Nicholas Bale
From the masters of strategy comes the sequel to the 2004 strategy title, Crusader Kings. I was given the chance to take a look at Crusader Kings II at Paradox's booth, checking out what it's like to be a ruler in the medieval ages, accumulating power, plotting, inheriting, and in general seeing how far you can get in the world of medieval politics and war. Read More.
Having been privy to the game at E3, I was interested to see what more Eidos Montreal would be able to show the assorted media gathered in their studio. While they told us that we would be seeing that same gameplay, they also promised a new level that would show off the choice-filled multi-path design of the game. Read More.
Homefront was quite the surprise at E3, coming from seemingly nowhere to grab a number of awards (including a couple game-of-shows), putting developer Kaos Studios in the limelight. Earlier, we were able to get some multiplayer hands-on time with the game for a quick preview of what was to come with the online gameplay. Read More.
Getting a chance to see and play Fable 3 brought a lot of memories back from when I played its predecessors. For obvious reasons, too, since at first glance it looks and feels a lot like Fable 2. Once you start poking at the gameplay, looking through the menus, and figuring out what you have access too, this quickly changes, and it's apparent that Lionhead is trying hard to create a refined experience that still brings the same feeling from exploring Albion. Read More.
The Call of Duty series, still going strong, is coming out with another title early this November. Call of Duty: Black Ops is set in the late 60s and early 70s, and is about a group of people who don't exist. You'll be playing as part of a special forces group during the Cold War that does things no one knows about, becoming heroes that no one's heard about. Read More.
I got a chance to get some hands-on time with Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions at Microsoft's X'10 event. This meant playing through four different worlds of Spider-Man, including some I'd never heard of, all with varying playstyles and visual flair. Read More.
At X'10 I was able to get behind some closed doors (well, really more of a curtain) to see what the newest (and, says Joseph Tung, the executive producer, the last) Halo game to bring us back into the world of the Spartans and the Covenant. This game serves as a prequel to show us the final days of Reach, the last bastion of defence between the Earth and the deadly forces of the Covenant. Read More.
Nestled in the Ignition Entertainment booth, a brightly-colored jRPG caught my eye playing on the Wii. Called Arc Rise Fantasia, it looked like it warranted some time, and I began to play through it. Read More.
In Asia, there are a ton of 'freemium' MMOs on the market: these are online games that don't require any subscription fees or anything of the sort, but allow you to purchase (with real money) special items and accessories to make your experience more enjoyable or easy. Read More.
Walking through Sony's booth, a name on a small PSN booth caught my eye: DeathSpank. Not a common title, but definitely worthy of a playthrough. In it, you play the heroic knight, DeathSpank, dispensing justice and...well, more justice, wherever you go. The gameplay involves running around a large world from an isometric viewpoint, killing enemies, taking quests, levelling up, and earning loot. Read More.
Fans of old-school action RPGs from Japan probably know about Falcom and one of their most popular series: Ys (pronounced 'ees', rhyming with 'cease'). It's an action-RPG series that's been around since 1987, and from what I've seen, it's still going on the PSP, now with the system's first exclusive Ys title. Read More.
I got the chance to talk to the developer of Dungeon Siege 3, Square Enix's first foray into the world of genuine western RPGs. When they first looked to make a Dungeon Siege game, they approached Gas Powered Games for it, but the developer didn't have a team ready for the game. Read More.
The beginning of Nintendo's press conference did not begin quietly, with Miyamoto himself demoing the new Legend of Zelda game, to great applause. Dubbed The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, it looks to do what many fans argued that Twilight Princess should've: give the player a connection to Link through the Wiimote. Read More.
I was looking forward to getting a glimpse at the new Witcher title, as I had enjoyed the previous one, but also heard much of the criticism directed to it. I was interested to see how they could change the formula to keep it interesting, and I came away thinking that this Witcher 2 might be heads above its predecessor. Read More.
I've played a few of the Trauma Center games in the past and enjoyed them relatively well. So when I was told that the new game would change up a lot of the formula, I was curious to see exactly what developer and publisher Atlus meant by this. Earlier, I was given the opportunity to watch a playthrough of the Forensics portion of the game, a strong departure from the typical slice-and-dice gameplay of the series that focuses more on evidence collection and analysis than trying to beat the clock. Read More.
