Video Games

‘Bodycount’ Coming August 30th

I
have to admit every time I hear about or see a new shooter now I’m
finding myself audibly sighing louder and louder, but thank God at least
this one isn’t brown and about the exact same group of modern military
or space marine tough guys. Bodycount is
being (strangely enough) developed by Codemasters, and if you don’t know
who they are it’s probably because you’re not a fan of off-road
simulation racing games since up until now that’s all they’ve really
been known for with the likes of Dirt 3 that came out not long ago. I’m genuinely interested to see what Bodycount
is like as it’s the first shooter Codemasters has made and, looking
over their history of past games, it seems to be a huge departure from
their usual offerings. As far as I know, the only other developer who is
known for racing games that decided to make a shooter was Burnout creators Criterion when they released Black last generation. Amazingly Bodycount looks to be quite similar to Black,
with the weapons being relatively realistic but the look and style of
the game being much closer to a comic book. Destruction seems to be a
big selling point with all the footage of the game demonstrating walls
being blown apart and stuff flying in all directions with but the
slightest hint of gunfire.

Dead Block Coming to XBLA Before PSN

Suck it, Playstation fanboys, yet another game is hitting Xbox before PSN.  Dead Block is a campy zombie killin’ game that will come out for XBLA on July 6th, a full two weeks before it reaches that other console.

PAX Prime Keynote Speaker and Performers Announced

It’s too late for you to get your filthy paws on a pass to the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle next month, but we have a little information on all the cool stuff you’re going to miss if you didn’t grab a ticket when you had the chance.

Solar 2 Review

Solar 2, a new and interesting space-sim look-alike from developer Murudai, blends the feel of open space sims with shoot-em-up style gameplay and movement to make a truly unique game. It starts you out in an endless universe. Not as a spaceship, not as a god beckoning planets to your will, but as an asteroid. A small, uninteresting asteroid. The progression of the game comes from building your asteroid up to a planet by crashing into other asteroids, then going from planet to star, then from star to star system, and to the eventual fate of becoming a black hole.

Puzzle Agent Retro-Review

Puzzle Agent, the hybrid puzzle adventure game from Telltale Games, marked a new attempt at something unique from the point-and-click adventure specialists. Borrowing a gameplay style not unlike the Professor Layton series, and featuring the artistic style of Graham Annable, this title from Telltale does some interesting things to the already-unique genre. Billing itself as a lighthearted faux-investigative horror thriller, it seeks to differentiate itself from the developer’s usual wheelhouse by adding in the direct puzzle element, and an interesting narrative, with some excellent results.

How Has TF2 Changed Since Launch?

I really enjoy seeing TF2 class changes. Since the game’s launch in 2007, the game has improved tremendously. It’s been awesome trying out all of Valve’s new items with the recent Uber Update.New features range from replays to a crafting system, but the Team Fortress classes changed more than anything else.

Black Ops Annihilation DLC Review

Five all new Call of Duty Black Ops maps have
exclusively hit the Xbox Live first as of June 28, 2011. Yes this means that
all of you Black Ops fans can now go and purchase the highly anticipated
Annihilation map pack from the marketplace. Following the previous two packs,
First strike and Escalation, Annihilation does not have much competition at
becoming a fan favorite. The folks of Activision put their talents and wits
together nicely for this pack, which could make it popular very fast.