League of Legends Debate: Bottom Line

I would like to thank everyone involved in the comment chat we had about League of Legends. It seems I have displaced my energy when addressing my true concerns about the game, so let me verify my thoughts.

DOTA evolved as a custom game within the Warcraft III environment. It was a great idea, followed by a huge fan base, that grew with every version update. It is a worldwide E-sport, without a doubt, and is extremely impressive given the limitations provided it being a custom game. Without question it was due for a bigger and better stage, hence the movement to bring DOTA to stand alone status by creating its own game. Either way these game releases effect the massive audience the game demands, DOTA has created a new genre that will be sure to entertain millions and millions of gamers without a foreseeable end.

Although DOTA was created without Blizzard hands, it was raised within the Warcraft environment, and can be easily related to dominant Warcraft heroes, items, and playing style. DOTA was destined to end its Battle.net adventure some day, given the limitations I have noted, by HOW it ends has been put in the hands of the two teams developing League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth.

Reading about League of Legends, and finally playing the beta, my biggest concerns have proven themselves true, which leads me to my present issue with the game. League of Legends has chosen to create its own existence, using the DOTA gameplay foundation, but NONE of the original Warcraft cosmetics. Basically creating all new heroes (with some connection with DOTA heroes), all new items (with the recipe concept used in DOTA), and buffing the avatar (which DOTA never had a chance to do given its limitations as a custom game). I could probably find several more examples, but I think you get the point by now.

I don't think DOTA deserves that kind of end. I would like to see the game brought into a stand alone status while holding true to the original. I would like to see DOTA, with a few needed upgrades, given a chance to continue its success while keeping the Warcraft III theme. Taking the original DOTA game into stand alone status, with advanced avatar features, gameplay and graphic enhancements, and superior matchmaking and ranking systems, would give it the chance I feel it deserves. From what I can gather, Heroes of Newerth is attempting to do just that.

I have no problem with League of Legends, I am just disappointed with the way they have evolved from DOTA without giving it a chance to succeed as a stand alone game. As you can tell, I am a die hard, old school Warcraft fan, and playing DOTA without the original heroes, or items, just wouldn't be the same. That being said, I do wish both games the best of luck in creating successful online competition with the worlds newest E-sport.

-GAME HARD-

Friday's Top 10

Ok so you all know the news as of late has been...well, slow. It's the summer, what did you expect? There are, however, some notable happenings in the world of gaming going on right now. We have courtroom drama with Double Fine Studios (that's Tim Shaffer's company) taking on big wig company Activision. We have XBox's new Games on Demand Service NOT giving us new games. We even have World of Warcraft hitting epic sales marks. Ok, so maybe these arn't hard hitting stories that make you tingle with goose bumps but at least you still have us! Cue the crickets.

Lets get it on!

1. XBox On Demand Drops the ball on new games distribution [here]
2. Classic Call of Duty making its way onto Live [here]
3. Capcom blowing the competition away [here]
4. Aussie Game Chart(s) Numbers [here]
5. Gearbox + Halo = Rumor Control [here]
6. Brutal Legend Lawsuit Pushed Back [here]
7. Warhammer coming to MAC's [here]
8. WOW hits historic sales numbers [here]
9. Dark Void pushed back to 2010 [here]
10. King of Fighters Free To Play? [here]

-GAME HARD-

League of Legends: Update

I recently had the chance to participate in the beta. I wish I could be reporting with great excitement, but I am afraid the truth is nothing close. I consider myself a pro PC gamer, and a huge DOTA fan, so leading readers to believe this game is gonna be outstanding would be wrong.

On the bright side, the game has done a lot with the Summoner control (which is basically your account name or avatar). You have a talent tree that can give your champion random stat increases as you level. You gather runes from winning matches, which also give your champion random stat increases. Basically you can build different champion styles (offensive, defensive, support) with your runes and talents, which will translate to your champion in matches. It looks great, but honestly none of this is needed. After all is done, the more experience a player has, and the more games he wins, the more talents and runes he will have. It all adds up to buffing champions before the game even starts, which automatically takes away a strong DOTA feature, that is each player in each game starts completely fresh and statless (in other words: no advantage). The Summoner buffs give a slight advantage to a player before the game even starts.

