Fallen Earth First Impressions

I recently had a chance to check out Fallen Earth, a relatively new MMO from developer Icarus Studios. By "relatively new" I mean it came out last year, September 2009.

The game is set in the post-apocalyptic year of 2154, and the gameplay feels a lot like Fallout 1 or 2. However, the tone is not so much 50's-style. Instead it's got more of a Road Warrior vibe to it. This isn't bad however, and it works to the game's advantage.

As far as gameplay goes, you've got some standard MMO features in there. The skillbar at the bottom of your screen, mapped to the number keys. An inventory, Stat building, etc. However, the thing that sets this game apart is it's intuitive use of shooter controls. Instead of clicking on an enemy and waiting for your skills to re-charge so you can attack again, you simply equip a weapon, or multiple weapons (which you can switch between by holding ctrl and using the number keys), and attack with the left-click for primary attacks, and right-click for secondary attacks. The game also sets itself apart by allowing you to zoom all the way in, and go into a first-person mode. This turns the game into more of an action game than an MMO.

As far as social aspects go, I didn't see many people once I got out of the tutorial. I might of not been in a big hub world, or maybe the game just isn't very active. However, I do like the emotes they give you.

The big problem with the game is it's polish. The game isn't polished whatsoever, the shooting feels really bad, with the camera changing when you start shooting and changing again when you stop. It feels very shaky, but it's definitely not intentional, and doesn't feel as smooth as other first-person or third-person shooters.

I guess it might be a little unfair to compare it to other shooters, but even compared to other MMOs, the game seems a bit too glitchy, I almost got stuck in one part where I had to sneak past some irradiated creatures, and by stuck I mean stuck in the wall. If they just took 6 months to put a nice layer of polish onto the game, I think it would have turned out much better, but as it is I'm not currently interested in playing anymore of it.

All Points Bulletin Gameplay Trailer Impressions

I recently saw this new APB trailer from this year's PAX. The game has kind of been an intriguing concept in the back of my mind, and I was hoping they could pull it off right. Seeing as how I haven't played the game yet I guess I'm still hoping they can, but after seeing this trailer I'm pretty re-assured.

Everythinig n the trailer just feels right. The characters and the cars look to have the level of customization from something like Saints Row, while the graphical style reminds me of GTA IV. The humor is there with the dancing part at the end, and the combat looks to be very satisfying, and seems to have some level of strategy to it.

The music is probobly my favorite part of the trailer, not because the rest of the trailer looks bad or anything, but just cause it's some sick-ass electronica groove. In fact, if they keep it up, the soundtrack might even go so far as to rival the Jet Set Radio soundtrack.

For anybody who's interested the name of the song is "Gimme That Punk" by Audio Bullys. Oh, and here's the kickass music video for it:


Be sure to look for more infromation on All Points Bulletin in the coming months and in stores when it's released in Spring of 2010.

Ron Gilbert comes back with Deathspank!

I had heard the name Deathspank thrown around a bit before, but I had never really delved into any details about the game. So it's no surprise that I had no idea Ron Gilbert was working on this project until just a couple days ago when he and hothead Games talked about it at PAX 2009. Just the mention of his name has now got me interested in this project, and I've started watching tons of videos and interviews about it.

For anybody who doesn't know who Ron Gilbert is, he's the guy who created the Secret of Monkey Island, among a few of the sequels... as well as creating the SCUMM game engine which powered pretty much all of the old Lucasarts adventure games.

Deathspank will not be an adventure game, however it will have elements from that genre. It's being penned as Diablo meets Monkey Island, pretty much meaning it will be an Action RPG, but there will also be dialogue trees, puzzle solving, and item combination. The combat should be enough to keep you from being too bored when you get stuck on a puzzle, and it should keep the game lively.

The whole thing seems like a nice change of pace, and since Ron Gilbert is the genius behind the comedy in a lot of the old Lucasarts adventures, the comedy should be top notch. Actually, from what I've seen of the game so far, the comedy IS top notch.

The graphical style, while not technically superior, has such a nice charm to it. everything looks very cartoony and 2D, while not relying on cel-shading. The characters all have a very distinct style to them, and the backgrounds go into a nice horizon line, almost like you're traveling around on a tiny planet.

