What Is Techno Again?

Reminiscing with a Couple of Grenades and Majinis: New Resident Evil 5 DLC Reviewed

Want more Resident Evil 5 content? Unless you plan on diving into co-op mode, I couldn’t possibly understand why, but hey, more power to you. Just don’t let the year that flew past us distract you from the game’s original flaws, because they stick to the two DLCs recently released.

Find out what “Lost in Nightmares” and “Desperate Escape” have to offer in this RadNerd review.

Hey, remember the days when Chris Redfield and his sassy BSAA partner, Sheva Alomar, crunched those mean ol’ Majinis side by side? I can still smell the blood rusting on the chainsaws, feel the Reapers using my guts as Play-Doh, and hear Sheva’s incessant nonsense about needing more ammo. Not to mention all the cheesy love and hugs (and, erm, Wesker drama) that hitched a ride with frustrating QTAs hogging the steering wheel. My brain can replay all that action as if it were yesterday … maybe because it practically was yesterday. Okay, a year does not equate to the concept known as “yesterday,” but Resident Evil 5 is managing against any non-masochistic odds to surf its fairly sized, “racist” wave of cheap tricks. I mean, did we all just forget how much the AI’s moronic antics bothered us or how much misery the final boss sequence caused us? Oohh, yes. Now the pain smacks you in the face.

Tags: Desperate Escape, DLC, Lost in Nightmares, PlayStation 3, RadNerd, Resident Evil 5, Xbox 360
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Shattered Memories: A Eulogy

Okay, this apparently went live Tuesday on the front page of Kombo.com, but I was too distracted by my recently defunct computer to notice. Anyway, I hope you take a moment to hop over to Kombo and check out my first guest article for them!

Over the years, my obsession for the Silent Hill games has nestled into my life like an infection. Akira Yamaoka’s music, which balances so beautifully against Mary Elizabeth McGlynn’s and Joe Romersa’s haunting vocals, effortlessly spreads its tendrils under my flesh. The gritty visuals poison my veins, the nightmarish town rots my bones, the psychological illusions deceive my brain, and the lingering terror grips my soul in my sleeping hours. Despite its deathly visage, I can’t help but experience a sort of inexplicable, Gothic fascination for the series whose stories have always rattled me. But when the recent Shattered Memories caused my dry throat to constrict and my eyes to wet, I knew the usual horrors weren’t culpable.

Tags: Climax Group, Kombo, Konami, Shattered Memories, Silent Hill
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Lords of Shadow Dominates New Territory

Eager about the upcoming Castlevania game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360? I am, and you can pronounce your love by checking out these new screens and a quickie debate about Lords of Shadow’s direction over at OneMetal.

Are you prepared to whip and magically cast Dracula across vast stretches of, well, 3D expanse? The new screenshots and artwork batch uploaded today suggests a bigger, denser world for gamers to explore. But can the developers and the assisting Kojima Productions rework the aging series into a hot-blooded successor?

Tags: Castlevania, Kojima Productions, Konami, Lords of Shadow, OneMetal, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
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Jam to Resonance of Fate

Those anticipating the trigger-happy RPG, Resonance of Fate, can download two free tracks to bide the time until its March 16 release (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360). Whether or not you actually listen to video game soundtracks, the songs will give you a nice taste of what Resonance of Fate has to offer.

The zip file, however, does not include the cool metal-esque song featured in this trailer. Of course not.

Will you pick up the SEGA game in a few weeks?

Tags: PlayStation 3, Resonance of Fate, Sega, Xbox 360
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The Prince, Now Environmentally Savvy

Put those Jake Gyllenhaal posters away, my fellow Prince of Persia junkies. The upcoming Forgotten Sands, which fills in the seven-year blank between the first two main games, adds an elemental touch and promises to deliver more classic time slidey, puzzle solving, sword slashing goodness.

Everything's better with the undead. Everything.

Level design director Michael McIntyre reports that the new adventure will let gamers play in a time-manipulating sandbox more akin to The Sands of Time, a series highlight. When the Prince decides to pay his brother a visit, he discovers Malik’s city overrun by the sand fiends with whom he struck a deal. Since The Forgotten Sands emerges fresh out of The Sands of Time, players can rewind time in a cinch. When the Prince befriends a Djinn named Razia, she instills in him various elemental powers.

