Media Molecule’s released a trailer for LittleBigPlanet 2, to be released this Winter. The focus seems to be on expanding creation tools, allowing for intelligent objects, levels strung together into whole games and more. Yeah, we’re excited.
The trailer’s embedded after the break. READ MORE
Starting this week, Eric Schabel is joining us as a recurring panelist, and we cover more E3 game rumors. But first, our most recent results.
Andrew Passafiume: +125
Graham Russell: +45
Eric Schabel: 0
Shawn Vermette: +135
LittleBigPlanet 2 to be announced at E3
Well, we didn’t have to wait until E3 to get confirmation of this rumor. Friday, GameInformer teased a huge reveal they’ll have on LittleBigPlanet 2 in their June issue, and Media Molecule confirmed it on Twitter.
Andrew 90% = +40
Graham 90% = +40
Shawn 85% = +35
Following in the wake of the huge Bungie-Activision deal announced the other day, very few details have been released regarding exactly what kind of game Bungie is planning to make. Bungie is, obviously, best known for its shooters- most notably the Halo series. However, recent job postings on the Bungie website seem to point toward an action RPG style of game rather than a shooter. Nothing is explicitly noted in the job descriptions, but they make one wonder if they are leaving behind the shooter genre they know so well.
Andrew: It’s clear that whatever Bungie has planned, it will be big. It’s clear that they never once referred to as a specific “game” they were working on during any interviews, rather they only discussed a “universe” or a game series that will last a good ten years. I can see them developing more shooters in this universe, but I can also see an action RPG in the works as well, since it’s clear they have a lot of big ideas. Whether their NEXT game will be an action RPG is something that is hard to determine. 60%
Graham: Bungie severed ties with Microsoft because they were tired of making Halo, so did anyone expect them to go make a game almost exactly like Halo? Of course they’re trying something different. I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep the FPS elements and go the route of Mass Effect, Fallout and Borderlands, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they went in a different direction. That said, I bet it’ll fit the definition of “action RPG.” 85%
Eric: Considering how successful recent action RPG games have been, and how much effort has put into the Halo storyline, I could definitely see Bungie going in this direction. After all, games like Mass Effect 2, Fallout 3, and Bioshock have already showed us that shooters can have heavy RPG elements too. So this rumor makes sense theoretically, and the job listings on Bungie’s site definitely lead credence to it as well. 80%
Shawn: A shooter RPG a la Fallout 3 or Mass Effect wouldn’t be too much of a stretch, given Bungie’s experience and job listings. And considering my love of both genres, I would definitely be very interested in such a game. Add the fact that they want to distance themselves somewhat from being known as ‘the Halo studio’ and I would consider this rumor to be fairly likely. 80%
Those who’ve beaten Infamous know that it needs a sequel. Those who’ve played Infamous know that they want a sequel. Well, rumor has it that Sony is going to give both groups what they want at E3 next month, when they show off Infamous 2 for the first time.
Andrew: This seems to be a no-brainer. Whether or not we’ll actually see gameplay or just a teaser trailer, it is clear that Infamous 2 is on its way. 100%
Graham: For the past few years, we’ve been talking about Nintendo needing to “throw hardcore gamers a bone” to keep them happy during the casual-fest that keeps the money flowing. With Natal and Move taking center stage this year, Microsoft and Sony will be in the same mindset. Well, this seems to be that bone. It’ll show up. (I won’t guarantee it’ll be playable.) 100%
Eric: All signs seem to point to this rumor being true, and I have little doubt it my mind that Infamous 2 will be making some sort of appearance at E3. From voice actor tweets to job listings and a domain name registration, it really feels like this one is almost a given. 95%
Shawn: At this point, I think I’d be surprised if Infamous 2 wasn’t shown at E3. Sony needs all the heavy hitting exclusives they have to be shown at E3, and Infamous certainly fits the bill. 95%
We already know a new Red Faction game is in development, but we know nothing about it thus far. However, it is now being rumored that this new Red Faction game will actually be a prequel to the series. With the new Halo being a prequel, is THQ reaching into the same bag of tricks as Bungie? Or will this rumor prove to be false?
Andrew: I really have no idea about this one. Does anybody actually care about the story of Red Faction? From what I could tell, Guerrilla was a complete reboot for the series in terms of story and characters, so making a prequel that goes back to the first two games? It just seems a bit odd to me. I don’t really see this happening, unless it’s just a prequel to Guerrilla itself. 20%
Graham: First, I have to say that no one cares about the story of Red Faction. That out of the way, how are we defining “prequel?” If it happens earlier chronologically, is that a “prequel,” or does it have to be specifically about the story? As it is, I’m bunting, because I can’t say anything substantive about the situation. 50%
Eric: I’m really not sure either way on this one; it’s certainly possible that the next Red Faction will be a prequel, but it could just as easily be a sequel. It’s true that THQ has been picking up some Red Faction related domain names, but I don’t think we can glean much about the next game’s story based on those alone. 50%
Shawn: While I loved Red Faction: Guerrilla, the story took a back seat to the mechanics. Having never played the previous Red Faction games, I have no idea if this was always the case. If so, then I doubt it would be a prequel. All I really know is I’m looking forward to it. 40%
What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord?! 2 (the sequel to last year’s Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman, What Did I Do to Deserve This?!) Just like the first time around you’ll be playing as the Lord of Destruction laboring to protect Badman from the swarms of heroes laying siege to his underground lairs because he’s a bad guy and they’re good guys, and it was decided long, long ago that good guys have to fight bad guys. This is where you come in – it turns out that Badman is a fairly inefficient villain and just about anybody can kill him. To keep him safe you’ll need to dig out a complex maze, raise a few monsters, feed those monsters to other monsters to create better monsters, and hope that you have a good enough monster economy going to defeat the aforementioned heroes.
