Asura’s Wrath One-Two Trailer Punch: Bet On This To Beat Your Mind Senseless (In A Good Way)…

Posted on November 1, 2011 by geelw

It’s very hard not to ignore CyberConnect 2’s crazy cinematic action game and each time I see it in action, I’m glad the developer decided to get more creative than they have with their string of reliably feature-packed Naruto titles. Granted, what’s here is a few light years beyond weird in terms of nearly all about it. But that’s exactly what the industry needs, I say: more studios, large and small working on new IP that will shake things up a bit.

Hopefully, some of you folks out there will agree and want to come along form the ride. Capcom will appreciate that and CC2 will REALLY appreciate it even more,as it’ll show that there’s room at the inn for more originality and not just “me too” sequel mentality.

Review: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

Posted on November 1, 2011 by geelw

Platform: PS3 (also on Xbox 360, PC)

Developer: Snowblind Studios

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE)

# of Players 1 – 3 (online 1 – 3)

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: A-

Attempting to expand upon a revered and well-established canon such as J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth saga is indeed tricky business, particularly in the case of The Lord of the Rings trology. Get it wrong and it’s a trip into the bowels of Mount Doom as some poor development team and publisher face the wrath and ruin of legions of longtime fans. Fortunately, The Lord of The Rings: War in the North delivers an epic (and Mature-rated) tale that ties in nicely with the trilogy as well as an addictive hack & slash that’s challenging and highly replayable. It also marks Snowblind Studios’ first current generation title (finally!) and yes, they’ve done a very solid job here. The visual presentation is grand and fitting, the music is perfect and the familiar gameplay is brutal, simple and about as fun as can be for a game of this type. The game is not without its flaws, however. Some chinks in the armor show up in the form of a a weird sound bug in one area, occasional AI stumbles plus a wee bit too much repetition of quest-related dialog. Nevertheless, this is one journey well worth taking whether or not you’re a fan of the books and films. Continue reading →

Prototype 2: Heller’s Happy Halloween Greetings!

Posted on October 28, 2011 by geelw

Activision’s always awesome PR department keeps cooking up some cool and amusing holiday greeting cards for Radical Entertainment’s upcoming sequel, so how could they pass up the chance for a Halloween version of the game’s lead character. here you go – in two tasty flavors, at that. Hmmmm. I had NO plans to go out on Halloween, but maybe this might give me a costume idea. Then again, I’d probably get beat up by some cops here in NYC thinking I was some sort of #OWC protester or something. Then again, I kicked a damn helicopter not too long ago, thanks to Activision, so the NYPD better not mess with me, grrrrr…

GoldenEye: Reloaded Launch Trailer: Before We Resume With A Bang & A Boom…

Posted on October 28, 2011 by geelw

Yes, it’s ~~almost~~ finally here, so get those itchy trigger fingers all nice and limber for a super solid single player experience that’s been nicely expanded and some very cool multiplayer modes that will get you yelling at your radar-reading CHEATER friends who pick Odd Job and start throwing bowler hats at you as soon as you spawn. Eurocom has whipped up a fun game that was great on the Wii last year and looks to be even bigger on the HD consoles. Let’s hope enough folks can pull themselves away from BF3 and a few other titles in the launch window to make this one as successful as it should be (and then some)…

This Time, It’s War (In The North)…

Posted on October 28, 2011 by geelw

Guess what JUST showed up (well, around 12:30 this afternoon)? Looks like my weekend plans are shattered to heck, but in a REALLY good way. Off to get to work on a review, which should hopefully go live on ~~Monday~~, er. Tuedsay*. Now about that Batman: Arkham City I didn’t get, feh… you win some, you lose some, I guess. Anyway, I’m off to kill a bunch of Orcs and try not do die by U’ruk Hai. Back in a bit!

Yeah, yeah, I’d initially written this as MONDAY for the review, til I noticed the embargo. Oops. Tuesday it is.

New Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor Trailer Makes Me Want To Knock Down a Wall…

Posted on October 26, 2011 by geelw

…So I can actually (and finally!) get my own Kinect and play the game. My living room is nicely-sized, but in the wrong way that I’d need to have my TV near the front door and blocking access to the kitchen in order to play any Kinect games. I can do Move stuff just fine, though. Oh well. Go, From Software! I’d say Capcom will have a nifty niche hit here provided that some folks get over the fact that more types of games can be done well on Kinect outside of dance, exercise and “family” titles. So far, color me very impressed with this game (even as a work in progress). I’d be even MORE impressed if Capcom added the original Xbox game and sequel to the disc as bonuses so those who missed out can finally play them without having to pay an arm and a leg for that MASSIVE custom controller (and find out the second game needed a single-player campaign which it didn’t have as an online-only expansion pack).

Syndicate Hands-On: It’s Just Like The Original… But Better.

Posted on October 25, 2011 by geelw

That’s right, I said it. And yes, Starbreeze Studios will back it up in a big way on February 21, 2012. Based on the demo version I played at EA’s Naughty or Nice event about 2 weeks ago, even the most die-hard fan with greasy smoke coming from their eyeballs and ears about this game should ABSOLUTELY play this modern reworking of Bullfrog’s isometric RTS/Action hybrid.

Five (Plus One) Very Good Reasons to commit without question are below the jump… Continue reading →

Grand Theft Auto V Is (Of Course) A Go…

Posted on October 25, 2011 by geelw

As you can see, it’s on. Expect a November surprise, courtesy of Rockstar Games. No, the game isn’t coming next month, folks (the Internet would break if that was the announcment), just what’s probably going to be a pretty cool trailer (and a Double-Wide Airflow, at that). Now, all those folks screaming madly about it can perhaps pipe down a little with the ALL CAPS rants online and maybe think about also pre-ordering Max Payne 3 when its release date is announced. Rockstar is working hard on that game as well and you SHOULD enjoy it as equally as you do any GTA game, I say…

Hideo Kojima Has Me (And Many Others) Drooling Over Metal Gear Solid. Again.

Posted on October 25, 2011 by geelw

Of course, any gamer worth his or her salt will want this as soon as it ships next month. If I’m not mistaken, it also comes with this, which is even better. Finally, this is hitting stores in 2012 (and it’s about time). Between these HD collections, what Kojima has cooking on the Vita, Metal Gear Rising and some other fun stuff, it’s going to be quite an anniversary for Solid Snake and friends…

The Lord of The Rings War in the North Pre-Order Teaser Tempts Away…

Posted on October 24, 2011 by geelw

Too many people online are out of their minds comparing every RPG to Skyrim or whatever other fantasy-themed open world experience on the way when it’s clear that Snowblind Studios is making a different type of adventure entirely. I’m definitely looking forward to this one as I’m a fan of the developer’s work and trust them to make a pretty good action RPG (as it’s something they’ve done a few times previously). We’ll see if the game defies the skeptics and becomes one of those “Hey, this is really good!” word of mouth titles pretty soon, as that November 1 release date is right around the corner. Of course, in this stupid era of games needing to sell a bazillion copies over a weekend to be considered a “success”, I truly hope that this game gets enough time to gain momentum before any judgment is placed on the potential of future installments…