PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale preview

Last week in California, Sony hosted an event to showcase some of its bigger games for 2012.  Among them was a title that’s been rumored for a long time; one that’s been leaked in several places and somewhat confirmed with the securing of several domain names — PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale.  The company gave us the opportunity to go hands on with the game and the initial six fighters it will include.

Now, before you go off on any sort of “hey, this looks like Smash Bros.!” tangent, yes, it’s true.  PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale is essentially Sony’s equivalent of Nintendo’s multiplayer fighting game.  However, the newly formed development team at Superbot has done a good job making it feel like its own little party, adding certain things to the engine and making familiar characters from the PlayStation universe fit right in to the battle.



The first six characters are an interesting bunch.  You’ve got Fat Princess, a character who’s a better melee fighter than you might expect; Sly Cooper, who’s good on both speed and quick attacks; Twisted Metal’s Sweet Tooth, a guy that’s handy with a hatchet and mines; Kratos from God of War, a character who kicks ass on the ground and in the air; Parappa the Rapper, who has a few good moves along with several great super attacks; and Killzone’s General Radec, who’s nasty from a distance with an assault rifle.  All six bring something to the game, and over the next few months, several additions will be announced, including rumored favorites like Ratchet and Clank, Sackboy and Nathan Drake.

As for the gameplay, it’s got a lot in common with Smash.  You’ve got your various attacks that you can use on opponents, and they can change up depending on which direction you’re holding the D-pad or analog stick, so you can easily juggle someone in the air or lay them out with a vicious ground attack.  Once you hit an opponent enough times, you’ll be able to hit them with a super technique.  You can build this up three times — level one through level three — and the higher the super, the more enemies you can take out.



For instance, level one attacks consist of a quick strike, like what Sweet Tooth or Kratos can do with their weapons.  Level two offers a better range for taking out enemies, like with Parappa jumping on a skateboard and running people over.  Level three attacks go all out, from Parappa’s slamming stage attack to Radec jumping behind the camera and mounting a gun in a first-person perspective, shooting everything that moves.  Sweet Tooth’s robotic transformation is awesome as well.

An interesting fact about PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale is that you can’t knock anyone out of the ring.  They can’t fall off a platform to their death (like in Smash), nor can they be knocked into the stratosphere for instant kills.  Here, you have to fight in order to win the match.  It’s an interesting perk, along with the ability to pick up weapons throughout each battle, such as Resistance’s spiky grenades and a laser spear.



The backgrounds mix up quite a bit throughout the game.  So far, we know of four — a LittleBigPlanet level, a Hades stage, Ratchet and Clank’s Metropolis, and Jak and Daxter’s village.  Each one changes quite vastly, with serpents popping up in Metropolis to give Captain Qwark a hard time, and the LBP stage suddenly converting into a Buzz! TV show, complete with questions in-between rounds.  (You need to stand on the right answers to avoid taking damage.)  These are splendid additions to the game and keeps things unpredictable enough so you’ll continue to move around.  Our favorite of the bunch so far is Hades, as he tries to pound enemies in the foreground before becoming surrounded by Patapon.  Yes, Patapon.

So far, Sony has only confirmed local multiplayer (up to four people) for All Stars, but come on.  They’re going to announce online play soon enough, as that’s one of Smash Bros.’ more popular features on the Wii.  Look for that confirmation around E3, along with a few more surprises.



Even though some of you could dismiss this as a tasteless clone, PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale does have plenty of oomph to it thanks to the savvy programming of Superbot and an assortment of characters and backdrops that will keep you fighting well into the next round.  We’ll let you know how the final game fares when it ships in time for the holidays later this year.

Source : http://www.gamezone.com/products/playstation-all-stars-battle-royale/previews/playstation-all-stars-battle-royale-preview

Sniper Elite V2 Review

There are many challenges that await the virtual sniper. Infiltrating an area undetected, stalking your prey, and acquiring an uninterrupted line of sight--the tension of the hunt. Picking off targets, moving to a new position, setting traps, and evading your enemies--the thrill of the chase. Taking aim, calculating distance, slowly exhaling, and squeezing the trigger--the release of the kill. The satisfactions of sniping are many, but Sniper Elite V2 serves them up inelegantly, making it an uneven game for those who love the long shot.

