Video Courtesy of Operation Sports

I’ll be writing up information on some of the things EA Sports has released detailing presentation and scouting/recruiting improvements so be sure to keep an eye out for those write-ups!

Scott Pilgrim VS. The World was possibly the best video game movie. It got the vibe of video games down, made references that weren’t out of place, and had fun with the medium. The thing to remember is that the movie wasn’t based on Scott Pilgrim VS. The World: The Game, it was based off the six-volume comic book by Bryan Lee O’Malley. These six black and white original books are getting a bit of a facelift.

Newly colored by Nathan Fairbairn, the six volumes will be in hardcover. Additionally, O’Malley will be doing a few touch-ups on the art. Retailing for $24.99, the first volume will hit on August 8th. The second will follow in October, and they’ll release two a year after that. Therefore, the series will finish 2014 and run readers about $150 at the end of the day. In larger size, the black and white versions will still be around for those preferring the more authentic or cheaper version.

Looks like it’ll be a new way to enjoy the modern classic.

Source: Comic Book Resources

Podcast listeners know that my tastes don’t always align with those of the rest of the Pack, but the divide was particularly pronounced with Abobo’s Big Adventure. This game was designed to cram every childhood memory into an ambitious Flash game, with several different genres represented and the most packed roster of characters this side of Super Smash Bros. To that end, mission accomplished. Playing even just the first world, you’d spot more cameos from older games than your eight-year-old self could have ever imagined. But where I take issue is that none of these elements fit together. Each step is accompanied with non-sequiturs disguised as old school sprites, but very rarely does Team Abobo let its own style shine through.  And it’s a shame, too, as I love the premise.

Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0 has garnered a lot of love on the game blog scene as well, but that game misses the point, too. Unlike Abobo’s, there’s a unifying element here: the original Super Mario Bros. All of the 8-bit heroes (well, now 16-bit, too) have their signature abilities and moves, and the Mushroom Kingdom is basically broken as a result. That’s fine. I get that the game essentially becomes the player’s playground. The problem is that the level design just doesn’t make any sense in these contexts. Having to shoot dozens of shots into lines of goombas just isn’t fun, and I can’t help but feel that the developer could have taken these characters and designed a game that would be fun for all.

And while I’m being generally cranky, let me extend my rant to video game related literature. Namely, Ready Player One, which supposedly looks at the extensive world of MMOs on an even grander scale, while also commenting on how pop culture shapes our identities. In a sense, I guess it’s true to the times we live in, as the “references as jokes” model of comedy certainly has its fans. But when the author offers up a recreation, line by line, of “WarGames,” with little else to say besides, “Wasn’t that movie cool?” I’m left wondering what the point of all of it was. There’s nothing wrong with incorporating the Matthew Broderick “classic,” but why not ask the main character to change things up within a virtual simulation rather than have him slavishly stick to the stick.

What I’m getting at is that you can pay tribute to the past without slavish devotion to source material. Nintendo has certainly done it with the aforementioned Super Smash Bros. series, but I’d also direct gamers to the upcoming Retro City Rampage. It’s game that does its own things with its own mechanics and world, but at the same time, it features homages to characters of games past. There are parodies for sure, but when you’re bitten by a radioactive spider or the overhead city blends into a tactical espionage jungle, you can see a degree of creativity and care that some of these lesser efforts would do well to include going forward.

This week’s XBLA Deal Of The Week is none other than the action Tower Defense game; Dungeon Defenders. The game is currently 33% off until Jan 10, 2012 which lowers the price to a mere 800 MS Points. If you haven’t given this hybrid RPG/Tower Defense a try, now is the perfect chance to get your hands on a game that provides hours of entertainment and challenging gameplay.

Dungeon Defenders is 33% Off as Xbox Live Arcade’s Deal of The Week

For those who’ve yet to experience the thrill that is Dungeon Defenders, one of the greatest genre mash-ups to date, the deal has gotten much sweeter on this tower defense/RPG hybrid. Dungeon Defenders is now 33% offfrom January 10 to January 17 as Xbox Live Arcade’s Deal of The Week – that’s just 800 MS Points for hundreds of hours’ worth of goblin-slaying, loot-raiding awesomeness! This deal is limited, so make sure to get your hands on this co-op madness while it lasts.

