Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Hands-On: There Will Be Blood. And Running. And Gunning. All At The Same Time.

As much as I love all sorts of games I’ll admit to being a tiny bit skeptical every so often about Capcom announcing yet another Resident Evil title. Sure, the franchise is hugely popular with a whopping 45 million units sold across multiple platforms… but it’s far from perfect. There are certain gameplay elements that have been with the series from day one that, while fresh and fun a few years back, are a bit decayed when compared to some of today’s titles. Granted, keeping things set in stone doesn’t just plague Capcom’s zombie-packed games alone. I could go on for a few paragraphs about other storied franchises setting into too familiar territory, but let’s talk about the game that’s going to save Resident Evil from itself while surprising the hell out of the most skeptical die-hard fans in the process. Thanks to developer Slant Six Games, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is coming and in my opinion, as both an offline and online experience, it’s absolutely the best thing to happen to the franchise in years. Continue reading

Gallery: Of Orcs & Men: One Unique RPG To Keep An Eye On…

Sure, Skyrim is ruling them all as one of the best (if not THE best) game of 2011, but the RPG genre is definitely surging forward into 2012 with a number of cool new titles. One of the many games I’m highly interested in seeing and playing is Of Orcs & Men, Focus Home Interactive’s upcoming PC/PS3 and Xbox 360 title co-developed by Cyanide Studio and Spiders. What’s intriguing about the game for me is the idea of playing through a lengthy quest as a pair of characters usually found in your average RPG at the end of some heroic square-jawed human’s blade. The leads here are an orc warrior and a goblin assassin who team up in order to kill the human ruler who’s responsible for man’s ongoing war with their races.  This change of pace from the usual RPG formula looks to make for an interesting blend of gameplay styles as players will be able to use both characters and their different skills throughout the adventure. The E3 teaser shows off some nicely stylized characters, beautiful lighting and what’s looking to be a pretty huge, detailed game world so far…

The game is set to be released in Spring 2012, and yes, I’m keeping this one on my radar (and you should as well). Screens and other fun stuff below the jump… Continue reading

Game of Thrones Headed to Consoles, PC from Cyanide Studio & Atlus

Should I feel bad about not only NOT having read any of the books, but also for totally ignoring the HBO show until I hear news of Atlus publishing a new PS3, 360 and PC game based on the hugely popular fantasy series? Well, nope. Sometimes, I’m just a little slow. That, and too busy to add so much new stuff to my plate sometimes. Actually, I tried to watch one episode of the show, but it was a messy bit of walking into the middle of a conversation with and feeling really left out. All I know is NOT to get too attached to any characters (something I learned from the King’s Field days) and sometimes, the little guy is the one to really keep an eye on (lest he get stabby with his sword). “Early 2012” means this one has been in the pot for a little while at least. Given the sour reception Cyanide’s last Atlus-published game (The Cursed Crusade) received, Let’s hope GOT arrives at retail as a fully cooked bird and a tasty one at that…

WIN FREE STUFF! Fusion: Genesis Code Giveaway – ACT FAST!

Hey, you DO like free stuff, don’t you? Well, listen up: I have TWO codes here for Starfire Studios’ upcoming XBLA exclusive (the game launches tomorrow) and yes, you can grab one for your very own. All you need to do is follow DAF here on WordPress, reply to this post, THEN (and this is the important part), send me an email at geelw2@gmail.com so I can reply back with your code.

Don’t post your email in the reply here or I’ll give it to the troll in the basement who will ship you a box of smelly socks instead of a game code. Um, having an Xbox Live account as well as a working Xbox 360 in your home would be a good idea as well. Anyway, get moving, as I know these won’t last an hour…  Read the rules below the jump BEFORE you enter. Continue reading

BioShock Infinite: Meet Booker & Elizabeth 1

Irrational Games’ Ken Levine “hosts” this really cool video in which we get to see the faces behind the two main characters in 2K Games’ upcoming  BioShock Infinite, set for release next year on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It’s great to see two actors dedicated to bringing gamers such solid performances feel something about their work other than “It’s a paycheck…” Pay attention, especially if you’re thinking of getting into voice-over work yourself…

