Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Review

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, is a reboot of the Castlevania series. Presumably intended to run alongside the present, 2D titles rather than replace them. Under development by Mercury Steam, with assistance from Kojima productions, Castlevania tries once more to break into 3D, successfully.  

Medal of Honor - Review

Medal of Honor hasn't really had a strong presence in the current generation of video games... following the trend of modernising shooter franchise, like Call of Duty has, EA have reboot the franchise and brought Medal of Honor into present times, following real warfare. 

Hori PS3 snap on LCD - Hardware Review

I'm not entirely qualified to review visual output devices so this is more my impressions than a professional, technical review. Regardless I picked this up earlier this week, imported from Japan. The Hori PS3 snap on screen is a portable LCD screen compatible only with the PS3 Slim model, packing up to 720p screen resolution, and built in speakers... let's see how the device fairs.

Dead Rising 2 - Review

So Dead Rising is back once more giving players another chance to take part in a zombie massacre, but has the game managed to shrug off the problems of its predecessor? Read on to find out. 

Dead Rising 2 is the sequel to the 2006 title, Dead Rising. This time around however, you're in the shoes of a different character, in a different setting. As Chuck Green, an ex motocross superstar, you quickly find yourself trapped in Fortune City, which has just recently become the home of some 100,000 of the undead. Making things worse, you're being framed for causing the outbreak. The military arrive in 72hours to clean things up, and if you don't clear your own name by that time - they'll be taking you down with the zombies. Oh and on top of that you're daughters suffering from a slight case of zombification... so you need to keep bringing her zombrex to hold back the virus. 

Red Dead: Undead Nightmares Trailer

More Red Dead Redemption--Undead Nightmare Videos

Zombie bears, oh my!

Looks like fun, after being disappointed by Dead Rising 2, I might just pick up Red Dead Redemption one more time, and give this a go.

Little Big Planet 2 Beta - Level showcase

Here I'm going to spotlight some of the best creations, produced so far in the Little Big Planet 2 beta. All credit for these videos, creations and content goes to the appropriate entities.

 Capture the Flag by Nuclearfish
  
The objective here is to hold onto the flag for as long as possible, whilst your opponents try and shoot you with various powerups, to reclaim it. You earn points as you hold onto the flag, the person with the highest score when the timer runs out, is the winner.  

What makes this level special is a great presentation, and good use of the new competitive multiplayer and creatinator tool.




Audial Visuals by Fyshokid

Audio Visuals features no gameplay, it's essentially a music video. What makes this level special is the great use of the camera and music creation tools.




Sackro Machines 2! by Splapp-Me-Do

Sackro Machines 2 is a brilliant micro machines clone. What makes this level special is the great use of direct control seats, and camera tools to recreate a classic title from video gamings past.




Here's Jonny by Ladylyn1

Another level with no gameplay, this is a cinematic level, telling a short story. What makes this level special is the fantastic use of camera tools.




The Ancient Cave of New Beh'Ta by lous_85

The Ancient Cave of New Beh'Ta is a traditional LBP platformer, what makes this level special is it's excellent presentation and great use of the grappling hook, and Sackbots to showcase how the new mechanics can be expertly integrated into a standard platformer.




Community level - Flower

As you could probably guess this is a recreation of the game 'Flower'. What makes this level special is how well the author translated the 3D mechanics of the original game, to a 2D top down enviroment, with direct control seats and camera tools.




Community level - Armour Boy: Battle Arena

This is a mech based game, where you have to fend off waves of enemies in an arena. What makes this level special is a fantastic use of a direct control seat intergrated into a multiplayer game.




There are other similar levels

Zone of the Enders - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ril6dFBwRDk&feature=related
Sackometry Wars - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwI6fcGVIrk
Space Knight - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sovg_LQCups
Space Wars - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4NNlZxRRuA

Community level - Flow

As you can probably guess, this is a Little Big Planet recreation of the game flow. In fact it's so accurate it makes me wonder if it crosses the line for copyright infringement.




Vietnam: FPS (First Person Shooter) by PPp_Killer

This levels essentially your basic, on rails shooter. What makes this level special is how the camera tools have be manipulated to produce a first person-eque perspective.




Community level - RPG Concept

Pretty simple concept level, what makes this special that it showcases a functiona menu system, which could be used to swap items and whatnot in a typical RPG.




Minesweeper by BludgaBoy

As you can imagine this plays exactly like minesweeper. What's special about this level is perfectly accurate reproduction of the game, and how the author manages to produce 'random' variables to generate each table, for each new game.




