Just because Binary Domain isn’t coming out until next year, there isn’t any reason to wait for a company until the last minute to announce the pre-order content that you can obtain. With Binary Domain’s case however, you have two different flavors of pre-order content however. There is a multiplayer aspect of pre-order content as well as single player.
If you prefer single player content, then perhaps you should look for the pre-order bonus known as Dan Marshall Pack which will unlock a number of new weapons and skills for the main character in Binary Domain, Sergeant Dan Marshall. He will receive a new assault rifle named the ‘SOWSAR-17 SBMOD type G’ and a number of bionic upgrades including Assault: Physical Enhancement I, Assault: Protective Coating and Assault: Quick Prompt.
Those more interested in the multiplayer aspect should keep an eye out for the Multiplayer Pack which provides the exclusive online map ‘Outside High-rise, Upper City’ as well as a new playable class known as the Ninja which you can see above. Plus players will gain access to two new weapons in multiplayer, the Yamato-0 handgun and the Hoga Type 69 Sniper Rifle.
Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3 Genre: FPS Release date: 2007 Nominated by: Roger Ma
Back in 2007, I remember the first time I saw Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I was casually browsing through my local newsagency as you do until something quite literally caught the attention my eyes. It was the cover of Xbox 360 Magazine with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare splashed across the front page and I have to say, I was quite literally lost for words.
Here was a video game franchise that surprised almost everyone. Call of Duty, a video game franchise that had been built around World War Two, was now stepping up into the modern warfare of today. As I flicked through the pages of that magazine I was absolutely astonished, not just on how the game looked but more importantly where the game was going to be based around the current ongoing conflict in the Middle East, or so I thought… of cause this was not the case.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare brought to gamers the gritty feel of conflict in the Middle East (although fictionalized greatly) with a plot that could boldly stand on its two feet, with its fair share of very memorable moments. I will never forget that mission where you sneak through Chernobyl on an assassination mission with Captain MacMillan in ghillie suits. The game brought with it a breath of fresh air into the stale first person shooter genre of 2007. It single handily revolutionised competitive multiplayer where players could kit out exactly how they wanted to play beforehand with perks, weapon attachments and upgrades along with a in-game kill streak reward system.
As it turned out, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare proved to be one of the biggest games of 2007 – rivalling that the fabled and much-hyped Halo 3. ‘CoD 4’ as it soon became to be known as by fans worldwide, proved not only that modern shooters could be done but they could be done in such a polished, well crafted and presented in such a realistic way. Remember that this was a time when most first person shooters where either bogged down in the been-there-done-that of the World War Two genre or cheesy futuristic sci-fi territory. Which is why I suppose Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was just so successful because it completely smashed this established mould.
52. Age of Empires
Platform: PC Genre: RTS Release date: 1997 Nominated by: Mike Irving
Many might argue that during the 90s, Blizzard held a monopoly on the RTS genre, with the crazily popular StarCraft and WarCraft, but Ensemble Studios took the genre and grounded it in history with Age of Empires. The game is a fairly archetypal strategy game, keeping balance by basically reskinning the same types of units across each civilization.
After the first game’s release in 1997, many strategy games responded by turning to the historical theme as well. Age of Empires was praised for its historical content, although it’s appropriated and simplified, so it doesn’t bog the game down into a history lesson. It was divided into twelve playable civilizations, and play involved progressing through four technological ages, gaining access to newer abilities, units and upgrades.
With a stronger focus on resource management and a sophisticated yet accessible setting, Age of Empires is an RTS even my high school English teacher used to encourage us to play.
53. L.A. Noire
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360 Genre: Action-adventure Release date: 2011 Nominated by: Kelly Teng
I will never forget when I first saw the trailer for L.A. Noire. Having been a huge film buff all my life, I was both intrigued and terrified at the notion that Team Bondi and Rockstar were translating the iconic silver screen noir era into a new style for gaming.
Needless to say, the game nailed every single aspect and proved that video games can be art forms. L.A. Noire is aesthetically beautiful, with cinematics so realistic it puts Square Enix to shame. It’s engaging, with moments of interrogation which require a skillful eye and attention to detail. And lastly, the narrative is filled with intriguing characters, sub-plots, deception, murder, war, love, and everything else you could hope for – and it’s all bundled into one title.
Team Bondi and Rockstar really created a game that would change other games. L.A. Noire is worth playing for its cinematic qualities, its brilliant and engaging tale, and – above all else – because it is so different from anything we’ve played before.
