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The entire demo is a little over an hour and a half long and there are a nice 5-6 puzzles contained therein. I was blown away from every aspect of the game from the moment I booted it up. The graphics are arguably the best I have ever seen in am Adventure game. The opening cut scene is about five minutes long and it introduces Abraham Van Helsing, whom you will spend the game playing as. The cut scene gives you a wonderful break down of what vampires are and how one can defeat them. From there the game moves you two two locations: Min Murry’s home, and then Lord Golmading’s estate/graveyard. Both locations were oozing with beauty. I could not get over how amazing the characters, locations, and backgrounds looked. We talk a lot about the power of the 360 and PS3 graphics wise, but honestly, this is arguably the best looking game I’ve seen this year.

Voice acting is incredible too. As an ex-resident of the United Kingdom, I get easily annoyed when gaming companies hire American actors to do horrible half-assed British accents. Here I was pleasantly surprised to see not on a variety of British accents ranging from Mina’s posh Londonite tones to the more guttural characters having a perfect cockney twang to the nasalities.

I was thrilled with the gameplay simply because Dracula:Origin has the same space bar option that Secret Files: Tunguska gave its gamers. By pressing the space bar, ll the possible aspects of the game you can interact with are highlighted, meaning if you are stuck of frustrated you’re given a slight bit of help there.

Best of all were the puzzles. This demo contained the most original and innovative puzzles I’ve se4en in an adventure game is at least half a decade,. They ranged from rummaging through newspaper clippings to track vampiric assault to solving some wonderful grave etching based puzzles in order to enter a tomb. Each of the puzzles presented just enough challenge to get those little gray cells working, but not enough that I ever became highly frustrated. Even better, all of the puzzles were thematic and fit completely into the context of the plot. One of the biggest complaints about adventure games is that the puzzles are generally disconnected from the story. Not here. Every puzzle not only adds to the plot, but the look and feel properly Victorian.

I should preface here that although the story does feature a lot of Stoker’s famous characters, the game is merely INSPIRED by and is not anywhere close to the actual novel. For example, in the demo Harker and Van Helsing are old friends, as are Mina and Van Helsing. In the book, it is Jack Seward who introduced the Harkers to the good doctor. Same with Golmading Manor. This is the ancestral home of Arthur Holmwood in the novel, but here it appears to be where Dracula is residing rather then Carfax. Generally I quibble about these sorts of things, but Dracula is impossible to convert properly from novel to well, ANYTHING. Because the game’s story is so good in its own right, I can let this go and enjoy the game’s tale for what it is. If you’re looking for a perfect rendition of the book, you won’t find it here.

Obviously an hour long demo is not enough to base a full review, hence this hands on preview. I will say that if the full build of the game, which has a release date of May 20th and a MSRP of only $19.99, is as good as this demo, we are looking at a serious 2008 Game of the Year contendor. When a game sports some of the best graphics and voice acting I’ve seen in a long time it’s one thong. But to couple it with some of the best puzzles and adventure gaming as well? Wow.

We’ll obviously have a full review around the title’s release date, but as of right now I can’t ever remember having my expectations being met, much less surpassed by a demo before. Rock on Frogwares!

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Add to the problem of series potentially getting stale is the fact that there is a lot of competition in the First Person Shooter market when it comes to online gaming. Rainbow Six, Halo, Call of Duty, Team Fortress 2, are all vying for gamers need for virtual violence. Games that don’t feel new or have a fresh will be forgotten and ignored like an emo kid on prom night. Luckily I was able to get into the recent Battlefield: Bad Company multiplayer beta to see if the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company can hang with the most recent multiplayer titles or if after all this time the series has grown stale.

To those who don’t like reading all the way through an article: Yeah, it’s Battlefield, and yeah it’s pretty good.

Disclaimer before I put my foot in my mouth, remember that the following impressions are from an unfinished version of the final product, and even then only one gametype and two maps are available to play. Plus it is only the multiplayer aspect, though it’s a Battlefield game. Sure you could just play the single player game, but that’s like buying porn for the articles. You could do that, but your missing the point and everyone else will laugh at you.

