RENT

The sequel to Earth Defense Force 2017, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon takes place on an Earth that is once again devastated and infested by giant alien insects. Naturally, only Earth Defense Force can stop them. it’s up to you and your team, Strike Force Lightning, to defend the city of New Detroit against the otherwordly invasion by deestroying the hordes any way you can (even if that means using a building to crush them into an alien insect version of crunchy peanut butter).

 I’ll be honest: I’ve never even heard of the  Earth Defense Force series of games so I didn’t have any expectations when I loaded this up on my Steam account. The game is a third-person shooter, and you can play through a Campaign, Survival  or Co-op mode, each consisting of your generic military dude working his way through wave after wave of alien insects. As Pvt. Hudson would say, it’s  a straight up bug hunt and that’s it. There isn’t much in the way of character customization, there isn’t much in the way of story, but there is a lot in the way of killing big alien bugs. A lot. It was super boring after about ten minutes.

Now, my finding this game boring could be due to a few factors. First, I mainly stuck to Survival Mode because I didn’t have any Steam friends to play Co-op with and I got tired of there being no checkpoints in Campaign (you die, you start the entire mission from the start). Second, because there isn’t a story this is mainly a game where you repeat the same thing over and over again, horde after horde of gigantic alien bugs you have to make your way through. Grinding, in the video game sense, is not my forte and it makes me very sleepy very quickly. Third and finally, I had issues with trying to control the camera and my PC on a massive scale. This one I’m willing to take on as user error since I’m not the most expereinced computer gamer beyond the point and click story games. I feel like I would have had less issues (and less motion sickness) if I were playing it on a console istead, but like I said that’s definitely a personal issue and not a game issue specifically.

The good points of the game were that, before it got old hash, mowing down huge bugs was just good old fashion fun, especially in a destructible environment. All the vehicles scattered about the city streets could blow up, all the buildings could crumble to the ground, and both could damage anything around them in the process. Again though, playing single instead of multiple player made the process of destruction seem to drag on forever (the entire game itself isn’t very long - three chapters, each consisting of five missions), and I feel like if I had friends to destroy stuff with I would have been left with a more enthusiastic attitude toward this game. If you’re a lonely bug hunt like myself, you’ll be left with the feeling that you’re destined to repeat Groundhog’s Day until you reach that final mission. If you have it in you to reach that final mission.

The game will be an Xbox 360-exclusive run-and-gun title featuring what Square Enix calls “unique and memorable characters.” If the screenshot above (and the ones in the gallery below) are any indicator, you may be remembering these characters, all right – in your nightmares. Eep.

The game takes place on a lonely prison planet at the far reaches of the solar system. Anarchy reigns supreme, and factions battle one another for supremacy. You’ll be fighting each region’s inmates on maps patterned after the world’s previous civilizations. Gameplay seems reminiscent of the parkour of Mirror’s Edge, what with all the running, ducking and vaulting you’ll have to do, but there are more weapons in this world, as well as 12-player international multiplayer matches.

Another interesting element of this game is that all of the characters were designed as action figures first. Kenny Wong, who does this sort of thing professionally for Brothersfree, handcrafted comic caricatures which were then scanned into the game – the reverse of the usual figuremaking process.

Starting August 18, you’ll be able to find more info on the game at http://www.gunloco.com. However, we have quite a few screenshots up for grabs in the gallery below.

Recently, GamingAngels has brought you both a video review of the Dark Void Demo on the Xbox 360 and a review of the PC Demo.  Now, Vespaa has a full review for the PS3 version of PS3.  Read on to find out what she thought of the game.

Developer: Airtight Games
Genre: Action, 3rd Person Shooter, Platform
ESRB: T (for Teen)
Number of players: 1
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: January 19th, 2010

RENT

Capcom has published many renowned games for decades now and has introduced us to countless successful game franchises. Mega-man, Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, the list goes on. They’ve consistently had success in many different genres of gaming, and I’m sure they hoped their latest title, Dark Void would be as well received as the previously mentioned games. While I certainly wouldn’t describe it as a bad game, I don’t believe it’ll achieve this level of popularity for several reasons. This third person action/adventure shooter borrows too many ideas and concepts from other games in this genre to really standout on it’s own.

