Nintendo Showcase - 3DS & Wii U - April 2013

As I’m sure you are aware the Nintendo direct conference occurred this week focused on the 3DS. Unfortunately this has already happened buy my predictions - for those that care – were:

·         Showcase for Animal Crossing: New Leaf – because this is only two months from release

·         Showcase for Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins – again because it is scheduled to release in some areas this week

·         Update on Mario Golf: World Tour – perhaps with gameplay and likely to follow the community integration first shown in the 3DS Mario Kart

·         Zelda – in some form (although  read on to find out – as I was freaking right guys)

·         Update on Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate  - perhaps with some actually screen shots or so further details on enemies and locations

Obviously I was – in most cases – wide of the mark…. Below I have outlined the actually announcements.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The two big stories from today's Nintendo Direct were definitely the announcements of a new 2D/3D hybrid Zelda game set in the same world as A Link to the Past and a new Yoshi's Island, but there were lots more to absorb. Here's everything that happened all in one place:

3DS NEWS

As expected the broadcast kicked off with Mario Golf: World Tour’s online features and community integrations.

We also got a new trailer and release date for Mario and Luigi: Dream Team – which is coming to Europe on July 12th and North America on August 11th. The new footage showed off some of the game's new features, including controlling a Luigi katamari in the game's dream world.

Another fresh announcement came forward in the form of Mario Party. This outing comes with 7 different game boards, all of which have different rules and features. Some are designed for quick play, others for epic contests. It's got 81 new minigames, including ones that make use of the 3DS AR cards.

The first new game of the broadcast was a new Yoshi's Island announcement - the first game in the series since 2006. It looked bloody lovely and is a fresh outlook on the formula that gathered critical acclaim around the globe. I love my downloaded GBA version from the Ambassador program and this will probably give me even more hours of playtime.

Interestingly Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D will have an optional Easy Mode for those who found the Wii iteration too difficult.

We also found out that Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy -- the final adventure for the professor -- will be headed West. The game is said to feature more than 500 new puzzles.

New footage showed off how Animal Crossing: New Leaf's Dream Suite works: it lets you visit other people's towns and wreck them up in a dream world without losing your friendships over ruined flowers and peach trees. Europeans are also getting the new Animal Crossing 3DS XL model.

A full set of Level-5 eShop games are also coming west - Starship Damrey, Bugs vs. Tanks and Attack of the Friday Monsters: A Tokyo Tale. Starship Damrey was a first person space horror game which always grabs my attention.

The best was saved for last, though with Nintendo confirming development of a new 3DS Zelda game set in the same world as Link to the Past. This isn't a 3D remake - we're talking a whole new game, a 2D-3D hybrid, and it looks massively exciting. I’ll write a full article on this later so don’t despair about the lack of details.

WII U NEWS

First up, Pikmin 3 will be with us in just a few months (August 4th, to be exact, in the US at least) – along with another new pink bug-eyed flying Pikmin type, which was hidden sneakily away in last year's E3 trailer.

Here's one for ultra-long-term Nintendo fans: Earthbound (otherwise known as Mother 2) will be coming to the Virtual Console later this year.

They also explained a new system update on USB transfer – Blah Blah Blah

Read More

Nintendo Patent Infringement on 3DS

A federal jury has found powerhouse developer Nintendo guilty of infringement. This has been taken up against an inventor’s 3D display technology patent with the 3DS hardware.

As reported by Reuters, the technology, which provides the 3D image on the handheld device, which can be used without 3D glasses, was invented by former Sony employee Seijiro Tomita. Tomita has sued Nintendo for patent infringement in 2011 and has now been awarded $30.2 million in damages after a successful legal battle.

The defence attorney representing the developer, Scott Lindvall, argued that the Nintendo 3DS doesn’t use key aspects from Tomita’s patent.

