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 Juarez

We wanna go back in time.

The Call of Juarez franchise always interested me in the past because of its western themes. The previous titles told interesting enough stories, and had engaging enough characters, that they were appealing despite their lack of polish. Call of Juarez: The Cartel, however, doesn't even succeed in this regard. The characters are unlikeable and under developed, and the story is completely forgettable. Beyond that, The Cartel feels rushed, unpolished, and repetitive to the point of frustration.

Call of Juarez: The Cartel tells the story of three law enforcement officers put together on a special task force to take on the infamous Mexican drug cartels. Of course, they all come from different backgrounds, making each of the three playable characters a little different. Ben is a typical gunslinger, sticking out like a sore thumb with his predisposition to using old cowboy revolvers. Eddie and Kim, on the other hand, are sassy modern cops who've grown up in the streets, and come with all the clich�d dialogue and one liners you'd expect. Together they form a motley crew, one that has to fight against enemies on the outside and within.

The problem is that the story fails to be engaging. The characters are caricatures of American law enforcement officials, with laughable dialogue that makes them hard to take seriously. Moreover, all the intrigue and emotion that developer Techland attempts to seed in the story is pointless because they never create any good bonds or trust between the characters. You don't like them, you know they don't like each other, and you don't really care what happens to them.

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.

Okamiden Game New

Okamiden for the DS is a video game that manages to be both really cute, and really lovely. Though it follows events in the more expansive Okami (PS2 and Wii), it doesn't feel like a full-fledged sequel, nor is it necessary to have played the first game to enjoy playing this one. And while die-hard fans of the original may be disappointed by the smaller scale, Okamiden makes for an extremely approachable introduction to the unforgettable world of both games.

Dirt 3 Review

The race for the genre's crown of best is always a very exciting occurrence. Last year Codemasters won the BAFTA award with an excellent re-introduction to F1 racing, a title that received high honours from this site among others. Now they're introducing Dirt 3, is it another potential winner? Let's find out.

Modes

This year's instalment of the rally series offers plenty of changes including a new menu scheme. The trailer sequence is gone and replaced by a simple menu structure that is highly inspired by the triangular shape. It definitely reminds me of the Need for Speed series for some reason, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Without the trailer I can't help feeling less immersed into the whole driver experience.

The now simplified menu gives access to a host of familiar modes including: Dirt tour, multiplayer and singleplayer. The last mode offers all the different types of racing and grants control over all the criteria.

Dirt Tour

As I mentioned earlier, the career mode in Dirt is no longer accompanied by a nice little trailer sequence that stitches it all together. Instead every year of racing is represented by an unwrapped triangle. You will earn points by participating in races and once you've earned enough, the grand final will open up.

The races offer plenty of variation and challenges for gamers of all backgrounds. All the previous types of off-roading are back, but to mix things up Codies added a few more into the mix including smash attack and Gymkhana. Both of them rely heavily on the art of doing tricks on wheels and moving about with absolute ease. While they definitely help cement Dirt 3 as the ultimate arcade racer, I'm not a huge fan of this type of racing. Luckily they can be skipped by excelling in other, more meaningful, events.

Great success comes with more privileges than just the option to skip. Podium finishes will earn points that go into Dirt's ranking system. By obtaining higher levels other teams will offer you a seat in their team. Most of the time these offers will be a trade off between having a faster car and earning more credits for the win, but luckily there're some exceptions to this rule.

Driving