Gameinformer Overview – November Update 2011
This months Gameinformer cover features Transformers and the Fall of Cybertron. It’s a huge month for the online gaming community as Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is released within a week as well as a few other large titles in the upcoming months.
Beat Hazard Ultra
The best way that I can describe Beat Hazard Ultra is to take Super Stardust HD, put all your favorite dance/electro/dubstep music behind it and put thousands of music strobing lights on the screen at the same time.
When I first looked at a gameplay video of this game I couldn’t even keep track of what was going on, but soon after I downloaded it, I was already playing on Suicidal and it was pure fun!
Gameinformer Overview – October Update 2011
This month’s gameinformer cover features Link! A classic icon in the gaming world for any age gamer! Inside, there is are over 5 pages dedicated to link and his evolution over all of these years!
Gameinformer Overview – September Update 2011
Gameinformer Overview – September Update 2011
Can you believe it’s September? School has started and I hope you’re having fun in college, because I know I’m having fun while not in college! Either way, we have quite a few games to pick from today, so lets not waste anymore time and lets just jump in right away!
One of the first games listed in this months gameinformer issue is called tropico 4. Now, to be honest, this is the first time hearing of this game for me, but obviously this is the fourth installment in this series, so I suppose that would mean there are fans out there somewhere. From the looks of this game, it seems like it’s a replica of the sims games, except you’re on an island with a volcano on it. To me, this doesn’t seem interesting, but for those of you who are into this kind of thing, September 16th is the day to look forward to!
One thing that did come about early this September is Call of Duty XP! Unfortunately, I missed it this year, but rumor has it, that there will be another next year, so make sure you get signed up for this one, because I know I sure will be!
Next up on our list today is Borderlands 2! Unfortunately I never picked up Borderlands, the first one, but whenever Borderlands 2 is set to release in 2012, you can count me in, because I will not miss this opportunity this time! Graphically, it looks like the last one did, it has a very artsy and creative feel to it, so for everyone who fell in love with that look in the first edition, you should prepare yourself for some more, because Borderlands 2 is right around the corner!
One more upcoming title that has touched the hearts of all Playstation 3 owners is Resistance 3! When the PS3 system originally launched, this was one of the only games out for it at the time, so everyone who jumped on the Sony train early on, have had their fair share of gameplay in the Resistance franchise. So for everyone who liked the previous installments, get out your pens and mark September 6th on your calendars!
As always, there are a couple sports titles being released in the near future. Now, I used to be a huge fan of the NHL games back in the day, but as time progressed, I have evolved into a first person shooter beast, so I don’t play as many sports titles anymore, but I do like to keep a couple on the shelf just encase I need to break out a party game once in a while. Other than that though, I really have no use for any sports titles, for the simple fact that I’m not really a hardcore sports fan. I don’t play fantasy football and I don’t watch any sports games religiously, so as far as sports games go, they just don’t tickle my fancy.
Last, but not least, we have Guild Wars 2. Now, if you’ve been gaming for any period of time, I’m sure that you have got your hands on some MMORPG game and if you’re anything like the rest of us, you couldn’t put it down for years. This being said, when I hear about a new MMORPG being released to the public, I get a little tingly feeling inside and just as the ring called to Froto in the Lord of the Rings, every new MMORPG game calls to me and it’s not easy to resist!
Apparently, Guild Wars 2 is focusing very heavily on their storyline, which should be super interesting to see, because I think it would be fairly difficult to fluidly work in a strong storyline into any MMORPG game, but let’s hope that Guild Wars 2 doesn’t let us down and maybe GW2 will take off and we can all play it together and live happily ever after.
This just about wraps up this fairy tale, so bring up a browser and start researching some of these games a little deeper while you wait for Octobers issue of Gameinformer to be released!
