Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review

By David ‘Transient Nova’ Timms

Cut at will! Just don’t cut that thing over there. That would be rude.

Reading that Platinum Games would be taking over the reins on the development of Metal Gear Rising was something I initially had mixed feelings about, seeing it as both the sign of both a wondrous partnership between two talented development teams and an unfortunate outcome from within Konami itself. Originally announced way back in 2009, the game was originally developed in-house at Kojima Prouctions by some of the younger staff there. Whether due to inexperience or some other production problems, the game was eventually put on the back burner until Platinum Games got involved in 2011. While the Platinum Games stamp is typically the mark of a good action game and something to be excited about, it’s a shame that Konami couldn’t give its up-and-coming developers a chance to shine. One wonders how a Kojima Productions without Hideo Kojima himself would cope in the future.  

Regardless, the Platinum effect is always a welcome one. You can see it the moment you swing Raiden’s blade a something for the first time; fast, fluid, combo-heavy and genuinely thrilling in motion as you soon find yourself juggling cyborg soldiers in the air. The key selling point here is that you can cut nearly everything in the game with your sword (or any other sharp implement you may have). At any point, you can enter ‘Free Blade’ mode to precisely cut any object or enemy in front of you (assuming you have the charge anyway). Most of the time you’ll use this to violently remove deposits of Nanopaste from enemies to heal yourself mid-fight. In the most spectacular fashion as well, no less.

Here lies to the core philosophy of the game: the best defence is a good offence. Interestingly, you do not have the ability to directly block attacks, only parry them. The window of opportunity in which you can parry is a generous one if you favour defense, but if you want to play a little more aggressively then you’ll want time those parries perfectly in order to get a good counterattack in and grab some of that delicious, healing Nanopaste in a single strike and keep yourself in the fight. While not as in-depth as something like Bayonetta, it is still a graceful combat system that does much to keep players involved in the action.

Some engaging enemy AI and designs certainly help too. Aggressive and mobile, the cyborgs and mechs you battle against often make for great opponents. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Metal Gear game without some exceptionally creative boss battles. You’ll witness the battlefield shifting about, your opponents dancing as the fight rages on; a powerful, driving rock soundtrack building with each swipe and volley. Then at the crescendo of the fight, as the vocals kick in, you’re entranced, lost in the moment, and your excitement is driven to unparalled extremes. At its peak, Metal Gear Rising’s battles are nothing short of exhilarating.

You also happen to get some brilliantly bizarre sub-weapons to play with too, which is awesome. I’ll have you know that nobody, nobody can work a pair of giant sword scissors quite like the way I can.

Visually, the game remains faithful the recent Metal Gear games (particularly the fourth in the series) with pleasantly dusty locations, distinct character designs and that special brand of kinetic spectacle that Platinum Games does so well. Even better, the action moves at a largely consistent 60fps, keeping the game fast and the flow moving (something that I felt was absent in the recent DmC demo).

Much has been said about the short runtime of the game, which is bizarre considering that this is a Metal Gear game we’re talking about. If you were to ignore all the codec calls you can make with the supporting cast, I’d wager that the game will set you back about five or six hours of your life. The typical length of a modern action game if you will. Time just flies by a bit faster than usual here because of how perfectly paced the action is, with very little in the way of filler. You’ve also got a sizable bunch of challenging VR missions to unlock and higher difficulties to play though, with your ‘Very Hard’ and ‘Revengance’ runs remixing enemy waves to a significant degree, so replay options are there if you want them. Oh, and collectibles.

Considering the series we’re talking about here, I’d imagine there will be a number of players coming to the game for its story, adding yet more flavour to the increasingly tangled lore of Metal Gear. The premise is relatively simple compared to the core games: Raiden, following a botched bodyguarding job resulting in the death of an African prime minister, seeks to eviscerate the many, many members of the mercenary group ‘Desperado’ and their conveniently themed leaders ‘The Winds of Destruction’. Because he needs his Revengance. There will be twists! And turns! And lots of talk about nanomachines!

The setup and narrative is unmistakably Metal Gear; larger-than-life characterisation, knowing humour, heavy-handed military politics and all. Even so, the excessive dialogue is kept to a minimum this time around, most likely due to Platinum’s involvement (and because, you know, it’s an action game). It’s a welcome change for sure, and one that keeps the game relatively well-paced. Should you miss all the abundant banter though, then there is that whole load of codec calls to wade through if you want to.

The whole thing is simply made to entertain, pure and simple. It’s endearing and awe-inspiring in the way that Metal Gear and Platinum-developed titles often are. It’s just a shame that much of that is brought low by a frequently argumentative camera that spins and zooms at some particularly inopportune moments. There’s nothing in the way of leaderboard features for scoring and speedrunning either, but that’s a personal gripe more than anything. There’s also a couple of infrequent technical and navigational hiccups too, which aren’t ruinous, but still there all the same.

There’s plenty that Metal Gear Rising does well: an upper-tier combat system, an exciting sense of style, an exhilarating roller coaster of a plot, some involving reasons to replay the game and more besides. Hell, it even makes Raiden a more interesting character, which I didn’t think was even possible for good while. Above all else though, it shows Platinum Games performing an increasingly rare kind of reverence, understanding and respect to a long standing, long running game series, and all the while adding that trademark touch that makes the game distinctly theirs. And if that’s not glowing praise then I’m really not sure what is.

—

Developer: Platinum Games/Kojima Productions

Publisher: Konami

Players: 1

Release: 21^st February, 2013

Dead Space 3 Review

By David ‘Transient Nova’ Timms

There are higher, more powerful forces at work than the alien Markers this time… forces called ‘microtransations’.

I loved the original Dead Space, and I loved what it represented. It was a horror game that came about during EA’s wild period when the publisher was greenlighting all kinds of riskier and more bizarre projects, before subsequently ending up as the shining gem in their crown upon its release circa-2008. Here was a strong indicator that a new IP could absolutely grab the attentions of players during the midpoint of a console generation’s life cycle, and that success can be found if you stretch your creative wings and try making something a little different to the games you’re used to pushing forward. These were exciting times from EA for sure.

