Sega announced that Virtua Tennis 4 is coming to the PSV. With the advanced features of the Vita, there are also some interesting features that can be incorporated into the game. For example, the camera can be used to customize the characters, and there is a “special Touch Versus Match which allows two players to battle on the same PlayStation Vita.”
22 tennis stars will be in the game, the world tour map and online mode will be fully supported and touch and regular controls are supported.
“We are delighted to announce Virtua Tennis 4 and confirm the development of four further titles for the PlayStation Vita, illustrating our strong support and excitement for the new platform,” said Mike Hayes, CEO of SEGA Europe and SEGA of America. “Our line-up features all new adventures for some of our most loved SEGA IP, in addition to extremely innovative and purpose built new IP – all taking full advantage of the unique gameplay opportunities provided by the PlayStation Vita.”
“With Virtua Tennis 4 on PlayStation Vita the team have embraced many of the features that the new hardware is capable of, including the high-definition graphics, Touch Panel control, network functionality, motion sensing system and the camera”, commented Gary Knight, Senior Vice President of Marketing at SEGA Europe and SEGA of America. “The way the team have been able to implement this brings the Virtua Tennis series to a whole new level on PlayStation Vita.”
Four unannounced titles for the new console are also coming.
During our tour of EA’s quite large booth at E3 earlier today we were able to gain access to view some of the first gameplay footage ever shown to the media outside of established trailers for the title. We were taken into one of the most impressive rooms I have seen so far at E3 and were shown a fifteen minute gameplay segment that was played by one of the game’s lead developers.
The game will place players in control of a hero that has been revived from the well of souls and it is the first time that such an event had ever occurred in the history of the world. Because of the playable character’s revival, they no longer have a destiny , which not only provides the player with a completely blank slate to create a fighter of their own choosing but unique powers that deal with destiny itself.
Players will be able to completely customize their character from four different races and play as either a male or female character. The customization system looks more in-depth than previous Mass Effect titles and rivals what we have seen in Oblivion with various customization options at the time.
After showing off the customization options we were presented with the combat system. The developers reminded us that the game may play in real time and look like an action game on the surface, but it is anything but. All attacks can be performed with two attack buttons and there are no special button combinations to perform elaborate attacks, instead the game will focus on the players ability to create a well-rounded character and adapt themselves to any situation.
One thing that was a bit discouraging however was the fact that certain enemies can be finished off with a quick time events. This is something that we have seen often in the God of War series of games and considering the fact that 38 Studios and Big Head Games want to step away from the action game stigma, taking players out of the experience in an RPG and having them watch a kill is something that should be fixed up.
The player also has the ability to bend fate to his will. Because he has no destiny of his own he is able to bend the world around him and can slow down time after filling a certain meter by killing enemies. This time slow down also affects the character, but not as much as the monsters, allowing the player to deal heavy damage in a short period of time with little risk to themselves.
The sneaking, pickpocketing and stealth system was shown off slightly, as we saw that a player adept at sneaking can disarm traps and collect the pieces for themselves as well as sneak up on unaware enemies and finish them off quietly. A meter above the enemies head will let the player know how close they are to becoming aware to them, but it doesn’t seem like it will be very difficult to sneak around, as the developer picked a human enemy’s pocket before killing him. The % chance to steal an item without alerting the owner is shown next to every item you can steal, which will certainly be helpful in the long run.
The loot system in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is going to be something that any RPG fan should love. All enemies, including dead allies, can be looted in the game. There will be five different pieces of equipment that the player can wear at any time, with some items creating a set and providing additional stat bonuses.
Something that was interesting to see was the dialogue system for Kingdoms, as it likens itself towards Oblivion by providing a list of dialogue to choose from. The dialogue that will further the quest will have a symbol next to it that shows it will continue the story. Any other dialogue choice will let the player learn more about the current situation or learn more about the game’s lore system which is a nice touch. Creating a world as interesting as Amalur and not allowing players to learn more about the backstory around them would have been a waste and it is good to see that Kingdoms of Amalur will not be making that mistake.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a very surprising title in my opinion. Not much has been shown for the title despite being announced quite some time ago. The game looks to be a mixture of Mass Effect gameplay with Oblivion style character creation and dialogue system. I’d have to say that Kingdoms was the biggest surprise of E3 so far for myself and that I am certainly looking forward to hearing more about the title and playing it when it releases sometime in 2012.
