The original Sanctum game was a really fun game, it was a great tower defense game which featured a twist giving you the ability to jump down onto the map and actually take down the enemies yourself. With plenty of different enemy types including tank-like enemies and flying enemies, you have to place your turrets strategically, upgrade them and kick some alien butt.

Not much is known about what Sanctum 2 will be bringing, but you can assume it will be more of the insane tower defense fun that the original featured. I’m glad that it will be available on Xbox Live, PSN and PC as the original was only out on PC which obviously limited the amount of gamers that were exposed to it, which was a shame as the game has some great co-op gameplay too.

Keep your eye out for more Sanctum 2 info on Platform Nation as it comes out.

Most gamers feel that DLC, at times, could have been implemented in the games without making them DLC. Others feel DLC are a blessing to continue the life cycle of a beloved game.  Personally, I have no reaction either way.

Notable games released so far with Season passes include:  Saints Row: The Third, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, and Gears of War 3 just to name a few.  Mass Effect 3, releasing in March this year, is rumored to include a season pass.

So as a community of gamers, what do you think?  Is it better to bundle DLC, prices ranging, and try to come off cheap or fight off huge DLC packages.  I’ve never actually purchased DLC that wasn’t included free for pre-ordering a game or some kind of promotion, but I can definitely see both sides of the argument.  Bundling allows me the option, if I choose, to not make a life altering decision between eating that day or buying Microsoft/PSN points.  I can just hop on and get to downloading.

On the other half, it does seem like an easy cop-out for developers at times to release huge DLC outside of additional maps or add-ons.  Characters that could have been included probably should have, so why pay for that. With that being said, we’re the consumers, those that will determine whether this will become a new industry standard. Let your voice be heard and chime in on this debate that is destined to be discussed. As gamers, we have a voice somewhere, so why not use it before we’re muted by “Well why didn’t you speak up?”

Platform Nation’s Chad Bonin reviewed the game for us and here’s a few select quotes from the review.

“Arcade Edition is almost required purchasing for Street Fighter fans, allowing them to keep up with their competitors. The new characters aren’t perfect, but they add measurable enhancements to an already-great title. For Street Fighters, you’ve already purchased it. For general gamers, this is the best version of Street Fighter IV to start with.”

I can remember renting this game on disc and I’m hardly a fan of fighting games and kept getting destroyed in moments. If you want to digitally own a copy of this game you can download it now on Games on Demand for $29.99.

At least from the GameStop side of things. GameStop, a store that I absolutely love to hate, seems to have screwed over several top notch fighters. If you pre-order UFC Undisputed 3 from GameStop you get the deal that you see in the picture above. 4 DLC fighters that are/were at the edge of really making a name for themselves. The thing about this is though that all 4 of these fighters have all lost their last fight with Nick Diaz being the latest of them with last nights awesome matchup against Carlos Condit.

This of course, being just the lastest of the UFC curses. I still subscribe to the #UFCONFOX curse where the fights on FOX just seem to be crappy fights and disappointing showings of UFC in a primetime environment.

Let’s be honest though, there probably isn’t any such curse, I do find it very odd though that a store that most gamers actually hate seems to have a pre-order DLC deal that the 4 fighters that are a part of it all lost in pretty big fashion.

If you are looking to buy UFC Undisputed 3, I highly suggest you pick it up from Amazon or you should check out the deal THQ currently has on it.

Our DLC offering will include a wide variety of new fighters, historic UFC fights, career boosts and early access to unlockable content, available via Xbox LIVE® Marketplace and PlayStation® Network.

Please scroll down for official details on our UFC 3 DLC Season Pass program, which you can get FREE by pre-ordering UFC Undisputed 3 now at the THQ Store.

The latest game with this pass is the return of EA’s Snowboarding classic SSX. However the SSX online pass is slighty different to those that have preceded it, rather than restrict access to certain parts of the game it restricts access to the rewards from online play.

Detailed on GameInformer, the gamers who do not have an online pass will not be able to collect any in-game credits that are awarded for good performance in the online mode. Gamers will be able to earn the credits but they will be held in limbo until an online pass is purchased at which point the gamer can cash out and claim what he/she has earned. 

