Ah, the old west. It’s good to be back. Techland’s last Juarez title (The Cartel) opted for a modern setting and suffered from a large dose of ‘bloody awful’ leaking from every festering orifice. So, um yeah, we weren’t fans.
However, I was a huge fan of the game before that, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, which featured a fantastically realised Wild West setting during and after the Civil War. After the mega success of Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption, you would have thought that Ubisoft would have insisted Techland cranked out a Wild West follow up to Bound in Blood. Well, several years later (now that the Wild West bandwagon has long gone) we have one in the form of Gunslinger, a low-priced download-only game. Continue reading Call of Juarez: Gunslinger Review – Finding redemption→
I should begin this review with a public warning announcement. This Walking Dead game has nothing to do with the multiple award-winning downloadable series The Walking Dead by Telltale Games. Whereas that game was based on the comics, this is based on the AMC TV series and is a first-person action game.
Seeing as the critically acclaimed one that features multiple story choices and plays more likeHeavy Rain than Dead Island has just beenreleased at retailtoo (review incoming), we wouldn’t want you to pick this one up by mistake.
This is our concluding part of our Soul Sacrifice review. If you’d like to catch up on the basic game mechanics and the single player experience, you can read Part 1 here. Ok, up to date? This could go either way right? The remainder of my review is going to focus on the online multiplayer side of the game.
A range of options allows you to set up public or password protected games with invites via the Vita’s messaging system being a simple if slightly clunky affair. You can label your room to give other players an indication of which chapters you’re playing and if you prefer saving or sacrificing bosses. There were a healthy number of players online during the launch weekend, meaning I never had to wait long for players to join. Although it’s often worth waiting until you have a full group of four to take on some of the boss battles. Continue reading Soul Sacrifice Review | Part 2 – Getting slayed with friends→
Fans of Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers rejoice. The Behemoth have returned and they’ve struck gaming gold again. After nailing 2D scrolling shooters and beat em’ ups they’ve turned their hands to old-school platforming. And it’s fantastic.
The bright and crisp cell-shaded 2D art style is striking, compelling throughout, and consistent with the studio’s previous games. Many of the characters have something of a cutout feel to them, hell, some of them are literally being bounced around on sticks like puppet placards, but it all works so well.
Monster Hunter is a handheld system seller. That’s a fact, particularly in Japan. Yet we’ve only heard the slightest of rumours about the mega-series bringing its giant-chasing exploits to Sony’s underperforming handheld.
We don’t know if it’s a case of Sony not being able to agree a deal with Capcom, but until that champagne spraying day arises, Soul Sacrifice is here to carry the burden and an hefty amount of expectation in the face of the Vita’s barren landscape of recent or future releases. Continue reading Soul Sacrifice Review | Part 1 – Slaying Solo→
Street fighter IV has held all the glory this generation thanks to a lack of creativity in the fighting genre. Developers NetherRealm hadn’t really managed to reignite brawler fans’ enthusiasm for the Mortal Kombat series either. So, upon learning they were working on a fighting game with the DC character roster it perhaps wasn’t unfair to assume something of a DC cosplay version of Mortal Kombat.
Except this isn’t a reskinned Mortal Kombat. This is a great game. While some of the control inputs bear a strong resemblance to Mortal Kombat, this feels much more responsive and fluid when layering combos and juggling opponents. These may sound like basic things to get right in a fighting game, but they form an essential foundation and grab your attention early on.
Tune in right here at NoSleepGamer at Midnight UK time (7pm EST, 4pm EST) to see a live stream of Beyond: Two Souls from the famous Tribeca Film festival in New York. The event will last about two hours and will include a 35-minute scene from the game, including gameplay. The game’s official trailer will also be debuted.
After the screening, there will be a live panel Q&A with the game’s lead star Ellen Page, the director David Cage and supporting cast members Kadeem Hardison and Eric Winter.
This is the first time a video game has been selected as a part of the Tribeca Film Festival selection. Geoff Gilmore (a founder of the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals) described the upcoming PS3 exclusive’s inclusion as “a watershed moment in storytelling and media.”
