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PAX Prime 2012: Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion

2012-10-12T15:40:00.002+01:00

Licensed games are often cash-in bits of shovelware that aren’t worth the discs they’re pressed on, but there was a time when this wasn’t always so.

Back during the 8- and 16-bit era, Disney Interactive made a name for itself with top-shelf platformers based on Disney's stable of popular film and television characters, including Ducktales, Chip and Dale, and Mickey Mouse. Developer DreamRift is hoping to remind gamers of happier times with Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, a 3DS platformer starring Walt's most famous creation.

The Disney Epic Mickey series usually has Mickey exploring forgotten realms of the Disney canon, but in Power of Illusion Mickey treks through recognizable properties like Beauty and the Beast and Tangled. Think Kingdom Hearts with less Final Fantasy characters and you’re on the right track. The section of game I played was Peter Pan-themed, and took me from the Darling house to the deck of Captain Hook’s ship.

Gameplay in Power of Illusion is a direct homage to 1990's Castle of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse, though prior experience with the series isn't necessary. Like Castle of Illusion and other other Capcom-developed Disney games from the 16-bit era, Mickey hops and bops his way from left to right through various 2D side-scrolling stages. Jumping is a bit floaty but for the most part Mickey controls well, and gamers disappointed by New Super Mario Bros. 2's willingness to retread old ideas will appreciate Power of Illusion's solid mechanics and unique feel compared to other platformers on the 3DS.

Look for cameos from loads of Disney characters throughout.

Power of Illusion isn’t merely a rehash of the mechanics from Castle of Illusion, though, and brings over the Paint and Thinner mechanics from the other Disney Epic Mickey games. During my playthrough, I came across several areas where Mickey could paint platforms into the environment—in this case, building blocks like the ones found in the Darling nursery. Simply trace the symbols across the bottom screen (the letters on the building blocks) and they appear. Conversely, some obstacles need to be cleared out of the way, and Mickey can get rid of them using Thinner and the bottom touchscreen. The demo started simply, only letting me clear one obstacle at a time, but one puzzle near the end had me dissolve a block to get to a cannon and then draw in a different block to act as my landing platform.

Mickey can also choose from three power-ups before the start of each level, and can activate them by drawing them on the bottom screen. One power-up summons a large block with Pete’s face to smash enemies, while another summons a cane-bouncing Uncle Scrooge from the NES Ducktales game. Power-ups aren’t required to finish levels—I completed two without using them once—but they make progressing past enemies and obstacles easier.

Power of Illusion’s art design looks similar to its 16-bit counterparts but with an added layer of polish, from character sprites moving in a more sophisticated manner than previous Disney platformers to gorgeous layered backgrounds. The 3D, however, is ignoble and unnecessary to enjoy Power of Illusion's presentation.

If you’ve been pining for a fresh, sprite-based platformer straight out of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis days, you’re in for a treat with Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion. True to its roots while still continuing to push the series forward, Power of Illusion will please platforming fans and Disney-philes alike. Look for Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion in shops on November 18 in North America and November 23 in Europe.

PAX Prime 2012 – Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

2012-09-18T23:45:00.000+01:00

Swords, not sneaking—that's the name of the game in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

Longtime fans of Hideo Kojima's Tactical Espionage Action series may be shocked by the switch from subterfuge to swordplay, but there's a reason Konami dropped the "Solid" moniker. Rising: Revengeance—that name!—is a new take on the classic Metal Gear series, swapping careful infiltration for ninja acrobatics and dropping the old, familiar Metal Gear Solid tune in favour of some deep cuts.

The demo places Raiden in a virtual reality training environment, stepping him through the controls and letting players experiment with chopping everything around them into little bits, recalling the kitchen bit in the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo. Raiden fights his way through several waves of guards before the simulation sics a helicopter gunship on him. After fleeing from the helicopter across a crumbling bridge, Raiden fillets a few more guards and a small Gekko-like walker before bringing down the chopper, ending the demo.

Combat in Rising: Revengeance is pure Platinum, recalling fast, fluid stylish-action games like the studio's own Bayonetta. Raiden alternates between light/heavy attacks akin to games like Devil May Cry and free-form cutting for more finessed targeting. Activating the cutting mode causes everything to move in slow motion, letting plays use the analogue sticks to guide Raiden's blade. Some enemies carry blades of their own, though, and Raiden must weaken them with regular attacks before implementing any surgical strikes. Cutting drains Raiden's stock of energy, but he can recharge by slicing an enemy just right and performing an accompanying Quick-Time Event.

For players who still enjoy evading guards and staying undetected, Rising: Revengeance does allow for a modicum of sneaking. Raiden can catch enemies off-guard with stealth kills, recharging his ninja blade for more slow-motion cutting. Enemies have a cone of vision, letting players plan their approach like in past Metal Gear Solid games, and guards still emit their infamous klaxon—you know the one—upon spotting Raiden. Of course, once Raiden is spotted, he has much greater offensive capabilities, and I approached every conflict head-on and blade-out.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance also brings a surprising level of gore to the series, as Raiden turns guards into finely-chopped bits of sashimi with blood gushing from every new cut. The demo mitigates this by informing Raiden that all of the enemy soldiers are "cyborgs," implying that no one has a cyborg spouse at home or any cyborg kids to pick up from cyborg soccer practice, but Rising: Revengeance's near-fetish level enthusiasm for seeing how many times you can bisect a soldier with a sword feels slightly icky. Still, the violence is so over-the-top it crosses into darkly comic territory, and fits with Platinum Games' huge, stylish motif.

I've never been a big fan of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, bad as I am at the stealth genre, and I was tepid towards Rising: Revengeance based on its trailer and development history. Ten minutes with Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance changed my opinion completely, and I can't wait to get my hands on more. Look for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance to launch early next year in North America and Europe, and for a demo bundled with Zone of the Enders: HD Collection at the end of 2012.

PAX Prime 2012: Dishonored

2012-09-12T15:46:00.001+01:00

Choice.

It’s the mainstay in most games published by Bethesda, and is one of the biggest, most defining elements of Dishonored. A product of French developer Arcane Studios, Dishonored gives players a deep suite of powers to wreak as much or as little havoc as they like in their quest to restore honour to their name.

The hour-long demo I played at Bethesda’s booth assigned me with infiltrating a party and assassinating one Lady Boyle, a member of the upper crust and financier for my enemies. The representative from Arkane Studios told me that it’s possible to finish the entire game without killing a single person, save for a handful of crucial encounters, and that all of my assassination targets can be dealt with non-lethally. I decided to take him at his word, having heard similar claims about the original Deus Ex, and chose a pacifist approach for the length of the demo.

I began my mission outside the Boyle estate, noting the regular patrols of guards and tripedal robots reminiscent of Half-Life 2’s Striders—no coincidence as both games share Viktor Antonov, art director on Half-Life 2 and design director on Dishonored. Rather than cutting a wide swath through the Boyle manor’s security detail, I possessed the body of a fish in the surrounding moat and swam through a gap in its drainage system, gaining entry via the mansion’s sewer access.

Dishonored allows for multiple approaches to its gameplay challenges.

Once inside, I discovered that the party was a masquerade ball, and that Lady Boyle’s two sisters were also in attendance and wearing similar costumes to my target. Needing more information about which Lady Boyle was my actual target, I chatted up the party attendees, hoping to learn all I could about my hostess and what she might be wearing.

In talking with Lady Boyle's party guests, I started to learn about Dishonored's setting, a sort of alternate universe Europe where the industrial revolution was sparked not by coal, but whale oil. The Arkane rep explained that the non-lethal approach requires players to scour their environment for information related to their target, often revealing more of Dishonored’s extensive world-building. For lore-nuts like me who love learning about a game's world in a natural way, playing Dishonored non-lethally might be the most rewarding way to go.

I eventually came across a gentleman who claimed he knew of my mission to end Lady Boyle's life and pleaded with me to let her live, saying he loved her and would whisk her away to a faraway island and she would be safe and sound. His earnest speech sounded creepy, given that Lady Boyle likely didn’t know of his existence, but it was a bloodless way to dispose of my future victim and I took the unrequited Casanova up on his offer, agreeing to bring Lady Boyle to the basement where he would meet me.

The art in Dishonored is grotesque, exaggerated, and compelling.

From there, I fetched a flirty party-goer a drink and she described the true Lady Boyle’s costume to me. I talked with the Lady and tried to get her to follow me, but she didn’t trust me and shoved me off. Not giving up, I waited until she was near the entrance and tapped into a few of my powers. First, I possessed her the way I had done with the fish earlier, then I froze time for a short period to move even closer, and finally I used an ability called Blink to teleport past security before I ran out of possession time. When I finally had her out of sight, I knocked her out and brought her down to where the would-be lover was supposed to meet me. Unfortunately, by that point I had run out of time, leaving me unable to see what the rest of the demo held.

The grand level of choice offered by games like Skyrim or Fallout 3 often leaves me paralyzed with indecision; when I’m given the ability to do everything, I often shut down and don’t want to do anything. Dishonored is different; it gives me one specific thing to do—get rid of this particular person—and a hundred different ways to do it. Dishonored’s focus on macro-level decisions rather than big ones results in a game that feels manageable while still offering variability of play style that all but guarantees repeated attempts and playthroughs. Dishonored sneaks onto European shelves on 11 October and North America on 9 October.

Review: Diablo III

2012-07-05T20:28:00.000+01:00

Diablo III

Developer

Blizzard Entertainment

Publisher

Activision Blizzard

Platforms

Genre

Action, RPG, Hack n' Slash

Certificate

PEGI 18+, ESRB M

It's been 12 years since Diablo II enveloped our world with its addictive gameplay and instilled its audience with an insatiable lust for more loot.

The impossibly anticipated follow-up, Diablo III, has finally arrived and successfully builds off of what made the franchise so great to begin with. However, while it does keep to its roots, Diablo III's streamlined nature, rocky launch and post-release patching have brought with it some very controversial changes that's made it very tough to love.

Diablo III video review

Depending on who you are, the story behind Diablo either interests you or it doesn't. Being a Diablo veteran, I found the narrative of the first two games, at the very least, interesting. There was enough mystery and sense of accomplishment involved that it helped me continue pushing forward. Diablo III attempts to follow in the same vein and delivers spectacular cut-scenes, but falls far from what its predecessors decidedly told.

I wasn't expecting the world's next greatest story, but I at least wanted to care about what I was doing. Diablo III conforms to the trend of trying to put too much into the game too quickly and introduces old and new characters in contrived fashion. The game is also incredibly predictable, which is another trend I've been witnessing in Blizzard games. As events unfold, it gets to the point where you already know what's going to occur hours before it finally happens and when it does, all you can do is roll your eyes.

Lasers usually take care of spider problems. Usually.

