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Brink Patch Live

Syn — Sat, 14 May 2011 10:37:27 +0000

I have something coming down the pipeline on Brink (Spoiler: Its not great, but I’m enjoying it probably more than I should). That said, Splash Damage and Bethesda released the first major update for the game. This patch attempts to alleviate some of the lag players have been feeling (particularly in p2p games). In addition, 8v8 is now supported on all maps and some UI tweaks to the GUI for the Steam version were made. Okay, now that all the boring stuff is out of the way, Splash Damage has announced that the first DLC for the game will be free. This is simultaneously exciting and disheartening, as it would seem that every developer except for Valve has forgotten what a “free content update” even is. Anyways, that is projected to hit in June and fundamentally sounds like a map pack plus some other stuff. This is good, since Brink is a touch content-shy, though it is probably also a response to the plethora of lackluster reviews the game has received.

Read their whole new post here.

Portal 2 DLC Inbound

Syn — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:55:12 +0000

In an interesting, albeit spoiler-ridden interview with key members of Portal 2′s design team at Fast Company, Valve’s VP of marketing Doug Lombardi announces the future announcement of DLC for the game. At the moment, hard details are scarce though as many of you probably know, there is plenty of backstory that was divulged in the Portal “Lab Rat” comic as well as the strange ARG leading up to the game’s release that wasn’t actually touched on in the game. In addition, there’s the tangential connection to the Half-Life 2 universe that has never been fully explored in the Portal games. Suffice to say there is much more to the universe that they can build gameplay around, up to and including adding more challenge rooms with a de-emphasis on story or additional co-op courses. At any rate, I can totally go for more Portal. Expect the DLC to launch this Summer.

UPDATE: According to Patrick Klepek over at GiantBomb, the aforementioned DLC will A) predominantly consist of new test chambers and challenge rooms, seemingly akin to those post-completion challenges found in the first game and B) will be free of charge. Good news abounds.

Dead Space 2 DLC Is Coming For You

Nicholas Lohr — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:19:46 +0000

I’m only three chapters into Visceral Game’s latest gore-fest, Dead Space 2, and EA has already announced DLC for the sci-fi horror shooter. Dead Space 2: Severed is a campaign expansion featuring two additional story chapters.

The DLC will feature Gabe Weller and Lexine Murdoch, two survivors from Dead Space Extraction, as they make their way through the necromoprh infestation on the Sprawl. EA says Severed occurs at the same time as Isaac’s story in Dead Space 2 but did not mention a price. Expect Dead Space 2: Severed to launch “soon” on PSN and Xbox Live.

Review: Resident Evil 5 “Desperate Escape”

Nicholas Lohr — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:20:21 +0000

Almost a year after Resident Evil 5 debuted, Capcom is releasing two packs of DLC. The first episode, Lost in Nightmares, fared well in our review, harkening back to the glory days of creepy mansion romping, cryptic puzzle solving, and classic Jill Valentine lock-picking. The second round of DLC titled “Desperate Escape” demonstrate the dynamic shift in game design the Resident Evil series has undergone in the last few years. Unlike the nostalgia-inducing experience that was Lost in Nightmares, Desperate Escape is an extension of the reboot design pioneered by Resident Evil 4. The creepy hallway puzzling is replaced by lots of gunfire and hordes of not-zombies. The episode chronicles Jill Valentine and Josh Stone, in an unseen part of Resident Evil 5, as they attempt to escape the Tricell Facility.

Gamers who were unwilling to embrace the changes to the franchise will most likely not be pleased with this batch of DLC. The chapter offers an incredible amount of firepower for Josh and Jill to dispatch the crowds of Majini. While the scares aren’t derived from the same feeling of vulnerability as seen in Lost in Nightmares, the experience is definitely tense. Hundreds of enemies are out for blood and the game continually ramps things up as players move forward. Just when gamers feel they’ve finally gotten a leg-up on the enemies, another wave comes pouring in.

The duo make their desperate escape through a set of incredibly detailed environments. The Tricell Facility, the surrounding docks, and warehouses, have a tangible quality of dirt and decay. There’s a particularly great level involving an expansive area with rocket turrets that players won’t want to miss. It changes up the formula just slightly but reenforces the core mechanic of the DLC’s design: keep moving forward. As a fan of Resident Evil 5, this episode is a welcomed addition to the experience. There are, however, a few moments where the design borders on sadistic.

