Author: jake108

Jacob Lopez has been writing for Geekscape since April, 2008. He is also a graduate of USC's School of Cinematic Arts program. When he's not writing, he's probably watching LOST or playing video games. XBL Gamertag: jake108

SDCC Video Game Round-Up: ‘Dead Rising 3’

by jake108

Dead Rising 3 is set to take place in Los Angeles (but not really), and takes place 10 years after Dead Rising 2. Just as in its predecessors, everything you find in this world is a weapon. You’ll need ’em, as these zombies are more aware and have the ability to alert other zombies in the area. This, in turn, can cause a horde of zombies to surround you and, well, use your imagination. Returning to the franchise better than ever, combining weapons is a must in order to survive the game. Doing combos with these special weapons will earn you more xp and just overall look a lot cooler.

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As for the map, the size is bigger. A lot bigger. While Dead Rising 1  and Dead Rising 2 aren’t exactly GTA caliber maps, you can expect Dead Rising 3‘s city to be “way bigger than Dead Rising 1 and 2 combined.” As you can imagine, walking around isn’t necessarily always going to be your primary mode of transportation. In DR3, you’ll be able to drive cars through the city. However, don’t expect to be driving through hordes of zombies. Zombies will in fact be hanging off the side of your car, in front, and in back. This in turn will hamper you abilities. Nevertheless, I’m sure gamers will enjoy driving through the game’s four major districts.

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Perhaps the coolest thing about DR3 is the fact that players will have the ability to go into any building at any time without any loading. Don’t expect to see the same building twice, as DR3 will not contain replicated buildings. Another cool thing to expect is the ability to get your combo weapons out of safe house lockers at any time (think Far Cry 3).

SmartGlass will be integrated into Dead Rising 3‘s story in an interesting way. Players will have the ability to do side quests, look through maps, and find story content through SmartGlass. In DR3, the player will eventually find a handheld PDA that belonged to an agent who has since been murdered by zombies. This PDA will be accessible through SmartGlass. Players will also be able to receive phone calls from in game characters.

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As far as gameplay goes, players will have the ability to play the game in a serious manner, or, if you’re like me, a goofy manner. Or perhaps you can dress yourself in a mix-and-match’d shark costume and go about the game in a totally serious manner. That works too. What’s more exciting is that gamers will be able to enter the Nightmare mode, which is more like the classic Dead Rising gameplay in which there is a timetable and much higher difficulty as opposed to playing the game in a casual do-what-you-want setting.

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Lastly, any and all Kinect support is optional! No need to embarrass yourself should you complete this game with a partner!

Dead Rising 3 is an Xbox One exclusive and should be available on launch day.

Have any questions? Looking forward to Dead Rising 3? Sound off in the comments below!

SDCC 2013 Video Game Round-Up: ‘Forza 5’

by jake108

I admit, I never caught on to the Forza craze that is ever so popular now. For all gamers out there who can relate to that sentence, and who at least like racing games a little bit, you should be excited for Forza 5 by the end of this article.

Let’s start with Forza‘s new user interface. The new UI admittingly looks a lot like the current Xbox 360 dashboard. There’s nothing really snazzy or new about the design, but it works as it is able to condense everything you need and want to know in the realm of Forza. This “living hub” constantly updates with information on races, your friend’s races, new tracks, and the happenings in the game.

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Forza 5 will also feature hundreds of cars. That’s right, hundreds, some of which include Indie and Grand Prix cars. Those of you familiar with the film Rush will also recognize two vehicles from that film usable in Forza 5. Gamers will also be able go into vista mode with these two cars, as one of the new features in Forza 5 is the ability to go into vista mode with every car featured in the game. This is espicially exciting since Forza 5 will be running on a new graphics engine in 1080i and 60FPS. In fact, the developers of Forza had a hand in influencing the graphical chips used in the Xbox One.

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In order to capture the realism behind how a car looks, developers sought to capture the visual imperfections in order to reach perfection. Face it, we won’t see half these cars in real life. Forza is the closest we’ll get and the developers are trying to make it as realistic as possible. To give you an example, tires in the game are going to be up to date will real life data provided with Cal Span. Another example lies within the materials used to create the cars in real life, including each coat of paint used for each vehicle. Doing this allows light to be reflected in different ways as the car is crusing down the track; Since there are three layers, any damage sustained to the car will be represented in such a way that gamers will be able to see the car’s material underneath the paint. In short, damage will be unique and specific.

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Career mode will host 50 or more events in each league that will provide more than 60 hours of gameplay. As you progress through your career, each path will be different depending on the car that you choose. As you purchase new cars to race with, Forza, with the power of the cloud, will show you new car suggestions based on your past purchases. Think Amazon or Netflix’s “because you watched ___”. Also, all paintjobs will now be free.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about Forza 5 is the redesign of the Drivatar. The drivatar is a representation of you as a racer, and it knows the kinds of paintjobs and cars you like. As you drive, the system will be learning your tendencies and will constantly improve. What’s best is that your drivatar will race for you while you’re away and you will get rewards for winning said races. Drivatars will also have failsafes in the event the player starts to cheat or does not play by the rules. Rest assured that any player who constantly drives backwards through tracks will not have a drivatar that does the same. Instead, their drivatar will just really suck. This brings us to our next point; if you spend a long time away from Forza, your Drivatar will reflect that. If you come back and have a bad streak, your Drivatar will also reflect that. In short, always play Forza and never stop playing Forza.

Forza 5 will also feature a full orchestral soundtrack recorded at Skywalker Sound. This will sound great as you race through cities based in real life, just minus the stop signs. Gamers will also be happy to know that every mode in the game will gain you xp and allow you to level up.

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Lastly, Forza 5 will be using dedicated servers for multiplayer. This will be especially great when playing online against opponents you’re comfortable with. Gamers will have the chance to hone in on the type of player they’re comfortable racing against. If you like clean, serious racers, you’ll have ’em as opponents. As for me, if you see a 24k Gold P1 racing like a dick, it’s probably me.

Have a chance to check out Forza 5 already? Share your thoughts below!

SDCC 2013 Video Game Round-Up: ‘RYSE: Son of Rome’

by jake108

RYSE: Son of Rome first made a splash at this year’s E3, and has since been put at the forefront with its companions as launch titles for the Xbox One. At SDCC, I had a chance to sit down with two minds behind RYSE and was able to gather information that is sure to be pleasing for all.

First, I’ll start with the game’s story. RYSE stars a hero set on revenge. The story takes place in the darkest days of Rome’s existence, and with his family dead, our hero has more than one reason to take his anger out on barbarians.

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Battles in the game’s campaign will be historically accurate. For example, the battle shown at SDCC and E3 can be found in the history books and is commonly regarded as the “Roman D-Day”, due to its amphibious landing. With any luck, each battle will feel meaningful and worthwhile enough to look it up on Wikipedia once we’re done playing. I don’t know about you, but I did this after every mission when playing Call of Duty 2.

What we saw during SDCC was a “small slice” of the final gameplay. It’s also worth noting that the demo, like many others, was in God Mode the entire time. It’s important to note that most of what we saw may change in the final product, and there’s one particular aspect to the game that will be gone by the time it hits store shelves. I’m talking about none other than those silly buttons that pop up above the enemies head to let you know what button to press in the midst of an execution. Sure, the animations look cool, but the seemingly mandatory quick-time event for every enemy was sure to get annoying after the tenth kill. I’m happy to report that those buttons will be removed in favor of adding skill and freedom to the game. Instead of dishing out the same combo over and over, players will have a choice on refilling their heath, receiving a damage boost, or increasing their focus depending on what combo they choose to do and how well they complete said combo. This, coupled with the fact that the demo was in God Mode and difficulty on Easy is sure to quell some fears about RYSE‘s difficulty. Those who love difficulty will also like to hear that a “Nightmare” mode will be available at launch too. Details on that mode, as well as what exactly “focus” does in the game will be released at a later time.

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The next thing covered was the SmartGlass integration. Through SmartGlass, gamers will have the oppertunity to glance at their friends “timeline” at any given time. Timeline is a feature in which your friends or yourself can view how much of the game or mission you have completed. It updates in real time. Timeline also serves as a strategy guide and will provide hints on the level in play. RYSE‘s SmartGlass integration will also allow gamers to view video of any kind associated with RYSE. These videos will be recorded via the Xbox One’s DVR feature. The best thing about this is that any achievement or challenging part in the game can be viewable via a friend who has already moved onto the next mission.