Unlike the narrative, the Diablo core gameplay you know and love largely remains untouched. Each stage is randomly generated with hordes of monsters to slay and loot to grab. Each of the five unique classes (Barbarian, Wizard, Demon Hunter, Monk and Witch Doctor) can equip a plethora of armor and weapons along with a profuse amount of abilities. What's neat this time around though, is that instead of the classic talent tree approach to upgrading skills, Diablo III allows you to switch out your abilities on the fly. Since there's no skill points, your powers can be augmented by runes, which change your ability depending on which one's selected.

The new skill system is sweet in that you aren't locked into any type of set path. If one ability isn't proving useful, you can change it via a rune to make it more effective or grab a new move entirely. What I dislike about the system is that there's a lot of runes that are pointless. Why grab the rune for Spectral Blades that inflicts a slow on the target when there's much better available? I get it's the option of choice, but this becomes a big problem later in the life of the game. Since players are now restricted to taking only six different spells with them, when you ascend to the higher difficulties more than half of your current ability set is rendered inefficient and is therefore useless.

The environments are done pretty well.

People complain about cookie-cutter builds in other games and, ostensibly, Diablo III was doing away with that by allowing the swapping of abilities whenever. Unfortunately, when you do get that high in the game, there's few moves that you'd ever bring with you; making set builds and such ever present. This is disappointing as most of the abilities look great, but just aren't reliable or good enough later on. Did you ever think Whirlwind for the Barbarian would be considered a terrible skill? It is in Diablo III.

Your character role is also completely set in stone since attribute points, which were manually distributed in the first two Diablo games, are automatically allocated now. The absence of attribute points means less involvement with your character, but at the same time that means the requirements on items have been streamlined. Instead of having a strength or dexterity requirement, class and level are the only two deciding factors now. I can't blame everything on the points, but they most certainly do play a role.

For instance, a Wizard can carry a shield on his/her off-hand making you believe you could mold a character into a high vitality, tanky Wizard, right? Wrong. There's no point in trying to build that way since there's no benefits for doing so when you eventually get to Inferno; Diablo III's newest difficulty and also where the best loot drops. Try as you may, you're still going to be that glass cannon but, with that "build" you'd be lacking the cannon.

Destructible environments make you feel like a badass. That is, until a bee kills you.

Loot is still important as ever to Diablo III, but a couple major factors have changed the way loot works. For one, the implementation of an auction house (like World of Warcraft) has made it necessary for Blizzard to scale back the amount of great items people find. While they haven't said this, it only makes sense because there's both an in-game and real-world money auction house. Blizzard doesn't want people to get tons of amazing items and then sell them on the AH for tons of cash (they net a profit too), so finding cool weapons and such is a much rarer celebration in Diablo III.

The second issue with loot is that they majority of items downright suck. Legendary items (Diablo III's uniques) often are inferior to the game's yellows or rare items. Why? Instead of having set stats on a weapon that are random, every single state found is random. That means you can find a bow that as intelligence on it, which helps no one as opposed to in Diablo II, where the bow would always have dexterity on it, just a random amount.

To some, this might now sound like a big deal, but understand that this changes the whole flow of the game. Yes, Diablo is a dungeon crawler that focuses on farming, but in Diablo III you feel the farm. Its predecessors never had this issue because you'd actually get stuff you could use from time to time. If you were to just play the game to try and find items for yourself to use, you'd likely spend months just trying to find a decent replacement for one slot. This forces you to use the auction house, which is a shoddy way of going about business in Diablo.

You can leave global chat, but why not get some advertising while slaying demons?

Another major issue I have with Diablo III is how much it feels like an MMO. Times have changed, technology has evolved and the way we patch our games is different, but that doesn't mean every game needs to feel like an MMO. Every single time Blizzard patched Diablo III, something big was changed making it feel like WoW all over again - that isn't a good thing. Confusingly enough, Blizzard also made changes to make crates, pots and other random objects never drop items again. They even negated Magic Find having any effect on what's in chests whatsoever. Needless to say, the Diablo III slowly began to feel like anything but a Diablo game.

Despite my negativity toward the game, you can still spend a substantial amount of time with Diablo III before fatigue sets in. Playing with friends is fun, but even that can grow into an annoyance since your buddies can skip dialogue and cut-scenes that you might have wanted to see. Add all these issues on top of a rocky launch and you have Blizzard's latest gem. For a game that's been in development for over a decade, I expected Diablo III to be so much more than what we received. Hands down, this has to be one of the biggest disappointments of all-time.

6/10 [?]

Mass Effect 3: Indoctrination Theories, Epilogue DLC and... Gears of War?

2012-07-02T23:59:00.001+01:00

When it released last March, the controversy surrounding Mass Effect 3's endings were a focus of intense discussion.

Some vehemently opposed the way BioWare choose to end the trilogy, accusing the developer of cutting corners allowing for a lethargic, albeit confusing ending. Other players believed there was much deeper meaning to the mystery of the conclusion. We've been waiting for the Extended Cut DLC to clear everything up and now that the wait is over, we're both ecstatic and disappointed at what BioWare has wrought.

Editor's Note: This article contains spoilers regarding Mass Effect 3 and the Gears of War franchise. If you intend to play the games and/or don't want the endings ruined, then progress no further.

If you haven't seen the endings yet, check out all of them on GamesRadar.

Andrew's argument for botching an opportunity

A while back, I wrote an article stating my horror as to how fast people jumped on the 'hate BioWare' bandwagon. To me the conclusion of ME3 was more ambiguous than anything. As soon as Harbinger's beam smoked you, that was when I noticed everything around Shepard seemed... different. From the control the Illusive Man had over Anderson to the way Shepard cringed when the Reaper noises echoed across the screen, there was too much that materialized at the end for me to consider it a simple mistake; a failure at elaboration.

Obviously a great deal of people felt the same way which is what gave rise to the Indoctrination Theory. Simply put, people thought the entire final sequence was really Shepard going through the Indoctrination process; attempting to stave it off. Certain videos gave immense evidence to this claim and it honestly seemed like such an intelligent way to leave the series in suspension. However, after the Extended Cut DLC dropped, this theory was immediately dis-proven.

Didn't you know? These guys could be helping you out soon!

Saying all of that, I personally would like to apologize for my stance on the matter. Maybe it was just the sequence of events and the missing pieces that made this whole Indoctrination Theory plausible, but I'll be damned if I couldn't say it was convincing. The new endings are extremely well done, and provide ample information that satisfies my lingering questions. The Catalyst now elaborates on its history, new cut-scenes show Hackett finding out someone got to the Citadel and even how your team gets off world. Most importantly though, the new endings show a very different, yet similar conclusion that feels much better than the original ones ever could. Though, now that we know this was the way BioWare wanted to tread all along and not the way of Indoctrination, I feel a bit dismayed.

BioWare should be commended for going the extra mile for not only acknowledging the fans disproval, but for following it up with a free piece of DLC that clears up any previous issues. There are few companies that would go this far and for that, BioWare, I applaud thee. However, now that we know the truth about the ending, it pains me to realise that either ME3 was rushed out the door at the last minute, or somebody gave the green light to ship the game despite the unfinished ending. We can speculate that it's 'all EA's fault' but that's an unfair accusation as we know nothing of the game's final days of development.

Anderson dying was still a strong sequence.

Regardless of the answer to why the game shipped the way it did, the fact of the matter is that it did ship that way. Akin to Mortal Kombat's horrific online multiplayer and Dark Souls' downright broken multiplayer component, this is something that just cannot be looked over when judging the entirety of the game. What were they thinking? ME3 was incredibly detailed thoroughly and then the end just throws a bunch of janky situations together and we were supposed to be pleased with the outcome? Again, that's why I thought something greater was at hand and this brings up a whole different issue I have with story-writers.

The Indoctrination Theory was an very intelligent take on how ME3 ended and I think if BioWare made it work then we'd be talking about how revolutionary this kind of narrative was instead of, you know, how bastardized it became. Could you imagine if after playing through the game you found out the final choices you were given were a ploy? What if Shepard was tricked into allowing the Reapers to live, forever sealing the fate of the galaxy? The thought of this kind of decision making lifts my gaming soul to untold heights, but alas, this was not the case at all with ME3. It might sound odd, but this reminds me of Epic Games' missed opportunity for the Gears of War franchise.

Even Shepard wanted to see what happened next.

Stay with me here; Gears is something people look at and only think of thick dudes, chainsaws, cover and guns. Well, it didn't use to be like that and if you were there with me during the first Gears, you know exactly what I mean. The Locust were an unknown enemy, one that just emerged and slaughtered humanity by the billions and nobody knew why. Hostages were not taken, communication was impossible, making the situation as dire as possible. As you progressed through the game, the precious resource known as Imulsion was introduced to the player and some of the history of Sera was told.

The rush for the revolutionary resource orchestrated the Pendulum Wars, a 79-year civil war. It all seemed so clear to me and a few other websites that, perhaps, the Locust were the good guys in this matter. I mean, maybe the humans were killing the planet or hurting the Locust by siphoning so much Imulsion, forcing the hand of the Locust. Be honest; how amazing would that have been? Over what we got, I feel this was a completely wasted opportunity to blow away gamers of all kinds. Instead, Gears will still be known for its hardcore action and its lackluster narrative. BioWare has followed in the exact same footsteps and disappointed fans with their decision making process.

I'm a massive fan of both franchises, but I can't sit back and accept the fact that there just wasn't opportunities to make better decisions. Both trilogies are now over, but with Judgment coming and more DLC for ME3 to come, you can bet we haven't seen the last of any of these franchises. I just hope this time around, we don't run into the same circumstances.

Spec Ops: The Line (with video review)

2012-06-28T08:32:00.003+01:00

Spec Ops: The Line

Developer

Yager

Publisher

Platforms

Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

Reviewed on

Xbox 360

Genre

Third-Person Shooter, Military

Certificate

PEGI 18+, ESRB M

If you're looking for a new game to sate your thirst for something seminal, you'd surely laugh at the notion of a third-person military shooter being pushed toward you - I know I would.

Yager Development's Spec Ops: The Line is a game that looks and feels like the competition, but instead of following the safe and derivative path that's usually carved out for the genre, forges its own dark and gritty route that contemporary games hardly use. If, by year's end, people still aren't talking about the narrative this game yields, some of the magic of the gaming industry will have surely faded.

Video review

It's tough to advertise, let alone sell someone on a game that puts 'military' and 'shooter' in today's market. Literally polluted with a deluge of games sharing the same ideas and gameplay, gamer's like myself turn a blind-eye to these games without giving it a second thought. It's this reason that I fear Spec Ops won't get the attention it deserves and, I assure you, it definitely warrants some attention.

By skipping out on this game, you're missing one of the single most important tales a game has told since the original Half-Life. Bold as that statement may be, it's as real as it can get. Half-Life's opening scenes were revolutionary and turned the gaming world on its head. Spec Ops won't have that same effect as a whole since the industry has evolved, but the narrative it weaves is one that simply has not been done nor explored by anybody. Over the course of the game you'll ask yourself what you're doing, maybe even why and then when you approach the game's conclusion you'll be simply blown away.