Sometimes there are just too many dudes to keep things quiet.

Like its predecessor, Sniper Elite V2 is set during the closing days of WWII. You're an American sniper sent in to stop the Russians from scooping up Nazi scientists. Naturally, things don't go as planned and you have to improvise. The story plays out in nicely acted voice-overs and perfunctory cutscenes, providing a decent backdrop for your missions. The solid level design makes good use of the setting, as bombed-out buildings and barricaded streets provide lots of nice hiding places for a lone sniper. Unsurprisingly, PC players get a much-better-looking version of ruined Berlin, enjoying crisp details and lovely skies while Xbox 360 owners deal with softer, more muted visuals.

The beginning of each mission starts out stealthily. You are behind enemy lines, and your only allies are the weapons and munitions you carry with you. You can carry a rifle, a submachine gun, and a sidearm, and though you unlock new weapons as you progress, the differences are slight. More crucial is your choice of explosives. Trip wires, land mines, dynamite, and grenades all blow up in different ways, and having enough firepower to set an extra trap or take out a cluster of advancing enemies can be a big help.

But before you start blowing things up, it behooves you to remain quiet as long as possible. Crouch-walking everywhere gets tiresome, but loud footsteps attract hostile attention, and even one enemy in close quarters can spell doom for the fragile sniper. You can often make good progress with sneaky melee kills, silenced pistol shots, and timed rifle reports that are masked by the noise of exploding bombs or tolling bells. Guards usually move in predictable patterns that you can exploit, or you can lure them closer for a cleaner kill.

Shot through the heart! And also, the lung.

While your SMG and pistol are great teammates, your rifle is the franchise player. Shots to heads and torsos usually kill or incapacitate your foes. You can hone your targeting by slowly exhaling, which slows time and zooms in slightly. If your aim is true, you are rewarded with one of the many gruesome and gratifying camera shots that Sniper Elite V2 lovingly serves up. The camera tracks the bullet and gives you a front-row seat to the moment of impact. Sometimes you just watch the bullet enter and exit the body, leaving a blooming exit wound behind. The more dramatic moments offer an X-ray view of the bullet smashing through bones and tearing through organs in grisly slow motion. These are brutal and gratuitous (perhaps too much so, for some), but even after hours of sniping, they never get old.

Once your enemies have a bead on you, things get trickier. They close in on your position and pepper you with gunfire. Their erratic advances can make it tougher to hit them, but just because they are moving doesn't mean they are moving smartly. Foot soldiers sometimes just scurry back and forth willy-nilly, while countersnipers occasionally fire repeatedly into the windowsill right in front of them. This is when Sniper Elite V2 veers away from feeling like a proper sniping game and starts to feel more like a flawed shooting gallery.

A mounted machine gun is a powerful weapon, but seeing enemies nonchalantly man these emplacements despite the mountain of bodies nearby brings the AI shortcomings into stark relief. When a fresh crop of foes spawns and populates improbable places in the area you just finished clearing, it feels like someone has simply reset the gallery for the next round. And when vehicles roll in with big, shiny red caps on their gas tanks, you'd be forgiven for wondering if wobbly yellow ducks are far behind.

Admiring the wreckage.

This feeling is exacerbated on normal difficulty. You can easily take a hit from a sniper, use the visual assists to locate him, get him in your sights, and take him out long before he can kill you. It isn't easy per se, but you get the feeling that the only time you die is when you are careless. Hard difficulty swings the balance back the other way. If you aren't able to acquire an enemy sniper, calculate bullet drop, compensate for wind, and fire quickly, an enemy sniper will take you out. Even a foot soldier with a submachine gun can be deadly from a distance. With aim assists and enemy tagging off, this difficulty makes careful planning a must and successful shots that much sweeter.

