Don’t you love holidays? Not only do we get to participate in the usual festivities, but it seems all kinds of iOS publishers enjoy treating us to sales. PopCap are the latest to get in on this, as Plants vs Zombies has now received a temporary price cut due to Halloween, making the title Half Off on the PC and iPhone/iPad.
This cut of course makes the PC version just $9.99, the iPhone version $.99, and the iPad tower defense hit just $2.99. As PopCap put it, “It’s like buying the plants and getting the zombies for free”. If you want to get in on this sale you may want to act fast though, as these herbs and undead creatures are only discounted until November 1st.
Ever thought you had an idea for the most kickass fighting move ever? Well you’re in luck! (Unless it’s not for Dead or Alive)
Team NINJA – the developers behind Dead or Alive – have announced a contest in which you guys get to submit your fighting move for Dead or Alive 5 on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Team NINJA will be reviewing and choosing which unique fighting move will make the cut for the game. As well as being able to see your move in the game and getting the bragging rights, your name will be in the credits, forever immortalized as the dude who made that move that one time.
No, but seriously, this is a really awesome opportunity and you guys should get on it ASAP. The contest will be judged in relation to how creative your design is and an understanding of DOA fighting techniques.
The contest runs for three weeks (until November 18) and you are allowed to submit your entry as much as you want. Submissions can be written, drawn or acted out.
To submit an entry and follow DOA’s progress visit:
Game: 1,000 Tiny Claws Publisher/Developer: Mediatonic Price: £1.99/€ 2.49/ $3.49 Platform: PS3 and PSP (Reviewed)/span> Genre: Humorous top down action/adventure
Out of the hundreds of developers and the games that they have produced for the Minis section of the Playstation Store, there are a few that stand out from the rest. Mediatonic games especially shine. Whether it be fighting monsters that (probably) stole your princess, or explaining your side of the story to a Supreme Court of Super Heroes, Mediatonic games always have the charm and quality that make them seem like they should be more expensive than they really are (thank goodness they aren’t though! Us poor broke folk have to feed our gaming diet SOMEHOW.) 1,000 Tiny Claws is no different than the rest of the offerings from Mediatonic: it has quality, humor, charm and great gameplay.
At the beginning of the game your character is standing alongside her ship’s captain awaiting execution. Right before your death, however, the whole story of how you came to be standing there comes out. You see, there was this island and on the island was a stuck sword. However, being clumsy, you stumbled and wrenched the sword from where it was, causing a dreadful curse to fall across the land and releasing a horde of horrendous bugs that have now invaded. Although the Governor would still like to see you hanged, he has one mission for you: Return to the island and stop the curse. If you fail or try to run, the rest of your crew will be killed. There is only thing to do: Take your ship and Cap’n back to the scene of the crime and save the world. And that is where the game truly begins.
Thankfully, Mediatonic told the above in a cutscene that was much more entertaining than I can write. That opening cutscene was hilarious despite the grim circumstances that may have surrounded it. The animations used in it were also of very high high quality. The story in the game kept getting better and better throughout the game too.
Besides a rock solid story though, 1,000 Tiny Claws also has astounding gameplay. On your way to rescue everyone, you will face off against hundreds of the enemies that you released. Being the Sky Pirate that you are though, these measly little bugs don’t stand a chance, at least in the beginning. You can whack these nasty little creatures off the edges of the floating islands with a variety of moves. 3 strikes at them, as long as they are timed correctly, will unleash a devastating blow to a bug’s skull. If you run and strike, you can make the bugs fly even farther. And once you fill up a special meter, you hath the power to unleash the gates of hell with a horrifically stron super attack. In addition to your combat moves though, you can dodge and block.  Trust me. You will need all those moves to defeat the evil curse and clear your name. The game goes from being so easy that my dog could play it to being so hard that the devil himself would weep. Nevertheless, the game never loses its addictiveness. If the main story is not enough for you though, there is also a challenge mode and a survival mode to play, in addition to a ton of amusing unlockables to strive after.
If there is one weak point in the game, it is the visuals and audio. I did not have the opportunity to play the game on the PSP so the graphics may look better on that system, but the graphics on the PS3 version of the game could use some severe polishing. The soundtrack to the game is nothing spectacular but it is not horrible either. Its jaunty pirate tunes keep the atmosphere going but overall I found it hard to get excited about. Another ding on the audio is that there is no dialogue during the cutscenes. Although I personally found that it enhanced the charm and ambiance of the game, some may find it annoying having to read what is going on.
The Minis section of the Playstation Store is full of cheap, rushed games that barely have a right to be called games. However, if you search hard enough there are gems. 1,000 Tiny Claws and other Mediatonic titles are diamonds in the rough. If you want a blisteringly hard game with an uproarious story, this game is for you. It has a ton of replay value and its quality warms the soul. Plus, it is only a few dollars. It does not disappoint.
