Source : Facebook

Warner Bros. Games Montreal has released the Official Teaser Trailer for the upcoming Batman: Arkham Origins .

The trailer showcasing an intense one-on-one confrontation between the Dark Knight and Deathstroke.

Taking place before the original Arkham series, Batman must survive 9 deadly assassins who have been sent to kill the caped crusader.

Batman: Arkham Origins will released worldwide on October 25 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC and Wii U. If you’re looking for more Origins content, check out the many screenshots and artwork that have been released for the upcoming title.

Jamie Briggs manages Analog Addiction and you can like them on Facebook, follow his daily life on Twitter @JamieAA and his videos on YouTube.

Fight alongside the Justice League and other DC heroes to save the world from their nemeses in Scribblenauts Unmasked. In typical Scribblenauts fashion, the player will utilize the in-game keypad to spawn objects, heroes and costumes from the DC Universe.

It looks as though you’ll be able to customize, outfit and re-name the familiar faces of the DC comics in the new Scribblenauts title, which can result in some pretty hilarious outcomes.

Scribblenauts is a fun and intuitive way to improve one’s vocabulary, but I personally grew tired of the gameplay and concept relatively quickly. Playing the game yields quite a unique experience, but I found it fairly repetitive. Unfortunately, I find Scribblenauts Unmasked looking almost identical to its predecessors, so I’m a bit skeptical for now. I’m hoping that Warner Bros. Games will introduce a mechanic that can keep players like myself engaged, but I doubt that it will be happening any time soon.

Scribblenauts Unmasked will be released in the Fall on the 3DS, Wii U and PC.

Following a small leak on Xbox Live’s marketplace, Warner Bros. Games has officially confirmed that the next character to join the fight in Injustice: Gods Among Us is going to be Batgirl.

The developer has announced the upcoming character via Facebook and Twitter (alongside a picture), and that a video of her in action will be revealed next week.

This sudden reveal might have something to do with the fact that Batgirl had accidentally appeared as a downloadable fighter on the Xbox Live marketplace (see below). As it’s going to be the case with Lobo, expect to pay $5 for Batgirl as well.

[Source: Original Gamer]

Vlad Pintea is a News-and-Reviews Editor here at Analog Addiction, and sometimes he even speaks his own mind. You can contact him via e-mail at vlad94pintea@yahoo.com or vlad94pintea@gmail.com, My IGN, on Skype, Steam (all at the same name: vlad94pintea) or Facebook (Vlad Pintea). Have a good day, and remember: stay calm and keep on gaming!

Game Informer has exclusively revealed today the first details about the new Batman game, a.k.a. Batman: Arkham Origins.

The game will be released on October 25^th on Wii U, PS3, 360 and PC.

It’s been told also that the developer will be Warner Bros. Games Montreal itself, taking dev duties from the previous Arkham titles developer Rocksteady. Luckily the UK studio has given WB Montreal full access to Rocksteady’ custom modified Unreal engine in order to create another masterpiece (hopefully). The first and only (for now) villain revealed is Deathstroke.

Take a look at this Game Informer exclusive video.

One of the first buzz-worthy titles for Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s new Wii U console is Batman: Akrham City – Armored Edition, an updated version of the 2011 Dark Knight adventure that was a serious contender for Game of the Year.

But Warner Bros. Games’ latest Batman title — produced at the company’s Montreal studio — is more than just a mere port of a popular title for a new console, it’s also one of the first games to truly explore the technical capabilities of Nintendo’s latest platform.  

In addition to including the downloadable content from the other Arkham City editions, Armored Edition experiments with the Wii U’s new GamePad controller, enabling players to scan crime scenes using the embedded gyroscope, hear Alfred the Butler’s voice through its speaker and use the second screen to access gadget menus and special Bat-files. 

On Wednesday, we had a chance to chat with the game’s producer, Ans Beaulieu, about updating Batman for the Wii U, his thoughts on the capabilities of Nintendo’s newest console and the exploding game development community in Montreal. 

Post Arcade: Batman is all about gadgets, which would seem to make a gizmo like the Wii U GamePad an ideal fit for this game. Is that what drew you to be among the first to take a stab at Nintendo’s new hardware?

