I’ve made no secret of the fact that Assassin’s Creed is my favorite game of all time. So naturally, getting my eyes on Assassin’s Creed II was my top priority at E3 2009. I’m happy to report that I succeeded, but I’m afraid there’s not much new I can tell you about the game that hasn’t already been reported elsewhere.

Instead, just feast your eyes on these incredible screenshots and that awesome pre-rendered trailer. They tell you pretty much everything you need to know about Assassin’s Creed II, which is coming this holiday season.

Concept Art

Images: Copyright 2009 ©Ubisoft.

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: Assassin’s Creed II impressions

If you thought the story of Mass Effect was over, think again. In the wake of the events of the first game, humans have begun disappearing all over the galaxy, and Shepherd and his crew have signed on with a black ops agency known as Cerberus to find out what’s happening — and discover the new evil power behind it. BioWare calls Mass Effect 2 a “brutal descent into the darkest parts of the Mass Effect Universe,” and from what I saw, that could be an understatement.

Perhaps the biggest (and best!) news out of E3 about Mass Effect 2 is that all of your saved game information from the first game — your customized character, the characters on your crew that survived, your weapons, upgrades, everything — can be imported into Mass Effect 2, so that the story continues exactly the way you left it. BioWare intends to continue this philosophy for the third and final game in the trilogy as well, so that the whole thing is not just Shepherd’s story — it’s your story. But the game has also been crafted to allow for newcomers to easily pick it up and start playing, too. The twist is that Shepherd can die in ME2 — if your instance of Shepherd doesn’t survive, you won’t be able to import him and continue his story in ME3. (Presumably, you’ll start from scratch with a new Shepherd instead.)

A lot of buzz has been building about how ME2 ups the ante in the game’s shooter aspects, streamlining the RPG elements to keep the action coming fast and furious. What BioWare describes as a “new, precision shooter feel” has been added to the combat, making it a more rewarding experience. There are tons of new weapons and new enemies — and new enemy races, as well.

The exploration aspects of the game have been beefed up; no longer will planets be generic, non-terraformed rocks. Many planets now include vegetation, bodies of water, and indigenous life forms. Some even contain entire civilizations. Conversation trees have been streamlined too, and you can even interrupt conversations at various points and take action instead of just standing around and talking all the time.

The demo I witnessed showed off a major spoiler as an example of the new, darker tone of the game, and it’s too big and too heartbreaking to ruin for you here. It’s always been a goal of the ME experience to generate emotional responses in the player, and the ME2 demo I saw was successful in causing that reaction in me.

I can’t wait to follow Shepherd as his adventure continues!

Images: Copyright 2009 ©BioWare.

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: Mass Effect 2 impressions

I got to play through the opening level of Batman: Arkham Asylum at E3 2009, and I can report that it really does play out every bit as much fun as it looks!

What I was most struck by was the developers’ attention to getting the game right. Since, unlike so many past Batman games, Arkham Asylum is not a movie tie-in, it’s not beholden to any set narrative or production design, so the developers were free to create their own version of Batman, and their own story. One aspect of the Batman character that’s often overlooked is his status as the “world’s greatest detective,” but even this is not overlooked in the game, giving you plenty of opportunities to put Batman’s deductive reasoning skills to the test.

The version they chose is a Batman influenced by the comics, cartoon, and yes the Christian Bale movies. The voice actors will be familiar to fans — all of the actors from the TV cartoon series are here in their familiar parts — but the look and feel of the game is decidedly more grown-up and realistic. It’s also absolutely gorgeous, with amazing textures on every surface, and it’s just plain fun to see all of these familiar characters rendered in such fantastic detail, yet with new twists for added realism. One nice twist is that since the game’s story unfolds during a single night, Batman and his foes will gradually take on damage to their costumes — damage that will then last throughout the remainder of the game. So you’ll go from a pristine Batman at the beginning to a banged-up Batman at the end with slashes, tears, and holes all over his Batsuit.

The story goes that when the Joker is being transfered to Arkham Asylum, he turns the tables and unleashes a master plan that finds Batman trapped inside the maximum security facility — complete with a rogue’s gallery of Batman’s greatest foes waiting inside. Batman works through much of the game to find and fight his way out of the prison, and once he does, he has all of Arkham Island to contend with, too, as the Joker has taken control of the island, and Batman has to put him back behind bars.

The gameplay is fun and cinematic, since Batman has tons of capabilities, including kung-fu moves, gadgetry, and stealth movements — and the game really shines when those various capabilities are combined. Slow-mo occasionally takes over when you manage a particularly impressive take-down, and the animations and rag-doll physics are all top notch. Not enough can be said about the graphics which are really spectacular.

Most importantly, the story seems to be one that’s worth telling. It’s big enough in scale and drawn in such striking detail that it could easily be the next Batman movie. At the very least, it will satiate fans’ appetites until the next movie does arrive. But more than that, I was impressed enough to say that it’s going to be the first time fans will really get to experience what it’s like to be the Dark Knight.

Images: Copyright 2009 ©Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: Batman Arkham Asylum impressions

Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest is a game built for kids, using the conceit that an older Samwise Gamgee (voiced by the movies’ Sean Astin) is telling the story of Aragorn to a group of young Hobbits in the form of a fairytale. As such, the design is more cartoonish, the story a bit tamed-down, and the gameplay simplistic enough to be done with basic button mashing and swinging the Wii Remote.

The level I played through found Aragorn leading the Fellowship of the Ring through the Mines of Moria, with Gandalf at his side. The game supports co-op play with Gandalf being the only other playable character. Much was added to this brief sequence from the films to elongate the play time, but most of it was of the “go to one area, kill all the goblins, go to the next area, kill all the goblins, etc.” format.

