God of War Ascension Collectors Edition Unboxing

Thought it would be a good idea to get another unboxing post up, this one has been on the cards for the last few weeks now. This is the God of War Ascension Collector's Edition, it contained the steel book special edition plus the extra season pass and Kratos figurine.

The box was just simple cardboard design with the golden dark shadow effect that's been used for the theme through out the advertisement campaign of the game. On the one side you could see the front cover of the steel book and the other side shows the figurine it self.

As you can see in the top picture there was some assemble required when it came to the Kratos figurine, both arms needed to be attached. I was bit disappointed with the figurine it self due to the fact the plastic was quite cheap, the figure was painted nice and the detail was good. What was really annoying though was the arms had to be slotted onto pegs to be attached and who ever did the design cut the peg shape wrong on the one arm. It took me nearly thirty minutes to finally get the arm on and I had to use a knife to cut the shape inside better. This was a huge mistake on their part and when you forking £80 out for a edition like this, this should not be happening.

Another thing you will notice is that on the head is a red dot where a bit of paint was splashed, I've ignored it and counted it as blood but overall I really expected better quality control. Least it still looks good on my shelf with the rest of my collection. So other then the figurine in the box was the special edition which was a steelbook case with several DLC included (plus the season pass for the collectors edition). In the way of the DLC it was all multiplayer bonuses and the soundtrack, so lets skip over that and talk about the steel book.

Steel book Cover and Slipcase

The outside is just black with the God of War symbol and a slip case cover for protection, the inside though had some amazing artwork. It features two warriors from the multiplayer mode and I loved the work gone into the drawing, I would preferred this on the cover to be honest.

Steelbook artwork

Overall it was an ok Collectors edition but I really did not feel like I got my money out of it, a lot of the bonus DLC was multiplayer in the ways of XP boosting. The season pass content has not gone live yet, well I don't think it as but there is no options on the menu to find out in the game. Guessing I have to complete the multiplayer tutorial to find out. Anyway I'm getting off topic, nice steel book and the figurine was just ok but could had been a lot better. Not the best collectors edition out there and if I was given a choice then I probably would had just picked up the special edition instead. So that is it for my short unboxing today folks, I will find a much nicer collectors edition to talk about next time but until then have a good one.
~Iznic

Morning Thought's

Morning folks,
Thought I would pop on for a quick post before I start worrying about getting ready for work. Sunday was amazing in the ways of gaming, I finally got the last plant I needed mid afternoon so I'm now the proud owner of the Platinum trophy for Plants vs Zombies on the Vita. Second Platinum trophy for the year so getting there slowly.

On top of that I started back on God of War just for a level or two, which turned into just one more and then one more level until four hours had passed and the game finished. So that was game number fourteen for the year and also means all my new releases for March have been completed. Very happy with myself but now it does leave the question of what to play next, got plenty to choose from just not sure where to start.

From lovefilm they have sent me Rise of the Guardians based on the movie, now normally I hate movie tie-in games since they usually suck but there have been a few exceptions. Anyway I loved the movie so I thought I would give the game a chance, well so far it looks good and plays great. It's over the top camera with a four member team, reminds me heavily of Marvel Ultimate Alliance in the ways of controls. It's also pretty much following the film so it's not too bad with the story either and the achievements seem easy enough since the map shows all the collectibles and side missions.

Will be working on that this week but I do need another game to work on along side it, cannot let my rentals take over all my time. Thinking I could do with finishing off Pokemon Black 2 so I'm up to date for when Pokemon X & Y come out later this year. Also got the Assassin's Creed Anthology to work on, thinking start from the first and going all the way through the series. Plenty of choices and no idea where to begin, I will get back to you guys on what I pick.

Apart from that not much to say really, I still have plenty of posts to do it's just getting the time to sit down and write them out. Anyway on this note I do have to run or else I won't have time for breakfast, so have a good one folks and don't forget to drop a comment with what you been playing this weekend.
~Iznic

P.S. Don't forget the PS4 poll on the right, could do with some more feedback folks.