The map control was horrible. I had trouble moving the screen, looking at other points on the map, and even moving within my given screen. There is too many icons and too much clutter on the screen. They lose nearly 20% of the view holding all the ad-ons. It was a nightmare. The graphics were too cartoonish. The enemy creeps were hard to single target for last kills or denies. I found myself mostly just running into the battle and spamming abilities. My champion was strong, so mostly I survived, but I never felt in full control of what I was doing. That is never a good thing.

I did like how the item shop functioned. It was easy to find recipes, and select items to complete them. They also suggested items, and helped me decide how to build my champion. This part of the game was a definite upgrade to DOTA. I am sure within a few matches I would be easily selecting my items without help.

Most of the champions were mirror images of DOTA heroes, as I expected. There were multiple champion imbalances, but thats normal for a beta. I would expect League of Legends to follow a similar growing process that DOTA did, patching from v1.0 to the current v6.61b, in which imbalances and game bugs were corrected.

Riot has closed the beta for League of Legends at this point. They might be fixing critical errors before releasing another round of beta, or pushing for game completion and release. Either way, I find it hard to think that this game will be successful. They took a great game, with worldwide attention (DOTA), and threw together a cheap copy with added useless features that basically make each match start with uneven advantages. The graphics make the game harder to play, the map control is impossible, and the voice prompts (for example "Mega-Kill") are terrible.

This game needs alot of work before pulling pro gamers into a League of Legends movement. Although, I do think that a massive amount of newbs will be excited to join. Most of the beta testers never even played DOTA, Im sure there was a reason for that. Time will tell. No need for real DOTA fans to worry though, a new game has been beta testing with incredibly positive results. This game is a true upgrade to DOTA. Stay tuned...

... and GAME HARD

UploaDING!

In the works we have a few special tid-bits:

1. Full Review of Gears of War 2's new DLC (All Fronts)
2. Hands on with PSU's new DLC
3. Preview/Review of Wii Sports Resort
4. Review: League of Legends PC BETA

Game Hard...Then Game Harder.

Gears News: All Fronts Now Available

Well, the behemoth known as Epic (developer of the Gears of War Franchise) has done it again. Out now is the ambitious new DLC All Fronts Collection and Dark Corners. Here's the rundown:

Content: Dark Corners Multiplayer Map Pack
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points
Availability: Not available in Germany and Japan
Dash Text: [ESRB: M (Mature) BLOOD AND GORE,INTENSE VIOLENCE,STRONG LANGUAGE] This downloadable content pack features 7 new Gears 2 multiplayer maps and a bonus deleted single-player chapter, "Road to Ruin," from the Gears of War 2 campaign. In "Road to Ruin," Marcus and Dom navigate the treacherous Locust highway, choosing stealth or blazing action to survive. For multiplayer fans, the 7 maps include a new War Machine, the much-requested Gears 1 map; Allfathers Garden, a heavy-weapons battle at a COG landmark; Highway, a fight deep in the Locust Hollow; Memorial, a battle at the Tomb of the Unknowns; Nowhere, a firefight in an old motel; Way Station, an unpredictable battlefield with parallel paths; and Sanctuary, a reimagined favorite from Gears for Windows. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Content: Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection
Price: 1600 Microsoft Points
Availability: Not available in Germany and Japan

Dash Text: [ESRB: M (Mature) BLOOD AND GORE,INTENSE VIOLENCE,STRONG LANGUAGE] This content pack features all 19 downloadable Gears 2 multiplayer maps and a bonus deleted single-player chapter, "Road to Ruin," from the Gears of War 2 campaign. For multiplayer fans, this pack brings together the complete set of Gears 2 multiplayer maps: Allfathers Garden, Canals, Courtyard, Flood, Fuel Depot, Fuel Station, Gold Rush, Gridlock, Grind Yard, Highway, Mansion, Memorial, Nowhere, Sanctuary, Subway, Tyro Station, Under Hill, War Machine, and Way Station—everything in the Flashback, Combustible, Snowblind, and Dark Corners downloadable packs combined. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

QUICK UPDATE: From 7/28 to 8/3 you will receive double XP on all public matches, and both public and private Horde matches while playing on the new Dark Corners maps. -SS-

-Game Hard-

Down For Maintenance

As a quick heads up: we are currently down for a regular maintenance check up. Warp 9 will be back up and running after a fresh new slathering of HTML code is in place.

Back up in: 28 hours!

