Okay kids! Today's phrase of the day is Black Ops. Can you say Black Ops? Bla, khops. Very good.
Treyarch community manager, Josh Olin, has written up a post on the ever helpful PlayStation.blog, detailing some of the lesser known facts about Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Most pressing; the addition of split-screen online multiplayer. Sweet! You can log in as a guest under any profile and immediately start blowing stuff up. The guest will be able to gain rain, earn unlocks, the whole nine. Unfortunately, all guest progress is lost when the player signs out. Bummer.
Also of note is the Custom Games Editor, which will allow you to fine tune the parameters of any custom game you create; time limit, weapon set, perks, gear, and on. When you're done creating your very own boring ass custom game, you'll be able to drop it in a file share, where your friends and the anonymous community alike can ridicule how terrible your decisions are. Hooray!
Remember Explodemon!, the sidescrolling action game than looks like a mash up of Mega Man X and 'Splosion Man? You don't? Probably because it's been flying under some radars, unjustifiably so.
Curve Studios' colorful and boombastic upcoming PSN exclusive has been given a loose release of Winter 2010. That's like, next month yo!
Explodemon! will feature 12 levels of play, a "deep" control system, upgradeable abilities, comic book styled cut scenes, to go along with the pulse-pounding, up close and personal, spontaneous human combustion battle system. Not to mention a busy-as-hell hud. What are all those marvelous meters for? I have no idea, but I do know they look rad!
We're looking forward to this one, so you'll be the first to know when Explodemon! finalizes it's release date.
Sega fan since grade school, yo. And that's a long, long time ago. So it's clear to see why the appeal of an attitude-laden hedgehog was a stronger call than the pipe-surfing escapades of a stocky Italian man. Don't get me wrong, I loved both, but Sonic had the charismatic edge. So why is it that Mario games continue to sell well while the Hedgehog series just can't seem to hit the mark? Can Sonic 4 change the series' fate of late? Can a return to 2D reinvigorate the franchise? Can I haz speed?
Taking a page from Poe, Rockstar rhymes the details of Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare's multiplayer mode, Undead Overrun. Zombies haven't been this artsy since Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Or the Williamsburg Zombie Prom from 2009. Damn hipsters.
Playstation Network exclusive Malicioushas been flying under most people's radars, unjustifiably so. The game looks beautiful, sounds like it plays solidly, and is an inexpensive downloadable title. Along with a new trailer, a date has been announced for the Japanese release; October 27th. That's next week yo!
Priced at ¥800 (roughly $10 US) Malicious looks well worth the money spent. Updates on a stateside release remain few and far between, developers Alvion were last heard stating a US release is "being considered". Consider harder Alvion, Westerners need some boss-battlin', power-stealin', cape-smashin' action in our lives.
As you should be aware of by now, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II released a downloadable demo this week. The original Force Unleashed, while heavily flawed, was a blast to play. It made you feel like an all powerful Jedi/Sith surrounded by masses of mostly inferior enemies, allowing you to use your great power to dispatch of anyone foolish enough to stand against you with great fun and creativity. You also got to be part of one of the most compelling canon Star Wars stories we've seen in some time. Funny how all the best Star Wars content these days comes from everyone but Lucas himself.
TFU2 once again puts the player in control of Starkiller, Darth Vader's secret apprentice. Uncontent to just let his fearsomely strong pupil die at the end of the first game, Vader has created clones of Starkiller who have all of his power, but also the uprising memories of the original. During a practice exercise, Starkiller's memories overwhelm him, preventing him from striking down his love, Juno Eclipse. Seeing this weakness, Vader plans to kill the nostalgic clone and start anew, but this Starkiller is smart. Sensing Vader's impending lightsaber to the chest, our clever carbon copy Jedi blasts his mentor back with Force lightning and flies the coop. Demo on.
+ The surprisingly decent story of the original Force Unleashed is expanded on + The powers make you truly feel like a fearsome disciple of the Force + Destructible environments and unique enemy reactions always offers something fresh
- Difficulty on normal felt way too easy - Dual sabers don't act much differently from a single saber - Bland stage design showcased in the demo - Something about the game experience feels empty
Fans of the Star Wars universe should probably buy this game without asking any questions. Fans of a solid gaming experience, well that remains to be seen just yet. There is a lot of promise in the demo, but the stage the action is set on is a little unspectacular and disappointing. The full version of the game will no doubt have more exciting backdrops to torture stormtroopers, but will that empty feeling the game seems to have be filled?
Super Meat Boy is one of those games I feel like I've been hearing about for years but has never quite come around. The quirky art style, colorful characters, and punishing platforming are a recipe for success. Every time the latest Super Meat Boy news leaks, I felt like I was being teased and led on. I just want to play the game already!
