Tron Evolution multiplayer trailer has me drooling on my keyboard

Since the sequel to the film has been announced, I have been amped for all things Tron lately and I am quite sure I am not the only one. Disney Interactive has provided the below multiplayer trailer for the available online modes and let me finish this post with......light cycles!

More twisted videos from naughty bear for our sick little viewers

From the team behind a wide variety of games ranging from Kung Fu Panda on the Wii and Wet for 360 and PS3, it seems like the developers were debating on what the next release will be and just met in the middle. Here is the launch trailer and another video which shows off the various multiplayer modes.

Split/Second| Review

Synopsis: Reality TV fans, racers, and just plain destructive people in general have a reason to unite with the new racing title, Split/Second. Disney Interactive got us our review copy on Friday, so we got a few days without multiplayer to unlock new cars for when multiplayer racing went live Monday night. In Split/Second, you are a driver in a reality TV series show, where racing takes place in a destructible environment and your goal is to complete the season and become the champion. Explosive events and power plays triggers which, when timed right, take out opponents and alter the track are rewarded for drafting, drifting, close calls, and catching air. These trigger are what separates this title from other recent racing titles. The season is made up of 24 episodes and each episode has a number of events to play through to unlock the next episode and specific requirements to unlock additional cars on your way to become champion. Let’s get to the review so I can get back to playing online.

Praise: Racing fans rejoice because this is all you will need to cure your itch for fast paced near flawless racing. This is not your typical racer, it’s like Burnout and Grid, made a baby and Blackrock Studios shows their love for their work when playing through this. Whether you are into single player, two player split screen, or online play, you will enjoy all that there is too offer as there are numerous race modes to prevent single player from getting old and racing online has not lagged for me at all. There are a variety of cars and each handle significantly differently focusing on different things like drift, speed, acceleration, and strength. Rather than unlocking the newest car and only using that, it is helpful to change up your cars for the different type of events to help your chances of becoming champion at the end of the season. Outside of the gameplay aspect of Split/Second, the looks and sounds are like you are watching an actual race, especially with the very minimalistic HUD. Another new feature that is a great way to show off all your achievements to friends and rivals is that the achievement pictures are placed on your car as decals. Oh yeah, it’s also nice to have more explosions than a Transformers movie.

Gripes: A few features and issues that I wish were different in the game is a very short list. There is no vehicle modification outside of visually, as it would have been nice to have some sort of performance modifications available to make to the cars in your garage. Though there are a number of events, about halfway through the game, it does begin to feel a little repetitive, but the motivation to unlock better cars to play in multiplayer does make it so you want to complete the season. The lack of licensed cars is something I feel took away from the title as most games nowadays have licensed vehicles and not generic vehicles made to have a “similar” look. Finally, the opponents on the single player mode rubber band constantly, as it seems no matter how well you race or how many cars you take out, the other racers always seem to be right on your tail.

Overall, this is a game where you come for the single player season but stay for the online races. With a huge replay value as long as you have an Xbox Live membership that allows you to play online you will be coming back for a while. There are only a few online modes but how often do you get race in a remotely destructible environment, having races that only last a couple minutes each, and enough online support to minimize the amount of lag when online. Little issues aside, this is a game that is just plain fun, not having to worry about getting through a story, just plain racing, so if you like your games with that good arcade feel, it is definitely worth the purchase.

Mashbuttons.com gives Split/Second a 9 out of 10.

Split/Second is available now for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Lost Planet 2 | Review

Synopsis: Lost Planet 2, the sequel to the debut Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions which has sold close to two and a half million copies, has recently released and with that came a review copy for us to play through and project our impressions to all you mashers. Whether you’re a diehard fan on the original entry, new to the series, multiplayer junkie, or gaming loner there is a lot to be done to complete this title. The sequel picks up a decade from where the previous ended, terraforming activities have proven successful, and the once frozen land of E.D.N. III is now full of beautiful jaw dropping environments. Rather than playing through as one character, you take over the roles of heroes, each with their own story, showing more than the one perspective. The grappling hook is back, which is strange because the feature didn’t work in Bionic Commander, so it seems a gamble to try again, but with supporting weapons and VS vehicles to also take advantage of to make the huge-ass Akrids slightly less of a challenge. One last thing before I get to my review is the available gameplay options are the classic single player, four player online coop, and up to sixteen person multiplayer.

