EA Games have released a new trailer for the upcoming downloadable game ‘Warp’, which debuted at PAX East earlier this year. Part action, puzzle, stealth and strategy game – ‘Warp’ puts players in control of Zero, an abducted alien who is just trying to escape from an underwater research facility that a villainous General has taken him to.
The latest trailer shows off a few abilities that Zero can unities in the game – Echo and Swap, which can be used in a variety of interesting ways as seen in the trailer. Warp also pose two distinctive gameplay styles, in which players can either kill everyone human to progress or they can go for the no-kills stealth approach (and of cause, any combination of the two).
Warp is set to be released on Xbox LIVE, PlayStation Network and PC later this year.
King of Fighters ’96 Developer/Publisher: SNK Consoles: Playstation 3 (PSN), Playstation Portable (PSN, reviewed) Release Date: Out Now Price: $9.99 (PS3)/$6.99 (PSP)
The King of Fighters can be described as SNK’s answer to the highly successful Capcom franchise Street Fighter. With the first game released way back in 1994, the series has featured various original and established characters of the SNK world fighting for supremacy and to be named the King of Fighters in a tournament that took place across the world. This is a first in King of Fighters ‘96, the third game in the series. It has been re-released as part of the NeoGeo Station on the Playstation Network, alongside Metal Slug 2. It is a well-developed game, with excellent gameplay, well-drawn sprites and environments and well-created music. It doesn’t offer anything new as a re-release, but that doesn’t deter from the enjoyment.
Gameplay
The King of Fighters ‘96 core mechanics emulates that of every fighting game that was conceived during the boom of the 1990’s. Players will use the face button to perform a weak and strong punch and a weak and strong kick. Each character also has their own arsenal of special attacks. Like any other fighting game, this is usually in combination of a directional button (or multiple directional buttons) and a face button. What King of Fighters ‘96 includes is the ability of charging up one’s power. When one holds down the Left Shoulder button, the fighter charges themselves and a bar at the bottom of the screen fills until it flashes blue. Another way that this bar fills is taking damage.
There are three modes of play: Team, Single and Survival. Team Mode is taking a team of three fighters through the King of Fighters tournament. Single is the same as team but the player only has control of one player. Survival is what the mode suggests, take one character and fight until your health is fully depleted. Instead of the four difficulty settings other NeoGeo re-releases offer, this is on a nine number scale. This is great seeing as the player can tailor their skill level to a more in-depth difficulty system. The game also features versus mode over ad-hoc.
King of Fighters ‘96 also features an array of characters for selection. Like any fighting game, each character has their own distinctive fighting style. Each character is separated into teams. Now, some of these teams contain original characters, but also characters that have appeared in other SNK franchises. For example, King of Fighters ‘96 features characters from Metal Slug and Ikari Warriors. This is quite different as characters that are mashed up are usually in the mash up spinoffs, like Marvel vs Capcom or SNK vs Capcom. It gives the game a different feel. Of course, if one is not familiar with the characters of other SNK franchises, then this fact will go pass them like an uninteresting conversation.
Each character has their own move set, which is common in fighting games. This gives the characters a sense of individuality. Of course, the moves range from being basic inputs to very complex. Also, each character has their own Super Moves. There are two conditions that allow the player to execute the Super Move, of which one must be met: the power bar is at the maximum level or the player’s health bar is at a critical level, signalled by the bar flashing red. However, if both conditions are met at the same time, then the player can execute a more powerful version of the move.
Overall, the gameplay, despite being much of the same of any other fighting game, is still entertaining and enjoyable. There is a certain level of excitement and satisfaction in playing this game. With a cast of great characters and simple moves, the gameplay lives up to the King of Fighters name.
