Gamespot's Site Mashup

http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Sun, 10 Nov 2013 23:34:14 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/au-shippin-out-november-11-17-xcom-enemy-within/1100-6416044/ <p style="">Firaxis Games' turn-based strategy title, <a href="/xcom-enemy-unknown/" data-ref-id="false">XCOM: Enemy Unknown</a> will be getting an expansion this week with the release of <a href="/xcom-enemy-within/" data-ref-id="false">XCOM: Enemy Within</a>.</p><p style="">The add-on will feature new maps, enemies, and a trooper class called MEC, an acronym of mechanised exoskeletal cybersuit. This class has specialized abilities, and every suit can be upgraded with new weapons such as a flamethrower and grenade launcher.</p><p style="">XCOM: Enemy Within also introduces in a new strategic resource called meld, which works differently to other resources in the game. Meld is stored in canisters on the battlefield that self-destruct after a period of time, rewarding players who execute strategies faster.</p><p style="">XCOM: Enemy Unknown was released last year to <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/xcom-enemy-unknown/reviews/" data-ref-id="false">positive reception</a> and commended for it's tense, turn-based gameplay but was let down by map repetition and glitches.</p><p style="">For those who prefer to don the mantle of a hero, <a href="/lego-marvel-super-heroes/" data-ref-id="false">Lego Marvel Super Heroes</a> launches this week. The game features an original story in which Nick Fury calls upon Iron-Man, the Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, and Wolverine to save earth from threats at the hands of Loki and Galactus. Players can unlock over 100 playable characters from the Marvel Universe.</p><p style="">Lego Marvel Super Heroes was praised for inventive level design and sense of humour in <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/lego-marvel-super-heroes/reviews/" data-ref-id="false">GameSpot's review</a>, but criticised for various game bugs.</p><p style="">For more details on the games coming out this week, check out the full list below.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6415824" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6415824/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""><b>November 13, 2013</b></p><p style=""><a href="/lego-marvel-super-heroes/" data-ref-id="false">Lego Marvel Super Heroes</a> (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)</p><p style=""><a href="/lego-marvel-super-heroes-universe-in-peril/" data-ref-id="false">Lego Marvel Super Heroes Universe In Peril </a>(Vita, 3DS)</p><p style=""><b>November 14, 2013</b></p><p style=""><a href="/xcom-enemy-within/" data-ref-id="false">XCOM: Enemy Within</a> (360, PS3, PC)</p><p style=""><a href="/simcity-cities-of-tomorrow-expansion-pack/" data-ref-id="false">SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow</a> (PC)</p> Sun, 10 Nov 2013 14:00:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/au-shippin-out-november-11-17-xcom-enemy-within/1100-6416044/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/new-releases-ps4-game-lineup-killzone-shadow-fall-/2300-6416056/ In this special episode of New Releases, we go over all the PS4 titles that are currently scheduled for release on or by November 15th, 2013 Sun, 10 Nov 2013 12:00:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/new-releases-ps4-game-lineup-killzone-shadow-fall-/2300-6416056/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/journey-of-a-roach-review/1900-6415534/ <p style=""> </p><p style="">Nobody really likes roaches, do they? They're pretty gross looking, after all, and they serve no real purpose other than to wake you up by skittering along the wood floor of your bedroom in the middle of the night. Yet science suggests that these nasty creatures would outlast humans in a nuclear apocalypse, which is the basis for Journey of a Roach, a point-and-click adventure game that does the impossible: it makes roaches likable.</p><p style="">Perhaps even more impressive is that it does so without any dialogue. Journey of a Roach tells the story of two roaches: Jim and his clumsy buddy, Bud. Upon getting a glimpse of a flower growing in the barren wasteland of what appears to be a postapocalyptic Earth, Bud tries to guide Jim to the beautiful plant, only to fall deep underground where all sorts of mutated bugs live. On your journey to rescue him, you discover a world full of interesting and varied characters, all brimming with plot and personality despite never speaking a word. It's as if Pixar's <em>A Bug's Life</em> merged with the animated movie <em>9</em>.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372228" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372228"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg"></a><figcaption>Can you believe there's an empty table at this place?</figcaption></figure><p style="">As a roach, one of your biggest advantages is the ability to crawl up walls and across ceilings, which is immediately neat and useful. You can move freely around the environment with the keyboard or analog stick, and climbing walls makes traversal easy. There are occasional issues with movement, such as when you might not be able to climb onto something that should be no real obstacle for a roach, or moments when the camera rotation is disorienting when you're climbing on ceilings (particularly in one section with air vents you must crawl through), but for the most part, getting around is not a problem.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372226" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372226"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg"></a><figcaption>Though they never speak a word, the characters are wonderfully diverse.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Since Journey of a Roach has no dialogue and isn't heavy on story, the majority of the experience comes down to solving puzzles. This is where the game's point-and-click inspirations are clearest; most puzzles boil down to the tried-and-true "find item in one area, use item somewhere else" mechanics. That said, Journey of a Roach seems to have learned some lessons from both successful and failed adventure games of recent years, and most puzzle solutions do make logical sense (as opposed to requiring seemingly random item combinations that lead to more guesswork than brainpower, like many adventures of old).</p><p style="">Even if you get stuck, you can often get a subtle hint by hovering the cursor over a specific object, which can alleviate some of the frustration of not knowing what an inventory item might be used for. There are a few moments when you might have to resort to trial and error (one puzzle in particular I solved completely by accident, and I'm not sure I would have figured out the solution on my own), but generally, this hint system works well to inform you of exactly what you should be doing.</p><figure data-align="left" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372225" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372225"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg"></a><figcaption>Hint bubbles help keep your goals clear throughout the journey.</figcaption></figure><p style="">There is also a handy feature that lets you zoom out slightly and highlight "hot spots" (the objects in the environment you can interact with), which can help you locate some of the harder-to-find items. The small arrows it uses to point out objects of interest, however, aren't always enough help. It's still possible that you will spend more time than you'd like beating your head against a puzzle only to discover that you missed the necessary item hidden in the corner of an adjacent room. In this sense, Journey of a Roach falls into the same sorts of traps many adventure games fall into, which you will either find nostalgic or frustrating, depending on your history with the genre.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">Though the journey itself is charming, it's the puzzles that keep you pushing forward. None of the puzzles are especially demanding, and you can finish the game in a single two- to three-hour sitting, which feels like an appropriate length once the credits start rolling. Once you know all the solutions to the puzzles, however, the game can easily be completed in under half an hour (in fact, a Steam achievement awards you for finishing it in under 18 minutes). This is not a game for which you'll want to rely on a walkthrough, because it will be over far too quickly.</p><p style="">Journey of a Roach is a charming, worthwhile adventure with some clever puzzles and a nice cast of characters, though you may wish for a longer adventure for the price. It makes some of the same mistakes as its ancestors, but it makes up for most of them with clever design and a unique world. If all roaches were this enjoyable to be around, maybe I wouldn't mind knowing they'll outlive humanity.</p> Fri, 08 Nov 2013 14:39:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/journey-of-a-roach-review/1900-6415534/

