O-Games has unveiled a trailer for its latest hidden object game that is coming to DS and PC, The Mysterious Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. While the official trailer doesn’t give much away in regards to gameplay, surprising for a time period so close to the game’s February release date, it sets the mood of what looks headed to be an atmospheric murder mystery.
If the novel of the Jekyll & Hyde is anything to go by, this will be a narrative of a split personality as you, the player, witness the troubles of Dr Jekyll as you carry out your investigation of suspicious events. You step into the role of Inspector Newcomen in London in 1886. There have been fearful whispers of a grotesque human monster prowling the shadowy alleys of the Soho district and the murder of a prosperous citizen prompts a series of questions.
During the course of the game, your investigation will have you completing over 30 mini-games in order to solve this puzzling case, a large ask for a demanding crime-investigation.
The Mysterious Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde is out for Nintendo DS & PC on 18th February 2011.
Back To The Future: The Game Platform(s): PC (reviewed)/Mac Publisher(s):Telltale Games Developer(s):Telltale Games Genre(s): Adventure Release Date: December 22, 2010 Price:$24.95
The classic sci-fi series âBack To The Futureâ has already immortalised itself as the hallmark of time travel genre film since its inception in 1985. Now almost twenty years since the last film comes the downloadable episodic point and click adventure Back To The Future: The Game starting with episode one â âItâs About Timeâ. The team from Telltale Games have handled this game with immense love and care under the guidance of Bob Gale who co-created, co-wrote and co-produced all three âBack To The Futureâ films.
Story
This is perhaps why the greatest part about the game is its story. Â An extension to âBack To The Futureâ story is a major drawcard here even for casual players and diehard fans alike, and it certainly does not disappoint. As the game is episodic, its plot expands over five episodes in TV-like fashion, which suits the nature of this game. Episode one takes place six months after the events of the last movie, Marty McFly is trying to lead a normal life without his best friend Doc Brown who has disappeared through time and space leaving his property unattended in 1985 and is now up for foreclosure by the bank.
Meanwhile, the DeLorean time machine mysteriously reappears from the future (or from the past…) with a grave message from Doc himself, and itâs up to Marty to save day once again. Told through cutscenes and dialogue options the story is great from the opening scene, a nice throw back to a memorable moment from the first film up until the gameâs conclusion, leaving a cliff hanger canât-wait-for-the-next-one feeling.
Gameplay
Back To The Future: The Game is a standard point and click adventure. Nothing really new here but a well thought out and polished one at that, coming from one of the industryâs best, Telltale Games. Players control Marty McFly through Hill Valley solving the task at hand, ranging from finding certain characters and items to puzzle solving. Point and click adventures in general tends to go down the âtrial and errorâ path, to an extent this is seen in Back To The Future: The Game. The gameplay is at its best when players know exactly where and what to do at a fast pace. And not to give too much away the gameâs ending achieves this well, to a certain degree.
However, the flip side of this is that gameplay can become very frustrating when players get stuck and have to gone through the same dialogue tree for the 8th time or clicked just about everywhere to find a object to progress the story. There is a helpful hint button you can press at anytime if youâre really stuck like I was at one point. But it does feel a bit like cheating and I recommend that it is best to be avoided as an immense feeling of satisfaction is gained once completing a puzzle and finding out what to do next. There are a few technical glitches and bugs in the game which I unknowingly stumbled across. One in particular about halfway in, was pretty major causing a cutscene to play early by mistake meaning that future progress was impossible, causing me to restart the level. Aside from this, gameplay overall is quite smooth just with a few problems here and there.
Graphic/Audio
At first glance, the character models may look a bit goofy but by the end of it you’ll come to love to the stylized cartoony visuals. Even on the lowest graphic settings, the game looks great. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, the original actors in the film series should be thanked for their contribution to the game. Both their likeness and phenomenal voice acting by Lloyd is very convincingly used in game especially since a sound-alike was used for Marty McFly, AJ LoCascio provides a superb performance fitting in to his character. Voice acting alongside the fitting stylized cartoony visuals adds to the overall unique feel of the game. This is made all the more better when the theme music kicks in, oh the nostalgia! Instantly bring back the magic and charm which made the movies so memorable. Audio cues are spot on, in line with the action and pacing of the game.
