So how many of you waited in line to be among the first to get the new Nintendo 3DS? Apparently quite a few…There won’t be any sales figures for a couple of more weeks but Nintendo is already saying that the first day sales of the 3DS has been higher than any of Nintendo’s other handheld systems. But will the 3DS send you reaching for the Tylenol? See our news section below for more information.
It’s a good thing there’s plenty of news this week because the release schedule is exceedingly light. With so many games hitting to coincide with the release of the 3DS, things next week take a breather. This week I’ve got reviews of two major new releases, Dragon Age II and Homefront, as well as the first of several planned hardware/peripheral reviews of Razer’s Ferox portable gaming speakers so read on!
Microsoft is looking for a few thousand good men…and women to become testers for Xbox 360 system update preview program. You must be an Xbox Live member living in the United States in order to participate and being an Xbox Live Gold member will give you a better chance of getting in. Those who are accepted will receive a copy of Halo Reach "along with other possible rewards."
A number of players have complained via twitter that the Nintendo 3DS has caused them headaches. Nintendo U.K. 's Robert Saunders stated, "We have shown Nintendo 3DS at multiple events around the world to literally hundreds of thousands of people and have received very few negative comments. As with anything that requires focus, from reading to staring at a computer screen, taking breaks frequent breaks is always recommended.
"When viewing any kind of 3D images (TV, movies etc.), some people might experience minor discomfort. The effects are short term and have no lasting effect, in fact most players can continue after taking a short break. The Nintendo 3D was designed with a 3D depth slider that lets users adjust the 3D effect to a level that suits them for optimum enjoyment." Well there you have it…it’s your fault, not the system. Stop playing it for so long and adjust the 3D effect…and take a couple of Motrin evidently…
Slant Six Games, the developer of SOCOM: Confrontation, is developing the newest console Resident Evil game entitled Operation Raccoon City . The plot is described as a "reinterpretation" of what happened in Resident Evil 2 and 3, with players assuming the role of an Umbrella Security Services soldier. Look for it on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC next Winter.
The Weinstein Company is branching out into videogames by creating its own label called TWC Games. TWC will be producing games based on Weinstein’s various film properties like Halloween and Scary Movie.
The recent Guinness Book of World Records Gamer’s Edition listed Duke Nukem Forever as the game that set the record for longest development. In development since 1997, the game continues to add to its illustrious record with yet another delay. Instead of releasing May 6th, Duke has now been pushed back a month until June 14th in North America . Sigh…
Bethesda Softworks and Del Rey announced that Del Rey Books will publish a novel based on the upcoming RAGE video game. The novel, also entitled “RAGE”, will be written by author and game writer Matt Costello and will release in North America on August 30, 2011. RAGE is the latest game from id® Software, the acclaimed designers of such classics as the Wolfenstein, DOOM, and QUAKE series. RAGE is already being hyped as one of the industry’s most innovative first-person shooters, winning numerous awards at E3 2010, including ‘Best Overall Game of Show’ from IGN and three ‘Best of E3’ Game Critics Awards including ‘Best Console Game’. Set in the not-too-distant future after an asteroid impacts Earth, you emerge into a vast wasteland to discover humanity working to rebuild itself against such forces as bandit gangs, mutants, and more. The novel delves even deeper into this world and its characters through the pen of Matt Costello--the same person who helped write the story for the game. The world was doomed and only some of the population could be saved. That was what the scientists were saying, at least. So the best and brightest were gathered and put into stasis deep beneath the surface of the Earth--buried so that man could live.
The Beta testing of the Playstation Rewards program will end March 31 but the program’s April launch has been delayed indefinitely. An e-mail sent to beta testers said, “Based on what we learned, we have decided the program is not ready to roll out to the public in April as originally planned. But rest assured, we will continue to thank loyal and devoted customers like you with innovative offerings."
The Rabbids are about to change the course of human history in their first platform-adventure game! Rabbids are bwaaack and this time they have an infallible plan to invade the human world: CONQUER HISTORY in the new Nintendo 3DS! When the Rabbids stumble into a history museum and discover time travel through their Time Washing Machine, you can bet that human history is about to become a major mess. Get ready to explore and mess up history with the Rabbids in their 1st platform adventure game exclusively on 3DS!
If family fun is for you then step right INTO Carnival Games: Monkey See, Monkey Do! Enjoy 20 exciting games and attractions designed exclusively for Kinect for Xbox 360. Bring the controller-free, full-body experience to life as you take a dip in the Shark Tank, go for a raucous ride on Gold Rush Mountain , have a Cotton-Eyed Joe dance-off with the Monkey Barker and more! Voice recognition technology allows The Amazing Wodin, a wily wizard, to reveal your future, tell you a riddle or two and present you with a personal wizard name. Interactive prizes and surprises abound, including flying pets and wacky wearables.
In Remington Super Slam, Alaska you'll find yourself face to face with more than 30 of the biggest, baddest and most aggressive animals in Alaska. The good news is that you'll have a huge selection of real weapons including bows, rifles and pistols near at hand. The bad news is the animals want to take you down as much as you want them.