Ans Beaulieu: Yes, it was a great opportunity. We wanted to do this game on the Wii U. At the beginning, we thought about the angle; what can we do, and once we saw the GamePad, we thought about the Bat Computer, and that was a perfect match for us. Story-wise and gameplay-wise, it was very good to have this mechanic in the game to not only justify but to change the experience of the player while playing the game on the Wii U.

PA: We loved using the GamePad as a crime scene sensor/camera, moving it around to search for evidence. And Alfred’s voice coming from the controller rather than your TV makes it feel like he’s in your armor. What’s the trick to staying away from gimmicky features and using the GamePad to make a game more immersive?

AB: We tried a lot of different things at the beginning, and every time we asked ourselves: “Is this helping the game, or not?” We tried several things. We did focus groups, user tests. Since there is no previous art on this console since there are no other games, we had to create and invent and every time we came up with a new feature, we tested it to make sure. We went through a lot of iterations because the console is new and offers new ways of playing and includes new ways of designgina and new ways of thinking about the gameplay.

PA: Talk to us about the challenges of re-introducing a game like this for a new platform a year after its release? Obviously you’re building on top of a game that was originally released roughly a year ago. Tell me about the challenges of refining a game that many people have already played.

AB: It was daunting, but it was a very great challenge and it was a lot of fun. The fact that we had such a good game to start with was exciting. The game was game of the year, it was so well received by the public, so what we wanted to do was optimize and enhance the experience on the Wii U, and try to give a different experience to the player this time around.

PA: The new B.A.T. armour — using enemies’ kinetic energy to power Batman’s attacks — is awesome, but it also makes the game a little easier sometimes. Did Bats really need to be any tougher?

AB: Well, we thought about that a lot. We’ve played with people, and we thought about the people who are going to play Batman for the first time and also that the way we did it, it’s going to be used on big fights, in the end when fights tend to drag a bit long because we really take care not to change too much the balance of the game. That was very important for us. And you always have the option not to use the BAT mode if you want to play the game on a more hard core setting or if you want to rack up higher combos. So it’s there to help the newcomers and for more hardcore players, you always have the chance to play the game the way you prefer to play it.

PA: Lots of chatter this past week on whether the Wii U is more powerful than other systems. Graphics look about the same to us. As someone who’s worked on it, what’s your take?

AB: It’s a question of balance. There’s some differences. Some goods, some a bit more difficult to work with. But overall, it’s exactly the same performance in the game. You have difference because it’s a different console, so that’s one of the things we did in development, we worked to optimize it to make it appear as good as on any other console. We still have to learn how to use this console because it’s brand new. It was in development at the same time as we were developing the game, so there are ways of optimizing the graphics and things that we did and when we look at the game, it’s on par. We look side by side and the graphics are the same. In some occasions you’ll see better graphics, and on some occasions you’ll see maybe a little less good graphics, it depends on the context. Because all of the consoles have their strengths and weaknesses, they’re just differently balanced.

PA: Anything you encountered while tinkering with the Wii U that makes you excited for future Wii U development? Is there something about Nintendo’s new hardware you’re itching to exploit?

AB: Well, mostly the GamePad. That’s new. We tried things on this game, there are a lot of things to explore and it’s a very different way of making games, so that’s very exciting.

PA: You’ve been involved in the Montreal game culture for some time now, and Montreal is one of the main centres of Canadian video game development and has seen a lot of change over the past few years. Tell me about how that community and that culture has changed during the time you’ve been working there.

AB: In the beginning, there weren’t many studios in Montreal. If you look back 10 years ago maybe, and now we have so many studios it’s hard to walk on the streets without seeing a new studio popping up. So it’s very exciting times. I think there are a lot of people in Montreal and from outside Montreal who are excited to work in Montreal in the video game industry. It’s at the point where you now have a very good number of talented people. We have achieved critical mass where you have trained people, experts, people with a lot of experience, so that makes game creation very exciting and very fun.

With a report from Chad Sapieha

Scribblenauts Unlimited is that strange sort of game that requires you to make your own fun.

Here’s how it works: You’re plopped into a cartoonish, two-dimensional world filled with folks who have problems in need of solutions. You provide these solutions with the Wii U GamePad and stylus by tapping out nouns and adjectives to spawn very specific sorts of things you think may be helpful for the situation. Those things could be anything from a star-spangled grizzly or an intelligent watermelon to an ugly princess or an evil god — whatever you think might assist in resolving the current problem.

