Guardians of Middle-Earth Review

I have always been a fan of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings lore of John Tolkien. So when I heard about Guardians of Middle-Earth, I took the opportunity to try it out. Having never played DotA, it was my first time to dwell into the MOBA or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre. I have to admit it was a bit daunting at first but once I got the hang of it, the game was pretty easy to handle.

Tagged as the first ever MOBA console game, gamers shouldn't brush this aside and compare it with League of Legends or DotA. Having this genre solely been known to be restricted on the PC, developers at Monolith have done a pretty good job of incorporating the control schemes of Guardians of Middle-Earth to make it simpler when using the controller.

Hype!

If this is your first time into this kind of gameplay (like me), the gist of the game is the player (that's you) controls a hero of choice throughout the game of 5 vs. 5, leveling him up along the way and upgrading his skills, while protecting the team's base (or tower) against the other team from being destroyed. The way to win is if, 1). The enemy team's base is destroyed, or 2). If the timer runs out, the team with the highest points.

Another thing to note is how the game completely follows the Tolkien Middle-Earth setting to the very last detail. Monolith didn't just focus on the main Heroes and the Anti-Heroes of the franchise, but they've also included some minor characters and their rich background altogether (future character DLCs to come too!). From Galadriel, to the Brown Wizard Radagast, to Gothmog, heck even Gollum! If you're a follower of this fan base, or even if you're not, you'll surely be in for a rich LOTR fictional treat as well.

I think I'm off on another adventure!

The bottom-line, this game is definitely one for the books. It has a deep & rewarding gameplay, and an amazing roster of characters & customization options that would keep you glued to your console for hours to come. I give Guardians of Middle-Earth a gargantuan damage score of 9/10.

I'd also like to thank Cynetzone Gaming's Cubao branch on their wonderful facility and services which allowed me to enjoy the Guardians of Middle-Earth experience to the full!



My PSN ID is NinjaKabute. You can also follow me on Twitter to get the lates updates on my blog, PS3 news, manga, the NBA, photography, or just my daily experiences cramped up in 140 characters.

My Very First PS3 Platinum Trophy

Have you ever had that feeling of joy and excitement whenever you achieve something special? Be it at work, at school, or even the simple things like learning a new language or a hobby. This was something I recently achieved out of the blue and I never expected it to bring me an ecstatic high for almost 3 weeks now!

I've owned a PlayStation 3 since 2010 and through the years I have never thought in my wildest dreams to chase after a Platinum Trophy. Being a Yuppie I would just casually buy games, gather trophies here and there, play it with friends, and once I'm done with it buy a new game - during my spare time of course. And in those 3 years of gaming, my trophy levels have never really been up par with those gamers that have achieved Plat status on most of their games. I would always say to myself, "I'm a casual gamer. I play games solely for experience. I don't need to grind so much for Platinum since most of the trophies get unlocked along they way, plus you lose your focus on how you play the game."

Nothin' but gold!

So when I bought PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale last year I never thought to actually Plat it. When I popped the disc in, learned each of the characters' movesets, finished story mode, and even played online against the best of the best out there, I got hooked! To be honest, I've grown from being an RPG gamer to a Fighting gamer through the years so it doesn't come as a shock to me that I liked it off the bat - the hell with this game being compared to SSB. This is legit!

When I was done with practically everything I could do with the game, minus online FFA matches excluded of course, I checked my trophy list and I was shocked to see that I had only about 5 remaining trophies left to achieve and most of 'em are online! Checked each of the trophy requirements and I saw an opportunity to actually Plat it out. And after 10 days since I started popping the disc in, I finally got to Platinum!

Hell yeah!

Oh, boy. What a natural high! So this was what it feels like to achieve the highest trophy in the game! Success, bragging rights, happiness, whatever you call it - you and you alone have done the impossible through God's grace, hard work, calculated risk, sweat, late nights, tears, and some friendly competition. They say the first is always the sweetest. I agree with that.

How about you? When was your first Platinum Trophy experience? :)



My PSN ID is NinjaKabute. You can also follow me on Twitter to get the latest updates on my blog, PS3 news, manga, the NBA, photography, or just my gaming experience cramped up in 140 characters.

