The Game Druid » Previews

Darksiders II: Behind the Mask

gamedruid — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 07:10:58 +0000

Darksiders II is going to be one hell of game! We covered the first look of Darksiders II last July. Playing as Death, one of the other Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, you’re on a quest to free your brother War from imprisonment and restore his good name.

Check out the trailer breakdown and the man behind the mask.

Watch the video after the break.

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2012′s Most Anticipated Games

gamedruid — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:21:45 +0000

Welcome to 2012 dear readers and what better way to kick it off than checking out whats in store for the coming year! In case you haven’t done so already you can check out our re-cap of 2011 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

With 2011 gone, it’s time to get deep into 2012. Today we’re going to give you a sneek peek of what to expect in 2012 and our favorite picks! Let’s get started!

Soul Calibur V

Get ready for the sixth installment in Namco’s Soul series of fighting games, and will be released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 . he game will take place 17 years after the events of Soulcalibur IV.^[2] The main protagonist is Patroklos, the son of Soul series veteran Sophitia, while her daughter, Pyrrha is the deuteragonist. The only revealed guest character so far is Ezio Auditore da Firenze from the Assassin’s Creed series. Do you need any more reasons to be excited?

The Darkness II

If you haven’t played the first Darkness then I suggest you get to it right away, because from what we’ve seen of the Darkness II – it’s going to blow your mind away! Don’t miss a moment of this awesome trailer!

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

RPG fans look no further – a super awesome, fluid and deep action RPG is coming your way. Massive worlds, excellent voice action and at the helm of it is L.A. Salvatorie himself! So this is one game you’ll want to pick up when it’s out!

Mass Effect 3

RPG fans can now go into a frenzy with Mass Effect 3 just months away from release! The game is scheduled for a March 6, 2012 releaseand will mark the final chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy of video games, completing the story of Commander Shepard.

Max Payne 3

oh I’m sorry, did you actually need some bit of text here to describe “Max Payne”?

Silent Hill: Downpour

Silent Hill returns for an 8th installment of the series and by the looks of it; it’s getting creepier and creepier. Silent Hill Downpour was to release for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 25, 2011; but obviously it didn’t happen otherwise it wouldn’t be here now would it? So it’s gonna happen in 2012. Watch the trailer and keep those screams down.

Street Fighter X Tekken

Kuzuya has big plans for Ryu and his abilities in this official cinematic story trailer for new fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken.

Ninja Gaiden III

Ryu returns and descends into hell in the 3rd installment of the Ninja Gaiden series! Check out the trailer and don’t tell me you didn’t get any goose bumps!!

BioShock Infinite

If you’re not kicked about it then you’re a few marbles short up there.

Tomb Raider

Square Enix is rebooting the series and we got a first look in at E3. All I can say is that you’re going to fall in love with the franchise all over again…and yeah, she’s tough as nails in this one!

Diablo III

it’s not just us…it’s the whole wide world that’s waiting on Diablo III and this for me has to be the most anticipated game of 2012!

Grand Theft Auto V

You know you want to steal cars and beat people up. GTA V is going to let you do that like no other. Can’t wait!

The Last of Us

Watch out for the PS3 exclusive from the makers of Uncharted 3. It’s an epic saga you’ll not want to miss! oh and the footage below is from an actual PS3.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic launches December 20

gamedruid — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 05:55:12 +0000

Electronic Arts today confirmed that the Bio-Ware-developed MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic will launch December 20 in North America, and December 22 in Europe. Since June, the publisher has been proclaiming a general 2011 release window for the game. Don’t for get to check out the video!

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Diablo III Beta Gameplay Session

gamedruid — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 03:11:12 +0000

Kiran Pk, Dienan Sachinthaka liked this post

Join GameSpot’s Shaun McInnis and Maxwell McGee as they rip into the Diablo III beta!

Real or Fake?

The screenshot is taken in the Skeleton King’s room, and it belongs to Leoric. Gamers need to defeat the boss after they beat the hell out of minions he summons.

As indicated, the screenshot poster enjoyed the beta as Monk and was also able to finist it as a congratulations message appears for him.

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim New Videos

gamedruid — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 02:41:15 +0000

Bethesda released a few new videos of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Gamespot has most of these covered. If you haven’t checked out our preview yet; do so now!

