Gosh dang, I love the Call of Duty games. I wasn’t really into the series when it started, but got into it right before Black Ops, the most recent game, was released, and picked up Modern Warfare 2, one of the series most popular entries. Polished and action packed, the Call of Duty games are far from realistic, and feel like playing the video game equivalent of a Michael Bay movie. This new movie…er game looks freakin’ insane!
I loooooove me some Need for Speed. That being said, the fact that Shift 2, a more simulation-based racing game, was the only NFS game being released this year had me a little bummed. I mean, sure, I still haven’t finished Hot Pursuit, the AWESOME recent entry in the franchise that reinvigorated the series, but NFS, for me, has always been a mix of arcade and simulation, with a definite emphasis on running from the cops. Then, I saw this on IGN:
While not much has been released about the game yet (apparently the trailer leaked from a retailer website, and EA wasn’t ready to announce the game), it seems as if it’ll be pretty sweet. Now, NFS hasn’t had too much success with it’s “story-based” entries … so let’s hope for the best when this one comes out later this year.
Bah! Back in my day we only had two Marvel versus Capcoms. The two wasn’t because it was the sequel, it was because “two” was the running theme of the game. There were two dimensions to the game, there were only 2 buttons per punch and kick and most importantly, there were only 2 move sets that encompassed every char. Ken, Ryu, Morrigan, Akuma – it doesn’t matter. It’s the same move set!
We’ve been playing this game for over a decade. Why? Because we like it, and back then, games were expensive. You played those games until the disks melted. Now we have Marvel vs Capcom 3. 3? It’s not 3D. Is it because it touts a new “simplified 3-button control scheme”? Simplified! This is Capcom fighting game! We don’t buy these for simplicity. We buy these so we can spend 80 hours mastering one character, so we can bash our friends’ faces in with him.
MvC3 is targeted towards today’s kids. It has pretty graphics, the ability to play online, and girls with big racks. Graphics, pssh. Play Zork, then tell me what you thought of the graphics. Graphics are a compensation for bad gameplay. The ability to play online? You know what we did to play against someone? We walked down to the arcade. Uphill. Both ways. In 4 feet of snow. During the summer. As far as girls with big racks go … well, everyone can enjoy that.
If you’ve enjoyed any Capcom fighting game in the last 10 years, buy MvC3. You won’t be disappointed. If you are, suck it up. There’s a long history of disappoint in video games. Some of us didn’t grow up with fancy rating systems. If you can’t make a decision with out one, go read IGN. I hear they gave it a 8.5.
Until next time, stay off my lawn.
You know, everyone on the web is talking about how awesome this trailer is and, after seeing it, I’ve got to admit – it’s FRIGGIN GREAT! Despite the animation not being terribly all that great, it’s a really well done commercial, emotional wise and musically.
But what the hell is Dead Island? Their only page is a Facebook page, but pictures of the game (check IGN) appear to make the game look like a sort of Dead Rising on an island. I’m not entirely sure on the developer behind it, which isn’t a good sign, but you never know. Sounds a bit like a third-person Left 4 Dead also, with the ability to team up with other players to take on the zombie horde, and a story that involves uncovering the origin of the zombie outbreak.
I really, really enjoyed the first Dead Space video game. I felt it was challenging (though sometimes a bit too challenging), genuinely creepy and scary, and, most of all, INTENSE. I spent a good portion of the game on the edge of my seat, guiding Isaac through the abandoned space station, worried about what would be around the next corner, or how low my ammo is. It’s a truly exciting video game experience, and I really recommend checking it out if you’re into the survival horror genre.
That being said, the original animated tie-in movie, Dead Space: Downfall was really just a bit meh. The animation was a bit rough, the story kind of generic, and ultimately just felt a bit throwaway. I mean, it gave me a bit more insight into the events of the game (without having to read all the journals and stuff that you pick up during the game), but overall I just didn’t leave the experience feeling overwhelmed. I was just … whelmed. The Dante’s Inferno tie-in animated movie (from the same production company) really actually just kind of dragged for me, despite being a relatively short film. So Dead Space: Aftermath didn’t have a lot going for it… Read the rest of this entry »
Ya know, I’d like to say I love the Castlevania series, but, in retrospect, I’m not sure I really do. The only game I’ve played through to completion is Castlevania 64, the first 3-D entry in the franchise that everyone seems to hate. I loved Super Castlevania, and the first and third games in the series…but that’s about it. For a game series with over 30 entries of variable types, that’s not really a lot.
Recent entries of the series have included a fighting game that everybody hates, and a couple of retro-2D side scrollers which appeal to the gamers looking for nostalgic gaming…but just seem a little, kind of, I don’t know, like a step back.