Bloodwych is a dungeon role-playing video game developed for the Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS. It was developed by Image Works from 1989 and is very similar to games of the time such as Eye of the Beholder and Dungeon Master. Bloodwynch had me hooked for hours on end, I honestly can say that this game was one of the first RPG’s that consumed my life. Bloodwych was absolutely remarkable for a game released in 1989, just the sheer scale of its maps had me getting out the old D&D map grid paper to ensure I wasn’t getting lost because it didn’t have an auto map feature that most RPG’s have today, making Bloodwynch even harder to play as you’d really need remember where you were going or you’d end up lost resulting in lots of cursing and yelling at the computer screen.
I was quite young when I ventured into the dungeons with my four champions. I must say Bloodwynch took me what seemed to be an eternity to complete. I honestly believe it took me close to a year to finish as I’d take huge breaks and go off and play some other game then when I was ready to take on the next maze / puzzle I’d get stuck into it again. The plot to Bloodywnych isn’t too complicated, you get to pick champion of Trazere then what you do is wander the halls in search another three worthy champions all with their own strengths and weaknesses (I must admit I did start the game over a few times to find the perfect blend of champions, which if memory serves me correctly, I finished the game with a fighter, a thief and two magic users both from different magic classes and spells) After recruiting your three fellow champions, the journey begins and you embark on your adventure traveling through dungeons and mazes fighting creatures along the way till you reach the “Towers” where fun really begins. Here you given the task of collecting crystals that will be used to destroy the evil Zendick and his associates and banish the Lord of Entropy for eternity.
Bloodywynch was available on a number of different platforms. It’s now near impossible to get unless you pick it up on eBay, best bet would be to obtaining a copy on PC and hope to the gods that you can play it in MS-DOS compatibility mode. If you have the time to sit down and draw maps and take on puzzles that will challenge you to no end, then Bloodwynch is a game you should play. If you enjoyed Dungeon Master and Eye Of The Beholder, then give Bloodwynch a go as this game is as good or if not better than both of those other two titles.
55. Soul Calibur II
Platform: Arcade, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox Genre: Fighting Release date: 2002 Nominated by: Matt Vella
The original Soul Calibur revolutionised the fighting game genre with it’s 8-way run, and Soul Calibur II features everything that made the original so amazing, from its insanely epic soundtrack and impressive graphics, to its remarkable presentation and polish, to it’s intense depth…that goes even deeper. Soul Calibur II allows players to be as devastating as they can be with it’s focus on playing aggressively defensive with a guard impact system, step and avoid systems, guard break attacks and the clash system, while new players could feel like pros straight away with it’s easy pick up and play combos and fast-paced gameplay. However these are present in most Soul Calibur games, so what makes this one so special?
Soul Calibur II was the title that arguably popularised the idea of making console exclusive characters in fighting games. Xbox players got Spawn from the DC comic book series, PlayStation 2 owners got Heihachi Mishima from Tekken, but it was Gamecube players who got the winning fighter-Link from the Legend of Zelda. Still to this date I’ve never seen Link look or feel better, and he truly brought a unique aspect the game and arguably stole the show. I know it sounds biased, but as a loyal Nintendo fan it blew me away and felt like the greatest fan service ever. If your a fighting game fan, you need to play a Soul Calibur game at least once, and if your a Nintendo fan, you need to play as Link in Soul Calibur II at least once. Why can’t Nintendo just make a Smash Bros like this?!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a perfect example of Nintendo at it’s finest. They took many risks with this game and it all turned out splendidly. After spending 2 revolutionary games establishing him as an adult, Link is once again a child, now travels by sea rather than by horse, and most importantly is now cell shaded. Nintendo fans were shocked, many upset with this controversial decision at first, but upon playing it became clear that Nintendo had constructed one of the most beautiful virtual worlds in video game history. Almost a decade down the track, still very few titles have been released that can rival the innovation of art style, the detail of the world and level design, and remarkable character and charisma as The Wind Waker. It’s true genius when you think about it-Nintendo took the control scheme and concept of The Ocarina of Time, the predecessor considered to be one of the most revolutionary, innovative and greatest games ever made, polished it further, improved on almost every aspect and gave it a innovative art style that was seldom, almost never seen before in video games to blow people away….again!
