Bulletstorm: Everything Old is New Again...Maybe

Ahhh Bulletstorm, from unknown, to potential sleeper hit to regular guest star on Cliffy B's Twitter feed, the game's momentum just seems to keep growing. My enthusiasm, on the other hand, maxes out at "curious" at best. While the game does seem to have the potential for some serious fun, I have some issues with the "kill with skill" combat system at the core of most of the hype that ranges from serious potential for fun-killing repetitiveness to the fact that it's not as original as the parties involved would like you to think.

The main bullet point amidst this storm is that the game isn't just about killing enemies and moving on, it's about killing them with creative and potentially hilarious combos in order to be awarded the maximum number of points for that kill. More points lead to more power-ups lead to more ways to kill enemies.

In order to do this your character is equipped with an energy whip and a time-slowing kick in addition to it's more traditional FPS arsenal. Have a look at this summarizing video, courtesy of IGN, to see what I mean.

More Bulletstorm Videos

Where I start having issues is that I have yet to ready about anything besides the energy whip and boot appearing in your combo-making arsenal. How many times/ways can you pull an enemy towards you, kick it away then shoot it? Or kick an enemy away then pull it towards you and THEN shoot it? Or...erm just eliminate one of those steps and do that. See my problem? I can see the gameplay being really fun...for an hour or two. After that they better have something in store to shake things up a little or the average player is going to get bored long before the end credits roll.

This actually brings me to my other point, MadWorld. "What? That crazy, over-the-top-violence Wii game?" Yup. For those that missed this one, MadWorld is about killing your enemies with the most violent combos possible. You still get points for just chopping a guy in half, but you get a lot more if you jam a tire down over his head, ram a street sign through his skull and THEN chop him in half. Sound familiar? Have a look. (Warning, don't let the cartoony black-and-white graphics fool you, this game is VERY violent)

More MadWorld Videos

It almost seems like someone at People Can Fly (the people behind the game) played MadWorld and said "Hey, we should do this with guns!" After all, Bulletstorm was originally a 3rd person game. The additional problem here is that MadWorld seemed to run out of ideas for combos by the end, and the game was only about 4 hours long. When such a short play time will never fly (see what I did there?) with gamers on the "hardcore" consoles (360 and PS3) can Bulletstorm avoid running into the same, potentially disastrous shortcoming? It's still pretty early to tell, but without some really creative weapons, lots of environmental kills or something besides the whip and boot I can't honestly say that I'm holding out much hope. Their latest PR stunt was pretty entertaining though...

Return of the Western: Red Dead Redemption

The promise of the western making a cinematic comeback following the strong showing that was 3:10 to Yuma may have fizzled out, but the long-dormant genre may find new life in video games. That is if Red Dead Redemption, and Rockstar games, have anything to say about it.

The game is receiving absolutely universal acclaim thus far. Game informer recently awarded Redemption a stellar score of 9.75/10. To add some perspective to that, in this same issue Super Mario Galaxy 2 received a 9.25/10. To "perspectify" even further, Galaxy 2 managed a perfect 10/10 from Edge Magazine. Allow me to use this information to blow your mind mathematically: Red Dead Redemption > Super Mario Galaxy 2 > nearly everything else. Cue Keanu: "Whoa."

Yes, the accolades are quite astounding and may be in danger of creating unreachable expectations. Before wallowing in premature disappointment however, one should consider the pedigree behind the game however. This is the company - even if not the exact studio (Rockstar San Diego rather than Rockstar North) - that brought us Grand Theft Auto IV; which is still one of the best reviewed games of all time. For those that fear this means Red Dead Redemption is simply GTA IV: Wild West, all the reviewers seem quick to assure everyone that this is a wholly unique and fully realized game that simply builds off a very basic framework. It is not Grand Theft Cowboys in the same way that Assassin's Creed II is not Grand Theft Renaissance.

This particular parallel is especially interesting when one considers Redemption's predecessor: Red Dead Revolver. A game that, much like the original Assassin's Creed, was largely considered a "good try" and was eventually followed by a jaw-droppingly improved sequel. But I digress...

Red Dead Redemption ships today, May 17th, and should be available at retail tomorrow. In the meantime, check out a video review, courtesy of IGN, and try to ignore the "I'm really bored and reading this off a sheet of paper" tone of the narrator. (NOTE: the video is age restricted, but then you should be old enough to watch it if you're planning to get the game)

More Red Dead Redemption Info

Now if you'll excuse me, GameFly just informed me that Red Dead Redemption is on it's way, so I'll be sitting by my mailbox until further notice...

Bungie Running New Marathon?

