Since their inception, the LEGO licensed games have followed a pretty standard formula. Players start off in a central hub where they can select missions to enter, check their progress and buy more characters to play as. After years of this between Star Wars, Batman, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter, the franchise was due for a change.

Not only is LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes the first LEGO game to feature voice acting for the characters, but it will be an open world format. How this will impact gameplay will be interesting as this has never been attempted by any of the LEGO franchise games before. It may be a structure similar to a GTA game where players meet up with NPCs and receive missions or maybe even an Arkham City style where Batman receives updates from Alfred or Oracle, which would make sense using both the Batman franchise as well as the new voiceover being added to the game.

Take a peek below at the trailer and screen shots for LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes to see Batman, Superman, the Flash, the rest of the Justice League and all the villains in action. You even get a brief glimpse of the friendly antagonism between Batman and Superman as well. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is coming to all major consoles and handhelds on June 19th.

Continue Reading →

Whether you call it MOBA or DOTA, the genre that best fits Awesomenauts didn’t exist even a decade ago. Spawning from the Defense of the Ancients mod for Warcraft III, MOBA games are traditionally controlled as a isometric RTS style game. Awesomenauts changes things up a bit with the first major 2D side-scrolling release to the genre.

Gameplay

Awesomenauts follows the traditional MOBA formula of a team of players making their way past set defense points to reach an opposing team’s base. Each team consists of three players (which can be filled in with bots if someone is playing during slower hours) and the constant stream of less powerful computer controlled minions. Different from most MOBA titles like the DOTA mod is the game’s classic style 2D environment.

While greatly detailed to fit in a next gen world, all the action occurs on a 2D plane. Action is still fast and frantic though with players running in to battle, having rapid exchanges before someone is killed or forced to flee and most matches are over in less than fifteen minutes.

There is a somewhat limited supply of characters with only six playable Awesomenauts to choose from, each with different combat roles. Some act as tanks, others as damage dealers and others as more stealthy assassins. Players start off with only three unlocked and must earn combat experience to level up and unlock more. Hopefully Ronimo adds more through DLC or updates since the matches are usually matching teams with players already trending towards a few core characters rather than a variety that could come from an expanded roster.

Continue Reading →

Forget about it being AMC’s top rated series. Forget about Volume 1 being the number one selling graphic novel of April 2012 despite it being published more than eight years ago and seven other volumes filling up the top 10. And even forget about it being the title that made Robert Kirkman a superstar comic writer.

The Walking Dead is now a video game too. And yes, we were just as hesitant when we heard about it as anyone else. As much as we appreciate a studio like Telltale with a pedigree of former Lucasarts employees and titles like Monkey Island franchise and Sam & Max, we know the dangers of a licensed franchise being brought to the gaming world. Luckily, Telltale showed us once again that the right team working with the right property can bring magic on screen.

Gameplay:

The Walking Dead comes to players as a newer style of point and click adventure game. Traditionally, the genre revolved around players sorting through an environment with trial and error until they found the proper combination of items and persons needed to solve a puzzle. Now, The Walking Dead steps up the ante with a faster paced and more natural feeling action oriented adventure.

Continue Reading →

In 2010, Jerry Holkins, aka Tycho, posted chapters for what he hoped would become the third installment of Penny Arcade’s steampunk RPG game series, but then much to the dismay of fans, not much else was heard of about the game.

Cut to 2012 and not only does the game have a developer, indie devs Zeboyd games, but it should be released sometime this summer. I got a chance to sit in on the panel where the game’s creators, plus Holkins himself, discussed how the game resurfaced and came to be.

What is obviously different right from the start in On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 is the SNES-style art and graphics. The previous two games looked a bit more like one of Mike Krahulik’s comics, but this third game is less comic, more Final Fantasy. The battle system and dialogue boxes are reminiscent of all my favorite RPGs growing up, but combined with the snarky, sometimes foul dialogue always present in the Penny Arcade games, it’s more like an R-rated version of Dragon Warrior.

