The long awaited episode 14 is finally here, in this episode we take a look at our first modern game, this one happens to be Infamous, does this game live up to all the hype?
Also, we take a look at an intriguing new feature in Rock Band, is it worth your while or is it another feature that will fall through the cracks?
Watch and enjoy! 
This isn’t the game I remember.
Game Length – About 1 hour, this shouldn’t take you too long to blaze through.
Replayability –There’s four player co-op online and leaderboards to keep you going, but the extra modes (survival, and quick play) don’t really add much more than a distraction.
Technical Aspects (Looks,Sounds,Controls) – The graphical upgrade on this game looks very good, I do wish you were able to go back to the original graphics like say, Monkey Island, but the revamp is a nice looking touch.. Sound has been mildly improved with new voice actors providing the turtles one-liners and Veronica Taylor (Ash Ketchum) as April O’Neil
Online Capabilities – Up to 4 player online co-op, a lot of fun but a bit hard to see your character admist your allies and enemies alike.
Value For Money – Thank God they didn’t go for the $15 price point or I would really feel ripped off, but this isn’t enough for the $10 you have to shell (PUN!) out.
I’ll admit it, I’m a big ninja turtles fan, growing up with the cartoon and comic books in the ‘80’s, the turtles were always a hit, and Turtles in Time was arguably the best release of the classic beat ‘em up game to date, but, sadly, all is not well in the retelling.
Turtles in Time: Reshelled is probably not what you think, you might think it’s a remake of the SNES game released several years ago, and you would be wrong.. This is a reshelling of the arcade version released in 1991, you may ask yourself what the difference is? Well, I’ll tell you. In the SNES version, you had quite a few more bosses and levels as well as (my most memorable level) the level where you throw foot soliders at the screen to beat Shredder hanging out in a giant mech that’s in your face… You get to fight the Rat King in the sewers, and Tokai and Razzar are met long before you reach the boat.
In the arcade version, you won’t fight Shredder til the very end, and even then this fight is more reminsant of the last fight in The Hyperstone Heist than it is the SNES title, Shredder just has a big sword and runs around the screen smacking you, he’s easy enough to kill and dodge but…. Epic? Far from it. You also will not be fighting the Rat King in this version, as far as the arcade is concerned, he does not exist. Who would have thought you would go to the sewer only to have *Spoiler* Shredder appear and warp you throughout time?
Now, it is not that this is a bad game, it just doesn’t live up to the TMNT legacy.. You remember the 1989 arcade game released how many years ago on XBLA? Sure, it was merely a port of the original arcade version with nothing new short of online multiplayer, but it was only $5…. A drop in the bucket considering how much I spend on that game as a kid, now I spend quite a bit on Turtles in Time in the arcade, but I spend more time on the SNES game, and, quite frankly, prefer that version to all others, more levels, more bosses, just more fun.. But there is one thing that Reshelled has that the SNES and arcade cannot recreate.
That is Online play, up to four player co-op, this is still a lot of fun playing with friends and battling the bosses, did someone say “Turtle Power!”? But when grouped with strangers expect to be battling for pizza from people who clearly don’t need it. There is no lag that I ran into in my play sessions online so it runs smoothly, but this game may merely be an excuse to get 200 more achievement points and then shelve it for life, sorry Reshelled, you missed the mark.
In conclusion, Reshelled is a fun little distraction, but the flaws (namely the price tag), outweigh the benefits of this great game, you might want to give it a try before completely shelving it, but the fact is, this may not be the TMNT: Turtles in Time game you remember.
Hello there everyone. You know, sometimes, in the world of video games, it’s pretty hard to be optimistic about the way in which the industry works in terms of its economy.
Today, I realized how retarded Industry leaders must think the public are, and I’ll tell you why.
My reason is simple and clear, and it goes back for generations. Hardware Upgrades.
And before you say anything, no, I don’t mean generation to generation hardware upgrades, I mean stuff like Wii Motion Plus and the 360 Elite. It’s those little iterations on hardware that we’ve put a bunch of money into which makes me think that hardware manufactorers take us for fools, and quite frankly, it’s a little bit bullshit.
Now, by no means am I some kind of anti-Capitalist who’s against buying and consuming, I’m all for it, in fact. What I don’t like, is having my intelligence insulted by companies such as Sony, who are bringing out a slim version of the PS3 sometime probably in the next year, and what will the main differences be? Well, that it’s a bit slimmer, of course. So then why not introduce the slim modle at the beginning of the console lifespan?!