Developed by the now defunct Pandemic Studios, Battlefront 2 had everything that made Star Wars great: Jedi, epic battles and a great story. Even today, many people still play this game online and offline because it had some of the best arena battles this side of Endor. Battlefront 2 was and is the only game where you can actually feel like you are a Clone Trooper or Storm Trooper as you kill all the weakling rebels. And unlocking a Sith or Jedi is not just some lame powerup. It can turn the tide of battle and make you feel a like a total badass. Overall, this Star Wars game rates up there with the best of them as one of the most finely tuned and most beloved Star Wars game out there. As a matter of fact, I just played about 10 hours of it last week on an aging PS2. This game is a classic and will always be remembered. Please, please LucasArts: bring out Battlefront 3 and bring out a HD remake of Battlefront 2.
58. Mega Man 2
Platform: NES Genre: 2D Platformer / Rock Paper Scissors with Robots Release date: 1988 Nominated by: Alexis Ayala
If we use the way back machine and go all the way to 1989 we’d find a young version of myself obsessed with Mega Man 2. Talk about a life changing experience, I was so entranced with it I would run through the entire game several times a week. To this day you can still randomly find me humming the tune to the Metal Man stage. It’s hard to explain how much of an impact this game had on me, my friends and the industry as a whole. Mega Man is the character he is today because of Mega Man 2. The first entry in the series was not very successful and Capcom wasn’t immediately in love with the idea of Keiji Inafune, the series producer/creator going into development of a sequel so he and his team basically had to work on their own time to get it done. What we have is a pure passion project that holds to the test of time. Mega Man doesn’t just shoot plasma with his mega buster. He shoots love.
59. Jump Ultimate Stars
Platform: Nintendo DS Genre: Fighting Release date: 2006 Nominated by: Luke Halliday
Jump Ultimate Stars is one of those niche titles that while only appealing to a certain fanbase can actually be enjoyed by anyone. The game is heavily aimed at anime fans. Which is obvious in the fact that it takes hundreds of the most popular anime and manga characters and throws them together in all out brawls. But it’s not the fact that it revolutionized anime games – it revolutionized handheld fighter games. With it’s unique approach to fighting that wasn’t reliant on button combinations but instead upon card combinations (a method replicated many times since in other games), that feels both fresh still to this day and absolutely streamlined. There is so much fun to be had here and a cast of hundreds of characters to unlock, with each being upgradable. It is indeed a game to play before you die.
60. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC Genre: Action-adventure Release date: 2010 Nominated by: Dustin Spencer
Although I enjoyed Assassin’s Creed 1 & 2, Brotherhood was truly the defining title in the series. The narrative within gave us yet another glimpse into the life of Ezio and stayed strong until the very end, but story almost didn’t even matter compared to the newly added multiplayer features. Brotherhood‘s online mode allowed for players to track down each other among hundreds of identical NPCs. Once you received a contract, it was then your job to make the hit on the correct target without killing an innocent. Think Where’s Waldo, but with lots of blood and no annoying man in glasses.
The experience as a whole felt fresh to the usual shooter brand of multiplayer, and the risk Ubisoft took has now paved the way for developers to think different when it comes to crafting a satisfying online experience, which is a huge achievement in itself.
Today Blizzard did much more than just announce a collector’s edition of Diablo III, they have also released a new trailer which they are calling the Black Soulstone trailer. If you have to give Blizzard credit for anything, they can certainly make amazing looking cinematic trailers as you can see below.
In the video we see Deckard Cain’s niece, Leah, struggle to make sense of her uncle’s writings and warnings. But suddenly she is struck with a dark vision of destruction and terror as Azmodan, the Lord of Sin swears that his army will soon pour forth from the depths of Hell to tear apart the world and that there is nothing that can be done to stop it. Powerful stuff.
WIN: One of three awesome prize packs including acopy of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations AND The Official Strategy Guide!
Want your chance to win a copy of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations? How about an strategy guide to go with it? Capsule Computers has partnered up with Bluemouth Interactive so you can WIN an Assassin’s Creed: Revelations prize pack which includes a copy of the game (winners get the choice of either a Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version) AND a copy of the Official Strategy Guide! We have three prize packs to give away so don’t be afraid to try your luck!
So how do you win? It’s easy! Just follow these simple steps:
The competition ends on the 21st of November! Bluemouth Interactive will then select 3 lucky winners who can choose between a Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 copy.