I really liked Dead Space 2, and I really liked what it represented. It showcased the results of what an extensive amount of polish could do for such a promising title, and saw EA at their ‘triple A’ best for the year of 2010. A slightly deemphasised focus on horror aside, the game improved on the original in every conceivable way. It saw developer Visceral Games at their most confident and EA seemingly assured in how best to build on their franchises going ahead.

Let’s fast forward to now, and talk about what the development team and publisher have done with Dead Space 3. There’s definitely more than a few things to talk about.

At this point in the Dead Space saga we find our hero Issac Clarke holed up in his apartment, cutting himself off from the outside world and wanting nothing to do with the alien markers anymore. Considering the thousands upon thousands of near-death encounters he’s had with the pointy, blade-ridden alien Necromorphs in their presence, you can pretty much understand why he’d want to do this. Unfortunately for him, he ends up getting pulled out of hiding by the remnants of a rapidly crumbling EarthGov, who happen to need his help in locating Ellie Langford and her team after having lost contact near the distant ice planet of Tau Volantis. As is typical of such things, their mission swiftly escalates as they set about uncover the true secret of the markers and save humanity, all while dealing with an incredibly overt love triangle and evading one of the most blatantly stereotypical villains I’ve seen in recent years. The voice acting is fine for the most part, if largely flat from most of the cast. What’s more pressing is the one-note characterisation this time around and some particularly odd dialogue and story beats at times, alongside a bizarre endgame that seems out of place even by the series’ more fantastical standards.

New to the core series is the ability to play cooperatively with another player (we’ll ignore the Wii and PS3’s excellent Dead Space: Extraction for the purposes of this review. It’s a different kind of game anyway). Depending on whether you do so or not, Issac may find himself joined by new character John Carver, your typical soldier man with little in the way of personality. He grunts, he’s snarky, he hates most things and he’s absolutely not your friend. Interestingly, he suffers from visions of his deceased wife and son through the markers, visions that Issac (and the other player) can’t see. It’s a neat touch, albeit not a substantial one and not something that gives the character himself more weight.

A vastly weaker narrative overall then, but it’s a testament to the work of the art and audio teams that it doesn’t dislodge or overtly barge into that trademark atmosphere, world setup and presentation. There’s still plenty of that sinister lore to read into both story-wise and in terms of the environment around you, with the game’s opening act standing out in particular as you explore an old graveyard of derelict spaceships (well, derelict in a sense anyway). Much of that nosedives somewhat when you get planetside though, with familiar landscapes you’ve seen in a number of other games already. A decidedly unsubtle approach to Downloadable Content cuts into this as well, but we’ll get there soon enough.

The refined gunplay of its predecessors remains strong here, although the series’ trademark need to dismember enemies is much less prominent this time around, mainly due to poor weapon balancing (more on that in a bit) and the awkward inclusion of human enemies that like to fire back at you. We’ve got a solid shooter here that simply doesn’t feel the need to do anything adventurous. Nothing feels as deliberately ‘thought out’ as the highlights of the previous games: Necromorphs are thrown at you in a relatively haphazard fashion, set-pieces have a more bland presence and are more ‘fiddly’ to make your way through, ambient music is reused for the third time now, and the like. That stubbornness to switch things up alongside the game’s more ‘by-the-numbers’ approach to design wears eventually, to the point where I would actually say that the game is worse than Resident Evil 6 at its best (but still better than its worst, admittedly).

So yes, back to that poor weapon balancing. New to the series is the ability to craft your own weapons and tools using parts and resources scattered about the place. Your primary method of resource gathering will be through the use of the Scavenger Bots you find at certain points, placing them down for ten minutes and picking them up at the crafting bench when they’re done. It’s a slow, grind-filled process and not a fun one at that.

But! You can speed up the process via the magic of real-money payments! Hark! With enough moolah you can up the speed of your Scavenger Bot collection rates (and for no good reason too)! Marvel! You can buy your way out of a tense, unnerving situation with downloadable resource packs and make the rest the area a bit of a cakewalk! Always having that ‘Downloadable Content’ prompt there whenever you’re at a bench (which is often) is offensive in ways I never even considered before, like the videogame industry equivalent of a dealer baiting a nun, as if game is saying to more honest players “Psst… Hey, buddy? Wanna taste of some of merchandise I got ‘round back? C’mon… I’m always here for ya, ya know?” at every available opportunity. It’s just incredibly offputting and a real mood breaker in a game such as this.

And even after taking all that into account, you’ll still quickly find yourself settling on one or two weapon builds before rolling with them for the rest of the game. No need to experiment here! No need to worry about managing different types of ammo! Screw the use of stasis and kinesis to get out of a tight spot! Just grab a shotgun and go to town! Whee!

Frankly, the inclusion of mircotransactions here did more to break the flow and core design of Dead Space 3 than anything else in there. It was just a badly, badly conceived idea, and one that’ll hurt a lot of EA’s games going forward I’d imagine as they continue to figure out how to implement them effectively.

Perhaps as an extension to that, nearly all the horror aspects that were present in the first Dead Space game (and the second in a way) are now effectively non-existent. The odd cheap jump-scare still works, but otherwise there is a significantly reduced feeling of dread this time around, which I suspect is due to the game being designed with cooperative play and a microtransaction system in mind. Upping the difficulty doesn’t help this time around either due to the universal ammo system negating any inventory and supply concerns, alongside a generally poorer balance of difficulty across the board.

There’s admittedly a lot in there for you to work your way through, with my playthrough on the ‘Impossible’ difficulty clocking in at well over twenty hours. It’s a long game, but one that’s frequently tedious and padded out, being as it is badly paced with little meaningfully ‘new’ in there (you’ll be facing the same opponents Dead Space 2 had most of the time). Sidequests are largely bland and incidental endeavours, with long-winded and repetitive corridor fights containing a lot of asset reuse (although the co-op exclusive ones do have a couple of smart tricks). You’ve got extra modes that open up upon game completion as well, such as a ‘Classic’ mode that more closely follows the template of the first game and a ‘Pure Survival’ mode that tests your ability to manage resources. Hardcore mode also returns, where you must finish the game in a single life. It sounds tense and thrilling, but I would imagine that there will be some frustration due to fiddly set-pieces and the occasional bug.