After looking at the insane mashup that Sega, Namco and Capcom have put together for the upcoming Project X Zone on the 3DS, it got me thinking about other gaming brands I’d like to see pushed together. These could be games pitting legends against each other in a fight to the death or something involving them working together. Publishers and IP owners can be very protective over their brands, but here’s a selection I think would work well together given half a chance.
Recent news has seen gamers lash out over the launch fiascosurrounding EA’s latest SimCity title. The game requires an always-on internet connection, which meant it broke as soon as it went live as thousands of enthusiastic gamers tried to play at once.
This happened days after Crytek CEO, Cervat Yerli, said, “I think the notion of a single-player experience has to go away.” Instead, he believes there should be more integration with the online world with “online single-player.” So, while keen to plug his upcoming online game, Warface, he’s stupidly kicked his other game –Crysis 3– in the stones. Guess we know why Crysis 2 and 3’s single-player modes can only muster a rental recommendation then.
Hidden object games are something of a rarity on PSN. I haven’t played any since a range of PSP titles in 2010 including Route 66, The Mystery of the Crystal Portal and Actual Crimes: Jack the Ripper. Sanuk have returned though with another detective puzzler to test your peering skills.
The game has already seen a mobile/PC release, so it’s unsurprising to see the game using a mouse cursor to navigate. The analogue stick or a Move controller can be used to point at objects with ease, although your arm will get tired using the Move. Continue reading Voodoo Chronicles: The First Sign Review→
Last week finally saw HMV find a new buyer, ensuring one more traditional bricks and mortar business would enable gaming to have a high street presence alongside Blockbuster and Game. With most of us using online retailers to buy and pre-order games nowadays, you may wonder why we still need video games to be represented on the high street.
As this console generation winds down, we’ve seen a steep decline in game sales across the board. In 2012, retail sales were hit the most and dropped by over 20%. Game, Blockbuster and HMV barely survived, as gamers’ attention wavered. The original Wii’s bubble burst and there was a lack of any serious mass appeal products to renew lapsed players’ (read: more casual than you and I for example) interest. The numbers for Call of Duty are down and we’re repeatedly hearing of sequels selling only a shadow of what the previous game did – hello DMC.
Lost between long-range brilliance and shooting itself in the foot
A glitchy but somewhat enjoyable first game had us crossing our fingers for an improved sequel from City Interactive. The sniping genre has intensified of late with stiff competition coming from Sniper Elite V2 last year so they need to hit the ground running this time.
The CryEngine 3 (also used for Crysis 3) certainly gives the game a graphical boost. The game is off to a sunny start in the Philippines with wonderfully bright lighting in the jungle environments being a fine tonic to any gamer fatigued with all the grey corridors and city environments in others shooters.
Review note: This review mainly focuses on the Vita version of the game. A few days ago (after already finishing the game on the Vita), I was also sent the PS3 version, which allowed me to test the Augmented Reality and cross-save features too. All images are my own screen grabs from the Vita version of the game. If you buy the PS3 version, you will get a free digital copy of the Vita game too.
Aside from the excellent HD re-release a while back, we’ve not had a Sly Cooper game since 2005. This has left a gaping wound in the platforming genre that nobody has even attempted to heal. Sucker Punch have long since left to work on the InFamous games, leaving unknowns Sanzaru to take over full-time after successfully overseeing the aforementioned HD collection. While probably not under as much pressure as 343 Industries with Halo 4, there are parallels. Let’s see how they got on.
Following up the cataclysmic events of God of War III must have been a terrifying ordeal for a studio to go through. However, when a series already has a prequel along with another game filling the gap between games one and two I struggled to see how Kratos’ adventures could do anything but go forwards.
In an old panel interview with the other four individual God of War director’s, David Jaffe (GOW1) said that he would have liked to see gods from around the world (think Norse and Chinese) move in on Olympus in a power vacuum caused by the death of the Zeus and his brethren. That would have been an unbelievably hot premise and the only true way to follow up Kratos’ gloriously enraged finale. It’s going to happen; it’s too good an idea to not. But sadly, I expect we’ll have to wait until PlayStation 4 as Sony are playing it safe with this prequel set before even the events of Chains of Olympus.
