Trailer: Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead (Debut)


This week saw the release of a particular type of video game. The game is Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead. Yes, you heard correctly. It’s a video game based on the horror comic book series by Robert Kirkman that has become one of TV’s biggest sensation (despite some issues with characters and storytelling) with it’s own tv series.

Telltale Games’ adaptation brings a new angle to the story Kirkman has been writing for almost ten years now. It’s unfolds from the very first days of the zombie apocalypse but still set in the Atlanta-area. Themain characters in the game is one Lee Everett who comes across a young girl during his search for a safe spot. Together the two of them must survive the chaos of the zombie apocalypse’s early days and not just from the zombies, but other survivors they come across in their journey. While the game introduces new characters the people at Telltale Games will have the main characters come across some of the characters from the comic book/tv series.

As mentioned earlier the game will come out as five episodes that players buy the moment Telltale Games releases a new one. The game pretty much acts like an interactive episode with the player making difficult decisions both practical and moral that changes the tone of each player’s particular game. Unlike most zombie games which tend to focus more on action and shooting this title will focus heavily on story and characters.

Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead has now comes out with it’s first episode for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows PC with versions for Mac OS X and iOS coming sometime this summer.

Trailer: Darksiders II – Death Strikes (Part One)


One of my favorite video game titles from 2010 was also one of it’s earliest releases with THQ and Vigil Games’ post-apocalyptic action-adventure, hack and slash Darksiders. It was the game which allowed the player to play as War of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It was a game that was received positively by both critics and the general public though the title was not without it’s flaws.

Darksiders sold quite enough units for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 that THQ was quick to greenlit a sequel to the title. This was good news since the first game ended in what one could only assume was a cliffhanger. I mean this was a game that was epic in its art design, epic in it’s story (it is set after the world ends in the game’s prologue) and finally it just sounded epic. The ending itself wasn’t just a cliffhanger but gave a clue as to how the game would continue on as a franchise. War a player was already able to play in the first game and the game end’s with three other flaming meteor’s streaking down to Earth. Hmmm, I wonder just who or what exactly are those three mysterious meteors.

[spoilers in video below for those who haven’t played the first game]

With the sequel only months away from release we get the first CG cinematic trailer for it released and show’s the Death as the newest Horseman of the Apocalypse the player gets to play this time around. Yes, you heard that correctly. You as a player gets to play as Death itself. From the look of how Death move and fights in the trailer he’s more lithe and agile than the more brutish and “crush rocks with each step” brother War.

With both Skyrim and Mass Effect 3 now out and played this title now goes up my list for 2012 as one of my most-anticipated titles to get a hold of a play. Also, one thing which should make playing Death epic: Michael Wincott will voice the character.

Darksiders is set for a June 26, 2012 release date for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and Windows PC.

Mass Effect 3


I finished Mass Effect 3! The first video game I’ve ever finished! … Or, at least, for a long time.

Shall we talk about it?

Mass Effect 3 is (ostensibly, we know how sequels work these days) the conclusion to the story of one Commander Shepard, a human of exceptional skill, whose whole history is determined by the player. Shepard has journeyed long and hard to make people aware of the threat posed by the Reapers, synthetics bent on annihilating all organic life. From what I’ve seen, Mass Effect 3 is receiving decidedly mixed reviews. I think most of the negativity is oriented toward the ending, and we’ll talk about that later, but I’m going to start with a list of things that are ‘to like’ about this game. Even though if you have even the slightest interest in the franchise, you’ve already bought it.

Mass Effect 3 improves on the gameplay of Mass Effect 2.

Let that statement hang in the air for a moment. Why? Because I already thought Mass Effect 2’s gameplay was incredible; the game’s best feature, aside from its variety of characters and character interactions.

It still pads its play time by giving you lots of relatively minor quests, and forcing you to scan systems for ‘War Assets’ which involve running from Reaper forces and wasting a bunch of time. This is nothing new. After all, we drove the Mako around identically featureless planets in ME1, and we scanned for resources in ME2. The difference to me is that while we’re running around the Citadel recovering missions in ME3, we’re also subjected to background conversations between the inhabitants of that great space station. Their lives are affected by the war, and overhearing snippets of conversation lets us understand how so. It drew me into the setting of a (seemingly) hopeless war more than any activity aboard the Normandy. After all, Commander Shepard runs a stealth vessel with the most deadly folks around aboard. We don’t have any reason to fear the Reaper forces for the most part, because we’re better than they are. But on the Citadel, the Everyman is on the run. The Everyman fears that they will never see loved ones again.

