Zynga is entering the core gaming market with the release of Horn. Horn is a console quality 3rd person action adventure game starring a young blacksmith’s apprentice, Horn. His village has become overrun by monsters and soon he discovers that these creatures are the people and animals of his village. A curse has over taken the world and only Horn is left as a human. Horn must set off to lift the curse in the company of the head of a loud-mouthed, snarky, stubborn, sidekick. Armed with his sword, crossbow, grappling hook, and his musical horn, our hero will explore an open world tightly integrated with touch controls. Horn is optimized for the iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and the new iPad. The iPad 1, iPhone 3GS, and the iPod Touch are not supported. Horn is priced at $7.49 AUD on the App Store here.
Disney’s latest iOS entrant is Disney Fish Hooks. Disney is looking to create a new hit character following the success of Swampy with Disney Fish Hooks. The game stars Milo the fish and his classmates at Freshwater High. Milo must win back the trophy, so players will need to bounce off turtles, surf whirlpools, fly through tubes, free fall, make and pop bubbles to navigate through a dangerous maze. Disney Fish Hooks features over 50 levels, five additional playable characters to unlock, plenty of apples to max out player’s high scores, and an evil arch nemesis in the form of Randy Pincherson. Disney Fish Hooks is available for free on the iTunes App Store here.
Jack Lumber is a man with a mission. After a tree mercilessly murdered his beloved grandmother, Jack Lumber swore vengeance on the evil trees. With help from his superhuman abilities, players will slice, dice, and hack down every single tree in between him and vengeance. Jack Lumber can use LumberTime to enter a slow motion zone that will allow Jack to slide logs in a combo strike. As Jack destroys trees, homeless forest animals will take refuge in Jack’s cabin, mooching off Jack’s hard work. Jack is able to poke these animals at will. Jack Lumber features magical syrups, new beards, lumber decor, and a forest full of trees to chop down. Jack Lumber is available on the App Store herefor $1.99.
Fans of the Splinter Cell series will now be able to appreciate the latest video courtesy of Ubisoft about the latest game in the franchise. The video is a developers commentary walkthrough for the latest entry in the Splinter Cell franchise, Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
The video is commentated by the Creative Director, Maxime Berland, and it walks us through sections of gameplay and also discusses some of the features of the game. The title is set to be released Spring of 2013 on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
Be sure to check out the embedded trailer below for more info.
PopCap has announced today that your favorite battle of flora vs undead will return next year. Plants vs. Zombies 2 is expected to launch in the “first half of 2013,” with a narrower window of “late spring” was also mentioned. As many of you could expect, the game will feature new features, settings, and situations you will have to deal with while you fight the zombie hordes.
An unidentified spokesperson said the following: (might of been a zombie)
“Spring is crullest curlie ungood time, and plantz grow dull roots, so we are meating you for brainz at yore house. No worry to skedule schedlue plan… we’re freee anytime. We’ll find you.”
Sonny F. Lower, a representative of the Flora Forever Foundation went on to say:
“There was a time we relished a bracing, hearty blend of zombies, in the morning but, first a brisk shower and some strategic pruning are required. Tomorrow is near!”
Plants vs. Zombies 2 will release on all major consoles, including mobile, when it releases in the late spring of 2013.
In this Darksiders II Video, we have one of the games lead developers: Ben Cureton giving us a rundown on how best to utilise the combat of Death. The trailer is titled: Dealing Death and showcases combat from within the game. Players struggling to master the game might want to give this one a watch.
The combat in Darksiders II is pretty similar to the combat of Darksiders, however, the fighting styles of the two main characters are slightly different. For instance, Death has a more nimble and agile feel, giving him a much more quicker and more lethal feel.
Be sure to check out the trailer embedded below for more info.
Another week, another dollar, another silly goose in the gaming industry. This week’s silly goose is none other than the director of Assassin’s Creed III who claims game journalists (such as myself) are racist. Odd, I don’t recall being racist… That’s not all though, this week bore plenty of other great news, such as the victory of Zelda over the horrid trash known as 50 Shades of Gray. Oh and what you had all been waiting for, the teaser trailer for Farming Simulator 2013 has finally been released! All this good stuff and more in the week that was 13th-19th of August, 2012.
Darksiders II Developer:Vigil Games Publisher: THQ Platform: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PS3, PC, Wii U (eventually) Release Date: August 14 (US), August 16 (Aus), August 21 (Europe) Price: $64.95 Available Here
Overview
Quick! Name me one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
You said Death, didn’t you? Knew it. Death is the Paul McCartney of the Four Horsemen, the one who’s broken free of the group and continued a successful solo career in mainstream culture. Being the most familiar face, it’s surprising that he wasn’t the star of the original Darksiders, but that oversight (or creative decision) has been rectified with the second game.
