Hey, my ugly mug is back and ready to tell you about why Dragon Age: Origins is looking better than ever. All the videos are (almost) under two minutes and I brought a basket full of screenshots this time! Yowza!

The Approval system is the evolution of the Good or Bad character alignment system that you see in most modern, western RPG’s including Fable 2, Fallout 3 and Mass Effect.

Read the interview with the founders of BioWare here.

The secret spell combos that show up in the game are kind of like mini in game achievements…

Screens!

Yes, I know the demo was released on PSN yesterday. However I have a 360 and I had to feverishly wait for the demo to go up today. Ever since I saw the first videos for this, I’ve been excited to get my hands on it. I didn’t have a chance to at PAX since the crowd was so large, but being able to watch someone else play the demo on an HD screen was a pretty cool experience.

So after months of anticipation, the moment of truth: Does the demo live up to the high-flying hype of this game?

The demo begins (as most demos do) with a tutorial that explains all of the controls: Left button for jumping, left trigger for sliding, right button for turning 180 degrees, right trigger for punching, and so on. What surprised me a bit was the amount of ways you could use this simple controls for some pretty neat combos–like jumping off a building, landing into a roll then taking out a cop with a sliding kick.

I think the only part I had a bit of difficulty with was using the red highlighted objects as springboards. For some reason, either because of my own bad timing or the game, I just couldn’t seem to consistently use this mechanic properly. Then again, it took me a few tries to also get the wallrun-turn-jump combo down, so I’ll chalk it up to my own inexperience on the controls. It seems like one of those games where it is easy to pick up the basics, but it takes time to really master the controls and have some good flow. Some of the controls, like using X to slow time, seemed a little bit misplaced and somewhat unnecessary, however they do add to the game’s cinematic aesthetic.

Speaking of the flow, the way the camera moves in this game is nothing short of amazing. I know there were some concerns about having a freerunning game in a first person perspective, but overall I feel like it was executed very well. You have a very good hold on your view, and the game also tends to be a little forgiving if you’re not exactly on your mark. I think my one complaint might be that it doesn’t feel like you’re going terribly fast when you’re running through the level.

However the rest of the gameplay is so good that this is fairly negligible; you’ll be so distracted by jumping and swinging all over the place that you probably won’t even notice. It was probably also done so that people wouldn’t get terribly motion sick while playing. The view corresponds so well with the movements that sometimes it’s hard to believe you’re actually playing and not just watching a cut scene.

Also, if you’re doing anything wrong the game will let you know right away. Taking a wrong turn or trying to jump to the wrong building leads to instant death, however you regenerate pretty quickly so it doesn’t take away from the fast pace of the gameplay. Even though directions on where to go in the game aren’t terribly explicit, you learn fast from your mistakes. Plus, part of the fun in the game is finding your own way around obstacles.

Gameplay mechanics aside, I was pleased to see what a piece of art this game really is. You can tell that there was a lot of thought and love put into the game’s creation. I was worried that the white-blue-red would start to irritate the eyes after a while, however clips provided after the demo show a number of different environments with equally beautiful color schemes of their own. The game stands out like a shining gem amid the gritty gray and brown toned next gen games the market has been seeing. Even the music provides the proper tone for the game.

I think my real concern is for the game’s depth. From the trailers we see bits and piece of the story, but in the demo I felt like the story wasn’t in the forefront of the game. Even if it is “just a demo,” it would have given off a better impression overall if there had been some sort of connection to the story’s plot–just enough to keep the player intrigued.

This game has the potential to push the game industry further into the realm of art, and I hope that this game can really step up and deliver. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high on the fumes of the hype machine, but this is still a game I am greatly looking forward too. The demo is very promising, and if you haven’t already I highly recommend giving it a try.

As the second sequel to 2001’s winner of the “Most Popular Shooter Developed By THQ with the Initials R.F.” award, Red Faction 3, formally known to the masses as Red Faction: Guerrilla, has quite a legacy to stand up to- a legacy full of Geo-Mod physics, taco-phone ports, moon hammers, and the world’s least lucid storyline.

A few days ago (August 9th, to be exact) FilePlanet dropped the Red Faction: Guerrilla multiplayer beta out for public consumption, and I was lucky enough to get some hands on time with THQ & Volition’s latest space-base shooter. Hit the jump for my impressions.

