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EGM Preview: War of the Worlds

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September 22, 2011

It’s the end of the world as we know it

Based loosely on the 1898 novel and the 1953 movie (and definitely not on the 2005 piece of trash film), War of the Worlds takes place in 1953 London, where after monitoring the Earth for centuries, aliens have finally decided to attack. Panic quickly spreads as the English first think that somehow the Germans have begun to attack again, being only several years after the end of World War II. Soon though as bodies begin to be vaporized by weaponry beyond anything seen before, even greater panic sets in as this is an enemy not seen before by human eyes.

Moving away from the global scale of the attack, the game follows one man returning to London by train when the attack first starts. His personal quest is to save his family who were in London at the time the attack began and to find a way to get them out alive. Very cinematic in its visual style with many different layers of beautifully painted and rendered textures, the most striking thing about War of the Worlds may actually be the audio. Mood setting orchestrations along with the brilliant choice of the game’s narrator in Sir Patrick Stewart, recalling the levels of the game as he looks back on the invasion now as an older man, helps to give you this feeling of near helplessness as this common man is simply looking to reunite with his family in the midst of a disaster the likes had never been seen up to that point or since.

And the helpless feeling only will continue with the game play as you are truly nothing more than your average human. Set up almost like classic Pitfall, the game is a 2D side-scrolling platformer that centers more on puzzle solving and avoiding instant kill obstacles than on shooting or destroying things. Taking cover to avoid lasers, dodging alien mines, and using your surroundings to your full advantage is the extent of your abilities as the game will likely push your platforming skills to their limits while immersing you in this beautiful looking and near cinematic story-telling experience.

PARTING SHOT: Although the controls felt a little stiff in the early build we saw, if you are a fan of old-school platformers that revolve more around overcoming obstacles than just blowing them up or maybe just like the good ol’ fashioned alien invasion story set in another era than modern times, then you should keep an eye out for when this drops on XBLA and PSN sometime in October.

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The Pullbox Issue #5 – 9/14/11

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DC’s re-launch continues while Marvel’s event based barrage tries to win over the hearts and minds of comic purchasers everywhere. Meanwhile, the Indies are putting a strong fight themselves with a barrage of both new titles starting this week and old stand-bys continuing on. So with all these new comics coming out, what should you pick up? Scroll down to find out!

1) Marvel – New Avengers #16 (Fear Itself Tie-In) – It seems like nowadays almost anyone can be an Avenger as a revolving door of characters have been coming through the Mansion over the past couple of years. So when you see Daredevil on the cover, you can just imagine that this is the moment when The Man Without Fear gets his chance at Avengers membership as Marvel continues his recent re-imagining. But what was interesting was how Brian Michael Bendis bookends this issue with more well-established Avengers talking about what it means to be an Avenger and basically sets up a chance for Daredevil to show off his moves so that even if you’re not as familiar with the character or just haven’t paid attention to him in a long time, you realize just what makes this guy so special and why he keeps coming back any chance Marvel gets. As Fear Itself begins to wind down, this is a great pick-up as we can almost start looking ahead to the Marvel universe after this major event.

2) Marvel – Fear Itself #6 (of 7) – I normally don’t like doing a pair of issues from the same event like this, but Marvel had a weak week in my opinion, even though I picked up several comics from them. Fear Itself though finally seems to really be hitting its stride in terms of impact on the Marvel universe. Unfortunately, it almost feels like its going to be rushed now and that things are going to come to a head much too quickly in next month’s final issue as some crossover arcs are starting to come to a close. Still, this was a pretty awesome comic as we saw Thor get his second wind, Captain America reach his breaking point, and Iron Man prepare for the ultimate leap of faith. Meanwhile, the Serpent is nearly back to one-hundred percent in terms of strength and if he reaches his full potential, it all might be too little, too late. This issue is the set up for what should be a very epic final issue in yet another Marvel event and it I can’t wait to see how this shakes up Asgard in the future.

