GAMES e-LANTOH INFO

Preview: RAGE

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 11:47:00 +0000

id Software has been synonymous with the first-person shooter since the genre's formative years, and with good reason. From the iconic Doom to the multiplayer-pioneering Quake series, the developer has consistently provided definitive run-and-gun fests and pushed the boundaries of the FPS with every new IP. In recent years, the studio hasn't exactly been prevalent on the development front, working away on an ambitious new venture behind closed doors. Fans were given a first glimpse at the fruits of this labour three years back when Rage was unveiled at an Apple development conference. Much has changed since the project's inception, but with id's new Tech 5 engine at its core, this one is sure to be cutting-edge. We attended the firm's developer session at the Eurogamer Expo to check up on its progress.

First off, Rage's most notable feature is not the shiny new engine it's built on, but its incorporation of driving elements. Since the release of Wolfenstein 3D in 1992, id has stuck to its guns and delivered a long line of shooters in their purest form. It's entirely possible that this radical shift in gameplay mechanics might deter one or two of the Quake diehards, but after almost two decades of uniformity, isn't it about time the formula was shaken up a bit? Watching lead producer Jason Kim play the Xbox 360 edition, it was difficult to imagine fans of contemporary FPS fare being disappointed. The game shares much in common with the likes of Fallout 3, Borderlands and Metro 2033, while MotorStorm, Burnout and the Mad Max movies sprung to mind during vehicular segments.

This isn't the first game of its kind to take place against a post-apocalyptic backdrop, and it certainly won't be the last; yet the writers have strived to create a world with its own identity and origin. Set some time after a cataclysmic asteroid strike, the plot follows a lone survivor who emerges from a government arc to find a brave new world populated by raiders, mutants and other unpleasant dystopian types. Vast areas of the planet have been reduced to a harsh wasteland, while others appear relatively unscathed. From the footage on show, we were almost convinced that it has a strong Wild Western theme until creative director Tim Willits explained that the dusty location is just one of many diverse areas players will explore in the final product.

As you would expect from an id title, the gun mechanics look solid. There are plenty of weapon customisation opportunities and foes have multiple hit points, thus there will be no shortage of variety when it comes to picking off enemies. There was an impressive arsenal on display, from boomerang blades capable of tearing through flesh and bone to a spider sentry with a mounted mini-gun. Vehicles are simply there to convey you from A to B, though there appears to be some scope for upgrades. From ATVs to quad bikes, there's a host transportation options available and ample opportunity to make them your own with a choice of mounted weapons. Vehicular combat is fast-paced and gritty. It's all high-speed chases and explosions. Although the developers assured us that driving will take a back-seat, that doesn't mean there won't be a lot of fun to be had with it.

There's much more to Rage than guns and motors. The wasteland environment we saw in the demo played host to several living, breathing settlements with dozens of colourful characters to interact with and side-quests to enrol on. In this regard, it appears similar to Fallout 3 and may offer something equal in depth and scope. However, the game wears its action focus on its sleeve and is by no means an RPG. Diversity was on show throughout the demo - from the various tribes of raiders that occupy their own turf to the stark contrast between zones. We were shown the Western-influenced town of Wellspring, which looks as though it will serve as a central hub, before the action shifted to the rocky terrain of Dead City, where no man leaves alive. From the Godzilla-sized mutant that reared its head before the demonstration concluded, it was easy to see how the latter territory earned its reputation.

At present, there aren't many better looking first-person shooters on the market. id's Tech 5 engine allows Rage to run at an impressive 60 frames per second with the scenery pop-up of the studio's previous technology nowhere to be found. The level of detail and depth of field are mouth-watering. That sleek animation and lightning responsiveness, coupled with some well-rendered explosion and particle effects, make for one hell of a spectacle - and the developers still have the best part of a year to polish it up.

Rage has been given an unusually lengthy development cycle, but it's clear that the time has been spent maximising the potential of the brand new technology at its core. The demonstration we saw raised a few questions where originality is concerned, as it felt reminiscent of a dozen other titles. However, the game is rich in showmanship and looks on course to pull off what it is setting out to do. It's pleasing to see id break its age-old FPS mould by throwing driving elements into the mix, while peddling an action-based alternative to the stat-heavy Fallout 3 and Borderlands. Taking the phenomenal popularity of id's other properties into account, this one is sure to be all the rage when it lands next year.

F1 2010 Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:37:00 +0000

Formula One racing might not be the same scintillating sensation in the United States that it is in Europe, but that's not going to stop Codemasters from bring F1 2010 to America this September. This title might not initially appeal to U.S. racing game fans, but F1 2010 might be the first F1 game that American gamers will want to pick up. The developers behind F1 2010 have had approachability in mind during the entire development cycle, though there's certainly plenty of room for the deeply technical racing that hardcore F1 fans will be frothing at the mouth for.

Last week, I had the pleasure of playing an early build of F1 2010 and seeing how a non-F1 fan like me can handle the game. Surprisingly, I was able to avoid totally destroying my car, which I consider a serious victory. But there's a lot more going on in F1 2010 besides this needed accessibility. With some incredible tech, a full career mode and online multiplayer, F1 2010 might be the game that opens up the Formula One world to nervous and intimidated gamers in the United States (see: Ryan Clements).

Oh god, don't panic! Don't panic!

First, a brief history lesson: Codemasters acquired the Formula One license in May of 2008, which means that the team has been working on F1 2010 for about two and a half years. This long development time really shows, as F1 2010 looks and runs beautifully, even in its early stages. I quickly noticed the fluidity of the driver turning the highly detailed wheel, and the look of the tires as they scream across rain-spattered tracks. I was told that the development team went to great lengths to create an authentic F1 experience. This includes 19 official circuits, 12 teams, pit stops, real cars and drivers -- the team even motion captured actual pit crews to make the whole thing come alive.

The other thing that the developers want to stress is that F1 2010 is more than just racing -- it's about living the life of the driver. Although you can play as real F1 drivers in Grand Prix and other modes, it seems like the meat of the game will be in career mode, where players play as themselves in the world of Formula One. This means that you'll join a team, participate in interviews (your answers influence the game), race against your teammate and live the surprisingly glamorous life that is F1 racing.

This interface is already looking spectacular, as the main menu is set up next to your trailer where press might be waiting and models are posing for cameras. Your agent sits in your trailer and acts as a portal to various sections of the game, and from this headquarters menu players can jump into a ton of different races.

One of the first things that players will notice when booting up F1 2010 is an important question the game poses: what sort of experience do you want? There are five different levels that players can select which dictate just how much hand-holding will be implemented to give Formula One newcomers a chance to get oriented. This is a really fantastic idea, as it gives players like me an easy entryway into the experience without worrying about the extremely technical stuff in tweaking your vehicle of choice.

But of course, menus aren't nearly as exciting as actual races (Right?). As nervous as I was to race in front of the representatives from Codemasters, I was amazed at how quickly I was able to get into the actual gameplay mechanics. Sure, playing F1 2010 is difficult and requires a fair amount of skill, but it wasn't unintelligible. Everything felt natural. This is probably thanks to the advising that former F1 driver Anthony Davidson has provided. Apparently Davidson is in the developers' offices every other week commenting on game controls. F1 2010 is a precise, tight game where carefully handling, acceleration and speed is absolutely critical (lest you want to explode).

The weather effects are looking very nice.

The AI in F1 2010 will also be realistic, as the developers are doing their best to make the opposing racers behave like actual F1 drivers. After all, each F1 driver drives differently, so having the AI vary from car to car makes total sense.

This realism and attention to detail even extends into the weather, with wet roads having a drastically different feeling than dry roads. The developers have even considered loose pebbles that might be strewn on the track in certain courses. The amount of real-world information contained in F1 2010 is mind-blowing, which leads me to believe that this will be very well-received among Formula One fans.

F1 2010 will be landing on the PS3, 360 and PC this September. Players can look forward to a legitimate F1 experience with a robust career mode, time trails and even the ability to download fellow players' ghost runs. Be on the lookout for our continued coverage of F1 2010 in the future.

Portal 2 Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:51:00 +0000

Portal 2 is a stand-alone, full-price retail release with new gameplay mechanics, storyline, and some surprising new twists.Aperture Science did not have a large presence at E3 2010. Apparently, its plans for selling video game-branded shower curtains have not been very popular among publishers and failed to justify a booth. However, their Handheld Portal Device, which was famously demonstrated in a component of 2007's The Orange Box alongside demos of Black Mesa Research's Gravity Gun and the war products of Reliable Excavation Demolition and Builder's League United, has proven a little more successful, leading them to devote a small meeting room for demonstrations of the newest version of the device ... and plenty of exciting new Aperture Science equipment.

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth ....

Like last year, Valve's presence at E3 was limited to a small meeting room, themed after and focusing on one game: Portal 2, the sequel to the megahit component of Half-Life 2's Orange Box compilation. The demonstration involved a gag video that displayed new Aperture equipment, a live demo of an early area, and some developer Q&A. It also neatly showed the progress of the game, which will be receiving a full release next year.

The original Portal ends with its hero in the Party Escort Submission Position, picked up by robots and returned to a relaxation chamber for future experiments testing the Handheld Portal Device … and cake.

Hundreds of years later, the testing facility has fallen into disrepair, resulting in the hero's reawakening among ruins. Attempting to escape, she runs into one of many AI Spheres — components of the game's iconic villain/ally/troll/cake provider, GLaDoS. Fortunately, the early spheres you encounter are friendlier and help you exit the facility. Unfortunately, they have as much of a clue about where you're going as you do — that is to say, none at all. Where does that get you? Well, let's just quote the dialogue:

"Oh. It's you. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. I've been too busy being dead. Because you killed me."

Fortunately, GLaDoS is a forgiving troll and decides to keep you alive to continue experimenting with the device, confident that she can forgive you in the name of science. Thus begins a second, and this time much longer set of tests, and you get to use new items and devices galore.

Alternatively, you can take the role of one of two testing robots, who have their own interactions and tests. The co-op campaign received no coverage during the E3 demonstrations, but it has been confirmed that this distinct campaign will be much harder than the single-player campaign to make up for the distinct advantage that two sets of portals may provide. The difficulty of the single-player campaign will be on par with the original game, so it'll be tricky but won't be too insane or rely much on quick reflexes.

The E3 video focused on showcasing new gameplay elements and showing several examples of how each addition will change the gameplay. The pneumatic diversity tubes suck in air on one end and blast it out on the other, identifying but never judging anything that goes through. The air currents are very handy for knocking things over or pulling them out of your way. Two gels can paint surfaces: the propulsion gel, which causes Chell to accelerate uncontrollably, and the repulsion gel, which turns a surface into a trampoline to set up higher jumps. Both gels are sprayed from launchers, so you can use portals to target specific surfaces.

Also introduced to the game are a new series of weighted cubes. The most significant is the weighted redirection cube, which has mirrored surfaces for dealing with lasers, energy balls — or the new thermal discouragement beam, which sets you on fire to discourage you from touching it. Also more formally introduced are weighted storage balls, which only showed up in the advanced versions of some scenarios in the first game. Finally, the video introduced the aerial faith plates, which catapult objects into the air.

