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Mar

Plus XP Exclusive: Perfect Dark (XBLA) Interview

Categories: Interview and Preview
Tags: interview, joanna dark, nick ferguson, perfect dark, XBLA, Xbox 360

After the announcement concerning the Xbox Live Arcade port of Perfect Dark, previously on Nintendo 64, I was excited to know more. So with a little bit of work, I managed to score an exclusive Plus XP interview with producer Nick Ferguson, who is involved in it’s port to the re-release on Xbox 360.

Leon: Thank you for taking the time to answer questions with Plus XP, Nick. After seeing the recent news on Perfect Dark on Xbox Live Arcade, we’re excited to know more. So, on with the interview!

The game has been given a fairly big overhaul, looking a lot cleaner than the original. Have there been any modifications to the game’s engine at all, or is it mostly aesthetic changes?

Nick: The original Perfect Dark codebase has been ported over to the Xbox 360, which means that the game benefits from higher resolution textures, geometry and performance whilst retaining the original game’s unique look and feel. Under the hood there have been a lot of changes to the game engine to keep it looking and feeling like Perfect Dark on N64, and the overall effect has been to improve the aesthetic experience to something that looks fantastic in 1080p HD.

Leon: The original Perfect Dark featured bots that would allow players to play deathmatch modes with AI characters to make up numbers and allow solo play on the multiplayer modes – a good feature that is sadly rare nowadays. Will we be seeing a return of this feature in the XBLA version?

Nick: Yes, I am pleased to confirm that the simulants will return in all their glory. Multiplayer games are still capped at 12 entities, but this can now comprise eight human players and four simulants (the original game was capped at four human players and eight simulants). Of course, if you want to play as a single human against 11 DarkSims, be our guest!

Leon: Great to hear that! Will this option be available in the online mode, or local only?

Nick: Online

Leon: With an improved multiplayer engine compatible with online play, I assume this will be a bigger focus than in the original version. Will there be any new features we can look forward to?

Nick: In the original N64 game, the classic weapons (based on GoldenEye guns) could only be used in single player. We’ve brought them into multiplayer as a series of Classic weapon sets, so players can now use the GoldenEye weapons on GoldenEye levels for the first time since, er, GoldenEye.

It’s no good supporting LIVE if you can’t find someone to play against, so the game supports a variety of matchmaking scenarios across both Solo and Team modes. In addition, Private Custom Games are supported so you can set up that painfully obscure game scenario you used to play with your friends all those years ago.

Aside from the boost to eight players, the game engine now runs at a solid 60 frames per second at 1080p. This makes a big difference, particularly in four-player split-screen where players can now have more resolution in their split-screen game window than they did in the original N64 single player game!

Leon: It has been said that there is to be new support for online co-op and counter operative modes. Can you tell us anything more about this addition?

Nick: The game supports two players over Xbox LIVE, in addition to the classic split-screen experience. Players will be able to search for games on any mission, and we hope it opens up the excellent Co-Op and Counter-Ops modes to many more players.

Leon: I’ve heard that maps from GoldenEye will be included in the game’s multiplayer modes – is this perhaps a sign that we won’t be seeing a similar port of the popular Bond FPS in the near future?

Nick: The Felicity, Temple and Complex maps which were included in the original N64 Perfect Dark are available in the XBLA version. No other maps from GoldenEye have been added to the game, and we have nothing to announce regarding DLC at this time.

Leon: Xbox Live gives us a lot of options for competing aside from online play – are we likely to see any leaderboards or similar features included?

Nick: Yes, the game has full support for Leaderboards on every mission from Agent to Perfect Agent. In addition, there is an Overall Leaderboard based on Percentage Completion. We also have 20 Achievements, which is a first for an XBLA title.

Leon: Another modern feature is the option for DLC to be added to games. Do you know whether it’s likely there will be any additional content available for download at a later date?

Nick: 4J have only just begun to recover from finishing the game, and you’re already asking for DLC? Well, that’s a good sign… but the honest answer is that we are going to wait and see how Perfect Dark performs on Xbox LIVE Marketplace before making any decisions. We should probably wait until at least one person gets 201% complete before making a decision.

Leon: Do we have an official release date for the UK? I need to set a date for my calendar!

Nick: Perfect Dark launches in the UK on 17th March 2010 – the same day as the USA. That’s right… no need to import the NTSC version this time around!

Leon: Excellent! Do you have anything else you would like to let us know?

Nick: Everyone involved has been working extremely, EXTREMELY hard to get Perfect Dark for Xbox LIVE Arcade finished and we really hope you enjoy the final result.

We know Perfect Dark fans were told the game was coming “this winter” back at E3 in 2009 and didn’t get much more information than that until X10 a few weeks ago. We managed to get some screenshots out in the interim, but for the most part everyone involved has been heads-down for the last six months getting the game done.

We appreciate that people wanted to know more about release dates and the like but (contrary to popular belief on t’internet) the game was only finished recently and we didn’t want to pluck a date out of thin air and then miss it.

