Whether you began with Tales of Phantasia or got into the series with later entries like Tales of Symphonia you should be pleased to know that the latest to hit western shores, Tales of Xillia, has a lot to offer. Here are five reasons why you should be looking forward to the latest in this series:
Many Nintendo fans have been anxiously awaiting the latest Super Smash Bros. This E3, we caught a glimpse of both the Wii U and 3DS versions, and thankfully, it seems to continue the tradition of high-energy wackiness.
Ubisoft made good on last year’s surprise of Watch_Dogs with another, this one known as Tom Clancy’s The Division. One of the biggest draws about this title, besides the outstanding visuals, is the way that players engage with one another.
We’ve known about Infamous: Second Son for a while now, but never did I imagine that the game would look this enticing. Sucker Punch had a strong showing during Sony’s Press Conference with this latest entry into the Infamous universe, and all signs are pointing in the right direction for the series.
Every party has an energy. You can feel it wax and wane when people come and go, eat and drink, and talk or uncomfortably look around. The greatest way to completely sap a party’s energy at any stage is to flip on the TV– even if it is to play a “party” video game. Thankfully, Spin the Bottle: Bumpie’s Party may be the solution for people who want to try to integrate a video game into their next social gathering… even if the event has a few non-gamers in attendance.
Killer Instinct was one of the bigger surprises to come from Microsoft's E3 press conference, and information is beginning to trickle in about how the long-absent fighting game will shape up when it is released alongside the Xbox One in November.
I don’t know about you, but I always have a tough time getting through E3 without squealing with glee at the thought of so much gaming goodness coming in the next year. The bigger the E3, the bigger the squeal, and this year I’ve almost gone hoarse. With so many amazing games on the horizon for both current and next gen, it’s tough to focus on favorites. However, everything shown about The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt tickles me in a way that few games do.
There was plenty of excitement about the final salvo Sony fired at their E3 press conference on Monday night, maybe to such a degree that they forgot about an exclusive PlayStation 4 game that debuted before the grand finale. The only new exclusive game revealed during the conference, The Order: 1886 looks like it could satisfy our collective need for new properties on our flashy new console.
When it came to Injustice: Gods Among Us, my initial reaction was a resounding “meh”. Don’t get me wrong – I’m actually a huge fan of DC Comics, and fighting games for that matter. A few weeks ago, Injustice was a game that I couldn't care less about. I didn’t like the character designs. I wasn’t sure I wanted to learn a new fighting game. And I definitely thought the stage interactions were extremely gimmicky. However, now as I type this, I couldn’t be more pumped to get my hands on the game and explore its intricacies. So you might ask, “What changed your mind JD?” In a nutshell the answer is this – good marketing.
After such a long and torturous wait, Assassins Creed fans finally get to walk the plank again. Director Ashraf Ishmael announced a new location and setting for the seminal franchise in an interview on March 4th, 2013. To be released on November 1 of this year for Ps3, Xbox 360, WiiU, PC, in addition to next generation consoles Ps4 and Xbox 720, Black Flag will be set in the 18th century Caribbean.This age of piracy should prove an interesting shift in the format laid by Assassin’s Creed 2’s trilogy: Assassin’s Creed 4 will release after just one iteration to the series’ third installment.
Whether you’re a true fisherman, a lapsed amateur, or someone who has never even put worm to hook in your life, fishing games can be a lot of fun – when done well. After the Wii’s motion controls led to an onslaught of questionable fishing games available at your local Academy Sports & Outdoors, the whole genre got pushed even farther off of the typical gamer’s radar. This April, one of the great fishing series tries to make a return when Super Black Bass 3D is released on the 3DS, but it’s uncertain if it will capture the classic majesty of the Black Bass series heritage.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been six years since Hitman: Blood Money hit the scene. It was released in that heady time around the launch of the “seventh generation” of consoles, when it was still common to see games come out for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 alongside the Xbox 360. As such, Blood Money wasn’t technically a seventh generation game; it was designed with the PCs and consoles of 2005 and upscaled to run on the 360. That was my introduction to the series, and even though the game came across as dated by the time I got to it in 2009 I was impressed with the sheer amount of options for completing objectives in every level.
In just a few months, Nintendo's Wii U will push aside the Wii from store shelves, its memory will begin to fade from our gaming consciousness, and that little blue light will shine no more. With one last epic RPG The Last Story coming out this week, it's not a bad way to die.