Yes, you finally get to play as Death, the physical incarnation of the ultimate fate of every living being. That’s a pretty lofty promise of power for players, but does it pan out?
Story
If you haven’t played the original, jumping into this one is easy enough. The short version of the story so far: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse await their signal to ride to Earth, to essentially act as mediators in the inevitable final battle between Heaven and Hell. The Horseman War is tricked into charging in early, and faces trial for prematurely triggering the Apocalypse.
Darksiders II takes place during War’s trial. Taking the role of Death, players must find a way to undo War’s supposed crimes by restoring humanity.
It sounds like an interesting story, a unique take on the well-trodden Apocalypse scenario. Unfortunately it plays out like the gothic-fantasy equivalent of contacting your phone provider, and being shunted around to different departments before someone helps with your query.
“You want the Well of Souls? Sorry, you’ll have to go enquire at the Eternal Throne. Ask for the Lord of Bones.”
“Sorry, the Lord of Bones is very busy. If you don’t have an appointment, you’ll have to defeat the hideous creature of the Gilded Arena.”
“Sorry, the hideous creature of the Gilded Arena isn’t in right now. You’ll have to collect the three Animus Stones to summon him.”
“You have the skull of the Gilded Arena creature? Ok, the Lord of Bones will see you now.”
“Yeah, I’ll help you. But I’m real busy: can you go summon my three Dead Lords to help with this paperwork?”
“Yep, I’m a Dead Lord. I’ll help you, but first, I have three Lost Souls awaiting judgement. Can you…”
Apparently being the literal Death incarnate isn’t enough to command respect from the bureaucracy of the undead, meaning much of the story is comprised of thin excuses for fetch quests. Thankfully, the action taking place around the quests is damn fun.
Gameplay
The mechanics of Darksiders II are generally polished and satisfying. It’s made up of very fluid climbing and platforming, mildly-challenging environmental puzzles, fast-paced combo-focused combat, and deeply detailed systems of equipment and skillset management. The whole thing is cobbled together into a cohesive – if not very original – package.
The parkour platforming is pretty Prince of Persia, with Assassin’s Creed influences. The combat is extremely reminiscent of God of War or Devil May Cry. The 3D Legend of Zelda games are an unsubtle inspiration for the environmental puzzles, as is Soul Reaver, which also feels responsible for the general atmosphere and character designs. Some of the bigger bosses even conjure memories of Shadow of the Colossus.
In fact, there’s very little of Darksiders II that we haven’t seen before. Does it matter? That depends how sick of this kind of game you are. Most of what the game does, it does well.
The character controls are slick and satisfying, which is an ideal place for platformers to start. If the most basic of movements are enjoyable, the character’s abilities can be expanded upon with confidence. As a result, the platforming and climbing mechanics are incredibly smooth, as Death effortlessly scales surfaces, leaps ledge to ledge, wall-runs, scampers up poles and skips merrily along wooden beams. It might not be what a lot of players come to the game for, but I soon found myself looking forward to these sections more so than the combat.
That’s not to undersell the combat. Traditionally, Death need only touch his victims to instantly kill them, but knowing that wouldn’t make for very entertaining fights, Vigil have taken some liberties with the character, making him proficient with scythes, axes, hammers and wrist blades. The result is a complex combat system, with a focus on stringing attacks into combos. X is your basic scythe attack, relatively fast with decent damage; Y attacks with your secondary weapon, usually either a slow heavy-hitter like an axe, or lighter, faster weapons like wrist blades. The left trigger locks onto a target, and the right bumper button dodges.
Stringing various combinations of X and Y attacks together forms the crux of combat, and there’s no shortage of combos to vanquish your foes. It sounds fine, but it quickly borders on ridiculous: according to the menu’s move list, there are no less than eighteen basic combos using only the X button. Press it once or twice for standard attacks. Three times performs a Double Slash (however that adds up), three times with a pause after the first will execute the Razor Wheel… yada yada yada.
Throw in at least that amount for the Y button, plus the multi-button combos, the evade attacks, and all the magical abilities, and you could study it all until the actual Apocalypse. Hardcore fans might insist that button-mashing isn’t a viable option, but in my experience, it’s not only an effective tactic, but the game almost actively encourages it. There’s no way you’re going to remember half of those moves in the heat of battle, so spamming X and Y usually gets you through.