3) DC – Batman and Robin #1 – Continuing with DC’s universal re-launch we go back to Gotham as another Batman series looks to introduce another new villain, one who isn’t very fond of Batman, Inc. and wants to send a very brutal message to Gotham’s Guardian. What’s great about this book though is that is solidifies Bruce Wayne’s return to the cowl as he now tries to not only be a crime-fighter, but a father to young Damian, his illegitimate son with Talia al Guhl, who has now almost by birthright inherited the mantle of Robin. It gives the dynamic between Batman and Robin a unique twist as Damian doesn’t have just the rebellious nature of Jason Todd or the athletics or Dick Grayson or the intelligence of Tim Drake, he has a bit of all of them and his rebelliousness is specifically tailored to being in his late adolescence and looking to rebel against a father who was never there for him, even arguing that when Dick wore the cowl he got more respect with Bruce responding that he still hasn’t earned it from him yet. Brilliant writing by Peter Tomasi makes the decision easy to keep this as a pick up for me every month.

4) DC – Green Lantern #1 – There were a lot of very good comics out there from DC this week so I decided to go with an old standby in Green Lantern. I was curious to see where they would go with Hal Jordan now being powerless and with Sinestro being a Green Lantern again. Although it was somewhat comical how Hal got around without his ring, almost as if it was more influenced by the movie version of Hal than the comic version we’ve seen for decades, but it actually worked and I liked that they moved away from it quickly as, even though it could be a deal with the devil, Sinestro came to Earth to offer Hal a chance at getting his ring back. The long term plans for Green Lantern have me curious, especially since we haven’t seen much of the rest of the honor guard in Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner, but at least it looks Hal won’t be powerless for long, which pleases me tremendously because I still think he is the first Green Lantern people think of when you think of ring slinging and it would only hurt the character in the long room to keep him de-powered. Also, the comic continued to portray the Guardians in a pretty unsavory light and it should be interesting if and when that aspect of their budding personalities comes to a head.

5) Image – PIGS #1 – As a bit of a history buff, I was curious when I heard about PIGS. It is the story about a fictional sleeper cell of Russians who were left in Cuba after The Bay of Pigs in the early 1960s. Now in the modern day, the family of that sleeper cell has been awakened and kidnapped the president of the United States. Now, the FBI and CIA must get to the root of all this. All I can is that for as much exposition as there was to set everything up, this was a brilliantly written first issue for this new series and I’m excited to see how further issues will develop this very realistic based story. The first thing I thought after reading this was that people who fans of Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Warriors from Marvel or the story behind Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops will more than likely enjoy taking a look at this comic from Nate Cosby and Ben McCool.

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Deadliest Warrior Season Finale Preview: Zombies vs Vampires

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The quintessential monster mash

Season Three of SpikeTV’s hit series, Deadliest Warrior ends tonight with a pair of thrilling one-hour episodes starting at 9PM ET/PT. First, the French Foreign Legion vs the Himalayan warrior Gurkhas will kick things off in your standard Deadliest Warrior fashion by pitting these two historical powerhouses against each other.

But then comes a geek debate for the ages that will scientifically be put to rest as pure numbers will face-off against super-human speed and strength in zombies vs. vampires! Can the sheer numbers of a zombie apocalypse be enough to overcome the brutality of a traditional vampire? If all people become zombified and vampires are forced to resort to lesser food sources, will they be vulnerable enough to a wild pack of flesh mongers? It looks to be a true battle of braaaaaaains vs. blood-pumping heart as this age old discussion will be put the test as finally find out WHO IS DEADLIEST?

What should also be fun to watch with the season finale episode will be the live tweeting and audience interaction given during the episode by the show’s hosts and just what the guys will have to say. How will Dr. Armand Dorian’s human biology knowledge be tested as gel torsos will have yet to be seen types of punishment inflicted upon them? What new gadgets will biomedical engineer Geoff Desmoulin pull out to test these unusual and definitely not human characteristics? And what strategies could Richard “Mack” Machowicz come up with for a pair of creatures that often are depicted as having some sort of hive mind?

