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        <description><![CDATA[ 4 articles tagged as max ]]></description>
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        <pubDate>2026-04-06 18:50:48</pubDate>
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                <title><![CDATA[The top 3 'what the fuck' moments in gaming!]]></title>
                <link>https://novogamer.com/articles/the-top-3-what-the-fuck-moments-in-gaming-vzL3w6OLlG</link>
                <description><![CDATA[<p>Throughout the evolution of gaming, the emotional impact of linear story-telling has allowed companies to create more vivid, realistic portrayals of events. We have come such a long way that in the end, game creators and art directors have realized the sheer capacity and potential of video gaming is a medium that will one day live up to the standards of the film industry; and what better way to flaunt that style then fuck with your audience and try to freak them out in the best way possible? Like any good <i>What The Fuck </i>moment, it's got to have a pazaaz of complete lack of censorship, and it's got to make even the player put down the controller and head to the toilet to pick up some weepy-paper to deal with the e-horrors of this e-disturbing e-world.&nbsp;</p><p><b>1. MAX PAYNE: I DREAMED A DREAM.</b></p><p>Being a gamer, it's not easy to dodge the discussion of Max Payne. Before going under the wing of Rockstar, Remedy's initial 3D run-and-gun had something that most shooters lack; good story, great atmosphere, and interactive disturbing shit that made you freak out. It wasn't all rooty tooty, point and shooty.</p><p></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); background-color: initial;"><p><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" style="width: 535.111111111111px; height: 301px;"></p></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); background-color: initial;">Still more emotion than Kristen Stewart, hardy har.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">What really makes this one of the top three is simply put; interaction. Unlike other games where we're thrust into a prologue, the gameplay takes place after a turn of events, we witness the horrific murder of Max's wife and child up front. You examine the house, you pull the gun out, you shoot the people crazy enough to step up to Max Run-and-Gun Payne, and then you walk in to find this:</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); background-color: initial;"></span></p><p><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png"></p><p></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); background-color: initial;">Baby blocks with reverse numbers on them; haunting, truly haunting.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); background-color: initial;">&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">A game that starts out like this means to go on so. It isn't all go here, shoot there, right, RIGHT?</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">Wro--right! One of our top three is the dreaded dream sequences set in Max Payne's head. These had everything; long winding hallways, the demented sound of demonic laughter against the crying pleas of your dead baby, blood-soaked nurseries, and who could forget the blood in the dark? Precisely why this hits home with a top </span><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">What The Fuck </span><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">moment!</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;"><b>2. FALLOUT 3; Dun, dun, Dunwhich!</b></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">Fallout 3 was a brilliant achievement by Bethesda Studios. Something that it mastered was its ability to throw us into a world we knew nothing about. From there, it was your choice whether to be the prodigal white knight, complete with&nbsp;Geiger-counter and an&nbsp;unwavering&nbsp;trait of volunteering for everything, ever while everybody thinks you're the tightest shit out there that can get stuff&nbsp;done. Since daddy went missing you have a choice to follow him in his footsteps or make a left turn into nowhere and live your life away from the responsibilities of being a sacrificial dummy to save the world. Sometimes the game just straight up discarded logic :&nbsp;</span></p><p></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-style: italic; background-color: initial;"><p><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" style="width: 548.061310782241px; height: 391px;"></p></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-style: italic; background-color: initial;">"You must go in there and get radiation poisoning so I can pull you out for the $5.99 DLC!"</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">One of Fallout's greatest additions comes in the form of The Dunwhich House. In a far corner of a map, away from any settlements, the Dunwhich house looms over the dead area. There are so many </span><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">What The Fuck </span><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">&nbsp;moments that I'm counting the whole experience as one; from ghost flashbacks, to moving objects, to demonic backstories, and a looming mythology of H.P. Lovecraft.</span></p><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KqN6MX5CUNw" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;"></iframe></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;"><i><span style="color: #7f7f7f;">I traded in all of my caps for a big ol' bag of NOPE.</span></i><br></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;"><b>3. SPEC OPS: THE LINE: EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE ALL WHITE.