My point being: Sorry for the wait, PD fans – we honestly didn’t have an official date till a few weeks ago!

Leon: Thank you again for your time, Nick. It was a pleasure hearing from you.

So there you have it – it sounds like all good news, with plenty to look forward to. Make a note in your calendars – 17th of March will see the UK release of Perfect Dark on Xbox Live Arcade – definitely something worth getting excited about.

-Leon

Feb

Guitar Hero Van Halen

By GuitarGirl24 Leave a Comment

Categories: Preview and Review
Tags: demo, guitar hero, Van Halen, xbox live

Mini demo review

I have been feeling a little ashamed of myself of late, and as it is game related shame I feel I must confess. As you all probably know I have been writing under the name ‘GuitarGirl24′ for some time now, and recently this has caused me a some conflict. You see though my name was in part chosen merely for my love of guitar solo’s (and I LOVE a good guitar solo) it was also a reference to my unconditional love of the plastic guitar. Yet recently I confess I have been neglecting my faithful fretted friend in favor of my much louder, more tiring plastic drum peripheral. I must explain. It is not that I no longer love my plastic guitar, it is simply that I have spent less time with the drums, and therefore find them more challenging. That combined with the fact that recent Gh and Rockband releases have been getting more and more family friendly with each new release (Or easier, lets not beat about the bush here) has swayed my attention away from the guitar and onto the much newer world of virtual drumming. This is the cause of my conflict, my shame. As time goes by I cannot help but wonder, will anything be able to re-ignite my passion for the plastic guitar? Or am I doomed to change my name to ‘DrumGirl’ and hot, sweaty and most of all tired for evermore.

By this point you may be thinking all hope is lost, and that I have given up hope, but fear not. 2010 is here, bringing with it hope for all of those who like their solo’s fast, furious and finger burning. For anyone who hasn’t read the title I am talking of course about Gh Van Halen, and for those of you without X-Box live here my take on a demo which I believe may just have the power to get us all strumming once more.

At this point you may be thinking that I am a huge Van Halen fan, I mean why else would I get so excited about this game otherwise right? WRONG. Beyond knowing the chorus to “Jump” my Van Halen knowledge is actually embarrassingly small, leading to the inevitable question: Why do I find this release so exciting? Its simple really, the demo beat me. At this point, primarily for the risk of sounding big-headed I will give some context to this statement. Though, I am in no way undefeated I rarely consider songs un-winnable. In the good old days of guitar hero I used to fail songs all the time, but as some of you who have read my previous articles will know recent releases have posed me almost no challenge. For example, I played Gh 5 from start to finish in expert repeating only two songs, suggesting either I have become a guitar goddess (unlikely), or the games have been getting easier. Therefore to be beaten 33% into “Eruption” and to be still hopelessly stuck at this point in time is VERY interesting. Could it be that Gh Van Halen has a set-list with difficulty to rival that of even Gh Metallica? It would certainly be a refreshing start to 2010 if it does, and after-all I do like a challenge.

As for the rest of the demo its pretty standard really. Same format of following a bands rise to stardom etc… Same slightly self indulgent feel that Gh Metallica had (oops, should I say that?) However it is worth mentioning at this point a few unexpected curiosities which caught my eye when playing. Firstly, On downloading this demo I couldn’t help but notice that it has a strange underlying retro feel. Though there are no major changes in graphics or gameplay (if anything the graphics have improved again) I did manage to spot a couple of little changes to the game which were more puzzling than revolutionary. For example it seems that the decision has been made to revert back to the more spaced out screen layout reminiscent of titles released pre- Guitar hero world tour. By this I mean that the score meter, star power bar and star meter have moved to their retro positions at the sides of the screens, instead of being down the sides of the fretboard. I find this change a little surprising as besides perhaps making it slightly harder to read your score and play simultaneously it accomplishes next to nothing. Slightly more pleasing to me is the appearance of the traditional Guitar Hero set characters. As you are all probably aware the Gh band members have evolved quite a long way since Gh 1, in my opinion reaching perfection Gh 3, only to change beyond recognition in world tour and beyond. I am pleased therefore to report that In Van Halen our favorites are more or less back to their old selves. Sure Judy nails has lost a few pounds, and Larz a little more trim, but at least Casey Lynch has her long hair back. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, that bob never suited her….

Anyway, onto more important things. Set-list. Now as you will expect this game comes with a fair dose of Van Halen tracks as well as a splattering of other “Rock hits’. During the demo You are able to play a selection from the full playlist including “Drop Nose” by Weezer, “The end of heartache” by Killswitch Engage, “Eruption” by Van Halen and “Panama” by Van Halen. Though Eruption was the only song to actually cause finger burn, all of the songs were intricate enough to be found enjoyable, and this leaves me hopeful for the rest of the set-list. On the subject of the rest of the Set-list please Enjoy.

