Because you only need one, right?

Following the announcement of international pricing for the HTC Vive, Brighton reside?nt and VR gaming enthusiast Aaron Finnick began poking the left side of his body trying to guess how much his kidney would be worth on the open market.

The highly anticipated device will begin shipping this April. Finnick say?s he’s been saving his brass and bread for months to get the VR device, but admits he isn’t even close to raising enough money. While trying to picture how his body would look with a bathtub-surgery scar, Finnick says the idea of going under the knife just to pay for a piece of gaming tech has caused quite the collywobbles.

"It's nerve-wracking really, but when it's over I figure I'll be nice and minted. My bruvva has a friend who knows a bloke who knows a bloke who knows this other bloke who says he got this chav about 1,600 quid for selling his kidney to some toff with a nose for Charlie," Finnick said. "With that kind of dosh I could quit me night job at the Maccy D's, because frankly I don't give a kipper's dick about that place. Besides, I'm going to need all that free time to play Job Simulator on me Vive."

Finnick has been assured everything will be tickety-boo with the surgery, but his mother Agnes has serious doubts ab??out the pla?n. Finnick says she pleads with him everyday to reconsider.

"Mum calls me a wazzock, s?ays I'm sixpence short of a shilling to even be thinking about selling it; says the guy's a nutter who might cock it up and nick my twigs and berries or something. I keep telling her she's not going to change my mind banging on a??bout it. This is the HTC Vive we’re talking about. This isn't some howler I’ll come to regret a year from now."

For its part, HTC says consumers should not resort to selling off organs to pay for the device until after they’ve ??tried starting a ponzi scheme or marrying a wealthy man on his deathbed.

The post Pot??ential HTC Vive customer wonders how much kidney will fetch on the black market (Fauxclusive) appeared first on Destructoid.

A new world record

Fallout 3: a huge, sprawling game that will?? eat hundreds of hours of your time… unless you’re speedrunner Rydou, in which ??case it’s only about 15 minutes long.

Rydou has broken the world record for an Any% (anything goes, barring mods and console commands) run of the main quest in Fallout 3. Using gli?tches in the limb damage system, and plenty of clipping through walls thanks to a small bug in q??uicksaving and quickloading, Rydou managed to speed through the wasteland in 14:54.

The exciting thing is that even though Rydou beat the previous world record by six seconds (15:00 by Petite_Miku), they still identified areas where they lost quite a bit of time. Perfecting the run could shave off quite a f??ew extra?? seconds!

Oh, and if you’re curious like I was, the world record for completing every quest in vanilla Fallout 3 is 2:01:20 by Progamingwithed.

The post Watch someone beat Fallout 3 in under 15 minutes appeared first on Destructoid.

Sit back and just unwind

IGN has released nine whole minutes of brand new gameplay footage for the utterly lovely Unravel.

It feels weird seeing Yarny without his nervous, friendly creator Martin Sahlin gently guiding us through it, but ?it’s also nice to have a better idea of what’s waiting for us when it comes out next year.

For those who haven’t seen Unravel yet, it’s an indie physics-based puzzle platformer that has you climbing and swinging around an incredibly pretty looking world. The catch is the further you move or the more you interact with puzzles, the more the yarn that makes up Yarny’s body unravels. Getting? to each checkpoint replenishes it, but you have to be conservative in how much of the stuff you throw around.

??I’m pretty interested to see what Sahlin’s working on when it releases in Q1 2016 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It could either be an incredibly good looking but ultimately flat puzzle platformer, or it could be something really, really special. Here’s hoping it’ll be the latter!

The post Here’s nine minutes of new Unravel gameplay appeared first on Destructoid.

It was used to unveil Steam in 2002

In gaming, a few days ago is considered ancient history. So, if Fallout 4 being released two days ago is now considered old news, what the hell d??o we call news from 2002? That&?rsquo;s pretty much the time when fish with legs were crawling out of primordial soup in comparison, and yet here we are.

Way back in 2002, Valve unveiled its brand-spanking new platform, Steam. It was to be a way to easily download and install games quicker than it’d take to run the disc installer! To show off this fantastic new service at the 2002 GDC (I would've been seven at the time), a pre-release version Relic’s real-time strategy Impossible Creatures was used.

Fast forward 13 years to a future where hundreds of millions of people use Valve’s platform, including teenagers born after it was announced, and at last Impossible Creatures has been released on Steam.

