Destiny

By: Robert Murphy 

Many reviewers out there, myself included, had decided to take a little bit of time before tackling the new and probably most anticipated Bungie title to come out since Halo 3 and that game is Destiny. I've been playing ever since I got my hands on the game to soak in every aspect of what it has to offer it's players and also because it's insanely fun. Destiny isn't the first MMO to come to the new generation of consoles but it is the first that I have gotten to play through. The whole experience was a bit of a blended feel for me, aspects felt like Borderlands with an MMO angle and the gameplay stylings of a Halo game too. It certainly was something I didn't expect and so let's dig right on in to my impressions of what the game has to offer. 

Just like any MMO players will begin their Destiny experience by choosing between the three different classes that there are to choose from which are Warlock, Titan and Hunter, each with their own strengths and abilities. Titans are the tank class with large bodies and armor types, Warlocks have control of ancient powers that they've learned from the Traveler and Hunters are a more stealth like class with a powerful grenade attack and knife skills. You then can further customize your character by choosing from the three race classes available which are Humans, Exo (a machine like race) and the Awoken (a mysterious race with blue and white skin tones). The races don't offer any real change to the gameplay but do allow you to adjust your appearance in more interesting ways, I myself enjoyed the variations for the Exo race, making your own robot buddy is like a childhood dream coming true. 

Afterwards, you are jumped right into the story, being awoken by an interesting looking machine called a Ghost (Peter Dinklage voices him, FREAKING SWEET) and he proceeds to lead you threw a short beginning mission to introduce you to in-game mechanics. From here the world is pretty much your oyster as you unlock new worlds through the games story and either complete missions or explore with up to three friends. Three to me seemed like an odd number where most games allow you to play up to four friends and I hope that further updates reverse this feature. Outside of unlocking new worlds though completing story missions isn't overly appealing, the story feels tacked on to say the least as you travel around taking on the role of a Guardian after being awoken from beyond the grave and according to your Ghost you've been dead for awhile, how he wakes you is beyond me. And then traveling from world to world is also strung together by flimsy pretext, you basically are destroying one alien race after another as you go and searching for what I really couldn't say. Missions are set up in a simple formula which are fight through the bad guys, find whatever thing Ghost needs to plug in to and then fight a big boss or a tough final wave, it's something that can prove effective for adding future missions but isn't a successful way to set up a story. 

Despite the lack of a story though the gameplay itself is greatly enjoyable to take part in by yourself or with your friends. Firefights in missions or in Strike objective modes are a blast to be a part of because things can be going smoothly one minute with a few enemies and the next there enemies all over and you're running, jumping and throwing everything you've got into the fight. This has always been something that Bungie has done well with and it continues to show here except now things are on a far larger and more open world scale for you to plan out your attacks and get right into the fights. Strike modes are by far the most intense of all when it comes down to it, each having their own large scale boss fight at the end of it and also features a respawn restriction where if everyone dies you have to start all over again. This feature is also a part of the other missions as well and adds a certain degree of difficulty and tension to the fights you are in. The loot that you will collect at the end of each mission and big boss fight is what I look forward to the most I think, the prizes aren't super outrageous like in Borderlands but beating big bosses and earning cash, weapons and new apparel is very appealing. 

Lastly, I came to a split sort of feeling in my mind about the worlds and the leveling that you go through in Destiny, specifically the fact that once you reach level twenty the game is just about done. You will unlock up to about six different areas to visit throughout the game, one is the Tower which is a base for turning in missions, bounties and buying new items to use and the other is the Reef which is just a story location. So you're left with four places to travel to and once you complete the missions on each world along with the one or two Strike missions, you're about done. I do believe that there is the obvious potential to add more planets and I think that that may be in the works for the future but right now I'm just speculating. Multiplayer though is the obvious next step to go to once you beat the game or tire of doing missions, you're character and their abilities transfer over to the online competitive mode which features team death matches, objective modes and free for all matches to play. The solid firefights are just as enjoyable here as you face other Guardians and test your skills against others out there but really I'm waiting for more. It's a feeling I got when playing Destiny, I want more from the game, what I have now is a solid piece of work but now I'm waiting for what's coming next to the gameplay. 

