What’s Old Is New…

Posted on November 5, 2011 by geelw

So, my copy of Star Odyssey arrived today, interestingly enough on a nice and quiet (but busy) Saturday. I spent a few hours playing it and yup, it’s definitely old-school goodness. Not the best RPG on the Mega Drive/Genesis, but a great deal of care went into the game and it’s one of those “lost” games that was well worth the long wait to finally play. For the heck of it, here are pics of the game one of my Mega Drives consoles and the original Japanese release, Blue Almanac. Enjoy!

WAVES: Probably The Only Time Squid In A Box Isn’t A Bad Thing…

Posted on November 4, 2011 by geelw

Indie developer Squid In A Box (yes, they even have a nice logo with a squid in a box) has a really cool game called WAVES. Based on the trailer above, it looks amazing, has some great music (As the kids on American Bandstand used to say, “It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it”) and you play with a ball that blows stuff up a lot. The game is also a lot of fun (or else I’d never mention it). Get the demo here. I’m doing that as I type this. If, I’m not mistaken, the full version should drop around November 16. Nice.

Review: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

Posted on November 1, 2011 by geelw

Platform: PS3 (also on Xbox 360, PC)

Developer: Snowblind Studios

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE)

# of Players 1 – 3 (online 1 – 3)

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: A-

Attempting to expand upon a revered and well-established canon such as J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth saga is indeed tricky business, particularly in the case of The Lord of the Rings trology. Get it wrong and it’s a trip into the bowels of Mount Doom as some poor development team and publisher face the wrath and ruin of legions of longtime fans. Fortunately, The Lord of The Rings: War in the North delivers an epic (and Mature-rated) tale that ties in nicely with the trilogy as well as an addictive hack & slash that’s challenging and highly replayable. It also marks Snowblind Studios’ first current generation title (finally!) and yes, they’ve done a very solid job here. The visual presentation is grand and fitting, the music is perfect and the familiar gameplay is brutal, simple and about as fun as can be for a game of this type. The game is not without its flaws, however. Some chinks in the armor show up in the form of a a weird sound bug in one area, occasional AI stumbles plus a wee bit too much repetition of quest-related dialog. Nevertheless, this is one journey well worth taking whether or not you’re a fan of the books and films. Continue reading →

PlayStation Vita Gets Simultaneous 2012 NA/EU/LA Launch Date

Posted on October 19, 2011 by geelw

February 22, 2012 is the big day Sony fans here in the US (as well as in Canada, Europe and Latin America) have been waiting for. No news on a launch lineup just yet, but the full press release (which mentions a few titles in the works) is below the jump, system specs and all. Color me thrilled. The Japanese Vita launches on December 17, 2011 and from what I’ve been reading, interest seems fairly high amongst some (including those who will import the region-free hand held a few months early at a premium).

Of course, it’s really less about what we as critics have to say about the Vita than all about enough people having enough money to afford a new handheld and games for it in this very shaky economy for too many out there. I’ll have to figure out which body part to sell of that I’m not using much, but I may not have to go that route after all if I can get my finances where they need to be… Continue reading →

Kill Screen & Capcom Present Fright Club

Posted on October 7, 2011 by geelw

Got plans for October 11? If you happen to be in the NYC area (a few days early for New York Comic Con, perhaps?), Kill Screen Magazine and Capcom are whipping up a nice event for fans of the Dead Rising and Resident Evil franchises. Here’s the when and where:

Santos Party House
96 Lafayette St.
New York, NY 11013

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM (ET)

It’s a super-busy week for me, but I just might show up to see and play for a bit as all three titles are on my radar…

Yakuza: Dead Souls US/Europe Bound in 2012

Posted on October 7, 2011 by geelw

Thanks again, Sega! Known as Ryū ga Gotoku OF THE END in Japan, this offbeat (and more action-oriented) side story to the long-running franchise known as Yakuza in the west will be hitting the PS3 in March 2012. The game uses the same engine and locations found in the PS3 Yakuza games, adds plenty of zombies to the mix and lets players take on the roles of four characters as they try and put an end to the undead plague. No doubt Sega of America will get this out with as few changes as possible, as the US version of Yakuza 4 was a more solid game than the thanks to the wise decision to NOT chop out some of the more, shall we say, “controversial” content. I’m guessing this may show up at a press event at some point. If it does, I’ll get a hands-on preview up.

