Sega NYC Press Event Impressions

Posted on August 12, 2009 by geelw

Sega rolled into NYC yesterday with a varied lineup of 2009 and 2010 games guaranteed to appeal to pretty much every type of gamer. From family friendly (in original IP and licensed flavors), a bit of fitness, more than a few mighty Mature-rated games that will blow hardcore players away and more RPG surprises than you could shake a stylus at, it was impossible to not be floored by everything shown. I’ll be running lengthier coverage on a few of the games shown in the coming days and weeks, but here’s a quick alphabetical rundown on what was on display: Continue reading →

Risen Hands-On (PC/Xbox 360)

Posted on August 8, 2009 by geelw

At Deep Silver’s recent press event, the second big game shown was Risen, a great looking third-person Action/RPG by Piranha Bytes, creators of the Gothic series. Kai Rosenkranz, the game’s composer (and Jack of All Trades) was on hand with playable PC and Xbox 360 builds of the game, presented in side by side format for comparison’s sake. While the PC version was running on a higher resolution monitor, both versions looked exactly the same in terms of details small and large. This was an impressive beginning to the presentation and it only got better. Continue reading →

Gallery: Tekken 6 – 3D Character Art

Posted on August 8, 2009 by geelw

Namco Bandai sure knows how to perfectly monopolize my quality time, but I’m not complaining one bit. Going through these awesome character renders and screens for Tekken 6 is thrilling enough. Deciding HOW to present them is a bigger challenge, as there are so many characters and screenshots that one post would take up most of a page. Soooo, I’ll break these shots up into two posts. Character art first, screens second. Get ready for an image overload, folks: Continue reading →

Feature: Dragon Age: Origins – Orzammar

Posted on August 6, 2009 by geelw

Each week until the game’s launch date, we’ll be running a Dragon Age: Origins feature here on DAF that spotlights the regions, creatures and characters found in the expansive game world of Ferelden, complete with screenshots and/or artwork. Get your hardhat (or favorite battle helm) on… we’re going underground for this first installment: Continue reading →

Gallery: Darkest of Days

Posted on August 4, 2009 by geelw

It looks as if time traveling first-person shooters just may become the “new black” after all. With games such as Phantom EFX’s soon to be released Darkest of Days for the Xbox 360 and PC, we could finally see some great use of time travel as a viable FPS plot device. Developed by 8monkey Labs, this single player shooter has you playing a soldier named Alexander Morris who gets yanked away from Custer’s Last Stand by a “time agent” and sent on a sprawling time-travel adventure that involves some of the bloodiest battles throughout history. Morris’ goal is to stop a bunch of ne’er do wells from the future from rewriting history with a bit of extreme prejudice of his own while saving the lives of a few folks trapped in the wrong place at the wrong time. Continue reading →

Gallery: IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey

Posted on July 23, 2009 by geelw

505 Games has announced that its upcoming (and amazing looking) WWII flight combat gameIL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey will hit retail on September 15, 2009 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PSP and Nintendo DS. Here’s a quick rundown of the game from the press release, followed by some screens and box art: Continue reading →

Review: FUEL

Posted on July 22, 2009 by geelw

Platform: PlayStation 3/Xbox 360

Developer: Asobo Studio

Publisher: Codemasters

# of Players: 1 (2 – 16 Multiplayer)

Rating: E (Everyone)

Official Site

Score: A-

With racing games of all types zooming into game shops on every platform on a regular basis, there’s pretty much been nothing new under the sun other than prettier visuals, faster frame rates and the ability to use more and more expensive peripherals. Nevertheless, it’s actually quite hard to find games that not only work as racers, but do double duty as pure driving experiences. Welcome to FUEL, Codemasters’ and Asobo Studio’s groundbreaking arcade-style racer that offers up a whopping 5,000+ miles of outrageously fun racing and pure driving for the hell of driving in a single package. It’s got a few quirks here and there, but if the open road is your thing (even a post-apocalyptic open road), you’ll have a complete blast each time you pick up the controller. Continue reading →

New Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta Screens

Posted on July 21, 2009 by geelw

Well, alrighty then! The RPG that just keeps on giving (and getting better with each expansion) rolls onward (and upward) into outer space. Here are a few spectacular new screens from the Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta expansion DLC, set to land on both the Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live) and PC (via Windows Live) on Monday, August 3rd for 800 Microsoft Points. Playstation 3 owners, you know the drill – keep those home fires burning, it’s coming your way as well at some point down the road.

As for what’s in the expansion? Well, now… I’ve recently scavenged together a Cut-n-Paste mini-gun from Wasteland scrap and it kinda works like this… (BANG!): Continue reading →

Where the Wild Things Are Set to Stalk Consoles, Handhelds This October

Posted on July 20, 2009 by geelw

Ha – With all that’s going on these days, I’d completely forgotten about the upcoming Spike Jonze-directed take on Maurice Sendak’s classic kid’s book, but Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment obviously hasn’t. Here’s the official press release (below the jump) announcing the upcoming console and handleld versions of the game: Continue reading →

Review: Damnation

Posted on July 18, 2009 by geelw

Platform: Playstation 3/Xbox 360

Developer: Blue Omega Entertainment

Publisher: Codemasters

# of Players: 1 – 2 (Co-op) 1 – 8 (Multiplayer)

Rating: M (Mature)

www.damnationthegame.com

Score: C

Codemasters’ latest entry into the action game genre certainly offers up some innovative gameplay concepts and an interesting mix of steampunk and western-inspired visual elements. However the overall execution falls short thanks to some major quality issues. Developer Blue Omega Entertainment has expanded its award-winning Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, Damnation: Hell Breaks Loose to a full game, but despite the updated elements it still feels more like a halfway decent Unreal mod rather than a top-drawer release. Problems aside, there is some fun to be had here provided you’re willing to deal or overlook with the game’s flaws. Like too many games of this console generation, most of these issues probably could have been addressed with a patch. But at this point, it’s hard to say whether or not this will ever happen.
Continue reading →