AR! Pirates
Developer: Optricks Media
Publisher: Special Move Games
Genre: First-person Shooter, Augmented Reality
Platform: iPhone(reviewed)/iPad
Release: 27/5/11
Price: Free to download, $1.19 to upgrade in game (Buy Here)
PS Vita gameplay and hands-on at E3 and interview with Paul Lovell from Big Big Studios
What E3 trip could be complete without getting our hands on the PS Vita? Well my hands were definitely on it in the video interview below. We managed to talk to Paul Lovell, game developer from Big Big Game Studios who are developing Little Deviants for the PS Vita which will be released as a launch title when the PS Vita is released somewhere down the line.
In the video below you will hear MasterAbbott interviewing Mr. Lovell on the various features that the PS Vita has as well as see how responsive all of the controls are on the newly revealed handheld. The PS Vita’s touch screen controls are certainly very responsive but I can see games that focus heavily on the back touch screen being hard to get used to because it is difficult to match your finger position with the thing you have to tap on the front of the screen, as seen in the fourth to last game, House of Whacks, which you can see five minutes into the video below. Let us know what you think of the PS Vita now that it has been fully revealed and of the video below!
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City interview & gameplay demo with Eric Monacelli
During our hands on demo’s at Capcom’s booth MasterAbbott was able to get a few words in with Product Marketing Manager Eric Monacelli about Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. Eric runs through a quick description of the title and also talks about a number of different features that the game will contain when it is fully finished, as well as what we are seeing right now in the video below. Through the fifteen minute video we see nearly the entire demo that was provided to players on the E3 floor as well as back in the VIP section.
I also had some hands on time with the title and you can read my impressions for the title here. You can see the zombification occur first hand around six minutes in. Capcom is working alongside Slant Six Games, best known for their work with SOCOM, to create a proper squad based shooter. Check out the video below and let us know what you think!
BioShock Infinite E3 Impressions
Wrapping up our tour of 2K’s E3 booth behind the scenes I was introduced to Tim Garrotson who is the Executive Producer of Irrational Games, the company developing Bioshock Infinite who helped walk us through the demonstration that they had set up in the room. Bioshock Infinite takes place on the floating town of Colombia. Colombia used to be a prosperous city that was built as a floating city to astonish the world and show the things that the United States is capable of. Shortly after it was launched however it was discovered that Colombia was more than just a prestigious place to live, but a battle ready fortress as well.
During the Boxer Rebellion, Colombia fired upon Chinese protesters and the fallout from the event caused the United States government to disown Colombia and let the city pass from memory as it continued to float around the world as a forgotten city. That is until now.The long isolated city has now fallen into a state of civil war with the Founders on one side, attempting to retain order and hold things the way that they were and the Vox Populi who are a rebellion group set on overthrowing the Founders.
Players will be in control of Booker DeWitt who has been sent to Colombia in an effort to save a woman named Elizabeth who possesses a powerful ability and is being held captive by a monstrous giant metal bird looking creature called Songbird. We join Booker and Elizabeth shortly around 3/4ths of the way in and things are calm at first. So much so that the long isolated Elizabeth can find some enjoyment in the novelty’s inside the shop that Booker entered to try and find some supplies. She is very light hearted at times and plays with a Lincoln mask and believes fake gold is real.
All of that is shattered in instant as we hear Songbird approach and both Booker and Elizabeth take cover and hide behind a counter as it passes by, with pure terror easy to read on Elizabeth’s face. Shortly after leaving the store the two come across a wounded horse. The game presented an option to execute the horse and put it out of its misery, but the developer chose not to, and instead we were introduced to Elizabeth’s ability to open up tears in time and she attempts to reverse time in the area of the wounded horse. However she is unable to control her power and manages to throw both herself and Booker into a 1980’s street where you can see an advertisement for Star Wars on the outside of a theater. She manages to cancel the tear before being run over by an ambulance.
