FUSE Hands-On: Insomniac Wants You Up All Night With Their Co-op Focused Shooter

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fuse_PS3fuse_360In a way, FUSE is probably Insomniac’s most important game to date. The veteran games studio is well know worldwide among critics and PlayStation fans (and anyone else who happens to be console agnostic) who knows everything the developer has done has been of the highest quality. Sit down with any Insomniac title and you’ll find plenty of outstanding design, excellent visuals, and games that are just pure fun to play. Much of that work has held up over time (yes, even Disruptor) and as their first multi-platform release, the game looks to the carry those traditions to both the PS3 and Xbox 360. EA had a new demo of the game up and running at their spring press event a few weeks back and it was one of those cases where I walked up to the demo setup with a huge grin and left holding the top of my head so it wouldn’t fall off because that grin got a wee bit too wide. The co-op focused shooter formerly known as Overstrike looks spectacular, controls like a dream and more importantly, is certainly geared towards expert players.

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Resident Evil Revelations Infernal Mode: On May 21, You Just May Get That “Jill Sandwich” After All…

Ouch and double ouch.

RER_WiiU RER_PS3 RER_360

Moved-around monsters (with new ones to face),
items and crates now put in new place!
This is no straight port of the 3DS game
so if you die fast, you’re the one to blame.

It’s bound for PS3, 360 and Wii U May 21st
if you’re not prepared, you’ll just be the worst
So take some time off to practice your dodging
so you can spend that day off holed up in your lodging.

A boat full of nasty undead and more lurk
you’re going in alone, but don’t be a jerk
There’s no co-op here to save your nice skins
But Raid Mode is co-op for some sure-fire wins.

Those graphics are all redone in shiny HD
For all the gore, the game actually looks quite pretty
But admire the detail a wee bit too long,
and you’ll see naught but red when poor Jill’s head’s gone!

Snoop Has Me Confused (Again): Way of the Dogg (No, I’m Not Lion)…

 

snoopSo, Snoop.. er, Dogg is back in the game (business) with this upcoming 505 Games release, Way of the Dogg, currently in development at EchoPeak. Hey, I’m a fan of plenty of ancient great to bad Kung Fu flicks from the 1970’s and 1980’s and I don’t find his tunes at all ear-burning (but I don’t actively listen to hip-hop or whatever it’s classified as these days), so the blend of styles certainly seems potentially smokin’ (as the kids say). That said, this whole Dogg/Lion thing is baffling to my brain, but I guess it’s kind of a professional/personal thing that I shouldn’t be concerned about much.

Granted, I did overhear a conversation a week or two back between a few people arguing about Snoop’s recent conversion and if it was “right” under whatever rules or whatever is in place that make one a “true” Rastafarian and so forth and so on. But I didn’t stick around for the entire mostly mellow debate as I walked in on the middle of it, was eavesdropping anyway (who’s bad?!), had nothing to offer that wouldn’t have been a bad joke that would have gotten me beaten senseless (or ignored, a far worse fate for an aspiring “comedian” like myself) and at the end of the day, I probably wouldn’t give a hoot about what was said the moment I went home and cooked something tasty to eat (which would have been a steak, had my dirty laundry not eaten it – oh, never mind…that’s a long story told elsewhere).

Except for now that this game is underway, it might me nice to know what to call the man should I ever run into him again. “(If) You (Don’t) Know My Name, (Don’t) Look Up My Number” and all that stuff… Eh, no worries. It’ll get sorted out eventually. Back with more on this one in a bit…

TMNT: Out of the Shadows Teaser: Back Again (and Still Shelling Out, Some Would Say)…

 

I always flip a coin and wait when I see a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game roll around. Sure, that original arcade game was a classic, but it’s been kind of hit or miss since then with a few good games and a few stinkers. Granted, I’ve definitely outgrown the appeal of those pizza-chomping, slang-slinging crime fighters who perhaps should have been chased down and turned into soup and luggage by evil poachers long ago. But there’s a new movie in the works and the fans all say  “The fans… think of the fans!”  (or at least that’s what the fans would like to believe they all say), so here you go: a new downloadable beat ’em up game on the way this summer on PSN and XBLA coming from Red Fly Studios and published by Activision.