Check out the 3rd video after the break

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Hard Reset Review (PC)

gamedruid — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 02:46:57 +0000

Short, but oh so sweet FPS blaster!

Hard Reset is one of the coolest games I’ve played in while. This cyberpunk FPS is created by indie studio, Flying Wild Hog, and is a great debut title for the group. The game is simple and easy to pick up, but also has depth and complexity for the hardcore gamer. It has potential to be one of the best indie games released this year.

What’s HOT:

Varied weapons lead to crazy, entertaining shoot-outs
Challenging action forces you to use all the tools at your disposal
Striking cyberpunk environments
Hidden items and EX mode encourage replay.

What’s NOT:

Too many cheap deaths
Unresponsive weapon switching
Comes to an abrupt end.

If you’re into ridiculous, kill-it-if-it-moves PC shooters like Painkiller and Serious Sam, Hard Reset is the kind of game you want to love. The story itself is presented in cut-scenes using a stylized animated comic complete with a main voice actor that sounds quite a bit like Steve Blum. Don’t expect anything particularly deep though as the cut-scenes do just enough to setup the reason the player is running through a non-OSHA compliant city to face waves of killer robots.

The look of the city is rendered with the same dull shades of gray that we’ve come to expect from the genre, but Flying Wild Hog also throws in a tremendous amount of neon highlights throughout the streets and buildings to transport from dull to a cyberpunk delight. Rain also drizzles down through most of the game to give everything a somewhat shiny/wet look. The developer’s goal was obviously to pay homage to Blade Runner and they pulled it off spectacularly.

The levels themselves are primarily linear with a few branches to find stashes of power-ups and hidden areas. Getting lost is not really an option in the game due to the linearity but also because a simple click of the ‘R’ key brings up a helpful pointer to the next objective. Sprinkled throughout are switches and other objectives to progress along with the aforementioned hidden areas, some of which can be accessed by blowing stuff up.

At its core, Hard Reset doesn’t do much that any other shooter has done in the past decade. You move from shoot-out to shoot-out, occasionally stopping to press a button, ride an elevator, or jump across some beams. There aren’t a whole lot of different enemies; little scurrying automatons, some explosive spheres with legs, and giant charging junk heaps are among the few. You won’t encounter the typical changes of pace that give most shooters variety either. There are no turret sections or escort missions on your lonesome journey. The levels are straightforward corridors and smallish arenas, and the environments are lovely, but they rarely look that different from one chapter to the next.

It would be unfair to call Hard Reset just another pretty shooter, however. Variety comes not from mission or level design, but from the delicious opportunities your weapons grant you. You have two main weapons: a traditional assault firearm and an energy weapon. The trick is that both main weapons can be upgraded, allowing them to transform into other configurations. The CLG firearm morphs from an assault rifle to a grenade launcher, a shotgun, and more. The N.R.G. weapon lets you stream a continued flow of electricity, drop lightning mortars, and fire homing projectiles. Each form can be upgraded further, granting secondary modes of fire and unlocking a wonderful array of opportunities for zapping and scorching your foes. You can also purchase passive upgrades, such as an automated bullet time when you run low on health, or greater damage resistance.

To cap it all off – this game is simply awesome! It does feel cheap at times; but it more than makes up for it in gameplay. All in all I would highly recommend this if you’re into games like Serious Sam and Pain Killer. The difference being; it does get as monotonous as the earlier mentioned games.

System Requirements

Minimum:
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: 2.5 GHz Intel Pentium 4 / AMD Athlon 64
RAM: 2 GB
Graphics card: 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GS / ATI Radeon HD 3870 or better
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Hard Drive: 4 GB free hard drive space

Recommended:
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: Intel Quad Core 2.3 GHz / AMD Phenom II x4 2.5 GHz
RAM: 3 GB
Graphics card: 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT / ATI Radeon HD 4870 or better
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Hard Drive: 4 GB free hard drive space

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Valve Debuts Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Video

gamedruid — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 03:58:29 +0000

Finally there’s an official trailer for Counter-Strile: Global Offensive! Check the video after the break below.

In the meantime here’s some awesome screens for you to drool on!

