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The latest PC game creation from the "Arachnid Six Group" comes in what appears to be a high stakes duel to the end, between mankind and his deadly creation, Giant Mutant Insects.

Here's the scope on the game.

Story Line:

Setting: Top Secret Military Research Facility on Earth

During the early part of 2003, the United States military embarked on testing and research to develop new military weapons for war. Bio and Molecular Scientist Mark Wilson in his research combined two venomous spiders in order to produce a hybrid of the two. While at the same time injecting them with growth hormones. He took the Black Widow Spider which has potent neurotoxin venom and also considered one of the most venomous spiders in North America. The second spider was the Brazilian Wondering Spider, which has been recorded to be responsible for most human deaths. While in the process of combining the two spiders something went terribly wrong, as one of the spiders managed to escape from the facility and the base. At the time of his research, Dr. Wilson did not realize that these 4 foot super venomous spiders had become asexual, with an ability to reproduce 4 spiders at a time.  Other specimens from the base were somehow infected by the escaped spider and managed to flee from the facility as well. The infected specimen included Dragonflies, Scorpions, Flying Beetles and a rare Moth that displayed signs of intelligence during the research. Now the Army and Air force are the means by which these spiders and insects   can be prevented from spreading throughout the world.

Can you help stop the most venomous super spider? And all of the super bugs? Are you up for the challenge?

Backgrounds:

Start

Hedgerow Maze.
Game Over
You Win
1 Level
 
Sprites:

Helicopter
Red Spiders
Dragon Flies
Scorpions
Flying Beetles
Flying Moth

Controls:

Keys:
Press F to Machinegun fire.
Press V to launch Hellfire Missiles.
Use the arrow keys to move UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT.

Special Note:Use the Mouse to direct the machinegun fire and missile launch.
(place icon over target insect, press key for desired weapons system).

Mission: Helicopter destroys the bugs before the bugs destroy you or your headquarters.

To start game play: Press the start button on the main screen; you will begin game play after short commentary. Game is single level, multiple waves of insects. Your objective is to shoot and kill the spiders, dragonflies, scorpions, flying Beetles and flying moth; each wave will be followed by a giant "Boss Insect," In order to get to the next wave of insects, you must defeat 8 waves of insects and a "Boss Insect" attack.

Once you finally beat the waves of insects and defeat the Boss Insects. You will have enough practice for what is in store on the Final Wave. In order to beat the game you have to defeat the Super Forces of "Boss Mega Moth" and then Mega himself, Good luck!

Preview Game Here: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/jim_bob_1776/2548815

Credits:

James Campbell: Ideas, Documentation

Jennie Connor: Game Drawings, Design/Art Design

Tina Bald: Instructions, Marketing
Joe Ledezma: Backgrounds, Uploading, Ideas, Webpage
Isaiah Steward: Ideas, Documentation
Taylor Coupe: Credits, Ideas, Marketing

Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Game Review: Star Ocean The Last Hope

Genre: JRPG

         The last Hope is a prequel saga, laying the groundwork for the previous three games. There is no knowledge of the past entries needed to play through though. This game details mankind's first steps into space after world war III. The gameplay and fight mechanics unique to the Star Ocean series is still present here. You enjoy direct control of on character in a 3D space, free to flank and attack at will while the other 3 members of your party are AI controlled via preset instructions by you. Star Ocean presents a one of a kind RPG experience and is a must have for any RPG fan.

Fez

Game Review: Fez

Genre: Puzzle/Platformer

Players assume the role of Gomez, a square in a 2D world whose encounter with a cube, leaves him with the gift to see beyond the 2D world, but with the cost that only he can collect the cube fragments necessary to keep his universe from unravelling. Fez delivers a very ubique gameplay experience where the player must get through the world and solve puzzles using your new found ability to change your perspective and literally turn the stage, broken into 4 sides. This unique take on perception opens up a world of problem solving not present in any other puzzle game I have encountered. The stages are designed in an open world type of format where you can freely leave and return to areas you have already been to. The game itself has a few bugs and "hiccups" such as dropping to your death when you change perspective mid-jump in a closed room, but bugs aside, this is a very unique and wonderful gaming experience.