Van Halen Selection

“Ain’t Talkin Bout Love”
“And The Cradle Will Rock”
“Atomic Punk”
“Beautiful Girls”
“Cathedral (Solo)”
“Dance The Night Away”
“Eruption (Solo)”
“Everybody Wants Some”
“Feel Your Love Tonight”
“Hang ‘Em High”
“Hear About It Later”
“Hot For Teacher”
“Ice Cream Man”
“I’m The One”
“Jamie’s Cryin’”
“Jump”
“Little Guitars”
“Loss Of Control”
“Mean Street”
“Panama”
“Pretty Woman”
“Romeo Delight”
“Running With The Devil”
“So This Is Love”
“Somebody Get Me A Doctor”
“Spanish Fly (Solo)”
“Unchained”
“You Really Got Me”

Other songs

“Come To Life” Alter Bridge
“White Wedding” Billy Idol
“First Date” Blink-182
“Space Truckin” Deep Purple
“Best Of You” Foo Fighters
- “Double Vision” Foreigner
“Stacy’s Mom” Fountains Of Wayne
- “Pain” Jimmy Eat World
“Painkiller” Judas Priest
“The End Of Heartache” Killswitch Engage
“Rock And Roll Is Dead” Lenny Kravitz
“I Want It All” Queen
“Sick, Sick, Sick” Queens Of The Stone Age
“Master Exploder” Tenacious D
“Safe European Home” The Clash
“Pretty Fly For A White Guy” The Offspring
“Semi-Charmed Life” Third Eye Blind
“Dope Nose” Weezer
“The Takedown” Yellowcard

True there is nothing particularly unexpected here, and some of the songs are of course Rockband repeats as usual. However Van Halen are know for their solo’s, and that leaves me hopeful that the gameplay will be more enjoyable than the set-list may let on. That is, as long as the solo’s we are offered are not to heavily reliant on the slider/tap feature of the newer guitars. Call me old fashioned, but I do love a good finger breaking solo…You know what I mean…

Just a couple more things. Though this game is like Gh Metallica in theme, I am pleased to say that some of the problems which once tormented me have now been fixed. The biggest improvement to me comes in the smallest of features. Unlike Metallica this game allows you to chart your progress through the different difficulty levels using tiny Guitar picks with roman numerals on. Each Pick represents a different difficulty (kind of like the skulls in world tour) and beside each pick there is space where your score for the song in each difficulty is written. I know, I know. this seems like such a small thing, but anyone who tried to play Metallica in two difficulties will know why this is so important. I also couldn’t complete this demo review without mentioning the great attention to detail that has been paid to animating the band. Every member is expressive and dexterous, to the point of being almost quite scary. Though their energy can be a little overwhelming at times its is nice that although once again it seems we must abandon our custom creations to “BE” Van Halen, at least our virtual selves look as if they are actually having a good time.

And thats it. The demo is still on line so if you have a spare 5 minutes I suggest you download away and see what you think. Oh and if anyone gets past 33% on Eruption in expert (Not using the tap and slide bar!) please let me know. I will make you a paper crown.

Oh, and before I go I will make you all a promise. I “GuitarGirl” hereby promise to resist the lure of the drums and play this title from start to finish on my plastic guitar. I Vow to be faithful to the frets once more, and resist my evil urges in order to once again justify my name. No longer will I be found banging from noon until night, else the gods of rock strike me down for…misrepresentation of goods………?

Until next time,
GuitarGirl24
x

Feb

Is Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Any Threat To The Competition?

By Garvaos 1 Comment

Categories: Preview and Review
Tags: mario kart, racing, sega, Sega & Sonic All Stars Racing, sonic

The first time I even heard the name Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing, I could not help but think Mario Kart clone. With a load characters from Sega’s past, present and future thrown into a wacky races style racing game – with weapons, question mark boxes and brightly coloured crazy race tracks, you can’t help but think Sega have definitely sped down the same route as their long-term rivals, who have made Mario Kart games since their first release back on the Super Nintendo entertainment System in 1992.

I have now made it abundantly clear that Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing (Or S&SASR as I am now going to call it to save my fingers) is a lot like Mario Kart, so lets leave this fact aside now and look at this game as a separate title.

Right from the get go the demo gives you a choice of two characters to race as, our good friend sonic and the Xbox Exclusive character Banjo & Kazooie. As this is only a demo you can only play a single race or a 2 player split screen single race; as there was no one to play with at this given time, I went for the single race, and I of course chose Sonic first - I have grown up with the blue needlemouse so I thought it would be rude not to.

