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Back in 2005, peripheral developers Red Octane and software developers Harmonix came out with a neat little game called Guitar Hero for the Playstation 2. It would surpass everyone's expectations by selling well over one million units. However, in late 2006, right after the release of Guitar Hero II, both Harmonix and Red Octane had to go their separate ways with Activision buying Red Octane and the Guitar Hero license, while Harmonix was bought by a rival company MTV Games. Harmonix would eventually create the Rock Band series, which pushed the peripheral-based music genre forward, while the Guitar Hero series has essentially been recycling the same base mechanics that it had created in its first iteration back in 2005. With Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, the series's newest iteration, developer Neversoft is promising a brand new experience, and while the game does push the series into a new direction, it does so at its own expense.
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is the sixth proper installment of the series, not including various off-shoots like Band Hero or the band-specific spin-offs. Yet even with all the talk of change, for the most part the game is essentially still a peripheral-based music game, with the same highway of notes that cascade down the screen and the player still having to use a plastic guitar, drum set, or microphone to try and hit those notes at the right time. There's also the same modes—Quickplay and Party—that we have seen in the last couple of Guitar Hero games. However, Neversoft has decided this year to focus on a brand new mode called Quest Mode, hoping the game will distance itself from other music-based peripheral games like the Rock Band series by introducing the idea in which the player embarks on a rock n' roll odyssey. Continue Reading »
Tags: Activision, Band Hero, Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, Harmonix, MTV Games, Neversoft Entertainment, PlayStation 3, Red Octane, Rock Band
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With either a terrorist plot of assassinating the president or the threat of global nuclear war being a daily occurrence, the Tom Clancy universe is ripe with military conflict. For that reason, I've always felt that the Tom Clancy franchise of video games always looked to attract those that never quite outgrew their "G.I. Joe phase." Games under the Tom Clancy banner like the Splinter Cell or Ghost Recon series have always teetered on the line between banal insanity and credible plausibility when it comes to creating a war-torn virtual battlefield. That is, after all, their "thing." They create experiences where a player feels like an army of one, effortlessly mowing down countless terrorists, in its somewhat plausible reality. This idea encompasses every aspect of the Tom Clancy games and H.A.W.X. 2 is no exception.
For those who aren't familiar with the H.A.W.X. series, it's the Tom Clancy universe's take on the video game flight sim. Much like the other Tom Clancy games, the series's last iteration was known for its arcade-like feel in a real-world setting. H.A.W.X. 2 follows very much the same formula: You choose from a plethora of fighter planes to accomplish certain tasks, which run the gambit from escort missions to bombing runs. While the game's various backdrops and dog-fighting sequences look spectacular, playing these missions becomes quite monotonous. Some of the later, intelligence-gathering operations add a little variety to the mission selection, but there are far too many times in which the objective is to shoot down anything that makes the reticule on the screen turn red. And while the mission objectives might be lacking in variety, luckily the act of flying in H.A.W.X. 2 is quite exhilarating. Continue Reading »
Tags: Ghost Recon, H.A.W.X. 2, Splinter Cell, Tom Clancy, Ubisoft, Xbox 360
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As the fall and winter months barrel down upon us, so does the cavalcade of retail video game releases. Traditionally speaking, this is a time for many video game fans to dive into the plentiful bounty of popular franchises that have come back after long hiatuses, like the Halo or the Call of Duty series. Yet not all great games come in boxes, some come in the form of digital distribution, through the wondrous "system of tubes" which we call the Internet. Here were some of the standout downloadable titles for the month of September. Continue Reading »
Tags: Call of Duty, Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, Halo, Lumines, Nevercenter, PAX 10, Penny Arcade Expo, Shibuya, TerRover, Tetris, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade
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Over the past couple of years, an interesting trend has taken over the real-time strategy genre. As more RTS games have come out, the genre has gotten, well, faster. What was once a genre that relied on thoughtful tactical precision evolved—or devolved, depending on who you ask—into memorizing the fastest build orders and knowing idiosyncrasies of individual units. So as more genres started to emulate popular games like the Halo or God of War series that revolved around the philosophy of constant action with constant reward, the RTS genre followed suit with games that focused on a more action-based experience. In turn, these slower, yet more tactical, focused experiences that put more emphasis on thoughtful strategy than on how efficient one could create an army were being phased out. While this reason alone would make Eugene System's R.U.S.E. standout from the glut of other RTS's, it's the game's specific mechanics that's so memorable. Continue Reading »
Tags: Eugen Systems, God of War, Halo, PC, R.U.S.E., Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, Ubisoft
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For many years, downloadable games have been viewed as nice little distractions when compared to their retail brethren. However, with these games increasing in sophistication year after year, more consumers are beginning to discover the joys of a lean eight-hour experience over a retail release with a 60-plus-hour playtime. So, with this monthly feature, we hope to shine a light on a few downloadable titles, from various platforms, that have impressed us in the past month. Continue Reading »
Tags: And Yet It Moves, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Monday Night Combat, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Shank
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Many video game sequels have been accused of failing to push their respective series forward. Even the God of War and Madden franchises have been criticized for not evolving core design mechanics between iterations. Yet even with these criticisms, both series tend to be celebrated by critics and fans alike for their level of quality. And with the release of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, Blizzard Entertainment's seminal RTS has now firmly established itself as a series akin to the God of War and Madden franchises. By following the same template of the original Starcraft, the game excels in its execution, but it doesn't evolve the formula that it established more than a decade ago.
