Arkham Origins: New Trailer, Screens, and Playable Character
This fine day has brought with it more than enough news for true fans of the Caped Crusader to go completely bat-shit over.
First up, a full trailer depicting an eloquent exchange of fists between Batman and hired killer Deathstroke. Other personalities that make the cut — and Bruce’s life infinitely harder — are Deadshot, the marksmen that never misses, and Black Mask, the criminal ringleader that’s turned Gotham into a murder circus. Gameplay doesn’t make a cameo, unfortunately, what with the whole trailer being fancy, schmancy CGI, so your eyes will have to chow down on the screens above for now.
Pre-ordering a copy of Batman: Arkham Origins scores you the inclusion of Slade “Deathstroke” Wilson as a playable character in the game’s challenge rooms. Slade comes stocked with two of his own challenge maps and two skins.
Rounding out the rest of Origins news, let’s touch on this casting kerfuffle. Initial reports had it that longtime Batman voice actor, Kevin Conroy, would not be reprising his role in the third Arkham game. Everyone got sad, then angry, and rightfully so. Then, Mr. Conroy up and outs his involvement, stating he wasn’t able to talk about it beforehand, having had to wait until the new title’s reveal. While press quickly took this to mean Conroy would be Batsy once more, Warner Bros. squashed that insinuation into the ground.
Instead, our young Dark Knight will be voiced by Roger Craig Smith, whose laid down vocals for the likes of Ezio Auditore and Chris “Boulder Punch” Redfield, and the new Joker will be played by Troy Baker — a modern voice acting veteran most recently associated as Booker Dewitt in Bioshock Infinite and Joel from The Last of Us; more fittingly, Baker was Two-Face in Arkham City. That still leaves the matter of Kevin Conroy, his role still unannounced, but the great detective in me thinks we’ll likely hear him narrate the affair as the older, battle hardened Batman we all love and wisely fear.
Arkham Origins Teaser Trailer Teases Better Trailer
WB Montreal(’s marketing team) dropped this nugget on the web earlier today. What ensues is about twenty seconds of our boy Bats duking it out with Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke, who is just one of eight hired killers bent on ridding Gotham City of its winged rodent problem.
The tragedy of tragedies is that we’re only treated to pre-rendered animations instead of some juicy gameplay. At the end of this abrupt teaser, though, is the promise of a full on trailer incoming May 20th. Hopefully WB intends on serving up some meat to go along with this side dish (I’m trying to say I want to see gameplay — I could’ve just said that but that makes an uncomfortable amount of sense).
GTAV: Three New Character Vignettes Showcase Crime, Violence, and Killer Tunes
The great, big shakeup in Rockstar’s newest Grand Theft Auto entry revolves around three hapless, crime entrenched denizens who vary drastically in personality — Michael is a retired gun, Franklin’s an upstarting gangster, and Trevor is a hillbilly lunatic — but each look to carve their own bullet riddled path through the heart San Andreas.
The game lets players hop between the three protagonists on the fly as their stories weave in and out of each others. So how about we get a closer look at this trio of sociopathic, carjacking goons? It’ll be a downright bonding experience.
GTAV arrives for the PS3 and Xbox 360 September 17th. You’ll know it’s here when you see everyone on your friends list playing absolutely nothing else.
Shinji Mikami’s Return to Survival Horror: The Evil Within
Shinji Mikami’s game designing career can easily be called eclectic, but most hold him responsible for inflicting the interactive nightmare that is Resident Evil upon us. Now, he’s back with his own studio, Tango Gameworks, to scare the living shit out of us again.
Billed as a “supernova of horror,” The Evil Within centers on a Detective Sebastian’s struggle against grotesque monsters (like the multi-armed freaky-deaky above) as the world twists, morphs, and falls apart around him. Those long missed totems of survival horror — limited supplies, deadly traps, heavy puzzle solving, oppressive darkness — are all at play and in full force here.
You’ll be able to do better than just cry at your pursuers, though, as it’s promised the game will be an equal infusion of action and terror. Besides blasting enemies into the ether (when you can find bullets), you can use their lethal traps right back at them. How can you not love that?
The Evil Within is locked in for a 2014 release on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 as well as “next generation consoles.” Looks like survival horror ain’t dead after all…But how could it ever die?
Zelda Alert: A New Link to the Past Heading to the 3DS This Holiday
Whether you truck with Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker or even Zelda II (weirdo), you won’t hear much argument when someone bursts into the room and proclaims 1992’s A Link to the Past as the best Zelda game ever made. Because even if you don’t agree, it’s too damn hard to build a case against one of the very best adventures game of all time.
That would be why the internet is freaking out over the prospect of a quasi-sequel to the Nintendo masterpiece. Coming to the 3DS, The Legend of Zelda: Kamigami no Triforce 2 (as it’s called in Japan; no English title just yet), is not a remake, but a continuation of sorts set in the same world as the SNES original and shares that game’s top-down perspective. Your retro sense may tingle but things take a turn for the modern thanks to the handheld’s features.
In true 2.5D style, depth plays a huge part of the game’s mechanics as you’ll be able to ascend or descend from areas, navigate puzzles outside of the two-dimensional plane, and become a wall painting that can slip through crevices (just roll with it, man).