Valve is also trying something new that has been tried before but has failed miserably in the past. That is the inclusion of cross-platform gaming. While this game will be available on PC, Mac, Xbox and PS3, the users whom are using PC, Mac or PS3 will actually be able to play each other and compete cross platform which will consolidate game servers and increase the amount of gamers playing the game at the same time. This should also remove the gap that normally exists between PC and console gamers in terms of being able to play against each other. We have yet to see how this will work out in practice because it’s been tried many times in theory and failed miserably.

The game is expected to go into PC Beta later this year and launch early in 2012.

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Rage: Gearhead Vault Gameplay Trailer

gamedruid — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 07:32:09 +0000

RAGE’s newest gameplay clip gives you a look at one of RAGE’s most challenging bandit clans, the Gearheads.

In this video, the Gearheads have started combining Feltrite and Plutonium to create the ultimate power supply. The mayor of Subwaytown sends you on a mission to the clan’s vault so that he can claim this new power for his own use.

For those not in the know; Rage is an upcoming FPS from ID . The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world somewhat similar to the movie Mad Max 2 and that of other popular video games such as Fallout.

The user plays as a survivor of the 2029 Apophis meteorite impact who has just awoken from an Ark (a world-wide movement which took scientists and other significant people, and froze them underground in cryo-pods so they could rebuild Earth). Soon, the player comes to realize that his Ark has malfunctioned and that he is the only survivor. Apparently this environment is perfectly suited to the rough-and-tumble dune buggy racing seen in games like MotorStorm, as that sort of gameplay will be an important feature of Rage. Players will have the ability to augment their cars with various items and upgrades they can gain by completing races, but the game is not specifically a racing title, trailers have shown a mix of mainly first person shooter elements as well as driving elements.

Rage will also feature some role-playing game (RPG) elements—an inventory system and the capabilities of weapons will be based around types of ammo. Players will also have the option to customize their weapons.There will also be side missions. More on the RPG elements have not been detailed. At E3, Tim Willits stated that at the game’s core is a first person shooter with car-combat added in and without the racing being the sole and central focal point. The game will be set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland created by an asteroid impact. The world will be populated by the human survivors of the impact who were preserved from the asteroid by being buried in the Arks. The world will also be populated by mutants who will serve as the player’s main enemies at least for the first half of the game, as id is currently talking of a major change taking place at the midway point of the game.

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Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection koming next week!

gamedruid — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 07:26:12 +0000

August 31st is the date to watch for if you’re a Mortal Kombat fan.

The downloadable Arcade Kollection will include “arcade-perfect” ports of the original Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. While the Xbox 360 has previously received a port of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and the PlayStation 3 launched with Mortal Kombat II available digitally, this will be first time the original Mortal Kombat has been released for either console.

Each game included in the compilation will receive a handful of enhancements, including online multiplayer support, trophies/achievements, and leaderboards. The package is priced at $10 (800 Microsoft points), which might come as a relief to those who remember last year’s retail listings for a Mortal Kombat compilation at $40.

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Aliens: Colonial Marines Trailer

gamedruid — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:51:17 +0000

After being in limbo for nearly 5 years, Sega finally announced Aliens: Colonial Marines. It’s currently in development by Gearbox Software and will be published by Sega for Wii U, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The game is a first-person shooter based on the characters and creatures of the Alien franchise, particularly the film Aliens. The current release date is Spring 2012.

Aliens: Colonial Marines begins with an ostensibly abandoned ship, the U.S.S. Sulaco, recovered in orbit around LV-426. Players lead a group of highly trained United States Colonial Marines as they board the deserted craft to uncover the fate of the crew. They will have to fight to survive unspeakable horrors and their own anxieties as they chase down the truth behind a galaxy-spanning deception that places humanity at the mercy of the most murderous and deadly species in the universe. Aliens: Colonial Marines features authentic environments, such as the surface of LV-426 and Hadley’s Hope, weapons inspired by the film series and is designed to provide an exhilarating and engaging new chapter in the Aliens universe.

“Aliens: Colonial Marines will be THE definitive ALIENS gaming experience,” said Gary Knight, Senior Vice President of Marketing at SEGA Europe and SEGA of America.

We’ll just have to wait and see if Gary’s words are right; in the meantime; you can drool at the images below! Don’t wet yourself.

Check out the trailer below:

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