Spider-Man Web of Shadows

Developed by Treyarch and Shaba Games for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo DS, Wii and PC, the newest iteration of the Spider-Man video-game franchise is set to collide with players the world over later this year. The web slinger’s video game adventures have gone through almost as many developments as the video game format itself. From the cave-man-like Atari adventure against the Green Goblin to the critically acclaimed Spider-Man 2, old web head has enjoyed a kind of video game celebrity status second only to Mario.

Atari Spider-Man trailer
(listen to the actor playing the Green Goblin have a nervous breakdown!)

Details on Spider-Man Web of Shadows are slim at the time, but what is clear is that the game will follow the free-roaming style of Spider-Man 2 which allowed players to swing about the entirety of Manhattan. The new game will include the combat system that players have enjoyed but it will be bolstered by a new system that ties the player’s actions into the city itself. Help out the regular joe and they help you too. Let a few too many crooks get away and don’t be surprised if you catch a few ripe tomatoes in the face.

The trailer seems to show the invasion of a Venom-like creature, but word is that you can expect many surprises in the game. With Treyarch behind the wheel, I’m sure it’ll be a major success… unlike the lackluster Spider-Man 3 game (and movie).

Spider-Man Web of Shadows trailer

Star Wars - The Force Unleashed early reviews

IGN has some very positive things to say about the forthcoming Star Wars cross-platform video game ‘The Force Unleashed.’

The game takes place between Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV A New Hope, and follows the adventures of Darth Vader’s evil apprentice who hunts down the remaining Jedi. The game is rumored to be a huge breakthrough for the video game industry, featuring insanely accurate physics and a brand new chapter in the Star Wars mythology.

But it’s release date, August 8, is so very far far away.

Until then, we can salivate over concept art and this review:

What is seemingly the coolest exclusive content [for the PSP] by far is Historic Mode. The game features five classic scenes from the Star Wars films, and you’re able to play them with the enhanced powers from Force Unleashed. For example, you can play as Vader as he takes on Luke in the Cloud City carbonite chamber, and make use of things like Force Lightning or Force Choke. Players will be able to take on Mace Windu on Geonosis as he takes out a number of androids and eventually faces off with Jango Fett, or play through a section on Jabba’s barge.

More here.

New Iron Man videogame trailer

As you may know, I’m going through a kind of Marvel Comics Renaissance right now. It’s good timing, because the movie industry is going through a similar thing. With more comic book related franchises being thrown at the movie-going public than ever before, you’d think that everyone was comic book crazy too.

Well… not so much.

The comic book industry seems far healthier than it’s been in a long time, but it’s still limping by on a steadily decreasing readership. The truth is that comics lose readers to all kinds of things from marriage to the other polar extreme… video games

But here’s the catch. A good comic book video game can make a kid or adult badly want to connect to the character. Just look at the spectacular Spider-Man 2 game or the incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction game.

In much the same vein, here’s a trailer for the Iron Man video game.

Don’t it look great?

Yellow by Neill Blomkamp

Word has been that Lords of the Rings director Peter Jackson had picked up South African director Neill Blomkamp to work with him on the live action Halo film (based on the blockbuster XBox franchise).

The studio balked at the rising budget and ultimately passed (something they are now rethinking).

So Jackson and Blomkamp are working on a new film together called District 9.

Neill Blomkamp gained notoriety after his sci-fi debut film about alien refugees who land in South Africa during Apartheid. He also released the short film Yellow, which appeals to me greatly since I’m working on a robot story right now for Zebramag.com.

Yellow

More news as it comes.

Playing in Sin City

The videogame adaptation of the classic Frank Miller comic book series Sin City has acquired a writer.

Award-winning scriptwriter Flint Dille (GI Joe, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher’s Bay) has started work with Miller on what promises to be one of the most desirable games of 2008.

When asked to comment on the collaboration, Dille said:

Frank and I met during what I call our ‘professional adolescence’ when he was doing the Dark Knight and I was doing the Transformers cartoon series, and we’ve been great friends ever since… Frank and I have been having a party coming up with nasty stuff for the game. In true Sin City fashion, some old characters will return, new characters will appear and — without giving anything away — probably die horribly. It’s great to be working with the Red Mile team on this project: They clearly share Frank’s and my commitment to bringing a new and true Sin City to interactive life.

I imagine that the videogame will be similar to games such as Red Dead Revolver, where players have several characters to work with, each with their own stories.

Personally, I’m thinking that the Marv segment will be the loudest game ever made.

