into computer systems and using his tech to get him into places. While most focus around fun mini-games, the ones that require motion control are dull. Finally, Murray’s jobs are my least favorite because they are based on beating up bad guys or destroying equipment, but Sanzaru makes up for this simpler gameplay by placing him in outlandish situations.

As Sly travels back in time, he will come across his ancestors that occupy each era. Each has their own special ability like Sly’s Japanese ancestor Rioichi Cooper, can bound across distances with a grace of a ninja or the outlaw Tennessee Cooper can transform the family’s signature cane into a pistol. Sly will eventually be able to equip these costumes, each one providing him with different abilities to interact with his environment and solve various challenges along the way. These new costumes provide you with satisfaction of approaching enemies from different angles, as well as the option of revisiting time periods to access previously unobtainable areas. Thankfully getting each location is a breeze, as the controls are extremely smooth and accessible to newcomers, while fans of the series will feel right at home.

Each aspect of Thieves in Time’s presentation has been polished to take advantage of the PS3 with the inclusion of massive draw distances and greatly improved facial animations. The cel-shaded graphics are great, and you still got the same cartoon styling, just with a lot more color depth and minor touches like Sly’s fur looking fuzzy. All of the songs are perfectly fitting with the levels and the sneaking sound effect/music mix that plays when you’re moving is still a joy to hear. On the other hand, it’s also not entirely stable in the performance department. There are moments of slight lagging in the framerate, and excessively long load times. Every time you start a mission, finish a mission, load a save or enter a new space, you’re hit with a loading screen that runs closely to a full minute in length. Though they’re not a crippling hindrance, just more of an annoyance, the constant break does take some of the shine off the presentation.

In addition to completing jobs, there is a plethora of collectibles to keep you busy. Bottles litter each region, and collecting all of them in a chapter unlocks a safe with a special prize. The game does a nice job of opening up and letting you explore past areas to collect all the items. But if it’s a challenge you’re looking for, you’ll only find it here in small doses. Checkpoints are frequent and forgiving, and a handful of the mini-games actually surpass the core combat in terms of sheer difficulty. What challenge there is usually occurs in the boss fights, which tend to demand perfectly timed uses of Sly’s costumes. Figuring out the pattern of attack/defense can result in defeating each boss and you’ll need your platforming prowess now and then to be victorious.

In the end, fans of Sly Cooper will enjoy Thieves in Time, but it feels like it could have existed on the PlayStation 2. Sanzaru should be commended for providing fans with a enjoyable Sly Cooper game, but after waiting so long to step back into the cunning raccoon’s shoes, this entry feels like a missed opportunity to expand the franchise. A very enjoyable game though, that Sly fans will Really Enjoy!

Volition have announced that Saints Row IV will be released on August 20th in the US and August 23rd everywhere else. It will launch on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

“Saints Row IV lets players delve into an arsenal of alien weaponry and technology that will turn each Saint into an ultimate entity of destruction. Utilize out-of-this-world superpowers to fight all the way to the top. With intensified action and enhanced customization, players can use their newfound superpowers and leap over buildings, outrun the fastest sports cars, or send enemies flying with telekinesis in the greatest, most insane installment of Saints Row yet.” – Official Blurb

Deep Silver purchased Volition Inc. and, separately, the Saints Row IP in the THQ administration auction in January this year. Saints Row IV will also feature DLC content from Saints Row III’s “Enter The Dominatrix” add-on that was canned after Deep Silver took over publishing.

Good news for fans of Snoop Dogg, or Snoop Lion… or whatever he calls himself now… Snoop Penguin is getting his own rhythm-based action beat ‘em up game with voice acting from the man himself, Snoop Duck.

Snoop Giraffe can be seen in the video above doing voiceover for the game, Way Of The Dogg, which draws inspiration from his love of 70′s kung fu Blaxpoitation movies. Each stage will be set to a track from Snoop Ocelot’s back catalogue.

The game is being developed by Echo Peak and published by 505 Games and you’ll be able to download it later this year from Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and on phones and tablets. Snoop Shark will also be releasing his new album, Reincarnated, at the same time.

