Overview and Review: Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag US Limited Edition (Gamestop Edition for PS4) (w/Pics)

Note: This is a review of the Limited Edition’s Content and not the game itself.

            It’s that time of the year again. The now annualized Assassin’s Creed Series is continuing with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. As with the last title’s Limited Edition (reviewed here), Black Flag’s bells and whistles version costs considerably more than the standard edition. In fact, at 130 bucks, it is, surprisingly, even more expensive than last year’s 120 dollar limited edition.

            Black Flag’s Limited Edition will have to offer quite a lot of content in order to justify its price point. One can only hope that it fairs as well as last year’s excellent Assassin’s Creed III Limited Edition. As far as first impressions are concerned, the size of Black Flag’s box in comparison to ACIII’s sets the stage for what will hopefully be another excellent offering from Ubisoft.

What’s Included:

1) Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag game for PS4

2) Steelbook Case

3) Soundtrack

4) Hardcover Artbook

5) Assassin’s Creed IV Pirate Flag

6) Various DLC

7) Edward Kenway Statue

Detailed Reviews: Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby in 8-Bit Land (3DS)

Prologue:

            What can I say? It’s the perfect storm. Regular Show for the 3DS is the kind of game that I was going to buy regardless of what anyone said about it. It’s an old school platformer. It’s based on Regular Show. It was developed by WayForward. And, let’s be honest, at only 30 bucks, it doesn’t require a large investment.

Overview and Review: US Injustice: Gods Among Us: Battle Edition (Fight Stick Edition) (Gamestop Exclusive)

Note: This review is for the US Collector’s Edition of Tomb Raider and NOT the game itself. 

            As with Warner Interactive’s previous offering from Netherealm (Mortal Kombat 9), Injustice: Gods Among Us has been given two different non-standard editions. Likewise, the game, regardless of edition, has been graced with rather excellent retailer-specific DLC. This review is only going to focus on the Gamestop exclusive Battle Edition of the game. The need to purchase from Gamestop means that the pre-order DLC mentioned in this review will be the “Red Son” content offered by the aforementioned retailer.

            Before I start the review, I would like to note that even though I will always pick a fight stick edition over a collector’s edition (as I did with MK9), the terrible design for the Collector’s Edition’s statues probably would have swayed me towards the Battle Edition regardless of my preference for fight sticks.

This goes for both the UK and US statues. As far as the UK edition is concerned, I can’t see myself really wanting a statue of Batman with his fingers wrapped around Wonder Woman’s throat. I realize that Batman does not have the hand-strength required to actually choke Wonder Woman, but the image is still one that I find a bit difficult to want on my shelf. The prospect of having to explain to the non-comic book inclined why Batman’s choking a girl out is not something that I would look forward to.

The US edition is a mess for completely different reasons. The first problem is that the two battle-engaged characters aren’t even facing each other. That’s a terrible design choice. How did they expect the statue to effectively convey the tenseness of the battle when the two combatants aren’t even eye to eye. Sure, Wonder Woman is heavily engaged in the battle, but Batman seems to just want to escape. The other major problem with the statue is that a fair amount of the sculpt relies on the use of a generic sci-fi spacecraft. Considering that Wonder Woman actually owns her own jet, it would have made more sense to have some fun trying to include an invisible plane into this sculpt. It’s a missed opportunity and it’s been replaced with an object that has no obvious reason for being there. With that said, let’s see what we get with the Battle Edition.

The US Injustice: God Among Us: Battle Edition Includes:

1) Injustice Game

2) Injustice Fight Stick

3) New 52 DLC Skins for Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman

4) Red Son DLC (only if pre-ordered at Gamestop)

Overview and Review: Tomb Raider US Collector’s Edition (Amazon Exclusive Final Hours Edition) (w/Pics)

Note: This review is for the US Collector’s Edition of Tomb Raider and NOT the game itself. 

Tomb Raider, being one of the most anticipated games of the year, has been graced with the now requisite Collector’s Edition treatment. The title has also had pre-order bonuses doled out to all the big name retailers. The edition I will be reviewing here is the Amazon.com edition that they have seen fit to title the “Final Hours Edition.” This review will make note of when a specific inclusion is specific to Amazon’s offering. Without further ado, here are the contents of the US Collector’s Edition of Tomb Raider:


1. Tomb Raider
2. Survival Tin
3. 15x19 inch Double-Sided Island Map and Poster
4. 5x7 inch Lithograph
5. CD soundtrack
6. Weapon Pack DLC
7. Patches
8. Lara Croft Figurine (8 inches)
9. Art of Tomb Raider Artbook (Amazon Edition Exclusive)10. Hunter Skin (Amazon Edition Exclusive)
11. The Final Hours of Tomb Raider “Director’s Cut” Kindle Edition (Amazon Edition Exclusive)
12. Tomb Raider Scavanger Hunt Code (Pre-Order incentive for various stores)
13. Shanty Town Multiplayer Map DLC (Pre-Order incentive for various stores)

Overview and Review: Metal Gear Rising Revengeance US Limited Edition (w/Pics)

Note: This review is for the US Limited Edition of Metal Gear Rising Revengeance and NOT the game itself.

It has been a very long time since my last review.  It would have been less long if Aliens: Colonial Marines had not been the magnificent failure that so many people claim it to have been. It has been even longer since a new Metal Gear game came out. The last one was Peacewalker (if you don’t count the HD collection). Maybe it’s because of that almost 3 year Metal Gear drought that I had no problem putting down 150 dollars on one of the more expensive game editions out there. Lets see if this premium priced set is worth the high asking price. The following items are included in the Limited Edition (inclusions specific to Gamestop via pre-order are noted where applicable):

1. Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

2. Soundtrack

3. Steelbook

4. Lamp

5. Artbook (Gamestop Exclusive)

6. Grey Fox Ninja Skin + Fox Blade DLC (Gamestop Exclusive)