New Games |
- Binary Domain shows off its core weapons in a trailer
- It sounds like Assassin's Creed 3DS isn't happening
- Call of Duty: Elite beta kicks off for Xbox 360
- Buy two games from Amazon, get one free
- Freedom: Together, we'll break the chains of HUDs
- GamersFirst responds to APB Reloaded retail rumors
- id talks weaponry in new Rage trailer, The Arsenal
- BloodRayne: Betrayal unleashed August 30
- LucasArts: Star Wars Galaxies not a sustainable business
- Get Baconed with new The Baconing screenshots and info
- New Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard art
- Review: Ocarina of Time 3D Official Soundtrack
- The Cursed Crusade: Date, price, cover art and more
- Former BioWare artist announces Emissary of War for iOS
- The Memory Card .96: Farewell, Klonoa
- Your first look at Chemical Plant in Sonic Generations
- Final Fantasy XIII-2 screens: Worst military suits ever
- So many Kirbys! Kirby Mass Attack preview
- Free App of the Day: DrawRace
| Binary Domain shows off its core weapons in a trailer Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:00 PM PDT Rest easy folks, Sega has confirmed that Binary Domain will, in fact, contain pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles. Despite the robo-revolution, the core weapons remain intact and you must oh-so-carefully choose from amongst them to save humanity from imminent doom. All kidding aside, there's some real potential in Binary Domain. With some of Sega's best minds on the job, hopes are fairly high (but not too high). |
| It sounds like Assassin's Creed 3DS isn't happening Posted: 14 Jul 2011 03:30 PM PDT While this isn't a formal cancellation, it's certainly a bad sign for the game formally known as Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy. According to this recent interview with Joystiq, "You may have heard of the game 'Lost Legacy' for the 3DS. It was announced, but that kind of morphed into this idea," referring to upcoming PS3/360 title Assassin's Creed: Revelations. That doesn't mean that Assassin's Creed won't make it to the 3DS at some point. This isn't the first 3DS game to be subtly canceled without much fanfare. It wasn't that long ago that the formally announced Saint's Row title for the 3DS evaporated into thin air before our eyes. I'm also worried about Mega Man Legends 3, and the various 3DS games that have seen abrupt delays of late. You have to wonder if these changes to the 3DS's line up has to do with the fact that the 3DS continues to under-perform, at least compared to Nintendo's other consoles. According to the latest numbers from Nintendo, the 3DS sold 143,000 units in June, while the DS family of consoles sold 386,000 units, nearly twice that of the 3DS. Great numbers all around, but if the DS is currently growing faster than the 3DS, you can't blame developers from shifting development away for the 3DS to consoles with larger install bases (like the Wii, DS, PSP, PS3, or 360). Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy's concept found in Revelations [Joystiq] |
| Call of Duty: Elite beta kicks off for Xbox 360 Posted: 14 Jul 2011 02:30 PM PDT Millions of you have signed up for the Call of Duty: Elite beta, which is being rolled out to Xbox 360 players over the next few weeks on an invite-only basis. The first invitations went out earlier today. While Beachhead is pushing the community, competitive, and stat-based improving-your-game aspects of Elite, I wager most of you will be in it simply for the downloadable content that's rolled into the cost of the service. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. For those wanting to see what the fuss is about, here's a 30-minute developer walkthrough video. |
| Buy two games from Amazon, get one free Posted: 14 Jul 2011 01:30 PM PDT I was never one to buy multiple games at the same time, but if you don't mind adding to your backlog in the name of penny pinching, Amazon is currently doing a "buy two, get one free" promo. Most of the games are on or around their suggested price points, but the selection applies to many platforms and includes newer releases like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries, and DiRT 3. Personally, I'm still holding out for a discount on Shadows of the Damned. |
| Freedom: Together, we'll break the chains of HUDs Posted: 14 Jul 2011 12:30 PM PDT [Keep writing your Digital Distribution blogs for this week's Bloggers Wanted topic -- you can still write them all the way up until the new topic is posted next Monday. Today's promotion from last week's topic on freedom is from nekobun, who brings us a unique perspective on the idea of freedom and talks about the downsides and constraints of overly-busy heads up displays. Want to see your own blog on the front page? Write a blog about Digital Distribution, and it just might get promoted next week! -- JRo] Games these days have an awful lot going on at any given point. Considering I've lived through about five console generations, it wouldn't surprise me if anyone said I was old fashioned for saying it's often too much. You've got life bars, shield bars, ammo counts, minimaps, objective points, support item loadouts, spell lists... it just goes on and on, and clutters up the screen on top of everything that's going on around or in front of you (depending on whether you're playing third or first person, of course). Efforts are sometimes made to simplify things or scale them down so they're out of the