Elizabeth’s ability to interact with different tears in reality can allow her to repair broken objects, spawn cover or even spawn a door that was never there before to find other routes for any given battle. The choice system appears again as Elizabeth and Booker come across an imminent execution of a post worker by the Vox Populi. This time the developer chose to stop the execution which caused battle to be entered and the approach of a giant blimp with rockets. The combat system in Bioshock Infinite seemed to focus on entirely gunfire at this point of the demonstration with only a sparing use of special abilities. This could be a bit of a disappointment to those wishing to focus on using powers rather than guns. After very elaborately transversing the rail system by hopping back and forth between rails on the grappling hook, Booker manages to take the blimp down.
Not everything is good however, as soon as Elizabeth and Booker think they are safe, Songbird appears visually this time, grabbing Booker and throwing him through the sky into a building, all through the first person view. The only reason that Booker isn’t murdered right there by the giant bird is that Elizabeth begs for its forgiveness and says she will return with Songbird. The game demo ends with Songbird picking up Elizabeth and walking away, while Booker fades into unconsciousness on the floor, creating a very touching, but tinged with desperation, image of Elizabeth reaching for Booker in an effort to remain free from Songbirds grasp.
The Darkness II E3 impressions
After stopping in and seeing XCOM in action I was ushered over into The Darkness II presentation room where we were introduced to the game by project director Sheldon Carter. He told us that The Darkness II will be the continuation of the story two years after the events that occurred in The Darkness I. After obtaining revenge for the killing of Jenny Jackie had been managing to suppress the Darkness for two years, that is of course until he was tricked into using it by a member of the Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood is a newly introduced faction of enemies which have studied the Darkness for centuries and had previously managed to capture and contain the Darkness away from the world. The Darkness will always corrupt the people near it however and the members of the Brotherhood were no exception. They seek out Jackie now in an effort to take the Darkness away from him and use it for their own nefarious ends. Because of their history with the Darkness they are well aware of the various weaknesses that it possesses.
We join Jackie at an abandoned carnival, though unfortunately it isn’t as abandoned as we may hope as we soon come across the first Brotherhood enemy in the game. The Brotherhood know of the Darkness’ weakness to light and they find every opportunity to prevent Jackie from using the Darkness to his advantage. Some Brotherhood members will be able to throw out flash bang grenades which not only temporarily stun Jackie but also force the Darkness to retreat inside of Jackie’s body, leaving him vulnerable. Other members of the Brotherhood will carry around light cannons that constantly shine light on Jackie until he either manages to shoot the light out or kill the enemy holding it.
Many of the game’s previous combat mechanics return with Jackie being able to use two guns at the same time and eat the hearts of defeated enemies but there are a few new additions to the combat. First the Darkness can pick up pieces of the environment to serve as a shield of sorts against the bullets being fired at Jackie as well as throw items in the environment to kill these enemies. Every time an enemy is killed the player will be rewarded with points that can be spent on the new “Talent Shrines” that allow Jackie to learn new Darkness abilities.
The main skill shown off was the Gun Channeling skill tree which imbues the guns that Jackie is wielding with Darkness power that can let Jackie not only see enemies through walls but also shoot them through the walls as well. Jackie also has the ability to grab enemies with the Darkness and either perform an execution kill on them or throw them if they so desire. Just remember to go back and eat their hearts!
We were told by Sheldon Carter that The Darkness II will have hand painted textures which will help provide a graphic novel type feel and I could notice that the game certainly had that feel. Once we had seen the end of the demonstration, the demo went to black before displaying what appeared to be Jackie waking up in a psycho ward in hospital and a doctor telling him that he will be able to help him. Certainly a cliff hanger ending which I can’t wait to learn more about when the game releases this October for the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360.