Outside of tonight’s season finale though, it should be interesting to see if this begins a slippery slope for the series and could lead to more fictional face-offs in the future, which I for one would be excited about. Could Iron Man vs. Batman be that far away? Or how about Superman vs. The Hulk? Whatever the distant future may hold for this always-compelling TV series, I know that in my personal immediate future, I am going to be sitting down at 9 PM EST with my TV tuned to Spike.

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EGM Review: NHL 12

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Will you hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup?

In many northern latitudes, folks are anticipating that first cool breeze in the fall—the one that signifies that the seasons have finally changed, and with it, the sports landscape. That feeling that tells you that, finally, it’s time for hockey again. But in case you can’t wait another month or so, EA Sports is looking to give you your hockey fix a little early with NHL 12.

As always, this season sees plenty of changes, but what’s interesting is that the little tweaks are probably just as big as the overall additions. Not to say that those should be taken lightly, either, though. New modes like NHL Legends—where you can draft a legendary player like Wayne Gretzky or Ray Bourque to your real-life favorite team and play as them like you would in Be a Pro—is a nice addition if you’ve got a childhood hero you want to take back out on the ice. Of course, it might be a little shocking at first to see someone like Jeremy Roenick on the New York Rangers or Chris Chelios on the Tampa Bay Lightning, but this is your chance to see what might’ve happened if your favorite player had donned your favorite team’s sweater.

And speaking of Be a Pro, that’s seen some additions as well. The inclusion of the Canadian Hockey League allows you to play in the CHL for four seasons if you wish, which adds a bit of an RPG feel as your coach assigns you tasks each game in order to progress through your respective organization. Of course, if you don’t want to put in the time and effort to work your way up the minor-league ranks, Be a Pro features a new wrinkle where you can select your favorite current player and play with them already on your big-league club. They still get tasks from the coach, though, and because they’re already in the pros, more’s expected from them—so doing poorly could get them sent to the minors!

Beyond these new modes, though, I didn’t know a hockey game could feel so good until I got my hands on NHL 12. The puck physics have become so realistic that you’d think you were watching an actual game as shots knuckle, deflect off players, or ricochet around the boards. And with the improved AI of all computer-controlled players, you’ll rarely see someone out of position—everyone plays their role, just like they do in the real game. On top of this, NHL 12 offers the ability to hit and interfere with goalies, giving you more influence in the crease than ever before. And you know what that means: goalie fights! Throw in breaking glass, checking guys into the bench, knocking off helmets after bone-crunching checks, or shrugging off checks from smaller players, retired numbers, and even the ability to stage the Winter Classic, and you can’t help but feel satisfied with most every aspect of NHL 12.

Aside from these tweaks to improve the offline modes, another fan favorite that’s been overhauled is the online Hockey Ultimate League. Multiple lineups, stars of the week based on live player stats, a versus mode featuring you and a buddy’s Hockey League teams, and much more have been added to make this month-by-month feature even more addictive for those wannabe GMs out there.

Really, my only complaints with NHL 12 arose in Season or Be a GM when the game didn’t recognize that the Rangers’ first two regular-season games were in Europe—and that the stats were so skewed that the Rangers’ offense was a 100. I love the Rangers, but even through the Broadway Blue–tinted glasses of a fan, I don’t see how adding Brad Richards and getting some guys healthy propels the team so far past last year’s squad.

When all’s said and done, though, EA Sports has gone above and beyond in this year’s effort to give us the best videogame hockey experience yet, and NHL 12 should be more than enough to keep hockey fans satiated all year round.

Summary: NHL 12 is the most complete hockey sim to date, and the effort shows from the smallest puck bounces to brand-new game modes.

  • The Good: Improved puck physics and AI
  • The Bad: Horribly inaccurate player ratings
  • The Ugly: NHL Legends in uniforms they don’t belong in

SCORE: 9.0

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EGM Review: The Gunstringer

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Originally Published: Sept 13, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

Your revenge on Wacky Inflatable Arm Tube Man awaits!

