Jowood’s Arcania: A Few Interesting Features

At Gamescom, Nisute got the chance to take a look at Arcania: Gothic 4, an upcoming RPG from Jowood. To be totally honest, the game looked pretty much like any other RPG; the combat system is similar, the techtree for skills is similar, generic enemies… it’s “unique selling point” is its story of all things, and the story is pretty generic actually.

The reason I’m even writing an article about this game is because of a couple of intriguing features that the game actually has, one of which don’t even have anything to do with the game itself.

The first of these features is the fact that the players can turn off every piece of interface shown on screen, including the minimap and damage display when fighting monsters. This way, the player really has to experience the environment like the character does; they must remember where they came from, how to get to the nearest town, and fight an enemy blind until it falls to the floor defeated. This is definitely a fun and challenging approach to a fantasy RPG, and I would like to see the possibility to do the same in many of the larger RPG’s (unless they also have the feature, but most don’t as far as I know).

The second feature that actually got me to sit up straight in my seat and start to take an interest in the presentation was the fact that the game has a graphical setting for Europeans and Americans. If the player chooses to play in American mode, the colors are deeply saturated; the greens really pop and make the environment look vibrant, lush and interesting. If the player chooses European mode, however, the game looks desaturated, bland, and “more realistic” according to the PR representative that gave the presentation. Apparently, they have done studies which prove that Europeans prefer more desaturated colors in their games, and Americans find the saturated colors much more appealing, and they felt it had such an impact on the player’s experience that they had to include the feature.

Funnily enough, I did like the game a whole lot more when it was in American mode; I guess they did their research.

Assassins Creed Brotherhood: The Story Continues

I really have to admit that when I finished Assassins Creed II, I had an empty feeling. I felt sorry for Ezio, being used for a project of higher goals, eventually not knowing more of his story and his future. The wait is finally over at E3, and a new gameplay video has been showed at Gamescom. Not only did we get to see this awesome video, the multiplayer version was also available in an eight-minute match, playing with six people at a time.

Let’s not rush it; first things first! The trailer that has been shown at E3 was showed again, followed by a new one. In the first gameplay video, we see Ezio Auditore lying in bed with a woman, while a cannonball flies trough the window. Ezio jumps up and puts on his clothes, knowing that there is something bad going on. Finding out that the Borgia family is attacking the villa Auditore, Ezio comes to the rescue, killing templars, and firing cannons at the troops. Borgia then enters the city, holding Ezio’s uncle under fire, and as Ezio comes close he gets shot, falling to the floor.

The trailer continued with Ezio, located in Rome four years later, joined by a brotherhood of assassins. Ezio actually has the power to select a group of enemies, sending his brotherhood to them, which is really necessary, since Borgia’s army is really large. In the second trailer, Ezio enters a church where the Pope is in the middle of performing a ritual. As guards are being attacked by the brotherhood, Ezio uses his gun to take down the pope, blanking out the screen.

The experience we had during this presentation was great. Not only did the developers keep the mood of the previous games, they also improved the game graphically, and even improved the methods of gameplay. This single player mode is a great experience for players who want to see Ezio in action again.

The multiplayer experience was amazing. In the game mode we got to play, players have to kill a certain target, while being followed by another target as well; kill or be killed. Running to your partner will let them know you’re following them, but standing still will kill you in a second. Due to this form of gameplay, players are constantly alert to the environment, since not only the players are present but duplicates are in the field as well. Killing the wrong person will give you a negative score. Just like in single player, people can blend in with the crowd and hide in hay bales, leaving your personal assassin in confusion. The game will have different approaches to this gameplay, from free-for-all to team deathmatch.

This game will be an excellent installment in the Assassins Creed series, and if the multiplayer will show even more kinds of gameplay, this might even be the best one yet. All we can do now is wait.

Okamiden hands-on

At Gamescom we got our hands on the new Okami title for the DS, Okamiden. The game is in 3D, and showed some decent graphics with a thick black cell shading outline on everything to mimic Japanese ink illustrations, just like those in the original Okami game.

The overall gameplay and direction feels a lot like the original Okami for the Wii.

The game story takes place some time after the first Okami which featured the sun goddess Amaterasu. This time you go through the adventures of Chibiterasu. He is a young sungod that needs to save and restore the world. You posses a magic celestial brush that can restore ingame objects. The first obstacle was a broken bridge that had to be fixed, which was done by selecting the magic brush and drawing the outline of the missing part on the DS touch screen. There is a limited amount of ink so you need to be careful not to use too much. After the correct brushstrokes have been made, the bridge is constructed and Chibiterasu is able to pass. Another feature was the ability to split Chibiterasu from Shiranui to make the overall weight lighter so they can cross certain fragile parts of the world and collect keys or activate platforms to open new areas.