Minor Update (The Remix)

Status

1. Bill Gates, R.I.P. – I found out while I was coming back home from an event and also heard one of the more interesting reactions to his passing from a total stranger (who’s not a user of anything Apple-branded). More on that comment once I think about how to present it so I don’t get beat up.

2. Namco Bandai was in NYC yesterday and had some terribly FUN games I need to write stuff about. That’s on the plate as soon as I can get to it (this weekend).

2a. Xseed Games now has an online store! Free shipping over $20 (CA residents have to pay sales tax on any purchases, though), a small, but NICE selection of games and cool T-shirts and what looks like another great place to get quality titles without dealing with certain retail chains.

3. YES, I’ll still be fixing up those older posts. Thanks to a few folks for emailing me to note there are some chopped off posts here. I’m just tackling the restoration as I get to them. The oldest posts from 2009 and I think some of 2010 are intact thanks to me originally posting them as single column articles with no breaks. When I started to continue posts with links is where the problem started.

4. YES, I’ll also be fixing the galleries. Since I can’t re-size the blog template, I need to manually rescale each image so they fit better on the page. It’s a pain in the butt, but it has to be done but by bit, takes time and I hate it, but oh well…

5. NYCC is coming up next weekend and my mailbox is STUFFED with event invites. I’m going through these now and trying to decide what to cover. So far, some nice games are coming to the show, so I’m going to be getting some hands-on time with a few of 2012’s big releases as well as a few of this year’s crop of too many cool games.

That is all for now, I think. I need to get to bed, as I have a longer day tomorrow. Oh, wait – it’s already tomorrow? Crap. Off to get about 5 hours of sleep, then!

Aliens: Colonial Marines Gameplay Footage (Link)

Posted on October 3, 2011 by geelw

I’d posted this Aliens: Colonial Marines E3 gameplay demo trailer over on the other DAF blog on Saturday, but forgot to link to it from here (oops). I need an assistant to keep track of this stuff, that’s for sure. The clone I’m looking at costs way too much and is out of my time zone by about 80 years. Feh. Anyway, Go Gearbox! Go Sega!

Sega Offers FREE Rise of Nightmares Comic Download

Posted on October 1, 2011 by geelw

Sega’s campy/scary Kinect horror game Rise of Nightmares is generating a decent amount of interest among gamers (warts and all) and now there’s even a comic book tie-in to pore over. You can download it HERE if you’re interested in the game ad want a bit of cool back story.

Writer Al Ewing and artist Marc Olivent’s “The Lost Tapes of Roland Childs” tells the tale of the private detective whose tapes and experiences players can collect as they explore the world in the game. As I don’t currently own a Kinect, I’ll have to hope Sega brings the game over to the Move at some point. I kind of need a bit more room in my place for a Kinect as well as that Nyko Zoom add-on so I can actually play some of those games and not knock all the air out of the room in the process.

Please note: This comic contains adult language and scenes. Reader discretion is advised.

Sonic Generations Dreamcast Era Trailer Brings Back Memories…

Posted on October 1, 2011 by geelw

I remember seeing screenshots of Sonic Adventure and being blown away by how great the game looked. Sega’s upcoming console had definitely opened the door for developers to start creating console games that actually looked closer to CG trailers of the period and the DC was home to quite a few spectacular-looking titles, a few of which still stand out as solid genre classics. My review copy of Sonic Generations is on the way, so I’ll be taking time out from reworking the blog to post my impressions. Stay tuned…