Borderlands -> Borderlands 2

If you measure it by its sequels and popularity, Borderlands was a massive success. However, in my eyes it was a total flop. The world of Pandora was vast, filled with rifle riches and ammo caches, with many different enemy types to shoot and destroy. You have freedom with mission choice and are able to level up as you progress, the challenges the game throws at you growing with each step you take. Video game humor kept the subject of death light within the wasteland and characters were sculpted with perfection. However, Borderlands fell short of that special something that makes the game play fun. Without that special something, Borderlands felt lacking.

In my case, I had purchased both Borderlands and Borderlands 2 as a set because I wanted to see what the buzz was about. While gameplay was dreary, I had heard that I would receive a reward in the sequel for completing the first. With total hard work, I completed the game only to receive a skin and a disappointing ending.

Borderlands 2 lifted its predecessor off of its face and reestablished itself. Every gameplay aspect mentioned previously was quantified as a masterpiece. That special something was definitely there and everything fell into place. Perhaps that's the true treasure of Pandora?

Okami, Game of the Year 2006

Winner of the Game of the Year Award in 2006, Okami is a game title you've probably heard from somewhere but have never bothered to play. The game takes place in old Nippon (feudal Japan) where you awake as its returned God to fight approaching evil. Reclaiming your lost powers, you begin your journey to sever evil in two. Here's the catch: you're a wolf.

The truth is, you're not going to dive headfirst into a game like Okami unless you're a sucker for art and story line. Okami will assign you with a quest and just when you think the game is over you'll learn that you've just opened a can of worms. Layer after layer of diligent story telling will leave you wanting more and asking questions.

However, Okami doesn't take itself too seriously. In the end, the God you portray really couldn't care less if the world is falling to pieces, she'd really just prefer to get some extra hours of shut eye, or run around digging up treasures in other peoples yards. You know, dog stuff. This is the perfect solution to gamers who love to explore their gaming realms, and Okami never hesitates to endlessly reward such a player.

Although Okami doesn't really stand against a title like Banjo Kazooi or the Legend of Zelda series, it won't waste your time. Upon game completion, you will be rewarded with the soundtrack album, concept art, and new skins to play through with your character. If you're up for it, I would strongly recommend Okami.

NHL Be A Pro mode

Hey guys, I just started my season in the major juniors as a goaltender. I started out as the starting goaltender for the Quebec Remparts, a team in the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League). I played a season for them and I simulated a few games so I could start my career in the NHL a bit faster. I got drafted in the 4th round to the Chicago Blackhawks. My contract officially is for their affiliate farm team the Ice Hogs. However I started out playing a few of the pre season games for the Blackhawks in the NHL. I am currently still playing for them, and the regular season has already begun.
Another Aspect of my focus in this game is the equipment. This game has a very wide variety of different brands, a lot of models from those brands, and even a lot of retro equipment. The equipment that I chose to wear for this season is Reebok XLT with custom matching team colors.

To the left is my character with the custom equipment.
As you can see you can customize even the tape on your stick, this gives it a really personal look to your game and adds that rare heart spice to this wonderful dish that is hockey. You can access and change your equipment at any desired moment so what I do is hat whenever we play a home game, I will wear this above pictured equipment matching the home jerseys. But whenever we play a road game I will go and customize another set of equipment matching the away jerseys. Basically instead of red, I will be choosing the color white.
This game has made the goalie gameplay phenomenal. All the movements are a lot more defined and less "robotic" than in previous games. You can also skate towards center ice and this will automatically begin a goalie fight between you and the opposing player.
This is all for this week, I will keep you updated and will put up more pictures for you guys next time. Make sure you stay alert for my next post!

Sloth King

You would not believe how many versions of ninja games there were when I started looking into more apps to talk about.  NinjaLove, NinjaDestiny, Mononoke, and NinjaAssasin.  These all good games but so many ninja warriors to choose from.  I also found two magical games called Wizardess and Fairy Tales where you choose your prince charming, how romantic!

Sports side of GamerGweek

We all know that there are many different types of gaming and gamers. I'm going to focus my blogging into the hockey world. So for all you sports fans out there I'd keep an eye out.
The most newly released game out there is NHL16 made by EA sports.

