Xbox 360 Digest » Previews

More details revealed for Tomb Raider

Jes Borg — Tue, 03 May 2011 14:30:59 +0000

Recently, several more details has surfaced for the new Tomb Raider title. A Spanish magazine Hobby Consolas had a cover story as well as a French mag named Consoles, which has dropped a ton of details. If you haven’t followed what changes are being made to the series, you may want to take a look at this article first.

Take a look below at the new details revealed. These details do contain some spoilers.

If you walk into this game expecting Lara Croft from the previous Tomb Raider games, you’ll be disappointed. This Lara is human; she bleeds and suffers and will have to fight for her survival.
You’ll have to get used to seeing fear and pain in Lara’s face. Her expressions and even the camera movements have been generated using motion capture.
The new game, titled just Tomb Raider, will be a complete reboot. The developers decided to re-imagine Lara Croft, who’ll have very little in common with the woman from earlier titles, who had an enviable body and could perform super-human acrobatics at will.
The main story, development, and even the main character will re-start from scratch in this game. The story revolves around a young Lara Croft, who’s shown as a teenager just out of university. A rational and analytical young lady, she goes on a expedition in a ship called Endurance, which sinks next to an island close to the coast of Japan.
She’s the sole survivor of the shipwreck.
Helping hands and UI will be kept to a minimum, even though the game will show things like what can be burnt, or which buttons to press in Quicktime events.
The island’s central area will serve as the main headquarters. In the main camp, you’ll be able to “buy” abilities, make new tools or get back to missions you’ve already finished. The remaining area will be used to climb or search for new missions.
Lara has a “Survival Instinct”. By pressing a button you can activate a special view which will put a different colour to “interesting” elements in the environment: the background and non relevant objects will be shown in shades of grey and the clues in yellow. That way you’ll be able to follow traces normally invisible to the eye. For example, wolf footprints could lead you to a med-kit. When you reach it, one of those animals might attack you.
Puzzles will be more complex than in previous installments. They won’t be just about observing the environment, but about thinking about how water and fire interact, the importance of gravity, explosives, and so on.
The camera will use innovative framings to add to sensations of anguish or claustrophobia. The game has a renewed graphics engine known as Crystal Engine.

Many games and films have influenced the new Tomb Raider

Physics from Half Life 2 – The usage of gravity or water currents was already explored in this classic game. Here such concepts will be put to use with boxes and barrels.
Atmosphere of Uncharted – Nathan’s soliloquies will be “limited” by Lara, as well as the extreme situations for the main character.
The “vision” of Assassin’s Creed – Ezio’s Eagle Sight isolates different objectives using colours. Lara will be able to do something similar using her Survival Instinct.
The origin story of Batman Begins – The first act in the film showed Bruce Wayne’s hard path to become Batman. That “hero’s journey” will guide Lara’s first steps.
The suffering of 127 Hours – In that movie, the main character has to punish his body to survive. The most famous scene in the film inspired the guys at Crystal Dynamics to force Lara’s resistance to the limit.
The mysteries of Lost – Strange wrecked ships? A remote island full of mysteries? Lost’s plot has been acknowledged by Crystal Dynamics.
The adventure is divided into three big “episodes”, each one corresponding to a part of Lara’s transformation into an adventurer: survive, rescue and escape.
The laws of gravity and centrifugal force allow Lara to go through her obstacles.
The transition between cinematics and game is almost nonexistent.
Lara’s grief is accentuated by effects like close-to-face cameras, and on-screen blur.
Lara changes throughout the game. She will evolve from a young, inexperienced woman to an adventurer. It will be apparent from her equipment (the article says that it might be possible to see her double pistols), for example.
Lara can only use Survival Instinct when she’s standing still.
There are many ways to solve puzzles, and sometimes you’ll have to try multiple times thanks to the use of physics.
Buddha statues are visible throughout the game. Although it’s speculated these are save points, their exact role is unknown for now.
Some elements of the world fall when Lara stands on them for too long.

