Battlefied 3 details explode!

Hold onto your controllers guys.....details about the fantastically amazing multiplayer destruction-fest Battlefield 3 have started to dribble out onto the web.

Due in "fall 2011", the latest game in the series is sounding great. Game informer, in their latest issue, have put out a variety of details which were cobbled together by some helpful nerds on the NeoGAF forums, which website Computer & Video games nicked, which I blatantly stole from them. Here's a summery of what they have to say:

• Aiming for CY Q4 2011 release
  
• Concept for BF3 has been in the works for years, waiting on proper tech to seamlessly come together
  
• Frosbite 2.0 is the culmination of this tech, entirely re-written
  
• Lighting sounds neat, one "probe" contains more lighting information than an entire BFBC2 level.
  
• Level destruction is going to be "believable" but basically everything is destructible.
  
• Character animations powered by ANT, what EA Sports uses.
  
• AI characters and multiplayer characters have different animation sets
  
• No more "gliding" animations that look off, animation realism is a focus
  
• Captured their own war audios (bullets, tanks, helicopters, etc) at different distances to ensure realism
  
• Better audio cues for certain actions, more easily able to listen for threats
  
• Plan on better, more immediate post release content
  
• More unlocks than BFBC2
  
• Dice trying to find a good balance between customization of your character and not having "pink rabbit hat(s)"
  
• 4 classes
  
• Will talk about squads "later"
  
• Looking into a theater mode but can't talk about it
  
• Will have co-op
  
• There will be a kill-cam but it can be turned off
  
• BF3's team is almost twice as big as the team for BFBC2
  
• They want the pacing of the single player mode to be balanced, with highs and lows. Makes the comparison to a song vs a guitar solo.
  
• Part of the single player mode takes place in Sulaymaniyah - Iraqi Kurdistan.
  
• "F***" will be used often, so M rated for sure
  
• There will be an earthquake in a level. The destruction sounds very impressive. 7 story building collapses, looks very well done
  
• Significant narrative that goes with the SP mode
  
• More than one setting, you're not in the middle east for the whole game
  
• PC version is lead version
  
• Why 64 players for PC only? No complains from the console crowd.
  
• No mod tools at release. Maybe none down the line either. Frosbite 2.0 is complex and mods tools would have to be dumbed down, so does Dice really want to put their time to that or would it be better spent elsewhere?
  
• Original story, not based on Bad Company at all.

Well....it all sounds great. But they need to include the "pink bunny hats".....nothing says warfare more than a bunny hat in my book.

Colour me impressed. Battlefield is my favoured multiplayer title, i've always preferred it over the screaming K/D ratio obsessed toss-bags in the Call of Duty games. Jumping into a squad with some other good players and taking out objectives stands head and shoulders over the "lone gunner" approach that seems to happen whenever I jump into a COD game.

I'm not going to start going on about if it's going to be a "Call of Duty killer".....as it already is in my book. I just want the bloody game....now!

If you haven't seen it, feast your eye-holes on this teaser. It shows nothing really, but hey.....

Is the Halo HD remake on it's way?

Mmmm....looks like the rumours are gathering pace.

The initial rumours dripped out in November of last year. Trade mag MCV put out a piece that Halo development studio 343 Industries were apparently working on a HD remake of the first Halo game, running on the Halo Reach engine.

And now from website Joystiq, another announcement about the game.

Developed by the strangely monikered studio "Sabre interactive"....sounds painful....the game is not just the original game with a HD coat on, oh no. This one will have certain assets updated...i'm guessing character models and textures, and updated controls to put the game more in line with the sequels. Co-op support, 1080p resolution and 3D support is also expected to make it into the game.

A tentative release date of November 15, 2011 has been proposed. This will bring it in line with the 10th anniversary of the original games release.

So what can we take of this news? Sounds plausable I guess. I wouldn't imagine it would harm MS to get this game out of the door, as it's probably going to sell a squillion copies within the first hour it's on the shelves. But with two sources for the same rumour, it's sounding quite likely.

If it happens, and anyone from 343 Industries is reading this.....PLEASE sort out the fucking god-awful Library levels....there is no way I want to do all that bollocks again.

Until this is confirmed....entertain yourself with another Halo remake.....it's great!

Killzone 3 multiplayer demo thoughts.

Well, lucky for us UK residents, the highly anticipated multiplayer beta for Killzone 3 is now available to download from the Playstation network. So let's have a quick look at what's on offer.