James Bond gaming

One of the longest enduring adventure characters James Bond has been entertaining Dad and lad (and President Kennedy) for generations. Essentially a live action pulp character who kills with a wry grin, drinks heavily, drives gorgeous cars tricked out with sharpened jacks that spray from the tailpipe and occasionally kisses pretty ladies, it has taken a surprisingly long time to adapt this dashing secret agent for home video game systems.

This is a look at some recent attempts.

GoldenEye
(Nintendo 64)-

Though the Bond franchise had been adapted for the home console and PC format since 1983’s Parker Brothers game, none of the releases really struck it rich (aside from the amazing 1989’s 007: Licence to Kill by Domark). It wasn’t until Rare’s GoldenEye first person shooter that non-Bond fans suddenly noticed that the character could star in some great video games.

Closely following the story of the film, this game combines first person shooter aspects with simple puzzle games and gadgets like the laser wristwatch. The real treat here is the multi-player. Everything from machine guns to rocket launchers to wall mines can be used to kill your roommate and whoever else happened by. In college, this was one of the most loved games and considered by many to be the reason to buy the N64 in the first place. The game captures the charm and action appeal of the films while utilizing the strengths of the N64’s graphics engine to the utmost.

A grand first outing.

Agent Under Fire

After acquiring the Bond franchise, EA Games decided to give the go-ahead for its first game without a film to base it on. They also decided to not base their Bond on Pierce Brosnan and instead our hero ends up as a kind of George Lazenby model… which frankly I prefer.

Not as strong a game as GoldenEye, Agent Under Fire offers gamers a totally unique storyline, new gadgets (including a jet pack and a rappelling mobile phone), and excellent driving sequences.

At the time, this game was viewed as a kind of disappointment, but in retrospect it’s a clear success and indicator of things to come. The only real failing that I can stand by with this game is that the bullets look more like candy being shot by Shriners than deadly gunfire from secret agents. The conclusion, an intense chase sequence through underwater tunnels, is really well done and should be included in a Bond film one day.

Nightfire

The follow-up to Agent Under Fire is far and away a great success. Nightfire incorporates Brosnan’s likeness (but strangely not his voice), includes a musical opening sequence and features an underwater ‘driving’ sequence straight out of The Spy Who Loved Me.

The story is your typical Bond fare… a mad super villain has an over the top evil plot and Bond has a short time in which to stop him before everyone dies. Gameplay and locations are varied and includes a missile platform in space which Bond must disarm.

Arguably one of the most enjoyable Bond games, it’s also the last one to feature the first person shooter format (unless you count GoldenEye: Rogue Agent).

Everything or Nothing

Finally, we get to the big leagues, Everything or Nothing. Written by Bruce Feirstein who worked on the films GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough, this is the first James Bond video game that feels like a movie and in fact has been referred to as the 2004 Bond film by fans.

Willem DeFoe provides the voice for the ex-KGB heavy Max Zorin who has stolen nanotechnology capable of eating metal. Forging an army of tanks coated in platinum (which acts like a kind of bug spray for the metal eating nanites), he leads a coup in Russia in his attempt to take over the world.

Again, the locales are all over the world, including a driving mission in New Orleans and an elaborate shoot out in a vast ruined temple. Utilizing the likeness and voice of Brosnan, this game introduced the concept of ‘Bond time’ which allows for the player to achieve absurdly impossible feats after realizing key context items in a particular situation. Again, the game also includes loads of gadgets including the Q-Spider which players can maneuver via a handheld remote control.

Easily the best Bond game to date, Everything or Nothing raised the bar for adventure games while delivering the video game experience that James Bond fans deserved from the beginning.

From Russia With Love

A follow-up to the grand ‘Everything or Nothing’ features the return of the best and most dashing Bond of them all, Sean Connery.

Adapting the best Bond film to date, From Russia With Love has it all and is the only Bond retro game experiment this far (fans already provided a wish list to EA Games after the game was released for further film-to-game adaptations).

The game detours from the game here and there (developing a Spectre-like evil organization named Octopus), but fans of the classic film will not be disappointed to find that a painstaking attention to detail has been paid to this game. From Connery’s hat toss to the hand to hand combat maneuvers that made Connery’s Bond such a brawler in comparison to his less deadly successors.

Much like Everything or Nothing, gadgets are the forte in this game, but they are detailed to fit into the 1960’s chic that the Bond films were known for. This goes for everything from the belt repelling device to the portable helicopter-robot and even the vintage cars… which I wept over as I demolished them in Istanbul.

