New Games |
- This Dark Souls trailer reaffirms why it's worth playing
- Suda 51 and Seaman creator making the Four Rooms of games
- Shadowrun returning to its roots in new free-to-play game
- Spellocity is a spelling game filled with words
- Skyrim's main quest can be cleared in around two hours
- Want to own a World of Warcraft server blade for charity?
- Team Fortress 2 celebrates Manniversary with an update
- Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Laying down the law
- Villains: Evil like no other
- Derpy Moogle's floor tour at New York Comic-Con
- Thursday means more eShop releases
- Here come the MIBs; Third film means new game coming
- Aion's 2.7 update is almost upon us
- Live show: Guardian Heroes on Mash Tactics
- Review: Go Vacation
- The newly revamped co-op mode of Battlefield 3
- NYCC: Check out browser-based MMO Transformers Universe
- It Came from Japan! Sweet Home
- Infinity Blade heading to arcades
| This Dark Souls trailer reaffirms why it's worth playing Posted: 13 Oct 2011 04:30 PM PDT
Have you still not picked up Dark Souls? What gives? Go watch that trailer one more time. Go on, I'll be here waiting. Are you back? Good. I know that trailer got you excited; you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not picking up the game this very second. I myself have put a little bit of time in the game and let me tell you that it really is as hard as people are making it out to be. I'm still in the first castle and it's no exaggeration for me to say that I've died somewhere between 20-30 times already. But it's all been absolutely worth it. So why are you still here? Go play the game already! |
| Suda 51 and Seaman creator making the Four Rooms of games Posted: 13 Oct 2011 04:00 PM PDT I love the 3DS for a lot of reasons. One of the biggest is that it's the last place for games that are not quite AAA budget HD titles, but not quite $1-$15 downloadable, to potentially thrive. With the PSP and the Wii both on the cusp of passing the torch to their HD successors, the 3DS is the last place where "punk rock" games might find success on the retail market. Case in point; Guild 01. It's a collection of 4 different 3DS games from 4 different creators, which is interesting enough in itself. It only gets better from there. The first game comes from Japanese stand-up comedian Yoshiyuki Hirai. It's called Rental Bukiya de Omasse, and it's about running an item shop in an adventure RPG, not unlike Recettear and that one part of Dragon Quest IV. Their next game comes from Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII veteran Yasumi Matsuno. It's called Chaser, and it takes place 1,000 years in the past, before magic became commonplace. There has been magic around for 1,000 years and no one told me? What a bunch of jerks! Then there is Air Porter, the airport simulator from the creator of Seaman. The slogan of the game is "Check Your Luggage on Time!", which is makes it instantly amazing. Finally, we have a new title from Suda 51 called Kaiho Shojo. It's about the President of New Japan flying a giant robot (called the "Liberation Machine") and kicking all the asses; the ones that belong to the evil criminals who stole a Shizuma drive-type thing. Sounds too much like Metal Wolf Chaos you say? Not to worry, this President is a young woman, and she's still in High School! Try to act surprised! This collection of games will form the Predaking of videogames, and it will be better and stronger than every other videogame ever made. Suda 51, Yasumi Matsuno and Yoot Saito Team Up For Level-5's Guild 01 [AndriaSang] |
| Shadowrun returning to its roots in new free-to-play game Posted: 13 Oct 2011 03:30 PM PDT In my youth, I spent a lot of time and money playing a pen and paper role-playing game called Shadowrun. Its unique mixture of a near-future, cyberpunk world with elements of high fantasy made it an irresistible lure for a kid who'd grown tired of slaying dragons with swords and wanted to try a rocket launcher instead. That property spawned two of the best transitions from the tabletop to the television in the 16-bit era but was dissed pretty heavily when Microsoft acquired FASA Studios (acquiring the Battletech license for Mechassault as well as snagging Crimson Skies) and produced an online-only multiplayer FPS which eschewed most of the setting that made Shadowrun such an amazing game in the first place. Fans of Shadowrun who were (rightfully) disappointed are getting some good news, as Cliffhanger Productions has announced their work on Shadowrun Online, a browser-based game focused more on combat strategy than twitch reflexes. The team has brought on a group of writers, community members and fans to consult on the project, including series creator Jordan Weisman, to ensure that fans get the game they've always wanted. I'm not a huge fan of browser-based games driven by microtransactions, but I don't have any opposition to them either. And I think I would play a Shadowrun game of that sort. I can't help wishing for a big console release with an open-world, a high-tech Oblivion with corporate espionage. That doesn't seem likely, so I'm going to console myself that a group of people who seem to genuinely care about the license are doing something with it. Shadowrun Returns As A Non-FPS [GameSetWatch]
