Tag Archives: Hands-on preview

Hands-on previews, Platforms, Previews, PS4

Killzone: Shadow Fall (Multiplayer Hands-On Preview)

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Killzone: Shadow Fall Multiplayer Hands-On Preview | Fast-Tracking to the Big Guns

Fast-Tracking to the Big Guns


Guerrilla Games know they’re up against it when competing for our time in the busy arena of FPS multiplayer games. How do you encourage gamers to give you a fair shot when Call of Duty and Battlefield are so dominant? How about unlocking all the core features from the start?

All weapons and class abilities will be available without the usual grinding; enabling you to try everything and discover what combination works best for you. This is a great idea and allows for a more even playing field for newcomers against players that have been living in the servers since launch day.

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Hands-on previews, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Test Driving the Racers of the Future

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There are a lot of racing games on their way, perhaps too many for those of us planning to splash out on a next-gen console soon. So which of them are shaping up to be worthy of your attention? I endured the queues and hardware crashes of the Eurogamer Expo to tear around various racetracks to bring you my impressions of five of the most anticipated racers of the future on both existing and next generation platforms.

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Hands-on previews, Platforms, Previews, PS Vita

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (Hands-On Preview)

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The Vita’s Knight Rises

Past industry form indicates that you’d be forgiven for dismissing the presence of a handheld game when it has a bigger and shinier counterpart on your main console. So often we’ve seen them stumble into our hands as shabby ports or overly simplistic, barely related tie-in fodder. Armature Studio is here to change things with their new Vita game. From what I’ve played, it truly deserves a place on your shopping list if you’ve enjoyed the last two Rocksteady games and are planning on picking up Origins on October 25th.

This game will follow on from the events of the console game Arkham Origins, rather than rehash the same story. The Blackgate in the title refers to the prison where the majority of the game will be set. Home to the non-insane criminals of Gotham -although a few are clearly borderline- various well-known villains ‘run’ different parts of the prison. So expect to take on some infamous faces to get the jail back in order. The story is delivered via motion comics, which I suppose is reasonable given the source material, but there’s no getting around they’ll always feel and look like the cheap option.

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Hands-on previews, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, Xbox 360

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (Hands-On Preview)

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First things first. This hands-on report will be spoiler-free regarding the first game. I’m currently playing that one through (I know, I’m late) and several previews for the new game have blown the first game’s ending. I don’t want to do the same if you’re yet to play Lords of Shadow. So read this, then get on it, you don’t want to get left behind again.

The word on the wire is that this concluding part of the Lords of Shadow saga is going to be a more open world affair. That’s not on display here though as this is more of an introduction. Don’t worry; it’s much more exciting than it sounds. There’s a massive, Holy Transformer thing for starters! But more on that later.

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Features, Hands-on previews, Interviews, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360

Seven Things You Should Know About Disney Infinity

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What is it?

In a similar way to Skylanders, you place plastic toys on a docking station plugged into your console and those toys will appear on-screen allowing the player to use them in-game in specific Playsets.

Characters are linked to Playsets, specific stages based around famous Disney films or locations. John Day told us more at a recent hands-on event:

“In a given Playset you experience a single universe in a really immersive way. So when you play in Cars, you play as a Cars character you do things that makes sense to Cars like racing or building up the town of radiator springs. And if you play in the Pirates of the Caribbean Playset you get a very different experience, you play as a Pirate’s character, you get a pirate ship you sail the high seas, you fight the Kraken, the Kraken eats you, that’s what happens in Pirates. The two never really cross over, Jack sparrow will never go into the Cars Playset and McQueen will never go into the Pirates Playset.”

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Hands-on previews, Platforms, Previews, Wii U

Batman Arkham City: Armoured Edition (Wii U Hands-on Preview)

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Wii U versions of core multiplatform titles are going to play a big part in the console’s future. Nintendo wants to compete directly with Microsoft and Sony this time rather than settle for a casual market. The Wii versions of regular titles always felt like poor ports, so what better way to convince gamers you’re serious this time around than starting with one of last year’s biggest action titles, Arkham City.

Our hands-on demo begins during the Ra’s Al Ghul section of the game where Batman has been poisoned and he’s tracking down a ninja to try to find the antidote. This session served the purpose of showing us a broad selection of the unique Wii U features.

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Hands-on previews, PC, Platforms, Previews

Marvel Heroes (Hands-on Preview)

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The tagline that the Gazillion Studios team, would like us to take on board for Marvel Heroes is: “Marvel meets Diablo on Steroids.” Considered the President of the company is one David Brevik, co-founder of Blizzard North and creator of Diablo and Diablo II, we’re inclined to take notice.

This upcoming action MMORPG would be a tempting enough prospect for fans of the genre and the world’s most iconic name in comics. Consider this though: the game will be free-to-play. Sure there will be optional micro-transactions, but you’ll be able to play all the way through the game without spending a dime. “We’re aiming to create the highest quality free-to-play game ever made,” ambitious, but there’s no denying the potential.

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Hands-on previews, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, PS Vita

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (Hands-on Preview)

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Four player brawlers are something of a rarity these days, especially if your dusty Nintendo consoles have been boxed up for a while. Skirting around the much-mentioned copycat nature of the game, what we have here is an impressive collection of PlayStation’s most iconic first-party characters (and Fat Princess) plus a select few third-party heroes kicking the pixelated hell out of each other.

As well as brawling, the game is also something of a platformer as the game is set in 2D levels with players able to leap around platforms and sometimes even bounce off the walls or fall into traps below.