Dungeon Defenders brings together the best elements of tower defense and action-RPG progression in a fully 3D environment; spreading the four-player co-op mayhem out across 15 unique maps –  30 challenges,  four difficulty settings –  in all its loot-raiding, spell-casting, level-up stacking glory. Players control one of four distinct heroes – Squire, Apprentice, Huntress and Monk – in an epic bid to fight back an ancient evil. Each character comes with distinct functionalities, and players can create and customize an armory of weapons and equipment. The campaign, whether with friends or solo, has tons and tons of gameplay with hundreds of loot drops (all upgradeable and customizable) to make each character that much more distinct.

Dungeons Defenders is definitely worth the price tag and now more than ever is the right time to get in on the Tower Defense action. To get your juices flowing, here’s the gameplay trailer for Dungeon Defenders.

The world is being plunged into war. Russian terrorists are throwing a military coup, but this time with the support of a modernized army – allowing them to level a good part of the world. In Modern Warfare 3, you will travel from the US to Africa, Paris, Germany, and other parts of the world – all while witnessing beautiful cities being leveled.

The inter-continental mission will put you in control of a variety of Special Forces troops, from an American Delta Force soldier, to British Spec Ops, to Russian Secret Service.  You will infiltrate terrorist operations, assassinate powerful leaders, and gun down hundreds of Russian soldiers while trying to save the world.

Modern Warfare 3 ups its antics from the pervious entries. New York City – London – Berlin – all will be visited in the name of incredible action; and controversial scenes – like the airport massacre from MW2 – will leave you shocked.

The teammate on the right is rocking the new Jason Mask Perk, +15% damage to innocent campers

As high action as the games levels are there is absolutely no depth – what you see is what you get. There are no mechanics that will create unique experiences or quirky AI or world behaviors that will cause unexpected results.  Modern Warfare 3 is a rollercoaster – one with an endless stream of loops, barrel rolls, and straight-down-180-degree-drops.  It’s the perfected linear game – but that’s
like perfecting the typewriter just as the computer is becoming mainstream.

With games like Far Cry 2, Mass Effect, and Elder Scrolls, it’s hard to play a game like Modern Warfare 3. In many other games you are given freedom of choice and branching quests; Modern Warfare 3 on the other hand, couldn’t be more linear. Not only is the level design linear but the play style is completely dictated to the player. You don’t get to decide if you want to go in silently or guns blazing – the game tells you what you are going to do.

Accuracy be damned - these pistols look awesome!

The single-player just stretches on – it doesn’t look as good as CGI in movies and doesn’t play as well as other shooters do. The campaign even recycles the same scenes from previous games – just in different settings. By the 3^rd hour I’d already breached a dozen doors and taken out twice as many helicopters.  It’s like following a paint-by-numbers system – and all too often I feel like I’m just going through the motions of playing, blasting away with an endless number of bullets to kill an endless number of enemies.

But for me the Call of Duty games have never been about single-player, it’s the multi-player that I get excited about. Modern Warfare’s popularity is easily observable – at any given time there are hundreds of thousands of players online – and they are there for a reason. With over 5 modern Call of Duty games Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have had a lot of practice perfecting the system.  A new refreshment of weapons and perks keeps the constant drive to level-up going, and even after the yearly sequels there are still some new features that have been thought up.

Most notable are the new modes and pointstreak system. The classic killstreaks have been revamped to pointstreaks – which no longer give credit exclusively for kills but also for completing objectives like capturing a flag or planting a bomb.  The assault line gives offensive based rewards like chopper gunner, the support line is focused more on rewards that benefit your team like the UAV and supply drops, and the new addition, Specialist, unlocks additional perks for your current life, further augmenting your killing ability.

Black Friday Lines Have Been Eliminated Sir...

A new mode titled Kill Confirmed offers a fresh take on deathmatch gameplay – requiring you to pick up dogtags left where enemies die to get credit for the kills. If teammates are able to retrieve the tags they deny the kill, saving your team costly points.

Among those changes are new perks, attachments, and a Proficiency upgrade tree, which rewards you with weapon-specific upgrades like Kick (which reduces gun kickback when firing) and Two Attachments (which replaces Warlord/Bling, allowing two gun attachments for your weapon). The game has also moved back to a linear unlock system of weapons and attachments (from the budget-based one used in Black Ops).

