Archive for the ‘Bitsnark News & Reviews’ Category
A forthcoming guilty pleasure: Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs never used to be known as such. No, instead the game that we now know by it’s slumbering canine monkier was actually going to be True Crime: Hong Kong and was going to be published by Activision Blizzard.
The reason for the name-change and the change in corporate overlords (from Acti to Square-Enix) was due to the fact that well, Activision thought the game ‘wouldn’t meet their high quality standards’, which was roundabout suit talk for saying that they thought the game was shit and as a result, the game was canned.
For the uninitated, True Crime: Hong Kong was to be an open-world, GTA-esque title set in Hong Kong mixing in free-roaming and martial arts combat elements to create something a little more brutal than what the genre typically sees.
United Front Games, the developers behind the game, kept the idea alive though and one thing lead to another and before they knew it, Square-Enix were poking their noses in and said to them – “You know what? You have something decent here, let’s take that ball and run with it”.
And so here we are – Sleeping Dogs. A game that while perhaps lacking that top-tier spit and polish of Rockstar’s open world opus at this stage, certainly appears to have it’s sights set on satisfying the player with a heady cocktail of deep hand-to-hand combat (inspired by Batman: Arkham City no less – not a bad thing), free-roaming vehicle travel and combat and a twisty-turny story of undercover police work in the Triad gangs played out against the backdrop of China’s brightest city.
Below is the ‘Sleeping Dogs 101’ trailer, a nice little video which gives a fairly comprehensive overview of what to expect from the game:
As you can clearly see, the game certainly doesn’t skip on the brutality of visceral hand-to-hand combat with a myriad of disarmings, counters and environmental kills showcasing a the sort of depth in fighting system that open world games rarely enjoy.
Some of those environmental kills are downright nasty too; with folks getting their faces set on fire, their heads slammed in car doors and some poor chap getting split in two by heavy machinery. Ouch.
It’s not just the combat either. The driving and exploring facets of the game appear to be robust also; mixing up acrobatics (jumping from car to car and hanging off the side of lorries for dear life) with drive-by shootings and vehicle to vehicle combat – the game looks to carry the satisfying brutality wherever the action goes with due aplomb.
But why, despite this praise, have I categorised it as a ‘guilty pleasure’? Well its due to a nagging feeling that despite the compelling nature of all of these parts, the final product might not quite equal the sum of its parts.
Firstly, the visuals. The game looks good, but not spectacular. A lot of the character models appear fairly generic and their animations immediately go into ‘spread your arms and legs ragdoll-style’ as soon as they die – appearing much less natural than the likes of GTA IV where the animations appear to be a lot more believeable, thanks to the Euphoria animation system that the game possesses. The frame-rate also appears to vary quite wildly. On-foot sections appear to shift along at a decent enough pace, but when the cars start speeding and the explosions start happening, things seemingly start entering jerk-o-vision, resulting in a choppy and less than smooth screen update.
Next up is the storyline. Everything that we have seen so far, seems to lend credence to the idea that Sleeping Dogs is merely content to be a competent homage to Chinese action cinema, rather than trying to weave a tale with any sort of verve or surprises.
Finally, the other aspect of the game that could disappoint is the missions themselves. How much variety can they possibly have beyond ‘kill this guy’ or ‘chase this guy’ or ‘pick this up for me’? Again, this will likely tie directly into how sophisticated the narrative is, so if the plot falls flat than it wouldn’t be unreasonable to infer that the missions attached to them might as well.
Despite these reservations, the game still has a place reserved on my shelf for the simple reason that i’ve been a fan of roaming fighters like Streets of Rage and Final Fight for a long time now, and that, on face value at least, it appears to have a unique way with violence that very few games have.
Sure, Sleeping Dogs certainly attempts to join the clique of Saints Row and GTA but the Square-Enix published title has something unique to offer which it’s established rivals really don’t; a solid focus on melee combat and the cinematic elements of Hong Kong action cinema – which despite their signicant contributions to kinetic-action cinema at large, appear to be all but forgotten by videogames thus far.
Sleeping Dogs is due on 360, PS3 and PC in both standard and limited edition formats on August 17th, 2012.
