American Exceptionalism, religious dogma, bigotry, parallel universes, iconoclasm, fate, life, death, gigantic Steampunk bird-men…As the credits rolled on Irrational Games’ much belated, much more anticipated Bioshock Infinite, my head was spinning. The game’s package isn’t slapped with a big, solid M just because the stylized people depicted within often meet gruesome, sky-hooking deaths. It’s because that’s what Infinite is: mature. Through and through.
You’ve likely heard this old diddy, and are likely to have your ears assaulted by the same mantra in years to come, but video games have come a long way. To put a finer point on it, storytelling in games have come a long way. Years from now, when pricey college courses banking on the culture that’s sprung up around this booming medium reflect on the metamorphosis of its storytelling from crudely simple to deeply sophisticated, they’ll reference Bioshock Infinite as an example of the ladder. Hell, it’ll get its own chapter.
Steel Yourself for Injustice’s Demo Next Week
The DC Universe is on a dastardly collision course with itself (again). Soon, comic and fighting game fans will get to have a hands-on with WB and NetherRealm’s superpowered slobber-knocker, Injustice: Gods Among Us. April 2nd sees PSN’s demo of the game while Xbox Live receives it the day after.
Featuring the Gotham City stage, players will be given Batman, Wonder Woman, and Mr. Lex Luthor to bruise up, the trio representative of the two class types characters fall into; either those imbued with powers or those reliant on gadgets. Injustice drops April 16th for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U (no demo in sight for the system, however).
I don’t care where your fighting game loyalties lie, you can’t deny NetherRealm Studios has seriously ramped up their game in the last couple of years. Formerly Midway Games, NetherRealm floored the industry when they reinvented their bloody cash cow, Mortal Kombat, into a technically deep, graphical stunner that gave every other contender in the genre an honest run for their money. If Injustice is anywhere near sweeping distance of MK9 in terms of quality, we’ll just go ahead and exonerate NetherRealm of its past crimes.
You Called It, Internet - The Phantom Pain is Metal Gear Solid V
Before you do anything else, watch the eye popping, spine tingling, FOX engined debut of Metal Gear Solid V right here.
It was a poor kept secret that The Phantom Pain, a new title from complete unknowns, Moby Dick Studios, was somehow related to the next installment of Metal Gear Solid. The announcement of Ground Zeroes, an open-world continuation seemingly starring Big Boss, only served to cast confusion on matters, though, making certain no one but Hideo Kojima and company knew what the hell was going on (as per usual, that sly bastard).
That’s not to say there isn’t a huge cloud of “What the hell?” hovering above today’s news, but at least I can tell you this: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain debuted today and it looks crazy good. MGSV is slated for current gen consoles (yes, both the PS3 and Xbox 360 — the first time a title in the main series has launched simultaneously on different systems) and runs off of Kojima Productions’ newly created FOX Engine — a foundation capable of some…well, put plainly, really goddamn gorgeous visual effects.
After debuting the trailer and some gameplay at GDC, Hideo threw some vagueness in the form of answers our way, confirming that the game is definitely open-world, another first for the series, and that both Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain make up the whole of Metal Gear Solid V. Ground Zeroes was described as a prologue to MGSV to begin with, but how fans experience it — whether digitally, a full retail release, or packaged with The Phantom Pain — is still frustratingly not known.
Also, a bit of a downer for fans (though we were warned this might happen): David Hayter won’t be reprising his role as Snake, a part the actor has voiced since 1998. And, you guessed it, his replacement is as of yet unnamed.
But we’ll end on a high note today, kids. Enjoy some Phantom Pain gameplay hereabouts. That should de-salt the wound nicely.
Battlefield 4 Screens Hit the Web and They Are a Beaut
Be it land, air, or sea, Battlefield 4 wants to take the series to uncanny new heights. I’m not a huge supporter of the franchise — yes, I’m terrible at them; thanks for asking — but I do love me those graphics, brought to you by the new Frostbite 3 engine.
While the title is dropping for the Xbox 360 and PS3, it doesn’t take more than a wild glance at these screens to figure we’re looking at either high end PC or perhaps, if I may be so bold, next-gen captures. An official gameplay trailer drops later on today, so expect this spot to be updated with a link because I likes ya.
UPDATED: No, I don’t know why it’s dirt quality, nor could I imagine how tainted one’s soul must be to mix Rhianna and a military shooter together and still be able to convincingly smile at small children without them erupting into tears, but the point is Battlefield 4 has got itself a trailer!