Overall
Perhaps not exactly what the diehard fans were expecting (a fourth film is still rumoured), Back To The Future: The Game is a pleasant surprise, an excellent instalment and an extension of the franchise. Â Episode 1 âItâs About Timeâ lasts about 2-3 hours long and it is the Back To The Future fix many fans were looking for. It is a great point and click adventure game for casual gamers and fans alike. The story is definitely a strong point and it will be interesting to see how it will develops over the next four episodes. Whilst gameplay can be fantastic and frustrating at points, great use of licensing within the game goes along way in conveys not only the great moments from film series but also instantly captures what made them so great. Only a few technique bugs and glitches subdue the overall experience, but nonetheless Back To The Future: The Game is great fun. Iâm sure many players are keen for the next instalment available February 2011.
I give Back To The Future: The Game Episode 1 âItâs About Timeâ for the PC:
Razer’s Onza line of Xbox 360 controllers will be available for pre-order January 17. The standard Onza will feature backlit “Hyperesponse” face buttons, improved d-pad and two extra programmable shoulder buttons.
The Onza Tournament Edition will include all the standard features plus analog sticks with adjustable resistance. Both controllers are also wired. Suppose it is ’cause of that all important lag?  The standard Onza will sell for $40; the Tournament Edition is $50.  You can get these ‘professional’ controllers for PC or 360, and they also include  quick release USB cables.  While it sucks that the controllers are not wireless, that adjustable resistance sounds quite nice.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it was announced that all six Star Films will be releasing on Blu-ray.  You can pre-order them from Amazon right here.  The price is 89.99 and they will arrive in September.  However, you may want to hold off for now.  It is heavily rumored that the films will also be arriving in 3D after the Blu-ray sets have made their splash.  And that, ladies and gentleman, is how we maximize profits.  So, which one are you looking forward too?  And, who has a 3D television set yet?!
Razer’s Chimaera headphones are shipping to customers soon. Â First announced at CES last year, they are now nearly ready. Â The 199.99 headset is wireless for Xbox 360 and features 5.1 surround sound. Â Plus, there is 129.99 headset that will have 2.1 surround sound. Â Each headset comes with fairly similar design and charging station complete with an equalizer, audio out jacks (on the station) and microphone. Â You cannot pre-order them yet, but when you decide you want to shell out some clams for these bad boys, head on over to http://www.razerzone.com/thenextchapter/ You can also sign up for updates on when you can order it. Â Read to rock out?!
One of the best mobile games in history is coming to a living room near you.  Announced at CES, Mattel is working on this adaption.  As far as we can tell, each player will draw “Mission Cards” that depict instructions of buildings you can use to protect your plastic pigs.  And then you can use a mini catapult to destroy it!  Or, you know, shoot rocks at your neighbor’s dog.  The game will cost a lousy 14.99 when it arrives on on the world scene this summer.  All I really want to know is, “Where can I pre-order this?!” Now lets see if we can get a board game of ‘Cut the Rope.’
After just releasing the news that Professor Layton & the Mask of Miracle will be one of the titles launching with the 3DS in Japan, we now have a new gameplay video that shows around 30 seconds of the new Layton title and there is a lot in the clip that shows that this Layton title will be quite different from previous games in the series.
The first thing you will notice while watching the video is that the environments are all rendered in full 3D, which of course is fitting since the title is on the 3DS. All the artwork still has the 2D shine we all love as well so it is great to see how well this is looking to blend together. A cursor is also shown which is interesting to see as in the past games, the bottom screen was used to search environments with the stylus and it appears that the new analog pad will replace that method, keeping even clue-hunting in 3D.
Of course we will also see a new story and with flashbacks in the mix as well, if you couldn’t already tell by Layton’s huge mane in the end of the clip. Check out the video below for yourself and get ready as it looks like this month will be full of even more game reveals for the 3DS as we get closer to the official launch.
Along with the leaked details for Skyrim we now have the leaked information containing Silent Hill 8 from Game Informer. First it has been officially given the name Silent Hill: Downpour which looks to make use of water as a major role. This includes water running upside down on a ceiling and water playing pivotal points in gameplay.
