If you missed the brand new Call of Duty Black Ops 2 reveal during the NBA Playoffs then fear not. It is now widespread and legitimately revealed on callofduty.com. We apologise for being a bit delayed with the news but we’ve got it all gathered right here. Trailer, Screens and a hint of Zombies tease. Activision and Treyarch are bringing an unusual take on a Call of Duty which will see us gunning our way through Los Angeles in a near future Cold War. To take a step towards future warfare is a first for Call of Duty and it’ll represent the future for Call of Duty itself. Is this the right choice in bringing a new kind of Call of Duty?
Also Gameinformer reports a tease image was revealed on the Call of Duty Twitter page this morning. The tease is aimed towards the highly anticipated zombies mode which inevitably features in the Treyarch development since World at War. No details have been mentioned yet of the new Zombies just this teaser image.
Right! Here is the brand new trailer. We want to know what you think? Future Call of Duty? Will it see us turning away from the likes of the nearing release of Ghost Recon or will it see Call of Duty coming to a tiring conclusion?
Gameinformer reports that the official Call of Duty site is now teasing with an array of monitors filled with static screens with the words “Coming Soon”. One of these videos is already available and hints towards near future weaponry that could be featured in the next COD game from Activision and Treyarch. Could it be? Activision and Treyarch to release a near future COD?
Details are scarce on callofduty.com, but they’re slowly starting to emerge. The site is currently littered with monitors displaying a “coming soon” message. A few are filled in with static, however. If you click on one of those images, you’re treated to a shot of a weaponized quadrotor drone, which links to the amusing FPS Russia video shown below.
The next Call of Duty rumoured to be titled ‘Eclipse’, will be officially revealed during the NBA Playoffs on May 1. For now we can only assume and speculate on current rumours. More revealed very soon. Look forward to it.
Bloodforge sees you playing the lead role as a warrior named Crom. This warrior has given up the battle in favour of his family yet the Gods have a different side on things and bringing chaos to the village in which Crom and his family resides. Crom is forced into conflict with demonic soldiers in order to protect his wife. Successfully doing so he approaches the burning shelter in which his wife was out of sight. Another demonic soldier appears, staggering towards Crom. Rage sees Crom force his sword straight through the soldier only to find this was no demon. It was his wife in form of a demon presence. Infuriated and enraged Crom now seeks ultimate revenge.
First impressions can absolutely ruin a video games reputation and more than ever for Arcade titles which every Xbox owner can download a trial and get a real taste of what to expect from the full version. Unfortunately for Bloodforge, there will be many who utter the resemblances of Conan and God of War within this particular title.
With all that said, Bloodforge was an interesting start up to say the least. The graphics are pretty top notch for an arcade game and getting straight into the battle felt good because of similarities to the Arkham games combat where you find yourself stringing many combos to gain a much higher score and that moment when you are struck by an enemy, only to end up one combo short of an achievement/high score, it enrages you in a way that Crom himself would flip in deep anger. Then again you’ll gather yourself in another attempt to rack up a high combo.
BLOOD! Blood is the key element to the game. The more blood you can sap out of your enemies the more points that are awarded. These points can be used for certain ability unlocks and upgrades as you progress through the game, aiding you in further battles which ‘WILL’ progressively get harder with only very few health pick-ups to find along the way. The ability menu (Rune Shrine) is a nifty feature allowing full control of your left stick to hover over specific actions. To get extra blood (points) out of your enemies you’ll have to find more experimental ways of killing them through finisher moves. These finisher moves could have been proudly seen in Mortal Kombat. You’ll never get tired of finishing the enemy in many more ways than one. As you progress through the game you’ll stumble upon many new weapons that provide a manic array of new moves to muster within combos against your foes keeping the combat fresh and exciting. Another thing you’ll notice is after each battle you are awarded a rank of A, B, C etc. Whether this is beneficial at all to the games point system, it seems pointless but after obtaining a rank of C or lower, It leaves you feeling unsatisfied with your skills, only to be improved on in the next battle.
Within battles you’ll notice a red bar filling in the corner. This bar allows for Crom’s rage by pressing down both LB and RB. Rage killing is enjoyable and entertaining especially when near death because the rage allows for Crom to become more powerful in attacks finishing off a horde of enemies within seconds. Certain rage kills on many of the heavy hitters you’ll encounter requires a button bashing moment to fill the on screen circle to perform a devastating kill and showering Crom in blood. This is handy for instant finishers on larger enemies which you’ll definitely struggle with.
