So we all know that the ratio of movies to video games about the movies is fairly high and it is no difference for Battle: Los Angeles. When I saw the trailer for this action packed film I immediately knew that I had to get a taste of it. Thankfully, the Australian Classification Board (just like our ESRB) and Saber Interactive, they wanted to get a taste of it too...just in the way of a console rather than the silver screen.
It has been confirmed that Saber Interactive, the company behind TimeShift, will be working on Battle: Los Angeles: The Game alongside Konami, who will be publishing it. Our sources tracked down the listing on the Australian Classification Board themselves and it can be seen here.
There's no word on any specific consoles that it will be released on but I'm sure that as time progresses, they will give us that little bit of information.
I'll post the trailer for the movie so you can get a little hint as to what is to come!
Posted by:
2.15.2011
Ladies and gentlemen, I have one sentence for you that will (hopefully) make you the happiest people on the face of the planet.
Mike Patton (Singer from Faith No More)
Mike Patton, yeah, the guy with the amazingly creepy and eerie voice from The Darkness...yeah he's going to be returning in The Darkness 2!
I'm so unbelievably happy that they were able to swing this, no one would have been able to compare.
Just thought I'd let you guys know!
Posted by:
2.11.2011
In an attempt to clear all of these demos off of my hard drive, today I'm going to talk a little bit about The UnderGarden. I wasn't expecting much from this game but it's simplicity astounded me in various ways.
I started the demo and it enveloped me in beautiful landscapes with soothing music and vibrant colours, and then I paid attention to who I was playing as. The first thought in my head was "What the Hell?" The game itself is very well polished and I can certainly say that the characters are anything but generic. The main character looks like...a cross between a Mudkip and a human baby. Our sources say that many of the characters that you will encounter throughout the game all have the fairy tale look to them so it definitely does set up for a strange array of characters.
The UnderGarden, given to us by Atari and Vitamin G has the same skeleton as a game such as Little Big Planet but the insides are completely different. The UnderGarden is basically a puzzle game where you navigate through different worlds attempting to pollinate fruit trees, plants, and "flora" and that's it. You have to pollinate every tree and plant that you can find and get through the puzzles without frustration. Prior to the plant pollination, the gardens/worlds are a dark place, very deep tones such as navy and dark blue though all of that changes once pollination occurs.
My only fear about the game is that if I were to journey deeper and deeper into the world that Vitamin G has created, I would forget that I was actually playing a puzzle game. I'm afraid that I would get stuck and be unable to progress any further because I would be so entranced by the beauty that I would forget the objective.
For the little while that I played it, I enjoyed it thoroughly but I'm not sure if it's a game that I would be able to spend a copious amount of hours on. Keeping in mind that I quit Little Big Planet half way through because I found it to be redundant.
Download it on the PSN/XBLA or even purchase it for the PC and experience it for yourself!
Posted by:
2.10.2011
Hey guys,
I was thinking of adding a new segment to the site called "Demo Days." It'd basically be one day a week where I would play a demo and post a review on it for your entertainment. You think it'd be a good idea?
Today I'm going to touch base on Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll. It is a Playstation exclusive that was released on February 8th, 2011. It was published by Tecmo KOEI (Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage and Quantum Theory) and developed by Omega Force (Destrega and all of the Dynasty Warriors). I hadn't heard any hype about this game but I did find it on the PS Store so I downloaded the demo anyways. I wasn't expecting much from the game but it did surprise me in good and bad ways.
Dagda
Overall it's your typical JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) in the sense that the format is quite like every other JRPG that there is out there. The dialogue between characters is text only, there aren't any voice overs and the characters are simply images that will refresh if the facial expressions change based on the dialogue...there's a lot of reading involved!
Areus
You're given a quest board which shows your current quests and what they entail. To actually embark on the quests, you select which one you would like to be your active quest and then you navigate to the world map, select where you want to go and it takes you there automatically. Unlike other RPG's, your world map isn't included with your character menu screen, it's a completely different sector.
When you're in a particular location you have various options to choose from such a: shops, mages guild, tavern, and adventurer's guild. Unfortunately, this game is anything but free-roaming so you don't get to explore the world, it takes you to your destination automatically. For some, that may seem like a good thing because I do know that most people (even when given the free roaming option in a RPG) like to fast travel to locations so that they don't have to walk for 20 minutes to get to somewhere on the map.