Impossible Creatures’ main hook is the ability to mix-and-match parts of your anima??l units, for example shoving the head of a lion onto the body of an eagle and unleashed feline-avian fury on your enemies.

The game did see a full release back in 2002, it just never get onto Steam. Publisher Nordic Games picked it up, gave it a bit of a ??facelift and patches to make sure it works on modern systems, they even re-enabled multiplayer and added Steamworks functionality.

For a game that? was meant to release in 2002, that’s a pretty awesome u?pdate.

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The first alpha test starts Friday

Curious about how the new Doom looks and feels? If you're signed up for the beta (redeemable codes were included with early copies of Wolfenstein: The New Order), you may find out soon.

Bethesda is now sending out invites for t??his weekend's multiplayer alpha test, which runs from Friday, October 23 at 12:00am Eastern to Sunday, October 25 at 11:59pm on Steam, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Participants were chosen from the aforementioned beta pool.

In this alpha, players will get to fight each other six versus six on the industrial map Heatwave. There's a single Demon Rune that can turn its collector into a Revenant and a one-hit-kill power weapon, the Gauss Cannon, for retaliation. Read up on the full equipment list here.

The post Doom alpha invites are going out today appeared first on Destructoid.

'Ratchet could end up on Xbox one day'

After petitions, clamoring, and general unrest from PlayStation fans, Insomniac has taken to the web to explain that Sunset Overdrive is still very much an Xbox One exclusive. To clarify, Insomniac's Tim Salvitti states, "Petitions will not change that. We have a partner in Microsoft, that we are happy with for this title. That doesn't mean we can't and won't work with other?? publishers (see Into the Nexus)."

Salvitti further explains that it is possible one day, but not anytime soon, and the game is not a timed exclusive: "I will not say never because you never really know (heck Ratchet could end up on Xbox one day), but we? are not planning on it being on the PS4, nor is it planned to be a timed exclusive. It is being developed and optimized for the Xbox On??e."

I think the most important thing to takeaway from all of this is that Insomniac is not a PlayStation owned developer. As Salvitti says himself, "Insomniac has been, is, and will continue to be 100?% independent."

Insomniac [OXM]

The post Insomniac: ‘No plans for Sunset Overdrive on PS4’ appeared first on Destructoid.

New images and info

Square Enix has shared a massive info and picture dump for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Head over to the official site and check out the Armoury tab to find both the Jobs and Classes sections of the site. From there you can go link diving?? to check out new art, screenshots, and information. There's? tons to see.

For how the two relate, Square Eni??x says that by achieving mastery in a class, you'll be able to take on related jobs. For example, thaumaturges may aspire to become black mages; conjurers may want to work to become white mage healers.

I think these new screens are looking great. We've shared some of the better ones in ??our?? gallery.

The post Th??e classes and jobs of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn appeared first on Destructoid.

As promised, Rockstar Games is delivering our first look at Max Payne 3 today. 

After a long silence, this is our first glimpse at the game in action -- the publisher maintains that this is all in-game footage. As with most Rocks?tar trailers, it's a slick, Hollywood trailer-style affair, but still gives us a decent idea of what to expect when the game hits next March. We hope to get our hands on the game soon, and we're praying that there's a "shave your head" mini-game. 

The post Max Payne 3: First trailer for Rockstar’s next big thing appeared first on Destructoid.

[Update 2: Capcom has?? since clarified and corrected GameSpot's original report -- ??there are no current plans to bring these titles to retail. Make sure you've got the bandwidth then, I guess.]

[Update: As reader JawMuncher points out, Capcom al?so confirmed that the games will be coming to retail, as well. No further details, including release date or pricing, were revealed.]

At Comic-Con this weekend, Capcom announced release dates for the high definition ports of some of its best Resident Evil titles.

The publisher announced that Resident Evil 4 HD will come to PlayStation Network and Xbox 360 Games on Demand on September 20. Resident Evil: Code Veronica HD will be available one week later on September 27. Both games will feature full? Trophy and Achievement support, if that's your jam.

I've purchased Resident Evil 4 on three consoles -- GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Wii, in that order. T?here's just no way I'm going to be buying it again. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm totally getting both of these ports day one. What about you?

Resident Evil 4??, Code:?? Veronica X HD lurch to US in September [GameSpot]

The post Resident Evil 4, Code Veronica HD o?ut in September appeared first on Destructoid.