Dark Void opens with our protagonist Will Grey, a pilot, who’s plane goes off course and mysteriously crashes in the “Void.” The Void is another world parallel to our own, where The Watchers, a robotic alien like race are at war with the survivors, humans are have survived their onslaught. The prologue is set in 1938, and we learn that the Watchers have come to earth in search of a new home, as there’s was destroyed.You briefly start off with the full powered jet pack in during thefirst portion of the game, which is a brief glimpse into what will happen later into the story. While flying around and attempting to destroy Watcher air crafts, the controls tend to be rather capricious here, the camera working against you a bit. The environment is rendered really exceptionally, and the lighting and atmosphere is really enjoyable while flying around, the game mechanics were a little disorienting here. You are always propelled in one direction or another, and cannot stop flight in this section of the game, making it a bit reminiscent of rail shooters, but more expansive.

After taking down several Watcher air crafts with the assault gun attached to the jet pack, the story advances when a Scorpion Mech ambushes you and at the moment of impact, we are taken back to Will’splane crash at some point earlier on. Episode I opens with Will, and his love interest Chloe–I mean Ava lost in the jungle while searching for a village. Now, while imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Dark Void takes this a bit too far in that the entire first chapter is like playing Uncharted. Right down to Will looking quite a bit like, and sharing a voice actor with Nathan Drake and Ava being aesthetically similar to Chloe. The atmosphere right down to the music, and the wayyou interact with it is extremely similar to Uncharted in this portionof the game. The control scheme fully adheres to this as well. If notfor the jet packs you and Ava are given and the fact that your enemies are Robotic Aliens, I would say Capcom may get slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit from Naughty Dog. It even includes the vertical cover system, along with vertical combat, which is battling enemies above and below you.

That being said, the game is actually decently fun. But the combat overall feels very “Been there, done that, and done it better” to anyone who’s played Uncharted. Yet it feels slightly less polished. Most Watchers you encounter are agile robotic soldiers with an interesting variety of advanced weapons that you can pick up and use. (With names like the Uberator, and the Oppressor which are pretty cool.) You can also upgrade these weapons via Weapon Lockers using Tech Points dropped from downed enemies.

You’ll find journal entries throughout the game which inform you more about the world of Dark Void and the game’s universe and time line. It even includes some historical references as well, like making allusion’s to Amelia Earheart’s plane also crashing into the Void. You also meet Nikola Tesla early into the game, who’ll give Will and Ava their first jet packs. The game is slightly linear, but with large environments that are fun to explore and navigate, especially with your jet pack. Shortly after finding a sect of primitive survivors (who abruptly tell you to leave) the village comes under attack by the Watchers, and they suddenly have a change of heart. The flight system in the game can be pretty fun, and will make players feel like there’s no where in the game, vertically or horizontally that they can’t explore. However, during airborne combat the frame rate gets a bit erratic, and some screen tearing is present.

After fighting off the Watchers and launching an attack on one of their home bases (Which is very similar stylistically to areas you may see in Halo) Will encounters one of our first bosses of the game. A very large Lizard like Watcher, which you must defeat before it reaches a certain point on the beach. After fighting the boss for a bit, you can initiate a quick time button sequence ala God of War to finish it off.

Overall, I thought Dark Void was a decent game. It’s real problem is that in a generation of gaming where shooters are being released in spades, Dark Void borrows too much from other games to really stand out. It just didn’t really feel unique, and a shooter with a lack of online multi-player just won’t offer much in the replay value department as well. The concept of flight in a third person shooter is a really bold idea, and can actually be pretty fun, but they could have executed it a bit better. It may appeal to some gamers, but it doesn’t warrant a buy in the face of other games in this genre.

In Airtight Games’ first release, you play Will Grey who arrives in the Void through mysterious circumstances (crashing in the Bermuda Triangle may have that effect). Befriending the survivors you will establish relationships with various characters including the eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla who reverse engineers the alien technology into weapons and transport including a very handy jetpack for your own personal use.

The in-air combat using the jetpack is the feature of the otherwise standard action/shooter game – it will be interesting to see how this is implemented across different situations and whether the developers can keep the game mechanic fresh and interesting.

For those not used to flying, mastering the jetpack can be difficult at first. I should know – I’ve crashed every PC helicopter I’ve flown! But with a few adjustments to the mouse settings, I was flying like a natural. The dogfight element is by far the most exciting feature of the game (once you lose all regard for gravity and be one with the sky). Interaction with the setting adds to the immersion, with objectives located within environmental features and the scenery testing the pilot’s flying skills – both player and enemy.

