This fresh trailer from Gearbox & Sega promises some serious alien based havok for us all to sink our teeth (both sets) into.

With various other games having some success in similar implementations the world still waits for a game to fully deliver on the promise of the “Alien” universe.

With Gearbox & Sega in the mix, this iteration could well finally deliver on this promise.

- Richard “Rax” Burley

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You can also get the RSS feed right here:  RSS Feed

If you’d like the show notes, click the more button.

[H:MM:SS] – Show Time Line
——————–
Opening Song (Innocent Primeval Breaker – Ys Seven OST)

[0:00:45] – Introductions
-Three Years and Counting
-PS2 Launch Lineup

[0:08:15] – February Coming Soon

[0:23:47] – 2010 Golden King Awards

[1:36:04] – Wrap Up

[1:39:03] – End

For an MP3 copy of the show, right click the link and choose Save As.
MP3 Link / RSS Feed

If you’d like the show notes, click the more button.

Show Rundown [H:MM:SS]
—————
Opening Song (Poseidon’s Wrath – God of War 3 OST)

Introductions [0:00:30]

Jason’s Now Playing [0:01:52]
-Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360) DLC
-The Video Review Jason Talked About
-Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360)
-Marvel VS Capcom 2 (Xbox Live Arcade)
-Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (Xbox Live Arcade)
-Street Fighter IV (Xbox 360)
-Tech Problems
-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
-Splinter Cell: Conviction (Xbox 360)
-MLB 2010: The Show (PS3)

Steven’s Now Playing [0:38:25]
-Street Fighter IV (Xbox 360)
-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
-Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)
-Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers (Xbox Live Arcade)
-Chime (Xbox Live Arcade)
-Blur (Xbox 360) DEMO
-The Maw (Xbox Live Arcade)

News [0:57:12]
-Activision countersues ex-Infinity Ward execs
-The Great Modern Warfare Developer Bailout
-Ex-Infinity Ward heads, EA announce deal
-Modern Warfare 2 DLC stimulating PS3, PC May 4
-Four-player Gears of War 3 co-op campaign confirmed
-Bulletstorm raining on 360, PS3, PC
-Splinter Cell: Conviction CE cheapened by defective USB drives
-Microsoft Points are now being sold more reasonably
-Serious Sam back for more on XBLA, PC
-Pokemon Black/White coloring Japan this fall
-F.E.A.R. 3 spooking 360, PS3, PC this fall
-War for Cybertron erupts June 22
-Konami Day Event
-No More PSP for NCAA Football
-Dark Void Zero blasting off on PC, iPhone
-Doctor Who Time Lord-ing over PC, Mac
-Starcraft II gets $100 Collector’s Edition
-Gilbert departs Hothead, DeathSpank done

Wrap Up [1:59:08]

End [2:04:20]

For an MP3 copy of the show, right click the link and choose Save As.
MP3 Link / RSS Feed

If you’d like the show notes, click the more button.

Show Rundown [H:MM:SS]
—————
Opening Song (Poseidon’s Wrath – God of War 3 OST)

Introductions [0:00:30]

Jason’s Now Playing [0:02:56]
-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
-Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Xbox 360)
-Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360)
-Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (PSP)
-Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? (PSP)

Steven’s Now Playing [0:17:38]
-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
-Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360)
-Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)

PAX East 2010
-Friday [0:30:15]
-Saturday [1:07:02]
-Sunday [1:43:33]
-http://kotaku.com/5505341/suspected-game-code-thief-on-the-lam-%5Bupdate%5D

Wrap Up [2:17:05]

End [2:18:44]

Hello and welcome to the third edition of Thoroughly Underrated Games You Probably Should Play; a series of articles in which we attempt to transform you mindless drones into cultured, well informed gamers by introducing you to some under-appreciated gaming goodness. This time we bring to you a lovely little tower defence game (they are mostly rubbish but stick with this, this one is really good!) for the Nintendo DS. Take it away Crofterz.

