A brand new game from Ubisoft has hit the hugely popular social networking site, Facebook. Like all Crime Scene Investigation games it has you solving mysteries, but seeing as it’s on Facebook, it offers a casual spin on things. It aims to be accessable for all and like most games on Facebook, promises to swallow up a lot of your free time as you get engrossed in it’s simplicity.
In CSI: Crime City the player is a CSI dropped in the middle of a teeming metropolis and is challenged to solve difficult murders to bring criminals to justice. Players can explore crime scenes, earn virtual currency and build their very own CSI Lab. They can play alongside their favourite characters while exploring cool Las Vegas locations such as casinos, nightclubs, hotel suites, the desert and the Las Vegas strip. It was developed in conjunction with the television series, so expect events and cases cropping up which have some link with the show.
Oh, what’s that you say? A fan made sonic game? Why yes, this is. What attracted you to this page? The title of this article or the gorgeous screenshot? If it was the screenshot, click this to see it in it’s full res glory. If it was the title that attracted you, read on.
Any sonic fans out there? I’m sure there are a few of you. With the recent release of Sonic 4, you should be quite pleased. Though some of you may have been expecting a bit more. After all, it has been over a decade since the last, honest-to-goodness, classic sonic game. This isn’t to say the series hasn’t had a few hits since that time, I genuinely enjoy the Sonic Adventure series to varying degrees, but you know that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about how the series has fallen into almost unforgivable disrepair, going so far as to give Sonic a sword, have him have a romantic moment with a human girl and even giving Shadow guns, all in an attempt to pander to the franchise’s “intended” demographic, that which consists of 8-13 year olds.
But enough about stupid decisions! Sonic 4 was made as a response to the “hardcore” gamer’s plea to have Sonic return to form, return to what made it so great and beloved in the first place. Some of you may be happy with that, though some may find it a bit lacking. After all, as the premiere reboot of the franchise, you would expect nothing less than absolute perfection. If you find yourself in this position, look no further than here. This is a truly amazing fan made sonic game, with better graphics and physics than that of Sonic 4. Only a demo is available currently, but I urge you to try it out. The level of care and detail that has gone into this is staggering for a fan made endeavor. Sega, take note. This is how you reboot a franchise.
Game Name: Medal of Honor Platform(s): Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC Publisher(s):Electronic Arts Developer(s): Danger Close Genre(s): Action, Shooter Release Date: Oct 12, 2010 (US) October 14, 2010 (AU) October 15, 2010 (EU) Price: $59.99
In a flooded market of war-based shooters, Medal of Honor makes it’s return to consoles with an updated control scheme and a brand new campaign putting players in the war in Afghanistan. It has been a while since the Medal of Honor series has reared it’s head and there is a lot to cover how the series has change with this new title for better and worse. Here is my review for Medal of Honor.
Story
The year is 2002. Fresh off the heels of September 11th, You take control of some of the top special operations soldiers in Afghanistan. Placed in the view of the specific soldier you are controlling at the time, the story feels and plays very realistic through various missions. My only problem was that there really was no backstory and I felt like even after the campaign was complete, I never felt any true depth to any of the characters.
I guess you can kind of sum that statement up comparing Medal of Honor to a really intense war movie but without the beginning scenes where you see the true personalities of the soldiers. There was personality in the cast though, some characters were spitting out lines that were funny and made the different teams and partners likeable, yet there just isn’t enough on yourself. This might be done to make the player immerse themselves in the main role, but it just wasn’t executed properly. Overall the campaign’s story was intriguing enough to push forward and remained easy to follow so it still gets by with a pass.
Gameplay
The first thing I wanted to do when I sat down and played Medal of Honor was rid myself of my previous experiences with other war-shooters like Modern Warfare 2. Those were great but if you are expecting a CoD type game, you really will be in for a somewhat different experience.
The campaign keeps you moving taking out various targets through each area. From terrorists, to tanks, and many other enemies, Medal of Honor is packed full of obstacles you must take out to complete each mission. Controlling the game runs extremely smooth so anyone can pick up and play without much prior experience. Campaign mode is set up a bit linear and freedom is not much of an option as the game has you focus on your mission objective rather than fooling around. This method works well, but sometimes you will be waiting to pass the next invisible wall due to your team members who have not quite made it to the current checkpoint.
Guns and all weapons down to the knife are fast and control great for the most part. It is easy to switch through your arsenal on the fly and the auto-aiming system ensures that bullets stay accurate and hit their mark for brutal results. Some may find the auto-aim to make things a bit oversimplified, but I thought it added to the pace of the game and kept the combat constantly moving forward.
One thing I loved about campaign is that every mission felt different from the next leaving the whole mode feeling fresh throughout the game. Traveling from different vehicles across the mountainous regions and calling the shots for gunships is rewarding and some of the funnest parts in the campaign mode.