Marking Twisted Pixel’s first foray into the retail realm, The Gunstringer also serves as the company’s first Kinect title, as they find a way to incorporate their off-the-wall humor with Microsoft’s motion-control device in a way that’s both fun and engaging. The Gunstringer sees players leap into the shoes of the titular Gunstringer, an undead outlaw who’s risen from his grave to exact revenge on his former gang—the ones who put him six feet under to begin with. The kink in the plot, though—in vintage Twisted Pixel fashion—is that our hero’s actually just a marionette. The player’s the puppeteer in front of a “real” audience that applauds your successes and groans at your failures—all while you’re putting on a stage show, with stagehands running in and out of the screen and a “live” narrator. That last element’s similar to Bastion, as The Gunstringer’s disembodied voice reacts dynamically to everything you do—for example, explaining that the Gunstringer doesn’t know where these “mysterious forces” may come from, as long as they don’t get in the way of his main goal: vengeance!

The Gunstringer’s controls are simple and also mark the only Kinect game to date where you can actually play the entire game while seated—a landmark in and of itself. Your left hand controls the marionette strings that move the Gunstringer in its third-person shooter view, swinging him left to right across the screen (the entire adventure’s on rails, so you never have to worry about moving forward) and having him “leap” over obstacles by yanking your hand skyward. Your right hand controls the aiming reticule, where you automatically lock on to up six targets at once. Pulling your arm back like you’re firing a gun causes the Gunstringer to do the same, sending lead hurtling toward whatever his targets may be. And after a quick tutorial that ends with you taking revenge upon the first member of your former gang—the dastardly Wacky Inflatable Arm Tube Man—you should be a master of the controls.

The remarkable thing about these controls is that even though they’re beyond simple, they leave you feeling very satisfied and rewarded. The lock-on feature allows you to concentrate on the occasional platforming and dodging elements thrown in to give the action variety, and you’ll find that even as you blow through the game on normal in just a few hours, a smile won’t leave your face for most of the game. This is mostly a credit, of course, to the real driving force of the game: the humor-laden writing by the Twisted Pixel guys that propels you to keep going through the game’s levels just to see what absurdity they’ll throw at you next. Whether it’s power-ups that’ll make you flash back to old-school shooters like ­Contra or the corrupt sheriffs, ninjas, or buxom temptresses that will try to get in your way, The Gunstringer’s an adventure game that needs to be seen to be believed.

Still, the game does have a couple of shortcomings. It does feature local co-op where a second player can jump in and pick up a six-shooter, but aside from leaderboards, there’s very little competitive reason to come back to the game. And the action can become somewhat repetitive rather quickly, so once you’ve seen the story and all the cutscenes, you may not be that compelled to jump into the harder difficultly levels to replay the game.

The Gunstringer’s definitely head-and-shoulders above any other Kinect release, though. It’s hilarious, it’s easy to pick up and play, and with a $40 price tag that includes a code for day-one DLC that gives the origins of Wacky Inflatable Arm Tube Man and a token to download Fruit Ninja Kinect, this is probably the best bang for your buck on the device.

Summary: The simple-yet-satisfying controls combined with classic Twisted Pixel humor makes this easily the best Kinect game yet.

  • The Good: Classic Twisted Pixel humor mixed with simple-yet-satisfying controls
  • The Bad: Repetitive—and not as challenging—as other Twisted Pixel games
  • The Ugly: Undead zombie marionettes

 

SCORE: 8.5

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Pullbox – Issue #4

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Summer may be almost over, but things are still hot in the comics world as DC’s New 52 is really coming out in full swing starting this week and so we’ll see a lot of “Number One’s” from them for the foreseeable future. Not to be outdone though, Marvel has some big issues of their own that came out and even the Indies are not standing idly by as there were a handful of really solid issues from Image, Dynamite, and IDW to be released as well, so there were some hard decisions that went into this week’s Top 5, which you can see below!

