Props to Splash Damage owner and founder Paul Wedgwood for having confidence in his company’s new IP (intellectual property) “Brink“, which is slated to hit PS3, 360, and PC in Spring of 2010 . Nothing wrong with setting the bar high out of the gate … unless of course you trip on your shoelace and fall flat on your face. Even then, I applaud his bravado.

When speaking about the yet to be released shooter at Eurogamer Expo, Wedgewood admitted that he and his team were still working on “nailing” down the specifics of the game, but added that “it’s certainly going to compete with other big triple A shooters, so if you think of things like Halo, Call of Duty, Gears, that sort of thing: it’ll be along the same lines.”

He went on to say:

“A big goal for us is to make the game really, really playable. In the same way you have a racing game, you go through the story mode but there’s still a hell of a lot more to still unlock and play and Achievements and things to do … There’s a definite a reward for exploration rather than just playing through the game once.”

Considering the cost of a video game these days and the competition that takes place between publishers for your hard earned dollars, one can’t fault the logic of companies that make replay value a primary focus during development.

I personally think the look of the game (based on the screenshots revealed to this point) is a mix between the gritty texture of Gears of War and the lanky cartoonish bone structure of Team Fortress. Have a look at a few of them yourself below.

Pretty impressive is you ask me. I’ll be following this game closely in the coming months. In the mean time, feel free to share your thoughts on this game in the comments section below.

Although I was only able to play the XBox 360 version of Left 4 Dead at the Eurogamer Expo, I have been playing the pre-release demo for the PC in the comfort of my own home, to my delight. The perspective I’ll be giving on the game is from a PC standpoint; to me, playing a Valve game on a console is like eating Ben and Jerry’s with a rusty nail- it still tastes nice, but the sheer pain (of using a controller) ruins the experience. Before you begin to shout at me, make sure you read the preview after the jump. Here’s a spoiler: it’s unbelievably good.

I’ll begin with the 360 version which I played at the Expo. If I put aside the obvious control faults, I can find nothing wrong with this game. I began with a standard shotgun, walked out into a hallway, and was immediately met by three screaming zombies running at incredible speed towards me. My shotgun tore through them, creating one of the best sensations a videogame weapon can create: satisfaction. It feels exactly like a shotgun should feel, and the zombies tear apart with the exact amout of force that a shotgun should provide. It was fantastic. I continued up on to the roof of the building I was in, and found that the four of us were going to have to radio for a helicopter to pick us up- but doing so would set off an alarm, causing a huge horde of zombies. When it happened, there were at least 100 of the buggers, who all seemed to think it was only my brains that were on the menu. Needless to say we didn’t make it, but my, was it an experience. Even on the 360, from the short amount I played, I can tell that this game is phenomenal.

Left 4 Dead on the PC is, going by the demo, probably going to be my favourite game of all time. It might seem a little presumptuous to base this on a demo, but if you’ve played it you’ll understand. The demo features 2 sections of one level, and I have played it through at least thirty or forty times, and never had the same experience twice. The game’s AI director places zombies based on how well you’re doing- if you’re doing well, without losing much health or ammo, the director will spawn a huge horde for you to fight off, or more boss infected.

Boss infected are special types of zombie that have abilities other than the simple melee attack. The Boomer can vomit on you, attracting all nearby zombies to attack you, or blow himself up in an attempt to kill you. The Hunter can jump around at incredible speed and pounce on you, knocking you down and causing a lot of damage. The Smoker uses his huge tongue to entangle you and drag you towards him or even into a pack of zombies. When killed (or on command) he releases a huge puff of smoke, which is impossible to see through. There is also the Tank, a huge hulk of a zombie that takes concentrated fire from all four of you for at least a minute to take down- if you see a Tank, the next thing you know, you’re going to be dead or dying. Finally, there’s the Witch. She does nothing if you leave her alone, but if you startle her by being to loud or shining your light in her face, she’ll drop you to the floor in one hit and proceed to kill you very, very quickly, unless your comrades can save you. You’re not going to want to startle the Witch.

Because of the AI director, you never know when or where it is going to spawn- I’ve experienced points of the game where there are no zombies one round, and the next there are hundreds standing there. It makes for an everlasting game, as other than knowing the direction you’re heading, you’re completely in the dark (metaphorically and literally) as to what will happen next. As with the 360 version, the guns are a pleasure to use, and zombies die perfectly. Later in the level when the more powerful weapons are revealed, they become even more fun, if that were possible. The auto-shotgun in particular is fantastic for crowd-clearing, shooting bursts of shotgun shells as fast as you want. I’ve never played a game where the shotgun is more satisfying.

The survival instinct is another testament to the game’s greatness; on harder difficulty levels, you’ll rarely have above half your health, and ammo runs short after so many zombie attacks. By the time you reach the safe room, your character is hobbling and spluttering, making for an incredibly cinematic finish- closing the final door just as the zombies start to swarm around it is a better adrenaline rush than any horror film, I can tell you. Oh, and if I haven’t mentioned it before, there are a lot of zombies. With the right circumstances, and a bit of developer console wizardry, it’s possible to spawn around 1,000 zombies on screen without a hint of lag, as seen above.

