vlog - 2011 End of Year Review Part 3: Most Anticipated for 2012

vlog - 2011 End of Year Review Part 2: Disappointments

vlog - 2011 End of Year Review Part 1: Highlights

Behind the scenes of Captain BLUE!!!

Because we thought "why not," a hint of the creative madness of first read/edit/... something.

Sonic Generations Review

vlog - Warhammer 40,000 Black Library: Knight Lord Trilogy Book Review

The Adventures of Captain Blue: Case File #2 - Part 2

Deus Ex: Human Revolution review (plus DLC Impressions)

The Adventures of Captain Blue: Case File #2 - Part 1

Dm Ramble: Thief 4

Greetings folks,

Dm here feeling distinctly under the weather, but i digress...

Once again another boring afternoon has led me upon something one of my favorite news sites that shall we say sparked my interest.

Story boards for Thief 4.


http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114006-Thief-4-Storyboards-Leak

Done last year? Curious... the article speaks for itself, generally giving us nothing more than slice of "oh yeah, this is the tone of the thief games" and nothing more.

As artwork it's certainly interesting.

Without shadow of a doubt the Thief series is one of my all time favorites: dark, atmospheric and certainly a unique setting when stealth wasn't about walking into room armed with machine guns, or running across rooftops in broad daylight!

Many a time I've found myself crouched in a dark alcove, guards a mere foot away form me, my heart in my throat wishing the git would look the other way! Now that's immersion... okay every so often I have a habit of crouched in dark corners wondering where my light gem is, but that's neither here nor there.

Thief 4 is one of those games that's been discussed and mulled over for few years now; after the events of the 1st 2nd games, the 3rd got one hell of a graphical boost but still keeping in with the overall developing proto-victoriana-medieval-magi punk world.

At the end of 3 our hero Garrett literally becomes a parody of the very first cut scene in Thief 1, the dark hooded man from a secret order, giving some present child a choice, almost praising him for being bale to see what does not want to be seen... to be fair a good homage and end to series to literally come full circle.

So what could 4 have in stall for us? Going on concept art shown in this link, another shift towards a more steam punk/victoriana setting the popular style you find in discworld or fable games, I'm betting.

Everything else is still a mystery but with modern graphics and systems would we be looking at a Splinter Cell or Assassin's Creed WITH STEALTH!? I can't stress that enough, really...

As for story... God only knows, it can't be Garrett any more (alas), unless they do it as some sort of prequel (God forbid) or maybe they will just advance onwards, all the more for enriching and truly making up a unique and varied fantasy setting, only time will tell really.

Until next when I feel the need to ramble on.

Dm here reminding you when 2D6 don't work a D12 is better! :)

Pandora on Dreadfleet

Hey there, Pandora here with another awesome thing that has stolen my mind. This month it has been all about Dreadfleet.

Dreadfleet is the newest sub-game from Games Workshop. To be honest I hadn't really paid much attention to the hype about it, and wasn't all that bothered until I happened to be in store on the launch day.

After 1 demo game I was sold.

So what's it all about? It is set in the Warhammer fantasy universe, sort of. The actual setting is a sort of 'Bermuda Triangle', a ship graveyard with many strange tales around it.

There are 2 main groups in the game the Grand Alliance (goodies) and Dreadfleet (baddies). All the ships have there own story of how they ended up in this strange place, as you would expect from a Games Workshop product the back stories are detailed and mesh together as part of an overall story of the game. There are 10 ships altogether, plus auxiliaries and scenery. The game box was priced at £70, which seems steep until you take into account it contains literally everything you will need, including dice, game mat and even plastic bags to keep cards in.

The models for this game are amazing. Each of the 10 ships is distinctive, and reflects the faction it represents very well. Though the one that surprised me was the inclusion of a Chaos Dwarf ship, the Black Kraken.

It's almost impossible to say which the best looking ship is, as they all have unique points that make them stand out. Though the 2 head ships, the Heldenhammer and the Bloody Reaver, are as expected the most impressive and the largest, though that's not saying all the ships aren't awesome.