After receiving my code for the beta I downloaded it to my 360. This was before the servers were up so I couldn’t actually play the game, but I was able to look at the weapons and unlockable content. I, like everyone else who has already bitched and moaned about it, noticed that there are weapons that will ship in the final version that you will have to either pay to unlock, or that you receive through purchasing the more expensive Gold version of the game.

To summarize: This blows. I could probably rant on and on about why this blows and how it’s about as good of an idea as making love to a light socket, except you can read about that anywhere. I will say this is a bad precedent, and that no one should really blame EA.

You read that right, I don’t blame EA for this. I blame most video game consumers, i.e. YOU. Not specifically you, but probably the guy next to you. Anyone who purchased the absurdly expensive Halo 3 Legendary edition so that you could have a Spartan helmet for your cat? Your fault. People who buy cheat codes for games? Yep, you too. The average video game consumer buys 5-6 games per system owned, and as an audience has proven that while they might not buy a bunch of games, they’ll easily buy a lot of silly shit for those games.

Don’t believe me? People were, and probably still are, PAYING FOR THE CODES FOR THIS BETA. Seriously. Upwards of $30. Or are signing up for various paid internet services that also offer the Beta code for signing up. If people are willing to pay $15+ to play unfinished code on limited maps/gametypes for only one month then EA’s decision to charge a couple of bucks for some guns doesn’t seem like a bad business decision. Oh, it’s a horrible PR decision and I feel bad for their marketing guys, but as a business decision it’s not that much different than Square Enix selling extra races for their WiiWare Final Fantasy game.

If you want companies like EA and others to stop with the BS microtransactions, then STOP BUYING STUPID SHIT.

Give me a minute for my medication to kick in. Whoo. Okay. No more caps lock for this writer.

So the Beta. First day I actually got to play the game it crashed on me after every round. Looked on the forums and saw I wasn’t the only one. Annoying, but hey, it’s a Beta. Also notices some lag issues, gun disappearing, and more. That’s what a Beta is for so I reported those issues.

As for the gameplay at first I wasn’t impressed. The controls for switching weapons compared to other FPS games felt awkward as a third nipple. There’s several different buttons for switching from one gun to another, then knifing is a separate button, and gadgets and grenades are yet another button. That’s just to switch to them, not to use them and in the heat of a battle the last thing I want to do try to figure out how which button I have to press while the other guy stabs me to death. A lot of other FPS games now days have a feature where if you sit still you regenerate health. Not Battlefield. In Battlefield you have a life bar. I didn’t like this fact at first since I’d win a firefight and then minutes later I would sneeze too hard and then die.

Damage seems…odd. I don’t know what type of armor these guys are wearing but they need this over in Iraq stat. You can score a direct hit with an M203 grenade round and the guy will still be alive. Not very alive, but the mere fact that the round didn’t cause that person’s insides to become outsides just doesn’t seem quite right. I’m assuming this is due to trying to balance the life bar with the rest of the game. Sniper shots to the head still drop a guy.

The Gold Rush gametype when I first started seemed to be far too much in the advantage of the Attackers. To explain this gametype there are two teams: Attacker and Defenders. The defenders have two boxes at a time that they are supposed to protect. The attackers have to destroy these boxes either by planting a times charge onto the box(charge can be defused though) or by causing enough damage. If these boxes get destroyed more of the map opens up and two new boxes have to be defended. This repeats until eight boxes are destroyed.

After spending one night with it I started thinking that this game probably wasn’t going to be able to compete against the other big FPS games available. Of course at that time I wasn’t giving the game a fair chance.

Since that first day I’ve spent a lot more time with the Beta. Far too much time. Like, ignoring hygiene and hunger for the Beta.

One of the things that should be noted is that the EA team responsible for smoothing out the issues with the Beta should be commended for their efforts. Within three days of the Beta starting a lot of the freezing/lag issues have already been worked on and smoothed out. If this type of dedication to making the online go smoothly rolls over the the final version of the game then this could be a winner just from having great technical support. I had issues with Call of Duty 4 for months before there was a patch that left a bitter taste in my mouth. Or I need to brush more often.