Yager was nice enough to include me in the game! Wait...

To give it a premise, you control Captain Martin Walker of Delta Force with his two comrades-in-arms, Sergeant Lugo and Lieutenant Adams. The trio has been tasked with tracking down Colonel John Konrad of the 33rd Infantry, whose last known location was the annihilated city of Dubai. Having volunteered the 33rd to evacuate the people from encroaching cataclysmic sandstorms, Konrad and company failed the evacuation process and have yet to be heard from. While you don't know what to expect from the decimated city, it's obvious that everything isn't as it seems.

Incredible and emotional as the story is, Spec Ops really shines by allowing the player to make moral decisions that aren't black and white, Paragon or Renegade, good or evil. Regardless of what you choose, somebody somewhere will be hurt by your choice and sometimes you might not even fully understand what's going on around you. While that might seem upsetting to some, having moral ambiguity in serious situations, especially while under duress, is refreshing and potent. Every situation where you're presented with a choice weighs heavy on the conscience, making it quite a memorable scenario.

This is a pretty spooky scene.

The situations where you have to make a choice are fantastic, but regardless of your decision, the game will still progress down the same road. You might get a semi-different cut-scene or skip an area that would normally be full of enemies, but that's the extent of differentiating factors within choice. While I agree that it would have been awesome to have more variety in the pathways, it still doesn't take anything away from the narrative or the emotion of the moment.

Speaking of emotion, the atmosphere Spec Ops provides is superb. Dubai is an original setting with flowing sands and bright colors that are all surrounded by the dilapidated structures of the once great city. It's all appealing to the eye, in a destroyed beauty kind of way and your squad-mates will let you know how they're feeling as well. It's not one of those contrived conversations that you feel forced into, but rather a more organic advance. Basically, as the game progresses and choices are made, Lugo and Adams will bicker, fight and even question your decision making process. It gets to the point where what they're saying can be straight up offensive, but the delivery is so genuine it hits you hard.

The environments are refreshing to behold. Also, sand.

Gamers familiar with the Gears of War series will find Spec Ops combat system familiar and satisfying. Unlike Gears, Walker can only take a few hits before he bites the big one, making cover play a bigger role in every fight and often a requirement. The cover system works well, but it'll take some getting used to since the melee button is tied to the vault button. Sometimes you might find yourself taking a swing at that cement wall instead of jumping it, but with a small amount of time you shouldn't have any further issues.

Being in the desert, sand plays a significant role in combat. Throwing grenades kicks up a dust cloud that gives you some extra cover and shooting certain areas reveal billions of tons of sand that can either aid you into getting to the next area, or smothering your enemies. Weapons feel great to fire and give off some very satisfying sounds when they hit home. There's a good variety of different weapons to choose from and they all come equipped with a unique secondary fire, such as the M4A1 which sports a silencer for a less noisy solution.

They might not seem like much, but you'll become attached to these dudes by game end.

The melee attacks are especially vicious, more so when you hit an enemy so hard, his helmet flies off as he goes airborne. You can also execute enemies who are bleeding out with an assortment of brutal moves and that's actually something else Spec Ops does very well. To tie in with the emotion the game is trying to convey, oftentimes when you shoot an enemy they won't die immediately. They'll crawl around begging for help or groaning in immense pain as the last breaths of life leave their body. While it doesn't affect the overall game or the choices you're presented with, it's almost like a soft-choice; what kind of monster are you?

Something I found woefully absent was the usual feature of co-op. Being a three-man squad, I couldn't help but think Spec Ops would be that much better with two of your good friends helping you unravel Dubai's mysteries. I spoke to Cory Davis about why they omitted co-operative play at E3 and it makes sense, but I still feel that option should have been there. At least a co-operative, prequel-esque mode is in the works and will be available free to those who bought the game very soon.

You'll be seeing a lot of this.

To compensate for the lack of a buddy helping out, you can control Lugo and Adams in a simplified manner. By tapping or holding a button, both your dudes will focus on a target and pay attention to the situation they're in. That means if someone's extremely far away, Lugo sets up his sniper and goes to town while Adams is more close-ranged and might chuck a grenade in for style-points. They'll even attack two different targets if two are in the vicinity or even attach silencers to their weapons if the situation calls for it. It's nice to have decent AI, but I still would've had a friend with me in the trenches.

Once you're done with the story, multiplayer does allow for some extra fun, but it's definitely not the main focus of Spec Ops. There's some cool ideas nestled within, but for a game that's so original it's surprising to see the multiplayer fall right into the conventional multiplayer mechanics we always see. Perks, loadouts all that stuff you can liken to Call of Duty is present, but multiplayer still has some charm to it with Battlefield-esque team abilities and some modes that are better than the usual team deathmatch. It's not great, but it can provide a decent distraction if you really need it.

The atmosphere is incredible.

Spec Ops is one of those games that's going to fly under the radar of most gamers and that's not acceptable. While it ostensibly appears to be your typical generic military shooter, within a short period of time it becomes much, much more than that. The single-player will take you around eight hours to complete, but it's an experience you won't soon forget. The events that unfold in Spec Ops are horrifyingly fantastic and if you care about originality within a genre full of trite and predictable material, you'll help by giving it a chance.

8/10 [?]

Diablo III's failures and why Torchlight II can't come soon enough

2012-06-22T04:57:00.001+01:00

Over a month ago, this article would have read very differently. With Torchlight II on the horizon and Diablo III releasing to record-breaking sales, it seemed obvious that Runic Games missed the proverbial train and gamers, like myself, were insulted they'd go up against the behemoth that is Diablo.

However, after a botched launch, questionable updates and a significant amount of time spent in Sanctuary, I find myself looking forward to Torchlight II more than ever before. It's not because D3 is a bad game, it's just a perfect example of how time can change even the most primal aspects of game design.

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you haven't played D3 yet and you're concerned with spoilers, please don't read any further.

Andrew Whipple III discussing why Diablo III was a disappointment

Before we get into the controversial details, understand that Diablo is a franchise I've loved since the original and poured more hours into than I'd like to admit. The original Torchlight was a fun distraction with some amazing ideas that D3 intelligently absorbed, but it was also a game I never finished because I simply wasn't compelled to. D3, on the other hand is a game I've 'finished' multiple times but, to my dismay, still find myself unsatisfied with.

Blizzard has its hands full right now with a community that's in full riot-mode and we'll get into that soon, but first I'd like to talk about the pieces of the game that I feel have held D3 back from true greatness. I can't think of a title that was more anticipated than D3 that wasn't StarCraft II, which dropped two years ago. Gamers have been waiting 12 solid years for this game (much like StarCraft) and some of my close friends even took a week of vacation to do nothing but play D3. Saying that, the foundation for a successful community and game were already present long before the game released. Despite this 'guaranteed success,' D3 still manages to feel like a game that hasn't seen a proper development cycle.

Starting with its launch on May 15th, players ready for demon-slaying at midnight had to wait as servers were hours late coming online. Players then experienced difficulty logging in, game-breaking bugs and then had to deal with servers that constantly went on and offline throughout the course of the day. Some players lost progress in the game and even lost certain achievements permanently. Blizzard knew they were at fault and publicly apologized as Community Manager, Bashiok commented on the matter:

"As many of you are aware, technical issues occurring within hours after the game's launch led to players experiencing error messages and difficulty logging in. These issues cropped up again last night for the Americas and Europe servers. Despite very aggressive projections, our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough."

Great as it was for Blizzard to send its apologies, it still baffles me as to how they couldn't have seen this issue coming. It's been 12 years since the last Diablo and they knew how many people were excited for this game. It's not like this is Blizzard's first huge launch either. Back in 2004 when World of Warcraft first launched, they also experienced huge amounts of server traffic which led to many of the same issues we saw with D3's launch. Being their first MMO, those issues were understandable, but three expansions later and still holding the crown with 11 million subscribers and you'd think they'd be ready for something like this. Sure, D3 now retains the record for day-one PC sales but that's still no excuse for botching the launch of such an anticipated title.

Say what you want, as someone who is a dedicated PC gamer, being restricted to playing online only is sometimes a hassle. Some companies, like Ubisoft, have taken this direction (Assassin's Creed) and I just can't agree with that decision or even the often overlooked omission of LAN support. Diablo has always been a game you can choose to play with or without friends, and while you can still do this, having the requirement of always being on Battle.net is, quite frankly, stupid. For the players that have an unstable connection, you'll never be able to play D3 and that infuriates me.

Bad as the initial taste was for the game, when everything became relatively smooth D3 became a very fun experience. Great as it was for a time, as I got deeper into the mix I began to feel... estranged. If you've never played the previous entries in the series then the feeling will be hard to describe, but let's start with some of the core mechanics changed specifically for D3.

Diablo has always been about crawling through dungeons and looking for gear with your buddies. With several classes and different ways to build your characters, finding that unique piece of armor or weapon was a satisfying feeling - one that no longer exists in D3. One of the major reasons this empty feeling occurs is because the loot table is too diverse. What I mean is, in the first two games, you can play completely alone and within an ample period of time find a multitude of upgrades off of the random drops that don't feel trivial. In D3 this just doesn't happen. At first I thought it was me, but after talking with fellow players, friends and playing more I discovered I wasn't alone on the matter.

No longer can you just play and earn your upgrades by wading through thousands of demons. Technically you still can do that, but finding the items you need will honestly take months and that isn't even for the top-end gear. We're talking just a decent upgrade and you'll be lucky if you find that. Entering Hell, I still hadn't found an acceptable upgrade to my weapon, boots, chest, shoulders or a good ring and I hit a brick wall. Rather than farm mindlessly for eternity, situations like this forces players to use the new auction house. The auction house is a great idea on paper, but it eliminates the satisfaction of finding your own items. By spending a small amount of gold, you can get everything you need and finish an entire act without finding a single upgrade, because you no longer need it.

I have a real issue with this because discovery was always such a big part of Diablo II. Sure, sometimes you had to go back and look for some items, but you were still somewhat effective. By implementing so many useless items, Blizzard has effectively slowed the game down or, in my opinion, MMO-ified the game by superficially increasing the amount of time you need to play to find something worthwhile.

A great example of how anemic items are in D3 is found within the new Legendary weapons (D3's take on uniques). Take, for instance, D2's unique crossbow called the Buriza-Do Kyanon and I'll try and make this as clear as possible. In D2, this crossbow comes with set stats that, in itself, are random. That means you'll always see that enhanced, cold and maximum damage along with some other stats. However, while those stats will always be on the item, each of their properties is completely random. So you might find a Buriza with 200% Enhanced Damage while your friend finds one with 160% Enhanced Damage. This made items worth vastly different amounts when trading in D2 and for a good reason. In D3, every single statistic is completely random on the items, even if it was 'made' for your character.