In a holding area for Refugees, there’s a teenage girl waiting for her parents who has a variety of conversations with a C-Sec officer about her parents, and their transport, and when it’s going to arrive. It’s kind of heartwrenching. But also extremely appropriate.

In the field I suspect players will find much to like. The variety of enemy types is vastly improved over Mass Effect 2, as you combat the forces of the Reapers (now with more than just Husks and minibosses!), the forces of Cerberus (who are varied and deadly, very appropriate) and the traditional Geth opponents as well. I often felt that ME2’s opposition was pretty vanilla, but the unique properties of the enemies in ME3 make them feel much more varied even if (as I suspect) the actual number of “different” enemy types is not much different. The variety of powers IS improved, and now re-implements the use of grenades (an odd omission from ME2!) while keeping the basic gameplay mechanics of the second game intact. The most tangible difference is that you can now see Shepard’s hit points reflected in a bar with five segments. Once a segment is totally depleted, it only replenishes with the use of Medi-Gel. This is a significant feature of the game, especially on the harder difficulties.

Weapon upgrades are back with a vengeance. They operate like they did in the original Mass Effect, only +1. Now, you can acquire more advanced versions of weapons, and install increasingly powerful upgrades, to customize weapons to fit your playstyle. All classes now wield any weapon you like, with the newly devised penalty of heavier weapons slowing the recharge time of your special powers. So, a Biotic Adept is fully free to carry a sniper rifle and assault rifle, but it may mean that their Singularity cools down three times slower. Is that trade-off worth it? The answer is no, but it’s still definitively up to the player.

I was favourably impressed with the character moments and interactions in this game. Your own mileage will vary based on choices in previous games (and yes, while I have heard complaints that your choices don’t have a significant enough impact on the ending, they certainly have a significant impact on the game at large) but I was treated to a number of unexpectedly poignant and emotional character moments from both new and old faces. To me, this is the best work BioWare has done yet in terms of the characters involved… perhaps even exceeding Dragon Age II (although that entire game is so character-based, it’s a tough comparison). Some may be disappointed that many of the discussions no longer involve choosing options on the conversation wheel, but rather just talking it out after the fashion of conversations with companions Zaeed Massani and Kasumi Goto in Mass Effect 2.

I hesitate to say more, because it’s a story game, and I won’t be the one to spoil things for those who haven’t completed it.

Multiplayer!

Yes, there is now a multiplayer mode. It feeds the single player in that you can use any multiplayer character of level 20 as a War Asset, and in that it improves your Galactic Readiness score. For anyone who is wondering why your Galactic Readiness sits at a mediocre 50%, this is why! The multiplayer mode is a horde-styled mode where you fight against any of the three enemy forces (Geth, Cerberus, or Reaper) on one of several small maps, over the course of 10 waves, and then a “bonus” wave in which your squad waits for extraction. Three difficulty levels are available, which mirror normal, hardcore, and insanity level enemies, and thereby force different tactics to be used by the players.

I’d heard rumours that the single player was also supposed to support the multiplyer, but I’ve seen no evidence of that.

If you’re into Horde modes, you’ll almost certainly enjoy the multi-player here. Just be aware that you’ll have to work your way through a lot of matches to earn weapons and characters if you want the full experience, and getting a character to level 20, while not hard per se, can be time consuming. If you’re only looking to supplement your single player experience, your mileage will vary with the multiplayer mode.

And that’s where I’ll stop. I’d be happy to answer any specific questions, but I certainly don’t want to spoil the game for you. Just know that it’s a good game, and I hope you like it.

Song of the Day: Protectors of the Earth (by Two Steps From Hell)


With Mass Effect 3 having been released to the masses earlier today it also means another official launch trailer which also happened to use a piece of music from the band Two Steps From Hell. BioWare used a song from this band to score their launch trailer for Mass Effect 2 two years ago. That song was “Heart of Courage” and it was a perfect choice made by the folks from BioWare.

