DICE’s Frostbite 2 engine is running hot in this spectacular-looking new entry in the long-running franchise. The combination of lightning fast driving and out of the car quick-time action events give the game a truly cinematic flair and you get a digital version of Christina Hendricks to moon over if that’s your thing. EA, you’re going to make me BROKE with yet another cool, fun game this year, grrr…
Sure, Skyrim is ruling them all as one of the best (if not THE best) game of 2011, but the RPG genre is definitely surging forward into 2012 with a number of cool new titles. One of the many games I’m highly interested in seeing and playing is Of Orcs & Men, Focus Home Interactive’s upcoming PC/PS3 and Xbox 360 title co-developed by Cyanide Studio and Spiders. What’s intriguing about the game for me is the idea of playing through a lengthy quest as a pair of characters usually found in your average RPG at the end of some heroic square-jawed human’s blade. The leads here are an orc warrior and a goblin assassin who team up in order to kill the human ruler who’s responsible for man’s ongoing war with their races. This change of pace from the usual RPG formula looks to make for an interesting blend of gameplay styles as players will be able to use both characters and their different skills throughout the adventure. The E3 teaser shows off some nicely stylized characters, beautiful lighting and what’s looking to be a pretty huge, detailed game world so far…
The game is set to be released in Spring 2012, and yes, I’m keeping this one on my radar (and you should as well). Screens and other fun stuff below the jump… Continue reading
Should I feel bad about not only NOT having read any of the books, but also for totally ignoring the HBO show until I hear news of Atlus publishing a new PS3, 360 and PC game based on the hugely popular fantasy series? Well, nope. Sometimes, I’m just a little slow. That, and too busy to add so much new stuff to my plate sometimes. Actually, I tried to watch one episode of the show, but it was a messy bit of walking into the middle of a conversation with and feeling really left out. All I know is NOT to get too attached to any characters (something I learned from the King’s Field days) and sometimes, the little guy is the one to really keep an eye on (lest he get stabby with his sword). “Early 2012” means this one has been in the pot for a little while at least. Given the sour reception Cyanide’s last Atlus-published game (The Cursed Crusade) received, Let’s hope GOT arrives at retail as a fully cooked bird and a tasty one at that…
Irrational Games’ Ken Levine “hosts” this really cool video in which we get to see the faces behind the two main characters in 2K Games’ upcoming BioShock Infinite, set for release next year on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It’s great to see two actors dedicated to bringing gamers such solid performances feel something about their work other than “It’s a paycheck…” Pay attention, especially if you’re thinking of getting into voice-over work yourself…
Indie developer Squid In A Box (yes, they even have a nice logo with a squid in a box) has a really cool game called WAVES. Based on the trailer above, it looks amazing, has some great music (As the kids on American Bandstand used to say, “It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it”) and you play with a ball that blows stuff up a lot. The game is also a lot of fun (or else I’d never mention it). Get the demo here. I’m doing that as I type this. If, I’m not mistaken, the full version should drop around November 16. Nice.
11-11-11. is almost here and I know a lot of folks WON’T be going to the movies to see Immortals, that’s for sure. A good chunk of gamers will no doubt be camping out in their living rooms exploring the wide world of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, not coming out into the real daylight until their relatives send the cops around to check for a strange smell. Of course, after doors are kicked in across the world because of that odor, all the authorities and formerly grieving family members will discover is a few too many smelly, unwashed gamers with headphones on (that why they didn’t hear the banging and ringing), moldy bits of takeout food and perhaps a lingering aroma of a disc drive spinning eternally. Yeah, I’m going to be one of those folks…
For the hell of it, I stuck it on my lower-traffic blog even though it’s not really “Mature”. I hate the ESRB’s goofy, puritanical and needless restrictions on this stuff, by the way. I’;; rant about that some other time, though. Anyway, Well, well, well. And who DIDN’T think the trailer wouldn’t be spectacular stuff. Expect to hear some news at or around E3 time, if not before. If I really HAD to venture a release date guess, maybe holiday 2012? As for the rumors of a download-only GTA V, I hope the hell not, given that 100 percent of GTA players probably don’t all live in areas with stable (or any) broadband connections. One reason this rush to digital-only stuff is so annoying to me. Hell, that and who doesn’t want that usual big color map and manual combo. My suggestion to Rockstar: do a standard retail edition and make a TRULY limited collector’s edition as a DIRECT purchase from an online shop you set up. Keep the production run reasonable (take pre-orders so you know how many to produce ), make them worth the price and once they’re gone, that’s that.
Awesome. One of my favorite in-progress games gets a new video update. Nice, nice. NOW, if only this would come to consoles as well, even more people would see how cool it is. Anyway, go bug the upstanding guys over at Black Pants Game Studios about becoming a beta tester for this one, as it’s shaping up to be a real winner and a truly original, innovative new game.
Platform: PS3 (also on Xbox 360, PC)
Developer: Snowblind Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE)
# of Players 1 – 3 (online 1 – 3)
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
Official Site
Score: A-
Attempting to expand upon a revered and well-established canon such as J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth saga is indeed tricky business, particularly in the case of The Lord of the Rings trology. Get it wrong and it’s a trip into the bowels of Mount Doom as some poor development team and publisher face the wrath and ruin of legions of longtime fans. Fortunately, The Lord of The Rings: War in the North delivers an epic (and Mature-rated) tale that ties in nicely with the trilogy as well as an addictive hack & slash that’s challenging and highly replayable. It also marks Snowblind Studios’ first current generation title (finally!) and yes, they’ve done a very solid job here. The visual presentation is grand and fitting, the music is perfect and the familiar gameplay is brutal, simple and about as fun as can be for a game of this type. The game is not without its flaws, however. Some chinks in the armor show up in the form of a a weird sound bug in one area, occasional AI stumbles plus a wee bit too much repetition of quest-related dialog. Nevertheless, this is one journey well worth taking whether or not you’re a fan of the books and films. Continue reading
That’s right, I said it. And yes, Starbreeze Studios will back it up in a big way on February 21, 2012. Based on the demo version I played at EA’s Naughty or Nice event about 2 weeks ago, even the most die-hard fan with greasy smoke coming from their eyeballs and ears about this game should ABSOLUTELY play this modern reworking of Bullfrog’s isometric RTS/Action hybrid.
Five (Plus One) Very Good Reasons to commit without question are below the jump… Continue reading
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 