My Lord 2 doesn’t look or sound like much, but don’t let the 8-bit veneer fool you. Under the rust, the 8-track player, and the antenna that local neighborhood kids snapped off lays a big, powerful V8 engine of deceptively complex gameplay mechanics and randomly generated playfields. Every experience in My Lord 2 is a unique one, and it never ceases to be entertaining to mine for nutrients and get an economy going well enough to finally beat those blasted do-gooders. In order to get you used to the mechanics My Lord 2 features a 12-part tutorial.
Aside from adding a few new monsters to the mix and changing the title of the game My Lord 2 feels an awful lot like Badman. This is fine in games without a random element, but Badman has random dungeon layouts just like My Lord 2 does so I’m not entirely certain why somebody who played and enjoyed the first installment would need the sequel, and I’m not certain why somebody interested in the series wouldn’t start with part 1, save some money, and just keep playing that. Unless Badman eventually proved to be too easy for you, you don’t really need to upgrade. For the three people out there that cleared out Badman and can play with their eyes closed, My Lord 2 is more difficult thanks to new monster types, new hero types, more levels, and an even steeper learning curve due to small additions like creature mutation and varied hero pathing.
A warning for any who decide to pick up My Lord 2: be prepared to die. My Lord 2 is unforgiving and insists on teaching via failure. The first title did, too so this isn’t a surprise, but there’s very little hand-holding, and if you make a mistake you’ll be punished for it with a game over screen. NIS missed an opportunity here to make My Lord 2 the definitive Badman title by making it accessible without sacrificing the challenge. Instead, what we have a game that is less informative than its predecessor and more difficult. Pass unless you loved part 1 and desperately need more.
Pros: Challenging, highly replayable
Cons: Unforgiving, fairly inaccessible to new players
Plays Like: Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman, What Did I Do to Deserve This?!
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth gets a lot of things right in its new take on the Ace Attorney formula. With a great cast of characters and an enjoyable story, you’d think it would represent the epitome of the series. Unfortunately, it falls short of Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations for that title due to the lack of tension and drama.
In AAI, as a prosecutor and crime scene investigator, you have the powers of Logic and Deduction at your disposal. This allows you to take seemingly disparate clues or discrepancies and unite them into a single deduction that becomes part of your evidence in finding the guilty party. This works very well in practice, except for those rare times that you have to pixel hunt for a clue or discrepancy to continue in the game.
The biggest difference between Ace Attorney Investigations and previous Ace Attorney games is that you can now walk around to explore the crime scenes. This does, for the most part, eliminate the sometimes tedious pixel hunting in crime scene investigations, along with providing for larger and more detailed crime scenes to investigate. Unfortunately, it also means less of those nice, detailed portraits of everyone you talk to that were present in previous games. They are still there during testimony and cross-examinations, but are otherwise absent from the game.
The story is great and on par with the wackiness of the previous games, with a number of returning characters that you’ve grown to love or hate already. The locations are more detailed than in previous games and the songs are high quality, but obviously remixed songs from the previous games.
Unfortunately the great story of Miles Edgeworth feels less compelling than the stories of the Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice games because of the way the game plays out. You will never find yourself on the prosecutor’s side of the courtroom. The entire game is based around questioning witnesses and investigating crime scenes. While this works great by itself, it loses some of the drama and tension that you were faced with in the Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice games. You will never feel like you are on the verge of losing the case, even when you are. At the same time, I don’t see any way to have worked such sequences into the game without destroying the flow of the rest of the game.
Like the previous Ace Attorney games, there is very little in the way of replay value in Ace Attorney Investigations. And by very little I mean zero. There is nothing to unlock, no alternate endings, not even a secret episode to unlock.
In the end, Ace Attorney Investigations is a great new take on the Ace Attorney formula with a witty and wacky story to enjoy. If you enjoyed the previous games, you’ll definitely enjoy this one. If you’ve never played one though, I recommend waiting on Miles Edgeworth and picking up one of the Phoenix Wright games first.