Nintendo of America provided a statement to IGN about the verdict:

"A jury awarded $30.2 million in damages to Tomita Technologies in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Tomita against Nintendo. The Tomita patent did not relate to the 3D games playable on the Nintendo 3DS. The trial was held in U.S. District Court in New York before Judge Jed Rakoff.

Nintendo is confident that the result will be set aside. The jury's verdict will not impact Nintendo's continued sales in the United States of its highly acclaimed line of video game hardware, software and accessories, including the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others."

Read More

Multiplayer Bot Arena

I must be a minority here but the one thing that I miss from gaming, even as little as 5 years ago, is the multiplayer bots that you could use for offline play. I’m not expecting revolutionary AI or easy difficulties but just the option to pull in a few bots and feel like king of the world for a little while.

I know Black Ops I & II have bots, which can be made frustratingly difficult to play against, but the vast majority have dropped these from their multiplayer modes in favour of wave based gaming.

Perfect Dark is, ironically, the perfect example of multiplayer being successful offline. You could fill a game with bots and route around killing them for hours on end or play 8 vs. 1 and see how long you could last.

Sure it’s not the same thing but the option to play with bots is something I always expected in games. It’s nice to play without the frustration of camping, cheats or massive ‘rank’ differences. It also stops, in the rare cases that still have it, people from fighting over split-screen location checks.

I have actually purchased lower rated titles solely for the reason that they have bots. Brink instantly comes to mind, sure it wasn’t an amazing game, but I enjoyed running through the bot filled levels.

The addition of bot systems could do a lot for online multiplayer too. Losing a few team members is always a frustrating situation, especially in games like Halo where people are so fond of playing the same maps over and over. The smallest advantage for a team can really make a difference and the ability to drop in a bot when someone leaves your game may not make a whole world of different but it would add to the experience. I love the Gears of War implement this strategy to their online gaming and their small team based combat would really suffer should a team lose even one of their allies.

It’s sad that some shooters don’t have bot modes, and as I’ve mentioned before, the one that really stands out for me is Halo. The closest we get is Firefight and now Spartan Ops which are pretty fun to play but they just don’t have the longevity of a solely bot based experience.

I have always felt that the most natural progression for learning a games multiplayer was through a bot mode. You can play multiplayer without having Xbox Live Gold, you could test play all of your forge maps and cool down after some frustrating online play.

Ok so rant over. I’m just disappointed that developers don’t think about plugging their bots/AI enemies into their multiplayer maps. I love a good death match where I thrash some bots and it give me a chance to learn where things are before I jump straight into a multiplayer horded by a single weapon locations or perk load out.

 

Read More

BioShock Infinite - 1999 Mode Tips

If you’re reading this then you probably know that 1999 mode is certainly not a walk in the park. If, however, you have no idea what 1999 Mode is then I’ll quickly explain.

This mode is the BioShock Infinite’s version of an ‘Extreme Mode’ and is unlocked following the completion of a single playthrough or by entering the Konami Code (which you won’t find here you cheats).

As a difficulty setting this has been set to test even the most hardcore FPS players.  Fortunately for you reading this, others have already sorted out a few tips for you.

Survival of the Fittest

Survival is obviously key among all else in this playthrough. Some basic things to keep you alive in this mode are:

·         Search everything - 1999 Mode has far fewer resources so make sure you only eat those cakes if you need them now – you can always backtrack and get them later.

·         Conserve your money, and just about everything else unless there is a definite ‘need’ to use one of your items.

·         Using Possession on vending machines allows you to get Silver Eagles.

·         Lockpicks can be used on doors that hide infusions or gear. Lockpicks can also be used to open safes which will give you more money. More money is always good on this difficulty. Although you should usually pick the doors if you are playing on any other mode

·         Abuse your checkpoints - Restarting to a checkpoint may set you back a bit but you may want to in an effort to conserve money. Go into a fight and die a few times as you will anyway. Once you have a feel for it, you'll wonder why you spent $400 on one group of enemies so reset to checkpoint and go kick ass with your new experience and knowledge.

