Over the last few years we have learnt that downloadable titles or just independent games in general are no longer to be sniffed at by the general populace. Playdead’s ‘Limbo’ has earned its place among games like Braid and Flower, due to its unique monochrome colour scheme, and it’s striking use of multiple layers used in a unusual way to create depth.
Yes you heard me, Limbo does not have any colour, the whole game is rendered in various shades of gray, black and white. There is so much grey in this game that it is actually pleasing to see the bright white beams streaming through the cracks in the cave. There is also barely any music in this game, for the most part you will be hearing the quite pitter-patter of the boy who you control, as you jump, run and push your way to find your sister, who is lost someone in this strange oddity of a forest.
The visuals in this game are different but quite simplistic in nature; the game looks very similar to the cinematic works of the 1920s or a shadow puppet show. Simplicity is a good thing, in the case of Limbo, as this is a difficult physics based puzzle game and you want it to be as simple as possible.
Limbo somehow manages to generate a sinister tone while having some comical elements (primarily the death animations). As I mentioned before you play as a small, big-headed boy who can only push, pull and jump. The only feature which is visible is his eyes, which are pure white and also glow in the dark, damp caves of this godforsaken land.
As with the visual design of the game, the controls are also very simple, you use the ‘A’ button the jump, the ‘B’ button to interact (grabbing boxes or other objects is the main use of this button) and the left analogue stick is used for movement. You are given no friendly tooltips, notifications or helpful hints in Limbo, you learn the ropes of this game by just experiencing it for yourself.
You will also die, a lot in this game. You are not expected to succeed the first time you encounter an obstacle, you are expected to fail the first couple of times. This was a frustrating design choice in my opinion, as some puzzles have very abstract solutions and result in be banging my head against a wall for a hour or so before finally completing the puzzle. This game is not for the weak, you will need to have good brain, a lot of persistence and quick reflexes to finish this game.
The game also has these sections where a white worm will burrow into your head, while this worm is planted in the boy’s body you will only be able to walk in one direction until, you reach a strong source of light, in which you will only be able to walk in the opposite direction. This turns the level into something more complex than it would have been, if you had full control over which direction you are able to walk. This forces you to think in a different way and really mixes the game up.
Parts of the game can just be downright depressing, getting hunted by the primitive locals of this strange place or getting chased by a bloodthirsty huge hairy spider, this kid goes through a lot of bad experiences throughout the game, and you can’t but feel sympathetic for the boy as he is put through such pain.
Thankfully, if you are smart you shouldn’t go through too much frustration while playing through Limbo, as the game has a very comprehensive checkpointing system. Limbo does what I wish every difficult game did, it has checkpoints before each puzzle (and sometimes more often with the more drawn out puzzles) and a quick death animation, then you are right back into it. No ‘Press Start To Continue’ bullshit, Limbo just gets you right back in there.
Even with these ‘anti-frustration’ measures in place, I still found myself frustrated while playing this game. This is because I am just not that good at playing Limbo, I watched others skyrocket through the game, as I would be getting stuck on every 3 puzzle. Which is why I found myself dreading the next puzzle and really enjoying the parts where you would just walk, and observe the diverse landscapes of the game.
I’m not sure if I have a good understanding of the narrative in the game, but the great atmosphere that the game creates and the generation of the feeling of alienation and the discovery of the unknown is great. This game is goddamn hard, and had me screaming at my television on multiple occasions but was equally satisfying when I finally conquered this game to completion. So if you consider yourself someone who is pretty good at solving the type of puzzles that you would find in Braid then I would recommend that you should buy this game. Otherwise, try the demo on the Xbox Live Marketplace, and see what you think of it for yourself.
Originally posted on Digital Gaudium.
Source:
http://www.digitalgaudium.com/2010/05/04/kratos-is-going-to-have-a-rage-in-your-psp-again/
The new game will be titled, 'God of War: Ghost of Sparta'. Which reads to me as 'Ares: Kratos' but whatever, Chains of Olympus is one of my favourite PSP games to date.
Chains of Olympus's only flaw was its length, and according to the press release, 'Ghost of Sparta' is said to be 25 percent longer.
I'm mildly excited for this release, drop us a comment and express your opinion on this matter!
Bungie have had a interesting history, with the development of Halo starting as an RTS game and eventually becoming a Xbox Exclusive First Person Shooter and then later with their split with Microsoft in 2007. For a while, a 'advantagee' that Xbox 360 fanboys would present would be 'We have Halo'.
Well Bungie's next project will not be exclusive to the Xbox, and they also signed a ten year deal with the worlds biggest publisher, Activision.
Some of you are probably standing up in your seats at this point, with all of the Infinity Ward blashpemy lately some gamers have launched a boycott against all Activision published games, treating Activision like the plague. But before you question Bungie's decision, think about their previous situation.