As with all racing games you start right at the back of the group as the 3 second count down starts, it is then your job drive round the circuit in a three lap race trying to get over the finish line first. It’s the racing game standard that has not been changed for decades. However, in S&SASR you are have the opportunity to drive into question mark boxes which in turn give you either a power up or a weapon to use to your advantage. So you could get a considerable advantage over your racing opponents if you use these power ups tactically. Now from previous Mario Kart experience i had some knowledge of what the weapons did, as they were quite similar. But as I played through the race countless amounts of times I noticed that this game really bring in a challenge, even on beginner mode I struggled to get first place, which brings a smile to my face. I love a challenge. Mind you the countless amounts of times I did get into 8th place gave me an advantage, if you are lucky enough to hit a question mark box while trailing behind the other racers, who will get your all-star special item. Each of these is a unique power that each racer has to get back into the race. Sonic for example has all the chaos emeralds at his disposal and turns into super sonic, giving him a huge boost in speed which you can increase by repeatedly pressing A. One of my favorites though has to be Amigo’s from Samba De Amigo. He unleashed his special just as he was passing me, he got a boost in speed and then drew all of his opponents into a huge conga line. All the racers were dancing behind him, and as soon as his power ran out, the other racers exploded….Awesome.

While you are racing around your circuit, you will come across jumps, these jumps can again be used to you advantage, as you take to the air start mashing the left trigger to pull off an array of aerial tricks. If you manage to land on all four wheels you will immediately get a boost in speed, the more tricks you pull off, the more boost you will get when you land, meaning if you have a heart of a daredevil you will take some comfort in this small game mechanic.

As you can well imagine with the cast of crazy characters and a whole variety of ludicrous weaponry and power ups, thew circuits themselves aren’t going to be on the plane mundane side, even though the demo only offers you one circuit, there is a chance to take a sneak peek at what will be available track wise, in the full game, you got tracks inspired by the sonic games which will have a lot of loop the loops and helix turns. You also have tracks inspired by house of the dead, samba de amigo and super monkey ball just to name a few. So you can expect a whole variety of whack and wonderful tracks to race around when the game comes out on full release.

From what I have played and seen of S&SASR I will be defiantly keeping my eye on it, it looks to me that a lot of thought has gone into the characters for this game. I mean you would never think a monkey in a marble from super monkey ball being pitted against some hard-core fist fighters from virtua fighter in a race would ever work but it strangely does. A lot of imagination has gone into this game and I think it is a worthy competitor for Mario Karts throne.

Garv

Jan

Arkham has moved…

By Leon 2 Comments

Categories: Game News and Preview
Tags: arkham asylum, batman, dc, gotham, harley quinn, joker, rocksteady, WB Games

Batman: Arkham Asylum was one of last year’s biggest games – taking a fresh look at the Dark Knight’s world and building up a game from scratch – a dark and atmospheric title with the psychopathic Joker entering the halls of Gotham’s Psychiatric Ward and letting loose the madness within. A sort of semi free-roaming title, perhaps in a similar vein to Bioshock, Arkham Asylum had it all – fun combat, plenty of gadgets, exploration, beautiful graphics, your own Batcave and a fun story. The only downside really was that at some point, it had to end.

But where could they go from there? Arkham Asylum was perhaps the Batman title, and it made me wonder – who could possibly follow as a villain after the Joker, Batman’s most renowned villain? And how could they possibly beat Arkham Asylum for a setting?

Well, the answers have now become clear – in the form of a new teaser site. At the moment, it’s little more than a short trailer, but the video gives us some answers, while leaving us with ever more questions.

The teaser begins with a view over Arkham Asylum – the battlefield where the last game took place, where the Bat conquered his foes in an insane war against the Joker and his henchmen, the place now looking quiet after the events of the first title. However, as the camera pans past the gates of the Asylum and into Gotham itself – it’s apparent that something is wrong.

People are fighting in the streets, fires and explosions are going off every few minutes. What’s going on here? Are these people civilians, or ex-Arkham inmates? The camera pans through the wreckage, and through some doors into some sort of dilapidated amusement arcade, the body of a lifeless person carted around by an old car on the tracks. The place has a creepy clown-like feel to it…

And then we go up, to the upper floor of the building. The recognisable figure of the scantilly clad Harley Quinn appears before us, walking toward a hidden figure sitting in a chair before us. She turns to him, as if nursing him, or easing his pain. Of course, that hair does look rather green, doesn’t it?

And then we see him, at last. The Joker – weary but as crazy as ever, cackling to himself as he looks over Gotham, before his insane laughter leaves him in a coughing fit. Clearly the last battle damaged him, but he’s well and truly alive. Of course, who could ever follow the Joker, but the Joker himself?

After his spluttering is over, the Joker’s face fills with evil resolve, and we are greeted with the symbol of a crumbling Bat, before finally the ominous words… “ARKHAM. HAS. MOVED.”

So that’s it – you can take the Joker out of Arkham, but you can’t take the Arkham out of the Joker. Rather than returning to Arkham, it looks as though the Joker has come to Gotham itself, in some sort of scheme to unleash his madness upon the dark city.

There’s been little else in terms of news for Batman: Arkham Asylum 2, but I think it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing more Bat/Joker rivalry, this time taken to Gotham’s dark streets. What effect this will have in terms of scale of the game we will have to wait and see – but I think it’s safe to assume that the sequel will sport a similar free-roaming gameplay style – since that is perhaps what embodies Batman: Arkham Asylum itself. And if Joker and Quinn are alive – perhaps that means we’ll be seeing the likes of some of the other great bad guys from the original, such as the hallucinogenic Scarecrow, the monstrous Killer Croc, and the venomous Poison Ivy. I, for one, am excited.

