Hitman: Absolution – A Test of Faith

I’ll never forget the first time I was introduced to Agent 47.  I had just received my copy of The Official PlayStation Magazine with its monthly disc packed with previews and game demos.  There on the disc was a demo for a game titled Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.  I saw the stylishly dressed bald guy dual-wielding a pair of hand cannons and I was immediately intrigued.  The prospect of sneaking in to a highly guarded mansion, taking down a mob boss while rescuing a priest had me giddy with excitement.

Then I tried to play the demo.

Emphasis on “tried.”  It was a total mess.  The controls were not only WAY more complex than anything I was use to playing, the AI was absolutely brutal.  I knew right away that I was in way over my head and that there was absolutely no way I was getting over the learning curve.  I ejected the disc and went on to other things.

Or at least I attempted to.

The fact was that even though I was terrible at the demo, I found the concept fascinating.  This was the character I had been waiting to play for a long time.  So I went back, and I was still terrible.  But I went back again and this time, even though I was still terrible, I actually made it into the kitchen disguised as a delivery guy.  Then, I promptly took 2 steps in the wrong direction and all hell broke loose.  This scenario played out dozens of times and each time I got just the tiniest bit better. Long before the first time I made it through the level with the coveted Silent Assassin ranking I was hooked, and I knew that this was a series I would follow for as long as it was around.

Fast forward 10 years to the first release of info on the fifth game in the series.  I couldn’t be more excited.  Finally! A Hitman game on “next-gen” consoles.

Then I watched the trailer.

This is NOT Hitman! It’s way too action heavy!  Instinct mode?  Are you joking?  This looks like Splinter Cell: Conviction (which I enjoyed, but it wasn’t Hitman).  I/O Interactive, you broke my heart.  I suffered waiting through not one, but TWO, garbage Kane & Lynch games.  And for what?  For you to rip the very soul out of  the franchise that I love?  For you to bastardise a series so you can  dumb it down for the masses of mouth-breathing Call of Duty “bro” gamers?  To hell with this, I quit.

Or at least I attempted to.

I’d obviously been betrayed along with all the rest of the die-hard fans, but I just couldn’t believe it.  I searched every article I could find in hopes that I was wrong, but everything I read just sounded like the devs doing a song and dance to distract us from the atrocities they had committed against their fans.  I had all but given up hope and written the game off.  Then a friend told me about a sniper challenge mini-game that you could download if you pre-ordered the game. I figured “Why not?” I’d pre-order the game to get the code and then go back and then move the money to Borderlands 2.

Then I played it.

I figured that I’d try it once and then maybe watch some tv.  Two and a half hours later, I had to force myself to go to bed.   The Agent 47 that I hadn’t seen since 2006 was back and better than ever.  The defining moment came when I shot an elevator control box to open the doors and then made a member of the main target’s security force disappear down the elevator shaft. After dozens of replays I finally achieved Silent Assassin rank, but with the addition of a friends leaderboard, Silent Assassin is just the beginning.

I know that the latest trailer has sparked plenty of uproar, and people are jumping to all kinds of conclusions and continuing to rage about “the absence of stealth” and “too much action” but now I just shake my head and smile.  I’m confident that when the game launches it will be the naysayers, and not the devs, who will be seeking “Absolution.”

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Urgent Frequency Ep. 91 – The 2011 VGA Preview Episode

After a year of major game releases, the game industry & gamers from all over the world are set to pick the best of the best for the 2011 Video Game Awards.

Shane Bell (Urgent Fury CIO) & Doc (The Tester (Season 1) & Replay w/ Doc) join Commander Fury to preview a few of the categories & make their 2011 VGA picks.

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Mass Effect 3 will attempt the realm of Multiplayer in 2012, will it work?

So with all of the craziness of Multiplayer releases in 2011 over, now it’s time to look ahead to 2012. And a new entry into the realm of multiplayer is Mass Effect 3 by Bioware based in Edmonton Canada.

In a press release from October, the award-winning developer, a label of Electronic Arts Inc., announced hat multiplayer will be coming to the critically-acclaimed Mass Effect™ series for the very first time as part of the new Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War system.