Visuals
The visuals are simply amazing in terms of their age. Each punch, each kick and each move runs smoothly. I did not encounter any slow down or lag during gameplay. The sprites are well drawn. Updated from the previous two games, I would say it is a job well done. It reminds me of the other 90’s fighting games, such as Street Fighter. In fact, I would put the designs as high as those from Street Fighter. Every little detail, whether it will be their facial features and clothing is captured brilliantly. The backgrounds of the stages, as well as the stages, are well designed. Other than that, there is not much I can say about retro visuals other than they are great. I would suggest that
Music
The music of King of Fighters ‘96 is a great collection of tracks to listen to. The main theme is nice to hear. Each team has their own themes and some of them are quite awesome. As a re-release, it retains the classic sounds of the original. Most tracks fit the overall theme of the game, that of fighting. They pump the player for the battle that they must face. Of course, as with previous NeoGeo Station releases, there is a soundtrack feature where the player can listen to the whole soundtrack. This can be accessed at the main menu.
Overall
This is a great game if you want to have a nostalgic trip down memory lane… if, of course, the player did own the original copy. What makes this game enjoyable is the excellent gameplay, which caters to the fans of the fighting genre very well, the well-drawn visuals, which were updates to the previous two games and the awesome music that is heard during the fights. Of course, this is only a re-release untouched, but it is a well-built game that deserves the download.
Name: Real Racing 2 HD Developer: Firemint Publisher: Firemint Genre: Racing Platform: iPad Release: 12 October 2011 Price: $4.49 – BUY NOW
Overview
Who wants some silly, fake racing where you get fancy rockets, nitrous blasts, and cartoon avatars? Not I, I said as I picked up REAL Racing 2 HD. Where the racing is REAL and the graphics are highly defined. So how does it feel to race REAListically? And does it measure up to those other fancy racing games?
Gameplay
The first impression you get of Real Racing 2 is a cut scene where all these REAL, pretty cars are storming down a racetrack. And boy do they look good. Perhaps this game doesn’t have the extras of other racing games, but it does have some good looking stuff going for it.
Real Racing 2 HD lets you control your car pretty much any which way you’d like, turning the device, using the subtle twists of your thumb, or tapping the left/right side of the screen (although this is not recommended, each tap results in a jerk of the wheel by the driver and there’s absolutely no finesse to it). You’ve got auto and manual options for accelerating and braking, brake assistance, sensitivity, anti-skid, the list goes on and on. Real Racing 2 obviously wants you to feel comfortable with what you’re doing. Personally, I picked the tilt-steer control, I found it was just the easiest way to move smoothly without the random wobbles or jerkiness of the other controls.
There are a few different modes for racing, career, quick play and time trial. However, you’ll probably be playing career mode most of the time. Quick play is good for a quick game where you don’t want the outcome affecting your career, while time trial is just for those of you who really want to perfect each corner. Needless to say, I pretty much just played career unless I was kinda curious as to how the other controls panned out, or I just liked seeing myself as a ghost car.
I’m not great at racing games, I think they’re fun and I will play them, but I’m not great. I’m the kind of person who laughs at the people that read Gran Turismo hintbooks to get just the right angle on a turn, sometimes I spin out and lose my edge that I’d just gotten, sometimes I crash into walls, sometimes I do all these things on purpose. And then there are the times I accidentally let my thumb rest on the edge of the screen and then wonder why my car has stopped going (seriously though, make sure you keep your thumbs well clear of the screen).
Despite all these things, I am sometimes quite good at racing games. Real Racing 2 HD was one of those games that made me feel like I was good at racing games. I started off on easy, found myself continually coming first, congratulated myself on being totally awesome, and then sought more of a challenge.
I noticed a few things when I shifted difficulty. Firstly, a bunch of the AIs took turns differently; they suddenly turned more smartly (so smartly in fact that my grammar falls apart when I think about it). Secondly, there weren’t so many first place trophies due to some not so great turns. Thirdly, I discovered that this is what a REAL racing game feels like on normal. Like you’re actually expected to have finesse and skill and not accidentally brake at the wrong time during a turn and narrowly miss hitting the wall.
Easy was fairly easy, but normal was a noticeable step up which will leave Real Racers happy. Hard was also another step up. Here’s what I think they did. For easy they made the AIs clueless, for medium half the AIs know what they’re doing and the other half remain clueless, so hanging around the middle of the pack is easy but placing is more difficult, and for hard all the AIs know what’s up and they don’t really care about playing nice for you.
