Review No. 142 Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix - PS3 (12+)

Strong Points:
Great battle system
Intricate deck building...
A large adventure which demands to be seen as a whole rather than three stories
The Final Mix adds even more story and battles
A nice selection of worlds
Great voice acting from most...
Helps to fill in gaps from the wider KH narrative
Music is brilliant
Mirage Arena is a fun experience
Lots of little collectables...

Weak Points:
...which is slightly at ends with the original portable design of quick play sessions
...Although the three main characters could do with a bit more expression
The three stories mean the overarching narrative isn't filled in until the end, so remember to read up on what you've done before
Slightly barren worlds
Not enough Unversed bosses
...Which aren't really explained as to why they are there
Music sometimes loops too often - Cinderalla's World especially
D-Link takes too long to load

PS4 photo due to sharing option

Review No. 140 Red Dead Redemption - PS3 (18+)

Strong Points:
Great atmosphere and world building
Likeable hero
Varied cast
The language of the Wild West
Horse riding
Shooting gameplay...
Funny
Lots to do
Great voice acting
Classic Rockstar realism and graphics

Weak Points:
Pacing issues
A lot of the same story trends
...Even if it turns into a bit of an auto-lock sometimes
The amount of people you kill is at ends with the story
Run too fast and you can miss story elements

First Impressions: Red Dead Redemption

I picked up Red Dead Redemption last year for about £2, with it being on my list to play for years before, although I'd never gotten round to actually playing it. I decided to jump into it now to give some more flavour to the very RPG based games I've been playing at the moment (Horizon: Zero Dawn, Dark Souls, Pokémon Moon and The Witcher 2) and I'm glad I did, as it has impressed me so far. Here are my first impressions from around 2 hours of game time:

First Impressions: Brave

Well, I have to say that I was pleasently surprised by this one. Recently, I visited the Innoventions section of Epcot while on holiday with my family and, as some of you may know, there is a video game section at the end with some of Disney's choice tie-in games (so, Pixar basically). I didn't have much time and, so, only got to go on one game. While Satamer got stuck on an early level of Brave, I thought I'd be brave and jump right in with the final level.

First Impressions: Fallout 3

Welcome to the vault. It may not be the best place in the world but at least it's safe. I think... Here you can grow up in carefully controlled conditions, get a Pip-Boy 3000 at age 10 for all your hoarding needs, pass the G.O.A.Ts at age 16, get your perfect job role assigned and work for the rest of your life for the good of the vault. Remember, the Overseer is watching.

First Impressions: Kingdom Hearts 2/Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep

Kingdom Hearts 2:

Surprise! I know we said that we would wait before doing this First Impressions but we just couldn't wait! So, enjoy! Now I played Kingdom Hearts 2 on my PS2 years ago and absolutely adored it (along with all the other games in this brilliant series). From the story to the control scheme, this game was spectacular. So when I heard that it was coming out on the PS3 with the Birth By Sleep, I immediately went and pre-ordered the limited-edition version of it (which comes with a Kingdom Hearts themed pin!)  And then I saw it was coming to EGX, so I got tickets for that and went to play this game, among the many others at EGX. After watching someone complete the Beauty and The Beast level, and seeing the great improvement of graphics, not just between this remaster and the old version but between KH1 and KH2, I jumped into the Nightmare Before Christmas level. Now I noticed a few things from my time playing it (and watching every cut-scene), These included: the quite vast differences in controls between KH1 and 2, the masterful storytelling still being there and fact that the characters mouths actually moved most of the time in the cut-scenes instead of just being on a 2D plane. The actual level consisted of defeating some heartless, going into Santa's workshop, defeating some more heartless, going out of Santa's workshop, beating a few more heartless then going and fighting a boss. And I found it to be one of the most enthralling sequences at my time at EGX.

Thanks for reading, Satamer.

Review No. 68 GTA V - PS3 (18+)

Strong Points:

Amazing map

Detailed graphics

Very interactive

Hard to get bored of
Lots of small little details which make the world alive
Lots of vehicles and weapons 

Police chases are fun
Story is amazing
Lots of random minigames!
Characters are memorable
Voice acting is brilliant

Weak Points:

As it is a big game there can be a bit of lag if running on a older console

Random events can be infrequent
Not enough heists - more coming out in 2014
Police AI can be odd- you may go on a rampage and get no stars but if you punch one person you get 3!

Review No. 62 GTA IV: Episodes of Liberty City: The Ballads of Gay Tony - PS3 18+

Sorry I haven't been doing anything recently, as you may have guessed I am the member of the blog that does the least, but don't worry, I'm still alive, just been very busy going through games to review (i.e. playing video games until the early hours and eating loads of chocolate....)

This is a bit of an outdated game now, as it was released a few years ago. But this was the real revolution of GTA. Now the graphics are still amazing, it is a hugely detailed map, and there are so many interactive parts of the map I can't even count them!

Strong Points:
Very interesting story
Many different vehicles to drive
Loads of new weapons

Weak Points:
Lots of bugs/ glitches
Not much to do when missions aren't available
Character not very customisable (same with vehicles)

Review No. 34 Sonic And Sega All-Stars Racing - PS3 (7+)

Strong Points:
Lots of characters
Lots of stages
Good graphics
Nice mechanics
Ability to choose audio
Local multiplayer
Fun missions
Three difficulties

Weak Points:
No one on online multiplayer
Some people are clones
Balancing is a problem
Difficult to get all the stages, music etc.
Can get repetitive
Not as polished as other karting games
Some of the missions bring gameplay which can't be used in the main game

Review No. 26 Hitman Absolution - PS3 (18+)

Strong Points:
Huge maps
So many ways to kill people (i.e. pistols, chainsaws, your fists, etc)
AMAZING GRAPHICS
Very realistic
Great story line

Weak Points:
VERY Confusing.

Review No. 20 Battlefield 3 - PS3 (16+)

Strong Points:
Amazing Graphics
Realistic
Weapons are good with scopes
Good Online (sole reason to buy the game)

Weak Points:
Campaign is too short
No local multiplayer
Confusing storyline

Review No. 14 Rayman Origins - PS3 (12+)

Strong Points:
Fluid platforming
Lots of characters
Big game (100% completion is hard to get)
Nice music
Good art style

Weak Points:
Storyline is not interesting
Gets a little repetitive
The chest levels are infuriatingly difficult

Review No. 10 Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - PS3 (16+)

Strong Points:

Good storyline

Fluid weapon changes

Good combat system

Brilliant remakes of the characters of Warhammer 40K

Excellent online mode

Weak Points:

Not enough weapon variation

No first person

Not as good for anyone who doesn't like Warhammer 40K
Short storyline
Multiplayer has basically died