Holy (foot)balls: FIFA 10 has racked up 9.7 million salesPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 10:10pm by Destructoid
While it's true that about 100 million people watch the Super Bowl every year, soccer is easily the world's most beloved and most watched sport. Madden might be tops in America, but EA Sports' FIFA series far outstrips it in overall sales -- because people outside of this country buy it. The latest iteration in the franchise was FIFA 10, which launched in early October everywhere except for North America. In the four months since its release, FIFA 10 has sold an astounding 9.7 million copies worldwide across all platforms. Let me break that down for you: on average, that comes out to more than 75,000 sales per day. That's a hell of a lot of folks in their living rooms yelling "GOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL!" FIFA 10 received high praise from critics -- it holds Metascores of 91 and 90 on PS3 and 360, respectively. And obviously, that has translated into a boatload of units moved, so while EA might be conservative in their forecasts for the rest of their 2010 fiscal year, they've at least got something to be ecstatic about. Here is some Rocket Knight artwork for youPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 9:09pm by Destructoid
With all the talk about Sonic 4, it's easy to forget that Konami is gearing its own downloadable retro reboot with Rocket Knight. Of course, that's also partially thanks to the fact that Konami's barely mentioned the bloody thing since its announcement. Fortunately, we've been given a healthy reminder today thanks to some new art assets that have dropped. It's not much to go on, but it's certainly something at the very least. Make sure you check out the pictures. Or don't, if you don't want to. We're not really telling you what to do.
Rebellion tells you how to play Aliens vs. PredatorPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 6:06pm by Destructoid
function getVideo() { var so = new SWFObject("http://cdn.springboard.gorillanation.com/storage/xplayer/yo033.swf", "mplayer", "620", "375", "8", "#000000"); so.addParam("wmode","transparent"); so.addParam("swliveconnect", "true"); so.addParam("allowscriptaccess", "always"); so.addParam("allowfullscreen", "true"); so.addVariable("pid", "dest002"); so.addVariable("siteId", "357"); so.addVariable("videoId", "121625"); so.addVariable("file", "http://cms.springboard.gorillanation.com/xml_feeds_advanced/index/357/3/121625/"); so.addVariable("pageUrl", document.location); so.write("flashcontent_357_dest002_single_121625"); } getVideo(); This latest trailer explains the close combat in Aliens vs. Predator. Ironically, the video only tells you the Xbox 360 controls, which already has a control layout in the demo. The demo that really needs help with the controls, the PC version, has been left high and dry. You're just going to have to guess the keys for that one. Anyway, if you've been getting hacked to pieces too many times, this video will show you how to deal with a close encounter. It's all about the block button. Yes, we didn't know there was one either until someone outside of the demo pointed it out to us. People are starting to get the hang of counters and blocking in the demo, which is starting to annoy me as it's getting harder to win matches. I don't like being challenged, least of all by smartass Predators who think they're cool just because they look like insectoid Bob Marleys. White Knight Chronicles Review: Workin' On Our Knight MovesPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 6:06pm by Kotaku
Dark Cloud developer Level-5's first foray onto the PlayStation 3, White Knight Chronicles tells the tale of a teenaged orphan named Leonard, who through a series of unfortunate circumstances makes a pact with the White Knight, a powerful weapon of war from the distant past. Using his newfound ability to transform into a gigantic armored behemoth, Leonard sets out on an epic quest to rescue a kidnapped princess and solve the mystery of the Knights. It's a relatively straightforward role-playing game, only made less so by the inclusion of Geonet, an online community feature where players can join up with up to three others to participate in challenging optional quests, earning fame, fortune, and materials to help you create and maintain your own online town. Could this be a wholly original role-playing game, despite starring an orphan with strange powers and a mysterious past? Probably not, but read the review anyway. Loved Building A Better Adventurer: Creating your custom character is just the beginning. I can't recall a semi-traditional role-playing game that gave you anywhere near the level of control over your characters statistics as White Knight Chronicles does. Every level you are given skill points, which can be doled out in any of eight different skill sets, including six weapons and two types of magic. You can pour all of your points into one specialty, or scatter them about, picking up statistic bonuses from others to bolster your character's statistics. Once you've got some skills lined up, you can create custom combo attacks, stringing together weapon attacks (and a little elemental magic, if you're feeling fancy), to create devastating sequences limited only by the amount of Action Chips you've accrued through using normal attacks. It can get a bit complicated and time consuming. Characters have a limited amount of skills available at any one time, so a player could spend a good twenty minutes just making sure they have the right abilities on hand for any given quest. Still, it's a system that rewards the patient and calculating, while not crippling those who'd rather simply hit the enemy again and again until they die. Quests, Quests, and More Quests: If playing through the main storyline is too easy for you, then you need to give the quest system a try. While the named player characters are off adventuring, your personal avatar can slip off to perform a large number of increasingly difficult quests. While they start off simply enough, requiring you to kill X number of monsters in X minutes, the goals and enemies you face will become more powerful as your guild rank increases and you unlock tougher challenges. While some quests are doable alone, Level-5 and Sony have created a strong community backbone