Today's News Bytes 7.23.09

News Bites That Matter:

• Capcom goes big at ComiCon [here]
• Monkey Island going portable [here]
• Gaming Ads Causing Transit Problems [here]
• Gay Tony dated for October 29th [here]
• Borderlands "lands" October 20th [here]
• Metalocalypse head bangs onto XBLA [here]
• Double Fine counter sues Activision [here]
• Miles Edgeworth coming stateside in Feb! [here]
• Battlefield 1943 breaking all sorts of records...and servers [here]
• APB gets release date of March 2010 [here]
• Halo getting Anime Series [here]
• Japanese Game Charts [here]
• Hands on witht he PsP Go! [here]
• Gaming with Windows 7 Breakdown [here]
• Exclusive Left 4 Dead 2 ComicCon Demo [here]
• The Behemoth announces new game [here]
• ComicCon Exclusive: New Lost Planet 2 Screens [here]
• Halo: Waypoint coming to XBLA [here]
  

-GAME HARD-

Sam Raimi To Direct WOW Movie!

I figured this would be a big tid-bit of news that all our World Of Warcraft players would be interested in. Sam Raimi, film director of such greats like the Evil Dead series (my favorite), Army of Darkness, Drag Me To Hell and Spider Man 1 and 2 (notice how I didn't include Spider Man 3) has signed on to direct the World Of Warcraft movie. The news broke early this morning but didn't get triggered in the news vines due to no "significant" news source sighting the story. Well, its been confirmed:

"Blizzard, Legendary, and Warner Bros. announce Spider-Man director will helm the long-in-the-works big-screen version of Blizzard's genre-dominating MMORPG. The Warcraft film will be produced by Atlas Entertainment's Charles "Chuck" Roven, Legendary's Tull, and Raimi producing partner Joshua Donen. Blizzard Entertainment's senior vice president of creative development Chris Metzen will coproduce." - GS -

Two Words: Very Nice

-GAME HARD-

Retro Gaming Has Never Been This Fun

It's been nearly 20 years since I have played an actual "point and click" adventure game and I've been dying for an old fashioned, old school adventure game to come around and satiate my growing hunger. The early 90's saw an emergence of adventure games to hit the market; everything from the Space Quest series, to Kings Quest all the way down the line to a particular set of games that not only garnered high praise from the industry but acquired one of the most hardcore and ferociously rabid fan bases out there: The Monkey Island Series.

Fast forward to the first day of E3 2009, a day that will live on forever in the hearts of fan-boys everywhere. A remake of Tales of Monkey Island was announced for the XBox 360 alongside another huge bombshell that there will be an episodic Tales of Monkey Island game landing on the Wii. For all intensive purposes, were going to hit on (and review) The Secrete of Monkey Island for the XBox 360's Live Arcade. So strap on your Pirate sword, get your big fancy swash-buckling hat on and prepare to dive back into a series known for its simplistic point and click adventure formula!

Staying true to their roots, Telltale Games has once again created an outstanding adventure game specifically catered for hardcore fans of the point and click genre. Simplistic controls accompanied by an intuitively streamlined inventory system complements the outstanding backdrop of hand drawn settings, quirky character expositions and wonderful story line. Meet Guybrush Threepwood, a floundering wannabee pirate hell bent on saving the recently captured "Governor" Elaine Marley. Through trials, tribulations, some cannibals and even rabid poodles, Mr. Threepwood eventually figures out that a ghost pirate named LaChuck is the one responsible for kidnapping the Governor and is located on...wait for it...MONKEY ISLAND!

Without giving away too much of the storyline and spoiling it for all you people who haven't had the privileged of playing the game, I'll get right into the nuts and bolts of the review. Mechanically, Monkey Island holds up extremely well. In fact, one would think that an old school formula such as point and click game play would be deemed impossible to recreate on the XBox. Through hard work and determination, Telltale (developer) has successfully captured the ease and docile feeling of the original. You move the cursor with the right analog stick. Click A to move and pick things up, click the B button to look at objects and press the start button for quick pause. The right bumper brings up your inventory and the left bumper brings up your "actions" table (push, pull, open etc.) You can easily pick up the control scheme within minutes and in all honesty its one of the easiest games to navigate.

From a graphical standpoint, Secrete of Monkey Island wont knock you on your ass. However, if you don't appreciate hand drawn backdrops, excellent sprite animations and a minor plethora of other "nods" and "winks" to the original game, then by all means press the back button and return to the original graphics straight from 1990! I actually found myself doing this quite often; it reminded me of a time when I was young and had no worries in the world. The nostalgic remnants and nuance's you pick up while playing with the original graphics turned on is simply fun and a wonderful testament as to just how well this game holds up.

