There’s many different characters to use in Diablo 3, ranging from Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Witch Doctor, Wizard, and Monk. For my first run through of the demo I decided to go with a ranged character with a bit of  a darkness. The Demon Hunter seemed like a good start, relying more on weapons than mana, and seeming to have a strong offensive skill set to play around with. Character customization comes in the forms of armor and accessories you pick up within the game. Besides picking a female or male character in the game, and which class you want to play as, the character creation is really limited. Of course it can go without being said that with so much game play and story to be told in the game I really don’t mind it.

Character skills are a little different as well. Characters will have six active and three passive skills. These slots open up with new levels but start out with two actives, and gains one additional skill at 6, 12, 18, and 24. The passive skills are available at levels 10, 20, and 30. Unfortunately the demo only enabled players to go up to level 13, capping us a little under half way of the characters full potential.

Within the demo we had the experience of using the Auction House, utilize artisans, and hire companions to align against the powers of evil. The auction house runs very similar to the World of Warcraft auction house where players are able to sort through class types, weapon types, armor types, and items. Currently the auction house is gold items only, but it works for what it’s worth. The artisan that was available for testing was the blacksmith Haedrig Eamon, although he had many things to craft, unfortunately there really wasn’t much other than armor for my Demon Hunter. Within the dungeons of New Tristam I found a tome for a new dagger, and loose pages where you combine up to five to form a tomb to increase the level of your artisan. I have a feeling that the development of your different artisans will play a huge role in this game considering how much work they’ve put into Haedrig just for the demo itself. Lastly in the demo which played a pretty neat role was the companion. The companion they introduced was a templar,  a holy knight that specialized in spears/polearms and shields. The templar introduced gave some increasing depth into the story. Allowing the templar to play as the tank role in the party and the Demon Hunter to assist from the outside made the game play much faster and it felt like the game was almost on autopilot. The companion also has random interactions with your character, asking different questions like how life is like as a templar, what happens to people who steal from their town, etc.

Besides all of the great things with the game there was one small problem that I encountered in the game which was lag, that only really appeared during some downtime of when Battle.net was doing some work on their servers. I’m not surprised that there was lag since it’s still a beta and the game’s servers may still be a little unstable. Besides just that the demo was fun and refreshing at the same time. Diablo 3 has been and still will be on my radar for games to pick up for PC. There have been rumors going around that it’ll hit consoles eventually, but still a classic game like Diablo 3 is definitely meant to be played on PC. If anyone is looking to pick up a PC game with tons of action and challenges Diablo 3 will be right up your ally.

This sequel gets a big bump in graphics compared to the first game, and is wonderfully drawn in a very “Final Fantasy” sort of way. As an added bonus they included the ENTIRE first game on the same disc with completely revamped graphics. We’re talking almost 100 hours of game play here people! Oh, and as an added bonus if you’ve played through the first game already you can import the character data into WKC2 with all the same items and stats. Don’t worry, the enemies will be leveled up to make it a challenge.

Boss battles were pretty sweet. The one they showed us had our character transforming into this monsterous creature to duke it out (not completely unlike an episode of power rangers). Each boss has his own weakness which is conveniently marked with glowing parts. Glowing parts aside, my money is on the family jewels being every monster’s weakness…

The game will be priced at the usual $59.99 and should come out in September. While I don’t know if it will have the mass appeal of Skyrim this season, it should definitely be a contender for those who’re a fan of the RPG genre.

Publisher D3 is coming out with a new Ben 10 racing game. This Mario Kart inspired racer puts a lot of variety to a proven formula to keep it interesting. If you squint you can almost see the turtle shells. The graphics/art direction is pretty stock (no Forza here) but considering the cartoon source material it fits pretty well. The designers also copied a few elements from Mario Kart where you can perform aerial tricks to gain power/speed, and if you power slide your vehicle it rewards you with a power charge. These are all good attempts at stirring the pot, but the characters and racetrack are animated in such a way that it can become a little hard to see the turn ahead as the road sometimes blends into the walls a little too well. As far as multiplayer is concerned you and three “Ben 10ites” can play together, locally only. Given the prevalence of online gaming, this has to have been a corporate funding call. Shortcomings aside they are including an all new character that will have his first appearance in an upcoming episode. That plus all the unlockables (25 tracks, 15 characters) this game will surely keep you busy. Obviously fans of the series will have a more vested interest in this galactic grand prix, but there’s still a solid game here for average gamers.