I was given Castlevania: Lords of Shadow as a Christmas gift, and, after finishing James Bond: Blood Stone (review here) in less than two days, decided to jump into something a little more involved. I’d heard Lords of Shadow was a bit lengthy (it actually encompasses TWO XBox 360 discs), longer than the type of game I typically like to play (just because, once they get over 5-6 hours, I hardly ever have time to complete them), but I was determined to give it a shot to see how it was. Read the rest of this entry »
I actually really enjoyed the original Dead Space game. I thought it was a really pretty intense, and had a ton of great action and scares. I really had only two main gripes about it – one, that the story seemed to rely too much on reading documents or watching other things (like the animated prequel) to really get more than “guy in space station kills monsters.” And two, some of the scenes went from challenging (which is good) to frustrating (which is, quite obviously, bad).
Playing the demo for Dead Space 2, released last week on Xbox Live and Playstation Network, I get much the same impression for Dead Space 2. The demo shows impressive visuals and new models for the characters, but I don’t see a huge leap forward in gameplay. Of course, not that there was much wrong with gameplay in the original.
The demo for Dead Space 2 isn’t very long, but you do get a pretty fantastic sequence (which appears to be set in some kind of church) where you fight all sorts of creatures with minimal ammo. It’s relentless, action packed, and suspenseful. Not only that, it’s sure to whet your appetite for the new game. A video at the beginning of the demo brings you up to speed, telling the story of the original better than the original game actually did. It gives me high hopes that the new game will focus on story more than the original.
The promise of Dead Space 2 is that we’re going to get more action and less focus on horror. While I don’t see that in the demo, video footage of the new game does show plenty of action, including some cool looking jetpack action. Dead Space 2 is due out on Xbox 360 and PS3 on January 25th, 2011. Read more at the official site.
Disclaimer: I’ve mentioned before on VGM that I’m not into playing multiplayer unless I know who I’m playing with, so if any readers are interested in playing multiplayer on Blood Stone with me, let me know.
James Bond video games have an unusual history. The Pierce Brosnan era of Bond brought us GoldenEye for N64, which still stands as one of the greatest first person shooters of all time, but other than that, fans have given Bond games a lukewarm response.
- Tomorrow Never Dies went with 3rd person storytelling
- The World Is Not Enough brought back the 1st person shooting of Goldeneye
But then Bond movies took a break for a while. Not wanting to waste the license, we saw original Bond content for the game systems, featuring Pierce Brosnan including the pretty decent Agent Under Fire and Nightfire games. Everything or Nothing was Brosnan’s final Bond game, leaving on a high note in a pretty great game.
After the poorly received Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, Sean Connery was brought in to voice a retelling of From Russia With Love, which met with decent critical response, but lower than expected sales.
Mixed reviews came on the heels of Quantum of Solace, which actually adapted both Daniel Craig Bond movies, including portions of Casino Royale. Since the movie series is again taking a break, it’s been some time since fans have received a Bond game, so we actually got two on the same release date in November – a remake of Goldeneye for Wii (getting much praise) and Blood Stone for the Xbox 360 and PS3, which is garnering mixed reviews. Read the rest of this entry »
Thanks to Matt for pointing this out to me.
While fans of John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing wait with anticipation for next year’s “prequel,” it seems like we’ll never (especially at this point) get a sequel to the original movie. MacCready and Childs sit out in the snow, unsure if either is the creature, sharing a drink and waiting to die from the cold, or the creature.
And while, really, you don’t need a sequel to such an amazing film, fans have clamored for a return to the universe and The Thing itself for years. Dark Horse put together a pretty decent sequel to the film in comic book form (until subsequent mini-series dwindled in quality). John Carpenter himself proposed a sequel in 2004 that would feature the original actors (their aged faces explained away using frostbite). Even SyFy channel proposed a pretty interesting sounding (the entire story is online) sequel to the original done as a TV miniseries. And while the prequel is happening, none of the proposed sequels garnered as much attention (or even got completed) as The Thing, a video game sequel to the film done for he PS2 and Xbox 360.
Sent to investigate the research station explosion at the end of the first one, a group of military men quickly come under attack by the creature and after a long and bloody battle, the hero escapes with the assistance of a helicopter pilot, revealed to be R.J. MacReady, the hero from the original film. The ending is ambiguous, and there is speculation that MacReady is, in fact infected.
What many fans don’t know is just how far a sequel to this game got into production… Read the rest of this entry »
Great week for cheap bastards like me who wait to buy video games until they’ve dropped in price. It seems like games are only $60 for the first couple of weeks before you can get them for as much as $20 less (in fact, the recently released Kane and Lynch sequel was only $19.99 at Best Buy this past week, despite being released just two months ago).
I hesitate to buy a lot of games for $60, even if I think I’m really going to love them. I’ve just been burned too many times in the past. Not only that, $60 is a lot of money to spend on something you’re going to lose at least $20 on as soon as you leave the store, even if you hate it and decide to trade it in. And video game companies are trying really hard to get your hard earned cash with some awesome bonuses and special editions…but are the extra fees worth it if the game isn’t?
Thankfully, I played some demos this week that might make my purchasing decisions a lot easier! Check out my review of some demos I recently played after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »