The sequel to the best-selling first-person shooter ever, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, will hit stores worldwide on 10th November, 2009.

"Everyone on the team is laser focused on making the most gripping experience we've ever created," said Infinity Ward's CEO, Vince Zampella. "No detail is too small and every finishing touch imaginable is underway to make Modern Warfare 2 our best ever. We can't wait for our fans around the world to play starting November 10th."

Can't wait.

Linford

Labels: Breaking, Call of Duty

Take New York. Then throw in a slice of San Fransisco. Sprinkle a few weapons into the mixture, and add just a dash of violence. Leave to set for half an hour, before adding the trilby hats and the sharp suits, and then finish off with just a tad of 1940's and 50's glamour. What do you have? Mafia II, of course.

Developed by 2K Games (2K Czech, to be absolutely precise), Mafia II is set in 'Empire City', a fictional city based on - you guessed it - New York and San Fransisco. The game chronicles the rise of Vito Scaletta. After joining the US military to avoid prison after a botched robbery, Vito quickly turns to crime. After joining a crime family, Vito becomes a 'made man', quickly turning to violence to solve disputes and crime to make a living. Sounds good, huh?

If the promotional trailers are anything to go by, Mafia II's graphics are going to be absolutely awe-inspiring. Imagine a New York church, surrounded by bright lights and cars. Then put it at night. Then, add some snow. Do you understand what I'm getting at? The graphics in the trailers have that bucketload of mid-1900s glamour to them; suits, hats, old cars - it's absolutley beautiful.

Currently slated to deliver 10 square miles of open-end world, the player will have no limits to what they can do from the very beginning. Which leaves the storyline very open. In fact, it leaves it so open you could skip the story altogether, and just run round on a killing spree, GTA-stylee.

Mafia II will be released sometime this autumn.

Linford

Labels: Hype Train, Mafia II

Hey, just thought I'd let you guys know that the reason I haven't been writing as much recently is that I have been playing a lot of Persona 4 - which I don't know if any of you know - is very very long. Like 70 hours long. So expect a review for that within the next couple of weeks.

Labels: Coming soon, Matthew, Matthew Meadows

Killzone 2 is Sony’s latest attempt to release a flagship game for its PS3. Lair was met with angry chorus, Heavenly Sword disappointed many and Haze was…terrible. Can Guerrilla Games’ effort meet the expectations of killer-app thirsty fans? Yes.

For those that haven’t been paying attention to the last 3 or 4 years of video games: Killzone 2 is a first person shooter set in an alternate reality. The Helghast are a race of human-like people that are, to all intents and purposes, trying to control the star system. The ISA are the “good guys” that, after being invaded in the first game, are trying to exact their revenge by invading Helghan.

Whilst this back-story is pretty clichéd, the characters do a good job of presenting themselves as real foot soldiers that, while being important, are still part of a much bigger war that would go on with, or without them. Voice acting is okay for most of the characters, but Rico is poorly voiced, and sounds pretty fake.

I’m going to get onto the bit you’re interested in. Graphics. Do they look amazing? Yes. Is this the best looking game on any console? Yes. Can they be bettered? Apart from a couple of loading freezes, no.

Gunplay in this game is great, with an assault rifle that could shoot a fly from a mile away; you’ll find yourself popping off Helghast helmets easily. Even with this ease the game never becomes dull, as later on you find yourself in situations where accuracy doesn’t matter anymore, because you’ll be, “No fighting in the war room” (CoD 4) style, ducking behind stuff while crying for mercy.

I’ve played around 10 hours of the online, and while I can’t say it’s as good as Call of Duty 4, it is at least comparable, with a semi-similar class system that seems more dependant on completing side-objectives (e.g. revive 3 people in 1 match) than normal ranking up. This can be frustrating as you find yourself playing in a way that just get’s that side-objective done, as opposed to putting in a 100% effort to help your team win.

However, when it comes down to it, the online mode really delivers, especially because of the match format. All modes are rolled into one 30 minute (approx.) violence orgy that promises to set your heart beating as fast as it has since…well…Call of Duty 4.

All in all, this game will deliver on the hype that Sony put on it – but the extent to which it goes beyond all of that hype probably depends on how much you like online gaming.

9/10

Matt

Labels: Killzone 2, Matthew, Matthew Meadows, Review

The Chimera. First debuting in Russia, this talented species of humanoid aliens took the world by storm. Their second appearance, in the heart of England in the 1940s, propelled the Chimera to worldwide superstardom. Riding on the back of this new success, they continued their fame with a worldwide tour; beginning in the United States, the Chimera enjoyed prolonged radio time and even did hundreds of live events in order to get closer to their audience.

Don't let it fool you. The Chimera are not a band. They do not have any acting ability. They don't know anyone in Hollywood, and they're not related to the Jackson Five. In fact, they are an alien humanoid race who believe themselves to be the original inhabitants of Earth, and are intent on eradicating humanity in order to be the superior race on Earth. Awww, how sweet?

Due to the success of the Resistance series, new PlayStation3 owners sparce on cash have to make the decision between getting either Resistance: Fall of Man (the fantastic series debut at £19.99) or the latest game, Resistance 2. Here's where I step in; in this article, I'll compare the aspects of both so you can decide which one is for you.

Storyline. Resistance: Fall of Man relied heavily on the storyline as a way of giving the player some idea of what had led up to the events in the game. Based in the United Kingdom, R1 followed the story of Nathan Hale and his battle against the Chimeran invasion of the UK. Resistance 2, on the other hand, had a much less prominent storyline, told more through in-game narrative rather than through standalone cut-scenes.