There are a select few games coming out for Xbox 360 Kinect that have everybody (I mean everybody!) excited. The Gunstringer is one of those games. Featuring a zombie cowboy as a puppet out for revenge of all things, this is sure to be a classic game. Being developed by Twisted Pixel, there is a now a new trailer for the game that was shown off at E3 2011.
Should we all be excited about this sickeningly sweet game? What other games coming for the Xbox 360 Kinect are you excited about? Let us know!
Twisted Pixel is also developing a sequel to ‘Splosion Man.
Konami’s Neverdead was available right there on the floor to play but we had the ability to skip these lines and get hands on with the title right away. Neverdead is a title that has players take the role of Bryce Boltzman a man cursed with immortality. Some people may find immortality a blessing, and Bryce takes advantage of his immortality in more ways than one the demo we played.
We joined Bryce and his human mortal partner Arcadia as they were approaching a building only to come under attack by an enemy that they call Puppies. These puppies were small round creatures with wide mouths that ran along the ground like dogs, but looked nothing like them. Thus we were thrown right into the combat of Neverdead which allows players to either take on enemies at a distance or up close and personal.
Bryce can use two separate guns at once and if standing still can pinpoint his fire on one spot and finish off enemies quickly under a barrage of gunfire, while they can also switch to their “Butterfly Sword” similar to a butterfly knife but much larger. The sword is controlled by locking onto an enemy and swinging the sword in any direction with the use of the right analog stick. While players can choose their own fighting style most of the time, some enemies are immune to gunfire and must be taken on with the sword.
Being immortal has its perks of course, like the fact that having your arms bit off or your leg ripped off are nothing but mere flesh wounds. Too bad the Black Knight couldn’t have that ability huh? Occasionally when Bryce is damaged, or if interacting with something in the environment, he will lose parts of his body. These body parts can be recovered by performing a dodge roll over them and they will automatically attach back on.
Bryce can remove his own limbs if he so chooses. As they said in the game “Puppies like to play fetch” meaning that you can tear off your own arm and toss it over the puppies, making them turn towards it. You can then detonate your unattached limb like it was a grenade and kill the puppies near it. You have the ability to do this with any body part you lose. This means that a full dismemberment can cause devastation to your foes, which in one case helped clear out an entire room of foes thanks to the spread of the limbs.
If you think that exploding your body parts is a bad thing, don’t worry. By pressing the right analog stick Bryce will be able to regrow any body parts that he is missing; this includes his entire body if he is simply a head rolling around on the ground. Now while Bryce is immortal, Arcadia isn’t.
Arcadia was knocked down during a cutscene in the game which introduced the revive mechanic and one of the way that players can lose the game. If they do not revive Arcadia before her picture goes entirely red she will die, causing a Game Over screen to appear. We were assured however that Arcadia’s AI is well made and that she can hold her own, which is true because after the scripted event where she was taken down, she never had to be revived throughout the demo. Reviving Arcadia is a simple affair that only takes one second of standing near her and pressing X.
The other way to lose the game that we were shown was to have your head eaten by a certain enemy. We had to solve a certain puzzle by ripping off Bryce’s head and tossing it in a fountain, forcing it to shoot into a locked building. Here we were introduced to an enemy that can suck in Bryce’s head, causing it to be digested forever, effectively causing a Game Over. Bryce isn’t completely defenseless as a head, as he can build up speed and ram into these smaller enemies and defeat them with a few bashes. Bryce can then regrow his whole body back and return to his immortal state.
Neverdead’s combat is extremely fast paced and responsive. Using the sword was a bit difficult at first as it isn’t able to be swung at every angle that the right analog stick will allow but it is more than effective enough to dispatch your foes. The invulnerability of Bryce is an interesting thing to experience firsthand, especially when the destructible environment is crashing all around you, tearing off your limbs as you grow them back and continue the fight. Neverdead will be released in the Fall of this year for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. This hands-on was on the Xbox 360 version of the title.
Exploring vast frontiers of possible innovation, the new Star Trek game had some pretty prominent coverage at E3 2011. You’ll play as Kirk and/or Spock in a action/adventure coop game stopping a “legendary enemy race bent on conquering the galaxy.”
The game will be playable on the Xbox 360, PC and PS3. On Playstation 3, there will be some exclusive DLC, as well as a Playstation Move Phaser attachment.
