Archive for January, 2012

Syndicate – Co-op Demo Impressions

Syndicate is a cyber-punk first-person shooter thats been reimagined from the classic 1993 game of the same name. For the record i played through the co-op demo of Syndicate via my Xbox 360. This cyberpunk fps was developed by Starbreeze and published by Electronic Arts for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It releases February 21, 2012. The co-up demo for Syndicate was a mix-bag overall. The demo did some things right and some wrong regarding gameplay. To find out what exactly keep reading.

The main menu screen sported Campaign (unplayable), Co-op, Options and Quit. The button layout: LT-zoom, LB-breach, LS-move, LS (down) – sprint, Back-journal,, D-pad-Up-breach 2, Down-switch fire mode, Left-breach 1, Right-breach 3, RT-fire, RB-DART overlay, Y-switch weapons, X-reload, B-crouch/sprint/slide, A-jump, Start-pause, RS-look and RS Down-melee. The button layout was fine i really had no problems with that. Despite that the controls seem sluggish. Maybe it was the choppy connection while i played online i don’t know. It just seemed like my Offense class character was slow and had some lag. And yes i know he is the tank class of Syndicate but still laggy.

Although much of the content was locked in the demo you could still navigate around and check out what the full game will have content wise. The demo itself from a co-op standpoint actually has alote of content regarding your character. But first i want tell you about the Maps. You can only play on one map in the Syndicate co-op demo that being Western Europe. On that map your pitted against a opposing Syndicate team called Cayman Global led by Captain Gabron who is the boss of the level and resembles a mech to boot. Some of the other maps which takes place all over the world gives insight into the single player locations (possibility). These are the maps i saw on the demo but unplayable Mozambique, Atlantic Accelerator, Colorado, China, Scandinavia, Northern Territories, Argentina and New England.

The Lobby section broke down into Play Quick Match, Map Selection, Difficulty and Private Game. You can set different criteria for private games. I didn’t play any private games. I stuck 100% to online 4-player co-op matches for this article. The Agent menu has sub-menus of Loadouts and Chip Upgrades. Loadouts are split between three different classes that you can customize. The classes include Offense, Defense and Support. Each class comes with two weapons (main and secondary) and App1 and App2 (perks). In the Chip Upgrades menu you can choose special abilities like Heal, Reboot and Breach. There is a tree associated with chip upgrades that remind me of the augmentation tree from Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Backtracking back to the perks (App) you can choose between Backfire, Shielding and Damage Link. The Agent menus under the Co-op section of Syndicate has you all covered from a content and information standpoint. There are sections that keep track of your rank, experience and unlocks. Not only that but also your Research, Challenges and Stars (all collectibles). Lastly the Agent section keeps tracks of squad stats, challenges and leaderboards. As you can see Syndicate does have you covered from a co-op content standpoint. But what about the gameplay?

The gameplay regarding Syndicate’s online co-op multiplayer was a mix bag. First off it does have a high difficulty like many online co-up fps games. That wasn’t a problem as my team beat the full 20 minute level on normal difficulty. The problems arise mostly from technical issues. The game just isn’t smooth from a gameplay perspective. Shooting, running and doing mini parkoor style moves are not fluid. Not much is fluid regarding gameplay overall. The games i played were all pretty choppy and had framerate issues. Don’t get me wrong yes i could shoot and heal my fallen comrades decently. I even came in first place in a group of four players one match. But the technical issues did at times get annoying.

The gameplay level took place at what looked like a factory headed by Syndicate soldiers. The level design was designed around breaching sections of the map. You fight your way through groups of armored soldiers with the occasional Lieutenant who has heavy armor and is agile. At the end of the level you fight a boss “Captain” who is extremely armored and built like a tank. The bright spot as it should be is the co-op. You have to help each other and you will learn on the fly how to (LB Heal). If you do not heal other members as they take damage or revive them your team will lose eventually. As far as enemies go there are all types of snipers high up on perches and shotgun guys down below taking it directly to you.

The guns all have a futuristic design as they should since the game takes place in 2069. I came in contact with assault rifles, rocket launchers (that enemies dropped), SMGs, sniper rifles shotguns and an assortment of handguns and pistols. Ammo crates are scattered about with weapons near them. Enemies do drop guns that you can swap if you don’t like what you loaded out with. One other thing regarding guns, they look huge on the screen. They reminded me of Crysis 2′s huge guns that seem to take up half of the screen.

