Dishonored Xbox 360 Overview

Dishonored is an upcoming first-person stealth action adventure video game being developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is scheduled for release worldwide in October 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, beginning in North America on October 9.

Set in the fictional industrial city of Dunwall, modeled after seventeenth century London, Dishonored follows Corvo Attano, a legendary bodyguard to the Empress who is framed for her murder and forced to become an assassin to seek revenge on those who conspired against him. Attano is aided in his quest by the Outsider, a powerful being who imbues him with magical abilities. Several actors provide voice work for the game, including Susan Sarandon, Brad Dourif, Carrie Fisher, and Chloë Grace Moretz.

The game is played from a first-person perspective and allows the player to tackle a series of assassination missions in a variety of ways, with an emphasis on player choice. Missions can be tackled by stealth, combat or a combination of both. Exploring levels opens new paths and alternatives for accomplishing mission goals, and it is possible to complete all missions and eliminate all of Attano's targets in a non-lethal manner. The story and missions are modified based on violent actions, or lack thereof, committed by the player. Magical abilities are designed to be combined to create new, more powerful effects.

Gameplay

The game is played in first-person, with an emphasis placed on stealth action and the utilization of gadgets as well as the environment to eliminate opposing forces. The game world is a series of self-contained, mission-focused sandboxes designed to allow for multiple avenues of exploration in terms of in-game movement and powers. Between missions the player is taken to a central hub in a pub. In the pub Corvo can meet with his allies, receive mission briefings, alternate objects, and convert recovered loot into new equipment and upgrades.In-game areas include loading docks, royal estates, poverty stricken streets, and a bathhouse.The game features the ability for the player to save anywhere and also includes a checkpoint save system, with both disabled during combat. There are four difficulty levels which affect the effectiveness of health and mana potions, and enemy perception, damage and responsiveness. The easy difficulty also enables health regeneration.
Dishonored also features role-playing game elements including a character upgrade system and moral choices with focus on non-linear consequences. The game is designed to allow the player to complete it without killing any NPC, including boss characters and mission targets. An example of a non-lethal situation given by co-creative designer Harvey Smith involved the player completing a side mission for a character which in turn was rewarded with the mission targets being kidnapped and enslaved in a mine. Each mission contains multiple avenues of exploration and reaching targets, with traversal and exploration of levels designed to support the array of abilities at the player's disposal, rather than having a specific "hacking path" and "sneaking path". Specific elements of missions are also randomised such as altering the color of a targets clothing and mask in one mission, requiring the player to explore the game area to locate the intended target each time the mission is played.
Actions committed by the player are not judged to be of a good or evil morality, but instead are tracked by a "chaos" system that records how much collateral damage, violent actions and deaths are caused by the player. The game world is modified by how little or much damage is caused, affecting story decisions with an emphasis on not punishing the player or forcing them to choose one style of play over another.For example, a non-player character (NPC) who disapproves of violent methods may not support the player and may even betray them.The game reacts to the chaos caused in both scripted ways, such as dialog, and dynamic ways, such as increasing rats, plagued citizens and adding new scenes, and can affect the current mission and future ones.The system also influences the two game endings obtainable, with variations based on which characters live or die.Playing violently can allow missions to be completed in less time than a stealth approach, but will consume more resources such as health and mana potions, which are required more often in direct combat.