I am also happy to report in the most part the models go together very easily and neatly. Painting wise, I found it easiest to follow the suggested colour schemes, as none of the factions I collect are included so I had little in the way of colour scheme knowledge for them. The accompanying White Dwarf has painting guides for all the ships, some of the auxiliaries and an overall guide to the scenery. The scenery pieces that are included with the game are equally impressive and distinctive. Hell, Citadel have even gone all out on the pieces for measuring the angle of a turn, measuring stick and wind direction gauge. Even the auxiliaries are detailed and unique. All in all a class act from the model point of view.

As for game play, again all angles have been covered well. All the ships have a card with their stats and Captain's abilities, meaning no fighting over the rule book. The instructions are clear and concise and cover almost everything that may come up during game play. Anyone familiar with playing Warhammer won't find this too much of a jump. The turn phases may have different names but are essentially the same, so there are orders (resolving continual effects etc), movement, Broadside (shooting) and boarding (close combat).

Player turn order is decided by a D6 roll at the start of each round, so tactics vary each turn depending on your roll and the actions of the players before you as well as anticipating the actions of the people after you. Also, as the instruction book is well laid out it isn't hard to find what you are looking for, for the times the player's minds go blank or an argument threatens to break out. Almost all special instructions are written on the various cards that come with the set. This means that when they are all laid out in front of the player, they essentially act as a quick reference guide.

Most of all this is a very sociable game. As there are 10 ships, there can be up to 10 players. The rule book contains various scenarios for different numbers of ships, and uneven sided battles.

There is also the matter of portability. As the girls quarters of the WIP HQ are a long way from the main HQ, I don't tend to war game much. As it means lugging an army case there and back, where as this is much easier to move. And only 1 person needs to bring things, so as many people can join in as are interested.

So get your pirate on. Yaarrrr! Rum all round!

Sonic Generations comic: "Time Warped"

(click to enlarge)

Hi folks, 4G here. For those of you lucky enough to be living accross the pond in America now, Sonic Generations is already out. Needless to say, my pre-order is on it's way, and I can't wait! Here's a comic to celebrate the game's release. I think the message behind it is clear...

As for future content, I'll have more stuff uploaded soon. I'm off on holiday with Astra this weekend though, so it won't be up until next week. I can assure you, it'll definitely be worth the wait!

Until next time. :)

Details of the next Sonic game leaked?

4G here, with a very interesting rumor from TSSZ. We haven't even reached Sonic Generations launch day, and they've been leaked details on what could be the next Sonic game (titled Sonic Dimensions), from a reliable source. The platform is cited to be for Wii U. Please note, this is all just rumors right now, but the site has been very reliable in the past, as they revealed info on Sonic Generations six months before it's official announcement. TSSZ appears to be getting tons of views, making it difficult to get to the article, so here's the juicy deails:

"We’re technically not yet at Sonic Generations‘s launch day. But TSSZ has learned through a source that development is already well underway on Sonic’s next adventure tailored to Nintendo’s next console–and it’s not a Generations port.

TSSZ has learned Sonic Dimensions, a working title for the next Sonic, will take place directly after Generations and be a spiritual successor to Sonic Colors. We don’t know if this game will necessarily be exclusive to the Wii U, but we’re told it will have visual quality in line with Generations and it will take advantage of many Wii U specific capabilities. That includes the use of the Wii U mini-tablets for up to a 4 person multiplayer, and use of the revised Wii U remote and its touchscreen to destroy enemies and activate powers.

So what’s the gimmick this time? TSSZ has learned Dimensions’s storyline will center around another time-space continuum shift at the hands of Eggman that not only alters Sonic’s world, but himself. Sonic will allegedly split into multiple personalities denoted by color–each of which having their own unique abilities. That’s right, if this holds, recolored Sonics are now a reality.

In addition to the main Sonic, which will remain blue and act as a core uniting “ghost” of sorts in-game, we’re told there will be five other colors: Red, Orange, Purple, Green, and Yellow. We were told very specific things about each Sonic. Red Sonic, for example, can cause explosions to presumably open up new areas, but has a slow speed and a short jump. Purple Sonic, allegedly parodying Shadow and Silver, will be able to move platforms and float, with the dark nonsensical attitude to boot. And perhaps the most interesting tidbit: our sources compared the Orange personality to Big the Cat, a lumbering hedgehog even slower than his red counterpart…until he’s powered up. There is also a yellow Sonic–not a Super Sonic–that will be the fastest of them all, but take damage easily. The source alleges only two of the personalities can be used in-stage, but all may be able to combine and act as an equivalent Super Guide. The White Sonic allegedly pops up as an option after dying in a stage a certain number of times. Using it guarantees the lowest rank at the end.

