Now with previous screenshots we’ve seen the different facial emotions that L.A. Noire can express with their MotionScan technology. This means that although you can be right in the middle of the action during car chases and shootouts between criminals and yourself, there is the investigative side as well. There is your standard collecting of evidence, but the best way to gather information is from an old fashioned interrogation.
We aren’t talking about beating somebody into talking either. By paying attention to the suspects facial expressions and behavior you will be able to figure out what questions to ask them and whether or not they are lying to you or being truthful. If this mechanic works as well as Team Bondi and Rockstar are saying then this creation will definitely put L.A. Noire on a new level as far as mystery games go.
I’m sure many of you fellow anime fans out there on our beloved Central Coast will join me in rejoicing in what I feel is a long awaited addition to the area. Dark Dimensions Comics is a new store which is opening its doors at East Gosford for the first time this weekend.
The store will be devoted heart and soul to all things comics, anime, graphic novels, collectables, figurines and clothing. The store, which is a rarity for the coast, is destined for much greater things, according to co-owner Peter Collins.
“We don’t want to be known just for being a comic store. In the long run a chillout area where people can come in and have cuppa, WIFI or even have clubs start up that is involved with the pop culture scene.”
Dark Dimensions Comics will open its doors at Wells Street (opposite the chemist), East Gosford this weekend. For more information email Dark Dimensions.
Game name: Cooking Mama: Friends’ Café Platform: PC (Facebook) Developer(s):Majesco, Arkadium Publisher(s):Majesco Release date: Out now ESEB Rating: E Price: Free Play now
Cooking Mama has taken the world by storm giving a new generation of children and adults alike chance to learn to cook in a fun and entertaining manner.
With the game released on the Nintendo DS and Wii, as well as the iPhone/iPad, it didn’t take long for it to follow the latest revolution on Facebook. Already attracting a large fan base, Cooking Mama is becoming a favourite, rivaling the much loved ‘Ville’ series.
Developed by Majesco, Cooking Mama: Friends’ Café gives players the ability to stir, cut, mix, pour and bake anything into their imagination. Adding to its charm is the easy, user friendly controls and bright colours. It will appeal to little girls who have watched their mother cook and want to be a part of it.
When you first begin to play Cooking Mama, you are instructed to cook your first meal- Butter on toast. Amid a timer, the player spreads butter along the bread and earns experience points every time you complete a meal.
Mama then tells you that there are some patrons eagerly waiting for the meal you just made. You are then instructed to open your restaurant and pick how long you wish to be open for business. As you are learning and earning money at the beginning, you are required to open for a minimum of 30 minutes. As you continue, you earn small kitchen appliances such as a dishwasher.
Starting out in Cooking Mama: Friends’ Café, you have $5000 in your account. As you continue and cook dishes for your clients, you are required to buy items in the store. Each item has a price and only available to buy if you have the money in your wallet.
As you play, you must keep tabs on the current goals for Cooking Mama. Similar to any other video game, you have a current objective. It will show you what you have learned and what is outstanding. There is no time limit on how many goals you must complete or how many you are allowed to have. The player has a full advantage in finishing the goals whenever they please. You also have the option to jump in between feeding customers, making your meals and buying items for your kitchen.
With every meal you complete, Cooking Mama rewards you with either a gold, silver and bronze medal, depending on the speed of your cooking skills. She also gives you experience points that the player can share with their friends.
Another fun aspect of Cooking Mama Friends’ Café is the ability to customize your kitchen. When you first begin, you earn a cupboard where you can place anywhere you wish in your kitchen. As you continue to make culinary delights and impress Mama, she will reward you with more expensive gifts, such as appliances, wallpaper, decorations and even floorboards.
As your skills improve, the challenges become more difficult, requiring the player to cook and make tougher meals. As well as the challenge of the timer, the player has to administer skills to maintain a fast pace to keep a plethora of customers happy as they wait for their orders.
Cooking Mama Friends’ Café is a delightful game to play to will those long lunch hours away or to keep the kids entertained on a Friday night. You can pretty much do no wrong with this title, as it always rewards the player regardless of their performance.
Even though it isn’t that challenging and made for the casual gamers out there, Cooking Mama is incredibly fun and keeps one’s culinary skills at use.
Dead or Alive Paradise Published by: Tecmo Koei Developed by: Team Ninja Release Date: March 30, 2010 Price: $29.99 US, £29.99 UK, $46.99 AUS
Overview:
Now Dead or Alive is mostly known for being about fighting but in recent years the girls of DoA have made appearances in two different spin off games known as Dead Or Alive Xtreme. These games place the female characters of the DoA franchise in bikinis or swimsuits, your pick, and allow them to play volleyball with one another without any actual violence. Now the series has gone portable with the Dead or Alive Paradise, but does the shrinking of the screen also shrink the ability to stare at girls in bikinis?
Story:
There is a semblance of a story here, but for the most part it just gives a reason as to why all of the different girls from the Dead or Alive series have shown up. The story is introduced with a very bad looking CGI cutscene showing Zack and Niki bringing back New Zack Island back to the surface with the help of some aliens.
Then the game begins anew with the player able to select one of ten different girls(seen above) to begin your vacation with. The girls are invited to the island, some with false pretenses, and others to simply relax on the island. That is all there is really as the rest of the story falls away to simply letting the player take advantage of the DoAP’s mini-games and camera function.
Graphics:
Unfortunately for a game that would usually be all about the visuals and the fact that the players purchased it to primarily focus on the girls it is depressing to say that the girls themselves are very jagged looking and literally rough around the edges. Now it would have been one thing if the rest of the game had been bad looking but the girls themselves would be fine, but that is not the case in this one. The girls may not have be some of the worst things you can find on the PSP but for a game centering around the sights to see this is a major down point.
Plus as weird as this may sound the physics that the previous Dead or Alive Xtreme’s have sported have gone completely out of the window in the case of Paradise. The breast physics are unfortunately really messed up this time around as they no longer appear even vaguely realistic. When each one is bouncing around completely independently from the woman’s actions it is entirely disenchanting.
Audio:
It is worth taking note that players can not only use the background music that the game comes with, which is a mix of light dance songs and up-beat music, but you can also use music stored on the PSP. This is handled by placing Music onto your PSP on its own but not in a folder. For some odd reason if your music is in different folders then you will not be able to select it for use during your volleyball game or staring session.
Gameplay:
As you begin your vacation on New Zack Island you find out that you will be having two weeks to enjoy your time there. The main parts of the game you can experience vary between two different mini games that you can play and earn Zack dollars, give and receive gifts from the other girls on the island to build your relationship with them, and buy plenty of swimsuits to have your girls wear during their time on the island.
Now these mini-games are the Volleyball and Pool Hopping. Oh and there is the gambling section too which gives players the opportunity to gamble away their hard earned money on blackjack, poker, and slot machines. These gambling sections also introduce Rio who makes her first appearance in a game outside of Japan. Now back to the other two mini-games. Pool Hopping gives your girl the chance to race with another girl on floating pads that have different buttons on each one. You can press the buttons on each pad to make your girl jump to that pad. Further jumps require a longer press of the button while one immediately in front of you only requires a tap. The mis-press of a button will cause your girl to fall into the water and lose the race.
Now the other mini-game, volleyball, is more centered on what players have experienced before and is also where players will spend most of their time gathering money. The volleyball mode is serviceable at best and works as great as players could expect with the volleyball mechanic. The mode is put together well and as long as you work well with your partner you will be able to rack up the wins and increase your friendship with your partner.
Now your money can be put to a number of different uses. You will be able to purchase a very large collection of swimsuits that vary from cosplay, to relatively conservative one piece swimsuits, to extremely skimpy bikinis that barely cover any part of the body. These swimsuits can be worn by your girl as well as given as gifts to other girls on the island. You will also be able to purchase different miscellaneous items that each girl has a favorite for and can be gifted as well.
Now when you become good friends with the different girls on the island you will receive something called Venus Clips. Venus clips are more or less videos of the girl who gave them to you performing various acts around the island. These range from crawling along a few tree trunks in the jungle, swimming in the ocean, or lounging at the poolside. These Venus Clips are also a way for players to experience the camera system which allows players to take different pictures of the girls at various angles to put into a photo album for themselves.
