It was announced today that 2K will be releasing Civilization 5. A major change already announced is that the new game will jump to a hexagonal grid from the traditional square grid. Other gameplay changes will supposedly allow more complex diplomacy and more massive wars with the ability to bombard enemy forces from behind your lines. According to the IGN piece, the engine is being built anew from the ground up.
Mega Man 10 is coming out Mar 1 for the Wii. It is going to get a staggered release date with Wiiware getting it Mar. 1st, PSN on Mar. 11, and Xbox Live on Mar 31st. This is exciting news for retro game enthusiasts! Mega Man 10 will continue the setup established in Mega Man 9 which directly continues the action of the classic games.
There’s some new downloadables scheduled for Xbox Live and some deals of the week. For those of you interested in such things, check it out.
At first glance, Gearbox Software’s Borderlands title appears to offer not much more than standard post-apocalyptic shoot-em-up. The unexpectedly strong sales for this game are justified; read on for a casual gamer’s take on this title.
The teaser trailer for Fallout: New Vegas is out. See for yourself. The trailer looks intersting – Vegas appears like a diamond in the rough… a futuristic city of lights in the otherwise post-apocalyptic environment. The Capital Wasteland (Fallout 3) by comparison was the ruined remnants of Washington DC and didn’t have much live within it – except the angry super mutant kind. Good music choice, too.
I’ve decided to wait until I’m deeper into Mass Effect 2 to comment on it – but my early impressions are very good, I’m enjoying my playthrough. Today I am going to talk instead about another recent Bioware game – Dragon Age: Origins. This came came out near the end of 2009 as a multiplatform title. My opinions on it are based on the 360 version. I’ve heard that graphically the PS3 version looks sharper, but the 360 is less prone to glitches and runs at a faster framerate.
Dragon Age: Origins is a fantasy RPG, in which players are tasked with destroying a horde of Darkspawn and defeat the Archdemon about to overwhelm the Kingdom of Ferelden.
UPDATE: In a followup post on Penny Arcade, this was revealed to be based on a test build and is incorrect. Mass Effect 2 DOES NOT allow you to edit these past actions.
Penny Arcade’s Tycho spoke with Bioware’s Chris Priestly on the subject of Mass Effect 2 recently. Mr. Priestly confirmed that players who no longer have their Mass Effect save file need not fear. When you create a new character, Mass Effect 2 will let you select a variety of options that you were able to affect when playing the first one (space bugs, anyone?) so as to recreate the universe that your role play had created. I think this is a great idea.
Mass Effect 2 is being well received. IGN gave it a 9.6 / 10. As of when I looked this evening, Gamerankings.com had given a 98.33% score, based on compilation of 3 reviews. This is one of the games I’ve been waiting for for some time and is on my list of top 2010 games. Mass Effect was a game that completely took me in. I enjoyed every minute of that game and am eagerly anticipating the sequel which comes out next Tuesday in North America.
There are some good looking games coming out this year for the Xbox 360 and the Wii. Not an exhaustive list, by any means, but these games are the ones sparking my interest at the moment. Here are some of the ones I’m excited for..
I have to confess it’s been a long time since I so thoroughly enjoyed a video game. Thanks Dave for getting me a copy of the new Super Mario Bros. Wii this Christmas.
For those who haven’t tried it, the new Mario Bros. Wii is classic Mario at its best; 2D running, jumping and stomping without all the camera angles we’ve had to endure in the latest games. No pretentious storyline with long cut scenes, just eight worlds of side scrolling fun (nine, if you can find all the goodies). I honestly felt like I was playing through a game that was built from the best elements of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.
