Looks like you will be able to take care of the enemy turrets as well as they were able to take care of you in Portal 1. Now you have the ability, with the Pneumatic Diversity Vents and the Thermal Discouragement Beams seen below to annihilate these turrets in many different ways. Plus they look to be a very interesting puzzle tool, with the pneumatic vents being able to destroy the environment. It is amazing that Valve has developed all the various additions to Portal, which was already amazing and have now made it even better. Though this means that it may also be more difficult.
Gameloft have released a MEGA 3 game action pack for the iPhone. Three of their most popular titles have been bundled into one priced at only $5.99 AU ($4.99US). This is what you get in the pack :
– Hero Of Sparta,
– Brother In Arms
– Blades of Fury
Check out Screenshots below and also trailer for the action pack further down
We already know that Xbox Live Gold is a pre-requisite to take advantage of any Hulu Plus subscription. A lot of people seemed to take solace in knowing that the PS3 version of Hulu Plus would still be usable by everyone. That is until now.
A bit of information on the Hulu Plus website contains the following phrase: “Note: you must be a subscriber of the Playstation Plus Network.” when applied to the PS3. This is found in the HTML coding for the page, and is hidden from normal view but is easily seen when looked at in this format. And unfortunately this means that yet another feature has been taken away from those that enjoy access to free features.
Sony’s Playstation 3’s online draw has been the fact that it is entirely free, on top of their exclusive games. But now with more and more features being announced for a pay to play version of the online service, this may start to become a trend. We do not know whether or not this is entirely true, and it is subject to change as it has not been announced publicly by either Sony or Hulu, but expect to hear something soon.
Story TheKaiser’s Battle, which is also known as The Spring Offensive, was a series of offensives by the German Army along the Western Front in 1918. Enter the fray as the French army in this DLC. Battle a new experimental boss, and also battle against friends on new multiplayer and survival maps.
The French Campaign that is in the DLC includes 3 levels: Blucher-Yorck, Operation Gneisenau and The Last Offensive. Each plays out like any other Toy Soldiers level, but they are located in 2 new areas and there is an entirely new boss for you to figure out how to beat.
Gameplay
The gameplay is exactly like it is in the rest of the game. This isn’t the Toy Soldiers review, this is a review on the DLC. If you have never played the game, read the review and download the demo. Both links are available at the top. The Kaiser’s Battle DLC lets you play as the French army during the Kaiser’s Battle. There are 3 levels with multiple waves of enemies on them, and 2 new maps to let you create battle strategies on.
Following with a French theme, there is new French inspired art, new French soldiers, special in game French props and a whole bunch more French stuff for you to look at in game. There are also French unit skins and 2 new units to choose including theFrench Hotchkiss Machine Gun and French Canon de 75 Howitzer. The two new maps that come with the DLC enable for bigger battles online in both multiplayer and survival modes.
The new boss is an experimental vehicle called the German K-Wagon. The thing is huge and menacing, just like all the bosses found in the game. It may require a few attempts and a lot of strategic unit placing in order to destroy it on harder settings. The 3 level French Campaign is short and sweet. If you are a fan of Toy Soldiers you will enjoy the new levels to plan on as well as the new Golden Cubes to find. If you have no idea what the Golden Cubes are you are probably not one of the people interested in this DLC because you didn’t play the game enough.
Achievements
There are 3 new achievements included in the DLC. The achievements are pretty generic Toy Soldiers achievements. There is one for beating the DLC, one for getting a blast combo of x40, and one for finding all the Golden Cubes in the French Campaign. Golden Cubes are actually hidden within every level, and it is nice to see an achievement that acknowledges them.
Base Rat 15 – Find all the golden cubes hidden in the new French single player campaign.
Land Ship 25 – Defeat the German K-Wagen Boss.
Grass Cutter 10 – Get a 40x blast combo.
Overview
The Kaiser’s Battle DLC is a lot of fun, and gives you a few new levels to play on as well as another boss battle. The DLC only really consists of 2 new maps, 3 new campaign levels, 1 new boss, new soldier skins and 2 new alternate unites. That is basically the entire DLC in a nutshell. Is it worth $5? That choice is yours. Have you completely beaten Toy Soldiers and still want more? Pick up this DLC now, and enjoy yourself as you play the really short but fun French campaign.