All of these items (and more!) are planned for Portal 2. Yes, all SKUs —Xbox 360, PC and now Mac OS X and PlayStation 3 — will come out simultaneously. It's the first Valve game to do so for Macs. Many plot elements will return, but several of the memes won't. The cake might not be a lie anymore. Jonathan Coulton is also returning and will have significantly more involvement. Surprisingly, several Steam features — community features, DLC and updates — will come to the PS3 iteration. They hope to even provide PC and PS3 cross-platform multiplayer alongside the existing PC-to-Mac play. Naturally, this announcement proved particularly exciting, though it's uncertain whether it'll pan out.

Fans will have to wait until next year to experience Portal 2. GLaDoS awaits your anticipation and hopes to reward it with cake.

Wii Review - 'Arc Rise Fantasia'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 06:31:00 +0000

Arc Rise Fantasia is a new turn-based RPG with a beautiful, anime-inspired Japanese art style. Players will jump into the shoes of L’Arc, a calm and composed mercenary, who sets out to defend the Meridian Empire from an impending invasion of ferocious creatures.

The hardest games to review aren't the really good or really bad ones, but rather the mediocre titles that don't leave much of an impression one way or another. Arc Rise Fantasia is such a game, a title that is perfectly functional and even occasionally fun, but also utterly unoriginal and unfulfilling in every way. This is one of those games that many will likely never finish, not because they've grown disgusted by it, but because it's so boring that it's difficult to muster up the interest to invest any significant amount of time.

Arc Rise Fantasia doesn't just borrow from stereotypical JRPG plot clichés; it absolutely wallows in them. Players take on the role of L'Arc, the same old "unassuming teen with dormant, world-saving powers" we've been leading around by the nose for 20 years. He is, of course, flanked by a mystical, mysterious woman (Ryfia), a straight-shooting childhood best friend (Alf), and every other archetype that has plagued so-so RPGs for an eternity. The plot is a paint-by-numbers affair that never manages to elevate itself to anything more than forgettable.

Making the story even more unbearable is the voice acting, which is atrocious even by RPG standards. No one in the voice cast seems to have the first idea about inflection or how to read a line, and the monotonous, repeated battle cries will have you reaching for the mute button. The lip-synching is also laughably bad, making the whole thing one giant distraction. If you absolutely insist on playing this game, then please immediately go into the settings and mute all the voices. You'll thank me later.

Then again, cutting out the chatter only helps a bit, as the translation and localization is sloppy and juvenile. I can only assume that since games are expensive to make, the development team didn't want to spend a large chunk of the budget localizing the game, but in RPGs, the plot is more integral to the experience than with most other genres, so extra attention needs to be paid. When it isn't, you get a game like this, where almost every scene has some harebrained or groan-inducing line that makes you want to reach through the screen and slap the characters.

Those who are so inclined can also learn extra plot tidbits by tapping a button when prompted, à la the Star Ocean or Tales series. Of course, you'll then be bombarded with more inane chatter that adds nothing of value to the proceedings. Think Twitter, but even more pointless.

It is in the gameplay that Arc Rise Fantasia shows promise, but again, none of the featured mechanics really shine as anything new or innovative. Battles are turn-based, but the player has nearly complete control over the flow of combat on his side. Each round starts with a pool of action points that can be allocated in any way the player sees fit. Thus, you can distribute attacks, magic and item usage among your party, as is traditionally done in RPGs, but if you'd prefer, you can simply let one character use all the points to repeatedly hack at your foes.

Most battles can be won by blindly tapping the attack button, but bosses are more challenging affairs. Unfortunately, the game doesn't have a difficulty curve so much as a difficulty plateau, which ends in a sharp incline up the Mount Everest of difficulty levels every time you meet a boss. Many players will plow right through regular foes only to be continually stymied every time they hit a boss, who can wipe out their whole team without even breaking a sweat. At that point, it's right back to level grinding for hours on end, which wasn't fun when the genre began and sure isn't enjoyable now.

Arc Rise Fantasia also offers a great deal of customization in weapons and armor, and it will be easy for most players to set up their characters just as they want them. Each weapon has intrinsic abilities built into it, and by using the same weapon enough times in battle, players can unlock most of these abilities and swap them between weapons. While some skills are permanently attached to a single sword or wand, you're mostly free to mix and match the abilities any way you want. The only restriction is each skill's Tetris-shaped piece, which must be able to be slotted into the weapon before it can be utilized. Magic works similarly, with players slotting elemental orbs and changing their alignment to unlock new spells. The whole system is quite cool — though also a bit basic — and is one of the game's few legitimate bright spots.

Some folks will proudly proclaim that Arc Rise Fantasia is one of the best RPGs on the Wii, but that's merely because there's so little competition. With almost no other titles out there vying for the crown, it's a pretty easy title to claim. When stacked up against the best and brightest from other systems, Arc Rise Fantasia is quickly blown out of the water, utterly exposed as a shameless copycat and a game that can't hang. This is a title that thinks that by copying franchises like Final Fantasy and Tales, it can earn a place among them, but as we all know, that is simply not the case.

What hurts Arc Rise Fantasia most is the fact that it isn't long after you boot it up that it stops feeling like fun and starts turning into work. There may be less enjoyable moments in almost every title, but when those moments comprise the entire game, then there's something very clearly wrong with its core design. Arc Rise Fantasia is a struggle from beginning to end; it's a game that makes very little effort to make you like it. While that may be a mysterious and sexy characteristic for a stranger at a bar, it doesn't work as well for games. Furthermore, a title that so blatantly copies genre greats should really be a lot more fun to play. If you only own a Wii and desperately need a JRPG to play in a pinch, then this game will do, but that doesn't mean that you're going to feel good about it later.

LittleBigPlanet + Tetris = Billions, Save Them All

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:18:00 +0000

Finally, a Facebook game that just lets you play without heckling you to buy things.

Most of the games on Facebook are technically free to play, but the majority of them will interrupt or halt your progress in an attempt to get you to buy something. Billions, Save Them All is different. Because it's basically a tech demo for what can be created in 3DVIA's Studio game engine, this game is completely free, and it's in 3D as well.

The goal of the game is to save little creatures, called Mogaloos, from extinction. You play as a Glow Agent, traversing through levels, collecting as many Mogaloos as you can before reaching the endpoint. In order to get to the endpoint, and any checkpoint in between, you'll need to create a path that will take you to it.

When you collect Mogaloos, you'll gain energy, which can then be spent to build path segments. The segments are a number of blocks strung together in different shapes. You can rotate these blocks in order to make your path go up into the air, or conversely, lead you down. Your Glow Agent won't fall off of the blocks, so the bulk of the gameplay is using your blocks the right way in order to make an efficient pathway to swarms of Mogaloos, and then the checkpoints. It's kind of a cross between LittleBigPlanet and Tetris. If you run out of energy before you reach the end, you'll lose the level.

As you progress through the game, you'll find levels with multiple checkpoints, and your path may be cluttered with spikes, bombs, and other obstacles you'll need to avoid or risk losing energy. At the end of each level, you get a score that is based on how much energy you have when you cross the final checkpoint, and the game displays leaderboards for each level.

Billions, Save Them All is one of the prettiest games I've seen on Facebook, but that's because the game runs in 3DVIA's proprietary player, which is a free download, as opposed to Flash. It's a bright, colorful game that fully makes use of a 3D space. At the same time it's a game that's likely to appeal more to gamers than the typical Facebook game player. It uses more traditional PC gaming controls as opposed to the simple point and click of most Facebook games. The difficulty ramps at a nice pace over the game's more than 20 levels, and should provide at least a mild challenge to more seasoned gamers.

I've enjoyed my time with Billions, and it's encouraging to see that real 3D games are possible on the Facebook platform. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Want more news on Facebook games? Like IGN GameVille and get updates right in your newsfeed.

R.U.S.E.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:50:00 +0000

Despite some notable successes, it still doesn't feel like RTS has made a clean transition from PC to console. Bridging the gulf between input methods has always been a massive challenge. The nature of control offered by the keyboard-and-mouse combo is pretty much hardwired into the genre's DNA, and that's something of a ball and chain.

The comfortable remapping of even that simplest of commands - group unit selection - to the welcoming arms of the twin-stick joypad has enjoyed varying degrees of success down the years. Staggeringly, it still feels like nobody's really cracked the interface problem. At least, not well enough to offer a properly fluid sense of battlefield control, where the creation and management of vast armies is a breeze and the very process of waging war isn't a constant barrier to the desired result.

That's your opponent's job, after all. Until some clever-clogs has a mental cabinet-reshuffle on the matter, and builds the experience around the tools, it's going to carry on being a sticky issue.

Reshuffle ahoy! And it's high time. You barely notice RUSE's physical interface at all. Just seconds in, you're flitting around WWII maps in all their richly-detailed glory, with a sexy abandon unbecoming a high-ranking military figure. With zoom and pan on the right stick, and movement on the left, it's as comfy and familiar as an FPS, and gives you an airy sense of freedom that, frankly, is a first for console RTS.

Movement arrows indicate orders you've given, but using the Decryption ruse, your enemy's move-orders are also revealed.

Point the camera near a unit and the engine offers you the choice of selecting it, or all units of that type in the area. This makes pernickity precision, the preserve of the mouse, no kind of issue. After a little time spent with the PC beta as well, its plain to see that the PC version suffers not a jot from this joypad-friendly interface.

Zoom the camera out a bit and the visual representation of those units changes from individual models to chip-stacks which describe light, heavy and air units with their differing size and shape. Zoom out further and it bundles these chips together into pleasing mega-stacks, which can be ordered to move as a whole.

Issuing mass-movement commands, therefore, is more about rescaling your viewpoint. With a single swipe of the thumb you've a commanding view of the distribution of arms across the entire map. It's empowering. It's easy.

And the nuances of the engine prove that accessibility can be about intelligent design and user-friendliness, and not, as the rest of RUSE's experience happily reiterates, about dumbing down the gameplay and flashing some boob. Developer Eugen's IRISZOOM engine gives you first-class battlefield intelligence.

Zoom out to a high-level, and you get a pleasing tabletop view of the theatre. It's a tremendously scalable engine.

Or does it? Not if your opponent has a say. Which of course, he does, the blighter. While at any point you can see your enemy's entire force deployment in the form of mobile stacks, the nature of the units themselves is hidden from you until you get a unit within line-of-sight. This important distinction between generalities and details, and ultimately the exploitation of that distinction, forms the basis of RUSE's way of war, and explains the thinking behind its title.

Each battlefield is delineated into a number of sectors and at any stage you can employ one of ten distinct 'ruses' in any given sector. These ruses improve your battlefield intelligence or disrupt your opponent's, and can swing the balance of a conflict quite considerably.

Shaun White Skateboarding - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:55:00 +0000

Shaun White Skateboarding provides an innovative twist and fresh take on the skateboarding and action-sports genre.