To finish, I can only say one thing. This game is looking like it could be the best game I’ve ever played. There is almost nothing I can find to fault it- and I’m usually more critical than most. I can’t stress this enough: if you’re not looking forward to this game already, you should be. Look forward to our review in the coming weeks.

It might come as a surprise that Resident Evil 5 was playable at the Eurogamer Expo, as it certainly was for me when I saw it. There were only 3 screens playing it, one 360 and two PS3 (I played the PS3 version)- not much when you consider how anticipated the game is. Since the game is expected to be released in March of 2009, it was certainly a pleasant surprise to be able to play the game months before the release date. Hit the jump for my thoughts.

Fans of Resident Evil 4 have no doubt been anxiously awaiting the fifth installment of the series, and I can safely say Resident Evil 5 is shaping up to be at least as great as Resi 4. The first thing one notices is the visual difference between the two games. The level I played was set in a dusty junkyard, and while there were plenty of infected villagers, the bright sun and light coloured floor meant that the dark, creepy atmosphere from Resident Evil 4 is changed. The absolute contrast might seem like a mistake, but the brightness adds a certain eeriness to the location, and the wavering heat is portrayed brilliantly. I actually felt like the sun was beating down on my back as I played, and that just made me more tense as the waves of infected started rolling in.

The controls have barely changed from Resident Evil 4, although the ‘run’ and ’shoot’ buttons have been reversed, which took some getting used to. Of course, the controls were fantastic in Resident Evil 4, so no complaints in this department. The guns feel pretty similar too, especially the shotgun, with it’s satisfying knockback effect. One thing I did find happening was losing ammo. I ran out of shotgun shells pretty quickly, and once my handgun ammo had gone, I had to rely almost completely on the knife (it’s bigger than Leon’s, more of a machete actually) and Chris’ combat moves- kicking the enemies as they are stunned- which really adds to the feeling of desperation.

Another notable difference is that in Resi 5 you switch weapons in real-time, instead of the game pausing to let you sort out your inventory. It’s a nice touch for immersion, adding to the manic feel, but again, it takes some getting used to. The (useful) companion that follows you is another brand new feature; contrary to what you might think, she’s pretty useful. She helps out with the horde of infected, but best of all, she gives you ammo and health. I felt compelled to save her (unlike Ashley in Resi 4), because she would thank me with precious ammo, and she might carry on shooting the huge infected in an executioner’s outfit (complete with oversized axe) shuffling towards me.

Resident Evil 5 seems to be the logical progression of Resident Evil 4. Nothing drastically new, but why fix what isn’t broken? I’m confident that this game will be worth the wait until March (and I’m thankful it’s not coming out soon, actually- I’ve bought 5 new games in the last two weeks). Oh, and if I haven’t convinced you yet, just take a look at who’s back:

What the ding-dally is Plain Sight, you ask? Well, dear reader, just take a seat and I’ll run you through it. Before the Eurogamer Expo, I had no idea about this game either, but after discovering and playing this gem I’m sure more people need to know about it.

The game is developed by six Londoners collectively known as Beatnik Games, and will be available at the start of 2009 on PC and later Xbox 360. I’m sure what you really want to know is what the fuss is about- hit the jump for the full preview.

In answer to your question, I refer you to this page. You play as a little ninja robot, with one point. The aim of the game is to kill other ninja robots to get more points and multipliers. Try to contain yourself from the excitement of ninja robots for a second, because there’s slightly more to it than that- the only way to actually score those points is to blow yourself up. The more people you catch in the explosion with you, the more multipliers you get. It’s simple enough once you get playing.

You get the idea.

The attack button auto-locks on to nearby enemies, but don’t worry about it being too easy- you still have to be facing them, and that likely means they’re facing you too. If you miss, your ninja robot will fly past them, and you’ll get stuck on something for a while, as if your sword has gotten jammed in the wall. If there are no walls, you’ll simply be unable to jump or attack again until you hit the floor or a building.

Once you want you bank your points, you’ll want to jump around a bit and take people out with you, while being careful not to get hit- if you do, you lose all of your multiplier. This is a great mechanic, as it allows those who are behind the others in points to grab a sneaky kill and keep everything fun for everyone. Oh, and by the way, in the build I played, the buildings lit up with your colour when you touch them, but this doesn’t seem to have any effect on your points or the gameplay. It looks pretty, though.

The game, in a word, is fun. Really, really fun. The simple mechanics, even in the short amount of time that we played for, were intuitive and highly enjoyable. The build we played was set up on some PCs over a LAN connection, but we played with Xbox 360 controllers, which was nice n’ easy. The physics were fantastic: at least as good as those in Super Mario Galaxy. The jumping felt fluid and natural, even when triple jumping, and moving around the little world (with its own gravity like the planets in Galaxy) was a joy.

There was, however, a spot of lag on the build we played, although perhaps it can be forgiven; it was pre-beta, after all. Other than that, Plain Sight is definately worth playing. The website says it will be priced in the region of £10 (about $16), which in my book is a bloody good deal. The only thing more I can say about this game is that everyone should be keeping an eye on this- it could turn out to be the next Braid. I’m sure Soulja Boy will give it a glowing review.

