Major Nelson has revealed this weeks Xbox Live Deal of the Week as Toy Soldiers. It undergoes a 33% reduction from 1200 microsoft points, to only 800. This is a fantastic deal for a great game and if you haven’t already picked it up, then now’s the time to pick it up at a fraction of the price.
As always with Deal of the Week on Xbox 360, this offer is only available to gold members, and lasts until the following monday when it is in turn replaced by another special offer. In this instance, that Monday is the 3rd of October, so if your planning on picking up Toy Soldiers at this cut-price, make sure you do it before then.
A Record High of 207,647 Visitors!
194 exhibitors and 1,458 booth partition units in 2010
For four days between September 16(Thursday) and 19(Sunday), the Tokyo Game Show 2010 was hosted by the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA; Chairman: Yoichi Wada; Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo), in cooperation with Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. (Nikkei BP; President & CEO: Yasuo Hirata; Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo). The show welcomed total of 207,647 visitors—first ever to exceed 200,000 visitors—at Makuhari Messe in Chiba City and ended in a great success.
The 20th celebration of the Tokyo Game Show 2010 embraced a midterm vision of becoming “The No. 1 Information Network in the Asian Region” and “The World’s Largest Event”. A total of 194 businesses, organizations, and schools from 14 countries and regions ran their booths, and in addition to a total of 712 titles registered in advance for the exhibition, a series of new titles were launched during the Show as well. TOKYO GAME SHOW 2010 successfully provided people all over the world with a wide variety of the latest information on games.
During the Asia Game Business Summit held on the first Business Day, key members of leading companies in the Asian game industry in China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan presented lectures and took part in panel discussions on the future vision of the game business in the Asian region in front of Japanese and overseas visitors and press.
The new initiatives launched this year were a new program for “cosplayers” and the “Tougeki – Super Battle Opera” international fighting video game tournament, which added to another color to the event. Also, “Japan Game Awards 2010” announced the first prize winner for the newly established ‘Game Designers Award’ and provided additional attraction of games to the audience.
With an aim to further pursue its midterm vision of becoming “The No. 1 Information Network in the Asian Region” and “The World’s Largest Event”, TOKYO GAME SHOW 2011 is scheduled to be held at Makuhari Messe from September 15 (Thursday) or 16 (Friday) through September 18 (Sun), 2011. We hope to see you all there!
Story “Powered by the revolutionary HydroEngine™, the world’s first true fluid dynamics engine for games, Hydrophobia™ is an experience unlike anything you have played before. This jaw-dropping technology models flowing water which behaves completely realistically, resulting in the most dynamic and dramatic gameplay you’ve ever seen.
Engage in mind-blowing “flow combat” where gameplay results in a never-the-same-twice experience. Unleash floating oil fires, electricity, and the power of the water itself to wipe out your enemy as you discover the terrifying truth of the Malthusian agenda—Save the World, Kill Yourself.” [Via Xbox.Com]
You start the game off as an engineer for a ship, when all of a sudden something goes horribly wrong. Something has happened to the ship and it is taking on water fast. Quickly into the game you discover what has happened to the ship and it turns out that terrorists have attacked. The reason isn’t immediately clear, but everything starts to reveal itself as your progress through the game.
Gameplay Hydrophobia is not a shooter, it is categorized as an action game for a reason. Use acrobatic skills in order to traverse levels, climb around the ship, and sneak up on opponents. The game supplies you with a stun gun, and a few gadgets but none are actually effective at killing people. Instead you must use these items in order to interact with the surroundings and use the surroundings to kill the enemies. If you are the type that likes to run and gun through a game, you won’t like this game at all; however, if you don’t mind taking your time Hydrophobia can be a great experience.
The game attempts to speed you along to create a thrilling experience. The music, the characters, and the water itself all seem to make you want to rush through the levels so you don’t die. In truth there is rarely any real rush, the game pushes you along and you might feel rushed but you have plenty of time. While there are some timed areas, they are clearly designated and the rest of the game can be strolled through. I may be wrong here, but I spent hours in some parts just because I’m terrible with directions, and nothing really happened. There are also some swimming parts, but they just require trial and error. I got lost many times while completely submerged under water, which caused me to drown on numerous occasions but I eventually got passed once I figured out where to go.