Two video games and a second Olympic gold medal later, and Shaun White might just be the biggest name in snowboarding — and certainly one of the richest. Not as many people will recall that he is also a competitive skateboarder, with three medals at the X Games to his name in addition to a bunch of Winter X Games medals, making him the only person to earn medals in both the Summer and Winter X Games. Since the age of nine, White has also a personal friend of iconic skater Tony Hawk. With all of this information, it is less of a surprise that Ubisoft's franchise based on him has chosen to swap out the boots for grip tape, and try their hand at a skate-based game.

Fortunately, "Tony Hawk clone" wasn't in the vocabulary for Shawn White Skateboarding, which takes a stylized, reality-defying route more in line with Sega's classic Jet Set Radio series, while going at angles entirely its own in a single, open world. The game uses skateboarding as a metaphor for freedom. (But what is freedom in a game without oppression as a counterpoint?) The first time you're in any environment, the customizable player character is faced with a drab, gray environment. The people are dressed in bland, stuffy clothes, and corporate propaganda is the only attention-drawing thing in the area. As the player starts to perform tricks, though, the environment pops into color, boring boxes slope into ramps from which you can perform vert tricks, and the player's signature power starts to become available.

Once the environment starts to gain color, the player is able to adjust items on the fly, creating his ideal skate park in mid-motion. While tuning ramps provides subtle modifications, the game can also make more overt changes, such as changing the subway access tunnel into a giant half-pipe to get atop the fountain or extending a rail and dragging it in any direction the player desires. You can reach up into the sky to break high propaganda pieces and bring the entire block into color. All of this can be reset, piece by piece, as needed, so that a rail can be a path to two completely different objectives.

With the assistance of the writing team of "Family Guy," the plot will have the character rescuing Shaun and toppling the efforts of Goji Rokkaku — oops, wrong game. The rep called my comparison to Jet Set Radio accurate but incomplete because the game used skating as the power, and the game's fantastic elements were intended to remind of urban fantasy. Fans of Sega's classic might find a lot to love in this creation, even though it's more realistically grounded in some significant ways.

Fans of skate games who are looking for something fresher than EA's Skate series and have grown tired of Activision's Tony Hawk games will be able to give Shaun White Skateboarding a go this September.

The Interrogation Room: Civilization V

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:47:00 +0000

Welcome to the Interrogation Room, GameSpy's signature pre-release game coverage format. Here, a GameSpy editor (typically one who's relatively in-the-dark about the game in question) grills his peers for information on a hotly anticipated game -- hopefully with more entertaining results than the typical boilerplate preview would provide.

Ryan Scott, Executive Editor: I heard you actually used a Windows hack to brute-force your way into a password-protected PC in order to play Civilization V. Truth?

Will Tuttle, Editor in Chief: I can neither confirm nor deny that my l33t hacking skills allowed me to start playing the game early on a pilfered Alienware, but I can confirm that I played for nearly 20 hours this weekend... and that I'm tired.

Ryan Scott: I'd just like to point out that you just had twins. Maniac. Anyway, this is your first PC game since, like, Doom II, right? Did you have trouble with all the buttons? I kid (mostly), but this isn't exactly your usual cup of tea, is it?

Will Tuttle: You might kid, but you're not that far off. I definitely would not call myself a hardcore PC gamer -- mainly because I never felt like dropping the coin necessary to buy a top-of-the-line machine (and upgrade it every few months). I'm one of those people that needs the latest and greatest tech, so I'd be homeless if I jumped wholeheartedly into PC gaming. But it's not like I didn't play any PC games; it's just that I was mostly focused on the big PC-only shooters like Half-Life 2 and Far Cry, as well as more casual stuff like Plants vs. Zombies.

I have a confession to make, though: I've tried to play the Civilization games, and I was just never able to get into them. When we gave Civilization IV our Game of the Year award back in 2005, I was its biggest opponent on the staff... and I'll still argue that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the best game of that year!

(Side note: Yes, I just had twins, but it turns out that Civilization V is the best game ever if you've got a couple of helpless infants lying around. More on that later!)

Ryan Scott: OK, so what turned you into such an addict this time? How is it that Civilization V has managed to hook you?

Will Tuttle: The biggest difference this time out was simply the ease-of-use when compared to previous Civilization games. The development team said they went to great lengths to make the game easier for first-time players, while still leaving just about everything in for long-time fans of the series. For instance, every time you need to know or do something, it'll pop up on the right side of the screen as a clickable notification. Have a unit that could use some direction? Just click, and you'll be taken right to them. Time to pick a new research? Just click, and you'll be given a list of what's available and how many turns it'll take to learn. The Civilopedia is beautifully implemented this time out, as your advisors (economic, military, cultural) aren't afraid to jump in if it seems like you need a little guidance. From there, you can delve as deep as you'd like into everything -- from why your citizens need to be happy, to the complete history of each of the game's civilizations.

When I first sat down to play the game at a recent press event, I expected to get the full spiel from the producer on how I should start playing or where I should move, as I made it very clear that I was a Civ newbie. Instead, he sat me down and immediately stepped back. Within minutes, I had my capital city up and running, and was well on my way to clearing the area of barbarian hordes and learning how to fish.

Now, I know a lot of readers are probably thinking, "But Will, you're a stupid (albeit dashingly handsome) idiot, and I don't want to play a Civ game that's been dumbed down for you and your mouth-breathing ilk. I'm hardcore!" Well jerks, you'll be happy to know that you can tweak the level of hand-holding to your heart's content; plenty of sub-menus (and sub-sub-menus) are hidden underneath the basic command menus if you want to get down to the nitty-gritty. I won't insult you by trying to pretending to know why the basic commands aren't enough, but they're there if you want them.

Ryan Scott: Walk me through how your typical games go. How does the empire of Will Tuttle work day-to-day? Also, you're a stupid idiot, and I don't want to play a Civ game that's been dumbed down for you and your mouth-breathing ilk.

Will Tuttle: You forgot handsome! Anyway, I wouldn't really say I have "typical" games, as I've been trying to experience everything that Civilization V has to offer. However, I generally like to stick to the coasts, so I don't have to deal with creating a bunch of trade routes between cities. That's precious farmland! Instead, I get my tech skills up to the point where I can build harbors, which allow everything to go over the waters. This also allows me to give my units embarkation orders, as my ships can move a lot farther than most of my land units (even when I've got horses) in a single turn. I'm from a family with a rich nautical tradition -- but since I hate actually going on boats, I'm hoping this will somehow make my father proud of me. The fact that one of my best games was spent controlling the English also helped, as they get a nautical bonus right off the bat.

I'm a pretty fair leader, as the happiness of my citizens actually matters to me. Instead of focusing on building a massive army and steamrolling every other civilization I come across, I lean toward building stuff like libraries, universities, temples, and courthouses, as they increase culture levels and keep everything running smoothly. Since I'm a sports nut in real life, I generally build the colosseum as soon as possible, so my people have a place to let loose on the weekends. My civilizations work hard, but I allow them to play hard, too. I'm also a big fan of the finer things in life, so I'm usually quick to work on my mining and calendar technologies, as those allow me to cultivate stuff like gems and silk. Those make great bargaining chips further down the line, too, so I can always sell some of my classy luxury items if I need some gold or want to encourage a research agreement with another player. Or I could just give a friendly city-state some loot to do my dirty work for me!

Since I'm still learning the Civ ropes, I tend to play fairly balanced when unlocking and researching new technologies. I don't want to miss out on anything, although I'm sure that works against me at times. However, I think I'm going to start shooting for my first science victory, which means I need to start focusing more on getting my space program together instead of just building nukes and wiping my enemies off the face of the planet.

Ryan Scott: How do the city-states work? Do you just bribe everybody to hang out with you and be your friend, like in real life?

Will Tuttle: I've really only dealt with the city-states a bit, initially caring about them simply because they instantly award some gold to the first civilization to come in contact with them. However, as I played more and more, I found that you can -- as you so adeptly put it -- "bribe everybody to hang out with you." Want to weaken the defenses of your biggest rival so you can swoop in to deliver the killing blow? Consider funneling funds and resources to a friendly city-state and "asking" them to go to war "with" you. If you can do it correctly, you can take out your rivals without causing yourself any harm on the diplomatic front. I've yet to see how that works in the long-term, but I like to imagine that it'll be something like the way the United States "secretly" funded the Afghan freedom fighters in their war against the USSR. It was a great idea in the short term, but doesn't seem to be working out so well nowadays. And hey, if that isn't what happens, I'm sure some crafty modder will come up with a sweet Cold War mod.

Of course, if you don't give a crap about all of that secret war mumbo-jumbo, you can just attack a city-state and take it over, but even then you've got to choose wisely. Razing a captured city-state will make you look like a jerk to the rest of the world, but it'll allow you to build a new city that fits in better with the rest of your civilization. Simply taking over the city makes its citizens miserable and instantly lowers your civilization's happiness, but it allows you to dictate the production of the city.

The first thing I build in this case is a Courthouse, which restores a modicum of law and order to the now leaderless city, and a Colosseum or Circus, which instantly makes the citizenry more happy with their lot in life. Finally (and this is new to Civilization V), you can create a puppet government. Basically, this keeps everyone happy and living their lives as normal, but the big drawback is that you have no control over what's produced there. Still, you can collect resources and taxes like normal, so this is the easiest option if you don't feel like micromanaging that stuff. I have a lot left to explore in this area, so I'm planning on seeing just how much I can do this weekend.

Ryan Scott: You mean when you're not changing diapers and bottle-feeding two newborns? "Just one more turn, I'm about to invade Japan!"

Will Tuttle: See, that's actually one of my favorite things about Civilization V. I can play an entire three hour game sitting on my couch (thanks to a DVI-D to HDMI connection) with a wireless mouse in one hand and a baby in the other. Naturally, the whole turn-based thing helps a lot too! But enough about babies, let's talk combat.

One of the reasons I've never been a big Civ player was the series' reliance on resource hoarding and the resulting bum-rush known as the "stack of doom" a term I never actually knew existed but I now appreciate as some strategic badassery. Everything's changed now that Civ V has made the jump to a more chess-like layout that only allows for one unit per tile and allows. Being able to launch arrows (or, let's saaaay... tactical nukes) over your front lines by necessity enhances the experience (at least for me) by not forcing me to worry about how many units to cram into one hexagon. As for the move to that new tile shape, I can certainly see why they went in that direction, although I never quite understood what the big deal was until I played. Civ V's angled movement just feels more graceful to me than was afforded to me by Civ 4's square tiles, but I barely even considered the shape of the tile once I was immersed in this insanely addictive, beautifully streamlined game. And yes, "beautiful" is a perfect way to describe the game's greatly improved visuals.

While I certainly appreciate that some of our fine readers may be vehemently opposed to the changes that, yes, could justifiably be viewed by longtime fan as a slight "dumbing down" of the franchise, the fact is that change is (usually) good, although getting used to the alterations will probably require some adjustment. You know what though? It's safe to say that not only has Civilization V already earned itself one new fanatic, it's likely to have thousands (millions? BILLIONS?) more come September.

And hey, if you don't like it, you can always release your frustrations by stomping the ever-living crap out of me online.

Aphelion: Episode 1 - Graves of Earth Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:28:00 +0000

Aphelion: Graves of Earth is an Xbox Live Indie sci-Fi RPG featuring fast turn-based combat, a 5+ hour main storyline spanning the galaxy, rich characters, combo attacks, NewGame+, ability trees, crafting, and lots more. RPG veterans will enjoy the deep game mechanics while its accessibility reaches out to newcomers to the RPG genre.