http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Sun, 10 Nov 2013 23:34:14 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/au-shippin-out-november-11-17-xcom-enemy-within/1100-6416044/ <p style="">Firaxis Games' turn-based strategy title, <a href="/xcom-enemy-unknown/" data-ref-id="false">XCOM: Enemy Unknown</a> will be getting an expansion this week with the release of <a href="/xcom-enemy-within/" data-ref-id="false">XCOM: Enemy Within</a>.</p><p style="">The add-on will feature new maps, enemies, and a trooper class called MEC, an acronym of mechanised exoskeletal cybersuit. This class has specialized abilities, and every suit can be upgraded with new weapons such as a flamethrower and grenade launcher.</p><p style="">XCOM: Enemy Within also introduces in a new strategic resource called meld, which works differently to other resources in the game. Meld is stored in canisters on the battlefield that self-destruct after a period of time, rewarding players who execute strategies faster.</p><p style="">XCOM: Enemy Unknown was released last year to <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/xcom-enemy-unknown/reviews/" data-ref-id="false">positive reception</a> and commended for it's tense, turn-based gameplay but was let down by map repetition and glitches.</p><p style="">For those who prefer to don the mantle of a hero, <a href="/lego-marvel-super-heroes/" data-ref-id="false">Lego Marvel Super Heroes</a> launches this week. The game features an original story in which Nick Fury calls upon Iron-Man, the Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, and Wolverine to save earth from threats at the hands of Loki and Galactus. Players can unlock over 100 playable characters from the Marvel Universe.</p><p style="">Lego Marvel Super Heroes was praised for inventive level design and sense of humour in <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/lego-marvel-super-heroes/reviews/" data-ref-id="false">GameSpot's review</a>, but criticised for various game bugs.</p><p style="">For more details on the games coming out this week, check out the full list below.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6415824" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6415824/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""><b>November 13, 2013</b></p><p style=""><a href="/lego-marvel-super-heroes/" data-ref-id="false">Lego Marvel Super Heroes</a> (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)</p><p style=""><a href="/lego-marvel-super-heroes-universe-in-peril/" data-ref-id="false">Lego Marvel Super Heroes Universe In Peril </a>(Vita, 3DS)</p><p style=""><b>November 14, 2013</b></p><p style=""><a href="/xcom-enemy-within/" data-ref-id="false">XCOM: Enemy Within</a> (360, PS3, PC)</p><p style=""><a href="/simcity-cities-of-tomorrow-expansion-pack/" data-ref-id="false">SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow</a> (PC)</p> Sun, 10 Nov 2013 14:00:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/au-shippin-out-november-11-17-xcom-enemy-within/1100-6416044/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/new-releases-ps4-game-lineup-killzone-shadow-fall-/2300-6416056/ In this special episode of New Releases, we go over all the PS4 titles that are currently scheduled for release on or by November 15th, 2013 Sun, 10 Nov 2013 12:00:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/new-releases-ps4-game-lineup-killzone-shadow-fall-/2300-6416056/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/journey-of-a-roach-review/1900-6415534/ <p style=""> </p><p style="">Nobody really likes roaches, do they? They're pretty gross looking, after all, and they serve no real purpose other than to wake you up by skittering along the wood floor of your bedroom in the middle of the night. Yet science suggests that these nasty creatures would outlast humans in a nuclear apocalypse, which is the basis for Journey of a Roach, a point-and-click adventure game that does the impossible: it makes roaches likable.</p><p style="">Perhaps even more impressive is that it does so without any dialogue. Journey of a Roach tells the story of two roaches: Jim and his clumsy buddy, Bud. Upon getting a glimpse of a flower growing in the barren wasteland of what appears to be a postapocalyptic Earth, Bud tries to guide Jim to the beautiful plant, only to fall deep underground where all sorts of mutated bugs live. On your journey to rescue him, you discover a world full of interesting and varied characters, all brimming with plot and personality despite never speaking a word. It's as if Pixar's <em>A Bug's Life</em> merged with the animated movie <em>9</em>.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372228" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372228"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg"></a><figcaption>Can you believe there's an empty table at this place?</figcaption></figure><p style="">As a roach, one of your biggest advantages is the ability to crawl up walls and across ceilings, which is immediately neat and useful. You can move freely around the environment with the keyboard or analog stick, and climbing walls makes traversal easy. There are occasional issues with movement, such as when you might not be able to climb onto something that should be no real obstacle for a roach, or moments when the camera rotation is disorienting when you're climbing on ceilings (particularly in one section with air vents you must crawl through), but for the most part, getting around is not a problem.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372226" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372226"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg"></a><figcaption>Though they never speak a word, the characters are wonderfully diverse.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Since Journey of a Roach has no dialogue and isn't heavy on story, the majority of the experience comes down to solving puzzles. This is where the game's point-and-click inspirations are clearest; most puzzles boil down to the tried-and-true "find item in one area, use item somewhere else" mechanics. That said, Journey of a Roach seems to have learned some lessons from both successful and failed adventure games of recent years, and most puzzle solutions do make logical sense (as opposed to requiring seemingly random item combinations that lead to more guesswork than brainpower, like many adventures of old).</p><p style="">Even if you get stuck, you can often get a subtle hint by hovering the cursor over a specific object, which can alleviate some of the frustration of not knowing what an inventory item might be used for. There are a few moments when you might have to resort to trial and error (one puzzle in particular I solved completely by accident, and I'm not sure I would have figured out the solution on my own), but generally, this hint system works well to inform you of exactly what you should be doing.</p><figure data-align="left" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372225" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372225"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg"></a><figcaption>Hint bubbles help keep your goals clear throughout the journey.</figcaption></figure><p style="">There is also a handy feature that lets you zoom out slightly and highlight "hot spots" (the objects in the environment you can interact with), which can help you locate some of the harder-to-find items. The small arrows it uses to point out objects of interest, however, aren't always enough help. It's still possible that you will spend more time than you'd like beating your head against a puzzle only to discover that you missed the necessary item hidden in the corner of an adjacent room. In this sense, Journey of a Roach falls into the same sorts of traps many adventure games fall into, which you will either find nostalgic or frustrating, depending on your history with the genre.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">Though the journey itself is charming, it's the puzzles that keep you pushing forward. None of the puzzles are especially demanding, and you can finish the game in a single two- to three-hour sitting, which feels like an appropriate length once the credits start rolling. Once you know all the solutions to the puzzles, however, the game can easily be completed in under half an hour (in fact, a Steam achievement awards you for finishing it in under 18 minutes). This is not a game for which you'll want to rely on a walkthrough, because it will be over far too quickly.</p><p style="">Journey of a Roach is a charming, worthwhile adventure with some clever puzzles and a nice cast of characters, though you may wish for a longer adventure for the price. It makes some of the same mistakes as its ancestors, but it makes up for most of them with clever design and a unique world. If all roaches were this enjoyable to be around, maybe I wouldn't mind knowing they'll outlive humanity.</p> Fri, 08 Nov 2013 14:39:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/journey-of-a-roach-review/1900-6415534/

