Is Climax's Bloodforge a bloody good time or just a bloody mess?
A little of both.
Bloodforge Key Features:
•Stunning art style
•A dark tale of revenge, betrayal, and destiny
•Visceral bloody combat
Bloodforge follows the story of Crom, a warrior who has given up battle to live life with his family, but the gods have other plans for Crom. The gods trick Crom into slaying his family and in doing so set Crom off on a bloody quest for vengence.
Visually, Bloodforge has few equals on Xbox Live Arcade. The art style for Bloodforge is very dark and moody, reminiscent of the movie 300, which sets the tone of the game perfectly. Fans of blood and gore are in for a treat. It is nearly impossible to go 2 minutes without dismembering an enemy and having blood spray onto your screen.
Every character model from Crom to smallest of enemies is very well detailed. As with the character models the enviroments are equally well designed and detailed but sadly there is not enough variety in the enviroments to keep things fresh and exciting.
While the game looks amazing it does tend to have pop in and screen tearing and the frame rate can drop when 5 or more enemies are on the screen at one time, which is a big problem in a hack and slash game of this nature.
Every hack and slash game either lives or dies by its combat. Luckily, Bloodforge's combat is surprisingly deep. Crom will eventually have access to 4 different weapon types that each have plenty of combos to learn and master. Besides weapons, Crom can also call on the help of gods to punish his enemies. Each god that Crom can summon can be powered up by offering a blood sacrifice. The blood that Crom sacrifices is collected from pulling off devastating combos. The more brutal the combo the more blood that is collected.
While Bloodforge does have very enjoyable combat it gets very repetitive about half way through the game. There are very few enemy types you will encounter and the ones that you do all look similiar. The game is set on a very linear path and never strays from it. If Bloodforge had a few more gameplay elements like platforming or puzzle solving to help break up the monotomy of killing enemy after enemy then the game could have been something truly special. The lack of variety really hurts the overall experience of the game.
The camera also does little to help with your battle against the gods. In crowds of enemies it is almost always to close to the action and will even get stuck on objects in the background which would always end up in a death that could have easily been avoided. Out of combat the camera works exactly as it should, but if you can't see your enemy how can you fight them?
Bloodforge is a single player game but it has a very fun challenge mode to help keep things interesting. In the challenge mode you can either create a challenge for your friends to complete or vice versa. This small addition helps keep things fresh even when the story mode has long been finished. If you have competetive friends it will always push you to best their score.
Bloodforge is easily one of the best looking games on XBLA and is also one of the few games in its genre. With a better camera system and few gameplay elements added it could have really offered some variety to the game and been something really special but as it is, its just another medicore hack and slash game.
After releaseing what many consider to be one of the greatest games of all time, Rocksteady is gearing up to release the Game of the Year Edition of Batman: Arkham City. The content will include the all the DLC including: Catwoman, Nightwing, and Robin character packs, all of the challenge map packs and the skins pack. In addition to all of the DLC Rocksteady will be throwing in a download for the DC animated movie Batman: Year One. The best part though is that Rocksteady have finaly officially announced the new Harley Quinn DLC titled Harley Quinn's Revenge as well as referring to it as the "Final Chapter". Check out the video below to see the new GOTY trailer as well as Harley Quinn's new outfit.
Update:Harley Quinn's Revenge will be available to download individually May, 30th for 800 MS points.
Batman: Arkham City GOTY Edition will be released on May 29th.
Was CDProjekt able to convert one of the best PC games of last year to the Xbox 360, or should it have stayed out of the reach of console gamers?
The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition Key Features:
•Immersive, mature, non-linear story
•Spectacular, dynamic and tactical combat system
•Realistic, vast game world
•Ultra-modern, cutting-edge REDengine technology
The Witcher 2 experience is now enhanced thanks to:
• 4 hours of never seen before quests, locations and characters – all these features are added in the final chapter of the game and help the player unveil some secretes of the deep intrigue. The 2 new quest introduce 3 new major characters and are set in new locations: an underground system of chambers beneath Loc Muine and a temperate coniferous forest in the Loc Muine mountains and a secret cave passage,
• A new 3,5 minute CG intro - a jaw-dropping animation created by BAFTA winner and Acadamy- award nominee Tomasz Bagiński. It will make you tremble when you see what forces Geralt is up against in this spectacular animation,
• Two 3 minute recap movies – short 2D animations which present The Witcher profession to Xbox 360 players and give an overview of the events in The Witcher 1,
• An extended outro – thanks to the 12 outro final boards the player will know how the path he has chosen for Geralt changed the history of the people he met and the history of the whole realm. These short cutscenes will create a 2,5 minute summary of the most important decisions the player made
• New cut scenes – these in game cinematics provide deeper insight into the complex history
• New transitional cinematics – short films that summarize each chapter of the game and showing the player the world location he’s traveling to
Players assume the role of Geralt of Rivia, who has been trained to be the ultimate killing machine, a witcher. The story begins with Geralt playing bodyguard to king Foltest, the current ruler of the Kingdom of Temerian. During the final assault against Baroness La Valette, king Foltest is assassinated and Geralt is accused of the murder and arrested. This is when the game truly begins.
