It is that time of the week where we once again delve into the world of games with an awesome video in which we show off both our own awesome and the awesome of someone's game. The game in question this week is Lone Survivor, a recent Indie Survival Horror game, by Jasper Byrne. I personally delve into great depth and detail in the game to show it off to it's fullest extent (pfffffft)!

This video will be coupled with a review coming out for the game in this Wednesday's review slot and here is a sneak peak of the review: "This game is excellent". As such I would definitely suggest you take a moment to check out the video (apologies for the sound) and examine the gameplay as I would heartily recommend the game to you all!

Anyway, let's get to it:

I've been most fortunate to be among the people who were granted a Torchlight 2 beta key and have therefore decided to attempt to let you guys live vicariously through my good fortune. So, I shall tell you what I like about the game, what I dislike about the game... and finally why you should absolutely be buying it.

Also, I shall not be referencing the 'other' action RPG until the very final paragraph... so if you've been wanting to read a review of this game that doesn't have to do with the Blizzard game, this is the one to read!

(Quick side note: This is a beta preview of the game... the real game has not been released yet ... doesn't have a release date yet ... and this needs to be kept in mind whilst reading this review!)

First of all, I feel that it's important to note that I'm a huge fan of the first game and have been looking forward to this sequel for quite some time now. After my experiences in the Guild Wars 2 beta (which I didn't write about due to the crazy amount of things that were already published about that game), I was frankly worried that this game would not be a true sequel or that they had somehow messed it up. Upon spending my first four or five hours in the beta, and finishing it, I was rewarded with a very different feeling.

The beta consists of the full game up until the end of Act 1. This means that you can choose any pet and class combination with all of the skills unlocked up until level 21. In other words, you have the potential for putting hours and HOURS into this beta... which it looked like I was destined to do. I immediate started up with the Engineer and went into a full melee build with it... boosting strength and weapon skills until I was smashing things to bits with my awesome two handed hammers (which, most of the time, was a giant pipe wrench, by the way).

I beat the beta in about four hours, having skipped a few of the sidequests due to a bug in the game that was subsequently fixed after my playthrough. I was immediately ready to go again and start with a new character, which I therefore did the next day, this time starting with an Embermage. With the Embermage I decided to spec into a skill that I'd read was overpowered on the forums, curious how it held up against my awesome melee engineer. They were right, by the by, it was a crazy overpowered skill, that I could easily see Runic changing in the near future.

Anyhow... my thoughts and impressions. First of all, I was incredibly impressed by the game. It feels like a true sequel to Torchlight, keeping the basic elements of gameplay, the ideas of the skill trees, the pet system, random map generation, and many other sundry things while then adding to it even more impressive systems. The pet system, which was brilliant in the first game, was extended with specific pet equipment drops and a pet shopping list (where you can send the pet to pick up potions and scrolls in town while he's there). The map generation is beautiful with many different dungeons sprinkled throughout the overworld which you are exploring.

The skill trees are still there, with a full passive side and three different trees per class, totalling a full 12 skill trees which, other than a few minor exceptions, feel remarkably balanced. For example, even though I spend a lot of time as a melee engineer, there's an entire skill tree focusing on Engineer summons which are things like a medical bot and an automated gun bot which I never even touched. All of the classes are new as well, offering an entirely new experience for your perusal.

The largest addition, by many accounts, is the addition of multiplayer games, which you can play with up to 6 different people (though it's been mentioned by Runic that this number is moddable up to an amount which is only bounded by server specifications). This works great as I can attest to. Currently in the beta, you're only allowed to play Internet games (though in the full release, LAN and single player will also be selectable) so there were a few times when I jumped into someone else's game. The loot that you see is only yours, so there's no ganking drops or some such nonsense, which is fantastic. In fact, there's very little ability to grief in this game... which is exactly what I like in public multiplayer games. You also have the normal trade and inspect abilities which work much like you would imagine in a game like this.

My biggest fear with this game is the length of it. I completed, in the Embermage playthrough, the entire first Act of the game on Normal mode (there is a Veteran and an Elite mode as well) in about three hours. This includes most (I may have missed maybe 1 or 2) of the sidequests and optional dungeons as well as Golden Keys. If there's only supposed to be three or four acts (I'm not sure which...) this means that each playthrough is only going to be about 9-12 hours. Of course, with 4 different classes and three different skill trees per, you're still going to have some time... but I wonder if it's going to keep you interested long term. That said, I spent hours in the first one... and it was even smaller, by a large amount, so I suppose we'll see how it goes.

There is also some rumors about some sort of Map Room at the end of the game where you can re-run many of the dungeons of the game at certain levels so that you can keep getting new armor/weapon drops. And, of course, there's the whole modding scene as well, as Runic is going to be releasing their Editor again for the game.

I mentioned above that I wouldn't mention Diablo 3 until the last paragraph, and here we are. In my opinion, Diablo 3, at its 60$ price tag, is not worth purchasing over Torchlight 2, at its 20$ price tag. Torchlight 2 is going to be an amazing multiplayer game that you can enjoy with your friends and doesn't cost that much money. Also, with a Real Money Auction House and with a large modding scene, Torchlight 2 will be played for a very very long time.

Get this one and try it out as soon as it releases (whenever that's going to be...)!

In a move compared by many to Dean Portman, re-signing for the Mighty Ducks in D3, Euan Forsyth has agreed to commit himself once more to the wonderful world of MMGaming. After a few reviews, success went to his head, and he spent many a night out in the wilderness. That’s all in the past however, as Forsyth returns to the site with a bang, and a whole new meaning to the words, gaming review!

Sports fans! What better way to announce my return to MMGaming than by writing a review on one of my favourite console games of all time, NHL 12. I had originally planned to do this review pretty shortly after my last but that didn’t happen. My bad! I realise that having only written 3 reviews and one of them being NHL 11, this could get a bit monotonous, however as a huge sports game fan, I will try to convince you otherwise and try my best to keep things interesting.

I guess I’ll start by talking about the upgrades made to the game from previous NHL games. Of course, as with every sports game, EA has taken the stats from the 2010-2011 season and made the game relevant, increasing and decreasing certain players ratings as based on their performance. EA has really upped it’s game this year, and any ice hockey fans out there will be able to notice the differences they have made. Player personalities have become a huge part of the game. I’ll try explain without getting too technical. A player like Scott Hartnell from the Philadelphia Flyers, is very much a power forward who sets up screens in front of the goalie (basically he stands in front of the goalie to block his vision), and that is now reflected in the game

. Defenders and Forwards will jostle for positions in front of the net, and it feels more realistic and player controlled unlike previous years. There was a slight improvement in 11, but I feel in order to have a successful team on NHL12, you really need to get a good mix of different types of players.
Again the physics engine has been updated, and so it feels like a live game. Pretty much everything goes, helmets pop off after a big hit, and then you play on without a helmet, you can check players into the bench (which is pretty cool, and the crowds love it), and you can also knock the net of its moorings causing a stop in play. One of my favourites updates, is if there’s a guy against the boards, and your player skates in and gets a good contact hit, there’s a chance the glass can smash!