1) Marvel – New Avengers Annual #1: Some time ago, after the conclusion of the Civil War, former Avengers powerhouse Simon Williams, a.k.a. Wonder Man, warned the current Avengers roster that they needed to stop banding together as their actions were just as threatening to the universe as the threats they quelled. Feeling Simon was simply having an episode of sorts, they went about their business as usual as Simon fled to parts unknown to see if his warning would be heeded. It was not. Now in a story arc across annuals that is kicking off here, Simon has formed his own team of super-heroes and reformed villains and looks to bring it to the Avengers like never before. Honestly, the first thing that really gripped me about this comic was the art, especially the five double-spreads that start everything off since you just don’t see that in comics anymore. Very powerful stuff. And then when you hear Simon’s arguments, he sounds mad and delusion, much like a super-villain would, but at the same time makes awesome points, like the rational, prominent Marvel universe hero that he once was. Throw in amazing action sequences and this story arc is going to be something to look forward to in the coming weeks.

2) Marvel – Wolverine #15: We begin to see the aftermath of the Red Right Hand story arc that just concluded as Wolverine, unbeknownst to him, has just slaughtered several bastard children he never knew he sired after they were sent to kill him in the delicious irony that all of Wolverine’s children are out to kill him and he had to kill them instead. And he never even knew until it was too late so it was all in cold blood. Now, Wolverine is punishing himself by constantly climbing up a mountain, throwing himself off of it, healing, and repeating. A tremendous comic as you see Wolverine’s psyche truly break down at several moments and leaves us on this awesome cliffhanger that we just don’t know what Wolverine will do next or if he’ll be able to recover from this anytime soon as this series has amazingly continued to mentally dissect one of Marvel’s most popular heroes for the first time really all the way since issue one. A must pick up for all Wolverine fans.

3) DC – Swamp Thing #1: So far the DC New 52 has surprised me because a lot of comics I was expecting to disappoint me, wowed me, and others I thought that would impress me have been bleh at best. Swamp Thing #1 falls into the former as cameos by some of DC’s biggest superheroes highlight the internal struggle between the newly reborn Dr. Alec Holland and how he must try to cope with the actions he did while he was in the form of the Swamp Thing, all the while trying to avoid becoming a creature of the green once more. Much like the sprouting of a seed, the comic is defined by a lot of brown, bland tones in its first few pages, but as the comic progresses and more plantlife begins to be prominently featured, brilliants shades of green, purple, blue, and other bright colors pepper the pages telling a story as much through the subtly of the art as the word bubbles in each panel. With some interesting super-natural threats looming on the horizon, it should be interesting to see how nature’s greatest defender will evolve in future issues.

4) DC – Batman: Detective Comics #1: A comic book powerhouse for over 70 years, seeing Detective Comics reset to number one may have been the hardest for me to take as it typically featured many of my favorite Batman stories. Needing to pick it up, I was not surprised to see Bruce Wayne don the cowl once more as it was alluded to in the closing issues of what will likely be known as the first volume of Batman related comics. Batman is back to his old tricks of skipping dates, having Commissioner Gordon as his only friend in the police force, and chasing down the Joker, Detective Comics #1 does a great job of both giving you everything that makes a Batman comic great, which in and of itself is almost like paying homage to what came before it, and setting up a new villain to work with Joker (at least in this particular arc), continuing a theme started in the last run of expanding Batman’s Rogues Gallery. Dark, twisted, and seemingly going back to its roots, Detective Comics #1 is a solid way for Batman to kick-off the new 52.