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Gamespot's Site Mashup

http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Fri, 08 Nov 2013 23:25:20 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-playstation-4-gameplay-tr/2300-6416048/ A sizzle reel of gameplay of Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls on the PlayStation 4. Fri, 08 Nov 2013 22:28:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-playstation-4-gameplay-tr/2300-6416048/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-lost-vikings-have-a-good-chance-of-coming-to-blizzard-s-heroes-of-the-storm/1100-6416080/ <figure data-align="left" data-size="small" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1534/15343359/2372975-lost_vikings.gif" data-ref-id="1300-2372975" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1534/15343359/2372975-lost_vikings.gif" data-ref-id="1300-2372975"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_small/1534/15343359/2372975-lost_vikings.gif"></a></figure><p style="">Today at Blizzcon 2013, Blizzard said that their action RTS <a href="/heroes-of-the-storm/" data-ref-id="false">Heroes of the Storm</a> would have heroes and villains extending through the company's entire back catalog. And Blizzard revealed that they're willing to reach back pretty far; one of the older properties they might be using is <a href="/the-lost-vikings/" data-ref-id="false">The Lost Vikings</a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Blizzard game designer Dustin Browder said in an interview with GameSpot, "There's a good chance for Lost Vikings. That's one of the characters we've been really interested in doing. It's a way we can do three characters and you're controlling them and swapping back and forth. I think we've got some ideas that we might be able to make work, but we're going to have to test it first to really see."</p><p style="">The Lost Vikings starred in a series of side-scrolling puzzle/platforming games from the '90s across a variety of platforms, including SNES, PlayStation, Amiga, and Sega Mega Drive.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6416033" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6416033/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p> Fri, 08 Nov 2013 21:02:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-lost-vikings-have-a-good-chance-of-coming-to-blizzard-s-heroes-of-the-storm/1100-6416080/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/journey-of-a-roach-review/1900-6415534/ <p style=""> </p><p style="">Nobody really likes roaches, do they? They're pretty gross looking, after all, and they serve no real purpose other than to wake you up by skittering along the wood floor of your bedroom in the middle of the night. Yet science suggests that these nasty creatures would outlast humans in a nuclear apocalypse, which is the basis for Journey of a Roach, a point-and-click adventure game that does the impossible: it makes roaches likable.</p><p style="">Perhaps even more impressive is that it does so without any dialogue. Journey of a Roach tells the story of two roaches: Jim and his clumsy buddy, Bud. Upon getting a glimpse of a flower growing in the barren wasteland of what appears to be a postapocalyptic Earth, Bud tries to guide Jim to the beautiful plant, only to fall deep underground where all sorts of mutated bugs live. On your journey to rescue him, you discover a world full of interesting and varied characters, all brimming with plot and personality despite never speaking a word. It's as if Pixar's <em>A Bug's Life</em> merged with the animated movie <em>9</em>.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372228" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372228"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg"></a><figcaption>Can you believe there's an empty table at this place?</figcaption></figure><p style="">As a roach, one of your biggest advantages is the ability to crawl up walls and across ceilings, which is immediately neat and useful. You can move freely around the environment with the keyboard or analog stick, and climbing walls makes traversal easy. There are occasional issues with movement, such as when you might not be able to climb onto something that should be no real obstacle for a roach, or moments when the camera rotation is disorienting when you're climbing on ceilings (particularly in one section with air vents you must crawl through), but for the most part, getting around is not a problem.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372226" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372226"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg"></a><figcaption>Though they never speak a word, the characters are wonderfully diverse.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Since Journey of a Roach has no dialogue and isn't heavy on story, the majority of the experience comes down to solving puzzles. This is where the game's point-and-click inspirations are clearest; most puzzles boil down to the tried-and-true "find item in one area, use item somewhere else" mechanics. That said, Journey of a Roach seems to have learned some lessons from both successful and failed adventure games of recent years, and most puzzle solutions do make logical sense (as opposed to requiring seemingly random item combinations that lead to more guesswork than brainpower, like many adventures of old).</p><p style="">Even if you get stuck, you can often get a subtle hint by hovering the cursor over a specific object, which can alleviate some of the frustration of not knowing what an inventory item might be used for. There are a few moments when you might have to resort to trial and error (one puzzle in particular I solved completely by accident, and I'm not sure I would have figured out the solution on my own), but generally, this hint system works well to inform you of exactly what you should be doing.</p><figure data-align="left" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372225" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372225"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg"></a><figcaption>Hint bubbles help keep your goals clear throughout the journey.</figcaption></figure><p style="">There is also a handy feature that lets you zoom out slightly and highlight "hot spots" (the objects in the environment you can interact with), which can help you locate some of the harder-to-find items. The small arrows it uses to point out objects of interest, however, aren't always enough help. It's still possible that you will spend more time than you'd like beating your head against a puzzle only to discover that you missed the necessary item hidden in the corner of an adjacent room. In this sense, Journey of a Roach falls into the same sorts of traps many adventure games fall into, which you will either find nostalgic or frustrating, depending on your history with the genre.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">Though the journey itself is charming, it's the puzzles that keep you pushing forward. None of the puzzles are especially demanding, and you can finish the game in a single two- to three-hour sitting, which feels like an appropriate length once the credits start rolling. Once you know all the solutions to the puzzles, however, the game can easily be completed in under half an hour (in fact, a Steam achievement awards you for finishing it in under 18 minutes). This is not a game for which you'll want to rely on a walkthrough, because it will be over far too quickly.</p><p style="">Journey of a Roach is a charming, worthwhile adventure with some clever puzzles and a nice cast of characters, though you may wish for a longer adventure for the price. It makes some of the same mistakes as its ancestors, but it makes up for most of them with clever design and a unique world. If all roaches were this enjoyable to be around, maybe I wouldn't mind knowing they'll outlive humanity.</p> Fri, 08 Nov 2013 14:39:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/journey-of-a-roach-review/1900-6415534/

