Category Archives: Games

Impressive videos from E3 2009

Here’s some of the most impressive videos, trailers or demos from E3 2009.

The Beatles Rock Band

We all know it’s going to be an instant hit. The trailer animation is fantastic, showing all the phases from The Beatles.

Ruse on Microsoft’s Surface

Ubisoft’s RUSE on Microsoft’s $20,000 touch-screen “Surface”. Now that’s putting it to good use. :)

Splinter Cell Conviction

The visual presentation is amazing. The new aditions continue to make the series fresh and exciting.

Peter Molyneux Project Natal

A glimpse at the next step in video-games evolution. Sony and Nintendo will have to step up their game.

Wallace & Gromit Grand Adventures

Traditional point and click adventure games are a dead genre but some publishers still try to push games with a more modern interface and storytelling aproach.

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Today I bought Wallace & Gromit Grand Adventures on Xbox Live and it’s pure fun. Go try the demo or look at the trailer, it’s worth it.

P.S: And don’t forget that Bionic Commando:Rearmed is selling for 5$ on discount.

Smash!

In a time where the print industry seems to be in trouble, there’s a new Video Games magazine in Portugal.

Smash! Magazine promisses to bring gamers different content from the usual reviews and preview we’ve been customed to. The mag has some good writing, check it out.

Congratulations and good luck!

Now playing – Professor Layton and the Curious Village [NDS]

I’m using my Nintendo DS again thanks to this game: Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

The game joins Professor Layton as he tries to solve crimes inside the mysterious Village! You’ll find plenty of  brain teasers, riddles, math and logic problems with a very well thought narrative and interesting characters.

A perfect portable game in my opinion.

Here’s the Video-Review from Gametrailers:

Playing this weekend – Alone in the Dark

So what game are you playing this weekend?

This week I chose to talk about Alone in the Dark for Xbox 360, it was released a few months ago and you can problably find it in the bargain bin of your local games store but is it any good?

Cutting the story short, the game is yet another third-person horror game where you take the role of the amnesiac Edward Carnby and try to defend yourself from a very nasty demon in the middle of Central Park in New York.

The game offers some very unique gameplay elements and at the same time, very frustrating experiences. For starters, the fighting system is very creative, you can basicaly pick up pretty much everything at your disposal and use it as a weapon or just improvise by combining items.

For example, if you mix alcohol with bullets you get fire bullets (yeah), mixing an ancherchief with an alcohol bottle gets you a cocktail molotof and so on. There’s alot of combinations and fire plays an essencial role since enemies can only be ultimately killed with it. Speaking of fire, the fire physics are some of the best I’ve seen in a video-game.

Also, the story, scenarios and game style are very well thought and played, there’s a very strong cinematic experience. Plus, every chapter is played like a TV Show. You get smaller episodes and if you’re stuck you can fast forward….

Now for the bad. Moving Edward Carnby is a chore, the controls could be more simplified and the camera doesn’t help, it’s just awfull. Also, the character and car physics are horrible, many times you pass through objects or fail to jump to a ledge or discover a nasty bug. Besides, there’s situations where winning or losing depends on how much you master the camera and walking at the same time.

The inventory although very original is not very good to navigate because the game isn’t paused when you access it (yeah!) and mixing stuff in a middle of a fight will lead to frustration.

Expect your character to die a lot. :)

There’s plenty of good ideas in this game and you sense a lot of effort was put into making this a fantastic game but the buggy controls, nasty character physics and some unwise design decisions torwards the end, make this game non recomendable. Hope there’s a second try.

Playing this weekend – Fable 2

Weekend is coming, what video-games will you play this weekend to take your mind out of work, crisis and everything?

I’ve finished Fable 2 recently but I’ve still got a few quests left, so I might as well give a little review.

Fable 2 is the expected sequel to the first Fable (duh) game which was released on Xbox and Pc. At the time, there were high expectations (in many ways thanks to Peter Molineux’s interviews) about the game which were shrouded completely when the game was released. So is Fable 2 any better?

Continue reading →

Fallout 3 Operation Anchorage review

Fallout 3 was one of the best games of the year 2008 and this week Bethesda Studios released the first dlc (downloadable content) for the game (800 MS points on the Xbox 360).

The expansion will put the player through a series of events that lead to using a VR simulation of Alasca’s liberation from Chinese Forces and is focused in combat or stealth action. The new scenario is a breath of fresh air, with snowy and rocky areas making you forget the sandy yellow tones of the desert in Fallout 3.

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The player will have to fight through the chinese soldiers and will encounter new enemies, including 2 Chimera Tanks and stealth soldiers. There’s also the possibility of commanding a small army of 4 people maximum with different classes, like infantry, missile commando, granadier or even Mr. Gutsy. :P

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It’s a nice surprise to see the flexibility of the game engine created by Bethesda, the expansion can be played around 2/3 hours and will leave you craving for more. In the end you can expect to get new loot, including the new and powerful Gauss Gun/sniper, a T-51b armor and a chinese stealth armor.

So is it worth it? Depends how much you value your 800 MS points, the duration of the dlc is short but it’s a nice break from the sandy looks from Fallout 3 and if you favor combat there’s plenty of action.

There’s an interview with Bethesda from IGN regarding the dlc.

Btw, here’s my 2 recommendations for future expansions:

* The Radio Expansion: Fallout’s soundtrack is pretty good but the game has 40+ hours of gameplay, why not launch a dlc with one more radio station and music?

