Life Is Just A Dream™

Gears of War 3 Weapon Skins -

2011-09-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

If like us, you enjoy customization in multiplayer games then you are in for a treat as Gears of War 3 will allow you to wield skins on your weapons. Below you will find 10 different styles for the Lancer, so what one will you pick?

Lightning

Pulse

Oil Slick

Ocean

Electric

Rainbow

Liquid Metal

Infected Omen

Imulsion

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Multiplayer

2011-09-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

With Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine just released, we thought we would bring you some footage of the games multiplayer. The games multiplayer consist's of of 3 class's, each with there own strenghs and weakness's. You can customize your appearance/loadout, but to do this you have to reach level 4 before you can do so... (we will bring you a video showing this option off) untill then hope you enjoy the footage untill then.

Warhammer 40k Space Marine - Multiplayer, Annihilation # 1

Warhammer 40k Space Marine - Multiplayer, Annihilation # 2

Gears Of War 3 - INFO

2011-09-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

With Gears of War 3 0ut in less than; 2 weeks 3 days.. We thought, we would bring you as much info we could on the the game, And what you can buy come September the 20th;

Gears of War - Console

Here is a little something for the hardcore Gears of War fans out there. As you can see by the picture above the Limited Edition Gears of War 3 Xbox 360 is quite sexy, but how much will this little number set you back? First let us inform you that the Xbox 360 you see above will be available for retail and is not one of those custom paint jobs you may find out there.

The Gears of War 3 Xbox 360 will come with 2 custom wireless controllers a 320GB hard drive a wired headset built in Wi-Fi of course and a standard copy of Gears of War 3. That’s not all the bundle will also include a download token for bonus game content including the Infected Omen Weapon Pack and the Adam Fenix character for use in multiplayer. The Infected Omen Weapon Pack which will gives us the infected omen skin for use on the five starting weapons: Lancer, Retro Lancer, Hammerburst, Gransher, and Sawed-Off Shotgun. Plus the power and eject buttons have been customized with unique sounds from Gears of War!

Now for the price tag. The Xbox 360 Limited Edition Gears of War 3 bundle will set you back $399 and will be available at most retailers September 20, 2011. So what if you just bought a new console or the price tag may be out of reach for you? Don’t worry you will be able to purchase the Gears of War 3 Xbox 360 wireless controller for $59.99 if that is more in your price range.

Epic Edition

Gears of War 3 will be available in three editions when it launches on September 20, with the standard, Limited and Epic SKUs

The Epic and Limited editions are detailed in a new vidoc, Gears 3: Inside the Wicked Workshop, which you can watch below.

The movie has Gears art boss Chris Perna showing the creative process in shaping Gears of War 3 and the “ultimate fan collectibles” of the action game’s special editions.

The Epic edition features “a hand-crafted statue of Marcus Fenix, designed by his own hand and brought to life by the expert artisans at Triforce.”

Here what you’ll get is you decide to “go large”:

Limited edition

An Octus Award Box with Octus Service Medal – A 1:1 match in size and weight, this zinc-alloy cog-shaped medal replicates the award given to Adam Fenix in recognition of his work on the Hammer of Dawn.

Exclusive Unlockable Adam Fenix Multiplayer Character – Each Octus Service Medal replica is engraved with a unique Xbox LIVE code that is the only way to unlock Adam Fenix in multiplayer.

A fabric COG Flag (!).

The personal effects of Adam Fenix, including his “Last Will and Testament,” the initial Hammer of Dawn schematic, and other Fenix family mementos.

Retro Lancer Replica

The new NECA Gears of War 3 Retro Lancer replica is now available to buy from Play.com, including:

Of course you can always purchase the stand alone Retro Lancer as well, available 9/13.Dubbed the Retro Lancer during the Lambent Invasion, the Pendulum Wars Lancer Assault Rifle was the preceding model to the Lancer Assault Rift. Used primarily in the Pendulum Wars as the COG soldier’s primary choice weapon, it was abandoned about a year after Emergence Day because the weapon was ineffective to the Locust Horde’s fighting tactics. However, following the Sinking of Jacinto when supplies started becoming sparse, the Retro Lancer started cropping up in fighting forces once againDetails

Created from the actual 3D data used by Epic Games in the Gears of War 3 video gameOver 3 1/2 Feet in LengthTrigger Activates Machine Gun Sound EffectHand Painted with weathered and battle worn detail

UK Version in Gold.

Gears Of War 3 Season Pass

The Gears of War 3 Season Pass will entitle gamers to receive the first four installments of DLC "over the course of the next year," with the first release planned for November this year. The Season Pass will be available on the day the game releases, September 20th, for 2400 Microsoft Points. According to Microsoft, the Season Pass represents a 33 percent discount on the regular price of the four add-ons. (That means we can expect the regular price to be 3600 Microsoft Points) Gears 3 DLC will encompass both single and multiplayer offerings. As a bonus, all purchasers of the Season Pass will get the "exclusive Liquid Metal Weapon Set" for free. You can see the Lancer in its Terminator 2-inspired glory below.

*Not a limited time offer*

Gears of War 3 Throat Communicator for Xbox 360®

Price £24.99 (From Game)

Transmit clear-clear voice commands to your squadron with the Gears of War 3 Throat Communicator for Xbox 360. Utilizing a military-inspired behind-the-neck design, skirmishes become immersive as you go head-to-head with hostiles on Xbox LIVE. Lightweight, comfortable, and complete with an adjustable neckband boasting foam-rubber inserts for a custom fit, the Throat Communicator provides hands-free messaging for warriors of all sizes.

Gears of War 3 Performance Stereo Gaming Headset for Xbox 360®

Price £89.99

TRITTON’s Gears of War 3 Performance Stereo Headset sets a new standard for gaming headsets. Connecting to the Xbox 360 console via USB and equipped with a host of innovative features, notable attributes include an advanced communication system with independent game and voice volume controls. With the distinct Selective Voice Monitoring (SVM) feature, you have the option of hearing your own voice through the headset. Precision-balanced speakers provide rich, full stereo audio, while the detachable, flexible microphone— optimized for transmissions over Xbox LIVE —delivers crystal-clear voice commands to your squadron

Gears of War 3 Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound Headset for Xbox 360®

Price £169.99 (From Game)

Official artwork taken directly from the game elevates the headset rank to collector’s item. Pulsating LEDs glow red to make the graphics spring to life. And with the distinct Selective Voice Monitoring (SVM) feature, you have the option of hearing your own voice through the headset. Featuring independent game and voice volume controls to customize your gaming experience and a pair of high-fidelity speakers to enhance in-game acoustics, you get the control and power required for domination over the Locust Horde.

Miscellaneous Info

Character Movement Speed (CMS) has been increased back to Gears 1 speed for multiplayer.

Controls: Tapping "X" is now used for revives and meatshields, where holding "X" will switch weapons or getting ammo. This should help to stem the accidental ammo pickup when trying to revive.

Controls: Tapping "Y" will result in a quick curb-stomp, where holding "Y" will end in a long execution.

Sensitivity Controls are now on sliders from 1-20 as well as being separated for each, as in Gears 2

Smoke Grenade's now destroy planted nades

There is an Events Calender in game that lists all upcoming XP events ect for Gears

Photo mode from Gears 2 is not included in Gears 3

The "Training Grounds", a bot based mode designed to ease people into Gears multiplayer, can now be played in co-op

Players can now vault over cover and kick an enemy to down him. When used in MP, it staggers the opponent and deals melee damage. If enemy has low health, it will DBNO him. If player is DBNO, it will kill him.

You can now chainsaw a Lambent enemy then kick them away towards enemies before they explode, a departure from the Gears 1 lambent wretches which exploded in your face if you chainsawed them

A meatshielded enemy can now be picked up and grenade tagged, then kicked towards enemies.

Your reticule will now bloom to reflect the current accuracy of your weapon. It should be noted that in the E3 demo, the bloom is significantly larger if you are moving, even at a slow pace. This is ONLY a visual representation of what Gears 2 has now. Moving has always affected accuracy, now we see how.

Stationary targets, including the multi-turret are confirmed for all modes.

Steve Jablonsky returns as the composer for Gears of War 3. Jablonsky composed the music for Gears 2 and big action films such as Transformers.

Beta Stats

Storyline

Notice: Only officially released information will be posted. Minor spoilers may still be contained in this section however.

The story is written by fantastic author Karen Traviss, who wrote the Gears of War book series

Set 18 months after Gears of War 2, and after the fourth Gears of War book.

The Coalition has disbanded or dismantled. Everyone is essentially a Stranded.

The Locust have not been seen in the time that has passed since the end of Gears 2 and the beginning of Gears 3

The location shown in the "Ashes to Ashes" trailer is a location nicknamed 'Char', where the remains of victims from the Hammer of Dawn strikes are heavily present.

Imulsion is infecting everything, not just the Locust. The Lambent are a ton of different nightmarish creatures.

The campaign will feature between 20-30% Lambent, the remaining battles will be Locust.

Game begins with Marcus waking up on Raven's Nest after having nightmares

Raven's Nest is an aircraft carrier known as Sovereign that has been converted to a floating village. The Gears have tried to create a life for themselves here, and the article seems to indicate they are just trying to live rather than save the planet when the game begins. The Raven’s nest is worn down and heavily beaten up, and is a combination of Sovereign and several other smaller ships tied together.

Coalition of Ordered Governments broke down months before beginning of Gears 3

Rod describes the Gears now as a “family unit” rather than a squad.

Chairman Prescott returns after going missing several weeks after the sinking of Jacinto. He passes Marcus a data disc that contains a recording from Adam Fenix, claiming he has a way to save the planet.

The article describes it as giving Marcus “one last chance to save his father”. It sounds like this may be a very strong story theme and personal drive for Marcus, considering this is what got him put in prison for originally.

The Queen and the Locust Horde are still surviving, though many Locust are becoming more primal in nature. Some of their weapon technology is actually going backwards, and some of the Locust have turned into savages (See the “Savage Grenadier” in the ENEMIES section for an example of this)

There are two story arcs in the game from the perspective of two squads. The first squad begins with Marcus, Dom, Jace and Anya. Cole and Baird have a separate story arc in the game and do not begin on Raven’s Nest, instead fighting in ruined wastelands. The timelines of the two squads overlap until the finale where everything comes together. Their squad is still unknown, though we are promised “multiple playable female characters” which could indicate Bernadette Mataki from the Gears of War novels will be a possible squad member for this crew.

The fort of Anvil Gate (a location in the upcoming third Gears of War novel by the same name) will be featured in the game.

Cole is described as having a deeper story to flesh him out even more in Gears of War 3.

Characters

Dom is now heavily bearded. According to Rod, this is due to his problems dealing with the loss of his wife

Anya is the female COG soldier seen in the "Ashes to Ashes" trailer. We will learn more on her transition from pencil pusher to soldier throughout the books. Cliff describes her as a VERY capable Gear

Jace Stratton from the Gears of War comic series will be a new integral squad member. He is described as a “young soldier who cares more about the people than the war”. Michael B Jordan will be voicing Jace

Ice T is voicing a new character called Griffin, the leader of a rag-tag group of stranded encountered in the game.

A new character is shown in the E3 demo who Cliff refers to as Sam, a brunette Gear. She is being voiced by Claudia Black (of Stargate SG1 fame).

Clayton Carmine is the most beefed up and badass Carmine of the family, and his fate has been decided by the votes made in the "Decide Carmine's Fate" campaign which raised $150,000 for Child's Play.

Bernadette Mataki (an older female Gear from the series of books) is making her first video game appearence in Gears 3.

Features

Rod confirmed 4 Player Co-Op in the Gears IRC, with 4 unique characters. Rod confirmed that co-op includes Marcus, Dom, Cole, Baird and a "variety of other characters". Cliff confirms that at some points in the game you will play as an entirely different squad (that includes no Marcus and no Dom)

Arcade mode is a new addition for the campaign mode. After beating the game, you can return with your co-op buddies to enter in a scored competitive version of the campaign. Pop-ups will appear throughout the game to show what your friends are achieving, challenging you to better them on the fly. Mutators can also be added to increase the fun in Arcade mode, including big head mode, changed sound effects and more. These mutators will be exclusive to Arcade mode, and will not be found in multiplayer.

Casual difficulty has been made extremely easy. Rod describes it as being “borderline tourist mode” where you’ll rarely die and there is an auto-aim that will basically snap from enemy to enemy.

COG Tags and Collectibles are returning

Want to find those COG tags? Enjoy the return of the Crimson omen markers!

Modes

Gears of War 3 will exceed the multiplayer mode offerings of Gears of War 2

Warzone / Execution

Both are returning unchanged.

Team Deathmatch

Team Deathmatch with a Gears style twist - your team spawns with 20 lives, and each death on your team takes a life away from that pool. Once all lives are expired, you can no longer respawn. If you are consistantly dying, you will be spawned nearer to your teammates or take slightly longer to spawn to counteract any potential issues of one person draining a team of lives. Team Deathmatch brings Execution's self-revive as well as Warzone's ability to kill DBNO players from a distance.

Capture the Leader

Guardian meets Submission - the leader now cannot be killed, but instead must be meatshielded for 30 seconds to gain the victory. Leaders can struggle using the B button at certain intervals to put off the captives aim. Leaders also gain leadership vision through the Tac/Com, which allows them to see both friend and foe. The new leaders are Queen Myrrah for the Locust, and Chairman Prescott for the COG.

King of the Hill (Revamp)

King of the Hill uses the same rules as Annex/KOTH in Gears 2. The percentagesystem seems to have been removed according to the MP footage. It uses the same point system and players do not need to stay in the ring to earn points once it is captured. KOTH now uses the Wingman spawn locations to prevent spawn blocking.

Wingman, Confirmed to be returning, but now involves FOUR teams of two rather than FIVE teams of two.

Torque Bow Tag, In the Beta, there was an event called Torque Bow Tag. Everything was Torque except your loadout. Confirmed for Gears 3 retail, is a Torque Tag occasional event where your loadout will now be torque bow.

Casual Arena

There will be a casual area in the online multiplayer for those who do not have any achievements from the previous two games. Only players who do not have any prior Gears experience can enter this area to get a feel for the game. Bleszinski described it as "reverse VIP."

Ranking and Progression System

Gears of War 3 will have an XP based ranking system similar to Gears 2, but with unlocks including weapon customisation and multiple skins for characters.

In a match, you can earn "Ribbons" for things like kill streaks, saving someone's life, killing your nemesis and such. These will earn you extra XP towards your level.

Your in game accomplishments also count towards "Medals", which are longer term versions of Ribbons that you build towards match over match, such as a medal related to weapon usage. Once a medal is levelled to a certain point, it unlocks a "Title" for use in multiplayer.

Some Executions will only be avaliable at a certain level. Once earned, you can earn the ability to continue an execution beyond the normal length of time by earning medals with the weapon related to that execution.

Executions earn you higher XP than a standard kill. Using extended executions earns you more XP for as long as you stand over them, which obviously leaves you extremely vulnerable.

Epic will store your entire profile data on their own servers to ensure no profile corruptions / rank losses that happened for some Gears 2 players.

You can level offline, but it is noticeably slower.

Ribbon and Award Thread

Executions

In the MeriStation TV interview, Cliff says there will be a ton of new executions in the game this time round and there will be an incentive for using them in multiplayer.

Every weapon in the game has it's own execution, apart from the Snub pistol (which is used for Race Executions)

Weapon specific executions must now be earned through gaining medals relevant to that weapon. Once unlocked, you can then freely use it to show off to your friends. Until they are unlocked, you'll do the race execution instead.

After using a weapon specific execution enough, you earn the right to hold the execution button and prolong the execution for around 20 seconds.

Locust Execution: Rip off their arm, and beat them to death with it.

COG Execution: The punching execution from Gears of War 2 is back, but only for COG players

The Scorcher: Jammed into the enemies’ torso, the Scorcher is then fired, causing flames to come out of the body through the eyes and mouth.

Sawed-off Double Barrel: The reloading catch is unhinged, wrapped around the neck of the enemy and then used to snap the enemies’ neck.

Pendulum Lancer: Enemy is knocked onto their knees, has their head positioned and then has their throat cut.

Longshot: Tap em over the head or use it as a sledgehammer. Either way, they're gonna die!

Boltok: Gunslinger Style! Twirl the revolver before slamming it onto their dome.

Torque: Put the blade right on their neck and decapitate em. Always a crowd pleaser.

Mulcher Execution: slam enemy in the back; knee them in the head (sweet!)

Lancer: Chainsaw is revved and shoved into your opponents exposed stomach. Huge spouts of blood fly.

Digger Launcher: Enemy is kicked onto their back as you punt their head from their body.

Gnasher: Swing the gun like a golf club as you pop their head for a nice drive.

Gorgon: Player slams the gorgon into the enemies head, mashing it into a pulp.

Mortar/One Shot: Enemy's head is crushed under the weight and sheer force as you smash it down on them.

Players will start off with the basic executions and will need to prove their proficiency with weapons in order to unlock new execution kills. Executions are now worth bonus experience points, so there's more to it now than simply embarrassing your opponent. These special executions are pretty long animations, so there's a risk/reward system associated with it.

Hammer of Dawn: Player crushes the enemies heads between them and the Hammer of Dawn, reducing it to a fleshy pulp.

Hammerburst: Step 1-Grab both ends of the gun. Step 2-Raise it over your head. Step 3-Slam it into the enemy's head! Again! Again! Again! Dammit AGAIN!

Boomshield: Unchanged from Gears 2. Raise it high and bring it down low........

Features;

Loadouts

Rifles (Lancer / Retro Lancer / Hammerburst) and your starting shotgun (Sawn Off / Gnasher).

You can now change your weapon loadout after every round in non-respawn modes, or after every death in respawn.

Matchmaking

Cliff confirmed they are tackling the bad matchmaking issues in Gears of War 3 in the Meristation TV interview. He mentions improved region filtering as one of the ways they are addressing this issue. Dedicated server based multiplayer will have the strongest matchmaking experience yet.

There will be a new feature that allows players to stay together as a party. You can now play in seperate games across seperate modes but remain in a party, allowing you to stick with your friends even if you want to play something different.

Other

You can now "call out" an enemy in multiplayer, which allows you to place a marker over their head with the press of a button. This only lasts three seconds, but earns you extra XP.

Tac/Com now shows weapon spawns

Players can now bring up an overhead map showing weapon spawns ect in the middle of the game.

Controls: Tapping "X" is now used for revives and meatshields, where holding "X" will switch weapons or getting ammo. This should help to stem the accidental ammo pickup when trying to revive.

Controls: Tapping "Y" will result in a quick curb-stomp, where holding "Y" will end in a long execution.

You CAN Weapon swap and Ammo share in MP

If two people charge each other with Retro lancer's, they both die.

Melee system is based on height.

Chainsaw will beat Retro Charge

Shoot out of RR delay has been cut in half

Maps

Cliff confirmed in the MeriStation TV interview that Gears of War 3 will include some old Gears of War 1 favorites that we didn't see in Gears of War 2

Mercy

This area was once a bustling town square filled with people, but it never recovered from range, but the power located there must be hard-earned and well-protected to provide any lasting advantage.the UIR mortar shellings of the Pendulum Wars. Emergence soon followed, and the already heartbroken residents were shown no mercy by Locust forces, leading to an almost immediate evacuation. This large and open central square is surrounded on all sides by sheltered passageways and buildings. A raised dais yields powerful weaponry and a view of virtually everything within

Thrashball

This stadium was once home to a different sort of national hero, one who fought for honor and glory, instead of scrambling for survival. The invigorating roar of the crowd has been replaced by the melancholy moaning of wind in the empty stadium seats. Stadium matches are no longer restricted to the playing field, and the team that controls the concession stands earns a great advantage. The scoreboard still keeps track of every point earned, but its frayed support cables also make it a precarious trap for anyone foolish enough to run underneath it.