5) Dynamite – Kato #12: If you’ve been following the new string of Green Hornet comics then you know that basically this is a new generation of Green Hornet with the original Kato’s daughter taking over and helping out the original Green Hornet’s son live up to the mantle of their crime fighting dads. This title though centers more around Kato and the enemies that she and the Green Hornet have quickly acquired. Although this is the middle issue of an arc, I chose it as my Indie pick of the week because a lot of the comic has Kato fighting for her life in a video game. Meant to tax her brain to the point where she becomes brain dead in the classic, the villain taunts way too much kind of way, Kato is able to overcome the machine’s programming and break out of the spell. Kato even admits to being an avid gamer and when you throw that in with the very provocative cover (those are buttons by the way) and well, what can I say? Hot Asian girl that likes to play video games. Me likey. And you’ll probably be surprised by how solidly written this comic is, too, so it’s definitely worth a look if you’ve got a few extra bucks.

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EGM Review: SkyDrift

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Just driftin’ away

The vehicle combat genre has hit a bit of a dry spell lately so what are fans of racing to the finish line while throwing rockets, bullets, and mines at their friends to do?. Luckily, there seems to be a game coming out that might be able to give them a temporary fix and for a lot less price than a retail game.

SkyDrift is a downloadable plane combat title that pits you against seven other planes as you soar through steep canyons, around frozen glaciers, and over pristine lagoons all over the world. As you win more races, some being your standard get through the finish line first after a couple of laps while others are more objective motivated, like surviving a series of timed cuts that eliminate the farthest behind player, you progress through seven progressively harder series. Along the way you can unlock up to eight different aircraft and four skins for each one to help give you some diversity in your aircraft and play style as the sharp controls help you bob and weave around enemy projectiles or environment hazards.

Unlike some more developed vehicle combat games though, there is really no story behind SkyDrift. It is simply an exercise in you getting behind some crosshairs and trying to blow some friends to kingdom come. So if you’re just looking for a release for your road rage, this might be a solid choice, but if you’re looking for something more in-depth and plot driven with some larger than life characters, then you should really look elsewhere. Also, even with the great weapon variety and solid controls, they can’t make up for the fact that sometimes the flight paths are muddled against generic textures and without a mini-map or compass you’re really kind of hung out to dry once in a while and may crash yourself more than your friends will shoot you down. This can lead to a lot of frustration in those really tight races if you’re still familiarizing yourself with certain courses.

Overall, if you’re looking for a really deep vehicle combat experience, this probably isn’t your best choice, but if you’re just looking to target a bunch of friends casually in your crosshairs before hitting them with a full arsenal of weaponry, then SkyDrift might be worth looking at with its $15 price tag. Especially considering it has nearly three-dozen courses and countless single-player and online versus modes including a Survival mode that clearly focuses more on the combat aspect than the racing one. SkyDrift is a solid, decently polished game that should be enough to stave off some vehicle combat cravings at least for a little while.

SUMMARY: SkyDrift is a fun game that could serve as a decent holdover for vehicle combat fans until something more involved comes along.

  • THE GOOD: Weapon variety and solid controls
  • THE BAD: Lack of a story and motivation through single-player campaign
  • THE UGLY: Unclear flight paths at times leading to bloody stains on canyon walls

SCORE: 6.5

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EGM Review: Crimson Alliance

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Hack ‘n’ Slash at its most mediocre

If you bought all five games in the Xbox Summer of Arcade this year, then you may already have an idea what Crimson Alliance is all about as this game was the promised bonus for purchasing all those downloadable titles. And after playing through this game, I see why it needed to be thrown in as a bonus.

The game follows the story of a mercenary, an assassin, and a wizard who upon happenstance see their paths cross. And once they do cross, well, their lives are never quite the same. So original, I know. The wizard, who is amnesiac, pleads to the mercenary and assassin to help him on a quest to return to his homeland. Both sensing some easy gold, agree. But once they reach what was supposed to be the glorious harbor city of Byzan, they see that it is smoldering in ruin and has seen the water recede permanently back into the ocean. The mercenary and assassin realize they’ve bitten off more than they can chew, but reluctantly agree to help the wizard get to the root of the problem and maybe jog his memory back up.

