Dead Space: Extraction executive producer Steve Papoutsis has been chatting to MTV Multiplayer about the forthcoming Wii shooter, and it seems that it’s not going to be a traditional on-rails blaster like Ghost Squad or the House of the Dead games, but something a little different.
So what exactly is EA calling it? “[It] is a Guided First Person Experience” explains Papoutsis. “The player will be presented with many choices as they play the game, ranging from which path they wish to explore to maneuvering in Zero-G.”
Choosing paths in a rail shooter is nothing new, but perhaps the Zero-G sections will allow a little more freedom of movement than is commonly found in the genre. Evidently, the game is going to be faithful to its 360/PS3 predecessor, with stasis and telekinesis powers making a return, while the story is canonical - detailing the events prior to the arrival of heroically dumb engineer Isaac Clarke on the mining vessel USG Ishimura.
Of course, if you’ve played Dead Space, you’ll know that all was not well aboard said ‘planet-cracker’, so don’t expect Extraction to have a happy, feelgood ending. Do expect it to feature co-operative play, though - Papoutsis confirmed a second player can jump in at any point and start dismembering Necromorphs.
The world’s first GFPE should be with us sometime this Autumn.
The official site for Wii de Asobu: Pikmin 2 (or New Play Control! Pikmin 2 as it’ll be known in the west) has opened, and is a pleasant reminder of what made the GameCube sequel so great, particularly the delicious visuals - there’s definitely a noticeable improvement in Olimar’s second trinket-hunting adventure.
Like the recent Wiimake of the original Pikmin, the new controls now make use of the Wii’s pointer capabilities, and there are a number of videos which show exactly how that works (clue: the same as New Play Control! Pikmin).
The hulking purples and poisonous, treasure-uncovering whites are detailed, as is the addition of Louie, Olimar’s dopey shipmate. The site’s two-player options remain off-duty for now, but we imagine they’ll play out similarly to the GameCube game. The addition of online co-op would be a most pleasant surprise, but I reckon Nintendo is saving that for Pikmin 3.
Let’s hope the March release of the second game means we’ll be hearing more about the new Wii version sooner rather than later. I’m expecting an E3 debut, though don’t rule out a mention during Iwata’s GDC keynote - particularly if he wants to sate the voracious appetite of Nintendo’s increasingly disillusioned core audience.
One more thing - as an added bonus, here’s a link to a rather excellent review of New Play Control! Pikmin - and there’s absolutely no bias in this recommendation at all.
Nintendo’s Japanese site has pics of a new design of Classic Controller set for release this year. Named the Classic Controller PRO, it’s essentially a cross between the original Classic Controller and a GameCube pad, with a dash of the DualShock thrown in.
Wider than the original, and with Wavebird-aping hand grips, this doesn’t have the old-school class of the original Classic, though it looks a little comfier to hold for longer gaming sessions. The Z buttons have been enlarged, and have been sensibly positioned behind the L and R triggers, which is one nod to Sony’s controller, the other being the larger gap between the two analogue sticks.
A worthwhile upgrade, then, with one glaringly obvious flaw - Nintendo could easily have made it wireless, but has opted instead to keep it tethered to the remote for additional battery-drainage. It’s definitely worth choosing over the original Classic if you don’t already own one, but wireless was the real tipping point for me. As I’ve got plenty of Cube pads, I’ll happily stick with those, if only to save me a few quid on AAs.
The latest issue of unofficial UK Nintendo publication NGamer can be found in stores from today, though it’s next month’s edition which looks more interesting.
At the back of the mag, the next month page advertises an ‘Easter reviews special’, covering the likes of GTA: Chinatown Wars, Broken Sword and Little King’s Story.
But more excitingly, the mag also promises the first look at Red Steel 2, sequel to Ubisoft’s FPS/sword-fighter which was something of a commercial success during the Wii’s launch window. Better still is the news that the game will feature “Motion Plus swordsmanship” says the mag.
Issue #35 of NGamer, on sale March 25th, but likely to reach subscribers five or six days earlier, will also uncover Dead Space: Extraction in more detail.
