Family Guy Online Beta Review

Reviewed on: Feb. 22, 2012

Gameplay:
Family Guy Online has been advertised for some time now. They have recently started doing small sessions for a closed beta. I was lucky enough to get into one of those betas. Family Guy Online is an online game that you play in your web browser. You start off by creating your character. As of right now there are 4 different character types to choose from. They are Stewie, Lois, Peter, and Chris. There is also another character slot that is blanked out and by looking at the portrait it is Bryan. I assume when the game is out of beta you will be able to create a Bryan type character. Now each character type has it's own speciality for example Stewie is able to deal massive amounts of damage because that is one of his skills. When you decide to choose what character you want to be you are now able to fully customize the character of your choice. Whether is be shirts, eyes, mouths, or your nose and you customize everything. There aren't a ton of customizable items as of yet but it is enough for now. When you are finished are are brought into the game. You start off in front of the Griffin's house on spooner street. Your first quests begins with Peter Griffon where he asks you to talk to Chris Griffon on why he does not want to go to school. From here on out you start to do quests to earn money, experience, and vanity items.

Character Screen

As your questing you will find random items laying around that may or may not look familiar. For example you will find a tennis ball. When you click it the ball gets added to Bryan's collection. So you can collect important items from the Family Guy universe and add them to each characters collection. The town of Quahog is pretty big. You start off in the urban area aka. spooner street. When you have done all the quests or enough quests you are able to move on to other parts of the town to explore. Overall the map is a pretty decent size to walk around and explore. In Family Guy Online you are also able to interact with many other people in the game as well. In the beta the chat was not working so hopefully that will be fixed when the game is released. Despite all of the bugs in the game (see down below) Family Guy Online is a decent experience. Not great but alright.

Bugs:
There are several bugs in the game that I noticed while playing. For one some of the audio likes to overlap other audio within the game. The quest where you go into the other universes through Stewie are all bugged. When I did this quest I was stuck in the Asian Griffon family house. There was no way out and no NPC's to interact. Another big one is the constant lag. Some parts were alright but every minute or less there was lots of log and lots of loading. There was another bug where if you clicked on a emoticon or quest item it would not activate or respond. This bug happened to me a lot. Yes, there are a lot of bugs in the game but this is why they do beta tests to find all of them and fix them for the release.

Customize your character! (Not my character)

Conclusion:
Family Guy Online is a game where you play for 30 mins - an hour at a time before getting bored of it. It is meant for casual players. You can tell just by playing it. I did however find it neat that I was able to explore and experience Quahog virtually. I love the show and there are a lot of little easter eggs through quests that fans of the series will pick up right away. The game is still in rough shape and still in the beta process. They are doing multiple beta tests to work out all of the bugs so it will be fresh on launch day. Overall it was a nice experience and looking forward to getting into the next beta test.

**Note**
This review will be constantly updated as further beta tests are implemented. This is not the full review just my thoughts on the beta as of now.

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Mario Kart 7 (3DS)

Console: Nintendo 3DS

Genre: Racing
Release Date: December 4, 2011
Reviewed: Feb. 2/12

Gameplay:

Mario Kart 7 is the seventh instalment in the Mario Kart series. This time it is coming to the handheld, the Nintendo 3DS. May I add that it is a fantastic addition to the series. Mario Kart 7 plays like all other Mario Kart games ever released. There are a couple of new additions to the game like parachutes or para sales. These are only activated when driving over a rainbow colored (<----Canadian) boost arrows. When driven over you sore in the air and your parachute is activated and you take the race into the skies for a few seconds anyway. There are other great features added to the game to keep the interest level high. You can use the built in gyro controls within the 3DS system to steer in Mario Kart 7. While your racing in some of the courses you will notice that there are coins scattered everywhere throughout the entire track. You can only get 10 coins per track but these coins to provide a use for the game. When a certain amount of coins are collected you unlock extra vehicle parts to customize your kart. Each unlockable part provides some sort of stat to your vehicle such as speed, handling, weight or even drifting. There are some pretty awesome unlockables like the mushroom wheels. That is not all you can unlock though. In addition to unlocking vehicle parts you can also unlock additional characters, up to eight to be exact. Some of these characters include Metal Mario, and Wario. The other characters are up to you to find out ;). As usual there are 16 new maps added to the game and 16 old maps from previous mario kart games added to the game as well. I was pretty happy to be able to race on Koopa Beach again. With the old maps added they didn't just port over the old maps over they actually added boosts or updated some of there areas on the map. They even added some shortcuts. 

