Gamers Platform FeedFor those of you who have been wondering what’s going on here, let me go ahead and just give you a heads up that I am in the process of re-structuring the entire GameTechWorld Network. That probably means there won’t be too much new here for a little bit longer. If you want to keep up with what I am working on or thinking, you can always hit my personal blog here.
Stay tuned for a new look and new… news?
Title: Dante’s Inferno
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PSP
Developer: Visceral Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release date: 2/28/2010
Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of religion in games. More specifically, I’ve thought about the role and presentation of Judeo-Christian religions in our favorite medium. I’m intrigued by how it’s handled, what developers decide to show us, and how this theme is received by the gaming public. All that stuff aside, Dante’s Inferno is a good game. But it has earned its reputation as a God of War clone. Earned it and seemingly wears it proudly.
Title: Bioshock 2
Developer/Publisher: 2k Games
Platforms: PC, XBox 360, PS3
Release Date: 02/09/10
Number of Players: 1 player campaign, 2-10 player multiplayer
It is time, boys and girls, to return to Rapture. This time, however, we’re visit the idyllic city as one of its protectors, a Big Daddy. Although years have passed since the original Bioshock, the world hasn’t changed much. The Splicers still rule the streets of Rapture and are on their eternal hunt for Adam, Little Sisters and their Big Daddies can be found harvesting it from corpses and there are plenty of cameras, vending machines and turrets to be hacked. The game opens with you, as a Big Daddy, following your Little Sister through a cocktail party and the city of Rapture looks bright and new to you. As she races ahead of you and out of sight, you hear her scream for you. Your arrival finds a few local residents trying to harvest her for ADAM. Like any good protector, you swoop in and squish the evil ne’er do wells, saving your ward. The antagonist of the game, Sofia Lamb, arrives at this point and takes you Little Sister and orders you to take a pistol and kill yourself. Congratulations, you’ve lost the game…not really, of course. You wake up in front of a Vita-Chamber about 10 years later and it seems you’ve missed the Fall of Rapture. Welcome back to Rapture.
A long time ago, I owned a heavy black game system with green touches known as the Xbox. And on this system, I had one of the best experiences in my gaming life when I played through the original “Halo: Combat Evolved”. At the time, I didn’t realize that the first person shooter genre had been relatively unsuccessful on home consoles (Goldeneye: 007 on the N64 notwithstanding), nor did I foresee that this game would revolutionize the way that the genre was even thought about in the living room. I just fell in love with the main character, forever known as “Master Chief” and his sidekick “Cortana”, and I was engrossed in the epic nature of their story.
PS3, XB360, PSP
Developed by Visceral Games
Published by Electronic Arts
Releasing: 02/09/2010
Looking to cut a swath across the gaming landscape this first quarter is Dante’s Inferno. The game has garnered some attention and some controversy from the gaming community. With a demo already released on both Playstation Network and Xbox Live, gamers have been able to get a look for themselves about what this game will really be about. Are we just looking at a God of War clone, or is there something else there for us to experience? Recently, we here at Gamers Platform had an opportunity to sit in on a roundtable interview session with three key members of the development team for Dante’s Inferno: Jonathan Knight- executive producer, Mike Cheng- level designer, and Vincent Napoli- lead combat designer.
Title: CrossworDS
Developer/Publisher: Nuevo Retro Games
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Release Date: 05/05/08
Number of Players: one player game
I imagine I’ll likely say this often- I’m not really a gamer. Surely, it would be a sin against the video game fates if I were to call myself a capital “G” gamer. I’m much more of a casual player, preferring to leave the hard core stuff to the true geeks of the genre. That being said, this is exactly my kind of game. CrossworDS doesn’t offer high end graphic arts of wild anime fighters flipping swords the size of mack trucks to make with the oohs and aahs. It doesn’t offer button mashing combat, in depth story with dramatic plot twists or some cliffhanger ending designed to get you to blow another sixty dollars on a tale, that if we were wiser, we could watch for free on basic cable in the early afternoons, complete with a glass of Sherri and a bowl full of bon-bons. What it will give you is simple, clean fun with actual intellectual results.
Title: Bayonetta
Publisher/Developer: Sega/Platinum Games
Platforms: PS3 and XBOX 360
Release Date: 01/05/10
Number of Players: Single-player
I’m going to start by saying I’ve NEVER played any of the “Devil May Cry” games. I’ve heard a lot of early previews say that this is either “Devil May Cry done right,” or “a good successor to Devil May Cry.” Since I’d never played any of them (I know, shun me), I wanted to give Bayonetta a try. I have a hard time comparing this to any other game, to be honest. It’s not due to my lack of gaming knowledge, it’s because the character concept for Bayonetta is so unique. She’s a gun wielding witch that can do nifty fighting techniques. Okay, let me amend that, the character concept reminded me of the game, “Bullet Witch” a lot. Bayonetta runs around with 4 handguns, two in hand and two strapped to her ankles. Her common attacks are based around a mix of melee, weapon and magical hair-based attacks. As you progress through game, you’re able to pick up other guns and melee weapons. As you get different types of weapons, you can have custom weapon loadouts. These different loadouts will change the basics of her attack combos and what attacks they do.
Title: Darksiders
Publisher/Develolper: THQ/Vigil Games
Release Date: 01/05/2010
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Number of Players: Single-player
The third person action genre is getting a lot of love of late, what with the recent release of Bayonetta, and the forthcoming releases of God of War III and Dante’s Inferno. Darksiders though, is a bit different. It’s a fascinating and somewhat compelling take with a distinct mixture of action, adventure, puzzle solving and storytelling. It’s certainly not perfect, but it does what it does very well.
So, there’s been some confusion as to what “open beta” has meant for Star Trek online. Normally, one would think it would be a matter of signing up, getting a key and going at it. Unfortunately, as it stands right now, the STO website still states that you need to attain a key from a pre-order method (or to have already gotten one from a much earlier sign-up). However, the folks over at TenTonHammer.com have some keys ready to go. You can grab one here . Keep in mind that you’ll still need to download an 8.5GB client, which is taking forever with the current system, and that the Open Beta itself starts tomorrow, January 12th at 6pm GMT.
Make it so, bitches.
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: Santa Monica Studios
Platform: PS3
ESRB Rating: Pending, but you know what’s up.
In what is almost assured to be the killer app of the first quarter (or at least Sony is hoping for it to be) Kratos, or as I like to call him, “that Fuzzy Little Teddy Bear” (aww… he’s so cute), is back for the third installment of the God of War saga. And let me tell you, boy, does he make a good third impression, in a multitude of ways.
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