One of the most anticipated games of the year has finally hit, and that game is Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception.

Not only is Uncharted 3 one of the most anticipated games of the year, it is also the sequel to 2009′s award winning Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. So needless to say, this game has alot to live up to, but does it?

Some sequels try and reinvent a series, others try to add more features than the previous, Uncharted 3 does the former. It takes everything from the previous two games and mashes it all into a pulse pounding conclusion to Drakes story (more on that later).  It once again features a cinematic singleplayer that will have you hooked from start to finish. However multiplayer and co-op make a return from Uncharted 2 albeit more robust this time around.

Uncharted has always been a singleplayer first, multiplayer second series and this game does not disappoint. Our hero, Nathan Drake is once again joined with Victor Sullivan and Elena Fisher but also teams up with Chloe Frazer from Uncharted 2 and, new to the Uncharted cast of protaganists, Charlie Cutter, a Jason Statham look-alike with a similar tough guy persona.

While this game is a direct sequel to Uncharted 2, it also delves into prequel territory by exploring how Drake met Sully and how their adventures began. Drakes overall goal is to uncover a secret long since hidden by Sir Francis Drake. However he isn’t the only one. A shadowy Organization led by Catherine Marlowe and her henchman Talbot are also after the secret and harry Drake every step of the way.

If you’ve played any of the previous Uncharted games you’ll know what to expect from this game. The singleplayer is largely made up of cinematic levels, with lots of climbing and puzzle solving between gun fights. There are only 22 chapters in in Uncharted 3 (As opposed to 26 in Uncharted 2) but is roughly about the same length. I clocked in at around 10 hours or so playing through on hard.

Gameplay wise Uncharted 3 is pretty similar to Uncharted 2, with a few exceptions. The melee is improved, with combos being easier to pull off. However the aiming has been tweaked, making it a bit harder to aim. The harder aiming is supposedly due to the inclusion of more recoil, but overall it just feels choppier than Uncharted 2. The climbing has also been improved, with jumps and grabbing hold of ledges being much easier.

Visually, the game is stunning. The attention to detail is noticeable in almost every level and the character models are Heavy Rain caliber. While running through a market level I couldn’t help but stop and examine some food carts and store fronts. This game also supports 3D, although I did not have the good fortune of having access to a 3DTV, it’s definitely something to check out if you do.

The soundtrack for the Uncharted series has also been great, and in addition  to the standard Uncharted theme and other various background tracks, Uncharted 3 adds in some of the local flavor by adding some middle eastern tunes to the mix. Playing this game really makes a person appreciate surround sound that much more, and if you are fortunate enough to have a surround system you’ll be glad you do.  Every chirp or rustle of leaves is music to your ears when exploring a ruined castle in the heart of a French forest.

Now before I dive into the multiplayer aspects of Uncharted 3,  there were a few quirks I had with the game. While every member of the cast is fantastic (Chloe especially, she puts the a** in fantastic), it seems like there are too many protagonists. While Drake gets the limelight throughout the entire game, the rest of our heroes get but a few chapters to make their appearance. Charlie Cutter may be the new hero introduced in Uncharted 3, but is notable absent from the second half of the game, along with Chloe. Elena on the other hand doesn’t even show her face until much later in the game. Even then, she only gets a few levels before being sent off to leave Drake to his heroics. This really took away from the importance of some of the characters, although not enough to detract from my opinion of the game.

This is the part where we starting stepping in some less than pleasant things. Naughty Dog really put much more effort into the multiplayer this time around, and it shows. There are a variety of different match types featuring everything from straight up deathmatch to capture the treasure. Getting into games was notorious in Uncharted 2 in the months following launch and this time around Naughty Dog released both a beta during the summer and one this past October as part of a Subway tie-in. All your stats are carried over from the subway beta, but not your sweet Subway gear. The betas did their job though, as finding games to join is easy and fast. The multiplayer itself is really a matter of preference, some may like it and some may not. There is a bit of imbalance in in the multiplayer, and many player are disgruntled with the fact that aiming and shooting is much less effective than bull-rushing an opponent while hip-firing and then finishing them off with a punch to the face. Take that as you will, but Naughty Dog did a commendable job making the multiplayer fun, which is of course, what matters most.