As online passes go it’s not a bad model for the gamer, unless the credits earned online are significantly higher than those awarded offline (For example if the credit system is tiered in such a way that online play is worth x times offline) then in theory a gamer can unlock all content offline and then play online without worrying about those unclaimed credits.

Source: DigitalSpy, GameInformer

In the early days of graphical computer games, adventure games reigned supreme.  Led by companies like Sierra, gamers were allowed to explore worlds using their keyboard to type commands like Open Door, Push Rock, or Ifnkovhgroghprm.  These graphical adventure games eventually started utilizing a new device called a mouse (yes, there was a time when computers were mouseless), and doing away with the keyboard entirely.  Metal Dead picks up the genre at this time, and is a mouse-driven graphical adventure game that would be right at home in the mid to late 1980s.  Metal Dead is not afraid to pay homage to their predecessors either, and many of the best jokes in the game are derived from material from other games and movies.

There’s not much I can say about the story that won’t take away from why you’d buy the game, so I’ll keep it simple.  Zombies are attacking, and you need to find out why.  Most of the story takes place in a medical facility, and you and your heavy metal rock buddy tackle the mystery one floor at a time.  Literally; the progression is broken up by restricting access to the various floors until you’ve performed various tasks via the point and click interface.  Fortunately, the icon you move around highlights when hovering over an item that can be interacted with (though most are merely for substance, very few actually progress the story).  Descriptive and often witty feedback is given, depending on what you try to do to these various objects, and was one of the charming things about these types of games that I’m glad was captured in Metal Dead.

Your character can carry a bit of inventory (that is often used with objects in the environment to progress, and sometimes can be combined with other inventory items), but most of your interaction will be via the hand or mouth icon to do or speak to things respectively.  You’ll have access to an in-game hint system as well, which is very well done.  There is also the option to save and load your game, but if you’ve got 3 hours to kill, you won’t need it (I never died while playing, and only saved once when I had to leave the game).  Information is delivered solely through on-screen text, and there is a decent (but oft repeating) MIDI soundtrack that plays throughout.

One of the most charming aspects of graphical adventure games was the subtle ways that the developers injected humor into the game, and Metal Dead does a great job of leveraging that humor in often ridiculous ways. The humor stays pretty consistent (read: good) throughout the game (you’ll probably need a diverse gaming background to pick up all the references).  As I mentioned earlier, the hint system is well done, and is also rather witty.  The interface feels spot-on with the classics, and never gets in your way of enjoying the game.  The graphics, while simplistic, are effective in delivering the content in a particular style, and there are some advanced effects utilized occasionally.  The dialog is very well written for the most part (a little lengthy at times), and is very entertaining.

Of course, the limitations of these types of games are present as well.  For one, there is a fair amount of backtracking done in the game.  While the various floors of the building aren’t exactly robust (there’s usually 2-3 rooms per floor), it can be a mental chore when you realize that the item you just got needs to be used in a place near the beginning, and then brought back to where you currently are.  The dialog, while excellently written, is painfully delivered in an all-text format with a font that is just non-standard enough to frustrate the reader a bit (and some of the colors are difficult to read).  The game is very wordy with everything from minor interactions to major dialog, and the limitations of the visual text mean that you’ll be sitting through extensive text reading sessions (or clicking a ton to advance the story along).  Classic games of this genre got around this limitation by using text boxes that could display entire paragraphs at once; such a feature would have been useful in this game.  The game is pretty short if you’ve played these types of games before; I completed it in a little under 3 hours, but I did miss 4 achievements (there are 13 total) in my playthrough, so I clearly didn’t see everything there was in the game.  Finally, there wasn’t enough variety in what you did; there were very few actual puzzles in the game.  Most of the time is spent trying to figure out what item in your inventory is going to advance you to the next part of the game.  There are no consequences for dialog choices, and as a result you find yourself just floating along with the story, rather than being actively engaged with it.  Let me click into a horde of zombies and die.  Don’t worry, I’ll keep playing!