Capcom celebrates 25 years of Street Fighter with $149.99 of collectable tat
Are you a Street Fighter fan? Do you want buy everything you already own again in unique collectors box thing? Then this $149.99 collectors edition, celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the franchise is for you!
Oooh, pretty.
The Street Fighter 25th Anniversary collectors edition contains the following goodies in both 360 & PS3 editions:
Games
-Street Fighter X Tekken (including all character and Swap Costume DLC)
-Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (with all costume DLC)
-Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
-Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition
Video
-New documentary Blu-ray that highlights the lifelong love affair fans have had with Street Fighter, and how their dedication has affected the game.
-Street Fighter IV, Super SFIV anime movies
-All episodes of the Street Fighter animated series
-Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
Light-up Ryu statue
-Brand new statue with light up base. Eight inches tall and frozen in mid Shoryuken.
11 disc soundtrack
-Game music from the past 25 years, including remixes and fan-created music.
64 page hardcover art book
-Containing pieces from fans all over the world.
Ryu’s belt
-Full size martial arts black belt for the aspiring World Warrior. Includes Ryu’s “Furinkazan” in kanji.
Certificate of Authenticity
-Like any good collector’s set, this comes with a lovely piece of paper telling you how limited and special it is. They’re all individually numbered, so get one before they disappear and you have to spend your money on such trivial things like food, bills and rent.
Right. I couldn’t help but notice that the set comes with ‘all episodes of the Street Fighter animated series’. There is something very important that needs to be distinguished here; is it the decent Street Fighter II Victory anime TV series, or is it the gut-wrenchingly cretinous US cartoon show that looks like it was designed by Hanna-Babara (Ken Masters looks like Prince Adam from He-Man for fuck’s sake)? Since if it’s the former than the great, but if it’s the latter, than this set can fuck off and die on the principle of that slight alone. For the uninitated, here are videos from each so you can see for yourself. It’s also worth noting that the Street Fighter II Victory series was directed by Gisaburo Sugii, who was also in charge of the fucking excellent Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie.
Also, one other thing that bugs me about this uber-collectors set is that it isn’t really complete. Would it really have hurt them so much to put ALL of previously released Street Fighter games in one place? Even the shit ones too, like Street Fighter: The Movie and Street Fighter EX3 would have been nice for completist sakes.
As a collectable curio for the ardent Street Fighter afficianado, the notable omissions of other Street Fighter titles is notable and prevents the set from being a ‘must-have’ in any real shape or form and much of the content on show here would likely be duplicated in the collection of any fan worth his or her salt. Still, for those who have perhaps fallen out of touch with Capcom’s premier fighting franchise, this represents a luxurious if not terribly comprehensive manner with which to reimmerse themselves in the delights of Capcom’s long running fistic dynasty.
Capcom has also released a trailer for the set which you can see below:
The Street Fighter 25th Anniversary set is currently due to arrive in North America on September 18th, 2012 on 360 and PS3 platforms. An EU/UK date has yet to be confirmed by Capcom.
Driver: San Francisco Review (360)
Like its comatose protagonist in this newest game, the Driver franchise has been on the sidelines for far too long; idly vegetating whilst the world went on and progressed without it with their open world sandboxes and super-serious, po-faced narratives. It is with some sense of relief then, that Driver: San Francisco is a veritable shot in the arm for the series; awakening it from it’s long slumber to reinsert itself triumphantly into today’s racing scene; doing so by returning to its roots whilst embracing a new, off-the-wall innovation that elevates it to it’s own echelon within the genre.
In Driver: San Francisco, you are once again cast in the cooler than cool boots and swagger jacket of series favourite Tanner; this time in pursuit of dangerous career criminal Jericho, whom as you might reasonably infer, isn’t cool at all and instead aims to cause the city a lot of trouble. Really the story takes an appropriate back seat here (a good thing considering it’s all kinds of cheddar and has such a vibrant 70’s vibe that it’s impossible to take seriously) as the defining attribute of the game this time around is that our hero can actually shift his spirit out of his car and possess other people and their vehicles.