The changes aren’t just skin deep – technical improvements have been made to perfect the action. The engine has been optimized and locked at 60fps – twice that of EA’s Battlefield 3.  Digital Foundry has found that the increased FPS rendering and overall engine streamlining has allowed for response times that are more than twice as fast as Battlefield 3 and Killzone 3. This streamlining makes Modern Warfare 3 feel like a modern era Quake – designed in everyway to be as pure as possible for deathmatch. In fact, the engine used in modern Call of Duty games was originally derived from the id Tech 3 engine, which was used to power Quake III

There are certainly tradeoffs that have been made to achieve this efficiency, and that’s noticeable in the graphics. They aren’t just bad, they are plain ugly. While Modern Warfare 3 may run twice as fast as Battlefield 3, it also looks half as good. There are no destructible buildings, not many dynamic light sources, and shadows look more like TV static than anything else. Its easily one of the ugliest games I have played in a while on the console – and when compared to PC games Modern Warfare 3 looks like something from last generation.

I don’t think that this engine can last much longer, compared to almost every other modern engine it offers far less in terms of visual effects and I cant see it being visually-competitive for any future releases. On top of the bad graphics is the games poor art design. The Call of Duty series has never been a big innovator in visual design – usually sticking to a nice palette of brown and grey – but in the same ways that Modern Warfare 3 is the pinnacle of all fast-paced shooters, its also the pinnacle in hideous design.

The screen is at all times filled with grimy and blurry shadows, explosions, and debris. Almost everything is covered in some sort of camo pattern, and each character is covered in tactical gear from head to toe creating just about the busiest and generic look I’ve seen yet even in the Modern Warfare genre.

But I don’t play Modern Warfare 3 for its visual design either – it’s a multi-player deathfest first and foremost and in that arena its perfect.  The inevitable map-pack releases will continue to add new reasons to play and the 70+ levels don’t hurt either. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is a great online FPS. Many of the balance problems that plagued past titles – and all online FPS games like “Dolphin Diving” (allowing players to go from stand to prone instantly, giving a quick accuracy boost and making them hard to hit) – have been fixed, and genuinely interesting new additions also help ease the repetitive nature. However if you have been buying up all the previous Call of Duty games and their map packs you will probably find it a bit stale.  The single-player though just cant hold my interest when I look at what else there is available – Modern Warfare 3 may have a excellent linear campaign but I don’t care how good it is, as long as its one step above pressing “Play” on a DVD I will be skipping it.

+ Amazing multiplayer that still manages to add new features after many iterations
+  PP90M1
- Horribly boring single-player and equally horrible graphics

Score: 7 out of 10

New information on Mario Kart 7 for 3DS has been trickling for weeks. Some new characters, new power-ups, multi-player modes, and now finally the rest of the tracks. The tracks are the main star of the Mario Kart games, a balance of new and retro (that nice way of saying old). The 32 tracks are grouped 4 each into Grand Prix cups. Traditionally, after beating the first two cups, the third is unlocked and subsequently after beating that, the fourth is revealed and playable. But Nintendo is revealing now the tracks in these previously hidden cups. We all guessed there was going to be a new Rainbow Road, now we know the rest. Here is the full track listing, highlighting the newly revealed tracks:

New Grand Prix Cups:

Mushroom Cup
Toad Circuit
Daisy Hills
Cheep Cheep Lagoon
Shy Guy Bazaar

Flower Cup
Wuhu Loop
Mario Circuit
Music Park
Rock Rock Mountain

Star Cup
Piranha Plant Slide
Wario Shipyard
Neo Bowser City
Maka Wuhu

Special Cup
DK Jungle
Rosalina’s Ice World
Bowser’s Castle
Rainbow Road

Retro Cups:

Shell Cup
Luigi Raceway (N64)
Bowser Castle 1 (GBA)
Mushroom Gorge (Wii)
Luigi’s Mansion (DS)

Banana Cup
Koopa Beach (N64)
Mario Circuit 2 (SNES)
Coconut Mall (Wii)
Waluigi Pinball (DS)

Leaf Cup
Kalimari Desert (N64)
DK Pass (DS)
Daisy Cruiser (GCN)
Maple Treeway (Wii)

Lightning Cup
Koopa Cape (Wii)
Dino Dino Jungle (GCN)
Airship Fortress (DS)
Rainbow Road (SNES)

Source: Nintendo, IGN

The Street Fighter and Tekken series will finally become a reality March 6 2012 with the release of Street Fighter X Tekken, and what a better way to pass some time than with the Street Fighter X Tekken Announcement video. Take a look below as the Thousand Pounds Action company has created this video, filmed on location outside the Los Angeles set of the TV commercial for Street Fighter X Tekken. The Thousand Pound company is the team behind Real Life Ultra Combos and Street Fighter: Beginnings End.