You know those trippy sequences in movies that come out of nowhere with no real explanation or warning? Like the pink elephants in Dumbo or the weird tunnel sequence in Willy Wonka? Far Cry 3 is basically filled with stuff like that. Want a lap dance from a tribeswoman with painted breasts? You got it. Want to walk around on TV monitors while your adversary Vaas is doing a pole dance one minute and pushing you to shoot him the next? Here you go. Insanity is the reoccurring theme in Far Cry 3 and if it's successful, we'll all be in for a psychological thrill ride.
If you read my review for Avernum, you know that I missed out on most of the major PC hits of the 90s. So it should go without saying that I did not partake in the white-hot popularity of the XCOM series. I was one of those people who thought the upcoming first person take on the franchise looked pretty good, and I avoided all of the rage surrounding the departure of the game from its strategy roots. Taking that into consideration, I find myself extremely intrigued by the game that Firaxis is working on—XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
Like many of you out there, I wasn’t terribly impressed by Nintendo’s press conference at this year’s E3. One of the things they touted as being a major showpiece was a game called Nintendo Land. Much like Wii Sports, the aim of this title is to introduce players to a new controller--in this case the Wii U GamePad--through a virtual theme park bursting with references to classic Nintendo franchises. At each attraction, your mii will don an appropriate costume and partake in a challenge that teaches the player a new way to use the Wii U GamePad. Nintendo’s hope is that this game will do for the Wii U what Wii Sports did for the Wii, and explain to new players exactly what the Wii U is all about.
Sometimes a title comes along that brings to mind childish wonder. A game that brings back memories of the past, before realism was the standard and fantastical worlds were the norm. A title that includes colorful graphics, spinning spike-riddled death traps, and rocking grandmas. Wait, what?
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two has something to prove. The first game created divided opinions, and the announcement of a sequel wasn't exactly highly anticipated. However, a sequel is just what Junction Point is creating, and the return of Mickey aims to appeal to a wider audience by fixing the issues of the first game while also bringing the world of Wasteland to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in addition to the Wii.
Project P-100 was Nintendo's best kept secret at E3 2012. It was so well kept, in fact, that it wasn't even shown at the Nintendo press conference. One would think that an exclusive game designed by hotshot Japanese developer Platinum Games (Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance) would be something that Nintendo would want to shout about, but instead the game got a quiet reveal on Spike TV after the press conference.
Epic Mickey was released in 2010 to extremely polarizing reviews. Junction Point aims to address the criticisms of the game in hopes of reaching a larger audience with Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two. In addition to the console sequel a portable game for the 3DS from developer Dreamrift was revealed at E3, and while it shares the same concept as Epic Mickey, this title is mostly inspired by the Sega Genesis classic Castle of Illusion.
Imagine if you will, that video games never went into the third dimension. Instead of the polygon arms race that began in 1995, game artists and designers simply continued to hone the craft of 2D, hand-drawn sprites. What would the video games industry look like today? With that picture in your head, imagine that character-action games like Devil May Cry and God of War still existed, but were known for their gorgeous animation and parallax scrolling as much for their over-the-top combo systems and precise control schemes. Enter Dust: An Elysian Tale, a game that seems to come from this amazing alternate gaming reality.
It felt like the big message of E3 2012 was that 2013 will be one of the greatest years in gaming history. But what about the rest of this year? There are plenty of new and interesting games on the way, even if it feels like the games we’re really waiting for won’t drop for a long time. That leaves plenty of opportunity for some dark horse entries to find an audience and success. Enter Sleeping Dogs, the new open world action game from United Front Games and Square Enix.
Street Fighter X Tekken was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 earlier this year but the PlayStation Vita version is still on the way. Capcom plans on selling you on purchasing a portable version of the game by including touch screen functionality, cross-platform play with the PlayStation 3, and more. So will you want to buy another version of the same game? Do you need another version of this game if you already own one? Should you be upset if you got the Xbox 360 version?
Last year's amazing Arkham City is now making its way to the new Wii U in the form of the Armored Edition. Along with the console's new controller, a slew of new features are making its way into the port and Nintendo is hoping fans find that this new edition is the definitive edition.
I don't know about you, but I'm more than ready to terrorize yet another ecosystem with the ferocious ant/plant-like species that, on command, can attack enemies 10x their own size, break down gates, throw bombs, and other constructive activities. Pikmin 3 literally doubles your fun with several layers of depth and scope that could only be done on Wii U.