Heavy Rain Developer's Next Project at E3?

Mere hours after IGN wished that Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream would show off its new game at E3, sources are saying it's happening. According to a ComputerAndVideoGames.com "trusted source," studio founder David Cage will present the new project at Sony's E3 Press Conference. The source also claims that the company is working on two separate projects.

A PlayStation spokesperson said the company doesn't comment on rumor or speculation, but what do you think? As we hypothesized in our E3 preview, it makes sense. The Quantic Dream short film Kara showcased a year-old game engine, so it's possible that Quantic Dream has been working on the game for quite a while and is ready to showcase it.

Let us know your theories and thoughts in the comments below. Then, check out the Sony E3 Press Conference livestream here on IGN Monday, June 4th, at 6 p.m. Pacific. You can even stream the conference via the free IGN app on your Xbox 360 if you want it on your big screen. Until then, watch Up at Noon's ridiculous E3 predictions...

Source : http://www.ign.com

Resident Evil and the Hollywood Zombie Movie

Capcom's Resident Evil series has changed dramatically from 1996 to 2012, its humble beginnings as a haunted house survival horror increasingly distant in the rear-view mirror. It’s easy to look back on the original as a dusty curio now, but its influence still lingers, even if the series itself has taken an action-orientated turn.

The same goes for the Hollywood zombie movie. When Night of the Living Dead debuted in 1968, George A. Romero introduced the shambling re-animated corpse to the world and built a sense of escalating dread around it. Nowadays, the zombie movie is often a hard-edged thriller featuring fast-paced creatures – rarely is the word ‘zombie’ used anymore - or tongue-in-cheek schlock intended to be watched with a raised eyebrow through a pair of Buddy Holly glasses.

In fact, the recent drought of decent undead cinema leads us to wonder if the genre has temporarily dried up, or perhaps it's just enjoying its affair with the small screen. The Resident Evil series, however, is continuing to reinvent itself in order to stay relevant, sometimes to the chagrin of its fans.

With Resident Evil 6 on the horizon, it's time to take a look at the evolution of both the iconic game series and the zombie film, as bloody bedfellows.

This article contains minor spoilers. And we’re sticking with Resident Evils 1-5 for reasons of sanity and simplicity.

Resident Evil (1996) / Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Famously influenced by early ‘survival horror’ games such as Alone in the Dark and Sweet Home, Shinji Mikami’s Resident Evil also shares many similarities with Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. An emphasis on escape over combat and survival on limited resources is typical of both, as is the ‘shambling’ zombie. Both are eerily quiet experiences, a nervous mixture of sudden shocks and quiet dread of what could be behind the next door.

Ultimately, both impacted the genres in which they were working in irrevocably – Living Dead serving to popularize the zombie in cinema, while Resident Evil ushered survival horror into the mainstream.

Resident Evil 2 (1998) / Dawn of the Dead (1978)

While Resident Evil 2 may not have been as influential, it succeeded in perfecting its predecessor’s formula. The same can be said for Romero’s 1979 sequel, a bloodier affair with significantly more bite. By taking the scares ‘out of the house,’ Resident Evil 2 and Dawn of the Dead serve up a potent array of unique moments.  Resident Evil had ‘lickers,’ giant crocodiles and dogs in the sewers, while Dawn of the Dead had an entire mall to soak pulpy red.

Today, Resident Evil 2 and Dawn of the Dead are considered classics, their critical and commercial success cementing the longevity of their franchises. It is only in the brains department that the pair part ways – Dawn of the Dead is a successful allegory on consumerism, whereas Resident Evil 2 retains that dunderheaded charm so particular to the series.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) / Evil Dead II (1987)

Okay, this was a tough one. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis never really felt like a 'proper' sequel - perhaps because it was never intended to be. Originally pitched by Capcom as a side-quest story, Nemesis focused on Jill Valentine, leading up to the events of Resident Evil 2. It was a limited exclusivity deal with Sony that demanded the numerical title, despite the ongoing production of Resident Evil: Code Veronica, who many consider to be the purer sequel.

Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II, while not a zombie movie in the classic sense (bear with me), built upon the foundations of the original Evil Dead with only cosmetic additions. Set in the same cabin a few hours after the events of Evil Dead, number two was essentially a remake, defining itself with a schlockier tone and an upping of bloody ante. Like Nemesis, it plays like a '0.5,' bridging the gap between its predecessor and a vastly divergent sequel.

It's a stretch, but hey, it's creative.

Resident Evil 4 (2005) / Dawn of the Dead (2004)

With a new over the shoulder perspective and emphasis on fight over flight, Resident Evil 4 was a thrill to play. It did, however, remove much of what had become so typical of the series, and indeed, typical of survival horror in general.  No longer were we crippled by sluggish controls or a scarcity of bullets; new precision aiming and (relatively) plentiful ammo meant Leon Kennedy had a glut of ways in which to dispatch his foes. It was a resounding success, Pandora's box had been opened, and the genre never fully recovered.

Zack Snyder's 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake pumped similar adrenaline into the zombie genre. With its alt metal soundtrack, sprinting zombies and frenetic action, the remake hurtled zombies into, somewhat ironically, the video game era. For better or worse.

Resident Evil 5 (2009)

Diary of The Dead (2007)

While Romero’s found footage-style Diary of the Dead may not share obvious similarities with Resident Evil 5, both did one thing extremely well: divide their audience. A dedicated audience of fans will flock to anything Romero directs, but Diary’s meditative tone and lack of any real scares lead some fans to question his authoritative grasp on his own genre.

Resident Evil 5 had similar speed bumps to overcome; after the triumphant 4, it was a predictably anticlimactic entry into the series’ catalog.  Criticism was leveled at the addition of a chatty partner and the brute power of Chris Redfield, stripping the game of the tension the series was renowned for. Both Diary and Resident Evil 5 were ambitious entries - successful in many ways - yet ultimately burdened by their own legacies.

Source : http://www.ign.com

PSN Introduces Ultimate Editions Tuesday

When the PlayStation Store updates on Tuesday, it'll bring with it a brand new kind of digital game. "Ultimate Editions" will be digital versions of PlayStation 3 games with all of that game's downloadable content for a reduced price. Nine Ultimate Editions will debut tomorrow and be available at the following prices (including discounts for PlayStation Plus members) until June 4th. So far on the PlayStation Blog, it appears that this event is only for North America.