http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Fri, 08 Nov 2013 23:25:20 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-playstation-4-gameplay-tr/2300-6416048/ A sizzle reel of gameplay of Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls on the PlayStation 4. Fri, 08 Nov 2013 22:28:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-playstation-4-gameplay-tr/2300-6416048/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-lost-vikings-have-a-good-chance-of-coming-to-blizzard-s-heroes-of-the-storm/1100-6416080/ <figure data-align="left" data-size="small" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1534/15343359/2372975-lost_vikings.gif" data-ref-id="1300-2372975" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1534/15343359/2372975-lost_vikings.gif" data-ref-id="1300-2372975"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_small/1534/15343359/2372975-lost_vikings.gif"></a></figure><p style="">Today at Blizzcon 2013, Blizzard said that their action RTS <a href="/heroes-of-the-storm/" data-ref-id="false">Heroes of the Storm</a> would have heroes and villains extending through the company's entire back catalog. And Blizzard revealed that they're willing to reach back pretty far; one of the older properties they might be using is <a href="/the-lost-vikings/" data-ref-id="false">The Lost Vikings</a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Blizzard game designer Dustin Browder said in an interview with GameSpot, "There's a good chance for Lost Vikings. That's one of the characters we've been really interested in doing. It's a way we can do three characters and you're controlling them and swapping back and forth. I think we've got some ideas that we might be able to make work, but we're going to have to test it first to really see."</p><p style="">The Lost Vikings starred in a series of side-scrolling puzzle/platforming games from the '90s across a variety of platforms, including SNES, PlayStation, Amiga, and Sega Mega Drive.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6416033" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6416033/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p> Fri, 08 Nov 2013 21:02:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-lost-vikings-have-a-good-chance-of-coming-to-blizzard-s-heroes-of-the-storm/1100-6416080/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/journey-of-a-roach-review/1900-6415534/ <p style=""> </p><p style="">Nobody really likes roaches, do they? They're pretty gross looking, after all, and they serve no real purpose other than to wake you up by skittering along the wood floor of your bedroom in the middle of the night. Yet science suggests that these nasty creatures would outlast humans in a nuclear apocalypse, which is the basis for Journey of a Roach, a point-and-click adventure game that does the impossible: it makes roaches likable.</p><p style="">Perhaps even more impressive is that it does so without any dialogue. Journey of a Roach tells the story of two roaches: Jim and his clumsy buddy, Bud. Upon getting a glimpse of a flower growing in the barren wasteland of what appears to be a postapocalyptic Earth, Bud tries to guide Jim to the beautiful plant, only to fall deep underground where all sorts of mutated bugs live. On your journey to rescue him, you discover a world full of interesting and varied characters, all brimming with plot and personality despite never speaking a word. It's as if Pixar's <em>A Bug's Life</em> merged with the animated movie <em>9</em>.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372228" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372228"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2372228-0005.jpg"></a><figcaption>Can you believe there's an empty table at this place?</figcaption></figure><p style="">As a roach, one of your biggest advantages is the ability to crawl up walls and across ceilings, which is immediately neat and useful. You can move freely around the environment with the keyboard or analog stick, and climbing walls makes traversal easy. There are occasional issues with movement, such as when you might not be able to climb onto something that should be no real obstacle for a roach, or moments when the camera rotation is disorienting when you're climbing on ceilings (particularly in one section with air vents you must crawl through), but for the most part, getting around is not a problem.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372226" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372226"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2372226-0003.jpg"></a><figcaption>Though they never speak a word, the characters are wonderfully diverse.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Since Journey of a Roach has no dialogue and isn't heavy on story, the majority of the experience comes down to solving puzzles. This is where the game's point-and-click inspirations are clearest; most puzzles boil down to the tried-and-true "find item in one area, use item somewhere else" mechanics. That said, Journey of a Roach seems to have learned some lessons from both successful and failed adventure games of recent years, and most puzzle solutions do make logical sense (as opposed to requiring seemingly random item combinations that lead to more guesswork than brainpower, like many adventures of old).</p><p style="">Even if you get stuck, you can often get a subtle hint by hovering the cursor over a specific object, which can alleviate some of the frustration of not knowing what an inventory item might be used for. There are a few moments when you might have to resort to trial and error (one puzzle in particular I solved completely by accident, and I'm not sure I would have figured out the solution on my own), but generally, this hint system works well to inform you of exactly what you should be doing.</p><figure data-align="left" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372225" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2372225"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2372225-0002.jpg"></a><figcaption>Hint bubbles help keep your goals clear throughout the journey.</figcaption></figure><p style="">There is also a handy feature that lets you zoom out slightly and highlight "hot spots" (the objects in the environment you can interact with), which can help you locate some of the harder-to-find items. The small arrows it uses to point out objects of interest, however, aren't always enough help. It's still possible that you will spend more time than you'd like beating your head against a puzzle only to discover that you missed the necessary item hidden in the corner of an adjacent room. In this sense, Journey of a Roach falls into the same sorts of traps many adventure games fall into, which you will either find nostalgic or frustrating, depending on your history with the genre.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">Though the journey itself is charming, it's the puzzles that keep you pushing forward. None of the puzzles are especially demanding, and you can finish the game in a single two- to three-hour sitting, which feels like an appropriate length once the credits start rolling. Once you know all the solutions to the puzzles, however, the game can easily be completed in under half an hour (in fact, a Steam achievement awards you for finishing it in under 18 minutes). This is not a game for which you'll want to rely on a walkthrough, because it will be over far too quickly.</p><p style="">Journey of a Roach is a charming, worthwhile adventure with some clever puzzles and a nice cast of characters, though you may wish for a longer adventure for the price. It makes some of the same mistakes as its ancestors, but it makes up for most of them with clever design and a unique world. If all roaches were this enjoyable to be around, maybe I wouldn't mind knowing they'll outlive humanity.</p> Fri, 08 Nov 2013 14:39:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/journey-of-a-roach-review/1900-6415534/

15.06 | 0 komentar | Read More

The Guided Fate Paradox Review

Congratulations! You have been randomly chosen to become God. As the newly appointed ruler over all creation, you shall be whisked away to the heavens above to fulfill your holy duties--which may include battling mermaids and flirting with angels.

Such is the fate of Renya Kagurazaka, an everyday, mild-mannered, dime-a-dozen, completely generic high school student. That's right: The Guided Fate Paradox presents a truly nightmarish scenario where God is, in fact, one of us. It's a goofy premise, since a lot of this fate guiding involves helping a weak-willed zombie find his courage or a knightly couple fall in love.

Sadly, the game chooses not to embrace this silliness, and instead gets bogged down in a workaday, good-versus-evil plot culminating in a workaday, good-versus-evil showdown. The fact that you're playing as God is of no real consequence; it's just a flimsy rationale supporting the game's singular purpose: level grinding.

The Guided Fate Paradox is a turn-based role-playing game played on a grid. Combat and exploration are not separate modes, so every step your take, or attack you make, counts as a turn. After you act, your partner acts, and then all the enemies act in unison. As you fight, you collect equipment for Renya--aka God--and friends to use, which confers new attacks, spells, or other special abilities. It's a play style reminiscent of the roguelike genre, but with a Japanese RPG twist in character advancement and death.

Paradox's woes start with leveling up, which is divided across many systems. By juggling these different systems, Paradox makes you feel as if you're getting stronger, but the complexity of this system also makes it difficult to understand exactly how strong you've become.

Renya may hold the title of God, but in practice he mostly just runs around punching robots in the face.

This is especially vexing when Renya is humming through a dungeon, dropping all challengers with a single blow, and a few floors later wanders into a foe that can do the same thing to him. Finding a happy medium where your abilities are comparable to your foe's is a rarity, which is disappointing since those moments are when Paradox is at its best. They force you to stop and think about the battlefield, and carefully calculate every action.