Connery’s noticeably older brogue is a bit of a distraction here, but it really is a mind-blowing experience to maneuver the ‘real’ James Bond through a game for the first time. Not only does it sound and look like Connery, the CGI character even moves like him, right down to his skidding on the leather soles of his shoes.

One of the most difficult and challenging of the Bond video game series, From Russia With Love belongs in your videogame library.

EA Games has recently sold the Bond video game license to Activision, who are currently developing a game to coincide with Bond 22, leaving many gamers rapt with anticipation over what will be done with the pixilated secret agent.

I suppose until then, we’ll have to cool our heels and our tempers with an ice cold martini.

On Amazon:

James Bond 007 Agent Under Fire
James Bond 007 Nightfire
James Bond 007 Everything or Nothing
James Bond 007: From Russia with Love

Star Wars Battlefront - Renegade Squadron

Next week the latest addition to the biggest game franchise for Star Wars is coming out. Star Wars Battlefront - Renegade Squadron isn’t just an expansion of the popular Battlefront series that has ruled my XBox since it’s release, it’s a whole new ball game… for yer hands.

Even though the Star Wars Battlefront games are built on the first person shooter design, they feel more like a cross between an amusement park ride and playing men with yer chums when you were a little tyke.

Rebel Soldiers and Stormtroopers litter the field of combat like table scraps as a seemingly endless supply of replacements continue the battle for supremacy. The second Battlefront game introduced space combat, something that I suffered a deep learning curve from, but in the end got through it and now can show my enemies a few maneuvers like a pro.

While gamers anxiously await the next installment for nexgen systems, this new version for the handheld Sony PSP is more than ready to sate that hunger for excitement.

Trailer

Taking place directly after the Battle of Yavin from Episode IV (or Stah Waughs as the kids in my neighborhood always called it), the game follows the adventures of an elite commando squad lead by the unlikely rouge Han Solo. Assisting Solo in the formation of this rag-tag group is a former compatriot of his, a brand new character named Col Serra (pictured right).

Unlike the two previous games, this version of Battlefront allows players to fully customize their character right down to uniform colors and insignia.

In addition to the single player story mode, there is the ever popular instant action mode and of course multi-player which allows for 8 vs. 8 over both Galactic Civil War (original trilogy) and Clone War (prequel) eras.

Also new to the franchise in the vehicle combat arena are two battle tanks, a TIE Defender, plus the Millennium Falcon and Slave-1!

Players will spread havoc over all the familiar classic trilogy territories including Endor, Hoth, Yavin and in instant action or multi-player mode the maps of Saleucami (for the first time ever), Mygeeto, Mustafar, Naboo, Geonosis and Kashyyyk are available.

Interview

A special bundle is available with a Darth Vader image imprinted on the PSP itself, bundled with a copy of the Renegade Squadron game. It looks pretty sweet, doesn’t it? Already I’m anticipating having fun at the bank, doctor’s waiting room or doing husband duty as my wife shops for clothes, fighting the republic as best as I can.

I owe General Dodonna that much, don’t I?

On Amazon:

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron
PSP/Battlefront Bundle

Shadowrun

Like many a man who worked his way screaming through the 1980’s, I too have take part in role playing games. From the faux velvet pouch of dice to the painfully painted pewter figurines… I’ve been there.

But I have to admit that I was never really one for the Orcs and Wizards fare that D&D dished out. For me, the arrival of Shadowrun was a timely addition to the world of RPGs. As cyberpunk settled into place in the landscape of Walden Books across the nation and industrial music moved beyond the alienating and harsh sounds of Throbbing Gristle toward the more acceptable dance beats of Skinny Puppy and Cabaret Voltaire… the times were a’changing.

Shadowrun took what worked from FASA’s Dungeons and Dragons model and added the extra touch of social decay and high-tech hardware known as cyberpunk to the mix. This opened up whole new avenues and at the same time allowed gamers to feel more in tune with the world they were playing in. I’m not sure about you, but living in the suburbs dreaming about being in the rain-soaked city streets made a lot more sense than walking through some idyllic glade.

In addition, the rule books gave an opportunity for up and coming artists to shine, including comic book legend Tim Bradstreet (his photograph-referenced artwork has since been most associated with the Marvel Comics Max: Punisher series).

In Shadowrun, the decline of existing governments gave rider to a new ruling power, the Megacorporations. In this crazy modern world, the megas do battle by enlisting the services of shadowrunners, mercenaries who the corporations can always deny knowledge of ever having hired.

These corporate mercenary tactics included hacking into computer systems via deckers who could make contact with the knowledge depository, the Matrix (first seen in Doctor Who - The Deadly Assassin).