At its core, the Starcraft series boils down to three activities: gathering resources, building bases and units from those resources, and then seeing if your units can overtake your opponent. Using this template, Starcraft II presents two separate experiences: the single-player campaign and the multiplayer mode.
In single-player, you play as a rebel group of Terrans (the humans in the Starcraft universe), lead by the story's hero James Raynor, as you fight an oppressive empire. Overall, the story keeps the player engaged to Blizzard's well-crafted space opera with events like the resurfacing of the Zerg (an insect like creature that pillages planets) as well as having to allay with the Protoss (an ancient alien species).
Along with the expertly told story, there's a wide variety of mission types to keep the player engaged. Even though these mission types still revolve around Starcraft's basic formula, it's those objective-based tasks within every mission that keeps the single-player experience from becoming stale. Whether it's a train heist or gathering resources on a transforming planet, the game's biggest strength lies in how it plays with the traditional formula in the single-player campaign. Continue Reading »
Tags: Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment, God of War, Madden, Starcraft, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
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In this new generation of video games, you can't help but feel that the Japanese role-playing game has been left behind. While many Western-based RPGs like The Witcher and the Mass Effect series have tried to evolve the role-playing genre, JRPG apologists keep maintaining that the tried and true gameplay more than makes up for the genre's lack of evolution. However, for every Triple-A Western RPG that gets released, that argument becomes less and less credible. So, while most JRPGs are still recycling the same game mechanics that have been used since the beginning of the original PlayStation era, it was good to see the Persona series (a spinoff of the Shin Megami Tensei video game series) try to push the JRPG by infusing fresh new ideas into an established genre.
Back in 2007, Atlas had originally released Persona 3 on the PlayStation 2. The game was a breath of fresh air to the whole RPG genre, incorporating a unique setting with traditional JRPG tropes like turn-based battles and dungeon-crawling. Three years later, Atlus brings Persona 3 Portable to the Sony PSP, this time adding a few new tweaks to the overall game. The question of whether these tweaks make the overall experiance better depends on the player's preference. Continue Reading »
Tags: Mass Effect, Persona 3, PSP, Shin Megami Tensei, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable, The Witcher
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Very rarely, if ever, do you hear reviewers praising a video game or a movie as "predictably excellent." Usually words like "groundbreaking" and "innovative" are used to shower praise on a piece of brilliant entertainment. While the defamation of the word "predictable" is commonplace in practically all media, that certainly doesn't have to be the case. In fact, predictability—especially in video games—is sometimes a good thing. Much like having a few beers and swapping stories with an old friend, "predictable" in video games can be comforting and familiar to the player. Case in point: The newly released LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, if nothing else, is predictable, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a great game. On the contrary, LEGO Harry Potter (like all the other LEGO video games) thrives by meeting player expectations.