If you liked the Wii game, you’ll most likely enjoy this game, so be sure to keep an eye on this title which will be released in the first half of 2011.

The destruction continues: Red Faction Battlegrounds

Announced at Gamescom Europe 2010, here are a few things you might want to know about the game:

• Downloadable Game
• 4-player co-op on and offline (including combined 3 vs 1 local vs internet)
• Top-down view of battlefield
• Different kinds of vehicles
• Destruction will still play a big roll
• Primary and Secondary weapons
• Pick up ammo and shields to resupply
• Armageddon DLC (tie in with story)
• Origin Tv-Series DLC (tie in with story)

Game Modes:

• Deathmatch
• Team Deathmatch
• King of the Hill
• Capture the Flag
• Singleplayer Challenges

Will be released before Red Faction Armageddon.

Owning one of the two titles will give you benefits for the other. So owning both will give you bonuses in both games. Also announced is that a new Sci-Fi TV Series will be coming to the Sci-Fi channel which will cover some more story about the Red Faction Universe.

Behind closed doors: Red Faction Armageddon

During our behind-closed-doors showing of Red Faction Armageddon demo we were able to get a glimpse of the new gameplay and art direction.

Here is basically what you need to know:

Armageddon takes place two decades after RF: Guerrilla. A war is going on on the surface of mars which drove the people to go underground. Now because of this new setting, in terms of location and technology advancements, the team got the chance to come up with a new style and look for the game including new advanced weaponry.

Here is a list of notable things that were apparent from the demo:

Weapons

• Magnet Gun (shoot a tag point and then a second point to have the first tagged object pull itself towards the second one)
• Singularity Cannon (shoot a missile which creates a gravity point which sucks everything that’s in a close radius in and the explodes)
• Repair (repair anything back to it’s original state)
• Shockwave (let out a pulse around you which knocks the enemy off the ground where they would be immobilized in mid-air for awhile )
• Impact (fire a burst in front of you to clear your path)

Gameplay

Graphics

• On the graphics side we can see that there are a lot more colors this time around.
  The developers told us: In RF:Guerrilla we only had 1 source of light: the sun. In Armageddon since we’re now underground we have a lot of light-sources throughout the level. Now the exciting thing about this is that, imagine demolishing a building with lights, now as it comes down you can see all the lights reflecting on the ground and on buildings before it crashes on the ground getting rid of the light-source
• It’s not only going to take place underground though, we will be going all over the planet of mars which will bring a lot of variety graphics-wise
• You can literally take out all the lights in a section which will leave the tunnel pitch black. Which you can then use flare guns and grenades to light the rooms etc. Even on the guns and nano forge powers you can see that there are a lot of light effect which reflect on the world. It’s just really cool to play with the lights and destruction and other features
• They also brought the camera closer to the shoulder of the protagonist, and a reason for that is that having the camera closer to the action you can also see the monsters better and everything is more detailed

Global Agenda MMO set for European Release

Independent American developer Hi-Rez Studios is about to release the retail version of their MMO shooter game Global Agenda in Europe next month. The UK version will be available from September 10th while the German language release is due for October 29th. A version for digital download has been available on the Steam platform since February, but the creators feel a retail version might boost the games’ user base. Apart from the original content, the retail game includes the expansion set ‘Sandstorm’. According to Stewart Chisam, vice president of Hi Rez, this expansion implements a lot of elements that make Global Agenda a more well-rounded and interesting game, including a big open-ended area and more raids.

At Gamescom in Cologne’s Koelnmesse, Chisam represented Hi-Rez at a booth attached to the Dutch Game Pavilion. The European retail version of Global Agenda is published by Iceberg Interactive, which is a Dutch company based in Haarlem.

Global Agenda is a third person shooter at heart, but combines this gameplay with typical MMORPG features. Players can level up their characters, build up a huge collection of weapons and armour and engage in both player vs player and player vs enemy combat in a large amount of territories. Four character classes are available: recon, medic, assault and robotic. Although these roughly translate to well-known classes form other games like scout, heavy machine gunner or engineer, Chisam said a varied play style within classes is supported. Another element that makes combat interesting is the addition of jetpacks, making sure players keep an eye out on the sky as well as the ground.

