Games Cheats and Reviews

AOTF: Ever since Bungie announced that Halo: Reach would be their final development title in the Halo Universe, many have speculated as to what the company might be up to. Some have speculated that they will focus their efforts on multiplatform titles, others have guessed a little closer to their roots in a Marathon redux. We recently came across a trademark registration that Bungie filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on March 9th, 2010. It looks like Bungie is going inter-galactic.

The Bungie Aerospace trademark is likely to be used in conjunction with….

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You’re playing the game, you’re fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

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.

IncGamers takes a look at Cryptic’s State of the Game report for the recently released Star Trek Online.

Fans should be pleased to see that the development team is determined to deliver what the majority of them want, however:

"Ship interiors, more bridges, crew quarters, First Officers, Fleet advancement… You have subscribed to a service that delivers a universe unending, and we shall see that universe populated with compelling content or, by the Prophets, we will die trying."

Split-screen: "343 Industries, Microsoft Games Studios’ new internal Halo team, seems to be going into overdrive for their Halo-based venture."

The upcoming real-time-strategy game from W!Games, Greed Corp, finally has a release date – technically two. Greed Corp will release on the Xbox Live Arcade on February 24th for 800 Microsoft Points and on the Playstation Store on February 25th for $9.99.

Greed Corp is the first in a series of games that will be set in W!Games Mistbound universe. In Greed Corp, a once beautiful civilization was almost completely destroyed by a devastating earthquake. In the aftermath, four corporations rose up to take charge and are now fighting with one another for resources. Greed Corp features an innovative collapsing landscape mechanic that allows the player to destroy the land right out from under an enemy corporation, or to destroy it from his or herself in order to keep it out of the enemies hands.

Sharing: It’s Win/Win

Terminal Gamer’s Geoffrey Calver looks at how the Mass Effect games have changed gaming forever.

From the article:

"In the end, the Mass Effect story will change gaming because Shepard isn’t just Shepard – he’s my Shepard. And yours is your Shepard. Our decisions are never the same. We each have a different experience. And because those decisions carry over to the next game, they are real decisions. Mass Effect is very much alive. The universe is teeming with characters that matter and decisions that reverberate."

Jeuxvideo: Better presented and more homogeneous than Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain presents himself as a open book on a universe rocking quickly in horror. True interactive film or false video game?

Eurogamer.fr writes: "The game of Quantic Dream has touched me, unquestionably, both as a player because he symbolizes today the culmination of a genre halfway between cinema and video game that has always seemed interesting in its intentions but rarely conclusive.The adventure game by hosting a new representative of choice. But also as thirty, cinephile at times, to which the scenario well oiled and the adult aspect of the universe but also the characters are what I eat in other media. A high score therefore, to welcome risk-taking that represents this type of production today."

Edge: Ultimately, Mass Effect 2’s greatest strength is in tying its disparate pieces together, binding the gunplay and conversation systems into something that meshes, while creating an action-RPG that knows stats should be there, but that they should never get in the way of a good headshot. The result is a game that’s grown into its obvious potential. With the first instalment, BioWare built a universe of words – a deeply convincing multicultural sprawl you could read about without ever quite getting to touch. Here, you’re inside it from the start – and the view is often dazzling.