Yes, the bugs. We have a notable decline in solidity and polish this time around. Let’s go down the list: there’s a glitch that gives you infinite ammo after visiting the weapons testing area, distorted voice bugs where there really shouldn’t be, peculiar cases of the player character catching on the geometry (particularly upon death, to much silly amusement), some unexplained deaths in co-op (i.e. suffering from the effects of stasis from out of nowhere) and more besides.

I’m disappointed in Dead Space 3, and I’m disappointed in what it represents: a once stellar series that has been fractured by its approach to Downloadable Content and, more importantly, how upfront it is in letting you know it’s there. Much of the cleverness has been forcibly scaled back, the plotting and dialogue is significantly weaker, and the co-op aspects end up diluting the traditional Dead Space experience to a remarkable degree while adding very little in return (despite this, co-op is still the preferred way to play. Hell, even the very worst games become as good as your friends are when played as such). The directions, concepts and business practices present in there are at odds with each other more often than they really should be, and this entry in the series simply fails to be as captivating as the others. Coming from a largely impeccable series history, one that I loved, seeing Dead Space 3 end up as just another extravagantly produced, largely flat shooter is of the most disheartening things to happen in my gaming life in some time.

At least it didn’t go as far as to have the Xbox physically vacuum money out of my wallet through the disc tray though. So there’s that.

—

Developer: Visceral Games

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Players: 1-2 (online only)

Release: 8^th February, 2013

Special Forces: Team X Review

By BrutishBatfink

Team X, for those special occasions when the rest of the alphabet is busy.

 -

Sometimes the name just says it all. I mean, Special Forces: Team X? It’s not a name that screams ‘Buy me!’, is it? In fact, how much would you be willing to bet that the X stood for Xtreme at one point? Here’s an interesting point mind you, the title ‘Special Forces: Team X’ can be made into the anagram ‘A faceless toxic perm’, which just might be the most exciting thing about the game and by far a better name for it than the bland, generic name it now has. Still, is it any good?

Firstly, you should be aware that there’s no real story or singleplayer side to this game. It’s just a multiplayer shooter, and one with no bot support for solo players. If the multiplayer goes stale, then it’s safe to assume that you’ll have a dead game on your hands.

The game offers up a good amount of game modes, such as Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Hot Zone, High Value Target, and Control Point. You’re bound to like at least one of them and the lobbies seem reasonably busy for now.

Interestingly, there are no ‘complete’ maps in the game per se. You start each round by piecing together three different map segments, with players voting on what pieces they want to play on. This in itself is a fantastic idea, one that is unfortunately not utilized strongly enough. Even with this ‘build-it-yourself’ kind of map design, you will have seen every map combination going in no time and it soon ends up with everyone voting for the same damn good map segments each time and ignoring the perceived boring ones. As I say though, it’s still a great idea and I’m sure it could be used very creatively and with a better sense of balance if the right developer took their time with it.

Adopting a cel-shaded visual style, Special Forces: Team X looks great for the first couple of plays. A lack of decent map design means that nothing ever seems to stand out though. Sure you get to run around a bold-looking and vividly coloured warehouse, but it’s still just a warehouse in the end. Some more interesting variants would go a long way to increasing the longevity of the game and showing off those visuals in a more favourable light.

Guns are few in number, being as there are a couple of assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles etc. in there. I’m not going to list them all, but there’s enough to have fun with and each firearm has the usual attachments and the like that you unlock as you rise in level.

Weapons are also found on the field in special crates, with the Minigun and Chainsaw being the best. Seeing a player going all Texas Chainsaw Massacre on another player can be quite funny, as you can sense the terror on the victims as they desperately try to take down their raging attacker before they get torn in two.

The action works well enough, with your standard cover system that has you linking to a wall that you can then pop out of to take shots. Hit detection is fine with the exception of melee combat, which can fail and leave you looking like you’re in a slapping contest with the air in front of you. The grenades seem a bit off, with an illogical throw that often seems to overshoot, and when a grenade does hit, your enemy flies into the air like a rocket which, although funny, does feel a bit wrong…

One annoying issue that has had an effect on me (and quite a few others judging by various complaints on the internet) is my level resetting. Having played Special Forces for three days, I got to level sixteen before for some reason being reset back to level one. Though my current equipment on was still on me, I could not access anything else that I had previously unlocked and that, for lack of a better word, sucks. There’s also the usual problem you get with most online-only games, namely the odd bit of lag when someone joins during a match and disconnections that happen a bit too often, which can be tiring.

To sum up, in an already crowded market Special Forces: Team X brings nothing meaningfully new to the table to keep anyone interested for long. It isn’t awful by any means, but going up against games like Hybrid and Gotham City Imposters who already have more established fan bases (especially following a recent sale on Hybrid) it maybe would have been wise to launch the game at 400 or 800 Microsoft Points instead of 1,200. With its high asking price in place and lack of fresh ideas on show, I think that the game is doomed to obscurity. Not even its edgy ‘X’ can save it.

—

Developer: Zombie Studios

Publisher: Atari

Players: 2-12 (online multiplayer only)

Release: 6^th February, 2013

Initial Price: 1,200 Microsoft points

Anarchy Reigns Review

By David ‘Transient Nova’ Timms

It’s the videogame equivalent of a pub brawl that you’ve always wanted.

Sega seem to be at something of a crossroads as of late. Having not had the most stellar of financial performances in recent times, the publisher has begun moving away from the higher profile physical console and portable releases it once actively favoured, now instead opting to bank on the digital and PC markets as well as a relatively safe licensed product or two just to be sure. These are turbulent times in the games industry, and as development costs continue to climb upwards and the traditionally safe mainstream market get less certain, you can’t really blame Sega for changing their direction.