As for the Kinect functionality, RYSE will incorporate gestures and verbal commands in scenarios in which the hero must command other soldiers to complete a task. However, a Kinect is not mandatory and you may press buttons instead of doing gestures or voice commands (yay).

Later on, I had a chance to play RYSE myself. I was able to fight more enemies as time was not an issue. It was fun slicing enemies and severing arms, and conducting the voice commands. I can see myself trudging along in this game’s story upon release and am excited mostly for its Timeline feature. As a gamer who doesn’t regularly look forward to hack-and-slash titles, RYSE looks to set itself apart by featuring historical battles, freedom to kill how you want, and a challenging campaign. RYSE: Son of Rome is set to release on the Xbox One launch day.

Did you get a chance to play at SDCC this year? Let us know what you thought!

Halo 5 E3 2013 Teaser and Analysis

by jake108

Earlier during the Microsoft E3 Press Conference, we got our first look at Halo 5.  If you haven’t seen the teaser yet, check it out below!

Halo 4 Spoilers Below!

At the end of Halo 4, Lasky inadvertently brought Master Chief down to Earth and humanized him. This struck a cord in Chief, especially after losing Cortana. It’s clear the loss affected Chief to the point where he is no longer the Spartan we met in 2001.

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Thinking back to Halo 3’s E3 2006 trailer, we saw Master Chief walking through the ruins of New Mombassa. He walked with his back straight and chin up. He was a soldier. At the time, Cortana was stuck on High Charity and was on Earth, alone. Still, it would seem that his drive to find her and protect humanity is what gave him determination. Here, Chief is walking a hunched back and head lowered. He’s a Spartan. Wind and desert aren’t going to make him tired, so it leads me to believe that the Master Chief we’re seeing is different, perhaps sad.

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This is made evident when he takes out his dog tags. Attached is the the chip in which Cortana resided. Before, we only saw this chip with a blue hue emitting from it. Now, it’s lifeless and hollow.

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What surprises me the most is Master Chief’s armor. He’s had some time to fix his armor or even get a new suit. Instead, Chief wears the same armor he used the day he lost Cortana. The fact that it’s still damaged also leads me to believe that he has no A.I. to conduct nanobot repairs.

Now for the other hints.

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Because of the orange-yellow colors in the eyes, I have no doubt this thing is Forerunner. My best guess? It’s the Composer. Let’s not forget Master Chief is immune to the Composer’s attacks, because of a gift from the Librarian in Halo 4.

As for the the planet Master Chief is on, the only hint we have is the view of another planet in the sky.

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I’ll update if I can find more information, but if you beat me to it, don’t be afraid to comment!

Separating Fact From Rumors – The Xbox One

by jake108

There’s been a lot of confusion on policies, features, and games surrounding the Xbox One. Regardless of what’s rumor and what’s fact, there shouldn’t be mass confusion in the first place. Still, here’s a handy guide that you can reference that will contain facts on the Xbox One. Feel free to comment below with more misconceptions, facts, or questions. I will update it as information becomes available.

Used Games

Playing used games on the Xbox One has become a touchy subject. You can’t go far into looking up information on the console without running into comments on the subject. Many believe that there will be a fee to play used games on your Xbox One console, even if you take your game to play on a friends console. This is not the case. Over the past few days, numerous scenarios have been proposed, most of which lead to the conclusion of a used game fee. As of right now, the most important statement on the matter comes from Larry Hryb’s (Xbox Live’s Major Nelson) latest statement:

“We know there is some confusion around used games on Xbox One and wanted to provide a bit of clarification on exactly what we’ve confirmed today. While there have been many potential scenarios discussed, today we have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail.

Beyond that, we have not confirmed any specific scenarios.

Another piece of clarification around playing games at a friend’s house – should you choose to play your game at your friend’s house, there is no fee to play that game while you are signed in to your profile.”

With that, it confirms that I can take my copy of Madden 25 to play at friend’s house, free of charge. Stay tuned for more information.

Region Restricted

Just as the Xbox 360, the Xbox One will be region locked. This isn’t surprising and shouldn’t a hassle unless you’re really into traveling or importing games. The Xbox One is simply following suit with their partners in the movie and music industry to join an already wide array of products that are region locked.

Always Online

The Xbox One will not be required to always be connected to the Internet or Xbox Live, however, there is one possible scenario that would require the console to connect to the internet at least once a day. This has not been confirmed to be the end all be all. More information should be available at a later date.

Kinect & Always On

Yes, each Xbox One will come bundled with a Kinect sensor. This sensor is a step up from what is available now as it can track movements, heart beats, and can power the console on with a simple voice command. This lead to gamers fearing that the Kinect would always be on and would violate their privacy. This is not the case as the Xbox One and Kinect can be turned off altogether. However, in order to power the console on with a voice command, the console and Kinect must be in a low-power state, and not exactly off. But if you’re like me, you’ll probably turn the whole thing off to save electricity. (Note: I’m not going green, I’m just a college student with no money.)

Source: NY Times

Games

Microsoft took a lot of heat for not focusing on video games during the Xbox One reveal. What many failed to realize is E3 is just two weeks away and Microsoft’s Xbox One reveal was just that. There was a quick note that there are 15 Exclusive Xbox One games to be released in the first year, with 8 of them being new franchises. Below some of confirmed and uncomfirmed Xbox One Games:

Battlefield 4

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Destiny

Dying Light

FIFA 14

Forza Motorsport 5

Madden 25

Need for Speed Rivals

Quantum Break

Ryse

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Unconfirmed titles are as follows:

Halo 5

Rare “Historic” Franchise – Possibly Banjo Kazooie or Perfect Dark

The Evil Within

Dragon Age III: Inquisition

The Witcher 3

Rainbow 6: Patriots

The list goes on and will be updated in a separate article.

Xbox Live

Of the biggest bits of news to come out of Xbox Live was the confirmation that gamerscores would carry over and the friends list cap would be bumped up to 1,000. What many don’t know are the number of servers that will be dedicated to the Xbox One. Microsoft plans on having 300,000 servers dedicated to the console. How will this affect those who don’t use the Cloud? Well, the typical 16 player multiplayer matches can now be bumped up to 128 active players.

Backwards Compatibility

The Xbox One will not be backwards compatible. Is it annoying for us consumers? Yes. But as with every new advancement in products that rely heavily on tech, we must move forward. The reason Xbox One isn’t backwards compatible is simply because the hardware is different. The new x86 chip does not allow a native conversion for 360 games to be played on the Xbox One. Here’s the official statement from Microsoft:

“Xbox One hardware is not compatible with Xbox 360 games, … We designed Xbox One to play an entirely new generation of games—games that are architected to take full advantage of state-of-the-art processors and the infinite power of the cloud. We care very much about the investment people have made in Xbox 360 and will continue to support it with a pipeline of new games and new apps well into the future.”

From that, we can assume the 360 will be around for the near future and won’t be completely axed like the original Xbox was. Does anyone remember Call of Duty 2: Big Red One? Ugh.

Specs

There hasn’t been much information regarding the Xbox One’s specs, other than what was shown on the day of its reveal:

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Some believe the Xbox One is underpowered, or hampered by running three OS’ at the same time. Not so, says Jeff Henshaw, Program Manager at Microsoft:

“We’re provisioning for developers for every physical Xbox One we build, we’re provisioning the CPU and storage equivalent of three Xbox Ones on the cloud. We’re doing that flat out so that any game developer can assume that there’s roughly three times the resources immediately available to their game, so they can build bigger, persistent levels that are more inclusive for players. They can do that out of the gate.”

If you’re not familiar with the Cloud on the Xbox One, let me reiterate that it will be powered by 300,000 servers. Microsoft plans to offload some of the heavy lifting in games onto the Cloud to make gameplay more fluid. Here’s another example from General Manager of Redmond Game Studios and Platforms Matt Booty regarding latency-sensitive issues in video games:

“Things that I would call latency-sensitive would be reactions to animations in a shooter, reactions to hits and shots in a racing game, reactions to collisions. Those things you need to have happen immediately and on frame and in sync with your controller. There are some things in a video game world, though, that don’t necessarily need to be updated every frame or don’t change that much in reaction to what’s going on.

 

One example of that might be lighting. Let’s say you’re looking at a forest scene and you need to calculate the light coming through the trees, or you’re going through a battlefield and have very dense volumetric fog that’s hugging the terrain. Those things often involve some complicated up-front calculations when you enter that world, but they don’t necessarily have to be updated every frame. Those are perfect candidates for the console to offload that to the cloud—the cloud can do the heavy lifting, because you’ve got the ability to throw multiple devices at the problem in the cloud.”