way, but that just makes them less sensible and harder to interpret, even moreso for the poor bastards with digital copies, rentals, or other versions of the game that lack a manual. I miss the days where games were more clean-cut in their presentation, and had a lot less to keep track of at any given time, or at least kept those sorts of currently-considered essentials in a supplemental menu. I miss the simplicity of knowing three hits would kill me, and having to remember landmarks or drawing my own mini-maps to make sure I was going the right way in the new worlds presented to me on a regular basis. Sure, you could argue that with the advances made since the days of eight-bit and even earlier, games have gotten so involved and expansive that we need all these tools right in our face to even hope to navigate them. HUDs keep us on task and un-confused, and without them, we'd be lost in games for a great many more hours than we'd really like to or need to be. And, in some cases, HUDs actually fit the context of the games they're presented in; the Halo series, for instance, lays everything out on what's presumed to be a digitally projected display inside John-117's, the rookie's, or Noble Six's helmet, which makes perfect sense for the powered armor of a SPARTAN-II, ODST, SPARTAN-III, or any number of SPESS MEHREENS from other, similarly sci-fi'd-out games. Same goes for flight sims, especially the futuristic sort, as these kinds of layouts are things that do or could concievably exist in their respective worlds. It's when I'm driving through a city, a la GTA, and there's a handy map down in the corner with a bajillion different colored points on it trying to show me where I can find my next story objective, the nearest spray shop, several burger joints, a fistful of side quests, one or two safe houses, and the whereabouts of someone out to kill me, all at once, that this sort of helping hand begins to start feeling like more of a hindrance. Not only does excess HUDdery clutter the screen and detract from immersing oneself in a game to any great extent, but it often feels like excess hand-holding, and to be honest, is rarely presented in a way that's contextually coherent with the game's feel. If, say, I had to look at a subscreen that looked like a city map (much like overworld and dungeon maps of the games of yore), or needed to punch in a target's address given to me by a contact into an in-game cell phone's GPS system, I'd feel a great deal more comfortable and involved in that game's universe. Generation and technical advancement is no excuse, either. Both early on and toward the tail end of the prior console generation, Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus proved that expansive, breathtaking worlds were perfectly navigable, and arguably much more beautiful, with any sorts of heads-up displays stripped away. Beyond the obvious, glowing weak spots on the Colossi in SotC, player direction was much more organic in both these games, with queues coming from the environment, or requiring some exploration and discovery on the player's behalf rather than merely being handed on a silver, "Go Here," platter. If anything, advances in technology, especially on the graphical front, should be opening the door for more minimalist informational displays to make a resurgence. We've reached the point where it shouldn't be that difficult to show just what a character has equipped by having it hang from their belt, off their back, or what have you, even if the actual equipping needs to be done in a menu. Journey, a PS3 title currently in beta, does away with a HUD entirely as well, along with any clear communication aside from some brief control indicators early in the game, leaving all pertinent gameplay information to be portrayed through the character's appearance on-screen. This sort of approach forces the player to pay a great deal more attention to the game world and the character they're controlling, lending itself to a far more involved, and likely more memorable, experience on the whole. Being stuck, as we are, in a day-to-day world where so much is mappable, GPS-able, wiki-able, or otherwise already discovered and explored, it would be nice if game developers could spend more time giving us more new frontiers to explore for ourselves, and spend less time coddling us players as we explore those worlds. Contextual relaying of information would be a great way to make players feel like they're really part of things that are happening onscreen, and inspire more interest in stories that they subsequently feel they're impacting, which, I feel, would lead to more impactful and memorable games, something the industry seems to be seeing a fair drought of the past few years, despite a glut of releases every month. Your 3D televisions, motion controls, and all that rubbish are not the way to make games more immersive. Toss that nonsense, and take your mini-maps, hit points, and other clutter, and throw it out too. Just tell me how many magazines I have, how many shots it takes to empty one, and leave me to do the counting. Let me know how many hits it will take to kill me, and I'll do my best to avoid that, especially if it's a very low number. Tell me which princess I need to rescue, scatter about some people/mushrooms/what-have-you for me to ask about how I should go about rescuing her, and let me take it from there. We're big enough kids, for the most part, that I think we'll puzzle things out in the end. Do leave me a reticle, though, if you are going to give me a firearm. I can't guesstimate where the bullets are going to go besides, "out the end that's pointed away from me," to save my life. |