for online questing in Geonet, encouraging players to play together by maintaining online adventurer logs, friends lists, and lists of folks you might have just run with once or twice along the way. It's a whole other side of the game, and with a little more polish it could have very well been a game unto itself, perhaps even challenging Capcom's Monster Hunter series for online adventuring dominance. Okay, a lot more polish. Level 5 Knows Town Building: Straddling the gap between the questing system and the main story is your Georama, a town you create with materials you find in game then populate with characters recruited in game, but dependent on developing a high guild level through questing in order to grow to any great size. Creating your own town can be quite complicated, from gathering the right ingredients to craft the building you want, to pairing up resident in homes in order to raise the statistics needed to generate rare raw materials, which can then be crafted into rare equipment. This game-within-a-game can function as the ultimate reward for those conquering both the online and offline aspects of White Knight Chronicles, as it takes elements of both for your city to thrive. Or a hefty wallet. The PlayStation Store is crammed with town enhancements, available for purchase to players too impatient to hunt for the right materials. Your Style Shows: I don't know about your role-playing game preferences, but I like to see my equipment choices reflected on my characters immediately, and White Knight Chronicles does just that, maintaining the appearance you give both your custom creation and the story characters throughout the game's cut scenes. It may not be a big deal to some of you, but it means the world to me. Hated One particular story arc, important enough for a series of cut scenes that interrupts the main story sporadically, goes absolutely nowhere. A group sets off on a journey, they continue the journey, stop for a beer, and then continue the journey. Maybe they'll make the game a trilogy, and they can walk throughout the second one as well. So Big, So Expansive, So Lost: The large, gorgeous landscapes and dungeons of White Knight Chronicles do have one drawback: it's incredibly easy to get lost. I'm sure several hours of my 35-hour-plus play through were spent trying to find my way from point A to point B. The maps do contain helpful stars telling you where your next goal is, but when you're in a multi-level area and not on the level your goal is, those stars disappear. I'm almost get the feeling Level-5 was trying to get the player lost on purpose, as even when you're traveling with a guest character who should know the area you are in like the back of his hand, he provides no assistance whatsoever in navigating your maze-like surroundings. The Waiting Game: For all of the flexibility you have in managing your characters' battle skills, the fighting itself is a major let-down. It's essentially a turn-based system with an element of positioning that really doesn't matter all that much. You've got a circle meter that fills with varying degrees of slowness according to the armor your character is wearing. Once the circle is complete you can execute a command, and then wait again. Combos briefly turn the gauge into a sequence of timed button presses, but the meter is always there. You can maneuver yourself around the enemy, but it doesn't seem to help you avoid attacks one way or the other. Call it Final Fantasy XI, or Final Fantasy XII without the benefit of highly customizable AI actions; either way it's not the way I want to fight in a RPG. Easy Like Sunday Morning: My first death in White Knight Chronicles came about twenty hours into the game, and that was only because my healer got stuck trying to jump off of a ledge and wasn't actually doing any healing. With such an intricate skills and combo creation system in place, one would expect the game to be a bit more challenging in order to reward those that master it. Instead, I spent most of the game using my character's low-end attack, building up so I can transform into the White Knight and wipe the field with my enemies. Later in the game I stopped using the White Knight altogether outside of boss fights, in order to ensure I had points available to transform when needed. The one-handed sword skillset has something like thirty different usable skills. I made it through the game (outside of some experimentation) using one or two of them. That doesn't seem right to me. You're Just There: I spent a good half-hour to an hour creating the perfect digital representation of myself using White Knight Chronicles' robust character creation tools. I launched the game, excited about seeing how my character fit into the story. Aside from a few references to the "new guy" within the first hour of play and the odd exchanged glance, he didn't. Outside of fighting, my character might as well have been a cardboard cutout, placed in the background of scenes of great import. In fact, I would have enjoyed the inclusion of my character in the story more had he been a cardboard cutout. At least then I would have gotten a giggle or two out of it. I realize that your character is mainly in the game to represent you when playing the game online, but that almost makes it worse. Here I am, running off to do all of these quests in the middle of our grand adventure, and no one even acknowledges that I exist, much less my great accomplishments. Level-5 might have been better off making the online game and the offline game two different titles. What do you look for in a role-playing game? The role-playing genre means different things to every player, so it's important to know the answer to that question before reading too much into this review. In my case, I want a solid adventure with compelling characters, a solid plot, and a resolution that makes me feel like I've accomplished something. I also enjoy managing the minutiae, assigning skill points, maxing out my armor and weapon enhancements, and seeing real results of my toil on the field of battle. Going by those guidelines, White Knight Chronicles is, at best, inconsistent. The characters are compelling, but the story falls short, leaving me feeling unfulfilled. The micromanagement I crave is there, but the fruits of my labor are wasted in the single-player story, only ripening once I delve deeper into the optional quest system. Ultimately it doesn't quite live up to my expectations. White Knight Chronicles certainly has its fair share of brilliant moments. Creating a devastating combo, harvesting rare components from your Georama, or taking on a particularly difficult quest by yourself - these are the moments when the game truly shines. It also has its share of low points - realizing just hitting the enemy repeatedly with the same attack works just as well, catching a glimpse of your wooden character creation in the background of an important scene, or the ending of the story as a whole - which nullify the game's brilliance, leaving us with a title that's simply average. White Knight Chronicles: International Edition was developed by Level-5 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment on February 2nd for the PlayStation 3. Retails for $59.