I thought I heard the door open but I disregarded it. I was too lost in my task, rationing dirty cash for my crew of big money games, to notice even a breeze of wind. My crew is loyal, experienced, and have a variety of skills, but at the same time they're loud, cocky, and always trying to get the attention of the world at large. Tucked away in my room counting bills that I'd not long hold, I paid no mind to the commotion my games were making outside; that's what these guys did during down time. I should've know something was amiss when the flat fell silent, but I wasn't paying close enough attention. Moments after the unsettling quiet my door violently swung open, and before I had the chance to even question what was happening, Hotline Miami crushed my skull with a baseball bat.
I often wonder what it would be like to be a ninja. It's been a secret dream of mine since childhood, along with the desire to be an astronaut, dinosaur, underpaid startup employee, and unheralded videogame blogger. But at the end of the day, ninja is the one dream that persisted. If gaming has taught me anything, it's that ninjas are pretty much space marines with swords who every now and then rely on the cloak of shadow to replenish health before running back into broad daylight, slicing everything up like a food processor. Having done plenty of study on my future profession, I'm wise enough to know ninja blend into crowds like normal folk, using simple subterfuge to complete their tasks. While Mark of the Ninja isn't quite on that level of subtlely, it's one of the best representations of my shadow brethren since Tenchu. But is it any good?
Admittely, I'm a Transformers geek of Unicronian proportions. I have a collection of Transformers from the 80’s to the present day - both sealed and opened, an Autobots tattoo, and even had figures of Optimus Prime and Arcee in tux and dress atop my wedding cake when I tied the knot. So as you can imagine, being tasked to review this game without bias is a huge undertaking, but here we go..
I've played about 30 minutes total of the first Torchlight game. It wasn't bad. Before that, I spent months playing Diablo and Diablo II. Good times. Through Diablo III's development cycle, I felt a little underwhelmed and worried about the type of end product we would get. After entry to the Diablo III beta, I was quite reassuredly disappointed. It wasn't bad, but it should have been amazing. It's like Half-Life 3 being a rip-off of Halo 3. Yeah, like that. So I didn't buy Diablo III, and not once since it's been in circulation have I regret that decision.
So Torchlight wasn't bad, and Torchlight 2 looks to continue that tradition by looking pretty rad. Yes, it is essentially Diablo, but look at that madness on screen? Coupled with the series' original style and art, this here is looking a fresher than the old "stay a while and listen" bit. So what of it readers, are you torching Torchlight 2, casting Diablo to hell's depths, or playing both?
I haven't been genuinely frightened of a movie since sometime in the 1980s. I'm not sure if that's because I was an impressionable child, or because the movies were just plain scarier. You ever seen ET? That was a damn horrorfest, and one I hope never to see again. So here's Routine, a first-person horror exploration game set on the desolation of Earth's moon circa 198X. This is already hitting all the right notes.
In what I'd call 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Amnesia: The Dark Descent meets Panos Cosmatos, Routine looks all kinds of awesome with a dash of spook. Horror games have been mostly dead the past decade, so to see this attempt to carry the torch from Amnesia sits well with me, like a stomach full of steak and whiskey. Routine is the first offering from Lunar Software, a 3-person studio based in the UK, and is due in 2013 for both Mac and PC. I sorely miss the days of floppy disks, cross-processed colors, and retro-future technology, so I'm eagerly counting the days until I have them all back in my life.
Sometime 'round 2008 I invested a few bucks in a rinky dink game called Dark Sector, which looked right up my alley. I thought it would be a nice albeit typical trounce around the third-person shooter genre. I was not prepared for how awesome the game truly was, in just about every aspect. A gritty narrative worthy of a Baldacci novel, coupled with smooth action unique to the genre, and graphics that were ahead of the curve made for an enthralling and unexpected experience. Damn near four years later and Dark Sector developer Digital Extremes have since kept themselves busy by creating well received titles such as Homefront and The Darkness II, with nary a peep from their surprise hit. Peep. Dark Sector is back, however in a relatively changed manner.
Warframe is a free-to-play PvE shooter not unlike its progenitor, aside from the F2P and unending Horde mode bits. Digital Extremes haven't revealed much just yet, but here's a kicking trailer which puts on display some of the Tennos' abilities. By the way, Dark Sector's protagonist was named Hayden Tenno, just saying. The Tennos can perform magnificent moves such as teleporting, vanishing, and other things you'd expect of a space ninja. It looks like players will also have the ability to enhance normal actions like running and jumping, all nicely intertwined with gun and swordplay, of course. And the trailer ends with a slowing burst that levitates enemies within a perimeter to be diced to a fine mist, akin to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Yesssss.
That's really all I got for you right now. We can no doubt expect lots of customizing and micro-transactions to create a more interesting and powerful Tenno. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that DigiEx uses this as a springboard to launch addtional content in this universe. PvP? A full and proper story to fill the gaps between the two games? The return of the glaive?! More info to come as it becomes available. In the meantime, sign up for the Warframe beta to get in on the action.
Who says the most beautiful graphics, a Trent Reznor scored soundtrack, and gratuitous sex & violence is what makes games what they are? Me, sometimes. I call it like I see 'em! Here in one fine ass example of the latter, however. ASCIIvania is sorta like classic Castlevania, except the crumbling floors, Medusa heads, and whips have been replaced with letters, numbers, and symbols. As you explore the winding map, you find power-ups in the form of usable letters, which you can then change into to create words with the environment, which in turn opens up more of the map. You can also find symbols which allow you to double jump, reverse gravity, et al. Seriously, this description does no justice to the game itself. Please kill some time with ASCIIvania, you owe it to the classic gamer within that dies a little each time you pay $60 for a game.
I never quite expected MS-DOS to so closely resemble the pride of my childhood, however this does the deed. Brilliant.
It seems like it was just a few years ago that I was having my mind blown by the incredible feats of Max Payne. Remedy Software's PC title broke many walls with its gritty tale of horror and industry-changing Bullet Time mechanic that hundreds of games have since reused, with often less than spectacular results. Then, after damn near a decade of silence, Rockstar gives new life to the series with the announcement of Max Payne 3, proving the series to be unkillable much like Max himself. Is the game as old and worn down as its hero as well?
Bethesda and Arkane's next shit has graced us with two bloody handfuls of Dishonored gameplay, which has me pumped to assassinate masked guards in me-mode! Little known fact: I'm head over heels for the way under utilized first-person slasher genre.
Though the graphics aren't really wowing me, Dishonored looks to be a whole lot of cut throat fun with its roof jumping, sanguine gushing, magical power wielding, Victorian futuristic craziness. And the star of the show is of course that incredible collapsible butterfly sword. Hey Bethesda, pack one of those things in the Collectors Edition and charge $200 for it. You'll have my Benjamins thrown at you instantaneously!
Here's a look at Dawnguard, the upcoming expansion to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which looks like a whole chain of events somewhat similar to the Companions quest line, except focusing on vampires rather than werewolves. Also, horseback combat and giant fucking frost trolls. You know, Game Jam shit!
Vampirism was a total pain in the ass in Oblivion, and I didn't think it was worth the trade off of not being able to travel in daylight without taking damage. And if you wanted to reverse the curse, you had to spend hours upon hours toiling through a quest that you may or may not have enough focus to complete. As that was a throw-in and this is an actual entire mass of downloadable content, I'm hoping it's a little better implemented and runs deeper than just faster regeneration and shit. From the looks of it, transforming into a true beast of the night is an option, which is a step in the right direction.
Saturday, December 8, 2012 at 12:21PM 
