Through 1980-1999, adventure games were probably the most appreciated in the gaming industry, all of them bringing something unique in terms of storytelling. Sierra was one of the biggest players in this genre, releasing hit games such as Space Quest, Leisure Suite Larry, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight, Quest for Glory and, of course, the beloved King’s Quest.
The King’s Quest series dates back from the 1980s all the way through 1998, with it’s last official installment, Mask of Eternity. After that, no other plans have been made for a new King’s Quest game. The fans couldn’t let the series die, so Phoenix Online Studios, a fan-based company, decided to create a game inspired from Sierra’s King’s Quest.
The Silver Lining is a five-episode adventure, the first one ambiguously named What is Decreed Must Be. I have to note that The Silver Lining has been a little over-hyped for a free fan-made game, and that isn’t a good thing at all. First it was announced around 2002, then a demo came out in 2005, promising the full release soon…and after 5 years it has arrived. After so much time spent developing the game, the fans were probably expecting something very special. So let’s see how this worked out…
The storyopens with a cut scene depicting Rosella’s wedding with Edgar. All seems to be well, but suddenly a strange hooded figure pops out of nowhere, sending Rosella and her brother, Alexander, into a deep sleep. Then, the hooded man takes his leave in a puff of smoke, leaving behind his cloak…(guess the spell didn’t work out as he had planned). After that, Graham of Daventry (Rosella’s and Alexander’s father) sets out on a quest to find a cure for his children, and to discover the stranger’s identity.
First of all,the gameplay. I’ll just be straight: there isn’t any. Throughout the whole episode, you control Graham for about 20 minutes (if you inspect everything and look everywhere), then have to watch about 30 minutes of cut-scenes, which could have been playable with a little effort. If going on a speed-run, you can finish this in 10 minutes, skipping the cut-scenes. And I understand this is a fan-based effort but “the puzzles” could have involved a little bit more than picking up some items and giving them to other characters.
You control Graham using the classic point and click style and change the action which you want to perform using the right mouse button. The main character’s movement seems a little bit slow and sluggish, and the load times are pretty long when entering a new screen.
The graphics are just right for this type of game, although the animations are a little silly sometimes and Graham seems to walk like he’s a robot. But taking into consideration the fact that it is made by a band of fans, it is a good effort.
In terms of audio, the voice acting can be great for some characters (Graham, Hassan, woman narrator), but for others, it would have been better if there was no voice acting at all. They sound…BAD…with no emotion and feeling, just like acting in a B-grade movie. And even worse is that some of the narrator’s jokes are written in such a way that they won’t even make you giggle.
But there is one aspect which makes the game enjoyable: the music. It’s very well made and it is clear that a lot of effort has been put into it. Thumbs up for that and keep it that way!
Taking everything into account, i think it would have been better if they called this first episode a prologue. There just isn’t enough content to help it boost the last mark.Exploring a castle and one straight road for 10-15 minutes, then watching cut-scenes for another 25 isn’t enough. It is retro in every way (it even kept the F5 saving style). True fans of the series will see the little charm it has to offer…or they won’t. It depends what you expect from a fan-made game. I hope they will do a better job in the future episodes, and maybe we’ll spend more time actually playing them.
Developer: Double Tap Released: July 1, 2010
Genre: Fighting/Sports
Platform: NDS
I am not a fan of professional wrestling. Because I would like to assume that you people have some semblance of respect for me, I’ll just go ahead and pretend that you already knew that. So when I was approached to review TNA Impact: Cross the Line I was a bit hesitant. Then I recalled that I owe Capsule Computers a favor, and grudgingly began playing. As it turns out, I was right to do so only grudgingly, because the game was heinous to play. Perhaps to a die-hard TNA fan the game would be entertaining, but to someone with no interest in or knowledge of the back-stories, feuds, and tribulations of any of these muscle-bound Neanderthals, the game is simply tedious and mind-numbing.
Imagine, if you will, a decent fighting game, to the tune of Soul Calibur or Mortal Kombat. Now forget the fancy weapons and spectacular decapitations, you don’t need them in a good fighting game. Now you’re down to a bare-bones “punch the other dude a bunch of times until he begins to hemorrhage,” kind of game. Still, decent. Now remove any and all variation in the moves. Now when you punch, you look like a Rock ’em Sock ’em Robot, performing the same exact motions over and over again. Now remove decent character modeling. Now remove even okay script writing. Now apply several hours worth of blunt-force trauma to your cranium. You have now have an accurate understanding of this game.