“Sony’s Move technology and built-in online community make for an unparalleled platform to bring the Trek gaming experience to life,” said John Kavanagh, Senior Vice President, Paramount Digital Entertainment. “Players will be fully immersed in the co-op action with an authentic Phaser Move controller in hand, and PS3 players will have the first chance to dive in to the adventure with Sony exclusive DLC before the full retail game comes out.”
Take a look at the new trailer below.
“Most teaser trailers feature zero gameplay, but we’re proud to introduce Star Trek to the world with a first look made up entirely of pre-Alpha gameplay to show how great the game looks even though it is more than a year off,” said Tom Lesinski, President Paramount Digital Entertainment. “The level of quality and authenticity to the new Star Trek (2009) universe is a testament to talent of the team and the strong collaboration between Digital Extremes and the filmmakers.”
The E3 trailer for Bodycount has arrived in one piece – that is until it blows it into a thousand pieces with some of its very own heavy artillery.
Bodycount is about the gun experience and the impact you have on the environment around you as you shred it to pieces. There’s a big focus on a destructible environment, with nearly everything being broken up and damaged by the spray from your weapon. In Bodycount you’ll be unleashing destruction on the unsuspecting Militia, Military, and the new agency in town, the Target, but only time will tell who they are and what they stand for.
Until some of the story behind it is revealed, check out the trailer below to keep yourself out of trouble:
Well it’s about time! Finally the official trailer for ‘Hitman: Absolution’ has been released by IO Interactive. Fans have been waiting very patiently for this next instalment in the Hitman series. Hitman: Absolution follows assassin, Agent 47 on his most dangerous contract to date with himself trapped in the mitts of a twisted conspiracy.
Going by the trailer and screenshots, this game looks amazing. Powered by IO Interactive’s Glacier 2 engine, the game pushes some very fancy graphics and technology to support its cinematic story, art direction and game design. The trailer itself shows of some possible new gameplay features, Agent 47 appears to use objects and his surrounding environment to take down his enemies.
Hitman: Absolution is set to be released on to Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC in 2012
Good news for Nintendo 3DS owners, Namco Bandai have announced two more titles under development for the portable gaming device, Ace Combat 3D and Pac-Man Party 3D. With the huge push towards the latest portable gaming consoles, it is evident that Namco Bandai are committed to bringing popular gaming franchises to newer audiences, as well as pushing their titles forward through innovative design. Both these titles are expected to take full advantage of the system’s unique features, bringing a new dimension to the classic series.
Ace Combat 3D will deliver an intense 3D experience, packed with supersonic flying, exciting dogfights and high-altitude acrobatics. The game will include touch screen targeting and additional control mechanics. Players will be able to take full command of every intense skirmish to enable complex counter-manoeuvres right at the last second. Fans of the series pervious titles can look forward to real world aircrafts to pilot in a range of diverse missions.
Time to bring the whole family and your friends together for a 3D Pac-Man party. Pac-Man Party 3D is a fun multiplayer experience filled with dozens of mini-games to play either with or against each other. The game will feature a variety of control styles that utilise the systems unique gyro-sensor, touch screen and buttons.
It may be a video game based on a movie, but if the latest clip is any indication, Sega are pulling out all the stops for the upcoming Captain America: Super Soldier, due out later this summer. This “prologue” trailer features the hero in full CG as he takes on an army in a World War II setting. Shortly afterwards, the Red Skull makes his debut as the trailer comes to an end.
Even though no actual gameplay is shown here, we could very well be looking at a super-hero title that defies the odds by providing an all around action-packWored adventure. You can watch the clip below and judge for yourself. Captain America: Super Soldier is scheduled to release for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, & 3DS July 19th.
Imagine if someone was explaining to you that there existed a game with Final Fantasy’s battle system mixed together with Mass Effects dialogue system, along with Borderlands visual style. You would be quite pumped, would you not? I’d wager that you would be. Well, I’m going to tell you why that won’t be the case with Faery: Legends of Avalon.
Story
The game begins with your player created Faery awakening in what appears to be the middle of nowhere. You are greeted by two other Faeries that inform you that the king has had you awakened in this world where humans are no longer believing in Faeries and that he wants to see you at once. This of course was all King Oberons own doing, as he forced the Faeries to retreat into a slumber which allowed the entire world to crumble around him over time.