Plays Like: Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice games
Pros: Walking around is a great new mechanic; Logic and Deduction are worthwhile replacements for previous Phoenix Wright abilities
Cons: No courtroom drama; No replay value
As might be inferred from its title, Vegas Showdown pits players against each other in a competition to see who can build the most famous Las Vegas hotel/casino. Each player begins with a barren floor plan and a stack of poker chips that represents their cash; on their floor plan is a chart for tracking their revenue and population, the lower of which will represent that player’s income for each turn. Increasing these aspects from their starting values of five and eight (respectively, so you get $5 on the first turn) will obviously be crucial to success in the game, but the trick is either doing so in a balanced manner or else working around the fact that favoring one over the other will cause you some financial issues as the game progresses. Of course, the resources to accomplish this task aren’t free… or uncontested.
The auction board contains three types of basic tiles (slots, resteraunts, and lounges) and three “premier tile” spaces that are initially filled with one from each tile size (1×1, 1×2, and 2×2); a fourth space is used only with four or five players. Each space has a bidding track that represents the minimum value to purchase that tile and the current bid, and a second bidding track for slots opens up if there are five players; premier spaces have two tracks, one outlined with red circles and another that occupies the spaces between those values.
Each round consists of five steps. 1) Reduce the prices on premier tiles by sliding a marker down to the next red-circled space (this step is skipped on the first round of the game). If doing so would reduce the price to below three (the lowest-valued space) then that tile is instead removed from the game. 2) Replenish any empty premier spaces (including the fourth space on the first round of a four/five-player game) by drawing one card per space; each card has a special action that will change the rules for the current round in any manner of ways. The symbol on the card indicates the size of tile to be placed on the auction board, and each tile has an icon that tells you its initial starting price. If ever a tile would be placed from a stack that has been exhausted, the game ends immediately. 3) Players earn income as noted above or as the card(s) for the round dictate. 4) Bidding. 5) Placement. The “dealer” (start player) token is passed to the right at the end of each round.
Bidding is accomplished by placing your bidding marker on the track of the tile you wish to purchase on the price you want to pay for it, starting with the round’s “dealer”. Once everyone has placed their bid markers, anyone who has been outbid picks theirs up and can place it anywhere else on the board. This process repeats until nobody is being outbid, at which point the auctions are over and the tiles purchased. Money is pubic information in this game, so using that knowledge to pre-emptively outbid someone is often a key strategy. Finally, two “free” options are also available: publicity (gain one fame and optionally place one previously-unplayed tile from your supply to your board) and renovate (pick up 0-2 tiles from your board to your supply and place 0-2 tiles from your supply to your board); these options can be chosen by any number of players, and are your only choices if you can not afford anything at its current price.
Once purchased, you can place your tile on your floor plan, but there are restrictions. Each floor plan has two doors: one in the yellow-shaded “casino” area and the other in the blue-shaded “hotel” area; tiles that match those colors must be able to trace a path to their respective entrance. Green tiles can be connected to either entrance. Although they don’t necessarily have to be placed within their respective areas, there is a bonus at the end of the game if you’ve managed to completely fill one or both of your, two sections with the appropriately-colored tiles (green tiles can count for either section); additionally, there is another (smaller) bonus if you can connect your two entrances. Further complicating your plans is the fact that certain tiles cannot be placed unless you already have a prerequisite tile; for example, “Fancy Slots” can’t be placed unless you have a basic slots tile, and you can’t place the high-income “Dragon Room” unless you already have at least one “Fancy Slots”. They don’t have to be connected to those prerequisite tiles (with one exception, which says so), they just need to be present somewhere in your plan. If you can’t place the tile immediately you can save it in your supply to place later via the Publicity or Renovate actions. This can be a risky proposition, as you are effectively sacrificing two turns to place the tile (one just to buy it and one just to place it), but it can pay off if you can grab a powerful tile for cheap relatively early on. Each tile is worth a certain amount of revenue, population, and/or fame that you will earn once placed (and that you lose if you should pick it up via the Renovate action without replacing it). In addition to the possibility of ending in Step Two of each round, the game will also end if a player manages to completely fill his entire floor plan, although this is uncommon with more than three players.
Once the game has ended, bonus fame points are awarded via various criteria. In addition to the tile-placement bonuses mentioned earlier, extra points can be won for having the highest revenue and/or population (with points for 2nd and 3rd as well), for every full $10 left over at the end of the game, and for being able to create diamond patterns by careful placement of certain premier tiles. Whoever has the most fame wins, with remaining cash as a tie-breaker.
One of the neatest aspects of Vegas Showdown is how it plays differently with different numbers of players. Three players (the minimum) is a slower game, with fewer premier tiles and less competition overall, while five players not only has an additional premier tile but the basic slot tiles (the primary source of increasing revenue) are consumed twice as fast! Four players is probably the most difficult, as not having access to the second slots track makes for some harsh competition in the early stages of the game. Session times also necessarily vary, but rarely break an hour as everything is essentially simultaneous other than the bidding.
Overall, Vegas Showdown is a great gateway-level game on par with Ticket to Ride, Ra, and Carcassonne that is enjoyable at any level of experience. If you can’t find a physical copy to play (Avalon Hill titles can be scarce these days), Vegas Showdown is also available for online play at GameTableOnline.com for less than $10.
Image by GamerChris
