Gaming News

Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker hands-on and mini review (Mass Effect 2)

If you felt Kasumi's Stolen Memory was too short and Overlord was too side-storyish, Lair of the Shadow Broker may be precisely what you're looking for in Mass Effect 2 DLC. According to BioWare, it's set to be the "richest in scope" of all existing add-ons, and also claims to bridge the events of ME2 with any future products. So, even though BioWare won't admit this DLC pack will likely affect your Mass Effect 3 game, it was definitely giving off that vibe during our hands-on. ...

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Everything you need to know about the new multiplayer (Call of Duty: Black Ops)

We've had our first hands-on time with Black Ops, the Cold War-spanning opus that finds Treyarch mining new eras for face-blasting inspiration. While this is the developer's most Modern Warfare-esque offering to date, Black Ops manages to distinguish itself, most notably with the introduction of Wager Modes, in which players can put their money where their trash talking mouths are. From the rampant customization options to the unique new Killstreaks, Black Ops is shaping up to be a worthy entry in the Call of Duty canon.

While we were hoping to get a taste of the rumored Commie Zombies, there was more than enough competitive multiplayer to keep us occupied for a few drunken hours. Here's what we managed to write afterwards... ...

Driver: San Francisco – hands-on (Driver: San Francisco)

Whatever happened to Driver? The first game showed so much promise as an effortless pastiche of classic ’70s car movies such as Bullitt, The French Connection and, well, Driver. It’s pretty roundly agreed, though, that as soon as the player was allowed to leave the car, which debuted in Driver 2: Back on the Streets, things went south faster than a rocket-powered swallow. Well now Ubisoft has found a way to replace the dreadful pedestrian sections without limiting you to a single car for the entirety of a mission... ...

BioShock 2: Minerva's Den DLC hands-on (BioShock 2)

The upcoming Minerva’s Den DLC is its own little mini-adventure, taking place during the same events of the main BioShock 2 game, but all the way on the other side of the city from Subject Delta’s rampage. This time, in keeping with the whole prototype Big Daddy thing, you’ll play as Subject Sigma. Things begin along the lines of BioShock’s main theme of choice and control – you’re lumbering along as a mindless Big Daddy, not in control of your actions, when something not entirely clear happens to break you out of your stupor... ...

Why I’m scared of The Sims Medieval (The Sims Medieval)

A few months ago I made the mistake of installing The Sims 3 on my computer. Before I knew it, my apartment was a mess, my dirty laundry and dishes were piling up, and my bills were being neglected. Meanwhile, my lesbian Sim’s life was in perfect order. Her house looked gorgeous. I remodeled her bathroom, paid all her bills, taught her how to play the guitar, and got very close to woo hoo-ing a co-worker.

To say that the Sims is addictive is an understatement. So when we got a closer look at a pre-alpha build for The Sims Medieval, the next title in The Sims series, we were both excited and a little scared. Imagine everything you love about The Sims with multiple main characters, each with their own unique stories, in an organic kingdom where everything is interwoven and connected. Find out everything we know so far about the upcoming kingdom simulator so far… ...

Dragon Age II - hands-on (Dragon Age 2)

 

When we like something, we usually don’t take too kindly to change, and if you read our review, you’ll know that we really liked Dragon Age: Origins. But now that BioWare has established its high fantasy world with Origins, it’s time to dive deeper into the stories and conflicts that await players in the sequel – and with that come some big changes… ...

Darkspore - hands-on (Darkspore)

We were quite intrigued when we saw Darkspore the first time – with Diablo III so far off, it’s nice to see a similar (yet unmistakably different) dungeon crawler come along, with the added bonus of it being sci-fi instead of the usual fantasy. Now that we’ve gotten a hands-on with it… well it’s hard to tell at this point, because clearly the game is so huge in scope that a mere half-hour with it can’t really encompass what it’s aiming for. Still, we’ll do our best with what we played… ...

Final Fantasy XIV - hands-on (Final Fantasy XIV)

Final Fantasy XIV has its sights laser-tuned for a very specific audience: people who played (and enjoyed) Final Fantasy XI. From our three-hour hands-on, what we gathered from the experience is that the latest online offering of Final Fantasy is preaching to the converted. Those who loved FFXI will probably love FFXIV, since it aims to improve upon, expand, and doll-up the earlier formula. For those wary of staple trappings of traditional MMORPGs – we doubt you’ll be convinced to dip a toe in, as FFXIV sticks to making its fans happy without showing much interest in luring in the uninitiated... ...

The Sims 3: Late Night – Good clean debauchery (The Sims 3)

The Sims franchise has always taken place in an idealized world, with your Sims enjoying huge houses with nice yards in a relaxed neighborhood with a small town feel. But it's always been limited to the suburban ideal – what about those of us who want to vicariously live the big city fantasy? Enter the Late Night expansion for Sims 3, where you can design a penthouse in the sky with a hot tub on the roof, the perfect spot for skinny dipping with vampires… ...