Now after your two week vacation is up and you have returned back to the main menu you will unlock something known as the Private Paradise mode. The Private Paradise mode is basically a mode to view any previously received Venus Clips and allows you to place the girl in them in any bikini that you have purchased already.
Sure there is a lot of bad here, but there is one shining light that I have mentioned again and again in this review. There is a very large collection system as far as the bikini systems go, and the friendship rating with the girls is actually well done so there is a redeeming factor if you enjoy collecting different things and unlocking new swimsuits while also building friendships with the other Dead or Alive girls.
Overall:
Now Dead or Alive Paradise may be exactly what you are looking for if you want to pick up a game that can easily provide countless hours of entertainment while unlocking countless amounts of swimsuits and place them on the different girls. There just isn’t a whole lot of depth to DoAP considering there are only two mini-games and gambling to be had, and unfortunately for a game that is all about looking at female characters and enjoying the different views you can experience within the game, that the graphics are sub-par at best.
Half-Life 2 is arguably one of the BEST games of the past decade. You would be hard pressed to find somebody who hasn’t played it or doesn’t like it. Lauded for it’s new and innovative approach to cutscenes (by not having any and just making it part of the game), creating a compelling and fluid story that isn’t just “hide behind chest high walls and kill every enemy in room, move forward, rinse, repeat” and introducing the famed gravity gun. You get it, the game is great. Youtube user Remus2008 has recreated the more memorable moments of Half-Life 2 (in chronological order) on paper with some humor thrown in. I definitely had a smile on my face by the end, I’m willing to bet you will to.
Before the days of titles like Rock Band and Guitar Hero took over the whole rhythm action genre, titles like Bust-A-Groove and Dance Dance Revolution were the way to get your musical fix on a console. The main reason I am bringing up these titles is due to a new trailer which was recently released by Iridium Studios for their upcoming game, Sequence, which in my opinion looks to be a bit reminiscent of those late 90’s rhythm-action titles which is of course a good thing.
At first glance, this title looks like standard fare for a rhythm title but as shown in the trailer, Sequence is a lot more than that. With over 80 minutes of spoken dialogue as well as a full plot and customizable characters, and even a claim of over ten hours of gameplay, this indie title has me interested as Sequence is looking to bring a lot to the table. The gameplay in the trailer looks to be top notch with quite a motley cast of characters and the whole concept of mixing a rhythm-action game with an RPG is quite intriguing, and this very well could be a recipe for success for Iridium if the game is half as good as it looks. Sequence does not make it’s debut until March, but you can keep updated on development over at Iriduim’s official blog website at http://www.playiridium.com/. Also check out the trailer below and if any more news comes forward on Sequence, we will be sure to bring it to you.
After the Medal of Honor publicity scuffle earlier this year, you would have thought that EA would have avoided bad PR in the future. But, the Dead Space 2 marketing team has embraced the violent nature of the game and showed it to unsuspecting mothers. Obviously, they believe in the “any publicity is good publicity” mantra.
“It’s revolting. It’s violent. It’s everything you love in a game,” the ad proclaims. “Your mom’s going to hate it.”
My mom certainly will. What about yours? Check out the responses that some of the mothers had for the Dead Space 2 trailer. When will this trailer make it to the FOX News Network? Probably very soon. Very very soon.
Activision has had their fun on XBLA with a 50% off sale. It will soon be Electronic Art’s turn. Starting on January 18, 2011, many of the DLC packs from the hottest EA franchises will be on sale. Arcade games will also be on sale. The whole list is below. Get them before the 24th of January.
A new trailer has been released for the highly anticipated turn-based/real-time strategy game, Total War: Shogun 2. Bring to light new details on the game’s campaign and showcasing new gameplay features. The team behind the Total War series, The Creative Assembly has used their wealth of development experience and new ideas to make Shogun 2 as revolutionary as their first title proved to be when it was released in 2003. Total War: Shogun 2 is set to raise the bar in strategy games once again using innovative gameplay combining real-time strategy and turn-based strategy into one.
Total War: Shogun 2 release on to the PC on March 15, 2011.