Finally, Uncharted 3 boasts a cooperative mode where you and up to 2 other friends can join forces in either a “survival” mode (think Gears of War horde mode), or “adventure” mode in which you are given objectives as you move through the level. Adventure mode does not differ much from survival mode so if you were expecting a co-op version of Uncharted’s singleplayerr prepare to be disappointed. A nifty feature Naughty Dog included is this little thing called splitscreen, allowing you to play with a friend in both co-op AND online multiplayer, something not many games let you do. However the splitscreen suffers from what I like to called “wasted space syndrome” in that a third of both screens are not used at all. Still, the fact that you can, in this day and age, still play couch co-op is great! However, I do need to add that whilst in splitscreen, the visual quality does take quite a hit and at times can  look more like Uncharted 1 than Uncharted 3.

Finally, the bonus features included in Uncharted 3 include a few features and concept art galleries that you unlock while playing through the singleplayer however both the option to watch any of the games beautifully animated cutscenes is no where to be found, along with the cheats and game options you could buy/unlock in Uncharted 3. This sadly means no playing as Doughnut Drake in singleplayer, though he does make an appearance in multiplayer.

Looking back, I realize this is quite the lengthy review, but I feel that a game that had such high expectations merits a full review. However, if all you read is this last paragraph, take away the fact that this may not be quite what Uncharted 2 was, but nevertheless is a game every PS3 owner should have in their library.

For a fantastic singleplayer, and more or less enjoyable multiplayer, Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception gets a respectable 4 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

I really liked last year’s DBZ game, Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit 2. It felt like the franchise had finally achieved some serious attention with a game that was both deep and fun.

This year, we get Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi, which feels like they took Burst Limit 2 out back and tried to killed it.

It’s not all grim. The character models look better, and there’s a different take on combat that is actually novel (but limited, more on that later)… but any good feelings are stomped by the game’s outlandish insistence on loading screen after loading screen after loading screen.

Ultimate Tenkaichi tosses another DBZ Story Mode on the fire. All the highlights you know and love, with some fresh additions… like Bardock’s fight against Freiza back when Goku was just a baby, for example. The game also includes massive boss characters, meaning you finally get to face off against Saiyans in Great Ape mode.

The structure for Story Mode, however, is a Great Bear. Encounters are selected by flying characters across a pointless overworld. Choosing a battle initiates a load, followed by a cutscene, and then another load. Finish the battle and win yourself another loading screen. The game helpfully puts a terrible minigame on the loading screen, a sure sign that the developer knows there’s a problem but has no real good idea what to do about it.

The battle controls shift to something less like a fighting game and more like constant Quick Time Events. Whether you’re in short range or long range mode (which determines if your buttons throw punches/kicks or ki blasts), you’re working up to triggering a “clash” that ends in either your or your opponent winning a QTE faceoff. Faceoffs can be chained into a sequence of pre-animated attacks that do a nice job of replicating DBZ-style battles.

Which will look neat the first time. After the fiftieth? Not as neat.

Unlike Burst Limit 2′s special attack system, Ultimate Tenkaichi makes character-specific attacks an oasis in the desert: rare and often an illusion. You need to meet certain conditions to pull off a special attack – both specific energy levels and position on the battlefield – and I felt like most battles were skating by without me ever reaching that point. Whether I was in Story Mode or Hero Mode or Tournament Mode, every battle became a race to get in the required number of attacks to initiate a clash, win the clash (which is little more than a coin flip) and then string together the big high-damage QTE hits.

Like I said, it’s a novel system, turning a fighting game into a QTE faceoff, it just needs way more options and animations… and even way more QTE challenges themselves. Holding left and hitting square will sail you through the QTEs almost every time.

I’ve often complained of the DBZ games’ pattern of ignoring the anime’s non-fighter characters, like Bulma and Master Roshi. Ultimate Tenkaichi makes a move towards opening up the playing field with all-new massive boss battles. No, it’s not Mr. Popo, but at least you get to fight something outside of the usual Toriyama musclemen.

Perhaps the single best addition is the ability to create your own Z-fighter in Hero Mode and tackle a wholly different Dragon Ball alterna-verse. Familiar characters will show up for fights, but it’s against a customizable, RPG-lite battler of your own design. There are even different voices to choose from, meaning the game bothered to have eight or so different voices run the script for the entire Hero Mode storyline.

Again, this is all great… except that you’re still stuck in the same repetitive QTE combat, chaining together similar attacks for the same net result.

In the end, it’s the constant, lengthy load screens that do more damage than anything else. DBZ fans are likely willing to sit through another tired replay of the storyline in order to experience a new combat system or see a few new characters… but nobody should have to sit on their controller for this long between bouts. Head back to Burst Limit 2, DBZ fans.