I was worried when I heard about this, in that I thought it would be pretty much every hit against the boards the glass would go, but I think EA have found an ideal balance, as it is a somewhat rarer occurrence in the game. In a way the physics engine updates are similar to 11, in that they look the same, and at the beginning they feel the same. However the deeper you get into the game, you realise the depth in the engine. Many little things in ice hockey can happen, that appear chaotic and uncoordinated, and they are represented in this game. For instance, if your stick snaps on a shot, and the play continues with the splinters on the ice, it can cause the puck to bounce off at a funny angle, and in many cases, costing me a goal or causing me to lose one. In truth, it feels excitingly real to a game, as the unpredictability factor has never been more relevant!
Another improvement to the physics engine sees the goalies become live. When jostling for position in front of the net, or following up on a rebound, it is possible to skate into the goalie and knock him over, or even knock his mask off. You could even be a bit of a dick and do it intentionally, which online is pretty funny and a good way of winding up your opponent. Although whilst somewhat satisfying to see your big massive hulk-like forward barge his way through an opposition goalie, chances are it will come with a goalie interference penalty for 2 minutes, and quite a few fights begin from the other team jumping in to protect their goalie.
Another change to the game is the team entrances to the ice. I love this update, as the team I support (San Jose Sharks – haters gon’ hate!) have the coolest entrance in the league where they enter through the mouth of a massive shark head. Now they also do this in the game too! The Edmonton Oilers also now enter underneath a massive Oil Rig.

The game modes are pretty much the same as the previous years, with the notable big new feature being the legends mode. The legends mode is a play on the Be A Pro mode, in which you select one player and play through a season/career as that character. In the Legends mode you can select such greats as Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios and Wayne Gretzky! You can put the legend into any team you want and play along with them. I must say it’s great fun, and I enjoyed it a lot more than Be A Pro.

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My favourite thing to do on NHL12, is play General Manager Mode, and turn on the fantasy draft, and then simming the season. This gives you a real insight into how good the team you’ve picked, as the sim engine is very realistic, and players put up the same kind of points they would in real life. In order to have a real challenge, I like to keep the salary cap on. This way it means that you can’t just pick expensive players, you have to search around and get a good mix of quality, graft, and youth. There’s also no point in choosing players who are on a short contract as they’ll be offski pretty soon, so you have to shop around for a player on a longer contract who’s not after silly monies!
I also found the online experience much more fun this year. All the games I’ve played have been pretty evenly matched and probably more enjoyable ‘cause of it. I also particularly enjoy skelping James Dunleavy everytime we play ( HIYA JAMES, HIYA PALL!!!!)

The only downsides to the game, are the awareness of the AI system and the fact you have to play and earn “skater points” with one legend, before you can unlock another. In all the games I have played against the computer, I don’t think I have ever seen it ice the puck, and I think the computer has been offside at the very most 5 times. Powerplays are also very rare to come by, so I wouldn’t put too much work into your powerplay unit in a season. The Legend Mode is very annoying, because I’m sure everyone would love to play as Wayne Gretzky, however you need to play through as all the somewhat lesser guys to unlock him.
However, despite these minor inconveniences, the rest of the game is excellent and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone!
In conclusion, I feel that this game is very worthy of an A. EA brought their A game to the table, and made significant upgrades from previous years, all of which add to a more fun and more realistic game!

Rating: A

Welcome to another Video Mondaily! This one is a bit different from previous ones in the fact  that I'm just going to screw around with this one. A friend of mine (Ruralgeek) was playing some League of Legends with me and we decided that it would be fun to post the videos of our failings against the AI. There's nothing revolutionary, perhaps... but we honestly enjoyed it!

(This is super late, I know... and the reason is that I was taking a bit of a break because we should have had this week covered. Since somewhere something fell through, posting this to hold you over! Enjoy!)

Well, I don't have much else to say about this set of videos, but hey... it should be fun, right!? So without further ado, enjoy the games we have presented for your enjoyment tonight!

Keep in mind that Ruralgeek is pretty new to the game and I'm just screwing around... so this is not a testament to our true skill... or mine anyway. ;P Perhaps if there's interest, Tim and I will get together and play a real game for your enjoyment!

You will have, obviously noticed that last week we had no news on Sunday and that this week we actually had no news on Wednesday either. And there are very good reasons for both of these things. As you might be aware I am in the middle of my exam period and I'm finding it a little more difficult to make the time to do the news. But don't worry, after next week things ought to return to pretty much normal as both me and Tim will be finished.

And so we'll need to come up with an excuse other than "We are lazy sons-of-bitches!"

Also, we are still playing around with our new "4 posts per week" system and have decided to only have one session of news on most weeks. While you might still see some Midweek News at some point in the future, for now we are going to be doing two reviews a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays. Anyway, "reasons" over! Let's see what's been happening in the world of video games for the last two weeks.

Rayman Legends sequel in the mix?

Ubisoft have recently registered a bunch of internet domains with the name Rayman Legends. It's well known that following the surprisingly good reception of Rayman Origins last year that Ubisoft are most likely working on a sequel for the game and now, if these domains are to be believed we now know what it's going to be called.

While Ubisoft have yet to formally confirm that they are working on a sequel to the game it is one of the more solid rumours that suggests they are indeed working on it. There has even been some marketing information about the sequel so really now all people have to do is wait for Ubisoft to simply announce the game.

It seems it's impossible to keep secrets in the video game industry... Although Ubisoft have had this problem before of things leaking out before they were supposed to...

Former STALKER team developing Survarium openly with fans

The developer of the famous S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game GSC Game World has been recently brought back to life in the form of a new company called Vostok Games which has been formed by the team who were creating S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 before it's cancellation. They  have now announced that they are in the process of developing a new game called Survarium which will be similar in spirit to the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game by also being set in a  post-apocalyptic setting.

The game will be a free-to-play MMOFPS and will be set in a post-apocalyptic world as opposed to merely a small area, devastated by ecological catastrophe. The team at Vostok Games are also intending to develop the game openly with fans. Working on feedback and ideas from fans they will be doing their best to bring out a new and exciting game for them to play.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in then I would suggest that you skip to the bottom where I have posted the first in a series of Developer's Diaries that Vostok have produced (it's the first video in the videos section).

It might be worth saying at this stage, that as I remember S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was one of the most visually impressive games I've ever seen and it pretty much destroyed every PC that ran it on it's highest settings. Tim could probably tell you more about it though as he owned the game and I didn't.

Torchlight 2 - pre-order bonus

If you are one of those who, like our Nick, is looking forward to Torchlight 2 more than to Diablo 3 then you may be interested to know that the pre-order details for the game have been announced by Runic Games, along with the prices. The game will cost £14.99 / €18.99 / $19.99 or whatever your local equivalent is.

You can pre-order either on Steam or at Perfect Entertainment. If you pre-order the game on steam you will get a second copy of the game for free, what's more they are also offering a system where you can buy four copies of the game so that you can get your friends in on the magic and mayhem as well.

The game is now nearing completion apparently so you might want to get on your bike if you intend to buy the game. Pre-orders are usually worth it!

Dishonored preview details and screenshots

Dishonoured the game about betrayal and assassination, set in a steampunk world and given to us by Bethesda is already shaping into a game that I am extremely excited about (and that's not just because of the trailer). Despite the fact that those silly Americans have gone and spelled "Dishonoured" wrong (yes there's meant to be a bloody U in it) I genuinely think that this might be one of the properly big games of 2013 worth waiting for.