Don’t give the that “well, they’re different components inside the box” bull shit either, because I personally think that a company should work their asses off to produce the best possible console they can do in their allotted period of development time and then keep it at that. Seriously guys, if the PS3 Slim launches at a price similar to the price of the original PS3 I am going to be pissed.
In a similar fashion, console upgrades such as the 360 Elite console make me want to /Rage_Quit life completely. Adding a HDMI port and a larger hard drive and painting it black do not warrent a £320.00 price point. If anything, the thing should have been sold at the price of the original 360 when it launched, which was £280.00, far more reasonable. Granted, the introduction of a HDMI port does warrant a hardware upgrade; it’s not something that you can really just pack out in a separate box… it’s sort of integral to the machine’s design. However, price point needs to be kept under control in these kinds of circumstances.
The other infuriating situation which keeps plaguing me is this “Wii HD” thing. Why, oh why Nintendo, do you persist to put out consoles half-finished?! The whole Wii Motion Plus thing is bad enough. Sure the add-on is brilliant in every single way possible, and it’s not too expensive and makes games feel great… but why wasn’t it packed in when the hardware first launched? Why promise a person something that you know you can’t achieve right from the off? So, erm, back to my original problem… Wii HD?! Say what? The idea is insane.
The Wii should have been in High Definition anyway, and it’s the only fault that I have with that system. Games look dumb on it… I’m sorry, but it’s true. If Nintendo decide to release a new Wii (which they’ve not agreed to, yet) that’s exactly the same but with high definition… buy I will be angry. Would I go out and buy the damn thing? yes! Of course I would, because I want my games in high definition, but I would feel completely insulted by Nintendo for making me spend another couple of hundred pounds on something that should have been there in the first place.
So there. I buy consoles so that I can avoid upgrading… that’s what makes PC gaming suck. Please, tell me I’m not alone in these opinions…. there’s got to be more people than just me feeling angered by the decisions of greedy hardware manufactures! Leave a comment and then head over to the forum to Vent!
With Nintendo predicting huge falls in profit we take a look at the device that’s causing them so many problems.
Nintendo and Sony, the DS and the PSP if you want to play a game on the move, it’s almost a certainty that this is what you’re using, sure there are others around but these are the big boys, the granddaddies of portable gaming.
However, over the last year there’s been a new challenger creeping up almost unnoticed. Such has been the rapid rise of this new device that it has now overtaken the Xbox 360 on sales and has the PSP firmly in its sights. How has it managed this? Simple, it has absolutely everything going for it, and it’s about to take the portable gaming market by storm.
The device is, of course, the iPhone. Apple’s smooth and sleek piece of gadgetry was never really anticipated to have a large gaming market but as every iteration gets more powerful, the quality of gaming experience it is capable of delivering is increasing as well. The main advantage of the iPhone is its touch screen. Yes the DS has one as well but the lack of any real buttons on the iPhone means that developers are forced to come up with innovative control systems whereas DS developers always seem eager to fall back on the traditional buttons. Even companies such as Sega, who are adding touch screen controls to their old arcade titles before re-releasing them on the iPhone, are delivering a more enjoyable gaming experience simply due to the originality of having a 100% touch screen interface.
There is however one stand-out reason why the iPhone is poised to become a major gaming platform and that is the App Store. The sheer ease of getting a game for the iPhone is unmatched anywhere; the only thing that comes close is Valve’s Steam software for the PC. You simply open the App Store on your iPhone or in iTunes, find the game you want and click download. Within seconds your game is ready to play, you haven’t had to go to a shop, purchase a cartridge or disc which is easily lost, or go through the hassle of carrying around lots of different games. You simply choose your game and you play. Where else can you buy a new game on your way to work and be playing it in minutes?
Of course it’s not just the speed and ease of use, it’s the price. There are a huge number of free games, but even the titles from big studios such as EA sell for less than £6. When consumers can have a game in seconds for such a low price, what chance to do the likes of the PSP have? As the increased power of the 3GS becomes more main-stream over the next year we can expect a multitude of new games to take advantage of the PSP-rivalling graphics.