Booty goes onto say, “A rule of thumb we like to use is that [for] every Xbox One available in your living room we’ll have three of those devices in the cloud available.” Beyond that, nothing has been fully laid out by Microsoft. I suspect we won’t be able to do a full console comparison until after E3 2013.

Source: Arstechnica

 

As stated above, if you have any questions or contributions, please comment below.

UPDATE: PS4 to Have Used Game DRM

by jake108

While Microsft is taking flak for rumor and speculation, Sony has been particularly silent on the matter. In a recent airing of Bouns Round TV, Geoff Keighley had this to say:

“The one thing that is amazing to me is that right now we’re not hearing a lot from the game publishers about what their view is on this. The console companies are becoming the bad guys. And, you know, Microsoft is getting beaten up a lot on it. Sony, I think, has been seen as this kind of white knight so far that’s not going to restrict used games. Based on some of the things I’m hearing, I don’t think that’s entirely true, because I can’t see publishers allowing one system to do one thing and one do another.”

Rumor or not, it doesn’t change the fact that Sony has not announced anything yet. Even if they are currently planning on some form of DRM business model for used games, there’s still time to back out of it. Still, I believe Sony is playing the waiting game to see how Microsoft and its consumers can reach middle ground.

UPDATE: Sony has responded to the internet twitter campaign #PS4NODRM.

 

 

Unfortunately, that’s all we’re going to get. Cross your fingers, Sony fans!

Xbox One Will NOT Charge For Used Games

by jake108

Contradictory to everything on the internet, Microsoft has no plans to charge gamers who plan on playing used games. Citing a statement made by Larry Hyrb (Xbox Live’s Major Nelson), “The ability to trade in and resell games is important to gamers and to Xbox. Xbox One is designed to support the trade in and resale of games.” The statement goes on to say that more information will be available at a further date, presumably at E3.

If you are unaware, games on the Xbox One will be installed onto the console itself in order to play. When a gamer sells or lends their game to someone else, this installation will be rendered useless until the game disc is inserted back into the console.

What’s vague about this is an online spot check, in which the console will need to be connected to the internet in order to play games, however, it is still unclear how much time will pass between these spot checks or even if these spot checks will exist when the Xbox One is released.

There you have it, we’ll all be able to play our used copies of Madden 25 and Assassin’s Creed 4.

How Xbox One Will Change the TV Landscape

by jake108

Earlier this morning, Microsoft unveiled its entry into the next generation of gaming consoles. The Xbox One presentation was spearheaded by the console’s capabilities involving games, internet browsing, movies, and television. With the advent of social media and smart phones, the way we view television has undergone a transformation, and with the upcoming release of Xbox One, television will undergo yet another transformation.

The introduction to the Xbox One strayed from announcing a lineup of next generation games and instead showcased its features as a media center. The things you can do on an Xbox One are unlike those you would be able to do on a cable box or dish service. For instance, you cannot vocally command your cable box to boot up along with the TV or command the box to search for a specific title. Granted, most of these features are impaired with the lack of a Kinect device, a backend product for last generation’s Xbox 360. However, every Xbox One will come bundled with a Kinect, eliminating the hassle of buying it separately. There are features on the Xbox One that will allow things like Instant Switching and Snap Mode, two things exclusive to the Xbox One. Instant Switching enables users to switch between all of the features on the Xbox One in what seemed like two seconds. For example, a user can switch between the game they’re playing to live or On Demand television program. This is done by simply saying, “Xbox, switch to TV.” Once the user is watching TV, they can then enter Snap Mode, which will divide the screen to include a small sidebar that will allow the user to make a Skype call or look something up on an Internet web browser. An example shown during the presentation, a user was viewing Star Trek (2009) while simultaneously looking up showtimes and tickets for Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). These two examples alone eliminate the need for multiple devices and allow the user to find what they want on a single device.

With piracy and other TV services entering the television fray, such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, and HBO Go, ratings has had a direct negative effect. This, in turn, has made Live Event TV that much more important to advertisers trying to get a good slot. For programs like The Super Bowl, 30-second spots can reach into the billions, and advertisers buy it because they know we’re watching. Xbox One plans on revamping Event Television by means of Snap Mode. Let’s say you’re watching an NFL game in Week 14. Your Fantasy Football league is about to end and you’re set to win it all. Xbox One’s Snap Mode allows users to view live up-to-the-minute updates on Fantasy Football scores. This is in partnership with ESPN, and will also encompass the NBA and MLB. Users will also be able to view all of ESPN’s channels. While all of the above features still require a cable provider, it does not change the danger advertisers face. There’s no stopping a user from instantly switching from a program on commercial break to a game they have running in the background. As an avid NFL viewer myself, the Xbox One will definitely be changing the way I view the games I seek. This feature will also be compatible with Xbox Smartglass, which is already available on mobile devices running Android or iOS. What’s even bigger news here is that Microsoft and the NFL announced a partnership starting with the above features for the Xbox One as a direct competitor to NFL Sunday Ticket, only NFL Sunday Ticket won’t be able to Skype call your friend who’s a fan of your rival team that just loss.

Lastly, the Xbox One will be the newest platform offering Original Programming that isn’t owned by any current television network. Their first splash into original programming will be a live-action television series based in the world of Halo. Halo is arguably the most popular science fiction first person shooter that has dominated Microsoft consoles since 2001. With the release of Halo 4, fans were treated to a live-action mini-series used as a primer leading into the Halo 4’s story. This was Forward Unto Dawn, and while this mini-series was marketed toward fans, this new live-action Halo series will be open to a much larger audience as it is using Xbox One as a springboard. As if that wasn’t big enough, Steven Spielberg plans to showrun the series and expressed his excitement this morning during the presentation.

The television landscape is changing and will never stop. Advertisers will need to adapt just as viewers will too. The newest and coolest thing in television is no longer constricted in a dish, cable box, tablet, or 15” monitor. This new iteration of next generation gaming is overflowing into new territory that plans to be a part of the change. The Xbox One will be releasing later this year.

Geekscape Games Reviews Star Trek: The Video Game

by jake108

With Star Trek Into Darkness  hitting theaters later this summer, it’s easy to get aboard the Star Trek hype train. If you’ve seen the advertisements for this game, you’ll know the idea of a co-op adventure with Spock and Kirk in the spotlight sounds great, only, it’s not so great when you boot it up. And don’t worry, this is a non-spoliery review.

Don’t get me wrong, this game has a lot of things going for it. To start off, the game features voices the original (2009) cast including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, and Anton Yelchin. This, coupled with the the story makes the game feel immersive.

The game’s story is solid. Players will get to delve deeper into the universe and find out what’s become of Vulcans post world destruction. Without giving too much away, I think any trekkies who are fine with the way the universe is going now will like this game’s story.

It’s important to note that this game was built from the ground up with cooperative gameplay as its focal point. This game should only be played with a friend. Trust me, I decided to play a chapter by myself and AI Spock just isn’t that fun. Still, if you don’t have any friends, you are able to order Spock or Kirk, depending on who you’re playing as, to attack enemies or move to a position. There are also parts of the game that relies heavily on teamwork. It can be frustrating because of what the game demands, but if you and your partner are in the same room and have had a relatively good day so far, you should be able to get through it.

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The game’s mechanics and gameplay aren’t to the caliber most of us would desire  The game is a 3rd person shooter which utilizes a cover system. Players have the option to run and gun or point in shoot. The game will also present various obstacles that involve jumping, climbing, and hacking.

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Hacking appears in three different forms throughout the games, two of which can be done by just one player. The hacking in the game is little more than a mini-game, just as it should be. There are parts of the game which requires both players to match a pair of sine waves.

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Players have health and shields. If one of you gets downed, the other can come over and help you back up. There are parts of each mission that allows players to heal and refill on ammunition Both Spock and Kirk have their own attributes that allow players to have specialties. For example, Spock has an ability that allows him to hack things automatically rather than solve a puzzle. Kirk can help Spock up with this tricorder without actually having to stand over him. Players can level up their attributes by killing baddies or scanning various glowing objects with their tricorders.

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Another plus can be found within the weapon options presented to players. Both Spock and Kirk have different starting weapons that are similar. Both also have the option to augment when leveling up. This starting weapon will always be in your arsenal and never runs out of ammo. Players are also treated to the variations of basic weapons such as a rifle, SMG, and shotgun. Each weapon has a secondary fire mode that provides strategic values depending on what weapon you’re equipped with.