The magical powers and fighting in Crimson Alliance are reminiscent of the N64’s Gauntlet Legends, with it’s arcade hack ‘n’ slash feel and the wizard acting as your magic type, the merc as your tank, and the assassin as your long-range/speedster. All while various monsters, mercenaries, and the undead look to take you down across the game’s 11 levels. Each level also has a small horde of collectibles that can power-up your heroes or help reveal more of the game’s back-story. The controls and game play for the most part feel satisfying, even in their repetitive simplicity, and should please any veteran of the arcade who played these ceiling down RPGs in the past. Beyond this though, the game starts to fall flat.

The game tries to tempt you with further replays of the game and particular levels by incorporating a scoring system and awarding you medals and bonus gold depending on how well you do. There are also several challenge arenas where you’ll face off against waves of enemies in the hopes of bonus gold and rare weapons, armor, or shields. Unfortunately, with the generic story, repetitive game play, and the fact it should only take you one play through to find all the items, collectibles, and rack up a decent enough high score, unless you are set on getting platinum, once through should be enough for you.

A possible saving aspect to this abundance of mediocrity would be the game’s options to play with friends either locally or online in co-op, as well as the hint of competition in terms of the scoring system. But again the ball was dropped here as with four slots available and only three classes, it just seems weird to force players into mirror images if you can get a full band of players together and it just comes off as lazy to not have incorporated a fourth character in a type of game that always seems to have plentiful options for people. Another limiting factor here is the fact you have to pay extra to unlock all three characters as playable. If you only buy the game, once you choose your character class, you are locked into it unless you pay extra for the other two. This lack of options is probably the biggest knock against the replay-ability of the game since the experience really would only differ if you changed classes, and forcing players to pay for this option just seems very low end.

When all is said and done, Crimson Alliance is well-polished enough in terms of controls and game play, but is as generic an action/adventure RPG as they come as repetition, multiplayer restrictions, and poor story telling keep this game from being something special. If you got the game as the Summer of Arcade bonus, it was worth it, but I don’t see this as being worth its $15 price tag for all three characters, or $10 for one, and would suggest you look for another downloadable title until this maybe goes on sale.


SUMMARY: Crimson Alliance is well-polished enough in terms of controls and game play, but is as generic an action/adventure RPG as they come in almost every other aspect.

  • THE GOOD: Arcade hack ‘n’ slash action reminiscent of Gauntlet Legends
  • THE BAD:Nothing special to make it stand out above other games of the same genre
  • THE UGLY:Undead zombie priestesses out to consume your soul

SCORE: 6.0

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EGM – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer Interview with Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling

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September 15, 2011

Originally Published: August 30, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

I had a chance to sit down with Infinity Ward’s Creative Strategist Robert Bowling and talk a bit about the multiplayer strike packages for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. To check out my full interview with Robert, head to EGMNOW.com or check out EGMi on the iPad and look for Issue 251.5. And for new trailers and more videos from me and the rest of the EGM crew, be sure to check out EGMNOW on Youtube! Multiplayer trailer footage provided by Activision.

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The Pullbox – 9/6/11

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September 13, 2011

Originally Published: September 6, 2011, on EGMNOW.Com

Summer may be almost over, but things are still hot in the comics world as DC’s New 52 is really coming out in full swing starting this week and so we’ll see a lot of “Number One’s” from them for the foreseeable future. Not to be outdone though, Marvel has some big issues of their own that came out and even the Indies are not standing idly by as there were a handful of really solid issues from Image, Dynamite, and IDW to be released as well, so there were some hard decisions that went into this week’s Top 5, which you can see below!

