Most Recent: PC

Double Dragon IV Review: Still Cyclone Kicking After All These Years

Posted on February 27, 2017 by John Scalzo

It’s 2017… How do you review a game like Double Dragon IV?

Designed by Arc System Works as a direct sequel to Double Dragon II: The Revenge (the events of the third game chronologically take place after the first), Double Dragon IV recreates the franchise’s NES-era look down to the last pixel. Even after playing it, if you had told me that Technos (the original developer behind the series) found an unfinished Double Dragon sequel from 1991 and released it last month as a brand new game, I would have believed you. But in a way, that’s exactly what they did.

Though it was only announced in December 2016, Arc System Works recruited a good portion of the original Technos team to help bring their vision for Double Dragon IV to life. Director Yoshihisa Kishimoto, Producer Takaomi Kaneko, Character Designer Koji Ogata, Programmer Kei Oyama, and Composer Kazunaka Yamane all signed on to help bring the sequel to life.

But is it a good game in these early months of 2017? Umm… (more…)

Posted in PC, PS4, Reviews, Top Story | Tagged

Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition gets serious in this new Story Trailer

Posted on February 27, 2017 by John Scalzo

Bulletstorm was something of a goofy romp when it was originally released back in 2011, but you’d never know it from the brand new Story Trailer that Gearbox and People Can Fly unveiled today for Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition. Even the official plot description from the publisher sounds oh so serious now:

In Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition, players step into the boots of Grayson Hunt after a crash landing on an abandoned resort planet forces him to make a hard choice: survival or revenge. An exiled member of the elite assassin group Dead Echo, Grayson’s blind desire for vengeance finds his crew stranded on Stygia where he can finally confront the commander behind his betrayal — or get his team off the planet alive. Decimate throngs of Stygia’s mutated inhabitants, performing masterful kills throughout the single-player campaign — or one of 30 competitive score-challenge and 12 co-operative multiplayer maps — using the game’s unique “Skillshot” system, which rewards players for executing the most creative and deadly kills imaginable.

In development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, the remaster will include “hi-res textures, increased polygon counts, sterling audio, smoother framerates,” and an option for 4K resolutions on the PC and PS4 Pro. The Full Clip Edition edition will also include all of Bulletstorm’s previously-released downloadable content.

Players looking for Bulletstorm’s goofy sense of humor will still get it if they pre-order the Full Clip Edition and activate the Duke Nukem’s Bulletstorm Tour expansion. The special mode will replace Grayson Hunt with Duke Nukem, and feature a new script voiced by the legendary Jon St. John.

Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition will be released on April 7.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged

CoD: Infinite Warfare’s Sabotage DLC Pack launches for PC, Xbox One on March 2

Posted on February 27, 2017 by John Scalzo

“Oh my God, it’s a mirage… I’m tellin’ y’all it’s a sabotage”

This is no mirage, Activision and Infinity Ward announced this morning that Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s first expansion, the Sabotage DLC Pack, will be available to download for the PC and Xbox One on March 2.

The Sabotage DLC Pack will be available to download for $15 (or $49.99, if you opt for Infinite Warfare’s Season Pass), and it’ll include four new multiplayer maps and a new addition to the Zombies canon, “Rave in the Redwoods”:

“Rave in the Redwoods,” the next thrilling chapter of the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare zombies experience, continues the macabre narrative while transporting players into a new decade: the 1990s. Willard Wyler, the enigmatic movie director villain, returns and has trapped the protagonists inside another one of his twisted horror films. The four playable characters from the original story also return, but with fresh, over-the-top roles, as they learn more about Wyler’s evil plot while fighting all-new varieties of the undead in an abandoned, lakeside summer camp where zombie ravers have taken over and turned the grounds into a techno-fueled illusion. “Rave in the Redwoods” is a tense, spooky thrill ride with shocking twists, surprises, and a slew of new Easter eggs for players to discover.

Multiplayer Maps in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s Sabotage DLC Pack

  • Noir – A dark, grimy city map inspired by futuristic Brooklyn at night, Noir is a classic three-lane map set against a backdrop of a dystopian future, filled with cafes and parks surrounding a brutal downtown warzone.
  • Neon – A virtual training center designed for urban warfare, Neon is a unique, digitized battle arena where cars and other structures spawn out of thin air and enemies dissolve into hundreds of pixels when defeated. Middle lane sightlines will cater to long-range players while the outsides of the map allow for quick counter-attacks in close-quarter action.
  • Renaissance – Set in Northern Italy, Renaissance pits players against each other on the narrow streets of Venice surrounded by classic architecture and buildings that promote continuous action through the canals and neighborhoods of this iconic city.
  • Dominion – A re-imagining of the classic Afghan map from Modern Warfare 2, now set on Mars, Dominion retains all the memorable landmarks and gameplay of the original, anchored by the crashed ship in the center, with a few enhancements designed to take advantage of the new movement system.

A trailer for “Rave in the Redwoods” has been embedded above, and another trailer highlighting Sabotage’s multiplayer maps is also available.

Posted in News, PC, Xbox One | Tagged

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will be available as an Xbox Play Anywhere game and for PS4 on August 22

Posted on February 27, 2017 by John Scalzo

After that retailer leak this weekend, WB Games has confirmed that Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this year. The sequel to Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor will be released on August 22, and on Xbox One/Windows 10 will be able to access both versions of the game with a single purchase thanks to the Xbox Play Anywhere program. And in a post on the Xbox Wire, the publisher confirmed an enhanced edition of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor will be available for Microsoft’s Project Scorpio this Fall.

