Kalypso Media’s upcoming medieval adventure, The First Templar, has been given a new video showing off some gameplay. Supposedly, the action-adventure game will feature co-op multiplayer options, as well as the obvious single player alternative.
This trailer is still keeping everything under wraps and not giving a lot away in terms of story, setting, or exactly how gameplay will play out. One thing is for certain: battling is going to be a brutal, blood-thirsty affair, with ruthless attacks represented by the visual results onscreen. Be sure to check out the trailer below if you’re interested:
The First Templar is slated for a release date this May on Xbox 360 and PC.
Longtime fans of the Final Fantasy series have had to deal with a lot over the years. Between games not being released outside of Japan to games being released with the wrong numbers, the chronology of Final Fantasy can be a bit confusing if you live in the Western Hemisphere (and Australia!). The game we thought was Final Fantasy III turned out to be the sixth in the series, and the real 3rd game didn’t see release in America, Europe, and Australia until it was ported to the DS 16 years later.
Well, fans who never got around to picking up the DS version (or don’t have a DS) now have another option available to them for playing this classic RPG as Square Enix has just announced the worldwide release of Final Fantasy III for iPhone, iPod touch, and soon iPad. The iOS version features brand new 3D graphics and touch controls. In order to celebrate this release of the long-neglected 3rd Final Fantasy, Square Enix has also announced a sale on many of their previously released iOS games, so if you’ve been waiting for an excuse to try out Song Summoner, the wait is over!
Final Fantasy III is available now on any iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 3.0 or higher and sells for $15.99, €12.99, or £9.49 on iTunes.
Codemasters have announced that they are hard at work on the sequel to their successful formula 1 game released last year, specifying a release date for F1 2011 on 23rd September.
F1 2010 was both Codemasters’ most successful game to date, and the fastest-selling Formula 1 game of all time. After receiving a BAFTA award for F1 2010, I’m sure Codemasters have high hopes for F1 2011 when they put it out on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
This time round, they are also making a version for NGP and 3DS, although a date for these two versions hasn’t been confirmed. It’s good to see them taking on the new systems, so fingers crossed the make good use of the new hardware and all their new features.
SouthPeak Interactive and Firefly Studios, publisher/developer duo behind Stronghold 3, have announced that upcoming castle-building strategy game will be arriving on PC a little later than expected. The release window has been pushed back to later this summer to give them more time to include a host of great new features that will ensure Stronghold 3 rules the roost.
“We want to make sure fans get the game they want and deserve,” said Stronghold 3’s designer Simon Bradbury. “Although some may be disappointed the game isn’t coming out as soon as they expected, we’re sure they won’t be disappointed with the new elements we’re adding to the franchise, to make this the best Stronghold yet.”
I very very rarely use the word “beautiful” to describe much in this world. To date, there are only 3 things that I can consider to describe that way. First and foremost, is my loving girlfriend: Grace. (Who I know reads this <3) Secondly, the charitable spirit of humanity when some huge disaster shakes the foundations of our society and planet. And third, media that is able to deliver visuals that are so stunning, so breath taking, they leave a lasting impression on you for a long time to come. There is no other way I can really describe the visual spectacle that is ‘Child of Eden’, besides beautiful. But then again, what else would you expect from Leader Director Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the same creative mind behind Sega Rally, Space Channel 5, and most significantly: Lumines.The premise of the game is remarkably simple, and yet complex. The “system” that holds and dictates all of Earth’s natural beauty is corrupted. As you play through each stage, your goal is to cleanse the system of the corruption and restore beauty to the world. Using only your hands, your objective to neutralise the corrupted “data” within a system. As players do so, they are offered a visual feast of digital shapes bending, moving, reshaping into visually stunning effects and beings, whilst accompanied by a cacophony of music that can really drive the emotional response of the player. This is especially true due to the use of the Kinect system, where the player feels like they are at one with the world they are playing in.
