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Metareview: Gears of War 3
The trilogy has concluded, and now that you've read what we had to say about Gears of War 3 it's time you checked in with the rest of the critical community. Were they as enamored of curb-stomping Locusts for a third time? Yes, pretty much. Giant Bomb (100/100): "It answers questions. It leaves things in a dramatically different place than they were at the start of the game. If this were to be the final game in the Gears franchise, it'd be a satisfying place to leave things." Game Informer (95/100): "Doesn't do anything radical, not that anyone expected it to. Only the staunchest Gears haters will find much fault here, though. This is the best execution yet of an idea that spawned one of the biggest modern franchises in all of gaming. What's not to love?" IGN (90/100): "Every third-person, cover-based shooter from here on out will likely be compared to Gears 3, and it provides a fitting and poignant-- if sometimes cheesy -- closing chapter to the trilogy...The noted hitches, design decisions and 'been-there, done-that' feel of much of the content colors the overall experience, but it certainly didn't keep me from having one hell of a good time." Eurogamer (80/100): "In its multiplayer, all you could have reasonably asked for; in its visuals, new heights reached, while cracks of old age are papered over; in its story, a fitting conclusion; and in its campaign, though short of the consistent brilliance of its predecessor, a mostly rousing and memorable spectacle. %Gallery-133846%
Gears of War 3's 'Dust to Dust' trailer is a twangy recap of games past
This latest trailer for Gears of War 3 compiles the events of the first two games -- through the powerful, narrative combo of twangy slow jams and CGI.
Age of Empires Online Season Pass offers all and future available content for one price
Now that the free-to-play Age of Empires Online MMORTS is out (and it's not all bad, apparently), let's start talking about how you can pay for it, shall we? Of course, the game is free to download, and you get the game's two empires to play with right away. But developer Gas Powered Games are working on releasing new content all the time, of course, and Microsoft has announced at Gamescom that those really interested in the game will be able to pick up a "Season Pass" that will grant access to all premium content currently available. That pass will cost $99.99, and last for the first six months of the game. At this point, we only know about a few different content packs, and there's a deal for a free Defense of Crete Booster Pack when you buy both Premium Civs, so everything on the market right now will set you back only about $60. But keep in mind that the Season Pass lasts until February of next year, so everything Gas Powered releases before then is yours to keep. If you like the game a lot, that will probably be worth the deal. One note of warning: Gas Powered also says that buying the Season Pass won't keep you from rebuying content accidentally, so don't forget and buy more stuff when your Christmas cards come in. But hopefully if you spend $100 on a free-to-play game, you won't really be tempted to spend any more than that, right?
Crimson Alliance trailer reveals Gnox the mercenary
Potentially free XBLA dungeon crawler Crimson Alliance's first character trailer reveals what happens when one runs a poker scam in their world. Hint: It involves trekking into dank, dark monster-infested places fraught with danger.
Trenched guide will help you dig in against the Monovision
The good folks over at XBLAFans have assembled a guide featuring everything you need to know about Trenched, Double Fine's excellent shooter/tower defense/World War I/mech mashup title on XBLA. From the Achievements to all of the various unlockable mech parts and soldier gear you can find in the game, this guide has you covered. They've even put some maps together on each of the game's levels, so you can figure out exactly where and when you want to put defenses down against each incoming wave. In other words, if you've got questions about anything in the game, the answers are right there. Now, as for any possible DLC ... well, there is going to be DLC, right, Double Fine?
Alleged Dance Central 2 survey hints at potential feature list
Pretty dark days over at Harmonix recently, but apparently the developer isn't letting the gloom get to its creativity. Kotaku says it has in its possession an email survey from Microsoft Games Studios containing a nice long list of possible features for Dance Central 2, the sequel that's been in "pre-production" since last year. The suggestions run the gamut, from the ability to create custom dances and play as backup dancers -- or even singers! -- to more convenient features like the ability to replay certain sequences or get more specific feedback on your dancing. The survey is also said to mention a number of new game types, including a possible "fitness mode" and a number of online / offline multiplayer contests. Players may be able to connect socially, either through the game itself as Xbox Live Avatars or video silhouettes, or through social networks by sharing video and photos of their dancing. If you've received the survey in question, drop us a line at tips@joystiq.com and attach a screenshot of it. Doing so will have us dancing with gratitude! Thanks to Spencer for the screengrabs below!%Gallery-116001%
Full House Poker preview: Know when to hold 'em
After leaks about the secret beta appeared way back in November, Microsoft finally unveiled its Full House Poker game during an event at CES this past week, and I sat down with members of the gaming press (and celebrity guest Shannon Elizabeth) to run the Xbox Live Arcade poker title through its paces. The rumors of the game being part of 1 vs. 100's legacy are true. "This is pretty much a spiritual successor" to the popular-in-certain-circles event-based massively multiplayer arcade title, says lead designer John Scott Tynes. But rather than a snappy trivia game show, this is definitely a Texas Hold'em poker game -- there's no celebrity hosts or mob members here. If you don't know your straight flush from your two pair, ace high, the game does have a tutorial to teach you the basic rules, but you'll have to find your own way to figuring out when and how to go all-in. %Gallery-113483%
Phil Spencer confident in Kinect: It's 'fundamentally different' from PlayStation Move
Just a few weeks before Kinect's retail launch, Microsoft hosted an event in San Francisco to celebrate the much-anticipated new hardware. There we spoke with Microsoft Game Studios VP Phil Spencer not only about the hands-free camera peripheral, but also the company's success with the "Xbox 360 S" console refresh, Ubisoft's strong Kinect launch lineup and, of course, the PlayStation Move.