Arcana Heart 3 Review
Arcana Heart 3
Publisher: Aksys Games
Developer: EXAMU/Arc System Works
Genre: 2D fighting
Platform: PS3 (PSN)
Release date: April 20th, 2011
Price: $29.99
Overview:
Out of people you could ever could pick a fight with which one would you least want to fight? Maybe a wrestler, bouncer, or even a kung fu master? In Arcana Heart 3 for the Playstation 3 your worst fear is a group of girls who aren’t afraid to throw down. Don’t go asking these girls to go into the kitchen and make you a sandwich because that sandwich will be served with your ass handed on it. EXAMU, Arc System Works, and Aksys games presents us with a great 2D fighter with an all female cast. I can say for Arcana Heart 3 these girls are made of sugar, spice, and everything fun. What makes this game great find out in our review.
Story:
So the story is well a bit complex as to be expected with these anime fighters but let me try to break it down for everyone. Japan is in big trouble as it is about to be destroyed in six days and the player must collect the six stones in order to prevent this from happening. Story is told with original Japanese dialog and English subtitles which should please most crazy hardcore anime fans. The story also follows after the the events of the 2nd game which was not released outside of Japan.
The story is told in a typical fighting game fashion where you will have some small conversations before and after fights that really don’t move the story along also nothing at the beginning of story mode really explaining what is going on other than seeing a character talking about reviving something. If you are a fan and follower of the Arcana Heart universe then there maybe some enjoyment for you in the story. Arcana Heart 3 has some interesting characters that could have been really explored more and that is a little disappointing.
Graphics and Sound:
Arcana Heart 3 is a 2D fighter with drawn sprites and backgrounds. I really love the characters and art style. The character design has a little of everything you come to expect from an anime fighter and it gets pretty wacky. You have your typical school girls, chicks with guns, martial artist and then you get into the whacky side of the roster where its a girl in a bunny hat piloting a mech, girl swimming in a giant blob of water, and even a a drawing of a green monster drawn by a little girl to name a few. Characters animate really well and it is very smooth with no slow down.
Backgrounds look really nice and have nice detail in them. In Arcana Heart 3 there is a dimensional rift and that causes the backgrounds to change, you can have seasons change on you or ghost appear in the background. The only thing disappointing to say about the backgrounds is that they are very static and don’t move at all. It seems that they used a fade in and out when transitioning backgrounds. Wish there was a little more work put into it. There is no real animated cutscenes just graphics with voices dubbed over them with the character graphics sometimes changing, which is a bit of a let down.
A very nice feature is that you can play the game with original or HD graphics. On top of that you can choose to play the game in the original 4:3 format or you can stretch it to a widescreen 16:9 format. Thankfully if you decide to play in the 16:9 format it still looks great and doesn’t seem to look or have any jaggy edges. Graphics over all look great just wish those backgrounds had a little more life to them just like the cast of the game.
I really enjoyed the soundtrack to Arcana Heart 3. While it is nothing that really stands out it has a few good tracks and fits well. The voice acting is all Japanese with no option for an English language track which will be alright for most although a few may not care for that. Over all its pretty standard.
Gameplay:
This is the part where Arcana Heart 3 shines is in its gameplay. You have five buttons, three of those are attack buttons, one is a homing button that allows you to quickly fly toward your opponent at fast speeds and the other button is to be used with your Arcanas. If you are new to fighting games don’t worry as there is a simple mode which is similar to that found in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 where some buttons will automatically do combos for you. The fighting is fast and responsive. Its easy to chain combos together and experiment with. Each character stands out from one another and there are no two characters that play alike. There are 23 characters to choose from.
The Arcana system in Arcana Heart 3 is what gives this game depth and helps it stand out amongst the Street Fighters and Blazblues out there. Arcanas can be chosen with your character and they add attributes and moves to your characters roster. With 23 characters and 23 Arcana to choose from you can have almost endless possibilities with the roster. It is also really cool to summon your Arcana and watch it take out a good chunk of your opponent’s life. Don’t worry you really can’t spam this but it can be useful if you get stuck in a tough spot.