Basically, gameplay involved using our hands to aim and lock-on to targets that represented the corrupted data in the Matrix system. Up to eight targets could be targetted at once, with the game letting us know we’ve reached the lock-on limit by chaning the opacity of the targetting crosshair. Once targets were lock-on to, a quick forwards thrust of the hand sends blue bolts of energy flying out to purify the targetted bits and bytes. At the point where targets have been acquired, the player may also feel the sudden urge to yell out a particular catchphrase they’ve learned from popular culture. For me, it had to be “Targetted and Firing” -Lockon Stratos of Gundam 00. But I digress… In addition to the lock-on targetting system, a quick clap of your hands will change your armament to the tracer beam. This weapon would primarily be used defensively to shred apart any corruption attacks any enemies may fling at you. Just as with any shooter stlye game, yes, you do have a health bar. Finally, you are also able to utilise the power of power-ups that you can find in the feild. The most significant of which are the “happy bomb” and “healing sphere” which can both destroy and create at the same time. All the while, playing through this, the player is treated to a wild, and yet calming experience, made all the more satifying through movement control.
Essentially, the game is an on-the-rails shooter that has a very cyber punk feels to it. I couldn’t help but make the combination in my mind of this game being a combined product of Starfox, Geometry wars, Just Dance and a little bit of Star Wars. The game will also be available for compatibility with the Playsation Move for PS3. Additionally, it should be noted that Child of Eden CAN be played without motion sensors, and is completely playable with the use of a controller. However, from my experience with it, every gamer should take the opportunity to experience the movement flow for yourself. Described as a Rhythm Action game for the Kinect, regardless of what sort of gamer you are, I can only say that you will be missing on a something truly amazing if you don’t give this a try.
With the impending release of the Nintendo 3DS looming ever closer, gamers of every calibre have been turning their attention to the myriad of launch titles scheduled to be available for release. After all, having a new console is no fun if you don’t have anything to play with it… And with gaming now moving into the realm of 3D play innovations, you may want to get in on some of these launch titles while you can. And those of keen eye, deduction or counting skills, many will have noticed that a large percentage of the 3DS launch titles are from a single developer: Ubisoft.
Ubisoft is no stranger to the mass release of launch titles. Take a look at the Kinect. More than half of the launch titles were Ubisoft branded, and the system had quite the successful launch worldwide. Now however, their sights are turned on the portable handheld market. Upon release of the 3DS on the 31st of March (Australian Release), Ubisoft will be releasing their own flood of products for gamers to sink their teeth into. And from what MasterAbbott, LinkageAX and I saw at an invitational trial, it must be said, we were highly impressed. While the three of us are already used to going to check out the 3DS trials to check out the new technology, we felt it was time to give some feedback on the games themselves. We were shown quite a few titles intended for launch with the 3DS including Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3D, Rabbids Travel in Time, Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs, Asphalt 3D, Rayman 3D, Tom Clancy’s Shadow Wars and James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes. Having had the opportunity to play a few of these games in a bit more depth than a standard Nintendo trail permits time wise, I’ve had a better opportunity to reflect on what features and softwares my fellow gamers should look out for.
Asphalt 3D
Anyone that’s been to a 3DS trial already will have likely already seen or played this particular title. For fans of the racing and sports genre, this is probably the must have title for the 3DS launch. It’s only one of two racing titles to hit the launch besides Ridge Racer, but it must be said that this game is graphically amazing, and it’s pure fun. The gameplay itself is fluid, and the difficultly curve appropriate for a launch title. That said, it is definitely one of those games that is easy to learn, but hard to master. While learning to use the nitrous and drift functionalities are simple enough, and probably enough to put you in a top 4 place, you really need to push yourself and learn a few of the more difficult tricks and shortcuts if you want to earn yourself the number 1 spot on the leader board. I must say it’s refreshing to see a sports game that doesn’t take the “designed-for-the-player-to-win” road that many racers suffer from these days.
James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes
This little number was a title I was not expecting to see. This particular release is point and click mystery game of similar calibre to the professor Layton Series. However, the main difference is that this game takes on a far darker feel than the light hearted Layton mysteries. The game features a mix of puzzles, and intellectual challenges that can, at times really stretch your brain muscle. The game makes a very clever use of the 3D graphics capability of the 3DS, by making the player utilise certain 3D features and angles to uncover the answers to some of the brain teasers provided. I personally thought it was very clever how in one puzzle, you are forced to adjust the 3D slider to correctly make out what the answer to the puzzler was after rotating an object to find the hidden message. Set in the “Film Noir” period of the rough 1960’s this is definitely one for both the “intellectual gamer” and fans of noir period crime novels by the likes of Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie and Dashiell Hammett.