During my first fight (I, of course, chose Hulk Hogan to play as), I discovered that the only thing required to beat the opponent was to knock them over and repeatedly stomp on them while they were down. After I beat him, I thought, “Wow. That was simple. Of course, the fights won’t stay this easy.”
I was wrong. It did indeed stay that easy. I retained my ability to simply power-stomp my opponents until I won. I didn’t make it all the way through the campaign, but I don’t think that’s really a surprise. I was getting really bored with stomping. Then I discovered that the “Exhibition Matches” were just one-offs; they didn’t have any so-called “plot” in between the fights. This was a vast improvement, because the dialogue between the opponents before each bout that took the place of narrative was about as well written as a Stephenie Meyer novel.
Eventually, the boredom of winning became overwhelming, and I forced myself to take other routes to success than simply curb-stomping my opponents. I tried out the grapple system, just to see how it was. Like the rest of the game, it was rather poorly made, to say the least. In order to perform a grapple, you hit the button, and your character moves in for the choke, or whatever hold he happens to be performing. Then, to complete the move, you tap numbers in sequential order on the touch screen. Now here’s the problem with this: The using the stylus and playing the actual game are pretty much mutually exclusive. In fact, it’s damn irritating to try and move quickly from a two-handed gaming position, to a stylus gaming position, all in the space of about half a second. After several attempts, I quit trying.
All in all, I can’t find any redeeming qualities for this game. Honestly. Not a single one. It is one of the most boring, un-fun, and just plain awful games it has ever been my displeasure to play.
How about a short summery of what makes this game… what it is.
Cons:
The graphics
It’s “story”
The control scheme
The dialogue
Everything else
Pros:
Um… it… technically fits the description of a game?
I can’t give it the lowest score possible, because as much as I dislike this game, it’s still not the worst game I ever played.
I hope you all remember when I stated that Rod Fergusson was going to do a Massive EXP event on Gears of War 2 based on how many people followed him. Well the results are in and the ammount of EXP you will get will be 20 times the normal amount.They actually capped it off because the outcome was so massive.
So if you wanna get to rank 100, mark this date. On Twitter , the Exec Producer dated the 20 times XP event, “So 20x XP SDCC Event is going to run exactly SDCC hours, July 22nd, 12:30 PM EDT till July 25th, 8 PM EDT. Get your wings!”
Get on gaming, it only lasts 3 days but if you have been playing for 100 you should easily be able to get the rest of the levels now.
UTV Ignition Entertainment is now going through a complete rebrand to focus more on digital distribution. This announcement comes not as a huge shock to some, but being a huge fan of the small but full of character “Deadly Premonition” and the fast paced “Muramasa The Demon Blade” I was a bit saddened to hear I might not get to a hold a copy of another disc-based title from the developer.
Here is an official statement released this week:
UTV Ignition Entertainment will focus on development and publishing of a new benchmark of quality games content for current and emerging direct-to-user platforms including Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Steam, Facebook, Google Games, and Apple touch devices.
“To begin, we’ll be investing to work with the industry’s best talent to create outstanding games at mass market new price-points,” said Hassan Sadiq, chairman of UTV Ignition Entertainment.
“The industry is moving to a place where gamers want more for their buck. There is a demand to market and publish games at more inclusive price points that maintain the same level of quality as their boxed counterparts, and we will invest directly in our own gaming communities to drive this.”
“With gaming across new platforms, such as social networking and mobile devices, becoming ever more popular, it’s important we can engage users directly to foster two-way dialogue and offer the best gaming experiences for them.”
UTV Ignition Entertainment recognises a huge opportunity in digital publishing and is committed to be at its forefront. Sadiq concluded: “With dedicated offices in London (HQ), Los Angeles, Florida and Japan, we are choosing to invest in an uncompromising dedication to content, and community engagement for our users.
The good news is that Arc Rise Fantasia is still slated for release later this month, and you can now look forward to getting some great titles at a great price for your digital devices as Ignition is known for putting character and charm into each title and I am sure that will not change anytime soon. I still hold hope for a sequel to Deadly Premonition, but I am happy to see the company headed into more growth and success.
Easter Eggs are awesome! Chocolate ones, plastic ones, bunny laid ones… Even game related Easter eggs are awesome! Below is a video about an easter egg located in Modern Warfare 2 On underpass (I think he says Underpants). Check out the video below.