If you like your real-time strategy games to have a historical basis and a distinctly Eastern European flavor, then developer 1C has got you covered. Men of War: Condemned Heroes will be the next installment of its popular WWII series.

As its name implies, Men of War: Condemned Heroes will offer players the chance to play as one of the infamous Soviet Penal Companies, made up of court-ma?rtialed officers. They were given another chance to serve Mother Russia by becoming lowly soldiers in battalions that too??k on some of the most dangerous missions between 1942 and 1945 as the Soviets made their way west to Germany. Still, better than rotting in some rat-infested gulag in Siberia, eh comrade?

Men of War: Condemned Heroes will feature four different campaigns with fifteen missions, as well as a detailed and historically accurate portrayal of the men who fought in the Penal Companies, with promised "ultra-detailed, photorealistic human models." Considerin?g we're talking about WWII So??viet prisoners, I wouldn't mind a bit less detail in the visuals, to be honest. 

Men of War: Condemned Heroes is scheduled for a release in early 2012.

[Image]

The post Men of War: Condemned Heroes saves you ??from the gulag appeared first on Destructoid.

Traveler's Tales has once again taken a popular film franchise and those colorful Danish building blocks, and thrown them into a videogame blender. This time, its dart board of pop-culture has Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise set firmly in the bullseye. And oh, wouldn't it be great if they timed the release of the gam?e to coincide with the fourth film in the series?

All sarcasm aside (for now), TT Games has found a franchise that fits very well within its LEGO-ized universe, and have once again condensed the four epic Summer blockbusters down to short, serialized nuggets of co-op gameplay for the whole family to enjoy. Well, that was the goal, anyway. Has it once again struck that happy marriage between goofy gameplay antics, and a familiar and popular series? Does this? title reinvigorate the LEGO series, or is the formula getting a little stale? 

Seems like they just did this t??wo months ago, but who's?? keeping track?

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Xbox 360 [reviewed], Playstation 3, Wii, PSP, DS, 3DS, PC)
Developer: Traveler's Tales
Publisher: Disney Interactive Games
Released: May 10, 2011
MSRP: $49.99

By now, I'm sure you're familiar with the LEGO games, where they take a popular franchise and stylize it as LEGOs. The characters are LEGO figures and everything in the game world -- from vehicles, buildings, plant life, and more -- are built out of LEGO blocks. Conveniently, they've just released a LEGO series in the toy line based on the Pirates of the Caribbean series, but ho?nestly, they didn't have to.  When I was a kid, my favorite LEGO toys were the "Pirate" series.  I'd spend hours trying to build the ships and position the figures to match the picture on the front of the box. Yeah, that's right, I had no friends... why do you ask?

This latest LEGO title takes all four of the Pirates films, including the forthcoming On Stranger Tides, and splits them into memorable, five chapter game sequences. (We??ll, six if you count the super secret hidden missions... oooh!) The formula is familiar, but once again TT Games has injected its bottomless supply of charm and whimsy into the characters and world to b?ring it all together.

It helps that the characters they've adapted are already charismatic, which only serves to amplify the silliness of the game. I'm sure the recipe wouldn't work as well with LEGO Requiem For A Dream or LEGO Ishtar, no matter how many times I demand they make them. The LEGO humor is especially prevalent here, which is nice considering the last LEGO title (LEGO Star Wars III) was surprisingly humorless; the fun of the Pirates movies is only enhanced in its non-verbal retelling by each LEGO character. In fact, despite his dialogue is only grunts and hums, you'd swear Captain Jack Sparrow was actually voiced by Johnny De??pp, which says quite a bit for the ?character adaptations.

?However, in the face of all the cool movie backdrops and improved graphics (keeping a similar pseudo-CG look to the last LEGO title), it does run into the same issues from the previous games. Mission objectives aren't clearly defined, and you'll often find yourself running around a level trying to figure out just what to do next. Also, while its intention may be helpful, the dynamic split screen that starts once the characters start to wander away from each other only serves to cause confusion, as invariably, one player's screen reduces in size and the view becomes obscured by the other player's end of the quest.

One of the new features for the Pirates game also serves to be one of its frustrations. Jack's famous compass (which normally dir?ects the wielder to whatever he or she most desires) is used to find eight hidden "treasures" in each level. Once select?ed, Jack will wander around, following tracks that appear to lead him to whatever is hidden in that particular area.