On your menu screen you have: status, skills, equipment, items, inventory, quests, data, and of course, options. Your character uses XP to level up and you do have a HP meter to monitor how quickly your health depletes in fights.
The fighting is one thing that I really enjoyed. I was expecting your typical turn base fighting that you see in most JRPGs, but with this one the fighting is similar to that of Castlevania. You have your enemies and you are capable of choosing whether you'd like to use your melee weapons or your spells. The movement is extremely fluid when fighting and when you're controlling your characters, fighting isn't a chore in the least. After defeating enemies, they do leave you objects/items to pick up and you simply run over them and they are added to your inventory.
Selene
I would have to say that this was my favourite aspect of Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll. You are able to control the members of your party. At the beginning of the game you have your main character (Areus) and two of his friends (Dagda and Selene). You're capable of handling all three of them and all three of them have specialty moves that you need throughout your quests. For example, Dagda is capable of lifting and kicking over pillars which can annihilate a copious amount of enemies all at once if you are surrounded and I do know that you can freeze lakes to be able to walk over them.
I was certainly impressed with what I had played and I for one am not a big fan of JRPGs, I'm more of a WRPG (Western Role Playing Game) player.
When you get a chance you should either download the demo (available for free on the PS Store) or pick up the game itself. You will most likely not be disappointed!
Here's a trailer for you guys and have a great Thursday, well, what's left of it anyway!
Posted by:
2.09.2011
Remember my downloading spree I was talking about? Well, I downloaded Spare Parts, a random game demo that I have never heard of that I just stumbled across on the PSN...so I downloaded it. It's available via PSN and XBLA thanks to EA Games.
Here's a picture of the game play:
Here's my review:
.....................
I can't even begin to explain how ridiculous it is that the demo is shorter than the amount of time it took to download it. Guys, the demo was literally 170.40 seconds, that's 2.84 minutes.
This is my plea to EA, please put out a longer demo so we can actually get the feel of a game before purchasing!
If you're into demon morphed humans, dark scenery, New York, and mobs then you're most likely familiar with a game called The Darkness. Well ladies and gents, be prepared for the release of the second installment, The Darkness 2. If you've played The Darkness then you know that 2K published it and Starbreeze Studios developed it, well, Starbreeze Studios won't be developing it this time around but 2K will be sticking to their publishing spot. This title will be developed by Digital Extremes, the Canadian developers who did Dark Sector, the multiplayer of BioShock 2 and the PC version of Homefront.
It was announced yesterday that The Darkness 2 is going to be released for the 360, PS3, and PC just like the first one and it'll be coming out by the end of this year. Of course, Jackie Estacado will remain as the main character and the story will be told from his narrative and his little demon friends/mystical power that tag along. This time around he's now the don of the Franchetti clan and you'll be getting a whole new story line.
In the first game, you know that Jackie's girlfriend dies by the hands of demons. In The Darkness 2, Jackie finally has his mental breakdown after attempting to be strong in The Darkness. This breakdown starts a huge mob war which opens up the perfect opportunity for "The Darkness" to emerge. It is said that Jackie will travel to "hell and worse" throughout The Darkness 2 (so I'm just taking a wild guess and saying that they're going to re-make Hell again). He'll also learn why his supernatural powers are they way they are and what motivates them.
The only thing that's still up in the air is if Faith No More's front man Mike Patton will return to be the voice of Jackie Estacado's inner demon, I'm hoping so...there's nothing I love more than an evil, groggy and rough voice.
The Darkness had elements of a first person shooter and a RPG all wrapped into one but the shooting aspect was just like your typical shooter...aim and fire. This time around, 2K has assured us that the shooting aspect is going to be unique and to die for. You're going to be able to 'quad-wield' which is basically allowing you to "slash, grab, and throw objects at enemies with their demon arms while simultaneously firing two weapons." Pretty cool, right?
That's all that we have for you guys right now but as usual, we WILL keep you updated!
Posted by:
2.06.2011
I'm obsessed with ZeniMax Media and all of it's "children" as you can probably tell by now. So long and behold, Rage, another game developed by id Software/Bethesda and that's what we're going to talk about today.
Rage takes place on Earth which happens to be in a post apocalyptic state after being destroyed in less than 26 seconds. By the time that a year is up, 80% of life is eliminated from Earth and due to a copious amount of toxic elements. Within a year, a terrible and drastic winter falls upon the planet, blanketing it in extreme darkness and it lasts for 50 years.