The campaign is lengthy, clocking in at over 10 hours long, and it can be played cooperatively online. There are also some other game types for two players, including Kill Tally, in which you take on increasingly tough waves of enemies, and Bombing Run, in which you radiate outward from a central point to retrieve airplane parts. These offer the same cooperative fun of the two-player campaign missions, but Overwatch provides something a bit different. One player is the sniper, confined to an elevated position, and the other is a foot soldier, carrying out objectives on the ground and spotting for the sniper. Though there are some cool moments, like seeing your sniper buddy ace the enemy who was bearing down on you, playing as a vulnerable, rifle-less grunt is a drag, because the best strategy is often just to wait until your overwatcher takes care of business.

Sniper Elite V2 is best when you are the one setting the pace. Lining up good shots and laying low dozens of foes is a lot of fun, though it can get tiresome to fight your way through yet another area newly populated with thick-headed rifle fodder. Your tolerance for transparently game-y elements will go a long way toward determining how much you enjoy this glorified shooting gallery, but if you relish a good headshot, Sniper Elite V2 has got you covered.



Source : http://www.gamespot.com/sniper-elite-v2/reviews/sniper-elite-v2-review-6374659/

Fable Heroes Review

Fable Heroes Review:
Announced less than two months ago, Fable Heroes is a title we've been anticipating with open hearts and anxious thumbs. Promising all the chicken-kicking charm of Lionhead's fantasy RPG series, coupled with cooperative Castle Crashers-styled gameplay, it sounded like a match made in heaven...or at least Albion. Unfortunately, while its adorable presentation has style to spare, its uninspired gameplay falls short of its potential.

Adorable Albion

Before players battle Hobbes and break treasure chests, Heroes hits them with its imaginative art style. Rather than recycling the franchise's defining look, Lionhead favors a fresh approach based on colorful board games, storybooks, and puppet-show theaters. Up to four co-op players―online or off―assume the roles of hero dolls inspired by the collectible playthings from previous Fable games.

Familiar faces, such as Hammer and Reaver, are back, but now sport Sackboy-like makeovers. From Hobbes to Hollow Men, Balvarines to Beetles, these cute characters fight returning foes through an Albion evocative of a pop-up book come to life. Side-scrolling through pretty 2D/3D hybrid worlds, from Millfields to Mistpeak, players soak in a rainbow-shaming color palette, collect more coins than Mario sees on a good day, and encounter enemies sporting Santa hats and tossing exploding jack-o-lanterns. And, of course, players get to punt plenty of poultry too.

It's all pretty charming, especially when you've got a Fable-loving friend in tow to enjoy the fan-pleasing call-outs. Sadly, Heroes soon reveals itself as a style-over-substance affair, featuring unchallenging combat, even on the “Challenging” difficulty. More than that though, it lacks any sort of satisfying depth or rewarding progression system.
Each player gets one weapon with which to perform light and flourish attacks, but they’ll quickly learn the latter takes too long to execute and the former does just fine on its own. An evasive maneuver is similarly unnecessary since you rarely need to worry about dying. The one inspired gem in your arsenal is a powerful area-of-effect attack that takes out multiple baddies at once; featuring a cool risk-versus-reward aspect, it also siphons one of your life-sustaining hearts whenever it‘s triggered. Still, much of its appeal is sapped by the fact you can essentially complete the game by ignoring it entirely in favor of hammering on the attack button.

Battles Without Bite
You will die in Heroes, usually during boss battles, but your doll quickly resurrects as a ghost. The punishment for letting a baddie get the best of you is the inability to collect gold, the currency driving the game's upgrade system. This could’ve been a brilliant balance between killing off a player until the level’s finished or re-spawning them immediately, but because there's always an abundance of shiny coins, there's little consequence in leaving your corporeal self behind.
When each level concludes, players’ collected riches are tallied; on top of brimming your bank, the gold grants dice rolls to be used in the between-mission mini-game. Here, players move along a board, stopping on tiles to purchase upgrades and perks. These may include the ability to inflict more damage, collect more gold, or grant an enemy-specific skill, such as the power to kick Hobbes. In addition to the obvious problem of these bonuses being diluted by the game's lack of difficulty, they're just not that interesting or tangible.