Tier 1 mode is probably the best feature with Medal of Honor as a whole. Many gamers love speed running through games as it is, and this mode let’s you compete by going through the campaign missions without checkpoints as fast as possible while accumulating a top score. This mode reeks of replay value and is a way to truly test your skills in the game.
Multiplayer is made up of four modes being Team Assault, Sector Control, Objective Raid, and Combat Mission. The only problem I had with multiplayer was spawn points. The 8 maps are a bit small so spawning in front of enemies does happen quite a bit but this could be simply fixed by a patch so that will not effect my score on this mode whatsoever. Kill Streaks are very rewarding with both defensive and offensive rewards for accomplish a feat of so many kills within the match.
Leveling up effects not only your arsenal, but your appearance as well. This is judged by your facial hair within the game as it grows the more you rank up. The matches seemed to all run smoothly on my end as well with no lag or cut-outs so servers really were not an issue. Overall, the Multiplayer is a solid experience and while simple is fun and can keep you going for hours on end.
Graphics/Audio
Starting with the graphics I will say that each character model is detailed nicely are very realistic. The terrorists can sometimes blend in with the environment at times due to choice of colors but that actually provides more of a realistic challenge than hurt the game. The lighting used is stunning and captures shadows perfectly making buildings and cover stand out a bit more. Some of the textures in buildings can be a bit average looking but the outdoor environments look so sharp this is literally just a small nitpick in a beautifully crafted graphical system.
The soundtrack used provides high paced music to intensify every battle until the end with perfect timing of placement making the atmosphere come alive. The sounds of the weapons and environments are realistic and with decent voice acting the sound definitely has grade A presentation value that stand on par, if not better than other established franchises on the market.
Overall
Medal of Honor is a great game overall. The story is a bit lacking but for the most part, but the gameplay makes up for that with intense and realistic action around every corner. Multiplayer should keep you coming back for more and the Tier 1 mode is a fantastic addition that adds a heavy amount of replay value. The best way I can say it is to think of this title as a blueprint. While not going above and beyond in every aspect of a shooter, it still feels solid and lays down a lot of room for a the franchise to grow on. Medal of Honor might have trouble blending in with the mass market of shooters, but it retains what makes these titles so great to start with, a solid foundation with a wonderful presentation value.
For all you Aussie Kirby fan’s out there, the unfortunate news is that our pink little puff won’t be having an “Epic yarn” in PAL Territories until 2011. The game is set to hit shelves on October the 17th in North America and has been receiving rave reviews across the board.
Nintendo Australia has confirmed the delay with a statement saying that:-
“Australia generally follows the European release schedule, as both Europe and Australia use the PAL system. As Kirby’s Epic Yarn is launching in Europe in 2011, it will also launch in Australia in 2011. Having experienced the game at E3 this year, we are really excited about its release in Australia.”
In addition to this disappoint, Aussie Wii fans are still waiting on games like Cave Story on WiiWare and Sin and Punishment: Star Successor. So what are Wii fans going to play while they wait for another good release?
There is no confirmed release date for 2011; however sources are predicting the start of the year. Perhaps the anticipated Goldeneye due out early November will make the wait that much easier.
Overview:
First we cooked our butts off with Cooking Mama, and now Mama has stepped outside into the garden and invited us to join her in Gardening Mama. Cooking Mama established a strong front into solid mini-game gameplay that gave players an enjoyable time waster involving cooking food. But does gardening truly hold the same appeal?
Graphics:
Gardening Mama retains its cartoonish and easily recognizable graphics that we have seen before. The various plants that you take care of each look as if they would in real life, only with bright colors and a cartoonish overlay that keeps gameplay interesting. The plants roughly start out the same looking, but quickly start to be distinguishable even as small sprouts or saplings.
In this version Mama is slightly customizable in appearance thanks to the bonus system. I will get into more detail in the gameplay segment, but the various pieces of clothing you unlock don’t change her appearance well enough that they are truly rewarding. Rather unlocking a piece of clothing seems to simply be a reward to place on Mama once, and then not bother with again.
Gamplay:
Gardening Mama places players outside of Mama’s house inside of her garden which features a different orchard or planting area for each type of plant you will be growing. There is a fruit garden, vegetable garden, flower patch, and even more. Most areas will have a handful of different plants in each area that show their growth as you advance them along. Though plants are only unlocked as you grow the starting plants but that is the standard.
Players are given very little instruction as to what they are supposed to be doing. Sure there is a practice mode for each plant which gives them the option to practice any set task involved in that stage of growing the plant but it wouldn’t hurt to have some sort of introductory tutorial for new players just in case they don’t have prior knowledge of Mama’s ways.
The minigames themselves are enjoyable but not extremely varied. There are a handful which are repeated for practically every single plant you will be able to plant and some of them are just ridiculous. Watering fully grown plants requires the player to trace their finger across the screen in specific patterns to create a rainbow. This is a nice addition, but seems out of place for what would be normal watering of plants.
