As the official headset of MLG, Astro gaming headsets have to be of high standard and quality. The A40 audio system comes boxed with the Astro Gaming headset, Mix Amp Pro, and all the cables needed to enjoy the headset. It also has a feature list as long as your arm, some of which being unparalleled quality of sound, noise canceling microphone, mixamp functionality, etc.

Sound is important to any video game, without it people have a less immersive experience. The quality of sound that the Astro headset provides is quite excellent, it works perfectly for almost any game, be it Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Battlefield 3, Final Fantasy XIII-2 or anything to give the player that edge, immersive, and quality experience. On top of that players who love playing multiplayer games like Call of Duty will find that the noise canceling microphone will have crystal clear voice communication and eliminates any background noise. The headset alone does more with the MixAmp pro.

The MixAmp pro has controls for volume and game or voice balancing. You’ll have to find the right sweet spot for each game and so experiment with both the volume and game/voice knob. As it is the controller for all volume levels, this device will have to be daisy-chained from the headset to the MixAmp to your choice hardware. Nicely this headset works on all devices, and so is packaged with every cable you need for the Playstation 3(USB and Optical), Xbox 360(USB, Optical and Xbox Chat Cable), PC (USB and Optical), and more for flexibility.

The construction of this headset also favors flexibility, comfort, and accessibility. It adjusts to any shaped head, along with being designed for long-term gameplay without any ear ache. Most headsets on the market are not even fully configurable, whereas the Astro Gaming Headset lets the user adjust the position of the mic so it can be on either side of the head, or be removed completely. Those who get the Saint’s Row 3 edition can even swap out the speaker tags with Saint’s Row 3 designed speaker tags. The cord of the headset shouldn’t even get in the way at all as it has been designed to be unobtrusive  and provides accessibility to the controls for mute and boom/incline mic volumes.

At the end of the day, the Astro Gaming A40 audio system is perfect in every way. The sound quality is top-notch by giving the players Dolby Digital and surround sound immersive experience. The MixAmp pro gives the user the controls they need to find the balance or sweet spot between game and voice, along with volume. The A40 audio system is even universal. The construction of the headset even tailors to everyone personal style, comfort, and accessibility. Overall, the Astro Gaming A40 audio system will tailor to the needs all. At the market price of $260, the complete universal set is well worth the money.

Final Score: 5/5

The story puts players in the role of Lana, who is responsible for an eight year old autistic girl named Amy. Whilst on a train, it’s revealed that Amy was in a hospital for quite a long time to treat her autism, and after drawing some disturbing pictures, the train takes a turn for the worst.  A nearby explosion causes a derailment, and soon Lana and Amy are fighting for their lives as they encounter monsters and the military to escape the town.

During the course of the game, you’ll uncover secrets that Amy holds. Sadly, these secrets, or even the story for that matter, are told rather dismally. No matter whom you are, AMY is poorly told from both the cut scenes and dialogue; from beginning to the very end, you’ll find it painful to finish this terrible story.

The gameplay itself mimics the abysmal story with its numerous terrifying woes. AMY is a third-person survival horror title consisting of your more traditional survival horror elements of combat, puzzles, and stealth. The combat sees you facing off against both humans and monsters alike, and your only means of defense is an iron pipe and Amy’s psychic abilities. Puzzles on the other hand have you finding DNA to unlock doors, poorly explained trigger puzzles, or just sending Amy through dangerous territory to push button. Finally the stealth sections are nothing but hiding in the shadows and waiting for the enemies to just pass by, pretty dull really. Other gameplay elements include an infection indictor and the protection of Amy;  the infection indictor tracks the progress of Lana’s infection by changing colours. Lana’s infection increases depending on various factors like running, using Amy’s powers, getting hit by enemies, etc.  On top of that, Amy is a defenceless girl, whereby Lana is the only protector, meaning that if a monster captures Amy, that monster will start to drain her vitality and kill her.