Once you have received all of the trophies in the game and unlocked all of the characters they brought the famous and flawless multiplayer back. With this multiplayer they added features like creating or joining community groups and racing with people in the group. Overall the online experience in Mario Kart 7 is as fun as it's always been with the previous Mario Kart games. There are only a couple of things that annoy me in Mario Kart 7. When your racing on 150cc or Mirror Mode the computers are constantly using Blue Shells which just urks you especially when your right in front of the finish like and you lose due to the shell. Another thing is the shortcut people like to take when your racing with them online in the map Maka Wuhu. You can take a shortcut on this map which skips over half of the course. One other thing is the overall music quality in the game isn't all that impressive compared to the other Mario Kart games. One of the maps "Neo Bowser City" takes a msuci from past games and combines them into one.

Graphics:

The graphics in Mario Kart 7 are great. The game really uses the power of the 3DS to make the game lively and colorful. The graphics are roughly the same as compared to the Wii version but much better than the DS version by far. Of coarse you have your occasional 2D background environments but most of it is all in 3D and looks fantastic. The 3D is something I would not recommend. With the 3D you will be moving your head a lot with the game due to the racing, especially if your using the gyro controls. It will end up giving you a huge headache and hurting your eyes. It's nice to have on once in awhile just to see the 3D but it is not recommended that you keep it on for long especially when your racing. Overall the graphics are great.

Audio:

The Audio in Mario Kart 7 overall is well done. There are some courses where the music just makes no sense and drives you crazy because of the annoyance but overall the music experience is pretty good. One level I mentions above earlier "Neo Bowser City" takes some music from previous games like "Toad's Turnpike" from the N64 version and combines them into one for "Neo Bowser City". The other maps are retro maps so they have the original music from the previous Mario Kart Games. Overall excellent audio.

Conclusion:

Mario Kart 7 is a fantastic addition to the Mario Kart series. As always there is lots to do. Mario Kart 7 will keep you occupied with it's time trials and multiplayer for awhile. I highly recommend this game to anyone, especially the Mario Kart fans. Other then some small minor issues like the shortcut glitch in Maku Wuhu or the endless blue shells of death it is a great experience for anyone. The 3D is not recommended for this game while racing but it is nice to turn on once in awhile to just look at the 3D. 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer (Part 1 of 2)

I will be breaking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 into two separate
reviews. The first part will be the multiplayer aspect of the game.
The second part will be the campaign and spec ops portion of the game.
The multiplayer portion of this review will just be on big review. The
second part will be my original review style where I break it down into
other parts (gameplay, graphics, audio). Lets get started!

MW3 Multiplayer Review (part 1 of 2)
Since multiplayer is the most important part of the game for all of
you gamers I decided to do this part first. So MW3 has improved on the
multiplayer once again. I will begin with the positives and then move
on to the problems and negatives.

First off the multiplayer is as good as ever. There are tons of things
to be unlocked. There is a huge roster of guns to be unlocked by
ranking up. There are new and additional titles, emblems and
camouflages. If you are an elite member or and elite founder you
unlock a winter camo and new titles and emblems for your playercard.
There are 16 maps that shipped with the game with map packs soon to be
added. If your an elite premium member you get monthly DLC for free.