E3 2011: Microsoft Press Conference
Well folks, yesterday kicked off another year of E3 and things have been really heating up so far. First up, was Microsoft who started the show off with Modern Warfare 3. Is anyone really surprised? I have to admit, what I saw I thought was impressive. But honestly it really just looks more like Call of Duty. Where is the innovation? Where is the change? year after year we keep getting an almost identical game from the year before. In all honesty, I can’t really talk because I’ve bought every Call of Duty game from Modern Warfare 1 and up. There’s no doubt that it’s a great franchise and a stellar title. But having a new one every year is just getting old too me at this point. I need something new, I want something different. Maybe Battlefield 3 can fill that void. We will see.
After the Modern Warfare 3 showing, we got to see the new Tomb Raider title that’s coming out in 2012. I have to say It looked very interesting. I was never a huge Tomb Raider fan, but it seems like this game is going in the right direction. It definitely gave me an Uncharted kind of feel, although the QTE’s could kill it for some people if there is a lot of them. Only time will tell, but so far the game looks promising.
Following the showing of those two titles, it quickly turned into a Kinect press event! I have to admit, I’ am not a fan of motion gaming. Playstation Move, Kinect, Wii, never has done it for me. I would rather play my games and not talk to them. Besides, what If I have guests over at the house and I’m downstairs and they hear me talking to my T.V.? it would be pretty uncomfortable. Anyway, while the Kinect may not be for me, I see why so many people enjoy it. The technology behind it is really quite impressive, and we haven’t really seen anything yet. It is nice to see some of the “core” titles like Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Mass Effect 3 and Ryse offering Kinect support. Even if players don’t want to play that way, they can always pick up a controller.
Another game that we all know would make a big splash was Gears of War 3. I mean, lets face it, this is Microsoft’s bread and butter for 2011. It looked like Gears of War. nothing too fancy, just Epic playing things safe and giving fans what they want. Let’s hope they have that Multiplayer down to a science this time around. I have faith that the game will most definitely deliver come this September.
We also got to see what new touches they are adding to the dashboard. The Kinect capabilities were very sweet. Sadly, telling my 360 too put a movie on for me doesn’t justify the $200 price tag. I could really take it or leave it when it comes to adding YouTube and Bing, but the Live TV has me pretty interested. Being able to watch live television on my 360 is something I’ve wanted and hoped it would happen sooner rather than later. Grant it, it’s not going to force me to cancel my cable just yet, but it’s definitely heading towards that direction.
One of the last big surprises we got to see was the announcement of Halo 4, coming Holiday 2012. I can’t say I was totally shocked, but at the same time I didn’t see it coming until all the news before the presser started breaking out with “rumors” of a Halo 4 announcement. Is it really a rumor at that point? Anyway, I’m sure just like the rest of Halo franchise, they will sell ridiculous amount of copies and it will be the game that everyone wants that Holiday.
Overall, because Kinect doesn’t really do it for me, I came away unimpressed with the Microsoft Press Conference. If you are a fan of the Kinect, then you probably enjoyed it more than I did. Besides, Microsoft is doing a great job at trying to accommodate to every kind of gamer, and why wouldn’t they? that’s where the real money lies.
Check back tomorrow when I give my thoughts on the Sony Press Conference.
Homefront: Single Player
Homefront is Kaos Studios next installment in the popular FPS genre. Unless it has completely slipped your memory, they were also responsible for Frontlines: Fuel of War. It received a somewhat positive response when it was released back in 2008, and to say that Homefront needed to be a top of the line shooter for THQ and Kaos studios would be an understatement. Their was a lot of marketing put into Homefront last year at E3 and other gaming events, but did the marketing dollars exceed the amount spent on developing a quality shooter? In my opinion I think it’s fair to say, yes.