For example, if you encounter someone who’s deathly ill, you might call forth from the digital ether some medicine or a doctor. If you find a broken down car, you could create some tools or a mechanic to get it back in running order.

You can also just add adjectives to existing objects. If someone wants to look good, add the word “pretty” in front of her. Should you run into someone who thinks his lawn is overgrown, you can just add the word “sickly” to the grass and it will begin to wither, die, and fade away.

The game has an immense, almost dictionary-like vocabulary that permits extraordinary freedom and creativity. It stops short of letting kids create disturbing imagery (it won’t recognize words like bloody, nude, or victim) but it’s not so censored as to disallow a variety of weapons, monsters, and freaky sideshow creatures.

Thing is, most of the game’s hundreds of little puzzles can be solved easily and without much thought. You may be entertained at first by the novelty of being able to make things pop into existence simply through writing, but if you really want to have fun you need to work at it.

For example, rather than simply summoning a limo for a guy who needs to pick up his date, you can create a giant pogo stick, or a smelly tractor, or a dazzling UFO. Instead of creating a fire extinguisher for the poor cook whose oven is on fire, you can materialize a fizzy thunderstorm or, better still, a bawling striped leopard. Instead of demolishing a building with a plain old wrecking ball you can use an atomic bomb or a giant destructive monkey.

If the things you conjure are boring and lame and predictable, you’ll likely grow bored before you finish the first area. If, on the other hand, you stretch your imagination to make your creations outrageous and laugh-till-your-sides-ache goofy, you’ll probably keep playing until you run out of ideas for crazy things to conjure.

[related_links /]

Basically, you get back exactly what you put into the experience, which is great for smart, creative players, not so much for unimaginative dullards.

It sounds daring and original, and it is, especially for a home console. But this is actually developer 5th Cell’s third game in the Scribblenauts series. The first two were made for the DS (another Nintendo Co. Ltd. game system with a touch screen and stylus; hardware that would seem a necessity for this particular type of game). They, too, were innovative and creative, but they also had some pretty rough edges, most notably a lack of direction and story. Thankfully, these jags have been smoothed down a bit for the franchise’s Wii U debut, which adds some welcome structure and narrative to the experience.

Our hero, Max, has finally been given a bit of a back story. We discover he comes from a huge family and has 41 siblings, and that his parents have given each of their children magical gifts. Max’s gift is a notebook capable of conjuring anything he scribbles down. Alas, he doesn’t always think before writing. At the game’s outset he uses it for a prank that backfires on him, resulting in a curse that is slowly turning his sister to stone. The only things that can arrest her petrifaction are starites; yellow stars earned by performing good deeds. Hence, we finally have a reason for Max’s seemingly overflowing altruism.

What’s more, the environments Max explores are much more organic. Puzzles are no longer separated into discrete, disconnected levels, but instead spread out over interconnected maps. You’ll explore busy downtown streets, quaint neighbourhoods, and even a desert, each area filled with folks who could use a little help. The upshot is that the world feels like a real and expansive place rather than just a series of one-off levels.

Other additions to the Wii U edition are perhaps a little less beneficial.

The introduction of co-operative play, for example, falls flat. With support for only one GamePad, just one player can summon things into existence. Other players are left to take control of summoned objects with a Wii U remote, messing about with them as they can. My co-op partners quickly grew bored and began pestering me for a turn at the GamePad.

Slightly more interesting is the new object editor, which allows players to fine tune the things they create, spending time fussing over everything from appearance to specific behaviour patterns. The editor helps fulfill the game’s titular promise, but it’s unnecessary to complete any of the game’s tasks. In the end, it’s just a way for players truly inspired by the idea of making anything they can think of to take their creativity to the next level, perhaps with intent to share it with the game’s online community (another new feature I wasn’t able to tinker with during my evaluation, most of which took place prior to the Wii U’s online features being switched on).

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It’s worth noting, too, that Scribblenauts Unlimited is a member of this strange new breed of Wii U games that sees players spending virtually all of their time staring down at the GamePad rather than watching the pretty high-definition pictures presented on their TVs. In fact, like New Super Mario Bros. U, you can actually play with the TV switched off.