Features and abilities

The game features six active powers, four enhancements (passive powers), and 40 "bone charms" that grant the player supernatural perks such as increasing the duration of rat possession. Only three bone charms can be active at any time.Smith and Colantonio stated that it is impossible for a player to accrue all of the powers and abilities in a single playthrough. Mana is necessary to use the abilities and only partially regenerates after use, enough to allow the use of powers like "Blink" and "Dark Vision", but mana potions are required to recover larger amounts of mana, restricting the use of higher cost abilities like "Possession" and "Bend Time". Magic is assigned to the player character's left hand and weapons to the right hand.
The main supernatural powers are unlocked and purchased using Runes, and each can be upgraded.Announced powers include: "Dark Vision", which allows the player to see enemies through walls, their field of view and an abstract representation of sound made by the player;"Blink", a short-distance teleportation ability;"Possession", that allows the player to inhabit and possess other characters from rats and fish to humans temporarily;"Devouring Swarm", which summons a swarm of deadly rats; "Bend Time", that slows or freezes time; "Wind Blast", a gust of wind; and "Shadow Kill" that turns dead enemies to ash preventing their discovery. The player also has access to weaponry including a sword, grenades and pistols.Coins must be collected to upgrade weapons and gadgets.
Stealth is based on occlusion, hiding behind objects and architecture and avoiding the enemies' cone of vision, with lighting also a factor in player visibility. When hiding behind an object, the player can lean around the sides to view the immediate area and eavesdrop, and as long as Corvo's body remains hidden, enemies will not see him. The player can also look through keyholes to gain insight into closed rooms.Enemy AI will respond to sound and can be distracted by the player creating a sound in one place to lure a guard away from their position.
Guards have several states of alertness ranging from normal, to suspicious, aware of the players presence and then actively searching for the player. Remaining concealed from guards eventually reduces the alertness to aware, but it will not return to normal in that particular mission. Enemies communicate their alertness state to their allies, in turn increasing their alertness level.

Synopsis

Setting

Dishonored takes place in the industrial city of Dunwall, modeled after late 1800s-early 1900s London and Edinburgh, that is ruled over by an oppressive regime. In the city, technology and otherworldly forces coexist. Dunwall is a center for fishing and whaling, with whale oil a valuable resource necessary for powering the city.Following philosopher Esmond Roseburrow's discovery of whale oil's use as a fuel—known in the city as trans—the government used it to develop powerful weaponry which in turn bred government corruption.The city is stricken with a plague spread by rats and dogs that is killing the poor and isolating the rich. The infected, known as "Weepers", cry blood and can become violent against others.
The government uses the plague as an excuse to take or purge citizens as they wish.Order is maintained by the Tallboys, heavily armored officers on tall, mechanical legs, and districts are separated by Walls of Light, barriers made of energy that disintegrate those that attempt to cross them.

Thanks : wikipedia

WipEout 2048 Review

I've found a new way to terrify myself. It's not by counting the grey hairs in my beard, nor is it by examining my receding hairline, checking my bank balance or reading up on whatever tropical disease is in vogue. It's by surrendering myself to WipEout 2048, and more specifically, to Zone mode on the track Sol.

It's the drop halfway around this sky-bound track that does the trick; a blind crest that gives way to nothing, the track pulled from beneath you and leaving you suspended for a handful of panicked seconds. It's made more urgent by Zone's airbrushed psychedelics, and more urgent still by the steadily escalating speed of the ship at your fingertips.

This is WipEout at its best, and it's preserved, in part, for the series' Vita debut. WipEout's been much more than a futuristic racing series since its inception - it's been one that's screamed that the future is, in fact, now. It started with the PlayStation debut, a game that did more than just usher in the 3D age - it lent gaming an edgy credibility that helped pave the path to success for Sony's then fledgling interactive empire.

More recently, WipEout HD was proof of concept for a future that's yet to be fully realised. Here was gaming in 1080p and at 60fps, all served up as a digital download. It's a technical feat that's sadly been replicated rarely since, ensuring that both HD and Fury remain high watermarks in the PS3's library.

And now there's WipEout 2048, providing proof of the Vita's abilities as a high-end, high-spec portable. It's an effective showcase, too - witnessing the fidelity and detail as seven fellow anti-grav racers make a violent ascent from a busy New York cityscape, all between the palms of your hands, has as much impact now as the original did some 17 years ago.

Studio Liverpool has turned the clock back to attain that spectacle, offering up a prequel of sorts. A stirring intro video traces the line from Brooklands race track to a near-future Brooklyn, telling how the world of racing lifted itself above the tarmac. There's another line being drawn here - the vehicles of WipEout 2048 are, with more primitive lines and an audible chug and whine, anti-gravity racing's Napiers.