One of the greatest things about The Witcher 2, is just how well the story and characters are written. This isn't your typical fantasy story. There are of course elves and dwarves, but the way the backgrounds of these races are written is very refreshing. It is obvious from the start that this is a very mature game and it's not because of violence, blood, and nudity,(though it does have plenty of that), it's because it takes its story and characters serious which is a breath of fresh air in the proposed mature titles that are out there now.
The quests in The Witcher 2 are also extremely well written. The side quests never make the player feel that they are being set out to be someone's errand boy unlike most rpgs. During these quests there are no clear black and white, good or evil choices, it is all presented in a very complex shades of grey approch which can have unexpected consequences.If you get tired of questing there are other distractions to be found, usually in an inn or tavern. Geralt can earn some extra spending money by playing a game of dice poker or by doing some arm wrestling and can even get into fist fights that are played out through quick-time events.
The PC version of The Witcher 2 is one of the most impressive looking titles out there. Thankfully, CD Projekt was able the beauty of the PC to the XBox 360 while only having to sacrafice very little detail. The game runs on what would be considered medium graphics setting on the PC which you can tell in the lighting and colors of the XBox 360 version. The fog also can cover wide open outdoor views, limiting the distance you can view. There can also be very minor texture pop-in as well as some very small screan tearing but all of this is almost completely removed if you install the game to the hard drive, which is highly recommended. With all of those things The Witcher 2 is still one of the most beautiful games available on the Xbox 360, which is impressive considering the console is almost 7 years old.
The controls for the most part feel natural and a very responsive on an Xbox controller. The only problem with the controls is that the button placement for heavy and light attacks are in different positions than in most action games, which really isn't a problem with the controls it just takes some getting used to.
The inventory screen is another thing that will take some getting used to. Scrolling through a bunch of inventory, journal, and stat pages would be a lot easier if you were able to use the control sticks instead of the LB an RB buttons, but after an hour or two with it, it becomes easier to navigate.
How is the audio in The Witcher 2? One word. Amazing. Just like the story and graphics, the soundtrack and voice acting are top notch. The sweeping score from attacking a castle to the ambient sounds of a swamp are all crystal clear and sound phenomenal. The voice acting never sounds out of place and keeps you immersed in the world that CD Projekt has created.
PROS
+Amazing Graphics
+Excellent soundtrack and voice acting
+A world that feels alive
+A very mature story
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition is easily one of the best PC games to date and now it can add best Xbox 360 game to that list of accomplishments. The Witcher 2 is what all other RPGs strive to be. If you own an Xbox 360 then you owe it to yourself to play this game.
For those of you who are having trouble deciding if you want to pick up Capcom's new fantasy game, Dragon's Dogma, the decision is about to get easier.
Capcom announced today that the previously announced playable demo of Capcom’s forthcoming open world action–RPG, Dragon’s Dogma, will be available to download globally via Xbox LIVE Marketplace Tuesday, April 24.
"With your party of three Pawns, the demo allows you to experience the different styles of two of the game’s character classes in two challenging encounters.
A melee specialist skilled in both attacks and counterattacks, as the Fighter you will make your way through underground tunnels and chambers before taking on the deadly Chimerain a Prologue quest, set before the events of the main game.
Swift and nimble, the Strider’s weapons of choice are bow and daggers, use them well if you are to defeat the mighty Griffin in the open plains surrounding the capital of Gransys.
Let your imagination run wild and design both your playable character and main Pawn using the game’s incredibly in-depth character creation tools before you take on the Griffin; purchasers of Dragon’s Dogma will then be able to export both these characters into the full game on its release."
Dragon’s Dogma is scheduled for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America on May 22 and across Europe on May 25.more.
Bethesda Softworks announced this morning that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is getting Kinect support. The game's Kinect support will add in more than 200 different Voice Commands for Kinect owners at some point this month via a title update.
Using Kinect's voice recognition capabilities, players will easily be able to perform Dragon Shouts, Hotkey Equipping, Follower Commands, as well as control all menus with their voice.
Later this month before the update goes live a full list of the 200 voice commands will be released.
Not only did Capcom announce a new release date for Resident Evil 6 at their Captivate event in Rome but they also announced a sequel to the Lost Planet series.
The extreme and unpredictable conditions that characterized the Lost Planet® series return, harsher than ever before in Lost Planet 3. Players take on the role of Jim, a utility rig pilot who has left Earth to take on a hazardous but lucrative contract on E.D.N. III. Delivering a diverse range of gameplay, including third-person on-foot battles and intense first-person utility rig action, players will need to brave the uncharted terrain, hostile climate and threat of indigenous Akrid creatures. With a number of multiplayer modes and a compelling single player experience, Lost Planet 3 will delve deeper into the Lost Planet universe, uncovering hidden truths when it releases in early 2013.
Capcom announced today, at its Captivate event in Rome, that Resident Evil 6 has been given a new release date of October 6th. Rarely do games release dates get pushed up instead of being pushed back.
Captivate represented the first opportunity for media to see the highly anticipated Resident Evil 6 in action, with the game’s development team showcasing one of Leon S. Kennedy’s missions. Full of tension, the action has Leon and partner Helena Harper searching for an escape route from the Ivy University campus, the site of the most recent bioterrorist outbreak and the zombies that now stalk its hallways and grounds.
