Left 4 Dead 2 Demo early to preorders?

Well if you are one of the many people I game with online you know how much I love Left 4 Dead, and you probably know that I am super excited for Left 4 Dead 2.

So anyway the other day Valve confirmed that the Left 4 Dead DLC Crash Course will be dropping on the 29th which is very cool, also they announced the demo for Left 4 Dead 2 will be dropping October the 27th. Now here is where things get hazy; I was doing some searching and came across a tidbit that mentioned the 27th date is the day people who preordered will be able to download the demo, the rest will probably have to wait a few days before getting their rotting hands on it.

Stay tuned here for more news as I find it.

Till next time loyal readers.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 XBOX 360 Review

Well it's been awhile since I have update this blog but its a good one this time I promise you.

So earlier this week on Tuesday the 15th Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 released in the US, now I don't know about other people but this was an anticipated game for me, I loved the first one and was eager to see what improvements they would make with the second, and trust me they have made vast improvements over the first.

• Story: So our SuperHero saga begins during the events of Nick Fury's Secret War story line, and sees are heros performing a mission in Latevaria to unseat Lucia Von Bardas and leave their castle in rubble. The first mission is for all intensive purposes a training tutorial teaching you the basics such as character swapping, fusions, powers, and leveling your heros. The first act is basically the events leading up the Superhuman Registration Act which labels Heros as weapons of mass destruction, and makes all Heros reveal their secret identity to the government, which all Heros oppose at the current time, however due to actions by the New Warriors during their reality TV show the Act is passed in Congress and all heros are required to register. Here is where it gets interesting there are still heros opposed to the Act mainly Captain America who is approached by S.H.I.E.L.D to head up the act which he refuses escaping custody and becoming the leader for the Anti Registration movement, while Ironman heads up the Pro Registration forces. I won't go too much into the story but I will say it is solid and will not leave you bored.

• Gameplay: If you have played the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance then you will be right at home with the controls, however I have to say that the controls feel alot smoother then they did before but it could just be my imagination. The Hero selection this go around is less than the original however I think it was a wise decision in the first there were Heros I would never touch because either I didn't like them, or their powers were useless, the latter is no longer an issue because gone are the multiple powers that you could level up instead each button is assigned a power right out of the box, and you are free to level up whichever you choose... I know what you are thinking limited choice right? Well normally I would say yes but if you played the first you remember how many useless powers there were, this is not the case in MUA2 the powers feel natural and some are just funny to watch for example the Hulk has a dash attack where he tackles the enemy and proceeds to smash their face in. Fusions a new addition to the game are absolutely brilliant each hero can preform a fusion with another hero these range from a variety of styles some more flashy then others but equally as deadly to your opponents, my favorite so far as been Storm and Gambit, Storm will create a tornado and Gambit throws kinetically charged cards into it creating a whirlwind of destruction to sucks up anything in its path. Altogether the gameplay is a vast improvement over the first.

• Graphics: All I can say is the graphics and environments are a huge improvement over the first, the lighting, backgrounds, everything just looks ten times better than the first, the powers all look nice. Not much else to say about it other than it looks really good.

• Sound: Not sure if this was an issue to anyone else but the first MUA had the most annoying soundtrack that made going back through levels almost painful, I didn't find that here, the soundtrack was nice and really fit the mood of the game. The sound effects are also all very nice from explosions, to the maniac laugh of the Green Goblin it is all good. Also the voice acting seems to be loads better and even some lines are based on what side of the civil war you are on for example playing through on Anti Reg as the Hulk he said "Puny humans say register... Hulk say SMASH!!" what really made this line stand out to me is I was doing the tackle move on a S.H.I.E.L.D capekiller at the time and it made me lol.

"Puny humans say register... Hulk say SMASH!!"

• Multiplayer: If you liked the multiplayer on the first you will like the second, it features drop in and drop out, and if I am not mistaken you will be able to play splitscreen online. The only downfall of the multiplayer is the camera is shared by all players, which may not be a bad thing since teamwork is really necessary to pull off the fusions.

So basically I would say this is a very good game with the story lasting about 8-10 hrs with lots of replay options I would say this is a good buy for anyone looking for a good beat em up or one of the best Marvel experiences to date on the console. I give this game a 4 out of 5 because the camera angle is kind of annoying but past that this is a solid game.

Left 4 Dead 2 New Special Infected

Ok so anyone who knows me, knows I am psyched for L4D2 so any news I found out about it makes me salivate profusely.

Looking around the net I found info on the new special infected that will be revealed at PAX this year is the Jockey, in case you were wondering a Journalist wrote Valve who did in fact confirm the Jockey's existence.

The Jockey changes up the ball game big time his ability is to pounce on the back of a survivor (similar to hunter?) and start ripping them apart... but it doesn't stop there once he is on the back of a survivor he can steer them... yes you heard correctly he will be able to control their movement... I can only imagine the sweet chaos that will happen in Left 4 Dead 2 versus now.

So far Valve has really changed the entire Dynamic of Left 4 Dead 2, now gone are the days when we would huddle in a closet meleeing the hordes away the Spitter has seen to that as well as the fatigue meter from using melee attacks, the charger will see to it that groups of tight knit survivors will be split up, and the Jockey seems like a deadlier version of the hunter. I enjoy the changes that Valve has made so far as it really pushes teamwork to a whole new level as we will have to develop our strategies on the fly.

So what are your thoughts on the changes being made by Valve, or on the new Special Infected that have been added to the game?