Two New Duke Nukem Forever Trailers

Austin Griffith — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 02:02:20 +0000

The team at 2k Games released two new Duke Nukem Forever trailers today, The first being a new weekly series called “What Would Duke Do?” This one being about jetpacks, while the other highlights DNF’s new Poop Throwing Ability. That’s right, i said Poop Throwing. No one knows if this is an April Fools joke or not, Knowing Duke Nukem i’d say not. But one things for sure: The Sh%* Truly hit the fan.

What Would Duke Do? – The Jetpack Dilemma

Duke Nukem – Feces Trailer

New details surface on Saints Row 3 via April Game Informer

Jes Borg — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:15:07 +0000

The Saints Row 3 cover story that is featured in the April edition of the Game Informer magazine has been leaked with a lot more details of the Sandbox game that doesn’t take itself too seriously…

The Third again puts you in a position of control over the Saints gang, which is dominating the city of Stilwater. The game will take you beyond Stilwater to a new city, but it’s currently unknown if you’ll be able to visit both locations or just the new one.

“Saints Row: The Third puts you on top of the world, right at the beginning of the game, with all the perks that go along with being the head of an elite criminal organization,” said THQ VP Danny Bilson in a press release. “There’s no delivering pizza, no shuttling family members about in a long series of taxi missions. Instead, you take all the power of the Third Street Saints and you take the world by storm.”

The first big piece of news is that multi-player has been scraped. Co-op still remains, thankfully. Multi-player wasn’t all that well received for the last game, so it’s reassuring to see that the developers time is being fully committed to the single player experience.

There may be some brief story or character spoilers below.

Saints Row 3 starts with a bungled heist that sees the majority of the gang jailed. This raises the ire of a new gang, the Syndicate, which holds you and your closest allies prisoner on a jet.
The gang wants to squeeze a percentage of the Saints’ monthly profits, which of course leads to a fight and causes your character to jump out of the jet. That’s how the Saints roll.
Johnny Gat and Shaundi, two of your major allies from Saints Row 2, will be returning as accomplices.
Weapons can now be upgraded. For example, you can fit sniper scopes and under-barrel grenade launchers to the assault rifle.
Another character is Oleg, an eight-foot-tall monster of a man that can toss cars around. The Syndicate attempts to clone him, but science goes wrong and creates a bunch of dumb copies. These will show up as new enemy types in the game.
A new RC gun lets you shoot an electronic bug that can control vehicles remotely. You will be able to upgrade it to control tanks and air transport.
Three new gangs: Morning Star, which model themselves after masked wrestlers. The Deckers, computer nerds into money laundering and security. STAG, a government-sanctioned group designed to destroy other gangs.
Missions can be completed in multiple ways. For instance, you could blow up an important skyscraper, or take the building over. Another example if stealing a Morning Star boat full of prostitutes — you can sell the boat back to the gang, or keep it and pimp the girls yourself for profit.
A traditional leveling system has been included this time. Your Respect gauge now works like experience points. You’ll rank up with increased respect, and kit out your character with new perks and weapons. Player choice will be paramount. You’ll also earn points to make yourself skinnier or fatter, similar to GTA: San Andreas.
Cars can be upgraded with more features this time. Various aesthetic and performance tweaks will be offered, such as durable bumpers, extra speed, oversized spoilers and colored underglows. More costume options for the player character are, of course, available. Confirmed costumes include space suits, cowboys/cowgirls, cheerleaders, mexican wrestlers, superheroes, pirates, ninjas, and furries.
New weapons include a giant dildo and tactical airstrikes.
Every single weapon has included a specific animation for nut shots. With a pistol, you’ll drop to a knee and whip the gun into the fruits. With a bazooka, you’ll take a full golf swing at the tender portions.
The button for sprinting has been dubbed the AWESOME button because, in contextual situations, it will make your character do cool things. For example, if you sprint to a car, you’ll do a missile dropkick through the window to hijack cars more efficiently.
Confirmed Activity side-missions include: Professor Genki’s Super Ethical Reality Climax, a Japanese game show full of dangerous stunts and, I’m sure, plenty of charming racism. Tank Mayhem, in which you use a tank to destroy specific high value targets. Guardian Angel, where you must drive carefully around town with a tiger in the back of your car.
As earlier stated, online multiplayer has been killed off, but the co-op remains intact.

