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Eric Rogers October 14, 2014

New Releases – October 14th

Tuesday is release day for video games just like it is for movies coming out on DVD. I am going to write each Tuesday about the big releases. This is part of my effort to help you stay up-to-date with what is going on without having to do the research yourself.

Here are three of the big games releasing today.

  1. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) – Metascore (as of 10/14/2014) = 76 – Rated M for Blood, Language, Sexual Themes, Violence – This is the third game the in Borderlands franchise. Borderlands is a FPS/Action RPG hybrid. The player receives quests that they complete for rewards and experience. They become stronger as they level up, which allows them to fight tougher monsters.

    The content in Borderlands is standard fair for the FPS genre. The player will accumulate a wealth of guns which they use to kills enemies. Some of the guns do more than cause the enemies to die. For example, a gun with a fire property has a chance to set the enemy on fire. This may cause the enemy to run around screaming before they die. The graphics for this are more cartoony than games like Call of Duty but can still be pretty graphic.

    Your gamer may be interested in this if he likes the previous games in the franchise, FPSs like Call of Duty, or Action RPGs like Diablo or Torchlight 2.

  2. The Evil Within (PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360) – Metascore (as of 10/14/2014) = 76 – Rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language – This is a third-person survival horror game. Here is the quick description of the game.

    While investigating the scene of a gruesome mass murder, Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his partners encounter a mysterious and powerful force. After seeing the slaughter of fellow officers, Sebastian is ambushed and knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself in a deranged world where hideous creatures wander among the dead. Facing unimaginable terror, and fighting for survival, Sebastian embarks on a frightening journey to unravel whats behind this evil force.

    The content in The Evil Within is intense. The player must learn how to use different weapons and objects in the environment to survive. The atmosphere is created specifically to induce tension and anxiety.

    Your gamer may be interested in this if she enjoys games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill. If, however, you would not let your gamer watch a horror movie, you should avoid this one.

  3. The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season (PS4, Xbox One) – Metascore (as of 10/14/2014) = 89 – Rated M for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language – This is an adventure game set in The Walking Dead universe.

    The content in The Walking Dead is intense. The player plays as Lee Everett, who is on his way to prison when the game begins. Zombies begin to appear, which leads to Lee meeting Clementine. Clementine is a young girl who is on her own because her parents are out-of-town when the zombie invasion begins. The player then spends the rest of the game taking care of Clementine.

    Throughout the game, player has to make decisions that affect other characters, sometimes within a short time frame. The decisions the player makes can affect which character live and which die. This leads to some very intense moments.

    As with The Evil Within, this is one to avoid if you do not want your gamer watching horror.

Filed Under: New Releases And News Tagged With: New Releases

Eric Rogers June 3, 2014

New Release – Watch Dogs

Last week saw the release of one of the most anticipated games of the year, Watch Dogs.

Watch Dogs is an open-world, sandbox game similar to Grand Theft Auto. It is set in a futuristic version of Chicago where everything is connected through a central network of computers. The player can hack the system to accomplish objectives.

For example, the player might have a mission where they have to kill a specific character. One of the ways they can accomplish this is by hacking the street lights to cause a huge crash when the character reaches an intersection.

Watch Dogs is rated M with these descriptors:

  • Blood
  • Intense Violence
  • Nudity
  • Strong Language
  • Strong Sexual Content
  • Use of Drugs and Alcohol

It has reviewed pretty well. As of this writing, it is sitting at an 82 on Metacritic with 52 Positive and 9 mixed reviews.

The content in Watch Dogs is what you would expect from this type of game. The description from the game’s website sets the scene:

You play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker and former thug, whose criminal past led to a violent family tragedy. While seeking justice for those events, you’ll monitor and hack those around you by manipulating the ctOS from the palm of your hand. You’ll access omnipresent security cameras, download personal information to locate a target, control traffic lights and public transportation to stop the enemy… and more.

With a description like that (specifically “a violent family tragedy” and “seeking justice”), it is no surprise this is a violent game. And “Nudity” and “Strong Sexual Content” is becoming more and more prevalent in these types of games. If you draw the line at either of those types of content, Watch Dogs is one to avoid.

Filed Under: New Releases And News Tagged With: New Releases

Eric Rogers March 11, 2014

New Release – Titanfall

We have hit March, which means new releases are starting to pick up. First, there was the release of Thief to some mixed reviews and then last week saw the release of South Park: The Stick of Truth.