And so the concrete and steel of previous WipEouts is swapped out for the stonework and masonry of a half-imagined, half-real take on New York. Races zip across the Brooklyn Bridge, scale the side of the Empire State Building and spiral through shopping malls. There's a story being told here, too - throughout the three seasons of 2048's single player campaign, WipEout's more traditional vision slowly emerges, culminating in visits to Altima and Sol, tracks from the series' past.

It's WipEout's most dramatic aesthetic shift, but it's not necessarily its most successful. Without the cleanliness and clarity of the future of old, there's a visual clutter that shifts the emphasis away from skill and more towards luck. Find yourself at the back of the pack and the track ahead is a mess of vapour trails and plasma showers, obscuring a route that's already in danger of getting lost amidst the brickwork.

It's impressive how much Studio Liverpool can throw on the screen, but often it comes at the expense of WipEout's purity of design, as well as some of its practicality. Load times before races come in between 30 and 40 seconds, an unacceptable wait in the more immediate world of portable gaming.

A little clarity's been lost in the handling, too. It's arguable that Sony Liverpool's a victim of its own success here. Having delivered a weighty and satisfying model strung out across 60fps in both HD and Fury, and having delivered in 2048 a game that comes shockingly close to its PS3 counterparts visually, the dip in frame-rate and the move to the Vita's less substantial analogue stick stings a little. There's no doubt that some of the weight has been lost as well, and while 2048's tracks have been widened to accommodate for the loss of handling fidelity, frequent collisions with the scenery sap away some of the grace.

It's a credit to WipEout's well-worn formula that, despite these problems, 2048 remains an enjoyable and often exhilarating ride. The career, structured as it is across three seasons and underscored by the gentle tug of XP, provides a satisfying departure from the latticed event grids of Pure, Pulse, HD and Fury.

Events are weighted towards traditional races, working their way up through a refined class system where series staples such as phantom, venom and rapier are replaced with a simple grading system running from C through to A plus - where survival is all about pre-empting the next 500 yards.

And races, cluttered as they are, tend towards a chaos that's served by a tweaked weapons system. Each team's garage - and 2048 takes in all the classics, from Feisar through to Pir-hana - is split into four categories, from the self-explanatory agility, speed and fighter classes to the unruly prototypes that are the last to be unlocked. They each offer separate load-outs, with certain weapons excluded from certain teams, while weapon pads now come in both defensive and offensive flavours.

It sprinkles strategy on the combat, though it's still far from thoughtful. Combat events, where the aim is to destroy rather than race, are exercises in pure aggression where the odds can be stacked in your favour with some canny ship selection. Online combat events descend further into chaos, often sinking into farce as competitors are free to tear around the track any which way in order to rack up the highest score.

Thanks: eurogamer.net

Plants vs. Zombies Complete Review

Plants vs. Zombies Complete Review

You would be forgiving for saying you've had your fill of surpass protection games. The past little years have seen a flood of these approach clones filling downloadable portals like PlayStation system. But you know who might be able to bring you back: the good people that brought you Peggle. PopCap, one of the best developers and publishers around, has brought its excellent tower defense game Plants vs. Zombies to PSN. While it uses the basic mechanics of all efforts in this genre, it stands out for its charm, personality, and loads of gameplay variety. The result is another addictive experience from PopCap that will appeal to all walks of gamers.

Zombies are creeping on your lawn, and your garden is the last line of defense against these brain-crazy cannibals. You have some pretty peculiar (but useful) plants at your disposal, including pea shooters that spit green balls at the undead, hot tamales that burn everything in their path, and Venus zombie traps that will devour an enemy in one gulp. By planting various seeds in strategic locations around your lawn you may be able to hold off the onslaught and keep them from entering your house and eating your brain.

It's a very simple design and, while it does eventually become challenging, this is one of the easier tower defense games I've played. The real draw here is the incredible variety of plants (towers) and zombies. There are 48 kinds of plants with numerous offensive, defensive, and production capabilities, and 26 different zombies. Completing each level in the game will unlock a new plant or item to add to your arsenal. The array of choices means you can customize your strategy and confront the undead on your own terms. These constant rewards really keep you involved and will have you defending your lawn for much longer than you may have expected.

