BLOODFORGE

What the game says it is: You play Crom a celtic warrior that has seen endless battles and has finally come to rest with his family, until one day after a hunt he has a different dream then his normal nightmares, he dreams of a fight with the gods. He then awakes to his villge burning attacked by the gods minions, he tries to find his family, tragedy ensues and he swears revenge.

What the game actually is: Blood forge is a third person hack and slash where you play Crom a celtic warrior who swears revenge against the gods for the death of his family.

Graphic and sound: The color scheme and art of the game reminds one of a graphic novel giving it a 300, Sin City type of look which adds a good deal to the overall feel and play of the game. The sounds are ok with nothing annoying and vocie acting that is good for story related scenes.

How game play was: The hack and slash is easy to learn and combos can be easy to perform. You have the ability to buy magic upgrades at the blood forge with the currency being the blood life energy of your fallen foes. The game quickly becomes a button masher as piles of enemies come at you, the boss fights are fun and interesting with similar elements to them, at some point in each, the boss creates minions for you to fight.

The good: The good graphics, ok game play and decent story mix well together.

The bad: The story is too short and has the feel of "I have done this, been through this story before".

The ugly: The camera angles can somtimes work against you and the difference in melee weapons doesn't seem to make a difference to how you do in battle.

Overall: It was too short of a game, however, I did enjoy going through the game. I enjoyed the look of the game, it felt more often then not that I was reading a graphic novel and the game moved at a good pace. All in all making me wish for a sequel. This is defiantly a game that I will play again in the future.

PTSD: 4

Why I rated it: For the death of the villagers and family as well as the grossly violent game play with limbs, heads and even guts flying everywhere as well as copious amounts of blood.

TOO HUMAN

What the game says it is: In the hands of one god rests the fate of all mankind. You play as Baldur the youngest Aesir and ODIN'S favorite son. You are also the most beloved amongst the humans. You fight to destroy the different machine threats suck as goblins, dark elves and trolls amonst other threats such as Loki, his daughter and her hordes.

What the game actually is: It is a combined shooter, hack and slash that has large RPG elements. You level up and can put points in skills. You can also, to some extent, craft and customize weapons and armor infusing some with runes of power.

Graphic and sound: The graphics are good and the cinematics are nicely rendered. The sounds are also good although certain levels the music can be annoying after a bit. All characters have vocies that add depth and do not distract from the story.

How game play was: The controls are interesting having your gun being the RT button and melee being the right control stick which take a bit of getting used to. Once you get the hang of it you can do some fun moves like launching your enemies up in the air and then juggling and keeping them in the air by shooting them depending on how many enemies were swarming me I would do this repeatedly to one enemy until it dies and fades away, which can be lots of fun.

The good: The game is fairly easy to learn to play despite the difference in controls from most games I have played. The story is really an interesting take on Norse Mythology.

The bad: Hordes of enemies can quickly overtake and bring you down, happening just about every battle in the game.

The ugly: Every time you go down and temporally die you are lifted right back to battle by a valkyrie. You can't skip this sequence and it can get frustrating fast, especially in the latter levels were I died a lot. 

The cinematics overall are good  but can't really be skipped. Although you can adjust the camera angles getting onto the right target area agansit a troll, which is important to defeat, can be a little bit more difficult then it should be.

Overall: This is one of the few games that I read the review before I bought the game, I usually don't do this as I like to judge games on their own merits and not off a comparison to other games, which a lot of reviews tend to do. The review was pretty negative towards the game with grips about graphics and the ending and story in genral as well as what I have put in the ugly.

I liked this game, it was interesting and fun with a lot of different aspects that i enjoy in games. It is one that I have played many times when reaching difficult spots in other games I am trying to beat. I still have fun with this game and I am trying to get the rest of the achievements. This game has a multiplayer and co-op modes that unfortunately I still havnt been able to play online.

PTSD: 4

Why I rated it: The shooting, explosions as well as the constant swarm of enemies and the death comments of the human warriors you take with you on your missions.