After a look at the single player portion of Call of Duty: World at War at the Eurogamer Expo and a lot of time on the multiplayer beta, I thought I’d write up a brief preview of the game. While being dismissed in many places as “another WW2 shooter”, I feel that the game deserves a bit more than that.

As a rule, World War 2 shooters have never been something I enjoy; slow and clunky weapons, drab visuals, and an overly sober tone are characteristics that they tend to share. However, I am enjoying World at War at the moment, for a number of reasons. Hit the jump to hear them.

The first I played of Call of Duty: World at War was a portion of the singleplayer mode. I’m not sure how far into the game it was, but the level was set in a jungle, and I was fighting troops geared up in camouflage and with bigger guns than me. Straight away, I started noticing similarities to Call of Duty 4- examples include the grenade indicator, the aiming mechanic, and the reticule notification of a hit. Perhaps it was because of the weapons (slow and clunky- it is a WW2 shooter, after all), but it was pretty difficult.

There were a lot of explosions, smoke, and plants around, which made it hard to spot where the enemies were coming from. Patrick and I also encountered an irritating spawn glitch- the game had autosaved right before an enemy knife-killed us, meaning that every time we died, the enemy would insta-kill us right as we spawned.

While the single player portion of the game that I played was sub-par and very similar to any other WW2 shooter, the multi-player beta that I have been playing is certainly worth a look. If you could only know one thing about it, it would be this: It’s Call of Duty 4 in WW2. Many of the same perks and challenges have been ripped straight from Call of Duty 4, the engine is identical, and it generally feels like the same game.

It might sound like a criticism, but Call of Duty 4 is a fantastic game, and all of it’s juicy goodness has been gathered up and put into Call of Duty: World at War. The guns may be a little dated, but since everyone has to deal with that, the proverbial playing field has been metaphorically leveled. It’s still fun leveling up and getting better weapons and attachments, and doing so isn’t so difficult as to frustrate.

The maps in the beta are a little small, but some, especially Castle (a Japanese stronghold), are beautiful to behold, and provide a variety of tactics. Hopefully the full game will provide a better selection of maps, as I’ve only played three so far. There is a good selection of weaponry in terms of function, but it seems like some, like the shotguns, need a lot of practice before they become useful- the maps tend to facilitate long rage weapons over short range ones.

I’m actually looking forward to this game now, after a skeptical start (when I heard the setting was back to WW2, and who the developer was). As long as the single-player has some better locations, and the story isn’t too awful, I’m confident that will be decent. Call of Duty: World at War is shaping up to be a great game: it does very little new, but why change something that has shown to be a lot of fun?

Prince of Persia Art at the Euogamer Expo

The London Games Festival 2008 is drawing to a close, and the last of the events will be happening soon. Undoubtedly the highlight of the Festival was the Eurogamer Expo, held on Tuesday the 28th and Wednesday the 29th in a large brewery building near central London. Ripten was of course present at the event; and it was certainly worth going. The UK has not exactly been renowned for its quality of gaming events, but Eurogamer put on a great show for us this year, with plenty of big-name games ready to play. Hit the jump for the full list of games, as well as Ripten’s account of the show.

The games we saw at the show:

*Street Fighter 4
*Resident Evil 5
*Call of Duty: World at War
*LittleBigPlanet
*Mirror’s Edge
*Killzone 2
*Left 4 Dead
*Prince of Persia
*Tomb Raider: Underworld
*Far Cry 2
*Fallout 3
*Motorstorm: Pacific Rift
*Resistance 2
*Gears of War 2
*Bionic Commando
*Street Fighter 2: HD Remix
*Socom: Conforntation
*Red Faction: Guerilla
*Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
*Mushroom Men
*Tom Clancy’s Endwar
*Shaun White Snowboarding
*Many more

As you can see, it was an extensive lineup. The show itself was busy, although not as much as you might expect; it’s a shame this wasn’t advertised that well, as it really was the highlight of the London Games Festival. Playing the games at the show was, surprisingly, a fun experience. Most of the games, especially the ones set up on PS3s, were displayed on huge 40″ HDTVs, some even with large sound systems, and almost all had seats (for a most comfy experience).

Killzone 2 at the Eurogamer Expo

Outside the venue, the event had been decorated with a plethora of videogame memorabilia- a Gears of War tank, a Motorstorm truck, and a graffiti mural to Prince of Persia. The show was mostly focused upon XBox 360 and PS3 games; there were Wiis, DSs, and PCs, but most of them were deserted a lot of the time, usually due to the fact that the games being displayed were already released. The busiest sections were on the Street Fighter 4 arcade machines and the Gears 2 stand- unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to play on those games.

You got Resident Evil 5 in my Eurogamer Expo!

It was a fantastic surprise to see some of the games at the show- not only were they great games, but they weren’t even on the lineup released before the show. We had no idea a playable build of Killzone 2 would be there, and likewise with Resident Evil 5 and Gears of War 2. You’ll be glad to hear that we’ll be featuring some previews of a few of the biggest games we saw. Spoiler alert: they are really good games.