I have the distinct feeling that my list of ‘must play’ games will be shorter than I think thanks to a handful of upcoming titles eating up way too much of my time. In addition to EDF 2025, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Toukiden: Age of Demons and a bunch of indie to AAA games for assorted platforms I’ve been keeping my eye on as 2014 rolls onward, Dark Souls II looks as if it’s going to consume a rater huge chunk of a few months on and off. Every time I see new screens for this game I get a few chills in all the proper places as well as a sense of dread because from my play time with that demo, I know this one’s going to be rougher than using a huge sheet of the coarsest waterproof sandpaper as a towel after a too hot shower. Or, OUCH!.
But hey, we Souls maniacs like it hard and Producer Takeshi Miyazoe along with the dedicated team at developer FromSoftware are more than willing to please as from what I’m seeing and hearing from folks in that beta test, the game is going to be even harder than Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls combined.
Dark Souls II is going to be the toughest thing many gamers will touch all this year and love. And hate, as the game’s relentless enemies and crushing difficulty will chew up and spit out all comers from seasoned veterans to new players who THINK they can survive unscathed. Nah, not gonna happen, people. You will die (well, your character will die) and you’ll be glaring at your controller with malicious intent when you should be holding up a mirror and heavy breathing into your fogged up reflection. Hey, what did you expect from a game with the tagline “Prepare to Die”, hmmmmm? On the other hand, to the victor go the spoils… but most of those spoils happen to be of the “Holy crap, I survived THIS long before I got stepped on/skewered/roasted/run over, et cetera…”
This one’s going to be a killer, people. Watch the skies for flying controllers and keep an ear out for banshee-like howls from above, I say…
Behold, adventurers! Or something like that. Okay, I got lazy and didn’t convert the LAST set of Dark Souls II screens from bitmap to JPEG (WordPress HATES bitmaps, it seems!), but thankfully, Denny Chiu at Namco Bandai still likes me (Hi, Denny!). Thanks to him, my inbox was blessed with these new screens I will more than verily happily share with you below:
There, that was simple enough, right? I’ll get those other screens up soon as well with an appropriately goofy post about why it took so damn long. I blame a faulty TARDIS circuit, a rogue dinosaur and a bag of shrimp chips past its sell date, but that excuse may change…
Has there been a year since Pac-Man was introduced that the character hasn’t been in a game or other must-have product? The dot-munching ghost chomper has been on the video game scene in plenty of 2D and 3D adventures from arcade games to platformers, kart racers and even an adventure game or two. His longevity has been pretty much secured thanks to Namco (and now Namco Bandai) shaking thing up every so often with a reinvention or classic reissue and the latest new game on the scene is Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, a kid-friendly game based on the fun new Disney XD animated show. While some of the more stubborn fans of the arcade classic might give this one an automatic sneer because it’s not their favorite way of playing Pac-Man (in which case, they can go dive into the stellar multi-platform Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+), the game is actually quite a lot of fun with only a few quirks… Continue reading →
Namco Bandai Games and developer From Software want you to REALLY stay home a lot more. Armored Core: Verdict Day is here now for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and in addition to its online-centric multiplayer action, the game actually features a single player campaign (thank youuuu!) those who want to play without friends (hey, some of love our alone time!) can hop into and fully enjoy. Got and Armored Core V save handy? Even cooler, as that can be uploaded to allow you some nice bonuses. For those of you who DO have friends and a PSN or Xbox Live account, you can round up your other AC fans and have at it in a pretty deep online play mode that’s actually worldwide (meaning it’ll have a longer shelf life than other AC games that only had North American server play). Anyway, the level of challenge gets a MAJOR boost with the Hardcore modes that I hear are tougher than the developer’s Demon Souls and Dark Souls in terms of some terrifyingly powerful enemies and insane game rules that make for increased damage as well as super-expensive repairs and ammo costs.
Granted, you’ll get more enjoyment out of this if you’re already a longtime Armored Core fan, but it’s definitely deep and challenging enough to keep your interest going if you like games that keep you on your toes as you learn the ropes…
Innnnteresting. When Dark Souls came out last year, publisher Namco Bandai made the very cool decision to charge the same $60 price tag for the standard and collector’s edition of the game and yes, that steel-boxed version with the art book sold quite well while the standard edition seems to have done quite fine (not everyone likes that extra swag). This time out, Dark Souls II seems to be getting three different editions: a standard retail version (which will probably pop up as a digital release as well), a Black Armor Edition and a Collector’s Edition details of both are below, of course). Some may say Namco Bandai is being a bit overconfident here, but I think if they can get the fan base that LOVES this game to pay a little more while packing in some more swag (and cool swag, at that!), then more power to them.
Besides, you can always scream into that metal case or at that Warrior Knight perched atop your tee vee when the game keeps killing your avatar off when the going gets tough. Of course, since you hard-headed core PC gamers love your downloads, I believe you don’t get Jack other than the game (even if you find it on a disc at your favorite brick & mortar game emporium), so I guess that’s a win for us poor slobs who prefer our consoles for what they bring us (again!). Of course, PC-heads get fans who can fix stuff developer From Software doesn’t right away, so there’s that tradeoff… EDIT: Oops. As you can see by those newly updated images, I was quite wrong! One crow pie out of the freezer and into the oven for me! PC gamers get the swag too. Nice. Now stop that online petition stuff!
*Black Armor Edition Pre-Order Bonus*
The Dark Souls II Pre-Order Bonus comes with a FREE Collectible Metal Case, Game & Original Game Soundtrack – while supplies last. The collectible case has the unique Warrior Knight box art that will only be found on the Black Armor Edition. The Original Game Soundtrack is composed by Motoi Sakuraba, who composed the full score for the 2011 hit Dark Souls as well.