Tym’s take: Metal Dead does a lot of things right with delivering a classic graphical adventure game.  For those with an itch to relive the glory days of gaming (albeit on a smaller scale), you’d be wise to pick this up.  The funny, well written story is worth going through; I just wish the way it was presented was different. At $5, I have a hard time saying you won’t get a decent return on investment, as long as you understand the limitations that this type of game brings with it.  It’s missing just enough features to prevent me from recommending it to everyone, but seeing as this is the first of a series of these types of games from Walk Thru Walls, I think they’re on the right track.

+ Funny dialog and interactive elements that pay homage to the genre

+ Efficient interface

- Excessive dialog is difficult to follow due to the way it is presented

- Short game that is somewhat artificially extended with backtracking

- Lack of puzzle variety

Final Score: 5/10

Valve have just announced a Steam App has made it’s way to the iOS App Store and the Android Marketplace.

Using the Steam app, gamers will be able to chat with Steam friends, browse community groups and user profiles. Another great features is the ability to view screenshots and user generated content. Gaming news will also be available within the app so you can always stay up to date with the latest news.

At the moment the Steam App is currently in closed BETA and not available for use by gamers just yet. To register your interest in the application, download the app today and sign in.

What is up fellow Star Wars fans? Today I have a brand new episode of The Holoterminal for you, covering the latest Rise of the Rakghouls (1.1) patch and other news from Bioware’s Star Wars The Old Republic. We get things started with another light hearted sketch, which helps shed some light on our favorite race in the game. Then, having recently reached the game’s max level (50), we start out by discussing my initial opinions of end game, along with a few tips on how to get started with PvP gear. Next we cover the changes and repercussions of the recent changes and hot fixes to the end game PvP planet, Ilum. And lastly, we discuss some of the issues with the game’s Warzones, and future hot fixes coming down the pipe.

Many players have had their trust in Bioware shaken after these recent Ilum changes and problems. Speaking for myself, I have read more nerd rage comments in general chat this past week than I have seen since I first logged into the early access period. But, to be fair, gamers tend to blow things out of proportion, because they were having so much fun before things went off track. It’s the same reason people still complain about the Prequels, we were so in love with what we’d seen in the past that we can do nothing but weep beneath the shadow of disappointment. Try talking to a non-Star Wars fan (blasphemy!) about why the Prequels suck, I can pretty much guarantee you that they will either drone you out or walk away.

Episode 9- Patch 1.1

So what do you think? Has your trust been shaken? Is this the end of The Old Republic and Bioware? Is the game now a failure? Or are my fellow Star Wars nerds simply being as overly dramatic as always? Thanks for watching, see you next time!

Ken Levine, creative director at Irrational Games and creator of BioShock, is an interesting guy. If you listen to him talk during the Irrational Podcasts or read his interviews, it’s very apparent that 1) he loves games, and 2) he’s extremely intelligent. This manifests particularly well in that he is cognizant of what the gaming public is thinking and wanting, even if they don’t know it.

So cut to this morning when Irrational Games announced the 1999 Mode for BioShock Infinite. Instead of how most games increase difficulty by giving enemies a health bump and the player a health drop, the 1999 Mode take it back for “old school” gamers and include “tweaks and features that BioShock fans will not experience in a standard play-through.”

In particular, Levine says that players will “face more of the permanent consequences of their gameplay decisions” and “sweat out the results of their actions.” 1999 Mode will also demand that players “pick specializations and focus on them.” These choices for the new mode were informed by questions posed on the Irrational Games website to the general public where it was revealed that 94.6% of respondents showed that they liked upgrade choices in BioShock games but that 56.8% said that permanent decisions (exactly what 1999 Mode is bringing to the table) would have made those games better.

The new 1999 Mode will also demand better “weapon, power, and health management” and will lead to a game over screen if the player “lacks the resources” to be resuscitated. Also, here’s a pretty sweet piece of art that accompanied the announcement.

Source: Take-Two and BioShock Infinite

We just wanted to take the time today to wish everyone a Happy New Year!
Platform Nation is looking forward to 2012, by bringing you all the gaming goodness you are use to from P*N.
Not only do we bring you reviews written by gamers for gamers, but we bring you news, editorials and the top gaming podcasts, all on one site.
So here is to a safe and prosperous 2012, and a thank you for your continued support.
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