As the resultant labour of love from what is quite clearly an LSD overdose, the whole idea is like some sort of batshit marriage between Starsky & Hutch and Quantum Leap and yet, despite the conceptual absurdity of it, it works. It really, fucking, works. Better yet, the gameplay possibilities that it opens up are both substantial and significant; all the while the traditional Driver gameplay which made the PSOne titles such a joy to play returns in robust form here – rumbling strongly under the hood of this shiny new, eccentric chassis.
I’m not going to tell you the reason why Tanner can suddenly possess the shit out of other folks and their transport for fear of spoilers, but i’ll just say that the explanation behind it is as far-fetched as the idea itself. Expect narrative cheese.
Lots of it.
After the hand-holding of the initial story mission, you’re introduced to a map of the city and more crucially, the first of your new powers; the ability to ‘shift’ from one vehicle to another. Engaging the shift ability pulls Tanner’s spirit out of the car and from a first person view, you can move as this disembodied soul, surveying the city whilst on the lookout for a new lump of flesh and pair of wheels to dive into.
Every vehicle on the road has acceleration, top-speed and handling stats so you’re eminently aware of whether you’re going to be jumping into a lumbering heap of shit or not before you take the leap. When a vehicle takes your fancy, dive into it, take over and drive away.
Aside from the sensation of driving a totally different vehicle, developer Reflections have also had some fun with the bodies that you shift into and the situations that they find themselves in. One time you shift into a new vehicle, you might find yourself in the body of a driving instructor giving a driving lesson or inside a wife who is driving after her cheating husband. Most of it is pretty entertaining stuff and certainly doesn’t hurt the proceedings, serving instead to highlight the humorous side of having such an ability.
This really is the crux of the shifting mechanic – taking over another vehicle and utilising it in whatever fashion the current situation demands. As you plough through the story missions and become more powerful, your range of abilities increases and the developer is quick to test you as a result. One such entertaining example of how well they do this is when you are forced to compete in a race and ensure that two specific cars within that race finish in first and second place respectively. Doing so requires judicious use of the later acquired ‘quick-shift’ ability which allows you to quickly jump into the car ahead of you and take over; allowing you to catch up with the other car in front as you frantically attempt to keep both cars in their required positions.
Another example of this mechanic working in full effect is a mission which tasks you to stop a band of rogue street racers by possessing oncoming traffic and sending them, Kamikaze style, front-on into the pack to turn them into smouldering wrecks. Its complete lunacy and you’ll love every high-octane moment of it.
The feeling of satisfaction is further compounded by just how smoothly everything moves. Driver: SF might not be the prettiest driving game around, but the frame-rate rarely dips below a liquid smooth sixty frames per second, a hugely impressive feat given the sheer amount of vehicles and real estate on screen at any one time. The silky smooth screen update does more than just serve the player visually; the increased framerate results in a more responsive drive than many racers which hover around the thirty frames per second mark have been able to achieve and you’ll feel it in every vehicle you’ll hop into – from the slow and wide fire truck to the screamingly fast McClaren F1.
Going back to the city map, you’ll see the area dotted with various icons and symbols which point to garages, story missions, side missions, dares and collectables. The side-missions in Driver: SF are actually worth setting some time aside for since they come up with some creative challenges for utilising the shift mechanic to its fullest; a crazy scenario involving you controlling two cars at once being a particular highlight. The ‘dares’ on the other hand are much more in tune with the traditional challenges seen in the original Driver games back when, y’know, they used to be good. Jumps, drifts, speed racing, time attack and other challenges await you to test your skill and just like other side and story missions, dares will reward you in ‘Willpower Points’ – the currency of the game, allowing you to buy new vehicles and upgrade your powers at the local garage.
There are also optional police chases and criminal getaway activities that you can do, but outside of offering you extra cash they serve little other purpose than serving up a quick round of old-school, Bullitt-esque bombast. Finally, the collectables which are dotted around the map are worth grabbing since for every ten you collect you unlock a ‘movie challenge’, each of which are an ode to the Driver missions of old with all powers disabled and only the powerful grunt of the trusty 1968 Camaro SS underneath your heel. It’s just as well that there is a relative wealth of extracurricular activity to do in the game besides the story missions, since the campaign itself is positively diminished; only lasting for between three and four hours if you were to not touch any of the side missions, dares or collectibles.