·         Upgrade Health first. The most useful gear takes advantage of this the most so set your infusions accordingly.

Vigorous Life support

·         Learn to know which Vigors work best on each enemy

·         The first Possession upgrade (not ‘Possession for Less’) is an absolute must. The ability to control enemies other than automatons is a major advantage.

·         As mentioned before, you should be getting as many infusions as possible. Focus on salts because the more chances you have to cast Possession, the easier the game will be as let enemies will attack you – always possess the most difficult enemy.

·         Upgrade what you use most (on top of Possession) - You should consider upgrading whichever Vigor fits your play style best. Do not try and upgrade everything!

·         Undertow is the hidden gem - Undertow allows you to pull a distant enemy directly to you. This is extremely useful while fighting speciality enemies such as snipers or flak cannon users which will kill you in one hit.

Weapons are a Boys Best Friend 

·         Always have one mid-range and one long range – I went Carbine and Sniper Rifle as I have a pretty accurate shot but others have sworn by their Shotgun

·         Conserve ammo – if you are firing make sure it hits.

·         Scavenge for ammo - After combat or just throughout exploration be sure to check everything and pick up all ammo you can. Remember ammo is accounted for even if you don't own the gun you pick up ammo for.

·         Upgrading weapons is less expensive than Vigors but still be careful with panic purchasing

Wearing the Best

·         Use gear that involves health

·         Different fights require different strategy and swapping gear to your advantage is a must for getting out of some tough scraps. Example: You may generally use Fleet Feet to avoid enemies easily but you will want to swap it for Handyman Nemesis during a handyman brawls.

Combat Ready

·         There is no shame in hiding – enemies are on the lookout for you but running away or taking pot shots can clear half the enemies in an area before you go head on

·         Lure enemies to you - Since they will find you, it's not a bad idea to isolate an enemy in your hiding space and then take him out with no interference.

·         Aim for critical spots - Hitting critical spots on enemies does the most damage. Another given.

·         Always possess turrets - If you have the salt to, you can't go wrong possessing turrets.

·         Possess enemies, divert attention - Possession is key; by possessing the first enemy you see, they will flush out other enemies so you won’t get flanked in larger areas.

Heavy Hitters

·        Sirens can be cheated by hiding behind the coffin or the vault door respectively. Her minions cannot get to you and you can take pot shots from afar. The siren takes 24 headshots with the sniper rifle to go down on this difficulty

·        Alternative you can kill her minions with Shock Jockey or Devils Kiss which will cause them to disintegrate meaning they cannot be respawned.

·        Handymen are tough so aim for their glowing heart weak spot.

·        The first three Handymen can get stuck in the environment (which is great if you can be bothered to reload checkpoints). Videos of how this is achieved can be found on YouTube but in short the first gets stuck on the roof near Chen-Lin’s shop, the second can get stuck on the stairs and the their can get stuck on the airship.

·        Possess Patriots – especially when they are in pairs so they whittle down each-others health gauges and remember to aim for their backpacks. Also Patriots take damage from electricity to keep an eye out for water.

·        There is one trick to fighting them on the final fight on the Command Deck. By going up to the highest point, you can grab Patriots up to you with Undertow and they will end up stuck there. Doing this prevents them from damaging you or the ship.

If anyone has other ticks to this difficulty please drop a comment in the box below…..

Read More

BioShock Infinite Review - A Beauitful Blue Sky

It would be very hard not to begin this review by breaking every journalism rule I know. I would find it easy to tell you ‘that the graphics are superb’ or that the ‘range of details is astounding’ but that really wouldn’t do the game any justice. Perhaps the best thing to really begin this with is the mysterious character, Elizabeth.

This computer-controlled female co-star is convincing enough that she becomes one of the more normal creations in BioShock Infinite. This colourful first-person shooter allows you to summon fire and lighting from your fingertips, all the while unleash rockets and revolver rounds as you fight your way through the floating city of Columbia. She is the one constant presence in the game and one that you actually find yourself bonding with as the game unfolds.