- PlayStation Blog

Red Dead Redemption - $27.99 ($19.59 PlayStation Plus)
Infamous 2 - $33.99 ($23.79 PlayStation Plus)
BioShock 2 - $27.99 ($19.59 PlayStation Plus)
MotorStorm Apocalypse - $50.49 ($35.34 PlayStation Plus)
Call of Duty: Black Ops - $66.49 ($46.54 PlayStation Plus)

L.A. Noire - $27.99 ($19.59 PlayStation Plus)
Mafia II - $20.99 ($14.69 PlayStation Plus)
Just Cause 2 - $20.99 ($14.69 PlayStation Plus)
Mortal Kombat - $34.99 ($24.49 PlayStation Plus)



Source : http://www.ign.com

Resistance: Burning Skies Review

Looking back at IGN's previews of Resistance: Burning Skies, the same idea keeps popping up: this is a handheld first-person shooter that feels like its console brethren. After shoehorning FPS games onto portables for years, having a true dual-stick shooter on the go is exciting -- it's just that Resistance: Burning Skies isn't. Burning Skies is a competent shooter with presentation problems that does little to thrill you.

Like most shooters these days, Resistance: Burning Skies is broken into two parts -- single player and online multiplayer. The solo campaign casts you as Tom Reilly, a New York firefighter thrust right into the action as the Chimera invade America for the first time. Tom's just doing his job and rescuing people, but when the Chimera abduct his wife and kid in front of him, he's committed to the fight until he gets them back (translating into six chapters of gameplay that should take you six or fewer hours).

“ Burning Skies is a competent shooter with presentation problems that does little to thrill you.

Unfortunately, most of that is straightforward and mindless. Tom rarely speaks, and when he does, it's rarely about his emotions. We're just some dude blasting and hacking our way across a bridge because getting there is the objective and we're hoping to find some weapon upgrades on the linear path. There are cutscenes between each chapter, but they're always told from another character's perspective. We never get a genuine moment with Tom, so why should we care about his motivation?

As such, the action is the main focus in Resistance: Burning Skies, and again, it's competent but lackluster. If you want to shoot things and peek out of cover, Burning Skies has it, but it doesn't have much more than that. Each time you run into a room, there are a bunch of Chimera to shoot. Most of these guys will just stand there and fight from one spot. Bosses are a breeze, and I think that has something to do with the way the game is controlled on the Vita.

Oddly, Burning Skies disables the Vita's ability to take screenshots.

See, the dual sticks and shoulder buttons allow for the console FPS basics that everyone knows. It's tight, responsive and going to make most feel at home. However, the Vita makes up for the buttons it's lacking with the front touch screen and the rear touch pad. You can double tap the back touch to run, and tap or hold the front touch to melee, interact with the environment and utilize each of the eight guns' secondary fire modes.

Here's where the breezy feeling meets the controls. These touch mechanics work and were only annoying when I'd accidentally melee a door or fire a tag round into the floor trying to interact with an object. However, holding the screen to fire an RPG or mark an enemy for the Bullseye takes time, and I think that's why the enemies aren't all that challenging; they're giving you a chance to use the touch screen mechanics.

There's a Burning Skies Trophy for killing a bunch of Executioners -- huge enemies each with a cannon for an arm -- but when one of these guys would show up, I'd stand in the open, tag the cannon with the Bullseye, and then empty a clip from cover. The game gave me ample time to do this without getting blown away by the beast. I didn't need a crazy strategy or to stay on my toes. It was as if the game was saying "Use the secondary now!" Even though the game does offer different difficulties, I found the ones unlocked from the get go to be like this but with less health for Tom.

In the spots where I did die, Burning Skies became all the more frustrating due to its poor checkpoint system. Sometimes, I'd start quite a ways back from where I perished (the bridge section), and other times I'd start before a pivotal moment and have to listen to the same conversation over and over (the final boss).

When you switch to multiplayer, you lose the gripes about story and the ho-hum enemies, but you don't find the hook that'll make Resistance: Burning Skies a must have. Good for up to eight players, the online options are limited at best. There are no clans, a handful of maps, and perks that are just unlockable weapons and mods from the single-player campaign. If you're aching for a handheld shooter, the game's three modes (deathmatch, team deathmatch and survival) will be here for you, but I don’t know how much of a community will sprout up around this.

Interestingly, one of my biggest complaints about Resistance: Burning Skies is the game's audio. The orchestral score is beautiful, but it doesn't seem to get used all that often. Instead, it seemed like my soundtrack was my own footsteps as I ran through single-player and multiplayer. In multiplayer, another issue arose where I'd be all alone in an area but gunfire would sound as if it was raining down on me. No matter where I was in a match, it sounded like I was in the heat of battle as long as someone somewhere was using his or her gun.



Source : http://www.ign.com

E3 2012 Preview

With mere days to go until the Electronic Entertainment Expo opens its doors on June 4th, the biggest video game event of the year is officially upon us. Time to start getting incredibly excited, absurdly optimistic and irrationally terrified. OK, scratch that last part, but this thing is gigantic and packed with thousands of awesome video games. Get ready!

IGN will be in Los Angeles covering every second of it, playing every secret demo behind closed doors, kidnapping developers for exclusive intel and attending every event and industry party. And through the magic of the internet, you'll be right there with us and probably wearing your pajamas. Lucky you! So what can we expect to blow the roof off the L.A. Convention Center this year?

Exclusives are nice, but let's be honest: The best games every year come out on a bunch of different platforms. Your Call of Duties, your Resident Evils, your Pac-Mans, all of this wonderful stuff is available for everyone. E3 2012 is bringing some titles that'll knock millions of pants and/or socks off. Keep a sharp eye out for these multiplatform monstrosities.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Let's be honest: the next Call of Duty game could be a glorified map pack with a minimal single player campaign and it would still sell millions of copies and be critically well received just on the basis of its core shooting mechanics being so fantastically solid. But not content to just bank off the franchise's previous accomplishments, Black Ops 2 developer Treyarch is bringing a ton of new ideas, story content and gameplay mechanics (including horses!) to the table this time. The story branches through time periods, from 1970 to 1980 to 2025 with the weaponry scaling to match the respective settings, meaning you'll jump from the traditional Call of Duty war settings you're used to, to battles against cybernetic unmanned aircrafts in massive bouts of futuristic robo-warfare. We expect to see the lid fully blown off this game in the weeks to come, but until then, here's us getting excited for the future of HORSE WARFARE:

Assassin's Creed III

Assassin's Creed III brings us out of the Renaissance and into the American Revolution. It's interesting to see Ubisoft giving each numbered Assassin's Creed game its own unique angle, cast of characters, unique abilities, and disparate settings. The frontier isn't like any other area we've explored, and swinging through trees, climbing cliffs, and sauntering through cities should be as entertaining as ever with the new main man, Connor. Hunting animals and hiding in the wild gives us even more stuff to do in early-era USA, too, as we search for answers for Desmond. 