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Hands-on previews, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, Xbox 360

Dishonored (Hands-on Preview)

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Chances are, you’ve probably heard about Dishonored being a game keen to emphasise the vast amount of choice when approaching an assassination mission. Rather than trying to muscle in on Assassin’s Creed’s turf, the game is a first person title.

The game world is a strange mix of Victorian architecture and steampunk mechanics. Narrow foggy streets are patrolled by police on mechanical stilts. There are regular policeman too, although they’ve got something of a WWI German feel about them thanks to single-spike helmets and over-enthusiastic moustaches.

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Hands-on previews, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, PS Vita, PSN (PlayStation Store)

Ratchet & Clank: Q-Force (Hands-on Preview)

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You might be wondering where Insomniac Games have been since announcing their multi-platform title,Overstrike. Well, since then this is their second Ratchet & Clank title, it would seem they’re not quite ready to move out of mama Sony’s house quite yet.

In recent years we’ve had the awesome Crack in Time and last year saw the enjoyable inclusion of multiplayer to the series with All 4 One. Today’s demo was single player but there will be online and splitscreen co-op options for two players. This could work very well as the action was a little dumbed down for All 4 One to allow four players to share a single screen. It was fun, but not quite the full co-op experience long-time fans craved.

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Hands-on previews, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, Wii U, Xbox 360

Darksiders II (Hands-On Preview)

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Death is coming. August 21st specifically. So make sure you’ve made all the arrangements, because Vigil’s eagerly-awaited sequel is going to demand your presence, no questions asked. As protagonists go, brother number two of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is certainly someone you don’t want to piss off.

My hands-on session starts at the opening of the now-finished game. A noisy Manchester Comic Con environment made taking note of any cutscenes a redundant luxury. So, eager to savour the full experience come review day, I skipped ahead, keen to let Death to do his thing.

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Features, Hands-on previews, Platforms, Previews, PS Vita

PS Vita Preview: The Launch Lineup

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Less than a month to go now before the PS Vita arrives and we can’t wait. There’s a fantastic number of titles available around the launch and we’ve been everywhere from LA and E3, Germany and Gamescom, and more recently London and Manchester to try them out. So take a few minutes to look through our guide to see what you fancy picking up.

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Hands-on previews, Platforms, Previews, PS Vita

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Hands-On Preview)

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If there’s any name in PlayStation gaming that demands attention it has to be Uncharted. The signs are pointing to a mightily positive launch title that should be on everyone’s pre-order list.

The game has been developed by Sony Bend studios rather than Naughty Dog, but that certainly hasn’t harmed the brand. The best comparison would be the amazing job Ready at Dawn did when they brought the God of War series to the PSP.

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Hands-on previews, Platforms, Previews, PS Vita

Little Big Planet Vita (Hands-On Preview)

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With the Vita on a seemingly unstoppable display of going from strength to strength, it was almost unsurprising to see a complex title like Little Big Planet appear so at home so soon on the new handheld.

During our hands-on time, we were able to try out a few levels that showed off how the Vita’s extra features would be uniquely utilised during gameplay. We were also invited to a developer demonstration of the create mode too, and we’re now convinced it has the potential to be much more user-friendly than the PS3 versions.

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Hands-on previews, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, Xbox 360

Goldeneye: Reloaded (Latest Hands-on Preview)

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It would be a shame if this gets lost in the Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 storm, as it’s a hell of a lot of fun. It might just be the perfect tonic to military shooter fatigue.

The aiming still feels a little loose, as I noted with my Gamescom preview, but the game plays quite well forgoing iron-sight aiming and just blasting through. There is a large amount of auto-aim when you pull up your sights and watch as they pull across the screen to the nearest enemy. As with most titles though I’m sure you’ll be able to tone down the sensitivity and turn off any auto-aim functions so you can maintain control.

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Features, Hands-on previews, PlayStation 3, Previews, PS Vita, Xbox 360

Eurogamer Expo: The Good, The Bad & The Contenders

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Here’s a roundup of some of the games I managed to get some extensive hands-on time with at the recent Eurogamer Expo in London. As well as highlighting what was looking good, I’ve pointed out a few that you should definitely beware of before you splash the cash. The Contender category consists of a few games that you might usually overlook due to past form or generic looks, but have a read; you might just change your mind.

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Hands-on previews, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, Xbox 360

Road Testing The Racers At The Eurogamer Expo

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Unlike Skyrim (“get off, I’ve just levelled up!”), racing games are perfect for expos. The queues are never that long and you can have a quick blast on a couple of tracks, test out a few new cars and get an idea of how they’re shaping up. So here’s a look at some of the biggest racing games lining up on the console grid.

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Hands-on previews, Previews, Wii

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Hands-on Preview)

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After a brief panic of thinking I’d spent a full year queuing for games at Gamescom I stirred myself awake to remember an early Olympics title would of course be released the Christmas before the event itself. Especially after the previous games on the Wii sold by the tonne. It’s still heart breaking to see Sonic standing next to archrival Mario with no signs of murderous intentions though.

Our hands-on session with some of our German cousins was in the form of a multiplayer party with laughs and smiles hiding the pride of wanting to win at all costs. Wiimotes at the ready then.

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Hands-on previews, Previews, PS Vita

Resistance: Burning Skies (Vita Hands-on Preview)

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One of the biggest challenges facing the PS Vita handheld is its ability to work with first-person shooters. The addition of a second analogue stick -and they are proper sticks now instead of nubs- is an important leap forwards from the original PSP and from our hand-on experience it’s a challenge the device and developers are already relishing.

Nihilistic are bringing the Resistance series to the handheld market for the first time in FPS form, after the third-person adventures of Retribution. The improvements are instantly noticeable, making the console’s 2012 arrival seem very far away for everyone outside of Japan.

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