We initially anticipated each trip to the board in hopes of unlocking slick new weapons, spells, skills, or anything allowing us to customize our character in a meaningful way. In fact, we purchased every available item on the outside tiles because the game hinted at better unlocks hidden within the inner board. Dozens of dice rolls later, however, we discovered this promise was as empty as Chesty, Fable’s attacking treasure chest. The later abilities were generally just glorified versions of upgrades we'd already purchased, leaving us disappointed and tired of Heroes’ genuinely promising, but ultimately underwhelming character progression system.
Attempts to inject some nuance and strategy do come in the form of power-ups. During missions, players can crack treasure chests to unleash items that temporarily increase their size, make them invisible, disguise them as a Hobbe, and pair them with a doppelganger. While it’s entertaining beating on Hobbes while dressed as one, there's no strategic necessity behind it.
Fable’s signature morality system is also represented by good and evil treasure chests; open the former and a cloud rains coins on you and your buddies, while the latter summons lightning that zaps players of their gold. Admittedly, conjuring the money-sucking storm yields some lighted hearted competition, as it triggers an impromptu game of tag forcing players to frantically attempt to pass off the curse. Similar fun is found in mini-games of chicken soccer, mine cart and boat racing, and a live-as-long-as-you-can challenge pitting players against endless waves of uglies until there's a single hero standing.

More Fun With Friends
Completing Heroes’ map--also represented as a colorful tabletop game board--takes just under two hours, but doing so unlocks a “Dark” version with tougher enemies and different environments. It's not an entirely new experience, but worth a play-through if you’re craving more finger-callusing action. Additionally, those wishing to access all unlockable characters, as well as their power-ups and abilities, will need to conquer the campaign several times.
Despite our overall disappointment, we recommend Heroes to serious Fable fans, if only for its fresh take on the franchise. Faithful followers will no doubt enjoy seeing their favorite characters and worlds re-imagined in this vibrant, living fairy-tale storybook. And the gameplay, while a far cry from our expectations, isn’t all bad.
Playing solo--with three AI partners--is a slog, but competing for coins, playing mini-games, and beating the stuffing out of minions and bosses alongside a buddy does provide plenty of button-mashing fun that’ll also net some easy Achievements. And, at the very least, your accumulated riches can be transferred to Fable: The Journey when it arrives later this year.


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/65941/fable-heroes/review

Skyrim adding Dawnguard DLC this summer

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will add its first wave of downloadable content this summer, Bethesda confirmed this afternoon. Titled Dawnguard, the content will arrive initially for the Xbox 360 and will be discussed in greater detail at the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo this June.

Skyrim adds its first DLC pack this June.

Bethesda issued one image for the content (at right), which depicts the game's dragonborn male character. His eyes are illuminated with a gold hue, and a quiver of arrows rests upon his back. Last week, it was suggested that Skyrim's first DLC would add crossbows and snow elves to the game.

Dawnguard will launch first on the Xbox 360 and will remain exclusive to that platform for 30 days. After that time has elapsed, it will spread to additional platforms.

The title Dawnguard is not a surprise. In March, Bethesda parent company Zenimax sought a trademark for Dawnguard but did not provide any details on what it planned to do with the name. For more on Skyrim, check out GameSpot's review.





Source : http://gamespot.com/news/skyrim-adding-dawnguard-dlc-this-summer-6374442

Awesomenauts Review

There's nothing quite like a monkey with a laser mounted to its jetpack fighting a ninja lizard, space sheriff, and robot Incredible Hulk. Awesomenauts is absurd and hilarious. For the most part, it's entertaining to play, too. It distills a complicated, largely PC-only genre down to its essence, and it does so mostly successfully. Awesomenauts is one of the first instances of a multiplayer online battle arena on consoles, and when it isn't stumbling over its own simplicity, it does a great job of bringing something exciting to a new audience.