Yes it is fake, Robert Bowlinghas even stated that it’s fake, but it is still a very cool video and you should watch it anyway.
Story
“Deadliest Warrior The Game™ allows you to choose from history’s greatest warriors, equip them with signature weaponry, and go head to head against the greatest fighters that ever lived. Deadliest Warrior features five play modes, customizable warriors, and true-to-life action with interactive environments. This is a unique fighting game that is easy to play and hard to master. Sever limbs, decapitate heads, and taunt your enemy’s lifeless corpse to build up ranking points and compete on a global scale to become The Deadliest Warrior.”
Deadliest Warrior is based off of the Spike TV series of the same name. In the TV series there are experts that collect data on warriors and then run a series of simulations to see which one would rise victorious in a battle against each other. In this game you don’t collect data (because that would be boring), you just fight as a warrior against other warriors as you attempt to rise above them all.
Gameplay
The goal of the game is extremely simple, kill your opponent. You can play as an Apache, Centurion, Knight, Ninja, Pirate, Samurai, Spartan or Viking. Each warrior has its strengths and weaknesses and each one also has its unique attack style. As you fight with multiple characters you will notice the large change in actual fighting styles. Using heavily armored warriors requires more guarding, while light armor warriors requires more dodging. Using short weapons requires a closer proximity, while long and ranged weapons can let you stay at a safe distance.
There is an extremely simple attack setup and there is no need to memorize a whole bunch of extremely complicated combos. Instead of memorizing combos you instead need to strategize a bit. While the knight is heavily armored and hard to damage, they are quite slow and can be out maneuvered. Using an enemy’s weakness against them is the best way to win every battle, but your warrior you are using has a weakness as well which you must keep from being exploited. Most rounds last 20-30 seconds, but in that time you need to make sure that you aren’t the one that is dead in the end.
There are high, medium, and low attacks each with a corresponding button press that makes it extremely easy to aim your attacks. You can also guard and throw projectiles. Dodging is also very helpful, every character can dodge but the lighter and more agile characters are able to dodge a lot better. The stamina bar is what determines how much dodging and blocking you can do. When that stamina bar is low, you are more likely to be stunned by an attack leaving you wide open.
The game has 3D dimensions which lets you move around and explore the small arenas. The dimensions also let you roll and jump around as you dodge your opponent. The only problem is that there isn’t any character lock on feature, so when you try to back up you turn around and show your back to the enemy. To remedy this, you can dodge backwards but dodging doesn’t always do what you want it to do and could get you killed.
The game consists of 3 difficulties and 3 game modes. Normal difficulty is extremely easy, and lets a baby beat the game; this difficulty is actually the least fun because everything dies too fast. Hard difficulty is the best for having fun while playing computers; hard lets you cut off limbs while letting the CPU be smart enough to defend against a few and stay alive longer. Deadliest difficulty is the hardest and is for those who want a challenge. This difficulty requires you to fully exploit every opponent’s weakness. The 3 game modes are Arcade, Survival, and versus. Arcade mode pits you against all the other warriors, one after another, as you rise to be the best warrior. There are minigames placed between are certain amount of rounds that require you to either cut up a whole bunch of pig carcasses (If you have seen the show, this isn’t that odd), or kill an enemy where every blow chops off a limb. Survival pits you against an endless number of opponents and you try to kill as many as you can. Versus is a one on one battle that you can play with a CPU, with a friend on the same console, or over the internet.
As you progress through Arcade mode with each warrior you will unlock a second weapon for the short range, long range, and projectile weapon categories. A second armor can be unlocked as well. Each new weapon and armor has varying stats which mixes up gameplay even more. Each weapon has a speed and damage stat, while the armor has a speed and a “how much protection you get per weapon type” stat. You can mix and match the weapons and armors in order to accommodate your play style even more. There is also an option to change the color of your armor a bit, but it is completely aesthetic and the defaults usually look the best.
Audio & Graphics
The audio is good, with swords clashing on armor as well as slicing through arms. There is background music during the menus which is turned off during fights in order not to distract anyone. While voice acting for each warrior is muffled they do coincide well with the overall warrior. The samurai yells something in Japanese, the Spartan yells “SPARTA!”, the ninja doesn’t speak at all, and the pirate is drunk. The voice acting could have done with a bit of work, but it isn’t that bad and is only noticeable during certain parts in the game.
