Loading ...
Archive for the ‘Adventure’ Category
It was a cold winter in New York and I was one of the unlucky few that had to go to work. It had been snowing all morning, and by 2 PM, we had 12 inches of snow. Business was done, and my co-worker and I were sent home. Getting home was not a problem for me since I lived a few blocks away, but my buddy Andrei was totally screwed. So as a gesture of concern I invited the guy over for a cup of coffee. By the evening, the roads had cleared and buses resumed service. Andrei went home but forgot his goodie bag, and out of no fault of my own, I was compelled to open the plastic bag only to come upon something which would change me forever. Andrei had forgotten his very new and very precious copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I popped that bad boy in and that was it, my first sandbox-style Action-Adventure.
Being a true metal-head and a gamer, I always felt that video games need more metal, which is probably why I loved Quake II – one of my favorite tracks till this day is “Quad Machine” by Sonic Mayhem. Although Vice City did have ‘V-Rock’ and those splendid tracks by Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth, it kinda left me craving for more. “Couldn’t they have more Metal,” I would ask myself. And then after all that time, here is Brütal Legend!
Although I might be jeered for admitting this, the Nintendo’s DS never appealed to my FPS-MP sensibilities. Over years of forum discussions and interactions with rabid fans, I never ceased to wonder what exactly these guys found so riveting on the tiny, pixilated screen. Why would any sane person pass the graphical goodness of the PS3 or the multiplayer mayhem on an Xbox 360 in favor of hunching over the tiny screen and poking it with a stylus? I had never imagined that my determination to stay away from the little rascal would be so thoroughly shattered on a rainy Sunday night while I furiously punched in words and plowed through a gem of a game called Scribblenauts!
In a time when all new game titles come with a boatload of hype in form of “Halo Killer”, “System Seller” and “Game of Forever”, I have studiously avoided the hype-train. Doing so for Scribblenauts was easier because of my previously mentioned misplaced hostility towards the DS. So while I knew that there was a soon-to-be-released game around called Scribblenauts, I was wholly unaware of the fact that the game was practically hogging all the attention at the E3 2009 floor and was the fan favorite even before it got released. Spared of all the hype, I journeyed through the world of Scribblenauts, all on my own. What a journey it turned out to be!
Picking up a game based on a an animated movie to review may not seem like a terribly smart thing to do, especially with so many movie-based games having bit the dust in recent times. Examples of such atrocities always seem to leap up at you and having endured a few ourselves, we tend to agree with them to some extent. Videogame adaptation of movies has never really managed to get the cash register jingling. But in a world where anything and everything comes in with a million and one tie-ins, merchandise and what not, a videogame adaptation of a movie is almost a foregone conclusion. We have studiously ignored them in the past but this time we decided to take a plunge. Helping us build our resolve was the fact that the game is based on the movie by same name from the wizards at Pixar. Could the sheer brilliance of a Pixar movie translate into a fun game as well?
Whew!
After slaving on it for nearly two weeks, we are now ready to present you the ANGRY pixel’s very first (India’s first-ever?) video review. This game has wowed us so much that even though we carried a text review of the PC version of Prince of Persia a while back, we thought that if not anything, this game deserves a video review.
So after lot of editing, shuffling files back and forth and breaking our collective heads over video and audio editors, we have the video review up and running. We would love to have your feedback on it, whether it is a round of applause or about the narrators whiny voice. We know there are quite a few errors in voice-over but we would love to know about those which we missed. If you are interested in a higher quality version of the video, or just simply hate YouTube for no particular reason, you can download it after the jump. It’s just 70 MB, supports download resume and registration takes all of five seconds!
Also, for those who liked this one, there is another one coming pretty soon, so stay tuned
Much sand has slipped through the hourglass since Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time made its debut many moons ago, redefining a franchise that many of us began our long gaming journeys with. When the trilogy wrapped up with Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, there was not much left to do with the story considering how beautifully it tied off all loose ends. A new Prince of Persia, if it was ever to be made, was required to cast off its earlier roots and do something new, very much like what The Sands of Time managed to achieve. True to that, the new Prince of Persia game manages to shed off almost all the references to its predecessors and how!