The TT Games formula is to take popular film franchises and subject them to a process of LEGOfication. The company's games, with their trademark game play and presentation, showcases the sort of wit and humor that gives a new perspective to ionic series such as the Star Wars and Batman movies. Continue Reading »
Tags: LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Nintendo Wii, TT Games, Wanrer Bros. Interactive Entertainment
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Just three years ago at E3, all three platform holders (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo) were content to reach two distinct audiences. Microsoft wanted to keep their stronghold on the hardcore enthusiast by showcasing titles like Halo 3, BioShock, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Fallout 3. In that same year, Sony was trying to get that same group excited about the PS3 with exclusives like Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Killzone 2, and Metal Gear Solid 4. However, while both Sony and Microsoft were trying to get the attention of the enthusiast, Nintendo was working an entirely different angle by courting casual audiences with titles like Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii (packaged with a cordless Wii Wheel). Continue Reading »
Tags: E3, Kinect, Microsoft, Move, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Sony, Xbox 360
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To some, the lead up to E3, the annual game expo and confernence, is just as big as the event itself. While many companies will be sending press releases hoping to get some buzz going before the actual show, others will keep their "major" announcements close to their chests hoping to steal the spotlight at E3. While there will be a plethora of major gaming announcements to come out of E3 in the next week, here are five to keep an eye on.
What Is Natal and Who Is It Really For?
Now, we all know Natal is some kind of magical motion capture/voice recognition device that Microsoft unveiled at last year's E3. We also know that Microsoft has generated a fair amount of hype around it. And that's about all we know. If last year's E3 was Natal's introduction to the gaming world, this year's E3 is its coming-out party. I'm fairly certain we will not only find out how well the device actually works, but more importantly, where the device falls in the great video game spectrum. Is it meant to be an impulse purchase for the Wal-Mart crowd that will compete with the Nintendo Wii, or is it meant to be an expensive add-on to create a next-generation system out of the Xbox 360? Continue Reading »
Tags: Counter-Strike, E3, Half Life 2: Episode 3, Natal, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Scribblenauts, The Last Guardian, Valve, WiiWare, Xbox 360
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In your initial moments with Split/Second, you can't help but feel that sneaking sensation of déjà vu. This hits you right around the time that you narrowly escape your first "power play." All this weaving in and out of traffic and narrowly escaping collisions makes the game initially feel like a Burnout clone. A well-produced Burnout clone with breathtaking graphics and tight controls, but a Burnout clone never the less. Initially, then, you can't help but feel a little disappointed by Black Rock Studio's effort with Split/Second. Yet that is right around the time you decide to succumb to your destructive curiosity and trigger a "power play" with a full meter. As something resembling the Seattle Space Needle begins to crash down on the track, destroying not only the majority of your competition, but deforming the track in ways you thought could not be possible in a video game, you begin to realize that you should not write off this game as another Burnout clone just yet.
It is in these moments of pure deconstructive bliss that not only separate Split/Second from the traditional Burnout formula, but evolve it in completely different directions. Much like how Beethoven used Mozart as inspiration for many years to create something both different and equally memorable, Black Rock Studio has in fact done the same taking Criterion's work with the Burnout games and expanding it in new ways with Split/Second. This major deviation between the two games comes from their approaches to destruction. Continue Reading »
Tags: Black Rock Studio, Burnout, Burnout Paradise, Disney Interactive, PlayStation 3, Split/Second
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When did Hal Laboratory, the developers of Picross 3D, get their "Archimedes in the bathtub" moment? In what moment did they realize that by tweaking the wheel, they had in fact inadvertently uncovered the mysteries of flight? Because I have to imagine that Hal Laboratory and Nintendo intended Picross's move into 3D to be some kind of gimmick in hope of freshening up a 15-year-old formula that hasn't changed since the days of the original Gameboy. Right? After all, translating a game with 2D mechanics into a 3D space has not been the easiest of transitions (see the Castlevania or Sonic the Hedgehog series). Yet somehow Picross 3D manages to reach a Zen-like balance between dumb videogame gimmick and evolutionary brilliance. Fortunately, it's the evolutionary brilliance part that resonates with the player.