The game is looking pretty good so far, and I'm definitely excited that Ron Gilbert is finally doing some more stuff. No release date has been given yet, but be sure to look for more info on the game in the coming months. You can also check out the game's official website here.

GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony Trailer Impressions

Rockstar has just released the first trailer for the newest GTA IV DLC on their website, and as you can see above, youtube. I did enjoy The Lost and The Damned very much, so the DLC so far has been very good. This trailer does not disappoint, and apparently, we'll get to see a lot more of Liberty City's techno night-life. There was also what appeared to be nitrous in the trailer, so possibly we'll get some car customization. At one point we also see some guys fighting in a cage, it looked a bit like Fight Club to me, perhaps we'll have underground cage matches? There's also a couple new cars in there, too... at one point I noticed something that looked like a new Super GT, but the best new car I saw was the freaking GOLF CART! Also of mention is a part in the trailer with a parachute... definitely reminds me of San Andreas a bit. The new character you play as doesn't seem to be gay tony, because at one point, we see him making out with a chick. However, the whole trailer seems centered around the story of Gay Tony, and a lot of the characters seem to be pretty funny. It seems like this expansion will be a bit more humorous than GTA IV has been in the main game, or previous expansions. Be sure to look for the content later this year when it hits stores on October 29th.

Mini Ninjas Demo Impressions

Mini Ninjas is an action platformer being developed by IO Interactive. The company is well known for making the Hitman series, but they have also worked on stuff like Kane & Lynch, and Freedom Fighters. So why would they suddenly make a cartoony action game? who knows, but it's a welcome change of pace, in my opinion. There aren't enough good action platformers nowadays.

The first thing I noticed about Mini Ninjas when I started up the demo is how smooth the framerate was. Everything seemed to be chucking along at 60fps, and I didn't experience any slowdown at all. The graphics, while not technically superior, have a really nice art style to them, and everything looks very clean-cut. There's a sort of LittleBigPlanet style to the graphics, except maybe less crisp and more smooth. Much like LittleBigPlanet, the character designs, and the voice acting are all super-cute, as well. There's a certain amount of charm to everything in the game, and the animations are also nice and fluid.

Lets talk about the actual gameplay, though. Mini Ninjas is your standard beat em' up. The game plays like a simplified version of Ninja Gaiden, you swing your sword at dudes on screen, as well as shirukens and caltrops, and there's even various Ninjutsu you can use, including a fire technique, as well as a replacement technique, where you can pretty much possess an animal and use it to fight, or to find various collectibles.

Ah yes, what platformer wouldn't be complete without collectibles? The demo had a few different types. Tiny Statues (which didn't seem to do anything), Flowers (which you could use as an offering at various hidden shrines, as well as combining them to make potions), coins (for buying stuff, duh), and I suppose you could conciser the caged animals as a collectable, since it keeps track of how many you free.

There's a lot of variation in the gameplay as well, at one point you might be fighting a bunch of guys, at another point you might be wandering around enjoying the landscapes, or you could be fishing, you can level up your ninja and get new abilities, and since you're a ninja, there's even a stealth mechanic thrown in there. The three characters they give you in the demo all have different strengths and weaknesses, however, it isn't quite as dramatic as something like Trine or The Lost Vikings. All of this variation keeps the game interesting, so much so that I even went back and played through the demo a second time.

So far there's only 2 big problems that I have with the game. First, it seems too linear. The level I played in the demo had a few side paths you could take, and there's plenty of space that you can move between, but you're still just moving forward through the stage. I was hoping for an open world game, but so far it seems like this isn't one. The second problem is the difficulty. I played through the demo on the default difficulty first, Normal, and it turned out to be really easy. Then I turned the difficulty up to Hard, and it seemed more like what normal should have been. I understand the game is being made for kids, but I kind of wished they would make the game a little more challenging.

Overall, I really enjoyed the demo, and might give this a rental when it comes out. Be sure to look out for Mini Ninjas on the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC, and DS when it's released in September.

Section 8 Demo Impressions

Section 8 is an upcoming first-person sci-fi shooter being developed by Timegate Studios and published by Southpeak Interactive. I got my hands on the demo earlier, and I must say I was quite impressed.

