South Park Pinball Launch Trailer: Zen Rolls Out a Double Shot of Silver Ball Fun

Posted on October 13, 2014 by geelw

Well, well, well… the eternally entertaining Zen Pinball 2 gets yet another great table (no surprise there), but this one is TWO tables in one. South Park Pinball drops onto PSN, Xbox Live and PC via Steam tomorrow, so you’ll get South Park: Super-Sweet Pinball and South Park: Butters’ Very Own Pinball Game to play around with and wave in the faces of your jealous non-Zen Pinball 2 non-gaming friends. Oh yeah, and the set is also those annoying tablets and other mobile devices that get stolen right out of your hands on public transportation in major cities, too!

The folks at Zen say that the South Park two-table pinball pack launches this week for $4.99/€4,99/£3.99 on PC and consoles, $2.99/€2,69/£1.99 for individual tables on Mac. On mobile platforms (the ones that keep getting stolen, man!), South Park pinball costs $3.99/€3,59/£2.49 for the standalone app and $1.99/€1,79/£1.49 for individual tables through the Zen Pinball app. Me, I’m sticking with the Vita version because I play mostly at home and no one is stealing my Vita from there unless they take me with it, grrrrr!

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Launch Trailer: Some Humor in Your Boom-Boom-Boomer…

Posted on October 13, 2014 by geelw

Tomorrow is the big day for fans of this non-stop and often hilariously violent first-person shooter/loot-fest franchise, so here you go. I’m actually glad that Gearbox decided to give the old consoles where the series still has its largest user base this new game instead of forcing it onto the PS4 and Xbox One where it wouldn’t sell as well. Yes, they COULD have done it for all four systems, but I think they want to make that next Borderlands LOOK more like it belongs on those more powerful systems than just whip out a slicked-up enhanced version. Good for them, I say. Anyway, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel launches October 14, 2014 in North America and October 17, 2014 everywhere else.

How To Survive: Storm Warning Hands-on: Oh, You’ll Die Anyway (And Love Every Minute of It)…

Posted on October 11, 2014 by geelw

Okay, so I’d not played EKO Software’s How to Survive at all on the PS3 because it was a digital-only title, I was fed up with zombie games and figured missing one wouldn’t be a total loss. Boy, was I wrong on that front. When 505 Games invited me to see and play the enhanced PS4 version, How To Survive: Storm Warning Edition (along with some really stupendous mobile titles I’ll need to write about soon), I popped up with no expectations (a good way to approach any new game, folks) but came away very impressed with the brutally challenging game with the most fitting name. If you’ve played this on other platforms and love it, you know the drill and this one’s been keeping you busy for a while. If you’re new to the game and happen to have a PS4, you’ll be pleased to know this version will bring you the original release and DLC in the same download… Continue reading →

NowPlaying: Alien Isolation (Or: Let’s See How Long I Can Last)…

Posted on October 7, 2014 by geelw

So, yeah – here we go. let’s see now: phone off the hook? Check. Clean underwear at the ready? Check. Ear out for UPS/Fed Ex in case I get some surprise packages from a PR contact (and/or my SUPER late Think Geek order that’s almost a month old, grrrr?): Check! I think I should eat something too, but I’ll pop into the kitchen while the game is installing and make something quick. Did someone say cheese pierogi with sauteed onions? I think that’s what my stomach was screaming, so that will get taken care of (thank you, stomach!). I think I have some (*ding!*) Gold’s Horseradish left. Hmmm… let me check… (*ding!*) Yep, with beets, at that. Okay, I’m set for the day.

Oh, that flower? It’s there because it’ll probably be the nicest thing I see all day. Back in a bit – maybe later this afternoon or evening with some sort of “I’m too %#$^@! scared to move” update. Maybe.

The Evil Within Looks to Scare You Sillier Than You’d Like to Be Scared, So Get With the Program!

Posted on October 6, 2014 by geelw

Let’s see now: one part Resident Evil, one part Silent Hill, One part F.E.A.R. and a lot of what’s inside Shinji Mikami’s head certainly go a long way in his latest game, The Evil Within. Set for an October 14, 2014 release on PC, PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One, this survival horror game marks Mikami’s return to the genre that made him a master to legions of horror game fans. I’m holding out until I play this one, but from all those trailers and behind the scenes videos that have been popping up, this one looks as if it will deliver the goods to those who can take what it throws at them. Granted, if you’re one of those jaded types scared of nothing and think this game is “dull” when you haven’t touched a controller connected to a console or PC running it, then Bethesda Softworks and Tango Game Studios more than likely have no use for your commentary on some message board where you’re all anonymous and filled with bile for some reason or another.

I’d bet they’d LOVE more constructive and useful criticism from people who may run into something that keeps the game from being what it needs to be (but that doesn’t include being a direct Resident Evil clone, I’d bet), so maybe go PLAY this before you go online and whine expecting for someone to back you up when the developer and publisher would rather see you fall off a cliff onto something sharp. Or something like that. I’m betting Bethsoft and Mikami don’t care what anyone who hasn’t played this thinks because at the end of the day, those people are wasting their time rambling on about themselves and speaking for others when they should just shut up and maybe play some of those games they hate on for no reason. Just a thought…

Alien Isolation Launch Trailer: At Home, Everyone Will Hear You Scream…

Posted on October 6, 2014 by geelw

It’s almost here and yours truly will be popping up at a certain retailer bright and early to snap up my copy and trot back home so I can dive in feet first and come up for air with knuckles and hair all white from fear. Yay, fear! Hmmmm. I should e dreading this experience a bit more because I’ve not been really freaked out by any horror game in a while.

