Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Dexter has a new trailer to sink your syringe into | iPhone


It's true, rooting for the bad guy always has a certain allure to it, but when the bad-guy is a charming, blood splatter analyst for the Miami PD by day, and an enforcer of justice, stalking and murdering the guilty, by night, it's tough to balance that act. Dexter Morgan deftly walks the fine line of morality there. GREAT television know; but not sure how that will translate to an iPhone game.

Yes, an iPhone game.

It's strange they are tailoring this title touting the touch capabilities of the iPhone platform, but one has to wonder if we could be missing out on a killer-app (pun intended) on any of the other current gen platforms. But I am hoping they can prove me wrong. I love the show, and I'll take the game for a spin.

Here's the latest trailer for the upcoming title that debut at Comic-Con


Tuesday, July 28, 2009

A Pop-Cap Triple Play - 3 iPhone games reviewed.

Pop-Cap, a company that's synonymous with creating fun, quirky titles that are so addicting, it's no wonder they've garnered the nickname of "Pop-Crack" over the years.

I've spent the past week or so, playing with all that Pop-Cap has to offer currently on the iPhone platform. While we don't have a ton of iPhone coverage, (it's status as a viable gaming platform is still under review), we do have to share the love for our good friends over at the developer.

Lets get this part out of the way first, on all games. You've seen or played these games a billion times already on other platforms...there's nothing new to them in this regard. However, if you like your "crack" on-the-go, then we have just the thing. Starting with Bejeweled 2.


Bejeweled 2 is a simple,"line-up-same-colored-tiles" or jewels, with at least 3 in a row. At first, what seems like a random set of coincidences, turns into a strategic battle of racking of the highest score. There are a few other modes here - the first, just play as long as you can until you have no more moves. The second, play under a time-constraint, the more you score, the more time you keep to continue. Lastly, you can play "continuous" yet without any challenge or end-goal.

Next up is Bookworm - a fun, "scrabble-like" title, in which you use touching letter tiles to spell out words. Obviously the longer and more rare the word, the more points it's worth. Again, you rack up as many points with your vocabulary as you can. Just watch out for burning letters - if you let them get to the bottom of your screen - you're toast. Almost masked as edutainment, this title actually proves to be quite enjoyable as well.


Lastly, is Peggle - one that needs little introduction, (party cause we've already covered it extensively on the site) - but this is true to form Peggle on the iPhone. You can't beat the feeling catching a fever on the iPhone as you ride in subways, take flights in airplanes, or wait in line at the bank on payday.


In fact, the same can be said of all three - Anytime you get a 3-5 minute span of time to kill, you can pick up any one of these for a few solid minutes of gaming. Very easy to jump in and out of, you won't find yourself fumbling through menus and taking a lot of time, just go.

Now we just need more Pop-Cap - give us more!!!

50 tons of sand in New York City equals Wii Sports Resort

Nintendo recently turned Times Square into an island that is found in the most recent Wii title, Wii Sports Resort, using mass amounts of sand, palm trees, a wading pool, and kiosks showcasing the game of the hour and the motion plus. The attached video is a testimonial from those that were able to partake in the tropical festivities away from their normal everyday hustle.



Wii Sports Resort is available now for the Nintendo Wii and includes the MotionPlus accessory for $49.99 in the states.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Nostalgia, the next non Final Fantasy branded RPG for the DS

Ignition released a new trailer for their latest Nintendo DS release, Nostalgia. We previously posted some screen shots on this release, but now we have a trailer showing off air ship battles, weapons, and exploration of the 19th century environment. So enjoy the trailer, as this will most likely be your next RPG must have for your portable pleasure, until the release of Dragon Quest IX. Expect to see Nostalgia hit store shelves in September.

DiRT 2 release announced, get DiRTy on September 8th!

So along with providing us with the release date of the newest Colin McRae title, we now have fresh screen shots and video. I have to admit, I was unable to get into the first entry, DiRT, but after seeing the screen shots, and gameplay video, the title looks amazing. Let's just hope the game plays as good as it looks and it will be a deal breaker.



Start marking your calendars for September 8th! Until then, there is always GRID, for your seizure inducing racer fix.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Overlord II | Review

Overlord II is a fantasy action adventure allows you to lead a band on gremlin-like minions through levels of game play; fighting humans, getting chastised by flamboyant elves and beating baby seals. In Overlord II, a sequel to a game I frankly have never played, a new Overlord must take on the entire Glorious Empire using his various and color codes (for his and her pleasure) minions – wreaking havoc and taking names!



