Alan Wake, finding the release date for his PC release! Finally!

After MUCH whispering and flashlights in the dark Alan Wake finally makes it to PC on February the 16th.

In addition to multiple improvements to the graphics engine the PC version will also support 3D.

Our recommendation is to grab it via Origin or Steam as this already strong title ends up a great deal once you include both DLCs into the bargain.

Not only is this a great game, now only 2 weeks away, but we also already know it’s going to include both “The Writer” and “The Signal” DLCs right off the bat for no extra cost! Deal!

- Richard “Rax” Burley
@Raxous

Steam... Now the 32 largest country in the world!

News has reached newb HQ that Steam has crossed the 40 million user mark, giving it a population larger than that of Canada, Poland or Kenya!

We’d certainly like to see Steam join the UN or maybe develop it’s own currency?

Anyway, I’m off to put together a funky black & white (and grey) flag… or something… Steam national anthem anyone?

- Rax

http://store.steampowered.com/app/31170/?snr=1_4_4__117

- Rax

Ah… tower defense… let me count the ways in which I love thee… but oh, if only one could combine the joys of tower defense and the frenetic action of FPS multi-player co-op, in a perfect mix of both worlds.

Oh! Wait! What’s this? Dungeon Defenders you say? And Orcs Must Die! What? I have two new shiny ones to choose from?

Yes, yes indeed, like an orc infested underground dungeon bus I’ve sat around waiting for one and then two have arrived simultaneously to provide me with a headache and a quandry… which shall I buy? Which is… well… best? Well, I’m happy to say they are both excellent and they both cover slightly different demographics, so worry not fellow vanquisher, for the answers are below!

Firstly, for clarity, you may want to also take a look at our “Orcs Must Die!” review. It’s only fair you have all the fantasy tower defense actioner information at your disposal…

Anyway, let’s get back to Dungeon Defenders, as that is what you came here for after all!

This one really does have something for everyone, you can get your tower defense kicks whilst also enjoying some competent first person mayhem with up to 3 other like minded… well… dungeon defenders.

So, what to expect? Well this looks and feels like a mix between Gauntlet, Torchlight and Defense Grid, which just happen to be 3 of my favourite games of all time!

The basic premise is that there are a fixed number of maps which each have both set spawn points for monsters and fixed “Ethereal Crystal” locations, it is then the players job to place traps, towers and defenses between the spawn points and crystal(s) such that the monsters are not able to destroy the crystals. The crystals are fairly hardy, but at higher difficulties must be constantly monitored and protected. Each game is comprised of multiple “waves” of enemies between which are “building phases” which allow players to build, upgrade or repair their defenses. There, that’s simple enough isn’t it! Well, yes, but of course there is more.

Dungeon Defenders... Defending you Dungeon from goblins, orcs, dark elves, ogres and flying thingies...

The game really comes alive with the development of your character(s), which you can actually switch in and out during the building phase before each wave, each character has not only skills, but a variety of defenses, powers, a huge variety of equipment options and even the choice of a pet to assist them. Combining the random item generator, for both weapons and armour, with the myriad, and refreshingly frequent, skill upgrade options provides for as lively a “post-game” life as that experienced during play itself, and encourages the maintenance of a “roster” of different characters.

Graphic style is bright and varied without detracting from the task in hand, and whilst things can get very hectic this is still at manageable pace even for those new to the genre, as whilst it is quite possible to go down an “FPS” only route, making your character a one-person killing machine, or specialise in defenses and let your traps do the damage it is best to have a mix of both so that your defenses do the bulk of the work freeing you to respond to any tricky situations, prioritise targets (such as healers & flying units) and focus on bosses when they appear.

It should be noted that whilst most of your tactical work should take place in the “building phase” between waves it is quite possible to deploy, repair and upgrade traps “on the fly” during combat, although this is a much slower process mid-fight, prone to frequent disruption / interrupts and a fairly dangerous pursuit in the heat of battle.

It's not all just shooting, you have to setup your defenses too... (and then move them when you realise you messed up...)

The main combat mechanic centers around the destruction of the invading monsters, which then drop crystals, which you auto-pickup when nearby, providing you with resources to manage your defenses, use skills (including healing yourself) and, in the meta-game, buy and upgrade equipment.

The game gracefully auto-scales to fit your party size and power and with the rich choice of character classes provides a veritable feast of co-op mayhem, last-second saves and enjoyable teamwork. As I’ve already mentioned however, if you are keen to ensure your single player experience is the best possible you would do well to at least consider & compare “Orcs Must Die!”… our review of which will be linked to tomorrow in the fourth paragraph at the top of this page…

Anyway, when developers get the simple things right the complex things then tend to work well and add to the experience, this is certainly a game where simplicity is king, but also one where I, for one, spend almost as much time comparing looted equipment stats to actually defending any dungeons!

Review Round-Up

Graphics – 4/5: Beautiful, if a little cartoony for some, but, in reality, this only adds to the charm and clarity of what could otherwise be total confusion.

Sound – 3/5: It’s all there, and ship-shape, special mention for the Tavernkeep who ranks up there with the merchant in the Resident Evil 4 for enjoyably trite one liners…

Gameplay – 4/5: There’s towers to be built, weapons to be selected, stats to be tweaked, pets to raise, your very own tavern to kick back in… good times people… good times…

Longevity – 4/5: Might have scored a 3 here, had it not been very clear that Trendy are totally committed to adding to the game on an ongoing basis, with almost MMO levels of content being added since release long may this continue…

Overall: 4 waves out of 5

Whether you prefer tower games or shooters, RPG or FPS, MMO or single player there really is something for everyone… just remember that in the heat of battle a repaired defense is worth 2 or 3 newly built ones, be it your own or another players… be a mender amigo… and you will enjoy great victory and defend… many… a… dungeon?

-Richard “Rax” Burley
@Raxous

Is it wrong I sort of waited 'till nearer Christmas just so I could append this? Anyway, Merry Christmas one and all!

Trine 2 is coming to you on... the...

Confirmation of Trine 2 release dates across some platforms / regions direct from FrozenByte;

PC & Mac: Tomorrow! (7th December 2011)
PSN (NA): 20th December
XBL: 21st December
PSN (EU): Unconfirmed… boo…

Cheque books at the ready!

- Richard “Rax” Burley
@Raxous

Skyrim mods via Steam Workshop... A dream combination? Yes indeedy!

Bethesda have announced that fully integrated modding for Skyrim will be delivered via Steam using Bethesda’s very own “Creation Kit”.

Features of Steam Workshop, which will be used to deliver and manage these mods, is going to include the ability for users to submit, browse, rate, and download mods.

This is the best possible scenario for modders, players and indeed everyone who’s interested in Skyrim in any capacity!

For full details head on over to Bethesda’s offical blog entry on the matter!

- Richard “Rax” Burley
@Raxous

Trine for me and Trine for you! Trine 2 is better with... erm... 2?

News has reached newbHQ of a very welcome addition to one of our games to watch for December.

Trine 2, sequel to the Frozenbyte’s 2009 breakout hit, will feature not only all the fantastic multi-player fun from the original, but now also support this co-operative play across platforms!

We are strong supporters of cross-platform play in any form, and when this occurs in such an exciting game it’s all the better!

Bring on December 6th!

Richard “Rax” Burley
@Raxous

5 Million users already and Battlefield 3 hasn't released yet!

EA have published their user numbers for Origin and it seems they have made the right moves in recent months with it’s user base hitting a cool 5 million in the last few days.

The inevitable comparison will be with Steam’s 35 million odd users, but one must remember that Steam started accepting users in 2003 and Origin only opened it’s doors this year. So Steam’s 8 year head start easily accounts for the difference.

With EA’s stated aim to have Origin feature matching Steam by end of 2012 there is still a lot of work to do, and Origin is due a severe test when Battlefield 3 launches shortly.

All in all the added competition provided by Origin is likely to improve user experience in the digital download market, with Steam particularly likely to continue pushing their features, value and portfolio as they address the challenges Origin’s emergence levels at their position.

- Richard “Rax” Burley
@Raxous

The cost of this superb game has dropped... seemingly... as... if... through... a... sorry... Portal.

Steam, never ones to rest on their laurels, have come up with a particularly good deal for one of the best games of the year, Portal 2.

This one is pretty simple in our opinion; If you are a PC gamer and don’t already own Portal 2, but have some spare pennies, you should invest in it right now, you won’t regret it. Fact.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/620/

- Richard “Rax” Burley
@Raxous

Skyrim In-Depth...