Arcana Heart 3 features plenty of game modes. You have the story mode which plays like the traditional arcade mode in most fighters but it allows you to choose out of a selection of five or two if your at the half way point of characters to play against. This can encourage multiple play throughs and try to see what would happen if you ran into one character over another. After you go through and fight through the ladder you will fight the final boss which is really tough and pretty cheap. For me I don’t mind that in a boss fight since most of them have been pretty dumbed down as late.
You have a score attack mode which is really similar to story mode except its a straight ladder of opponents which get much more difficult as you progress. What is interesting and maybe the most frustrating is that there is a special boss for this mode. Parace is one of the most difficult and cheapest bosses out there. If you think the story mode boss was crazy this is worse. She will throw these glowing orbs at you and keep hitting you non stop with devastating attacks. This will defiantly test even the most hardened of fighting game players. She has been beat by many so if you put enough time and effort into it you should come out on top. At this time I have yet to beat her myself.
If you prefer your players to be that of the human persuasion then you can play locally with a friend or take it online. I want to thank Arc System Works yet again making a great fighter that plays amazing online. Very rarely I have had a bad online connection and even if it does slow down it quickly tries to correct itself. Players who love to show off their skills can save their matches and share them online. Also there are leaderboards and a gallery where you can take a look at game artwork and animations.
Overall:
Arcana Heart 3 shows it has a fighting game not only has heart but its own soul too. From a presentation and story stand point it isn’t the greatest but what it lacks in those areas it exceeds as an excellent fighter that adds an extra layer of strategy on top. 2D fighting fans who want a little something new should definitely pick up Arcana Heart 3 on PSN. You can get it right now for only $30. Also thanks to Aksys Games for providing the code to review this title.
XCOM E3 impressions
XCOM is an interesting title being developed by 2k Games Marin and they were presenting a demo level demonstration behind the scenes at their booth for the media, which I of course attended. After entering the room we were given a brief rundown of the game, namely that the developers have some influence from the Bioshock series and that the game takes place in the United States during the year of 1962. Players will be in control of William Carter who is in charge of capturing alien weaponry and converting it to human use so that the humans will have some hope of defeating the aliens.
I was first introduced to the main hub of the missions where you will be able to walk around and talk to the other agents in your division. The dialogue system is similar to Oblivion where you can select from a list of different choices on what to say. Talking to the other agents on your team is a good way to find out a little bit of backstory as well as provide a bit of time away from the main storyline of the game. Players will be able to take two other field agents with them to fight the aliens during their missions and these field agents each have their own skills and abilities that you can customize and upgrade when they gain experience.
The XCOM division chief is named Angela and she is the person who will usually direct you to what mission is the main storyline mission, but you fortunately have the ability to choose which mission you want to do. You can either continue to do the story advancing missions, or enter a side mission which can improve your rewards down the line or even provide immediate rewards in the form of new technology and stronger agents. These side missions can disappear after going to far in the storyline and not doing some missions will also eliminate side missions in that area somewhere down the line.
The two agents that were taken into the field during the demonstration were Tjan and Drobowieki and they were sent on the mission to retrieve Dr. Allen Weir who is being hunted by the aliens because of his scientific breakthrough with their technology. At first we find the town appearing mostly untouched by the alien destruction, but after the agents discover an empty command post with army soldiers dead inside, we are introduced to the aliens for the first time.
Named the Outsiders they are creatures of living technology that are trying to take over the Earth so that they can turn it into their own homeworld. The combat system for XCOM is squad based and the player can give various commands to his teammates by entering a Tactical View mode which slows time down to a crawl and lets the player tell his fellow agents what he wants them to do. Each command will take a number of “Time Points” away and although these time points slowly recover over time, they are limited so you must make a good choice for your skills or you could lose quickly in a firefight.
One of these Agent powers will allow the player to capture enemy technology and we were shown the ability capturing an automated enemy turret. Now these pieces of captured technology can be used in two different ways. You can either hold onto them for the level and take them back to base, allowing you to use the technology to advance your research or you can use them for your own benefit by turning them against the Outsiders. Every piece of enemy technology can be captured, including the above Titan. Some technology cannot be captured initially but must be damaged first to lower the amount of Time Points it would cost to capture them.
