Last week, Boots and I had the opportunity to have some hands on time with four of Atari’s upcoming fall games. Overall, I was rather impressed by the game play and I am very excited to see these games finally go public. I’m sure you are all dying to know what new and fantastic games are coming out, so on to the previews!
First up we have Test Drive Unlimited 2. Now I have never played the first game in the series so I cannot compare the two, but what I can tell you is that I was very unimpressed by this game. The graphics are good and the concept behind it is good, but what killed this game for me was the button layout. Trying to play this game was just annoying. I was told that since the game was still a work in progress, the handling of the cars would be different in the final product. If that’s the case then maybe this game has potential, but while I was playing, the way in which the car handled was difficult to control and the button layout was not intuitive at all. In fact, it was rather clumsy. Hopefully this is fixed before the game is released.
You do not just race in this world, you get to buy homes, clubs, clothes, and other fancy accoutrements. This game aims to allow you full customization of your avatar, homes and cars and promotes social interaction amongst other online players. Your avatar lives on this island, meant to be sophisticated and international in nature, and on the island there are all sorts of races and challenges for you to complete. Not only that but all the real estate you could want is there for the buying! You will be able to race and interact with other players online who will be visible on your island. Once you see another person driving around on the island, you can challenge them to a race or play racing related games, like follow the leader.
While the concept behind this game is pretty descent, the overall feel I got from it wasn’t great. It didn’t appeal to me and I feel that this sort of game isn’t targeted to people in their 20’s. It seems to be about gaining enough money to buy up more property and cars and on becoming more successful, eventually being able to jet set over to Hawaii! Fancy! But not my style. It’s like the SIMS but you drive a lot and it’s not nearly as fun or interesting to play. I’d rather have seen a more streamlined racing game with a wider option of cars (under the Volkswagen section the cars offered were the ’68 Beetle, a newer GTI and then five various incarnations of the Touareg…the FREAKING TOUAREG! That’s a soccer mom’s SUV and not sexy in any sense. For crying out loud they could have at least put in the new Scirocco or the CC. Geez. At least those cars are fast and awesome to look at. But I digress.) It will be released in the first quarter of 2011 (which I know isn’t this fall) and it will be available for the 360, PS3, and on the PC. There is no rating yet but it is expected to get a T. It was developed by Eden Studios and they have as of yet to release a retail price. I’d go ahead and guess that it’d be around 35 bucks just because it’s not a big name title. Or all that fun to play for that matter.
Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush, is the second game in the re-launch of the Backyard Sports series and was developed by HB Studios & Powerhead Games. While it is aimed towards kids, it really is a fun football game for those of us who can’t stand Madden. One of the many things I dislike about Madden is that even if you understand how to play football, selecting your plays and everything else is extremely time consuming and annoying. There was never a description given about what advantages certain plays had over the other and if you aren’t a religious player and follower of the sport you might be lost in the menus upon menus you find in Madden. Rookie Rush has none of that silly nonsense! Choosing plays is easy and the layout isn’t confusing, so you get more play time on the field, instead of wasting it trying to figure out what play you want.
The graphics are great too! It is cartoonish, since it’s geared towards the kiddies, but you still get slow motion shots of awesome tackles/plays and it runs very smoothly. Some of the options to distract the other team are great as well. For instance, your player can shout “Ice Cream man!” and the kids go scattering, leaving you free to make that touch down! Suckers. Of course you also get nifty touch down celebration dances as well as sore loser tantrums, which are fun to watch. If you’re worried that as adults you wont enjoy the game, I can tell you that many of the males in attendance at the event got really into the game. Shouting like you would at any sports game and seemingly enjoying themselves. If you’re looking for a fun sports game then I would recommend you procure this item.
It will be released on October 26th for $29.99 on the 360, Wii, DS, and PC download. Rated E for Everyone!