This time around their latest pick from Two Steps From Hell to score their launch trailer for Mass Effect 3 would also come from the band and is also the latest choice for “Song of the Day”.

The song is “Protectors of the Earth” and if that is not an apt and perfect choice for a game whose tagline is “Take Earth Back” then I don’t know what is. For one thing it adds a level of epic grandiosity to the trailer and the visuals chosen to help highlight the strengths of the game. What better way to usher in the installment to the Mass Effect trilogy than with music will help inspire gamers to, as the game’s tagline has been pushing, “Take back Earth”.

Trailer: Mass Effect 3 (Launch Trailer)


It’s the Day of Days for gamers worldwide as one of the most-anticipated games of this generation finally comes out.

Mass Effect 3 completes the sci-fi rpg trilogy from BioWare and with each game’s release the need from gamers just continued to increase. At the stroke of midnight on March 6, 2012 EA and BioWare held official release events at four different locations around the United States as hundreds, if not thousands, of gamers braved cold nights to be the first to get their hands on the final leg of Cmdr. Shepard’s journey to save the galaxy from the extragalactic mechanical race intent on harvesting all living organisms from the galaxy as they’ve done every 50,000 years.

The last couple of weeks have seen several trailers and tv spots marketing and hyping up the game as it led to today. BioWare ends the wait by releasing one last trailer and it’s simply called the “Launch Trailer” and to say that it is epic would be just the tip of the iceberg.

Enough talking…Time to take Earth back!

Trailer: Mass Effect 3 “Take Earth Back” (Live-Action Trailer)


Last week we saw the cinematic “Take Earth Back” trailer for the upcoming Mass Effect 3 rpg title from BioWare and EA. During tonight’s latest episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead we got to see another trailer for this upcoming game. This time around we get a live-action trailer about Earth being visited upon by the main antagonists of the series and that’s the giant, extragalactic biomechanical alien race who call themselves “The Reapers”.

For a live-action trailer this one does a great job at emphasizing the fact that Earth is royally screwed and that the player in the guise of Cmdr. Shepard must lead an army to take it back from the brink of destruction. I like how even in this future Earth once the proverbial crap hits the fan everyone will begin to riot instead of actually trying to band together to fight the invaders.

Mass Effect 3 is set for a March 6, 2012 North American release date.

Trailer: Mass Effect 3 “Take Earth Back”


During one of the many commercial breaks for February 19th’s episode of The Walking Dead audiences were treated to the premiere of a trailer for one of 2012’s most-anticipated video games.

Mass Effect 3 is the final title in the series trilogy that first began five years ago with the Mass Effect title. The series has just gotten bigger since then with the second title selling even more and improving on the first game. This third title looks to tie-up all the storylines begun with the first two games and finish them off in the only way possible: EPIC.

This trailer is simply called “Take Earth Back” and we see just why it’s called just that. The Reapers (extragalactic robotic beings of extreme intelligence who scour the galaxy of all living life every 50,000 years or so and this time they’re returning with their sights set on taking on the homeworld of the person who has tried to stop them from returning: Earth. We see much in this trailer from major cities being destroyed by giant Reaper ships then to the arrival of Cmdr. Shepard and his allies to take on the possessed “Husks” of aliens the Reaper has turned against everyone.

The game has been hyped since the second game ended and this trailer just adds to that as we get nearer to the title’s March 6, 2012 release date. This trailer preaches to the loyal and should go a long way to helping convince those still on the fence to pick it up.

2011 in Review: Video Games!


    The Games of 2011!

Yes, a year-end wrap-up column in lieu of an actual review of an actual game! Why, you ask? Because I can’t stop playing Star Wars ToR, of course! I haven’t played anything new that I can talk about, aside from a little daliance with Dynasty Warriors 7 – actually, more than a little daliance. It’s getting talked about in this very column!

Now, after I went through everything I played this year, I realized I didn’t have enough material to make a list of good games or bad games. I just didn’t play enough different games this year. That’s the tragedy of writing about a medium where I either have to wait a while for availability (still plodding along with Gamefly. I haven’t mastered the magic of RedBox yet) or spend $60 in order to play the game. The other problem is that it takes me ages to finish things off; even RedBox might not be able to save me.