Well, the time has just about come, as the indie gem with Newgrounds roots is right around the corner, less than a week from release. A talented individual has decided to take the marketing for Super Meat Boy into his own hands, creating an hip and egdy (for the time) 90's retro commercial. I hope these throwback commercials continue their popularity, because they're awesome.
This home-brewed ad is the last straw for me. I need some Meat Boy in my life. In case the thought of playing as a Meat Wad (no relation) is a little repulsive to you, the developers got your back. Somehow, they've managed to squeeze in tons of characters from other indie games, such as Tim from Braid, Ninja from N+, Gish, Alien Hominid, and a Castle Crashers Knight, each with their own special powers.
Oh yeah, replay value and multiple ways to take on the platforming. Team Meat knows what we like, and they're going to give it to us come October 20th.
One of the fondest memories from my childhood was taking vacation with family down to Florida, where the local pristine and hi-tech arcade was home to the much sought after 6-player X-Men Arcade. A world of difference from the local arcades I haunted in Queens New York, which were mostly found in the back of pizza stores and comic book shops. Even then, the best we had were Sunset Riders, Street Fighter: Rainbow Edition, WWF Superstars, and a Neo Geo 4-in-1 cabinet. Don't get me wrong, I loved the ghetto games of my ghetto arcade in the back of the ghetto pizzeria, but damn son, I get to play as Wolverine with five other people? That's what I'm talking about.
When the trailer for X-Men Arcade started rolling at Marvel's Saturday morning video game panel at New York Comic Con, and I realized what it was, my childhood came rushing back. I remembered taking family trips down south, swimming in the pool with with girls more mature than I, being fascinated with their boobs, playing Simpsons Arcade, Tekken, and of course, X-Men Arcade. I also remembered just how much I hated this particular game. Well, hate is a strong word, it was more like I was at odds with it.
I loved X-Men, and I loved arcades, so it's obvious that the joining of the two would be a dream come true for a snot-nosed punk in the early 90's. And it was for a while, until I couldn't beat it with the quarters allotted to me by my father. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how many people who teamed with me, I could never conquer this damned game.
I remember coming close once, really close. I must have spent around five bucks to get to the point I was at, me and one other kid holding it down long after the rest of our team had succumbed to renegade mutants and mutant hunters. The level was epic, the enemies were vicious, and the life was draining quickly. Magneto was the next boss, I could feel it! Boy, was I wrong.
I don't remember the stage, or the boss, but we beat it, and him. Only to move on to the next stage, and die, quickly. Well, I died. My compatriot valiantly fought on, lasting a good 5-10 minutes after me, but he met his inevitable end as well. Dejectedly, we sighed and bid our final farewells as our parents dragged us off, back to the real world.
X-Men Arcade is an awesome throwback to the arcade glory days of my, and probably your, childhood. Unfortunately, Konami says nothing new will be added, so don't expect to be playing as Bishop via DLC. Yes, someone will still be forced to play as disco reject, Dazzler. Not it, I've got infinite dibs on Nightcrawler. That was my man! All things aside, this is an excellent re-release. With six player drop in online support, the fun of the original will be upheld, and you'll be able to save your quarters for laundry.
We had a chance to sit down with Dead Space 2 producer Zach Mumbach and ask him a little about what makes his game tick. In true developer fashion, he doesn't reveal too much, but we get enough out of Zach to make it interesting.
Before watching him play, I was able to log 10 minutes or so with the demo on the floor, which is "very close" to being an end product. I liked what I saw and enjoyed what I played, the build was polished and handled tightly. The graphics are sharp and detailed, and the environments seem to exist to haunt the player. The sterile and cramped confines of the stage I tried really messed with my head. Blood and severed limbs strewn around the floor panels should have really alerted me, but I was still rightly spooked when a necromorph burst through a panel from behind and forced me into a gruesome retirement.
The experience was topped off by entering an eerily beautiful cathedral area where I fought a boss who has a stinger with a fetus growing on it. Dead Space 2's art designers are sick sons of bitches, I love it. The stinger makes for one of the sickest death animations we saw, and you will too in the video below.
I'm very excited for Dead Space 2, which for a player should be all about ambiance. It's all fun and laughs on the Comic Con show floor, with plenty of lights and a flood of people around, but when the game releases, and it's just you in a dimly lit room with no one home, that's where the real fun begins.
I make my feelings for Rockstar no secret; I enjoy and respect their work and the effort they make. Their games are always so full of life and brimming over with content, however the departure from their light-hearted roots concerned me. C'est la vie, you can't please all of the people all of the time, but Rockstar aims to please however many as possible with their games. So is Undead Nightmare a six feet under snooze or a howl at the moon?
Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 5:06PM 