Spending more time with the game I’ve come to better understand more of how the game is balanced and that mental adjustment really helped with enjoying the game. If you run around like this is Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4, then you might not like it. I’ve come to even enjoy the life bars as I like playing as a support class. Having good medics can completely change the momentum of a firefight in Battlefield. There have been a couple of occasions where I’ve been on the Defending team and have been down to just one box to defend. The medics on our team kept the rest of us alive and our team won. In fact the right combo of classes is about as important in this game as it is in Team Fortress 2.

After several rounds I realized the Attacking team does not have an advantage at all. As a Defender you know exactly where they’re going to attack, all you have to do is find cover and wait. Even then if you fail with the first two boxes you have several more chances. As an Attacker if you fail destroying those first two boxes it’s Game Over. There’s an intensity and rewarding feeling that comes from being successful in this mode that just works and is a great addition to the series.

One of the most advertised features for this game is the destructible environments. While in the Beta these environments aren’t as dynamically destructible as you might hope, this feature still makes a huge difference in the game. Wall getting in between you and your objective? Take it out. Whole strategies can be planned around this feature. As an Attacker there have been times when the Defense is so good that it is hard to just get to the building. Best answer for that is to just take out most of the walls and try and destroy the box from farther away.

That wall looking at you the wrong way? Destroy it.

Those trees look like they’re planning something evil? Destroy them.

Your co-workers getting on your nerves? Destroy…wait. Er, maybe not.

Between the multiple classes, destructible environments, vehicles, and large maps there’s room for a lot of strategy in Battlefield: Bad Company. Once I started shaking off trying to play the game as if it were a different FPS I started to really enjoy the game. Plus there are a ton of meta-achievements in this game in the form of trophies and patches and I love that sort of thing as it feels like you’re constantly accomplishing something, even if all your accomplishing is avoiding sunlight. Plus there’s a feature where you take other players dogtags. I’m still not entirely sure how this works, only that this sounds like a great feature for bragging rights and it can’t be too difficult if I have several already.

Battlefield: Bad Company comes out later on this year and if you are a fan at all of online multiplayer shooters, then keep an eye out for this game. Even with only two maps and one gametype I went from angry about the pay-for-guns, to uninterested after one night of playing, to completely hooked on the game after one week. With plenty of time to fix the smaller issues this game should be one to look out for when you aren’t too busy signing online petitions against EA.

Dracula: Origin is the latest game being developed by Frogware Studios. Frogware gave us last year’s Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened which was an excellent Holmes vs. the Cthulhu Mythos title that took runner up for both “Best Horror Game” and “Best Action-Adventure” title from us in 2007. (more…)

THQ ANNOUNCES PLAYABLE DEMO AVAILABILITY AND PRE-ORDER RETAIL INCENTIVES FOR WWE(r) SMACKDOWN(r) VS. RAW(r) 2008

WHAT: Beginning today, consumers who pre-order WWE(r) SmackDown(r) vs. Raw(r) 2008 at select retailers throughout North America will receive a copy of the official game demo. By pre-ordering the game, consumers can also take advantage of retail exclusive gift-with-purchase promotions. The game demo will also be available via Xbox Live(r) Marketplace for the Xbox 360(tm) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft beginning October 15.

THE DEMO: The WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 playable demo for Xbox Live Marketplace will allow players to experience exhibition match play using the RAW, SmackDown and ECW arenas. Superstars Rey Mysterio, Bobby Lashley, Undertaker and Randy Orton are available for battle in either single player or two-player, head-to-head gameplay. Throughout the demo, players can sample several of the game’s new features, including Superstar Fighting Styles and the Struggle Submission System.

THE GAME: WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 for the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, PlayStation 2 and PSP system will let players take the fight into their own hands with the debut of eight Superstar Fighting Styles. Each fighting style has its own unique strategy with exclusive moves and abilities. A brand new Struggle Submission System gives players intuitive and natural control over their WWE Superstars using the analog sticks. Realism and strategy are at the forefront, as players can now control the amount of pressure they apply. WWE 24/7 Mode, which combines the popular Season and General Manager modes, embraces the intensity of the Superstar lifestyle. Multiple character development options, stat tracking and career goals will guide players toward the ultimate achievement of becoming a WWE Legend. In addition, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 includes numerous fan-requested updates, including new rosters, more environmental hotspots, improved out-of-ring action and much more.

