New CryEngine

The future is beautiful.  Crytek's game engine gets an overhaul and it looks great!
You really need to full-screen this.

Darkspore

Remember the cute cuddly little buggers from the Spore series? Ya, they're not so cute anymore. Maxis has re-imagined Spore as a darker, more RPG version of itself and Darkspore was born.

The game itself actually looks really interesting though I have my doubts. The game takes place in a universe where a group of people called “Crogenitors” decided to genetically alter life itself in order to create beings called “Living Weapons”. Ya I know, original. Their plans go horribly wrong however when their methods turn against them and the creations turn into abominations connected to a hive mind called “The Darkspore”. You control heroes made in a similar fashion to the Darkspore with the end goal of defeating the Darkspore which is quickly taking over the galaxy killing all in its path.

I’m really on the fence about this one. The videos of game play found on the game’s website make the game look like fun. An action RPG based on Spore however makes me cautious. In my opinion Spore is one of those games that is fun for an hour or two but quickly loses sheen. The enjoyment found in creating and colouring your own monsters is awesome, but gets old fast. I found it hard to enjoy Spore because it tried to cater to too many players at once. It basically touched on every game genre in existence but failed to do any of them really well. My concern is that Darkspore will try to do the same and water down the potentially awesome RPG experience it has to offer. Having said that, it could also be extremely well done. It seems to have two of the biggest things I look for in an RPG: story and customization. Obviously the Spore series is built on customization and this story does seem original so it has potential. On top of that the game supports multiplayer and even PvP which will be interesting to see how that works. Only time will tell but the game definitely demands a play though to see what Maxis has created.

Darkspore is currently slotted for a March 2011 release.

Last Played: Rift

Dead Island

If you need anymore proof that videogames can classify as art please consider this trailer for Dead Island. This game looks beautiful in every sense: there’s awesome visuals, a moving soundtrack, but more importantly zombies. From what I could find the game is supposed to be a sandbox shooter style game with RPG elements. It is set on a tropical island where (now I’m just guessing here) zombies attack. The game’s official website is still under construction and there seems to be no release date as of yet. Until then however I will be salivating, waiting for the next morsel of features to be released. For more details watch this space.

Last Played: Red Faction

Armored Core V

I just found out in the form of a teaser trailer that there is another Armored Core game on the way! The mech fighter is set to launch in Japan some time this year and will invade North American shores some time 2012. However, this time around the game is going to have some changes. The most noticeable of these is smaller mechs and a focus on stealth and terrain tactics. Supposedly smaller mechs open the door to more options available while completing a mission. A player can now either use the presumably more intricate terrain (as the terrain from previous Armored Core games tended to be quite flat in my opinion) to their advantage in order to turn the tide of a battle or skip the battle completely as is implied by the new focus on stealth activity as mentioned above. I’m not sure if I like this change. The old formula of giving your mech the biggest guns possible and seeing what dies first was the most fun for me. I have a feeling that even though stealth options are available to me I would still opt out to go in guns blazing. In my opinion game developers at From Software should spend their energy on creating more interesting and dynamic environments instead of ways around battles which they may have done anyways if the screenshots on their website are of in game locations.

Also intriguing is the introduction of a new type of multiplayer. This game type is said to be co-op based with two teams of five mechs facing off against each other in tactical warfare. How it works is a commander is assigned and they oversee operations from a command screen only they can see. The other four team members follow the orders given by the commander to complete the match’s objectives. This sounds like it could be a lot of fun. I am definitely looking forward to this one. There is a link to the game’s debut trailer below

For more information on Armored Core 5 watch this space.

Last Played: League of Legends

Review: Black Ops

**Warning: Thar Be Spoilers Ahead**

When I first heard of the release of Black Ops I was extremely against the idea of shelling out another 60 bones for a game when I was still grinding through the upper prestige levels of Modern Warfare 2. It looked to me to be a quick money grabbing gimmick or more of an expansion to Modern Warfare rather than adding any really new, innovative content. Despite being resolute in not buying it I was eventually convinced by one of my friends to purchase it because we had no games that our group would all play together anymore. As a compromise I bought it on boxing day when it was cheap and I could salvage some of my pride.

After playing the game for a couple of hours I was some what relieved to find that I had not wasted my money as I first feared as some of Modern Warfare’s short comings are fixed in this game. First of all the system for unlocking weapons is completely changed. Instead of having to reach a certain level to unlock the particular gun you like they are more or less all available from the very beginning and, after playing through a few matches and gaining “COD Points”, you can use purchase your favourite gun pretty quickly. This fixes the problem of getting into a match and being instantly annihilated by higher level players with better equipment. Camouflage for the guns is also purchased in this way as well as the new feature to put a created emblem on your rifle as well as the ability to scratch your clan tag into the side of your rifle. The second shortcoming that was fixed was the imbalanced maps. Modern Warfare’s maps tended to encouraged campers and snipers. Anyone who was quick on the draw could find a corner and blow anyone away who came into view. Black Ops fixes this by limiting the number of spaces that would be conducive to camping, and anywhere that could be a good perch has it’s view restricted so someone can’t simply watch vast amounts of space from cover. Another feature which I particularly liked was the contracts that players can purchase: If you are feeling lucky you can spend your COD points on these contract challenges which, if you complete them in the allotted amount of time, return more points and some experience. Similar the Reach’s daily challenges these help break up the potentially repetitive game play by giving players something else to do. The horrible re-spawn system has yet to see any form of improvement.

