News: Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom

Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, is a hack-and-slash action role-playing game, by  Korean developer Blue Side, the game is a follow-up to its previously established action strategy series on the original Xbox.

The game will center around two characters, Celine and Curian, they represent a pair or, in fact, a set of stories. If you clear the game with Celine, about half of their background story will be told and you’ll unlock Curian as a playable character. If you play as Curian, other hidden stories about their relationship will be revealed.

Celine is one of the Elven leaders and a protector of the Ancient Heart. To keep the sacred artifact from the Dark Legion, this seemingly fragile archer fought as one of the Xok Knights during the First War of Heroes. Originally appearing in Kingdom Under Fire as a non-playable character, her beauty and tragic story made her a memorable character. Celine was made playable as a hero unit by popular demand in the expansion, Kingdom Under Fire: Gold, and magic arrow was one her renowned skills. With its superior range and great damage, it brought fear to many opponents, making her a substantial part of the Human Alliance during the Second War of Heroes.

In Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, you will be able to find out how she ended up in Encablossa’s domain and what will come of her quest to save Curian’s soul.

Right after birth, Curian was abandoned at the doorsteps of a monastery in Hironeiden and was raised by monks. The first Kingdom Under Fire followed his footsteps as the young wanderer became a war hero during the Second War of Heroes, leader of the Human Alliance, and eventually the King of Azilla.

As a hero unit on the Human Alliance side and armed with such powerful skills as Shift (a teleport move), Freeze (immobilizes surrounding enemies), and Energy Burst (shoots out electric charges from his sword), he could single-handedly reverse the tide of a battle.

In Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, this bygone savior of Bersia is now wandering in Encablossa’s dark dimension, searching for a cure to the mutation that has befallen him. Where is it that he yearns so much to go? Will he ever be able to make it there?

Review: Wii Play for the Wii

Okay so you really enjoyed the Wii Sports that was bundled with your Nintendo Wii, and then you see Wii Play, you are thinking; you will love this one too! well odds are, you were right!

I’ll go through the various mini games because they are not ALL great.

Shooting Range is like a modern version of Duck Hunt, and shows that while the Wii Remote isn’t quite the same as using a light gun, it’s possibly better, because the technology allows fire in quicker succession, and doesn’t require the screen to flash. The game itself is as fun and varied as any game featuring single shot targets on a static screen could be, with multiple rounds of varying difficulty, this is one of my favs.

Find Mii is a little ‘Where’s Waldo’ type game, where the object is to point and click on the right Mii(s) in various crowded situations. A game for those afraid of the more action-intensive experience, but personally, not my cup of tea.

 Table Tennis is a simple version of the sport, requiring the user to simply point where they want the paddle, hitting is automatic. There’s still some strategy, as you can whip the pointer in any direction to direct the ball or add spin. This one does have a fun factor, but you will find yourself enjoying most of the other games much more.

Pose Mii is another pointer game, where you must match up a posed Mii character to silhouettes in the background, this time taking the rotation of the cursor into account. This one in my opinion is the worste game in the package.

Laser Hockey is a pointer based version of the classic Air Hockey. Now, this one i couldnt put down, its alot of fun.

Billiards is a surprisingly in-depth 3D billiards game, where you push the remote forward just like a pool cue to make your shot. this is the most fun I’ve had playing pool in a long time.

Fishing is a race to catch the ‘featured’ fish, using the Remote much like a real fishing pole. This one is fun, but you’ll find it to be old fast.

Charge is the world’s first cow racing/scarecrow booting sim (translation – racing game with targets to hit) using the Wii remote on it’s side as ‘handlebars’. Personally I didnt have much fun with this one.

And Tanks, which is a modern version of the classic game Combat. Now, this one is the most fun I have had in this package

So all in all, I give Wii Play, an 8 out of 10.

Review: Ecco Jr. for the Wii

I think its safe to say that, many of you will dissagree with this review, please keep in mind when making this review I thought of the kids, because lets face it, Ecco Jr. is a game for the little ones.

Ecco Jr. lacks the challenge found in the previous Ecco the Dolphin games, gearing the third game toward the kids.

Ecco Jr. is a 2D underwater adventure that puts players in control of a young bottlenose dolphin or an Orca whale. On the normal setting, there are 18 missions to complete. The hard setting doesn’t make things more difficult, it simply adds nine more missions to the mix. For each of those missions, you have to navigate underwater caverns and perform various collect-a-thon tasks, such as gathering pieces of treasure or bringing a baby turtle back to its mother. The controls are easy to master because you only have to worry about using the D pad to swim, one button to kick in a burst of speed, and the other button to fire a sonar beacon that helps Ecco latch onto items.

The levels are small, which means you’ll rarely feel lost, and gathering the items you need to unlock each key glyph only takes a minute or two. You don’t have to worry about running out of health or breath. Sharks, jellyfish, and other nasties from the previous games are merely window decorations.

Video games, just like movies, are made for various audiences, if you have young children lurking nearby, there’s a good chance they’ll be captivated by Ecco’s antics long enough to justify the cost.

So now having gone through the game and keeping in mind the audience its geared towards, I give Ecco Jr. a 7 out of 10.

News: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm

We’ve see many PC games getting expansion packs some even two expansions, but now the Dawn of War series gets a third, and we at G-Talk search to find the details!

Soulstorm, the recently announced third expansion to 2004′s real-time strategy game based on the popular sci-fi miniatures franchise from Games Workshop? Relic Studios is responsible for some amazing and innovative games, Company of Heroes, being a personal favorite, but the Dawn of War series may very well be its most enduring and popular. As last year’s Dark Crusade expansion raised the bar considerably for what fans expect. And now Relic wants to Top Dark Crusade by offering even more.