Unfortunately, there was one game that got caught up in this shuffle: Anarchy Reigns. Originally set for release in July last year, it was delayed for reasons known only to Sega (with even the developers at Platinum Games being kept out of the loop with regards to its western release, frustratingly). You could make the reasonable guesses that the publisher lacked confidence in the title’s ability to sell and that it doesn’t really fit into its new strategy, with the evidence being a poor showing in Japan and its eventual release a whole six months later at a budget price. It’s a little disheartening to think of it this way since there’s more value to be derived from this than many other full price titles, but the cheaper tag can definitely still be considered more appealing and may have actually helped it along in acquiring a wider audience in the west, which can only be a boon for a game like this.

So, what is Anarchy Reigns then? It’s a brawler with a largely distinct multiplayer focus, and arguably the spiritual successor to Platinum’s first release and Wii exclusive MadWorld (to the point where a number of characters from that game make prominent appearances). The multiplayer modes available for perusal range from your standard Free-for-alls, Team Deathmatches and wave-based Survival modes to the more esoteric Capture the Flag variants and Death Ball matches. Pick from out of seventeen core characters (some of which need to be unlocked either through playing the campaign or ranking up in multiplayer), strap on a perk and off you go to jump into the fray.

Combat works like this: each fighter you can choose from has a different style of play and personality, from light and agile femme fatales and gruff chainsaw-wielding ex-marine types to the bounciest, pimpiest of pimp lords (I’ve made pimpiest a word now) and all the way up to bulky heavy hitters with a penchant for innuendo and bull-related puns. Combos are simple to pull off and move lists restrained. A damaging and unique ‘killer weapon’ is assigned to each character with its usage governed by an individual meter, refilled by performing regular attacks or taking damage. A basic repertoire of defensive moves, dodges, grabs and counters are also available, and you can nab the odd item and environmental weapon strewn about the place. Lastly, you can build up a ‘rampage’ meter over the course of a match which, when full, grants you temporary access to lightning fast combos, unlimited use of your killer weapon and a general feeling of near-invincible awesomeness. There, you’re now equipped with the proper knowledge to go and punch someone in the face.

This is a simplistic and rough fighter. It doesn’t demand absolute precision, nor does it demand an intricate knowledge of the movesets of each character or the systems at work behind the scenes (though that can help). It’s the kind of game that shows up problems and flaws frequently when put under intense scrutiny: locking-on to other fighters is not 100% reliable, there are balancing issues between certain characters, the spin-attack can be considered a far too effective a ‘get out of jail free’ card, amongst other niggles.

But then the wild stuff starts to happen, wild stuff that justifies those large and multifaceted maps, wild stuff that happens in the middle of a massive sixteen player dog pile. A huge tornado rips through the landscape, tossing players all over the place. Large Helicopter Drones attack before being commandeered, piloted and bloody piledrived into other players from the sky. A massive sea creature arises from the depths of the sea and starts flattening everyone with its massive tentacles. A giant robot drops out of the sky before wandering around the arena to disintegrate everyone with lasers. You see all this stuff, and whatever cynicism you have about the game pretty much melts away after that.

There is a minor progression system in place but it’s not particularly integral to the experience, with its main purpose being to unlock certain perks, maybe a few characters and little else. The focus is on picking up and play; a ranking system that doesn’t detract from the matches themselves or create a real feeling of unfairness, and such a mentality is welcome in this day and age to say the least. What’s less welcome is the game’s online lobby system, which can take a while to set up in getting a ranked or player match going at times, particularly with regards to large team games and free-for-alls. I’ve seen numerous cases of poor matchmaking and bizarre connectivity problems here, which ultimately serves to make those starts even slower. You can play against CPU bots in private matches if wish should you struggle to group up with other folk, though they can never really compare to human players (I do kind of wish you had the option to bring them into player matches for the purposes of making up the numbers though). The netcode is surprisingly solid when you’re in a game duking it out, although lag can still happen when playing with people outside your region. There’s the infrequent AI pathfinding and clipping bug here and there too.

In terms of singleplayer, you’ve got a separate campaign available should you not want to take part in any multiplayer shenanigans. The story centres around two men and their separate hunts for a rouge cybernetic law enforcer named Max… and everything just kind of spirals off from there. An excuse to add flavour to its oddball cast as well as punch them repeatedly more than anything, the game’s segregated mission structure (along with some occasionally bizarre and unexpected mission design) and silly, occasionally juvenile sense of humour help ensure that there are some good times to be had, with a competitive (if underdeveloped) scoring element to chase for replay purposes if you’re so inclined. Considering the reuse of assets and maps from the multiplayer side though, it goes without saying that this was never where the heart of the game lies.

Visually, Anarchy Reigns is very kinetic, with some muddy textures and a 30fps benchmark in place to minimise the online strain that all those characters, dynamic animation work and abundance of busy arena events will inevitably do. The frankly blistering and personality-filled soundtrack helps up the tempo to no end as well, with a selection vocal electronic, rap, drum n’ bass and driving rock tracks all complementing the action in the only way they can compliment a Japanese action game: in the most unusual, entertaining and exciting matter possible.

This game is just pure, raw and rowdy fun. It asks that you don’t take it seriously; that you don’t play it as a high-level competitive fighting game, don’t think about the campaign story too much, don’t dwell on some of the rough visuals here and there. Just treat it as the wild punch-up that it is, the life of the party it aspires to be and leave a few hours later with a massive grin on your face.

At the time of writing there are still lots of players playing Anarchy Reigns on Xbox LIVE and having a whale of a time, but who knows how long that will last? So let me close by saying this: at £18, I’d absolutely jump in while you can.

—

Developer: Platinum Games Inc.

Publisher: Sega

Players: 1-16 (online only)

Release: 11^th January, 2013

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably already seen the CG trailer that debuted at this year’s Spike VGAs (a show which, let’s be honest here, has really been about the trailers in recent years). You’ve probably seen it twenty times over. If not though, then here it is for your viewing pleasure. Now go and watch it at least twenty times.