| GamersFirst responds to APB Reloaded retail rumors Posted: 14 Jul 2011 12:15 PM PDT Over the past few days, rumors have popped up on various websites that the recently revived APB Reloaded will be receiving a retail release. This rumor spread when a post detailing a $29.99 boxed retail copy of the game appeared on the Facebook page of IGS CEO and founder Paul G Lombardi. Since then, the post has been taken down, and GamersFirst has issued a statement on the rumor: "Given that APB Reloaded has been the most talked about online game this summer and its unprecedented growth in open beta players, it has become very attractive to large institutions in the game distribution business. In just 6 weeks of open beta the game has attracted over 600,000 users and over a quarter million fans on the game’s fan page on Facebook." "As a result of this success, we’ve been approached by retail partners to launch the title on retail shelves. Although we are evaluating our options, we have not picked a potential partner as of now. GamersFirst is also committed to the Free2Play model and any retail strategy will be guided by those principles." GamersFirst has a history of being very open about their goals and methodology when dealing with APB. While the statement neither confirms or denies that there will be a retail version, it's reassuring to see that they intend to commit to the free-to-play model. If there is a retail edition, I'm sure it will be interesting to see how it's handled. |
| id talks weaponry in new Rage trailer, The Arsenal Posted: 14 Jul 2011 12:00 PM PDT There's been no shortage of information on Rage's guns and gadgets, and in the third installment of id's behind the scenes trailers, The Arsenal, the team gives us a closer look at the title's gear. "You pick up a shotgun, and you shoot a bad guy, and you know what to expect." Yeah, id knows a thing or two about making shooters. The weaponry may be the most exciting aspect of Rage and we've only just scratched the surface. |
| BloodRayne: Betrayal unleashed August 30 Posted: 14 Jul 2011 11:40 AM PDT In a surprisingly pleasant bit of news, it has been announced that BloodRayne: Betrayal will release August 30 on PlayStation Network and August 31 on Xbox Live Arcade. Nice! BloodRayne: Betrayal is well on its way to becoming the first videogame and/or movie in the franchise with an ounce of respectability (I love the series, but it's not respectable). Developed by WayForward and taking more than a few leaves from Castlevania's book, Betrayal is easily among my most anticipated digital titles of the year. Can't wait to start sucking again! Har har vampire humor. |
| LucasArts: Star Wars Galaxies not a sustainable business Posted: 14 Jul 2011 11:30 AM PDT With the imminent launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, fans of the long-running Star Wars Galaxies MMO were saddened by the news that the game is being shut down at the end of the year. There have been questions as to why no other payment options are being offered in order to keep the game afloat. Today, a LucasArts statement cleared up some of the confusion. "The decision to shut down the game has not been an easy one. SOE and LucasArts investigated every option to keep the game open, including taking it to a free-to-play model. However, that model just isn't financially viable. Changing the business model for an experience like Star Wars Galaxies takes a major investment and overhauling of the existing infrastructure of the game." "We're unfortunately at a point in our life cycle where a change of this magnitude is just not possible," continues LucasArts. "The harsh reality is that we've reached a point where the game is no longer a sustainable business." As hard as it may be to for dedicated players to accept this, it really seems that Galaxies has run its course, and the time has come to put it to bed. Other MMOs have launched and gone free-to-play in half the time that it's been around. LucasArts has said to expect plenty of fun and excitement over the next five months, but come 2012 there's only going to be one Star Wars MMO out there. |
| Get Baconed with new The Baconing screenshots and info Posted: 14 Jul 2011 10:45 AM PDT The team over at Hothead Games has been working on another game featuring our favorite Spanker of Death, this one dubbed The Baconing. New screenshots and character information have been released for the upcoming title, including an introduction to the Nuclear family. Continuing the hilarious tradition of quirky gameplay found in previous DeathSpank games, the characters revealed so far are decided oddballs. The Nuclear family is as much a name as it is a character descriptor considering that they have glowing green eyes and actually ooze radiation. The family -- parents Betty Nuclear and Dick Nuclear, son Elroy and daughter Chastity -- are all mad geniuses with questionable morals, whose hobbies range from cloning two-headed dogs to building Frankenstein-style men and constructing sensual massage robots. DeathSpank must enlist their help on his latest quest which will no doubt be epic, and the new images give a few hints about what we can expect to see in The Baconing when it's released later this summer on PC, Mac, and other platforms.