Overpass

As the Lambent infection spreads across Sera, the planet is quite literally falling apart. And as the substrata beneath this forgotten overpass begin to disintegrate, the entire city block is collapsing along with it, sliding into a vast underground cavern. Head for the high ground or you just might slide along with it. Battles in this highly dynamic map often focus around the elevated Overpass, where teams can hole up and take advantage of the protected position and emplaced weaponry located there. But gaining the high ground can also be a trap, as the team left below will most assuredly use mortars and orbital lasers to regain their lost footing.

Checkout

Checkout’s combat takes place in the carcass of an abandoned superstore. The shop owners tried to move their inventory with a closeout sale in the weeks leading up to the HOD evacuations, but ultimately had to walk away and leave everything to time and history. The intense close-quarters combat of the store aisles makes every decision important. Weapon selection is key, cover is essential to survival and every move has an impact. When facing your enemy, remember what the sign says: “Everything must go.”

Trenches

The Locust have begun to carve mines and tunnels into the rocks of the Seran Deadlands, eking out any existence that resembles the underground passages of the Hollow they once called home. But this harsh environment is as relentless and unforgiving as any enemy they’ve ever had to face. The Locust Trenches are small and tight, with clean lines of sight across virtually the entire battlefield. The central hill leads to a fortified bunker with a strategically important vantage point. Once taken, it is rarely surrendered, unless opposing forces can manage to sneak up under the cover of a passing sandstorm that leaves everyone blind for a short while.

Old Town

Several remote areas of Sera managed to stave off the impact of Emergence for quite some time. Island towns such as this one were able to sustain themselves with small farms and a steady bounty from the ocean. But all good things must come to an end, and eventually they could hide no more. This is an excellent map for team-based play, with multiple areas that are well-suited to both attack and defense scenarios. A well-executed plan will often reap great rewards, and an enemy caught unaware can be flushed into a trap like a chicken free of its coop.

Gridlock at Night map

This ashen street was once a bustling tourist destination known for its quaint inns and waterfront cafés. Even the water is gone now, replaced by the burnt shell of a crater that stands as a testament to the loss of Seran humanity.

Hotel

Small island resorts such as this one catered to the opulent tastes of vacationing Serans. But as the Lambent infection spreads across the globe, tides are shifting to flood once popular beaches, and fierce winds batter and push at the walls of humanity’s creations.

Sandbar

This observation post once had a commanding view of the distant horizon. Never threatened, it was thought to be impenetrable due to its unpredictable coastline and the constant shifting of sandbars along the shallow water of the coastline. And it never did fall; it was simply abandoned when humanity fled from a threat that nobody could ever see coming.

Dry Docks

Much has been written about the beauty of Seran culture, but people often forget the backbone of industry upon which it all relies. This shipyard stands full of undelivered goods and the necessary tools of a society’s infrastructure. Its most prominent landmark is the rotting husk of a cargo ship that will forever stand in Drydock.

Character List

Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG):

Marcus FenixCivilian Marcus
Victor Hoffman
Onyx Guard
Aaron Griffin (Stranded but counts as COG) (Unlockable right now through a Special FB promotion from Epic)
Benjamin Carmine (Shown in videos)
Anthony Carmine
Adam Fenix (Edition exclusive)
COG GEAR (Voiced by Isaiah Mustafa of Old Spice commercials)
COG Gear in Gold

Dominic Santiago
Commando Dom (Gamestop exclusive)
Civilian Dom
Augustus Cole
Bling Cole (Actually name of skin unconfirmed this is only a nickname.)
Thrashball Cole (Cole-Train) (Unlocked via beta)
Classic Cole
Damon Baird
Classic Baird
Mechanic Baird (Best Buy exclusive)
Anya Stroud
Civilian Anya
Samantha Byrne
Jace Stratton
Clayton Carmine
Bernadette Mataki
Dizzy Wallin (unlockable through multiplayer progression)
Richard Prescott (CTL and likely available in all game types)

Locust Horde:

Queen Myrrah (CTL but likely in all gametypes)
DroneSniper
Theron Guard
Savage Theron
KantusGrenadier
Flame grenadier
Grenadier Elite
Savage Drone
Savage Grenadier
Savage Grenadier
Elite (Walmart Exclusive)
Savage Kantus (Amazon Exclusive)
Beast RiderLocust Miner (Unlockable through Multiplayer progression)
Locust Hunter (Unlockable through Multiplayer progression)

These are all the CONFIRMED characters

Unconfirmed Characters

Minh Young Kim (Likely to appear back though no confirmation)
RAAM (Rod was unsure of it although, his return is likely)
Skorge (Likely I believe Rod said he would but not sure)
Tortured Tai (Devs said no.)
Cyclops ( There was a rumor that he would not return but however no confirmation).
Tai Kaliso

Confirmed Weapon Skins

Gold (Unlockable through Vet Gear or meeting certain requirements. Lancer & Hammy - Week 1 of gears 3;Retro - Beta Unlock; Gnasher - VG Exclusive; SO - "Commando" Gears 1 Campaign Insane)
Infected Omen (Epic Edition, Console Edition, Gears 3 Controller)
Crimson Omen
Liquid Metal (Season Pass Buyers)
Tribal
Flaming (Beta Unlock ONLY, Retro TBA)
UrbanPink (AKA "Deadly Cute")
Green MS Skins
Lightning
Chrome (Hmmerburst for Rank 5 achievement Gears 2, Another unknown weapon for ANY Gears PC achievement)Faction (COG & Locust emblems)
Purple

Here are some videos show casing the weapons;

Gears 3 Beta, Guy has a Green Retro

Gears of War 3: Green Gnasher (Beta)

Gears of War 3 | Liquid Metal Skin

Gears of War 3 - All Weapon Skins (MUST WATCH)

Gears of War 3 New Green Lancer Skin

GEARS OF WAR 3 Ivory weapon skins games with the devs

Gears of War 3 Multiplayer Skins/Character footage

It has been said the 'GREEN LIQUID SKINS' are part of an unnouced promotion... (check back to see how to get them)

Horde 2.0

Build Fortifications with cash earned from the waves!
Respawn after you die by using cash!
Weapons can be bought instead of waiting for them to respawn
Boss Waves every 10 rounds
Lambent Berserkers
BOSSBrumaks
BOSSSavage Corpser
BOSSGunker
Possible Lambent Boomer
BOSSWaves are now randomized
Butcher Boomer Cleaver available to useHorde 2.0 uses a mix of Lambent and Locust forces. They do not attack each other.
Cash can be given to your teammates in order to afford larger defenses.
Buy Dummy Dolls to distract the Locust.
Upgrading adds proximity grenades.
Host Migration is in.
Get bonuses for doing well.
You have to get your skill up before you can unlock the Silverback
You can only buy back in once per wave
Multiple Silverbacks are available to use at the same time depending on the map
While taking cover on the Silverback, Silverback player will not be able to move
There are medals and ribbons exclusive to Horde
Exp stacks by waves. Every consecutive wave played earns extra Exp
"If you can chainsaw it, you can stab it"
No Self-revive in horde
Going AFK in Horde will result in a removal from game
No option to turn off cash noise
Bosses are NOT affected by fortifications
Kill support troops in Boss waves first. Chances to spawn a second boss are high if Boss is taken out first
Amount of enemies is directly related to how many players are in game

Beast Mode

You play as the Locust, ranging from the big monsters like Beserkers to small monsters like Tickers.
Cash is used to decide how many spawns you have, and what you can spawn.
Each enemy plays differently and includes unique abilities, such as the Ticker's fast speed and ability to explode.
The objective of the game is to kill all enemy human forces within the wave time limit, with each wave becoming progressively harder.
Some bigger monsters (like Beserkers) will need to be unlocked with play in the game.
The mode size is built for 5 player co-op (like Horde)Play as a ticker, scurry around to your enemies and explode!
Play as a Berserker and smash your way to victory, even over the large Silverback Mech!
Finally embrace the Mauler as you club COG forces to death.
Scurry around as a wall crawling Wretch.
Dual wield Gorgon Pistols as the fear-inspiring Armored Kantus!
Armored Kantus is not available in MP
Wild Ticker - Short on explosives but long on claws
Savage Corpser - Mini =/= Safe!
Blood Mounts - Slash with those claws for a change!
Savage Boomer - Fire and forget with the Digger Launcher!
12 Wavesthe waves get harder, of course, and climax with a level
12 onslaught from 10 members of the elite Onyx Guard and the head of the Gearsmilitary, Prescott.
Kotaku Tickers cannot revive teammates"Heroes" are later staged opponents (characters from game)Heroes carry specific weapons (Cole = Boomer) (Anya = Mortar) (Hoffman = HOD)
Heroes cannot be killed at a distance. Must be executed
Class limitations = 2 Berserkers at one time. No other limitations
If you have money to respawn and time on the clock, you can buy back in every time you die
Wretch's let out a sonic wave that stuns stranded.
Armored Kantus roll kills downed opponents
Berserker's can charge through most fortifications

The Stream Announcements

Epicgamesinc

Announcement 1:

Gears of war 2 - Domination achievement - Complete 10 Chapters as Dominic Santiago in campaign on any difficulty - Chrome Retro Lancer

Gears of war - Don't HATE the Player achievement - Finish the match with the highest points in a Ranked Match - Chrome Lancer

Gears of war 2 - Dirty, Dirty Horde achievement - Complete the first 10 Waves of Horde Mode - Chrome Hammerburst

Chrome Gnasher - Complete all Campaigns

PC Legacy Unlock - Chrome Sawed Off

Announcement 2:

Onyx Medal Unlock = Shiny black, Onyx skin. To unlock get 6000 kills

Level 100 Gears 3 - Golden Omen skin?

Questions Answered:

Can you use Mutators in Private Matches - No - (NOOOOO Dammit )

Does the Veteran Gear achievement need a timestamp? - No

What will be the rarest skin? - Golden Omen

Will the Season Pass be available at 12:01 - Yes

How long will the Season Pass be available - Forever

What are the starting default characters? - COG - Marcus, Dom, Anya, Cole and Baird - Locust - Savage Grenadier - Savage Drone - Myrrah - Drone - Sniper

If one person dies in 4 player camapaign does it affect everyone else - Story Mode - Yes (No man left behind) - Arcade Mode - No (Person respawns when battle is finished

Do Planted or dropped Boomshields disappear between rounds? - Yes

How many Grenades can be planted or held I'm not sure in Horde - 2 for all

How many Silverbacks can be used during Horde - 2

How many Medals were added after the beta - Several Ribbons, name changes on Medals. Rewards are changed

Are there any plans for Gears of war 3 EXP events - Lot's of crazy stuff. Turn on Mutators. Everything will be on the calendar.

Announcement 3:

NO MIDNIGHT MADNESS

GearsViking
GearsViking

Deus Ex - Human Revolution [LIVE GAMEPLAY]

2011-08-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

Deus Ex - Human Revolution [LIVE GAMEPLAY]

LIVE @ 1PM GMT

Watch live video from Sci0n [GVC] on www.twitch.tv

BATTLEFIELD 3 - JETS & CONQUEST MULTIPLAYER GAMEPLAY

2011-08-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Check out this awesome video of Battlefiled 3 Multiplayer in action, al we can say is Roll on October the 28th....

Gears of Wars 3 Gets Some Cool Throat Mic and Headsets

2011-07-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

We all love and hate Gears of War series for different reason, but it seems Mad Catz/Triton is going all out with these Accessories, At the moment there is no word on a UK release. So Untill then your just gonna have to look at these pictures of them
Gears of War 3 Throat Communicator for Xbox 360®

Price $29.99

Transmit clear-clear voice commands to your squadron with the Gears of War 3 Throat Communicator for Xbox 360. Utilizing a military-inspired behind-the-neck design, skirmishes become immersive as you go head-to-head with hostiles on Xbox LIVE. Lightweight, comfortable, and complete with an adjustable neckband boasting foam-rubber inserts for a custom fit, the Throat Communicator provides hands-free messaging for warriors of all sizes.

Gears of War 3 Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound Headset for Xbox 360®

Price $179.99

Official artwork taken directly from the game elevates the headset rank to collector’s item. Pulsating LEDs glow red to make the graphics spring to life. And with the distinct Selective Voice Monitoring (SVM) feature, you have the option of hearing your own voice through the headset. Featuring independent game and voice volume controls to customize your gaming experience and a pair of high-fidelity speakers to enhance in-game acoustics, you get the control and power required for domination over the Locust Horde.

Gears of War 3 Performance Stereo Gaming Headset for Xbox 360®

Price $99.99

TRITTON’s Gears of War 3 Performance Stereo Headset sets a new standard for gaming headsets. Connecting to the Xbox 360 console via USB and equipped with a host of innovative features, notable attributes include an advanced communication system with independent game and voice volume controls. With the distinct Selective Voice Monitoring (SVM) feature, you have the option of hearing your own voice through the headset. Precision-balanced speakers provide rich, full stereo audio, while the detachable, flexible microphone— optimized for transmissions over Xbox LIVE —delivers crystal-clear voice commands to your squadron.

Legen Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3DS Review

2011-06-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

A LEGEND RETURNS

Wouldn't ya know it, you wait over a decade for your favourite games to be revisited and two timely updates come along at once (or something), and we've had two trips down nostalgia lane this month.
The first was the abysmal Duke Nukem Forever, a game so bad that it commits the ultimate sequel sin and makes you question why you like the original game in the first place. The second sees Nintendo celebrate it's finest hour by re-making what many believe to be the greatest game of all time.
The thing about Duke Nukem was that it tried to re-capture the charm of it's ancestor by crafting a hideously belated follow-up/re-boot/re-hash, rather than try something new, which was destined to fail. Ocarina Of Time 3DS on the other hand, has to present a masterpiece, not one filtered through the rose tinted specs of forgotten youth, but a bona-fide masterpiece, and somehow make it seem shiny, new and relevant. It's a testament to Nintendo that they accomplish this and so much more.

THE HERO OF TIME

The most obvious elements this remake brings to the table are cosmetic. The 3D visuals are a brilliant advertisement for Nintendo's new hardware. From the tiny fairies that dance around Link's village to the sun shafts that blind you while you gallop through Hyrule field, the effect is far more than a gimmick, it brings the game to life.
Elsewhere, the functionality of the 3DS has been worked into gameplay in subtly effective ways. Aiming Link's ranged weapons requires moving the 3DS around in real space, as does using the camera, it's a mechanic that can seem disorientating at first, but emerges as fun and immersive.
Aside from venturing into the third dimension, the visuals have also had an upgrade and, while there are still some obvious blemishes (jagged edges, sparse environments), the game looks sufficiently contemporary enough to not be pigeon holed as a hasty re-jig.

THE LEGEND LIVES ON

But what of the game itself? Does it still hold the charm and magic it did back in 1998? The easy answer is, why the hell did you just ask that. Ocarina Of Time is revered for a reason, it's the very pinnacle of Nintendo's classical approach to a captivating story and innovative game mechanics. Link is one of gamings greatest heroes, Hyrule it's most magical kingdom.
Key moment's in the game benefit greatly form the new 3D augmentation. Your'e first steps in Hyrule field are awe inspiring, and Links's graduation to the true hero of time is the single most stirring moment in both versions.

Its's the little moments that stay with you the most; playing the ocarina for the first time and making night change to day, using the hookshot, riding around on Epona. These moments formed the backbone of most of our gaming youth and Nintendo has given a whole new generation a chance to experience Link's greatest adventure. As for the rest of us, the ones that still have that N64 copy poised and ready to re-visit, you still owe it to yourself to own this version. Need reason to purchase a 3DS? Look no further.

G.V,C - Live Gaming Feed.

2011-06-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

ALICE MADNESS RETURNS

-Sorry if you missed the show, but we wil be back with more soon-

Super Street Fighter IV - Tournament [Season 1] - REPOST!

2011-06-09T19:16:00.001-07:00

Super Street Fighter IV - Tournament
[Season 1]

So with SSFIV getting an update for player to host tournament's here at GVC we thought it would be good to try it out and truly see you is the 'World Warrior'

So you can only host up to maximum 8 players in any tournament, you could do less but its not as fun of you do as we found alot of player would leave before the tournament had started, Which skipped the Qualifier rounds So it took us 5 tries to get/join a full room!

So we joined Jonhyrainbow1's room and soon after we had a full room;

The Tournament Begins with there 7 Matches to play who know's who is gonna be The Winner. So first is the Qualifying Rounds.... and we split into 4 groups of 2's;

Qualifier 1:

And first up in Qualifier 1 is Mayhem64 (Sagat) VS Stellar Zero (E.Honda)

Round 1; and it seem Stellar Zero thinks he can keep spamming the same move, and he keeps Mayhem in the corner for most of the first round and after a few hits Stellar Zero finally puts Mayhem64 down in round 1.

Round 2: but Mayhem64 starts to realize whats going on and puts sagat's tiger knee into to play, with a few Tiger's/Uppercuts. And @ 1:29 Mayhem64 gets Stellar Zero with a Super combo.... and with Stellar Zero trying his spamming tactic's Mayhem64 opens him up with a tiget upper cut to finish the round.

Round 3: In this round both players are aware of each others tactic's, but still Stellar Zero thinks he can still do his spamming move. Which hits maybe once but he catch's Mayhem64 with Honda's Ultra Combo and boy we wouldn't want to be face palmed by E.Honda, but again Stellar Zero reverts to his spamming which Mayhem64 full knows how to deal with and Finish's the fight with another Tiger uppercut.

Qualifier Winner: Mayhem64

Qualifier 2

In Qualifier 2 we have; Johnyrainbow1 (Guile) VS Hardstyle1989 (Balrog)

Round 1: And Johnyrainbow1 starts with some sonic booms, which don't seem to much trouble for Hardstyle1989. But its not lone before Jonhyrainbow1 catches him with a few as Hardstyle1989 tries to break through his defense, and when we thought Hardstlye1989 had Johnyrainbow1 with a Ultra Combo.... Johnyrainbow1 does something we don't see coming he uppercuts him with great time to finish this round off!

Round 2: and Hardstlye1989 goes right through one of Johnyrainbows1 Sonic booms with a hard darting punch, Hardstyle1989 does it agian but miss's as Mr ranobow1 jumps over his attack this round is quite a defense/offense fighting style. but after a few sonic booms, johnyrainbow1 catch's Hardstyle1989 with a Scissor kick to finish the Match off!

Qualifier Winner: Johnyrainbow1

Qualifier 3:

In Qualifier 3 we have; Traxxminoo 51(Ryu) VS Giof 007 (Ryu)

Round 1: It's Ryu VS Ryu and we know whats gonna happen usually when people pick Ken or Ryu! and its Ha-do-kens an Hurricane kicks all round, but then things get interesting as Traxxminoo 51 Dizzy's Giof 007 with his jabs and quick combos. Giof 007 does fight back but it ain't good enough as Traxxinoo 51 show's!

Round 2: Traxxminoo 51 plays with Giof 007 by canceling his move's or following through with combo's to keep him guessing, but @ 1:25 Giof 007 gets him with a Ultra combo. But it proves not enough as he Miss's completely with his Super combo... but Goif 007 aint going down without a fight and gives all he has got, just a shame he kept doing hurricane kicks as maybe Traxxminoo 51 wouldn't of caught him with his Ultra Combo and can we say what a Finish it is one of the Highlights of the Tournament its a must see!

