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Bethesda announces Wolfenstein: The New Order trailer, screenshots, gameplay info, & more

Action Adventure, FPS, Gaming, Trailers, Video No Responses »

May 082013

If you’re an old school FPS fan, chances are you’ve blasted away Nazi’s as B.J. Blazkowicz. The Wolfenstein series has enjoyed an overall successful run since it’s creation in 1992 and is finally getting a new entry in the series. Bethesda announced Wolfenstein: The New Order, developed by swedish game studio Machine Games. No gameplay video exists yet, but Bethesda released a teaser trailer which reveals a bit about the game’s tone and themes…

We also know that Machine Games used id Software’s ID Tech 5 engine and that it’s based in alternate universe version of 1960. Read the Wolfenstein: The New Order press release below…

The year is 1960 and the Nazi’s have won World War II. War hero B.J. Blazkowicz must launch an impossible counter-offensive against the monstrous Nazi regime that has conquered the globe.

Intense, cinematic and rendered in stunning detail with id® Software’s id Tech® 5 engine, Wolfenstein sends players across Europe on a mission to bring down the Nazi war machine. Infiltrate their most heavily guarded facilities, battle high-tech Nazi legions, and take control of super-weapons that have conquered the earth — and beyond. Wolfenstein is under development at MachineGames, a studio comprised of a seasoned group of developers recognized for their work creating award-winning games.

Wolfenstein: The New Order is scheduled for release in Q4 2013 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and next generation consoles. And Beginning today, additional details about the game will be revealed in a series of exclusive feature stories with Gamespot.com.

Wolfenstein®: The New Order™ is a fictional story set in an alternate universe in the 1960′s. Names, characters, organizations, locations and events are either imaginary or depicted in a fictionalized manner. The story and contents of this game are not intended to and should not be construed in any way to condone, glorify or endorse the beliefs, ideologies, events, actions, persons or behavior of the Nazi regime or to trivialize its war crimes, genocide and other crimes against humanity.

Gamespot also did a feature describing the gameplay although they were unable to show the gameplay. Here’s what they said about the gameplay specifically…

Heavy feeling, 1960′s sci-fi weapons including a laser turret
Sliding feature allows you to quick get to cover, although there is no “cover mechanic”
Gameplay will encourage constant movement
Story driven, first person action adventure
Exploration and searching for features will happen alongside fast paced combat
Explore the Berlin catacombs in an underwater machine
Some robot enemies including robotic dogs and mecha suits
Interactive NPCs
Leaning feature allows you to shoot in unusual angles
Multiple choice scenarios
Single player only, no multiplayer

Wolfenstein: The New Order game screenshots & concept art via Gamespot…

Wolfenstein: The New Order trailer sceens…

From what we’ve seen, Wolfenstein: The New Order looks like it could be one of the best games this year. We’re really looking forward to it, although I’m a bit bummed there will be no multiplayer. Wolfenstein: The New Order is being developed by Machine Games and published by Bethesda. It’s due for a release date sometime late in 2013 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC and next generation consoles (presumably including PS4).

Wolfenstein Official Website

Gameplay impressions and developer commentary on Gamespot

Review: God Mode (PS3 version), good cheap online fun

Action Adventure, Cheap Thrills, Gaming, Hands On, Reviews No Responses »

May 032013

If you’re a budget gamer who wants to play online, then good news comes in the form of God Mode. The story is simple, you’re a descendent of a god who was banished from Mt Olympus. Consequently, you’re a mortal who’s recently died. Now you need to fight your through the “Maze of Hades” in order to win your life back. To be entirely honest, that doesn’t really matter at all. The fun really starts once you join a game and start playing.

God Mode offers up some wholesome 3rd person shooting action which feels like a blend of Gears of War’s “Horde Mode” and Quake III Arena. The game can be played single player (although there is no campaign/story mode) or you can play online via LAN or PSN with 3 other players. Some smart design decisions were made, for example, there is no cover system, so no “sticking” to walls. As a result, gameplay is quick and frenetic with cover being offered in the form of objects on the stage, nearly all of which are destructible. Death matching isn’t offered, rather the entire game focuses on 4 players working their way through the mazes co-operatively. Enemies range from zombies and skeleton warriors to minotaurs and Atlas statues throwing giant globes at you. Stages are often finished off with a massive boss which requires the 4 players to work together. Weapons are pretty varied ranging from the SMG you start to other more exotic weapons like a vulcan cannon. Items and power ups are littered through out the stages which replenish your health, ammo and armor. Fighting my way to brightly colored power ups reminded me of my days playing Quake III (and similar arena FPS’s). To keep things interesting, there is also a minigame style stage in between the combat called “Gold Rush” which challenges you to collect the most gold coins inside of a quiet martyrium style building. Despite having a limited amount of maps/mazes (about 5), gameplay is kept fresh thanks to 45 different modifiers which greatly improves God Mode’s replay value. Modifiers randomly effect the gameplay in some way, for example all the enemies could become huge, or your weapon could change every 10 seconds. Some of the modifiers are also done just to throw you off including one that makes all the sounds high pitched and another that makes all the enemies smaller.