I give the Toy Soldiers: Kaiser’s Battle DLC
Story
“Experience the legendary battle between the Autobots and Decepticons before their exodus to Earth in the untold story of the civil war for their home planet in Transformers®: War for Cybertron™. Two distinct and intertwined campaigns chronicle the heroism of the Autobots in the face of total annihilation and the unquenchable thirst for power of the Decepticons. Play both campaigns in team-based online co-op, or go head-to-head in several online multiplayer game modes. Battle as your favorite Transformer characters in the war that spawned one of the most brutal conflicts of all time.” [Via Xbox.com]
The story takes place during the fall of Cybertron where the Decepticons decide to rule the planet and kick out the Autobots. The campaign lets you play both sides of the story, and while there is a chronological order to the campaign you can play as either class first. The game normally starts off with you playing out the Decepticons story but you can jump to the Autobots side of the story first and then go back to what the Decepticons were doing. Play out the battles that started it all in this game. Play as both sides as you fight to save or destroy Cybertron.
Singleplayer Gameplay
Singleplayer consists of a story with 5 missions on the Decepticon side, and 5 missions on the Autobot side. You can play either side first, but the main story follows chronologically with you playing as the Decepticons first and then following it up by playing as the Autobots.
Both sides play generally the same, and both sides fight the exact same enemies just with a different color signifying the different sides. The campaign is pretty long with a series of battles on the way and a few scattered boss battles that require you to kill something in a specific way. At the beginning of every mission you can pick the character you want to play as, each character has a specific starting weapon as well as specific abilities and vehicle forms. This choice enables you to play the game the way you want to play it. Like being defensive? Then pick the bot that lets you deploy shields. Like being aggressive? Pick the bot with the strong weaponry and rage ability.
Each chapter is also broken down into 10 checkpoints that pretty much let you replay any chunk of a level you want. If you liked a certain spot in a level, load that spot back up. There is no need to play through the long levels just to get to one location. This feature helps greatly in doing a number of the achievements and keeps them fun rather than irritating.
Multiplayer Gameplay
There are multiple modes for multiplayer, whether it is competitive or even co-op based multiplayer. You can unlock more characters for multiplayer by playing the single player campaign. The multiplayer aspect adds a lot more gameplay to the game.
Co-op is for up to 3 players online, and lets you put on competitive scoring. There aren’t many people playing co-op because there isn’t really any reason to play it. The two achievements linked to it can actually be achieved by yourself. So co-op is reserved completely for you and your friends instead of just random people. While you can play with randoms, finding them will be difficult and most people on don’t actually want to play with you and just want to get the achievements by themselves.
There is also an escalation mode that pits you against increasingly stronger waves of enemies. This mode enables up to 4 players to fight alongside each other. With multiple waves and multiple kills you gain points that you can spend on ammo, health, or weapons. The mode is a lot of fun with a group of friends, but also enables you to play with random people. As the waves get harder, it will become increasingly hard to play with randoms that don’t know each other’s play styles.
The final multiplayer mode is the multiplayer itself. This mode lets up to 10 people duke it out on a number of levels and in a number of gametypes. There is also a mass of customization options for both your loadout and your character. There are 4 classes to pick from, each having a bunch of different Autobot and Decepticon models. You can pick the specific model you want for each team as well as a series of color options. The loadouts work a lot like Call of Duty load outs. You can pick two weapons, certain skills which you can use in the field, and then certain perks that help you in the background. Each of the 4 classes can be leveled up to level 25 and you unlock more stuff for each specific class as you increase in ranks. Once you max the level on all 4 classes there is a mode that basically lets you prestige. This probably sounds extremely familiar, because like I said it follows closely with what you find in a Call of Duty game. This isn’t bad though, and throws you into familiar ground as you hit this Third Person Shooter’s Multiplayer running.
Audio & Graphics
The audio in the game varies. While the soundtrack is pitiful and not even memorable, the voice acting is superb. Many of the famous transformers sound like they do in the TV shows and the movie. On top of that, they all say things that relate to or reference famous Transformer lines from other media forms. Some of them are quite funny, such as when Megatron says “Stay on the track… If you want to die!” as you cross the tram tracks. These little things make the game funny as well as connect it more closely with the Transformers world. The most notable thing is that there is no Transformers theme song. How can you not have the theme song in a Transformers game?
The graphics in the game are average, but there are a few things that are extremely nice to look at. Transformations are top notch. When you switch weapons the gun transforms out of your arm. When you transform in and out of vehicle form you can see all the parts sliding into to place very quickly. When you control turrets your body will merge into it, when you activate switches your arm becomes humanoid in order to hit it, and when you go into computer consoles your body merges with certain aspects of the computer. It is all aesthetically pleasing to see. Eventually you get used to it and stop noticing it, but it never actually gets annoying to see.
Achievements
The achievements in Transformers: War for Cybertron are actually pretty good. There are the regular achievements for beating all the levels, and then the stackable difficulty based achievements, and of course the multiplayer achievements. Transformers: War for Cybertron does manage to wrap all these generic achievements with achievements that will actually get you replaying levels and are quite fun. There are the collecting achievements but those aren’t bad at all and with the game broken down into a series of levels and checkpoints, you can pretty much jump to any 10 minutes located in the game. No need to go through an entire level just for 1 item. Other achievements include doing a certain task so many times, but these are greatly helped by an in game tracker that pops up every time you you successfully complete another part of that task. Need to kill 10 people with a detached turret, it will tell you every time you get a new kill with a detached turret and keep a tally for you. There are also a few speed runs located in there, and those are actually fun and a bit challenging your first try. Overall the singleplayer achievements are bareable and not that bad. As for the multiplayer achievements, those just consist of grinding and no one likes doing that anyway.
Overview
Transformers: War for Cybertron is actually a pretty good game. Many people may come into it thinking that it is just another Transformers game but the developers have done a very good job at creating something that is fun and enjoyable. With a swath of stuff to do in the game there is something for everyone. A singleplayer that is broken down into two teams and each level can be loaded at any checkpoint at any time to relive those awesome moments. There is an escalation multiplayer mode that lets you fight against increasingly difficult waves of enemies. Finally there is a multiplayer that features multiple classes, skills, and weapons to customize your loadouts. There is something for everyone in this Third Person Shooter, and it is all wrapped up in a Transformer’s skin.
I give Transformers: War for Cybertron
Ever hear of a game called swam? Probably not, but it was debuted at E3 and there is a trailer at the bottom so that you can bask in what it is exactly. In my opinion it can be summed up in 1 word. “Awesome Chaos”… that was two… oh well. Good news! It is being Co-Published by Ignition to bring the game to multiple consoles through digital distribution. Yeah that is really good news! I don’t like games that only launch on one console either. The video below doesn’t really show anything more then some fat pudgy things being slaughtered, but if that is just a sampling, it looks really fun!
Check out the Full Press release below.
Ignition Entertainment Ltd., a global publisher and developer of videogames, recently announced that it has reached an agreement with Hothead Games to co-publish Swarm worldwide on all platforms via digital channels. Swarm was unveiled via a short teaser trailer at recent E3 .
Swarm lets the player take control of 50 utterly fearless Swarmites and drive them through an intense, entertaining and often suicidal battle for a greater good. Run, bash, huddle, boost, stack, jump, push and throw your way through gauntlets of death and destruction in an attempt to collect valuable DNA and ensure that at least one Swarmite survives. With a unique combination of mass character control and fast action, the resulting brutal aftermath will make players want to play Swarm over and over again.
“UTV Ignition is delighted to be able to partner with Hothead Games to bring this title to market” commented Nigel Fox, President European Publishing for UTV Ignition Entertainment. “Swarm is a high quality and incredibly creative title, and it is that level of quality and creativity that is the basis of our digital download strategy.”
“Swarm is very special to Hothead – it’s an idea we’ve nurtured for a while,” added Joel DeYoung, Director of Game Technology for Hothead Games. “We are excited to work with Ignition to make sure everyone hears about and ultimately gets a chance to play Swarm, Hothead’s next great game.”
Swarm is being developed by Hothead Games and will be available early 2011 across multiple platforms.
Medal of Honor is coming out this October and the developers behind the game used references from actual soldiers. Below you can hear the account of 2 soldiers as they served and what they did.
MOH is looking pretty good, and below is the singleplayer gameplay vid again for those of you who haven’t already seen it from our E3 coverage.
Ok, summer is here… or it has been here for a lot of us, but it seems Microsoft finally acknowledge it as summer and has supplied a list of some deals as well as some new XBLA games and DLC that is released today or in the next week. Check it out below!
There will be a ‘LIVEapalooza’ sale which will begin on July 6th and run until July 12th. This sale basically discounts top music add-ons, covering albums, track packs and songs across a large number of music based games. (Lips, rock band, guitar hero, etc.)
