Hands on « Gamesugar

August 19, 2011

X’11 – Hands On With Dead Island

Filed under: Features,News Feed — Tags: 360, Dead Island, Demo, Feature, Hands on, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation3, Square-Enix, Techland, XBOX, Xbox 360 — Brad Johnson @ 8:14 pm

In the latest installment of our 254-part series “Games Sugar Played at X’11” we have Dead Island, much-anticipated co-op zombie masher.

This particular demo was timed, so I quickly set about grabbing my weapon—a wooden paddle—and getting down to business. The business of zombie-murder, that is—and as several franchises can attest, business is good.

The beach I stepped out onto seemed safe enough, until a zombie came up at my flank and grabbed a hold of me. A prompt informed me that I should pull the left trigger, setting the zombie up for a pull of the right trigger that socked him directly in the face, staggering him away.

This was actually one of the more satisfying moments in the demo, so intuitive that I didn’t actually need to see the second prompt to know what the game wanted me to do.

Now the zombie was down, but he wasn’t out—he was climbing back to his feet. I swung the paddle and he crunched nicely, but to my surprise, he endured.

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August 17, 2011

Hands on with Resistance 3

Filed under: Features,News Feed — Tags: Feature, Hands on, impressions, Insomniac Games, PlayStation 3, PlayStation3, Resistance 3, Sony Computer Entertainment — Brad Johnson @ 9:56 pm

Gamesugar had the opportunity to attend the Toronto media launch event for Resistance 3 today—an event filled with raging, violent game journos and also some snacks.

The gathering occurred in a darkened cellar that could have easily passed for a bomb shelter, well suited to the chapters of the game I played. These early stages see new protagonist Joseph Capelli battling the Chimera in basements, cellars, and abandoned towns—there has been a clear effort here to ring true to the name “Resistance.” Suburban America has been bled dry, and what few drops of life remain struggle to survive a war that’s seemingly already lost.

Indeed, a more visceral feel permeates the game, especially during combat, with several weapons having been adjusted to feel more weighty and satisfying to fire. Equally, enemies splotch nicely when obliterated, while the player character responds to heavy attacks and falls in a decidedly human fashion.

I happened to overhear Creative Director Marcus Smith explaining that the impetus in Resistance 3 was to create a less superheroic and more human game, which was certainly apparent in the chapters I played.

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June 8, 2011

E3 2011 – Hands-on Otomedius Excellent

Filed under: Features — Tags: E3 2011, Hands on, Konami, Otomedius Excellent, Shooter — Mister Raroo @ 10:46 pm

E3 2011 Otomedius Excellent
Otomedius Excellent has some issues, the least of which being that nobody will likely buy it when it is released next month. That’s a shame, because underneath its somewhat rough exterior lies a game that is just a heck of a lot of fun to play. There is a definite shortage of happy, colorful, silly shooters these days, and Otomedius does what it can to fill that void.

Do you remember Gradius (or, if you’re cool, Parodius)? Good! Otomedius is the newest member to that family of shooters. You take control of a spacecraft and fire away at waves of enemies and big bosses until you destroy them all. Oh, and the spacecraft is piloted by a scantily-clad anime girl.

I know, I know. You’d rather have Gradius VI. But Otomedius isn’t that bad, despite what you might have heard! Honest! Sure, it’s a bit mindless, but in a good way.

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E3 2011 – Hands-on Magical Drop V

Filed under: Features — Tags: E3 2011, Hands on, Magical Drop V, Raroo, UTV Ignition — Mister Raroo @ 10:44 pm

If you’re the type of person who cries yourself to sleep every night because you miss Data East’s classic games, dry those tears! Out of nowhere, Magical Drop V has appeared at E3, and it is so bright and cute it almost hurts your eyes.

I have no clue how popular Magical Drop is with the kids these days, so I’ll go ahead and break down the gameplay quickly for you. Essentially, it’s a color-matching puzzle game that’s kind of similar to Puzzle Bobble or Puyo Puyo, but really Magical Drop is also its own beast.

There are bubbles of various colors on a playing field that periodically move downward. Your job is to pull bubbles in toward a little character you move back and forth at the bottom of the screen and fire them back toward bubbles of the same color. When enough bubbles are touching – pop! It sounds simple but it can get super hectic.

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E3 2011 – Eyes On Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Filed under: Features — Tags: Capcom, E3 2011, Hands on, Operation Raccoon City, Raroo, Resident Evil — Mister Raroo @ 10:09 pm

Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City
Judging by the long line required to play Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (I’m going to call it ORC for short), people must really like it. Or maybe they think they’re going to like it before they play it. One person told me he waited two hours to have a turn. When I asked him how it was, he said, “It was pretty good, I guess.” Not quite a glowing endorsement!

And that’s kind of the vibe I got from watching it: It seems pretty good, but not great.

I didn’t want to wait in line to play, so I just took some time to do an extended “eyes on” with the title, watching a number of multiplayer matches. I’m not so hip on the types of games where you run around with guns and kill things, unless they’re totally crazy like Gungrave. Remember Gungrave? The words “Kick Their Ass!” displayed on the screen before every stage. That was awesome, even if the game wasn’t the greatest.

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