Story: Binary Domain throws players into robot-invaded Tokyo circa 2080. Fighting through the derelict city, players control an international Rust squad that is tasked with arresting a robotics corporation founder believed to be making human like robots called “Hollow Children”.

Gameplay:Standard third person shooter controls are present along with the generic cover system seen in Gears of War and Mass Effect. What sets BD apart from those is not only a fresh take on story but the newly developed Consequence System, through out the game you will be tasked with making choices as small as making a wry comment to a female Rust squad member up to weather to allow someone to live or die. Each choice effects the teams trust in you on an individual level. You can make these choices either through a button press or the games voice recognition system. I found this selection system to be the main flaw of the game. I played while in an Xbox Live party and the game acknowledged that i was wearing a headset but did not allow me to make choices through voice commands and it also did not pop up the button selection window. I had to unplug my headset each time there was a choice to make and it really broke up the games flow for me.

Graphics/Audio: Generic squad design and overly repeated enemy design take the whole game down a level aesthetically. Don’t get me wrong the game is pretty it just does nothing new or pretty from a graphical standpoint. Dragging the game further down the road of unoriginal third person shooters is the absolutely atrocious voice acting. Squad memeber repeat the same three lines in every combat situation and the cut scenes feel unemotional. I kind of wish there was a Japanese voice with English subtitles option but there is none.

Overall:I went into this game expecting Gears of War just downgraded and with robots in place of the Locust, what I got was an engrossing third person shooter with a great new mechanic that really surpassed my expectations. Binary Domain is by no means game of the year material but I will suggest everyone who enjoys the genre play it.

Pros:

• Trust system
• FUN
• Original take on a stale genre

Cons:

• Voice acting
• Voice command system
• Nothing special in terms of overall look

Score: 7.5 out of 10

A copy of this game was provided for review purposes

As an avid fan of things such as The X-Files and Twin Peaks, I jumped at the chance to play and review this title. I loved the atmosphere and pacing of the first game in the series and had high expectations and maybe a little bit of a skewed view heading into this review.

Story: Alan is trapped inside an episode of Night Springs he wrote early in his career. Night Springs is the Twin Peaks like show we were first introduced to in the original title by turning on TV’s in various places. Whats worse is he is not only trapped inside an episode but also trapped in Arizona. You are thrust into a search for Mr. Scratch, Alan’s doppelganger while once again battling the creatures of the darkness called the Taken. Will Alan, the champion of the light survive his own episode?

Gameplay: The make or break moment for any third person shooter is the first taste of the controls. If controls aren’t solid the whole experience will be destroyed (looks at Resident Evil 0). Alan Wake’s American Nightmare controls almost flawlessly with a small hiccup coming in the sprint mechanic. Fans of the original will be right at home with the left handed flashlight, right hand gun combo. Taken are protected by the darkness so you must use your flashlight to break their dark shields before opening fire. In the first game this added to the suspense factor but here it just feels like a chore. Collectible manuscript pages help flesh out the story and also help unlock weapon cases throughout the game. Arcade mode also adds to the meat of the game, pitting you in various places in a horde mode like setting. I really feel like Arcade mode could use multiplayer, but it is a small complaint.

Graphics/Audio: The Arizona desert caught in a unraveling mystery with a war between light and darkness being waged upon its roads and sands is beautifully detailed in the game. The game is also complimented by great sound design raning from the sound of spawning taken to the action movie like scene usage of Kasabian’s “Club Foot”. You really get the feeling something ominous is present in your little desert town. I wish the games climax lived up to the tone set by the sound and art design, but it just seems to fall flat even with superb graphic and audio support.

Overall: I approached this review already feeling like I was going to love the game. Like I stated earlier I am a huge fan of the original game and the similar nature it shares with my all time favorite TV show (The X-files). With that being laid out Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is a great game, sure the $15 dollar price tag is steep for a 3 hour story mode, but while the story lacks suspense and dread it still stands as the best offering from the XBLA this year. If you are a fan of Sci-Fi, Horror, or even just a third person shooter fan Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is for you.

Pros:
-Voice acting
-Atmosphere
-Solid controls
-Arcade mode adds some depth

Cons:
-Very short story
-Only a handful of locations
-Lacks suspense
-No multiplayer Arcade mode

Score: 8 out of 10

A copy of this game was provided by the developer for reviewing purposes.