So in lieu of some kind of ferentic rankings column where I attempt to explain which game I liked best, I’m instead going to count down 10 games I liked from this year in a numerically ranked order, then give some honourable mentions.

10. Bulletstorm
A game which received seemingly almost universally positive reviews, but only Arleigh and I seem to have ever played. Granted, it has its obsession with peurile humour – it stirred up some heated controversy with morons. However, the game has a rich environment (with refreshingly brilliant backgrounds, colour is everywhere!) and its storyline is full of dark humour which I very much appreciated. The gameplay is exactly like a Gears of War title that doesn’t take itself seriously. This was a solid title.

9. Madden NFL 12 / NCAA Football 12
Neither of these games merits full consideration. If you don’t like paying the Madden Tax, you probably buy these games only when your current copy begins to feel dated. It’s worth mentioning that the dynasty modes in NCAA Football 12 have expanded considerably in scope, and Madden NFL 12 has a (relatively) credible electronic opponent. The online franchise mode in Madden is worth owning one of the newer titles (I believe it was introduced in Madden 10) if you have other folks you want to break on the interwebs.

8. L.A. Noire
The motion-capture technology used to produce this game remains one of the most stunning achievements I’ve ever come across in video games. I also think it’s an inspired choice by Rockstar to make a game that breaks away from the style of both GTA and Red Dead. Although many of the controls are the same, L.A. Noire is a very distinct experience from Rockstar’s other offerings. Note that it does not have a number after its name. That’s kind of exciting! I will say, the game seems to demand to be played in small doses… there are only so many faces I can analyze for tiny lies in one feverish night before they start to blend together, and it’s not always ‘traditionally’ fun to play. My other main complaint? The game doesn’t do nearly enough to tell the player what level of accusation we should be leveling at the suspect.

7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
I don’t have too much to add about this one. I think it’s an improvement on the previous installments of the game. I find it more accessible, I like the weapon selections, and I greatly prefer shotguns being a primary weapon. That having been said, the map selection in this title doesn’t offer enough variety of ranges. It’s missing a big, sniper-friendly map. That really encourages people to quickscope more, and nothing frustrates me more (well, when I’m not the one doing it) than a lot of quickscopers running around. Bah.

6. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
This game’s stock took a huge hit when they abandoned trying to support it and decided to put out a re-issue instead. At least the re-issue isn’t going to cost me $60 when I get around to picking it up. I did like the title enough to pay for a bunch of new characters…. I guess. But this was still mishandled. Disappointing!

5. Bastion
This game would have made my top ten list (not that I’m doing a rankings column) if there was a bit more meat to it. I actually thought the game experience was roughly of perfect length, but I have a thought process issue where I associate longer games giving me more pleasure for the same amount of money with… oh, wait, Bastion was just an Arcade title? That’s why I loved it! There’s so much to this little title. The narration is a standout – the game’s best feature, and the storytelling style makes it quite unique in feel, even if the gameplay itself is something we’ve seen before.

4. Star Wars: The Old Republic
Yeah, it’s pretty good. I had huge reservations about this one going in, but it’s so much better than I had ever expected. Congratulations BioWare, you might have managed to climb your way back to the top of my video game developer power rankings.

3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
This is a great game. I never did get around to reviewing it, because it took me ages to beat… but I loved the fact that the game encouraged and rewarded me for handling things stealthily. I haven’t played a game that truly, really, madly, deeply, embraced stealth from start to finish in… I don’t know, when did Thief II come out? Yikes!

2. Might and Magic Heroes VI
I’m a lifelong fan of this series, which is the same as Heroes of Might and Magic, despite the inexplicable re-arrangement of the words in the title. I was grievously disappointed with Heroes V (apparently in the minority on this, although I seem to remember hearing a lot of negative comments. Maybe people just hated that PC-crippling DRM it came with?) and found Heroes IV, while enjoyable, to be too much of a departure from the classical gameplay style. This franchise hit its pinnacle in Heroes of Might and Magic III, but this new installment… well, it took me back. I don’t necessarily approve of the degree to which it has simplified the resource management and strategy aspect of the original games, but it has plenty of improvements to make up for that, and the total control over your hero’s skill progression is a change I very much appreciate.
I should probably just review this game. Let’s move on.