Story
The story in Homefront poses the question as to what if Korea took over most of the United States. You play as former Marine helicopter pilot, Robert Jacobs, and in the beginning of the game you are sent off to a reeducation camp because you refuse to cooperate with the occupation forces. However, things go sideways on your trip and you become rescued from a group known as The Resistance. They believe you can be a great help to them acquiring fuel in San Francisco for the U.S. Military, given your background as a pilot. I thought the opening sequence of you being transported on the bus was very well done. Without giving anything away, some of the things being seen were pretty shocking compared to some of the other shooters out these days, and gave it quite the wow factor. Sadly enough, the game doesn’t continue to wow you with great cut-scenes but the Homefront story is something the game does nicely, considering most of the other shooters in comparison put a well told story at the bottom of the list. I’ve always loved it when games can emerge me into a really good atmosphere and Homefront has a couple of nice set piece moments and even gives you that feeling of fighting a warzone in your own “backyard”, which I believe was Kaos Studios exact intentions. Some of my favorites were battling it out on a baseball field, that looked like something you would have played on as a kid. Also the mission at the Golden Gate Bridge I thought was done well. Personal places like these is something that was quite different than some of the other shooters, but unfortunately were shot down way too fast. The Homefront campaign is a very short one. I finished the game in about 4 hours on the normal difficulty and was shocked that some of the best missions were 15-20 minutes long. It seemed at times I was playing a demo to get a taste of whats to come, but that isn’t the case at all. While I did enjoy the story and atmospheric locations of Homefront, it came to an abrupt end way too early.
Gameplay
No matter how well a story is told in a game, the controls and actual gameplay is obviously the most important part. This is where Homefront separates it self from the big boys, and not in a good way. First thing you will notice is how the game looks, at times the environments and the character models look flat out awful and outdated. In my opinion the other most important part when developing a shooter is making sure the guns sound like they should. Other games like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty did an amazing job making the guns sound real. This is something I usually pay very much attention too because I really am picky when it comes to audio in video games. The weapons in Homefront sound very depressing, and at times made me feel like I was the kid from A Christmas Story firing a BB rifle. Even the knife and reload animations were laughable. Framerate issues at times also hindered my experience with the game. It wasn’t a continuing problem but an annoying one at that. Especially nowadays, its inexcusable.
I don’t want it to sound like I’m totally hating on the game, because it’s not the worst I’ve played. The game’s A.I. felt right, even on the normal difficulty I found it being quite a challenge. Even if some of the deaths were cheap ones. It’s not a surprise, nor do I blame developers trying to copy other games that have been a huge success. But Homefront just falls flat in comparison, and with the amount of competition, you have to beat the best, to be the best. Homefront is the perfect example of a game that needed more development time.
Closing
After reading everything I’ve said, you may be wondering why you should even play this game. I still believe it’s a game you should experience so you can see how the story unfolds. I’ve also been told the game’s Multiplayer is enjoyable, when you can actually connect and get into a game. But as the campaign clocks in around the 4 hour mark, I really cannot recommend it as a purchase. It is perfect if your looking for something to play on a rainy afternoon, but above that I say wait for the bargain bin. I really think Homefront could of been an amazing game if just given a little extra time. Kaos Studios will no doubt have their work cut out for them next time around.
This review was based on the Xbox 360 version of Homefront.
Bulletstorm
People Can Fly and Epic Games has brought us one of the most over the top, foul mouthed shooters to come out this gaming generation. I realize the game will not be for everyone, due to the fact that it will give some the urge to kill and rape people in real life according to Fox News. O k maybe not, but regardless it is still a extremely violent game with a dialogue that would make a sailor blush. But with all that said, I still had a blast playing it.
You play as space pirate Grayson Hunt who is followed by his best bud Ishi Sato. After finding out they were tricked into killing innocent civilians by their commanding officer General Sarrano, in which Hunt and his crew believed they were killing murderers and other scum of the world. So it is no surprise that Hunt and Sato want their commanding officer dead. Years later Hunt and Sato’s plane crashes on a planet called Stygia. Which is run by ruthless disgusting mutants that look like something out of the Hills Have Eyes movies. After the crash, Sato is injured pretty bad and Hunt must track down a energy cell from an escape pod to put into Sato’s brain to save his life. I’ll let you experience the rest to find out what happens, but the story is not whats going to make you keep coming back to Bulletstorm. It’s the ridiculous extreme gameplay that awaits you after you arrive on Stygia.
