Heh. Spoilers, spoilers! You’ve been warned! I won’t be the one who’s scorned! I missed posting about last week’s episode (above) thanks to the week crushing me with stuff to do, but this week’s surprise-packed episode got me chuckling to no end. Yeah, I won’t say a thing so anyone who hasn’t seen it yet can get the full effect, but I really wasn’t shocked about that ending at all other than thinking it would be another annoying character getting the Red Bull Special treatment.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to pin down CI Games’ upcoming story-driven first-person shooter Enemy Front without getting too worried about how the game will be received when it lands in stores on June 10, 2014. While it looks on the surface to be one more entry in the recent comeback of the WWII shooter, the rather nice looking CRYENGINE powered game uses the Warsaw Uprising as one of the destructible locations playable character American war correspondent Robert Hawkins ends up in and that’s probably guaranteed to get some historians and other people a bit ticked off for a few reasons.
Granted, the game isn’t supposed to be “realistic” or an accurate simulation at all and yes, it’ll be far too easy for some to pick it apart for any elements they see as inaccurate. But CI seems to want to bridge the game between the old Medal of Honor and Call of Duty games, while referencing Sniper Elite and its own Sniper games. There’s freedom to tackle missions in what’s being called “a richly interactive combat sandbox gameplay experience”, meaning the game should be nowhere as linear as the yearly Call of Duty action-packed guided tour thrill ride, which is a good thing for those players looking for a bit more variety and replay value… Continue reading →
With PR folk from 505 Games and a few of the dev team from Rebellion rolling into NYC this week, I’ll finally get some hands-on time with Sniper Elite III on Tuesday morning and report about it here. The team has clearly listened to feedback about Sniper Elite V2 and it looks as if this third chapter addresses all the issues and makes for a more expansive and free form game experience. Sure, the extreme violence isn’t for everyone (and yep, that video is pretty graphic), but I’m not playing this one to see Nazi brains and other bits get shattered and splashed about the large levels. I’m a game design guy first who loves seeing what different developers come up with and Rebellion has been around long enough to keep surprising me. Anyway, expect an update a few days from now on my experience with this one. Sniper Elite III hits retail and download on July 1st in the US on Xbox One, PS4, PS3 and Xbox 360 and of course, the PC version will be a Steam release.
While the first-person shooter variants of Wolfenstein haven’t ever been geared towards kids, it’s been quite clear that Machine Games’ reboot of the series was going for a mature audience right from the moment that first teaser trailer popped up online. I want to play this just because the writing has been pretty adult and amusing in each video I’ve seen and while the game pulls no punches in its dialogue or extreme violence, both work in favor of the material because there’s enough humor here to keep one playing through the blood and bits you’ll see above and in the gloriously gory Stealth vs. Mayhem trailer from a few weeks back I missed. Yeah, it’s clearly not for the squeamish types, but I’d prefer a game that goes this far and makes me want to keep playing than one that’s just mean and stupid just to be so. May 20th on on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC, folks. “Be there, Aloha!”
Ah, my dear, dear Alicia… I missed you and your “witchy” ways, but it’s too bad this brief and non-physical reunion we’re having is just courtesy of a reissue and not an all NEW adventure.
Some people hated the now shuttered Japanese developer Cavia’s Bullet Witch when Atari brought it to the US for the Xbox 360, but I liked it (warts and all) thanks to the difficulty that required players PAY ATTENTION to enemies in the environments (snipers in that game were paid very well, let’s just say), learn patterns and take advantage of assorted strategies while trying to find that perfect pace to move at so poor Alicia didn’t get swarmed.
While PlatinumGames’ Bayonetta became a much more popular (and faster moving) heroine three years after this game came and went, I’ll always remember Alicia being there first with her big gun and wild spells. One day, she needs a proper comeback in a better (and multi-platform) game, I say. Continue reading →
Wow. I missed this big sale last time on a fantastic bundle of Deep Silver games and as I just walked in the door about twenty minutes ago and see it’s on again, I’m kicking myself hard because I’m too busy to play this lot even if I did jump on it and buy it up. But still, WOW. Pay a buck or so for four massive games, bump that up to $6.16 and add FIVE more games (that’s nine), but go for not broke and get TEN games for nine dollars flat? THAT’S the way to go here, considering the games in question and how much content you’re getting. All the Saint’s Row games are outrageous, stupid fun, Dead Island and Dead Island Riptide will appeal to your undead killing,get me the hell off this “vacation paradise” gone to hell in a hand basket side, Risen 2: Dark Waters sets you out as a pirate type in a big fantasy world, Sacred 2 Gold is an even larger and more fantasy world with some incredible replay value (and even more incredible difficulty if you try to run around like you’re the boss of everything), Sacred Citadel is a goofy throwback to arcade brawling/hack ‘n slash games of the past and finally, Metro 2033 is a bleak, unsettling, freakish and deadly trip to a future Russia where radiation, mutants and not enough survival supplies test your skills.