Before you actually meet her, the game is about her, and once she’s by your side you will never want to let her go. She is the daughter of Zachery Comstock, a self-proclaimed prophet who has created a paradise in the clouds to carry his followers away from “the Sodem below” – being the United States of America.

You play Booker DeWitt, a former soldier and ‘detective’ with a troubled past, and have been sent to this new Eden to retrieve her and take her to New York. Elizabeth has been kept in a tower for almost her entire life, reading  books and trying to understand a strange power she has to open ‘tears’ in the fabric of reality (read ‘portals to another dimension’). It’s an interesting situation and one that leaves her with a sense of wonder in everything around you as soon as she is set free. You share in this, as she dances with strangers on the beach or brings fruit to scared children all the while pushing the adventure forwards.

Probably the most important thing for me to say is that she never, ever, gets in your way. It does slowly become apparent that she’s being teleported around the environment based on your actions but, in part due to her ‘tear’ ability, this is completely dismissed and does not give off the scent of artificiality.

The most astounding thing for me was the way the game makes you miss her, even for the few moments she disappears off screen. Her interesting conversations, her helpful way of collecting items and he ability to pick locks makes her completely indispensable. Elizabeth never feels like a damsel in distress and does give you the feeling that you need to protect her. You’re won’t fall in love with her but you’ll like her in a familial way. You won’t take her for granted either – she will always feel like she’s needed and in those brief moments when she’s not on screen it seems like something is missing.

The city of Columbia is less strange by video game standards but in no way less brilliant – especially considering the love we all have for Rapture. As impossible settings go, Columbia handles the affair and the intrigue just as well as the underwater metropolis. I was quite surprised, and probably a bit naive, when I hadn’t thought that the buildings would float around me as I made my way across the city. It truly is a spectacular vista to look at.

During the whole campaign I found myself lost looking at views, studying structures and listening to barbershop quartets. Mechanical horses clank along the cobbled streets, propaganda posters line the streets and hummingbirds pollenate flowers. This is a colourful and bright take on 1912 Americana and follows the Rapunzel of the Sky rather than the dingy damp location of the sea.

The game has a story that should be taken as a whole and doesn’t need padding, party tricks or gentle winds to push it along. It is fulfilling and rewarding and never really takes it’s foot of the gas except during the few moments when you have the opportunity to wander around with the population.

BioShock has always worked with the basic pattern of clearing areas and then picking through the leftovers for money, upgrades and ‘voxophones’ (the new audio diaries). Less attention has been given to this area of the game and makes sure that it feels like BioShock even though the location is so vastly different. The one thing that did surprise me is that the direction is so pronounced and yet this doesn’t take away from the experience in any way. There is no save/load system due to regular autosaves and not a lot of sections that have detours or alternative routes. Columbia doesn’t lack in size it is just far more focused than Rapture before it. The city is going through a crisis as opposed to one where you already missed it and when wandering populated areas it is refreshing to see the streets clear as violence kicks off.

Voxophone’s explain the undersides of the story and give rise to details about the characters including their motives, background and beliefs. You will get to understand why Comstock believes that Elizabeth should be his successor and why he wants to destroy the world below.

The main game can be finished in 12-14 hours on the regular difficulty dependant on your exploration time and finishing this unlocks the exceptionally difficult 1999 Mode. This mode brings with it tougher enemies, removes navigational aid and generally ups-the-ante. When you usually die outside of 1999 Mode you respawn but lose some money and enemies regain some health. In 1999 Mode it’s easy to lose your entire wallet and in doing so have to restart from the last autosave.