In case you didn’t pick up from my review of the first Dark Souls, this article’s blurb and the intro you’ve just read, I am very, very excited by this announcement. Despite the trailer showing nothing in the way of actual gameplay, it does strongly reaffirm that many of the things that made Dark Souls great will make a return: the stellar art direction, the sombre atmosphere, the risky and and brutal combat, the horrible and unexpected burning to death by a fire-breathing dragon…

While the change in directors is a little disconcerting (the director of the original Dark Souls and Demons’ Souls Hidetaka Miyazaki is merely acting as supervisor here, heading up another project in the meantime if a recent interview with Famitsu is any indication), I remain confident that the developers will continue to adhere to the core of these games, that is to say that we’ll see a generally high level of challenge, some excellent background narrative and that unique blend of single and multiplayer that many of us have come to know and love (now with dedicated servers!). You’d be a bit daft to say that both From Software and Namco Bandai don’t know how important Dark Souls II is to them and how important it is to get right, after all.

The CG trailer can be found below. Just look at the art direction. Look at it.

Dark Souls II currently has no firm release date save for ‘sometime later this year’ (to paraphrase) on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. I’d actually bet on early 2014 myself.

]]> http://genuinegamers.com/dark-souls-2-cg-announcement-trailer/feed/ 0 http://genuinegamers.com/dark-souls-review/ http://genuinegamers.com/dark-souls-review/#comments Thu, 20 Dec 2012 04:05:29 +0000 Nova http://genuinegamers.com/?p=5110

Dark Souls Review

By David ‘Transient Nova’ Timms

Don’t ever stop praising that sun.

Let me talk to you about my first journey through Lordran.

The game opened as I expected. I was given an opportunity to create my character and adopt a rough class template that would impact how I’d play the earlier parts of my adventure. Being the masochist that I am, I willingly chose to make the opening hours harder on myself by choosing the dark fantasy equivalent of a hobo. What he lacked in protective armour and weaponry that could even scratch the skin, he made up for in vigour and can-do spirit. That’s what I told myself anyway.

A scene-setting CG cutscene later, I find myself as an undead prisoner left to rot in what is best described as a truly god-forsaken asylum, one who soon escapes from his cell via a key suspiciously planted on a corpse thrown in by a nameless knight. Immediately the tone is set. The atmosphere is dark, dank. Other undead souls writhe in a demented, tortured agony. There is a noticable lack of handholding as you progress, with the closest thing to a tutorial being a few messages strewn about on the floor. There is no joy here. There is only despair and adversity. The demon guarding the only exit of the asylum is terrifying and genuinely dangerous, brutally slaying me more than once. Eventually though, he is overcome and I feel… elated. The first boss. Beaten. The first boss. And I earned it.

Welcome to Dark Souls.

Not long after, I’m whisked away to a place called Firelink Shrine, greeted with a warm bonfire and a grand vista. You come to revere these bonfires, standing as they do as the closest things you get to beacons of safety. You see shades of other players sitting next to them, collecting their bearings and preparing for their next venture towards some deadly unknown. There are a few peculiar individuals nearby who haven’t completely their marbles, but they still seem somewhat despondent. Their voice acting is eccentric and occasionally amateurish, but it also feels very… deliberate, with each word emphasised to accentuate a certain kind of madness, certain aspects of the world and its lore. After a trip downwards towards a graveyard ends in a swift beat-down by a bunch of skeletons, I decide to change my mind about where I want to go and head upwards towards what looked like a nearby aqueduct, and it’s at this point where I really started to learn how to fight.

I can say without question that I have never experienced a more satisfying combat system in an action-RPG. It’s a timing-based affair that’s incredibly intelligent, very involved and more varied than you would expect, with a huge array of weapons and armour to use and numerous, important statistics to think about. How you build up your character will have a huge effect on both your style of play and your approach the game’s many monsters and bosses. You quickly learn to treat every encounter with caution and respect, doubly so for unfamiliar ones, with each opponent having a unique form of behaviour alongside distinct tells, strengths and weaknesses. They will pose different levels of threats to different kinds of players, but even taking that into account each one has the capability to punish a complacent player. There is just so much to battle here, so much to discover, so much to experiment with. So much to learn. All you need to do is accumulate souls by slaying your enemies; using them to get stronger, level up, buy weapons and items etc. Keeping a firm hold on them is another matter though.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Just beyond the waterway lays the Undead Burg, a suburban area that must have been in neglect for a while if the rickety wooden walkways and dilapidated buildings are anything to go by. The battle through the area was devious and fierce; undead soldiers would stab me, cheeky firebomb throwers would make me die a toasty death on an already precarious bridge, a rolling barrel trap would knock me off a staircase into oblivion and I would regret needlessly provoking the wrath of a Black Knight that I was clearly no match for. Death was frequent, but it was nothing compared to the repeated mauling I received from the Taurus Demon at the other end. Looking for answers, I start reading the messages other players have left lying around. One in particular stood out outside the boss area, saying as it did ‘Weakness: Lightning’. Trying that out, I managed to successfully defeat him by tainting my sword with some gold pine resin I found in one of the residential houses, imbuing it with the power of lightning. I was thankful to the nameless stranger who left that message and felt ecstatic once again, though that feeling disappeared about five minutes later when a fire-breathing dragon roasted me alive on the bridge I was trying to cross. Twice. I would never get those well-earned souls back. C’est la vie.

So yes, you will die many times. As you’ve gathered by now, Dark Souls is a challenging game with tricks, traps and monsters that make a mockery of the skills you thought you mastered at every turn. You’ll typically drop your stockpile of souls and humanity upon death, with only one chance to recover it all afterwards. Die again before you do so and it will all be forever lost to you. A brilliant tension arises from this; a system that’s frequently demanding and keeps you on your toes, but at the same time one that can never be considered unfair. Every death can be a learning experience, something to spring off from and use as a means to prevent additional mistakes and progress a little further than you did last time. It plays with graceful ideas of risk and reward, always with desire to see what’s next: new environments to see and gasp at, new weapons and spells to wield, new secrets to find, all behind some new enemies to battle, new bosses to get trounced by, and on the occasions when you get a little downhearted with your lack of progress, you start seeing the ghosts of other players sitting around the same bonfire you’re nestled at and think to yourself that, yeah, there are others going through the same thing you’re going through, getting beaten down as much as you are. And that’s strangely comforting.