It carries on with the most classic game features  of hockey that we love. It adds one a unique more personalized feel by customizing the crowd, each specific arena has their own trademark goal horns, and even with the team mascot. For any hockey fan out there I highly recommend this game.
What am I going to focus on?
My focus will be on one of the game features  as well as equipment customization. There are many out there who could just sit around and mess with all the various and different options for the equipment, myself included.
The game feature I will be focusing on is "Be A Pro Mode". In this feature one is able to create their own character and is given two options to go directly to the draft for the NHL or to play a season in any major junior league and then once you have completed it, get drafted and begin your career in the NHL. I will take the path to the NHL through the major juniors. To fully dive myself into the equipment world I will choose to be a goalie so that I can create my own equipment.
If any of this sounds interesting to you, make sure to come back and read my updates!

Sloth King

Hello from BookLife

Hey guys this is Katie and there is nothing I love more than, something free, is a good story and a good game mixed together and being the girl that I am theres is also nothing I like more than a good romance.  So I'll give you updates on the dating sims that I find that you can download on your phone for free and get updates on new stories or characters that you might enjoy! 
Currently I just downloaded NinjaLove for those ninja lovers out there and am loving the choices I get to make to advance my story along through the prolouge (though you could skip it but wheres the fun in that, its the basis of the story) and getting to choose my love interest for the story.  The basic synopsis is that you are a ninja princess that has to unite the ninja clans in order to defeat the evil Nobunga who wants to destroy the ninja lifestyle.  In order to stay alive till the final battle you have to pick a body gaurd and try not to fall for the taboo of falling in love with him. 
Hard not to do when your in a dating sim.  Over the course of story you get to make your own choices and that alters the course you have with your body gaurd and the choices determine your ending by the end of the game.  You will also need story tickets and get to dress up your avator. In some cases you have to dress up in order to move foward along in the story, but that just makes it more suspensful on what is going to happen next.  I have just finished the prolouge and I choose the monkey of the group Sauske and for you Naruto fans no he is not serious or blue, hes ORANGE.
I will keep you posted on what game I download next, I'll try to keep a variety although the ninja theme seems to be a favorite.  Until next time.

REVIEW - FNaF World

   If we look through history, most of the biggest and most ambitious ideas come from humble places (As if Apple’s garage origins weren’t already testament to that fact.) Likewise, some of the most innovative and effective gameplay concepts came from independent or “indie” developers. 

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   In 2014, a man named Scott Cawthon released a game called Five Nights at Freddy’s, (FNaF for short,) a simple horror game that quickly became a pop culture hit. Shortly thereafter three more sequels were released, each expounding on a different aspect of the lore and furthering the game’s overall story. Fast-forward to less than a week ago, to the release of Scott’s newest game “FNaF World.” This particular game has been hyped and anticipated since its announcement, and now it’s finally time to see what it would have in store!

   Sadly, the excitement was short-lived. The game itself, which was removed from online retailers due to bad reviews, was grossly unfinished and clearly wasn’t yet ready for primetime. Massive chunks of the game were missing, including a proper overworld, most of the dialog and story, and almost all of the explanatory text. What, I asked myself, are Bytes and how do I use them? What does this attack do? Nothing was explained, so playing was a serious pain.

   However, I was skeptical about the actual initial and lasting appeal of the game before it came out. I’d like to reverse-engineer this feeling in this article, and cover how the concept could have been handled differently. 

   Firstly, I’d like to pose a question: What was the main game mechanic of the original Five Nights at Freddy’s? I’d argue that it invented the Fixed-Perspective Survival Horror genre, with elements like resource management and protecting oneself from encroaching monstrosities, while also remaining fixed in place. Rarely did you ever see a game that force the player to survive horrors while not being able to run away and fight, yet FNaF showed us how it was done. Adding unnerving, yet childish antagonists, the game managed to scare me more with still images and pre-animated sequences than a thousand Resident Evil titles could with pristine graphics and more complex gameplay. 

   Interestingly enough, FNaF World is a classic turn-based RPG game that sheds its horror roots in favor of a colorful, friendly look. While there is the promise of a story, the game features no connectivity to the original FNaF games, aside from the cavalcade of animatronic characters you can choose to play as (Or, more accurately, the several iterations of the original four characters). 