We look forward to seeing more of Saints Row 3 as we get closer to it’s Holiday release.

[via NeoGAF]

Bejeweled Blitz Preview

Adam Shear — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 04:27:29 +0000

Bejeweled Blitz looks to be the next installment of the popular Bejeweled series to take advantage of the power of Xbox Live while putting a different spin on the classic puzzle game. I was invited to see the game for myself. Jeff Green, the editorial director of PopCap Games took me through a tour of Bejeweled Blitz and showed me most of the features this new game has to offer.

Bejeweled Blitz has been already loved by users of Facebook and the iPhone version of Bejeweled 2. What is different about Blitz is that it is not about taking your time to find the right combination of jewels. You only have one minute to make matches and compete for a high score. There is barely any time to think. Through playing a few rounds, I can definitely say it felt very different than what I usually expect when playing Bejeweled. Its a clever twist to an old formula which can be played in both classic and twist modes.

With the game also comes a brand new intuitive method of control. You use the analog stick to control the cursor on screen as usual but for making your jewel move up, down, left, or right, you use the face buttons. Pressing the A button would make the jewel move down while pressing B would make it move right. It is almost like using a d-pad. This new control method is definitely intuitive but for those who are used the original Bejeweled controls, this will take some getting used to.

The game features single player, local battles, and online battles via Xbox Live for up to 16 players as well as online leaderboards. Local battles are fun as you compete with a friend for a high score as well as how stylish your moves are. I did not get to play the crazy 16 player party mode due to technical difficulties but it sounds like a lot of fun.

Overall, Bejeweled Blitz looks to be a fun twist to a new formula. The new control method will take some getting used to for veterans but it is very intuitive and smart. Unfortunately for those who want an option for an endless mode, there is none in Bejeweled Blitz but according to PopCap’s editorial director Jeff Green, Bejeweled 3 for Xbox Live Arcade is currently under development to satisfy the fans of classic Bejeweled game modes. Anyone who loves Bejeweled should really give Blitz a try. Look out for Bejeweled Blitz when it hits Xbox Live Arcade later this Winter.

Games to Watch for in 2011 True Crime : Hong Kong

Greg Halter — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:42:55 +0000

Although this game was slated to release originally in 2010 and was pushed back to 2011 here are some details on the upcoming Activision title.

From Activision

True Crime®: Hong Kong thrusts players into the role of undercover detective Wei Shen as he infiltrates one of the world’s largest and most dangerous gang organizations – the Sun On Yee Triads of Hong Kong. With orders to “do whatever it takes to become one of them,” players will engage in fast-paced martial arts combat, explosive gunfights, high-octane action driving, and acrobatic free-running chases as they navigate True Crime‘s treacherous Hong Kong criminal underworld.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

True Crime®: Hong Kong thrusts players into the role of undercover detective Wei Shen as he infiltrates one of the world’s largest and most dangerous gang organizations – the Sun On Yee Triads of Hong Kong. With orders to “do whatever it takes to become one of them,” players will engage in fast-paced martial arts combat, explosive gunfights, high-octane action driving, and acrobatic free-running chases as they navigate True Crime’s treacherous Hong Kong criminal underworld.

Inspired by classic Asian cinema style and Hollywood action thrillers, True Crime: Hong Kong’s story unfolds as Wei’s reputation and influence grows within the Triad organization, and he becomes deeply torn between the lines of right and wrong. In order to keep his cover and continue ascending the gang’s ranks, Wei must balance the duality of his moral duty as a cop against the plethora of illegal activity he must commit, including theft, extortion, drug running, smuggling guns, shaking down informants, kidnapping, human trafficking and more.