Praise: I had tried playing through the first Lost Planet game and after about 10 hours, got bored with the game and stopped playing all together, so I am going into this review with a lot more optimism following the press releases regarding changes made to the sequel. Like the original and probably my favorite feature over the multiplayer modes is the large boss battles, taking on enormous Akrids with VS armor and other characters, either coop or AI, is a lot of fun. The change of environment from the bland frozen lands to the new great looking and bright rain forest surroundings is a nice change as most of the first title was a bland white and grey. The character customization is nice and I feel it may be the reason for the increase in the replay value, though it takes a little while before the customization is available, but once you start, it is a never ending battle to have the points to make the next change to your character. The coop is a lot of fun, it was easy to join a game, did not have any problems with lag, and with the right group, one could play for hours and not get bored.

Gripes: I hope you fans are a glutton for punishment because even on easy there are minimal checkpoints per chapter, so you will respawn a ways back having to fight to the point you were killed, hoping to not make the same mistake twice and that there will be a checkpoint or end of the chapter coming up soon. The offline AI does not really help and I definitely suggest going the way of coop if you have the gold membership and an internet connection. The story and the campaign are just south of mediocre and the entertainment value of the game relys strongly on the coop and multiplayer matches, which is a good thing coming from someone that is not a fan of playing online multiplayer. I am unsure if Capcom sent out a batch of bad disks, but it seems that after thirty minutes to a half hour into playing, I get a disk read error, having to reset and start back where I left off. Lastly, the customization of characters and weapons is not very user friendly as it takes some trial and error to get accustomed to the system.

With all the recent and upcoming sandbox and first person shooters, having a fresh third person action title release is a very welcome break from the norm. There is plenty to do after you have completed the story mode, mainly playing on a harder difficulty and playing coop to help others through the story and also help yourself with more character customization. If Capcom keeps this up, then they can expect a very profitable year, as both Super Street Fighter IV and Lost Planet 2 have been good games if not great games, I am hoping Dead Rising 2 follows the pattern of even better than the original sequels.

Mashbuttons.com gives Lost Planet 2 a 7 out of 10.

Lost Planet 2 is available now for the Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3.

Kane and Lynch 2 game mode trailers for you greedy f@*ks

Two new trailers have been released for Kane and Kynch 2 revealing the arcade and fragile alliance multiplayer modes. Arcade has you working with the Alliance to escape with all the loot you can get your hands on and payment is based on your survival. While fragile alliance has you work with a team to once again, get loot and get out in four minutes, the twist is that if you are killed, you respond as a cop.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood announcement full of multiplayer

For the first time in the Assassin's Creed series, comes multiplayer along with taking on Rome. Brotherhood is the upcoming iteration for the series and is slated for the holidays of 2010 for the Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3. Ezio is back to take on the Templar Order using both strength and leadership to command the Brotherhood to rally at his side.The new multiplayer aspect of this is using Abstergo to choose from a number of weapons and techniques to match skills with players worldwide.

Aliens vs Predator | Review

Synopsis: Sega has provided us with their recent title, Aliens vs Predator, developed by the same team behind the 1999 original, Rebellion. The newest resurrection of the of the classic once again brings the battle between Aliens, Predators, and Colonial Marines in the form of a first person shooter to fans of the movies, comics, and the shooter genre alike. Each race has its own single player campaign along with a number of multiplayer game modes. The storyline delivered in the single player campaigns interweaves paths between species, so that regardless to what species you choose to play as, the story takes place in the same location and timeframe just through the eyes of a different species. The story begins with the discovery of an ancient pyramid and amidst probing the pyramid of its secrets, the Predator race is alerted to prevent their secret from being uncovered, while the alien race fight for their survival as the fearless hunter, and the Colonial Marines struggle for survival in the middle of the civil war taking place.

