With everyone sitting around waiting to hear about the next big Call of Duty game, Activision is taking their time and enjoying people’s various guesses and anticipation for Modern Warfare 3. So much so that they have decided to post up a little notification on their Facebook page saying that the game’s world premiere would be set for May 23rd during “game 4 of the Western Conference Finals on ESPN.”
It seems like it is certainly an odd time to choose to reveal your next big game but Activision is certainly capitalizing on the amount of people that will be watching the game. At least this means that next Monday you should be tuning into ESPN to catch the game’s reveal. Or you could check back here shortly afterwords as I’m sure the internet will be exploding by then.
In a letter to developers and publishers Sony has stated they are planning to relaunch the PlayStation Store on May 24th, next Tuesday. The letter obtained by Gamasutra is written by PSN content manager Jack Osorno who says that they will be planning to update the Store twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays for the next two weeks to help make up for the delay in release for a number of titles because of the outage.
If a company has any problems with the release schedule, Sony is “willing to consider adjusting the release date of your content on this schedule.” The letter did not include the launch date for the “Customer Appreciation Program” (Welcome Back program) but says that the two free games will be made available soon after the PS Store is back online. This is good news for everyone waiting to purchase something from the PlayStation Store, or redeem a code for a game that they are going crazy waiting to play for the past few weeks.
As expected, a follow up game to 2010’s LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 has today been announced by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games and the LEGO Group entitled (unsurprisingly) ‘LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7’. The game, based around the last three Harry Potter books and films will follow the same LEGO family friendly gameplay. So expect the same magical gameplay, lessons and potion-making skills. New locations added into the game will include Grimmauld Place, the Ministry of Magic, and Godric’s Hollow along with new challenges, spells, puzzles and enemies. Not to mention, the highly anticipated final showdown with ‘He Who Must Not Be Named’…Lord Voldemort.
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 will be available for Xbox 360, Playstion 3, Wii, PC, PSP, DS, 3DS and the future NGP expected to be released later this year (Q4, 2011).
Whilst the excitement for the new Modern Warfare 3 is palpable, gaming retailer EB Games have announced upon preordering, gamers can receive an exclusive MW3 poster featuring the recently released image of the soldier among a white background as well as an actual TIME magazine cover on the back.
Also, a source close to Infinity Ward has revealed the proposed storyline for the 8th instalment. Is is yet to be confirmed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer, but rumours running rife around the internet say the plot is pretty much close to the actual players will experience.
The following storyline is below:
“Modern Warfare 3 opens as Modern Warfare 2 closed: The United States under siege by Russian forces, ultranationalist Vladimir Makarov on the loose, Captain John “Soap” MacTavish and Captain John Price wounded and on the run with the Russian informant known as Nikolai.
Fleeing to a safehouse in Dharmasala, India, the three are attacked by Makarov’s men. In this firefight players take on the role of Yuri, a loyalist who works for Nikolai. Their safehouse compromised, the group flee the area in a helicopter.
The game then cuts to Manhattan where Russia is launching an attack on the city from a fleet of ships parked in the Hudson River. (It appears the famous U.S.S. Intrepid may be destroyed.) The U.S. calls in Delta Force to repel the attack. You take on the role of Frost, a Delta Force operative under the command of Sandman. Your goal is to take out a jamming tower on top of the New York Stock Exchange to open the area for a U.S. counterattack.
Following the mission, Delta flies out of the city on a Blackhawk, gunning down enemy choppers as they make their way to the harbor where they have to infiltrate and take down a Russian sub which is coordinating the attack.
As the New York missions wrap up the game jumps forward in time half a year, thrusting players into the role of a Russian agent tasked with protecting the president of Russia as he flies to sign a peace treaty with the U.S. The plane is attacked by hijackers mid-air who attempt to kidnap the president and his daughter. The daughter manages to escape. The president of Russia in hand, Makarov vows to prevent a peace treaty by getting the launch codes out of the president and launching an attack against the U.S.
