Xseed Games wants YOU to jump feet first onto the Ys I & II Chronicles bandwagon, so they've gone and done a great bit of pre-order coolness with GamrStop locations across the US. Slap down a deposit on the upcoming PSP game, follow the instructions below the jump and BOOM! Your choice of one of three excellent items will wing itself your way courtesy of Xseed! And yup, I get to post that hilarious Hair Metal trailer again, to boot!
Get that wallet out NOW and support Xseed!
The Handmade Arcade is alllllmost here – take a look at these two videos from Media Molecule's instant classic and start setting aside some quality time, as you're not coming up for air for a loooong time.
It’s about a month away now and yes, for those that missed the first game and somehow didn’t grasp the overall plot of the second (which didn’t rehash the first game’s story and didn’t really need to, as the opening movie in Killzone 2 more than set the tone for the game), there’s a lot more depth in the storytelling. As this video shows, Guerrilla has swung for the fences and knocked the wall over. Malcolm MacDowell and Ray Winstone’s stellar voice talents add that extra air of necessary evil to their characters, huh? I can’t wait to finally play the final build…
As the lovely Sun Shang Xiang's come-hither (so she can kick your ass) stare shows, in terms of graphics, Omega Force is clearly doing its best work to date on this latest game in the long-running Warriors franchise. As you'll soon see in the gallery below the jump, the rest of the in game characters share that same level of polish. Fans of the series can expect a few tweaks to the familiar formula to go along with the upgraded visuals when the game hits retail on March 22, 2011 for the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Memo to Omega Force – nice new engine you've got there. Three words: Crimson. Sea. Sequel. Two more words: Destrega 2. Make it happen, people!
Normally, most super-hero games make me all yawny, but they've definitely been getting interesting over the past few years. X-Men Destiny is Activision and Marvel's newest take on the familiar mutants, allowing players to create and play as a completely unique mutant character as he or she carves out his or her own path in the upcoming action/adventure game. With developer Silicon Knights at the helm, this could be quite interesting. Like pretty much everything else out there, the game has a dedicated, official Facebook page you can go check out if you're wanting to dive in and interact with like minded mutant fans. Trailer 2 below the jump – enjoy!
When last we saw and played Spare Parts, EA and bright lights Studios fun family-friendly robot-centric platformer for PSN and XBLA was coming along quite nicely. Here’s a look at Simon Pegg, who’s now attached to the project as the voice of Con-Rad, the ship’s computer the two lead robots end up spending a bit of time interacting with – enjoy!
Platform: PC/Mac/Linux
Developer: Frictional Games
Publisher: Frictional Games
# of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
Official Site
Score: A
If you think a good survival horror game involves big guns and running around shooting monsters ’til the cows come home, you really don’t know much about the genre at all. There’s a distinct difference between scooting around with a big grin ready to take on all comers and being too damn terrified to move, but being forced to because you have no choice but to do so or die. Based out of Helsingborg, Sweden, indie developer/publisher Frictional Games has been quietly crafting some truly terrifying horror experiences that go above and beyond the “expected” genre cliches. From 2006 to 2009, there were the three excellently frightening Penumbra games, first-person horror/adventures with great physics-based puzzles and death lurking where it was least expected. Their latest work, Amnesia: The Dark Descent should put them on the map and in the minds of more gamers who crave an innovative, purely fear-filled and brutally direct horror experience. If you want to play a game that will have you sleeping with under the bed with the lights on, a baseball bat, guard dog and security blanket, this one’s for you.
Hudson’s innovative adventure/platform/puzzle/action game (it does everything!) is in stores NOW. Go buy a copy if you have a Wii (you can thank me later). While I’m waiting for my reviewable to show up, you can keep yourselves busy reading some of my previous coverage on this gem.
It might be a slow week for you folks dragging back to work or school after the holidays, but I’ve been busy working on a bunch of stuff, including polishing up and posting a few old reviews I mentioned a little while ago. In the meantime, I’m also getting around to a few (sort of) current releases such as Disney Epic Mickey, Namco Museum Megamix and a few other games I had queued up near the TV during the holiday crunch. I was thinking about making some Game of Last Year picks (a little in-joke there), but I’m still mixed on the idea of “best-of” lists, as they tend to ignore too many otherwsie excellent games in favor of being popularity contests.
For instance: how many of you guys and gals have played Din’s Curse, Avernum 6, Plane Weaver, Amnesia: the Dark Descent, Alice in Wonderland (DS), Deadly Premonition, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Dementium II, or Y’s Seven? Now, those aren’t all the games I’d add to my own “best of” list (which would have at least 50 titles on it, in case you’re wondering), but it’s just why most GOTY lists that ignore offbeat, well-made games such as these stink. Anyway, back to the salt mines… I’ve got games to finish playing!
Yikes, last year went by FAST. Well, given that I was out of action for a good part of early to mid 2010, the second half of the year was pretty busy and mostly productive on a few fronts. I’m still planning to catch up on/complete and post some old reviews just to have them in the database here (which will be updated with its own search function at some point) along with some other cool stuff.
Amusingly enough, all I did most of yesterday was finally finish up two games I’d started a while ago and happened to find saves for while clearing some stuff off my hard drive. That’s a screen from The Chosen: Well of Souls to the left, a single-player action RPG that’s not quite the Diablo rip-off you’d think. Awful voice acting aside (except for the guy doing the final boss), it’s a pretty long and tricky bit of hack ‘n slash with some nicely varied stylized environments and some interesting tweaks to the usual formula. Not “Game of the Year” material, mind you, but developer Rebelmind sure knows how to make a decent chase & chop. Anyway, here’s to a wildly amazing 2011 packed FULL of great games, new tech to play with and yup, more stuff to give away when I can swing it. Hang on and keep us bookmarked, folks – it’s going to be a really interesting year…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 