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'Rage Rider' (PS2/PC) - Screens
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - E3 2005 May 19th
PS2 Preview - 'Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2005
Genre: Action RPG
Developer: Racjin
Publisher: Square-Enix
Release Date: July 2005
FMA2 was one of the only five games that Square-Enix was showing off at E3, along with Kingdom Hearts 2, Radiata Stories, Romancing SaGa, and Dragon Quest VIII. All of the titles looked impressive, but FMA2 won out as our choice for preview thanks to an in-depth preview session of the game with the producer, Tomoya Asano, alongside with publicity manager Koji Taguchi. One of the greatest parts of the E3 experience is getting shown a new game by the guys who've been working on it, and with
PS2/Xbox Preview - 'Destroy All Humans!'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2005
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Pandemic Studios
Release Date: June 17, 2005
Destroy All Humans! is a game that lets you kill people with psychokinetically thrown chickens.
In a perfect world, that would be all you need to hear. I wouldn't have to mention the ability to hypnotize cows into dancing the Funky Chicken, the weird retro-'50s ambiance that makes posters for "The Friendly Atom: It's Working for YOU!" seem a natural fit to the world, the ability to cloak yourself as public officials and make speeches decrying communism, denying alien invasion and blaming mutant radioactive zombie cows for the
NGC/PS2/Xbox/PC Preview - 'Ultimate Spider-Man'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2005
Genre: 3D Action/Adventure
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
Release Date: TBA
Ultimate Spider-Man, at its core, is a re-telling of the classic Spider-Man story with a slightly younger cast and a contemporary spin.
You all know the gist of it by now: a nerdy kid gets bitten by a radioactive spider, gets super powers, and uses both them and his mind to solve crimes while at the same time possessing the ability to upstage just about everyone on Def Comedy Jam without even trying. The Ultimate line of comic books puts the Spidey stories in the here and now, with today’s
PS2/Xbox/PC Preview - 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2005
Genre: Action
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Seven Studios
Release Date: Q3 2006
In case you missed the memo the first time around, here’s another copy of it:
Pirates Are Cool.
Heck, just go ask Guilty Gear X’s Johnny, or the entire cast of Skies of Arcadia. Pirates are always fun to play as in video games. There’s just something about being able to break all the rules, play dirty, and fight as underhanded as one possibly can whenever one feels like it that translates wonderfully to the genre.
Few pirates are better at all of this than one Jack Sparrow, and he’s going to
PS2/Xbox Preview - 'Castlevania: Curse of Darkness'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2005
Genre: Action/RPG
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Release Date: Fall 2005
If nothing else, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness answers one question I’ve had for a while about the Castlevania series. Simply put, it’s this: when you leave and come back into a room in a Castlevania game, where does the fresh wave of monsters come from? Is there a hidden wing of Dracula’s castle that’s entirely dedicated to the care, feeding, construction, and breeding of new monsters to replace the ones you’ve been hacking to bits?
Apparently, there is, and it’s staffed by people like Hector. As a Devil Forgemaster, Hector
'NBA 2k7' (PS2/Xbox/PS3/X360) - Screens
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - E3 2006 May 12th
'College Hoops' (PS2/Xbox/PS3/X360) - Screens
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - E3 2006 May 12th
'Haze' (PS2/Xbox/PS3/X360/PC) - Features & Screens
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - E3 2006 May 12th
Twenty-five years in the future. Governments have outsourced military operations to private multinational corporations. As Jake Carpenter, a newly enlisted soldier in the Mantel army, you are seeking fulfillment and thrills by fighting for a good cause.
Thanks to their high-tech arsenal of vehicles, deadly weaponry, and performance enhancing bio-medical support, the Mantel Corporation’s ruthlessly efficient soldiers are the most feared by terrorists, dictators, and the corporation’s political enemies.
Your conflict begins in a war-torn country in South America, where you have been sent to fight a vicious rebel faction, The Promise Hand. At first glance, all is well, but
PS2/Xbox/PC Preview - 'Scarface: The World is Yours'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006
Genre: Grand Theft Pacino
Publisher: Vivendi-Universal Games
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Release Date: Fall 2006
The Godfather might have been a fun sandbox game in its own right, but let's face it: it completely failed as a licensed title. From the total lack of subtlety to ludicrous elements like the horse-head stealth mission, the game sometimes felt like a profoundly extended exercise in missing the point of the original movie. I bring this up because the upcoming Scarface: The World is Yours is in some ways a remarkably similar title. Not only is it a GTA-style sandbox
NGC/PS2/Xbox Preview - 'The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006
Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: Krome Studios
Release Date: October 2006
Spyro's newest venture is entitled A New Beginning, and for good reason. With this new game, the reset button's been hit on Spyro; all past adventures have been forgotten in favor of giving one of the hardest-working mascots in video games a fresh start.