Coming exclusively to the Nintendo 3DS, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D is the highly anticipated hand held game in the multimillion-selling Splinter Cell series and one of the most critically acclaimed franchises of all time. Sam Fisher is sent behind enemy lines in the Korean Peninsula to prevent WWIII, by investigating the responsible party that sunk the USS Clarence E Walsh, U.S. 's most advanced cruiser. Through his investigation, Sam learns that the key parties who are planning to use the Masse Kernels to launch WWIII are war comrade Douglas Shetland, Displace International, and Admiral Otomo, the Third Echelon Information Self Defense Force (I-SDF) contact. The cutting edge hardware of the new Nintendo 3DS allows Splinter Cell fans to play in immersive 3D and ability to interact with the game like nothing before.
I don’t want to use the word “disappointment” in reviewing Dragon Age II because it would not be fair or accurate. However, Dragon Age: Origins set the bar so high that it probably made our expectations a bit unrealistic. In this case developer Bioware may be a victim of their own success. Much of the game’s mechanics have been..ahem…simplified from DAO. I don’t recall there being any great outcry about the mechanics being overly complicated in DAO so this might be a case of Bioware fixing something that was not broken.
The character creation, player upgrades, inventory systems, and skill trees have all been scaled back. But if there are any types of games that call for lots of details (other than possibly sports sims) its RPGs. Those of us who came from the days of rolling funny dice and referring to multiple hardcover tomes love our detail. In Dragon Age II you’re hemmed in to playing a human character and you can only choose your gender or class (warrior, mage, rogue). You are also tied into the character’s surname of “Hawke” although you can pick his or her first name, just like you could do in Bioware’s Mass Effect 2 with the character of Shepard. In fact, if you played Mass Effect 2 you’ll recognize several elements including the dialogue wheel which allows you take a certain tone with your in-game responses like being aggressive, friendly, sarcastic, charming, etc…Still there’s the pervading sense that with limiting your characters to just being human, that Bioware went for the quick and simple sequel path of least resistance. One vast improvement is the interaction between your party in their conversations and animations that give the game a great deal of color.
The plot finds Hawke and his family escaping Lothering with his family and arriving in Kirkwall . There you guide Hawke to becoming the Champion of Kirkwall. It’s that simple…and yet it’s not because there isn’t what you can call a central antagonist to the story. On one hand, DA II definitely steps outside of the box without falling back on the, “Destroy the evil _____, and save the world” type of plot. On the other hand a bit more direction and sense of purpose would have been welcome. Having most of the action in and around Kirkwall was an interesting decision by Bioware. I happen to love exploring cities, especially if they are well fleshed out as Kirkwall is, and it’s a joy to interact with the city’s residents.
Like Mass Effect 2, the missions/quests branch out like a tree. Meeting and talking with characters will open up side quests that while not required to beat the game, add a lot of flavor. I hate to keep referencing ME 2 but what made me love that game so much was the ability to do whatever side quests you wanted in any order. Along the way you can recruit new members to join your party and they are one of the game’s strongest points. Bioware has gone to great lengths to make these characters unique. Each has a distinct personality that Hawke must relate to. You can present gifts to the various team members to gain their favor and unlock more quests.
The scaled down combat system has its benefits and drawbacks. There’s more a feeling of button-mashing action than traditional RPG-style combat. Like ME 2 (again!) the main character of Hawke gets most of the cool new toys you find while the rest of the NPCs are limited to what items they can utilize. Oh, there’s still lots of things they can be equipped with, don’t get me wrong, but clearly the idea here was to have the players spend less time shuffling inventory and more time playing. In terms of combat, you can pause the game and issue commands to your group and setup various tactics for the NPCs and it’s highly advisable to do so as the AI can be a bit loosey at times. The visuals don’t blow you away but the detail, especially in the character animations is gorgeous. Full scale battles can dazzle to the point of hypnotizing you as mages unleash their arsenal of spells on your foes. The voice acting and music are both first-rate and cap off the immersive experience.
While not the classic of Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II stands out as more a stand-alone game than a direct sequel which should keep you busy for a good 30 – 40 hours of play.
GRADE: B
Homefront is the latest game to throw its hat into the first-person shooter ring but it takes the plot in a completely different direction than other games of its ilk. The game is set some 15 years in the future. A montage of news broadcasts takes you through 15 yearsof history. South and North Korea have united to form the Greater Korean Republic and become a global superpower. The new Korea makes a grab on Middle East oil reserves causing gas prices in the U.S. to hit nearly $20 a gallon (now that is a terrifying thought. China surrenders with barely a whimper and the Koreans use a new satellite to take out the power grid of the U.S. with an EMP which leads to a full scale invasion of the nation’s West Coast as well as our very heartland. The plot is very close to the 1980s film “Red Dawn” and with good reason. The story was written by John Milius who also wrote Red Dawn.
