Android users don’t have to be jealous anymore. Angry Birds up until now has been solely for the Apple iPad and iPhone, but the team at Rovio has released it’s free version ad-supported of course or the $1 ad free version on the Android Marketplace. So piggies beware, Angry Birds are gonna get you on iPhone and Android!
Angry Birds to Hit Android
NYCC: Hands On: Golden Eye
What is there to say about Golden Eye? Not too much, Golden Eye is Golden Eye. The classic controller layout does improve on the aiming and increases targeting speeds greatly, (thank god for that) which makes game play a lot faster. Character design in the game almost look the exact same from the Nintendo 64, still a little blurry but not as boxy. Throwing Odd Job’s hat never felt so amazing, also playing paintball mode brought back a lot of memories and a lot of nostalgia. True Golden Eye fans will not be disappointed from what Nintendo is bringing back to the table.
NYCC: Hands On: Megaman Universe
So at Comic Con we also had the chance to play Megaman Universe, lets just say it was different. Megaman has come a long way since the 1987. The ugly suited Megaman was thankfully not playable in the very first game, instead we got the little blue suited fighting robot (thank the lord of games). Even though the ugly suited Megaman was never playable for for almost two decades, he some how found a cult following as little as it may be. The guys over at Capcom thought that it might be funny to finally see what the yellow suited fighting robot can do. Along with the ugly Megaman, other custom Megamen can be made, with different parts of different characters that give custom Megaman different attributes to jump, speed, blaster power, and not to mention overall look. Be sure to keep your eyes out on this for download on the Xbox 360, and Playstation 3.
Alien Breed 2: Assault Review
The sequel to Alien Breed Evolution, released a few months ago is now on XBLA and PSN. The series is actually inspired by the original games that were released in 1991. A relatively straight forward action game Alien Breed 2: Assault sticks with the series formula, but is it enough to stand out from crowd of XBLA and PSN games?
The basics of Alien Breed 2: Evolution will be familiar to anyone who’s played almost any action shooter on XBLA or PSN. Players control a space marine that is trapped on a spaceship, the objective is almost completely just to shoot any aliens that get in your way. The game comes in a handful of chapters that have players go through swarms of aliens as they make their way to the finish.
Gameplay in Alien Breed 2 is about as simple as any other action shooter, left stick is to move around, right stick is to aim and trigger is to shoot. The game has some variations to it, there are several different kinds of weapons and items to get that will help you as you make your way through the levels. Players can also melee enemies that are close and can also sprint. Also players can collect credits to buy and upgrade weapons, which makes things easier as the swarm of aliens are fairly relentless.
The graphics are nice to look at from a technical point of view however the environments themselves have been done many times, most of the game is spent walking through small corridors and other familiar spaceship settings. The audio is equally generic as most of the sounds in the game are from the insect noises made from the aliens, the weapons sound like the usual weapons in any game and environment also makes sounds like any spaceship in a game.
Overall Alien Breed 2: Assault is a straight forward game, if you like action shooters with a scifi setting then this is your game, for everyone else there is little here to convince them to play.
[starreviewmulti id=2]
Overall = 7.5
Borderlands: Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution DLC Review
It’s a little crazy to think that Borderlands has come out a year ago and was critically acclaimed one of the best games of the year. With three other dlc packs released up until now, Gearbox has managed to open up the games world each time. This is now the fourth dlc pack and its all about our favorite crackerjacks. Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution finally lets us experience the Claptrap’s and their crazy antics.
The dlc’s story has the Ninja Assassin Claptrap activated and raging a movement throughout the new environments. Besides starting an uproar he’s also a total badass with clever lines and ninja skills. There are plenty of familiar faces throughout the environments from the main game and beyond. Gearbox has always managed to seamlessly tie in the characters in the world of Borderlands and this is no different. Some bosses have also returned with a twist so expect to get up close and personal with pissed off enemies wanting revenge.
Environments while new in flavor are just variations of old, painted prettier. Not to say they don’t look good but they don’t bring anything new to the table for the world. New weapons design could also be said here, as we are just seeing new stats and color schemes for weapons we have used in the past. We’ve gotta say that crazy killer Claptrap’s for enemies doesn’t get old in our book. Yelling out puns and watching them error after death is funny and simply fun. Players level cap and co-op experience will have alot to do with how long this will last them as well. The free level cap update hasn’t happened yet so if your at 61 there won’t be much to offer aside a new story.
While we think this pack is a good edition and still better then most forms of dlc that are available for a game, it doesn’t seem to live up to what The Secret Armory of General Knoxx bought us. New environments, weapon variations, enemies and story make a great buy for any game but those already familiar with the world of Borderlands and are currently at the level cap may want to wait for the free update. For 800 MS Poinsts on XBL and $10 on PSN this is definitely one to check out.
Overall Score = 8.2
X-Men Arcade Game
This is a day that the older generation gamers can cry in happiness. One of our beloved games from our childhoods is coming back. X-Men the arcade game from Konami will be re-released for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. This time around it will have 6 player drop in anytime co-op, the PS3 will support six players both online and couch, while the XBLA version only supports six online. On either console, if there are four players or less, the game flips to a 4:3 scale.