1. Dragon Age 2
Well, I certainly played it the most. I was unbelievably impressed with the characters and conversations and interactions in this game. I fully understand the issues people had with it; I had some of the same issues, but every time someone asks me about this game I find that I just don’t care about its flaws. I love it so much that I totally overlook its imperfections. I can’t even be objective. I don’t know why I’m still talking.

    Other Titles


And, just as importantly, why are these other titles not on this list?

Gasp! Dragon Age 2 at number 1? Where, you ask, is Gears of War 3? You’re violently shaking me, wondering how I could have liked Bulletstorm better. The truth is? Gears of War 3 is still in its wrapping. I haven’t even played the damn game.

Well what about Arkham City? I haven’t played that one either. The market is saturated with games!

Assassin’s Creed? Looking at borrowing this one soon. What I heard about it kind of killed the series’ momentum for me, even though I’m certain this is still a fine title and enjoyable to play.

As I mentioned in the column intro, I’ve played a lot of Dynasty Warriors 7 lately. It’s exactly the same game as ever. I’m not sure what I can tell you about it that you don’t already know. I’d try anyway if I was going to do a full review; we’ll see about that.

I think I’ll do a full review on Forza Motorsport 4 when I have time to play it more thoroughly. I didn’t know I liked racing games until I got a free copy of Forza 3 with my 360 Arcade console (I had never cared much for racing games earlier in my life). Anyway, it’s an excellent title so far, but I wouldn’t feel good about slotting it anywhere at the moment. Maybe it’s like

    Final Thoughts

So, that’s it. That’s the list. Those are the games I played this year that I liked the most. I know I ranked them from 10 to 1 like some kind of rankings column (which is a kind of column I don’t do) but I’ll be honest; aside from Dragon Age at the top of the list, the rest of the order is probably arguable. And here’s the part where you argue with me! Use that handy-dandy leave a comment button below, and set your synapses firing. I want to hear why I’m wrong, and I want to hear impassioned pleas for games I either haven’t played or hated.

Star Wars: The Old Republic


As BioWare’s ad campaign boldly proclaims… the wait is over.

I don’t know how many Star Wars fans are still willing to embrace new products that come out without some measure of hesitation. I’m certain that many people still love Star Wars, and refuse to let their love be tainted by any of the more questionable decisions that the brand has made over the years. As a boy, I would certainly have counted myself amongst that group; as an adult, I simply feel free to make the choice not to give money to things that I don’t enjoy. It was definitely with a significant measure of hesitation that I placed a pre-order for BioWare’s brand-spankin’-new MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

As the name implies, this game takes place during that lengthy and largely unexplored time of the Old Republic. Since the Republic persisted for thousands and thousands of years, it makes for a seemingly endless breeding ground for unique and individual stories without the need to be concerned with the absolute canon of the six Star Wars films. In other words, the further removed we are from characters like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, the easier it is to make a game that still feels like Star Wars… but doesn’t even attempt to infringe upon the films or their core events. The setting for The Old Republic is set some time after the events of the two “Knights of the Old Republic” games. Darth Revan, at least, is considered to be an almost-mythical figure in this time period. It still follows the progress of ongoing hostilities (if not outright war) between the Sith Empire and the Republic. Beyond that, the game’s story depends heavily (at least insofar as I’ve progressed myself) on which character class you’ve selected. Unlike other MMORPGs that you might have played in the past, the Old Republic is designed to provide a story and interaction-rich single player leveling experience. It uses a dialogue wheel with a variety of options and relies heavily on interactive conversations with NPCs to determine which quests your character obtains, what rewards you get from them, your alignment toward the Light or Dark sides of the Force, and how much your companions (more on this in a moment) like you. There are definitely still periods in your leveling experience which feel like a traditional grind; you will find yourself completing circuits of non-individual quests to shore up your XP total and bring in much-needed credits.