Following on from Eurogamer 2011 last week a number of The Elder Scrolls fans have come together and created a breakdown of some of the things learnt about the Racial Abilities and Perks in the game from their playthroughs;

Racial Abilities;

Argonians: Histskin (regenerate health quickly), resist disease 50%, breathe underwater
Breton: “Dragonskin” absorb spell’s magika and resist shock.
Dark Elves: “Ancestor’s Wrath”; Surround yourself in fire and resist fire.
High Elves: Regenerate Magicka more quickly.
Imperial: “Voice of the Emperor”; Find more coins when looting.
Khajiit: Night vision and claw attacks.
Nord: Battlecry.
Orc: Beserker.
Redguard: Adrenaline Rush.
Wood Elves: Resist poison & disease and command animals.

So no real surprises here, but nice to see the different “recommended” play-styles starting to emerge.

Perks;

Alchemy
- Potions 20% stronger (5 ranks)
- Potions for restore health, magicka or stamina are 25% more powerful (maybe ranked)
- Poisons 25% more effective (maybe ranked)
- Poisons last for twice as many hits
- Two ingredients are gathered from plants
- 50% resistance to all poisons
- All negative effects removed from potions and all positive removed from poisons
- 2 effects of an ingredient are revealed when testing it for the first time (instead of just one)

Alteration
- Novice for 50% less etc
- Alteration spells have greater duration (probably ranked)
- Absorb 30% magicka that hits you

Archery
- Bows do 25% more damage
- Zoom in
- Zooming slows time
- 10% crit chance
- Move faster with drawn bow
- Recover twice as many arrows from dead bodies
- Chance of paralysing for few seconds
- Draw bow 30% faster

Conjuration
- Novice for 50% magicka etc (up to Master)
- Dual casting overcharges –> greater spell effect
- Bound weapons do more damage
- Bound weapons cast Soul Trap on target
- Bound weapons banish certain creatures
- Reanimate undead with 100 more health
- Summon 2 Atronachs or reanimated zombies
- Summon Atronachs at twice the distance
- Summoned Atronachs twice as strong

Destruction
- More damage for each school (fire, frost and shock) – ranked
- Novice for 50% magicka etc.
- Shock damage chance to disintegrate targets if their health is under 10%
- Frost damage chance to paralyse targets if health low
- Fire damage chance to make low health enemies flee
- Place runes 5x farther away

Enchanting
- Enchants are 20% stronger (ranked)
- Enchanted armour 25% stronger
- Soul gems provide magicka for recharge
- Death blows to creatures but not people trap souls for weapon recharge
- Health, magicka and stamina enchants stronger
- Extra effect on already-enchanted weapon can be applied
- Shock, Frost and Fire enchants 25% stronger (individual perks for each element) (probably ranked)

Heavy Armour
- Increase armour rating 20% (5 ranks)
- Unarmed attacks with heavy armour gauntlets – damage increased by gauntlets’ armour rating
- Half fall damage if all in heavy armour
- Heavy armour weighs nothing and doesn’t slow you at all
- Additional 25% armour if in matching set
- 25% armour bonus if all in heavy armour (not necessarily matching)
- 50% less stagger if all in heavy armour
- 10% damage reflected back to enemy if all in heavy armour

Illusion
- Dual casting overcharges effect for more powerful spell
- Cast Novice spells for 50% less magicka
- Cast Apprentice spells for 50% less magicka
- Cast Adept, Expert, Master etc spells for 50% less magicka (more levels this time around)
- Spells work on higher level animals
- Spells work on higher level people
- All spellcasting (from ANY school) is done silently
- Spells work on undead, daedra and automatons
- Fear spells work on higher level enemies

Restoration
- Healing spells also restore stamina
- Novice for 50% less magicka (ranked)
- Healing spells do 50% more healing
- Magicka is partially recharged with each healing spells
- Spells more effective against undead
- Once a day chance to autocast 250HP restoration when health drops low
- Magicka regenerates 25% faster

Sneak
- 20% harder to detect (ranked)
- Sneak attacks do 6x damage with 1h weapons
- Sneak attacks with bows do 3x damage
- Sneak attacks with daggers do 15x damage (end perk on skill tree)
- Noise from armour reduced 50%
- No longer activate pressure plates
- Sprinting while sneaking performs silent forward roll
- Running does not affect detection chance
- Crouching can make hostile enemies lose sight of you and search for a target

Speech
- Buying and selling price 10% better (5 ranks)
- 10% price buying from opposite sex
- Invest in shops and increase available gold permanently in invested stores
- Master Trader – every merchant in world gains 1000 gold for bartering
- Buy and sell from any merchant regardless of what they normally buy and sell
- Intimidation attempts twice as successful
- Persuasion attempts more likely successful

Two-Handed Weapons
- 2h weapons do 20% more damage (5 ranks)
- Attacks with warhammers ignore 25% armour (ranked)
- Attacks with battleaxes do extra bleeding damage (ranked)
- Attacks with greatswords do extra critical damage (ranked)
- Power attacks cost 25% less stamina
- Standing power attacks do 25% bonus damage, chance to decapitate
- Sprinting power attacks do double (critical) damage
- Sideways power attacks hit all targets
- Backwards power attacks have 25% chance of paralysis

Here we have real depth of detail and so we all have enough to really start thinking about which way to go with our characters when the game releases later this year.

What will you choose? How will you play?

- Richard “Rax” Burley
@Raxous

(The credit for all this must go to Sammuthegreat on the official Bethesda Skyrim forums for all their hard work in collating this info!)

Origin may be getting the front pages, but Steam is still innovating...

Steam have just launched an innovative new feature bringing a “Swap Shop” to digital platforms for the first time.

In addition to trading one game’s items amongst other players of that game, players will also be able to trade items across games, and indeed, games themselves.

So with the possibility of say… erm… trading a Team Fortress 2 hat for example, this might be tradable for; another hat within TF2, a hat from a different game (maybe a Brink bandanna?), or indeed a full copy of “HAT: A Warm Headed Tale” an exciting new hat trading game coming soon to Steam.

The possibilities are seemingly endless with the ability to “stock up” on amazing offers for later distribution / swapping things really do start getting complicated… and exciting!

Another move in the right direction of giving players as much digital freedom and flexibility as the want! Go Steam!

- Richard “Rax” Burley

Ooops... more fun being had... at us user's expense...

So, we’ve all heard of Crysis 2 dropping off Steam, and that Battlefield 3 may well be giving Steam a miss, but now Dragon Age 2 has mysteriously disappeared from Steam.

This is most likely a continuation of the “debate” between EA & Valve around who controls patching & user communication when Steam is delivering a game to a user, this is double-likely as the most recent DLC for Dragon Age 2 has just launched.

So where will this go? Will EA actually risk taking ALL their properties off Steam? Seems its heading that way. Although they will likely wait until Origin is a bigger player in the market. With Battlefield 3 looking like an Origin exclusive when it releases end of October, this may well happen before the year is out.

- Richard “Rax” Burley

Originally created in 1998, Abe’s Exoddus tells the story of Abe, one of a race known as the Mudokons; small, blue (or green), nature-loving creatures who are being enslaved by the Glukkons; large brown monsters who wear suits and walk on their hands.

Abe must travel through a number of different environments in order to rescue the spirits of dead Mudokons, whose bones are being dug up and used to make alcoholic beverages.  Along the way, Abe must dismantle and destroy a series of evil corporations and free his enslaved brethren from the deadly Sligs, cybernetic slugs wielding automatic shotguns.  The characters in this game are some of the weirdest and most unique you’ll ever see, from the aforementioned Sligs, to their bipedal, ravenous canine companions the Slogs, to the beak-headed, desert-roaming Scrabs.

The environments are well-imagined, ranging from barren wastelands to high-tech facilities, and the story is brilliant, filled with wonderfully dark humour and some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments right up until the last cutscene. The only criticism I have for the story is that it’s very similar to that of the previous Oddworld game, Abe’s Oddysee. While Exoddus has more happening, the basic plot of saving Mudokons and destroying factories remains the same.

The game focuses on platforming and puzzles, hence it’s classification as a puzzle-platformer. The player controls Abe as he runs, jumps, rolls, sneaks and talks his way through a number of different 2D environments, interacting with a wide variety of different creatures. Each creature has its own distinct personality which affects the gameplay. Abe’s Exoddus’s Gamespeak feature allows Abe to converse with other characters with simple voice commands, including “Follow me”, “Wait”, “Work”, and a fart button, which is good for a cheap laugh, but also comes in handy midway through the game when you have to clear away some mines and enemies blocking your path. Abe can use these voice commands to interact with characters and use them to try and persuade Mudokons to follow him to safety or get help solve a puzzle. That, or get them to walk into deathtraps for a laugh.

