In less than two weeks Batman: Arkham City hits store shelves and I couldn’t be more excited. We’ve already seen a huge showing from Batman’s rogue gallery, not to mention handy assists from Catwoman and Robin. But wait…. THERE’S MORE!!!
Continue reading Batman: Arkham City – More Villains, Gadgets, Trailers, And Nightwing!
Heading to living rooms soon is the somewhat anticipated X-Men: Destiny. While I do look forward to this game, I won’t be lining up for it or anything. Don’t get me wrong, I love the premise and the gameplay looks adequate. But usually when I play an X-Men game I want to play as an X-Man(or Woman). I may be a little picky here, so let’s just say I will be picking it up when it comes out, but my expectations aren’t huge.
Continue reading X-Men: Destiny – Behind-the-Scenes Trailer and Cover Art
Gearbox Software’s hit shooter Borderlands came almost out of nowhere in 2009, selling close to 5 million copies worldwide in the three years since its release. No surprise then that Gearbox is in development for a sequel slated to hit shelves sometime in 2012, and IGN has a whole truckload of details on the upcoming installment from the series’s concept designer, Scott Kester.
Borderlands 2 will once again take place on the planet Pandora, but there are a lot of refinements being made to the way you’ll experience the old setting. For one, the game will feature a lot more variance in the look of the planet, adding snow and fields to the usual rockiness of the original, but there’s more to the world than just a change of atmosphere.
“There’s a lot more diversity this time around, but not even just in the environments, also the creatures that inhabit them.” Enemy AI is more intelligent in the sequel; you’ll see creatures “ripping things up and throwing it at you or just scanning the landscape and on the fly taking different pathways at you.”
In addition to Pandora itself, Borderlands 2 will feature a brand new ensemble of playable characters, eschewing the original four from the previous game. This is in order to better suit the deeper class system and skill-tree elements. Traditional damage upgrades and the like will be available but Kester noted players will have the ability to “modify their character’s behavior in more significant ways.”
“We’re really trying to make sure there’s a lot more depth for the more hardcore RPG player side. We wanted to make sure that even though you only had one action skill we were going to give you multiple ways to use that, more so than we did the last time.”
It really seems like Borderlands 2 is going to focus even more heavily on the weapons; different weapon brands are going to be a bigger deal and more distinctly so.
“The hardcore guys really understood the differences between a Jakobs and Tediore,” said Kester, and they plan on making everyone aware of just how big that difference is this time around. “
“We actually took all the guns we made in the last game and in all honesty we basically chucked those and we started again from the ground. We didn’t want to just re-skin the guns from the last game. Every single gun in this game is different from the last one […]
The system itself works relatively similar but now we have a lot more components to it. We can add a lot more variants. Sometimes they can just be purely visual like there’s a bunch of nails sticking out, but a lot of times that might add to the melee damage dealt with the weapon. We’re trying to make sure all the things we’re adding aren’t just there for show but there is gameplay to support them. We felt that the last game, an assault rifle kind of looked like an assault rifle but you weren’t sure what its attributes were going to be until you fired it. We’re really trying to make sure that that feels right even at a glance. It’s much easier to tell how effective a gun is going to be at this or that due to the amount of barrels it has on it or just the size of the clip. There’s still the tech effects from the last game too and some more surprises as far as that goes.”
On top of all the inner-workings being upgraded and revamped, Kester went on to address the story element of the next Borderlands, addressing the original’s unbalanced focus on co-op play and promising a better experience both for multiplayer and single-player gamers.
“I think statistically there were actually more people that played the game single-player just because that’s the nature of consoles right now. We’ve really made sure that the single player side this time is more satisfying.”
Most enticing of it all however, may be this tidbit:
“We’re trying to make sure that we’re not a cut-scene game, we’re not going to stop to tell you the stuff. We’re trying to integrate the story into the missions so as you’re playing you’re being delivered story, you’re being hopefully more engaged. The missions themselves aren’t so much fetch quests all the time that are just A to B, A to B. We’re making sure that those really propel the story forward.”
With all that in mind, remember Gearbox is still keeping their lips sealed on a lot of other content. Borderlands 2 is shaping up to be far bigger and more expansive than its predecessor, so if you’ve already experienced Pandora before (and I don’t mean the blue cat-people one) I’m sure you’re anticipating this one. I know I’m excited, and I never managed to get my hands on a copy of the first.
Borderlands 2 is slated for a 2012 release.
Chances are if you are aware of, and/or interested in Dead Island, it’s as a result of the spectacular non-linear teaser that was released several months ago. The trailer, hinting at an emphasis on emotion, devastation and tragedy in a zombie apocalypse, went viral and drew millions of views on Youtube alone, even garnering some nice praise from game journalists and credible tech mags.
What you might not be aware of is that the game was actually announced 5 years ago at E3 2006, and had it not been for the sombre trailer blowing all our minds it probably would have continued to pass under everyone’s radar up to, and probably after, its release. Combine that revelation with the reminder that the game’s developer Techland had little to do with the teaser at all (they actually handed the job off to Axis, an animation studio) and we’re all left with not much to go on.
The whole teaser debacle aside, Dead Island is an open-world first-person zombie basher set in a resort in Papua New Guinea. You have the option of playing one of four blank slate archetypes who inexplicably have the good fortune of being immune to the infection that is mysteriously sweeping the island paradise. You wake up after a night of drinking and partying to find something horribly amiss; conventions! Zombie conventions everywhere! Making your way through the hotel you find blood, flickering lights and abandoned rooms, and led by a voice on a loudspeaker you’re eventually guided to a group of survivors, and through an awfully expositional conversation you’re tasked with saving the living, and killing the undead all over the isle of Banois. It’s a disappointingly uninspired introduction, especially after the amazing teaser (Yeah. I’m not setting it aside).
From then on you’re subjected to all manner of generic fetch-quests that slowly inch you closer and closer toward the endgame. There are multiple acts of the story which offer a change of scenery and new enemy types and weapon drops, but it scarcely draws you into caring for any of the inhabitants of the island, least of all your own character, who regardless of your selection has no discernable personality and yet refuses to keep silent long enough for you to infuse yourself into his or her place.
I can’t wait for this game. Seriously. How often do I say that? All the freakin time. Doesn’t matter. Changes nothing.
I can’t wait for this game. And the more news we hear about it the more excited I become. I started playing Arkham Asylum again just to get back in the mood, to warm my sticks up. This only further increased my excitement, and I’m ready to snap in a fit of rage if this game doesn’t come out soon. Anyways, I digress.
Continue reading Batman: Arkham City – Robin Skins, Villain Side Missions and More!
There is a trailer out for a video game so enticing that I had to change my pants after I saw it. I am talking about Lollipop Chainsaw; a hack-and-slash zombie killing… no… dismembering game.
In the game, you play Juliet, a cheerleader who’s outfit leaves little to the imagination. In the trailer, she appears to be in her school slashing zombies left and right.
James Gunn (writer/director: “Slither”, “Super”) wrote the story behind the game. Suda 51 (Video game director: “Fatal Frame IV”, “Shadow of the Damned”) is the creative director. When looking at these guys’ reputations, it is clear that Lollipop Chainsaw will be a crazy, yet fantastic journey. As a former cheerleader, cheer coach, and current zombie lover, this looks like it was made for me.
The release date is set for the end of 2012, but there hasn’t been a definite date scheduled. One thing is for sure… I will be reserving this one. Here is the trailer:
Grizzly Bomb 