This guy is the King.
The story of Faery is told through chatter between the player and NPCs. It is also told through the players actions within the game, but not too largely. Like, for example, you can influence how much non player characters like you by choosing whether or not to use the bad or good option in a dialogue.
Gameplay
As I stated in the intro, Faery plays very similarly to Final Fantasy in regards to combat. You have one team on the left and one team on the right, with each unit taking turns in hitting the other sides units until one dies. Unfortunately for this game, the battles are too easy and it never feels like you’re risking death. This is because of the obvious weaknesses in regards to spells, as well as being able to choose your fights smartly. Unlike most turn-based rpgs, enemies are visible in the play zone of the game and can be easily avoided if they look like they might be a challenge, thanks to the game giving you a pair of wings to fly wherever you want.
And really, that’s the games main selling point; the wings. Being able to fly across one end of a zone to another end of a zone in a really fast time is something that is really appealing. In this game, the flight replaces the walking that would normally be found in this type of game. So you still need to hover down to the ground in order to collect things and talk to NPC’s. You’ll also find that the majority of enemies also lay along the ground, so flying above them will generally keep you from fighting them.
Though, you will quickly learn that this technique isn’t very effective in dungeons. These are generally located in caves and the like. Dungeons tend to limit the distance in height that you can fly, which can force you into combat with some enemies. While most battles are incredibly easy, it just feels like this was added in to create a longer feeling dungeon.
After battling enemies, you will generally find that you increase your experience which goes towards upgrading your levels and unlocking new skills. So it often works against your favour to avoid battles anyway, though, some you will have to leave alone as they’re not yet balanced for the level you may currently be (or be too low for you to bother taking).
Remind anyone of anything?
The game also has a very easy to learn control scheme, so you won’t find yourself fighting with the controls very often. Along with easy to learn controls are easy to navigate menus and things. You’ll find that the further you go into the game, the more each option will mean to you in each customisation screen.
The last thing I’m going to talk about is the dialogue wheel. This thing is directly lifted from Mass Effect. Like, really directly. While it’s a good model to base a conversation on, I would like to see a little innovation in this area.
Graphics
This game is not pretty. Not at all. The game gives you a character creation tool because the devs probably realised that their own creations were representations of the spawn-lings of Satan. This normally wouldn’t be a problem (because games like Morrowind had absolutely atrocious modelling too), but the game is called ‘Faeries’; so it’s not unreasonable to expect somewhat pretty looking models.
“I’ll swallow your souls!”
The developers don’t look like they’ve put much effort into player models, or they’ve worked themselves too hard in modelling everything and have included too much that they just couldn’t cope with the amount, so quality degraded. I’m not sure if that’s the actual case, but it is what it looks like.
Outside of models are the effects, and they look effecty I guess. There isn’t really much flash in this game, nor are there any kind of effect filters to make the game seem different visually from scene to scene. It’s just one screen of yuck, to another screen of yuck. Not a very good selling point.
Audio
No voice acting and poor musical quality, this game has both those traits.
While I can forgive the lack of voice acting (I think that a lot of games use way too much of their budget in this department and hurt the final product in the end), having a poorly composed soundtrack is one that I cannot. I mean, why’d they go for a symphonic soundtrack? They could have saved a tonne on utilising a midi soundtrack (did you know that most Zelda games run on this format?) and maybe had a much better sounding end result too. But regardless of the recording levels, if the composition is terrible, so too will the soundtrack be. There just wasn’t enough dynamics in the battle themes, nor was there enough memorability or effective composition in the overworld.
It’s hard to show audio in text format…
The attack/weapon/magic effects aren’t anything special, but they do their job at letting you know that something is happening while accompanying the visual effect of what’s happening.
Closing
Faery: Legends of Avalon is a RPG with turn based elements and a conversation wheel like Mass Effect. What isn’t as fun as however, is Mass Effect or Final Fantasy. If you’re the type of player that looks for fun in their games, you will want to avoid this title. However, if you’re the kind of player that loves being made to enjoy horrible and mind-numbing boredom, this game is the perfect match for you.
As an independently developed game, I can understand the budgetary limitations and man power limitations, but those could have been circumvented simply by adhering to a couple of the things that I touched on briefly in the above post. At best, this game can be used to entertain small children or as a tool to explain role playing mechanics of other games.