The game is set in the fictional city of Dunwall and never before has there been a city which is such a hive of scum and villainy. You will play as Corvo former bodyguard of The Empress (with a capital on the "The") and have been falsely accused of her murder. Which is why in the trailer you see Corvo cooling his heels in the deepest dungeon they could find. You are then given some magical power in the form of a possessive tattoo by a man known as The Outsider, you also get an awesome mask but maybe you got that on your own. On a side note, even from the trailer despite helping our wronged protagonist it ought to be clear from the off that this Outsider chappy is clearly going to end up as some sort of boss fight.

Anyway, Corvo then sets out to rid the city of the corruption and villainy which first placed him in jail (and probably had the Empress killed). It's a quest for vengeance unlike any other, except all those other games where the main character's only motive is vengeance but I digress.

The city itself see's the influence of English and Scottish architecture, it was even originally planned to be set in 17th Century London, and has been influenced by real world cities like London and Edinburgh. In fact despite the prolific American accents in the game, the facial styles and features of the NPCs and main characters have actually been heavily influenced by the anatomy and morphology of real British citizens. So while they may sound like men from the Big Apple they will probably secretly support Man U.

The steampunk feel is one I heartily approve of as it is threaded into this world Masterfully. The only other steampunk game I can name off the top of my head (Bioshock) had one of the best atmospheres of any game I've ever played so I wonder if it will pay off here. The world runs off magic and whale oil, horseless carriages shepherd the rich through the run down city on pre-set rails. Loudspeakers are everywhere yelling about curfew and about reporting incidences of a plague which causes sufferers to weep blood and attack other men. And through all this, the major security of the town the Tallboys (seen in the trailer and in the screenshot at the top) are expected to keep the peace on their massive mechanical stilts. Heavily armoured and carrying a shield and an "electro-bow" they remind me an awful lot of the walkers from Half Life and probably do just as good a job at keeping the peace. As well as the Tallboys, barriers are present between districts of the city (again seen in the trailer) which cause those who aren't allowed to pass through them to explode in chunks of gore.

The game itself is not a massive open world but rather will be a set series of levels which you will have to traverse to get to your targets. The game is also all about choice in the paths you take to reach your targets. And I don't just mean the Hitman style paths of "use gun" or "use knife" but you will use magic, the environment, knives, grenades, crossbows and all manner of devious and wonderful ways to kill your targets. In a preview of the game which featured a high class brothel called The Cat's House you can cause one of your targets to scald to death in a steam room or you can sneak through the rafters, blowing out candles to reach him and finish the matter in a more personal method.

As well as supposedly having a massive variety in the ways you can kill your targets the surroundings and atmosphere of the game will be doing it's best to seem vibrant and alive. The NPCs won't be simply pieces of furniture, guards won't simply patrol the same stretch of corridors over and over again like automatons. Instead if leave well enough alone, you will see small stories playing out with NPCs interacting with each other and the environment. It sounds like the sort of truly immersive environment I which I can see myself really buying into.

I'm going to try my damnedest to not big the game up too much in my mind to try and keep my expectations at a realistic level. But I have to say that what Bethesda seem to be hoping to achieve is something I am very much looking forward to experiencing. It's gonna be good!

By the way, if you want to see some more awesome and impressive screenshots of the game then head over to Joystiq (here) for a few which show off the game and it's combat.

New Portal 2 DLC

Valve has announced that the release date for the Portal 2 DLC which will allow you to create your own mutliplayer maps will become available on Mac and PC on the 8th of May (a couple of days away now).

Perpetual Testing Initiative, as it is called, will feature a "simplified puzzle maker" which will allow players to publish their own tests onto the Steam marketplace where other players will be able to download, play and vote on them.

There has been no news about the Console version of the DLC, much to my despair. Happy testing everyone!

God of War: Ascension Screens and Details

Sony have announced after a long period of speculation that the upcoming prequel for God of War will feature a multiplayer feature. The multiplayer mode will feature an online and an offline battle mode for up to eight players and their customisable avatars to duke it out surrounded by Ancient Greek mythology. The game, according to Sony, "combines the brutal gameplay and large-scale battles that God of War is known for to create a competitive experience like never before". Impressive claims.

Despite this they insist that the campaign mode will not suffer for the addition of a multiplayer mode. It will apparently be a little bit shorter than previous games, but only by a little. For a short preview video of footage from the multiplayer you should skip to the videos section at the bottom. As well as that you might want to check out these screenshots courtesy of Eurogamer.

Halo 4 Live Action series coming soon

Ahead of the release of Halo 4 this Autumn Microsoft are planning to release an exclusive Live Action series of videos on Machinima and Microsoft's Halo Waypoint. Halo4: Forward Unto Dawn as the series is called will play out over 5 weekly instalments, each at about 15 minutes long, in the run up to the new game being produced by 343 Industries.

The series tells the story of how the Master Chief inspired a young cadet who will become the commander in chief aboard the UNSC Infinity spaceship. The character will provide a flashback style experience to the start of the war between the humans and the Covenant as well as tying in with the Halo 4 game. It's supposedly a way to get new people into the Universe without feeling like there is too much they've missed out on.

As well as this, Microsoft are pouring an awful lot of money into the features, more than they have any Live Action series before and it could apparently become the stepping stone for a full length Halo movie.

Skyrim DLC at last!

Skyrim, despite not having said much about it recently the game has still been very much in our hearts and minds. It's worth mentioning while we are on the topic that in recent months over 13 million player made mods have been downloaded by players across the globe wanting to have Space Cores in their Skyrim. That in itself is really rather impressive, and you have to once again just sit back and appreciate the modding community of the Elder Scrolls.

But on to the more important news!

Bethesda have finally announced the first piece of major DLC for Skyrim which will release this Summer. Entitled Dawnguard we have nothing to go on except the teaser image above. All we do know is that it will come out in Summer and will release on Xbox first before coming to PC and PS3.

YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!!!

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - Another one?

Some of the biggest news of the last week was Activision and Treyarch announcing that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and stating that it will be released on November 13th on Xbox, PS3 and PC. We have the official trailer (down in the video section) and quite a few teasers and information already. The game will feature quadrotors (as seen in the above image) and will apparently be set during a 21st Century Cold War with new and futuristic warfare and technology. It will also feature a horse riding level.

According to the folks at Activision and Treyarch the game will feature a visual overhaul to make it the most visually satisfying CoD yet. As well as this they plan to make the game (and I quote from the publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg):

"Hands down, this is the most ambitious Call of Duty ever. We are bringing disruptive innovation to the franchise and we are doing it on several fronts. We're pushing the boundaries technologically, graphically, and from a narrative and gameplay perspective.

"At the same time, we need to stay true to the epic realism, authenticity, heart pumping adrenaline, and cinematic action that so many people love and expect from a Call of Duty game. Treyarch's vision for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will redefine the Call of Duty franchise for the future - both literally and figuratively."

As well as all these promises the game will apparently feature player choices which will cause dramatic affects in the game and offer branching storylines.

Me, I'm taking what they say with a pinch of salt. Call of Duty has never been much more than an impressive shooter at best. It does what it does well, but it has never really offered innovation or truly outstanding performances. While I'm willing to accept that this is the most ambitious Call of Duty yet, my scepticism about the series has yet to be lifted (the fact that the trailer looked like it could have been made a couple of years ago didn't really help that).

Assassins Creed early concept art

Ubisoft have recently published quite a few images from a gallery of early concept art from the original Assassin's Creed, before they had even started production, created in 2004, three years before the game's release.