Surmounting one of these encounters is a triumph, but it's short-lived. Renya inevitably outpaces his foes, and then it's back to the mindless slaughter. Some different enemy types would help break up the monotony, but Paradox has only a handful of different foes and none of them are especially interesting to fight. Many simply behave like zombies, wandering aimlessly until they spot you and then relentlessly attacking you until defeated. A handful of boss encounters offer complex challenges, but aside from those endeavors, enemy encounters are simple affairs. One of the most complicated enemies you encounter is a snail with a shield covering its face. The shield blocks all attacks from the front, and the snail follows you around. Besting this devious adversary requires all the trickery and guile of maneuvering someone behind the snail for a flanking attack.

A variety of stage gimmicks, including explosive traps and moving platforms, attempt to put a spin on these encounters. However, the enemies and stage gimmicks don't play off each other in interesting ways, unless by total accident. The only constant in Paradox is the grinding: a circular system that rewards grinding with the ability to do more grinding.

Not even death can stop the grind. One of the cheapest items in the game lets you escape from any dungeon with all equipment in tow, so there's really no excuse for dying. You can also safeguard your best equipment in a special vault that lets you continue to use it without the fear of losing it upon death. And if the worst should come to pass, you don't have too much to worry about so long as you remember to save your game before entering the dungeon.

You're rarely without a companion, but they lack any sort of tactical finesse.

After you finish the game--a feat that could easily set you back more than 40 hours--something interesting happens. A survival dungeon is unlocked. This dungeon negates all of your base stat advancement, and lets you use only the items recovered in that dungeon. You can improve your characters and their items, just as you would in the rest of the game, but that progression is lost once you leave the dungeon. This goes a long way toward providing a consistent, satisfying challenge. Both Renya and his enemies start at the same level and advance along a similar curve. Play smart, and you can make life easier for yourself by getting ahead of that curve. Alternatively, if you rush through the dungeon the enemies will quickly outpace you.

With its intricate leveling system and randomized dungeons, The Guided Fate Paradox succeeds in creating a game that can easily gobble up biblical amounts of time. It's simply too bad all that time spent ends up feeling like a waste when there's no great payoff for all that hard work.

15.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Broken Age: Rethinking a Classic Genre for the Modern Era - GDC Next

Posted by Dan Mihoerck | Nov. 6, 2013 8:00pm

Oliver Franzke, Lee Petty, Greg Rice and Tim Schafer from Double Fine Productions discuss ways in which they leveraged modern technology and methodologies to deliver a game that preserves the ideas and experiences core to the traditional adventure game.

15.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

12 released video games under review by Australian Classification Board

The Australian Classification Review Board today announced it will be reviewing its rating of 12 video games.

The announcement was made following an application by the South Australian Attorney General to request reviews of each game's rating. As a result, the classification board will be meeting on November 18-19th and December 2nd, 4th and 5th to "consider the applications". The games in question are as listed:

Each game was originally granted an MA15+ rating by the classification board. Following the reviews, the Australian Classification Board will be posting the results accompanied by reasons for decisions made on the official Australian Classification website.

The MA15+ rating is the second highest rating which can be granted to a video game in Australia. An R18+ rating was officially introduced on January 1 this year. Since the introduction of the R18+ rating, two games have been banned from sale in the country. Both Saints Row IV and State of Decay were initially refused classification, which prompted developers to submit modified versions of the game to be granted an R18+ rating.

15.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Call of Duty: Ghosts Graphics Comparison

Posted by Andy Bauman | Nov. 5, 2013 10:11pm

We examine Xbox 360 vs PlayStation 3 vs PlayStation 4 vs PC in this showdown of graphical carnage from Call of Duty: Ghosts.

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15.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Gamespot's Site Mashup