Tomb Raider

We haven't seen a ton of new information slip out about the new Tomb Raider aside from it's upsetting delay to 2013, but that's not stopping us from getting excited over what we expect at E3. This gritty reboot puts Lara in the realest and most humanistic survival situations the franchise has yet to see. The game is still a bit of a ways away, but some amazing new screens and trailers will go a long way in holding us over.

Lost Planet 3

Lost Planet 3 surprised us all when it was unveiled at Capcom’s Captivate event earlier this year. That’s not because it existed – let’s face it, what game doesn’t get a sequel these days – but because it was so polished and so unlike anything we’ve seen from the franchise before. Make no mistake, we’re still talking mechs walking around icy tundra, but the emphasis on a hybrid of first and third-person combat combined with a focus on the game’s lead character has us impressed. Let’s hope the game plays as well as it looks.

Resident Evil 6

The announcement of Resident Evil 6 at the beginning of this year sucked the oxygen out of the IGN office. For days all we could talk about were zombies, survival horror, Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield. Through our sources we learned more about the game than we ever expected, and the notion that Leon, Chris and series newcomer Jake will each be playable alongside their partners has us excited about the scope of the game. We still haven’t played the thing though. Let’s hope Capcom changes that at E3.

Hitman: Absolution

Agent 47 is up to his old tricks, which involves strangling, setting traps, and blending in. Absolution is arguably the most violent Hitman game to date, with the marketing material and early in-game footage showing a particularly vicious bald guy massacring everyone in messed-up ways. Whatever works. Hopefully he keeps up with the sneaking during his slaughtering.

Microsoft's press conference is bound to bring up entertainment, social, and Kinect, but this is also a huge year for some of the Xbox 360's most important exclusives. First-party developers are cranking away on huge stuff, but the third party studios could bring some excellent stuff as well.

Halo 4

After months of trickled information and minimalist reveals, Halo 4 will finally get some spotlight at the press conference. Expect to learn more about the campaign, especially the new threat, and the more personal story of Master Chief. In addition, we’re expecting to finally play Spartan Ops co-op stories, as well as the new competitive multiplayer mode, Infinity. Microsoft won’t pull any punches – 2012 will absolutely be the year of Halo, and getting 343’s efforts in front of everyone in a grand fashion will be priority one.

Fable The Journey

Peter Molyneux's final project with Lionhead Studios is the nuttiest yet, scrapping action/adventure for a more serene experience on Kinect. The Journey isn't just about the titular quest, though, as there's enough enemy encounters and combat variables to keep it interesting. Whether or not Fable ultimately works as a first-person Kinect action game is TBD, but we're likely to learn more about its true goal -- rather than just its broad ambition -- at E3.

It's been a curious buildup to E3 for the PlayStation brand. With about a month to go, the company blew the lid off of God of War: Ascension, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, LittleBigPlanet Karting and The Last of Us. Why? Our reasoning: it's time to announce some cool stuff for the PlayStation Vita.

The handheld debuted in February around the world (except for Japan, which had it in December), and since then, poor sales figures have stolen the headlines. Sony needs to come out at E3 and pimp the PlayStation 3 exclusives and at the same time show you why you should believe in this handheld. So what do we think takes the press conference stage and knocks your socks off? Well, smart money's on...

The Last of Us

Yes, IGN has already seen the game in action, but that was an old build. Developer Naughty Dog has already said that it has new stuff in the works for E3 2012, and with PlayStation's affinity for massive screens and awesome demos, the press conference sure seems like Joel and Ellie's next stop. Will we find out about the inclusion or exclusion of multiplayer or an exact release date? Probably not -- but expect some huge moment probably packing those infected mushroom people we haven't seen since the debut trailer.

Call of Duty Vita

Here's what we know about Call of Duty Vita -- it is coming. That's it, and that sucks. With Resistance: Burning Skies about to become the first true dual stick shooter to arrive on a handheld, expect Activision to roll out this follow-up at E3. Will it be Black Ops 2? Will it be an original game? Will it nail everything BobbyA1984 put in his COD wishlist? We bet we find out next week.

Assassin's Creed Vita

Again -- we know that there's an Assassin's Creed game in the works for the PlayStation Vita, but that's all we know. If you missed the memo, Assassin's Creed III looks awesome and is going to blow the doors off of E3. Seems like Ubisoft would be silly not to show what the Vita developers have been toiling away on. Is it a tie-in to AC3? Is it a port of AC3? Is it a brand new tale? Let us know!

God of War: Ascension

Colin and Goldfarb have already seen a ton of God of War: Ascension, but they've only seen multiplayer. In fact, when Sony confirmed the game, the spokespeople made a point to only talk about multiplayer. With all that info out of the way, PlayStation's E3 conference is the perfect place to talk about what Kratos is up to in the single-player campaign, because, well, that's what we all care about, right?

Quantic Dream's Next Game

Perhaps it's a pipedream, but Heavy Rain developer made a big deal of its Kara short film at GDC. This video wasn't the studio's next game, but it was a demo of the tech its next game will use. Normally, we'd say that means Quantic is toiling away at the new game on the engine it showed and that an E3 appearance would never happen, but in interviews, developer David Cage said that Kara film was a year old. So... what was Quantic Dream doing for that last year? Perhaps getting ready for this big day? We can hope.

New Exclusives

Well, it's our website and we can be as general as we want. The fact of the matter is PlayStation has the most impressive stable of first-party developers in the industry, and a lot of them have been quietly chipping away at projects. What are the Killzone devs up to? What does 2012 look like for Vita releases? Chances are we're going to have one hell of a roadmap when the PlayStation conference is said and done.

Nintendo has a lot riding on this year’s E3. It’s where the company plans to fully unveil its next generation of home console, Wii U. It’s also the Big N’s big chance to convince hardcore and casual gamers alike that its tablet controller truly is the future of gaming. We expect tons of new info about what this new system can do, and at least some vague idea of what kind of software we’ll see once it launches. We also expect updates on a few 3DS titles the company has kept mum about, like Luigi’s Mansion 2, Paper Mario 3DS and Animal Crossing 3DS, as well as the recently announced New Super Mario Bros. 2. If things work out, we’re also hoping to get some new game announcements, and perhaps some global release dates for some of those awesome Japan-only games we’ve been missing out on (we’re looking at you Fire Emblem: Awakening, Project X Zone and Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle).

New Super Mario Bros. 2

 

Hitting store shelves this August, Mario’s New side-scrolling adventure will see the return of some beloved staples from Super Mario Bros. 3 - particularly a more traditional Raccoon Suit, the P-Wing and the power meter.

