Thoughts on COD Elite
Call of Duty Elite, Leader board Tracking
Activision today announced a subscription based service which will compliment the Call of Duty series called Call of Duty Elite. No price has been confirmed but Activision are saying it will be similar to video streaming services like Netfix in the US which costs $7.99 (about €5.50) a month. For your money you get all the DLC as it’s released as well as access to a huge stat tracking system which goes into the tiniest of details with stat infused maps and iPhone and iPad compatibility.
There seems to be a genel uproar on the internet today but here’s my thoughts on it. I don’t like it.
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Priorities
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes Review
Might & Magic: Clash Hero’s represents a near perfect match of puzzle mechanics and RPG elements which I’m a complete sucker for. It was originally a Nintendo DS game, which as a hand held is the perfect platform for puzzle games but I’m glad Ubisoft have now made it available to download on Xbox 360 as its such a genuinely unique and well thought out game.
The plot follows five young adventurers who have been thrown together in order to stop demons from taking over the world. Its set in the Might & Magic universe but don’t worry, you really don’t have to know anything about it. Its a stand alone story featuring wizards, elves, knights and dark forces. That is all you need.
Continue →Ghost’s ‘N Goblins – Review
Its been over 20 years, but playing Ghosts ‘N Goblins still just makes me want to fire my controller through the f*ckin’ TV. Those weird attacking plant things, those impossible jumps to moving platforms, those sadistic & relentless diving red devil dudes … I should stop playing this. But I don’t.
I keep coming back to Ghosts ‘N Goblins’ endlessly frustrating level of challenge for some unhealthily masochistic reason, and in this latest Wii re-release of the Capcom original I once again find myself stuck back in the familiar routine of starting up the game, playing it for a while, dying, screaming at my TV and then starting it all over again. Rinse and repeat for 20 more times.
Continue →Torchlight XBLA – Review
Torchlight arrived on the PC’s way back in 2009 and to be a huge hit. No-one expected much but once it was played, word of mouth and some crazy price drops, propelled it into stardom. Since the new XBLA console iteration was announced, the lazy part of me was really looking forward to being able to lay back on the couch and play a ‘living-room’ version of the PC game which I had sunk countless of hours into.
If you aren’t familiar with Torchlight, you can choose to play as one of three characters, either an Alchemist, Destroyer or Vanquisher, each with different abilities and weapon classes. You’ll explore the mines beneath the town of Torchlight killing monsters picking up gold and grabbing tonnes of loot, as you collect weapon sets, craft items, and feed your pet items to turn them into different types of creatures to fight by your side.
When launched, Torchlight was a PC game through and through. Players would use their mouse to click their way down through the levels, on enemies and practically everything. So would the game be able to translate well from PC to Xbox? Thankfully Runic Games have done a great job at utilizing the Xbox controller with the character movement on the controllers analogue stick being particularly smooth and the navigation thorough a plethora of menus without a mouse or keyboard was not a bad as I thought it might be. Spells and items are mapped to different buttons on the controller and I soon got used it, possibly even preferring it to the PC.
The games retains the highly stylised characters and environments from its PC predecessor and it still looks excellent. There are a few bonus features that Xbox fans will be given including new armour sets, new quests, and a new pet called a Chakawary. I chose him to see what he was like and the best way to describe him would be to compare him to the dinosaur in Jurassic Park that spits in the fat guys face, then eats him.
With a new console friendly streamlined version of Torchlight, I think Runic Games are going to see their biggest success to-date. It has everything, eye-popping environments and character models, great voice work and a sweeping musical score. Couple this with a variety of difficulty settings to appease all levels of gamers and a mountain of different loot items, you’re probably going to come back to the game quite a few times.
The story is somewhat lacking, but for me wasn’t really important when tracking down quests and taking on the beastly minions. All to easily I lost track of time whilst exploring the depths of the mines, which was great for the gamer in me, but bad for the real life priorities like eating and leaving the house. If you’ve enjoyed similar Dungeon crawler games on the PC such as the Diablo series, you will love this, if you haven’t played this style of game before I’d still recommend picking it up. Its has something for everyone, its deep enough to satisfy even the hardiest of loot hoarders but also approachable for novices to the genre. A must have.
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Nintendo 3DS – Hands On in Dublin
3D without glasses.
BELIEVE YOUR EYES
The only way to believe it is to experience it.
The was the marketing that I was presented with when I attended the special Nintendo event being held in Dublin last week. Yes it is 3D without glasses & absolutely yes you need to experience it to believe it.
This is the problem that the console will face, getting it out there to the larger public to show it off. Pictures simply do not do the system justice. You can see the dimensions of the 3DS, its games, shape etc, but the 3D needs to be tried with you own two eyes.
Continue →Go Ireland: The Video Game – Review
Developed by the Fine Gael DIGITAL TASK FORCE
Last night while browsing the internet for an informative piece on the upcoming election I stumbled upon “Go Ireland: The Video Game.” Somehow I managed to miss an entire Video Game Development studio being set up in Ireland but “Fine Gael” has already released it’s first title. They helpfully reminded me that this was Go Ireland “THE VIDEO GAME” because otherwise I might have gotten it confused with the chant.
Staight away the game plunged me into the shoes of reluctant hero “Enda Kenny” as I ran down the famous Ireland Road and jumped over the famous Ireland Floating Platforms. Enda’s greatest obstacle in the initial stages of the game is a legion of VLC Media Player Logos, Enda must be intimidated by open source because not only can the spikey bits of VLC logo kill him but so can the soft roundy bits at the side.
Friendly Blue Jumpers, EVIL VLC
Mario is 25 – 25 of the Best of YouTube
*EDIT: Yes it’s February 2011 and yes Mario was 25 back in 2010. This article was written and shelved to coincide with the Wii release of Mario All Stars but I guess it got neglected and lost in the rabble (kind of like the release of Mario All Stars). Besides, you can be never too late to watch 25 YouTube clips in a row!*
Throughout the year, Nintendo has been celebrating a whopping 25 years of everyone’s favourite tubby Italian plumber, capping off the celebrations with a Wii release of Super Mario All Stars: 25th Anniversary Edition. And what better way for us to celebrate Mario than to cast an eye on the YouTubes and take a look at how he has influenced us so over the years. In compiling this list of some of my favourite clips, I stuck to a strict rule of having only user-generated content (ie. only stuff that fans have created, not Nintendo themselves). To my dismay, this meant not being able to include any of Captain Lou Albano’s schtick from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show T_T
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