Reversible boxart in europe

New Assasins Creed spin off

http://www.gamefront.de/archiv04-2010-gamefront/assassin.jpg

Updates done.

Archangel3371 said:

Awww man, major bummer with the Lost Planet 2 reviews. Still I really love the good points about the game enough to eagerly look forward to buying it. It looks fantastic, has a ton of boss fights, and online multiplayer is loads of fun with lots of unlockables to obtain. Shame the rest of the game didn't really do as well.

Did not expect this at all.

I hope Dead Rising 2 doesn't suffer the same fate. On better news, Modnation Racers seems to be good. Who called that one?

ONM  Sin and Punishment 2 review

If you've been a gamer for a long time then the name Treasure should mean something to you. One of the most highly respected development studios in Japan, Treasure is the daddy of extremely difficult shoot 'em ups. Whether it's GameCube and Dreamcast classic Ikaruga, the Mega Drive run-and-gun gem Gunstar Heroes or the recently remade for DS Bangai-O, a Treasure-developed title will test your control pad dexterity like no other developer's game can.

A great example of this was the original Sin & Punishment, a Nintendo 64 on-rails shooter that, while a fantastic game and one of the best examples of the shoot 'em up genre on the N64, was unfortunately never released outside of Japan.

Nintendo gamers in the West were cruelly denied the right to play this fantastic game until it was finally released on the Wii's Virtual Console a couple of years ago. Now its long awaited sequel is here and, in true Treasure fashion, it's more difficult than a culinary conversation between a vegetarian and a butcher.

Isa and Kachi, the young male and female characters you get to choose from, have crash-landed in a secret government building and are trying to leg it out of there before they're killed.

Both characters have their own strengths and weaknesses, though the difference isn't quite as stark as you might expect. The pair have a similar feel when you're controlling them since they each have the ability to both run along the ground and fly around at will (Isa has a jetpack while Kachi has a hoverboard), so it all really comes down to their alternative fire methods. Isa's charged shot is a single huge explosion which does great damage to anything in its vicinity, while Kachi fires a series of homing missiles at multiple enemies, allowing for a less powerful but more accurate and widespread assault.

Control Yourself
Although you can use the Classic and GameCube controllers, using the Remote and Nunchuk control method is by far the best way to play this game as you use the control stick to move your character and point at the screen to shoot.

You can also use the A button to lock on to enemies or bosses' weak spots, but your shots are less powerful. If you quickly tap the B button instead of holding it, your character will quickly swipe their cleverly-concealed sword, which is handy for deflecting bullets and taking out nearby enemies.

Pointing the Remote is infinitely easier to do than using the analogue stick to move your crosshair, as was the case in the N64 original.

A decent player will finish Sin & Punishment 2 on its Normal difficulty setting in around seven hours but getting through the story is only the beginning - it's the high score system that separates the men from the boys.

Getting a high score in Sin & Punishment 2 is all about building a combo. Each time you kill an enemy your combo number will rise slightly. This combo number acts as a score multiplier so as it continues to grow you'll start to get more and more points for each enemy you defeat. Every time you take a hit, however, you lose a hefty chunk of your combo.

This makes for an intriguing risk/reward system. If you play it safe and avoid getting mixed up with too many enemies, you'll miss out on a lot of kills but get stuck in and try to kill as many enemies as possible and you're more likely to take damage. Once you've finished a level, you'll be given the option to submit your score to the game's online leaderboards.

The best way to get a stupidly high score and be in with a shout of a decent leaderboard position is to stick the difficulty on its highest setting, get a high combo, progress through to the final boss in a level and beat it without taking any hits.

This is much, much more easily said than done because not only does the game's hardest difficulty setting provide you with a constant barrage of bullets from all angles, the bosses are properly mental too.

Take the giant hovering plane with soldiers on its wings, or the huge bird that rolls massive eggs down a hill at you, or even the super-sized tank with the crazy armoured chap jumping about causing you grief with a flamethrower. And that all just happens in the first level.

If Looks Could Kill
Sin & Punishment 2 is easily one of the best-looking games on the Wii. Each stage looks incredible, with hugely detailed environments and breathtaking camera angles that keep you on your toes as your view constantly changes. The level set in an underwater tunnel is particularly spectacular, with huge dragon enemies that appear without warning and charge at you numerous times throughout the course of the level.

Successor Of The Skies is a '90s shoot 'em up in a slick, 21st-century shell, and it's proud of it. It doesn't care about trying to attract a larger audience and it doesn't try to cater to all needs by offering an easier, more accessible experience. There's no Mii support, no Super Guide, no cheery messages advising you to take a break every 15 minutes. All it has is a two-minute tutorial that basically says "here are the controls, now deal with it" then rips the stabilisers off your bike and chucks you into the action head-first. Who doesn't like the idea of that? Okay, maybe those who don't like extremely difficult high-score chasing but forget them! This is the game the harccore having been waiting for...