If thirty seconds of footage is not enough for your eyes to munch on, you glutton, then take solace in the seventeen minute gameplay reveal on the official Battlefield site due for tomorrow.
“New ideas and some slight refining tweaks skirt around Epic’s established formula, but People Can Fly’s unwillingness to stray off the beaten path, paired with a relatively inconsequential story, ensures Judgment is the weakest entry in the series to date. Ah, don’t make that face. ‘The Bad One’ was bound to happen sometime.”
Borderlands 2 Sixth Character is a “Reformed” Bandit
Not content with allowing one spec of dust to hit your copy of loot happy FPS, Gearbox is giving players a new reason to tour Pandora.
Meet your new Vault Hunter: Krieg the Psycho. Once apart of the psycho bandits roaming the terrain of Pandora — you know, the shouting creeps you have so much fun shooting at — Krieg is an escaped experiment with a love for melee combat. Controlling him is a game of risk versus reward, where charging the front lines and getting up close and personal to crack enemy skulls actually heals Krieg.
Krieg’s skill trees, below, serve to endorse his unusual and fantastically brutal play style:
- Bloodlust: Combat bonuses are alotted for melee kills using your Buzz Axe.
- Hellborn: Ups fire damage and, incredibly, increases lethality when you’re on goddamn fire.
- Mania: Take damage and your damage output is bolstered.
This badass addition to the game’s roster will cost you $10 when he arrives as DLC sometime in May. While Krieg doesn’t seem to be included with the Borderlands 2 Season Pass, a confirmed fourth campaign add-on (scheduled for June) is.
Watch the Playable Psycho Bandit’s Announcement Trailer hereabouts.
Is Call of Duty: Ghosts Taking the Franchise Next-Gen?
Of all the places on the internet you could catch a leak, today’s big, ponderous rumor comes from Youtube by way of user Drift0r, a man that busies himself with uploading everything Call of Duty. Stressing (over and over) his source — supposedly someone close to development at Infinity Ward — was too legitimate not to quote, Drift0r quickly put together a video that may just out this Fall’s expected but unannounced installment of Activision’s yearly breadwinner.
Calling the game Call of Duty: Ghosts, it’s claimed this new sequel relates to the Modern Warfare universe but branches off on its own. Though Ghosts’ setting is the future, much like Black Ops II, a major plot device makes it so players have to use archaic — or “modern” — weaponry instead of arsenals augmented with x-ray sights and other attachments twelve-year-old’s use to piss me off online.
Changes to gameplay touched on involve increased mobility including the ability to “slide and shoot” instead of simply diving to prone as well as players being able to peek around corners. Apparently rolling while prone is also being implemented (I can only envision players rolling around on the ground like they’re being wrapped up in invisible carpets — hilarious to watch and shoot at).
Destructible environments are also being toyed with. The feature doesn’t sound locked down yet — single-player might see more breakable geometry than multiplayer — but one example given was a killstreak chopper caving in a building after being shot out of the sky. Loading times, oddly but awesomely enough, are said to be replaced by “mini-games” that have players breaching or repelling onto a map instead of simply watching a countdown before a match. Modern Warfare’s Spec Ops mode is also seeing the boot, usurped by a “new mode.”
The video’s uploader posits we may see an official announcement of Ghosts on or around May 1st, going on to report that the title might be a next-gen exclusive, gracing the PC, PS4, and “NeXt-Box” and not the current slew of established consoles what with their installed user base of millions (extremely far-fetched and yet…an insidiously great ploy to get people to buy up the new consoles). That last bit falls in line with rumoring ‘round the net that Infinity Ward was developing an unnamed title on next-gen hardware.
Until we hear otherwise, though, chase the entirety of this rumor down with a helping of salt. Then swallow the shaker. Grab pepper. Repeat.
Left 4 Dead 2 invades Resident Evil
If you pick up Resident Evil 6 on PC, you’ll get a nice Valve flavored bonus. The cast of L4D2 is joining The Mercenaries side of RE. As it stands this is a PC only exclusive.
The L4D2 cast minces up Resident Evil’s ghoulies to the tune of the Midnight Riders. It veers on too fucking awesome. Also note: Mercenaries - No Mercy’s enemy cap rests at 300…The PC mustard race towers over us once again.
Nero and Dante by athanasius-M
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