So essentially the multiplayer is the same. You rank up and as you
rank up you unlock guns, perks and equipment. The max rank for MW3 is
80 which is pretty high up there and can take some time. As I am
typing this review I am currently first prestige rank 19. You have
your basic gun classes and they are the Assault Rifles, Sub machine
Guns, Light Machine Guns, Sniper Rifles, and shotguns. I would like to
note that shotguns are now used as primary weapons. MW2 had them as
secondary weapons. A cool feature that was added to the multiplayer
portion would be the ability to level up your guns. The more you use
the guns the more attachments and camos you unlock for them. The max
level for primary guns is level 31. At level 31 you will have unlocked
everything for that gun including the gold camouflage which looks much
better in Modern Warfare 3 than Modern Warfare 2. Another feature
added are strike packages. This is also a great addition. The strike
packages changes up your play style. For example if you want to play
the regular MW style of multiplayer you would pick the Assault strike
package. This is your standard killstreak rewards. You kill 3 in a row
you get UAV. You die you lose your kill streaks. The other package is
the support package. This package is really neat because you get
points towards your killstreaks by killing enemies as well as doing
objectives like capturing a flag in domination. When you die your
points towards your killstreaks do not reset. The support package
offers different types of streaks which will support your team. For
example you get an advanced UAV which you cannot get by using a
assault strike package. The last one is the specialist strike package.
This can make you a god in multiplayer if used right. Basically your
kills do not go towards killstreaks but they go to perks. So if you
get three kills you will get an additional perk to help you out so
instead of three you will have four. These perks are customizable. You
can choose any order you want your perks to appear.

Overall the maps are pretty good. There is a huge variety of maps for
multiplayer. The maps are much smaller then the maps from MW2. This
can be a problem for campers, there are a lot of campers in
multiplayer but it is due to the game just being released so people
are not as familiar with the maps yet. There is a lack of sniping maps
for all of you snipers out there. I am sure some will be added with
the map packs. Some maps are a lot darker and very hard to see some
areas and can be sucky because that's where people camp the most.
Another negative thing about the maps is there is way to much stuff.
The open areas don't really feel as open anymore because there is
always stuff in the area to hide behind and pick people off.

There are new modes added to the multiplayer. These new modes include
Team Defender and Kill Confirmed. These very fun game modes and highly
recommended. Kill confirmed forces people to come out of hiding. With
Kill Confirmed the objective of the game is to kill your enemies. When
you kill your enemies they drop dog tags which count for one point
towards your team. First team to collect 65 dog tags wins the round.
The cool thing about this is if one of your team mates dies they will
drop their dog tag. If you don't want the enemy to get that point you
can run over the dog tag and deny their kill. Team Defender is exactly
like Team Deathmatch with a little twist. So regular kills don't
reward your team as much for points. In Team Deathmatch you get 100
points per kill for your team. You get about half in Team Defender.
The main objective in the game mode is to hold on to the flag as long
as you can. If your team is holding on to the flag and you kill an
enemy you get a bonus towards your experience and towards the team
score. So if you hold on to the flag most of the match then you are
sure to win. Both modes are tons of fun, go try it out!

Now the negatives. The main issue I have with the multiplayer in MW3
are the re spawn points. The maps are small so in game modes like
Domination the re spawning is terrible. At points I re spawned right in
front of the enemy. Another time I re spawned in front of three
enemies. This is extremely irritating. Another problem is the cheap
weapons every tends to use. For example the Type 95 can kill someone
with one single burst fire. Another cheap weapon is the UMP45 which is
by far the most over used weapon in the game. This gun has insane
accuracy and really high damage. Another problem is the shotguns. The
shotguns were awesome weapons in MW2 and Black Ops. The shotguns in
MW3 need a major buff up. Using the model 1887 that gun was a one shot
kill in MW2. In MW3 you get 3 hit markers before the guy dies even up
close! One other annoyance is the Light Machine Guns. These are a huge
disappointment. These guns are so underpowered that literally nobody
uses them.

MW3 was just released so there is still lots of time for them to fix
some issues with the multiplayer. Almost every game at launch has
issues and usually they get fixed. What they recently said in one of
their interviews is that they added a new system to the multiplayer
where they can tweak things on the fly instead of waiting three months
to produce a patch. They already had a small patch where they
apparently increased the power off shotguns.

Overall the multiplayer is as fun as ever. I know a lot of people are
upset with the multiplayer due to the problems. This game just came
out, give it a chance before quitting and bashing it. They need time
to fix the problems. Be patient. I highly recommend people pick this
game up. The multiplayer is fantastic! Enjoy!

Battlefield 3 Beta Multiplayer Review

I myself am not a big fan of Battlefield but I know it is a big game and very hyped up so I am going to do a small review on the multiplayer beta. Remember each section is ONLY regarding the multiplayer beta.

