Dragon’s Crown Elf & Dwarf Trailers: It’s Not A Toss Up At All…

Posted on May 24, 2013 by geelw

… In terms of which of these or the other characters to pick because you’re going to go through Dragon’s Crown with ALL of them I bet. The game is crafted so that each hero or heroine is going to be played from start to finish, as each one is powerful warrior in his or nher own right. No matter who picks up a controller to dive in and enjoy what Vanillaware has cooked up, expect to be floored by the lovely 2D visuals and more tight gameplay than you can shake a stick holding goblin at.Before you slam it into its evil buddies and blast them with a spell or knock them silly with a blunt object.

Prepare to get a workout (and give our PS3 or Vita a workout as well) when Dragon’s Crown hits retail and PSN on August 6, 2013. And nope, don’t even try to toss that Dwarf – his incredible beard alone looks as if it will beat you up pretty badly…

Random Indie Game of the Week: The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing Storms Onto Steam…

Posted on May 22, 2013 by geelw

No game is perfect, but the only thing I can see here that I don’t like is the title of NeoCore Games’ great-looking Action/RPG. Call me crazy (please do!), but The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon series that pops up too early to catch on a regular basis. Anyway, snark aside, that video above and screens below show that this one looks pretty awesome. I just need to carve some time into my schedule to play this one and let you know how cool it all is. What? You’re STILL not convinced? OK, OK… here’s another video, you cranky skeptic, you:

Yeah, I thought so – now keep it down back there and check out these screenshots:

Even better, the game has launched today on Steam and is available at a 10% discount ($13.49 instead of $14.99), so I say take advantage of this launch day deal and snap up a copy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to grab a good knife and go find my cuckoo clock. It was on the wall, but seems to have scampered off somewhere (I think I’ve gone after it a few too many times with sharp objects in an attempt to make more hours in a day)…

Review: Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut

Posted on May 19, 2013 by geelw

Platform: PlayStation 3

Developer: Access Games

Publisher: Rising Star Games

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: A- (90%)

Just like its original incarnation as an Xbox 360 game, Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut is a victory of surprising supernatural and surreal substance over what’s expected by some as visual “style” in a game this generation, and that’s exactly what makes it just as much fun to play as before. Actually, better aiming, vehicle controls and a handful of PS3-specific features make this the content superior version, as do the new brief movie segments that add a tiny bit more lore to the story. The frame rate takes a dip here, but this new “flaw” actually adds an even more dreamlike quality to the game and definitely isn’t as bad as some have noted. I’d gather some new players won’t notice it all that much because the game’s general weirdness in every area demands and commands one’s complete attention. Continue reading →

Diablo III PS3/PS4: It’s Not Wizardry At All… It’s Just Damn Good Coding At Work.

Posted on May 16, 2013 by geelw

If there’s one game I really want to play as soon as it launches on either the PS3 or PS4, it’s probably Diablo III. Not because it’s the greatest game on the planet, mind you (it’s not), but because I want to see how well Blizzard got it up and running in single player mode with direct control and no always online nonsense to keep solo play fans from enjoying the ride thanks to a crappy Internet connection or a few other reasons. Of course, I’m more of a Torchlight 2 guy these days, but I love my isometric dungeon crawlers on anything (but a touch screen) as long as they’re done right. DIII looks as if it will draw in a load of new fans as well as some older ones who got shut out of the PC version. It should also silence those who think this type of game “can’t” be done on a console (despite years of proof from other iso RPGs running on Sony as well as other systems). I’m hoping this gets an official demo at some point before release just so Blizzard can show off all that hard work to the cranky crowd, but as always… we shall see…

GRID 2 “WSR 3” Video: Drift & Shout…

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

And now, a bit of slipping and sliding through the Asian courses on GRID 2 for your soon to be driving like a maniac pleasure. Five years of hard work is coming to a close and it looks as if Codemasters will have a new legion of race fans when the launches at the end of the month onto PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Of course, some of the griefers whining endlessly about the cockpit view not being in tagging along and actually liking the game for the sense of speed and solid visuals would be some extra icing on the cake, but at this point, the dev team probably could care less what the non-stop complainers are complaining about. As usual, we shall see and I’m betting some clever hacker will knock out a patch for the PC version at some point that adds a viewpoint some prefer (even if it makes the game perform a bit worse)…

VGA 101: Anvil of Dawn Gets GOG’ed (FINALLY!)