Audio & Graphics The audio in this game has its good and bad moments. The voice acting can be occasionally great, but during other moments it becomes terrible. On the other hand I do have to admit some of the humor, however subtle, got me to burst out laughing. For instance, there is this one part where you open up the route you have to take and your “eye in the sky” partner sings the chime from Legend of Zelda (heard when you unlock a door by doing a specific task). The music is also quite nice, and is used in order to give a more rushed feeling (even if you aren’t really rushed, as I pointed out earlier).
The graphics is where this game shines. For an XBLA game, the graphics are great and the water is magnificent. Hydrophobia was built on an engine specifically designed to simulate water, and it shows. As you open doors the water flows between rooms and equalizes out. Waves are constantly hitting your chest and pushing you back. As the water rises your character begins to slow down due to the drag, and then speeds up again as the water levels reduce. This game is simply worth playing, just to check out the water. Seriously!
Achievements The achievements in Hydrophobia are not really that hard. Overall, it is a pretty easy list and shouldn’t take that much time to complete (depending on how long it actually takes you to beat the game). A majority of the achievements can be achieved in one play through, and the combat ones should come without even trying. Even if you don’t pay attention to them, most of the bad guys are set up in order to give you the achievements anyway. The collection achievements may require a second playthrough, but the game isn’t that long and everything is pretty easy to find (except a few of the hidden documents). The only odd achievement is the “My Hero” Achievement, which stares you right in the face when you get to the part; but you can still miss it because it is a timed event that doesn’t actually stop the progress of your game. Even if you don’t save him, the game will continue (only with some altered dialogue).
Below is the achievement list:
Survivor – 25 – Complete the game.
Honour – 15 – Collect 50% of the medals.
Private Eye – 35 – Collect all documents and objects.
Celebrated – 25 – Collect all the medals.
Challenged – 15 – Complete the Challenge Room.
Tinker – 10 – Complete a hack.
Swept Off Their Feet – 15 – Sweep 3 Malthusians off their feet with water.
Vengeance – 10 – Kill 5 Mathusians with fire or electricity.
Chain Gang – 15 – Kill 2 Malthusians within a timed chain attack.
Overview Hydrophobia is a fun game with a superb water engine. The game really just seems to be a game designed around the HydroEngine, and this isn’t a bad thing but it seems too much focus was put on showing off the water. The water effects and the seemingly impending doom as the ship is sinking creates a psychological response that is thrilling and satisfying. While the combat gets repetitive and annoying, and there isn’t actually any rush to playing the game; Hydrophobia still offers a complete experience that is enjoyable. I just wish the game hadn’t ended so abruptly, I just didn’t feel like I accomplished anything at all and left me with an empty feeling (which was partly filled up by a playthrough in the challenge room). Check out the demo when it releases, even if you don’t plan to buy the game you should totally check out the water engine in action.
I give Hydrophobia
Virtual City Developer:G5 Entertainment AB Platform: iPhone (Reviewed), iPad Release Date: September 9, 2010 Price: $2.99 – Buy Now!!!!
Graphics:
Everything you see in VirtualCity is gorgeously designed and has an overall cuteness to its appeal. Many things are drawn true to life, but the coloration and the overall appearance it ends up providing is very cheery, even the menu screens themselves. Though occasionally buildings will appear very similar to one another and when the player first starts out, a labeling of the building names would be appreciated beyond the initial tutorial.
However being the fact that this is on the iPhone’s screen, the graphics can lose detail and start to distort slightly when zoomed out far enough away. Plus this also makes selecting various vehicles or buildings difficult due to misinterpreted finger taps. Combine this with the fact that the game does not have an option to zoom out far enough to view your entire city in one screen forces the player to have to jump from place to place to see what is going on inside of their city.
Gameplay:
As you may expect from the title of the game, you are in control of a miniature city and have to complete various missions for each level. There are a total of 50 different levels you can advance through and play, though the Sandbox mode that you will see above is not incorporated into the game yet. This mode would definitely be an amazing edition to the game, because the way that the missions are set up make some of the areas feel too short. Good thing there are plenty of different missions and various things to do within your city.