Just Dance 4 Review

The popular rhythm game since 2009 has once again released another 4th dancing game hit to continue on with their franchise. Just Dance 4s gameplay hasn't change from the previous generations, but what comes new this time around is its 'Dance Battle Routines' and 'Just Sweat Mode', plus you can even unlock additional / new routines for your songs as a bonus. Still fresh off from being new, the game was released last October 2012, so the tracks are still pretty current and up-to-date to suit the current beats being played throughout the airwaves.

A new challenger appears!

"Better than ever before.", was the first thing that came to my mind when I first got to try out the game. As usual, my buddies and I were competitive in both mind and spirit and were really dancing our worries away at trying to gain the highest scores. It's always amazing how the Just Dance games have always been able to mix and match old and new ones to cater to different generations.

There's Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley, Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen, heck even PSY's Gangnam Style is in here, you have the whole enchilada! Some songs, of course, can specifically be played solo, with a partner, or in a group of 4; the challenge never ends! One song in particular really blew me away because of the timely and mushy dancing, and that's One Thing by One Direction - really a cute song to dance with someone, hey, your significant other maybe? Plus, to add in to the mix, you might also be get Rickrolled somewhere in the game too!

As with most games, Just Dance 4 is best when played with a group or duo to bring out the best experience you can get from the game. I can't even remember how many times my friends and I played this game over and over, with each song a different challenge altogether. This game is a must buy especially for family entertainment and for friends that come over; you can even use this as a medium for exercise while your at it! And with that, I give Just Dance 4 a gargantuan damage score of 8.5/10.

I'd also like to thank Cynetzone Gaming's Cubao branch on their wonderful facility and services which allowed me to enjoy the Just Dance 4 experience to the full!

My PSN ID is NinjaKabute. You can also follow me on Twitter to get the latest updates on my blog, PS3 news, manga, the NBA, photography, or just my gaming experience cramped up in 140 characters.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Review

Every once in a while a game pops up in our radars with a lot of hype. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, or PSASBR, is one of them. Originally tagged as a copy of the Super Smash Brothers franchise, PSASBR has recently been released last November and I must say based on experience, and from fellow PS gamers, this is far from being so.

The heck is this?

The game is developed by SuperBot Entertainment, an independent company, who was brilliant enough to put together this long-sought after type of game for PlayStation fans the world over (why didn't gaming companies think of this before?). Careful study and meticulous research has been given to the final choice of 20 playable characters you get to choose once you play the CD in your PS3.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the roster; it has a mix of old and new beloved characters since the PlayStation's inception. It's funny how some fans reacted to choices like PaRappa (from PaRappa the Rapper) and Spike (from Ape Escape) - quite obvious that some of the rants come from gamers that were not even born or haven't had the chance to know these characters during the golden age of the PS1. Missing out on the list is Crash Bandicoot, MegaMan, Cloud Stryfe, Solid Snake, and Spyro the Dragon; but fans are still hopeful with the upcoming DLCs for 2013 that they would be included in.

According to Dan Ryckert of GameInformer, "Every character has approximately two dozen attacks in their arsenal, and they vary widely.". For fighting enthusiasts out there, like myself, this is pure joy! PSASBR wouldn't be limited to button-mashing alone, but carefully thought over combos that can make or break you during the course of the game; plus if you're bored, you can use the wide variety of random items / weapons that appear in the map for you to use against the competition.

Gameplay-wise, PSASBR features a robust online tournament mode where players will be able to compete against each other as well as play cooperatively. Story mode is simple at best, but if you plan to unlock a lot of trophies you have to go through this and the other features like Combo Trial mode and Tutorial mode.

This is madness!!!

Overall, this game is truly worth a buy for PlayStation fans out there. I'm currently using Sweet Tooth and/or Dante at the moment and boy are they addicting, and hopefully, the next few game patches won't NERF them out. I give PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royal a gargantuan damage score of 9/10! Will there be a sequel? Definitely! PSASBR is also the Official Game of the Month of the Pinoy PS forums as well.

I'd also like to thank Cynetzone Gaming's Cubao branch on their wonderful facility and services which allowed me to enjoy the PSASBR experience to the full!



My PSN ID is NinjaKabute. You can also follow me on Twitter to get the latest updates on my blog, PS3 news, manga, the NBA, photography, or just my gaming experience cramped up in 140 characters.