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The level design is linear but does suffer form instances where gamers may have absolutely no idea where to go. This instances are brief and made short thanks to the handy dandy tricorder.

Star Trek: The Video Game leaves a lot to be desired. This is partly due to the amount of potential the game had with the story’s award-winning writer, Marianne Krawczyk, and the cast of actors who lent their voices. There are still numerous bugs that, while not game-ending, cause a nuisance. If you’re solely interested in picking up a co-op oriented game, I’d wait till this drops down in price significantly. If you’re a trekkie looking for a good video game adaptation, have a lot of patience and forgiveness in your heart, still wait for a price drop. If you MUST play this game, please, grab a human partner who’s willing to complete the game with you. I personally found this game to be better with a partner in the same room.

Star Trek: The Video Game is available now on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Publishers: Paramount Pictures & Namco Bandai Games

Developer: Digital Extremes

 

Thanks for reading!

How Spartan Ops Revolutionized Console-Based DLC

by jake108

We’ve all been there. Three months after the release of our beloved game, we must then dig deep into our pockets and shell out $10 for our first piece of downloadable content. Over the past ten years or so, gamers have witnessed the rise of DLC and how lucrative it is for the video game industry. Now, I’m not going to get into this publisher mishandled this, or this developer lied about that. DLC is an integral part in shaping video games today. However, to say it has a set standard in terms of distribution and content would be inaccurate.

 

Halo Jul

 

Very rarely do we get DLC that advances the game’s canon significantly. Even rarer is DLC worth playing that is free. Couple these two events together and you have 343 Industries’ Halo: Infinity.  Halo: Infinity can be found under Halo 4’s Spartan Ops menu and is free to all Xbox Live Gold Subscribers. Clocking in at 10 episodes, 50 chapters in total, Spartan Ops makes a splash when it comes to extending your playtime in Halo’s universe.

 

Picture 9

 

Halo: Infinity takes place six months after the events of Halo 4 and do not include any playtime with Halo’s most recognizable protagonist, Master Chief. Instead, 343i relies heavily on transmedia material, specifically the novels, surrounding the Halo universe. While this may not sound great for a few, it is hugely rewarding to fans of the universe who set out to explore its characters and canon further than the games. I realize this is nothing new in the realm of different universes before video games, but this is however the first significant bridge connecting novels to video games. Spartan Ops doesn’t contain just a couple of hours of playtime and ten minutes of cinematics, then call it free DLC. It goes further, providing narratives, plots, and characters gamers aren’t usually accustomed to.

 

Picture 10

 

There are numerous examples as to why Spartan Ops is special. One of the best ones is its episodic structure. Gamers were treated to episodes every week, not including a mid-season break. These episodes had twists, action, and overall provide significant change to the universe. Fans of the Halo franchise cannot expect to have full knowledge of Halo’s universe going into Halo 5 without first playing Spartan Ops.

 

Picture 11

Each episode contains almost five minutes of cinematics and five chapters to play through. Each chapter’s playtime is extended on the level of difficulty and the amount of people you’re playing with, (four players max). The story is not presented entirely in cinematics, of course, as players get most of the canon by playing through each chapter. It should be said that Spartan Ops isn’t perfect. 343i could work on the variety of environments used within Spartan Ops. Still, gamers who share that view have little ground to stand on provided that Spartan Ops is not paid DLC. Others may argue that not a whole lot happens in each episode. Those who are bored during episodes is understandable, assuming that they are equally clueless of the backgrounds each character has in the novels.

 

While everything about Spartan Ops isn’t as perfect as it can be, it definitely paves the way for future DLC installments in Halo and other franchises. Developers and Publishers should take notice of the success Spartan Ops is earning. Some developers are already onto this. The closest franchises that produces DLC that advances canon would be Mass Effect. Of course, gamers would have to pay small amounts of money to get the full experience of the universe, however, gamers did not need to purchase the DLC to get a grasp on the happenings between installments.

 

DLC is evolving, and hopefully for the better. This evolution of downloadable content is one of the most exciting events to happen this generation. That said, I am incredibly excited for Spartan Ops Season 2.

Geekscape Reviews The Red vs. Blue X 14 Disc Box-Set!

by jake108

It was in April 2003 when we first got a dose of Rooster Teeth’s Red vs. Blue. It’s hard to believe it’s been so long and it’s been an amazing run so far. Red vs. Blue X helps commemorate the awesomeness that is Red vs. Blue in this 14-disc set that packs over 18 hours of footage and remastered 5.1 surround sound. Just take a look at it for yourself!

I’ll reserve any comments I have about the actual episodes and story of the Red vs. Blue saga, mainly because we all know how awesome it is already, and instead will focus on the presentation and packaging of the set. Firstly, the packaging:

The box folds out twice revealing the majority of the discs. The others are located on the other side of the second fold. Each disc is securely in place and owners won’t have to worry about any disc slipping out and developing scratches over time.

If you haven’t seen a Red vs Blue Menu yet, know that they are just as humorous as the show itself.  The 14-Disc DVD Pack is amazing, and Blu-Ray makes it that much better. Special features include a collectible booklet, miniseries, interviews, and behind-the-scenes footage that totals an additional eight hours to runtime. Rooster Teeth couldn’t have picked a better time to release this box set. I can see it now: Thanksgiving hangover accompanied by a flashback to start of the Blood Gulch Chronicles. Bliss.

If you’re thinking about buying this set and are a fan of Red vs. Blue and Halo, you should make the purchase. Even if you were once a fan and fell off the wagon, use this opportunity to catch up, because honestly, there’s no better way to watch these episodes than on your HDTV. And if you don’t have an HDTV, the Holiday Season is upon us and it’s 2012.

Red vs. Blue X – DVD

Red vs Blue X – Blu-Ray

Geekscape’s Definitive Review of Halo 4!

by jake108

Let’s get something straight. Bungie created a hell of a universe with great characters to populate them. In conjunction with 343 Industries, the universe has expanded to a size impossible for anyone to predict eleven years ago. This, above all else, deserves the highest of praise. Halo 4 is the first step into a new trilogy spearheaded by the folks at 343i, and I can safely say I couldn’t be more excited.

STORY

Right off the bat, the emotion involved with Halo 4‘s campaign takes off right where we left off in Halo 3, and then takes it to the next level.

It wasn’t far into campaign when I realized the ties I’ve developed with Cortana and Master Chief after starting my Halo career ten years ago. Halo 4‘s innovation and ambition skyrockets when 343i incorporates A LOT of information and events that took place in novels released in between Halo’s 3 and 4. Now, when I say A LOT, I mean A LOT. Many reviewers have already commented on this and listed it as a negative. The fact that they did this, and I won’t mention any names, astounds me. Halo isn’t just a video game anymore. I know it, you should know it, and every gaming journalist out there should know it too. Halo 4‘s story is the story fans deserve.

Halo 4 isn’t just the next big FPS. When I think Halo, I think story. I think universe. Fans have hundreds of thousands of years to play in. We are able to find canonical information in past campaigns, terminals found in Halo 4 and Halo: CEA, novels, comics, short stories, animations, and other media forms. Halo is at the forefront of transmedia and a universe so dense and emotional such as Halo should have fans of video games clamoring for more universes like it from both developers and studios. The Halo franchise has achieved the gold standard for video games, and should be looked upon as so, starting with Halo 4.

MULTIPLAYER

It’s not the same ‘ol, same ‘ol. Halo 4’s multiplayer is beauty coupled with an extreme amount of fun. It’s faster-paced than Halo: Reach and fills the void many had missed with Bungie’s last installment. My memory may be hazy, but Halo 4 doesn’t exactly harken back to Halo 2’s multiplayer, which is totally a good thing. 343i has come and established itself as a AAA studio with its first title.

Just as the gameplay, every vehicle you thought you knew is also different for the better. Trust me, you’ll have a blast.

Weapons, especially the ones that belong in the Forerunner arsenal, look amazing. I’m sure you’ve all seen a Forerunner weapon form before your eyes already!

While I haven’t picked a favorite map yet, it doesn’t mean they’re all bad. I often finding myself playing Big Team Battle Slayer more than the regular 4v4 Slayer’s, which tend to feature smaller to mid-range maps.

 

There are a wide variety of matchmaking gametypes. While some old favorites may be missing, there’s no question that 343i will be injecting more than a few matchmaking updates, starting as soon as next week. Rest assured we won’t be playing the same ‘ol games forever.