The only problem is, sometimes it's not nearby. See, the treasures only show up on the compass when Jack is near them, but some treasures will show up when you're near... but not near enough. For example, when trying to find a trapped crab, the tracks led into the water, and an arrow appeared to po??inted my attention upwards. Upon further investigation, I couldn't swim anywhere near where it was assumed the treasure was. After dying a number of times, I gave up and moved on to the next screen of the level. There, I discovered the treasure was on the opposite side of the dock, blocking my path on the previous screen. The treasure was only accessible once I ventured further into t??he level, despite it showing up on the compass on an earlier screen.

All that aside, it's still a fun game. Well, if you haven't gotten tired of the same LEGO trappings, that is. There's still an insane number of characters to collect, secrets to find, and cheats to unlock. There actually seems to be more puzzles in each level this time around, as you build different objects to create p?assage through a hidden cave, or flag down a pas?sing ship, for example.  And while the split screen isn't perfect, there is a small amount of joy to be derived from working together with a partner in co-op to finish the puzzles without tearing your hair out. Still, no online co-op... again.

There's not a whole lot else that can be said for the game, though. It's a LEGO title, and if you've liked the previous games, it's just as fun, but it's also just as frustrating. If you're not a fan, this game won't turn you. The charm of the franchise it's based on has ??some pull, but it may not be enough to convert the non-fans into believers. It is cool to see what mishaps Captain Jack and crew will get into in the new film before it's released. ??But by the same token, it's almost hard to tell what they adapted for the LEGO style of comedy, and which is actually in the upcoming movie.

LEGO: Pirates of the Caribbean doesn't break any new ground that hasn't been explored in any LEGO game before, and? will probably be just the same as any forthcoming ?LEGO title, as well.

The post Review: LEGO: Pirates of the Caribbean appeared first on Destructoid.

I'm meltiiiiiiiiiiing!

If that doesn't mean anything to you, then you probably never played the original Majesty or its sequel. Which is a shame, because it's the only hands-off high fantasy parody RTS out there. In a nutshell, you build a fantasy kingdom base and set bounties for your heroes to attack or defend stuff. It also has a lot of humor, ridiculous voice acting and some of the greatest quotable unit feedback since Age of Empire's "Wololo".

Even though I'm still getting my ass kicked in the latest and second expansion Battles of Ardania, which was released last week, the new expansion Monster Kingdom has already been announced! Rather than playing more of the same game, this time you'll actually be playing from the monsters' point of view. Looking at the screenshots, it seems Werewolves, Liches and Goblin Spearmen are among?? the new types of heroes you'll manage. And apparently you can now manage tax collectors to bring and fetch gold at set amounts? I think my mind just exploded...

Majesty 2: Monster Kingdom will let ??you manage monsters to kill stinky heroes from December 7th for $14.99, €14.99 and £9.99 through digital distribution.

In case you get bored during the December drought, you might as well pick up Majesty 2 to give it a tr??y if it pops up in a Steam sale. Unless you want your PC?? elitist title revoked, hmm? Hmmmm?

The post Majesty 2: Monster Kingdom expansion announced appeared first on Destructoid.

You know, it's true, for every ten titles of World War II, there is maybe a couple modern fictional military shooters, four "pseudo-realistic" future titles, maybe a Desert Storm game, and if a publisher is feeling particularly adventurous, the Vietnam War. However, not ?many videogames seem particularly interested in representing the Korean War.

So what do we do? We bring the Russian developer/publisher 1C Company to make a game about Americans in Korea with the tactical title, Theatre of War 2: Korea. It's certainly an interesting company of choice to cover such subject matter, but I'm not one to ??complain, as long as the game is good. Anyway, we got screenshots for the title, coming out sometime?? this year.

The post 1C Company brings screenshots of Theatr?e of War 2: Korea appeared first on Destructoid.

For those who picked up last year's King's Bounty: Armored Princess found a great strategy game with a fairly strong legacy, if not the most mainstream appeal. However, 1C Company has found enough of a core base that developer Katauri Interactive has supported the game with solid updates, including King's Bounty: Rise of the Orcs and the latest of expansions, King's Bounty: Crossworlds. [Edit: Orcs on the March? is the name of the campaign in the game. Ben PerLee?? is being flogged as we speak]

Crossworlds continues with the new male lead, Arthur, as he works with Princess Amelie through new side quests and campaigns. There is now an editor for the game, 70 new enemies to slay, 50 new abilities, a whole new set of spells, and a gladiator/boss battle mode. For fans of the original, this should be a solid expansion when it comes out in the third qua?rter, and everyone else, you get to look at the pretty pretty pictures seen below. 

