Top 10 Games of 2011

Here's a list (in a random order) of 10 of my favourite iOS, Xbox 360, 3DS/DS & PSP games (That I played this year).

10 - Temple Run (iOS) - I keep talking about this FREE game for a reason. It's the closest iOS is getting to an Uncharted game til God knows when. Pick it up!

9 - Rock Band Unplugged (PSP) - The first PSP game I picked up when I first got my PSP. I love the gameplay in this one. Addicting and fun and also good that there's some DLC songs for this one.

8 - Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) - This is a damn great Mario game. Great nods to the original and Mario 3 and Mario 64. On it's own, it is sure to be a classic Mario title.

7 - Batman Arkham City Lockdown (iOS) - If you don't have the time (or money) for the console version of Arkham City then be sure to pick up this title. It is short and it is fun. It may be a little tricky at times though.

6 - NHL 07 (PSP) - I always wanted an NHL game on the go. This is the best NHL on the go game I've played and I've only played 3 or 4. My only complaint is it's 07. I want NHL 12 on the go.

5 - Jackass the game (PSP) - You may not like that it's a mini game collection BUT you can make your own episodes/season of Jackass so what's not to love?

4 - Asphalt 3D (3DS) - The first 3D game I got for my 3DS and it's fun, even though the 3D is good at some points in the game. This game is good but you may want the 3D off.

3 - NHL 12 (Xbox 360) - It may feel like NHL 11 most of the time but the little tweaks and fixes here & there really help the game from being another NHL 11.

2 - Major League Baseball 2K11 (DS) - I played A LOT of portable baseball games, I like my baseball but this one takes the cake. Looks great, controls great and the audio is not that bad. I was very impressed with this one.

1 - Guitar Hero (iOS) - Even though this list is not in an order, this game would be number one anyway, it is my favourite game of 2011. Great flashy graphics, fun gameplay, it's better then the Rock Band iOS titles and DLC. No matter what this is MY Game of the Year!

Captain America: The First Avenger (Movie) Review

If you read my Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty for iOS review, you already know that I wasn't impressed with this movie. Now first off, I will say I wasn't impressed with the movie because Captain America just bores me. The action is ok and the acting is decent. Hugo Weaving was great as Red Skull and looked really cool, thanks to make up and special effects and what not.
I did really like how the world looked in the 40's and how Tony Stark's father played a bit in this. That I thought was really cool. The guy they got to play Stark's dad did look a bit like Robert Downey Jr a bit, which is cool. But in the end, I dozed in and out of this movie. The main highlight of the movie for me was when Captain America woke up in modern times and is approached by Nick Fury. That was the movie for me. Everything else was ok but just so boring. That being said, I can only recommend Captain America: The First Avenger if you wanna know the origins about the Captain or if you're hyping up for the Avengers next year.

My First Hour with Grand Theft Auto 3 for iOS

I never was too close to GTA 3 when I was younger. I did play it but I didn't fully enjoy it because I was screwing around in Vice City. But I do love the GTA series and for the one game that really helped bring up the open world game genre to iOS, I really had to check it out. I downloaded it when I was in class and I only got to play about the first 15 - 20 minutes of the game. Now because I never played GTA 3's story before, the cut scenes and what happens were new to me. The graphics look like a bit nicer then they do on the PlayStation 2 and for a PlayStation 2 game to be running on a device smaller than a PSP, I was extremely impressed. The one thing I was a little worried about was how would the controls be, but the controls are easy to get used to. There is an analog stick on one side of the screen to move Claude and the other half the screen has the jump button, run button, punch and when you're near a car a door icon will appear and you can steal a car. To switch weapons or change the radio station, you gotta swipe across the screen, which took a bit of getting used to but it's all good.
When I got home is when I really got into the game and I'm really digging it.
Now if Rockstar games can release Grand Theft Auto: Vice City next year for iOS, I'll be one happy camper.

Stay tuned here for a full review of Grand Theft Auto 3 for iOS soon.