Prior to the near extinction of Earth, the humans built arks and buried them deep under the ground in an attempt to save everyone from the devestating effects of what was to come. These arks are humanity's last hope, they are equipped with all of the necessary tools that the humans need to rebuild their future, without them all hope would be lost.
Eventually, those who were kept safe on the Arks begin to emerge to the surface once again and they are greeted by two very different surprises. One surprise being that a lot of humans actually survived the devestating blow to planet Earth, and the other surprise being that the other half became evil mutant beings and they now roam the 'dead cities'. On top of all of that, a new and tyrannical government is created and their on the hunt, for you.
Normally, I would say that the plot for this is unique but if you have ever played another one of Bethesda's games, Fallout 3, you would see how similar the plots are.
Let me explain it for those of you who have yet to play it.
Fallout 3 is a very extensive free roaming RPG created by Bethesda. In the game, the entire world is basically a nuclear fallout zone due to atomic bombs. Throughout the game you begin to realize that your father was developing this wonderful invention called the purifier that would be used to get rid of all of the radiated and mutated monsters in the world and change everything back to the way that it was. Once you find the device, the government, also known as The Enclave begin a search for you and you basically have to evade them and try to save the world...in a nutshell.
Though the story for Rage is anything but unique, I would still be prone to play it solely because I enjoyed the storyline for Fallout 3.
In Rage, you will be able to create your own weapons which is awesome and useful. With most video games you can repair your weapons or find pre-built ones but I have yet to see a game where you can create weapons out of anything that you find. I think that it'll make an awesome contribution to the game and I'm excited to see what kind of assault rifle mods I can get out of it.
Alright so, we have three major guys that are responsible for the creation and production of this game and they are: John Carmack (technical director), Tim Willits (lead designer) and Matt Hooper (design director). John Carmack has worked on games such as Hovertank 3D, Catcomb 3D, and Wolfenstein 3D. He has also pioneered the first-person-shooter genre and helped id Software to get to where they are today. Tim Willits worked on Doom and created a ton of levels within the game and that's how his career began.
Now, this is where things can get a little confusing. Rage is set to be released for CONSOLES on the 13th of September, 2011. Right now though, there is a little sneak peek available for you guys on your iPod touch, iPhones and iPads. Rage HD is available for your downloading pleasure. Of course it's not going to be as in depth as the game itself but it's similar. In the mobile device version you will be able to fight against hungry mutants in order to complete heart pounding levels and collect cash rewards. If you're interested in getting a taste of what Rage is going to bring to the table, download Rage HD now!
As of right now there isn't much being said about the game other than the fact that id Software and Bethesda will be working together on this mini miracle so I'm going to have to leave you guys without a video today.
We'll be sure to keep you posted!
Posted by:
Hey guys, it's LindsayBrohan blogging for Bretto!
As you all know, two separate groups of selected individuals were invited to have tours of Zipper's headquarters in Washington. One of the days was a media day and the other day was a community day, the difference between the two was that on the media day they were allowed to take videos while playing and during the community day, they weren't.
So this is where the following video comes into play. During the media day, someone took footage of the online multiplayer for Socom 4 and therefore it was leaked via YouTube and Bretto had to let you guys know as soon as he did.
InsomniacGames is coming out with their third installment of the Resistance trilogy (due to be released September 6th, 2011), Resistance 3. I myself have purchased the first and second Resistance and have played both but the thing in my mind that raises the most questions is, was it really necessary to create ANOTHER Resistance? Apparently InsomniacGames believes so.
The Resistance trilogy is a Playstation 3 exclusive game, unavailable to any other platform so all of you PS3 users, listen carefully.
Resistance 3 is going to pick up around 4 yeas after the end of Resistance 2. Sentinel Joseph Capelli (the main character) had finally given up on fighting the Chimeran menace. For those of you who have yet to play any of the Resistance games, the Chimera are an alien species that inevitably worked together to take over the world. They were made out of humans and brought together to fight man kind as a whole. Joseph has had a complete role reversal and he is now hiding out with his family, trying to survive the invasion and soon to be extermination. He is then offered a proposition.
Fyodor Malikov comes to Sentinel Joseph Capelli and presents him with an offer, he has an opportunity to deliver a huge and devastating blow to the Chimeran population and so Joseph must leave his family and embark on this mission with Fyodor Malikov.
Within the game you will experience new upgradeable weapons, two player online or split-screen campaign co-op, the return of the weapon wheel (which was an amazing feature).