There is one gripe I have with the game: The SFX. They don't really 'pop' and they lack substance. Cannon's sound like toy pop guns, the ocean waves don't sound right and the sword fighting sounds more like silverware dropping on the floor. There are some bright spots though. With full voice acting now accompanying the script, Monkey Island feels just a rich and vibrant as it did back in 1990 when it was first released. The musical score is also fantastically rendered and puts you in the Caribbean mind set of relaxation and content.

After all is said and done, The Secret of Monkey Island has finally gotten its "just due" with this excellent re-vamp. The adventure leaves you wanting more, the characters are hard to let go after completion and the setting alone will have you coming back time after time! With upcoming Monkey Island games rumored to be in the making, this wannabe pirate is screaming for more!

Monkey Island gets a 9.0 out of 10

-GAME HARD-

Shadow Complex Breakdown

Thought I would quickly post this little Giantbomb write up they did on Shadow Complex. Give it a read because it's a damn good run down of just what the game (in its entirety) will entail. If you cant tell or already didn't know, this game is looking extremely promising.

(CLICK)

SHADOW COMPLEX: AN IN DEPTH LOOK

-GAME HARD-

New Mechwarrior To Revitalize Franchise

Do you like big robots with over sized Gatling guns attached to every orifice, nook and cranny? If you answered anything but yes, you may be infected with what I like to call, "goofy-ass-idus." Who doesn't like big robots, science fiction and lots of explosions, anyway? There have been plenty of "Mech" games that have come and gone over the past decade or two; you have Armored Core, Mobile Suite Gundam, Battle Engine Aquila, Chrome Hounds, etc. However, there has only been one premier franchise that has stood the test of time and kept its gigantic (and sometimes scary) fan base: The Mechwarrior Series. With news of a brand new Mechwarrior game on the horizon that will, "revitalize the series," all you gigantic robot loving gamers out there have something to look forward to!

Developer, Piranha Games has officially taken the helm of this prestige franchise in hopes to "revitalize" the series and regain its once gigantic meat-clamp on the gaming industry.

"This new game is called simply MechWarrior, and will serve as a reboot of sorts for the franchise. You'll still be piloting mechs, but the developers reckon that current console technology will for the first time let you feel like you're really behind the sticks of a giant fighting robot."

"They're also shooting for a "dynamic battlefield", and rather than feature a food chain of mechs, instead want to let players choose a style of mech and then upgrade that to suit their tastes as they progress through the game." K

The new game will be coming to the XBOX360 as well as PC. For now, there are no immanent plans to release it on the PS3 but all signs point to a multifaceted release structure for all systems...just not the Wii...probably.

Here's the teaser trailer that was released:

Monkey Island Now Available on XBLA!

I just wanted to let everyone know something: I totally dropped the ball with this one. I thought the newly "renovated" Lucas Arts classic adventure game Monkey Island was schedueled for release in 2010; hence the reason it was never on my "most anticipated games list." Well, guess what? Low-and-behold, Monkey Island is now available on XBLA. Go and download this game immediately! I can honestly say that the Monkey Island Series would make my favorite games of all time list alongside a gambit of other classic adventure games (i.e. Kings Quest/Space Quest/Day of the Tenticle).

So, once again I have to go and change up my list...go figure.

-GAME HARD-

Bioshock 2 Delayed

Just a quick update to say that one of my most anticipated games of 2009 is getting pushed back to the first half of 2010 - Bioshock 2. Although this seems fairly common, most of the bigger companies producing blockbuster games always get their games out on time. With that said, at least they are not going to release a buggy POS and issue updates every few months. I just hope that the added multiplayer component isn't the reason behind this date switch. Notice the above picture where the guy is using the fire fart plasmid - yum!

Fallout 3 Point Look Out

I wanted to quickly let everyone know that I purchased Point Look out this afternoon at Gamestop. They had a key-code for the download sitting right in front of me...so I got it. I'll let everyone know how it goes tonight. Hopefully I can hit level 30 with my main character with this DLC.

OTHER THINGS IM LOOKING TO DO WITH THIS DOWNLOAD:

1. Create my last three custom weapons
2. Find that awesome looking Rifle SS Soulstealer told me about
3. Kill me some hill-billy-rejects
   

-GAME HARD-

PC Preview: League of Legends

Riot (Gaming Development) and the creators of Defense of the Ancients (DOTA), which is a custom game hosted through Warcraft III and Battle.net, have been working on a brand new title: League of Legends. There has been limited publicity about the creation and evolution of this game, but it is currently in beta testing, and looks to release as soon as possible. It has already missed its mark for an early 2009 release.