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through the main story completely. Testing online multiplayer questing and extensively explored the Geonet town-building mechanic. Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ. EA has two console Need for Speed titles in the worksPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 3:03pm by Destructoid
It's already been confirmed that Burnout developer Criterion has its hands in the Need for Speed franchise. But if Burnout's fast pace and twisted steel isn't your thing, don't worry -- Electronic Arts has confirmed that it has not one but two Need for Speed titles in the works. Holiday of 2010 will see the release of Criterion's Need for Speed title, referred to by EA Chief Operating Officer John Schappert on today's financial call as an action title. Early 2011 (January-March) will see the release of a second Need for Speed title, this one a simulation title, possibly a follow up to last year's Need for Speed: SHIFT. You can can play both titles, no one's stopping you. But if you had to choose, what would you prefer? A Need for Speed simulation title or a Need for Speed action title? EA reveals release info for Dead Space 2, next Dragon AgePosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 2:02pm by Destructoid
If you're an avid Electronic Arts fan and just have to have everything they own, you might want to tighten your belt for the next year. There's a lot of games, and in the publisher's fiscal earnings details released today, release windows for some major games were revealed. Of note, Visceral's Dead Space 2 is confirmed for an early 2011 release, along with a new Spore title, the Epic Games/People Can Fly shooter, a new Dragon Age game, and an announced action title. Yes, a new Dragon Age. Hit the jump for a full breakdown of EA's key titles for its fiscal year 2011 (via Shacknews).
Halfbrick Mixes Zombies And Time TravelPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 1:01pm by KotakuAustralian developer Halfbrick attempts to stand out in the undead crowd with Age of Zombies, a time-travelling zombie-killing adventure, coming February 25th to PSP and PlayStation 3 minis. In an industry chock full of games involving zombies, how does one small developer stand out? Well I suppose this post helps. Other than that, Halfbrick is giving time travel a try, mixing brain-hungry undead horses with Egyptian mummies and Dinosaurs in order to freshen up the concept. Why not simply avoid zombies altogether? According to the official announcement, money might have something to do with it. "There's no denying it. Zombie games make money. No one has anything against a good zombie game really, it's just that there's a lot of them. So we needed to try something different. We didn't want to kill zombies in the usual way. We didn't want to survive a deadly undead army in the ruins of some scary-ass town. We wanted to travel through time and shoot zombie dinosaurs and mummies and junk. So, we created Age of Zombies!" There's a story behind the game, with hero Barry Steakfries implementing time portals to halt the nefarious schemes of Professor Brains, but what really matters is shooting zombies while trying to forget that a developer thought that Barry Steakfries was a good name for anything. Age of Zombies is due out on February 24th for $4.99.
BioShock 2 Review: In Case Of RapturePosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 1:01pm by Kotaku
BioShock 2 puts players in the suit of Subject Delta, a hulking Big Daddy prototype who longs to reunite with his bonded Little Sister, a girl who happens to also be the daughter of Sofia Lamb, the woman now running Rapture, the underwater city somehow still as chaotic, leaky and menacingly well populated 10 years after the events of the original BioShock. Along the way, you'll be aided by Lamb's opponents and Eleanor herself on your search for your lost little Lamb, growing stronger with all new genetic modifications in the form of offensive Plasmids and passive, ability-granting Tonics. This time, you'll dual wield the power of Plasmids in your left hand, burning, electrocuting and freezing foes, with deadly new weapons for your right. Does BioShock 2 live up to the high expectations set by the original, Ken Levine directed adventure? And can it possibly be... a better game? Loved The Moral Hangover: The original BioShock didn't run with the impact of the player's moral choices—primarily whether to save the game's Little Sisters, returning them to normal, or harvest them for the extra ADAM that grants the player more power—as expertly as its sequel does. BioShock 2 not only provides a more interesting quantitative outcome to many of the player's decisions, well beyond the extra ADAM one can gain from a Little Sister rescue, it successfully makes the player question whether he's making the right decision. Without giving too much away, the player is given the option at certain points to spare characters who may rightfully deserve or even clearly express their wish to die, with the reward or punishment for each decision smartly ambiguous. For players who have completed the first, the suspicion that your character may or may not be manipulated by the voices in your ear makes those decisions all the more conflicting. Personally, I wish I'd saved the game more often so that I could revisit my behavior. A Better Harvest: The harvesting of ADAM from Little Sisters is giving substantial depth