The one thing that I always enjoyed about the Resistance trilogy is that it combines both elements of a first person shooter and a RPG, delivering just enough kick to satisfy your shooter needs and just enough storyline to satisfy your needs to be drawn into a world of alien invasion, terror, and fantasy.
Check out this live action trailer for the soon to be released game!
This has been travelling through the video game community for some time now but we thought we’d let you in on this little bit of information just in case you have yet to be informed. Resident Evil: Racoon City (the next chapter in the series) is rumoured to be in the process of being developed by the same team that developed Socom: Confrontation for the PS3, Slant Six.
Now, a lot of avid SOCOMers are going to be hesitant to buy this game solely because the vast majority of the Socom community believes that Slant Six ruined their beloved baby…but will it be a new change for the Resident Evil community?
Slant Six, being a Canadian development company based out of Vancouver, BC, has come out with many games within the Socom series: Socom: Confrontation (PS3), Socom: Fireteam Bravo (PSP), and Socom: Tactical Strike (PSP). Will a project as heavy as Resident Evil be too much for Slant Six to handle or do you think that they’ll be able to trudge through the mud and the massive fan base revolving the very popular zombie series?
Capcom’s past development head (Keiji Inafune) had felt that Capcom/Japan was trailing so far behind Western developers that the only way to catch up with them is to partner with them. That’s where the Slant Six/Capcom duo (East meets West) strategy comes in. The first Capcom games to ever been outsourced to a Western developer was Dead Rising 2, Dark Void, and Bionic Commando.
Though this is still a rumour, there is a substantial amount of circumstantial evidence to help support the theory that Slant Six and Capcom are pairing up together to take on this massive monster of a franchise.
On Slant Six’s twitter feed, they were looking to hire a translator/interpreter, stating “Japanese translator/interpreter needed in Vancouver, BC. Knowledge of the game industry a plus. Contact jobs@slantsixgames.com.” Also, on Slant Six’s website it states “Although we can’t say what we are working on right now, we are very excited to be creating a new product with an amazing publishing partner.” In typical fashion, Capcom refuses to comment on any of these rumours but our sources say that it’s at a very high probability that this may happen.
When it comes to fighting games, Mortal Kombat is probably one of the most recognized ones out there. The iconic fighting game made its debut in 1992 by creators Ed Boon and Tobias Boon, and has delivered a bloodbath ever since. Mortal Kombat is known for its gore, interesting characters, ridiculous finishing moves, and tons of hidden Easter Eggs.
Mortal Kombat has had many makeovers in its lifetime, however. Originally a 2D fighting game, it has since changed to a 3D arena game, and there was even a goreless T-rated game [Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe].
The new addition to the legendary Mortal Kombat franchise will be released April 19th, 2011, and will have endless nostalgia to the old games we grew up playing. This new game, simply titled Mortal Kombat (although 9th in the series), will be returning to it's brutal M rating for extreme gore and violence, as well as returning to it's 2D fighting style. The dangers trapping your opponent on the screen corners return!
Mortal Kombat will feature 3 different single player modes, including a story mode with elaborate cutscenes, the traditional tournament ladder which will include a sub-boss and boss battle, and finally one that features what seems to be somewhat of a survival mode which focuses more on game mechanics rather story.
The character roster for Mortal Kombat is also nostalgic, as it seems so far that playable characters from only the first three games are known (See below for current roster).
The game has a bit of a different approach as to control this time. Inside of memorizing countless combos for each character, Ed Boon has stated that MK will have a "Make Your Own Combos" system, which should bring a lot more surpise when playing multiplayer and/or with friends. Characters do still have the iconic FATALITIES however, which from what has been released in trailers and such to be extremely gruesome and brutal.
The current Character Roster (via Game Informer: 214) is as follows:
Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Raiden, Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, Sonya Blade, Jax Briggs, Reptile, Kitana, Mileena, Cyrax, Sektor, Nightwolf, Jade, Shao Kahn, and Goro*.
(*Goro has been confirmed to be a BOSS battle, and not a PLAYABLE character. I assume this is also true with Shao Kahn.)
Exclusive to the Playstation 3 will have KRATOS from the God of War franchise as a playable character in Multiplayer. There is no such talk of an exclusive character for the Xbox 360. There is also a DLC section on the roster, which will give players new characters to download and play as in the future.