For the sake of clarity, say you found a new crossbow for your Demon Hunter and it was a Legendary. You'd probably get all excited right? Let's go a step further and say that the crossbow can only be wielded by a Demon Hunter but it had no dexterity on it, which is the Demon Hunter's primary attribute. Even if the crossbow boosted specific skills for the class, having things like intelligence and strength on the item do almost nothing for it. The weapon is for absolutely no one and while there will certainly be trash loot, as there always is, these random stats happening on Legendary items is downright stupid. A friend of mine freaked out when he opened a small chest early on in the game and found his first Legendary in D3's take on the awesome Frostburn Gauntlets of D2. Unfortunately his excitement was dashed when he noticed it literally had every primary stat in the game on it, making it worthless to sell and useless to him. How disappointing.

It's pretty sad when a yellow (rare) is just that much better than a Legendary of the same item level. What's even worse is that picking up all the trash loot and breaking it down in D3's new crafting system is pointless. Having consistently upgraded the blacksmith and broken down practically everything on my way to Hell, a friend of mine asked me why I was bothering. I told him I was building it up to get see about getting some useful gear. Come to find out, D3 doesn't work like that. As a matter of fact, the only equipment in the game that's worth crafting is found off of schematics that drop off of monsters - akin to WoW's system and that's not a good thing.

The last thing I want to do is spend my time creating the same piece of armor over and over in hopes that it'll generate intelligence, vitality and some other useful stats for my Wizard. Why couldn't Blizzard at least make the crafting useful at the earlier stages in the game instead of following the standard MMO approach of making a horde of iron daggers until it doesn't help you anymore? You're better off selling everything to the merchant for gold so you can just use the auction house to buy something worthwhile. Simply put, D3's crafting system is terrible.

Something else that's drastically changed is the leveling and skill system. Usually when you leveled in D2, you'd be given a set amount of points you could distribute between your primary attributes. After reaching a certain threshold, these different attributes allowed you to wield specific armors or weapons. This restriction is gone in D3 as the game allows you to wield any and all types of armors and weapons so long as it isn't class specific. It's a nice touch, but by automatically increasing your innate stats, personal character customization is gone since the only thing players need to worry about is their one primary statistic.

For instance, the Wizard's primary stat is intelligence. Strength and Dexterity are something you completely ignore and I'd go so far as to say that vitality isn't even that important for that class either. On Inferno, D3's new ultra-difficulty level beyond Hell, you pretty much get one-shot no matter what. Doing what I usually do and try to build against the typical style, I tried to build a tanky Wizard that had loads of life and more close-ranged focus, but at that stage in the game it just doesn't matter. So ostensibly you can build your guy in a specific way, but in the end, all Wizards are going to end up playing in a similar fashion. Mass damage, glass-cannon style.

I liked having that option to wield the Skullder's Ire in D2, which was one of the best Magic Find items in the game. By building up to it, my Sorceress was different than others and that's something you won't really see in D3. More specifically, the skill tree in D2 set classes far and away from one another. Two Necromancers could be completely different by going down the Summoning tree while the other one focused on specialized Curses. Some would argue that you can do this in D3 as well, and early on that's definitely true. In order to have success later on in the game though, you're going to have to forgo the majority of your abilities to find the 'cookie cutter' ones that effectively keep you out of trouble while dishing out the most damage.

I'm not against D3's skill system, which is an evolution off of D2's traditional skill tree. What was hard about D2's version was that every little thing was permanent, mistake or not. Late into the game's life, they integrated a skill reset, but D3 doesn't require one. At any time you can switch your abilities and even augment them with a set of runes that make the moves even more unique. A standard meteor can become several waves of tiny meteorites, a ball of frost or even infused with arcane power. As you level up, more and more skills and runes will become available to you adding to your already diverse set of moves. Great as this sounds, it becomes a huge disappointment later on the in the game when you discover that the majority of runes for your abilities are laughable. Just like your abilities, there's really only a few runes that are acceptable, making the rest completely ignorable.

As far as the story goes, I really don't know what happened to the storytelling over at Blizzard. The original Diablo games and even StarCraft wove tales of intrigue with complicated characters that are full of life and mystery. When StarCraft II came out, I was completely underwhelmed by its predictable narrative and safe direction. D3 follows in the same light by resurrecting characters we haven't seen since the original game and treads across an embarrassingly predictable path. Even more insulting is that Deckard Cain, an iconic character to the series, dies in the opening act and doesn't even get his own cinematic death scene. Instead, his death takes place within an in-game cut-scene devoid of any emotion whatsoever. Awesome.

There's a lot of little things that make D3 feel unfamiliar and I still attribute that feeling directly to being too close to an MMO - specifically WoW. Jay Wilson, D3's director, came from working on WoW, making it further evident that the changes I've discussed have that MMO influence. You've always been that super overpowered character in the Diablo universe, cutting down all obstructing your path, and again, D3 feels like you're moving in slow motion - like an MMO. Loot is less rewarding, enemies take longer to kill, everything is given to you in a drip and that's because Blizzard wants you to commit more time to D3. D2 never felt superficially enhanced like this and that truly makes me sad.

I think the worst part about it is that Blizzard's style of 'enhancing' a game is exactly like patching an MMO. Constant changes to classes, buffs, nerfs, people saying this class is too powerful, now this one's too good, it's annoying. D2 definitely received its share of augmentations but it never felt like this. I get that technology evolves and with it the way developers patch their games, but if you need to see how not to do it go ahead and check out D3's latest patch notes. I can sum it all up in a single sentence:

"Weapon racks will no longer drop weapons 100% of the time."

I don't think I need to proclaim how stupid that statement sounds but it just gets worse with a few other changes:

"Destructible objects no longer have a chance to drop items, and will only have a small chance to drop gold when destroyed."

Apparently Blizzard is so worried about people finding good items that they needed to remove the timeless RPG affair of smashing an inordinate about of pots. Terrible as all this sounds, the number one change people are complaining about is the reduction of all attack speed items by 50%. Think of all your damage and the attacks you dish out, now cut all of that in half. Once again, Blizzard has slowed the game down further making D3 even more of a noticeable grind than before. If you need proof to see how upset the community is about this, look no further than the official Diablo forums. it's a mess over there but I can't blame the crowd.

For all of its faults, and there's a lot more of them, D3 has done a lot right. It's still an enjoyable experience but I remind you that we waited 12 years for this. A 12 year development cycle is insane as most triple-A titles out there don't see more than three. D3 feels like a game that's been rewashed again and again until the color has most assuredly faded from its once bright and illustrious form. Torchlight II, would you hurry up and release already?

E3 2012: Pid interview

2012-06-17T06:11:00.001+01:00

E3 is all about big games, flashy booths and news that gets everybody jumping around the showroom floor. However, some games showing incredible promise are often overlooked and overshadowed by these multi-million dollar titles.

Quirky, colorful, enigmatic but above all else a platformer, Might and Delight's Pid is one of those games you instantly know you'll love as soon as you glance at the screen. Fortunately, I was exposed to its genius and I'm here to tell the tale.

Pid interview

The narrative of Pid is one surrounded in mystery. What we do know is that the protagonist, Kurt, a young boy on his way home via a space bus, is accidentally beamed down to an unknown world. Stranded on this planet, Kurt must deal with the game's bizarre environments and creatures to find his way back to the bus, which will take him home.

Where'd he get that gem anyway?

Drawing inspiration directly from Mega Man, Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario Bros., Pid is a true platformer at heart and promises to challenge those who relish in old-school game design. One of the core mechanics behind Pid is the distribution of light beams. By throwing a gem down you can place a beam that will interact with the environment. For instance, by throwing a gem on the side of a wall, the beam of light will carry you over the treacherous pit of doom. A simple mechanic, but Might and Delight promises that the puzzles and scenarios you'll run into will get more complex as the game progresses.

Ostensibly, Pid sports a unique art style that some might call childish, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The game's aesthetics mix with the atmosphere and with that, help set the mood of the game. Of course, the mood is always better with a friend and if things are getting too hairy for you, Pid does feature a co-operative mode where Kurt calls in his friend Audrey for assistance.

Manipulating blocks is key. Well, key to not dying.

What I treasure most about Pid is its roots. While I strongly consider Mega Man and the Donkey Kong Country games (at least one and two) some of my most treasured titles, it's amazing to see a new game build upon their foundation. Pid is a platformer that promises complexity and that adaptive nature you had to have to get anywhere in old school games. It won't be an overwhelming difficulty, but small touches like one-hit kills and holding down jump to go a little bit higher make me smile.

A release date hasn't been set in stone yet, but expect to see Pid before the end of the Summer on Xbox Live, PSN and PC. I can't stress enough that this is a title for absolutely everybody and if you're a retro gamer who immediately lights up when you hear the word 'platformer,' then this game is especially for you.

E3 2012: Neverwinter interview

2012-06-17T05:00:00.003+01:00

The Forgotten Realms have always been a location writhing with great stories to tell and horrid monsters to slay.

We've enjoyed a multitude of games taking place in this world, but we have yet to enter that defining massively multiplayer game taking place in that environment. Neverwinter, Perfect World and Cryptic Studios' take on the famed Jewel of the North could very well be that title.

Neverwinter interview

MMORPGs are something I've been conflicted about for some time now. The last MMO I sunk an untold amount of time into was, of course, World of Warcraft but that's a relationship that's been done for over three years now. Since my detachment, games like The Old Republic seemed to be the way of re-entering the fold, but the more I played the more I realized it was the same thing but with a new coat of paint. After basically giving up my search, Neverwinter came along and literally shocked me.

Neverwinter E3 cinematic trailer

Taking place 100 years after something called the Spellplague devastated the land, a massive call is put forth asking all able-bodied men and women to help rebuild the great city of Neverwinter. It's a typical premise for an MMO nowadays but this is Dungeons & Dragons we're talking about, so all is definitely not what it seems.

We took a look at Neverwinter back at PAX East and, as we expected, a whole lot has changed. For those that aren't aware, Neverwinter is a free-to-play action-based MMO which means you're going to be actually using your skills to fight your way to victory - not tab-targeting and auto-attacking all day. Akin to what some may have seen in TERA, Neverwinter's combat system is a testament to the gameplay and what Cryptic wants for its players; complete control. If you're expecting to hit a monster with your moves, you better be aiming that spell at them. If an enemy is getting ready to unleash a cataclysmic strike, you best be paying attention and roll out of the way. Clearly, Neverwinter is a game that wants every situation to matter, which is all the more reason why having 100% control means so much.

Ahem, this guy is actually a merchant. Nice guy. Really.

Getting some hands-on time with the game, I can definitely say that Neverwinter is just as responsive as any third-person action game, and it needs to be. With all of the traps and strikes your enemies will be throwing at you, paying attention will be the key to victory. One element I found most refreshing was that Neverwinter doesn't support regenerating health. You heard me right. That means if you're not paying attention, you could find yourself out of health potions, your healer's reserves emptied and your luck completely dried out. Each character has various escape possibilities, but when you can't run, Cryptic's excellent combat system comes to aid you.

