Bloodline Champions Beta Preview: You Vs Them

With the popularity of “Heroes of Newerth,” the release of “League of Legends,” and Korean-made “Avalon Heroes,” it’s quite clear that the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre is getting some commercial attention. What was once exclusive to a few custom maps on “Starcraft” and “Warcraft 3″ has become an ideal investment for a few companies. Enter “Bloodline Champions,” the debut title from the newly formed Bumblebee Studios. Crafted by Swedish University students, “BLC” plans on laying its footprint down in the MOBA genre by offering a unique take in not only the game design but how it controls. I’ve been involved in the beta for the past few weeks, and, to say the least, I would definitely recommend this to any veteran PC gamer whose hand is glued to the WASD portion of the keyboard.
[Continue Reading]

Global Agenda Review: The Game Has Changed

Hi-Rez Studios are trying to stir something up in the MMO world with their latest release, “Global Agenda.” Instead of sticking to the fantasy-based, open world game template with little interactivity, they are trying to blend the best of team-based shooters with the character development of typical MMOs. It is a very innovative risk since this is game trying to appeal to two different types of gamers who despise each others existence, especially when the game includes a pseudo-subscription service. In a nutshell, you buy the game at the original price to gain access to the “free” modes, and then pay a subscription to get involved in the Alliance vs Alliance battles. With all this said, is it worth getting into the battlefield or are you better off ignoring it altogether?
[Continue Reading]

Global Agenda Preview: Solving The World’s Problems

With the launch date of “Global Agenda” upon us, its time to give you a brief overview of what “Global Agenda” is all about. I’ve been in the preview for the past few months, and I also took part in AvA, in one of the largest alliances in the beta. In short, I experienced everything “Global Agenda” has to offer with the expectation of vehicles (they weren’t in the pre-order beta).
 
So what is “Global Agenda”? It’s HiRez Studios’ attempt to mix traits found in MMORPGs like “World of Warcraft,” with the first person team games like “Team Fortress 2″ with jet packs thrown in. You essentially have four “agency” classes: Recon, Medic, Assault, and Robotics. Like a typical RPG, your agent will gain new skill points to use on the skill tree and unlock new equipment for them to abuse on the field. [Continue Reading]

Blood Bowl Review: The Football Video Game Based On A Board Game

Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, and other fantasy characters aren’t new to video games. They have become a cliche and are often seen in online roleplaying games to make a quick buck for investors. However, in those types of games you often align yourselves with friends to defeat a great evil or just grab some loot. None of these games give you the option of playing a violent variation of football. This is where “Blood Bowl” comes in; a grid-based board game developed by Games Workshop which made its debut in the 80s and still has a strong following today. This isn’t the first time “Blood Bowl” has been made into a video game, but it is the first to make use of the internet and the latest version of the original rules. [Continue Reading]

R.U.S.E. Multiplayer Preview: Not Your Grandpa’s WWII Game

The Real Time Strategy genre has always been a staple of PC Gaming. French-based developer Eugen and publisher Ubisoft plan on changing that by making their RTS game, “R.U.S.E,” accessible enough for the console market. This doesn’t mean they are “dumbing down” the game by any means, as they also plan on making some rather innovative and risky changes to the traditional RTS format, in hopes to create something new for a future generation of strategy games. [Continue Reading]

MX vs. ATV Reflex Review: Hitting The Dirt

For over a decade, Rainbow Studios have been pumping off road racing games such as “Motocross Madness” for the PC almost annually, and the popularity of the franchise became so big that spin-offs were made such as “Monster Truck Madness” series. Fast forward to today and Rainbow Studios is still around with their latest entry into their current offroad series “MX vs. ATV,” which is a somewhat misleading title, as you also drive trucks and sports buggys in the games. “MX vs. ATV Reflex” is the third in the series, but does it break new ground for the off road genre or is it more of the same? [Continue Reading]

Top Ten Most Disappointing Games Of 2009

2009 is almost gone, and, looking back, there has been numerous key moments in the gaming industry: Capcom has managed to revive the fighting genre single handily with “Street Fighter 4.” The Wii has been receiving titles that are actually marketed towards gamers with doubledigit ages. And Star Wars fans have been drooling at the many developer walkthrough videos for the upcoming Star Wars MMO by Bioware. To say the least, in term of gaming, things are looking good.