in BioShock 2. Upon eliminating a rival Big Daddy, players can choose to immediately harvest or adopt his ward. This is where it gets interesting. While watching over an adopted Little Sister, Delta can seek out ADAM resources for her to harvest. This brings a swarm of Splicers and makes use of brand new weapon traps—Trap Rivets, Mini-turrets and Trap Spears—for some of the most intense confrontations in the game. The process can become tedious after a while, but the pay off is worth it. Hacking++: Gone are the painful pipe swapping puzzles of the original BioShock, with that games hacking method replaced by something simpler, less eventually grating and ultimately more varied. Instead of suffering through more Pipe Mania, players' reflexes are tested with a rhythmic mini-game that requires precision timing. Hacking is more improved with more worthwhile genetic tonics that make the hacking game increasingly easier—just as hacking ramps up in difficulty—and the addition of remote hacking darts and auto-hacking darts. Rapture From The Outside: There are a few moments when, taking advantage of the suit that Subject Delta wears, the game lets players go outside and briefly explore the exterior of Rapture. Players can walk the sea floor between airlocks, soaking in the brightly lit organic sights without fear of attack, a chance to unwind between Big Daddy battles. These areas feel a bit under-utilized, but it's a lovely change of scenery from the dilapidated, corpse-laden halls of Rapture. Plasmid Sequels & Power To The People: Most of the genetic modifications from the original BioShock return, but the plasmids and tonics have been given powerful sequels as well. My standbys, the Electro Bolt and Incinerate, become much more interesting to use when upgraded to their highest level. Chain lightning makes Electro Bolt far more useful when taking on crowds of Splicers, with the exploding higher level Incinerate doing more than just adding damage to a single foe. The weapon upgrades performed at the uncommon Power to the People stations add similarly strategy changing tactics. I was pleasantly surprised to find the Rivet Gun so useful after gaining the ability to fire superheated rivets, setting enemies on fire while they were also being attacked by bees. For a game with perhaps too much offensive variety, the expanded plasmids and elemental additions to weapons make combat far more enjoyable than in the original. Research Redone: The ability to research your enemies with a camera is refined, wonderfully, in BioShock 2. Still photographs are replaced by moving pictures, letting the player film Splicers and Big Daddies for research rewards in the form of upgrades and tonics. The new method encourages more variety in battle tactics, helping me to learn just how effective shooting a swarm of bees at Brute Splicers then pairing that with Rocket Spears can be. Better yet, BioShock 2 offers a much more clear look at their research progress. A History Better Explained: An added chapter to a story as revered as BioShock's may feel like an unnecessary thing—except for Take-Two Interactive shareholders, of course. Whether to also shine a light on the mysterious relationship of the Big Daddies and Little Sisters is tricky. Will exploring that history in fine detail, and from first person no less, remove the allure of these monsters? Fortunately, no. While I prefer to not have every nook and cranny of fiction that I enjoy explored, BioShock 2's digging into the origins of many characters is fascinating. The addition of the nimble, screeching Big Sisters, a dangerously cheesy proposition, add a frightful new enemy to the mix. Hated Drill Disappointment: I was surprised to find just how unappealing it was to use Delta's drill, even after the various upgrades and tonics that make the gas powered melee weapon seem so much more usable. Melee combat isn't typically the draw in first person shooters, but it was disappointing to find this aspect of playing as a Big Daddy so dull. 2K Marin and the rest of the BioShock 2 team deserves credit for delivering what seemed impossible, making a sequel that not only tells a story that's greater in parts than its predecessor but making that sequel feel necessary. BioShock 2 does enough to differentiate itself from the original to make it feel new again, but it takes some time to get there. The game atones for many of the design sins of the original, making hacking more fun, deleting the repetitive noise of the original—"Welcome to the Circus of Value!! Hahaha!" is never heard—and fixing the sometimes clunky interface of the original. What BioShock 2 didn't really need, except to discourage trade-ins, was its sloppy multiplayer mode. I neither loved nor hated this bland addition to the game, as it feels playable at best, a semi-interesting distraction between playthroughs of the more refined single-player campaign. The expected stuff is there, including a leveling system with unlockable weapons and Plasmids not seen in the single-player portion, but it consists solely of BioShock themed variations on stock multiplayer modes. I liked BioShock 2 more than I expected to, perhaps more so than the original thanks to its more satisfying game play. The been there, done that feeling wears off after not too long, giving players a chance to happily get lost in Rapture once again. BioShock 2 was developed by 2K Marin, 2K Australia, 2K China and Digital Extremes and published by 2K Games for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on February 9. Retails for $59.99 USD on consoles, $49.99 on PC. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played single-player game to completion on Xbox 360, tested multiplayer modes. Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ. David Cage: Creating mature games a 'massive challenge'Posted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 12:12pm by Destructoid
When Quantic Dream CEO and co-founder David Cage watches movies or television, he dreams of the day when game designers can have the same liberties. Cage, whose mature interactive drama Heavy Rain hits stores later this month, says he feels that censorship in games is "probably the strictest in all the entertainment industry." "I'm am sure once society will have a better understanding of what games really are, mentalities will quickly change," Cage says.
