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Eternal Legacy – iPhone Review

December 20, 2010

Game Name: Eternal Legacy
Platform(s): iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad (iOS 3.1.2 or later)
Publisher(s): Gameloft S.A.
Developer(s): Gameloft S.A.
Genre(s): RPG
Release Date: 8th December, 2010
Price: $6.99 (BUY NOW!)

Overview

Earlier this month, my fellow editor has this opportunity to get hands-on experience on Gameloft’s first Japanese RPG (you can read his hands-on preview HERE), and he told me it was awesome. I did not quite believe him seeing that Gameloft is not the native JRPG developer, until I see the game myself. The game is fantastic indeed. It is a beautifully crafted turn-based Japanese RPG complete with features that you will rarely see on the App Store. Having played most RPGs on the Apple handheld devices, I’m completely amazed at how good Eternal Legacy is. Words could not describe my amazement, but I will try my best to give you an in-depth review of this game.

Storyline

Storyline is often the most important element in turn-based RPG because the battle is usually of slower pace as compared with hack-and-slash RPG. There is a need of a compelling story to keep players in the game and I would say that Eternal Legacy did pretty well in this department. In Eternal Legacy, you play as Astrian, the shiny warrior who wields a huge blade. Apparently, Astrian is determined to find out what happened to his father when he was captured by the Algoadian guards. As the story unfolds, Astrian will discover its destiny to save Algoad from destruction in its journey with his best friend, Taric. There will be a lot of exploring and fighting to do as he delves deeper and deeper into the truth.

Gameplay

The game puts you right into action as soon as you start playing, along with a tutorial session that introduces its battle mechanics. If you have played final fantasy XIII in the past, you should feel right at home here. It’s combat mechanism is the first of its kind in iOS gaming but Gameloft has executed it so well for the touch-screen devices.

Basically, you get to control a party of three members, and you are given you the option to have full control of each party members or just controlling Astrian. Personally, I would prefer the former seeing that gives me more space in crafting a strategy during battles. Alternatively, you can choose to use the latter option, where you are able to assign one of the four available roles to your party members. These roles will determine the attack/defense behavior of your party members, they range from Berserker, Predator, Defender, and Healer.

During battles, you can preset your future attacks by assigning multiple attacks command into the three slots available, which is shown on the top right corner of the screen. Below the slots, there is an action time gauge where it determines your attack sequences. Your queued up attack will be executed when it’s fully filled, and it fills up rather fast that the battle seems real time, which is great. I like the fact that the battle does not stop even though you did not key in any battle command, as the enemies will continue its attack sequences. This forced you to keep up with the battle throughout. Other than that, you can actually see the monsters running around on the map instead of having random enemies as you move across fields,. This allows you to run away from them if you don’t want to engage into battle. Do note that if they approach your party from behind, you will be ambushed and the monsters get the priority to attack first.

In general, you will be able to roam freely in the world of Eternal Legacy to enjoy the beautiful scenery in game. They even give you a mount very early in game that allows you to move faster than the ordinary walking. (Not to forget it’s a very cool mount too! How often do you see mounts in games on the App Store?) Though, you will probably be busy as you strive to complete the many quests available, which is often accessible through the NPCs with an exclamation mark on them.

Eternal Legacy also comes with an auto save feature, like most RPGs on the iOS devices. However, it does not auto saves your progress every single minute. Instead, it only auto saves your progress when you move into a new area. Not to worry though, there are many crystal spreads across the game world that allows you to manually save your progress into one of the three save slots available. The game also supports the multitasking feature in iOS4, so no worries when you receive a call or a text message while you play as you can always switch back to the game from the multitasking panel.

Graphics/Audio

Let’s just say, I’m completely blown by its graphics, especially on the Retina Display screen. Don’t get me wrong, it looks great on non-Retina Display screen too! The game simply looks fantastic, much better than any Gameloft’s past releases. It has a huge three dimensional world that seems to be the cross between sci-fi and fantasy. Spells attacks are very pretty to look at, character models are beautifully crafted, and the environment looks so lively.

Voice acting is okay in this game, it could use a little more work in the lip-sync part, but it’s no big deal. You could always turn them off in the option and listen to your iPod playlists. We rarely see voice-overs in RPG on the App Store anyway so this shows how much effort Gameloft has put into this game. Apart from that, they have included a great mix of background music and realistic sound effects in this game that helps immerse you into the game world throughout your gaming session.