Let’s skip ahead a little. After a horrifying ordeal through the deathtrap that is Sen’s Fortress, I’m treated to the stunning beauty of Anor Londo, an ancient and regal city that’s not at all easy to navigate. I leave few messages to advise other players where the out-of-the-way pathways are and how I dealt with two of the most hateful archers in any videogame ever. I’m here because a bizarre serpent told me that I was the chosen one (as you do) and that I needed a powerful artifact from this place. Progress would have remained relatively smooth (in the grand scheme of things anyway) were it not for two powerful foes blocking my way. One agile, slender and lightning fast, the other slow, bulky and extremely powerful, they worked in tandem to ensure I could get little more than a small nick on either one. In a game consisting almost entirely of tough battles, this was the first time I had actually found myself running up against a wall. I needed help, and I knew it would be in my best interest to help others with these two as well. Staying undead for the majority of the time up until this point, I now had delve into my valuable reserves of humanity, reverting to a human state and searching for the now visible summon signs of phantoms keen to help me out. Of course, doing so bought with it its fair share of invaders out claim my humanity as their own as well…

Humanity is the basis of everything that can be considered good and dear to you in Dark Souls. It lets you actively interact with other players, kindle bonfires to increase their healing potency and provides a number of other more subtle boons. You eventually come covet your humanity, and you’ll desperately strive to get as much of it as possible on your initial playthrough. You’ll hoard your humanity items obsessively in case of an emergency. You play cautiously while you have a high stock currently active, for fear of losing it all in one fell, potentially unrecoverable swoop. You place down summon signs of your own, nobly helping other players through difficult areas and slay difficult bosses in order gain further humanity. You desperately invade another player’s world, killing him without remorse and taking his humanity away from him, maybe even putting him in a risky recovery position in the process. It’s the one thing that truly helps you keep going in this damned, forsaken world. It’s poignancy though design.

We’ll jump ahead to a later part of the game now: the Tomb of the Giants. What an uncomfortable place. Filled to the brim with large skeletons brandishing even larger swords and bows, giant skeleton dogs that would tear your head off in a second given the chance, and a number of Pinwheel necromancers that I had previously encountered once already as a damn boss fight. All that, and it was pitch black as well! Effectively navigating the place required that you bring your own light source (or in my case fumble around in the dark until I stumble across a lantern. In a pit. Filled with monsters. That a thief tricked me into falling in. Dark Souls likes to remind you of just what game you’re playing). To make matters worse there was at least one Gravelord operating in my area on a frequent basis, a player who would try to lure me into their world by sending more powerful ‘black phantom’ variants of those skeleton dogs into mine. I’m ultimately quite thankful that a few players who hung with the Warriors of Sunlight kept dropping their golden summon signs near the bonfires. It ultimately meant that I didn’t have to hunt that damn Gravelord. Didn’t have to worry so much about those invading Darkwraiths either. Except for that one who charged past my sun-praising allies to promptly kick me off a cliff.

As you explore the world you’ll be able to join up with one of a number of covenants, many of which hide in secret off the beaten path. Each one caters to a different kind of play style and provides a number of different perks to complement it. Like helping others through tough bosses? Join up with the Warriors of Sunlight and acquire medals to exchange for special lightning spells. Despise the more unsavoury invaders out there? Become a Blade of the Darkmoon and hunt down those who have been marked as sinners in the Book of the Guilty. Enjoy dueling in a controlled, familiar environment? Enroll with the Forest Hunters and defend a part of the Darkroot Garden from unsuspecting travelers. It honestly feels like true role-playing, with players choosing their path and ultimately how they engage with each other.

Compared to the bland, sprawling expanse of Skyrim, the world of Dark Souls is a place that’s both vivid and densely-packed, with extravagant architecture and captivating weapon, armour and monster designs throughout. It’s intricate to the point where you can start spotting subtle connections in the environment as the game progresses. This is the kind of videogame storytelling I get engrossed in and subsequently adore; a narrative developed through discovery and subtle, maybe even obscure design where atmosphere, art and restraint are used to flesh out the backstory and world lore, providing rhyme and reason for your presence in it.

The game’s faults are minor and infrequent, but are still there regardless. In true From Software fashion, Dark Souls is a game that prioritises art direction over tech, with the framerate dropping significantly in parts of the game and the default camera occasionally being more of a hindrance than a help (though that can be adjusted to the options menu). I struggle to think of anything else I take issue with apart from that, though it has to be said that you’ll be missing a significant part of the experience if you decide to, or are forced to, play it offline.

Over time, I came to believe that Dark Souls stands one of the most important and influential games we will see this generation. Why do I believe this? The difficulty the game is renowned for merely stands as a pillar that props up its greater achievements. It’s a perfect fusion of fantastic singleplayer adventuring with an omnipresent multiplayer ethos, a masterwork in subtle community development and meaningful role-playing, a game of exceptional art and audio direction, of a rare and assured design that actually trusts the player. It’s the prime example of a narrative that plays to the strengths of games, not scripts. It’s both an exceptional action game and a tense horror game on its own terms. Indeed, it’s a game that will influence developers over the coming years more than any other in recent times, with Zombi U adapting a similar risk-reward ideology and Resident Evil 6 providing a means for players to invade and influence each others’ games. Even Cliff Bleszinski has gone on record to state how he believes Dark Souls will influence singleplayer and multiplayer gaming going ahead.

All this and I’ve ignored the fact that I’ve went and experienced the game numerous times over well beyond that first playthrough throughout the following year, still discovering, still fighting, still influencing people’s games and having them influence mine, still marveling at the brilliance of it all, still marveling at the sheer wonder of it all. It wasn’t the last journey I took into Lordran.

It definitely wasn’t the last.