But for now, that’s all we have to give you – stay tuned for new info in the next few months. I know the teaser’s got me salivating for more.

-Leon

Jan

The Perfect Revival

By Leon Leave a Comment

Categories: Game News and Preview
Tags: n64, perfect dark, rare, XBLA, Xbox 360, zero

I never really think of myself as much of an FPS fan, but in truth a large portion of my earlier gaming revolved around the genre – with titles such as Wolfenstein and Doom leading my way in the early years. As I moved to the Mega Drive and the Playstation my vision widened a lot, discovering the joys of RPG and action titles. However, when I got my hands on a Nintendo 64 (perhaps one of the best consoles for the FPS genre in those days, if not even now), I rediscovered the genre with GoldenEye, one of the most loved FPS games of all time.

Now, as much as I enjoyed GoldenEye, there was one game that I enjoyed so much more – Perfect Dark. Sporting perhaps one of the coolest heroines I’d seen since Lara, Joanna Dark, the title blew me away and had me hooked for a long time.

Created by Rare, the same company that brought GoldenEye to the N64, Perfect Dark featured a large focus on solo gameplay – something that’s always suited me. Sure, I love a bit of multiplayer, but in the end a game’s gotta be able to keep me entertained all by itself. With seventeen missions, the game featured lush visuals for its time, with a good range of weapons and some interesting gadgets, akin to a certain Mr Bond. While these missions were good in themselves, the game featured something quite unique – and surprisingly something that’s rarely been done since – multiplayer bots. In this way, the game allowed you to do standard deathmatches with only one player, or allow co-op play against a team of AI opponents. To be honest I was fairly young (about 13), so I can’t vouch for the AI completely, but I remember it being fun and never had a problem with it so I can only assume it was more or less done rather well.

One of the game’s best features was its weaponry. As well as having a large quantity, the game introduced the concept of secondary functions – almost every gun featured a second firing mode, which meant for double the fun, and some interesting abilities. Specific ones I have in mind are the Laptop Gun - which had a decent machine gun mode, doubling up as a portable turret - and the strongest gun in the game was able to activate infra-red vision, and could shoot through walls at a long distance. Insane. On top of that, a firing range accessible to Joanna in her headquarters allowed the player to unlock special versions of all of the weapons – renamed copies of weapons taken from the older GoldenEye title – a fun challenge and rewarding.

So naturally, when I heard about the release of Perfect Dark Zero on the Xbox 360, I was excited. However, perhaps the company hadn’t moved with the times, or they simply didn’t put enough care into the title, but for whatever reason it resulted in a semi-decent bargain bin title that was hardly a worthy sequel, even with the younger Joanna sporting an image rehaul.

Now, although I did play the original quite a lot, sadly I never owned a copy of my own, and I have since longed to get my hands on a copy to relive those old days – but alas, so far I have had no joy. Tracking down a decent quality copy, as well as an N64 Expansion Pak, is quite expensive even in today’s gaming market.

However, today I learned this great news – Perfect Dark is set to be released for download on Xbox Live Arcade within a month or so! According to Rare’s twitter, the title will be seeing a release in Q1, most likely February. There’s been no mention of a PS3 release, so we can assume it won’t be going multiplatform.

The port will include retouched visuals (i.e. slightly better textures and less pointy bits), and full multiplayer support both offline and online. If you’ve played the original, rejoice – and if you haven’t, it might very well be worth a shot, assuming it hasn’t dated too badly. I for one look forward to it eagerly, and will be downloading it upon release.

Let’s just hope they don’t remove the multiplayer bots, I’d love to see more of that in FPS games nowadays.

-Leon

Jan

God of War III: Ultimate Trilogy Edition

By Leon 1 Comment

Categories: Game News and Preview
Tags: blood and metal, collectors edition, eu, god of war, God Of war III, kratos, ultimate trilogy edition

Everywhere outside of Japan and the US (namely Europe and Australia) almost always get screwed when it comes to special editions of games, and even miss out on some games altogether. I for one am still bitter that Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories – especially seeing as it was released in the US, meaning that all of the translation work had already been done. This is generally because the UK isn’t seen as a big enough market, but for the gamers in the UK its really a raw deal.

With the PS3 unable to play PS2 games (read my related rant here), and being a big fan of the God of War titles, I was unsurprisingly disappointed that the US-released God of War Collection - containing both PS2 GoW titles remastered for PS3 - wouldn’t be hitting Europe’s shores. It was then that I heard some news, and naturally I thought it couldn’t possibly be true. It couldn’t possibly mean our country. But it was – and I’m happy to announce that according to Playstation Europe, God of War III: Ultimate Trilogy Edition will be coming to the UK this March!