Qualifier Winner: Traxxminoo 51

Qualifier 4:

So next is; Sci0n/Us (Juri) VS l6 Shingouki 9l (Juri)

Round 1: and we ask our self's why do we keep picking Juri? as she isn't our strongest character as we still need to practice with her, but i think we would rather try with her than just pick a safe bet like most players do plus were all ways up for a challenge, but that doesn't stop l6 Shingouki 9l catching us with a Shikusen and then l6 Shingouki 9l pulls off Juri's Senpusha which we try to counter with a focus attack, but l6 Shingouki 9l is quick with Juri's move's. We do catch him with a Senpusha and follow it up with it's kicks, and dont ask us why we pulled of the ultra when we did.... but we do feel as though we put up a good fight as we was finished of by a crouching medium kick.

Round 2: Is fast and frantic with us and l6 Shingouki 9l pulling off alot of Senpusha/Shikusen's, an we then get l6 Shingouki 9l in a throw putting his face into the floor, an then it's back to catch each other with Shikusens..... and we unleash our Ultra which give's l6 Shingouki 9l an opening and he take's by showing us how it should be done, then we get finished by a quick punch!

Qualifier Winner: l6 Shingouki 9l

So with 4 knocked out in the Qualifying round it's on to the SEMI FINAL'S;

SEMI FINAL'S 1:

Now were on the Semi Final's; Mayhem64 (Sagat) VS Johnyrainbow1 (Guile)

Round 1: johnyrainbow1 proves to be quite the pro player with Guile, Mayhem64 still gets few good hits in. this round seems to be a close call until johnyrainbow1 starts doing his cancels and focus attacks.... after a missed flash kick and a blocked tiger uppercut, johnyrainbow1 finish's Mayhem64 with a Back breaker throw!

Round 2: Sonic boom's, Uppercuts, Tigers, Flash kicks are all pulled off as both players seem t be on the offensive. with Mayhem64 keeping Johnyrainbow1 at bay but even when he does get close Mayhem64 get's him with a few cheeky combo's and a tiger knee. But @ 2:14 johnyrainbow 1 lets his Focus attack do the talking and show's Mayhem64 how it should be done with following up with his ultra combo. aint over yet as Mayhem is backed into a corner knowing he cant jump over Johnyrainbow1 which give's him the opportunity to finish him with a sonic BOOM!

SEMI FINAL 1 WINNER: Johnyrainbow1

SEMI FINAL 2:

So up next in our other Semi Final; Traxxminoo 51 (Ryu) VS l6 Shingouki 9l (Juri)

Round 1: l6 Shingouki 9l is straight to it with Juri's Fuhajin, Shikusen, Senpusha... Getting right in Traxxminoo 51's face, but Traxxinoo 51 ain't no push over as he hits back with some good combos. which in turn brings down l6 Shingouki 9l health showing him brute force doesn't all-ways win, as a mistimed Ultra can mean everything in SSFIV And l6 Shingouki 9l know's this when he leaves him self open for Traxxminno 51 to pull off a Dragon Punch which ends the round!

Round 2: Traxxminoo 51 gets the first hit with a Ha-do-ken, l6 Shingouki 9l tries to hit him with a few Shikusen's but only connects with one. But does catch Traxxminoo 51 with a Focused Senpusha as both keep trying to connect to follow up with combo's l6 Shingouki 9l connects with 3 Senpusha's but Traxxminoo 51 hits back with a dragon punch cancels it to follow up with a nice focused one.... then tries to do a Focused hurricane kick on l6 Shingouki 9l, who unleashes his Ultra Finishing the round off!

Round 3: Traxxminoo 51 lets l6 Shingouki 9l know how he feels by taunting him... then jump in to Dragon punch him afte l6 Shingouki 9l tries hitting him. As hit, combos fly its clear this round is gonna be a close one. as l6 Shingouki 9l pull's off some of Juri's combo's to bring his health in line with Traxxminoo 5's, Traxxminoo 51 hits back with little but awesome dragon punch cancel to Focused Dragon punch combo! And then it happens just when we thought Traxxmino 51 had l6 Shingouki 9l he pulls off Juri's Ultra with devastating consequences which brings our Semi Finals to a close.

SEMI FINAL 2 WINNER: l6 Shingouki 9l

THE GRAND FINAL:

And here it is THE GRAND FINAL; Johnyrainbow1 (Rose) VS l6 Shingouki 9l (Juri)

THE GRAND FINAL: so Johnyrainbow1 decides to use Rose instead of Guile, will this be a bad choice is he confusing his opponent? So we decided instead of giving a brief talk over each round we urge you to watch it as its such a close call, and we are still asking ourselves why did he do that Ultra at that point in the match!!!

WINNER: ?????

Well we hope you enjoyed our Season 1 of Super Street Fighter IV - Tournament and we hope you check back in the future for our inevitable SEASON 2

Please leave a comment or email us if you would like to take part in SEASON 2

OR MESSAGE ME;

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Preview

2011-06-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

GENESIS

In 2000, Ion Storm, headed by genius designer Warren Spector, gave the world Deus Ex, a game that was as revolutionary as it was flawed. An RPG that utilised a deep character customisation system and open ended mission structure to create unprecedented narrative freedom.
Hero JC Denton could augment his body in a myriad of different ways, which allowed the player to approach mission objectives as they saw fit.
2003 sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War streamlined certain elements of the first game, which served to hinder the overall quality of the formula, but retained the bleak dystopian setting and conspiracy plotting.
Now, 8 years on, Ubisoft Montreal are hoping to counter the tide of brainless military shooters with Human Revolution, a prequel set in a time when the world is struggling to embrace genetic augmentation.

The game revolves around Adam Jensen, an ex-SWAT team member contracted to the security forces of Sarif Industries, a leading manufacturer of genetic implants and augmentations. After an attack on Sarif HQ, Jensen is fatally wounded and receives several bionic upgrades that save his life and turn him into a superhuman badass. Needless to say, becoming the most genetically augmented Detroit cop since Peter Weller walked into that warehouse, is just the beginning.

JOIN THE REVOLUTION

Human Revolution exudes a sense of slick style from the outset, from the moody thrum of the score, to the sleek menus and the achingly cool difficulty options (Easy= Tell Me A Story). Upon entering it's Blade Runneresque metropolis, it's clear that tender loving care has gone into creating this world. The soft amber glow that is the games primary visual motif, is a million miles away from the dull urban greys and murky browns of almost every other game out there. The design of future Detroit is somewhere between Ridley Scott's aforementioned masterpiece (a key visual nod to that film comes when Jensen enters his beautifully realised apartment) and the neon mega-cities of the Mass Effect galaxy.

Early impressions suggest that, much like in the first two games, Jensen will be sent out to tackle missions that are largely made up of corridors filled with goons (which will call upon the awkward, yet ultimately satisfying cover system), before being flown back to a central hub. Of course, this will only be the beginning of his journey.

The most fun part of Deus Ex and an element that will hopefully give it the edge in the ever increasing roster of FPS RPGs, is the augmentation. Players can evolve their character as they see fit, shaping to a chosen methodology, much like in the first game. Don't want to fuss around with terminals and locks? Boost your hacking skills. Want to take an unorthodox route through a level? How about the upgrade that lets Jensen punch through walls. Need that extra help during stealth? Increase Jensen's awareness so he can detect when enemies are no longer looking for him.
It's a skill tree like any other skill tree, but it's one whose rewards aren't some invisible percentage, rather they are a complete physical change in your character.

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

There are some niggles that hopefully wont make their way into the final game, namely some graphical inconsistencies and the ropey dialogue system, which has an NPC's mood change wildly depending on Jensen's choice of words (one early example has our hero trying to infiltrate a police station, where a disgruntled desk seargent confesses his hate for Jensen before calmly letting him pass). Overall though, Human Revolution looks set to be a solid RPG experience, the art design, score and brilliant augmentation system are unique enough to do the original game in the series justice.

InFamous 2 - Video's

2011-06-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

2 Videos are up for your viewing pleasure...

PLESAE BE-AWARE THAT THESE COULD BE PULLED DOWN AT ANY GIVIN TIME, SO ENJOY THEM WHILE THEY ARE THERE....

Harry Potter - Through the Pensieve

2011-05-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

Amazing Fan made video with bits from all the films... all we can say is watch it, IT'S AMAZING!

Mortal Kombat - VIP Code's

2011-05-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

These's codes are suplied on a first come, first used basis...
so please no comments complaing or saying anything of the sort
(there will be other codes in the future, as we do have ones for other games)

XBOX 360

379D-YM7VX-W9JQ4-3GWTK-P4RQZ

37YJX-9X9PV-QKFXC-JKQ42-YFDCZ

3DDMD-D6V97-QKR4Y-TW6VC-73PTZ

46QDF-34KYQ-74HRJ-M6KW9-3RHTZ

KWYKK-2FW4T-T7X4M-JVH63-K4TDZ

PVY7T-PV4G6-XWTPH-T7PCP-9X36Z

QYXCD-T2QMM-H2QF7-RMF77-CWKRZ

PS3

BKK4-BNNF-RKNP

A6AE-HDN8-R4J8

GF23-MLNG-CK5A

K4AJ-KMNA-JKKQ

El Shaddai: Ascension of the metatron - [VIDEOS]

2011-05-28T17:28:00.000-07:00

Here is some footage of; El Shaddai: Ascension of the metatron.....
This is just a preview of -- one of the most striking chapters you'll play through in this game. Each chapter has a different distinct theme -- so don't think the other chapters in the game will look like this one.

Check out this game El Shaddai! It was released in Japan on April 28th, 2011, and a U.S. release is slated for later this year. A very graphically beautiful-looking game. It's a mix of a 3rd-person fighting and platforming.

Homefront - Multiplayer TDM Footage

2011-03-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

Here is some footage of the Multiplayer portion of Homefront, even with the games issues we did get some hands on time with it. And we do have to say we did enjoy our time with it, but lets hope the game gets patched soon!

KILLZONE 3 REVIEW

2011-03-03T13:32:00.001-08:00

Geurilla Games returns with the third part of their flagship military shooter series, with a tweaked graphics engine and refined multiplayer it re-affirms it’s position as PS3’s premier FPS.

MY FELLOW HELGHANS….

Killzone 3 takes place mere seconds after the end of the Killzone 2, as Sev and Rico face the repercussions of Scolar Visari’s murder. It’s not long before the white hat ISA are blasting their way through the ruins of Pyrhus (bombed by Visari in the games pre-title sequence) en route to another prolongued Helghast offensive.

It’s pertinent to explain from the outset that the story is the weakest part Killzone 3, What began on PS2 as an interesting sci-fi epic with an engaging antagonist has, over the course of two sequels, degraded into the tale of idiotic grunts disobeying orders (which for these guys is as easy as breathing) and brutally culling their enemies with zeal.

The Helghast are still the best part though, with their gruff British accents, stormtrooper-chic apparel and crafty AI, theyre a great opponent. Also, the frequent cutscenes would be unbearably tedious if it weren’t for the panto villainy of the Helghan elite, scheming against the ISA and each other.

An excellent voicecast is bolstered by the star wattage of Ray Winstone and Malcolm Mcdowell as members of the Helghan hierarchy, they make an appropriate replacement for the Brian Cox’s Visari.

KILL THOSE FASCIST PIGS

So, with story out the window it’s left up to Geurilla’s excellent shooter mechanics to save the day and actually make this game worth buying. Killzone relies heavily on spectacle and linear locomotion to usher the player through proceedings, but the pace is so breakneck and the combat so satisfying that one never questions the fact the campaign consists of getting form A to D by shooting B or blowing up C.

As mentioned before, the Helghast are formidable opponents who will split up, take cover, flank and generally use some sneaky tactics to make you and your ISA buddies dead. Luckily, some minor tweaks have been made to the already solid cover and aiming system so you can give the ‘Hegs’ what for. No considerable changes have been made to the combat, except some brief vehicle based sections (and one on a nifty jet pack) and the implementation of a ‘brutal melee’ system, which introduces a fun and grisly way to dispatch foes, hitting an enemy once dazes them long enough for you to perform a bloody execution (poking eyes out, slitting throats etc.)

BEAUTIFUL CARNAGE

One thing that this franchise excels at is jaw-dropping visuals and that is never more evident than in Killzone 3, which keeps the wonderfully detailed destruction of the urban battlefield and adds glowing, ethereal forests and snowy mountains to its palette as well. Elsewhere, there is the usual boatload of awe-inspiring set pieces, including a fight against a skyscraper sized Helghast walker and a small section that takes place in zero gravity.

POKING FRIENDS EYES OUT IS FUN

With the prominent existence of both the Call Of Duty and Battlefield franchises, it’s hard for any shooter to makes it mark in the online arena, but Killzone 3 is more than capable of holding it’s own.

Killzone 2 had an enjoyably but somewhat flawed multiplayer that was plagued with balance issues and exploits, all of which have now been ironed out. Opponents are now not as frustratingly hard to kill thanks to reduced health and the squad revive system is now more reliable (and customisable thanks to the generously open ended unlock system).

Perhaps it could benefit from some extra modes rather than bundling all the usual team and objective based games into three poorly explained sections, but with a varied class system that exploits many of the niche online gaming trends (jetpacks, stealth, disguise etc) and some great maps, online play is an often enjoyable, rarely frustrating experience. Also, with all signs pointing to Geurilla pumping out their usual regular helpings of extra maps, this could be a lasting online diversion.

WON THE BATTLE BUT NOT THE WAR

Unfortunately, as impressive as the visuals of Killzone 3 are, as solid as the combat is and as refined as the multiplayer has become, this third installment, like its predecessor is replete with some glaring flaws.

Aside from the overall linearity of the single player and the godawful machismo of the story, there are some lazy design flaws that let some of the best parts of the game down.

Take the stealth section in the Helghan forest as a prime example, in which the sheer beauty of the setting is offset by the stupidity of the gameplay, which has Sev sneak past scores of enemy troops, concealed by strategically place shrubbery that doesn’t look like it could hide an insect, let alone a burly ISA death dealer. Elsewhere there are visual and sound glitches that serve to hamper the atmosphere of the campaign and, worst of all, seargent Rico Rodriguez, surely a contender for most annoying videogame character ever.

These flaws aren't enough to make Killzone 3 not worth experiencing, its blockbuster thrills and stunning good looks help it to endure through its shortcomings, but Guerilla need to do some serious retooling if the inevitable Killzone 4 is to be a success.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate Of Two Worlds review

2011-02-25T14:11:00.000-08:00

Nearly a decade in the making, the third installment of Capcom's wish fulfilment fighting series is finally upon us. The game in which the likes of Street Fighter's Ryu, Darkstalker's Morrigan and the supporting cast of the Megaman series face off against The X-Men, The Avenger's and everything in between.

Choose your reserve team...

The roster has always been the main draw and Capcom have excelled themselves once again with a great selection of fighters. There are some noticeable omissions (Cable, Venom, Megaman, M.Bison, Guile, Ken) but these are balanced out by some truly awesome newcomers like Dante from Devil May Cry and Marvel's resident 'merc with a mouth', Deadpool. Elsewhere, there is the mouth watering combination of Wesker and Chris Redfield who are satisfying despite there Resi 5 incarnations. All in all, MVC3's fighters are versatile and balanced, the leaner roster cutting out some of the recycled move sets found in the last game.

"Looks like it's sexy Vs. stylish."

The best thing about the Marvel Vs. Capcom games is it's painstaking attention to detail and flawless presentation. In terms of visuals and sound design, MVC3 represents the absolute pinnacle of the Capcom fighting experience; brash, colourful, smooth as the Silver Surfer's board.
Basically a high def polish of the Capcom Vs. Tatsunoko engine, the beautiful cel shaded visuals work great, adding a genuine comic book feel to the fisticuffs. The fighters themselves are pitch perfect representations of their modern incarnations and each one has a multitude of cool, often hilarious soundbites that make them a joy to play. Amidst all the cries of 'HULK SMASH!', 'UNI BEAM!' and 'WEB-SWING!', there's the cocky wisecracks of Dante, the pantomime villainy of Wesker and the sheer insanity of Deadpool, a character that, much like in the comics, players will either fall in love with or hate with a passion because he simply never shuts up (personally, I think he's hilarious and I love him). There is just so much going on that it's almost impossible not to be charmed, whether it's the familiar voices of the X-Men, the Downey Jnr sound alike Iron Man or the cute little howls of Ameterasu, if MVC3 is anything, it's a sumptuous feast for the eyes and ears.

"This is a hyper combo"

Of course, all the visual splendour in the world is for nought if the basic fight mechanics are garbage, luckily Capcom have crafted another solid fighter that's appealing to newcomers and pros alike.
Again taking cues from the Wii-based Tatsunoko crossover, MVC3 features simple gradient attack buttons and one special button, as oppose to the limb based layout of standard fighters. It seems like child's play at first, with many of the flashier moves and simpler combos being pulled off with the greatest of ease, but there is a depth present that is so hidden that many wont notice it, there are some punishing combos in every fighters moves list that require real skill to pull off.
A controversial choice from Capcom is the inclusion of a simpler control system alongside the standard inputs. Put simply, with the 'simple' controls enabled, it's possible for a brain damaged chimpanzee to take down Galactus with some non-descript mashes of the controller. It's a feature that will be relatively useless to all but the most inexperienced and casual of players but it's presence at least adds an element of variety that is sorely lacking elsewhere...

"You saved the earth..."

Capcom's last major beat em up title was Super Street Fighter IV and while this was a seemingly robust package, it lacked a lot of modes and features (survival, time attack etc.) that have become par for the course in the beat em up genre and sadly, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 has even less content than SSFIV. Solo players have the brief but challenging arcade mode to clear and a collection of missions (similar to SFIV's trial modes), but that's about it. Multiplayer meanwhile, offers straight up versus which, at this early stage, is let down by frequent matchmaking issues.

Overall, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 is a spectacular experience, with excellent presentation and bucket loads of fan service, it's a game as enjoyable to watch as it is to play. Unfortunately, the game has a sting in it's tail in the form of its threadbare content, something that Capcom will hopefully remedy in the future, otherwise is hard to see MVC3 enduring as long as it's predecessor

Head to head: Forza Motorsport 3 Vs. Gran Turismo 5

2011-02-06T05:44:00.000-08:00

This generation has produced some truly great racers, with Burnout Paradise pioneering DLC with it's generous helpings of free content and Project Gothams 3 and 4 perfecting arcade thrills. More recently, the likes of Blur and Split Second have mixed things up by grafting on characteristics from other genres to creating interesting hybrids. Yet despite the over abundance of choice, race fans are always expenctant of what the simulation racer will produce next and late 2010 saw the release of 2 genre behemouths, Forza 3 and GT5. Inherint hostility between console format fans being the way it is, it's only fitting that we take a look at both of these flagship titles and how they hold up against each other.

DRIVING MODEL

Forza 3: Aptly named developers Turn 10 started off with solid driving mechanics and they have tweaked it to near-perfection over the course of three titles. Cornering is key in the world of Forza, throwing a machine round the track can be a hugely satisfying experience if you know exactly how to squeeze past those hairpins. Turn 10 also broke ground in the racing genre with it's hugely customisable difficulty, effectively giving the player the tools make the driving model effortless or unforgiving as they want. However, there is a rigidity to the cars takes the shine of the smooth cornering, suspension is fine but not perfect and some of the cars can feel a tad stiff to control.

GT5: 'The Real Driving Simulator' is the intimidating subtitle of all Gran Turismo games and by and large, it has never been misleading. The GT series has always been about two things, the visuals and and the driving and GT5 presents a meticulous virtual representation of driving physics. Like (or perhaps because of) Forza, GT5 also has customisable difficulty settings and while they are useful, to play Gran Turismo 5 free from tweaks is to experience an unforgiving world of precise handling and split second decision making.

