Legends of Ooo

post from Escape Games 24 on 04 September 2011 11:05:34 PM. © Escape Games 24

Legends of Ooo is another point and click type adventure games. The Ice King as frozen Hot Dog Princess, Slime Princess and Princess Bubblegum with a powerful new magic. To save them, Finn and Jake will need a little help from their friends and YOU! Find clues, solve puzzles and build a Big Hollow Princess to break the Ice King's spell. Good luck and have fun!Play This Game

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Legends of Ooo Walkthrough

post from Escape Games 24 on 04 September 2011 10:06:21 PM. © Escape Games 24

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Hands-on: Blacklight Retribution

post from Destructoid on 04 September 2011 10:06:18 PM. © Destructoid

Hands-on: Blacklight Retribution screenshot

A lot of Dtoiders have probably already heard about Rusty Hearts, a free-to-play, anime-inspired dungeon crawler; this year at PAX, though, Perfect World was showing off its latest project, Blacklight: Retribution, a free-to-play competitive first-person shooter.

Most of the gameplay is pretty standard stuff. Before you spawn, you have the chance to choose one of several loadouts, including assault, sniper and heavy weapons. Each "class" has a few different weapons available to them, with a few more available on the map. As you and your team make progress, you can stop by a depot and quickly call in additional weapons like flamethrowers or heavy mechs.

Blacklight starts to separate itself from most other contemporary shooters by creative implementation of some of these pieces of equipment. For example, in most games, you would need a rocket launcher or similar anti-vehicle weapon to put any real dent in the health of an armored unit. In Blacklight, you can use the HRV (hyper-reality visor) to show weak points, enemy positions through walls, etc. It is entirely possible to track hidden snipers or to punch a mech until it explodes if properly utilized. The visor does take awhile to recharge, so some strategy comes into play when using it. The visor was in the first game, but its applications were limited without the inclusion of vehicles and heavy weapons.

I managed to eek out a few rounds with a guy from GameRevolution and another writer from PlayStation Life. We played against a few other PAX attendees, Fans vs. Writers. We lost the first round, but it was decently close. I took a lot longer getting used to the concept of using the HRV than I am comfortable admitting, but once I got the hang of it, I could use it and quickly report positions to the team so we always knew where the enemy was. We came back and swept the floor with our opponents the second round.

We played in what appeared to be a military factory for the heavy mech suits available for call-down. There were lots of tight areas that confound intelligence gained from the HRV and some nice open areas for big showdowns. At one point, our team chose to use myself and one of the other guys as a distraction so the third could use a flamethrower on an enemy mech and force him to abandon the unit. Once we had control of it, we cruised to an easy win.

Between this and Firefall, the subtle prejudice I have for free-to-play games has definitely been called into question. I tend to think of F2Ps as janky-ass projects with dated graphics and even worse gameplay that spam users with ads, but I was really impressed. Blacklight definitely keeps pace with non-Battlefield 3 AAA titles, and it feels solid. We'll see if it proves to be more successful than its predecessor.

Blacklight: Retribution is tentatively scheduled for a 2012 release.

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Get your Borderlands 2 gameplay shaky cam footage
here

post from Destructoid on 04 September 2011 07:05:53 PM. © Destructoid

Get your Borderlands 2 gameplay shaky cam footage here screenshot

video details and more

I had a chance to see Borderlands 2 at PAX during a behind-closed-doors presentation at PAX last week. My thoughts? Game looks kind of awesome. Okay, it looks really awesome.

But don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself. While Gearbox and publisher 2K Games were all "no filming," someone ignored the finger wagging and went ahead and recorded it anyhow. The result is some relatively shoddy footage (it's not even in high definition!), but there's enough here -- almost 15 minutes worth -- to give you a good idea of what to expect.

2K and Gearbox probably won't be thrilled that this has leaked out, especially such poor quality. But I guess that's what happens when you try to hide awesome.

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DBZ: Ultimate Tenkaichi allows you to
Frankenstein a hero

post from Destructoid on 04 September 2011 06:05:19 PM. © Destructoid

DBZ: Ultimate Tenkaichi allows you to Frankenstein a hero screenshot

In my previous post about Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi, I suggested that new game-exclusive characters needed to be introduced in order to spice up the franchise. I suppose Spike and Namco Bandai were listening, but since they are too lazy to do any real work towards that goal, it'll be up to us to get the job done. To that end, Ultimate Tenkaichi will offer character creation.

In the game's Hero Mode, you can slap together various body parts to assemble your own DBZ reject. Now, I have much respect for Akira Toriyama, but his post-DBZ-era "original" creations all look alike. Facial features, clothing, all stopped developing past the early 90s. Essentially, further characters (with extremely rare exceptions) are like fan art of his own material. It's sad that the slapped-together circus performers in the above trailer are almost indistinguishable from Toriyama's handiwork.

I'm sure some clever designs will eventually make through. You can give it a go yourself when Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi arrives on PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 25.

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Suck down some Sake Express Pro Wrestling if you
dare

post from Destructoid on 04 September 2011 05:06:25 PM. © Destructoid

Suck down some Sake Express Pro Wrestling if you dare screenshot

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It's rare that I get news tips sent directly to my personal email, but after playing Sake Express Pro Wrestling, I think that I understand why someone would send this game just to me. If I were a videogame developer, I'd probably be Suda 51, and if Suda 51 made free PC games, this is probably what he'd come up with.

Sake Express Pro Wrestling is a simple little game that requires both Smash TV-style crowd control strategy and some level of physical coordination. Though the game is a shmup at heart, your standard attack is a close range punch. You can punch with either your left or right arm, but either way, the power of your strike is determined by how smoothly and swiftly you swipe the mouse. It's the first semi-motion controlled luchador shooter about beating the crap out of panda bears, cats, and maybe-human clown guys that I've ever played.

The game also has an unfairly catchy theme song, and did I mention that it's free? Download it here and post your high scores below in the comments. How much you want to bet that it's the hordes of death-cats that'll get you in the end?

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Get Dead Island a few days early if you're lucky

post from Destructoid on 04 September 2011 05:06:25 PM. © Destructoid

Get Dead Island a few days early if you're lucky screenshot

While Dead Island is officially set to hit shelves this coming Tuesday, a few naughty retailers have started selling the game early.

Reader Spencer writes to us with photographic evidence of his purchase of Techland's zombie-slaughtering bonanza, having picked it up from a Game Craze location in Victor, New York. We've heard other reports of larger retailers, such as Target and Walmart, having the game on shelves, as well.

Have you been able to pick up a copy of the game early in your area? We'll have our full review of the game live shortly; for more, check out my hands-on preview I did awhile back.

[Thanks, Spencer!]

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Fans upset over anime-ized statue of Mass
Effect's Liara

post from Destructoid on 04 September 2011 05:06:25 PM. © Destructoid

Fans upset over anime-ized statue of Mass Effect's Liara screenshot

I remember when the Western anime craze really started to boom in the late 90s. Not only did media distributors start licensing every single Japanese property under the sun, distinctly Western properties began to demonstrate greater and greater Japanese influences. It started when shows like Dexter's Laboratory would incorporate speed lines, giant robot battles, and kaiju monsters. Eventually, there was Teen Titans on television and Marvel Mangaverse in comics, which tried to more directly emulate Japanese art and animation.

This wasn't a one-way street, however. Powerpuff Girls Z was a Japanese adaptation of a Western cartoon which itself drew heavily from Japanese media. Currently, we've got Marvel Anime, four miniseries by Japanese animation studio Madhouse, based on Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men, and Blade. Just as we are fascinated by foreign styles, likewise are they with ours. It's what explains the viability of the Kotobukiya Bishoujo line of figurines, which immortalize fictional female characters, including many Western comics icons like Wonder Woman and Phoenix.

Now, BioWare is working with Kotobukiya on a mold of Mass Effect's blue-skinned asari Liara T'Soni. Production images were shared on the company's Facebook page, but the over-3000 comments are less than receptive. Hit the jump for my further musings on this situation.

I'm not saying that I personally like the style of the Bishoujo line -- some pieces are fine while others seem too awkward and lifeless. In this particular case, there are certain criticisms that I can stand behind, such as her breasts' being too big or her legs' being too long. However, the commenters' biggest concern is that she looks too "anime-ish." That's the whole point of the Bishoujo line! If that's the big problem folks have with the statue, no amount of redesigning is going to satisfy them.

Another major concern is that her appearance is over-sexualized. Despite her being fully clothed with no exposed skin, the commenters complain that she is putting too much of herself out there. Is it the boobs? Sounds like a rather uptight response, especially coming from fans of a game series that allows you to pursue romantic relationships with various love interests then engage in PG-13 intercourse. Saying that this statue makes Liara look like "an underaged porn star" is akin to Fox News slamming the game itself as pornography. It's beyond me.

I'm guessing a large reason for the negative reception is that, for most people, anything Japanese-y is a big turn off, especially when the look is applied to a property that represents a contrasting set of ideals and expectations. It's the reason why the JRPG has lost favor in the Western market. For them, the style is associated with various unappealing tropes and cliches, even if said tropes and cliches are a generalization brought about by limited familiarity with Japanese media. There really isn't much anyone can do to change their minds.

Comic book fans (and I'm talking about the ones who actually buy comic books and associated merch, not the ones who are only familiar with the movies and cartoons) exist in such a niche that there's likely a heavy overlap with manga and anime fans, hence why the Marvel and DC Bishoujo statues aren't entirely scorned. It's understandable why the population that enjoys what Mass Effect represents would be taken aback by the Liara figure. Still, it's unfortunate that in this current media environment, in which the East and West draw so much inspiration from one another, often joining together to create conglomerations that are neither completely Eastern nor Western, there are still people who believe ideas from one side cannot be compatible with ideas from the other.

P.S. Don't let those people catch wind of the Mass Effect anime! They would implode!

Bioware gives a preview of Kotobukiya Bishoujo Liara to mixed reactions [Tomopop]

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Cover to Cover: Adventure International 1981
Catalog (pp. 3-4)

Our cover-to-cover pagethrough of the Spring 1981 Adventure International catalog continues, capturing the home computer game industry in its very early years. I was a huge fan of Scott Adams' classic text adventures back in the day, so this will also feature a degree of personal reminiscence. Whenever I open these aging pages, everything spins around and suddenly I'm elsewhere...

I'm going to let these next few pages speak for themselves, for the most part. This page, reprinting an article by Ken Mazur from Creative Computing magazine, was another eye-opener for my younger self -- I realized that you could write about games as an art form, and discuss the nature of gaming as a serious subject. It may have taken me several decades to get around to doing so myself, but I must have read this short piece dozens of times over the years, and I still regard it as a personal influence.

Page 4 is the big one -- it probably explains why I have always thought of the first nine Scott Adams Adventures (plus the Special Sampler demo) as the official "canon," solely because I walked in when this catalog page was current. It describes the concept and the plots of these classic text adventures, "using all 16K of your computer."

If you'd like to know more, I have written about these classic text adventures at length:

#0 - Special Sampler #1 - Adventureland #2 - Pirate Adventure #3 - Impossible Mission #4 - Voodoo Castle #5 - The Count #6 - Strange Odyssey #7 - Mystery Fun House #8 - Pyramid of Doom #9 - Ghost Town
Next weekend, we'll continue.

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Cosplay for your eyeballs from Dragon*Con 2011,
day 2

Cosplay for your eyeballs from Dragon*Con 2011, day 2 screenshot

Labor Day Weekend continues with Dragon*Con cosplay, day 2. On Saturday, even more not-so-familiar faces made their debut, like the amazingly crafted sackboy 9 from the film of the same name. There were also a surprising number of phenomenal Mass Effect ensembles. Then we've got the friggin' Wonder Twins, Marge Simpson, She-Hulk, MODOK, War Machine, Canti from FLCL, a very lost-looking Hawkgirl, and the loveable Kon from Bleach.

Once again, big props to the Beat Down Boogie team for hooking us up with these photos. We owe you guys a round of Jell-O shots.