Fracture is a third-person console shooter set in the mid-22nd century in the wake of a worldwide ecological and seismological disaster. Developed by Day 1 Studios, the team behind F.E.A.R. and published by LucasArts, the game is coming to the Xbox 360 and PS3 sometime in 2008. What sets this game apart is the emphasis on terrain deformation and destruction. More after the jump.
Global warming and the search for ways to combat its effects have split the United States, and the world, in two. On one side is the Atlantic Alliance, a staunch supporter of and leading innovator in the field of cybernetic solutions to the worlds problems. Their adversary is the Nation of Pacifica and its Pacific Rim allies. They have embraced adapting the human genome to cope with the changing world. Both factions are armed with a new type of tectonic technology that allows armies to raise and lower defenses out of the Earth at any location of their choosing. (source)
Army of Two is a co-op third-person shooter game being developed by EA Montreal and set for release on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 in late 2007. The emphasis is on teamwork with your partner, and plays a crucial point in determining your success in the game.
More info and trailers after the jump.
Army of Two (AO2) is a new game with a focus on cooperative and coordinated strategies. The game is labeled a co-op third-person shooter. Players will join up with either the game's built-in "Partner Artificial Intelligence" (PAI) or other players "to fight through war, political turmoil and a conspiracy so vast it threatens the entire world." Story details are vague at the moment, but the game involves conflict in Army of Two, from the environments and their loads of physics-based obstacles to its small army of enemies (up to 50 on screen at once) has been designed to necessitate teamwork.
According to Gamespot, the game will allow a great deal of weapon customization, with a gun range to test these customizations out on: "We got a quick look at the kinds of weapons you can buy which include all manner of pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles. What's crazy is the level of customization you can apply to the guns. Swap out and swap in different stocks, red-dot sights, scopes, tactical flashlights, underslung grenade launchers, silencers, grip handles, extra-large magazines, new barrels—anything you can imagine seems to be available for you to use in this game. You can even chrome your gun with gold trim if you like, or customize a strategic silenced weapon. A handy firing range feature lets you immediately test out your new toy."
Though there have not been many clues onto the gameplay of this game, EA as recently announced the addition of an "Aggrometer". This will be a meter showing which of the two players has more "Aggro". Aggro attracts the attention of the enemy so one player may go unnoticed, the character with the most aggro will glow a bright red while the other player will be transparent resembling a ghost. weapons affect how your aggro builds flashy gold and chrome weapon attract an enemy much faster than the same gun without a paint job. While silencers slow down the aggro build up. EXAMPLE: one player glowing red with aggro was attacking an enemy with so much armor he was invulnerable in the front, the other player without aggro snuck behind him and shot him in the neck at his exposed area.
Devil May Cry 4 is the second sequel (euh?) to the martial-arts fighting game Devil May Cry, developed by Capcom. When Capcom announced they were porting it to the Xbox 360, many decried the loss as a sign of failure for Sony and the PS3. From the producers of Resident Evil 4 and the original Devil May Cry, expect this to swamp the PS3 vs. 360 forums when it gets released sometime in September, 2007.
In the game, the player controls Nero, a new character, in addition to an appearance by series lead Dante, fighting demonic enemies in close combat using firearms, swords and a variety of weaponry in a gothic setting. Also joining the cast is a new female character, Kyrie.
Nero resembles both Dante and his twin brother, Vergil, and is part of the Order of the Sword, a group of warriors who worship Sparda.
Nero's attire consists of blue jeans, a long blue coat, and a red vest. He wields a revolver named Blue Rose which has a distinctive under-and-over double barrel and a decorated single-edged sword called the Red Queen. In the trailer, Nero views Dante as a villain after witnessing Dante murdering members of the Order
Nero's right arm seems to resemble a demon's and glows supernaturally, and is the source of his "Devil Bringer" power. He apparently was not born with his arm in this state.
Dante, the primary character in the rest of the series, will also be playable and will have updated versions of the core animations used in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, as well as all four of his now trademark styles: Trickster, Royal Guard, Gunslinger, and Sword Master which can be switched at will. Game Informer revealed that he will not just be an unlockable, but will be playable as part of the storyline. In addition, other characters from previous titles will return, but Kobayashi was not at liberty to reveal who.
Readers have been asking for more Xbox 360 games to post, so I finally came across the E3 gameplay trailer for Bioshock, posted back on the 11th. In case you missed it first time round, Bioshock is an upcoming exclusive for the Xbox 360 and PC, developed by Irrational Games, and set for release on August 21st, 2007 in the US, and August 24th in the EU and Australia. The game is the spiritual successor to the highly popular, but often overlooked System Shock 2. This game alone could very well persuade me to buy a 360. Or a new video card.