As you begin you will play through the first few levels which will train you in everything that you will need to know, whether it is directing truck routes, upgrading buildings and your vehicles, or simply making sure that your populace isn’t dieing of disease you will be given a crash course in managing each city you will work with which is a very helpful. A game that would be very confusing to first time players is transformed into an experience that anyone can jump into and play thanks to the tutorial levels.
Everything that you do is handled through the tapping of your fingers on the screen to select the building you wish to use, or the truck you want to direct. However due to some touch recognition issues the game will occasionally think that you are selecting something entirely different which can be annoying at times but is not a game breaking problem.
As you advance through the game and encounter more difficult missions, VirtualCity may at times begin to feel overwhelming but this is usually easily handled through just a few swift taps of the screen, as long as the recognition stays fine. VirtualCity has very few excess problems that hinder your enjoyment of running a city. There are many features that set it apart from other city simulation games you have played, but more than anything else is the game’s easy to play approach.
Overall:
When you pick up VirtualCity for the first time the game welcomes you in with wide open arms by showing you an in depth tutorial and the way it is presented. There are times that you will literally not be able to put the game down until your mission is complete, and even then will advance to the next mission regardless of whether you have things to do elsewhere. The only downside is that the game suffers from finger recognition and that the Sandbox mode is not quite in the game yet, though this has been promised for a future update so be ready!.
For their 11th anniversary Do as Infinity is having their concert streamed live over the website Nico Nico Douga and you can catch it entirely free of cost. You just have to tune into their website the 29th of this month at 6:30 PM Japanese time, so you will have to figure out what time you will have to catch the concert in your own time zone, but for me it will be at 4:30 AM in CST.
Now who is Do as Infinity you may ask; well they have performed the ending songs for the first season of the Inuyasha anime series, entitled “Fukai Mori” and “Shinjitsu no Uta.” Below you can listen to the entire song Fukai Mori and get yourself a preview of what you may be in for if you catch the concert. And staying true to their Inuyasha fanbase, they also recorded the opening theme song “Kimi ga Inai Mirai” for Inuyasha: The Final Act that aired last year and finished the Inuyasha TV series.
Bear in mind though to view the streaming version you will be required to register at Nico Nico Douga with a username, but can easily use a translation tool to make it easier to register in the all Japanese site. This will most likely be a once in a life time opportunity to hear these songs relatively live so if you are a fan such as me then this is a must not miss event.
With the Playstation Move already on shelves now, Microsoft is ready to take a stab at marketing their Kinect and prepare it for launch in November. They have prepared three different TV commercials, one for each of the various launch titles that are going to be available when Kinect is available. It’s a bit interesting that they have waited so long to publicly start showing advertisements on TV for the Kinect and that they have waited until after the Move is already out for these ads. Catch them all below!
Nearly a year after the original show aired in Japan, Sentai Filmworks has been able to get a hold of the distribution rights to the series. The name of the show will be translated to it’s American version and be called Meow Love. There will only be one dvd collection released which will contain the subbed versions of the Anime, as opposed to an english dubbing which fans of the series will most likely prefer. The set date for release is on December 14th, so if you have an Anime loving family member then you may want to get this for them in time for the holidays.
Also you can check out our review of Nyan Koi! here to see if it is right for you.
“Go fast. You cannot stop. Explode when hit asteroid! No fun at all!”
Your spaceship’s accelerator is stuck, and your “space brakes” are broken. As the game says, “OH NO!!!” Hypership Out of Control’s story is adequate. The story sets up the gameplay and it provides structure. Although the story is simple, there are other ways the game has personality. For example, loading screens are peppered with witticisms and insults like, “Did you know that cactus are the best co-pilots?” Or, when presented with the option to quit: “Yes, this game is too hardcore and I am going to play with dolls.” The game is very funny, and if you want a laugh or guffaw, look no further.