Today marks the release of one of the most highly anticipated games for this year, Titanfall.

Titanfall is a multiplayer only first-person shooter (FPS). It was developed by Respawn Entertainment. Respawn is comprised of many of the developers responsible for the Call of Duty franchise. It is being released for the PC, Xbox One, and Xbox 360.

A multiplayer match in Titanfall consists of two 6 player teams. Each player has the ability to call down a “Titan”, a large mechanical suit, which they can climb into to give them different abilities.

Here is TotalBiscuit giving you an idea of what Titanfall is about.

What do you need to know about it?

The ESRB has rated Titanfall M for Blood and Gore, Strong Language, and Violence. This is fairly standard fair for a military style FPS.

There is one thing you do need to consider, though. Games like Call of Duty have both a single-player campaign and a multiplayer component. Titanfall, however, only has multiplayer. This means two things.

  1. Titanfall requires an internet connection at all times. This could be an issue if your internet connection is unreliable. It also can make for a shaky first few days. A lot of online-only game crumble under the weight of the initial launch excitement. I would probably wait a week or so before I bought it for that reason.
  2. If you are looking to restrict your gamer’s interaction with strangers over the internet, Titanfall is probably not for you.

The preliminary reviews for Titanfall are mostly positive. As of this writing, it is sitting at an 87 on Metacritic.

Filed Under: New Releases And News Tagged With: New Releases

Eric Rogers January 20, 2014

News and New Releases – Week of January 20th

Last week I mentioned that January is normally a slow month for video games. This week proves that point with no news or releases.

This makes this week a good week to look ahead at some of the games coming out this year. Here are some of the games I will be watching.

  • Call of Duty (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)- Military first-person shooter. While a new Call of Duty has not been announced yet, it is safe to assume there will be one. Activision releases a new one every year.
  • Dark Souls 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)- Sequel to the ultra-hard Dark Souls.
  • Destiny (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)- First-person shooter from the creators of Halo.
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)-Role-playing game sequel to Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II.
  • The Elder Scrolls Online (PC)- An MMORPG set in the world of the hugely popular Skyrim.
  • Thief (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One) – First-person stealth follow up to Thief: Deadly Shadows.
  • Titanfall (PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One)- Multiplayer first-person shooter from the original developers of Call of Duty.
  • Watch Dogs (PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One)- Open world action-adventure game

For more games, check out Metacritic’s extensive list.

Filed Under: New Releases And News Tagged With: New Releases, News, Upcoming

Eric Rogers January 13, 2014

New Releases and News – Week of January 13th

January tends to be a slow month for game releases. Most games are either released in November/early December to hit the Christmas rush or after January to avoid the after Christmas lull. This year is no different.

New Releases

Tuesday January 14th:
Assassin’s Creed: Liberation HD (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC) Metacritic

This game is a re-release of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation on the PlayStation Vita. The game has received a, “complete graphical overhaul, re-mastered music and sound effects, a revamped gameplay experience, and new missions”, according to the publisher, Ubisoft.

Since this is a re-release, you can leverage the information about the original game. For example, the Metacritic score for the original is 70. You can read the reviews from Giant Bomb, Polygon, and Game Informer, to name a few.

I would n0t worry too much about any technical issues those reviewers bring up. Any large issues should hopefully be fixed in this release. The reviews for the actual game should be out soon. These will tell you if the issues are still there or if any news one were introduced.

Rating: Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD is rated M (Mature) for Intense Violence, Blood, Suggestive Themes, Language, and Crude Humor.

The Banner Saga (PC) Metacritic

The Banner Saga is an epic role-playing game inspired by Viking legend. Hand-painted landscapes portray a world eerily suspended in perpetual twilight. Cities and towns begin to crumble into chaos. Heroes abandon their hearths and homes to traverse the snowy countryside, gaining allies along the way to help battle a strange, new threat.

The Banner Saga Game Overview

Rating: The Banner Saga has not been rated by the ESRB. You can read more about why here.

News

The biggest video games news so far this year has come out of CES this past week. CES is an electronic show so most of the news was hardware related.

The biggest news for gamers was from Valve. They announced their Steam Machines last year. At CES, they talked more about them, including giving some information about their partners that will be building Steam Machines. Here is Polygon’s recap of the announcement.

I will be writing more about the Steam Machines soon.

Filed Under: New Releases And News Tagged With: New Releases, News

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