At first glance, Worms: Crazy Golf is an odd concept. At second glance, it makes sense: the mechanics of traditional 2D Worms gameplay actually line up quite well with the mechanics of golf.
At third glance, it gets weird again.
There’s no denying that Crazy Golf is an interesting departure from the Worms series, which could reasonably be accused of milking the formula, judging by the sheer number of very similar Worms games that are being pumped out across every gaming platform known to mankind.
A change in the formula is a welcome addition, and Crazy Golf is in itself quite a unique game. It takes a while to hit its stride, and by then, it may have lost the attention of the less dedicated, but stick it out through the slow start, and you’ll be rewarded with a fun spin on both genres.
Gameplay
The Worms series has done spinoffs before, but none are as closely aligned with the mechanics of the normal games as Crazy Golf.
As you’d expect, gameplay is essentially golf: get your ball to the hole in as few shots as possible. But the Worms characters and mechanics spruce things up a bit, with recognizable obstacles lining each course. There’s a reliance on judging the angle, power and trajectory of your shot, and how the ball will react to the geometry of the level, so it seems to have more in common with mini golf.
The combo brings something new to each genre in the mashup: the Worms brand brings some much appreciated life and character to golf, but golf brings some linearity and structure to Worms. The result is a game with the look and feel of classic 2D Worms games, but with a more relaxed pace, a tighter level structure and a more specific challenge.
Play has you teeing off across four 18-hole courses, with intent to sink the ball on par or under, which unlocks the next hole. Using the Worms methods of aiming, powering up and releasing, your ball is launched into the course, bouncing off walls and other worms, avoiding water, and collecting coins and crates. The mouse can be used to apply spin to a ball while in the air, to dictate which direction it travels after landing, a vital function in later courses.
But of course it can’t be that easy. Between the tee-off and the green lie environments full of obstacles and characters. The nice thing is that these hurdles aren’t inherently good or bad, but vary in helpfulness depending on the situation. For example, land a ball on a molehill and the resident will yoink it, tunnel away and reposition it elsewhere; an advantage in some situations, a necessity in others, an absolute pain at other times. Sheep dot the landscape, and can conveniently give your ball some extra bounce, but will inconveniently eat it, if it lands near them.
Traversing these environments calls for a bit of outside help too, so players have access to a variety of utilities to move their ball around. Cheating, they call it in some circles. Before each shot, you can select one utility to equip for that shot, changing it only between swings. Triggered by the spacebar at any point during the ball’s travels, utilities can mean all the difference between a birdie and a bogey, and perhaps add the Wormiest twist on golf that the game has to offer.
The parachute will greatly low your ball’s descent, and applying spin while it drifts can let you move almost horizontally through the air, crossing a huge space. Heavy ball will cause your ball to plummet directly downwards on triggering, which can be very useful for landing on a specific spot or dropping straight onto the green if you’re more likely to sail over it.
Later in the game, when all or most of these utilities are unlocked, Crazy Golf is at its most enjoyable when you must decide which to use, how and when. But it takes ages to unlock the more useful utilities, and even longer for them to play an important role. Being fairly unique, the game understandably needs to take a little time to explain itself, but the first course, Britannia, acts as an extended tutorial, dragging along by the end. Later courses, like the Pirate Cavern, Graveyard and the recent DLC Carnival course, redeem this by applying more focus and usefulness to the utilities.
It’s been said that a hole-in-one is possible on every hole in the game, and aiming for these is a more fitting method of adding replayability. There are often multiple paths to get to the green, depending on which utility you’d prefer to employ, and replaying holes to find the best way to the elusive one-shot sink can be very rewarding.
Customization is a staple of the Worms franchise, but in Crazy Golf this aspect is somewhat stripped back. You can unlock better clubs, balls adorned with different patterns, hats, and speechbanks, but overall, customizing your worm feels much less important, and less fun, than it usually is.
Visuals & Audio
Worms has a distinctive style, and that’s not lost on Crazy Golf. Each course has a great theme, and it’s apparent that a lot of thought has gone into personalizing the obstacles and surface types to fit each theme. Bunkers in Britannia are just sand pits, but in Pirate Cavern they become piles of gold. In the Graveyard the “Rough” patches are bones, and cannons, which launch your ball further, become zombie arms with blunderbusses, waving out of open coffins. It all looks fantastic.
Unfortunately, the worms themselves seem a little less expressive than they are in Reloaded and Ultimate Mayhem. It’s hard to say why exactly: they still dance when they sink the ball, or scowl at you if you go over par, but it feels less marked. Perhaps we’re just spoiled in the other Worms games though – here they still have much more personality than the latest hardened marine.
Soundwise, there’s not much to report. The music gets a little exhausted after 18 holes of the same tune, but it’s so low-key that you’ll barely notice it’s there. There’s even less variety in the speechbanks, but with fewer things that need saying in golf, there’s not much need for more speech sets, or more dialogue in each one.