]]> http://www.techtv101.com/games-reviews_snoops-way-of-the-dogg-game-being-made/feed 0 http://www.techtv101.com/games-reviews_ps-plus-update-for-march-brings-spec-ops-the-line-and-more http://www.techtv101.com/games-reviews_ps-plus-update-for-march-brings-spec-ops-the-line-and-more#comments Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:43:25 +0000 Mick Techtv101 http://www.techtv101.com/?p=21989

Irish PS Fans can rejoice that there are three new PS3 game and two for PS Vita in the line-up for March.

Leaving PS Plus in March:

• 6th March: Sleeping Dogs
• 6th March: Vanquish
• 6th March: LIMBO
• 13th March: Wipeout 2048
• 20th March: Lumines Electronic Symphony

Entering PS Plus in March:

• 6th March: Mass Effect 3
• 6th March: Dead or Alive 5
• 6th March: Joe Danger 2
• 13th March: Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
• 20th March: Puddle

In the US, March’s PlayStation Plus update is a big one, offering subscribers a collection of five new games to add to their Instant Game Collection. This month’s PS3 title is the third-person shooter Spec Ops: The Line, with PSN games Joe Danger 2: The Movie and The Cave, as well as Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention and Tekken 6 for the Vita making the cut.

Look for this week’s offerings to be available once the weekly PSN update goes live tomorrow afternoon.

“When a sinister conspiracy targets Commander Shepard, you and your team must uncover the truth, through battles and intrigue that range from the glamour of the Citadel’s Wards to the top-secret Council Archives.  Uncover the truth and fight alongside your squad — as well as the cast from the original Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, including Urdnot Wrex!” – BioWare

Regardless of how you feel about the divisive ending of Mass Effect 3, you still have to acknowledge that the series is still one of the greatest sci-fi series in gaming history. It has a universe to rival those of Star Trek and Star Wars and as many dedicated fans. I count myself as one.

So it is quite melancholic that Mass Effect 3′s final DLC, Citadel, will release tomorrow. On the one hand, it’s more Mass Effect and, on the other, this is the official end to the trilogy.

This add-on will bring to a conclusion the story of [INSERT CUSTOM NAME] Shepard and his/her many adventures through the Milk Way galaxy. That’s it. No more Shepard after this. Though BioWare have already stated that you might want to hold onto your save files for Mass Effect 4, which is in pre-production at the moment.

The ”Citadel” DLC, as the name implies, takes place on the iconic Citadel station and sometime before the end of the game. It looks like our main protagonist is in some sort of danger on what seems like standard shore-leave. You know, lots of drinking in dark nightclubs, fancy hotel suites, catching up with old buddies… and gunfights.

Citadel will be available to download tomorrow, March 5th, on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 for €14.99 or 1200 Microsoft Points. You can watch the trailer below… and try not to shed a tear.

On Thursday it was revealed that the next Assassin’s Creed title was in the making. Further details have since emerged about Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag including it’s release date and that it would be on next generation consoles. The information was stumbled upon by DarkZero via some very clever modding of the URL for the game. He simply replaced a letter in the web address with a V.

As you can see by the above pic, the game is coming on October 29th and there’s confirmation that it’s coming out for “next gen consoles”. Whether that’s this year or 2014 hasn’t been confirmed.

The bottom of the page shows logos for Xbox 360 and PS3 so we can assume that it will be a multi-generational release (get used to that phrase, I’m bringing it back!). Of course those two platforms, as a well as PC and Wii U, had already been confirmed on Wednesday by Ubisoft.

Meanwhile, today, a trailer leaked for the game and we’d love to show you it but… eh… it was removed from the public domain very quick and made private on YouTube (including mirror copies). Boo-urns!

So should you want to view the trailer featuring Black Flag’s new hero, you have two choices: either look for a dubious copy on the inter-webs or wait until Monday when Ubisoft will likely release the trailer officially when it divulges more details on the game. We don’t condone the former but as the saying goes: “Nothing is true. Everything is permitted”.

He seemed confident that Sony could face the tests posed by the large file sizes and limited broadband infrastructure saying that they were ”challenges that we have to work through”.