With that being said, this doesn’t necessary the gaming industry did a perfect job this year. While sale records have been broken, there have been a few games released that received a ton of hype but failed to fufill their promises. The rules for this year’s list remain the same as last year: Any game that I was personally hyped about and didn’t meet my expectations is a candidate for this list. Because I only have a Wii, 360, and my PC, don’t expect anything from the handheld consoles or the Playstation 3.

10. Madworld

I know it’s very strange to label “Madworld” as disappointing game when I’ve given the game a favorable review, there’s a logically reason behind this.

“Madworld” was developed by Platinum Games, but they didn’t always go by that name. A few years ago, they were called Clover Studios and worked under Capcom, many artistically unique games were released by them, such as “Okami” and “Vietiful Joe.” It was one of their games in particular that had me hyped about “Madworld,” “God Hand.”

“God Hand” was a visually poor beat’em up that didn’t receive great reviews. It was released on the Playstation 2, and it was the last game created under the Clover Studios name. While the mainstream public didn’t bite, those of us who wanted to challenge ourselves and enjoyed punching people in the face got one hell of a game. I won’t list the features, but you can search on Youtube to see how the game works. It might be a good idea to do so, and then compare it to videos of “Madworld.” You might see a resemeblence.

And this is where the disappointment comes in. I liked “God Hand” and when I saw “Madworld,” I was hoping for a next-gen upgrade to the underrated game. Instead what we received was a dumbed down version of it. “Madworld” is still a great game, and you should try it if you haven’t done so, but considering this game from the same guys who made “God Hand,” I was disappointed with this one. [Continue Reading]

League of Legends Review: Who’s Your Champion?

Ever since the “Warcraft 3″ custom map “Defense of the Ancients” has reached its peak, many developers have been trying to be first to emulate the mechanics of this popular map into a commercial game. Dubbed as the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (or MOBA for short), Riot Games plans taking the roots of “DOTA” and putting them into “League of Legends,” a much more marketable and simpler package. To make the transition easier, they even have the original designers from the older versions of “DOTA” working on the game. While this sounds like the perfect formula for a successful game, is it enough for “League of Legends” to win over “DOTA”’s veteran crowd, as well as gamers who never touched the custom map before, even at the cheap price of free? [Continue Reading]

Tropico 3 Review: Heading To The Islands

The city building genres has grown a bit stale. The settings for those kinds of games usually fall into two categories: A medieval period where the rules of logic don’t apply, or a modern era where you always have to deal with residential, commercial, or industrial areas. The “Tropico” series of city building games takes place in the Caribbean during the 1950s, where you’re starting population starts at less than 100, getting paid five bucks a month is the norm, and juggling between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. is essential to your island’s survival. “Tropico 3″ keeps most of the roots from the original “Tropico,” only improving on the basics, as well as adding small new features to this single player game. With all these improvements, is “Tropico 3″ an island worth visiting or should you vacation elsewhere? [Continue Reading]

Fallen Earth: Welcome to Apocalypse Review: It’s The End Of The World As We Know It

The MMORPG market is overcrowded; it’s almost as bad as folks who like to write game articles for a living. With the successes of past games such as “Ultima Online,” “Everquest,” and “World of Warcraft,” many companies, both big and small, are trying to capitalize on this crowd of literally millions of subscription paying players. However, all these games have one thing in common: They are based in stereotypical fantasy settings. “Fallen Earth: Welcome to Apocalypse” doesn’t follow the story of elves, orcs, goblins, or dwarves, but throws you into a world where a good portion of humanity is wiped out by a dire event. Instead of playing a hero, you take a role as a survivor in this dead world, but can “Fallen Earth” survive the competition? [Continue Reading]

Next Page »