Nail'd - hands-on (nail'd)

Nail’d is claiming to be “the fastest racing game ever,” which is difficult to prove, but there’s no doubt about one thing: it is damn fast. It’s so fast that it’s hard to appreciate the bright, colorful environments, although we did notice when we flew between the blades of a windmill while falling 500ft off a cliff (well, we drove off that cliff). If one were to just look at screenshots, one might be inclined to think Nail’d is the same thing as Pure, what with its ATVs racing off huge, huge jumps. Seeing it in action, or in our case, playing it, reveals the crucial differences... ...

Battle vs Chess – first-look (Battle vs Chess)

In a whirlwind look at the upcoming Battle vs Chess, we saw so many modes it made our brains spin. With a cursory glance you might think this is just another chess game that adds pretty graphics to the classic, genius-baiting board game, but it does so much more, it’s kind of ridiculous (in a good way)... ...

BioShock Infinite — Irrational Games trades the sea for the sky (BioShock Infinite)

Following a teaser trailer revealing its super-secret, much speculated over, and eagerly anticipated BioShock follow-up, Irrational Games ’real-life Big Daddy, Ken Levine, stated, “so obviously you’re not in Rapture anymore.” Talk about an understatement. More spiritual successor than sequel, BioShock Infinite takes gamers above - far above - the doomed underwater utopia to Columbia, a city in the sky. This floating World’s Fair of sorts, constructed on hot air-powered airships was “designed to demonstrate to the world by example the founding democratic principles of the United States , the product of American ideals, endeavor and industry.” explained Levine... ...

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood – updated impressions (Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood)

Do you remember that bit in Assassin’s Creed II where Desmond and Lucy are scurrying through a Templars’ lab, surrounded by Animuses? That’s where the multiplayer element in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood kicks off - eight players stuck in their ancestors’ lives, attempting to knife each other and run off giggling... ...

Tom Clancy's HAWX 2 - hands-on (Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2)

We rather liked the original Tom Clancy’s HAWX, what with its deft mixture of arcade and sim elements that allowed the player to customize the experience to fit desired levels of hardcore-ness. Our recent hands-on with HAWX 2 revealed that we’ll definitely be getting more of the same, but with a few doohickeys sprinkled on. We played through four complete missions, and each one provided a unique hook that made it stand out from the others... ...

Civilization V offers its lovely world to be ravaged in our hands-on (Sid Meier's Civilization V)

We’ve learned details of Sid Meier’s Civilization V before, but this is the first time we’ve been able to sit down and actually play the game. And play we did, for three hours non-stop (we couldn’t resist taking turns even between bites of lunch). The Civ series embodies one of those games that takes time and compresses it, causing hours to pass by in seemingly minutes like some experiment on the effects of relativity on space-time. Despite being turn-based, it feels fast paced, and never more so than with the fifth full installment in the series... ...

Kane & Lynch 2 – dirty, dirty hands-on (Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days)

Right away, we’re certain that Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days’ “gritty” shaky-cam look is going to divide players. We’re actually divided inside our own brains. Throughout our recent hands-on, we alternated between really digging the unique look, and also being annoyed by it. There’s no question that it’s refreshing in a videogame context – even though we’ve all seen this visual style plenty of times in movies, it’s arresting to see it in a game, and gives the scenes of running through the narrow alleys of Shanghai a frantic, desperate feel... ...

Preview: FIFA 11 - The best football game ever? (FIFA 11)

Let's be honest here, the only thing you really care about with this preview of FIFA 11 is if it's any good, right? Or to be specific, does it play better than FIFA 10? The answers to both of these questions is yes.

For the four hours we got our sticky fingers on FIFA 11 we loved every second of it, so much so we can't even bear to put FIFA World Cup 2010 or any other footie game in the disc tray again. Nope, we'll be waiting patiently for preview/review code, thanks. So let us guide you through the biggest improvements and tweaks that we've experienced with the on-field action... ...

Dead Space 2 reveals varied environments and horrific bosses (Dead Space 2)

Our recent Dead Space 2 demo experience left us impressed and excited, but also cursing the long wait until the game comes out. The section we experienced also did not dispel the worries that DS 2 may have strayed too far away from atmospheric horror and toward more action. Indeed, during our twenty-plus minutes with the game, enemies came fast and numerous, with little breathing time between. There was one puzzle section in the middle, but the constant onslaught of enemies didn’t really give a sense of pacing... ...

Darkspore gives us a first glimpse at its loot (Darkspore)

Yes, the second half of Darkspore’s title is referencing the evolution-sim Spore. Except gameplay-wise, it’s really nothing like Spore. That’s because it’s dark. But seriously, Darkspore looks like a sci-fi take on Diablo, except it throws in the mentality of Magic: The Gathering by centering on the collection of heroes, which make up squads similar to a deck in Magic... ...

Crysis 2 gets a deeper hands-on (Crysis 2)

Crysis 2 looks ridiculously good. Of course it does, but seeing it in action, under our control, brings the details to life in a way the screenshots cannot. We played a 360 build running on a PC, so although we played with a gamepad on a TV, we doubt the resolution and slick framerate we saw could possibly translate completely to the final 360 version... ...