Conclusion

Overall, It would be safe for me to say that this is probably one of the best turn-based RPG that I have seen and played on the iOS devices. Honestly speaking, I would expect this to be on the Playstation or the Xbox by just looking at how robust it is in terms of gameplay, storyline and graphics. Not to forget Gameloft is one of the few game companies that include so many language translations in its game to serve a larger pool of gamers. This is a game not to be missed, especially when you are an RPG fan like me. It truly redefines what the Apple mobile devices are capable of, and I’m seeing great possibility here.

Eternal Legacy earned a score of …

Tis The Season For Discounted Taito Games on the App Store!

Dustin Spencer

December 20, 2010

Yes, it is that time of year again, and Taito are celebrating with some huge discounts on the App Store with many of their most popular titles. Nothing better than to get a fantastic game at a great price, especially if the holidays are pinching your wallet a bit and even better news is that many of these titles are listed for over 40% off.

So, lets list off what sales are taking place, shall we?

Space Invaders: Infinity Gene is down (for the first time ever) from $4.99 to $2.99.

Mikado Defenders is down (also on sale for the first time) at 80% off at just $0.99!

Cooking Mama is down from $6.99 to $3.99.

Finishing up the list is a classic Taito favorite, Bust-A-Move (Or Buzzle Bobble for those of you outside the states) for just $2.99.

Great deals to enhance your Christmas Break for sure, but keep in mind, this Winter sale is only going for a little while so it would be best to grab these titles on the cheap while you still can. It should also be noted that this special price of Space Invaders is only good for the first 100,000 downloads so that might make the decision process a bit easier on what to grab first.

EA Deploys New Launch Trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam…

Dustin Spencer

December 20, 2010

If you thought all the big releases for 2011 were done, think again. EA has Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam landing this week adding the highly anticipated content to the already hugely popular combat title in just a couple of days (December 21st to be exact). In celebration of the release, EA have put out a new launch trailer up showing off some of the thrills and critical praise Vietnam will offer.

The pack will include new weapons, vehicles, achievements and trophies to make sure you dust off that disc and is sure to put those extra PSN/XBLA cards you get in your stocking this year to good use. With the recent release of the VIP map pack 7 and the Ultimate Edition of the game, there shouldn’t be a problem for fans of the game to grab this on day one. Check out the trailer below and don’t forget to queue this one up this Tuesday when it releases for for 1200 MSP or $14.99 at the PSN store..

DC Universe Online Beta Preview – Journal Part 1

Jared Hilliers

December 20, 2010

DC Universe Online
Developer(s) Sony Online Entertainment – Austin
Publisher(s) Sony Online Entertainment
Platform(s) PlayStation 3, PC
Release date(s) February 15, 2011
Genre(s) MMO
Mode(s) Multi-player Online only
Rating(s) ESRB: T
Difficulty: Medium Rare

Levels 1-10

I finally got my BETA keys just before the weekend and spent quite a few hours on the DCUO PC servers questing, PvPing and hilarious ganking ofcourse. Running around and ruining the general gaming experience of others in latex has never been so much fun. After quite a large download (13 gigs) overnight I was ready to create some sort of anti-villain. Initially I was going to test the BETA on the PS3 (check details below to win a PS3 Beta key), but after a quick twitter search I found people complaining about frequent crashes, so I’ll pass for now otherwise I’d be ranting about my broken PS3 control from throwing it etc etc. However I will be downloading the PS3 version tonight so we can get some comparisons going later on, it’d be nice if they ran off the same servers, but people are already trying to get that happening through a petition directed at Sony. By the way I’m writing this by level and experience as I go on. I rolled a villain, the jokers my mentor; I chose the sorcery powerset (healing) and two-handed weapons! It’s basically a big F off hammer… I look like a Sleazy Paladin!

Once you’ve started up the game a rather impressive war-torn cinematic is shown to explain the story, whilst this is appreciated and rather well done, I couldn’t help but feel that the time travel concept was a little vague. I’m assuming it’s because I’m not well read in comics, other than that the plot has a nice way of inserting new heroes from the planet into the mix. It’s biological baby, and once Lex Luther has finished explaining the prelude, the character creation fades in.