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (iOS) Review

How is the First Avenger on iOS? Well...it's good, it's fun, it's just I wasn't really entertained by it.
Like the movie, I wasn't entertained by Captain America. The game plays out like Mirror's Edge for iOS. 2D side scroller, you run across levels, slide your finger across to beat up bad guys, get combos, so on and so on. It is fun but ONLY if you loved the movie, now I didn't really enjoy the movie, I thought it was ok and that's why I didn't really enjoy myself here. The story is told throughout comic book style cut scenes. Also there is really bad and repetitive audio from the Captain and after the 3rd level, I gave up on the game, it got really boring. The music wasn't great either. I didn't fully hate the game because it is a good game, graphics are decent and the cut scenes are cool that it's told through this comic book style story. Oh and it loosely follows the movie. So again, I only recommend this IF you loved the Captain America movie or if you liked the gameplay style of Mirror's Edge for iOS. If you are like me and you thought the movie was ok then stay the hell away from this game!

Thor: Son of Asgard (iOS) Review

A game that looks this good IS that bad. 


Thor was a damn great movie. It is my favourite out of all these solo-Avenger flicks. 
Thor plays like most 3D Hero adventure games I've played on iOS, on one side of the screen is the analog to move the character and on the other side you get 3 buttons, one to attack, one to block and one for magic attacks. I didn't enjoy Thor because I don't know much about the character so I got confused and lost very easily with this story, which I don't even know what the hell is going on, I gave up on the story here. You do hear Thor speak but only during gameplay and it's little quick sayings and it sounds so bad that I laughed at it half the time. Another thing I hated about Thor is that it was EXTREMELY repetitive and I found myself replaying the same level over and over AND OVER again just trying to beat this one part. 
This one is a bad buy. Do not download it. If you know the characters and the Thor universe, you might like the story but still do not get it, it is a bad buy in the end.

Thor (Movie) Review

Hot damn is this movie good! 

This is my favourite of the solo-Avenger flicks. The story is the origins of Thor and it does a damn good job at telling you about the character. One of my favourite things about the movie was the acting. The acting in the movie was spectacular! Chris Hemsworth does a damn good job at playing the Godly hero and he does it with humour and how he interacts with our world ... like when he likes a drink. ANOTHER! 

Anthony Hopkins also does a great job and Tom Hiddleston was great for the bad guy but the reason he is the bad guy is a reason we've seen in a few movies before already. 

The movie is really humourous and one thing I really loved about the movie is all the things in Asgard is extremely visually pleasing. It all looks very beautiful and incredible to just look around the screen and take it all in. 

This is the best one of the bunch and I think just on it's own, it's a great movie! You should watch this one no matter what!

Iron Man 2 (iOS) Review

For 5 bucks you can feel like Iron Man, but it's mainly worth it for the flying. The game does look pretty good, like it looks like a playstation 1 game and that's always a good thing with me. The audio is great because Robert Downey Jr comes in to do voice work for Tony Stark, the new guy that plays Rhodes comes in, and it's good that the game has the cast of the movie. It's better then having a badly voiced Tony Stark. It loosely follows the movie, I don't know if you fight Whiplash, I haven't gotten there yet though because the game keeps kicking my ass with its repetitive enemies and sometimes unresponsive controls, like I would like to turn but for some reason he's shooting a laser from his chest. Just why? I want to TURN! NOT SHOOT! 
If Gameloft worked on the controls, I can recommend this a lot easier BUT if you do wanna play Iron Man 2, just wait til it's on sale. It's Christmas, it's probably on sale now or should be soon.

Iron Man 2 (Movie) Review

That's a little bit more like it! Iron Man 2 delivered a hell of a lot of great action, humour & War Machine! This really felt like it was picking up the Avengers a lot mainly because Samuel L Jackson (Playing as Samuel L Jackson with an eye patch) had more to do with Nick Fury and SHIELD and once again, I loved Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, he really turned himself into the role, much like Tobey MacGuire did with Spider-Man. When I see Tobey MacGuire I see Spider-Man, when I see Robert Downey Jr, I see both Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes. He really does a great job on both his franchises. And Iron Man 2, it is a lot better then the first and I loved how this was more Avenger-ish, getting that movie ready. It's a nerd-treat is what this movie is and I think you should defiently watch this! Great action / comic book movie!