If that sounds a lot like a Nintendo idea, that’s because it is, and no wonder; we’ve learned Sega is allegedly working directly with some Nintendo developers on this game. That’s in addition to most of, if not the entire staff for Sonic Colors being back on board for Dimensions. The Nintendo developers are allegedly assisting Sega design the levels, which we’re told will be more surreal, on similar thinking as Colors. Music Plant from Sonic Advance 2 was cited as a stage that may see its ideas and concepts revived for Dimensions.

Another concept allegedly coming back: Rival battles. Eggman’s scheme is allegedly so out of control, it splits apart not just Sonic, but everyone in his world, including his friends, and the mad doctor himself. One example we learned about was the possibility of Sonic and personalities fighting an evil version of Amy Rose, finally tired of Sonic refusing her advances. We’re also told Eggman will split, and a kind-hearted version of him will act as Sonic’s guide.

The final item of note from our source is yet another assurance that we will see some 2D gameplay within, and those mechanics will be “directly ripped” from the classic Sonic physics, though we’ve heard that line for a while.

Our source requested anonymity, as the source was not authorized to speak publicly about the above details. The source also clearly advised to not necessarily take all the information at face value, since this is still a work in progress.

We are likely months away from knowing anything more about this project, if these details hold up. There remain a lot of matters here that are a bit rough around the edges, and for that and other reasons we’re filing this under Rumor despite having confidence in at least some of the information presented. Remember: When we learned about Sonic Generations in 2010, six months before its formal unveiling, it was known as just Sonic Anniversary with only a few details clear as well. This is something we will have to watch over time; do not expect instant gratification. Nevertheless, we will pass along anything more that we hear."

It certianly sounds like an interesting concept, if it turns out to be true, especially if Sega and Nintendo are working together on this. We'll keep you posted.

www.tssznews.com

Burnout Crash mini-review

Skyrim map leaked!

Greeting folks,

As Skyrim is arguably our most anticipated game of 2011, digging around upon the information super pron way...err i mean Internet.

I happened upon an article via (one of my favourite sites) Escapist Magazine, showing what seems to be an early leaked map of Skyrim!!

"The map features nine large cities, each marked with a different crest, with the landscape between them dotted with seven smaller towns. Surrounding the whole affair are mountains except to the North, where the Sea of Ghosts hugs the broken shoreline. Lakes, rivers, roads, and other points of interest make up the remainder of the world."

I invite you to have a look for yourselves and take it for what it's worth, be sure to check out rest of Escapist Magazine - home of Ben 'Yahtze' Crowshaw!

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113560-Rumor-Russian-Skyrim-Map-Leaked


Until then we'll  try and keep you up to date with reviews and more random bites form our beloved geek culture! 


Dm reminding that really all good rpgs come with source books!

Pandora gives us a slice of music.

Hi there, Pandora here. When I was deciding what to write about this time, I decided I didn't want to rant about stuff I hate all the time. So that got me to thinking, why not share the reasons why I really like something instead. So here you go; plus it means I am much less angry because I get to do stuff I enjoy rather than moan about stuff I hate.

This month there has been an album I have not been able to stop listening to - Ten Years Gone: the Best of Everclear 1994 - 2004. When I was first played Everclear I found them hard to get into as a band, mainly because I was introduced to them as a Grunge band. On the surface they do have the makings of one, with catchy hooks and heavy guitar lines; but for me there was a certain rawness missing from their sound. There are exceptions to this, most notably Fire Maple Song. Lyrically a lot of their songs are from the Grunge end of the music spectrum, giving songs a heartfelt and open quality. Also, the song styles vary so much that I found it hard to know how to take the band. For example tracks like Wonderful, a retrospective look at the feelings of a boy as his parents were splitting up; and Father Of Mine, about the singer's father leaving, are placed between songs like Volvo Driving Soccer Mom and AM Radio.