With the Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War system, players will fight for the survival of the galaxy against an ancient alien race known only as, Reapers, in both the single player campaign and through a suite of Mass Effect games and applications. Progress made in each of the components of the system, including the new multiplayer mode, will directly link back to the player’s main campaign, helping Commander Shepard rally the forces of the galaxy to eliminate the Reaper threat once and for all. The Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War feature can be activated via the Online Pass code found in every new copy of Mass Effect 3. The Mass Effect 3 Online Pass can also be purchased separately on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.

“The theme of galactic war in Mass Effect 3 presents us with the perfect opportunity to introduce multiplayer into the Mass Effect series,” said Casey Hudson, Executive Producer of the Mass Effect series. “Multiplayer not only features amazing combat and deep customization options, but it will give players another way to help the war effort against the Reapers in the main event — the single player campaign.”

Featuring four-player cooperative gameplay, multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 puts players in the role of a team of elite Special Forces soldiers sent to protect resources and assets that can help the war effort against the Reapers. Players will have the option of playing as one of six classes and from six different races: Human, Krogan, Asari, Drell, Salarian and Turian.

Multiplayer and other components of the Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War system provide alternative ways for players to wage the final war against the Reapers. The new system will also connect players to their BioWare Social Network accounts to stay up to date on the latest Mass Effect 3 news and access downloadable content (DLC) and add-ons.

Now if you read around the net, the avid Mass Effect Fans are not that keen on addition of the Multiplayer, but as stated by Shane Bell in his editorial about Multiplayer not extending the life of games, maybe this developer is seeing an opportunity to add a longer playability to their title after all.

Only time will tell if this is successful or not and there are rumors of a beta soon, the game is scheduled to launch March 6th, 2012.

About BioWare

The BioWare Label is a division of EA which crafts high quality multiplatform role-playing, MMO and strategy games, focused on emotionally engaging, rich stories with unforgettable characters and vast worlds to discover. Since 1995, BioWare has created some of the world’s most critically acclaimed titles and franchises, including Baldur’s Gate™, Neverwinter Nights™, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™, Jade Empire™, Mass Effect™ and Dragon Age™.  BioWare currently operates in seven locations across the world, including Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), Montreal (Quebec, Canada), Austin (Texas), Fairfax (Virginia), San Francisco (California), Los Angeles (California) and Galway (Ireland).

In 2008, BioWare was acquired by Electronic Arts, a leading global interactive entertainment publisher. In 2011 EA created the BioWare Label, alongside EA Games, EA SPORTS™ and EA Play.  To join the millions of fans already registered with the BioWare community, go to http://social.bioware.com.

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Urgent Frequency Ep. 90 – The 2nd Annual URGENT FREQUENCY VETERANS DAY THANKSGIVING CALL OF DUTY MIDNIGHT LAUNCH PARTY Episode

Commander Fury is Urgent Fury’s “boots on the ground” for the biggest game release of the year!!!

As he finds himself braving the cold & crowds at his local GameStop to celebrate the launch of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for the 2nd Annual Urgent Frequency Veterans Day Thanksgiving Call Of Duty Midnight Launch Party Episode. Get all the intel about the most anticipated game of the year…including gametrailers.com‘s full review of the game, and an overview of Call Of Duty: ELITE.

Plus, we wrap things up with the Thanksgiving classic….Arlo Guthrie’s – “Alice’s Restaurant“.

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Modern Warfare: 3 Early Pirating ~ “Don’t Get Caught!”

 

Story by: CritiKiL

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 doesn’t come out until Nov. 8. But pirates have already obtained the video game — one of the most-anticipated of the year — VentureBeat has learned. The PC version of the game, or at least part of it, has been circulating among pirates in the U.S., who illegally copy and share it without paying Activision Blizzard or its retailers. That’s a big problem, as Activision Blizzard is expected to sell more than 20 million copies of the game in 2011 alone, according to Arcadia Research. That amounts to more than $1.2 billion in sales at retail. Piracy has always been a problem with video games, especially for PC titles. But the pirates go after Call of Duty because it’s the big prize. Every year, a cat-and-mouse game ensues. Activision Blizzard closely monitors manufacturing in the weeks leading up to shipment, since it only takes one stolen disk to set off the viral spread of pirated copies. But it’s hard to stop inside jobs.

