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Kinect Star Wars Review: Boldly Going Where Star Wars Didn't Need to Go

Views: 680 | Added by: shadow-runner | Date: 2012-04-07 | Comments (0)

Earlier this week, Gamasutra published a scathing criticism of Final Fantasy XIII-2 penned by our colleague (and occasional Retronauts podcast guest) Christian Nutt. Though contextualized through an extended comparison to Red Letter Media's popular video critiques of the Star Wars prequel films, his commentary touched upon many of the same points and concerns I addressed in my own review of the game. Where our opinions differ, I think, is in our ultimate conclusion of ... Read more »

Views: 553 | Added by: shadow-runner | Date: 2012-04-07 | Comments (0)

How Can Final Fantasy Versus XIII Not be a Disappointment?

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Square Enix announced Final Fantasy Versus XIII way back at E3 in 2006, along with its peers Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII. Since then, both vanilla XIII and Agito have actually seen release -- Agito under the new name "Type-0" -- and the former has even enjoyed a recent sequel. Yet Versus remains nowhere to be seen; Square didn't e ... Read more »

Views: 538 | Added by: shadow-runner | Date: 2012-04-07 | Comments (0)

Infinity Blade 2: ClashMob Revealed

Chair Entertainment's first major Infinity Blade 2 update is due out next week. It introduces welcome interface tweaks, new enemy designs and fresh equipment to master, but the true star is unquestionably the game's brand-new ClashMobs feature.

ClashMobs are accessible at any time from Infinity Blade 2's main menu. These special battles give gamers an opportunity to work cooperatively with hundreds (or thousands) of other players in order to take down enemies with truly massive health pools. If everyone that bands together manages to get the job done, they're rewarded with cash, gems, or other exclusive loot. Fail, and players can just try again the next day, since new ClashMobs will be kicking off on a regular basis.

Views: 567 | Added by: shadow-runner | Date: 2012-04-07 | Comments (0)

Gearbox Takes Aliens' Story in New Directions

Getting Lance Henriksen on board to reprise his role as Bishop is one of many ways Gearbox Software proves its dedication to the Alien franchise. Having him tell players, "Don't ask me to do the thing with the knife" proves that Aliens: Colonial Marines reallygets it.

Bringing Bishop back would be trite if Gearbox wasn't delicate about why he existed within this new story. Remember, Ellen Ripley's android went with her after his gruesome encounter at the end of Aliens. But he's synthetic, one model in a large line of manufactured men. Naturally, there's a synthetic attached to every Colonial Marine Corps group. So of course he'll join players as they explore the remains of The Sulaco, Hadley's Hope, and The Derelict.

If all this sounds like gibberish, well, it might be time to catch up on the Alien films. G ... Read more »

Views: 561 | Added by: shadow-runner | Date: 2012-04-06 | Comments (0)

Civilization V: Gods & Kings Review

For the first expansion to its well-reviewed turn-based strategy game, Firaxis is adding many of the things Civ fans normally expect from extended content -- including 27 new units, 14 new buildings, and 9 new civilizations (including the Celts, Mayans, Byzantines, Dutch, and Carthaginians). But the changes that have me the most excited are the re-introduction of religion and espionage to the political mechanizations.

Rather than recycle the religion system used in Civilization IV, for Gods & Kings lead designer Ed Beach wanted to build a new system from the ground up. The result is a new resource, faith, that players gather just like they do with culture ... Read more »

Views: 531 | Added by: shadow-runner | Date: 2012-04-05 | Comments (0)

Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut Free DLC Coming in Summer

BioWare has announced that it will be releasing extra ending content for Mass Effect 3 this summer in the form of free DLC.

The Mass Effect Extended Cut DLC will feature new cinematics and epilogue scenes that will expand upon the game's ending, providing extra detail and insight to fans. It will be available for free on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC - as long as you download it before April 2014.

Studio founder Dr Ray Muzyka commented that this was an ideal way to both keep the creative vision of Mass Effect 3 and appease fans unhappy with its ending. "Since launch, we have had time to listen to the feedback from our most passionate fans and we are responding," he says.

"With the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut we think we have struck a good balance in delivering the answers players are looking for while maintaining the tea ... Read more »

Views: 513 | Added by: shadow-runner | Date: 2012-04-05 | Comments (0)

Xenoblade Chronicles Review

It's always possible to innovate within a comfortable and well-established template. Nintendo is traditionally the master of this art, secreting gems of novelty within game designs that are often a decade or two old, perfected through years of iteration. Just because a game conforms in many respects to the conventions of its genre, that doesn't mean it can't do anything new, and it certainly doesn't mean that it can't be wonderful.
So yes, in Xenoblade Chronicles, you play an orphaned young hero who, for reasons unexplained, is the only one capable of saving the world from a mysterious evil. (He doesn't have amnesia, though, thankfully.) Yes, there is an ultimate weapon with untold power. Yes, you wander a giant world in a party of three, following a story punctuated by enough cutsc ... Read more »