Posted on October 12, 2009 at 12:35 pm by
RyanDC
I generally see Disney games as nothing more than cheap lazy efforts to make mounds of cash. That’s not to say though that there haven’t been good Disney games, as House of illusion remains one of my favourite child-hood games, right up there with sonic. But Epic Mickey looks to have the potential to go further and create a truly exciting and original game. What intrigues me is the concept art which was released a little while ago, showing a somewhat dark and twisted side of Disney. The environments and characters look like a cross between something from Dead Space, Bioshock, Warhammer 40K and steam punk imagery in general. Overall, something very un-cudly and un-Disney. Check out more here + here.
The story sounds pretty dark too, with the game’s antagonist being the first character Walt Disney created (Oswald the rabbit) who seeks to blot the world of Disney with black ink. The protagonist will be Mickey mouse, sporting a new retro look apparently. Read more about the story from eurogamer.
I see one potential problem though, and it’s partially why I’ve held off finishing this post…
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on October 9, 2009 at 8:07 pm by
RyanDC
VGRepublic.com is still in development (as if you hadn’t noticed), but I’d like to give you an idea of what’s going to be updated in the next few weeks. If you find bugs or any obviously bad styling, don’t worry for now as it’s most likly on a to-do list 
Anyway, here’s a brief list of what’s to come:
A new side bar with quick news alerts, polls and loads more
About, Contact and Submit news pages. The latter allowing you to upload a news story, review or opinion piece for the site (After moderation)
Redesigned comment section
+RSS, Twitter and email subscription
If you have any other ideas, or want to get involved, email me here
Posted on October 7, 2009 at 4:47 pm by
RyanDC
I don’t understand why this game exists. Well I do… money. But as a game why does it exist? Lego Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman were charming, fun and enjoyable games. They added their own slapstick humour and child like innocence to interlectual properties close to our hearts. But I fail to see how Lego Rock Band will bring anything new to the table. There’s no backstory, notable settings or characters from the Rock Band series for Lego to build on (no pun intedned). The main thing you’ll be staring at is the fret board, not the Lego band member’s on-stage antics, so you might as well be playing any other Rock Band/Guitar Hero game. And i’m sorry, but changing the coloured notes to Lego bricks is NOT EXCEPTABLE.
Sure, you’ll be able to customise your little Lego character, but that doesn’t justify a game. The song list might appeal to kids more, but why can’t these be offered as DLC? Some people will argue that a full-game experience would be better for kids than DLC, and they’re probably right in some ways.
The gaunlet has been thrown down. Lego Rock Band, prove me wrong.
[UPDATE] Added announced track listing after the break Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on October 6, 2009 at 10:57 pm by
RyanDC
With the upcoming GTA IV DLC ‘The Ballad of Gay Tony’ approaching, I’ve decided to go back to the original (+ LATD DLC) to syke me up. Sadly though, I’ve been left somewhat disappointing by the experience. Now, before you label me as an attention grabbing hater, I want to clarify that I played and completed IV, and loved it. My praise for the game couldn’t be any higher, and I couldn’t have recommended it or defended it’s criticisms any harder. So why the disappointment now?
When i first played GTA IV I was willing to mentally block out forgive any problems or issues I had with the game, simply because It was a next-gen GTA IV, and everyone was raving about it. Mainly because It’s a brilliant game. I won’t go into depth why, as it’s been said by many others, but for me It was a very engrossing, varied and enjoyable experience from beginning to end. The problem was, after returning to it after 14 months or so, the expectations were still high, but the media induced ‘happy shot’ had worn off.
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Posted on October 3, 2009 at 5:39 pm by
RyanDC
These beauties were created by the author of Infinite continues, and they just rock. It’s amazing that so few shapes can be instantly recognisable as a character we all love/hate. It definitely shows how ingrained these characters are in our culture and minds, although i must admit, I struggled identifying with E Honda, but I’ve never been a big Street Fighter fan.
Check out the full set on flickr to see all 11, including nintendo favourites pikachu and kirby, and that guy in green armour (Master chief), girl in red armour (Samus) and guy in blue armour (Mega Man). My favorites have got to be Helghast soilder and Kratos, just because they look oddly cutesie in shape form. Leave your favorites and thoughts in the comments!
Posted on October 26, 2008 at 1:58 pm by
RyanDC
I received my copy of Dead Space on thursday, and have had two medium sessions playing it. Firstly, it is as good as the hype and acclaim surrounding it, and i see it being reviewed very well. It’s shit scary with any corridor having the potential to make you run for fresh underwear. The story (so far) builds up at an appropriate rate, unraveling the mystery with audio and text logs found scattered around the ship. What you see around you also gives you clues as to whats happened, with words splashed on the walls and dead bodies EVERYWHERE.
The gameplay isn’t a game/genre changer and takes what worked well from other 3rd person survival games. It does however give you an interesting array of weapons, a couple being quite unique, and the way the inventory and map are dealt with is very impressive, if not a little frustraiting at times. Getting lost is never an issue, when at any time you can toggle a line in the enviroment which shows you where you should be going.
Everything looks very impressive, with a few jaw droppingly beautiful moments. Character models are detailed and the enviroment art style fits very well in the grand scheme of things. I haven’t seen anything out of place so far, and objects/items of interest are subtly emphasised to help you solve puzzles.
So far the sound has stood out the most though, from the dramatic score which fires up when enemies draw close, to the sublte sounds of tools crashing in the background (which send you into spinning frenzy trying to find what it was). The sound of Issac (MC) trying to breathe in the no oxygen enviroment is also quite haunting and adds to a sense of urgency to find an airlock.
So far so good! A full review will come when I’m done with the game.
Posted on September 10, 2008 at 11:09 pm by
RyanDCHi!
