GRID 2 Multiplayer Hands-On: It’s Like Lightning (But With Better Handling)…

Posted on April 12, 2013 by geelw

The single player in GRID 2 was quite thrilling in that demo from a few months back, but Codemasters knows that many will be snapping up this one first and foremost for the multiplayer modes and fortunately, the game shines even more here. A few members from the dev team rolled into NYC with a new demo that just so happened to be on the same day and in the same hotel as Namco Bandai’s Global Gamer’s Day, so it made for an exciting start to a long day packed full of great upcoming titles. The Xbox 360 version was set up (and looking fantastic, by the way), but being the only writer to pop up at this first session meant playing against the people working on the game and only having the slimmest of chances of beating any of them during the bunch of races about to take place… Continue reading →

Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon: Not A Joke After All, But Full Of Laughs Nonetheless…

Posted on April 12, 2013 by geelw

OK, other than clicking on the page on April 1 and entering the Konami Code on my keyboard to blow up all the stuff on the site with clicks, I ignored this “game” because it was pretty obvious that it was an April Fool’s gag gone viral. Hell, NO ONE would make a game like that after Duke Nukem Forever, Bulletstorm and a few other humor-centric shooters didn’t exactly set the world on fire. That and hell, Crytek was too busy working on stuff like Warface, Far Cry 3 and Crysis 3 DLC plus whatever else they’re cooking up, so this HAD to be a big, fat joke. Welllll, to quote Ah-nuld in that gun shop scene from The Terminator… WRONG.

Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon is not only real, it’s a standalone game that doesn’t require owning the original version of Far Cry 3 to play, looks completely nuts and sorry to say, isn’t going COMPLETELY old school because it’s a DIGITAL-ONLY release. Hell, if Ubisoft were smarter about this retro thing, they’d get this out in a LIMITED edition for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 and sell it on that fake online shop they’ve set up on the Blood Dragon site. Do one run and that’s it for physical copies. They’d certainly get the attention of core gamers, collectors and those who just want more options in how they play their games, that’s for sure.

Hopefully Ubisoft and their PR will pay attention to my non-negotiable demands and make this happen as a retail product – I can see a bunch of people snapping this up if it’s packing the heat they expect.

PREVIEW: Dark Souls II: It’s Not Easy Being Green (Or Hardcore, For That Matter)…

Posted on April 12, 2013 by geelw

If there were ANY doubts that Dark Souls II would “go casual” among the pack of journalist-types who attended Namco Bandai’s Global Gamers Day last week here in NYC, those were squashed VERY flat by the mighty throwing of one VERY large axe by an enemy during a demonstration of the game. While the team at FromSoftware’s main design goal is to make the game more “accessible” to players, to the producers that word (which means “casual” to some gamers) meant accessibility ONLY in terms of making sure the game’s pacing put players into even MORE dangerous situations much faster than in Demon’s Souls and the first Dark Souls. Fetch-questing for NPCs has been minimized and backtracking through enemy infested areas is out (although you CAN choose to explore anywhere you like), replaced by a refined warp system and areas where surviving enemies and the insanely deadly environments will become your primary challenges. Continue reading →

GOG.com Brings You Too Much (Again): A Weekend Interplay Sale Of Epic Proportions!

Posted on April 12, 2013 by geelw

Nice! 33 Interplay games, most of them awesome all go up for a super sale this weekend over at gog.com, so if it’s going to be rainy and messy like it here right now, you’ve done all your spring cleaning (lucky you!) and need some fun stuff to melt the hours away, here you go. There’s too much stuff to recommend, but may I suggest a little Descent or Freespace, (airsickness bags not included – hope you like flying!) perhaps a side of Shattered Steel (BioWare’s first game), a side order of Stonekeep (for you dungeon crawlers out there) and absolutely try the Earthworm Jim 1 & 2 pack (EWJ 3 is an acquired taste, but interestingly weird and wacky). OK, get whatever YOU want or get them all. Hey, you’re buying, so it’s all your choice, right?

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara – The Fighter: This Tank Won’t Tank!

Posted on April 10, 2013 by geelw

Capcom gets with the rolling out of gameplay footage from their more than eagerly awaited HD remake of one of the cooler arcade games we never saw in the US. Check out the Capcom Unity post about this beefy brawler here and get ready for some superior hack & slash action coming to the PC, PSN, Xbox Live Arcade and Wii U eShop. Like a few of you out there wringing your hands for a Vita version, yeah – I’m with you there. Hopefully, Capcom WILL make this happen, as this one’s perfect for some on the go action, especially if the dev team at Iron Galaxy can make it run smoothly for some serious four player co-op. OK, I’m getting ahead of myself here, but hey, it’s a damn great idea I think NEEDS to get done.