Joystiq's Top 10 of 2009: Shadow Complex
In many ways, Shadow Complex finds itself in similar standing as Rock Band and Guitar Hero; it's a style of game Konami has left for its competitors to refine and perfect. Taking its cues from the Metroids and Castlevanias of the world, the Xbox Live Arcade-exclusive title was able to stand out in 2009, regardless of its forgettable storyline and poorly constructed characters. As an overall experience, Shadow Complex was the best downloadable experience of 2009 -- and one of the year's overall best, for that matter. Shadow Complex is a prime example of a developer -- in this case, Chair -- designing a game best suited for its platform and skyrocketing past expectations. It proves that 2D exploration and adventure can still have a meaningful impact if approached correctly. Sadly, Konami has decided against bringing new Castlevania experiences of this style to consoles and only now (since 2004's Metroid: Zero Mission) has Nintendo decided to return Samus closer to her roots in the upcoming Metroid: Other M (another game revealed at E3 2009). It's no surprise that Shadow Complex resonated with us (hell, we dedicated quite a bit of time to the game), and while we weren't left mouth-agape at its originality, the entire experience left us craving more. We have yet to satisfy that craving, as no additional content has been delivered for the game since its August 19, 2009 debut. Beyond its excellent blend of shooting and platforming, and its tremendous value (only $15!), Shadow Complex stands out as one of the best experiences we've had all year. It simultaneously resurrected our love of the 2D exploration genre and our inner speedrun freak, and is a testament to the maturity of the download space on consoles within the last few years. We hope the franchise will be with us for the long haul. << Back(8) | Comment | 6. Post Modern Warfare >>
Hands-on: Halo 3: ODST Campaign
Wait. What? You mean ... My thought was suspended as I, the Rookie, was deployed in a one-man pod from a warship in orbit over New Mombasa. Here we go: I'm now an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. While "shock" troops denote the shocking of an enemy force, I was the one shocked. Halo 3: ODST immediately chucks its Rookie into unknown territory. You mean, the tutorial level is not a corridor crawler through a spaceship? After a rough insertion, I awoke six hours later, dangling precariously above New Mombasa's streets. This is the night-cast world we'd seen at E3. Bungie calls this map "the hub," the open-world environment through which the player accesses campaign missions (portrayed as flashbacks). "Film noir" is another term we've heard, and it's a reference to atmospheric elements, like New Mombasa's glowing-red dim, smoky streets and its jazzy background cuts; rather than a classic plot outline that goes something like: handsome good guy led astray by beautiful femme fatale. There is, though, a mystery to unravel.
Shadow Complex sets week-one sales record
That's, um, sales of single-player games (multiplayer ones don't count!). And, uh, you know, we're just talking about Xbox Live Arcade titles -- not that clarifying this awfully specific sales record is an attempt to take away from the much-deserved success of Chair's excellent Shadow Complex or the 200,000-plus downloaders (much of the Joystiq staff included) who didn't wait long to cash in 1200. Still, we're not going to label Shadow Complex's sales Achievement® (as Microsoft does) the "New Era of Downloadable Games." It takes far too much effort to produce a decent Metroidvania experience than it does a mediocre dual-stick shooter, after all. We will, however, join in on the not-so-subtle peer pressuring. Seriously, you still haven't purchased Shadow Complex? Shame on you. (So ... just direct deposit that check, cool? Thanks Microsoft!) %Gallery-64709%
Spoiler Warning: Shadow Complex secrets and strategies
With Shadow Complex closing out the second Summer of Arcade today, the Joystiq crew has been hard at work compiling a series of videos and images to help would-be explorers unlock the secrets of Chair Entertainment's latest adventure. Of course (as the headline would indicate) this feature is filled to the brim with spoilers and strategies necessary to unlock some of Shadow Complex's many secrets. If you're looking for a Shadow Complex news fix, this isn't the feature for you ... but if you want to know where (and how) to find most of the game's hidden gems, jump in. %Gallery-64709%
Review: Shadow Complex (XBLA)
Let's get this out of the way: You'll need to forgive Shadow Complex its generic trappings. For one of the most hyped elements of the production, author Orson Scott Card's contributions are underwhelming. The hero (everyman Jason Fleming but let's call him ... Nathan Bourne) and the story are both entirely forgettable; however, the real star of the game comes from the other half of this collaboration: the gameplay. Put simply, Shadow Complex is the easiest Xbox Live Arcade recommendation I can make and one of the best games of the year. %Gallery-64709%
Shadow Complex Achievements arrive with a handful of screens, new trailer