Abe can also possess most enemies during the game, allowing the player to take control of them and use their abilities to progress through an area of the game. Mines blocking your path? Possess an enemy and make them run into it, clearing it away. Possession can also be used for complex tasks, however – for example, possessing a Slig to shoot its way through a crowd of enemies, or possessing a Glukkon to order other enemies around and complete puzzles without fear of being killed by them. There are a wide variety of ways the possession feature can be used in-game, many of which take advantage of the characters’ different personalities and abilities. This adds some variety to the gameplay.

As well as puzzles using possession and Gamespeak, there are also plenty of action-packed platforming sequences. These aren’t just typical, jump from one platform to the next bits (not always, anyway): Abe is surprisingly agile, which is really useful in certain parts of the game. These parts of the game range from sneaking past sleeping enemies, taking care not to set off alarms, to dramatic chase sections, even a few memorable moments involving ploughing through droves of squishy enemies in the Oddworld equivalent of the classic mine cart level. One of the parts that stood out for me was a part of the game where Abe charges through a pitch-black wilderness, being chased by starving wild animals, jumping and rolling to maneuver bits of terrain.This is all seen as a silhouette against the night sky – it looks great, and is a lot of fun when any hesitation could result in Abe falling down a pit or being eaten alive. Like the puzzles, action sections like this are brilliant fun.

The gameplay, while excellent is not perfect. As hinted at in the last paragraph, many parts of the game are extremely difficult, and it can be frustrating to have to replay the same section continuously because you keep being killed by a grenade-throwing slug. Thankfully, this is eased by the Quiksave feature, allowing the player to set a checkpoint at any point, something which was not seen in Abe’s Oddysee. Furthermore, some puzzles, while not very many, do involve a fair amount of repetition, and drag on a bit.

Graphically, the game is sound for its time. The settings look great and build up the atmosphere of the game nicely, especially in the wilderness-themed levels where the desolate backgrounds and terrain emphasise the sense that Abe is completely alone in a strange and hostile land. This is also achieved by the subtle background music, which perfectly fits the different locations, if erring on the side of repeatition at times.

All of these things combine to make Abe’s Exoddus, in my opinion, one of the greatest 2D platformers ever made. On the Playstation, the game comes on 2 discs, and it lasts a long time, especially if you get the bad ending the first time around and go back to find the secret areas which contain Mudokons you can rescue to help get the real ending. I know not very many people have an original Playstation now, but the game is available on Steam and the PSN, so, if you have some extra money and want to play something creative, challenging, and most importantly, really fun, I recommend this game highly.

- Joe Megson

EA Steam issues continue of GameStop just wrong?

GameStop are claiming that digital delivery of Battlefield 3 will be through their own system only and will not be available via Steam.

This seems both unlikely and counter-productive for EA / DICE as Steam is such a dominant force in PC based games content delivery.

It can only further highlight what seems to be continuing difficulties with the Steam / EA relationship.

One interesting sideline not mentioned is that Origin does not come up in the conversation. Why would EA go with GameStop but not Steam? Surely Origin will get first dibs on it? Are DICE involved in this issue?

More on this soon no doubt…

- Rax

This generation of consoles is the first to have easy access to downloadable content as standard across the board. Whether its through Xbox Live, PSN or Steam we are in the lucky position where we can download a new game or new content at the click of a button.

All the major publishers are in favour of downloading as this allows them to sell directly to their customers cutting out their supply chain and potentially increasing their profit margins. Digital copies also mean there is nothing to trade-in, cutting out another section of the market that publishers don’t make any money from.

With all these points in its favour could we conceivably go down the route of digital only console gaming route in the near future?

Digital Downloads – Good and Bad Examples

In order for a company to successfully transition over to a download only strategy, the first objective would be to position the hardware correctly. If this is done well then customers are more likely to be accepting of the new direction the console is moving in.

The iphone/ipad has been phenomenally successful and is a great example of how a platform can operate using a download only model. Creating the price point of 59 pence as an entry point was genius as it allowed the developers to create short yet fun games which people would happily hand over money for. This was a refreshing change from the days where it would cost you a fiver to put Tetris or Snake onto your Nokia hand-set. It has also given us the review quote of “Well its only 59p isn’t it?” to justify the purchase of a new game.

Of course with every successful platform there the abject failures. In this case the prize has to go to the PSP Go. Presumably based on the success of the iphone, Sony put together the latest version of the PSP as a download only handheld. Despite being a superior piece of kit to the earlier PSP models, it sold poorly. Current users were put off upgrading as there was no way transfer your UMD based games to the new system. Customers were also put off by the limited number of games available on PSN compared to those available on UMD. Finally the prices charged on PSN were little different to the price of the games in the shops, giving little reason to switch to a download only platform.

More like PSP Gone!

So the moral of the story here is that if you want your platform to work you need to make sure you have the set-up to support it in terms of both supply and pricing.

Digital versus physical copies

So why should you stick to buying games in shops rather than downloading them?

Although it may be considered old fashioned, buying a physical copy of a game has a number of advantages. Firstly you have the ability to sell/trade a game in once you have completed it (or before if you’ve unintentionally bought a piece of rubbish). This gives you the chance to reinvest the money into new games and potentially allows you to play more games than if you were to only buy brand new games.

Another good reason is the price disparity between the two mediums. Take Infamous 2 for example, on the week of its release it was being sold at £35 at Amazon compared £49.99 for the downloadable version on PSN. Even a quick look in GAME showed it on sale there for £40. With this much price difference I cannot see any compelling reason to buy this digitally.

Physical items also depreciate in value as retailers and distributors try to sell old stock in order to free up space for new releases. Mass Effect 2 on PS3 recently dropped below the £25 mark (Amazon) whereas the digital copy is still retailing at £47.99.

One final reason is that people like to have collections of games and like to be able to lend their copies to friends. Having a massive collection of games is much more appealing to hoarders such as myself, compared to having a digital screen or virtual shelf to browse through.

Large collections, such as this one, may soon be a think of the past

Digital downloads do have their own advantages though, the first being that you can fit your entire games collection on a hard drive or device. For those readers that remember PC games that came packaged in something the size of a shoebox, can you imagine if all your games purchases came in these size boxes nowadays?

Digital platforms have also given us the opportunity to play games that would not be suitable for a full price release in the modern age such as Braid or the PixelJunk series. It has also allowed us to experience short but fun mobile games such as Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and Fruit Ninja.

If you had a digital only system you would not be limited on availability of a new release. Want that rare J-RPG that only has a couple of thousand copies being released in the UK? Well now that’s no longer a problem. For people living in remote areas or are unable to get to the shops due to a disability then a downloaded game can be instantly available.

Conclusion

Although downloads continue to grow in importance within the games industry, they  are unlikely to overtake physical purchases anytime soon. Although digital versions have several advantages, the clincher has got to be the price.

Until the price of triple-A titles such as Infamous 2 or Mass Effect 2 is significantly lower than their retail counterparts, I see no reason for purchasing them digitally. That said I will continue to buy smaller less expensive games over PSN, Steam and iTunes.

The positives are that digital downloads provide us a medium in which to expand our gaming experience through DLC packs as well as giving smaller developers the chance to publish games that would otherwise not get to market. However the collector in me doesn’t plan to switch over just yet.

- Dan Gurney

OK, cool, but I'm guessing I don't actually have to go outside right?

Steam are awesome, and that be a fact (mi’ hearties…).

One of the many things that makes them thus is that they don’t just sit back and rake in the dollars from providing the best pc game download service out there atm, but they also put on crazy-fun (yes, that is a word…now…) events, sales, offers and challenges.

The latest and greatest of these is their fresh & hot off the presses; “Summer Camp” sale / challenge / lottery…

I could explain, but I’m off to get achievements to acquire tickets to enter draws to win games and free game content and stuff…

So just check it out here alright… geez… cut me some slack already!

See? Awesome… we did warn you atop the article mi’ salty barnacle lubbers…

- Rax

The most fun you can have online? Erm... yes indeedy!