</b></span></p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">Military shooters nowadays are a time a dozen, from Call of Duty XIII: Dark Ops, Special Combat DLC VIII to Medal Of Honor: Rebooty Shooty, it seems clear that they're a marketable genre. Spec Ops: The Line pushes the boundary of morality and choice in a way we haven't seen much when it comes to hashed out shooters. Our </span><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">What The Fuck </span><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">moment arises when you as the protagonist are given the choice to reign over the enemy with a white&nbsp;phosphorous mortar strike.&nbsp;</span><p><span style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-style: italic; line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;"><br></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;"></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); width: 369.849056603774px;"><i><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" style="width: 368.598484848485px; height: 263px; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" alt=""></i></span><span style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="line-height: 1.45em; text-align: right; background-color: initial;"><br></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="line-height: 1.45em; text-align: right; background-color: initial;"><br></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="line-height: 1.45em; text-align: right; background-color: initial;"><br></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="line-height: 1.45em; text-align: right; background-color: initial;"><br></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="line-height: 1.45em; text-align: right; background-color: initial;"><br></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="line-height: 1.45em; text-align: right; background-color: initial;"><br></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="line-height: 1.45em; text-align: right; background-color: initial;"><br></span></span></p><p><i style="line-height: 1.45em; text-align: right; background-color: initial;"><span style="color: #7f7f7f;">Bu--but...how could anything American soldiers do be wrong?</span></i></p><p><span style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="line-height: 1.45em; text-align: right; background-color: initial;">&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">It isn't the act itself which makes us freak out here, but when we're sent to examine the remain, our protagonist walks through the charred and frozen remains of the </span><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">enemy</span><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">&nbsp;and discovers something bleak, and horrifically disturbing:</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;"></span></p><p><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" style="width: 400.165384615385px; height: 237px; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" alt=""></p><p></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">It turns out the orders were wrong, and the protagonist has just horrifically eviscerated a large group of civilian refugees. All's good in love and war, right? Am I right?&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">Spec Ops: The Line was made to mimic such works as Jacob's Ladder and Heart of Darkness. Where once military shooters cared more for the run and gun rambo hero with the enemy's head on a stick routine, you constantly question your ethics and morality as a soldier in this game. And of course, with this </span><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">What the Fuck</span><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">&nbsp;moment, it's shown to be a very emotional, and classic game.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em;"></span></p><p><i style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: #7f7f7f;"><br></span></i></p><p><i style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: #7f7f7f;"><br></span></i></p><p><i style="line-height: 1.45em;"><span style="color: #7f7f7f;">"Don't look, sweetheart."&nbsp;</span></i></p><p></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;"><b>Do you agree with my choices? Are there any moments out there that you think tops these?&nbsp;</b></span>\r
</p>\r
]]></description>
                <category></category>
                <author><![CDATA[Archive]]></author>
                <guid>vzL3w6OLlG</guid>
                <pubDate>Tue, 10 Feb 2015 08:26:00 +0000</pubDate>
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                <title><![CDATA[The Top 3 Twists in Gaming History! (SPOILERS)]]></title>
                <link>https://novogamer.com/articles/the-top-3-twists-in-gaming-history-spoilers-v43xy6vL9g</link>
