We make our way through a slimier version of Aperture Science in a two-hour hands-on demo of Portal 2′s single-player campaign.
“Say apple,” Wheatley commands, surveying you with his twitchy blue eye. You go to speak, but end up jumping on the spot instead. “I don’t want to alarm you,” he starts, trying to keep his voice steady, “but you probably have brain damage. Not to worry, though. We’ll probably be okay. I mean, you know, as long as nothing else goes wrong.”
Plenty of things went wrong during our two-hour hands-on demo of Portal 2′s single-player campaign at Valve’s headquarters near Seattle. We made our way through the opening chapters of the game, before skipping ahead to a new section in the latter-part of the campaign.
Portal 2′s beginning is familiar enough: Chell, alone in a room. It’s not the cold, sterile environment we’ve seen before; this new room is a vast improvement–carpeted floors, a wardrobe, a desk, potted plants, and even art. But something just doesn’t feel right.
The new AI caretaker is male, for one. His baritone voice breaks out over the loudspeakers, instructing you to move around and get used to your surroundings. If you’re feeling up to it, he chirps, you can do some basic mental stimulation exercises by staring intently at the framed painting that hangs above your bed.
Or, if that doesn’t do it for you, he can always provide some classical music. You’re just beginning to think about requesting Bach’s Organ Concerto in G when you lose consciousness; you come to in the same room, although you barely recognize it now: vines creep along the walls, the carpet is a mushy brown color, and the desk and wardrobe have fallen into disuse and decay.
And suddenly, there’s Wheatley (brilliantly voiced by Stephen Merchant)–the neurotic caretaker of Aperture’s 10,000 test subjects–telling you that the whole place is collapsing and you have to escape, now.
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 take a first look at Platinum Games’ chaotic multiplayer brawler.
As the Anarchy Reigns demonstration wraps up, producer Atsushi Inaba addresses the problem of assimilating what we’ve just seen: “There was so much going on and there’s no way we can explain every single thing that happened here.” He’s not wrong. Our first look at the game, variously described as an online action combat game and a third-person multiplayer brawler, was a violent whirlwind of leggy cyborgs, berserker mutants, tsunamis, black holes, and carpet bombing in the ruins of a postapocalyptic city.
And though we say “post”-apocalyptic, it’s not clear if the city was ruined before or while the game’s freak-show cast set about each other with chainsaw arms and spiked maces, dodging smartbombs and collapsing bridges and giant saw blades as they went. The presentation is light on the game’s fiction. What little is said about the game’s single-player story mode amounts to: “It has one.” The focus is unambiguously on online multiplayer action.
That online multiplayer action has groups of players clobbering each other across large stages while natural and unnatural disasters wreak havoc around them. It’s “basically a fighting game,” says Inaba-san, “but with not only a couple of characters fighting each other.” The roster of fighters revealed so far is a motley cyborg crew, each more or less human according to how much nanotech-enabled body modification they have undergone: cybernetic bovine Bull, ninja-like Zero, MadWorld’s Jack Cayman, and frosty femme Sasha, with two more MadWorld cameos (pimp caricature The Black Baron and Mathilda of the nipple spikes) unveiled for this demonstration.
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.
New release slate highlighted by first M-rated franchise entry and First Strike add-on content for Sony’s console; Beyond Good & Evil HD, Rift, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II: Retribution also out.
The splendid shooter Killzone 3 and the foul-mouthed Bulletstorm led all releases last week, but this week’s focus shifts to hand-to-hand fighting, Call of Duty multiplayer, and a revival of Beyond Good & Evil.
Leading the pack this week is EA Sports’ Fight Night Champion for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Champion is the first Fight Night game to be rated M for Mature. The game is being billed as one that is “gritty” and “dark,” with animations and player damage that “truly conveys the brutality of the sport of boxing.”
EA is promising a refined physics-based animation system and a new “Full Spectrum Punch Control” scheme. The title will focus on a single-player mode intended to re-create the dramatic and emotional aspects of the sport.
PlayStation 3 gamers looking to add to their copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops can pick up the First Strike downloadable content this week via the PlayStation Network. As for the content, the map pack includes four new multiplayer environments ranging in locale from the Berlin Wall in Germany to a North American hockey rink. The add-on also bundles one environment for the game’s zombie mode dubbed Ascension.
While Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still far off, fans of the series can pick up an updated version of the well-received original this week on Xbox Live. Beyond Good & Evil HD will feature 1080p graphics, including enhanced character models and upgraded textures, and Ubisoft has also remastered the game’s musical score.
Also out this week is Trion Worlds’ massively multiplayer online game Rift for PC. As its title might suggest, the game’s premise is that of “rifts” in space time that are playing havoc with the land of Telara and threatening to tear the fabric of the universe. The world will be highly malleable, as these rifts can be triggered by players or the development team, and they can also occur spontaneously. Their arrival will apparently alter the landscape, as well as open up new areas for exploration.
Those who would rather add to an existing game than pick up a new one can grab Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution for the PC. Retribution follows on from the events that transpired in Dawn of War II’s first expansion, Chaos Rising. Set 10 years later, the game sees the Imperium reeling after an apparent betrayal by Gabriel Angelos’ Space Marines. Gamers will be able to assume command of their chosen faction to experience the events of the game as they play out.
Gamers looking for something a little lighter this week can pick up Rango The Video Game. It will be released the Tuesday before the Johnny Depp-voiced animated Western releases in theaters on Friday, March 4. Like its film inspiration, the action adventure game will follow the travails of its titular out-of-his-element lizard. The game will be set in the Wild West town of Dirt, and gamers will find themselves meeting quirky characters, as well as engaging in shoot-outs and other old-timey activities.
For further details on the week’s games, visit GameSpot’s New Releases page. The full list of downloadable games on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, and Wii Shop Channel will be revealed later this week. Release dates are based on retailer listings and are subject to change.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28
Fate of the World–PC–Red Redemption
Martial Empires: The Catastrophe of Babylon–PC–gamigo
TUESDAY, MARCH 1
Chuck E. Cheese’s Sports Games–Wii–UFO Interactive
Fight Night Champion–PS3, X360–EA Sports
Rango: The Video Game–PS3, X360, Wii, DS–Paramount Digital Entertainment
Rift–PC–Trion Worlds
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution–PC–THQ
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2
Beyond Good & Evil HD–X360–Ubisoft
Call of Duty: Black Ops: First Strike–PS3–Activision
Perfect World International: Genesis–PC–Perfect World Entertainment
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.
We play as a gun-toting marionette in Twisted Pixel’s upcoming shooter for Kinect.
Leave it to Twisted Pixel to come up with something quirky, silly and totally hilarious. At the Microsoft February Showcase in San Francisco, we got our first look at The Gunstringer, where we played as an undead cowboy who is the star of a stage show. There’s even a real life audience in game to cheer you on between acts.
This lone cowboy is out for revenge, and he’s going to get it with your help as the puppeteer. It’s an on-rail shooter using Kinect and once you jump into this fabricated theatrical performance (reminiscent of old spaghetti westerns), you’ll find that it actually takes some coordination and finesse to exact revenge on the posse who betrayed you.
It’s not that the controls aren’t responsive enough; it was actually quite solid and we were told that there would definitely be more fine tuning. Waving your right hand and left hand around at the same time can be tricky–unless you’ve mastered the art of patting your head and rubbing your belly.
In Gunstringer you use your left hand to move your puppet, flicking it up to jump and the right hand controls the target reticule. With a swift jerk up with your right forearm, you’ll be able to fire at any enemies that you’ve highlighted. Pointing your finger at the television and yelling “pew pew!” as though you’ve got an actual gun is optional, but the game is fun enough where you actually kind of want to. We’ve all ran around as kids pointing and firing at people with our fingers, so this actually felt quite natural and for the most part it was very responsive.
It will take some practice before you can weave around cacti like a pro with one hand while highlighting all the targets with your right hand and firing. At least it seems like we’re flexing certain parts of our brain that we normally don’t use. What also keeps you motivated though is that stuff blows up with dramatic flair when you unload your gun, so it feels like a shooting gallery except that you’re always on the move. It’s also interesting to listen to the narrator narrate what you’re doing on screen since you are in a play and there’s an audience to entertain.
The environments are full of random items thrown together and the characters that you meet and ultimately kill are so ridiculous that you can’t help but laugh as you go along. The Wavy Tube man was the first boss we came across, and he was basically a giant green wavy tube with tube arms donning a cowboy hat, blowing in the wind. You’ve seen these tubes before. They’re usually blowing around at a car dealership or some kind of festival to get your attention.