|
| Spellocity is a spelling game filled with words Posted: 13 Oct 2011 03:00 PM PDT Spellocity is a new spelling game out for iOS devices for $.99 and while there are other games out in the market, this title may be more worth your time and the dollar that the devs are asking for it. Instead of drawing a line between letters to form a word, Spellocity presents you with a wall of letters and lets you pick whichever you want in order to form words for points. There is even a demo up that you can try, if you don't want to blindly throw money at people. I tried the demo, and enjoyed it. I may never win a spelling bee, but I still had fun trying to come up with long, point-heavy words. The game is only out for the iPad and iPhone right now, but there is an Android version in the works. I will be waiting for that one, so I can give these guys some money. It will be money well spent. |
| Skyrim's main quest can be cleared in around two hours Posted: 13 Oct 2011 02:30 PM PDT Bethesda game director Todd Howard has previously spoken about the company's internal speedrun competitions it holds for each of its titles. With The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim rapidly approaching, the company has revealed a new champion: Sam Bernstein from QA. He critical pathed his way to a main quest completion time of 2:16:10, followed ever so closely by Jeff Browne of Bethesda Game Studios with a time of 2:16:30. As impressive as that is, I'm sure someone from the general public will have an even crazier run shortly after Skyrim's release. For this achievement, Bernstein was rewarded with a trophy and will be getting a pumpkin pie from Howard. Reminds me of the competitions we used to have here. Our doctors tell us never to do those again. Jeff vs. Sam II: The Skyrim Speedrun [Bethesda Blog via Joystiq] |
| Want to own a World of Warcraft server blade for charity? Posted: 13 Oct 2011 02:00 PM PDT Next week, Blizzard is going to be doing some special charity auctions featuring retired server-blade hardware. These original World of Warcraft HP BladeSystem servers hosted hundreds of North American and European realms at one time. The company estimates a total of 2,000 server blades from roughly 500 different realms will be auctioned. Each one will be contained in a custom windowed case featuring the WoW logo. This case offers a view of the computer hardware inside and comes with a commemorative plaque signed by the development team. The server blades will be auctioned off on eBay in different batches over the next four weeks, with the first auction starting on October 17. A third-party company called Kompolt will be managing the auctions and the best part about this is that all proceeds will go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. For more information on the auction schedule or the FAQ about the auctions, you can go here. |
| Team Fortress 2 celebrates Manniversary with an update Posted: 13 Oct 2011 01:30 PM PDT It's been a year since Team Fortress 2's Mann Co. Store went into effect, and what an impact it's had. In that period of time, community item creators have earned some $2 million for their creative efforts, according to Valve. And since this is TF2, after all, we're getting a free update for the occasion. At first glance this may not seem very large, but take one look at the patch notes. Besides 30 new items, including the ability to try out weapons during a test period and a sale on most store goods until Monday, there's Steam Workshop. It's an improved system for content creators in which even the rest of us can provide feedback. Loadout presets, a high-five taunt, item decals, performance tweaks, and two miscellaneous item slots are among the other additions. Perhaps best of all is the incredible image of Li'l Saxton leaping out of a bear's stomach in an explosion of confetti. So, that happened. |
| Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Laying down the law Posted: 13 Oct 2011 01:00 PM PDT
The imminent existence of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has been the only thing stopping me from picking the original up. It's been a difficult road, but it will pay off soon. The new edition of the game -- with 12 new characters -- will be shown off throughout New York Comic-Con. Sadly I'm stuck in bleak Scotland, but I'm not jealous or anything... Since we can't all be there, Capcom have put together a wee spotlight for two of the new characters. Both these chaps come from a background in doling out legal justice. Phoenix Wright crushes his enemies under the might of a whimsical, baffling justice system, even throwing the book at Doctor Doom. Nova, like all good cops, uses the powerful Nova Force to subdue his foes, he absorbs energy and then blasts it back all over the place. What a mess.