It’s an odd feeling, playing a game on a living room console yet ignoring your big fancy living room display. It even makes you wonder whether you’d be just as well served by the 3DS version of Scribblenauts Unlimited, which comes with the added bonus of mobility, letting you play outside of the house. Perhaps it’s just something we need to get used to, like motion control.

This bit of weirdness aside, Scribblenauts: Unlimited stands out as one of a few Wii U launch titles that really puts the system’s GamePad to smart and significant use, helping Nintendo’s new hardware stand apart from its competitors.

And, assuming you have a few sparks of imagination waiting to snap, it can be an awful lot of fun, too.

Why do I get the feeling there is going to be a new Mortal Kombat vs DC but with teams this time?

Today Turbine released this amazing behind the scenes trailer for the fourth upcoming expansion to their Lord of the Rings online MMO. This expansion titled “Riders of Rohan” will be released September 5th, and is available for preorder now. The trailer is packed with goodies including an interview with Chance Thomas, the award winning composer who discusses the new score for LOTRO.

Looking to find out more about this game? Check out this link:
Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan

Source: thegamefanatics.com

Mowing down zombies with your chainsaw should be one of the funnest things about this game but it’s almost more of a hassle than anything because of the controls. The controls aren’t horrible for this game but they just miss the grade of being good. One of the main staples of combat is dodging the zombies by doing leapfrogs over their heads or jumping out of a fire breathing zombie’s range but half of the time you will just jump right into the line of fire and lose a chunk of your health. Combos are good for the most part but don’t expect to have fluid chainsaw combos right from the start, instead you have to save up gold coins to unlock those moves for later which makes the beginning of the game less satisfying but once you unlock one the feeling goes away. Also later in the game there is a gun attachment that you unlock for your chainsaw that has a terrible aim, most of the times I needed to use the gun to shoot something fast the camera would auto lock onto an enemy that I was not even looking at or sometimes the auto aim made me aim at nothing when there were enemies I was trying to shoot. There are also a number of quick time events that tend to break the immersion, a lot of times you will be in the middle of combat and if you don’t press one of the buttons that pops up a zombie will hit you and even when the button is pressed there is an awkward pause where nothing happens.  There are finishing moves where you can smash your chainsaw into a zombie and the ground or you can leapfrog over a zombie and rip them in half but these moves end up being dreadfully long and make you sit mashing one button for much longer than needed.

Sparkle Hunting is probably the best parts of killing zombies.
Source: gamezone.com

The mini games in Lollipop Chainsaw were one of the things that I found to be incredibly fun and refreshing. Remakes of classic arcade games such as Elevator, Pacman and others are found in the game which is a nice throwback. There are times in the game where you have to put your decapitated boyfriend’s head and put it onto a zombie so he can get rid of an obstacle while you cheer him on by pressing the correct buttons. There are even times that you get to mow down fields of zombies with farm machinery while “You Spin Me Round Like A Record” plays that can be a very enjoyable experience. Boss battles in the game tend to use the same formula of once you have cut them in half somehow they multiply or form back together, also all of them have the theme of playing an instrument for a rock band.

Source: shacknews.com

Despite how short the actual game is there is a lot of replayability in Lollipop Chainsaw too, with difficulties to be unlocked after beating the game and a ranked mode where you can compete online to get the best score. While Lollipop Chainsaw may not be one of the greatest brawler to be created but it is definitely one to pick up.

Batman: Arkham Asylum blew everyone away upon it’s release in 2009. The thing that caught most people off guard was that this was a great superhero game. Of course we had Infamous, which was brilliant but there hadn’t been a decent game featuring a known comic book star for far too long.

That critical, and financial, success meant that the pressure on developers RockSteady was immense to deliver with the sequel – Arkham City.

Taking place in a city environment, as opposed to the enclosed Asylum setting of the first game, Arkham City sees Batman facing off against several well known villians. Of course The Joker is the main antagonist here, along with Hugo Strange, but you won’t be short of cameos from familiar faces.

The idea is that Strange has cordoned off a section of the city to use as a prison and keep all the inmates locked up there rather than house them within a single building.

Fortunately Batman has his grapple hook and cape to help him get around so you’re never too far away from your next mission. I struggled a little to get to grips with the mechanics for some of the air travel and on occasion it felt a little counter-intuative when compared to something like Just Cause 2.