The multiplayer features in Bloodforge. There is none, but Bloodforge offers a feature called ‘Blood Duel’ in which you can compare the amount of blood spilled within each stage and if your hearts in it you’ll find yourself going back to previous stages to further increase blood spillage and see yourself above the rest on the leaderboards. You can also take on waves of enemies in a survival mode. Once you’ve survived the required amount of waves, you can then forward a challenge to Xbox live friends and see you and your buddies one-upping each other along the way.
Anyhow, we’ll conclude on a few delicate matters which bring this game to a slight disappointment. The first thing you’ll be irritated by is the camera. Although bobble effects can give certain games a feel of panic and stagger and generally can come off pretty well. Bloodforge doesn’t do this. Instead it leaves you feeling sick and disorientated when locating your next target and the rapid zooming when finishing the enemy puts you off the string of combos. You’ll find it immovable with objects and enemies which is a shame when Bloodforge offers some very decent artwork and design which shines above most other features. Finally, you may or may not come to a point where you’ll need health, desperately and at times hopelessly trying to find some. Depending on your skill you’ll either find it a struggle to continue with very little health on your bar and having to take on an immense boss battle only resulting in a stage restart if you choose to do so, which is frustrating and a real shame. Other than that it’s a really good effort on the games ‘Hack ‘n’ Slash’ genre with excellent work from the art division and the characters/enemies are fantastically created and has proved to be the stronghold of this title. We’ve enjoyed it while it lasted, despite the camera issues and the lack of adjusting difficulty the story itself is there to enjoy. You’ll pick up a few avatar items with the playthrough which are pretty neat but for 1200msp, be sure to trial the game and make your decision from there.
EA and Crytek have garnished with fresh screenshots and added a pinch of gameplay footage to tease and tantalise our salivating lips these past two weeks but now they have served up a real treat. The debut trailer is finally here and although it seems an eternity until we actually get our hands on Crysis 3 you can appreciate the arrival of actual gameplay footage and a look into what to expect from the third of its series.
Return to the fight as Prophet, the Nanosuit soldier on a quest to rediscover his humanity and exact brutal revenge. Adapt on the fly with the stealth and armor abilities of your unique Nanosuit as you battle through the seven wonders of New York’s Liberty Dome. Unleash the firepower of your all-new, high-tech bow and alien weaponry to hunt both human and alien enemies. And uncover the truth behind the death of your squad while re-establishing the power of human will in a rich story full of exciting twists and turns.
Crysis 3 will be arriving in the spring of 2013 on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC and…. no, it won’t be coming to the Wii U!!!
I just couldn’t resist it. I thought I could hold out for at least a week to gather my Microsoft Points and eventually bag Trials Evolution but I just couldn’t. It had to be now and it had to be done! Many on my friends list had already downloaded it and were setting some sweet times. I had one of those moments where I didn’t care how much was in the bank I’ll just download it and get banging on it. Best choice ever made.
I’d like to apologise for such a late review. I mean I just couldn’t get away from this. The trial at first wasn’t enough for to review on, then playing Trials Evolution in full ‘til the point my trigger fingers were bleeding and the knuckle cramps kicked in just wasn’t enough. My weekend flew by without even knowing it. I certainly didn’t waste a single second.
Trials Evolution is the sequel to its predecessor Trials HD which since its release 3 years ago has been one of the most downloaded titles to hit the XBLA. Evolution has been highly anticipated and we have had a firm grip of the handlebars since last Wednesday. So what’s different about Evolution? Well… not a lot of difference in the gameplay. The gameplay simply doesn’t need changing and the developers Redlynx knows that. The addictive style of Trials has gripped many of us since its debut back on the old Miniclip site and I only have Redlynx to blame for the fact I didn’t do so well in many of my Media course paperwork back at college. It’s hard to believe that a free to play game on a website that is so simple and addictive can go on to conquer the Xbox Live Arcade market. So Redlynx have definitely not changed any of the controls or physics because it doesn’t need to. Instead they’ve focused on the things that truly open this game up. Trials Evolution adds a sense of real environment, something that Trials HD couldn’t possibly do. In Trials HD you began to think that every track was beginning to look the same being stuck in this very narrow, almost claustrophobic end to end experience. Was always dark and dingy and almost left you gasping for air outside in the real world. Evolution has taken all that and thrown it aside and now you have an 8km playground to run around in, create and dominate.