Playing as the Control Mage, I found myself in a couple of situations where my group wasn't retaining control of the situation to my liking. Since control is in my name, I was able to pick out individual targets that were causing the issues and disable them enough for my team to get their senses together. If you're a sensible player, every class will have something similar and if that fails, you can always use the environment to your advantage. Playing much like an action-game, I noticed some enemies were dangerously close to a ridge. Generating an ice storm that knocks enemies back, I was able to quell the threat by literally pushing my foes into the chasm. Yeah, it was pretty awesome.

If you fail to evade here you can tell all your friends what lightning tastes like.

Great as the combat is, you can expect to see a huge focus on the typical MMO mechanics that make a game, well... an MMO. Instances will be very group dependent, but will also drop the best loot, trading systems, skills trees, it's all present in Neverwinter, but the game does bring something particularly exciting to the table.

User generated content is a focus of Neverwinter. While I don't know exactly how it works, players will be able to create their own dungeons to share with their friends and more importantly, the world. I can't wait to see how this mechanic is going to work within the game and hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer. Neverwinter is slated to go into beta sometime soon and should come out before the end of 2012. Hopefully that timetable is spot on because with this kind of quality behind a free-to-play game , I can't wait to see if it holds up in the final release.

E3 2012: Double Dragon: Neon interview and gameplay

2012-06-17T02:51:00.001+01:00

Double Dragon has always been one of my most treasured vintage franchises. While never finding a successful way to extend its legendary reach this generation, Majesco and Way Forward might have finally discovered it.

Combining everything Double Dragon with contemporary visuals, auditory style and bucket loads of exaggeration, Double Dragon: Neon is basically The Expendables of video games. With that said, if there's one arcade game you should be excited for, it's undoubtedly this one.

Double Dragon: Neon interview

We covered a bit of Neon back at PAX East in April and a lot has changed since then. In our hands-on demo, the always classy Pete Rosky showed us some of the new mechanics. But before we get too deep into that, I feel it's necessary to state that Neon is a full re-imagining of Double Dragon. It's a proverbial love letter to Double Dragon and the 80's so expect to see everything you loved about the old school games, but also expect to see them refined and fully exaggerated. Perhaps that might put some people off since it isn't a 'pure' remake of the game, but I implore you to stay with me here.

There's always time for a high-five.

The original levels and moves are exactly how you remember them, but with more flair and less flak. For example, controls have been smoothed out and modernized. Instead of pressing two buttons to jump and hoping it works, you can tap one button like a normal game. The first level still begins with Marian getting brutally gut-punched and ends with you blasting off into... space. So that space part wasn't there before, but the humour injected is priceless. Once again, expect everything from the original game but better. Billy and Jimmy Lee go into space, man. Seriously, just take my money.

Gameplay lost in time.

Back to the mechanics. So Neon follows an upgrade system focused on what's called the mixtape. Like the times of old, each tape has two sides; A and B. The 'A' side is your physical abilities like grenades, fireballs and that classic elbow everyone loves. Side 'B' is all about passive moves that can increase your health, speed or even abilities on the 'A' side. As you progress through the game, you'll find new tapes and cash you can use to augment your dudes at the Tapesmith. Yes, the Tapesmith. Actually, tapes play such a major role in the game that if you're playing with a friend and he goes down, you can revive him by reeling back the mixtape. Maybe some of you young 'ins don't get it, but someone like me who actually remembers those things should find it rather hilarious.

Double Dragon: Neon gameplay

All joking aside, the combat is incredibly solid in Neon. It's still the same 2D sidescrolling beat 'em up you loved and the system still remains fun. Of course, the best bet is to play the game with a buddy and there will be multiplayer over the internet as well as local. Going with the exaggerated theme though, expect to find crazy weapons like a cattle prod, a ninja sai and even a hair comb. You can even give your buddy a high-five to split your health if someone is running low, or to slam the enemies around you to the ground who witness the pure masculinity of the moment. Clearly Way Forward is having a blast making this game and Pete Rosky had this to say about it:

"Imagine you got the opportunity to take your favorite parts of the Double Dragon franchise and make your own game. That's exactly what Way Forward did here."

Any self-proclaiming Double Dragon fan needs Neon and while it's definitely different, the experience in the package is solid to recommend it to practically anybody. Unfortunately there still isn't a release date on the game, but we do know it'll be out before the Summer ends. Expect it to be around the $10-15 mark or 800 to 1200 Microsoft Astral Pennies.

E3 2012: Dishonored interview

2012-06-16T06:52:00.000+01:00

Sometimes, just before you witness something grand, you get that indescribable feeling that what you're about to experience is going to be incredible.

That's what I felt when we were ushered into the Bethesda theater to watch the showcase on Dishonored, Arkane Studios' supernatural stealth-action adventure title. Easily stealing our game of the show award, Dishonored not only draws some of its strength from the magical titles of old, but it manages to be seminal in world plagued by derivative and hackneyed titles.

Dishonored interview

You are Corvo Atano, a legendary supernatural assassin who is blamed for the murder of the empress of Dunwall. Your job is to find out who framed you, why they did it and then enact revenge upon them. A simple premise, for sure, but what makes Dishonored different than any other game out there is... well, basically everything.

The city of Dunwall can best be described as a steampunk city in the midst of a semi industrial revolution. The entire game will take place within the walls of the city so expect it to be enormous and writhing with life for you to pass judgment on. Each mission will drop you into a certain part of the city where you make the path to the objective. Sometimes side-quests appear that may or may not help you reach your goal, but there are always multiple pathways to reach the mission end. Whether you lay a path of destruction or take a more mild approach to your enemies is another choice and each way opens up new scenarios you'll encounter. How's that for being different?

He was a Dallas Cowboys fan. What?

Still not satisfied? Much as it alludes to, Dishonored is not an open-world game. As a matter of fact, each mission is hand-crafted and tailored to the situation. While that might put some people off, I remind you that old-school games like Thief worked much in the same way. Ostensibly the game may seem linear, but within each mission structure are a multitude of options and, as I previously stated, multiple pathways to get to the main objective. You can complete entire missions without killing anyone. Better? You're a supernatural assassin. There, how's that sound?

It doesn't matter how badass the protagonist or setting sounds if the combat is shabby and thankfully Dishonored delivers. Being supernatural and such, Corvo will have a ton of options of how to deal with each situation and yes, there will be upgrades to sate that RPG fanatic within. For instance, let's say a patrol man makes his way over to a secluded area but killing him there still might get you seen eventually. Well, use Corvo's blink to teleport right behind the target, stab him in the neck, pick the body up, blink back onto the roof. Done, and all within a good five seconds.

It might not look like much, but what you aren't seeing is something magical or in this case... supernatural. Sorry.

Combat is just as satisfying as it sounds. Players who relish timing-based mechanics can make Corvo parry and counterattack with ease. At one point in the showcase, Corvo wielded both a one-handed crossbow and a sword to fend off an assault of guardsmen. We also saw Corvo control the wind to throw back a missile at one of the enemies called a Tall Boy. He even called a swarm of rats to rip a man into tiny bits. Excessive, but oh so necessary.

You never see games explore areas like this and, being a stealth game fanatic, this is something I've been waiting to see for some time now. Lethal or non-lethal methods of play, your actions changing the missions dynamically, supernatural moves, a steampunk environment, a seemingly solid story, it's all gold for someone like me. If the game plays as fluid as it did on the showroom floor and delivers on what we've seen so far, it'll be hard not to consider it a game of the year contender. Get ready, because Dishonored drops October 9th on PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

E3 2012: Brick-Force interview

2012-06-15T20:58:00.000+01:00

With the ability to be creative while bringing your friends along for the ride, Minecraft has been nothing short of a sensation. However, being a 'make your own fun' kind of title, I personally never got too deep into the mix.

So what if you can build a cavern in the side of a volcano with a cart-rail to take you in an out whenever you please? Cool as it may seem, there isn't a point to the creativity and that's why Infernum's Brick-Force interests me more than Minecraft ever could.

Brick-Force interview

Obviously inspired by Minecraft, Brick-Force hopes to take creativity and user generated content to the next level. Instead of throwing people into a virtual sandbox and letting them run wild doing whatever, Brick-Force contains goals and objectives in an open-world environment with first-person shooter mechanics. Sound confusing? Let me share the addictive grasp Infernum's title has hold of me.

Don't you build that block. I'm warning you.

Brick-Force is everything Minecraft is and more. The sandbox mode where you run around and build whatever, wherever still exists but the main point is to build something you and others can play/fight on. For instance, there are modes like Defense which require you to defend against waves of monsters. The game makes you create the level, the monster spawns, the points where they need to get to, everything; it's all under your control. You can also obtain different weapons, upgrades and your character can be fully customised. Pretty awesome sounding right? Did I mention I was crowned the E3 champion of Defense mode? Yeah, that totally happened.

My favourite mode I played was something called Build & Destroy, which pits two teams of eight on a completely blank plane divided by an impenetrable barrier. Once the match begins, both teams have two minutes and forty seconds to build whatever they can before the barrier is lifted and the fighting breaks out. We were building traps, sniper towers and labyrinths to try confuse the opposition. Matthew Rider of Infernum was actually taking blocks out of the foundation so people who weren't watching closely would fall to their death. It was a ton of fun and is something you definitely won't ever see in Minecraft.

Damn, I gave them too much cover.

By creating content, the active community of Brick-Force is able to rate the content and you can reap the rewards. While I didn't have a firm grasp on how exactly everything is earned, you can grab new items to decorate your characters, weapons, etc. With these kinds of options, it's what I always wanted Minecraft to be.

Currently in beta, Brick-Force is slated to go into open beta in the coming weeks and, perhaps, fully release within months. It's a charming game that anybody can get into and I highly recommend giving it a shot before you automatically assume Minecraft's superiority.

E3 2012: Aliens: Colonial Marines interview

2012-06-15T19:44:00.003+01:00

Surprised as I was by many games at E3 this year, none surprised me more than the once thought canceled Aliens: Colonial Marines becoming a canonical sequel to the films.

Having grown up on those movies and still possessing the old-school figurines, this news excites me beyond description. It also helps that the game is a blast to play, but we'll all have to wait until February of next year to get our hands nice and dirty with it.

Aliens: Colonial Marines interview

As far as becoming integrated with the overarching story, I believe Colonial Marines will be the first video game ever to become part of something as renowned as Aliens. Speaking to senior producer on the project, Brian Burleson about Colonial Marines becoming canon, he had this to say:

"It's amazing to think that the sequel to the films is a videogame and to be able to work with 20th century fox to make this canonical, you have to do a lot of groundwork, you have to meet the right people, you have to make sure you cross your T's and dot your I's 'cause so many people care about this and are passionate about this franchise that go back 26 years."

Colonial Marines will take place after the events of Alien 3. Expect to see everything in place, from familiar characters, weapons, machines and the xenos themselves. Gearbox wants to create a rich, accurate experience that Alien junkies will devour. After all, it's not every day that a project is green-lit like this.

