The Spoilers from Innistrad keep on coming. Check out the previous article for more on these spoilers and take the jump for the ca-raaazy new mechanic (along with my thoughts on it.)
Tag Archives: spoilers
Gaming: Innistrad Spoilers!
Mark Rosewater, head of design for Magic: The Gathering has been tweeting spoilers for the newest MTG set. Here are some choice bits of info.
SDCC’11: Magic: The Gathering and Innistrad
REVIEW: X-Men: Schism #1
With only about 200 mutants left on Earth, the X-Men are more cautious than ever when it comes to their security. That’s really only partially true, as you’ll see after taking the jump to read about this kick-off issue for the X-Men Universe’s latest event, SCHISM.
Gaming Casting Couch: Magic: The Gathering, The Movie
A movie that encapsulates magic the gathering would take forever to make, right? Well not to worry giant Hollywood studio that is certainly reading this, I have done all the casting for you already. I await my check.
GAME REVIEW: Duke Nukem Forever
After running, gunning, and grunting in the Duke’s boots for a week I’ve been trying very hard to pick out the one element of the game that I disliked the most. The story is a strong competitor for first, because its quality suggests that 3D Realms (or one of the other four games studios that developed this title) kidnapped a group of hyper-active teens, force fed them Mountain Dew and action movies for a week, and then locked them in a room until something resembling a plot and dialogue were scratched into the walls.
Then there is the gameplay, which despite some genuinely fun shooting sequences, is so utterly confused about its own pacing that you feel like you’re being punished for playing the fun portions of the game. “Oh, did you enjoy that epic boss battle? Well, here is a dream segment where all you can do is slowly walk around a strip club looking for popcorn.”
To be fair, Duke had its fair share of “f%^& yeah!” moments, but there is a cloud of disappointment that looms over the whole experience. This is mostly due to some very legitimate reasons, but maybe it’s also because, after fourteen years of buildup Duke couldn’t do anything else but collapse under the weight of its own hype. Fourteen years, we built Duke up in our imaginations to be something more than a game, and that’s where it probably should have stayed.
DEATH OF SPIDER-MAN: USA Today and others reveal the ending
Even though Ultimate Spider-Man #160 is polybagged for your protection, that hasn’t stopped Marvel from sharing the news with major media outlets like USA Today, who then printed it all over the place.
**RUSSELL ALERT** Spoilers after the jump! **RUSSELL ALERT***
UPDATE: NEW IMAGES AND FULL PRESS RELEASE NOW INCLUDED
ADVANCE GAME REVIEW: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012
I’ve spent a good deal of time playing the original Duels of the Planeswalkers which I would categorize as very enjoyable. It’s always nice to find an online game of magic even when all my friends are asleep (because it’s before 1pm). That said it definitely had some irksome issues, so the only way that I was going to give a positive review to its progeny, Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, is if those issues were addressed.
GAME REVIEW: L.A. Noire
A woman, beaten and bruised, lies dead across a set of railroad tracks; she has a crack in her skull and rope burns around her neck, but at least she still has her clothes on. Poor girl, she is just another notch on some sadist’s trophy belt. How many victims does this make anyway? The papers are calling the killer “The Werewolf”; people are in a panic. We have to catch this person.
From the crime scene we check out her known hang out spots – bars, liquor stores, and back alleys; the places she called home. The store owner said she was sick – that she needed to drink, but he also said she was a good girl and that he tried to help her by keeping a cot for her in the back. He seems like an upright guy, but something is off – the twitch in his grin and his wandering gaze leads me to believe that I’m not getting the whole truth. Press B to doubt.
L.A. Noire is the latest sandbox title from Rockstar, and it is something wholly different from the lawless “do whatever you want” titles that precede it. It forces you to be slow, methodical, detail-oriented, and a good judge of character; it captures the essence of what it means to be a detective – for better or worse.
Gaming: New Phyrexia Leaks Source Discovered
If you frequent Magic: The Gathering’s official site you may have been surprised to find that Wizards of the Coast put up ‘spoilers’ for the entire set of New Phyrexia in one go. The reason they did this, as opposed to the slow progression of daily cards we’ve seen in the past, is that the “God Book” for the set was leaked on the internet. Yesterday WoTC announced that the people responsible had been discovered:
We regret to report that the New Phyrexia spoilers posted prior to April 25 were done so without authorization of Wizards of the Coast, and that the sources of the leak have been discovered. We have received confessions from both Guillaume Matignon and Guillaume Wafo-Tapa describing what happened and apologizing for their actions. Two other players—Martial Moreau and David Gauthier—have also been identified as being involved.
You can read the full press release on Magic’s official site.
And you can take the Jump for my thoughts on the issue.
Game Review: Portal 2
There are few games worth beating in a single sitting; the original Portal was one of them. The game was fun yet challenging, original yet well developed, and the deadpan humor brought on by the AI “GlaDOS” made it one of the most memorable games of 2007.
Since then, gamers have had a field day creating their own mods and diabolically hard test chambers, “Still Alive” became a regular song on many playlists, and phrases like “ the cake is a lie” have become commonplace. The short story and intriguing ending left gamers wanting more though, and after seeing the first glimpses of the sequel they have been chomping the bit for a chance to continue Chell’s story.
To be honest, I was worried that the sequel would somehow fall short of its predecessor; that, because of its large commercial release, the humor would be played up more or the difficulty would be more casual in an attempt to make the game more approachable to newcomers. However, after playing through the single player campaign I realized that I was an idiot to ever doubt developer Valve’s ability to produce a quality game. More After the Jump
GAME REVIEW: Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops
Remember that part in Fight Club when Tyler Durden poured lye on Jack’s hand and Jack trashed about in pain begging Tyler to make it stop? Jack thought he knew what rock bottom was, but he was wrong and Tyler had to enlighten him. Using this scene as a metaphor is the best way I can describe my experience with Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops. Back in 2007, a game developer called Metropolis Software released Infernal, a game so bad that I returned it after only playing for twenty minutes. It was horrible; the camera was broken, the story didn’t make sense, there was no auto-save, and there was a general laundry list of other complaints that earned its title as the worst game I have ever played. Like Jack, I thought I had found the bottom, but only four years later, here comes Black Lion Studios with a big bag of lye…to enlighten me.