Based on your character class, you have a main personal story that you’re progressing through. My character, a bounty hunter, is attempting to be the overall winner in a massive competition of bounty hunters staged by the Mandalorians that requires me to go around the galaxy hunting the most difficult of targets – and the other hunters who have been assigned to the same targets. The missions specific to this bounty hunter storyline are accessed through single-character “phases” – areas only accessible to you – and serve to give the player the impression that they are advancing their character’s story along with their skills. Because these events are personal to the player and follow a linear progression, the NPCs involved become increasingly impressed with you, your reputation, and your abilities. Compared to other MMO-style games where your personal contribution to the world is rarely felt in any meaningful way, this game goes out of its way to try and make the player feel involved and important. This is particularly important, I think, in the context of the Star Wars setting. While of course the game involves fighting through seemingly endless hordes of creatures, rebels, insurgents, bandits, etc. in the wilds and in quest areas, the pacing of the game and the structure of the quests all seem bent toward keeping the feel of a Star Wars adventure. The game is not encouraging a long grind against increasingly formidable types of bats; your character has important business to be about, and just has to scythe through bad guys of various competency levels in order to complete that business.

Further adding to the immersion of the game is the aforementioned companion system. As you progress through your story, your character will acquire access to different companions. As you’d expect, these companions (one of them, anyway) joins you in battle and helps by fighting your enemies. In addition, your companions deal with the responsibility of gathering and crafting for the game’s profession system, which boasts an impressive variety of skills, from which your character may select three. Since your companions take care of most of this nonsense, it might sound like the professions are fairly hands-off. Fortunately or unfortunately, this is not really the case; you still must micromanage your crew of companions, dispatch them on missions, and set them to crafting. You cannot simply queue up a list of things for them to make or do, and it can quickly become tiresome to constantly refer to your crew management window and dispatch your minions. Unlike most of the game’s other features, this one does feel like it breaks the rhythm of your individual Star Wars story.

Incidentally, your friends still can have plenty to do with your experience in the game; situations called Flash Points call for parties to group up and take on significant challenges together (much like a dungeon in Everquest’s Lost Dungeons of Norrath, or in World of WarCraft). End game content is also available, but even with my early access, I certainly haven’t achieved such a high level as to be involved in any of that yet. Still, given the composition of the game so far, there is reason for me to remain optimistic about continuing game content.

The last thing rolling off my tongue is a little discussion of the space combat system. Yes! There is space combat! You can take your starship into space combat missions which are worth XP and credits for your character. They use a Starfox-style system of controls; your ship moves toward your mouse cursor, you have both lasers and missiles, and you can perform a barrel roll (the default key is the space bar!) You’ll have to deal with both enemy starfighters and capital class starships, and complete different objectives like escorting a friendly starship to safety, or destroying certain elite enemy targets, etc. It’s very much in the background (most of the action takes place ‘on the ground’ for your character) of the game, but it’s certainly a lot of fun, and the XP rewards are more than worth delving into it if you find the space combat minigame at all playable. My recommendation is to try it and have fun.

Trailer: Alan Wake’s American Nightmare


One of my favorite video game titles of 2010 was the Remedy Entertainment and Microsoft Studios psychological thriller game Alan Wake. This title was a psychological thriller mashed up with survival horror that was influenced by Stephen King stories and David Lynch’s eccentric tv series, Twin Peaks. It was one of the few games which put a major scare to me whenever I played it which was usually at night. While the game didn’t sell copies in the Modern Warfare 3 level it did sell enough that it gained quite a huge fan following who clamored for more of Alan Wake and his fight against the malevolent Dark Presence. (Lisa Marie’s been trying the gaming thing lately and I must admit that Alan Wake is right up her dark sensibilities). Fans ended up getting two DLC chapters with “The Signal” and “The Writer”.

There had been rumors and talks about a proper sequel in the works within Remedy Entertainment, but such things continued to be unsubstantiated. While a rumor of sequel continued to persist the developers finally announced that there will be a new Alan Wake game, but it wasn’t going to be a sequel. It was to be a stand-alone Xbox Live Arcade title that should keep fans of the franchise happy while a sequel was being bandied about within the studio (I believe a sequel is already in development but still unconfirmed). This latest title was to be called Alan Wake’s American Nightmare.

The trailer for this title first premiered at Spike TV’s VGA 2011 and the game has tentative release date sometime around the Q1 of 2012.