John Carmack once said he believes the iPhone to be more powerful than the DS and PSP together. More recently a developer from Telltale Games described the iPhone as more powerful than the Wii. On the back of comments like these from developers, and with the lack of publishing overhead for physical media, we can expect to see more and more companies taking advantage of what is a truly groundbreaking development in portable gaming. iPhone ports of new releases are well on their way to becoming standard practice.
This all came to a head yesterday with Nintendo admitting in a conference call that they expect their first profit decline in four years, and it’s not a small one, they’re predicting a massive 66% drop. This stems from lower sales right across their range but particularly from the DS and DSi. A Nintendo representative revealed the handheld console was struggling against ever increasing competition from Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch.
Revealingly there was no mention of the PSP, which would indicate that, with its sales through the floor, Nintendo no longer see the PSP as a threat. Only Sony’s new PSPgo now stands in the way of Apple’s domination of the portable gaming market.
Yes yes yes, It’s Thursday which makes it the day for a large collection of video about video games! How I just love doing this. Each and every Thursday we here at The Weird Pixel go through the week’s posts to collate everything to do with video and games into one nice big feature so that you can brows through at your leisurely pace. Remember to come back next Thursday for our next edition of This Week in Pixels!
We had a pretty dire and depressing July. So can August do any better? TWP takes a look at August’s biggest and worst releases.
G.I Joe: The Rise Of Cobra (PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, Wii, DS, PS2) – August 7th
The original American hero hits shelves on August 7th and picks up where the film ends. The game will feature 12 playable characters and both local and online coop modes. The controls are easy and simple making it perfect for the casual gamer and good for gamer point ‘whores’.
Madden NFL ‘10 (PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, Wii, PS2) – August 14th
The biggest American football title returns with redesigned and all new animations and gameplay mechanics. With the franchise revitalized it’s a must buy for all sport fans.
Wolfenstein (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) - August 21st
The return of the popular franchise is one of the biggest releases of August. The game incorporates a feature called ‘The Veil’ where the player can use special abilites such as slowing down time to take out Nazi Germans. The game revolves around taking out Himmler and isn’t that what we all want to do?
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) – August 28th
Already plagued by claims of ‘review fixing’ by Eidos, Batman: Arkham Asylum is set to join us this August. The title follows Batman as he takes on the Joker and other super villains in the titular madhouse. If anything it’s a title worth picking up for the batarang.
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny (PSP) – August 28th
The Soul Calibur franchise debuts on the Playstation Portable featuring 20 unique characters, expanded character creation, and multiple gameplay modes.
Other titles that deserve a mention:
Games to avoid
All in all a slight improvement on July but again it’s another relatively slow month save for a couple of titles. But the big months are now fast approaching in the shape of September when the blockbusters begin to roll out in time for Christmas. Still with all the 2010 delays it looks like Q4 2009 won’t shape up to what it could have being.
Yes a new video has been released from Infinity Ward featuring some sweet multiplayer action, lets analyse it shall we? Full Story
The summer is here, I can tell because it’s chucking it down with rain outside my window, which also means the cricket season is upon us.
As we enter another Ashes summer we finally see the release of a new cricket game after 2 years of waiting.Personally I’m a huge cricket fan so whilst I’m excited at the prospect of getting stuck into a new game, I’m also holding back slightly because it’s from Codemasters and their past history with the last two iterations of Brian Lara International Cricket have left a lot to be desired.
First impressions from the graphics side are that it’s similar to Brian Lara; some animations are very slick whilst others are comically bad, the textures are nice and the grounds nicely modelled, but player likeness is very iffy, with some truly woeful hair textures. It felt like I was playing at about 5pm in the evening, the lighting being very dark, and everything still has the cartoonish twinge of the previous games which isn’t too my taste at all.
I got started by bowling to the Aussies. Things are much improved on this side of the game with the unrealistically huge swing applied after you’ve released the ball finally gone. The bowling animation is still poor, especially in the run up where it looks almost as if the player is skidding along the floor. At least the bounce of the ball is much more realistic, with the tennis ball style of previous games finally gone.
Fielding has been changed, no longer requiring a nigh on impossible button press at the right moment to throw the ball, all you need to do is use the right analogue stick to choose which end to throw to and the AI takes care of the rest. The button press still stands for catches, which is fair enough in my book. The ridiculous situation where the keepers would stump almost every time has also been corrected. One thing that will need to be addressed before release is the AI running, they constantly seem to be on a mission to get themselves out, starting another run when the ball is already on the way to the wicket, and at one point I ended up with both batsmen at the same crease! My fielder had the ball next to the stumps at the bowlers end, so did he take the easy run out? No, he just stood there and the game cut to my next ball! Absolutely shocking bug which will definitely need to be fixed before release.