During the Q&A portion of the panel, fans asked a lot about the other apparent difference in On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness 3, which is the absence of a customizable protagonist. In this third installment, players take on a party of Gabriel, Tycho, and Ann. The developers mentioned that they may wrap up the story of the previous protagonist, but you won’t be able to play as him. However, there will be enemies in tiny hats, and tiny hats make everything funnier, so it all balances out.

On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 will be available this summer on PC, Mac, Xbox, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android.

The floor this year at PAX East included a section indie developers dubbed the Indie Megabooth- 16 independent developers showing off twenty of the latest and greatest indie games on all sorts of platforms. One of those titles was Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, the follow up to PSN title Tales from Space: About a Blob, now available for the Playstation Vita. I decided to pick up the title to play during my free time at PAX East, and I’m really glad I did.

Much like the Katamari games, Mutant Blobs Attack  requires you to eat everything in sight to proceed through the level, as long as it’s not bigger than you. But, while Katamari is a 3rd person perspective three dimensional game, Mutant Blobs Attack is a 2D sidescrolling platformer, more like Loco Roco.  As a blob, you’ll also gain powerups to allow you to fly, float, and magnetize yourself to walls.

The game utilizes the Vita’s controls without overdoing it and becoming cumbersome to play. You control the blob throughout the levels using the analog stick, but there are also a few random levels that require you to tilt the Vita around like a ball maze to try to move the blob to the goal. The back touchscreen don’t come into play at all, but the front is used to manipulate the environment to proceed.

Continue Reading →

When I first downloaded Journey off the PlayStation Network, I intended on giving it a traditional review. I had been mostly in the dark about the game itself other than hearing it mentioned after E3 last year. Quickly as I began playing, I realized this is not an ordinary game. In fact, it’s hard to even call it a game in the first place. So many conventions, not just of video games but of what people think of any kind of game be they sport, board, card or video game, don’t exist within the confines of Journey.

The name Journey, not to be trite, actually does say it all. Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited with the quote, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” In Journey, this statement rings true throughout as the player takes on the role of a faceless robed creature as they make their way towards a mythical mountain top location. Other than a three very brief “tutorial” instructions at the start, there is no instruction during the game. Journey is designed to give the player an indication of where to go and motivation to get there but never explicitly tells them why they are headed there. They don’t know what the ultimate goal is other than the location itself or even what the significance is.

In addition to being faceless, the player is also voiceless. While this has been used throughout gaming and worked well with specific examples such as Gordon Freeman of Half-Life or the boy from Limbo, it becomes even more interesting as the game has a built in multiplayer component to it. Much like the rest of the game compares itself to real life, players will find themselves crossing paths with others as they go through Journey. Through body language and the game’s brief musical tone abilities alone, players can determine how they interact with each other. Since Journey can be crossed from start to finish in about two hours, it is realistic that a pair can work alongside each other for the entire time. Others may intersect briefly with one deciding to hang back in hopes of new discoveries while the other pushes forward, a direct corollary of real life relationships. There is an added layer as players have no way of voice chatting over the PlayStation network as their identities remain hidden to each other so not to impair the game’s message by allowing players to chat over the network.

Continue Reading →

\Rayman Origins was released last week as one of the launch titles for the Playstation Vita, and while it’s no stranger to the gaming world after its release on Playstation 3 last year, it’s still one of my favorite titles for Sony’s new portable.

I’m coming at this review from the perspective of someone who absolutely, positively loved the original Rayman on Playstation. The colors, the environments, the gameplay. My twelve year old self found it amazing. I was fascinated by the idea that, while the PSX had all this graphical power (hey, at the time, it did), that a developer would choose to create a cartoony, side scrolling platformer instead of something three dimensional.

Rayman Origins takes everything great about the original Rayman, all those awesome fun things that were magical about it on the Playstation, and brings them to the Vita. While this game was originally available for the Playstation 3, it just shines on the portable.