Though the game doesn’t give a look into the single player aspect of the game, it does throw you into the multiplayer aspect with 3 maps (Deadzone, Radial, and Crash Site) and two game types, Damage Control and Team Anarchy, (the former being a capture-the-flag type of match, while the latter is similar to Halo’s slayer.) Right off the bat, the Live component, being the only component, is a bit buggy in its execution, taking a while to get into a match, since the game sets a 40-second limit to find 8 players for a single match.

Sometimes, I’d even get dropped from matches just as soon as I entered them. Red Faction: Guerrilla also employs a veto system similar to Halo’s, in which it requires a certain amount of people to change the map, as well as the inability to veto twice in a row. The game also features a party system, which, like most of the other multiplayer aspects, is very comparable to Halo’s system. Fortunately, that’s where the similarities stop.

Red Faction’s main selling point is the destructibility of everything- and I do mean everything. From giant skyscrapers to the smallest buildings, the only thing that you can’t actually smash are the backback recharge stations and rocks. The feeling that comes from smashing a giant building to the ground with a couple of hammer swings is outstanding, and I’ve never been so embarrased, yet proud, to be smashed under tons of concrete.

The sledgehammer is definitely the most popular weapon in the game, and with reason, too- one fell swoop will bludgeon your opponent’s head in, and possibly send them flying in a proud display of the new Geo-mod physics system. Its also the main weapon used for taking down buildings in the Damage Control mode, before recapturing and rebuilding centers with the reconstructor, which, in combination of every one of the game’s backpacks, is reminiscent of the Ghostbusters Proton Pack.

As I’m sure everyone is more interested in the actual gameplay rather than how it feels to beat the shit out of stuff with a hammer, (Jackie T., eat your heart out) I must say that the gameplay is a little less fast paced than other shooters, but the third-person perspective works great, especially since the first-person perspective would’ve greatly taken away from experience.

One of the great things that Guerrilla can achieve due to a third person perspective is the addition of backpacks into the gameplay. These backpacks temporarily give you an extension of skills you already have, or give the addition of skills that would be impossible otherwise.

The beta only sees the introduction of 5 backpacks- Rhino, Concussion, Fleetfoot, Jetpack, and Firepower. Rhino allows you to temporarily ram into people or buildings to act as a human sledgehammer, Concussion essentially sends a shockwave that hits all opponents within a small radius, Fleetfoot essentially turns you into the Flash, Jetpack, which, well, its a jet pack, and Firepower, which doubles the strength of your guns. It also makes them glow red, which, admittedly, is one of the only reasons I ever actually used it.

The backpack I found most useful was the jetpack, because if used right, you can travel far and high to a point where you have the upperhand. Fleetfoot was also useful during Team Anarchy to outwit players and smash their heads in from behind. Strangely enough, this is the first shooter that I’ve played in which melee plays a rather large part in the gameplay itself. Almost everyone uses the hammer, which means that timing is of the essence in making sure that you hit them before they hit you.

Fleetfoot plays a large part in getting the upper hand in melee battles, though the Concussion backpack is often used to stun opponents, then bash their heads in as well. Damage Control’s capture-the-flag-esque stylings take full use of the game’s destruction-centric gameplay by instructing you to smash your opponents buildings to the ground, then use the reconstructor to rebuild the buildings in your team’s visage. Rather than using a distracting HUD to direct you to your opponents’ base, the map has inobtrustive indicators to show which way to go and how far you have to go. They’ve even adapted the health system that Gears of War used- desaturating the screen to show a diminishing level of health.

The Red Faction beta has a surprisingly large range of weapons, which I hope will be expanded in the beta as the backpacks and maps will. The beta featured 9 weapons, the assault rifle, the pistol, the rocket launcher, the sledgehammer, the reconstructor, the remote grenade detonator, the shotgun the mines, and the Grinder, which is essentually a fucking Shuriken shooter. IT SHOOTS NINJA STARS, DAMN IT. If that’s not awesome, then I have no idea what is. Its also really easy to switch between weapons using the two bumper buttons, and if you want to select weapons different from the two that you used last, you can use the bumpers combined with the face buttons.