The game then returns us to Price, Soap and Yuri, now in Africa in a search for Makarov. They meet with a local South African arms dealer who tells them about a shipment of chemical weapons that Makarov is trying to buy. The group make their way to Sierra Leone to secure the weapons from African militia.
Next, players take on the role of an SAS operative who is tasked with stopping a delivery of weapons of mass destruction at a London dockyard. A gun battle ensues, and the agents are chased through the London subway. The mission culminates with a series of unmarked trucks exploding in front of the house of Parliament, releasing a deadly chemical agent.
Several other European cities and military bases are hit by similar terrorist attacks backed by Russia, and the death toll rises to the tens of thousands. The series of chemical attacks opens the door for a Russian military blitz strikes across the continent.
Price discovers that the South African arms dealer who tipped them off about the chemical weapons deceived them and travels to Somalia to find the man and interrogate him. Through the arms dealer, Price discovers that Makarov’s right hand man, Volk, is hiding out in Paris.
The game’s attention next shifts to Hamburg, Germany where players take on the role of a U.S. tank gunner fighting to push back a Russian advance backed by armored divisions.
As Hamburg falls, the game shifts us back to the story of Price and his crew. Now in Paris, players control Delta Force operative Frost who, with the help of the French special forces, leads an assault on Volk’s location in the underground catacombs of the city. Next, players take to the sky supporting Frost’s ground movements as a gunner in an AC-130.
After capturing and interrogating Volk, Frost learns that Makarov has a meeting in a Prague hotel. Players control Yuri as he and Soap slip into the Russian-controlled city and set-up an ambush for Makarov in a church bell tower. Makarov somehow catches wind of the trap and escapes. Soap, Yuri and Price then have to fight their way out of the city.
Yuri leads the team to one of Makarov’s headquarters in the Czech mountains and the group infiltrates the location, looking for clues. They discover that the ultra-nationalist has the president and is trying to get the codes out of him. Makarov has also discovered the location of the Russian president’s daughter. The group move out to Berlin to try and prevent her kidnapping. Playing as Frost, gamers must find the daughter and protect her, while making their way through war-torn Berlin. The daughter, however, is captured and flown away.
Frost next makes his way to the Kremlin where a task force of operatives attack and free the hostages, but Makarov manages to escape again.
The game’s final mission occurs in Dubai, where Yuri, Price and Sandman launch an assault on a heavily guarded hotel, eventually finding Makarov and, yes, finally killing him.
It also appears that the game may also include a post-credits level that features the burning of Washington, D. C.
The stage seems set for a passing of the torch: from player-controlled members of Task Force 141 to the new characters from Delta Force.”
Despite current rumors, this storyline does not feature Ghost whom many believe would be the main protagonist in the new game.
Game Name:Thor: God of Thunder Platform(s): Nintendo DS (Reviewed), Xbox 360, PS3, Wii Publisher(s):Sega Developer(s):Wayforward Genre(s): Action/Beat-em Up Release Date: May 3, 2011 (US), April 30, 2011 (EU) Price: $29.99 BUY NOW!
The whole concept of games created to release alongside a blockbuster movie is certainly nothing new these days. The problem is that many titles are rushed to make a certain date, resulting in a somewhat lackluster experience. Thor is the latest to get the video game treatment with all the familiar faces from the Marvel comic book in tow. Instead of going for updated gameplay and 3D character models, Wayforward have taken a step back and made the Nintendo DS release a 2D side-scrolling brawler which is sure to capture the attention of those who grew up gaming in the 90’s. So how does this different take on the a movie tie-in fare? Here is my review for Thor: God of Thunder for the Nintendo DS.
Story
Right off the bat I can say as this is being written, I have still yet to see the theatrical release for Thor. That really isn’t needed here though as the plot is told surprisingly well as small text-based encounters with other characters throughout game set the scene for what’s ahead. Many hardcore Marvel fans (or those that simply have seen the movie) are sure to instantly spot some familiar faces here such as Loki, Mangog, and Odin to name a few. Players take the role of the God of Thunder himself, armed with his trusty Mjolnir as he treks through in a battle to save his beloved Sif and take out the many ice giants, trolls, and other evils that await.