Think of the MOBA genre like inverse tug-of-war – two teams with distinct hero characters push against waves of human players and their AI companions; whichever group breaks through the other side first takes home the win. Turret placements block routes, summon spots spawn additional help, and hidden paths allow players to flank their foes. Awesomenauts builds a complex layer of strategy around a bare-bones 2D core, and this is where thoughtful players will discover smart tactics.

They're the folks who'll realize retreating is smarter than sacrifice, and that the on-the-fly character upgrades they'll earn because of it are more important than another kill. Staying alive means not contributing to the other team's resources, too, as you'll drop plenty of currency for them when killed. Letting them clean up and buy upgrade their dynamite, rocket, or knife abilities will end you.

Awesomenauts is a lot of work, and the more you put into each match the more you'll get out of it, both short- and long-term.

You can hide behind your robots to take on turrets.

This is the biggest issue with Awesomenauts. As you're starting out and discovering the strengths and weaknesses of each vastly different hero, higher-ranking players will slaughter you. Not because their level means they're stronger – everyone starts out even and without upgrades – but because the unlockable characters are
considerably better than the limited starting selection.

They're more capable, have better weaponry, and are just more capable of killing your team. There's a stark, immediately noticeable imbalance that adds a stacked rock-paper-scissors sense to the roster.

I hated Awesomenauts for a few hours. The wacky Saturday morning cartoon theme, western music, and simple destructive gameplay was fun, sure, but the grind drove me mad. Eventually, I learned, adapted, and improved. Awesomenauts is unforgiving for newcomers, even though it's structurally simple, and the growing pains are awful if you're not enduring it with someone else.

Don't forget to spend the money you earn. Your team relies on it.

Even if you're a vetted MOBA nerd, this separate spin on the same idea makes you look at the genre in a new light -- dimmer, perhaps softer, rather than plugging in a new bulb altogether. That Awesomenauts is a multiplayer game first and foremost – don't bother with bot matches alone – means you're likely to play it in the company of others.

Without friends, the battlefield is lonely and frustrating, so make sure you're bringing friends in from the get-go. It turns an amusing game into a strong and strategic one.


Source : http://ps3.ign.com/articles/122/1224122p1.html

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 hits Nov. 13

The speculation has ended. Activision has confirmed Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for a November 13, 2012 launch for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. The news comes by way of the official Call of Duty website, which (perhaps too soon), launched a splash page for the new game.

Black Ops 2 has blown its cover.

As was previously suspected, Black Ops 2 will be set in the near-future, during a "21st Century Cold War where technology and weapons have converged to create a new generation of warfare."

No specific settings for Black Ops 2 were revealed, but a still image from a video embedded on the game's website appears to depict the Californian city of Los Angeles in flames. Last week, several global settings for the project were teased, including China, Japan, and Afghanistan.

A Black Ops sequel is less than surprising at this point. The game had already been spotted on French and Spanish retailer websites, and an employee at a contract art studio listed work for Black Ops 2 on his resume.

Additionally, the information floodgates began pouring out Black Ops 2 information late last month. In the span of two weeks, retail marketing material revealed the game would be unveiled in early May, with the first images of Black Ops leaking last week alongside box art for the game.

The original Call of Duty: Black Ops remains the most successful Call of Duty game to date, selling more than 25 million copies through August 2011. Last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 initially sold at a faster pace than its predecessor, but failed to make the NPD Group's Top 10 list in March, its fifth month of release. In contrast, Black Ops had become the best-selling game of all time in the US by the March following its debut and cracked the NPD Top 10 for 11 straight months.

Tonight, Activision will officially take the wraps off its newest Call of Duty game during the NBA playoffs on TNT.


