Friday, December 10, 2010

Gaming Today

Gaming Today

GameFront 2010: Best Action Games

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 07:21 PM PST

This year was a bit lackluster in the area of first-person shooters, which often seem to dominate the conversation when you start talking about a year’s big games. Instead, 2010 was something of a banner year for action games, which saw big releases in a number of marquis franchises that actually surpassed their predecessors and gave you the kind of experience that feels like it’s worth $60+. We got action games with stories and protagonists and multiplayer modes actually worth turning off Call of Duty to play — who knew. Below, we’ve built a list of our picks for the year’s best action titles and what made them stand above the crowd.

Red Dead Redemption

Shawn Sines’ pick

John Marston delivered the best Grand Theft Auto game I've ever played. Red Dead Redemption was a game I'd spent the better part of a year telling everyone I knew about. It was a western and a Rockstar game. It was also a continuation of the Red Dead franchise, one of my favorite original Xbox titles, so I was prepared to be wowed.

Luckily, Red Dead Redemption was everything I hoped. I spent hours cruising the American southwest looking for adventure. The quiet moments of searching, being one with the gorgeous environment that was so very different than the increasingly common Afghanistan setting that a lot of action games keep featuring. The quick-draw minigame, the brutal nature of wild-west combat, all these elements combined to make pull me into Red Dead and keep me going.

I played a lot of action games in 2010, including Battlefield: BC2, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Goldeneye, but none of them were games I continued to play once I'd finished my initial playthrough. Red Dead, however, still has me craving new content, and with the Undead Nightmare pack, shows this setting and its characters have legs.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Phil Owen’s pick

I briefly considered putting God of War III in this spot, but then I remembered there is a game like God of War III that doesn't have a terrible story and that is more fun to play and that doesn't blow its epic-set-piece load in the first five minutes.

From beginning to end, Enslaved is a satisfying gaming experience. It's not difficult yet still feels frantic. It balances beating down robots and climbing around on stuff really well, and you can ride around on a hoverboard. It has a pair of compelling leads and a funny, fat sidekick. And it has one of the more thought-provoking stories in gaming.

Like Bioshock, Enslaved can be considered a treatise on gaming itself, though it's more subtle than Ken Levine's vision. It's a game that asks you to question the purpose of the violence in which it forces you to partake; that could be seen as hypocritical, but it's great to see a game that, when it's all over and your TV is off, leave you deep in thought.

Alan Wake

Phil Hornshaw’s pick

There wasn't another game quite as engrossing for me this year as Alan Wake. A few in the category came close, and I'm torn because Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood certainly deserves a nod for finally realizing that Assassin's Creed can be really boring, and working to fix it. But Alan Wake has it in all places: it's got a story worth hearing, an atmosphere that envelops you, play mechanics that are twitchy and tense and some powerfully cool DLC.

Primarily, Wake did it for me because of the story. Yes, creepy stuff is happening in Bright Falls, but wandering through the woods of the Pacific Northwest wouldn't have been worth it if it hadn't been for Wake's desperation and confusion as he worked to find his wife. Remedy did a brilliant job in the telling, using Wake's manuscript pages to bounce the player around chronologically — sometimes filling in gaps and amping up the horror of a past situation, sometimes giving us a heads-up of what upcoming awfulness was in store for the writer. Working through the whole game to answer the ever-burning question of "what the hell is going on?" was at least as enjoyable as being ambushed by the darkness-covered Taken at any given moment.

Not that those ambushes weren't a great time in and of themselves. Every step through the woods, especially on Nightmare difficulty, has to be carefully planned. You never know when enemies are going to fall all around you, or hack away at you from just off-screen, and that kind of tension gets under your skin and makes for a creepy, jumpy experience. Plus with an insane number of collectibles to track down, each venture of the path in exploration carries a palpable risk. Is it worth it to go check this large open area that will likely contain absolutely nothing, just in case there's another Manuscript Page out there, even though there's a high chance I'll be murdered in the attempt? Those kinds of decisions — fear versus curiosity, with both being very powerful motivators — are everywhere in Wake and keep the survival experience fresh the whole way through.

Vanquish

Mark Burnham’s pick

My GameFront bretheren have already chosen some great games that I, too, enjoyed, so I’m going out on on a limb and giving Vanquish a nod.