Final Comments
Crazy Golf presents an interesting departure from regular Worms fare, but it does drag a bit, particularly during the crucial opening sections. Once you master the basics, unlock some of the quirkier tools and encounter some of the smarter level design, the game becomes pretty fun and provides a unique experience. It just requires a bit more of a commitment than many will allow.
Pros:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Cons:
– Unique gameplay                                                                   – Slow start, sometimes dull
– Interesting spin on both Worms and golf                       – Pointless coin collecting
-Great visual style                                                                   – less customization than other Worms games
THQ have announced that they have formed a partnership with Tim & Eric, the creators of the American sketch TV series, “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!”, to develop an online full-length episode, bringing the Professor Genki’s ridiculous Super Ethical Reality Climax game show.
Genki’s game show, which will be a part of Saints Row: The Third, pits contestants in a battle to the death as they attempt to win prizes and money and well, basically, just stay alive.
Tim and Eric’s episode will feature the crowd-pleasing Tall Cat Parade and Eat Yourself contests, in addition to giving some insight into the curious life of Professor Genki. The show will air online via select outlets on November 4th.
Don’t forget that if you pre-order today you receive Professor Genki’s Hyper Ordinary pack, featuring the Leisure Stunt Suit, Mollusk Launcher, and of course the highly appealing Super Ballistic Man-a-pult.
Check the trailer for Tim and Eric’s show down below and share your thoughts with us in the comment section.
Finally, the news One Piece fans had been waiting for has been brought to light. Funimation have announced that they have acquired the license for the fourth season of One Piece which covers the entire Water 7 arc, specifically episodes 206-263.
Now while there first licensing of up to 205 episodes was part of a huge deal with Toei Animation, it seems that Funimation haven’t licensed as many episodes this time as fans had predicted. But surely 57 episodes is enough to appease One Piece hungry fans of the Funimation English dub.
Funimation have set a release date of Summer 2012 for the first release of the fourth season. Not only that but in news that should satisfy widescreen and HD fans, all episodes from here on out will be in widescreen and a Blu-Ray release is imminent.
What do you think of this news One Piece fans? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
The Rabbids have officially initiated the second part of their invasion plan! Not only are they getting us to do stuff in our lounge room that’s going to make us look ridiculous to our neighbours, they’re going to make us do it in four-person groups!
Unlike previous Rabbids games it looks like this one’s going to require a team effort to pass some of the levels, hiding, guiding through an ice tunnel (what are we guiding? I don’t know. Why? I don’t know. Just do the damn thing!) creeping across the screen at the right pace, and contorting all of your bodies to make a shape.
Some of these games will probably have a little bit of leeway, especially considering there’s always that one guy who wants to wreck it for everyone else…
Check out the multiplayer trailer below. What do you guys reckon? Is this going to add to the fun or add to your want to kick someone in the ass when they stuff it up?
Raving Rabbids Alive and Kicking is coming out for the Xbox 360 Kinect on November 1 for US and November 3 for Aussies.
It appears that the Online Pass system is being more than just a little inconvenient to new purchasers of games nowadays. First there were problems with Batman: Arkham City’s Catwoman passes not working or simply not being in the cases, and now there is a major issue with some codes from EA’s Battlefield 3. Namely, that they don’t work at all.
A large number of consumers have complained to EA that they have been unable to play Battlefield 3 on their Xbox 360 because the online pass doesn’t work right or isn’t accepted. CVG reports that this is also an issue with the PC version as Origin doesn’t recognize some purchases of the game, plus their online servers going down.
EA has issued this statement for those who have been affected by the problem, more or less passing the buck to someone else: “We are aware of the invalid code issue and we apologize for the inconvenience. Since certain retailers are affected by this issue, please check with the retailer where you purchased Battlefield 3 in order to receive a replacement code.”
Some new character artwork and in game screenshots for the upcoming fighting game, One Piece: Gigant Battle 2 New World, have made their way online from Bandai.
One Piece: Gigant Battle 2 New World, focuses on the Post-War saga and New World saga mostly but will feature things from previous story arcs as well, however they are not the main focus as they were with the previous Gigant Battle.
This is the biggest screenshot and artwork drop Bandai have thus far done for the game, with a whopping 20 images in all. You check them all out below.
One Piece: Gigant Battle 2 New World will make it’s japanese release on the 17th of November. Let us know what you think in the shoutbox and comments section.
Sega has decided that they will team up with Arkedo Studios, the company behind games such as Nervous Brickdown, Big Bang Mini and the Arkedo Series to create a game they are currently calling “Project Hell Yeah!” At the time Arkedo is running a development blog for this title and revealing a few tidbits of information.
This includes the fact that there will be what they are calling “MEGATONS” of monsters and that the game’s been in development for nine months. They say to stay tuned to the blog here for more information in the future, which with a name like Project Hell Yeah! it can only be good news.