New Super Mario Bros. Mii

 

It seems our first real taste of HD Mario will be based on the New Super Mario Bros. Mii tech demo from E3 2011. As such, expect it to be a 2D side-scroller with multiplayer support and, most likely, the incorporation of Mii characters.

Pikmin 3

 

The game that’s been about five years in the making, this year we’ll finally get to see the third entry in Shigeru Miyamoto’s Pikmin franchise. Now that it’s on Wii U, expect it to make clever use of the Wii U tablet and continue the story of Olimar and his little Pikmin slaves/buddies.

 

Years ago, back when Bill Gates would walk on stage and Live Anywhere was a new and exciting thing, Microsoft’s E3 press conference usually had some interesting news for PC gamers. That’s no longer the case these days, and that’s just fine. To some degree the PC gaming community seems to have moved on from this particular event. Blizzard no longer attends, Valve isn’t doing anything for E3 this year, and many interesting PC games like Firefall and Guild Wars 2 won’t be there. E3 in 2012 is more about new console hardware hysteria and what the big three are doing to ensure their next big steps into the increasingly decentralized, rapidly changing future of video games are smart ones. In many ways, these companies will be trying to capitalize on what’s happening in the PC gaming scene right now, where payment models, distribution strategies and game design experimentation are as wild and exciting as they’ve ever been.

Electronic Arts

A highlight here, aside from whatever announcements are made at EA’s press conference, will be more information on the promising Maxis-developed, PC-only SimCity. EA also has Star Wars: The Old Republic, and though the recent 1.3 patch reveal shows BioWare will be adding in a group finder, it’s likely E3 will be the venue for much larger-scale reveals  as to how they plan on stopping subscriber loss. Also, it’s hard to imagine EA’s executive walking off the E3 stage without mentioning something big about Battlefield, Crysis 3 and Medal of Honor, which won’t be PC-exclusive, but barring any programming catastrophes, will look best when played on a PC.

E3s MMOs

No console maker has really figured out how best to integrate an MMO into their platform (though, mysteriously, an Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XI still exists), so this genre is still almost entirely PC-based. Perfect World will show up with Cryptic’s Neverwinter and the Monster Hunter-like Raiderz, Sony Online Entertainment will be showing off a multitude of online games, including Planetside 2, which looks especially awesome. Trion will bring Defiance, Rift and End of Nations to the show, and maybe we’ll hear something positive about Square Enix’s beleaguered Final Fantasy XIV as it progresses toward Version 2.0. And ideally we should be able to get a first look at Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls Online, which beyond Guild Wars 2, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria and The Secret World is the next major MMO on the horizon.

Cross-Platform Overload

Most games on display at E3 will be promoted on consoles, but for many PC versions do, in fact, exist. You just don’t see them at the show, because it’s kind of hard to fumble around with a keyboard and mouse while standing up and presenting a new game to a crowd that’s more than eager to erupt with laughter over any mistakes. Over the past few years Capcom has appealed to PC gamers with versions of its fighting and action games, and it seems as though that will continue with Resident Evil 6 and Lost Planet 3. THQ is bringing Darksiders II and Metro Last Light, Square Enix will show off Hitman: Absolution, Tomb Raider and Sleeping Dogs (and for the love of everything holy, where is Thief IV?), Ubisoft will showcase Assassin’s Creed III and Far Cry 3, and the fan-requested Dark Souls: Prepare to Die edition PC version will be on display from Namco. 2K Games has an especially cool lineup this year with Borderlands 2 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and there’ll certainly be more surprises at the press conferences.

The trickiest part of covering mobile games is how incredibly fast the platform moves. Unlike consoles, where members of the press and the public know about a game for months or years in advance, iOS and Android games are revealed for the very first time one week and then released the next.

This means it’s impossible to predict all the iOS hotness that will be at the show. With that in mind, two games stand out as titles all gamers should keep their eyes on:

Infinity Blade Dungeons

Although we’ve already gone hands-on with Infinity Blade: Dungeons once, we’re very keen to see more of the dungeon-crawling spin-off at The Big Show. That first demo showed off the basics of combat and weapon forging. With any luck we’ll get a peek at more loot, more enemies and more environments at E3.

The Act

The Act is one of the most intriguing mobile games I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen hundreds. The game’s hand-drawn 2D animation immediately catches everyone’s attention, but their first question is always the same: “It looks great, but how does it play?”

It’s a fair question – older gamers will remember Dragon’s Lair and other barely-playable interactive movies. So far The Act seems much more like the real deal. Gamers control protagonist Edward via a variety of touch-controlled swiping gestures, making The Act more of a true interactive, playable cartoon. Hopefully at E3 all of the questions surrounding The Act will be put to rest.

As you can see, E3 is going to be a totally fantastic, insane week for gamers. What are you looking forward to most? Which company do you think will have the best show? Sound off in the comments below, and keep it locked to IGN between now and E3 as we continue to dominate E3 2012 coverage.



Source : http://www.ign.com

The A-Z of the Alien Franchise

With Prometheus landing in cinemas within days, we explore the deepest, darkest corners of the galaxy to present an unmissable alphabetical guide to the Alien franchise. Just beware of franchise spoilers ahead.

A is for... Alien

The movie that gave birth to a phenomenon. Ridley Scott's second feature film after The Duellists, it's a masterclass in sustained tension and economy of horror - the 'monster' is only on screen for seconds at a time. Written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, and formerly titled Star Beast (catchy), it evolved into the terrifying survival horror we know and love. Inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2002, it remains one of the most terrifying and iconic horror films of all time.

B is for... Burke

Burke by name, berk by nature. The 'corporate dickweed' archetype had been hinted at in the first film, with Ash working on behalf of 'The Company' to bring the beast back alive for bio-weapons, but it wasn't until we met Paul Reiser's Carter Burke in Aliens that we realised The Company was almost exclusively staffed by buttheads. Open-handed and queasily chummy on the surface - like a sort of shifty space politician - he nonetheless puts countless lives at risk for his employers, probably to secure a bigger office or something.

C is for... Chestburster

The most startling scene in a film packed full of memorable moments, the 'chestburster' sequence is one of the most shocking deaths in sci-fi history. Having just had an alien get jiggy with his gob, John Hurt's Kane wakes up feeling woozy, but thinks nothing of joining the crew of the Nostromo for a spot of dinner. Turns out that wasn't indigestion he was feeling: after some terrifyingly realistic convulsions, Kane's stomach is punched open from the inside, and an alien embryo bursts forth, spraying the unprepared cast members with blood. That look of shock on their faces is genuine, captured on film forever.