With all this said there are so many colours coming into play and so much to see and you can really tell the level designers had a blast with limitless amount of ideas and no boundaries tying them down to just the simple end to end detail that Trials HD could only offer. There’s a whole world out there as you race along the track. It’s not just a background anymore and we love that. Our favourite track so far is the paid homage to Playdead’s Limbo. It has captured the atmosphere perfectly and feels great to have the two great arcade hits merge. Customisation is pretty basic in Trials Evolution. You can simply change the colour of specific bike parts and there is a limited selection of clothing which you can purchase with your hard earned cash but nothing that will keep you literally playing for hours to unlock. It’s a very minor part of game unfortunately but maybe they’ll add to that in future DLC?
If you’re like me and the rest of the 250, 000 (and increasing) people who have already downloaded Trials Evolution and completely bashed away at it to the point you can’t take no more, then just relax with some multiplayer. The multiplayer is good however I can see it losing its appeal faster than single player. The supercross events have a real sense of competition even though you suffer from not being able to see or have a sense of balance if you’re in the back lane and 3 other riders have blocked your view. I feel that the supercross multiplayer benefits a good night in with 3 of your friends and competing locally. Other than that we have the regular trials tracks to play against another 3 competitors online and other than earning xp and levelling up for leaderboards I find myself only wondering on multiplayer to play for those very few multiplayer achievements and maybe to give a friend a quick race but the leaderboards for the single player trials experience is more than enough for me when it comes to competition.
The leaderboards are lush, even when the surge of downloads on day 1 broke the servers. Redlynx however managed to rapidly fix that but once a race is finished to look over the leaderboards is a joy to one’s egomania. I have it and I’m sure you’ll sense it once you finished your first race and earned a gold medal to only find you are 1 of 200, 000 + people who also have that gold but also have a much better time than you and some even carry the unlockable Platinum medal. It keeps you going and going and going and trying to further beat your times. Leaderboards also offer a very quick way of downloaded ghost replays to witness how on earth those gamertags earned such speedy times giving you hints towards method and technique and once you’ve witnessed how they achieved their times you can race against that specific ghost. It’s a classic means of playing time trials but works best with Trials Evolution.
If playing the harder tracks has you frustrated in any way and you fancy getting a little creative then why not move along to the track editor. Here you’ll find yourself feeling a whole new sense of frustration. It’ll probably take you a few days to get to grips and find an understanding of how complex and intricate the level editor can be. It is completely insane and if anything it has scared me. There is so much you can do in the editor, lighting effects, texture, buoyancy of certain objects and I could carry on but the list will exceed my life expectancy.
With the creator, we are forever open to downloading new tracks and new mini games to try out and in a sense we are forever receiving an endless supply of FREE DLC. Absolutely genious. These downloads can then be rated by you who has enjoyed the created levels and then be listed in various categories from latest creations to highest rated and to most downloaded. Some of the downloadable creations are already blowing our minds right now. The editor has allowed for Trials Evolution to become infinite in gameplay resulting in a constant, unpredictable and exciting level of enjoyment.
The conclusion is you don’t need us to tell you that this game ‘revs’ to high expectations . Trials Evolution set the record for highest grossing day-one sales for XBLA. 100,000 downloads on day one proves this was a sought after title and let that be enough to make you want it. It’s incredibly addictive, graphics are bang on for an arcade title and it is just the most insane arcade title to date. 1200 Microsoft points seems steeper than the hills you will inevitably encounter within Trials Evolution but it’s exceedingly worth every bit. Once you’ve downloaded and played on the Gigatrack you’ll agree with me when I tell you that the Gigatrack is worth 1200msp on its own because it is GIGANTIC and not only that, this is the first of the brand new arcade titles to feature 400 gamerscore! The very few negative points with Trials Evolution is the soundtrack can be a little annoying especially the title sequence and maybe the multiplayer could have seen a lot more created tracks provided for the competition but nothing that can devastate the simple joys of this game.
The Bethesda forums decided to tease us on Monday with a screenshot that lead people to believe they were about to announce a heap load of details about a possible Skyrim DLC coming soon. That never happened. Instead the following day that tease lead to be of a new title in the works, published by Bethesda and developed by Arkane Studios. Destructoid reported that Bethesda released the Cinematic trailer to Dishonored unfortunately revealing no gameplay at this time but my word… It’s looking good!