Obviously this has to be no less than awesome, initially I wasn’t too impressed by the some of the offerings, but it’s the changes you can make in game later that are the real winner. Not once did I see anyone looking similar, and that’s what people are looking for. The creation process is pretty slick, and it took me about 20mins to make my villain, but I imagine people will spend more time with the amount of customization here. You can choose to create your character from other iconic heroes, which act as templates, or customize it yourself. Some of the presets to choose from in custom are pretty lame, and I don’t know why anyone would choose these, but I doubt anyone will keep their initial masterpiece. Mostly because having the option to change your appearance based on any new item is too much fun, it’s irresistable and collecting styles is a neat idea for the players future. It’s quite a versatile way of customizing and provides alot of control over your appearance, all the way through the game. And assuming the “market” which is currently unreleased in game will add to these styles even more, the wealth of options here is impressive.

I haven’t had the chance to play every single class yet, so I won’t pretend to know their differences and game-breaking abilities, but impressions so far seem promising. PvP combat is available in the first 10 levels, it works by letting you play iconic characters such as batman, robin, huntress and superman etc based on your level, you unlock different characters as the game goes on. They come with preset moves and it’s matter of learning their strength’s and vulnerabilities, my first experience was frantic to say the least. This is a fast paced game and it seems alot of it works around stuns, which can be broken out of by holding down shift. Who is the best at stunning the crap out of each other? As I said I haven’t had the chance to play all different characters (only level 10!), but these are the impressions I get, and the pace of combat definitely enjoyable. How this works in terms of strategy is beyond my level of play experience so far, but I wasn’t the only one as everyone seemed to have no idea.

PVE combat was quite addictive, that has to be a good thing right? The first quest to escape Brianiac’s ship was a good introduction and explained the ropes quickly. Based on my experience with previous games in the genre, the combat feels like a mix between Diablo, WoW and PSO. You spend quite abit of your time clicking to timed combinations and other abilities are set to the hotbar below. It might not sound like anything particularly new, but it’s definitely fun because the fast pace and variety of abilities/stuns keeps things interesting. Not to mention the travelling, which gives you three options at the creation screen, flying, acrobatics or super-speed. Thanks to this, moving around cities and questing never feels like a drag, and later on the option to level up movement speed and other combat related benefits is much appreciated.

You could quite easily level solo to the cap, which is probably a good thing, because right now the social implementation isn’t too great. There’s too many presumptions the player has to make to interact with people around them, such as knowing to type /shout to chat to everyone around or /group for the group. It doesn’t help that the text is all the same colour; the lack of differentiation between the channels can be off-putting and requires too much focus. Most people playing the Beta probably know this sort of thing, but a novice MMO player would have no idea (your hot girlfriend for example).

"I'll catch that targeting circle if it's the last thing I do!"

The friend’s list is also something to be desired, once again lacking in simplicity and explanation. None of it feels very user-friendly, however this is the BETA, so hopefully grouping and interacting with other players is streamlined as time goes on. The UI does work well enough, but it can be quite sluggish at times and needs improving, especially if your connections lagging. I know SOE are trying their best to have something that works on both PC and PS3, so here’s hoping it can be pulled off. But right now, I don’t even know how or if I can inspect another player. I could Google it, but that’s cheating.

Performance wise the game hasn’t been running too bad, my PC is decent enough (awesome 3 years ago) and occasionally when things are crazy the game chugs. Considering how good the game looks running on the unreal engine, with solid art direction and detailed environments, it’s not too bad. For instance twice when I’ve been going nuts on mini-bosses I’ve ended up swinging myself upwards and into the air. Either this is a targeting issue or the games having trouble keeping up. I’ve chosen the two-handed weapon option so it could be an issue with that set, or it’s just me. But it was a little frustrating when I’m about to kill a boss, then all of a sudden I’m in the air off target (cue keyboard hulk smash). However later on I was forgiving this bad glitch, as I found a new entertaining one, which all worked in my favour. After playing some PvP as batman I was left with all he’s moves on my hotbar, this resulted in being able to one-shot players/mobs. I was also left with the same amount of HP, what do you think I did? I went straight to the heroes spawn point in Gotham and unleashed hell. I’m pretty sure I started all out war, but it was worth it while it lasted, obviously I’ve neglected to report this bug to SOE yet. Hopefully it happens again, it was very satisfying.

"Much like your first GF, it looks pretty, but looks can be deceiving"

The first 10 levels have definitely been enjoyable, and DCUO has a vibrant charm to the world, a certain something that sucks you in. You’ll notice I didn’t go into too much depth about trees or the way you level skills, that’s because it opens up at level 10 when class powers come into play. It’s being saved for next time, along with PS3 testing, PS3 control plugged into PC testing and much more! Do yourself a favour if you’re a Playstation Plus subscriber, download the BETA and play this fun filled game. I just hope they’ve fixed the crashing. If you’re already playing it on the PC, let us know down the bottom.