The Xbox Live Indie Games marketplace continues to explode by leaps and bounds as each day passes. The advantage to this growth is that a genre that might be underrepresented one day can suddenly have a healthy library in a few weeks' time. Take, for example, the RPG. In just a few short months, the genre has grown from one game to being close to 10. Despite the number of games for the genre, the best one on the XBLI service remains Breath of Death VII: The Beginning, an early title that uses an old formula and tweaks it enough so that it's much more enjoyable than the games that served as its inspiration. Recently, Lunatic Games has brought out an RPG that hopes to stand side-by-side with the indie classic. Aphelion: Episode 1 - Graves of Earth might not be able to dethrone the current king of the Xbox Live Indie Games RPG scene, but it does a good job of being a good RPG.

The plot basics are fairly standard even for a sci-fi RPG. Far in the future, the people of Earth and its first space colony have had a peace agreement in place for quite some time. During one of the peace talks on the colony's cities, a surprise attack was launched by the Crimson, a robotic race bent on the destruction of humans throughout the universe. You play the role of Savion, a private in the colonial army who's been sent to check out the disturbance. Throughout the six-hour game, you'll pick up more members to your party and uncover a conspiracy that involves more than just the Crimson.
If you're familiar with any of the JRPG games from the PSOne era, especially ones that do away with overworld maps, you'll be familiar with the basic mechanics of Aphelion. You have a view of the battlefield, complete with random items strewn all over the place, and enemy encounters occur randomly — with the exception of boss fights. In combat, you're presented with a standard layout, with enemies occupying one side of the screen and the heroes on the other. A chart on the upper right of the screen shows how many turns a character has and the order in which turns will occur. Any hits being given or taken helps to fill up a bar labeled Break. When you initiate a Break attack, every party member unleashes his or her own powerful attack combos on the selected enemies. Special moves have Energy Points governing them, while the player's health is determined first by Shield Points then by Energy Points.

Aphelion features a few different hooks that put it on par with some of the bigger RPGs in terms of what the player can do. You have the ability to craft items, so you can pick up elements along the way and transform them into new weapons and shields for your party; you can also create key items to progress the story. There's also the presence of optional boss fights outside of the story path, and a coliseum exists for the sole purpose of giving players a challenge while grinding.
For those who beat the game, there's New Game+, which lets you play the story mode all over again, but your characters retain their powers and levels from the previous playthrough. There is also a variable difficulty level, should you feel that the game is too easy. Finally, the leveling system gives you attribute points as each character levels up, so you can control whether the points should be spent on something beneficial for the individual character or the entire group.

That last point about the leveling system becomes one of the game's major setbacks. In the grand scheme of things, the personal stats that get leveled don't seem to be too beneficial. The later levels start bringing in substantial benefits for each character, but considering how much grinding it takes to get to that level, most players will be spending their time beefing up passive effects, such as small shield increases after every move or an increase in how many moves a character can take before the enemy attacks. Even then, the stat increases are almost inconsequential because the passive effects are so powerful that you could easily beat most enemies before they can lay a finger on you.

This segues into the title's other setback: the Break attack. The attack is great and powerful, but it remains a flaw because it can be unleashed without penalty. For example, if your team has three turns before the opponent attacks, you can perform two attacks, unleash the Break attack, and, if the enemy army isn't dead yet, then use the final turn to perform another attack or healing move. It takes away from the strategy in using the attack. Since multiple attack moves and combos fill up the Break bar quickly, it makes almost all of the fights easier than they should be. Combined with the abundance of healing items, you'll soon realize that the balance favors you significantly more, making the title a struggle only if you aren't paying attention to your party stats or combat situation.

Like any good RPG, the controls in Aphelion are intuitive. As expected, the controls are rather responsive, but there are a few things that seem to be curiously absent. The first is a cancel button during combat and during point distribution. Once you select a move, even by accident, you're forced to go through with the choice; RPGs are slowly moving away from this mechanic. The missing cancel button also becomes an annoyance when you accidentally distribute a point to a category you didn't want to power up in the first place. The other curiosity is with the menu system, which doesn't let you go between choices in a sub-menu. For example, if you want to update the abilities for two of your characters, you have to first manipulate one character and then back out all the way to the primary menu before navigating your way forward again to the second character. Being able to select different characters in sub-menus would have made the experience a bit smoother in execution.

The graphics are immediately arresting for both good and bad reasons. The character designs which are anime-like in appearance, and they definitely make the game stand out. There isn't an abundance of characters with large eyes, but the unnatural hair colors and costume choices make one think of games like Star Ocean or Phantasy Star Universe. The environments match the style perfectly, and some places like the Earth forest at night, look great thanks to the use of lighting and transparent textures. The colors used throughout the game are bright, also lending to the anime-like look, but can become distracting in some environments. The space station, for example, has such bright colors that some of the NPCs can blend in rather easily.

Animations almost look good, if it weren't for a few things. The running animation looks "off" since it goes fast, but plenty of steps are taken to cover very little ground. Combat animations look nice until you notice that some animation frames are missing, making you wonder if the development team was trying to go for a more sprite-based system instead of a polygonal one, since missing frames in sprite games are more accepted than polygonal ones. Finally, there's the interface, which looks very clean but contains small fonts and combat arrows that are hard to see unless you really concentrate on the screen.

The sound has a few issues that keep it from being flawless. The issues come from the effects, which sound underpowered and, at times, late. The first fight shows that even though your plasma sword makes contact with the enemy, it's not until the sword swing ends that we get the hit sound. The sounds for rifle shots and sword impacts also seem to lack any impact. They're serviceable but won't exactly get you involved in the game. What will get you involved, however, is the soundtrack. The score is high-quality material and perfectly suitable to every level from beginning to end. Very few indie games pay much attention to how good the score can be, and Aphelion should be applauded for making sure that it sounds as good as it looks.

There is already word that a sequel is in the works for Aphelion: Episode 1 - Graves of Earth. On one hand, this should be expected since it is being billed as an episodic RPG, but on the other hand, the nature of indie gaming doesn't always mean that anything is guaranteed. This is a good sign since the game is quite enjoyable. There are some technical issues to overcome, some balancing needed for fights, and some improvements that need to be made for item shopping. However, the pacing and quality everywhere else show developer's commitment to creating a standout experience. If you've become a fan of the smaller RPG experiences on the Indie Games service, be sure to pick up Aphelion.

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PS3 Preview - 'Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:27:00 +0000

Ar tonelico Qoga is the final installment in the Ar tonelico series. In Sol Cluster, a kingdom is ruled by Clustania, an organization with an ultimate goal of enslaving humans and ruling the world. Two key Reyvateils(humanoids) fight back against the injustice.

Stripping should really be an integral part of more video games, especially when hot anime chicks are involved. That's the impression we got after viewing a short preview of NIS America's upcoming title, Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel. Set for release on the PlayStation 3 next spring, the game mixes stripping and music in order to form one of the core mechanics of its battle system. Oh, and there's also a bit of a dating sim in there to boot.

As the third (and final) game in the Ar tonelico series, Knell of Ar Ciel brings the Reyvateil ladies of the Sol Cluster to the PlayStation 3 for the first time. Like many other titles that have made the jump, this means that the series has gotten a complete makeover, dropping the 2-D sprites for a fully 3-D rendered world. High-resolution 2-D art is still used during conversation scenes, but otherwise, everything is 3-D. We didn't get to see the game running, but from the screenshots provided, the visuals are leaps and bounds above the prior PlayStation 2 release.

Details of the plot were somewhat thin, but the essence of the story has the hero, Aoto, teaming up with two Reyvateils to defend the human race against an evil organization (Clustania) that wants to enslave everyone and rule the world. In short, it's your basic hero story with an anime twist.

For those unfamiliar with the series, Reyvateils are humanoid girls that were created for combat. In all of the Ar tonelico games, the Reyvateils play key roles, both as members of your party and as plot drivers. The Reyvateils are fully developed characters in their own right, complete with distinct personalities that must be catered to if you wish to maximize their benefit.

Along with the jump to 3-D, the battle system has also changed from a turn-based system into a real-time combat system. All moves happen in real time, similar to how combat works in an action game. Standing around to carefully plan your next move isn't exactly an option here. Another new feature in the battle system is the implementation of the Reyvateil song magic. During each battle, there is a glowing orb in the lower right-hand side of the screen that pulses to the music. If you time your attacks to occur on the beat, you charge up your Reyvateil's song magic — the better your timing, the stronger the magic.

Casting song magic is the main form of attack for the Reyvateil, but, for some odd reason, known only to the developers, clothes have the nasty side effect of minimizing the power of song magic. The only solution, of course, is to have your Reyvateil strip down to her skivvies for maximum magic effect. Pre-teen otaku everywhere are sure to love this feature.

The "dating sim" aspects of the game come into play when you dive into the Cosmosphere, a virtual world where you can communicate with your Reyvateil's inner personality and learn new spells. By conversing with the Reyvateil, you can learn more about the character as you help her master new song magic.

While the new combat system and song magic were the features highlighted during the demo, NIS also mentioned the multiple endings within Knell of Ar Ciel. The final game is planned to have more than two hours of recorded ending sequences, ensuring that players have an incentive to go back through the game multiple times.

Without any hands-on time, it's hard to tell what to make of Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel. The game certainly promises to bring new features to the series, but whether or not fans will embrace the changes remains to be seen. Either way, it is somewhat difficult to argue with a pretty girl who wants to take her clothes off and sing for you. Here's hoping that when it comes to the latest Ar tonelico, beauty is more than just skin deep.

PSP Review - 'Iron Man 2'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 08:26:00 +0000

With an all-new story written by renowned comic book author Matt Fraction, Iron Man 2 will include familiar elements from both the movie and comic book universes, allowing players to truly feel the power of Iron Man with new destructible environments, epic enemies, and innovative hand-to-hand combat moves.

Before you scroll to the bottom of this article and find your expected movie game score, let it be known that I am a huge Iron Man fan. I absolutely adore Iron Man in his comic and movie forms. As far as "Iron Man 2" is concerned, I risked my health for that movie. I went to a midnight screening of "Iron Man 2" while I was running a 103-degree fever and my nose was leaking like a faucet. I love Iron Man that much. With all that said, Iron Man 2 on the PSP falls short of the low standard set by movie games. The prequel was better, and your money will probably be better spent on buying the movie when it comes out on Blu-ray or DVD.

