Teh Gaming News Episode 6

Hey guys!

First I would like to introduce you to the new editor of the site, Jacob. He shall be editing stuff and keeping the site in tip top condition. He has also got some wallpapers up for the ones who haven't noticed yet and there pretty awesome too! So get 'em on ya desktop and feel proud your a fan of Triforce Games! Now to what this article is all about.... Gaming News!

New Dead Rising 2 video!

Capcom can't help but put chainsaws in all there games involving zombies. Resident 4 got Dr. Salvador (or the guy with a bag on his head welding a chainsaw!). Dead Rising got a mad clown called Adam who chased you with dual chainsaws and balloons. Resident Evil 5 had Dr. Salvador's African cousin chasing you down and Dead Rising 2 has... A motor bike with chainsaws on. A stick with two chainsaws of either side. Capcom pulled out all the stops to add more chainsaw carnage! The game itself shows us the new hero of the story (Chuck Greene)... Killing zombies. The graphics seem better than the original too (but what is shown might not use the in game engine although it looks like it probably does) and with the rock music in the background it makes a good watch for those zombie slaying fans.

Lost Planet 2 Demo

Lost Planet 2 was announced not so long ago and a public demo is heading our way shortly! For those who didn't know the game is being produced by the same guy as Resident Evil 5 so fingers crossed this games gonna be a winner too.

Fable 2 DLC

Fable 2: See Into the future is the new downloadable content coming to Fable 2... Soon. You'll find out more out Theresa, be able to command enemies, change your dogs breed and explore new areas of Albion. There will be 12 more achievements too that can bump ya gamer score up by 250! It will apparently give us an in sight on what Fable 3 will be like... Fingers crossed it will involve more puzzle elements.

DSi

The DSi has finally hit and made a impact on the market. For all you who are behind it has a camera, ability to play music and download games through the DS Ware. Oh and surf the net. Not only that but the menu screen has had a new lick of paint and basically is a better looking console. If you still yet to own a DS of some sort nows ya chance!

Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles

With Dead Space Extinction, House of the Dead Overkill and now this for the Wii, I am sure your Zapper will finally get some use. The new Resident Evil game is an exclusive for the Wii and is based on Leon S Kennedy and Claire Redfield as they try and escape Raccoon City (In other words Resident Evil 2). The graphics look great and seems to be one better from Umbrella Chronicles (which me and Mark had a great time playing!).

Gaming Diary = Success!

I myself have really enjoyed doing this over the half term and I am sure I shall carry on the feature when I want to write about games I haven't quite finished enough to review. So keep an eye out for them in the future!

Shameless Plug

Yep, besides from playing video games and managing Triforce Games blog me and Callum our on C21 Web Radio from 7 till 8 every two weeks. You can find us at www.c21webradio.com. So please drop on by and give us a listen! Oh by the way its a rock show so you know when your listening to us when... Well loads of rock and the likes playing. X D

That's all from Teh Gaming News for now!

Signing off,

The Triforce Fighter

Bully - Scholarship Edition

Ta Da.... Yes it is me, Callum and the other week I actually bothered to go outside and buy Bully. I had this game for the Playstation 2, I thought I was great and when this game came out it was on my to get list for a while. So I gathered what money I had went to my local game store and got the game. For those of you familiar with the game you will know the storyline. Basically boy's mother gets married, boy's mother goes on honey moon and dumps boy in a terrible school, boy takes over school. Yeah it's that simple. You basically go running around doing missions to try and win the trust of the different factions of the school. The Nerds, The Jocks, he Greasers, the Preps and the Bullies. Each of the missions give you respect for each of the factions either a negative response or a positive, which leads to you taking over the school. There are also fun mini-games like the lessons you have to go to, they give you clothes or abilities. If you are really bad and you hit too many people and get caught every time you do something bad you get... A detention. Which normally consists of you cutting grass with a ride on a lawn mower. Yes a ride on a lawn mower. If you think that's cool, you can get a moped, bikes and even a go-kart.

Now the graphics i love, the controls for the Wii i love and i just love this game. It is a great buy if you haven't bought it yet it is well worth it. 11 quid or something like that on play.com. So anyway back to the game not play.com, the artwork of this game looks like it has been done by a 12 year old but i love it really, let me give you an example... You know when you're 12, you can't draw hands and you kinda draw them like shovels... That's what they look like, it's amazing really. The controls are pretty interactive as well by swinging the nunchuck and Wii remote like fists to beat up people, what more could you wish for.