You can race on tracks in quick play and time trial once you’ve unlocked the tracks in career, which depending on the difficulty may be quickly or not so much.
The game also has Twitter and Facebook connectivity, prompting you to update your social sites with each improved racing effort on your part.
Visual
The visuals are totally beautiful to look at. The cars are gorgeous, the tracks are good (considering there’s not that much to the REAL tracks), and it is a real joy to look at. Even the steering wheel in the car is done in such detail that it’s lovely to look at. Plus, if you crash against someone or into the sides you will find that you lose parts of your car.
For instance, I backended this Volkswagon on one track, knocking the back bumper loose and then a little while later it gave up and fell off completely. Although the bumper didn’t appear on the track, I appreciated the effort. A car missing a bumper will look odd, like the underneath parts have been painted onto a piece of glass that has replaced the bumper, but again the effort is appreciated.
The stats and icons act as if they’re stuck to the windscreen as you’re driving, shifting when you turn left or right, and it’s this little detail which immerses you just that little bit more in the game. Firemint have really made an effort with Real Racing 2 HD, and it is clear in the small details.
Audio
The audio is the one place I think that Real Racing 2 is let down. The soundtrack in the menu is like the thinking music you’d expect from a television game show, except slower paced. During the race the only sound is the car engines. Although, I guess that fits in with the whole ‘Real’ racing bit, a little bit of music would have been nice. Just pretend the radio is on or something?
Conclusion
Real Racing 2 HD is a pretty game with smooth controls and a good level of gameplay. It’s one downside is the disappointing music, however this can be overlooked for the rest of what it has to offer. It truly is a fun game with some gorgeous cars to play around with.
Many are holding their breath in anticipation for Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, but according to a recent interview on “Iwata Asks”, this title could have taken a completely different visual approach. As you see in the pictures above, Kirby’s latest adventure almost went with a 2D cel shaded approach during it’s lengthy time in HAL’s development oven, rather than the bouncy 3D atheistic we have seen in the final product.
I completely dig the visuals we have seen so far for Return to Dreamland, but I must say that this much brighter style is just as pleasing overall. I know that Kirby’s Dreamland 3 went with a pastel design, which is far off from what we see here, but I get that same vibe from that age old SNES classic from these screenshots due to the bright colors chosen. If Nintendo and HAL partner up for a 3DS Kirby down the road, we can only hope that these old and reworked concepts will see the light of day once again.
Being fairly new to conventions like Armageddon and Manifest, each one brings experiences and lessons about this culture that I’ve never really been privy to. I mean, I generally consider myself a nerd, but the level of nerdiness I’ve encountered at these things makes me feel very normal. So, my fellow uninitiated geeks, here’s Ten Things I Learned at Armageddon Expo 2011.
1. Convention-goers are the friendliest people ever, and have an extremely high tolerance for weirdness in each other.
Although I don’t know a lot about what’s going on at these things, people are always ridiculously happy to stop and talk, and can make everyone feel welcome. This is great when you happen upon someone with similar interests or is just entertaining to talk to, but not so great when you get caught up in an excruciatingly-detailed retelling of the fifth time Goku died, or a heated debate over who is the best Doctor Who actor, with someone who is apparently unable to detect strong disinterest in the other person.
2. Conventions are designed to drain every last cent from rabid fans, and make nearby businesses very happy.
“Ten bucks for a tiny little figurine? No problem!” says the diehard fan. I myself am guilty of this when it comes to feeding my habit for The Simpsons merchandise, and the organizers of these events know this full well. For one weekend, everybody ignores the value of money and forgets that most of this stuff is available online for a fraction of the cost, and goes crazy. It’s the atmosphere! It’s just so intoxicating.
Any nearby coffee shops, fast food joints and bars also benefit greatly – to the chagrin of their regular patronage, when a swarm of Pikachus, Batmen and Spocks descend upon the venue.