More after the jump. BioShock is said to include a great deal of interactive environments and player-driven choices, called emergent gameplay, with developer Ken Levine stating its interactivity would be "unprecedented". While the term has been used for a variety of games, such as the popular Grand Theft Auto series, it is believed that this gameplay will borrow highly from System Shock and System Shock 2. Another point of focus is the "AI ecology", which will dynamically search for opportunities to fulfill their purpose. The player can even exploit the ecology to his/her advantage, making enemies and NPCs turn against each other or otherwise manipulate them into helping the player.
Irrational Games announced in a Q & A session on January 19, 2007 that there would be no multiplayer element. They also stated that a demo would not be released, but that "things could change".
The game starts in the year 1960, with the player underwater following a plane crash in the ocean, surrounded by debris. No introductory cut scene is displayed explaining how this happened, leaving the player to decide for themselves why they were on the plane. Nearby, a lighthouse is sticking out of the water, in the middle of the ocean. Upon getting inside and traversing the internal stairwell, the player finds a bathysphere submersible with a corpse inside. Upon removing the corpse and descending in the bathysphere (having nowhere else to go), the player eventually reaches an underwater city on the ocean floor....(source).
If that doesn't make you go all gooey inside, I don't know what will. I am literally salivating as I write this. When this hits, make sure you've got your copy reserved, because this has the potential to be one of the biggest sellers yet for the Xbox 360.
Lair is an upcoming game developed by Factor 5 exclusively for the PS3 and set to arrive on August 14th, 2007. Lair requires you to take on the role of Rohn, a knight who belongs to the Asylians elite-dragon riding force. Dragons, eh? Judging from the screenshots and trailers, this game will either play absolutely amazingly or tank completely at the charts.
More after the jump, or watch in HD. Lair takes place in a world that is being threatened by numerous emerging volcanoes, which are causing the whole land to be destroyed and the air to be polluted. Recently, people have divided into two kingdoms: the Mokai, whose lands are arid and depleted of resources, and the seemingly noble Asylians, who live in one of the last remaining bountiful, green areas.
The two nations are naturally at odds with one another, and the recently empowered, aggressive Asylian religious leaders are already leading the country down the path of inevitable war when the Mokai accelerate the hostilities with a surprise attack.
The player assumes the role of a dragon-riding knight named Rohn. Rohn is given the tasks of defending a certain area, destroying certain objects, eliminating enemies or creatures, and so on. There is some debate as to whether the game is stage-based or open-world, the latter stance mostly an optimistic guess. After each stage, Factor 5 has confirmed that the player can earn either gold, silver, or bronze medals. Earning medals will help to unlock combos and behind-the-scenes videos. Most of the game's battles will be air-combat, but some may be fought on the ground. While Rohn will not be able to dismount and fight on foot, he can land and fight back on the back of his dragon. In some locations, the game will feature a morale system tied to the enemy; the lower their morale, the less they fight. The game will rely heavily on PlayStation 3's (PS3's) SIXAXIS motion controls. For example, the player will fly their dragon by tilting the controller.
Check the awesome new trailer for Star Wars: Force Unleashed. Coming from LucasArts, and expected to debut on April 8th, 2008, anticipation is running high after a series of teaser trailers were released over the last year showing what pretty much every Star Wars gamer has wanted to do; using the Force to smash, grab, and hurl anything in sight...including a Star Destroyer.
The game, comic, novel and other materials are currently scheduled for release in Spring 2008. Releases are expected for PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, Nintendo DS as well as PS2. There are no plans to release a PC version of the title (!) although Amazon still continued to list The Force Unleashed as a PC release as late as the 19th June.
While a game that involves using the Force to throw around a Star Destroyer might sound like it could sell itself, The Force Unleashed will also explain your access to these powers with a storyline that will fit in with the six movies of the series. The game is set in the time period betweens Episodes III and IV, during which the Empire scoured countless star systems to exterminate the last remaining Jedi and finalize its hold over the galaxy. You'll play as an as-yet-unnamed Force-adept character toiling secretly under the auspices of none other than Darth Vader to seek out and destroy the Jedi stragglers who could threaten the Empire's power. giving players the chance to mess around with some exquisite over-the-top Force powers never seen before. (source)
Otherwise known as John Woo Presents Strangehold, and being developed by Midway Games for the PC, PS3 & Xbox 360, this game reprises Chow Yun-Fat's seminal role of Inspector "Tequila" Yuen in John Woo's 1992 classic action movie Hard Boiled. Stranglehold is slated for release on August 6th in the US and September 27th in Europe. More after the jump.
The game revolves around Inspector Tequila's battles with Triad lords in Hong Kong, as well as a Russian Mafia boss in Chicago who captured Tequila's ex-wife. Strangehold features something called "Tequila Time" -similar to Bullet Time in the Max Payne series.