*Collector’s Edition*
The Dark Souls II Collector’s Edition comes with a gorgeous premium quality 12 inch tall Warrior Knight figurine, made from solid PVC weighing nearly 16 full ounces packed inside a custom printed display box with transparent window. Fans will also be treated to an exclusive hardbound artbook filled with never-seen-before images from the game developer, as well as a sizable full-color microfiber game map perfect for mounting onto your wall. The Black Armor Edition metal case will house both the game disc as well as the Original Game Soundtrack.
It’s a great thing that One Piece Pirates Warriors 2 demo on display at Namco Bandai’s press event a few weeks back was timed or they’d have had to drag me away from the controller. I’m a big fan of the Dynasty Warriors/Sengoku Musou series and the games that use the same formula and/or game engine and while last year’s One Piece game was solid, it had a few flaws in the ointment that made some parts slightly annoying. OPPW2 completely nixes the quick time events from the original’s boss battles and has a more free form style in terms of how much there is to do and how you can get it all done. There’s a new leveling system where you can used earned gold to train characters and even the ability to temporarily switch characters during gameplay by building up a special meter.
Developer Omega Force is at the top of its game here, packing the huge battlefields with even more enemies, ridiculously stylized (and hilarious) special attacks and that trademark Musou gameplay that’s addictive and challenging on the higher difficulties. As with the first game, the wacky art style of the anime translates fantastically to 3D with the assorted cast members retaining their exact likenesses and expressions from the show and bringing more to the table thanks to a dev team clearly having a blast doing what they do so well. I keep wondering when Omega Force will finally do a Tekken game in this style or even better, a crazy Namco Bandai character mash-up that’s part Musou, part Super Smash Bros. (of course, some hard core Nintendo fans will want to beat me up for even suggesting this, but I can handle it).
Like the first game, North American gamers are only getting this as a download through PSN while Japan gets this as a disc game, download and as a separate Vita release. Granted, this is exactly the sort of niche title that won’t move as many units as it will in its home country, but I think Namco Bandai should bend a wee bit and reach out more directly to the fan base just to see if they’d indeed buy this as a disc if were to be made available. Even better would be both One Piece games on a single Blu-Ray if possible for a fair price, but as usual, that’s more wishful thinking on my part. Anyway, US gamers get this one soon (September 3, 2013), so keep your eyes peeled and your fingers limber. You don’t want to seize up from a bad case of “controller claw” or anything right as that boss battle gets underway…
If you’re a big Dark Souls fan, you’d better pay very close attention to the game’s facebook page. Namco Bandai is going to be running an exclusive closed Beta for the PlayStation 3 version of the game over Sony’s PlayStation Network starting October 5, 2013 for players in North America and Europe. From the press release, it sure looks as if developer FromSoftware is going to be showing off an all-new area packed with death in every corner, but don’t take it from me – get a load of this snippet:
The depth of the DARK SOULS II Closed-Beta experience will truly test players’ skill, intestinal fortitude, and their sheer will to survive. The DARK SOULS II Closed-Beta will delve into one of the most treacherous areas of the DARK SOULS II world; players will not only get an opportunity to explore an entirely new area of the game, but also experience overwhelming enemy encounters, diabolical challenges, and the unrelenting difficultly that only the developers at FromSoftware can deliver.
Yeah, that sounds like a double-dog dare with a side of fries and cheese (the cheese coming from the game’s notoriously vicious and crafty enemy AI – trust me, it’s BRUTAL on the unprepared player!), so you know what to do if you accept that challenge (and you’ve survived being slapped upside the head with that metal gauntlet you just got served up fresh and hot). “Prepare to Suffer” needs to be the slogan for that Beta, I say…
If there’s one thing eternally busy developer CyberConnect2 knows how to do, it’s pack their Naruto games so full of content that trying to pin the tail on how many hours it takes to complete is a futile proposition. Despite that timer showing how long you’ve been at it for the last few weeks or whatever, you really don’t want to know how many hours you’re sinking into a game with a ton of playable characters and customization options unless you’re going for some sort of bragging rights someone can easily match by firing up the same game and letting it sit on a status screen while they do the Rip Van Winkle for a month or so.
For those of you who’ve blown through, are still playing, or missed out on and plan to purchase Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, you may want to hold onto something or just have a seat. Namco Bandai and CC2 are about to drop an even better game on your heads in the form of Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst, set for a PS3 and Xbox 360 release on October 22 and followed later by a PC release through Steam. Full Burst packs in the original game with reworked cinemas, all the DLC content and some all-new and insanely tough challenges that will test the best players with some truly brutal battles. A build of the new game was up and running at Namco Bandai’s press event a few weeks back and just listening to the staggering number of changes was exhausting yet showed that CC2 really loves its fans and wants them to have the best game possible…
March 2014 may seem like a long time to wait for Dark Souls II, to pop up at your favorite physical or digital game emporium but it’s actually going to be here faster than you think and you absolutely don’t want to be rusty when you take your first steps into the new dungeons. Meaner, faster, stronger creatures of many varieties await and they’re not planning to let you simply waltz around as if you’re in a petting zoo. If you have a copy of the first game lying around, you may just want to set aside time to replay it just so your fingers and brain are on their toes. Or you can go in to DSII cold and come out a total wreck before you’ve made it through the first map. Your choice, but I say practice makes perfect. Or less prone to death…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 