Third we have Haunted House, developed by ImaginEngine. If the title sounds familiar, it should. This new Haunted House is based on the original for the Atari 2600. It takes place 30 years after the first and now you are searching for the magical Urn as well as what happened to your grandfather all those years ago. Paying homage to the original, there are of course those floating eyeballs that represent your avatar when it’s dark. You have the choice of playing as either grandchild (male / female) or playing together for co-op. The co-op in this game is done very well. Usually with these types of exploration games it is frustrating to have co-op because it limits you in annoying ways, or makes it hard to play in general. This is not the case for Haunted House. I found it easy to get through levels and find items despite having Boots as my co-op partner. The ease of the co-op makes it a great game to play with a younger family member or your girlfriend for all you guys out there who want to get your lady into games (or vice- versa, I don’t discriminate!) Do not be fooled into thinking that there is no combat in this game either. Oh no! For there is! And it’s pretty decent. There is not crazy all out brawls but you do find and use all sorts of light sources that act as weapons. Including…THE HOLY HAND GRENADE! Which is hysterical and all sorts of awesome. Look for little jokes like that throughout the game, which I think only add to the enjoyment of the game play experience.
Overall the button layout is easy to get used to and the game play itself is fun and enjoyable. I do plan to buy this game when it comes out and look forward to kicking a ton of ghost ass! Oh and you know, finding out what happened to your granddad…that’s important too. If you want to buy this game it will be available September 28th for $9.99 (800 Microsoft Points) on Xbox Live Arcade and September 27th for the Wii and PC for $19.99 which seems odd because I don’t think you get more for buying the Wii/PC version. There will be added elements to the game play for the Wii to make good use of the controller but I doubt that would make the game worth 10 extra dollars. Perhaps it’s a typo on Atari’s part, but if not, and you have the 360 I’d say grab this entertaining game! Rated E10+
FINALLY! My favourite game of the whole experience…Blade Kitten! Developed by Krome Studios, this game is just awesome and so much fun. I believe I was the only girl at the event playing anything and I kept on coming back to this game. The main basis for the story is that you are Kit Ballard, a half-cat half-girl bounty hunter with awesome pink hair and some badass sword skills. You are one of the last of your species after your homeland suffered genocide at the hands of an ancient and mystical race. You then left home and made a name for yourself capturing some of the deadliest scumbags in the galaxy! (Every girls dream!)
Your sword, by the way, floats behind you and you can control it to kill your enemies in all sorts of fun fashions! You can also buy new swords that will have different attacks and powers, which will help you progress through the game and add new options to your weapons arsenal. There are indeed, what some boys would call, “girly” aspects to the game. You can buy new outfits that range from nifty armour to comfy pyjamas. In addition, you have an adorable little sidekick named Skiffy who is awesome and cute and will assist in the maiming of those who attack you. Now while the clothing and pet aspects may seem “girly” the game play isn’t. And despite those “girly” aspects the guys who were playing the game at the event really enjoyed it and were very interested by the game play overall. You have to fight through all sorts of bad guys while climbing walls and ceilings along the way. This ability to traverse in a cat like manner adds a great element to the game play. By adding in that parkour* element the levels are designed to make you think how best to use your body in the most efficient way possible to get to where you have to go. (In this case by traversing walls and such.) Kit Ballard is basically a pink haired, sword wielding, adorable, traceuse**, cat-woman and it totally rocks. This game is so fun to play and as a fan of steampunk I enjoyed the little steampunk-ish elements added into the design of the game. As a side note, Kit doesn’t have her boobs hanging out all over the place, which is really refreshing. Yes, she is attractive and definitely cute, but she isn’t overly sexualized and she still manages to kick some serious tail (while enjoying a pink one of her own!) There is a comic that the game is based on so if you want to read up on Kit and her adventures, be sure to check it out here.
This game will be out sometime in September (no specific date was given) for the Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and the PC. No word on pricing but I’d expect it to run 1600 on XBLA and $19.99 for both PSN and PC purchases. Rated T for Teen.
**A term used for a female practitioner of parkour.