The game was supposedly going to be a Prince of Persia spin-off with Altair originally supposed to be a bodyguard of the prince as a small child. The concept art also hints at the fact that they originally had intended to include co-op play into the game, which has yet to appear in any Assassin's Creed (but will apparently be making an appearance in Assassin's Creed 3).

It's something of a blast from the past if you ask me and it never ceases to surprise me how much games can change throughout the course of development. Here we have a Prince of Persia spin off which has grown into one of the most well known and best series on consoles these days (if you ask me anyway).

For the majority of the concept art you can toddle over here to Eurogamer.

Elder Scrolls Online announced

If you ask me, the biggest news of the last two weeks has to be that Bethesda have finally announced the heavily speculated MMO of the Elder Scrolls: The Elder Scrolls Online. The game will be produced in collaboration with Zenimax Game Studios and will be set a further 1000 years after the events of Skyrim and will feature the attempts of a Deadric Prince, Molag Bal, to incorporate Tamriel into his own plane of Oblivion.

There isn't much to go on yet except a traditional Elder Scrolls teaser trailer and the facts that it will include Elder Scrolls style exploration combined with MMO social features and PvP. But the studios are apparently hoping that the result of years of development will pay off and make it the best MMO made to date.

There has actually been, already, a fairly diverse reaction to this. First off there were people who fanboyed out and started throwing money at the screen of my laptop (still haven't found all of it) but then there are those who believe that the style MMO style of gameplay simply won't fit the story and role-playing heavy universe of the Elder Scrolls. And in a way, I actually agree. I'm definitely excited to see how the game will turn out, but I am definitely not as excited as I am for Dawnguard or if they had announced an Elder Scrolls VI.

Valve not planning any announcements at E3

Today's final piece of news before we get onto the visual awesome provided by the wide variety of videos is a particularly sad one. Put simply Valve have annoucned that they are NOT planning to announce any new products this year at E3. That means no Half Life 3, no Portal 3 and no Steam Box.

Aside from more information on current know projects (like Counterstrike: Global Offensive and DotA 2) there will be nothing new from Valve this year.

No Half Life 3?

FUCK!

Videos

Anyway, now that the news is over we can get down to supplying you guys with around two weeks of awesome in the form of video game trailers, developers diaries and teasers! Plus, if you scroll a little further we actually have a Song of the Week for you guys to sink your teeth into!

First up we have the first Vostok Games developers diary of Survarium, followed by a brief one and half minutes of footage featuring the multiplayer of God of War: Ascension. Next we have the official trailers of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (which is fairly average) and the teaser for the Elder Scrolls Online (which sets my pulse racing and my breath racing). Next up is another trailer for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier featuring Gunsmith addicts (recommended for those of you that like guns). Following that we have a five minute interview with two of the main voice actors for Hitman: Absolution AND the official gameplay trailer for the game!

After we that we have a rather intriguing new reveal from Ubisoft for a game called Silent Hunter Online, which features Submarines and a deep voice-over. Finally we see the Diablo 3 TV advert which features clips from several previous trailers.

Song of the Week

Now that we have got all that awesome out of the way, if you feel you can handle some more then I'll tell you that we have another song by Malukah to show to you guys. If you've heard any of her previous stuff then you should be well aware that this is not to be approached lightly and you should only listen to this if you are sure you have not had any of your daily recommended dose of awesome.

Enjoy!

Now hopefully you've already read my actual review of Mass Effect 3 (if not click here) and understand that I loved the game. Seriously, if that game were a girl I would have proposed the moment it turned up on my doorstep. Hell, despite it being a game I did almost take all my clothes off... (I managed to regain control after I got my jeans off).

That said, I, unfortunately, fall into the group of people who believe that the ending of ME3 was, without a doubt, awful. Had it not been different the game would have been, pretty much, perfection. On their own though, the ending/s were quite simply horrible. No matter how cliché it is to say so, it's true.

This article will endeavour to explain just why the endings are so bad. Pretty much everything I say here has been said all around the internet, but I have to say, I came up with several of the arguments on my own before I even started to look around for other people's opinions. Plus I want to make it clear now this article contains MANY SPOILERS! I have to talk about the ending in order to explain why it sucked...

Initially my plan was to make jokes! Stuff along the lines of “Yeah the ending wasn't great, but then with such a massive build up, nothing they could do would satisfy us” so I want to make it perfectly clear that it IS actually as bad as people say and it's not to do with an unrealistic ideal in gamer's heads.

I will break the article up into sections, each with their own bit explaining why it wasn't good. The sections I will be discussing are:

-The last battle

-The destruction of the Mass Relays

-The crash landing of the Normandy

-The options given and the results

-The end itself

The Last Battle

In honesty, the worst part about the end was actually the last 5 minutes of it. The fight and build-up to it were actually fucking awesome and I was literally bouncing up and down when the final fight started with Sword fleet leaping out of the Mass Relay and hammering the Reapers with all they had.

It was bloody cool, the mission was as good as the rest of the game and I actually did approve of the final confrontation with the Illusive Man. Everything up until you meet the Catalyst pretty much fit into the same standard of epic that the rest of Mass Effect pulled off.

The only issue I had was that, we were promised by Bioware endings that reflected the choices we made throughout all the different games. As such I was hoping that the many hours I spent working on the Galaxy at War and building up forces for the EMS (effective military strength) level would be reflected in some cut-scenes. I would have loved to see Aria's mercenaries hurling themselves through the sky in battered cruisers, doing whatever it took to win the fight. I wanted to see Geth ships saving Quarian ships and watch the Quarians stare at their saviours in shock. I wanted to see Rachni ships suddenly appearing from nowhere to join the fight. I wanted to see Krogan and Turian and Salarian and Asari all working together. There was a small level of this, but nothing that really reflected the true extent of the work I put in to the three games, and that was a major disappointment. Nothing I couldn't deal with, but it was a shame certainly.

The Destruction of the Mass Relays

So you've made your choice (see later) and one of the three colours of beams is shooting across the Galaxy. The issue here is that each time one of the beams connects with a Mass Relay it causes the Relay to explode, sending out a wave of colour and more beams. There are several problems with this...

First, it is well known in the lore, hopefully even to those who don't really care much about the lore of the game, that destroying a Mass Relay causes an explosion with the force of a supernova. That means that every system with a Mass Relay, our system, the Turian system, the Quarian/Geth system, the Salarian system, the Asari system, and many more besides would be utterly obliterated by a gigantic explosion of untold force, doing more damage than the Reapers themselves were doing. And I ask you now, is THAT a result?

Second, if you assume that these explosions are different to normal Mass Relay explosions (which is the assumption most people have to go along with) then what you are now left with is something worse. You now have every single planet and race stranded in isolation in the Galaxy. Sure ships can travel at FTL speeds, but with the closest star to our star being 10 light-years away and the fastest FTL speeds in Mass Effect being around 30 times the speed of light, that means there is insurmountable distances between each and every single race in the galaxy.

EVEN worse, there is now a fleet of soldiers of every race in the galaxy floating above a ruined Earth. With no way to get home (at least, no way that wouldn't take hundreds if not thousands of years) it's likely that the limited resources of the ruined planet would be fought over resulting in the death of just about everyone who were, for such a short time, at peace and working together. It's a truly horrible situation to imagine.