Gears of War 3 Forces of Nature DLC

Game Review: Gears of War 3 Forces of Nature DLC

The Forces of Nature DLC brings a refreshing variety of new maps, weapon skins, characters and special bonuses such as  elemental artillery and a natural disaster unique to the map. Epic has added brand new maps as well as remakes of some of the Gears of War 1 and 2 classics such as Raven Down and Jacinto. Epic has really stepped up the map layouts this time around by adding new map interactions that have added depth to the multiplayer experience. Many changes have been made to these maps that have improved their overall appearance while still keeping the familiar aspects that fans of the past Gears of War games will remember.


Forces of Nature is defiantly worth the purchase. The only real beef anyone could have with the DLC is that some of the maps have had major facelifts such Jacinto and may take some getting used to if you are familiar with the original map form Gears 2. Other than that, this is a solid addition to GOW3's multiplayer experience.

Star Hawk Review

Life on the frontier is all about routine, until one day, it isn't. You work your claim, taking things step-by-step and steadily surmounting the daily obstacles that life presents. Then suddenly, a gang of gun-toting outlaws rides into town, and everything changes. So it is with Starhawk, a new third-person shooter from LightBox Interactive that teaches you how to shoot, fly, and build structures as part of its novel brand of warmongering. Armed with this knowledge, you venture into online competitive or cooperative multiplayer, only to find that most of what you learned no longer applies. Disarmed and disoriented, you must struggle to get a handle on the action, but once you figure out the way things really work, Starhawk provides a lot of frantic fun with an intriguing constructive twist.

When the going gets tough, the tough get in a tank.

 

               The short single-player campaign stars a gruff mercenary who returns to his old stomping grounds for a contract gig. Emmett Graves is the likable, well-voiced protagonist, and the simple story is laid out with stylish animated cutscenes that contrast nicely with the rich, colorful environments. From dusty earthbound outposts to clanking orbital platforms, Starhawk creates the strong sense that you are in an industrial backwater of civilization. Pipelines and mechanical detritus scar the barren landscapes, and the big, beautiful skies imbue the game with a great frontier feel.
As Emmett gets to work clearing out the mutated humans that plague the local industry, you learn the basics of combat. You run and gun with vigor, zipping around at a sprint that sets a fast pace for combat. Though your enemies can move quickly too, there's no real sense of urgency on the default difficulty. Your partner in the sky keeps you well apprised of the enemies you are facing, and you frequently have timed indicators that show you which enemies to expect and where they will come from. This methodical pacing gives you plenty of time to employ Starhawk's most novel feature: the ability to bring prefabricated buildings crashing down from low orbit.
With a press of the triangle button, you call up a radial menu of available assets, make your choice, and release the button to summon your structure (provided you can afford it). Walls and turrets can stand alone to form a rudimentary defense, but with a little care, you can create one long linked wall studded with elevated turrets--a much more formidable barrier. Supply depots and watchtowers bring new weapons and cover positions, while shields and repair arms help fortify your position. Seeing enemy waves crash against your fortifications and be thrown back is a pleasing reward for your efforts, and it's also fun to take the fight to them.

Sometimes the simplest tool is the most effective.

The best way to do this is in vehicles, which spawn from buildings that you call down from the sky. The swift hoverbikes are mainly for mobility, though a good roadkill is definitely possible. The three-man jeep comes with a handy turret, and the heavy tank has a traditional shell and an arcing artillery shot that can both deal serious damage. A jetpack grants you limited flight capabilities, but the skies belong to the titular hawks. Flying these nimble jets is easy and exciting, and the array of weapons available for midair pickup can make them very deadly. You can also transform into a lumbering assault mech with the push of a button, and then bring stomping melee attacks and your full aerial arsenal to bear on the ground.
The five-hour campaign lets you play around with all of these things, though basic structures like turrets and supply depots are much more heavily featured than more advanced buildings. In each level, your loadout is tailored to the task at hand. This means that your decisions lie in choosing where to position things rather than deciding what combination of things is effective. With one notable exception in which resource farming and lengthy building prep are all but required, you coast through the campaign believing that you have a great grasp on how to counter threats using your available arsenal. Then you jump into the online multiplayer and find out how little you actually know.

