Has it been a while since you’ve stepped foot on the soil of Reach? Are you looking for something to spice up your online Halo playing? Well, you’re in luck! The Defiant map pack has been released for Halo Reach on Xbox Live today for the reasonable price of 800 MS points, including the multiplayer maps Condemned and Highlands and the Firefight map Unearthed.
Condemned, shown in the screenshot above, is a mid-sized map located on the human controlled Orbital Station Gamma in orbit around Reach. Highlands is a massive map great for big team battle and objective based games like capture the flag. It is set in a “Military Wilderness Training Preserve” used by the Spartans, which may sound like a counter-intuitive measure by the conservationists of 2552, but the wooded environment should make for interesting combat scenarios.
Finally, Unearthed is the first downloadable Firefight map to be made available for Reach. It takes place in an abandoned Titanium mine that the humans were forced to retreat from after the Covenant invasion. For this reason it should be obvious why it is necessary to fight off the waves of Covenant attempting to snatch it from the UNSC forces, as it provides valuable resources for military vehicles and armaments.
The Defiant map pack was created in affiliation with Certain Affinity, who are known for their work on the Blastacular map pack for Halo 2, maps for both Call of Duty: World at War and Black Ops, and Halo: Waypoint. For those interested in checking out the new maps before jumping into the fray, the guys over at Rooster Teeth, creators of Red vs. Blue, have posted an awesome walkthrough video of Condemned, Highlands, and Unearthed so either check out the video below or head on over to their website.
Major League Baseball 2K11 PUBLISHER: 2K Games DEVELOPER: 2K Games PLATFORM: XBOX360, PS3 RELEASE DATE: 18th March 2011 PRICE: AUS $99.99, USA $59.99, UK £47.95
OVERVIEW
Fans have been anticipating the much awaited MLB 2K11 after disappointing releases over the last few years. After MLB 2K6 was released, it seemed every predecessor after it failed with a slight change with 2K10. With 2K games’ newly released 2K11, fans are hoping this game will live up to its hype and not fail like the others.
In MLB 2K11, you are at the Major League Baseball playing for the big guns. As your team and player progresses, you find yourself playing at the Big Leagues.
GAMEPLAY
You start off on the pitch with San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers. Amid the commentary by Steve Phillips, Gary Thorne and John Kruk; it feels as though you are actually there. Despite the decent graphics, I found it a little confusing to get started. I had to play around with the controls to work out what was what. You start off as the pitcher with three choices: Circle change, Slurve or Fastball. You get to navigate where the ball will land and by pressing RS, your pitcher will throw the ball.
When first pitching, you find the appropriate button will be highlighted for players to make a better choice. If you need to pitch a circle change, the X button on the screen will be highlighted.
The game uses the same stick controls for pitching and hitting. Rotating the right stick performs the various pitches, from simple up down flicks, to more complicated rotation moves. The pitching works well but it can get hard. The AI batters seem to read the pitches better than actual baseball players do.
Hitting is still very difficult, but that’s the sport. The sense of accomplishment when I actually got the batter hit a ball was exciting. 2K’s automatic use of batter’s eye to predict the pitch is more preferable to me than The Show’s guessing the pitch mechanic, and it can make all the difference when you’re down in the count.
You have the option of skipping the commentary/cut scenes which I found handy but be careful not to miss out on valuable player information and scores. Improved AI, throwing metres and landing indicators give you more control.
It has a specific My Player mode where you can guide your player through the minor leagues and into the history books with an improved My Player mode from other MLBs.
Like all baseball games, the player’s info and stats pop up on the screen occasionally to give the little clues on their playing ability and how they can grow.
MLB 2K11 is a hard core sport gamer’s dream game. Simulation stats look very true to life on the league leading home run totals, which only go into the 30s. There is no doubt that simulated seasons will look different depending on what version of MLB Today’s constantly updating rosters you download and bring into your franchise. Also, for anyone interested in playing MLB Today games, the dynamic statistics based on real-world player performances promises to inject some life into the Quick Play game mode.
There are a large variety of options to alter the difficulty in the game, and nearly all aspects of it can be changed, allowing you to fine tune your baseball experience. Thankfully most the Achievements are no longer locked to Pro mode, so you can still increase your gamer score even if you’re not good enough for the big leagues.
There is a pretty solid but basic online component to MLB 2K11. You can join leagues and play full games online in either a season or tournament setting. The experience is a very smooth one that seems to be free of any major server problems.
However, the lack of any type of in-game presentation beyond the commentary is frustrating, especially when you even have to pause the game to see who’s currently batting. A flaw lies with the game when you indefinitely compare it to other sports titles. It would have been good to see the ability to create and join quick pickup games or online homerun derbies. It can be fun however depending on your opponent. Online play is lag free and if you can bare the skeleton appearance with presentation, it can be quite enjoyable.
GRAPHICS
The graphics are realistic but lacking, with the developers investing in the details of the player’s faces and even the crowd sitting in the grand stand. It’s not too the standard of other sport games but the player will enjoy the little subtleties. When you press the start button to pause the game, a little grid will pop up with your current progress. For first time players, the grid actually made sense and I could follow it easily.
The success of the game lies in its colours, lighting, player AI and even the commentary that gives you the impression you are there on the pitch. The developers did make a good effort in capturing the baseball environment.
For a company like 2K Games that prides itself on integrating “signature style” into its sports games, they should be disappointed with how some of these players look. Veteran players such as Miquel Tejada and Ramon Santiago are not graphically represented like they should be.
Even more disappointing is how bad some of the game’s batting stances look, and just the amount of players with substantial service time who were given generic player photos and models.
OVERALL
For someone who has never played sport games before, let alone baseball I actually enjoyed it. Despite the first hiccup with trying to work out what button to press, I did like playing it. However, I found that MLB and its sister games like NBA 2K need seasoned players. These games aren’t really designed for first time players like myself. It took a long time for me to get used to the controls and understand what was going on.
According to other players, 2K Games ironed out many bugs and flaws since 2K10 and the game doesn’t appear to lag as many others believe.
Living in Australia I had never heard of this game before but was introduced to it by a friend who ordered it from Amazon in the US. Apparently it has a huge online following amongst trivia playing PC users and right from the beginning it is clear why. While having a very simple concept the game is made much more interactive through the use of clever sound effects, catchy music and bonus rounds as well as an almost cryptic and often confusing(in a good way) way of asking the questions. Commentated by Cookie Masterson who has a dry, crass and often crude sense of humour, I found myself looking forward to the next question if only to see which celebrity he was going to write off next or what embarrassing life story he had to tell. (Apparently he likes to dance around naked covered in cream.) Everyone from Mel Gibson to the Octomom gets the Cookie treatment, even the player themselves will find themselves at the brunt of his jibes should they be performing below par
Gameplay
You are a player in a very high paced, interactive game show where the speed of your answers determines how many points you get. The principle of the game is very simple. The disc comes with 73 pre-programmed rounds of 10 questions each. Every round has 10 questions and is divided into 2 halves with the second round being double points. Each round has a different hilarious and sometimes morally wrong sponsor such as Insincere Greeting Card Co. who provide the prizes for each round. The prizes are awarded to players for answering a specific question WRONG not right. Its really not worth answering every question wrong though in the hope you will win a prize they are well hidden and hard to find. An example of a prize i remember winning was a his-n-hers double toenail clipper. Each round also has 2 extra bonus rounds for players to accumulate more money.
The first is called “disordat” where the host gives the players a list of words or phrases and they have to put them into one of two categories or maybe both. I found myself laughing too much to play when i had to decide whether ….. was the name of a Nevada brothel or a style of ranch sauce. While standard questions are scored based on how fast the player answers the disordat round gives a standard $250 for correct answers and deducts the same if incorrect. The second bonus round is after the last question and is called Jack Attack where all of the clues have a common theme. Correct answers are given $4000 and again incorrect answers lose that amount. The only semi-annoying thing is that players can guess as many times as they want on each clue losing $4000 with each incorrect guess. The advantage is you get to hear the snide remarks from the commentator for doing so abysmally such as “Let me guess, a squirrel jumped through your window, knocking over things and randomly pressing buttons choosing answers for you, as that’s really the only possible explanation for why you did so badly”.
Every so often Cookie, the commentator will employ the help of his ventriloquist dummy. Thus the question is asked in such a way that certain letters are muffled and the player has to decipher the question as well as the answer. Cookie also from time to time brings on a friend of his who was supposed to write down the question but always forgets and has to ask it as best he remembers. All of these added features are what add up to set this trivia game apart from the rest.
The game has single player, multiplayer and online modes and i can testify that it is still loads of fun when playing by yourself. The commentator is so engrossing you forget its designed as a competition for more than one player.
Graphics and Audio
One would assume that being a trivia game the visuals and audio would be quite plain. Sure games like Buzz have a cartoony fun feel to them but You don’t know Jack is bordering on manic. It made me feel like i was part of some twisted game show that i couldn’t escape from more akin to a mad circus than a boring quiz show. The audio in this game is non stop, even on loading screens which are minimal and very quick there is constant banter between the commentator and various pseudo directors and producers. I would liken its content to some of the more bizarre radio stations from the Grand Theft Auto series which always brought a laugh when i was driving around the streets with nothing to do. Each question number has its own musical score which you will find yourself singing along to by round 4 or 5.
Even though today’s young(er) gamers are wielding javelin and ripper games and dismembering entire alien civilizations there are many adult (specifically sexual) references that some people may find offensive and crude.
Overall
This is probably the most enjoyable game of its genre i have played so far. Saying that it possesses a few attributes that some gamers may find annoying. It only has a limited release as the content is 70% US trivia and those not familiar with US celebrities and especially sporting teams must become quite frustrated with many of the questions. Also it hasn’t got a randomizer in the sense that the questions are in the same order and in the same round every time the game is played. This limits the game to being played only once or well, possibly be enjoyed more than once by someone with a bad memory. In regards to online play, the rooms will be full of players who already know the answers to the majority of the questions making for a pointless competition. These are only minor pitfalls and as the questions are cryptic in nature most are still answerable, its just nice to understand the joke and not be left with a bewildered look on your face as the commentator giggles and cackles. All in all a superbly written game that takes a rather dull and simple concept that makes the player wish they actually had a friend there to play with them. On a final note it is also very cheap, so it packs that extra bang for your buck.
Guerrilla Bob Platform(s): iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac (Reviewed) Publisher(s):Angry Mob Games Developer(s):Angry Mob Games Genre(s):Action Release Date: March 07, 2011 Price: $4.99 BUY NOW!
Guerilla Bob hit the iPhone in December last year gaining favourable reviews, and it well deserved it! It’s a fine example of addictive, arcade action. It’s full of colour and character, and it is well polished with easy to use pick up and play controls. Now Bob is also available in HD on the iPad iPod touch, MAC, PC and Android devices, and I must say they are even more enjoyable with a keyboard at hand. For those interested, you can check our iPhone review for Guerilla Bob here, but for the rest of you, this is Guerilla Bob from the Mac App store.
Presentation, Graphics and Sound
Guerilla Bob is bursting with character and is easily the greatest highlight of the game. Rocking a style-istic comic book feel to it, when introducing a new enemy, a cut scene will display, zooming in on them and revealing a humorous, cartoony name like ‘Johnny Boom’ or ‘Boris The Bullet’. Filled with bright colours and excellent character design, one can’t help but smile at Guerilla Bob’s adorable charm. While levels are pretty much straightforward, the design behind it all keeps it feeling fresh at all times, and the scenery looks brilliant. Menus and cut scenes also maintain the game’s high standards of graphics and presentation as well. Sound effects are decent, and the soundtrack is pretty impressive. Voice acting on the other hand, while decent, also sounds very cheesy, with even cheesier dialogue. It doesn’t ruin the game, but it certain is one of the game’s lowest points-which isn’t even that low! The music however does compliment the style of the game remarkably well and sets the mood going hand in hand with the graphics, everything. With all this in mind, it’s clear to see that Guerilla Bob is a truly well polished game, and Angry Mob should be commended on such a fine job. This applies to whole game itself, as while the presentation and charm of the game pulls the weight, all aspects of Guerilla Bob mix in well and rounds off the title to a must-have.
Gameplay
Gameplay is fast, frantic and just down right fun, firing guns with almost endless amounts of ammo that don’t need reloading against huge hordes of enemies. Players can choose between two control schemes, and having the option is a nice addition. Auto-aim will lock on to enemies automatically, with only movement and the holding of the spacebar to fire needed to play. This is a lot of fun, and provides a great feeling of face-paced, action-packed destruction. However, sometimes it may lock onto things you don’t want it too, so it isn’t always reliable, but it is most of the time. The alternative is turn off the auto-aim, using the mouse for aiming, requiring more from the player in terms of strategy, but faster reflexes are needed. Each style works great and really can change out the gameplay, and different gamers will enjoy different options, so it’s a great addition for the title. Along the way of countless enemies includes some barricades and tents that Bob will have to shoot down, which are a little annoying in the sense that it does slow down the gameplay a little bit, taking away from the fast, action packed gameplay, but again, it doesn’t take too much away from the experience and doesn’t really bring the game down. The title really has a little bit of a beat em up kind of feel to it, with only one direction able to walk in, and with the need to defeat enemies in a section before advancing, waiting on that ‘Go!’ sign. It really adds to the arcade feel of the game. What also adds to this arcade feel are the inclusion of power ups such as speed and damage. They can really give you that slight edge in combat, but more than anything it just adds to the frantic gameplay which makes Guerilla Bob a great time play.
Guerilla Bob is filled with variety, with various costumes and weapons to be selected. The weapons admittedly all play pretty similar, but a few will change up your strategies and are welcome additions. Also welcome is the cross multiplayer option which seems to run pretty smoothly, and I must say its pretty cool you can play it on two different platforms! Really what makes Guerilla Bob such a blast to play is its simplicity. It’s very pick up and play, and it’s a great time waster for the casual gamer. The gameplay while simple is often kept fresh however which is what makes the game enjoyable, with levels and bosses such as out running a bulldozer that is chasing you. There are three (well technically four, but we’ll get into that) modes for gameplay, and each throw an interesting twist into the game. Arcade has you constantly racking up points in combat, competing for high scores, giving it a bit of a retro vibe. Mercenary is a bit more modernised with the addition of gaining cash instead of points for defeating enemies, and taking the cash to a shop for upgrades or weapons, really giving the play a sense of accomplishment. Survival is split into two modes: Classic and Wave Attack. Classic is pretty similar to Arcade as Wave Attack is similar to Mercenary. Classic will throw you in an arena and have bad guys attack you that get harder as you go along. That’s it. It’s really chaotic and again has an arcade feel to it, and is a great time waster. Wave Attack is equally as good, but has waves of enemies attack you, with cash for collection. In between waves you can spend that cash to upgrade and buy weapons as well. Survival mode is particularly fun to play as it really does test your skills and reflexes, however Story Modes Arcade and Mercenary modes have a lot more charm to them as well. All modes are really enjoyable and each in their own way throw a nice twist on the Guerilla Bob’s simple engine, really showing how polished off it is. However, it must be noted in auto-aim, they all share the same flaw in occasionally locking-on to irrelevant targets, which is particular bad in survival mode. If this was fixed, it would be very much more enjoyable.
Conclusion
Guerilla Bob isn’t a perfect game, but for what it is, it comes damn near close. A great casual game that is well polished in almost every aspect. It’s a shame the auto aim isn’t always accurate, but its truly commendable how the simple ‘hold shoot and run’ aspect has been milked dry but still kept interesting. This is due to the great charm to the game via graphics, design, music and a nice variation of gameplay modes. Easily recommendable to any casual gamer, and for all you hardcore gamers out there who shun simple games, still check out Guerilla Bob: you might be surprised how much you end up liking it!
PROS:
Addictive run n’ gun gameplay
Easy pick up and play controls
Great character design
Great power ups
Decent soundtrack
Multiple game play modes
Two very different control schemes
Cross Platform Multiplayer
Well polished game
CONS:
Some cheesy dialogue and voice acting
Auto aim isn’t always as accurate as it should be
Not all gamers will appreciate this titles simplicity
Last weekend, Rockstar Games took L.A. Noire to the road and let players witness for themselves a taster of this hot upcoming title.
A 30 minute preview of “The Red Lipstick Murder” case was showcased for fans on an exhibition theatre at PAX East (you can read more about the case here). There were also had giveaway tees and posters at the L.A. Noire booth, which will be available from the Rockstar Warehouse soon. The posters are definitely some of the coolest that we’ve seen, and it would be pretty damn cool to have Cole Phelps hanging on your bedroom wall.
Overall, fans were impressed with the game, and Rockstar said they can’t wait for players to experience L.A. Noire for themselves. May 17th/20th, hurry up…we want to play this game already!
In the past five years we have seen quite a few Dragon Quest titles, but there was one that hit the DS near the start of it’s lifespan that stands out from the series genre-wise, that being Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime. If you have never had a chance to try the oddball title before, it was a top-down adventure where players took control of Rocket, a slime from the town of Boingburg who has to rescue 100 slimes who have been locked away in chests.
The reason why I am bringing up Rocket Slime is due to Square-Enix of Japan putting up a new website that now confirms that a brand new sequel to Rocket Slime is on it’s way and to the 3DS at that. There isn’t any actual gameplay footage on the new website as of yet, but there is a shiny logo that boasts the game’s title, “Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest” as well as a list of features which include the “spot pass” function of the 3DS as well as full internet support. This new title is also looking to have a “pirate/sea” theme going on by the looks of it, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out.
Rocket Slime to this day is impressive due to the crisp, colorful visuals and witty dialogue, and now that the sequel is making a comeback in full 3D, it will be exciting to see where this growing series is headed next.
For anyone who has been waiting for the much anticipated 9th Mortal Kombat, the demo is now available on the Playstation network. Starting last week the demo was made available exclusively to those members who had subscribed to the PSN Plus service, and as of today it has been released for the masses (the masses of PS3 owners that is). The demo has yet to be dated for a release on Xbox Live, so Xbox players will need to wait until a bit closer to the mid-April release date.
This comes right after the news that Warner Bros appeals to the Australian ratings board had been overturned, meaning that the newest Mortal Kombat will be effectively banned down under. For those gamers in the rest of the world however, the demo offers a single player tournament mode with characters Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Mileena, and Johnny Cage available. Once you reach Goro in the tournament ladder, unfortunately, you’re only teased with the phrase “The Kombat Kontinues” and sent back to the menu. I would recommend taking this opportunity to start learning these characters’ special moves and fatalities before taking on your friends in a month or so. I personally like Sub-Zero’s “Have an Ice Day” myself.
I have never been a huge football fan, but that doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally give the latest releases a whirl now and then just to see what has been enhanced every few years. The sad thing is not a lot has changed with the whole genre as a whole but that could be looking to change very soon. Today EA released the first bit of information and screens for this year’s NCAA Football 12 which will “touchdown” early this summer and I must say this first bit of news is actually quite intriguing. On a new blog post over at the official EA Sports website, Art director Jean Adams shared some info on the new visual touches the game will receive this year.
NCAA Football 12 has been built using “High Dynamic Range Rendering”, which as described from Adams is “a way of rendering bright and dark parts of the game while still maintaining a high level of detail”. You know when you play a game and the shadow and shading consists of just a muddy dark color? This method looks break into that dark spot and groom it full of the same detail that is in the lighted areas, creating a much crisper and more realistic appearance. Dreadlocks on players as well as uniforms and even the crowd are getting some graphical reboots with this technology as well as shown in the screenshot above.
Adams also mentioned that the generic grass in the franchise is now a thing of the past as it is now completely 3-dimensional to create a more photo realistic appearance for each field.
Here is a screenshot of a before and after for NCAA Football 12, comparing it directly to last year’s release:
I must say I am impressed by how everything is looking, and I might just have to check this title out. I am sure the hardcore fans of the genre will get it anyway as they do every year, but the past 10 years of releases to someone who is not a huge follower of the series like myself just seems to kind of mash together, both visually and gameplay wise. If the graphics are getting this much attention with this next incarnation, it leaves us to wonder just what will be done to the actual gameplay as EA seem to be ready breathe a fresh burst of air on this aging series. I am sure more will come in the following weeks/months leading up to NCAA Football’s release, so once more is announced we will be sure to bring the news to you. For now though, I highly recommend you check out Adams’ blog out yourself for a bit more insight on these new enhancements.
Fans of JRPGs rejoice because Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel is available at your local retailer now. Also if you happen to look at the shelves and are only able to find the Premium Edition then you shouldn’t be concerned because every version of Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel shipped for now is premium edition only.
This means that for the same price as a standard game you will be getting a over sized collector’s box containing a soundtrack CD with 60 minutes of in-game music as well as a hardcover art book that contains story information, character profiles and concept art. But don’t let all of the fancy trimmings fool you, Knell of Ar Ciel is the third game of the Ar tonelico series and brings a lot of changes to the standard gameplay.
All battles that you enter will take place in real time with the player having full control over their character at all times, allowing players to move around the battlefield at their leisure. Players can also utilize the song magic system which means that the better a player times their attacks to the rhythm of the music the stronger their attacks end up becoming. Check out the English trailer below which shows off plenty of in-game footage and anime-styled cutscenes.
Every day we have to think of something witty to say before actually getting to the juicy news on these articles. Each on of our articles is like a starburst, a witty saying to hold all of the juiciness in.
However, the Dance Central Demo came out, and now I’m too tired to think of anything good; so Ill just give you the juicy news and let it run down your arms and cause everything you touch to become all sticky!
Check out what is coming to Xbox Live during the second half of March.
Xbox Live Arcade
March 16: Full House Poker (Microsoft Game Studios) – 800 Microsoft Points
March 23: Ghostbusters (Atari) – 800 Microsoft Points
March 23: Swarm (UTV Ignition Entertainment) – 1200 Microsoft Points
March 30: Islands of Wakfu (Microsoft Game Studios) – 800 Microsoft Points
March 30: Seisou Kouki Strania (G.Rev Ltd.) – 800 Microsoft Points
March 30: Rush ‘N’ Attack Ex-Patriot (KONAMI) – 800 Microsoft Points
Deal of the Week
March 22-27: Sonic 4: Episode I (SEGA) – 800 Microsoft Points
March 22-27: Risk Factions (Electronic Arts) – 400 Microsoft Points (Brazil only)
Arcade Four-Play
March 29-April 3: A World of Keflings (Microsoft Game Studios) – 400 Microsoft Points (50% off)
March 29-April 3: Worms 2: Armageddon (Microsoft Game Studios) – 400 Microsoft Points (50% off)
March 29-April 3: Worms 2: Battle Pack (Microsoft Game Studios) – 200 Microsoft Points (50% off)
March 29-April 3: Raskulls (Microsoft Game Studios) – 400 Microsoft Points (50% off)
Games on Demand
March 22: Call of Juarez® (Ubisoft)
March 22: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs™ (Ubisoft)
March 29: Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.® 2 (Ubisoft)
March 29: Split Second (Disney Interactive Studios)
March 15: Batman: Arkham Asylum (Square Enix) – price reduction