SOUND & MUSIC

The games sound, and this goes for all modes, is something every video game fan should demand from all developers. The first thing I noticed was the thumping of Master Chief’s boots hitting the ground as I walked in the first campaign mission.

I was just in theater mode taking a screenshot of a sniper rifle. To my amazement, the shell casing of a sniper rifle round made several “ding” sounds as it bounced down a rock. I admit, when playing, I didn’t hear a thing due to being in the moment.

It’s also extremely important to note that 343i went above and beyond to create unique sounds to every weapon in the game. Watch the sounds of Human and Covie weapons below!

 

 

The great Marty O’Donnel may be gone, but Composer Neil Davidge has made his fantastic debut into the Halo universe. Fans should rejoice that the soundtrack sounds like Halo while including atmospheric tones and themes in conjunction with what we’re experiencing in Halo 4.

 

SPARTAN OPS

Yet another ambitious move to further Halo 4’s replay value, like it needed any. Spartan Ops is ambitious in the sense that it will advance the Halo cannon while providing new missions in weekly episodes. Each episode is meant to be played with friends. I recommend everyone play on Heroic or Legendary to get the full experience, otherwise you may blow through each chapter quicker than you’d like. Still, while on Legendary with three friends, Episode 1 lasted about one hour. Check out the trailer below!

 

The best part of Spartan Ops? It’s free.

Halo 4 has arrived and should be a milestone among video games. Halo 4 is a game for Halo fans and fans of FPS alike.

Geekscape’s ‘Halo 4’ First Impressions

by jake108

Let’s get something straight. Bungie created a hell of a universe with great characters to populate them. In conjunction with 343 Industries, the universe has expanded to a size impossible for anyone to predict eleven years ago. This, above all else, deserves the highest of praise and sets a standard for all video games looking to establish a vast and prominent universe.

STORY

Right off the bat, the emotion involved with Halo 4’s campaign takes off right where we left off in Halo 3, and then takes it to the next level.

It wasn’t far into campaign when I realized the ties I’ve developed with Cortana and Master Chief after starting my Halo career ten years ago. Halo 4’s innovation and ambition skyrockets when 343i incorporates A LOT of information and events that took place in novels released in between Halo’s 3 and 4. Now, when I say A LOT, I mean A LOT. Many reviewers have already commented on this and listed it as a negative. The fact that they did this, and I won’t mention any names, astounds me. Halo isn’t just a video game anymore. I know it, you should know it, and every gaming journalist out there should know it too. Halo 4’s story is the story fans deserve.

MULTIPLAYER

It’s not the same ‘ol, same ‘ol. Halo 4’s multiplayer is beauty coupled with an extreme amount of fun. It’s faster-paced than Halo: Reach and fills the void many had missed with Bungie’s last installment. My memory may be hazy, but Halo 4 doesn’t exactly harken back to Halo 2’s multiplayer, which is totally a good thing. 343i has come and established itself as a AAA studio with its first title.

Just as the gameplay, every vehicle you thought you knew is also different for the better. Trust me, you’ll have a blast.

Weapons, especially the ones that belong in the Forerunner arsenal, look amazing. I’m sure you’ve all seen a Forerunner weapon form before your eyes already!

While I haven’t picked a favorite map yet, it doesn’t mean they’re all bad. I often finding myself playing Big Team Battle Slayer more than the regular 4v4 Slayer’s, which tend to feature smaller to mid-range maps.

SOUND

The games sound, and this goes for all modes, is something every video game fan should demand from all developers. The first thing I noticed was the thumping of Master Chief’s boots hitting the ground as I walked in the first campaign mission.

I was just in theater mode taking a screenshot of a sniper rifle. To my amazement, the shell casing of a sniper rifle round made several “ding” sounds as it bounced down a rock. I admit, when playing, I didn’t hear a thing due to being in the moment.

It’s also extremely important to note that 343i went above and beyond to create unique sounds to every weapon in the game. Watch below!

 

SPARTAN OPS

Yet another ambitious move to further Halo 4’s replay value, like it needed any. Spartan Ops is ambitious in the sense that it will advance the Halo cannon while providing new missions in weekly episodes.

 

The best part of Spartan Ops? It’s free.

 

Halo 4 has arrived and should be a milestone among video games. Halo 4 is a game for Halo fans and fans of FPS alike.

‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ – Episode 5 Recap And Analysis

by jake108

The series finale to Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn was everything we wanted it to be. After watching, I could not think of a better way to hype fans of the franchise more than this live-action series did. If for some reason you haven’t seen it yet, do so NOW!

 

The finale opens with the materialization of the Cortana we know and love. For those of you wondering why she’s been a blue sphere this entire time, it’s due to the fact that AI’s can embody any object or shape it wants to. This was showcased in Glasslands when the AI Black Box once materialized as a present with a bow that kept changing colors. Besides, who wouldn’t want to look their best for the Chief?!

Picking up where episode 4 left off, the remaining survivors of the planet along with Chief are on a desperate race to reach an evac point where Kelly and her squad are located. Now, I thought we saw all the scary we needed to see when a Spec Ops Elite engaged his active camouflage. Obviously the people behind FUD felt we needed more:

It’s not uncommon to see Jackals acting as scouts conduction recon, especially minors such as these. However, it is a little unusual to see a group of jackals without a commanding officer present. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seemed that nothing but Jackals were attempting to stop the Warthog.

This brings me to the big guys.

It should be common knowledge fans that Hunters are deployed in pairs. What may be uncommon knowledge is an event in the novels where a Hunter was commanding officer of a squad of Covies. I may be reading too much into this subject, believe me, the other part of my brain is yelling, “WHO CARES?! MASTER CHIEF JUMPED ON A HUNTER’S BACK AND ALSDFJADL!!!11!1” I know.

If you didn’t know before, you surely know now that Hunters are composed of small worms with a collective mind and mortar skills. It’s also important to note that the Hunter’s size directly correlates with the gravity of the planet. The worms, or as I call them, Hunty-Worms, can also be found in the rear part of a Scarab. Read up more about ’em here!

After safely making it to the evac point, Hastati squad boards a Pelican. It’s there where we are formally introduced to Fred and Kelly in live-action form, and yes, their faces freaked me out too.

Perhaps the funniest moment in all of Forward Unto Dawn was dialogue between Sully and Kelly.

The transition between Young Lasky and Present Lasky was awesome. What’s even more awesome was the shot of Lasky getting into the Cryo Pod displaying his courage despite his illness.

Lastly, the parting image before the release of Halo 4:

Catch up on previous recap installments!

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ – Episode 4 Recap And Analysis

by jake108

Wow. I find that is difficult to convey my feelings and excitement other than just flat out saying it. Forward Unto Dawn Episode IV was exciting, action-packed, fulfilling, and terrifying.

 It’s no secret Cortana is in a bad state.  The Forerunner Sphere that may or may not contain the Didact, (but probably does) conducts a scan of the Forward Unto Dawn, which only sends Cortana into a frenzy.

Cortana is able to tell that the scan originated from an alien AI that was not of Covenant origin and she is scared. Some would consider fear in an AI to be impossible, but lest we forget that Cortana is no ordinary AI. I’d say fear is a great motive making the initiative to wake up John.

Let me remind you that a scan looking like this isn’t anything new to what we’ve seen since July. In Halo 4’s E3 2012 trailer, we see the UNSC Infinity scanned, along with all of the personnel aboard.

 

Although it doesn’t well for some of the personnel aboard the UNSC Infinity, I’m sure we’ve already seen what comes immediately following the Forward Unto Dawn’s scan:

 

Now, enough about Master Chief in present-day Halo, let’s focus on Lasky’s flashback. Circinius IV is already lost by the time episode IV picks up. I’m not saying the UNSC didn’t put up a fight. Many of the boots on the ground belonged to ODST’s.

Now, I can’t decide what’s worse: Seeing cadets fall out of the sky after the Space Elevator was destroyed or seeing Colonel Mehaffey reduced to itty-bitty pieces of flesh after taking needler or needle rifle rounds.

Above, I mentioned that this episode was terrifying. I thought SpecOps Elites were scary in their own regard ever since running into them at the end of Halo: Combat Evolved. Seeing this particular SpecOps Elite engage its active camo in live-action probably wasn’t the best thing for me to do at three o’ clock in the morning in the dark.

A little after the Elite follows what’s left of the squad into the armory, we get a nice close-up of this SpecOps Elite:

I don’t need to tell you what happens next. Other than the Master Chief making his triumphant debut, the keen fans will hear Master Chief talking to none other than Spartan-087 Kelly.

