Back on the Sega Mega-Drive, one of my favorite games I would play constantly was Streets Of Rage 2. For some reason 1 and 3 didn’t compare to the second outing of thug bashing. Plus there was a kid on roller blades who I thought was awesome. So I started off playing beat ‘em ups, a side from the classic FPS games which I don’t really need to mention  now.

When I finally got to play Castle Crashers on XBL I loved it, but for the life of me couldn’t complete the damn thing on my own. It was a perfect mix of old school beat ‘em up, plus some awesome medieval and quite comical graphics and theme, it was truly a game that brought back some fond memories.

Since then I have been thinking, what would be the perfect game to combine Castle Crashers and Streets Of Rage 2? Well put simply, there wasn’t one out on the market…Untill now.

I have been following Scott Pilgrim Vs The World intently. I have all the comic bar Volume 6 (just finished volume 5 see) I am pretty much booking the evening off for the day the film comes out, and to be honest I just think the whole concept of Scott Pilgrim is just beyond awesome. You may remember the post I did about the whole Scott Pilgrim universe a couple of weeks ago, but if you don’t the basic story is that Scott has fallen head over heals with a girl named Ramona Flowers and in order to date her he has to defeat her seven evil Ex-es, throw in a tone of video game references and you have a pretty awesome story. In the last post I only showed you a video of what the game has to offer, but now I can give you an insight into the game and what the Downloadable has in store for noobs and Pilgrim fanatics a like.

Character select, Mario style - Taken from IGN.com

From the get go you get to choose from 4 different characters. Scott Pilgrim himself, Ramona Flowers Scott’s love interest, Stephen Stills who is Scott’s friend and lead singer of his band Sex Bob-bomb and Kim Pine who is the band’s drummer. All of these characters have their own set of unlockable moves (which are unlocked as you level up though the game, much like Castle Crashers) and unique special attacks, they also have the ability to call in for a striker to help them for a momentary time. It is all what we are pretty much used to when it comes to a 2D side scrolling beat ‘em up. But there are a couple of nice little touches that keep the game fresh. For instance you can use sub-space if you so wish. On your travels if you find a door marked Sub-space you can use it to take a short cut through that level, this is completely in optional, in subspace you will find a number of mini games, one of which is a mini game where you have to destroy flying piggy banks to collect their coins.

Well that's sub space for ya - Taken From IGN.com

As with all old school beat ‘em ups, it’s not all about punching and kicking. Scott Pilgrim is no different, you do have some weapons at your disposal you can pick up bats, recycling bins, and even snowballs which does always add a nice element of carnage in there, but the really cool thing is you can pick up your team mates and do a team up attack also, nice touch.

Well that’s a little bit more info on the up coming game, I personally can’t wait for this title. Oh, but one bit of good news is that the Xbox 360 version of the game has been confirmed, so I am breathing a sigh of relief at least.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World hits PlayStation network on August 10th and Xbox LIVE Arcade on August 25th. Pre-order you PSN version and get an awesome Sex Bob-bom T-shirt for your PlayStation home avatar.

I hope they do one for XBox LIVE avatars…..

Garv.

Recently I have been reading the Scott Pilgrim series of Comic books, and believe me when I say that these are beyond awesome. In a nut shell the books are about a 23-year-old guy called Scott who finds the girl of his dreams (literally) and then has to fight her 7 evil Ex’s in order to date her. Sounds pretty cool, but if you thrown in a load of video game references you are in for a total geek fest. I am only on volume 4 of 6 and I love it.

So when I heard they were creating a film of this comic book series, I was a little dubious. I then watched the trailer and noticed Micheal Cera ( you know the huy who was in movies like Juno, Super Bad and Year One), I was thinking that this film was going to be pretty poor, I’m not the biggest Michael Cera fan. But, now I have seen the latest trailer a countless amount of times, he is growing on me. I then saw how much detail they have put into the gaming references, and it is my top movie I want to see this year.

Now we take one story line that is full to the brim with game references, we make a movie of it, then we make a Video Game. Now most people who know me, know that I am not the biggest fan when it comes to film to game/game to film conversions. But I think what they have done with this title is just got from Comic to game, totally disregarding the film, clever move (Even though the movie look flipping awesome).