You're probably going to be in this situation a lot.

The game itself will feature a four-player co-operative campaign where your friends can drop-in or drop-out at any point. For those who can't trust an online companion to help get you through the xenomorphic threat, split-screen will also be implemented. While Gearbox was mum on details about other modes, multiplayer will be a large factor of the game. Unfortunately team deathmatch was the only mode that was being shown off, but it was still rather fun.

Taking much inspiration from games like Left 4 Dead, team deathmatch revolves around two teams of five racing to a specific kill score. Regardless of your choice to side with the malicious xenos or the trigger-happy marines, each side will be customisable with various loadouts or classes. For example, the xenos will be able to choose between various breeds and can eventually evolve into something called a Crusher. Like the Tank in Left 4 Dead, the Crusher is a massive beast that can take a ton of punishment and excels at causing utter chaos. Since marines typically want to stay together to survive, the Crusher can charge in to divide the team, leaving the rest open to assault the helpless marines.

I wasn't lying. This thing is big.

The marine side of things allows you to choose an assortment of weapons and perks, while also generating powerful weapons that can be picked up throughout the level. For instance, the iconic Smart Gun is one of these pick-ups and makes short work of any kind of xeno crossing your path. Ammunition is limited though, so you'll need your team to back you or risk using up the powerful weapon just as fast as you picked it up.

Surely more modes will be revealed as time progresses, but from what we played Colonial Marines proved to be a fun multiplayer experience. If being canon for the series isn't reason enough to give this one a shot, then maybe the mixture of co-op and multiplayer will entice you further. Whatever the case, February 2013 can't come soon enough.

E3 2012: Assassin's Creed III interview

2012-06-15T08:11:00.002+01:00

Being one of the most prestigious franchises in contemporary gaming, you probably don't need me to tell you to get excited for Assassin's Creed III.

While Ubisoft has been cranking these puppies out, ACIII will prove to be their greatest undertaking yet by exploring unfamiliar areas, even to the developers. New open world environments, a brand new combat system, naval battles, improved stealth elements, a half British half Native American protagonist, it's clear Ubisoft isn't trying to make this game good - they're making it unforgettable.

Assassin's Creed III interview

ACIII will explore the often untouched American Revolution time period. Made distinct by the unexplored lands, expansive environments and deep woods of that time, it's an area unfamiliar to Assassin's Creed in general. Playing as Connor, the new protagonist, you'll find yourself running through these wild environments scaling trees and jagged cliffs while combating the fierce weather and feral animals. Don't worry, great as the new scenery will be, dense cityscapes will still make an appearance with Ubisoft's trademark accuracy. Boston and New York will be the focus in ACIII based on a one to three replication ratio. Expect to see timeless buildings like the Old Boston State House as well as the historical Long Wharf. We were also told to be ready to experience events such as the Great Fire of 1776, which we're sure no good will come of.

Revolutionary War venison tastes so good, the Animus shuts down because its jealous it can't have any.

It's important to note that these outdoor environments will feel as you'd expect them to; huge. According to Ubisoft Associate Producer Julien Laferrière, the forested areas are 2,000 x 2,000 which is roughly 1.5 times bigger than Rome in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Being that massive, you can climb every single tree and rock, setup ambushes from the safety of the wood and explore brand new gameplay options that have never existed before in the Assassin's Creed universe.

One of my favourite new mechanics I saw in the showcase was the new weapon called the rope dart. Hailing from a Chinese descent, the rope dart acts as a multipurpose weapon used to take out one opponent. During the demo, Connor was positioned in the trees and used the rope dart to hook a soldier by the throat. Immediately jumping down, the rope slung the helpless soldier into the trees, dangling for his comrades to discover moments later. Whether you use this to take out a target quickly or for more of a distraction is up to you.

Is the apple I took really worth THAT much to you?

The combat has been completely reworked and rewritten for ACIII. Connor is especially handy with an axe and dual-wields, which required a system with more finesse and skill. I can tell you the system is extremely responsive and satisfying, especially when groups of enemies come into the fight. What's neat about this rework is that is also effects the AI. No longer will your enemies be relatively dumb in the fight nor will they allow you to exploit them into doing stupid things. Wait, an Assassin's Creed game where the AI is actually going to present a legitimate challenge? You better believe it.

The most talked about feature of the game would have to be the naval combat and with good reason. Once again, Ubisoft is trying to stroll out of their comfort zone and make something that's worth playing. While we don't know how much of the game will require naval warfare, you'll definitely be able to control your own ship from a third-person perspective. You can leave the helm at any time, interact with your crew, customise your belongings, etc. You can even tweak your cannons by feeding them specialised ammunition, you know, for all that deep sea pirating you're going to do.

Have you seen a hooded man that looks kinda shady? No? Move along.

ACIII looks mighty impressive and even if you're sick of the typical Assassin's Creed formula, there's enough different stuff here to warrant giving it a go. Whether playing the game purely for multiplayer, the new environments and naval battles or for the sake of the narrative, ACIII has something for absolutely everyone. October 30th can't come soon enough.

E3 2012: Splinter Cell: Blacklist interview

2012-06-14T20:03:00.004+01:00

Being a guy who's been in and out of the Splinter Cell series, I found Splinter Cell: Blacklist to be one of the biggest surprises of E3.

Not only does it appear to be bringing back the original style of the first few games, but it's making use of all the major mechanics that have made each title great. Ubisoft Toronto is literally fusing all of these elements into a sort of, ultimate Splinter Cell monstrosity and you need to see it to believe it.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist interview

For a first title, Ubisoft Toronto sure has its hands full. Splinter Cell isn't exactly a under the radar franchise and fans will be expecting nothing but the best coming from Blacklist. I don't think there'll be anything to worry about though, because Blacklist was easily the biggest surprise for me at E3. Not only did its visuals look masterfully done, but the gameplay left me in a state of perpetual shock.

To give the game a premise, two-thirds of the world's countries are occupied by American troops. As you might think, some of these countries have simply had enough. Threatening the USA by bringing the war to their doorstep, these rogue countries have banded together to form the blacklist. Unless the military pulls out in a certain amount of time, the USA could experience high-grade forms of terrorist attacks and it's up to Sam Fisher to stop it.

Guys, there's some trouble somewhere in the world.

Now part of the 4th Echelon, Fisher is the boss and it's represented in the gameplay. With the ability to call in support via artillery strikes, Fisher isn't taking no for an answer from anyone. Grizzled and angry as he may be, Ubisoft Toronto clearly wanted to represent everything Fisher has gone through up until this point. Never hesitating for even a moment, the up close and personal moments where Fisher breaks limbs, smashes heads and gut-punches feel like they hurt. This is how Fisher was built up and it feels incredibly accurate, just... how old does this guy need to be before he slows down?

One of the new features Blacklist touts is an improvement on the mark and execute system from Conviction. Instead of building up a meter of sorts, marking and then letting the bullets fly, Fisher can do all of this while on the move. They're calling it 'killing in motion' and it's absolutely breathtaking to behold. In one fluid movement, Fisher can shoot a target, snap another's neck, jump over a cart, shoot two more dudes at the same time and then finish the last guy off with a stab to the chest; all in ONE MOTION. Capitalization is required for being too awesome.

Where'd everybody go?

I mentioned earlier that Ubisoft Toronto is taking the best elements from all the games. Expect to get your hands dirty with intimate interrogations ala Conviction, make use of nifty gadgets from the first games that'll make you smile, spies versus mercs from Pandora Tomorrow, co-op and a stealth element that isn't being talked about. According to Ubisoft Toronto, they're bringing stealth back in a big way and I'm excited to see just what they mean.

Of course, there's a ton more hardcore fans of the series will automatically notice when playing and that's something else to anticipate. It's great to see Splinter Cell being 'revived' by taking everything that's made the franchise so renowned, augmenting it and packaging it all nice and neat in one retail box. Expect Blacklist to make its way into your system in the Spring of 2013.

E3 2012: IndieCade interview with Stephanie Barish

2012-06-14T04:17:00.001+01:00

Indie games are an important part of the industry, whether you like or not. Titles like Braid, Limbo and Fez all started as an obscure indie title and blew up from there, due to some help brought forth by IndieCade.

Having literally started off in a living-room and now being a veteran of E3 for six years, IndieCade's involvement in the gaming industry cannot be undervalued, but don't let me tell you that - CEO Stephanie Barish will probably make more sense.

Stephanie Barish interview

While we didn't get to see every indie game on the floor, our friends over at Arcen Games participated in the event, showcasing A Valley Without Wind. Other titles like Analogue: A Hate Story and the incredibly fun Binding of Isaac were also present, making it hard to leave to see other games when you just want to go a little further...

Indie games are a passion of mine (you should see the amount I have on Steam) and witnessing a gathering like this of all kinds of indie titles warms my soul. If it strikes you just the same then make sure you're in Culver City, CA October 4 - 7 to catch everything indie!

E3 2012: Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition interview

2012-06-14T02:19:00.001+01:00

To date, Dark Souls remains one of my most treasured titles of all-time. Sure, it has its hiccups and technical deficiencies but hardly any game captures the intensity and atmosphere FromSoftware has injected into it.

For the first time, PC gamers will get to experience the thrills of the game in the new Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition and we were on the floor to talk about it firsthand.

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition interview

While Dark Souls wasn't playable on the showroom floor, Andrew Davis, associate producer for Namco Bandai was able to answer plenty of our questions while also addressing certain concerns. It's no secret that Dark Souls had a rough launch with the multiplayer literally being broken for a lengthy period of time. There's been some concern over whether the PC will experience similar guffaws and Mr. Davis had this to say about it:

"We learned a lot from the Dark Souls launch... and we are trying to make it a much more smooth launch for the PC version."

The quote might not disclose proper numbers or specific details on the accident, but it does show that they've taken the time to make sure that it doesn't happen to PC users and, most importantly, that they care.

No... sudden... movements...

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition will contain around four to five brand new boss battles along with two or three completely new zones to die in... explore, I mean. There will be all kinds of new weapons and armor sets as well as optional bosses with bonus unlockables you might not even see your first time through.

For instance, the Darkroot Garden was a zone in the original Dark Souls but there's going to be a new area where it goes into the past. All manner of new traps and monsters will be present, of course and if you can get your way through it the Royal Woods await. We didn't get to see too many of the new bosses but they were showing off the Sanctuary Guardian ripping people to shreds at the booth. It was a bit unsettling, but exciting nonetheless.

It's actually one of the easier bosses. Am I right? Nope.

For some, Dark Souls presented an amazing player-versus-player experience and that's been taking into account for the improved game. There will now be instant multiplayer access along with several modes that can allow for 1v1, 2v2 or even 3v1 battles. Seeing as how certain people take PvP as seriously as they do, adding all this content makes it that much easier to sing Dark Souls' praise. Just don't expect me to show you any mercy online because, well, alright fine... you probably will kill me.