3. Convention attendees are easily recognized from blocks away.
These swarms of Pokemon and superheroes also act as a breadcrumb-trail back to the convention venue. The few blocks between Southern Cross station and the Melbourne Exhibition Centre were populated by all sorts of characters coming and going, and must have kept the local office workers in a state of constant entertainment/confusion/terror.
4. Cosplay is simultaneously the greatest and most terrifying thing in the world.
Games, sci-fi and anime always have to include a token hot chick, so it comes as no surprise to find no shortage of overly-sexualized Officer Jennys, Harley Quinns and Sailor Moons. Whether or not you enjoy the source material, everybody can appreciate Lara Crofts competing to see who can wear the shortest shorts before they are more likely to be classed as underpants.
On the other hand, nobody wants to see huge Trekkie dudes strutting their stuff. Seriously, Star Trek is over. For a fair while now. Go enjoy something else.
5. You can spend the whole weekend trying to find your friends. And failing.
Amongst these bizarre crowds, it can be very easy to lose everyone you came to the convention with. Within seconds of entering the showroom – literally seconds – my girlfriend had vanished. I found her more than an hour later, but by then everyone else we came with had also disappeared. It became easier to just not look for people.
6. You will spend most of your time riding the Line Ride.
Of course, when someone disappears, most of the time they’re in a line somewhere. In line waiting to meet a semi-famous person, in line for food, or the toilets, or to get into a panel. My brother was addicted to playing the Line Game, to the point where he all but hired the rest of us to stand in lines for him while he stood in other lines.
When you’re not in a line, it can be fun to get your group to stand in a line formation to nowhere, and see how many random people you can get to line up behind you.
7. Streetpassing on your 3DS is very, very time-consuming.
With all this waiting, there was ample time to regularly whip out my recently-acquired Nintendo 3DS and collect any new Streetpasses. Seriously, there were new Miis waiting at your virtual gate every few minutes, and with three of us in our group owning a 3DS, a lot of our communication involved swapping virtual versions of ourselves. Those 3DSless members of our party looked on in frustration at how often we had to usher our new Miis in, steal puzzle pieces from them and send them off into dungeons to fight ghosts. But we had to! Those hats don’t unlock themselves.
Having just gotten my 3DS a few days earlier, these were my stats:
Friday: StreetPass Hits: 4
Plaza Population: 3
Sunday: StreetPass Hits: 93
Plaza Population: 71
8. Special guests would much rather be somewhere else.
Once you get to the head of a line to meet a celebrity or watch a panel discussion, if you’re not blinded by the excitement of meeting said person, you can see the weary looks on their faces. Not being super invested in any of the guests, it was easy to see how tired they must be of the whole ordeal, repeated in every city with a fresh group of crazy fans. You’d feel the same if you were constantly asked about the minutiae of every aspect of every episode, worded like the asker had spent hours preparing it.
“Sorry, I don’t know why my shoes were blue that episode.”
“No, my character was not adopted. There was no hidden meaning when they referred to my father as Herbert instead of Hubert. Just a typo.”
“No, we were not high on glucose when we wrote that season.” (This question was ACTUALLY asked, repeatedly, honestly, of the Rooster Teeth guys.)
9. Conventions are a great way for indies to get their work known.
While the big names may be sick of the convention run, it’s a great way for indies in any relevant field to get their name out there and find an audience. We sat in on a gig by emerging Melbourne band TechnoDrome, who performed some awesome covers of classic video game tunes; we got a look at the game in progress from Swing Interactive, an independent studio fresh out of Qantm College; and of course, there’s the guy who built, from scratch, the iconic Delorean from the Back to the Future trilogy.
All these people deserve recognition for their hard work and passion, so keep an eye out for our interviews with them all this week!
10. Wrestling is gayer than two gay men having gay sex.
My final thought: wrestling really is terrible. I mean, this wasn’t a revelation to me on the weekend, but seeing it live invokes a whole new level of distaste.
We all know it’s fake, and some people don’t care. Each to their own. I can kinda understand why people might watch it if it was real – the appeal is like boxing or similar sports, where it might release pent up aggression or something. I dunno.