Graphically the game looks great and the atmosphere is nicely set up with ambient noise coming in the form of rain and the chatter of henchmen, among other things.

There are a few missions of the game where you can play as Catwoman – basically a faster but slightly weaker version of Batman – but I found these to be uninspiring for the most part. Perhaps because I don’t know the character very well? Either way if you didn’t get them with your game (only new copies received the codes for download) I would say maybe give them a swerve unless you desperately want to play them.

The developers have stepped up the number of things you can do on the side – from Riddler trophies (there are now over 400 of them to find!) through to genuine side missions featuring new characters (I stumbled on a great one featuring The Mad Hatter). The amount of stuff to do can be a bit daunting but I would repeat the advice I heard from several sources – stick to the main story missions on the whole and then go back and do side stuff when you’ve finished the main missions.

I felt it took a little too long to unlock some of the better weapons/gadgets – I understand they don’t want to make the game too easy too quickly but at times early on I just couldn’t approach fight situations the way I wanted to.

For me that is a big draw of the game – being able to form a strategy and then strike in your own way. It’s a minor complaint and may not effect you if your play style suits what the game wants you to do at that time. For me it meant a fair few frustrating deaths until I nailed the fight the way the game wanted me to.

One other complaint is the fact that there is an alternative ending and I wish the developers had let you end the game that way. Why give you the choice only to then not let you live with the consequences. I’m not saying don’t give people the option to ‘rewind’ and reapproach the situation again but it would’ve been cool to have the choice to have that as your ending.

But I don’t want to dwell too long on the negatives because Arkham City is a really good game. You can tell the developers have tried to think of everything to improve upon the first game and they have delivered a bigger, more open and content packed title. The question is – after Arkham Asylum, was that what you wanted?

Rating: 8/10

After the events at Arkham Asylum, the “warden” Quincy Sharp became elected Mayor of Gotham, and cordoned off part of the city. Now secluded by a giant concrete wall and fortified by private guards, the area became known as “Arkham City,” which had the blended population of a maximum security prison and the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Constitutionality has clearly been set aside, here.

Running this amalgamated prison is Doctor Hugo Strange – one of the first recurring Batman villains, coming before Catwoman and Joker – who is rumored to have played kingmaker for Quincy Sharp. The game starts with him knowing Batman’s identity, publicly grabbing Bruce Wayne in broad daylight and throwing him into Arkham City. The only information Batman has to work with is that Hugo Strange is trying to start something known as “Protocol 10.” Players spend the rest of the game figuring out what that’s supposed to be.

The major villains with operating gangs in Arkham City are Joker, Two-Face, and Penguin. There are the TYGER prison guards running around. If the TYGER helicopters see Batman, they’ll try to follow him with a spotlight. The violent criminals will all align themselves under the three major factions in this game. Also making appearances in this game is Riddler – who wants revenge for being outsmarted in the last game, Mr. Freeze, Harley Quinn (of course), Bane, and some others that I simply should not spoil. Catwoman is also present in the game (more on Ms. Kyle later).

Arkham City is both big and small at the same time. The overall general area is small, but the pathways, the here-to-theres, and the methods of getting from Point A to Point B all make the area HUGE. When players have to go inside buildings (and not every building is accessible), there is plenty to explore.

Speaking of exploring, let us revisit the Riddler. All over Arkham City, there are Riddler Trophies and riddles. The trophies are located in varying locations of difficult access. The perspective riddles are solved in Detective mode, and are presented upon entering physical neighborhoods. On top of that are physical challenges. These include doing certain things in combat, destroying certain superfluous objects, and performing non-combat achievements. Of the trophies, most are for Batman, but some are reserved for Catwoman, and will damage Batman if he tries to grab it. The Riddler challenges can easily add 1-5 hours of the game for that side quest alone.

The plot itself is good. It feels like a compelling crime story that brings you along for the ride. There are some surprising characters that make appearances, and not all encounters are what they seem. The logic used is up to snuff; it makes sense why Killer Croc doesn’t attack Batman when they cross paths, as an example.

