Archive for July, 2010
Friday, July 16th, 2010
“He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn’t score many goals. Apart from that he’s all right.” I would have to agree with George Best if he was describing my footballing skills, but FIFA Online is set to change that with a free-to-play FIFA football game for the PC, packing a new simple control system that can even make me look more like Lionel Messi than Terry Hurlock.
I have always liked the FIFA games, going all the way back to the SEGA Megadrive days, but it doesn’t mean I have ever been that good at them. FIFA Online is trying to grab the PC football market here, with a game that is quick and easy to get into but tougher to master. It is free-to-play but will use micro-transactions to buy various upgrades and other items, both practical and cosmetic. (more…)
Tags: Fifa Online, Issue 28
Posted in PC, Previews | No Comments »
Friday, July 16th, 2010
If you go down to the woods today, be ready to have gouged eyes,
these naughty bears will kick your ass, and that will be your demise.
This little bear from A2M, is sure to enjoy killing men,
a teddy bear is having a sadistic piiicniiiic…
Who can resist writing a bit of original music about a game that’s based on a masochistic, killing machine of a Teddy Bear hell-bent on gorey revenge? Not us, that’s for sure.
Naughty Bear, A2M’s latest release, has you take on the role of the game’s title character, “Naughty Bear”, a teddy bear who’s the butt of all jokes on the insanely cutesy Perfection Island. But the other bears have just played one trick too many, leaving him out of Daddles party and mocking his attempt at making friends by bringing a present. (more…)
Tags: a2m, Issue 28, Naughty Bear
Posted in Reviews, Spotlight, Xbox | No Comments »
Friday, July 16th, 2010
While I have made no effort to hide the fact that, in the age-old ‘Sonic or Mario’ debate, my fanboyism falls squarely in the slipstream of the speedy blue one, it doesn’t mean I would ever miss out on any of the podgy Italian plumber’s titles.
In fact, in recent years the outings of Mario have stood head and shoulders above any of the Sonic releases. Personally, his most recent peak was Super Mario Galaxy. Now I’m sure that will cause much debate amongst both readers and other T1 team members, but I just prefer it over Super Mario World.
When I first played that game I was floored. The visually stunning worlds, the awesome gameplay and brilliant level design – everything about that game was spot on. (more…)
Tags: Issue 28, Mario Galaxy 2
Posted in Reviews, Spotlight, Wii | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
The air was cool as I descended the stone mausolean stairs, reaching out into the eveloping blackness for something to keep me upright. The room stank of death as I delved deeper into the dreaded necropolis, some detestable ichor dripping from the ceiling onto my coat.
I was witness to amorphous shadows creeping around me, possibly tricks of the wan moon. I approached a decrepit stone altar and beheld a basalt statue carved into an alien shape, a mass of tentacles protruding from what I was sure was it’s cephalopod like face. I thrust it aside and saw that it was sitting atop a rectangular plastic box. I held my torch up to the cursed object and could not muffle the terrible scream that rang out of my lungs. The box read: Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage.
(more…)
Tags: Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage, Issue 28
Posted in PC, Reviews | No Comments »
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
The Boss Fight is probably the most fundamental staple in videogames. You always know when they’re coming, there are many tell-tale signs. In the retro days it was obvious: anything from the music stopping suddenly or a suspiciously surplus amount of ammo and health items.
As the industry moved forward it got easier to tell whether a fight was imminent; a convenient save spot just before you enter a new area or even the game’s narrative would suggest some sort of boss fight will ensue. However, now that videogames are outstanding feats of technology and a lot of triple-A titles favour more realistic settings and characters, boss fights seem to be dying out, instead replaced with set-pieces or a horde of enemies (Modern Warfare 2, BioShock 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction). So in honour to all the Big Bosses out there – excluding Naked Snake – we’re presenting you with a list of our favourite Badass Boss Fights.
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Tags: 13-1 countdown, Boss Battles, Issue 28
Posted in Features, News, Spotlight | No Comments »
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
When it was announced that Ruffian Games were working on a sequel to Crackdown, Realtime World’s 2007 hit, pretty much every 360 gamer who played the first let out a cry of unmitigated joy. There’s just something forever appealing about playing as a super-powered hero in an open-world environment, and with new additions to the already solid formula and many of the bugs ironed out, Crackdown 2 simply couldn’t fail to impress…right?
Well..that depends on just how much you liked the original, because Crackdown 2 is basically the exact same thing. Imagine handing your home to a group of interior designers and leaving for 6 months while they went to work, only to return and find the exact same layout with a slightly darker colour scheme and a chair switched with a sofa. That’s what you’ve got here.