The mission ended with Dr. Weir being grabbed by a mysterious new Outsiders alien and taken through a portal of sorts. Carter runs after him and manages to make it into the portal, only to find himself in a bluish dark void floating in the middle of nowhere on a piece of the ground where he previously was. XCOM is set to be released early in 2012 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary impressions
Microsoft may have announced that they are working on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary at their press conference, but we were able to get an up close look at the title during a VIP presentation at Microsoft’s booth during E3. Halo Anniversary has been updated to match modern day graphics and has received a number of different touch ups, but the Microsoft representative assured us that the game will still be exactly like Halo 1 was ten years ago.
The game will be using two separate engines working together to help process the game, A new one that will run all of the various updates that have been done to the game’s graphics and sound as well as the original Halo engine in an effort to keep everything feeling comfortable and similar to the Halo 1 experience from so long ago. Skywalker Sound was placed in charge of enhancing the sound effects for the game and make them comparable to what we saw in Halo: Reach.
During this presentation we were shown the Silent Cartographer level, which some of you may remember is the level where you make a beach landing right into a firefight. The new HD graphics are very impressive and it is obvious that a lot of care has been spent to keep Halo 1 the same as it was ten years ago. There is a health meter again which shows how much health you actually have when your shield goes down and all of the guns, although some may look different now, have returned. Yes this means that the Magnum which many people complained that was so powerful has been placed back into the game for everyone to take advantage of.
If you don’t feel like playing Halo 1 in HD then you don’t have to worry about it, because 343 Studios has made it as simple as a touch of one button to switch the game back into Classic Mode, turning the title into its old ten year old version in an instant. This can be done from anywhere in the game and can be done as many times as you wish. I must say that it is certainly impressive to see the amount of advancement that has taken place graphically in the past ten years, because it is quite evident when switching back and forth how superior the new version is.
Of course the game will also be receiving Achievements which is the standard for all modern Xbox 360 titles. As far as multiplayer goes, all the old maps have been enhanced with HD graphics but left the same as we remembered them from the classic title. The only change to multiplayer is the fact that it will be using the Halo: Reach system which will allow players to use things such as jetpacks and the armor lock system and more.
Finally another new adjustment has been made to the title. The terminals that we have seen in previous titles have seen a complete overhaul which will display actual video in the form of a cutscene whenever you discover one. This is a far cry from the text which we used to see in previous titles. These terminals reveal more details about the Halo universe and if you are able to find them all, you will discover information regarding the storyline of Halo 4. This means if you want to have a sneak peak at what Halo 4 could be all about, then you better be setting aside some money for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary when it releases this holiday season.
Nyko’s peripherals aim to make Kinect and 3DS even better
Nyko had quite an E3 this year and they showed off some really neato items. First up is a peripheral that clips to the front of an Xbox 360 Kinect and allows gamers to use the Kinect’s camera with a reduced distance of some 40%, thus allowing players with hovels as homes to use the fancy motion controller.
Nyko also showed a lot of 3DS accessories that expanded battery life and added vibration of enhanced sound. There is even an alarm clock that charges tha 3DS battery and will connect to a MP3 player.
Whatever the case may be, it appears that Nyko has you covered, expecially in the Kinect and 3DS departments.
SSX E3 2011 trailer kicked off the EA conference
Unless you have been living under the online equivalent of a rock (read: ISP outage) you know that E3 has had its final day. But, everyday there was one exciting announcement after the other. Now that it is over though, we all feel sad. To conquer those feelings of sadness, lets revisit the first day, when Electronic Arts had their conference. To kick things off, they showed a new video for SSX and revealed that the game will launch in the 1st month of next year. Take a look at the awesome.
Also, if you go to the EA Sports Youtube page, you’ll find plenty of interviews about the game and more. Crazy cool radical snowballs of icy awesome right there.
Now, don’t you feel better? I know I do. Oh no, I just realized January is 7 months away. Sad face.