The Incredible Hulk (Movie) Review

I find it sad that this is the only Hulk related review I'm doing over the course of this Avengers week but oh well, what are ya gunna do. The movie is a reboot to the Eric Bana Hulk movie which I thought was ok, the problem I had with that movie was it was there was too much story but here there was more action and I did enjoy the action, this is a better Hulk movie but again this movie falls like the Iron Man movie, there just wasn't enough from the final boss fight. I wish there was more. The acting from everyone was great, Edward Norton was great as Banner and half the movie is pretty much him running. Way to keep in shape. Again, nice little bit to nod to The Avengers movie. I did enjoy this movie, it's worth watching so check it out!

Iron Man (Movie) Review

Iron Man, the first movie, is the start to all this Avenger movie talk, what with the little bit after the credits but how is the movie? Really good. Robert Downey Jr does a great job at playing a rich boy with a lot of tech at his disposal. The story is obviously the origins of Iron Man and it does it with a modern take on the story which sounds like it might suck but it is really cool. The action and special effects are some of the highlights of the movie, but to me, Robert Downey Jr, the action, the humour and the actual suit itself are the highlights of the movie. The only downside I have to say about the movie is the final boss fight is a little anti-climatic. I wish there was a little bit more to the boss fight, it would or could have been something really epic but it was just an ok boss fight, nothing too spectacular but the movie itself is defiently worth watching. Check it out!

Batman Arkham City Lockdown (iOS) Review

Yes that is an iOS game

A few days before Batman Arkham City Lockdown came out, I was looking through the app store to see if there was a Batman game. LEGO Batman does not count. Then a day later and I heard this game was released and I was a little creeped out. But anyhoo, Batman Arkham City Lockdown is pretty much, just a mini version of Arkham City for the iOS device of your choice. The game is short, there's 3 levels and one boss level and you do this 4 times. The 4 bosses are hit and miss, I'm not too familiar with EVERY Batman villain, but I did like fighting Two face and Joker and I was happy to see that every boss fight did have a different tactic to defeat them, which is nice and another thing I really liked about this is you just pretty much swipe on the screen to punch, kick and block from your enemy. It is nice to see that it's different from the MARVEL hero games with 3 buttons and those are (screen)button mashers. The audio is really great here and is perfect with the Boss battles, especially when you fight Joker. The graphics are my favourite part about it, the game looks INCREDIBLE. There is voice acting from all the bosses and the bad guys. Batman never says a word. Now I have no idea if this voice acting was either just for the game or if it's ripped from the full Arkham City game, I don't know but I'm not gunna complain, I love that there's voice acting and I love Mark Hamill as the Joker. He is perfect for the Joker. There are in-store purchases, but it's only for more bat suits, there is the animated series Batman, Batman Beyond and The Dark Knight Returns Batman. They all do play out differently, some cause more damage, some are faster, one is slower and the game shows a bit of replayability for a few things, if you want to fully upgrade Batman, you gotta keep playing, beating bad guys, getting points, upgrading Bats. This game does have a good amount of extras to keep you entertained too, there's the Batman Arkham City comics but there's only issues 1, 5 & 7. Why those 3 I have no idea. There are wallpapers that you can save and put it as your lock screen picture or home screen which I thought was really amazing. 
You pay 6, 7 dollars for the game, the game is short, but really amazing if you're a bat fan and you get a really great amount of extras which makes the 6, 7 dollars really worth it. If you don't have the time to play Arkham City or if you're too cheap to get it then get this. This is an impressive game and a great package for the price. Bat fans go crazy.

5 Game Apps That Are Worth It's Price Tag

These are 5 paid game apps to keep you entertained if the freebies are starting to bore you.


And Here. We. Go!

Oh Sh--

5 - Call of Duty Black Ops Zombies - I've been playing alot of Zombies since I got it on my iTouch and it's like having a console in your hand. It looks really damn good. You get one map to start with and the entire Dead Ops arcade mini game in one beautiful package. It is 7 dollars and worth every penny. More maps are coming in the near future in updates and will be free. Sweet.