WINNER= GT5

VISUALS

Forza 3: Much has been said about the differences in power between the PS3 and 360, slings and arrows are exchanged on pretty much every triple A, multi-platform title release. The reality is that any differences are negligible and it is often the case that the skill of the developer and the strength of the engine is the deciding factor. Forza 3 is a beautiful game, realism never coming at the cost of it's warm aesthetic, the machines on display gleam without being glossy and the crisp vistas each track has to offer can often distract from the road.

GT5: 6 years in the making, Gran Turismo 5's construction was an obsessive, painstaking process. Polyphony delaying the project numerous times so that they could tweak to absolute perfection; unfortunately, the finished product is nowhere near the die hard GT fan's wildest dreams. Gran Turismo 5's visuals are breathtaking and on occasion the term 'photo real' can be used without sounding flippant. However, there are some inconsistencies that mar one's enjoyment overall- jagged shadowing effects, bland scenery and a largely non-existent damage model that seems afraid to show it's precious babies banged up, these elements combine to create an uneven graphical feast.

WINNER= Forza 3

COMMUNITY

Forza 3: This is the area where developers Turn 10 have always had the edge. A ridiculous amount of online features, user created content and a healthy, frequent supply of DLC have been provided for every game in the series and the Third Instalment built upon this with a more streamlined content sharing system and the best matchmaking lobbies in the racing genre.

GT5: Gran Turismo 5 sees Polyphony trying their hand at a multiplayer suite for the first time and the results are, like the visuals, mixed. Some great communacative features are present in the games career mode, everything from photos to created tracks can be shared and cars can be 'gifted' from garages in your friends list. The online lobbies are frequently over complicated and it can take time to find the right race (and get that race started when you're in). These features are still young at this point and Polyphony promises frequent updates, but for now it doesn't represent the pinnacle of community racing.

WINNER= Forza 3

CONTENT

Forza 3: I'ts evident that Forza 3 is going to be a robust package when, on opening the box, you are greeted with an install disc alongside the standard game disc. Turn 10 offers the player a lot of content straight off the bat, with 500+ cars on the disc (plus some premium models in the box as free DLC) and nearly a hundred tracks (including reverse and variation versions), this content would also later be bolstered by frequent digital releases.

GT5: Polyphony met the challenge of Forza by offering their usual gargantuan amount of content on the GT5 disc. Over a thousand cars are present, both in the new car dealership and used dealership (which randomly generates offers as you race) and the 71 tracks on offer feature real world locations like the Top Gear track in Surrey and a painstaking recreation of the Nurburghring, which is in many ways the centrepiece of the game. Shortly after release, Polyphony released a free update that brought with it an extra dealership for those rarer models, as well as new tournaments and races that are updated in generous intervals. Overall, GT5 has a lot to offer and the flow of content doesnt show any signs of slowing.

WINNER: GT5

VERDICT

Well, it's a tie. It's extremely difficult to choose between these 2 franchises, especially when one is enamoured with both in equal measure.

There is no denying the skill of Turn 10 in crafting a robust racing experience, games that have visual splendor as well as tight gameplay. On the other hand, it's also hard to deny the sheer power of Polyphony's creation, a game spilling over with content, crafted by people whose obsession with automotive racing is actually worrying. If you only have one console, then neither is a clear excuse to change up, if you have the freedom of choice however, simply put, get both.

Dead Space 2 - Review [Kendo]

2011-02-01T15:48:00.000-08:00

DEAD SPACE 2 - OFFICIAL SITE

EA SITE

DEAD SPACE 2

Back in 2008, EA made a solemn promise that they would strive to improve the overall quality of their output, changing the face of the studio from a factory line of sports franchises and mediocrity, to a beacon for solid gaming. One of the first titles to be released in the wake of this announcement was Visceral games’ Dead Space, an immensely enjoyable and atmospheric survival horror that, despite being a Frankenstein of other games of it’s ilk, managed to have a unique identity all it’s own.

Now comes the inevitable sequel, in which Visceral and EA attempt to emulate the critical and commercial success of their golden goose. An attempt, I’m happy to report, that has been wholly successful. Dead Space 2 doesn’t make any dramatic changes to the formula that made the first game so successful, it just refines it and grafts on some extra meat to create a stunning and robust sequel.

STORY

Dead Space 2 kicks off 3 years after the events of the first game, with the player cast once again as the engineer turned necromorph exterminator Isaac Clarke. The most surprising thing about the games opening moments is the sight of Isaac’s tired visage and the sound of his gruff voice. These were things kept from us during the entirety of our spell on the Ishimura and it feels good to think of Isaac as something other than the guy in the armoured space suit.

A frantic opening (featuring Isaac trussed up in a straightjacket) throws us into another necromorph outbreak, this time on the Sprawl, a gigantic colony orbiting Saturn. Dazed and confused, Isaac soon comes into contact with would be saviour Daina and escaped mentalist Stross who both attempt to influence his path through the sprawl. The games opening chapters play out in much the same way as the first game; tight corridors, faulty illumination, random necromorph attacks, but things soon escalate as Isaac is tasked with tracking down another marker and stopping the spread of the infestation, all the while fending off the attentions of the necro horde, the Church of Unitology and Isaac’s dead girlfriend. There are twists and turns aplenty and in the tradition of modern horror, most characters are dispatched shortly after they’re introduced, leaving the player consistently alone in the dark. The story mode is hugely enjoyable throughout and it’s an added bonus that Visceral leave breathing room for a third instalment (given the sheer size of the Sprawl, a whole franchise could be borne of this location).

VISUALS & SOUND

About 90% of Dead Space’s success comes from it’s wonderful atmosphere, this is achieved through the use of some fiendish environmental design and brilliantly cinematic sound. The constant sense of foreboding and dread is almost palpable and throughout Dead Space 2’s single player story, this tension never lets up.

Well executed jump scares punctuate your journey through the sprawl, monitors suddenly flutter to life, steam pipes explode, sprinkler systems spring to life and shadows flit in front of Isaac as he creeps around this doomed metropolis. The sound suite is equally important in crafting the scares, whether it’s the terrifying moans of the enemy, bloodcurdling screams of ill fated sprawl residents or the deafening silence of deep space, Dead Space 2 is a full on sensory assault.

The biggest improvement of this sequel is the dramatic change in setting, re-locating the action from a claustrophobic spaceship to a heavily populated cityscape. Cluttered plazas, shopping centres, toy stores, creepy churches, even creepier nursery schools, the Sprawl’s horrors are all the more effective because they are grounded in reality (some of the more unsettling sequences see Isaac raiding deserted apartments). There is no big graphical leap in DS2 but it does present a finer version of Visceral’s engine, with some spectacular QuickTime events occurring during boss battles and the frequent hull breaches that showcase some impressive particle effects. Overall, Dead Space 2 is a great looking game and a definite visual highlight of this generation.

GAMEPLAY

With it’s tight over the shoulder perspective and stop-start gunplay lifted straight from games like Resident Evil 4, the first Dead Space game utilised some solid survival horror tenets and the ability to hack the limbs off the blood-thirsty abominations attacking you was a unique mechanic, luckily that system is still in place for the sequel. Elsewhere, the series trademark cinematic set pieces are here in force, swapping out slow burn horror for blockbuster thrills, these scenes are exhilarating and OTT. Ranging from a teeth rattling train crash that leaves our hero hanging upside down, to a brawl with a giant necromorph on the side of a gunship, these action beats are a great reprieve from all that corridor creeping.

This time around the pacing isn’t affected by needless backtracking, Isaac is rarely in the same location twice and all puzzles are situated in close proximity (although, as before, there are some large scale conundrums out in the cold of space).

Isaac has undergone some slight modifications to his repertoire that make the action different enough to not be a complete retread. The engineer can now actually engineer, with some hacking mini-games calling upon Isaac’s unique skill set and his anti-gravity abilities are no longer restricted to surface to surface jumps, now there are boosters on Isaac’s suit, meaning he can float freely and, on occasion, go all Iron Man on our ass and jet through space at ridiculous speeds (don’t engineers have safety regulations in the future?). New enemy types are numerous and terrifying, Isaac is now plagued by grotesque child necros, crafty stalkers that hide from him before rushing in for the kill, and exploding babies….yes, you read that right. There is also returning enemy models from the previous game and a smattering of chunky boss battles. It’s a varied rogue’s gallery, meaning there is always something new waiting around a corner to scare the hell out of you.

MULTIPLAYER

Much like 2010’s Bioshock sequel, Dead Space 2 contains an online multiplayer that is arguably not needed. It seems to be the trend these days to shoe horn multiplayer into every release, either to earn those extra DLC dollars or simply to extend the life of the product in question. This may be the case with Visceral/EA including multiplayer in DS2, but what is here is enjoyable enough. Structured somewhere in between Left 4 Dead and species mash-ups like Alien Vs. Predator.

Humans take part in an objective based skirmish on a healthy selection of claustrophobic maps and the necromorphs run around trying to eviscerate them. The first few hours of Dead Space multiplayer can be thoroughly enjoyable, a squad of humans that stick together can hold their own while strategically placed spawn points and secondary abilities help the necromorphs counter the space age weaponry.

At this early stage the action seems a little imbalanced in favour of the necros, mainly because their numbers are bolstered by AI enemies that spawn constantly, making it messy and confusing for a human to get a bead on a player controlled beastie. Humans do get the firepower however, as well as their stasis abilities and a handy team heal that can turn the tide in a pinch.

The atmosphere of the single player translates well to the multiplayer, it’s a nerve wracking experience being separated from your squad mates, and human controlled necros are a frightening concept. Controlling the mutated freaks is awkward at first, but the difficulty curve is forgiving. Each necromorph has an individual skill, casting 4 enemy models in different generic MP roles like melle, speed, ranged and stealth although it’s often far too tempting to wait 5 seconds and respawn as a Slasher, a class with balanced abilities.

Overall, the multiplayer doesn’t feel as tacked on as certain online modes (Bioshock 2, im looking at you!), but it may be unlikely that unlock able suits and weapons will keep players coming back to it, perhaps some extra maps, modes and character will arrive via DLC.

VERDICT

Dead Space 2’s single player is a spectacular experience, dripping with atmosphere and supported by sky high production values, Isaac Clarke’s second adventure is the best survival horror of this generation. Multiplayer is an interesting curio, enjoyable enough and well executed, by interest in this 3rd person L4D clone soon wanes.

That aside, Visceral has put together a generous package, with extra difficulty modes and a new game + that encourages further play, gamers will be poking around in the claustrophobic corridors of the Sprawl until the inevitable third instalment arrives.

REVIEWED BY:

Crysis 2 360 - Exclusive Multiplayer Demo Announced

2011-01-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

Dust off your Nanosuit, EA and Crytek today announced that the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo will be starting January 25 exclusively on the 360, allowing Xboxers to experience the gameplay variety offered by the franchise’s signature Nanosuit in a multiplayer setting.

The demo catapults players into a war-torn Manhattan where two teams fight to the death; each using the powers of the Nanosuit to be fast, be strong and be invisible. Maps will be set across New York City, presenting players with vertical gameplay that allows them to strategize, attack and defend from above and below.

Here’s an official description of the demo:

The Crysis 2 Multiplayer Demo will feature the “Skyline” map, and two game modes; “Team Instant Action” and “Crash Site”. “Team Instant Action” pits two teams against each other as they kill as many opponents as possible to earn higher ranks. In “Crash Site”, players will battle for control of alien drop pods, earning points by guarding their pods and keeping enemies at bay. Developed by Crytek UK, Crytek’s specialist multiplayer studio, Crysis 2 multiplayer will include six gameplay modes and 12 maps set across recognizable locations in New York City. Throughout the campaign, players can earn up to 50 multiplayer ranks and a variety of different upgrades to their weapons and their Nanosuit.

“Crysis 2 offers a fresh, new take on multiplayer – one that will stand out and establish the game as a top contender in the first person shooter genre,” said Cevat Yerli, CEO of Crytek. “The Nanosuit gives gamers a sense of power they have yet to experience in any other shooter and having New York City as a backdrop will present a different type of playground with even more possibilities.”

Built on CryENGINE3, Crysis 2 will be available for the 360, PS3, and PC on March 22, 2011 in North America and March 25, 2011 in Europe. No official word on a demo for the other platforms was given today, but we’ll of course keep you posted if/when those details emerge.

Breach Gadgets and Gear Detailed

2011-01-20T16:36:00.000-08:00

If you’re looking forward to the impending release of Breach on both the Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live) and PC, then you’ll probably be happy to hear that developer Atomic games has detailed the the gadgets and equipment you’ll be able to utilize within the game.

Here’s the description:

The elite forces that conduct black operations are often behind enemy lines, out-numbered and trying to accomplish clandestine missions. They need specialized equipment to even the odds, equipment like the IR Sniper Detector. It bounces IR beams off any scoped weapon, creating a flare that allows players to locate campers from across the map. The Sonic Imager can display high resolution live imagery of enemies on the other side of a wall. The M2 SLAM Charge is a sticky proximity mine that can be placed on any wall, ceiling, floor or vehicle surface to eliminate vehicles and enemy infantry. Breach also features Dragon Skin armor, which is a flexible body armor system already credited with more than 392 confirmed saves during combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. The real-world gear seen in Breach is being used for these purposes by real operatives on real assignments right now, and many have never been available before in any military shooter.

Full List of Real-World Spy Gear in Breach

• Dragon Skin
•  Sticky Bomb
• Remote Motion Sensor
• Bionic Ear
• IR Sniper Detector
• Bomb Sniffer
• Sabotage Kit
• M2 SLAM Charge
• Medic Kit
• M79 Pirate Cannon
• Sonic Imager

Interested? You can find out more over on the game’s official website .

Splinter Cell: Conviction Review

2011-01-20T09:14:00.000-08:00

Outline

the story in the singleplayer of Splinter Cell Conviction is one that is divided in two the main overall story that fetures the memoble sam fisher and a prologue of sorts that holds a major segiment which sets up events that shape the rest of the plot that happens in the main campain the latter is the co-opble so that you and a friend can tag team in vareties ways the main story is set up in wonderful mixture between cutsences gameplay and flashback that meshes perectly together with eacther in one single presintastion for long time fans and newcomers as such as myself the basic outline of conviction is this 3 years have gone by and sam has come out of hiding when he gets word that the death of his little girl may not have been an as random as once thought so he embarkes on a one man quest for the truth which takes him to places he never thought hed see again and uncovers things that make him a great nuisance for his pursuers

Gameplay

being a steath action game conviction uses a number of different approaches to moving into an area and dispatching enemies as such you chose to mark & execute by individually targeting one or more of your enemies depending on your weapon how many can be marked so it pays to think and plan out your method of attack otherwise youll be hard pressed to improvise on the spot that being said each environment is unique bringing the right weapon and gaget in singleplayer sam has access to all gagets but in co-op youl only have your choice of 2 also you always have your choices between guns with or without suppressors this is entirely up to player based on play style tools of the trade is important but conviction also lets you take out enemies bare handed means if no firearm will do or if the moment doesnt warrant one its a nice touch as it lets you do thing quick and dirty if need be if enemies are however alerted thats LKP or last known position comes into play if your discovered by an guard he or they are aware of your location began hostal actions at this moment a shade or ghost image appears of sam fisher or you're coop character reguardless it informs the enemies of your presence and the'll use any and every means to eliminate you so stay on top at all times and that note taking a hostage is very useful in the mist of combat as it gives you "meat shield" aganst incoming fire :)

Multiplayer

deniable ops as memtioned earlier is a strictly co-op oriented online modes
Infiltration: a takeout every enemy before you can move on the next area without alerting the enemies

Hunter: similar to terrorist hunt from rainbow six the goal here is to kill all opposition and you can use almost any means nessecary but if you dont alert the gurads there is less opposition to deal with.

Face-Off: goal is to kill all AIs and the other player in massive undertaking
Last Stand: you and another if available must defend an emp device from waves of enemy reinforcements for twenty or so rounds :(
which lets partispenting players go up against the AI in each of which only one "face off" let one player vs another deniable ops adds a nice replay method of allowing players to hone their skills and talents by accomplishing all objectives within the levels taken from the prologue in which player play as ether archer or kestrel (an american and russian agents) you can customize all outfits to better suit your style weather bring more ammo or gagets or by adding more armor anything give you the edge to succeed in this cooperative asspect of the game

Conclusion

all things considered this is very enjoyble game iv got give ubisoft a hand they put together a wonderful game especially for long time fans of the franchise and those newcomers with an passing interest this undoubtedly will be their first entry into the world of splinter cell an emphasis on a wider target demographic meaning i think more people enjoy this splinter cell more than the others just on the direction they took, they made it fun and badass to be sam fisher in a environment which he is most lethal individual rather than a ultra realistic steath-game where only 1% of hardcore population gamers could play with any real degree enjoyment so if there is to another splinter cell i hope it follows the path set down by this the fith installment two thumbs way the hell up.

Bulletstorm & Epic games talk

2011-01-19T18:33:00.001-08:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

GAME OF THE YEAR 2010

2011-01-19T04:24:00.000-08:00

So with 2010 out of the way and 2011 just getting started lets have a look at what people's 'Game Of The Year 2010' is..

When we asked some gamers to do this, i originaly asked about 10+ people but only get 2 replys. Which goes to show either they dint class them selfs as gamers or they couldnt think of thing to write! (we shall go with the latter option)

So what where peoples Game Of The Year 2010 then?

Mafia 2

For me, the best game of 2010 was Mafia 2. Forget playing 2009's sports games with an updated roster, forget headshotting the same lagging people on a new set of maps, and forget riding around the wild west killing zombies. Mafia 2 takes my top position thanks to its atmosphere, its narrative, and its pacing. Empire Bay is a beautiful imagination of a post-war American city, populated with larger-than-life characters - all of which had superb voice acting. It made me wish I had some Italian-American friends, just so I could hear them speak. The story was gripping from start to finish, and every detail of the game world helped the player to believe that it could actually have happened. The final few moments of the game were tragic yet badass, unexpected yet obvious. The whole pacing of the game was pitched just right, with a mixture of dialogue and action that came together so well that I can't remember the last time I played a mobster game as suave as this one. It had almost no replayability but that didn't stop me from playing through it again, just to enjoy Empire Bay once more. Sure it could have had more side quests, and there should have been a damn autosave point between Steve and Derek, but in terms of sheer panache and style nothing came close to Mafia 2. I'll be interested to see if Rockstar's L.A. Noire can match it.

Webster0’s Top Games Of 2010

2010 was a surprisingly good year for games, I say surprisingly because some of the games came out of nowhere or were arcade games that looked good but you had that after thought that they just looked good but not particularly great. The games I’m going to mention are in no particular order as I found it too hard to really put a number on them. So here it goes, 2010’s best:

Super Meat Boy:

Possibly the greatest arcade game of all time, this side scrolling old school arcade classic had some help from the creators of Castle Crashers, and so is as equally random in just about every way. You play a meat boy, who has a girl friend called bandage girl, who gets kidnapped by a Dr. Foetus, yes you read it right, foetus, in a jar, that’s wearing a suit....exactly, what more do I need to say. It’s a fantastic game and is almost impossible to put down, after spending two hours on the same level, I should know. If avoiding saw blades while running at high speeds and jumping ridiculous heights while doing seemingly impossible boss fights then this is definitely worth the ms points.