But if it’s common knowledge that it’s staged, I don’t see the point of watching two guys strip off to their underpants, climb into a ring and unconvincingly act like they’re wailing on each other. Since they’re trying not to actually hurt each other, all they really end up doing is cuddling until they fall on top of each other.
Ironically, the bogans who do enjoy it would probably call theatre gay. Any of Shakespeare’s work is much less gay. At least plays have far less extended scenes of man-on-man action.
That episode of South Park was dead right – wrestling popularized by the WWE and the like is just a soap opera for rednecks, and the real thing is quite gay.
Runner games on the iPhone are nothing new, there are heaps of them with a range of cute little characters running around our screen searching for fruit, or coins, or whatever else that they may want. Human G&A have launched the first iOS runner game to implement live multi-player functionality. That’s right, you can race your dragons against other dragons and find out who gets to be the dragon king!
Another thing that sets Mishu apart from other runner games is the HD backgrounds. While most games don’t pay that much attention to the backgrounds, usually settling for some pretty standard graphics, Human G&A have really taken it to the next level and the backgrounds look pretty sweet.
Mishu the Dragon is now available on iTunes with a free ‘Lite’ version – GET IT HERE
As well as the standard version for $0.99 – BUY IT HERE
NuOxygen have released Simple Racing HD (what is with the new fad of outright stating what kind of racing you’re in for?). Simple Racing is, are you ready for this, a simple racing game. At least they didn’t go for the irony points and name it Difficult Racing, some people may have gotten confused.
Kidding aside, Simple Racing is a 2D micro car racing game set on 3D tracks. Confused? Well it’s basically an arcade game with upgraded graphics, which is something I can definitely get behind. It’s got the classic arcade gameplay with a turbo button for overtaking and a touch-to-brake system that you’re going to have to utilise at just the right moment so your car doesn’t rocket off the track. Check out the gameplay in the trailer below.
There are rally championships, quick races, ratings and time scores, customisation, and ten different tracks in five environments. Steering away from the 3D intense racing games that have been coming out lately, Simple Racing may be just the welcome return to some gold old fashioned arcade racing.
Simple Racing is available now on the iTunes store for $1.99 – BUY NOW
Magic Formula has been released on the iTunes store for those of you who love it when your games actually make you feel like you’re thinking. Magic Formula is a game that is focused on problem solving, not a game that hides behind other genres and sneaks a puzzle in every now and again. Magic Formula is obvious with its puzzles, it smacks you in the face with them and deceives you with its apparent simplicity and sneaky difficulty. This is a game that’s going to take you more than the standard hour or so to complete, with a depth that’s bound to surprise you.
There are 140 levels of puzzle fun, with seven evolution stages for you to go through. Watch the gameplay trailer for it below. It definitely looks like one of those games that starts off easy but it’s not too long before it kicks you in the ass.
Magic Formula is available for $1.99 at the iTunes store – BUY NOW
A new trailer for the hotly anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, has made it’s way online. This trailer is dubbed the Modern Warfare 3 launch trailer.
The launch trailer shows off the game as well as builds hype for the game’s release. You can check out the trailer below, which is sure to excite Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 fans, with some footage of the game as well as scenes perhaps from the story of the game, involving World War 3.
What do you think of this launch trailer Modern Warfare 3 fans? Let us know your thoughts in the shoutbox and comments section below.
Turtle Beach have announced their limited edition Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 headsets are shipping now and will be available in retailers in early November.
The limited edition headsets consist of four different models: Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Foxtrot (yes, we’re loving the names too!). They were designed to give gamers the ultimate experience when playing one of this year’s most anticipated titles, Modern Warfare 3. The headsets have unique sets of audio presets designed specifically by the audio teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games.
Of course, the headsets will also work with all other games, and are available across Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and Mac. Delta, Bravo, Charlie and Foxtrot will be available from all major video game retailers around the world. If you want to hear more about these headsets, well…you can. Click here to check out our chat with Chris Eade from Turtle Beach at EB EXPO 2011.