D is for… David

You may have already met Michael Fassbender's Bowie-inspired android David in Prometheus' promotional material. And given his promise that he can carry out directives that human crew members might consider "unethical" we're guessing he's not entirely on the level. Interestingly - and despite the revised chronology post-Prometheus - the 'synthetic humans' in the Alien franchise have all been named alphabetically (Ash, Bishop and Call in that order). We look forward to meeting Eugene, Frank and Gerard in future instalments.

E is for... Eggs

With the design of the alien being kept a secret, the striking image on the Alien poster was the egg, with green pus oozing forth. You may notice that this egg (belonging to a hen, egg fans) looks different to the ones in the movie – that's because the scene in which John Hurt inspects the more organic-looking facehugger egg was added in post-production. The movement that Kane sees inside is Ridley Scott's hand in a rubber glove, and the innards – if you really must know – were made of cow guts and tripe. Anyone fancy an omelette?

F is for... Facehugger

There's something horribly perverse about the design of the facehugger – the first creature created for the movie. It's the combination of its long, spindly, human-like fingers and its whipping tail that still gives us the fear – that and, of course, its penchant for humping your face and laying eggs in your stomach. It's more than just a freaky creepy-crawlie – the facehugger's disgusting "oral invasion" technique as used on Kane in Alien was intended as a riposte to various scenes of abuse suffered by female horror protagonists at the hands of male monsters.

G is for... Giger

Hans Rudolf Giger is the creative (and potentially quite troubled) genius behind Alien's most twisted designs. The Swiss artist studied architecture and industrial design in Zurich before realising his talent lay in creating disturbing, evocative, impossibly dark imagery – a perfect fit for the Alien universe, in other words. Ridley Scott saw potential in Giger's painting, Necronom IV, and commissioned the artist to birth his beast. The finished product – an asexual creature with a long, smooth, curved cranium – was the perfect nightmare. "It could just as easily f*ck you before it killed you" commented producer Ivor Powell.

H is for... Hudson and Hicks

The twin pillars of the Colonial Marines: Corporal Dwayne Hicks, a gruff, lantern-jawed leader of men; and Private William Hudson, a sarcastic technician who talks the talk but breaks down like a little bitch when the odds aren't in his favour. Despite surviving Aliens, Michael Biehn didn't get the chance to reprise Hicks in the threequel – he was killed off during the opening credits, but successfully demanded almost the same amount of cash for the brief use of his image as he was paid for the entirety of James Cameron's movie. Bill Paxton's Hudson saw an undignified end, but did get some of Aliens' best lines, including the eternally over-quoted cry of defeat: "Game over, man! Game over!"

I is for... Ident

Arguably the scariest moment of Alien 3 comes before a single second of footage has been shown. The movie opens with the customary 20th Century Fox fanfare, but holds the penultimate note and transforms it into a discordant wail, putting the viewer at instant unease. Director David Fincher's idea, this startling opening was intended to unsettle audiences and let them know that nothing, not even the company idents, were safe from harm. Shame the rest of the movie didn't quite deliver in the same way.

J is for… Joss and Jean-Pierre

The red-headed stepchild of the Alien franchise, fourquel Resurrection sticks out like a sore thumb – it's not so much a horror as a sci-fi fantasy adventure, complete with underwater sequences, Ripley shooting hoops and a baffling final baddie that looks like crappy fan art brought to life. Joss Whedon claims his tongue-in-cheek script was mostly left intact, but was poorly adapted by French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and the studio heads, who "executed it in such a ghastly fashion they rendered it unwatchable." We are not entirely disagreeing, although it does have its moments (see 'U').

K is for... K-Y Jelly

If you ever wondered what they used for the slime slithering out of the alien's mouth, well... now you know! Ridley Scott was the first to lube his beast with K-Y Jelly (steady), but James Cameron took slobbering to a whole new level on Aliens, literally dumping buckets of the stuff on the Alien Queen's snout. It apparently made controlling the hydraulics incredibly difficult because the individual components couldn't get a proper purchase. Job well done, K-Y!

L is for... LV-426

Planets way out there in the furthest reaches of the galaxy don't have cool names like Mars or Jupiter – they just get numbers. LV-426 is the interstellar code for the planet on which the distress signal is picked up by the Nostromo in the first Alien movie. Named 'Acheron' in extended universe fiction, the planet is where we first see the crashed ship (known as The Derelict), the Space Jockey and our friends the facehuggers. It is a travel agent-approved vacation recommendation. It's just a few moons over from LV-223, the planet on which Prometheus is set (see 'Z').



Source : http://www.ign.com

Fable: The Journey – It Just Works

During a visit to Lionhead HQ to go hands-on with Fable: The Journey, three key team-members repeatedly drop the C-bomb. Yes, it seems that if there’s a take-home message that the Guildford-based studio would like to convey it’s that Fable: The Journey is "cool". However, it’s probably best if we dispense with such an intangible adjective and instead focus on an entirely more relevant fact: this Kinect-only jaunt through Albion actually works.

Fable: The Journey’s strengths are the result of a combination of savvy design choices and intelligent programming. The former is best exemplified by Lionhead’s decision to pass over melee combat in favour of ranged magic attacks. By doing so, the studio avoids the potential pitfalls of having to replicate the swift, one-to-one movement required of close-combat and of having to find ways to mask the inherent lag that would be exposed by the close proximity of foes.

Moreover, a focus on magic allows for some interesting design choices, such as after-touch that can be applied to spells in order to fling electrical bolts high into the air before bringing them crashing down on hapless foes with downward swipe, which is useful for flushing enemies out of cover or for bending spells around environmental obstacles.

"We want to do what Kinect does well and steer away from the areas that Kinect doesn't do so well," explains creative producer Gary Carr. "I think The Journey does things that, hopefully, you’ll feel wouldn't be as much fun if you were doing this" he says, as he mimes waggling twin analogue sticks.

While opting for magic attacks over melee might facilitate Lionhead’s sleight of hand as it combats Kinect’s shortcomings, playing Fable: The Journey while seated is as technically impressive as it is appealing and natural. The narrative fits, as every-man hero Gabriel’s default position is sat down in a horse-drawn cart (complete with screen-framing awning to enhance the effect) and the technology recognises the natural gestures required to emulate the feeling of guiding a horse via reigns, whether it’s to steer, to quicken and slow its pace or to come to an abrupt halt.

