Honestly, I’m a little burnt on the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the gameplay and the plot of the series has been fairly fascinating, but Ubisoft’s planning on releasing Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood barely a year after the last title came out.
Since there’s no new number in the title, it may be confusing as to what Brotherhood is exactly. Essentially, it’s a continuation of Ezio’s story from Assassin’s Creed 2. However, a multiplayer mode has been added along with a more robust territory/army building metagame.
Much like Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, you can recruit assassins, send them on missions, and upgrade them like Pokemon. It’s an interesting wrinkle in the series, but I’m not sure it’s that compelling to draw me back into the the world of the Renaissance again.
Perhaps you’ll be more inclined after watch the developer walkthrough above.
The Crysis franchise has long been known for incredible graphics and an open ended single-player experience.
So why am I posting a video of multiplayer footage?
Simply put, it intrigues me. See, Crysis also incorporates interesting suit powers such as super strength, speed, or cloaking. That in it of itself is grounds enough to separate the game from the sea of Call of Duty clones out there right now.
Decide for yourself it’s enough to take a look.
One of my favorite games from E3 2010 was Vanquish. I won’t rehash my E3 preview, but offer you this reminder: Think Gears of War but with blazing fast Japanese robot suits, mechs, and explosions everywhere.
The demo is basically the same demo I played at E3 with an additional tutorial component. You’ll get the beginning of a mission plus an incredibly epic boss fight. Seriously, if your heart doesn’t pump while facing it, you’re not alive. My only complaint with the game so far is that it’s really hard to tell how close you are to death at any given time. I do like to play fairly recklessly, though, so if you’re the conservative type, maybe this wont be a problem for you.
You can grab the demo from the Xbox Live Marketplace or Playstation Network and I implore you to check it out if you are a fan of action games or shooters. It’s a fun, original title that’s definitely on my list of anticipated games this holiday season.
Unless of course, you don’t like fun.
Hot off the announcement of their first iOS game (Project Sword – check out the clip at the end of this post!) this morning at Apple’s iPod event, Epic Games (Gears of War, Unreal Tournament) sends word that a playable tech demo of Unreal Engine working on the iPhone is now live on the iTunes store.
Entitled Epic Citadel, the demo gives you a sneak peek as to what kind of graphics you can expect from Project Sword when it releases later this year. As you can see from the screenshots below, the graphics are jaw-droppingly good. It reminded me a little bit of the wonder I experienced when I saw the first Unreal engine fly through way back in the 90′s before the first Unreal game came out.
Now, don’t expect much of a game with Epic Citadel, it’s basically a really pretty graphics tech demo. You can move around using virtual dual analog sticks or you can let the software take over and provide a “Guided Tour”, which is basically an autopilot demo. You can also navigate by tapping anywhere on the screen and the character will automatically walk there.
I gave it a short test drive and the frame rate was locked in at about 30fps for the most part, but dipped below during a flyby or when a lot of the environment was in view. Nevertheless, it’s a real impressive piece of software and might be worth keeping on your iPhone/iPad just to show off to your friends. Plus, at “free”, its the right price.
We’ve already got a cool gyroscope control proof of concept with ngmoco’s Gun Range. Epic’s Epic Citadel shows us what the graphics capability of the iPhone/iPad is. Come on devs, enough with the demos. Let’s get a real game out now, eh?
Download Epic Citadel for free on iTunes
| US | |
| Current
1M Gold: $7.99 3M Gold: $19.99 12M Gold: $49.99 |
Starting Nov 1, 2010
1M Gold: $9.99 |
A couple of days ago, Microsoft announced an across the board price increase for its Xbox Live service that will go into effect on November 1, 2010. You can check out the price increase for the US in the handy table above. Basically it means a $10 increase in the yearly price (because if you use your Xbox with any degree of frequency, it’s silly to pay the inflated rates for anything but the 12 month rate).
Now, get up in arms about it if you want, but there’s really nothing much you can do about it other than stock up on 12 month Gold cards if you see them at a deal. Diligent bargain hunters have never had to spend more than $39.99 for 12 months of LIVE. In days past, $29.99 12 month card deals were more common than not.
Maybe this whole thing is a stunt to get a whole bunch of people to pay up front for multiple years of LIVE because Microsoft has so magnanmously set up a page where you can lock-in a $39.99 rate through them directly.
There’s no two ways about it, it sucks. And having a price increase on Xbox LIVE isn’t exactly a good way to ingratiate yourself back in the good graces of the gaming community after the debacle that was the Kinect pricing announcement.
But at the end of the day it’s $10. We’ll have to just deal with it and move on. Maybe take some mental notes like Lebron James.
Don’t worry, MSFT, your day will come.
Ah, the days of E3 2009. Where the Microsoft Kinect (then Project Natal) was still new, wondrous, and offered a world of possibilities. Back then, one of the more interesting demos was of Milo, an AI boy you could interact with like a real human. Since then, nary a peep has been heard about Milo from his creator, Peter Molyneux (Fable, Populous).
Until now.
Molyneux whipped out Milo at his TED talk earlier this year and it looks a bit more fleshed out as a “game,” as opposed to merely a tech demo. Apparently his goal was to create an environment and interface where humans can interact with an evolving AI as if it was human. No input devices needed, just a Kinect and your bad self.
If you’re time-starved, you can skip to about 9 minutes where the interesting interactions take place. Molyneux reveals that Milo’s AI will “live in the cloud” and evolve from various peoples’ playthroughs. It has the promise of being truly revolutionary stuff for the video game/interactive entertainment industry. Though the Milo demo is ultimately unexciting in subject matter (Milo’s biggest problem is adjusting to a move from England to New England), it’s leagues more interesting than pantomiming through Wii Sports knock-offs.
Well, at least until Milo turns into Skynet and conquers us all.
God, I can’t wait for this game.
As someone who grew up on Street Fighter and Marvel Comics, Capcom’s (X-Men/Marvel) Vs. (Street Fighter/Capcom) franchise has always held a special place in my heart. It also tickles my inner nerd seeing not-so-mainstream villains such as Dormammu or Super Skrull get playable character status.
Something about the pseudo-3d graphics feels a little…sterile to me, though. I know it worked for Street Fighter 4, but my gut wishes that they would have gone with super hi-resolution 2d animation based off of a genuine comic artist’s work.
Oh well, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 still looks like incredible fun.
While the trailer may seem like a shitshow to the uninitiated, there’s actually a methodical way to play this game. It doesn’t take too long to process what’s going on and once you do it’s immensely satisfying to pull off those 16 hit air combos and/or fantastical super moves.
Although Metroid has been one of Nintendo’s most storied franchises, it’s also paradoxically one of the least understood. Countless times I have seen people embarrass themselves (usually nostalgic gaming poseurs) by referring to Samus Aran as “Metroid”. No, you ninny,”Metroid” is the furthest life form from an attractive female bounty hunter. They are translucent life-sucking alien jellyfish with giant fangs. Capiche?
Nerd rage aside, Metroid lore can be a little confusing, so no one will judge you if you need to watch this 7 minute catch up video on what happened in the previous games. It’s a good time to catch up before Metroid: Other M releases on the Wii next week, as it promises to be a lot more focused on character and story than any other Metroid game prior. (For the first time ever, there’ll be voice acting in a Metroid game!)
However, we’ll still judge you if you pull the faux pas of calling the main character “Metroid.”
(video courtesy of Joystiq)
If there had to be one title to act as the envoy for the video games industry in 2010 it would have to be Starcraft 2.
You’d be hard pressed to find any other game appeals to everyone from the 30 minutes a day casual player all the way up to the professional Korean player making seven figures with an entourage of bodyguards and female groupies.
Yes, you read correctly. Seven figures. Groupies. Entering live tournaments on rock stages on a speedboat.
There’s three audiences that I think should run out and give this game a shot:
- Tower defense game junkies (whether it’s on your phone, iPad, computer, or console)
- People who already enjoy real time strategy games (How can you like RTS games and not at least give Starcraft 2 a shot? That’s like saying I like action movies, but I refuse to watch Inception.)
- Professional Starcraft players. (though I think those don’t really need to read this review)
Starcraft 2 is an interesting game because it’s one that’s physically impossible to play on any current console. It doesn’t mean that the game is that complex, it just means that it’s a genre that’s best controlled with a mouse and keyboard due to the nature of the tasks needed to be done. The game will run on almost any modern computer, Mac or PC alike, so chances are if you own a computer made within the last few years, you can play it.
The game belongs to the “real time strategy” genre. Ten years ago this would have required no explanation, but it’s been 12 years since the original Starcraft was released. There’s an entire generation who will see video of Starcraft 2 and think it’s the craziest variant of Plants vs Zombies ever. In broad terms, the goal of the game is to establish an economy, build an army, and tactically command them to destroy your opponent.
