Sony has final confirmed that Gran Turismo 5 will, absolutely most definitively, be released in the UK on Wednesday November 24th. Yes that’s right on the 24th November that’s only 2 weeks away!
Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi said sometime last week that the game has gone into production, which to be honest points in the direction that the game was going to be released soon.
So for all the Gran Turismo fans out there the 24th can’t come soon enough and I am sure this news is Christmas come early for some of and the game should more likely be worth the wait and won’t fail to disappoint.
Game Name:Goldeneye 007 Platform(s): Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii (Reviewed) Publisher(s):Activision Developer(s):Eurocom Genre(s): Action, Shooter Release Date: November 2nd, 2010 (US) Price: $49.99 (Game Only) 69.99 (Bundled Version with Golden Classic Controller)
On August 25th, 1997, the first person shooter changed forever with the release of Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64. Sure the story was great, but most gamers remember that title for the gameplay as paved the way for multi-player shooters we all bank hours into today. With an interesting cast, crazy modes, and a perfectly balanced control scheme many consider the original Goldeneye to be one of the best games of all time. Over 13 years later, Eurocom have developed a brand new Goldeneye, this time for the Nintendo Wii. With a mix of fan service and updated graphics and gameplay, Goldeneye 007 has been one of this years most anticipated titles. How does it stand up? Here is my review.
Story
The main story in the game is based off the Goldeneye movie, just like the classic Goldeneye. Now there are some differences to point out with this though. Of course the graphics are now heavily updated (which I will touch on in a bit) as well as the sound, but the main difference in the story is the 2010 vibe that is given off.
First thing I should mention is that this Bond is of course not Pierce Brosnan, but instead the current Bond actor, Daniel Craig. Now I didn’t care for this all that much. Daniel Craig does an awesome job as Bond, don’t get me wrong, but in a game where nostalgia and fan service seem to be first priority, this was a small let down for me. I should explain this better though to paint a picture of how this even effects the story.
When you are in the story mode, accomplishing missions, fighting the Russians, ect., the whole game’s atmosphere can easily suck you in to that same feeling from the classic, but when a cutscene appears showing Daniel Craig instead of Pierce Brosnan, I was sucked back from my nostalgic 1997 feeling instantly. This was mainly just a personal preference, but either way nostalgia should not be used when going into the story mode is what I ultimately had to learn though, and once I got over that detail, the game took off for me.
The other updates to the story are mainly bringing present-day culture into the game, such as technology and other gadgets the classic version could never dream of having. I did like this a lot and along with the many cutscenes in the game, everything is easy to follow and the top notch writing bring out the characters in the present day setting well. The new voice work also adds a lot of depth to each personality portrayed.
Gameplay
The heart and soul of Goldeneye is meant to be the gameplay. Controls are very important in any Bond title, and with a name like Goldeneye, they need to live up to the standards that tag carries. I was very pleased with how Eurocom did the whole scheme as new players and old fans can each have a more personalized feel in this re-imagining. Players can choose from the Wii-Mote and Nunchuck, Classic Controller, Wii Zapper or the Gamecube controls to use their character or Bond Himself. I played with all of these, and while they all work fine, the classic controller stands miles above the other options.
With the dual sticks, controlling Bond or your multiplayer character of choice has never been easier. Each gun controls about the same as the next, but zooming in, cycling through weapons, and even the the added ability to now charge at enemies all is pulled off with ease and feels like many shooters of today such as Call of Duty and even the Halo series in some ways. The Wii-Mote does have a bit of an advantage with head-shots I noticed, but the classic controller just made the game more fun for me overall.