Easter Thoughts

Afternoon readers,

It's been a busy few weeks for me and I've not had really much time to blog or even game in most cases but fear not since it's my day off!. Now before I dedicate the whole day to gaming and blogging I cannot since I've got a lot of jobs to catch up on, no rest for the wicked that's for sure but I am determined to least get two blog posts up today. Plus hopefully a rough draft or two for this weeks posts that I have planned.

So where to begin well I've bought some more games again since there have been some awesome deals and sales going on. I think I posted up about Darksiders 2 and Skyrim Premium Edition PS3 both being £10 a few weeks back, well this week I picked up the Halo 4 Collector's Edition since GAME had knocked it down to £28 finally. Could not resist once I saw the steelbook inside which is one of the nicest steelbooks I've ever seen, plus having the season pass as well was the cherry on the top.

Of course trying to save some money this money went right out the window, especially when Amazon knocked the price of the Assassin's Creed Anthology Edition down from £99 to £48. All five games plus all the DLC for each game in a collectors box, steelbook and artcards. So I picked up the PS3 version since I've wanted to go through them again for trophies. Also means I've got plenty of Unboxing blog posts to do now, although I was already swamped with all the collector editions I picked up in March.

Anyway thank god it goes quiet for the next few months so I can start saving for the end of the year, it's going to kill me with all these new games being announced plus having new consoles as well. There is so much I want! I really have no idea where to start but I cannot wait! but enough about that let's talk gaming and what I've been up to.

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Well you will be happy to know that I've clocked Gears of War Judgement at the start of the week plus the Aftermath campaign was done as well. Was really pleased with myself since that means only God of War is left out of the March new releases, think that's the first time I've ever clocked all the new releases for a month. I'm also half way through God of War and so far I'm not seeing this really short game everyone was complaining about unless the next half goes real quick. I am disappointed with the game though since the camera is horrible in it, I know the game looks beautiful and the boss fights are meant to look epic but having the camera keep zooming out to show it off is a pain. Plus throw in the combat system that seems only want to work when it feels like it, well it's a recipe for disaster.

I'm hoping to put some more time into today so I can wrap it up but I do have a few games I'm currently working on. I picked up Defiance at the start of the month, so far I've only put a hour or two into it and well...it's kinda boring right now. The story is not dragging me into it and the quests are just repeating them selves, there is only a few different types that are just repeated over and over. Plus everyone looks the same! there is no really customisation to it yet at the start you spend ages making your character the way you want but once you in-game everyone is the same. 

Not going to condemn the game though yet, I'm only at the beginning and I need to pump some more time into. I picked up the Collectors edition so I really want to get my money's worth before I decide to give up on it, hopefully some patches will come out to spruce it up and with the TV show launching in about a week's time that might make it more interesting.

So yeah I will be putting more time into that this week and the final game I'm currently playing is Plants vs. Zombies on the Vita. Last time I posted I only needed one more trophy to clock the Platinum which is the Zen Garden, to get it I need all the plants in my garden is pretty much luck. I was annoyed because when I first checked out the trophy guide it just said that I needed to loot the plants and don't need to keep them but now it says all the plants have to be present at the same time in the garden for the trophy. So there's a lesson for you my readers and that's to keep checking any achievement/trophy guide for updates, it can cost you a lot of time if you don't.

Anyway I was down to eight plants left to get and yesterday out of no where I got six of the missing ones, then this morning the seventh one dropped finally so now I just need one more and that will be my third Platinum for the Vita. I expect to see me on this a lot the next few nights as I attempt to try and get it, fingers crossed it will drop in the next few days. 

So that's it folks for me now, I'm going to go and do some gaming then I will be back to write up another post I've been wanting to do. Until then have a good one and don't forget to comment with what you been up to.

~Iznic

P.S. to the right is a poll for the PlayStation 4, if you can spare a minute I would be very interesting to seeing how many of you will be getting it or not.