http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Sun, 03 Nov 2013 23:54:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/mario-sonic-at-the-sochi-winter-games-skating-and-/2300-6415893/ Whether it's racing around an ice rink, or blasting down a mountain, it's all about controlling your speed! Sun, 03 Nov 2013 15:01:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/mario-sonic-at-the-sochi-winter-games-skating-and-/2300-6415893/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/adventure-time-creator-adds-voice-to-upcoming-double-fine-adventure/1100-6415934/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1534/15343359/2365357-1912683705-23094.png" data-ref-id="1300-2365357" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1534/15343359/2365357-1912683705-23094.png" data-ref-id="1300-2365357"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/1534/15343359/2365357-1912683705-23094.png"></a></figure><p style="">Double Fine Productions, the studio behind <a href="/brutal-legend/" data-ref-id="false">Brutal Legend,</a> announced that they're collaborating with Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward on the upcoming independently published game <a href="/broken-age/" data-ref-id="false">Broken Age</a>.</p><p style="">The announcement came during the <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/double-fine-holding-day-of-the-devs-event-next-month/1100-6415513/" data-ref-id="1100-6415513">Day of the Devs event </a>in San Francisco and on the private backer forums for Broken Age. Ward will be voicing one of the characters in Broken Age, and the reveal was accompanied online by a video showing him in the studio recording lines and improvising with Tim Schafer.</p><p style="">As announced earlier, Hynden Walch (who voices Princess Bubblegum in Adventure Time) <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/jack-black-and-jennifer-hale-to-voice-characters-in-double-fines-broken-age/1100-6413937/" data-ref-id="1100-6413937">Jack Black, and Jennifer Hale also play characters in the game</a>.</p><p style="">Broken Age made headlines earlier this year as the<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/double-fines-second-kickstarter-successful/1100-6409219/" data-ref-id="1100-6409219"> most successful video game Kickstarter</a> (and one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time) up to that point. And Pendleton Ward's cult hit Adventure Time is featured in the upcoming game <a href="/adventure-time-explore-the-dungeon-because-i-don/" data-ref-id="false">Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!</a></p><p style="">The Day of the Devs event runs until 8PM PDT today, and you can watch the remainder on the Double Fine Twitch channel here.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6406101" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6406101/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p> Sat, 02 Nov 2013 16:35:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/adventure-time-creator-adds-voice-to-upcoming-double-fine-adventure/1100-6415934/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/mario-sonic-at-the-sochi-2014-olympic-winter-games/1900-6415522/ <p style="">The Mario &amp; Sonic series has always, and perhaps bizarrely, mixed accessible minigames, topical sporting events, and gaming nostalgia. It's an odd but enduring mix, one that's given us Charmy Bee cameos in a stylised re-creation of England's capital city for London 2012, but sadly the mascot duo's fourth outing falls flat.</p><p style="">In Mario &amp; Sonic's first outing on the Wii U, developer Sega starts with a major change for the series: Mario &amp; Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games demands that you make use of the Wii MotionPlus across its collection of 20 Nintendo and Sega characters and 25-odd minigames. The hardware boost ensures an extra degree of controller fidelity in new and returning Olympic events including skiing, figure skating, and curling. And while the move creates an additional expense for families with only a few regular Wii Remotes kicking around, the MotionPlus helps bring a touch of finesse to a previously waggle-intensive series.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2365907-mariosonicwinterolympics_screen_01.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2365907" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2365907-mariosonicwinterolympics_screen_01.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2365907"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/1493/14930800/2365907-mariosonicwinterolympics_screen_01.jpg"></a><figcaption>Don't worry: the Shy Guy is wearing a protective mask.</figcaption></figure><p style="">It's the forced addition of the GamePad that serves to complicate matters, shifting the series away from its simplistic roots. At best you've just got to explain each individual mechanic to a group all holding different configurations of controllers, but at worst you've got to contend with groups of irate children arguing over why one gets to have a GamePad and the others don't.</p><p style="">The GamePad is incorporated in various ways, and like with many aspects of the Mario &amp; Sonic series, there are both ups and downs. Biathlon, a new event for 2014, mixes cross-country skiing on the Wii Remote with a shooting range, letting the player at the top of the pack shoot via the GamePad while forcing others to use the more complicated Wii Remote. It's a sporting event that hasn't been well translated into a party game, suffering too much from the fact that it's the person who's already ahead that gets placed in the most advantageous situation.</p><p style="">Bobsleigh is another example of an event that's complicated by the GamePad's involvement, only one that's far more endearingly preposterous. The leader steers the vehicle with the GamePad while barking orders at up to three other players, who lean their Wii Remotes to the left or right to help steer around corners. Sitting cross-legged in a row on the floor isn't required, but it does make this event a lot more fun.</p><figure data-ref-id="1300-2039824" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/mig/9/8/2/4/2039824-715774_20130517_003.jpg" data-size="medium" data-align="left" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/mig/9/8/2/4/2039824-715774_20130517_003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2039824"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/mig/9/8/2/4/2039824-715774_20130517_003.jpg"></a></figure><p style="">Snowboard slopestyle, meanwhile, has you take turns to get the highest score on a downhill run, with points awarded for speed, jumps, and grinds. You steer with the GamePad, and flick the touchscreen to perform tricks. It's simple but fun, and is pleasantly different from the more traditional downhill skiing.</p><p style="">Many returning events are identical to their previous incarnations, though some have been spruced up a bit. Hockey, a particularly drab addition in Mario &amp; Sonic's last wintry sojourn, fills in the hole left by the absence of soccer and beach volleyball, now functioning as a kind of cut-down NHL that has you darting around a tiny rink making chaotic overpowered shots while a Shy Guy sits in goal at each end. It's a lot more fun than you'd expect from such a rudimentary implementation, but it's also hard to imagine it being something you'd want to play multiple times. </p><p style="">Figure skating pairs easily takes the crown for the barmiest minigame. Two players are judged on synchronising their movements, and while you're each allowed to hold a Wii Remote, it's when you play together by holding hands around a single controller that the real silliness kicks in. Having one player clumsily spin around the other in real life while an onscreen Daisy pirouettes elegantly around Dr Eggman is enough to put a smile on anyone's face, although you might need to encourage your immediate friends and family members to finish a glass of wine before joining in.</p><p style="">There are highlights, then, but too many events prove to be a disappointment. I've always found it particularly difficult to feel anything but boredom for this series' ski jumping and speed skating modes, and the downhill slide offered by skeleton is handled with more panache by skiing and snowboarding. But it's Sochi 2014's Dream Events that are especially lacking, with the series' former fantastical twists now reduced to half-baked spins of preexisting events wrapped loosely in the aesthetics of the Sonic or Mario series. Snowball scrimmage is the worst of the lot; it's a crude third-person two-versus-two battle with flat snowball-firing guns.</p><blockquote data-align="center" data-size="large"><p style="">The Mario &amp; Sonic series has been an inclusive experience, catering to all players of all skill levels, but Sochi 2014 complicates that simplicity.</p></blockquote><p style="">Developer Sega attempts to add value with a flurry of other modes, with Legends Showdown acting as the game's campaign. As opposed to the technically involved London Party board game of London 2012, Legends Showdown simply peppers a cluster of events with the odd cutscene, as a quartet of characters face off against shadow versions of themselves. Each area is capped off with a boss battle against one of the Sonic or Mario series' more obscure characters, including E-102 Gamma, Birdo, and Jet the Hawk. The mode is completely dull.</p><p style="">Medley Mania is similar to Legends Showdown, but presents clusters of events without any narrative context, and Action &amp; Answer Tour mixes individual events with a quiz show . You must complete various feats during randomised events, such as exposing a picture hidden in smoke with curling stones. It's the most successful additional mode in the game by a country mile, forcing you to keep a little something extra buzzing around your head while competing.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2365927-screen+4.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2365927" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2365927-screen+4.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2365927"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/1493/14930800/2365927-screen+4.jpg"></a><figcaption>It's unlikely you'll ever be this delighted when playing the game.</figcaption></figure><p style="">The game also adds online competition to the series for the first time, but only via four events: Olympic events freestyle ski cross, snowboard cross, and short track speed skating, alongside multi-vehicle Dream Event winter sports champion race. You can be matched into games alongside strangers or people from your friends list, and online multiplayer is tied together with a national metagame. Winning points in an event goes towards a ranking for your country, with the game displaying the national rankings on the main screen and also via in-game updates on the GamePad.</p><p style="">The Mario &amp; Sonic series has been an inclusive experience, catering to all players of all skill levels, but Sochi 2014 complicates that simplicity. The game's long-winded tutorials have a wearying effect, and the most enjoyable events--which are the simplest, coincidentally--are essentially identical to events from previous years. There are dribs of fun to be extracted from the overall package, but from the outset, it's hard to shake the feeling that this is a series that has now thoroughly outstayed its welcome.</p><p style="">The Mario &amp; Sonic series is the perfect example of the kind of charming, bite-sized, and all-inclusive entertainment that defined Nintendo throughout the Wii's golden years, but a lack of creativity and a poor implementation of the Wii U GamePad ensure that Mario &amp; Sonic's fourth outing in six years fails to secure a podium finish.</p> Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:01:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/mario-sonic-at-the-sochi-2014-olympic-winter-games/1900-6415522/