Now in my opinion i would give it an A* but it is extremely short. I finished it in a week and i still haven't finished Mario Kart so yeah. With that in account i would give this game a well earned,

A

Second Opinion

As soon as my good friend Callum had finished Bully I borrowed it of him. It has been a game I wanted to play for sometime and thanks to Rebel FM (a brilliant gaming podcast from some of the ex 1Up team) for doing 5 or 6 podcasts about it in there Gaming Club specials I decided to find it. The graphics is of GTA 3, if you've played you will no what I mean. Gritty cel-shaded graphics. Now take some of the gritty-ness out and that's Bully. To put it in a nutshell, it's GTA in a school but with a storyline that is more than 'kill people and take the city over'. Well it feels more than just that because you can actually sympathise with the character! James (or Jimmy to his friends) IS human. Not a psychopath. Something I love about this game. If you're younger than 18 and thirsty for sand box action pick this up. Its on PS2, 360, Wii and PC so you should be able to get it. If you are over 18 you may find this a nice change to the normal GTA affair. In other words a great game!

Picture from: http://www.8bithero.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/bully_scholar.jpg

Introductory Post and Some Wallpapers

Hello. I'm Jacob and i'm the new editor and graphics designer for Triforce Games. I'm pretty much in charge of making the blog look good.
I may be posting some wallpapers from time to time. I mainly make them in 1680 x 1050 resolution, because most of the time I have found it can be shrunk down to pretty much any other resolution without losing the quality or making it stretched. I'm new to making wallpapers so i'm starting off with some basic ones:

Click image for full size view.

Enjoy!

Resident Evil 5 Review

Hey guys, sorry for the late review (I've had a lot of stuff to do recently). But anyone who knows me would know that I love the Resident Evil series, and so I naturally got Resident evil 5. I also got the DLC and will be reviewing that as well.

In RE5 you play as Chris Redfield (Resident evil 1, Code veronica) and his new partner Sheva. That's right, there are two playable characters which makes the gaming experience much more enjoyable. They are sent to Africa. You soon find yourself fighting for your life though against infected Majini (the townspeople) The game plays very similar to Resident Evil 4 and the controls work very well on the 360 controller. I've heard some people complaining about the "Stop and Shoot" mechanic but frankly I love it, its what makes the game Resident evil, it's like Metroid without the morph ball (Weird analogy I know).

The game has a killer story though. It starts off very simple, find Irving, a mysterious guy who seems to run from you every time you see him (with the help of a mysterious masked character) However you soon find out much more about Chris' past (not gonna drop any spoilers) and an old foe of his returns (Resident Evil fans may know who he is) The gameplay works well, playing on your own is also fun as the AI is quite helpful but a human player is also fun. You do have to manage her ammo and guns as well though and you'll have to share your resources

The game itself is about the same length as RE4 and is split into 6 chapters. The game drops you in boss fights most of the time though, some original like U-8 (a giant spider like creation) to the... wait a minute, I swore I saw a giant boss monster in another resident evil game, and a giant fish monster...

Another good thing is that when your beat the game for the first time you unlock the 'Mercenaries' mode, which RE4 fans will be associated with I'm sure. Basically for those who don't know, you have a time limit to kill as many enemies as possible on a level, while collecting extra time, keeping combos going and trying to avoid or kill the boss monster in the level. It is very fun and now you can also play with Online Co-op with a friend and by beating levels you can unlock more and extra characters (10 total).

There is also Verses mode DLC out now for 400 Microsoft points (about £4.50) and the strange thing is that the mode download is only a couple of Megabytes big... almost as in the mode was already on the disc and you needed to unlock it...very strange eh? The mode itself is very enjoyable and it can be very fun fighting other people around the world and can really build up an adrenaline rush.

Anyway I could go on for ages about this game but I'm gonna stop now, It has a good story, mechanics, graphics and is very good, the only real downside is that some ideas seem just like RE4 and anyone who plays both games would probably agree with me.

Rating: A*

Pictures from cache.gawker.com

Gaming Diary: Mega Man 9

Hi Guys,

Right now I am sitting in my room with a Mega Man 9 guide trying to helplessly defeat the game. (It's Mark and Josh by the way) Josh downloaded it from the XBLA and I must say it is a pretty hardcore game. If you haven't noticed as this is a joint article I have made what I have got to say in bold and Mark in normal. To be honest I'll likely do more typing seeing as Mark is better than me!