In story mode, missions are made where you can go back and get anything you might have missed during your first run, which should add a lot more value to the title for speed runners or perfectionists. Enemy AI is about standard fare for a current shooter, but it all seemed to work well. Enemies are smart enough to sense your presence which adds to the much needed stealth portion of the game. You can try to just charge through each level, but you won’t get very far as strategy is really needed to not cause alarm in many areas or you can easily surround yourself with enemies. I know this all too well now, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The standard shooting/stealth style gameplay is used throughout most of the story mode, but Goldeneye does switch it up from time to time. Bond is equipped with a smart-phone, allowing the ability to hack into computers and shut off security systems or perform several objectives in missions. The best part of story mode though is some of the events that happen on the fly, throwing the player right into a huge action sequence. From hopping on a motorcycle and shooting soldiers out of an airplane to running from rockets being blasted at you while escaping a burning building, every one of these events is action packed and feel as if they were ripped straight out of a movie. Not only are these one of the funnest features in the story, but they also happen smoothly and with no hiccups and actually require timing and skill rather quick-time button presses like many current action games use. The story does have it’s slow moments from time to time, like walking for instance without weapons for cutscene-like story progression. These took a bit out of the fast pace of some of the story mode but I felt the action sequences balanced it out well enough.
Difficulty is a big factor of how you play the game as well. With four difficulties, the one I should boast most about is the Classic 007 Mode. This mode does not let your health recharge (a problem I didn’t really notice too much, but I have several others did not like) and makes you keep an eye out for armor to restore health while in missions. This may sound a bit harder, but it actually encourages much more stealth and thought to be put into the game, and this difficulty in all honesty is one of the factors in the game that fans of the classic will enjoy most as it feels the closest to how the original was done. Replay value with these difficulties goes up incredibly and can turn the single player mode on it’s head providing a completely different experience.
Multiplayer
In the classic Goldeneye, split-screen multiplayer was the backbone of the game’s success in my opinion and this game does recapture the feeling of that, mostly anyway. Many of the classic multiplayer options have returned, such as Golden Gun, Conflict Mode (which is standard elimination-based multiplayer), and many other modes along with quite a few new maps that have been added in as well as some returning remakes of beloved favorites. Local multiplayer also brings many ways to play as well to fully modify your experience much like the original, such as paintball mode, you only live twice, and 14 other variants that can be added at will.
There are over 40 characters to choose from, each with a different weapon loadout. Many returning faces are in the mix as well, such as Oddjob, Natalya, and several classic characters. The only thing I missed really for local multiplayer was the ability to switch the weapons to Mines only and some of the classic weapons are no longer present, but the huge loadout options letting you personalize your character of choice made up most of that completely.
Online Multiplayer is a blast to play and one of the Wii’s best offerings in that area period. Using the classic “hosting” method, this works about the same as local multiplayer except without the modifiers. Players can also earn experience and level up their characters, unlocking more ways to play online such as the Classic 007 mode as well as a couple other locked modes. The leveling system works great and I spent quite a few hours in different match types with hardly any lag experienced. The only downside is if the host quits, the game comes to an end. This is a problem that can be very frustrating. Other than that though, I spent a lot of my time with the game online and it was a rewarding and fun experience 9 times out of 10 for me, so this feature is where the game shines the brightest.
Graphics/Audio
The graphics look great for Wii standards, but the models to me are the most impressive part visually. For instance Daniel Craig’s model looks exactly like the actor and in all cutscenes the characters dialogue matched well with the spoken voice work. Each location is polished to near perfection, but I did feel some of the textures were a little plain in certain areas of the game. Certain maps are more detailed than others, but it is really hard to pay attention to the walls being perfectly detailed anyway as the action and music seems to take the forefront of the experience.
Speaking of music, I found the soundtrack to be excellent. Goldeneye is constantly playing melodies throughout the story mode, and this is pulled off without a hitch and gives each area a level of atmosphere throughout the whole game. If you are a fan of the classic, you will hear many familiar themes play and as the action picks up, so does the intensity of the music, making it easy to get pulled into the gameplay and onto the edge of your seat. The opening cutscene with the credits rolling truly set the mood for the whole game and instead of getting poorer in quality, the game stayed on that platform the whole way through. Sound effects all sound as they should, but voice acting is another element that added a lot of depth to the story and helped make it feel fresh and modern. Judi Dench and Daniel Craig as well as all of the other voice talent included did a spectacular job at giving each character a personality. I was honestly surprised at the level presentation value that went into the title, but it was all welcome as it added that much more depth to each element of gameplay.