Really though, at its core, Driver: San Francisco is as good as Driver has ever been. All of the series hallmarks are here; the striped Camaro SS 1968, the cinematic jumps, the superlative vehicle handling, the blazing speed, the chases; it’s all here – present and accounted for with spectacular aplomb.
Driver San Francisco is the best sort of return to form a fan could hope for; not only does it refine the traditional elements of the series that have anchored fans to it for years, but it also represents a shot in the arm for the driving genre at large with the bold shift mechanic – an ace in the hole which ensures that Driver San Francisco stands out and remains unique against its contemporary peers.
Aside from the cheesy plot and anorexic campaign there are no real reasons I can think of for not recommending Driver: San Francisco. If you’re still not convinced and you believe yourself to be a fan of the series or you have a hankering for decent racers in general, perhaps like Tanner himself, you need to do some soul searching of your own.
Driver: San Francisco is available to buy now for 360, PS3, Wii and PC. You should be able to find it for somewhere south of a tenner.
SHUT UP AND READ. Ron Gilbert has a new game coming out. It’s called The Cave and it’s being published by Sega for PC, XBLA and PSN release in 2013.
Double Fine, the devs behind Brutal Legend and cult favourite Psychonauts, have today unveiled a brand new title by Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert called The Cave.
Coming from the equal parts twisted and brilliant mind of Rob Gilbert, you would expect The Cave to completely and brilliantly off it’s tits. And you would be right.
The premise of The Cave, is that you assemble a team of adventurers, explore a subterranean amusement park which has long since been buried and in doing so you just so happen to come across inter-continental ballistic missiles. Also, as you might imagine, rappeling and spelunking in deep, dark rocky caverns also features fairly prominently. The game itself appears to be platform and physics based puzzler, but one that naturally bears Double Fine and Rob Gilbert’s unique flair and penache for the unconventional.
According to Gilbert: “The concept of The Cave has been bouncing around in my head for many, many years, and then the little voices that tell me to do things said it was time to make the game.”
Quite. You mad, mad sod you. Can’t wait to play your game.
Oh and there is a trailer too. Cast your peepers below:
The Cave is being published by SEGA and will release on PC, XBLA and PSN sometime in 2013.
‘Because We May’ indie sale starts today on DirectPC/Steam/iOS/Android – lasts a week.
One of the reasons why I love the indie gaming scene, besides the general positive swell in innovation, is the pricing. Generally, indie games find themselves subject to more sales per year than Lindsay Lohan does DUI infractions and the nattily named ‘Because We May’ sale is one more example of independent creativity being sold on the cheap. Below, are links to the various sale category listings such as iOS, Direct PC, Steam, Android, Mac and everything else.
Direct PC: http://www.becausewemay.com/direct.html
iOS: http://www.becausewemay.com/ios.html
MAC: http://www.becausewemay.com/mac.html
Android: http://www.becausewemay.com/play.html
Steam: http://www.becausewemay.com/steam.html
Other: http://www.becausewemay.com/other.html
Particuarly for mobile gamers, there are a lot of decent discounts there on some cracking little titles. I mean really, if the likes of Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor and Waking Mars at their reduced prices don’t cause you to plunge your hand in your pocket; you must be some sort of disgusting pervert or something.
- Creativity on the cheap is a GOOD THING.
Far Cry 3 gets ‘Insane Edition’. Now available to pre-order.
In the grand tradition of fleecing the gullable and financially senseless, comes along this latest collectors edition for Ubisoft’s forthcoming Far Cry 3.
Just look at that bobble head for heaven’s sake.
The ‘Insane Edition’ for Far Cry 3 includes the following tat:
Exclusive Survival Kit Packaging: It’s supposed to look like a survival kit. It doesn’t.
An Insane Vaas Wahine: A 12cm Wahine with Vaas bobble head that looks totally fucking hideous.
A survival guide: Discover unique artwork and inside information to help you survive the insanity of the island: Does anyone actually look at ‘unique artwork’ as a selling point these days for collectors editions?