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition releases August 24th on the PC, followed by a $14.99 update for the PS3 and Xbox 360 at an unannounced date. Make sure you don't disappoint yourself and give this one a shot, if you haven't already. I promise, you'll be miserable.

E3 2012: A Valley Without Wind interview

2012-06-14T01:14:00.001+01:00

We've had the pleasure of covering A Valley Without Wind under various conditions and if you haven't had the chance to check it out, or maybe know nothing of it, then perhaps now is the time to take a look.

With an enormous update en route and talks of its first paid expansion surfacing, there's a lot to be excited for regardless of your player status.

A Valley Without Wind interview

Arcen Games has always taken community feedback seriously and AVWW certainly doesn't forgo this trend. The game has already seen restructuring based on the feedback Arcen has received and there are no signs of it slowing down. Barely two months old, it's rather impressive to see this much change in any kind of title. Just take a quick glance at the Wiki. I dare you.

1.1 is AVWW's first free major update which will include a ridiculous amount of new content. We're talking 160 new interior room maps, 50+ new monsters, 8 new mini-bosses and one new secret mini-boss that everyone's completely silent on. Perhaps it'll resemble the creative monster of Asheron's Call entitled, the lag beast. Remember that thing? Regardless, this amount of content in this update is quite extensive and has me wondering how much an actual expansion would put in.

If there's one thing I can say that defines AVWW it's the design behind it. Erik Johnson said this in regards to continually supporting a game well after it releases:

"We think that it should be completely possible to continue making the game until its potential has really fully been tapped."

That's a bold statement as most games that release are only supported through DLC that requires some form of payment. AVWW has gone through well over 40+ updates that all have added something akin to new monsters, spells, missions, etc and every single one has been free. It just goes to show how passionate some developers are about their games and how invaluable input from their fans are.

He ain't afraid of no ghosts... just Ice Pirates.

While it hasn't officially been announced, AVWW eventually will explore paid expansion content which Erik Johnson speaks about in our interview. Following that perpetual design cycle, it only makes sense for something like a paid expansion to come out. After all, it helps studios like Arcen to stay afloat and besides, I hear that developers need to eat too. Whether it releases in time for our six-month re-review is still in question, but you can bet I'm excited to see exactly how much has changed when that day hits.

If you want to make an impact on a game and its first expansion, you can pick up AVWW on Steam for $14.99 right now.

E3 2012: Spec Ops: The Line interview

2012-06-13T20:59:00.001+01:00

Military shooters are a tough business. Not because they're hard to make or incredibly rare to find - it's quite the opposite. The conflict at hand is that there are so many it's difficult to become seminal in a largely derivative format.

Spec Ops: The Line hopes to destroy that trend being a third-person military shooter with an emphasis on, wait for it... the narrative. Crazy as that might sound, Spec Ops is coming together beautifully and you'd do well to spend some time with it.

Spec Ops: The Line interview

As I stated, the military shooter pool out there has far too many participants doing the exact same thing. Normally I'd do the irrational thing and dismiss a title with a name like Spec Ops: The Line, but I'm happy I didn't make that decision. Spec Ops is a game with a dark story that has a central focus on a squad of characters who've been sent to the ruins of Dubai. Once a beautiful location, it's been ravaged by cataclysmic sandstorms and is now considered no man's land. Stationed in Dubai to assist with the evacuation before the sandstorms hit, an enigmatic figure known as John Conrad has vanished and it's your job to discover what actually happened.

It's important to note that Spec Ops knows the kind of situation its throwing itself into and lead designer, Cory Davis from Yager Development had this to say:

"Those games that are out there in our genre are great games, they do what they do extremely well but they're a lot different than what we are."

Different seems to be the key word to describe this game, but it's not so different as to scare away normal fans of the genre. Spec Ops plays like a conventional third-person shooter with cover, blind-fire and team banter making requisite appearances. The game feels very responsive as you'd expect, but once again, the big difference is the strong emphasis on the personalities of the protagonist, Martin Walker and his squad-mates. The closest game I can think of where you're more intimate with your squad-mates is Gears of War, but that's severely stretching it. You simply don't get that kind of emotion in this type of game, but Spec Ops promises it won't disappoint.

I could be wrong guys, but... that ship is supposed to be in the water, right?

Being a squad-based affair, you'd think co-operative play would be thrown into the mix. While co-op is definitely in, it's coming in a different way (there's that word again). Available for free to anybody that purchases the game, a separate co-operative campaign will be attainable shortly after launch. While it doesn't deal with the characters you'll be playing in the main narrative, the co-op acts as a pseudo prequel that definitely attaches itself to the story.

To further augment the emotion and intensity of the situations you're presented with, Spec Ops will also contain decisions that have a dramatic impact on the story. Speaking about why the co-op mode wasn't thrust into the main game, Cory Davis explains that these decisions would have probably made less of an impact if they went through with it:

"We don't want you tea-bagging your friend while you're making a decision as to whether or not an important character lives or dies."

It's an understandable move and one I can definitely respect. If you don't agree, just think about games such as Halo 3 and Gears of War 3. When you put two or more people together when a scene of significance arises, you just don't get that same emotion as you would if you were playing alone. Some games do this well, but it's something you definitely don't see work often.

You said blind-firing was for pansies, man!

Spec Ops will ship with a multiplayer component, but it will focus on squad-based gameplay and a more intimate experience with your companions. Expect a strong progression system along with a plethora of maps when it ships.

Yager has done a commendable job so far and I'm looking forward to experiencing a game with a strong story that isn't an RPG. Mass Effect 3 was the last action-RPG I played with an incredible narrative and I hope to add Spec Ops to that extremely short list. With co-op slated to come soon after and a multiplayer component to help hold down the game's value, there's little reason why anyone shouldn't bother checking it out. The game ships June 26th for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

If anything, you can at least marvel at the game's impressive sand physics because, you know, they're totally worth that retail price.

E3 2012: Worms Revolution

2012-06-13T19:21:00.003+01:00

Strange as the Worms games may seem, there's an amount of depth to them that orchestrates unparalleled humour, strategy and pure fun.

Team 17 has been hard at work with the brand new Worms Revolution and, if you're a Worms fan, you'll be happy to know that this new game will return to the roots of the franchise. Even if you have no idea how a Worms game plays, now is the time to dive in as Revolution's newly formed mechanics hopes to help multiply its fan-base.

Worms Revolution interview

According to Team 17's own Nick Clarkson, there hasn't been a Worms game showcased at E3 since 2003. That's a little upsetting for me, but it's obvious Team 17 wants to rekindle that excitement gamers have had for Worms by getting the general public excited about the next game in the series. Revolution will ditch the 3D route the series has taken in order to resurrect the timeless gameplay of the 2D kind. What's even better is that Revolution will feature an engine that was literally built from scratch just for this new game. If that doesn't show Team 17's dedication to making this the best Worms game yet, I don't know what is.

It's organised chaos.

For those that are unaware, Worms is a turn-based strategy game with a multitude of options in fighting your enemies. Of course, Revolution will give plenty of new abilities that will aid in the demolition of your opponents, one of which will be the environment itself. One of the big new environmental changes to the game lies within the water. Now a completely dynamic element of the gameplay, Revolution will allow you to permanently damage the environment so that the elements, like water, can do all the dirty work for you. For instance, if your enemies are on a slope, you can cast a water bomb at them. Upon detonation, the water will collect and fall down the ledge naturally. However, it'll take those worms with it, netting you some easy kills.

Just from glancing at the environments you can certainly appreciate Revolution's style. Worms has always been a colorful game with a whimsical, but semi-serious style; Revolution will be no different. Mr. Clarkson also explained to us that there are random items that are usually left around the environment, each with special properties that could be used against your enemies. Revolution will also be introducing character classes, each with special attributes and gameplay styles. The scout, for example, is fast moving and can jump higher but takes a lot more damage from attacks. The scientists can built things like the Sentry Gun and the heavy is a damage sponge, but moves very slowly. These classes add an interesting dynamic to the mix and allow players to choose how they want to play on an even more personal level.

Water is the bringer of life. Except in this case.

Revolution will contain single-player missions to get you used to how the game is played, but like all Worms games, it's meant to be played with your buddies. Supporting four-player co-operative mayhem, you can bet that's where all the chaos will come into play. Speaking of chaos, Revolution contains 47 weapons and more to come in the impending DLC. We're talking holy hand grenades, sheep that scale mountains and then detonate, water bombs and so much more. For a game that's releasing at $14.99 at the tail end of September, it certainly seems like it's not lacking content.

I'm excited to see Worms come back in a big way and Revolution is looking great. The exaggerated style is always a plus for me and seeing how Team 17 is building everything from the ground up impresses immensely. Come time for its September launch, you can most assuredly count me in.

E3 2012: Skylanders Giants

2012-06-12T07:56:00.004+01:00

Parents loathe them, companies love them and your child simply needs them. Welcome to Skylanders, Activision Blizzard's incredible marketing tool that has taken the gaming industry by the throat - in a loving way of course.

Being the sequel, Skylanders Giants is introducing brand new giant models to the fold along with an assortment of other goodies that will undoubtedly send the world into a state of frenzied shock this holiday season.

Skylanders Giants interview

The success of Skylanders cannot be denied and neither can the concept behind them. Having a fully interactive experience with a collection outside of the game is purely genius and this isn't going to slow down with Giants. Looking to introduce eight brand new giant models, one per each element, the things are massive and carry with them brand new abilities that contain very powerful attacks. I mean, when something is named Tree Rex, you wouldn't expect its abilities to be lackluster, would you?

He's a carnivorous plant demon monster. Actually he's just big.

Along with the new giant figures are eight new standard sized Skylander models, also one for each element, and what's known as series two Skylanders. The series two figures are select favourites from the first game that come equipped with additional poses and abilities the older ones never had the pleasure of bearing. There are also new LightCore Skylanders that light up as they get closer to the Portal of Power, which should have your child screaming in delighted terror. It's actually really cool.

Unlike my terrible habit of calling it an expansion in our interview, it's important to note that Giants is a full blown sequel, not an expansion. The visuals have certainly been pumped up, voice actors have been brought on to give each model a more personal touch, new collectibles are being introduced and the level cap is being increased to 15 instead of 10. This means all your older Skylanders cam attain that higher level, grab the new hats and, you know, siphon even more of your life into the game.

Whatever this thing is, you need to run. RUN!

While I haven't personally sunk a huge chunk of time into Skylanders, I can tell you that just witnessing the changes that Giants brings makes a definite difference. It's clear Giants wants to be the definitive version of the mega-popular series and with Tree Rex alone, I think it's a done deal.

Expect the new game to hit around the holiday mark of this year. C'mon, you aren't surprised are you?

E3 2012: Carrier Command: Gaea Mission interview

2012-06-12T06:19:00.000+01:00

Of all the new games and ideas I witnessed at E3 this year, Carrier Command: Gaea Mission struck me as the one most out of place. This isn't because it's a bad or underdeveloped idea, it's because it's one that's trying to rejuvenate something that's been dead a long, long time.

Being the advocate of old-school revivals as I am, witnessing the fully transformed Carrier Command brightened my soul. For such a seminal title to find its way back into the present day mix after all this time, that's surely something that warrants the attention of gamers everywhere.

Carrier Command: Gaea Mission interview

For those that don't know, the original Carrier Command released back in 1988 on the Amiga. It was critically acclaimed for its visuals and sense of scale and it looks like Bohemia Interactive isn't skimping out for this iteration. The game pits two advanced military carriers against each other whose sole intention is to utilise technology to capture a plethora of islands by any means necessary. That means building up resources, constructing units and taking over territory. Also, there is no mercy.

While it's more of a reimagining than a true sequel, think of Gaea Mission as a mixture of Supreme Commander and Battlefield. Not only can you control all your units from a top down, expansive strategic map, you can also assume direct control of a unit and make the fight a little more personal. It sounds complicated and it ostensibly is, but once you get the hang of it, Gaea Mission provides a rich and deep experience that could definitely take you by surprise.

Hey, red leader. RED LEADER! Damn, I forgot no one's driving that thing.

What's probably one of the coolest features in Gaea Mission is the ability to play the game however you want. If you're of a more strategy oriented background, you can bury yourself in the informative mission logs and maps while you send your units from point to point, capturing and destroying what you will them to. If you couldn't care less about maps, flanking and absolute strategy, you can easily possess any one of your units and rip right into the heart of combat, personally stomping your enemies into the soil. When both extremes fail to excite, you can always dabble in a little of both which is the real way to play. Well, for me anyway.

I mentioned constructing things and I know how intimidating an RTS is for some, but I implore you to take a step back. Gaea Mission implements a very thoughtful tutorial by way of, well... the Gaea Mission. Instead of slamming an immense block of concrete over the heads of new players, this mission is a story-driven campaign that slowly introduces the mechanics of the game to the player. Of course, if you don't want to be bothered by it, you can always skip it and get right down to the only business that matters; war.

Hey, kid! I'm a computer!

Gaea Mission contains a crisp and clean interface with a ton of little mechanics that make it stand out. For instance, when you're looking at your map there's a picture-in-picture image at the top-right that shows what your units are doing at that time. It's just one of those cool touches that make your decisions feel like they truly matter as you catch a quick glimpse of your tanks making short work of the enemy installation.

I guess my only issue is that Gaea Mission will not ship with a multiplayer component. In the age of cooperative titles and being able to control so many aspects of the game, I feel Bohemia Interactive is missing a critical selling point here, but it could always find its way into the game later. Even still, a strategy infused game like this is a nice deterrent from the games we're always used to seeing. Expect Gaea Mission to drop in the Fall for the Xbox 360 and PC and if you're as excited about it as I am, you can always pre-order the game and get in on the current beta access.

E3 2012: Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed

2012-06-11T19:13:00.000+01:00

When was the last time anybody got excited about a cart racing game? For me that was Mario Kart 64 which, in my opinion, has yet to be surpassed.

While I haven't dabbled too deep in the original Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, after having played its successor I can tell you that my faith might possibly be restored. With what SEGA is doing, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed might very well be that mythical cart racer everyone's been looking forward to.

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed interview

At first glance, Transformed looks to be no different than all these other cart racers trying so hard to be the next great thing. However, after I sat down to play the game, something magical happened - I actually liked it. Transformed almost immediately reminded me of why I still consider Mario Kart 64 king of all cart racers and, while it's still too early to make that kind of assumption, it could surpass it when it releases this Christmas.

E3 2012 gameplay

Just like the previous game, expect a plethora of characters from all over the SEGA catalog, 27 to be exact. Sure, Sonic and his wide assortment of friends will be there but Gilius Thunderhead from Golden Axe, Vyse from Skies of Arcadia, Joe Musashi from Shinobi and even Danica Patrick will be playable. Yes, Danica Patrick is in the game and I'm glad the game's developer, Sumo Digital, is taking the exaggerated route by making her vehicle literally shoot fire from her tires. That's kind of awesome.

If you've never played a cart racer just know that it's an arcadey endeavor with tons of weapon pick-ups, boosts and colorful levels. Transformed does a great job with its environments and really captures that feeling of a world that's alive, even while you're blazing through to nab that first place trophy. What's unique about Transformed's tracks is that they're modeled after levels from some of SEGA's games. Expect to be knocking dudes around in a Golden Axe inspired stage as well as one from Panzer Dragoon. You might be wondering though, "How does a level from Panzer Dragoon work? Carts can't fly!" Oh, but you're so very wrong.

Think Sonic is also considered the fastest in the air?

One of the main features of Transformed is right there in the name - transforming. As you progress through the stages your cart will change, giving you a whole new perspective on the level you've been normally going through. It puts a whole new spin on the scenarios you encounter and can change the fortunes of a player almost immediately. For instance, I played as Vyse who has horrible turning if you can't drift correctly. But once I turned into a plane, that was all she wrote. I quickly fired back from third to first and maintained the lead to grab the victory.

I think gamers associate titles like this with kids and they aren't wrong. However, Transformed has skill based systems in place that definitely cater to adult players, allowing practically anyone or any skill level to pick up and play the title. For example, drifting and manually firing your weapons is an obvious skill choice, but if you time your moves correctly you can gain free boost by drifting and can even evade special attacks. Someone fired an RC car that tracks a target and I was its first choice. Since I was successful at drifting at the precise time, that RC car grabbed someone else and took them out, allowing me to easily pass them.

The tracks look fantastic and can kill you.

Flashy environments with hazards, special abilities, skill-based attributes, tons of characters to choose from, Transformed is looking rather great. I know it sounds insane to be saying this, but I really do believe that if the level of quality I played in that short amount of time carries over into the actual release of the product, SEGA will have done the impossible. They will have toppled the king of the cart racers in Mario Kart 64 and I surely want to be around when that happens.

E3 2012: RaiderZ interview

2012-06-11T17:39:00.002+01:00

We saw a little of RaiderZ back at PAX East and were taken aback by the quality behind the game and even more so by its business model: free-to-play.

It's clear Perfect World and MAIET Entertainment want to shake up the typical free-to-play garbage that permeates the bulk of the internet. With something so involving and accessibly different, RaiderZ looks to be something gamers simply have no reason to pass on.

RaiderZ interview

The land of the MMO is changing fast and games like RaiderZ are paving a way for the new age. Arguably you can say that TERA was the first commercial step in the transformation of the MMO with its combat system, but RaiderZ is upping that by implementing several key factors. As I said, being free-to-play usually isn't anything to boast about and typically regards a game that's lower quality or pay-to-win. RaiderZ isn't any of these things and that's surprising.

When I first got my hands on the game, I immediately felt at home with the format. It plays like any action game, but occasionally you press a number on the keypad and your dude does a move. Whether it's trash you're slaying or a giant monster, you always need to keep moving in RaiderZ. Failure to become that nimble adventurer usually results in a low health-pool, which is something I fully embrace. You see, unlike pretty much every MMO out there, RaiderZ doesn't have any form of regenerating health. That means being evasive is key and utilising your health potions is more important than ever.

Spoilers: You will not survive that fire.

Of course combat is the heavy focus here, but hunting monsters also shares the spotlight. Again, the comparison to TERA comes forth and like their BAMs (Big Ass Monsters), RaiderZ will throw cascades of them at you. Following your quest chains, all roads will eventually lead you to that huge monster terrorizing the local populace, but there's more to it than just that. Sure, you'll need to have your wits about you to take down certain guys, but as you're bringing a monster to its knees you'll occasionally knock bits of armor, limbs and all manner of debris off of them. What's so important about that? You can sometimes use these items to your advantage in battle.

Say some huge rhino demon is attacking you. Hit him enough and the horn attached to his skull could break off, which you could use against him for a limited time. This adds to the strategy of the fights and could make encounters more beneficial by rewarding the player who's doing well with some kind of boost. There might not be any regenerating health, but some bosses can drop parts of themselves that act as a makeshift potion. Whoever said combat can't reap its own rewards? Yeah, probably no one.

You can actually manually play the guitar as well as bash monsters over the head with it. No, I'm not kidding.

I should mention that the combat doesn't tie you down to one specific class either. RaiderZ explores the basic four class principle gamers are used to seeing (Cleric, Berserker, Sorcerer, Defender) with skill trees and armor slots, as usual. However, RaiderZ never makes you permanently choose a class because you can shift them at any time. It's kind of weird at first, but by changing your weapon you change your class and you can do it right in the middle of a massive fight. Certain skills can only be used by those wielding specific weapons, so you can literally customize your character in whatever way you'd like. Pretty exciting right?

RaiderZ is expected to get a closed beta sometime in Q3 of this year. If all goes well you can bet the game will hit open beta before the end of 2012. Do yourselves a favour and check it out because there's a lot to be excited for.

E3 2012: ARMA III interview

2012-06-10T06:35:00.000+01:00

Military shooters might not appeal to the vast majority of gamers out there, but I challenge them to try Bohemia Interactive's ARMA games.

While the first two games might be a little hard to get deep into, it's a lot easier when the community is just as passionate about the game as the developers. With addictive mods in place and a plethora to come, vast improvements to the lighting and weight to the gunplay, ARMA III looks to become the definitive military shooter.

ARMA III interview

ARMA III, like its predecessors, is a military sandbox, open-world shooter. That might sound intimidating, but don't be put off by its focus on realism. ARMA III contains plenty of missions and objective based mechanics that'll put you right into the swing of things, as long as you're willing to learn. Once you get the hang of it, ARMA provides a wealth of options that make other shooters look anemic and that's not an exaggeration.

Popular as ARMA II is, Bohemia Interactive knew about the bugs and other fixes that held the game back from truly bringing about a flawless experience. ARMA III is that extensive fix. Sharing the same engine that built the second game, ARMA III is composed of a multitude of fixes and tweaks to the engine that completely change the look and feel of the game. The lighting, for instance, is vastly improved, giving the environments a more real-world feel. Compound that with brand new sounds, even better weapon handling, the newly implemented PhysX engine, enhanced particle effects with brand new underwater combat, and you have quite a large package to deal with.

Yeah, piss me off. I dare you.

Some people might think reusing the same engine is a lame and/or lazy move, but I disagree. The more a developer deals with something, the better understanding they'll have of it. Having experienced some hands on time with the game, I can tell you that's entirely the case with ARMA III. This is the game Bohemia Interactive wanted to give to its fans and practically everything in the game shows its improved state.

If Bohemia Interactive wants to compete with triple-A shooters out there, ARMA III is that step that brings them ever closer to that admirable goal. I've personally never been into any kind of military sim, but ARMA III definitely looks like it deserves a chance. Check it out as it approaches a playable state later on in the year.