Now not much is known about this game, but what we do know is that it will be a downloadable game, the PlayStation 3 is going to get its hands on it first, and the 360 will get it….later.

After seeing very little of the game,I have found out that it takes its inspiration from retro arcade games, 2D pixel graphics are used in this game, and I for one couldn’t be happier. This is the perfect setting for Scott Pilgrim game ans all the references in the story line range from the original Sonic and Mario games to stuff from Final Fantasy.

Again, I don’t know much about the game so I will leave you with this world exclusive trailer from Game trailers. It left me wanting to know more, so as usual, more news as I get it.

Garv.

I have been playing Assassin’s Creed II for the most part of the last week – having received it for Christmas alongside my copy of Dragonball: Raging Blast. Although I haven’t yet finished the game, I feel it’s time I wrote down my thoughts of the second installment regarding the story of the battle of Assassin’s and Templars.

The original title was a bit of a mixed bag, with a general feeling of uncertainty around a lot of gamers. On one hand, the concept of the game was cool, with a strong lead character, the amazing scenery, the incredibly adaptive animations with free-running and climbing, and the guilty pleasures of performing the silent kill. However, the game was largely flawed with a sense of too much repetition, the simple “side mission-assassination-side mission” formula becoming quite tedious at times, and it all felt a bit like an excellent engine that lacked interesting gameplay. So it’s not surprising that I took up the sequel with a little bit of unease, the Eurogamer demo not doing much to whet my appetite with what I now feel was a rather poor showcasing of the title.

AC2 takes place directly after the end point of the first, taking the role of Desmond Miles once again as he leaves his matrix-like “Animus” chair to make his way on a sudden escape. Unlike the original, Mr Miles has a little more to him than simply providing a bit of dialogue and walking around a couple of rooms, this time taking up a bit of sneaking and bare fist fighting before being stuck on a different Animus, his mind being sent back into the body of another of his ancestors, beginning the story of the game’s real major protagonist, the Italian assassin – Ezio Auditore.

Whereas Assassin’s Creed had you taking the reins of Master-Assassin Altair, AC2’s control covers some of Ezio’s earlier life, and shows his transformation into the Assassin he eventually grows to become. After a very quick interactive scene involving Ezio’s birth (which reminded me somewhat of the start of Fallout 3), you skip forward into Ezio’s life as he frolics around Florence as a young man. Unlike Altair, the young Italian sports a much more lighthearted personality, the games earlier missions involving some pre-assassin street brawls, and showing you the ropes with some parkour-style races and exploration – introducing you to Ezio’s family; his bank-running father Giovanni, his mother Maria, and his three siblings.

As you might expect, however, soon enough things start to happen. His family betrayed, his father and brothers hanged for crimes they did not commit, Ezio finds himself caught up in a conspiracy he knew nothing about – taking up the garb of the Assassin to initially exact revenge on a man he knew guilty of betrayal, and escaping Florence with his mother and sister for their safety. After some training by his uncle, Mario Auditore, Ezio takes up the reins of a real Assassin in order to uncover a plot that spreads much further than he realises. The story is much more interesting than that of the first game, and since Ezio is hurled into the conspiracy unawares, you find yourself sharing his confusion and figuring it out yourself as the plot unfolds.

The general gameplay is very similar to the first, although a little refined – the free-running still fluid and easy to pick up, with the climbing and exploration all flowing together in an almost seamless way. Florence is a wonder to behold, each building being very individualised and having a lot of character, reflecting the real locations to a very impressive standard – I happened to watch a programme about Florence’s old artists only a couple of days ago, and was amazed to realise that I could recognise several buildings and locations instantly – I’m sure it’s not identical, but it’s an incredible representation nonetheless. All of the good parts of the original game are still included, such as the bustling streets, and I can’t think of a single change that has been for the worse. There is no longer a lot of obviously repetitive dialogue in the general conversation amongst the civilians, but the place still feels very much alive. There are so many other little touches that make it even better, such as cut scenes having interactive moments where you press prompted buttons to result in extra little scene elements such as activating Ezio’s hidden blade when showing his new enhancement to one of his contacts.