Monkey Business: Discover Hurk, a new memorable character and quest giver, and his 4 unique missions. An extra hour of gameplay exclusive to this collector’s edition! A WHOLE EXTRA HOUR! He’s memorable too!
The Lost Expeditions: 2 Suspenseful Action Missions and an exclusive World War II Flare Gun. An extra 40min of gameplay! FORTY MINUTES (Count em’) of extra gameplay!
- The Hunter Pack: The M700 hunting rifle and its three collector’s skins.
- The Warrior Pack: A handcrafted dagger and two exclusive tribal tattoos
- The Predator Pack: 4 exclusive rare predators and a multiplayer bow.
Really, the allure of the multiplayer tidbits listed above will depend completely on the strength of the multiplayer – a bit of an unknown quantity at this point. Still, you get all of that tat for £49.99, so it’s not like they’ve violated you for the usual £69.99 price point that so many collectors editions seem to be set at these days.
The Insane Edition of the game is available to pre-order at Zavvi.com. Linkage here: http://www.zavvi.com/elysium.search?search=Far+Cry+3%3A+The+Insane+Edition
There’s also a ‘reveal’ trailer for the Insane Edition that i’m sure you probably couldn’t care about.
Here it is anyway. It looks awful.
Far Cry 3 is due to release on 360, PS3 and PC on 7th September 2012.
Post-Halo, Bungie’s next IP – Destiny, is a Sci-Fi FPS with MMO stylings and will arrive on Xbox and Next-Gen formats from 2013 onward. Apparently.
That was a mouthful wasn’t it?
Yep, it would seem that the current hot topic right now on a number of sites is the reveal of new details pertaining to ‘Destiny’; the codename for the next franchise from Halo developer Bungie.
These details were actually brought to light as a result of the now apparently closed litigation between EA and Activision over that whole sordid Infinity Ward business. Specifically, the deets were contained in an Bungie/Activision contract which can be seen courtesy of the L.A Times at the link here: http://documents.latimes.com/bungie-activision-contract/
If you can’t be arsed to trawl through all that the details basically boil down to this:
– The codenamed ‘Destiny’ IP is being positioned as a sprawling franchise which encompasses “sci-fi fantasy, action shooter” mechanics with additional MMO stylings which lend itself to “client based mission structures with persistent elements”.
– The franchise is supposed to kick off next year (likely Q4) and will arrive on both the 360 AND the next Xbox as timed exclusive. Timed exclusive releases eh? They never get old.
– In 2014, the game will finally arrive on the PS3 once the timed exclusivity period has expired for Microsoft.
– A second Destiny game is then apparently due to arrive on ‘Xbox consoles’ (presumably they would be holding out to see if a 360 release remains feasible), PS4 and PC in 2016. A PC release of the second game, but not the first? Um, what?
– Essentially the plan is to release a Destiny title every other year from 2014 (excluding the early period of exclusivity that MS would have for the first game in late 2013), resulting in Destiny titles all the way up to 2020. 2020!
– DLC is naturally a big part of the strategem for getting this franchise embedded in the hearts and minds of us ordinary folk and as a result, DLC expansions (codenamed – ‘Comet’), are set for staggered releases between each major Destiny instalment.
– Microtransactions are also revealed to be part of the deal; although in what capacity is yet to be known.
Now comes the great bit, usually when leaks like this happen you get a huge fucking stonewalling from the official sources.
Not this time.
None other than Bungie themselves have confirmed the leak saying:
“Well, that just happened…”
“So, yeah. While we’re not ready to show you what we’ve been working on, we can reconfirm that we are hard at work on our new universe. We can’t wait for you to see it.
“See you starside in 2013.”
Brilliant stuff. I imagine this will make a sodding huge splash at E3 this year.
A Destiny Prototype Logo. Yesterday.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 confirmed to release on 360 & PS3 platforms on September 14th, 2012. GAME gets a swanky collectors edition.
The latest addition to the ‘King of the Iron Fist’ franchise now has an official date.