As I mentioned before, there are three maps in the beta, Crash Site, Deadzone, and Radial, and while all bring about an oh-so healthy color palate of red, brown, and what I like to call Super-Bloom™, they play exceptionally different. For instance, Radial is better suited for Damage Control gameplay, as it’s the game’s widest map, with large walls and few weapon selections scattered across the map.

Deadzone is bleak, dark, and crowded, so its more fitting for Team Anarchy gameplay, in which you run around eliminating opponents to a point/time goal. It’s also full of weak buildings to smash and hide behind. My favorite map was definitely Crash Site, as it wasn’t necessarily dark, but definitely brown, and it was full of buildings. It’s not too large of a map, and there are cliffside buildings that hold weapons and backpacks that can be used well. Since the level is full of buildings and a wide range of weapons, you can’t really go wrong with any particular weapon/backpack, meaning that the level is pretty balanced as far as levels go.

Overall, as far as betas go, Red Faction: Guerrilla is definitely a great one, and has alerted me to keep an eye out on the game as it develops. I’ll definitely be checking the game out when it’s released, if even only for a short period of time. While the game was somewhat buggy, that is to be expected with an early beta release. I’m sure that Volition and THQ plan to fix these bugs before the game releases in Q1 of 2009 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Speaking at Play.com Live, Far Cry 2 designer Peter Redding told us that the common expectation was that the PC version was going to be infinetely better than either the PS3 or 360. He also told us why that’s a load of rubbish.

“We’re not changing any aspect of the game,” says Peter, after running through Far Cry 2’s 50km² open environment in a 20 minute PC demonstration – more on that at a later date. “All the same content will be in console versions that you’ve seen here; all the same systems and all the same mechanics.”

But he dodged the bullet about how much better the PC version would be: “The expectation is that for someone playing on a really good high-end PC, it is going to be amazing. But the console version is going to be fanastic.”

Turns out the version we were watching was the still a November 2007 build. “I played the 360 build last week and it’s already looking better than this.”

He made no mention of the PS3 version, beyond confirming that Far Cry 2 would be released on all three platforms.

More of our impressions soon.

I heart Havok’s ragdoll physics and now they’re even better. Check out a video of their new tech after the jump.

The first time I played Max Payne 2 and shot a criminal off a building I had myself a moment. I died, came back to life, had 5 babies, got married, died again and came back to life. It was quite an emotional day.

At this year’s GDC, Havok is showing demos of two abosolutely new engines and my heart is racing. Check out a video of their new cloth physics offering.

Thanks to PS3 Attitude for the video.

After about an hour of repeatedly playing the just-released demo of Devil May Cry 4, I’ve found myself effectively shot in the face with action-packed delight. DMC4 really is a return to form for the series, even though the protagonist is an all-new character.

Before I even begin, let me say that if you have broadband and access to the Playstation Store or Xbox Live Marketplace, go start downloading the demo right now. It’ll be a third of the way done by the time you finish reading this, and you’ll thank me for it.

Moving on.

There are two missions available in the demo: Exterminator and Executioner. Exterminator is a 10-minute timed game that basically involves running through gothic architecture while dicing up demons. Executioner is not timed and involves running through gothic architecture in the snow in order to get to what I think were mini-bosses, called Frosts, and then finally to the big fiery demon, Berial.

Nero finds the ripten logo to be quite sexy.

I played Exterminator first. I wasted about four of my ten minutes just screwing around, getting used to the controls, and just kinda looking at the environment. The first thing I noticed was how absolutely silky smooth everything ran. The framerate and animations were incredibly fluid.

The graphics themselves aren’t really what I would call “breathtaking”, but they were made all the more impressive by crisp textures and an overall lack of jaggies. The opera house where you begin the mission is plastered with intricate detail and shimmering gold trim. I futzed around with the camera until I could get to a position where I could see the textures close up, and they surprisingly still looked nice and not as blurry as most games tend to look.

Yeah, that little speck on the bridge is you.

I then ran off to find some bad guys to see if the engine can handle the extra stress. Again, the game really showed some muscle. Not once was there any slowdown or stuttering — it stood strong in the face of adversity.