One of the main reasons this album has been stealing my mind so much is a lot to do with the fact there are so many different sounds and 'feels' to the songs on the album. There is something to match your mood no matter what it might be, and there is never too much of one thing. For example, for all the tracks about loss and separation, there are also songs about love and hope. This is one time I am glad to admit I was wrong. What I originally saw as an inconsistency in style I now see as a kind of honesty. Although the singer has obviously been through bad times, he clearly appreciates the good things that happen. This means that listening to them isn't all doom and gloom but isn't all lightness and frivolity. Saying that, some of the more upbeat songs on this album have very deep lyrics, which is another reason I really started liking the band. In an era when a lot of bands with the same kind of sound were singing about sex and fart jokes, Everclear had real substance to their material.

There are 2 cover tracks on this album, and I have to say that they were brave choices. By the law of covers because I like the originals I shouldn't like the covers, but because the band makes them their own it works. The slower version of 'Boys Are Back In Town' works surprisingly well. I really like the Thin Lizzy original, but both tempo's work equally well. The cover of Van Morrison's 'Brown Eyed Girl' has the addition of 2 extra lines at the start makes it sound more unique and is a very clever idea. It becomes a self aware cover version, as the singer is sining along to the radio.

Everclear is a great band, although it did take a while for them to grow on me. I totally recommend checking them out. My personal favourite tracks, and ones I really recommend, are 'Fire Maple Song', 'Summerland' and 'Local God'.

Black Crusade: An Overview

Black Crusade: First Impressions

          Black Crusade by Fantasy Flight games retails in at £40.00 (best price £35.00 from IGUK with free shipping to the UK). Wow, just wow! It's been a long time since I've been looking forward to an RPG, and is this worth it? Well I'll let you know when we get a game going.

          Well now, I have some coffee and the rule book - let's have a read, shall we? Okay so what can you expect? Well after having a thorough flick through this 400 page core rule book, there’s a number of aspects which just seem, well, better.

          Character Creation: rather than the classic roll up your character, appearance, job this has been scraped. Now we run on archetypes. There are 4 space marine classes and 4 human classes, each of these relate to your archetype, in this edition it's not so much of a case of "what can I be," but "who do I want to be?" What is my goal as a servant of chaos? Each class panders to a different playing style, but at the same time makes the games more story driven (I'll get to that in a moment). So if you fancy playing the rogue Inquisitorial acolyte; or maybe a Imperial Guardsman who become disillusioned with his lot in life; you have the renegade as a template for your cunning (if manipulative) character. On the other side, perhaps you're thinking "I'm a lone wolf," maybe a loyalist marine who has broken form his chapter; or maybe you've always been servant of the dark lords, living a tribal existence with your battle brothers, seeking to carve your name as the butcher of worlds - then maybe the Champion or Forsaken space marine classes are for you. Each of course have their own strengths and weaknesses, but in the end it is balanced - the leaders amongst men, the cold killers, the manipulative spy, or the classic power-crazed psyker.

          To add to this you have 3 other traits: your motivation, your disgrace and your pride (optional to roll on) charts. These of course will effect your overall stats or corruption points and yet add in extra elements for GM and players alike to truly flesh out their character and add elements for the story; or maybe just to come back and bite the players on the ass (depending on how sadistic your GM is lol).

          Okay, the new and interesting element is infamy. Now the infamy has, to say the least, a wide and varied roll with your servants of chaos. Not only as a percentile stat to literally see if you are well known enough to get that few extra rounds of bolter ammo, or to go "hey night lord, do you now who I am!?" It also acts as this edition's version of fate points, however there is a limit depending on how much infamy you have, limiting your 'fate point' options. Infamy can be easy gained (or lost) through actions with your peers, or to the chaos gods themselves. The ideal goal being - have more infamy than corruption points, but these can be barged with your dark patrons perhaps to gain a gift, or maybe to remove that new tentacle you acquired last mission. It's a very interesting stat, but it does have one other use! As a being of darkness and paragon to the dark lords you can spend your infamy points to avoid death! And trust me, it's normally a heavy price.

          All these things combined can lead to very interesting and unique story campaign! Especially when you have the missions. Now, like Deathwatch you have set tasks and objectives; however it's not so much the GM going "okay, go here do this" (and puts few little extras in to see if the players will gain that bonus exp). It seems to me more case of: GM sets up the world, say there’s and imperial bastion on this world. Thanks to it the mutant populous is kept under strict control. It's then the player's that go "well this needs to be taken out! So we can purge the servants of the corpse emperor (primary objective)."
          "Okay, how we going to do this?"

