Gamespot Gets Guided Tour of GTA 4

Gamespot posted impressions of their first look at Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 4 just before the weekend.

My summary and regurgitation after the jump...

Aside from some gorgeous new screenshots and concept artwork, the preview lays out some tantalizing tidbits about the plotline, the Russian protagonist and Liberty City. Taking a page out of Crackdown's book, verticality will figure more prominently in GTA 4, with the ability to ascend buildings in a variety of ways as well as pilot a helicopter.

In addition, the player will be able to enter more structures, with seamless transitions between interior and outdoor environments. This is a rather fitting next-gen upgrade, as I always found the cityscapes in previous GTA chapters a bit too superficial and lacking in the player-interaction department.

The article hinted at some multiplayer possibilities in GTA 4 but claimed Rockstar reps were tight-lipped regarding that aspect of play. The encouraging note was that the dev team was committed to making the online multiplayer as substantial as the single-player campaign. I am also relieved that there will be no persistent world with online play. Nice to know Rockstar is aware of what's going on in the market and are leaving the "GTA MMO" to Realtime Worlds and their upcoming APB.

Visually, GTA 4 is still looking very juicy. I'm just holding out for some solid information on gameplay mechanics. This is shaping up to be the most technically advanced GTA yet and I can easily imagine the developers fawning over the graphics and leaving core gameplay largely untouched. I would love to see more sophisticated story missions and a greater sense of open-endedness, perhaps falling just short of completely free-form play found in Crackdown.

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Kane and Lynch Gamespot Impressions

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men has been grabbing some buzz these last few months, with the most recent news blip being that it would see a release on the faltering PS3 alongside the X360 and PC versions.

Gamespot recently posted an updated preview of the Io Interactive-developed game. This is perfect for me, as I was confused about what kind of action game Kane and Lynch was striving to be. My only previous experience with Io's work were the Hitman series, so I was expecting a stealth-heavy style of game play.

Well, you watch that video on Gamespot and you clearly see stealth is not really a factor, at all. In fact, the game reminds me a lot of Gears of War, with a bit of that action-movie flavour that you might find in the upcoming John Woo's Stranglehold. The small squad dynamics, 3rd-person view, over-the-shoulder aiming and hailstorms of gunfire scream GoW but the gritty, modern-day storyline makes this even more appealing. Throw in some predictably gorgeous graphics and co-op play modes, and you have a promising game that is likely flying under a lot of radars in this season of spring updates and Halo betas.

I also like the trailer.

Source: Gamespot

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Never Too Much Too Human

IGN strikes again with a hands-on scoop of the suddenly sexy Too Human.

This game is sounding more and more like a sci-fi, next-gen treatment of Diablo. All this talk of loot drops, skill trees and leveling... it's enough to make this gamer swoon. One interesting bit in the article is the overview of the control scheme. Because Silicon Knights is automating camera control, the right analog stick will be used to perform melee attacks. That's right: moving the stick determines not only the direction of your attack but the type of attack you will perform. It's pretty nifty and very tempting to think of all the attack combos that could be pulled off using this system.

But I talk too much. Read the preview, salivate over the juicy new screenshots and see you in the next post.

Source: IGN

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Mammoth Left 4 Dead Hands-On Preview

Left4Dead411, a fan site dedicated to the upcoming zombie apocalypse co-op shooter, Left 4 Dead, recently posted a massive hands-on preview of their play experience as the human survivors. I just finished reading Cell by Stephen King and I am totally in the mood for the undead. Granted, the deadly threat in that novel were not undead, simply re-programmed humans, but that's just one of many twists Mr. King decided to throw into the familiar zombie genre to shake things up.

By the same token, developer Turtle Rock Studio looks ready to take survival gaming to the next level, focusing on effective team cooperation and an innovative feature that allows human players to take control of designated "boss infected" zombies and work against the team of human survivors. I have a a review of the preview after the jump!

I was excited about this game. Now that I've digested Left4Dead411's humongous, glowing preview, I am even more eager to get my hands on it. The Zombie Renaissance is still in full swing, as far as I'm concerned. Bring on the 4-player co-op action. Bring on the enhanced Source engine. Bring on the randomly generated hordes of flesh-hungry zombies and their Boss Inflicted masters.

The preview goes into great depth, covering everything from weapons, the health/respawn system, level descriptions and the visceral impact of feeling like you are a star in the latest zombie horror film. It's a long read but well worth your time if you're starved for information on this game. I know I was. The announcement for the Halo 3 beta came and went; I couldn't be bothered to repeat the news on PMB. Nothing against Halo, I just prefer to talk about games that either a) interest me completely, or b) are not being talked about by everyone on the planet. My only gripes with this preview were the incessant and unnecessary comparisons made with Counter-Strike (of all games!) and the writer's orgasmic gushing about the game. They had nary a negative comment to make in the preview. And I'm curious: what exactly is a "pure gaming experience"?

I have some minor reservations. We still need to wait for their Part 2 of their hands-on preview, where they will spend quality time playing as the zombie boss characters. Mixing in player input with AI is not a new thing in gaming (think FPS deathmatch bots) but in this kind of scenario, it is very unique. I have worries about how badly a skillful bunch of zombie players can imbalance a game and make it harder for the human survivors than it needs to be. Based on the current preview, the AI hordes alone pose an insane level of challenge. Obviously I look forward to seeing how it all develops.