The video certainly justifies the “steampunk” and “dystopia” descriptions that will follow this game to the grave, and there are already more than a few comparisons to Assassin’s Creed floating around. Most importantly, however, is the prevalence of Stilt Police, which I am still completely in love with. It’s police! On stilts! What’s not to love?
Dishonored will be available on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, with a vague “2012″ release window.
A very exciting title indeed and hopefully we’ll get a glimpse of actual gameplay before or during E3 this year.
If October isn’t busy enough already with big titles heading our way, and you haven’t managed to rinse your wallet of every last dime then you’ll set aside Halo 4 which will be released worldwide November 6 2012. Gamasutra reports BIG news from both Microsoft Studios and 343, what a time to hit hard with the usual release date of Call of Duty falling possibly in the same week.
Microsoft Studios has announced that Halo 4, the newest entry for one of the Xbox 360′s biggest exclusive franchises, will launch around the world on November 6.
Halo 4 will be the first numbered released for the series since 2007, as well as the first new game release to be shipped by developer 343 Industries, which took over the first-person shooter property from Bungie several years ago.
Halo 4 is meant to be the first of a new trilogy for the franchise. Microsoft Studios’ corporate VP Phil Spencer says the game starts a journey that will encompass the next decade of Halo games and experiences.
More Halo is good seeing as its one of the Xbox 360’s very few exclusives that Microsoft have to offer. Details of the multiplayer are exciting for some but we want more from the campaign. A HELL of a lot more! With Octobers and Novembers releases set aside, I’m sure Halo hasn’t much to fear in the retail war. It will no doubt be a huge seller.
BRAND SPANKING NEW SCREENSHOTS of the prematurely announced Crysis 3 have been revealed today. Over at Eurogamer EA has been kind enough to stick by their promise and reveal a little about the third instalment for all to see. It is now official, Crysis 3 will be heading our way Spring 2013.
You play Prophet, who returns to New York in 2047. He finds the city has been encased in a Nanodome created by the corrupt Cell Corporation. The New York City Liberty Dome is now an urban rainforest, packed with overgrown trees, swamplands and rivers.
Inside there are seven “distinct and treacherous” environments, known as the Seven Wonders. Prophet uses a “lethal composite bow”, first seen last week in leaked box art images, an enhanced Nanosuit and alien tech.
Prophet is on a revenge mission after uncovering the truth behind Cell Corporation’s motives for building the quarantined Nanodomes. These were CELL’s covert attempt at a land and technology grab in its quest for global domination. “With Alien Ceph lurking around every corner and human enemies on the attack, nobody is safe in the path of vengeance. Everyone is a target in Prophet’s quest for retribution,” reads the official blurb.
Take a deep breath and witness some of these thriving images, New York seems to be the setting still but utterly covered in vast vegetation after the events of Crysis 2. It’s almost as if Crysis 1 and 2 collide for a truly urban/jungle experience.
It’s about time Xbox Live Arcade brought an ‘actual’ arcade game to the marketplace. Something that is addictive, something that is snappy, something that is progressive and something that scores and no matter how well you do, you want to come back and score even higher. Recently we’ve witnessed the trend of Arcade titles that boast narrative, action and graphics when all those factors sucked, literally. Arcade games belong in a category of instant gaming, a quick download and ready to play fun. This is where The Splatters really takes place.
Initially physics puzzler games belong on touch screen mobile devices but The Splatters has stunning visuals that I couldn’t quite appreciate on a handheld device. Playing this quirky title on our massive HD TV allows us to be thankful for The Splatters striking concentration on detail, colour and visual decency. Not only that – physics puzzlers that rely on touch are pretty fiddly and fickle unless you get the best of bunch.
The Splatters at first glance appears to be the typical game within its genre. You control blobs of goo in a 2D environment. Each blob is scattered around the level from high to low and from left to right giving the player full interaction from every angle rather than the typical left to right scenario. The aim is to launch the blobs at a number of bombs spread out creatively in each level. By landing on the cluster of bombs you will be required to splatter yourself (Die), oozing and spreading the splats of goo as much as you possibly can, covering each and every individual bomb. Sounds simple, which it is, but there is a vast amount to consider in order to gain a well spread splat and most importantly, a massive score. The earlier levels rely on a formula of aim, fly and splatter bombs but eventually you’ll find yourself relying on a more tactical approach.
