Asura’s Wrath is Definitely One to Watch

In Asura's Wrath developer CyberConnect2 aimed to create a game that played like Japanese animation. Judging by the early reviews, someone forgot to tell them that you don't actively play Japanese animation.


Protect Heaven and Earth from the forces of the Gohma and what do you get? Your wife dead, your daughter kidnapped, and yourself framed for the murder of the Emperor. It's enough to make a guy go on a cosmic-sized rampage. Evil folks need to stop kidnapping loved ones. Just kill them. It breaks the spirit, and fives sidekicks a chance to calm heroes down with the old "It won't bring them back" speech.

Or give them fairly average review scores, as the assembled game reviewers have here. So far not one of them has gotten torn apart by a vengeful former Guardian General.

3D feature for Xbox 720

The new rumors keep popping up in connection with the immediate announcement of the latest-generation Xbox, the Xbox 720. Clearly, this console will be even stronger in the more stunning graphical displays, some rumor also mentions that Microsoft wants to develop it further as a home entertainment device. Microsoft had mentioned the possibility of integration of the 3D capabilities to be presented in this console, and a new job announcement indicates that they are still working hard to bring these features in the Xbox 720.

BGR recently found a new job listings posted by Microsoft in Haifa, Israel to find someone who could fill the position of the ‘Algorithm Research & Development Engineer to the XBOX team’. This position will work closely with the Interactive Entertainment Business unit of Microsoft that is responsible for ‘algorithm for the design and implementation in the form of 3D imaging systems in a joint team of hardware and software division, working with colleagues who are in Redmond, and is able to merge to the development team is moving and growing quickly. ‘

The vacancy information does not provide more detailed information, but from the job description mentioned clearly indicates that Microsoft is really serious in preparing this 3D feature. 3D gaming growing in popularity may be due to factors ranging widespread use of 3D HDTV, but it seems the gaming industry is still not really ready to optimize your existing content in their game into a 3D shape.

Microsoft will probably announce this latest generation Xbox console at the E3 trade show an annual event, although for the release may still have to wait much longer, namely in 2013. It remains unclear whether the latest 3D features will be presented simultaneously on the Xbox 720 or the following will be presented separately some time after the launch of the Xbox 720.

Alan Wake's New Survival Mode

Here’s How Alan Wake’s American Nightmare New Survival Mode Plays

After playing a few hours with it, I can say that Alan Wake's American Nightmare's survival mode, officially dubbed Fight 'Til Dawn, feels spiritually closer to Resident's Evil's survivor mode than Gears of War's Horde mode.

 

Emphasis is on surviving, not on mowing down schloads of enemies with your chainsaw gun (though if you manage to do that, I'm sure you would get more points). Mechanically, the game is exactly the same as the previous Alan Wake. There are new weapons, the most interesting being the crossbow which doesn't require you to use your flashlight first in order to kill with it. The trade-off is that you can only shoot it once before having to reload.

In games that have some sort of survival mode, I usually just try to hole up with my back to the wall somewhere. American Nightmare's was different in that regard though, for two reasons. The first reason is the two step nature of killing a Taken. Flashlight first. Then gun. It's difficult to quickly kill multiple Taken when you can't backpedal, waiting for the flashlight to do its work. The second is that the maps encourage you to explore. They tend to be quite big and have goodies, like ammo or new guns, liberally scattered around, making it sort of like a zombie-adrenaline-fueled scavenger hunt. Which is the best kind.

American Nightmare's survival mode is tense, difficult, and fun. I probably couldn't play it for too long in one sitting (because I'm a sissy and this game stresses me out), but that doesn't mean it won't be worth your time when the game comes out next week.by elyas gorogo-baker

Prototype 2 Awesome!!!

The first Prototype made me feel ugly. Radical's open-world action game tore through the city I love and live in, having me eat people—some of them innocent civilians—and destroy city blocks in the name of its plot. Prototype 2's probably going to make me feel worse.
I'm immediately struck by how much better Radical's return to virally-powered metahuman revenge looks than its predecessor. Improved facial animations, level of detail and lighting all make the Manhattan of the Prototype universe come across as particularly nightmarish. Most people already know that the game's main character Sgt. James Heller is on a mission to kill Alex Mercer. The game opens up with flashbacks from Heller's past, showing hazy, soft-focus shots of his wife Collette and daughter Amaya while phone conversations between the soldier and his family play. Heller's family dies off-screen thanks to events of Prototype 1 while he's away on active duty and he volunteers for missions in his hometown.
The NYZ, as the battered Big Apple of Prototype is called, is under martial law, divided into three zones. The Green Zone's the least chaotic, patrolled by the military Blackwatch division who maintain an iron grip over movement and information. In the less safe Yellow Zone, secret experiments happen in the crowded shantytowns left in the wake of Alex Mercer's rampage. Finally, the Red Zone's rampant with infection and the mutated horrors that it spawns.
When Heller comes to the NYZ, he encounters Mercer straight off and tries to kill him. He's no match, of course, and when Mercer overpowers him, the former scientist infects him with the Blacklight virus and tells him that everything is not that it seems with regard to the carnage. Media outlets are blaming Mercer for the death and destruction while Blackwatch clamps down on any evidence that says otherwise.
I played through about the first hour of Prototype 2 and saw how the gameplay's going to vary from zone to zone. The Red Zone's filled with damaged real estate that can topple onto Heller or his antagonists while there's going to be more predatory hunting in the Yellow and Green Zones where you won't be always able to tell who's deserving of Heller's beatdowns. After his encounter with Mercer, Hellr gets captured by Blackwatch and experimented on. The game's first action has him escaping the facility where he'sbeing held and eventually finding a safe haven in the Yellow Zone.
The world in Prototype 2 feels more alive than in Proto1, with more reactive NPCs. Citizens will cower in fear if you use the morphing abilities to copy the look of Blackwatch soldier and they'll constantly chatter at you or each other. Switching between your abilities gets streamlined in Proto2 with the ability to quick-choose between two powers (instead of just one in Proto1).
Skills upgrade from either doing side missions or beating mini-bosses. So, after beating the hulking Brawlers for the first time, Heller got his claws. You'll also have access to different contextual finishers depending on what type of enemy you're fighting.
Among the new features, I got to play aroud with was the Pack Leader ability, which lets Heller call down two Brawlers and command them to attack whomever he wants. You can use this as a distraction, too, drawing enemy awareness away from you. Once you're done with the Brawlers, you can explode them into a gooey mess that detonates across a wide swath of the environment.
Heller's saga feels like more Prototype—massive destruction done in the third-person in an open-world—but shows polish that the first game would've benefitted from. Radical's delivering more flexibility and combat customization so that you can rampage through the NYZ in decidedly different ways from other players. You're still going to be an revenge-obsessed man in Prototype 2 but your vengeance can be stealthier or more explosive than ever before when the sequel hits on April 24th.by evean narcisse