As far as the presentation and atmosphere go Syndicate was pretty good. I love cyberpunk themed games ala Deus Ex and this one seems to deliver. The visuals are ok. The texture work could be better as i spotted blurry textures during my matches. I’m nit picking so take it for what its worth. Overall i really do like the art direction of Syndicate. The sound design and music was good. The voice acting is kinda cheesy however. Like everything else regarding Syndicate’s presentation it gives you that sci-fi cyberpunk vibe during cutscenes and gameplay.

All in all i did like Syndicate’s co-op demo. Its not perfect by a long shot with its performance issues but did give me some fun with its online co-op action. I would say its a rough around the edges demo but a good demo. Thanks for reading.

Inversion – Team Deathmatch Video

Inversion is a co-op third person sci-fi action game where using gravity against your opponents is its core gameplay. The video below is of a team deathmatch game. You can see players lassoing objects and throwing them at other players for points. Of course you have guns but thats kinda boring in Inversion’s eyes. You can use a item that you wear on your left arm to cause a gravity bubble around players in making them float uncontrollably.

The multiplayer sorta reminds me of Red Faction: Guerrilla without the earth morphing gameplay. Inversion’s multiplayer looks niche and sorta fun. I guess it all depends how imaginative the unlocks and level progression will be and how balanced the gameplay is for it to be good. Inversion was developed by Saber Interactive and published by Namco Bandai Games America. It releases on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 June 30, 2012. Thanks MachinimaTrailer.

Little Racers STREET – Demo Impresssions

Little Racers Street is a top down street racing indie game developed and published by Milkstone Studios S.L via Xbox Live Indie Games Marketplace (XBLIGM). It released January 27. 2012 on the Xbox 360. On a side note i have played games such as Raventhorne and Inflamous so i am familiar with Milkstone Studios S.L’s work. Most of there games are high quality in my opinion.

When you start up Little Racers Street your greeted to the main menu screen that breaks down into sub-menus including Quick Race, Career Mode, Upgrade to Full Game, How to Play, Settings, Extras and Exit. The controls (Xbox 360 gamepad): RT-throttle, LT-brake, LS-steer, X and B-nitro, Y-horn and A-handbrake to drift. The controls were ok. The problem was with how slippery the driving was in Little Racers Street. It seemed like my car slid alittle too much no matter how i took corners in the game. My car would fishtail easily just by braking normally around turns. As far as steering and nitro goes those worked great. Drifting using the handbrake also worked really well.

The demo was kind enough to let me play Quick Race and Career Mode. Quick Race is your standard jump in and play mode which i choose first. The track you race on in Little Racers Street demo takes place around a city railyard section. There are some basic gameplay rules that effect all game modes. Hitting walls and cars increases damage to your car. Your nitro bar refills over time automatically. The action takes place in a top down view of about 12 cars. There is alote of bumper car action going on while you race but its all fun.

The Career Mode takes a completely new dynamic regarding gameplay. If you ever played Forza or Gran Turismo’s career mode Little Racers Street has a similar albeit much smaller set-up. You can earn credits in Career Mode and buy new cars in the shop or upgrade the performance of your cars you already have. You start with and E Class car and can work your way up through the ranks to unlock higher classes. You also have a garage where you can store all of your cars. You can paint, sell and upgrade cars at your garage.

The demo gives you enough credits to buy an E Class car to race with. The Career Mode track was similar to the Quick Race track except it took place in daylight and the track was rearanged some. The Shop was accessible in the demo. There you can check out cars such as Micro, Tomathimo o.5L, Sappho 1.0L, Lion 2012 and others. There is a Challenges section under the Career Mode section of the demo where you can win credits by completing E Class races. You do have to come in first place however.

Little Racers Street is a goodlooking game. Matter of fact the entire game has a solid presentation. The atmosphere, sound design and content make this a good little indie street racing game. I must go back to the visuals, they are impressive. The lighting and weather effects were most impressive. The atmosphere does give you a street racing vibe due to the music and sound of the engines and nitro burning.

Little Racers Street is what i call a quality indie game. It can be yours for 80 MSP which does seem like a deal considering the content this game has (47 tracks and 30 cars). Thanks for reading.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings – Intro Trailer (Xbox 360)

If you never heard of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings its was hailed by many as one of the best RPGs that have released over the past few years. It was primarily a PC exclusive game but that has all changed. On April 17, 2012 gamers who own an Xbox 360 will now be able to experience the rich  world of the The Witcher 2. As for the trailer below its pretty good. It is all CGI so don’t expect any gameplay however i was still impressed with it.