                <description><![CDATA[<p>Twists are wonderful plot devices. When done correctly their use serves a purpose that transcends the story and sticks with the audience for years to come. Taking such plot devices used by M. Night Shymalamadingdong has shown that these sorts of devices aren't just favorable to one industry. You know these twists, you're going to checkpoint A, checkpoint B, then it turns out checkpoint A really is checkpoint B and you're the illegitimate spawn of Checkpoint C who turns out was your sister's mom's second cousin, and you end up spawning a whole race of Checkpoint Ds.</p><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: center;"></p><p><img class="irc_mi" src="http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/591/316/7c7.jpg" style="line-height: 1.45em; margin-top: 10px; background-color: initial;" height="402" width="436"></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #000000;">What if it turns out all those checkpoints were really dead though?</span></span></p><p></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">I present to you my top three brain-twisting twists with a dash of lemon with a twist and a twisty straw, twist?&nbsp;</span><br><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br></span></font></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>BIOSHOCK INFINITE: INFINITE DADMENSIONS.&nbsp;<p><br></p><p>Bioshock Infinite places you in the role of Booker DeWitt, an ex-pinkerton agent sent to the angelic, ludite spawned, racist city of Columbia. This wonderful floating palace is home to the rich, the poor, the blacks, and the normal people. Ahem...Booker is tasked with saving Elizabeth, a princess locked in a tower, guarded by a massive bird which likes to fuck with you at every turn. Elizabeth, however, holds a secret. With her magical pinky-less hand she can manipulate time and space to create <i>tears</i>&nbsp;in the fabric of time, allowing her and Booker to escape to infinite dimensions of Columbia to escape the evil clutches of her sermon-spouting religious father; Father Comstock.&nbsp;</p><p>The game sports a great story, with you dodging massive flying mechanical birds to zipping through time like some inter-dimensional Indiana Jones with a penchant for drinking strange liquids from bottles and throwing spinny hooks into people's faces! Starting off with a crazy entrance to Columbia and a strange baptism for Booker, almost killing him in the process, we begin Bioshock: Skyhook everything with a fucking pulse.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;<img class="photo" src="https://40.media.tumblr.com/bf03db29aaeb34b9ec508a64f09df1d9/tumblr_mlw2s109zn1rncv5ao1_500.png" data-pin-url="http://soft-plunge.tumblr.com/post/48968854737/booker-dewitt-the-man-with-two-lives" data-pin-description="BUST-A-NUT INC." style="line-height: 1.45em;" height="422.53521126761" width="300"></p><p>Seems like Booker was <i>hooked</i>&nbsp;from the get go. Eh? EH?</p><p>After a long and arduous journey of escaping Comstock, fending off rebels against Comstock and finally fighting your way to him, Booker does what game protagonists do best and bludgeons Comstocks head on a holy water bowl. Symbolic as Hell, right? So here's where the twist comes in! Elizabeth is captured and Booker is launched through a separate dimension of Columbia. After returning to safe Elizabeth, it is alluded that Booker has been gone for a long time, and as such Elizabeth has managed to figure out the story, and all the little tidbits. SO!</p><p>Booker and Elizabeth plan to escape to Paris finally, but it turns out that that ain't on the cards for Booker. No baguettes and pencil mustache for him, non, non! Elizabeth leads Booker through a series of portals into the place where ALL other Bookers and Elizabeths from separate portals meet in an ocean of lighthouses. Elizabeth remarks: "There is always one man, one lighthouse, one city."&nbsp;</p><p>Now that's just bullshi--</p><p><img style="" src="http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/bioshock/images/5/5b/Entrance_Tower.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20070823162351"></p><p>GOD, DANGIT, LEVINE.</p><p><br></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.45em; background-color: initial;">So in the end, Booker and Elizabeth escape the lighthouse ocean and then here comes the kicker!&nbsp;</span></p><p>COMPLICATED SPOILER AHEAD, DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU WANT HEAD TO IMPLODE:</p><p><br></p><p>Booker is taken to a similar baptism that he goes through in the beginning of the game. It is then alluded that Booker took a similar baptism many years before, but opted out of it because "dousing yourself in water doesn't absolve your sins." Booker becomes a gambling drunk, loses all of his cash, and realizes he must go to Columbia for a job to absolve his debts. HOWEVER. It turns out that YOU, Booker DeWitt, are in fact ZACHARY HALE COMSTOCK and that Elizabeth is Booker's legitimate daughter who Zachary Hale bartered with him over giving her to him as to erase his debts. <b>HOLY FUCKING SHIT, KER-AZZY RIGHT?&nbsp;</b></p><p>The explanation goes like so! Booker DeWitt lives in an infinite number of dimensions. Each dimension is created when a decision is made. For example, if I drink coffee in this universe, another universe splinters off where I drink water, or coke, or piss, yum yum. The baptism that Booker goes through forked off in two ways. Booker refused it and stayed as Booker, the war-hero, and another in which he became Zachary Hale Comstock, founded Columbia, and mastered inter-dimension travel (hence why he's old as Gahndi's nutsack). In the end, Booker realizes that in order to fully kill Comstock, he must die, and with an army of Elizabeth's, he is drowned under the water and one by one the Elizabeths from Comstock's universes are erased from existence.&nbsp;</p><p>Or are they?</p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp;<img class="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 0px;" src="http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/2013/11/dramatic.gif" height="422" width="479"></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>2. KoTor: Knights of the Old Republid: I AM YOUR FATH--YOU, I MEAN.