Screenshots :.
On the Horizon: May 24th 2010
Matt
24-05-2010
"This guy is tough"
"This guy is probably tougher."
How warm is it outside at the moment? Having moaned at the end of April that we’d probably seen our summer a few months early I might have to actually give our weather system a bit of credit and admit that we’re just in an unusually sunny spell. Time to break out the barbeques and enjoy it... if we weren’t all stuck at work. Guess we could try to get away with frying sausages on our monitors!
Chances are that most of you spent this weekend playing Red Dead Redemption, so good on you! Zero has been busily beavering away at it over the past few days on our behalf and you can expect his thoughts within the next couple of days, by which time I may have managed to have a go on the ruddy thing myself. Initial suggestions are that we’ll be slapping a pretty healthy score on it when our review does hit the virtual dust sheets, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
This week doesn’t have as big a headline act as last, but there are still a number of decent looking titles heading our way in any case. Of primary interest to myself is UFC: Undisputed 2010, which promises to build on last year’s surprisingly solid effort. Having played the demo for a good dozen or so hours I can tell you that it’s a lot slicker this year, with the ground game in particular being much more fluent. Having spent most of my time last year concentrating on making a fighter a walking knockout punch waiting to happen, this time around I may have to make sure the guy can actually perform some rudimentary submission moves or I will get my arse handed to me. Alongside an improved, fleshed-out career mode this one is looking like it could be quite the successful follow-up.
Much in the same vein, Friday’s release of No More Heroes 2 for the Wii should also be a very decent sequel to what was a remarkably fun title, continuing the story of oddball Travis Touchdown as he once again finds himself needing to get to the top of the United Assassins Association. Expect crazy pop references and (from what we gather) uncensored over-the-top gore by the bucket load as you hack and slash your way through Suda 51’s entertaining third-person action jaunt.
Blizzard, the bods behind the first four Project Gotham games, return this weekend with Blur, which has been described to me as ‘Mario Kart, except with cars’. Hm. In any case, Blizzard have a good pedigree when it comes to getting arcade racers right, so this one might turn out to be a gem. Expect all sorts of weapon-based fun across a selection of circuits based in major cities, and all kinds of eye-bleeding racing and crashing about. One to watch carefully, then.
That leaves Alpha Protocol then, from the brains of Obsidian, who gave us Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic 2 and, a little later this year, Fallout: New Vegas. It actually looks pretty neat – you control Michael Thornton, who is some sort of super sneaky spy guy and is tasked with solving some sort of worldwide crisis before most of the planet gets toasted. It looks to be somewhat of an action/RPG hybrid, and given the interesting premise might turn out to be another of this week’s quality titles. Expect our thoughts on it next week.
In the meantime, here’s a suggestion for everyone out there. Step one, book the rest of the week off. Step two, invest in some board shorts. Step three, find your nearest local beach and laze around doing very, very little. Then come back to me next week and confirm that this was indeed the best idea ever. See you next Monday then, hopefully all with rather natty suntans!
Chances are that most of you spent this weekend playing Red Dead Redemption, so good on you! Zero has been busily beavering away at it over the past few days on our behalf and you can expect his thoughts within the next couple of days, by which time I may have managed to have a go on the ruddy thing myself. Initial suggestions are that we’ll be slapping a pretty healthy score on it when our review does hit the virtual dust sheets, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
This week doesn’t have as big a headline act as last, but there are still a number of decent looking titles heading our way in any case. Of primary interest to myself is UFC: Undisputed 2010, which promises to build on last year’s surprisingly solid effort. Having played the demo for a good dozen or so hours I can tell you that it’s a lot slicker this year, with the ground game in particular being much more fluent. Having spent most of my time last year concentrating on making a fighter a walking knockout punch waiting to happen, this time around I may have to make sure the guy can actually perform some rudimentary submission moves or I will get my arse handed to me. Alongside an improved, fleshed-out career mode this one is looking like it could be quite the successful follow-up.
Much in the same vein, Friday’s release of No More Heroes 2 for the Wii should also be a very decent sequel to what was a remarkably fun title, continuing the story of oddball Travis Touchdown as he once again finds himself needing to get to the top of the United Assassins Association. Expect crazy pop references and (from what we gather) uncensored over-the-top gore by the bucket load as you hack and slash your way through Suda 51’s entertaining third-person action jaunt.
Blizzard, the bods behind the first four Project Gotham games, return this weekend with Blur, which has been described to me as ‘Mario Kart, except with cars’. Hm. In any case, Blizzard have a good pedigree when it comes to getting arcade racers right, so this one might turn out to be a gem. Expect all sorts of weapon-based fun across a selection of circuits based in major cities, and all kinds of eye-bleeding racing and crashing about. One to watch carefully, then.
That leaves Alpha Protocol then, from the brains of Obsidian, who gave us Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic 2 and, a little later this year, Fallout: New Vegas. It actually looks pretty neat – you control Michael Thornton, who is some sort of super sneaky spy guy and is tasked with solving some sort of worldwide crisis before most of the planet gets toasted. It looks to be somewhat of an action/RPG hybrid, and given the interesting premise might turn out to be another of this week’s quality titles. Expect our thoughts on it next week.
In the meantime, here’s a suggestion for everyone out there. Step one, book the rest of the week off. Step two, invest in some board shorts. Step three, find your nearest local beach and laze around doing very, very little. Then come back to me next week and confirm that this was indeed the best idea ever. See you next Monday then, hopefully all with rather natty suntans!