So… it’s kind of like Mission: Impossible with a beat you can dance to.

Not satisfied with only having high-tech mercs as the main playable characters, the game system features a vast array of creatures including orcs, goblins and such which exist thanks to the world reconnecting to the age of magic. So, magicians are in there as well.

Shadowrun had it all. Lots of guns, futuristic cityscapes, corporate greed, orcs and elves, and the early stages of the Matrix trilogy. It was also a rarity in that it was heavily influenced by films, music and novels (including the work of William Gibson and Mick Farren), but also had influenced music, TV and comic books in much the reverse way.

The failed films Strange Days, Johnny Mnemonic eventually paved the way for greater successes including the Matrix trilogy and Avalon, but were heavily influenced by the acceptance of the cyberpunk movement that was evident in music and youth culture… which was influenced by RPGs.

The third life of Matt Wagner’s comic book character Grendel, War Child was also very cyberpunk, featuring Megacorps, voodoo preists and vampires all living in a bombed out apocalypse.

It was translated into a videogame for the Super Nintendo system in 1993, and later for Sega in1994. The latest adaptation for the Xbox 360 was released earlier this year.

Forgoing much of the RPG elements for a straight-ahead first person shooter, the game is a lot of fun, but largely disappointing in light of the lost opportunities. I really wish that they had embraced the strengths of the pen and paper RPG in the video game in much the same way that games such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire had done.

Very much a product of its time, Shadowrun embodies the fear of youth as it grows into that mad world of maturity which inevitably leads to a cubicle wrapped around a computer monitor run by the ‘boss man’ corporation. As the 80’s turned into the 90’s and Americans were encouraged to have a personal computer in their home and college grads were enticed into cubicles with free snacks, this became less scary.

How times change.

Recommended reading/playing/viewing/listening

Shadowrun, Fourth Edition
Shadowrun (X Box 360)
Neuromancer
The DNA Cowboys Trilogy: The Quest of the DNA Cowboys/Synaptic Manhunt/the Neural Atrocity
Grendel Tales: Devils and Deaths
Grendel: War Child
Akira (Special Edition)
Wild Palms
Avalon
Blade Runner - The Director’s Cut (Remastered Limited Edition)
Skinny Puppy: Rabies

The King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters

I used to go to the Video Arcade at my local mall and wonder who the dudes were that had multiple soda cups and bags of chips sitting by the side of the machines. Some of my friends at school were urged by their parents to stay clear of the Arcade for fear of getting roped into some sordid life of ‘anything for a quarter.’ My own parents apparently believed in the ’school of hard knocks’ system, as evidenced by my interest in science fiction leading to a job at a mail order company of Star Trek knock-offs.

But I digress.

In the 1980’s, video games were king. Along with baseball tees never worn to baseball games with Rush album art printed on them, painter’s caps worn by non-painters and pop music that regaled the listener with anthems to bands that never existed… it was a confusing decade. We were living under the constant threat of a doddering idiot American President who believed in ‘trickle down’ economics and just might start a nuclear war to show the other guy he was tough enough.

Actually, that sounds like today… and my digression is certainly not taking.

In any case, the early day’s of video gaming were interesting to say the least. The early games are amongst the hardest that you can play. There is no immersion in a fantasy land, no ‘collision detection’ or high quality ‘cut scenes.’ Just a sequence of actions that the player must memorize then learn all over again when the machine throws him a sucker punch and takes him by surprise.

Seriously.

Try playing Donkey Kong yourself and see how long it takes before expletives you never knew you were capable of start spewing out of your mouth as that stupid monkey keeps taking your girl away.

In 1982, Walter Day assembled the best video game players in the world to his arcade, Twin Galaxies, for a Time Magazine photo shoot. At the shoot, Billy Mitchell decided to school his competition and began a lifestyle that embodied all of the pop song anthems that he was the best there was. And this remained the case until Steve Wiebe, an unemployed father of two, decided that he would take a shot at the record a good 20 years after it was set.

That’s where this film by Seth Gordon comes in.

The film’s producer met Wiebe while working on another project and were enthralled in the story of Wiebe’s vision quest through the world of competitive video gaming. King of Kong tells the story of Billy Mitchell (perhaps the most evil man on the planet next to Terrance Stamp’s General Zod if this movie is an accurate representation of his chacracter) and Steve Wiebe, a man on a mission that the viewer inevitably gets involved in as the movie progresses.

Trailer

Through every smug comment (a key one is where Billy compares himself to the abortion issue) and snub to the competition by Mitchell, my support for underdog Wiebe grew.