Puzzles and combat balance evenly for the most part, and as many as fifty enemies will bombard the hero simultaneously courtesy of the Anvil Engine (Assassin’s Creed II). McIntyre praises the new fighting style, which harnesses intense and flexible combat. He also explains, “The big mechanic here is to do your combos. But the combos don’t drive you in a straight line. It kind of feels like Sands of Time combat, but cranked up to eleven.”

I can smell the water already ... There's a hint of lemon.

The elemental powers intertwine with the Prince’s acrobatic feats, allowing the developers to establish brainteasing obstacles. For instance, the Prince can slow time to a standstill, solidifying water into a more performance-friendly implement. Eventually you’ll earn four core powers, which attach to the four trigger buttons. Dash combines air and fire, according to McIntyre: “It’s something you can quickly intuit as a player, but it opens up a lot of of possibilities.” Minor, customizable strengths, like the ability to summon mini tornadoes, can be purchased.

Another change includes the populace, who are no longer absent in a sense. Sand statue vignettes augment an otherwise linear story. “They breathe a lot into the world,” McIntyre commented. “It has that real Pompei vibe.”

Set for May on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 systems (a separate Wii game awaits on the sidelines), The Forgotten Sands makes a promising case for itself. For a more detailed look, visit Kotaku.com.

The only kind of timing I enjoy in video games: The not getting sawed in half kind.

Tags: Anvil Engine, Michael McIntyre, PC, PlayStation 3, Prince of Persia, The Forgotten Sands, Xbox 360
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Crash Castles on the PS3 … Sometime Soon

Hooray for giant, spazzy cats from hell! No release date has popped up on the interwebz yet, but here’s some good news for PlayStation owners who are feeling the Xbox blues. Or maybe the reds (rings). Okay, bad joke. Moving on …

Castle Crashers, the side-scrolling beat-em-up with RPG flair, lands on the PlayStation Network this … well, sometime. The indie publisher, Behemoth Company, recently spilled the news that they’re developing a PSN adaptation for the Xbox Live Arcade runaway hit, which makes me (and surely countless PlayStation fans) very, very happy. I’ve wanted to really explore the stylish game ever since I got a taste of it last year.

PSN shoppers will find a few new goodies in their bag, too—namely an in-game volleyball mini-game, which allows for 8-player matches (local/online). If you’ve never played Castle Crashers but enjoyed the lighthearted, 2D romp of Fat Princess, chances are you’ll drool over this medieval quest.

Tags: Castle Crashers, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Network, The Behemoth
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North America Sees Starry Skies This Summer

Sentinels of the Starry Skies, that is—as in Dragon Quest IX. Apparently the title scored four million copies sold in Japan, and now Nintendo means to introduce westerners to the Square-Enix game.

Square-Enix and Nintendo have built themselves a nice little raft comprised of those four million and are now floating out to sea together. Okay, maybe that was a little excessive, but you get my drift (literally). At the Summit in San Francisco yesterday Nintendo announced that it will be handling NA publishing duties for the DS game.

Despite the Alan Moore-esque metaphor, this sounds like cheery news to me granted the game doesn’t flop. I could use a Dragon Quest fix, even though I still can’t swallow my pride and accept that the series is now known around the globe as “Dragon Quest,” and not “Dragon Warrior.” What can I say? When it comes to RPGs, I’m a sucker for dragons and orbs (boooo crystals).

Are you holding your breath in excitement for Sentinels of the Starry Skies (which is a weird name if I ever heard one)?

[Konami]

Tags: Dragon Quest, Nintendo, Sentinels of the Starry Skies, Square Enix
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MAJA Otaku Blast

I’m a video games junkie (obviously), but I like to sprinkle a little manga and occasionally anime on my nerd platter. A rather unexpected email dropped into my inbox yesterday, and I ran smack into the massive video game, manga, and anime interest known simply as Otaku. Rapper MAJA (“Mey-juh”) just channels that passion into a musical, J-pop barrage of snappy lyrics and old school love.

Catchy, right? MAJA’s work continues to grow rampant throughout Youtube’s musical niche. In 2007 he joined CARTOONMOGUL and produced “Transformer,” which has accumulated over 130,000 views. “Anime” shot him into Japanese television stardom, and his album, The Amalgam Project (August 2007), further combined anime and hip-hop.

Rap and I still share a gaping space of emptiness and confusion between us, but sometimes Bayonetta beats and retro gaming funk just bridge that lonely mass. This could be a new and beautiful relationship … maybe.

Tags: CARTOONMOGUL, MAJA, Otaku, The Amalgam Project
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