The YLOD. The Yellow Light of Death. This is the dreaded sickness that PlayStation 3 owners fear. With my PS3 nearing its sixth birthday, it finally happened to me. While hardly as prevalent as the Red Ring of Death in the Xbox 360’s early days, the flashing yellow light is still cautiously feared amongst the PS3 community.
In order to cope with this grim occurrence I’ve incorporated the experience into my regular feature, The Sunday Seven. This isn’t a guide on how to fix the problem yourself, no, no, that’s a different fire hazard for a different day and for someone else to tell. This is what was running through my mind as I tried to come to terms with it and ultimately how to bring it back to life.
After Duke Nukem’ Forever, you wouldn’t be insane to doubt Gearbox Software’s capabilities. But hold on a sec, they were only finishing off someone else’s mess right? They were just keen to finally get the game out. Even so, pride should have stopped them releasing it in such a poor state.
Then Borderlands 2 came along and was met with great sales and wide critical acclaim. So, maybe their frequently delayed Aliens: Colonial Marines would be ok on the day. After all, it’s been Gearbox’s game since birth and numerous videos clearly show a franchise-adoring staff. So, they wouldn’t f**k it up, right? Cue the angry sobbing.
By now I’m sure you’ve all heard that Sony has a big reveal lined up for a PlayStation Meeting on February 20th. We don’t think Sony would have the nerve to announce anything other than their Next Generation console at the meeting. Next gen rumours are at their highest point and it’s about time we got some answers and not something like PS Move+.
So, assuming Sony don’t just show us a console shell on a podium before cheerily bidding us goodnight and promising a second date at E3, I think we’ll be shown a few more things on February 20th. Don’t forget we still have a big year of gaming ahead of us regardless of the PS4 and Sony will be keen to avoid accidentally killing off the market for the PS3 and Vita by announcing their new machine alone. Instead, I think they will want to strengthen their brand to ensure they move onto the next gen leaving the best final impression of this generation. But yes, we think they’re going to show us some jaw-dropping new stuff too. I’ve already gone into detail about what they should do to rebuild their controller, so here’s my list of seven other things I think we may see at the meeting. Continue reading The Sunday Seven: Sony’s Other Big Reveals for Feb 20th→
Sony’s PS4 reveal event this week gave us lots to look forwards to and get excited for over the coming months. Unlike Nintendo, they revealed the system specs straight away, which in the long run could be a big boost in gaining support from third-party developers at an early stage -the same area that is killing the Wii U right now.
We were always going to have questions left unanswered by the event though. Some for obvious reasons, like Sony themselves not even knowing yet, others a little less clear. We’ll be tapping Uncle Sony on the shoulder for info and leaning heavily on known squealers until launch day, so keep an eye on our news section for all the updates. For now, here’s what I thought were the seven most important items missing from the meeting.Continue reading The Sunday Seven – PS4: What We Still Don’t Know→
There have been many HD re-releases over the last few years and it’s always a tough ask when the game was pushing the original hardware to the limit. Exactly how much more can we expect from a HD remaster? Rest assured though, Killzone HD looks, and more importantly, still plays exceptionally well today.
I was worried that having been such a fan of the original game, I may have been remembering the visuals with rose-tinted glasses and the HD reworking would shatter those memories. Thankfully, the game looks fantastic today and pulses with graphical finesse. It’s fortunate that the original game featured a texture-friendly grainy filter and a lot of mist, which transfers well today, giving the game a distinguished look.
At first glance, I was caught by Sumioni: Demon Arts’ looks. As a massive fan of Okami, I was able to compare art-styles and upon watching the trailer and finding out I’d be drawing ink lines to affect the game world, I was ready to embrace the game.
Sadly, fond memories of another game are about as good as it gets for Sumioni. The game got off to a rough start with a dreary and lengthy text-based opening. By the end of it, I didn’t know if I was a good guy, bad guy, demon guy or anything. He’s red and likes to wield a blade. Hellboy, Feudal Japan-style, if you will. Continue reading Sumioni: Demon Arts Review→
Gaming reviews, previews and features by Brendan Griffiths
The No Sleep Gamer 