Bioshock 2's Jordan Thomas Takes Your Calls During This Week's PodcastPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 12:12pm by Kotaku
Thomas will be our in-studio guest for the hour. On Wednesday at 11am Kotaku Time (that's 1pm ET, 10am PT), you will be able to call in and ask the main man behind Bioshock 2 anything you want. But please note that he is immune to hypnotic suggestion. Jordan Thomas follows the Kotaku Talk Radio guest-appearance trail-blazing of Amy Hennig, Ken Levine, Tim Schafer, Greg Zeschuk, Todd Howard, Cliff Bleszinski, Jeremiah Slaczka, Jeff Gerstmann, Major Nelson and Randy Pitchford. Look for a reminder post about the podcast at 11:00 AM mountain time (1:00 PM ET) on Wednesday. The post will include call-in info so you can ask your questions. The show will be live a few minutes after the hour. I'll expect to hear you calling our switchboard then. Regular listeners please note that our iTunes feed has changed. Subscribe to "Kotaku Talk Radio" in iTunes to continue to follow our show that way. We'll also continue to provide direct downloads of the show a couple of hours after showtime each Wednesday. You can also get us through Zune. And through RSS. How To Survive In Aliens Vs. PredatorPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 11:11am by KotakunewVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http://www.youtube.com/v/rL7VrU6upCA&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} ); I've noticed from my time playing an Alien in the Aliens Vs. Predator multiplayer demo, that many of you don't know how to block. Sega fixes that, with this helpful close combat techniques video, dammit. I've been dominating rounds in the Aliens Vs. Predator PC demo for several days now, and now Sega wants to ruin my fun. It seems folks who choose the Colonial Marines aren't used to first-person games where a large percentage of the enemy players jump right at you, tearing into you with their claws. I've used this to my advantage since the demo was released last week, but now my fun time is over. Thanks a lot, Sega. Review: BioShock 2Posted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 10:10am by Destructoid
When BioShock launched in 2007, it felt like a breath of fresh air to many gamers. A brand-new IP with a fantastic story and an interesting sandbox-style approach to combat within a linear format, it was a damn fine game. Superb, even. So good, in fact, that many considered a sequel completely unnecessary. Whether or not BioShock 2 is required isn't for us to decide. We're here to tell you whether or not BioShock 2 is good. With some huge shoes to fill, 2K Marin certainly had its work cut out for it and BioShock 2 is in an unenviable position as the first follow-up to one of 2007's most critically acclaimed games. Does BioShock 2 do BioShock justice? Does 2K Marin manage to fill the shoes passed down to them by Irrational Games, or is there too much space left empty? Read on as we review BioShock 2.
BioShock 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360 [reviewed]) Single-player (Jim Sterling): Set ten years after the events of BioShock, BioShock 2 puts players into the thumping boots of a Big Daddy. Not just any Big Daddy, either. This is Delta, a prototype protector who was designed to have a lasting bond with a single Little Sister for reasons too convoluted to go into here. Waking up long after the fall of Rapture, Delta discovers that Andrew Ryan is dead and the Libertarian utopia has become a Communist ruin, ruled over by Dr. Sophia Lamb. Lamb, a longstanding rival of Ryan's, has turned the Splicers into her "family," an army of deranged cultists who have freed themselves from Ryan's ideals and now strive toward creating their own twisted view of Heaven on Earth. Now separated from his original Little Sister, Delta strives to win her back from Lamb's clutches and escape Rapture. It's up to the player whether Delta's story will be one of mercy, or revenge. Let's get this out of the way early so we can move on -- BioShock 2's story is not as good as BioShock's. Is it bad? Not at all. It is, however, noticeably forced in places, and lacking the same scale of exploration and depth as the original game. The game expects us to stretch our imaginations a little more than is comfortable -- for example, we're supposed to believe that characters like Sophia Lamb, allegedly a huge part of Rapture and inextricably linked to Andrew Ryan, managed to stay completely anonymous and totally unmentioned during the course of the original game. Characters now revealed to be integral to Rapture's history only appear in BioShock 2, and it's very hard to believe that they exist in the same Rapture we saw during the last game.