Plenty to look forward to, then, especially if you subscribe to this excellent magazine.
Slicing, smashing, bludgeoning and bashing its way to store shelves across Europe next month is Platinum Games’ ultraviolent destroy-em-up MadWorld - publisher Sega announcing today that the stylish scrapper will launch on March 20th.
It’s another valiant attempt by the Japanese giant to bring a bit of Mature action for us Wii owners starved of blood, guts, gore and chainsaws. It might be a slightly tougher sell than House of the Dead Overkill, though - shooting zombies with a gun controller is more immediately appealing to some than monochromatic, faintly satirical beat-em-ups. Hopefully Sega’s marketing department will have something worked out and can get behind it in a big way in the weeks leading up to its release.
With precisely a month until the game’s release, I think it’ll be about another week or so before the first reviews start to trickle in - hopefully some high scores are in the offing. Certainly if Platinum’s past record is anything to go by, we’re at least looking at some critical acclaim if not commercial success.
In a surprising move for a new Japanese IP, Rising Star Games today announced that strategy role-player Little King’s Story will launch in Europe before any other territory, hitting PAL shores on April 24th.
The much-anticipated Wii title is a collaboration between some of Japanese gaming’s biggest names, who’ve individually worked on quality titles such as Harvest Moon, No More Heroes, Final Fantasy XII and Super Mario RPG. In other words, it’s a bit of a developer dream team.
It’s all about building a kingdom, which suggests hints of WiiWare title My Life as a King, yet this offers a more hands-on approach, with the Lilliputian monarch literally leading his followers as they attempt to expand the kingdom and ward off any unwanted intruders.
To celebrate the forthcoming release, Rising Star has shown off a couple of bits of character art, an example of which can be seen above. Early word has been very positive, and hopefully this will live up to its immense potential and become a hardcore Wii game to treasure over the usually fallow Spring months.
In a decision which has immediately split the internet clean in two, EA’s Wii take on hi-def horror-actioner Dead Space - titled Dead Space: Extraction will be a first-person shooter on rails, a la House of the Dead: Overkill.
The sensible people like me think this is a good choice - the Wii’s a great console for arcade-like experiences, and it means it’s not just a watered-down, graphically-inferior version of a 360/PS3 game. Hello, Dead Rising: Chop ‘Til You Drop. Various others claim it’s a disaster, that rail shooters are [expletive deleted] and that EA deserves to rot in hell and that the Wii is rubbish and LOL.
While in one way it’s a shame we’re not getting a third-person adventure, Extraction would never have stood the comparison, especially considering how reliant its predecessor was on state-of-the-art graphics and sound design. Judging by the video above, the on-rails approach has allowed EA to really push the Wii, and create something which looks both great and pretty bloody scary.
If Overkill is anything to go by, Wii is the natural home for the rail shooter, and assuming this new game mixes up the scares with some solid blasting and paces it right, then this could be one of the best third-party games of 2009. Fingers crossed.
Square-Enix, perhaps the only publisher releasing more DS games than Atlus, has announced the forthcoming release of Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume in PAL territories on April 3rd.
It’s another RPG from the kings of the flowery subtitle, this time with a more strategic bent than usual, as tri-Ace (Star Ocean, Infinite Undiscovery) tell the story of a young soldier named Wylfred, who thirsts for revenge after the death of his father.
Hardly the most original plotline, then, but the big SP for Profile is its tactical battle system, which has evolved from the console games, utilising a ‘mutual assistance’ mechanic so allies can help you in battle. You’ll also need to shuffle your battle formation to get the biggest benefits from your squad’s abilities in combat. And that’s before we get to the myriad spells, finishers and combos, and the traditional RPG-style item management and skill levelling.
In other words, expect a fairly hefty instruction manual. And a striking and very pretty box cover, as I’m sure you’ve already seen above this here text. Once again: April 3rd is the date to put in your diaries, which will probably now be full up with enough Atlus and Square-Enix games to last you the rest of the year. Enjoy.