To stay alive, Wei must think like them, fight like them, and kill like them…

KEY FEATURES:

UNDERCOVER COP STORY – Wei Shen is not just another thug, but rather a highly trained, bad-ass undercover detective from Hong Kong’s Triad Bureau on a mission to topple one of the city’s biggest Triad organizations. Gamers assume the role of Wei as he engages in a variety of illegal activity to keep his cover and rise through the Triad ranks, using his mastery of martial arts, devastating weaponry, fast driving, and on-foot agility to defeat anyone that stands between him and his objective. Along the way, players will unlock countless ways to defeat rival thugs as they upgrade Wei’s vicious hand-to-hand combat skills and weapons arsenal.

OPEN-WORLD HONG KONG – True Crime is the first open-world game set in an Asian city, providing a refreshingly new, exotic experience for the genre. The historic, constant struggle between the Hong Kong Triads and HKPD provides the narrative backdrop for the game’s main story and various, branching side missions and open-world activities; and the East meets West paradox particular to Hong Kong will be experienced via a mix of eclectic architecture, bustling night markets, labyrinthine alleys and diverse neighborhoods; all set against a lush and vibrant palette of neon, lights and color, and an ambient soundscape and overall flavor unique to the city.

KICK…(DRAMATIC PAUSE)…ASS CINEMATIC ACTION! – Inspired by some of Hong Kong cinema and Hollywood’s greatest action flicks, True Crime’s on-foot mechanics provide a fluid, dynamic gameplay experience where players can seamlessly move between martial arts combat to ranged and melee weapons from any free-running state, providing a great deal of variety and freedom in how and where Wei kicks bad-guy ass! The game’s deep hand-to-hand combat system features multiple combinations of strikes, grapples, counters, weapon disarms, melee weapon duels, and devastating environmental attacks and finishing moves, positioning Wei as a predator in a sea of prey.

REPUTATION IS EVERYTHING – Term: Face; Definition: One’s outward, external projection of their social standing. Hong Kong is a living, breathing world filled with people motivated by money, power, consumer consumption and respect. True Crime features a pervasive social system, where Wei’s actions have real-time rewards and consequences, providing gamers with a rich and fascinating layer of authentic Hong Kong reality interweaved with the game’s undercover cop story. Whether it’s the car Wei drives, the clothes he wears, the girls he dates, or the Triad activities he engages in, everything Wei does can alter the way his friends, enemies and strangers react toward him. The game’s innovative “Face” system serves as the gateway for successfully navigating all that True Crime’s robust open-world Hong Kong sandbox has to offer, providing opportunities to interact with new characters, unlock additional story elements, and more.

WE’VE GOT TALENT – True Crime takes players on a roller coaster ride through a vast, action packed open-world Hong Kong setting filled with intriguing characters and a fantastic array of music. The game’s VO cast features a lineup of top Hollywood and Hong Kong cinema talent, including Tom Wilkinson, James Hong, Byron Mann, Dustin Nguyen, George Cheung and Sammo Hung to name a few, lending added authenticity to the versatile characters Wei encounters throughout True Crime’s intense storyline. And because every criminal can only hope to get their ass beat to the hottest jams, the game features an original score created by award winning composer Bryan Tyler, and a soundtrack headlined by Grammy Award winning recording artist, producer and musician Pharrell Williams, with a robust mix of over 100 songs and additional celebrity DJ’s voicing True Crime: Hong Kong’s in-car radio stations.

Developer: United Front Games (UFG)

Publisher: Activision Publishing, Inc.

Release Date: 2011

Platforms: Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and the PC.

SRP: $59.99 (PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360)

$49.99 (PC)

ESRB Rating: “RP” Rating Pending (Expected “M” Mature – content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older.)

For more details on the game visit the official website www.truecrime.com.

Games to Watch for in 2011 X-Men Destiny

Greg Halter — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:03:24 +0000

Activision has revealed a teaser trailer for their upcoming game X-Men Destiny which is set to release this fall.

