Review: Dungeon Hunter: Alliance

Posted on May 7, 2012 by geelw

Platform: PlayStation Vita

Developer: Gameloft

Publisher: Ubisoft

# of Players: 1 – 4

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Score: C+

With Dungeon Hunter: Alliance on the Vita, developer Gameloft had a rather interesting challenge in making a version of their popular (but “old” by other device standards) hack and slash RPG that could be seen as a solid (and full priced) showpiece the Sony’s new handheld. While they didn’t quite succeed in every area, the end result presents enough creature chopping challenge for those who like to go solo while also being a ton of fun in multiplayer. Visually, the game is solid, if not spectacular overall, the gameplay is what you’d expect with some interesting use of the Vita’s touch screens that range from handy to not really necessary. Unfortunately, despite the glossed-up visuals, the game misses the chance to do more with the basics, meaning if you’ve played this already on a device, computer or even the PS3, you’re not going to be too surprised at what’s here. Addicted? yes. Shocked at the stellar amount of originality on display? Nope.

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Max Payne 3: After The Fall Graphic Novel: A Perfect Companion Piece For That Downtime…

Posted on May 1, 2012 by geelw

With a three-part story written by Rockstar head Dan Houser AND Remedy Studios’ Dan Lake, fans of the game series should be wanting to snap this up one wherever it appears. The graphic novel will have its digital premiere later this week, followed up by a limited edition retail release that I’m guessing will be a pretty hot commodity should the fan base find it worthy of dropping into a plastic sleeve and socking away for safekeeping. Hey, anything that extends what’s looking like an already solid story is alright in my book.

The Military Shooter Resurgence: It’s Nice To See The Genre Getting A Kick In The Ass…

Posted on April 22, 2012 by geelw

Despite all the money raked in over the past few years by certain well-known multimillion selling franchises, I see the military shooter genre as a bloated, rotting corpse with limited appeal outside of whatever multiplayer shenanigans keep the masses bunny-hopping and camping online endlessly. Granted, there have been many great advances in MP that have kept things fresh and exciting for fans, but those of us who crave deeper single player experiences have been, save for a few bright spots, left out in the cold. Granted, the story modes in the last few shooters I’ve played have been decent and well-written overall and I don’t give a hoot about how long a campaign is as long as it’s memorable. Thankfully, 505 Games and 2K Games are coming to the rescue with two fine titles that take the shooter into two different and very intriguing directions. And neither of them is a FPS…

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Akai Katana: Rising Star’s Retail Hope For Core Shmup Fans

Posted on April 21, 2012 by geelw

Yeah, yeah yeah, the arcade shooter genre doesn’t do well at retail, everyone plays on emulators and blah, and blah, and blah. But I happen to LIKE packaged games, crazed game historian wannabe that I am. Anyway, Rising Star Games is here to save the day with Akai Katana on the Xbox 360. While this Cave shooter won’t win any awards as the prettiest gal at the party, the intense shooter action is there in all its “bullet hell” glory and like many classics in the genre, it’s all about the replay value over merely blowing through the game once and that’s that.

By the way, Rising Star also has a few fun plans for the Nintendo DS/DSi and 3DS in terms of some cool casual titles, but I’ll save those for a new post shortly.

Family Matters (Art Edition!)

Posted on April 14, 2012 by geelw

Whee, the Wilcox clan has talent all over the place lately (believe it or not)! To wit: My younger brother has been collaborating with Jazz artist Darius Jones for a few years and the pair recently got a super write-up over at the Village Voice. Awesome. As for my own scribblings, well, nothing that big has come my way, as I’m more of a low-key kind of guy with my art. Still, if you’re interested in spending a few dollars and have an active PayPal account, feel free to swing by my fiverr page and keep me busy (and able to buy more games to write about). Thanks!