I played the PlayStation 3 copy, which after the Joker’s and Catwoman’s DLC + installation required almost an hour of waiting for the game to fully set up. First time buyers of a copy of Arkham City are given a code that allows them to play as Catwoman. If you have this code I recommend using it; the Catwoman campaign that runs concurrent to the game adds a much-welcomed layer to the game. The downloadable Joker Carnival Challenge map was not played for this playthrough, but on average adds about 4 hours of gametime.

The controls were almost perfect. The game rewards rhythmic button pushing, not button mashing. The only two complaints are that 1) switching to quick action items in combat with more than 5 enemies is difficult, and 2) the dodging is takes too much time to take effect and the jump Batman takes is too far. In one of the boss fights, I found myself dying a couple times because the game did not respond to my jumping quick enough.

That said, boss fights are not nearly as easy as the last game. This is a good thing. A full-on boss should not be like an extended combat scene, but an intense enemy that takes time, energy and concentration to overcome.

With that said, there is the dying part of the game. Little annoys me more than having to reload a scene. It takes 20 or more seconds, and it feels more like an extended respawn time. When I come across a particularly difficult area where I’m dying 3 or more times, I want to imitate Batman and chuck my controller like a Batarang. I have a difficult time believing that this was the best that could be done, development-wise. I hope the next game in the franchise (and there has to be one, considering the way this one ended), that loading times are improved…especially when the game has to install on my system anyway.

Batman has plenty of gadgets to choose from, and there are moments to use each. There is one boss fight where players must take advantage of many different ways of attacking the enemy. You’ll die if you attempt a direct confrontation, and after every successful attack the boss will remove each previous method you used to damage them (I’m keeping this boss’s identity a secret; readers should really play the game themselves to find out).

With some exceptions, almost every building Batman enters is used twice in the game, and each time, the layout changes a little. This makes exploring the map that much more interesting.

The music is superb. It added the right touches at the right times. Boss fights were energetic as were regular combat scenes. When I preordered the game, I was given a download code for Coheed & Cambria’s new single Deranged. While the song is not in the score of the game, it’s a fantastic song that fits in both the Batman and Amory War universe.

Should this be bought for the kiddies? I’d exercise judgment. I am not thrilled about Poison Ivy’s character design, and I think Selena Kyle’s gait is a little ridiculous for a professional thief. There is also loads of violence (nothing gross) and there are concepts that might be above the youngest of players. Again, your mileage may vary.

Batman: Arkham City is available for PS3, Xbox 360 and the PC. It is rated T for Teen (13+) by the ESRB.

FINAL GRADE: B+
TRR Video Game Playthrough by Geoffrey Beebe

After a fair few lacklustre versions, culminating in the widely derided Mortal Kombat Vs DC, Nether Realms Studios decided to go back to basics for this, the ninth Mortal Kombat game.

I loved the original and put a fair bit of time into MK II but I was never a massive fighting game fan. For me it was all about the social experience of being round a mate’s house and taking people on.

With the increase in online functionality you now have no reason to play on your own ever again… or do you?

For the first time in a long time the storyline of a fighting game ties together nicely. Rather than choosing a fighter and playing through their story, in Mortal Kombat you play as various characters (usually for 3 or 4 fights each) as the story progresses.

This is a great idea. Firstly because it means the overall story is the focus as opposed to one character, and secondly because it forces you to use characters you may never have chosen and therefore before a better all round player.

There are several additions to the combat system which involve blocks and different strength attacks – unfortunately my knowledge only extends as far as X-Ray moves. These are the moves you get by filling your special bar and hitting R2/L2 to perform. Simple to activate, but also easy to block if you’re quick enough, these bone shattering moves can be deadly and can easily turn the tide of a fight.

The finishing moves are back with a vengeance and this definitely isn’t a game for the faint hearted. It’s gory and violent but most of them have their tongue firmly in cheek, much in the same way as Bulletstorm handled its excessive violence.

As well as the story mode there is the traditional challenge tower, online and a great mode called Test Your Luck – in which you are handicapped in various ways before the match. These can be funny things like turning the screen upside down, disabling jumping or even real hindrances like not being able to use your arms or legs!

Mortal Kombat is probably the most well-rounded and feature packed fighting game I’ve ever played, certainly in recent years. If you’re into fighting games make sure you pick it up and for more casual fans of the genre this is definitely a game you should rent, even just to play through the fun and impressive story mode.