</p><p>Knights of the Old Republic was a crowning achievement of Bioware. Sporting a control system similar to Mass Effect, it put you in control of one of the Old Republic's soldiers, an adept character who is tasked with stopping the evil agenda of Darth Malak, the apprentice to one of the most evil Sith lords in all of Star Wars continuity; Darth Revan. You spend a large portion of the game trying to fight you way through to Malak, learning about the characters, and your link to Bastila, a sexy jedi with a double lightsaber, a British accent, and a badonkadonk as round and hot as Tatooine itself.</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20071010012527/starwars/images/c/c8/BastilaAvatar.jpg" style="line-height: 1.45em; -webkit-user-select: none; width: 600px; height: 800px;" height="667" width="500"></p><p>Oh, I'mma use the Force alright, girl.</p><p>So you're working with a ragtag group of people to stop an Empire of evil. Bastila Shan was revealed to have killed Darth Revan in a large battle before the events of the game, however, this is the kicker:</p><p><b>YOU ARE DARTH REVAN</b></p><p><img class="irc_mi" src="http://replygif.net/i/1062.gif" style="line-height: 1.45em; margin-top: 118px; background-color: initial;" height="186" width="330"></p><p><br></p><p>It turns out that Bastila only knocked him out and using the force, the Jedi council brainwashed Revan and wiped his memory and any trace of his actions as Darth Revan, thus returning him to his previous state of super-duper jedi hero. It was a twist that was delivered through hours upon hours of gameplay. But don't worry, it all ends well for our hero who saves the day and nothing bad ever happened to him again after that. He settled down and lived happily ever after and wasn't used to boost the sales of a dying MMO or anything.</p><p><img class="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 24px;" src="http://media.giphy.com/media/ebuZ7sDhZcSJO/giphy.gif" height="375" width="500"></p><p>The Old Republic what?&nbsp;</p><p>3. SILENT HILL 2: 100% EGYPTIAN COTTON</p><p>Silent Hill has been a franchise which has slowly sort of began to rot like the skin-walkers that populate the foggy town, apart from the Norman Reedus reboot cause that looks flash as fuck. However, going back it's roots, Silent Hill 2 proved to be a formidable, atmosphere masterpiece from Team Silent.&nbsp;</p><p>The story goes like this: You are James, a man who has lost his wife. After receiving a letter from her, telling you to meet her in Silent Hill, it becomes abundantly clear that that is where you're going. The game is like any other Silent Hill art, a worthy horrific endeavor choc-a-bloc with crazy characters and psychosis inducing horror.</p><p><img class="irc_mi" src="https://33.media.tumblr.com/06137dd7a26ee70e32565148d6efd349/tumblr_mtowyjgl0F1rkdy7mo1_500.gif" style="line-height: 1.45em; margin-top: 16px;" height="391" width="500"></p><p>Hahahahahaahahahaeeeeegugug OH GOD OH GOD OH FUCKING GOD.</p><p>The problem with Jame's wife is that she kicked the bucket a long while back thanks to the Big C. This meant two things; either it's a fake by some sick prankster, or it's the demonic spawn of Satan sitting in a rusted out warehouse, chopping up bodies and fucking leg-people waiting for you to show up.&nbsp;</p><p>The smart money would go on prankster, but this isn't smart.</p><p>James spends the whole game jumping through demonic hoops, from fending off Toblerone-man, to going through a demonic hospital with faceless nurses. After shooting and killing his way through an army of the undead, he finally makes it to his wife.&nbsp;</p><p>THE KICKER: Jame's wife has been dead all along and James murdered her out of some sick kind of euthanasia with a pillow.</p><p>Silent Hill has always been a game that looks in to its characters for their flaws, and the land has always been sort of a punishing, surreal world in which characters guilt mixes with the trans-dimensional horror, allowing the people to go in and out with some sort of dramatic change, except this time, that doesn't happen. The endings all come to a halting, depressive end in which your choices range from James driving his car into Toluca lake out of guilt, to saving the doppelganger of his wife, Maria, who ends up coughing like Mary did when she first started to get ill.</p><p>Isn't the world a happy place?</p><p><br></p><p>Those were the three biggest twist of gaming, for me at least. Watch this space for more articles.&nbsp;</p><p></p>\r
]]></description>
                <category></category>
                <author><![CDATA[Archive]]></author>
                <guid>v43xy6vL9g</guid>
                <pubDate>Thu, 12 Feb 2015 01:21:00 +0000</pubDate>
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                <title><![CDATA[CLASSIC REVIEW: Grand Theft Auto V (SPOILERS)]]></title>
                <link>https://novogamer.com/articles/classic-review-grand-theft-auto-v-spoilers-vm4wB6yRB1</link>