As a starting point, it's difficult to even justify the title of the game. Iron Man 2 on the PSP doesn't even acknowledge that the movie events have occurred. Over the course of the game, you'll take on a multitude of enemies from the comics, but not once is there a mention of anything from the "Iron Man 2" film. It's assumed that the game takes place sometime after the movie, as both Iron Man and War Machine are present. Most of the appeal of movie games — and the reason people keep buying them — is that they can play through the movie and interact with their favorite set pieces from the film. Because of that aspect, I've enjoyed some movie games in the past, such as Matrix: Path of Neo. This game would be more accurately titled Iron Man and War Machine vs. Ultimo and Crimson Dynamo.
Well, the lack of a movie tie-in isn't completely true. The game uses the likenesses of most of the movie characters (with the bizarre omission of Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow), and a couple of the film actors actually lend their voices to the game. This is neat and all, but Don Cheadle really sounds like he's phoning in most of his lines, and although Samuel L. Jackson does an amazing job in the role of Nick Fury, his character is such a minor one that his screen time is kept to a minimum. Thankfully, all of the sound-alike actors do a great job. The sound-alike for Robert Downey, Jr., actually delivered a better performance than Cheadle.

That's not to say that the presentation is very good. The story is decently written but extremely difficult to follow, and I'm still not entirely sure how I got from weather control to stealing Jarvis from Tony Stark and putting it in a giant robot, but that's one of the plots. Most of the story is delivered in the cheapest imaginable way by simply having character stills accompanied by some dialogue. There are a few cut scenes that use the in-game graphics engine, but they tend to look a bit awkward, as everything has been scaled down from the Wii iteration, resulting in lots of little missing details. The dialogue doesn't even mask the load time for the actual gameplay; you sit there for up to a minute waiting for the game to load. There's not even a proper ending. Cheadle's final line is cut off mid-sentence, and then you're spit out into the main menu.

Iron Man 2 has two distinctly different modes of operating. There are the traditional third-person shooter sections of gameplay and a few on-rails sections. The third-person shooter sections take up the majority of gameplay, which is disappointing because it's not much fun. The first game was a more open action title, but Iron Man 2 has been reduced to a corridor crawler. This is not what you expect Tony Stark to be doing. He's running slowly, blasting away dozens of goons who are armed with assault rifles and determined to end his life. It's not the least bit challenging, as very few enemies are capable of inflicting any serious damage, and the control scheme for these sections is so clunky that it's painful to play. Games like this make a very strong case for systems needing a second analog stick. At the very least, it would have been nice to have the option to change the control scheme.

As Tony runs through the environments (with a very limited amount of hovering ability), you control his movement with the analog stick and his actions with the face buttons. Thankfully, there's a lock-on system built in the massive targeting reticle, so you don't have to be particularly precise, but it's such a poorly done system that it feels wonky and awkward. It gets even more awkward when you change weapons. Pressing two buttons at the same time to change a weapon is absolutely unacceptable in a modern game, especially when it's such an awkward button combination that you have to stop moving to accomplish it. Every time I changed weapons in the game, I had to think about whether it was worth soaking up bullets for a couple of seconds.

There are only three kinds of foot soldiers that attack you over the course of the game, two kinds of power drones, two types of helicopters, a few bosses and a tank. The enemies pose almost no challenge, never do anything but stand there or move toward you, and the level design doesn't bring anything remotely interesting to the table. The gameplay mechanics don't make you feel the least bit like Iron Man. If one were to re-skin the game with the playable character being a marine with a rifle instead of a repulsar laser on each hand, I'd have no problem believing that was how the game was originally designed.

It's unfortunate that the on-rails sections — the only fun gameplay component — only comprise about 10 percent of the game. For a short while, the title pretends that it's Space Harrier and delivers some fun that makes you feel like you're actually Iron Man. You fly around at the speed of sound, high off the ground and blowing up anything that dares to stand in your way. It's during these extremely brief sections of gameplay that you feel unstoppable. While the controls remain as clunky as ever, you can put aside those poor controls and enjoy the fun break from the uninspired tedium of the rest of the game.

One of the most disappointing aspects of Iron Man 2 ends up being the visuals. Aside from the low-quality cardboard cutout style of presentation, the in-game graphics suffer as well. This was developed by the same guys who did Conduit on the Wii, and this game is a scaled-down version of the Wii title, so Iron Man 2 on the PSP uses Conduit's engine. Now, Conduit was not a good-looking game on its native console, so it won't produce stellar results when the engine, which already provides underwhelming visuals, is scaled down for a less powerful system. Textures are muddy, and characters that are supposed to have a metallic shine look like they're covered in oil. Explosions don't have any oomph, sound effects lag behind, and when more than five enemies are on-screen at once, the game chugs and the frame rate is in the single digits. Environments have some light destruction, but it's all canned stuff.

At four hours of poor presentation, subpar visuals, and uninspired gameplay, I wouldn't recommend Iron Man 2 for the PSP to even the most avid Iron Man fan. There are better ways to spend your money. This is a quick and dirty port of a Wii game that suffers from being ported down to a system with awkward controls and substantially less power. If you need to get your Iron Man fix, this is not the way to do it. I'd suggest Marvel: Ultimate Alliance or Marvel vs. Capcom, and the movies are certainly a better way to spend your money than this PSP offering.

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PS3/X360/PC Preview - 'True Crime: Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 02:35:00 +0000

True Crime follows the story of detective Wei Shen as he infiltrates one of Hong Kong's notorious Triad crime syndicates. As a newly hired thug within the Triad organization, Wei must do whatever it takes to stay undetected and survive, balancing his moral duty as a cop with the objectives of the assignment.

True Crime: Hong Kong revives a hit series from earlier in the decade, and so far, it's looking like everything that made the past entries fun romps as the precise reverse of Grand Theft Auto is returning, with lots of new twists on the way. In a darkened room, United Front Games (the ModNation Racers guys) showed True Crime: Hong Kong, including many of the changes that bring it into a new, high-definition world.

Hong Kong is represented with several major districts. North Point explicitly ignores Hong Kong reality to provide a Kowloon-like area to increase variety, Aberdine is a fishing village, and Central is the archetypal commercial districts that most people think of when they think of Hong Kong. The resulting array is critical to keeping the plot fresh, and the on-foot gameplay varies far more than in past entries — though without resorting to the infamous zombies-and-a-dragon level from the first True Crime.

The on-foot dynamics have also gotten a massive upgrade in True Crime: Hong Kong. Hand-to-hand combat is more combo-based, with a wider array of available weapons, and movement is now influenced by Hong Kong action cinema chase sequences, so quite a bit of free running is in play. If a guy decides to run, the chase is going to be hard and probably punctuated by quite a few fights. These fights, also being Hong Kong influenced, include plenty of options for brutality to take them down, such as slamming opponents' heads in refrigerator doors or sticking their faces in spinning turbines. You don't need to be close to the object when you grab the opponent to use it; you can drag him over to it, as long as no one knocks you out of your attempt.

That last sentence might not sound like something any normal cop would do, but the hero, Detective Wei Shen, is not an ordinary cop. In past entries, players played openly on the police side of the law, but Shen is an undercover cop (trained in San Francisco, no less), and most of his tasks will be done on behalf of a Triad organization, the Sun On Yee. Preserving his cover is going to be a massive element of gameplay and story.

Of course, a Grand Theft Auto-inspired game needs cars, and the car mechanics have been done by ex-Need for Speed developers to make the driving and combat more fun. The combat in cars also favors a Hong Kong cinematic tone, allowing you to do things such as the classic lean-out-and-shoot, and the windows are inevitably the first thing to be destroyed once people start shooting at you.

The story elements have also been influenced by the likes of Mass Effect. Pretty much every character in the game can be spoken with, even if he or she only has one line. The chat mechanics don't define people's reactions to the player, though, but the "Face" mechanic changes how they react to you. If you're dressed with the same brands of clothing that the others in the area are wearing, for example, they are likely to react better to you than if you're wearing a hodgepodge of cheap clothes. Your record in past missions also influences this; for example, completing side missions for the Sun On Yee will make them trust you more. The details weren't shown during the demo due to time restrictions, so they opted to show off two missions instead: one featured melee combat and free running, and the other showed off the vehicular combat.

As we watched a fly-through video that shows off much of Hong Kong's area variety, the reps confirmed the fourth-quarter release window for True Crime: Hong Kong. So far, the game is looking to be at least on par with the last two entries, so it'll be a fun romp that will scratch players' itch for more Grand Theft Auto while avoiding being a straight rip-off.

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XBLA Preview - 'Plants vs. Zombies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 01:01:00 +0000

Plants vs. Zombies combines real-time strategy, tower defense and collectible card games, but in a casual context.

It's an absolutely insane premise, but it works. Zombies are invading, the only other human around wears a pot on his head (hiya, Crazy Dave!), and as for weapons … well, those plants mean some serious business! We're talking about PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies, of course, which took the PC by storm last year (as well as the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch). A zany and hilarious take on the tower defense genre, Plants vs. Zombies is finally making the jump to consoles, with an XBLA release scheduled for September 8.

If you've never played Plants vs. Zombies, be sure to check out our review of the PC version, which covers the basics. Everything that's in there will also be in the XBLA version, but as they say on late night infomercials, "That's not all, folks." Plants vs. Zombies for XBLA features a host of new goodies, including co-op and versus mode. Yep, you can now play as the zombies.

Sitting down with the game at a zombie BBQ, versus mode was definitely the highlight of the night — with the possible exception of the live dancing zombies and sunflower girls. Hey, it's PopCap; that's how they roll. Back to the game, versus mode pits you in a one-on-one battle against a friend. One player takes on the traditional role of the plants, while the other mans the zombie hordes. For the plants, the goal is the same as in single-player: keep the zombies away from the house. The zombie side simply has to get one man, er, undead, inside the house to win.

In order for the plants to win, they must eliminate three of the zombie targets. Do that, and the zombie hordes go down in defeat. Why the zombies have seemingly supernatural bull's-eyes that they carry around cannot be explained, but just go with it. It works.

Playing as the zombies is similar to playing as the plants, but with a twist. First off, your play field area is smaller. The zombie hordes only get three columns to build in; the plants get the rest. Secondly, the zombies don't use sun as a resource. Instead they use brainz. Brainz are gathered from tombstones, which also double as walls. While they're protecting your magic targets, they're also giving you a constant supply of brainz.

The team at PopCap has put a lot of effort into balancing the two sides, ensuring that neither player has an advantage when dropping into versus mode. They may play differently, but both the plants and the zombies are evenly matched. When playing quick play, each side gets a random selection of troop cards dropped into their available army, but if you switch to a custom match, you can select which troops you want to have available. Plants choose first, and then you alternate back and forth with your selections. This way, if your opponent chooses a particular plant (or zombie) you can be sure to add the correct counter to your army.

If you're not the competitive type, Plants vs. Zombies XBLA offers a drop-in, drop-out co-op mode. You can have a second player join the adventure at any time. When playing co-op adventure mode, both players fight as a united front. Standard levels have you collecting sun resources and planting troops as normal, while special modes, such as wall-nut bowling, switch things up a bit.

In bowling, the available wall-nuts appeared automatically on a conveyer belt. Either player could fire off the wall-nuts, but you also have the option to choose another seed packet. If a standard wall-nut is up next, but there is a red one queued up behind it, you can skip to the explosive red one, which is a great way to take out a crowd of zombies.

Using butter in co-op is another incredibly useful technique. When the zombie hordes get too close, sometimes you just need to take a breather. Either player can freeze a zombie in place by putting a slab of butter on its head. Doing so blinds the zombie and prevents it from moving, but it also ties up the player who's holding the butter button. How many games do you know that have a butter button? Didn't think so. It's wacky, but like everything else in the game, it just works.

