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Prepare to die again — Dark Souls II E3 hands-on

Manny Costa — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:21:45 +0000

In the almost two years since its release, Dark Souls can be held accountable for the untimely deaths of many player characters as well as probably some controllers. It was a game that grabbed the hearts of so many and then proceeded to punish our love with frustrating death after frustrating death. The question becomes: can its successor Dark Souls II live up to what we have come to love and expect?

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PES 2014 E3 Hands-on: The difference is in the details.

Skyler O'Hara — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:50:37 +0000

PES 2014 returns this year. Powered by the FOX engine developed for Metal Gear Solid and sporting a new ball physics engine called “TruBall Tech” that sees the end of the automated player animations of past games and allows the focus to be on the physics behind the ball itself, which should allow for much more personalized interactions between players.

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Let the Wild Hunt Begin- Witcher 3 brings an open world and amazing visuals to next-gen gaming

Ron Burke — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:05:03 +0000

Our first appointment for E3 was one of my personal most-anticipated titles of this next generation – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The conclusion to the adventures of Geralt of Rivia, this title boasts 100 hours of gameplay with half of that being the main storyline. With 7 endings, the game also sports replayability on top of that massive number. If The Witcher 2 is any indication these won’t be small shifts to build those endings either, but purpose-driven polar opposite changes from the other paths.

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Killer Is Dead is Suda 51′s latest LSD-infused anime trip, and we got a chance take it for a ride

David Roberts — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:40:08 +0000

Suda 51 is a man known for a particular style — namely a combination of punk rock design philosophy with a nice dollop of hyper-stylized ultra-violence. And if my E3 hands-on was any indication, Killer Is Dead appears to maintain that aesthetic perfectly.

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My own private Shawshank, or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Green Mile — Prison Architect Preview

Sam Vary — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:11:33 +0000

This might not surprise you, but there are some very dark minds behind Prison Architect, a top-down management sim that’s also the latest game from England’s Introversion Software.

You may know Introversion from some of their other cult hits, including Darwinia, but Prison Architect shifts gears to put you at the helm of one of the world’s greatest and most historic cultural institutions: jail. The game blends Maxis-esque construction with personnel management and bookkeeping, continuing in the tradition of enduring classics like Theme Hospital and Dungeon Keeper. The game’s Alpha version retails on Steam for $29.99, which will include the full version upon its eventual release. An interesting item worth mentioning is that due to its racy content, Prison Architect was recently rejected from the Apple app store, but, as the developers themselves aptly tweeted, “YOUR LOSS APPLE.” The fact is, those wily Brits have come up with a title that’s uproariously fun, and I couldn’t agree more with that tweet.

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The Evil Within wants to take horror gaming back to its roots- pure fear

Ron Burke — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Bethesda has an incredible lineup set for this year, and we start off our coverage with The Evil Within; Shinji Mikami from Tango Gameworks gives us a short introduction on his first (and final) return to survival horror since Resident Evil 4. In The Evil Within they are looking to take the genre back to its original roots – pure fear and overcoming it.

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Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag gameplay demonstration puts the Jolly in Roger

Ron Burke — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:47:35 +0000

Assassin’s Creed III had its fair share of issues, but it was also full of promise. Telling the story from the perspective of a new relative of Desmond – a Native American named Connor. In an almost universal fashion, fans clamored for the naval combat and in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, we are getting our wish. I got to sit down with the team of Ubisoft Montreal for an extended look at the next-gen launch title, Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag.

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LocoCycle brings oddball motorcycle combat to Xbox One

Sean Lama — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:48:10 +0000

LocoCycle was probably the strangest game I played at E3 this year. It’s a motorcycle combat game that has you racing through levels while avoiding destructive obstacles and battling it out with enemies. Oh, and there’s a Hispanic guy named Pablo whose leg is somehow conjoined to the bike, and the poor guy is screaming and wailing the whole time.

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Batman: Arkham Origins hands-on impressions

Sean Lama — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 03:32:40 +0000

As you may or may not know, the upcoming Batman: Arkham Origins is not being developed by the same team that made Asylum and City , it’s being made by a different team called Warner Bros. Games Montreal who handled the Wii U port of Arkham City . Knowing this, I went into the demo with my own version of “Detective Vision” in an attempt to determine whether or not this new team was maintaining the level of quality we experienced in the first two games.

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Ryse: Son of Rome might be the killer app that saves the Xbox

Sean Lama — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:00:35 +0000

Ryse: Son of Rome has sold me on Xbox One at launch. In the months leading up to the quagmire that Microsoft has gotten themselves into with their stance on used games, internet connection requirements, price point and my general lack of interest in their launch lineup, I was almost certain that I would not be buying an Xbox One anytime soon. Then I played Ryse: Son of Rome today at E3 and everything changed.

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Disney Infinity fills our toy box with awesome

Ron Burke — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 05:51:17 +0000

E3 hasn’t even begun in earnest yet, but we got a sneak peek at one of the powerhouse titles of the show – Disney Infinity. Disney Infinity is not exactly the game you think it is. Comparisons to Activision’s Skylander series are inevitable, but having gotten hands-on with the title, I can tell you that they are also wrong. While they both use collectable figurines, that’s where the comparison ends.

