Bastion Rings of the Old School

So this game Bastion looks pretty slick. There's not too much information behind it yet, aside from it being a digital release out sometime in 2011. But this trailer has a lot going for it. The shoegaze music and amazingly beautiful hand-painted art mostly. 

Bastion flooded me with memories of PSX games I used to love. The theme, with its slight western influence, and the character design reminded me of Wild ARMs. The action made me think of Alundra. The colors and art style brought back feelings of Legend of Mana. Not to mention the 3/4 camera angle is such a throwback. 

Epic Yarn Makes Me Feel Like a Cutie Pie

For all the bloodthirsty, action packed, stylized shooting, slashing, and face-mashing that I enjoy, I have an inexplicable soft spot for Kirby. Maybe it's because I love marshmallows? Who knows, but for some reason, Kirby is the fucking man to me. 

So without a doubt, I regress to the goofy, huggable little child I locked away when I turned twenty-one whenever I see Kirby's Epic Yarn. Give the world the gift that is Kirby, and universal peace will reign for a millennia, I kid you not.

If this latest trailer doesn't soothe your inner serial killer and turn you into a overgrown babbling infant, well, there is no hope for you sir. 

Review: Dead Rising: Case 0

Capcom's quirky zombie apocalypse series, Dead Rising, is known for it's happy-go-lucky take on slaughtering the undead, and using anything as a weapon. The first entry in the series was well enough received to warrant a sequel. And while Dead Rising 2 is a little under a month away, Capcom offers fans a chance to whet their necromorph killing whistle with the downloadable prequel, Dead Rising: Case 0. Is the rending of rotting flesh worth five dollars?

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PSN's Malicious is a Boss Rush

Malicious looks really, really good. The boss-centric gameplay tosses you into the thick of things at the start of each freely selectable map, doing away with stage progression and things of the like. In true Megaman fashion, you're able to select your stage from the get go, acquire defeated boss power-ups, and implement them moving forward to defeat other bosses in the style of Rock, Paper, Scissors. 

While the art is beautiful and the action is visceral, a game primarily consisting boss battles will undoubtedly be on the short side. Thankfully, as a PSN title, Malicious shouldn't cost more than a cool twenty. If this title stays true to form, it looks to be a definite buy.

Malicious will release in Japan later this year. Hopefully it gets ported stateside, for some reason, something about it screams Japan exclusive to me. I hope I'm wrong.

via Andriasang

Assassin's Creed II Action Figure, Brotherhood Gameplay

Purveyors of fine action figure crafting, Neca, are creating quite the name for themselves with their game and comic based toys. I own their Hayabusa, Leonardo, and Kratos figures, all of which I simply love, not only for their detail and articulation, but because the price point lies under twenty bones. 

News of Assassin's Creed II's Ezio (via Kotaku), immortalized by Neca in action figure form, is great for fans of the series and figure collectors alike. Available in both black and white color variants, Neca's Ezio will slay you with his sculpt, style, and sub-Jackson price. That's a lot of class for a little cash, yo.

Keeping on the topic, this Assassin's Creed Brotherhood gameplay demo has circulated the interwebz for a while, but it's fallen to the wayside here at Otaku But Gangsta. I really wanted to put this up to show the dedicated readers of OBG just how dope this title could be if it's potential is realized. Better late than never right? 

Don't let the cult leader drone of the voice over scare you from the appealing game mechanics. It's worth the full watch if you're a fan of the Assassin's Creed series, or even if you've never played any of the titles and are wondering what Brotherhood is all about.

Call of Duty Black Ops Multiplayer Gameplay

Some guy named Hutch got hands on time with Call of Duty Black Ops multiplayer. He was kind enough to upload some youtubes with his impressions and observations via voice over commentary. From what he says, it seems like Treyarch has attempted to keep the game a little more balanced than Modern Warfare 2. Shotguns aren't overpowered, damage increasing/mitigating perks (juggernaut, stopping power) are gone, and in Hutch's own words, you need some skill to get kills. Nice.

