Previews
Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood
So what’s going to be included in Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood? A lot. This is another very large expansion to the game, where the players will be leaving the underground world of Moria and entering the dark forests on the other side. It is almost easier to simply “bullet point” the list of changes and additions the game will have because the game features so much content as it is, and ...
Divinity II
While Divinity II may be a sequel to Divine Divinity, players will not need to have played or be familiar with the previous title. The story is that the player is an initiate Dragon Slayer, where in the game you are given memories of past legends of the field (this is where the character skills and class come in) and sent out to do combat.
The only problem is – it turns out the dragons are ...
Brink
Splash Damage, which previously did such games as the Enemy Territory titles in the Quake and Wolfenstein franchises as well as a few multiplayer maps for doom 3 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, now has its own title in the works. Brink is currently in “pre-alpha” right now, which means it is very rough but it is easy to see where the concept is going. Even in this early stage the game looks great, so ...
Written on October 13, 2009 | Posted in PC Previews, PS3 Previews, Previews, Xbox 360 Previews | No Comment
Sabteur (Hands On)
Two years ago I learend a bit about an upcoming title from Pandemic - Sabotuer. While what I had heard was intriguing, it wasn't until I got my hands on the game for the first time that I became excited about it.
Sabotuer - First Look Part 1
Sabotuer - First Look Part 2
It is the relationships that Sean builds on his way to revenge that helps to set up the story as Saboteur progresses. As the game ...
Mind Twist (First Look)
Richard Garfield, who is perhaps most famously known as having created Magic: The Gathering (and with it the genre of the collectible card game), has turned his attention to other games over the last 15 years, including board games and more recently computer/console videogames. His latest venture is Project Mind Twist, a free to play turn based online strategy game inspired by the same type of games that are usually played on a tabletop. Free to ...Split Second (Hands On)
Split Second is a racing game that immediately recalls the Burnout franchise. With fast arcade style racing on an urban course, it is difficult not to have that comparison. There is a bit of a difference though, as the city the racing takes place in is built specifically for a certain level of interactivity as well as providing some challenge against other racers.
Along the bumper of the player’s vehicle a meter will be filled as ...
Dante’s Inferno (Hands On)
I can’t tell you why someone thought it was a good idea to adapt Dante’s Inferno to a video game. Even after actually playing it, I can’t see the point. What they were trying to accomplish with this is lost on me. I don’t see many kids clamoring to read the classics of poetry in game form. However, I guess that Asian gamers got Romance of the Three Kingdoms as a strategy RPG, and we ...Islands of Wakfu
French developer Anktama may be best known for their MMORPG, Doofus. Although this was on display, they were also showing off their upcoming Islands of Wakfu. A prequel world to that of Doofus, it is tied to an animated series the company helped develop. Fans expecting the same strategy action as Doofus, are in for a surprise.
Wakfu is an action RPG, drawing a lot of influence from the Secret of Mana series. They have added ...
Uncharted 2 (Hands On)
I was recently able to get a little bit of time with Uncharted 2: Among Theives before its release, and have to say that I am now looking forward to the title more than ever. Developer Naughty Dog has taken the “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it” approach to the game, and nearly everything that worked in the previous game is still in here. There are a couple of tweaks to the formula, but ...
New Super Mario Bros Wii (Hands On)
Nintendo may have figured out that their characters are their real hot property. No matter how many senior centers and soccer moms put a Wii in the living room, it’s the guarantee that a new Mario and Zelda game will sell their systems. That's why with the popularity of the Wii waning, and the system in search of a new hit; we saw two new Mario games announced at E3 this year.
The first was a ...
APB
Realtime Worlds created an entirely new take on sandbox games with Crackdown, and they announced that they were going to try again with APB: All Points bulliten, an MMO based around cops and robbers. One of the main selling points of APB is the customization of your character. Either criminals or enforcers are going to be able to meet up with friends and you can all create everything from matching ratios to an approximation of ...
Alpha Protocol (Hands On)
Alpha Protocol is billed as spy oriented action RPG, but after a while actually playing the game, it felt more like an action game with a spy theme and some RPG elements thrown in. Players can go through the various levels using straight up action, guns blazing, as well as sneaking about and silently taking down foes. Each method has its own rewards. By placing more emphasis on hand to hand combat instead of pistols, ...
Dungeon Fighter Online (Hands On)
Dungeon Fighter Online is getting set to open its doors, just finishing up the closed beta testing and getting set for open beta testing. Is it going to be worth your time? It depends – do you like playing games? I remember the days of the arcade, plunking quarter after quarter into the machine, simply to keep that “rush” coming. Dungeon Fighter Online brings that rush back.
Players can fight alone or create a part of ...