          "Well, we could get the mutants to rise up as a distraction (secondary objective)."

          "Okay, what about weapons? Well intelligence says the bastion receives weapon and equipment shipments via mag rail."
          "Okay, we'll take that out and supply the mutants!"

          One player could go "Okay, I'm tech user. I could probably hack in to the sever if we can get inside and disable the defence systems (adding something of his own skills to the plan)."

          "But wait, if we do this right we could cause enough slaughter and appease the blood god (now you have something else to offer coupled with favour of the chosen patron)."

          "We'll need explosives. I can get my contacts off-world to help," says the former inquisitor...

          And so on. By the end of it you may just have a incredibly detailed plan or not. This of course will gain the players infamy and respect; hell even a war-band of mutant rebels. However plans may not go to smoothly, the GM does have cards up his sleeve in the form of complications, unknown to the players. These vary, making the mission more of a challenge. So in this example, perhaps the supply train was early and won't be around for the next month. Perhaps a Sister of Battle contingent has arrived and gone on a pure, thus upping the stakes and plausibility of the plan. Maybe it's just plain bad intelligence and the mutant populous would rather stay in the hovels or even still loyal to the Imperium... any number of factors could help or hinder; and of course failing will come at a price, but the rewards for victory will be great.

          Okay what I have missed oh yes... due to the sheer nature of the chaos gods each potential patron has set stats, skills and traits associated with them. Such as Khorne favours strength, Tzeentch willpower and its intelligent booting/psi-power-ness etc. It's not strictly necessary as you can stay 'unaligned.' However, periodically as you purchase upgrades, new skills and what-not there will be a point where maybe you've got more Khornite abilities than say Nurgle related ones. So you can become aligned to your patron. For every 5 skills/upgrades you have with on patron or another coupled with periodical checks every 10,20,40 corruption points, you become aligned... what’s the benefit? Cheaper upgrades! If I've become more battle orientated as soon as I favour Khorne over the others, I can then purchase skills etc. at say, tier 1, or simple advance at only 100 exp rather than 250. However the gods don’t exactly favour each other, so say you're suffering in the toughness department. Being Khornite you look at your chart and see that toughness is a Nurgle skill, Khorne will tolerate Nurgle, meaning rather than simple advance of 100 (for Khorne) you'd pay 250 exp or maybe you think willpower (Tzeentchite) needs boosting. Well needless to say Khorne and Tzeentch don’t get along. That'd cost you 500exp... so it is a bit of double-edged sword. As long as you have a balance you can stay unaligned as long as one set of skills/talent/advances doesn't exceed 5 over the others of another patron.

          So as you can see it's shaping up to be a very interesting and diverse game, this one! Oh, did I forget to mention you can fight Necrons!? And Dark Eldar!? Oh yes it's all at your finger tips.

          How the game plays? Well I'll let you know once I scour the depraved pits of Brierley Hill and drum up some willing (or unwilling) candidates who wish for nothing more than to stick it to the Imperium or maybe see what fate the lord of change has in store. Until next time, this is the Dm reminding you that you do get to re-roll one stat, but you must keep the second result!

Sisters of Battle: Old vs. New? Pandora speaks!

          Hey there, Pandora here.

          Like a lot of people I have been waiting a very long time for Games Workshop to re-launch the Sisters of Battle. After a long absence from the shelves I was starting to worry that nothing would ever get done with them and they would disappear. Well now they have finally released the new rules, not as a Codex but as articles in White Dwarf. After such a long wait that was a big let down - this army has a hugely loyal fan base, so why such a low key re-launch? The Grey Knights got all of the usual GW fanfare when they were relaunched. Still, the articles are better than nothing, so I got the 2 issues and have spent the last few weeks trying to decide how I feel about the new rules and set up my army.

          As it stands there are good and bad points, so lets start with the basics: the Sisters of Battle as a force have now been moved away from the Inquisition and closer to the Ecclesiarchy. This, of course, means no more Inquisitors on the field, including Karamazov. This in turn means no more inducted Imperial Guard or Space Marine units. This is the start of the problem as this has limited the options for a lot of categories. Although the Sisters of Battle units can hold their own on the battle field, having the extra options to play with was helpful. For example, I would always field Imperial Guard Rough Rider Cavalry as a fast attack option, as their points cost was fairly low, and have some awesome weaponry. Now however your fast attack options are limited to Seraphims and Dominion squads.

