The city building genres has grown a bit stale. The settings for those kinds of games usually fall into two categories: A medieval period where the rules of logic don’t apply, or a modern era where you always have to deal with residential, commercial, or industrial areas. The “Tropico” series of city building games takes place in the Caribbean during the 1950s, where you’re starting population starts at less than 100, getting paid five bucks a month is the norm, and juggling between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. is essential to your island’s survival. “Tropico 3″ keeps most of the roots from the original “Tropico,” only improving on the basics, as well as adding small new features to this single player game. With all these improvements, is “Tropico 3″ an island worth visiting or should you vacation elsewhere? Read the rest of this entry »

There’s hope yet for “BioShock 2.” It’s not like there was ever really any question about how good the follow up to one of 2007’s best games would be, but, there was one fatal flaw with the original – the last boss encounter.

 
After hours upon hours of both challenging and rewarding gameplay throughout the sunken city of Rapture, Jack Ryan works his way up to (spoiler alert) fighting Frank Fontaine in, what should have been, ultimate fight to end the game. However, for all the greatness that went into the rest of the game, the final fight was a bit of a letdown, feeling flat, and fairly easy compared to some of the other inhabitants of Rapture that Jack had to battle.

 
At a recent demo I asked “BioShock 2”’s Creative Director, Jordan Thomas, about whether or not whatever the end of his game holds a similar encounter, and, while there was very little he would actually confirm, here’s what he had to say: Read the rest of this entry »

Well, if you had any doubt that a Wii game could make you jump, just wait until you check out the new trailer for “Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles.” From zombies to giant monsters, the game is going to have you covered, and watching your back as you make your way through the story, which fills in some of the gaps surrounding “Resident Evil 2″ and “Resident Evil Code: Veronica.” Take a look, and then take some cover…

In recent years two of video games’ longest standing arcade franchises have made attempts to completely reinvent themselves. While other games have tried with XBLA and PSN rereleases of slightly updated versions of games that have been around for 20 plus years, “Pac-Man” and “Space Invaders” have gone the extra mile to truly update their experience for an entirely different generation of gamers. Up until the release of “Space Invaders Extreme 2” I would have said that “Pac-Man C.E.” was at the head of this particular pack, but this little DS game packs such an astounding punch it edges out our little yellow friend by just a hair. On the surface, “Space Invaders Extreme 2” is a very close follow-up to the original DS, PSP, and XBLA release, but upon digging deeper, you notice that virtually every aspect of the game has been polished and then turned up to hyper speed in this release. Read the rest of this entry »

The MMORPG market is overcrowded; it’s almost as bad as folks who like to write game articles for a living. With the successes of past games such as “Ultima Online,” “Everquest,” and “World of Warcraft,” many companies, both big and small, are trying to capitalize on this crowd of literally millions of subscription paying players. However, all these games have one thing in common: They are based in stereotypical fantasy settings. “Fallen Earth: Welcome to Apocalypse” doesn’t follow the story of elves, orcs, goblins, or dwarves, but throws you into a world where a good portion of humanity is wiped out by a dire event. Instead of playing a hero, you take a role as a survivor in this dead world, but can “Fallen Earth” survive the competition? Read the rest of this entry »

At this point, the “Katamari” formula is tried and true. However, not every console has had the honor of having The Prince and his royal ball rolling grace it with their presence. The PS3 stuck out like a sore thumb after having lost the game’s last console release, “Beautiful Katamari,” to the Xbox 360, and getting “Noby Noby Boy” instead. Well, Sony scored the Prince again with the release of “Katamari Forever,” and even though it looks like the Prince is rolling up a familiar tree for this release, he’s got a few new tricks up his sleeve for anyone who’s down to roll a katamari, whether they’re longtime fans, or completely new to the series. Read the rest of this entry »

“A Boy and His Blob” was a beloved NES game from the mind of David Crane (“Pitfall,” “Night Trap”) where you got to feed a friendly blob jellybeans and he would change into helpful objects. That concept was recently revisited, almost 20 years after the original game’s release for a whole new generation of gamers. WayForward’s Sean Valesco was one of the creative minds behind that reimagining, and we recently had a chance to ask him a few questions about how he got started in the industry, who he is as a gamer, and where he sees things going in the future.

Name: Sean Velasco
Title: Director
Company: WayForward
Job Description: Designing and directing games from inception to completion. Pitching game concepts, giving feedback, creating mockups, doing level design, sketching ideas out, and generally bothering programmers and artists alike.
First title worked on: “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” (CELL)
Most recent title worked on: “Contra 4″ (DS), “A Boy and his Blob” (Wii)

What game has most influenced you, and why? Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone’s played a World War II game by now, so how do you make it different? “Mercenaries” devs Pandemic are sure doing their best to make their upcoming Xbox 360 and PS3 title, “The Saboteur” feel different than anything else you’ve played before. While it may not be an entirely different take on the event, it has a completely original look and feel that should offer gamers a unique experience when it hits stores on December 8th. EA was recently in NYC showing off the game, and Unit had a chance to speak with Corey Lewis from Pandemic about what we can expect when the game drops in a few weeks.

The release of the “Lego Star Wars” games a few years ago somehow managed to usher in a new hybrid genre of games; cute, but complex. It may have almost been almost inevitable in today’s gaming market, since the original “gamers” are now well grown up, and starting to have families, if they haven’t already for years, and there’s only so much graphic violence you can introduce into a home with youngins. Which brings us to “Mini Ninjas,” a tale of the last ninja, on a quest to save his friends, and his village from an evil master. Sure, it could have been hyper violent, like some ninja games tend to be, but developer IO Interactive went a different way with the game, making it more cute and cuddly than bloody and gory. Fortunately, the game’s overall look and feel don’t detract from the quality of the game, so it isn’t so adorable that you can’t play it without hating yourself for enjoying it. Read the rest of this entry »

Naughty Dog’s “Uncharted 2 Among Thieves” leaves you breathless. It’s tough to find a game that mixes well proven game development techniques and leaves a solid impression on you. This is something that you can’t really understand this until you play the game. With a much longer single player experience than the original, stronger visuals, tightened gameplay, on-line co-op and multiplayer, it’s near impossible not to like “Uncharted 2.” Read the rest of this entry »