Rating: 8/10

(Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Games)

4/5 Pitchforks

Released April 19, 2011

PS3, Xbox 360

Sporting a classical feel, “Mortal Kombat” correctly revives the iconic series for the first time on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. With a crisp storyline and less-than-shiny graphics, the fighting game feels akin with the original and comes with a few new bells and whistles, far surpassing the atrocity that was its most recent predecessor, “Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.”

The first noticeable and welcoming change is the control scheme. The endless slew of button-mashing combination attacks that plague most fighting games is gone, and in its place is a simplified layout derived from the “Tekken” series, and the simple mode in “Marvel vs. Capcom 3.”

Dedicated buttons have been mapped out for basic punches and kicks, blocking, switching stance, and grappling attacks.

However, pulling off lickety-split combination attacks are still a major aspect of gameplay for those who wish to claim victory.

Another new feature is an energy bar dubbed the “super meter,” which is located at the bottom of the screen.

This gauge has three benchmarks and is filled by successfully unleashing combo attacks or being hit by an opponent. Using stored energy can counter an opponent’s attack, improve a character-specific special attack or activate the devastating X-ray move.

The brutal X-ray attacks are really what make this addition to the “Mortal Kombat” series into eye candy.

By maxing out the super bar and getting within striking distance of an opponent, simultaneously plunging both triggers will activate the X-ray attack. If the move connects, a fatality-like cut-scene commences that turns the opponent’s skin invisible, exposing bones, muscles and organs underneath. Then two or three attacks begin that shatter bones, rupture organs and crack open skulls like raw eggs.

Kitana’s X-ray move is fantastically flinch-inducing. She withdraws her two sabers and rams them into the back of her opponent’s skull, which splinters the entire facial structure upon impact. But it isn’t over yet, as Kitana teleports in front of the adversary, removing her swords in the process, and then plunges both weapons through the sorry sucker’s eye sockets.

The story mode is pretty well done for a fighting game. “Mortal Kombat’s” plot follows the Lightning God Raiden and the unfolding visions of his own demise by the Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn. Shao Kahn holds the 10th Mortal Kombat tournament to determine the future of mankind. If the human fighters lose the tournament, the world’s inhabitants will be eradicated by Shao Kahn and his demonic forces.

The 20-chapter-long story mode becomes incredibly challenging and allows most of the games’ characters to be played at one point between the chapters.

However, one of the best aspects of the “Mortal Kombat” series isn’t endorsed in the campaign.

Due to the continuing story, fatality moves are not allowed. While this isn’t a big deal, the experience is somewhat lackluster without hearing “finish him” and being able to create the visceral final kills.

Another disappointment is visible character damage after fights, or more correctly the lack thereof. Even after an insanely violent beating it’s rare to see any form of damage on the characters during dialogue cut-scenes directly following a fight. When the occasional residual damage is noticed, it’s boring and minimal.

However, for those who want the ultra-violence and brutal gore “Mortal Kombat” is renowned for, there are the Fight and Challenge Tower options.

Fight is a standard arcade mode that pits that player up against 10 randomly generated foes. Advance through nine of them to fight Shao Kahn. A neat inclusion has been added to this mode, however.

As featured in many other fighting game franchises, a two-person tag-team mode has been implemented. In certain game modes this allows for two characters to be swapped mid-fight at will. By preforming certain combinations prior to exchanging characters, savage attacks can be unleashed upon an opponent.

The Challenge Tower gives players 300 stages of varying difficulty, in which they must complete various tasks within particular qualifications.

Best of all, every mode but story includes the grisly visuals and all the fatalities fans have come to adore over the years.

By reintroducing the concept of fatalities and visually designing “Mortal Kombat” to tribute the first three classics, as well as being spliced with new features and a tightly knitted story, this inclusion to the series is going to bring a swath of new players to the games’ universe and revitalize the words, “finish him.”

View the original ‘The State Press’ article here.

Game name: F.E.A.R.2 : Project Origin

Platform: PC

Genre: FPS Horror

Developer: Monolith Productions

Publisher: Warner Bros. Games

I’m already done with game 3 and still going strong with the next few. This project is turning out to go a bit better than expected.  It is still early stages though. That makes it 3/52 games. As usual if you don’t know what I’m talking about please take a moment to read the about page. http://makbex.wordpress.com/about/

Fear 2 is the sequel to Fear and puts the player in the role of Michael Becket from delta force. Alma is at it again going crazy and seeking vengeance for that what the cruel world has done towards her. As in the game progresses the story behind Alma becomes more clear. As to avoid spoilers I won’t mention the details.

