Games Cheats and Reviews

Mass Effect 2 was a game about choices. Yes, it did have aliens, a plot to shake the universe on its very foundation, sex sequences, and an epic soundtrack to tie it all together. But ultimately Mass Effect 2 completely hinged itself on the decisions commander Shepard made. The alliances you chose, the romances you engage in, and even your save file from the last game all played a role in shaping the storyline that unfolded till the very end. However, while Mass Effect 2 did keep many of its promises there was one really powerful storytelling element that was all but absent from the gameplay. Something that Playstation 3’s exclusive Heavy Rain has in spades.

ZeroTolerance writes: The Saboteur is one of the most interesting stories in gaming this year. I am not necessarily referring to the actual story of the game itself though as much as its transition up to its release. Pandemic Studios, the company most notably known for titles such as Mercenaries and Battlefront series, are at the helm of this latest open-world extravaganza. This is also their last game they will ever create as the team was released before it even hit shelves. Then we have the fiasco of downloadable nude codes and The Saboteur is ripe for failure at every turn. Still once you sit down with the game you will quickly discover that underneath its rough exterior is a game that is chock full of fresh and entertaining ideas, and will reward anyone with enough patience to get past its shortcomings.

GrE writes, "I have a little more confidence in this week’s pick. Saboteur is that last game from the recently closed Pandemic Studios. While set in World War II, this is no Medal of Honor game. Playing the part of an angry Irishman who wants revenge for his fallen buddy, your goal is to hunt down the high ranking Nazi who killed him. Too bad for the Nazi’s he is so high ranking. An angry Irishman like you might accidentally free Paris on your quest for blood. There are some in-game stealth mechanics, but it doesn’t appear that you will be using them very much…"

The first Indiana Jones Lego game, which spanned the three classic Indiana Jones movies, was not without its faults, despite its beloved source material and fun-as-ever block-smashing action. While the humor and whimsy showed through in the cut-scenes, the playable characters’ powers were not varied enough, and the few distinctions between the different characters (shovel guy, sword guy, gun guy, high-jump girl, and so on) were not particularly satisfying from a combat perspective. It was still good, mind you, but just not as good as it could have been.

Lego Indiana Jones 2, however, manages to fix all this, and improve on it in ways that I never knew I wanted from a licensed Lego game. The game not only revisits the original movies, it also covers the recent Indy flick, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And though the sheer variety of character types has not dramatically changed, some have been tweaked and Traveller’s Tales has added new fight animations to each character. Characters can do rolling punches, or kicks, or tosses depending on who they are, what weapon they’re using, and what enemy they’re fighting. Willie Scott’s power in the last game, which was to break glass with her high-pitched scream, has been replaced with a grenade-like perfume bottle toss, with the side effect of putting enemies in the splash zone under a charmed status. It makes combat that much more interesting, even though most of the time you’re still just repeatedly pressing the same button.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption may not be the last game in the Prime series. With Other M on the way next year, some might have thought that the Prime series had come to an end but, as Nintendo’s Kensuke Tanabe told ONM, the series may still have a future.

Asked whether Samus will ever return to DS, Tanabe (who oversaw Retro Studios’ series for Nintendo) said "We are always planning to make new games in the Metroid Prime series. Depending on the timing and the situation, we cannot deny the possibility of realising it on DS or DSi."

Square Enix are looking set to publish the latest in Taito’s latest series of the Estpolis games (known to those outside Japan as Lufia). The new game will be called ‘Estpolis: Land Cursed by the Gods’ and will be produced by the same development team behind the last game.

Nick @ PS3Center writes:

Thus, Insomniac has come to the conclusion that this will likely be their last game to run at 60 FPS. They believe that they can achieve higher quality graphics while still maintaining a solid 30 FPS, and that would be a better use of their time.

Ubisoft has confirmed that the upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction will not be the last game in the series and that the next title may even feature a new player character.

See that beauty of a screenshot up there? Get a really good look at it, because you won’t be playing it this year. There was speculation that it would happen — and it was rumored heavily enough that Activision Blizzard stock dropped 14% throughout July — and now StarCraft 2 has officially been delayed in the first half of 2010. The first in the trio of StarCraft 2 releases, Wings of Liberty, was to be released later this year, but Blizzard has confirmed the delay.

An official statement from Blizzard PR reads:

Today we announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009. Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.

Our mission is to develop games that deliver an epic entertainment experience. As part of that commitment, we will always take as much time as needed to ensure that our games and services meet the expectations of our players and the standard for quality that we set for ourselves as developers. As we work to make Battle.net the premier online gaming destination, we?ll also continue to polish and refine StarCraft II, and we look forward to delivering a real-time strategy gaming experience worthy of the series? legacy in the first half of 2010.

This is tremendously disappointing news; SC2 was one of the most highly anticipated games of the year. Fans have been waiting for more than 11 years for a sequel to the original, and it looks like that figure might end up being stretched to 12 years. We’ve got our fingers crossed the game won’t suffer any further delays, and likewise that this will be the last game release that gets pushed out of 2009.

The Ace Attorney series consistently delivers funny, well-written stories, and Capcom’s latest game in the ever-expanding series, Ace Attorney Investiagtions: Miles Edgeworth, seems on route to follow in its predecessors’ footsteps. I recently finished playing through the first case in the Japanese release of Investigations, and while it tickles my nostalgia bone with plenty of nods to the previous Ace Attorney installments, it offers quite a bit new as well.

The game doesn’t change the basic “search for clues and talk to people” formula, but Capcom adds one very important thing that the last game in the series, Apollo Justice, was missing: a main character that you already know. Sure, the cameos in Apollo Justice were fun, but trying to extend the franchise by bringing in a new attorney isn’t as effective as Investigations’ exploration of the backstory of prosecutor Miles Edgeworth.