The post King’s Bounty: Crossworlds expansion oozes bounty appeared first on Destructoid.

At the recent 1C event at the Russian Consulate in San Francisco, we saw a return of some older titles just about to make their debut. However, one of the new titles brought forth was Off-Road Drive. Developed by 1C-Avalon and coming out in Q4 of this year, Off-Road Drive actually has some interesting ??components that make it more than a typical muddy racer.

Billed as an "off-road simulation", Off-Road Drive is like one of those incredibly fascinating yet?? entirely bizarre four-wheel challenges that basic cable stations show on Saturday afternoons. What these trucks are capable of include driving up and over huge boulder, plowing through huge pits of deep sand or mud, or many other difficult challenges. To deal with these obstacles, players have to lower and raise gears, toss out a winch to a tree to pull the truck along, shifting tire pressure, clinometers, or even locking front a real differentials. 

Courses are more than your typical large tracks, as they tend to focus more on obstacles than speed. From the few levels I was shown, speed and grip, coupled with in??ertia and smart approach to each obstacle, is the best way to get a quick race time. The game almost feels like a version of an obstacle course, but you have to constantly be figuring out how to not get stuck. I've been told that each tread of the tires will make a dig in the ??dirt, and this will influence other racers and yourself, and flung mud and gravel can damage other racers.

Ultimately, it's an interesting approach to racing simulators, and the game was surprisingly fun. Sure, it doesn't look like it will be ??a title for everyone, but people who want to try something different would certainly want to pay attention to a game th?at is willing to try something different.

The post Over the river and through ??the woods with Off-Road Drive appeared first on Destructoid.

Vietnam is the new go to war for videogames to cash in on real life wars! 1C Company is well aware of that and that's where one of their next RTS games, Men of War: Vietnam, will take place. Players will be in control of mu??ltiple elite special ops soldiers as they take on missions ranging from rescue ops to full on battles.

The developers a??re going for an authentic feel and the environments, ??buildings and the like are all created as realistically as possible. On top of playing as US soldiers, you'll also take control of the Russians who were aiding the Vietcong during the war.

Men of War: Vietnam will be out later this year for the PC.

The post The next Men of War goes to Vietnam appeared first on Destructoid.

Death to Spies 3 is the latest i?n the stealth espionage series by developer Haggard Games. The new game is set during the Cold War era and will follow the three spies -- Strogov, Viktor and Olga -- as they make their way through America, Cuba and Europe.

The Death to Spies series is known for detailed everything is. For instance, some missions will see you needing to we??ar the enemy's clothing. You can easily shoot the target, but other NPCs will notice the blood stains on the outfit and know something's wrong.

I was shown a level for Death to Spies 3 recently and saw the main character, Strogov, making his way through a police department. Strogov can only make his way into the police station so far in his regular clothing so Strogov first needs to neutralize an officer and take his clothing.? Strogov then makes his way upstairs and repeats the process on a detective and a FBI agent. Once he had the FBI agent's outfit, Strogov was free to make his way into a interrogation room and kill someone that was being held for questioning.

The core mechanics are great, but the controls and enemy AI need a lot of work. Some police officers wouldn't react when the first officer was being ta??ken out in their view and the aiming system appeared pretty broken.

Let's hope these issues get fixed by the time Death to Spies 3 is released ??later this year on the PC?? and Xbox 360.

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Really, the title of this post is the best way to describe Captain Blood. Not to say the game is anywhere near as good as the God of War series, but the mec?hanics are along the same lines.

You'll be playing as a pirate who uses swords, guns and brutal finishing moves to take on the Spanish Main during the 17th century. New abilities and weapons are unlocked with the more gold you get and the only way to get more gold is by bl??indly killing everything in your way.

I played through the first ten-minutes of Captain Blood and the game is fun to say the least. I like the visual presentatio??n and the ??pirate setting is refreshing. Enemy AI was lacking, but that may just be because the enemies are always stupid easy on the first level.