Fusion: Genesis – Half of Twenty Questions With Starfire Studios

(Or: Conquering Space in a Packed Online Universe, One Player at a Time)

Thanks to my one-man army status and rather ridiculous tower of stuff to tackle, It’s been a little while since I’ve interviewed someone for a DAF feature. Fortunately, I’m ending that quiet streak in a nice way. Every so often, I play a really cool game that demands a bit more attention and a little Q & A time, so here you go. Starfire Studios’ upcoming Xbox Live Arcade exclusive Fusion: Genesis is set to launch November 9, and it’s looking like one of those games that’s bound to gain a dedicated following as more gamers discover its stunning visuals and easy to pick up but highly challenging gameplay.  With their first release done and ready to roll, I shot a few basic Q’s over to the fab four at Starfire and got a speedy response from two of the team, Phil Dunne and Chris Tilston (plus a musical guest star)… Continue reading

Review: GoldenEye 007 Reloaded

Platform: PlayStation 3 (also on Xbox 360)

Developer: Eurocom

Publisher: Activision

# of Players 1 – 4 (Online 1 – 16)

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

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

Raving Rabbids: Alive & Kicking Trailer: UbiSoft’s BIG Conspiracy In Action

Listen up! Before you start in with the “Awww, cuuute!” stuff, you REALLY shouldn’t let any Rabbids into your home, especially if you have a Kinect. Why not? For starters, they multiply like, well… Rabbids, they’ll eat all your canned food (and probably part of the cabinets they were stored in) and you’ll never get a second of rest once you start chasing them around and stomping them before they can destroy something else! Anyway, that’s my good deed for the day – consider yourselves warned. Fail to heed my words and it’ll be trouble. That lamp that just went flying across the room? That wasn’t YOU swinging your arms and kicking wildly in front of the Kinect that did it. It just looked that way.  Those darn Rabbids can fool you into doing all sorts of insane stuff. I think UbiSoft has been overrun by the little buggers, since they created them a few years back and came up with this game to get rid of their infestation! So now, they’re shipping them out all across the globe and actually CHARGING people good money for the privilege of flailing away in front of their TV sets like spastic chimpanzees. Oh, the humanity!

Remember, You have been warned.

The Sound of Skyrim Video: Bethesda Shows & Tells, You Get To Bring The Smells…

11-11-11. is almost here and I know a lot of folks WON’T be going to the movies to see Immortals, that’s for sure. A good chunk of gamers will no doubt be camping out in their living rooms exploring the wide world of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, not coming out into the real daylight until their relatives send the cops around to check for a strange smell. Of course, after doors are kicked in across the world because of that odor, all the authorities and formerly grieving family members will discover is a few too many smelly, unwashed gamers with headphones on (that why they didn’t hear the banging and ringing), moldy bits of takeout food and perhaps a lingering aroma of a disc drive spinning eternally. Yeah, I’m going to be one of those folks…

GTA V Reveal Trailer: Yes. And Yes, Indeed.

For the hell of it, I stuck it on my lower-traffic blog even though it’s not really “Mature”. I hate the ESRB’s goofy, puritanical and needless restrictions on this stuff, by the way. I’;; rant about that some other time, though. Anyway, Well, well, well. And who DIDN’T think the trailer wouldn’t be spectacular stuff. Expect to hear some news at or around E3 time, if not before. If I really HAD to venture a release date guess, maybe holiday 2012? As for the rumors of a download-only GTA V, I hope the hell not, given that 100 percent of GTA players probably don’t all live in areas with stable (or any) broadband connections. One reason this rush to digital-only stuff is so annoying to me. Hell, that and who doesn’t want that usual big color map and manual combo. My suggestion to Rockstar: do a standard retail edition and make a TRULY limited collector’s edition as a DIRECT purchase from an online shop you set up. Keep the production run reasonable (take pre-orders so you know how many to produce ), make them worth the price and once they’re gone, that’s that.