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (Enhanced Edition) Hands-On: The Best RPG I’ve Played In 2012 (So Far)…

Posted on April 10, 2012 by geelw

The first word that came to mind when I finally got my hands on The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition was Quality. Quality of content, quality in the richness of detail in the characters, environments and even the way the game’s non-playable cinemas added to the epic feeling of the living world CD Projekt RED has worked so hard on. It’s not hard to look at the screens in this article and think that the Xbox 360 can’t do some of the stuff you’re seeing, but in fact, you can expect the game to be surprising in a number of ways when you finally get your hands on it next week. I got to play an early portion of Geralt’s adventure last week when WBIE rolled into NYC (with a trio of excellent games you should keep an eyeball on) and I wanted to stay in front of that big screen for a few hours longer diving more and more into what’s looking like one of the best games of 2012.

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Sniper Elite V2 Hands-On: Rebellion’s Latest Is Dead On Target.

Posted on April 2, 2012 by geelw

Who knew one good cure for an aching back would be a bullet to the eyeball?

My poor old back was a bit out of whack after some lugging some heavy stuff to the airport shenanigans the previous morning, but after sitting down to a nice bit of the Xbox 360 version pf Rebellion’s superb Sniper Elite V2 last Thursday, I left the Edison Hotel with a spring in my step (but scanning high windows and rooftops for snipers). 505 Games is fortunate enough to be publishing Rebellion’s followup to their 2005 PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox sleeper (later ported to Wii in 2010) that’s still one of the most challenging and tightly focused war games ever put on a console. Sniper Elite V2 ups the ante with an even more phenomenal proprietary graphics engine, excellent sound design and gameplay that’s going to surprise a lot of people who’ve never experienced the original…

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Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Cover Art (What, No PSP Version?!)

Posted on March 30, 2012 by geelw

And a nice trailer for good measure (in case you haven’t seen it yet). I’m liking this sequel a lot based on the stuff I’ve seen and heard because it has actual voice acting and what’s looking like a pretty cool story. Of course, that it doesn’t look bad at all helps out quite a bit. Traveler’s Tales Is doing what looks to be its most polished work for current gen platforms, but the game is also hitting nearly every other platform (except the PSP). So, if you’ve got something to play games on that’s not a phone or tablet, you’re DEFINITELY covered.

Capcom Digital Collection In Stores Now (Grab It If You Don’t Have An Xbox Live Account)

Posted on March 28, 2012 by geelw

Eight great Capcom games from classics reworked for HD to XBLA-only titles that are worth a spin all for 39.99? Not a bad deal if you’re new to them and want to have something handy for that next game party or for when friends drop in and you want to keep them busy while you’re cooking them dinner. What, you can’t cook at all (except for maybe just being able to boil water for tea)? Well, er… it’ll give you all something to do while you’re waiting for that takeout meal to arrive. I say learn to cook, though – it’s FAR cheaper (you’ll have MORE money for games) and can impress almost anyone who thinks you’re not fully domesticated. I can’t help you out with any messy closet advice, though, as I’m still taking that class…

Review: Street Fighter X Tekken (Special Edition)

Posted on March 20, 2012 by geelw

Platform: Xbox 360 (also on PS3)

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

# of Players: 1 – 4

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

Score: A-

Capcom’s Versus fighters have a definite appeal to gamers that crave taking their favorite characters from different media and pitting them against each other in some truly outrageous battles and in terms of reinventing that particular wheel, Street Fighter X Tekken may be their best game to date. Although the Xbox 360 version is sorely missing the offline tag-team mode found in the PS3 version, there’s absolutely no reason to miss out on this game if you’re a huge fan of either franchise. From the outstanding visuals and animation to the excellent tutorials that will get any new player into the game with ease, this one’s a no-brainer for fighting games fans. Sure, there are some quibbles with the total number of unlocked characters versus who’s available as paid DLC, but this is one of those games where if you’re hooked in, you probably won’t mind paying a bit extra for even more fun.

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