Square Enix, today announces it has released a demo of Supreme Commander 2 on Steam today. Developed by Gas Powered Games, SC2, is set 25 years after Supreme Commander, and it features numerous game enhancements in the form of in-depth campaign mode, online multiplayer and a unique storyline.
The demo has two levels of the tutorial as well as two missions for the United Earth Federation (UEF), one of the three factions of the Colonial Defense Coalition. In the game, the Cybran invasion force is on the run and sensors have picked up a number of operational Cybran Mass Extractors off the coast of the Weddell Strait. Players will need to explore the islands in the strait and successfully destroy the extractors.
After refusing orders and refusing to surrender their Armored Command Unit, players are now public enemy #1 in the UEF. Colonel Rodgers has targeted New Cathedral, a colony where the players’ wife and child reside – they will need to take the most direct route to defend the colony. Unfortunately, that means traveling through the ruins of the Boolon Industrial Complex.
If you want to play Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, the upcoming game from Ubisoft, all you have to do is buy a copy of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction for Xbox360.
Yes you hear that right; Ubisoft is offering gamers a chance to be the first to play Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier’s Multiplayer Beta this summer. This exclusive beta invitation will be available for a limited time to customers who purchase Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction for Xbox 360.
e-Xpress Interactive would be releasing the game Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction in India in April 2010. So if you’re looking forward to Future Soldier, you can pre-order Splinter Cell Conviction and have an early advantage here’s a teaser video of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.
I used to play NFS a lot as a kid and there was this neighbourhood friend who used to looove Ferraris. I’m not in touch with him, but Ferraris have been missing from NFS series since Hot Pursuit 2. So the good news now is that Ferrari cars are now available as downloadable content for NFS Shift.
The cars which’ll be available are 1996 Ferrari F50 GT, 2005 Ferrari F430 Spider, 2005 Ferrari FXX, 2005 Ferrari Superamerica, 2006 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, 2006 Ferrari F430 Challenge (Online/Quick event only), 2006 Ferrari F430 GTC (Online/Quick event only), 2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia, 2008 Ferrari California and the 2008 Ferrari 16M Scuderia Spider.
In addition to 10 new cars, the Ferrari Racing Series will also extend SHIFT’s career mode with 46 new Ferrari specific challenges designed for the Ferrari cars to participate in including hot laps, eliminators, endurance races and a world tour. Completing the perfect Ferrari package are an additional 125 gamerpoints as a reward for undertaking various exciting challenges. All Ferrari cars can also be taken online where players can prove who has the skills to master these high-performance Italian racing machines.
The Ferrari Racing pack will be available worldwide today, Feb 9, on Xbox 360and for 800 Microsoft Points. Here are a few of the cars which’ll be available in the game.
It was past mid night and I was getting tired of the vague storyline, but not of the cover-aim-fire-kill ritual. This along with my modified guns had kept me and my partner alive in China which — in the game — is under siege by a militant group.
Army of Two: The 40th Day, sequel to Army of Two is a co-op campaign which throws you into China and expects you to stay alive despite being out numbered and auto-gunned. But hey it’s the world of gaming where anything is possible, provided you have the guts and the wits. So if you think you got it, pick up your Xbox360 controller and play this game alone or with a friend on co-op.
Where the game really pulls a punch is with the action sequences. The fights along crumbling walls, falling buildings and treacherous streets is one great ride, but the biggest let down is the storyline or the abscence of one, rather. That said, the lacklustre storyline is complimented by ‘morality moments’ where you get to make a decisions on behalf of both the players and these decisions have a consequence which you get to see immediately. You can either be a goody-goody and do the most righteous thing, or be a money-hungry killer and follow orders of the organisation who employs you without a second thought. Either way remember that you’re being judged.
The AI can be really cheeky and can bust your out of your cover at times and really weak otherwise. Boss fights which involve juggernaut like enemies carrying a flamethrower or gatling gun are difficult till you figure out that things are not as complicated as they might seem to be. In short you’ll make it, provided you think beyond headshots. And yes, once you kill them do pick up their guns as they cannot be purchased anywhere in the game. Speaking of weapons, they are gorgeous, drool worthy, provided you are not a miser and spend all the money you earn and steal in the game on upgrades. My best buy was a diamond encrusted grenade. If you buy it and plan to use it, remember to take cover as diamond cuts to anything and everything!
Playing it in co-op is definitely more exciting than depending on an AI partner, because sometimes four, one-word instructions are not enough to build a good strategy.