About Street Fighter X Tekken:

The long awaited dream match up between the two leaders in the fighting genre becomes a reality. Created in Capcom’s signature 2D style, Street Fighter X Tekken (pronounced Street Fighter “Cross” Tekken) delivers the ultimate tag team match up featuring 20 characters from each franchise, delivering one of the most robust character line ups in fighting game history. With the new gameplay additions of the Super Charge system, as well as character specific Combination Attacks, the acclaimed fighting engine from Street Fighter IV has been refined to suit the needs of both Street Fighter and Tekken players alike. Two new online modes, Tag Battle Mode and Online Training Mode, have been added to the already stellar online feature list included in Super Street Fighter IV, giving Street Fighter X Tekken the most robust online functionality of any fighting game released to date. Also, for those who wish to customize their experience further, an optional Gem system has been introduced, allowing players to equip items to help pull of more difficult combos or other gameplay assists, adding a new collectible and strategic element to the game.

The short film from Thousand Pounds Action Company is due to be released in conjunction with the game in March, so keep your eyes open for further information.

Game Review: Super Mario 3D Land
Release: 11/13/2011
Genre: Platformer
Developer: Nintendo EAD Tokyo
Available Platforms: Nintendo 3DS
Players: 1
MSRP: $39.99
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Website: http://supermario3dland.nintendo.com

Just 7 months and ½ months, 233 days; that’s how long it took for Nintendo to finally release what should have been a launch title for the 3DS. This is the first 3DS game I had to force myself to stop playing; and when I finally did stop, I couldn’t wait to play again. Nintendo took the best of Super Mario Galaxy and the best of the Super Mario Land games and blended them together with this game. The level design is both simple and brilliant. The new and old power-ups and the enemies look great and play naturally. But the best part is the utilization of 3D. It is adds to the experience without being obtrusive or annoying. While possible to play and solve every possible without the 3D turned on, it is much more immersive to keep it on.

Excuse me, fellas.

Super Mario 3D Land doesn’t spend much time establishing the story: Bowser kidnaps Princess, Mario travels through worlds to rescue Princess. If Bowser wasn’t such an egomaniac, he might have thought better than sending postcards to Mario flaunting the kidnapping. But within about a minute Mario embarks into the core of the game, the gameplay. With a very simple overworld, each level is represented by a floating, spinning 3D dynamic icon giving a hint about the environment and/or obstacles inside. There are three star medals to collect in each level; some in plain sight others hidden very cleverly, while others may exist in a special warp area you must find or unlock. You’ll need these medals to unlock special levels in some of the worlds and for the main castles you encounter mid-way through and at the end of some worlds. I collected the medals with ease, never lacking enough when I encountered a level to unlock. I didn’t get every medal, but averaged about 2 on my first try through each level.

Mario's got mad hops

Super Mario 3D Land is very generous with lives, and boy will you need them later. There are many ways to accumulate them from the ones hidden throughout the levels, every 100 coins collected, hitting the top of the flagpole at the end of the level, even the time left at the finish of each level turns into extra coins. By world 8 I had collected over 70 lives without trying. And Nintendo’s kind code makes an appearance in this game as well. Die 10 times, get an invincible Tanooki suit and continue playing. Die some more and the Super P-wing will appear to help you fly through to the finish of the level.

Don't look down!

All in all, every part of this game has the Nintendo “polish” on it. Once I finished a level, I started the next until I forced myself to stop. The level environments weren’t over-used nor the mechanics within each level. The perfect pacing of the levels and gradual increase in complexity never overwhelmed me. If there was one drawback, the built-in tutorial didn’t teach all of the mechanics. Long jumps and rolling are helpful moves to execute, but they only appear in the paper manual. Super Mario 3D Land, exceeded my expectations for fun and innovation, which were admittedly already set very high. Jam packed with Nintendo homages, Easter Eggs, and hidden areas, and levels, the replayability level is very high. I can’t recommend this Mario game enough. And in the end, who doesn’t want to save the princess?

+Brilliant level design
+Simple and complex environments
+Fantastic 3D integration
+Short levels suit short or long gameplay sessions

Final Score: 10 out of 10

By now most people know the name Humble Indie Bundle. The generous seasonal site that gives out a smattering of games for any price you want – and donates the money to charity if you so choose.  Less likely to be known to you is the IndieRoyale bundle, a new competitor – of sorts – to the Humble Indie Bundle. It’s a competitor as much as it sells a similar product, but its likely you can afford both of these name-your-own-price bundles.