Batting is improved ten-fold, finally we have the option to choose from back or front foot shots and you no longer feel locked into playing certain shots, you can play whatever shot you like, even if it’s completely wrong for the ball. It does seem like you have to choose your shot the split second the bowler releases though which seems very early and there’s something not quite right about the batting animations, I can’t put my finger on it but it just feels wrong. On the positive side ground shots can now be hit in the air, and you’re able to leave balls without being punished confidence wise. However the biggest fix for me is the fact that it is actually reasonably difficult to hit a boundary, unlike past games where you could totally mess up the shot and it would still run for 4 every single time. One thing I have noticed however is there is very little variation in the AI bowling, they’ll either pitch the whole over at your feet, or really short, very little variation at all.
All in all there are some improvements to look forward to but the game still doesn’t feel like the big step forward for cricket games that I was hoping for. Stick around for a full review on release.
Combined with Wii Motion Plus, Wii Sports Resort is the perfect embodiment of “fun”, packaged onto a disc.
Game Length - As a collection of 12 mini games, you can have endless hours of fun playing on your own or with up to four friends.
Replayability – Ditto! The party never ends.
Technical Aspects (Looks,Sounds,Controls) - The game looks and sounds great, just as the previous one did. Of course, with added Wii Motion Plus support, which is the big thing here, games are far more realistic, so perhaps more skill-based than its predecessor.
Online Capabilities - None to speak of, but really, this is a game for a bunch of people in a single room to play together, it’s all about the interaction.
Value For Money – The game games at £39.99 including a single Wii Motion Plus add on, so you’ll probably want to buy an extra one so that two of you can play properly together. Separately, Wii Motion Plus is £15.99, and it’s so totally worth it.
Remember when the Wii first came out and everyone was playing Wii Sports for like, a month solid? Well now you’ve got the chance to relive it all over again because Wii Sports Resort is out in stores for you to get a hold of, and with added Motion Plus support for your Wii Remote, it’s totally amazing.
I try not to hyperbolise in reviews too much usually, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to curb it this time round because quite simply Wii Sports resort is an improvement on ever single front to its predecessor.
The most important thing to take into account about WSR is that out of the box you’re going to get Wii Motion Plus. if you’re not sure what it is or what it does, essentially it’s a little add-on that you stick into the end of your Wii Remote controller and it provides precise one to one motion controlls. That means that the mini games which are included are far more realistic in scope and don’t seem as “gamey” as the ones in the original Wii Sports game did.
So, as I mentioned, Resort is similar to its original in that it’s a collection of mini games, 12 this time over the original’s 5, which you can play on your own against the computer, or with friends or family of up to four people at a time over a single Wii. The sports that are included this time are:
The game itself is set on a tropical paradise where your Miis apparently hang out and relax called Wuhu Island. When you first begin the game, you’re made to skydive out of a plane to land safety on the island via parachute. This simple introduction acts as a good little microcosm for what that game is about: simple, intuitive controls leading to a fun time. The introduction acts as a simple tutorial too, showing you how, when you tilt your wii mote up your character will slow down,and how if you move in the direction of another skydiver, you’ll grab hands and swoop down together. It’s pretty awesome, and gives the game more of a context than the first one.
When you land, the game opens up into a more familiar view: a simple and clean menu screen displaying all of the mini games. After a quick scan through, I decided to play the 2 mini games that were returning from the opriginal game: bowling and golf, to see how they compared with the new Wii Motion Plus controls. With bowling, I couldn’t really tell the difference ; it was still, at heart, bowling. It was when I came to golf, that I really saw how different motion Plus makes the game. Essentially, now, every twist of th wrist really makes the difference on the spin of your ball. I learned quite quickly that Motion Plus makes games more realistic, so if you get how golf works, you’ll be better suited to this than someone who doesn’t. That’s not to say you’ll be all crappy if you’ve never played golf. I’ve never played real gold and did just fine. It felt good to compare it from the first game.
I’m not going to go through each and every new mini game, because it would just take for ever, but I will go through the ones that I enjoy the most, which are Table Tennis, Swordplay and Archery.