The demo is multiplayer-only, however, there is an offline mode with bots, if you're into that kind of thing. I couldn't find any way to adjust the bots' difficulty, so that part seemed way too easy, and pretty pointless. The main focus of the demo is the online play, and it's surprisingly good. When you join a match, you select a spawnpoint on the map, much like the Battlefield games, except, instead of spawning there, you drop into the zone through the atmosphere. It's a pretty awesome looking sequence, and through my time with the demo it never got old. This also allows the teams to use some strategy. You're able to drop anywhere on the map when spawning, but the enemy can set up Anti-air guns to take you down before you even hit the ground.

The game plays mostly like a game of battlefield, you spend your time going to different computers and hacking them... which is pretty much just like capturing a control point in Battlefield. They also thrown in a few other objectives after a while, such as protecting a VIP, or protecting a convoy. It reminds me a bit of how the multiplayer in Killzone 2 was structured, except not quite as rock-solid.

The controls in the game are sufficient, and unique. Now, the thing about unique controls is they normally don't work, but here I found the learning curve to be quite low. The most interesting part of the game is that it has a lock on feature, letting you lock on to your opponents, provided you're at a close enough range. I feel kind of torn about it... while it doesn't take as much skill to take down an enemy, it also takes more skill to avoid being locked on to. If an enemy goes out of your sights, then you lose the lock on, and it takes a couple second to re-charge. Granted, they can still shoot at you manually, without being locked on, but this seems to add a bit more depth and strategy to the combat that isn't seen in many other multiplayer shooters.

The biggest problem with Section 8 is that it feels like a low-budget game. I had some framerate issues multiple times in the demo, and the graphics are just okay. I definitely don't think this game will replace any of our other beloved first-person shooters, but I definitely think people should give it a chance. Check out the demo, and keep a look out for the game when it's released for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC this September.

WET Demo Impressions

WET is a game I've been interested in for a while now, and when I heard there was a demo released on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, I just had to check it out. The game is published by Bethesda and developed by Artificial Mind & Movement, which has mostly done licensed titles in the past, such as Spiderman: Friend or Foe, and the Iron Man video game. While they might not have the best track record, WET still brings a lot of promise to table.

The demo starts off with a pretty cool, yet pretty cheesy cutscene of a negotiation gone wrong. The game's voice acting, while not particularly spectacular, is exactly what you'd want out of a game like this. The style in the game is reminiscent of a few different things, but the majority of it seems to be based on Grindhouse (mostly the first half, "Planet Terror"). Much like Grindhouse as well, the game isn't afraid to throw f-bombs all over the place. The whole game has a nice look and feel to it that isn't seen often, except maybe in something like No More Heroes.

But enough about story and style, let's get into the gameplay. The demo is broken up into three different parts, all showcasing different gameplay mechanics. In the first part of the demo, it's your standard 3rd person action game. My first impression was that they pretty much took the Stranglehold engine and used that to power the game and it wouldn't surprise me at all if that turned out to be true. That may not be the best game to compare your game to, since Stranglehold was kind of bland at points, and a bit underwhelming overall, but WET manages to change things up a bit. You still have the same ol' dive and shoot in slow motion mechanics as stranglehold, and there's also a wall run in there where time will slow down, but the best move by far is the slide move, which I like to call the powerslide. Your character basically slides across the floor, shooting tons of dudes in slow-mo, and it looks pretty fucking awesome. You also get a katana, and some pole swinging, which reminds me a lot of Prince of Persia.

The second part of the demo focused on a crazy super-stylized mode (Pictured to the left) where the only colors on the screen were shades of red, black, and white. instead of your dual pistols you had in the first part, you now have dual uzis, and you seem to pretty much be invincible. This mode is pretty awesome, and reminds me a lot of the art style from Killer 7.

The final part of the demo, and my personal favorite, had you riding on top of cars down the freeway, chasing these shady looking characters and shooting them in the head. Every now and then, you reach a scripted point where you have to do a QTE command to jump to another car or avoid some explosion or something. The whole sequence looks really good, and makes you feel like you're in some sort of crazy action movie.

The biggest problem I had with WET so far is the controls. The game doesn't quite feel as fluid as you'd hope it'd be. I don't know if it's the character's animations, or just the control method, but it feels like lost potential when you look at all of the other great stuff in the game. Another thing that bugged me was the difficulty of the game, the whole thing seemed too easy. I'm hoping there will be a difficulty option in the full game, but if there isn't, I'm going to be severely disappointed.