For a bulky, repetitive framework that wrecks some otherwise nice graphics and animation, Dragon Ball Z – Ultimate Tenkaichi gets 2 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

Dragon Ball Z – Ultimate Tenkaichi was released October 2011 (NA) on PS3 and 360.
Rated T

Check out other Dragon Ball Z reviews at Test Freaks.

As for the actual content for this week’s podcast, we cover all sorts of crazy stuff including the idea of whether pricing for downloadable games should drive the price of games downwards, the new Sony Play event and yes, how Fourhman wishes to be swaddled in a comfortable baby bjorn nested on Haygood’s chest.

Wait, that may not have come out as well as it could have, but that is the Aeropause crew for you.  Always making your day more uncomfortable for an hour at a time.

The podcast was mixed, by Stephen “Needing some Baby Bjorn Swaddling” Munn, and features “Droid Girl”, performed by Lazyitis.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below. Also make sure to review us on iTunes and now, the Zune Marketplace. If you have not yet, make sure to visit our Facebook Fan Page.

This week on the Aeropodcast, Fourhman, Haygood and Stephen discuss what might have been behind the recent decision from Nintendo to cut the price of the 3DS by $80.  Did they feel the pressure of the Vita shipping at the end of the year at the same price, or could it have been due to slow sales for the device after four months.  Or is it the pains of having to compete against the likes of the Android and iPhone devices that are selling us games for a $1.00 a pop.  We look at all of those avenues, as well as answering a question from Harshy about whether it is wiser to buy a 3DS now and get all the free games Nintendo is offering, or just wait for the price cut to get it.

The podcast was mixed, by Stephen “Guaranteed Low Prices” Munn, and features “Droid Girl”, performed by Lazyitis.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below. Also make sure to review us on iTunes and now, the Zune Marketplace. If you have not yet, make sure to visit our Facebook Fan Page.

First, if you register with the site under your PSN ID, you instantly receive a PSN code good for a small pack of PlayStation ephemera: PSN avatars, theme and Home goodies. Not the most amazing free offer ever, but I’ll take it.

Second, check out the goof in the registration survey (after the jump). Apparently our pals at Joystiq are a genre unto themselves.

Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One is in stores November 18, and that’s the real reason why PSN members are getting this notice.

It’s a unique idea, Dead Block. The $9.99 PSN/XBLA release takes the usual third-person zombie-killing action approach and jams it into an intriguing tower defense format. The hero characters are locked in a building and must survive waves of zombies that keep piling in through the open windows. Rather than focusing on shotguns and gore, Dead Block asks that you deal with the horde by quickly installing silly traps inside the windows and door frames. While the undead are being frozen into popsicles or whacked on the head with rolling pins, you’re kept busy by turning the rooms inside-out in search of the hidden items that will let you finish the level.

The game bears a superficial resemblance to beloved trap-oriented franchises Dungeon Keeper and Deception, although Dead Block is nowhere near as complex.

But first: the setting. Yes, this is yet another zombie game (although at least this is one that gives us something to do aside from shooting them.) Dead Block also happens to be set in the 1950s, transposing a whitebread “Leave It to Beaver” world against the slow-moving horror of rampaging ghouls. Interestingly, the playable characters sort of aren’t 1950s cliches at all. I would have expected a Grinning Omnipotent Dad, or a tough teen greaser. Instead you cycle between Jack Foster (burly construction worker), Mike Bacon (chubby boy scout) and Foxy Jones (tough traffic warden.) Is there anything specifically ’50s about that cast? This is not a complaint, just an observation.

The reason for the trio is that Dead Block revolves around three key actions: building, searching and shooting. Each character specializes in one of the three, and I’ll let you figure out which is which because it won’t take long. Each character also has a specific set of barricade only he or she can build. Only Jack can build the mighty Concrete wall that will never crumble; only Foxy can install the Bomb barrier that clears out a zombie-packed room. And only Mike can build the trap that dumps poop on enemies as they shamble through, which somehow reduces their health bar and allows them to inadvertently spread the crap infection to nearby zombies.

Even though you do not always get the option to play as all three in the same level, the general idea is to take control of the one you need, when you need to make sure his or her special skills need to be best levied. I tended to walk Jack into a room full of stuff and let his AI take over to start demolishing furniture for wood, while I built the awesome Bomb traps with Foxy.