Now this was worth waiting for. The Ultimate Trilogy Edition features the European edition of Kratos’ latest adventure packaged in a beautiful replica of Pandora’s Box. This alone would probably be worth paying a little extra for, but Pandora’s Box is known for holding wonders – and it certainly doesn’t disappoint; inluded within the box is also the amazing God of War Collection - that’s right, the entire trilogy in one fantastic box.

The included God of War I and II games have been remastered in HD with full trophy support – an of course it means that all three games can be played on the PS3 – now that’s a lot of epicness! And if you haven’t even played the originals yet, it should be plenty to keep you busy for quite some time.

Now, that alone sounds good to me – but it seems for once we’ve actually got a really good deal. Not only is the entire trilogy packaged in the box, but I can see why Pandora was so tempted to open the damn thing – as well as all three games, the package contains a selection of other goodies.

A huge selection of GoW3 DLC – including all four pre-order skins that have otherwise been handed out individually alongside the n0rmal editions of the game with various pre-orders from different sellers. Also a special arena mode with seven special challenges, and a full length documentary on God of War III
A selection of beautiful artwork in the form of an artbook and some postcards (why do they always do them as postcards? I mean, who would ever actually send one to someone? Never mind.)
Two CD’s – a God of War Trilogy Soundtrack, and an EP featuring a metal homage to GoW – entitled “Blood and Metal”.

Kotaku has stated that the package will be worth $100, which translates to a little over £60 in sterling. An extra £20 sounds like a no-brainer of a purchase, although I could see the price being as high as £80 when they actually price it up. Hopefully I’m over-estimating , but considering you’re getting two games, two CD’s and more, all in an awesome container - I’d personally be willing to pay as much as £40 for the pleasure. Due to be released in March alongside the release of the regular edition of God of War III, the Ultimate Trilogy Edition is a collector’s item for sure.

-Leon

Dec

Dante’s Inferno Demo Verdict

By Garvaos Leave a Comment

Categories: Article and Preview
Tags: Dante's Inferno, Devil May Cry, EA, god of war, hack n slash, Review

While I am on the subject of Dante’s Inferno, I gave the demo a whirl to see if the game had any more surprises for me. As you all probably know I had a hands on preview with the game at Eurogamer ‘09. So when I came to download the demo off XBox LIVE. I was pretty much expecting the same demo I played at Eurogamer. Oh how wrong I was.

This demo showed me the very start of the game. It shows how Dante got into hell in the first place, and shows the plot of the game. To cut a long story short, Dante was one of the holy crusaders who was ordered to kill innocent people under gods orders (apparently). He eventually gets murdered himself and has to confront death, who gives him a couple of home truths and basically says, you are coming to hell. Dante refuses and a boss fight against death commences. This is how Dante gets his mitts on the scythe he uses throughout the game. I couldn’t help but grin stupidly when death appeared before Dante, it was truly awesome.

So anyway death has been defeated and Dante is still wandering the earth. He thinks it would be a great idea to sew a tapestry into his chest to represent all the innocent lives he plundered as a nice reminder of what a bastard he was. He then returns home to find his wife, Beatrice dead, he then sees her spirit been taken away by who I assume is Lucifer and so the journey to hell begins.

This is the part of the demo where I have to congratulate EA. Because the slow but brilliant conversion of the earth to the gates of hell in this demo is seamless and well put together. We all have some idea of what hell on earth would be like right? Fire, Brimstone, demons coming out of any nook and cranny imaginable. This is pretty much what happens here, but it also has me thinking. The parts where earth suddenly is over run by hell demons, is that in Dante’s head? I mean if demons started sprouting up everywhere surly there would be riots and chaos but no one else can be seen running for their lives its just Dante battling through these demons by himself. So I am a little confused as to whether this will be all in Dante’s head or not. But hey thats story line for you.

The game play, I think is a nice mix between God of War and Devil May Cry. At Eurogamer I was thinking this game was just another God Of War wanna be, who does a great impersonation. But as I played through the demo, I could defiantly tell EA have been looking at all hack and slash games. As I played through I couldn’t help but notice a small bar in the bottom left hand corner of the screen, when this bar is full you have the opportunity to hit LB and RB at the same time to unleash Dante’s unstoppable power which kinda stinks of the devil trigger from Devil May Cry. Not that it’s a huge problem mind. Dante’s inferno is actually combing some great elements from other hack and slash games, and putting is own mark on it, which is pretty damn cool. What I also noticed is that you could condemn or absolve pretty much every demon throughout the game, which you couldn’t do in the demo I played at Eurogamer, I have also found out that the more demons you condemn the better and more powerful the scythe becomes, but the more souls you absolves the better your cross becomes, so it’s a pretty neat way of customizing your weapons. You also have the classic combo purchasing mechanic you have with pretty much all hack and slash games. So fans of the genre will be right at home here and will not feel alienated for a second.

Not much else to say here that is heavily different from my hands on with the game at Eurogamer. This is shaping up to be one hell of a game, and I hope to get my pre-order in as soon as I can, Even if it does come with Dead Space outfit.