Puzzle mode makes a reappearance in the XBLA version of the game, as does the minigame mode, though there is a console-exclusive minigame. The PopCap XBLA title, Heavy Weapon, has been re-imagined for Plants vs. Zombies. In this mode, your pea shooter is mounted on a lawnmower at the bottom of the screen. Rather than planting troops, you move your pea shooter left and right, shooting zombies with the right stick and collecting sun power. When you use a seed packet, it upgrades your solo shooter, giving you increased firepower to take on the hordes.

Coming from platforms with mouse and touch-screen support, it was important to get the controls right for Plants vs. Zombies XBLA, but after playing for an hour, it's safe to say that PopCap has nailed the controls. Core movement is done with the joystick, seed packets are selected with the bumpers, and they even added an automatic sun collector button. Just hold the right trigger to automatically gather any suns (or brainz) that are on-screen. It's a nice touch that allows you to focus on strategy rather than collection of resources.

Visually, the art assets have gotten a boost, with the game looking sharp as tacks on big HDTV displays. Due to a request from the Michael Jackson estate, Thriller Zombie has sadly gone the way of the dodo, but he's been replaced by Disco Zombie, who handles the dancing duties well. One other XBLA specific tweak worth mentioning is the custom house, which serves as a sort of leaderboard. The house reflects your progress, so you can see how you're doing with a quick glance.

Plants vs. Zombies for XBLA is looking like it's going to be another home run for PopCap. If you've never played the game before, it's a highly addicting single-player experience. If you have played the game, versus mode is going to draw you back in for more, and for now, both co-op and versus modes are exclusive to the XBLA version of Plants vs. Zombies. We'll have the final verdict once the game plants its seeds next month.

Building & CO: You are the Achitect

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:06:00 +0000

INFO:

You are in charge of a real building site with Building & Co!

Building & Co is a revolutionary city builder in which you will deal with all the aspects that come into play during the management of a real building site. You must consider the specifications, the budget, and technical constraints as well as delivery timeframes in order to be able to build numerous ambitious buildings.

In a rich and very detailed 3D environment, you take care of all the construction phases: from hiring workers to choosing materials as well as drawing the foundations and different floors. Building & Co is the first management game to put you in control of a building site and offers a fun, technical approach that will please all fans of the genre.

Architect, city planner, foreman: you are in charge of the craziest building designs and have unlimited freedom in your decisions!

Screenshot

Download:
RapidShare:
http://rapidshare.com/files/405610243/WarezXtremE.org_building.and.co-reloaded_ntm_.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/405610237/WarezXtremE.org_building.and.co-reloaded_ntm_.part2.rar

E3 Preview: Venetica (PS3)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:01:00 +0000

INFO:

When dtp Entertainment decided to show me Venetica, I had no idea what I was getting into. I had never heard of the title, although it was apparently an Xbox 360/PC release at some point in Europe, and now Deck 13 was developing a PS3 version for release in 2011. As I watched my presentation, I was upset that I had not played the game as of yet, because it looks like it could be a lot of fun if the story is handled properly, and the rough edges are buffed out.

Venetica at its core is an Action/RPG title developed by Deck 13, the people that created the Anhk adventure games that were fun little titles. Venetica takes place in Venice, Italy some time during the Renaissance, judging from the building design and clothing. It seems that our main character, Scarlett, is actually the daughter of Death, and is tasked with guiding the living into the world of the dead. However, she does not know this, and only finds out when an evil necromancer attacks her town, looking for this daughter of Death, so he can gain her power and rule over the land. I found the premise interesting, and I did get hooked by the initial storyline in our presentation.

During the attack on Scarlett’s town, she is eager to defend her village and takes up a weapon to fight the incoming enemies. In the beginning of the game, Scarlett’s attacks will be weak and limited to standard combos, but as you progress through the story, you will learn more attack combos that will help you beat enemies in more creative fashion. During this battle, Scarlett is brought to her father, the visit triggered by the death of her boyfriend. He jumps in front of her to save her from a deathblow from a sword. During this sequence, we get some backstory on her powers and how she should be honored by her newfound powers.

At this point, we talked a bit about the people that Scarlett will face in combat. While Scarlett will fight many normal denziens to attack like foot soldiers, there will also be lots of creatures to fight in her battles. One beast we were told about was the Librarian. It sounded rather harmless until we were told about the Librarian’s large size, four clawed hands and large eyes to find enemies. There will be a lot more creatures of this variety throughout the world of Venetica, and Scarlett will be tasked with killing them all.

At this point, our demo moved forward to the center of Venice, Italy, and the city looked absolutely gorgeous. Deck 13 has captured the size and scope of this massive artistic city. You start to get a feel for the scope of size as you go to the top of a tall building, and you look down and can see areas that you traversed earlier in the game. Gondolas are available to fast travel around Venice, or you can just beat feet to get around. And for those that like to exercise, you can even swin the canals to get to places, and this can also help you sneak up on enemies and take them out without alerting other foes.

A unique power that Scarlett earns is the ability to bring herself back from death, but while in the death plane, she can move around and reposition herself on the field of combat before ressurecting herself. It makes for an intersting battle strategy, where you can die to get a better situational awareness of the battle. However, your death powers use up energy and if you use them too often, you might end up in a situation where you cannot ressurect.

From my twenty minute presentation, I was impressed with the look at style of Venetica, even at this early Alpha stage of development. The graphics are still a little rough at times for characters, but the environments look amazing. Combat seems fast and fun, especially in the later segments where we unlocked some of the more powerful combos. We will have some more coverage of Venetica as it moves closer to release here in the States and in Europe.

Screenshot:

The Scruffs v1.0.0.7

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 23:55:00 +0000

INFO:

Embark on a journey of love and learning with the only family in the world that has an excuse to be messy - The Scruffs.

Burdened with financial troubles and a looming deadline to sell their family home, The Scruffs have enlisted your expertise to help them stave off this family crisis. Grandpa "George" Scruff has come up with a clever plan to save the day, but the solution comes with a grave price. A shocking secret that Grandpa Scruff has tried so hard to erase from his memory is now at risk of being revealed. What is this secret and why has Grandpa Scruff kept it hidden for so long? Scour though the house and find the clues that will help save The Scruffs' beloved home and uncover the secret that will change their lives forever.

- 20 beautiful locations to scour
- 1000's of items to find
- 15 historical artifacts to discover
- Secrets to uncover
- Unique hints mechanism
- Charming characters and witty banter
- Heartwarming stories of love and lore
- Innovative and funny mini-games

Download File: http://rapidshare.com/files/118776523/ThScrv1007.rar

Speculation: What Will Diablo 3's Final Character Class Be?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:33:00 +0000

We gather up facts and make educated guesses on what Blizzard will unveil for its fifth and final character class in Diablo 3.

With StarCraft 2 arriving in just a few days, and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm in active beta, we're starting to wonder what's up with Diablo 3. So far, we already see that it's introducing quite a few changes to the beloved franchise -- randomized quests, no more relying on town portals and potions and a new slate of character classes are just some of what you can expect to see once Blizzard finally ships it. Despite these changes, it's still very much an isometric action-RPG in the same vein as its predecessors. As you may have heard, Blizzard has a pretty good track record about making good games, so the quality of the game isn't really something fans need to worry about.

But what has had fans, especially us, concerned for nearly a year now is the identity of the fifth and final character class. Many people have enough faith in Blizzard to think it'll be good, whatever it is, but will it be good as the arguably perfect Diablo 2 Necromancer, or any of the other classic Diablo characters? As mentioned earlier, now that everyone is already situated with the other two named Blizzard titles (we're not going to even speculate on what's happening with the unannounced MMO), we're thinking that Blizzard might finally talk about Diablo 3 soon. Maybe we'll see this final class at either GamesCom next month or BlizzCon later this year. With that in mind, we're taking a look at what we know, and now making some conclusions about what the final class will be.

What We Know

Casting and melee are covered: There are, of course, different takes on the concept of melee or casting, but for a cast of just five characters, both bases seem to be sufficiently covered. The Barbarian and Monk each offer a very different way to go about close-range combat. The Wizard offers up a traditional mage class and the Witch Doctor can both cast and summon pets. Blizzard has said the last class will "fit a different niche than the existing classes," so it's unlikely we'll see another class fall exclusively into the caster or melee category.

It's not a returning class...: Blizzard has come right out and said that no previous Diablo classes will be returning other than the Barbarian. That's a direct result of the developers feeling the Barbarian was the only class that could be significantly improved.

...but it might have some similarities to one: Hey, what do you even need the old classes for? You can see hints of the old characters in the other three announced classes; the Monk is similar to the Assassin, the Wizard with the Sorceress, and the Witch Doctor with the Necromancer. They're certainly not copies of their predecessors, but the precedent suggests we might see the influence of another D2 class or two once the fifth class is unveiled.

It was among the first classes Blizzard picked: Whatever the final class is, it was among the first classes chosen for Diablo 3 many years ago. It has since undergone some significant changes because it was no longer "as exciting to us as it used to be," according to director Jay Wilson. That suggests a twist on what might otherwise be a straightforward class.

What We Think

There's one archetype glaringly absent from Diablo 3: no traditional ranged physical attacker. The Wizard and Witch Doctor might have ranged spells they regularly use, but neither of them -- or either of the other classes -- uses a bow. This particular prediction seems to be the prevailing theory on the Internet, as the concept of a bow-wielding class seems like a necessity in a modern Diablo game. It fits so well, in fact, that I find it hard to believe that the last class isn't some sort of Hunter or Rogue that (at least sometimes) employs a bow.

Diablo 2 had the Amazon as its bow-wielding class (although you could quite easily have ignored bows and used javelins/spears, but nevertheless). If the other four Diablo 3 characters are any indication, Blizzard isn't going to settle for just replicating an already-existing character. That means a Hunter/Rogue would have some significant deviations from the Amazon. As such, here are some plausible ideas for different spins that we might see the developer put on a hypothetical Hunter/Rogue class:

Pets: It's a very obvious addition to the Hunter -- World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and plenty of other games already have Hunters with pets. And with no Necromancer or Druid, and only the Witch Doctor capable of summoning, this seems like a strong possibility.
Traps: The Monk already does the sort of close-range and fast-paced combat that the Assassin did in D2, but the Assassin's traps are nowhere to be seen. A new Rogue could lay down traps and then retreat to use a bow from a safe distance.

Assassinations: This goes more in the direction of WOW's Rogue than it does WOW's Hunter, but imagine a mechanic that has you sneaking behind enemies while the rest of your party distracts a group, only to have you stab your enemies in the back for some crazy critical hit. It goes against the notion that this will be a ranged physical class, but this could be a way to add an alternative way of playing to standing back and playing the archer role.

Shape-Shifting: Another deviation from the ranged combat idea would be to allow you to change into an animal or creature like D2's Druid. Throw in the ability to disguise yourself as an enemy to more easily facilitate assassinations, and it'd be even better.