http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Sun, 03 Nov 2013 23:54:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/mario-sonic-at-the-sochi-winter-games-skating-and-/2300-6415893/ Whether it's racing around an ice rink, or blasting down a mountain, it's all about controlling your speed! Sun, 03 Nov 2013 15:01:00 -0800 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/mario-sonic-at-the-sochi-winter-games-skating-and-/2300-6415893/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/adventure-time-creator-adds-voice-to-upcoming-double-fine-adventure/1100-6415934/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1534/15343359/2365357-1912683705-23094.png" data-ref-id="1300-2365357" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1534/15343359/2365357-1912683705-23094.png" data-ref-id="1300-2365357"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/1534/15343359/2365357-1912683705-23094.png"></a></figure><p style="">Double Fine Productions, the studio behind <a href="/brutal-legend/" data-ref-id="false">Brutal Legend,</a> announced that they're collaborating with Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward on the upcoming independently published game <a href="/broken-age/" data-ref-id="false">Broken Age</a>.</p><p style="">The announcement came during the <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/double-fine-holding-day-of-the-devs-event-next-month/1100-6415513/" data-ref-id="1100-6415513">Day of the Devs event </a>in San Francisco and on the private backer forums for Broken Age. Ward will be voicing one of the characters in Broken Age, and the reveal was accompanied online by a video showing him in the studio recording lines and improvising with Tim Schafer.</p><p style="">As announced earlier, Hynden Walch (who voices Princess Bubblegum in Adventure Time) <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/jack-black-and-jennifer-hale-to-voice-characters-in-double-fines-broken-age/1100-6413937/" data-ref-id="1100-6413937">Jack Black, and Jennifer Hale also play characters in the game</a>.</p><p style="">Broken Age made headlines earlier this year as the<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/double-fines-second-kickstarter-successful/1100-6409219/" data-ref-id="1100-6409219"> most successful video game Kickstarter</a> (and one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time) up to that point. And Pendleton Ward's cult hit Adventure Time is featured in the upcoming game <a href="/adventure-time-explore-the-dungeon-because-i-don/" data-ref-id="false">Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!</a></p><p style="">The Day of the Devs event runs until 8PM PDT today, and you can watch the remainder on the Double Fine Twitch channel here.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6406101" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6406101/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p> Sat, 02 Nov 2013 16:35:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/adventure-time-creator-adds-voice-to-upcoming-double-fine-adventure/1100-6415934/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/mario-sonic-at-the-sochi-2014-olympic-winter-games/1900-6415522/ <p style="">The Mario &amp; Sonic series has always, and perhaps bizarrely, mixed accessible minigames, topical sporting events, and gaming nostalgia. It's an odd but enduring mix, one that's given us Charmy Bee cameos in a stylised re-creation of England's capital city for London 2012, but sadly the mascot duo's fourth outing falls flat.</p><p style="">In Mario &amp; Sonic's first outing on the Wii U, developer Sega starts with a major change for the series: Mario &amp; Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games demands that you make use of the Wii MotionPlus across its collection of 20 Nintendo and Sega characters and 25-odd minigames. The hardware boost ensures an extra degree of controller fidelity in new and returning Olympic events including skiing, figure skating, and curling. And while the move creates an additional expense for families with only a few regular Wii Remotes kicking around, the MotionPlus helps bring a touch of finesse to a previously waggle-intensive series.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2365907-mariosonicwinterolympics_screen_01.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2365907" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2365907-mariosonicwinterolympics_screen_01.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2365907"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/1493/14930800/2365907-mariosonicwinterolympics_screen_01.jpg"></a><figcaption>Don't worry: the Shy Guy is wearing a protective mask.</figcaption></figure><p style="">It's the forced addition of the GamePad that serves to complicate matters, shifting the series away from its simplistic roots. At best you've just got to explain each individual mechanic to a group all holding different configurations of controllers, but at worst you've got to contend with groups of irate children arguing over why one gets to have a GamePad and the others don't.</p><p style="">The GamePad is incorporated in various ways, and like with many aspects of the Mario &amp; Sonic series, there are both ups and downs. Biathlon, a new event for 2014, mixes cross-country skiing on the Wii Remote with a shooting range, letting the player at the top of the pack shoot via the GamePad while forcing others to use the more complicated Wii Remote. It's a sporting event that hasn't been well translated into a party game, suffering too much from the fact that it's the person who's already ahead that gets placed in the most advantageous situation.</p><p style="">Bobsleigh is another example of an event that's complicated by the GamePad's involvement, only one that's far more endearingly preposterous. The leader steers the vehicle with the GamePad while barking orders at up to three other players, who lean their Wii Remotes to the left or right to help steer around corners. Sitting cross-legged in a row on the floor isn't required, but it does make this event a lot more fun.</p><figure data-ref-id="1300-2039824" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/mig/9/8/2/4/2039824-715774_20130517_003.jpg" data-size="medium" data-align="left" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/mig/9/8/2/4/2039824-715774_20130517_003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2039824"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/mig/9/8/2/4/2039824-715774_20130517_003.jpg"></a></figure><p style="">Snowboard slopestyle, meanwhile, has you take turns to get the highest score on a downhill run, with points awarded for speed, jumps, and grinds. You steer with the GamePad, and flick the touchscreen to perform tricks. It's simple but fun, and is pleasantly different from the more traditional downhill skiing.</p><p style="">Many returning events are identical to their previous incarnations, though some have been spruced up a bit. Hockey, a particularly drab addition in Mario &amp; Sonic's last wintry sojourn, fills in the hole left by the absence of soccer and beach volleyball, now functioning as a kind of cut-down NHL that has you darting around a tiny rink making chaotic overpowered shots while a Shy Guy sits in goal at each end. It's a lot more fun than you'd expect from such a rudimentary implementation, but it's also hard to imagine it being something you'd want to play multiple times. </p><p style="">Figure skating pairs easily takes the crown for the barmiest minigame. Two players are judged on synchronising their movements, and while you're each allowed to hold a Wii Remote, it's when you play together by holding hands around a single controller that the real silliness kicks in. Having one player clumsily spin around the other in real life while an onscreen Daisy pirouettes elegantly around Dr Eggman is enough to put a smile on anyone's face, although you might need to encourage your immediate friends and family members to finish a glass of wine before joining in.</p><p style="">There are highlights, then, but too many events prove to be a disappointment. I've always found it particularly difficult to feel anything but boredom for this series' ski jumping and speed skating modes, and the downhill slide offered by skeleton is handled with more panache by skiing and snowboarding. But it's Sochi 2014's Dream Events that are especially lacking, with the series' former fantastical twists now reduced to half-baked spins of preexisting events wrapped loosely in the aesthetics of the Sonic or Mario series. Snowball scrimmage is the worst of the lot; it's a crude third-person two-versus-two battle with flat snowball-firing guns.</p><blockquote data-align="center" data-size="large"><p style="">The Mario &amp; Sonic series has been an inclusive experience, catering to all players of all skill levels, but Sochi 2014 complicates that simplicity.</p></blockquote><p style="">Developer Sega attempts to add value with a flurry of other modes, with Legends Showdown acting as the game's campaign. As opposed to the technically involved London Party board game of London 2012, Legends Showdown simply peppers a cluster of events with the odd cutscene, as a quartet of characters face off against shadow versions of themselves. Each area is capped off with a boss battle against one of the Sonic or Mario series' more obscure characters, including E-102 Gamma, Birdo, and Jet the Hawk. The mode is completely dull.</p><p style="">Medley Mania is similar to Legends Showdown, but presents clusters of events without any narrative context, and Action &amp; Answer Tour mixes individual events with a quiz show . You must complete various feats during randomised events, such as exposing a picture hidden in smoke with curling stones. It's the most successful additional mode in the game by a country mile, forcing you to keep a little something extra buzzing around your head while competing.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2365927-screen+4.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2365927" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2365927-screen+4.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2365927"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/1493/14930800/2365927-screen+4.jpg"></a><figcaption>It's unlikely you'll ever be this delighted when playing the game.</figcaption></figure><p style="">The game also adds online competition to the series for the first time, but only via four events: Olympic events freestyle ski cross, snowboard cross, and short track speed skating, alongside multi-vehicle Dream Event winter sports champion race. You can be matched into games alongside strangers or people from your friends list, and online multiplayer is tied together with a national metagame. Winning points in an event goes towards a ranking for your country, with the game displaying the national rankings on the main screen and also via in-game updates on the GamePad.</p><p style="">The Mario &amp; Sonic series has been an inclusive experience, catering to all players of all skill levels, but Sochi 2014 complicates that simplicity. The game's long-winded tutorials have a wearying effect, and the most enjoyable events--which are the simplest, coincidentally--are essentially identical to events from previous years. There are dribs of fun to be extracted from the overall package, but from the outset, it's hard to shake the feeling that this is a series that has now thoroughly outstayed its welcome.</p><p style="">The Mario &amp; Sonic series is the perfect example of the kind of charming, bite-sized, and all-inclusive entertainment that defined Nintendo throughout the Wii's golden years, but a lack of creativity and a poor implementation of the Wii U GamePad ensure that Mario &amp; Sonic's fourth outing in six years fails to secure a podium finish.</p> Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:01:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/mario-sonic-at-the-sochi-2014-olympic-winter-games/1900-6415522/