“Kelly, inform command I have four survivors. Take your team north.”

Master Chief orders Kelly to take her team north. We can all speculate who’s on her team, but since Kelly was never one to lead her peers, I would assume she is leading a squad of Marines and/or ODST’s.

Fast-forward a little to when Sully is shot in the leg. A Jackel, or Kig-Yar, does this to stun Sully enough for it to fire a second round into Sully’s head. Since a single Needle is heading toward Sully, I think it’s safe to assume the Kig-Yar’s are using an assortment of Needler’s, Needle Rifles, Plasma Pistols, and Carbines. If you listen closely, you can hear the firing of a Needler and Plasma Pistol similar to that of the sounds in past Halo titles.

Carbine rounds can be seen flying past Lasky along with Needles from Needler and/or Needle Rifles.

Silva is also seen picking up a Covenant Carbine.

For anyone wondering why the weapon is so big in proportion to her body and not a Kig-Yar’s, it’s important to note that Kig-Yar’s are not as small as we think. Standing anywhere between 6’2 – 6’8 and weighing nearly 200 pounds, a Kig-Yar is taller than most humans and can be more physically capable than you or I ever thought they could be.

To wrap things up, earlier in the episode, Master Chief told the remainder of Hastati Squad that they were the only survivors on the planet. This fact was cemented for Lasky when he saw General Black’s body hanging out of a Warthog.

Catch up on recaps of Forward Unto Dawn Episode 1, Episode 2,  and Episode 3!

Did I miss anything? Comment below! Remember, this is a community effort to get the most out of each episode of Forward Unto Dawn! Thanks for reading!

Halo 4’s ARG May Hint At A Longer Live Action Short

by jake108

343 Industries has fired up an ARG and has released three videos right under our noses. Each video refers to the “Ancient Evil” and are titled Butterfly, Glacier, and Gallagher respectively. Take a look below:

Video 1 – Butterfly

 

Video 2 – Glacier

 

Video 3 – Gallagher

 

Two of the videos flash numbers at the end, “11” and “5”. I don’t believe these numbers hold any significance other than a date for seven minute live-action trailer. The Australian Halo Facebook page let slip that such a trailer was “coming soon.” What better day to share a seven minute live-action launch trailer than the day before the game hits store shelves? If it’s anything like “Scanned”, one can only hope we’ll be seeing more important events throughout the Chief’s life up until Halo 4.

Agree? Disagree? Sound off below!

‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ – Episode 3 Recap And Analysis

by jake108

In case you missed last week’s awesome recap, catch it here! ‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ – Episode 2 Recap And Analysis

Never have sixteen minutes gone by in such a flash. ‘Forward Unto Dawn’ is shaping up to be everything we ever wanted from a live-action series based in our beloved Halo universe.

Cortana’s rampancy is becoming more apparent with each episode.

When it gets down to it, we may be faced with the predicament of trusting her during Halo 4’s campaign. Still, she said she was sorry.

Soon after learning of Lasky’s medical condition, caused by injections to prevent ice from forming on muscles during cryo sleep, Sully finally pieced all of the ONI footage together.

What I didn’t notice before was the height of the POV we were observing, a striking trait among Spartans.

After the Insurrectionists surrender to the Marines and Spartans, the Innies quickly turn around, scared, and run behind the Spartans while firing at what we now know was the Covenant. Sully pauses it on our first glimpse of a Spartan, though, the keen eye would see that this isn’t just any Spartan.

Frederic – 104 is a Spartan II, one of the highest rankings second only to Kurt, and a commando. At this point in time, it’s safe to say Fred is with Master Chief on this mission and I would also go as far to say that we may be watching Master Chief’s helmet cam. In the novels, Fred was described as being slightly shorter than John, an attribute that seems to be seen above. You can read more about Fred here, but beware the spoilers that litter the text for those who haven’t read the novels.

Later, Sully goes into Lasky’s room to show him a detail overlooked by the squad.

Since we are unable to see their jaws, this particular Elite could be a Ranger or SpecOps class.

Most of the action takes place in the last five minutes of this episode. I would say things didn’t become serious until the cadets looked up to see ODST drop pods falling.

Since there are no Pelicans heading to the surface, it’s likely to assume there is a battle taking place just above the planet as well in the skies above. The Covies breaking through the planet’s defenses means the Humans are losing or have already lost.

Covenant Frigates aren’t the kinds of ships that confront planetary defenses or go toe-to-toe with UNSC Capital Ships. Covie Frigates are usually used for support. That doesn’t mean they aren’t harmless. These frigates are equipped with shields, plasma turrets, and torpedoes. It’s also important to note that these frigates can house a few thousand Covies each.

And finally, a Covenant Frigate did what I had been waiting to see for three weeks now: Destroy the Orbital Space Elevator.

It’s destruction was, of course, complimented by a sprinkling of cadets.

I must say, hearing the thumps of the Elite’s footsteps added to the menacing introduction. After cutting down the statue of Corbulo, the glow of the Elite’s energy sword showed his the color of his armor:

That looks a lot like the SpecOps Elites we saw in Halo: Combat Evolved. The dark armor and armed only with an energy sword seems fitting for an Elite of this class. You can read more about SpecOps Elites here.

That’s it for this week. Did I miss anything? Comment below and I’ll be sure to add to next week’s recap and give you credit! Thanks for reading!

Watch Halo 4’s New Live Action Teaser… Produced by David Fincher!

by jake108

Produced by David Fincher and directed by Tom Miller (SFX Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), 343i starts building hype with this new live action short:

Official Halo 4 Launch Trailer ‘Scanned’:

 

Seeing John’s progression to becoming a Spartan II featured everything we read about. As far as easter eggs go, I didn’t catch any other than the Ancient Evil that is approaching John. My guess is that we just saw a live-action representation of a Didact. Sound-off below!

‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ – Episode 2 Recap And Analysis

by jake108

Last week, we brought you our breakdown and analysis for Episode 1… and now, the second episode of Forward Unto Dawn has arrived, clocking in at just under seventeen minutes. This week, we inch closer to seeing the Human-Covenant and even get a cameo!

Watch the episode here and then pour through our analysis:

 

We begin with Master Chief and Cortana aboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. Cortana, who is well passed rampancy stage, reveals that it has been four years since the events of Halo 3.

Her monologue eerily reminded me of 343 Guilty Spark’s side effects of being alone, seen in Terminal 7 of Halo Anniversary.

To my knowledge, there hasn’t been any information regarding rampancy within the Halo monitors, such as Guilty Spark, however, I think we can all agree that Guilty Spark hasn’t always had the best interest all living things in mind.

Cadet Michael “Sully” Sullivan was seen in the last episode watching Classified ONI combat videos. As a refresher for anyone who doesn’t know, ONI stands for the Office of Navel Intelligence. They’re at the top of the UNSC and are very secretive. As said in the last recap, it has been over a year since first contact with the Covies. It’s plausible that the reports Silva was reading in the last episode were just cover-ups set forth by ONI to hide the fact that Humanity is now at war with an alliance of super-powered alien species.

Sully thinks he’s watching combat videos of battles between Insurrectionists and UNSC, but I think he may be noticing that Insurrectionists and USNC are actually fighting the Covenant.

If you look closely, you can see the green hue of a Plasma Pistol.

And let’s not forget what briefly flashed on the monitor while Sully was watching these videos:

MOAR COVIE-GLYPHICS

This brings me to Lasky’s brother. Being an ODST requires that you go on high priority missions. Lasky’s brother mentioned he dropped in Arcadia.

Arcadia should ring bells because that’s where a lot of the Halo Wars campaign took place. The battle for Arcadia didn’t happen until 2531, so, unless Silva was reading older news articles dated 2526 in episode 1, we’re a few years shy from Arcadia’s invasion.

All signs are pointing to a Covenant invasion next week. Comm towers have been knocked offline, General Black established a perimeter in the last episode, and the Human-Covenant War is already raging on.

As for next week, I hope we see that Orbital Space Elevator come crashing down, just as it did on Earth in Halo 3: ODST.

Frank O’ Connor!

 

Last week, Guernica and Tom pointed out that just because Lasky is the rank of Commander in Halo present day, doesn’t mean he’s in charge of the UNSC Infinity. Those duties belong to Captain Andrew Del Rio. Thanks!

‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ – Episode 1 Recap and Analysis

by jake108

It’s finally here, a live-action story set within the beloved Halo universe. Running at nearly 20 minutes, the first episode of Forward Unto Dawn was peculiar. Like any new installment into the Halo franchise, we were presented with both familiarity and uncharted territory…

And now for our commentary and analysis:

Forward Unto Dawn starts with the remains of the ship, with the same title, that we last saw Master Chief and Cortana on. If you need a little refresher: The Arbiter, Master Chief, and Cortana were desperately trying to get of the Arc at the end of Halo 3. While the Arbiter moved to the front of the ship to guide it to safety, Master Chief and Cortana elected to catch their breath, thinking they’d be safe. Only half of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn made it through the slipspace portal, leaving Master Chief and Cortana floating in space.

This is made evident when we are presented with both Cortana and Master Chief with Cortana’s distress call loop heard in the background.

The blue hue from Cortana doesn’t last very long, due to her impending rampancy. Though she is long overdue to become unstable, let’s not forget she’s not an ordinary AI. Dr. Halsey used her own brain as a basis for Cortana, making Cortana truly one of a kind.

We enter Forward Unto Dawn’s series with the Insurrectionists as the main enemy to the UNSC. Fans may or may not know that the flashbacks in this series take place twenty years before the Halo events.

After Cortana and Master Chief’s introduction Commander Lasky is seen listening to Cortana’s distress call. For those of you who missed it, it is extremely imperative that you know Lasky is commander of the UNSC Infinity. The UNSC Infinity is the ship that is pivotal to Halo 4’s campaign and plot.

For those of you who saw the E3 demonstration, the UNSC Infinity is also the ship that crash lands on the shield world both the Infinity and remaining half of the Forward Unto Dawn get sucked into. I expect one of the first missions will be involving rescue and recovery of the downed UNSC Infinity. Poor Lasky, first the insurrectionists, then the Covenant, and now super-powered Forerunner Promethean Knights?! This guy can’t catch a break!

After some character development involving Lasky and fellow cadet Chyler Silva, we get an approximate date as to when these flashbacks are occurring:

It’s safe to say the year is 2526. Humanity made first contact with the Covenant on February 3, 2525, making these news articles a little over a year after. It’s not unusual that the UNSC is keeping their skirmishes with the Covies a secret. Still, it’s not going to be much a secret for long.

Towards the end of the episode, we’re treated with a Covenant ship or probe entering Circinius-IV’s atmosphere. If you look closely you’ll see the purple hue around the object.

If that isn’t enough for you skeptics out there, tell me these don’t look like Covie-glyphics:

If there’s anything I missed, feel free to email, tweet, or comment below. I’ll be sure to give credit where credit is due! Until next time, I’ll be getting back to the second thing that matters most to me: My social life.

Geekscape Reviews The Best Red vs. Blue DVD Ever. Of All Time.

by jake108

Nearly ten years old now, The Red vs. Blue online web series has captivated Halo and machinima fans alike. What started in Halo: Combat Evolved using in-game mechanics is now on its way to Halo 4. To celebrate everything in between, Rooster Teeth is releasing The Best Red vs. Blue DVD Ever. Of All Time. Rooster Teeth showcases the best of the franchise for a comical and entertaining walk down memory lane with the help of fans, completed with an In Memoriam sequence.

Rooster Teeth adopts an award show set up to present the winners of each category, as voted by fans. After a short red carpet intro, Rooster Teeth treats us with categories like Biggest Asshole, Best Fight Scene, Best Visual Effects and my favorite, Worst Visual Effects.

Each winner’s segment is presented in full and is introduced by characters from the RvB universe. Even if you have done something so dastardly as to miss out on RvB episodes, or seasons, rest assured you won’t be lost. Better yet, The Best Red vs. Blue DVD Ever. Of All Time. is a great primer for the upcoming RVBX (Ten Years of RvB Box Set), releasing November 6, 2012.

Aside from the actual run time content, the DVD menus will be appreciated by fans. I admit, as soon as the DVD booted up, I embarked on an easter egg hunt. I wasn’t disappointed.

It’s clear The Best Red vs. Blue DVD Ever. Of All Time. was made for the fans, and at a $5 price tag, it’s an easy buy.

 

The Best Red vs. Blue DVD Ever. Of All Time. is available now!

G4 To Get Rebranded In Early 2013

by jake108

The days of a video game and tech centric channel are now far behind us. According to sources pulled by Variety, G4 will undergo a rebranding of sorts. According to these unnamed sources, the new G4 will instead appeal to more chic topics and become GQ (as in the magazine) of TV. While these sources claim that the channel will stay true to it’s video game and tech roots, we can only wait and see.

I personally haven’t watched G4 in quite some time. Say what you will about the hosts of their various shows, but their chance to stick with their roots has come and gone. One of my earliest memories with the channel comes from their early days following the merge with TechTV.

Whatever the name may be, this rebranding will come early 2013. Get your COPS, Cheaters, and Ninja Warriors’ while you still can!

 

Geekscape Games Reviews: Madden NFL 2013

by jake108

With every new release of a Madden title, one can’t help but think how it can possibly be different from the last. With $60 a pop, it’s only fair that it crosses your mind. Any debate involving this frame of thinking should be laid to rest now, because Madden is about to have a breakout year.

The number of things I like about Madden 13 far outweighs the bad. Since the release of the Kinect, I’ve been waiting for an already established sports franchise to adopt the Kinect’s functionality. Voicing commands works well, and the prompt at the bottom of the screen does not distract from gameplay. Still, veteran players may find that old habits die hard.

Connected Careers?……Are we still talking about Madden?

The big thing this year is Connected Careers. Connected Careers is embodiment of NFL Superstar, Franchise, and Online Franchise. These game modes are no longer separate, but instead combined as one. For example, you and your friends were probably in an online franchise at one point or another. In Connected Careers, you and your friends can be in an online franchise taking the role of players instead of coach. You can have an all-QB league, all-RB league, or an all-WR league. Different options appear depending on what role you can pick. As a coach or player, you can demand release, retire, and accomplish the overall goal of entering the Hall of Fame.

The return of fake news stories, an overhaul of college football drafting make Connected Careers different for every league, in every season.

Believe it or not, Connected Careers injects RPG elements into your franchise. Gamers will have the opportunity to level-up attributes of existing players, or create a new player with selected attributes.

The whole process may sound confusing at first, but Connected Careers is probably the best thing to happen to the Madden franchise to date.

Infinity Engine

The Infinity Engine is one of the first things you’ll notice about Madden 13 and will change the way you play. Players will stumble and react to every bump the they get. Those who like playing Running Back will now have to avoid their own blockers if they want to hit stride. The only gripe I have about this engine are the increase of roughing the QB penalty. If your pass rusher is lying on the ground after the QB throws the pass and barely touches the QB while getting up, you can expect a flag.

Madden Ultimate Team & Gridiron Club

MUT makes a return with a layout easy to understand to those who are familiar with the mode. The most exciting part about this year’s MUT mode are the reward packs. This time around, gamers will receive reward packs or cards based on what you accomplished in past EA NFL installments. Don’t worry, you’ll receive rewards for just playing past Madden installments and arcade NFL titles.

Gamers can also manage MUT and Connected Careers via the Madden NFL Gridiron Club. Available online and on your console, the Gridiron Club is free and provides new content, Madden NFL Moments, Madden On-Demand, and roster updates. The Gridiron Club contains modes we’re already familiar with and some that are new.

Closing Comments

EA has released an innovated sports title. Numerous features, returning and new, should bump Madden 13 to the top of next week’s shopping list for any football fan. Madden’s new engine and game modes should be incentive enough, but Madden 13 goes beyond that and provides a fresh take on the NFL.

Madden NFL 2013 is set to release August 28, 2012.

SDCC 2012 Video Game Round-Up: Halo 4

by jake108

This was the single most prominent title for me this year at San Diego Comic-Con. Sure, I had some playtime at E3, but after last weekend, I’d say it’s safe to say I have at least five hours logged into the most ambitious installment of the Halo franchise yet.

If you didn’t get a chance to read up on my gameplay impressions from E3, you can do so here. What I played last week was the same game mode and same build. This time around, I was able to kill fellow fans on Haven, and more importantly, fight Covenant baddies on a mission through Spartan Ops.

Spartan Ops

In 2004, Halo 2 touted the advancement of a new multiplayer matchmaking system for consoles. For me, not since then has a Halo game made such an impact on the video game community. Eight years later, and Halo 4 takes on one of the most ambitious tasks I’ve seen in the industry.

