Author: Matt Byrd (Page 33 of 34)

      Hitman’s Greatest Hits

      June 2, 2012 /

      While most of the industry is withholding news until E3, an exciting new bit of game release info has managed to break through. Eurogamer.net stumbled upon an Italian retail site, 16games, that may have accidentally broke the news that Eidos’s “Hitman HD Collection” (containing “Hitman 2: Silent Assassin”, “Hitman: Contracts”, and “Hitman: Blood Money”) is coming out October 15th. The release date makes sense considering that the fifth game in the series, “Hitman: Absolution” is set for a November 20th release.

      Much like other trilogy collections for “Splinter Cell“, “Metal Gear Solid“, and “Prince of Persia” this is a hell of a deal that anyone unfamiliar with the series, or looking to relieve it, should jump on. In fact, top to bottom quality wise this may be the best of the trilogy collections so far as the Hitman series got its successful formula down pat with “Hitman 2: Silent Assassin”, and has only been improving since.

      Just like how the news of Max Payne 3 got me reminiscing, so does this. Here then are some of the best missions available from the installments featured on the upcoming greatest hits collection.

      St. Petersburg Stakeout

      “Hitman 2” may have the best overall missions in all of the series. Many of them though are like this one and are actually half brilliant, half frustrating. For most of this mission you are sneaking through the sewers and avoiding sentries behind cars. It’s not a mission that really gives you the “kill em’ all” option if you desire. It’s the actual hit that makes it memorable though, as you have to kill a very specific target at a meeting…but you don’t know what he looks like. As your contact feeds you bits of information they have on the man, you must decide who at the meeting the real target is before it ends. The situation really puts you into the moments and leaves you walking away from the level feeling that it was a job truly well done.

      Jacuzzi Job

      Home invasion missions are “Hitman’s” bread and butter assignments, and this is one of the best. It’s one of the few missions without a briefing preceding it, and instead just tosses you into the fray. Scale wise the level is very small, but it offers quite a few ways to go about your business. Though it’s not the preferred method, there are few options more rewarding than simply busting through the door to the targets room and putting one in his head as he sits in his jacuzzi making you feel like a true hitter. It becomes one of the games most replayable assignments as it has no slow portions, and doesn’t punish you in any real way for however you choose to play it. Just as all the missions should be.

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      Editorial, News

      GAME REVIEW: Mad Riders

      May 29, 2012 /

      You probably best know developer Techland for the zombie survival game “Dead Island,” which featured perhaps the greatest trailer for a video game ever made. “Dead Island” was a technically flawed game that still managed to garner interest past its incredible preview due to a few unique game ideas (and a well-designed game world) that gave the hint that somewhere below all the bugs and somewhat stiff gameplay, there was a truly great game waiting to bust out.

      People were anxious to see what Techland’s next project would be, and what they had learned from “Dead Island,” and that game is a downloadable, online ATV racer called “Mad Riders.” It’s actually a bit of a homecoming for developer Techland, because well before “Dead Island,” their main business was banging out a series of unremarkable racing titles, and that’s exactly what “Mad Riders” is.

      I don’t mean to sound harsh towards the game. Truthfully, I loved “Mad Riders” when I first booted it up, because the speed of the races was just insane, and the controls were nice and loose in that proper, ATV racing game kind of way. However, things slowly started to unravel as my playtime went on. For one thing, while the game has over 40 tracks to its name, many of them range from okay to very dull, with only a few standouts. The game promises you stunts, but the tracks rarely allow more than a backflip or sharp “sidewinder” turn, and the contradictions continue in the unlock department. The game has the usual array of unlockable and customizable vehicles, riders, modes and tournaments, but none of it is particularly inspiring or worth going out of your way for.