Gameplay
Gameplay is very simple and addictive. Your spaceship will go faster and faster until it hits something. Avoiding or shooting asteroids and enemies is key to success. Even the checkered finish line must be shot. The game has an amazing collection of environments and enemies and it never got boring. Collecting power-ups like super powered lasers, shields and invincibility is also very helpful and fun. If you can survive 10 waves, the game will reset you to the beginning. But your speed will increase even more this round. Memorization and reflexes are the skills you will need to rely on most. Even though the game can be difficult, it was generally not frustrating. The game is very balanced, and the only times I ever felt “cheated” when I died was when the controls went haywire. Oftentimes, it seemed as though the slightest gesture on the analog stick would send the ship careening off to meet its untimely death. If you are a fan of old school arcade games or extreme difficulty, this shooter is right for you.
Audio and Graphics
The soundtrack to Hypership Out of Control is very electronic and 8bit. It matches the game perfectly and is quite awesome. Sound effects and the like also are well done and help the game tremendously. For example, when you have the super powered rocket lasers, there is an audio cue that lets you know when ammo is low.
Graphics are executed amazingly well and add to the general arcade feel of the game. One of the most creative aspects of the game was when the ship would come across coins arranged in words like, “FUN!” or “W00t!” The environments never got old or uninspired.
Overview
Hypership Out of Control is a quality game that is worth a try for 80 MS points ($1 in real money.) Although the controls are not fine tuned, the overall game is crafted with an attention to detail and excellence. For example, the game has quite a few achievements. Although these won’t add to your gamerscore, they are a whole ton a fun to achieve. I give Hypership Out of Control:
You start your adventure in 1936 as Fenton, an ex soldier who now uses his military training as a smuggler for hire. Having developed quite the reputation for finding objects that were meant never to be found, Fenton is asked to help locate a missing military expedition lost somewhere in deepest Tibet. Along the way Fenton crosses paths with an elite squad of Nazis who are tracking down very powerful and dangerous occult weapons in an early attempt at world domination and it’s down to you as Fenton to find the expedition and stop the Nazis before they discover the greatest treasure of all, the Mysterious city of Shambala!
Game play:
Right from the start you know this game is going to be full of action packed goodness which would even make Indiana Jones wish he was part of the action. From the start up menu being a marquee of a 1930’s movie theatre, with different windows and doors being used for the various options and credits. And the trailer offering an action packed sequence of events from German fighter planes to car chases you now this game is going to keep you on your toes.
Lost Horizon has a few interesting twists for example during the opening scene in the bar in Hong Kong you may find that this particular puzzle has multiple solutions depending on whether if you were successful enough in your attempts to flirt with the attractive singer. Play your cards right and she will distract the thugs while you make your escape, and if not then you are on your own on this one and will have to find another way of causing a diversion before you can escape.
One of the first mind bending teasers of this game came quite early on which was unexpected because normally in these types of Point-and-Click adventures these kinds of conundrums are normally found a few hours in. It all started when I was trying to find a picture of a old friend only to find that his picture was locked in a safe which I don’t have a code for as it is my wallet which I lost in the harbour, then I go to the harbour only to find a little boy fishing and what did he find yes you guessed my wallet. So I then ask for my wallet back and yep he says no he wants me to catch him a bat and he then tells me they like flies, so then I go off to the alley to find me some flies only to find a cat stopping me from getting the flies. So now I must try and distract the cat so off I go to find a object to distract the cat only to find I can’t get it without distracting the guard first and so it continues I won’t spoil the fun on how to solve this particular puzzle but if you like these sort of conundrums then I can tell you there are far more like these to come. And don’t get me wrong this is not a bad thing it makes the game very enjoyable to play and it’s nice to have a puzzle that involves a lot of thinking and a bit of running around the only thing is once you have solved it you may have just about forgotten what you were trying to do in the first place.