Don’t have Playstation Plus? No worries, we’ve got you covered. For your chance to win a PS3 Beta Key for Christmas, post a comment below with your heroes/villains name and why you’d choose that particular name. I’ll pick the weiner… ahh winner before Christmas.

Razer Announce the new Razer Scarab…

Dustin Spencer

December 20, 2010

Razer is known for making high end PC-gaming products without a doubt, but the company is destined to take their highly popular Razer Destructor, a high quality mouse mat to the next level with the newly announced Razer Scarab. What makes this interesting is that Razer are actually promoting this product as more of a sequel to the original Destructor mat to better compliment present and future products from the company.

Here is an official statement from Razer on the release of the Scarab:

“With this sequel, we focused on enhancing the Fractal surface coating so that gamers will improve their game even further. It’s all you need to win in life,” said Robert “RazerGuy” Krakoff, president of Razer USA, “And in PC games of course. The Razer Scarab is for gamers who prefer hard surfaces, high performance areas, effortless swipes and absolute tracking.”

Alexey “Cypher” Yanusheuski of Team Serious Gaming, world champion in Quake Live said of the Scarab, “A mat like this makes keeping up with the high intensity of Quake easy. I look forward to further improving my rocket jump technique and upping my frag count.”

Olga “Pachella” Pak, Counter-strike 1.6 world champion with Team Mousesports said, “Razer paid special attention to the needs of FPS gamers when developing this; improving accuracy and now the Scarab is an indispensable accessory to complement my high-dpi gaming mouse.”

What makes the Scarab the awesome mat it is comes down to Razer’s Fractal 2.0 surface coating. It establishes a highly responsive and uniform tracking system perfect for optical and laser mice sensors. It’s been finely-tuned to balance between speed and control to help acquire targets more accurately.

Razer even included a lightweight carrying case that not only protects the Scarab, but is a sweet folio to store documents for your job as a tax accountant by day, l33t gamer by night. It even looks great, guaranteed to turn heads at the next LAN party you destroy.

Features Include:

Fractal 2.0 surface coating for high performance

Optimal performance for both laser and optical

Hard mouse mat providing precise tracking

Improved rubber base for greater stability

Large size suited for most gaming environments: 350(L) x 250(W) x 3(H)mm

Reinforced carrying case for optimal stowing

A feeling of awesomeness during usage

Nothing like another top of the line product from Razer to end the year and for those looking for the perfect (quite literally) mouse mat for their gaming needs, it seems that you can look no further than the Scarab. The Scarab releases on Jan. 1st of 2011 at a AU price of $59.99. For more information about the Razer Scarab, please visit www.razerzone.com/scarab.

FarmVille for Dummies available for preorder

J. Bradshaw

December 20, 2010

So you are getting all these requests to play FarmVille on Facebook and people keep talking about it. “How do I get a piece of that action?” you may ask. Well, Angela Morales and Gamasutra writer Kyle Orland have your answer. FarmVille for Dummies can help you:

Find neighbors and interact with them
Purchase Farm Cash and Farm Coins
Shop at the FarmVille Market
Earn ribbons and construct buildings
Choose a profession
Be a co-op farmer
Deal with technical issues

No, we won’t make fun of you if you buy it, but just make sure to tell ’em we sent you and that it is for your ailing grandfather.

Buy it here.

Quake Arena Arcade Review

J. Bradshaw

December 20, 2010

Game: Quake Arena Arcade
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points
Publisher/Developer: Bethesda Softworks/ id Software
Console: Xbox 360 (Reviewed)
Genre: Shooter

Although I was too young to ever play the original Quake series, it is hard to be a part of the video game industry without eventually hearing how it was a start in the right direction for the first person shooter genre. And now, after much outcry from the fan base, Quake has been recreated on the Xbox Live Marketplace. How does it fare in today’s market? Does it live up to the standards it set back in the day?

Story

Evil overlords like to watch fighting matches. And you just happen to be a gladiator. And what is this? Those terrible rulers also have resurrection powers so that I can die as much as I want? Sweet! Sign me up!

Yup, that is about it. Go in an arena and fight different characters. Repeat. As far as story goes, this is not an emotional, character driven story. The back stories of each character are interesting, but not very deep. Even the motivations of the overlords could be greatly expanded. Really, though, all I am saying is that it might have been nice to learn more about the people I was playing with, but hey, this is a shooter. What is more, this is Quake. Do I really need a gripping reason to shoot exotic gladiators with a variety of powerful weapons? No.

