After a separation from its own Halo brand, years of development and a monumental budget, Bungie’s first chapter of its epic sci-fi shooter franchise is finally here. Like many gamers, we’ve been been playing a lot of Destiny over the last two weeks since its release. And we needed to before we could understand everything the game offers and assign a review score. We’ve also been playing it a lot because Destiny is highly addictive, but not necessarily for the right reasons....
The future is now. Deus Ex: Human Revolution releases to retail today and Eidos Montreal has made the launch trailer available for all to see. Gamers can get themselves ready to enjoy a cyberpunk-inspired, conspiracy-laden, action role playing game by watching the trailer - and maybe even picking up the game shortly after. In fact, this might just be the trigger point for you. There’s very little disagreement with the fact that Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a good game....
Time to time EA Sports has been known to take their traditional sports franchises, or just a traditional sport, and branch them out into arcade-style titles that lack most of the depth of a Madden, but more than make up for it with faster-paced, approachable gameplay. Among those properties that EA has under their belt is FIFA Street, a series that has been on a brief hiatus, but is now back to capture soccer fans’ hearts once again....
One of the few early PlayStation 3 exclusives that earned a reasonable following but no franchising was Heavenly Sword. Released in 2007 and developed by Ninja Theory, the hack-and-slash title and its lusty protagonist earned mostly positive reviews, but not a second chance at glory. Though criticized for its short length, Heavenly Sword was still considered one of the best of the PS3’s earlier exclusives, and many expected and wanted a sequel to arrive, with the hopes that improvements could be made to make up for the weaker aspects of the first game....
Hello Games’ first project arrived on the PlayStation Network in 2010, and it was aptly called Joe Danger. The title starred a washed up stuntman trying to get back into the spotlight, and PS3 gamers embraced the original enough to warrant an enhanced port to Xbox 360 and, more importantly, a direct sequel. Joe Danger 2 The Movie only just arrived on the Xbox Live Marketplace this month, but PS3 owners have been longing for the chance to get behind the handlebars as the infamous Joe Danger once more....
Over the past few years, the Madden franchise has done its best to stay relevant, while at the same time not pushing the envelope in any appreciable ways. Madden NFL 13 was a passable annual iteration, but one that only die-hard fans were interested in. This year’s entry, Madden NFL 25 (named for the 25th anniversary of the franchise) attempts to justify the $60 price tag, but isn’t as revolutionary an entry as fans might hope....
Only a few days after Nintendo slashed prices on the underperforming 3DS handheld, Todd Howard, the director behind Skyrim (one of the most highly-anticipated titles of the year), went on-record to discuss the inflated cost of gaming - arguing that the industry should offer a staggered set of price points to account for the amount of content offered. Of course, Howard firmly believes that his Elder Scrolls sequel, Skyrim, is well-worth the normal $60 buy-in....
Nostalgia can be a powerful motivating factor when it comes to a lot of things - not just gaming. Trying to recapture the joy of a more “innocent” time will often be the main reason behind buying or creating something that is based on (or continues) a concept that has been around for years. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however, as nostalgia can prove to work if done right. Sonic Generations looks to be heading in the right direction, with a new gameplay video showing off two more levels for the 20th anniversary title....
Well, here’s a strange one. While sponsorships in the eSports world are certainly nothing new, one of the more recent ones is…quite peculiar. It’s even more peculiar because the eSports pro in question is a regular of the Super Smash Bros. scene and represents a game that is geared towards all ages. As a Nintendo product, Super Smash Bros. is likely the most family-friendly among competitive games. Without burying the lede, we’ve just recently learned that Super Smash Bros....
Chalk up another win for Kickstarter-funded game development. The latest success story belongs to Stoic, an Austin, Texas, based studio founded by Alex Thomas, Arnie Jorgensen and John Watson, three industry veterans who worked together on a little game called Star Wars: The Old Republic. Having set out on their own, the trio turned to Kickstarter to fund The Banner Saga, a hybrid RPG/turn-based strategy game with striking hand-animated graphics. The Kickstarter campaign launched on March 19 with a goal of $100,000....