If you absolutely must kill zombies with your bare hands, you can whack them with a frying pan or other character-specific weapon. In a one-on-one contest, you’ll probably be okay – characters self-heal over time – but if you’re surrounded it is unlikely you’ll survive. For the direst of dire situations, each character also has a unique mega-attack that automagically upgrades over the course of the game. Foxy ends up with a shotgun (sigh) that kills the twelve nearest zombies without you having to aim, while Mike is granted the ability to toss a distractingly delicious cheeseburger into the room to pull the horde’s attention away from you.

This may all sound very cool and inventive, but Dead Block seems to simply not have had enough thought put into it. The zombie traps tend to be unbalanced and one-note, never creating opportunities for the ridiculous trap combos of Dungeon Keeper or Deception. So you can more or less focus on putting Bomb traps EVERYWHERE since they are easily the most useful barricade. There is no incentive to branch out into the other types (unless you’re in one of the early levels where Foxy is not a playable character… and in that case you’ll probably just use Jack’s freeze door and do a lot of ice smashing.) You end up building the same traps and using the same strategy on every map.

Searching items is meant to invoke the B-movie suspense of the harried hero rushing through closets and drawers looking for weaponry. Dead Block creates that tension by making you click through the shoulder buttons to simulate rooting through junk, but all you find is a nut. Nuts are used to build traps, but I’ll be damned if the game ever explains how it decides what traps you earn by finding nuts. You just collect yer nuts and watch your inventory count to see what traps are made available.

Then there’s the level finisher, a supposedly triumphant display of the power of rock-and-roll. Your primary goal is to locate the three parts of the world’s cheapest Rock Band kit: a guitar, an amp, and something else that hooks up to a guitar and an amp. Once you find all three, you end the level with the worst rhythm minigame ever designed, a slow-yet-picky PaRappa pastiche set to a barely-variating series of guitar riffs. For some reason, hearing rock music stops the zombies. If I’m to believe the end-level cutscenes, it doesn’t even kill them. Just stops them. So I’m not sure why we’re bothering.

And while Dead Block deserves points for including some pleasantly genuine-sounding 1950s proto-Elvis music, it promptly loses them for making us listen to the same moany song at the end of every level. Also: the game’s final level scoreboard (where you get some nice stats on how much furniture you destroyed and how many zombies were killed) popped up on top of the credit scroll. That is just plain unpolished. The cinematics that preface each level – poorly mimicking 1950s horror movie trailers – are also no great shakes.

However, Dead Block does a great job at modeling 1950s furniture! It is all viewed through a kooky MAD Magazine lens, but I liked seeing the bean-shaped designs and smooth chrome that define ’50s America.

While crafting a third-person action-oriented tower defense is a laudable goal, I spent the entire game wishing I was seeing the events from the usual top-down perspective, placing traps and protecting innocents from my comfortable birds-eye view. Which Bomb trap just went off? Hey, I don’t know, I’m stuck inside a bathroom two floors up.

This is indie developer Candygun Games’ first release, so we can chalk up Dead Block as a learning experience. My suggestion is to learn to avoid zombie games.

For an unfinished, poorly explained take on a decent tower defense concept, Dead Block gets 2 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

Dead Block was released July 2011 (NA) on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.
Rated T

Check out Dead Block and other PSN reviews at Test Freaks.

This week on the Aeropodcast, we celebrate the San Diego Comic Con by talking about some of the best, and worst that have come to gamers with superhero adaptations.  Of course, the game above is mentioned, but we look at some classic titles and more when it comes to superhero games.

Also, we talk up the recent clearance bonanza for those that visited CheapAssGamer.com and got in on the $15 Guitar Hero/DJ Hero bundles.  Who went in, and who skipped out on this deal.  We were also joined by S-Tip in the episode who, as most cool kids do, talks about himself in the third person and talks about the trials and tribulations of being in a multi-million dollar selling band.

The podcast was mixed, by Stephen “S-Tip” Munn, and features “Droid Girl”, performed by Lazyitis.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below. Also make sure to review us on iTunes and now, the Zune Marketplace. If you have not yet, make sure to visit our Facebook Fan Page.

So this week on the Aeropodcast, besides being on time for a change, we have a decent discussion about the recent spat between Origin and Steam and what it means to gamers in the long run.  But before we even got to that point, Fourhman and Haygood also dropped into the hatred surrounding the announcement of the newest entry into the Burnout franchise, Burnout CRASH.  Yeah, it does not end well for Criterion on that one.

