Author - Ripper71

One Piece: Pirate Warriors and Thundercats Release Dates Announced

2012/07/19
Ripper71
News

SAN JOSE, Calif. – NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. officially announced the North American ship dates for One Piece: Pirate Warriors on the PlayStation Network and Thundercats for the Nintendo DS.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors puts players in the role of Luffy and other pirates from the popular anime series.  Players team up with other members from  the Straw Hat crew to defeat the unrelenting onslaught of pirates.  In One Piece: Pirate Warriors, players will be able to fight waves upon waves of enemies in both online and offline co-op modes with their friends.  One Piece: Pirate Warriors will be available for purchase exclusively on the PlayStation Network on September 25.

Thunder Thunder THUNDERCATS! Fans of this classic animated series should mark their calendars as Lion-O makes his debut on the Nintendo DS system on September 25.  Play as Lion-O and take on Mumm-Ra and his forces of evil in this side-scrolling adventure that follows the storyline of the new animated series!

 

Zombies And Fairies Invade Sims 3 Supernatural Expansion

2012/07/19
Ripper71
News, Previews

Fairies flutter and zombies shuffle and shuffle their way into Sims 3 in this preview of the upcoming Supernatural Expansion.

Fairies are fickle and magical supernaturals with an innate connection to the natural world.  From the start of the expansion fairies will naturally appear as human-like creatures with fluttering wings.  Through special interactions they will be able to transform into their true form which resembles a glowing insect that is miniscule in size.  Fairies can be created in Create A Sim and have a slew of new customization options available that range from choosing the shape and color of their wings to adjusting the pointiness of their ears.  Fairies often bestow gifts to others and carry special auras that increase their skills as well as the skills of those around them.

In contrast to lithe and sprightly fairies, The Sims 3 Supernatural Expansion introduces moaning and roaming zombies into the game.  These lumbering creatures have just two things on their mind: brains and grains.  As they shuffle through the neighborhood, zombies attempt to nibble on Sims and pick at their well-manicured plant boxes.  Not even other supernatural Sims are immune to zombification!  A bite from one of these brain-hungry creatures can leave your Sims with temporary or long-lasting effects.

Special Plants vs. Zombies Peashooters to prevent zombie attacks are included in the Limited Edition version available to those who pre-order the game.  In addition to the Peashooters, the Limited Edition of The Sims 3 Supernatural include creepy iconic apparel form the world of Plants vs. Zombies.

 

Carrier Command: Gaea Mission New Teaser Video

2012/07/19
Ripper71
News

Carrier Command: Gaea Mission has released an interesting new teaser video that had me watching for a girl in white with black hair crawling out of my monitor.  So since I am afraid I only have seven days to share it here is the video and a gallery!

Video:

Gallery:

EA Sports Joins With Tottenham Hotspur Football Club

2012/07/19
Ripper71
News

GUILDFORD, Surrey – July 19, 2012 – Electronic Arts Inc. and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club today announced they have agreed to a three-year partnership that will make EA SPORTS the Official Video Game Partner of the English Premier League club.

“We are extremely excited to join a world class football club like Tottenham Hotspur as an Official Club Partner,” said Matt Bilbey, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Football, EA SPORTS. “This is an opportunity for us to create a deeper connection with their passionate, global fan base, and use our game as a platform to engage Spurs supporters all season long.”

In addition, EA SPORTS will create a special Tottenham Hotspur game packaging sleeve for FIFA 13, which fans will be able to download from the club website (www.tottenhamhotspur.com) prior to the games launch.

The Book of Unwritten Tales Review (PC/Steam)

2012/07/16
Ripper71
News, Reviews

Two things that need to be stated off the top, The Book of Unwritten Tales is a bit silly and it is fun for the whole family.  That being said the reason it is fun for the whole family is some of the jokes are visually silly bringing the giggles of the children into play or they are pop culture references that will go right over a kid’s head and smack the adult right in the face.  Usually in my reviews you have to wait until the end for final judgement but in this case I wanted to make sure parents knew to pick this up for family friendly fun.

Story Time Kids!:

A goblin professor of archeology discovers an ancient artifact that contains great powers, powers that the bad guys want to harness for their own needs.  After his whip is used for a brief escape the story really begins as he enlists the aid of a sexy female elf and a hobbit looking gnome with a magic ring to take two separate adventures for the common goal of getting the artifact into the hands of the good guys.  Between those sentences you should get some of the first pop culture references that keep on going through the whole story.  The story is well thought out and very original which seems kinda funny when just about every idea is borrowed from something else.  The key is the interweaving of references to tell a good coherent story.  That’s why it works so well, the character’s may be talking about a game called WOB and subscription rates but on the screen you are seeing a server monkey (literally a monkey) throwing a silly fit.  This quite honestly is one of the best told point and click puzzle game stories ever.