The whole game does a fantastic job of bringing a more 16-bit approach to it’s narrative and keeps everything focused more on the gameplay while still carrying a half-way interesting plot and capturing the theme for the franchise wonderfully in the process.
Gameplay
As I mentioned, what truly separates the DS version of this title from it’s console brethren is the actual gameplay. Thor: God of Thunder is a side-scrolling beat-em up that reeks of a 16-bit atmosphere from beginning to end. That being said, there is quite a bit of extra elements to enhance the overall experience. Thor’s main weapon is his hammer, the Mjolnir. The Mjolnir is mainly used as melee weapon, which by tapping the Y button lets you hammer down foes as they approach. A combo system is also in place which lets the generally weak attack gain strength as it is used for one smash-tastic hit at the end. While it can get a bit old after a while, this rather simple attack is pretty fulfilling to perform and does it’s job well for taking on a pack of trolls or ice giants at any given time.
Thor can also charge up and throw his Mjolnir at will, with the charged version of this attack dishing out more damage and sending the enemy to the ground nearly every time. A dash attackis available which quickly lunges Thor into a foe, but I honestly found the more simple attacks more useful. As you bash up enemies and proceed to the next area, valor is gained which eventually enables a God-like attack, striking all on the top and bottom screen with a massive thunder, wind, or force attack. I had plenty of fun using each of these techniques, but the true money shot in your arsenal is the grapple attack in my opinion. Just about any enemy can be grappled (though rather large ones require a bit of button-mashing effort), in which Thor quickly heaves the enemy above his head. The awesome part about this technique is that you can either be boring and simply toss the baddie away, or you can literally carry the unsuspecting creature throughout the level, using it as a weapon. Pillars can also be used with this method as well, in which Thor will rip a structure from it’s roots to smash enemies into the ground. This was actually one of the most useful techniques I found in the entire game and made me feel like I was actually controlling a powerful deity.
While the 2D elements are prominent at all times, Wayforward have certainly went out of their way to utilize both screens. That is due to the fact that each stage plays out on both for the whole experience. Any time it is required, Thor can leap into the air and onto the top screen to reach platforms, bash winged enemies, or escape from an overwhelming threat. The transition between screens is executed so seamlessly, it eventually becomes more of a second thought as both screens work together to paint one giant scene.
At times, the game can be quite repetitive as the attacks generally all look and feel the same but Thor does try to redeem itself with a small upgrade system. Throughout each stage, pick-ups known as runes can be acquired and equipped to enhance abilities such as melee attacks, throws, and Thor’s god-like powers. Up to three can be used at once and the changes are pretty noticeable for the most part giving the intended boosts promised. Admittedly, this doesn’t completely stop the monotony, but it does offer a slight reward for exploration of the linear environments while opening up a few extra options for combat in the process.
With the end of each stage comes an intense boss battle. Generally, the variety of enemies are pretty limited and a change of sprite to fit an environment is about all the change that is offered throughout the game. Boss battles however end each stage with fantastic climax and are a wonderful incentive to progress through. From large monsters to a more standard size foe, each battle requires a different strategy to destroy, adding a huge wind of fresh air into the rather repetitive system. For example, there is one huge ice creature that rears it’s head in which you must literally get inhaled into it’s body to destroy his icy core. Of course that is just an example, but I found each boss to be quite memorable and a pure pleasure to encounter due to the fine detailing that went into crafting this system. The utilization of both screens takes center stage for these battles here as well, making these battles all the more epic.
Graphics/Audio
Being a licensed 2D DS title could have been a bad thing, but the level of detail given to Thor graphically puts it on the same level as many of the AAA franchises for the handheld. Sprites are finely detailed down to the small marks on enemies weapons, and each animation runs fluently and I never once encountered a hiccup in gameplay due to the polish provided. Environments are also a fine production as the stunning background scenery are all layered with the foregrounds, creating a full, active scene to do combat in. Mountains, icy cave walls, and dried up, cracked floors also stick out to add even more depth to each area, making each stage feel more different from the next.