One more thing I should mention before I wrap this up is the excellent soundtrack in the game. The game has a lot of kickass tunes that sound exactly like they came out of a Quinten Tarrentino movie, and the game benefits from it. The soundtrack is not heavily dramatic with any sort of orchestral score, but it's wholly original, and provides the right amount of intensity to the situations you find yourself in, in the game.

If you guys haven't checked out the demo yet, I suggest you go download it, it's definitely worth your time. You guys can look forward to the full game when it's released September 15th, 2009 on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Turtles In Time Reshelled Demo Impressions

As a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, I was mildly excited to see the Turtles in Time game getting..er..reshelled as an Xbox Live Arcade game with multiplayer gameplay, updated graphics and such.

Turtles In Time Reshelled was recently reduced in price from 15 dollars to 10, or 800 microsoft points. This really helped get my interest in the game, because I was not about to spend 15 bucks for a remake of a Super Nintendo game. And since I collect classic gaming consoles I debated whether it was a BETTER idea to get the original game on the Super Nintendo as opposed to this one. Well, sadly its a good thing I demo played the game before being stupid enough to buy it, because this game is not even worth 800 points. 500 points, sure, but 300 more points and I can play it with friends online, no definitely not worth it.

Turtles In Time Reshelled is not very engaging as a game, the controls in regard to the 360 controller are simple button mashing with no variety. If your like me and want to collect consoles such as Super Nintendo, wait for that time and just buy the game then. This treatment by Ubisoft is all graphics and nothing else, this is the most blatant repackaging that offers nothing worth it. Even with multiplayer, its probably going to be no fun because I own Castle Crashers and that game has more variety and satisfaction than this game.

Don't waste your money on this game unless you don't plan on owning a Super Nintendo and know you will have willing friends ready to play multiplayer. And even then, be prepared for a boring experience.

"Rock Band: Unplugged" Demo Impressions

So, a lot of you long-time listeners of the podcast might know that I'm a HUGE fan of Rock Band. That's not to say the others don't enjoy Rock Band either, but I tend to stay up-to date with what the latest DLC is and I post on the official rockband.com forums every now and then, too. So, when Rock Band: Unplugged was announced, I was thinking it was gonna be a lot like Guitar Hero: On Tour for the DS, gimmicky and stupid. Well, that's partly true... but it's not like Harmonix didn't try.

I got my hands on the demo from the Playstations store, and the game is played much differently from the console versions of Rock Band. It's played a lot more like Harmonix's earlier titles such as Frequency or Amplitude. There's 4 different tracks, one for guitar, one for bass, one for drums and one for vocals. On each track, there's 4 colored "notes" that you hit using left, up, triangle, and circle and to switch between the tracks, you use the L and R bumpers. This works pretty well for me, but they do have a few different preset options for some people who might have some trouble, as well as being able to set up your own custom controls.

Now, instead of picking an instrument and playing a track, you play all of the instruments at once! In order to do this, you play a section in one track perfectly and it locks itself in, then plays by itself for a little bit. While it's playing by itself, you can switch to another track and play a section there, lock that track in, rinse, repeat. The hit detection on the notes is fine, and I can play stuff pretty well, usually... but they expect you to play perfectly! The real problem with the game is that it's too easy to fail, miss one note in a section and you have to wait for the next section to come up, meanwhile, another track has stopped autoplaying itself, and you're still on a different track, trying to get it to autoplay itself. so you're missing four times the notes if you keep missing track sections.

The game does have a no fail mode in the extras menu, but turning that on takes all the fun out of the game, because there's no challenge. It'd be nice if the game had a balance between the two, because as it is currently, it's either play perfectly, or don't play at all. The game is a multitasking nightmare, and I'd only recommend it to people who are REALLY good at rhythm games.

Monster Hunter Freedom: Unite Demo Impressions

Some of you may not know this about me, but I'm pretty big into imported games from Japan. While Monster Hunter may not technically be an import title, since they have been releasing some of the games in the states for a while now, it's always had a very Japanese feel to the gameplay, and I mean that in a good way. Now, they've released a demo of the newest game, Monster Hunter Freedom: Unite on the Playstation Store. Definitely a good idea if they want to get a larger amount of Americans interested in the game, which is definitely what it seems like they're doing with their advertising campaign.