Firstly the game modes. There is "guerrilla warfare", which supports up to sixteen players, the awesome "warzone" with it's constantly changing objectives and "operations" which are missions based on catching/killing different mission types. There is also the bot mode, where you can fight against computer controlled bots.....self explanatory really.

Nothing much has changed class wise. in the demo you start off just being able to pick a certain class, and though battles you earn points for kills etc to unlock different weapon types and perks. The usual engineer, medic are all in there.

The demo is pretty much Killzone. Nothing really has changed. After playing COD/Battlefield for the past several months I haven't touched Killzone in an age, so returning to the game took some adjustment. I'd forgotten just how sluggish the controls can be.....trying to get a bead on your enemy with the gun was like an anorexic trying to hold a two-stone iron bar level. However, after upping the sensitivity a bit and getting a few games under my belt it all came flooding back...so much so in my second game I was the highest scoring member on my team! That's a first for me and Killzone! The game is also compatible with Playstation Move, so if you want to can waggle along to your hearts content.

The map, with the "must have been up all night trying to come up with a name for it" name Frozen dam, is a great little map. Set in a snow-laden industrial zone there are a tonne of choke points, with lots of high level walkways and rooms to rack up the kills. It's not that big, but it's deceptive as it feels bigger than it actually is thanks to the lower cellar type areas and the huge multi-leveled walkway in the main open area. Within a few games you start to recognise certain areas and instantly find a few favourite points to camp out in.

Unfortunatly I only got to have a few games on the one mode, Guerrilla Warfare. I attempted to get into the others, but after several blank screens and in one instance a wait of around twenty minutes trying to get into the game I gave up. But seeing as how it's just more Killzone I don't think i'm missing anything spectacular. Although i'll try again later because if i'm missing out on bloody jetpacks i'll be pissed.

So that's the demo. It's Killzone through and through, so if you're not a fan, it won't convert you. However, based on this map (and I can't wait to see the other maps....mmmmm, jetpacks) it looks like it will be another solid multiplayer game for the PS3.

And you just can't beat hearing Ray Winstone barking objective orders at you.....





For more details, have a look at the game's website right here.

Killzone 3 is released on 25th February, 2011.

Duty Calls parody.

I love a good piss take. I find nothing more delighting than sitting with close friends, mocking them on all sorts of things, from their receding hairlines and still living with their parents, to indeed taking the piss out of myself or just shouting at the dumb fuckers you usually see in any advert. Mockery is great in my book....which is why i'm starting to love Bulletstorm even more.

Just released by the developers of Bulletstorm, People may fly, is this parody of a certain well know multi million selling Activision cash cow.

I don't need to say anything more about it, as I could never to this video justice. Just one thing.....I would actually buy this if it were released.

And second...so technically that's two things....the sound effects of the gun...every game needs a standard weapon that says "boring" every time you shoot it!

Watch and love.....

Vanquish review.

Well, it's been out for a while, so better late than never. I'm sure there's still a few of you that haven't picked this up yet.

Released in October last year, Vanquish is a stylish 3rd person shooter developed by Shinji Mikami, previously of Resident Evil fame and his company Platinum games.

Pre release videos and images drew comparisons with Gears of War, what with it being 3rd person and having a cover system, but with typical Japanese characters stylings and a trillion things happening on screen at once. But the important thing....is it any good? Let's go and have a bloody good look then.

The story:

It's a bit of a garbled mess, but in a cool way. Set at some point in the future, mankind has over populated the Earth. The US has made some huge space station to collect solar energy, but those sneaky Russians, led be a Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear look-a-like, overtakes control of the satellite, blows San Francisco off the face of the planet and threatens that the US should step down, otherwise New York is left. A group is formed to take on the Red menace, led by big, burly and bearded man mountain Colonel Robert Burns and aided with a tonne of cannon fodder and a lone soldier with an experimental battle-suit, Chain smoking Sam Gideon. Taking the role of Sam, you have to blow your way through the robotic menace and destroy the space station.

