Okay, okay, we have a thing for the groan-worthy headline. But when we got our hands on dungeon-crawling game Crimson Alliance, created by map-pack devs Certain Affinity, we couldn’t help but develop a particular fondness for its style and gameplay. READ MORE
The launch lineup of a system can usually be divided into three categories. The first is the hastily-ported game from another system. With those, the original game is probably good, but there are few reasons the port is better. The second is the gimmicky game that shows off the features of the new hardware. Those don’t typically age well, as the developers try too many things and don’t have much time torefine ideas or hindsight needed to know what to avoid. Sound Shapes is part of the third group, the legitimately interesting and innovative titles that find a home at a system’s launch not because that’s where they need to be, but because it’s a time they can get publisher support without getting drowned out by larger projects. READ MORE
If any Final Fantasy game needed a sequel, Final Fantasy XIII is it. While it didn’t live up to the hype, it was still a solid entry in the series and the world begs to be explored more, especially considering how it ended.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 starts 5 years after the events of XIII. Lightning is presumed dead, Sazh, Snow, and Hope are nowhere to be seen, and Serah is in the company and protection of a new character named Noel Kreiss. The world appears to be experiencing temporal distortions and paradoxes for some reason, though we experienced almost nothing story related. READ MORE
The freshman effort from Insomniac’s North Carolina studio treads familiar territory: platforming, shooting and collecting through the world of Ratchet & Clank. But All 4 One treads with a few more footsteps. Six more, to be exact. A formula that could begin to get tired finds new life with friends, and the collect-a-thon is more bearable as a relay race. READ MORE
For months, Telltale has been teasing fans about the nature of Jurassic Park: The Game‘s mechanics. They didn’t say much, but they made clear that it wasn’t going to follow the standard point-and-click formula. We got some time with the first episode, and one thing’s apparent: the developers were definitely inspired by the cinematic quick-time-event gameplay of Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain. As always, though, Telltale’s focus is on story.
“What we really wanted to do was to take players back to the experience of the original films, especially that first film,” said designer Joe Pinney. “”It’s got the intimate moments of wonder and awe, it’s got a real story with real characters, and it’s got intense, awesome, carefully-choreographed action sequences.”