                <description><![CDATA[<p>I'm a simple man; I grew up playing Rockstar games since they released the ported version of GTA 1 for PS1. My days were filled with gunning down Hare Krishna conventions, doing missions for my boyz and smashing open crates to find weapons. They were good times, the best times., and what six year old can say they loved growing up with the freedom to run and gun, destroying everything in his path?&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" style="line-height: 1.45em; width: 700px; height: 325px; background-color: initial;"></p><p style="text-align: center;">My parents never loved me like a PS1 did anyway.</p><p>I've always been a big fan of Rockstar, and whenever any Grand Theft Auto was released, I lapped it up like a crack addict relapsing in a snowstorm. The glory days of Take-Two and Rockstar filled us with unending joy, from Bully (originally entitled <i>Canis Canem Edit) </i>for the Playstation 2, and eventually Xbox 360 to Manhunt, GTA III, Vice City, and many, many others. It seems that production in Rockstar games has come to a very slow pattern over the last few years and with their recent release of Grand Theft Auto V, I decided to revisit it and give it a play to see where it stands.</p><p>LET'S BEGIN.</p><p>Grand Theft Auto V puts you in the role of Michael Townley, or uh...Michael De Santa if you know what's good for you. The story begins with a prologue. <b>North Yankton, Ludendorff. Nine years ago. </b>Michael, Trevor, and Brad are three friends, a crew, who are turning over a cash depot when, shocker, things don't go to plan and Brad and Michael are shot and Trevor escapes into the woods of Canada. This begins the game with is set nine years later. Michael is a rich, lonely, miserable wreck in Witness Protection following the fucked up prologue. He hates his life and what his family has become. His tendency to fly of the handle lands him in trouble when he befriends Franklin Clinton, who he recently discovered stealing his idiotic son's car. His escapades with Franklin earn him the unwanted attention of one of the West Coast's biggest criminal gang-leader, Martin Madrazo, and as a result, Michael must pick up his balaclava and six shooter once more to rob and pillage Los Santos. However, following a successful stint, the once-thought-dead Michael is suddenly noticed by none other than his psychotic ex-best friend: Trevor Phillips.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://oi59.tinypic.com/6ds7e0.jpg" title="Click for a larger view" id="imgElement" alt="" style=""></p><p style="text-align: center;">Why, Mikey? Why?</p><p>Michael Townley is the first ever Grand Theft Auto character to actually be a married man and living in a nuclear family. As far as he goes as a man, he seems to share the same characteristics of any psychopath. He is a bitter, angry man who seems to hate rotting away in Los Santos and doesn't quite come alive until there really is a threat or action. He tears down houses, murders people, and in the end, he finds that the very thing pulling the family apart is the same thing that can bring it together. He is a funny character, with great lines, and his chemistry with Trevor is great. However things that sell him short is his consistency to want to kill Trevor, almost achieving this back in Ludendorff and in the final mision: Death wish.&nbsp;</p><p>Trevor is the catalyst that sold GTA V like it did. A necrophiliac cannibal with an addiction to meth-amphetamines, his introduction to the audience is in one of the most symbolic ways possible. Trevor is introduced murdering Johnny Klebitz from GTA IV, the second protagonist and playable character in <i>The Lost and Damned</i>&nbsp;DLC. Trevor fucks his girlfriend, turns, smashes Johnny in the face and crushes his head with a few stamps from his boot. One story ends, another begins.&nbsp;</p><p>Our final character of the trio, Franklin Clinton turns out to be the most under-developed and ultimately useless one of the group. An ex-gang banger with delusions of "makin' it big, dawg," his aspirations earn him looks of disapproval from his friends and family, and earns him a one way ticket to Betrayal Town with people who can't be trusted. He flows through the game like any throwaway character, spouting bad one-liners and ultimately only becoming semi-useful in the end when you use him to either murder Michael or Trevor.&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: center;">Grand Theft Auto V: Good ol' fashioned racial stereotypes DLC only $19.95.</p><p>Gameplay mechanics in GTA V seemed to have improved greatly. Borrowing a similar platform style to Max Payne 3, shooting is a lot easier, with a simplistic approach to aiming and weapon selection. Looking back at the controls for GTA IV, Rockstar have centered on linear control, allowing more advanced driving and shooting, with a more active cover system. Everything feels a little too polished, with some buyers remarking that GTA IV driving seemed a lot more enjoyable and took skill, while GTA V's car handling has been suited for twelve year old's. Ludicrous! Grand Theft Auto isn't played by twelve year old's...</p><p>...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img class="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 0px;" src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" height="393" width="590"></p><p>Ahem...</p><p>Rockstar seems to have changed a lot of GTA V's mechanics. Physical control of your car means that flipping it over means you just have to shimmy your joystick a little and it'll flip right back. This seems like a pointless feature, and ruins the idea that reckless driving has consequences. Another issue I seemed to find with the game is of course, the very same things others have found problems with:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img class="irc_mi" src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" style="line-height: 1.45em; margin-top: 0px;" height="393" width="373"></p><p style="text-align: center;">"Is he jaywalking? BRING OUT THE DE-VIRGINIZER."</p><p>These bastards. I am unsure of whether or not game developers decided to go overkill due to GTA IV's cops being bumbling morons, but the fact that cops in GTA V resemble The Terminator is an annoying feature. Cops are quick to shoot, quick to appear, and if you think physics were thrown out just with cars, you can think again, hombre.