Gameplay

The biggest complaint to be had with the gameplay is the controls. The analog sticks are simply not accurate enough to keep up. Having never experienced this game, I was shocked at how fast everything moved. I was able to get used to it, but wow was it mind blowing. After doing some research, I found that a free, ad supported verison of Quake is available to play online, and I have a feeling that the more accurate mouse/keypad controls make the game much better. But if you only have an Xbox or you enjoy your Xbox Live multiplayer experience more, then you will probably want to buy some Microsoft Points, as this game is very fun once you get over the controls.

If you are a history junkie, then you will love to see how much Quake inspired the shooters of today. As soon as I started it up, I was reminded of Halo. However, it is also very different. Some people may get angry over the antiquated design. For example, there is no regenerating health and and there is no kind of sticky reticule. It all depends on luck and reflexes. And of course, many people will absolutely love that. For old school activists and reflex purists, this game is pure heaven. For newer players though, the constant deaths, super fast action and emphasis on luck of the draw will soon get frustrating and tedious. Not to mention the fact that many of the arenas start to look similar and boring.

For most, the multiplayer modes in the game will be their bread and butter. Something about playing with actual people and predicting their random moves is just great. The single player in the game is much more like a training game for the multiplayer part. If you are looking for a first person multiplayer thrill on the cheap, then this is the way to go. That is, if you can find any people playing online. Other than finding it difficult to find players, the worst part of the online is that it got old for me really fast. There is none of that super addictive feeling that I have with games such as Halo Reach. It feels as though it was much more exciting 10 years ago, which it probably was. But most people will probably really enjoy it and keep playing it anyway. Just beware that you should not expect a game with all the bells and whistles of today’s FPS market.

Graphics and Audio

Graphics have been rendered in high definition and overall, this is a great looking game. I was especially impressed by the texture work done in the game. The bad part about the graphics is that explosions are a little boring and I hate having the view so close to the floor. Those are pretty minor complaints though.

Audio, in a nutshell, is just there. If you could create a mixture of unoriginal sound effects and terrifically overused audio, then you would get the general idea.

Overview

As I mentioned, a variation of this game is available online for free. So, a fifteen dollar price tag is a little steep, especially considering that the multi-player is the main reason to get it. However, considering that you are getting an arcade game with multi-player and single-player for a 1/4 of the price of most first person shooters, then this is a good game. Just be sure you have people on your friend list that also have the game and that you don’t mind super twitchy gameplay.

I give Quake Arena Arcade:

What I Want For Christmas : An iPad Satire

Steven Good

December 20, 2010

What I Want For Christmas : An iPad Satire

I want to revolutionize my day to day life. I want to surf the web and listen to music; all at the same time. I want to be able to play amazing games such as God of War and Halo while I’m waiting in line at Jamba Juice. I want to read my favorite Dr. Seuss book on a plane, on a train, or even sitting in the rain; without the fear of my book getting wet. This Christmas, I want an iPad.

I want something that will help me live my life. When I wake up in the morning, my alarm app on my iPad will wake me promptly at 6:00 A.M., and require me to solve puzzles to turn it off. After going to the bathroom and brushing my teeth, I will check my iPad for the weather forecast to decide what clothes to wear for that day. I will then read the New York Times or watch television on my iPad while I eat breakfast, while also checking my e-mail and ensuring that I have the required assignments for that day to turn in. I will then get in my car and drive off to school.

When I am driving, I want my iPad to function as a steering wheel, using its accelerometer to turn with ease. When I drive in my car with my iPad, I want to use my iPad to take calls with its 3G. While I am steering with my iPad, I want a second iPad on the divider next to me so I am able to switch gears and turn on and off the AC, headlights, windshield wipers, and engine. When I exit the car and head to school, I shall take my first iPad with me, lock the car by connecting my iPad wirelessly to my other iPad, which will then connect with the car.
My first class of the day being P.E., I want my iPad to be completely theft-proof. I will put my iPad in my locker, with my Fingerprint Identification application on. Although the Fingerprint app does not actually scan fingerprints, it emits a loud, beeping noise when someone tries to put their fingers on it. I also want my iPad to be made out of unbreakable steel and bulletproof glass, so when the potential thief drops my iPad in fright, my iPad will be perfectly fine.