So they couldn't really use Microsoft as their publishing partner for the future, if they are looking to go multiplatform. It is also a lot easier to develop a game when you have a publisher that is paying you to prouduce it from the get go. Activision probably offered a large sum of money, and with half of Infinity Ward gone, I am not surprised.
So what do you think the next Bungie game will be, will they stay with first person, or will they pick up where Infinity Ward has left off and continue with the Call of Duty games?
I'm not even going to write a decent length blog for the quest :|
A game that felt so polished and streamlined, everything worked brilliantly in this game from the combat to the stealth. This game has turned Rocksteady Studios from a unknown developer to a developer which is up there with Infinity Ward and Naughty Dog. I had absolutely no expectations when this game came out, and it blew me away. I mean just think about it ‘A good batman game? ‘
This game improved leaps and bounds over the first Uncharted and is the best looking game on a console to date. Along with its satisfying gun play and traversal, this game has set the benchmark for voice acting in a game. Although the story is nothing special, because it is presented so brilliantly it doesn’t really matter. This is the only game that I have played that has truly captured the epic action movie feel that so many games have tried to capture, it also has decent multiplayer that combines the climbing and jumping with the shooting in a wonderful manner. In our opinion this game dominated the PS3 exclusives, and was well deserved of the best PS3 game of the year award.
Many people were disappointed with Bungie’s latest addition to the Halo Universe, because Halo 3: ODST is unlike the previous Halo games. For starters you are no longer playing as the superhuman known as Master Chief, you are playing as an ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) who is not superhuman. This major change morphs the gameplay dramatically as you can no longer aim at an alien, hold down the shoot button, and run towards the alien until you are within melee range and then proceed to kill the alien with one hit. Because you can no longer soak up bullets like a tank, the game forces you to become much more tactical, keeping a distance and using cover, I really enjoyed this change in the gameplay.
Halo 3: ODST also as an over world area in which you traverse between the flashback missions . The overworld area is the city New Mombasa covered in darkness, the red neon glow effect and the jazzy music feels great, and further adds to the overall single player experience. ODST also includes Firefight, which is basically a 4 player horde mode in which you fight against hordes of Alien AI co-operatively with up to 4 friends. Halo 3: ODST also includes another disk titled Halo 3: Mythic which includes all of the maps ever released for the competitive portion of halo 3 and is very good value for someone who has not yet experience the mulitplayer aspect of the halo games.
All in all, Halo 3: ODST is a great package and the change in pace and gameplay was greatly appreciated by the duo here at Digital Gaudium and it was only fair that it received this reward, Bungie may be up for the same award if Halo Reach is as good as it looks.
When this game was initially shown at E3, I was not really impressed with it but after playing it, it was one of my best video game experiences of 2009. First off, this is basically a sequel to Super Mario Bros. 3, which is awesome to begin with. The single player includes everything that you have come to expect from a Mario game but then they go all the way and and in something that will revolutionize Video games forever…
Yes, finally you can now shoot ice out of your hands, and wait that is not all, you can now KILL DRY BONES.
YOU HEARD ME DRY BONES CAN NOW BE DEAD BONES!
This game also includes 4 player co-op which could be the best thing ever or perhaps the worst thing ever, I don’t know. All I know is that I laughed a lot and I felt awesome when my friend playing co-op with me threw a green shell and a I caught it with Yoshi’s tongue in mid air. Plenty of ‘Did you see THAT!’ moments as well, this game was by far the best Wii game of 2009, according to Digital Gaudium.
There are a lot of good things to say about this game, I lost over 50 hours of my life to this game because it was that good, and is there a lot to do in that game. This is the game that all of you RPG nuts have been waiting for, drop your shitty pen and paper games and go to a shop ( Online or physical ) and buy this goddam game and have awesome conversations with people, make hilarious decisions and stab some throats and crack some skulls. This is truly the age of dragons.
China Town Wars brought me what I missed from Rockstar’s latest entry in the Grand Theft Auto series (GTA IV). This game has plenty to do, and the stuff that there is to do is quality. The writing is quirky and funny at times, the gameplay is great, the DS’s touch screens are intergrated brilliantly through the appropriate use of the contextual mini games, and the controls work well for the most part of the game until things get hectic. You can also trade drugs in this game dude and make some phat profit, and they use the real names like ECSTASY and ICE, this shit is tight, but not really.
Looking at screen shots of this game, this game does not look like something that you would give as the best game for the PSP for the year 2009 maybe, best Super Nintendo game but, PSP? This game uses retro sprites and has some awesome time traveling although it does not play to the PSP’s strengths it is still a fantastic game which has a premise of playing through a Zelda like RPG in 30 seconds or less, everything is running at breakneck speed in this game from the combat to the traversal of the world as you race against the clock to save the world from a badass evil dude.
