So today is the big day. You bought your special someone a bouquet of roses, a box of chocolate and even decided to spring for some diamond jewelry (or knock offs, they might not realize it). But little do you know some important facts about all of your choices in gifts. Well don’t worry Valve isn’t going to let you go into that meeting unprepared.
In a humorous way to market Portal 2 they have released a brand new video just for Valentines Day to make sure that you know exactly what could happen if you decide to give your sweetheart all of those gifts you just bought them. It’s always a safe bet to go with a portal gun. No one ever got hurt when one of those was involved when dealing with things of affection….
One of the most classic and noticeable songs from Rick James is his song “Super Freak” which has so far not shown up in any music or rhythm games so far, will finally be making its way to Dance Central along with a few other less notable songs. Of course it is going to be just a day shy of Valentines Day. But then again dancing to Super Freak may just cause your girl to run away anyways.
Selling for 240 MSP each the songs that will be added to Dance Central’s DLC repertoire will be Chic’s “Le Freak,” Missy Elliot’s “We Run This,” Amerie’s “Heard ‘Em All” and of course Rick James’ “Super Freak.”
Anyone who has watched an anime before may have noticed that most of these anime feature either an alien girl showing up out of the blue and liking the main character (To-Love-Ru) or a girl who will stay by their side regardless of what they do that makes them angry (Inukami). These character types may seem original at first, but for the most part they draw upon the classic anime Urusei Yatsura which began and ended back in the 1980s.
Lum is perhaps one of the most iconic figures in anime and one of the most recognizable creations of Mamoru Oshii. Considering the fact that the anime has been out for twenty years, American anime publisher AnimEigo has had the license to bring all of the DVDs over for US residents to enjoy. Unfortunately on September 30th of this year they will let their license expire and no longer sell any copies of Urusei Yatsura. Meaning if you want to buy your share of Urusei Yatsura, then your time is running out. Personally however I have a feeling that some other company will pick up the license eventually for the iconic series.
Running, jumping and shooting to release, Pix’n Love Rush is nearly ready to be downloaded on the Playstation Store. Originally released on the iPhone, the game is finally finding its rightful place on the Minis side of the PSP and PS3 .
One of the most appealing parts of the game is that if you can spare 5 minutes, then you will have time to play the game’s main mode. Packed with 10 different vintage environments, this game will test your reflexes and tenacity.
The PlayStation Mini version of Pix’n Love Rush also features the Cursed mode. In this mode, all you have to do is to press one button to jump platform to platform and get as far as possible. The 5 levels of Cursed mode include: Hard, Harder, Hardcore, Hardcorer and Hardcorest. Hardcore!
On-Off Rush mode is also included in the Playstation edition of the game. This mode tasks you to go through each level forward and backward. Going forward, the game will be set in daytime and you have to catch the suns and avoid the moons. On the way back, it will night time. Hence, the experience goes to the opposite end of the spectrum; you must catch the moons and avoid the suns.
Pix’n Love Rush will be coming on March 2nd for PlayStation Plus subscribers, for free for a limited time. And on March 16th, everybody will get a chance to play this game for €1.99 / £1.74. Check out our review, coming soon!
A cacophony of accents bring you this weeks podcast. From Texas to Australia and Chicago to Colorado, Dustin, Phil, Travis, Jed and Link (aka Ben) bring you the latest gaming news and reviews in the video game world. The other voice on the podcast belongs to Dylan. Since we don’t really know where he comes from, his special accent is all his own.
Listen in as we talk about the “worst game in the world.” Also discussed is the sublime Nintendo 3DS and the amazing Little Big Planet 2. Stick around for the entire show. You never know what sur-Prizes might happen.
As always, please send your comments, tips, suggestions and feedback to [email protected]. We love it when you do that.
Game Name: Test Drive Unlimited 2 Platforms: Xbox 360 Publisher(s): Atari Developer(s): Eden Games Genre(s): Racing & Flying Release Date: 2/8/2010 ESRB Rating: T (Teen) Price: $60 (USD) BUY NOW
Story
“Chase glory from behind the wheel of the most exclusive performance cars and take the race online to challenge rivals around the world. Customise your life as you tear through the streets and kick up dust off – road on the sun – kissed islands of Ibiza and Hawaii.” [Via Xbox.com]
Start off poor and work your way up the social ladder as you meet new people, buy new cars, and move into larger and more luxurious houses. The streets are your playground and what you do on them is up to you. Race off road or down long stretches of asphalt, the possibilities are limitless in this vast open world racing game.
Gameplay The entire game has to do with racing, but how you race is completely up to you. There are classic cars, performance cars, and even off road cars. Each react to the environment in different ways and each require a different way of driving in order to be successful with them. For instance, while off road vehicles tend to be slower than performance vehicles they aren’t restricted to the roads and can create shortcuts through fields. While a majority of the single player races are restricted to a specific car, online races aren’t and these variations and how well you use them will determine the winner from the losers.
A majority of the game will be taken up by getting licenses that are required to enter races. The rest of the game will consist of completing the races, making money, buying more cars and houses, and making more money. If you enjoy racing games, a majority of the game will be enjoyable and the multiple different kinds of races keep the variety up; however, getting the licenses is boring and incredibly dull. Having to go back for specific licenses in order to partake in certain races is a headache that would’ve been better left out. You can also get out of your car and walk around when you enter buildings, this mechanic is cool at first but you tend to walk incredibly slow and it takes a while to get anywhere while walking within the buildings.
The physics are a little odd in this game. While it is cool how there is a huge difference between asphalt racing and off road racing, the collision seems to be random and a little dull. When you collide with something you will either come to a complete stop instantly, or you will ricochet in some random direction for no apparent reason. Another odd thing about the game, is that a few things that many of us would assume would break upon collision such as wire fences don’t and these things may take a while to get used too during races.
Multiplayer is a big focus in Test Drive Unlimited 2. As you play the game and enjoy the single player narrative you will always be connected to the internet (if you have xbox live) and regularly run into other players. If you do, you can challenge them in a quick race and bet money or just ride around chatting with absolutely no goal in mind. What you do with your friends while online is endless and leads to a lot of fun racing for wealth and glory.
Audio & Graphics The audio in the game is standard in every aspect except the sound effects which are great. Most of the audio that is noticeable is pretty subpar, the voice acting doesn’t seem to fit and the selection of music is pretty low. On the other hand, each car sounds unique with separate engine noises and a variety of collision noises. The rest of the audio is fine, it could’ve been better but it doesn’t remove from the experience.
The graphics are beautiful, with large open worlds that are shiny. Heavy customisation is also abundant in the game and you can customise everything from your body, or your car, or even your house. There is a lot of detail in the world and it all pretty much loads in real time; however, this causes objects to pop up in the distance and sometimes it is a little unsettling to see a large forest just appear in the distance or cars come out of nowhere. These small sacrifices may have been necessary for the experience, but they are still a bit disappointing.
Achievements The achievements in Test Drive Unlimited 2 consist of a whole bunch of collect X amount of an item, or do a certain task a whole bunch of times. If you enjoy the game they will come naturally after playing for a very long time, but it isn’t a list you can just sit down and work on. There are a few quick achievements that are easy to get, but once those are completed you will be stuck grinding out the rest. Luckily the game is enjoyable enough to make it feel less like a chore, but not everyone will appreciate having to find every single location or drive for over 5000 miles to get a single achievement. This is definitely not an achievement list that you go in expecting to complete, you need a lot of time and a lot of friends to assist you in the full 1000 and not many people have that these days.
Overview Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a massive game with tons to do. There is a lot of driving and tons of racing, but you should probably already know that and even expect this if you are picking up a racing game in the first place. Tons of cars, tons of customisation, and massive landscapes to explore. Play with friends, play alone, or meet new people to play with; it is all here. Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a fun game, but it can get repetitive and not every single thing in the game is streamlined. You can waste tons of time just driving around aimlessly, but this isn’t always a good thing specially if you want to jump into a race immediately.
The reboot for Mortal Kombat, which is soon to be released, is going to be released with a special ‘Tournament Edition’. Warner Bros. Games acquired the Mortal Kombat license a few years ago when the series creators Midway went bankrupt. The Tournament edition is going to be released with the Xbox360 and Playstation 3 versions of the game and looks to be quite the deal. It is going to be available on the 20/04/2011, at a price point of $198.00 AU for each separate version.
The Tournament Edition comes with –
PS3 –
Mortal Kombat The Game
Mortal Kombat Fight Stick
Retro-Ninja costume Exclusive alternate in-game costume inspired by the classic Mortal Kombat character designs.
Mortal Kombat inspired costumes to decorate your avatar on PSN.
Xbox 360 –
Mortal Kombat The Game
Mortal Kombat Fight Stick
Retro-Ninja costume Exclusive alternate in-game costume inspired by the classic Mortal Kombat character designs.
Customize your Xbox LIVE avatar with Mortal Kombat costumes and challenge your friends in our new King of the Hill online mode.
These look like a must-have item for not just any Mortal Kombat fan, but for fighting game enthusiasts everywhere.
Be sure to check out Mortal Kombat for PS3 and Xbox360 at EBGAMES.
When I first heard about this title, I admit I was a bit curious at how odd the title was for DTP Young Entertainment’s “Cozy Fire”. First off, to my knowledge, fires have never been cozy as if you try to snuggle a blaze, you will burn your flesh off. To my surprise though this title is actually a new simulation “experience” which turns your Wii into a fireplace. Cozy Fire is not a game whatsoever, as the only gameplay consists of striking matches and throwing logs into a fire, so it mainly acts as more of an application for your Wii. If you have ever seen the virtual aquariums that are on the system, this would fall into the same genre.
As well as watching logs burn, players can choose from fire alone, campfire, rustic, classic, elegant and Zen fireplaces, with of course all of the crackling and popping of a real fireplace. Cozy Fire is now available on the WiiWare Download service for 500 Nintendo points. I could “roast” (fire puns work well here) this title for being a…. virtual fireplace, but instead I am open to the idea of having app like releases on the Wiiware in this case as it actually sounds like something I would try out. With Valentines Day right around the corner, Cozy Fire just may be your own ticket to setting a romantic mood or might just simply add some nice atmosphere to a boring gaming room.
Recently, gaming giant Square-Enix announced that they were releasing Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II on the Playstation Network.
The games will be released on the 16th of February and the 2nd of March, respectively, which is a gap just long enough to have completed one then move straight onto the other. They will be priced at 7.99 Euros each, but consumers that purchase Dissidia: 012 [Duodecim] Final Fantasy and/or Parasite Eve The 3rd Birthday (both titles appearing on the PSP) will recieve a 50% off voucher for Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II from each respective title.
While you expect a straight port of the original titles to the online store, this appears to not be the case with each port containing a new dungeon for players to explore as well as artworks and other special features.
to quote the press release –
FINAL FANTASY Features
The ultimate edition of the game that gave birth to a phenomenon.
The original game in the amazing FINAL FANTASY series that has sold over 97 million copies worldwide returns
Features the extra dungeon Labyrinth of Time.
Art Gallery mode allows you to view the stunning artwork of leading illustrator Yoshitaka Amano.
FINAL FANTASY II Features
Features the extra dungeons Arcane Labyrinth and Arcane Sanctuary.
Art Gallery mode allows you to view the stunning artwork of leading illustrator Yoshitaka Amano.
These features are pretty cool, especially the Amano art gallery, and Final Fantasy die hards should consider whether it is in interests to purchase this edition of these titles.
Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll most likely has been under the radar for most gamers. It’s a game with a weird name that wasn’t advertised very much that came straight out of Japan. What most gamers don’t know, however, is that this is actually the latest game in the Zill O’ll franchise which has, up until now, been only available in Japan. From what I understand this game is unique in its gameplay apart from the rest of the series. Many were expecting this game to be a budget title, but it is far from it. Despite it’s weird name, Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll will surprise gamers with its staggering amount of content, excellent sense of progression and unique gameplay.
Story
The story admittedly starts slow and you initially won’t hold much interest in the characters or their reasons for advancing the story. The main character, Areus, is the (secret) grandchild of an evil emperor, Lord Balor, who was prophesied to be his downfall. As such, Balor had his pregnant daughter murdered. Unbeknownst to him, though, is that his son had already had a child (Areus) who has managed to escape his fate at the hands of Balor’s henchmen.
An adult Areus joins the Arena (a perfect way to present you the tutorial) and rises up through the ranks with his friend, Dorado. On the sly, Areus is using the arena to build his combat skills to prepare for fighting Balor. Eventually Areus tires of the Arena and begins taking on guild quests from various towns. Along the way he meets two other warriors, a Boldan named Dagda (basically giant-people) and a Darkenith named Selene (vampire). The three agree to become mercenaries for the Dyneskal Army (Lord Balor’s army) under General Dorado (Areus’s friend from the arena joined the army and became a high ranking general) in an attempt to get close to Balor to make a strike.
Eventually Dorado gives Areus a special request to find and eliminate a rogue group of warriors who are gathering to stop Balor. Areus and crew seek them out, join forces and collaborate to end Balor. Along the way they take down a few stragglers who aim to aid Balor or at the very least impede Areus. Plot twists and drama occur during the length of all of this. The story is nothing new, but it serves it’s purpose. At about halfway the story starts to get pretty interesting and I found myself playing to simply further the story instead of unlocking more of the game.
There is a great deal of backstory and lore (as this is part of a long running series in Japan). The game sports a bestiary that lists the weaknesses as well as a bit of backstory for every monster you defeat. Along with this bestiary is also a journal that records various legends and lore that you find out throughout the game’s taverns and character interactions. There is a great deal of discovery waiting to be had here, though none of it is mandatory. If you desire to learn more about the game world, it’s there to be had.
Despite the decent storyline, the voice acting for the cutscenes can be dreadfully awful for some characters. Areus, Dagda (the boldan) and Dorado seem to hit their mark, but almost the entirety of the remainder of the cast are absolutely awful and can really serve to pull you out of the game.
Gameplay
The combat, at its core, is hack and slash. This was developed by Omega Force, famed developers of the Dynasty Warriors franchise and so you can definitely see its roots and inspirations here. Initially you only have Areus to play as, but as said earlier, you eventually gain 2 more party members. The unique gameplay element for Trinity is that you are able to switch between characters at will, even mid combo. The other 2 characters are AI controlled and will suffer a noticeable hit to their damage but will also become much more resistant to damage.
In addition to fighting while you control one character, the remaining 2 AI controlled characters can grant you a bonus during battle, depending on who is AI controlled. Areus can grant increased attack power, Dagda will make you invulnerable and Selene will grant you life-sucking ability on your weapon. These buffs only last about 30 seconds and are randomly cast at the beginning of battles. They aren’t much but they do help out quite a bit.
Once you gain all three party members, you are able to “break” certain monsters, mainly bosses and mini-bosses. What this means is that after one of these enemies does an attack, a glowing reticle will appear around them and shrink down. This reticle means that they are currently vulnerable and if you hit them with an element they are weak against it will begin to “break” them. Once you initiate this, the reticle will grow larger, giving you more time to break the enemy. Once broken, the enemy falls down for around 15-30 seconds, taking much more damage than usual (this is normally the only way to kill these monsters). If they get down to 20-30% health during a break state, you can initiate a trinity attack, using all three fighters to finish it off and netting you bonus experience.
Combat is real time, much like Dynasty Warriors. You can buy new skills and abilities from the various mage’s guilds across the gameworld or learn certain ones for completing specific quests. These skills and abilities can be leveled up twice by spending souls (experience) that you earn for defeating enemies. These skills and abilities can be freely mapped to either the square, triangle or circle buttons, using R2 to switch to another set of abilities. Unfortunately, there are something like 12 skills for every character and 6 total slots just isn’t enough. I would have liked a bit more room for customization in that area as it does get hard to juggle all of these different elements and attacks for each individual enemy.
The game has two difficulty settings, easy and normal. I played through on normal, and it felt right. The majority of fights against trash mobs (lesser enemies) were often not a problem, though certain enemy types can prove to be a nuisance. There were some fights that were legitimately challenging which were quite apropos, mainly consisting of bosses or new enemy types that can throw you a curveball. Needless to say, unless you spend hours upon hours grinding so you are vastly above the appropriate level, the game has a nice balance of challenge throughout.
Each level generally plays out as “go from point A to point B and find a special item or kill a boss at point B”. As you progress the story you unlock more towns and dungeons (I say dungeons, this really means any playable level), sometimes even unlocking completely new areas within already discovered dungeons. There are TONS of guild quests and honestly they can get somewhat repetitive fairly quickly. You can only do the same level so many times, even if it is for different reasons like finding an item, killing a boss or escorting an NPC (yes, there are escorts and yes, escorts are the bane of video games) it will still wear on your enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, there is no “travelling”. There is no overworld. It’s simply a map that you look at and move a cursor around to select where you want to go. Towns are not a playable space, only a menu. From the map you select a town, the town background loads and you are able to select where to go in the town, be it the adventurer’s guild, mage’s guild, tavern, shop or other areas. All character interaction is done through text with the characters portraits appearing on screen, much like RPG’s of yore. I do wish that there was more polish in this, like actually being able to visit towns and move around, physically talk to the NPC’s but honestly the way they do it evokes a great sense of nostalgia for me. I can understand that this won’t happen for other people and can see how it would be a great let down.
Presentation
Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll was once advertised to use a unique and innovative art style to make it look as if the game was a moving oil painting. It’s actually just a filter over the screen that is instantly noticeable. Not that it looks bad, but this is not an art style. It’s simply 3D graphics with translucent filter over it. Zelda: Wind Waker was a completely new art style, this is not. Again, it doesn’t look bad but it’s nothing to get excited about.
There is no armor, but you do change bracelets, rings and necklaces. What I’m saying is, visually, you do not change aside from weapons. You DO unlock one new costume/outfit within the game, simply an upgrade of their basic clothing, but this does nothing for your stat-wise, it’s just for looks. Japan got a great deal of DLC, ranging from new areas, dungeons, quests, items and outfits, but it seems that the West is not getting any of this. Peculiar that it wasn’t included on disc, as most if not all of it was free and was already made (as this has been out in Japan for months) but hey, whatever.
There are a handful of weapon models, making finding a new weapon fun to see what it’s going to look like. Weapons follow a pretty traditional style, randomly generated bonus’s. Examples would be “rapier of heroism” or “fists of stone” or “daggers of venom”. There are special weapons and items that you can get from quests or very rare drops that are unique and often have a unique model with way above average stats, so it’s not just all generic crap.
For a game that is easily 30+ hours long, you would expect to not be fighting the same 5 enemies over and over again. The game does re-use models, but there are enough unique types so that you don’t get bored. Each level and environment will be home to a plethora of creatures that can change based on what quest you are on, so you never need to worry about getting bored in that sense. Even 20-30 hours in you are still discovering completely new types of enemies.
If you frequent taverns and guild halls you will eventually unlock hidden sidequests for yourself and your teammates. Completing these will significantly upgrade that character, unlocking a completely new set of skills and abilities they are able to learn. This simple mechanic of rewarding the player for exploring and discovering new things is present throughout the entirety of the game, so you should always check the towns any new things that might have popped up.
Constant checking of the taverns and towns will serve to unlock not only quests for your characters but a plethora of other sidequests. You can eventually unlock a casino later in the game to win special equipment as prizes, progress through the arena to unlock powerful weapons from defeating the bigger bosses and discover a great deal of smaller sidequests from random NPC’s.
The game’s pacing and sense of progression is absolutely astounding. I can’t write this review without emphasizing this. The game will take around 35-40 hours to complete, longer if you want to platinum it and unlock everything. ALL along the way you are being introduced to new core game mechanics and discovering new things. Around 20 hours in you unlock a new method of combat that will completely change how you fight bosses. It’s really great to see things like this because games normally introduce most if not all core mechanics in the tutorial or very early in the game, it’s quite refreshing to find new stuff even 20-30 hours in. Just when you think you’ve peaked and are just going to spend the rest of the game grinding on the same enemies, the game switches it up to keep it fresh.
Final thoughts
For a franchise that is seemingly out of the blue, this game absolutely astounded me at its sheer amount of content and (adequate) level of polish. The game isn’t perfect, the voice acting is pretty bad in parts, quests can become very repetitive and the game seems to run a bit too long when you near the end. It’s also a bit disappointing to see so many unique characters throughout the story who are unplayable. You would think that with a developer like Omega Force who make a game like Dynasty Warriors with dozens of playable, unique characters, they would allow you to play with the other characters in this game, but nope. You are always stuck with the same 3, the other characters will come in as guests but you can’t control them, which is a bit of a shame. But despite these flaws, Omega Force has pumped out a pretty great action RPG aside from their usual Dynasty Warriors (which are also awesome, by the way). Gamers will be hard pressed to find another game with this level of content and excellent sense of progression that rewards the player for exploring the game’s lore.
For its debut appearance in the West, the Zill O’ll universe has surprised me a great deal. Here’s to hoping they localize more of this franchise down the road. If you are a fan of action RPG’s and are looking for something that will gives a good “bang for your buck”, then check out Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll.