On the flip side of that coin however there are plenty of minigames that are very enjoyable and true to life. Watering seeds or sprouts saturates the soil only so much before water starts to accumulate above ground and take a short time to seep into the ground, making it so players have to be careful that they don’t over water the plant by the above ground water reaching the roots.
The minigames themselves are rated through either a bronze medal for failure, a silver medal for achieving the task with a small amount of mistakes, or gold for a perfect. Then the finality of the process is given a rating out of a 100, which is the standard for any Mama game. Though there is a new change to this one, as each plant requires time to grow between games, meaning that you perform a small amount of tasks, before having to go to the next plant and then back and forth.
This creates an issue however as plants that, though they are already established, start to wither if they are not attended too. This means that as you unlock different plants throughout the game and want to turn your attention to your new seeds, you may have to constantly keep going back to water or trim dead leaves off of plants you finished near the start of your game.
Tasks that are performed perfectly can sometimes reward the player with a clothing item that they can accessorize Mama with. These clothes are purely cosmetic but are somewhat varied enough that the player can change her look, but are simple in design. There could have been better rewards provided for incentive, such as new unlockable modes or the ability to unlock special plants.
As this is an iPhone/iTouch game one may expect lots of shaking or moving around the iPhone/iTouch but this is not the case. Instead it is controlled via screen tapping or sliding of the finger to perform the tasks set before you. Though it may take away from the interactivity, it does allow Gardening Mama to be more accessible and easier to play on the go; rather than trying to tilt your phone to pour water out of a watering can.
The game itself though can turn out to be quite short, because despite having to go back to take care of certain plants that start to wither the player can fully grow their entire garden and be left with fully grown gardens, and no other modes of play beyond harvesting their plants. Or purposely letting them wither away to be planted anew.
Overall:
Gardening Mama smoothly makes the transition outside of the kitchen to the gardening. It incorporates plenty of earthy minigames that will keep players interested in it up until they grow everything possible. There are rewards for certain actions but unfortunately the rewards are clothing which some may find interesting, others may be disappointed. Gardening Mama is quite enjoyable while it lasts but could leave players with the feel that there could have been much more to the experience.
The weapons that will be helping you exterminate all those pesky Zombies are both simple and… well, in a sense they are just really simple (one is just water, albeit holy water, but still water).
The torch allows you to burn zombies. The Zombie Bait lures zombies in and then gives them a giant explosive hug. Holy Water lets give the zombies a bath and undead destroying holiness. Finally there is the Blunderbuss, which can be be stuffed with bits and pieces of zombies and shot right back at your zombie foes.
Undead Nightmare is due out on October 26th for 800 Microsoft Points.
They said that since the dawn of time, no one could find the online coop patch for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. And free DLC? Yea, you could basically sign your own death warrant for that. But the timeless Tomb Raider has prevailed once again. The free patch for online coop and the free DLC as a “thank you” are awaiting release on October 27, 2010. This is the release date for Xbox 360 only, but you can expect the PS3 and PC patch soon.
With the 3DS coming out early next year, with the PS3 giving firmware updates and developing games to support 3D gaming, and with televisions already being made today that can show 3D programming; 3D is invading nearly every aspect of our lives, literally, if you have the cash to spend on the newly developed technology.
Though one thing that comes with 3D, is that you have to wear those special glasses to experience it. The 3DS has been reported to not require any glasses to give players this experience which will obviously make it more popular, because wearing 3D glasses in public went out with the 50’s.
But according to a survey by the U-Decide Initiative that won’t even be much of a deciding factor. In a survey directed at gamers only, both PC and console, 80% of us would be more than willing enough to wear 3D glasses to experience the 3D, while a whopping 92% would be ready to see it without the glasses. The figures are nearly the same when compared to the Blu-Ray result, though as the media falls away from gaming into normal TV the willingness to wear the glasses drops sharply compared to no glasses 3D.
A number of different polls also explain whether or not gamers would be willing to purchase a new HDTV over the one they already have, or if they would be willing to shell out the cash needed for a 3D HDTV. Also included are figures of how the 3D branding will push game sales, which show that gamers are more or less split between purchasing 3D over 2D. Though this survey takes into account that you already own a 3D capable TV. Which if I had a 3D TV, I would be more than willing to take advantage over it’s 3D ability.
Also it appears that as long as 3D is an added feature that costs no additional fee, players will jump all over it. Even if it was only a small nominal fee added on, then it won’t hurt sales too much. But when the fee reaches over $10 sales drop dramatically.
Costume Quest is full of candy, costumes, enemies, and RPG elements. What more could you ask for?! A big Rainbow Colored Unicorn that you can turn into, that’s what you could ask for!
Check out the launch trailer below for a Halloween Treat. Costume Quest Released today for 1200MSP.
What would a James Bond game be without driving? Just another shooter. That’s why James Bond: Blood Stone has a whole trailer dedicated to the fine art of driving a bunch of vehicles while a whole bunch of other stuff blows up around you.
Check out the trailer below to get your adrenaline pumping for the release of the game in the beginning of November.