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

Dreamforge’s classic 1995 first-person dungeon crawler was one of my favorite games back in the day and I still have my original CD and manual in the library. It’s been around as “abandonware” for a few years, but that and other versions were (and are) incomplete, missing the movies and/or fully voiced dialog, making for half the game it should have been. Well, the fine folks at GOG.com have gotten this one up and running (it turns out Ubisoft has the rights, which means we could HOPEFULLY see a remake down the road) and available for the low price of $5.99 (whee!), which makes me a happy camper indeed. Granted, I finally got my CD up and running last week, so I won’t be buying this right away. But it’s REALLY great to know it’s exactly where I need to find it, now whole again and able to be enjoyed by a new generation of gamers (who I surely HOPE will appreciate it for how important it was to the genre) who won’t compare it to games inspired by it (backwards!) or think it’s a new “retro” styled game (oh, the irony there!)…

The Last of Us TV Spot #2: A Month or So Isn’t That Long To Wait…

Posted on May 11, 2013 by geelw

As I’ve said before, Sony’s not going to let the PS3 fade into the usual “old” console obscurity as they’ve got a few more great first-party games that show off some developers at the top of their game. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us looks to combine solid storytelling and intense action in an exclusive that looks to be one of the best games made for the console. The recently released Dark Horse Comics prequel has sold out (well, as far a physical copies go), so it looks like plenty of gamers who picked the book up (and happen to own PS3’s) will be zipping on down to their favorite game shop (or lurking by their mailboxes) when the game’s June 14, 2013 release date rolls up.

Bethesda Underground Mother’s Day Surprise: Oh Yeah, And He Broke That Lamp, Too…

Posted on May 10, 2013 by geelw

Awwww! Here’s a pretty cool and amusing video from Bethsoft with Arkane Studios producer Seth Shain and his mom having a fun little discussion about what he does for a living. Hmmmm… I guess he needs to go buy her a console and a copy of Dishonored for Mother’s Day, huh? Well, that’s what I’d do after telling her I was a doctor all these years. OK, he didn’t, but let this be a lesson to all you lazy sons and daughters out there who get through life wanting to stab your own mom with a cold spoon for not letting you have the car that one time or reading you the riot act for staying out too late and forgetting to tell her where you were going or which one of the soon to be jailbirds you were out with. Little things mean a lot, so get to it this weekend, I say. That’s my good deed for the month, mind you – after this, it’s back to open season on the rubes, so watch it…

Chronicles of the Mind: Truth or Dare (and/or Consequences) For The Egghead Crowd…

Posted on May 10, 2013 by geelw

Based on this video and the game description alone, I’d say cops and judges need to keep a deck of Chronicles of the Mind cards with them at all times. Imagine the confessions and such that would get revealed after a round of this with some suspect who tends to get all talky as soon as they’re distracted by a “simple” little game such as this? Of course, that would mean people across America would be flooding the Griddly Games site with purchases as they’ll want to invite local politicians to attend and play a weekly game session just so they could see and hear what they REALLY think instead of hearing half-truths (or no truths) on assorted cable news and talk radio channels.

Hey, I don’t need a fun card game to know some people are really gullible when they get to gambling (or thinking they’re going to win a prize when they “win” a game), so why not take advantage of that wired in greed and get some actual answers, I say. Once again, Canada comes to our rescue, so make sure to thank the fine folks up at Griddly when you get the chance…

GRID 2: LiveRoutes & A Trip to Miami (A Really Fast Trip, At That)…

Posted on May 10, 2013 by geelw

Codemasters is set to shake the racing game scene up with the addition of LiveRoutes in GRID 2, set for a May 28, 2013 US launch on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. LiveRoutes alter selected courses in the game each time you play, offering up six different routes when these tracks are revisited. This should keep some expert as well as novice players from blowing through familiar courses and should make for some interesting live events in online play.

As for Miami… welcome and hey! You just got to see a gameplay video of someone driving faster there than you can do in real life thanks to all the traffic they’ve got down there. Aren’t you the lucky one! Well, unless you get carsick watching all these videos I’ve been posting… oops.