The Crash of the Normandy

During the final moments of the game, you watch Joker pilot the Normandy through a Mass Relay with the explosion chasing him down and causing the Normandy massive damage. The ship crash lands on a conveniently Earth like, but unknown, planet. In each situation you then watch Joker climb out of the wreckage, followed by either your two favourite squad mates or EDI and one of the favourite squad mates. In my case, EDI follows Joker and hugs him followed by my love interest, Liara. It's quite an epic scene and quite moving, but it's absolutely and utterly WRONG!

Let's analyse this.

First, to even be in this situation Joker would have had to make a Mass Effect jump DURING the battle above the Citadel, while thousands of ships and billions of individuals fight for their lives against the Reapers. Essentially it would require Joker to abandon everything during the crucial moments of the war. This, quite simply, WOULD NOT HAPPEN! Joker is, arguably, Shepard's most loyal crew-member, he's been there since the start. He would never, not once in a million years abandon Shepard to die. Even if he knew Shepard was alive (which he didn't), he had no reason to leave the system, meaning that he would have had to have chickened out, which is also impossible! He was brave and stalwart and wouldn't have abandoned the millions of others fighting for their lives in the space battle against the Reapers, let alone Shepard. Both he and Shepard said many times, from the start of the game, that this was it, their only chance at beating the Reapers and that they would see it through to the end. It makes simply no sense that he would leave.

Next, Liara follows Joker out of the Normandy. This is even MORE ridiculous. First off, because Liara was actually in my team on the assault of the transport beam. That would mean that just before chickening out, Joker would have had to fly down to Earth, save Liara (forgetting about you of course) and THEN bugger off. Ignoring how retarded that is, we then get to the stage where Joker loses his nerve. He's somehow become so scared he's leaving the fight. Everyone on board the Normandy would never allow Joker to leave the fight, and nobody would even consider letting him leave Shepard. And this goes DOUBLY for Liara. Liara and Shepard are properly in love. And I don't mean “teenage-one-week-long-relationship-love”. This is the sort of love that poems get written about. It was done beautifully and conveyed the massive depth of these characters feelings for each other. Liara would sooner die than leave Shepard, more than that, if she knew he was dead then she would most certainly die trying to avenge him. The idea of her leaving him is one of the least believable parts of the end (and that is saying a LOT).

The Options and Results – What happens?

If we assume that you have a Galactic Readiness/Effective Military Strength (GR/EMS) level of over 5000 which unlocks the best of every single ending (the “good” one of each) you will be presented with 3 choices. These same choices do get presented to you with lower than 5000 readiness but only two of them will be available with lower than 2800 and these will result in significantly “worse” endings (more damage is done to the galaxy).

You can take control of the Reapers. Shepard's body is destroyed but he becomes one with, and now controls every Reaper in existence. Despite having a blue (Paragon coloured) explosion, this is, almost certainly, the Renegade option as it not means that the Reapers are still a force in existence, but it was repeated again and again to the Illusive Man by Shepard himself (and Anderson) that this is too much power for one person and is essentially playing with fire.

You can destroy the Reapers. Again despite a Renegade (red) coloured explosion this is most likely the Paragon option as it is the culmination of everything you have been working towards. It is also the only ending where, if you have a GR level of over 5000, Shepard actually survives. HOWEVER! Not only does it destroy the Reapers, it also destroys all synthetic life in the Galaxy including EDI and the Geth. One of the major plot points of the whole game was EDI becoming more and more self aware and human and, with Shepard's encouragement, she eventually makes the step from machine to person. Also, a fully Paragon Shepard will actually have created peace between the Geth and the Quarians. So, destroying the Reapers also has evil consequences because it results in the death of countless of individuals who are innocent and good (the Geth and EDI both being fully self aware and on your side).

Finally, with more than 2800 GR you can re-write creation essentially in the "Synthesis" ending. By sacrificing himself, Shepard merges his consciousness with the Reapers. This rewrites all DNA in the Galaxy making everything partially synthetic and partially organic. The Reapers then leave everyone else alone as well. This is, by Bioware at least, considered to be “the best” option and results in a green explosion from the Citadel/Crucible.

The Options and Results – Why?

Why does Shepard have to choose one of these options? Essentially, the Catalyst (an AI in the form of a child, who is actually controlling the Reapers) created the Reapers and makes them destroy all organic life every 50,000 years. It did this because it believes that once it becomes advanced enough, life will eventually create synthetics and then go to war with them, resulting in both of their destruction. That's right... A giant race of machines exterminates every advanced civilisation every 50,000 years so that they don't get exterminated by a race of machines of their own making.

The Options and Results – THAT'S RETARDED!!

First off, lets look at why you are given one of these three options. The catalyst presents Shepard with the theory that organics will always create synthetics and, as a result will always go to war with them and destroy themselves. So it created the Reapers to beat the organics to the punch. The catalyst then explains that there will never be peace between organics and synthetics and they will always destroy each other. So destroying the Reapers means that every race will eventually destroy itself through the creation of synthetics. Controlling the Reapers is just wrong. And synthesis means that everyone is actually partially synthetic now and so there will be peace throughout the Galaxy.

Wrong... Wrong. WRONG. WRONG! WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!

Not only is the logic employed by the catalyst completely retarded, but Shepard actively disproves it by creating peace between the Geth and Quarians. So, that's a massive flaw in your logic there little boy!

But worse, Shepard then forgets ALL about this success and his ability to pull peace out of blue space and simply accepts that there can never be peace between organics and machines. Ever. Doesn't question, doesn't argue, nothing. He takes it instantly, even if you play fully paragon. And now let's face it... He WOULD NOT DO THAT! EVER! No, he would question and find another way and prove the little fucker WRONG! Like he already fucking managed to do!

The End Itself

The biggest issue had BY far across the whole world and internet with the ending to Mass Effect 3 is the lack of variety. Even if they were satisfied with the annihilation of all hope and the destruction that would be wrought by the end (I'm looking at you, Renegade players) everyone had to agree that the end was quite simply far to similar to the good ending. Really the only real difference between endings was the colour of the explosions and that's about it. And understandably, this has pissed off EVERYONE. Honestly, Bioware literally promised that endings would reflect our choices and decisions but honestly, they really don't. What they reflect is the final choice you make AND NOTHING ELSE. And this is reason why every person is willing to dislike the ending, even the evil and sadistic people.

But do you want to know MY biggest issue with the end? More so than all the other insanity we had to deal with. There is no good ending. None. Sure, the synthesis ending is supposed to be the “good” ending. But it still results in the Reapers being very much alive and all the other above issues such as the, now stranded, Victory Fleet which will likely start tearing each other apart for resources. The message of Mass Effect until now was that if you are good then you will win and everything will go well. And I fucking LIKED that message. I liked the idea of this Universal karma where good decisions made people like you and made things go well. Now, out of fucking nowhere I might add, we are suddenly given the message that Mass Effect has really been about the inevitable struggle of organics against machines. Not only that but we are then, straight away, told that there is no real solution to it. No good one anyway.

And you know what, it just is NOT fair. There should be a happy ending. Perhaps one still involving Shepard's death, but everything else should go well. He should save the Galaxy and destroy the Reapers and, as a result, everyone else should, for a while at least, be at peace and be happy. I'm not saying this should be easy to achieve, but it SHOULD be there for those of us dedicated enough to have earned most of the war assets.

