Review: GoldenEye 007 Reloaded

Posted on November 7, 2011 by geelw

Platform: PlayStation 3 (also on Xbox 360)

Developer: Eurocom

Publisher: Activision

# of Players 1 – 4 (Online 1 – 16)

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Score: A

Eurocom’s high quality reworking of Rare’s Nintendo 64 classic GoldenEye 007 was truly amazing on the Wii last year, but on the PS3, it’s the definitive version of the game and an absolute must-buy. GoldenEye: Reloaded adds HD resolution (1080p!), a new MI-6 Ops mode, tight controls with the PlayStation Move and gameplay that rockets along at a solid 60 frames per second. A solid single player campaign and fun multiplayer modes that feature a ridiculous amount of customization options makes this the perfect package for novice to expert shooter fans alike. Don’t let the timing of the release (sliding neatly between BF3 and MW3) fool you one bit. No matter which mode you hop into first, what’s here can easily stand on the same ground as other modern shooters. Continue reading →

Heavy Rain “Director’s Cut” Coming November 8th. Buy It (Even If You Own The Original Already).

Posted on November 4, 2011 by geelw

One of the best and most cinematic games this generation for any console gets another reissue, this time with pretty much everything you were expecting. Almost. It’s not really a Director’s Cut if you try and think of it EXACTLY like a film, but given that David Cage is a great game director (and really needs to make more games), I’ll let this slide a bit. Basically, you’re getting the award-winning dramatic adventure game in it’s Move Edition format plus a bunch of sweet bonuses:

Complete, original game, Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain Chronicles: Episode 1 – “The Taxidermist” DLC
Heavy Rain Original Videogame Score by award-winning film and television composer, Normand Corbeil (16 tracks)
New front-end menu and interface with built-in Move support
A series of 8 “Making of” Bonus Videos
Three Dynamic Themes (Heavy Rain, Heavy Rain ARI Forest, Heavy Rain ARI Mars)
15 additional pieces of new concept art
2 bonus Trailers (Thank You Trailer, Love Trailer)

As a Greatest Hits reissue, that bargain price is sure to get a few more people playing this truly innovative game. And hopefully, it’ll make Quantic Dream a few bucks more as well. As much as I love my indie games, we need developers like QD to save the gaming scene from becoming an all-app, all the time wasteland of a few gems in the rough buried under piles of garbage. Let’s hope we see something from Cage and his team on the Vita at some point as well…

GoldenEye: Reloaded Also Makes My Day…

Status

A bit of serendipity (of sorts). As I was mooning over the GTA V trailer, my PS3 review copy of GoldenEye: Reloaded shows up. Looks as if the stuff I was planning to post (new Max Payne 3 screens, a quick note on UbiSoft acquiring Red Lynx and some other miscellany) will have to wait a few hours while I strap on my Move and Navigation Controllers for a bit. This should be fun. Back in a bit…

Review: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

Posted on November 1, 2011 by geelw

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 →

GoldenEye: Reloaded Launch Trailer: Before We Resume With A Bang & A Boom…

Posted on October 28, 2011 by geelw

Yes, it’s ~~almost~~ finally here, so get those itchy trigger fingers all nice and limber for a super solid single player experience that’s been nicely expanded and some very cool multiplayer modes that will get you yelling at your radar-reading CHEATER friends who pick Odd Job and start throwing bowler hats at you as soon as you spawn. Eurocom has whipped up a fun game that was great on the Wii last year and looks to be even bigger on the HD consoles. Let’s hope enough folks can pull themselves away from BF3 and a few other titles in the launch window to make this one as successful as it should be (and then some)…

This Time, It’s War (In The North)…

Posted on October 28, 2011 by geelw

Guess what JUST showed up (well, around 12:30 this afternoon)? Looks like my weekend plans are shattered to heck, but in a REALLY good way. Off to get to work on a review, which should hopefully go live on ~~Monday~~, er. Tuedsay*. Now about that Batman: Arkham City I didn’t get, feh… you win some, you lose some, I guess. Anyway, I’m off to kill a bunch of Orcs and try not do die by U’ruk Hai. Back in a bit!

Yeah, yeah, I’d initially written this as MONDAY for the review, til I noticed the embargo. Oops. Tuesday it is.

Syndicate Hands-On: It’s Just Like The Original… But Better.

Posted on October 25, 2011 by geelw

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 →

Hideo Kojima Has Me (And Many Others) Drooling Over Metal Gear Solid. Again.

Posted on October 25, 2011 by geelw

Of course, any gamer worth his or her salt will want this as soon as it ships next month. If I’m not mistaken, it also comes with this, which is even better. Finally, this is hitting stores in 2012 (and it’s about time). Between these HD collections, what Kojima has cooking on the Vita, Metal Gear Rising and some other fun stuff, it’s going to be quite an anniversary for Solid Snake and friends…

The Lord of The Rings War in the North Pre-Order Teaser Tempts Away…

Posted on October 24, 2011 by geelw

Too many people online are out of their minds comparing every RPG to Skyrim or whatever other fantasy-themed open world experience on the way when it’s clear that Snowblind Studios is making a different type of adventure entirely. I’m definitely looking forward to this one as I’m a fan of the developer’s work and trust them to make a pretty good action RPG (as it’s something they’ve done a few times previously). We’ll see if the game defies the skeptics and becomes one of those “Hey, this is really good!” word of mouth titles pretty soon, as that November 1 release date is right around the corner. Of course, in this stupid era of games needing to sell a bazillion copies over a weekend to be considered a “success”, I truly hope that this game gets enough time to gain momentum before any judgment is placed on the potential of future installments…

Rayman Origins’ New Trailer Makes Me Hungry…

Posted on October 22, 2011 by geelw

Who know there was a Food Universe? Well, that aside (and my stomach now rumbling for something from the fridge), this latest Rayman Origins footage shows off a new area, one that I happened to play at New York Comic Con last week. The jumping is tricky old-school platforming goodness, but the game has a nice “revival” system in play so that it’s not a controller-bashing experience. The game is looking great with tons of color, inventive, funny gameplay and tons of things to see and do. This one deserves to be in EVERY gamer library once it ships, so do UbiSoft (and Rayman) a favor and BUY it, folks…