Splinter Cell 3D
Having already been used to playing Chaos Theory on the Xbox, I went into playing this expecting a general ported over version of the old Xbox classic, utilising the control pad in place of a console controller thumb stick. It turns out there was more to playing this game than I had initially perceived. The 3DS makes a fluid use of the touch screen to dictate Sam Fisher’s actions in the game, such as climbing, using stealth tools and other gadgetry. Additionally, the added 3D perspective, believe it or not, actually helps the player discern depth and distance from enemies and objects better than it’s predecessor, therefore providing a more genuine feel for the in-game world, as well as a stronger heart pumping experience when trying to remain hidden from the view of several heavily armed bank guards. If you loved Chaos Theory before, or missed out on it in the Splinter Cell series, don’t miss this one!
Rabbids Travel in Time
OK, now THIS one was the one that REALLY surprised me. My previous experiences with the Rabbids games have been mixed. While I enjoy their general silliness and wacky sense of humour in cut scenes and gameplay, I tended to find that the mini-game style structure of the previous games made it difficult to take seriously. Additionally, the constant changing of play styles made it hard to play for a long period of time, having to constantly re-adjust to new control styles. It’s not hard to tell that the previous games were more catered towards a “group” demographic, by providing fun and wacky mini games to play when you have a few mates around, and a few too many beers. Mini-game, multiplayer oriented. That’s the perspective I went into this thinking it would be.
HOLY CRAP, was I wrong.
This particular title seems to be a complete 180 for the series. Rather than focusing on party type multiplayer functionality, the game seemed to operate primarily as a single player oriented adventure. And secondly, it’s a SIDE-SCROLLER. That’s right. A side scroller adventure to complement the likes of Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Megaman and Donkey Kong. In fact, on the note, it very much felt like the whole time I was playing Donkey Kong Country. Right down to the shiny yellow collectibles. However, the Rabbids themselves put a unique spin on this style of side scroller by adding their infamous wacky sense of humour. C’mon, how many video game heroes dispatch enemies with their BUTTS? …
No, Mario does a “hip-drop”. Completely different… What? It is.
Add in the 3D player perspective, and you’ve got a recipe for hilarious 3-dimensional goodness! I have to admit, it was quite surprising the first time my character died and he was flung directly at the screen. It looked like the little white bugger was going to come flying out! My final verdict? If you love side scrollers, GET THIS. If you love the rabbids, get THIS. If you don’t love rabbids, GET THIS ANYWAY.
Today, a small group of Capsule Computers staff got the opportunity to hang out at the UBISOFT office in Sydney. These staff members were Phil (MasterABBOTT), Michael and Myself (LinkageAX). The Ubisoft offices were a sight to behold, as upon our entry we were greeted not only by Owen, but also Sam Fischer and King Kong. They have several office cubicles and a whole room dedicated to gaming. There were also beers and cola. We were presented with dev-kit 3DS devices by Owen at Ubisoft, and a decent selection of launch titles to preview. These titles are the ones I had the honour of previewing.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars is a game that keeps the feel of previous Ghost Recon games while also altering the core mechanics of the game. In this edition of Ghost Recon, players control their squad in a type of turn based system that is reminiscent of more classic titles like Advanced Wars or Fire Emblem. In this game, units are placed in an area are move about on a grid in order to line up enemies and then attack. Each unit has his own weapons and skills to utilise on the field. The 3D works well with this game, though it is almost completely unnecessary – that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing. Somehow, the 3D enhances the game even though it adds no gameplay benefit. I found myself playing the game with it on at full power throughout my entire sitting, except for when I was messing with it just to see the difference in 3D perspective.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
Splinter Cell plays very much like a Splinter Cell game would; Stealthing, grabbing corpses, assassinations, lock picking and etc. In the build of the game that I got to play, we were tasked with breaking into a bank to steal something, or something (spoilers). It took a few minutes to become acquainted with the controls, as there were no instruction manuals to reference, but it didn’t take too long. Within a minute or so, I had taken out a guard with my pistol and was looking for a way to break into this bank. I happened across a security camera, which the game was begging me to avoid, but, me being me, I went back to where I had killed that dude earlier, picked up his corpse and then dumped in front of the camera. Security is going to have a field day with that one, heh heh. The controls on Splinter Cell were a little unweildy at first, considering the slide-pad is to move and a,b,x,y are to aim, but become quite natural. My session ended with me being killed by a guard whom I assumed would remain asleep as I tripped an alarm. What kind of bank has guards equipped with assault rifles?