Despite the plot's weaker elements and the fact that it clearly cannot match the original game, it's still an engaging and interesting story for the most part. The themes of forgiveness and the pursuit of utopia are put across very well, especially thanks to a slightly more interesting use of moral choices. While the Little Sister "Save or Harvest" plot is wearily redone, there are slightly more meaningful choices found throughout the game that have an impact on the way the story concludes. While the plot may be a touch inferior to the original BioShock, the same cannot be said for the gameplay. At worst, it's almost exactly the same, which means it's automatically a solid, versatile and fun shooter. However, the decision to put players into the role of a Big Daddy opens the combat system up. Delta is far more capable of holding his own in a fight than Jack Ryan. In fact, battles against Big Daddies are far less dangerous affairs, and most players should be able to tackle the tougher enemies without the same fight/die/resurrect repetition of the first game. That said, BioShock 2 is no cakewalk. New enemies, such as the muscle-bound Brute Splicers or the Rumbler Big Daddy, provide plenty of challenge, while the much-lauded Big Sisters present some very tense, scary battles indeed. Delta's arsenal of weapons and Plasmids is not only more effective than Jack Ryan's, but more fun as well. On the weapon side, Delta gets access to some iconic Big Daddy artillery, such as the drill arm and rivet gun. He also gets a launcher, shotgun, machine gun and spear gun as he progresses through the game. Each weapon can use multiple ammo types, such as phosphorus shotgun buck that lodges inside enemies and explodes after a few seconds, or trap rivets, which can be placed on the floor and will fire when they touch an enemy. These weapons can be upgraded at "Power to the People" stations and ultimately become incredibly devastating items. For instance, the final form of the rivet gun will randomly detonate rivets, setting targets on fire.
Many of the Plasmids from the original game return, and they can be upgraded into some awesomely brutal powers. Abilities such as the Cyclone Trap and Insect Swarm have been altered to become far more effective and useful. I didn't find the brand-new Plasmids, such as Scout, to be all that great, but a third-tier Incinerate Plasmid that effectively turns your hand into a flamethrower can hardly be sniffed at. BioShock 2 starts off a little too frustrating. It's stingy with cash and items, and the first few stages will feel like a struggle. However, as the game progresses, players will access so many toys and so much stuff to play with that they'll be spoiled for choice. The game becomes a playground of carnage by the end of the adventure, and it's impossible to see all that BioShock 2's combat has to offer on the first play. Hacking returns to BioShock 2, but has been improved immeasurably. Rather than a dull puzzle game that takes players out of the experience, hacking is now done in real time by timing button presses as an arrow moves along a semi-circular dial. Pressing the button while the arrow is in a green or blue area of the dial yields a successful hack. The white area shocks Delta and lowers health, while the red area triggers security bots. Getting the blue area also yields an extra bonus, such as getting vending machines to drop free items, or health stations to dish out a first aid kit. Hacking feels more natural and enjoyable this time around, and the fact that the game doesn't pause while hacks take place creates a more tense atmosphere. Delta also gets access to a hack dart gun, allowing him to perform his business remotely. Again, it's a fantastic addition that makes hacking more fun than ever before. Another old gimmick with new life is the Little Sister portion of the game. As always, the player can liberate Little Sisters from their Big Daddy protectors. However, once free, the Little Sisters can be harvested, saved or adopted. Adopting a Little Sister places her on Delta's shoulders and players can then gather up to two batches of ADAM from corpses. The catch is that Splicers will instantly swarm to the Little Sister when she gathers. Players will have to prepare before each gathering, setting traps and getting their weapons ready. Once the sisters are saved, Delta must then face off against a Big Sister. This new dynamic is a terrific addition to the game, but it gets very repetitive as the game goes on. By the time the game is in its closing chapters, it's likely you'll be very sick of the lengthy process.
BioShock 2's single-player campaign trades in some narrative quality for superior gameplay, and it's a fair trade indeed. No, BioShock 2 may not feel like a fantastic follow-up to its predecessor, but it still feels like a part of its universe. It also throws in its own memorable set pieces, and quite a few terrific characters. Alex the Great is a particularly brilliant new addition to the cast, although I don't want to give away any more about him than that. Perhaps the worst that can be said of BioShock 2 is that it lacks the "wow" factor of the original. Much of the fun of the first BioShock came from exploring this brand new world, and finding out how it became a fallen dystopia. We already know that about Rapture now. Much of the charm, much of the mystery, has been removed, and there's nothing 2K Marin could have done about that. Ultimately, BioShock 2 is a great sequel to a superb game. It can't quite step into its father's shoes, but it does a solid and commendable job in its many impressive attempts. Score: 8.5
Multiplayer (Rey Gutierrez): The inclusion of multiplayer has drawn criticism equally from fans and press, and it's been very interesting to see how the game's engine and visual language would lend themselves to all-out plasmid-fueled chaos in Rapture. Rapture remains Rapture. The magic of the underwater city and its colorful cast of characters and corridors remain intact, as do the perils and set pieces that play into strategic combat. As in the single-player campaign, you can punish your opponents by freezing doors and electrifying puddles -- these devious moments are scattered around each map and are fun to exploit. The maps are so gorgeous, in fact, that you might get a little distracted by the scenery. You can create up to three different Loadouts, where you can customize your primary and secondary weapons, modify your plasmids, and add different upgrades and tonics to your character. There are plasmids aplenty: Electro Bolt, Incinerate, Winter Blast, Aero Dash, Geyser Trap, Telekinesis, Houdini, Insect Swarm. And you can marry them with tonics: Security Evasion, Speedy Recovery, Eve Saver, Metabolic EVE, Deadly Machines, Head Hunter.