Left 4 Dead is scheduled for a later 2007 release. Hopefully it will carve out a nice little niche for itself amid the clamor of A-list titles. *Sigh* ... yet one more quality Xbox game to blow my hard-earned cash on. Woe is me...

Source: Left 4 Dead 411 via Destructoid

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Sacred 2 Introduced at GDC 2007

At lot of happenings during the Game Developers Conference last week. The only item you'll hear about at PMB is the announcement for Sacred 2 for the PC and Xbox 360.

There's a juicy preview of the game at Team Xbox. Any fan of hack & slash RPGs in the mold of Diablo should be excited for this game. I played the original Sacred on the PC back in 2004. Even though it had appealing graphics, a gigantic world, loads of loot to grab and five interesting player-characters to use, the game was extremely rough around the edges. Bugs, moronic side quests, a crap storyline and boring combat were just a few annoyances that kept Sacred from becoming the addictive click-fest that the Diablo series is famous for. Despite being incredibly easy, I never found the motivation to stick it through till the end.

Now the sequel looks like more of the same but I pray that the German developer Ascaraon has learned a few lessons and listened to their fans. Sacred 2 is sporting some lush graphics and looks to be reshuffling the character types (with the exception of the Seraphim and Gladiator classes). I just hope they make the combat more exciting, revise their level advancement/skill tree system and create a world that feels more alive than it did in the original.

The best news about Sacred 2 is the inclusion of 4-player drop-in anytime co-op over Live. From what I've read in the TXB preview, the game barely qualifies as having a solo mode since drop-in co-op is going to be so seamless and, as was the case with the original, the entire campaign can be played through in multiplayer.

All in all, I'm very pleased to know this lesser known title is scheduled to hit our Boxes. Will this be the first hack & slash RPG to hit the Xbox 360? Special!

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Star Wars: Technology Unleashed

There's an extensive, 3-page feature posted on IGN today which talks about the new technology being developed for use in the next major LucasArts Star Wars game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

The 2 technologies in question are "Digital Molecular Matter" (DMM) and "euphoria". The article goes quite in-depth with how this new tech is being applied to the game play and from all accounts, it all sounds VERY "next-gen". DMM, in a nutshell, is the engine that allows the dev team to render in-game objects down to a molecular level. If you checked out the splintering wood demonstration from last month, you have a rough idea on what that entails. Euphoria is AI-related and governs how NPCs will react to their environment: they will shift their stance if the ground becomes unsettled, hang on to ledges if the fall off a ledge and push or circumvent obstacles in their path depending on the situation. This is all dynamice, unscripted behaviour.

Both DMM and euphoria sound amazing and have the potential to open up the play experience in so many new ways. Imagine combining these technologies with other systems, like fully destructible environments and other advanced AI routines and you could have a product that, if nothing else, simulates "movie realism" on an unprecedented level. The IGN writer is quick to point out that despite the impressive showcase of DMM seen in the preview builds of some Force Unleashed levels, there will probably be arbitrary boundaries enforced onto the level design. A metallic wall may dent realistically when you hurl a stormtrooper against it, but you shouldn't expect to slice a hole through said wall with your lightsaber and make a shortcut for yourself.

The preview touches on features pertaining to the game's storyline, with a quick roll call of potential characters and a rundown of a rather paltry list of Force skills (only 4) available to your Dark Jedi protagonist. Not much was reported on the control mechanism for lightsaber combat but I'm keeping my fingers crossed it is refined enough so we're not stuck with random button-mashing.

All in all, I am still very excited about this title, fancy tech or not. I've always been a fan of the Jedi Knight series, so if even half of the goodness of those old games, they'll have me as a potential buyer.

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Shadowrun: from RPG to FPS in 60 Seconds

Actually the 60 seconds thing is bunk; I just needed a somewhat catchy title. Team Xbox has posted the first in a series of articles focusing on the player-races for the upcoming shooter, Shadowrun.

Titled The Races of Shadowrun, (not the "Babes of" unfortunately), this first article is all about the Elves. The elves, you guessed it, are small and quick and have superior magical powers. Sigh.

Ok, I'll admit that I have not given Shadowrun a fair shake so far. Like a lot of people out there, I'm hung up on the history of that franchise. It started off as a pen-and-paper roleplaying game in the '80s and was ported to game consoles through out the '90s. I am a huge fan of the Super NES RPG that came out in the early '90s. That game stood out in a sea of cutesy Final Fantasy-esque RPGs that were the norm. It was gritty, mature and had a twisted sense of humour to boot.

When FASA announced that the new Shadowrun game would be a multiplayer-only first-person shooter, there was a collective "Whaaaaat??" from anyone who had even a passing knowledge of the franchise. To say it was a missed opportunity would be a massive understatement. It's like if Lucasarts announced a new game in the Star Wars franchise and it was going to be a Bejeweled-style puzzle game, with iconic characters' faces instead of coloured gems. Exaggerated? Maybe.

Having said all of that... the game as it stands is looking more promising as development moves along. Extra attention is being heaped on it thanks to it being the first cross-platform-play title, allowing Windows Vista users and Xbox 360 players to duke it out on the same servers. The FASA developers swear up and down that they have refined the controls so that PC players will not have a distinct advantage with their mouse-keyboard setups. It remains to be seen whether they can deliver on that promise, as well as the promise of a well-balanced multiplayer shooter that has the legs to last longer than your typical frag fest.

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