BlazBlue Continuum Shift:

This was a surprise for people who didn’t play the first one, which was a bit of a dark horse in the fighting game genre, but this sequel was excellent, they changed a couple of controls, added features to help you learn to play more effectively, and overall really tried to make the game more accessible to those who don’t constantly play fighter games and know every move in existence. Definitely worth if you like games at all, good fun, better with friends, as it’s one of those games where you say “NOOO I WAS GONNA WIN YOU SON OF A BITCH”, so definitely good fun, and with a wide range of characters with many different play styles you are sure to find something you like.

Dragon Age:

An amazing game from bioware, great story, well developed characters, and a choice of endings each unique in the way they play out. Some good dlc to go with it, some of which may have had some questionable premises, the awakenings required you to *spoiler* not to die in the ending. Apart from that the game was well structured, had great moments with characters talking amongst themselves leaving you thinking wtf was that about, and left you wanting more.

Ruse:

A game few people I know have herd of except when I’ve mentioned it, a top down (sort of) strategy game that has allot of multiplayer potential (if more people had it) and the single player is very enjoyable, if not a little bit long. There’s not really much to say about the game because it’s a strategy game, but its sets during WWII and you play various members of the allies and the axis at one point, generally that’s it. Not to sell the game short, but that’s really the whole game summed up, however it is a great game and good fun.

Tron Evolution:

This is how I feel about this game: ITS SUPER MEGA ULTRA FREAKING OMG SO GOD DAM AMAZING THAT I CAN’T STOP PLAYING IT. Though the last part isn’t right as not that many people got the game so the multiplayer is the same old crowd, which is fine, but it’s just very small. Honestly though, the for Tron fans it explains the story between the films perfectly and is an excellent game surprisingly seen as its Disney, also the multiplayer is really good fun from light cycle matches to all out brawls, this really is a game that I’d recommend to anyone really, it really is great fun. The only real bad part is the camera angles are irritating sometimes, the game play involves melee, ranged, vehicles including tanks, there are objective games or killing games, it’s mostly everything you want from a game really, especially the light cycle fights.

Darksider

The best none Zelda game ever! Yes that’s right I said it, it’s basically the mature version of Zelda, with the rider of the apocalypse war, an amazing story after the end of the world, an amazing game to play with puzzles epic fights and combat with creatures of hell, an truly unique game in the story it portrays and very unique to xbox games as it really is a Zelda style of play which I have seen very few games on the box use. Could be my best game of the year easily in many respects.

Dante’s Inferno:

Now where would a year be without a hack and slash, again with the hell theme, Dante’s inferno is based loosely off the poems the divine comedy, specifically the part in hell obviously. As it is a hack and slash there isn’t much to explain about game play, it works, pretty well, it’s fun, you wield death’s scythe , you fight impossibly huge monsters at points, the usual hack and slash elements. But, the story is something new, interesting and entertaining, and that adds to the game play and makes it worth getting. The visuals make you want to go on and traverse deeper into hell, the screams you hear as you walk around make you feel like you really are in hell. A very well designed game and worth owning.

Now there are more games out there that I didn’t mention, that’s not because they aren’t good, but either I didn’t play them or I just didn’t see the extra something to make me think they were the best games or they seemed good at first but fizzled out towards the end or didn’t have much replay value or the multiplayer died (somewhat like I explained about Tron having a small community). Here are the games that I’d say were next in line if my top games hadn’t come out.

Bioshock 2:

good game, first one maybe better, short lived

Mass Effect 2:

I’ve been told it was amazing, but I couldn’t play the first one as I found it dull, so I never tried this one sorry fan boys!

Fallout New Vegas:

I just didn’t get into it the way I got into 3, I don’t know why, I just didn’t, I need to give it more love I think, what I played was good, the 3^rd was amazing so I’m still expecting this one to be good

Star Wars TWU II:

it was good...but too short, way way too short

Transformers War For Cybertron:

Good game, story reasonable, multiplayer has issues and not many played it whenever I tried it

Red Dead Redemption:

again good game, but got bored of story pretty quickly, multiplayer too, not allot of people on, grinding. However, I have not played the undead expansion and I’ve been told it’s great fun so possible return needs to be made

Blur:

arcade racer that gets old, pretty fast. Buggy and/or laggy and ends up getting on your nerves and losing its appeal, shame really, had potential

There are also other games that I just don’t feel the need to mention, either because they are in the list of overrated games to follow soon, or they are just not that great or I didn’t feel the need to play them. That about sums that up, Webster out

Red Dead Redemption

With such an effortless track record and peerless ability to create masterful free roaming adventure games, it was hard not to be excited about Rockstar’s western opus, yet few could anticipate just how masterful the finished product would actually be. A game that not only manages to impress with its faultless cinematic storytelling and beautifully constructed setting, but also improves upon the developers last game, sprawling masterpiece Grand Theft Auto IV.

The feeling of distilled Rockstar quality is present from the moment we enter John Marston’s life, as a low key opening credits sequence introduces us to the relatively contemporary (for the western genre) America of 1911.

Marston himself is the games strongest asset, his craggy face ravaged by scars, weathered by years of violence. This, along with a classic western swagger, is a perfect showcase for Rockstar’s wonderfully naturalistic euphoria engine; Marston is a poster boy for his hardware generation.

The world in which Marston inhabits was also a joy to behold. Here was an environment in which it was possible to waste hours just traversing the wilderness, admiring the scenery. There are hundreds of side quests, achievements and collectables of course (as well as a morally dubious yet thoroughly enjoyable animal skinning mechanic) but simply watching a beautifully rendered sunrise is enough to warrant booting the disc. With Red Dead Redemption’s game world, Rockstar created a level of immersion many will find hard to top.

Storywise, the dependable developers presented yet another fable to put the best of Hollywood to shame. Giving us a grand chronicle of one mans struggle to escape the evils of his past, the game questions the very nature of redemption, as well as keeping that trademark Rockstar humour intact and throwing in a few explosive set pieces along the way. No single character is disposable, from snake oil salesman Nigel Wes Dickens to creepy corpse whisperer Seth, there isn’t a flat note in RDR’s symphony of colourful characters.

As for Marston himself, he is given a traditional western send off in a poignant false climax that may have frustrated some (Jack Marston isn’t as engaging as his father) but remains a bold narrative choice for a developer whose storytelling is constantly evolving.

2010 was a great year for games. The likes of Mass Effect 2 and Heavy Rain pushed the boundaries of cinematic storytelling, while old hands like Blizzard and Nintendo showed that traditional gameplay could still seem fresh with their stellar sequels Starcraft II and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Yet leave it to Rockstar, the developer who have, on more than one occasion, shook the world of gaming to its very foundations, to deliver such a thoughtful and accomplished masterpiece.

TBP

TBP

Heroes of our generation

2011-01-18T15:25:00.000-08:00

Each console generation brings with it a new generation of heroes, champions who define genre, platform and medium and stand out from the throngs of endlessly recycled gaming personalities. With the latest hardware iteration going from strength to strength, it’s high time we take a look at some of this generation’s icons.

Niko Bellic

Grand Theft Auto games are often groundbreaking masterworks, but until the fourth in the series, they were not known for strong central characters. GTAIII’s lead was a mute and Vice City’s Tommy Vercetti was a tired gangster stereotype. San Andreas showed some progress with its reformed gangbanger Carl Johnson, but it wasn’t until Rockstar returned to Liberty City that the developer found their defining protagonist.

An eastern European immigrant in search of the American dream, Niko Bellic is a truly modern hero. Haunted by memories of his past, he is soon dragged back into a life of crime by people who respect, yet take advantage of his honourable nature. Funny, smart and vicious, it’s a joy to play as Niko.

Defining Moment: “So this is what the dream feels like? This is the victory we longed for”. A post-credits lament sees Niko express regret at everything that has occurred through the course of his tale. It’s a bleak moment, one which calls into question the motives of the player.

Nathan Drake

With Master Chief standing tall for Microsoft and platform hero Lara Croft losing her appeal, Sony needed a new star for the PS3 age. Naughty Dog answered the call with Drake, a traditional action hero in the Indiana Jones mould. All sly quips, death defying leaps and brutal fisticuffs; Nate is an engaging presence. Some saw him as slightly derivative at first, what with the bloke-Lara vibe and Gears of War shooting mechanics, but Nate came into his own with robust sequel Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

Defining Moment: Leaping from truck to truck in Uncharted 2’s epic mountain-top chase sequence.

Commander Shepherd

Bioware’s Mass Effect series is this generations defining RPG experience, setting itself apart from the pack with a suitably grandiose story arc and thoroughly engaging, unique universe. Shepherd is the avatar which the player moulds into either a genocidal badass or heavenly saviour of the galaxy. Shepherd’s back-story and appearance is up to the player (as is his/her gender), the rest of the commanders action packed career is carved out by some of the best dialogue and plotting in modern gaming.

Defining Moment: Towards the end of ME1, Shepherd is faced with ending the genophage, a manufactured plague that is responsible for the near extinction of the Krogan race. His trusted squadmate Urdnot Wrex is a Krogan, Shepherd must make a choice…

John Marston

Another Rockstar hero from another Rockstar masterpiece, Marston is an homage to the grizzled outlaws of the old West; Eastwood, Wayne and Cooper all rolled into one. With his salty dialogue and cocksure swagger, Marston is a shining example of a central character done right.

Defining Moment: His death at the hands of government agents, sacrificing himself to save his family and finally obtaining that elusive redemption.

Ezio Auditore Di Firenze

Altair may have been our introduction to the world of Assassins Creed, but he was just a dry run for Ezio. Ubisoft’s most lucrative IP of this generation, AC is a wonderfully scripted open world adventure that improves its own established formula with each instalment. Replacing the blank, monotone assassin from the first game, Ezio is a smooth lothario, as adept at wooing the ladies as he is slitting throats and AC fluid parkour themed acrobatics sets him apart from the other leading men in action/adventure genre.

Defining Moment: Developing the resource management of ACII, Brotherhood sees Ezio rebuild Rome. Renovating buildings, hiring his own team of assassins and growing his empire.

Master Chief

Ok, so he may have only had one game this generation, but what a game. Halo 3 not only smashed every conceivable multimedia sales record, it was also a hugely successful salvo in the ongoing console war, marking out Microsoft as a force to be reckoned with.

With minimal dialogue and a shiny orange visor where his face should be, Chief’s job was to serve as an avatar on which the player can project themselves as they blast the covenant to multi-coloured smithereens, but over the course of 3 great games he has managed to become a star in his own right.

Defining Moment: Chief’s story ends much as it began, after defeating the flood and destroying the Halo (again), John-117 decides to put himself in cryo-sleep as his lifeless ship drifts through space. Get some rest Chief, you deserve it.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Review

2010-12-26T15:55:00.000-08:00

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Review

This racer proves that gameplay can make up for ANY flaw. Some might say that Need for Speed took a wrong turn with its recent games. In all fairness, they were decent racers with plenty to offer, but they just couldn’t live up to the pedigree once owned by the NFS franchise. Criterion have looked to rectify this by shifting things up a gear with 2010’s Hot Pursuit, and in doing so they’ve left all the other recent games in the series in the dust.

Let’s make one thing clear: This is a racing game. It is not going to thrill you with its gripping storyline, nor is it going to keep you in the garage for hours whilst you tune your car and look at performance graphs. You are thrust straight into the action with very little explanation as to who your character is or any sort of cutscene, but you won’t care about that once you tap the accelerator. Some players may find the lack of options to be a little basic, given today’s focus on customization and replayability, but Hot Pursuit is strictly about driving thrills – and lots of them – so if that’s what you’re looking for from a racing game, you’ve come to the right place.
Gameplay As has been mentioned, there is no story to speak of past a continuous game of cat and mouse between the cops and the speeders. The main screen presents the player with two gameplay options: Offline and Online. The entire experience is designed to put the player in the driver’s seat as quickly as possible, and this works to the game’s advantage. Selecting Career will allow the player to choose “missions” or events for either side – cops or speeders – and the option to switch between one and the other is available. This subtly changes the play style required, and reduces the likelihood of getting bored with either faction’s missions.

Upon selecting a mission and a car, it is time to race. There are no standing starts in Hot Pursuit – all missions begin with a short cutscene and start with the car travelling at speed – which again works in favour of the game’s feeling of fast-paced gameplay. The cars all seem to have their own personalities in terms of handling, though there isn’t really a statistic to tell you this when selecting them – in fact, the only stats given to the player are acceleration, top speed and RPM, which makes for a lot of trial and error in finding a car that fits your style of play. However, this again encourages experimentation and serves to keep the gameplay fresh – there is no single car that dominates each class, allowing players to really express some individualism.

On the other hand, the lack of tuning options and the preset number of paint jobs does mean that players won’t become attached to any one car. If you’ve played Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops, you’ll know that your guns become much more personalised on Black Ops – they’re your signature in the field of battle – whereas everybody had the same gun in MW2. This premise is similar to Hot Pursuit and, say, Forza 3 with its decals and wheel options. It would have been nice to see some optional customisation included for those players who enjoyed expressing themselves through their car, but at the end of the day I would still much rather play Hot Pursuit than Forza.

In terms of racing, this game will be very familiar in terms of look and feel to anybody who has played a Burnout game. After all, it was handled by Criterion; the creators of Burnout. They’ve done a great job of making the game playable and exciting, and most players I have spoken to agree they have done the NFS franchise justice. As with all Burnout games, the focus here is on speed and crashing, and both are done to perfection. There is nothing quite like crashing one of the world’s most expensive cars into oncoming traffic, be you pursuing or escaping. Tension runs high at all times and one wrong move can cost the player dearly, but it is still possible to make a comeback should this happen. That is the beauty of this game – each move, each twitch of the thumb stick is critical... but the same goes for every other cop and racer. Watching somebody crash at 200mph behind me because they were trying to avoid my spike strip is one of the most rewarding gameplay experiences I have had in a long time.

Speaking of the ‘power-ups’, the game has a limited selection – but this again is fine, because not a single one is useless. They are also all believable – the cops can call in road blocks or helicopters, the speeders can use turbo or jam communication systems – there are no bouncing koopa shells here; once more contributing to the game’s slick presentation and atmosphere. When called in at the right time, they can make all the difference to a pursuit and again add to the split-second tension offered by the game.

The only issue I have with the gameplay is the rubber-band AI. It is tricky for a developer to know just how elastic to make the computer-controlled opponents so as not to make for a boring race, but also not to take away from a player’s skilled racing – and most of the time Criterion seem to have hit the sweet spot. Somebody is constantly on your tail in Single Player, yet there have been instances where I seem to have been unfairly punished by cars with a lower top speed than my own managing to beat me to the finish line after a perfect race.
All in all, you will not find a more tense and exciting racing experience than this. It is high-velocity excitement, distilled down to its purest form. It makes no excuses for it, and it does not need to.

Presentation:
Put simply, this game is gorgeous to behold. Once again there are not as many aspects of graphic design as there might be in other games, but Criterion have ensured accordingly that each aspect of this game looks its best.
The car models all faithfully recreate their real-world counterparts. They also all sustain damage, with bumpers hanging off and paint being chipped away as time goes on. It is nice to see such prestigious and high-end cars being subjected to this kind of damage, as it adds another reason to drive well – to keep your precious Lamborghini Gallardo from looking like you let your grandmother drive it to the shops. The paint jobs look crisp, and the pearlescent ones only add to how gorgeous some of the cars look. Each car’s SCPD variant looks infinitely more bad ass with its own individual placement of police lights, bumper and menacing paint-job.
The environments all appear to be just as lovingly crafted, with a meticulous attention to detail. There are plenty of open roads on freeways and through small towns, and often your eye will wander to the impressive background visuals – only snapping back to your car when it is bouncing off a corner because you weren’t paying attention. The variation in locations also keeps the player from becoming bored – there are snowy mountains, enclosed forest tracks, long desert stretches and coastal roads to name but a few. To be quite honest, I haven’t yet begun to recognise many lengths of track, knowing which turns are coming up just by looking at my surroundings, but this is because your attention is often so focussed on not crashing that you will not have time to memorise the roads – it is not at all anything to do with the environments being forgettable.
The menu system fits the overall atmosphere of the game well – it is slick, and looks futuristic. If Tony Stark made game menus, this would be the result. The in-game HUD follows a similar minimalist style, and again fits the high-tech feel of the rest of the game.

Sound:
Once again, the sound can hardly be faulted in Hot Pursuit. The menu noises are just as futuristic-sounding as the screen looks, and the almost monotonous female announcer sounds like an on-board computer system, which is a nice touch.
The cars each have their own engine note, and sound just as I would expect them to – the Lamborghinis sound like Lamborghinis, and the muscle cars sound suitably meaty. A nice touch is that upon selecting a car, it revs a few times. Just from this sound alone, the adrenaline will start pumping – a sign of how well-produced the sound is.
The in-game music is well-thought out too. In single player, a radio plays catchy songs from a good selection of artists. The songs compliment the mood of the racing well. In Multiplayer or in offline chases, the music is suitably tense and again fits the mood well. Also the police chatter over the radio seems realistic and often adds to the feeling of tension in pursuits. Driving as a cop car thankfully does not get annoying because of the siren wailing away. A nice touch is that when a player crashes or their car is at critical damage, the sound weakens.

Multiplayer:
The multiplayer experience is the highlight of Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. Like many other areas of the game, options are limited but done to perfection. Players can choose to participate in Pursuits, Interceptor (1v1) or straightforward Races. The majority of fun (for myself) is to be had in the Pursuits, where a group of up to 4 cops have to take down up to 4 speeders. Each player has an individual number of power-ups, but cannot stack certain ones – for example, only one cop can call in a roadblock at once and it also has a cool-down time. This helps balance the multiplayer gameplay, as does the fact that there is no game-breaking power-up.
As has been mentioned, no single car dominates each class which means players can expect to see a good variety of cars on the road, yet it would have been nice to have a way to further personalise cars.
Multiplayer action itself is incredibly exciting, with options for tactics left wide open. Four cops can take down one speeder at a time, or go after one each. Speeders can leave each other to race to the finish, or try and hinder each other. Not knowing who’s after your car – from 0 to 7 other players potentially – really makes the game unpredictable and allows for a lot of variety from match to match.

Longevity:
The main point of this entire review has been to explain that this game is for those who want an exhilarating competitive racing experience. If that is you, you will find plenty on offer here. If you are looking for an exhilarating car ownership experience, it may be best to give this a try but to stick elsewhere in the long term. The replayability of this game depends entirely on how much enjoyment players can derive from racing different cars on different tracks against different opponents, and not much else. Personally, I find each race to be different and the gameplay is exciting enough to have had me hooked for at least 20 hours’ playtime now.
Players can continue to unlock cars in multiplayer for use in their single player game and vice versa, and unlocks for both online and offline modes come at a steady and good pace.
The most innovative feature of the entire game, however, is what may prove to extend it’s useful life for a lot of players. The Autolog system is a social network style arrangement, where friends can challenge each other and beat each other’s times. It can recommend races and lap times for players to try and beat, and allows a bit of trash talking should the players beat their friends. It works well and adds another avenue of competition to the game, and is something I predict big things for in the future – not only in Need for Speed, not only in the racing genre, but throughout gaming as a whole. I am very impressed with Criterion for putting this feature in the game and I would say they deserve a lot of credit for moving social competition forward. It breathes new life into previously completed races – for example my friend picked the game up and beat my score on a track I completed weeks ago, which gave me a reason to try the track again using new cars I’d unlocked since.
If by now you haven’t realised that Need for Speed is the most streamlined and most rewarding racing game to be released in months, then maybe I should stop writing reviews. This game admittedly doesn’t do as much as rival games do, but it doesn’t need to apologise for that fact because it more than makes up for it in terms of what it does offer – which is racing, good racing and amazing racing. If games could speak, this one would say “I don’t need no fancy options to prove how good I am, I let my gameplay speak for itself”... and it would be right. If racing games were superheroes, Need for Speed would be Batman – no special powers except for a few high tech gadgets; one of the best franchise reboots of our time, and a totally bad-ass luxury car collection.