This game also includes a Princess mode which is basically a shoot-em-up and the Dark Lord mode which is a simplified RTS game. The best thing about this game is that you can pick up and play this game for a couple of minutes and put it down and make some progress, this game does not have the problem that many PSP games have, this game is much more portable than many of the PSP’s offerings to date.
I enjoyed this game from start to finish and I hope to see more games like this on the PSP in the future.
Borderlands is a great game, I could even say that this game feels like it was custom made for my tastes in games, I enjoyed this game so much that I spent more time on this game than Dragon Age, that is saying something. The skill tree, leveling, loot all of the great gameplay mechanics from games like Diablo and the good first person action that the majority of gamers can get into is a winning combo but then there is 4 player co-op, this game sounds like the best game ever made. And that is the sad thing, this game could have been the best thing ever made but, unfortunately the execution was not on the same level as the ideas presented. Due to the lack of a trading system, /dance emotes and polish, this game wasn’t the best game ever made but still a fantastic effort by Gearbox, we are excited to see what they do with DLC and the sequel.
This game could also have another title, “Most Hyped game ever” , this game had so much to live up to, Call of Duty: 4 revolutionized first person shooters forever combining a great single player campaign with an excellent multiplayer aspect, with great controls and great graphics. So how did they do it?
Infinity Ward took the ‘Holy Shit’ moments from Call of Duty 4 and created a whole single player that was filled with excitement and heart beating gameplay. This game had so many ‘Holy Shit’ moments that it should have been titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Holy shit.
Apart from the brilliant campaign that had everything from Ice Climbing and Snow Mobile’s to Russians and Airport shootings, this game also provided one of the best multiplayer experiences on the console and a great spec ops mode. Enough can’t be said about this game, this game lived up to the hype and then provided more. I cannot wait to see what Infinity Ward does next.
Hey guys.
My friend and I are giving away beta keys for both Google Wave and Heroes of Newerth on our website, so if your interested follow the link.
http://www.digitalgaudium.com/2009/12/14/google-wave-heroes-of-newerth-beta-giveaway/
Goodluck!
Please have a look at my website at http://www.digitalgaudium.com if you have the time.
This comes as no surprise. The original game, developed by the relatively unknown developer Rocksteady Studios was universally acclaimed by the critics. This game to me just felt so polished, everything just worked the way it was supposed to and the addition of brilliant voice acting and a decent story made this game an excellent package. This game was definately worthy of a sequel.
The Force Unleashed 2
I only played the demo of the first game but, the first game was described as flawed. I enjoyed torturing stormtroopers with my elaborate force powers, and if this game learns from its mistakes from the first game, it should be a Star Wars game to remember.
Medal of Honor
A long time ago, I used to get mixed up between Call of Duty and the Medal of Honor eventually fell behind Call of Duty, in terms of overall quality. From the trailer it seems that the series is about to have a complete reboot, now set in a modern time setting. With DICE (Primarily known for developing the Battlefield games) developing the multiplayer aspect of the game, this game could be on par with Infinity Ward's latest stellar game, Modern Warfare 2.
True Crime
Not really sure what warranted this game a sequel, this game was essentially a Grand Theft Auto clone, with different characters and setting. There was much confusion about the actual name of the game and from what I have gathered, 'Black Lotus' was the codename given to this game (essentially True Crime 3).
Halo Reach
Everyone already knew about this one, but it was an announcement trailer. Consider me mildly excited. Hopefully Bungie can breathe some fresh air into this franchise and change it up a little.
Spec-Ops: The Line
A third person shooter set in a a post apocalyptic Dubai. This game is going to be published by 2K Games, and is developed by a independent German developer YAGER development gmbH. There are whispers that this game may involve 'Moral Choices'.
Tron Legacy
It's Tron! What more can I say, your in cyberspace and everything is glowing. The trailer didn't really show or give any ideas as to what the game would involve doing, I'm going to take a guess and say its a 3rd Person Action Game..
Other announcements/premiers include
Best Voice in a Video Game: Jack Black
His Brutal Legend performance was great.
Best Action-Adventure Game: Assassin's Creed II
Yes, great game.
Best Graphics: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Yes, best to date on consoles in my opinion.
Studio of the Year: Rock Steady Games
Agreed, Batman was amazing. These guys deserved to get an award.
Best Team Sports Game: NHL 10
FIFA 10 was in my opinion, but then again I've never played this because I do not like Ice Hockey.
Best Performance by a Human Male: Hugh Jackman
Fair enough, I like him as an actor sometimes.
Best Performance by a Human Female: Megan Fox
Eghhh, fail.
Best Downloadable Game: Shadow Complex
YES!
Best Wii Game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Haven't played it yet, its under the Christmas tree and I'm sure it's good.