Overall
If you are buying Goldeneye 007 to get the same experience as the Nintendo 64 version offered, this game is not for you. While it does recapture a lot of feel for the original in different ways, all of the work to modernize the classic more or less made it a whole new experience, which is not a bad thing. Multiplayer is still just as fun as it was 13 years ago, but with the added online mode, it was hard for me to put down the controller. Goldeneye does accomplish one thing that the previous version did as well, and that was to show off the full potential of the platform it was made for. With the different control schemes and sharp and smooth visuals, this game should set a blueprint for future first person shooters on the console and how they should play. Add in the high grade single player mode a spectacular in-game soundtrack, and this in my opinion is the first person shooter to own on the Wii.
It’s a week before the hotly anticipated Bit.Trip Fate releases on the European Wii Shop Channel, but until then, here’s this week’s Nintendo downloads:
Cruise Party (WiiWare: Enjoy Gaming, 800 Wii Points)
Enjoy Your Massage!(WiiWare: Microforum, 500 Wii Points)
And so concludes this week’s goings-on WiiWare and DSiWare-wise. Is anybody picking any of these up? Or are all your eyes so fixated on Bit.Trip Fate coming next week that nothing else could convince you to part with your precious Wii Points?
If you do decide to pick one or more of these up, do let us know what you think of it/them.
Com2uS has great news for all its fans worldwide !!
As a part of their amazing line-up of iPhone/iPod Touch games coming in 2011, BETA testing will begin very soon for ‘Inotia3 : Children of Carnia’.
‘Inotia3 : Children of Carnia’ is the third sequel of Inotia series. ‘Inotia’ Series has been one of the most popular RPG games on the Apple iPhone.
For the all of those who missed out on applying for Com2us’ previous beta testings or previews, here’s your chance once again to get in on a sneak preview of what Com2uS has to offer.
To be eligible to enter, follow the steps in the image below.
A little over two years ago, de Blob showed up on the Nintendo Wii, bringing a bit of color and innovative gameplay to gamers across the world. Blue Tongue Entertainment and THQ have now released a new trailer a bit of info on what to expect for the sequel, de Blob 2.
First up is for the Playstation 3 version, the title will fully support the Playstation Move as well as supporting 3D televisions for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. The game will also be making it’s debut on the Nintendo DS and returning to it’s original platform of the Nintendo Wii.
Here is a bit of information from the new launched website which can be found at this link about the story:
Blob’s origins are mysterious, but he rolled up at the right place and the right time to be the hero that the Color Underground was looking for. Music surrounds him and color energy flows through him; with his touch Blob can literally make the world a better place.
Blob represents individuality and determination. Blob is good hearted but lazy. He is often late, but he always comes through.
de Blob 2 puts you in a colorless world thanks to the evil Comrade Black, and it is up to you to gain the color back in the city by sapping it off Paintbots and Paint Pools, restoring the color as you move through the very visually stimulating game. Everything is looking great in this game from the more polished look of the gameplay to the newly enhanced graphics for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. de Blob 2 rolls out to consoles on February 22nd in the U.S. and February. You can check out the new screenshots and trailer below.
It’s an answer to a lot of small problems, that Microsoft hopes will keep their controller in the market, for years to come. While they go about phasing out old model XBOXs for the new (new) ‘slim’ model, the new controller was also revealed this week, in a design decision that was apparently rooted in ‘covert operations’, the military and all round functionality for core players.