      Even the game’s best attribute — the blisteringly insane speed — becomes a problem after a while. That’s because your biggest opponent isn’t the other riders, who don’t present a challenge until later in the tournament, but the tracks themselves. There are all manners of cliffs, crevices and obstacles that will cause you to lose the race, and you’ll become intimately familiar with all of them. Of course, the game contradicts itself once more by always managing to reset you in a friendly position after you make a mistake, and I don’t remember ever once losing any ground because of this feature. Even more annoying is the shortcuts on the tracks. Any divergent path in the road will either lead to a) a road without a ramp; b) a road with a ramp that puts you at about the same place as the one without the ramp; or c) shortcuts where you have to pass through an appropriate gate and hit the Y button at the right time to access. It’s more than a little apathetic.

      “Mad Riders” ends up being the polar opposite of “Dead Island.” It’s technically proficient in most ways, but completely lacking in the X-factor department. It’s only 800 Microsoft Points, so there’s an argument to be made for it if you’re jonesing for a semi-competent multiplayer ATV title on a budget, but it isn’t a strong one. Because in the end, “Mad Riders” isn’t dressed up and has nowhere to go, but for some reason is in a ridiculous hurry to get there. And that’s just sad.

      Reviews, XBLA, Xbox 360

      The Most Genuinely Surprising E3 Moments

      May 26, 2012 /

      Since it’s a slow news day (potential “Zone of Enders” sequel aside), I thought I’d take a look ahead towards this years E3 conference by going back.

      You see, E3 has had a lot of problems over the years. Developers drop out, games disappear, Jamie Kennedy makes an appearance…they even got rid of the booth babes. Against it all, though, sometimes a moment can emerge from the show that wades through all the trouble and dodges the press leaks to emerge from the other side as a real surprise. Here are a few.

      Introducing Killzone 2….Sort Of

      The big reveal trailer has been E3’s trump card for many years. “Metal Gear Solid 2“, “Halo 2“, lots of other 2’s…they’re usually a pretty big deal. Over the years, game developers have turned the video game trailer into an art, which often translates to the trailer being better than the game.

      There is no greater example of this than the infamous “Killzone 2” trailer. Spearheaded by the unveiling of the Playstation 3, Sony’s 2005 conference was a runaway success, and “Killzone 2” was the highlight. The first “Killzone” was a shoddy attempt at Sony trying to make a “Halo Killer”, and was a mediocre success. The footage shown for the sequel, however, was so dramatic and technologically mind blowing that it would have stood out amongst the packed line up on its own. However, the hype was bolstered by Sony’s insistence that what people were seeing was in fact real time.

      Of course that would turn out to be a big fat lie. “Killzone 2” was a good looking game, but it was nowhere near the trailer in any respect. Why this ultimately hurt Sony by taking the focus away from its otherwise amazing conference, for a brief time the debate over the trailers authenticity was all anyone could talk about.

       

      The Original Shocker

      It was E3 1995, the very first E3, and Sega CEO Tom Kalinske took the stage and told everyone that due to unprecedented demand (Disclaimer: real demand may not have been unprecedented) Sega would no longer be meeting its originally promised September 2nd North American release date. Instead they would push the release date up and anyone interested could buy the system that very day for a retail price of $399. It was a bombshell in the industry without precedent before or peer sense.

      Of course in classic Sega tradition, just when it looks like they’ve taken the world by storm, a rival comes in and parts the clouds. In this case it was Sony’s Steve Race who took the stage and simply said “$299” and walked off. The message was clear. Sony’s system was going to cheaper, have more developer support, and better launch titles. All fans had to do was wait for it. The Saturn meanwhile angered retailers who suddenly had to sell a lot of Saturns without a chance to promote, and had an unspectacular launch that kicked off a mediocre system.

      Still, it was a shock.

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      Editorial

      Five Games You Just Had to Be There For

      May 24, 2012 /

      Like certain stories or parties, some games can’t be properly explained and you just had to be there for them to fully understand what they meant.

      A quick disclaimer. I’m not saying these are bad games. They are just games that were hugely significant at one point, but lost whatever it was that made them special over time, and are left as something that is less than what they were.