My iPad will completely replace any materials I might need to succeed in school. When I need to turn in an assignment for school I can either show the teacher the assignment in class or e-mail it to them wirelessly so they can read in depth. When reading an in-class packet, instead of wasting paper to print it on, my teacher can send me the packet and I can read, highlight and annotate it on my iPad. When we need to check out a book to read as a class, I can buy the book from the Apple E-Book Store and have it on my iPad forever. In Math class, I can use my iPad as a graphing calculator, and also get tips on how to solve the problems on hotmath.com with the built-in internet browser. In Piano class, due to the large size of my iPad, I can play the piano app on my iPad with the music on the floor in front of me. Plus, unlike the pianos at our school, my iPad supports mostly all headphone plugs, allowing me to practice my songs without annoying anyone else.
I want my iPad to function in my extracurricular life also. When I work out, I will not need weights to lift weights, I can just change the weight of my iPad through an app, and use that as a weight. To see how fit I am after my workout, I can use my iPad as a scale to measure both my weight and my body mass index. When I get home, after finishing typing up my homework on my iPad, I can play games online with my friends. We can play thirteen, speed, spades, hearts, slapjack; any card game that we can think of, we can play. Of course, when my friends aren’t over, I can read a book, play some solitaire, chat online, and play one of the hundreds of thousands of games available for my iPad. And when I am ready to go to sleep, I set my Sleep Cycle Alarm app to wake me during my lightest sleep cycle so I can feel refreshed in the morning and start my day all over again. I want an iPad because, no matter what life requires, there is an app for that.

N.O.V.A 2 – iPhone Review

Philip Federico

December 19, 2010

N.O.V.A 2
Genre: Action / FPS
Publisher: Gameloft
Developer: Gameloft
Released: 15 December
Price: (AU)$8.99 (US) $6.99
BUY NOW

Having had the opportunity to get my hands on the preview build of NOVA 2, I was eager to get my hands on the finish product. I am very positive in saying that this could possibly be Gameloft’s finest game of 2010. Watching the jaw dropping high definition intro movie totally grabbed my attention and had me pumped up to get stuck into the action once again and save the universe this time from the clutches of an alien race called the Volterites. To give you a brief rundown of the story NOVA 2 takes place 6 years after the events depicted in NOVA. Humanity has been thrown into a civil war fought on one side by the central government of the Terran Orbitals and the Human Alien Alliance. Our hero Kal Wardin has once again retired and is now loving life living on the desert planet of Scorpius, amongst the villagers of that colony. As you know war never spares even the most peaceful of places and poor old Kal is called back to fight once again.

I have to say that straight off the bat NOVA 2 has to be one of the most visually stunning FPS I have seen on the Apple iPhone. The amount of detail that has gone into the level designs, character models and environments is outstanding. Gameloft has really hit the nail right on the head taking full advantage of the iPhones retina display.

After a dramatic video intro, the first level has you crash landing on an unknown beach. Here you’re taken through a quick tutorial and can select the type of control system that best suits your play style. Even though I’m still not used to it – I would totally recommend using the Gyrometric control system. This makes gameplay much easier as you can keep one thumb on the control pad and one on the fire button without having to take one thumb off either to aim and then return it back to shoot or move. Once you get the hang of aiming with it, taking down those pesky aliens will be walk in the park. Well not necessarily, aiming is one thing but ultimately you’re going to have to use wit and skill to outsmart what looks like much improved AI enemies.

Speaking of AI the first real threat in the game appears pretty much as soon as take a few steps onto the beach. Known as a Volterite Psycher, this monstrosity uses an invisibility cloak and has the ability to pick up and throw large objects your way using its psychic telekinetic abilities. But don’t worry Captain Kal Wardin has a few tricks up his sleeve to combat this deadly foe and any other enemy that comes his way. Returning is his electromagnetic freeze pulse that will allow you to freeze enemies in their tracks, temporarily allowing you to plow into them with a barrage of bullets. Kal also has 2 new special powers obtained during the game, one is neat new melee attack you can select by switching between the electromagnetic pulse attack that allows you to use some sort of disc style blade. On regular enemies like the Red Fury Troopers one slice of this deadly looking weapon will end their pitiful existence. The second is a Slow time power – when activated the whole world around you is slowed down and you can get stuck into whoever’s been caught in the time freeze.

There are some ultra-cool weapons at your disposal in the game to pick up and use throughout the game. Some of the Alien style weaponry were a complete BLAST to use, and handled very well especially the Plasma Gun, Lightening Gun and the Rail Gun (sorry not going to tell you what they do – no spoilers) The standard weapons are back like the assault rifle, you now have dual pistols as your lower end weapon, the snipers looks and feels the same as it did in the first one, an awesome automatic shotgun, a grenade launcher, a gun that looks very similar to the “Hammer Of Dawn” but drops sentry guns and a heat seeking rocket launcher that was very useful when taking down huge robotic mechas hell bent on blowing you into smithereens. There are a few more weapons but I’ll let you discover them out for yourselves once you buy the game.