* The proper ending Expansion: One thing missing from the game is epilogue endings. Unlike previous Fallout games, you don’t experience in the end of the game, the consequences of your actions in the future. A big dissapointment but could eventually be fixed.

Top 10 Classic Games

This is a personal list of my favorite top 20 games from waaaaaay back until now. Some of them are pretty old but I think all of the have something special that makes them a classic.

Attention: Image intensive. :)

Anyway, without further delay, my top 20 classic games:

The secret of Monkey Island

A fantastic point-and-click adventure game, great humour and gameplay. If you like Pirates then you’ll problably like this game as well. :)

Colonization

It’s a turn-based strategy game themed on the early European colonization of the New World, starting in 1492 and lasting until 1850.  I dont know exactly why I prefered this game over Civilization but I remember spending hours on it. A shame it didn’t include Portugal. :)

Fallout 2

Fallout 2 was one of the most brilliant games I’ve ever played, it’s a computer role-playing game published by Interplay in 1998 which takes place in a post-apocalyptic universe with a very unique game system, deep story and interesting characters.

Super Mario World

My first game for the Super Nintendo (SNES) and the game that introduced me to Nintendo. The 2D graphics were amazing for the time and the gameplay was fantastic. I think I finished the game like 6 times (how dumb!). :P

Street Fighter 2

This was my second SNES game, what can I say? Brilliant controls and tight gameplay, it’s Street Fighter. :)

Resident Evil 2

Zombies, lot’s of them in 2 discs with an engaging storyline and gameplay mechanics which were copied over and over.

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Baldur’s Gate 2 improved many of the first game flaws and ended up being an impressive follow-up. Produced by Bioware, it’s based on the 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing system but with a few twists. One of the best rpg’s in my opinion in videogame history with a large storyline, fantastic dialogs and amazing battles.

Command & Conquer

Command & Conquer (a.k.a. Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn) was problaby the game that popularized real-time strategy video games. Produced by Westwood Studios. the game featured 2 factions which you could play and lot’s of movies both with real actors and 3D animations between missions.

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII is a console role-playing game developed by Square and released for the Playstation. The game had amazing 3D computer graphics for the time it was released and featured fully rendered characters on pre-rendered backgrounds. The game had 4 discs full of amazing gameplay, music, and story. One of the greatest game of the series and actually made me buy a Playstation just to play it. :P

GTA III

GTA III popularized sandbox styled games. This was the first 3D title in the series and one of my favorites. There isn’t much to say about it, the dark humor, funny dialogs, fantastic gameplay and entertaining missions combine in a must have game.

And that’s it. Though choice.

Here’s other great games with covers but I haven’t got enough time to talk about them all. :P

What are your favorite video-games of all time?

Metal Gear Solid (Playstation)

Final Fantasy Tactics (Playstation)

Freelancer (PC)

Doom 2 (PC)

Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)

Gran Turismo (Playstation)

Zelda: A link to the past (SNES)

Mario 64 (N64)

Halo (Xbox)

Full Throttle (PC)

Day of The Tentacle (PC)

Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis (PC)

King of Fighters 95 (Saturn)

Shenmue (Dreamcast)

New Xbox Experience Layout

In case you’ve missed it, Microsoft released last week a long awaited update for Xbox 360 Live users with new features and a whole new revamped layout.

The integration between online and the xbox interface is more tight, it’s much more usable, there’s more information before you buy a specific item on the marketplace and a bunch of new features making the experience very worthwhile.

You can now install games on the hard-drive, thus cutting down on loading times and making the Xbox run quieter.

The new avatars look cute but they don’t add much value yet, I guess it’s the natural response to PS3′s Home and the Wii’s interface with the Mii’s. So far there’s only two games that take advantage of the new avatars but I guess more will come in the future.

There’s also new “premium” themes which look impressive but cost more. I don’t understand why there isn’t an option to preview a theme yet but some nice folks have been taking photos and screenshots so you know what you’re buying beforehand.

G4TV also posted a nice preview video but if you have a Xbox 360 the best thing to do is just connect it to the web and update.

Gizmodo also has a great article: 10 things you should know about the new Xbox Live Experience.

Dead Space

Dead Space is one of those games that does a heck of a job promoting itself. The video game is a third-person survival horror-action video game, developed by EA Redwood Shores for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows.

The player takes the role of Isaac Clarke (named after science fiction writers Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke), an engineer who must fight his way through a stricken mining ship (the Hishimura) infested with Necromorphs, a hostile, virus-like, free-roaming alien DNA with the ability to reanimate the bodies of the dead, turning them into grotesque monstrosities.

The atmosphere of the game is amazing, there’s a very unique look and feel of the game and it’s always saluting to see companies investing in new ip’s instead of the usual sequels.

In the last months, EA also distributed different trailers (including one from movie SAW director) and several short animated comics which tell part of the history before the events of the game, all this on PC, the Xbox Live and PSN Network.

There’s even an animated movie (Dead Space Downfall) which explores this even further giving you more clues about what happened on board the Hishimura space ship before you arrive in the game.

Finally, EA also launched No Known Survivors, a website similar to an alternate reality game that provides an opportunity for visitors to explore the narrative world of Dead Space (it reminds me of Myst).

Go see the trailers if you haven’t yet and maybe one of the animated comics, I promisse you’ll get the urge to try the game. :)

Btw, you can watch the review at GameTrailers.