          There have been some new additions - there are now 2 new named HQ units and the option to have a Confessor and Battle Conclave. The Battle Conclaves and Cannoness Command Squad are now much more like the Inquisitor retinues, there are a few options for what units to include, each with their own unique statistics and special rules. This makes them well worth their points cost. Death Cult Assassins and Arco-Flagelants can now only be fielded as part of a Battle Conclave, which I think is awesome because I am a massive fan of the Death Cult Assassins, and I can now field them and still have 2 other elite choices.

          I have also been looking on the GW website, as all the models have been sold out for a very long time. For some reason, I'm guessing to make more money, squad size box sets now seem to have vanished from the site. All that seems to be on there is the blisters of 3 standard Sisters, with all Superiors and special weapons sold separately. For me this isn't such an issue as I have a fairly sizeable force already; but this would put me off if I was just starting out. I don't get this at all, this and the lack of a proper Codex makes it seem that GW thinks of this army as one that won't attract new players, which would also explain why no models are back in stores.

          Before this all gets too negative there are some good things about the new rules. The Acts of Faith have always been a great special rule, and in the new rules they have gotten even better: instead of having a total for the length of the battle, they are now rolled at the start of the players turn. As each Act of Faith costs 1 Faith Point - that's potentially 6 Acts of Faith per turn. In the new rules each unit type has it's own Act of Faith, and they all seem well thought out and compliment the unit's strengths. For example if the Act is successful, Repentias that are taken down in close combat get an extra attack at the end of the phase; Dominion squad's weapons count as twin linked and Seraphims get to re-roll any failed to wound rolls. As the rules are used in different phases, depending on what they affect, this makes planning how to use them much easier; and because the Faith Points are 'per turn' it gives the player more freedom to use them.

          The Shield of Faith rule is another of the army-wide special rules that has changed. This one I am still not sure which is better: old or new. The Shield of Faith special rule used to mean that any minor psychic power would automatically fail and on a roll of a 5+ any psychic power would be nullified. New rules mean all models with that special rule have a 6+ invulnerable save. After being at the wrong end of AP1 weapons in the past, even that small chance seems like a bonus; but I did like messing up players who liked to use psychic powers. The jury is still out on that one for me.

          Time to talk points values now. There hasn't been many massive changes points-wise. The biggest one being Saint Celestine, who has dropped from 201 to 115 while still keeping most of her special rules (all the good ones). Most of the other points changes are one or two either way, so won't have a great effect on points totals for standing armies such as mine. There has also been little in the way of statistic changes, which I'm not too surprised about as the stats, as they stood, were pretty good.

          So, which is better: new or old? To be honest I still haven't decided on that one. I would have liked to have seen more new models and more choices added. The new Acts of Faith rules are awesome. Most of the unit special rules have stayed the same. Also, there is now no war gear allowance for the Cannoness, which I would like back. I still think the Sisters of Battle have enough fire power and tricks to take on armies as well as they used to, which is the main thing!

GAMEfest 2011 - Sonic Generations post GAMEfest impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Ridge Racer: Unbounded gameplay (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - Final thoughts

GAMEfest 2011 - Dance Central 2

GAMEfest 2011 - Rage demo impressions

Gamefest 2011 - Dark Souls gameplay and impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi gameplay 2 (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi gameplay (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - Journey gameplay (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - The Gunstringer gameplay (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - El Shaddi: Ascension of the Metatron gameplay (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - Tekken Hybrid gameplay and impressions (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - Resistance 3 and Playstation Move Gun gameplay

GAMEfest 2011 - Ace Combat: Assualt Horizon gameplay and impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Dinsey Universe impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Modern Warfare 3 impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Soul Calibur V gameplay (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - Mass Effect 3 and WWE 2012, more Soul Calibur V impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Dragon's Dogma gameplay (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - Street Fighter x Tekken and Dragon's Dogma impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Spiderman: Edge of Time and X-Men: Destiny demo impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Goldeneye: Reloaded demo impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Sonic Generations: City Escape, classic and modern Sonic gameplay (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - Sonic Generations: Green Hill Zone, modern Sonic gameplay (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - Street Fighter x Tekken gameplay (cam)

GAMEfest 2011 - Rayman Origins gameplay (cam)

 

Greetings folks,

Dm here giving you little extra bonus write up on Rayman Origins

well where to start...but wow! its so good to see Rayman back on our consoles with some faithful old school platforming action! 

visually stunning utilizing cell shading at its best whislt still maintianing he classic cartoon feel of the Rayman universe.  Everything is ever so slightly 2D and 3Dits strange to say but works really well.

