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Rainier's Articles


NGC/PS2/Xbox Preview - 'Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2005

Genre: Action
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Release Date: August 23, 2005

If you've ever read an Incredible Hulk comic, you'll recall that almost every story has some point where Hulk has been, I don't know, shot by approximately 500 helicopters at once or something. Hulk will be all hunkered down, hands covering his face, experiencing some sort of animal rage… and then he'll just snap and go nuts on his attackers, like he suddenly remembered that he's functionally invincible. With a mighty "HULK SMASH!" he'll tear into every breakable thing in the vicinity. A few pages (or

14. 'Shadow Hearts: From the New World' (PS2)

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under Misc Events - Most Anticipated Games of 2006

Genre: RPG
Publisher: Xseed Games
Developer: Nautilus
Release Date: March 7, 2006

Alicia Ashby: Anyone who played Midway's releases of the two Shadow Hearts games quickly realized they were playing the best RPGs ever released for the PS2 - yes, even better than juggernauts like Final Fantasy and Star Ocean. Newcomer XSEED is showing off their localization skills with the release of the third game, From the New World, and it's shaping up to be everything fans could possibly want. The third game in the series follows a new protagonist and an adventure set in America, with a Chicago

Xbox Preview - 'Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2005

Genre: FPS, simulation
Publisher: Codemasters
Developer: Bohemia Interactive
Release Date: October 3, 2005

The first thing I noticed when the fine developers at Bohemian sat down with me to demo Operation Flashpoint was that the graphics were… to put it kindly, not exactly cutting edge. In fact, they looked like just what they are, a port of low-power PC graphics from 2001. Given how many polys the Xbox can push, it was an initially disconcerting sight.

Seeing a bit more of the game started putting the graphics into perspective, though. Flashpoint is the rare Xbox title that isn’t interested in

8. 'Tales of Legendia' (PS2)

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under Misc Events - Most Anticipated Games of 2006

Genre: RPG
Publisher: Namco
Developer: Namco
Release Date: February 7, 2006

Alicia Ashby: Tales has been the major Japanese RPG series to fare the worst when it comes to entering the American market, but the great success of Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube seems to be changing that. Tales of Legendia hopes to continue the hot streak, offering an amazingly fun fighting-game like active battle system that still lets you manage a party full of characters. The 3D graphics are sharp, incorporating elements from Soul Calibur III's prodigious graphics engine, and it contains about 25 minutes of new

9. 'Neverwinter Nights 2' (PC)

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under Misc Events - Most Anticipated Games of 2006

Genre: RPG
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Release Date: Q2 2006

Mark "RumDragon" Bolin: When I picked up the original Neverwinter Nights, I was just looking for more of my Baldur's Gate fix. What it ended up offered me was amazing, and for the sequel, I am most excited about building my own gaming world. The graphics are nothing short of amazing, and the world looks as if it will suck me in for a good long time. One of the greatest assets Obsidian has here are the legions of fans who will ravenously throw themselves at the modding

NGC/PS2/Xbox/PC Preview - 'Eragon'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: Action-Adventure
Publisher: Vivendi-Universal
Developer: Stormfront Studios
Release Date: Fall 2006

Buoyed by the sudden interest in fantasy fiction that followed in the wake of the Lord of the Rings movies and the monstrous success of Harry Potter, Christopher Paolini's Eragon novels soared to the tops of the bestseller lists despite being written by a fifteen-year-old and being arguably quite derivative. 20th Century Fox promptly snapped up the rights to make an Eragon film, and a veritable deluge of Eragon related media - the film, the final novel of the trilogy, and a video game - are all poised

X360 Preview - 'Chromehounds'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: Action
Publisher: Sega
Developer: From Software
Release Date: July 2006

It's time to take smashing each other with giant robots to the next level.

From Software's Chrome Hounds is a next-generation squad-based shooter, the first mech game for the Xbox 360, and offers you the opportunity to go after your friends with huge, customizable robots. It's hard to find anything wrong with this.

In an alternate universe where the Cold War ended in the decimation of the planet, you take on the role of a mercenary participating in a conflict between nations, as a member of one

PC Preview - 'Supreme Commander'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: Real-Time Strategy
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Gas Powered Games
Release Date: Q1 2007

The Strategic Possibilities of Deluded Megalomania

The Gas Powered Games crew, including Chris Taylor of classic real-time strategy game Total Annihilation fame, really know how to get a point across. That title hit PCs in 1997, and a decade's worth of anticipation and expectation awaits the arrival of Supreme Commander, the Taylor-led PC RTS due out early next year. The Supreme Commander show at the THQ pre-E3 summit was a presentation, not a demo. Still, the sense of scale and the-galaxy's-at-stake drama emerged convincingly from

PC Preview - 'Paraworld'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: RTS
Publisher: TBA
Developer: SEK/Sunflowers
Release Date: TBA

No, it isn't the "Land of the Lost," but the world of Sunflowers' upcoming real-time strategy title, Paraworld, will certainly remind you of it. It's a land of dinosaurs and ancient tribes anachronistically juxtaposed with modern humans with shotguns and smug grins. It's a land that time forgot, but one that Sunflowers hopes you won't.

Paraworld is an example of the action RTS – a game of building a base, collecting resources, creating an army, and crushing your enemy without mercy. Other than the dinosaur theme, there are a

PS3 Preview - 'Fatal Inertia'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: Racing
Publisher: Koei
Developer: Koei
Release Date: November 17, 2006

Of all of the titles slated to ship alongside the launch of Sony's PlayStation 3 console, Koei's Fatal Inertia looks to be one of the standout titles. Set in the 23rd century, Fatal Inertia is based on a sport that involves pilots flying around at incredible speeds and taking each other down, all in the name of honor and glory. At this year's E3, we got to talk with some members of the Koei team to check out their fast-paced racer, which is set to hit