If you are a fan of those catchy tunes that played on some of the memorable 16-bit classics, you will feel right at home with Thor as that is what is presented. As far as audio goes though, the true champion of this game were the sound effects. Each time you smash your hammer onto an enemy or use your thunder power, you hear that loud thud or crack, and those small sounds definitely helped make the whole combat system all the more rewarding.
Overall
Thor: God of Thunder is what I would like to see from now on out of licensed titles. Yes, it is a 2D brawler, but so much detail went into the game that truly sets it apart from the usual rush-jobs we see in the market. The full utilization of both screens worked well and boss battles all were a nice finish to each action-packed stage. While the gameplay still suffered from some repetitive mechanics, it still remained simple and fun for the whole experience. Those who are looking for a more classic approach for their DS library should not let Thor fly under radar as this Thunder God provides a “shockingly” well crafted licensed title that will surely incite some feelings 16-bit nostalgia.
Earlier today the developers behind the upcoming and highly anticipated Battlefield 3 released a new blog post pertaining to the Back to Karkand DLC that is to ship post Battlefield 3.
The Back to Karkand DLC is going to bring back fan favorite classic maps, such as Gulf of Oman, Strike at Karkand and Sharqi Peninsula; all of which are going to be re-rendered in the new frostbite engine 2. The DLC will also feature many weapons from the previous entry, Battlefield 2.
The blog post is a question and answer type ordeal, with one of the developers behind the DLC answering various questions based on the development of the game. It’s an interesting read and gives us a little insight into the development process as well as other bits of information as to what type of gamer the developer is.
Hi Niklas Fegraeus! You’re Lead Designer on Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand, where the classic Wake Island map will be remade. How far do you and Wake Island go back? — Wake Island was my very first Battlefield experience, like it was for so many others. In 2002, I was actually involved in a professional Counter-Strike clan. We had just trounced our opposing team, when they proposed a rematch – in the recently released Battlefield 1942 demo on Wake Island!
Star Raiders Developer: Incinerator Studios Publisher: Atari Release Date:May 11, 2011 Versions: XBLA (Reviewed), PSN, PC Price: 800 MSP, $9.99 – Download Trial Now
Overview:
Lately Atari has brought back many of its classic franchises in the form of an upgraded XBLA, PSN and PC title. We’ve seen things such as Haunted House and Yar’s Revenge in the past but neither of these titles holds a candle to Atari’s Star Raiders. Star Raiders was originally created back in 1979, making the original title 32 years old which means there is plenty to upgrade from. Has Atari’s latest venture in bringing the past back to a more updated future been successful?
Story:
Now the story of Star Raiders places the player in a war against the Zylons. Humans have managed to make it into space but unfortunately they aren’t met with friendship. I wish there was more to explain here but there really isn’t anything much more in-depth than this. The story is forgetful at best and is told through a number of still image cutscenes and text that is usually voiced over. Now the main reason that the story is at best forgetful is simply due to the problems with these two things alone, besides the fact that little is not actually ever developed, nor do the Zylons receive backstory of any sort.
Graphics:
The artwork in game is actually relatively good looking. Space ships are well modeled and have a nice feeling of vastness and speed as they fly through the emptiness of space. Players will really receive the feeling of being in space as there really isn’t a whole lot to see in the universe around you besides enemy ships which look great and galaxies or planets in the distance.
Unfortunately when you actually step away from the gameplay graphics you find a much less pretty picture. Whenever something story related is worth explaining it occurs through still cutscenes that are relatively well drawn, but characters seem to be an issue as many of the characters drawn are odd looking to say the least, especially considering they are all supposedly human.
Now earlier I mentioned that these cutscenes are voiced, and this is most certainly a good thing as the text in the game is small enough to make you feel like you’d be better off ignoring the text altogether and flying off on a wing and a prayer. In this day and age it is depressing to see text as tiny as this is; even with a large HD television the text doesn’t reach levels above eye bleeding tiny.