Make him or her Undead, Holy, or Something: Undead, holy, or whatever -- a twist like being one of these things could provide an avenue for all sorts of crazy skills that you couldn't normally get away with including in a "traditional" Hunter/Rogue character. Some of the undead territory is already covered by the Witch Doctor (who has skills like Locust Swarm and Soul Harvest), but a holy Hunter could shoot arrows imbued with the light of Heaven or somesuch. Sure, that doesn't sound nearly as awesome as "Locust Swarm", but it could still work.

What We're Hoping For

While we've been gathering some info and making educated guesses, here's some stuff that we simply want out of personal preference.

Someone fast: The Monk looks to be the quickest of the announced classes, but that doesn't mean it has to stay that way. In D2, the Paladin was able to charge at enemies and the Assassin had a skill to make her faster, which sure would come in handy for following up some quick, long-distance arrows with a close-range killing shot.

Buffs: Few things can make you feel more important in an online cooperative RPG than being the person who dishes out buffs to the other people in your party. Make the fifth class a leader type who can inspire other classes to do greater damage, move faster, or recover health more quickly (like some sort of super Paladin).

Poison: If we can't buff our allies, why not debuff our foes? Blizzard wants combat to be more comprehensive than spamming a single skill, so why not incorporate poisons that you either find or create yourself through dropped items? Those poisons can then be applied to your weapons to counter specific types of foes or to add damage over time, slow enemies down, temporarily incapacitate them, or any number of other effects.

We'll see how close or far off the mark we are whenever Blizzard finally reveals the fifth class. Until then, let's hear what you think we'll end up seeing, as well as what you would like to see

Racing 8: The Ultimate PC Collection (2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:29:00 +0000

INFO:

Racing 8: The Ultimate PC Collection (2009)
Genre: Racing | Platform: PC | Language: English | 572MB

Nemudrenye arcade racing - the dream of everyone who is tired of long hours spent at work. Walk before going to bed a couple of runs and beat opponents will play, collected in this volume. The player himself to determine at what he interesting ride! ATV's, motorcycles, SUVs, and even bicycles competing in speed and skill on various routes.
For fans of unusual races offered to race toy cars on the living room, as well as competitions postapokaleptichnyh cars.

Game features:

• Doomsday Racers - arrivals at the most powerful off-roader.
• Go Kart Rally - the popular go-cart rally on different tracks.
• MotoXManiac - high-speed motorcycle chase on the steep arenas.
• ProBiker 2 - Exciting races risk cyclists.
• RCToyMachines - Household competition toy machines.
• Turbo Trucks - Heavy trucks are also involved in racing.
• White Van Racer - your mini-van refueled and ready to go!
• Xtreme Quads - really extreme ATVs.

Sustem requirements
System: Windows XP / Vista
Processor: Pentium III / Athlon 800 MHz
Memory: 256 MB
Video Card: DirectX 9.0c - compatible 3D video card GeForce 4 level Ti4200/Radeon 9000 with 128 MB of memory sound card
DirectX 9.0c - compatible
Hard disk: 1 Gb

Download:

http://www.fileserve.com/file/C9Km2G5/Motori8.up_By_SUPERHIK_SWtim.org.part1.rar
http://www.fileserve.com/file/g6XrE5f/Motori8.up_By_SUPERHIK_SWtim.org.part2.rar
http://www.fileserve.com/file/R7cp9CC/Motori8.up_By_SUPERHIK_SWtim.org.part3.rar

Fable III Preview [Xbox 360/PC]

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:04:00 +0000

There’s one overriding feeling you get from listening to Peter Molyneux speak about his games: he really does believe the hype. The Lionhead boss might have a reputation for exaggerating and boasting about the titles he designs, but in front of me stands a man whose enthusiasm is so palpable that it resonates around the room.

He’s also first to admit that Fable II, his previous allegedly world-changing game, had a great number of problems. “To be honest with you, there were really big design flaws,” he says, addressing 2010’s Develop Conference. Fable II was a game that, to Molyneux, threw too much into the mix, emerging cluttered and turgid as a result.

So the big theme is ‘back to basics’. Fable II came under some criticism from players for being too simple, so their inbuilt alarm bells may start ringing when they discover Fable III is streamlined even further. Most immediately noticeable is that there’s only a single item on the heads-up display. “We’ll be getting rid of that icon,” says Molyneux, pointing to it in the bottom left corner of the screen.

No HUD whatsoever, then. And no menus, either, once you’re into the game itself. All of Fable III’s character customisation takes place within the game world, in a place called The Sanctuary. It’s home to your helpful butler, voiced by John Cleese, and allows you to wander around kitting out and tweaking your character – without the need to scroll through endless options and juggle countless numbers. “This is a role-playing game,” Molyneux reminds us. “Where’s all the stats? We don’t need them, because they’re all inside the world.”

If there’s a concern, it’s that Lionhead will struggle to find a way for it to make sense. In the demonstration, The Sanctuary is presented to us without any explanation of how it fits into the wider story. It is of course likely to be integrated into the plot somehow. But for now, Molyneux simply hits a button, and suddenly we’re there, in the Sanctuary chamber, ready to tinker around with our guy or gal.

And that gender choice is one of significance, according to Molyneux. Elements of the narrative switch and alter depending on your chosen sex, while more care has been placed in the female character design this time around. “In Fable II, all our women did look like Russian shotputters,” Molyneux jokes. “In Fable III, I’m glad to say that they have curves and soft bits.”

Ensuring actions feel like they have real consequences is right near the top of a priority list that’s intended to ensure the series feels more dramatic than ever. Playing as the son or daughter of your character in Fable II, the game’s main Journey to Rule campaign follows your attempt to overthrow an evil ruler and eventually become king yourself – but in order to do this, you’re asked to make certain concessions.

It works like this. Characters in Fable III will ask, during your campaign for leadership, certain promises of you. If you agree to them, these people will expect you to carry out their wishes upon your grasp of power. Keep your side of the deal and you’ll be well liked. Go back on your word, and your subjects won’t be at all pleased.

The idea, of course, is to let players be who they want to be – even if that means creating a world that’s even more atrocious than it was under the previous king’s horrible reign. “Even though I know very few people will be a tyrannical king,” says Molyneux, “I still love the idea that you have the opportunity to have your kingdom even worse.”

But despite this depth of player choice, ‘accessibility’ remains the key word. “We want to sell loads more units,” declares Molyneux. The room laughs, but he’s basically serious. “As a designer, more and more, it matters that more people play your game,” he says. The key to that, in Lionhead’s minds, lies in streamlining and refinement. “Being honest, Fable II had some terribly messy things about it.”

So combat’s been tweaked again. It’s all a one-button system, ostensibly simplified but with added depth and flexibility, where spells can be charged for an infinite amount of time to deliver crushing blows. “You could hold it overnight and see what happens,” Molyneux says. “I love that feeling of power. Why should we cap these things?”

Not only that, but the more overt RPG elements have been hidden behind the scenes. Levelling up is still a key component, but rather than assigning skill points, you’re unlocking gates and choosing from treasure chests embedded in the game world. Each new level unlocks a gate on the road to the castle at which you’ll eventually arrive and become king. And between each gate there’s big boxes of goodies to choose from, which unlock various abilities – the ability to buy a house, for example, or to wield “a big bastard sword.”

“I love the visual metaphor of travelling along the road,” Molyneux gushes. “I love that we’re giving people the ability to choose their game features.”

Then there’s the breadcrum trail. That was, to say the least, a contentious issue in Fable II. To what extent is so much handholding acceptable? It’s a question with no definite answers, but Molyneux hopes Fable III hits a nice balance. When on the move, or engaged in a particular task, the trail fades out. But the longer you stay still, the more the game assumes you’re after a gentle nudge. At that point, the trail starts to fade back in until it’s glowing brightly, and pointing the way.

It’s all looking good. It’s all looking very much like a Fable game. That is to say, it’s looking like a traditional RPG for the masses: a vast and expansive fantasy world, but with the stats hidden away, the complexity removed. It also looks beautiful, and while there were a few noticeable texture pop-ups in this early build, some of the vistas – all in-game and explorable – are genuinely impressive. Combine that with a co-op mode catered towards shared experiences (you can marry your co-op buddy, for example. “Why don’t we have an intimate moment in Fable III?” suggests Molyneux. “Obviously it’s not as realistic as the real thing, but it’s a lot less messy.”), and there’s a game that’s certainly not without charm or potential.

Of course, whether that potential is realised remains key. Peter Molyneux has a reputation for over-hyping his games, and it’s not difficult to see where that came from: while Lionhead generally makes strong titles, they’ve rarely been the genre-redefining experiences we’ve been led to believe pre-release.

But Molyneux clearly adores Fable III. Glancing back through my notes, I noticed I’d scrawled down the word “love” in ten separate quotations. Sure, he’s trying to sell his game – but when a designer is clearly so enamoured with what his team has managed to create, it’s difficult to feel too sceptical about what’s in store.

Fable III is set for release on Xbox 360 and PC this October.

Dungeon Siege III

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:36:00 +0000

Remember the PC games Dungeon Siege and Dungeon Siege II by Gas Powered Games? Well, they have sold their franchise to beloved RPG developer/published Square Enix, and Square Enix has chosen Obsidian Entertainment to help them develop their first ever Western RPG. The game is still in alpha testing, so we were only able to watch the creators play through a couple of levels, but what we saw looked amazing.

However, the partnership did not want to keep the franchise restricted to the PC as it has been in the past. When the game releases in the first quarter of 2011, it will be available for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 as well as the PC. As such, they changed up much of the game. It's still an action-RPG, but it features co-op multiplayer for those who wish to play with friends. Those who wish to play alone can still do so with AI partners. In addition, players can jump in and out of co-op/AI play at any point in the game.

One thing the developers continually harped on in their presentation was that they wanted to keep the game focused on action without letting long cut scenes interrupt too much of play. So while the characters are exploring each area, they will talk to one another without stopping the player from exploring or harvesting.

One of the best features of the game is the lack of loading times. The environments are constantly being streamed through, so players can take their characters in and out of different environments seamlessly. This fact alone has me the most intrigued to try it when I can.

If Square Enix and Obsidian continue at the rate they showed us today, then their first WRPG should be a booming success. It's just too bad we have to wait until early 2011 to find out.

ScreenShot:

Enjoy....

Darkspore Preview Looks Diablo-esque, Made By Maxis

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Once upon a time there was a science fiction RPG that started playing Spore on the PC, and they grew up happily and had a beautiful baby called Darkspore. The great minds of Maxis, behind the Spore PC game that allowed users to make their own alien ecosystems wants to take the action up a notch. By joining forces with Bioware, the developers responsible for RPG’s like Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect*, Maxis hopes to make a real hit in the RPG realm.

Darkspore will feature dynamic, fast-paced action as players battle across alien worlds to save the galaxy from the mutated forces of Darkspore in a four-player co-operative and full single-player campaign, as well as intense multiplayer battles. In order to defeat the malicious Darkspore, players will need to collect an arsenal of living weapons - genetic heroes with different combat abilities - and upgrade them with tens of thousands of collectible body parts and armor.

As of right now, Darkspore is sounding a lot like a sci-fi Diablo with a lot of potentially awesome elements. Hopefully working with the Spore/other Maxis creation game background will give every player a unique experience, as well as a lot of fun in the looting and dungeon thumping co-op realm.