Praise: Variety is definitely one of the biggest strong suits in this title, followed up with fast paced, intense action, and rewarding multiplayer game modes. The diversity of how each race plays makes playing as any of the three individual races incredibly different and almost equally entertaining. In my opinion, I found playing as the Alien race the most rewarding both in single player and multiplayer game modes. The way the story of each race’s single player campaign intertwines is something I have not seen recently in other current generation titles and is one of the first things that stands out to me when thinking of the time spent with this game. The multiplayer is the most entertaining feature to this title, while the single player campaigns are entertaining and works as a great tutorial for the multiplayer modes; the multiplayer is where I felt most of the replay value resided by pitting each race against each other in large maps, and providing a leveling system to unlock skins for each race.

Gripes: As much as this game has to offer, unfortunately the single player campaigns come off rather short and stale. The gameplay is not bad by any means; it just doesn’t really stand out in the variety of first person shooters recently released. The marine single player mode is mediocrity at its best, as it is your typical shooter with the campaign lasting about five to six hours. While the Alien and Predator campaigns were a lot more entertaining, they were also significantly shorter than the bland marine campaign, only lasting about four to five hours. While the multiplayer is where I felt this title truly stands out, unfortunately, the matchmaking takes longer than other multiplayer games I have played and it seems like most of the community is playing species deathmatch. Lastly, if the host quits the match, it is game over and you are left to find another match without the XP earned before the host quit the match.

Overall, Aliens vs Predator does provide a lot of variety in the form of gameplay, story modes, and multiplayer. While not all of the modes may be to your liking there is still a lot to offer. It is also a pretty safe assumption to say that as a fan of the movies and comic books, you will most likely find this title enjoyable. While typical FPS fans may not find this title as fulfilling because the only part of this title that plays like a typical FPS is the Colonial Marines.

Mashbuttons.com gives Aliens vs Predator a 7 out of 10.

Aliens vs Predator is available now for the Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3.

What will KOF XII online bring to the table?

It is no big surprise that SNK and Ignition have announced that their upcoming title King of Fighters XII will have online capabilities. However, they have released more details regarding what to expect for their entry to the fighting genre.



To start, there will be no regional restrictions to who you will go up against and lobbies will consist of up to eight players, one upping other unnamed fighting games currently available. The reason for the larger lobby is to provide and arcade experience where attendees wait in line to fight the winner, insert Mortal Kombat II flashback here.



Lobby settings allow various ways fights are chosen, such as winner stays, loser stays, sparring, and player match. Online battles are graded as well and results are posted on a public leader board.



Also like another big name game in this genre, there will be exclusives to both the XBox 360 and the Playstation 3. The PS3 will get a clan mode which allows recruiting members and battling other clans, while the XBox 360 gets Truskill online ranking allowing replay and sharing of recording matches.

Whose up for Left 4 Dead, Survivor Mode?

The long awaited Left 4 Dead DLC is available now for free download. The pack includes two new multiplayer maps and survivor mode, similar to horde mode from Gears 2 but better because it isn't Gears 2.

The DLC is just over a hundred megs, so after a quick download you will be right back to where you were before just with some added scenery and gameplay.

I know I will be firing this up tonight, so if you want to play some coop horde...I mean survivor, or try the new multiplayer maps, look for gamertag dsalido81 and shoot me a request.

Also keep an eye out for the number of other game add-ons coming out this month for Street Fighter 4, Saint's Row 2, and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

Miniature Replica Soldier!

The new FREE multiplayer maps pack is available now for you to download! The toy soldiers map pack brings the online gameplay to new supersized worlds.

The excitement is not the actual DLC, but more so with the uber-cool metal song promoting the content. So, for those of you that still have F.E.A.R. 2 and did not trade it in, why not download and try it out.

Unfortunately, the hair metal song is not provided with the content upon download.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena | Review

Synopsis: The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is available now on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. Escape From Butcher Bay, which many Xbox and PC gamers are familiar with, was the original Riddick game released by Starbreeze Studios, and is included in this release as a polished high definition revamp while including the gameplay that made the original so successful. Along with the original, for those of us that missed it the first time around, is another chapter to the Riddick Saga, Assault on Dark Athena, where you play as Riddick and have to escape from the Merc-ship, Dark Athena, which is led by Captain Rivas, and she is out for your bounty. The Chronicles of Riddick is a first person shooter with melee combat, which emphasizes on tact and stealth skills. Another feature introduced to the player this time around is a much anticipated multiplayer.

Praise: Because I have not played the original Escape from Butcher Bay, I am not complaining about the sixty dollar price tag whatsoever. The gameplay is extremely fluid and takes some time to learn and get used, but once you do, stealth killing prison guards and drones is a LOT of fun. We have seen voice acting in a lot of current games, but there is a superb cast in The Chronicles of Riddick which brings a strong Hollywood feel to the game that helps engross the player. The multiplayer games were quick to get into, fast paced, and had no lag for me. There were a lot of people online playing so there were full games readily available. I think one of my favorite things about this game is that both Butcher Bay and Dark Athena both had a unique aspect to the gameplay to them, and doesn’t feel like you are playing the same game with just an added chapter to it.

Gripes: The biggest problem a lot of gamers may have is that they are paying sixty dollars for a game that was released 5 years ago. I think a forty dollar price tag would have boosted sales for those that previously played through Butcher Bay. There are a few little glitches that were frustrating at times, but were so miniscule that they were easily forgotten. The difficulty of trying to see your enemies in the dark before you get “eye shine” made getting through the beginning of Butcher Bay taxing.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed playing through Butcher Bay, then going on to Dark Athena, and finishing up with the six different types of multiplayer games to play online. Even though this is a remake of a five year old game, Butcher Bay is very polished in the form of high definition graphics and fast fluid gameplay. Adding a new episode to the game keeps gamers engrossed in the Riddick Saga, and multiplayer gives many fans something that they have been waiting for since the beginning.

Mashbuttons.com gives the Dishwasher 8.5 out of 10

Peggle is out for XBLA TODAY!!!

The best game combining unicorns and rainbows is coming to an Xbox 360 near you Today! That's right, PEGGLE is now available for download on your Xbox, if you have access to the interwebs, which, if you're reading this message, you do. The game, which has been a PC and handheld staple for the past few years, is 800 of those Microsoft-ian points. That's $10 to the laymen among us.

Trust me when I say this, if you are looking for a puzzle-type game that will entertain you for hours, you cannot do wrong by getting this game. And really, who doesn't love games that feature unicorns and rainbows and other various magic. The game has been available for a while on the PC, which now is on sale through Pop-Cap for only $5, however, you won't get any multiplayer action with all your Xbox Live friends.

You can click on the following link and queue up your download, you won't be disappointed

"Survivor" being added to survivor horror?

Steam has previously made announcements of their free DLC to be coming to their frantic first person survival shooter, Left 4 Dead. Even though my copy of the game has been sitting on the shelf collecting dust, I am quite sure i will be shouting "reloading" into my headset soon enough.

The DLC pack is said to bring 2 new campaigns to versus mode and an all new game mode...horde!...wait thats not it...Survivor! Thats more like it. Survivor is similar to the horde multiplayer mode from Gears of War 2, except with out waiting for matchmaking, lag, and all the other suck included in Gears 2 multiplayer. For those unfamiliar with what I am laying down, survivor mode reunites the quartet again, except this time against the clock to see just how long a team can fight off waves of zombies.



Valve has not issued a release date as of yet, however it is rumored to be sometime in April. Until then, you can enjoy this little teaser clip of the awesomeness to come.