It shows an assassin methodically taking out every guard, person and performer on a ship with a King who eventually the assassin cuts his head off. I am currently playing the first Witcher game and never gotten around to buying the second game on Steam. Maybe i’ll buy it for me 360 who knows. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is a Role-Playing developed by CD Projekt Red Studio and published by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment for the Xbox 360. Thanks Gamespot.

Ninja Sneaking 2 – Demo Impressions

Ninja Sneaking 2 is a 2D platformer on Xbox Live Indie Game Marketplace (XBLIGM) where sneaking and stealth are paramount. WINGLAY are the developers and publishers to this ninja inspired indie game. The game released on Xbox Live Indie Games Marketplace on January 26, 2012. WINGLAY as a developer isn’t a some new developer in my case. I have played a few of their games on XBLIGM in the past like Ninja Sneaking and Sky Ninja War. I haven’t played Ninja Recapture yet.

I guess i’ll get the formalities out of the way first. The main menu screen of Ninja Sneaking 2 has Gamestart, How to Play, Sound, Language, Release Information and Exit options. The default button layout for the Xbox 360 gamepad: D-pad/LS-move, Start-menu, RT-attack and A-jump. The controls are a mixed bag in Ninja Sneaking 2. I died so many times trying to avoid the spike section in the demo. It was as if the controls were too sensitive.

Practically everytime i thought i jumped over or around a spike i got killed. Crawling on top of walls (holding X) was great as well a useful tactic in Ninja Sneaking 2. I understand this game was designed to be a difficult platformer. I think its alittle cheap sometimes to be blunt. If you die or get caught once you have to start the stage all of way over. The story behind Ninja Sneaking 2 revolves around a red-head protagonist ninja girl sneaking into Karakuri residence to rescue Big Sister. She cannot be seen or else she will fail.

There are 3 stages and an extra Chaos stage available in the full game. It isn’t alote of content but will provide a challenge i am sure. The music is always good in WINGLAY’s games and Ninja Sneaking 2 is no different. The sound design and music gives you an old Japanese atmosphere as you infiltrate Karakuri residence.  The visual artsyle is pretty much the same regarding the red-hair protagonist ninja. The bad guys look pretty much the same as well. The huge yellow flashlights always lets you know the enmies field of vision so you can avoid them.

Ninja Sneaking 2 is a 2D sneaking game. Its actually a small/simple game. You won’t see a million enemies on-screen at once. Its a methodical action game where taking your time is paramount. You must avoid every guard and every trap of every stage. It doesn’t seem easy judging from the demo in my opinion. You can sneak under some areas avoiding guards entirely. Karakuri are everywhere even under huts sometimes so you can’t always just crawl under them. Sometimes you have to crawl above them on ceilings. Crawling on ceilings is effective but stay out of any Karakuri’s light’s line of sight. There will be areas where you have to time your jumps and leap over Karakuris.

The presentation of Ninja Sneaking 2′s demo tells me its an ok game. Its a challenging platformer with little content. It did have a nice visual and music presentation and sneaking as a ninja is fun. For 80 msp Ninja Sneaking 2 can be yours. Thanks for reading.

Mortal Kombat – One Hour Demo Impressions

Mortal  Kombat was recently added to the full game demo list on PSN+. If your new to PSN+ its just a special subscription where you can get games for free/discount or play the full game (in this case)  Mortal Kombat for one hour. Back in the day Mortal Kombat was the poster-boy for videogame hate groups for its brutality or should i say its Fatalities. After a long hiatus Mortal Kombat is back and better than ever judging from the one hour demo. NetherRealm Studios are the developers and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment the publishers. Mortal Kombat originally released on April 19, 2011 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The VITA will get a release April 2, 2012.

The main menu broke down into Fight, Story Mode, Challenge Tower, Training, Online, Extras and Options. One thing this fighting doesn’t lack is content.Whether its Challenge Tower or Online mode Mortal Kombat has multiple gaming options to keep you playing for a long time. For instance the Extras section has unlockable content that you can purchase. Not only that but there are a Necropolis section, a place to Redeem Codes,  Character Trailers and Announcement trailers. Navigating all of the menus was pretty easy do to Mortal Kombat’s menu ergonomics. For as much content that is present i expected some issues finding everything but that wasn’t the case at all.

The controls via Duel Shock 3: Square- Punch, Triangle-Back Punch, X-Front Kick, O-Back Kick, R1-Throw, L1-Tag, R2-Block and L2-Flip Stance. As far as controls go they created a really good gameplay experience. It feels like your playing old school Mortal Kombat all over again due to the controls and button layout. Performing moves wasn’t an issue with me thanks to the tight controls. After going through the menus and control layout it was time to play. I choose Story Mode first with the attention of getting it out of the way first.