Back on solid ground the player is armed with standard weapons including rifles and grenades, and has the ability to pick up victims’ weapons as well as upgrade using a points system. The Watchers’ weapons are a better choice being of superior technology however I found the melee combat the most efficient way to take down an enemy – once you were close enough to do so without suffering serious health damage. I will admit the leaping creatures that were interested in my seemingly delicious jugular had me yelping and enduring flashbacks from the famous Call of Duty 4 dogs.

The third-person shooter angle is great for the ground combat elements, allowing character to duck and shoot from behind cover. This will allow you to fire strategically and get in close for hand-to-hand combat. However the game, which was built on the Unreal Tournament 3 graphics engine, left me feeling nauseated after only a few action sequences. The UT3 engine like many third-person view engines is notorious for its rolling and blurring momentum as the camera adjusts to follow the player’s actions. My advice? Take regular breaks.

The difficulty weighting seems uneven, with ground combat being very easy compared to drawn-out air combat sequences, requiring precise actions to unlock goals. The console to PC port is apparent here; I’d imagine these scenes would be much easier with a stick controller and lock-on targets given the tendency to oversteer using a mouse.

The rousing music score, composed by none other than Battlestar Galactica’s Bear McCreary tended to be somewhat distracting at times, rising and cutting suddenly between sequences. However McCreary’s credentials pave the way for my high hopes for the game’s official release.

Dark Void’s in-air combat element may be enough to establish its name in the market however it does not make up for the generic combat sequences which are done better in other games. Something tells me this might be a rental game.
Dark Void is available now on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

–Check back with GamingAngels.com soon when we’ll have a full review of the PS3 version of Dark Void.–

It’s a little difficult to describe, but maybe watching the trailer will help you figure out exactly what MNC is.

So, you got that? Men in uniform, performing specific jobs in an arena-type area for fame and money, not to mention the cheerleaders…

I take that back. Monday Night Combat is a lot more like football than I thought. It looks incredibly promising (“I could spend an entire month obsessed with this”-type promising), so as soon as we get a release date, we’ll let you know. Until then, check out Uber’s website at http://www.uberent.com.

Dark Void is a third-person shooter that may be given a lowly sequel for fun, but even the lowsy fun-factor I experienced in mid-air combat is hardly the right amount of amusement to overcome the rest of the 2010 line-up; I can already hear the melodious piano echoing T.I.’s “Dead and Gone.”

The whole sha-bang centers around the Bermuda Triangle—that urban legend that never seems to go away in popular culture. Mr. Will is our “hero” figure with a highly recognizable voice-actor who (congratulations to cutie, Nolan North and everything) has been done to death, and back. North is an obvious and choice cast for playing the smug heroic type, but come now, yer just getting lazy devs. FACT, playing this demo is like watching a crew-cut, generic “drake-like” protagonist number ten all good n’ ready to be your next suave action star and a flatly modeled one at that; the graphics aren’t poor enough to make me punch your puppy, but they are poor enough to force a heavy sigh.

Jetpacks are generally awesome and Will’s jetpack is Airtight’s way of allowing players to hover around an alternate universe in style, which is likely as much squee as Dark Void is going to allow. The aerial combat is, for the most part, simplistic and slightly more time consuming than the ground combat, but both do a spectacular job of making my spidey senses tingle in agitation thanks to the lackluster and mega-dimwitted, extra-terrestrial mob who seem to pose no real challenge. In other words, the enemies are bland, stupid, and easy aliens who are solely there to provide punchable fun. It looks as if the tactic for winning shall be strictly covering your butt behind space cargo—wash, rinse, cutscene, repeat.

Why, you ask, do I refuse to utter at least one thing nice about this steaming pile  (Oops, crossed the “meanie line” here) and alas! There is but one thing I cannot smear further–the score is seriously epic thanks to Battlestar Gallactica composer, Bear McCreary. Though, it’s drumming action really made me feel like Pocahontas aching for a ledge dive. That’s cool, I suppose?

I whole-heartedly commend Capcom and Airtight for bringing something fresh to the table because, after all, how many “flying” games are really in existence? Well, quite a few, but most of them involve simulation, mustached men in overalls, or they simply do not make good use of combat mechanics and nifty, swiveling moves. Gaining the ability to fly in any game is a worthy experience in itself, but after floating around for seven minutes in a continuous loop of delightfully crashing Will into cliffs, I wanted to land in hopes of discovering something with an inkling of rarity. My last words after playing the ten minute demo were “…this wasn’t that good” and I actually can’t summarize the quality of this game any better, but I wont be purchasing this here title to find out. For your enjoyment, watch me play the Dark Void demo for the XBOX 360 in HD  courtesy @sleebs:

The demo will give us the chance to try out this jet-pack fueled third person shooter. Capcom promises that this teaser will give players the chance to try out the areal dog-fighting and on-foot combat as to entice them to try the full game which is being released on January 19th. The Dark Void demo will hit Xbox live tomorrow January 6th and PlayStation Network Thursday January 7th.