Monster Hunter Freedom: Unite is the US version of what's known as Monster Hunter Portable 2G in Japan. The game takes a lot of elements from Monster Hunter Freedom 2 and expands on them. While I never got a chance to play Monster Hunter Freedom 2, I have played the first one, and it's occupied a lot of time in my PSP.

Comparing what I've played of this game to the first one, there's been a lot of improvements. the first most noticeable one is the map system. In the first game, your map would be limited to the section you were in, and you'd have to blindly wander around trying to find your target. Now, you can see the entire map, and your target is clearly marked, I'm a much bigger fan of this system than the previous one.

Also, I'm not sure if they're only doing this for the demo or not, but there's a class system now. Before, you would simply make a character and buy different equipment, and have a lot of customization options, but it seems now that you can choose different classes, and customize from there. However, it could just be for the demo so you can get right into the action.

The graphics, for a PSP game are excellent. Strong, crisp, detailed textures. Fluid animation. The poly count doesn't seem very high, but the PSP can only do so much. I think the game really pushes the PSP to it's limits, while still maintaining a rock-solid framerate.

Overall, I'm really impressed with the demo, and I'm anticipating the full game. One thing that's pretty nice is the amount of content they give you in the demo. Seeing as how the Monster Hunter games have so much stuff in them usually, it's not a huge surprise, but it's definitely welcome. For anybody who's a big Monster Hunter fan, or anybody who likes a good action game, definitely download the demo and check it out, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Also, don't forget to look for the game, hitting shelves in the next few days.

Trailer Impression: Necessary Force

So, today, I was watching some game trailers, and I came across a debut trailer for a new game by Midway Newcastle called Necessary Force.

you can watch the trailer Here.

Now, Midway hasn't been doing so good since they filed for bankruptcy, not to mention their less than stellar sales of MK vs. DC, but I'm really hoping they can turn things around with this game, because it looks pretty good so far.

The first thing I have to say is, I'm really liking the art style. The backgrounds look gorgeous, and I like that it's going for a graphic novel kind of feel to it. I'm not so sure about the character designs yet, but we didn't actually see much of them in the trailer. From what I did see, though, they don't seem to be as detailed as the backgrounds, so it might clash a bit, graphically. Also, the fact that half of the trailer was only concept art has me a bit worried, of course, the rendered stuff looked good, for the most part.

As far as the story, it seems pretty standard, but still compelling. A detective on the edge of moral and immoral, we've seen it a bunch in movies, but I can't think of many games that have went there. True Crime: Streets of LA did, and it failed miserably... let's hope this isn't a repeat of that, and Midway actually does a half-decent job with their "hard-boiled-cop-on-the-edge" story.

Geeksquisite Gaming Diary 6/15/09: Double Dribble

Ed reviews Double Dribble on NES

Left 4 Dead 2 Hopes

I've been excited for Left 4 Dead 2, there I said it angry L4D fans :)

I only bought Left 4 Dead a month ago, and I might sell my first one after getting the second one. And I don't care, Left 4 Dead is just simply that good.

Now while I enjoy Left 4 Dead immensely, i'm focusing on the future of the sequel. From trailers, extended demos and the like, it looks good. New weapons, maps, zombie types, and characters. All good stuff, but there are a few things i'm hoping will or will not happen.

For one thing the blood looked a lot more like ketchup, not a big deal but that will seem a bit cheezy. Maybe they'll fix that.

A more forward hope is that they lower the respawn time when your on the zombie team, 30 seconds IS too long. trim it down to 20 seconds, and it will save a lot of frustration for gamers.

Lastly, It'd be kinda cool to have the four survivors fight zombies while DRIVING through town. You can shoot, whack as you pass and in the driver's case, ram them.

Those are my hopes, can't wait to see what else the game will have.

Geeksquisite Gaming Diary 6/9/09: Star Wars

Ed share's his thoughts on Star Wars from the Nintendo Entertainment System. ITS ADVENTURE OF LINK, NOT LINKS AWAKENING GAHHH I KNOW T_T

1 v 100 impressions

The 1 v 100 beta from 8-11PM tonight was extremely fun, I hadn't really researched how to play the game but it really got addicting after a couple of minutes. I got in around 20 minutes after 8 and stayed for the whole duration. Man am I wiped.