The action is always full on, there is never a dull moment to be had. Take for example on just the second level you get jump in and control a huge robotic mech as you try and make your escape. The mech looks, sounds, feels and controls beautifully and is also great fun to use with its high powered Gatling gun and missile launcher making light work of enemies trying to take you down. Also making a return is the hacking mini game used to unlock doors or special weapon containers through the game. The object of the mini game is to manoeuvre a moving orb (key) from its starting position to a unlock port. Once it reaches that port you successfully have hacked the door or weapons container. Along the way there are blocks and rotating blocks you can use to make sure the orb bounces of each one correctly so it can make its way safely to its docking port. Fail to keep the orb in play will result in damage to your suit and you will need to re-hack the system all over again.

Also scattered in hidden locations throughout the game are special CR credit orbs. Collecting these orbs will allow you to upgrade your weapons, health and a variety of other cool stuff at the end of each level. This new feature within the game will make players do a little bit of searching around the levels to find these orbs as purchasing the upgrades will not be cheap but will be well worth it if you can afford it.

The campaign has a total twelve levels taking you to several orbitals = planets with various settings, each level will take you on average approx. 30 to 45 mins to complete depending on the difficulty level. A neat little feature thrown into the menu system is the ability to check out and read back the log communication conversations that have occurred during the level. You’ll also be able to see all the achievements that can be obtained in that level. This is great for all you achievement junkies out there as you’ll be able to quickly and easily see what you have to do unlock them without going into Gameloft Live to read them.

NOVA 2 also has multiplayer, the game supports up to 10 players online compared to only 4 with the original NOVA. Along with a new ranking and PERK system, there are five different modes: Capture the flag, deathmatch and team deathmatch, Freeze Tag and Instagib. There is also an Exclusive multiplayer reward that automatically unlocks for veteran players who have played the first N.O.V.A. This is called: The BAGS ( Bass Ass Gold Suit), veteran players will also start with an advanced ranking that will automatically unlock advanced weapons and a special achievement. So if you want these cool rewards go out and download N.O.V.A right now from the iTunes store.

Included with this review is a video gameplay review taking you through the basics and also how multiplayer works. Please take the time check it out below :

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLTl6oXR0d8[/pro-player]

NOVA 2 looks and feels like nothing I have ever seen before on the Apple iPhone. With upgraded controls, graphically enhanced visuals, intelligent AI, an amazing array of new weapons.. PLUS you get to drive vehicles and control HUGE Mechs plus much more !! Kal will also be able ride motorbikes, and shoot from a running jeep. If you craving a new FPS to take with you everywhere you go then NOVA 2 will be the game for you.

Deployment into Orbital is now available via the iTunes store !! Grab this now for Christmas and don’t look back.

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X-Men Arcade – XBLA Review

Dylan Radcliffe

December 19, 2010

Game Name: X-Men Arcade
Platforms: Xbox 360
Publisher(s): Konami Digital Entertainment
Developer(s): Backbone Entertainment
Genre(s): Action & Adventure
Release Date: 12/15/2010
ESRB Rating: E10 (Everyone 10+)
Price: 800MSP ($10 USD)
Demo: Add the demo to your download queue here.

Story
“Experience the classic 1992 X-Men arcade game right in the comfort of your own home! Choose from some of your favorite classic X-Men characters including: Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, or Dazzler. Fight your way through hundreds of Sentinels and battle classic super villains such as Pyro, The Blob, Wendigo, Nimrod, The White Queen, Juggernaut, Mystique and the Master of Magnetism himself, Magneto!” [Via Xbox.com]

Relive your fond childhood memories as you play the classic 1992 X-men game on your consoles. There is no need to worry if you have enough quarters, just nonstop classic beat ’em up goodness with 6 of the well known X-men characters facing off against many of the famous villains and a multitude of minions. This game is known as both “X-men Arcade” and just “X-men”; however, to alleviate any confusion I am going to continue calling it X-men Arcade.