In the early days of cinema there was the auteur theory - which stated that films were crafted using a single unifying vision, as represented by the director. He, or she, would make the decisions on nearly every facet of the film, and as a result their name would become synonymous with the end product(s). In video games, it is usually the development outfit that represents the released product and, in turn, becomes synonymous with the product....
Once relegated to movie tie-ins and cheaply produced products aimed at less discriminating members of the gaming public, superhero video games are now among the most popular titles produced, and are well represented during the high-stakes Fall games season. X-Men: Destiny, the first such title out of the gate this Fall, makes its retail debut this week, to be followed by Spider-Man: Edge of Time and Batman: Arkham City. In a flurry of pre-release activity, publisher Activision and developer Silicon Knights have issued no fewer than five new trailers for X-Men: Destiny, and we’ve got them all right here in one convenient spot....
Bosses are an integral part of any Final Fantasy game. The character design and backstory of the boss pairs with its overall mechanics to be challenging and interesting or totally unfair and annoying. Worse yet: bosses could be boring, managing to sour an otherwise awesome gaming experience. Some fans of the franchise absolutely love idiosyncratic bosses like the Phantom Train while others loathe them. Phantom Train is undead, so players can just use healing magic and items on it....
Scarlet Nexus is very much a game with a significant focus on its gameplay and enemy encounters. So, naturally, there are many ways to help make you stronger and more capable in battle, and thanks to the game’s Brain Map system, you will be able to do that and much more! The Brain Map system in Scarlet Nexus is essentially your skill tree in which you apply Brain Points to unlock the corresponding ability you want and follow branching paths for better enhancements....
It’s hard to believe that Fire Emblem was once a Japanese exclusive series. In general, it’s hard to imagine Japanese games not being released worldwide and yet it still happens on occasion. So knowing that this series was missing in the West for over a decade, it should come as no surprise that there are a lot of lesser known secrets floating around out there. In honor of the new game, let’s dig some up for a little history lesson....
Nintendo has been teaming up with Koei Tecmo to make games based on popular Nintendo franchises with gameplay similar to Dynasty Warriors. Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors, the two previous games that brought the companies together, were successful enough for them to collaborate a third time. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity brings players back to the kingdom of Hyrule and uncovers the events that led to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild....
The Resident Evil series has been one of the longest standing survival horror series in gaming. In fact, it was the developers at Capcom that coined the term “survival horror” with their very first Resident Evil title released in 1996. The series takes a unique schlocky approach to its storytelling that seems to put it in line with its movie inspirations. Yet despite the craziness of its narrative, the Resident Evil series has surprisingly deep lore, and the developers have done a great job of keeping the stories intertwined and connected....
The Witcher 3 is one of gaming’s true masterpieces. Based on the work of writer Andrzej Sapkowski and building on the excellent groundwork laid by the first two games in the series, its elements combine perfectly to form one of the richest fantasy worlds in gaming. It’s an adventure that can last for hundreds of hours and longer still for anybody who’s willing to experiment with some of the game’s many mods and challenge runs....
With the forthcoming Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite reviving the fighting game franchise, these are some of the new characters we believe the game should have on its roster. During PlayStation Experience 2016, fighting game fans were bestowed with the absolutely excellent news that Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is actually in production and will eventually be making its way to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One sometime in 2017. As of now, very little has been revealed as far as how the title’s gameplay modes will operate on an in-depth level, but even so, it’s safe to say that most fans of the franchise are far more curious to find out which heroes and villains will be joining the growing list of Marvel vs....
The Sega Master System was Sega’s first console to see a release in North America. It was released in Japan in 1985, and a year later to North America. It was made to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System, but it didn’t fair too well, at least in the United States and Canada. However, the console is still being made and sold in Brazil more than 30 years after its initial release....
