Mix one part third-person shooter with one part chess, and you’ve got something pretty close to 5th Cell’s latest game.
Picking up a controller to play a third-person shooter for the first time, you tend to know what you’re getting into more often than not.
There’s probably going to be a cover system, and there’s probably going to be a sprint button that lowers the camera view awkwardly close to your character’s butt.
We live in the post-Gears of War era, after all, and most third-person shooters these days reside somewhere in that mold.
At first glance, Hybrid looks like that type of game. You play in a postapocalyptic sci-fi wasteland and spend most of your time hunkering down behind waist-high slabs of concrete and steel waiting for the right time to fire off a few rounds at your enemies. But when you decide to leave cover and start moving around the map, that’s when all the third-person shooter muscle memory you’ve developed over the past half-decade suddenly becomes a whole lot less useful.
Hybrid employs a control scheme that makes the game feel like a third-person shooter crossed with a chess board. The left stick lets you highlight potential cover objects in the distance, while the A button sends you automatically running to that point. That’s the core of movement: highlight cover, run to it, and repeat.
Within that basic control setup, though, are a number of variations that let you wiggle around more freely and strategically. For example, double-tapping A lets you quickly fly over to an object with a jetpack–a tool that can also be used to take vertical cover behind objects jutting out from the walls in a fairly mind-bending display of sci-fi acrobatics.
Atlus localizing Japanese horror adventure game for release on Xbox 360, PS3 this summer.
Last month, the heavily hyped Marvel vs. Capcom 3 launched in Japan but found itself a distant second place on the weekly sales charts to a title largely unfamiliar to gamers in the West. Atlus is giving those gamers a chance to familiarize themselves with it, as today the publisher announced a summer North American release for Catherine on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
A horror adventure game, Catherine has players navigating tricky relationship waters as Vincent. When the commitment-phobic protagonist’s girlfriend Katherine starts talking about taking their relationship to the next level, Vincent finds himself straying. While out drinking with friends, he meets a flirty bombshell named Catherine, whom–after a series of events he can’t quite recall–he wakes up next to the following morning.
In addition to helping Vincent make decisions to extricate himself from the situation, players will be called on to fight off the physical manifestations of his fears and guilt as he sleeps. Atlus will also include local competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes, complete with leaderboard support.
Although the game is an original property, Catherine is a collaboration between a number of notable creators. Katsura Hashino, director of Persona 3 and 4, is serving as producer on Catherine, with help from that series’ character artist Shigenori Soejima and composer Shoji Meguro. Going beyond the world of games, Japanese animation shop Studio4˚C (Tekkonkinkreet, Halo Legends) also lent its talents to the project.
According to the official Twitter feeds of Guitar Hero and DJ Hero, both games will enjoy at least one more track pack thanks to fans’ “continued support” for both brands. The Twitter streams did not state which songs will be available in the upcoming packs or affix a release date to them.
We team up for some good ol’ fantasy action adventure in this upcoming cooperative game from InXile.
For those of you who have been stating your disapproval for the lack of split-screen multiplayer, guess what? Hunted: The Demon’s Forge will have split-screen multiplayer. The entire game is designed around cooperative play with a friend or AI counterpart, so the addition of split-screen is a welcome one.
We didn’t actually get to play split-screen, however (we just saw it on the menu); but during our recent meeting with Bethesda, we were able to spend some time playing through the tutorial and partnered up with a developer from InXile for some dungeon-crawling action.
Described as a cover-based hack-and-slash or third-person shooter–depending on who you’re playing as–Hunted is an action adventure that encourages cooperative exploration with lots of combat included. The story follows a pair of mercenaries: the more serious, mace-wielding Caddoc; and the sassy, silver-haired elf, E’lara. The tutorial felt familiar, especially because it was essentially the demo we’ve seen from last year. Although, it did give us a chance to play as either Caddoc or E’lara to see which one we preferred.
Depending on your play style, Caddoc is your traditional brute that can get up close and melee. He’s got a shield and a big club or axe, so you’re pretty much set as long as you keep mashing those buttons. E’lara requires a bit more finesse to play as because her melee weapons are not as strong as Caddoc’s weapons so she relies heavily on her bow. As E’lara, it will feel more like a third-person shooter, with limited ammo and everything.