Check out the newest trailer: http://www.leagueoflegends.com/pages/e3_trailer

At first glance, I have some issues with this development. The game is basically an exact copy of DOTA. I guess that the success DOTA has achieved on Battle.net has prompted developers to bring the title to its own game, therefore separating it from Warcraft III. The only valid reason to make this move would be if the game had flaws that could be avoided by creating a stand alone game. If that is not the motivation, then it is a money driven cause, and if that is the case, I expect a huge disappointment.

Lets look at what the game will bring to the table above the DOTA experience.

1. Summoner - This is just a fancy word for the avatar you create when you make an account in the game. The avatar will be rewarded with gear as you win games, making it fully customized and unique. You can also unlock different maps and modes as you push to higher levels, and I would assume that tournaments and match play would use avatar status to determine fair and competitive opponents. This feature, although cute and colorful, actually does nothing, it is just an avatar (which is basically a face for an account name). The gear your avatars where can not be used, it just makes you look different, which I do not consider an upgrade from DOTA.



2. New Heroes and Items - DOTA currently has over 90 heroes to choose from. League of Legends has released nearly 20 heroes for the beta version, and has a feature that lets users send ideas for new heroes. It is fair to assume that this game with eventually have more then 90 heroes to choose from, but it will be a growing process from here forward. I expect they would release the game with around 40 heroes, with hopes of expanding about a hero per week. This feature, although cute and colorful, is basically new faces to old heroes. If you look at the hero ability list on the website, League of Legend heroes mirror all the DOTA heroes. To be honest, what DOTA has done with their hero list is outstanding and original, they actually released two new characters in the past month, and both bring unique abilities to the game. I do not consider giving old heroes new faces upgrading the game. Read this section again and switch the word "hero" with "item", literally.



3. Cartoon Graphics - One easy knock on DOTA are the graphics. Warcraft III was released in 2002, and DOTA uses the graphics within that game. It is actually amazing that a game released in 2002 is still being played by millions of users on a daily basis (yes, I said millions). DOTA basically has been making gold out of copper running on the Warcraft III engine. The real question is, how many pro DOTA players really have a problem with it? The graphics in League of Legends look to be extremely cartoon. This means characters appear bubbly instead of pixel bunched. I can remember a few games that got worse as the graphics got better, and the reason is only really understood by gaming pros. The more control you have over each specific movement of your character, the easier it is to "micro" (micromanagement of a unit). This idea has a direct connection to the outcome of many situations in DOTA: escaping death, running through and around fog, last hitting and denying creeps, towers, and heroes, creep blocking, pulling creeps, etc. All of these moves demand a high level of coordination, and rely heavily on timing and precision. When it comes to graphics, the better they are, they harder it is. This is my theory, some will agree, some will disagree. Reviews will tell the true story. Either way, I do not consider better graphics being an upgrade to the game.



4. Multiple Maps - DOTA runs off of one map, League of Legends will have many to choose from. This is without a doubt an upgrade that I fully think will enhance the gaming experience, but how hard would it be to make new maps in DOTA? Probably not very hard. Still, advantage League of Legends.
   
   

From what I can read, those are the features that make Leauge of Legends different from DOTA. I'm sure there are some details I have overlooked, or have not learned about yet, so please inform me of any info you come across. I would love to hear from anyone beta testing this game. I am glad that DOTA is making steps into making there own game, but I fear that they are doing it completely wrong. The good news is that DOTA has a huge fan base, so reaching even a quarter of the mass will be enough to get the game going. From there, its gonna be a race between pulling people in, and watching people leave. I wish this game the best of luck, but have my doubts. I would also like to note that DOTA remains free to play, and with the release of Battle.net2 coming soon, should expect a huge boost in gaming engine capabilities...

How much will League of Legends cost? What will be the monthly fee? How stable will the gaming engine be? How smooth and often will there be upgrades?

More to come....