You’ll find a lot of love-it-or-hate-it Vanquish reviews, but I loved this game. Platinum Games have merged flashy Japanese stylistic sensibilities with Western pop-and-cover third-person shooter action. The result is something very fast, satisfying, sadistically challenging and pretty unique — that is, if you can stomach a very steep, cruel, Japanese-grade challenge.

It’s the future and Russia is invading the U.S., starting with San Francisco, and then New York. You play as Sam, a special forces guy with a kick-ass mech suit who’s out to stop Russia. That’s basically the story.

Sam’s suit gives him all sorts of insane powers. You can manually trigger slo-mo bullet time, which is useful since a lot of the action is so frantic and…well, Japanese. You can also execute these pummeling custom melee attacks, one for each of Sam’s three equipped weapons. But Sam’s most prominent ability is the high-speed knee slide. It sends sparks flying everywhere and generally make you insanely mobile and evasive. But there’s a catch to all this fun.

The tricky thing is all of these abilities gradually drain the suit’s energy bar while in use. If the energy drains fully, the suit overheats and becomes inactive for a few seconds while it cools off. While the suit is inactive, Sam is basically just a regular guy running around with a gun. This means you can’t just spam all of the aforementioned kick-ass abilities. You have to execute them in short, controlled bursts, only at strategic moments. Part of the challenge is learning the rhythm of how to play the game right, which I actually appreciated.

Where these tactics are really put to the test is the game’s boss fights. They are epic in scale, length (they can last like 20 minutes), size, difficulty, flashiness and general epicness. Play the demo and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

One criticism you could level at Vanquish is there isn’t a lot of variety in the action. But I don’t think Vanquish lacks variety. I think what it has is focus. It’s a focused, intense game that tries new things and gets right in your face.

Guy Nobody’s Heard Of Claims CJ from San Andreas is Based on His Likeness

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 06:56 PM PST

I’ve got this friend who writes for The Onion. He’s a squirrelly little guy who’s wildly insecure about pretty much everything, and I discovered one of the best ways to really get under his skin is to accuse him of being vain. This works because, even though he’s far too self-critical to be actually vain, me saying he is makes him worry that it might actually be true. There are some people in this world, though, that trick absolutely won’t work on.

There’s this fella out there named Michael “Shagg” Washington who is in some way associated with Cypress Hill. IGN calls him a “backup singer,” but whatever. He’s not actually in the group. My point, here, is that nobody knows who the f–k this guy is. The story goes that Shagg’s nephew was recently playing some San Andreas, and that’s what brought the game to to Shagg’s attention for the first time ever.

Here’s the story, as reported by IGN: Shagg decided to take a gander at this newfangled game machine thing, and what he saw was very familiar. In the game, there is a gang, and CJ can ride a bike, and both gangs and bicycles played a part in Shagg’s younger days. He also recognized CJ’s face, because, he said, it is his own from said younger days. And so Shagg got a lawyer and filed a lawsuit against Rockstar.

OK, before you get to worked up about this, there is more to this. Shagg says Rockstar consulted him in 2003 when they were making the game, and he told them all about the gang life, including how people in the gang sometimes rode bicycles. Very amusingly, when the lawyer described that situation, he used some pretty oppressive language to describe it: “After almost two hours of questioning which covered many topics of gang and street life, the meeting ended and the plaintiff was allowed to leave.” Derp.

What this all comes down to, now, is that Shagg thinks Rockstar based CJ entirely on him, and so he’s suing for, get this s–t, a quarter of all of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’ profits, and IGN says that means he’s looking for an award of $250 million. And this is a guy nobody’s heard of, which means we can’t even pull up a picture of him to see if he really looks like CJ. Cool.

Box Art and More Deets and Screens for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 04:54 PM PST

(click on that image for a larger version)

This morning Entertainment Weekly gave us the first official word on Uncharted 3. It was exciting. But they didn’t tell us or show us everything there is to say and see today in regards to the game. Naughty Dog’s Arne Meyer took to the Playstation Blog to show us a couple extra screens (the same scene from different angles, basically) and to provide us with a few extra details on what’s in store. Strap in, because this will be a beefier-than-usual post.

First, we have a nice, clean plot synopsis:

In his search for the fabled "Atlantis of the Sands," Nathan Drake and longtime friend and mentor Victor Sullivan set off on a daring trek into the heart of the Arabian Desert. But when terrible secrets of this lost city are uncovered, their journey becomes a desperate bid for survival that will force Drake to confront his deepest fears.