There are pick-ups and weapons along the way, but knowing that you can’t just randomly fire one arrow after another will force you to come up with some kind of tactic.
The cooperative play in the game has been described as “co-op at a distance,” meaning that you don’t necessarily have to be right next to the other person at all times. If you ever find yourself lost, you can push down on the left stick to bring up a blue light that will point you in the right direction. Depending on the situation, sometimes Caddoc is going to have to take the brunt of the assault, especially against heavily armed undead creatures that would make short work of E’lara.
When one person goes down, the other has a chance to revive him or her. You can’t carry multiple healing items, so you’ll have to keep an eye out for potions and your health. There’s no inventory to manage either, so when you come across something nice, take it and move forward.
It takes teamwork to solve the puzzles that you’ll encounter, and the ones that we came across basically involved lighting every brazier and exploring all the dark corners. Hunted: The Demon’s Forge looks to be a solid cooperative experience if you’ve been itching to do some dungeon-crawling with a partner. We’re looking forward to more of it when the game ships on June 1.
We shed some light on The Darkness II and catch up on the life and times of Jackie Estacado.
Jackie Estacado has it rough. As the protagonist of 2007′s The Darkness–a first-person shooter based on the comic series of the same name–Jackie led a content life with his girlfriend, Jenny. However, on his 21st birthday, a malevolent force awoke within him and drew our unfortunate hero down a path of violence, hardship, and sacrifice. It was the darkness–a primal force of creation and chaos passed down through the Estacado family for generations.
It has been roughly four years since we parted ways with The Darkness, and since then, it has changed hands from developer Starbreeze to Digital Extremes. We recently met up with publisher 2K Games to watch a demonstration of The Darkness II in motion and see what changes the new developer has in store.
Our first look at the game started off, appropriately enough, in the dark. We could hear the steady beat of a hammer not far in the distance. As our character opened his eyes, we could see that a hand–Jackie’s hand–was having a large, metal spike nailed through it. He was being crucified in the dim confines of what appeared to be a filthy torture chamber.
Our captor was apparently a mysterious crippled man who appeared to be gloating at our distress while surrounded by jackbooted thugs. As he spoke, Jackie’s gaze dropped from his punctured hand down to his midsection. A steady stream of wispy, black essence was flowing freely from his gut and into an ornate canister. We were obviously bearing witness to some dark ritual, but how did we get here?
Right on cue, a flashback transported us back to the prior events. Jackie Estacado, now the don of the Franchetti crime family, had just arrived at an opulent Italian restaurant and was being led to his specially prepared table. As he walked through the establishment, we got our first good look at The Darkness II’s new art style.
We reunite with our favorite childhood characters in Double Fine’s latest creation.
The third game to spawn out of Double Fine’s “Amnesia Fortnight” brainstorming session is Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, an interactive story that revolves around some loveable monsters that we all know and love. This is obviously a game aimed at kids–more specifically the four to eight year old demographic–and it’s meant to be played cooperatively with a parent or older sibling. Given the amount of care that has been devoted to the developer’s recent releases, it’s probably safe to say that Once Upon a Monster is looking to get that same special treatment. How can you not smile when you see the happy-go-lucky Elmo bounce around with the cute furry little monster that is Grover?
Once Upon a Monster unfolds just like a storybook, where Elmo and the Cookie Monster have discovered a lost children’s book titled, “Once Upon a Monster.” Together they read the book and become a part of the actual story, meeting new monsters and helping them overcome their problems. It’s a cooperative game (for those family bonding sessions) where the second player can easily drop in and drop out. There’s a total of six chapters, each taking roughly 30 minutes to play through.
In our demo, we played as Marco, the furry monster in the story who is sad because no one attended his birthday party. Like the helpful monsters that they are, Elmo and Cookie Monster decide to cheer him up and come up with their own celebration. Cookie Monster of course runs off to get some food, and Elmo hops onto Marco’s shoulders to help him collect a few items for the party. Once we were able to take over, we played as Marco, who was running through this bright and colorful fluorescent forest with Elmo bopping on his shoulders. Marco is quite tall, and while he was running, we had to make sure that he jumped over logs that had fallen in his path and lean left or right to avoid giant rocks. Elmo on the other hand had to duck when low hanging branches appear, and raise his arms to grab the oddly shaped items dangling from the trees. There’s no penalty if you miss, but for players who do well they’ll earn rewards as they progress.