Community level - AirHocky

Pretty simple concept but a great demonstration of how multiplayer levels don't need fancy mechanics to be enjoyable. There's not too much that's special about this level, although it does show good use of direct control seats and a top down camera.




Here's another level of a similar nature

Witches Brew - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTNH5u5bTAY

Community level - Street Fighter: Guiles theme

I wasn't too impressed by this level, but hell since it seems to be the most popular. I figured I'd include it so anyone that manages to miss out, can get to see it.





Community level - Torchman

This is a sweet level showcasing how simplistic use of direct control seats and Sackbots can amp up Little Big Planets platforming formula.





Hope you enjoyed watching and or reading about these levels. Again, credit and property of the content belong to there rightful owners. 

Dead Space and Lara Croft Offer

Here's two offers that cropped up the other day.

If you missed out on the Dead Space 2 Beta, and happen to have a US PSN account, you can get another chance to earn a code at:  http://www.facebook.com/deadspace?v=app_107611949261673 supposedly all you have to do is like the page. Obviously you need a facebook account. I'm not sure if the facebook accounts must be set to US residency too, though.

If you don't manage to get a chance to play the beta, you can watch DeltaCanuckian playing it, and give his first impressions in the video below.

Finally if you want a chance to play the new Lara Croft: Guardian of Light game, Gamespot are offering access to an early access demo. All you need to do is log in with your gamespot account at this page http://uk.gamespot.com/event/codes/lara-croft-ps3-eur/?coupon=lara-croft-ps3-eur that link is for EU PSN accounts, you sign up here if you're using a US account PSN account  http://uk.gamespot.com/event/codes/lara-croft-ps3-us/ my code was sent immediately after logging into my GameSpot account when prompted. 

Enslaved - Demo Impressions

Another Action Adventure title fighting for your attention this October, is Enslaved - Odyssey to the West. The demo kicks off with you; the unnamed protagonist trapped inside a jail cell. Quickly things take a turn as airship your imprisoned upon is sabotaged by a redheaded woman. From there it's up to you to, pretty much climb, jump and fight your way to survival.

The first thing you'll notice the enslaved demo, were the graphics and lighting. As you first get your hands on some gameplay, every thing's exploding around you, steams pressuring out the sides of the walls, the game looks great, and intense. The controls them self are pretty simple, you press X to jump, or climb from one object to another... and that's all you're given at the start.

The climbing itself is pretty basic. You can only climb across predefined environment objects, like railings and airvents. I noticed that they often shine to indicate what you need to climb onto to progress. It's a good system and the games climbing mechanics feel much faster paced than Uncharted's or Assassins Creed's.

As you progress through the demo you're introduced to new gameplay mechanics such as combat. First impressions of the combat system are unfortunately that it's extremely simple. There appeared to be very few combos and it didn't really matter what you pressed, the enemies went down pretty easily. Although I'd imagine the game will be changing up the combat mechanics as the it progresses. The combat does at least do an excellent job of making itself look, awesome - the camera moves as you strike enemies, occasionally going into slow motion for the final blow. It's very well done and makes combat feel intense.

Check the video for a full playthrough of the demo 

The demo progresses further with more platforming and occasional scripted scenes. As you progress the airship deteriorates further and further, there's a definite sense of urgency. Finally you catch up with the red headed woman, who's just about to ride out on the last escape pod... she's locked in so there's nothing you can do but hang on to the front as the escape pod shuttles to the ground below...

I'm not going to spoil the very end cutscene of the demo for you, but it does a good job of setting the scene and overall tone of the game. It definitely had me intrigued as to how the relationship between the two characters is going to play out.

Overall Enslaved definitely has me interested. It looks great, plays reasonably well and I found myself immediately interested in the story after just a short time. I definitely suggest giving the demo a go.

Little Big Planet - Teaching kids in New York

I can see how Little Big Planet might be a stimulating way of teaching some basic video game logic and structuring to kids. Shame the video doesn't really explain how they're applied within education. Either way, Little Big Planets certainly something that'd have made my high school education more interesting.

Mega Man 10 - Review

Alright, right off the bat before I start. I have never played a Mega Man game in my life... well, aside Mega Man Man Battlenetwork on the Gameboy advance, way back. So this games really new to me, I've tried the Megaman 9 demo and I felt like it kinda throws you in the deepend, but since Mega Man 10 was on sale; I decided to see what all the fuss was all about. This review probably isn't for those that are already fans of the Megaman games... since I can't review it relative to the others, and I'm sure as Megaman fans you'll probably be getting the game anyway.