As I touch on earlier BioShock infinite has made refinements to the combat rules but some of these don’t seem to make much difference and in certain aspects I found that it took away from the style I already loved. While Rapture has plasmids, Infinite has vigors. These magical attacks work in a similar way to projectile weapons and do damage but have an ‘area of effect’ style to them. These can also be updated at vending machines for money. Both the vigors and the weapons you carry have however been limited to two-at-a-time carrying capacity.

The pace of combat is still frantic though and the enemies are devilishly accurate - even from afar. There are the typical basic types of security guards and soldiers as well as ‘heavy-enemies’ like the Patriots. These motorised killing machines have the resemblance of the likes of Jefferson and Washington but in the end are steel bullet cushions. On the other hand the gorilla-like Handyman, rushes you in seconds and deals massive amounts of damage at close range.

It’s important to remember that mobility is key; standing still should and will get you killed. The original BioShock was a close-range shooter within tight environments but Infinite has large horizons and bigger ‘combat zones’. The addition of the skylines as well means you have chances to escape and get the jump on the enemies around you – these really fill the fights with adrenaline and all out action.

Probably the best thing about Infinite is it’s ‘punch a second’ final hours. The story intertwines as expect and you could find yourself arguing about how things work for weeks after you’ve finished. This is a game that you will want to play again just to be able to test the source data against itself.

Most of all you'll be amazed that Elizabeth works so well. She darts off ahead of you, predicting your route, and really becomes a creation to enjoy. By the end of the game you’ll realise that she is the main character in this adventure and that she always was. You’ll be just as pleased to have had the change to take the journey with her.

If I scored games this would be my first perfect mark!

 

Read More

Metal Gear Solid 5 has Phantom Pain

Hideo Kojima has announced that The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes together will constitute as Metal Gear Solid 5.

The six minute trailer of the game, which I’m sure you saw a few weeks ago (if not this is embedded below), combined footage from both games and eventually revealed itself to indeed be MGS5.

The hospital section is the tutorial of the game itself and is set around ‘Snake’ (although this could likely be Big Boss) waking from a 9 year coma. The section gives the player the overview of activity and has Snake following the voice of someone called Ishmael. The trailer had shown flashes of how Snake came to end up in the hospital, apparently rescuing Ishmael from a firefight.

The trailer itself didn't show a whole lot of footage that wasn't in the previous Ground Zeroes demo shown at the Eurogamer Expo last year or from the Phantom Pain trailer released at the VGAs – however it did give us various other morsels of information to speculate about before Kojima speaks about the game again.

There is a lot more to the trailer than I’ve noted here but watch it for yourself as it really is worth 6 minutes of your time.

The rest of the Kojima Productions session at GDC largely focused on the FOX Engine that powers Metal Gear Solid 5. It isn’t surprising to see that these games are looking lovely as the engine is designed for photorealistic asset models.

Although not a lot is known about the new MGS games the trailer gives us plenty of reason to speculate. It certainly looks like a next-gen game especially with a new engine – I mean what is the point of all that investment if we have, at best, 12 months of the current generation left.

UPDATE – apparently I am wrong as Konami have confirmed that the games will release on PS3 and Xbox 360. Maybe this is being created as a cross generation game. I still can’t see MGS not hitting the next batch of hardware.

Read More

Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag Gameplay

The now yearly Assassins Creed franchise has been given some in-game footage in the form of ‘Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag’. This shows off naval battles (which became a popular side mission in the last outing) as well as underwater exploration and new locations.

The new game will feature Havana, full of decaying European buildings and jungle like locations as well as Kingston with its grassy streets and timber houses.

It’s our first real look at an Assassin’s Creed for next-generation consoles as well although it’s unclear whether the PS4 or long rumour ‘next-Box’ will actually feature the game at all.

New copies of the game will come with the now standard ‘VIP Entry’ for bonus content and rewards. It sounds like you’ll get entry into some kind of social network too where you can show-off videos and compare skills.

There’s no mention of an Online Pass or Season Tickets but the ‘VIP system’ sounds like the same thing to me.