Namco Bandai has announced a brand new IP today which is a third person shooter called, Inversion. The game gives players the ability to mess with gravity using the Grappler device.

“Inversion will turn the shooter genre upside down – literally,” Namco Bandai’s US director of marketing and public relations Todd Thorson stated.

“Saber Interactive’s innovative gravity manipulation feature will blow away any preconceptions of what a contemporary shooter should be.”

Inversion is due for release on Xbox 360 and PS3 some time in 2010.

WET

Bethesda’s Quentin Tarantino inspired game WET will be in retail shelves on September 18. The title will be out for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and Bethesda has launched the official website at wetthegame.com.

“We are extremely excited to bring WET to gamers on September 18th,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “A2M has created an explosive gaming experience and the action is non-stop from start to finish.”

WET is a highly stylized third person shooter. We tried out the title at E3 and it moves fast! You can shoot anywhere, anytime while doing acrobatics off of walls, boxes and people. The soundtrack is 70′s inspired music and it really does seem something out of a Tarantino movie.

The star of WET is Rubi Malone who is trying to find a wealthy man’s son. But of course things go wrong and maybe a bit messy.

Here is the trailer for WET:

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PC (reviewed on xbox360)
ESRB: T for teen
Genre:Third person shooter; Sandbox
Number of Players:Single and Multiplayer
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: August 31st, 2008
Official Website
Writer: Stealthyslyth

First Look Review: Here by Byerk

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Mercenaries 2: World in Flamesis the sequel to the original, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, released in 2005. In this game, you can choose to play as any of the original characters from the first game: Jennifer Mui, Mattias Nilsson and Chris Jacobs.

The general plot revolves around a political coup in Venezuela, which is interesting, but the sandbox aspect, combined with huge amounts of explosives is more of a focus for this game.

Graphics:
The graphics in this game are amazing, even with my standard TV. The terrain and building detail is fantastic, helping to immerse you in the environment. This also lends great to the practically fully destructible environment that you’re in. Those beautiful palm trees swaying in the wind? Oh just go right ahead and ram your tank into those to knock them down. They’re just in the way of the flaming destruction you just left behind. The people are rendered well, especially the main characters. The general guys you fight against, and the people walking around are a bit more generalized, but not in a bad way.

Controls:
The general controls are pretty easy to pick up, especially if you’re used to playing third person shooters. I was not a fan of the driving mechanics though. Turning in tanks was a bit more complicated. I think they could have improved on this more. There is a great hijacking mechanic, where it’s not just a cut scene, but you have to hit buttons when prompted in order to successfully commandeer a vehicle. And, hijacking a helicopter with a grappling hook is just awesome.

Flow:
The game moves pretty quickly. The initial contract that you go out on helps you figure out all of the basic shooting, running, and driving controls, as well as how to use special items like air strikes. Each mission has a good length, to it and you pick up and hire other mercenaries to help improve your private military company (or PMC). And if you get tired with doing the missions to help compile info for the main villian that you’re after, you can take a break and do some training missions and win (or lose) money on wagers based around these missions.

Fun Factor:
This is a great game for someone who enjoys shooters, explosions or if you’re Michael Bay. The environments are just about fully destructable, and you have fun doing it. One of the first vehicles you drive is a tank, and you can take out a small shanty town and half the jungle before reaching your main objective. Definitely a game for someone who would like some mindless destruction. The multiplayer is pretty fun as someone can jump in at any time as another merc to help you out. There’s also a great partnership aspect where you can revive your partner if need be during combat. Not to mention this means twice the amount of destruction, which is always fun.

Female Aspect:
You can play as the female character of Jennifer Mui, and you are also guided by a female character who runs the computers back at the PMC. I liked her commentary a lot, as I played Mattias and she tended to be quite the smart alec towards him.

Replay Value:
This game has some replay value for other achievements, like making all factions hate you, or if you would like to play as one of the other characters. For me, I enjoyed playing through it once, but I don’t think I would necessarily play it again unless I could find some friends to do the multiplayer with me. I do think that Michael Bay would enjoy the replay value, if only to try blowing up things in a different or bigger way.