These gameplay elements could have worked, but ultimately fail in the end. Combat is simple, but has poor detection and repetitive, puzzles are quite boring and not as creative as other survival horror titles.  The stealth sections failed to see the meaning of stealth; by giving the enemies super human sight and hearing. The infection indictor even fails at its sole purpose  to indicate the infection and do not work at all. Finally, Amy can get stuck quite easily, and becomes quite a hassle babysit. The overall gameplay is quite frustrating and poorly executed. Those who are looking for a survival horror experience will just find more frustration then horror.

Presentation wise AMY is surprisingly actually ok for a downloadable title. That being said, it does suffer from frame rate drops and some screen tearing. The voicing acting is decent, but has no emotion to connect the player and Amy together. Even the soundtrack suffers from a poor score and the ambient noise fails to put the player in an immersive experience.

To put it bluntly, AMY is a terrible train wreck. The story is deplorable, and poorly explained from beginning to end. The gameplay is frustrating with its poor combat, uninspiring puzzles, and unnecessary stealth sections as well as other lacklustre gameplay mechanics. Its graphics suffer from frame rate drops and screen tearing, and the voice acting conveys no emotion and the sounds of AMY are the opposite of an immersive experience. Overall, AMY fails at being a survival horror game. This is probably the worst downloadable game of 2012 so far.

Final Score: 1/5

The R.A.T 7 Albino is basically an improved version over the original R.A.T 7; The first and only improvement would be the DPI sensor. Unlike the first R.A.T. 7 which had 5600 DPI, the Albino has 6400 DPI which is a huge improvement over the original. Playing any first person shooter the movement will be precise, smooth, and fast without delay, even other games like RTSs, MMORPGs, also benefit from this increased accuracy. Sadly the DPI improvement is the only improvement that the Albino edition has to offer.

Even if that is the only improvement, the R.A.T 7 Albino edition is still fully customizable and programmable, it offers a perfect grip for any hand with 3 types of palm rest and pinkie grips. The R.A.T 7 Albino is even programmable with four custom DPI settings, five programmable buttons, and 3 cyborg modes that give access to 15 additional commands. These programmable settings can be accessed from the free download software that Cyborg Gaming has to offer. This software will update the mouse to the latest version and give players the ability to customizable the mouse’s buttons to their liking. This is the ultimate FPS gaming mouse for those who want full control of the battlefield on the fly.

The presentation of this mouse is quite appealing to the eye, even if it’s the same design that the original R.A.T 7 has with the only expectation being the colour. While the colour of the original R.A.T 7 was black, the Albino edition is, of course, white. The materials used are lightweight and the design has a nice, smooth futurist look.  Sadly, the only complaint about the mouse design is that the USB wire that connects to the computer is in front of the mouse which is quite a hassle to mess with. The presentation of this product is great, but the wire can be problematic.

Overall, the R.A.T 7 Albino edition is basically the same mouse with an improved DPI sensor and different color. This mouse houses the same customizable features and designs of the original, those who wish to upgrade their R.A.T 7 to the Albino will find little improvement. However if you want a better DPI, or a white colored mouse, then this is for you. If you’re not looking for these upgrades on your original R.A.T 7 we suggest you wait a little longer for a wireless R.A.T mouse.

Final Score: 3.5/5

The story begins with a group of students telling ghost stories of their school’s dark history. The old school, called Heavenly Host Elementary, was host to murders and disappearances of staff and students, so understandably the school was torn down. Upon its tainted plot a new school called Kisargai Academy was built. As the group of students finished up their ghost telling, they soon find out that one of their friends is moving away, they soon start a ritual to symbolize their friendship even if they are far apart. After completing the ritual, an earthquake starts and the floor breaks, engulfing the group of students. They soon find themselves separated within the hollow halls of Heavenly Host Elementary.

The main goal is to escape from this terrifying place, alive. As all hope feels lost for these students, this story offers a well told experience until the very end. Overall it’s quite a linear affair across the five main chapters, but it’s a well-paced and intense experience that people will not forget for quite some time. It will however take multiple play thoughs to fully experience this gripping story.