Screenshots posted on IGN revealed that Tequila will wield, among other weapons, the game's ubiquitous Beretta 92 pistols, a shotgun, and a M4 Carbine. The environment will be almost completely destructible, stone blocks, walls, and objects shown shattering under fire in gameplay videos. Stranglehold will make heavy usage of the "ballet of death" concept. The character will shoot at adversaries while diving, rolling, and swinging from level objects, and Tequila will also slide across a table or other surfaces if run into them, instead of stopping.
Stranglehold is slated for release in Summer 2007. Midway have recently announced that there will be a Collector's Edition of the game exclusive to the PlayStation 3, containing the aforementioned Hard Boiled on the game's Blu-ray disc, however this will be exclusive to the United States release.
On June 20, 2007, Midway officially announced there will be a Collector's Edition of the Xbox 360 version of Stranglehold. Midway revealed the contents of the Xbox 360 Collector's Edition, it will include a bonus disc with four behind-the-scenes featurettes and a series of extended cinematic scenes not found in the final game. The videos will take a look at the inner workings of the game, including the visual and audio design, and will include an MTV visit to the development studio in Chicago.
Stranglehold was playable at last year's E3 (2006) and won in the Best PC Action Game category in Gamespot's Best of E3 2006 awards.
Burnout Paradise comes from developer Criterion Games, and promises to bring a whole new meaning to the series where racing beautiful straight lines isn't the focus but rather, racing to smash your opponents into oblivion. According to developer Alex Ward, this will be "complete reinvention" of the Burnout series.
Alex Ward has also announced that the PlayStation Eye and the Xbox Live Vision camera will be used in Burnout Paradise for taking photos of your opponents face when they crash and taking photos of you in a victory pose. These photos can then be saved to your hard drive.
A new feature of Burnout Paradise is the ability to scope out a possible crash mode target and execute the crash. This seems to point to the idea of the 'open world'. Also, races are no longer specific lengths and types. Races are simply started by pulling up next to someone willing to race at the traffic lights. Obviously settings of the race would then be decided like where to, and various other settings.
The game is expected to be released worldwide on PS3 and Xbox 360 in Fall 2007.
The Ratchet & Clank Future story opens with the shocking discovery that a villain from Ratchet's distant past has tracked him down and wants him dead. This revelation brings up many questions as to Ratchet's origins and launches Ratchet and Clank into a mysterious adventure where they begin to learn about his past, the villain's current evil plans, and a glimpse of the future. The story takes place after the past R&C games. Captain Qwark will also be featuring in this game, working undercover to give Ratchet and Clank clues that help guide them on their journey. Insomniac have also coordinated with High Impact Games (the developers of Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters) to ensure that there were no story conflicts with the PSP game.
Some other details revealed in the article are that the game will go back to its platformer roots after the near complete departure from platforming that Deadlocked took. Also revealed was that the game will answer many questions about Ratchet's origins and the history of the lombaxes that will span over several games. Some new weapons revealed were the Groovitron, a disco ball-like grenade that makes enemies dance to the tune of Staying Alive by the Bee Gees and the Tornado Launcher, which will use the SIXAXIS to allow the player to maneuver a twister that sucks up enemies. Insomniac is going back to their more comedic writing for the series.
Proving that there's still life to be had in WWII shooters, EA has continued with the Medal of Honor franchise and is set to release the latest version -Medal of Honor: Airborne, on August 28th in the US and August 30th in Europe for the Xbox 360 and PC. The PS3 version has been delayed until November reportedly because of extra content.
Watch in HD. Screenshots and more info after hitting the jump below.
Medal of Honor: Airborne is the 11th (!) installment in the long-running Medal of Honor WWII FPS series. Currently being developed by Electronic Arts' Los Angeles studio, the game will differ from its previous iterations in that the player will be able to loosely control where they land and what kind of landing method they use, thus altering the potential course of the mission.
The game takes place in several locations during the WWII European theater, and players take on the role of Private First Class Boyd Travers, a paratrooper in the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division. Campaigns include Sicily, Salerno, Normandy and Holland.
Beginning with the Allies leading a costly invasion of Sicily (1943), followed by a rescue operation in Salerno, Italy (1943), paratroopers are dropped inland during the night of June 6 1944, before the invasion of Normandy, as they fight backward to clear the infantry's path into France. The failed attempt to secure Germany's roads and bridges leads to the game's finale, in which 30,000 paratroopers are dropped into Holland.
The game uses a heavily modified Unreal Engine 3.0, so expect the visuals to be jaw dropping. Perhaps there is still life left in the WWII genre? Images courtesy of IGN