(more…)
Tags: Crackdown 2, Issue 28
Posted in Reviews, Xbox | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Bangin’ music, flashing lights, scantily-clad cosplay girls, and enough energy drink to power a Left 4 Dead zombie army. An average weekend in the Thirteen1 office? Not quite. This is E3 baby! We sent Turkeysaladboy off to LA and all he came back with.. was his alternative picks from this years carnival of gaming. Be prepared, we did mention alternative.
SouthPeak Interactive/TopWare Interactive, Two Worlds II.
OK, I’m not too hot with numbers, so bare with me. Two Worlds II is the sequel to Two Worlds, an open world RPG in the style of Oblivion that made its début on the PC in 2007. According to the PR squadron on the show floor – including the unrelenting Jake DiGennaro – Polish development studio, Reality Pump scrapped original plans for an expansion to the original game. Instead, they sought to create a sequel with an entirely new engine, Grace, with simultaneous platform development factored in from the start. That’s right, no lazy ports being offered from Reality Pump. (more…)
Tags: E3, Issue 28
Posted in Features, News | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
For a first-person shooter to succeed and keep the masses playing indefinitely, it’s usually got to be a top class title. Most of them come from the big dogs: Bungie, Infinity Ward, Valve…but now Zombie Studios have set out the buck the trend with their digital-download only title, Blacklight: Tango Down.
For a meagre 1200 MS points, you can get to grips with millions of different load-outs across an assortment of different classes and show the world who’s the daddy over 12 maps and 7 game modes.
Blacklight: Tango Down plays like nothing else available on the market, it’s a mash of frantic old-school gameplay with a touch of modern tactical warfare. It’s a unique concept that offers a whole new style of gameplay. (more…)
Tags: Blacklight: Tango Down, Issue 28
Posted in Reviews, Xbox | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
There are a few questions that I can usually expect to be asked whenever I tell someone about my job in the games industry.
1.How did/do you get a job like that?
2.Can you get me any free games?
3.How DO you make that stuff move about on the TV?
I love the first question and I find I’m being asked it more and more – by students looking for work experience, by younger gamers who’ve been inspired by the games on their iPod touch, or by others just looking for a way into the industry.
My journey into the technical side of games started back in 1980, when I discovered the Sinclair ZX81 in my school, and it totally captured my imagination. I typed in all the programs in the user manual and was enthralled by the results produced on the screen. From there I graduated to a BBC Micro, and later a 32-bit Archimedes. Machines like these really were the games consoles of the time, and although we played a ton of games on them, we also started to figure out how these games were programmed and, crucially, started to figure out how to make our own.
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Tags: Breaking into the Industry, Issue 28, space ark, strawdog studios
Posted in Features, News | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
The South African fun is over, and unless you’re lucky enough to be Spanish (or don’t care about football), you’ll undoubtedly be nursing some kind of World Cup hurt..
Luckily, as always, gaming is here to act as a shining light in the darkest of times, and the 100% free-to-read July issue of Thirteen1 magazine is now available, covering all of the month’s top gaming releases.
There really is little reason to be down with all of this finger-bashing fun to be had.
The much anticipated Crackdown 2 has finally jumped onto the scene, and right onto the front cover of Thirteen1, probably leaping over a massive skyscraper while firing a rocket launcher in mid-air to get there. Does it live up to expectations? Check out T1’s extensive review of all things super-powered to find out.
EA have fittingly released FIFA Online just in time for everyone to right their personal international wrongs, so T1 has jumped straight in there to cover it with a beta hands-on. Will it prove as popular as it’s console counterpart?
The DrunkenGamer has had a great time flying around Cataclysm, the latest mind-blowing expansion for Blizzard’s World of WarCraft, and wishes you was there so much that he’s put together a brand new feature, Wish You Were Here, showing you all of the best areas before it’s released.
(more…)
Tags: 13-1 countdown, Babel, battlefield, Biker Battles, Blacklight, blizzard, Boss Battles, Breaking into the Industry, Call of Duty, Castle of Heroes, COD, Competitions, Crackdown 2, Dark Lineage, Darkness Within 2, Dr Who, Drinking Games, DrunkenGamer, E3, Fifa Online, Game Horizon, Hardware Section, Imperator, Issue 28, King Arthur, landit bandit, Lost Horizon, Magazine, Make your own XNA Game, Mario Galaxy 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Mirrors Edge, Music Reviews, Naughty Bear, Omerta, preview, razer, Retro Section, Review, SteelSeries, Syberia V2, Tango Down, Wish You Were Here, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, wow
Posted in News | No Comments »
“He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn’t score many goals. Apart from that he’s all right.” I would have to agree with George Best if he was describing my footballing skills, but FIFA Online is set to change that with a free-to-play FIFA football game for the PC, packing a new simple control system that can even make me look more like Lionel Messi than Terry Hurlock.