Toejam & Earl

Review: Toejam & Earl

Summary of the game:

This game has branched from the Sega Genesis console to the Xbox console showing its growing popularity. The game Toejam & Earl is a single/multiplayer based game in which the players must travel their way around earth in search of their ship parts. Toejam is identified as the three-legged red alien with his cap twisted backwards and gold chain, whereas Big Earl is identified as the big fat orange alien wearing high top sneakers and oversized sunglasses. The game also has hidden levels and cool presents that can be used to avoid the many dangers that the earth holds in it for the alien visitors.

Storyline:

This particular version of Toejam & Earl is based upon the two rapper buddies crash landing on planet earth. Afterwards the two friends must travel across the Earth to collect the scattered pieces of their alien ship in an attempt to escape from earth; make their way back to planet Funkotron.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is simple in which the player simply uses the directional pads to move your character around in the 2 Dimensional world, whereas the A button makes your character jump. The player may also go into the pause menu to select gifts that he/she may have collected along their travels to use to help aid them in their quest to recovering the wrecked spaceship particles. The player may also discard of a gift that they may choose to share with the other player or get rid of altogether if it contains harmful content.  Throughout the game the players may note that they can achieve a certain status based upon how much money they collect throughout the game. Although it is unclear to me what these certain titles due for the player they work as achievements to determine the coolness of the player.

Version: Sega Genesis

Feature: Multiplayer

Genre: Adventure

Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi

Review: Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi

Summary of the game:

This is the latest installment into the Dragon Ball Z franchise. This installment known as Ultimate Tenkaichi features upgraded environmental and character graphics, with designs drawn from the original manga series. Ultimate Tenkaichi also features destructible battlefields, including massive craters and ki blasts delivering a more dynamic experience as a true testament to the DBZ legacy.

Storyline:

Unlike the traditional storyline that plays through from the saiyan sage all the way through to the majin buu saga, this game has unique stories all of its own. The first cool thing to note about the stories enlisted in this game is that they tend to fill in the gaps based upon not only epic bouts but the in between ones as well. This consists of battles between Broly the legendary super saiyan and trunks (both future, and present day). It is unique because often times the DBZ franchise would not incorporate these battles into the game, whereas in this version of the game the player can play through battles only witness through movies NOT series. Furthermore is the new installment to the DBZ franchise in which the player can now create his own saiyan and fight through his own story aside from the traditional DBZ characters tales. With that being said players can also level their warrior up to their choosing and challenge him into duals through online tournaments.

Gameplay:

The gameplay of this game changed drastically from the first DBZ tenkaichi game, in which the controls to battle have been simplified while other controls have been completely removed. This is to say that it is much easier to fight in battle using specials but a bit of an annoyance seeing as how you character must be powered up to a certain level to achieve certain moves and or evasion in order to win. This feature although make the fight that much more intense, can also cause players a great deal of frustration in fighting their opponents be them player or CPU. There too are the button sequence fight scenes similarly seen in various other DBZ games but now with much more of a reward on the winner’s side and a brutal end to the loser’s side of the bout.

Version: Xbox360, PlayStation 3

Feature: Online Multiplayer Tournament

Genre: Fighting, Action

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection

Review: Sonic’s Ultimate Sega Genesis Collection

Summary of the game:

This game includes not only the old time favorites that Sonic has contributed to the game world over the last 20yrs but also over 40 classic titles from various other games. This game includes some games that are multiplayer based and others that are single player only. This game in particular is for all the old time fans of Sega Genesis and the many arcade games that reigned supreme in the 1980’s and 70’s.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is formatted to fit the controls of whatever console the game is played on while staying true to the one button action such as “A= jump, X=shoot” type of format”. The titles that this games holds such as Altered Beast, Streets of Rage 1, 2, & 3 and many other games alike hold true to this style of gameplay that gamers from those eras are used to. This game is definitely one for the shelves of both the young and the old to enjoy as a past time into the past.

