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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When DeathSpank released on PSN and XBLA last summer it received no shortage of praise. Headed up by legendary Monkey Island designer Ron Gilbert, that title combined the strengths of adventure games with those of hack and slash titles like Blizzard’s Diablo seies. While there were some problems with gameplay execution, DeathSpank won gamers over with an irreverent sense of humor.

While The Baconing might not bear the moniker of its predecessors, DeathSpank is back. The hero to the downtrodden has put on too many undergarments and has thus brought on the apocalypse. He must cast the thongs into the fires of Bacon to stop the end of the world. Yes, it’s that typical sense of humor you’ve come to expect of the series. I wish I could say that the same quality was there. But that would be a straight up lie.

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It seems like every developer with a well known backlog of games is jumping on the HD collection bandwagon. First there was the God of War HD Collection, then the Prince of Persia Trilogy HD; now it seems that Capcom’s Devil May Cry series will be getting its own re-release.

While Capcom has yet to officially announce anything, the ESRB has rated the first three Devil May Cry titles for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Considering that the DMC series was a PlayStation 2 exclusive, branching out with a HD collection might get some younger gamers interested in the franchise. Read more… »

Be honest, you already have preconceived notions about this game. That’s fine, I get it. After all, it is an annual sports franchise that, for the most part, takes an incremental approach year in and year out. However, last year was no such year with the introduction of GameFlow and Game Planning. Sure, it might not have been a feature for everyone, but the impact it had on the game was as important as the introduction of Focus was to the Tiger Woods franchise.

Fact of the matter is that Madden NFL 11 opened itself up to be much more accessible without taking anything away from the hardcore.  While the game wasn’t perfect, it was innovative and took a necessary step in the right direction. Madden NFL 12, on the other hand, falls right back into that incremental approach. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. Read more… »

Moonshade is mysterious; Moonshade is deadly. At least, that is what she boasts. So fast you won’t even feel it, she says. So quiet … ah, enough of the hyperbole.

Moonshade is part of the assassin class in Certain Affinity’s upcoming action RPG for Xbox Live Arcade, Crimson Alliance. The final character trailer released today shows her getting her deadly on with rapid knife throws, magic blades and some out-of-screen knockouts. Of course, Gamer Limit has it for you. Of course, it’s after the break.

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The debut trailer for Grasshopper Manufacture’s next game dropped earlier today and the trailer shows off a few seconds of gameplay. From that limited look it appears as though Lollipop Chainsaw might play something like a cross between Dead Rising and No More Heroes.

As with any Grasshopper title, this one is near the top of my list of highly anticipated upcoming titles. Shadows of the Damned was fantastic and I can’t wait to get my hands on what’s next from the twisted mind of Suda 51.

THQ has confirmed that Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine will be receiving co-operative multiplayer. The mode will not be launching with the game but rather will be dropping 30 days later as free additional DLC. That is, unless you purchase the game used. It’s looking as though THQ will be using some sort of online pass seemingly to dissuade players from buying the title second hand.

So far all that is known about the co-op is that it will support up to five players, but THQ will have more information for us within the month. In the meantime, Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team landed on PSN last week for $9.99 and has been available on XBLA if you’d like to check that out. I really enjoyed my time with Kill Team at E3 and am looking forward to playing both titles. Be on the look out for Space Marine when it drops on September 6.

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[Update: If recent tweets and pictures of cake are to be believed Catherine managed to sell over 200,000 copies in its opening week.Yay!]

“Catherine has exceeded our highest expectations,” said Tim Pivnicny, VP of Sales and Marketing at Atlus when speaking with IGN.  Citing the enormous fan response to the game’s mature themes and challenging gameplay, he went on to say “It is fitting, then, that Catherine can boast the largest launch in the 20-year history of Atlus, and continues to see strong sales at retail.” Despite the strong sales Atlus has yet to reveal any specific sales numbers.

While strange Japanese games may be popular with the enthusiast press and core gamers, I had my doubts about how well Atlus’ latest would do at retail. In a market dominated by shooters, it’s rare to see something so unique be so successful. We enjoyed Catherine quite a bit, so it’s nice to see that Catherine beat the odds.

If you had any worries that Grasshopper Manufacture’s next project would be another exciting game that never made its way outside of Japan, Warner Bros has other plans in mind. While Kadokawa will be handling things in Japan, the Bugs Bunny publisher will be the one bringing Lollipop Chainsaw to your PlayStation 3s and Xbox 360s in America, Europe and Australia.

We’re always looking forward to the latest from Suda 51 and will be sure to keep you posted as more details come out. In the meantime you can follow the game on Twitter and Facebook.

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Catherine tells the story of Vincent Brooks, a man in his early thirties coming to grips with growing up. When his long-term girlfriend Katherine starts planning their future, Vincent begins drinking his troubles away, unsure of whether he is ready to give up his freedom and settle down. On one booze-soaked evening, the attractive young Catherine walks through the doors of the Stray Sheep Pub and into Vincent’s life, turning his world upside down and sending him into a guilt-ridden, downward spiral as his life becomes a web of lies.

While those looking for a salacious affair with Catherine are sure to be disappointed, anyone with an open mind will discover one of the most truly mature stories ever told in a video game. That, and one hell of an addicting puzzler.

Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge! Edge!

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Supergiant Games’ brand new XBLA title Bastion has a lot of things in its favor. Fantastic visual style, great music, and what many will consider its greatest strength, its narrator. Logan Cunningham’s performance as Bastion’s narrator is pitch-perfect.

Cunningham augments the style and tone of the game, and really helps Bastion set itself apart from its peers. But I can’t help but feel that Bastion’s greatest strength also contributes to one of its biggest weaknesses.

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