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| New Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard art Posted: 14 Jul 2011 10:30 AM PDT Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine has released a batch of screenshots for its expansion Rise of Isengard, including new concept art of the mighty Draigoch, an enemy that will require a band of 24 players to take down! Players will also get the chance to journey to three new regions in Middle Earth, including Dunland, the Gap of Rohan and Isengard itself. Whilst there players will have the chance to visit Orthanac, one of the legendary Two Towers, where the corrupt wizard Saruman's influence holds. Rise of Isengard will also feature a raise in level cap, so players will be able to battle their way to level 75. Lord of the Rings Online has seemingly grown in popularity since it became free to play towards the end of last year and with this new expansion on the way, Middle Earth fans are going to be kept questing for a long time to come. Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard is set to launch on September 27th, 2011. |
| Review: Ocarina of Time 3D Official Soundtrack Posted: 14 Jul 2011 10:00 AM PDT Nintendo has been sending out free soundtracks for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D to anybody who registers the game. My own copy arrived yesterday and I felt it would be a good idea to give the thing a full review. The above video tells you all you need to know about this cool little gift. |
| The Cursed Crusade: Date, price, cover art and more Posted: 14 Jul 2011 09:30 AM PDT
The Cursed Crusade just got a huge info dump today. Atlus tells us that the game will be released on October 11th for PS3, Xbox 360 and PS3. The best news is the price point: $39.99. I'll happily add this beast of a hack-and-slash to my library for that price. Also revealed today: The cover art for The Cursed Crusade. Denz looks like a total badass in the artwork. Atlus says that this art is meant to highlight the main characters' transformation over the course of the game. You'll find this box art along with some new screenshots in our gallery. Finally, there's a brand new trailer for the game. This one shows of more footage than ever before. The Cursed Crusade is looking pretty good, don't you think? |
| Former BioWare artist announces Emissary of War for iOS Posted: 14 Jul 2011 09:15 AM PDT Tobyn Manthorpe -- who worked as a technical artist at BioWare from 1997-2007 -- and his indie studio Cedar Hill Games have announced Emissary of War today. It's a full 3D dungeon-crawler with a custom engine and even voiceovers. So if you've been complaining about a lack of core titles on the iPhone and iPad, you can stop now. As a barbarian named Ghent, you are sent on a diplomatic mission that goes awry. With an alchemist companion named Hassock (this is what 10 years at BioWare does to you), you'll be doing a lot of hacking, slashing, upgrading, and tactics management. There appears to be some mechanic in place that lets you balance control of the two characters. A Dragon Age kind of game for iOS, perhaps? It's hard to say right now if the tiny team will succeed where many others have failed to bring a truly engaging game of this type to iOS, but with the experience of a ton of classic Western RPGs behind the studio, Emissary of War might just surprise us. Here's to hoping the story and controls will be good, and that it won't cost $9.99 or something silly like that. Also, Detonation Sword. |
| The Memory Card .96: Farewell, Klonoa Posted: 14 Jul 2011 09:00 AM PDT When you play a certain videogame series or genre, it is sometimes expected that you will encounter some form of memorable videogame moment. If you are playing a Metal Gear Solid game, for instance, you know one of the boss battles will blow you away. When you play a JRPG with a spiky-haired protagonist, you know one of the story twists will either touch your heart or leave you confused and bewildered. But all of these moments are expected. It doesn’t make them any less memorable, but all the shock and surprise of encountering these moments is taken away when you know something is coming. That’s what makes encountering a memorable moment in a seemingly random videogame all the more special. And this has never been more apparent for me than when playing Klonoa: Door to Phantomile on the original PlayStation. I went into that game expecting to play a colorful, fun platformer. I didn’t expect to be moved to tears. The Set-Up There was time in the early days of the PlayStation, when beautiful 2.5D platformers with 3D backgrounds were being released on a fairly regular basis. I loved them all, as they combined my love of side-scrolling platform games with the new, fancy technology of 3D graphics. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile was one of these games. The minute I saw the first screenshot I was already in love. In the game, you play as the main cat-like character Klonoa, a resident of the fantastic, colorful world of Phantomile. In Phantomile, many of the citizens have trouble remembering their dreams since the entire world itself thrives off of these dreams. Because of this, dreams are very loose and airy, never really latching themselves onto the minds and memories of the people of Phantomile. At the very start of the game, though, Klonoa has a very clear dream -- the clearest he has had in years! -- about a giant airship crashing into a mountain. Days later, this event actually happens! Curious as always, Klonoa takes his best friend Huepow to go investigate the mysterious crash. When they reach the crash site, Klonoa and Huepow discover two foreboding creatures. One is named Ghadius and the other is his servant, a creepy clown named Joka. Both reveal that they are searching for a mystical pendant that will grant them endless amounts of power. Before departing, Ghadius and Joka kidnap a young woman named Lephise. Determined to get her back, Klonoa and Huepow decide to chase after the two mysterious enemies. Their journey takes them through many realms and environments, eventually leading back to Klonoa’s own house. Here, Ghadius and Joka find the hidden pendant and steal it away from Klonoa, killing his grandfather in the process. Enraged, Klonoa sets out to defeat the horrible antagonist. On the top of a giant tower, Klonoa confronts Ghadius. After a long, complicated battle, Klonoa defeats Ghadius and Joka, preventing them from bringing nightmares to the land. Upon his defeat, Ghadius unleashes an even more powerful creature, a beast of pure evil called Nahatomb. Traveling to the Moon Kingdom, Klonoa and Huepow follow Nahatomb, determined to stop his evil ways. With the help of all the allies they met throughout the game, Huepow sacrifices himself to defeat Nahatomb and bring peace to Phantomile. But with this peace comes a secret that Klonoa never saw coming. It is this secret that is this week’s Memory Card moment: Farwell, Klonoa. The Moment As Nahatomb falls, the kidnapped princess Lephise appears above Klonoa. She thanks him and tells him all the nightmares have disappeared. At this moment, Huepow appears. He isn't actually dead! The two are ecstatic to see each other. Klonoa tells Huepow that they will be “together always.” The two embrace and journey back to Phantomile together. Near Klonoa’s house, Huepow and Klonoa sit on the edge of a hill, staring at the beautiful world in front of them. For Klonoa, the moment could not be any better -- sharing a world of peace with his best friend. But Klonoa senses something is wrong. Huepow is not speaking and is acting different. He is distracted by something. Klonoa tries to get his friend to smile, reminding him about how much the two of them can hang out and play in the newly saved world. Huepow takes a deep breath. He looks at Klonoa and reveals something to him. “You’re actually ... “ Huepow slowly says. “You’re really ... You don’t really exist in this world.” Klonoa is shocked. Huepow continues, revealing all to Klonoa. He tells him how he called Klonoa to Phantomile from a different world to restore the balance of dreams. Klonoa doesn’t believe any of it. He tells Huepow how he remembers growing up in Phantomile. He remembers living a life with Huepow. He remembers the day he met. The times they used to play together. Huepow tells Klonoa those are all false memories that he implanted in this head when he was brought to Phantomile. Phantomile is not Klonoa’s reality. Klonoa starts to get angry. He can’t believe what he is hearing. Before Huepow even has time to say anything, Lephise appears at the top of the local bell tower and begins singing a song. The