Thefirst gamewas a surprise hit from the Vigil Games team. Despite being an original creation, the world felt so lived in and like it had a deep past with plenty of scope for further stories, making for a world we’re eager to dive back into.
For the sequel, you play as a different Horseman of the apocalypse, Death. Rather than joining your bother War, immediately after the events of the first game, which would have been a great starting point given the tantalising conclusion, your adventure will run alongside that of your brother’s. This parallel story may throw up the odd familiar face, but we’re told to expect plenty of new locations, which is definitely better than going through all the old ones with everyone telling you that you’ve just missed your brother.
Now I’m not saying looks are everything, but after slumming it through the grey roughness of the original Metro 2033 game, it’s amazing to see the difference in Metro: Last Light. This game looks gorgeous. Yes, it still has a bit of a grey fetish, but like Killzone, it’s made pretty work of some of the colour palettes old-timers. And the game’s still only at pre-alpha code level, so it could get even better.
Those of you that played through the original game will find that the story of Last Light follows on from the (SPOLIER) ‘bad’ ending where you did launch the missiles to destroy the Dark Ones. So it would seem that your initial fight will be against human enemies, we’re sure there’ll be a few mutants along the way too. We’ve already seen those winged gargoyle-like arseholes (they pissed me off a lot last time) flying about in one of the trailers. Towards the end of the presentation, we also saw some large troll/gorilla-like creatures that featured some astonishingly slick animation and textured rocky skin that almost distracts from them trying to rip Artyom’s face off.
Just looking at the Suda 51 name and Juliet Starling’s outfit, you know this is going to be another bat-shit crazy game from the Japanese auteur and Grasshopper Manufacture. What I didn’t expect to see at the developer walkthrough with Producer Scott Warr at Warner Bros Interactive’s Gamescom HQ was some of the most engaging action of the week.
You are high-school cheerleader Juliet Starling who forgoes further extra-curricular activities in favour of a spot of vampire zombie slaying and it looks like they’ve chosen her 18th birthday (cutting it close, Suda-san) to come and find her at school. We’re not asking why zombies are there; let’s face it, if no film in history can give us a decent explanation, why should we expect any more from Suda 51’s pigtails-and-chainsaw vision? Juliet attends San Romero High, an on-the-nose reference reference to the classic zombie director, who still manages to get his dues despite his last few films being absolute shite.
Survival Horror is a well-loved genre that keeps making glorious comebacks until the next game in a series heads in an action-shooter orientated direction. Dead Space 2 and Resident Evil 5 being prime examples of games that went for action over horror. With Silent Hill being dead on arrival every time this generation, our main hopes for actually being afraid of the dark again might be better invested in a new IP, something like the upcoming summer PSN title, Amy.
This new title merges the despair-smothered atmosphere of the Silent Hill and Dead Space games with the ideal of protecting another character through it all, as perfected in Ico and more recently with Bioshock 2’s Little Sisters. It also seems to be attempting to upstage Elizabeth in Bioshock: infinite. Older gamers may also be interested to know that the creator of Flashback (1993), Paul Cuisset, is one of the key creative staff members on board.
The story of the new FPS, Homefront, is one of invasion, occupation and resistance. In the not too distant future, after the death the North Korean President, Kim Jon Il, his son takes his place. Over the next few years, he unifies North and South Korea and starts to invade nearby countries.
Throughout this period, America is weakening with a decreasing military force, further financial difficulties and a flu epidemic. This is when the KPA (Korean People’s Army) strike. Using satellite EMP blasts to wipe out the American electronics, including their defence measures, the Koreans begin their unflinching invasion. The game begins two years into the occupation of the US in 2027.
Not long to go now before we touch down on Helghan again to get stuck into Sony’s PS3 exclusive first-person-shooter, Killzone 3. It’s the only series Guerrilla Games have been working on for years now, so we’re really expecting great things from them, especially considering how much they squeezed out of the PS3 last time. Here are three reasons it’s shaping up to be one of the finest shooters of 2011. Read more…
An asteroid has beat humankind to nuking itself back to the stone age, but the results are pretty much the same. Most people are dead, mainly violent assholes survived, mutants are every- where and the world has become a desert.
You were one of the lucky few who were put into a pod underground to be protected from the blast. Once the dust and fallout settles and everything looks ok, your pod releases you. Ok, so everything’s not exactly great, but as good as it was going to get in the pod’s mind-set anyway. Read more…
This is more like it. After recent incarnations of the more realistic (dull) plane combat games like Tom Clancy’s Hawx or Blazing Angels, it’s good to see a more fun-minded arcade game return. You won’t find a more fondly remembered fighter plane game than After Burner either.
Rather than succumbing to modern pressure, the series still seems to play in its familiar style of blasting towards the horizon, with players concentrating on avoiding enemy gunfire in a relatively 2D space. Read more…
Yes the original game is barely a year old, but countless editions of Street Fighter games are something we’ve come to expect from Capcom over the years. Some offer minor tweaks of gameplay and other subtle changes that only the hardcore or most avid completist may care for while others may throw some extra content into the mix.
This first addition to the Street Fighter IV universe may well be worth a look to all types of fan though. Almost definitely an essential purchase if you haven’t got around to picking up the first one yet. Read more…
The original Valkyria Chronicles on PS3 scored very well, but despite some very loyal fan support it didn’t sell, with sales of less than a million (according to vgchartz.com). So Sega have opted to take the series to the PSP instead. Read more…
Despite the DS outselling its Sony rival and even the big consoles on a regular basis, Nintendo are determined to get one into every gamer’s (and their relative’s) hands. With the children’s market sorted they’re going for the grownups in force.
Handheld console manufacturers just can’t help but fiddle around. With both the DS and PSP getting numerous make-overs over the last few years getting bigger, smaller, slidier but rarely cheaper. Read more…
This will be the first Lord of the Rings game since Warner Bros. Interactive obtained the license from EA. Warner are using this game to rekindle interest in the Tolkien franchise before the new Hobbit films and their inevitable film tie-ins in 2011. Read more…
With Devil May Cry’s creator, Hideki Kamiya directing, it would be fair to say that Bayonetta could be Dante’s ideal date, as comparisons between the two are obvious. Bayonetta might just prove to be a little bit more, well….mental. And we like it. Read more…
Former racing car driver, Irishman in Paris, Sean Devlin, is out for revenge against the Nazi’s after some of his friends are murdered. He’s not trying to save Paris, but his actions are certainly going to help the city and endear him to her citizens and have the resistance calling on him for a favour or two. Expect a noir inspired adventure rather than your traditional overly-patriotic WWII story. Read more…
James Bond, The Bourne Trilogy, and 24: all great viewing, brimming with gaming potential but they’ve never quite replicated the same excitement and intensity in gaming form. None of them really made you feel like one of the starring JBs. Bond’s Quantum of Solace was a decent shooter with some nice cover-based gunplay but never really felt like a Bond movie. Bourne’s effort was basically a long line of QTEs with some ropey gunplay and 24 tried to do too much and resulted in an average Jack (Bauer) of all trades and master of none. Read more…
Ever wondered what would happen if John Woo and Tarentino made a movie together?
This third person acrobatic shooter is a plethora of 70s style exploitation and Grindhouse cinema cheese forced through the Max Payne bullet-time blender. You play as Rubi (voiced by Eliza Dushku), a sassy hired gun seemingly raised by Sarah Conner on John Woo movies and bourbon.
What we have here is a third person shooter with a nice slice of swordplay. It’s more Uncharted than Devil May Cry though. The old exploitation cinema influences are obvious but perhaps more to an older generation of gamer. Gamers of recent years will instantly make comparisons to games like Total Overdose or 2007’s Stranglehold. The latter being the shadow it will have to emerge from. Read more…
*Recently re-named The Last Guardian. *Make sure to click the HD option on the video after pressing ‘play’ to get rid of the smudgy picture. Works on standard definition monitors too.
Well, I don’t think anyone expected that. Outrageously stunning and a perfect example of a fantastic change of pace to radically alter the tone of the whole spectacle. But what else would you expect from Team Ico but the unexpected?
I don’t know what was more surprising, the creature itself initially (should we be scared, amused, confused?), or the flood of relief that hits as you realise it’s not intended as a fearsome creature as it picks up the boy, presumably his young master, and lovingly nuzzles him. Read more…