Story mode in Mortal Kombat starts off with a fairly lengthly opening cutscene detailing the ending and beginning of the Mortal Kombat tournamaent. You start off playing Chapter 1: Johnny Cage. The story mode has snippets of storylines infused with each character you fight with. You do bounce from charcater to character during story mode. Story Mode was average. Its basically some cutscenes and voiced dialog mixed in with fighting. I had just one hour with this game so i moved on immediately to Ladder Match.

Ladder Match is the classic Mortal Kombat set-up where you just jump in and fight a ladder of opponents and hopefully reach the top. I picked Kratos for all my matches throughout the demo. I mean he is Kratos afterall. He can use the Bow, Hermes Boots and Helios’s Head from God of War 3. Kratos can probably use many other special abilities from God of War 3 but those are the ones i performed while playing. I played a few Ladder Matches which weren’t too difficult on normal difficulty. One level had me fighting in a city with cars racing in front of Kratos. Off in the distance you can see a huge monster destroying buildings. Next i played Challenge Tower which is a training tutorial/practice section. You can learn fatalities and complete tests to hone your fighter’s skills. Challenge Tower is where you should practice.

And last but not least i spent the rest of my hour playing Online mode. When you log into the online servers your greeted with a “Message of the Day” from the devs. Online sub-menus include: Ranked Match, Player Mtach, Private Match, Join Room, Create Room, User Statistics and Leaderboards. I spent my time in Ranked Match. There you can play one on one or tag-team matches. There were quite a few individual rooms with groups of players available also. I completed all of matches from quick matchmaking. As far as connections go i had only one freeze while connecting to a match.

As far as gameplay goes its fun. Its easy to perform Breakers. I couldn’t do any finishing Fatalities which blew. Many experienced players i played against online had no problem pulling them off on me however. The online competitive multiplayer was fun as you imagined and whould be the place i spent most of my time if i did buy Mortal Kombat. Although the in-game cutscenes wern’t impressive visually the actual in-game fighting looked and sound great.

The art design and texture work makes Mortal Kombat one goodlooking fighting game. And not to mention the x-ray bone crushing moves you can perform. Mortal Kombat looks great but is very gruesome to look at. The sound design brings back memories everytime i heard “FIGHT” before the match. The voice acting during cutscenes were mediocre which was expected. When everything is laid out in front of me its easy to say the presentation is good in Mortal Kombat.

From my one hour i spent with Mortal Kombat i will go on record and call it a very good fighting game. I do love my Street Fighter more but Mortal Kombat was really impressive. Thanks for reading.

Mass Effect 3 – Multiplayer Trailer

Here is a trailer for Mass Effect 3′s multiplayer. Battle the Reapers online as a Human (Soldier), Quarian (Engineer), Drell (Vanguard), Turian (Sentinel), Asari (Vanguard), Salarian (Infiltrator) or Krogan (Soldier). There are plenty of  enemies you will be fighting as evidenced in the trailer below. Matches where hacking computers to win looks like a interesting gamemode. I do like the fact that their are different races and classes. But most importantly each class has his or her’s own unique powers to balance out gameplay. The Vanguard looks pretty good.

I beaten Mass Effect 2 on the hardest difficulty my first playthrough as a Vanguard so i might go with that class in multiplayer. I know gamers are a fickle a bunch and get scared of change. Stop worrying about the single player people it will be fine. The multiplayer looks like fun in my opinion. Mass Effect 3 is a sci-fi RPG developed by Bioware and published by Electronic Arts. You can pick up this finally to Mass Effect’s space opera for your PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 March 6, 2012. Thanks Machinima.

Street Fighter X Tekken – Mega Man & Pac-Man Trailer

It looks like the Playstation 3 and VITA versions of Street Fighter X Tekken are getting Mega Man and Pac-Man as playable characters. Not only are Pac-Man and Mega Man going to make an appearance but also the electrifying Cole Mcgrath from Infamous fame. I’m a big fan of Infamous personally so i’m glad Cole made the cut. Toro and Kuro rounds out the all star cast for the Playstation 3 and VITA versions of Street Fighter X Tekken.

Some things of note: What happened to Mega Man? Boy did he let himself go. I wonder which characters (if it happens) the Xbox 360 version will be getting. Give me Marcus Fenix and Master Cheif and i’ll call it a day. Street Fighter X Tekken is developed and published by Capcom. Expect to play this crossover fighting game on your PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and VITA March 6, 2012. Thanks RajmanGamingHD.