Graphics And Audio:

The graphics are really nice and the sound is crisp and clean which works well since the voice acting is excellent and draws you in, never seeming mismatched.  The gnome is particularly well acted which is good since he has so many lines and so many of the pop references.  The key to great graphics is for them to occasionally make the player stop and admire them which happens and the key to great sound is to not draw much attention to itself which works perfect here.  The only slight drawback to these is that there are lots of loads but they are so quick that there is no load screens, just some turning cogs and the next part is ready to go!

Gameplay:

Control wise there is really only so much to be said about a point and click puzzle game since the controls are all point and click.  The real question of gameplay in these games comes in about how difficult the puzzles are.  A good puzzle game will be able to be solved by it’s target audience but be difficult enough to make the player think, by their nature puzzles are supposed to stimulate the brain.  This game does a good job of balancing the two while still having fun with references and silly humor.  Many of these games have a hint function in the heads up display but this one doesn’t, which could be one of the frustrating parts of the game for some folks, getting stuck on a puzzle then realizing they had what they needed in their inventory the whole time, that they simply needed to go through a transition for the storyline to continue or that they needed to change characters to solve a puzzle.  These issues really make family play a high recommendation because the more minds working on a puzzle the easier it generally is to solve.  At a certain point in the game it requires character changes to solve puzzles so that is definitely something to keep in mind.

Last Call:

The Book of Unwritten Tales uses very creative storylines and pop culture references to elevate the game to one I would recommend to the family just so that all the jokes can be gotten.  It also helps to have adventure movie geeks playing because just a few of the references without giving away the story are to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, WoW, The Three Musketeers, Magic the Gathering and believe it or not that really is just naming a few.  The game even takes jabs at itself, making fun of the point and click genre and the family fun nature of it.  I recommend this game not to just fans of the genre but to fans of pop culture in general.  This is a point and click adventure game that is smarter than the sum of its puzzles.

Gameplay Trailer:

Gallery:

DCS: Combined Arms Available For Pre-Purchase And Open Beta

2012/07/11
Ripper71
News

DUXFORD, UK – The Fighter Collection and Eagle Dynamics have released the pre-purchase for DCS: Combined Arms and a series of updates to DCS World, DCS: P51D Mustang Beta, DCS: A-10C Warthog and DCS: Black Shark 2.  DCS: Combined Arms combines real time strategy gaming, first person armor warfare gaming and directing the ground battle from the cockpit of a DCS aircraft like the A-10C Warthog, Ka-50 Black Shark or P-51D Mustang.  Using the Command Map to move ground forces, set artillery fire missions and control the ground battle, assume the role of a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) and designate targets for close air support aircraft in multiplayer games or directly control armor vehicles or air defense weapons and engage the enemy.  It is now available for open beta as well to get you right into the action.

Download the pre-purchase of Combined Arms for $29.99 from: http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/index.php?end_pos=136&scr=products&lang=en

Trailer:

Gallery:

Resonance Review (PC/GOG.COM)

2012/07/05
Ripper71
News, Reviews

I recently reviewed Tiny And Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers which was a great game with a polished and modern stylized look.  Resonance on the other hand I appreciate for its rough, old school look that warms my gamer’s heart.  It reminds me of the days of Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest and Alone In The Dark, back when Sierra was creating its point and click legacies.  Well I am obviously not the only one who remembers it because xii games and Wadjet Eye Games teamed up to bring this game for gamers by gamers to life in all its old school glory with a new school twist.

Storyline:

The game starts off letting you know that bad things have happened around the world, some great attack that is being covered by the world’s news feeds.  You can’t tell quite what and right before you get a chance to even guess the game takes you back in time where you get to choose from four clocks on the screen, each one representing a moment in the four main characters’ lives.  With this you begin to piece together and influence the events leading up to the disaster and cause all the characters who were otherwise strangers to cross paths over a research project called Resonance.

Graphics And Sound:

These are all designed to give you the feeling of playing the game back in the old days and the game never breaks the illusion of being a two decade old point and click game.  It doesn’t fill a wide screen, the graphics can only look so clean and the audio is far from state of the art.  All this comes together to create nostalgia for those who gamed in those days and a sense of discovering the old days for those experiencing it for the first time.  Heck this seems to be reason enough to pick up the game, then when you add a complex timeline and engaging story this is a definite pick.

Gameplay:

This retro feel continues heavily into the gameplay which, for the most part, is a standard old school point and click where you move your arrow around the screen until you find something you can click on and you do and see what happens.  You do the same thing with your inventory items, sometimes separating an item, some times dragging them together.  Anyone who has played a point and click adventure will find this all the same as it was two decades ago.  The twist in the game is the use of long term and short term memory.  During conversation or examining things subjects will automatically pop into long term memory to the character you are playing.  This can be dragged down to the conversation bar or interact with the short term memory items which consists of items in you inventory you think might be important and you drag into the short term memory.

So maybe you pick up a coin next to another character.  That character sees it and it triggers a long term memory.  You can drag that down to the conversation bar and discuss it or you can drag it to short term memory and see if it helps triggering more long term memories.  It sounds complicated but really is based pretty much on the same principle of items in your inventory interacting or being dragged down to interact with your environment.  The items just have more locations to interact with and you have two more “inventories.”  It is obvious though they wanted us to remember the old days they also wanted to improve on a system that hasn’t changed much over the years.  It would not surprise me if this wound up becoming the new standard for these type of games if enough people take notice of it, the curse and blessing of an indie game is how easy it is for the mainstream to overlook it.

Last Call:

It is hard to talk about the game much without giving away plot.  It mostly plays and looks like an old school game with the exception of new innovations in the “inventories” and the fact that you can create your own timeline to a certain degree.  If you like the old school point and click play or you are curious about the new additions to it this game is an absolute steal at $8.99.

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Tiny And Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers Review (PC/GOG.COM)

2012/07/02
Ripper71
News, Reviews

I know that with a name like Tiny And Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers you expect a hardcore game with over the top shooter action probably produced by Sony for several million dollars.  You are wrong sir!  Or madam!  This is an indie game release from Black Pants Game Studio that made has already won a bunch of awards and deserves every one of them.  This is one of those rare occasions where I really gush over a game because I think it is a defining example of what an indie game can bring that rivals the big name companies.

Story Time Kids!:

The legend unfolds with Tiny racing across the desert with his trusty companion The Radio and a robot driver in Robot Taxi’s Taxey in search of Tiny’s mean big brother Big who stole an ancient artifact given to Tiny by their grandpa for safe keeping.  The artifact is some tighty not-so-whitey crusty underwear which are worn on the head and give the wearer great powers!  This is all discovered in the first few minutes of the game so no need for a spoiler alert.  Tiny is preparing for the confrontation with his brother by practicing on his Reality Boy game system when HIT! the taxey is wiped out and the journey begins in earnest to catch the daunting and deadly older sibling and save the world!

Graphics And Audio:

Normally I talk graphics and audio at the end of the review but I just have to address them now.  They are terrific and amazing in their stylized fun.  They set the mood for the game as much as the introductory storyline and the concept art matches the actual game graphics so well that it looks like they were just copied exactly whereas the concept art on most games is usually far more detailed than the final results.

I ran around my little sandbox plenty of the time just to take in the sights.  It screams indie, comic books, even a little Borderlands in a playful way.  The fun doesn’t stop there either.  Instead of just a couple songs here and there composed as background music they loaded the game with a whole album worth of indie bands and made it so that you find the songs on cassette tapes throughout the game.  While writing this review I have already listened to one of the songs on YouTube a half dozen times.  The sound effects are good and match the action perfectly and the visual interpretations of the sounds look straight out of old Batman episodes but far more creative.

Gameplay:

You cruise along behind Tiny as he uses his gadgets to solve puzzles and playfully destroy his sandbox environment.  His main weapons are a laser, a grappling hook and a remote grasping rocket claw.  So basically you can push directly, push and pull from distances and cut things up.

This sounds like a fairly basic amount of powers to have at your disposal but you quickly realize how diverse the options it gives you can be.  For example say you need something from the top of that rock pillar above. You could push and pull rocks and debris over to create a set of stairs to jump up to get the item or you can use your laser and just cut the the pillar down and retrieve the item on the ground.  Just about every puzzle has more than one way to solve it and some require some seriously creative thinking to figure out one of the ways.  In this game like many trying something creative can get you killed but luckily that just means you try again from the last save point which generally isn’t too far back.

As if the puzzles aren’t tempting death enough your egomaniacal brother Big is also trying to slow you down/kill you off so that he can make sure no one can take those ancient undies and their power away from him and stop him from ruling the world.  He also taunts you more than a Frenchman with an outrageous accent at the top of a castle wall.  At one point the game gets a bit more challenging as you have to use your laser to cut rocks in half in mid air so Big can’t squish you with them, practice makes perfect with this and failure means you are squished and just have to try again.

Personally I would be tempted to let him keep the undies and take my buddy The Radio to the store and buy a fresh pair but Tiny isn’t so easily discouraged.  Plus using the laser and rocket claw are so much fun there is generally very little  environment left in his wake and the time flies by.  Did I mention you crush weird black creatures that live in holes?  No?  Well you do that too with pieces of the environment.  All this is done with an excellent physics engine they built themselves that makes just about everything move or be destroyed exactly how you imagined it.

But I Want More!:

If there is any complaint I have with the game it would only be that it is short.  On their website Black Pants Game Studio put (Episode One) after the name of the game which I hope means that this is just the first installment of many more to come.  Also since the game has so many ways to solve puzzles and hidden things it is a definite replay.

Last Call:

If you read any of this article you can tell I really love the game, the only thing that can compete with the game itself is the price of $9.99 on GOG.com and comes with wallpapers, avatars, music track, artbook, poster and a map.  This game is a total brain teaser to play and a no brainer to buy.  Show the Bigs of the world that the Tinys can save the day just as well as they can.

Here is a music video for one of the songs with special animation made by the developers!

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