The cover system used in the game is simply superb though the new camera system might take a bit getting used to. You need to flip between camera mounted on left shoulder to camera mounted on right shoulder depending on which side you’re taking cover. Personally, I had a few issues initially, but after suffering a few unpleasant deaths with bullets on my rear I figured it out.
The game is a good enough sequel but towards the end you feel that it could have been better. The game looks great, plays great, and will leave you wanting for more.
Are you based out of India? Do you game on Xbox 360? Do you use Live service? If you replied with a yes to all three questions, then you have a reason to rejoice. Those under Silver plan in live service will get an auto upgrade to gold for free. Where did I get the info from? From the Facebook page of course!
Starting today 10:30 PM until 4 Jan 2010 10:30 PM all India silver members get access to Gold features for Free! So how you wanna enter 2010 now KFP
Good news for sure, but don’t cancel your new year plans now
PS: I’m finally getting an Xbox360 this new year.. I think it’s time I thought beyond PC gaming
When Eidos and Rocksteady announced the new Batman game, I was filled with mixed emotions. Being a huge batman fan, it’s easy to say that I was elated, but at the same time, I feared that, like almost all the previous Batman games, it would not be able to do justice to the Dark Knight.
The previous batman game, which was based on the movie of the same name, Batman Begins was good, but not great. It was the first Batman game which incorporated Batman’s use of stealth and fear as a weapon, which was really good, but the game was flawed in many aspects and hence didn’t really turn out to be great.
The first teasers of Batman Arkham Asylum I saw, raised my expectations. But there was still some doubt. But now, having played the game, all doubts of this being a quality game has been removed. The game is awesome and does justice to the gritty and dark theme, presented in the comic books as well as the last movie.
The story is simple. Batman has captured his arch-nemesis Joker and has transported him to Arkham Asylum. While all would presume the situation to be hunky dory, Batman being his cynical self, smells a rat. His ‘Bat-Sense’ turns out to be accurate as Joker breaks free with the help of his girl Harley Quinn and escapes into the depths of Arkham, leaving a trail of death for Batman to follow.
All hell breaks loose as the inmates are freed. What follows is Batman’s fight to save Gotham City, the hostages within the Asylum and his atempt to spoil Joker’s master plan. Along this quest the Batman battles thugs, unarmed and armed, mutated giants and some old villainous faces — The Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, Bane — in Arkham.
The gameplay
The gameplay is divided into two part within the game (which can also played later in challenge mode). The first is fighting where Batman is attacked by a horde of goons. The controls are simple enough . A button to attack, a button to stun and a very useful button to counter an incoming attack when the player sees a ‘lightning like’ animation over the enemies head. This might seem a little too easy at first, but it gets harder as the game progresses and as the number of enemies increase. Later on in the game, you’ll encounter thugs carrying weapons (like a knife or a stunner and guns). In their case, you need to employ a slightly different tactics. Say hello to shadows, catch them unaware, attack from the back to name a few. More on the stealth aspect later.
The fighting mechanism works well and is extremely fluid. Moreover it looks as if the player is watching the action in a movie while playing simultaneously. The animation is detailed and I could forgive the few incidents where Batman missed the goon completely with a swing but still floored him.I like to call it bat magic
Another important aspect of the game is the stealth mode. Here Batman is put into a room filled with goons with weapons. Now we all know that Batman is unlike any other superhero, in the sense; he has no powers. Hence, when it comes to thugs with guns, Batman cannot go bash them up heads on. But what Batman has at his arsenal are his brains and his gadgets, along with his skills in terms of stealth and his reputation which instills fear into his ‘victims’.
All this has been taken into consideration when the stealth levels were conceptualised. What essentially happens is that Batman surveys his environment and threats from a vantage point, like a gargoyle. A press of a button trigger the view to switch to an infra red sort of a view called ‘Detective Mode’ where Bats can see his enemies through walls, see if they are armed, and also, get this, their heart rate. Here, the player needs to pick off his enemies one by one, without being detected. Don’t worry there are enough gargoyles in Arkham. As he eliminates his enemies, the level of fear instilled in the remainders increases. Once Batman picks off all but one bad guy, the last guy will be so scared that you can just jump in front of him and the victim will be too petrified to react.