Meyer, on multiplayer:

Competitive and co-op multiplayer will return as a key ingredient to the UNCHARTED 3 package, where all of the new features we have planned will combine with our signature single-player cinematic gameplay to create a unique action-adventure multiplayer experience that can only be found in the UNCHARTED universe.

Then he goes on to say the game will be in 3D (of course), and that the December 17 issue of EW — otherwise known as the issue that will arrive in your mailbox tomorrow — will have some “glorious” screens, including the one at the top of the page, along with a lot more info. Oh, and he also reposted the teaser EW had, which I have helpfully embedded at the end of this post.

Wait, we’re not done.

A new game announcement means retailers are listing the game for pre-order, and there are some interesting things in the listings. The first interesting thing is box art. I have no idea how official this is, but they all seem to have posted the same box art, and it looks pretty good, even if the image is just zoomed in from that large screen at the top of this post, so…. who the f–k knows. But yeah, here it is (click on it for a mega-sized version:

The product description, too, is intriguing but vague. Two sentences stand out:

Nathan Drake’s journey will put you through new challenges and take you to stunning locations around the world, from a derelict chateau in France, to the merciless Arabian Dessert.

A new breed of Action Adventure Multiplayer that brings the exciting cinematic elements of the single-player campaign, into the multiplayer.

I don’t know what that implies, really, but it sounds really neat.

One more thing. Jimmy Fallon tweeted that there will be a live demo of Uncharted 3 on his show on Monday, December 13.

And that’s what we have right now. Stand by, at least until the VGAs on Saturday. And, as promised, here’s that embedded teaser.

Gamefront 2010: Longest Haul Games of 2010

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 04:45 PM PST

Taking a page from the best and worst without being too harsh, some games just don't know when to fade away. Our staff lives games, so while some titles might just drive the average gamer batty, there are some titles that we see so often we're more than a little tired of hearing about them.

This list covers just those sorts of games. Those that outstayed their welcome, be they an unneeded sequel or a game that just plain showed up to the gaming party and never decided to leave. Now games that stay around too long don't necessarily have to be bad, they're just overexposed or generally played out titles. Below are some game titles our writers feel meet these criteria and why they feel that way.

Call of Duty

Shawn Sines

I realize I'm about to commit a sin among the modern gamer community but frankly I think Call of Duty has outlived it's usefulness. It started as a great attempt to "out-real" EA's Medal of Honor – a battle it won hands down – but once it became the industry leader for WWII and Modern Combat settings I think it's begun to just flail around.

World at War and the latest, Black Ops are examples of this. Sure, everything is better with zombies, but why did a game like this need zombies if it was still in its prime? Oh look! More neutral brown and grey maps full of rocks and cliffs.

Cranking out a Call of Duty cash-in every year may work for Activision but it's fast approaching Madden in the unneeded yearly $60 installment race. Why do players keep encouraging this behavior? The three-year old Modern Warfare itself is not a huge change from Black Ops, couldn't we just handle this stuff with map packs and DLC and let Activision rape us of more money over a longer period using a bit more subtlety?

Final Fantasy XIII

Phil Owen

It's a new, legit Final Fantasy game, and it's multi-platform, so, naturally, folks got themselves into a tizzy over it years before it actually came out. And then it came out, and it sold a very large number of copies, and people wouldn't shut up about it.

And then I played it. Seventy-five hours later, I was extremely depressed. I stuck with it to the end because it's Final Fantasy, man, and because it was a game people talked about. I wasted several weeks of my life dealing with this horrible and stunningly boring and completely nonsensical game, and I got all the way to the end only to have my ass kicked by the final boss because it slapped me with a death countdown after I had been fighting it for an hour. Did I mention I had spent 75 hours playing this to that point? Yeah, after I lost that fight, I said, "F–k this s–t," and moved on with my life.

And yet people kept wanting to talk to me about it. Really? It felt as if [really, really distasteful and inappropriate analogy here], and everybody just wanted to remind me of it for weeks afterward.

Making it worse was that FFXIII was the third JRPG I played this year. Before it came out, I also played Star Ocean 4 and White Knight Chronicles (both of which, while not good games, were far better than FFXIII), and I had sad times with those, too. With those, at least, I could pretend nothing happened, because nobody cared about them outside the time they spent playing them. Final Fantasy XIII, however, ruined an entire month of my life.

Red Dead Redemption

Phil Hornshaw
I enjoyed Red Dead Redemption thoroughly, but it wasn't exactly a short game. I had a good time with the story, and the open-world approach gave it a lot of scope — but that was a whole helluva lot of desert to ride a horse through.

