Five Ways Madden NFL 10 Is Changing The Game
Aug/09BC
Source: IGN.com
IGN - August 6, 2009 - For many months I’ve been hearing the same line from EA Sports employees: “If you see it on Sunday, you’ll see it in Madden NFL 10.” While I had reservations before getting my full retail disc in the mail, after spending a considerable amount of time with the final version, I can say that the marketing statement – for a change – is pretty close to hitting the nail right on the head. There are flaws and issues with a few of these aspects (you’ll be able to read the good and the bad in our full review tomorrow) but Madden NFL 10 comes as close to bringing a Sunday afternoon on the gridiron to your game controller as any game ever has.
Today we’re going to list the five most substantive ways that Madden is changing the classic football formula, for better or worse.
Review: Overlord 2 (PS3, Xbox 360 and PC)
Aug/09BC
Hailing straight from their hit 2007 release of Overlord and the 2008 release of Overlord Raising Hell Triumph Studios has brought out yet another hit in Overlord 2. This Netherlands based company has shown time and time again that the conquest style of gaming will never die. Now when most people play these type of games titles like Warcraft come to mind but Not only does this game change the style of conquest it adds a new dimension on how conquest games should be played and made.
Storyline:
In this game you are the son of the previous Overlord. You start off as a young boy, banished into the mountain town known as Nordberg. The townsfolk banish you, the overlad, from the town to spare the town from the Emperor Solarius. After a fight with a yeti the minions take him to the netherworld gate where he is raised by Gnarl to be the new overlord. In this game you will face many challenges which include to environmentalist elves led by Florian Greenheart, the many areas such as Everlight, Nordberg and eventually the Emperor himself. In this game of conquest you still have the classic choice of good and evil and how you play this game will change your outcome. Will you be a Conqueror or a Destroyer?
The downside to this game however is that even though it is a sequel it doesn’t add too much to the previous title. That, however, can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you looked at the last game. Anything else is pretty much a case of memory and how much fun you can have slaying a village.
Presentation:
This game has a very interesting look to it. The graphics are pretty good and the environments very well done too. Who can argue with badass minions drunk on wild wolves? It’s an incredibly fun game with a lot of options to keep your conquest for power exciting. This game has a very good replay value and takes Action/Adventure games to a different level. Triumph studios have come a long way since they made Age of Wonders ten years ago. With games like this Triumph can only continue to go up.
Gameplay:
This game handles similar to pikmin but WAY MORE BADASS. Add spells, “useful” minions, weapons and of course HELL and you have Overlord 2. Eventually you meet up with your minions which are divided up by the browns, greens, reds and blues. The browns are your powerhouse minions that can pick up weapons and use them against your enemies. Your Greens are your assassin ninja-like characters that are immune to poison. Your blue minions can heal, swim and even become masters of disguise in certain instances. Your red minions can shoot fiery projectiles and also cannot be harmed by fire.
In the game you rule from the netherealm and you use this as your primary HQ and barracks for your troops. You harvest life force from fallen opponents that, when gathered, will come back as another minion through one of the many Minion Gates. Like any overlord you still have your choice of mistresses and hey who can honestly say that if they had all the power in the world that they wouldn’t use it for “other” activities. This game also provides many battle formations which your minions will sometimes automatically perform; however, knowing which minion belongs where is crucial. Certain minions cannot join the fray like the browns. If you send your greens charging they will be wiped out in one swipe.
However this game suffers from the flaw of button placement and a small case of too many things to do. Sometimes remembering what each button is difficult not because of the pace but simply because it has so many things to do. However, because this game is so much fun it’s allowed to slide this round. Overall this game is pretty fun and it has a certain charm to it which most games don’t have or is it simple the mistresses? Well in any way this game is worth the buy if you’re a pc lover. However, if you are the loyal Xbox or PS3 followers then maybe you should rent the first Overlord to get a feel to this.
Overall Ranking:
8.5/10
Rumor: Left 4 Dead 4 PS3?!
Aug/09BC
Now this has been going all over the net and surely, does Valve actually plan to release L4D for the PS3? Valve dislike the PS3 for a number of reasons saying that the system was a failure and they should just drop it and restart, plus the developement for the system is difficul. On the other hand, Valve’s Publisher, EA, is thinking otherwise (no surprise there since they released the Orange Box on the system as well). A number of sites has posted that L4D will be released soon on Sony’s system latest being play.com (http://www.play.com/Games/PlayStation3/4-/6108466/Left-4-Dead/Product.html) so hopefully nothing gets ruined when the game gets ported. We’ll keep track on what’s going on with the game so that we can make sure this so called “Xbox 360 Exclusive” isn’t just a misheard nonsense.