Ninja Gaiden was one of those games that made a huge splash upon its return back in 2004 for the original Xbox. It’s been 7 years and we are taking a look at the third with a new direction and director at its helm. LVLONE got a chance to get hands on with the game at E3 2011 and we’re surprised to find out that some things have changed.

One of the biggest things to note about this is that it is not a sequel to Ninja Gaiden II, it is a new story with some new mechanics to boot. Now I’ve always been a fan of the franchise and could not wait to see what Team Ninja was going to come up with next but as a seasoned player it felt like diving into a new game of sorts? While we didn’t know much about what was going on, we do know that his energy and crazy moves come from the blood/curse that surrounds his right arm.

What the arm allowed us to do was these hard stab techniques that feel like they came out of anime films like Ninja Scroll. Massive amounts of blood spewing from these hard stab then slice moves. We’ve noticed that some of the moves we’ve grown to love are gone like the roll which has been replaced with a slide. The slide is not a big difference as it does nearly the same thing but can possibly be used as an intro to engage enemies with your moves. The other is the Flying Swallow which allowed you to engage multiple enemies, staggering them so they don’t overwhelm you. It took some time to get used to but it came together.

The game is looking good and while some might not like the fast to slow style from the new cut-through-enemies mechanic I actually thought they looked really slick. One thing I didn’t understand was the lack of dismemberment. Throughout the entire demo I was nearly cutting people in half but nothing was flying off, not even heads. While it would seem minor, it was one of the things that made Ninja Gaiden a bad ass.

The game seems to be coming along ok. There is some work and tweaks it can use but graphically has been bumped up a bit. Team Ninja has some time before the games release so promise is definitely something I see here, dismember in the final build? I certainly hope so.

With Nintendo announcing the 3DS at E3 last year it almost didn’t come as a surprise that they unveiled their newest console to be making its way into homes soon. Officially named Wii U, the focus is not on the console itself but on the controller. They had playable tech demos along with some games to be arriving for the consoles launch next year, we got a chance to check out what this new device is all about at Nintendo’s booth at E3.

The controller boasts a 6.2″ touch screen, a gyroscope, accelerometer, microphone and speakers. It has a camera on the front, triggers in the back and standard buttons on each side making the whole thing resemble a tablet. The first thing we noticed was how light it was, weighting in at no heavier then the 360 controller. The idea is to have a seamless interaction between the TV screen and the controllers touch screen. We here at LVLONE played some of the early tech demos showcasing what the controller can do.

Shield Pose
Pirates on a boat are trying to hit you with plunger tipped arrows and the only way to block them is by using your shield at hand. The concept behind this was to show and call out a set of actions on the TV screen which will then be executed while holding the control tablet. The pirate shouts out commands of where he is launching the arrows from at which point you need to place the control tablet in that section to reflect them, all at a timed beat. With the help of the controllers gyroscope you will almost get a 360 degree view of your surroundings which is how it allows you to block the attacks. As you progress it gets faster, harder and even asks you to dance. This showed an array of promise to games that would have you perform actions to neutralize enemy attacks and so forth.

Chase Mii
This demo played like tag giving all the players the task to chase and catch one person. All of them were dressed like toad with mushroom hats, as the one being chased was dressed like mario. The concept here was how five players can play on one console effectively, while not all having the same experience. Everyone played with Wii-motes looking at the 4-player split screen, while I played with the Wii U controller. When I played the character that needed to be caught on the Wii U controller I not only had my own screen but it also had a map of where everyone was. Everyone was to communicate to catch me while I do what I must to stay away and survive. I don’t remember the last time I had five people play a game in my house at the same time if ever!

Battle Mii
This demo had a Metroid style to it and it was a two vs one battle. The people holding the Wii-motes were these Samus styled shooters split screen on the TV, while the one holding the Wii U controller is a spaceship trying to gun them down in the air. Being the shooter on the ground first your able to collect power ups and turn into the ball to navigate around the arena easier while also trying to find the ship to shoot down. Being the ship with the Wii U controller felt a little awkward as you had to use the accelerometer to control the ships navigation. I got somewhat used to it but still felt clunky at the end.

Since the announcement of the Wii U at Nintendo’s press conference some people including myself had been skeptical on how this thing would play out. I see the promise and ideas of where Nintendo is trying to go with this. It is to early to tell if all gamers will accept the concept but expect more info and news of games to surface in the future. I’m thinking this is only the tip of the iceberg for the Wii U and the avalanche is coming soon!