Fear 2 is shorter than the first and is divided into 7 intervals and 14 missions. All in all it took me about 7 or 8 hours to complete and felt shorter than the first game.

The game-play has not changed much and still maintains the main features from the first game. One addition was the ability to throw over a table to provide cover. This is a feature which I haven’t used much.

As expected there is a large array of new weapons and a lot more new enemies. One noticeable enemy that comes to mind is one that can use dead bodies as puppets to do the dirty work. Project origin also introduces the ability to operate a mecha.

Project origins graphics has been greatly improved. It looks a lot better than the previous game and they’ve also toned down on the repetitive office look. Instead they’ve added more colour and was still able to maintain the scary effect that they were looking for. The music was just as great as the first game and the expansion.

The problems with fear 2 become quite clear if you are used to the first game. They have removed the ability to save the game as you wish and also limit the saves to 1 save slot. This has caused some problems to some people and I can only imagine how annoying that can be.  One other aspect that I want to rant about is the in game flashlight. It is probably the most useless flashlight I’ve ever seen in a game.(even beating doom3 by a bit).  In a dark underground level where you can’t see anything you opt to use a flashlight only the tiny bit of light that it shines is about enough to make you think it’s better with it off.

Fear2 does a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong. It makes you wish that they have kept the well implemented features of the first game. Still it was a fun experience maybe a bit predictable. Gladly the bad aspects are eclipsed by the good making F.E.A.R. 2 a great addition to any FPS gamer’s collection.

Scribblenauts já fazia a cabeça de muita gente por aí muito tempo antes do lançamento, principalmente depois de ser anunciado na E3 desse ano e ser considerado o melhor game da feira.

Lançado em 15 de setembro, o jogo, desenvolvido pela 5th Cell e publicado pela Warner Bros. Interactive, apesar de cumprir o que promete, mostra que nem tudo são flores com suas diversas falhas.

O jogo é incrível mesmo, isso é incontestável. Dificilmente você escreverá algo que não existe na database, seja em português ou não. E, como exemplifiquei no primeiro parágrafo, a interação entre uma coisa e outra é um dos pontos altos do jogo.

São muitos desafios divididos em quebra-cabeças, onde deve-se solucionar alguns problemas com objetos, e desafios de ação, onde é preciso usar o que for possível para conseguir alcançar uma Estarite (estrela do jogo), localizada em algum ponto do cenário.

Para cada desafio existe um certo limite de itens para usar, portanto, encher o cenário de objetos não vai te ajudar a ganhar pontos. Quanto mais objetos, menos pontos serão recebidos no final, simples assim.

Apesar de tantas opções de desafios, brincar na tela de título é o mais interessante. Nela é possível escrever qualquer coisa e ver o que acontece só por diversão e (se escrever a palavra certa) liberar novos cenários.

Os problemas começam com com a trilha sonora repetida exaustivamente e se agravam na movimentação de Maxwell, o personagem principal. Ele não responde da maneira que deveria responder aos comandos e muitas vezes acaba atrapalhando seus planos de solução em alguns puzzles.

Com alguns minutos de jogo fica evidente que a 5th Cell passou muito mais tempo adicionando palavras e desenhando objetos e personagens para as mesmas do que programando a jogabilidade, que ficou muito comprometida.

Você terá diversão e dará boas risadas ao escrever algumas palavras, mas Scribblenauts está longe de ser o game dos sonhos que aparentava ser antes do lançamento.

Mas um jogo oficialmente adiado. The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, anunciado em março, foi oficialmente adiado pela Warner Bros. Games. O jogo não tinha dada marcada para seu lançamento, mas tudo previnha que seria agora em 2009, entretanto de acordo com a WBG, Warner Bros. Games, o game sairá no segundo trimestre de 2010.

The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest é o mais novo jogo da série, Senhor dos Anéis, e seu publico alvo agora é o pessoal mais jovem, é um jogo pra “família”.

O game prevê edições para Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP e Nintendo DS.