Sega

I haven't posted anything about Sega's upcoming Alien vs. Predator game in awhile, but that changes today. Here's the latest trailer for the title, this one featuring a distinctively Alien perspective. The trailer looks good–now let's all cross our fingers and hope the finished game not only features decent graphics, but is actually fun to play as well.

Cry havoc, and let fly the pigs of war

 

HIGH Capturing the enemy flag with a single scout running and gunning within the first turn.

LOW Leaving my own base totally unguarded allowing a lone enemy Lancer to lumber over and capture it unhindered, 10 turns into a battle.

WTF We definitely needed a cutesy flying piglet in our reimagining of WWII, right guys?

Contrary to popular rumor, the Best of Community feature I've been plinking away at is still alive and kicking. I had to shelve it for a little while for various reasons, but I have two reviews that need to be posted tonight, and once those are in the can then I'm going to focus my full attention on getting the first installment of Best of Community up and running.

In other news, I never saw this one coming but the PlayStation Portable's Phantasy Star Portable has been getting the majority of my playtime lately.

One reason is that I've been on the go much more than usual lately, so the "portable" aspect has a lot to do with it. That aside, it's been a while since I played a good level-grinding loot-fest, so this one is fitting the bill. It's not one of the genre's best and it's certainly not as good as it could be, but it definitely has a certain charm.

Maybe if I order you to aim better you'll stop missing

HIGH The supremely challenging boss missions.

LOW The horrendously out-of-place "stealth" missions.

WTF Some inexplicable actions by the main character that I can't reveal without spoiling everything.

My brain tells me that I should be guardedly optimistic about the prospects of an Aliens vs. Predator game (the movies haven't exactly managed to take advantage of the awesome potential of this idea…), but my heart—well, my heart's already convinced this is the greatest thing since porn.

Sega and developers Rebellion showed off the game at E3 yesterday and you can have a gander at it below.

Players will be treated to three campaigns in the game—one as a human, one as an alien, and the third as a Predator. Naturally, each race will have its own strengths and weaknesses and class balance would seem to be a key issue (if the aliens and Predator aren't fun to play, this game will not do well). Players will take control of each faction at different points in the narrative (which involves an alien temple with an angry queen, space marines, and a Predator hunting expedition).

Ragtag misfits firing guns in the woods

HIGH It's great to see more from characters who didn't get enough screen time.

LOW $5 seems a little high for one brief mission.

WTF Edy's the star of this DLC? Who liked her in the first place?

As we near the arrival date of our son (still in utero) we find that we are in kind of a holding pattern… since we've got all the baby stuff and reorganized the house several times over, there's not really a lot to do but wait. Helping us pass the time today was House of the Dead: Overkill on the Wii.

Although the game felt a little bit shallow (and took us about three hours to complete) I've got to say that I absolutely fell in love with the presentation—Headstrong Games pulled a really genius move in positioning the entire thing as a 70's exploitation film.

After the launch of Sega's ridiculous Sonic and the Black Knight, it is fitting that I came across this video (posted on Sega's PR blog no less). It is a speed run done in Sonic Unleashed for the PlayStation 3, by an unknown Japanese gamer who displayed a level of skill and reflexes in the game that definitely deserved recording and saving for prosperity.

In the level, the unknown player puts Sonic through his paces at breakneck speed. From the word "GO!", he is a blue blur and more amazingly, the world around him is nothing but a beige blur. Okay it is just a speed run, but when you watch enough of them starring Sonic, and especially those taken from the new Sonic titles, if you're like me, you get an intense feeling of nostalgia.