This past weekend I was lucky enough to participate in the open beta for Gazillion Entertainment’s free-to-play MMORPG Marvel Heroes. I got an invite for the closed beta a few weeks back, but didn’t have the chance to play for very long. I took more time with the Beta this past weekend, and was impressed by it. Since progress in the beta won’t carry over to the game’s launch, I avoided making too much progress in the game. At the same time, I got a good sampling of what the game had to offer. Marvel Heroes will feature over 2 dozen playable characters (including Rocket Raccon and Squirrel Girl), each with their own upgradable skill tree, Unreal Engine 3 powered graphics, randomly generated environments, and a script by Brian Michael Bendis (Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, Ultimate Spider-man).
[Read the rest of this entry…]

10000000 is a mash up of match-3 puzzle gameplay and dungeon crawling. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s very addictive and it’s a perfect time killer for mobile devices. Your goal is to escape from a dungeon by scoring 10000000 points – however it all has to be done in one session. Each time you are defeated, you are sent back to your room. However, you can use the wood, gold, and stone gathered during each run to upgrade shops, unlock new features, and gain new abilities which will make it easier and easier to make it through the game. Although there isn’t much to do after gaining the 10000000, it’s still a fun and simple game that’s best suited for mobile devices.

Remember that TV show Captain Planet? Created by Ted Turner in the early 90s, it starred a group of kids known as the planeteers who had special rings based upon the 5 elements. By putting their rings together, they summon a blue-skinned superhero known as Captain Planet who battled pollution. It was basically one big environmental PSA in animated form. Surprisingly, it was enjoyable, and it’s themes resonated well with audiences both old and young. Not only did it handle environmental issues, it dealt with heavier subject matter such as racism, drugs, and even HIV (and this was the first children’s program to deal with HIV too). It lasted 6 seasons, and contained celebrity voices such as Whoopi Goldberg, Sting, and Meg Ryan. Of course the obligatory video game tie-in followed. While the TV show was cool, it’s too bad we can’t say the same thing about the game.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Eternal Darkness was a Gamecube classic, and a rare M-rated exclusive for a Nintendo system. It’s centuries-spanning storyline, spellcraft system, and sanity effects helped make it one of the best entries in the survival-horror genre. Ever since then, fans have been clamoring for a new entry in the series, and it looks like their prayers have been answered. IGN has just revealed the first details on Shadow of the Eternals, a spiritual successor being developed for Wii U and PC, and it’s developer, Precursor Games is seeking $1.5 million for development via crowdsourcing. Precursor is composed of developers who have worked on the 2002 classic, including Silicon Knights founder Denis Dyack. The game’s plot will be told via 12 episodes, and will span over 2,500 years of history. The crowdfunding campaign will begin on Monday May 6th. So how about it? Are you excited for what is essentially Eternal Darkness 2? I certainly am, although I’m a bit apprehensive after the performance of Silicon Knight’s last 2 titles, X-Men: Destiny and Too Human.

Choplifter HD is a remake of the classic bullet hell game. Taking control of an up and coming rookie pilot, you are tasked with getting civilians to safety under hellacious conditions. You’ll have to take on enemies both on the ground and in the air as you take civilians to safety. You’ll also have to deal with dwindling fuel and munitions, as you’ll have to restock frequently. Doing well in each mission earns you stars for each mission, and eventually upgrades for your copter. The game starts out easy, but gets challenging as you progress. Regardless of if you played the classic Choplifter, or this is your first introduction to the franchise, Choplifter HD is a fun and challenging update of a classic.

The early days of this past console generation saw something that we would rather forget about (but secretly loved): Burger King made it’s debut in video games. Not content with simply having it’s creepy-looking mascot appear as a trainer in Fight Night Round 3, the franchise released a series of games centered around its fast food products. You could pick them up for $3.99 with any value meal. It was admittedly a cool promotion, even if the games were crap. Of course, this isn’t the first time fast food has partnered with video games. The unholy alliance of french fries and digital gaming first manifested itself back in 1988, with the Japan-only Donald Land, a Famicom game in which players controlled McDonald’s mascot Ronald McDonald in a side-scrolling Mario rip-off. 4 years later, Virgin Interactive would release M.C Kids, also based on the fast food franchise. This game was released in North America, and it was actually a pretty decent platformer. You play as one of two kids named Mick and Mack. The Hamburgular has stolen Ronald McDonald’s magic bag, and the kids have to retrieve it. You’ll explore several different worlds, finding hidden secrets, and throwing blocks at enemies to defeat them. Despite the McDonalds license, the game features none of the fast food chain’s products, so unlike the Burger King games, you get the feeling of this being a semi-polished platformer rather than a glorified ad for McDonalds.

Dungeon Hearts is a puzzle/RPG hybrid. Playing as a group of heroes, you set out to defeat an evil entity. Instead of traditional turn-based combat however, you attack by matching 3 tiles. By matching up colors, you create gems which you use to attack enemies. Different types of tiles come into play as you make your way through each battle. While the game is easy enough in the first few levels, it gets harder as more types of tiles are introduced, and the playing field gets increasingly hectic. There isn’t much in the way of replay value if you can finish the game, but the battles are randomly generated, and there are 4 different soundtracks to unlock. If you have an iPad, you’ll definitely want to play that version, as it’s touch-screen controls will be easier on your hands than a mouse. While Dungeon Hearts is a bit on the short side, at $3, the price is right.

Sonic and Knuckles was the last good Sonic game for the Sega Genesis, and it was released at the height of the 16-bit era. It was basically an expansion pack for Sonic 3, although it could be played by itself. Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles were originally intended to be one game (as a matter of fact, if you do the level select code in Sonic 3, you can hear music from the stages in Sonic and Knuckles, and McDonalds featured a promo based on Sonic 3 that mentioned the Flying Battery Zone, a level which wasn’t seen in the game). However, time constrains reared their ugly head, and Sonic 3 was cut down to 6 zones. However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as we got 2 awesome Sonic games in the same year, and S&K utilized a pretty cool feature.
[Read the rest of this entry…]