Version:  PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Feature: Multiplayer Co-op

Genre: Arcade, Puzzle, Strategy, and etc…

Red Dead Redemption

Review: Red Dead Redemption

Summary of the game:

This game is what is soon to be noted as a classic developed by Rockstar games is unique in its own right. This game consist of multiplayer co-op, in which gamers from all over the globe can band together to take on bandits and outlaws throughout the land of Texas and Mexico. The game also features a player ranked online mode, in which the player can go head to head against other players to earn ranks as well as achievements that the game may have mad obtainable. The game also features cool multiplayer expansion packs that allow Red Dead Fans to gain access to new hunting grounds, playable characters, and mini games to play.

Storyline:

When federal agents threaten his family, former outlaw John Marston is sent across the American frontier to help bring the rule of law. Through intense gun battles, dramatic train robberies, bounty hunting and duels during a time of violent change, Mr. Marston must prepare for the inevitable end to the cowboys era. In this action packed adventure to restore his family to his ranch, this cowboy must overcome many trials and tribulations to regain what seems lost to him in the wild west.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is fairly simple, in which the player can easily shuffle between weapons and missions through the use of the pause menu. The player can also experience intense mini games and missions that will aid in the mastery of the game controls. In many cases the controls may seem similar to that of grand theft auto gone western. Moreover because a lot of traditional buttons used to take, shoot, look around, speed up, and stop are similar to that of the GTA franchise, not to say that this game is a knock off. This game is highly unique in its still of shooting and maneuvering, this is done through use of in game actions such as dead eye aim, lassoing cattle, taming horses, and etc.

Version: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Feature:  Online Multiplayer/ Co-op

Genre: Adventure/ Action

Def Jam Icon

Review:  Def Jam Icon

Summary of the game:

The game Def Jam has always revolved around surreal situations, in which brawling in the underground arenas by unleashing a barrage of death defying "blazing" moves incapacitated opponents along the way in your created characters rise to fame. However the game Def Jam Icon puts a whole new spin on the games original franchise. In this version of Def Jam, the player is now using more than just brawn to fight his way to the top. This entitles that instead of taking over New York with your fists; you're capturing the airwaves with your personal record label with the assistance of Mr. Carver a producer that introduces you to the game of stardom and becoming a celebrity socialite. This game has some of the same functions that the old ones have, in which there are still player vs. player battles to test who is the king of underground fighting. There is also the unique character customization perk in which your character may sport attire from various big names in the fashion industry such as Jordan, Phat Farm, Rocawear and etcetera.

Storyline:

This game takes place 1 year in the future when Mr. Carver is shot dead on the block where he was last seen talking to your created character. The events are noted as being unclear due to the lack of followup scenes. Thus the game rewinds 1 year back in time with your created character getting into an altercation with a man by the name of “Big Herc”. This transpires because his female is caught creeping with one of Mr. Carver (legendary producer in the game) associates. Between the couples heated discussion about her priorities, Big Herc bumps into your character causing his beverage to spill on his clothes. With no apology from Big Herc for his mistake but rather an assault on your boy, the player is forced to take action against him. When the dust clears and your character is all that remains standing, the player is invited to meet Mr. Carver. With the offer on the table of joining Mr. Carver’s label the story of the rise to fame begins, and all that happens along the way leading up to Mr. Carver’s death is left entirely up to your decisions throughout the game.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is unlike the previous installments to Def Jam. In this version the player must fight not according to his strength but to the rhythm of music playing during the fight scene. This takes away from the traditional feel of what Def Jam is known for because it requires that you know how to play your desired track to the fight in order to gain the upper hand to complete the battle. The obstacles throughout each arena is unique in its own right, in which obstacles may either fall, explode, or even break apart according to the section in the songs beat. This can prove to be stressful but when the controls are mastered your character is virtually unstoppable. The player can still counter the attacks dished out to him or even taunt the opponent but the overall gameplay takes some getting used to.

Version: Xbox 360

Feature: Multiplayer

Genre: Fighting