I gotta say, a lot of the people chosen as "the One" were greedy. It was sad too because one person lost everything because he didn't answer, and he was high on points. Others were just plain greedy and assumed they'd know every answer. 

And some people did seem to know every answer, everyone with me assumed they were googling in the background. I don't know how that's possible, I mean maybe they could get all of them correct but like 2 seconds after the answers are all shown. NAH!

Besides the Trivia, it's worth it to win Microsoft Points. And there was even mention of a 40 inch flat screen TV. I don't know if that was real though. 

The only POSSIBLE downside to 1 v 100 is that its a scheduled thing weekly, other games have allowed you to play endlessly but always end up running dry on new trivia. Obviously this game won't suffer for it.

I hope it gets released soon. :)

Batman on NES

Earlier in the week we briefly mentioned Batman: Arkham Asylum on our podcast, and touched on the fact that most Batman games have sucked. Because there isn't a memorable Batman game that stands away from the large amount of poor Batman games, I decided to delve back to Batman on NES to see if the first attempt on a console worked. It didn't

Batman on NES has "messy" graphics, I'm okay with that. But when enemies come after you, all you have to fight with is your fists. And it is a pain in the neck when you have those robotic contraptions at your feet hurting you every time you kill one. I've avoided taking damage a few times, but mostly have gotten hit. What's even more stupid is that the enemies don't represent any henchmen like resemblance to any Batman enemy I can think of. The enemies are so stock and random. 

Only later do I realize that because select is start, start changes your attack from punches to bataarangs, a gun, and other stuff. The sad part is most of the weapons are useless, the gun only shoots straight, the bataarangs are okay, and I don't like punching everything unless its one guy repeatedly. 

So does this Batman game stand out as good? I think it's easy to say it doesn't. It's really flawed, but i'll try to beat it without getting too annoyed. 

I give it a 1 out of 5

Am I saying Batman: Arkham Asylum will suck too? No, but gamers have played enough of them to be uninterested. I hope it defies expectations to suck. 

E3 2009: Shadow Complex Impressions

This game hasn't been the highest on radar for most people and was a complete surprise at Microsoft's press conference.

But man, I really like the look of this game. It's a sidescroller which I don't get too many of to play, and most of them on Xbox Live Arcade are simple left to right plowthroughs. But this one goes to new levels, obviously stretching the limits of Xbox Live Arcade for the sheer scale and programming to make this nice looking game.

I have to say I like when you get several alternatives to go through a game, and this game doesn't just give you the option to pick. The map screen, which i'm concerned will be confusing at first, shows you were to go. But when you go through a room you might think to yourself that some upper landings enemies are on might be a shortcut. I've seen alot of times where the foam gun has made stairways or frozen enemies to use as a boost.

That's not all you can do, i've seen demos where there is a need to explore the levels for powerups. I saw that you can "hang on" to stuff while shooting at enemies from a crate at one point. The possibilities are interesting, I can imagine sneaking on one of those walker like robots and clinging to them as they take me through the rest of the base until i'm spotted.

The really cool thing is one of the designers said we see what we can become but we start out with our hands and a flashlight. So it's a skill building, power grab approach to the game. At first, you might not be able to open a door, but soon as you gain powerups, you can just burn the door down. So there's also a rebel aspect to playing this game.

I'm buying this game, but the interesting part is it will be out this summer (August?) so it will be one of the first games announced that we'll get to play.

E3 2009: Heavy Rain Impressions

So, I've been in love with Heavy rain for a while now, everything about the game just screams perfection. The story, the presentation, the graphics, just everything. So, it's no surprise that when they showed the game at E3, I was going to be excited. What I didn't expect was for them to show a full scene from the game!

After watching this five part developer walkthrough of the game, I feel like they are making this game amazing. The whole thing seems a lot like Indigo Prophecy, Quantum Dream's last game on the original Xbox. However, they took some of the things in Indigo Prophecy that didn't work, and changed them or improved them for Heavy Rain.