&nbsp;</p><p>Police in this game will spawn almost anywhere, as well as helicopters coming from complete blank areas, you are fucked pretty much up from a three star wanted level. Cops will ram you, shoot you with precise aiming, and if you think your modified sports car will change anything you are sadly mistaken. Cops are armored, quick, and will corner you like a rat and shoot you from across the map with a potato gun and you'll still wonder how fucking high the game developers were when they were making them as a feature.</p><p>Previous stories in GTA involved your main character being a lowlife criminal who raises through the ranks and fights his way to the top. In this one, your character has pretty much done that. The game centers around the trio robbing shit, then paying for it for the rest of the game. The three heroes are constantly and proverbially fucked in the ass over money, teasing big pays for big risks, and then they're bum-rushed and screwed over at every chance they get. Like a large metaphor for capitalism at its finest, the best way to make big money, is to play the stock market, like the suit and tie capitalist pink you are.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img class="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 0px;" src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" height="393" width="420"></p><p style="text-align: center;">Dan Houser's taken a turn for the worst since GTA's release.</p><p>The story gives way to a final choice with Franklin. Three endings, which, surprisingly, sell the game shorter. Unlike other amazing, philosophical endings like GTA IV's, V seems to cram in three awful conclusions to a game that wasn't the best or the worst in the franchise.&nbsp;</p><p>ENDING A: Kill Michael.&nbsp;</p><p>Franklin kills Michael who has his life in order. It's a depressing, bleak, and ultimately anti-climactic end.&nbsp;</p><p>ENDING B: Kill Trevor.</p><p>You and Michael kill Trevor, setting him ablaze. In the end Michael comes full circle as a slimy scumbag who sells his friends short and kills his best friend.&nbsp;</p><p>ENDING C: The happy-dappy walk-away-into-the-sunset ending which leaves all three alive, killing off the competition and living happily ever after. The ending felt so false and rushed that I believe somewhere on the cutting room floor, GTA V has a hidden ending which encapsulates what was really trying to be put across. The trio all escape and stay best chums with their lives ahead of them and no issues from th FiB or the agency or whatever cheap antagonist decides to show up. It was a low end for an otherwise high game.&nbsp;</p><p>Being such a big fan of Rockstar, I've loved their games over the years; Red Dead, Max Payne, GTA, Manhunt, and somewhere along the line I felt that GTA V, in all its glory and beauty, was a game that didn't live up to the hype it was given. It was a fun game, with interesting characters, but was sold short in the story and ending which didn't seem up to par with other games in the series. While enjoyable, it is a game which didn't leave an impression on me like others did, and while I have tried my best to be fair, it seems more like a game that was manufactured and polished, rather than a game with heart and soul like IV, or Vice City, or any other Rockstar game.</p><p>7/10.</p><p>Don't even get me started on GTA: Online.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img style="-webkit-user-select: none;" src="http://img.xcitefun.net/users/2009/12/128633,xcitefun-crying-babies.jpg"></p><p style="text-align: center;">Summed it up in one picture, son.</p><p style="text-align: right;">Max Payne, out.</p>
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                <category></category>
                <author><![CDATA[Archive]]></author>
                <guid>vm4wB6yRB1</guid>
                <pubDate>Thu, 19 Feb 2015 04:33:00 +0000</pubDate>
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                <title><![CDATA[Classic Games that Stood the Test of Time! Part One!]]></title>
                <link>https://novogamer.com/articles/classic-games-that-stood-the-test-of-time-part-one-v9Am6y13EV</link>
                <description><![CDATA[<p><br></p><p><br></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Video games come and go. Such is the way of life in a\r
   constantly shifting industry. Back in the day we had two-dimensional games\r
   where we shot things in the face for points, and now we've got\r
   three-dimensional games where we can fuck Japanese-Anime sluts for fuckpoints.\r
   Fortunately, we’re not really here to discuss how many sexy-score we can get\r
   for Onii-Chan’s Fuk Fuk Adventure although a later editorial may come in <i>handy. </i>\r
</p><p><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" width="916" height="667"></p><p style="margin-left: 260px;">"Winkidy wink."</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Some say that graphics make the game, others say story√¢‚Ç¨‚I am\r
   an advocate of the latter. While it’s great to see how defined Master Chief's\r
   ass is in the remastered Halo edition, I must say that the games that have\r
   stuck with me throughout my existence seemed to all have the makings of cult\r
   hits based on gameplay, story, music, and overall atmosphere as opposed to the\r
   ultimate aesthetics. So I decided that maybe it would be time to show some of\r
   my favorite games that I believe are as good today as they were when they were\r
   released eons ago before the fire nation attacked. \r
</p><p><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png"></p><p style="margin-left: 240px;">"Dem pixels doe."</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This series will just focus on some of my favorite games,\r