It’s when you play through an on-foot dungeon section that movement feels most linear, as Gabriel moves at his own pace through dimly-lit corridors. An open cavern dotted here or there brings Gabriel to a complete halt as you clear it of foes through a combination of aggressive spells and the magical tendril projected by Force Push, which is used both to stun armoured enemies and plug the burrows from which they are emerging with rubble pulled from the cavern ceiling. The pacing of the preview build is judged such that the game’s shepherding doesn’t intrude too much on the experience, but it’s when you realise that you can never, ever go backwards of your own volition that you start to feel restricted.

Fortunately, there appears to be plenty to do, see and interact with in front of you (including the satisfying requirement to fling open a chest with both hands) to ensure that Fable: The Journey fulfils its mandate as a game and avoids being dubbed a spectator sport. The spell system in particular offers chances to ad lib to discover interesting combinations of your own accord, but only after you’ve been taught the basics.

This is something that has changed since the game’s last showing earlier this year when then-Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux claimed, “You don’t have to preach to people anymore ... they can play the game and experiment", by way of explaining the decision not to include any in-game tutorials. Now, standard tutorials introduce the basic game mechanics, which is for the good of the experience in hinting at the potential of the magic system, but to its detriment when applied to the intuitive actions used to control the horse. However, this latter concession is as a result of extensive user research, rather than post-Molyneux Lionhead’s desire to nanny us.

Despite not being able to break free of such a mundane videogame requirement, Fable: The Journey does have plenty of room for experimentation. "There are things that you can do with the magic that we don't teach you and you'll either find them or not find them,” assures Carr. “There are combinations of stuff as you start to level-up and dual-wield that are possible that we simply didn't design it to do. So, as just one example, you can pin things to a wall a la Spider-Man by using Force Push and fire at them while there pinned; we didn't design that, it's a freebie."

Fable: The Journey has improved over recent months and will continue to be polished ahead of its release later this year, but it’s already apparent that Lionhead’s artists and programmers have done an excellent job in utilising Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 to render varied vistas and interesting environments to help you forget that you’re never in complete control the direction in which you’re heading.

"We hope that this is one of those landmark experiences that people point to in order to show that you can sit down [to play Kinect] and that you can do a non-party game that you can get really immersed in," concludes Lionhead Studio co-founder and head Mark Webley. "...and that, actually, you can do some quite cool things."

Whether or not Fable: The Journey is cool will be up to each individual that opts to play it to decide for themselves, but the very fact that it works; as a seated, Kinect-only game and an immersive, fun experience, should ensure that more people get to make that call.



Source : http://www.ign.com

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.

Source : http://gamezone.com

Tera Review

In a proper and just world, Tera would've launched in 2004 and rewritten the MMO rulebook instead of WoW. I realize that I've just spewed outright blasphemy and am in extreme danger of being stricken down by a bolt of divine lightning, so let me explain. Traditional MMO combat – as popularized by Blizzard's genre-stomping behemoth – isn't exactly thrilling. While PvP and high-end PvE ratchet up the mobility factor a bit, leveling generally involves all the high-octane action that's typically associated with being a tree. That is to say, you root yourself in one spot and flip your brain switch firmly into the “Off” position. Tera, by contrast, requires skill-based swinging and fleet-footed acrobatics, leading to adrenaline-pumping last-second dodges against even the most mundane of foes. Also, which would you rather play as: an ugly old gnome or an adorable (and vaguely horrifying) dog person? I rest my case.

My starting statement is, however, a double-edged sword. On one hand, Tera would've made for an excellent neanderthal to kick off modern MMOs' evolutionary cycle. Matched against said modern MMOs, however, Tera's non-combat elements (quest structure, crafting, story, PvP, etc.) feel woefully behind the times – like vanilla WoW as opposed to post-Cataclysm WoW. It is, to be frank, the Big Foot of massively multiplayer role-playing games. Sure, it'll put up a hell of a fight if backed into a corner, but at the end of the day, it feels like an out-of-place missing link – not entirely stuck in the past, but definitely not ahead of the curve.

So then, let's start with the good: the combat – as I noted in my first week impressions – is largely sublime. Climbing into my warrior's upper 30s, though, taught me to appreciate it even more. Put simply, standing still is suicide – especially once Tera starts tossing larger groups of enemies into the fray. Fortunately, my red-skinned Medieval Darth Maul had a whole host of equally potent single and multiple target skills by the time I hit level 30, and I couldn't help but feel this incredible sense of control.

If a bad situation sprang up, I felt confident that I could switch gears and tackle it head-on. One Big Ass Monster (Tera's world-roaming boss equivalent – and yes, they're actually called that) vs one small ass me? Sure, it'd take upwards of ten minutes, but – even against a BAM's (sometimes literally) earth-shaking attacks – my carefully timed dodges and pitter-patter strikes could win out in the end. As for a crowd of weaker enemies? Please. They bunch up in their neat little groups, and I mow them down. The buddy system, as it turns out, isn't exactly an efficient combat formation.

This is the first MMO where I can say position – not maximizing DPS – drove my skill choices from moment-to-moment. If a dodge landed me just outside attack range, I'd whirl around with a rangy Legend-of-Zelda-style area of effect strike and then charge back into combo position with a skewering shishkabob strike. Regardless of where I was, I always felt like I could be where I needed to be in mere seconds. It may not sound like much on paper, but in practice, it made me feel like I – not some series of background dice rolls – decided my fate. With proper play style adjustment, my dual-wielding, incredibly rogue-like warrior even made a serviceable tank.

And it's all impressively varied from class-to-class, too. My Slayer alt, for instance, moved with all the grace and agility you'd expect from someone wielding Cloud's buster sword the way it'd actually work, which necessitated a complete shift in timing. As a result, strikes were far harder to land, but oh so deliciously satisfying – with craterous knockdowns befitting of a cleaver big enough to give other cleavers wedgies and then hang them from flagpoles. Even healers and spellcasters require far more mobility and manual targeting than their comparatively snooze-worthy meter-monitoring cousins in other MMOs.

Problem is, many of those class-defining details hardly even matter outside of BAM battles and dungeons. Quests shamelessly recycle slight variations on the same enemies until leveling's just a giant blur of Big Things, their accompanying legions of Small Things, and the occasional Thing You Feel Terrible About Killing. So one quest might ask me to hunt crowds of tiny rock creatures, and then – a single level later – I'm busting them into even tinier rocks again, only now they're called “scoundrels” instead of “minions” or something along those lines. I was also, at varying points, forced to kill fairies and unicorns. Given that you can play as a little bunny girl race (which, in itself, is already disturbing enough), this means you can use a little girl to kill some of the things little girls are allegedly made of. There is nothing right about that sentence.