One of the first things you’ll notice right away is how beautiful the game looks. The environments and lighting truly looks stunning, and I was quite surprised. Bulletstorm also does a good job of changing up each section of the game, so that you never get tired of seeing the same scenery over and over. Aside from the eye candy, Bulletstorm is a very fast paced game. You will constantly be blowing stuff up and kicking your way to the next area of mutants. The variety of blood thirsty enemies you face will also change up quite a bit as you make your way through Stygia. Some guys you can take down with a couple blows, while others will make you think in more creative ways to take down. But the combat in Bulletstorm is the games bread and butter. The game feeds on collecting Skillshots. Skillshots are points that you collect by killing enemies in gruesome and unthinkable ways. For example using your surrounding environments is a good way to collect points. Some areas of the game will have things like cactus’s or flesh eating plants that you can kick those ugly buzzards into to gain some serious skillshot points, and not too mention saving some ammo. Fairly early on in the game you come across a device that slips on your hand called a Leash. Its basically just like it sounds, if you point that at a enemy it will shoot them towards you in slow motion and will allow you to do whatever you want with them. You can simply shoot them and move on, but it is much more fun and recommended to think of creative ways to take them out. This is some of the most fun the game has to offer.
In a game where brutal gun firing combat is what you’ll be spending much of your time on, the weapons would be a pretty important part in a game like Bulletstorm. You will be allowed to carry up to 3 weapons at a time. Your always equipped with your basic assault rifle that really resembles a Lancer from Gears of War minus the chainsaw. One of my favorite weapons in the game was the Flail gun. It’s a chain that shoots out thats equipped with two bombs at each end that wraps around your enemy then with a single press of the RT, it rips most bodies in half. I found this to be extremely useful during some of the tougher enemies in the game like some of the bigger bosses. The drill bit weapon was also a blast to use, that will instantly implode your enemy into the nearest wall, killing them with one hit. But the shotgun is the weapon I had in my arsenal throughout the entire game. It was great for close quarter shootouts and it was equipped with 4 barrels instead of 2 and as you would imagine it literally tore people in half and made for a nice rack up in Skillshot points. There are a total of around 8 different weapons you can use in the game, and you upgrade each weapon with the points you collect with Skillshots. Each time you come up on Dropkits, you can buy ammo for your guns, add a secondary fire onto them or swap out one of your guns for something new. But whatever your weapon of choice may be, Bulletstorm is sure to have everything your sick little mind desires.
But Bulletstorm has more than just a campaign mode. If you played the demo, then you got a little taste of the Echoes mode. These are levels pulled from the single player that last anywhere from 4-6 minutes, and basically all your trying to do is get through each section not so much quickly, but how many Skillpoints you can accumulate. At the end of each level you are graded on how well you performed. It also has a leaderboard attached so you can see how well your friends did during their run. Echoes mode isn’t the highlight to Bulletstorm, but it does make for some fun if you just want to hop on for 20 minutes or so, and anytime you can compete against your friends, it always adds for some replayability. Anarchy is the cooperative multiplayer mode in Bulletstorm. It pits you and three of your buddies against 20 waves of enemies, and as you would guess each wave increases in difficulty. To complete each wave you have to rack up enough skillpoints to advance. Anarchy will have the most lasting appeal because it’s the mode that you can play with your friends. If you can get 3 of your buddies together, you will no doubt have an absolute blast.
By no means is Bulletstorm a “perfect” game. One example is the games controls. I am not saying they are bad, in fact after a little while you will pick up on them fairly quickly because of how much they resemble Gears of War. But if your like me who’s brain is wired to the Call of Duty controls, it will take some time before you are running, sliding, and pulverizing your enemies in a smooth manner. I also had instances of getting stuck onto objects which is very annoying when your under heavy gunfire. At one point it happened during a pretty intense boss battle and I nearly almost died because of this. I would say it only happened maybe two or three times but it always seemed like it came at the worst of times. The game’s story and characters is also not much to write home about. You will really care less about both as you make your way through the 6-8 hour campaign, depending on what difficulty you play on and how many times you die.