In my mind the way I would like to have seen this play out would have been that the “catalyst” hologram was actually an instrument of the Reapers themselves and the reason Shepard finds it so easy to believe is that he is still suffering from indoctrination. What I would then like to see if Shepard being given the option to shoot the little fucker and then send out a pulse wave which destroys every Reaper consciousness in existence AND NOTHING ELSE!

So there you have my thoughts, on the matter, as ranting as they may be. Before I played the ending of ME3 Bioware could do no wrong in my eyes but now I am genuinely worried that even the addition of the Extended Edition will no be able to unfuck this massive level of fuckery they've handed us.

In short... Fuck you Bioware. In the space of a 5 minute conversation and a 3 minute cinematic you succeeded in ruining a series in which I'd put well over 100 hours of play time.

Mass Effect 3 is the final instalment in the futuristic, sci-fi RPG by Bioware which sees you play as Commander Shepard in his fight against a race of colossal sentient machines known as the Reapers. While the previous games have featured single Reaper ships and saw Commander Shepard racing about the Galaxy to stop the Collectors and the Geth from helping the Reapers win the final war, the final game doesn't fuck about with any of that. Within moments of starting up the campaign the Reapers are already invading Earth and everything goes from bad to worse big-time-stylee. It's then up to our heroic Commander to travel about the Galaxy getting support for the war from all the other races that live there for a final assault on Earth to re-take the planet and defeat the Reapers (there's more to it than that, but I don't want to spoil it for you folk who have yet to play it).

The game involves you running errands and doing missions in all corners of the Galaxy to build up the Galaxies total readiness level and "Effective Military Strength" (EMS) in order to bring to maximum number of big guns that you can to the final fight. You do this by collecting war assets (which can be anything from a team of engineers to a fleet of Turian star ships) and by playing the multiplayer (I'll explain that in a bit). You spend the majority of the game fighting Reaper ground troops, Cerberus soldiers (an evil organisation of insane humans) and some Geth who must still have a grudge with you after defeating them in the first game.

The first thing that needs to be said about Mass Effect 3 is the depth of the game. Because you can transfer your save files from previous Mass Effect games the decisions and choices you made in the past games can affect what happens in the current game. I have said it before and I will say it again, if you are ever interested in playing Mass Effect you should play the first two first. You will met characters you've met before and they will end up helping the war effort in some way, you'll get e-mails from old acquaintances reminding you of certain missions you've done, it truly does help you appreciate the size of the Mass Effect universe and, more importantly the depth of the story. Even if you simply play through the main campaign of the previous games, the major choices can have such an impact on the story of the following games, it's hard not to appreciate what Bioware have done. Even more so, if you play through all three games with the same Commander Shepard you will eventually get more and more attached to him as a character, not only will you become attached to YOUR Shepard but you build bonds with every single one of the major recurring characters like Garrus and Liara.

As in all RPGs there is a choice system where you can choose to play as the baddest-ass Shepard in existence who doesn't care how many people he has to kill and crush into oblivion as long as he beats the Reapers or you can play at the opposite end as the harmonious light-bringing Shepard who unites all the Galaxy behind one banner and they would follow him blindly into the mouth of hell itself (this was how I played him). Or you can play some variation of them both. Mass Effect actually has a choice system which I believe should be used more often by RPGs. The fact that in major decisions there is always a fairly obvious evil and good choice is something I approve of as I don't like playing through games which require me to consider all the moral implications of my choices.

Also, like all RPGs, Mass Effect 3 contains a levelling up system in which you choose to level the abilities of both your squad and your Shepard, anything from having more shields to using a more powerful biotic (magic) attack for the combat of the game. It's a classic system and has been used through all three games with only slight variations to it each time. It's not my favourite skill system in existence, but it works and I've never felt that it desperately needs changing.

The combat itself is great fun. Fast paced and frantic at times, Mass Effect 3 is definitely more challenging than it's predecessors and I think actually better done. The combat feels weighted and strategic and it feels like you have to work at it to become properly good. I definitely think it's a step up from ME2 and I enjoyed it immensely. The only issue from previous games which Bioware didn't change was the fact that your squad-mates never really seem to do that much in a fight. Having their abilities is always useful and it's a nice little strategic touch as you choose the team which best compliments you, but it seems like you never see them running around the battlefield and they almost never seem to actually shoot people with their guns, let alone kill anyone. However, that is made up by a really big improvement to the combat where you can FINALLY use all the weapons, regardless of what class of Shepard you play as. You can't have all the weapons all at once because the more weight Shepard has on him the slower the cooldown of his powers are, but I have to say that it is SO much better to play as a Vanguard (Biotics combined with Combat) Shepard and finally be able to use a sniper and an assault rifle.

As well as being fun, the game does break up the combat rather nicely. There are corridor sections where you fight your way through a squad of enemy soldiers, courtyard/open air sections where you have to fight off masses of foot-soldiers and their heavier weaponry and then you get a section where you get on a turret or in a mech just to completely obliterate all opposition. In short, the combat of the game is fun pretty much all the time and it's a pleasure to play.

Of course there are a couple of things I wish were a little different with it. It would be nice if you had allies more of the time, in missions where you are fighting alongside other squads or even battalions of allies it would be nice to see them throwing themselves into the fray once in a while, but that doesn't really happen. It would also be nice if it was less obvious when there was going to be a fight. "Oh we've entered a large room with lots of chest high walls for cover and there's a door on the other side of the room which is currently locked, I wonder what's going to happen when I press this button in the middle of the room?" But these are niggles that don't really detract from the experience.

The thing Bioware do best (and have always done best really) is with the story and the characters in the games. They do it so well that they don't really get much credit for it any more as it tends to be just a given. The characters and story is just fantastic with the story itself keeping you entertained and happy for pretty much all of the 30 hour long campaign. The characters themselves are just fantastic to interact with and enjoy building up friendships and relationships with. In fact I will say that having my Shepard "romance" Liara again (as he did in the previous games) was an excellent choice because the interactions between the characters is absolutely fantastic. I do think that the love that Bioware created between the two is absolutely amazing and it made even my cold heart of stone feel that true love and romance is possible.

Also, there are some moments where I was genuinely moved close to tears throughout the course of the game. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but suffice to say that it involved the deaths of some of my favourite characters and I was so moved by the way the game carried out their last moments.

It's also nice to see the characters interacting with each other, chatting in the halls of the ship or via radio as it does make it clear that they don't only talk to you AND NOBODY ELSE! Actually, it's also worth mentioning that Bioware have changed it so that if they have no specific dialogue to share with you they don't always make the same excuse for not being able to talk. In fact there were so many jokes about Garrus and his calibrations near the start of the game that I spent a good few minutes rolling around with laughter (another thing you wouldn't get if you didn't play previous games).

That does bring me to another nice point about the game. Despite the serious and threatening tone of it, there are moments of romance, kindness and joy and some simply downright funny moments in the game. Meeting Conrad Verner (a recurring character from both previous games) was probably the funniest short 5 minute mission of the game.

The missions themselves are all nice and varied and the main story missions are quite simply stuffed to the brim with awesome. And I mean, I don't think they could have squeezed more awesome out of it if they had tried to make every single one of your new squad-mates suit up for each battle. The graphics are actually bloody awesome as well, everything in the game looks pretty fucking epic at every turn of the game. I do wonder what it would look like on a PC though and whether it was much better than on the Xbox.