All that and yes, some of what you pay goes to the Child’s Play and American Red cross charities. So yep, you NEED this bundle even though I won’t be buying it. THIS time (again). Now, I’m wanting to see the next 13 days of sales as I eyeball my hard drives and probably dump a few older games for some nice new-ish ones. Just like you, too. Anyway, I’ll be back every day of this sale with an update (and hopefully earlier, at that!)…
Note: Some of you MAY need Dramamine or something in order to continue to enjoy reading this post.
Now, I didn’t buy Dark Shadows: Army of Evil on sale at the IndieGala Store… but I almost did until I decided to poke around the game’s website (yikes!) and later, watch this way too awesome and very outstanding, hilarious “review” by Jim Sterling. Oh,before you click away, it’s kind of NSFW because Jim curses up a storm (for very good reason, as you’ll see) AND the game may make you a bit motion sick if you’re easily affected by that sort of thing. Anyway, I like some awful games, but this is one that I’d probably have regretted (even at $2.39). Now, if YOU want to buy this, I certainly won’t stop you at all. Hey, I’ll even lend you my bucket so you can toss your cookies into it if that field of view starts making you queasy. Uncle Jim gets it right in his long take on this one, is all I’ll say. Wow.
I’ll reserve judgment on this until I see a few episodes, but while some are championing this as awesome, I’m skeptical on a few fronts because of what’s missing and what will be missed. First off, Hellblazer works better as a title (at least to someone like me who read the original books when they were first published), but network TV with a shiny new show in need of an audience in America probably isn’t going to touch that one (right, NBC?). Second, John’s icky chain smoking is gone, no doubt because network and public outrage deems he lose his nastiest habit. Although, this may not be a bad thing as I can see the show tying into the film (some still despise) by knocking away John’s habit because he lost the taste for ciggies in the movie. Finally, and this is the touchy part (no pun intended, maybe)… in the Vertigo books, Constatine was how do we say… swinging for both teams (to be as vague as possible but not about the man’s bisexual tendencies). Granted, getting people outraged about that sort of thing is WAY too easy these days and yep, I’ll bet that NBC didn’t want to even go near that bit of business…
Once again, it’s fantastic to see all the hard work going into making Alien Isolation a game worth watching. In case it hasn’t been made clear yet, this isn’t a run ‘n gun shooter or one more generic jump scare-filled horror game at all, but a project that’s hopefully going to be seen by fans of the series to fit like a glove in between the first and second films. Sure, that Colonial Marines game may be infamous on a few fronts, but AI will hopefully erase all those negative memories by being a completely different experience in every way. The game is coming to PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on October 7, 2014, so keep an eye peeled if you’re liking what you see in all these behind the scenes trailers…
Wow. Three great epic role-playing games, four horror-themed adventures (including one based on a great, gloomy Harlan Ellison story), a sci-fi/horror hybrid first-person shooter still seen as one of the best games ever made and while not quite a classic, a dark and disturbing action/shooter that’s worth a play just to see how bizarre it gets? Sounds like a buy if you ask me. Anyway, Wizardry 6, 7 and 8 plus System Shock 2 are more than worth the price it takes to unlock them and everything else is just the gravy on that cake. I actually liking this bundle because of Harvester, a supremely twisted point & click adventure game that doesn’t shy away from the David Lynch-like weirdness and some mildly to pretty shocking gore effects (which are cheap looking even by 1996 standards, but still effective):
Amusingly enough, the charities this bundle supports are Child’s Play and The American Red Cross (ha and ha, ha). Anyway, this one’s only available for a limited time (6 days, 19 hours as I type this), so GRAB IT before it’s gone!
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 