Evidently, pirated discs began to spread quickly after an employee at a shipping warehouse (run by a huge shipping company) in Fresno, Calif., stole one disc. It’s not clear how many full copies spread this way, as the disc that was stolen was apparently Disc 2 of a two-disk set for the PC. Security may have been too tight for the thief to steal the other disc. The same course of events happened before last year’s launch of Call of Duty Black Ops and the year before that with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. But sales of the franchise keep climbing.

Investigators are using the same tactics as last year, knocking on doors around the country and asking people nicely to turn over and delete their pirated copies of Modern Warfare 3. Rather than face fines, many complied. A Modern Warfare pirate who was caught posted a message (below) yesterday on Craigslist. In it, the person warns others not to buy MW3 before the release date because “they will come get you.” The post says “you will be fined $5,000″ and it could result in permanent banning from online play. Then the person adds, “I already went through it.”

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So Far, Nothing Beats Battlefield: 3…

Story by: CritiKiL

The war for the military FPS game of the year has begun, and Battlefield 3 has fired the first shots.  The attention to detail and care that DICE has put into its Frostbite 2 engine shows (which is ‘also’ incorporated in NFS: The Run racing game!), and leaves gamers with a highly polished and addictive shooter.

In the campaign mode you’re in the shoes of Henry Blackburn, a Staff Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps who’s being interrogated and as he tells his side of the story, you play through ‘his’ events and end up playing as a few different characters watching the story unfold from their individual perspectives (much like the Call of Duty franchise). It is clear that DICE tried too hard to capture the Call of Duty audience, but overall it owns up to having it’s on individuality. That’s what Battlefield is all about though, watching tanks battle and etc. But there’s a scene  that’s a skydiving mission and that is Awesome.  The Co-Op mode is not bad either.

However, it is the Multiplayer mode which steals the Show! It reminds me of the Socom we used to love but now hate. Don’t miss it at all. The squad based combat encourages teamwork and coordination. We have the choice of four classes; Assault, Engineer, Recon, and Support. Each class has its own set of abilities that aid the team. The Assault class can drop med kits to heal your comrades, the Engineer can repair damaged vehicles, the Recon class can spot targets and mark them, and with Support you can replenish your teammates’ ammo.  There are also a variety of customization options for each class with dozens of primary weapons and secondary weapons to choose from, and camouflages to earn for your soldier. Unlocking new weapons, attachments, camouflage, vehicle upgrades are dependent on your performance and how well you work with your team. We’re just not awarded for kill, but assists help us unlock equipment and weapons. Unlocking new items to customize our character is the heart of the multiplayer, and these rewards will keep you coming back for more.

So, if you’re looking for a deep multiplayer experience where working as a team is encouraged, Battlefield 3 is the game you have waited for. The campaign mode is nice, but the multiplayer is so fun and addictive that you can easily overlook the campaign’s shortcoming. Battlefield 3 will have your attention for months on end with its sharp graphics, amazing sound effects and team-based multiplayer. DICE once again shows that it knows how to make an enjoyable multiplayer experience.

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Eurogamer Expo 2011

 

Well the eagerly awaited game event is here, and as I and many other games fans made our way from the Underground to Earls Court I couldn’t wait to see and more importantly play the new upcoming games.

The atmosphere was amazing as we all made our way into the arena, which was broken up into seven zones with the centre area dominated by the hot topic of conversation outside – Onlive.

Not surprisingly this is the first place everyone headed including myself, there were a number of consoles set up around the stand with both wired and wireless controllers with demo’s of some of the 100 games that are now available as of Sept 22nd (that’s in the UK of course, Onlive has been running in the US for a while now). As well as getting to play some of the games on offer, there was also the chance to get your hands on a free console once you had registered, needless to say I managed to get my hands on one and I’ll be posting more on the Onlive console and the games on offer in a separate article.

All the big names in gaming were showing off their latest creations, including the big 3’s Mass Effect 3, Battlefield 3, Resistance 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Gears of War 3. My first port of call was the Forza Motorsport 4 stand, Turn 10 have raised the bar even further with this latest in the franchise, the graphics were stunning as has been the case with previous incarnations and the controls were very responsive. The demo for Forza 4 is coming for Xbox LIVE Gold Members on Oct  3 and will be available for Silver members on Oct 10 for those who want a taste of things to come.

