Review: Demon’s Souls

Posted on September 13, 2009 by geelw

Platform: PlayStation 3

Developer: From Software

Publisher: Atlus

# of Players 1 (Online: 1 – 3)

Rating: M (Mature)

Score: A+

Console (and to some extent, PC) role-playing fans have been subject to some pretty darn disappointing games this generation thanks to a few too many developers and publishers playing it safe by merely rehashing familiar anime-style adventures, cooking up oddball battle systems that just don’t gel completely or copying top-rated western-style games with a few new ideas here and there. Sure, graphics have improved tenfold this cycle and there have been more than a few memorable games released during this period. However, other than stunning visuals and larger game worlds, not too many of these titles have done all that much to raise any new bars for the genre. Continue reading →

Games On TV: PROTOTYPE on HBO’s Entourage Sunday Night

Posted on September 12, 2009 by geelw

Now, I don’t even watch Entourage, but guess who the heck will be tuning in tomorrow night? Yeah, me. I’m always curious to see how games are presented on big deal shows like this, so I’ll be picking apart the stuff they screw up while hoping Activision sells a few more copies of the game, of course.

Dragon Age Origins: Meet Leliana

Posted on September 11, 2009 by geelw

In this week’s Dragon Age: Origins update, we’ll take a look at one of the game’s female characters, Leliana, a bard from the land of Orlais who also happens to be a selectable party member and from what I can tell a “romance” option in the game. As I can see some of you less lucky guys getting royally slugged by your real-life significant others over choosing this lovely virtual redhead as your potential partner, you may want to keep the fawning to a minimum…

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Demon’s Souls Arrives, Goes Ahead And Makes My Day…

Posted on September 10, 2009 by geelw

THANK YOU ATLUS! Early impressions: Well, I lasted a whole five or so hours before my avatar finally died, falling (well, rolling) off a ledge trying to get the heck away from something BIG and quite nasty chasing my character. This game is brilliant, beautiful and BRUTAL, all at the same time with a side of fries. Scary as hell in spots, too. As a longtime King’s Field fan, I knew it was going to be great, but From Software has really knocked it out of the park. Hardcore? Oh hellllllllllll yeah. This game will kick your butt all over the living room and into the kitchen, whereupon it shall cook and eat your corpse.

Twice.

Back with a full review in a bit… Did I mention it’s also scarier than a big box of dead, flaming monkeys?

Review: Darkest of Days

Posted on September 8, 2009 by geelw

Platform: Xbox 360

Developer: 8monkey Labs

Publisher: Valcon Games

# of Players: 1

Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: B

If you can overlook its technical issues, there’s a lot of fun to be had in Phantom EFX’s shooter, Darkest of Days. For their first major console and PC release, developer 8monkey Labs has cooked up a supremely cool entry in the extremely crowded FPS genre that focuses on a solid single player story-driven experience rather than hanging its reputation on the usual multiplayer shenanigans many gamers come to expect. The shooting action using a combination of historical and tricked out futuristic guns is indeed thrilling during the massive battles you’re dropped into during the game. Granted, some hardcore FPS fans will pick the game apart for its flaws and fail to enjoy the experience for its good points. For the rest of us, following the compelling story as it plays out turns out to be the really surprising thing, even outstripping the action at some points.

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Darkest of Days Blasts Into Stores… Well, SOME Stores

Posted on September 8, 2009 by geelw

As you can see from my review, I liked this one, warts and all. Go give it a try once you go read why. For those of you who can’t find the game at a major game retail chain – Phantom EFX is selling it directly on their website, a few online non-game retailers (such as Amazon.com) as well as offline retailers carry it as well. If you’re curious about DoD and haven’t played the PC demo yet (there isn’t a 360 demo available yet) or have other reservations, there’s always Gamefly, or some other rental outlet, right?

Dead Space Extraction Goes Gold

Posted on September 3, 2009 by geelw

EA has announced that Dead Space Extraction for the Nintendo Wii has gone gold and should be in stores on September 29, 2009. Also announced was a nice bonus: pre-ordering the game at selected retailers will give gamers access to four of the game’s ten challenge modes for solo or co-op play. The Wii exclusive game is a prequel to the events of last year’s huge sci-fi/horror action hit on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Dead Space and was developed by Eurocom with a huge assist from Visceral Games.

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Gallery: Darkest of Days (Updated)

Posted on September 1, 2009 by geelw

Phantom EFX’s upcoming time-bending PC and Xbox 360 single player FPS, Darkest of Days is one of those games I’m really looking forward to playing thanks to its focus on a compelling single player story-driven experience and massive, open field battles. I have the feeling that the weapons selection won’t disappoint either, as it looks as if there will be guns from the past and future available to blast plenty of enemies with. Below the jump are a dozen more great looking images from 8monkey Labs‘ Marmoset engine-powered game:

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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 →