Publisher Namco Bandai has today confirmed that Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will unleash it’s unique brand of fistic action on September 14th this year, for both 360 and PS3 consoles.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is the first sequel to the Tekken Tag Tournament spin-off series that began way back in July 1999 when the original Tekken Tag Tournament hit the arcades. Just over a year later, Tekken Tag Tournament would find it’s way onto the PS2 as a crucial part of the machine’s launch line-up way back in the mists of the year 2000.
Now that the history lesson is done, you might also like to know that some retailers are being slaves to fashion and are packing DLC with pre-orders of the game.
First up is Zavvi, who are tossing in two DLC characters for free – Kunimitsu (a watered-down Yoshimitsu clone last seen in the original Tekken Tag) and Ancient Ogre (the final bad dude in Tekken 3).
Linkage to the Zavvi deal can be seen below. Meanwhile, other retailers will likely follow with other free DLC characters given that Angel and Michelle Chang were both announced as Day One DLC characters a few days ago.
http://www.zavvi.com/elysium.search?search=Tekken+Tag+Tournament+2+
Furthermore to this, GAME are apparently hosting the only collectors edition available for the game. The ‘We Are Tekken Edition’, comes in a steelcase, has a 200 page artbook, soundtrack and a DVD with hints and tips from various expert Tekken players – including Harada-san himself. All this tat will probably go for £69.99 and i’ll certainly preorder it. Because i’m a moron. Pre-orders for the collectors edition have yet to go live on GAME’s website.
And you want a trailer I suppose too don’t you? Fine, cast your eyes downward you bunch of pushy bastards.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is due to release on Septmeber 14th 2012, on both 360 & PS3 consoles.
DmC (Devil May Cry) joins the 2013 brigade with a EU/US January 15th release date. PC version due ‘later in 2013’.
And there goes another one.
No longer part of the once seemingly assured group of games that would arrive in the three months leading up to chrimbo, the Ninja Theory developed Devil May Cry reboot (and it is a reboot – Capcom clearly don’t know how to use the term correctly) has now been shunted into 2013 along with a few of its notable former Christmas running buddies such as Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider and Aliens: Colonial Marines. Meanwhile, the PC version of the game is due ‘later in 2013’.
I wonder which game is next to get the 2013 ticket? Smart money is on Grand Theft Auto V. Considering we’ve only seen a SINGLE trailer for it so far and going on the October release window that a few are now talking about since Bioshock: Infinite got delayed, that would leave us approximately only FIVE months for Rockstar to get the product done and ready for primetime. Also, Rockstar like to fine-tune everything to within an inch of it’s life and they like to gear up the marketing campaign accordingly.
So no, I don’t see it happening – it’s just not in their DNA. Therefore expect Grand Theft Auto V to join the growing clique of blockbuster games in 2013. Probably around April/May time.
Oh and seeing as I’ve veered off topic a tad, below you will find the newest video for Capcom’s DmC; one that centers on the sweary, attitude-packing protagonist and shows off some brief snippets of gameplay:
DmC is due out on 360 and PS3 platforms January 15th, 2013. A PC version will follow later that year at a date to be specified.
Kingdom Hearts 3D Dream Drop Distance gets a nearly ten minute long english language minute trailer
I’ll admit, i’ve not actually played any of the Kingdom Heart games. Sure, they’ve certainly looked very pretty with style to spare and on some level at least, the idea of a Disney crossover with the guys and gals from the Square-Enixverse has often appealed to me.
It’s just the haters. They’ve got to me. You see, it’s all the warnings and general vitrol that i’ve seen on countless forums regarding the supposedly nonsensical narrative that has done much to dull my motivation to get involved with this sprawling series of games.
Still, this newest english language trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance on the 3DS, certainly piques my interest in the game from a visual standpoint (it appears to be one of the better looking games on the handheld) and apparently, the game is much more akin to a ‘full’ entry in the series rather than the shitty spin-offs that have plagued the DS and to a lesser extent, the PSP.
Nevertheless, watching the trailer still sent my ‘what the fuck’ sense tingling pretty strongly so maybe i’ll finalhave a go at deciphering it all when they release the inevitable HD re-release of Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2.
Have a look and see what you think (although I wish they would quit it with those crappy tiled borders in these trailers. They look like shit).
Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is due to release on the Nintendo 3DS late this Summer.
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