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 for the Wii features unique controls and gameplay created specifically for the platform, resulting in quick response times and a more arcade feel. Ultimate control is taken to the next level, as players can act out slam, strikes, taunts and finishers as they take place on screen.

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 for the Nintendo DS lets players directly control a Superstar’s action with the stylus, while situation-based fighting includes over 80 unique holds for a variety of strategic options. Players can also experience a full year of WWE action, storylines and drama in WWE Season Mode.

You remember Boktai, right? Ok, you might not remember Boktai, but you’ve at least heard of the “sunlight game”, right? Gamers complained left and right about Boktai for a variety of reasons. The biggest reason of course was the fact that you had to go outside (or play under a black light) to play Boktai. Lunar Knights allows players to either use an artificial sun to hunt vampires or to use either Boktai 1 or 2 to act as a sunlight sensor.

While the sunlight aspect of the game is quite odd, the original story was rooted in the video game classic. You hunt vampires using the sunlight gun as a weapon. The new story takes the characters from the first three games, changes their names (ugh), and sets you fighting vampires in space. Yes. Outer space.

The biggest change to the game play is how you play the two heroes, the solar boy Aaron and the half vampire Lucian. The game’s sky has been blotted out by the vampires. They’ve established artificial sky and now are able to control the weather. Aaron can still harness and enhance the power of the sun while Lucian uses the moon to fight all manners of the undead. Both play differently as well. While Aaron plays much more like a ranged character, Lucian is best at close combat. The game play is further enhanced by the fact that the constantly changing weather conditions will keep gamers on their feet trying to use strategy to defeat all manners of baddies.

Lunar Knights still maintains the traditional set up of the game. You go into a castle, fight the master vampire, defeat him, and then drag him out into the sun to destroy him. Unlike previous games where you physically dragged the vampire’s coffin to the light to melt it, Lunar Knights makes gamers take the vampire deep into outer space (away from the artificial skies). Lunar Knights switches to a shooter where you have to guide the coffin to cause the vampire’s demise.

Lunar Knights could potentially be a big success in the United States. Knights features interesting game play without feeling gimmicky like (arguably) the earlier Game Boy Advanced games. If one thing is for sure it’s that Konami knows how to make a rousing vampire hunting game. Given the high quality of the past two Castlevania games on the DS, Konami has some big shoes to fill with a previously and unfairly stigmatized franchise in the United States. Hopefully Lunar Knights finds the audience that the Nintendo DS in the United States that it deserves.

Lunar Knights will be available on the Nintendo DS on February 13th.

By my own admission, Wario Ware: Smooth Moves for the Nintendo Wii is one of the titles that really attracted me to buying my Wii. The DS releases in the Wario series have all been fun, and have truly showed off the capabilities and uniqueness of Nintendo’s winning handheld system. So it is no surprise to me that Nintendo is aiming to once again show off the abilities of its new system with another chapter in the Wario Ware games. Set within the launch window Wario Ware: Smooth Moves will remain true to its nature with a dazzling array of mini-games for you to play. Some will be brand new and should truly showcase the Wii-mote’s capabilities, and some will be old favorites brought to life on the Wii that should have even the most seasoned player trying them again and again as they learn the game all over again with the new control scheme.

First off, there is some kind of story behind Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. It revolves around how Wario found the Wii-mote in the first place, and then makes use of the Wii-mote once he has it in his possession. In addition to this each character has its own storyline throughout the game as well. You’ll begin the game with a series of introductory levels that will serve as a tutorial in how to use the Wii-mote in Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. Since this is a brand new way to play a Wario Ware game this will be a welcome addition to new and more seasoned fans alike as it provides a way to get past the learning curve without becoming too frustrated. Speaking of which, due to the vast variety of mini-games contained within Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, there will be several different ways to hold the Wii-mote throughout game play. Some include holding the Wii-mote the same way you would hold a rope in a tug-of-war game, holding it vertically in front of you, and also placing the Wii-mote up against your nose. But every game has its own nuances and this promises to vastly vary the game play from game to game as you progress through Wario Ware: Smooth Moves.