By most ordinary critical standards, House of the Dead Overkill isn’t a five-star game. However, it’s a long time since I played anything which put such a grin on my face throughout, and from gloriously profane beginning to genuinely jaw-flooring climax (seriously, no matter what you’re expecting, you have never seen anything like it) this thrillingly dumb rail shooter is just pure, unreconstructed fun.
It’s clearly been made with a lot of love and respect - both for its host console and for the grindhouse movies it parodies. The presentation is startlingly good - the title screen text appears from a blur as if a projectionist has just adjusted the picture, while a terrific film grain effect and deliberate continuity errors in the game’s cutscenes pay appropriate tribute to the genre. The Seventies-themed soundtrack, featuring delightful songs about decomposing mutant girlfriends and the like, is outstanding.
And then there’s the swearing. Make no mistake - Overkill has a big, red 18-certificate sticker on the box for a reason, and it’s not just the splatters of gore when you dismember or decapitate the attacking mutants. But it’s the utterings of protagonists Agent G and particularly Isaac Washington that stand out, the dialogue littered with variations on the f-word. It’s all done in such an over-the-top way that it’s hard to be genuinely offended, no matter how sick the story gets - and with sojourns into incest, necrophilia and a climax which brings a whole new meaning to ‘meeting your maker’ you’d better believe that it’s one seriously twisted tale.
It’s a lightgun game that feels at home outside the arcade - a slightly slower-paced and lengthier experience than the likes of Ghost Squad and its Japanese-developed predecessors, Overkill still feels frantic and exciting throughout, particularly if you activate the ‘extra mutants’ option. It takes you through houses, prisons, swamps and a circus, while a moving train level is among the highlights. The bosses look great, but aren’t the game’s strongest point, though the second encounter in particular is hugely creative and memorable. It’s perhaps a little too easy on the standard difficulty - particularly with another player in tow - but once you’re done with the Story Mode, you unlock the much harder Director’s Cut, which adds around a third to the length of each stage, with more mutants and only three continues. The combo system which builds from successive hits is the key to topping the scoreboards, which is where the real replay value lies. Finishing the game might be easy. Keeping your ‘goregasm’ chain going for the best part of a level (which is the only way to top the leaderboards) isn’t.
Its relative brevity and ease of completion don’t really matter. This is a game that’s a blast from start to finish, and has been designed that way, accommodating Wii’s expanded audience while staying true to its promise - it truly is “the hardcore you’ve been waiting for”. Get a couple of Hand Cannons in and get ready to grin - you’re in for a gory, sweary night of delicious debauchery. It’s melon-farming brilliant.
First things first: House of the Dead Overkill is almost certainly the best on-rails shooter on Wii, and you should go out and buy it immediately. I’m not ready to review it just yet as I’m only three levels in, but I’m confident enough to say it topples Ghost Squad from its throne, despite being a little slower and easier (which some might see as a bonus, anyway).
But I digress: I’m really here to talk about the HandCannon which I picked up from my local gaming retailer for £14.99. It’s a lot of money for what’s essentially nothing more than a plastic shell, but if you’re after a copy of the game as well, some stores are offering deals which make the guns a little cheaper. Or you can get them online for around a tenner. Bargain!
And a bargain it is, because this weighty beast is one of the most satisfying lightguns ever. With the remote slotted in, it’s a pretty hefty number, but it feels incredibly satisfying to hold and shoot. The puny of arm might whine that it hurts after a long play session, but that’s a good thing - it means you won’t complete the two-to-three hour story mode in one sitting. (There’s plenty of replay value; don’t worry if that seems a little short.)
With a comfortable grip, a really cool design, and a chunky solidity to the shell (as well as a clever way of attaching the nunchuk, ensuring compatibility with other Wii shooters) it’s a cracking piece of hardware, and makes Overkill even more enjoyable. If you’ve not got a lightgun, or you’ve only got the Wii Zapper, then this is well worth the investment. Buy two, even - once you unlock dual-wielding mode, you can really make those mutants “suffer like G did”.
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