Also revealed is the fact that the town that the game takes place in this time is so huge that you must use a Subway system to get around it. This includes a never before seen area of Silent Hill, the mysterious Southeastern side. Take that as it may but it seems like Silent Hill may be a bit more open world this time around as they are also including optional side quests in these new areas.
It also appears that combat will be similar to the earlier Silent Hill games, where it is possible to avoid most enemies and by and large this is the best route to take. The reason for this is that there is no longer a weapon inventory like in Homecoming, instead you will only be able to use one melee weapon at a time (at least an axe has been shown so far). To raise the tension further enemies will be tougher to kill and your weapon can break easily. Meaning that it may be better to simply incapacitate your enemy instead of finishing them off for the sake of surviving.
The usual staple of puzzles will also return in Downpour and they will have a separate difficulty level that can be adjusted in case you love survival horror but hate puzzles. To me it sounds like the Silent Hill franchise is going back to its roots as far as gameplay goes. But the inclusion of a possible open world is definitely something worth taking note of.
America may still be in the dark for a release date and launch info for the 3DS, but over in Japan, Nintendo have announced all of the launch titles players can expect when the portable launches over there on February 26th. At Nintendo World eight launch titles were shown (10 if you count the other versions of the Nintendogs titles) and I am digging most of them.
Here is the full list of launch titles which will hit Japan when the 3DS releases:
Winning Eleven 3D Soccer
Super Street Fighter IV 3D
Samurai Warriors Chronicle
Tobidasu! Puzzle Bobble
Nintendogs + Cats
RidgeRacer
Battle of Giants: Dinosaur Strike
Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle
While this now throws into question the eventual release dates of titles such as Kid Icarus, Paper Mario and many other titles that were shown at the 2010 E3, it is good to at least see titles like Street Fighter IV 3D and Layton already making their appearance on the system a bit earlier than expected. Without a doubt not all of these will be present in the U.S. or U.K. when the 3DS launches so now I guess the main question for us is what will be our launch titles. If I had to guess, I would say Nintendogs would be a front runner at launch here as well as maybe Street Fighter but until Nintendo announces anything, the rest of the world will have to go on pure speculation. Keep checking back though as when the U.S./AU/EU line-up gets released, we will be sure to cover it. Until then you can check out a video of the Japanese announcement below.
Looks like we finally have some more details about the mysterious Skyrim. You won’t have to wait until February to find out the details that will be discussed in that month’s Game Informer because all of the details have been leaked and are available for your reading pleasure.
First of all we now know that Skyrim will be set 200 years after the events that happened in Oblivion and you will be playing as one of the Dragonborn. Your main objective in the story is to stop the dragon god Alduin who is the world eater mentioned on Game Informer’s back cover.
Quests have changed as well, at least the way that you will be given them. Something that developers are calling a dynamic quest system will make it so that players may only receive certain quests if they have a certain level of proficiency in that quest-specific skill, or on your actions throughout the game so far. This means that you won’t be having any vanilla playthroughs of the same quests happening again and again in the same ways.
Also changed is the leveling system. The more you use a specific skill will level it up overtime as it did in Oblivion but the amount of skills to level has been cut to 18 which is down from the 21 used in Oblivion. But in a more interesting update, the Perk system from Fallout 3 will be returning as you level up your main character you will have the ability to unlock perks.
As you leveled up your player in the Oblivion you may have noticed that enemies leveled up just as much as you did. Meaning that a measly rat could pose just as much danger to a high level character as a Xivilai daemon. But that isn’t going to be the case anymore. Enemies will only be scaled up to when you first entered the area and then remain that same level even as you advance. Plus this will only happen in critical areas of the game which means that leveling up will help immensely this time around.
So we know about the story, the change in quests and the change in levels, but what about the combat? Well there is a new duel wielding weapon system as well. This means that you can assign any weapon or spell to each of your hands. This means that you can use two swords at the same time, or an axe and a sword, or a sword and a lightning bolt. The combinations are of course endless and a welcome addition to the game.
Beyond these changes there will be a weapon creation system, better graphics of course, better character creation, the ability to run faster, finishing moves for the brutality feel, and an NPC dueling system which allows you to hold a duel with any NPC that accepts. Now all of these changes and enhachments sound like exactly what fans of the series have been looking for, and I am most certainly excited to see all of these changes coming when the The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim releases on November 11th 2011.