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 extends the game with 12 new fighters, 8 new stages and new modes. You'll be able to get your grubby little mitts on it on November 15 in North America and November 18 in Europe on Xbox 360 and PS3. Fight! (in a month.) |
| Posted: 13 Oct 2011 12:30 PM PDT [Last week, I asked you to write anything you wanted about videogame antagonists. Today's blog is from meteorscrap, who points to a lesser known Final Fantasy Tactics as an example of a true, developed villain. Want to see your own blog on the front page? Write a blog on the current topic: Integration. -- JRo] Video game villains are, too often, throw-away boss fights at the end of a game, with little more importance than being the hardest dude in the game to beat. Barring bonus bosses there explicitly for the challenge, the final boss is often nothing more than the guy with the biggest HP total, the most difficult attack pattern, or the hardest to reach boss room. Nothing about them outside of the fact you fight them last really marks them as the villain of the story. Even when the villain in question is described as performing more tangible acts of villainy than "being Evil", we as players don't often see the results of these evil acts. All we have to go on is the vague assertion that the villains are evil because they're doing (insert action we never see in the game here). In most Castlevania games, for example, if you ignored the opening text trawl it'd be easy to paint the protagonists as the villains, with Dracula housing the world's supernatural monsters in a sort of nature preserve. Monsters from every corner of the globe are there, not bothering anyone, when some asshat comes through systematically murdering the castle's residents and then waking the guy running the place from his sleep for a rousing game of "Kill Your Face". Or when the villain is actually shown "being Evil", we aren't given any context for the evil. The villain is actually shown killing people, or burning towns, or otherwise being a nasty asshole, but we're not given any context for them to act this way as understandable, relatable characters within the context of the story. Final Fantasy VI's Kefka starts the game as a mockable villain, but we're never shown any shred of humanity beyond a throwaway line about early magic infusion techniques driving him insane before he jumps deep into omnicide. Lost Odyssey's Gongora is so deranged and outright evil from the very start that we're forced to conclude that he's making some plays just to be a dick, even at the cost of his plans. Few villains rise to my mind as being truly memorable while also being well-characterized, evil, and horrific, and managing to be realistic within the bounds of the story. A true villain should be human enough to be believable, but also pull of some truly bastardly acts which make you want to end them. The best villains leave you unsatisfied with how things played out because the punishment they recieved was not enough to pay the butcher's bill that they owe. So naturally, I once again turn to Final Fantasy Tactics for an example of true villainy. I'm not going to be discussing Delita here. While he makes a fine foil to Ramza for the duration of the game, he is not a villain. Any discussion of Villains which includes Final Fantasy Tactics, however, inevitably brings up people who paint Delita as the central villain so it's probably best to get him out of the way before I move forward. As a straight-up villain, Delita fails to even register. While he does occasionally pull some pretty dickish moves, he's just a reflection of Ramza's own struggle, and one who is all the more effective because he's the commoner to Ramza's noble: They each take the role that the other would play in a more boring story. One would expect the noble-born of the two main characters to be the helpful insider, playing his friend for political power and slowly destabilizing the current goverment to gain the reigns of power for himself. Likewise, being the guy who opts out of talking to whale the tar out of anyone who disagrees with him should be the province of the commoner who lost his sister and is out for revenge against the nobility, not the noble in hiding. Then there's the fact that even with his arguably less than honest intentions, Delita ends up saving Ivalice every bit as much as Ramza does. While Ramza spends the second half of the game fighting supernatural threats very few people know exist, without Delita working in parallel, Ramza's efforts would have the country without leadership, political or spiritual. All the world would have known was that Ramza, a dangerous terrorist, spent years assassinating nobles and church officials with nobody to stop him before he finally vanished without a trace. Likewise Delita's efforts would have come to naught without Ramza working in the darkness: Even if he were King, he probably could have done little to stop the rise of the world's anti-Christ. Even apart, they struggle together for one goal: Saving Ivalice. Delita only seems to be the villain because of how he manipulates the people around him, but he is inarguably a force for good within the story. No, the real villain of the story is someone else. Vormav Tingel doesn't play into the first quarter of the game in any way, shape or form. It's not even until the end of Chapter 2, halfway through the game, that the player even begins to see more of his manipulations than the very basics. All the player knows throughout the Chapter 2 is that Vormav was the guy who paid some thieves to waylay the party in Dorter and that he was there to convince Princess Ovelia to side with Prince Goltana in the upcoming civil war. However, that really only scratches the surface. Throughout the third of the game's four Chapters, it quickly becomes apparent that the Temple Knights, under Vormav's leadership, are in fact the ones perpetuating the civil war which is currently ripping Ivalice apart, using the power of the holy stones to bolster their strength and generally allowing them to move around unchecked. The sum total of their plot, at the time, appears to be to rip the country appart and allow Goltana's forces, the Nanten, and Larg's forces, the Hokuten, to exhaust themselves on one another so that the Glabados Church can step in and take power from the nobility and assume control for themselves. In and of itself, this is a marvelous plot, especially since it would have succeeded without Delita stepping in to usurp the plot at the