This system works really well. The feeling when you pick off a bad guy without being noticed is really good. In case you are detected, you will be shot at, and all you can do is run, grapple onto a gargoyle and swing between them until they lose sight of you (which considering the fact that you could swing right in front of a thug, undetected, as long as you are in the air is a little unrealistic, but I’m not complaining). You might get out alive, but it will hurt your ego, nonetheless. But again, the system works well. All the stealth and picking off bad guys one by one without being detected makes you feel that you really are the Bat.
The Joker meanwhile will continue to tease you on the speaker phone and this adds to the feel of things. The conversation between the goons is even better. When Batman enters the room, the goons are confident, brash and cocky, which makes taking them out even more pleasurable. But things change once you begin to play with their heads. A slight sound can make the last few enemies start shooting wildly into nothingness. It gives the player a real essence of the Batman and fear and also gave me a sense of sadistic pleasure that I could mess with them so much.
At times, I didn’t even bother taking them out, but just kept throwing around stray batarangs to see a reaction. What also works well with the stealth mode is that you have so many options to take them down: Batrangs, Explosive Gels, falling debris and my personal favorite, the Inverted Takedown.
Of course, what would a Batman game be without the gadgets? And he has a lot of gadgets in his arsenal: Explosive Gel, Batarangs, Multi Batarangs, Sonic Batarangs, Remote Controlled Batrangs (yes!) and a handy device called the Bat-Claw. All of them work well. Also Batman’s cape can be used to stun enemies as well as glide a good distance. And there’s Detective mode, as I had mentioned before.
Detective Mode, as players will find is probably Batman’s most useful gadget, and will help him find clues and objects which he can use. The one problem I had found with Detective Mode is that, the user will have to use it for most part of the game, which is not a good thing considering that the user will be sacrificing the true graphic quality of the game while in that mode. I was also a tad disappointed that there was no Batmobile, but I didn’t really expect one as Arkham Asylum is a closed environment. Batmobile does makes a brief presence in the game, but then all you’re required to do is protect it from goons.
The game is a mixture of a linear game and a free flowing game. The game is linear as Batman has to follow a certain path for the story to progress, and doesn’t have missions to choose from. But at any time, Batman can deviate from this path to search for ‘Riddler Clues’, a bunch of clues and trophies which ‘The Riddler’ has hidden in different areas. The trophies can be found in normal vision but most clues can only be deciphered using Detective Mode. This gives the user a welcome change in pace of the game after beating up a bunch of bad guys or scaring the wits out of them. It also rewards the player with Character Bios, Models and Patient interview tapes, which make an interesting listen. Occasionally, the game breaks into what I’d like to call ‘Scarecrow Sequences’. These are brilliant!!! I will not get into details at risk of spoiling it for those who haven’t played the game, but they are out of this world.
Really graphic
Graphically the game scores well. The game has managed to capture the dark gritty environment of Arkham Asylum. One look at the Asylum and you can tell that this is a place with a dark past and a darker present. The character models are well done and even villains like Killer Croc look very realistic. Unfortunately, lip movements in the game should have been given a little more detailing, and proves to be a negative point in what sis otherwise a graphically sound game. Batman looks good except that his basic movements seem very stiff. But what really a treat graphically is the outdoor settings of the Asylum. All in all, the game looks beautifully disturbing, and is a visual treat, especially for fans of the comic book.
More brownie points
Another area where the game absolutely scores is in the voice acting department. Hats off to the producers of the game to get the real voice actors of the animated series into the game. Kevin Conroy, and the rest of the animated series cast, all do a brilliant job. But what really steals the show in this regard is Mark Hamill’s portrayal of the Joker. He has captured whatever Joker stands for in his voice acting. It is dark and sadistic which a hint of crappy humor. Hard to imagine he was once Luke Skywalker of Star Wars fame. Kudos to you, Mark.
Bashing time
This game is brilliant in every sense of the word. Well, almost. In spite of being such a good game, it is not without its flaws. The most notable flaw in the game are the boss battles. They get really repetitive, with Batman using a gadget, fighting a horde of goons, using the gadget again… and so on. The worse of these battles is the Killer Croc mission which really kills the mood of the game.
The Boss battles just don’t work, and kill the feel of the game which happens besides them. Another flaw of the game is the ending, which, is not with the mood the game has set. But the most major flaw I found with this game is that it ends too quickly, or at least it seemed like that. Maybe the flaw is just that the game does come to an end.