Most RTS games’ single player campaigns are a linear progression of missions. That’s certainly what I expected with Starcraft 2, but Blizzard actually exceeded my expectations in this regard. Once you finish the first couple of missions, the game takes a surprisingly non-linear turn. The meat of the game consists of 3 to 4 mission lines all going on simultaneously. You can choose to complete these in any order. There are even some optional missions, though you would be be missing out on some content if you choose to skip them.
On top of this, Blizzard has included several RPG-like elements to the campaign as well. Finishing missions and optional objectives earns you credits. These credits can be used to either upgrade some aspects of your units/buildings or they can be used to hire Mercenary units that can be deployed on any subsequent mission. There’s also two sets of talent trees that you can develop by completing certain bonus objectives throughout the campaign by accumulating “research points.” Every 5 research points you obtain, you can choose one of two new abilities for your forces. There’s really no wrong way of going about developing your forces. Most of the choices have some merit, so you can feel free to pick whatever suits your style of play best without fear of choosing incorrectly.
The story and cinematics of the game are solidly constructed and presented. With Wings of Liberty, we’re given the Terran side of the story. Most of the missions are played through as the Terran race, with a short Protoss mini-campaign. The tale is a fairly straightforward space-opera, yet doesn’t seem overly hackneyed. Blizzard is well versed in crafting gorgeous cinematics and entertaining backstory/lore for their gaming “worlds” and Starcraft 2 is no exception. We’re not getting Battlestar Galactica or Firefly quality stuff here, but if you like space epics, you’ll find yourself wanting to complete the story.
Many people were concerned that Blizzard’s decision to split the game’s single player storyline over the course of 3 titles would produce a substandard single player experience. Their concerns were for naught. It arguably ends up being a better experience, as we’re given more time to get invested in the plot and characters. After playing through Wings of Liberty, I undoubtedly cared about Jim Raynor more than I would have if he only showed up in a handful of missions.
Despite this, I will say that the ending to Wings of Liberty campaign felt a little rushed and had me scratching my head in a “it feels like there had to have been some plot holes there…” kind of way. Regardless, I still ended up wanting the next installment of the series to arrive, STAT.
Beyond the single player campaign, there lies a transitory “gametype” in the form of challenges. These short mini-games are meant to teach you the basics of playing the multiplayer mode of Starcraft 2 and they are a much welcome addition to the game. Multiplayer Starcraft 2 is a complete different animal from the single player and these challenges are a sort of “training wheels” to get you in the right mindset. You’ll learn how to use hotkeys, when to use what units, and defend against early rush attacks. There’s bronze, silver, and gold medals to earn for each of the 12 challenges and they’re a fun way to “learn” the multiplayer game.
I wish they would have included more challenges, though. Multiplayer Starcraft is essentially an extremely layered version of rock-paper-scissors. The included challenges only teach you what to do when rock fights paper, so to speak. When you have a game that can support leagues professional players, there has to be a certain level of complexity, but the game can feel like walking down three steps into a pool and suddenly dropping off into the deep end.
Fortunately, Starcraft 2 employs one of the best matchmaking systems for a computer game. The game will have you play 5 placement matches and then put you in a league of similarly skilled players. Even if you’re one handed and incompetent, you’re supposed to be matched up with someone equally as inept. Eventually the goal is to have you winning the same amount of games as you’re losing.
This is as far as I’m going into the multiplayer component as there’s literally thousands of hours one could spend reading and talking about it. If you manage to get this far into the experience, there a wealth of communities for you to discover and engage in.
Oh, let’s not forget the fact that Starcraft 2 is extensively moddable. And it’s not confined to just new maps or even real time strategy game variants. Enterprising developers have sculpted amazing games with the engine, such as a 3rd person zombie shooter, a recreation of the Playstation Network game flOw, and even a version of Final Fantasy.
All of this adds up to an extremely comprehensive gaming experience that can be enjoyed whether you’re a casual gamer or a professional player with groupies. Even if you’re not going to touch competitive multiplayer, there’s enough compelling content within the single player component to be worthwhile.
Other than next week’s Metroid: Other M, Disney’s Epic Mickey is my most anticipated Wii game release this year. (That’s right, Donkey Kong Country Returns? meh.)
Disney recently put out the intro cinematic for the game and in it you can clearly see how much of a dick Mickey Mouse is. I mean seriously, who goes and messes up someone else’s carefully created world by bringing in a darkness of unimaginable horror then bounces back into his own dimension for 50+ years without so much as leaving a courtesy note?