The end result, however, is that PvE combat strategies rarely ever change, and questing – which consists almost entirely of “kill 10 of these, 25 of these, etc” missions tied loosely together by an extremely generic, badly told “storyline” – quickly descends into eyelid-tugging slog territory. As Bon Jovi once said: “It's all the same. Only the names have changed.” Granted, he was talking about cowboys, steel horses, and comparing guitars to revolvers, but even with that holy trifecta of intrigue, I doubt Tera's tired quest structure could manage to be of any real interest.

Group play, then, really and truly saves this one – at least, initially. In almost complete contrast to solo questing's thinly veiled level treadmill, it's fast, frantic, and rewards tactical complacency with a hulking monster claw to the clavicle. A basilisk BAM, for instance, might charge, pounce, spin abruptly, or leap sky-high and come crashing down, potentially crushing the whole party. Meanwhile, the vampire (sorry, “vampir”) centric Sinestral Manor's final boss – which could best be described as the result of a radioactive spider being bitten by a radioactive copy of Gears of War – is generally less agile, but prone to launching fiery ranged projectiles while you're distracted by its smaller (still disgusting) offspring.

Admittedly, these boss tactics don't sound tremendously different from those in other MMOs, but constant movement and skill-based combat make BAM battles feel less like traditional tank-and-spanks and more like Monster Hunter's intimate encounters with Godzilla's kind. That said, there's still not enough variety – especially given Tera's timesink nature – and even BAMs grow tedious in the game's upper levels.

Unfortunately, the rest of Tera ends up feeling like a flavorless outer shell you have to crush your teeth on to reach its BAM kabiff-pow-thwacking core. The game's opening area – which will eat up five or so hours of your time – varies from mediocre to out-and-out awful, and even an inventive (though brief) prologue that lets you try out your class at level 20 squanders its potential on a confusing, awkwardly paced execution. And while things finally pick up at around level 20, questing actually gets more mundane as you progress, with meaningful skill gain perplexingly cutting off at around level 40.

Beyond that, gathering – while cleverly paired with mini-buffs to better tie it into the flow of combat – feeds into a tedious crafting system that's also borderline useless thanks to the ready availability of better items via loot. And while there is PVP, it's limited to random open world skirmishes at the moment, as previously promised PVP battlegrounds won't be implemented until the end of summer.

I will, however, make special note of Tera's election system. Basically, its purpose is to elect a series of “Vanarchs,” who – according to Tera's official website – are responsible for “setting and collecting taxes from vendors” and “activating special shops and skill trainers in settlements, opening new teleport routes, and more” in Tera's various provinces. Unfortunately, I can't really evaluate it yet, as it only kicked off at the start of the week, with the first batch of elections set to wrap on June 1. Given its strict level requirement (50) and competitive nature, however, it's the closest thing Tera has to a unique endgame right now. No, the political system probably won't be quite as chaotically player-driven as, say, EVE Online, but I'm extremely excited to see where these monthly bursts of democracy go. If it lives up to all that promise, we'll definitely tell you about it.

I am, however, rendering a verdict on what Tera is right now – not what it will be in a number of months. And while its combat system is a bonafide cannon ball into an otherwise stock-still (Vindictus excluded) sea of fantasy MMOs, a heavy anchor of mediocrity nearly sinks the whole production. There's nothing damningly egregious about, say, Tera's same-y quests or generic swords 'n' sorcery 'n' giant apocalyptic robot tale, but it all comes together to suck away any sense of vibrancy or moment-to-moment fun. Bluehole's MMO debut occasionally makes desperate, clawing grasps at greatness (see: BAMs, dungeons, combat's rarely applied nuances), but seems mostly content to trudge along nonchalantly without ever really applying itself. I'd hand this one an “A for effort,” but most of Tera – beyond its combat – is out-and-out lazily designed. No doubt there's a wealth of promise here, but as is, I can only recommend a subscription to avid players who've completely exhausted other, more robust options like WoW or Rift, or absolutely cannot wait any longer for Guild Wars 2 or The Secret World.

But hey, at least you can play as a dog person.



Source : http://www.ign.com

Dragon's Lair Review

Considering that the Xbox 360 has been around for over six years, it's a little surprising that we haven't seen a port of the 1983 classic Dragon's Lair until now. Not only is it one of only three games accorded permanent exhibition status at the Smithsonian Institution (along with Pac-Man and Pong), but it has also managed to worm its way onto everything from the Commodore 64 and NES to the iPhone in the intervening 29 years. Most of these were uninspired rehashes that brought almost nothing new to the experience, but this latest incarnation's leaderboards and Kinect support at least mark a step toward variety. Unfortunately, that's still not enough to make it worth your time.

Get used to seeing this shot. A lot.

Dragon's Lair was a colossal hit back in the days when visuals in video games were first evolving from wads of pixels to recognizable and iconic sprites such as Mario. Its appeal lay in its novelty. Harnessing the talents of celebrated animator Don Bluth, Dragon's Lair marked an ambitious attempt to jump over 10 years into the future, chucking the standard digital conventions of the day and being based entirely on animation.

At the time, it worked. In an age when Mario still wasn't "super," arcade goers could laugh at the antics of the goofy knight named Dirk the Daring on his quest to rescue the sultry Princess Daphne from the clutches of the dragon Singe. Instead of deaths that just knocked the hero offscreen, you saw poor Dirk subjected to snake strangulations and rib-cracking impacts. And instead of saving some generic princess, you won the hand of Princess Daphne, whose Playboy-inspired model turns heads as easily now as it did back then.

Even so, its animated focus demands simple gameplay even by the standards of its era. Indeed, little more than an interactive movie at heart, it's best understood in modern terms as the direct ancestor of the quick-time events (or QTEs) sprinkled throughout countless modern action games. Then as now, the entire game revolves around knowing when to press one of the four directions on a D-pad to move Dirk out of the way of danger, and using a button to slash your sword. Miss one of the lightning-fast prompts, and you find that death comes easy and often in Singe's domain. Unfortunately, such a setup means that success relies far more on memorization than true skill. The resulting trail and error is even more disappointing upon the realization that some of Dragon's Lair's 29 scenes repeat throughout Dirk's brief journey.

This sequence is anything but better with Kinect.

In theory, at least, Dragon's Lair seems like a perfect match for the Kinect. Freed of the constraints of a gamepad, you can act out Dirk's simple movements for yourself, jumping left as he dodges a snake to the right, or moving forward as he tries to wiggle through a hole in a rapidly closing wall. When it's time to stab at Singe, you battle him with a slashing motion of your arm. Unfortunately, it's those very moments that give Dragon's Lair so much trouble. Since so much of the game hinges on the speed of your responses, the time it takes to get back into place after a strafe to the left often leaves you in a bad spot when you need to strafe back to the right.