On the other hand, I’m knowing I’m going to enjoying seeing what The Creative Assembly has cooked up for people like me who’ve been following this from the shadows who want to go in cold and not have spoilers hitting us on the head because we hung out on the right message boards and want our “fun” spoiled. Of course, I’m less expecting this to be “fun” and more expecting it to be “Holy $#!+, I can’t take another step because I’m TOO damn scared, but that damn Alien is somewhere in the room, Gyaaaaaah!”…

Or something like that. (sings) The sun will come out, tomorrow… Hmmmm. I wonder if they sell cork panels at the K-Mart across from the game shop? I may need a bunch to line the living room with so my neighbors don’t keep calling the cops on me. “GYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

Alien Isolation #HowWillYouSurvive Final Update: Last Chance to Stomp Down to the Store, But Have an Egg First!

Posted on October 3, 2014 by geelw

So, some early reviews are in and it seems that the reviewers that got it REALLY got it good and that’s a good thing. The ones that didn’t? Well, they came in looking for the wrong game and yep, boy were they surprised at the game not being what THEY wanted and what the developer intended. You have to love that sort of misguided missile writing, ladies and gents.

Anyway, as Sega seems to not like me, I’ll still be buying this one on Tuesday and reviewing it a bit later than the madding crowd that already has. But that’s just fine by me because I don’t plan on rushing this through at all. Nor one bit. Nope.

As for that eggy breakfast, Well… I’d like one of these, please. It can fit in the living room in place of that stupid recliner or the other chair that just dropped its lousy, crumbling cloth underside on the carpet like a misbehaving pet. Yuck. Anyway, I should probably catch up on some sleep over the weekend, as I’m betting Alien Isolation will be keeping me awake and creeping into my sleeping time for a while…

Kromaia Hands-On: Blasting Cool Looking Stuff Four Ways ’til Sunday (Well, Any Day of the Week)…

Posted on October 1, 2014 by geelw

Kraken Empire’s upcoming space shooter Kromaia is going to be one of those games genre fans will be more than pleased to see thanks to the stellar visuals and intuitive control scheme (provided you use a keyboard/mouse or decent game controller). Rising Star Games has wisely snapped this one up for a Q4 2014 release and I recently got my paws on some preview code to take for a spin. And spin I did, as the ships in the game are all kinds of maneuverable thanks to the six degrees of movement through the game’s enemy and obstacle-packed levels..

The preview build had four different levels and four types of ships to play around with, each linked to one of the stages. While I could sit here and make comparisons to Star Fox, Panzer Dragoon, Rez and other excellent sci-fi or fantasy shooters where you’re set on a path without much deviation, Kromaia outdoes those games by allowing you to go anywhere you point that ship you’re flying. There are clear goals in each map, but you can choose to go off what you thought was a predetermined path and zip around at your leisure while trying not to get blown into plenty of pixels by the nicely aggressive enemy AI…

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Alien Isolation #HowWill YouSurvive Update: Yup, I’m Flared Up For This One As Well…

Posted on September 30, 2014 by geelw

Flared Up, indeed! I just realized (okay, again!) that it’s OCTOBER (well, tomorrow!) and Alien Isolation is out in a week’s time. Eeek. Now, I have to do a coin toss and decide what to get, as there are a few other games coming that need to be played and I’m not sitting on a ton of money here (yet). As I know the big sites will all be reviewing the next-gen versions, I may play odd man out and grab the PS3 version just because I really want to see how that turned out and yes, more of you guys and gals out there still play games on your own PS3 or Xbox 360 than you do on those fancier newer machines.

Crowd Control? Nah, this one’s not getting a massive midnight launch and doesn’t need one at all. As this isn’t a crowd-pleasing first-person shooter in the Call of Duty or Halo vein and is in fact, a hybrid horror/sci-fi experience that looks to capture the spirit of Ridley Scott’s classic 1979 film, I’m betting there are STILL a small bunch of people out there who will go into this expecting a non-stop guided missile on-rails shooter or something the game isn’t. But it’s their own damn fault for not paying attention to the developer diaries and all those previews other sites have done for a while. Oh well…

&nsbp;
Distress will come when this launches on October 7, 2014 for PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One and PC and people buy it, get home and then get too scared to play past certain spots. I have the first film in a loop in my brain (I’ve seen it countless times and plan to watch it again before the game arrives just to set the perfect mood), so I know I’m going to love what’s here. Now, about that DLC and stuff that should HOPEFULLY pop up for everyone and not just be exclusive to certain retailers? Yeah, that’s my big gripe about this and other games that piece out content like that. It may be “what people want” (according to game companies), but this SHOULD have been one of those games that packed as much as possible onto that disc just out of respect for Alien fans who don’t want to miss out on ANY content but have no choice in the matter.

Silent Hills: No Scare-City of Screams In This Soon to Be Horror Hit…

Posted on September 27, 2014 by geelw

Now that a possible few million people have been scared half to death or so from that P.T. demo which has since been revealed as a teaser for the latest Silent Hill game, I’d say Konami, Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro have got the attention of horror fans as well as curious folks who just so happened to be handed a controller just to see what happens.

Naturally, the reaction videos here are priceless, but Konami proves it’s not sexist at all because below you get to see a bunch of guys and gals at this year’s Gamescom nearly peeing themselves while trying to play that demo. Yeah, I wasn’t there, but I did play it at a friend’s place and yup, it gets pretty effective at times. Of course, part of the scare factor is the looping around the same map that changes so randomly I’ve yet to hear of two people having the exact same experience.

With all that looping around, crazy changes to the area and yes, those incredibly realistic visuals that play with your fears (if you hate cockroaches, darkness, messed up ghostly faces filling your screen and a few other things, break out the adult diapers), it’s clear that Sony and Konami have got a pile of money coming their way once this game is released… Continue reading →