   and the reasons to why I think they are as great now as they were back then.  I love them and continue to play them all on\r
   account of their story, atmosphere, how well the game affected me, and even the\r
   gameplay itself. This editorial is what we like to call an <i>opinionated</i> piece, and whether or not you agree or disagree, may I\r
   inform you that tissues are cheap in this day and age, and if not, you can\r
   always wipe away your tears with a sleeve, or a sock, or whatever’s at hand.  This is a personal editorial on some of the\r
   greatest games I believe have been made. Whether you agree or not, is\r
   completely your choice.<br>\r
</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>RESIDENT EVIL 2</strong></p><p><i>Fear comes around a second time, to fuck you in the ass.</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;">When I was a baby boy, I remembered playing a pirated version of this on my chipped PlayStation 1. Being launched into the fiery abyss of a destroyed truck, to running through the choc-a-bloc streets of Raccoon City with zombies all around, you couldn’t help but just shit your pants as a child. The memories were just infinite; the music upon entering the R.C.P.D with those piano chimes, and the clicking cacophony of feet against the whistling wind of the dead city and the Licker jumping down from the ceiling√¢‚Ç¨‚OH JESUS. </p><p><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png"></p><p style="margin-left: 80px;">Turn off. Unplug. Wind up power cable. Throw out window.\r
   Never play again.<br>\r
</p><p><br></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Resident Evil 2 was just one of those chart topping, survival horrors that was burned into my fears as a child. I remember it having the same effect as Dino Crisis, with its haunting score and diverse range of enemies; all scary, all shit-pantingly horrific in their execution against the map. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The game was just beautiful in so many ways too though, from the classic conspiracy story, the replay value, and the constant fear of things coming for you all the way to the entire atmosphere of the city to the underground Umbrella base. It was one of the first horror games I played, and one that haunted me for years to come. I always find myself going back and relaying it every couple of weeks or so.  It was a classic, straight up in every way; except for that really bad cardboard voice-acting which I don’t miss so much.</p><p style="margin-left: 100px;"><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" alt="aadddaaaaa"></p><p style="margin-left: 200px;">"ADDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA."</p><p><strong>SUPER MARIO LAND</strong></p><p><i>That fucking music.</i></p><p>Doo-doodoo-doo. Doo-doo-</p><p>GET OUT OF MY HEAD.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Super Mario Land was the first game I ever played on my original Game Boy way back in the summer of '98. My grandmother bought me it, and from that first level with that music ingrained into my brain so much I’m sure I can still hear it on quiet nights, I was hooked. The gameplay was the core dynamic of a Mario game, all the while being able to play it while in my mom’s car while I wore that flaming dragon shirt and sunglasses, counting how much pussy I was gonna get when I hit that Egyptian world.</p><p style="margin-left: 100px;"><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png"></p><p style="margin-left: 200px;">"These brothers ain't the only thing with hammers, youknowwhatImean?"</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> We all knew it. The tiny screen, the hammer brothers fucking you up, and the impending doom as you watch your whole life-count slip away into nothingness. Super Mario Land is the definitive Mario game for me√¢‚Ç¨‚and I know I’m gonna hear some screams about how Super Mario Bros or Super Mario 64 is the ultimate game but to me, playing this at my nan’s house, getting all the way through to the end and dying in a fiery blaze of anger from that one hammer hitting me, well that’s just pure childhood right there. </p><p><strong>SONIC THE HEDGEHOG</strong></p><p><i>Gotta go faster.</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The first console I ever owned was a Sega Mega-Drive (or Sega Genesis depending on where you got the shit but I don’t know, who cares, I don’t) and the first game I ever actually played was Sonic the Hedgehog.  It’s safe to say that this was the game that launched my love of video games altogether. Cutting through Green Hill Zone to that beautiful, instant-childhood inducing music, and then Marble Zone, Casino and the others just always makes me happy.  I loved Sonic growing up and I still love it now, with the help of emulators and improved technology it’s still a game I play on the go. It’s a classic to me and many others I know.  Although I have rarely ever managed to complete it.</p><p><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" alt="My tinder esque story gt be 16 years old sign 7" width="640px" height="960px"></p><p style="margin-left: 220px;">"I'm still a good gaymur, right?"</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This game just gets mentions on the nostalgia factor. It’s always been a favourite and is still one of them.