Welcome to Ninjatown, a bright, vibrant, funny and criminally underrated game in the vastly huge DS catalogue. You may well accuse T.U.G.Y.P.S.P of being a series of childish and cutesy game reviews, but this is mainly due to the fact that games such as these are often overlooked because of their graphical style. Thus, they go unnoticed. Ninjatown is a prime example of this kind of ignorance. That, and I’m an absolute sucker for anything charming. God I’m such a big girl.

I don’t want to get all iRate on your asses but it’s this pig headed ignorance that really gets my goat. I once recall telling a friend about Viva Piñata (another excellent, cutesy game on the Xbox 360) and as I was explaining why the game was so great, he stopped me mid sentence and completely dismissed the idea of playing “a kids game”. So angry was I due to his utter closed mindedness that I then proceeded to garrotte him with his own shoelaces… well, at least I did in my imagination.

“What’s so special about Ninjatown”, I hear you cry? Well, I’m not entirely sure. Let’s be straight here; as a tower defence game, Ninjatown does nothing new. It doesn’t have any unique or brand new gameplay mechanics or do anything fantastically different from any other tower defence game, but what sets it apart from others in the genre is that this is a tower defence game done right.

I wish I'd written this caption

I’ll be frank. I hate tower defence games. Until Ninjatown, I had never played a tower defence game that I’d actually liked. They all seemed to be like RTS games (Real Time Strategy games) minus all the fun, skill and size. And whilst Ninjatown certainly doesn’t have the size or scale of an RTS, it is the first tower defence game I’ve played that is genuinely fun.

Whilst most in the genre seem to test your strategic skill and thus get too hard way too quickly, Ninjatown is far more relaxed, casual and focused on being fun. The difficulty curve isn’t particularly steep. However, that’s not to say the game is too easy. It does get hard, especially on the later levels, but the curve is so finely balanced that you never feel unprepared and don’t really notice the change in difficulty.

What makes this game so great is character. Everything from the brilliantly oddball cartoon graphics to the genuinely brilliant, humorous cut scenes in between levels. Ninjatown works on so many levels that not only can children have fun with it, but adults will also find this game an absolute joy.

You wouldn’t be wrong to presume with a name like Ninjatown, the game itself centres around a town of ninjas because… well, it does (I know, awesome right?!). What’s more, it’s under attack! The evil Mr. Demon and his hordes of evil, devil, monster, creature things are attempting to wreak havoc. As the ol’ Master Ninja, you are the only one who can protect the town… with the aid of various different ninja inspired, tower defence units of course.

There are Consultant Ninjas who inform you of your best plan of defence, Anti-Ninjas who aren’t as fast as regular ninja units but are far stronger and Sniper Ninjas, to name but a few of the different unit types at your disposal. Each ninja type is used to combat the many different enemy types. Ninja and Anti-Ninja units are capable of tackling the Wee Devil and slightly stronger Chubby Devil ground units whilst the Sniper Ninjas take out any aerial threat from the Winged Devils. Ninja huts are used to make your units stronger on the battlefield, it’s all pretty standard tower defence stuff.

The range of different unit and enemy types really add personality.

Ninjatown does however bring something a little bit new to the table. By completing levels not only do you unlock new ninja units and enemies but also ninja powers, which can be unleashed once the power meter is full (it builds up with every enemy you kill). My personal favourite is called “Get Off My Lawn!!!” which blows enemies off the screen by blowing into the DS’s mic. You may well look like an absolute idiot whilst doing this but you can only commend the developers for trying to put a few unique gameplay ideas into the formula.

As a platform, the Nintendo DS is absolutely perfect for tower defence games. The touch screen gives you an intuitive way to assemble, organise and strategically plan defence with just a touch of the screen. Thankfully Ninjatown uses the touch controls, so the controls are absolutely spot on and allow deployment and organisation of ninja units very quickly.