Players will wield a new Ring of Power and confront the deadliest of enemies, including Sauron and his Nazgul, in a monumental battle for Middle-earth. With an original story featuring our two heroes from the first game, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will have you going deep behind enemy lines to forge an army in the hopes of turning all of Mordor against the Dark Lord himself.

Like its predecessor, Shadow of War will be developed by Monolith Productions, who want to implement an “expanded version of the Nemesis System” in the open world action game. According to the developer, “the robust personalization from the first game [will now be] applied to the entire world where environments and characters [will be] shaped by player actions and decisions, creating a personal world unique to every gameplay experience.”

An Announcement Trailer for Middle-Earth: Shadow of War has been embedded above, and stay tuned for the first gameplay trailer, which will be released on March 8.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged

The Video Game Canon – Halo: Combat Evolved

Posted on February 24, 2017 by John Scalzo

Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with a look at Microsoft’s first attempt to enter the console market and the birth of Halo: Combat Evolved. Here’s a teaser…

Microsoft is usually portrayed as the stodgy suit in contrast to Apple’s hip turtleneck, but would you believe that the first Xbox prototype was built on a whim by a quartet of guys from the company’s engineering department?

Kevin Bachus, Otto Berkes, Seamus Blackley, and Ted Hase first took their “DirectX Box” to Ed Fries, the head of Microsoft’s video game division, in 1998. Even though everyone in the world had played a dozen hands (or more) of Windows Solitaire, Microsoft wasn’t a big player in the game development arena at the time. Similar to today’s line of console-like PCs, the original “DirectX Box” was an off-the-shelf Windows PC with a video card and a hard drive that hid the Windows-ness of the system from the player.

Before the “DirectX Box” could move forward, Fries and his team had to fight off a challenge from a separate team within Microsoft that had worked with Sega to produce some of the system software for the Dreamcast. They were pushing for the company to create a more traditional console (no Windows, no hard drive), and Bill Gates himself ultimately stepped in to give his blessing to Fries and his “DirectX Box.”

[…]

[Eventually,] Microsoft toted their Xbox prototype, which was a massive X-shaped silver box with a glowing green core, to the 2000 Game Developers Conference, and officially announced their intention to take over the living room (with an assist from Bill Gates and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). A few months after that, the company purchased Bungie Studios and their upcoming game, Halo: Combat Evolved.

Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.

Posted in Features, PC, Retro, Top Story, Video Game Canon, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged

Graveyard Keeper brings medieval cemetery management to PC, Xbox One in 2017

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Brittney Williams

Have you ever wanted to play a game about graveyards and capitalism with a medieval twist? Yeah, neither did I, but then I learned about Graveyard Keeper, a strange new game in production at Lazy Bear.

Graveyard Keeper is a unique take on the simulation genre, challenging players to take control of a medieval graveyard and transform it into a booming business. In doing so, players will be faced with making tough, ethically compromising decisions, all in the name of capitalism.

You, the caretaker, will have the option to explore beyond the graveyard, venturing into mysterious dungeons and the surrounding area, in search of resources that will help to make your business better. You will also be faced with choices, both dark and comedic, such as whether to team up with the local vampire and provide him with the blood of those buried in your graveyard. Players can even go the extra mile by crafting poisons with the resources they’ve found, in order to murder villagers and fill up those empty plots.

To expand your graveyard business, players can even host a Witch Burning Festival and feed the villagers the recycled meat of their dead loved ones, in order to cut operation costs. Or you can take the opposite path and scare the locals into attending church.

Graveyard Keeper will be available on the Xbox One and PC sometime in 2017. It’ll also be playable within the TinyBuild booth at the 2017 PAX East convention, which begins on March 10.

In the meantime, check out the first trailer above, as well as a handful of screenshots and a GIF of some rather unsanitary body dumping, after the break. (more…)

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Overwatch wins “Game of the Year” (and three other awards) at 2017 DICE Awards

Posted on February 24, 2017 by John Scalzo

Blizzard made their mark on last night’s DICE Awards presentation when Overwatch took home the trophy in four categories, including “Game of the Year.” The shooter was also honored as “Action Game of the Year,” as well as for “Outstanding Achievement in Game Design” and “Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay.”

It was also a good night for Naughty Dog, as the developer claimed four victories for their work on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End including “Adventure Game of the Year,” “Outstanding Achievement in Story,” “Outstanding Technical Achievement,” and “Outstanding Achievement in Animation.”

The full list of winners at the 2017 DICE Awards (including Pokemon Go for “Mobile Game of the Year,” Pokemon Sun and Moon for “Handheld Game of the Year,” and three awards for Inside ) can be found after the break. (more…)

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More than 80 games will be on display in the Indie Megabooth at PAX East 2017

Posted on February 24, 2017 by John Scalzo

PAX East 2017 will open its doors in exactly 336 hours, and the Indie Megabooth has finally announced which games it’ll have on display at the Boston-based convention this year.

Dozens upon dozens of indie titles will get a chance to shine in a couple of weeks, including some of our favorites from years past. We selected Vertex Pop’s Graceful Explosion Machine, Hypersect’s Inversus, and Pocketwatch’s Tooth & Tail for our Best of PAX East 2016 roundup and all of them will be on display in the Indie Megabooth this year. Refactor, an alumnus of our Best of PAX East 2014 roundup (when it was known as Tetropolis) has also earned a spot in the PAX East 2017 edition of the Indie Megabooth.

The Indie Megabooth continues to grow and change, and this year, in addition to the Minibooth area and the Tabletop area, it’ll also have a “Visual Novel Reading Room” within its carpeted confines for PAX East attendees.

You can find the full list of games set to be included in the Indie Megabooth at PAX East 2017 after the break. (more…)

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