9.5/10: The speed, thrills and crashes in this game place it firmly in pole position for the title of best racer of Christmas 2010. If you like arcade-style racing and you have a competitive streak, this game is for you. If, however, you want a more involved car experience than simply driving them, try before you buy.

Pedal to the Metal!
+ Thrilling racing
+ Beautiful visuals
+ Good selection of cars
+ Great for friendly competition

Insurance Write-off!
+ Rubber-band AI sometimes unforgiving
+Some players may be put off by the lack of options
+ No car customisation features

Dante Inferno - Review [REPOST]

2010-10-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

Making a game about the “The Divine Comedy” would never of been an easy task, yet Visceral Games have done just that, well at least the first part of “The Divine Comedy” with “Dante’s Inferno” even though we can say the game doesn’t quite stick to the Poem this doesn’t mean it’s not good, Far from it as Visceral Games take on “Dante’s Inferno” is somewhat of an action adventure/hack n Slash game.

You play as Dante, a Knight in the king’s crusade which starts off with you being attacked by the prisoner’s that you have kept locked up, and you are given a brief tutorial of the combat and controls; X= light Attack, Y= heavy attack, Right stick= Dodge, Left trigger= Block B= Beatrice’s Holy Cross [which you don’t get until later] after you get to grips with the controls you are confronted by Death and told you and your loved one’ will suffer for your sin’s.

Well as most people who have actually read the “The Divine Comedy” would know Dante was not a Knight he was a 13th century Italian poet. But then if they had stuck to the Poem then we think we would have some rather confused Gamers’ on our hands as it’s not easy to understand let alone put into a game. Any way this is the direction Visceral Games went and as we said it’s not a bad direction by any means, as we said Death appears and Dante refuses to allow his beloved Beatrice to be punished, and this starts off Dante’s quest for Revenge, Redemption and maybe even Forgiveness as he traverse’s the 9 Circle’s of Hell.

And over the course of the game you keep, meeting up with The Roman poet Virgil who will read parts of the poem and guide you through the Inferno.

“they had their faces twisted toward their haunches
and found it necessary to walk backward,
because they could not see ahead of them.
…and since he wanted so to see ahead,
he looks behind and walks a backward path

The combat in “Dante’s Inferno” is not quite up there with the likes of God Of War or Ninja Gaiden but it’s still satisfying none the less, we never got tired of punishing people ok we did absolve some sinner’s you can upgrade Deaths Scythe or Beatrice’s holy cross these paths are classed as Unholy/Holy. You do this by using the soul’s you have set free, dammed or killed. We went for the unholy path on our first play through, and then finished off the Holy path on our second.

The combat can get quite fast and even on the Normal setting we found the game to be quite a challenge at some points especially at the trial’s later on in the game, there are QTE’s in the game usually during the Boss fights or when you’ve damaged an enemy enough to pull these move’s off Now this is one area where “Dante’s Inferno” lets it slip as some of the enemies don’t have this option they don’t even allow you to do different move’s to them i.e. you can’t grab them then; punch/throw etc as once you damaged them enough you can only either punish/Absolve them which was a shame really.

You can do juggle combo’s which you’ve come to expect from these’s type’s of game’s you even get to ride some of hells beast’s which open’s some good opportunities during combat But again some parts of it felt a bit let down, as you can tell “Dante’s Inferno” could of done with some more move’s or even some Different weapon’s as you go through the whole game with Death’s Scythe/Beatrice’s Holy Cross.

But then as we said this is Visceral Games Vision on the Inferno and on some parts it looks’s amazing and others not so much. after Visceral Games did Dead Space you’d expect quite the high standards from them, well it is here in some area’s but it still does lack polish, especially the platforming sections got to say though there vision of some things is Bizarre as we could never look at another woman’s……. the same again or baby’s too!

Each area of the Inferno is different to the next and is done quite well yet we couldn’t help but feel as though it could have been more to it but then maybe Visceral Games had to be careful and not to go too far, Dante’s Inferno will last around 10hrs+ on the default difficulty but beyond that there is not much to make you go back unless you want to max out both unholy/holy, There is going to be some DLC in the form of Forest pack which really should have been in the game, and a co-op challenge/editor pack. But will people keep the game for these or will the move on to God of War 3 or maybe something else.

Overall Dante’s Inferno is a good game and that’s it yes it’s fun but memorable? No it’s a guilty pleasure, it’s a game you play and enjoy but you won’t think too much of your journey through the Inferno [the 9 circles of hell] once it is over, but we will say it’s is going to be good to see what Visceral Games does for Purgatory/Purgatorio.

PRO’s:

Combat System

Story

Nice References to Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy”

Boss Battle’s

CON’s:

Weak Platforming Sections

Only One Weapon?

Could Of Been Much More

Lost Planet 2 - Code's

2010-10-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

Here are the code’s so far for Lost Planet 2; Go to my page and select the Character Customization tab, the press X to bring up the Password screen and enter these into them!

Item Name————-Code———Details———-Colours——Availability
———————————————————————————————————-
T-Shirt 1 (M/F) = 73154986 Red Weekly Famitsu (Red) XBox-PS3

T-shirt 2 (M/F) = 94372143 Xbox360 ————-(White) XBox Only

T-Shirt 3 (M/F) = 69088873 Midnight Live 360 (White) XBox Only

T-shirt 4 (M/F) = 40358056 Dengeki Playstation —-(?) PS3 Only

T-shirt 5 (M/F) = 96725729 Yellow Den geki —(Yellow) XBox-PS3

T-shirt 6 (M/F) =

T-shirt 7 (M/F) =

T-shirt 8 (M/F) = 63152256 ?? ————————(Black) XBox-PS3

T-Shirt 9 (M/F) = 34297758 Weekly Playboy (Hot Pink) XBox-PS3

T-Shirt 10 (M/F) = 88020223 Blue Famitsu.com (Cyan) XBox-PS3

T-Shirt 11 (M/F) = 25060016 4gamer.net ——-(Green) XBox-PS3

T-Shirt 12 (M/F) = 65162980 ?? ————-(Purple+Tan) XBox-PS3

T-Shirt 13 (M/F) = 56428338 ?? ———————-(Blue) XBox-PS3

T-Shirt 14 (M/F) = 18213092 WCP——————(Green) XBox-PS3

T-Shirt 15 (M/F) = 26797358 ?? ——(White+Dark Blue) XBox-PS3

T-Shirt 16 (M/F) = 71556463 ?? ——————-(Purple) XBox-PS3

T-Shirt 17 (M/F) = 31354816 WCP 241 (White+Brass) XBox-PS3

T-Shirt 18 (M/F) = 12887439 StreetJack —(Light Blue) XBox-PS3

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Medal Of Honor - EA Online Pass Code's...

2010-10-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

Here we have some codes for Medal Of honor [EA Online Pass] these codes are on a first come and use basis, so please don't message/email complaining that you didn't get one. Hopefully we will get more or other codes for other games!

XBOX 360:

BTW38-PJ2DV-CK7TQ-J8FFG-XP6HT

G8QYJ-48JJR-KRX37-QW82C-J4W7J

PS3:

4FGF-2DBH-2QJG

G5QQ-FGBP-3KP2

PHH9-BKB3-FK2P

NP2N-KPBE-64E2

Remember New Mombasa

2010-10-04T15:11:00.001-07:00

Reach has fallen, Bungie has left the franchise (?) and Halo has had it's romantic send off ('cept for online of course), I believe it's high time to look back on the bravest and most underrated entry in the franchise; ODST.

No one wanted ODST, it's as simple as that. Die hard Halo fans, still fragging away on Halo 3's multiplayer, were hungry for another story continuation, perhaps a return from Master Chief himself. What they didn't want was a touchy feely prequel starring the distinctly un-augmented members of the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. It's not that the premise of ODST was a bad idea, it just seemed for many a creative and narrative step back for the Bungie team, fortunately, this couldnt be further from the truth.

ODST remains one of the best games in the franchise, it may not have had the robust tool set of Halo 3, or brought anything new to the FPS table like Halo: Combat Evolved, but what it did have was a bold new visual palette and a further fine tuning of those sweet Halo mechanics.

Its clear now that the darker, less vibrant art style of ODST was a dry run for the complete overhaul of Reach, but at first it seems strange and uncomfortable. Ushering the FNG through the desolate night-time streets, not a soul in sight aside from a handful of patrolling covenant, has a tension usually reserved for survival horror titles. The daytime flashbacks are almost a relief, those familiar purple shades soothing the players rattled mood.

The games structure and flow can often make it seem like a greatest hits of previous Halo games. Each clue found on the streets leads to a linear daytime skirmish in which you control one of the other ODSTs, who each have generic FPS roles (soldier, heavy, sniper etc). Yet amongst all that familiarity is a great story containing some engaging characters.

The story of the FNG is a thinly veiled nod to film noir and the hard boiled detective novels of the 1950's. It's fun to think of Bungie as Raymond Chandler, with the FNG as his Phillip Marlowe, getting knocked about in some godforsaken rain drenched city, slowly gathering the clues to solve the mystery. It's a great story mechanic and a refreshing offshoot of the generic sci-fi fable that is the Haloverse.

Elsewhere their is some great characters to fill out the ODST roster. The FNG is the strong silent type as usual but the rest of the crew is voiced by Firefly's Serenity crew. So, heavy trooper is given the gruff tones of Adam Baldwin, cocky pilot duties fall to Alan Tudyk and leader of the unit is Nathan Fillion, whose very presence can increase enjoyment in pretty much any production. The voice cast is a genius stroke for Bungie, highlighting both their commercial heft as a developer and the obvious love they have for the Halo fans.

But lets not forget Firefight, the only evidence of multiplayer on the ODST disc (all Halo 3 maps and modes were generously shipped with the game also) and a mode so good that it quickly outlived any accusations of being derivative (the mode is strikingly familiar to Horde mode in Gears 2).

Firefight brings all the scuba-tight mechanics of single and multiplayer Halo into co-operative arena based battle. Although it has since been built upon and made better for Reach, memories of those early days on ODST firefight will never fade. Provided you had some willing and able squad mates (no Firefight matchmaking in those days), ramping that diffuculty and rocking those skulls could eat up a whole night.

For all these things and more should ODST be praised. It dared to be different in a franchise where change was not welcome. It's visual style paved the way for the best game in the franchise and it's Firefight mode is one of gaming's best co-op experiences.

ODST is a significant triumph in a series full of them and anyone who passed it over on release should definitely give it a try now the sun has set on this beloved franchise.

4gb or 250gb xbox 360 Slim... Or maybe ill just have both!

2010-09-27T16:36:00.001-07:00

Why buy consoles when you can get them for free! as here we get given things sometimes like playstation move or games, either way we can't complain!

as right now where trying to move and after packing all our stuff up (apart from some games) we haven't had chance to try out some of the things we get given... but when we do will put up some info/videos once we do until then marvel at our pictures!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.0

Dead Rising 2 - Case 0 REVIEW

2010-09-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

Why Case 0????

With Dead Rising 2 due out on the 24th September Capcom have decided to release a prequel/Episode its a gap between DR1 and the events of you getting to Fortune city (Las Vegas)it has been several years since the incident in DR1 and you are Chuck who is with his daughter Katy.

Chuck and Katy stop off at a gas station in still creek, and without ruining the story lets just say something happens that leaves them there stuck in the gas station. But that's not all Katy has been bitten and needs a shot of Zombrex every 12 hours!

Heads will roll...... in this sequel!

So you go on a search through Still creek looking for some and you are not alone their is an army or zombies waiting to kill you or be killed by you, as in DR2 you can create your own weapons like a paddle and chainsaws! it is as awesome as it sounds, just like a pitch fork with a shotgun attached to it you do have some good weapons at hand to play around with if you look around the town.

There is a time limit in this Episode, you have until the military arrives which in game time is like 2 hours. but what you do in that time is up to you as there are 4 endings to see and not all of them good ones, some end the game quite quickly as there are survivors to save (if you want) which is good as it will take more than one play through for anyone to see everything, giving you an idea of whats to come in DR2 the full game and how some things work.

There is no lottery here, only hints at what to do!

OK there are 3 save slots but I'm sure people did want a better save system this time round as that is our only gripe with Dead Rising 2-Case 0, Dead Rising 2-Case 0 is a nice little episode as it has a lot to offer, you could of you want just go around killing zombies or save every survivor, and we will say this for the survivors their better than the ones in DR1 (the A.I is just better) for 400 MS points we could not say that this was not worth it by any means.

We don't want to say to much, as we don't want to spoil things for those whole will play it. We did enjoy this nice little taste but we was also reminded of the games faults from the first one, as they save system is not game breaking but we can see a lot of gamers put off by how the game plays or that how if you want to achieve certain things you wont be able to stand around just killing zombies or making weapons. We can also see Katy's Zombrex being a problem for some as on many of our play throughs did we forget or miss out on other situations due to getting back to her to give her the shot!

SUCKERS

But to some Dead Rising was a classic, now we just got to wait till the 24th of September to find out if the sequel is better and can do what capcom wants and be as big as the resident evil series!
in the meantime here is a short video of us killing with a.......

Monday Night Combat Title Update, DLC, and PAX

2010-08-30T17:04:00.000-07:00

Monday Night Combat Title Update, DLC, and PAX

First of all, we want to thank you for playing Monday Night Combat and supporting Uber Entertainment. We’ve been busy fixing bugs, exploits and optimizing based on your feedback on our forums, emails, Facebook, and Twitter. Our first Title Update is being tested right now and then it will be handed off for certification and in your hands as soon as possible. Here’s a full list of fixes and changes that will be in the Title Update.

Connectivity and Multiplayer:

Reworked the way we handle parties in the pregame lobby to avoid splitting them up.
Fixed several issues where host migration would fail immediately.
Decreased wait time after a successful host migration.
Lobbies will now host migrate and not kick you back to the main menu.
If the host leaves during the end of match sequence, the host will migrate and players will return back to the lobby and not the main menu.
Optimized the time it takes to migrate hosts, shortening the time to migrate.
Improved weapon hit detection in high lag situations.
Fixed endorsements being incorrect after a host migration.
Fixed getting into private matches without an invite.

General Gameplay:

Fixed players being able to damage the Moneyball’s shields.
Fixed visual effects staying on the player after the effect has worn off.
Reduced the amount of increased damage the Moneyball takes in Overtime, thus reducing the effectiveness of “Juice rushing”.
Fixed Ringouts, Headshots and Grapple Kills not giving the proper amount of money. Balanced Ringout money to reflect the change. Message now displays correct total amount of money earned.
New “You Win!”/”You Lose!” UI for the end of a match.
Fixed juice benefits ending early if the player grapples during juice.
Fixed juice bar getting stuck full.
Fixed deploying on or near active jump pads.
Fixed controller sensitivity of 10 not saving.
Fixed messaging for kill streaks. Ultra and Uber streaks will now be named properly when popping up above your cursor.
Fixed an instance of the player’s skill pick UI going away unexpectedly.
Fixed an issue with bots walking by enemy turrets and bots without engaging them.
Fixed upgrading a turret that has been hacked to the opposing team.
Fixed turret collision not going away after being destroyed.
Normalized time between a grapple miss and the ability to grapple again for all grapples. The biggest change is the Assassin not having as big of a penalty for a missed grapple.
Fixed the “Team Leader” and “Team Player” highlights from being reversed.
Fixed players being able to mute themselves.
Fixed idle kicking when standing still but still looking around and/or shooting.
Fixed players who cheat and hack their profiles from being able to apply multiple gold endorsements.
Optimized main menu ticker for players with large friends lists.
Fixed HUD showing Moneyball shields as up during over time even though they are down.
Reduced announcer talking for kill streaks to help reduce the repetition of announcements.
Various performance optimizations.

Support:

Reworked Support’s bot aura so that it doesn’t make the Jackbot appear overhealed.
Fixed Support’s Firebase skill from recharging while the Support is dead but the Firebase skill exists.
Fixed being able to use the Heal/Hurt gun while taunting.
Fixed some instances of the Support’s Firebase not appearing when thrown.
Fixed Heal/Hurt gun not being affected by rate of fire endorsements and reduced it’s overall healing/hurting ability to compensate for the change.
Fixed Supports being able to use their Hack skill through walls.
Fixed Supports being able to throw their Firebases through the wall.
Fixed Air Strikes sometimes damaging enemies under cover.
Supports can now only Hack enemy turrets at Hack level 3.
Increased the time to Hack enemy turrets.
Decreased duration of Hack on a turret for levels 1 and 2.

Assassin:

Fixed Assassins from being able to get permanent sprint and super speed.
Fixed Assassins getting a double smoke bomb allowing them to jump higher than intended.
Fixed Assassins being able to cloak during a grapple.
Fixed Assassins from being able to use her smoke bomb during a lunge.
Retuned damage done by dagger after a lunge.

Tank:

Tank’s Jet Gun alternate fire damage is now reduced depending on the percentage of ammo left in the clip. Increased the full clip damage to compensate.

Assault:

Fixed an exploit involving the Assault’s Fly.
Fixed Assault’s bomb audio lingering after bomb is gone.

Monday Night Combat Live Update System:

Pregame Lobby is now 45 seconds.
Min Number of Players to start Crossfire is now 6.
Increased player bot spawing from 5 seconds to 10 seconds.

DLC Plans

Beyond the Title Update, we will be releasing our first of three DLCs. The first DLC will contain new content, gameplay adjustments, and more bug fixes. What’s exactly in the first DLC will be announced closer to its release. We’re very invested in our community and want to see it thrive so the first DLC will be free.

Kane & Lynch 2 - Multiplayer Video's [Cop's & Robbers]

2010-08-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

We bring you these MP video's of Kane & Lynch 2 - Multiplayer; Cop's & Robbers... as we've been playing the game for our review (Which will be up soon) some of the matches we have played have all been very average, or had lag issue's! So here is Cop's & Robbers in action and it was a close match in the end!

As you saw the shotgun does feel a little overpowered, but then most times it is in any MP game.

Resident Evil: The remake to end all remakes

2010-08-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

It’s a remake of one of the most influential titles in gaming history and it’s native console is the most short lived product in Nintendo’s considerable technological repertoire. So why is REmake such an unadulterated masterpiece?

Beginning life as the fruit of an exclusive partnership between Capcom and Nintendo to produce three major titles for Gamecube, REmake was met with skepticism and doubt by the gaming public. The game went on to become not only a worthy imitator of the original survival horror, but perhaps the truest representation of the franchise' core tenets.

THE ORIGINAL

If we are going to be puritanical about gaming history, then 1992's Alone In The Dark is the true progenitor of the survival horror genre. But, in the same way that Black Christmas vies with Halloween for the title of original slasher film (they're both wrong, it's Psycho), we must also recognise Resident Evil and it's contribution to the birth of survival horror.

Graphically impressive in its day, Resi 1 presented a cheesy horror story influenced by endless B-movies and horror classics, utterly atrocious dialogue spoken by abysmal voice actors and a live action intro so bad its actually genius. Yet the reason this game remains a classic is that it was a turning point in the ongoing campaign to make gaming mainstream. Here was a title with sky high production values, great gameplay mechanics and a rich lore ripe for franchise treatment.

When looking back, its the small moments that matter; dogs in the L-shaped hallway, Forest and the crows, racing against time for the anti-venom, mixing the formula to kill Plant 42, the scary as hell lab monsters and of course the arrival of the rocket launcher, the best deus ex machina in gaming. Resident Evil is a patchwork of classic moments that have stuck in the collective memory of everyone who has ever picked up a control pad (or a keyboard, it was released on PC too).