That's not all either, in fact I wish I could hold your attention indefinitely so I could just sit here ranting and raving about how amazing the game is. But let me sum up a few bits and pieces I have yet to mention. The music is worth a special word or two. The music for the ME games has never been particularly special, it's not the sort of Sons of Skyrim stuff that you can hum as you walk around feeling epic and awesome, but in ME3 I made sure to pay extra attention to it and I have to say it has been masterfully done. On it's own most of the music (not all) wouldn't be worthy of note, but the way that Bioware has worked it into the game and made it so crucial to the atmosphere is nothing short of genius, it definitely added an extra layer of emotion and feeling to the game that would be otherwise missing.

The multiplayer is also particularly good. Each multiplayer "mission" sees you and 3 other members of the ME3 community dropping into a location in the Galaxy where you have to fight off ten increasingly tough waves of enemies, conduct a few special assignments and then bug out without dying. It's really just more of the combat from the singleplayer, but it's so much fun to do and I can definitely see myself sinking an awful lot of time into it. Also, each time you complete missions you increase the readiness of the Galaxy at War system. Essentially the war assets I mentioned earlier only function at 50% efficiency unless you do multiplayer missions to increase their efficiency, it's a really bloody cool system.

As an MMGamer I do have to say that there are some issues with an otherwise perfect game. The mini-game in ME3 is not the greatest of things, it involves flying around the Galaxy Map (similar to Mass Effect 2) and scanning the system for hidden war assets, but scanning too much leads the Reapers to attack and then you have to run away. It's not a bad little system, but it's easy to get around and so only provides a nuisance when traversing the Galaxy. It also bothers me that there is no way to fight back against the attacking Reapers, despite your ship having a REALLY big gun. Speaking of that, it does bother me a little that there is absolutely no emphasis on the ship to ship combat in the game, it would have been nice to see some more examples of fighting in space.

The non-essential NPCs on board your ship and in the Citadel are a bit of a shame as well as, for the most part, they might as well just be part of the furniture, and that does take away a little bit from the immersion of the game.

But do you know what the worst thing is? And brace yourself for a massive dose of cliché because everyone else agrees, but the worst thing about Mass Effect 3 is the ending. After a full 30 hours of unrelenting awesome and joy, 30 hours of being completely immersed in the Universe and the story and the knowledge that this game was indeed the final instalment that the series deserved I was suddenly catapulted into the worst 10 minutes of my life playing games before the credits.

I will say I do believe the game is worth getting despite the ending, and even despite the ending I am still adamant on it being the best game I've ever played (sorry Skyrim). But as a true fan of the series, my heart did break a little inside when I finished it. It broke so much that I decided to actually do a separate rant here explaining what was wrong with the end (WARNING SPOILER HEAVY)

But honestly, it was truly one of the best 30 hours of gaming I have ever spent I would heartily recommend that you ALL get this game and play it. After having played number one and number two. And of course you should wait until the extended edition is released so that the end doesn't ruin it for you... But fucking buy it!!

Rating: A+

Steam released information based on the pre-order of their new game in the Majesty series, Warlock: Master of the Arcane. I also got a chance to preview the game and so I get to share some thoughts about it with you guys before you get a chance to buy it. So, now you get to read this real quick before you run over to your favorite digital distributor and pick this one up. So... read on, fellows... read on...

Well, clearly the first thing that you're going to think when you play this game is, "Wow... I'm playing Civilization V again!" Honestly, it's not a bad comparison... but we're not going to only think of it as a Civ clone, we'll also need to look at it on its own two feet. So, let's go through this thing one feature at a time, shall we?

First of all, when you start the game up, you obviously choose your ruler. There are several different rulers to choose from (with DLC inbound that increases that number even farther), and each have slightly different attributes. Furthermore, you can customize the attributes that you choose based on a certain point system if you want more customizability. Overall, it's a neat way of picking a hero... since you can actually do what you want to do. There will be three races to choose from on release, and each archmage can rule over each race this way.

Next, when you start with your small town and not much else, it's easy to look around and be slightly overwhelmed by the vastness of the lands around you... though you won't be able to see much through the fog of war, of course. As you start scouting your lands, building up your initial city, and overall preparing to get bigger, you'll see things are quite similar to Civilization V. The city screen is really similar, as well as the unit control scheme. As the fog of war is peeled back, the hexes of land and water which are uncovered will look quite familiar.

There is no unit stacking, so you don't need as much military as it might seem at first. Of course, when the enemy is massing at your doorstep, if you play like I do, you'll spam military units, because you don't know what else to do... and numbers always seems like a good idea. I have found that while playing though, I tend to get stuck in my own numbers. Especially with the rough terrain and whatnot, it's quite easy to get stuck when you're moving troops around. Mobility is really really important.

As you continue exploring you'll start finding the numerous amount of neutral towns that are scattered about the map (assuming that you allowed them to show up in the map generator). Oddly enough, the diplomacy options for these towns aren't exactly what you would expect from playing Civlization V. I'm guessing that it's my inexperience showing through, but I haven't been able to figure out how to do anything with them (other than level them of course... I've done that quite a few times... it is faster than building settlers usually).

Overall, my biggest complaint with the game is the lack of good diplomacy options. The AI doesn't deal with well with the player in diplomacy stuff, because they just don't have the ability to wheel and deal as they should. And I haven't figured out any way to have any sort of relations with the smaller neutral towns. They just seem to attack randomly whenever they sense your army close enough.

And finally, to end this thing off... one thing that sets this game worlds apart from Civilization V. I was really impressed by the fact that throughout the world are randomly placed gates which are normally guarded by some sort of monsters. When you finally do get to the gate and go through it, you are transported to a different world... a completely different plane of existence. I'm not entirely sure as to the point of wanting to conquer these other planes, but there's got to be some reason... perhaps different resources? Or a relatively safe place to build towns? I still have some exploration to do with this... but you need some pretty heavy troops to get through, since the monsters blocking both sides of the gate are pretty powerful. But it's a really really neat mechanic!

It's definitely a Civ clone, but does have a few neat things that are different about it. Other than that, it's a pretty impressive reskin with all fantasy units!

Note this is a preview build and it has been confirmed that there will be a large update on release day.

Alright, folks... I've decided that it's about time for a contest here on MMGaming.net, don't you think? To my knowledge, this is the first one that we've done here... and we're super excited about it! Also, we're even more excited to see some of your thoughts and reactions to our articles that we have here. So, without further ado, welcome to the first ever MMGaming.net contest! (Apparently that's a lie... this is not the first...but it's my first... so yay for new contests, right?)

So who here wants to win a copy of The Binding of Isaac? Oh, you've already played it? Have all of your friends played it? Do you want to be the one who introduces them to this fantastic game by winning a copy and giving it to them randomly? (You can even use it as trading fodder over on Steam trading forums if you want, I don't really care what you do with your winnings!) You interested now? Excellent! Well, then readers... let's find out how to enter such an illustriously prize-filled contest, shall we?

Here at MMGaming.net we've been discussing how to go about creating a better, larger community of people who talk and converse about the thing that we're all interested in... gaming! By looking at the viewing stats on here, we can see that we have a pretty solid reader base, but we never get to hear any of your thoughts! So, with that in mind, we've been throwing around the following ideas.