Discarding the soft-tone look of The Sands of Time and the gritty look of Warrior Within, the new Prince of Persia instead looks in the direction of “illustrative” art-design, otherwise known as cel-shading. While dozens of other games like XIII, Crackdown and and Jet Set Radio Future dabbled with cel-shading in games, Prince of Persia emerges with, well, flying colors. The moment you fire up the game, you cannot help but be mesmerized by the visually stunning fantasy world the new Prince inhabits. It’s like the same art style as that of Braid has been multiplied tenfold and represented in glorious 3D for good measure. Every moment of the game feels like you are running through a living, breathing, pulsing watercolor painting in 3D.
It’s here!
After having talked about it countless times in the past few months, the Alone In The Dark Contest has finally shown up. Blame the delay on our lazy admins for not having it up and running much earlier. Guess we will have to go with the age-old saying that it is never too late for anything.
Participants of our Game of the Year 2007 contests would immediately feel at ease with this one. This time around, to get more and more people to jump on-board, the contest has been made much more accessible. Mind you, it is just a teaser for the things to come in the following months, so you better stay sharp.
After having broken many of the first details on Tomb Raider Underworld, we’ve spent many an hour just running through Legend and Anniversary again and again, waiting for the day when we’d actually get our hands dirty with the new Lara Croft experience, which is exactly what the recently released demo allowed us to do.
A lot has changed in Underworld since Lara went berserk on Amanda and ran off to stop an impending catastrophe in Legend. Old foes, greater mysteries, harder puzzles and a tougher Lara, all dutifully take their place amongst the wonderfully detailed game world rendered brilliantly by the new engine. (Also rumoured to be powering the upcoming Deus Ex 3) But it isn’t just the engine that’s managed to get an overhaul – Lara herself has gotten an extreme makeover to win the hearts of next generation gamers – sporting a firmly toned athletic “Hot Mommy” body, a much more grittier look (modelled after gymnast Alison Carroll, who takes over from Karima Adebibe) and yes, to answer the burning question, quite sensible breasts.
Lately, there has been a lot of confusion regarding some of the high profile title launch in India, of which Fable II was a part as well. Thankfully, the good folks at Genesis have sent us this PR announcement below to clear it up. Find it after the jump.
Original IPs have been quite the rage with EA these days and it’s hard not to get misty-eyed upon seeing Dead Space, a third-person action/adventure horror escapade developed by EA Redwood Shores, in action for the first-time. Reggie and I were invited to EA India’s office in Gurgaon today to have ourselves an intensive hands-on session with a near final-build.
In the beginning of the game, we’re treated with an in-game cinematic of lead protagonist Isaac Clarke with a space crew heading towards the USG Ishimura, a giant orbital ship that suffered a huge communications blackout for whatever reason unbeknownst to its curious approachers. Eventually, stinky poop hits the fan when your crew’s vessel gets pulled into the Ishimura’s magnetic field and you’re forced to make a landing inside its hull. Voodoo vibes are in full effect, and this is pretty much were you come in.
Imagine a calm, relaxing little town, away from the noise and the pollution of the big city… perfect for a weekend getaway. Spend a relaxing evening at the Toluca Lake, grab a couple of drinks at Heaven’s Night or visit the Historical Society. Meet strange new people, visit alternate dimensions, solve interesting puzzles and did we mention the monsters?
Welcome to Silent Hill…
Unarguably the pinnacle of survival horror, the Silent Hill series has been continuously scaring and captivating gamers since the release of the original Silent Hill in 1999. The fifth installment is set to release just a few days from now and so we decided to take a look back at the franchise before we brave the twisted little foggy town again.