This is an edited version of a review that appears in ONM 55 which is on sale now. For the full unedited version with more in-depth analysis, screenshots and boxouts buy the May issue of Official Nintendo Magazine

Chris Scullion

We hate using the word 'hardcore' but if we had to attach it to any game it would be this one.

  Some of the best action on Wii
  Provides a great challenge
  Leaderboard brings longevity
  Looks incredible at times
  Definitely isn't for everyone

9/10

The DQM: Battle Road game looks really good. I'm still not sure I'll really want to play it since ultimately it's just a card game, but who the hell am I kidding?  Square-Enix could take a slime shaped crap in a box, call it Dragon Quest Feces, and I'd still probably buy it.  I'm as bad as the rest of Japan when it comes to that series.

Seriously, the screens do look really good. If DQX looks that good then I'll be thrilled.

Eurogamer

THQ has announced that a new entry in the de Blob franchise will arrive in the first quarter of calendar 2012.

This puts the game in the latter end of the "2011 fiscal year" range we heard in February.

The first De Blob title didn't exactly set the industry on fire when it hit the Wii in early 2008, but sales were apparently impressive enough to merit a sequel.

Our own Kristan Reed was charmed by De Blob's "clever, endearing, stylish and instantly playable" mix of platforming and puzzle elements

Are they just starting development now or something? Seems like a long gestation period.

Unless it's taking longer because they are doing it for multiple platforms.

In a sequel I dont want it to feel like a retread of the first game with new areas. I wonder what they can do to change up the gameplay? Some IR spray painting would be cool.

edgecrusher said:

gamingeek said:

Is anyone else getting Alan Wake?

I think I'll pick it up when it's cheaper. I like the setting and premise and if it plays sort of like Max Payne I can live with it.

I'm renting it soon.

Playing Bioshock 2 and God of War 3 right now. GOW 3 I'm not blown away by so far. Its great technically, but it feels like I'm replaying GOW 1 & 2....

Bioshock 2 I'm having a great time with. Just as good as the first game so far, and I can't get enough of the art style.

Did you play Condemed 2? I've always meant to get around to it but haven't yet.

Does it compare well to the first game?

Agnates said:

Don't feel so bad for LP2, it has some qualities similar to Monster Hunter, ie, very different from Western developers' takes on a given mechanic, so some people just can't grasp that. Maybe even more so since it's a shooter and not a melee focused game of which there aren't many. Hope isn't lost yet. Not saying it's great either since I haven't played it obviously, but yeah, reviewers can be wrong.

gamingeek said:

Is anyone else getting Alan Wake?

I think I'll pick it up when it's cheaper. I like the setting and premise and if it plays sort of like Max Payne I can live with it.

edgecrusher said:

gamingeek said:

edgecrusher said:

gamingeek said:

Is anyone else getting Alan Wake?

I think I'll pick it up when it's cheaper. I like the setting and premise and if it plays sort of like Max Payne I can live with it.

I'm renting it soon.

Playing Bioshock 2 and God of War 3 right now. GOW 3 I'm not blown away by so far. Its great technically, but it feels like I'm replaying GOW 1 & 2....

Bioshock 2 I'm having a great time with. Just as good as the first game so far, and I can't get enough of the art style.

Did you play Condemed 2? I've always meant to get around to it but haven't yet.

Does it compare well to the first game?

I never got around to playing it. I saw the very beginning and that's it. From what I hear its not as good as the first. They kind of went off the deep end with the story.

Ah.

So Prince of Persia cel shaded. Do the button prompts and hints ever stop? And the voice actor is bad. What happened to the softly spoken well educated prince of the first game? With this series it feels like they got it right first time and then went and messed with everything.

Archangel3371 said:

Agnates said:

Don't feel so bad for LP2, it has some qualities similar to Monster Hunter, ie, very different from Western developers' takes on a given mechanic, so some people just can't grasp that. Maybe even more so since it's a shooter and not a melee focused game of which there aren't many. Hope isn't lost yet. Not saying it's great either since I haven't played it obviously, but yeah, reviewers can be wrong.

Oh yeah there's definitely been some games that I've really enjoyed that have received low reviews plus I did enjoy what I've played in the demos for LP2. Really the only thing mentioned in the review that I read that may bother me was the AI of the computer controlled teammates at certain times and perhaps that way you might have to replay large portions of the levels if you die. Overall it certainly didn't sound that bad to me.

gamingeek said:

Is anyone else getting Alan Wake?

I think I'll pick it up when it's cheaper. I like the setting and premise and if it plays sort of like Max Payne I can live with it.

Oh yeah I'll probably be picking it up sometime in the very near future. The videos of seen look excellent and it is getting very positive reviews across the board so aside from some of the weak writing it seems the game has turned out to be quite solid.

Make sure you write impressions.

And write down the best, most hammy lines and repeat them here.