—

Developer: From Software

Publisher: Namco Bandai

Players: 1-4 (online only)

Release: 7^th October, 2011

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Review

By BrutishBatfink

Call of Groundhog Day.

Start campaign already confused by opening cut scene spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn horrible horse section kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill kill count now equal to Rambo’s die.

Respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn homoerotic story undertones kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn get killed by unmanned drone 9 times in a row because of bad checkpointing system.

Respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die.

Respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn save the president of France for some reason kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die find jet die in jet spawn in jet die in jet again curse jet spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die spawn kill die respawn run around spawn kill die respawn run around die spawn kill reload spawn die run around die game ends still confused about plot.

Zombies Mode!

Pick mode and map spawn kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie stab zombie look for gun buy gun kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie catch bus kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie zombie kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie shoot bus driver kill zombie kill zombie stab bus driver still no effect feel sad  kill zombie kill zombie get off bus explore area kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie find gun box buy new gun bus horn sounds panic chase after leaving bus kill zombie kill zombie kill zombie chase after bus kill zombie get surrounded by zombies kill zombie kill zombie die on main road chasing bus restart from beginning again plot revenge on evil bus driver.

Mulitplayer Mode!

Pick guns spawn kill die respawn run around kill camper die spawn throw grenade die spawn kill die respawn run around kill camper die spawn throw grenade die spawn kill die respawn run around kill camper die spawn throw grenade die a little inside spawn kill die respawn run around kill camper die spawn throw grenade die spawn kill die respawn run around kill camper die spawn throw grenade die suicide in corner press power button on Xbox go outside look for bridge jump off die.

-

Successes:

- I liked the end credits.

Failures:

- Plot, lack of ideas, lack of innovation, lack of fun, zombies, multiplayer, singleplayer, destroys hopes and dreams.

—

Developer: Treyarch

Publisher: Activision

Players: 1-18 (online and offline multiplayer)

Release: 13^th November, 2012

—

spawn kill die

Bang Bang Racing

By BrutishBatfink

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Bang-on family fun.

Anyone out there with an Android phone might have come across this one. Bang Bang Racing was an Android OS game that originally came out last year, and it must have impressed a few people because it’s now out on Xbox LIVE Arcade to join the big boys.

The game is a simple racer, played from a top-down perspective that fits in perfectly with the game world. The cars and environment have a lovely, vibrant look, and there is a lot of detail on the tracks such as lively green fields, clear blue seas and lots of little things going on behind the racing barriers. It’s all quite charming really.

I mean, the people watching the races all look like little Weeble Wobbles (I hope I’m not the only person in the world you remembers them). They’re like little egg men that jump up and down as you pass them and they just look really sweet.

What the developers have attempted to do here with Bang Bang Racing and succeeded in doing for the most part is to make a family friendly racer with practically no focus on combat.

Just like in the good old days, they want us zooming around these little tracks and enjoying ourselves, not stressing out because we failed to blow up the right quota of enemies and being forced to restart the race again. No, it’s simplicity all the way with this one. This is a pipe and long scarf racing jaunty.

The family market is really where this game is going to shine. I can easily see a few dads sitting down with their sons for a few short matches on this and having a blast doing so.

Bang Bang Racing supports split-screen multiplayer for up to 4 players, but for some reason there is no online multiplayer, which seems a bit odd considering the type of game it is and could be considered a missed opportunity.

The game has four car classes: N-Dura, Evo GT, Protech and Apex, with each one playing differently and running the gamut of race cars, muscle cars and so forth. There are five cars in each series so you have plenty to play with and they can each be tarted up with nice and colorful paint liveries.

Anyone can handle these cars. They’re easy to drive and nip a long at a decent pace. The more I drive them, the more they keep reminding me of my youth when I used to play with Micro Machines in my back garden *looks into distance and reminisces……* Where was I? Oh yes, the review.

There are nine courses in the game, and you can play each one in reverse like in most racing games. With numerous shortcuts to find in each track there’s plenty of opportunity for some sneaky overtakes. Now, providing my math is right with all the options and tournaments considered there are in total 54 unique race configurations. Not bad for 800 Microsoft points.

Bang Bang Racing’s simplicity is both its best and worst feature. As pleasant as it is whizzing around these tracks, there will be some more seasoned racers who want something with a bit more bite to it. A bit more ‘Grrrrr…’ if you pardon that simplistic expression. The game would likely entertain the younger gamers for hours, but I think the rest of us would probably switch straight back to Need For Speed for some real ‘bang-bang’ racing.

—

Developers: Playbox, Digital Reality

Publisher: Digital Reality

Players: 1-4 (offline only)

Release: 6^th June, 2012

Initial Price: 800 Microsoft points

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review

By David ‘Transient Nova’ Timms

What’s old is new again.

You don’t need to have played the 1994 PC/Amiga original UFO: Enemy Unknown (or X-Com: UFO Defence depending on where you hail from) to be able to get into this, which works out great for me in writing this review. A re-imagining of sorts, XCOM: Enemy Unknown puts you in the position of commander for the XCOM project, a last ditch collaborative effort by the nations of the world to deal with a technologically superior alien threat on an unprecedented scale. Your goal is to repel the invasion by using any military and scientific means necessary. That’s the entirety of your plot and concept right there, but like all good games there’s so much more you’ll be adding to it via your own experiences.

So the game has two parts to it, the first of which focuses on turn based strategy and combat. Most the time you will find yourself directing a squad of XCOM soldiers, clearing out any immediate alien presence on the field. Each (non-rookie) soldier has one of four classes, determining how he or she will be used on the field, from close-range Assault specialists that are skilled in closing the gap and flanking enemies to Heavy Demolitions Experts that can decimate enemy cover. It’s up to you to choose how to mix and match your squad and advance.