Captain Blood will be out later ?this year on the PC and Xbox 360.

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1C Company and developer Elite Games Team is set to bring out the latest expansion to Star Wolves 3 with Ashes of Victory later this year fo??r the PC. This stand-alone add-on brings with it over 110 stellar systems which breaks down to about 80 h?ours of gameplay.

I briefly played through the new Star Wolves 3 recently and the game looks absolutely beautiful. The sense of scale is huge and players have a lot options when it comes to c??reating their custom ships. The combat is a mix of RPG and RTS and there's a speed-up button so the experience doesn't get extremely dull every time you're in a battle.

I liked what I saw, but the game was screaming for some kind of online multiplayer component. Yeah, Star Wolves 3 will only be a single-pla??yer game which doesn't make a whole lot of sense compared to all of its competition.

Has anyone out there played any of the Star Wolves games before? If so, looking forwa??rd? to more from the series?

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If there is one complaint I have about the RTS genre, it s that is be a bit too…involved. I mean, there is no lazy way to play StarCraft or Command and Conquer. You’ve g??ot to actually devote energy and involvement into the game, otherwise you’ll fall apart.

It really seems that 1C and their internal team, 1C: Ino-Co, seems to agree with me, especially since their upcoming release Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim is a game all about taking a hands-off approach to taking over a fantasy land. Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this game is a “lazy” form of an RTS, but it?? is certainly a whole different take on the game.

Actually, an RTS is kind of a bad genre signifier. I mean, a more appropriate genre, as anyone who played the original Majesty from 2000 would agree, is that this? is more of a tycoon type game. This game is all about working the comings and goings in a medieval fantasy world to ultimately rock out with the most cash in the end.

Hit the jump for my impressions

Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim (PC)
Developer: 1C: Ino-Co
Publisher: 1C Company
To be released: Fall 2009

Ok, so how does Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim actually work? Well, it’s a whole lot like the original Majesty, but considering hardly anybody even knows of that game, much less how it played, I’m going to have to give you a run down. The basic goal is to fulfill mission objectives and make money. However, you can’t just crank out heroes and fighters  and send them out to battle . No no no! Sure, you ??can train the guys (and gals), but they won’t actually do too much once trained and on the battlefield. These lazy social parasites will just stand around, doing little, until they know they can get a mission that ends in cold hard gold. Sure, rangers, for example, will still explore, but they will be that much more willing once there's cash on the line.

So with that, you’ve got to set bounties and rewards on freaking everything. Go set 500 gold on an exploration goal, and some of your rogues will go out and explore an area. Afraid your tavern will be attacked by skeletons, bears, and rats (oh my)? Put a defensive bounty on the tavern, and your archers will protect the tavern for the cash. And then, of course, there is your bread and butter, actual hits placed on enemies. Every single baddie you come across can have a bounty placed on their head, and they gain all sorts of sudden value due to ?your aggressive reward system

And that reward system is looks to be pretty important, as, if you don’t pu??t a high enough bounty, your fighters will flat out ignore it. You’re just going to have a bad time. Finding the right balance is important, as paying out too much is wasteful, and not paying enough means nobody is going to fight. Even getting them to go out and explore is important, as the heroes will find gold loot sitting out on the field, or gain extra from kills.

Once they have all that extra gold, they need to spend it, so building taverns and market places means that you get all that money back, and then some, which means you can build even mor??e stuff. Place that blacksmith over there, upgrade your weapons and spells! It&r?squo;s all good once the cash starts coming in.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this game feels like a bizarre mash-up of a tower defense game (building and protecting towns, as well as sending out warriors), My Life as a King (Building buildings and setting rewards for completion of missions) and a tycoon game like Roller Coaster Tycoon (the three-quarter view, the menus, and goal of making money). If the original Majesty says anything about this, it looks like this system works pretty well, and that hopefully Majesty 2 can upgrade in all the right places.

Graphically, from what I saw, Majesty 2 looks like a fairly normal, maybe generic fantasy game. However, Majesty 2 is obviously aimed toward a more casual market, and the game seems to aim graphically for that as well. I mean, most people cannot run a high level game, and Majesty 2 isn’t trying to be a high level game.

Ultimately, I will say that as far as games went at Another Night in Moscow, I would say that Majesty 2 was the most interesting game ?of the night. It’s a really interesting take on a fairly standard videogame trope. If 1C Company can make sure that the game is fine-tuned and smartly designed, they could have a great game here.