Staying incognito has been improved – blending into the city being much more comfortable than before – instead of having to walk slowly and hide your face when walking near any people of note, and being forced to blend with set groups of monks that walk along set paths, the game now involves a Notoriety system which means you can walk around the city safely unless you provoke guards or cause real trouble. If you do so, a gauge will fill, and upon becoming Notorious guards will attack you on sight. However, you can remedy this situation by a few little side tasks, such as ripping down wanted posters, killing certain public figures, or bribing the Heralds who spout gossip throughout the city. Once the Notoriety meter is empty, you return to being Incognito and can explore the city without worry once more.

The game’s combat is also similar to the first, allowing for silent kills with the hidden blade, bare fist fighting and fighting with swords or daggers – allowing for fast paced combat with combos that build up by timing button presses as the weapon strikes. Counter-strikes can be used when blocking for impressive dispatches as before. It’s now possible to disarm enemies by timing a button press when bare fist, which allows you to steal enemy weapons for temporary use, all including their own attack combos and allowing for some more gory kills such as spearing enemies in the face for particularly nasty deaths. There are also other weapons to obtain during the course of the game, such as throwing daggers for long range kills, smoke bombs for escaping conflicts, and even an old-fashioned pistol; bearing in mind that Ezio lives in a time which is a little more modern than that of Altair’s.

The game offers the regular story progression by going to markers in order to activate missions. These can include fighting your way to assassinate certain targets, escorting people, tailing suspects, or whatever the story requires. It generally all flows from one thing to the next, so it doesn’t feel fragmented and all intertwines together well. There are more side-missions than before as well – allowing for several tasks such as assassination tasks, courier (delivery) missions, beat up missions where you can scare cheating husbands, free-run races and more.

One of the biggest new things is the inclusion of money in the game. Unlike the first title, Ezio can gain money by finding various chests, pickpocketing civilians, chasing other pickpockets or looting bodies. With this currency, it is possible to buy a myriad of different things – new, more powerful melee weapons such as other blades and daggers, and new heavy weapons like hammers and maces.  It’s also possible to alter Ezio’s appearance by dying his clothing (choosing from various colour schemes at the Tailor), and upgrade him by buying new pieces of armour and other items ranging from torso armour, greaves, arm guards, throwing knife belts and medicine pouches (for potions that can be purchased from various doctors throughout the game), and they all change his appearance accordingly, which adds a real sense of customisation – the armour also giving him boosts tao his maximum health and defense.

Along with the new money system, another great quest has also been added, perhaps one of my favourite parts of the game; Ezio’s uncle’s Villa is situated in a small ruined town outside of Florence. By paying Florins to upgrade individual elements of the city – such as shops, key elements like the well and mining facilities, and other buildings of note. As you pay your money into the city and improve it, the area changes and looks nicer, the whole settlement coming to life as you work on it, also rewarding you with access to new areas and discounts on all of the merchants’ wares. The villa also doubles as a huge collection storage area, where you can keep collections of weapons, armour, paintings you may purchase and other things. The more you put into the villa and the city, you get a higher and higher income in the form of a set amount of Florins being added to a chest every 20 minutes that you can access, so you can get rich quick.

There’s simply so much to the game, I could go on and on for a long time but I fear I’ve already said too much. The first game provided a spectacular engine but was wasted on content, but this time they’ve filled the game up with lots of things to do and collect, and it’s simply a joy to wander round doing whatever you see to do as you explore Italy. There are more places that even I haven’t reached yet, but the game has a great length, and you can even access Da Vinci’s legendary flying machine later on in the game for travel in the skies. There are plenty of other things I haven’t even mentioned – but it’s simply too much to put in writing (in a good way).

If you liked the first, get this – it’s better in every way. If you didn’t, I highly suggest trying this game regardless, although some minor points of the overall plot may be lost on you. This could be the best game I played from 2009 – and I hope to see many more games this good later in the year.

-Leon

I suppose my title really says it all. It is customary to save the best until last, but as I have never been one for tradition I now bring you my Expo experience of Rabbids go home on the Wii. I must say at this point that I only had a very limited amount of time to play this game, so these are just initial thoughts. Rabbids, if your out there, please don’t hurt me…you scare me….