The quest to find Shambhala gives you reason enough to visit all sorts of globetrotting places around the world giving the game play some much needed visuals, from a snowy mountainside to jungles and castles in Germany and even the back alleys of Hong Kong. Lost Horizon can’t be mistaken for its great visual locations. Any fans from the Secret files series will find that Lost Horizons hand drawn backgrounds gives the game that added ambient effect when it comes to objects such as snow, fire and rain that the Secret Files games were lacking in. Those of you that have played the Secret Files series will find the games interface standard to what you have already become a custom too, and those who have not will find it very easy to pick up its pretty straight forward with most Point-and-Click adventure games to date. One thing I found very useful was that you can click on the a magnifier which then clearly shows you all the hotspots that can be clicked on but you might say this makes it too easy which I would have to agree but then again you don’t have to click on it if you don’t want to but it nice to have the option if you do feel like you are getting stuck. Also a interesting addition to Lost Horizons before certain puzzles get played out you have the option to set the difficulty beforehand which gave it a unique twist to most Point-and-click adventure games I have played before.
I have not really mentioned Kim to much yet has she becomes a second playable character which is needed for certain puzzles that require a cooperative solution. But I found she appears a bit too late in the adventure and that her late-game behaviour feels a bit out of place and she is simply here to fill the role of the heroine and what they are stereotypically there to do towards the end of the story. To be honest it might have been better if she was there from the start or not at all the two characters never really stop bickering or let alone start any type of romance, but like most Indiana Jones movies they would not be the same without the the heroine bickering in the background.
Overall:
I found that overall Lost Horizon was a fun Point-and-Click adventure /puzzle, with some surprising and funny dialogue at times. The majority of the puzzles had me thinking at the best of times on how they needed to be solved they were not particularly hard but they get you involved with the locations with a bit of running around depending on what kind of player you are this could be seen as a pro or a con. Lost Horizon is not particularly long and can be completed over a weekend, so those looking for an enjoyable Point-and-Click adventure to pass the time then look no further Lost Horizons could be for you with its cinematic locations and impressive 3D characters and great backing soundtrack to keep you drawn into the heart of the game it never really feels like the music is out of place or too repetitive whilst you are running around solving puzzles or exploring. Lost Horizons is now available to download at a very reasonable price of $19.99 it can be hard to resist? So why not try the free demo here first and see if you can rise to the challenge.
Please Click here to check out my review of the demo and details of the specifications needed.
RUSE Developer: Eugen Systems Publisher: Ubisoft Genre: RTS Platform: Xbox 360 (PS3, PC) Released: Out Now
I know what you may be thinking – not another game with an acronym title – but it’s not what you might expect. Do not be deceived, as unlike ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper), HAWX (High Altitude Warfare eXperimental squadron), MAG (Massive Action Game) – I could continue to a point where you’d be begging me for mercy – RUSE doesn’t actually stand for anything. Well, at least as far as we know it doesn’t (some users over at the official Ubisoft RUSE forums have resorted to guessing). It bucks the trend of acronym titles emerging in recent years, and much like the whole idea the game revolves around, tricks you by leading you on to assume something that isn’t true. I say this because this forms basis of the game: trickery, leading people to false assumptions, and all manner of other decoys and such. Topped off by the fact that the definition of a ruse is “an action or plan which is intended to deceive someone”, in hindsight, the title seems to be quite a fitting one.
Deception is the essence of RUSE’s gameplay, and it is this aspect in which sets RUSE apart from the crowd, lifting it from being a me-too title into something with an edge, offering a different experience from other strategy games. After all, deception forms the foundations of real warfare. It is usually huge contributing factor into the start of wars, and is certainly a deciding factor into who wins and who loses, so why not imitate this in this display of virtual warfare for a truly authentic experience. Obviously Ubisoft paired with Eugen Systems are in whole-hearted agreement, leading to the creation of this Real-Time Strategy title, with the unique selling point of ‘ruse cards’. These are the power-ups which cover a range of areas, but all circulate around the idea of deception. The three different types are:
Reveal : these ruses such as the Spy Plan or Decryption are useful in order to understand or uncover your enemy’s actions.
Hide : the Radio Silence or Camouflage Net will let you hide your troops or buildings from your opponent’s radar.
Fake : the last category of ruses is used to trick your enemy, to make him believe what you want him to believe. The Decoy Offensive simulates an attack to confuse your adversary.