In conclusion, Destiny has many solid points going for it right now and has so much more room to further what it has set up so far and I believe that is the plan for the game overall. I do wish that the more appealing aspects of the game included a fantastic story but it falls short in this department. Battles, missions and Strike modes are incredibly well done and are intense to play through, I haven't felt pressure like this from a game in a long time and it's something Bungie proves to still excel at. Like I said though I am anxious to see what's around the corner for the game and hopefully it brings more meat to the gameplay that I've enjoyed thoroughly so far. 

Good:

- A standard but enjoyable character customization feature

- Fire fights and battles in missions and Strike modes are nerve rackingly great

- Loot, money and new equipment are so much fun to collect and use

Bad:

- There is a large absence of a good story, missions get completed one after another under a flimsy pretext

- Myself and others out there are I'm sure ready for more features, missions and game modes to come to Destiny. What there is is great but I'm ready for the rest.

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Another

By: Robert Murphy 

I have never been a super huge fan of the horror genre, if I was a character in a game I would have the weakest constitution in the group but never the less it doesn't stop me from playing a scary game or watching a scary show. Another though doesn't start right out into the shock or the gore aspects of the horror genre but rather it strives to give you the chills and unnerves you to your core with it's story. We follow a young student named Sakakibara Kouichi who just moved back to the town of his birth for school while his father is away on business. And while everything appears to be normal in this town, his class and the town have some secrets hidden just underneath the surface and Kouichi, just like a stereotypical horror movie character, keeps asking questions until he finds out just what is going on in his new home. 

From the very first episode of the show things are a little bit eerie and unnerving as it flashes images of creepily designed dolls every so often as if to try to place subliminal messages into your brain that this show is going to be a little off it's rocker. This was a little off putting at first as it seemed to be so out of place and not at all relevant to what is going on but you can never judge an anime before it's finished and so I kept going. Happily, I was rewarded for waiting it out as the pieces started to come together in the story but Another was trying too hard to put in some horror cliches that just didn't quite fit in. The horror aspects that did work for the show are when the cliches disappear and you get to watch the story unfold and Kouichi starts to figure out just what's happening around him. All the characters in Kouichi's class move about shadily and you can tell there is something right beneath the surface of each one of them. When this breaks out it is truly a shocking scene just for the pure dread that some of the characters will exude and they really have every right to do so as many of them and their families begin to die.

Now I apologize if my first paragraph may have led you to believe that there isn't any gore in Another, no this isn't the case because once the deaths start to occur in the show they can be pretty gruesome. The very first death in the show had me at a loss for words just for the ridiculousness behind it, it's was deliberately meant to be far-fetched and the writers wanted something unique that came off as corny. Other deaths are fairly standard things that we've all seen before but are exceedingly drawn out such as the replay moment over and over when a young nurse dies in an elevator collapse, her head is shown repeatedly hitting the floor and splattering blood in every direction like a watermelon at a Gallagher show. Stuff of this nature happens constantly throughout the show and while at first it was somewhat of a draw it quickly became a predictable part of Another. 

The sad part of all this is that the show had some intriguing aspects working for it but decided to make itself into another cheap horror flick about teenagers being murdered one by one. As I said before, Another starts out trying to give you the chills as Kouichi strives to find out the secret behind his class and eventually the secret to why they're all dying around him. It's an intriguing mystery to be honest and it had me hooked right up till the end because it's an idea that I just have never seen before. Kouichi's class is almost like there own select part of the school, they have their own rules and their own way of doing things and while this is no big news when you see how proper and advanced most Japanese schools are, this was still something unique. 

In the end, if Another had avoided using so many tired cliches that I have been numb to over the years, it would have been a much better show. The creepy angles that the show was going for worked for the story that I was watching but then things go all Miley Cyrus and crashes through with a big drawn out death scene with abnormal amounts of gore. There is a solid story buried underneath the rubble but it's not enough to save Another entirely. 

Good:

- A solid idea for a mystery and suspense story

- The dynamic of the kids in the classroom is something unique 

Bad:

- A gross amount of horror movie cliches

- Drawn out death scenes with an overabundance of gore and blood 

- Some of the deaths were just ridiculous and stupid to think about 

Scully Rating: 5.0 out of 10 

Murdered: Soul Suspect

By: Robert Murphy

As a gamer, I am always looking for some new and interesting game that I can get my hands on and share with you all and this past week a new game caught my eye that completely flew under my radar called Murdered: Soul Suspect. Somehow I had heard nothing about this game whatsoever and apparently it had a lot of people interested in it and it did me as well. The game takes place in good old Salem, Massachusetts which has it's fair share of rich history as all of you may very well know and now it adds a little more to it with ghosts. You play Ronan O'Conner, a man with a troubled past but who has turned things around and become a detective who we meet working on his last case (while you're alive that is) chasing down a deadly murderer known as the Bell Killer who takes his life. Things do not end hear though as you are a man with unfinished business and you work the ghostly plans trying to put an end to the Bell Killer, bringing you justice and peace.