Another of the games I sampled was Battlefield 3, due for release on Oct 25th which was tucked away in the over 18’s area. This had a long queue of people waiting to play as you’d expect, but it was well worth the wait. It was certainly an amazing sight seeing banks of people all working their way through the trees and undergrowth, utterly absorbed. It wasn’t hard to see why, EA Games with Frostbite 2 have created very impressive gameplay and the headphones allowed the low hum of Earls Court to be blotted out in favour of the crackle of gunfire and the shout of orders.

I’m sure you have seen all the advertisements and coverage of the 3DS but you may have been like me and wondered just how good it is. Well they were showcasing the latest Mario and sonic releases as well as a demo of Sky 3D. The latter to try and show people that the 3DS has more to offer than just a handheald  gaming console. I was curious as to what the experience would be like and chatting to some of the others there, they felt the same.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Its true to say that as this doesn’t rely on glasses, it makes it feel a more natural experience, although I did find the need to keep your viewing angle steady took a bit of getting used to. The 3D effect was very good and the adjustable 3D slide on the side made a noticeable difference.

It wasn’t just all game and console demo’s of course, there were a host of developer sessions throughout the weekend as well. Among those giving talks were Michael Denny from Sony talking about the Playstation Vita and Dr Ray Muzyka from EA Games on Star Wars: The Old Republic.

To sum up, there was much more at Eurogamer Expo 2011 than I am ever going to be able to write here, that said, the Playstation Vita, 3D gaming and the prospect of on-line gaming like never before with Onlive makes the next twelve months a very exciting prospect indeed.

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Latest Battlefield: 3 Images!

Images by: CritiKiL
So. You’ve seen the video’s of the game but you might be upset at the price for being able to play Multiplayer. You need an uplifting in spirit to get you to fork up the cash to make that happen. You’ve been skeptical as to who to trust because you’ve been dished out games that don’t add up to your expectations and are incapable of a refund ~ Well these images should put you ‘back’ on track as to how awesome this game is going to be, not to mention that your friends are going to be revived-in-spirit once they’ve had a peak at the New screenshots of the game. Here ya go:
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Use your IPhone or IPad to get through Dead Island

Once again, BradyGames has hit the market with a Map App for the avid gamers out there.

The only officially licensed app for the year’s most anticipated release:
** Zoom and scroll through detailed maps of the entire game
** Locate all in-game collectibles: ID Cards, Banoi Herald editions and Investigation Tapes
** Track which collectibles have been found and which await discovery
** Official music from the game

Customer Reviews

It works 5 Stars
by Sefiroth24

I bought it in the morning and right now im using it as a play

What it says. 4 Stars
by Beau Donnell

Isn’t super amazing, and probably not worth the money, but it is exactly what is says it is. I just wish it was a full guide with tips and all, then I would pay over $5. But it is exactly what it says it is, no problems, and looks great.

love it 5 Stars
by Tass angiolillo

This was very helpful. I really like how you can mark off your progress. Would have been even better to actual have a collectors map with the game.

As you can see the users are loving it and its only $2.99 in the ITunes Store, so go get it today!!!

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Battlefield: 3 Will ‘Probaby’ Have ‘Online Pass’…

Story ‘Repeated’ by: CritiKiL

The confusion regarding EA’s plans for Battlefield 3‘s multiplayer access is palpableGamerZinesreports that Battlefield 3 Executive Producer Patrick Bach stated in an interview last week that the game would “probably” require a code for access to multiplayer. When pushed on whether EA would lock out second-hand players through use of an online pass, he replied, “I think we are.” EA told the site it would pick up the conversation “another time.”The latest major iteration of the Battlefield franchise, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, implemented a “VIP Pass,” granting access to extra content, but placed no initial limitations on multiplayer access. EA’s online pass (i.e. Project Ten Dollar) — now utilized by many publishers, with Ubisoft being the latest — cuts off multiplayer to anyone who doesn’t purchase a code, which comes bundled in new copies of games. Of course, with today’s announcement of EA Sports Season Ticket (i.e. Project 25 Dollar), there’s a whole new level of possibility.

“The whole idea is that we’re paying for servers and if you create a new account there is a big process on how that is being handled in the back end,” Bach said. “We would rather have you buy a new game than a used game because buying a used game is only a cost to us; we don’t get a single dime from a used game, but we still need to create server space and everything for you.”

Update: EA’s statement: “We have not made any announcements regarding Battlefield 3 and Online Pass.” ~ This still needs more clarification. We will update this article when we know more…

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