Garv

Dec

MGS Peace Walker Update

By That Bloke In The Beanie Leave a Comment

Categories: Preview
Tags: big boss, konami, metal gear, peacewalker, PSP, shooter, snake, stealth

When you think of gaming action heroes, who comes into your mind? Sam Fisher? Dante? Nathan “Nate” Drake? Kratos? For me, there’s only one hero who sums up an all American bad-ass action hero: Snake.

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Love him or hate him, Snake is a well established and respected figure in gaming, despite the twisting, turning, near incomprehensible storyline around him. But seeing as the next big game in the series is set around the character of Raiden, a guy I could take or leave, even with his all new ninja-badassery; I’ll be concentrating on the upcoming PSP release: MGS Peace Walker.

OK, so its Solid Snakes father Big Boss, but you know you’re just playing another incarnation of Snake. The game is set after Big Boss’s last outing inSouth America where he saved the world again! Now a free agent, he’s decided to use his soldier stealing skills from Portable Ops to make his very own mercenary group named called ‘Militaires Sans Frontières’, or Soldiers Without Borders. They’ve been called into Costa Rica in ‘74 because a mysterious armed group has sprung up. This is a problem for the government because their constitution bans the creation of an armed force; meaning the country is up for grabs if you have the firepower. So far so standard, but the character development is gonna be where it’s at, finding out what made a former government agent into a ruthless mercenary leader bent on changing the world through military means!

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A key feature in Peace Walker will be the new co-op mode with 2-4 players involved on infiltration missions. As has been shown in trailers, Snake will be working with…clones of himself to exploit the enemy’s weakness, even going so far as to share a cardboard box. This is perhaps the most ambiguously gay duo since Batman and Robin, although the box now has more practical uses like using it to get the cookies down from the top shelf or to get over that wall which is just a tad too high to hop over.

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The combat interface has been changed too with MGS4’s over the shoulder camera replacing the static FPS mode, allowing you to fire while moving and be more flexible in a fire fight. You can also bring back incapacitated allies by performing CPR on them, though how that cures bullet wounds I’ve yet to fathom. Not forgetting the thinly veiled mecha Metal Gear bots you’ll be bringing down.

Still, the graphics look improved from Snakes last outing and it looks like the PSPs power is being fully utilised. So despite my sarcastic comments, I’m looking forward to Peace Walker and finding out what happened to Big Boss.

Dec

Just When You Thought Left 4 Dead 2 Wasn’t Enough…

By Garvaos Leave a Comment

Categories: Preview
Tags: 3rd person, capcom, Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, Zombies

Imagine you are stuck in a city which is very reminiscent of Las Vegas, Navada. A Zombie infection has broken out, and you are alone surviving the zombie infested casinos. But your not just trapped with Zombies here you are also trapped with a nice collection of deranged psychopaths to boot.

I am of corse talking about Dead Rising 2. The next big Zombie title to hit Quarter 1 2010. You play a guy called Chuck Greene, he is a former motocross champion and has decided to take some time out in a fictional representation of Las Vegas, called Fortune City. Untill the Zombie plague reaches the city and it’s up to him to survive the undead.

So as you can see straight off the baton here you are not secluded to one building. The first Dead Rising saw players battling zombie hordes in a massive Mall. Dead Rising 2 seems to be spread across a whole city, with plenty of weapons at your disposal.

Right, so if it’s spread across a whole city, then why doesn’t Chuck decide to high tale it out of there? Well this sequel is set to have a deeper story line than just mowing down zombies. Chuck’s daughter has gone missing and one of his key objectives in this game is to find her before it’s too late. So it’s got some more depth than just a guy with a camera, killing zombies and looking at his watch. Which is pretty good really, seeing as I like to have some sort of objective when it comes to killing Zombies.

Mind you though, game play wise you will still have the classic time management system you did in the original. So you will still be looking at your watch (but please for the love of god lets hope Capcom have taken Standard definition just a little bit into consideration). There will also be a variety of new weapons and objects at your disposal to fight off the undead hordes. Such as Wheel Chair, A Craps stick (you know the dice game in casinos, and the stick the guy uses to collect the dice back up, yeah that thing) and a shotgun with a pitch folk strapped to it. Believe me though, you are gonna need all these new weapons, wanna know why? Well in the original Dead Rising you had about a maximum of 800 zombies on the screen at one time, so back then it was a sizeable zombie mosh pit. In Dead Rising 2 you can have a maximum of 6,000 on-screen at one time. That is the equivalent of a Circle Pit at a Devil Driver Concert and believe me, thats blinking massive.

Now we all love zombie slaying as much as the next gamer, but we also love Zombie slaying with a friend, and Dead Rising 2 offers this. May I introduce the multiplayer element of this game, this game mode sounds pretty damn interesting and is kind of reminiscent of the old Smash TV game back on the Sega mega drive. The idea is that players will be put into a Reality TV show called ‘Terror Is Reality’ then each player is pitted against each other for some zomb ie slaying action, they are placed in a room and have to kill as most zombies as possible to rack up points. Players can use any weapons that are given to them from your bog standard melee weapons, to chainsaw equipped motor cycles. You will also have the option to prevent other gamers from scoring using ‘dirty tactics’, though it hasn’t been confirmed what those tactics are yet.