Right now we just defeated Galaxy Man. When I say we, I mean Mark. I tried but epic-ally failed. I am quite good at platformers but this is a whole new level of hard....ness. I knew what to expect because I had got myself Mega Man 2 on the Wii Shop thing.

I have to say though this game is harder than any retro game I've played in a very long time, I must say as well it is very much like the early Mega Man games. The story is rather simple. Basically Dr. Wily has once again begged forgiveness, but then Dr.Lights' robots go mad and start creating havoc. Dr.Wily quickly comes out to say that he isn't involved in this plan saying that he has turned a new leaf. Megaman then goes out to clear Dr.Lights' name and defeat Dr.Wily once and for all (Well until Capcom feel a bit retro and make Mega Man 10).

This game is can be fast paced or slow, it all really depends on what your playing style is in games like this. The gameplay is simple, there are eight "Robot Masters" and you pick which one to attempt to battle, you then play through a side scrolling level shooting the evil robots. Or something that looks like a giant meatball. Well on Jewel Man's level anyway. I really think Capcom were quite creative with their enemy designs as well, I mean earlier on I found myself fighting a blue elephant that blew a giant pink ball at me... It was scary.

In this game you can also shop in between levels with the "Screws" you have collected (your sister is the shopkeeper by the way, you think she'd be a bit more generous in a situation where evil robots are attacking). What gets me is that you can only use you items once... Only once and they cost the Earth too. This game has NES 8-bit style graphics but was never actually released on the NES and its available for all three major consoles. And for all you guys saying gaming is getting easier then I think this game officially proves that not all of them are!

That's all we have to say about Mega Man 9 for now! Stayed tuned for are next update on what us guys are playing in Gaming Diary!

Signing out, Josh and Mark!

pictures from: http://saitonetwork.files.wordpress.com

Gaming Diary : I finally caved in (World of Warcraft)

Our fellow banner maker Jacob has forever nagged at me to try World of Warcraft and every time I just couldn't see the point of playing it. Why play that when I could play Final Fantasy? I mean they both have big ass swords, stupid names, monsters and some evil bad guy hell bent on taking the world over. Only difference I can tell instead of NPC's repeating there lines over and over you get n00bs asking for gear and whatnot.

I was actually surprised when I started playing. No one hassling level 80's for stuff! The only other MMO I played before in depth was Runescape and I can tell you there was a lot of that. Anyway, my character is a human warrior called Luneth or something like that. It was a name from Final Fantasy 3 which I had fused with another name from Final Fantasy 3. I did first jump to my Warhammer 40k rule book to find a name, but they were to 'spacey' for my liking.

So I was doing a few quests. Kill 10 wolfs that sort of thing. When I was tasked with visiting a inn. Sounds easy right? And it was really but during the 2 minute walk from the gates of the Abbey to Goldshire (I think that's the place) I realized how you never know what might happen in this game. I had been reading the pop ups saying how Goldshire is under attack and Level 80's were needed but you know it didn't register till I actually got there.

I knew something was up when I noticed so many skeletons surrounding the place. I asked the guard where the inn was. He happily told me to just keep following the road. I looked in front of me and there were big monster things everywhere! I couldn't work who was Alliance or Horde all I knew is that it was scary. I think I stood in the middle of this all perplexed for about two minutes until I realized I should really find cover. I ran into the first house I found and lo and behold it was the inn! I got some pumpkins and felt rather chuffed. I thought to myself 'This WoW thing isn't that hard!'

It went down hill from there on. After that I died so many times I lost count, got chased out of a mine repeatedly by tunneling monster things, got lost in a wood full of thugs and BIG bears then finally to cap it all off when I was looking for cover in the forest I found a hut. I went inside thinking 'yeah, I'll eat a pumpkin and be on my way' when I turn around I am trapped inside by 3 thugs and something which looked remarkably like a Gretching from Warhammer 40K. I was like ' What the -' and died....... Again. It got to a point where I gave up finding my dead body because every time I spawned, I died!

I might give it a go again tomorrow..... Wish me luck!

Gaming Diary: Intro

Hello guys, I am off from school for the next two weeks, so I thought I shall make a feature which includes me, talking about what games I have been playing over the time I'm off and what I think about them. I am likely to rant here and there but you know! There won't be a said structure for this feature and I'll just do it when I feel the need.

So keep an eye out over the coming two weeks!