There is also a wide assortment of gameplay styles. Some levels take place during the day and some at night, which has a large effect on what plants are available to you, how you harvest sunlight (your resources), and what environmental obstacles you encounter. Interspersed among the regular levels are more arcade-like variations on the tower defense formula. You may lose the ability to select plants and instead have to make do with pre-selected weapons that come down a conveyor belt. Or you may be asked to play Whack-a-Zombie out of the blue. A Survival Mode can be unlocked and there are special puzzle levels that let you play as the zombies. You can't go more than a few minutes with this game without discovering something new and delightful.

Adding to the game's charm is the cast of undead, ranging from football players to zombies that carry screen door shields to aquatic zombies that ride dolphins (you have a pool in the backyard). These aren't your gruesome Left 4 Dead or Resident Evil zombies. This is a zombie game for the whole family -- never thought I'd say that. It also has a catchy soundtrack that becomes more intense as your yard is flooded with enemies. The light voice acting gives the undead character as they lurch toward your house grunting and moaning for brains.

Thanks: ps3.ign.com

Video Games Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition

Welcome Back to New Vegas! With the opening of the crucial Edition, Bethesda Softworks offers you the possibility to double-down and get the complete package of New Vegas fun. For the first time in one package, you can get all the Fallout: New Vegas content including the full suite of highly acclaimed add-on content: Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road. 

To sweeten the pot, you'll be armed with the latest cache of unique weapons, ammo types and recipes from the most recent add-on packs: Courier's Stash and Gun Runners Arsenal.Whether you're a seasoned explorer of the Mojave or playing the game for the first time, you'll find there are more friends and enemies to make, more consequences to your actions and more opportunities to live in glory or infamy throughout the Wasteland. The choices you make will be as crucial to your survival as ever.Enjoy your stay.

Features
•    Beyond the Wasteland: The world of New Vegas is more expansive than ever. Each new distinct area presents a fresh set of branching-quests, remarkable personalities and more chances to play the Savior or the Pariah to the natives of New Vegas.
•    Dead Money: Lured into a trap masquerading as the Sierra Madre Casino, you are thrown into a high stakes game where you'll have to work with three other lost souls if you want to survive.
•    Honest Hearts: An expedition into Utah's Zion National Park goes horribly wrong and you become embroiled in a war between tribes and put into a conflict between a New Canaanite missionary and the mysterious Burning Man.
•    Old World Blues: Transported to the Big MT research crater, you are enlisted by the Think Tank to save them from their own science experiments that have gone horribly out of control.
•    Lonesome Road: Ulysses, the original Courier Six, contacts you and promises to answer why he refused to deliver the Platinum Chip at the start of Fallout: New Vegas, but only if you make one last journey into the treacherous canyons of the Divide.

Thanks:

http://www.gamezone.com

http://www.amazon.com/Fallout-New-Vegas-Ultimate-Pc

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Review - Xbox 360

Cocoon -- a utopia in the sky. Its inhabitants assumed their planet a paradise. Under the Sanctum's rule, Cocoon had long recognized peace and prosperity. 

Mankind was blessed by its protectors, the benevolent fal'Cie, and believed that tranquil days would continue forever. Their tranquility was shattered with the discovery of one hostile fal'Cie. The moment that fal'Cie from Pulse - the feared and dete...sted lowerworld - awoke from its slumber, peace on Cocoon came to an end. Fal'Cie curse humans, turning them into magic-wielding servants. 

They become l'Cie - chosen of the fal'Cie. Those branded with the mark of a l'Cie carry the burden of either fulfilling their Focus or facing a fate harsher than death itself. There is a Prayer for redemption. It is a wish to protect the world. Also promise to challenge destiny. After thirteen days of fates intertwined, the battle begins.