-GAME HARD-

3rd Mortal Kombat Movie "Kinda" Leaked

Here's a little fun fact for you: The very first MK movie was made for under 22 million dollars. Within one week of its release the movie (based on one of the goriest fighting franchises out there) had grossed roughly 120 million dollars. Success? I would have to say so. Though the first film spit out a few less than reputable sequels, Mortal Kombat is priming its engine once again amidst all of the fallout from the recent Warner Bros purchase of Midway (creators/developers of the series).

The movie is (at this point in time) set filming in September and has even gone as far as gathering up some of the original talent like eighth degree black belt Chris Casamassa who played Scorpion in the first and second film. Chris is actually the lone gunman who dropped the hint that a third movie was in full swing. So thank him or he'll judo chop your face off.

Perhaps what America needs is a good old fashioned, corny, off the wall violent fighting movie to spruce up the economic whirlwind we are currently in. There's nothing quite like a good Mortal Kombat movie to take your mind off all the trivial malarkey this blue Earth is swimming in at the moment. Here's the full story provided by our friends over at gamespot.

-GAME HARD-

Tales of Monkey Island Gets High Praise!

I felt compelled to quickly post a link to Gamasutra's article on the amazing response Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1 has received thus far. If your a fan of the original series (Monkey Island) or any of the old school Lucas Arts-esque gems (i.e. Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max and Maniac Mansion) then you absolutely owe it to yourself to jump back into one of the biggest genre movements out there: Adventure Games...More specifically:

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1

Here's the link and please do check it out. I love Lucas Art adventure games and would love to see them take off once again...even though they have been reincarnated into TellTale Games.

Link: Gamasutra-Critical Reception for Takes of Monkey Island!

-GAME HARD-

Up to 4 new Bosses in Left 4 Dead 2?

We all know the trials and tribulations of Valves upcoming sequel to Left 4 Dead. Petitions claiming that, "it's too soon for a sequel" and "this is going to be a glorified expansion pack sold at retail price." While amidst all this jargon, L4D developer Valve has continued to spray the 'interwebs' with news regarding the sequel; trying to calm the masses of rabid fan boys down. For me, the petitions are plumb dumb and L4D2 couldn't come any sooner. With brand spanking news coming from Valve's VP of Marketing (Doug Lombardi) just this morning in regards to the sequel, I'm sure the purest of players will be ecstatic and content with the latest update.

"New boss monsters - there's gonna be at least three bosses, we're toying with a fourth right now." -Doug Lombardi speaking to IncGamers-

Remember the witch? How about the Boomer? What about the Tank (my fav)? Well, lets add on possibly four new bosses into Left 4 Dead 2! With news like this hitting the news-vine, one must wonder if the players will be able to play as the new bosses in multiplayer modes. One would say all signs point to yes, seeing as though you were able to in the first game. Check back here to find out all the L4D2 news as well as L4D1.

We'll be sure to hold a spot in our fallout shelter when the zombie apocalypse arises!

-GAME HARD-

Rocket Riot Reviewed

In an extremely cluttered XBox Live Arcade list, it takes something extra special to catch the attention of gamers. It almost has to be something that you can pick up and play within minutes and not have to think to hard about what the game embodies. Is it fun? Is it worth the cash? Don;t be fooled, not all the games out there are good. In fact, I'd say a good 50-60% of the games offered on Live are mediocre at best. However, in the past few months we have seen a steady increase in quality Arcade games being offered. Recently, we've been treated to games such as Gunstar Heroes, Altered Beast and even Sonic 3. Yet, there has been one title that has eluded many gamers out there...the undeniably fun Rocket Riot! In a marketplace riddles with the "same old same old" Rocket Riot stands out as one hell of a good change up.

The concept of RR (created by Coin-Op Interactive and developed by Codeglue) is simplistic, frantic, destructive and extremely over the top. The easiest way for me to describe the game in a somewhat coherent way is to actually cut and paste the caption from Codeglue website:

"Rocket Riot is an action-packed side-view shooter featuring a bazooka-wielding jet pack soldier. With a highly stylized 8-bit era feel, players blast their way through the environment against enemies or multiplayer foes online. Navigating through a completely destructible environment, players can uncover special power ups or even burrow into different areas of the map."

Boasting an astounding 80 levels, A fully featured multiplayer Riot with 4 multiplayer modes against up to 8 players on Xbox Live or up to 4 players on a single screen as well as teamed based CTF. Needles to say there's a lot to do and take advantage of in this game.