Game Name: Killing Floor
Platforms: Pc, Mac (via Steam)
Publisher: Tripwire Interactive
Developer: Tripwire Interactive
Genre: Co-op survival horror action fps
Release Date: 14 may 2009
Rating: M – ESRB
Price: $19.99 (USD)
I am sure if most of you reading this have played any of the Call of Duty zombie mini-games or left for dead 1 & 2, you should feel familiar with this title as Killing Floor on the surface appears to be a cross between these two series’ zombie multiplayer modes. Killing Floor was originally a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 before any of these games were released though later became a full game. How does the final release stand up to those other titles in this day and age? Here is my review for the Killing Floor.
Story
Killing Floor doesn’t feature much of a story, the back story is rather generic, failed military experiments go wrong and now zombies roam the streets and you and your time simply have too kill every zombie in an area of England. Not a great story but other then the loading screens you don’t see it because this game doesn’t have a story mode and is just about killing zombies.
Gameplay
There is one game mode in the Killing Floor. Each match you or your team select your perk and get ready to start fighting. The combat is separated by waves that grow increasingly difficult until the final wave, where you fight one zombie who is a challenge by himself because he has the abilities of almost every other zombie and often calls in more zombies, between waves you will have too go to one of the trader points and spend the money earned by shooting and killing zombies on weapons, ammo and armor which are a necessity for your survival in the later rounds. The game continues till all players die in one round or the final round is completed.
The combat itself is very addictive. You don’t get a cross-hair (like most games of today in the genre) and instead have to look down the barrel of your gun to line up a shot. If you shoot of the head of a zombie they can no longer use their special ability (all zombie types have different abilities) which makes things much easier as the zombie will grow much weaker and slowly die. The zombies come in all different types and most are slower than you but will come from all directions so you must constantly keep an eye on the horde at all times so paying attention to your surroundings at all times is very important. The most dangerous ability goes to the clot. This zombie makes up the majority of the horde and has it’s name because if it attacks you then you are rendered immobile so long as it has its head and the rest of its body. This is a core danger because the sheer abundance of these enemies means you will often have to kill several of these things before you can escape.
The soldiers are all equipped with one weak handgun, a weld to hold doors shut, a very weak knife, some grenades, and a high tech reusable syringe that allows you to heal you and your team mates with whatever dangerous situation that may apply. The weapons all look, feel and sound unique and many feature an alternative ability such as a torch or switching from semi automatic to fully windows.
There are things make this game standout as oppose to the aforementioned games, those being the cash system and the biggest difference, the perk system. There are seven perks and each player can select one at a time, gaining benefits that range from being able to carry more weight or certain weapons being stronger. There aren’t many ranks for the perks but they require a lot of time and effort to level up. For instance, doors can be welded to 100%. Each percent represents one point, you get the idea. At the highest levels perks can allow players to spawn with extra weapons making for an awesome reward to come off a players hard work.
Now I did enjoy this game but it does have a few flaws. One of these flaws is the respawn time. The time spent after dying, waiting to re-spawn can feel like an eternity. Another is the cash system and how it can cripple your enjoyment a bit with having to get all of your weapons again in much later rounds. The only other issue in gameplay was the lack of other modes but I don’t mind it as there are heaps of different maps along with the different strategies different teams use so the true length of enjoyment is really determined by the player who is behind the controls.
Audio and Graphics
While Killing Floor doesn’t quite fit in with today’s visual standards, I do feel that many of the players who do not quite have a decent video card will not find this a problem as if you can run titles like Unreal Tournament 4, you should be good to go. This also makes for a more retro feel to the game as well as of course more players on board on the servers.
The game’s voice actors are all distinctly British and often the player’s character will have some silly lines that aren’t very humorous and can kill the some of the excitement while players roll their eyes and move on. As I mentioned, the guns and Zombies do sound great with all the appropriate groans and blasts that can easily get you to immerse yourself in Zombie killing mode.
Killing Floor is a great game and provides awesome fun when played with several friends and is the best multiplayer fps zombie mode I have seen to date. While it is just a take on a zombie killing mode, the cooperative multiplayer and huge online population keep Killing Floor updated and interesting the whole way through.
Pros:
The combination of awesome combat and lots of gore not only matches all the features in some other zombie games but improves on them along with the perk system which adds progression outside of each match along with the ability to run this game on most computers.
Cons:
Due to it just being spawned off a Zombie killing mode, there isn’t a whole lot of depth.