Killzone 2 Multiplayer Review

Killzone 2 has practically everything. Good gameplay, Excellent graphics, (i personally cannot comment on the story itself – as I have not finished the single player, or played Killzone 1) and just overall fun. But what about the included Online Multiplayer?
Well, it rocks to. I’ve gotten to the highest online rank available (General – 3 stars), so I’ve played a fair few amount of online matches.

Rather than just having one class and unlockable weapons, A total of 6 classes have been introduced. The Rifleman, with the machine gun. The Medic with the ability to heal comrades and bring them back to life. The engineer whom can build turrets and fix ammo and weapon placements around the many maps. The solider, who uses a rocket launcher/grenade launcher, and also has the most health and ability to sprint (Which is a bit unfair in my opinion.). The Tactician, who can set up spawn points and call in air support. The Saboteur, whom can disguise as an enemy team member and place C4. And finally, the Scout (my personal favourite) who is the only class that can use the sniper rifle, and can cloak to become invisible (the more you move, the more visible you become), and pinpoint enemies on the radar. (This is sounding a bit like Team Fortress 2!)

The thing that's really cool about the class system is the ability to combine classes. You unlock the second ablitiy of each class by fulfilling certain objectives (e.g. 10 kills with sniper rifle in 8 matches to unlock the ability to pinpoint enemies on radar) and then mix and match them with other classes. Want a medic that can plant C4 and call in air support? Then you can!

Now the maps, a staple of any good online multiplayer game. These can kill the game, or make it something special. Luckily, the maps in Killzone 2 are good overall, apart from a few dodgy ones. The maps themselves are pretty large. Now im sure you’ll be asking yourself – how can i spot people halfway across a huge map? Well Guerrilla thought of this, and its easy to see people (although not TOO easy), as Helghast players have red eye’s on their helmets, and ISA members have blue glowing patches on their head, and elbows.

The multiplayer modes are just like Call of Duty, with Bodycount (team deathmatch), Capture the Flag and Headquarter style matches. One thing that is really interesting is the on-the-fly matches. You can be in a match playing Headquarters, then suddenly the objective will change to assassination, in which you have to kill a particular member of the enemy team. These on-the-fly matches keep things new and fresh.

Closing comments:
Overall, the Killzone 2 multiplayer is a very entertaining game, which is well worth your money if you own a PS3 and a decent internet connection. One thing that really should have been (and hopefully will be) implemented is a lobby system. You and your buddies can't all join the same match at once. One person will have to join a game, then the other friends will have to join after he has. Meaning that you will most likely end up on different teams. Hopefully Guerrilla will patch this though.

Rating: A*
(Note: A review of Killzone 2’s Singleplayer shall be up soon, when I complete it!)

Pictures taken from: http://uk.media.ps3.ign.com/media/748/748475/imgs_3.html

Teh Gaming News Episode Issue 5

Hey Guys! I am so sorry this wasn't up sooner but I was kinda busy doing a project which I can't mention here on this blog (I'll just say its got something to do with the radio = P and its great fun!). Anyway your not here to read about my daily happenings but for the lowdown on Gaming News of this month and to start with there is.....

Gaming BAFTAS!

Yep such thing does exist and its pretty big aswell and here are the results!

• GRID - Best sports game
• Sid Meier's Civilzation Revolution - Best stratagy game
• Fable 2 - Best adventure game
• Little Big Planet - Artistic achievement award
• Boom Blox - Best casual game
• Call of Duty 4 - Best story and character awards
• Spore - Technical achievement award
• Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Best Handheld game
• Left 4 Dead - Best mutiplayer game
• Dead Space -Best use of music and best original score awards
• Super Mario Galaxy - Best game award

In my eyes I think Super Smash Bros Brawl should of got best orginal score and best game award. I am very surprised that the most hyped game of the year was not even mentioned! Oh Well Brawl you shall always be remembered in our hearts as the Wii's best hardcore game for yonks.

Mythic Map Pack

We finally have a date and its the 6th of April! So save those pennies if you only got the normal edition of Halo Wars (Such as myself) then this is your chance to make big maps on Sandbox FINALLY!

Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts DLC

Yep its coming out 400 MP on the 9th and will have new achievements, new jiggies and new mutiplayer opitions! So for someone like me who have nearly got all the jiggies it will be brilliant! You can look forward to a review of it along with the game soon! If you can't wait that long for your Banjo fix Banjo - Tooie is coming on the 4th.... I think X D

Someone on the team has a PS3

Dave have a PS3 so finally you can look forward to some PS3 related stuff!

Thats all for now head on over same time next month (but a lil earliar) for Teh Gaming News!