The game is quite visually pleasing; in the gory sense of the word. As you chop off arms, legs, and heads blood will splatter everywhere, and the body part will fall to the ground and roll a bit depending on the hit. Blood covers the floor during battles and by the time you finish a round your warrior is also covered in blood. The levels you do battle on are also pretty cool looking, with cherry blossoms falling to the ground, and certain bits of scenery that can be cut and fall to the ground. The scenery doesn’t actually do anything when destroyed, but it is still a nice touch.
Achievements
The achievement list is actually a pretty good list. There are the grinding ones that require 100 decapitations and 300 Spartan kills, but at least the Spartan kill achievement name is funny. By the time you get the grinding achievements you will most likely have the others as well. There is one online achievement which will actually take some time to get due to a large number of quitters online who don’t like losing. Also, I tip my hat off to the Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference; if you haven’t seen the movie you will never get the reference. The avatar awards are also pretty good. The Samurai Armor is unlocked by beating arcade once on any difficulty, the helmet on the other hand is a lot harder to get. In order to get the helmet you must beat arcade with every warrior on deadliest difficulty, which will take a while because it is the hardest difficulty after all.
The Achievement List is:
A Head of the Competition – 20 – Decapitate 100 enemy warriors as the primary player.
That Was Sparta! – 20 – Kill 300 Spartans as the primary player.
Tournament to Kill – 20 – Win 10 online tournaments as the primary player.
Pin Cushion – 10 – Stick 4 projectiles in a single opponent as the primary player.
Against All Odds – 20 – Defeat 25 warriors in Survival Mode as the primary player.
Flesh Wound – 10 – Perform a final strike on an opponent after your arm has been sliced off as the primary player.
On Death’s Door – 20 – As the primary player, kill an opponent while at critical health, with your leg and arm injured.
Right on Time – 10 – Perform only perfectly timed strikes to defeat an enemy as the primary player.
Black Knight – 20 – Remove all four limbs from the Knight during a single match as the primary player.
Deadliest Arsenal – 30 – Unlock every weapon and armor available for every warrior as the primary player.
Shishkabob – 10 – Remove an enemy’s head with a projectile and stick it into a wall as the primary player.
Who’s Deadliest Now? – 10 – Defeat Arcade mode on the Deadliest difficulty as the Ninja, the Viking, and the Knight.
The Two Avatar Awards Are:
Samurai Armor – Complete Arcade Mode with any warrior on any Difficulty.
Samurai Helmet – Complete Arcade Mode with each warrior on the deadliest Difficulty.
Overview
While many people look at “Deadliest Warrior” as a TV show game that couldn’t possibly be good, they would be mistaken. This fighting game doesn’t consist of the traditional button mashing in order to stream out an intense combo that your opponent doesn’t even know. Instead the game relies on a simpler set up that relies more heavily and waiting and striking when the time is right. This type of fighting game opens it up to a much larger audience. Deadliest Warrior is still a fighting game with the same rules, but there is just simply something satisfying about chopping off your opponents arm and then following it by a decapitation. Being able to play as multiple warriors with different play styles also creates diversity in the way you play. While Deadliest Warrior isn’t perfect, it is still a surprisingly fun fighting game which shouldn’t be overlooked (Unless of course you really don’t like fighting games at all).
I give Deadliest Warrior
Pros
Quick Gory Battles.
Unlockable Weapons and Customizable Characters.
Simpler Combat.
Cons
Quitters Online.
Some rounds are a tad too short.
Movement and dodge controls are annoying at times.
I’ve already told you guys some of the bonuses you will be getting, but Square Enix has devulged the entire list with descriptions, and man is this list long. Also, at the bottom is the pre-order video.
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is due to launch in August 2010.
Exclusive Multiplayer Map – The Radio Tower: Glazer, the Expats crime boss, has been hired to collect dirty cash from an abandoned factory in the run down area of Shanghai where old communist monuments are soon to be demolished. It is the perfect location for a deal to go down and everyone will need to be ready to work together and be prepared to get in & out quickly with the $4 Million.
Seven new weapons, including:
TQR ELITE (Police reg.: 9791A242) Highly advanced US Assault rifle.
TQR SBR (Police reg.: 8593-A503) custom-made submachine gun. Found in the aftermath of the Shuang Xi Restaurant massacre.
STEELE 870 (Police reg.: 2610-G991) US standard shotgun. Found on the Suzhou river bank.
KALININGRAD 47 (Police reg.: 1574-A087) Customized MG. Found in Bus Terminal near Nanjing Lu.