THE REMAKE

The first thing you notice, obviously, is the intro. Where there was once unrecognisable nobodies pretending to look scared, now there is impressive digital representations of our favourite characters. When Bravo team member Joseph Frost is eaten by the 'cerberus' dogs, atmospheric night vision replaces poorly shot DV.

When we enter the mansion however, it's clear that not just the intro has been overhauled.

The new Spencer mansion is a joy to behold, beautifully meticulous pre-rendered backdrops blend with the smooth character models to create a wonderfully immersive experience. The mansion itself was overhauled so that even the most seasoned RE veteran could get lost in it's new layout.

Enemies remain largely the same, although the standard zombie is given an extra mutation. As 'crimson heads', the zombies sprout giant claws and become extremely fast. The only way to combat this is to either remove the head of the original ghoul or burn it's corpse with gasoline. This was a subtle change to gameplay but a welcome one, the first time a crimson head comes galloping towards you is a truly memorable moment.

The plot of REmake fortunately had the benefit of hindsight, meaning it could improve upon the shortcomings of the original as well as squeezing in some new elements, and some fan favourites as well. Perhaps the biggest new plot development was the re-reinstatement of the Trevor family subplot, an interesting arc that ties the 'Arklay Mountain incident' together. George Trevor is responsible for designing the impenetrable mansion for Oswell Spencer (yes, Trevor is the lunatic who created the animal crest locking mechanism). His daughter Lisa is both the only person to survive the progenitor virus and the creator of the G-Virus that would later run amok in downtown Racoon City. Lisa Trevor is arguably the best boss in the whole series, the combination of her hideous design and the emotional heft of her back story make her a truly memorable opponent.

All in all, Capcom hit the jackpot with REmake, creating another classic survival horror and rejuvenating the franchise for a newer generation. Resident Evil 4 would later follow and define the series, the genre and the whole medium once again, but it was REmake that reminded us that there really isn't anything like a good Resi game.

Monday Night Combat - Review

2010-08-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to MNC...

Monday Night Combat Crossfire game mode is a game of defense as well of offense, in the sense that not only do you have to defend your team's money ball but you also have to attack there's too... yet you can't just get into their base and shoot it, nope you have to lead your teams army of bots in there to bring down there shield, so then you can blast away at it!

Now this sounds easy enough and it is if you have a good team and if not, we'll let us just say you'll be losing a lot of matches if you don't as this is no one man army game. Nope MNC is all about team play using each character class to it's strengths and while also using them to the other teams class's weakness's Uber Entertainment have made an amazing arcade game, OK we do feel as though the game could be tweaked a bit more for balance but what game doesn't.

Time to get your game on!

You get to pick from 6 different class's and each one is unique in its own way, you want to be a guy with an assault rifle and bombs? Then the 'Assault Class' is the guy for you or maybe you want to be stealthy stab others in the back kind of player... well clearly you want to be an Assassin! there are different class's to different situations and you will have to learn them all as like we said this game is about team work, and a team full of Snipers, Assassins or Supports will only get a team so far.

As we found out the hard way trying to run around as Assassin's cloaked trying to grab other players to pull off the grapple move or even being a support class, as each have a weakness and you catch a support class on his own without a fire-base to help him or even another team mate and he is basically an easy kill (unless he tags you with a Air-strike) or even assassins are good if there cloaked, as god knows how many times we got killed due to them grappling us with their instant melee kills!

But you said you loved me, and not her!!!

Yet get an assassin uncloaked and that bitch isn't so tough, as any of the other class's could bring her down easily. Gunners are like Arnie from the terminator 2 (no there no robots from the future) that there mini gun is devastating in the right gamers hands, and if they get a good spot and deploy it well they can wipe out players in seconds. We do feel as though the support class is somewhat unbalanced due to their health/hurt gun having no reload/cool down period.

Each class spawns different types of bots for you to fill the arena with, Assault class can spawn Buzzer bots, Assassins can spawn Gremlin bots, Supports spawn Gap Shots... and then each class reacts differently to them as not all class's can grapple every bot and some are better at destroying them than other class's are!

Good View... Huh!

As assassins are the best we found for killing/taking out Jack-bots there grapple on them is almost an instant kill, now you have to remember all this while playing the game keeping an eye on what class's your team mates are etc... Has the other team got an advantage point or have they left open a way into their base. And even if you do get your bots to their base you just hope there aren't loads of turrets defending their money ball. Any class can request a turret (as long as you have the funds for it) but what one do you pick as there are 4 to pick from like; Rocket turret, Laser turret, OK one of them isn't a turret per say but more of a defense turret... it's called a Shavelce turret! and it doesn't fire anything but instead release's a aura to either effect cloaked enemy's or slow down the attacking bots and they come in handy if your money ball is under attack from a lot of bots.

This is my Hood bitch!!!!!!

There is a lot to think about when playing MNC but a as we keep saying MNC is very team based game no lone warrior tactic's will work here. and yet we feel as though we haven't even mentioned half the things we saw or did during some matches of MNC, but then we wouldn't want to ruin some of the surprise's for new players, there is also custom class's for players who have enough money to buy them (See Picture above/below) and you pick Position (base character) and then select which Endorsements (perks) you want to select, you only have three slots open for you to use and they work they same way as they would but there put into Gold, Silver, Bronze... so the gold one will be your main Endorsement (perk) if you pick 'Skill Recovery' first this will be Gold sponsor as the game puts it, meaning that it will work faster than say your silver/bronze sponsor!

The support class loves to jet ski....

So the support class can now have quicker juice build up than normal, or that having speed selected on a gunner means he moves faster than he was without it! And speaking of juice you get this by racking up kills or taking out turrets and bots without dying mind you. And once you have a full tank your character is like a Tron player but his weapons/skills are more powerful and you move really fast and can take more damage... its not something you will get a lot unless you use some good team play tactics.

For a game that's only 1200 MS points (9.99) it kind of makes you look at some of the full priced games out there and wonder why companies are charging 40-45 per game! When you get amazing games like this for way less. MNC is one of XBL arcades best titles! one of the other things we like about MNC is that the game will never need a patch as Uber Entertainment have said everything can be done server side, so no need for patches/updates or for players to wait for MS's certification process on any of the updates.

MNC is one of the most fun games we have played this year, hell we would so far as to say it's one of the best games we've played in a long time, there is so much fun to be had here. OK we do recommend you have friends to play with or at least a good team as this isn't no quick scoping game... and Uber Entertainment have said they will be supporting this game with more content and we hope they do as you only get 4 maps with the game so far there is another mode called blitz (imagen horde/firefight) but Crossfire is the mode for us!

Yeah shake it Bulleye's, You the man (he got man titty's)

it's Simple Buy Monday Night Combat now....

Get out there and do some pain:

Amazing value
A lot of Fun
Good use of Class's
Very addictive
Nice mixture of Gameplay

RING OUT:

Can feel a bit unbalanced
Assassins can get annoying
If a game lags its no fun at all

REVIEW BY:

The Tekken movie= NOT a crushing disappointment

2010-08-08T23:48:00.001-07:00

There are a myriad of reasons why videogame adaptations do not work, they are so large in number that it would be a daunting task to list them all here so I shall simply highlight the most important; what's the point? Over the years, this has become a question that changes considerably depending on the gaming climate. What, for instance would be the point in trying to make a film from the adventures of Nintendo mascot Mario, a series that prides itself on blissfully simple gameplay mechanics and narrative economy? Fast forward a couple of decades and we ask ourselves what would be the point in making Resident Evil into a film? Surely this franchise has proven that it can match the best of what Hollywood has to offer, so why give the world a live action re-imagining? The smart answer would be to say that there are obvious financial benefits in targeting a wider demographic than that of the gaming community, but since i'm a cynical type of guy i'd rather believe that the filmmaker's own blind arrogance has duped them into believing they can improve upon something that has been created by someone far more talented than themselves.

I recently watched Tekken, a micro budget B-movie adaptation of one of my favourite fighting franchises. It was about halfway through the film when I realised I'd been grinning like an idiot for quite some time, I actually enjoyed this film, a lot.... how strange. The only other time I have felt like this while watching a videogame adaptation was when Jean Claude Van Damme's Guile flash kicked Raul Julia's M.Bison in the face. Yes, I, like many others, love the Street Fighter movie. There is a reason that Street Fighter works and there is a reason that Tekken works, they are complete and utter fan service.

The Iron Fist tournament kicks off early in the Tekken movie, the first round is Raven Vs. Eddy Gordo. Gordo wears exactly the same outfit he does in the game, as does Raven. Both fight with real world styles that stick close to the ones they use in the game. They fight on a stage made up of a physical and virtual representations of stages seen, you guessed it, in the game. Tekken never tries to be anything other than a cinematic companion to a fighting game that doesn't need narrative dressing to function. There are no pretensions here, no po-faced attempts at re-imagining, just good old fashioned tongue in cheek fun. It's clear that writer Alan Mcelroy has done his homework, he manages to squeeze in as many of the old favourites as he can, as well as relative newcomers like Dragunov and Roja. He takes some liberties with the overarching storyline of the Tekken universe (Steve Fox as Jin's mentor? Really?!), but it's the only way he could have explained away all those characters without bothering with something as stifling as backstory.

Devoid of any form of cinematic merit, Tekken gets by solely on the energy of it's inspiration. A good videogame adaptation should go hand in hand with the title that inspired it and this film does that so well, it should be given away as an extra with the next Tekken game. Worth watching if only to see Jin's signature fringe flecks appear every time he fights.

Halo: Reach Gets Halo 2 Map Remakes and the Spire

2010-08-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

Ivory Tower and Midship are reborn.

September the 14th cant come quick enough... and we hope you check out our LAN party footage once we have spent hours playing it, eating pizza and drinking some beers!

We will be doing a Mini Launch Video of days before Halo: Reach Launch, and leading to to our big LAN party, until then check out this Video of whats to come!

Unlimited Storage for PS3 and Xbox 360 for Pre-Order

2010-08-05T18:29:00.001-07:00

After turning head at CES for a promise of virtually endless supply of storage space for game consoles, Infinitec’s Infinite USB Memory Drive (IUM) went MIA as the company finalized there plans for release. However now several months later the company has announced that the IUM is here and starting today you can pre-order the system on their official website, with orders expected to ship on August 31.

If this is your first time hearing about the IUM, it’s a wireless data streaming system that allows people to connect their Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 to a computer and access and store information on its built-in hard drive or to a connected external storage system. The IUM looks like a regular flash drive, but instead of built-in storage, it features a wireless chip that allows it to connect directly to a paired computer using a dedicated wireless network, which then streams data and media to and from your PC.

Since this uses a dedicated Wi-Fi connection made by the IUM, some might wonder what if you want to surf the web at the same time. The IUM actually uses a dual Wi-Fi technology to basically configure your computer to connect with 2 networks the IUM network and your home network.

Wireless data storage is just one function for the IUM it has other uses as well. Since it’s seen as a regular USB it can also stream different media from blu-ray to HDTVs to stereo systems. The Infinite USB Memory Drive is available for pre-order on Infinitec’s official website for $129.99.

Source: IGN

Fable III - Video's

2010-08-05T18:20:00.000-07:00

Here we have the Opening Cinematic to Fable III, with the Village editor along with some combat as well as other video's!

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did....

Alien's VS Predator - PC Multiplayer Matches

2010-08-04T06:35:00.000-07:00

Thought we would give you some MP video's of Aliens VS Predator on the PC version, as for us we feel as though it's the better version out of all the 3!

Gears Of War - Chapter 4 Walkthrough [PC Chapter Only]

2010-08-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

Here is the Walk-through for Chapter 4 of the PC version of Gears of War!

ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead - Preview

2010-08-03T16:51:00.000-07:00

After Completing ArmA II and loving every minute of it (which we'll Review soon) We decided to go through ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead... And after the first hour of playing we are glad we did as it, is as every bit as good as Arma II was. Well even more so with some major improvements and more options.

Now we're sure most people who played it knew how buggy the first game was when it was released but then Bohemia Interactive is no stranger to Game's like Arma II! As we're sure a lot of you have played Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis would know what to expect from the AmrA II games, bloody realistic comes to mind! Even on the default difficulty we struggled with some of the mission's and was not down to the game (o.k. the A.I can be weird at times) but it was down to our impatience by either running out into the battlefield or not using our squad, or checking our map and using it tactical attacks etc...

Do you think we could through a drive by BK with this thing?

One of our mission's was being flown in on a little bird just outside the hot zone where we had to eliminate the enemy hostiles and secure the area then check for any hostages, seems simple enough, well it is but it all depends on your actions, how you manage your squad; Do you sit back and snipe the guys from a distance, do you sneak in and take them out before your spotted, or do you send in your squad while you give them some cover fire?

We even had a predator drone at our disposal, there is so many way's to tackle the mission it was nice to actually feel real freedom with what you wanted to do as the player. Not many games offer this much freedom, we did mention before that the A.I can be weird sometimes but more often than not our team were brilliant at their job of engaging their targets.

Google Earth is still Better!

And once we had eliminated all the threats we proceeded into the warehouse to look for any civilians or hostages only to find that the place was rigged to blow... And suddenly around us each building blew up leaving some of our team wounded or even dead! see we could go on but then we would have nothing for our review which wil be up shortly, unless we get pinned down behind enemy line's! (we will leave you with this Video of the Opening Mission)

Starcraft II: Wings Of Liberty review

2010-08-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

Well, as those wonderfully OTT ads so succinctly put it, Starcraft II is finally here. The sequel to a genre defining game whose appeal is such that it has become the unofficial national sport of an entire country (hell, we’ve all heard of the infamous South Korean match fixing scandal covered in the gaming press recently).
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty is just one of three major titles to be released within the Starcraft universe, each focusing on a different faction/race. For Wings Of Liberty, the hulking space marines of the Terrans will be blasting there way through the Zerg horde.

Let’s just get the obvious question out of the way first, is it any good? The answer is, unsurprisingly, a resounding ‘FUCK YES’.

Now I need to first dispel any ideas that you may be harbouring about experiencing a revolution in strategy gaming, Starcraft II does NOT change the RTS, it’s merely a shining example of how to do one right.
That wonderfully fined tuned squad based mechanic returns and mixes perfectly with some brilliantly balanced units and generously lenient base building.
Marine’s, Fire Bats, Reapers, Marauders and mercenaries are your tools of warfare and all of them come with a deliciously nuanced set of strengths and weaknesses. All of your units and structures can be upgraded to be more efficient fragging machines and an easy to use research tree improves your chances of survival.
All upgrades are performed in the new hub area of Jim Raynor’s ship. The ship is a wonderful example of UI, presenting a 3 dimensional environment which the player can interact with to gain access to sub menus or other areas of the ship. It’s a system that at first seems needlessly quirky but one which you quickly warm to, it’s a lot of fun to click on different aspects of the tech lab or the seedy cantina and here Raynor’s reaction.

The single player campaign is a direct continuance of the first game and it’s Brood War expansion. Jim Raynor is now an exiled booze hound pining for lost love until the arrival of the long dormant Zerg, led by his genetically modified ex Kerrigan, stirs up the freedom fighter in him. Joined by Tychus, a convict imprisoned in a hulking suit of armour, Raynor sets out to find a series of strange artifacts, while fending off the attentions of the Protoss, the Zerg and Arcturus Mengst’ dominion forces.
Showcasing Blizzard’s proficiency for storytelling, Starcraft II is satisfyingly epic, it’s single player campaign will take up to 20 hours to finish (more if you’re an achievement whore). Blessed with a narrative freedom lacking in Blizzards’s MMO ventures, the Starcraft franchise has a great tale to tell, it’s just a bit grating that this grand first chapter is only one third of the story.

Ultimately, multiplayer is where the heart of this game lies, after all, it’s online and LAN skirmishes that have kept the original Starcraft alive and kicking for 12 long years. Blizzard once again do not disappoint, integrating their new and improved Battle.net tools into SCII, creating a multiplayer community that is as friendly as it is punishing.
A decent early tip is to follow the games hint and take place in a few practise matches before jumping in with the big dogs, I myself did not heed this warning and found my ass promptly handed to me on battle worn platter.
The basic structure of Starcraft combat is still there, but the subtle tweaks made to the units and faction development means even the most seasoned player will need to take some baby steps. However, the kind folks at Blizzard have implemented a wonderful new feature to help you survive online, all matches can now be recorded and played back so that you can study your opponents methods and discover precisely how they pwnd you so effortlessly.
Added to this is a brilliant and swift matchmaking system that quickly pits you against an adversary of equal skill, meaning you never have to fight anyone above your weight.

Visually, this game will make your GPU creak. Blizzard forums are already seeing an influx of complaints about graphical hiccups and overheating hardware. These problems will be fixed in time, for those of you who have a system beastly enough to run SCII without any fuss, you are in for a treat.
There are some wonderful sights to take in, aside from the highly detailed units (it's always a treat to zoom in on the battle and see your firebats cookin' some Zerg), there are some great environments too. From the lush vistas of colonised planets to hellish volcanic worlds and ethereal Protoss temples, the visual variety on show is often astonishing, every planet you fight on is unique.

VERDICT: Rather than attempt another revolution of a genre that has been perfected many times since 1998, Blizzard simply offer up a triumphant return to what made the original Starcraft so great.
Visually stunning, with a robust single player campaign and a lovingly crafted multiplayer suite, Starcraft II: Wings Of Liberty is a triumph, roll on Starcraft II: Heart Of The Swarm.

REVIEWED BY:

Crackdown 2 - Review

2010-07-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Crackdown was a unique game when it launched in 2007, as the idea was something different and had not been done before. Now 3 years later and Ruffian Game's have released Crackdown 2 not done by the original Development Team of Crackdown as they was busy making APB. But that's not to say Ruffian games have done a bad job or that Crackdown 2 is not fun nor is it a bad game!

OK let’s be honest it's not a major overhaul of the original game it still uses the same city (with added area's) and you still are a Agent of the agency, but this time you’re not taking out gang's you’re dealing with a Terrorist group called 'Cell' and dealing with the Freaks (Infected) at night! Anyone who has played the Original Crackdown will remember a mission where you have to kill Dr. Charablaboblow and to do this you have to break into his lab, during which you come across some Infected this is where Ruffian Games have took Crackdown 2.

BATTER UP!

As Crackdown 2 is set 10yrs after Crackdown and it seems that those infected humans/creatures have not only escaped but managed to infect nearly everyone in Pacific City. But Cell did have a part to play in all this as Ms Thorn helped unleash the Virus across Pacific City or did she... If were honest the story takes a back seat to the Action as Crackdown 2 at its core is very much like its Predecessor, as its about 'Kill's For Skill's' and you have 5 overall to level up; Agility, Fire Arms, Strength, Explosion's, and Driving Skill's! And leveling up theses skill's will unlock different ability's i.e.; Jump higher, Better weapons, Able to pick up cars!

Which you will need to be able to deal with Cell plus the Infected, as even on the normal difficultly we got our ass's kicked (handed to us) but then Crackdown 2 has 4 player Co-op but we did feel as though only higher difficulty's would require this as during our time playing 4 player co-op we found our self's either rocketing/grenading our team mate's or being on the receiving end of it. Which did get annoying we can tell you?

BOOM, BOOM...... Oh my bad!