From a graphical standpoint, Rocket Riot isn't necessarily going to rock your face off. As described above, it's pretty much a 2D scrolling shooter with blocked in parameters (i.e. single screen levels). The game almost has an 80's aesthetic to it (intentional of course) and is always poking fun of it's own simplistic structure. Blocks look 'blocky' characters look like they were pulled from a Doctor Mario clone gone wrong and the music is straight out of the 1980's era 8-bit soundtrack module. Yet, somehow all the nostalgic nuances seem to grab you by the throat and force you to have a good time!

Game play is where Rocket Riot truly shines. Its fast paced, run and gun action that is delivered in short burst, meaning the levels are short and normally only take about four to five minutes to beat. Each level has a different objective and range from obscure killing spree goals to scoring field goals with footballs. Odd? Yup. Fun? Absolutely!

Even though the mini games can get repetitive on occasion, the developers do a fantastic job of rewarding you. While playing through the campaign you will notice that your constantly unlocking new characters (there's tons to unlock), new colors, weapons and even avatars. All in all, the Codeglue does a great job in keeping you coming back for more. Rumored DLC is actually on the horizon as well which will include new maps, weapons and playable characters.

One last thing I would like to hit on is the sound effects. I'm a huge stickler for SFX and when a game doesn't deliver I make sure to write about it. I'm happy to say that Rocket Riot is...average. I will give credit to the soundtrack, however, simply due t the fact tat ts right out of an 80's NERDS movie complete with synchronizes and "robot-beeps." The actually sound FX are something to be desired though. The explosions sound weak and the bazooka's your equipped with don't really feel powerful at all. I like my gins to have some "umph" to them if you know what I mean.

For 800 points, Rocket Riot is a great pick up. The game lasts, for what seems like forever, the gameplay is solid, multiplayer adds a big bonus to the entire game and where else can you pick a banana pirate (yes, an actual banana with pirate attire) as your main character? Count me in!

Graphics: 7
Gameplay: 8
Replayability: 8
SFX: 6
Fun Factor: 8
------
Overall: 7.0

-GAME HARD-

Gears of War 2 Title Update 4 Now Live

We quickly wanted to post this little nugget of news to all of our Gears of War fans out there. Title Update 4 is now live and can be downloaded simply by loading up the disc and playing. The new update actually does a bunch of things to help the gameplay out quite a bit. It adds experience points to horde mode and fixes the plethora of bugs plaguing the online component (i.e. shotgun lag/frame rate issues).

The new update also tweaks the Wingman match type, doing away with some of the issues involving weapon spawning and a particularly nasty exploit where players could get credit for two kills while only killing one opponent.

So if you want to check out the official story, here's the link to Epic Games. So go and get you frag on with Marcus, Dom and the rest of the crew and always remember............

-GAME HARD-

Today's News Bytes 7.2.09

Today's Happenings Thus Far (Live Updates Throughout Day)

• Capcom's minor plethora of PSN Updates [here]
• David Perry and his streaming gaming service Gaikai [here]
• Blizzard has a new trademark application...New Game? [here]
• Is Grease really coming to the DS? [here]
• Vandal Hearts (xbla/psn) Delayed [here]
• THQ Doesn't Want Wrestling Contract Extension, Files Suite [here]
• Awesome Fallout 3 Brotherhood of Steel Costume [here]
• RockStar Denies GTA on iPhone [here]
• Apple Dropping NViDIA In Future iMacs and Laptops [here]
• Major Nelson, "Don't sweat the XBox Live Silverlight ads" [here]
• NBA 2K9 Sells Over 2 Million World Wide [here]
• BREAKING: Midway not bought by WB - To close in 60 days! [here]
• Miyomoto Explains New Zelda Won't Be "Radically Different" [here]
• BREAKING: Left 4 Dead DLC Inbound! [here]
• Battlefield 1943 Hitting XBLA Next Week - 1200 points [here]
• Next 'No More Heroes' Game Wont Be on Wii [here]
• Obsidian's Alpha Protocol Gets an Oct. 6th Release Date [here]

-GAME HARD-

Weekly Playlist 6.29 - 7.5.09

A few new games have been tossed in the mix this week; simply due to the fact that we are going into the summer lull that normally hits us around the June/July mark. Here's to making the best of a dry situation!

OVERLORDSTRIDER:

1. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (360)
   
2. Prototype (360) (2 Missions Left)
3. Magic The Gathering (XBLA)
4. Neopets (DS)
5. Peggle Nites (on the new laptop)
6. Kingdoms (epic card game BlizzKid has developed)

-GAME HARD-