A New Link to the Past — that’s on the house, Nintendo — is slated to release this Holiday season. Excuse me while I attempt to reclaim my 3DS from the cobwebs in my closet.
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.
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct Gets a Decayed Launch Trailer
The media maelstrom that is The Walking Dead license makes its second foray into video games tomorrow. Falling in line with the branding and fiction of AMC’s nuclear hit of a TV series, Survival Instinct follows supporting character Daryl Dixon in his crossbowed quest to reunite with his scumbag brother, Merl, while fending off waves of the living dead.
Once upon a time ago, if you told me one of my absolute favorite comic series was breaking into games with an action charged first-person shooter — infused with a dose of survivalism — I would have handed you my wallet and asked you to empty it out. But this isn’t once upon a time. We live at the end of a generation lousy with FPS’s.
And, unfortunately for Terminal Reality and Activision’s take on the property, the gaming populace has been educated by Telltale on how far not just The Walking Dead name can go, but how smart and emotional gaming as a whole can be. To fans’ benefit and for the sake of variety, Telltale shouldn’t monopolize The Walking Dead universe, but the competition really should be stiffer than this sorry looking budget title (watch the trailer…I’ve seen prettier, sun-baked walkers).
I will submit Terminal Reality has the ability to surprise me; I did love me some BloodRayne back in the day and their Ghostbusters game is the closest we’ll ever get to a third movie…But licensed games are a dual-edged sword, and we’ve all been cut before.
UPDATE: Destructoid revealed something rather disheartening about this game: “It’s worth pointing out that, despite the rapidly approaching big day, review copies don’t appear to have been sent out. At least not here, anyway.” In layman’s terms, Activision is saying, “Don’t review our shitastic game. People can’t find out it’s bad until after they’ve bought it.”
Remember Me Lands a Summer Date
First time developer Dontnod’s sci-fi actioner, Remember Me, has gone and got itself dated. The Capcom produced title will see a Western release June 4th and on June 7th for the European market for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
A dash of Arkham Asylum’s combat, a bit of Assassin’s Creed’s platforming, and a whole mess of Total Recall’s, well, everything, Remember Me follows Nilin, an amnesiac who awakens in 2084 Neo-Paris (don’t ask me to point it out on a map). Nilin soon discovers her forgetful disposition may be a taste of her own medicine; in her former life, she was an expert at “memory remixing,” a skill that gave her access to others’ memories, allowing her free reign to manipulate and modify them at her whim.
It’s a rife concept that plays on the notion of literally rewriting people, effectively playing God. Hopefully Remember Me’s meatier notions aren’t overshadowed by mindless action (both Total Recall’s suck in their own special ways, after all), but I’m willing to give Dontnod the benefit of the doubt considering how hard up the industry is for original IP’s, especially when studios are saving up their “Wow” shit for the soon-to-be next generation.
Aliens: Colonial Marines - New, Redeeming Trailer and Season Pass Info
Gearbox has once more let loose a new trailer for their canonized, video game sequel to 1986’s Aliens, and thank Weyland for that because the recent “Kick Ass” Trailer was so tremendously shitty, it had the distinction of being the only piece of marketing to actually jam a hazy cloud of doubt into my head about Colonial Marines.
This two-minute spot is a return to form, though, and gives us yet another atmospheric taste of the game’s competitive multiplayer, including insights into some of the abilities both camps — Xeno and Marine — are outfitted with. Running and gunning won’t be a prevailing strategy when the enemy can swarm you from just about every dark, dank crevice, so you know the drill; assholes and elbows, people!
Moving on, a recent Gamestop listing has shed some light on a mixed blessing of news: Colonial Marines will have a Season Pass accompanying its release, priced at $30. More content is always good on paper, but I don’t take kindly to the fact that getting the most out of my game also means having the most taken out of my wallet — $90 if you’re just nabbing a standard copy and the pass.
Much like Borderlands 2’s setup, this Season Pass scores you four separate content packs planned for a spread out release between March and sometime in the Summer of 2013. No exact specifics were spilled regarding the content packs, but fans can expect both campaign and multiplayer add-on’s including new maps, new modes, and items for character customization. With each DLC at $10 a pop, you’ll save yourself a tenner by springing for the Season Pass.
17 Minutes in the Void with Dead Space 3
If you have a fraction of an hour to spare and don’t mind the horrifically macabre, you absolutely have to check out this gameplay footage from next year’s Dead Space 3. Hosted by the game’s Creative Director and Senior Audio Artist, we’re given a backseat view of famed space engineer Isaac Clarke’s latest trek through the bowels of hell.
Focusing on the single-player version of the campaign (which alters to accommodate a co-op character in the storyline), the “Eudora Demo” covers familiar ground for the series — isolation, heavy, deliberate strokes of shadow, and brutal, unforgiving enemies. What has been upped is the game’s sense of scope. Environments — in this case a wrecked space station — are dauntingly large and have this certain aesthetic that not only makes them feel once lived in, but makes you feel the oppressive force of death that has overtaken the empty, creaking hull.
To quote a time-tested institution of my childhood: Viewers beware, you’re in for a scare. (Or not, I just very much needed to say that.)
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