Hydrophobia Review
Hydrophobia is the morbid fear of water, and as for the game Hydrophobia, well lets just say that this is one game that you may want to let drown. Hydrophobia takes place on a large colony sized ship called The Queen of the World. To give you a better idea of how big the ship is supposed to be, The Queen of the World makes the Titanic look like a canoe. The ginormous ship comes under attack from terrorists called Malthusians, people that are trying to cleanse the world of over population. In the game you play Kate Wilson one of the many engineers aboard the ship that are trying to survive and get the ship back under control. Supposedly Kate has hydrophobia but the game seems to lack the fact that she does fear water, considering once you start the game you find a certificate of completion for swimming. The real only way to notice that she fears the water, keeping in mind that she works on a large ship, is when she is treading water and she doesn’t stop crying.
Dark Energy Digital developed a great game for Xbox Live Arcade, yes I said a great game, but nonetheless there are flaws throughout it. Somehow Dark Energy Digital was able to mash together a good game, and when I say that I mean a functioning third person shooter with amazing water characteristics. I’ll admit I didn’t hear too much about Hydrophobia until a month before it’s release. Looking at screen shots from the game I was surprised at the detail of the water and how it engulfed the environment. The first thoughts that came to mind was if this game is about water and fear of water, they really better not mess up the water. Out of the entire game I have to say that the detail and physics of water was one of the most realistic that I’ve seen out of any game thanks to the Hydro Engine.
Levels in the game are almost nonexistent since the game seems to use a real time loading of the levels. You do notice the locking mechanisms spinning as you’re repeatedly bashing the action button to get through the door to the next room. The game actually splits up into three different acts which supposedly I guess is supposed to sum up the beginning, middle, and the end. The level design is pretty repetitive and boring, yes there are some interactive environments where you can blow up a wall and let more water in, but they come far and few from room too room.
The attack system and movements of the game are spot on, minus one or two hang ups. The shooting system is great since there is a cover system involved, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to get hit from a blind spot where the enemy can shoot you but you can’t shoot them. Since there’s so many environmental hazards for your enemies there are just as much for you as well. Many times throughout the game when you’re confronted and next thing you know you’re either on fire or being electrocuted from a live wire. Weapons like the sonic pistol do little damage when not charged, but even when charged you would think a full blast to the head with a sonic pistol would kill not stun a enemy. The pistol system is a bit interesting since there’s different types of ammunition that give your bullets different elemental attributes like electricity or explosive rounds. This gives you different but creative ways to kill enemies, like shooting the electric bullet onto an explosive can that blows up a glass door to release a large wave of water to submerge and spread the fire onto enemies that are close by. Which in turn gives you a combination bonus for a kill which gives you points towards unlocking new items for your avatar.
All in all Hydrophobia has been a good game but the only problem is it seems that the game was somewhat poorly put together. The game was fun to run and jump around in but when combat came into play the game takes an ugly turn. Yes the visuals in the game are great, every sonic shot that you take, every explosion, and every wave that sweeps over you makes you enjoy every moment. While you’re so impressed with the visuals the game tends to forget to give you more hints on what to do sometimes, audio cues tend to help if you reach the right direction but if you don’t trigger the audio clue, you tend to just roam corridors running into hazards and dying.
Hydrophobia could be a great game only if it was released as either a puzzle game or strictly a third person adventure/shooter. There’s not enough action in the game for enemy interaction but there’s also not enough puzzle elements to make it a puzzle game, there is enough of a balance between both to keep the game interesting. The ending leaves you wanting more and for a $15 price tag on Hydrophobia, I think it would be worth it if you want to experience a third person shooter that gives you creative ways to kill your enemy, other wise I would say pass on this game.
Overall Score = 8.0
NYCC: Hands On: Marvel vs Capcom 3
Just recently at New York Comic Con I had the chance to play a build of Marvel vs Capcom3 with Dante, Super Skrull, Dormamu, Viewtiful Joe, Amaterasu, Thor, Deadpool, Ironman, Captain America, Hulk, Trish, Ryu, Felicia, Morigan, and Chun Li. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get our hands on the most recent build with Mike Spencer from Bionic Commando, nor Arthur from Ghosts and Goblins.
The game play is still the same but the button layout is very much changed. From the look of the arcade stick the version that we played was on the Playstation 3. Three attack buttons for light, strong, and hard attacks, launch button for air combos, a character assist button, and a character switch button. The button layout gives new players an easier entrance to fighting games where buttons can be mashed and amazing looking combos can still be had. While veteran players will be able to skillfully use which level attack to deal most damage to their opponent.
Visuals on MvC3 are stunning, everything seems very crisp and there was no lag at all. Lines were long but hey the time I did get to spend with it was amazing. This is one game that’s on the horizon that will definitely be on my radar.
Shank to Hit Steam
Klei Entertainment and EA have decided to release Shank to the Valve’s Steam on October 26th. People on the PC and hopefully eventually Mac will be able to shoot and gut enemies with best of em for $14.99, but if you pre-order you get 10% off making it $13.49.
Killzone 3 Beta for PS+
The Killzone 3 Beta will be coming to Playstation on October 25th. So what do you need to do to get into this beta? Well, I’m glad you asked, first off you have to be a Playstation+ member, secondly you have to download a Killzone XMB theme that will be released on October 19th and that’s it! One catch though… The first 5,000 from the US and the first 5,000 from Europe are only ones that will be able to get into the beta. Well to all you Killzone fans out there, I hope you’re ready to download and win!