Frankly, from the get go I found the ideas behind Murdered: Soul Suspect to be very cool and interesting to see. As a ghost you have many of the standard cliche moves that you see in movies such as messing with electronics or possessing animals but a host of new ones as well do to your life as a detective. Ghosts in the game can adopt unique powers that come from the various aspects of the lives they use to live and Ronan is no different, his abilities as a detective are improved by allowing him to relive memories of those around him or objects which help him in figuring out a crime scene that comes up frequently in the game. But a ghost can only do so much, luckily as part of your last case you meet a young girl named Joy who just so happens to be a medium, she can see and talk to you and she helps you along the way do to her missing mother who was helping the police in the Bell Killer case. It's almost really too cliche to ignore in the style in which the game is set up especially when you take a look and think about how the fedora wearing Ronan makes you think 90's crime show paired with his spiritually linked side kick. It inspires a laugh when you think about it but the games darker tones really keep the game from drifting into the similarity too much.

Once you get past your first initial introductions, you will see that Murdered: Soul Suspect revolves vastly around exploration. The in-game Salem isn't quite so large and is fairly easy to get around and it has so many things for you as a detective to get your hands on once you're set lose from the story for however long of a period. There are a large amount of items to be found throughout the world and they all serve there own purpose such as news clippings or information on the Bell Killer or less important but still very enjoyable items such as clues to a previously famous murder in Salem's history. My personal favorite was finding the hidden water heaters throughout one of the first levels which led to the story called "A Watery Grave" which greatly disturbed me. Now while I do love searching for game collectibles, Murdered: Soul Suspect's were almost painfully obvious to miss. All the collectibles for the game are not so much hidden as they can be seen in plane view when walking through an area. I don't know why the game makes it so easy for you but it really dumbed down the entire experience for me which was bad since almost 90% of the game is collecting clues and in-game items.

The other vary dumbed down feature in the game is the crime scene investigations which usually occurs when you reach a games main objective. At certain points you'll find yourself searching an area for clues much like the rest of the games collectibles, these are just as easy to find throughout the search area. Once you find a solid chunk of the clues you can solve the case by choosing the correct clues that will lead you on the right path in the story, the correct clues being the painfully obvious choices. In the event that you get a guess wrong however you will be allowed as many chances as you need to solve the crime, this makes sense since there is no punishment for guessing wrong in a real life situation but come on make it challenging or make some risk of failure for the player.

Finally, we have whay Murdered: Soul Suspect offers a tiny amount of combat to be had for you in your journey to find your killer. As you can guess combat isn't something of major importance to this heavily story based game but it does offer up an enemy for you to face, demons. These creatures were like you but lost their way and now feast on ghosts like you however they only appear from time to time and mainly serve little more than a nuisance. In order to defeat them you must get around behind them and preform a short take down experience, if you do manage to get sighted by a demon though you simply can run away and hide until they give up and return to their original spot. As I said, little more than a nuisance and I may get shlack for complaining about it in a story driven game but it was just too poor of an experience not to mention.

All in all, Murdered: Soul Suspect has it's ideas and to me they were really good but ultimately there just isn't anything to write home about with just how easy the experience you will have with it. Solving crimes doesn't involve too much mental activity and when you're searching for clues that are right out in the open it makes things even easier and the rest of the collectibles in the game are found just as quick. The whole experience goes along so quick that if I had the time I could have finished the game within a day of buying it. If you're a story kind of gamer you will definitely enjoy the central story of Murdered: Soul Suspect but I can't say much else for this game.

Good:

- Solid main story

- Being a ghost and solving crimes was all presented well and enjoyable while the appeal lasts

Bad:

- Crime solving is very dumbed down 

- Collectibles are unbelievably easy to find

- Combat is pointless and shouldn't have even been included 

Scully Rating: 5.8 out of 10