The slashing motions fare even worse because they don't always register. This Kinect mode compensates for such troubles by introducing optional directional indicators and allowing for occasional slips, but all in all it only adds to the frustration of an already unforgiving game. Gameplay gets even more frustrating in the local cooperative mode, which requires you to switch players every time the other player dies. And since Dirk has a nasty habit of dying every 10 seconds or so, the experience is more of a hassle than it's worth.

You might find some additional replay value in the multiple difficulty modes that strip the gameplay of its prompts or limit how many continues Dirk has after dying (in other words, making it closer to the 1983 arcade gameplay), but even then you'll probably master each within an hour. Leaderboards for the Kinect and gamepad modes foster some sense of competition, but Dragon's Lair is not the type of game that you'll set aside days or weeks for in an attempt to dominate the lists.

As a small bonus, this version lets you sit back and watch Dirk's adventures as an animated short if you're tired of tripping over yourself with the Kinect or missing cues on the gamepad. It's a welcome addition, since focusing on the necessary moves often means you can't fully appreciate the animation for itself unless you're watching someone else play. At the very least, it's useful as a walkthrough if you're having trouble on the promptless hard mode. Bluth's animation is as impressive as ever, although seeing it stripped of the gameplay only highlights the limits of the sound design. Aside from Dirk's shrieks of terror and some musical cues signaling a successful execution of a room, the only noteworthy sound file is the ditzy voice of Daphne explaining how to vanquish Singe.

Dirk's expression makes much more sense once you see what Daphne looks like.

Today, Dragon's Lair is little more than a historical curio. It takes barely more than half an hour to complete the game on its hardest modes, and a dedicated player could probably complete each achievement inside of five hours. The Kinect support is novel but ultimately more frustrating than the standard gamepad gameplay. In the end, you're better off finding a modern game with occasional QTEs scattered throughout its levels and smirking at your awareness of where such sequences evolved from.



Source : http://www.gamespot.com

Diablo Shrugged

Some time between the great Kubrickian monolith arriving on the African savannah with its double-edged gift of individualism, and the NES, wild tribes and civilisations covered the planet, each with their own colourfully intricate mythologies, featuring a comic book array of splendid gods. This was the time of polytheism – the time of many gods.

Some time after this...

Polytheism offered a marketplace approach to deities, allowing villagers to worship gods at their leisure, in exchange for a little supernatural help (at the god’s whim, of course): with fertility, perhaps, farming, or war. During the decline of the Roman Empire, however, an alternative movement gained momentum: monotheism – the Walmart approach to heavenly assistance; a one stop shop.

Monotheism differed greatly from its precursor, as a vague and casual array of relationships between people and a variety of gods was transformed into an all-encompassing and intimate relationship with god, governing all aspects of mortal life and the distinct fork in the road beyond it – branching out to either heaven or hell.

While polytheism promoted individual liberty, monotheism demanded strict adherence to a highly codified set of practices. It was a system designed to permit large groups of people to live fruitfully together (to avoid ending up like the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans), and to convince people to give up their liberty in exchange for community benefit, monotheistic dogma played on their fears. In contrast to the ultimate reward of heaven, a dire pit of untold suffering was created – Hell. As an opponent to the great shepherd, a merchant of chaos and suffering was devised. He goes by many names. Gamers know him as Diablo.

You may remember him from such films as Little Nicky.

So, over a few hundred years, a distinct cultural shift occurred. The focus upon mortal life was shifted to immortal life. What did forty or fifty years on the planet mean when placed against eternity? And with such a focus, notions of good and evil became crucial to the governance of mortal life. In essence, a binary mode of thinking about life was instituted: behaviour was either approved by The Lord, or in the aid of Satan.

This way of thinking began to infiltrate Western culture at its roots, providing the dominant architecture to storytelling for the past two thousand years. From to , to , pitting the forces of good against the forces of evil is the most fundamental narrative structure of them all – a popularity that can be explained by the cultural architecture which preceded it; the binary structure; God vs Satan; good vs evil; the success of Good equalling Heaven, its defeat or corruption, Hell. No grey areas. No in between.

Video games are no exception. Due to a low technical ceiling, it was only natural that the Old School should turn to a simple story for its architecture, and unsurprising that Good vs Evil should inspire the new : a series of escalating challenges building towards a final showdown with the Devil incarnate – Bowser, Ganon, Red Falcon, Death Adder – whichever guise The Beast had assumed this time around. The objective, and one’s motivation for playing, was always clear. Strike the lethal blow. Watch the credits roll. Slump in satisfaction, happy to have banished evil from the land. It was very much a case of same Satan, different day.

We live, now, in a different age. Science rules, superstition is in its death throes. As a consequence, culture has changed course once again, into the realm of post-modernism – a time of uncertainty. No more binary black and white, no more good or evil. As a consequence, recent advances in gaming technology have attracted a new breed of game designer – a storyteller wishing to plumb the recesses of all the vexing new grey areas which have opened up.

My surprise at emergence has its basis in the fact that Good vs Evil has been wheeled out once more, despite having toppled from its perch. Surely, this is its curtain call, though. After all, we’ve come so far. Full circle, one could say. Seldom, now, do games present hierarchic plots entirely resolved by a single act. With multiple endings, moral choice, and sandbox randomness, gaming has acknowledged that when it comes to a zero-sum game of Heaven or Hell, success or failure, the well has run dry.

Contemporary stories reflect the complex, often contradictory, and occasionally futile struggles we face. Rather than coddle us with the notion that paradise awaits so long as we play by the rules, they portray life as a series of frustrations and satisfactions divorced from a cut and dried conclusion. Thus, the brutal threefold self-destruction of conclusion; anticlimax; and the irony of providing Capital Wastelanders with hope through a campaign of tyranny and murder.

A reflection of a shift from monotheism to post-modern polytheism? I always thought it was about huge dudes with drills for arms.

As the grip of monotheism has slipped, the creative spirit of polytheism has returned. Rather than living our lives in pursuit of a singular goal (Heaven), allied to a singular movement (against evil), our desires have become freed. We acknowledge that intellectual/emotional judgements, rather than spiritual/moral rules, are the only authentic tools we have with which to forge meaningful lives.

Definitions of good and evil lie in a state of constant flux, and paradise will forever elude us – a fact that informs the kinds of games we wish to play; stories that make sense, and that we want to engage with. I’m certainly glad, therefore, that is a wonderful game; and that it inspires a fitting ovation to one of the grand figures of storytelling, and touchstone narratives of a civilisation. And then we move on, with great trepidation, to an uncertain future.



Source : http://www.ign.com