We jumped to the end of the chapter and reunited with Cookie Monster to celebrate Marco’s birthday. Here the monsters will invite you to say, “Happy birthday!” along with them, as well as help Marco blow out his candles. Grover eventually joins in the fun by switching into his Saturday Night Fever white suit in order to get you on the dance floor. The next part is like a simplified version of Dance Central, where you’ll mimic Grover and dance along to the music.
At a recent Microsoft press event, we got a chance to check out the XBLA (as well as PSN and PC) Ghostbusters top-down, twin-stick shooter called Sanctum of Slime. This particular game doesn’t really take place anywhere in the proper Ghostbusters storyline (yes, there’s a proper Ghostbusters storyline) as the characters and locations have been made specifically for this game. Unfortunately, that means no Spengler, Stantz, Venkman, or Zeddemore, but Sanctum of slime does support cooperative play for up to four characters that are not the Ghostbusters from the movie.
Mechanics in Sanctum of slime are pretty straightforward. The left analog stick controls movement while the right analog stick determines aiming and shooting–just as you’d find in most other twin-stick shooters.
The twist is that, in addition to the positron glider, you have two other weapons types at your disposal–each of which produces a different kind of projectile that you can access by pressing a shoulder button. You’ll know when to use a certain weapon type depending on the color of the ghost you’re attacking, so if the ghost happens to be red, then you use the regular glider.
If the ghost is yellow, then you use a different weapon that produces a yellow net-like projectile that covers a pretty big swath of space.
All of the weapons will inflict damage on a ghost no matter the color, but you can kill them (or is it re-kill?) them quicker when using the properly color coded weapon.
There are 12 levels and two separate boss levels in Sanctum of slime. Some of the locations you’ll see include a hotel, sewers, and a graveyard and most of the locations we’ve seen so far have enemies that are unique to that area. Level progression involves clearing out a room and then moving onto the next.
If any team member loses all of their health, you have an opportunity to revive them by standing over the body and pressing the designated button repeatedly. Doing this also means that you leave yourself open to attack, so generally you have to wait for an opening before you risk reviving a fallen comrade.
If running around in an online world shooting anonymous people with a virtual rifle is something you consider yourself highly proficient at, how about if you were in control of the real thing?
Well now’s the time to find out. With the Ultimate Recruit Training Programme you’ll take control of an actual Helghast StA 52 Assault Rifle in an interactive close-combat experience. Taking place on a fully mechanized shooting range via the wonder of the web, real-time sensors will give you feedback and scoring via Facebook and Twitter.
Not only that but you’ll be screamed at by an experienced military campaigner, Drill Sergeant McCain, who will pore over your performance and shout you down if necessary. Now, do you maggots understand that?
Each recruit’s range performance is scrutinized by the ever-vigilant Drill Sergeant and only those who display extraordinary poise and control when firing, will satisfy his exacting standards. If you score low, don’t expect an easy ride, forgiveness is definitely not one of his virtues.
Two-mission add-on for EA’s sci-fi horror shooter arrives on XBL, PSN next week for ; no announced plans for PC release.
Electronic Arts bigwigs are already talking about Dead Space 3, but the company isn’t even done with Dead Space 2 yet. The publisher today announced that March 1 will see the launch of Dead Space 2: Severed for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the sci-fi shooter.
A downloadable add-on featuring characters from Dead Space: Extraction, Severed will include two stand-alone single-player chapters. The expansion will drop players into the role of Gabe Weller, a security guard on the necromorph-infested Sprawl, as he escorts Lexine Murdock to safety. Weller is equipped with an upgraded pulse rifle and security suit, both of which will come in handy when faced with the returning Twitcher, which fans may remember from the original Dead Space.
Dead Space 2: Severed will be available for .99 (560 Microsoft points). As for a PC release of the add-on, an EA representative told GameSpot that “the team is focusing on Severed for X360 and PS3.”