I found I enjoyed it a lot more once I let go of trying to remember everything and focused on memorizing a few particularly effective attacks. I soon developed a preference for the heavy weapons, which have a nice damage-to-speed ratio, and mixing that with some swift scythe action, Death lived up to his name. Once you get used to the flow of battle, darting between targets and laying waste to hordes of enemies at once becomes extremely satisfying – especially once Reaper mode is unlocked, on reaching level six.
The inventory system is similarly convoluted. I was initially put off by the number-crunching involved, but the interface makes it easy to compare weapons and decide which to equip. You’ll pick up a lot of stuff you’ll never use, but they won’t go to waste; a handy recycling system allows you to sacrifice unwanted items to increase the power of special “Possessed” weapons. Or you can always sell them to vendors.
Visuals & Audio
New games this gen often manage to squeeze more power than expected from the aging hardware, and Darksiders II continues the trend. Beautiful, detailed landscapes are paraded past as Death journeys between icy worlds, lush green kingdoms, medieval-industrial castles, grim boneyards and dungeons galore. Although the dungeons become quite samey, the outdoor locations of each new world feel fresh, and are a pleasure to explore. It might not have as strong a sense of scale, or as much a focus on vistas, as something like God of War, but there are times when you’ll reach a high peak, and lose minutes letting your eye wander over the scenery.
We are taught early on that Death can interact with wooden beams, ledges, posts, etc. These are designed to stand out clearly from the rest of the environment, while still looking like they belong. Thankfully, you shouldn’t really hit that frustrating “where do I go now?” wall; with interact-able objects so conspicuous, the challenge is in the how, not the where.
Character designs follow a comic book style – appropriate, considering there’s talk of translating the Darksiders universe to the medium. Death, his allies and enemies are highly-detailed but stylized, exaggerated but not mere caricatures. Animations, particularly on the bosses, are smooth and believable.
To be honest, I found myself barely noticing the accompanying soundtrack. Battle loops serve their purpose, but either aren’t too plentiful or sound very similar – it feels like you hear the same tracks repeatedly. Mercifully, they aren’t imposing, so the action on-screen usually drowns out any conscious acknowledgement of the music. When I did notice them, I found them to be not what I’d expect: they were exciting, often upbeat tunes, fitting but not typical of battle music in gothic-fantasy games.
Overall
For better and worse, Darksiders II cherry-picks its elements from a lot of sources. A game that combines the crazy combo-centric combat of God of War, the exploration and environmental puzzles of Zelda, and the fluid platforming of Prince of Persia, could be an exciting proposition.
The problem is, if you’ve already donated much time to its obvious influences, you might just conclude that everything it does has been done to… well, Death.
Rugby Challenge Developer: Sidhe Publisher: Tru Blu Entertainment Platforms: Playstation Vita (reviewed), Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC Release Dates: 27/06/2012 (Vita) Price: AU$69.95 (Vita)
Overview
Rugby Challenge goes by many names (Wallabies Rugby Challenge, All Blacks Rugby Challenge, Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge) but it is the same game: rugby union. Last year, a console and PC version of the game was released as New Zealand celebrated the Rugby World Cup (they won it, by the way). Bring time forward to June 2012 and the game re-appears on the Playstation Vita, complete with what the console counterparts have to offer. Is it enough to warrant a purchase on Sony’s newest handheld or will the problems of the console version plague the handheld outing?
Gameplay
Rugby Challenge nails the rules of rugby union quite well. The game does flow well, no matter how long or what difficulty the game is played in. Each team has 15 players per side. Players pass, run and kick the ball in order to gain territory and breach the opposing line of defence in order to score a try, worth 5 points. A conversion kick can add another two points to the team’s score. The controls are well responsive and tight. The shoulder buttons are used to pass the ball down the line, as well as selecting players while defending. The action buttons are various kicks, which range to massive bombs to distance-drilling punts. The touch controls are also used. Flicking on the touch screen is reserved for the lineouts and conversion/penalty kicks. The rear touch pad is used for sprinting to give your player the extra edge.
While it should be easy to pass the ball, there are times where the AI will act dumb, especially on the wings. The ball will miss the winger entirely because the AI player doesn’t catch up. This will put the ball over the sideline, conceding an avoidable lineout. The Al also causes problems when it comes to offloading, which is passing while being tackled. At times, the ball will just miss your players completely, giving the opposition time to grab the ball. Speaking of offloading, the opposition AI will constantly offload the ball, thus not giving the player a chance to tackle the ball carrier. I have watched rugby union games and they do not offload as much as these virtual players.