Graphically, Wario Ware: Smooth Moves should be very impressive. Obviously compared to the DS versions it will be a completely different experience, but this game should also show off that the Wii can certainly make a game not only fun and innovative but also very easy on the eyes. Videos are added at various points of the game to explain the “story” or other parts of Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, which should delight fans of the series. From all accounts playing the mini-games in 3D should be amazing. The Wii takes the unique graphics stryle of Wario Ware: Smooth Moves and really makes it shine as it displays everything with it’s more powerful hardware when compared to the DS and Gamecube which were the previous systems the Wario series was released on. It also adds a lot to the game. Since items and objects now have volume and depth to them you can rotate things in full 3D and play games in different ways that were nearly impossible (or at least not nearly as smooth) on other systems.

Now the heart of Wario Ware: Smooth Moves is in the games itself, and on that front (as you might expect if you’re reading this) this title is loaded with both old and new games to keep all ranges of fans interested. The good thing is that despite having a new control scheme with the Wii-mote early reports say that the games themselves will be very easy to learn and the learning curve should be very, very small. This should be a definite plus since some of the newer games are even more eccentric then the games on past additions of Wario Ware have been. Some of the highlights include keeping traffic flowing smoothly between a boys and girls bathroom, a curling style game, and putting apples into a basket with what looks to be an elephant’s trunk. A lot of the old favorites promise to return as well with an all new look and control scheme to them. Overall, this should be the title after The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess that will be a must own for Wii owners. Slated for a release date of January 15th, 2007, make sure you get your hands on this new Wii title.

Silverfall is a dungeon adventure/crawler game that certainly has a fair amount of intrigue to it as we head into 2007. With the PC being the best place for games of this kind of genre Silverfall will try to break itself a niche in a market that certainly does have some competition. Today we’ll preview Silverfall and give you a little bit of information on what will; hopefully, distinguish this title from others in the coming year. First off the main objective of this game will be to set up a defense and run the day to day growth of a city that shares the same name as this game. Indeed, Silverfall will give you a demi-god like status as you control just what happens on a day to day basis with your city. But what race you are is left up to you. You get to choose from a elf, troll, goblin, or human to be and you can customize your look before getting started to give your city and character your own unique feel to it. Each race, as you might guess, will have strengths and weaknesses that must be taken into account before choosing a certain race to be.

The main theme of Silverfall is nature taking on technology to see which way is really the best. Depending on the choices you make you will end up going towards either one or the other, and your choice will drastically effect how you play the game itself. Different skills go with each side, as well as different abilities and how the entire city looks. The city itself will take on different looks depending on what side you pick, so there is a high factor for customization here. Through quests and other events you will change how the city looks throughout the game, with the technology or nature theme playing a heavy part into the shaping of the actual city.

>To advance your status you will need to, like a standard dungeon crawler, hack and slash your way to experience and new unlockable goodies. You can unlock new abilities and powers throughout the game and also have other players join you from around the map. These other players are known as “companions” and are controlled by the computer; however, you are allowed to set their behavior, equip them, and generally fit them to be the best fit for your current objectives in the game. In terms of the storyline each of the eight companions that you can have will have some kind of story-arc. How in-depth that will be remains to be seen, but it does sound promising to see this kind of detail being mentioned by several sources. Combat itself seems to be pretty intricate with many options for you. Combat and magic are the two main ways to attack and each method has its own options. For combat you can pick from melee, technique, or ranged abilities to specialize in and in magic you can pick from shadow, light, and elemental options. You can put skill points into these categories to then open up the more higher ended abilities that will really open up the game for you.

Graphically Silverfall looks very solid as you would expect a PC game to look. While it won’t stun you the attention to detail in the characters, city, and monsters should be enough to keep your interest for quite some time. In terms of a multi-player feature Silverfall should deliver in spades for you. There are many modes available including a cooperative mode that allows up to eight players to play at once. Overall Silverfall seems like a title that should be a very nice addition to any PC gamers library and should definitely be on your to look for list in the early part of 2007.