*Update*: Turns out it's not all of "Bioware" helping out on this, just one of the writers from Mass Effect 2. Apparently the information that came out of the San Diego Comic Con panel was a bit inaccurate.

SCREENSHOTS

Tom ClancyPS3/X360/PC Preview - 'Tron: Evolution'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:02:00 +0000

Set during the era between the two TRON films, Tron: Evolution conveys the story of significant events within the TRON mythology. The game features an epic adventure across a massive digital world filled with high-mobility disc-based combat and advanced light cycles.

"Tron: Legacy" is coming to theatres soon, and Disney is working on taking full advantage with two distinct video games. Surprisingly, neither game is a rehash of the film; in fact, the main console game, Tron: Evolution, will be telling a separate plot, get its own marketing push, and is being treated distinctly from the film.

The game takes place between the first and second films; details beyond that were a little less clear, especially with the Propaganda Games representatives being strongly focused on the gameplay. Fortunately, the gameplay holds up, taking a known genre (in line with the God of War series) and making twists all its own.

The protagonist finds himself faced with two separate threats: the orange programs of the MCP are out to stop you, and there are also yellow virus programs in the fray. Even when faced with the hero, the two programs actively attack each other, making battles into crazy three-way fights whenever both showed up on-screen at once. Fortunately, the character is armed with a highly variable tool: his disc, which comes in several variants and can be held in three distinct stances, each with a different purpose.

Most combat will be centered on the Combo style, which smoothly mixes the two basic attack buttons — melee and throw — to go through enemies, one after the other, in a vein similar to the recent Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. The Sprint style doesn't offer nearly as strong of an attack array but allows you to go across fields, wall-running and climbing like nobody's business. Surprisingly, the physics are more realistic than one would expect from Tron. You quickly learn to tell what you can and can't pull off. Finally, the Block style allows you to block and charge up devastating special attacks that can wreck the environment. The switch between all three was reasonably fluid and easy to get into, but in the demo, the rep tended to use only one style at a time.

While they noted that RPG-like character development systems were in place, the details weren't shown off on-floor at E3.

By far the biggest thing about Tron: Evolution is the graphics, which neatly capture Tron's distinctive visual style. Although they've gained detail over time, the environments are simplistic but surprisingly full, with digital plants bringing color to the black walls and wall lightings (which Anon can break to regain life) keeping the style from feeling too dark. Characters have smooth, detailed animations, providing a flow that reminded me positively of Batman: Arkham Asylum, but much, much faster.

While the demo also had sections about the series' signature Light Cycles, I didn't have time to see the segment before jetting off to my next appointment. From others, I've heard that the results were similarly manic and smooth, capturing the Tron style neatly by not being a straight racing level as much as a survival challenge.

Disney's recent streak of high-grade games, which even extends to above-par film-based games, shouldn't end with Tron: Evolution. People who want a strong mix of Prince of Persia and God of War should look forward to the game's release alongside the film, "Tron Legacy."

Preview: Dragon Age 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:30:00 +0000

Description

Experience the epic sequel to the 2009 Game of the Year from the critically acclaimed makers of Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2. You are one of the few who escaped the destruction of your home. Now, forced to fight for survival in an ever-changing world, you must gather the deadliest of allies, amass fame and fortune, and seal your place in history. This is the story of how the world changed forever. The legend of your Rise to Power begins now.

BioWare surprised fans at Comic-Con with a world premiere hands-on preview of Dragon Age 2, completely open to the public. A block down the street from the convention center, fans were treated to a short presentation by lead designer Mike Laidlaw, as well as a few very brief combat segments and a look at the story that kicks off the game.

I'll get impressions out of the way first: It's faster and more brutal, less cerebral and more exaggerated. You might think that's because BioWare wants to make the game a little flashier and more accessible, and you'd be right in part. But Dragon Age 2's dark secret is that even if the action is a little more over-the-top and a lot darker, there's a real, solid, story-based justification for it.

Dragon Age 2 (concept art)

As you know if you've been paying attention to the game, the sequel's story revolves around a character named Hawke, not the customized, silent Gray Warden protagonist of the first game. While you're still able to customize your appearance and your class, Dragon Age 2 consists of Hawke's story, not just one you're making up.

And here's the catch: Someone else is actually making it up. The main characters of Dragon Age 2 are actually Cassandra and Verik, two people ten years down the line from the first game, that have to save a world on the brink of war not by fighting their own battles, but by finding out just what Hawke's been up to since Dragon Age: Origins. In other words, the game is told in flashback, by a not-always reliable third party. Which means that if Hawke's story is flashier, grittier, or more fanciful than the first game, that's okay -- anything that might be a lie probably is. "We wanted to see what happened if a legend is exaggerated," said Laidlaw during the demonstration.

"We wanted to see what happened if a legend is exaggerated."- lead designer Mike Laidlaw

That doesn't mean that Dragon Age has lost its core RPG combat mechanic -- you can still pause the game and assign orders to your characters. But it does mean that Hawke can mow down baddies with just one whirlwhind ability, or that his mage cohort can summon a magic meteor storm with just the press of a button. Moves are gory and flashy, with limbs and blood flying everywhere after a big slash or a devastating spell.

It means that the pressure to tell a story moves from the dialogue tree to the narrative itself -- while there are still choices to be made, dialogue works much more like Mass Effect's dialogue wheel, and BioWare has even put icons in to match up with each dialogue choice. If you consider choosing a line that is more diplomatic, you'll see an olive branch icon before you choose it. But going with a line that will lead to a big fight will have a clenched fist icon instead.

And it means that after just a few minutes into the game, you can see a dragon swoop out of the sky, magically transform into a woman, and "she" can walk up to Hawke and company to slyly say, "Well, what have we here?" No, that might not be exactly how it happened, but the story you're playing is the story being told, not the story occurring in Ferelden.

Not much was revealed about the characters fighting with Hawke. He (or she) starts out with a human mage sidekick, and while there are some new tricks (mages can now get the "finishing move" cutscenes that are sometimes possible when downing a larger boss, and one dialog option allows you to send your companion in first, allowing them to direct the battle for once), characters control about the same. They do feel faster -- BioWare has decided to lose the "move queue" idea in favor of more responsive controls, so when you press a button, it feels like you're actually swinging a sword instead of just telling a character to swing the sword as soon as they can.

It's worth mentioning that Ferelden seems to have changed, too -- while the first game could be quite lush at times, this one is much more stark and barren. The enemies are darker in shade and slimmer than the first title, and the heroes are less shiny and more rugged. Of course, the demo only consisted of about ten minutes of gameplay (which, in Dragon Age time, is as good as nothing), but especially if it's representative of the larger game, we're in for a rougher ride.

That framed narrative is the key, however -- BioWare isn't just turning the sequel into "Dragon Effect," it's actually baking a story into the game that allows the developers to go bigger cinematically and thematically. We don't yet know how Hawke's story will play out -- Laidlaw promised that players would make decisions that show how "the Chantry's fallen to pieces" and the world is brought to war. But however it's done, we'll be hearing about it from an NPC as we play.

StarCraft II Midnight Launch Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:41:00 +0000

StarCraft II, the biggest PC/Mac game of the year is all set to launch in the UAE on 26th July at Emax, Mirdif City Centre. We talk to Nitin Mathew, Marketing Manager at RED Entertainment Distribution about the game and what we can expect at the launch.

MEGamers.com: What made you decide to hold a midnight launch for StarCraft II?
StarCraft is one of the most celebrated gaming franchises around and since its launch in 1998, it’s turned into quite a phenomenon. It’s been critically acclaimed for its near perfect blend of story, gameplay and graphics (at the time) and regularly features in lists of the best games of all time.
Given the strength of the franchise and as a tribute to the fans and the game, we wanted to celebrate the franchise by launching it at midnight making the game available to local fans at the same time as their counterparts around the world.

MEGamers.com: What price will the game be sold for?
The standard edition will retail for AED 239.

MEGamers.com: Will the Collector’s Edition be available during the launch? If yes, at what price and what’s included?
Yes. The Collector’s Edition will be available at launch and retail for AED 499, will include the following bonus items in addition to the game disc:

The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a 176-page book featuring artwork from the game
An exclusive 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor’s dog tag, which comes preloaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War® expansion set
A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, cinematics with director’s commentary, and more
The official StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty soundtrack CD, containing 14 epic tracks from the game along with exclusive bonus tracks
StarCraft comic book issue #0, a prequel to the comic series
A World of Warcraft® mini Thor in-game pet that can be applied to all World of Warcraft characters on a single Battle.net account
Exclusive Battle.net downloadable content, including special portraits for your Battle.net profile, decals to customize your units in-game, and a visually unique version of the terran Thor unit

MEGamers.com: What time should people queue up by?
I would suggest getting there by about 10pm and don’t forget to bring your email confirmation of registration. Due to the massive demand, we will have limited stock available and preference will be for those who pre-register on MEGAMERS. Don’t forget to bring your cameras and friends!
We’re also hoping to give away a few surprises and I’m going to personally give away a Collector’s Edition to the best costume on the night!

MEGamers.com: Why was Emax chosen as the venue for the midnight launch?
To begin with, the team at Emax is extremely enthusiastic about StarCraft II and coupled with their stature as a leading electronics retailer in the UAE, we felt that an Emax Mirdif City Centre outlet would be a great place to hold the launch.

Tom Clancy HAWX 2 : Game Overview

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:29:00 +0000

Tom Clancy HAWX 2 ( Release Date – September 7, 2010) plunge gamers into an explosive environment where they can become elite aerial soldiers in control of the world’s most technologically advanced aircraft. Tom Clancy HAWX 2 will appeal to a wide array of fans as players will have the chance to control exceptional pilots trained to use cutting edge technology in exciting aerial warfare missions. Tom Clancy HAWX 2 is directly inspired by Tom Clancy’s books, and it will enable fans to once again experience the excitement and intensity that built H.A.W.X. as a successful brand.

Screen-shots (Click images to enlarge)

Tom Clancy HAWX 2 : Game Overview

Devastate your enemies with Prototype Technology :- Use all your skills to command an astonishing array of cutting-edge technology and overwhelming firepower delivered by tomorrow’s finest combat aircraft. From the F-35’s vectored thrust capability to the ultra-secret Enhanced Reality System, You’ll light up the skies with a suite of experimental technology available only to chosen few.

Get up close and Personal to the war of tomorrow :- See the enemy’s canopy shatter as your cannon shereds his aircraft. Feel the thundering impact of your laser-guided bombs as your roar close overhead. War may not be pretty, but it sure looks impressive.

Prove your mettle above the world’s most famous locations :- From Moscow to the Persian Gulf, from the Arctic Circle to the Indian Ocean, actual high-resolution GeoEye^TM commerical satellite imagery ensures an stunning degree of realism.

Air Warfare brought to the next level :- Fly as an elite tactical aviator

Go head-to-head in close-range dogfights.

Take off and land on bases and carries.

Sweat through night precision bombing.

Track your targets using silent UAV’s then strike from above.

Use air-to-air refueling in the middle of missions.

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