Although Sony are aiming their 4K movies to be downloadable, he wouldn’t rule out that one solution might be good old fashioned physical media, like Blu Ray discs.

Various rumours had already said that the Playstation 4 will support 4K video and photos but it will not support 4K gaming. The Verge’s interview with Molyneux seems to confirm those reports.

In an interview with Silicon Republic, SCEE’s Senior Vice President Michael Denny let slip the possibility that Polyphony Digital’s racing sim Gran Turismo would be seeing a sequel released on Playstation 3:

“Look at the games coming out this year on the PlayStation 3 like The Last of US, Beyond:Two Souls, GT6… “

When IGN contacted Sony for confirmation, a company representative simply responded with the following:

“In 2010, Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed that Polyphony Digital had commenced development for Gran Turismo 6. We look forward to sharing further details on this title in the near future.”

They refused unsurprisingly to give any further information on the game when pressed.

So that just leaves us with confirmation that Gran Turismo 6 is indeed coming but will it come to PS3? And will it be out this year? Or did Mr. Denny simply misspeak?

In any case, it would seem logical that the game is coming to current generation hardware and not [necessarily] PS4 given it’s long development and lack of appearance at the recent Playstation 4 announcement.

Sources: SiliconRepublic, IGN

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag has been announced as the next title in the Assassin’s Creed series. Judging from the artwork, I think it’s a safe bet to assume that pirates will somehow feature. So we’re dubbing this installment of the franchise “Assassin’s Creed Fouarrrrgh”.

The game has been slated for release on Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The PS3 version will get “exclusive content”, as is the norm these days. More details will be announced on Monday.

Sources: Joystiq, MCV UK

Naughty Dog are getting in on the trend of free-to-play multiplayer gaming with Uncharted 3 Multiplayer. The free version of the game will be available very soon with a release scheduled for some time today on the Playstation Store in the US and here in Europe tomorrow.

The game will be supported with micro-transactions. The free game won’t include co-op modes and will be capped at Level 15 but you can raise or remove that cap and add co-op modes (such as Co-Op Arena and Co-Op Adventure) for additional fees.

As always with downloadable titles, it’s worth taking note of the download size. In this case, it’s a hefty 4.8 GB. Then again, Uncharted 3 is a very purdy looking game.

Sources: Joystiq.com, PlayStation Blog

With the PlayStation 4 having been unveiled during a Sony press conference in New York last week, the world now awaits in anticipation for Microsoft’s response. When will we see the next Xbox?

According to CVG, we can expect our first look this April.

A number of developers and industry professionals have allegedly told CVG that microsoft will hold a conference to reveal the company’s next-generation console this April.

In addition, an interesting domain name registered by Microsoft partner Eventcore, formerly Ustechs, a company who has worked with MS on past media briefings and press conferences such as last year’s E3, was spotted by the NeoGAF community. It reads “XboxEvent.com.”

A senior Sony official also told CVG he was informed that the PlayStation meeting last week had “at first caught Microsoft off-guard.” He added, “we definitely ruffled their feathers.”

While we can look forward to an official look at the next Xbox this April, should the rumors prove true, this year’s GDC in March is also likely to reveal Microsoft’s future-tech, should the company’s engineers and developers attend.

Source: http://mp1st.com/2013/02/24/microsoft-expected-to-reveal-next-generation-xbox-in-april/

The Paladin Edition of Splinter Cell: Blacklist comes with a remote control airplane modeled after Fourth Echelon’s mobile base. To assure gamers that this plane can actually take to the skies, Ubisoft has released a video of a test flight.

The C-147B Paladin plane has two engines and can reach speeds of up to 35 miles per hour. It can fly up to 250 feet away from the remote. You’ll get up to four minutes of flight time until you need to recharge battery.

Instructional videos will help you build, operate and maintain the plane. Parkflyers RC will provide customer service and sell you replacement parts if need be.

Pricing for the pack has yet still to be announced and This bundle also includes two co-op maps and two in-game items. Ubisoft has also thrown in a poster and graphic novel.