From what I saw, Aragorn’s Quest will probably be family-friendly fun for the whole family, but serious gamers — who are still waiting on that one truly awesome, based-on-the-movies, Lord of the Rings gaming experience — won’t get no satisfaction.

Image: Copyright 2009 ©Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest

Gearbox Software has been working for years on Borderlands, its next big thing. Borderlands is a massive, open world RPG, set on a remote planet that doesn’t take itself entirely seriously. It’s been described as Mad Max meets Fallout 3, and the description isn’t far off.

Much has been said about the game’s controversial switch to cel-shaded graphics, but the only question that really matters is, Is it any fun?

Gearbox describes Borderlands as an “RPS” — a combination of RPG (role-playing game) and FPS (first-person shooter), aka a role-playing shooter. The buzz phrase is “unique experience,” as Borderlands has been built entirely to ensure that every gamer that plays has an experience different from anyone else. This is accomplished through the literally millions of combinations of gun loadouts and configurations, thousands of enemy types, and tons of vehicles, all of which are randomized in-game, so you never know what you’re going to get.

You’ll spend most of your time treasure hunting and looting, in an attempt to mine the planet for everything it’s got. Despite the huge focus on fighting over resources, there’s a huge value offered to those who take the time to explore, with near-infinite secrets scattered across the landscape. And you can play through the game singleplayer or in drop-in/drop-out co-op, and the game will automatically adjust its difficulty levels based on how many co-op players are working together.

Trading is expected to be a huge component to the game, as co-op players can freely trade weapons anytime they want. There are some super-powerful, super-rare weapons that Gearbox anticipates being the most sought after. Gearbox also plans tons of downloadable content, though everything about the game will be exactly the same whether you play on PC, PS3, or Xbox 360 — there are no platform exclusives planned.

About that art style, Gearbox claims it was changed to make the game “more beautiful,” but the widely-held suspicion is that it was done to avoid strong similarities with the similarly-post-apocalyptic Fallout 3.

Judge for yourself this October, when Borderlands arrives in stores.

Images: Copyright 2009 ©Gearbox Software.

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: Borderlands impressions

Eliza Dushku lends her vocal talents to Wet, a stylish new shooter from Bethesda Softworks, the people who brought you Fallout 3.

Images: Copyright 2009 ©Bethesda Softworks.

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: Wet

If you can’t get enough of the dark, gory, intense platforming action of the God of War series, then EA Games has just the thing: Dante’s Inferno. Based on the first part of the poet Dante’s classic tale, The Divine Comedy, Dante’s Inferno recasts Dante himself as a warrior hardened by the Crusades on a quest into Hell to find his love, who was abducted by Satan himself.

Ultimately, it’s hard to say whether or not the story will really matter, because at the end of the day, Dante’s Inferno looks like an incredibly well-made God of War clone. See for yourself:

The demo I watched showed Dante descending into the first few circles of Hell through some truly epic — and terrifying — settings. The action was fierce — and again, reminiscent of God of War, right down to the chain-equipped weapon for long-range slicing and dicing and giant, monstrous sized creatures that summon smaller ones for you to fight — and the atmosphere thick and oppressive. Make no mistake: this is one of the darkest, goriest, and dare I say sickest games ever made. This is truly the stuff nightmares are made of.

The production design and overall quality of what I saw was nothing short of top-notch, and despite its mondo-depressing subject matter, I found it hard to look away from. On the other hand, I can’t help wondering if Dante’s Inferno takes gaming to a new extreme that the medium was better off not visiting.

Gamers will be the ultimate judge when Dante’s Inferno ships sometime in 2010.

Images: Copyright 2009 ©Visceral Games.

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: Dante’s Inferno impressions

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves picks up where the first game left off, only this time, the focus is on developing the main character by piling as many intense situations onto him as possible. This makes for an edge-of-your-seat roller coaster ride of a game, full of thrills and spills, and cinematic-quality storytelling.

If all of that was too much hyperbole, let me boil it down for you: I don’t own a PS3, but after seeing Uncharted 2 in action, I’ve never wanted to own one more.

Images: Copyright 2009 ©Naughty Dog.

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: Uncharted 2

The original hack-and-shoot on the Wii game is back. Red Steel II features a new protagonist, a new story, a new art style, and the Wii Motion Plus for greater accuracy. Check it:

Image: Copyright 2009 ©Ubisoft.

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: Red Steel II

Seven years after the the original game, Mafia II aims to bring back everything about the original that fans loved, while taking advantage of modern technologies. The new game isn’t part of the original’s story, but it’s set in the same universe.

The story of Mafia II is set in fictional city Empire Bay, which is to New York what the original game’s setting was to Chicago. Empire Bay is over ten square miles in size, with twenty distinct neighborhoods. It’s an enormous, open, sandbox world overflowing with secrets and “anything goes” gameplay. Mafia II is set in February of 1945, and takes full advantage of that setting with incredible vehicles, decor, sounds, and more drenched in authentic 40s atmosphere and details. The main character is Vito, an Italian immigrant to America who winds up working for the mafia as a hitman.

If you’re thinking Grand Theft Auto meets the mafia… Well, you’re not far off. But Mafia II puts its focus squarely on telling a great story, with strong, naturalistic dialogue. You don’t have to wait much longer to find out if it was worth holding on for seven long years for another round in Mafia’s universe.

Images: Copyright 2009 ©2k Games.

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: Mafia II impressions