Visually, God Mode does surprisingly well, especially when considering it’s modest price tag. It looks about as good as any other contemporary action title out there. Backgrounds have enough variety to be interesting and characters have a familiar charm and style. The music and sound design won’t win any awards, but sufficiently fits the action in the game, which really takes the front seat here. I played the Playstation 3 version of God Mode which did suffer from some slow texture loading which was only noticeable in the beginning of a stage and did not effect the gameplay at all.

I have only 1 complaint with God Mode… It would’ve been nice if the console versions (PS3 and Xbox 360) had split screen. That is really a critical feature for console gamers and as a result made me play the game online with strangers rather than the friends I was sitting with.

Verdict: God Mode doesn’t do anything terribly original, but what it does do, it does with utmost enjoyable simplicity. If you’re looking to spend a good 20 to 30 mins playing a modern arcade style action game without any story to follow (and remember) then God Mode has the goods.

God Mode screenshots (photographed on flatscreen)…

On a side note, which doesn’t effect the game’s score, it would be nice to see Old School Games add more content to God Mode as time goes on, even in the form of DLC. Since it’s just a $10 game, compelling paid DLC would be appropriate if the added features offer good value.

God Mode was developed by Old School Games and published by Atlus. It is available for Playstation 3 (via PSN), Xbox 360 (via XBLA) and PC (via Steam) as a downloadable game.

God Mode Official Site

Looking back at Team ICO’s history explains why The Last Guardian is taking so long

Action Adventure, Gaming No Responses »

May 032013

For many, one of the most anticipated Playstation 3 titles (and one of the reasons some bought a PS3 in the first place) has been the upcoming Team ICO game, The Last Guardian. Originally codenamed “Trico”, fans panicked fans and media hype have led some to believe that it was cancelled, where as others have waited patiently. We took a look at Team ICO’s track history as a long time Playstation developer since the original Playstation. Oh, you didn’t know that? We explain 2 things that show Team ICO’s history for taking a long time to make great games.

1) The original ICO game was supposed to be for the original Playstation.
It was taking so long to design the game that by the time it came out, the PS1 would’ve been obsolete. Consequently, Sony had Team ICO recreate it for the Playstation 2 with better graphics.

2) Shadow of the Colossus was supposed to have 48 collosi.
That’s right, the title endured a long and thorough production process with designer Fumito Ueda holding his team to a near perfectionist standard. As a result, SOTC had to be trimmed down to the 16 collosi we see in the final game.

Formed in 1997 and with only 2 games under their belt, it’s pretty self evident that Team ICO takes their time making a game. This is due in part to Ueda’s high standards of art; best displayed when he famously hired only 2 artists out of a 500 applicant pool. So when the media hype train throws rumors out there that The Last Guardian has been cancelled, it’s probably not true. Personally, I do think it’s likely going to be a Playstation 4 title, but thats purely speculative.

Kojima announces patch for Zone of the Enders HD Collection & puts ZOE sequel “on hold”

Action Adventure, Anime & Manga, Gaming No Responses »

May 032013

Metal Gear Solid and Zone of the Enders creator Hideo Kojima sounded off during a recent radio show discussing the future of the ZOE series. Kojima expressed his dissatisfaction with the ports of the PS2 classics in Zone of the Enders HD Collection (done by High Voltage Software). Particularly, he felt the drops in frames per second and choppiness in action scenes was unfair to fans. Consequently, he offered his deepest apologies to fans, especially of the PS2 versions who could really see the difference. To make things right, Hideo Kojima has his team completely reprogrammed the game and will be releasing a free patch to Playstation 3 users which will be officially announced at a later date. The Xbox 360 version will not be patched according to reports.

After that bit of good news, and you better believe it’s good news when a developer fixes software after it’s released, comes some slightly troubling news. Although he stops short of canceling the title, Kojima is putting the Zone of the Enders sequel (which was announced last year) on hold. He explains that the entire team that was working on the Ender’s Project (aka Anubis 2 in Japan) has been disbanded in Kojima’s efforts to review the franchise. His goal is to figure out what should be the next step for the ZOE series and if fans even want a new ZOE game. The game was to be developed using Kojima Productions & Konami’s new Fox Engine.

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