Source : http://gamespot.com/news/call-of-duty-black-ops-2-hits-nov-13-6374419

Bayonetta 2 shelved - Report

A sequel to Platinum Game's Bayonetta has been cancelled, says a SPOnG source "familiar with the situation". According to the same source, who cannot confirm whether the game was in development or merely pre-production, the unannounced sequel would have featured a new character who was a member of the US military.

As tweeted by Platinum Games' Atsushi Inaba.

It is possible Bayonetta 2 was one of the unnamed games that Sega recently announced it would scrap as part of a company-wide restructuring. At the time of that announcement, Bayonetta designer Hideki Kamiya told a fan asking if Sega would still publish his game: "I'm not Sega Man. Ask Sega".

A Sega representative told GameSpot they "can't comment" on the rumour, and Platinum Games producer Atsushi Inaba neither confirmed nor denied it in a jokey tweet ("We've heard all the rumours on the net. What do you guys think? Too bad it got cancelled, huh?") accompanied by a mocked-up Bayonetta 2 image (pictured).

If there's no sequel for her in the foreseeable future, Bayonetta at least gets a cameo-style outing this summer in Platinum Games' multiplayer brawler Anarchy Reigns, which will be published by Sega in July.


Source : http://gamespot.com/news/bayonetta-2-shelved-report-6374418

God of War: Ascension gets multiplayer

The God of War is making the jump to multiplayer. When the series prequel God of War: Ascension arrives on the PlayStation 3 next year, it will do so with a new multiplayer mode, Sony has confirmed.

There is no "I" in God of War. Pretty soon, there won't be one in this Cyclops, either.

While the publisher has not revealed the extent of the mode yet, it has detailed one game type. The Team Execution mode will feature two groups of four players battling for control of a specific part of the map. In one version of the game, the teams fight to activate a cog chained to a giant imprisoned Cyclops, with the winning team earning the right to kill the helpless monster.

The game's multiplayer mode will feature some persistent features as players develop their Troy or Spartan soldiers over time. Performance on the battlefield can yield blessings from the gods in the form of new perks, weapons, and abilities. There will also be a number of different combat roles for players depending on the god they associate themselves with, be it Hades, Poseidon, Zeus, or Ares.

Speculation about a multiplayer mode for God of War picked up last year when job listings at Sony Santa Monica called for people to join the God of War development team to create multiplayer services for the franchise. However, when Ascension was first announced earlier this month, Sony's official product page for the game specified that it was a single-player adventure with no online mode.

For more on God of War: Ascension multiplayer, check out GameSpot's first look at the mode.




Source : http://www.gamespot.com/news/god-of-war-ascension-gets-multiplayer-6374181

The Walking Dead: Episode 1 - A New Day Review

This is not your average Telltale Games adventure. The developer best known for all-ages affairs like the Back to the Future and Tales of Monkey Island franchises has nimbly waded into the guts and gore of the zombie apocalypse with the first episode of its five-part take on The Walking Dead. A New Day is chock-full of all the bursting brains, eaten entrails, and sudden deaths of leading characters that feature prominently in both Robert Kirkman's award-winning comic series and the freewheeling TV show adaptation. Marty McFly might not approve, but you certainly will if you have even the slightest taste for good zombie stories…and a strong stomach to deal with the many gross-out moments.

Luckily, Lee had been laying down some hardwood flooring when the zombie burst into his house.

What makes A New Day so compelling is its attention to appearance, plot, and character development. To help with clarity, the art sheds the black-and-white style of the comics in favor of vibrant color, though it uses similar art to that drawn by Charlie Adlard in the current issues. Fans may yearn for an option to go into a black-and-white mode, but the game art builds nicely on its paper inspiration. The PC and console versions of the game look much the same, although the PC edition is best overall with the smoothest animations. Its 360 counterpart is extremely dark even with the in-game brightness turned up all the way, though the only serious issue is the camera, which is often too close to the action to get a good look at your surroundings. You get a good cinematic view of everything, at least, although this doesn't help much when you're scrounging through the drugstore for goodies or checking out nearby zombies.

The story has been crafted adroitly to weave in and out of the events told in the comics and on TV, blending the new with the familiar. So while you take on the role of the previously unseen Lee Everett, the adventure takes you through parts of rural Georgia also visited by Rick Grimes and the gang. Many of the events here fill out backstories from the comics. You visit Hershel's farm before he started that interesting collection in his barn, for instance, and rescue Glenn when he gets trapped during one of his scavenging runs.

All of the characters are very well written and voiced as individuals (none of the TV actors reprise their roles here, though), which makes you care about whether or not they get munched on by ravenous corpses. It's difficult to get up from the game, so expect to finish it in a two- or three-hour single sitting. Granted, there are some cliches. Lee is a stereotypical man of mystery, with a sinister past that may involve his killing the US senator messing around with his wife. His kid sidekick, Clementine, while lovable and tough in her own right, is obviously a plot device to help tragic Lee find his way again.

And Carley used to think that stray dogs and the odd crack in the road were hazardous during her morning jogs.

Actual gameplay is of a more so-so quality. Although this is a point-and-click adventure, the puzzles are few and far between. Exploration is a must in a couple of places, and there are a few spots where you need to gather items to push the plot forward. Controls are basic. On the PC, you use a mouse-and-WASD combo, occasionally resorting to the number keys to change between the standard looking, taking, talking, and using abilities. Consoles work in a similar fashion, with the left stick moving, the right stick taking care of the point of view, and the four face buttons handling character abilities. Other than the control scheme, there isn't much to figure out. Most of the game deals with interacting with fellow survivors through dialogue.

Conversations typically give you limited time to respond to comments, forcing you to decide whether to blow somebody off or make nice. No selections are absolutely wrong. You can be tough on a coward who ran away instead of helping a friend avoid being chomped, or be kind to a sharpshooting gal in the hope that she might just save your life at some point. Key dialogue choices change how the game plays out, although not in wildly dramatic ways. You make a friend, you make an enemy, somebody notices you telling a lie, that sort of thing. The main difference between choices is the severity of the tone taken by other characters when speaking to you.

Quick-time action sequences bring up more important options. You find yourself a heartbeat away from zombie chompers on more than a few occasions during A New Day. When this happens, you're given a few seconds to either left-click/button-mash a wavering cursor on a zombie skull or hammer some keys/button-mash to fend off the dead guy's groping hands and snapping teeth. Miss this, and you're a juicy burger. Nevertheless, none of this is very challenging, and the mechanics are simplistic enough to draw in casual gaming fans of the Walking Dead comics and TV show.

Shoot him in his brains before he starts munching on yours.

The first surprise attack comes so suddenly that you barely have a chance to react before the teeth sink into your neck, but after that you can cruise through the moments of zombie mayhem, most notably a screwdriver/axe beatdown in a motel courtyard. What's more shocking are the times when you're forced to make the call between saving one friend in peril and giving one up to the hungry dead. These moments are unsettling and very true to the horrific nature of the comics, where beloved, long-running characters can be torn apart without notice.

Telltale's Walking Dead series is off to a great start with A New Day. This is more story than game, so there's little challenge in the hours you spend fleeing and fighting and talking about the zombie hordes. But that approach works here, allowing the game to build upon the cruel, character-driven comic series and stand apart from more mayhem-oriented zombie games like Left 4 Dead and Dead Island. This also lets you get to know the cast in a more intimate manner than would be possible if the episode were all about splattering zombies and solving puzzles. Although given the source material, you still probably shouldn't get too attached to anybody.


Source : http://www.gamespot.com/the-walking-dead-episode-1/reviews/the-walking-dead-episode-1-review-6374233

Mortal Kombat Vita Review

As Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 proved at the system's launch, the Vita can be a very capable home for fighting games. The system's gorgeous screen and impressive hardware make for a handheld that can stand up next to what the consoles have to offer. NetherRealm's Mortal Kombat reboot is the latest fighting game to get the Vita treatment, and luckily stands as a great port of last year's viciously violent fighter.




 

Mortal Kombat Vita Gameplay Trailer

In terms of sheer content, Mortal Kombat on Vita offers a ton of features both new and old. The entire original game that released on consoles last year is here, complete with the full challenge tower and story mode. Additionally, all four DLC characters are now available from the get-go, along with God of War's Kratos, who was a special character in the PlayStation 3 version of the game. If that wasn't enough, the Vita version also adds in another bonus challenge tower accessible from the menu, with challenges that capitalize both on the DLC characters as well as the Vita's touchscreen and motion controls.

Mortal Kombat on Vita brings all of the brutal combat, huge character roster, and bloody fatalities from last year's game to the system. The fast and frantic pace and combo-based mechanics are a blast to play, and the brutal X-ray moves return from the console version. While the AI can be exceptionally cheap at times leading to some real moments of frustration, the game still plays very well. Last year's story mode also returns with no changes made, following Raiden and his band of Earthrealm warriors as they attempt to change the past by fighting through the events of the first three Mortal Kombat games. The story is pretty cheesy and is filled with some over the top voice work and writing, but is a pretty fun take that MK fans will dig.

Mortal Kombat's vicious X-Ray moves return in fine form.

Control is an area where previous fighters have faltered on handhelds, and where Mortal Kombat on Vita shines. The game controls extremely well, and once unwieldy fatalities have been given the touchscreen treatment and are much easier to pull off. Simple directional swipes replace d-pad presses and face buttons aren't required when using the touchscreen. If you'd like to still use the more traditional button-based control scheme for fatalities, you absolutely can.

Another great element added to the mix is a brand new challenge tower. The new tower is a completely separate group of original challenges, quite a few of which take advantage of what the Vita has to offer from a hardware perspective. Using the accelerometer and touchscreen, you'll be doing everything from juggling fighters in the air with missile fire and wiping away view obstructing blood from the screen to shaking the Vita to defuse bombs and stagger enemies.

The bonus challenge tower includes two new modes, as well – Test Your Slice and Test Your Balance. Test Your Slice is a Fruit Ninja-style mini-game that has you slashing across the touchscreen, dismembering body parts to rack up high scores, while the more difficult Test Your Balance mode requires you to tilt your Vita to balance your character and keep them from falling in a deadly pit, all while severed body parts are being thrown at you. Of the two, Test Your Slice was a lot more fun, but neither of them really seemed to add much outside of self-contained, gimmicky experiences.

 

The bonus challenge tower offers a ton of great new missions.

However, there are still plenty of challenges that play out more traditionally, featuring the game's four previously DLC-only characters for the first time in the challenge tower. The new tower will require you to use Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain, and Freddy Krueger quite often, on top of the aforementioned Vita hardware abilities.

Playing through the challenge tower is definitely addictive and extremely tough, but feels rewarding as you burn your way through it. As you complete the tower and you're your way through the game's other modes, you'll earn Koins that can be spent in the Krypt on new costumes, art, and other unlockables. You'll even get some new art and costumes from the DLC characters, which were previously unavailable in the original release. Overall, the new challenge tower is a blast, offering varied gameplay and some really fun, albeit very difficult moments littered throughout.

Some of the challenge tower missions can get pretty weird.

Graphically, Mortal Kombat on Vita runs at an impressively smooth 60 frames per second with very few bouts of slowdown. The original console experience ran at a similar clip, so being able to bring that and the smooth animations to a handheld format is a notable feat by the developers. However, there were a few consolations that happened in order to ensure the fast framerate, namely in the image quality of the character models. While the game looks great in motion, a closer look reveals that the characters look jagged, blocky, and not as detailed as their console counterparts. However, the grievance is a small one, and watching the game in motion is fantastic, as it successfully captures the fast pace and action of the original game.

The game supports both Wi-Fi and Ad-Hoc play. While there were a couple of performance hiccups in play sessions over Wi-Fi, Ad-Hoc worked swimmingly and both managed to maintain fluid framerates throughout.



Source : http://vita.ign.com