Puddle – Demo Impressions

Puddle is a physics based game where you tilt the screen using the Left or Right Triggers on the Xbox 360 gamepad.  Your goal is to manipulate a puddle of liquid and help it reach the exit of each stages while avoiding dangers. Puddle is developed by Neko Entertainment and published by Konami. Its currently available as a Xbox Live Arcade Game (XBLAG). It will also release on PSN (January 31, 2012) and later on the VITA.

The main menu screen featured Play, Laboratory, Leaderboards, Achievements, Unlock, Buy Full Game, Help & Options and Exit Game. I immediately went into the Help & Options to see the controls: Left Trigger (tilt left), Right Trigger (tilt right), Back (restart level) and Pause (start). The controls are practically flawless. All your really doing is rotating the screen left or right to manipulate liquid where you want it to go. Its not hard to mess up the controls in Puddle since its juts a simple physics based puzzle game.

After looking at the controls i then checked out the Achievements section. The achievements looked pretty easy. “Goldrush” you just have to get 48  gold medals and “Total Reaction” you get that when you finish all levels. Although you can only play one level in the demo you can see all of the levels in Puddle on-screen. Watercourse, Nursery, Laboratory, Sewers and Rocket and a few others. The full game has 8 chapters with 6 levels each. So you have 48 total levels which seems like a decent amount.

One gameplay feature that caught my eye was the ability to unlock secret levels.   When talking about Puddle’s gameplay its pure addicting. Its fun and it makes you want to keep trying everytime you lose all your liquid to dangers. Dangers include fire that comes in the forms of flames mostly. The level design in the demo was good. It was interesting and challenging enough to make getting to the end rewarding. To bad i could only play one level i wanted more.

The presentation is good. From the title screen’s music to the visuals of the liquid. The game has quality written all over it. The music and sound design gave me a science vibe (if that is possible). I usually don’t try out physics games but something told me to give Puddle a go. Glad i did i really enjoyed the gameplay and presentation of this liquid manipulating videogame.

Puddle is a pretty good puzzle physics game judging from the demo. I wasn’t expecting this game to be good or bad. In the end, it turned out really good. If your a fan of physics based games give the demo of Puddle a try. Its a short demo but a good demo. Thanks for reading.

Ocean Drive Challenge – Demo Impressions

As a kid growing up in the “80′s” i immediately caught the Miami Vice”esque” upon starting Ocean Drive Challenge. Oh wait there’s more. Ocean Drive Challenge is a driving game that catapulted me back into the arcades where i use to play a game called Outrun. Trust me, all compliments coming from me. Nostalgia runs rampant with this Xbox Live Indie Game (XBLIG). Ocean Drive Challenge was developed and published by need1D and released January 23, 2012 via Xbox live Live Indie Games Marketplace for 80 MSP.

The main menus screen had Start Game, High Scores, Create, How To Play, Buy Game and Exit. Basically you have all the info you need and its easily navigable. The controls (Xbox 360 gamepad): LS-steer, LB-brake, RB-accelerate, A-switch gears. Simple controls and they partially didn’t matter a whole lot since the game seemed to place you on invisible rails anyways. You can steer and avoid on-coming traffic etc. Its just how the game is built, it seems like you driving on invisible rails the entire time.

You can choose between three different drivers in the full game of Ocean Challenge Drive. The demo lets you choose one driver and that is J.J. Barrom and his RD100D. Cynthia drives a Barracuda and Mr Gatlin who is a dead ringer for Gordon Gekko  drives a Classic GT. Each car has its own statistics for braking, acceleration and top speed. Each character must talk to themselves differently during races also. When you start the race you can choose automatic or manual. You can also “Hide Driver Comments”. I left the comments on since i’m nosey. You can also choose if and what music you want to play. You can shuffle the music if you so choose.

Gameplay is ok. Like i said it feels like your on-rails driving the entire time. Its simplistic and feels old school. I did play through the trial a few times and finally got to the point where i had “30 seconds” until the demo stopped. As for the presentation its solid. The artstyle and visuals are good in my opinion. I liked the different settings and how they changed as you crossed checkpoints. Ocean Drive uses a vibrant color palette that makes the visuals pop out of the screen.

The game appears to have many settings like forest, downtown city, roads lined with ancient statues, canyons and a neon city. Its a really nice looking indie game on XBL. The music was good for what this indie game was about. There are a quite a few songs which adds to the overall quality of the game. Ocean Drive Challenge definitely has some nostalgia going on with it. Its presentation is solid for an indie game on XBL. And for just 80 msp it just might be a deal. Thanks for reading.