Perform a Fatality on your local game store April 19th, 2011 and pick up MORTAL KOMBAT, available on Playstation 3 and XBOX 360.
I know, I know. It's a frustrating thing for those of you who have no interest in Call of Duty, but the demand for the game means that I have to post about it!
It has been rumoured that another instalment to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series is in the midst of production. Our sources say that Activision's three studios: Raven Software, Infinity Ward, and Sledgehammer Games are teaming up to get the offline single player campaign made and Raven Software is the main producer for the online multiplayer.for this one, that leaves the question....what happened to Treyarch?
A second question that we're left with is why can't Infinity Ward take care of the online multiplayer on their own? Well, that's solely because last year in March, Activision got rid of Infinity Ward's two founders, they created a new company called Respawn. Most of the employees of Infinity Ward left to go team up with the two former employees of Infinity Ward, and therefore IW isn't as fully operational as it once was.
I wish that I could give you guys more information but that's all that we have at this moment. We'll keep you updated!
Scheduled for a release of Spring 2011, BRINK is a game that isn't really being talked about a whole lot. It is a first person shooter made by the British game development team Splash Damage and published by Bethesda, and uses the id Tech 4 engine, designed by John Carmack, used in games such as Doom 3, Prey, and Wolfenstein.
Brink focuses heavily on character and weapon customization, which should bring and endless challenge and "new" feel to each game, single player and multiplayer alike.
The big thing with Brink is it has a new and innovative way of movement in-game, which Splash Damage has called "S.M.A.R.T. (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain) System". It adds a really new and interesting way to jump, slide, jump, etc... around insane obstacles, parkour-style, although similar to what we've seen in Mirror's Edge.
You may play as one of four class types: Soldier, Medic, Engineer, and Operative, each with their own usefulness and unique style.
In Brink, play as the Security or the Resistance in a war on a floating city known as The Ark. The Ark, was supposed to be a small paradise city with renewable resources, no pollution, and large enough for 5,000 residents. However, it's grown to be over populated, now with 50,000 residents, and not enough resources to go around.
With Brink's S.M.A.R.T. parkour-style movement system, fully customizable characters and weapons, this should be an experience you should not miss out on. Keep your eyes and ears open for Brink, as it is scheduled to hit the shelves sometimes this Spring.
And with that, I will leave you with this teaser trailer.
All of you Call of Duty fanatics quite obviously allowed Black Ops to grace your shelves within the first week of its release and I know that we've all been waiting for a map pack to be released. Thanks to Treyarch and Activision we're going to be able to bask in the glory of having added maps to our beloved game.
The entire map pack will cost you $15, just a fragment of what the original game will cost you and Dan Bunting, Treyarch’s online director has promised that there will be ‘more verticality’ and more ‘sniping opportunities’ for these brand new online multiplayer maps.
The pack includes four maps titled Kowloon, Discovery, Berlin Wall, and Stadium. Kowloon has a brand new feature that I have yet to see in any of the Call of Duty games, zip lines. Discovery has a collapsible bridge (which I’m sure all of you can have fun with), Berlin Wall is pretty self explanatory and Stadium will be for run and gun, I’m assuming that it will be more like Showdown (a map from the first Modern Warfare). Alongside those 4 maps there will be an added zombie map called Ascension.
Of course the added content will be available for all of the platforms that Call of Duty: Black Ops is compatible with, though there are rumours of separate release dates. Some are saying that those of you who use the Xbox 360 will have first dibs and our sources are saying that all DLC will be able for download at the same time for every platform.
The DLC/map pack will be available for download on February 1st, 2011.
Here’s a little trailer that Activision was kind enough to put out to satisfy your needs to see a little bit of what you’re getting.
After 12 long years of absence, countless rumors, and mulligans, Duke Nukem is finally gracing us with his presence again.
With 3D Realms jerking around for so long with this game, stating "It'll be done when it gets done", its no surprise that many fans of Duke Nukem have pushed this game to the back of their minds. Well lucky for all of us, Forever has been picked up by the masterminds at Gearbox and 2K Studios (Borderlands) and announced in 2010 that it will most definitely be out sometime in 2011, and surprised everyone with a Demo. None of this is exactly NEW news, however.
What is new, though, is as of today, January 21st, Gearbox has announced that "sometime in 2011" ACTUALLY means the real release date is earlier than expected.
DUKE NUKEM FOREVER
coming May 3rd, 2011
to PC, PS3, and Xbox 360
