Review: Breath of Death VII

Rating: N/A Genre: RPG indie Publisher: Steam and XBLA Developer: Zeboyd Games Release Date: July 13, 2011 Zeboyd game’s first title was “Breath of Death VII.” A parody of RPG games, with a retro style and various fun elements and humor. Breath of Death VII starts with an atomic weapon detonating in a desperate attempt to end the war, causing all life to be wiped out across the world.  But not all was lost, as an undead civilization began to prosper evil in their midst and it was up to four brave heroes to rid the land of evil. The game starts in a dungeon where quickly you learn how to move your character.  Yet Zeboyd games were clever in the introduction of the controls, as they flash a photo of an Xbox controller showing you that is available for the Xbox Live indie Arcade. To be fair, Breath of

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Review: Cthulhu Saves the World

Rating: N/A Genre: RPG indie Publisher: Steam Developer: Zeboyd Games Release Date: Jul 13, 2011 BUY Cthulhu saves the world is like no other game. First of all, Zeboyd Games take Cthulhu, strips him of all his powers and makes him a hero?? Yes, that is right!  In order for Cthulhu to regain his devastating powers, he has to become a hero.  yes, this is not your typical H.P Lovecraft demon, but one that has a sense of humor, is full of himself and is ready to kick some butt! This is a game for the nostalgic in all of us and the gamers who like to have fun while playing.  The graphics are done in 8/16 bit, making it feel like the golden days of “Dragon Warrior” for the NES.  You are first greeted with a short video telling you the story of Cthulhu and how he came to

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E3 First Look: Star Trek

E3 was full of surprises and every time I think back about it I keep saying to myself, “Oh man! Remember that one thing?” and it is always something new that I just didn’t have time to process at the time.  Paramount was one of those that truly stood out.  Perhaps it was the fact that they didn’t have a booth or that I had to go to their own room to find them. Maybe it was the fact that the two games I saw were games I was not aware that they had brought to the expo and they were going to look so good! Some of you are nervous about this title, mostly because we have seen other Star Trek games that have come and gone. Some good, some bad, some terrible and some that seemed like the developers never watched an episode of Star Trek in their

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E3 Hands On: Tera

Those that have been following the game for a while might know that, as far as internet buzz is concerned, Tera might have started off on the wrong foot. Screenshots of skimpy armor and videos of sexy casting animations made it the go-to game for “how not to portray female characters.” Personally, I never much bought into the idea that it deserved to be a scapegoat for a larger problem. Plus, if you dig a little deeper, Tera looks to be a really good game underneath some of the skimpy armor. I got a chance to take a closer look at Tera this year at E3 and even got to play through an epic boss fight with some of the developers. For those unfamiliar, Tera is MMORPG from En Masse and Bluehole Studio that frequently boasts “True. Action. Combat.” While there is a growing trend of MMOs to move toward

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E3 Hands On – Star Wars: The Old Republic

If the chaos surrounding a particular booth at E3 has any correlation to how popular or successful a game will be, then Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the biggest game ever. I don’t think I ever saw the demo room or the hands-on room without a line. To say that SWTOR is highly anticipated is an understatement. It was also one of the games I was most looking forward to seeing at E3 this year. The demo presentation was nicely done, if not a little bit repetitive to someone like myself who’s been lightly following the game for a while. For those newer to the franchise, SWTOR will be Bioware’s story-driven entry into the MMORPG space. Players can choose to be part of the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire to explore the Star Wars universe set during the time of the Knights of the Old Republic. SWTOR

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E3 Hands On: Battlefield 3

E3 is one of the most impressive events for gaming on the planet.  EA made sure that their booth was equally impressive.  As you enter the South Hall of the LA Convention Center, the first thing you saw was the EA booth.  Huge screens, very loud music (Crank your music to 11… now do it again, and you might get close) and enough shiny things to make anyone happy. I immediately went to the Battlefield 3 side of the booth.  The line for attendees was long and winding.  Some of the attendees complained about how they had spent 2 hours in the line, but they were not moving much.  This was a game people wanted to see. The game promises to allow you to wage an all-out war as you step into the boots of Henry Black, a U.S Marine.  You have to eliminate the deadly force known as the

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Review: Minecraft

Rating: Not yet rated Genre: Sandbox Publisher: Mojang Developer: Mojang Release Date: November 11, 2011 (currently in beta) BUY I’ve always enjoyed building things. Whether it was with blocks or lincoln logs as a kid. or later on building ridiculous houses and neighborhoods in The Sims, a favorite time sink was always building things. So it’s only natural that when I skepticly started playing Minecraft, thanks to a co-worker, I got sucked in almost immediately. Minecraft is blocks. Simplistic, pixelated blocks that make up dirt, sand, stone, coal, water and even lava in this crazy world. Each world is randomly generated unless you choose to load a seed world in single player. Single player mode is a basic survival with a day and night cycle. Nighttime is dangerous as that’s when the things that can attack you spawn. Your main enemies are Skeletons, Zombies and Spiders. Zombies and spiders will

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Review: Portal 2 (PC/Mac, PS3)

Rating: E-10+ Players: 1, online and splitscreen co-op Genre: Puzzle/Platformer/Basically Undefinable Despite the Fact That I Just Tried Publisher: Valve/EA Developer: Valve Software Release Date: April 19, 2011 BUY   I’m trying my best to keep this review spoiler-free (the pictures don’t even show any puzzles!), but really, if you want the ultimate enjoyment out of this title, don’t read any reviews. Not even mine. If you want the really quick version with absolutely no spoilers, I’ll just say that Portal 2 is incredibly enjoyable. Get it. And then come back to me when you’re done. I’ll wait. When I played the first Portal, I did so after being incredibly spoiled. Well, I guess I can’t complain, since I did it to myself by watching YouTube videos of every chamber. What can I say? I didn’t know if the game was ever coming to PS3. How funny that the PS3

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Review: Back to the Future (Ep. 1) – It’s About Time

Genre: Adventure Publisher: Telltale Games Release Date: December 22, 2010 BUY Telltale just announced that the first episode of Back to the Future is available for free, this alone should be reason enough to check out the game.  When I first heard about the game, I was pretty excited about it; not necessarily because Telltale makes spectacular games, but because the subject matter is near and dear to my 80′s loving heart.  The Back to the Future movies, are the type of movies that if they’re on TV, I’m probably going to watch it.  I’ve seen them all enough times that I can drop in and out of the movie, know where it is and enjoy whatever scenes I’ve stopped to watch.  When the 25th anniversary edition was released and AMC was playing all three movies back-to-back-to-back every night of the week, I watched at least some of each movie every night.

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PAX East 2011: Firefall Hands On

I remember seeing Firefall back at PAX Prime 2010 in Seattle and was very excited to get the chance to have a hands on look at the game at PAX East. I was highly impressed with an MMO that was also a shooter with an interesting story and my most favorite part: the dynamic events. Unlike the video they showed at PAX Prime, I was able to jump in to play was the multiplayer demo; basically a slayer match between two teams. The focus this time around was noticebly shifted towards the PvP aspect of the game so much so that I almost forgot about the MMO part. I was also seriously put to shame while trying to figure out which player class I liked while having a bunch of other players, who are seriously good at shooters, playing at the same time. I may have died (a lot) but

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