Dead Rising 2 sounds like a vast improvement from the original. It takes the best bits from the first game and adds to them, while also shoving a lot of new content in. I will be keeping a keen eye on this game, as I really didn’t get on well with the first one, but I really wanted too…. Maybe it was because of my Standard Definition TV, but who knows.

Garv

Dec

Super Street Fighter IV

By Leon Leave a Comment

Categories: Game News and Preview
Tags: adon, capcom, cody, deejay, fighter, guy, juri, super street fighter IV, t hawk

super-street-fighter-4-iv

I’ve never been a huge fan of the concept of game “re-releases”, when companies release games at full price with new features I can’t help but wish the full thing could’ve been released from the beginning – especially with the DLC capabilities we have with this generation.

So, unsurprisingly I was a little disheartened when I first heard that Super Street Fighter IV was to be a standalone game rather than a DLC patch; Capcom claimed that changes to the initial system meant that a patch was impossible – not that I’m ever sure what to believe. However, I’ve been keeping an eye on the latest news, to see if it really looks like a worthy purchase.

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The first two characters to be announced were T Hawk and DeeJay – after many rumours that these two were to be DLC after being dropped from the original roster, I wasn’t shocked by this – although personally they aren’t the first two I would pick to add to my personal selection. Still, they looked to be converted to the SFIV style well, and I could only wait to hear who would be announced next – supposedly there will be “around 8″ new characters in total, with all of them being unlocked from the start.

More recently, four new characters have been announced – and my jaw dropped when I heard who they were. First we have Guy and Cody, Final Fight stars who have previously appeared in Street Fighter Alpha, as well as Adon, the Muay Thai master, underling to Sagat. These guys are personal favourites from Street Fighter Alpha, and I drooled at the renders of them in SFIV glory.

adonsagat

The last character was to be a brand new character – and looking at Street Fighter’s cast, I really couldn’t imagine how they could create someone new who both fits in, and looks like an interesting addition at the same time. However, they pulled it off, unveiling Juri - a Taekwondo-using femme fatale with a touch of dark energy put into the mix using a cybernetic implant in her eye. Her moves look fluid and fun, and her character looks great.

Super-Street-Fighter-IV-juri

It’s hard to know whether there will be many - if any- other characters to be announced, the vague suggestion of eight characters not really giving us solid proof, but I hope we’ll see one or two more before – the more characters the better! (Shin Akuma, maybe?)

But of course, there’s going to be more than just an expanded roster. The game is going to feature new additions to the stages and audio, as well as the return of the fun mini-games from Street Fighter II, which involved smashing up cars and other objects using combos for some bonus points. New moves have also been added, and it sounds as though some of the original characters may be getting new Ultra moves – but we’ll have to wait and see.

Naturally, the online mode will be worked on, adding a number of new features, focusing heavily on group play with eight player modes such as Team Battle, and the interesting Endless Battle, which seems to work as a sort of “winner stays on” eight-player rotation mode. A tournament mode is also set to be downloadable, and hopefully this will be free, much like SFIV’s Championship patch.

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As a Street Fighter IV owner, I do wonder how much of my previous commitment to SFIV will affect the new version – whether alternate outfits will come as standard in the new edition, and if not – whether DLC will be interchangeable with the new game. I doubt stats will get carried over, but I think there will be a new full set of achievements/trophies to work on for the completionists.

There have been rumours that although people complained that SFIV’s last boss Seth was overly cheap, Capcom actually chose to make him even harder in this new Super edition. According to Seth Killian (the Capcom manager that Seth was actually named after), ”Seth will be even cheaper and more irritating.” However, I find it hard to believe that they would make a character purposely frustrating – surely that can only be a bad mark for the game. Let’s just hope this is more of a wind-up than anything, since Seth is possibly the worst aspect of SFIV. Let’s just hope his AI’s been tweaked in a good way – perhaps with more skill but less strength, or vice versa.

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Although the idea of buying SSFIV originally put me off, it really looks as though they’ve added to it nicely. The game is set to be priced cheaper than the original was – going for preorders at $40 in the US (around £25), so it shouldn’t be such a blow to the original owners – and a bargain to those new to the series. Also, it’s been said that owners of SFIV should receive some kind of bonus upon purchasing the new edition, which could be a nice little extra.

Street Fighter IV is a wonderful game, which is easy to pick up and play at any time, whilst always being able to improve and adjust. This new edition looks to add to the original in enough ways to justify the price tag, which I’m sure I’ll get my money’s worth out of – and won’t eat up my HDD space like a large DLC expansion surely would.

Check out this trailer for some clips of the new roster – this is what really sold it to me in the end.