Best Multiplayer Game: Modern Warfare 2
Agreed, still playing it.
Best DLC: GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
I guess? I thought there were better offerings but some people really seemed to like it.
Most Anticipated Game: God of War 3
Bit of an odd award in my opinion, I'm more excited for Crackdown 2 personally, I can understand this though.
Best Independent Game: Flower
I was one of those people who loved Flower..
Best Individual Sports Game: UFC 2009 Undisputed
Never played it, Skate 2 should have won in my opinion. The wrestling dude that accepted this award was werid, was nearly doing the splits on stage.
Best RPG: Dragon Age: Origins
Since Borderlands is in this list, I would vote for them. But, I understand that Dragon Age is good, and very long.
Best shooter: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Yes. There were many other good shooters this year though.
Best Fighting Game: Street Fighter 4
First Street Figther game that I have ever owned, I enjoy it.
Best Handheld Game: GTA: Chinatown Wars
Understandable, don't really know what else there was this year.
Best Racing Game: Forza Motorsport 3
Best racing game ever. Love the User Interface in that game, so clean.
Best Soundtrack: DJ Hero
I like about an eighth of the songs in that game (Daft Punk & Eminem)
Best Xbox 360 Game: Left 4 Dead 2
Yeah, killing Zombies is fun. Halo ODST was also worthy of this.
Best PlayStation 3 Game: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
No question about this one.
Best PC Game: Dragon Age: Origins
It was the best version of the game, I can't think of any good PC exclusive releases this year
Best Original Score: Halo 3: ODST
The Orchestral stuff is great.
Best Game Based on a Movie or Show: Southpark: Lets Go Tower Defense Play!
Meh, there was nothing else that was decent.
Best Music Game: The Beatles: Rock Band
Yes
Game of the Year: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
I would say Modern Warfare 2 but, this game is definitely worthy of this award.
So that's it, the awards have come and gone. Overall what did you guys think about the show as a whole, the announcements made and the distribution of the awards?
This is from my official blog, all views and comments are greatly appreciated :)
http://www.digitalgaudium.com/2010/02/07/video-game-podcasts-that-you-should-subscribe-to/
Ordered from Awesome to slightly less awesome
1. Giant Bombcast 
This podcast is favourite by far the best gaming podcast available, I would even say that I listen to these guys religiously. Every episode makes me laugh at least once, and still manages to fit in plenty of information and opinion on Video Games. So if you have the slightest interest in video games, and are capable of laughing, chuckling or even just smiling, you should subscribe to the Giant Bombcast, after all like all podcasts, it’s free!
2. 4 Guys 1UP 
Formally known as Listen UP and before that,1UP Yours. This podcast when compared to the Giant Bombcast, this podcast is much more serious and contains a lot more opinion and information, although you will not laugh, this podcast still manages to be engaging enough that it will hold your interest for the duration of the show.
3. CAGcast 
The only real fault of this podcast, is that sometimes they will get some information wrong, but the thing that makes this podcast so good is the honesty of the speakers (especially the host CheapyD). CheapyD does not shy away from anything while reccording the podcast, he has talked about how much his website ( http://www.cheapassgamer.com) is worth, Cheapy has read out emails from his Dad concerning the exposure of the net worth of the website and he even talks about what his poop looks like in the toilet. But, most of the talk thankfully, is about video games. CheapyD, who resides in Japan does offer an interesting insight into Japan’s unique culture from a first hand perspective.
4. The Hotspot 
Although this podcast still lives in the shadow of its former glory, Brendan Sinclair (the host) manages to produce a decent podcast. The main problem with ‘The Hotspot’ is that its cast is inconsistent. When the right cast is present, this can be funny as hell, but otherwise it can be as dull ditchwater.
5 The Instance 
The only reason that this podcast is last on the list is because this game appeals to a particular audience. That audience is players of arguably, the most popular game of all time, World of Warcraft. Although I would not class this podcast as funny, it is very well produced with good sound effects used for segments and great intelligent conversation. To sum up how good this podcast is, I don’t even play WoW and I still listen to ”The Instance’. So if you are a WoW player, you should subscribe to this.
Hey,
Andy is the name, Australia represent!
Enough of the Patriotism.
I own all 3 consoles and my gamertag/psn is: DigitalGaudium if you want it.
The type of games that I play are Action RPG's (Fable 2, Mass Effect, ect), FPS's (Halo 3, Call Of Duty and Battlefield), some sports games ( FIFA and NBA Live) and then casual/platformer games ( Rock Band, Guitar Hero, LittleBigPlanet). And I give some JRPG's a chance if they are different enough ( e.g Valkyeria Chronicles)
In my first year of university, studying computer science writing for my own video game website, Digital Gaudium which is working out.
My Twitter is @Andrew_Larder so yeah, follow me..
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