   So, why is it called FNaF World if, animatronics notwithstanding, there is no connectivity to the original story? If the game is going to be completed in the manner Scott promises, then why didn’t he just put out an RPG with a totally different story and characters? The characters feel almost painfully crammed in for recognition’s sake, like an unlucky security guard into a Fazbear suit. In fact, the only appeal the characters had was their decrepit appearance and false innocence that masked sinister intentions. Strip that away and you have something with an almost bland design and an overly-friendly attitude. 

Crazed animatronic Chica from FNaF 1. As you can see, while the appearance isn't of some grotesque monster, the way it acts and appears is unsettling to the point of fear. Rather a stark contrast to the FNaF World redesign shown below

   So, in summary, FNaF World is a brand name unnecessarily stapled onto a generic game style, not unlike the sandbox-turned-cutscene that was Minecraft: Story Mode. While the mechanics are, (or will be, I suppose) functional, it would benefit from a reformation of the story and characters as a whole. Perhaps the game will be fun when it is finished, but for now, the fans will have to wait a whole lot longer than five nights for the next installment of their favorite franchise. 

   If you want to discuss the merits of FNaF World or give ideas on how it could be improved, don't hesitate to continue the discussion below or at our Twitter, @GamerGweek!
   Written by Spence

An Introduction from Spence and a Brief Look at Video Game Criticism

   Hello everyone! My name’s Spence, and I’m one of the writers for GamerGweek! As you may have inferred from the title, the focus of this blog is video games! News, reviews, retrospectives and first impressions will be found here by myself and the rest of the team. Keep an eye out for new content all week, and remember to check out our Twitter as well, @GamerGweek! 

   Today, I’d like to give an introduction on how I plan on writing my articles. Stay Tuned! 

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   As someone who enjoys looking deeper into the nuances of storytelling and art, I’ve always viewed the medium of video games as an incredible opportunity to express oneself. Stories are more poignant and touching when told through a medium that requires direct participation from the player, and few other mediums have the ability to change and evolve as rapidly as video games have over the past 40 years or so. 

   Despite their unique abilities, video games are similar to other forms of media in the sense that they can be broken down into basic, critical elements; Painting is comprised of material and motivation, while literature is built of word usage, story elements, and so on. 

   Likewise,  I’d like to suggest that all video games are comprised of these three elements:

• Interaction - The means in which the player controls or takes part in the game, either through the controller or the way the player is expected to interact with the game; i.e. text entry, button presses, or motion capture.
• Graphics -  How the player is able to perceive the game’s content, which can range from text and 2- and 3-dimensional rendering, among others.
• Mechanics - How the game “plays” or offers as a challenge, which usually also identifies a game as being a part of one genre or another. Arguably the most important of the three elements. 

   If you think about it, you can break a great many games down into these three basic descriptors. Here are a few examples:    

Minecraft: 3D 1st - 3rd person infinite sandbox builder, with simplistic graphics and a creative focus (Image courtesy of neoseeker.com)

Undertale: 2D Topdown retro-style RPG with a heavy focus on narrative and character interactions. (Image courtesy of killapenguin.com)

Call of Duty: 3D First person shooter, with quick time events and cutscenes to present the story (Image courtesy of videogamer.com)

   When analyzing and reviewing games for this blog, I’d like to focus on how these elements are used and how they either function well or poorly with one another. Take Mirror’s Edge, for example. While the Graphics were nice and the game Mechanic of parkour was an interesting experiment, the way the player had to Interact with the game, (through first person,) made it difficult to pinpoint where one was actually going, making the game frustrating to play. In contrast, Bastion had beautiful painterly Graphics, cathartic story and combat Mechanics and a control scheme that made Interaction a true pleasure.

   With this in mind, perhaps it will be easier to understand what a game is trying to say and how it plans on saying it. Remember to keep a critical eye out for details in games story and artwork, along with gameplay and mechanics to understand the game as a whole and as separate elements as well. If enough real thought can be put into understanding games, perhaps they will become a medium of choice for daring new ideas!