last moment, leaving himself in power instead of the church. However, this derails only one of the two plots, the other of which involves the holy stones themselves. Each contains a powerful Lucavi, which is basically a demon. The game demonstrates that the demons work in tandem with the people who have chosen to take up a holy stone, provided that the person holding the stone is compatible. Vormav, for example, works with Hashmalum to achieve their goals. The stones also allow the holder to assume the form of the demon within. However, the important part of the holy stones is that their ability to influence the behavior of their holders is also dependant on what the holders are willing to let them do. This is demonstrated aptly with Weigraf, who chooses to spare Ramza rather than kill him outright when he first uses the stone, and then later when he fights Ramza himself until he's forced to use Velius' form. Even while wearing Velius' form, he chooses not to summon demons to help him until Ramza's own allies arrive to back him up. I bring this up because it means that everything Vormav does, even after he gets the stone, is him. That's the man he is. When Hashmalum whispers in Vormav's ear about a way to bring about the end of the world, Vormav listens. When his children get in the way of his plot, he is willing to kill them out of hand. When the leader of his religious order becomes inconvenient, he orders him stabbed and left for dead. Throughout the game, he uses his two children as pawns against Ramza, knowing full well that this will in all likelyhood get them killed. He keeps them ignorant not only about the holy stones he gives them, but also keeps them ignorant of the political plot they find themselves enforcing. Izlude gets killed when Weigraf slaughters the residents of Riovanes castle on Vormav's orders. Meliadoul is then allowed to think that Ramza killed her younger brother and chases after him for vengeance. It's only when she sees a holy stone in action that she begins to believe Ramza is innocent. She only ever learns of it through one of her father's flunkies, with Vormav never acknowledging her beyond that point in the game. It is not until the end of the game that Vormav's true villainy is laid bare. Chased by Ramza into Hell itself, he and the last remnants of the Temple Knights flee, dropping off one by one to try to buy Vormav the time he needs to turn Ramza's sister into the anti-Christ. It is only when Ramza comes across Hashmalum yelling in outrage over his sister that we learn that the civil war was, in fact, just a front. Hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, needed to die to soak Ivalice in enough blood to call forth Altima, the head of the Lucavi. The truly frightening thing about Vormav, of course, is how little he differs from the other characters within the story. Dycedarg, Goltana, and others are large-scale bastards, nearly as bad as Vormav. It is very easy to picture any of them becoming the monster that Vormav does by the end of the game. It's important to remember that even before he got his hands on the holy stone, the plot which was due to plunge the country into a bloody civil war was all Vormav, no devil whispering in the back of his mind required. This is something mentioned explicitly by another of the Lucavi: The plot to plunge the country into civil war was not an invention of theirs, but something that they hijacked for their own purposes. It's actually quite interesting to note that without the need to run around looking for a suitable host for Altima, it is very likely that Vormav's plot to gain control of Ivalice would have succeeded, even with Delita plotting against him. Without the distractions and the ultimate unimportance of it all, Vormav would have kept a tighter leash on the plan. In the final Chapter of the game, he basically lets the entire plot go to pot in favour of getting everything ready for Altima's return. He, a bloodthirsty maniac who needed to kill a good chunk of the country off in order to gain power, would have been ruling instead of the saintly by comparison Delita. Vormav picking up the stone and getting possessed by the right-hand entity to the most evil being in creation was basically the best thing that could have happened to Ivalice. So let's face it: When being possessed like that actually reduces the possibility of you causing problems for your country, you know you've broken the bastardry guage a long time ago. The war that pitted friends and family against one another was not enough to revive Altima, however, so Vormav pulls the final jerk move left to him. Rather than dying while facing Ramza, he manages to commit an act of villainy against the player: He robs them of the satisfaction of kicking his ass and making him pay. Rather than fighting Ramza, Vormav rips his chest apart and spills his blood on the holy stone which contains Altima, which brings it forth and proves to be the true final boss. Of course, in true Final Fantasy fashion, Ramza and company kick Altima's ass, but that ultimately pales beside Vormav's achievements. Every goal Vormav set for himself, he was in a position to achieve. The only reason Delita was able to usurp his plan of taking over the country was because he'd abandoned the end result of stepping in to take over in favour of using it to soak the ground in enough blood to bring back Altima. Ramza was two steps behind Vormav every step of the way, and was repeatedly tricked into furthering Vormav's cause, be it by being a handy patsy to pin his crimes on to providing him the means to bring back Altima in the first place. Even his death was just another way of furthering his crimes rather than an admission of defeat. Vormav is the ultimate villain, personally responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, abandoning his own children to further his goals, manipulating everyone around him, and doing so for the express purpose of bringing back the most evil being in existence. After everything he does, he completely escapes punishment or chastisement of any sort, presumably doing so with a smirk on his face and both middle fingers raised: One for Ramza, and one for the player themselves. |