In this case, it means shifting the onscreen action's focus from cutesy platforming to surprisingly intense action. Krome Studios, the dev house that gave the world Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, has set out to make Spyro's newest adventure feel like "playing through a
PS2 Preview - 'Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006
Genre: 3D Fighter
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Spike
Release Date: October 2006
If Super DBZ is the "professional" of the two upcoming Dragon Ball Z games, then Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is the feel-good, super mainstream title. Building off of the best-selling DBZ title in history, the original Budokai Tenkaichi, BT2 introduces new characters, stages, and gameplay modes. The gameplay is still super-accessible 3D brawling, complete with multiple transformations for most characters, an expansive selection of characters, and enormous levels in which to battle.
BT2 is determined to outdo the previous title in every respect. The already-large BT levels
PS2 Preview - 'Yakuza'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006
Genre: Action/Fighting
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Release Date: September 2006
The point of Yakuza, according to Sega, is to allow the player to “see the underside of Tokyo like never before.” Set in 2005 Tokyo, Yakuza is a beat-‘em-up that purports to “deliver the authentic experience” of being a member of the modern yakuza, the Japanese mafia.
Apparently, being an authentic yakuza involves beating roughly five hundred men a night to death with whatever happens to be handy, from bicycles to street signs to knives.
Yakuza is a story-driven beat-‘em-up that takes place on the mean streets of
PS2/Xbox/PC Preview - 'Arthur and the Minimoys'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006
Genre: 3D Platformer
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Etranges Libellules
Release Date: January 2007
There is something faintly surreal about sitting down to a demonstration of a license game based on a very prestigious license that you've never heard of. The developers seemed to have been getting that reaction out of journalists all day, and helpfully explained exactly why I should care about Arthur and the Minimoys before they got down to the nitty-gritty of showing me the game. Since I imagine I'm not the only American who felt that way, I'll pass along this information before I
PS2 Preview - 'Super Dragon Ball Z'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006
Genre: Fighting
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Craft and Meister/Banpresto
Release Date: July 2006
Two Dragon Ball Z games are going to be punching their way to your PS2 this summer, one a sequel to last year's Budokai Tenkaichi and the other a PS2 port of the 2005 Japanese arcade title Chou Dragon Ball Z. Called Super Dragon Ball Z for its US release, this title has quite possibly the greatest pedigree a fighting game can hope for: it's the brainchild of Noritaka Funamizu, one of the creators of the original Street Fighter II and the producer of nearly
PS2/Xbox/PC Preview - 'Jaws Unleashed'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006
Genre: Action
Publisher: Majesco
Developer: Appaloosa Interactive
Release Date: TBA
Long in the making, Jaws Unleashed will be gracing consoles in the near future, bringing with it what can only be defined as wanton violence to the nth degree. Taking place around 30 years after the original "Jaws" movie, this game continues the story in a unique way, as this time, it is seen from the eyes of the shark. With design by the makers of Ecco the Dolphin, this game is in the capable hands of Appaloosa, who have become experts in the niche of
PS2 Preview - 'Guitar Hero II'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006
Genre: Rhythm/Puzzle
Developer: Harmonix
Publisher: Red Octane
Release Date: November 28, 2006
Take one of the greatest, if not the greatest, rhythm-music games to ever enter the market. This is a game that lets you act like a virtual rock star, using an innovative controller that really makes you feel like you're on stage playing a guitar. It's got tons of songs that have universal appeal, and difficulty modes that challenge even expert guitar players, yet are still accessible to the complete newbie.
Take all of this guitar perfection… and now, pretend as if it were just practice
PSP/PS2/Xbox Preview - 'Justice League Heroes'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006
Genre: Action/RPG
Publisher: Eidos/Warner Brothers
Developer: Snowblind
Release Date: Fall 2006
This is Snowblind’s last hurrah on the PS2 and Xbox, and they’re trying to go out with a bang. Justice League Heroes is a two-player beat-‘em-up running on the fifth version of Snowblind’s famous beat-‘em-up engine, allowing you to step into the shoes of the members of the Justice League of America.
The game’s more based upon the comics’ version of the Justice League than the cartoon’s; for example, the JLA’s Watchtower is a lunar station rather than a satellite. You’ll be able to play initially
PS2 Preview - 'The King of Fighters 2006'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006
Genre: Fighting
Publisher: SNK-Playmore
Developer: SNK-Playmore
Release Date: Q3 2006
SNK's playing a sort of three-card monte game with their games' titles. The King of Fighters 2006 began its life as the sequel to last year's KOF: Maximum Impact, SNK's slightly underwhelming first entry into the 3D realm. In Japan, KOF2006 is, simply, Maximum Impact 2.
As such, KOF2006 features a slightly larger cast, with MI's boss Duke becoming playable, 14 hidden characters, and the 3D debut of KOF favorites Billy Kane and Kula Diamond.
What does this all mean to you, the casual player? A classic fighting