Rumors have been spreading around the web the past 36 hours or so of a Microsoft project called “Durango”.

Most products are given a codename during production, if you remember the original Xbox was codenamed DirectX Box and the kinect was Project Natal. So even if Durango is the new Xbox, don’t expect it to ship or be marketed under the same moniker.

Story: You play as Bryce, a demon hunter by trade who was cursed with immortality by the demon Astaroth. Now 500 years since you have been cursed you hunt demons alongside a mortal paranormal agent, while seeking revenge and of course money.

Gameplay: NeverDead is on it’s surface is just another run and gun, action adventure title ala Devil May Cry or God of War. The hook and I guess ingenuity of NeverDead though is the protagonists inability to die. Upon taking damage Bryce’s limbs fall off leaving you with just a head at some points. Sounds pretty gory right? As a head you will roll around and collect yourself just like the T-1000 in Terminator 2, minus the awesome liquid metal effect. A standard RPG like skill tree is also in place allowing such things as limb regeneration, which for me would have been great because I found a gamebreaking glitch early on in the first chapter. At a point in the first chapter you must jump down an elevator shaft, when I did this my right leg and arm were severed and left above me in the shaft. After a brief encounter with enemies a checkpoint is saved and then you must solve a puzzle requiring all of your limbs. I was unable to go back and had to restart the game, sure I only lost 45 mins of my time, but it was still annoying and a bad oversight. There is also a certain enemy that eats your head when you are dismembered, but it seems to have infinite range and has perhaps the most annoying mini game in video game history to escape it’s stomach.

Graphics/Audio: Starting the game I was surprised to see how gorgeous NeverDead was. The game gives most Triple A titles a run for their money. It for sure is prettier then Gears of War 3 which is a great compliment. Environments are wonderfully detailed and pop with color, so no brown and bloom here folks. In the music department NeverDead also shines, touting a Megadeath title song helps. Music fits the game with a thrash metal soundtrack to go along with the slicing and shooting carnage that ensues .

Overall: NeverDead is a good game that suffers from a crappy mechanic of immortality. Nothing turns me off as a gamer more then knowing there will be little to no challenge in my new $60 purchase. Sure some enemies are hard but there is no penalty for taking damage other then the fact that if you’re eaten by that one annoying enemy type, then you must suffer through a terrible mini game. The music and art direction again are almost triple A worthy, but the gameplay holds the game back at every turn.

Pros:
-Graphics are beautiful
-Music is pretty spot on
-Fresh Idea

Cons:
-Can’t Die (yes I know it’s part of your characters story but it’s still dumb)
-Annoying Mini Game
-Monotonous Almost Boring Gameplay

6 out of 10
A copy of this game was provided by the developer for reviewing purposes.

Survival horror is a genre I hold dear to my heart. Starting with the first time I booted up Alone in the Dark back in my youth I have been hooked. Through good (Resident Evil) and bad (Illbleed), I have tried most titles in the genre. Sadly Amy falls into the bad category.

Story- You play as Lana who is somehow connected to a mute girl named Amy. You both have seemingly escaped a place called plainly “The Center”, while on the run from “The Professor”. Why were you there? What are you running from? Well good luck cause the plot in Amy is about as deep as a puddle. A little later in the game you find out Amy has psychic powers that she can use, but even that is left in the dark as far as the plot is concerned .

Gameplay- Well where should I begin? Terrible, almost tank like controls ala Resident Evil plague you from the start. Partner that with laughably bad and glitchy melee combat and you pretty much have summed up the gameplay. The mingame for hacking is also incredibly broken. For instance on the first hacking puzzle I thought I had the solution, but upon inputting it I was told it was incorrect. A couple tries later I retried the original answer I had and voila it worked. The game feels almost unfinished and untested.

Graphics/Audio-visual- Lana and Amy’s character models are very well done, as a matter of fact all of the character models are pretty nice. Is framerate important to you? If you answered yes just stop right here. Amy runs at a solid and steady 20-30 fps. Infected (ha pun) with choppy framerates is an immediate turnoff for me and it lasts throughout the whole game. Some textures seem ripped directly from PS1 games. Overall graphically it is an insult to players to produce a game with textures and visuals this bad this late in a consoles life. The sound in Amy is well, like the rest of the game bad. Music adds nothing to the atmosphere and you never feel immersed. The voice acting is also terrible, how terrible you may ask. I would rank it #1 all time above Resident Evil and at least the voice acting in RE is quote worthy.