Picking and choosing the right weapon/plasmid/tonic combo is key to winning a match. Being able to freeze your opponents with a well-timed Winter Blast, and shattering them to pieces with a round from your machine gun is always fun. So is using Houdini to disappear and reappear behind your enemies' turrets, where you can safely hack them. Then again, you might just get lucky: Big Daddy suits will randomly spawn in the map, turning you into a walking tank with all the Big Daddy perks. Last but not least, this game has something for pranksters and those who love bragging rights. You can humiliate your opponents by taking pictures of their lifeless avatars, gaining you different bonuses for the round. You can choose up to six different characters, all with individual personalities and audio taunts ... and that's about as much depth as you're treated to. Customizing characters is extremely limited; youʼre only able to change their masks or headgear and melee weapons. But it can be pretty funny beating someone over the head with a frying-pan or candle stick.
There is also a lack of any original multiplayer modes -- you'll be treated to iterations of age-old tropes you can enjoy in better-executed multiplayer games. Still, it's cute, as they do have a small pinch of a BioShock twist. Capture the flag is known as "Capture the Little Sister," where you have to steal the opposing team's Little Sister and return her to your vent. Perhaps my biggest gripe is that the maps and scale seem to get in the way of the battle. The original art style of Rapture was intended for single player eye-popping map lust, not chaos. The multiplayer maps may look pretty, but the single-player experience of appreciating the artwork and different rooms of Rapture is lost when youʼre having a hard time navigating and jumping over the scenery. To be more specific, you'll often find yourself thinking something like, "Is this rock here because it is beautiful and therefore untouchable, or can I jump on it and club someone in the face?" Expect lots of trial and error as you figure out what is art and what is actionable.
That said, the gameplay is more about luck than strategy. BioShock 2 plays more like early PS2 multiplayer titles such as TimeSplitters rather than technical, multi-faceted experiences like the Call of Duty games. There's a lot of visual noise: with a chaotic room of plasmids going off, the screen can get pretty crazy, and you might have to resorting to merely melee-ing anything that happens to stumble in front of you. Most of the environments are closed in, with not a lot of room for error. What's worse is that a lot of the rooms start to look the same. In some maps, there didn't seem to be any notable landmarks at all, making it difficult to differentiate one area from another. The multiplayer can be fun, but it can easily come off as gimmicky. The designers borrowed a lot of elements from other games, but gamers recognized the world of Rapture for its fresh art direction and storytelling, not for following the standard. Itʼs not fresh or new, just a different coat of paint. BioShock 2's multiplayer doesn't bring anything new, but it's a nice distraction from the campaign. If you're playing BioShock 2 for its multiplayer and not its narrative, then you're doing it wrong. Think of it as nice-to-have bonus materials in the pocket of a DVD you've been waiting for. You will enjoy it and it does add some value, but I doubt you'll often come back to it. Score: 7.0 Overall Score: 8.0 -- Great (8s are impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.)
The Saga Continues With LEGO Clone WarsPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 9:09am by Kotaku
I am continually amazed by the success of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a stylized cartoon version of the events that take place between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. I know how it's going to end, you see, and all of these colorful new characters will be forgotten by the third movie. Still, it doesn't stop me from watching, and it doesn't stop LucasArts and Traveller's Tales from pumping out a LEGO game based on the series for fans to purchase and enjoy. The Clone Wars will span both seasons of the animated series, with all of the characters from the show represented in LEGO form, along with some fan-favorites from the saga that haven't appeared in the series. The game will feature an upgraded level builder, new head-to-head combat moves, and new abilities for players to fool around with. "LucasArts continues to set the bar for next-generation family entertainment," said Darrell Rodriguez, president of LucasArts. "The LEGO Star Wars franchise is a massive hit with fans, bringing in sales of over 20 million units worldwide. We're thrilled to extend this experience to LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, delivering the humor and fun players expect from this award winning franchise." I love the humor and fun of the series, so that's good. I also love the animated look of the cartoon, which could be a problem. It's one thing to make live-action characters into LEGOs, but Star Wars: The Clone Wars already features stylized characters. Wouldn't putting them in LEGO form steal some of their charm? We'll see come this fall, when LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars comes out on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PC, DS, and PSP. THQ reveals first UFC Undisputed 2010 detailsPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 8:08am by Destructoid
Following the reveal that Brock Lesnar would be the cover boy for its upcoming UFC Undisputed 2010, THQ has revealed the first details for the follow-up to last year's hit title. Digital Decapitations A Primal Release, Creator SaysPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 8:08am by Kotaku