RUSE is a strategy game that presents you with both genuine battles and speculative “what if” scenarios from the Second World War. This is the entire time zone in which the game is based, to give you an idea of the type of weapons, vehicles and technology used in-game. The date of each battle can even affect certain aspects of the game, for example, in multiplayer if you set the period in time to 1945 as opposed to some of the earlier options, the content of the battle will be changed so that the fight will be on a larger scale and generally more hectic.
The story has you playing through the World War II campaign as the American Major Joseph Sheridan, a college drop-out turned master tactician, as you guide the armies at your disposal to victory. Never fear though, for you do have assistance in the form of a sharp-tongued Englishman, and later in the campaign you can inherit other factions of troops for use. You even get to play as General Major Erich von Richter once you’ve progressed far enough. Rather imaginatively, as looking over your troops and scrolling between units from the sky isn’t a realistic scenario, a small quirk of the game is that if you zoom out far enough, you can overlook the table in which you have the map spread out across. This is because in actual fact, you play as the tactician issuing orders from the safety of your bunker, similar to the situation you find yourself when sitting down with your controller. This is a nice touch by the developers, and compliments the RTS nature of the game.
However, this is only zooming out. When zooming in, the game reveals a whole other level of beauty. From distance the graphic look nothing special, even sub-standard at times, but when you start to zoom in you reveal the intricate detail put into the game. You quickly discover from the definition on the scenery and the graphics on the sea that RUSE has made an effort to use your consoles processing power. Occasionally, the textures of the game can take a while to catch up with you, like when scrolling over the map and it takes a few seconds of loading to generate the rocky surface of a mountain. Also, one drawback of the zoom system is that it doesn’t really zoom in quite far enough. You always feel like a spectator of the battles and never part of the action because you never get down ground level to get a feel for the gritty warfare.
The campaign expands over a number of vast, fully realised game-worlds as you travel all over the world in the various missions, to locations like Germany and Africa. It’s a very diverse single-player campaign, with action changing between attack and defence from mission to mission, and such a great level of difficulty, not only would it challenge the most seasoned of gamers, but to a point where most will have to retry each mission at least once to work out and, in turn, perfect the tactics needed to prevail. The less-experienced of you could struggle as a result, and unprecedented levels of frustration can ensue for those who are prone to a heated temper. Bear in mind, that’s before you start upping the difficulty settings to the hardest level too. However, there is some conciliation in that the controls are well mapped out, so playing an RTS on controller instead of a keyboard and mouse never feels like a compromise. The game can also hold your hand through the game if and when you need it, with tips to break you into it in the early missions, and intelligent AI which has a decent degree of common sense. For instance, when you direct infantry to a destination, they will automatically travel on a nearby road if it’s on the way, in order to save time.
Then there’s the multiplayer options, which open up an unparalleled level of strategy when compared with single-player. Espionage, decoys and ambushes are all well and good on CPU controlled armies, but when used on a human opponent, they can make for some really smart warfare. There is co-op in which you can use your tactics for good to combine against the enemy, or alternatively online multiplayer battles, in where you can use your devious scheming with the help of ruse cards to overcome your rivals. Both feature a great level of demanding tactical play, where if you don’t use your logic and cunning, you will be easily trumped by opponents. RUSE also features Uplay, Ubisoft’s special reward scheme in which you can trade Uplay points earned in-game for bonuses. These bonuses vary and provide an incentive to complete extra challenges other than the usual achievements.
In conclusion, RUSE offers an intelligent take on the RTS genre, with impressive tactical values that would be a valiant effort on the PC (which RUSE has also released on), let alone on a console. The story can be a little dodgy at times, with some slightly peculiar voice-acting and scattering of old neologisms, which is just about acceptable given it’s historical context. The visuals are good for the most part, especially considering the scale of battles, with only a small amount texture loading times and slowdown in framerate. Multiplayer also allows for an incredible amount of strategy with the help of the ruse cards and the theme of deception, and much like a well fought game of chess, it requires the use of your brain which is something you can’t say for other games. On the other hand, it is still debatable whether or not the Real-Time Strategy genre works on consoles although the well thought-out controls shows that the genre can still produce a good game in the right hands. Whether or not they are up to the same standard as their PC counterparts is another question all together.
Pros
Decent title for a hard genre to get right on consoles