| Derpy Moogle's floor tour at New York Comic-Con Posted: 13 Oct 2011 12:12 PM PDT It's been a long day. I thought I'd take a break and relax this evening as tomorrow is going to be a really busy day at New York Comic-Con. Plus, big plans tonight: I'm going to have a beer and some tacos and watch Hulu in my boxer shorts. Tonight I'm letting my newly adopted Derpy Moogle (Thanks, Square Enix!) assume control of reporting duties. He'll show you what the show floor was like on preview night. If you're wondering why his eyes are XXX'd out, it probably has something to do with overdosing on Hi-Chew and energy drinks. Enjoy Moogle's tour in our gallery below. Kupo! |
| Thursday means more eShop releases Posted: 13 Oct 2011 12:00 PM PDT It's Thursday again, which means time for more eShop goodness. Here's what's new this week:
I have never been even remotely interested in the eShop, but for those of you who are, I hope you enjoy this week's offerings. I know the fare hasn't always been great but sometimes Nintendo gets it right. |
| Here come the MIBs; Third film means new game coming Posted: 13 Oct 2011 11:30 AM PDT Activision has announced today that they will be publishing a new Men In Black game to coincide with the release of the upcoming Men in Black III this spring. The press release states that the title will release on, "consoles and handhelds," and refers to the game as featuring, "action-packed, yet light-hearted gameplay mixed with edge-of-your-seat shooting excitement," so your guess is as good as mine at this point. I like a lot of licensed games, but it's always a crap shoot when it comes to a title being released in support of another product, such as timing game releases with movies to maximize the merchandising possibilities. Sometimes you get something kind of special (like Saw, which I thought did an excellent job of capturing the film experience in a game) but you usually just wind up with Iron Man. Here's hoping, because I really love MIB. In fact, I think I'll go watch the first flick on Blu-Ray right now. |
| Aion's 2.7 update is almost upon us Posted: 13 Oct 2011 11:00 AM PDT
Aion players have something to look forward to as update 2.7 is steadily approaching. This new update brings with it a lot of PvP content and tweaks for existing skills, pets, and quests. A quick overview of this update definitely makes it seem like one to look out for. Designed for high-level players, the Crucible Coliseum is a "timed instance where players fight each other to the finish." The PvP action takes place in either the Arena of Chaos, a free-for-all arena, or the Arena of Discipline, a one-on-one fight. You can't, however, take part in these battles whenever you want as there are only certain times when they are open. There's also an update to the dragon's lair Padmarashka's Cave, allowing up to forty-eight players of at least level 55 into the area to take on Padmarashka. High-level content is always something to be applauded since, in my experience, that's where many MMOs take the biggest hit. If you simply can't wait to start playing this content, head over to the Aion Public Test Server (PTS) and try it out for yourself! There's plenty more I haven't mentioned, so be sure to check out the official update page for more info. |
| Live show: Guardian Heroes on Mash Tactics Posted: 13 Oct 2011 10:30 AM PDT [Not sure what Mash Tactics is? I've included a classic clip to show you just a glimpse of what you've been missing, you daft fool! You can see all of Destructoid's previously-aired live shows in our archives.] Today, Mash Tactics is playing Guardian Heroes, a Sega Saturn classic which has just been released on XBLA with updated graphics and online cooperative play. The game still contains its original Saturn graphics for those retro purists among you. We're giving you a chance to see if this game is for you. Or, if you've already bought it, we invite you to jump in and play with us. Mash Tactics airs Monday through Friday at 4pm Pacific. Watch Jon Carnage and Wesley Ruscher let loose with off-the-wall humor and discuss the issues of the day in the live chat on Destructoid's Twitch.tv channel. Also, there are videogames being played. Join us for your chance to win prizes, talk to industry guests, and witness all of the glorious antics. |
| Posted: 13 Oct 2011 10:00 AM PDT A tropical resort paradise overrun by dead-eyed, single-minded creatures that vaguely resemble humans, there shambling movements parodying the utter lifelessness all around them. I am not talking about Techland's Dead Island. This is Go Vacation ... something far scarier. For if there's one thing more numerous, tougher to kill, and infinitely more deadly than zombies, it's minigames. Go Vacation (Wii) Go Vacation is Namco Bandai's answer to Wii Sports Resort which, considering Nintendo released that game two years ago, makes it something of a late reply. Nevertheless, Go Vacation presses onward with oblivious optimism, presenting a series of small "open" worlds full of inane activities for players to engage in. There's a strange poetry to Go Vacation releasing so near the end of the Wii's life cycle as it serves almost as a reminder of what the system was all about -- collecting as it does practically every waggle-based minigame that the system has encouraged since it launched in 2006. From races with the Wiimote held on its side to simplistic volleyball and dancing games where players convulse on command, Go Vacation has an example of nearly every stereotypical game type the Wii has ever had to offer. Whether or not that's a good thing depends on how much you love effortlessly moving a white stick around like a trained seal. In all fairness, Go Vacation isn't necessarily bad. Its minigames all work as they should, and there's a lot of content with various extra challenges, unlockable costumes, furniture, and secrets. It's just that we've seen it all before, and usually with a bit more flair than this. Go Vacation is a very slow paced game and while that might be a deliberate concession to the "vacation" contrivance, it doesn't make for a very exciting time. Races are incredibly tedious, competitive games such as water pistol fights are bland and repetitive, and many of the activities are just vague variants of each other. Being a Wii minigame collection, many of the controls are less convenient than they should be simply to conform to the assumed obligation that one needs a minimum amount of motion input at all times. In this case, navigating the resorts is a pain in the neck, with every vehicle requiring players to tilt the controller in order to steer, even if it's something like rollerblades which need additional hand-pumps in order to accelerate. It would have been far easier to let the nunchuck stick do the steering, but Heaven forbid we don't get our five waggles a day! Speaking of inconvenient