Personally, I’d much rather see Rare get off whatever slow unicorn they’re on and get us a proper Battletoads revival (an HD reboot of the classic 1994 arcade version and/or a new 3D game in the Conker vein), but those chances are slimmer than a photo of Kate Moss, circa 1994 placed under a stack of C++ programming books.

Capcom Arcade Cabinet 1985 Game Pack #1: Three More Classics To Keep You Twitching The Night Away…

 

Let’s see now… Ghosts ‘n Goblins, GunSmoke, and Section Z, all true classics and all now popping up on PSN and Xbox Live Arcade for you Capcom Arcade Cabinet users in North America (European PlayStation Store users get theirs tomorrow) for a very reasonable $9.99€/9.99/£7.99/800MSP. For those of you PSN users who missed last week’s intro 1987 pack or just want the two classics Avenger and/or 1943: The Battle of Midway by themselves, they’re both for sale individually on PSN for $3.99/€3.99/£3.19 each. Capcom hasn’t said a thing about 360 users in regards to these two titles getting single purchase deals, but I’m guessing 360 owners will need to take that up with Microsoft and not Capcom if it’s an issue about individual games being sold or whatever. Anyway, enough reading – go drop some virtual quarters already!

Defiance Competitive Multiplayer: Rush Hour At The More Than OK Corral…

 

Since Defiance isn’t a garden variety online FPS (or a FPS at all) and not your standard semi-real time MMO where you queue up actions and wait while moves play out, the game flows a lot more like a purer action game because it IS one. Granted, I still can’t play it online at all here (boo!), but nothing should stop YOU from if you’re interested in the show and able to do so. Here’s hoping Trion Worlds has a bigger hit than even they’ve imagined and they can do something similarly fun for those of us who don’t live online (whether by choice or not) when we want some simple, fun but thrilling gaming… my fingers are crossed…

EDF 4 Gameplay Footage: 4Gamer.net? I Love You And Hate You (But Mostly Love You)…

 

Well, wow and double wow. Japanese game site 4Gamer.net posted this hands-on last year (!!!) and I’m just NOW getting around to seeing it thanks to some poking around online for something entirely different. Eh, it figures. I’m just thrilled because even though it’s a WIP version, I get to ogle more of the gameplay than the bits I’ve seen from the official trailers D3Publisher in Japan has been posting. OK, off to the home base now, as they’re about to shove me out the door here at Starbucks. Back in a bit…

Defiance Ark Hunter Chronicles 1 & 2: Building Up That Mythology Is Very Helpful…

 

As Trion Worlds and syfy get ready to roll out Defiance on April 2, they’re dropping all sorts of background mini-movies and excellently produced trailers on the game, game world, creatures and other features (like these Ark Hunter Chronicles vids) in order to have a big, fat and very necessary back story to all the events you’ll soon be watching (and hopefully, playing). This is indeed a good thing and potential viewers and players of the innovative TV show/MMORPG hybrid will probably want every little thing to sync up as perfectly as possible to pleas and appease even the pickiest of nitpickers. It works for me (but I’d still prefer that great looking and playing game – it’s REALLY fun – to have an offline mode)…

 

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Trailer: Captain Morgan vs Cap’n Crunch Time…

 

Man, these “leaks” are getting worse, but this video may not be up long. So I’m posting it now for posterity’s sake (if Ubisoft kills it on YouTube, I’ll replace it with an official one in a new post). Well, Ubisoft sure knows how to rock the boat, as this upcoming installment seems to have nothing to do with the last (shocking!) and makes you realize that those naval combat sections in Assassin’s Creed III were only the tip of the iceberg. Yes, I know a LOT of nautically themed puns, ladies and gents, but I’m sparing you all because I want to keep at least PART of my readership.

Tomb Raider “Reborn” Trailer: Everyone’s Got Girl Power, It Seems…

 

It looks as if Square Enix and veteran developer Crystal Dynamics have hit a big home run here in this reboot of the franchise and this new video is probably the best bit of PR to come out of this. Watching it is a bit tough, but you’ll want to rescue a tree full of kittens or kick a burning bus down the street into a fire hydrant right afterwards I bet. Just don’t tell the cops that I told you you SHOULD do this. I have enough trouble with people jumping in lakes and flying kites on my say-so. Just go buy the game instead if you have a PS3 or Xbox 360…