The podcast was mixed, by Stephen “Podcast?  I’m Watching the X-Men Cartoons!” Munn, and features “Droid Girl”, performed by Lazyitis.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below. Also make sure to review us on iTunes and now, the Zune Marketplace. If you have not yet, make sure to visit our Facebook Fan Page.

Now today SOE announced a $9.99 content pack, based on the stellar adventures of the Green Lantern Corps. Which would probably be more of a draw if the Ryan Reynolds movie had turned out to be a better box office performer. Nevertheless, as a Green Lantern fan, I squeed all over the brief press release.

So what does ten bucks get you? The “Fight for the Light” DLC pack adds a new power set – Light – and three new scenarios: STAR Labs, Coast City, and the Sciencells Prison on Oa. The press desc also makes it sound like Earth’s Greatest Green Lantern, Hal Jordan himself, will be the mentor for these missions. If there’s new Trophies, this may be a good excuse to forge a new Lantern character and climb up that 30-rung ladder all over again. Although it really doesn’t say if you get to actually join a Corps (Green, Red and Yellow are name-dropped) or if you just end up with a character that has highly similar light construct powers.

With such sparse details, it’s difficult to say whether $9.99 is a fair addition. But man it sure seems like a tough pill to swallow for a game that is already in freefall. New screens and official word follow.

ATTENTION HUMANS OF EARTH: DC UNIVERSE ONLINE WANTS YOU FOR THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS!

SOE Expands the World of DC Universe Online with All-New Downloadable Content Pack

SAN DIEGO – July 11, 2011 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) today announced the first Downloadable Content (DLC) pack for DC Universe Online (DCUO), “Fight for the Light.” Featuring DC Comics favorite The Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and the introduction of the game’s seventh power set – Light, the new downloadable content will be available this summer for both PC and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.

“The Green Lantern has been a mainstay for DC Comics fans for more than 60 years, and is a fan favorite among our players,” said Mark Anderson, Game Director of DC Universe Online. “We’ve listened to the feedback, and fans can now create their own Lantern-inspired characters including the use of light powers.”

In addition to the new light power set, players will also be able to interact with Green Lantern based characters and content in DC Universe Online in these all-new gameplay scenarios:

S.T.A.R. Labs – Deep within S.T.A.R Labs, Brainiac seeks to control experimental devices that will allow him to harness the power source behind the Lantern Corps’ rings. This attack throws the Lantern Corps into chaos, and players must join a fragile truce between the Green and Yellow Lantern Corps to bring the powerful devices back under S.T.A.R. Labs’ control.

Coast City – Players must battle their way through the “City Without Fear” to Ferris Aircraft, the home of fighter ace Hal Jordan. Here they face the unbridled rage of the Red Lantern Corps in a showdown to save the city and the Universe.

Sciencells Prison – On the Green Lantern Corps’ home planet Oa, heroes will join with Guy Gardner to stop a prison break that threatens to release the most feared prisoners of the Green Lantern Corps. Villains will fight alongside Sinestro as he attempts to release the Green Lantern Corps’ greatest foes and retrieve the evil Lyssa Drak from her emerald powered prison cell.

Green Lantern offers another exciting superhero for PC and PS3 players to join forces with in their epic battles online, following DCUO’s ongoing combat missions featuring other DC Comics legends such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker and Lex Luthor.

DC Universe Online’s “Fight for the Light” DLC pack will be available for download for $9.99 USD this summer for PC and PlayStation®3 players.

DC Universe Online is licensed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on behalf of DC Entertainment. For more information about DC Universe Online, visit www.DCUniverseOnline.com.

In the second half of our double header podcast post today, Fourhman and Haygood talk about the decision by Capcom to use a single save game that cannot be deleted, meaning that things unlocked will stay unlocked.  Is it a big deal that only one person can unlock this stuff, or for this style of game it does not matter as much?  We also talk about the idea that this is solely being done with this title to remove the option of trading in the game, as the game would in a sense, be broken for a future owner, as everything would be unlocked.

We also have a quick discussion on the idea of Wii U for people and if it can be successful as well as the recent Supreme Court decision on California’s violent video game law.

The podcast was mixed, by Stephen “Nobody Does Straight Gangsta’ Like Me” Munn, and features “Droid Girl”, performed by Lazyitis.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below. Also make sure to review us on iTunes and now, the Zune Marketplace. If you have not yet, make sure to visit our Facebook Fan Page.