Overall- Amy is just plain bad. The game feels very undone and I am ashamed to admit I spent $10 of my own money on it. I cannot in my right mind recommend this game to anyone, unless you are incredibly masochistic and love suffering through the worst of the worst. The worst part is the trailers for this game make it look really promising but it fails to deliver.

Pros-
-Character models

Cons-
-Terrible plot
-Bad controls
-Glitchy combat

3 out of 10

Capcom announced today, after days of speculation, the existence of Resident Evil 6. The debut trailer features both Leon in what looks to be a return to the roots of the series (zombies & Raccoon City) and Chris Redfield arriving in China. The 3+ minute trailer ends with the release date 11.20.12. Personally the Resident Evil series is dear to me, it has been a staple in my life since what seems like forever. I cant wait!

[Ed. Note]

The story goes as follows:

t has been ten years since the Raccoon City incident and the President of the United States has decided to reveal the truth behind what took place in the belief that it will curb the current resurgence in bioterrorist activity. Due to be by the President’s side is his personal friend and Raccoon City survivor, Leon S. Kennedy, but when the venue suffers a bioterrorist attack, Leon is forced to face a President transformed beyond recognition and make his hardest ever decision.

At the same time, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance member Chris Redfield arrives in China, itself under threat of a bioterrorist attack.  With no country safe from these attacks and the ensuing outbreaks, the entire world’s population is united by a common fear that there is no hope left.

I am no stranger to racing games or more specifically rally racing games. The epitome of them all IMO was Rallisport Challenge 2 for the original Xbox, it had it all Rally, Rallycross, Hillclimb even Ice/snow racing. To be completely honest it’s graphics still hold up to this day. Being a little jaded by the excellence I felt in that game it is hard to review another without comparing the two. Somehow I managed to squeeze out a review with little to no comparison of a previous gen title.
Dirt 2 comes on to you like a cheap prostitute with a greedy pimp(and no I don’t REALLY know what that is like). From the second you turn it on you become this unknown driver trying to make it big in a world full of experienced off road drivers, who pull you into there world and encourage you along the way to the top of the podium. Ok, maybe not quite that elaborate but what Dirt 2 does do, is give you one of the most dirty experiences your going to get in a world full of supercars.

At the start of the game you’re given a car that belong to the late great Colin McRae and along with your dirty dumpy travel trailer you embark across the world to different events to further advance your career as a rally car racer. At first glance it is your typical racing game but with dirt. What set’s it apart are the awesome menu design(or lack thereof) and an immersive experience that actually makes you feel like you are this driver. The menu system is pretty much non existent, you actually take the role of your driver and navigate him around first person style. you can go to a map laid out on the table to select different events which then takes you outside to choose between your rides, and eventually you go to your car to start the race. It isn’t a completely free flow experience but it is a step up in the next direction towards making it a truly immersive world. You also can select to navigate around your trailer to access the MP part of the game and the options and extras.

Once you decide to select an event you have at the start of the game only a few events to choose from in a select few locations. The more you race and compete the more XP you gain therefore unlocking more locations and events as well as extras such as liveries(paint jobs) dashboard toys(hula girl/dinosaur) and even rear-view mirror accessories( pair of shoes/dice and my favorite Your XBL Avatar).

What kind of racing will you be doing to gain this XP? Dirt 2 offers a fair selection of events. You have your standard Rally which is a point to point race, where you are competing against the other drivers times. You also have rallycross which is a straight race against other drivers on a closed circut track, you have gate crasher where you have to crash into as many gates as possible each time shaving time of your total and the quickest run wins. Gatecrasher is surprisingly enjoyable as are the other modes.

Each mode has it’s one selection of vehicles you can race and while some modes such as rally and rallycross share a vehicle set you will have to purchase a rallycross package in order to use that car on it. The same goes for a few other modes as well. But there is a wide selection of vehicles you get to get dirty. You have your standard selection of rally cars. Suburu WRX and Lancer Evo’s but you also have a few modes where you get to drive Trophy trucks, modified rally trucks and buggies as well. This all leads to a fair selection of cars and allows the game to not get boring as each type of race and vehicle handles differently then the others.
The last thing I would like to cover are the graphics. While I don’t ever want to say graphics make a game, in Dirt 2 they definitely make it more enjoyable. First I would like to mention the in care view which is available. It is by far the best in car view in a racing game I have come across at this point(crossing fingers for Forza 3’s to be good) it is a little restricting as far as view is concerned and you are not able to see as well as a bumber cam or follow cam allows but it allows for an immersive experience ans spares no detail, from the driver shifting to the water splashing on the windshield distorting your view until your windshield wipers clear it off.