In terms of gameplay, both games are very different. Resistance 1 has a more fun, lightweight feel - the weapons system is 'old school', with the player able to pick any weapon he or she likes, and the lack of an easily accessible ADS stystem encourages more 'run and gun' gameplay. R2, however, is much more tactical; the versatile aiming system, huge numbers of enemies and only two weapons mean that the player can't play it one-man-army style.

Graphically, Resistance 2 is evidently better. Come on, it hasn't been out as long, has it? However, both games impress, with realistic graphics from the start. R2, however, has much more graphical shapow, and are probably more immersive overall.


The online features for both games are strong. Resistance: Fall of Man's online mode is fully old-school, but with a variety of strong game modes such as team deathmatch and capture the flag and many good maps. The gameplay for R1 online is quite run and gun, with a good fun feel to it: great for ten minutes before school or a quick game in a lunch hour. R2's online, however, is much more tactical; XP- and class-based gameplay makes for a diverse match atmosphere, and the amazingly huge games (up to 60p) and spectacular maps make for a jaw-clanching tactical experience.

Overall, if you want a game which you can pick-up and play but still feel you've spent your money wisely, you can't go wrong with Resistance: Fall of Man - particularly as it's now only twenty quid. However, if you prefer a more tactical gaming experience, take your games seriously, want to have the latest stuff or are a fan of intense, arse-cheek-tensing action games - pick Resistance 2.

Linford

Labels: Comparisons, R:Fom, Resistance 2

Long before Second World War games were considered tedious and cliché, they could be compared to an Italian suit. Stylish, sophisticated, and with just a tad of modest reserve which gained respect from anyone beholding it. Of course, times change. But it doesn't hurt to take a look back on what was considered great back then.

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun was the second PlayStation2 game in EA's Medal of Honor series, and the fifth installment in total. Set during the Pacific War (the conflict between the Japanese and the Americans during WWII), the player assumes the role of Corporal (later Sergeant) Joseph Griffin of the United States Marine Corps.

In terms of gameplay, Rising Sun does not make for an unmissable gameplay experience. Quite the opposite, in fact; controls are clunky (I only found a control scheme I liked when I manually programmed it in), character movement is slow and can lag badly, the aiming system is absolutely miserable - on-target shots seem to almost always miss their targets - and the lack of any form of decent AI prevents Rising Sun from being even a half-decent game. However, the inclusion of a form of ADS zoom is a good inclusion, and the immersive environments are true to their historical counterparts.

Graphics in Rising Sun are probably the game's best feature. Considering when the game was released, they're realistic and 'special' effects such as water and fire textures are very impressive. However, character rendering needed more work, as did tanks - they all have very sharp edges; the badly rendered features make the actual objects seem like afterthoughts, rather than meaningful parts of the game.

The so-called 'additional features' feel exactly that - additional. As though they've been forgotten about until the very end and then clumsily sellotaped on with five minutes to spare until launch. Online, when it was still active, was difficult to understand for the non-technical and when you finally got into a game, it was lumbering and sparsely populated. EA were making a good move when they shut the servers down.

I don't enjoy giving bad reviews to games. When I play a game, I really want to enjoy it, whatever it is. But there just isn't a way around it - Medal of Honor: Rising Sun is a disappointment in almost every sense of the word. If you are collecting retro WWII games, doing research or have nothing better to spend your money on, then Rising Sun might be of at least a little use. However, if a normal person buys this out of choice, then they ought to be shot.

Linford

Labels: PS2, Retro review, Review

Super Human Warriors, aliens from a strange world, war. Sound good? Then this game may be for you. Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 2 is an RTS game from the people who brought you the original DoW and also similar game: Company of Heroes. 

Labels: dawn of war 2, Review

• LittleBigPlanet will be recieving Patapon DLC costumes soon. However, there's no release date yet. [MORE INFORMATION]

• More 'Triple-A' PSP titles will be announced soon, promises Sony. They'll be announced over the coming months and at E3 in June. Amongst the already-announced PSP titles is LittleBigPlanet PSP, which will have some connectivity with it's PS3 big brother. [MORE INFORMATION]
  

• EA have dated Rock Band 2; it'll get a 23rd March EU release. A PS2 iteration will also join it. Rock Band 2 will be released on PS3 and Xbox360, with a special Instrument Edition, packed with drumkit, guitar and microphone, retailing at £89.99. [MORE INFORMATION]
  

• The game which has had the games industry gagging for more, Killzone 2, was released. A patch was released almost immediately after release, to fix the '-931' error some gamers had been experiencing. [MORE INFORMATION]

• The US and EU versions of PlayStation Home were both updated. Europe recieved the 1.11 patch, which fixed some minor bugs, although added nothing special. The US version, however, recieved the Warhawk Command Centre space, which allows Warhawk players to meet up, launch games and talk tactics. The Americans also got a price cut on Warhawk, now down to $19.99 on the US Store. [MORE INFORMATION]

• Classics (or not so, depending on your point of view) Space Invaders and Cooking Mama are now available for budding iPhone gamers. They can be downloaded in English or Japanese from the app store, having been developed by Taito (a part of Square Enix). Space Invaders comes in at £3, and Cooking Mama at £4. [MORE INFORMATION]

• Beating the credit crunch couldn't be easier for gamers. GameStation is offering a 120GB Xbox360 and Halo 3 for an amazing £199.99 until 13th March. [MORE INFORMATION]

Labels: News, NewsBites