Most players buy Black Ops for the multiplayer and I would say that is a good policy to stick to because the single player is crap. I spent little over an hour playing the single player campaign and it was the most ridiculous, over-the-top thing I’ve ever seen. The start of the story has you hiding out in a café with some chums discussing how it would be best to keep a low profile so Castro, whom you’re there to assassinate, won’t catch wind of your operation. They then proceed to shoot up some soldiers, the café patrons, and presumably the entire Cuban police force only moments after uttering these words. After blowing up the downtown area of the Bay of Pigs the player proceeds to break into Castro’s estate and guns him down, or so they thought, and in the escape things get even more over the top as they hijack a military plane in order to escape but the runway is cut off by a group of trucks. So naturally the player heroically dives out of the moving plane and runs over to an Anti-Air flack cannon and uses it to blow up all the trucks on the runway allowing his comrades to escape. He of coarse is captured. After doing this bit I chuckled to myself and then put the controller down to do something else. I’m not sure what went wrong but my theory is that Treyarch in their panic to fill Infinity Ward’s shoes tried to create something epic but overcompensated. Really the only thing that is half tempting me to play the single player again is the achievements that I can get from it.

In summary if you are considering buying Black Ops but are on the fence here’s what you do: If you are buying it for multiplayer because you like Modern Warfare then do it. The changes Treyarch made to the game add to the experience and are extremely satisfying. If, however, you don’t like going on Xbox Live and prefer to run through a story driven adventure save your money for a better FPS.

Last Played: Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

The Old Republic Not Being Given Its Fair Shake?

As the date for Bioware's big project Star Wars: The Old Republic slowly creeps forward the hype is building and inevitably as the hype builds people are going to start looking to World of Warcraft in comparison to TOR as Blizzard's game has basically become the starndard to anything that even resembles an MMO. A lot of critics seem to be expecting (and hoping?) that the game will stumble right after launch then turn over and die. This is not fair.

Now I'm going to say first that I am a huge Star Wars fan but so you guys can't hold that against me I also realize that a franchise can only carry you so far. The newest Star Wars movies are proof of that as they sucked despite being long awaited and directed/writen by George Lucas himself. So while the Star Wars franchise will bring people to the game I don't think it will be enough to keep the game floating by itself. However I still don't think you can count an MMO as a failure before it launches just because its not WoW.

The first thing a lot of critics seem to jump to in their damning of The Old Republic is that Blizzard has already cornered the market for MMOs. While it's true that the monolithic company has yet to be challenged by anyone I think that Bioware's title can still thrive in the dark shadow of Blizzard. First and foremost this is because Bioware has built a really sturdy reputation for itself. Pretty much everyone has atleast heard of Bioware if they are even a little more than a passing gamer. With AAA titles such as Mass Effect, Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age, and Neverwinter Nights under their belt they have seen their share of successes. I think that Bioware has earned a place in the pantheon of companies such as Infinity Ward and Bungie that their name alone can bring as many people to a game as the game's title. On top of this they already have their feet wet in the Star Wars universe with Star Wars: Kights of the Old Republic so they are working with familiar material rather than having to learn certain aspects for the first time.

One thing that Bioware really knows how to do is weave story into games and that's what they are planning to do with TOR creating the first ever story driven MMO. I can't pretend to be well versed in World of Warcraft but to the best of my knowledge WoW can not be called story driven; the new Cataclysm seems more so than any other part of it but I haven't played the new expansion to be able to tell. As most gamers really only are able to pick only one MMO to back because of subscription fees and such I think this new dynamic to an MMO could be enough to bring new players to TOR over WoW if they haven't picked a game to play yet.

This brings us to arguement number two: that WoW will simply steal all TOR's subscribers and the project will starve. In this article Kotaku interviews John Smedley who is the president of Sony Online Entertainment about the new Cataclysm update and what it could mean for Sony's MMO Everquest. Smedley stated that he wasn't worried about the new instalment saying that they don't see "big dips" in profit and subscribers but "tiny dips for a little while". In other words the two games don't intensely compete for players and the same will likely ring true for WoW and TOR. It was never said that the distribution of players was even and it likely isn't but Everquest has its own following that supports it and most of Bioware's followers will likely come from the field of people new to MMOs rather than people migrating over from an already existing franchise. Given the previous two arguements I don't think that TOR will have too many problems drawing people in. Add to this number the Star Wars followers and the SW: Galaxies players that are looking for a revival of their game and things start to look a little more hopeful.

Call me an optimist but I think that The Old Republic is going to be a really good game and I don`t think that it will have too many problems once the ball gets rolling. I for one am certenly going to pre-order my copy and am already scoping out the Bounty Hunter class. Feel free to jot down any thoughts or predictions in the comment section!

Last Played: Pokemon: Soul Silver

Real Life Grunt Birthday Party

I saw this and laughed so hard I thought I'd pass it on. This is a Youtube video by user they007.

"Contact, it's the damn Covenant" - Jorge