Spanning over thousands of years, Halo’s canon is not something to poke fun at. Since the smooth transition of reigns of the Halo franchise from Bungie to 343 Industries, every little thing matters, and every little thing must abide by the franchise’s strict canon. With that said, Spartan Ops is a fraction of what Halo 4 will deliver to our living rooms come November 6th. Upon finishing the game, normally, we’d all go and play multiplayer till the end of days. Spartan Ops introduces life after campaign.

Every week, players will receive episodic content that advances the Halo story post-campaign. With every new update, players will also receive five missions that will wrap up a small story arc and continue an overarching story. In the best interest of not spoiling fans, I won’t say what the mission entailed. On Heroic, players were able to get by one mission in 15 to 30 minutes. Granted, final release may bring about more enemies, more objectives, or something else entirely. I can only imagine playing with just you and a friend on Legendary will require much more dedication than just a standard 15 minute run-through.

Spartan Ops looks great on paper, and the ultimate test, as I’m sure 343i is undertaking at this moment, is providing consistent content while furthering Halo’s canon.

Halo 4 is set for a November 6, 2012 release date.

SDCC 2012 Video Game Round-Up: Aliens: Colonial Marines

by jake108

The Alien franchise is very near and dear to many hearts in geekdom. Of course, the importance of canon, storytelling, characters, and mythology surrounding this universe goes without saying. One should only expect amazing video games based on the universe.

Enter Aliens: Colonial Marines. This FPS shooter, with Xeno-baddies vs. Marine combat, is sure to spark gamers’ interest. The concept sounds great. Squad-based combat set in dark, creepy environments filled with Aliens running around on walls, ceilings, vents, and who knows what else. Even better, players are allowed to be Aliens themselves. Unfortunately, SEGA may have much to work on before this title goes gold.

Read up on the synopsis below!

You and your friends against the deadliest killers in the galaxy. Another glorious day in the corps.Buckle up, soldier! Welcome to Aliens: Colonial Marines. Created by Gearbox, the critically acclaimed and fan-favorite developers of Borderlands and Brothers In Arms, this first-person shooter is steeped in the eerie, claustrophobic and terrifying atmosphere that made the Aliens films successful worldwide. You and your friends will become the most badass military outfit in the galaxy – the US Colonial Marines. It’s down to you to not just survive but wipe out the Xeno infestation.Features:Enlist in the Marine Corps
Bringing you a true sequel to James Cameron’s classic Aliens, get tooled up with classic Marine weapons including pulse rifles, motion trackers and flamethrowers.The most authentic Aliens experience ever
Using authentic environments inspired by the film series including Hadley’s Hope, the Sulaco and LV-426, you will be immersed in an eerie, atmospheric world where any moment could bring your death.Drop-in / Drop-out co-operative gameplay
The masters of co-op bring their expertise to the Aliens universe. Xenos getting too tough? Call up your buddies so they can drop in with extra firepower. The whole campaign can be played with a squad of up to four players, dropping in and out as necessary through self-contained missions within an over-arching narrative.Loadouts and upgrades
Create your perfect killing machine. An extensive upgrade system allows players to customize their characters to play the way they want. Earn experience to get perks, new weapons and new looks for your squad.

Honestly, I’m worried about this game. It seems that the excitement that’s down on paper didn’t translate very well into gameplay. I wanted to like this game, but it felt very generic in a universe that spawned so much inspiration. I wasn’t able to actually play as a Xenomorph, but I was able to view live gameplay of SEGA employees who were playing as them. I won’t criticize the player model movement, or even the graphics engine itself. What worries me is the level of expectation I, and I’m sure many fans have or had.

E3 2012 Off-Screen Gameplay Footage

Over the shoulder gameplay footage from Comic-Con 2012

Xenomorph attacks are class based into two classes. Also keep mind that different classes may arise as the year goes by. The attacks themselves were pretty standard. Claw, jump, run on walls and ceiling, and pouncing.

Playing as a Marine is what you’d expect. You’re able to aim down the sights, use secondary fire options, and heavy weapons. The sense of urgancy that’s clear from the films is absent, and instead, it feels like I’m just shooting aliens and not Xenomorphs. Yeah, it was cool fighting alongside other players, helping each other out whenever we got cornered, but it’s just not what I expected.

A prime example is the screenshot above. That screenshot alone makes me want to buy the game. Playing the game should be able to translate feeling too. With a solid four months of crunch time, there is still hope for Colonial Marines. With some tweaks here and there, perhaps the horror in the title will arise, and Aliens: Colonial Marines will be able to proudly represent the Alien Universe.

Aliens: Colonial Marines is hitting the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC February 2, 2013.

SDCC 2012 Video Game Round-Up: Resident Evil 6

by jake108

Yet another installment of the Resident Evil franchise is upon us. Die-hard fans of the series rejoice while others who aren’t too involved, like me, may ask what all the fuss is about. Story and gameplay is what matters most to me, and Resident Evil just happens to have three different campaigns. Sounds awesome, right?!

I was able to play two out of the three confirmed campaigns. I took on the roles of Jake and Chris in their own separate missions. Both campaigns have similarities in gameplay, but are different enough to differentiate one from another. Both characters also moved differently and had different fighting styles. At one point or another, the player is going to have to chose whether or not you want to conserve bullets and fight hand to hand, or in Chris’ case, blade to fist.

HUDs are different as well as weapons and enemies. Sizes of enemies and bosses will also vary depending on what campaign you’re playing. If you haven’t caught any of the trailers yet, you can view the Comic-Con 2012 and E3 2012 trailers below:

Anyone who thinks RE6 will be better when playing cooperatively is 100% correct. I personally can’t wait to bump the game up to the highest difficulty and play through each campaign.

 

As for who I enjoyed playing as more, I’d have to go with Chris. Having access to more weaponry and looking cool taking down foes with my shiny blade made for a good time. The beauty about this game is that different people with different play styles will like each campaign for their own reasons.

Resident Evil 6 is set for an October 2, 2012 release date.

SDCC 2012 Video Game Round-Up: South Park: The Stick of Truth

by jake108

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Let me just start by saying any South Park fan will love this game. Using animation that looks exactly like the series, SoT provides a genuine South Park experience by combining hilarious lines of dialogue and classic characters to deliver an awesome title within the South Park universe.

Gameplay was shown for the first time behind closed doors. Character customization is available, but was not shown. The game starts with the task of making new friends. These new friends are none other than the characters you love. Witty lines of dialogue will keep you checking every possible thing out that appears on-screen. Battles are a combination of real-time combat and turn-based combat. When being attacked, users can block and set yourself up to use a counter.

After, you choose what kind of attack to use, as well as choosing whether or not to use special attacks. Gamers can also combine powers to deliver a one-two punch of sorts when battling multiple enemies. You will definitely recognize characters of the South Park Universe appearing in different situations and in special attacks.

Check out the E3 2012 Trailer below!


South Park: The Stick of Truth is set for a March 5, 2013 release.

SDCC 2012 Video Game Round-Up: Assassin’s Creed III

by jake108

Assassin’s Creed III

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months, Assassin’s Creed III is using the American Revolution as backdrop for our newest adventure. Desmond will be making a return, and Ubisoft promises to make Desmond actually fun to play as. While it is a considerable leap from Ezio’s time period, Ubisoft did rule out the possibility of going back in time rather than the trend of going forward, meaning that another AC game could take place in between Ezio’s time period and the American Revolution.

I admit to being skeptical of this next installment of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Being a fan of the franchise, I feared of a changing gameplay formula due to the drastic change in scenery. Not only that, but I was also skeptical of the game’s story. I was afraid of Conner, our new Assassin we’ll be taking control of, was only helping the Americans just because. I am pleased to report that Conner actually has a reason for helping the colonists. Still, it’s what you’d expect: Top British officials are Templars, and Conner will help the colonists earn their freedom from the Templars themselves.

Below, you’ll find a walkthrough of Boston, MA.

Assassin’s Creed III gameplay is not unlike its predecessors. Any veteran to the franchise should be able to pick up the game and get the hang of it fairly quickly. As someone who doesn’t delve too much into the multiplayer part of the franchise, it’s easy to forget the controls and tricks to avoiding death by assassination. Still, a quick refreshing match should allow to make a decision to keep playing or not.

The gametype I played was a form of conquest/domination while looking for enemy assassins. It’s amazingly fun for those who are good at it and can get quite frustrating for first time users. New game modes, new environments, and new weapons should keep the multiplayer fresh for veterans.

Assassins Creed III is shaping up to be another great addition and is set for an October 30th release.