 

March Boss Fight

Afternoon folks,
Well my boss fight is going...well I'm going to say ok because it was terrible but yesterday was good, anyway I bet you wondering what the title of the post means and what boss fight. I've been treating this month games as a video game boss fight, each release being a new stage in the fight. So phase one was Tomb Raider so I was up against Lara Croft herself, very tough fight thanks to the awesome graphics in the game that make you stop to take in the beautiful scenery. Then lets not forget the collectibles add more time to the game because you just want to go looking for them. A very difficulty phase in this epic boss fight and it went badly for me since I was only 36% completed when Phase Two started.

Phase Two saw Kerrigan joining Lara (Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm), strategy game means long times especially for me since I like to take my time to build my base up before charging in. Of course the story is pretty sweet and plenty of side stuff to do so this phase would be tough since the amount of time it would take to win.

Unfortunately for me lady luck was both on my side and not, Phase Three started several days early since I was not expecting Amazon to deliver God of War last Saturday since they had quoted this Wednesday to me. So now I've got Kratos joining the fight making it 3v1 and the odds are not in my favour, especially with the God of War franchise being known for long ass games with tough boss fights at the end.

But not all is despair folks since I was granted the awesome power up "Day Off" yesterday which allowed me to duke it for five hours with Kerrigan and it ended with me winning. Another game for the completion list finally, been a while since I had clocked a game and I really need to start catching up.

Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm is pretty sweet but I did find it a lot easier compared to Wings of Liberty, not sure if it was me improving my skills since when I played Wings of Liberty that was the first time I've ever tried a Starcraft game. Story was not bad either but it did feel slightly like a filler in some ways since this is the second game in the trilogy, felt like a bit more of the story could be focused on the main story arc instead of the Kerrigan revenge arc. But still I would give the game a solid 8/9 out of the 10 if it was to grade it.

So where does that leave me now? well I'm around 60% done with Tomb Raider and God of War Ascension is sitting sealed by my TV. Going to take some photos when I unpack it for a unboxing blog post since I picked up the collectors edition. Fingers crossed I can take down Lara Croft before the weekend since Phase Four will begin and Gears of War Judgement hits.

Don't worry folks my posts will turn normal again soon and expect two unboxing blog posts in the week, God of War and Starcraft 2 HOTS.
~Iznic

God of War: Ascension Collector's Editions

Well if this Christmas was not costing you an arm and a leg with the amount of games that are coming out, they go and make the start of next year jam packed with new releases as well. Of course they have to go and throw a spanner into the works by announcing collector editions now. Today Sony announced on the Europe Blog they will be doing two editions for the new God of War game.

Special edition is up first which is basically the steel book case with a few extras. I love the simple look of the case and the use of the glowing logo, it works for me so if I don't get the big edition then this will be a must. Also includes the soundtrack, double XP for the multi player then throw in a avatar pack and theme for the console. Nice special edition on all accounts but I do think it's missing something, maybe a figurine? well they have you covered for that.

Look at this bad boy! the figurine! the box art and all the extras! they designed this with me in mind. Ok down to business and let's talk about what is included, well first off the awesome looking box which I regret throwing away the God of War 3 one now. All the stuff from the special edition is included as well plus an extra armour set based on Mythological Heroes which is a bit annoying since it's also the pre-order bonus.

Now the first extra awesome bonus and that's a pass for all future DLC will be included, now that's a bonus! so a season pass basically but of course it depends what type of DLC it will be. I'm hoping for some extra single player stuff and not just multi player maps/skins.

Finally the best part in the box and it had to be last of course, the Kratos figurine and how cool does it look. In fact just to be nice to you my readers I've cropped the figurine out of the original image of the blog so you can see it up close. Just click the imagine below to the full size version of it then when you done go place an order for it, well actually you cannot yet but still start saving!.

So folks what will you be getting out of this lot? me I'm hoping for the collectors if I can get the money together in time, reason I say that is because Tomb Raider is out the week before and Gears of War Judgement is the week after. March is turning out worse then November and that's saying something.

~Iznic

P.S. I forgot to post up the picture of the pre-order bonus armour set which is also included in the Collector's Edition.