PAC 10 SILENCED (Police reg.: 4838-A854) Small low-grade MG w/silencer. Retrieved from the Golden Flower Apartment Complex gang incident.
DORETTA SILENCED (Police reg.: 9551-D854) Hand Gun w/ silencer. Found in a public toilet off Mali Lu.
N77P SILENCED (Police reg.: 2317-A746) Standard issue Police Revolver w/Silencer. Found by the Pu Dong Docks.
Eight Chinese costume masks: The last thing any would-be criminal wants is for someone to identify them. Use one of the eight stolen masks to ensure you remain unidentified.
Below is a trailer for James Bond: Blood Stone. It has everything that you come to expect from a James Bond game. We could always use a Goldeneye remake, but this game will have to do. Hopefully it will fill the void a bit more. It has been a while since there was a James Bond game that wasn’t based on a movie.
James Bond: Blood Stone will release at some unknown time in the future. Most likely in 2011, but it could possibly make it for the holidays… Right? Probably not, but we can hope.
Following the big trend started this generation, Mafia II, while yet to be released, has already some DLCs announced. Let’s detail them:
The Betrayal of Jimmy (PS3 Exclusive): This DLC take players into an alternate perspective of the mob through the eyes of Jimmy, a mercenary. Jimmy is the guy the other guys call when they need to finish the job. The Betrayal of Jimmy featuresdozens of intense newly created arcade-style, city-based missions that keep Jimmy driving, shooting and rampaging through Empire Bay. Missions will unlock as they progress, activating a slew of assassination and timed vehicle missions ending in dramatic shootouts and explosive car chases. Players will rack up points for performance, power slides, and skill shots. The scores will be immediately posted to thenew leaderboard system, providing extensive re-playability, as players work to rise to the top of the ranks. Get to know Empire Bay – the executioner’s way.
The Betrayal of Jimmy will be available exclusively for the PlayStation 3, for free with voucher codes included with each new PlayStation 3 copy of the game, or purchasable beginning on the day of Mafia II’s launch through the PlayStation Network for AU$12.95 (U$9.99).
Jimmy’s Vendetta (PS3, Xbox 360 and PC): In this DLC players will get their hands dirty helping Jimmy clean up other people’s messes. New city-based missions and locales will give players many new reasons to head back to Empire Bay, offering players a different arcade style of gameplay with new missions and leaderboard competition on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Jimmy’s Vendetta will offer more replay action and allow players to outrank friends as they rise to the top of the leaderboard.
Details on pricing and availability for Jimmy’s Vendetta will be revealed at a later date.
Some images from the Downloadable Content:
Mafia II will be available worldwide in the last week of August. The game is being developed by 2K Czech, the same team who created the original award-winning Mafia game.
Vanquish is a game I don’t really have to introduce. Sega’s new shooter has been gathering buzz all year and Platinum Game’s Shinji Mikami recently made a blog post at the official Vanquish blog to talk a bit about the game.
“After I finished up God Hand, I didn’t have a team to work with, so I spent about a year and a half staring out a window. Soon thereafter, I was finally back at work in the studio. Vanquish is my first title after this period of almost running away from being a creator. The design of the game started with my initial desire to make a game like the Japanese animated series Casshern, as well as my desire to challenge myself by making a shooter with an incredible sense of speed and no “slogging through” sections
At that point in the design the game was a shooter with elements of Casshern (punching/kicking) from time to time, but in the end, we settled into a design that was mainly shooter with rare elements of Casshern. When you actually play the game, you realize that there aren’t that many opportunities to punch or kick in the game, but when you do get the chance, the game really does feel like an action game. Even though it is stylistically a shooter, I would be really happy to have action gamers give the game a chance as well. Thanks to the skill and hard work of the team, the graphics are really incredible in Vanquish. I can whole-heartedly recommend it.”
Another thing to keep a lookout for is Gideon Emery, famed voice actor for his work in titles such as God of War III, Dragon Age:Origins, and many more titles has been announced to take over voice work for the appropriately named “Gideon” in the game.
One of my favorite games of this year was Bayonetta. It was action packed, over the top and never let go until the end. To see Platinum Games publishing this title has me very excited to say the least. A shooter/action hybrid sounds great to add into this year’s crazy line-up of releases and with the directors comments in this blog, we could be looking at a GOTY candidate.
Vanquish is set to release in Winter of 2010 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