controls, it's really a pain in the arse to be expected to keep plugging and unplugging the nunchuck. Some games demand solo use of the remote, while others require the nunchuck, and players will have to keep yanking out the chord whenever the game expects them to. It's not a huge grievance, but it's a consistent annoyance nonetheless. There are also optional games that include the Balance Board and MotionPlus, but that's just more crap to plug in for no good reason. There's really not a lot else to say about Go Vacation. It's a minigame collection full of the same things we've "enjoyed" on the Wii for the past five years. They work as well as they always have and there's a lot to do, but there's very little to encourage continued play. The games are all rather mediocre, overdone and sluggish, while the faux anime characters in their bland resort environments are completely charmless. Perhaps this would have been a cute little game half a decade ago, but so close to the end of the Wii's life cycle, it smacks of Namco desperately trying to milk the minigame cow one last time. As an ironic celebration of the Wii's most compelling and infamous problem, Go Vacation's selection of tepid and shallow activities might serve some amusing merit, but I don't think even the "family demographic" this is aimed at could find much to enjoy here. To call it bad would be unfair, but to call it anything better would give it more credit than it deserves. It simply ... exists. |
| The newly revamped co-op mode of Battlefield 3 Posted: 13 Oct 2011 09:45 AM PDT Fans of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 clamored for a cooperative mode for months after the game released, and when it finally came in the form of "Onslaught Mode," many were disappointed at its lackluster AI and generally tacked-on design. Battlefield 3's new co-op mode seems poised to change all of this, with dedicated co-op missions that take you and a buddy through a fully fleshed out map with enemies that react in a challenging and intelligent way. During EA's Final Hours event, I paired up with another game journalist in a mission called "Hit and Run," where we began in a darkened office complex at night and were instructed to quickly put claymore mines down in preparation for an imminent breach. The enemies breached from all sides, their flashlights blinding us as they came in through windows and battered-down doors. I quickly hunkered down under a desk while my teammate uttered a few words of surprise as he was taken down in the other room. I realized I would have to be quick if we were ever going to get past the first part of the mission, so I tossed a couple of grenades, stepped out of cover for a moment to take down who was left, and then ran to the darkened room, where my downed teammate was still engaged in an intense gun fight with a guy shining his flashlight at him. Fortunately, my teammate took him down and I ran over and helped him up. This scenario played out many times over the next parts of the mission (usually I was the one down while my teammate dove from cover to help me, as I was often a little too gung-ho to get into the action.) Even though we had set the gameplay to "Easy" mode, the enemies provided a serious challenge and we had to communicate frequently to call out where enemies were taking us down from or to coordinate attacks where one of us would distract the enemy AI and the other would flank them. At one point in the mission, we even had to separate with one of us taking the floor below and the other taking the floor above. Through consecutive playthroughs we noticed that the gameplay would even change up at this part a bit, so that one of us was always immediately attacked as we breached a door while the other had a moment to breathe before running into the room. Most of all, this mode was actually really exciting. It was filled with tense moments and with a good co-op buddy it provided a challenging and fun scenario that required serious strategy and good communication. We played through the map at least six times before we managed to beat it, though in one of those instances we had to restart the game because it stopped bringing us to any new checkpoints when we were ready to breach a door. Even with this potentially game-breaking glitch (which we made sure the reps were well aware of), we didn't really mind as it gave us an excuse to play through the beginning again and figure out what new way we could approach the earlier intense firefights. Granted, even our build of the game was still not the finished product, so our experience of the glitch is probably (hopefully) already being dealt with before release. The mission ended with an exciting little portion where I commandeered a jeep and drove it through a parking garage with the enemy surrounding us as my partner did his best to take potshots from the window. I completely controlled the driving, and it gave me a moment of feeling like a total Die Hard badass as I avoided insane enemies shooting machine guns from their cars and even launching rockets at our vehicle as we swerved and veered out of the garage. If this mission was anything to go by, the other five co-op missions included in Battlefield 3 should be an awesome addition to the normal multiplayer modes with a lot of replayability and tense moments of intense combat. With a good buddy at your side, spouting one-liners and dropping fools will make you feel like a true action/buddy cop movie badass. |
| NYCC: Check out browser-based MMO Transformers Universe Posted: 13 Oct 2011 09:30 AM PDT Jagex, the Cambridge, UK-based studio behind such browser-based games as RuneScape, is bringing the metal-on-metal war of Transformers to web browsers with an upcoming free-to-play MMO, Transformers Universe. Last night, I attended a Hasbro press event in New York, during which the Jagex folks ran a brand-new trailer for the game. The video featured various Transformers doing Transformer-y things like, well, transforming and brawling, and was designed to show off the game's art direction. (You can see 12 stills from the trailer in the gallery below.) However, if the images here pique your interest, you can visit the Transformers Universe booth (#522) at New York Comic Con this weekend to see more. The Jagex team has put together a fun experience for visitors, who will be able to see the trailer I watched last night, as well as customize their own Transformer and get a photo taken with their creation, and pledge allegiance to the Autobots or the Decepticons.