The demo i played seemed to have heavy emphasis on local multilayer co-op  which certainly adds a different dynamic, relying on your parter/s as well as your own skills.  

Certainly great fun for its arcade style grab as many collectible before your friends do but what this has to do with the story Ive no idea, we'll have to wait and see on that one.

Something i noticed was in this mode when you fell (or often when game felt like it) your character expanded an d you literally negate the whole level....but then again you cant collect anything or be damaged....difficulty curve much? oh wait its Rayman its still pain the ass! 

I have t say visually impressive, faithful to the old school PS1 Rayman i know and love easy play and defiantly bit of fun with your mates, lets see when it comes out.

Rayman Origins is for the PS3, Xbox360, Nintendo DS, WII, and will be released in the UK 25th November 2011

GAMEfest 2011 - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword gameplay (cam)

GAMEfest day 2 - Update!

 
4G here again. We returned from GAMEfest a while ago now, and we've got plenty more to share with everyone! However, there's still much to be added from day 1, so we'll sort that before starting with day 2's coverage. More to follow soon!

GAMEfest 2011 - Gears of War 3 multiplayer and impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City / Revelations Impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City gameplay

GAMEfest 2011 - Just Dance 3

Believe me, you do want to see the footage at the end of this video...

GAMEfest 2011 - Soul Calibur V impressions

GAMEfest 2011 - Prey 2 and Skyrim impressions

Back from Gamefest day 1

4G here, reporting from WIP HQ. We've just returned from our venture at day 1 of Gamefest (and we're bloody knackered!!) As promised, we have plenty of footage and previews to share. We'll be uploading all of this as soon as possible. Stay tuned!

WE'VE LANDED!!

Space Marine game - the early report!

Space Marine game - the early report!


Dm here as one of the major 40K fans has literally received a text message giving first impressions of the new Space Marine game via our gaming guru Marty the Elf (since he has the money LOL)!

And I literally quote:-

the campain is short and theres a set up for a sequal,
i recon it was the right length
tho the game does get a little repetative and i think much longer it may have dragged
this way i squish ork and it just feels right lol :)
yea the last boss is a little meh but alright
oh and any time you get a thunder hammer and jet pack
fun happens!


(He hasn't yet played online, though this will be his next conquest).

So there you have it, Space Marine in a nut shell (at least until we can steal his copy lol). So from one 40K fan to another it really does seem to be a fun game, with what seems like distinctly memorable moments.

We shall have more information in the near future.

Dm reminding you when your dice fail get new ones. :)

WIP @ Gamefest 2011!

In celebration of reaching over 1000 hits on this blog (thanks folks!), we here at WIP would like to take this opportunity to announce our coverage of Gamefest 2011!

http://events.game.co.uk/gamefest/

For those of you that don't know what Gamefest is, it's a video games expo, very much in the same vien as E3 (only not as big... and in Birmingham.) WIP acted quickly, and managed to get tickets before the Saturday sold out! After much debate (and arguing) we've decided on what games we'll be covering for the weekend;

Astra (who will make her debut apperance soon) will be covering Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Mario and Sonic at the 2012 London Olympic games, Zelda: Skyward Sword and she'll be getting her groove on at the Just Dance 3 booth. Meanwhile, Auros will be also covering Uncharted, as well as Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, Assassin's Creed: Revelations and will be exploring the alien world of Prey 2. Dare, if he can make it to the event, will get his hands on the much anticipated Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and will be flying around and blowing stuff up in Ace Combat: Assualt Horizon. If he can't make it to Gamefest, then we'll just hand over the responsibility to someone else (hopefully me!) Everyone's favourite DM will try out Rayman Origins, Silent Hill: Downpour, and will test his artistic skills on uDraw. Konrad will help coverage of Prey 2 and will be playing Kid: Icarus: Uprising and will test his driving skills in Mario Kart. Finally, I will get to grips with Gears of War 3, Saints Row The Third and will be going on a zombie kill spree in Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City.