In the walkthrough, they show one of your main characters. In the actual game you'll have 4 different main characters you can play as at different times in the story. Here you're playing as an FBI agent named Norman Jayden, and he's going to the junkyard to interrogate a man nicknamed Mad Jack. The demo starts out just walking around the junkyard. The interesting thing about these walking sections of the game is that instead of just using the left analog stick to move, you instead use the left analog stick to look around, and use the R2 button to move forwards. I personally think this is a very intuitive control scheme and helps give the character a much more lifelike and much more fluid animation.

So, Norman goes up, and talks to Mad Jack, and asks him a few questions. Jack says he doesn't know anything. So, then you begin searching around the warehouse using your special sunglasses that can scan things in the environment, and eventually, Norman stumbles upon a Skull in a pool of acid. At this point, Mad Jack comes back, with a gun, and puts it to the back of Norman's head. Now, we have a nice QTE sequence much like in Shenmue or God of War, But instead of losing if you miss one button press, you just go to a different string of events. Of course, if you miss too many button presses, then you'll die.

Norman ends up getting the upper hand on Mad Jack, getting the gun from him and pointing it at him. Mad Jack doesn't believe he'll actually use it, so you have a few different options now, to prove it to him. Of course, Norman starts having withdrawals from his drug addiction, making him fall over and pass out. Letting Mad Jack take his gun back.

After you wake up, you're handcuffed to the inside of your car, heading towards a giant trash compactor. There's a bunch of different actions you can take to try and escape. Also, the screen has now split in two, much like it does in 24. The bottom screen acts as a visual timer, while you control the gameplay in the top screen. It's this part that really sets the QTE system apart from other games, because in order to find the different actions you can take, you have to look around your environment. This looks like it'll create a much more frantic experience than your standard QTE system.

So, Norman ends up being able to escape from the car, at the last second, and now has to fight off Mad Jack, who isn't the happiest person in the world right now. This involves another short QTE sequence, in which Norman comes out on top. There's another possible way to do that part where you die, however, the developer has said the story would continue, even if all of the 4 main characters die, creating a ton of replay value with a very different, very varied branching storyline. I think this kind of emergent gameplay is exactly what the industry needs to keep moving forward, and this game is definitely a very good reason to get a PS3. Look for it when it's released early 2010.

E3 2009: 'Scribblenauts' Demo Impressions

So, E3 is winding down now, and if I can think of one HUGE technology announcement that TOTALLY blew me away, it'd definitely have to be... Scribblenauts. No, not Project Natal, not Sony's motion wand... just Scribblenauts. Obviously, I'm not serious, but Scribblenauts does look to be packing some pretty interesting technology in it.

So, the concept of Scribblenauts is simple, type in various objects and you'll be able to spawn them and use them. Supposedly, you can type in anything and get anything. I don't know how true that is, but so far they seem to have a pretty impressive amount of stuff in the game. In this gameplay demo, they show off the spawning system, and manage to spawn a lot of varied and different items. They also show some physics-based puzzles, and a sandbox mode, which looks a lot to me like 2D Garry's Mod.

The game controls like your standard 2D platformer, but the spawning aspect of the game is pretty ambitious, and it'll be interesting to see how well it pans out when the game is released later this fall.

E3 2009: Impressions of 'The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks'

So, for a while now on the podcast, I've been pretty adamant about my distaste for the new Zelda game coming to the DS, Spirit Tracks. So, you'd think that when E3 rolls around, I still wouldn't care about it.

So now, I've seen a new gameplay trailer, I've seen a developer walkthrough, and yaknow what? I'm starting to like the game just a little more.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still hate the idea of traveling on a train, as opposed to exploring the entire world using your boat. A train simply gives you less freedom since you're limited by tracks. However, the new dungeon stuff looks pretty compelling.

For anybody who's played the multiplayer mode in Phantom Hourglass, they're taking one of the Phantom Knights from that mode and giving you control over him in some parts of the dungeons, creating some new types of puzzles to solve. For example, in the new gameplay trailer, they have the fire-resistant knight walk past some streams of fire, blocking them from shooting out, while link follows along on the bottom ledge. Also, all of the combat and dungeon gameplay seems ripped directly from Phantom Hourglass, which is a good thing, because that stuff was all very compelling.

Overall, I feel like The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is probobly going to turn out to be the "Majora's Mask" of the DS Zelda games. Somewhat fun, but overall just not as compelling as the first game.