song forms a portal in the sky. A portal that will take Klonoa back to his own world. The portal begins to pull Klonoa towards it. Huepow looks down. He tells Klonoa it is time for him to go home. Klonoa starts to scream. “I don’t want to! I don’t want to!” The portal pulls Klonoa closer. Suddenly, Huepow has a revelation. He doesn’t want to say goodbye to Klonoa. He rushes towards him and grabs the large ring Klonoa is carrying. Klonoa rises in the air. The only thing keeping him in this world is Huepow’s hard grip on the ring. Huepow starts to cry and scream. The force of the portal gets stronger. Without warning, Klonoa loses his grip and flies backwards. His last word before entering the portal echoes throughout Phantomile. “Huepow!” Klonoa screams as the portal flashes white and closes forever. Huepow stares into the sky, stunned. He starts to cry. With this, Lephise’s song grows louder. Sun beams break through the clouds and bath the land below with their warm light. Flowers start to bloom everywhere. Huepow wipes away his tears and looks to the sky. He smiles. Farewell, Klonoa. You can watch the surprisingly emotional conclusion to Klonoa: Door to Phantomile right here: The Impact I like to think it has a lot to do with the fact that I never in a million years would have expected to be so moved by the story in a game like Klonoa, but, for whatever reason, I actually shed a tear (or two) at the end of the game. The story really touched me. Klonoa surprisingly taps into the universal feelings of friendship and loss. Anyone can relate to these things, and the game does an outstanding job of building up this strong relationship between Klonoa and Huepow the entire game. So when the final boss is defeated, it comes at nothing less than a major shock to hear that Klonoa doesn’t actually live in the world of Phantomile and that all the memories he has with Huepow are made up. Since the friendship with Klonoa and Huepow is so well-established in the game, this news also hits the player just as much as it hits Klonoa. You feel blindsided, angry, and sad, just as Klonoa does. But the final scene works for many more reasons than just the story alone. Without an exquisite amount of direction, the scene would fall apart and not be nearly as effective. When Huepow and Klonoa start talking on the hill, the scene plays out like any other in-game cutscene. The two exchange dialogue and the whole scene feels like the pleasant conclusion to any other game. But then Huepow reveals the truth. At this point, a pre-rendered cutscenes takes over. Lephise is shown in the bell tower as she begins to sing. The song is beautiful and really adds to the scene’s emotions. Then, the shot cuts back to Klonoa and Huepow. After only a small amount of dialogue, the rest of the scene plays out with nothing but visuals and music. This scene could have easily been polluted with an over-abundance of dialogue, but choosing to have the conclusion play out in a pre-rendered cutscene with almost no words is absolutely genius ... and strikingly powerful. Just look at Klonoa’s face as he is pulled back into the portal. He is scared, hurt, confused. He doesn’t want to leave his friend, even if their memories together and not even real. He cares for Huepow, even after hearing the truth. He wants to stay in Phantomile. He would do anything to stay in Phantomile. He longs to stay with his friend so much that you, the player, almost want to reach through the T.V. yourself and grab a hold of him. All of this pain and sadness can be seen on Klonoa’s face. And the game’s directors, animators, and designers did this. They created this moment from nothing more than an idea. This beautiful moment that has the power to bring a tear to your eye. This moment between two characters you never thought you cared about until that last second before Klonoa loses his grip on the ring. When you combine the choreography of the scene, the angles of the camera, the gorgeous musical score -- when you combine all these things it creates this beautiful, haunting conclusion to a very sad and surprisingly emotional story. Not many people went into Klonoa: Door to Phantomile expecting a story that could possibly make them cry. I know I didn’t. But, man, I did cry. More than I think I care to remember. And that is the reason this moment is so special.