Audio:
The voice work for the cutscenes is suitable at best but doesn’t really add much to the experience beyond allowing you to understand what is happening at any given moment. Explosions and other sound effects sound well enough in space but there is nothing noteworthy here as they did not leave any impression other than the fact that there was sound.
Gameplay:
Players are given a space ship that has three different modes of fighting the enemy in space. These modes are the highlight of the game as you can change at the slightest touch of a button. These modes are Turret mode, Assault mode and Attack mode and each varies in both weaponry and appearance. They also vary in control scheme but I will address that later.
The first few levels you are given in the story are treated as tutorial levels that help walk you through some of the basics of Star Raiders and teach you each of the various ship modes and the weapons equipped to each one. This tutorial ventures outside the combat and into the customization area as well as players are given the ability to customize their weapons and their AI co-pilot. Unfortunately the co-pilot is nothing more than a fancy way to say stat boosting item.
Combat is relatively basic, fly around space and enter dogfights with the Zylon fighters. You will find a number of different mission varieties that will ask you to either destroy a certain amount of enemies, protect a ship for a certain period or destroy a very large enemy battle ship. Unfortunately even with this extra variety combat simply has little actual challenge or enjoyment outside the first few minutes.
There are a number of reasons for this, as players will find that the enemy AI is usually quite poor and they will not bother you heavily until you are right on their tail firing on them. The bland combat is made worse by the fact that there is little actual challenge. It is interesting to note that players are shown a Recharge station where they can recover health as well as secondary weapons for their ship, but in truth there is no reason to even bother with recharge stations.
The reason for this is that there is no penalty for death in Star Raiders besides a three second respawn. Players will find themselves crashing into asteroids or space debris simply to gain their supplies back faster and take down enemies. The UI helps players always find where they will find their next target and often a heat seeking missile is enough to finish off the majority of enemies you face.
If anything will add difficulty there is the control scheme. Earlier I mentioned that each of the three ship modes has a different control scheme, and each is customizable. This may be your barrel of fish if you enjoy micromanaging everything about your fighter but for others this barrel of fish is rotten and should be jettisoned out of an airlock. The controls are extremely hard to get used to as they do not lend themselves well to a console. Once you obtain mastery of the controls the game gets even easier than before but this at least adds further challenge to the beginning few levels.
Also there is no multiplayer mode at all which is truly a disappointment as a dog fighting mode with other players would have been a definite plus for the title. There isn’t even any co-operative play mode which would have worked flawlessly but unfortunately is not implemented. The lack of any multiplayer is a true loss for the title and for those who pick up Star Raiders.
Overall:
Now Star Raiders is a title that made History back when it was released in 1979. Unfortunately this remake in 2011 doesn’t lend itself well to modern times. The most depressing thing about the title is that there is truly a lot of potential here. Spaceship fighting simulators on current-gen consoles can most likely be counted on one hand and with Star Raiders multi-mode ship combat it could have created a great title. But instead it became something that is extremely bland that has little challenge outside of its control scheme and reading the text.
Although it was first announced in February, Robot Entertainment’s upcoming title Orcs Must Die! has only just caught my attention, due to the regular videos on their YouTube channel showcasing each weapon.
Founded by developers from Ensemble Studios, the people behind Halo Wars and the classic Age of Empires franchise, this is their first original game as Robot Entertainment, and it looks awesome.
Orcs Must Die! is being called a tower defense/strategy/action game. From the looks of it, players are placed in charge of defending a fortress from relentless waves of orcs, setting traps, using environmental elements and weapons to find the most creative and effective ways to stop the horde.
Instead of the common top-down view associated with tower defense games, and the power to place objects anywhere you can see onscreen, control is tied to a character viewed from an over-shoulder third-person perspective, and players must run around the fortress placing traps, triggering events and if necessary, directly attacking the invaders.
Gameplay will essentially involve players setting up traps like arrow walls, elven archers, spike floors, and swinging blades before the horde arrives. Once the horde enters the castle, players must run around and maintain these traps, sit in strategic locations to drop chandeliers onto them or ignite boom barrels, and use your crossbow to take out those who survive.