The IndieRoyale bundle works a little different then the Humble Indie Bundle. Instead of just letting you pay whatever you want, the IndieRoyale bundle favors generous donors. If you pay over the average price it will drop the price – for everyone; and if you pay under the average you raise the average price for everyone. The company just ran their second bundle, called “The Difficult Second Bundle”, which received just over 30,000 downloads. Thats a far cry from the 100,000+ downloads the recent Humble Indie Bundles have received, but IndieRoyale is just getting started.

As a bonus for a successful second bundle, IndieRoyale has added two games to the package for buyers. Irukandji and Bullet Candy Perfect are both shooters made by CharlieGames, a small independent developer who also made Scoregasm. Irukandji is in the style of classic vertical Shoot-Em-Ups, and Bullet Candy Perfect plays closer to the Geometry Wars-esque genre. The new additions are not redeemable on Steam, but come with keys for Desura , a digital distribution program ran by ModDB.com. They are also compatible with Windows, Max OSX, and Linux. Also added are the soundtracks for Nightsky and Scoregasm.

Unfortunately since the bundle has already ended, you are out of luck if you did not purchase it. But fortunately, the next IndieRoyale bundle – titled “The REALLY BIG Bundle” (which hopefully gives a good clue about what will be inside…) will start in just 8 days.  Check in at IndieRoyale.com for information on their upcoming bundles.

There are certain games that instantly take you back to your early days of video gaming and BurgerTime is definitely one of those coveted games for me. BurgerTime comes from a time in gaming where abstract graphics had to go a long way and BurgerTime’s simple concept worked perfectly within these constraints. From the music, to the gameplay, to the absolute frustration, BurgerTime: World Tour duplicates most of the original’s feel while adding some Next Gen flavor. The major parts of the BurgerTime experience are still intact but World Tour’s additions only enhance the simple gameplay found in the original iterations of the games.

Just like the original games, BurgerTime: World Tour has you playing Chef Peter Pepper as he platforms around levels to make some of his world-famous burgers while avoiding various food based enemies. You’re still equipped with Peter’s patented stunning Pepper shaker but you’ll also have the ability to pick up power-ups that are strewn throughout the levels. These power ups include ones that will allow you to strike back at your pursuers with a fork, freeze them in their tracks, and even give yourself a few seconds of invulnerability. Another change from the original is the ability to jump over your pursuers, while this may seem like it’d make the game easier, the game mixes things up by having enemies that  have attacks can reach you even while jumping.

Along with new mechanics, the game also offers up an original story that takes you through the four unique ethnic themed worlds that make up the game’s campaign mode. Each world has a specific Chef that you will eventually face off against once you beat the 9 levels that make up their respective  board. Along with the unique bosses there are enemies that are added as you advance in the game that are sometimes themed around whatever specific world you’re visiting.  There are exploding habaneros from Mexico and carrots from the vegetarian based chef based in France. With each new world you’re also faced with increasingly challenging traps, platforming set ups, and enemy setups that you’ll need to contend with while making burgers.

The ability to make different kinds of specialty burgers when using your layers to trap your enemies was a great little feature that added an extra level of fun to the overall game. I also enjoyed that the levels were based around various styles of cuisine which was also a nice addition to what could have been a fairly repetitive game. The inclusion of both a local and online multi-player allows for a great mix of challenging levels with the added stress of competition against other players. It is one thing to tackle the game’s variety of enemies and obstacles while alone but when you also have to fight off other players to complete burgers, it adds tons of opportunity for multiplayer mayhem.

While the addition of  boss fights is welcomed, the fact that the four boss fights are actually only alternating versions of the same two concepts is disconcerting. For better and mostly worse, BurgerTime: World Tour also replicates the absolute frustration that I remember from my misspent youth replaying the same levels ad nauseum as a kid. Just like the original, a lot of the challenge from the levels rely on cheap AI that either overwhelms you or acts in ways that were never duplicated in prior game sessions. The backgrounds of game levels are also way too busy and often resulted in cheap deaths that were based on me not being able to perceive what was going on rather than me failing at the game; this is especially prevalent during the local multi-player sessions that pull out the camera and makes your characters way too small on the screen.

For better or worse, BurgerTime: World Tour perfectly duplicates the absolute frustration I remember from playing the original game when I was younger. Most times, when faced with this type of frustration I would usually put the game down and chalk it up to my finely aged hands but instead I found myself restarting the levels with renewed determination each time. This stubbornness had me throwing up my arms with elation each time I was able to overcome the challenging levels, enemies, and boss fights. Couple that with the fun of challenging friends online and locally, and you have a fun arcade game that emulates the past without seeming outdated.

+Classic arcade gameplay
+Challenging multiplayer
-repetitive boss fights