With what is apparently a transforming DPAD (it can be flipped over or rotated to the back), Microsoft hopes this puts to rest the issues between the “plus” design and the current shallow platter. Since day one, many gamers have complained that the design of the concave platter is not specific enough over the up,down,left,right of a literal cross or ‘plus’ design. It may seem like a mute point for some, but now Microsofts’ Industrial Designer John Ikeda says they are offering both options at once:
“Those two d-pads, all things under the hood being equal, they’re still not equal because what you’re touching, what you’re holding, what you’re pressing – that’s different,” Ikeda says. “Depending on the content you play, you’re going to want one or the other. There’s no ‘This d-pad is right for all things.’ Depending on how you use the d-pad, there might be a different d-pad for you.”
“We had several other ideas of how we could accomplish this, but we had some pretty tough metrics that we were measuring ourselves against,” Ikeda says. “One, it had to be simple. You can do removable parts and junk like that, but we really wanted this to be something that the user could do really simply that would never ever interfere with gameplay. We also wanted it to be very robust. It had to last a long time.”
Ikeda goes on to defend that thumb sticks, even though reportadly people will cut off the little grip nubs or wear them down completely. By keeping them as well as deepening the pressure point, Microsoft hopes it sticks to your thumb for maximum effect. As for the lack of colour and muted, grey over-tones, Microsoft may be finally phasing out the colour coded cuteness as well:
“The attitude we had with this was the ABXY buttons are [labeled] and color-coded. That’s for usability. That’s something that we do on all our products,” he continues. “But this new gamepad isn’t for people learning how to play games. This is for the person who’s already customized their controller. They already know that thing forward and backward, left and right. So we want to keep that looking professional and part of that is taking the colors off of the ABXY buttons. They’re still clearly marked, but if you really need to look down to know which color A is then you’re probably not a core gamer.”
“We’ve got a lot of mixed receptions on our current thumbstick. Some people really like those little nubs that we have, those little bumps on them. Those aren’t really for direction. Those are really just for grip,” Ikeda says. “For some people those bumps are really annoying…We’ve heard other people say that they cut them off. We’ve found that other people rub them off on purpose. And we have other people say that when you lose them and you don’t have any grip it kind of sucks, too.”
“So what we tried to do with the new thumb stick is give you that little lip, that little edge, and that little concave, so it still sucks your thumb down a little better,” he says. “You get a little more ‘sticktion.’ That’s kind of a word we use for not stickiness, but friction.”
Microsoft has a habit of continually updating their product in an ever expanding market, which is good, but can also leave the customer confused as to which product is actually the best:
“What I’m really interested to see is once this gets out there and a lot of people have them then, yeah, if it’s something that users are really finding helps improve their gamepad experience, yeah, I would hope to see it in other devices,” Ikeda says. “And along the same tracks we’re always looking at stuff on the gamepad. As long as we make games that need gamepads we will always be looking at improving the gamepad. The day the game studios say, ‘Look, we’re not going to make those kinds of games anymore.’ Then okay, that’s the day I’ll stop looking at this.”
With the release of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood less than a week away Ubisoft is already ready to get us excited about their next project in the world of Assassin’s Creed. A small trailer was released today for a game called Assassin’s Creed: Ascendance on UbiWorkshop’s website.
Ubiworkshop is in charge of everything that doesn’t count as a videogame, instead focusing on comic books and short films. What this means is that while the teaser could have simply been an animated cutscene for the sake of having one, actually could turn out to be part of the film. You heard me right, film. This is just idle speculation so far due to the fact that little else is known about Ascendance, but it appears that it will be an animated short film that will fill out parts of the story that have been left open between Assassin’s Creed 1 and 2. What do you think?
Keep your eyes peeled for this game over the next 6 months, with the latest video showcasing the history of everyones favorite Sub Zero. Find out how this un-dead ninja assassin became the cold blooded killer and why Scorpion and Reptile, better watch out!
Mortal Kombat (2011) sports the tag line “Brutal things come to those who wait” but if you can’t go here to see Scorpions back story and other great information. The game is being developed by Warner Brothers Interactive and is due early 2011.
