Twelve years ago, Spider-Man 2 rewrote the rules for comic book- and comic book movie-inspired games by having our friendly, neighborhood wall-crawler fight crime in wide-open New York City. Now Spidey again has the run of the place in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which Beenox has made for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, and WiiU.
So why does it feel like both a step backwards and a step in the wrong direction?
With The Amazing Spider-Man 2 coming to theaters on May 2nd, it was inevitable that there’d be a video game adaptation as well. But along with the one Beenox are making for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, the WiiU, and the 3DS, there’s a unique one coming to iOS, Android, and, later on, Windows devices, too. I spoke to Gameloft’s Tatiana Nahai about what it took to bring Spidey and his super friends to smaller screens.
Trials Fusion is a game with a simple premise: stay on your dirt bike or ATV as long as you can while driving through an obstacle course. But while this has some minor problems, the game — which RedLynx has made for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PCs — is solid enough to overcome them.
Having already been released for PCs, Macs, and Linux, the downloadable space flight combat game Strike Suit Zero is now coming to both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as the Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut. But apparently the fourth and fifth time aren’t the charm since this game’s fundamental problems undermine what might’ve been a solid space shooter.
With a main mission that clocks in around two hours, the third-person stealth action game Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes — which Kojima Productions has made for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 — might seem like just a glorified demo, not worth the money. But with numerous reasons why you’ll want to play this really fun game more than once, the real question isn’t “if” you should buy Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, but “when.”
Never let it be said that the people at Respawn Entertainment aren’t loyal to their friends. In making their first game, Titanfall, they not only brought back their old pal Jesse Stern — who previously worked with them on 2007’s Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and 2009’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 — to help write the game, but they also reunited with composer Stephen Barton, who had the music for the first Modern Warfare.
Though in talking to Barton, composing the music for Titanfall wasn’t like working on a second Modern Warfare.
When Abbie Heppe was first hired by Respawn, it was to be their company’s Community Manager. But as so often happens in game design, one thing led to another, and now Heppe is also the voice of the Militia commander Sarah in Respawn’s new sci-fi shooter Titanfall, as well as the face model for pilots on both sides of the conflict in the game. Which means she’ll probably be running the place inside of six months. Though in talking to Heppe about her career path, it’s clear this isn’t all part of some carefully crafted master plan devised by a career-minded genius. Or so she says…
In the online-only, multiplayer-focused, first-person, overly-hyphenated, sci-fi shooter Titanfall, soldiers use futuristic weapons and giant robot suits to battle it out on alien worlds. And with the game being made for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC by Respawn — y’know, the people who, at their old jobs, made Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 — it’s not surprising that this game boasts smooth, intuitive controls and addictive multiplayer.
But what might surprise you is that, while Titanfall can only be played online and with other people, the game’s story-driven campaign is still as engaging as its competitive counterpart.
Stealing is wrong. Whether you shoplift a candy bar from the corner store, nick a handful of quarters off your dad’s bureau, or download a pirated copy of a new video game, being a thief is not cool. And if you don’t believe me, just play Thief, a deeply flawed and ultimately dull first-person stealth action game for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC in which you make your living by stealing anything that isn’t nailed down.