Diner Dash (Hands On)
Diner Dash was a hugely successful Flash game that came out a few years ago. It was ported to the DS, PSP, and the iPhone/iPod Touch. The premise was simple, you played Flo who left the corporate world and started her own restaurant. Legend of Zelda it isn’t, but who needs deep story for a Flash game? The game spawned a couple of sequels, but now Hudson is porting and expanding the original for the ...
Written on September 17, 2009 | Posted in PS3 Previews, Previews, Wii Previews, Xbox 360 Previews | No Comment
Darksiders (Hands On)
God of War has made quite an impression on the industry, and everyone has been clamoring to recreate the formula. Heavenly Sword recreated the formula, but threw on a lot of glitz into the game. It did a good job of showing off what the PS3 could do for graphics, but that meant that the grit that defined God of War’s atmosphere was missing. In trying to bring the grit and the action of God of ...
Torchlight (Hands On)
One of the highlights this year at the Penny Arcade Expo was a little dungeon crawler titled Torchlight. A couple of the folks on the development team worked on Diablo, so that should give some indication as to the game’s pedigree – relatively simple, fast, and like low calorie candy easy to digest in equally large or small amounts. Since players can save at any point a quick fix is certainly aimed for, as well ...
Mass Effect 2 (Hands On)
Mass Effect was one of the best science fiction epics I have seen in gaming. Unlike Halo, or the multitude of other games that have action at their heart, Mass Effect was far more about story and characters. You got to see humanity struggle for acceptance in the galaxy and take control of the character that was firmly in control of that destiny. It was the first part of a trilogy, and this year at PAX I ...
MAG (Hands On)
The PlayStation 3 has been home to a few unique concepts this console generation. The perfectly cinematic experience that was Metal Gear Solid 4, the newly minted Fat Princess, which applied the online shooter paradigm to another genre, and Flower was close to the definition of games as art. MAG is yet another unique take on a genre from Sony. Massive Action Game, or MAG, is a huge game, as in 256 player matches big.
As ...
Left 4 Dead 2 (Hands On)
Ignoring the controversy around Left 4 Dead 2 is not likely going to change the fact that this game faces an uphill battle, but I really think that Valve may be working closer with the community than the press to mitigate that disaster. It makes sense really, since we're being expected to buy a new game rather than getting the updates to the original as expected, so no amount of PR can fix angry fans, only ...
Blur
Bizarre Creations set the standard with Project Gotham Racing. Its hard to do anything but replicate from that point. However this is the company that brought us Geometry Wars as a mini-game, and later a full-fledged Arcade title. Creative as they are, they are not content to rest on their laurels, instead they sought to bring racing to the masses with Blur. To sum it up in three words: Adult Mario Kart.
When you fire up ...
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
Back during the GBA era, Nintendo resurrected the Super Mario RPG. Although I personally think the Paper Mario series did a better job, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga was a passable resurrection and created a large emphasis on timing and defense to involve the player in the turn based combat. There was also a large amount of exploration and puzzle solving; it was a complex game on a small system. The series had a previous DS ...Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Marvel Ultimate Alliance was the follow up to the great RPG Brawlers X-Men Legends and its sequel Rise of Apocalypse. Instead of dredging the bottom of Marvel’s mutant barrel, Marvel Ultimate Alliance expanded the games universe to include the entire line up of Marvel favorites, and some not so favorites. It made for a fun game, but it brought with it a lot of X-Men: Legends’ poorer traits.
Getting some time with the game before its launch, I got ...
Written on September 13, 2009 | Posted in PS3 Previews, Previews, Wii Previews, Xbox 360 Previews | No Comment
Dead Space: Extraction (Hands On)
Rather than downgrading a game to fit into the Wii’s specs, the trend seems to be making an alternate version of the game that slims down the experience. In the case of Dead Space: Extraction it changes the game completely. New gameplay and a new story make it a new game altogether. Dead Space has done a great job of making a horror franchise that surpasses Resident Evil in every way. With this Wii title ...
Tony Hawk: Ride
Tony Hawk games are getting along in years, and it's hard to keep your edge when it's obvious the franchise is just "cashing in" with annual updates and no innovation. Like Kiss or Cher perpetuating another farewell tour, I'm more pointing and laughing than planning my next purchase. Well Activison has taken note of EA's Skate franchise and decided what is needed to keep the franchise going is more simulation. Keeping with modern fashion, there will be another cumbersome plastic controller next to ...
Written on September 11, 2009 | Posted in PS3 Previews, Previews, Wii Previews, Xbox 360 Previews | No Comment
TMNT: Smash Up
One of the things that works so well for the Smash Bros franchise is that it is to pick up and it has a huge variety of characters. I am more surprised that no one has copied the formula sooner. Ubisoft has taken second in this category, giving us Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up, featuring all of the Ninja Turtles characters, as well as the ubiquitous Raving Rabbid. The similarity isn’t an accident, as developer ...