If you have a PC, and enjoy any of the following, you NEED to download this and get stuck in, we promise it’s 100% awesome;

- Shooting people
- Tactical gameplay
- Gaining achievements
- Working collectively
- Unique classes
- Ambushing others
- Building things
- Healing buddies
- Wearing hats
- Making stuff
- Collecting drops
- Oddball humour
- Sound effects
- Backstabbing snipers
- Sniping enemies
- Cloaked sneaking
- Big guns
- Melee combat
- Ranged warfare
- Fish slapping
- Flame throwers
- Rocket launchers
- Strategic thinking
- Laughing alot
- Seasonal events
- Fantastic communities
- Excellent developers
- Mods galore

Thank us later… why not buy us a hat?

Further details here: http://www.teamfortress.com/freetoplay

- Rax

The opening salvo of the looming war has been fired...

In what many are saying is in direct response to Steam’s announcement, yesterday, that they were launching a “Free-to-Play” initiative, EA have today mysteriously “withdrawn” Crysis 2 from sale via Steam. Furthermore they now list Crysis 2 as “only on Origin” in it’s product information page, despite the fact it can still be acquired from number of other direct download vendors… EA are clearly not particularly concerned with Valve’s “experience” of their mutual (for how much longer) relationship…

We say? Want an EA game on Steam? Buy it quick!

- Rax

Let's hope there's even more where that came from!

That purvayor of all things digitally gamingesque, Steam, has only gone and started doing free snuff stuff! Hurrah!

With 5 games now free to play on the platform one can only imagine that Valve will find some more free electronic goodness for all us loyal slaves citizens…

The current crop are: Spiral Knights, Forsaken Worlds, Champions Online: Free for All, Global Agenda: Free Agent, and Alliance of Valiant Arms… yeah we’re not that bothered either… but we’ll ceartainly be taking a deeper look!

I Steam, you Steam, we all Steam for more nice Steam!

- Rax

Real Time Strategy games like Starcraft and Command & Conquer have always maintained a strong but niche fan-base when compared to other genres. They require intelligence, creative thinking and careful planning in order to maximize success on the battlefield, something which I and many other gamers may have trouble grasping at first.

Frozen Synapse is a new top down RTS shooter with the tagline “The Ultimate Tactical Game”. Developed by indie developer Mode 7 Games, Frozen Synapse breaks the mold and shatters the perceptions we have had of turned based strategy games in the simplest of ways, including some intriguing new features which, surprisingly, weren’t included in many RTS games to have come before it. It’s refreshing and it sets an example of how RTS games can and should be done. There’s no micro management of entire towns, no resources to collect or tanks to build, no large maps, in fact it can hardly be classed as an RTS at all, it’s carved out a new niche for itself.

Initially the game can be a little confusing, and it certainly takes a little getting used to. You may want to watch the clear and concise tutorials a few times, which can be accessed in game or online at any point. There’s a lot to take in; you’ll have a small squad in your command and you’ll need to control everything including the direction soldiers are looking, the amount of time they wait at each waypoint, and instructing where to duck behind cover. Everything a person would do to survive a firefight is controlled by you and, once you pick up the basics, you begin to see just how much potential Frozen Synapse has.

The gameplay succeeds where others have failed because you’re not engaged in long, drawn out military battles, with hundreds of soldiers, vehicles, buildings and other components for you to micro manage. All of that has been stripped away, leaving you in a scenario which everyone can come to terms with very quickly, maximising the fun factor and reducing the time needed to actually think. It is still entirely turn based of course, but you can work with your instincts instead. Simply put, it’s all about placement, timing and prediction.

The key to survival is to be aware of what is happening at all times

You use the mouse to set way points with a left click, and multiple options for what you want that unit to do once they reach that waypoint open up with a right click. All units can be told whether to ‘engage on sight’, starting an entertaining firefight whenever an enemy comes into range, or you can set units to ‘continue on sight’, which basically makes them ignore enemy units focusing instead on getting to cover and repositioning themselves. You can have as many waypoints as you like, all joined together forming a route your units will take, and here lies one of the game’s major pitfalls. You will need to make lots of mental notes on where every member of your squad is moving to and what they are doing, because in a single turn, your entire game plan could be flipped upside down.

Suddenly a unit that was once in cover is now exposed, but they’re going to continue on with your previous orders unless you tell them otherwise. One of the key factors to success is simply to know what your units are doing at all times and adjust accordingly to the situation. Snipers have long range weapons, rockets can destroy cover, grenades ricochet of walls, shotguns are short range, while machine gunners mid range. Knowing exactly who your squad members are, what they can do, and what they are currently doing is absolutely vital.

The fleshed out campaign mode has 55 maps to work your way through, with all of them being quite challenging (even the first level can prove to be rather difficult) but there’s something acutely gratifying about the way in which the game presents you with a problem, making you envision all the possible outcomes, create a plan of attack and then execute it with precision, leaving only glowing red corpses behind. You’ll have to save hostages, hack computers, blow stuff up, and there will be plenty of surprises along the way. It’s oddly immersive considering how simple the games design is, probably due to the sheer amount of concentration needed.

The rather featureless maps aren’t a complete let down, they’re certainly good looking and the A.I opponents are constantly adapting throughout becoming more and more unpredictable. In fact I think it’s the first game I’ve played in a long time where the human opponents you’ll face in multiplayer are actually stupider than the A.I. However, after a while the game’s campaign loses its appeal as you progress, becoming repetitive and frankly a little bland.

The story is your typical near-future cyber-espionage action-thriller

The story revolves around mega-companies warring in virtual space with dueling AIs so as to effect the outcome of the real world in… err… the stock market or something. Dialogue is delivered with blue text box’s, sticking to the futuristic-yet-retro tone. It’s not particularly gripping and it’s not at all different from the experience you have in multiplayer but I wouldn’t hold that against it. Avoiding prolonged sessions is an excellent idea if you want to maintain it’s appeal. This is where Frozen Synapse’s multiplayer really shine through and becomes its biggest attraction.

As the game starts each new level will be randomly generated along with the weapons that your squad will have available. Typically you’ll start with 4 or 5 “Tactics” as your glowing blue soldiers are known, who will be armed with anything from machine guns, sniper rifles, grenades, shotguns or rockets. Your challenge is to use the resources you’ve been given to the best of their potential. You can take your time and plan out each move carefully but you’ll never know if your decisions will pay off. Pressing the space bar will give you a best guess of what might happen and that’s the beauty of the game really, the unknown. Once both parties have submitted their plan and clicked the ‘Prime’ buttom, each turn plays out simultaneously revealing the outcome. If your powers of prediction are functioning properly, your soliders will come out on top. The system looks a lot more complicated than it actually is, especially on face value, there are lots of different factors to take into account, but it’s actually really simple, effective and satisfying when a plan comes together.

Rounds can be over with seconds of them starting, in fact the first multiplayer session I ever played was on “Dark Extermination” mode, which is essentially a deathmatch, the twist being your opponents remain invisible until you’ve spotted them, if you lose sight of them only their last known position will appear on the map. As one of my match’s began my opponent randomly launch a rocket across to the other side of the map without any idea where I was and by chance he hit the building I had chosen to hide all of my troops in; it was bad luck that let me down and it was highly amusing.

You’re constantly engaged in a battle of second guesses and psychology, you need to think about what you would do if you were in your opponent’s shoes. Other game modes include ‘Charge’, at the start you will bet on how far you units can make it from point A to point B without being destroyed, and your opponent will do the same. You simply have to make sure you get to that distance without dying to win. ‘Hostage’ is just as it sounds: upon the start of a match the enemy will have hostages held captive in their base, in order to win you can to wipe out the enemy team who will be trying to defend their captives with all their might. There are 5 multiplayer modes and each one can be played in ‘Dark mode’ giving a total of 10. The gameplay doesn’t really shift dramatically during each mode, all you have to do really is kill everyone that is not on your team, it’s the way in which each round plays out that keeps you coming back, you never know what is going to happen.

Frozen Synapse is also a very social game, one which I feel encourages sportsmanship and more sophistication than an Xbox Live party. When you join a multiplayer session you’ll be able to chat with your opponent via a text chat window or even open an IRC chat with all the players that happen to be online in that server at that moment if you like. It doesn’t even matter if you quit a game halfway through all of the turns are saved onto a server database, so if you’re playing a game but need to go and mow the lawn or make a cup of tea the game will continue without you. Your opponent will make his turn and you’ll get an email informing you of this, then you can return to the same match at any time to finish it. It often means you become engaged in battles with a dozen players at the same time, you’ll get a little pop up window appear in the lower left hand corner when an opponent challenges you and there’ll always be different games to play and things to do. On the flip side if your more of a casual gamer, one match could last a whole week if you like.