Gameplay
The game is a very basic beat ’em up game where you use one of 6 characters to fight through Magneto’s minions and get to Magneto himself to kick his butt. Use Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, or Dazzler to progress through the 8 levels by beating everyone up. Since normally this game would require you to put in quarters every time you die, it has become infinitely easy to beat completely just by continuing (for free) constantly. The game is also incredibly short and only takes about 30 minutes to beat on your first try. There are added difficulties, but with infinite continues it isn’t that difficult.

As a fan service, you can select from two separate ROMs just as if you were selecting between two separate arcade machines. The first ROM is the English version, while the second is the Japanese version. These two ROMs are incredibly familiar and only have slight alterations within them. The most notable is the fact that the Japanese ROM has Japanese subtitles. The next difference has to do with your mutant powers. In the Japanese ROM while playing co-op, you are able to find energy pills dropped by slain enemies. These pills replenish some of your energy and in turn lets you use your mutant powers again. The ROMs don’t make a big difference, but they are there for the fans to pick between.

Multiplayer is where the fun begins within this game. This game supports up to 4 players playing simultaneously on one console and 6 players playing simultaneously over Xbox live. If you are playing singleplayer, I’d suggest to use the 6 player game just for the widescreen support. Multiplayer lets you play with a bunch of friends as each of you takes control of one of the 6 x-men. It is a lot of fun, though it does make the game much shorter as you charge through killing all the enemies with friends.

Audio & Graphics
The audio and the graphics in this game can be viewed from two different perspectives. For the people who actually remember playing this game when it first came out, the audio and graphics bring back a nostalgic feeling since Konami hasn’t changed it at all. Aside from an updated menu, the graphics and audio are exactly the same as they were in 1992 and this will help many people relive the memories they gained as a child playing the original.

On the other hand, for anyone who has never played the game before, these graphics are incredibly outdated. Even by 2D standards. The audio is also incredibly repetitive and shows its age through some of the voice acting, such as when Magneto taunts you with incredibly bad grammar and repetitive remarks. While these kinds of things may help with the nostalgic feel, they don’t help anyone who has no nostalgic memories to relive anyway.

Achievements
The achievements in X-Men arcade are incredibly easy and if you have a friend who has it as well, they can all be achieved within one sitting. A majority of them can actually be acquired in under an hour. Since the game only takes about 20 minutes to beat, you can run through it incredibly quickly and the achievement for beating the game in under 25 minutes isn’t difficult at all. Other achievements can be achieved simply by knowing about them before you reach the level. There are some achievements that may be confusing at first; for instance, the energy pill can only be acquired while playing co-op on the Japanese ROM (mentioned in the gameplay section). Another one that may give you trouble is the “Master of Magnet” achievement, in order to get it you have to beat the whole game with Cyclops (specifically him, because this character doesn’t save the defeat of magneto unless you beat the entire game with him). After beating the game with Cyclops you can simply load up level 8 with the other 5 characters and just beat magneto 5 more times real quick in order to snag the achievement. Lastly, the two online achievements can be acquired with only you and a friend and then a whole bunch of guests, so you don’t have to worry about forming a large group. However, in order to fall for mystique’s trap you must start from level 1 and get all the way to mystique while online with your friend (you can then drop in the guests right before you beat that boss).

Below is the achievement list:

Super Mutant – 10 – You took an energy pill.
Largest Party – 10 – You played in a 6-player match with five other people.
Grounded – 10 – You completed Level 4 without jumping.
Xavier Would Be Proud! – 10 – You used a mutant power 5 times in one game.
Turn Pyro to Toast – 10 – You defeated Pyro without using any mutant powers.
Kidnapped – 10 – You learned that Magneto has kidnapped Professor X.
Bamf – 25 – You completed the game in 25 minutes or less.
X-pertise – 25 – You completed the game on Expert difficulty.
Master of Magnet – 30 – You defeated Magneto with all 6 X-Men characters!
Welcome to Die! – 10 – You were welcomed to die by the White Queen.
You Fell to Our Trap! – 25 – Mystique tried to fool you and five other players in a 6-player game.
Score Inflation – 25 – You earned at least 250 points in one game.

Overview
X-Men Arcade is purely for the fans who remember huddling around this game with friends at the local arcade. Konami has directly ported the game due to an agreement with marvel and only added online support and a new menu. Everything is exactly the same as it was 18 years ago and while that adds a nostalgic feeling, it creates a game that has difficulty floating in an ocean of other games. The main problem is the length, since there is no need to worry about putting in more quarters, the overall length becomes incredibly short. Unless you have friends to play with online, there isn’t really much offered by this game. X-men arcade is a fan service and it is evident while playing it.
I give X-Men Arcade

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