Arcania: Gothic 4 Platforms: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PC, Playstation 3 (Future release) Publishers: Dreamcatcher Interactive, JoWood Entertainment Developer: Spellbound Entertainment Genre: Fantasy RPG Release Date: October 19th, 2010
Overview:
Over the past decade Gothic has always had a distinct crowd of PC gamers that were die-hard fans. Piranha Bytes had been keeping together these RPGs that, while not always very popular, always had plenty of fans. Now however the fourth game is in the hands of Spellbound and JoWood and does it keep together the hardcore experience fans always loved when it arrives on the Xbox 360?
Story:
Gothic 4 places the player ten years after the events of Gothic3 in the land of Myrtana. King Rhobar III who used to rule the kingdom fairly has become ill with a type of madness that transforms him from a standard ruler into a bloodthirsty tyrant. This all begins before the player even has a chance to step into their role as a peasant sheep herder.
The player takes on this role as a simple man who occasionally dreams of adventure but is all set to settle down and have a wife and child. Everything is peaceful in the isle of Feshyr, the player goes through the standard tasks done by a working village man, lasting just long enough to make players wonder when the action will begin. That is until Rhobar’s troops show up and spoil everything by burning down the village and killing his fiancée. Thus begins the tale of revenge for your village and loves ones, and maybe on the way free the kingdom from Rhobar’s rule.
While it won’t win any awards for story, Gothic 4 sets itself up beautifully for what players have come to expect from the series. A bleak beginning with nothing to turn back to, only the grim future that awaits the main character. This would have at least been a bit more striking if the player could name their character in any way, or customize them but I digress. The story is exactly what RPG fans are looking for in their fantasy RPGs, especially when it comes to the Gothic series.
Graphics:
Vast open world seeming RPGs require a great looking world to explore otherwise it defeats the purpose of giving players the drive to venture around. Thankfully Gothic 4 delivers in this category. The areas that the player explores are very large and intricate. With large castles in scenic settings, to forests that just scream danger Gothic 4 at least knows how to set the feeling at a distance and at times is quite breathtaking; bordering on realistic.
This changes however after the player begins to actually explore said forest. This is because the frame rate constantly flakes off during combat or even more complicated looking areas. When seen close up the character models only end up looking strange and unbelievable and in some cases can confuse the player with what the gender is of the NPC that they are actually talking to. Plus remember that forest I mentioned before? Well as you get closer to that forest you will notice the more intricate details disappearing for better performance. Meaning instead of objects popping in, or texture draw; we have objects completely popping out and vanishing.
Sound:
The soundtrack is limited at best and the majority of what you will be hearing as far as background music goes is when you enter into the menu screens. These orchestral tracks are enjoyable for those who like that type of music (such as myself), but otherwise don’t step too far outside the box when it comes to normal music during combat and simple exploration. Even with music abruptly halting for no reason at times.
To its defense though, Gothic 4 has quite a large array of voice over work that would end up being played over the background music. This voiceover work though is inconsistent at best. There are times that you will go from one extreme to another. A very serious scene, wherein the entirety of the plot is branched from contains dialogue that is very cliché at best, but performed well enough to not seem as bad. Then a few minutes later with another character, the voice work becomes over-the-top and completely unbelievable. It also doesn’t help when the subtitled text reads completely different than what is being said aloud.
Beyond the voice work however the game sounds just fine, bow shots twang like the best of them, swords clash and pierce flesh and magic soars through the air. All in all as long as you stay away from the characters it sounds well enough, but alas much of the game requires involvement with different NPCs whose voice work shifts from believable to questionable between a few phrases.
Gameplay:
Gothic 4 is a third person hack and slash RPG. Combat is controlled via the face buttons on the controller in real time. The D-pad contains four different items, weapons, and spells that you can hotkey for quick use if you decide that you will need them for your fight. There is also your standard lock on LT and spell casting and selection on the RB button.
Everything is handled in real time except for when the player enters the menu screen. This menu screen pauses all action on the field and allows the player to use any healing items or buffing items that they choose to use, which sometimes makes fights one sided with the numerous amount of consumable items within the game itself.