1) Marvel – New Avengers Annual #1: Some time ago, after the conclusion of the Civil War, former Avengers powerhouse Simon Williams, a.k.a. Wonder Man, warned the current Avengers roster that they needed to stop banding together as their actions were just as threatening to the universe as the threats they quelled. Feeling Simon was simply having an episode of sorts, they went about their business as usual as Simon fled to parts unknown to see if his warning would be heeded. It was not. Now in a story arc across annuals that is kicking off here, Simon has formed his own team of super-heroes and reformed villains and looks to bring it to the Avengers like never before. Honestly, the first thing that really gripped me about this comic was the art, especially the five double-spreads that start everything off since you just don’t see that in comics anymore. Very powerful stuff. And then when you hear Simon’s arguments, he sounds mad and delusion, much like a super-villain would, but at the same time makes awesome points, like the rational, prominent Marvel universe hero that he once was. Throw in amazing action sequences and this story arc is going to be something to look forward to in the coming weeks.

2) Marvel – Wolverine #15: We begin to see the aftermath of the Red Right Hand story arc that just concluded as Wolverine, unbeknownst to him, has just slaughtered several bastard children he never knew he sired after they were sent to kill him in the delicious irony that all of Wolverine’s children are out to kill him and he had to kill them instead. And he never even knew until it was too late so it was all in cold blood. Now, Wolverine is punishing himself by constantly climbing up a mountain, throwing himself off of it, healing, and repeating. A tremendous comic as you see Wolverine’s psyche truly break down at several moments and leaves us on this awesome cliffhanger that we just don’t know what Wolverine will do next or if he’ll be able to recover from this anytime soon as this series has amazingly continued to mentally dissect one of Marvel’s most popular heroes for the first time really all the way since issue one. A must pick up for all Wolverine fans.

3) DC – Swamp Thing #1: So far the DC New 52 has surprised me because a lot of comics I was expecting to disappoint me, wowed me, and others I thought that would impress me have been bleh at best. Swamp Thing #1 falls into the former as cameos by some of DC’s biggest superheroes highlight the internal struggle between the newly reborn Dr. Alec Holland and how he must try to cope with the actions he did while he was in the form of the Swamp Thing, all the while trying to avoid becoming a creature of the green once more. Much like the sprouting of a seed, the comic is defined by a lot of brown, bland tones in its first few pages, but as the comic progresses and more plantlife begins to be prominently featured, brilliants shades of green, purple, blue, and other bright colors pepper the pages telling a story as much through the subtly of the art as the word bubbles in each panel. With some interesting super-natural threats looming on the horizon, it should be interesting to see how nature’s greatest defender will evolve in future issues.

4) DC – Batman: Detective Comics #1: A comic book powerhouse for over 70 years, seeing Detective Comics reset to number one may have been the hardest for me to take as it typically featured many of my favorite Batman stories. Needing to pick it up, I was not surprised to see Bruce Wayne don the cowl once more as it was alluded to in the closing issues of what will likely be known as the first volume of Batman related comics. Batman is back to his old tricks of skipping dates, having Commissioner Gordon as his only friend in the police force, and chasing down the Joker, Detective Comics #1 does a great job of both giving you everything that makes a Batman comic great, which in and of itself is almost like paying homage to what came before it, and setting up a new villain to work with Joker (at least in this particular arc), continuing a theme started in the last run of expanding Batman’s Rogues Gallery. Dark, twisted, and seemingly going back to its roots, Detective Comics #1 is a solid way for Batman to kick-off the new 52.

5) Dynamite – Kato #12: If you’ve been following the new string of Green Hornet comics then you know that basically this is a new generation of Green Hornet with the original Kato’s daughter taking over and helping out the original Green Hornet’s son live up to the mantle of their crime fighting dads. This title though centers more around Kato and the enemies that she and the Green Hornet have quickly acquired. Although this is the middle issue of an arc, I chose it as my Indie pick of the week because a lot of the comic has Kato fighting for her life in a video game. Meant to tax her brain to the point where she becomes brain dead in the classic, the villain taunts way too much kind of way, Kato is able to overcome the machine’s programming and break out of the spell. Kato even admits to being an avid gamer and when you throw that in with the very provocative cover (those are buttons by the way) and well, what can I say? Hot Asian girl that likes to play video games. Me likey. And you’ll probably be surprised by how solidly written this comic is, too, so it’s definitely worth a look if you’ve got a few extra bucks.

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