Bugbear's take on Namco's seminal racing series definitely has a Burnout thing going for it visually, but given that Criterion has changed their popular crash-fest into a top-down retro-looking family-friendly download only arcade affair (say that three times fast!) with Kinect support over XBLA (it's actually a lot of fun), it looks like gamers who want polygons pushed around into assorted scrap metal might be looking at a new contender for the crown. As a HUGE FlatOut fan, I like what I see quite a lot and can't wait to take this one for a spin. Screens below the jump.Read more »
Another one-two punch from Cologne = stop ducking, stick your chin out and get carried away by the blow. Capcom and Namco’s upcoming fighter is still bending fans’ brains around the concept of these classic 2D fighters finally meeting up and battling classic 3D ones. Of course they’ll pull it off remarkably well, as you can see in this pair of trailers. Street Fighter has been on a roll since SFIV revitalized the franchise and it looks like the new game will do the same for Tekken,a s Namco Bandai will be rolling out a few new games for different platforms featuring characters from its seminal fighting franchise.
If the super-early demo I saw a few weeks ago was any indication, fans of the series will be in for a real treat. Combat is faster, more fluid and feels more like an action game than a traditional fighter. Sure, there’s no blood spilled here, but there’s a definite God Of War influence to the new combat, as even slower characters are getting a speed boost. This, of course, will probably lead some longtime fans who love beating the stuffing out of opponents using Sigfried or Nightmare wanting these characters to be their old selves. However, it seems that the dev team is merely following the trend of making a game more accessible to all sorts of players rather than simply rehashing what’s come before. As with any game, we shall see what happens once a public demo is available and Nsmco Bandai hears what the fan base says…
I saw this particular boss battle played out live at the Namco Bandai event a few weeks back – the rep playing put up a stellar fight, but lost despite his valiant efforts. When the guy doing the awesome speed run through the demo (one of the best and funniest examples of “I’ve been playing this build for a few months, so I know what to do here” I’ve ever seen) gets his armored clock cleaned by a pair of gargoyles, you KNOW the final game will be a total nightmare. I can’t wait…
Yeah, yeah, I’m a bit behind here, but that’s because I’m swimming in stuff to do. Anyway, a one-two punch from Namco Bandai here. ACAH is looking too dynamic for words (who needs Top Gun? Bleh.) while Inversion continues to amaze me for a few reasons. People need to start looking hard at Saber Interactive’s upcoming shooter, as it breaks a few rules while breaking new ground (literally and figuratively) in the game space. I need to play this one again at some point, so I’m hoping we see a demo before it ships in 2012…
Hmmmm. Now that the game has a neat track editor, a lot of the misplaced heat has dissipated from the haters. Excellent. Bugbear certainly knows how to make a solid racer, so it’ll be interesting to see how well their City Creator works in terms of ease of use and what sort of online/offline functionality it has. Color me even more thrilled – way to go, BBE! Now find someone to fund a Glimmerati update for consoles and handhelds and I’ll be even happier!
Namco Bandai’s latest high-flying entry in its seminal flight combat franchise gets a really cool pre-order bonus with a pretty recognizable plane. If you’re a new or longtime fan of the series, don’t forget the game’s Facebook page can always use a few more of you top gunners. Strap on that emergency chute and get ready to rack up some killer frequent flier miles on your PS3 or Xbox 360 soon enough.
Saber Interactive’s upcoming innovative gravity-defying shooter has co-op play I was curious about, but thankfully, Namco Bandai has dropped this Gamescom 2011 trailer on my head so I can share it with you guys and gals. I think they’ve got a nice sleeper hit here that will surprise a few shooter fans expecting the same old same old. More to come from Gamescom shortly…
FromSoftware’s nightmarish, brutal (and beautiful) RPG gets better and better looking each time I see it. At the Namco Bandai event last week, I also got to see see a hilarious speed run through the demo that made a formerly torturous hour-long plus replay after replay session under normal hands get us to a pretty spectacular (and scary) boss battle in around two and a half minutes or so. The Namco Bandai rep doing the run had gotten so good at the demo that he decided to show off part of the build that few game journalists had actually made it to after multiple attempts.
While sitting there with our jaws on the floor or cracking up at the pack of death-dealing creatures running after the poor armored Templar type on screen, I had the immediate thought that Xbox 360 owners who didn’t play Demon’s Souls on the PS3 are in for a big, bad surprise. Dark Souls is looking to be beyond hard for newbies and trying to play it like any other game where you’re guided through missions will probably lead to a few smashed controllers and complaints that the game isn’t at all fair. Well… it’s not supposed to be. When your official website is called PREPARE TO DIE, er… what sort of game were you expecting to play?
Dark Souls will be in stores in October for the PS3 and Xbox 360. It’s going to get ugly online and off – but you’ll love every minute of it.. unless you’re not prepared to die (and a LOT at that).
If there was any doubt that Dragon Ball Z had staying power after all these years, Namco Bandai’s upcoming brawler should squash that like oh so many bugs under a hard heel. The game is intense, insane and from what I played last week at their NYC press event, pretty non-stop in terms of the all-out action fans expect. Looking even better than the anime it’s based on, the game might even get some non-DBZ fighting game fans to pick up a controller once they get a peek at the speed and visual flash of the battles. Yes, there are indeed quick time events in these fights, but both players can either get in attack or defense moves by being the fastest to jam on a certain button when prompted. The Super attacks are impressive and can absolutely turn the tide in battle, provided you’ve been beating on your opponent enough so your cinematic blow can get.
Controls are solid, as noted, the game looks fantastic (the huge destructible environments get blasted up pretty good) and yup, there are ridiculously fun boss fights that feel like something from a classic 3D platformer, memorizing pattern attacks and all. The boss demo ended JUST as things were getting good, so it looks as if we’ll have to wait until October to see how it all turns out. PS3 and Xbox 360, of course…
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