With 2010 being a massive year for huge releases with record breaking games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Fallout: New Vegas and Epic Mickey it comes as no surprise that this year will be the year of the sequel.
With the latest releases of Dead Space 2 and Little Big Planet 2 marking the start of the year, these gameswill start a snowball of awesome new sequels that will definitely categorize 2011 as a great year in gaming.
Players should expect huge sequels to bless the shelves of their favorite gaming retailers by the start of March. It appears this month will be huge! March will see the release of Dragon Age 2, Crysis 2, Need For Speed: Shift Unleashed 2 and Shogun 2. These mammoth titles will definitely set a benchmark for their competitors which will come later in the year.
The highly anticipated Gears of War 3 will make its appearance in September as well as Fear 3 and the industry myth Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (which was recently rumored to be out this November).
The gaming industry has not seen such an enormity of sequels in years and it appears developers are becoming more confident and in demand than ever before and gamers are reaping the rewards with high quality graphics, game play and overall excitement.
Fan favorites Resistance, Mass Effect and Uncharted will soon join the Gears and Fear series in becoming trilogies with the release of the third installments later in the year on the PS3. With rumors of films being made of these games will surely catapult sales and popularity.
Some new titles will fly under the radar in 2011, such as De Blob 2, Red Faction: Armageddon, Test Drive 2 and Two Worlds II but will still remain a big part of the 2011 sequel generation.
The beautifully crafted Killzone 3, Portal 2 and Top Spin 4 have already set tongues wagging with demos, cut scenes and trailers released over the past year.They are set to make their mark from late February.
Right now the industry is at its height, generating beautifully made games to a plethora of hungry fans. We, as players, are only to enjoy the benefits with the titles we will be telling our grandchildren.
Overview:
With the release of the Kinect for the Xbox 360 it changed the face of gaming forever. There isn’t a need to have any controller, nor even a peripheral to interact with the game that you are playing anymore. Now considering your whole body can be used as a controller, many companies have taken it upon themselves to create a dancing game which requires the player to follow the motions on the screen with their own body.
Some of these companies may have a bit of knowledge as far as music games go, but none of them have the pedigree that Konami has. The creator of the widely successful Dance Dance Revolution series has jumped into the unexplored waters of the Kinect to release their first dancing game that doesn’t require the use of a dance pad/mat; Dance Masters.
Graphics:
It is evident immediately when you start to dance that Konami is well versed in a variety of different games outside of DDR. Character models are quite impressive to look at as you dance along (literally) to the music. Now every song that you will dance to has a set character that will dance to it, which means that players are not able to pick and choose who they want to watch dance. Despite the fact that backup dancers are not meant to be the main focus, even the backup dancers look good. They are not as well designed as the main dancer, but this is understandable.
The sets that you dance on are also pre-set per song, which means that there is little to no customization unfortunately, look impressive. There is a large variety of venues, all of which are very well detailed but it is still very unfortunate that you cannot select where to dance at. It is worth noting that all of the original dances from the Para Para song list feature the actual dance routines used by Para Para dancers in Japan.
A feature that deserves mention under this category is the fact that Dance Masters will actually show you, the player, dancing next to the main dancer. This is not an outline of your body but rather a full color picture of yourself on the screen. This is quite impressive to see, though the picture itself can be very choppy and rough around the edges due to the nature of the Kinect. Players have the ability to even add different masks or hats to themselves, of which Dance Masters will do its best, though in my experience it varied greatly depending on item chosen, to keep above or in front of your face. Also this mode allows the player to record up to two separate live videos of their dance routine to add into their next time dancing to that song. This means that the next time you can try that song you could have three different videos of yourself dancing along with the main dancer. Then again if you are struggling to follow the routines themselves then your characters will of course look quite out of place.
Sound:
Now any game that focuses around dancing to music has to, of course, have good music to dance to. Konami has had quite a large amount of experience in this category as they have been developing music based video games long before Rock Band or Guitar Hero were even on the map. On the other hand, as Konami is a Japanese developer, quite a lot of the music that is featured in Dance Masters is music that you may never have heard of before.
Dance Masters lists a few different genres of music to choose from as you are selecting your songs such as: Para Para, Old School, R&B/Hip Hop, Club and Pop music. Now these songs themselves feature quite a lot of fast paced J-Pop style music and do not really feature artists that many people will actually recognize in the mainstream. However those who do follow Japanese music will be able to identify some popular dancing songs such as Night of Fire by Niko, Yesterday by Cherry and a number of different songs that have been featured in previous DDR games such as Burnin’ The Floor and Brilliant 2U by Naoki to name a few.
Featuring 30 songs total Dance Masters does have quite a variety of songs to choose from, although each of the songs are very fast paced and feature a BPM rating to show how fast each song will actually be. Even though many of the songs are from Japanese artists, all of them are in English so there is no reason to be concerned about not understanding what is being sung. So even though there are not a whole lot of songs that would be known by your standard dancer, anyone who has picked up a game from Konami’s Benami series will be getting exactly what they are looking for.
Gameplay:
As you start up Dance Masters, you will initially be asked to sign in via the facial recognition system. This is actually quite useful in this case considering the fact that if you are signed in properly, you will immediately see a video of yourself moving on the screen. Then you will have to navigate the menu screens using your hand motions.
Unfortunately the menu system is difficult to manage at first and the sensor seems to have trouble determining when your hand is placed up to go forwards or backwards depending on which arm you raise. Also there is zero support for the controller so the option of quickly navigating the menu through the controller isn’t an option.
Now once you make it into your song selection you will notice immediately that there are no notifications of what moves you should be performing during the song. Nominally it would be best to completely mimic the motions of the dancer on the screen, but the routines performed are very elaborate and can be difficult for those who have limited dancing experience. Dance Masters takes a page out of DDR when it comes to grading your performance and getting through a song.
Rather than track your whole body during the dance, Dance Masters uses a variety of ways to grade your actual performance. Green outlines will show up to the sides of the main dancer and show a pose that must be met quickly and the better your body matches the pose, the better your score is. Perfect scores are worth the most, while Great and Good also add to your score. Completely missing a pose will result in a Boo that drops your score and breaks any combo you had.
Besides the pose matching, there are ripples that show up either in the air or on the ground. When a ripple appears it means that the player must put their arm or leg in the area of that ripple to receive points. Unfortunately the game only picks up the fact that some part of your body is in the ripple, meaning if you wanted to, you could use your right hand to hit a ripple to the left and so on. Finally there is a move that is similar to a tracking effect. A line with an arrow will appear that shows where the dancer must place their arm and then slide it along with the main character at a certain speed. This motion is probably one of the most interesting and difficult to fool compared to the ripples.
Now earlier I mentioned the fact that there are no previews to show what the player will actually be performing per dance, and every song will have unique moves. The routine doesn’t change however and once you play a song once, it is very easy to re-perform the same song and remember exactly what you will have to be doing. This means that practice makes perfect but it also can be off putting when your first try at a song has you failing badly.
Something unique to Dance Masters is the fact that you can dance side by side with your friends in the same room in a “dance battle.” As long as there is enough room in your house you can have two players dancing at the same time to either compete, or combine their scores at the end. Also there is an online multiplayer feature which will allow players to dance with others across the world, unfortunately when I took my dancing skills online; the dance halls were empty.
Overall:
Now Dance Masters has quite a lot to offer. Konami has clearly taken steps to make Dance Masters a new installment into their already well known dancing game archive. The routines that you can perform and will be able to watch are very intriguing and spectacular. Considering the fact that players will also be able to see themselves dancing on screen is interesting as well. Unfortunately for those who haven’t played a DDR game before or aren’t fans of J-Pop then you may find yourself disappointed as far as song selection goes and the lack of a preview mode can be daunting when you start moving your body to the music.
Australian gamers are in for a treat with the upcoming highly anticipated release of Homefront for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Not only will there be dedicated Australian servers for multiplayer, Retailers JB Hifi and EB Games are now offering unique special editions of the game complete with exclusive in-game content. JB Hifi is offering customers a deeper insight into the world of Homefront with the novel ‘Homefront: Voice of Freedom’ a Novel by John Milius, award winning writer of such works as Red Dawn and Apocalypse Now, as well as an exclusive weapons Camo skins DLC pack.
EB games are offering the ““Don’t Tread On Me” Edition of Homefront, a complete gaming package with added extras such as a printed KPA Propaganda Passport, Resistance Cloth Patch and Concept Art Cards. Not to mention an exclusive firearm type for Multiplayer, the the Remington 870 Shotgun, only available through this pre-order. As well as a Day 1 unlock pack, giving players a head start in multiplayer with early unlocks of the Parrot AR Recon Drone, Instant Repair Ability and the SCAR Assault rifle.
Special editions of the game will cost $109.95 for consoles and $79.95 for PC and will be out on the 17th of March.
As PC gamers are notoriously vocal about their passion, Kaos Studios and Digital Extremes have announced the specs, and other PC-specific details for their upcoming new IP, Homefront. The developers have stressed that the PC version will NOT be a simple port of a console shooter. It seems the team has really listened to what PC gamers want, and aim to deliver on as many points as they can.
First up, the game’s specs are as follows:
Minimum
· Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7
· Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 2.8GHz
· 2 GB RAM
· Shader Model 3.0 graphics card with 256MB of memory
· NVIDIA GeForce 7900GS or ATI Radeon 1900XT
· 10GB of free hard drive space
Recommended
· Windows Vista or Windows 7
· Intel or AMD Quad Core 2 GHz+ CPU
· 2 GB RAM
· NVIDIA GeForce 260 or ATI Radeon 4850
· 10 GB of free hard drive space
NVIDIA 3D Vision Recommended
· 3D Compatible NVIDIA GeForce 480/570 Series GPU
· NVIDIA 3D Vision Kit
· 3D Vision-Ready Display
· Intel Core i7 processor
· 2 GB RAM
· Windows Vista or Windows 7
· 10GB of free hard drive space
If you are one of the dozen people worldwide who can justify spending so much on a 3D setup, Homefront is in 3D. For the rest of us, it’s still going to look good, judging by screenshots and these specs.
Perhaps the most interesting feature is the multiplayer match recording. This is not a simple video recording of your actions, as you saw them – it records the individual actions that each player took in the match. It allows people to re-experience the match (or show it off to others) from the viewpoint of any player in the game, swap between them at any time, or even spectate in a free-flying “ghost” mode. This is not exactly new to RTS games, but for an FPS it’s an interesting development.
As you’d expect, the game has been tweaked to ensure playing with the mouse/keyboard combo is as natural as possible. However, for those that still have joysticks, Homefront will let you dust it off and use it for flying helicopters.
Gameplay wise, PC players will be able to control vehicles not only from the standard third-person view of the vehicle, but from a first-person view in the cockpit. Extra abilities that co-pilots can use have been added; for example, co-pilots of the Scout helicopter can use a Recon ability.
Helicopter control is divided into three difficulty levels, independent of the difficulty the game is set on.
Rookie is your standard pick-up-and-play, but allows the whirlybird the least manoeuvrability.
Veteran is the middle ground, which balances ease of use with manoeuvrability.
Ace is for those who enjoy more realistic, flight-sim style piloting. It will take a while to master, but those with the dedication will find they can get their chopper to do much more than the lower levels.
A Dedicated Server executable will be available within two weeks of the game’s release, and mod tools have been discussed as a distinct possibility, if a community supports it.
Homefront will be released on March 8 in North America, March 10 in Australia, and March 11 in UK/Europe.
Tecmo Koei is gearing up for the release of their newest title, Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll (man, try saying that three times fast). This is actually the latest game in the Zill O’ll series, finally making it’s debut in the west with this installment. The game is developed by Omega Force, known for developing the Dynasty Warriors series. At it’s core Trinity shares many basic similarities with the Dynasty Warriors franchise, mainly that you move from level to level as a powerful character taking on dozens of enemies at once. However, where as Dynasty Warriors is a BIT more hack and slashy, Trinity is a bit more specialized. You won’t see an army comprised of thousands of faceless soldiers that beg to be defeated before the level will end. Instead it’s a bit more of a “get from point A to point B while taking out the enemies that impede your progress” kinda game.
The game tasks you with traversing the world as a party comprised of 3 characters (sound familiar?). What sets this game apart from the rest is that combat is in real time (think dynasty warriors/devil may cry) and you are able to switch characters at will, even mid combo. While you are controlling one character the other two are controlled by AI, so you won’t have to worry about switching up incessantly to cover all of your bases. Each character fights differently and has their own strengths and weaknesses to bring a bit of variety to the combat. The game features some pretty interesting mechanics, one of which deals with the environment when it comes to combat. Using ice magic, for example, while in water will freeze the surface of the water (along with any enemies), allowing you to walk across the ice unhindered while gaining some free hits on your enemies. Nice to see some intuitive environmental effects like this in an action game for once.
As you can tell from the trailer, the setting of Trinity draws similarities with high fantasy/medieval styles, with it’s own unique style of course. The game features various types of enemies, mainly consisting of fantasy-esque creatures. Unlike most other games in the hack and slash genre, Trinity does mix it up from time to time and throws a giant enemy at you, requiring a bit more strategy than just button mashing.
Don’t forget to check out the official site for more details and info. Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll is set to release on February 8th in North America and the 11th for Europe (ha! suckers). Keep your eyes out for more of Trinity in the coming weeks.
Gameloft sold on average 5 games per second in 2010, that seems rather insane, right?
Well it gets better, 2010 was the year of Digital Distribution and Smart Phones/Ipad, which proved successful for everyone involved. Gameloft posted sales of €39.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, up by 25% from the previous year. Europe represented 36% of the company’s sales, North America 29% and the rest of the world 35%. The total for 2010 was €141 million, up by 16% year on year. The full year growth was up by 13%, and they look to improve in the future.
The major growth was driven by sales in emerging countries and by the massive success of Smartphones around the world. In particular, Gameloft has positioned itself as a leading game publisher on Apple’s App Store since launch and has seen its sales on iPhone and iPad grow by 63% in 2010. This year is going to be big as well, with digital distribution on the rise, more tablets than ever coming out and the release of more smartphones. Gameloft is in the right position at the right time in 2011.
Magicka is an independent game developed by Arrow Head Studios, the game is a mix of the Diablo point and click formula with an magic focus added to it. One of it’s biggest features is the support for 4 players online coop, where players can share the adventure together.
The game was released last week with a huge sucess, Magicka sold more than 30,000 copies in less than 24 hours and it’s still on the top of Steam Sales!
“The reception for Magicka has been better than we dared to hope, watching the numerous YouTube clips of gamers and editors worldwide laughing themselves senseless as they misfire spells left and right as well as the comments on twitter and forums show us people really get the humor and the idea behind Magicka. Singleplayer and LAN is what most people are currently playing but updating the multiplayer lobby and continuously improving the game is our top priority. “ – Shams Jorjani, Producer at Paradox Interactive
A big trouble for Magicka was all the bugs the game had at launch, but the developers are already working on patches to fix the current online issues, adding content and implementing player requests like keyboard mapping and much more.
EA Tiburon, the development team behind Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: the Masters has put out this interesting Developer Diary taking a detailed look at one of the new features that will be appearing in the latest Tiger Woods golf game: caddies.
Caddies provide assistance to real-life golfers, and often their knowledge of a course can prove very useful for the golfers. The team behind this title explains how they’ve examined caddies and have tried to add them to the game for a more authentic golfing simulation. They also come with neat quirks attached, such as the caddies’ abilities to gain more and more knowledge of a course the more you play, and subsequently can provide better advice.
All of this information and more can be found out by taking a look at the video below, which features members of the development team and professional golfers.
A while back, we brought you some news about the very unique and impressive El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, which has been in development over the past few years by a team which have brought us titles such as Okami & Devil May Cry. Publisher for the title, UTV Ignition have now announced that the game is now complete. Based on western mythology and heavy in a unique, artistic flare, El Shaddai has certainly got a lot going for it and this title could very well be the next big franchise based on what we have seen. Speaking of that, the game director has also released a statement on completion of this title as well.
“The creation of El Shaddai has truly been a long and exciting journey, and yet there is still much to be done to prepare for the game’s launch. So far, the public’s response to the game has been very encouraging, and I hope that the final product will greatly exceed their expectations. I also look forward to having time to consider the future direction of the El Shaddai franchise,” said Game Director Sawaki Takeyasu.
The word franchise being used this early really shows on how confident the developers are in El Shaddai which is certainly a good sign. UTV Ignition also plan to start a marketing campaign for the upcoming title soon as well so that will be interesting to see as we grow closer to the now marked April 28th release date for Japan. Still no word on an exact date for the States or Europe, but that should all come forth in time. For more info on El Shaddai, check out the official website here and check back soon as I have a feeling the marketing wave is right around the corner.
In 1995, the hit, gory and controversial fighting franchise Mortal Kombat launched the third title in the series: Mortal Kombat 3 for arcades and home console, and was one of my personal favourite games for the Super Nintendo as a kid. It introduced countless of new features, among which were the new Animality finishing moves, and still to this date is one of the darkest titles in the series. Within the same year though, an updated version of the game was released-Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. It took out the Animalities and replaced them with the new Brutalities, as well as taking out the character Sheva and adding in some of the classic characters from the series that were missing, such as Scorpion and Melieena. Now over ten years later, the game is ported to the iPhone, or at least it claims it has. Warning to Mortal Kombat fans: this game is MUCH different to the original. The original had 25 characters, this one has 9 with 2 unlockables. The digitised graphics have been replaced with 3D models, and the character selection is very different. Brutalities are missing too, and replaced with Animalities. However the gameplay and presentation has been basicly untouched and if you consider this title as a stand alone one rather than a port or an update its pretty damn good. In fact, you’d be surprised at just how much fun you’d have with this game, as it truely is a delight to play.
Fight?! What else am I going to do dressed like this?
Presentation
If you’ve played the original MK3 or UMK3 you know what to expect. It’s dark and gritty, it has an almost creepy feel as you move through menus and such. It’s refreshing to see in the fighting genre as now days its all anime dudes with bright colours and big flashy words, so its nice for something a little more in the opposite direction. The blood and gore is admittedly toned down a litttle bit from the original, but not by much. Unfortunately there is only 9 characters to choose from, but there is an additional 2 unlockable fighters and 2 unplayable bosses which sort of helps. Modes available include the standard arcade mode with a ‘choose your destiny’ difficulty select, with the added bonus of being able to save between fights, which is a really handy thing to have. On top of this is a very solid local multiplayer that works really well, survival mode and a pretty cool mode called Shou Karnage which is alot of fun to play. On top of that there are bios, stats, options multiple control schemes, leader boards and achievements, so this game is alot more than simply just ‘Round One…FIGHT!’
Scorpion learns that “Get over here!” is not an effective pick up line.
Gameplay
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3’s controls feel pretty much identical to the original, which had it’s controls tight to begin with, which is always a make or break point for a fighting game. What’s really handy is the variety in the button layout. The standard iPhone-exclusive one will definitely be loved by some and hated by others,personally I found it a great addition. It’s a simplified, 5-button system. One punch button, one kick, block, run and a special button that preforms special abilities. This is great for the iPhone as it makes things easier and being on such a small screen it really helps the game become more enjoyable, especially for a casual gamer. It also makes preforming fatalities easier as well, which blood-thirsty gore fans will love! For the hardcore MK fans however, there is the option to have the original 6-button layout, with high and low punch, high and low kick buttons, run and a block. There is also option of customising your own layout which helps too, so it really should satisfy all kinds of players. The control stick works well and is really responsive, although sometimes on a rare occasion you player may jump upward instead of a particular direction, but it never really ruins the game. The combo system though isn’t very deep and at times can feel a little too simple.
As you can see by the tournament schedule, the Mortal Kombat Tournament isn’t technically really a tournament. There are no brackets and the same guys are always in the finals and semi-finals. So how exactly is this death match organised? No one knows.
The selection of Mortal Kombat fighters is an interesting one, especially with the inclusion of Sheva who wasn’t even in the original Ultimate Mortal Kombat to begin with. However, the mix of characters actually complement each other well, and for the most part it actually feels like its evened out pretty well, unlike the original Mortal Kombat 3 with characters like Sektor being able to preform some pretty unfair (but fun) moves. The selection ranges from fighters who are better in close range combat and some who are better off with specials fighting from a distance, so gameplay doesn’t get repetitive as your strategies will probably change for each character. Not having the ‘toastys’ here are disappointing, but don’t ruin the game, and keeping of the ability to knock opponents into other levels still remains and still are alot of fun to do. Shou Khan and Motaro are also still very unfairly hard in all difficulty levels, but its not so bad it ruins the game.
Here you can design your own button layout, and you can create some really silly, hard to use ones for the lolz. It’s also handy and nice to have such a customisable button layout for the hardcore gamers.
There are a few other modes other than arcade mode however which also enjoyable. Survival mode rears its head into the iPhone port and is a real challenge involving the player fighting fighter after fighter with no replenishing of his/her health bar. Shou Karnage is always a blast to play with gamers fighting the final boss Shou Khan both with unlimited health. The aim of the game is to rack up as many points as you can before the timer is up, and is alot of fun. There is also a local multiplayer option, where if you find someone with the game and you both have a strong wifi signal you can go head to head. The blood is ever so much sweeter when its someone you know, and is a really rewarding experience.
Sadly, the blood isn’t as common in this port and it doesn’t even look that great either. Character models and stages look good though!
Graphics and Audio
The graphics for this port are interesting to say the least. As it’s not digitised actors like the original, they have all been replaced with 3D models. Fear not however, as they all still control and feel the same, they even look and move the same, just the fighters and stages have gone graphical update. Why this was decided is a mystery to everyone it seems. It does seem a bit like an unnecessary update as the old graphics didn’t really need to be improved on at all, however its still nice to see the developer put in the effort to attempt to update the game as some developers do get lazy when it comes to ports like this. It seems to have either crossed or blurred the line between what separates a port from being an update or a completely seperate game with this new graphical style, modes and different character selection. It’s almost as if its a separate game with the same name rather than a port. Regardless, the models look great on the iPhone and are still superb and look rather impressive. There are some small things in menus that actually look better than the original, so its nice to see things like that too. The audio appears to be untouched from the original, which isn’t an issue. Many tunes have a creepy dark vibe to them while others really get you into it. There are a few memorable tracks here that are pretty catchy and really get you into the fighting spirt. Like all games in the Mortal Kombat franchise, the sound effects are epic. The evil demonic voice saying ‘Choose your destiny’ and ‘Finnish him!’ are always a pleasure to hear, and at some point you will laugh at Lu Kang’s Bruce Lee yells and you will shout the classic ‘Get over here!’ with Scorpion everytime you preform his memorable harpoon technique.
Yeah! Take that, Girl Goro!
Konclusion
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is a must have for all Mortal Kombat fans and all fans of the fighting genre. The controls are decent, the fighters are well balanced with multiple fatalities, the graphics look sweet, the sound effects are awesome, the soundtrack is good, there are multiple modes and it has a solid local multiplayer. In short, its just a really great game and is alot of fun. A delight to play and very easy to recommend to fighting fans.
The amount of Fatalities, Stage Fatalities, Animalities, Babatalities and Friendships are impressive for each character, and adds a nice extra layer of depth to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and let’s face it-it’s pretty much the main reason why we all love MK so much!
PROS
Simple, pick-up-and-play gameplay
Decent controls that are very customisable
Great graphics
Great Audio
Well balanced character list
Multiple Fatalities
Multiple modes
Decent multiplayer
CONS
It’s advertised as a port of the original, but its very different from it
Original had 25 playable fighters, this one has 11
Blood is toned down a bit
Jumping isn’t always spot on, but it is most of the time
Difficulty for the bosses is a big leap from normal fighters, and seems uneven, even on easy
Loss of digitised actors looses a bit of charm
Combo system isn’t very deep and is a bit too simple at times