The Minions are rumored to be smarter and deadlier than the previous installment of the game, but their incessant chatter is enough to make you want to turn down the volume on your TV (though they do throw out a decent zinger here and there). The Overlord controls his minions and their every move – sending them to battle (and most often until they die), chasing down hard to reach victims/enemies and having them assemble to use large scale weapons to send a pile of hurt onto the heavily shielded army of the Glorious Empire. Did I mention you can make those little buggers hop on wolves and upgrade their clubs to sharper, more damage inflicting weapons? There is a great deal of evil doing to undertake and legions of armies to defeat…if you are up for the challenge, this adventure is for you!



Overlord 2 definitely appeals to the inner bad guy in us all – fighting the forces of good, getting cheered and respected for killing humans and rewarded with new weapons and underworld mistresses!



Where Overlord 2 excels, it also fails – the minions are fun, yet for those of you wanting to be more involved in the battle might find at times you are sitting back too much. Of course you do get to get your hands dirty, especially when you can controls villagers after your minion surround them and you can walk up and take control of their feeble little minds! Speaking of sitting back – the game tends to take a long time loading and that can begin to disrupt the enjoyment and flow just a smidge. Nothing worse than getting on an old fashioned baby seal killing spree and left sitting for a minute while the game loads. You know what I mean? Thoughts so…



Fat mermaids, underworld mistresses, resurrecting fallen minions, stealing souls and killing baby seals – you think a game like this would leave you satisfied after hours of play, but this reviewer found it let him wanting more… More what? Another game or perhaps a club to whack a seal or two! I would definitely recommend this for gamers looking for something different or to fight on the side of evil – I would probably shy away from this if you are a hard core gamer or are looking for more excitement than a lair of rowdy minions could ever offer.



Mashbuttons.com gives Overlord II 7 out of 10

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Garou: Mark of the Wolves| Review



Synopsis: Garou: MOW picks up 10 years after the death of Geese Howard, but his skills were passed on to his son, Rock. Rock is now joined by twelve additional fighters plus Terry Bogard in this tournament fighter from SNK Playmore. Mark of the Wolves uses the Fatal Fury system to put the best fighters around the world up against each other in a tournament to become the “King of Fighters”. Along with using the familiar fighting system, three new battle formats, online multiplayer versus, HDTV 720p, leaderboards, and voice support has been added to this remake of Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves, originally released in 2001 for the Sega Dreamcast.



Praise: This is a very solid fighter for the price, along with being a classic from the short lived Dreamcast era. The controls and fluidity of linking together combos are practically seamless. Pulling off tricks does not take numerous attempts with the Xbox controller, so there is less frantic button mashing. Since this is a remake of Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves, which I still have for the Dreamcast, nothing has been added or taken away, with the exception of online multiplayer, leaderboards, and voice support. In terms of the online gameplay, I did not experience lag at all and quickly found ranked matches to test my skills online.



Gripes: Graphics have not been updated from the Dreamcast version, and after being spoiled with HD remixes, the visual aspect can take away from being able to fully enjoy the title. Ranked matches were easy to get into every time I had tried, but when trying to find player matches, it took numerous attempts and was sometimes unable to find a game at all.



verall, the gameplay is amazing for a ten dollar remake of a classic fighting game. Do not let the graphics fool you, because after a couple of rounds and getting used to the controls, it is hard to put down. The online ranked matches are fun, have a lot less lag than other current fighters out there, and add what I feel may have been the only thing missing from the original.



Mashbuttons.com gives Garou: Mark Of the Wolves 9 out of 10

Garou: Mark of the Wolves is available now on XBLA for 800 MS Points.

Monday, July 13, 2009

KOF XII gameplay videos to make you look forward to July 20th



Are you to the point where you are tired of playing Ken and Ryu clones in Street Fighter 4, BlazBlue not living up to your Guilty Gear expectations, or need something to look forward to until you can get your hands on the Tekken 6/Wireless fight stick bundle? Here are two new gameplay videos to make your mouth water, while you countdown the days until the King of Fighters XII release on July 20th.

Muramasa may have what it takes to pull me away from my 360

I am still catching up from the fourth of July weekend, and came across the gameplay trailer of Muramasa: The Demon Blade. After watching the trailer, I think my Wii may be used for something besides Boom Blox and Tiger 10.

Muramasa is an action RPG from Ignition Entertainment in which two heroes from the feudal Genroku era fight to collect swords to prevent those bad mofo's called the Shogun mastering their dark powers.