This week Crysis 3 is hitting stores throughout the world. The reviews are in and it looks like the game could be a winner for shooter fans.
The Metacritic rating for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game are all hovering around 80. For basis of comparison, Crysis 2 had a average Metacritic of about 85. It seems like the core gameplay is wearing a bit thin. PC Gamer said the game is closer to “Crysis 2: Episode 2” than Crysis 3.

Here are ten interesting reviews of the game from throughout the web, but you will have to make up your own mind when you play the game

Joystiq – “Crysis 3 succeeds not only as a shooter, but as a stealth game too. It’s entirely possible to sneak through the game and minimize casualties, and doing so is challenging and incredibly rewarding (should you succeed). The same goes for players who prefer to quietly assassinate every enemy one-by-one. The inclusion of the bow – a silent weapon that doesn’t force you to break your cloak when you use it – is a big boon to the stealth experience in Crysis 3.”

Shacknews – “AI impressed me, especially on higher difficulties. Silly mistakes, such as coming out of stealth too soon, become quite difficult to recover from. I had to constantly monitor my energy meter or tag new enemies as they showed. Otherwise, both CELL and Ceph troops would easily overwhelm me.”

PA Report – “Crysis 3 is an enjoyable game, but it’s lost much of what made the first two games special. It’s not bad by any means, but you can see hints of a much better game peeking out through the cracks. I don’t mind the time I spent playing through the game’s single-player campaign, and I had great fun during a few sequences, but it feels like the features of the first two games have been eroded, not improved.”

OPM UK – “I clocked the campaign in exactly four hours, 55 minutes and 40 seconds, making Crysis 3 shorter than the offspring of Danny DeVito and Wee Jimmy Krankie (what a looker that kid would be). Even briefer than Black Ops II, it’s hard not to feel slightly short-changed by Prophet’s brisk jaunt through the Big Apple.”

1UP – “If you go in understanding that Crysis 3 delivers blockbuster entertainment and multiplayer that iterates on Call of Duty’s perks system, you’ll be fine. But if you want Crysis to stake a claim all its own, you might be disappointed. But don’t let that stop you from enjoying a solid action sandbox like this one. Crysis 3 might not reinvent itself into a grander vision, but like a good Hollywood sequel, it sticks to what it does well and iterates its formula into an impressive video game.”

VentureBeat – “Crysis 3 is the strongest entry in the franchise. The puzzle-like combat scenarios have never been better with its suite of gameplay options and opportunities while the engaging narrative urges you to see Prophet’s journey through to the end. And if you’re a console owner, you can rest easy knowing that it still looks great on seven-year-old hardware.”

PC Gamer – “The déjà vu of handling the same weapons is offset by Prophet’s newfound ability to wield Ceph guns. Each of these devastating power weapons pulls from a single, small magazine of ammo. They’re intentionally disposable; as long as you don’t mutilate an alien with explosives, you can steal their flamethrower, lightning sniper rifle, or absurd plasma minigun that transforms into a wide-firing plasma shotgun. Firing each of these produces the same pleasure I felt when I first fired the Combine Pulse Rifle in Half-Life 2: giving enemies a taste of their own medicine.”

IGN – “The online side of things does a commendable job of appropriating the Call of Duty class/load-out/perk systems, but works best in the modes that leverage the Nanosuit powers. This is particularly exemplified by the new Hunter mode, which pits two cloaked hunters against a team of CELL troopers. Each trooper killed switches sides and becomes a hunter, until there’s one trooper left to nervously twitch and shoot at shadows. It’s genuinely intense stuff, and well worth investigating once you’ve polished off the campaign.”

MTV – “With a poweful graphics engine alongside pretty fun gameplay, EA and Crytek definitely have a good game here despite a rather short (roughly 12 hours across 7 missions) and lackluster story about humans fighting intergalactic aliens. The real fun is in its deep, engaging multiplayer that should keep you engrossed for months to come. In spite of more than a few troulesome issues, if you’re a die-hard shooter fan you could do worse to pass on “Crysis 3.”

GameTrailers – “As much of a visual showpiece as a restoration of the series’ ideological roots, it represents an impressive return to form for the series once synonymous with high-end PC gaming.”