Whereas at first he seemed a sad man stuck at the tail end of a series of bad luck breaks culminating in his expertly playing a child’s drum kit and breaking the record to an ancient video game in the garage as his children begged him to stop, in the end Wiebe became the American dream personified. I cried his tears, I felt his struggles, in some ways I saw the logic in his diagrams of the Donkey Kong sequence of jumps and turns painstakingly drawn on the glass of his machine.

Apparently, there is a sequel of sorts in the works with actors (with Johnny Depp as Mitchell) playing the roles of Wiebe and Mitchell to show how the film had changed their lives, but personally, I think the real story is in reality.For instance, readers can check out the ensuing drama unfold in real time on the Twin Galaxies Official Score Board, where it can currently be seen that Steve Wiebe’s score has once again been topped by Billy Mitchell.

Steve… you gonna take that?

Budget Gaming

Medal of Honor- Frontline

$3-5 Used

Oh sure, we got inundated with WWII games in short order back in the day, but the first wartime shooter for the XBox remains the best.

Developed by EA Games, Medal of Honor - Frontline follows the military career of Jimmy Patterson as he crawls on the beaches of Normandy and later embarks on covert missions to destroy Nazi U-Boat bases.

The gameplay is top notch and even though the franchise spawned two sequels (with the first next-gen game coming out very soon), Frontline remains at the top of many gaming pros for its level design, AI, and overall ease of play. Today you can pick up Frontline for a collection of nickels and let me tell you, it’s a worthy addition to your game library.

Red Dead Revolver

$5 Used

The Western genre is often overlooked in videogames. Perhaps this is down to Atari so perfectly capturing the reality of the old west in their thrilling Outlaw game?

Probably not.

In any case, the genre has been poorly represented in video games despite the fact that it has so much to offer in terms of gameplay and design (just look at the excellent Gun reviewed here).

Rockstar, the guys behind Max Payne, released in 2004 to the delight of gamers. Every bit a spaghetti western, Red Dead Revolver even features the theme tune to Lo Chiamavano King, which I guarantee you will have stuck in your head after hearing it only once.

While the game does develop the story of shootist Red, it also allows the player to control a series of characters throughout the game including English trick gunman Jack Swift and Native American Red Wolf.

Strangely, most of the villains are undead clowns and circus performers, but the rules are the same as any game… shoot everything that moves. One of Red Dead Revolver’s unique innovations is the ‘duel’ mechanic that allows the player to actually feel like he/she is dueling with the AI. Time slows down and you only get a short period of time to decide where your bullets will go. Not exactly, bullet-time, but close enough.

Psi Ops - The Mindgate Conspiracy

$5-7 Used

In 2004, Midway Games released this mixed play game to add to the variety of third-person shooters. In the game, you uncover the vast conspiracy involving the development of a psychically aware army. As you play through the game, you develop new powers including your basic TK ability (throwing people around the room with your mind), Pyrokinesis (causing enemies to combust) and Mind Control (take over an enemy and use him to kill his fellow soldiers for you).

The story of the game is broken up with numerous flashbacks that introduce new psychic abilities which you must then hone to a keen weapon. Ammo is in short supply which pushes you to rely more on your mental abilities rather than simply shooting your way through problems.

A very exciting and fun game, Psi-Ops has a unique feel that it is based on a comic book, novel or feature film. The characterizations of main and supporting characters and colorful end bosses are very well done, but it’s the addition of the psychic ability to hurl/burn/control your enemies that really makes this game a must buy.

Project Snowblind

$5-7 Used

A ’spiritual sequel’ to Warren Spector’s Desus Ex: Invisible War, Project Snowblind takes place in a cyberpunk future riddled with war and sci-fi technology.

While Snowblind is essentially a straight ahead first person shooter, the addition of cybernetically-enhanced abilities adds to the mix. Much like Desus Ex: Invisible War, players have two options in attack; the straight forward approach or the sneaky/smart way.

Hardware in the game runs the gamut from machine guns, sniper rifles, and rocket launchers to portable force fields and EMP grenades, so going in guns blazing is hardly boring.

However, should you decide to be sneaky and smart, you have many options such as Ice-picking your enemy’s weapons from turrets to robots, turning yourself invisible or even firing an electrical charge straight from your own cyborg body.

While the game is far too short, it is a lot of fun and features complex level design in addition to the aforementioned cybernetic abilities.

Available on Amazon:

Medal of Honor Frontline
Red Dead Revolver
PSI-Ops The Mindgate Conspiracy
Project Snowblind