There are a few modes for the player to try out. The single match is a quick match with all of the included teams, save a few locked customisable teams. Settings such as stadium, time of day, playing strip and difficulty are chosen here. Then there is Career Mode, where the player takes a club team, an international team or both through a ten year period. Career Mode is quite dull to say the least. All the player does is choose a squad for their team and play the competitions. Spring and Autumn test matches are not included if you choose an international team. The player is also stuck with the one club team for ten years instead of given an option to change competitions. Competition mode is practically the same as Career Mode. The only difference is that it is one competition. Players do have a choice to choose more than one human controlled team. With both modes, the player can only go through one Career and one competition, which is quite disappointing. Online matches are also available.
One of the most important aspects of any sports game are the teams included. Rugby Challenge offers a plethora of licensed teams for players to fiddle with. These include the two top international sides (all in a matter of opinion, of course), the Wallabies (Australia) and the All Blacks (New Zealand, current World Champions), gaining an edge over the other rugby game. The United States and Georgia are also licensed. This is where it does get a little disappointing. Those four international teams are the only international teams licensed for the game. Other top international sides, such as South Africa, England, Ireland and even Argentina, the new frontier of rugby union, are not licensed. With that said, it is possible to make a team through the fact that the top club competitions are licensed. The Aviva Premiership (England), the RaboDirect Pro 12 (Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy), Top 14 (France), the ITM Cup and Ranfurly Shield (New Zealand) and the Australian and New Zealand Super Rugby teams are all licensed. With that said, some players will not be transferable due to licensing issues.
Customisation was big on the console versions and that is successfully brought over to the Vita. All of the options of the console version are present, bringing an extensive player, team and competition customisation. It is quite good, in fact. The options for creating a player range from detailed customisation of the face and body to attribute setting. Teams also have their own attributes as well, which can be applied to any team there, as well as home stadiums and stripes. Custom competitions are based on a template of one of the pre-existing competitions, but then it is free reign. The problem is that the teams must be pre-selected, unlike most sports games where the teams are chosen when the tournament is being created and played straight away, like FIFA. This means, for a separate set of teams, its back to the competition set up to change them, then starting from scratch. There is also an in-game rugby store and tutorials for those who don’t know the basic rules of rugby.
Visuals and Audio
The visuals are not bad, but they are not great either. The stadiums are awesome to stare at, the guys at Sidhe did a wonderful job, especially the Australian and New Zealand stadiums (which dominate the game). With that said, the character models could have been perfected. Faces on some notable Australian players, such as Giteau, that didn’t look right. The menus could have also been more touch friendly. The touch screen can navigate through the options, but the menu must be designed to accommodate it.
The audio is quite the mix bag. Menu music is bland and the commentary team of Grant Nisbett and Justin Marshall are quite poor, lacking any chemistry (and not because they are Kiwis). The team behind compiling the commentary also did a poor job in implementing it in the game, as it sounds broken. There were even times the commentary didn’t exist for some matches, leaving the player with an unenthusiastic crowd. There were no massive cheers when the home team scores a try. At least it is dead quiet when the away team scores. Other sound effects, such as the crunching of players as they tackle each other, are quite accurate.
Overall
Rugby Challenge is quite a good rugby game great for those who want to take the Wallabies or the All Blacks on the go. The game does not sacrifice any features from the console counterpart but doesn’t offer anything new either. A few of the Vita’s touch features are used and, at times they are used well, even if it has limited usage. With that said, the AI could have been tweaked instead of the constant offloads performed. The rosters for the licensed teams are also outdated by a couple of years. A great game for the hardcore rugby union fan, since it contains two of the most important international teams. However, it is a hard sell for others, as all sports games are… unless you are FIFA.
Well, it looks like Europe won’t be the only region of the world to get the ‘Cross Buy’ promotion that Sony had recently revealed at Gamescom. Sony Computer Entertainment, president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida made a post on Twitter to clarify that the PlayStation 3/Vita promo is also headed to the United States. Japan, however, isn’t so lucky, at least not yet. ” PS Vita-PS3 Cross Buy price promo is coming to both Europe and North America. My quote by Famitsu was meant as ‘not decided for Japan yet,'” Yoshida said. The official tweet reads:
“PS Vita-PS3 Cross Buy price promo is coming to both Europe and North America. My quote by Famitsu was meant as “not decided for Japan yet.”
The first game that will be used for the promotion will be Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royal and if you buy either version of the game, you get the other version for free. A variety of other upcoming first-party Sony games also support the promotion. This is just the first game to do this as many other first party Sony developers games will have have the cross buy promotion. You could compare Sony’s cross buy idea to Kojima’s transfarring system that they used for the previous re-releases of Metal Gear Solid one through three and also Peace Walker.