|
| It Came from Japan! Sweet Home Posted: 13 Oct 2011 09:00 AM PDT [It Came from Japan! is a series where I seek out and review the weirdest, most original and enjoyable titles that never left the Land of the Rising Sun.] I love haunted house films. I hate haunted house games. They scare me a bit too much. Okay, I guess I love them too! Sweet Home is ideal for a genuine Sissypants McGee such as myself. Spooky but not terrifying. Gruesome but not disgusting. The limitations of the NES keep it from being truly horrific, but Capcom still managed to design a game that gets under your skin. However, the reason you'll remember Sweet Home long after you play it has more to do with the quality of the game itself. More than being just an early example of horror tropes in gaming, Sweet Home is one of the very best games ever made -- RPG, adventure, Nintendo, Capcom, whatever. You need to seek this one out. The nightmares will be worth it! Sweet Home (Famicom) Fan translation: Yes The only times I've ever heard Sweet Home being discussed was within the context of the survival horror genre. It's always thrown into survival horror retrospectives, mentioning its influence without really stating what Sweet Home is about or what makes it so special. I sense I am not alone in blindly accepting its placement in gaming history without looking into its actual value as a game. I had to correct this, and hot damn, am I happy that I did! If more had played it, I imagine Sweet Home would be mentioned in the same breath as EarthBound and Persona for showing what can be done within an RPG once tradition and standards are forsaken. Sweet Home is a lot of things, but mostly it's an RPG. Or maybe mostly an adventure game? Like Clock Tower, Alone in the Dark, and survival horror games that followed, Sweet Home is hard to classify. It is best thought of as PlayStation-era, slow-paced survival horror where RPG battles take the place of third-person combat. Great, now you are thinking of Parasite Eve! See how pointless it is to describe a game this original?
The game is an adaptation of a Japanese horror film by the same name, which makes Sweet Home an easy candidate for best film-to-game adaptation ever. The movie itself isn't very good, but it shares the same plot, so watching it would spoil the game. Just ignore it. The game came out the same day as the film, which makes me wonder just how long the it was in development. Nothing about it feels rushed in any way. Sure, it isn't very long (15 hours, maybe), but it feels perfectly paced and full of variety in setting and action. The game opens up with a documentary crew walking to a remote, deserted mansion. They have been sent on a job to preserve the deceased Ichiro Mamiya's paintings (or frescoes) within and come back with some photos. However, their plan is immediately thwarted when the ghost of Ichiro's wife appears and blocks the exit with debris. She's not very nice, and as you unravel the mansion's secrets, you learn she was even worse when she was alive. This introduction is done with minimal dialog and exposition. Within a minute, you are in control of the group and thrown into the game without any idea of how it works. Without looking at a guide or knowing anything prior, I was able to figure things out pretty quickly -- I imagine most players familiar with older adventure and RPG games will have a similar experience. Talking to characters, looking at objects, and grouping teammates are awkward at first, but they hardly sour the experience. Hunt them frescoes! At all times, you have access to five characters who can go solo or be grouped together into teams of two or three. This is important as each character has an item that you will need in order to progress. Akiki has a med kit that will heal any illness suffered in battle, Kazou has a lighter to burn away ropes that block paths, Emi unlocks doors, Taguchi photographs the paintings, and Asuka dusts them and cleans debris with a vacuum. Yeah, I'm not sure why a documentary crew brought a vacuum cleaner but HEY, VIDEOGAMES! You'll always be 15 or so minutes away from needing a given party member's ability, so you'll never want to keep your crew too far apart from one another. It takes some time to get used to the abilities and how they work, but they'll eventually click. When they do, Sweet Home becomes a brilliant adventure. Along with these character items, you'll also pick-up other items needed to progress. Figuring out their use is part of the fun. There are times when you'll have to struggle between deciding on carrying an extra potion or a pipe -- not that you have any idea when you would ever use a pipe. The game has a fair amount of backtracking, but it didn't bother me since it gave me an opportunity to level up my characters without the need to grind... EVER!!! We are talking about an NES-era RPG, people! Do you understand how crazy/awesome this is!?! Battles are another good reason to keep your party together. As you wander the mansion, you'll be thrown into random encounters that will bring up a Dragon Quest-like battle screen. You can attack, run away, pray, or use items, about as basic as it gets. Prayer, your magic attack, drains prayer points, which are also used for puzzles. The only way to recover them or your health are with tonics, which you'll find in random rooms across the mansion. Think of Resident Evil's herbs and you won't be too far off.
It's fascinating to discover where RE got all these ideas from and to see how well they work within the confines of an RPG. You think surviving off a limited amount of tonics would drive you mad, but the game is so well-designed that you'll always find one when you are on the verge of dying. Like Half-Life and Dead Space, Sweet Home does such a great job of drawing out tension by providing health at just the right moment. I never ran into a problem, but I always felt like my situation was hopeless. The game gets easier by the end, but the bulk of it requires you to play smart and use tonics sparingly. If you don't, a character will suffer permanent death. If you choose to go on, you'll be able to find replacement items for the deceased character's key item (e.g. you can use pills in place of Akiki's med kit). However, you'll want to reload that save for the better ending, since you only get it if all five characters stay alive. A full party also makes the game much easier. Item management is pretty difficult with only two slots per character, so you'll want all of them alive to save you some serious backtracking. Thankfully, the game has a save anywhere feature -- I can't think of many console games that have this at all, not to mention one from the '80s. I can only imagine how spoiled Japanese gamers must have felt when they want from this to Final Fantasy IV's traditional town and item shop structure -- which Sweet Home doesn't have since it all takes place in a mansion. The game is nothing but fighting, puzzle-solving, and exploration. As a result, you'll always feel like you are progressing and just around the corner from a great narrative twist.