Muramasa is supposedly coming out in September for the Nintendo Wii.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Mother Pus Bucket! | The Ghostbusters Review (Xbox 360)


Hot on the heels of the 25th anniversary of the original Ghostbusters Theatrical release, comes the one-two punch of the Blu-Ray Release (check out a great review here) and Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

We've already reviewed the Wii version on the site, you can check that out here, but wanted to go into some of the differences on the Xbox 360 version.

Other than the noticeable graphical difference (the wii version is a decidedly more cartoony affair), the Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis penned story is the spiritual successor to Ghostbusters 2. Set two years after the events of that film, you play the new "silent" recruit, the fifth-wheel to the original four (all voiced by the original actors) and guinea-pig for Egon's new testing equipment. The supernatural happenings are back in full-force in Manhattan, you'll see plenty of new spirits, but expect some run-in's with some of those all-time favorites from the classic films.

It's with that mentioned above that that the first hour or two feels more like a re-hash of a few scenes from the original flick. Banking on hooking you in with nostalgia, you'll head back to Hotel Sedgewick, back to the Library, and even encounter the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. After you get past that, however, the game feels entirely new, with new areas to explore, and with the twist of entering other dimensions, adds a puzzle-like element to the game.

The controls are standard 3rd-person fare here, you move your character with the left stick, and control your camera view with the right. Using a combination of the right and left triggers, you aim and fire your proton pack. Various upgrades are available as you earn money to unlock them. Though this upgrade system initially feels good, it lacks much depth and eventually feels like more of an afterthought.

The gameplay does alter the traditional 3rd-person shooter mechanic, as you're not just firing at anything that moves, you have to lower a ghosts defenses enough so that you can "capture" them and draw them into the trap. This tends to become difficult when there are multiple enemies on screen, and if you're playing solo, it's a crap shoot if your team mates will actually revive you (a'la Gears of War).

The xBox 360 version features co-op gameplay (1-4 players) as well as various multiplayer modes, including Containment, Slime Dunk and more!

The bottom line from our point of view, is outside some strange difficulty curves, and some other minor issues, this probably has to be one of the most faithful "movie-tie-in" games there is. I guess, to that point, I'd hope that 25 years is enough time to get it right. The game is fun, humorous, genuinely spooky at times, and basically a big interactive version of what could have been Ghostbusters 3.

Mashbuttons.com gives Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Xbox 360 version) 8 out of 10

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Tekken 6 hadoukens Street Fighter 4 with wireless arcade stick



We finally get a bundle to a fighting game that includes and fight stick, which is not made by MadCatz, AND is wireless! I have not been a huge fan of Tekken but this definitely makes me want to give it a try if my wallet is felling fat around Halloween.



The bundle includes a Hori wireless fight stick, that is found used on amazon or ebay used for the amount of this package. You also receive a copy of Tekken 6 and a collectible art book. The hefty but considerable price tag is $149.99 and is available for pre-order Gamestop.

360 owners get Mario Kart without the bananas...I mean Blur



Bizarre Creations, who brought us the beloved PGR series, is bringing racing fans Blur. It is another fast paced racing game that Bizarre Creations is able to do so well, with a new feature to to break away from the large number or racers coming out this year, power ups.

Yes, I said power ups, like the ones found in Twisted Metal or Mario Kart, but with out the cartoon antics and Mad Max-esque vehicles. Sure, it sounds like a risky move, but having the ability to race against 20 players online, or 4 player split screen, I think it is about time the 360 gets something like this.

Blood Bowl Gameplay Footage, What The Hell Is Going On?



So I get the new trailer for this title called Blood Bowl and immediately launch it because it sounds like a brutal football game. The trailer looks good, it has cheerleaders, orcs, lizards, Thor looking humans, and again, football. I look for more since it sounds like it can be the next Blitz type game, and I then find gameplay football. Real time strategy football? I have no idea whats going on in this PC game, but after watching the footage, I think Warcraft and Madden Football should never be mixed together.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, the Wii finally gets a solid fighter



So this was announced quit a while ago, but with additional news circling about the Wii exclusive fighter, I am more than interested in adding yet another Capcom fighter to my library, bring on the the Wii arcade stick bundle.



Tatsunoko VS. Capcom Ultimate All Stars, is another uber long title that uses Capcom's finest fighters and pits them against Tatsunoko anime series' in a 2 on 2 tag team match. Sure, it is true i have no idea who any of the Tatsunoko fighters are, but come on, have Capcom ever steered anyone wrong with their fighter mash ups? Lets just hope there will not be any DLC content on the disk that is available for purchase a week after release.