The post Preview: Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim appeared first on Destructoid.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey is another World War II game by way of 1C Company. This one, however, is flight combat game and looks beautiful. I got to play the game developed by Gaijin Entertainment last Friday, but I'm holding off on d?oing a preview until I see the game again next Monday. The ten or so minute I got to play with it definitely wasn't enough for a decent preview.

Anyway, IL-2 Sturmovik will see players taking to the skies as they take on those nasty Nazis. There's going to be over 50 missions based on famous historical battles that took place all over Europe. IL-2 will also see some multiplayer action.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey will be out this Fall for the Xbox?? 360, PlayStation 3, PSP and DS. Hit the jump to check out the trailer and screenshots. H?ow's it looking to you? 

The post Take to the skie?s in IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey appeared first on Destructoid.

You know, during Another Night in Moscow, there was one game that immediately attracted my attention: King’s Bounty: Armored Princess. First of all, there was something really was off about it, especially in its presentation. I mean, the whole screen was a jumbled mess of color, how can this be playable? Then I realized, the game was being put out in 3D, which considering the am?ount of 3D game content on the market, this alone is worthy of at least some attention, right?

It was after that that I found out the game is a tactical RPG with cuddly dragons, a hex-grid based battle system, with a life as a sequel to King’s Bounty: The Legend (which is in itself a reboot of a Commodore 64 game, King’s Bounty), and it was then I? actually wanted to check ??the game out.

So how does it play out? Is it worth our attention? And is that 3D really wo?rth it in this game? Hit the?? jump for my impressions.

King's Bounty: Armored Princess (PC)
Developer: Katauri Interactive
Publisher: 1C Company
To be released: 2009

First of all, King’s Bounty: Armored Princess tells the story of Princess Amelie, a warrior princess brought forth into ?the dream world of Teana, starting out on the continent of Rhea. It is here that the player starts running about and finding out why Amelie is in this universe. Seems people are getting sucked into the world and not knowing quite why. Anyway, this overworld is a very crowded place, with lots of bad guys to fight, shops to shop at, and pe??ople to talk to.

I mention crowded, because it is. Between all of the trees and buildings and stuff, it can be a little tricky to get around, but when you unlock the Pegasus ability (which is unlocked from the beginning in my demo build), things get a little easier to get around. In positive, I do have to say it is refreshing to play an RPG where an overworld is p??acked with things to do, as opp?osed to fast stretches of space padded out with random battles. So this facet could be convenient or irritating, but it’s too early to tell.

Besides running around and shopping, talking to fighters to join with you, having painters paint your pet  dragon, or picking up gold and runes, the actual battles are probably the most interesting portion of the game. What happens is that Princess Amelie, eve??n though she is decked out in knightly garb and assigned classes such as mage or paladin, she doesn’t actually fight in the battle.

Yes, while she can send out magical spells, which is where her own class takes into effect determining how much of certain reserves of mana and stuff she has, the real action takes place on a grid with a squad of fighters. You can only have a few wit?h you at a time, but holy knights, support mages, robotic guns, griffins, snakes, and a whole lot more can be recruited to fight for you. They are shuffled about in a hex-based grid system depending on the fight, and it is here that you move the characters around to fight. It actually feels very much like a tighter scale tactical RPG, with fields being fairly small, which is good for a small 5 on 5 battle.

In addition to the fighters on the field and Amilie’s magic, she has a small pet dragon (looking just like Stitch from Lilo and Stitch) that can do extra attacks and summons around the field??. You ??can have him bring you new fighters with the help of a dropped egg, or he can come forth with a slamming attack. Also, he sits around watching the battle while eating apples, which is adorable. Apparently, the dragon aspect of the game is going to be fairly important, so if you like having cute little pets in games, this is probably a plus.

Graphically, the game seems to be on par with many games set in colorful fantasy universes. I’m talking a little bit better than WoW quality, and the character design looks to be pretty great, straddling the line between “cool” and “fun”.  Music seems to be a good mix of epic fantasy scores and while the game doesn’t have any voice acting, the NPCs good naturedly make jokes, so it&rs??quo;s nice to see another game that ??doesn’t take itself too seriously.