Another interesting gameplay feature is the possibility to conquer persistent territory. Once a guild (or ‘agency’ as it’s called in the sci-fi world of Global Agenda) invades and conquers a certain area, it stays in this agency’s possession until somebody else takes it or until the season ends. Season lasts two weeks, after which the territories become a blank slate again and players can start the battle anew. Conquering adjacent territory yields more points, while some areas are more valuable than others because they contain a factory, mine or laboratory.

Users only pay when they buy or download the game. Although the game included a subscription fee at its initial release, this has been removed. Chisam promised not to charge money for minor updates, but expansion packs cost an additional amount.

Hi-Rez Studios was founded in 2005. Global Agenda is their first game and has a user base of 40.000 people. The studio hopes to increase this amount with 50 percent the coming months. Hi-Rez employs about 40 people and is currently working on its second IP.

Homefront: Staying Home for a War

THQ showed us one of their latest installments today. Homefront is a new first person shooter, and in part is a follow-up to the successful game Frontline.

The game is based on things that are actually in the news at the moment. The story is based on the idea that in 20 years Korea is taking over neighbouring countries, forming an even bigger army than they already have. American armies fall under the greatness of the Korean army, and America as we know it is no more. A group of rebels formed a small settlement where they try to uphold their American way of life. Afraid that the Korean army will find the rebels, they decide to go for a more offensive approach. The result is a large scale action game: Homefront.

The game tries to focus on the rebels themselves: Their background, their emotions and their lives. This, of course, requires a good graphic design, which was reminiscent of Modern Warfare 2, but slightly smoother. The gameplay is pretty intense, and just like Frontline; it’s chaotic, but at the same time, the game is actually pretty systematic. Whatever happens, you can still see everything clearly due to well placed slow motion, sound effects and great graphic design. The game is being developed in the Unreal engine, and the result is a great graphical, and emotional experience.

Because it’s a futuristic game, the team spent a lot of time on making vehicles, drones etc. The environments are really dynamic and therefore, the vehicles fit amazingly well into the scene. Normally, the vehicles in futuristic games are really fictional, but in this game, the creators just improved modern vehicles of war, which makes the game believable and realistic, even if it’s set in the near future.

The demo showed a mission in which a few of the rebels try to take over a building, using all the standard first person shooter mechanics (knifing, stealth and shooting). Use of napalm was an intense thing to experience, however, but also made it immediately clear that this game is not for kids. The demo was a satisfying experience, and I hope that everyone can experience this game themselves on PS3, Xbox and on PC using Steam!

PS3 selling like hotcakes, outselling Wii, 360 globally

In a long-awaited turn of events at this year’s GamesCom, the company behind Playstation announced it’s new form factor for the Playstation 3, and with it came a new, much cheaper, €299 price tag.

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An Interview with Ryota Niitsuma: Producer of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

So back at Gamescom Maikel and I got the exclusive opportunity to have an interview with the producer of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Ryota Niitsuma, as well as Mao Sugiyama who translated for us and provided us with information regarding the game. We just have to say right now, this interview was awesome. Great experience unlike any we’ve had before, and was a lot of fun. Read more

Engine Software at Gamescom

Engine software is a small game development company from a city in the eastern side of the Netherlands called Doetinchem. They pride themselves in being the oldest game development company in the Netherlands, having been founded in 1995.

The company began as a partial developer for other companies and projects, and as they constantly produced quality and performed well, they quickly gained a reputation of being a good, reliable company. Because of this, they were finally able to take on complete projects on their own, rather than only taking part in a piece of the development. This day and age, they are very well established, and are working on getting some new IPs to work on using their own technology. At the moment they’ve worked on over 80-90 commercial titles.

Engine Software is known for making portable console games, and more recently the DS to be precise. They have been known in the past to make many titles based on existing licenses and franchises, such as Spongebob Squarepants, Wolverine and Barbie (talk about diverse..). The in-house development team consists of roughly 25 employees, and they typically work in teams of 5 or 6 on a project, meaning they usually have about 5 different projects running at a time.

Engine Software has developed an interesting platformer engine for the DS, and they have had a lot of practice using it; their platformers on the DS are top-notch.

Though they work mostly in license titles and franchises, from what we saw, they mentioned that they have been trying for quite some time now to have brainstorming sessions twice a month to come up with new IP to develop; so they are planning on getting their own projects and concepts running sometime soon, and considering the level of quality they seem to produce, we look forward to what they come up with. Perhaps an interesting IP to use with their platforming engine?

If you want to know more about the games Engine Software has recently released (or will release soon), feel free to read up on them

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