Capcom announced Thursday that Resident Evil 6 is in development and will be released November 20 this year for 360 and PS3, with a PC version to follow. Familiar protagonists Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield will take the front stage in battling a surge of bio-terrorism. Government espionage! Jetsetting! A world in peril!

Surprising as this announcement may be, and even though the release is this year, it’s still ten months away. Here is more practical news: Resident Evil Revelations for the Nintendo 3DS will be upon us in less than a month. And guess what, you can download the demo straight from the Nintendo eShop right now.

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It is chilling to think that ours may be the last generation to consider the term “social” as primarily being outgoing. With the deluge of so called social apps flooding the market, I can only expect, in somewhat hyperbole, that the definition of “social” will soon change. Maybe, it will become something like “the act of sharing your location, pictures, videos, thoughts and activities (in 140 characters or less) leveraging one of these apps”.

Nowhere is this phenomenon more apparent than in the emergence of a new generation of social games. This new generation is legion, climbing out of (the) Facebook  onto PCs and mobile devices independent of any one client. At its worst, this generation bears cookie cutter copies of the villes, Mafia Wars and even StarCraft. There is a glimmer of hope, however, as some developers are pushing the social platform forward through innovation and creativity.

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As a game reviewer, I occasionally comes across an indie game that just strikes a chord with me. Either the art style captures something from the past, the story resonates with me on some level, or the gameplay is a refreshing take on an old genre. I have to say that I was extremely lucky to find a game that has all three of these, in this case the game is Gemini Rue.

Gemini Rue is a little indie game made by Wadjet Eye Games that combines the retro art style of games like Flashback and Out of this World with the great gameplay from classic Lucas Arts adventure games. To make it even better, the story comes across like a Phillip K. Dick novel with it’s neo-noir elements and mind bending discussion of identity. Long story short, if you’re a fan of science fiction or adventure games, you need to check out Gemini Rue. Read more… »

Free-to-play games have a stigma that they are not free at all. Of course, you can play unencumbered up to a point; but, just when things are getting good, a horrible and unwelcome window pops up. The gist is if you want more content, if you want more leveling, if you want more of anything, you have to start emptying your wallet. This sad model has left the free-to-play (F2P) space practically a wasteland.

This all changes with the December U.S. release of SD Gundam Capsule Fighter. In a big way, Softmax and OGPlanet aim to turn the F2P stigma on its head with a free game that plays just like a paid title. In other words, every gameplay element, every mode of play, all progressions are available to the player without the solicitation of money. And, to be honest, it has shaped up to be a rather entertaining game to boot. AND it’s Gundam. What more can you ask for?

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I’m not a big shmup fan, but Final Form Games’ Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony broke down my barriers. With it’s unique setting (17th Century Mars?!) memorable sprite-based artwork, and killer gameplay it became my favorite shmup.

Well, now I have a reason to play it again. Final Form Games have released the Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot DLC today! Hit the jump for more details. Read more… »

The world doesn’t end in 2012, at least that is not the check out date according to Fate of the World: Tipping Point. Also, there is no fugitive asteroid coming to claim us all. According to the game, the world will most likely suffer a slow, agonizing death full of drought, famine and civil unrest a century or two from now. This is good news for us, bad news for future generations and careless time travelers.

Despite the dark and sardonic outlook, this turn based card game manages to instill hope in an otherwise crumbling world. This is because in Fate of the World: Tipping Point, or FotW:TP for short, you’re placed in the mantle of power, with the chance to turn things around through real world solutions. This is no walk in the park, however, as with this power players must balance resources and public perception or they will wind up on the wrong end of a revolution. Are you up to the challenge?

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The tower defense genre has always been one of my favorite ways to kill time when gaming. There’s something that is just so satisfying about building the perfect line of defense and watching your maze of death take care of everything. While this genre has previously been relegated to modifications and other derivative works (WarCraft III custom maps, etc.), now digital distribution services like Steam allow game developers to create fleshed out, full fledged titles. Orcs Must Die is one of these full fledged tower defense titles.

As the name implies, Orcs Must Die involves building a series of traps so that wave after wave of oncoming Orcs meet a grisly end. This sounds entertaining on paper but, as gamers know better than anyone, the proof is in the play. To see if Orcs Must Die is worth your money, hit the jump. Read more… »

This review of Dungeon Defenders must begin with a short study of M. Night Shyamalan’s film, Lady In The Water. It’s a worthy comparison in its own way. Both game and film feature casts of characters who must defend their precious jewels from evil (in the film it’s a lady and in the game it’s an actual jewel).

One character in Shyamalan’s film also serves as a metaphor for the game as a whole. It’s Reggie the Guardian, that guy with one super buff arm and one regular arm. Translate that into Dungeon Defenders; from one side it seems to have true strength as a co-op RPG. Take a look from another angle, and it’s a rather bland tower defense title.

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My last week steeped in gore, I offer up to you Project Zomboid. It is an isometric zombie survival RPG. These last words may not whet your appetite, especially with last month’s release of Dead Island and the (re)release of Resident Evil CODE: Veronica X. You can say the world is pretty much zombie’d out.

There are just so many things to love about this title, however; and considering that it’s still in alpha development gives cause for excitement. Not only for zombie aficionados, but also for fans of well crafted games in general, PZ is already a polished gem that is bound to have an uncanny luster by the time it’s considered a full fledged game.

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You’re on Banoi, an island paradise off the coast of Papua New Guinea. You’re on the job so you can’t enjoy the beaches, the tropical climate and whatever else this pacific island promises. So you don’t want to be here, not like this, going through one loathsome motion after another. Then, like an unsuspected monsoon, a zombie outbreak quickly turns loathsome into terrifying.

While that’s the general situation for all of Dead Island‘s playable characters, those who pick up the sticks for this title must sample similar loathing for some of its mechanics. There is so much promise and beauty. Yet, you can’t avoid the biting flaws threatening to tear this game down. After all the hype, Dead Island mostly teeters between the extremes of awesome immersion and near rage inducing frustration, creating what can best be described as a love-hate relationship with the player.

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As a series, Dungeon Siege has always had an odd position in games industry.  Dungeon Siege III‘s predecessors were adequate PC dungeon crawling romps that stood in the colossal shadow of Blizzard’s incredibly popular Diablo games. While it proved to be a moderate success, the franchise seemed to fade away into obscurity shortly after release of the sequel.

Now, Square-Enix has acquired publishing rights to the series . This time around Dungeon Siege has the jump on Diablo III, and is on both consoles and the PC.  Dungeon Siege III set out with ambitious promises to deliver a revamped, reworked Dungeon Siege experience. In practice it’s one that often falls short, leaving us with a mildly entertaining, linear hack-and-slash game.

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Last year, Cipher Prime followed up their auricular puzzle game, Auditorium, with yet another puzzler, Fractal for the PC. Long story short, we enjoyed it. Short story long, the game featured simple yet challenging puzzles set to a mellow soundtrack. It stole the hours from under your oblivious feet.

The game is back and this time it’s for the iPad in the form of Fractal: Make Blooms Not War. After getting caught nearly numb pushing hexagons to an fro for who know how long, one must say that it’s as much a match made in heaven as a game and platform can get.

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