Mega Man 10 is presented like a classic SNES title. It's 8 bit presentation will be endearing to fans of retro in general. There's some very lose introduction... a bad guys done something bad, and Megaman as the good guy is tasked to put a stop to it. Where the thick of Megaman lies though is in the gameplay.

It follows pretty typical platforming mechanics, you can jump, and you can shoot. Kind of similar to the Metal Slug titles aside you can only shoot either directly left, or directly right. This presents a challenge at times as you're tasked to get in line with enemies in order to  be able to defeat them so you'll still be very reliant on your platforming ability to dodge around enemies and hazards, whilst trying to get in line for shots. It can be pretty challenging at times, but it's pretty fun. There's also a good amount of variety, with lots of different enemies, with different attack patterns and relative strategies to beat them, and lots of unique enviroment objects such as Ice which  makes you slide, and sand which makes you sink.

The game is structured so that you can go to any of the 8 stages from the start, each stage has a different boss, and powerup reward. Using this knowledge if you're having difficulty with one stage you can switch to another, and hopefully the stage you switch to will give you a powerup that'll help you with the other stage you were stuck on. It's part trial and error, but at the same time all of the stages can be beaten without any of the powerups so you don't need to go out of your way to seek for the best strategy, if you don't wish to.

It's quite hard to fault the game, to be honest. Yes it is pretty hard, even verging on frustration at times, but at the same time there's really nothing that feels unfair, and if you are having trouble something introduced with Megaman 10 is 'easy mode' which makes the game a lot more easier, and generally accessible for new players. I gave this mode and it did a good job of things easier, with extra platforms to jump on, less enemies, and allowing you to take more damage. So if normal is too hard for you, there's really no shame just switching down the difficulty... okay, well... there's a little shame - but if you're not that good at platformers you'll still be able to enjoy the game on this difficulty.

Verdict
Overall, I'm very glad I gave Megaman 10 a chance. By the looks of things this is a title that should be able to please all fans of the genre, so long as the ones struggling can bear turning down the difficulty. If not some with shorter attention spans may go away from the title frustrated rather quickly. However if you're a fan of 8 bit retro, or Megaman himself this is definitely one to pick up.

Little Big Planet 2 Delayed - Sad Panda is sad

Straight from the mouth of Media molecule.

"LittleBigPlanet 2 is a crazy dream, a dream to allow players to make whatever kind of game they want, but also to play though a great adventure of drama and excitement, power-ups, and cinematics. But like all of the most ambitious ideas, it can be a considerable challenge to turn these dreams in to fun games. We’ve all been working like powered-up space ninjas and we’re almost there, but because we love what we’ve made, and we love our little sack-friends, and most of all we love all our fans out there, we couldn’t let you all get together until we knew we were giving you the best experience imaginable. Which is why we’ve taken the hard decision to delay the worldwide release of LittleBigPlanet 2, originally slated for later this year to January 2011."

http://www.mediamolecule.com/blog/article/important_news_regarding_the_release_date_of_littlebigplanet_2/

That's pretty unfortunate. Still Sony do have GT5 releasing over the Christmas period (fingers crossed) so hopefully that can tide at least some of you Little Big Planet fans over, until the slightly later release of Little Big Planet 2. Credit to Media Molecule for being open about the release date, and apologizing to fans.

Little Big Planet 2 - Musical Creation

This is the best demo of the music creator I've seen so far. It looks like you'll be able to do great things with the music editor, this is just a short piece but it's pretty well done.



Credit to YouTorkass on youtube for his creation, and video.

Blade Kitten - Demo Impressions

Never heard of Blade Kitten before? pretty understandable I suppose. Anyway I'll brief you on the basics, your some sort of pink, half kitten, half human girl... accompanied by a magical floating sword.

Turns out if you give a cat a sword, they're essentially a Ninja. Blade Kitten is a 2D platformer, where you jump, climb... and battle across numerous themed stages. The demo kicks off with a brief introduction to the story, this blonde girl blows up your ship, and steals something from you, you have to pursue.

The level is a mixture of platforming elements, with occasional puzzles, and battle sequences. Platforming gameplay handles well, although at times the controls can feel ever so slightly 'floaty' overall it does play very well, the combat is quite basic, you can either do a standard attack with your sword - or throw it out. However health regenerates so what I got to play in the demo was a breeze, you could largely mash your way through the stage, occasionally mixing up some guard mechanics for the tougher foes.