From Activision:

A new breed of mutant heroes will invade game consoles next fall in X-Men Destiny, from Marvel Entertainment and Activision. The all-new original video game casts players as new mutant recruits in a rich, branching storyline that features a deep element of choice and gives players ultimate control of their destiny.

For more information on the game go to their official website at www.XMenDestiny.com.

Dragon Age 2 Combat Walkthrough

A K — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Bioware recently released this combat walkthrough video that gives a glimpse of Dragon Age 2 in action.

Mike Laidlaw, lead designer for the game, gives a brief overview of the different approaches you can take to combat. You can play in real time as an action RPG, or you can take the strategic pause-and-play approach.

Either way, Dragon Age 2 is shaping up to be a promising successor to Origins.

Preview: Bulletstorm

Liam Roberts — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:01:39 +0000

Recently I was able to attend the Eurogamer Expo held in Earls Court, London. While at the expo I was able to get hands on experience with a variety of different games, one of the most memorable being Bulletstorm.

Bulletstorm sees players taking on the role of Grayson Hunt, an ex mercenary exiled to the far reaches of the galaxy after realising he was fighting for the wrong side. Brimming with revenge Grayson first has to get off the planet, one outrageous path of destruction before the next.

Bulletstorm is a first person shooter like no other. Games are becoming more and more realistic, Bulletstorm is not. The game is centred on over the top action challenging the player to kill their enemies in ever more stylish fashions rewarding them with masses of points if they do.

I started the demo in a desert like environment, I was met with a sandy floor littered with cacti who themselves where covered in ominous looking spikes ready for the approaching enemies. I was armed with an energy beam whip, an assault rifle and the “flail gun” however the most interesting weapon is the environment which provided impalements, explosions and deadly drops. I was able to use the whip in order to grab enemies pull them towards me or flick them into the air at which point they entered a personal slow down of time allowing me to kill them however I wanted.

For example I was able to move close and kick a few into those nice shiny spikes on the cactus. I was able to carefully place a bullet into an enemies head or become really stylish pulling an enemy towards me, firing the flail guns grenades into him before kicking him back at another enemy for nice looking explosion. The different ways to kill enemies is the main focus of this game with more and more points being given to those who can execute stylish, fancy looking kills.

Using different techniques is also required to overcome certain enemies, for example later in the demo I was presented with a Heavy character, a large enemy who happened to also wield a very large gun. To beat this enemy I had to use the whip in order to flip him around in order to attack his weak point for massive damage.

Shortly following this I was presented with another new enemy, a giant worm, and I could see that more ingenuity would be needed to overcome this foe. Unfortunately that was the end of the demo leaving me unable to experiment with different tactics but thirsty for more Bulletstorm.

Bulletstorm isn’t like most first person shooters, as I moved through the game I didn’t have to keep ducking in and out of cover to slowly rebuild health, I was just marching through and focusing not on if I could kill enemies but on how I killed them. I cannot convey just how much fun Bulletstorm was providing a break from the realism of recent games, I cannot wait till next year when I can play it again.

Bioware Teases New Game

A K — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:58:39 +0000

Bioware recently released this screenshot for an upcoming game. The game’s official announcement will come during the Spike Video Game Awards on December 11th.

From the looks of the weapon and armor, it looks like a near-future setting.

They went the far-in-the-future Sci-Fi route with Mass Effect, and back-in-the-day fantasy realm with Dragon Age. This looks to be somewhere between the two.

Also, knowing Bioware, we can expect this to be some sort of RPG. Either way, you know it’s going to be good.

Two New Fighters Announced for Marvel Vs. Capcom 3

A K — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Two new fighters have been announced for Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.

Zero from the Mega Man Universe looks like a great new addition. Check the gameplay trailer to see what he brings to the table.

She-Hulk will be joining her fellow green giant the Hulk. She looks like a quicker, smaller and more agile version of the Hulk that uses wrestling moves.

[via Examiner]