Rayman 3DS
Rayman is back! And this time, in 3DS form. If I remember correctly, Rayman 3D is a port of the classic Rayman 2 that was released on the Nintendo 64 (though this version of the game is a port of the Dreamcast version). During my playthrough I found that the game controlled and played very similarly to the more classic titles on the N64, titles such as Banjo Kazooie and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. In my session I was tasked with finding a Frogs father or somesuch, which I took to immediately. After collecting a few Lums and traversing a few platforming bits my time with the game was at an end. It’s definitely a game to look out for.
Raving Rabbids 3DS
Yes, the Rabbids are starring in their own platformer and is quite an entertaining game. With level designs similar to Donkey Kong Country, the game feels right at home on a Nintendo system. The platforming is cool, the controls are responsive, the 3D is awesome, etc. The Rabbids themselves have a few things they can do during the game, such as jump, attack enemies and pick up objects to use as projectiles. The fun in this game lies in its great level design and entertaining cutscenes.
Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs 3DS
This title involves players taking on the role of a dinosaur, doing RPG-like quests and battles in order to level-up and equipping your dinosaur to make it stronger. The battles are quite entertaining and require you to counter an opponents moves with a certain other type of move. It’s very scissors-paper-rock, but doesn’t feel as though it is. Take one of our battles as an example. An Ankylosaur would attack our incredibly-long-named-dinosaur and we would have to move out of the way. After we moved, the Ankylosaur became paralysed enabling us to start attacking it and doing massive amounts of damage. For some reason with this game, I could not get the 3D to focus properly at maximum… This may have been a bug in the test version or my eyes being unfocused. More likely the latter. It looked fine at 50% though.
All up, the day was incredibly fun. The Crew had a great time previewing all of Ubisofts 3DS titles and we’re thankful for having to opportunity to play all these games early, on a dev-kit 3DS too! They’re so pretty! The 3D is also a very interesting piece of technology and I look forward to seeing how Ubisoft utilises the technology in all of their future titles. The 3D is a very interesting piece of technology. Ubisoft have the largest launch line-up for the 3DS and their games are worth checking out. We look forward to seeing how Ubisoft utilises the technology in future 3DS titles.
Well, I can’t say that this should come as much of a surprise, but Duke Nukem Forever has been delayed. Again. I know that a lot of gamers probably thought the delays were done since we’re only two months from its May release date, and Gearbox has taken the reigns, but time makes fools of us all.
Yesterday, Gearbox announced via the 2K Games YouTube channel that Duke fans would have to wait one extra month to get their hands on this long-awaited sequel. After 14 years I suppose another month doesn’t matter, although this does give doubters one more month of “It’s never coming out!” before DNF finally ships. At least Randy Pitchford and the Gearbox guys can laugh at the whole situation (and probably at us for believing it was coming) and I thought the video was a pretty clever way of breaking the bad news. If you ask me, I think Gearbox just wanted a chance to delay the game since 3D Realms seemed to enjoy doing it so much. Was it worth it Randy?
The new release date is June 14th in the United States and June 10th everywhere else. Check out their Youtube video below.
If you began your gaming in the mid to late 80’s you will have seen firsthand the enormous leaps and bounds that developers have made from Greenhouse on Nintendo’s Game & Watch through to the realistic FPS an sports simulators of today’s generation. Strangely and sadly (for today’s gamers) my most memorable games, the ones that kept me interested in the industry in general and ate up most of my time in between school are not from today’s list of popular titles. I say sadly for today’s gamers as I personally think that the playability and standard of games has dropped in quality. That’s not to say that today’s titles are not visually spectacular with integrated storylines more akin to a Hollywood blockbuster, they just seem to lack that ultimate feeling of fun over the duration of the game. I have tried to justify my choices by acknowledging the fact that games of an older era possessed the advantage of being truly groundbreaking and in many instances they changed the face of gaming forever. These were not just ports from another platform or a sequel to a popular series on a new generation console, they were new ideas presented on new technology never seen before. While this does have a bearing in the decisions ultimately these games were simply more fun to play and even 20 years down the track I have fond memories of being lost within their firm grasp.
Movies of today rely heavily on special effects and sound to enhance the entertainment value of the film, foregoing natural acting talent and engrossing storylines in the process. The same can be said for many of today’s games, which although possessing amazing visual scenes are empty of emotion, having no way to connect to the audience and encroaching too much on the movie genre. I can’t think of any game from today’s current choices that would have me up at the local milk bar 2 hours before school at 6am in the morning lining up to play the local champion. Ahh those were the days.
Anyway onto the list
Street Fighter 2
The undisputed King of games IMO. This game had me down at the local milkbar every day before and after school pumping 20c coins into the lone standing arcade machine (until Mortal Kombat came out and kept it company). Note I am referring to the original SF2 not the lame Hyper versions and such that came after it. Everything before this game paled in comparison to it and the same goes for much that came after. It was released 20 years ago this month and is responsible for the cavalcade of fighting games that have come since, with many of its characters still being used in new titles and off-spins. I actually remember as a child having a Super Nintendo and sourcing one of the first copies of this game from an ad in the Trading Post, having to buy some special adapter that required 2 games plugged in at once to allow foreign games to work. Cost me an arm and a leg to boot. SF2 is the highest selling Capcom game ever.
Super Mario Bros
Theoretically still the highest selling video game of all time with over 40 million copies sold worldwide. The game that has taken over from it is Wii Sports and since this game was given away with the Wii console I don’t think it gets the title. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played this game all the way through and it still doesn’t get old. Responsible for resurrecting the entire video game industry as well as putting Nintendo firmly on the map, this could be considered the most influential game ever made. Increased playability came from the multiple ways a player could get through a level often having to go back to discover new items. There’s not really much to say about this as there wouldn’t be any gamers not aware of its presence or who haven’t played it for that matter. It was released originally by Nintendo in 1985 for the NES system on a cartridge not much smaller than a Wii, and has been revamped in New Super Mario Bros which is the latest instalment on the Wii. It was first rendered in 3D on the Nintendo 64 and has since been improved upon in the multi award winning Super Mario Galaxy series on the Wii.
Resident Evil 0
Easily the most current game on the list, this title was developed by Capcom in 2002 for the Nintendo GameCube as a prequel to the entire series. If they weren’t the first to use the concept of changing between players instantly within game play they were certainly the first to implement the feature successfully. It was also one of the last adventure games to have truly challenging puzzles that kept the player thinking long after the console had been turned off in frustration. I remember many times getting up at all hours of the night having just thought of a way to decipher a poem or get through a locked door. Everything after this I feel concentrated too much on enemies and shooting their way through the game rather than solving puzzles. This game really had everything, from a scare factor reminiscent of Dead Space to challenging enemies and cool weaponry (flame thrower).
Sierra collection
Specifically I am referring to 3 games but they are as similar in terms of design and idea as to include them as 1 game. Also they are sold as a collection these days I think. In order of age they are as follows, Kings Quest I, Space Quest I and Leisure Suit Larry.
Originally released in 1984, Kings Quest – the quest for the crown involved players taking control of King Graham, in his adventures from being a knight to King of Daventry where he and his family live. The fun and at the same time annoying part about games from this era is that there was no mouse available yet to control characters. Players had to walk around using the cursor keys and type, yes I said type in the commands they wanted to perform. You had to be prepared to die many many times while typing in controls that 1980,s computers could not understand. Typos resulted in death in the majority of cases and save points were few and far between. Remember these games were being played off five and half inch floppy discs and didn’t have the capacity to save much data on them. The puzzles were incredibly complex and the game utilised EGA and VGA graphics which were ground breaking and visually superior to anything else.
Space Quest I- The Sarian encounter was along the same lines in terms of game play but added a character that was remarkably stupid in nature. Players took control of Roger Wilco, a janitor on various space crafts as he travelled through the galaxy saving the universe often by accident. It had a very Star Wars feel to it especially in relation to alien character design. Like Kings Quest it relied on typing in commands but allowed for saving at any stage in the game.
Leisure Suit Larry – The thing I remember most about this game is having to answer the questions at the beginning aimed at keeping minors from playing it. What they didn’t implement was a feature limiting the amount of times u could try. A fantastic game that introduced young gamers into the seedy world of Larry, a short ugly man that thought he was god’s gift to women. I have fond memories of playing this when I was 12 giggling madly but having no idea about what a condom was, let alone what it was used for. This game was more fun for its taboo nature but it also had a very engrossing storyline and ideas and concepts never seen in games previous to it.
Crash Bandicoot
I didn’t bother really playing any of the sequels to the original as Naughty Dog left after the second instalment and didn’t have much involvement in the others. I first had Sim City in the list but then remembered how much time I wasted playing this and why. In an age where Mario Bros reigned supreme as the King of platformers, Crash Bandicoot came along to eventually become one of the highest ever selling Playstation games. The addictive part of this game was collecting the various different coloured gems and solving the puzzles by having to perform near impossible tasks and precision jumps in the process. Every level had to be carefully analysed in order to collect every box and get the bonus gems.
Of course this list is subjective and I’m not arguing that you all will have a very different list of games that give you that warm fuzzy feeling inside. I could have listed a whole lot more but those are the 5 that most stick out in my mind without even having to think about it. They represent a time to me when games had a lot more thought put into them, and had the individual player in mind when designing it. A game most of you will say is missing from the list is Grand Theft Auto. I actually had the pleasure of meeting the guy randomly in a pub in Eastwood Sydney who designed and came up with the original concept for the game back when it was nothing more than stick figures and blocky cars seen from an aerial view. I won’t say anything to incriminate the guy but let’s just say he was incredibly eccentric, and very proud of his latest idea of offering players discounts on the game if they could bring in some kind of traffic offense statement when purchasing it (an idea which didn’t last long once the authorities found out). While this game did offer gratuitous violence on levels never seen before and finally gave gamers the opportunity to commit offenses which would otherwise see them behind bars, for me it became repetitive, not changing a whole great deal between instalments. Don’t get me wrong, today’s developers are producing phenomenal games, with intricate plots spanning across all eras. Character design is incredibly interactive and sport games are realistic with players gaining more lifelike characteristics with each instalment, but for me they have gone too far in many respects. I never design characters I play everything with the stock option. I’m not saying I don’t upgrade them but that’s different to spending more time chiselling out a high cheek bone and lip structure then actually playing the game. Game developers are getting away too much with empty shells of games that players are completing with ease. Yes you can argue that FPS are designed for multiplayer and online play, but that doesn’t help the gamer who wants to immerse themselves in a fantasy world and get lost in the pure pleasure of it.
Anyway that’s just my rant hope you enjoyed reading it all.
Some other games that deserve a mention include
Gran Turismo, Moto Roader, Escape from monkey Island, Alien Storm, Shamus, Sonic, State of Emergency, Dig Dug, Mortal Kombat, Streets of Rage, 10 Yard fight, Double Dragon, Alley Cat, Gauntlet, Golden Axe, Ghost and Goblins and Sim city. Most available as VC or Wiiware.
Anyone who owns the game is already familar with the immersive character design and addictive gameplay offered by 2KSports in there latest edition of Top Spin tennis. For anyone else here is the ‘Opus’ trailer showing why you should definitely own this game if you are a fan of any kind of competitive sporting game. The trailer highlights the hard work that has gone into making Top Spin 4, emphasising the vast array of character features and manipulation that contribute to the interactive and smooth gameplay. Check out the facial manipulation section of the trailer, that would make most rpg games jealous. I have to add that most sport games dont hold my interest for very long, maybe as i dont have many friends to play against but i have found myself going back to this game again and again mainly due to the coach quests and upgrade system that 2ksports use within it.