Jones is the head of art and design at Rebellion, the U.K. studio behind Aliens Vs Predator, one of the goriest games currently announced for 2010. Of average build, soft voice and a close-cropped beard, Jones is altogether typical of the quiet, pleasant video game designers who so seldom make it into the public eye but are indeed the men — mostly men, as far as I've encountered — responsible for the games that unnerve polite society. AvP's achievement in notoriety is its decapitations, it's enabling of players to assume the role of 20th Century Fox's mighty Predator alien hunters and rip the head off the shoulders of a human space marine. It allows the player to stab the marine with knives, or, if the player's one of the movie studio's famous Aliens, to chomp those skulls with glass-sharp teeth. There tend to be two camps in the discussion about violent video games. There are those on the inside who make and play violent games and bat an eye at the gore as infrequently as they ever talk about why they make and enjoy this kind of thing. And then there are those on the outside, often critical of violent games, sometimes in positions of policy-making, sometimes calling for bans or legal protections. Jones is in the inside camp, of course. He's a child of horror movies. His folks have seen clips of the games he makes. "It's not their cup of tea," he chuckled. They weren't into the horror movies either. "They love me and they know I'm a good guy." He can explain exactly how decapitations got into this new Aliens Vs. Predator. He recalls early meetings at Rebellion as he and his team batting around ideas for their first-person shooter. "We'd sit around and talk about what we could do in the game. One or the other designers would say quietly and sheepishly, 'I want to rip people's heads out, and their spines. Can we do that?' "We said, 'Let's prototype it.'" They did. And they played it. "What we found is that it never got old," Jones recalled. "You didn't get desensitized to it. And when we'd play it you'd see all kinds of reactions, like malevolent glee or shock." Decapitations fit the R-rated lore of the Aliens Vs. Predator series. The movies upon which Rebellion's new and previous Aliens Vs. Predator games are based are violent. They are fantasy, of course, a science fiction view of the universe that puts Predator above Homo Sapien in the food chain and adds Alien to the list of man-killers that also includes Great White Sharks. Because of that, the game couldn't be tame, Jones said. Rebellion wanted to make a game that felt "authentic" to the films. Its characters, controlled by the player or not, had to be vicious: "If we chose to pretend they didn't do really nasty things to people, these creatures you'd be frightened of in real life? it would have felt dishonest."
In last fall's best-selling Modern Warfare 2, the developers allow the player to participate in a mission in which they, as an undercover CIA operative, are part of a terrorist cell that massacres innocent civilians in an airport. Jones played that level and recalls that he kept his gun pointed to the floor. He likes the idea of games that can make a person uncomfortable with their violence. He believes they might help "teaches us where the boundaries of behavior are." But he sees Aliens Vs. Predator's gore as somewhat outside of that and anything else that aspires to provide the gut-punch of realism. "It's clearly fantasy violence," he said. "It's not a documentary." Video games, Jones told me, are good vehicles for delivering a "primal" emotion. They provide a release and a catharsis. He believes society yearns for this. "Why do people go shooting clay pigeons?" he pondered. Or a more ghoulish example: "During the execution of Saddam Hussein, somebody took out their cell phone and was filming it. And millions of people went to look at it on line." These are the actions, Jones believes, of people living in a thankfully gentler world. "The world we live in, the western world, is a far safer world than we ever had before ," he said. "Yet people seek some sort of primal experience." Aliens Vs. Predator and other violent games might be part of that. Jones, like the other makers of violent video games who I've met, was as amiable as he was thoughtful. Get a person who knows their violent games talking, and fascinating discussions can ensure about how the killings and the guilt of Kratos in God of War registered with a player versus those in a Modern Warfare 2. How decapitating a space marine in Aliens Vs. Predator will feel the first, 10th or 100th time, however, is something we can't talk about freely yet, not until the game is out and more of us have had the chance to do it. The violence isn't for everyone, of course, though some can live with it. Jones' parents, for example. "They love me and they know I'm a good guy," he told me. Tim Jones is a peaceful man. He will continue to play — and if there's good cause to — make games that are violent. There's no contradiction there, not to him. The virtual, fantasy violence has its purposes. "It's just that," he begins, "I don't think it's unhealthy."
- LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars announced - Dante's Inferno not coming to Middle East (legally) - White PS3 controller coming soon - Playstation 3 sales cross 30 million worldwide - Alpha Protocol delayed again, this time with reasoning - BioShock 2 devs under pressure to make a compelling story - First R.U.S.E. making of video is shiny - Demon's Souls swings the way you choose for V Day - Fair or Foul, MLB 10 The Show Still Looks Great - More details emerge on Fallout New Vegas - 2K tells us why BioShock 2's multiplayer exists - Sony losing even less on each PS3 - BioShock 2 devs prepared for fan backlash - Just Cause 2 gives you the freedom to cause chaos - Sony Still Losing Money On Every PS3 Sold (But Not As Much!) |
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Welcome back to the beautiful city of Rapture, the dystopian underworld introduced in 2007's BioShock, a failed utopia all but destroyed by its inhabitants, a world less mysterious than when you last left it.
Into the deep we go this week as Bioshock 2 creative director Jordan Thomas joins me and Brian to take your calls live on Wednesday's live Kotaku podcast.
LucasArts and TT Games continue to tear apart the Star Wars universe and rebuild it brick-by-brick with LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.