At the end of the campaign I was satisfied with my time with Bulletstorm. The single player is a decent length and with the Echoes and Anarchy mode on top of that I would justify this game being a 60$ purchase, not too mention having a chance to jump in the Gears of War 3 Beta early. But if the single player is the only thing that interests you, I would say give it a weekend rental. But definitely give it the time of day, Bulletstorm puts some of the fun back into the FPS genre.
This review was based on the Xbox 360 version.
The Weekly Byte for 8/2/2010
New Releases
Friday, 7/30 – Commander:Conquest of the Americas, Strategy/RTS by Paradox $39.95
Tuesday, 8/3 – Metro 2033 Ranger Pack DLC, $3 on XBL, free for Steam users :O)
News Bytes
Reason to traverse radiated tubes, once more! Yes, as you’ve read above, there will be new DLC for this year’s sleeper hit, Metro 2033. Sadly, I have not had a chance to play it, myself, but I am salivating for a price drop. The new DLC allows players to take advantage of a Ranger Mode setting, which makes ammo scarce and increases the damage dealt by both sides. Ummm, am I the only one who doesn’t see the fun in this? Also, there will be some new items, weapons and achievements, so look for the DLC to pull into your station this week!
Seems like Fable on the PC will be a bedtime story at dusk. Originally planned to launch side-by-side with console versions, Fable II has now been pushed back to an unannounced date. Microsoft reassures that this is not a cancellation, but an opportunity to optimize the game for the PC platform. I would not have made Fable III a day one purchase, and I can certainly stand behind a developer taking extra time to customize a PC version of the game, so the news is not as upsetting to me as it may be to some. I’m still glad to see Microsoft gaming make a return to PC, and I can only hope this Fable will herald more Microsoft gaming tales to be told on the PC.
Have you lost that lovin’ feeling? The void that has been left, since HAWX came out, so long ago? Well, get to pre-flight, Mav, HAWX 2 is touching down this fall, on September 7th. Among scarce details in the skies, the multiplayer aspect of the game seems to have undergone a complete overhaul. There will now be co-op, arcade and survival modes for up to 8 pilots at a time. You can be my wingman anytime! Well, that is, if Ubisoft doesn’t eject us from the cockpit with it’s crippling DRM…….
Geared Up
It’s seeming like I should change the title from ‘Geared Up’ to ‘Overpriced Nerd Gear’! Sadly, I have two entries this week, that seem to be, only for gamers with the deepest of pockets. A while back, I detailed a statue of Valve Team Fortress 2 character, The Heavy. Also planned, were Left 4 Dead and Half-Life entries, well, wait no more zombie maniacs, the first Left 4 Dead statue is here! The Tank, measuring an intimidating 15 inches tall, is now available for pre-order. Another Gaming Heads creation, the statue looks fantastically detailed, and an exclusive edition includes a pump shotgun(what no molly?). He comes in two flavors, vanilla, for a whopping $300, or a more limited flavor for $325. Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy? Oh, and you won’t even receive the goods until early next year. For the cheaper Valve fan, Aperture Labs is moving in on the Beanie Baby market, with it’s plush GlaDOS Curiosity Spheres, far a slightly more palatable $45. The full set is available, at a discounted $120, and they are only available via Etsy here. You can purchase one of four colors, each one features different sayings from Portal by pressing the eye (ouch!?). Believe you, me, if I had that kind of cheddar laying around, I’d be spending it on games and not dust collectors and chew toys, but who am I right?
E3 2010 Podcast Ep. #2 – This Is It?
Listen is as Eric Bouchard discusses the events of the day and how Microsoft did not live up to its own hype.
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E3 2010: Kinect Star Wars Game
While tonight’s Microsoft Natal Event may be more about entertaining and revealing the new Kinect name, there has been at least one major game reveal. There will be a Star Wars game coming out for the controller-less interface. It appears to be an on-rails game featuring lightsabers, motion controlled force powers and a showdown with the mane himself, Darth Vader.
Sounds like Microsoft is trying to use this game to reassure core gamers that Kinect will be used for more than casual experiences. Expect to see more reveals like this tomorrow, but I can guarantee you this reveal is creating some buzz on the web.
Thanks to Joystiq for the info.