It’s been a busy week in the world of gaming, with Games Convention 2007, Sierra’s Game Day and the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) all taking place. Rather than bore the pants off you with details of the new Spyro game, FIFA Street 3 and Homie Rollerz on DS, we’ll get straight to the good stuff.
It would have been pretty stupid for the Penny Arcade ‘peeps’ not to show to their previously announced game at their own show. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is what they’re laboriously calling it, and it’s now heading to Xbox Live Arcade in addition to PC. Details are scarce, but expect something along the lines of the recent Sam and Max adventure games. Have a look at the trailer – it’s not as pretentious as you might expect.
Platform games on Xbox 360 are a thing of rarity, so naturally Totems is worth a mention. It stars a female shaman (shawoman?) named Gia, who can run along walls Prince of Persia style and transform into different animals. Publishers 10actle – who are also doing a new Ready 2 Rumble – were pimping their Semantic Environment Sensing System, which allows Gia to perform a wealth of actions with just one button. There’s a teaser site here, but you’d be better off looking at the shots on IGN.
Wondering what happened to Geist developers n-Space? Wonder no more – they’re currently working on the apparently ace DS version of Call of Duty 4. They’re cramming a lot into it, including four multiplayer modes, Black Hawk helicopter on-rail shooting sections and touch screen controls that actually work. Characters will automatically melee when close to an enemy, for instance.
D3 Publishing have really been pulling their socks up recently, so there’s hope that the Wii-exclusive Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire will turn out to be one of the more substantial Wii efforts. It drew large crowds at Comic-Con, and has been frequently compared to God of War and Zelda. Developers Land Ho had a hand in Sega’s Panzer Dragoon series, so rest assured that they know their dragons.
It’s a bit worrying that the PlayStation 3 games that look the most promising are also the ones less likely to appeal to the causal gamer. LittleBigPlanet, we’re looking at you. As such, Loco Roco Cocoreccho is pretty much doomed to obscurity. Using the Sixaxis, it already looks much busier than the PSP original. There’s no sign of the black enemies though, which is probably down to Sony being billed as racist over their inclusion in the original. But well done on avoiding sticking a ‘2’ at the end of the title.
Another well done goes to Sierra for shunning the use of licenses for two of their upcoming titles. PROTOTYPE is by Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and Simpsons Hit & Run developers Radical Design, and appears similar to the last Hulk game only shinier and slicker. Again, the lead character is the result of a failed experiment. Then there’s WET, a third-person guns and swords affair with a red-haired feisty female lead. It’s being done by A2M, whose back catalogue includes nothing but cartoon and movie licenses. There’s nothing like a little change in the old routine once in a while.
If you’re in the mood for videos, then you might like to watch the new ones for Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, the zombie infested Dead Island, Ubisoft’s Leipzig Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 teaser and the Metal Slug ‘inspired’ Commando 07 on DS.