 Set several years after Lightning and the others saved Cocoon, some survivors have decided to start over by rebuilding on Gran Pulse. Lightning, however, is nowhere to be found and thought dead by many, but Serah believes otherwise. When her town is suddenly overrun by monsters, a mysterious man named Noel appears to save he

Thanks: http://www.g4tv.com/games/xbox-360

Resident Evil: Revelations Review

The tale revolves around exposure yet another strand of weaponized virus called the T-Abyss, released by a terrorist group known as Veltro. If you're expecting some revelations, you're definitely in for a treat. The game plays out a lot like Alan Wake did, with each part of the story separated into its own episode, complete with a story recap after each mission to ensure you remember exactly what happened and what's going on. It's a handy feature for those that like to take frequent breaks between game play sessions, as it quickly brings them up to speed.

Exposure plays a lot like RE4 rather than RE5. Though you still have companions at your side, you don't rely on their participation much, aside from a little help with firepower. The control scheme is fairly unchanged from Resident Evil: Mercenaries and still allows you to aim down your sights while moving around as long as you have the left shoulder button pressed down. This was an extremely helpful addition in Mercenaries and really helps out in tight situations when you just need to move further away but you want to keep pumping those virus abominations full of lead. The game also features a Circle Pad Pro control scheme which I'm sure makes the game much easier to play, but sadly since we didn't have the add-on, we couldn't put this to the test.

In true continued existence horror spirit, the game doesn't necessarily throw a lot your way. Sure it's scattered around levels here and there, but since the monsters take quite a few hits to take down, aiming carefully and precisely is an absolute necessity. Weapons can also be upgraded at various workbenches scattered around each level with upgrade items found through exploration, which makes taking down nasties a much quicker affair.

New to the series is an item called the Genesis Scanner. Much like the scanning done in Metroid Prime, this allows you to survey the surroundings for any hidden useful items, such as healing herbs and ammo clips. Scanning downed enemies also fills up a percentage meter, which when full grants an extra healing item. It definitely adds incentive to use this scanning device about everywhere you go. There in lies a little bit of the problem. Since scanning is so necessary for your survival, you'll find yourself more behind the lens of the scanner, than actually in third person.

If there ever should be a benchmark of what the 3DS is capable of graphically, Revelations should be that benchmark. Whether you're playing with the 3D effect on or off, the game looks absolutely amazing. Mercenaries was no slouch in the graphics department either, but I feel like that was just a taste of what Revelations has to offer. The sound design is equally as impressive with an ambiance that will send shivers up your spine. I highly recommend playing with headphones if you want to feel some fear while you're playing.

Thanks: http://www.gamezone.com

Dustforce Review

Dust and grime surround us. Every day, they gather atop coffee tables and in beyond kitchen corners, but no more. In Dustforce, it's time to fight back. 5th Filth falls before four acrobatic janitors--each identical parts ninja and handyman. Their world is built on speed and has you building momentum while sweeping away patches of leaves and battling waste-covered foes. It's up to you to determine how these chores piece together to earn the best score, and when you do, it's immensely satisfying.

DustForce Review

There is a unique economy of movement in Dustforce that must be mastered to succeed. Running and jumping are simple. It's when you start zipping around in midair that things get tricky. For instance, most characters can either double jump or dash while in the air. That is, unless you defeat an enemy while airborne. Then you can either dash again or make a third jump. And once you touch the ground, the whole system resets. If this sounds confusing, don't worry; the game eases you into this system through a comprehensive tutorial stage and several basic early stages.

At the end of each stage, you're graded on completion, finesse (a blanket term that factors in your combo meter, whether you defeated all enemies and the like), and speed. If you perform well enough, you earn keys that unlock doors leading to more challenging stages. Each stage also has two unique leaderboards: one for overall score and another for time. However, the best feature is the replay support for each entry on the leaderboards. These can offer insight into surmounting the tougher stages. They also offer plenty of "That doesn't look so hard" moments and feed into the game's already addictive nature.

Compared to other 2D platformers, such as the masterful Super Meat Boy, Dustforce feels slower and heavier. This weight stems from the extra layers of complexity afforded by the game's movement and combat. For combat, each character has a light and heavy attack. By chaining light attacks together you can propel your character through the air while striking an enemy. Hitting a foe with a single, heavy attack is faster; however, this leaves behind a patch of filth for you to clean up. Everything--from cleaning to combat--feeds into your combo meter.

Thanks: http://asia.gamespot.com