With a name like Sniper Elite III, you’d expect this World War II third-person shooter to have a lot of long distance gunplay. And it does. But thanks to the inclusion of a silenced pistol, stealth kills,and general sneakiness, Sniper Elite III — which was made by Rebellion for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PC — also lets you get up close and personal…and the game is all the better for it. It’s just too bad it isn’t better overall.
For the last few years, Transformers fans have taken comfort in the knowledge that while the movies were terrible, the games were decent, sometimes even good. Sadly, this is not the case with Transformers: Rise Of The Dark Spark, a piss poor third-person shooter that Activision are releasing on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, WiiU, and PC.
At a recent event in Los Angeles, Sega gave game journalists (myself included) a chance to play through a decent chunk of Alien: Isolation, the upcoming, first-person, stealth-action, survival horror game that’s set up as a sequel to the classic 1979 sci-fi film, and will be released on the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PCs on October 7th. But while my time with the game wasn’t exhaustive, it’s still clear to me that this game has the potential to be as scary and engrossing as the movie that inspired it.
As I’ve said many times, I like games where you shoot Nazis. But unlike most World War II shooters, where you get up close and person, Sniper Elite III — like its predecessors Sniper Elite and Sniper Elite V2 — casts you as a WWII soldier who prefers long distance relationships. With 505 Games releasing Sniper Elite III on July 1st for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360, (and the developer, Rebellion, issuing a PC version the same day), I spoke to 505’s VP Of Global Marketing, Kevin Kraff, and 505’s Production Coordinator, Michael Greening, about such new additions to the series as the co-op modes, weapon customizing, and the ability to kill trucks.
As a Jew-ish, World War II first-person shooter fan whose history with the Wolfenstein series goes back to the original 2D game from 1981, Castle Wolfenstein, I came to the first-person shooter Wolfenstein: The New Order cautious but hopeful. But MachineGames — who made it for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC — have managed to assuage my fears and exceed my hopes by making a Wolfenstein game that plays like modern-style first-person shooter.
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?
It was recently announced that, because of the upcoming movies, all of the previous Star Wars video games were no longer cannon.
But if you want to play some Star Wars games that will never be disavowed, you can’t go wrong with Star Wars Pinball: Heroes Within, the addictive new tables Zen Studios are bringing to their pinball games on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, PCs via Steam, Macs, iOS devices, Android smart phones and tablets, and Amazon’s Kindle. (What, no Virtual Boy!?!)
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.