The Memory Card Save Files Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 |
| Your first look at Chemical Plant in Sonic Generations Posted: 14 Jul 2011 08:45 AM PDT Famitsu has revealed two stages for the upcoming Sonic Generations -- Chemical Plant and Stardust Speedway. A bunch of rather dirty scans have hit the 'net as well, so check those out for your first glimpse. Looking forward to finally seeing Chemical Plant in action. Undoubtedly one of the best Sonic levels ever, with a brilliant backing soundtrack to boot, I am crossing my fingers for an excellent HD representation. |
| Final Fantasy XIII-2 screens: Worst military suits ever Posted: 14 Jul 2011 08:30 AM PDT I have some new screenshots of Final Fantasy XIII-2 today. They're pretty enough, as expected, but I realized something after looking at them today that I should have noticed a long time ago. The military outfits in Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 are ridiculous! They make the hair, belts and buckles on the main characters seem sensible. I mean, come on! Instead of something dark or camouflage, these guys are wearing bright yellow. And what's with the neon rings on their legs? Are they going to a rave after the random encounter? The rest of the screens are lovely, even if I'm not sure what's going on. Serah's skimpy outfit is fitting for a main character from a Square Enix RPG epic, wouldn't you say? Not enough pink hair in these screens, though. Elsewhere, Bahamut gets his ass kicked. Some NPCs have very little to say. They're screenshots. What do you want from me? |
| So many Kirbys! Kirby Mass Attack preview Posted: 14 Jul 2011 08:15 AM PDT Kirby Kirby Kirby Kirby Kirby Kirby Kirby Kirby Kirby Kirby! Yes, I'm excited for a new Kirby game, but the reason I just repeated the pink little suckball's name is because that's exactly how many Kirbys you'll be controlling in Kirby Mass Attack. An evil villain has split Kirby up into ten pieces, and you need to find a way to put Kirby back together as one. Kirby Mass Attack (DS) This time around you need to use your little Kirby army to get through the game, as opposed to the traditional consuming of your enemy's abilities. You start off with one Kirby and must collect fruit to fill up a meter to get more Kirbys. You can get up to ten, after which you'll just continue to accumulate points for collecting fruits. Having multiple Kirbys will be key in order to progress, as there are numerous obstacles and paths that can only be accessed by a certain amount of the pink heroes. Certain obstacles, like giant plants for example, can only be pulled down if you have a few Kirbys latched on. Levels themselves need a minimum amount of Kirbys before you can enter them too, such as the boss stage that requires all ten Kirbys. There will be plenty of replayability too as you go to levels multiple times in order to collect goodies you missed the first go-around like special coins due to lack of Kirbys. Other than that, you can proceed to any level on a map in any order you want, so long as you have the right number of Kirbys. Even though you have a little army, the controls are simple enough so that all the Kirbys respond together. You just tap or hold on the touch screen to move your Kirbys forward. To attack, you tap on an enemy and watch your Kirbys swarm over their target. By doing a flicking motion with the stylus, you can fling your Kirbys at enemies or blocks. You'll also be able to guide your Kirbys by drawing a path, like in Kirby: Canvas Curse. By holding down the stylus on the touch screen, all the Kirbys will clamor around the point you're touching. They'll then follow the path you trace until you've hit the line's length limit. When a Kirby gets hurt, it'll turn blue. If it gets hurt again, it turns into an angel and drifts away. Angel Kirbys can be saved by flicking another Kirby to pull them back down. If the angel escapes though, you can just repeat the whole fruit-collecting thing to bring it one back -- there's plenty of fruit to spare. There's also a healing loop located at the mid-point of each level to heal blue Kirbys. That's basically the gist of it. It's an odd-sounding concept, but just watch the trailer above to get a basic sense of it all. Despite the weird premise, Kirby Mass Attack was plenty of fun. Controls were simple and intuitive, and you're a horrible, inhuman filth monster if you don't like Kirby! |
| Posted: 14 Jul 2011 07:45 AM PDT DrawRace is free today, as found on Touch Arcade. I gave it a spin, and after some initial annoyances with the tutorial where you are unable to restart it without having to sit through the explanations again, I have to say it's quite a bit of fun. Instead of dealing with virtual sticks or touch buttons, you draw a line through a lap for every lap in a race. A car will then race through the created path. The slower you move your finger to do so, the more the car will decelerate. Draw it quickly and steadily and your car might be fast, but also lose speed around sharp corners. The result? Lots of experimenting with different paths to get the best times. It's fun for wherever and whenever, races are very short, and the different leaderboards will give you a reason to come back and beat your times. Grab it for free while you can! [Found a free App? Think it's good? Hit up Jim Sterling (iOS & Android) or Maurice Tan (iOS) and let 'em know. Please do so -- finding good free games is hard!] |
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