Going into battle was easy as pie — whoop-ass pie, and my enemies were the filling. Right bumper locks onto targets, which shows a blue ring representing both the enemy’s health and the simple fact that you are locked on. The face buttons then have your sword and gun attacks, jump, and Devil Bringer.

The Devil Bringer is the only thing here that really needs an explanation. Basically, it’s some crazy mystical gauntlet that allows you to pile-drive enemies into the ground, snatch them from afar, and zip across gaps Legend of Zelda grappling hook-style. To be honest, I felt the grappling hook ability to be a usable gameplay mechanic, but somewhat clichéd and not really fitting in the context of the game. Maybe that’s just me.

Continuing on, I found myself surrounded by demons as the timer hit zero. I’m treated to a “Coming Soon” screen before being booted back to the main menu. I guess I’ll try out the other mission now — Executioner.

The mission starts on a snowy cliff-side path to a castle gate. I start heading down the path and this is where I notice another nice little feature. Running in one direction for about 3 seconds or so initiates a sprint. It makes it considerably less arduous to navigate around these huge environments when it doesn’t take so damn long to do it. Nice touch, Capcom.

I come to a bridge, which obviously has to collapse when I walk on it, and I fall to the ruins below. Two icy creatures, apparently called Frosts, appear in the obligatory cutscene, I fight them off with great skill because I am awesome. Upon their inevitable deaths, they unlock the guarded-by-red-demon-essence path, and I enter.

This takes me to a bridge, which I cross, and on the other side lies a huge castle door. Entering somehow transports me to a wooden old-west-looking shanty town, where a huge fiery four-legged demon, named Belial, appears and proceeds to set the entire place aflame by his mere presence. A nice conversation ensues, after which he totally destroys me and sends me back to the Main Menu.

I purposely did not include the scene where he kicks my ass.

Now, out of curiosity, I load up the first mission again to see how far I can get in the time limit. A few times I completely ignore some of the bad guys because I’m not obligated to kill them to move on, as I do have a time limit.

During this playthrough, I notice that Nero is too cool for ladders. Near the end of the stage, there is a switch you have to hit, and it has a ladder leading right to it. I try to use the ladder, I guess because I’m just an ordinary guy using ordinary guy logic, but Nero won’t have it. I instead have to jump onto a platform, and from there jump up to the switch. Using a conveniently-placed ladder is apparently not something a bad-ass would do. Okay, then… Anyhow, I hit the switch and run to the end of the stage.

Coincidentally, making it to the end of the Exterminator mission within the time limit actually starts you on the Executioner mission, albeit with absolutely no chance of actually fighting through it because of the time limit. That doesn’t really matter, though, since you can just start the Executioner mission over from the menu and not be restricted by the timer.

At this point, I’m pretty sure that these missions are not pulled right from the game. What I mean is, I don’t think there is a snowy cliff-side path on the other side of a door in a watery city, and I don’t think a door in a snowy castle courtyard would lead to a flaming wooden town. Maybe that just seems obvious, but the way these kooky storylines go, you never can be too sure.

I really only have one gripe about the game, and that’s the camera. Like pretty much all games that feature the dynamically shifting, completely uncontrollable camera angles, I find the transitions somewhat disorienting sometimes. Going around a corner and having the camera shift a full 90 degrees while you’re still moving in the same direction is uncomfortable.

I move forward while holding up on the analog stick, only to have the camera shift views and make it so that if I continue to hold up, I’m now going left. Maybe it’s my auto-correcting brain raised on role-playing games where confusion attacks reverse your controls, but this camera issue makes me walk in undesired directions, sometimes take hits that I should have avoided, and occasionally go back to an area that I had just transitioned out of.

I’m sure die-hard fans of these types of games don’t have this issue, but I do and I’m sure others do as well. It’s certainly not a deal-breaker, and doesn’t really detract from the game other than a few minor unnecessary frustrations.

So, minor annoyances aside, I think the demo overall can best be summed up with the words “fucking awesome”. To be completely honest, I wasn’t overly excited to play another Devil May Cry game. This demo, however, makes me feel like I’m playing the first Devil May Cry all over again, except it’s new and different from last time. You owe it to yourself to at the very least check out the demo now (it’s free and should already be partially downloaded, right?), if not the full game when it releases this February.