Video Games

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Review

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light puts an interesting spin on an old idea… A spin that was very long over due. After a series of lack luster Tomb Raider titles, Crystal Dynamics took the helm and delivered a fresh Lara Croft adventure. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a beautiful blend of exploration, puzzle-platforming and arcade style combat. All three of these characteristics work together in perfect harmony and embody why downloadable arcade style gaming is still so important.

Is It Okay to Play as the Taliban in Medal of Honor?

When it was first revealed that EA’s modern day reboot of Medal of Honor would take place in Afghanistan rather than some fictional Middle Eastern country like Activision’s Modern Warfare, it got me more interested in the game. The fact that they weren’t hiding behind a made up name so they could get away with controversial subject matter struck me as brave. But when I found out this would extend to the online multiplayer, with one side as American soldiers and the other playing as members of the Taliban, I knew it was only a matter of time before this became a public controversy.

Will I Ever Play This Old Game?

Every gamer has a shelf of dusty old CD cases, each containing some game we just couldn’t wait to buy, yet never actually played.  Sometimes the hot new game got eclipsed by an even hotter newer game.  Or we bought a classic that we felt we should play, but didn’t.  Maybe we just grabbed a bunch of games at the Big Sale.   Will we ever actually play all these things stuffed away in our drawers and bottom shelves?  We here at Player Affinity chased the raccoons away from that pile of old games behind our office and dug into our backlog.  Here’s what we decided to try:

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair Review

I’d like to say that Castlevania: Harmony of Despair somehow transcends the mere trappings of being a boss rush, where the game requires a player to find and kill a boss within 30 minutes. It doesn’t, and if anything, it regresses the ideas the series has advanced in its Metroidvania era to a pre 1994 era of gaming. There are no save spots, menus can only be accessed in set locations, there are limited item spots, players don’t level up, it goes on and on. Maybe that’s the beauty of the game…the developers knew that the game they were making was not modern or user friendly.

Suda 51’s New Game Announced

Suda 51 is bringing his talents to the Microsoft/Sony platform. Yesterday, at the news-plentiful Gamescom 2010, Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture, Inc. announced Sine Mora, a XBLA/PSN game “which mixes traditional side-scrolling gameplay with unique time manipulation mechanics.” Read on for the full press-release and my thoughts on it.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Confirms Launch Date

GamesCom 2010 – Konami has announced that the next installment of the Castlevania franchise, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will be hitting store shelves October 5^th in North America, and October 7^th in Europe on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

In Lords of Shadow, players will assume the role of Gabriel Belmont, as he fights to bring his wife Marie back from the dead. Players will have more than 50 stages to fight through, all while wielding various weapons with a battle system that boasts more than 40 different combo attacks.

New Kinect Fighter Announced, Fighters Uncaged

Today, Ubisoft^®announced Fighters Uncaged, a new fighting game that will be available worldwide in November 2010 exclusively for Kinect^TM on Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Developed by AMA Studios, Fighters Uncaged will deliver players the excitement of real fighting competitions, in addition to teaching players mixed martial arts techniques.