Monkey Island™ 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge™ (LucasArts)
July 7 | 800 Microsoft Points
A new monkey island game? Can I hear a woot woot! “Woot WOOT!” Good!
Blacklight: Tango Down (Ignition Entertainment)
July 7 | 1200 Microsoft Points
This multiplayer first person shooter coming to download on XBLA lets you play with your friends as you fight tomorrow’s conflicts today. Confusing? I bet it is! But it is also peeked your interest!
Toy Soldiers “The Kaiser’s Battle” Game Add-On (Microsoft Game Studios)
June 30 | 400 Microsoft Points
A new DLC added to the Toy Soldiers game. Can’t get enough of those Toy Soldiers, hit it up now. It is on the marketplace now. We actually have a review coming out soon, as well as some contests on twitter and facebook. So if you aren’t following us, you will miss out on a chance to win some codes to this DLC.
Worms 2 Armageddon Battle Pack Game Add-on (Microsoft Game Studios)
July 7 | 400 Microsoft Points
Worms 2 DLC… better late then never! Gets your worms on!
With the FIFA World Cup taking place this year, absorbing almost the entire planet, 2010 looks to be the ideal time to release a football/soccer game. But the question is, is Pure Football simply milking the hype that surrounds the World Cup, and funnelling that excitement into profit, like so many games were have seen released this year? Or is it a genuine release? Something that will contend with the other football games available, a new challenger in the previously two-horse-race between EA and Konami, FIFA and PES? Read on and find out…
Pure Football is a case of “does what it says on the box”. Pure Football. Football at it’s purest. This means football stripped back to basics, the essentials, the raw materials. As such, the game is done in a 5-a-side format, with no referee, and as a result, a lot of the rules you would associate with a referee disappear. No referee means no offsides, no free kicks and bookings, and no fouls to a certain extent. I say ‘to a certain extent’ as there is a system in place, in the form of a foul meter. When this fills up from a team committing too many bad tackles, it equals an instant penalty for the opposing team, no matter where they are on the field.
To add to the purity and to support the rawness of the game, Pure Football has been given an urban feel. This urban feel is outlined through the grounds you play on, with an example of one being ‘The Factory’, a pitch located inside an abandoned warehouse. Gone are the large stadiums, as are the bustling crowds along with the commentators. Some will see this as a welcome change, not only for the lack of the crowd, which at times in other games can be off-putting, but for the loss of commentary, which you soon learn off-by-heart if it is included.
Already, you must be realising that Pure Football isn’t your traditional football game. Well, there’s more. To coincide with the ‘Pure’ theme running through the game, there is ‘Pure’ section of your shot meter, indicated by a white zone, as well as 2 pure bars along the top of the screen, one for each time. The first of these features, the Pure part of your shot power meter, is a small white zone which, if you manage to hit by holding down the shot button for just the right amount of time, will cause your player to drive a seemingly rocket-powered shot goal wards. This shot is known as a ‘Pure shot’ and, as you can imagine, is much more effective that standard shots. A ‘Pure shot’ is shown in a satisfying slow-mo/time stop style, and if shot from an appropriate range, is almost a guaranteed goal. The second of these features is the pure power bar which stretches across the top of the screen. Each time you do something deemed to be ‘good’, such as hitting the post or a saved shot, this bar will slowly fill up. When it is completely full, the next shot you take will be a ‘Pure shot’, no matter how long you hold down the shot button. After you have taken your shot, the Pure bar along the top will drain back to empty whether you scored or not. This method of obtaining Pure shots is very effective, and if you are controlling the match well, you will earn plenty of beneficial extra pure shots as a reward.
This display of strength through the powerful Pure shots is reciprocated in the physical appearance of the players. Ubisoft clearly haven’t gone for realism, shown not only by the super-powered shots, but by the fact that the in-game players resemble caricatures of their real-life counterparts, more than the real thing. The graphical style certainly isn’t unique, as it was already trialled in EA’s ‘FIFA Street 3’, and in comparison , Pure Football is actually a more toned down version of this, despite the emphasised muscular structure of the player’s bodies. With all this taken into account, it works quite well and adds to the arcade feel that Pure Football emits.
In regards to play modes, there is a fairly standard array of choice; from ‘Exhibition’ and ‘Quickplay’ for some instant action, either single player or local multiplayer; to the ‘Campaign’ section which links into the section were you can create your own player; on top of the Xbox Live compatibility.