So we felt we would only need 4 players if we was on higher difficulty's especially when wiping out the Infected lair as in Crackdown 2 your are tasked with wiping out the Virus/Infected as well as Cell, mainly taking over Cell's strongholds and making them into Agency post's. What is funny is that all of the infected locations are nearly the same place as that of the Original game's Bosses! and taking over Cell's strongholds is a bit like taking out doing one of the original bosses Hench men, it’s all very familiar even though there different enemy's and the way of doing it is different; like to wipe out an Infected lair you have to activate 3 beacon's which then show you where the point of the Main area you have to wipe out is. and you then get there call in the Beacon/Device that needs to charge up which during this you have to defend it until it does its job of cleansing the area!

Taking over strongholds is a bit different, you get the and again you activate it by calling in chopper support. But they won’t turn up until you've killed enough cells for them to drop off safely, and at times it can get very chaotic we can tell you as some of the enemy's aren't push over’s armed with Rocket launchers, Mini Guns etc... Taking them over can prove a bit of thinking at time's! Problem with crackdown 2 is its too much like the first one as they've added some things but took other stuff away as no the agency cars don't morph/change when you jump into them, which is one of the things we loved about the original OK we get choppers but still... there isn’t that much different in the weapons either.

OK, I'll take.....

But then what would Crackdown 2 be without its orbs and yes they are present in the game along with some really annoying renegade orbs, which move while you try an catch them either in a car or by rooftop it all depends on which one you try and catch. And we have to say collecting orbs is still as addictive as ever, as you’re going to need to if you want to max out those skills. See we could try and go on about how this game is way better than the original but then we would be lying, in truth it's basically the same game with some added new stuff like choppers or a wing suit that allows you to glide around. but that's not to say it wasn't fun as it was we spent 13+ hours playing Crackdown 2 and we enjoyed every bit of our time spent with the game, either on our own or with some mate's during Co-op apart from being blown up a lot or kicking your co-op buddy off a roof as he just got there as we said before collecting orbs was still addictive as ever, Climbing building's, doing roof top race's... it is still fun as it was back in 2007 as some of the ideas people did back then have been made into a multiplayer mode.

Agent this is no time for a toilet break!

Yes Rocket Tag is a competitive mode now, and yes Crackdown 2 has a Multiplayer aspect with only with 3 modes;

Rocket Tag: Grab the orb while everyone else try's to kill you for it with their rocket's
Deathmatch: Really do we need to says more???
Team Deathmatch: Again Really?

Rocket tag is fun especially with a full room, but the other mode's are touch and go unless you’re in a good room with a decent connection. As we found our self's shooting people at close range only for nothing to happen, even at one point we pounded the ground right next to a enemy player only for it to do.... nothing:

If you do get into a decent room the multiplayer side of crackdown 2 is fun as there is all way's private matches if you don't like the public games, just make sure you have enough friends to join you! We think Crackdown 2 is a game people will either love or hate some people who loved the first one will feel a sour taste in their mouth over how very similar it all is, and there are those you will see it as an insult to the original game. do we think this is a full sequel? no we don't, it feels more like Crackdown 1.5 if anything can we say it's worth the 39.99 price tag? Again no we can’t but it depends on the person/gamer. OK it offers Multiplayer and 4 players Co-op but does that mean it's worth it?? Again it will all depend on the person playing it and if you didn't like the demo or felt it wasn't good enough like the original then don't bother buying it!

As we spent from 10:00pm till 4:00am playing it with CameronMANIA. And he didn't buy it even though he did enjoy it, only to say I'd pay 800 MS points for it as it feels like an ADD-ON! Crackdown 2 is fun and addictive but we feel as though it’s a bit of a missed opportunity or that we will no doubt get DLC for some of the things we thought we would get or should of got. let’s hope Crackdown 3 does something different and new, while keeping that crackdown feel an vibe that people love and bring back the morphing car's!!!!!

'KILL'S FOR SKILL'S':

Orb collecting
Maxing out your Skill's
Co-op (creating your own game)
Some neat ideas
Rocket Tag is a blast

DON'T KILL PEACE KEEPER'S:

More of the same
Not worth the asking price
Feel's as though stuff is missing
Could of been much more

Review by:

'Lego Harry Potter: Years 1 - 4' game review.

2010-07-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

With the seventh film (part 1) due out this November, Harry Potter fever, it seems, is starting to ramp up considerably. We have the Harry Potter the game of the movie due out soon, and whilst I'm unsure of his jump to a FPS cover-system, the recent release of Lego Harry Potter caught my eye.
I've always been a fan of the Lego game series, snapping up all three Star Wars games and the Indiana Jones one, (just don't mention the Batman version to me!) clocking up a consider amount of hours unlocking every brick, stud and character available. It's quite an addictive formula, so it came as no surprise that the rules are pretty much the same here. Break and shoot everything in sight, which drop studs (Lego coins) for you to use to buy more characters, spells and extras.
As usual, the game takes it's own view on how the events transpired at Hogwarts, making it a light-hearted adventure.

The controls are pretty simple to use. Right-thumbstick moves, left-thumbstick aims the wand cursor. Tap 'A' to jump,0 'X' to shoot, and 'B' to fire the selected spell from the turn-wheel around your character portrait. Holding down 'X' allows you to cast the most appropriate spell for what your wand cursor is hovering over. This is handy for times when you don't want to be switching spells back and forwards constantly, like when you have swarms of enemies coming at you.
Left and right triggers switch between spells on your spell turn-wheel. Tapping 'Y' allows you to switch characters (there are always two characters available, sometimes three or four) and holding down 'Y' brings up a larger version of the spell turn-wheel. Pressing the left and right bumpers have different uses depending on your game mode. In Free-Play mode (Free-Play being where you used the characters you'd unlocked) they allow you to flick between the available unlocked characters you have, enabling you to solve every puzzle in the chapter. In Story mode and whilst roaming the castle, they act like the left and right triggers, moving you around the spell turnwheel.

Like its predecessors, a lot of the puzzles revolve around you requiring an ability that either only your character can do, or a spell you need to learn.
For instance, there are many spots in the game that need to be "dug up". This is usually done using Hagrid 's enormous Boarhound 'Fang' or later in the game, Hermione's pet Cat 'Crookshanks'.
As for learning new spells, these occur inbetween the main plot chapters, learning a couple each year. For instance, you learn 'Lumos' (bright light at the end of your wand) in the first year, and 'Expecto Patronus' (for beating back Dementors) during Harry's third year.

One of the main differences however is how the levels are laid out. In previous Lego games, each movie in the series is split up into six chapters which are arranged around a central hub. You could move between each portal, selecting Story mode or Free-Play mode as you saw fit.
In this version of the franchise however, each movie plays through much more linearly, with lessons and cut scenes being played out in-between.
Far from being a bad thing though, this does extend the game time from the usual 25-30hrs to about 35-40hrs of gameplay. The castle is quite big, with many of the big locations from the films and books included. There's the Great Hall, Hospital wing, Quidditch field and all four house common rooms to explore just to name a few.

Like the other Lego games, there is quite a fluid co-op mode available too, with its drop-in/drop-out making it quick and simple so play with a mate. No need to save the game and head back to the main screen. Just have them grab a controller and hit start.

All the time you spend collecting every brick, unlocking every character, and picking up every stud however, doesn't even count the amount of time you'll spend in the other little feature they dropped in - the level builder.
Heading into Gringotts Bank, down Daigon Alley, you'll find amongst all the vaults the level builder option. There are a set of tutorials to get you started but once you've gotten through them then the world truly is your oyster. You have the ability to pretty much create whatever you want. You can place vehicles, trees, creatures, and puzzle pieces.. You can build houses, roads and you can even raise and lower the landscape. You get to distribute every last stud too, making it quite an expansive feature.

My only gripe with the game is how hard it is to switch characters when not playing when of the free-play chapters. Whilst roaming the castle searching for the hidden extras, I constantly had to keep heading off to find the nearest Polyjuice Potion Cauldron to switch characters. On one occasion I took my new Dark Magic enabled character down through a new secret area, only to discover I needed a goblin to open one of the vaults I'd found. Two minutes later, after opening said vault, I realised I needed Harry back to get past a 'Parselmouth' puzzle.
Luckily though, these moments were quite rare so it didn't take too much away from the enjoyment of the game.

Overall it's a well made, well polished game. If you're looking for something to chill out to, inbetween Singularity and Crackdown 2, then this is definately the game for you.

9/10

Pro's - Goodly Griffindor!
Easy pick-up and play controls.
Intuitive aiming system.
Plenty of hours gaming.
Co-op mode.
Level-builder for extra fun.

Con's - Evil Slytherin.
Frustrating switching characters outside of Free-Play.
Not always easy to see where you're jumping from the view, can cause annoying deaths.
Collecting every item can get tedious after awhile.

Gamerbase.TV episode one.

2010-07-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

Gamerbase are proud to announce that Gamerbase.TV has now officially launched!

Scheduled for monthly episodes, we aim to provide the gamerbase community with the latest news and reviews from the games industry, details of events that are running inside of gamerbase and exclusive competitions to enter for your chance to win fantastic prizes!

We was at this Tournament Event, Well i was... As Webster0 and D34d p1x3l were away or busy with other thing's, so if you watch from 11:29 to 12:45 you will see the Footage that GVC captured!

Singularity - Review [CameronMANIA]

2010-07-05T11:51:00.001-07:00

Bioshock is my favourite game of the past five years. Fallout 3 sucked my life away for 6 months. Batman: Arkham Asylum is easily my favourite game of 2009. Singularity is the latest in this growing family of games which see the player thrust into a post-catastrophic environment, which is heavily influenced by the retrofuturistic, post-war imagery of the 1950s. To say that I had high expectations of it would be an understatement.

Set in 2010, you are a soldier of the U.S. Army tasked with investigating a top secret island which underwent some kind of catastrophe and has since mysteriously disappeared off the global radar. Sound familiar? Under the cover of night, your helicopter is shot down and you are left to find your way off the island, navigating through burning wreckage and inspecting decayed fragments of said catastrophe on your way. Still familiar? I’m sure any individual who has played any FPS in the past few years can relate to this scene. Hell, even Doom went with that storyline back in ’93. So at this point, Singularity will have to offer solid gameplay or mesmerising art direction. Thankfully, it possesses both in equal measure.

Upon firing up the title screen and, in fact, for the first hour or so, you could be forgiven for thinking that Bioshock’s American themes had been banned in the Soviet Republic and Singularity was their answer to it. In the opening level, almost everything will give the player déjà vu: the gloomy colour palette, the flames on the water, the little jingles that play during the instructional videos about the island, the weapon upgrade chambers, the separate functional areas of the island, the cutesy cartoon characters in lab coats being portrayed as figures of authority, contrasted with the imposing statues of Stalin and other key characters of the game; I was convinced I was playing Russian Bioshock.
And I loved it.

However hard you try to ignore the inevitable comparisons between Singularity and Bioshock, you will undoubtedly find them. Yet that is not to say that Singularity is a cheap copy – it is a perfectly capable game in its own right, and as such is a worthy addition to this specific niche of FPS games.

Gameplay:
From the moment I gained control of the main character, I knew I was going to like how Singularity played. The Unreal Engine is put to good use in this game: the walking seems realistic, the running seems realistic, and during the opening scene the first thing I noticed was that my screen was slowly bobbing up and down. My character was breathing. Call me old fashioned, but little details such as breathing have been missing from FPS games for far too long now, and it helps to make the character feel more real, and the consequently the player feel more engaged. Other character animations are generally sound, however one complaint I did have was that when the character uses the TMD, he does not draw his gun out again – it simply appears out of nowhere. I found that this pulled me away from the otherwise believable realism of the game.

The TMD itself is put to good use in the game, though it does feel at times that the developers thought of a new way it could be used and subsequently littered the next ten minutes with that type of action. The example I am thinking of in particular involved a long stretch of making trees grow in order to push metal panels aside. The interface for the TMD is reminiscent of Portal with its blue and orange segments, and again comparisons can be drawn between some functions of the TMD and the ASHPD (i.e. Portal Gun). I was unsure why Raven chose Blue and Orange – and specifically the same shades of blue and orange – for the TMD; after the fine line Raven have walked with the Bioshock themes, this seems borderline plagiaristic. In combat the TMD has a couple of interesting uses, yet I was left feeling they could have been developed further. For example, the player can age a Spetsnaz soldier to dust, yet it would have been fun to age him until he was a little old man, or even a toddler. The potential to fight a small company of doddery old men is an idea I wish Raven had not skipped over. Perhaps it will be included in DLC... but I dream.

The enemies have some interesting concepts to them, yet you will not find anything particularly new here. They serve their purpose well – they’re big, and nasty, and make you crap your pants when you suspect one is around. Part of this, however, is the fact that they have so much health - if you find yourself caught short with only your pistol to protect yourself, they can quickly close on you and finish you off in two to three hits. And don’t even think about taking more than one of them on with your pistol. Even the little critters can beat you to within an inch of your life, if you let them get close. Despite this, I only died a handful of times on Normal mode, so it could be argued that the constant near-death experiences keep the player on the edge of their seat.

There is an abundance of in-game extras that contribute to the rich background of Singularity. These come in the form of notes, recordings, posters, videos, announcements, and so on. Each contributes a little to the events that lead up to the catastrophe on the island, and some explain some of the other practices that took place on the island, which is a nice touch. These really add to the atmosphere of the game, and without them it would have definitely been just another average shooter. In fact, if you strip away Singularity’s atmosphere and back story, you do have very, very basic shooter gameplay at its core. Luckily the smart presentation distracts the player from that fact.

The only thing missing from here is the lack of some sort of journal or book for keeping all the notes and recordings – once the player has read/listened to them, there is no option to carry them round and listen to them consecutively. Oh, and sometimes you’ll end up reading the same piece of information from multiple people, without any extra details between accounts – it’s as though Raven wanted to make sure that if we missed one piece of information, it would be repeated right round the corner. This is thoughtful and generally good, but not so much for gamers who like to spend their time exploring and finding every last piece of data. And one more thing... There isn’t a map?! I feel like I’m being stupid and I just haven’t found it, but if it really isn’t there then it’s a huge shortcoming. It doesn’t detract from the game when you’re in the middle of it, but when you step back and think about how helpful it would have been; about the contribution to the atmosphere it would have made, it sticks out like a reverted soldier.
I have already stated my small concern about the toughness of the enemies, yet on the whole the gameplay in Singularity is like trying on a fine suit: very easy to get into, plenty of good attention to detail, and most importantly it just feels right. Unfortunately, as the game goes on, you’ll see less and less of the propaganda and art that I feel are the best part of Singularity. Also don’t expect an amazing twist at the end; keen-eyed players will pick up on events in the first hour of play that give away the game’s ending.

Graphics:
I have mentioned the striking similarities to Bioshock in this game before. I hate to compare the two so much, but in this case it is really a positive thing. If you liked the moody dystopia of Bioshock – its contrast of brightly coloured, retrofuturistic propaganda with the stark, foreboding statues and buildings which have fallen into ruin – then you will love Singularity almost as much. On a personal note, I found the theme of water more mesmerising than radiation as the source of the devastation, yet that is almost negligible. The art direction in this game, coupled with the smooth graphics, are top notch. The lighting is set just right, and the designs of the enemies – while not groundbreaking – have had enough thought put into them to make them equally grotesque and killable. There is one segment of the game that plunges you into the same run-down facility but 50 years earlier, when it was still in use, and the contrast was highly enjoyable. I would have liked to see more of that contrast, though sadly it was few and far between. The HUD is almost non-existent – only the player’s health bar is permanently on-screen, while other facets flash up when necessary. I was aware of them, but never distracted by them, and found the minimalist HUD refreshing. The graphics in general allow the player to enjoy the atmosphere the game provides, although once or twice I caught the game loading objects without their relevant textures; though this is really a minor thing. My more significant disappointment was in the repetitive nature of the surroundings – a couple of times I found myself wondering if I was revisiting a section of the map, yet they were two entirely different tunnels (because I didn’t have a map to consult). Also more generally, the colour palette stays in the grey-green-orange area for much of the game; I would have liked to see a couple of departures from that pattern at points in the game. Nonetheless the graphics are solid, and the art direction is of a high standard, if a little samey throughout the game.

Sound:

The sound in Singularity is what you’d expect from a game like this, but as with all aspects of this game, it’s done well. The player’s movements are mapped accurately – there is even a rustle of clothing when you aim down your sights. The guns sound just as they should, although these days that is nothing special. The enemies are also as you’d expect – their solid appearances are not let down by the noises they make. Where Singularity really shines sonically, however, is in its voice acting and its ambient noise. When wandering round cramped school corridors, the creaking and faint echoes of children laughing really build the tension. Outside, the moans of something inhuman are carried on the wind, keeping the player on their toes at all times. The voice acting is perhaps even better – the marines shout with a sense of urgency; the Russian soldiers play the part of the ‘baddie’ well; the evil characters sound like they were plucked straight from a James Bond movie; the announcers of the propaganda videos are sickeningly optimistic, and the voices on the recordings speak with genuine fear. All add to the atmosphere of the game already laid down by the graphics and character animations, further immersing the player in the legend of Katorga-12. You might find the russian voices a little cheesy, but I like big helpings of cheese in my games; sometimes it adds to the already surreal story and environment. Besides, I’ve still yet to play a game produced by a Western developer where the Russian accents don’t sound inherently cheesy.

Multiplayer:
The multiplayer aspect of Singularity is a departure from the single player. I expected to find a bunch of clones of the main character, all in first-person mode, in the usual Deathmatch/Objective playlists. I also expected it to be somewhat tacked-on to the single player, which seemed to be too in-depth to allow for a comprehensive multiplayer. What I found was a pleasant surprise. Raven have created a team-based 3rd person multiplayer facet to Singularity, with a selection of the monsters from the game making one of the teams. Each has its own set of moves, albeit pinched from the single player. There isn’t a great deal of depth to the multiplayer and it is most likely tacked on, but it has had enough thought put into it to make it a worthwhile addition to the single player element of the game – one that will keep players occupied for a weekend or two once they have completed the game’s core story.

Longevity There are those of us out there who are perfectionists, and those of us out there who are not. The replayability of Singularity most likely lies solely within the realms of Achievement whoring and 100% completion. It is a mostly linear game; the only mutable elements being the upgrades one chooses to buy or the weapons one chooses to use. As mentioned, the multiplayer will add to the lifespan of the game, though not monumentally.

Singularity is the type of game that begs to be savoured on the first play-through - where the player can immerse themselves in the rich background, graphics, voice acting and storyline for the first and only time, and perhaps return to it after a year or two on the shelf. Sadly though, as the game progresses it devolves into a standard shooter, shedding more and more of the imagery and atmosphere that made it stand out. Perhaps if it had not been preceded by the likes of Bioshock, Portal and Fallout 3, it would have been heralded with a great deal more praise. However as it stands, it falls firmly into the category of ‘solid addition’ to the post-catastrophe shooter; an immersive, enjoyable game that has some interesting moments but is sadly just a year or two too late to be classed as groundbreaking. If you can get past the déjà vu, however, Singularity makes for a very enjoyable experience – much more so for its theme than its straightforward gameplay.

7.5/10: If you like your games founded on artistic themes and dystopian imagery, or you’re looking for something to keep you busy until your next major game, consider this 8/10. If you only like innovative gameplay, perhaps hold out for Portal 2.

FOR MOTHER RUSSIA!
+ Solid, yet unoriginal gameplay
+ Great graphics/art direction
+ Immersive environment
+ TMD is fun for a while
+ Novelty of TMD/E99 weapons
+ Multiple thought-provoking endings

CAPITALIST PIGS!
- It’s all been done before
- Superpowered enemies
- Environments are very similar
- TMD concept could be much more developed
- Where’s the map?!
- The twist is weak, and can be guessed from near the beginning of the game

REVIEW BY: