It’s been said before that not every single game that is released needs to have a multiplayer mode; but then there are the exceptions. Dead Space 2 is that exception. From the video that EA just released we are able to witness Outbreak mode from the eyes of the vicious Necromorphs.
The video details each of the classes that players will be able to experience if they play on the Necromorph side of the battlefield. It is interesting to note that Necromorph players will be able to spawn through vents around the map, leading to a potential ambush if planned accordingly. Though that is only if players will be able to choose which vent they spawn out of. Now in a battle between humans with weaponry and the hard to kill Necromorphs who will win? Watch below to find out.
Just a while back, THQ put gamers on notice that a new MX vs ATV title was underway and was soon to be announced. Today the company has fully revealed the new game which will be called “MX vs ATV Alive” and will launch for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in May of 2011. THQ is promising this will be the best title of the franchise to date as they are changing the way the games are played by the user with downloadable content. While there will be many popular modes included on the disc already, there will also be DLC which will available to “enhance” the player’s experience. The DLC of course will consist of more tracks and modes as well as other content that will be revealed next month according to THQ, so there is a lot we still don’t quite know at the moment of how this will all work.
THQ have however released a list of features that will be readily available at launch, so lets go through what we do know:
Features Include:
Definitive Realism
Experience total control of rider and bike with easier controls as part of the enhanced Rider Reflex
An advanced real-time deformation continuously changes the track beneath you with every lap
Wreck avoidance lets you correct collisions and landings and race like a pro
Elbow-to-Elbow Action
Go bar-to-bar with in-your-face motocross racing
Rider-to-Rider collisions and win/loss conditions through a new bar banging system
Awe-Inspiring Sports Experience
Real Riders, Real Gear, and Real licenses to be announced
Vehicles to be announced
Event Types
Compete in the Nationals and claim the Motocross National Championship
Additional Event types to be announced
Multi-Player to be Announced
Now while MX vs ATV Alive looks quite awesome, I do have a couple of concerns. The first would be the download approach that this title seems to carry with most of the content. I am guessing many different modes will be downloadable, but I know I am not alone in saying it would be better to not rush a release and force players pay for things that should have been on the disc anyway. The price is also TBA so let’s just hope if this is the case, fans will be getting a discounted price at launch as well. A lot is still up in the air at the moment and I am sure more questions will be answered as the release date grows near, but for now check out the new trailer below and we will keep you updated if more news breaks about this DLC heavy title.
Game Name: World of Warcraft : Cataclysm expansion Platforms: PC Publisher(s): Blizzard Developer(s): Blizzard Genre(s): MMO RPG Release Date: December 7, 2010 ESRB Rating: T for Teen Price: $39.99 (USD)
Story Deathwing from ancient warcraft lore is back, and extremely angry. Agonized by his enemies, he is finally free and wreaking havoc on all of Azeroth. The entire face of the world has changed, and danger is now always present. Can you survive the new Era of Azeroth and stop the destruction caused by Deathwing?
Gameplay Tons of updates have been added to this game. New looks for old locations, new quests, new quest structures, new enemies to worry about; however, a majority of these updates aren’t even part of the Cataclysm expansion and instead are just part of Blizzard’s massive update to the World of Warcraft that coincided with the expansion. Blizzard has used the new threat introduced in the expansion to completely redesign the way a lot of this game works, and have succeeded brilliantly. New players are introduced to a much more user friendly experience right from the start, and old players get new scenery too look at. Sure, everything is completely destroyed and locations are regularly attacked by giant fire breathing dragons, but this just adds to the fun found within this MMO.
The expansion itself has tons of new things to offer on top of all these changes. The first thing a player notices as they start this particular expansion is an increased level cap. The new level cap is now level 85, and these extra 5 levels create a threat for even the current highest level players. Everyone is now tasked to gain those extra levels and the extra levels succeed in creating even more tension between the higher level players and the lower level players. With the increased level cap comes new quests for those levels, new skills, and new tactics for the players that hit these levels to explore and develop. Cataclysm also unlocks both the Worgen class and the Goblin class. These classes each have their strengths and weaknesses and each will slowly be adapted into the game by other players. Currently the Goblins seem to be to be the better race, with more racial bonuses that benefit the player; however, the Worgen has a few good resistances that can seemingly help in the long run as a player gets to higher levels.
New areas have also been introduced with a plethora of new raids and a bunch of new training locations. Each location is quite unique and a majority of them are actually quite enjoyable. One of the locations I didn’t enjoy as much, but that may be because I was grinding out that last level and grinding tends to sap the enjoyment out of a previously fun experience. Two entire new PvP zones have also been introduced that give the players who have gained their new levels somewhere to fight and compete to see who is better. I spent a little bit of time in the PvP arena; however, I quickly ran away with my tail between my legs as I was royally destroyed… over and over again.
On top of all this, there is also a new skill and a new guild level up system. Archeology is the new skill and it lets you discover some lore behind World of Warcraft; however, the actual purpose of this skill seemed pretty pointless to me. It succeeds nicely in sending you all over the place to train it, but I couldn’t find any real benefit compared to other skills. Maybe with a bit more time I could find another skill to pair it up with to create a beneficial partnership but it is currently unknown to me. Guilds also have a new level up system. This level up system gives guild experience to a guild who has at least 3 of its members go through a raid or other event. There are a total of 25 levels and each level rewards the guild with a unique ability; such as exp gain boosts at lower levels, or mass guild member revival at the higher levels. There is a cap to how much EXP your guild can acquire in any given day, so progress is incredibly slow. The guild I was in while reviewing this game assisted me in quite a few of the raids to help me get through them faster and see everything the expansion had to offer in a much faster pace than is normal; however, even with all this we only gained 1 guild level by the time I hit 85 (from 80) on my character.
Audio & Graphics Every single cutscene has incredible voice acting. There is also very nice ambient music that helps create a form of pacing in the game. As an area becomes more dangerous, so does the music. As the area calms down, the music does as well. Music is used well, and creates a better overall experience.
The graphics haven’t changed much from the original. While everything looks different, it is still all graphically the same. There is some new lighting and water effects strewn across the expansion, but overall everything has the same graphics as every other part of the game. World of Warcraft is a pretty old game, and the graphics are slowly getting outdated. New expansions aren’t doing much to update them; however, this could possibly still be a good thing as it will still run on a lot of older computers without the need to regularly update your software.
Overview There seems to be a whole bunch of new things that came along with the Cataclysm expansion; however a majority of the changes were simply put in place for free and don’t require the expansion at all. If you include these changes, Blizzard’s Cataclysm update is massive and the most impressive to date, but if you don’t it borders on being smaller than the previous expansion. While the content is richer and much more in depth than previous installments, the core additions that are actually included within the purchased expansion comes in a much smaller easy to manage size. Either way you look at it, Deathwing has recreated the way Azeroth is seen; old and new players alike will need to adapt to the changes as they venture out on a new landscape scorched within the flames of Deathwing.
I give the Cataclysm
I have used videos rather than pictures because the expansion is huge, and a few pictures just doesn’t cut it. Both these videos were create by Blizzard.
We now know what the price is going to be of the 3DS system itself and although Nintendo has yet to release a going rate for any 3DS games to come that hasn’t stopped retailers around the country from pricing pre-orders and giving estimates of their own to work from. Now while these prices are not confirmed by Nintendo it is worth taking note that these same companies had the prices of the Kinect nailed down before official word.
After a quick browsing, one can find Amazon and GameStop listing 3DS games between $39.99 and $49.99 for US stores. But GAME in the UK has listed all of the known launch titles at £39.99 and unfortunately for some, Amazon France has prices upwards of €59.95. Also Fishpond from Australia has listed one game so far and placed a price of $61.99 AUS on it. Again it is worth taking notice that these prices are tentative at best at this moment.
“Experience the next generation of shoot ’em ups with Zeit²! Travel through time to co-op play with a copy of yourself! Pull off amazing moves to defeat 8 massive bosses! Pace the game and improve your score with the powerful fast forward feature! Discover 6 unique game modes and beat 70 challenges in this innovative and action packed arcade game!” (Xbox.com)
There are many side scrolling and 2-D shooters on the market today.  The Xbox Live Marketplace has reignited that type of gameplay and often, this has led to innovation.  After all, with the glut of shooters out there, every developer must seriously think about how to attract buyers and a fan base.  Zeit2 is one such game that tries to create a new idea.  Does  Zeit2 bring originality to the masses?  What does Zeit mean anyway?
Gameplay
You are a floating ball  of clear energy.  And you can control time.  For some reason, fossils are attacking you.  Oh, and you also have a plasma gun.  The gameplay is very simple to figure out.  Fire at the enemy fossils and avoid letting them get past you.  One unique part of the game is how the health system works.  Not only do you lose points when an enemy slips by, but the enemy also drains health from you until they are off the screen.  Also, shooting your gun when no enemies are present will also make your health percentage drop.  While this adds a layer of strategy to the game, it is also very annoying. One other interesting feature is the way you shrink as your health drops.  Starting out at 100% health, you area  full size bubble.  As you grow closer to 0% you slowly shrink until you blip out of existence.  But we will talk about your existence as bubble a little later.
Of course, the most unique part of the game is the time travel element. Â If you miss an enemy, you can rewind time and watch your “time shadow” take out the enemies you just took out. Â At the same time, you can shoot up the enemies you missed beforehand. Â But what is a game without sweet combos?! Â Well, Zeit2 has that also. Â By shooting at your “time shadow” you can create all different kinds of explosions, havoc and chain moves. Â For example, when you shoot your “time shadow” it will spray the plasma everywhere, taking many enemies out at once. Â When the game adds in specialized weapons like a beam shot, you can create many different kinds of pretty fireworks that consume those dastardly time fossils.
The boss battles in the game are awesome.  They all require creativity and reflexes to beat.  And when you are finished beating the campaign, there are plenty of other options in the game.  To illustrate, one of theses modes is called Tactics.  Use your time traveling gifts and know-how to strategically and tactically get through each level.  There are plenty of other modes too.  And all you have to  do is play each mode once to unlock the next mode.
Audio and Graphics
Weapon cues are a great thing to have in the game.  When new foes approach, you also get a different sound cue.  The soundtrack in the game may not be a symphony to your ears, but it will spice up the drab graphics.
Probably the  most boring part about the game is the graphics.  Bland blue backgrounds are absolutely awful.  And except the bosses, all the enemies are white. In addition to the terribly boring colors, enemy variety is also lacking.  While the  game is graphically tepid, it does not quite ruin the game. The time travel mechanic is good enough to replace the terribly boring packaging.  Another part of the game that really ticked me off was the small text.  Sure, there were usually videos  showed what the text said, but it is still great to be able to read the text.  Most often, the text will explain much more than a video.  Although many people do have HD television, it is ridiculous to assume that everybody will have one and will be able to read the small text in the tutorial.
Overview
Having a Bubble as a main character seems like an odd choice to me.  I found it really hard to get excited about the game. I was confused about why these  creatures were after me.  But, I suppose a spaceship is generic.  Time travel may be more flashy in the movies, but the 2-D space shooter implementation of time travel is well done.  Controlling time is awesome in any game.  And, you have control over your difficulty in the game at all times.  In addition to the ability to rewind time, you can fast forward time.  Trust me, by fast forwarding the game, the difficulty skyrockets.  You may want to try the demo first, but a unique space shooter in this day and age is great.  And with a name like Zeit,(which means Time) you can’t go wrong.
Breach has more than just the destructible environments that have been over-hyped about. It has a whole bunch of really cool gadgets as well! A large chunk of them are shown off in this following gadgets trailer.
I could continue here with a bunch of jargon describing each of and gadget seen in the video, but that would mean more reading for you, more typing for me, and a whole bunch more time before you can see the video. So just watch the video and enjoy.
You can enjoy the destructible military multiplayer when Breach launches on XBLA on January 26th.
Do like Tennis Balls? Do you like whacking them around a court? Do you actually play tennis whenever you pick up a Tennis racket, rather then pretending it is a rounded blade? Well, then you are probably not playing video games, but if you are then I am sure you are looking forward to Top Spin 4.
The player Roster has been revealed, and you can gander your eyes at it below. Maybe you even see one of your favorite tennis players on it. Below that is also a trailer for you to enjoy.Top Spin 4 is out in the United States March 15, 2011 and out in Europe on March 18, 2011
With the big reveals at Nintendo’s 3DS convention today we’ve seen plenty of new videos and new information regarding the 3DS and its games. But one thing that many players weren’t expecting was a cameo appearance of Metroid in Tecmo Koei’s Dead or Alive Dimensions. They’ve let this little cameo go unspoken in the past, but now it is in the limelight. This is quite obviously taking advantage of the fact that Team Ninja worked on Metroid: Other M last year and now they have put together a Metroid stage featuring Ridley and even a quick appearance of Samus Aran.
Also it appears that simply getting knocked off of this stage will result in your character losing well over a quarter of their health bar. But beyond the little cameo appearances we also get a brand new gameplay video that shows many different characters from the well known franchise battling with one another. Catch both that video and the one with Samus below. Now who thinks that Samus herself may become a playable fighter in Dead or Alive Dimensions?
Ready for some cute monkey action featuring the lovable Monkey Ball characters coming out of your console into full 3D? Wait are those boxing gloves? In the latest trailer for Super Monkey Ball 3D we see two different mini-games that will be featured in the upcoming 3DS game from Sega.
Not too much is known unfortunately about these minigames other than the fact that they will obviously be in the game when it releases sometime this year. Which leaves us with many questions, a number of which include how the monkeys themselves happen to breath if they are always stuck in the balls? Also why would monkeys inside of balls need to race around in cars to begin with; especially while they are still inside of their balls.
While it is good news that we have a brand new trailer with some gameplay footage of Resident Evil 3D: The Mercenaries, it is bad news that the game will unfortunately not be making the March 26th launch of the 3DS. Instead fans of the Resident Evil series will be able to get their fix sometime this Summer when Capcom is planning to release the game worldwide.
With this announcement they have also revealed a new trailer which shows off the different playable characters that you will be able to choose from, such as Hunk, Chris and Claire Redfield and even Krauser will be able to battle the undead hordes and get this, they will even be able to move and shoot at the same time!
