In the world of "Deus Ex: Human Revolution," the augmentations make the man. And in this case, the man is Adam Jensen, the head of security for Sarif Industries. After a particuarly nasty terrorist attack, Jensen is forced to become augmented to save his life. He's none too thrilled, but you should be, as augmentations give you all sorts of awesome powers as you play through the game.
Admittedly some of the augmentations are more useful than others, and having spent a considerable time with the game, we thought it proper to give you the rundown on all of the augmentations in "Deus Ex: Human Revolution," letting you know which ones are mandatory, which ones are fun and which ones are best left to the non-cybernetic squares.
A quick note about how you unlock new augmentations in the game. Completing objectives will earn Jensen experience points and eventually level him up. Every time he reaches a new level, he'll earn a Praxis point. These are basically skill points which you can use to unlock new augmentations. You can also earn Praxis points as items hidden in the world, and you can purchase them for a hefty sum at a nearby med clinic.
CRANIUM AUGMENTATIONS PART 1
CRANIUM AUGMENTATIONS PART 2
Hopefully you've already seen the new trailer from Activision for the "Call of the Dead" zombies map in next week's Escalation DLC for "Call of Duty: Black Ops." If you haven't, go watch it. Right now. We're going to talk about it after the jump, the various new features revealed and possibly revealed in the generous-yet-still-painfully-short series of images that flash by. Spoilers(?) and screen caps to come. You've been warned.
When you were first watching Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight," was any part of you surprised that the movie was rated PG-13? This movie, with its intense violence (the pencil scene alone!), was approved by the MPAA for viewers aged 13 and above. And yet, when you think again, how much do you really see? You never see the Joker jam a pencil in someone's eye. You see some blood, sure, but most of the intense, disturbing stuff in that movie is all filled in by your imagination and by Heath Ledger's amazing performance.
The very same thing happens when playing "Portal 2," a game which is rated E-10 for Everyone by the ESRB. What other games have an E-10 rating? "Cake Mania Main Street," "Wildlife: Forest Survival" and "Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge."
After more than six years, Nintendo will finally release a truly new handheld device this weekend: the Nintendo 3DS. At $250, it's not exactly cheap, so the decision of whether to pick one up should be made with care. I've been messing around with the US version of the device for about two weeks now, so I hope my experience will help to direct you one way or the other. I'll start with the basics first before delving into the nitty gritty.
WHAT IS IT?
The Nintendo 3DS is a new gaming handheld device from Nintendo. Unlike the many redesigns to the Nintendo DS, the 3DS is a brand new device with its own set of games and features. Most notable of these features is its ability to present 3D graphics to the player without them needing to wear glasses.
There are a handful of games that have attempted to integrate Twitter in some way. "Uncharted 2" was probably the most flagrant example of how not to do it. After reviewers with early copies entered their Twitter information into the game, their followers were bombarded with a pre-created tweet every single time they finished a chapter. The developer reacted quickly, turning off the feature almost entirely by the time the game launched. Since then, there have been games to attempt it but none have done much beyond creating more Twitter spam for your followers.
Yesterday saw the release of "Sword & Sworcery EP" for the iPad. In the official description on the App Store, the game encourages players to "co-operate with friends via Twitter." That seems to imply that there's some sort of gameplay impact with the Twitter functionality. An intriguing concept.
When I was first unpacking the Nintendo 3DS last week, I was admittedly perplexed about the charging cradle that Nintendo included with every system. After all, you can simply plug the device in to charge it, even without the cradle. You can even use your old DSi charger if you want. But, after a week of putting the 3DS through its paces, it all makes sense now. Were it not for the cradle, my 3DS would be in bad shape.
We all know that the iPad 2 is a pretty versatile device for everything from email to web-browsing to watching videos or Facetime-ing. We also know that it's notably thinner than its predecessor, making it more viable for the day-to-day commute. But something that many people don't know is that it's a much more powerful device. The new dual-core chip is two times faster than the original iPad, and the graphics chip is a whopping nine times more powerful. Those two factors alone are great news for gamers, as the iPad 2 is a beast of a handheld gaming device.
If you're used to using the original iPad, you'll actually see an improvement in every single game you play (yes, even "Angry Birds HD"), with smoother frame rates and quicker load times. Some games, however, are especially good at showing off the meat of the system, and if you're looking to shame friends into agreeing that your $500+ investment was worth it, these should be the first ones you download.
"Crysis 2" is out today and, for the first time, the franchise is coming to consoles. It's great news for shooter fans and not-having-a-three-thousand-dollar-computer fans, but if you're a newcomer to the franchise, you're probably going to be dying. A lot. Unlike most shooters, marching into the midst of a camp of bad guys in "Crysis 2" is a recipe for a reloaded checkpoint. This is really more of a thinking person's shooter, but if you're not used to to thinking, we've got you covered. Here are some starter tips to help you acclimate to the wonders of the Nanosuit 2.0.
Being a gamer that's getting married is a tricky thing. While I love everything about games, my fiancée, who loves me, does not. Because of that, my numerous suggestions about how to incorporate games into our upcoming nuptials have fallen upon deaf ears. However, there was one aspect of the wedding that I was able to have my way with (well, two if you count the bride!): the save the dates, which went from a fairly standard photo booth style layout, to an 8-bit homage to the city that we both love.
Take a look at the above screenshot. No, look closer. Closer! If you look carefully enough, there's a hidden world to be found.
Last year's winner of the Independent Games Festival was a game called "Monaco." Inspired by films like "Ocean's Eleven," "Monaco" is a top-down, co-op-centric stealth game wherein teams of four players play as thieves attempting to pull off a heist. Andy Schatz, the game's developer, spoke at this year's GDC about the process of making the game and revealed something very interesting about how he'll be offering level-sharing to players.