Firstly, and in the interests of fairness, I will say that this game has a very cute (and surprisingly logical) story line. In a nutshell the Rabbids come from the moon and want to go home. In order to do this they are running wild in the city, collecting all sorts of useless objects in their shopping trolly. They are then transporting these objects via the sewers to a secret location and using their spoils to build a massive pile of stuff which they hope will stretch all the way to the moon. ET eat your heart out. Though I generally did not get on with this game I have to admit that I found the story line and objectives refreshing. The game is as crazy and disturbing as its predecessors, with the Rabbids using pretty much any means to, run things down with their trolly, collect stuff and cause as much mayhem as possible along the way. Most of the demo was spent pushing a trolly madly around the city before using an old mattress in the sewers as a secret highway to new parts of the game. The bottomless shopping trolly allows you to pick up anything from furnishings to food and pets, all of which can be saved up and added to your ever growing mountain of random stuff. As the mountain gets bigger you are able to survey more of your surroundings, opening up more possibilities for exploring, scavenging or just running around knocking things over if you like. The game does have some specific objectives should you feel inclined. One challenge the game gave us during the demo was to stun and then pick-up a collection of Chiwawas to add to our trolly. Yes. This confirms it. This game is officially just as mad as ever. With the Rabbid characters the same odd mix between strangely frightening and somehow cute this game has the same feel as the rest of the series without simply being an add on. I feel that Ubisoft have been very brave in taking a step away from the popular Rabbid mini games, which can only be commended.

You may wonder at this point what my problem is with this game. So far I have spoken only positively about the story line and characters, so what could my problem possibly be? Well to be honest what really put me off this game was to poor positioning and tricky nature of the controls. Playing this game simply did not feel natural, and when compared to the slick, easy to use gameplay of other titles we sampled this year (such as Super mario Bro’s) Rabbids just does not cut it for me. Though this game makes full use of the motion aspects of the wii remote, the shopping trolly you push around the level feels as though It has a wonky wheel forcing it to constantly turn towards you. I’m serious, If you picked up this trolly in Tesco you would throw it back. Though players would probably adjust to the trollys wicked way in time, who needs the hassle? Especially seeing as the story line involves a lot of trolly dashes. Another thing which bothered me was the method of firing at enemies. In the demo we played we were able to fire other Rabbids from the safety of our trolly into enemies (Or the general public) to stun them. This seemed like a good feature, until we came to use it. In order to fire a Rabbid you have to aim the little dot on screen at the enimy with your left hand and then fire with your right hand trigger. Though this seems simple enough, It really doesn’t feel natural. I found myself wanting to hold my hands as if I had a rifle, and though this made shooting easier it made steering more difficult. I really don’t know whey the decision was made to separate the firing motion between two hands, perhaps there is a secret reason I am not aware of. Don’t get me wrong, this game isn’t the most complicated out there, its perfectly possible to play. Still, I feel that it would have made the game feel a lot smoother if they had kept it simple. This kind of game really relies on the fun factor, and with frustrating cointrols it is hard to have a lot of fun.

So in summery. This game is very cute, and a little disturbing but not one which I will be favoring this year. Its worth a play purely for seeing what destruction can be caused with a humble shopping trolly, but to me it is just not in the same league as some of its fellows. Perhaps after continual gameplay the controls would begin to feel natural, who knows. All I know is the entire team found it difficult to grasp, and this stopped any of us really being able to enjoy the game to the full. Which seeing as the concept of the Rabbids is so good is really a great shame. If you have a Wii here is my advice. Buy Super Mario Bro’s this christmas. Its easier to grasp and just as random as the Rabbids with added nostalgia value. A much better one to play with your friends and minus the Wonkey wheels. Rabbids…your cool…but go home…please…

Stay tuned for my christmas list!

GuitarGirl24

The first Assassin’s Creed was a title I had mixed reactions about – the game boasted impressive graphics and complex climbing animations, alongside a brilliant concept and some clever mechanics. However, after playing it for a while, I couldn’t help but feel the game lacked variety, with its repetitive missions, easy combat and basic objectives – in a way it felt as though the game’s engine was more advanced than its actual gameplay. Although it was enjoyable in many ways, it had plenty of flaws and really felt as though it needed work.