4 - Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit - Even though it's toned down from it's console brother, the app version still looks really good and plays really smoothly. This game is alot of fun on the go, and the same feeling you get from the console version, either the thrill of getting away from the cops as a runner or the cheer of taking down runners is still here and it's worth its 5 dollar price tag.

Run!

3 - Temple Run - This is the only FREE game on here but for a damn good reason. It's a very Uncharted / Indiana Jones-esque game. It's an endless runner though but it's free, great to look at, very addicting, simple controls and a damn good download!


2 - UFO on Tape - Believe in UFOs? Wanna keep it on tape? UFO on Tape is the game for that practice of trying to keep the UFO on camera for as long as you can. It is A LOT of fun and addicting, you'll be running around in circles just trying to keep that UFO on screen for the high score.

This might hurt...a little

1 - Spider-Man: Total Mayhem - One of the best portable Super Hero games I've ever played. Beautiful looking graphics. Great audio, cast work. Simple controls and still fun to play after you've beaten it. If you're a comic book nerd or if you're big on Spider-Man, this is worth every penny!

Stardash (iOS) Review

As much as it looks like a trip down memory lane it's not really that much fun. There is SOME fun to it but it's just TOO incredibly difficult. I got about 10, 15 levels in and it got incredibly difficult. This game is harder then Super Meat Boy and that game was something else. So I'm keepin this review short...If you like incredibly hard games like Super Meat Boy, this is for you but I want to stay sane so this is a stay away.

5 Apps That You Might Find Useful!

This is a list of 5 apps I currently use and find extremely useful and helpful. Maybe they might help you out. Just before we start I just want to say if you are interested in ANY of these apps, all 5 of these apps are free on the app store!


5 - Flipboard - It's like your social life and a newspaper if it had a baby, this would be it. You can get twitter updates, news from gaming, music, technology, sports, photography and more from this app. This is a really cool app.

4 - My Xbox Live - This app lets you check in on your 360 avatar, dress him, message friends, check achievements. This is a really cool 360 app, the only downside I've found in it so far is you can't take pictures of your avatar.


3 - Google Search - This is what it sounds like. It is just the Google search engine. Really worth the free price tag if you're always searching for stuff. Also it's faster then bringing up Safari and waiting for Google to load.


2 - Remote - This app works with the apple TV & iTunes on a computer but I don't have an apple TV so I only got to try it out on the computer and it is what it sounds like. Is iTunes playing a song you don't really want to listen to but you're too lazy to get up? Get your iTouch, iPhone or whatever has remote on it, pick the song and switch. Technology is at it's finest when we're sitting on our asses.

1 - Blogger / WordPress - I had to put these two in here just because I'm getting really used to them both already. These two apps make my iTouch feel like it's a mini laptop. Like I said in my previous post, if you're a blogger on the go without a laptop, these are two apps worth getting! They're both free!

The Muppets Movie Review

The Muppets is a sequel and a reboot to the Muppets franchise and this movie really reminded me of Toy Story 3 because if you know and love the characters, you will cry. I cried at Toy Story 3 because it got to me, I knew all the characters and I grew up with them. If you grew up with these characters then this will be your Toy Story 3. Now the story behind it is Tex Richman (Played by Chris Cooper) want to turn the old Muppet threatre into an oil rig. So it's up to Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Jason's brother Walter to reunite the Muppet gang, put on a show and raise 10 million dollars to save it. The music in this movie is, dare I say it...good. 


Yes the music in this movie is actually really good, really nicely done and a few tunes are actually really catchy and rememberable. There is one tune that actually stood out for me during this and it has got to be the funniest thing I've ever seen. Jason Segel as a Muppet and the musical number that supported the scene. It was my favourite scene in the whole movie, it made the movie for me.


Another thing about the movie is how many cameos and big stars were in it, Jack Black, Zach Galifianakis, NPH, John Krasinski, all the cast was great, the cameos were even better. Just everything about this movie was really fun and great and I loved it and I highly recommend this movie. Go see it this weekend!