When the two opposing forces meet there will be explosions galore

Frozen Synapse boasts friends lists, the ability to rate and comment on games, rankings systems, Facebook + Twitter integration, instant match making (of course), and you can even export a video of your match straight to Youtube (in fact, heres a little video of some gameplay footage featuring myself vs fellow Newbreview writer, Kieran Roycroft) and the games specs mean it will probably run on any PC or Mac in the last decade. Mode 7 Games have pretty much ensured the game covers all areas and bases. It doesn’t exactly add anymore depth, but it turns the game into a tasty cake with lots of layers to work through.

Now we come to one of the games staple features, its brilliant sound design. It’s completely original and evocative, composed entirely by electronic musician electronic_testpilot. It conjures up memories of Tron, inspiring thoughts of Sci-Fi and futuristic espionage, coming together in a first-class fusion of light and sound which encourages you to be more tactical (as silly as that might sound). With that being said, the music and sound effects aren’t without fault;you don’t get the full cinematic effect from it, which leaves the game lacking a little more atmosphere than is desired. Sometimes you’ll just hear the same tracks far too often.

Frozen Synapse is a perfect alternative to the regular RTS we are all familiar with, the game has broad appeal, and if you’re looking to try something new, or simply want to challenge your powers of deduction and strategy, then Frozen Synapse will deliver that. Did I mention that by purchasing the game you also get a free download code of the game to share with a friend too? One thing is certain, you’ll certainly never be short of rivals.

Review Round-Up

Graphics 3/5 – Clinical, retro (yet futuristic), Frozen Synapse certainly has a unique look which never fails to impress during battle. It’s just a shame there is not more depth. It’s a refreshing look but it can’t hold your attention all night long.

Sound 4/5 - Frozen Synapse has an originally composed soundtrack which does a lot to suck you into it’s Tron-like atmosphere. The explosions and gunshots are enjoyably satisfying but it’s not exactly cinematic.

Gameplay 3/5 - There is a steep learning curve to conquer, but once you do the game becomes simple, intuitive and a surprising amount of fun. However, it just doesn’t differ greatly from single to multiplayer or even in the 10 different multiplayer scenarios. The planning and bluffing of your opponents, and all the catastrophes in between,  makes it enjoyable.

Longevity 2/5 - The social integration and youtube uploader go a long way, as does the difficult 55 mission campaign, and you’re always going to have challenges from other players out there. But the gameplay isn’t as addictive as it could be, all that keeps you coming back are the mind games.

Overall  3/5

Frozen Synapse appeals to a much wider audience that traditional turn based strategy games, it’s superbly accessible and sociable but it will take a while for you to really get used to it’s unusual and unique gameplay. Yet, as original as it is, it’s just a shame there isn’t more depth to the campaign or enough diversity to keep you returning for more turn based tactical action.

-Adam Radcliffe

“Origin”, as it is currently set to be named, will feature a mix of features previously seen on Steam, and add in some of the stuff we are expecting from Activision’s Call of Duty Elite platform, to deliver straight to consumer sales, delivery, social gaming and extended play features.

Challenge Everything? Challenge Steam!

Clearly tired of being the biggest games company in the world, but watching others taking a cut of their assests ast the digitial distribution end EA are cutting out the middle-man…. all of them…

If done well this could result in a real shakeup in a market massively dominated by Steam at the moment, and as such, should be a welcome development for all gamers.

- Rax

Cheap Princes! Get your Cheap Princes here!

Steam have kicked off their latest week long publisher sale by offering the Prince of Persia series at rock-bottom princes… sorry prices.

Ubisoft publish a number of highly successful franchises, so this one is definitely worth keeping an eye on this week.

As you have, likely correctly, surmised, from it’s wildly creative title, this new offer will renew, & thus feature a different game offer, every single day of the year for ever and ever and ever. (Well OK, for the foreseeable future… who knows what will happen to digital game delivery when our benevolent gigantic cyber-cockroach overlords take over the planet?)

Whichever way you cut this can only be good news. Let’s just hope the cuts Steam make are on the dramatic side of the scale so all us economically ravaged game junkies can catch a break!

Stay tuned to The Newb Review for more coverage on this game in the near future.

This will be a week long affair with different games featured each day. If you’re very quick you can still catch Monday’s offer off up to 50% of Dragon Age 1 & 2!

Keep an eye on Steam for the rest of the week too as EA do tend to supply some of the best “bang for buck” game-wise out there these days and at up to 50% off we should definitely all encourage Steam / EA to continue the price lowering trend!

OnLive but without the need for specialist hardware?

A new player in the “play your games remotely” sphere finally broke cover today.

“Gaikai.com” is currently in beta but promises to deliver games remotely to any device simply via it’s browser.

This make a lot of sense as you are no longer tied to your system or the need for specific hardware peripherals, you can just login anywhere and play!

With strong, early support from industry leader EA, this looks like it could be a serious threat to OnLive… having said that Steam is prepping an appearance on consoles already with Portal 2 on the PS3, so how much longer before it starts direct streaming of game-play?

We know what the future is, but who will deliver strongly first and thus get a leap on everyone else as we move inexorably to totally remote gaming via our ever more intelligent TVs, and leave behind our Gaming PCs and Consoles?

I’ve never really understood the title “hack and slash”. To me, hacking and slashing are very much the same movement. But Torchlight is very much of this genre, where you will hack, slash, shoot, laser, explode, shout and drop meteors on a whole range of fantasy creatures all in the name of fame and fortune.

The company behind Torchlight comes from a strong action RPG pedigree; Runic Games features staff who worked on the original two Diablo games, with the game’s development being led by the designer of the cult hit Fate (which Torchlight owes much to).

The plot of the game is minimal but still worth noting. You play one of three adventurers; The Destroyer, a melee warrior class, The Vanquisher, a ranged attacker, or The Alchemist, a wizard-cum-engineer. All three of the characters come to Torchlight for the same reason; fame and fortune. The city is built on top of a vast supply of a magical material known as Ember and it is this material that drives the story. There’s your typical evil character who has become corrupted, and his former student who must take him down. The story is nothing to write home about but it isn’t supposed to be; the real star of the show is the gameplay.

You can map two spells or attacks to your right mouse button, whilst the left is used as your vanilla attack. You can also put your potions and other spells, like summoning a group of skeletons to help you fight, along the number keys. Ultimately the combat boils down to clicking and switching between moves. It is likely that you will favour one move over most others. Playing as the Alchemist I found myself almost relying on the Ember Lance move to cut through swathes of enemies. This isn’t exactly a problem, since I never stopped enjoying blasting away weird lizard monsters, but the range of other moves at my disposal felt neglected.

Getting your armour to match is a VERY important part of the game

Another one of the games selling points is its use of procedurally generated dungeons. Every adventure you have in Torchlight will be different which, when combined with the three different character classes, adds quite the incentive to give the game at least one more playthrough. The dungeons always feel new, and whilst you will start to recognise the same set pieces popping up in each dungeon section, it’s not jarring enough to make you stop playing. The game also features entirely random weapon drops, and the wide range of weapons available is staggering.  One moment, you’ll find a glove made of bone, the next a quadruple barrelled pistol. Conveniently, you can share armour between the different character classes in your game through the use of a shared treasure stash.

Torchlight has a very distinctive look, coming somewhere in between World of Warcraft and Diablo. The characters are all sat in the “cartoony” region, but are well-defined and well-realised. Each set of floors of the dungeon has its own theme, from the early abandoned mines, to the fallen cities of lava and the waterlogged, overgrown ruins, which all also carry a specific theme of enemy. Whilst it’s fun to battle huge rooms of tiny enemy cannon fodder, sometimes this can get a little overwhelming, and you lose track of where you are. Of course, this is nothing a little hand laser can’t solve…

"BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!"

On release, this game garnered an awful lot of criticism for having no multiplayer functionality, and even as a long time anti-multiplayer proponent, I can see the point people were making; Torchlight would be fun to play with a friend. However this doesn’t stop the game itself being an awful lot of fun on its own. I can’t help feeling, in some situations, having another person running around with you would just make the whole thing far too confusing to be enjoyable. Anyway, the game allows you to summon robots. That’s far better than a human meatbag running around with you.

Review Round Up

Graphics: 4/5 A nice graphical style gets everything across, with a neat UI that borders on the right side of cluttered

Sound: 3/5 Some nice tunes, but nothing particularly noteworthy. Voice acting minimal, but still nicely done.

Gameplay: 4/5 Hack, slash and repeat but it’s a formula you can’t hate. Executed perfectly, and great fun to master tactics

Longevity: 5/5 With procedurally generated dungeons, epic amounts of loot and three different character classes to get to grips with, you could be playing forever.