Don’t forget-youNEED to post the Assassin’s motto on Bluemouth Interactive’s Facebook page in order for your entry to be considered. The motto is:
One of the first games we saw when the Kinect was first announced, that wasn’t a child simulation game or a kid game, was Project Draco. It was a game that was supposed to allow players to control a dragon flying through the air with the use of the Kinect. The game was being produced by the people who made Panzer Dragoon, but unfortunately the game has seen almost zero press.
Until now, when it was announced by the creators Grounding, that they have licensed Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 to create Project Draco. Yukio Futatsugi, director at Grounding said that “because this is Grounding’s first high-definition game, we looked at many technology options and picked Unreal Engine 3 as the best solution.”
He went on to say that the team had begun development back “in September 2010 when Microsoft first announced the title. While our team size is only 15 people and we had merely one year from the start of the project, the productive tools and efficient processes of Unreal Engine 3 meant we could come up with a high-quality playable demo in a very short time.” You can check out the screenshots below, which certainly enforces the hope that Project Draco will indeed be released next year on the XBLA.
There are many faces of Max Payne and it seems in the next game you’ll be playing as him both pre-baldness and post attack with a shaver. The screenshots below show Max doing his famous bullet time maneuvers of jumping sideways while shooting bullets through the air and even kicking some bad guy in the face.
Also there is an image of a bald Max with his head in his hands, looking like a completely broken man. Perhaps Max Payne 3 could be called Max Payne: Midlife Crisis. I suppose that wouldn’t be as appealing though it seems that the next title in the Max Payne series will at least be as emotional as the first two.
It appears that Valve, the creators of the extremely popular and well selling Portal 2 is currently working on a new piece of DLC for the title. The DLC is set for release sometime early next year and will contain a huge update that will ensure that people never grow bored of the title.
The DLC will add in a major update that adds in a supposedly easy to use in-game map editor that will let players design and build their own single player and co-op test chambers to share with the community who can then rate and vote for their favorite ones. Unfortunately Valve did not announce how the editing would work exactly nor did they say if we can expect to see this DLC arriving on any other platforms besides the PC and Mac.
Originally slated for a release in January of 2012, it seems that the next installment to the snowboarding franchise SSX, titled SSX, isn’t going to be making it in time to catch the fresh snow dude. It is going to be a few weeks late as EA’s official website for the title dropped the title back a few weeks to February 14th without giving much reason as to why.
It seems that Valentine’s Day is going to be a popular one for video game releases, and this one is just perfect for the snowboarder in your life that just can’t spend a minute away from the snow, even in the dog days of summer.
If you’ve read my review for Batman: Arkham City then you will know that the Riddler has outdone himself in regards to the amount of challenges and trophies that he has scattered around the prison city. There are tons of trophies scattered around everywhere and most of them have complicated solutions to obtaining them.
However it appears that someone has your best interests at heart, and it is your iOS device. A new app for iOS has been released and is available on the app store for $2.99 that lists the locations of every collectible in the game, a map of every area in the game and an interactive collectible tracking system. Sounds like quite a cheat sheet doesn’t it? Just make sure the Riddler doesn’t find out about this. You can pick up the app here.
Kontrolfreek has just announced it’s holiday lineup of controller accessories in the form of three First Person Shooter variations, all aimed at enhancing the experience and precision while playing games such as Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3.
The FPS Freek SNIPR, FPS Freek ELITE and FPS Freek CQC have been labelled as the “Perfect Arsenal” of accessories for playing shooters, with the Sniper available for purchase now and the other two being released in November.
The FPS Freek SNIPR brings a convex, laser-etched crosshair design, arming players with maximum grip surface available to efficiently take down enemies with precision during every engagement. It costs only $13.99 and is designed as a tribute to Battlefield 3.
The FPS Freek ELITE gives players an advantage when undertaking missions, for example taking control of Delta Force Operatives in MW3. The ELITE even features a Delta Force insignia with the credo “Swift, Silent, Deadly” and will be released on the 1st of November.
The CQC accessory is unsurprisingly dedicated to “Close Quarter Combat” for FPS titles. The lower “rise” of the CQC increases accuracy and comfort for both melee and weapon attacks when fighting enemies in close proximity. You can also mix and match the accessories to find your perfect combination. The CQC will be out November 15 for $9.99.
“Given the extraordinary success of our previous shooter-inspired products, adding this depth and breadth to our lineup will undoubtedly provide FPS gamers with additional benefits this season” said Ashish Mistry, KontrolFreek president and CEO. “Gamers will be truly blown away by the added maneuverability and comfort that these new products, and especially CQC, will give them.”