Playing the game on ‘Normal’ really is that almost-perfect blend of challenge with small bouts of frustration. Problems arise when some of the same AI issues that first appeared in RE5 return with a vengeance. Playing the game solo, without a human co-op partner, can get frustrating. Josh, your AI-controlled partner on your first play-through, will often get in your way or otherwise be quite useless. Many Game Over screens were the result of my co-op partner dying without much I could do about it. Particularly, during the final countdown sequence, trying to keep Josh alive felt like an exercise in futility. However, players can easily overcome these problems. Play with a friend co-op, or devise strategies to weather the storm of enemies. It’s not the most difficult experience players are likely to have this year, but if the AI were a tad smarter it could have been much more enjoyable.

That being said, there’s still an incredible amount of stuff to enjoy with Desperate Escape beyond Jill Valentine’s new double-knee drop nutcracker melee move. Like the first DLC, it comes with additional characters for the Mercenaires mode, Rebecca Chambers and Josh Stone. Fans of Resident Evil 0 will remember Rebecca from her days on the Gamecube. While the experience is short, over in about an hour, there’s a lot of action packed in. To give readers an idea of just how much shooting, exploding, and flash-grenading is abound, an achievement for killing 150 Majini is available and I unlocked it halfway through my first play-through. For under $5.00 it’s still an incredible deal for fans of the game, hardcore RE fanatics, trophy hunters, or those just looking to blow stuff up.

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Review: Resident Evil 5 “Lost in Nightmares”

Nicholas Lohr — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:01:25 +0000

Resident Evil 5 was first unleashed on gamers in March of 2009. Almost a year later, Capcom is giving players another reason to re-enter the world of survival horror. Love it or hate it, Resident Evil 5 was a more action-oriented experience rather than a return to the series’ trademark horror stylings. The DLC pack “Lost in Nightmares” is a much-welcomed return to the franchise’s roots now available through the Playstation Network and XboxLive. Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are back in a creepy mansion, looking to uncover the truth behind Umbrella and it’s founder, Ozwell E. Spencer. The episode is a closer look at a side-story only glimpsed in a cutscene during Resident Evil 5.

The setting is a complete dose of nostalgia. Capcom has taken special care to bring the original game’s Arclay Mountain mansion into the current generation. Every turn creates another feeling of deja vu. It doesn’t feel recycled or lazy in any way, quite the contrary. It feels more like wearing your favorite pair of jeans or eating your favorite meal. Even though you may have experienced something like it before it feels familiar and, for a die-hard Resident Evil fan, it’s good to be back.

Jill and Chris explore the mansion looking for Spencer, running into various puzzles and some recognizable death-traps. It’s not a very long experience, most players will be able to complete the episode in a little more than an hour but it’s a great ride while it lasts. The developers behind Resident Evil have proven they still have what it takes to create a new, horrifying creature. Lurking beneath the estate is a new enemy, a giant monstrosity dragging some kind of large anchor, waiting to impale Chris and Jill at a moment’s notice. While the duo start off with a small arsenal, they are quickly stripped of their weapons, which really heightens the tension.Moves like this- pitting players against these hulking enemies, in a dungeon without conventional weapons, is genius. It forces players to work cooperatively with their partner to trap them. Not only that, it keeps the sense of terror alive in a series where too much firepower has taken away all the scares.

Lost in Nightmares stumbles a bit when players complete the chapter and realize there wasn’t a whole lot to do. The time spent exploring is almost entirely devoid of enemies, in fact there are only about ten or so apart from a boss battle. It felt like there were some missed opportunities. At one point, Chris is walking down a hallway lit by flashes of lightning. Dogs can be heard outside. In typical Resident Evil fashion, I was expecting something to come crashing through the windows but, to my dismay, nothing happened. There were a lot of moments like this where I kept wishing there were more enemies, zombified or not, to dispatch.

As I said before, the time spent in the mansion is short. However, it is spent going through a nostalgia-inducing good time and, for under $5.00, it’s an incredible deal. The DLC also comes with additional trophies/achievements as well as new characters for the Mercenaries mode, Excella Gionne and fan-favorite Barry Burton. Series purists are likely to declare this is what next-gen Resident Evil should have been from the start. While I wish the episode were longer, it’s definitely given me more hope for the next RE installment and I’m eagerly awaiting the next DLC, “Desperate Escape” coming in March. Both DLC packs will also come with the “Gold Edition” of Resident Evil 5, set to release this Spring.
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