While the in car view is beautifully done, it isn’t the crowning gem of this game where looks are concerned. Because everything about this game looks great. The tracks and scenery look great as they zoom by and no detail is spared. One of the courses takes place close to a Cruise ship port of call and I swear to you one of the ships looks just like one I just recently traveled on, I even found myself pausing it to compare details. In a game like Dirt one thing that has to be authentic is the dirt and getting your car dirty is as detailed as they come. First your car is covered in dirt then you fly through a water puddle and some of the dirt gets washed away to make way for the mud that takes it’s place covering some very well detailed vehicles.

Dirt 2 is a great thing to look at and the gameplay is there as well. But I can’t have a review with nothing negative so I’ll pull one out of my ass in hopes it will not dissuade you from getting or playing this game. Codemasters brought over a feature from one of there other racer’s GRID which I don’t really like. During a race, you can hit the replay button a rewind the replay to a certain point and restart from there. This replay feature while unique and definitely a life saver at times, takes away from the immersion I want to feel when I play a racing game. I enjoy knowing that if I slam into a rock and total my car the race is over, that’s one of the things that get’s my blood pumping and makes me a better driver. The replay feature takes away from this and the thrill is lost.

I would still take Dirt 2 over many other rally games out there. It hits the spot for me and follows through with a magnificently looking and well played game. It has a wide range of vehicles and race locations and a good number of events. While some complain that there are not enough rally races(point to point) they need to keep in mind this game is not called rally racing it is called Dirt which encompasses all types of races that take place on Dirt courses. Get over it and enjoy the game.

Score: 7 out of 10

Review courtesy of Growngeekgaming

STEP INTO THE WORLD OF AN ODST WITH THE “HALO 3: ODST” LIVE-ACTION SHORT, DEBUTING THIS LABOR DAY WEEKEND AS FANS EVERYWHERE PREPARE FOR THE LAUNCH OF “HALO 3: ODST” ON SEPTEMBER 22

Today, Microsoft unveils a “Halo 3: ODST” live-action short, a 90 second ad spot for the eagerly awaited Xbox 360 exclusive, “Halo 3: ODST.” The ad debuts today exclusively on MySpace at www.myspace.com/gametrailers and IGN.com. The “Halo 3: ODST” live-action short is a haunting, action-packed production that charts the life of a UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, or ODST.

In addition to the online debut of the 90 second short, Halo fans in the United States will be treated to a special, extended two minute 30 second version exclusively on Spike TV on Monday September 7. The extended version will premiere during “Band of Brothers” at 10:30 PM ET/PT.

The short will also be available to download on Xbox LIVE starting September 8.

For the production of the “Halo 3: ODST” live-action short, Microsoft and Bungie partnered with ad agency TAG SF, Legacy Effects (props), Asylum (visual effects) and Final Cut (editing). The short features an original musical score written and produced by Human. The short was directed by Rupert Sanders with MJZ, the director of the award-winning “Halo 3” ad spot “Believe.” The short was filmed on location in Budapest, Hungary.

Also launching today at 6:00 p.m. PT is a unique “Halo 3: ODST” interactive experience site on www.xbox.com/halo. Visitors will be in control of an Operations of Naval Intelligence (ONI) application that blends science, psychology and analysis to evaluate which ODST candidates are best suited for upcoming missions in “Halo 3: ODST.” Featuring over 20 minutes of interactive content, visitors can interact with the evaluations of the four ODST squad members they will be fighting alongside in “Halo 3: ODST” in order to dive deeper into the fiction of the game. Microsoft and Bungie worked with AKQA SF and TAG SF on the experience site.

Suit up and prepare to drop September 22 when “Halo 3: ODST” hits retail stores worldwide.

For the latest updates on “Halo 3: ODST” follow the Halo Waypoint Twitter @HaloWaypoint or visit the Halo Waypoint Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/HaloWaypoint.

Via Gamerscoreblog