How do you follow up the huge success of the LittleBigPlanet franchise? No, not by making a go-karting game (though I hear it’s a ton of fun). You go and whip together a super-cool looking adventure game in a unique world worth visiting over and over, that’s how. Some online wags are making silly Paper Mario comparisons, but as they’ve not yet played the game, they’re to be taken as seriously as a slug fighting a tanker truck packed with salt. This one’s yet another very good reason to own a PlayStation 3, I say…
Based on this new Gamescom trailer, Sega is really pulling out all the stops with this sequel, but I’m still curious about that rather glaring lack of the word SEGA in the title. “Sonic & All-Stars” just sounds so… lazy or something. Hell, even if the game has guest stars NOT in any Sega games, keeping the name of the company IN the darn game is kind of important for old-ass Sega supporters such as myself. I’m just saying… Anyway, the game looks great and you certainly can’t go wrong with a good, fun racing game built for competition and pure fun. Just fix that name and it’ll be perfect, I say!
In this latest developer diary, check out some of the tried and true gear from the Cameron film you’ll be using up against those oh-so-pesky xenomorphs. Gearbox is making a game any fan of the series should jump into when it hits retail. As I’ve said earlier, that delay is only making for a much better game in the end. OK, that and it’ll give me and a few million other people a chance to complete Borderlands 2 a few times. Go, Gearbox! Go, Sega!
OK, so I’m feeling lazy today, so you kids get to watch a movie instead of me telling you a story. Whee! Anyway, lots of fun stuff here to ogle, so I’ll shut up and let you get to the ogling. Got that popcorn and drink handy? Is the dog nearby to get your socks (or the cat to chase and play with them) when they fly off? All comfy now? If you’re wearing shoes, take them off NOW, or else you may hit your pet with them, which isn’t a good thing for either of you. OK…. NOW you’re ready! Enjoy!
Sure, the Move might not move as many gamers as SCEA would love to believe, but I like the peripheral and when it has games such as the just announced Until Dawn on the way, I’m happy I bought that Wand and Navigation Controller setup as an early adopter. I like the “B” movie vibe going on above, the SCREAM-like tone of the game and yeas, that it’s all about motion control gameplay, something that when done well, works wonderfully. Amusingly enough, I have an unfinished design document here I did a few years back for a remake of the Wii game JU-ON: The Grudge that added some cool features that would have made for a better overall experience. Perhaps I’ll dig it up and post it one of these days…
As for Killzone: Mercenary – another portable entry in the series is more than welcome, as Killzone: Liberation on the PSP was stellar stuff indeed. Mercenary is, like the console versions, a first-person shooter (a genre surprisingly lacking on the Vita even this early in its life cycle) and should draw in fans with its superb visuals and familiar gameplay. I’m a big fan of the Killzone series for it’s sharp looks, tight gameplay and overall story arc, so it’ll be fun to see how this new game fits into the canon Guerrilla Games kicked off back on the PS2. Annnnnnd, the waiting begins. Let’s hope both of these are out sooner than later, I say.
What I’ve always loved about Sony since the PlayStation days is they’ve continually had new first-party games for their systems that aren’t just the same old stuff year after year. Puppeteer is coming to the PS3 sometime soon (next year) from Japan and it looks quite cool, super creative and a little creepy. I like the overall look of this footage as well as the possibilities for future installments (the press release calls it a new franchise) or even (and hopefully) a Vita version. Sony, you’ve made that commitment to making the Vita a portable hardware, wonder so let’s see more great software for it, grrr! Anyway, the PS3 is NOT going out with a whimper at all, ladies and gents. What a 2013 it’s going to be for those of us who crave PREMIUM content and lots of it.
But that’s absolutely great for the hard working dev teams at Bad Robot and Digital Extremes making Star Trek for Namco Bandai, as each bit of footage and every screenshot or art asset looks better and better. As I’m not quite sure when the new movie is coming out, it would be a bit of serendipity if it arrived when the game was all polished up and tight as a drum. That would be awesome for a few reasons, one of which being we’d get a licensed movie game that was as good as the film at the same time instead of a few years down the road (or not at all in too many cases). As always… we shall see. OK, J.J. – that sequel better be amazing!
Spark Unlimited’s best game to date is going to surprise a lot of really jaded (and really annoying) people out there. You know, the ones who refuse to give a game a chance because they’re either pining away for an earlier installment or worse, spend too much time comparing apples to oranges when they SHOULD be, you know, actually playing more games and enjoying all the hard work that goes into them. My hands-on time with a demo a few months ago shown the dev team at the top of their form. Controls and visuals were solid, there’s that performance capture realism that works excellently and while yes, the game has a Dead Space vibe in a few areas, it’s FAR from a clone of Visceral’s hit series. Well, I think as long as Capcom and Spark concentrate on getting the final version out as tight as a drum and with a great story that’s well told, the amount of ACTUAL negatives that can be said about the game will be slim to none.
This one sounds pretty cool (and more than a tiny bit like Chris Nolan’s mind-bending film, Inception), so color me intrigued. Capcom dropped news on this upcoming game at GamesCom 2012 and it’s already getting a lot of buzz. Developed by Paris-based DONTNOD Entertainment, the game has you playing as a female “memory hunter” who can tap into people’s minds and steal or alter their memories. Of course, when someone has her memory stolen, our heroine sets out to find out who did it and as the press release says, “discover how she can change the world.” Expect a lot of athleticism, a bit of stealth and lots of ass-kicking in a few varieties in this third-person game set to hit PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in May 2013. More to come on this one, now that it’s on my radar…
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