As a single player experience, Pure Football allows for both brief and extended periods of play, depending on the preference of specific players. The ability to tamper with the settings, like being able to adjust the duration of the match, grants this flexibility. Even the Campaign can be played in short bursts, due to the “one match at a time” structure, which is complimented by the game’s autosave system. The Campaign mode is long enough to be substantial, but short enough to make repeated playthroughs plausible, and an abundance of unlocks means there is plenty of reason to do so. The manner in which you unlock players is neat and quirky, completing challenges as you play against them in order to unlock them for transfer, at which point you can purchase them with Pure Points earned in matches (PP are the currency of Pure Football).
Unfortunately, the Campaign can be completed with ease on the lower difficulties, with the aim of being number one in the world achievable in half the allotted time. The fact that there is a range of difficulty, when combined with the arcade style of the game, means that Pure Football accommodates for less experienced gamers. But, for more experienced gamers, once you have picked up the controls, you will need to crank up the difficulty settings for this game to present any challenge. Even after the difficulty has been turned up, there is still the option to ‘restart match’ at the end of every campaign game. Although this comes with the consequence of a reduction in the bonus PP earned, this repercussion does not seem significant enough to discourage players from overusing this feature, meaning the campaign gets even easier.
Multiplayer is enjoyable, mostly due to the fact that it is much more fun playing with someone human, instead of the computer. This is partly because the AI is so unreliable though, especially the goalkeeper. This could be to encourage initiative in gamers, and cause them to make crucial decisions for themselves, but either way, the goalkeeper is a liability and you will need to take over from the AI goalkeeping decisions if you want to avoid silly mistakes. As far as Xbox Live goes, there is the ‘Transfer Market’ where you can spend your hard-earned PP to compile the squad of your dreams, as well as typical one versus one matches online.
Local Multiplayer is malleable, with up to 4 players able to collaborate with each other in a variety ways like 2 on 2, 3 on 1, or even all 4 against the computer. Local Multiplayer also benefits from a zoomed out viewpoint, in stark contrast to the behind-the-player perspective seen in single player. It brings me to wonder why this zoomed out view wasn’t integrated throughout the game, as it certainly works a lot better, allowing you to clearly see all the passing options, as well as get a feel for the size of the pitch.
Another frustrating aspect of the game is the constant stoppages. With the removal of the referee, stoppages like free kicks, offsides, bookings and substitutes have also been ousted. There aren’t even injuries! However, in their place, there are all kinds new, irritating stoppages which destroy every shred of momentum, and in turn, make the game feel very stop and start. For example, when there is a penalty the game’s progress halts as the game seems to initiate a penalty mini-game. If the keeper manages to parry the ball away, play doesn’t continue as it would in a real game. There is no chance for the striker to have another try on the rebound.
Then there is also the goal celebrations. As goals are frequent in Pure Football, the dark celebration screen popping up each time gets annoying and further interrupts play. They make the lengthy break in play from the instant replays (which, to be fair, are usually nice to watch) even longer, unnecessarily.
In summary, Pure Football offers an alternative spin on the ultra-realistic and technically accurate football/soccer titles on the market. It’s arcade style, with the super-powered shots and only a few basic rules, mean it can appeal to those who aren’t necessarily football fans, but are fans of games. At the same time, this inaccuracy could put off dedicated football fans, who may find the fantasy aspects on top of the lack of rules, too extreme. Whilst FIFA and PES remain unthreatened by this game as they bask in all their official and licensed glory, dwarfing Pure Football’s meagre arsenal of 20 teams and 230, street/arcade football has a new front runner and it’s name is Pure Football.
Pros
-Fun challenges to unlock new players
-Hammering in a Pure shot is very satisfying
-Arcade style appeals to wider audience Cons
-More dedicated football fans may not appreciate the lack of rules
-Minimal choice of teams and players
-No atmosphere due to loss of commentators and crowd
-Poor AI, especially evident in the goalkeepers
-Awkward camera
Yesterday we saw a video for Portal 2 which introduced us to Wheatley, and today Valve has two more videos to keep us anticipating their sequel to one of the most critically acclaimed puzzle games in the past decade.
First we have the Aerial Faith Plate which looks like a trampoline on steroids, as well as look to be quite a lot of fun, as you chase the cube around below:
And then the Excursion Funnel which is essentially a moving conveyor belt of energy that will definitely help complicate puzzles, but also provide unique ways to solve them as shown in the video below.