(click to Master-size)

According to IGN, themselves through superannuation, Bungie has filed a trademark for Marathon. For those that weren't Mac gamers in the '90's Marathon was the series that put Bungie on the map long before Halo or Xbox. In fact, you can find references to the classic series in Halo, if you're paying attention anyway.

With no further details on Marathon, it's unsure if Bungie is looking to revive the series, or simply keeping a hold on the name. Given the nature of the last story Bungie appeared here in, reviving the series could potentially be good for all kinds of people.

Some Cheers, Some Tears, Mostly Huh?'s

Those of you interested in the status of your favorite "is it ever actually coming out!?" game can check out the latest "Life Support" article over at IGN.

This lists the general status of several titles whose development status has remained amazingly questionable, for years in some cases. (Yes, Duke Nukem Forever is still on there, 13 years and counting!)

There is one interesting tidbit for readers of Higher Tech, Beyond Good and Evil 2 has had it's status bumped up to stable. However, no new details have emerged since HT last covered the game, so I'm not sure what caused the slight status promotion. But feel free to check everything out at the link above.

Reach for this new trailer

There's a new trailer up at IGN for Bungie's latest (and supposedly last) entry in the Halo series, Halo: Reach. The trailer details some of the new play modes and features (did I see jetpacks!?) of Reach and seems to hint that players will get a taste of all of it during the open Beta that starts this May. You bought Halo: ODST, right? Of course you did, you're reading this. You can check IGN's impressions and conclusions at the link above and watch the trailer below. Enjoy!

Halo: Reach Xbox 360 Trailer - Multiplayer Trailer

All Beyond Good & Evil fans: join me in saying "Hip-hip-huh?"

So apparently Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still in development, according to IGN and Ubisoft. This is stark contrast to comments made by Ubisoft president, Laurent Detoc, last July which gave the feeling BG&E2 had been put on indefinite hold or scrapped altogether.

At the time, Detoc said: "Whether or not it comes out remains to be seen anyway, but we didn't want to abandon that IP because it has a cache and authenticity about it," Detoc said at the time. "There's something very pure about that game and it's too bad that we were not able to build it as an IP at the time."

Wait...you're telling me that you're company is continuing to spend time and money on developing a game that you're not even sure will be released. Yeah, sure, that makes sense...to a crazy person. Although it's better than the alternative of the game being scrapped altogether.

So I'm not sure who these sources at Ubisoft are, but I wish they'd been a little more detailed. Anyways, enjoy the original teaser video (confirmed as being in-game by Ubisoft) as well as leaked footage that is, for some reason, still debated as to whether or not it's in-game, actually BG&E2, or even real at all. Courtesy of those crazy bastards at IGN.

For those of you that don't care because you didn't play the first game (which was the majority of you or the sequel wouldn't be on such shaky ground): the biggest, fattest "Shame on you" I can muster. Because you missed out on an absolutely FANTASTIC game. And since it came out on Gamecube, Playstation 2, Xbox AND PC I recommend you go pick it up right now and play it. Chances are you have one of those systems around, or a backwards compatible successor, if you're even at this site in the first place. Go. No, don't waste time watching these videos, GO! NOW!

Teaser

Beyond Good & Evil 2 at IGN.com

Leaked Footage

Beyond Good & Evil 2 at IGN.com

For just pennies a day, you too can adopt poor CliffyB

Apparently the Gears of War franchise is broken and needs to be fixed FAST before the franchise is abandoned by gamers everywhere, according to IGN anyway. Anyone who has ever witnessed a Playstation vs Xbox fanboy squabble, or been involved in one (for shame) might find this hard to believe, but apparently IGN writer Ryan Geddes, in his second appearance on the blog today (and somewhat in keeping with the same theme) disagrees.
Mr. Geddes writes up an in-depth article on what's wrong with the Gears franchise and how to fix it. Whether or not you agree with the article it's still an interesting read and makes several valid points. You can check out the full article at the IGN link above.

More Optimus, Les Shia.

Whether or not that's a good thing in the movies is up for debate. In a game, however, that victory belongs entirely to Optimus.
Case and point; Transformers: War for Cybertron. Since the timeline of this game predates Cybtertronian (thems the Autobots and Decepticons for all you "newbs") contact with Earth so it's all hot, robot-on-robot action. Now please kindly remove any dirty thoughts about Arcee from your mind, you twisted, old-school perv you. Not a whole lot is known about the game so far, but IGN apparently has some juicy footage coming our way. While you're there you can tide yourself over by watching the current trailer on repeat until the new one comes out. I mean that kiddingly of course, it's not like I've got that running in the background while I'm writing this...