Sound is equally as expertly employed. Quirky and fun with an oriental twist is a winning mix. I would liked to have heard some funny sounds in the cut-scenes, such as the random waffling sounds of character dialogue in Henry Hatsworth and The Puzzling Adventure (the subject of T.U.G.Y.P.S.P episode 1, viewable here: http://rt.nu/dfjvc6) but that is only a minor gripe.

So there you have it, finally a good tower defence game… Such things are as rare as gold dust. Now, as your master I command you to go out and buy it! Go forth minions and I’ll see you next time for episode 4 of Thoroughly Underrated Games You Probably Should Play

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No-one

The suggestions are in and the shortlist has been drawn. The three titles in the running for the coveted prize of The Newb Review Game of the Year 2009, as voted for by The Newb Review staff are:

Warning: Don’t ever watch developer videos. This year I did exactly that and ended up buying a game that, prior to watching these videos, I had no interest in. Luckily, this game turned out to be undeniably one of the best games to have come out this year; Borderlands. Along with Batman: Arkham Asylum, it is truly refreshing to see two brand new Intellectual Properties duking it out for Game of the Year, especially in an endless sea of sequels, prequels and trilogies. This serves as a great testament to the brilliant year the games industry has had this year.

So what is it about Borderlands that makes it so great? Well it’s not really like anything you’ve played before for starters (the closest I could compare it to is probably Fallout 3). The notion of combining true RPG level-up elements with a first person shooter made me a little dubious at first, but Borderlands pulls it off in stunning fashion. The main reason why Borderlands is so great is because it is just fun to play. Yes, the story is minimal at best, but there’s no better experience than partying up with three of your friends to go around the Borderlands universe and just shoot stuff.

- Crofterz

As a general rule, Super Hero games tend to be pretty bad. For every Spiderman 2, there are half a dozen Superman 64s out there. So you can understand why a number of gamers were sceptical about Arkham Asylum’s potential when it was first announced. How wrong they were. This game blends light detective elements together with an intuitive combat system and a powerful stealth mechanic. However, this is unlike other stealth games. If you are caught, it isn’t the end of the world; you are, after all, controlling the God Damned Batman, with the ability to pummel all opponents into a fine paste using nothing but your bare hands.

The story is written by long-time Batman writer, and key architect of the fantastic 90′s Batman Animated Series, Paul Dini. He brings with him the key voice actors Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill (playing Batman and The Joker respectively), making the game a truly authentic Batman experience. Throw together a reasonably long story mode, a number of collectible objects and upgrades, as well as The Riddler’s riddles and a challenge mode that allows you to compare your combat or stealth skills with the rest of the world and you have one of the best games to come out this year.

- Mightyles

This title is a celebration of the development of a truly original idea. Ubisoft have taken the first Assassin’s Creed and thrown a bucket load of improvements at it in the hope that most of them stick. Thankfully, it seems to have worked! Whilst by no means a perfect game, Assassin’s Creed 2 has proven to be a vast improvement on its generally well-received older sibling, and looked set to be the biggest seller of the year… If only it weren’t for the FPS gargantuan that is Modern Warfare 2.

Little errors and glitches littered here and there are insignificant foibles in comparison to the wealth of gameplay features that Ubisoft have implemented to perfection. The story is compelling and immersive and whilst there is still perhaps an ounce or two of repetitiveness, (the major complaint of the first game) added variety and new RPG elements such as building up the Auditore Villa stave off boredom in fine fashion. The climactic ending presents something of a cliff hanger that will keep the forums buzzing right up to the release of the next in the series. We can only hope they can improve the same amount for Assassin’s Creed 3.

- tom01255

Honourable mentions…

Now, with so many great games coming to every console this year, NewbReview didn’t think it fair to concentrate on only three titles and forsake everything else. Here’s the NewbReview team with their honourable mentions for 2009.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

When it was announced that Grand Theft Auto was coming to the Nintendo DS, not many people could say they weren’t surprised. And, even upon release in March, the DS audience were still not ready for this game, as evidenced in the poor sales following this extremely well reviewed and generally awesome title.