Aside from the Team Deathmatch, Hutch shows us Wager Mode, in which you have only your primary and melee, no perks, secondaries, or grenades. You start off with a pistol, and for each kill you score, you level up and instantly change weapons. The winner is the first one to get a kill with all 20 weapons in the mode, the last being the fucking sweet ballistic knife. Looks like fun. Also, a quick peek at class creation. 

These are definitely worth watching if you're a CoD fan. While the maps look too much like Modern Warfare 2 (I want to see a jungle map) Hutch says the game plays more like Call of Duty 2, which I've never played, but he made sound like a good thing. 

Updated with the official Wager Game trailer, which details the different modes that make up the Wager Game as a whole. Looks awesome, I have a feeling this may be my game mode of choice. 

Videos are after the break.

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Vanquish Demo is a Velocity Attack

I wish I could tell you I have a complete grasp of what's going on in the Vanquish demo. I can't, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a hell of a time playing it. I think to comprehend Vanquish in it's entirety, I'd have to be on either coke or speed, and hope my brain would function at the sufficient level of 300%, thus making the game's electric pace seem more like a Sunday morning stroll through Central Park. 

The demo's subtitle is Velocity Attack, and I don't think it can be summed in two words any better that. Right from the start of things, you're tossed into a world of perpetual fast forward, where the only thing more helpful than shooting things, is moving really fast, or at times, really slow. Some points of observation:

+ Feels like a shooter with racing game mechanics
+ Flashy style with intense action and bullet time makes for cinematic gameplay
+ Learning curve, rewarding results 
+ Scoring system adds leaderboard competitiveness and replayability
+ Language choices for voices/subtitles/menus - Japanese voice acting wins

- HUD is too busy, limits field of view
- Subtitles for comms during in-game action are huge and distracting
- Gruff English voice acting is abrasive, Sam's voice especially
- You can only evade in four directions from the point you're on, vertically and horizontally

I took a quick look at the button config and jumped right into battle. I struggled a bit, so after
completing it, I went through the tutorial, got a grasp on things and played again, performing
at a much more respectable clip. Once you get a hang of the action and controls, the game
becomes a ballet of augmented reaction, transforming guns, headspins, and cigarettes.

If you were unaware or unsure of Vanquish, give the demo a shot. Fans of stylized action will be
ready for more come October 19th.

Review: Shank

If you've been following Otaku But Gangsta the past few weeks, you know that I've had a hard time shutting up about Shank. The XBLA and PSN downloadable title was tickling my fancy as release day approached, and developers Klei did a nice job of keeping those interested, such as myself, drawn in. They released the game's full soundtrack, slowly unearthed alternate costumes on the game's website, and revealed the methods to unlocking them via Twitter. A few days before release, I felt a bit dirty because of how much I was buying into a game I've never played, and for all I knew, could have been a complete bomb. Am I still a Shank skank after playing the game? 

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Deliver Hope, Deliver Bombs, Deliver Great Live Action

Whether you're a hardcore who owns every Halo title ever released and was one of the last guys forced off Halo 2's servers, or you swore to never touch the series again after being engulfed by the vibrant pink death of needles, both sides of the spectrum have to agree on at least one thing: Halo be marketing. 

Halo ODST's live action trailer was perhaps the best of the bunch, feeling more like a trailer for a Hollywood blockbuster than a mediocre game. The next entry in the series, Halo Reach, has followed it's predecessor with a bunch of live action spots ranging from "damn, dope" to "bland, nope." 

Deliver Hope, Reach's latest and possibly last big ramp up to the release, delivers indeed. It's a great mix of flawless graphic effects, immersing action, and a tale being told to hook us into buying the game. And buy we will.

Halo Reach drops on September 14th. 

Kill Time With Closure

Bored at the office? At home, waiting for your roommate to finish shaving his legs so you can take your 2pm bubble bath? If you have some time to kill, give Closure a shot. It's a dark styled puzzle platformer that relies on the use of light to pave your way from one end of the stage to the other. Don't get caught without your glowing magic 8-Ball, one misstep in the shadows and you'll disappear right into the void.

Play Closure now!