For those who are unfamiliar with Picross, it's a grid-based puzzle game originating from Japan. The object of the game revolves around the player using logic and the numbers provided around the grid to decide if squares need to be "full" or "empty." The puzzle is finally solved when the "full" squares reveal some kind of picture. Now Picross 3D follows essentially the same set of rules, with the major differences being that instead of a two-dimensional grid you are given a three-dimensional rectangle, and instead of marking squares "full" or "empty," you're either "painting" a cube to keep it or "chiseling" it away. On paper, the differences between the 2D version and 3D version seem slight, but if you are familiar with the past 2D Picross games, you will understand that these tweaks change the game considerably. Continue Reading »
Tags: Hal Laboratory, Nintendo DS, Picross, Picross 2D, Picross 3D
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The zeitgeist behind the Monster Hunter series in Japan is very apparent, even to those that don't live there. Many of us have heard secondhand accounts of perfect strangers hunting prized beasts on their commute to work or seeing bookstores having whole sections dedicated to guides and manuals to the various Monster Hunter games. If these secondhand accounts are not evidence enough, all you have to look at is the sales figures that the series generates overseas. (Monster Hunter Freedom United for the Sony PSP has sold over 3.5 million copies since late 2008.) So with the latest installment of the Monster Hunter series showcased on the Nintendo Wii, Capcom hopes that Monster Hunter Tri can reach a wider audience in the West and become as big of a success as it has across the Pacific.
With the release of Monster Hunter Tri over here, Capcom has packaged a special bundle pack which includes the Classic Controller Pro. While the game does support the usual Wii setup of a numchuck and Wii-mote, having played the game for the past three weeks now, I can attest that a classic controller of some kind (whether it is a Pro or the original) is needed to play the game properly. With that said, a classic controller is not the only prerequisite needed to fully appreciate Monster Hunter Tri. If you decide to dive into the world of Monster Hunter Tri, expect to invest a lot of time into the game; though I have played it for over 50 hours now, I still haven't seen everything that the game has to offer. So I am confident in saying that Monster Hunter Tri is the deepest gaming experience available on the Nintendo Wii. Continue Reading »
Tags: Capcom, God of War, Monster Hunter, Monster Hunter Freedom United, Monster Hunter Tri, Nintendo Wii
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In the entertainment medium, the word "classic" is often interchangeable with "timeless." After all, is the Beatles's Sgt. Pepper any less amazing to listen to or is Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather any less poignant then when originally released? Mediums like cinema, music, and literature tend to be unaffected by the thoughtless constraints of time. Video games, on the other hand, have never been that lucky.
While cinema, music, and literature have the luxury of having their fundamentals well established, videogames are stuck with having to reinvent the wheel every six years or so. Going back to an arcade game from the early 1980s or an early 3-D action/adventure game from the Playstation One era can be jarring for most modern gaming enthusiasts. While the medium has come a long way since the primitive monochromatic glares of the simple sprite based games like Pong and Space Invaders, many still worry about the roots of gaming being crushed by the weight of its own accelerated evolution. So storied companies like Capcom and Sega must ask a difficult question: How do you pay homage to your back catalog of software while making it relevant to the modern gaming public? Surprisingly enough, the answer to this came from a very modern gaming trope. Continue Reading »
Tags: Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded, Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed, Data East Arcade Classics, Final Fight: Double Impact, Magic Sword, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
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Last week, two forgotten gaming masterpieces appeared on two separate downloadable services—one a decade too early, the other a decade too late. Yet with both Out of This World (a.k.a. Another World) and Castlevania: Rondo of Blood now on Good Old Games and the Wii's Virtual Console, these gems can finally be given the attention they deserve.
Out of This World was ahead of its time in many ways. Originally released in 1991, it was marketed as a "cinematic platformer." While the industry as a whole was content to cash in on mascot based platformers, Out of This World was a game that attempted to be so much more. Developed and designed by Eric Chahi, it was one of the first games that attempted the marriage of gameplay and storytelling as a single, cohesive experience. Industry legends such as Hideo Kojima (the creator of the Metal Gear Solid series) and Fumito Ueda (the creator of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus) mark this game as an inspiration for many of their groundbreaking projects. Sadly, while the game did get praised by various outlets for pushing the possibilities of the medium, lackluster sales condemned it to "forgotten masterpiece" status. Luckily, Good Old Games (a downloadable service for old PC games) has brought it back, making it compatible with today's PCs. For only $10, and with additional extras like a "making of" documentary and production documents, you would be doing yourself a disservice to pass it up a second time. Continue Reading »
Tags: Another World, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, Eric Chahi, Good Old Games, Hideo Kojima, Nintendo Wii, Out of this World, Virtual Console
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