?Finally, I have to mention the 3D. While I was way into it at the beginning of the night, actually sitting down to play it was problematic, as I got very very nauseous once those glasses got on. Ok, it might have been the Russian cuisine that I was sampling for the first time, or the vodka they wanted us to try (it was Kirkland’s from Costco), but with that game in 3D, my eyes wouldn&rsqu??o;t focus on anything, sending my stomach into all sorts of nasty loops.

When I figured out how the 3D was working, yes, it looked very cool, but for the few minutes I could handle playing, I struggled clicking on the right a?reas to do what I want. This would have probably been the right time to use the auto-bat?tle mode, a handy button that lets your battles play out for you. Really though, no sort of graphical filtering should make playing a game more difficult, so I can see this remaining a novelty.

The post Preview: King’s Bounty: Armored Princess appeared first on Destructoid.

Men of War: Red Tide ??is the stand-alone expansion to the original Men of ??War for the PC. The expansion will introduce a new story, new units, new upgrades, new weapons and there will be over 20 missions for the player to experience what World War II felt like for the billionth time.

There's a lot of ways to bring the pain to the enemy in Red Tide, but by now, I'm so tired of the World War II setting. How about you? Men of War: Red Tide will be out later this year for the PC. Check out the trail??er and screens for the game after the break.

Men of War: Red Tide is a stand-alone expansion to the crit??ically acclaimed RTS Men of War. The game introduces a new story driven campaign based on the writings of Soviet scribe Alexander? Zorich and dozens of new or upgraded units and weapons. Men of War: Red Tide will not require the original Men of War to play.

Men of War: Red Tide is a stunning mixture of RTS and a third-person action that introduces a new fighting force known for its brutal efficiency during the height of World War II. Played out across more than 20 missions, Men of War: Red Tide has players take command of the feared “Black Coats", the nickname given to Soviet Marines, an elite combat group specializing in engagements ?near the shoreline. The player has direct control of new game units including the Black Coats, new tanks, self-propelled guns, armored trains, landing craft, artillery and new enemy emplaced weapons to capture and use. New air support options include new fighters, bombers, hydroplanes; cruisers, destroyers and gun boats which provide naval fire support.

Fighting during the Black Sea Campaigns of WWII, history buffs and WWII aficionados will recognize theaters of battle such as Odessa, Sevastopol, The??odosia, Eltingen, Nikolaev and Constanta.

23 missions - Soviet, Germa?n, Romanian and Italian forces

Six intense historical battles and landing o?perations during 1941-194??5

Over 100 different military units: tanks, artillery, armored cars, planes?? (fighters, bombers, transporters), war ships a??nd boats (cruisers, torpedo boats, gunboats)

The post Men of War: Red Tide takes ?you back to WWII, again appeared first on Destructoid.

It was an interesting gaming situation, sitting down to play a RTS in the Russian Consulate in San Francisco, eating very Slavic food (caviar and pickled asparagus) and trying to keep up with an amazingly complex game. And that was exactly my problem as I started up XIII Century: Blood of Europe, an expansion pack to the original XIII Century that came out ??last year. Published by 1C Company and developed by Unicorn Games, this is an incredibly in-depth RTS coming out this Summer in a new gold package with everything included on the disk, first game and all. Having a Metacritic score of the pre-expan??sion at 62 shows that the original was marginally liked by many reviewers, so hopefully, this expansion can improve on the original to make it a more favorable game.

Ok, by now I hope that this is not too obvious, but XIII Century: Blood of Europe is just a game that is almost too daunting to describe in a preview. From my few minutes with it, I saw something that is very specific with how you play. Split up your troops, move the archers here, place your cavalry here, use the hill for this, hide these guys behind those other guys, then wait for the opposing army to rush forward. I'll be real, I was really overwhelmed. It felt like a table-top game of some sort. This is not StarCraft, that's for sure.

So what is interesting about the game? Well, I do have to say that the Russian focused plot seems to be fairly different than the typical RTS story. Saving Western Russia with the skills of Prince Daumantas of Pskov in historically accurate 13th century battles? Sure, why not. And multiplayer modes? Alright. Plus, I've been told that the game aims for high levels of realism, with both combat and graphics, which look to be improved over the original by quite a bit. So check out the pictures and trailer after the jump, and we'll give you a better hands-on when we are able to spend more time with the game before it releases later this summer.

The post Learn medieval Rus??sian battle history in XIII?? Century! Woo! appeared first on Destructoid.