There’s definitely something to be said for the qualities of Call of Duty, both bad and good. Many have parodied it in one way or another, but EA just brought it to the commercial level, with the Bulletstorm marketing game called Duty Calls. Duty Calls is a small, downloadable and free game that lasts about 4 minutes. As you can guess by the title, the game is a spoof of Call of Duty, and military shooters in general.
If you’ve played the original Test Drive Unlimited, you are probably aware of the game’s triumphs and shortcomings. On one hand you get a relatively solid racer, a huge game world with miles of open road, and plenty of flashy rides to drool over. Unfortunately, this was offset by very generic graphics, a rather lifeless world, vapid dialogue and some of the most aridly mundane driving tasks to date. The sequel to this average racer, Test Drive Unlimited 2, aims to correct the first game’s flaws and for the most part succeeds in doing so. Not surprisingly though, there are some reoccurring disappointments and a lot of little caveats that prevent the game from showing its true potential.
No denying that there is a niche market for “inspired by a true story” films, but it’s still a niche market. If such a film is going to be pulled off successfully, oftentimes they need to be fueled by characters that can be identified with: whether they be you or your neighbor, you buy that these characters on screen walked the Earth at one point or another. Sanctum, while having remarkable source material to work with, fails to establish it’s characters believably before throwing them headlong into danger.
A little less magic in this issue, but a whole hell of a lot more action. Alabaster Graves finds deeper meaning to his true calling as he rushes to save Marissa from her impending doom at the hands of dead man.
When we last left Graves he was about to go into a swamp to kill one of the oldest living werewolves. He needs to stab it in the heart with a silver needle in order to kill Fallow with it. One of the white witches gives him a way to find the beast and Graves sets out to either kill or be killed. In an intense scene of action Graves is blindsided by the werewolf and forced underwater. There he sits and waits for his chance to strike. Just as the werewolf gets close, Graves jumps from the water and stabs him with the silver needle. The werewolf transforms into a man and begs to be killed before changing again. Graves doesn’t hesitate for a moment as he slits the man’s throat.
We PC gamers can be smugly assured that we have the best hardware; our gigantic hard drives, state of the art graphics cards and laser-precise mice give us a clear edge over console gamers. But what about the games we play? Admit it, we all get console envy from time to time when some new AAA game comes out only for Xbox of Playstation. There’s no shame in confessing that you want to play some piece of forbidden Wii fruit either.
Sony has released a new trailer that shows some more games heading for Sony’s NGP (Next Generation Portable). The games on the trailer include the stunning looking Gravity Daze, Killzone, Little Big Planet, Wipeout, Resistance, Uncharted, and some other new titles that make use of the systems’ rear touchpad and Sixaxis motion sensing system.
Will February be any better than January at the movies? A few films hold promise, but there’s a lot of cautious optimism coming from us Player Affinity Movies staffers. Check out the 12 offerings we’re featuring and let us know which ones you think will surprise us this month.
I stumbled upon on this video while browsing my usual forums. As far as I can tell, it is legit and not a fan made parody. If you don’t want to watch the video (which you should), it’s basically EA and Epic taking a huge dig at the modern war genre of first-person shooters. It puts Bulletstorm forward as a homage to much older frag-fest shooters like Quake and Unreal Tournament.
Shooters have definitely gone for a more realistic tone in recent years. This video is a pretty huge and public way to take a dig at a franchise if it turns out to be legit. But what do you think? Have EA and Epic bitten off more than they can chew, or have they hit the nail well and truly on its head? Bulletstorm is now only a few weeks away from release, and with Duke Nukem Forever coming out in May, it’s possible that these games could have a pretty big impact on the first-person shooter genre.
Our featured clip this week is Bridesmaids, the inappropriately-themed farce sporting a number of SNL veterans. Could this be the girlie cure for The Hangover and the frequent Apatow fare? In addition, we have the Robert Redford directed The Conspirator, which explores complex themes regarding the
The second episode is a bit different from the first. The pacing changes as does the narrator. This time we have the voice of the Black Rider narrating as she unveils the events that we weren’t privy to in the last episode. Events like, what happened to the girl she saved once she was dropped off? The episode works to wrap up a lot of questions and scenes unanswered in the first episode and make both episodes stronger because of it.
It’s the first day of school and Mikado Ryugamine is introduced to the class as a new transfer along with the girl that was saved by the Black Rider. A third girl with glasses is introduced by the name of Anri Sonohara. It becomes very apparent that Mikado has interest in her as he can’t seem to look away. The narrator then focuses on the girl who she saved the night before.