As terrifying and intense the story is, the gameplay also shares these horrors. Corpse Party is a top-down horror adventure title, primarily based on exploration, puzzle solving, and simple RPG elements. A good chunk of the game is spent on exploration so the school is a huge place with many mysteries, secrets, and traps to discover and overcome. The whole school itself feels like one gigantic puzzle with many different paths and decisions to take. Each one  of these decisions will either extended your life a little further or lead you to your demise a giving the player a “wrong end”, which is essentially the game over screen, where you’ll see/hear one of the many playable characters die in rather painful agony.  You’ll die a lot in this game, so be prepared.

Ultimately you’ll be spending your time searching the halls of Heavenly Host for clues to reunite everyone before they start losing their minds, or worst. Gameplay is simple, intense, and creative from beginning to end. Everything you do affects the outcome of each chapter, the only thing thats annoying is that the “wrong end” is un-skippable. So the player must watch/listen to their character die over and over again, if you fail at a certain objective. Overall, gameplay for Corpse Party has elements that have been missing from previous horror titles.

Without it’s slick presentation, the story and gameplay wouldn’t be anywhere near as chilling. Everything from the graphical retro style, audio, and voice actors; it’s presentation of retro styled graphics for gameplay, and anime visual novel graphics for character portraits and special scenes really make it pop. The audio is a pleasant mixture of disturbing ambient sounds, like screams, creaking floors, etc, whilst the soundtrack is great with tunes fitting for an horror adventure. The voice actors also up the horror ante by breathing life into each character, however the whole game is spoken in Japanese with English subtitles, just in case you were wondering.

Overall Corpse Party is a great horror adventure that people will love. The story is well-told, deep, and intense experience across five chapters that’ll hook everyone ’till the very end. Gameplay is simple to understand, with lots to explore and clues to find. Its only problem is that none of the cut scenes cannot be skipped especially that dastardly “wrong end” screen. Presentation wise, the game is great with a mixture of retro graphics and anime styled visuals with excellent ambient sounds, soundtrack, and voice actors. Those looking for a chilling and unique experience, Corpse Party will tick all the boxes.

Final Score: 4/5

Dante from the rebooted DmC

This is the third and final trailer. This final trailer is set in a secret area of the game. If you don’t believe me, find out for yourself in the video below.

Veterans of the Dynasty Warriors series expect a lot out of the Xtreme Legends series of expansions. They have always added new features, characters, modes, etcetera. With Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends that is the same, but with fewer additions. DW7: XL features two new modes, three new characters, and the ability to ‘remix’, each addition expands upon player’s Dynasty Warriors experience a little further.

Upon starting the game and seeing the awesome opening cinematic, you’ll instantly see the two new modes that have been added for DW7: XL, ’Legend’ and ‘Challenge’. Legend mode places you in charge of a castle town, you must then rebuild this desolate town into a booming city, but to do that you must first pick an officer and adjutant. The officer picked will be the one going into battle, while the adjutant will act as support when you’re away. To rebuild the town you’ll have to participate in a variety of battles, these battles range from previous Dynasty Warrriors games to new ones for DW7: XL.

Within your town the facilities that the town houses can all be used. Some of these facilities are a weapons dealer, blacksmith, counsellor, strategist, merchant, and the city guard. Most of these are self-explanatory due to the fact the weapons dealer, blacksmith, and merchant were used in Dynasty Warriors 7, whilst the new ones, counsellor, strategist, and city guard, may not be. The counsellor has the ability to change the adjutant, the strategist allows you to purchase war manuals that increase officer abilities, and the city guard is where you’ll select a stage to play.

Challenge mode is practically what it says it is, just a series of challenge arenas used from previous Dynasty Warriors games. There are also a couple of extra modes; Rampage, where you have to defeat as many enemies as possible before the time runs out, and Bridge Melee, where you’ll fight on a bridge and defeat enemies by knocking them off bridge. Speed run is another included mode that basically involves running to a specified destination as quickly as possible, and finally Arena is a survival game type where you’ll defeat an onslaught of increasing stronger enemies before their own health depletes.

All of these modes are playable with all previous officers from Dynasty Warriors 7 and the three new additional officers. Pang De, Wang Yi, Guo Jia are all Wei officers and are the three new officers for DW7: Xtreme Legends. Pang De is back and uses his twin halberds as weapons. Wang Yi is a female Wei officer who uses twin Sais as weapons. Finally Guo Jia is also a new addition for the ever growing Wei army with his weird looking scepter.

