Shadow Complex

We all remember the days of the classic side scrolling games. Taking our character across the screen, avoiding traps and enemies and fighting our way to the next stage. It was games like these that shaped the way we now play games. Most game developers today were heavily influenced by these types of games and it shows in the works they produce, especially in the newest title from Chair Entertainment and Epic Games.

Shadow Complex is a new game coming from developers Chair Entertainment and Producer Epic Games. Shadow Complex is a side scrolling game that takes the genre one step further. The first and foremost difference in this game is that you can’t buy it in stores. Shadow Complex is a downloadable game for the Xbox Live Arcade and the PC. The next biggest difference is the look of the game. Side scrolling games are typically made with 2-D graphics, however Shadow Complex is completely 3-D.

Shadow Complex combines the best of both worlds. You get the great classic side scrolling old-school style mixed with the gameplay mechanics of today’s top games. The gameplay is centered around exploration with fast-paced combat. Throughout the game you can acquire game-altering power-ups as well as a huge arsenal of futuristic weapons that provide you different means of getting around obstacles. This game is bigger than your typical downloadable or XLA game. To start, there are 17 unique power-ups for you to find in the game. In addition there is more than 100 different items and modifiers for you to discover and use to your advantage.

The combat in Shadow Complex is also intense. There is a huge number of different types of enemies for you to fight. In addition to the large variety of enemies there are also many enemies that you will fight at one time. But probably the coolest thing about the enemies is the boss battles. Most of the boss battles require you ta face off against some giant mech or assult weapon that adds a “David and Goliath” aspect to each battle.

Shadow Complex is also very easy to pick up and play. The controls are super tight which are both simple and highly intuitive. They are simple enough for a novice gamer to pick up and learn easily yet complex enough to allow more experienced gamers to enjoy additional depth and precision. There are many big names behind Shadow Complex. Chair Entertainment are the creators of Official Xbox Magazine’s Downloadable Game of the Year with their title Undertow and Producer Epic Games has made a big name for itself with the incredibly popular Gears of War franchise. The other big name in the game belongs to the script writer. Peter David, one of the most popular comic book writers of all time, is writing the script and the game itself is based upon the best-selling novel Empire by Orson Scott Card.

This game isn’t even out yet and it is already generating some crazy buzz about it. This title is building up to not only be the best and most popular downloadable game this year but could very well outshine some games that require a disk. We can only wait and see how it does when it is released. You can get this game on your PC or on your Xbox Live Arcade. It will cost you 1200 Microsoft points on Live which is roughly around $15. The game will be released on August 19th, 2009.

By: Zack Duncan

Modern Warfare 2 Coming With Night Vision Goggles

Gamers were blown away with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare when it debuted back in 2007. The game took players out of the traditional and familiar World War 2 setting and placed them in a modern day conflict. It appeared to be a winning formula as Call of Duty4: Modern Warfare went on to sell 13 million copies becoming the best selling game in 2007. Jump forward two years and the next installment, simply titled Modern Warfare 2, is about to be released to the hungry hands of the gaming public and fans of the game are going crazy with anticipation.

But before you run out to the store to buy your copy, you have to ask yourself which version you want to get. Don’t know what I mean? Like the first installment in the series, Modern Warfare 2 will be shipping with three different editions of the game: the Normal Edition, the Hardened Edition and the Prestige Edition. Now you may be asking yourself “What’s the difference?” and the answer is, a lot. Depending on which edition of the game you buy depends on which of the cool goodies you will get along with your game, and how much you are going to pay for it.

If your not much into other stuff and you just want to play the game, then you will be o.k with getting the Normal Edition. The Normal Edition comes with the game, traditional plastic box and instruction manual all for the typical price of $59.99. Not exciting enough for you? Well the Hardened Edition, which will run you $79.99, comes with the game and instruction book as well as a limited edition metallic game case and art book which holds concept drawings of character models, vehicles, weapons, levels and more. But the real prize comes with the Prestige Edition. If you are fan enough to go for this version of the game you are to be well rewarded. The Prestige Edition, like the others, comes with the game and instruction manual, the Hardened Edition metallic case and art book, and the big prize, a pair of fully functioning night vision goggles! Yeah, I said it, night vision goggles. The goggles are branded with the Modern Warfare logo as well as the Infinity Ward (the developers of the game) logo. You will also receive a ticket with a code that will allow you to purchase the original Call of Duty which came out for the PC via Xbox Live and the Playstation Network. Buyers of the Prestige Edition will also get a sculpted model head of “Soap” MacTavish, the main character from the first Modern Warfare game, to display your goggle on when you are not using them. Wondering about how much this little bundle of goodies is going to cost you? The price for all of this comes in at a mere $149.99.

The game itself isn’t set to hit store shelves until this November but I wouldn’t recommend waiting around until then to get your copy, especially if you are interested in getting the Hardened or Prestige Editions of the game. If you really want either of these editions I would recommend pre-ordering your copy as soon as possible. There is only going to be a limited number of each edition and you are almost guaranteed to not find a single Hardened or Prestige Edition of the game on store shelves this holiday season. If you are willing to fork over the extra cash for the Prestige Edition then you are going to be well rewarded. Pre-orders are available now for all three editions and you can expect to pick up your copy of the game in November 10, 2009.

By: Zack Duncan

Faction Switching Coming to World of Warcraft

The immensely popular online MMO RPG game World of Warcraft has a bigger fan base and player count than any game around. Since the games release in 2004, the developers at Blizzard have created a plethora of different services for WoW players that lets them modify their gaming experience, for a fee that is. Some of theses services included paid, and even free, server transfers, name changes, the option of editing your character’s physical appearance and gender. But there is one change that many fans have been begging for and it seems that Blizzard is finally going to give it to them.

One of the biggest things some players didn’t like about WoW was that when you started a game, chose your class and character and starting gaining rank, you were stuck with that character. Well, you weren’t stuck with that particular character forever. If you desired to switch up what you were playing with you could, with one little defect. Switching your character in a game required you to restart at a level one player. So, if you got tired of being a level 65 Blood Elf and wanted to switch to something like Dwarf, you would have to start with a level one Dwarf, loosing all the time and effort you put into your previous character. But now, it seems, that Blizzard wants to change that for you and allow you to switch from one class to another(Horde to Alliance, Alliance to Horde) without losing all of your rank and other things.

A poster for Blizzard named Nethaera claims this about Blizzard adding faction switching to WoW: We wanted to give everyone a very early heads-up that, in response to player requests, we’re developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance. There’s still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able ti use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm. Players who ended up creating and leveling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we’re pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it.

As with all the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the faction-change service in a way that won;t disrupt the gameplay experience on the realms, and there will be some rules involved with when and how the service can be used. The number of variables involved increases the complexity of implementing this service, but we plan to take the time needed to ensure that it lives up to expectations before officially rolling it out. We’ll go into much more detail on all of this here at www.WorldofWarcraft.com as development progresses. In the meantime, we wanted to let you know that because of this type of functionality requires extensive internal testing well in advance of release, you may be seeing bits and pieces of the service in the test builds we use for the public test realms moving forward.

The development of this service is going to take time due to things like faction specific quests, achievements, and items that will take longer to implement. The idea of a faction switching service is getting mixed responses from the gaming community. Some people love the idea, stating that they can easily change to the faction most of their friends are playing on without losing progress. Others are against asking what the point of choosing sides is if you can just change it willy nilly? But it has been stated that this service will cost gamers a fee to use, though no specific charge has been announced. But what do you think? Is faction switching for WoW a good idea or not?

By: Zack Duncan