The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II: If You’re Hungary For More, Come Get Some!

VanHelsingII_BoxArtOkay, I’m late to the mad monster party thanks to such a massive games backlog that I won’t be seeing some of the bigger titles I downloaded last year until late this year (or next year!), which is pretty sad. But I understand quite a lot of people have this problem thanks to too many bundle sales and low prices on single games that are way too hard to pass up.

Anyway, I bumped up the demo to The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing a few weeks back to “PLAY IT!” status when I was cleaning up my Steam library and realized I’d downloaded but not played it. It hooked me in right away and made me wish it was on more platforms because as great as Steam is, not everyone who’d love this fun and funny action/RPG is playing it.

Of course, me being late to the party means Hungary-based Neocore Games has been a hard at work on a sequel that’s going to be even bigger than the original and they want you to climb aboard the even more comedy-laced monster killing train early:

What was that? You say things were moving too quickly and you want screenshots? Um, okay – here you go:

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Feel better now? Good. But wait, there’s MORE… Continue reading

One Late Night: Deadline First Look: Your Pre-Monday Warmup Is Ready. Sleep Well, People…

 
Eep. The fine folks at Black Curtain Studio want to scare me more than half to death with one of their games, (again), but THIS time I’m taking you all along for the ride through this first look at gameplay from their upcoming horror game One Late Night: Deadline. If you’re a five day cubicle slave (or have been one in the past or intend to be one in the not too distant future), this little video should rattle a few of your body parts quite well before that eight minutes and six seconds is up. I’ll shut up now and let your four-walled cage get rattled some more.

 
You’re welcome, by the way…

Super Fighter Team Brings Two More Genesis Games To Light!

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Hot on the heels of releasing Nightmare Busters the first new Super Nintendo game in many years, Out of the blue, Super Fighter Team has announced not one, but TWO upcoming Sega Mega Drive/Genesis games have become available for pre-order with a 2015 release in the cards. I woke up (late!) to this news, so I’m still pinching myself to see if I’m awake. OUCH. Yes, it’s true!

More below the jump (OUCH)… Continue reading

More DAYLIGHT? Yeah, You’ll Be Wishing For The Sun, Alright…

Screen2 So, DAYLIGHT will be one reason for me to break down and finally get a PS4, as I love games like this with endless replay value. Jump scares don’t really do much for me, but I do like games that work so well at making you too freaked out to go on that you want to just STOP playing, but someone else in the room or your own stubborn nature makes you push onwards (and not necessarily past that fear, either). I’d missed this video below from January, but as you can see, even Atlus’ own staff and testers are getting broken in (and broken down) quite well:

Yep, I’m playing this with the damn lights ON, thank you much. In newer news, the game will support 3D play out of the case using RealD technology, and PlayStation Multimedia support is also included which means a whole suite of ridiculous options will be on board for those who love messing with people online in a few “fun” ways. Click below the jump for more info!

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Gallery Update: Cloudbuilt’s Looking More And More Like A Winner…

Well, well, well… New Cloudbuilt screens have arrived! Check them out:

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Just look at them. Lovely, aren’t they? If Coilworks’ awesome free-run/shooter/platformer Cloudbuilt doesn’t win some awards this year, I’m hanging up my controllers and packing it in for good as a gamer. This is a game I so WANT to succeed if only for the fantastic art direction and fact that it’s just too much fun for PC gamers to have all to themselves. Think of Mirror’s Edge, Gunvalkyrie, and a bunch of classic 8 and 16-bit action games all wrapped up in a neat little (and HIGHLY challenging) package. Then again, the game is ALL about pinpoint control and making the best of mistakes as there’s a way out of almost any bad jump, boost or wall dash provided you have keen reflexes and don’t panic. Continue reading

Assault Suit Leynos To Get PS4 Remake (Or: Target WORTH!)

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Well, alright! I’ve never heard of Japanese developer Dracue Software, but they certainly made a name for themselves at this year’s BitSummit in Japan by announcing they’re working on a remake of the classic Sega Mega Drive game Assault Suit Leynos. The game, known in the US as Target Earth, will be a PlayStation 4 exclusive (at least for now, but I hope a Vita version is in the pipeline). The only thing up media-wise other than the game site is this teaser trailer that’s all footage from the original with the reveal that the new game is PS4-bound:

Yep, it’s a buy whenever it’s done and hopefully won’t be either a download-only game that gets buried on PSN with little fanfare outside its home country or worse, play like the Assault Suits Valken “remake” for the Japanese PS2. THAT game was based on the Super Nintendo-only sequel to Leynos (called Cybernator here in the States) and the PS2 version was just a chore to play effectively thanks to cumbersome controls and pretty accurate enemy shooting. My hopes are for the best, as Leynos was and is a great game to play through multiple times. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the soundtrack stays the same as the original game or isn’t remixed and/or fiddled with too much. Eh, we’ll see… I have faith in Dracue to not screw this one up…

Dragon Age Inquisition Update: Oh, The Places You’ll Go (And Stare At For Far Too Long)…

 
Lovely. While I wasn’t enamored with Dragon Age II‘s overuse of environments and SUPER truncated finale, that first game was quite spectacular through and through. The third game looks pretty mighty to behold in these trailers, but I’m hoping we see more open environments that beg to be explored like a real world spot where you want to stop and smell the virtual roses (without getting jumped by a pack of monsters or highwaymen). We’ll see soon enough, but I’m going to go out on a limb and trust BioWare has learned from keeping an ear to the ground for fan feedback by now that more is always better thing when it comes to freedom in how one plays their RPGs…

Dark Souls II PC Screens: Prepare To BUY Is More Like It, Folks…

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Yeah, yeah, the modders will have their fun with the game once the PC version drops and they hack in some more “realistic” visuals for those who want them, but I love FromSoftware’s original vision for this soon to be released sequel. PC owners also get some nice content bonuses for pre-ordering (this version of the game ships out on April 25, a month and two weeks after the console versions (eek!), so there’s still time to grab this from a few online and retail locations). Click away below the jump for some press release action with the gory details. I’m backlogged in posting today and actually got in some books I need to read and review, so I’m kind of swamped…

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LUFTRAUSERS: Old School Looks Meets Bullet Hell. Everybody Wins…

 
Well, well, well. I’d not heard of this snappy little arcade indie game until earlier today, but as soon as I saw that teaser above, I had a nice flashback to the days of dropping too many quarters into a bunch of cabinets in a few too many places week after week. From watching this craziness once, I got a nice blend of Toaplan’s ancient classic Fire Mustang, a few Cave shooters galore, bits of Asteroids, Galaga and so forth and so on now rolling around in my head. I think I need to review this now. PlayStation 3, PS Vita, PC, Mac, and Linux users will all be grinning like maniacal monkeys with twitchy hands soon, as the game has a March 18 release date. Vlambeer’s got another sneaky little hit on their hands here and I’d expect it will hit all the right notes with shump fans looking for a highly customizable and crazy, challenging ride… Continue reading

SOMA Update: Theta of the Absurd, Getting Creepier By The Second…

 
Okay, my pun-like reflexes are a bit sad and lonely today, but that’s what happens when you just finish hanging a bunch of laundry and haven’t had that second cup of joe yet. Anyway, Frictional Games’ upcoming PS4 and PC exclusive, SOMA is looking quite nice in this latest clip and while the game won’t be done for a while, it’s looking like one to watch as it progresses. I still want Frictional to give the world a FIEND update, as that scary little top-down horror gem deserves a nice modern update at some point. Although, not that I think about it… I’m not sure if I’d prefer a first-person viewpoint, as you could see all those damned deadly holes you could avoid falling to your death into with the bird’s eye view. Eh, we’ll see what happens in the future when we arrive. SOMA’s the game to concentrate on for the moment…