The ‘remix’ option mentioned earlier is simply for those who have Dynasty Warriors 7 and want to expand upon their Dynasty Warriors experience. It is a standalone expansion and features the default items, so it quite necessary to have Dynasty Warriors 7. It transfers all data including character stats, weapons, story mode, conquest mode, and add-on content, meaning it’ll give those who joined after playing DW7 more hours of hack-n-slash goodness.

Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends is a decent expansion, but does not impress much due to a lack of features and content, something that the previous Xtreme Legend expansions provided along with more creative content. The Legend mode is a nice feature that feels like free mode with battles ranging from previous Dynasty Warriors games to the new Dynasty Warriors 7 without any restrictions. Challenge mode is just a series of simple challenges that does not really add much fun or content, whilst the remix ability is great for those who have Dynasty Warriors 7. Overall it isn’t a bad game, but the content is lacking and clearly inferior to previous Xtreme Legend titles. If you a hardcore Dynasty Warrriors fan that wants more content for Dynasty Warrriors 7 than this is for you. Other than that this expansion is probably the most lackluster of them this all.

Final Score: 3/5

The story follows a young silent robot named Quote who awakens in a cave with no memory. After a short exploration through a dangerous cave, that serves as the tutorial, he finds a small village of Mimigas. Mimigas are a race of rabbit humanoids that populate the cavernous interior. This small village is the starting point of this grand adventure. Its from here you’ll be tasked with multiple missions during the course of the story. As you progress through the story you’ll start to understand the mystery of Cave Story, that s if you haven’t played it before as it’s the same untouched story. Undeniably Cave Story 3D still offers an expansive story filled with great mystery and imagination. Just like the story, gameplay has also been untouched. Cave Story 3D is an action-adventure title that offers a lot of similarity to Metroid. Many games have copied the Metroid stylings and failed, only one jumps to mind as a complete success, Castlevania, but now Cave Story can join those ranks.

The world of Cave Story is vast; it’s a unique world with many different locales, secrets, enemies, and weapons. On your journey you’ll collect and use a variety of weapon in combat, each one can be upgraded or traded to get even better (or sometimes worse) weapons too. Enemies who have been defeated will drop yellow triangles that increase the energy of the currently equipped weapon, these are key for levelling up your weapon, which can level up to three times. The game also contains health and ammo capacity upgrades that can be found throughout the world. Those who remember the classic feel of games back in the good’o days will feel right at home with here as gameplay is simple, fun, challenging, and perfect with that classic retro style that anyone can get into.

If anyone has played the original or the WiiWare and DSiWare re-makes. The presentation of Cave Story 3D has changed a fair bit. It’s been completely overhauled to suit the 3D capabilities of Nintendo’s handheld, this means that the environments have more depth, characters and enemies are no longer sprites, but full 3D models, and support full 3D effects. The original/retro graphics that the previous versions had were excellent, charming, and creative; now that it’s in the third dimension, Cave Story 3D still manages to keep the same unique feel that the original versions had. The 3D also works great to give the game depth and a view that players have not seen in Cave Story before.  The soundtrack has also been updated, but to our relief still features those classic retro tunes with nice and addictive beats.

Cave Story 3D offers players the same unique, charming, and additive experience from the pixel art original, but now with full 3D support inthe palm of your hands. Featuring the same untouched adventure that has great imagination, and lasts for hours on end with its multiple endings and weapon upgrades. Much like the story, the gameplay has also been untouched; providing players with a retro style feel that is fun, challenging, and perfect.  Presentation wise, Cave Story 3D has been completely overhauled and still offers that  excellent, charming, and unique feel that the original housed, but in the third dimension. If you have not experienced Cave Story on any other platform, now is your chance once again to buy this unforgettable classic.

Final Score: 4/5

More Cave Story 3D screens

Cave Story 3D gameplay video

]]> http://thegamershub.net/2011/12/cave-story-3d-review/feed/ 0