The platforming elements aren't too challenging either. I did find myself hoping it'd gets more difficult as the game progresses, certainly, but still almost entirely devoid of challenge I did manage to get a fair bit of enjoyment out the demo. To it's credit the game features tonnes of collectibles, unlock-ables, and brilliant level design. Pretty much every section has a secret area, and the collectables make you feel very rewarded for the exploration.

On top of that, the game offers a great visual style. It's 2.5D, and presents itself almost at the quality of some of those half comic book half computer animated cartoon shows on the kids channels. Storm Hawks comes to mind but you'll probably get a better picture, with a picture.

 All in all, Blade Kitten was good fun, the gameplay itself was solid, and the collectables and potential unlockables kept me interested. The game screams high production values, with impressive styling and voice acting. I just hope the difficulty will pick up significantly, as the game progresses, else some of the more hardcore platformer, players might be turned off by the title. Give it a go if you can, and let me know what you thought. 

Flow Remade within Little Big Planet 2's Beta

This cropped up on youtube today... and I think this really shows off how much potential Little Big Planet 2 has as an indy development platform.



So you've seen the recreation. Now take a little look at the original game...



Impressive right? Can't wait to see what other recreations we have with the full game, and of course original titles too. I do hope Media Molecule will be as lenient on this type of content as last time. In Little Big Planet, many video game devs simply considered the Little Big Planet recreations, a tribute (and perhaps even advertisement) for the original titles, but with this recreation looking so promising - maybe even as good as the full title... will the developers this crosses into copyright infringement and force MM to clamp down on these type of creations?

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Demo Impressions

Aright. Let's start off on a good note. As far as I can tell, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow looks like it'll be a good game. Of course I can't speak for the full game, but everythings there in the demo. The graphics are adequate, there are a few visual flaws, such as for example the horse is peculiarly shiny in the rain, I've never seen fur look like that, wet or dry. The showcased in the demo is pretty much entirely derivative, but simultaneously decidedly competent.

At the start of the demo, after a brief introductory cutscene - your thrown into battle, defining a village from a werewolf attack. This is naturally where you get to get your hands on the combat, you fight few werewolves, then a larger werewolf, who assuming you're successful gets to meet a gruesome end... weary from battle, you rest for the night. When you wake (after a short cutscene) you're off again, on horseback - one of the games meta-games. The controls are pretty basic, and very similar to the Pegasus sections from the God of War games, you ride your horse whilst fending off pursuing werewolves. It's a relatively shallow mechanic but considering how short this section is, you're not given enough time to get bored... and then, the demo ends. Yep it's a pretty brief taste.

Where I can say the demo does truly shine however. Is in it's presentation. Sir Patrick Steward certainly lends a little class to the title, as he narrates your adventure, and the menus are presented through an ancient book, in keeping with the games overall style.

The story itself however, did seem pretty cliché. Something along the lines of saving a wife, defeating evil. Not so different to Dante's Inferno actually, but the demo didn't really tell all that much aside from setting the scene. The games full with mythical creatures and action packed cutscenes, some of which seemed over the top, but fun to watch nevertheless.

Overall, as I mentioned at the start, Casltevania: Lords of Shadow looks to be a solid title. However I'm not quite sure weather it's going to be raising the bar, in any area... but, I also get the impression it's not trying to. It'd be wrong to suggest that you need to innovate to provide entertainment.

10 of this generations most definitive titles

Alright this is a pretty simple list, in my opinion these are the top 10 games, you really 'must' play before the end of this generation. Well - if you can at least, not suggesting you buy hardware specifically to play individual titles. I'm going to be avoiding games that I feel hit there stide, within the last generation and rather focus on innovative, and unique experiences that define this one - so I hope you'll understand why some of your favourites may not be on here. 

This list is comprised of the games that have made genuine advances, in there respective context (genres) and games which I feel will be the influential titles that other developers will be looking to, to produce there own games. They're not the best in every aspect, but each of these has at least one definitive trait which I think anyone can say has been unparalleled within it's context, within the industry, this generation. This is just my list though of course, based on my own opinion - let me know what you think of it, and what your own 'must play' games have been this generation. 

Note: Listed in no particular order, and the bracketed games under each list item, are just 'honourable mentions' who offer similar to the game that was mentioned, so came close to being mentioned in that games place. 

Batman Arkham Asylum (PS3, PC, 360) 

Batman Arkham Asylum, is undoutably the very best superhero game ever created. Hell, it's within the top 5 action adventure games I've ever played. This game shows how stealth-action should be done, whilst engaging you with a great story, and believable world. I felt their was very little that Arkham Asylum could have done better - but I'm sure Arkham City will prove me wrong.

Braid (PSN, XBLA, PC) 


Braid is kind of hot topic, specifically as generally used as the 'video games as art' example, on top of that some people consider the game pretencious, or perhaps a little too hard. However, underneath of the 'pretencious' artsy side of Braid, there's an amazing Puzzle platformer. However 'deep' you want to go into Braid, it should be an undoubtably enjoyable experience, the best of it's kind even. (Flower, Limbo) 

Geometry Wars 2 (XBLA)


Geometry Wars 2 shows how retro should evolve (another good example would be the more recent Space Invaders Infinity gene). Geometry Wars 2 abides by the typical mechanics of a dual analogue shooter, whilst amping up the intensity with absolutely beautiful, ever changing gameplay. Geometry Wars 2 is probably the most addictive, downloadable game I've played this gen. It's stunning how something so amazin can be built on mechanics so simple. Thank you Bizzare Creations. (Rif Everyday Shooter) 

Demon's Souls (PS3)


Demon's Souls, shows gamers how risk = reward. The harder the challenge is, the more rewarding it is to succeed. It's not neccesarily for everyone, true! If you don't have the patience, you'll only get to expeince the risk, and then in turn frustration... but if you can stick at it, there's very few games that offer a sense of forfillment like Demons Souls. Not that difficulty is all this game has on offer though, the atmosphere of this game is thick, it's definitely a 'believable' and in turn, immersive experience. (Mega Man 9, 10) 

Little Big Planet (PS3) 


Hell, anything that let's you experess your own imagination, through a new medium is cool, but when that medium just happens to be an awesome, physics based platformer. You have a great game coupled with ridiculous amounts of depth. Creation mode itself however is kind of similar to Demon's Souls however... except less probable to result in frustration. The feeling when you create a 'good' level is really great. (Halo Reach, Modnation Racers, Garrys Mod) 

Red Faction Guerilla (PS3, PC, 360) 


If you've played the game, you know what I'm talking about here. It has never been more satisfying to drive a vehicle into a house. The destruction mechanics are amazing! A great game for messing around, on top of that - the multiplayer just so happens to be one of the best this generation. (Battlefield: Bad Company) 

Mass Effect (360)


Mass Effect, the first game where I've really felt that my choices had consequence. Kill entire races, change the entire galaxy, it's amazing what you're actions can do, and how much depth the selections lend to the game. Of course, on top of that Mass Effects depth is multiplied endlessly, with it's diverse character development mechanics. Perhaps most importantly, the game manages to break away from the cookie cutter sub-real time battle systems with its real time Third person shooter mechanics, making it an absolutely amazing blend of two genres, and a truly inovative series. (Dragon Age Origins, Oblivion) 

Heavy Rain (PS3) 


Another, amazing title. Often not considered a video game - considering it often presents itself as an interactive movie, over a game... but who cares what it is? really. It has a great story, and if it is a film, considering the amount of content - it's definitely one worth paying $60 for. Another game where you really feel the impact of your own _decisions - unlike Mass Effec though, in Heavy Rain almost every potential action holds consequence. A truly gripping 'game'. 

Uncharted 2 (PS3) 


Nothing needs to be said aside this game is the definitive, pinacle of technical excellence. If there is any big budget title you could truly call 'flawless', it's Uncharted. Gameplay, story, presentation, audio this game has everything. (Killzonee 2, Halo: Reach) 

Halo: Reach (360) 


I was a little reluctant to put this on the list, but I've decided to anyway. So why is this on the list? is the gameplay groundbreaking? hell, is anything about this game, groundbreaking? From a technical standpoint there are definitely better around, so where do I believe Halo Reach shines? Presentation. Due to the initiative of Bungie, or the lack of initiative of other developers, Halo Reach has an unparralled feature set, campaign co-op, map editor, co-op, singleplayer split screen, online slit screen, replay and record functionality, expansive online stat tracking. I'm not saying each individual feature isn't something that is perhaps done better elsewhere - but in terms of it's presentation alone, Halo does everything right. Of course that's not to say the gameplay itself isn't decidely enjoyable. (Uncharted 2, Killzone 2) 

So that it, this is my list. How does it compare to your own? Before I close, I apologize for titles I'm not knowledgable enough of, to assess and consider for the list, I don't play many PC games, for example.