Ubisoft have also outlined the usual array of special editions with a Special Edition, a Skull edition and ‘apparently’ a huge Black Chest edition which will be an exclusive to the Uplay store.

 

Read More

Battlefield 4 - Announced

At the GDC event last week EA unveiled their heavily rumoured (see - ‘expected’) Battlefield 4 game. Powered by the new Frostbite 3 engine the 17-minute gameplay trailer showed off many new and old features for this modern warfare FPS.

The DICE made shooter is due to hit shores in autumn and has several options for pre-order already.

All pre-ordered BF4 games will automatically get you a Premium expansion pack – although the specifics have not been confirmed. There's a BF4 Digital Deluxe on Origin as well; this includes the base game and bonus in-game digital items as well as the premium expansion and the multiplayer beta access codes.

The trailer, titled ‘Fishing in Baku’, shows gameplay lifted straight from the Battlefield 4 campaign and starts with the evacuation of American VIPs from Shanghai. It follows the playable squad’s struggle to find its way back to safety.

The video sees the player, named Recker, trapped inside a sinking car with three of his squad mates. The demo then jumps backwards in time to show us how they got there in the first place.

EA are promising huge environments in their single player campaign and are introducing the change to direct squad actions. They will also be adding in player progress leaderboards to encourage ‘friendly competition’.

 

It looks lovely for a game so early in its production and is sure to set the bar once again for the modern warfare genre. I’m personally really hoping that this version of the franchise can reel in a few more players and take even more of the market share from the uninventive Call of Duty franchise.

 

Read More

PlayStation 4 - Games Announced So Far

I decided now would be a good time to list out the known PlayStation 4 games. Of course the announcement of the new console brought with it a firm selection of confirmed games and I have also listed a few rumoured games as well.

 

Obviously I will update this as more details become available

 

Game - Developer - Release Date (* indicates rumoured)

Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag – Ubisoft – TBA*

 

Blacklight: Retribution - Zombie Studios - TBA

 

Deep Down - Capcom - TBA

 

Destiny - Bungie - TBA

 

Diablo III - Blizzard Entertainment - TBA

 

DriveClub - Evolution Studios - TBA

 

Fifa 14 – Electronic Arts – TBA*

 

Final Fantasy (PS4) - Square Enix - TBA

 

Infamous: Second Son  - Sucker Punch - TBA

 

Killzone: Shadow Fall - Guerrilla Games - TBA

 

Knack - Studios Japan - TBA

 

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain – Kojima Productions – TBA*

 

Primal Carnage: Genesis - Lukewarm Media - TBA

 

Sniper Elite 3 - 505 Games - TBA

 

Watch Dogs - UbiSoft Montreal - TBA

 

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - CD Projekt RED - 2014

 

The Witness - Thekla, Inc - TBA

 

 

Read More

Krieg Character for Borderlands 2 Announced (He's a Psycho)

Gearbox revealed their sixth playable character for Borderlands 2 at PAX East last weekend and it came in the form of a ‘rehabilitated psycho’ named Krieg. He will be available for 800 Microsoft Points at some-point in May although the exact date has not been given.

                                    

Krieg is based on the Psycho enemies seen in the game and rewards players for high-risk behaviour such as running into crowds. His action skill is Blood Axe Rampage, which allows him to regain health after killing an enemy. To compliment this his Skill Trees are Bloodlust, Mania and Hellborn.

The Bloodlust tree is about constantly dealing damage, such as increased bonuses for killing enemies with explosions, grenades or area damage weapons.

The Mania tree rewards the player for taking damage, such as deceased action skill cooldown while being hurt. Krieg will also be able to receive damage from teammates giving him a tank play-style option.

Finally, the Hellborn tree focuses on elemental damage, with one of the skills offering increase damage while you’re on fire and grants the player a change to ignite yourselves every time you light up an enemy.

Unfortunately Krieg is not included in the Borderlands 2 Season Pass.

Read More