The gameplay looks fun, the visual style looks somewhat cartoony, and the game as a whole gives off a light-hearted, funny vibe. Definitely one to keep an eye on. Orcs Must Die is due as a digital download for PC and consoles sometime in “Summer” –i.e., June/July/August, for those of us down south.
Check out the gameplay trailer below, and keep an eye on the official site for updates, and the comical descriptions of the game elements.
Hey everyone, to celebrate my time at Capsule Computers, I have decided to let the community have a chance at getting to know me a little more closely.
Today and any other day after this article has been published, you can head over to the forums (linked below) to launch me a question and assuming that the question is one that I would deem reasonable, then I will do my best to answer it. These questions don’t just have to be personal though, they can be my opinions on things and what-not. I’ll leave you all with the quotation from my staff page and hope to hear from you all soon.
I’m Linkage Ayexe, LinkageAX, Ayexe, or in reality – Benjamin. I have been gaming since as early as I can remember, but it’s probably longer than that. My earliest memories of gaming are watching my dad play through Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the SEGA Megadrive (Genesis to everyone overseas). This is also probably the first ever game I played.At the moment I’m a serious QuakeLive player, but not so serious that I attend tournaments and things… I will when I think that I’m good enough though Outside of Quake I play World of Warcraft, I’m ‘Ayexe’ on the ‘Caelestrasz’ server, hit me up sometime. As you can probably tell, I’m primarily a PC gamer but I do also play consoles and handhelds. My favorite console franchise is the ‘Legend of Zelda’ series, which is (as we all know) the greatest franchise to have ever graced gaming. My favorite TLoZ game would be Ocarina of Time simply because of it’s excellent level design, memorable characters and it’s amazing settings. My second favorite franchise is of course ‘Megaman’ for it’s tough as nails platforming gameplay and entertainingly sci-fi storyline. I started with Megaman X on the PC and ended up moving on the Zero games on the GBA, which are to this day my favorite Megaman games. The ZX games are also pretty good, but I have a soft-spot for Zero.
I was an N64 kid as opposed to a Playstation one, so I saw more top rated games over the years. I grew up with games that were always critical successes on this console, Super Mario 64, Goldeneye64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and many other greats, like LylatWars (Star Fox64) and Perfect Dark (which was sooooo good that it got a HD remake on Xboxlive Arcade! ).
In less than two months, the highly anticipated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 will arrive in theaters worldwide. Of course there is also a videogame adaptation underway from EA Play, which will release alongside the movie and EA have now announced a contest to celebrate. Labeled the “EA Reporters” contest, fans of both the Harry Potter franchise and videogames will compete to win a trip to EA’s UK-based Bright Light Studio to meet the development team behind the Harry Potter video games as well as Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy in the films.
To enter, fans need to create a short and original video which highlights their love for the films as well as the videogames. Finalists will be then be chosen by an internal panel at EA and the community will cast a vote to see who takes home the top prize. EA have also stated that “Originality and creativity are absolutely critical to success”, so this would be a time to put on your best cosplay face and fully show off all your Potter belongings. For details on how to enter as well as submission instructions, check out www.harrypotter.ea.com/facebook, and may the best fan win.
Outside of Quake I play World of Warcraft, I’m ‘Ayexe’ on the ‘Caelestrasz’ server, hit me up sometime. As you can probably tell, I’m primarily a PC gamer but I do also play consoles and handhelds. My favorite console franchise is the ‘Legend of Zelda’ series, which is (as we all know) the greatest franchise to have ever graced gaming. My favorite TLoZ game would be Ocarina of Time simply because of it’s excellent level design, memorable characters and it’s amazing settings. My second favorite franchise is of course ‘Megaman’ for it’s tough as nails platforming gameplay and entertainingly sci-fi storyline. I started with Megaman X on the PC and ended up moving on the Zero games on the GBA, which are to this day my favorite Megaman games. The ZX games are also pretty good, but I have a soft-spot for Zero.