Final Verdict: Must Play
But all the flaws mentioned above does not stop Batman: Arkham Asylum from being a great game. It is a must play game for fans of the Dark Knight, and it is a game which will make players fans of him, if they are not already. It is the best Batman game ever made, and dare I say it, the greatest superhero game of all time. Watch out for the story, the action, the stealth mode, the graphics and most notably the Scarecrow sequences in the game. I am already looking forward to the sequel (and praying that the refrain from bringing Robin into the game), and trust me there will be a sequel. So to those who haven’t played the game yet, Don your capes and cowls and go and be The Batman.
Hope you’re enjoying playing as the cape crusader. Don’t worry about being jobless once you play through the game in a hurry. Eidos has announced that a map pack – Insane Night Map Pack – of the game will be available on September 17 for PS3, Xbox360 and PC.
In the ‘Totally Insane’ FreeFlow Combat map, players will be tested to their fullest as scores of escaped lunatics bear down upon Batman as they make their escape through the asylum’s secure records facility.
These fast-moving foes will challenge all but the most practiced players, with quick reactions and expert timing needed to fend off wave upon wave of insane inmates, bent on taking down the Dark Knight.
In the ‘Nocturnal Hunter’ Invisible Predator map, players take on a wholly different approach, practicing their predatory skills to remain in the shadows, utilizing the Arkham watchtowers and Batman’s arsenal of gadgets to gain the upper hand on The Joker’s army of goons patrolling below.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is rated “T” and is available for PS3 and Xbox 360 for the suggested retail price of $59.99. It will also be available for Games for Windows LIVE at retail outlets for the suggested retail price of $49.99 on September 15. For more information, please visit www.batmanarkhamasylum.com.
Do you follow Xbox 360 India on Twitter? If you’re reading this, chances are you aren’t. So my dear Xbox 360 fan, stop having mental orgasms and hey I’m talking about a perfectly legal method to win a copy of the game here.
All you need to do is change your twitter profile image to a character from Halo universe and put up a Halo 3 ODST status message on Facebook. (eg: Dying to get my hands on Halo 3 ODST) But do try to come up with something reeeeeally wacky to raise chances of winning a copy (that’s me saying it).
Here are the rukes as set by Xbox 360 India
Rules and Information:
1.To participate you MUST be a fan of this Facebook Community.
2.All decisions made by KungFu Pandit and the page admins are final.
3. You must have a Halo profile picture WHILE we are picking the winner. Which is why you should keep it on as long as you can.
4. 6 lucky winners will be picked by the admins to win Halo 3:ODST game copies for the Xbox 360
5. We will contact you for your shipping address so that we can send your prizes to you.
6. This contest is open only to people residing in India and who are in India right now. ( We can’t send it to you while you’re abroad.. that would be silly)
7. Halo 3:ODST launches Sept 22nd.
—– Helpful Links —–
- Image Search http://images.google.co.in | Search for Halo 3 or any Halo character in particular. Download the image, then upload as your profile picture
- Halo 3 Character Image Generator: http://php.badrouter.net/bnet/
This allows you to customize the look of your Halo character. When you’re done, right click on the resulting image, then “save as”, and remember to change the file type to “.jpg” while saving.
So there goes nothing folks, this is not the first viral campaign which asked people to replace twitter user pics with a brand image. V channel did it recently, quite successfully too. So which character from Halo universe are you gonna pick. Remember Master Chief is just the protagonist.
If you’re not familiar with Halo universe, here’s a Halo 3 ODST Trailer
KFP
The first teasers of Batman Arkham Asylum I saw, raised my expectations. But there was still some doubt. But now, having played the game, all doubts of this being a quality game has been removed. The game is awesome and does justice to the gritty and dark theme, presented in the comic books as well as the last movie.
All this has been taken into consideration when the stealth levels were conceptualised. What essentially happens is that Batman surveys his environment and threats from a vantage point, like a gargoyle. A press of a button trigger the view to switch to an infra red sort of a view called ‘Detective Mode’ where Bats can see his enemies through walls, see if they are armed, and also, get this, their heart rate. Here, the player needs to pick off his enemies one by one, without being detected. Don’t worry there are enough gargoyles in Arkham. As he eliminates his enemies, the level of fear instilled in the remainders increases. Once Batman picks off all but one bad guy, the last guy will be so scared that you can just jump in front of him and the victim will be too petrified to react.
At times, I didn’t even bother taking them out, but just kept throwing around stray batarangs to see a reaction. What also works well with the stealth mode is that you have so many options to take them down: Batrangs, Explosive Gels, falling debris and my personal favorite, the Inverted Takedown.
Really graphic
What they said…