The big news in Soulstorm is that there are two new factions. The first is the previously announced Dark Eldar, while the second is the previously unannounced Sisters of Battle.

Just like Dark Crusade, this will be a stand-alone expansion, which means you will not have to own any of the previous Dawn of War games to play it. If you only own Soulstorm, you’ll have access to all nine Dawn of War factions in the single-player campaign or in single-player skirmish games, but in multiplayer you’ll only be able to play as the Dark Eldar or the Sisters of Battle. To access the other factions in multiplayer, you’ll need to own the respective Dawn of War games that they appear in. Oh yeah, we should also mention that there are air units in Soulstorm (a first for the series), as well as achievements.

The Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle will offer up some interesting new approaches to the game. The former are an offshoot of the Eldar faction, though much more evil. The Dark Eldar is basically a pirate race that specializes in quick strikes, using speed and poison abilities to stun the enemy. Their units tend to be fairly mobile, such as the scourge, which are heavy infantry equipped with bat wings that let them jump and hover. On top of that, the Dark Eldar utilize a third resource that’s unique to them: souls. The Dark Eldar consume souls, so when they kill an enemy they can collect the soul essence that is left behind. The Sisters of Battle, on the other hand, are basically heavily armed warrior nuns and the feared enforcers of the Imperium. As described to us, they’re basically the Spanish Inquisition in space. The Sisters are driven by faith, which lets them call on their God-Emperor for “Acts of the Faith,” which are powerful abilities, like a protective hand that shields them from damage or raining brimstone down on the battlefield. These acts are fueled by faith, which can be generated if the Sisters divert resources from unit production and research. That will make you have to choose how much to spend on the economy and how much to spend on generating faith.

This is actually the first Dawn of War game that’s not being developed primarily by Relic. Instead, the studio turned to Iron Lore, of Titan Quest fame, for the expansion. It turns out that having an outside perspective allowed Iron Lore to approach the game in different ways. Perhaps that explains the addition of air units, which adds a whole new dimension to the battlefield that wasn’t there before. Not only will the new factions have air units, but each of the existing factions will also get air units to balance things out.

Finally, Soulstorm will introduce achievements, which will help reward longtime players online, though these are not Games for Windows – Live achievements. Dawn of War is a popular multiplayer game thanks to the fact that it lets you take all those incredibly elaborate, detailed units online to crush other players. Each faction will have its own unique achievements, such as Force Commander, which is rewarded if you win 25 ranked games with the Space Marines. Or there are general achievements, like Hot Streak, which you get if you win 10 online matches in a row. These new achievements should help fuel the competitive fires in terms of multiplayer.

Considering how excellent the gameplay was in Dark Crusade–not to mention how great a value it was–Soulstorm is simply bigger and more improved in every possible way. And if the Dawn of War series continues to sell like it has, Soulstorm may not even be the last expansion.

Personally I cant wait for this!

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm will ship sometime in the first half of 2008.

News: Gutar Hero III Wii Update

Following widespread audio complaints, Activision will issue free, revamped replacements for rhythm rocker on Nintendo’s console in early 2008.

 I’m glad to see Activision is owning up to thier mistakes.

Shortly after Activision’s Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock took to the stage in late October, gamers picked up on the fact that the Wii game wasn’t outputting in stereo sound, despite Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound being displayed on the game’s box. Gamers, flocked to Activision’s official Guitar Hero message boards to express their anger, claiming the game only outputted in mono sound, or audio reproduced via a single channel.

Activision claimed the issue was under invenstigation, but on Dec. 6th,  Activision issued a favorable response to the issue, which the spot-on forumgoers were quick to disseminate.

“We recently became aware that some consumers have not been able to enjoy the full audio output in the Nintendo Wii version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,” read the statement. “We are currently working with Nintendo and are planning to issue an improved audio experience in future versions of the game. We expect to have remastered discs available by early 2008 and we will be offering consumers replacement discs at no cost once they become available.”

Activision has since confirmed this statement to GameSpot, though the publisher had no other comment on the situation. As of the end of October, Guitar Hero III for the Wii had sold more than 286,000 copies in the US.

Now, i know many of you, were dissappointed when you took the game home, but they could of left us in the cold, so all i can say is, Thank you, Activison!

News: Prototype, out of beta soon!

I took a look at the Video Game Awards and this is what I found;

First I’d like to talk about Prototype, its about to come out of beta and it looks and sounds amazing.

heres the trailer;

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28751.html?type=flv

Its a game centered around a character named Alex, that can shapeshift into anyone he consumes(yes you read that right!) and he can also shapeshift parts of his body into weapons he can use(think T-1000 from Terminators 2).

When Alex consumes a living thing he can take thier shape but he also gains thier memories, skills, abilities, etc. If he consumes and assumes the shape of a military leader, he can go hang out with them, fight as one of them, as the military leader, they will obey and defend you, so you can have them attack enemies, or start to fight them, which will cause confusion, and cause them to fight eachother, because then they will know the Prototype is someone in the unit.

the developers promise to give us a rich and immersive storyline.

Prototype will be released for PS3, XBOX360, and PC

All in all this looks like a game we will all want to get our hands on in late 2008.

Welcome to G-Talk!

Hello out there! And welcome to my blog! I’m sure some of you are wondering, where are the vidoes and live shows he talked about? What’s the deal? Well I’m sorry to say, that it is still in the works and its a slow process, after all I am a student! But fear not, to hold you over I will still have video game news and reviews here on my blog. Granted its not videos but its better than nothing. Also right now I am playing Wii Play for the Wii, and The Witcher for the PC, and my next Blogs will have reviews of those games so expect to see that soon!