Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard Preview - News

 Plenty more free content in the land of Middle-Earth

Ever since moving to the free-to-play model, Lord of the Rings Online has been enjoying great success, with even the cheapskates among us able to make a run for the gates of Mordor. It seems obvious then that penny-pinching gamers will be ecstatic over the game’s upcoming expansion, Rise of Isengard, the studio finally revealing some much desired details at PAX Prime.

For starters, three new regions will be introduced to the game. In addition to allowing players to battle their way towards the evil wizard Saruman’s tower in the land of Isengard, there’s also the perilous forests of Dunland to traverse, while the Gap of Rohan will require defending from the endless legions of Sauron. For players who believed themselves masters of the realm, the level cap has been newly raised to 75, allowing brave warriors to reach even greater heights. And perhaps most excitingly is the newly announced 24-player raid on the den of Draigoch, a gigantic battle between your clan and this ancient dragon.

Dragon Age: Origins - Classically Immersing

 RPGs, or Role Playing Games, have always been very popular. Those role playing games allow the player to create a character and live in a fictional world, the game, through his character. The player therefore becomes "responsible" for the action of his or her character. With their immense popularity, it is not surprising that the popularity of RPGs transferred to the multimedia. Hence, who hasn't seen Final Fantasy, or even Zelda?

Although these classics remain the favorite of many, other RPGs have known a great success among video game players. These new RPGs stand out by their realistic graphics and outstanding gameplay. And one of the best RPGs ever made is "Dragon Age: Origins".

The video game "Dragon Age: Origins" can be described as a "good versus evil" type of video game. The storyline tells your story, where you are part of one of the surviving groups of the legendary guardians, the Grey Warden. You character takes on the responsibility to save humanity from its archenemy. The are 6 possible playable preludes known as 'Origin Stories' and players must travel across Ferelden in order to end the political struggles that lead into the kingdom's civil war.

PS3 RPGs

How many good PS3 RPG games are there? There's a lot of them! Okay... not really! There a few good ones though! I would like to say that I am somewhat upset with the number of "quality" RPG games that have been released on the PS3. Most of the games on the PS3 are action, shooter, or racing games... and a few fighting games and RPG games. Thankfully over the last couple years there have been a few good PS3 RPG games released. My favorite RPG games that have been released and my list of Best PS3 RPG Games are:

Demon's Souls
Final Fantasy XIII

That's a short list isn't here? The good news!? They are BOTH coming out with a sequel! Why did I like these games so much? I'll give you the short version! Demon's souls is an incredibly fun game, but hard as hell! At least it is when you first start playing it. It's a tough concept but in the game you are actually meant to die! You will probably die often as well. It's annoying because you would lose all your souls, which is the games form of money, experience, and used for pretty much all the important stuff. Thankfully you can get it back, but only IF you make it back to where you died, without dying... if you died again they were lost forever. A concept I learned the hard way my first day or two of playing (LOL). Once you get the hang of the controls, and familiar with the levels the games is quite a bit easier, the game is fair... if you get killed it's not because the enemy cheated but because you messed up... although there is one enemy known as the Red-Eyed Knight during the first level that is very hard, but you will see notes to avoid going that direction if you are a newbie.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game Review

 After the crushing disappointment of the first Ninja Turtles game for NES, Konami had to make it up to gamers big time. What made it even worse: the first arcade game was released around the same time, giving gamers the exact gameplay they were expecting. So it makes sense that for the follow-up they would port said game and fulfills everyone's wishes.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: the Arcade Game was released in 1990 to the delight of gamers everywhere. A beat em up like Final Fight and Double Dragon, the arcade game was everything we expected and then some, featuring a never ending supply of cameos from the cartoon, 2 player co-op and your choice of Turtle, each with subtle differences. I can remember spending illegal amounts of money playing the game every week with friends and strangers alike as I was fully entrenched in Turtle mania. The NES port, while not arcade perfect is well done and succeeded in washing away any lingering memories the first game had left.

Call of Duty - Black Ops

 After another year of controversy and a ton of media coverage we're back again in the hands of Treyarch, usually in the shadow of its "bigger brother" Infinity Ward with the hottest franchise of the moment, Call of Duty. We find out if a new approach, and setting, can invigorate a series that some are losing faith in. With the release of Modern Warfare 1, we saw the invention of a completely new game, far away from what the Call of Duty fan base was used to and a re-invention of the IP Activision had created. Ditching the WW2 setting we saw a new direction, backed up by a revolutionary multiplayer experience and an explosive single player narrative that Hollywood would have been proud of. Since then both Infinity Ward and Treyarch have been given the reins to the title, each trying to outperform the original in every single way, with sales only growing with each release. Does Black Ops continue the trend?

Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters

 I've led you astray, IGN reader. Back in April, I played Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters from developer Griptonite Games and told you it was cool.

 

Now, after playing the final version, I'm telling you it isn't. That's the difference between a preview and a review, I guess. At a glance, the simplistic nature of Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters is charming, but in practice, it's extremely repetitive and boring. Plus, the game just doesn't run well.

Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters is a cartoon version of the movie universe, but it's not telling the movie's tale. Here, I played as Hal Jordan, the newest member of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps. The Guardians (little blue dudes) run the organization, and more than 3,000 Green Lanterns serve and protect. Rather than guns, Green Lanterns use power rings that create whatever the wearer imagines out of green light. However, before the Lanterns were out there, the Guardians used robots known as Manhunters. Then, the machines went nuts and got shelved. Now, they're back and looking to destroy the universe; Hal has to stop them.

The story plays out in still cartoon screens. No voices, just text. That's disappointing, but the gameplay is where I was really let down with Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters. Like most Griptonite games, I took my hero from one side of the screen to the next and wailed on everything that got in my way, but in Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters, there just isn't enough variety to keep the combat fresh.

Dungeon Siege III

 An errant dungeon crawl.

A dungeon crawler without good loot, like Dungeon Siege III, is missing something essential. If the prizes that pop out don't feel valuable, there's no slot machine appeal of opening chests, busting apart wooden barrels or slicing up monsters. Dungeon Siege III's bits of loot come with all kinds of statistical bonuses, and a multitude of special effects like elemental damage or chance to stun. But it's rare to ever get a strong sense that swapping one item for another has a significant effect, many items have near identical visual designs, and no piece is moddable. After not too long, scooping up loot begins to feel like garbage collection instead of treasure hunting.

Obsidian Entertainment, which took over the franchise from creator Gas Powered Games, is more interested in offering satisfying combat mechanics than a tantalizing loot lottery. Each of the four character classes gets nine core abilities - three defensive, the other six offensive and split across two fighting stances. All the abilities can be evolved by gaining experience and leveling up, giving Anjali's area-of-effect firestorm a healing effect or Reinhart's glyph magic a chance to slow enemy movement speed.

Dead Space 2 Review

Dead Space was a game that rocked the foundations of horror video games for a long time. With its innovate AI that would stay hidden and pop out at you when you least expected it. It even continues the particularly weird and at the same time awesome storyline from the previous game. Dead Space 2 does include a few things to mix it up but keeps true to the first video game in the series. Most first video games where the main character just killed off an entire armada of enemies and lost everyone they know and love in the process portray the main character as unaffected in the second game. In Dead Space 2 however Issac(the main character) is torn apart by the previous games events and the death of his girlfriend. Several game play elements actually have to do with the fact that Issac may be losing his grip on reality. Despite that fact he still fights on anyway but at least they acknowledge it and make it a part of the game unlike other video games.

We will start Dead Space 2 on a good note by reviewing the main portion of the game or single player as some would call it. For the most part you will playing in dark environments with a light at your side and the hope that the necromorph's (zombie alien things) don't come up from behind to get you when you least expect it (they will). Often times you will hear them but not see them putting you on the edge and starting your cautiousness. It would be a lie to say that you won't spend a lot of time looking for the enemy in one room and not finding them. Then just as you are about to move on they come from behind you and attack when your guard is down. This is just one classic example of how smart the AI actually is in this game. Adding to that is the music which adds to the intensity and excitement of the unknown darkness that often surrounds you. Dead Space 2 even has a unique health bar that is located on your characters back which was used in the first video game. Basically Dead Space 2 his game is what all horror movies and horror genre video games should look at when they develop from now on because this game does it very well.

The armor of this game looks just as amazing as it did in the Dead Space and thankfully they decided not to give us the most powerful armor in the game if we purchased it the first day it came out, as they did in Dead Space. However for the first part of the game you will not be wearing armor and will look like just any other person until you get your armor back and can look totally awesome again. In a way this does make sense because in real life you could not be possibly be wearing that heavy armor all the time, so it seems like a good choice by the developers to have you get your suit as the first task in the game. A lot of the weapons from the Dead Space make a comeback in Dead Space 2 with a few changes to them(mostly for the better), all of them remain pretty unique and you may actually have to change weapons sometimes and not just blast one gun the whole game like most other shooting games. To add even more worth to single player the upgrade systems and purchasing system is very well done and you cannot just buy everything too early or not have the ability to buy things due to money restrictions later in the game.