Some targets are harder to reach than others as you’d expect from progression of difficulty. With this in mind The Splatters have come up with an excellent array of stunts to perform in order to gain extra points towards earning all three stars per level. Some of the stunts help eradicate each and every bomb in a level. We noticed during our playthrough that some stunts work perfectly with the xbox pad. The Left trigger for instance is key for the U-turn stunt which if your blob was to kick a bomb away during a slide then press and hold the left trigger to reverse the bomb back into the splatter as he bursts into a wonderful dribble of colour. This can also be used to build momentum for your splatter buddy to reach across the stage earning him a bigger splat impact.
The majority of levels consist of different coloured blobs. Red, green, blue and purple and with these blobs you can only aim for that particular bomb colour bringing a little more method to the placement of your shots. The stunts featured in this game are fantastic in bringing technique to scoring big. You don’t always have to use them but who can resist tapping away at the A button to dive bomb with the ballistic stunt, crashing into the cluster of bombs bursting into a highly satisfying gush, trickling and setting off a high scoring explosion. To score big requires a combo of stunts, performing stunts in one round will get you a decent score but chain them together quickly will gather a huge score, possibly earning you the very 3 stars you deserve or even better placing you high up on the leaderboard rankings.
Talking of leaderboards, this is what makes Arcade titles fun and Splatters does this unsurpassed. To look up high scores is fantastic and whilst doing it there’s a feature to instantly play that very level so you can beat your own score and possibly other gamers’ scores and raise even higher in the rankings. Added to this is Splatters TV, an excellent trait that many Arcade titles never feature in their own games. Here you can look up video replays of some of the finest Splatters around the globe. We used this feature to learn some of the methods and techniques used by the highest scoring Splatters players in the world and most are incredible. From here you can decide to like featured playbacks which are categorised in ‘All time favourites ’, ‘Recent and Popular’ and ‘Just in’. This makes for a charming and delightful social experience and to top it off the menus are absolutely luxuriant indeed.
With all this bagged and tagged there are very few minor issues with the Splatters. One of them being that as a physics puzzler, minor mistakes made when aiming or accidentally performing wrong stunts can lead to consistently retrying, but that’s what makes arcade games the games they are. If anything you could turn that negative into a positive depending on your habit or game behaviour. At least Splatters allows you to retry almost instantly and each level has 2-4 rounds in which retrying isn’t necessarily a case of going all the way back to restart the entire puzzle. It will remember the score from the start of the round and any score made just before your mistake will reset to however much you earned within the earlier round without any penalty. Game flow is perfect and we couldn’t argue with anything in the slightest. Multiplayer would have been a nice feature but not necessary, it’s a quality title as it stands.
Overall this game is an addictive and gripping experience for puzzle fanatics and being at the lower end cost of 800 Microsoft points you can’t go wrong on your purchase. On top of all that a reasonable amount of achievements can be earned that aren’t incredibly difficult to gain. This requires a large amount of time, keeping you going if you’re a devoted achievement hunter, plus you’ll also gain some nifty avatar awards along the way. Trial the game first and you’ll be hooked right from the very start. If you’ve banked your points for any other Arcade title coming soon, well it’ll be hard not spend on this little number. One of the most charming and cheerful titles to hit the arcade.
Bethesda today have announced that the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be releasing a free title update later on this month that will allow for Kinect functionality for over 200 different voice commands. IGN has reported that Kinect owners will be able to use shouts, follower commands and other key menu features that will enhance gameplay exclusively for Xbox 360.
Using Kinect’s voice recognition capabilities, players will be able to perform Dragon Shouts, Hotkey Equipping, Follower Commands, as well as control all menus with their voice. There will also be new special map functions, more hotkey options, and the ability to sort items in your inventory by name, weight, and value.
Skyrim with Kinect is a great feature that will no doubt enhance and accelerate the gameplay during battles. That tedious moment when you have to scroll through your hotkey items to find health potions will no longer be an issue. As for shouts, sometimes I find that Kinect doesn’t understand the very basic English let alone a made up language of shouts such as ‘fus ro dahs’ and ‘Mar-di-gras’. But… Mass Effect 3 benefited with Voice commands and I know for a fact that Skyrim will pull it off better. Shame I’ve completed the game in its entirety but bringing this update 6 months after its initial release can spark only one thing…….. DLC!