There is little to no customization within the game outside of the level up system. Players will be able to customize their hero with skill points received from level ups, which can be attributed to things such as increasing your combo ability, your magic, ranged ability, and a handful of other statistics that are quite strange to see and will be confusing to even the most battle tested RPG fans. The actual skill points themselves are broken down into skill trees but are thankfully non-restrictive. Meaning you can choose to specialize your character to become any variation you want, or a combination of the two.
Outside of killing everything that happens to be breathing and in your path there is also the ability to craft items and perform alchemy. These are great ways to kill time within the game and create some powerful items with combinations of what you can accumulate from dead enemies and the world itself. These skill trees, while not combat oriented, are great to explore and sometimes practically unavoidable due to simply wanting to explore the amount of options that they provide.
This only becomes more apparent when you realize that the world is full of different ingredients and materials that can be alchemized and crafted to make your character stronger, or give yourself an edge. This is doubly true as far as enemy loot is concerned. Enemies will drop plenty of items that seem to level as you do. You won’t be finding too many items that are out of your reach from the enemies that you kill; instead you may be eagerly waiting to see what type of bonuses you will get out of your next confrontation.
And what a confrontation it can be. There are times in Gothic 4 where the player is accosted by countless enemies to beat back and destroy. These enemies don’t believe in Gentlemen’s Rules either, they are more than happy to rush in all at once to bring you down. This can lead to being mobbed by enemies quite often, but only gives the player a chance to test out their new weapons and spells on.
Players are also given two choices to venture around the world of Myrtana; by either walking around or teleporting using the point teleportation system. While teleportation is the fastest and most efficient way to travel, it does not help as far as quests are usually concerned. This is because quests are not marked always where they should be, or none at all, meaning that players must venture across the landscape simply to finish the quest. Though this is a benefit most of the time due to the fact that teleporting around can cause the player to miss items that they otherwise would have passed over blindly.
The game itself performs quite well, but the story progression and quests is where players will become extremely frustrated. That is because there is a more than usual amount of quests that are simply fetch quests or delivery quests. These are so numerous it will feel that the player is more of a mailman than a hero bent on revenge. When quests do venture outside of the delivery aspect there isn’t much variety there either, with most objectives being solved with a sharp blade and a powerful spell.
One aspect of these more story driven quests however, is that there are certain choices to be made as you venture along. Should you support one side or the other and how will it affect your quest in the long run turn out to be quite popular. These quests can vary from being extremely convincing by giving the player a decent amount of backstory and information about what they should do, or can squander into deliver this letter to the other side of town.
It is quite sad that there isn’t more quest variety as Gothic 4 is quite long. There is plenty to do in the world of Gothic 4, but unfortunately a lot of it revolves around said fetch quests and it quickly becomes tiresome. Though on the bright side the main storyline itself reaches upwards of 15+ hours on its own, and if you have the patience to handle the side quests then it can almost double your play value.
Overall:
Arcania: Gothic 4 does plenty of things well, but unfortunately sticks true to its standard looting and quest grinding methods which have become tedious over the years. While it is a more than suitable Medieval Fantasy RPG with lots of gameplay to offer, Arcania: Gothic 4 does little to step outside of the box and expand upon the standard formula.
Fresh and hot off the press, there is a new trailer for Rockstar’s latest upcoming game. It gives a spring 2011 date so it is expected sometime next year. Not too far away. All the footage in the video is pulled straight from gameplay. Enjoy.
Developed by Team Bondi in conjunction with Rockstar Games, L.A. Noire is a dark and violent detective thriller set against the backdrop of Los Angeles in the post-war years of the late 1940s, the most corrupt and violent period in the city’s history.
Based on groundbreaking performance capture technology that goes beyond traditional methods to render every subtlety and nuance of an actor’s facial expressions and emotions,L.A. Noire is the first game to truly explore what it means to be a detective, offering players the opportunity to solve crimes through a blend of classic action, clue-finding and interrogation, allowing players to analyze every subtle nuance of an actor’s performance in order to get to the truth.