15.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Get Ready for An Epic Night Out with Call of Duty: Ghosts

@dipdish  i call BS on that, i remember as akid the only thing i had to know about a game were adds on magazine, magazines walkthrough and word of mouth from friends, these days we can SEARCH THE "WEBS" about anygame on gaming sites, forums, etc etc, we dont need those overpaid adds, bus stickers,and such.
 

15.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD Review

The second chapter in the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow saga, the 3DS's Mirror of Fate, brought the series closer to its roots than it has been in years. Side-scrolling action made a comeback, with a small amount of Symphony of the Night-style exploration in tow, but it also maintained the combo-driven combat established in the first Lords of Shadow game. The combination of the best elements from different corners of the series worked well, and the reimagining of the connection between the Belmont family of vampire hunters and Dracula provided an interesting if somewhat predictable twist. Unfortunately, a small number of design choices got in the way of the good stuff, but in porting Mirror of Fate to consoles, Konami had a chance to finally fix those failings. Mirror of Fate goes further than the expected visual upgrades, making small improvements that lead to a much more enjoyable experience.

The story in Mirror of Fate picks up after the conclusion of the first Lords of Shadow and follows the paths of three characters: Simon Belmont, his father Trevor Belmont, and Alucard. Each of their stories is told separately, but these threads weave together by the end of the game. Unfortunately, due to the heavy hints laid out in the beginning, the intended element of surprise ultimately falls flat.

Plot aside, Mirror of Fate is a straightforward affair with few innovative constructs, but what is there feels tight. With your map and its handy objective icon, you navigate the halls of Dracula's castle, fending off zombies, seething, skull-headed rat-dogs, and undead knights, with an occasional challenging boss fight along the way. It isn't tricky to maneuver through the castle, but a plethora of platforming sections keep things interesting. The character's whip-like Combat Cross let's them grapple and swing from chandeliers and broken bits of castle, then flow into hand-over-hand climbing sections where you have to leap over chasms before pulling yourself up to solid ground. The orchestration of these sections present a reasonable challenge, but more importantly, you feel like you're exploring the depths and heights of Dracula's castle, rather than sticking to plain paths laid by hallways and staircases.

The three-character setup is an interesting method for storytelling, but it also allows for a bit of variety in play styles. That's not to say the Belmonts and Alucard are wildly different from one another, but each comes with a slightly different repertoire of movement and attack abilities. Regardless of the character in question, the game's combat system makes it easy to string together a series of direct and area attacks, well-timed blocks that can stun enemies, and evasive maneuvers. Thanks to the tight, responsive controls, it's easy to mash your way to victory, but every encounter provides opportunities to demonstrate mastery over the nuanced timing and complex commands.

None of this has changed for the Mirror of Fate HD update, where the most obvious changes are in the visuals. It's not immediately apparent which textures or models are old, but what's here shines on a larger, clearer display. Mercury Steam's beautifully twisted gothic designs for Mirror of Fate finally get the presentation they deserve, and though the in-game models appear rough around the edges compared to console-native games, Mirror of Fate HD's presentation is surprisingly strong.

What is a man but a happy pile of secrets? Wait, is that right?

Interestingly, the graphical boost isn't the only difference between versions of Mirror of Fate. Least of all, the controls have been loosened a bit, allowing you to use the D-pad to control your character. Beyond this, the most important change is the removal of the vast majority of quick-time events. When I reviewed Mirror of Fate the first time around, I lamented the fact that the game constantly shoved in quick-time events. Want to open a treasure chest? Get ready to tap the A button a dozen times. Ready to deal the final blow to a difficult boss? Prepare for a series of button presses that can't be missed. In both scenarios, you've proven your abilities and shouldn't be subjected to laborious inputs for the mere sake of it. In most instances, quick-time events have been removed from Mirror of Fate HD in favor of allowing the action or cutscene to progress without further input.

These are small changes, but the latter has far-reaching implications on the game at large. I no longer view Mirror of Fate as a good Castlevania game plagued by annoying design issues. Now, in the case of the HD port, the positives rise to the surface rather than the negatives, and Mirror of Fate finally feels like a great addition to the series. It has the most intriguing story in any Castlevania game to date, even if it is a bit predictable, and the emphasis on combat above exploration is a fair trade, primarily because the combo system is so fluid and sports a good amount of depth. Mirror of Fate on the 3DS may not have been the side-scrolling, vampire-hunting adventure that we all hoped it would be, but with its heightened presentation and revamped mechanics, Mirror of Fate HD is a big step in the right direction.

15.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Adventure Time creator adds voice to upcoming Double Fine adventure

Double Fine Productions, the studio behind Brutal Legend, announced that they're collaborating with Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward on the upcoming independently published game Broken Age.

The announcement came during the Day of the Devs event in San Francisco and on the private backer forums for Broken Age. Ward will be voicing one of the characters in Broken Age, and the reveal was accompanied online by a video showing him in the studio recording lines and improvising with Tim Schafer.

As announced earlier, Hynden Walch (who voices Princess Bubblegum in Adventure Time) Jack Black, and Jennifer Hale also play characters in the game.

Broken Age made headlines earlier this year as the most successful video game Kickstarter (and one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time) up to that point. And Pendleton Ward's cult hit Adventure Time is featured in the upcoming game Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!

The Day of the Devs event runs until 8PM PDT today, and you can watch the remainder on the Double Fine Twitch channel here.

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Broken Age

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