Gallery: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tagforce 4

Posted on September 20, 2009 by geelw

Had some quick hands-on time with this at Konami’s NYC press event a while back. Nice anime visuals, deep gameplay, plenty of battlin’ cards and creatures and a more “mature” feel than your Pokemon games, for sure. Fans will be completely enraptured, newbies will be baffled, very helpful tutorials aside. Interesting side note: Konami spells it Tagforce, but it seems to list at most retailers as Tag Force. “Potato, Poh-tah-toe, Tomato, Toh-mah-toe….” and all that…

November 17, 2009 is the release date, so mark your calendars accordingly.

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Obscure: The Aftermath Hands-On

Posted on September 17, 2009 by geelw

Way back in 2004, a scary little survival horror/adventure game called Obscure crept onto the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC, receiving mixed reviews before disappearing from the scene and becoming something of an eBay collectible. The game still sold in well enough numbers that a sequel, Obscure: The Aftermath (or Obscure II, depending on where you’re reading this) was released in 2007 for the PS2 and Wii. Thanks to Playlogic and developer Hydrovision, that sequel is headed for the PSP on September 29 and thanks to their PR department, I’m writing up this hands-on of a preview build. Featuring disturbingly detailed visuals, plenty of “teen slasher flick” ambiance and wireless drop-in/drop out co-op play, this is one game horror fans looking for a wild ride won’t want to miss.

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Cursed Mountain Arrives Early. I’m Four Hours In….

Posted on August 22, 2009 by geelw

… and I couldn’t be more pleased, although it seems that the kids who want exploding zombie heads every three seconds may be a bit annoyed by the intentionally languid pacing. And the fact that there are NO zombies in the game, only really annoyed ghosts and more pissed off demonic things (that can still kill as quickly, mind you). The game layers on the gloomy mood right away and the overall sense of dread combined with the brilliant score makes for some nicely creepy moments. The game’s general atmosphere has the feeling of the last depressing section of Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller crossed with a dash of Masaki Kobayashi’s classic K(w)aidan and the lonelier moments of Kubrick’s The Shining. Hopefully, that will help some of you reading this in terms of placing the game’s tone.

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Fairytale Fights Hands-On

Posted on August 19, 2009 by geelw

Playlogic has something very naughty up its sleeve coming to consoles and PC this fall and it’s a bloody, outrageously funny absolute blast of a “gamers game” that’s going to kick your happy childhood story time memories right in the teeth. Fairytale Fights is set to hit the Playstation 3, PC and Xbox 360 this October 27, so throw a dart at your calendar and read on… this one’s going to be a real winner. I got to sit down for about a half-hour or so with a build of the PS3 version with the game’s producer, Poria Torkan and Adam McGowan. Playlogic’s Marketing Director, both of whom were giddy as freshly fed goats over their baby. And rightly so, as this is one of those rare games that’s hilariously fun and funny as hell simultaneously. Continue reading →

Sands of Destruction Hands-On

Posted on August 17, 2009 by geelw

Sega’s upcoming Nintendo DS exclusive RPG, Sands of Destruction is going to blow you away. With its superb production values, supremely beautiful visuals, and an amazing amount of voice acting for a DS game, this one’s a clear candidate for best handheld RPG when it finally reaches stores in early 2010. The Image Epoch-developed epic is in the process of being tweaked to improve game balance and a few other issues with the original Japanese version and based on my short time with a build at Sega’s press event last week, things are coming along very well indeed. Continue reading →

Konami NYC Gamers’ Night Impressions

Posted on August 14, 2009 by geelw

Konami swung into NYC with a nice selection of upcoming releases that showed off the company’s commitment to variety and pure fun with a number of family friendly console and handheld titles. Of course, scaring the crap out of a few folks with two impressive horror games was also on the agenda. I ended up playing most of what was shown and came away impressed with them all, as you’ll see below in this quick rundown. I’ll also post longer Hands-On previews of a few of these titles shortly. Continue reading →

Sega NYC Press Event Impressions

Posted on August 12, 2009 by geelw

Sega rolled into NYC yesterday with a varied lineup of 2009 and 2010 games guaranteed to appeal to pretty much every type of gamer. From family friendly (in original IP and licensed flavors), a bit of fitness, more than a few mighty Mature-rated games that will blow hardcore players away and more RPG surprises than you could shake a stylus at, it was impossible to not be floored by everything shown. I’ll be running lengthier coverage on a few of the games shown in the coming days and weeks, but here’s a quick alphabetical rundown on what was on display: Continue reading →

Risen Hands-On (PC/Xbox 360)

Posted on August 8, 2009 by geelw

At Deep Silver’s recent press event, the second big game shown was Risen, a great looking third-person Action/RPG by Piranha Bytes, creators of the Gothic series. Kai Rosenkranz, the game’s composer (and Jack of All Trades) was on hand with playable PC and Xbox 360 builds of the game, presented in side by side format for comparison’s sake. While the PC version was running on a higher resolution monitor, both versions looked exactly the same in terms of details small and large. This was an impressive beginning to the presentation and it only got better. Continue reading →

Cursed Mountain Hands-On

Posted on August 8, 2009 by geelw

With the Wii in desperate need of some quality third-party titles geared toward “core” gamers, Deep Silver’s soon to be released Cursed Mountain comes at exactly the right time. I finally got some hands-on time with this survival horror gem at a the company’s New York City press event and can safely say this is a must-buy for genre fans who crave a great story with their gameplay. It’s not only one of the most innovative games on the console, it just might be one of the best genre games to date thanks to a huge development team dedicated to the project from day one. Martin Filipp, Deep Silver’s Developer Relations Manager proudly took a room packed full of editor-types through a few areas of the game’s early levels showing off the solid visuals, intuitive controls and innovative combat mechanics. Continue reading →