Sweet Homevania Sure, "Metroidvania" sounds good, but Sweet Home deserves to be recognized to be the first game to fully realize the potential of a cohesive game world that connects beginning to end (even if Metroid attempted it first). The structure of the game is absolutely amazing. Every area is full of secrets, shortcuts, and memorable "a-ha!"-moments. Even within the first area, you'll come across doors that are locked and items that you can't reach. You keep looking at them, wondering if you are doing something wrong. Meanwhile, you struggle against every enemy encounter. Eventually, you'll unlock passages back to the first room, retrieve that awesome sword in the distance, and get through every battle with one attack. I can't think of another game that so seamlessly connects such a large area together. Nevertheles, the mansion always feels unpredictable as you go farther out and into darker areas. The change in scenery and music helps give every area its own vibe while feeling part of a consistent whole. By the game's end, you'll feel like you went on one long, crazy journey. The top-down view of Sweet Home and RPG approach make it possible for the game to have an intricate layout that is superior to those of Resident Evil and Super Metroid. Read between the lines (and paintings) The best games on the NES weren't known for their stories. In fact, other than adventure games, no games back then were. I wouldn't say Sweet Home has a particularly original or complex story, but the way it is told is innovative for its time and keeps it from feeling dated. BioShock may have popularized audio/diary logs in recent years, but Sweet Home did this way before anyone else. Most of the game's story is conveyed through secret messages, diary entries, and notes laid around the mansion. Unlike Resident Evil, each of these are limited to a sentence or two, so you won't have to read pages full of nonsense in order to get to the point. At the same time, important notes can often be vague enough to leave open multiple interpretations of the game's story. If you ignore most of the notes, you'll still be able to follow the plot, but you'll be missing out on the details. Another storytelling innovation in Sweet Home is the use of cinematic moments that restrict the player's actions. These scenes force you to play a role as you follow a character and watch events unfold. One scene has you following a strange man, while you trade lines of dialog. I was blown away by it, since I can't think of another game of its era that tried to do anything remotely similar. It's a great storytelling device that pulls you into the game's world and makes you feel vulnerable. The same can be said of the game's cutscenes, which depict some gruesome imagery -- there is a reason this never came to the West! The end result of all these elements is a story that feels believable and haunting. You'll buy into this bizarre world and its characters. I can only imagine the brilliant things the development team could have done in a Super Nintendo sequel.
Yeah, that right there ^^^^ is kind of gross. Since you can't have dogs jumping through windows or surround sound audio on the Nintendo, you can't really have jump scares. Sweet Home may not be the scariest game ever (hint: this guy is playing it), but it carries a surreal, unsettling atmosphere despite the limitations of the hardware. Capcom made the most of the system and managed to craft a horror experience unlike any other at the time. The music isn't very melodic, but it sets a foreboding tone. The enemy portraits in battle are vile and creepy. Every element of Sweet Home works to build a distinct mood to make it a timeless horror classic. The game has so many clever concepts that add to the overall adventure. For example, you'll need to use wax candles in dark rooms for the first couple hours. This limits your view and leaves you susceptible to traps and other threats. By the time you turn on the mansion's generator and restore power, you'll feel a sense of relief -- one you can imagine the fictional characters sharing. Sure, Resident Evil was originally intended to be a Sweet Home sequel, and the games share many elements (even the door opening sequences). However, Sweet Home should be recognized on its own for being a damn good game with its own unique setting and aesthetic.
This is the part where I gush more about how much I like this game. Sorry, but I have to ... Unlike most other mediums, tracing genres to their origin is usually little more than a nostalgia journey within the realm of videogames. You'd be hard-pressed to find a kid now who would take to the original Dragon Quest or Metroid. Sweet Home is the exception to this train of thought. Even though Capcom's 1989 Nintendo classic is the prototype for survival horror, it is in many ways every bit as good as Silent Hill 2 or Resident Evil 2. It's a strange title that merges so many elements of games we love (Metroid, Resident Evil, Dragon Quest, Maniac Mansion, etc.) that it feels fresh even in 2011. It's a nearly flawless game that isn't only one of the best JRPGs of all time, it's also the best game to ever be released on the Famicom/NES. Who knew? Perhaps Japan. ------------------- Can you think of another game from the NES era that scared you? How bad do you want another game like this (a game that blends Earthbound with Resident Evil)? Who is grosser: Dude with boils or throwing-up guy?
[C'mon, this isn't funny!] |
| Infinity Blade heading to arcades Posted: 13 Oct 2011 08:30 AM PDT The success of Infinity Blade knows no bounds, with news that it will be joining Fruit Ninja and Flight Control as the next iOS game to hit a big screen. A 46-inch arcade screen, to be exact. Infinity Blade FX will come to a Dave & Buster's near you via Adrenaline Amusements. You'll use both hands to play, and there will be a second screen for multiplayer combat. Outside of Dave & Buster's, the machine will appear in various amusement arcades and parks around the world. How about that mobile gaming, eh? |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Destructoid To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