So, with the announcement of Assassin’s Creed 2, my curiosity got the better of me. Would the title take the good aspects of the original and flesh it out into a good title? Or would it simply be more of the same disappointment?

The game had perhaps one of the longest queues at Eurogamer, and being a long demo I could see why. Taking control of Ezio, you were let loose upon the streets with a mission to hunt down some archers in order to allow an ally to replace them in for some pre-assassination preparation.

My first impressions of the game were that it was indeed much more colourful than the original, the Italian setting giving much more allowance for attractive settings as opposed to the dusty areas of AC1. The controls felt very similar, allowing for the usual parkour, although I must admit I was a little rusty. One of the biggest additions is water, which has been added perfectly, allowing Ezio to swim – something that was clearly lacking in the first. The water looks good, and you can even take control of a small boat to sail on if you wish.

Ezio has access to a much larger range of weapons this time – alongside the normal hidden blades (he has two, rather than one), he is able to purchase new weapons, such as daggers and halberds. The demo allowed me to use a dagger, and by grabbing an enemy it was possible to cut the enemies throat, which reminded me of Metal Gear Solid 3. However, I found it tricky to get the hang of, and found it very difficult to actually assassinate any archers without getting spotted, ending up resorting to melee combat – whether or not this is simply due to the lack of a tutorial I do not know, but I didn’t feel as though I were doing anything largely different to my experience with the first game. I recall AC1 having the ability to move low profile and hide your face, which I couldn’t seem to do this time, hopefully I just didn’t know how to, or it just wasn’t implemented into the demo. The combat itself seemed similar to the first, and I liked the fact that Ezio can taunt, his personality a lot more fun than Altair’s was.

Money has now been implemented into the title, so it is possible to purchase items and hire assistance, although I didn’t get much of an opportunity to use this. However, this hopefully means it will now be possible to shut beggars up with coin rather than a kick to the face, assuming they’re still around – the amount of time’s I found myself screaming “JADE RAYMOND DIDN’T GIVE ME AN OPTION TO GIVE YOU MONEY YOU DAFT SOD” were more than they should have been in an ideal world.

One nice thing I did notice was that I didn’t hear any repetitive audio clips – although over the general noise of the expo, I may have missed it – I only hope they remembered to give more than ten lines of random dialogue this time whilst wandering the streets!

To be honest I was a bit disappointed with the demo as it didn’t feel as though it gave me an opportunity to really experience the title’s potential and new features – save for the addition of water it was all fairly simple stuff. That’s not to say the game won’t have the features; only that the demo didn’t allow me to try them out. Having completed the first, most of it was rather standard gameplay and I can only wait to play more of it until I can see how good it really is. The game will supposedly allow for almost triple the amount of different side-missions, and should flow better than the first game in terms of plot. The title is said to allow for customisation of Ezio’s appearance, the use of Leonardo Da Vinci’s various contraptions, and many other little additions such as a notoriety system and more weaponry. Also, it’s going to incorporate a day and night system – so there should be plenty of opportunities for night-time assassinations!

Talking to the game’s representatives, I was told that the full title will cover much, if not all, of Ezio’s life – covering his birth, aging and education on his way to becoming an assassin. This aspect interests me greatly, and I believe he will be a much deeper, more likable character than the egotistical Altair was at times. Obviously I didn’t get to see any of this, but it sounds good.

From the small chunk that I played, Assassin’s Creed II looks as though it will take most of the good qualities of the first and add to it with new features such as water and money. However, I think we’ll need to wait a bit longer for a real analysis, since I know there is much more to experience than I actually managed to get my hands on.

-Leon

The original Red Steel was released alongside the launch of the Wii, and although it got mixed reception, I thoroughly enjoyed it – it wasn’t perfect, but its use of Wii-mote controlled FPS gameplay, mixed with some semi-decent katana fights was enjoyable – and the game had some really memorable moments, such as the scary fairground level. Seeing as the title felt like one that had a lot of potential with some tweaking, I was eager to give Red Steel 2 a shot when I heard it was appearing at Eurogamer.

Red Steel 2 focuses on a completely new storyline, where you play as a silent protagonist known as ‘The Swordsman’. Looking somewhat like a modern cowboy crossed with a samurai, I thought he looked fairly cool, if not a bit cliched.

The demo started with an interesting section – where the Swordsman had been tied by his hands to a chain attached to the back of a motorbike, and I had to control my movement to avoid taking damage whilst he dragged me around some barren landscape. Although different, the section was fairly easy and a little long, so I assume it’s there more for storyline purposes. After a little while there was a crash, and I found myself in a flaming wreckage, where the regular gameplay began.

I soon got hold of a fairly old-looking gun, and a similarly aged katana, which were both lying around nearby. The demo felt like a large tutorial of sorts, having me shooting locks and such to progress. The game’s gun controls are simple aim and shoot controls, which work well enough – although I felt as though the larger gun didn’t obviously react to my hand movements as well as the guns did in the first title, which had me holding my guns ‘gangsta style’ simply because I could. Switching to the sword (which can be done at any time, as opposed to the first title) allows you to perform various melee attacks with sword movements.

The game utilizes Wii Motionplus, although to be honest I didn’t find it any more responsive than the first – anyone expecting 1:1 motion control will be sorely disappointed, and I really didn’t find it worth the addition of the controller add-on. For instance, in combat swinging the Wii-mote vertically or horizontally will do a matching attack, but to do a heavier strike it required you to do a wider motion with the Wii-mote. However, this didn’t really feel natural, as it felt instinctive to just swing the Wii-mote harder and faster, whereas to do a heavy attack actually required a wider swipe at the same speed. This attack was necessary in order to break the armour of certain enemies, and felt more of an awkward gesture than a fluid gameplay mechanic.

As you may be able to tell, it wasn’t going particularly well in my eyes. The game did offer a few little special actions such as flicking the remote to push doors open, and interacting with certain walls in order to scale them in an inhuman fashion, but aside from that it all felt quite generic. The game has opted for a completely different visual style from the original, going with a more cel-shaded design, but I didn’t really find it to look particularly breathtaking – the enemies being equally boring with simple designs which didn’t really help my enjoyment.

I can tell that Red Steel 2 has attempted to incorporate the sword fighting into the general gameplay a lot more, which was perhaps the one thing that was missing from the original title, but in the visual conversion it seems to have lost a lot of its beauty. Whereas the original was a dark and gritty modern title, RS2 seems to be a completely different style and loses much of its old-meets-new feel in place of a rather western feeling title with a few armoured baddies thrown in.

Red Steel (left) opted for a realistic style, whereas Red Steel 2 (right) has attempted a cel-shaded design

Perhaps the game would be better further in – with a few more abilities and perhaps some more interesting places and opponents, but I really felt as though RS2 has scrapped many of the nice aspects of Red Steel’s atmosphere, and replaced it with a cartoony bland design. The main protagonist looks cool, but has no real personality – and seeing as it’s a first person title, appearances are very much irrelevant when it comes to the gameplay.

I was really disappointed by my impressions of the demo, it felt very much a matter of adding one or two new features and scrapping far too much of the original style – it didn’t really feel like a sequel, more a complete rehash of the original concept done far worse than the first attempt. With the Wii-Motionplus equally disappointing, I’ll be steering clear of this game until I see something worth playing it for. For now, I’d point people in the direction of the original, or Metroid Prime Trilogy for some of the best Wii gunplay if you don’t mind the sci-fi style.

-Leon

So sit back and relax as you watch these highlights from Eurogamer 2009.

Plus XP’s Garvaos speaks weapons and swimming on Assassins Creed 2.

Guitar Girl 24 talks to Chet from Valve about upcoming sequel L4D2. ARGGHHHHH ZOMBIES!

Garvaos takes a breather with media molucule for a candid chat on LittleBigPlanet.

Francis asks the questions we all want to know. HOW DO YOU GET INTO THE GAMING INDUSTRY?

The gang do the rounds with gamers impressions from the AvP demo available at Eurogamer.

The Plusxp and Gamersunite gang join forces to discuss our impressions on playing the game. Nintendo did not sponsor us for our positive reviews of the game, we all genuinely liked it that much.

Then again party games do usually make good expo games.

***

My Site www.gamers-unite.com will be coming soon.

- markBOSS