The game opens in an America that is occupied by the Korean People’s Army as citizens are being rounded up and sent to detention camps. You play as former Marine chopper pilot Robert Jacobs who has been capture by the KPA. As you are bussed to an unknown location you look out the windows to see people beaten or even executed by KPA soldiers. Yes, Homefront is unapologetically manipulative and plays on your fears and emotions. In one part you even have to hide in a mass grave where hundreds of bodies have been dumped. You are rescued by a small band of rebel fighters and join their underground resistance. As opposed to Call of Duty’s more traditional war tactics, your group depends on guerilla tactics such as ambushing enemy forces, stealing tracking beacons, hijacking fuel convoys, and commandeering an attack helicopter. Your battlefield is suburban America and you’ll hide out in backyards and school gymnasiums. The resistance has managed to hide themselves and a small band of survivors in one of these suburban sprawls.
A number of different weapons are available for you to find and use throughout the game, most dropped by enemy combatants. These include a variety of assault rifles, machineguns, sniper rifles, and RPGs. The controls are tight and operate almost identical to Call of Duty…Aim, shoot, change weapons, crouch, sprint…Basic but tight and responsive. The landscapes are well designed and you see some familiar sites like a White Castle restaurant although I’d have loved to see more shop fronts like this as opposed to nondescript homes. The voice acting is solid with the proper amount of emotion conveyed by the various characters.
But here is where Homefront begins to stagger…The campaign itself is extremely short. Most players will get through it in 4 – 5 hours. With Call of Duty, players buy it for online play…but Homefront marketed itself based on its unique storyline. And for the story to end in just a few hours is disappointing. The disappointment is further compounded by the fact that the game doesn’t leave you with a satisfying ending and sets itself up for a sequel. The battle is over but the war is just beginning. The short campaign coupled with a lackluster ending cheapens the experience.
There are also some graphic eccentricities that boggle the mind…The landscapes are not very interactive. There are barrels you can shoot and blow up but then there are just regular barrels that don’t move an inch when you unload a clip into them. White picket fences might as well be concrete walls, as your bullets seem to have no penetration ability. In several parts you will need to blow up a sentry gun by tossing a grenade at the fuel tanks behind it. ONLY a grenade works…you can blast away with an assault rifle or even fire a RPG at it and it won’t explode. Silly! The AI of your partners is ok but you definitely seem to have to do most of the heavy work.
The online play IS a lot of fun although it’s hampered by only a few modes including a team deathmatch, ground control, and skirmish which is a combination of the two. Like Call of Duty you get a limited loadout to begin with and can unlock more weapons, equipments, and abilities (i.e. perks) by achieving a huge number of goals. One of the sweetest elements of multi-player games is earning battle points to purchase items like drones or even tanks and helicopters that you can use in multi-player games. There is support provided for up to 32 players in a game.
I liked Homefront but I just wish there was more to it. The online play is fine but if developer Kaos and THQ truly want to get fans aboard with a sequel the campaign play needs to be beefed up significantly.
GRADE: B-
I’ve never cared for wearing headphones or earphones which is why I wasn’t a big fan of things like the Walkman or the iPod. Give me a good pair of speakers anytime. Razer has a good pair of speakers…in fact, they’re absolutely wonderful! The Razer Ferox speakers were made for the mobile generation in mind. “Tiny but Mighty” is their tagline and it is right on the mark. These speakers are compatible with all portable media players and game systems including laptops, MP3 players, iPods, Nintendo DS, and Sony PSP via a 3.5mm audio jack. They stand less than 2 ½” tall and all you do is press down on the top of the speakers to turn them on.
Unlike most speakers which are oriented facing in one direction for a 90 degree sound arc, the Razer Ferox speakers face upwards for true 360 degree surround sound effect. An air resonance chamber delivers power yet clear bass effects. They feature digitally-tuned amps that deliver well-balanced highs, mids, and lows. A rechargeable battery provides up to 12 hours of playback time and a USB recharge cable is included to allow you to recharge the speakers to your laptop PC, desktop PC, or other powered USB source.
I tested the speakers on my laptop, DS, and MP3 player and the sound was surprisingly bold and crisp on each, belying its small stature. I’ve had PC speakers that were far larger and more expensive that did not produce the sound quality of the Razer Ferox. These were a delight to sit back and enjoy a game with and the experience far exceeded using the built-in Nintendo DS speaker. Maybe the only drawback is that they don’t come with an independent volume control so you have to use the volume control of whatever device you have them plugged in to. A carrying case is included to make the Razer Ferox the perfect on-the-go speakers.
GRADE: A
I don't mind the stream-lining in DA II. If anything, I think that the battles are more tactical than they are in DA:O. There was too much redundant dead weight in the skill system in DA:O. Cross-class combos in DA II are far better designed.
With that said, whomever thought the extensive map recycling was a good idea should be fired.
I definitely agree with the comment about "a bit more direction." So far the game has felt like nothing but side-quests. With DA:O and the Mass Effect games, I would set aside time to play because I wanted to see where it was going. With DA II it's more like I pick it up once in awhile just to see *if* it's going anywhere. At the very least I think the game would've worked better with this kind of storytelling if it were completely open world (within the confines of Kirkwall, at least) instead of having to pick which sections to warp to next to see if anything interesting was going on there.
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Great review, thanks.