Gameplay:
I am actually impressed with what they allow you to do with the beta. Only one map and one mode is available for the beta but you are able to test and take advantage of all of the unlockable content from ranking up and completing challenges. I personally think they should allow a second map to test out the vehicles as well. They may add it at the end of the beta but I have heard nothing as of yet. So Battlefield 3 is running on a completely new engine as most of you have my noticed. The game is extremely realistic as your running, jumping and even killing enemies. We will talk more about that in the graphics department.
BF3 multiplayer plays the same way as most online FPS's do now. Which is ranking up, and unlocking new items, perks, attachments, etc... What I like about BF3 is that the more you use a specific class the better equipment you will unlock for it. For example, if you only use the assault class and nothing else, you will notice as you kill enemies or accomplish certain challenges with that class you will notice a small experience bar going up with that class. Everytime the experience bar makes it to the end you will unlock something for the class wether is be an ACOG scope or a bipod attachment.

While you are playing you will earn basic experience by killing enemies. You will get 100 per kill. Just like Call of Duty if you do a unique kill or save a team mate or anything along those lines you will be awarded with bonus experience. When you do something say like get 5 headshots in a row you will unlock a ribbon which can be worth 200, 500 or more depending on what challenge you do. Everytime you capture and objective, in the case, defend or destroy the targeted objectives you will also receive experience for that as well.

Anytime you get your experience bar all the way up you will increase your rank. Currently I am ranked 16. The higher your rank the cooler your unlockables will be. Whenever you rank up, the odd rank, you will receive a new gun or new piece of equipment for you to use and customize with your favorite class. Everytime you receive a rank up it will take a little bit more experience everytime you want to go for the next rank.

The mode you are able to play on is called rush. Basically what you do if you defend two objective from being blown up by the enemy team. Each time the two objectives get blown up you get to progress to another area of the map to defend more objectives. As the enemy team your goal is to blow up the objectives to win. With this type of game mode you need a lot of communication. It even helps if your playing with friends. One other thing I would like to mention gameplay wise is the two new features they added. The first one is squads. You can choose to make your own squad with friends or you can opt in to automatically be assigned to a squad. This works well via communication as well as an added option. Say if your entire squad dies except for you. If you can stay out of harms way for a certain amount of time you squad will actually respawn where you are standing. One other feature is the battle log feature. Just like Call of Duty Elite you can track your games, stats, and see recent matches and things your friends have done. Pretty neat.

One more thing about the gameplay is the cons. I understand that this is still in early beta and that is the point of betas is to test out the game and find any bugs or errors. This is my personal list of a few. So generally it is a decent game online, not a personal favorite but it isn't to bad. Some of the bugs I have found is a graphical bug where the screen will randomly flicker while you are turning around or running. Another one that really annoys me is the odd time when you are aiming down your sights, let go of the trigger and try to re aim again, you are unable to do so for a little bit and it sucks while you are in the middle of a fire fight.

Rating: 8/10

Graphics:
So as stated above the graphics to this game are beautiful. They look very realistic and the environments are very well done. What I love most about this is if you throw and grenade or use an explosive near a tree, the tree will actually fall over. Almost everything is destructable in the game so if someone is hiding behind something just blow it up and you will get them. The running and walking animations are top notch. It looks very realistic how an actual person runs and walks. The animations are very well done. The only main issue is that the beta has a few graphical errors which I am sure they will fix up for the release.

Rating: 9/10

Audio:
This is one of my favorite things in BF3. The sounds are so realistic and sound amazing. When you fire a gun it sounds like a gun! When you blow something up, oh yeah, it sounds like an explosive. The running and walking sounds are well done. Even when your running on grass, dirt, water or stone it all sounds realistic. Everything you do in the game as a realistic sound. Overall very impressive.

Rating: 9.5/10

Conclusion:
So as you all know I am not a big Battlefield fan but fair is fair. A lot of people are and this is a really big and hyped game. So I tested the beta and these are my thoughts on the game. Overall the multiplayer from what I have played is pretty impressive. They did a great job of adding in new features and a new engine to the game. Other than a few errors, bugs, and gameplay issues, it is really a great multiplayer experience. I do say this, it is a lot more fun with friends. So make a squad and go have some fun!

Overall Rating: 8.5/10