1) Forum - Do we need a forum? This would allow people to talk and converse not only with us, but also with each other and hopefully increase our reader base. Furthermore, it would give people a comfortable interface that they wouldn't need to fear when talking with us!

2) Different Web Site format - We've wondered if a blog setup isn't what you guys would like the best. Would it be better to have a different layout that was more 'normal' without it being a blog format?

3) Different Posting Schedule - Keep in mind that we have a relatively limited staff that has real lives and real jobs outside of this (I know, right... no one pays us for this amazing content?! How is that fair?), but we're wondering if a different posting schedule would interest any of you?

4) Other - Well, frankly, we're fairly amateur-ish at this whole building a community thing, so we're looking for ideas that we haven't even thought of. Do you have one? Please let us know what is!

How to Enter:

Make a comment to this article and let us know which of the above options you think we could implement that would better serve you and the community! We're looking for any feedback in this area at all, and we've decided to bribe you with the possibility of winning this game to get you to respond. Tell your friends and get them to post here as well, shall you?

And... that's it? See... I told you it would be super simple, eh?

End Date for Submissions:

Submissions are due by Midnight GMT May 31st, 2012! On June 1st, we'll be using a random number generator to decide which one of you is the lucky winner!

So once you've posted your comment, let your friends know and then you can hang out while reading Tim's review of Binding of Isaac until the end of the month! Keep in mind that the new expansion pack for Binding of Isaac is coming out soon (supposedly this month, right?)... so we can look forward to that, and another review then as well!

Bonus:

If we get over 100 people responding to this article (which is technically possible according to our user base), then we'll also be choosing another person who will be winning a copy of Scary Girl . Excited?! So are we!

Looking forward to reading all your comments! Happy Posting May!

Disclaimer: Only one post per user, please! Also, the prizes are Steam tradable gifts and as such will require a Steam account to receive them. We will be responding to the winners in June to send them their individual prizes! Thanks again!

With the open beta now finished the release date could not come sooner. For those of you that managed to get a taste of the beta you probably feel the same way, but for those that didn't get around to playing it I'm here to help. My opinion should be taken with a pinch of salt as I haven't actually played either of the previous games. With this is mind I won’t be able to make any comparisons to the previous games. Without further delay I bring to you my impressions of Diablo III.

I took the blind approach to the open beta since I had only ever heard of Diablo from friends. I had never seen what the game looked like or even had any knowledge of what type of game I had coming my way. What I was expecting was gameplay similar to World of Warcraft, by this I mean the 3^rd person view with the same numbered attack system and the WASD keys to move. Oh, how wrong was I? What I in fact got was a top down-ish (It's not a totally top down view) click to move and attack game, in all honesty I was happy to see something fresh... What? It was fresh for me at least...

There really is nothing to the character creation, once you choose what character to play you're given that character and, really, you can’t change a thing about their appearance. The choice of character classes have your basic Warrior and Mage (although it's called wizard... it’s the same thing) but you also have Witch Doctor, Demon Hunter and Monk. I instantly went for the Witch Doctor upon the discovery that he can summon zombie dogs to aid you in combat. I mean, what isn't appealing about having some trusty hounds of the dead by your side? So I go ahead and click confirm on the choice to play as a Witch Doctor. At this point I’m thinking “Damn, this guy has some pretty bad-ass armour”, then all of a sudden this pale naked old man is shaking around on my screen more than Michael J. Fox at a rave. What the hell?

Gross... He's all naked and stuff.

At the beginning of the beta you're plopped down outside of the town of Tristram, What I gathered from my naked old man's mumbling was that I was in search of the 'fallen star' and this was the place to start. I'm put on a narrow path leading to the town, upon reaching the front gate and clearing off a few of the undead, I chat to a nice young fellow who seems a tad too casual about talking to a naked old man... I'm worried about him... Overexposed to his naked grandfather or not, he kindly informed me that I should talk to Leah who is currently at the Inn. After I aid him and the other soldiers in clearing the last wave of the dead, the gates are opened and I rush into the town and towards the Inn. Nobody in the town seems at all bothered that I'm running around naked... I'm getting creeped out by this place now. I find Leah and have a little chat before being attacked by a team of sickly looking dudes that had just exploded into their previously hidden zombie forms, once they had been cleared I managed to gain my first level up!

Diablo really doesn't want you to miss your level ups, upon each level gained you explode in a magnificent explosion of gold explosiony glitter... explosion. At this level up I am granted a new skill that I can use with the right-click of my mouse, Grasp of the dead! This particular skill lets me sprout hands from the ground that wave around and slow my enemies advance towards me, even the sight of this fails to make the patrons of the inn blink twice and shrug it off as if they witnessed a baby vomit. Y'know that way you saw it but you wish you didn't? Yeah, I’m guessing that's how they reacted. After reaching level 6 you unlock skill runes, these runes allow for your attacks to have all sorts of additional effects or just give that attack a basic damage boost.

Deciding to trot on with the quest I'm instructed to seek out the Wretched Queen in the Old Ruins. Now these Wretched creatures are a bit of a pain to kill because they vomit on the ground, just like a baby does, and the undead crawl out from the sick covered ground to defend their master, thankfully nothing like a baby.

Ugh... Wish I didn't see that...

Once the Wretched Queen is dead you eventually head off to Adria's Hut with Leah and have to fight for your life against Captain Dalton who, after being turned into a zombie, gained the ability to create exploding spheres of ice randomly around the room that freeze you in place if you're damaged by them. Very frustrating if you manage to get caught by one. Up to now I had been playing myself so before continuing any further I decided to wait and play with MMGaming's very own Seb.

I wasn't entirely sure how the multiplayer worked since it wasn't an open world game. As it turns out you create a lobby of up to four people and begin at any point in the game that has previously been completed or up to the latest point that's been played. I couldn't tell if having two people in the game increased the number of enemies around the map or if they maybe just got stronger. Something that always causes a bit of conflict when playing a game like this with friends is who should get the loot? Diablo tackles this in a way in which I think is the most simple and effective method in a game like this. Each player has different loot drop from every fallen enemy and chest meaning there is no loot roll and no ninja looting. With a full 4 man team going all out on a dungeon boss everyone will have a fair chance at getting some loot that they actually want.

A massive aspect of the entire multiplayer experience is going to be the auction house. Diablo 3 will be introducing the ability to buy or sell in game items for actual real world currency. Personally I'm split either way on this. It could mean people making a living from playing the game and maybe even for myself to make a little bit of cash back from the game or it could mean if a player is rich out of the game world then they could just buy anything they want. I think I'm mainly leaning towards it being a positive thing that Blizzard are bringing to the game, the prospect of making some cash money from a game is quite exciting.

I'd like to wrap it up here by saying that I will most definitely be buying this game. I had plenty of fun playing it myself and even more fun playing along with Seb. I can't wait to get a full squad together and run through the more difficult parts of the game and watch the chaos unfold. The characters seem so diverse from each other that I could be playing one character, decide to switch to another and have it feel like a totally different game... Ok, not totally different but each class looks like it has its own playstyle and selling points. The point I'm trying to make here is that if you have the opportunity to buy the game then buy it without a second of hesitation!

The full game comes out on May 15^th so get saving money and be prepared to say farewell to your social life as you're immersed into the world of Diablo!

You can check out Seb and I playing together in the video below. We sort of talk over the various aspects and selling points of the game but mostly I get confused and shout at things.