      “Conker’s Bad Fur Day”

      I’ll never forget reading the April edition of Electronic Gaming Monthly (that was a video game magazine to you youngsters) and first hearing about this. You see, EGM used to run a fake article for its April edition as an April Fools Day joke. In the year 2000, there was a preview so absurd that everyone that read it groaned at how lazy the staff was getting at their pranks. It was a sneak peek of the then titled” Conker 64“, that alleged that developer Rare was going to turn the cute and colorful world of Conker into a dark and violent hell, and make Conker himself into a potty mouth, perverted anti-hero. The magazine was flooded with letters from readers saying that they had spotted the obvious gag this time, and that the editors would have to try a lot harder next year.

      Of course, that preview would turn out to be the only thing about the game that wasn’t a joke.

      I don’t know when it finally sank in that the game wasn’t a prank, but even while playing it I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. To this day I’ve never seen a game try to be so deliberately offensive, and succeed. Conker drank, cursed, screwed, and belittled across an adventure that saw you go to war, get drunk, pee out giant fires, rip the skin off of a bulls ass, help pollinate a horny and well endowed flower, and (most infamously) take on a giant singing pile of poo. This game had pure humor running through its veins, and every second was filled with some sort of gag or movie parody (which were actually quite excellent) that demanded that you kept playing in order to see what absurdity the game had for you in its next set piece. If you were like me and played this at the tender age of 13, it was hard not to believe it was in the sliced bread pantheon of greatest things ever.

      Time reveals a different tale of course. For instance though the game was beautiful for its day, (released at the tail end of the N64, its considered one of the best looking games on the system) it still carries that murky and dull 64 look. The gameplay is also pretty atrocious as it mostly consists of making your way from context sensitive action button to context sensitive action button, and fills out its time with annoying fetch quests and segments so frustrating that they were later trimmed down or taken out entirely for the games Xbox remake. Finally that humor just doesn’t ring as true anymore. The game is still funny in its own way, but unless you carry the same sense of humor I did at the aforementioned 13, you’re going to find little incentive to keep playing.

      “Conker’s Bad Fur Day” is still a noteworthy and entertaining game (its multiplayer mode especially), but unless you played it when it came out, you won’t get that same punch in the gut feeling it delivered that pretty much forced you to bow down to what you were witnessing.

      Modern Equivalent: That’s tough. You almost have to look at the opposite, and imagine Kratos from “God of War” starring in a cute and cuddly platformer. Or if they made “The Human Centipede” into a game where you played a cartoon centipede trying to stop a Saturday morning mad scentist. Even then, Conker is in a league of its own.

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      Editorial

      People Who Didn’t Buy Diablo III Can Now Also Get Screwed

      May 19, 2012 /

      In what is simply a video game news story too bizarre not to report (in other words, sorry mom), French sex toy store Absoloo has a very special promotion going on for any ladies (in France, at least) who lost their boyfriends’ attention due to spending more time with “Diablo III” than them.

      This is how it works: You simply post a photo of yourself on the company’s Facebook page holding a copy of “Diablo III,” and they send you a private message with a code that lets you get a free… let’s say it’s a special vibrating magic staff, from their website.

      Here is Absoloo’s own (poorly translated) take on the offer:

      Ladies and

      Your man has not left his computer since the release yesterday of Diablo III?

      Still a long time before you find yourself in his arms during a romantic evening …

      You yearn … You feel abandoned … Abandoned …

      The situation is so, you must admit, your man would rather go in search of magical jewels, gloves sorcerers, and other heavy war clubs to get XP points rather than engaging in the research of your G-spot and gain sexual experience.

      So what to do?

      Do not despair over! We decided to help you!

      Find the force and the attention you need naturally, but with a new friend …

      Some people are crying foul that this promotion is sexist against women that play “Diablo III” as the implication is that only men would play the game. To this I say, complaining about it just blinds female gamers from a free toy with purchase of video game promotion that puts all happy meal pack-ins to great blushing shame.

      Personally, I think that all available gamers should take the company up on their offer and then send every one of the toys over to Blizzard so that they can go #*%! themselves for all the botches in “Diablo III’s” launch.

      Deals, Diablo 3, News, PC

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