Will Shadow Complex be this year's Bionic Commando: Rearmed -- ya know, minus all that direct nostalgia? Between the 2D platforming, arsenal of weapons, huge bosses, and frosted camera lens, it's getting harder and harder for us not to draw the comparison. One thing the new gameplay you see above features that BC:R lacked? Jumping! (Thankfully!) An Achievement for melee kills (find the whole list after the break) helps to assuage our concerns of, well, not having a robot arm -- though anyone with half a brain knows that third-party human being parts beat out melee weapons every time. Hopefully the extra $5 for Shadow Complex over BC:R means those weapons are really sharp when you check them out on August 19. %Gallery-68437%
Shadow Complex script penned by comic book scribe Peter David
Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios are ramping up for the impending release of Chair Entertainment's Shadow Complex on XBLA, today revealing that the game's script was written by Eisner Award winning author Peter David. David has worked on various comic book titles for numerous imprints, but is probably best known for his run on The Incredible Hulk. He currently writes She-Hulk and X-Factor for Marvel. The script for Shadow Complex is adapted from work by sci-fi author and visionary Orson Scott Card, whose 2006 novel, Empire, is based on the game's universe and an original concept by game designer Donald Mustard. David has written a story that parallels the events of the novel, which itself focuses on a future American civil war. We recently saw the game in action and wrote up our impressions. David, Mustard and Epic's Cliff Bleszinski will be on-hand at next week's San Diego Comic-Con to promote the game, which hits the Xbox Live Marketplace on August 19.
Impressions: Shadow Complex
With just a little more than a month to go before the game hits the Xbox Live Marketplace, today we got a look at more of Chair Entertainment and Epic Games' love letter to Super Metroid, a.k.a Shadow Complex. We'd journeyed through some of the same in-game territory during E3, but this latest glimpse was geared more towards getting into gameplay we didn't really get a good look at then. For starters, we witnessed several nods to the stealth-oriented gameplay of Metal Gear Solid (the game also draws on Kojima's classic series for artistic inspiration). In one area, designer Donald Mustard -- an avid fan of the 2D action-adventure who hopes his game kick-starts a new trend among his fellow developers -- guided his hero past moving floodlights and security cameras which, if not avoided, would have locked down the area requiring players to find an alternate path through. Stealth kills have also made their way into the game and even work on smaller robots, who, like human enemies, are fair game as long as players aren't in their line of sight. %Gallery-64709%
Shadow Complex likely won't be less than $20
While checking in with Epic's upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title Shadow Complex again today, we were given a nice little tidbit of info from Epic programmer Rob McLaughlin. While playing through the game's introductory level, we casually asked about a price for Unreal Engine 3-fueled shmup, to which Rob replied that the title would likely not see price point below $20. We grilled hm for more info, but, sadly, he couldn't accommodate us.
Shadow Complex has stat trackers beyond Achievements
Shadow Complex, the XBLA game from Chair and Epic that's two parts Metroid and one part Castlevania (even Cliff Bleszinski noted it was a "Metroidvania" title), has a robust stat tracking system behind the scenes. Beyond the standard Xbox Live Achievements, the game also tracks things like headshots with "Your head a-splode." The 10-15 hour title is meant to be accessible to those who casually played titles like Super Metroid, but it's definitely being designed to appeal to speed-runners. There will be unlockables in the game for playing with only a certain weapon or beating the game under a certain amount of time. Chair's Donald Mustard told us there's a special unlockable for beating the game in under two hours*. Our theory: Marcus Fenix skin for the main character. *Update: MTV Multiplayer has more details on the 2-hour speed run (one of several "Master Challenges"), which has been dubbed "Jason Bailey" -- an obvious homage to Metroid's skivvies code, JUSTIN BAILEY. New theory: Scantily clad Marcus skin unlocked. %Gallery-64709%
Hands-on: Shadow Complex not too complex, very familiar
click to power-up Let there be absolutely no doubt that Chair Entertainment's Shadow Complex is heavily inspired by 2D exploration games of yore, namely Metroid and Castlevania. The Xbox Live representative that guided our hands-on demo used the word "Metroid" no less than 437 times (slight exaggeration). The game is 2D, it doles out power-ups gradually and contains plenty of exploration and action. Let's be clear about this: That is absolutely not a bad thing. %Gallery-64709%
Shadow Complex: Metroid meets Contra and HAS A BABY
When Epic's Cliff Bleszinski hit the stage sans Lancer at Microsoft's E3 keynote, many at both the Microsoft keynote and here at the Joystiq mobile HQ wondered what Epic was up to. Then, we noticed he was accompanied by Chair Entertainment's Donald Mustard, and we caught our first glimpse of Shadow Complex, a game with heavy amounts of influence from 2D titles such as Metroid and Contra, with a splash of its own unique 3D action, making this a project all its own. For an XBLA title, it has an incredible amount of polish, and we're sure the price will reflect that when it releases this summer. %Gallery-64709%