It’s a much more tactile procedure compared to the more rough-and-tumble strategy games we typically get on consoles. Rash decisions and sudden advancements are usually punished, with careful planning and judicious use of protective cover yielding greater results and a greater chance of ‘beating the odds’ so to speak. Soldiers can be promoted as well (presuming they survive for a length of time anyway, and without PTSD to boot), and can gain additional abilities to increase their usefulness in the field. This typically means choosing between two abilities per promotion, and neither one can be considered superior to the other in most cases. This means that soldier progression is well balanced toward multiple play styles. With all that said though I still feel that the game pulls the occasional dick move, with enemy groups seemingly spawning next to you and the missions themselves being bugged on rare occasions. Can’t say I’m fond of navigating vertical spaces either, based on how confusingly it’s handled here.

The other part comes from building up your underground base, which consists of minimising the amount of panic within earth’s population, researching the enemy for your own gain and securing funds, materials and personnel to construct complexes and further your goals. You’ve got a number of ways to go about this: sell off your spoils of battle, successfully undertake missions in troubled states et al., but your primary focus should be on getting your satellites up and running. Each of the sixteen countries backing the XCOM project will sleep a little more soundly at night and provide you finances, scientists and engineers once they get a satellite over their heads, with significant bonuses available if you get coverage over entire continents. It’s not particularly in-depth when you get down to it, but does have a very tangible effect on how effectively you’re going to progress in the long-term regardless, especially with Ironman in effect (more on that later). Being the rare game with a real losing condition (lose the support of eight countries due to widespread panic and you can say goodbye to your game), it’s something you need to focus on.

This is a game about minimising risks and keeping pace with the enemy. Every missed shot can potentially lead to a dead man or a rash of panicked, trigger-happy soldiers. Every failed mission can potentially lead to a country abandoning your cause, every delayed research project can potentially lead to overpowered enemies that will make a mockery of your current tech. As maps and enemy groups are randomised per mission (with an exception or two) preparedness and adaptability are the most valuable traits you can possess, as well as the ability to make the occasional sacrifice (I’m not above throwing rookies into the grinder to ensure more valuable soldiers survive. Hey, you would exactly the same thing if you had to make the call). It’s challenging stuff even on the Normal difficulty setting, but at no point is it ever impenetrable (although it could be a little more forthcoming in teaching the basics of getting funding).

As well thought out as it is though, I still think Firaxis would do well to take cues from Intelligent Systems turn-based strategy output. The mechanically similar Fire Emblem series generally handles troop bonding, narrative and overall accessibility to a better degree than what’s shown here. Its strategy doesn’t bank anywhere near as hard on those wild dice rolls either.

Still, as harsh as its random aspects can be, it can make for some exciting moments. This holds particularly true should you decide to pursue the fine art of the Ironman.

To those unfamiliar with the wider world of Ironman runs, you basically lose the ability to reload earlier saves and correct your mistakes, with your progress bound to a single save file. Consequences are now permanent; both your successes and failures. More then in the standard game, you now must be able to roll with the punches and know exactly how to proceed. There is a sense of terror, urgency, risk and reward that you wouldn’t get otherwise, and it’s absolutely thrilling. It’s just a shame that the thrill is tempered somewhat by some of those potentially game-breaking bugs (having my progress halted during the final mission on a non-Ironman run makes me a little apprehensive about further hardcore attempts).

XCOM may stand as one of the most well produced turn-based strategy games ever made, with a nicely stylised look and some excellent animation work. The strategy core of the game gets in the way of its cinematic side at times though, with those predetermined hit percentages letting you shoot through the walls and breaking the immersion in a few instances. The game also boasts a cool, moody soundtrack that sounds more than a little familiar to that of Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s (probably due to the presence of the same composer). It might be a little phoned in, but it’s still a great fit and the accompanying ambient audio makes for some surprisingly effective moments of horror, especially on the harder difficulties.

As a companion to the singleplayer game, XCOM also includes an unexpected multiplayer component. In it, two players face off using customised teams that can consist of both human and alien units. Each unit you bring in has an associated point value attached to it, with most matches asking you not to exceed a specific point value. This keeps differing unit setups balanced and ensures fair matches for the most part. It’s definitely not the main course, but it’s still good strategic fun. There’s some lag in there though.

Despite a lack of clarity in explaining its design and a number of bugs that are irritating at best and potentially game breaking at worst (which, again, can really put a dampener on that Ironman run), XCOM: Enemy Unknown remains a tight, exhilarating turn-based strategy experience with plenty of style and challenge. It’s suitably deep and refreshingly non-patronising, yet one of the best things about the game actually takes place outside of all the strategising; the war stories. You’ll talk to your friends about the time your best assault guy ‘Duke’ ran into a whole group of Mutons and somehow came out unscathed, or the time when your green-behind-the-ears rookie Richard couldn’t take the pressure and shot the VIP you were supposed to be protecting, or how Operation Frozen Serpent became one of your darkest hours with only your moderately skilled sniper making it out alive and living to tell the tale.

Long story short, you would do well to bring XCOM: Enemy Unknown into your life. You’ll definitely have some tales to tell.

—

Developer: Firaxis

Publisher: 2K Games

Players: 1 – 2 (online only)

Release: 12^th October, 2012

G.Rev have not had much luck gaining traction in the west, which is a shame seeing as they have a number of stellar shooters to their name (Strania and Senko no Ronde both deserved much more love than they got) and previously had a hand in some of the most well received shooters of our time (Ikaruga and Gradius V would not have been quite as stunning were it not for their involvement). Despite this, I’ve always maintained that G.Rev would be the developer to make the 2D shoot ‘em up popular again, due to their typically excellent production values and penchant for approachable, exciting shooter design. Under Defeat HD looks set to continue those trends, with a friendlier price tag and many additional bonuses not found in the original Japanese release only serving to make the release a more enticing prospect.

Hopefully this will be the game that gives G.Rev the exposure they deserve. The hash Ubisoft made of Senko no Ronde’s release still stings to this day, you know.

(Honestly, why Ubisoft thought that pushing either the fighting or shooting sides of it wasn’t a good idea remains a mystery. I mean, it was a shooter/fighter hybrid for goodness sake!)

*Ahem* Anyway, your trailer can be found below:

Under Defeat HD Deluxe Edition is currently slated for release later this month on Xbox 360 and PS3 in Europe, and PS3 only in the United States.