Table Tennis works in the same way that Tennis did on Wii Sports, you flick your Wii Remote up to serve and then play like you would do for realz. The great thing about it is that table tennis relies on adding spin to the ball to keep it in play, so wii motion plus really comes in handy here, because you need rather accurate tracking to measure the twist in your wrist properly, which is does. Impressive!
Swordplay is another example of the level of depth that Wii Motion Plus adds to the game. The aim of the sport is to hit the other player enough times to knock them over the edge of the raised platform that you’re both on into the sea beneath. You hold the controller as though it’s a samurai sword, with two hands, and you can press the B button on the back to go into a block stance. It’s the most similar to Wii Sports’ Boxing and the sword perfectly follows your hands. It really is great, and makes me long for a lightsaber battle game.
Archery is up there with the other two for me because of its level of realism. For this one you have to plug in the nun chuck, which attaches into the bottom of Wii Motion Plus, and then you hold the remote out straight and bul the wnun chuck back to tighten the string. Before you let go of the “Z” button on the nun chuck, you have to really take into account the direction of the wind and the distance from the target that you. It’s quite technical and requires a very steady hand but the level or realism there is quite remarkable, well, I think so anyway!
So overall, Wii Sports Resort is a really fun game; particularly if you get some friends round and have a few beers… that’s what this sort of game is made for. It’s probably a good thing that it’s a brilliant game at that, so whether you’re into quality games or you just want some fun, you’re definately going to get what you want here.
Guybrush Threepwood looks brilliant in this re-imagining of a classic.
Game Length – Depending on how quick you are to figure out the puzzles, I’d say that you’re looking at around 5 to 10 hours of game play here.
Replayability – Being a linear, story-driven point and click game, there’s not much in the way of replayability here, but the game’s a classic, so it’s worth the price.
Technical Aspects (Looks,Sounds,Controls) – As a point and click game on a console, it does take a little bit longer to get things done, but it’s not frustrating or anything. Also, the new art style is pretty awesome and the voices really suite the characters.
Online Capabilities – None at all, but what are you expecting, it’s a point and click ad-fucking-venture game!
Value For Money – The game comes at the cost of £10 pounds, which is standard for arcade games at this point in time. SO if you’re happy, as I am, at paying 10 quid for a 7 hour game of good quality then you should totally go for it!
I definitely feel bad in saying that I was never interested in point and click adventure games as a child, and therefore it pains me to tell you that I never played The Secret of Monkey Island when it was first released in all its glory. Therefore when I got hold of the information that Lucas Arts were totally remastering the original game of the series and shipping in onto XBLA, I was straight away on board.
After a quick download, I began playing pretty much immediately and it took me 3 sessions of a few hours each to finish the game, which I think is quite substantial for an Arcade release. What’s more, I laughed more that I ever have with a game and was totally overwhelmed by the game’s unique style and presentation; and mainly: its sense of humor.
The secret of Monkey Island is all about this guy called Guybrush Threepwood who lands on Melee Island looking to become a bad-ass pirate. From there on out, your adventure takes on a few twists and turns and you end up having to rescue the Island’s Governor from the hands of a crazy bearded ghost pirate named LeChuck, who’s set down anchor on the mysterious Monkey Island.
As a point and click game, I was quite unsure about how TSOMI would handle on a console. Fortunately, it’s all been done quite well, well, as well as it could be done on a console, if you see what I mean! To move onto the right side of the screen you have to use analogue controls, which, granted is a little bit laggier than a mouse in these circumstances, but it never becomes frustrating or annoying.
It’s probably crucial to recognize this game as a re-imagining of an old game; at any point throughout you can simply press the “back” button on the 360 pad and see the game shift to how it used to be. In other words, you can enjoy the game’s uniquely drawn art style which has been crafted for this version of the game and the voice acting, which is of a great quality, and then press “back” where the game will flip back- in real time- to how it used to be on its initial release, with text and bad-ass pixelated characters and environments. So really, the game allows for fans of the first game looking for a nostalgia trip to do so, whilst simultaneously drawing in a whole new group of players, such as myself.
The most important, and final thing to remember and take note of about The Secret of Monkey Island, is its sense of humor. From character names to sword fighting jargon and crazy punning, the sense of humor and “laugh factor” of this little adventure game is second to none! Therefore, if you’re looking for a game with a decent sense of style and a good sense of humor, you’ll be extremely happy with it!
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