Overall: 4.5 enchanted swords out of 5

Torchlight has an awful lot going for it; a sturdy combat system, a clever dungeon mechanic and an ultimately enjoyable storyline. A lot of action RPG fans dismissed it as a Diablo Lite, only good to fill the gap until Diablo 3 comes out, but it’s not the case; Torchlight could be the next big thing.

Stay tuned to The Newb Review as we will be featuring our review of the revamped Xbox Live Arcade version of Torchlight on Friday 4th March.

-Eddie Johnston

Gabe Newell & his alter ego Gordon Freeman?

Valve /Steam founder Gabe Newell spoke to Forbes Magazine in an interview they will be running in their February 28th issue detailing what it’s like to be awesome, clever, innovative and rich whilst also nearly going blind.

In an article pithily entitled “The Master of Online Mayhem” Forbes encourages Gabe to speak in detail about his company, his vision & his condition.

Along side his serious discussion of Fuchs Dystrophy, a disease that destroys the cornea and the double cornea transplants that changed his life in 2006 and 2007, he also touches on the move from retail to digital (topical considering digital game sales having recently overtaken retail sales), and takes us through the rise & rise of Valve itself and its now market dominant Steam digital distribution platform.

If you’d like to know even more, and you probably should, it will be good for you you know, grab the whole write-up, well in advance of the magazine’s publishing, right here.

Is this good or bad news?

We’re please to say it’s good news!

With Amazon’s collosal market buying power, huge private cloud infrastructure and existing digital music sales combined with lovefilm’s expertise in both physical & digital distribution of video and current contracts with all the movie / TV studios we should see an explosion in availability of fresh movies & TV shows available on demand via LOVEazon, which can only be a good thing…

Is that Sky I can see looming nervously in the background of this news story? Crossing it’s fingers and praying Amazon don’t go direct to sports organisations as well and steal it’s one remaining strength…

Oh and is that Steam, checking it’s got it’s keys in it’s pocket? Off to place a huge bet at the bookies that Amazon begin digital game distribution within the next 24 months…

Anyway, add this to the cross-platform capability of Portal 2 and Valve’s latest offering looks like going from strength to strength!

“This is big news for us: being on Steam means that Frozen Synapse has a much better shot at reaching a significant audience,” said Mode 7’s Joint Managing Director Paul Taylor.  “We’d like to thank Valve and also all of the members of our community who have championed the game.”

Valve have offered a free Steam key for Frozen Synapse to anyone purchasing it direct from www.frozensynapse.com, where it is currently available for pre-order. This will enable everyone to receive the benefits of the Steam version with no extra cost, as all existing Mode 7 customers will all also receive a key.

According to their press release, Mode 7 are currently working on the single player campaign side of the game, which will see players take on a variety of missions, from escorting VIP’s to defending against all-out rocket launcher attacks.  They have released some initial details and a new screenshot on their IndieDB page.

The developers are urging fans to support them in their bid to become IndieDB Indie of the Year – details available on the IndieDB page above.

Frozen Synapse will be released on PC and Mac in Q1 2011. It is currently available for pre-order, with all customers receiving instant access to the beta and a free full copy of the game for a friend.

Mode 7 co-founder Paul Taylor wrote an article for us giving his advice for aspiring game designers on how to get in to the games industry, which you can read here. We also have an indepth interview with Mode 7 Games discussing their plans for Frozen Synapse, which can be read here.

Game

It’s often said you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and with games that saying holds true. Graphics aren’t the be all and end all in games, which is one of the reasons going back and visiting classic games is so great. However, wouldn’t it be nice to go back and play the game in shiny new HD graphics, with all new voiceovers? Monkey Island 2 Special Edition does exactly that.

Following the success of last year’s The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition, MI2:LR SE (phew) follows suit by applying a new lick of paint to a classic point and click adventure. For the unaware amongst us, MI2 follows mighty pirate Guybrush Threepwood as he sets out on a brand new adventure to find the lost pirate treasure of Big Whoop. Along the way he’ll accidentally resurrect his arch enemy LeChuck, cheat in several different contests, get arrested, dive for a shipwreck and put a dog in his jacket for some reason.

Immediately going into the game you’ll find the choice between to control styles. You can opt for a classic point and click interface, but the addition of a new direct control method using the left stick for walking and the right stick for pointer navigation feels a much more natural fit for consoles. Although it takes some getting used to fully navigate a 2.5D environment, it’s relatively easy to get used to moving around. When an object is highlighted the appropriate verbs pop up, allowing you to select them. Whilst this does add the benefit of convenience, it somewhat removes the concept of working out what to do with the objects. Of course, if this seems unappealing, you could always use the classic control scheme.

The new artwork looks fantastic and is a perfect tribute to the original. Beautiful backgrounds fit perfectly with smoothly animated character models, which have been improved dramatically. Guybrush’s walking animation is noticeably smoother, as well as having a brilliantly designed character model (no foot-high quiff in sight). As expected, you can switch back and forth between the two art styles, giving you the option to experience the game in its original pixelated glory. This time round, the option to keep the new voice work with the classic art style exists, although in my opinion, the two don’t seem to work too well together.

The help centre at Disneyland gets worse every year...

The music and voice work are both worthy of note. All the classic voice actors, from Dominic Armato to Earl Boen, return to play their appropriate parts, and do so with an appropriate amount of pirate gusto. There really isn’t a weak actor among them, and Phil LaMarr gives a fantastic performance as Captain Dread. The music has been entirely rescored and really adds to the atmosphere of the game. The iMuse system, which moves the song into a variation specific to a certain location, is still present and works even better with the new music. The main theme over the end credits was fantastic, but did most definitely not bring a tear to my incredibly manly eye… Honest.

There is a true bonus to be found, especially if you are playing the game for a sense of nostalgia. Progressing through the story unlocks concept art, will be a joy to look through for fans of the series as it features not only concept art for the updated edition, but also classic sketches for locations by Steve Purcell. The game also features a fantastic, and sometimes hilarious, commentary track by the games’ three creators; Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer. It’s a great little feature that I’d love to see implemented into more games, and really gives a reason to play the game out a few more times.

The hints feature makes a return, as well as a new object highlighting system, which illuminates interactive objects on screen. Whilst many players will have played the game before and will know exactly what to do with the cheese squiggles, it’s nice to see that there’s a helping hand for anyone slightly confused by the games’ sometimes twisted logic (I always thought that sign was just a sign)

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 5/5 – From backgrounds to character models to animations, it’s all beautifully presented with a HD shine.

Story: 5/5 – Possibly one of the greatest stories about pirates ever told;: definitely the funniest.

Gameplay: 4/5 – The new control scheme can take some getting used to, but with the option to switch, it’s still smooth to play.

Longevity: 4/5 – Once you’re done, you’re done, but the commentary is definitely worth a second, or even third playthrough.

Overall: 4.5 Loogies Hucked out of 5 – At the end of the day, if you’ve played Monkey Island 2 before, you’ll probably have loved it, and so playing the Special Edition is a great way to relive the experience with some added extras. If you’ve never played it before (and you really REALLY should have) it’s a great opportunity to experience one of the greatest adventure games ever made.

[starreview tpl=16]

Left 4 Dead 2 was a very popular game among critics, particularly among us here at The Newb Review. This year Left 4 Dead 2 won the prestigious BAFTA (the UK’s equivalent of the Oscars) for Best Multiplayer Game of 2009. So you can imagine out excitement when Valve confirmed that they would be releasing a number of add-ons for this fantastic title. The first piece of downloadable content is The Passing, which has our band of survivors coming across the survivors from the original Left 4 Dead. The tag line for this new act is “no one survives forever” which teases the death of one of the beloved characters… But who?!

Fear not, we will not spoil it for you here.

The Passing features one new act, made up of three new chapters that take place after the survivors escape from the shopping mall in the supped up race car, and before they are forced to abandon it outside the Dark Carnival. Having followed the road straight out of town, our tenacious survivors (Coach, Ellis, Nick, and Rochelle) find themselves at a raised bridge, which is being protected by the original survivors. After a brief cut scene (which on occasion failed to actually load up for me) we are told that the generator that controls the bridge is out of fuel, and that you will have to refuel the generator if you want to get across. Of course, in typical Left 4 Dead Fashion, there are about 1 Billion zombies between you and your objective. By the time you reach your objective you will probably be drenched in Zombie blood, bile, vomit, and an array of nasty bodily fluids. Why are things never easy in the Zombie Apocalypse?