What I liked:

Basically.....everything. The team at Platinum Games have created a title that is effortlessly cool. And I do mean cool. You could use this game to chill your beer! Taking control of Sam, you can play several different ways. Controls are standard fare, right trigger to fire, left trigger to aim. You duck into cover with X, grenade with Yand select a choice of up to four weapon types with the d-pad etc etc. right bumper is for reload, and left is to activate your suit power, which is almost like a sprint, except you slide around on your knees in the style of an amputee with rockets on your stumps! While out of cover, hitting X sees you perform dodge-style rolls, and when combining this with the aim trigger the world enters a slo-mo bullet time type thing where you can slowly pick apart groups of enemies, or in more extreme cases shoot actual missiles out of the sky! It takes a while to master, but once it clicks instead of just simply shooting an enemy until it goes dead, you'll slide into cover, leap over it, click slo-mo, kill a legion of troops, land into more cover and light up a fag......it's like Gear of War ballet edition. Some levels are outstanding, memorable fights include a high speed monorail chase that flips around like fighting on a rollercoaster, a huge walking robotic spider that once you think you have beaten it transforms into a giant walking Iron giant, and a fight in zero gravity. Your transforming gun is a great addition, and there are varieties of weapons to pick up, from usual assault rifles and rocket launchers to disc launching rifles and lock on multiple lasers. Sound effects are awesome, the soundtrack is great, and the character voices are some of the most funny i've ever hear in a game....top marks go to Colonel Burns, who can't say a simple phrase without shouting it as loud and gruff as possible....think Brian Blessed smoking 40 Marlboro a day and you're about there. He's also responsible for one of the greatest lines in video game history....."Thank god i'm an Athiest!".

What I loathed:

Hardly anything. If I had to say anything bad about it i'd be lying. The only thing I could maybe mark it down on is more of a fault with me than the game. It's slight confusing at first, getting used to dodging enemy attacks to enter bullet time, or getting used to activating it manually. Finding enemy attack patterns takes a while too, but once you have them you'll be cutting down the enemies in no time. It can be a bit busy, and at certain times it can be tough when you have 30 bad guys, giant robots and 3 lumbering huge beasts to try and take down all at once, and one friend who watched me play through a couple of sections actually felt sick from how busy the screen was......but then again he is a pussy.

The verdict?

Vanquish is a fantastic game. I haven't actually sat with a game in a long time that I enjoyed every single aspect of, from the controls to the characters and some fantastic levels. It's effortlessly cool, it looks great and I sat there smiling every single time I picked up the pad to play. You can pick it up for under £20, and as far as i'm concerned it's one of the best games of last year. Or this year if you bought it late like me.....

Rating: 9/10




(Xbox 360 version reviewed. Also available on PS3)

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean teaser.

Oh dear.......

Even though it was announced last November that this game was coming out, the first teaser trailer for TT games latest brick-infested collect-em-up Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean has been released to the gaming public.

Due for release in May this year, the game is scheduled be released along side the new Pirates movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: On stranger tides. It's going to be released on every console in the known universe, and it'll probably be shit.

Not dross from TT games end. They always seem to inject a but of humour into their games, and no doubt pirates will follow in the way that the Star Wars/Batman games did. I just hate the pirates films though. The first one was a laugh, but the second and third films in the series disappeared up their own scurvy-ridden arseholes.

Here's the teaser.




Yawn.

Anyway. Don't bother getting in touch telling me if you're interested in the game. I simply posted this to have a slight moan.....

How the hell did this game never happen??

Not only a case of "how the hell did this game never happen?", but how the hell did I never hear of it.

Chatting with a reader via email, we were talking about games that were previewed but never made. I was chucking out names like Starfox 2 etc, and he blurted out "Did you see that Dirty Harry game? That looked awesome!"

After choking on my tea as I read this, I immediately jumped onto Youtube and lo and behold.....there was the trailer.

According to online bullshit fact sheet Wikipedia, the game was indeed on. Developed by The Collective, inc and published by Warner Bros, the game was going to follow on from events that happened in the film, and indeed have the awesome setting of San Francisco in the 70's.

No talk of what kind of form the game would take was, but i'd imagine it would be some kind of GTA style kill-em-up. The only thing that was hinted at was how you would play the game. Taking the character straight from the films, Harry Callahan would walk the fine line between cop and psychopath, almost like a San Fran traffic warden. Take it too easy on the scum sucking bad guys and they wouldn't see you as a threat. Go all "mental" on them and expect a drubbing down from the police chief.

It all sounded pretty standard fare. But alas, The collective, inc went under due to "trouble", and the game was canned. A fucking disgrace! Why? Have a look at this bloody video and give your eyes a good old wank!




It looked like it nailed the atmosphere of the films...and indeed the grizzled, world-weary look of the dirty one himself.

I'm going to spend the next year bombarding Rockstar to get on the case and MAKE THIS GAME HAPPEN!!! If anyone can do it justice...it's them.

Join me.....you know it makes sense.