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The Last of Us – multiplayer revealed

Ron Burke — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 19:57:57 +0000

We went hands-on with The Last of Us recently and are among a select few that got to enjoy multiplayer that has, until now, has not been shown or even talked about. While our review won’t go live until 6/5/13 at 7:00am (the global embargo), I do get the opportunity to reveal just how multiplayer works for this fantastic title. While those of you who picked up God of War: Ascension download the playable demo, check out this snippet from our review for The Last of Us:

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An introductory trip through Time and Eternity

Patrick Rost — Fri, 31 May 2013 17:02:34 +0000

A wedding, a murder, and a very convenient royal ability to travel through time. These are the foundations for the story of intrigue, mystery, and pent-up male sexual frustration that is NIS America’s Time and Eternity. Time and Eternity is in theory a live-action RPG, but largely becomes a “choose your own story” anime through long cutscenes. While I expected to play a JRPG and knew what would come along with it, I’m still in awe of just how many tropes, cliches, yawn moments, and weird dick jokes that the writers and developers of the game were able to cram in just the first few hours.

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And for their next trick, Daedalic Entertainment will keep adventure gaming alive!

Sam Vary — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:41:51 +0000

There was a time when I was young where I would roam about the fields behind my house during summer vacation, discovering new realms and conquering imaginary foes armed only with a stick-sword. There was something special about nature to me then, whether it was the peace I felt hiking through uncharted woods, or claiming a giant boulder I’d found as part of my kingdom. Thus, when I sat down to play Night of the Rabbit, I formed a connection almost immediately to Jerry Hazelnut, the 12-year old protagonist, who sets out to explore the woods behind his home at the end of one British summer, and ends up discovering far more than he or I could ever have imagined.

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Hands-on with The Last of Us

Ron Burke — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:44:45 +0000

Recently I got the opportunity to take a level and a half of The Last of Us out for a spin in the comfort of my own home, away from PR and free to experience it as you, the reader would. Taking control of Joel, we appear to be on the outskirts of the city of Lincoln. The objective is simple – Joel’s sometime-friend Bill owes him some favors, and if they can safely reach him he might be able to get what they so desperately need – a vehicle to ferry them cross country to help Ellie reach the Fireflies, a resistance group that can help her.

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An Epic Start to a a Mighty Quest

Atlas Burke — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:27:42 +0000

Late last week I got the chance to travel to lovely San Francisco to pay egregious parking fees and visit with Ubisoft to talk about their free to play loot grinder: the Mighty Quest for Epic Loot. Still in closed alpha, Might Quest is a lighthearted, jaunty dungeon crawler that mixes attack and defense in some interesting ways.

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Six Weeks Later – Insurgency Revisited

Breanna Goodman — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:54:06 +0000

Last month, I got to take a look at New World Interactive’s Insurgency, a reboot of the popular Half Life 2 mod of the same name. Two weeks ago the game received official “Early Access” status on Steam, allowing gamers to pre-purchase the game and get access to the beta version ahead of its official release. I enjoyed the early version of Insurgency that I got to play with, so this news prompted me to boot up the game again for a second look to see just how much progress the Insurgency team has made in the past six weeks.

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The view of a new world–Anno Online preview

Atlas Burke — Thu, 09 May 2013 05:35:08 +0000

Before the long break between SimCity 4 and Electronic Arts’ latest effort left the genre floundering, several other developers decided to try their hands at creating economic simulators. North American gamers are probably more familiar with the Tropico series, but the Anno series actually predates it by nearly 4 years. Created and recreated over the years by various developers in Germany and Austria, the game never seemed to have caught fire on this side of the pond. Speaking personally, I never even saw an Anno game until I was in my 20s browsing on Steam, and despite my interest, I never got my hands on the series until I found myself in possession of a beta code to preview Ubisoft Blue Byte’s Anno Online.

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Exclusive hands-on with the upcoming vampire title, Dark

Ron Burke — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:35:21 +0000

Vampires don’t sparkle. The folks at Kalipso and Realmforge Studios have built a stealth/action RPG that is set to release soon. We got exclusive and extensive hands-on with the title and I have quite a bit to share with you. While the code isn’t final, it does give you an in-depth taste of the game.

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Tower Defense goes futuristic – Sanctum 2 Preview

Breanna Goodman — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:50:58 +0000

Enemies are coming. Kill them.

Those five words form the core experience of any tower defense game. The enemies, settings, and weapons may vary, but in the end the goal is simple; defend a given object or area from the waves of enemies trying to push their way through by building towers to impede and attack them. Sanctum, released in 2011 to mostly positive reviews, added some first-person shooter elements into the mix by allowing the player to directly attack enemies with weapons. Coffee Stain Studios is the independent developer behind that game, and its sequel Sanctum 2 which is due to be released this year. I got a chance to play around with an early version of Sanctum 2, and what I saw definitely shows promise.

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