'I think there might be some zombies out there...'

The three chapters feature everything you have come to expect from Left 4 Dead 2: dimly lit streets, a raging storm, and Zombies… Lots and lots of Zombies. All of the Special Infected return, including the veteran Boomers, Smokers, Hunters, the dreaded Tank and Witch (who has had something of a makeover for this act) as well as the new kids on the block, Spitters, Chargers, and Jockeys.

On your quest to restart the generator, you will come across lock boxes filled to the brim with supplies, as well as two new weapons; a golf club, and an M60 Machine Gun as well as a new type of uncommon infected, the Fallen Survivor. Basically, the Fallen Survivor is a survivor that was not as immune to the virus as he might first have thought. This new zombie takes an awful lot of shooting, but also carries a lot of items, such as health packs, Molotovs, pipe bombs, etc, so coming across him does have its rewards, as well as risks.

The Action is as fast paced and frantic as ever

Also returning are the Survivor messages written on the walls of the safe houses, with one note in particular that will bring a smile to the faces of fans of Capcom’s Dead Rising series.

As well as new achievements, there are some new Avatar costume pieces to unlock, including your very own Gnome Chompski, which will doubtlessly capture the imagination, and trouser contents, of Valve’s more hardcore fans.

All three Maps can be played in the story mode (on your own, in 2 player split screen, or 4 player online), Versus mode (which features a team of survivors VS a team of special infected zombies), Survivor mode (a time attempt to survive as long as possible against the zombie hordes) and Scavenger Mode (in which you must collect as many canisters of gasoline as you can within a set time limit). Arguably the biggest new feature added in this DLC is the Mutations Mode.

The Zombies are clearly big fans of Jazz

A short blog post that is attached to the main menu explains Mutations Mode thusly: Mutations mode takes already established game types, such as Versus, and adds special conditions to them, like a chainsaws only mode. Think of it as being like Golden Gun mode in Goldeneye, or Riot Shields only Modern Warfare 2 matches. Each mutation will last for one week exactly, and once every type of mutation has cycled through, players will be asked to vote for their favourite one. The top user voted Mutations will be made playable again. The first Mutation is Realistic Versus Mode, in which there are no respawns, and no outlines on players or items. In short, Realistic Versus Mode takes away all of the advantages on the Human’s side, making it a very Zombie friendly game mode. With at least six types of mutations confirmed, it is clear that Valve is dedicated towards breathing more life in to Left 4 Dead 2’s multiplayer.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 While the Source Engine that powers Left 4 Dead 2 is showing it’s age, a lot of effort has gone in to making the game look at good as possible, particularly with the design of the levels and characters. Faces look particularly gruesome, and the streets are dauntingly atmospheric.

Sound: 3/5 The music, sound effects, and voice acting are on par with the main game, as you would expect. However, on occasion, I have had a few problems with the noise produced by the raging storm being far too loud, drowning out all of the other sounds in the game. I do not know if it is intentional, but I found it very irritating.

Story: 2/5 Anyone that is playing Left 4 Dead because they are looking for a fantastic in depth story should probably look elsewhere. The story is very basic, and on occasion, a key cut scene at the beginning of the expansion failed to actually let me know what was going on. It’s a good thing that Valve have announced an expansion for the original Left 4 Dead to fill in the gaps in this add-on.

Gameplay: 5/5 While you can play it in single player, Left 4 Dead 2 is best played with other people. A welcome addition included in the 360 version brings an update, which has been available to PC players for some time, that allows any empty spaces in your multiplayer Versus or Scavenge games will be filled with computer controlled bots.

Longevity: 4/5 Your first play through of the Passing will probably last between half an hour and one hour, depending on your skill level. Achievements and Avatar Awards incentivise multiple play throughs of the DLC, while the Mutations mode breathes new life in to the multiplayer modes, both locally and online.

Overall 4 Exploding Boomers out of 5. While there are a few niggling issues: unclear narrative, and the odd sound problem, The Passing brings with it a lot of new features that are fun, engaging, and downright addictive. PC players can install this update for free, while Xbox 360 Owners will have to pay 560 Microsoft Points (about £4.80) for the privilege.

[starreview tpl=16]

Everybody loves achievements, right? Be they the achievements on Steam, World of Warcraft, the Xbox 360, or the Achievements covered in tin foil that are known as PS3 Trophies. The concept of the high score is nothing new to gamers, any one that spent their youth hanging around arcades trying to get on the leaderboards of games like House of the Dead, Street Fighter 2, or Crazy Taxi can attest to that.

With the release of the latest generation of consoles, and the introduction of achievements, the entire concept of the high score has changed. Now rather than just showing off how good we are at one game, we get to show how good we are at games in general, and can compare scores with not only our friends, but the entire world. So yeah, achievements are great. But achievement farming can be a real chore, and there is nothing sadder than playing a bad game in order to get those precious easy achievements – trust me I’ve been there! So, in light of the season, and to follow up on tom01255′s “Confessions of a Trophy Whore”, we here at Newb review thought we would share with you, our beloved readers, a list of games that have easy achievements/trophies, that are also a lot of fun to play. Because while achievements are great, having fun while playing is more important than anything else.

** For the purposes of simplicity I will be mainly talking about the Xbox 360 achievements, however in most cases they are the same for the PS3 trophies and Steam/Games For Windows Live achievements**

BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM (PS3/360/PC)

Arkham Asylum may be a horrible place filled with all of Gotham’s most terrible villains, but there’s also a fantastic game with a number of easily achievements. The majority of the achievements are awarded for playing though the story mode and discovering the Riddler’s riddles, which are all easy enough to find when switching on Detective Vision. There are very few challenging achievements in the form of earning all of the Medals on the combat challenges and beating the game on the highest difficulty. Even when playing on the highest difficulty there was only one instance where I had some difficulty in proceeding. The simplicity of the achievements are only made sweeter by the fact that this is such a well designed game, with a well written story and excellent voice acting to round it all off.

EASY ACHIEVEMENTS: Approximately 500 achievement points are awarded for game completion on Normal Difficulty, with a further 160 points for solving all of the riddles. There are a number of other assorted achievements that you will earn during the single player which will easily bring your total close to 800 points.

DIFFICULT ACHIEVEMENTS: Earning all medals on the combat challenges will take a lot of practice, as will performing a combo that utilises every move in Batman’s arsenal. Once you achieve this, beat the game, find all Riddles, then you will earn the 100% completion achievement.

ASSASSIN’S CREED 2 (PS3/360)

Taking place in the near future, you control Desmond Miles a man who has been placed in a machine called The Animus, which allows him to relive the memories of his ancestors. This time Desmond controls his ancestor in Renaissance Italy, Ezio Auditore, as he seeks revenge on those that betrayed his family. It is a little convoluted, sure, but does that really matter when it is such a well put together game? What makes this sweet game even sweeter? Easy achievements.

EASY ACHIEVEMENTS: On my first play through the game I unlocked a whopping 930 achievement points without putting too much effort in. Most of the achievements are unlocked through playing the game, although there are a few side ones that you should be able to unlock pretty easily.

DIFFICULT ACHIEVEMENTS: Collecting 100 feathers that are strewn out through the world is more time consuming than hard. Once you find all 100, you earn a special cape that is required for unlocking another achievement. Finding all 20 glyphs in the game may take up a little time, but it is not particularly difficult.

FALLOUT 3 (PS3/360/PC)

Bethesda’s post apocalyptic RPG may seem a little dated to some, but it is hard to argue against the game’s quality in terms of achievements! With the release of 5 add ons (Operation Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel, Point Lookout, and Mother ship Zeta) the game now has a total of 1550 achievement points on the 360. If you do not already own the game then it might be worth picking up the Game of The Year edition, which includes all of the add ons. Check with your favourite retailers to see if they have a decent deal for it.

EASY ACHIEVEMENTS: The majority of the achievements are earned through completing missions, with a few achievements awarded for killing set numbers of enemies, and hacking computers or picking locks. Essentially, you just need to play the game to unlock most of them. Having said that, this is a game where it is possible to clock up over 100 hours of play time.

DIFFICULT ACHIEVEMENTS: The hardest achievements in this game are the collection achievements, particularly the Vault Tech Bobble Heads, as a number of them can only be obtained at a set time. If you miss them, then that is it, you cannot get them again without loading up an old save. Which really, really, really, sucks.