I ended up putting in almost 100 hours into the game, and never even touched the downloadable content because by the time it rolled around, I was kind of over Redemption. And not because I disliked the play, or the story, or the multiplayer features, or anything else about the game. But I gave up Redemption because I sank 100 hours into the game and 50 of those, at least, were occupied by riding a horse from Point A to Point B, looking for something (like a f—ing skunk) and never finding it.

In the end, Redemption got a little on my nerves with all that useless travel and land-scouring for minor treasure. It was a good time for the most part, but looking back, did that really need to be a 100-hour experience? No, not really — in fact, I feel like Rockstar didn't really respect my time as it made me watch Marston slowly get on and off horses and do the same menial animal skinning animations. Redemption is the definition of a game that overstays its welcome: it's fun and captivating pretty often. Then you find yourself wandering the prairies for four hours looking for that one last buffalo to shoot.

Bioshock 2

Ben Richardson
I played this game in order to review it, and it just would not end fast enough. (Well I guess it left such an impression on Ben he purged why from his head afterward.. )

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Ron Whitaker
I reviewed Lords of Shadow, and I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the game. However, it did have a few things that made it almost unbearable, especially further along in the game.

First off, the repetitive puzzles. It's all well and good if you want to include puzzles in your game, and it's even better if they're challenging. However, you negate most of the challenge if you offer the option to look at the answer from the start. Furthermore, there's no need to be reusing the same puzzles over again. If you can only think up a few puzzles, then only include a few.

The second issue is the ungodly amount of pointless backtracking built into the game. If you're a completionist like me, prepare to be playing levels over and over, just because you couldn't crash through a barrier due to not having . Of course, many people refer to this type of thing as "Replay Value." I call it pointless and boring.

Fight Night Champion – Legacy Mode Producer Video

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 02:22 PM PST

This new trailer shows off single player progression mode where you create your own fighter, and attempt to grow from the amature ranks to the greatest of all time. You can download the video here or watch it below.

Making of Dragon Age II Trailer

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 02:10 PM PST

EA has released a new trailer for Dragon Age II. This trailer features over four and a half minutes of behind the scenes footage of how they made the game.

You can download this video here.

New Civ V DLC Will Add The Spanish Empire

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 02:02 PM PST

Continuing the steady stream of new content for Civilzation V that already includes Babylon, the Mongols and a slew of scenarios, Firaxis issued a press release today announcing the next DLC pack, due December 16th, and giving everyone on the internet an excuse to reference Monty Python. For a mere $7.49, the new DLC adds the Spanish and Incan empires, and a new scenario that allows you really open up some old wounds but good.

From the press release:

Scenario Description

The year is 1492. To the courts of England, France, and Spain come intrepid explorers, anxious to voyage across the Atlantic in search of a western route to China and the Indies. Will they find a new trade route and uncover untold riches from the Asian shores? Or will they perhaps run aground on undiscovered lands along their way? Will native populations be receptive to the knowledge and trade prospects presented to them, or will they fight against the invaders of their homeland? What riches, fame, and opportunities await those who brave the unknown waters? What path will you choose? Who will prevail in the struggle for supremacy over this New World?

Spain – Isabella
Isabella I was the Queen of Castile and Leon for 30 years, and with her husband Ferdinand, laid the groundwork for the consolidation of Spain. For her role in the Spanish unification, patronage of Columbus’ voyages to America, and ending of the Reconquista (Recapturing) of the Iberian Peninsula, Isabella is regarded as one of the most beloved and important monarchs in the Spanish crown.

Inca – Pachacuti

Pachacuti was the ninth ruler of the Kingdom of Cusco, who during his reign expanded the tiny kingdom into an expansive empire – Tawantinsuyu. Pachacuti’s Incan Empire stretched from modern-day Chile to Ecuador, including most of Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina, and laid the foundation for an even larger Incan Empire to come.

In the meantime, can’t wait for the 16th? Why not check out GameFront’s list of essential Civ V mods.

Via VG247, and BigDownload.

War of Angels: Introducing the Rangers

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 01:45 PM PST

We’re continuing our exclusive first looks at the characters and classes of the upcoming War of Angels. Last time we talked tank with the fighters. This outing we move on to a more subtle class option with the Ranger.