In a welcomed return to the top-down view, Grand Theft Auto seemed to do almost everything right. It was beautiful on the underpowered DS, the gameplay was true to the series: new and old, and the driving actually controlled well! One of the best games on DS.

- Joefeesh

Red Faction: Guerrilla

Released way back at the beginning of June, Red Faction: Guerrilla has been one of the few games that have managed to cling on in the psyche of the Newbs in the office. Upon release it immediately entered the canon of fun-but-flawed games; the kind that gets a lot of things right, but doesn’t quite dazzle as it should. The characterisation is pretty flat and the story in particular is undemanding. However, the ability to destroy almost anything using a variety of imaginative weaponry has resulted in an enjoyable experience that’s worthy of note, if not quite reaching the echelon of a true Game of the Year contender.

- tom01255

Forza Motorsport 3

The sheer volume of content in this title would have made this a great Game of the Year contender. Given the quality of the previous game, I was sure this was going to be good. But I wasn’t prepared for exactly how much they would pack in to make this a worthwhile purchase.

The game comes on 2 discs and has over 400 cars and 100 tracks. And having played for countless hours, reaching level 50 and amassing over 5 million credits, I have not even hit 25% completion yet. I will be playing and enjoying this well into 2010.

- braindead_hero

FIFA 10

So everybody complains that we get one every year and nothing much changes. They say whoever is suckered into buying it each year is an idiot. However, following in the footsteps (pun intended) of Fifa ‘09, Fifa 10 is yet another massive step in the right direction for the franchise.

Fifa ‘09 took the crown back from Pro Evolution Soccer, introducing better controls and better modes; it really felt like EA went to town in ‘09. This game has taken the ‘09 formula and built on it, with even better controls and more polished modes. The best football game ever made, FACT!

- Crofterz

Left 4 Dead 2

I’m the first to admit I have a thing for zombies. It’s nothing sexual I assure you, so wipe that thought from your mind. The follow-up to last years Left 4 Dead, this game adds a bunch of new content, new maps, new survivors and new modes; all of which are incredibly well designed. The reason this is one of my favourite games of this year is how much fun it is. How can anyone get bored of fighting off the zombie horde? It’s also very polished; I had a much better time with this game over any other in 2009 by a fair amount. Valve truly are artists in crafting such a game and I applaud them for it.

- Braindead_Hero

Shadow Complex

As far as downloadable games go, Shadow Complex is impressive. It boasts a lengthy single-player campaign, expansive world to explore, and dozens of collectible items to boost your character’s performance. At the start of the game you play as Jason, a man who goes exploring in the caves outside of Washington DC with his girlfriend, only to discover a conspiracy to overthrow the US government. By the end you are a super-powered killing machine, capable of running on water, flying around the screen and punching enemies 200ft into the air. Shadow Complex is a fantastic blend of old school Castlevania-styled gameplay and modern day production values.

- Mightyles

Halo 3: ODST

Yes everyone complained, “Not another Halo game!” and I understand your frustrations, we have Halo: Reach on its way but please, Bungie, once Halo: Reach is released, no more Halo games, OK? It’s the fifth game based on the Halo universe but for me, ODST has been the most fun. A shorter, more interesting campaign and the brilliant new Firefight mode thrown in with the truly awesome Halo 3 Multiplayer is a recipe for success. Yes, it is yet another Halo game, but it’s the best Halo game for some time.

- Crofterz

So, the scene is set for an epic three-way battle between Borderlands, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed 2. Who will come out on top? Don’t forget, you can let us know what your Game of the Year is in the comment boxes below or argue with us about how we’ve missed of Modern Warfare 2 in the forum.

Make sure you check back on New Years Day to see which title has been awarded the prestigious NewbReview Game of the Year 2009!