GOG.com Gets Slender…Wake Me When It’s Over…

Posted on April 10, 2013 by geelw

Oh, look… another Slender game. OK, this is supposed to be the best… or at least the one from the guy who cooked up this modern campfire tale that seems to primarily scare people younger than I who are still freaked out in the dark or something. Well, gog.com IS also an indie showcase these days as well as a place where you can score much more in the way of DRM-free classics to current PC, Mac and Linux games, so it was only a matter of time before one or more of these Slender games popped up. They do nothing for me and the mythos is a bit dopey. Basically the guy popping up and not quite chasing you in these short scare-fests is Freddy Krueger in a snazzy suit or something. There’s a nice atmosphere going on here and some jump scares galore, if that’s your thing. And then you make a mistake and die. Not my idea of horror, but if that floats your boat – go on ahead.

Edge of Space Teaser: Fall In And Float With This Indie Sleeper…

Posted on April 9, 2013 by geelw

EoS2

Well, well… what do you know? Edge of Space actually looks pretty cool, but for some reason (well, OK… I normally don’t play online games) I’ve been ignoring it a wee bit too much. Still, I’m now tempted to sit in on an hour-long play session tomorrow so I can recommend it to you readers out there looking for a super cool retro inspired side-scrolling game that’s inspired by a few things from Minecraft to a sack full of 8 and 16-bit classics to bits and pieces of sci-fi themed RTS games. Anyway, I’ll get the what’s what tomorrow and let you know how much fun this is. Crafting, crates, jet packs, hungry aliens galore and funky sharks in space gear (!). Actually, the funky sharks did it for me and I didn’t even need to play this… but I’ll do so anyway just to be sure. In the meantime, feel free to give this a shot through Steam or Desura – just click that banner below to buy EoS and you’re halfway there…

Lost Planet 3 Pre-Order Bonuses: Triple Threat, But You Can Only Choose ONE…

Posted on April 9, 2013 by geelw

I’m not a fan at all of this pesky practice of slicing pre-order bonuses up to different goodies unless the content advertised shows up at some point for EVERY player who has ANY copy of the game in question and wants those goodies unlocked through playing normally. This isn’t Capcom’s “fault” entirely, as the big three shops here all want YOUR pre-order, so how better to do so than to tempt you into a three-way that’s impossible (hey, just like real life!). Ugh.

Well, hopefully Lost Planet 3 will sell well enough to warrant a Game of the Year edition so everyone who wants this DLC can get it. Of course, you can definitely complete the game without ANY of this content – it’s just a pain to see two versions (or three if you don’t use Steam, PSN or Xbox Live) of bonus gear that’s inaccessible unless one has a decent connection and the proper accounts set up.

And by the way, the game’s release date has dipped into August, as I just noticed way at the bottom of the press release Capcom sent along (eek). According to that last line, Lost Planet 3 arrives on August 27 in North America and August 30 in Europe for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. That’s actually a good thing on this end, as it will give me more time to complete a few epics I’m playing or haven’t fired up just yet…

Something Old, Something New (Or, One GOOD Thing About Digital Games)…

Posted on April 8, 2013 by geelw

Well, well, well. Digital games are good for something after all. I’d purchased an inexpensive boxed copy of Torchlight off eBay a few years back from an overseas seller and it actually arrived quickly and ran just fine. It wasn’t until after playing it for a week and coming across some text in another language that I had the thought it wasn’t a legal version (despite the official looking Microsoft hologram on the slipcase) and I wanted to support Runic Games and all their hard work. Shortly afterward, I ended up buying Torchlight again, this time directly from the Runic site. However, I wasn’t able to download it thanks to my crap home connection (the reason why I sought out a physical copy in the first place). Of course, after that, Encore put out a disc version in the US and yep, I bought one of those as well. Amusingly enough, I ended up gifting that one to a friend for his birthday as he wanted to play the game but also had a crap internet connection.

Yeah, I’m a nice guy when I want to be… Continue reading →

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: The Title Sucks. The Game Certainly Doesn’t.

Posted on April 8, 2013 by geelw

Van_H_banner

So far, so good for this upcoming vampire-killing chase & chop, I say. Well, the title is still kind of dopey (it sounds like a very wrong Saturday Morning cartoon), but I’m really liking what’s happening with this NeoCoreGames-developed action/RPG. If they can pull off everything they’re planning, this one will be a hit (dorky-sounding name and all). Hey, I’m just saying that a better name will keep some skeptics from their snickering, especially with everything looking so great on the presentation side. I don’t mind the HUGE damage numbers at all, as they add a nice touch of humor to things. That said, being able to toggle them off would be a good idea.

Of course, with everyone comparing every isometric action game to the Diablo series (although Torchlight is more enjoyable to some extent if you add Diablo III to the mix), that’s another hurdle to overcome. Not for me, however – I love these types of games and will definitely play this one to death. Or Van Helsing’s death, as I’d be hiding in the broom closet if there were any real-life vampires and werewolves coming after me. Anyway, a PC version is coming this Spring with an Xbox 360 version via Xbox Live on the way later this year. Hmmm… someone get these guys PS3 and Vita dev kits, I say. And what the hell, a Wii U one as well, as all those systems could use a few more great looking hardcore vampire slaying games (that aren’t called Castlevania)…