Rangers in War of Angels are the strikers of the party, built to pull and lure with strong ranged attacks and stun foes so the tanks can move in to deal direct assault. There is a bit more strategy involved in being the scout for your team and the Ranger is ideal in that role. Their snare attacks ensure that while scouting ahead they can delay reaction from enemies, giving preparation time to the Mage, Fighter and Rogue.

The Ranger, like all the classes in War of Angels, gets the option at 20th level to specialize into one of two major areas – the Archer and the Hunter. Since Rangers can use traditional ranged weapons like the gun or bow, the path you take is likely to depend on your preference. Hunters wield guns and deliver massive damage at range while Archers favor more precision and trap or ensnare enemies while dealing ranged assaults.

If you’re interested in finding out more about War of Angels, you can sign up for the game’s Beta or watch GameFront for more detail as the game nears public release.

Here's an exclusive video of the Ranger in action. Enjoy the embed below, or head over and download it from our fast, free servers.

Alliance of Valiant Arms Blind Eagle Map Trailer

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 01:16 PM PST

Alliance of Valiant Arms, ijji.com’s Unreal Engine 3-powered multiplayer online first person shooter (MOFPS), grew to even more epic proportions today with the addition of the new Cross-Steal game mode and Blind Eagle map. This capture the flag-style game mode pits teams of EU and NRF soldiers at opposing bases as they battle to capture the opposing team’s nuclear launch key while protecting their own and annihilating the enemy.

You can also download this video here.

New Resistance 3 Shots Revealed on Facebook

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 01:15 PM PST

Want to get a look at what Resistance 3 will look like? If you’ve got a Facebook account, you can do that and more.

Insomniac games is slowly doling out screens and info to folks who “Like” their Facebook page. The first batch of screens is below, and there’s even an exclusive PS3 theme that you can gain access to.

Head over, like the page, and get your PS3 theme. Oh, and check out these awesome screenshots. Then, join me in prostrating yourself before your PS3 begging for its release.

Allods Online Junes Catacombs Trailer

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 12:18 PM PST

Gala Networks has released a new trailer for Allods Online. This trailer features about a minute of gameplay footage showcasing Junes Catacombs.

You can also download the video here.

Mindjack Trailer Download

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 12:17 PM PST

Today we have a new trailer for Square Enix's upcoming action (online) shooter, Mindjack, a video that does a pretty good job explaining how single player and multiplayer coexist within the game. Instant multiplayer, mind hacking, mind slaving, cyber apes – it's all in here.

You can also download the video here.

Empires of Steel Updated Demo Download

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 12:07 PM PST

Empires of Steel is a turn-based wargame. Form alliances, capture and trade resources, research new technologies, and form huge invasion fleets to conquer your opponents.

Download the Demo Here!

You can play on a global real world map or a specific continent, or create a completely new planet at the launch of each game, using the automated random map maker, and explore it as you expand your Empire!

Research new technologies: the extensive technology tree allows you to improve your nation’s capabilities from a simple biplane to advanced UAV Tactical Aircraft, from basic artillery guns to nuclear missile launchers.

You can play solo against one or multiple computer opponents of varying skill levels, or you can play with up to 10 human players on the same map, trade resources, form alliances, or conduct surprise attacks in your hunt for a global Empire!

Download the Demo Here!

ARGO Online Floresslah Trailer

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 11:58 AM PST

The Floresslah are the nature-inspired rivals of the machinist Noblians, devoted to protecting mankind from the ravages of technology.

The hybrid MMORPG ARGO Online combines awesome Steampunk style with Fantasy elements to a ground shaking experience where you can choose between two challenging factions with eight different character classes each. Enter the ultimate battle with hundreds of players fighting each other on huge battle grounds in PVP. Wander through a challenging open world, plan your economy, transportation and real time strategy to evolve your skills and turn the enemy down…

More thrilling PVP modes like capture the flag, thousands of quests and raid instances with an epic background story and a huge ranking system fulfil all your desires.

You can also download this video here.

Dead Space 2 Sprawl Trailer Raises Anticipation

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 11:04 AM PST

As if we weren’t already excited about Dead Space 2, EA’s just released another trailer for the upcoming sequel that really has all of us here at GameFront excited.

This video shows off what happens when the necromorphs invade the Sprawl, a station full of unsuspecting humans, and what happens to them when our favorite protagonist, Isaac Clarke, hits the scene. There’s even some cool footage of the new Advanced Mining Suit and its jet boots that you can use to get around in Zero-G.

Until the demo hits on December 21, this will have to tide you over. Enjoy the trailer below, or run over and download your very own copy.
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