Gamesugar

February 4, 2011

Review – Dead Space 2

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Brad Johnson @ 3:38 pm

Dead Space 2
Sometimes the front page is swallowed up by an array of posts about Japanese videogames, and that’s how you, the reader, can know that I will appear and offer relief by instead discussing a game that involves science, shooting, and outer space. Thus, we will now discuss Dead Space 2.

Visceral Games’ sequel opens three years after the end of Dead Space; Isaac Clarke is confined to a mental institution where the necromorphs have mysteriously returned. The opening sequence here is meticulously designed both as tutorial and introduction; Isaac is left to stumble through the halls, bound in a straight-jacket, frantically evading monsters and trying to get to safety. The sequence introduces the player to each of the Dead Space conventions as Isaac scavenges his key tools from machinery throughout the hospital, including a new plasma cutter cobbled together from a flashlight and surgical laser.

(more…)

January 23, 2011

Catching up with the Brotherhood

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood
It’s not easy to get behind a franchise that has made the decision to go annual. The knowledge that the machinery has aligned specifically to bludgeon every last dollar out of the property (and the consumer) is grave in its implications. As an adherent to the existing systems for emulating assassins and their creeds, Ubisoft’s decision to Call-of-Dutyerize Assassin’s Creed was, for me, an ominous sign; the gong of some distant bell signalling the end of all things, save a string of uninspired sequels.

Then, of course, there was the multiplayer. One recalls the dial-it-in multiplayer solutions for traditionally single-player games like Bioshock and Metroid Prime and would be forgiven for groaning audibly. Equally, the human capacity to defy carefully crafted mechanics and break multiplayer game design is well known. Surely, Assassin’s Creed would have no chance of maintaining a mechanic based on careful stealth and patience among the multiplayer community.

Rarely is being wrong so satisfying.

(more…)

January 18, 2011

Leaked Screenshots Unveil Terrifying X-Douche

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Brad Johnson @ 5:16 pm

X-Men: Destiny
The destiny you’ve always fantasized about is to play a horrible Jersey Shore reject with the mutant power of extreme douchery, if leaked screenshots from X-Men: Destiny are to be believed.

You can check out a selection of art and screenshots at Comics Alliance, featuring an X-Bro apparently ripped directly from the pages of Modern Design Cliches: 101 Bags, Tattoos, and Beard Styles, who appears strangely out of place as he battles alongside elaborate, brightly colored heroes in his wife-beater. One recalls the original design for Cole in inFamous 2 and thinks “Well, I guess that wasn’t so bad, after all.”

January 10, 2011

Ilo, Milo and Me

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , , , , — Chris O'Neal @ 4:32 pm

ilomilo
I’ll be the first to admit my weakness for cute things.

If someone were to pick up a stuffed animal, have it ‘look’ at me and in a strange yet fitting voice for a small stuffed inanimate object say, “Hello, Chris!” I’d probably take it home then and there. I’m not ashamed, it’s who I am baby, which is why Ilomilo, from Swedish developer Southend Interactive has quickly found a special place in my heart.

Two friends meet daily for tea and maple cookies. Unfortunately, the path they take to each other is never constant, changing with the weather. Manipulating a cube-like world, we can control either Ilo or Milo on their quest to meet, chat and eat cookies and drink tea. It sounds simple, and in many ways is, but it’s also pure and irresistible sugar.

(more…)

January 6, 2011

Hard Corps: Uprising In February

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 12:46 am

Hard Corps Uprising
Late night CES emails from Microsoft catch my eye when they appear to out Konami dates, and so here we are. In an announcement regarding a lineup of titles for an Xbox Live Arcade House Party, Microsoft has ARC System Works’ Hard Corps: Uprising set for release on February 16th.

Additional titles for the five week house party include Beyond Good and Evil HD, Bejeweled Blitz Live, and Torchlight.

December 22, 2010

Your Wednesday Dose of Zen

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 2:07 pm

Arcana Heart 3
Arc System Works is bringing another dose of elaborately costumed female fighting to home consoles in Japan with Arcana Heart 3 hitting the 360 and PS3 there on January 13th.

I rather enjoyed the one dose available on the PlayStation 2 here, and at no extra charge gained an anecdote involving an gamestore employee convinced that surely Kingdom Hearts was what we meant to say, but no in fact, Hearts differ from Highlanders in that there can be more than one.

(more…)

December 21, 2010

Demo Report – Dead Space 2

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Brad Johnson @ 7:01 pm

Dead Space 2
The demo for Dead Space 2 hits XBL and PSN today, and with it comes the opportunity to step back into the shoes of mentally imbalanced and hyper-lethal space engineer Isaac Clarke.

The demo opens with a few minutes of video covering the events of Dead Space: Extraction and Dead Space (Don’t play it if you haven’t finished Dead Space, it spoils the ending!) before dropping you onto the Sprawl, a massive space station. If you’re familiar with Dead Space, what follows is very much familiar: you’ll slink through the corridors warily, and sooner or later some monsters will explode from the walls to attack you. The dismemberment mechanic from the original is, of course, still present; careful aim can mean the difference between felling an enemy with two shots or six. Never fear, though: the demo isn’t all routine.

(more…)

« Newer PostsOlder Posts »

Powered by WordPress