Hopefully, these games will only be the tip of the iceberg, as we get coverage over the Saturday and Sunday of the event. After the event, we'll be posting our views on these titles and, with any luck, we may have a few interviews (but we're not promising anything on that front.)

If you're at the event, see you there!

4G out.

1001 views!!

That's right people, Work In Progress has hit a mini mile stone as of 7.26pm.

Literally just over 1000 views, no doubt the entirety of WIP HQ is celebrating.

... Somehwere... maybe.

But nonetheless when you're starting out this is an achievement (5 gamer points)!

As DM I'd like to thank you all for viewing our site and award yourselves with 1001 exp!

I will also take this opportunity to say that we are going to Gamefest in a few weeks (the West Midlands answer to E3) and hope to be bring you some coverage as we download it on to whoever's computer is nearest...

This is the DM feeling the need to sculpt something in order to mark the occasion, but what? Hmmmmmm...

Space Marine Demo Impressions - Part 2

Space Marine Demo Impressions - Part 1

Auros and the DM give their first impressions on the Space Marine demo. FOR THE EMPEROR!!!

Welcome, Pandora!

          This is Pandora. A short intro may be in order: I am a gamer geek who also happens to be a girl - we exist, honest! I play RPGs, table top games and console games and I take all of them very seriously. By seriously I mean I have a large collection of XBox games, I have characters for several RPGs and I have a fair few Warhammer and Warhammer 40K armies and a Warmachine army. Which is the point of the first piece that I am doing. I would like to point out that I know this isn't the case all of the time, with all people - this is based on some of my experiences and some experiences I know other girls have had.

          First of all, back off into the mists of time, when I was still in college, my group of friends would often go to the local LAN arena to play. Normally this would mean a first person shooter, mainly Call of Duty, Day of Defeat, Battlefield Vietnam or Halo; and although I am not usually a PC gamer - preferring consoles for the lack of having to upgrade once a week to be able to run new releases. I became very good at them - note the DM and 4G can back this up, and I'm not just bragging. For example, holding off in a 2 vs. 1 scenario on Battlefield Vietnam for an hour and a half, and the other team having to napalm me out in the end. Now most of the people I played with did take me seriously, but I did get the occasional comment of "You're good … for a girl." This is the most rage inducing statement that anyone could make to me. I don't see why that should affect my ability to play computer games.

          Ah, I hear you say that was then and this is now. Well this also goes into the game retail industry, and is still ongoing to this day. For example, imagine the total annoyance of this scenario: you are out shopping and find something you want to buy, but whilst you are trying to pay for said item the person serving is talking past you to the person you are with. This has happened to me on more than one occasion buying games, but only ever when the person I am shopping with is a guy. This has even happened when the person I am with has explained the game is for me and I am the one who is going to play it, but they still talked past me to them. This kind of leads me onto another point: this has only happened when I am buying FPS or combat/fighting games. Where as if I am buying an RPG or especially a JRPG I have never had that happen. Is there some sort of unwritten law that its fine for girls to be into some game types and not others? If so, why? I am good at FPS games, and beat 'em up games, though I still can't beat Auros at Soul Calibur - as well as RPGs. This happened recently enough for the game I was buying to be Red Dead Redemption.

          I have to say I have been lucky with pen and paper RPGing, the group I play with, when I get chance, are totally cool with the idea that I am perfectly capable of playing, coming up with plans and kicking ass in most RPG scenarios. Table top war gaming, however, is a different matter. For example I have been told that for Warhammer and 40K that I have "typical girl armies." Again, another rage inducing statement. My armies are chosen because I like the models, background fluff and abilities of said army. For example, the first army I collected was the Sisters of Battle; not because it was a "girl's army" but because I like the idea of battle nuns. I liked the models and thought I could build and play well with them. My choice was that simple. It would be the same incentive guys use to buy their armies; Space Marines, for example, is a typical "guy army."

          So there is my rant, I have tried not to get too wound up. I am sure there are a few girls out there who have similar, or worse experiences, and there are lots of people who take girl gamers seriously. It just seems the industry at large doesn't - games aimed at a female audience is a totally separate rant that I won't start now.