Am I a person you would call a Sonic fan? Yes. Have I played every Sonic game? No. Are all Sonic games good? No. But do I still have love for the little blue hedgehog? Absolutely. See Sega has tried to capture Sonic as he once was which isn’t always an easy task but dare I say it I think this time they’ve done it! Sonic Generations brings the series back to its roots this time sporting not only the Sonic we’ve come to know from Sonic Adventures but the original Sonic from the very first game. We got the chance to check it out at Sega’s booth at E3 2011 and in stunning stereoscopic 3D at that.

The stage that we played was the original Green Hill Zone which is cut up into two styles of play. One is with the original Sonic played in 2D form, the other is with the newest generation Sonic and switches from 2D to 3D gameplay. If this game isn’t a trip down memory lane then I don’t know what is. All classic monsters and sound effects were easy to get lost to. I suddenly felt like a kid again playing the first Sonic on the Sega Genesis.

Playing with the original Sonic was a ton of fun but the newer Sonic actually feels like a completely different experience for a stage that’s exactly the same. Switching off into 3D like some of his more recent games was pretty smooth for the most part. The controls get kind of funky since it gets confusing where to keep my figure if the direction keeps changing.

There are a couple of kinks to work out but this can be one of the best Sonic games to come out in a long time if treated with the proper care it needs. This is designed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Sonic series and brings in a number of stages throughout the entire series so there won’t be any shortages here. We honestly can’t wait for the final product but will keep everyone informed of news as it comes in.

Capcom has been revamping there fighting franchises and with great success. First the Street Fighter IV series and then Marvel vs Capcom 3. What you haven’t seen in awhile is a more traditional vs series, not since Capcom vs SNK. Utilizing the Street Fighter IV engine Capcom is now giving fans what they’ve been wanting which is a chance to battle it out with Tekken. LVLONE got a chance to get some hands on at E3 for a closer look.

Street Fighter X Tekken blends gameplay from both franchises to compliment all styles of play. Tag battles are back but act like Tekken Tag rules where if one person dies the match is over. Juggling and combos also come from Tekken and is interesting how some of them work with Street Fighter characters.

EX moves and Super moves come from Street Fighter and it all seems to work pretty well. Not all characters are balanced perfectly as you have to remember that Tekken characters don’t really have fireballs but it doesn’t take long to get into the groove.

The game has plenty of new animations, even on Street Fighter’s end, which is great to see. The characters at the show were Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile, Abel, Sagat, Cammy, Nina, Kazuya, Bob, Hwoarang, King, Marduk and Julia Chang with more to be announced soon. This was easily one of the biggest games at the show and with good reason. The level of competition from this game will rival those of Marvel vs Capcom 3

The game was smooth, colorful and action packed. We honestly can’t wait for this installment and dawn of a new fighting franchise, hopefully Capcom won’t have us waiting to soon to get our paws on this. Look back with us for more character reveals and news on Street Fighter X Tekken.

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The world of Rapture from the original Bioshock showed everyone a world where things can go terribly wrong when technology is ahead of its time. Navigating in a world that was destroyed can feel lonesome, thats why Bioshock Infinite throws out that formula with a more tension based situation. We got a look at Bioshock Infinite behind closed doors and let us tell you it left us wanting more!

You play as Booker DeWitt, an ex-Pinkerton agent that has been assigned with finding a woman named Elizabeth in the floating city of Columbia. Taking her from a giant pigeon/bird like creature named Songbird, you are now on the run. What we noticed was that the game was bigger then what was going on with just you. This floating city is in turmoil and a war between two factions is at the for front.

What would a Bioshock game be without mystery? At the point of the demo Elizabeth is known to have extraordinary power but cannot control it. Without spoiling to much in a moment of desperation to save a dying animal she unleashes a devastating amount of energy ripping the very fabric of time/space around her. The game looks to pit you in situations where you can either stop outcry’s of protest or let them happen. Another key difference was the openness of the game. Narrow spaces and hallways are the least of your concerns as enemies can attack from all directions.

Closing out the demo we were treated to an entire sequence where you needed to board a zeppelin using the rails that are used to travel. Your tool of navigation is the Skyhook which carries you along the rails like a zip line. New kind of combat system, means of travel and relationship between characters is some of the stuff to really look forward to in Bioshock Infinite. The game is set to release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC sometime in 2012 and we’ll be sure to update you when more info becomes available in the months to come.

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