Q-Games, the developer of the PixelJunk series, has announced PixelJunk 2 will be heading for PlayStation
Network on March 1 in North America, and March 2 in
to its excellent prequel, where the player uses subterranean vehicles to try and
manipulate different types of fluid while blasting their way towards rescuing
scientists trapped underground.
2010 was a great time to be a gamer, and it looks like 2011 will continue that trend. There should be a ton of great games coming all year long, but all of us have at least one that we’re looking forward to more than others. It doesn’t have to be rational or perfectly reasoned, it’s just the game we can’t wait to get our hands on. These are our picks for the games we’re most eagerly anticipating as Playstation 3 owners for the rest of the year.
The biggest new release out
in stores this week is
between a Need for Speed game and The Sims! So if you like driving around
in fast cars but find racing games a little limiting or repetitive, then this
open world and more social approach might be worth looking at.
It
has been confirmed that Activision is cutting several franchises
including Guitar Hero,
True Crime, and Tony
Hawk in 2011 due to declining
sales. This action could prompt job cuts for employees at Freestyle
Games and 7 Studios. The move to disband the Guitar Hero
business unit is directly linked to sales of the game declining since
it earned $2 billion from 2005 through 2009. It’s clear that the
popularity of the games has dropped as well and with other genres
reshaping the industry, it’s easy to understand why the franchise is
getting axed. Guitar Hero
had a very respectable run however, and was among the most popular
titles in 2006 and 2007, but now it’s game over.
Back to the Future: The Game is
an adventure game developed by Telltale Games and set in the world of
the classic films. The story picks up six months after the third film
with the player controlling Marty McFly. A DeLorean turns up with
instructions to help rescue Doc, who is stuck in 1931, and is about to
be shot by gangsters. You have to explore the 3D environments, examine
objects, interact with other characters and solve puzzles to work your
way through the story.
If you’ve played the original Test Drive Unlimited, you are probably aware of the game’s triumphs and shortcomings. On one hand you get a relatively solid racer, a huge game world with miles of open road, and plenty of flashy rides to drool over. Unfortunately, this was offset by very generic graphics, a rather lifeless world, vapid dialogue and some of the most aridly mundane driving tasks to date. The sequel to this average racer, Test Drive Unlimited 2, aims to correct the first game’s flaws and for the most part succeeds in doing so. Not surprisingly though, there are some reoccurring disappointments and a lot of little caveats that prevent the game from showing its true potential.
Open-world, or “sandbox” gaming is among the most popular and enjoyed video game design concepts in recent times. These types of games typically feature large environments in which players are free to roam and explore—and participate in various quests that exist in various parts of the playable game world. These design elements started to become popular around the time Grand Theft Auto III and Knights of the Old Republic. Since this time, there have been countless games that have adopted the sandbox style game world with varying degrees of success. One of the best examples is the series known as Saints Row, which is notorious for it’s over-the-top near limitless player customization and freedom.
