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Obsidian has been hard at work on Alpha Protocol for quite a while now. Even then, the game has mostly stayed well below the hype-radar. Now, that is not really a bad thing, especially if the game surprises us by turning out to be a masterpiece in the end. But still, considering the amount of money we gamers are supposed to pony up for titles nowadays, it is always welcome to have an idea or two about how the game is turning out to be. With that thought in mind, we have been giving the preview code of Alpha Protocol a spin for the past few days. There have been a few hits and a couple of misses. Hit the jump to find what they are and will they matter to you when the time comes up to put your hard-earned cash on the counter.
When was the last time you hopped on to a propane tank in a game, shot the tank and then actually took off into the sky, riding the propane tank all the way? Or hijacked hovering helicopters? Taken off on a parachute while racing towards the edge of a cliff on a motorbike? Or actually ended up on flying 747’s, riding on its wings? If all these things sound crazy enough to not even make it into a video-game, then my friend, you are oh-so wrong for you haven’t yet paid a visit to the crazy-yet-fun world of Just Cause 2.
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E-Xpress list of games for April 2010 is here at last. Besides some eagerly anticipated titles like Splinter Cell Conviction for the PC and the Xbox 360 there is the previously Xbox 360 exclusive DLC, Episodes from Liberty City, now on the PS3. PC gamers are getting a lot of love too with the immensely fun Just Cause 2 and Metro 2033. Even those feeling the pinch can look forward to picking up some great classic titles for dirt cheap prices; E-Play series is bringing out Beyond Good and Evil, Age of Empires 3 and Age of Empires Collectors Edition, all for just Rs.299.
There are a lot more bargains to snap up. Hit the jump to see the full catalog of what is on offer this April.
Just a quick update from E-Xpress regarding the Indian pricing of Aliens vs Predator for the three platforms. The PC Games for Windows version understandably is the cheapest of the lot at Rs. 699 only while the Xbox 360 and the PS3 versions are priced at Rs. 2499 each. So if you have a fairly good PC, the Games for Windows version would turn out to be the best deal or else, just pick up a console copy based on your preference of your console.
After being in development for close to 15 long years, Avatar, the movie finally saw the light of the day a couple of weeks back. After having smashed all box-office records with Titanic, Avatar happens to be James Cameron’s next movie which all but guaranteed that the hype-wagon will steam-in, full blast. As it goes for any new high-profile Hollywood release nowadays, it is almost mandatory to have a video-game tie-in and so did Avatar, except that, this time around, the game was released earlier than the movie hit the theaters. Did letting gamers scour the make-believe world of Pandora on their PCs and consoles actually work in favor of the movie by generating an even greater buzz? Or the decision to craft a parallel story-line rather than following the one in the movie resulted in Avatar, the game falling flat on its face? Let’s find out.
With 2010 just around the corner, our mailboxes have started recieving press-releases of games that we will be getting to see in the early months of the new year. Leading the pack will be Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Conviction. E-xpress Interactive have sent this press-release indicating that the game will be in India in February 2010. Though no concrete Indian release date has been mentioned, we are hoping that we get to play this game on our PCs and Xbox 360s on the same day as rest of the world i.e. Feb 20th, 2010.
E-xpress Interactive already has it its kitty full with some sweet AAA titles all set to launch over the course of next few weeks, Assassin’s Creed being one of them. This hasn’t stopped them from going all out and bagging the distribution rights for couple of other titles that will set the adrenaline pumping for some and for others, a great way to live the movie they just watched.
December 2009 will be seeing the release of Avataar, the official videogame based on the movie by the same name by Academy Award winning director, James Cameron. Avataar is his first movie after the runaway success of Titanic.
Those who prefer living in the fast lane will have their thirst for speed quenched with the release of F1 2009 for the PSP and the Wii. There are no concrete Indian release date revealed yet for F1 2009 but trust us to keep you posted.
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?
Here is the classical chicken and egg puzzle, but with a twist. What came first, the name or the idea? By naming a game, “Plants vs. Zombies” (PvZ from hereon), Popcap Games got us wondering. Did the name crop up in one of their brainstorming sessions and then they decided to go ahead and make a game around it? Or was it the other way round? No matter what the answer might be, Popcap games sure have sprung a surprise upon us with PvZ. Tower defense games have been here for ages now but we never expected one to look like this, pitting the unlikeliest of the enemies against each other. The result is just the right combination of cuteness and addictiveness, all hallmarks of Popcap games.
I really enjoyed the first Call of Juarez game when it was released in 2006. The game was set in 19th century Wild West, a setting rarely used in shooters which seem to be content with sticking to generic themes where you are either fighting aliens or shooting Nazi’s for the umpteenth time or gunning down mutants and zombies. Call of Juarez on the contrary, was a refreshing change. It helped that it was my first foray in this type of a genre as well. Needless to say, I was impressed.