BIOSHOCK (PS3/360/PC)

Venturing in to the deep sea city of Rapture, overrun with mask wearing disfigured junkies, can be a frightening experience at times, but these easy achievements will more than make up for any frights you might have. With the addition of a free piece of downloadable content, the game has a total of 1100 achievement points available, with the vast majority of them being pretty easy to obtain. On the PS3 there is a challenge mode downloadable add on that will add about a dozen bronze trophies that seem to be reasonably achieveable.

EASY ACHIEVEMENTS: At least 300 points are awarded to you just for playing through the story missions, with a good 250 to 300 points that you will probably unlock just through playing the game. The other achievements revolve around photographing your enemies enough to learn everything about them, which is not really particularly challenging.

DIFFICULT ACHIEVEMENTS: There are a number of 100 point achievements that you earn for completing the game without using any Little Sisters, and for beating the game on the highest difficulty without using a vita chamber – which essentially means beat the game without dying. It’s not as hard as it may sound – all you need to do is save regularly, and if you die load up an old save.

FABLE 2 (360)

The latest game from British industry legend Peter Molyneaux, Fable 2 is a game where every choice you make has a consequence, be it a change in your own appearance, or the economic fate of a town. As well as being an entertaining fantasy game with light role playing elements, the game also features a ton of easy achievements. Two downloadable add ons have been released which bring the achievement total to 1350. If you purchase the game of the year edition, which includes both add ons, then you are potentially looking at a big pay off from playing this game.

EASY ACHIEVEMENTS: There are dozens of simple achievements that award 5 or 10 points each ranging from shooting rabbits to making love 25 times. Beating the story mode without playing any more side missions than necessary will earn you approximately 400 points, but it would be almost impossible not to pick up a few other achievements along the way. You do not even have to do the achievements yourself in most cases, all you need to do is play a co-op game with someone and have them perform the necessary deed, and the act of witnessing it alone will grant you the achievement.

DIFFICULT ACHIEVEMENTS: One achievement in particular is especially difficult, the doll catcher achievement requires you to trade online in order to own all six in game collectible dolls. Each profile can only unlock one doll and in order to trade you will need an Xbox live gold account. It is incredibly frustrating without first making the proper arrangements online in forums or what have you. The game also includes achievements that are rewarded for destroying 50 gargoyles (and find their hidden treasure), collecting 25 silver keys, and earning all abilities, pet tricks, and expressions, which may take a long time.

And there we have it! A small selection of decent games that will (hopefully) increase your gamerscore as well as bringing you extreme joy. This is of course just a small selection of great games with easy achievements, so if you have any other games to recommend then feel free to leave a comment below. Let us share the love.

Few games this year seem to have been more contentious than Left 4 Dead 2, announced at E3 2009 to what seemed to be a reaction of joy from one section of the crowd, and calls for boycott from another. The key concern from those who were not happy about the announcement was over the short time between the original game, released last year, and this title. The worry was that it would essentially be a full price expansion pack as opposed to a proper sequel (Even though the distinction between the two is hazy at best). So how does Left 4 Dead 2 compare to the original? Is it a full sequel or just an expensive expansion pack?

So what has Valve done to make Left 4 Dead 2 stand on it’s own a proper game in it’s own right? Quite a lot actually, true there is no drastic overhaul of the Left 4 Dead formula but Valve have thrown a huge amount of new content to make the new title worth it. For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the original game you play as a survivor in a zombie apocalypse and you have to shoot your way through the zombie horde and escape with your life. Whilst the original had plenty to do Left 4 Dead 2 packs in so much more content.

First of all it features 5 completely new full campaigns that can be played bothsingle player and co-operatively with 4 other people online. Each campaign takes around 1 hour to play through, which may make the game sound very short, but don’t be fooled. Valve are quite possibly the champions of level design, each map in the campaigns is very well thought out and visually interesting so you won’t get bored seeing them numerous times, also like the previous game it features an AI director, which customises each play-through based upon how well your team is doing to ensure that each time you play the game is unique. Also the AI director has been updates to alter lighting and weather affects, whilst the first game only took place at night time this game has some campaigns in the day and one in particular, Hard Rain, has a brilliant weather system which changes rainfall and visibility based upon how well you are doing in order to make it harder to fit your play style.

Of course as well as having new maps there are also new zombies. Each of the campaigns have their own ‘uncommon common’ infected, these appear more often than the special infected and do different things but are, for the most part, as vulnerable as a standard zombie. To go down the list there are clown zombies, who attract all nearby zombies, Mudmen who hide under the swamp water to ambush you, CEDA agents who wear bio-hazard suits and carry around jars of boomer bile and Security guard zombies who are armored and can only be hurt from behind. Also there are three new special infected, all of which seemed to be designed to split your team up. First is the Charger who runs through the survivors and knocks them aside whilst picking up and running away with one survivor to take them away from the others and does severe damage bashing them into the ground. Then we have the Spitter who, funnily enough, spits a hazardous pool or acid at the survivors causing them to scatter to not get damaged. Finally there is the Jockey who leaps on a survivor and can guide them away from the team and into harms way. All these things put together shows that even in just the offline component, which is only one of four modes has a lot more to offer than before.

To add even more to people who have spent a lot of time playing the original Left 4 Dead and have managed to get very good at it a realism mode has been added. This is a new selectable difficulty which changes many things. First of all the only way to kill a zombie is with a head-shot so you’re going to have to learn to be much more accurate, also there are no messages on screen or any outlines so it can get hard to tell where things like weapons and ammo are as well as telling friend from foe when the zombie horde descend upon you. These changed at first appear slight but drastically change the game into what can be at times frustrating but an incredibly fun mode especially for the more masochistic among us.

Making a return from the last title is the Survival mode, this is very much the same as it was before. It uses the new maps and the new zombies of course but still retains the same basic game-play from the previous game. For those who have not played Left 4 Dead survival mode you are placed in a map where there is no way out and no end what you have to do is survive for as long as possible as wave after wave of enemies come at you. Strategy is key in this mode and it is just as fun as before. Also versus mode is carried across and handles much like it did in the first game. This four vs four competitive multi-player mode pits a team of survivors against other players who play as the infected. It is a lot of fun to play as the infected and creates a whole new style of play as you have much less health as a special infected but can re-spawn so you do have to work together to win the round. Of course you can play as one of the three new special infected as well as any of the original special infected. This mode is still as fun as before.

One of the main differences in Left 4 Dead 2 is that the game takes place during daylight hours

Valve have added an entirely new competitive multi-player mode into the mix, scavenge mode. This mode is prefaced in the first campaign finale where the survivors have to collect fuel tanks to fill up a car to escape. This is the premise of scavenge mode but uses the same multi-player setup with two teams of players, one survivors, one infected, against each other in a short and fun multi-player mode. One problem that the traditional versus mode runs into is that it takes place over the course of a campaign and so does require players to be involved for around an hour or possibly up to two hours, which shuts out people who just want to kill ten minutes or so in a quick multi-player game. Scavenge resolves as it is a time based game where the players take it in turns between survivors and infected and initially have ninety seconds to gather fuel cans with thirty seconds added to the timer for each fuel tank added. This makes it perfect for those who just want to jump in for a quick game to just play a few rounds in scavenge mode.

So is Left 4 Dead 2 worthy of being considered a full sequel in it’s own right? Of course it is. Valve have added so much to the game all the changes that are made are excellently done and add so much to the game in terms of game-play. If you’ve never played Left 4 Dead before there is so many different modes and each difficulty plays differently and the AI director ensures you never have the same experience twice. If you are a Left 4 Dead veteran there is easily enough new content to justify the upgrade.

REVIEW ROUND-UP

GRAPHICS: 5/5 – Top notch not only are the levels all detailed and really interesting the game also manages to put literally thousands of zombies on screen as well.

SOUND: 5/5 – Also top notch a lot of the sound is very subtle but absolutely incredible, the sounds of the zombies as well as the Louisiana-inspired music complement this game perfectly.

GAMEPLAY: 4/5 – You point your cross-hair at a zombie, you shoot the zombie. The game controls as you’d expect and does it very well nothing groundbreaking but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

LONGEVITY: 5/5 – The game is designed to be played online, there are loads of different modes, plenty of maps and so much time to be spent, each play-through is different but if you are not connected to the Internet, you will only get 1/5th of the game.

OVERALL: 5/5 – Amazing, takes one of the best games of last year and improves on it, I will be playing this game for the next few years (until Left 4 Dead 3 comes out) just about everything in the game is perfectly designed and perfectly balanced. It is worth noting that if you do not have online access you will only have access to 1/5thof the total content. It is designed to be played online with friends so if you have internet access and have friends then you need this game.

[starreview tpl=16]