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>BATMAN VENGEANCE</strong></p><p><em>Arkham Beta 0.2</em></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Before we were given the beauty of Rocksteady’s Arkham series, and that one game where Christian Bale actually did voice-work, Batman Vengeance was released on PlayStation 2. I remember getting this game for Christmas and wondering what the fuck was going on with it. After much excitement I played it, and was absolutely blown away by it. I was one of those 90's kids that grew up with the Batman Animated series, would wear Batman pyjamas, collect corpses of dead bats and hide them under my bed√¢‚Ç¨‚</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Well, I loved Batman, that’s what was key. The story was an original, focusing on the good and juicy tidbits of the show with familiar faces like Mister Freeze, The Joker, Harley-Quinn and everybody’s favorite caped crusader; Brucey himself. The gameplay was like the original Arkham game, truly, in the fact it had stealth components, Hamill and Conroy as the bitter enemies, and plenty of cool levels, secrets, cheats, and an enthralling story involving Batman and the Joker in a tussle of moral crusades against Gotham. The music and cartoonish style was great. I still play this when I can on my old PS2. The style, story, and overall atmosphere was just like the TV show, except you could fly around and fuck shit up with batarangs way before Arkham’s series made it cool. <i>Take that, mainstream douches. </i></p><p><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" alt="hipbat" width="1024px" height="732px"></p><p style="margin-left: 80px;">"Yeah I like it, but you’ve probably never even heard of Vengeance anyway."</p><p><strong>MANHUNT</strong></p><p><em>Bagged for life!</em></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I’m somewhat of a Rockstar fanboy. Take me outside, line me up, and pelt me with copies of San Andreas until I die, but that’s the truth. I think their early games were some of the greatest ever created, and none other stands to gain my approval more than the disturbing, gory, and beautifully atmospheric creation that was <i>Manhunt. </i>This game has been widely controversial and was even the focus of a large court case involving a murder which was said to have been implemented due to the games graphic content. The case was thrown out but come on! A game that makes this much controversy must be great. I mean, you can literally suffocate people with a Tesco bag. </p><p><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png" alt="karen" width="1280px" height="960px"></p><p style="margin-left: 140px;">“The second Karen turns, I’m going for a three-star kill.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The story centers on death row convict: James Earl Cash, who is sentenced to death, but is given a second chance by a grimy, fat snuff-film director called Starkweather who puts Cash through many trials in the decaying Carcer City for cheap thrills, footage, and monies. The game implemented stealth kills with pretty much anything, including plastic bags, glass shards, baseball bats, and even wires. The voice-acting from Brian Cox is absolutely fantastic, as well as Craig Conner’s score, the gameplay which is a mix of both stealth and all out brain-damaging gore, and the atmosphere pushed the boundaries of improvisation in terms of killing, and the feel of Carcer really puts you in a city that feels real, scary, and full of psychotic chumps waiting to hunt you down and cut you up! </p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's got everything from a crazy, dark 80s-type score, a multitude of weapons, brilliant voice acting, degradation, fantasies of snuff, rape, violence, gore, and all for under $15. Bargain blood! </p><p><strong>HITMAN 2: STEALTH ASSASSIN</strong><br></p><p><i>Bald Strategy!</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I loved the PS2 gaming era. I loved everything from Ico to Final Fantasy VII. I loved MGS, I loved so many games but Stealth Assassin was just one of those games I absolutely loved to play over and over and over and never got bored. You could be the hitman of your dreams. You could sneak in like a shadow, carefully dressed as the maid, delivering fresh pants upstairs and when your victim ain’t looking you could shiv him in the kidney or strangle the life out of him, dress in his clothes, and walk away like a king. OR you could do it my way and step in there with an MP5 and fucking obliterate all the witnesses; the kids, the dog, the God-damn maid, the bodyguards, that one little frog, the scarecrow, and even yourself if you felt like it with that little sticky bomb. </p><p><img src="https://novogamer.com/images/archive-broken-image.png"></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Stealth Assassin was just a brilliant game from start to finish, from each level showing diverse paths, a multitude of weapons, Jesper Kyd on the drums, and of course Agent 47 himself.  I remember going to my dad’s and playing this for hours on end, never really faltering in my attention to detail in making sure every. Single. Person. Was dead.  There would be no witnesses in the end. I was the reaper. Eight year old me had the makings of a homicidal, nay√¢‚Ç¨‚genocidal maniac, and we have Eidos to thank for that shit. </p><p><br></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That’s it for part 1 but watch this space for other parts as\r
   we’re in for a sexy, bumpy ride. Do you agree with me, do you disagree with me? Comment and let me know if you think I'm an asshole or a nostalgia-whore. I promise to get back to you! Hopefully more to come in the future!<br>\r
</p><p><br></p>]]></description>
                <category></category>
                <author><![CDATA[Archive]]></author>
                <guid>v9Am6y13EV</guid>
                <pubDate>Wed, 10 Feb 2016 10:47:00 +0000</pubDate>
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