Continue Reading →

Sony’s newest handheld, the Playstation Vita, doesn’t launch officially in the US until February 22nd, but if you’re one of the antsy few like myself who just needed to get your hands on  just a bit earlier than its official US Launch date, the “First Edition” bundle was available for sale yesterday if you preordered. Before I write up my full review on the Vita, I wanted to share my initial reactions to the system, especially for those of you who are still on the fence about picking it up next week.

First things first- the Vita is beautiful, both asthetically and physically. I love the way this device looks, and I LOVE the way it feels in my hands. The 5 Inch OLED screen obviously makes the Vita easy on the eyes, and games look great. I’ve never found myself questioning how much better this looks than the PSP- it’s astounding how much power they’ve packed into this thing, without making it very heavy or cumbersome.

If you’re a veteran of the PSP, or any Sony system really, the Vita is easy enough to pick up and play. They’vre rearranged some buttons, which I really appreciate, as the volume and start buttons on the PSP were too low for me to reach comfortably before. The biggest change has been the addition of a second analog stick. I cannot stress how much better these analog sticks are than the PSP’s, which I had break on me multiple times on multiple PSPs.

Continue Reading →

When DC Universe Online debuted last January, it became the first MMO available for the PlayStation 3. Sony Online Entertainment wants to celebrate the first anniversary of this hit game by providing a special mission and item in game today.

“We broke a lot of new ground with last year’s launch of DC Universe Online, both by successfully creating the first PS3™ MMO community and adding true action combat to the genre,” said Lorin Jameson, Executive Director of Development, Sony Online Entertainment. “The free-to-play transition at the end of last year is a proof point that our community is stronger and larger than ever. We are very proud of what we’ve accomplished thus far and look forward to continuously striving to improve the game.”

To celebrate the game’s one-year anniversary, players will receive a special one-of-a-kind One Year Anniversary Cape that features a number “1″ on the back. The cape will be granted to players through their mission journal on January 11. The character must exist on the 11^th to be eligible to receive the mission. However, players do not need to log in on the 11^th; as long as the character exists on the 11^th, players will receive the mission the next time they log in.

The game went free to play late last year and has been a hit among MMO fans and comic book fans a like. More on what the game has accomplished in it’s first year after the jump.

Continue Reading →

This is it. It’s the big one! Right before the New Year, we posted our awards for the best of gaming in 2011. But there was one all important award that we needed some extra time to deliberate on… The Game of the Year.

In this episode, JC and WallE forgo the usual format of the Bitcast and engage in a conversation where they, along with some input from Flickcasters Matt Raub and Cortney Zamm, decide on what game earns the coveted title of Game of the Year.

And The Nominees Are:

Continue Reading →

Call of Duty Elite is a service that allows the most hardcore Call of Duty players to lose themselves in some pretty advance stat tracking and multiplayer progression. Now those gamers have even less of a reason to spend any time away from their account with the launch of the iOS app for the service.

The new app will be free for all registered users, and is available on all iOS platforms today. An android version is going to be hitting soon as well.

Immerse yourself in Call of Duty® wherever you go with the Call of Duty® ELITE mobile app. Evaluate your multiplayer progress with in-depth stat analysis. Formulate new strategies based on your recent performance and remotely incorporate edits to your loadouts. Push your changes directly into Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 so you’re always ready to play.

Check out a list of features and some screen shots after the jump.

Continue Reading →

As we have seen, some games go through extended development times and switch between studios to varying degrees of success. A poor example of this is 2011’s Duke Nukem Forever. Some games however find their strengths and weaknesses and adjust accordingly. One such game looks to be I Am Alive, currently under development from Ubisoft Shanghai.

Originally announced in 2008 under developer Darkworks, I Am Alive was announced to be a full retail release but has now been brought to a more manageable downloadable title.

I Am Alive takes place in a fictional city of Haventon one year after something referred only to as the Event, a cataclysmic occurrence that wipes out much of the world’s population. There is even a cloud of toxic gas surrounding much of the planet. The main character is on the search for supplies and other survivors while he tries to reunite with his wife and daughter.

Continue Reading →