EDGE MAGAZINE

Bayonetta’s “Climax Action”

Edge Staff — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:29:06 -0600

If demos with Japanese developers seem a little terse,‭ ‬don’t just blame the translator.‭ ‬When it comes to games like Bayonetta,‭ ‬the answer tends to stare you in the face so much that,‭ ‬if you ask the question anyway,‭ ‬you’ll be slapped with it.‭

The Making of… Prince of Persia

Edge Staff — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:42:10 -0600

Prince of Persia

Publisher: Various
Developer: Brøderbund
Origin: US
Original Release: 1989
Format: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Gear, Mac, Master System, Mega CD, Mega Drive, NEC PC-9801, NES, PC, PC Engine Duo, Sam Coupé, Sharp X68000, SNES, Sinclair Spectrum

Side Scrolling to Skyscraping: Bionic Commando

Edge Staff — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:54:49 -0600

You start to think, sat atop one of Bionic Commando’s highest perches and with an entire ruined city spread out below you, that Grin might just have cracked it.

The game really can look rather special, as the early levels’ irradiated roads and buildings – partially destroyed by those ever-present pesky terrorists – create a snaggle-toothed skyline for the sun to filter through in a blaze of lighting effects and strong depth of field.

Uncharted 2 Uncovered

Edge Staff — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:12:12 -0600

It’s one of the great contradictions of the brutally progressive world of videogames that playing it safe is never really playing it safe.

Home At Last

Edge Staff — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:51:22 -0600

PlayStation Home, the much-anticipated hub of the PlayStation community, isn’t so much a new build as a renovation. It wasn’t just conceived at SCEE’s internal Team Soho (now simply London Studio), during production of mockney crime caper The Getaway – it was The Getaway.

What if, it was asked, rather than shoot and smash your way out of this picture-perfect capital, you could move in? What if you could rent an apartment and find your own entertainment, not within the confines of script and console but online, together?

Double Review: Lips and You're in the Movies

Edge Staff — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:15:25 -0600

LIPS

For those who assume that Lips is just Microsoft finally getting around to copying one of Sony’s greatest software successes, you’re only partly right.

The basic game is indeed almost identical to SingStar, in that you score points for following the pitch and rhythm of songs, but Lips does enough new for the genre to make itself distinct. The main difference is Lips’ re-reading of karaoke itself.

First Look: Empire Total War

Edge Staff — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:06:13 -0600

You could forgive The Creative Assembly for playing it relatively safe with Empire. The foundations of its strategy series are so solid that a shift in backdrops (particularly to one as promising as the age of reason) is enough to draw up the requisite bullet points for the back of the box.

Empire has 12 playable factions, a new focus on ranged combat thanks to muskets, and beefed-up diplomacy options as Europe and the colonies nudge themselves ever closer to a recognisably modern world.

Lasting Remnant?

Edge Staff — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:09:10 -0600

In 2007, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada announced that Last Remnant would form the cornerstone title in the company’s efforts to build a new global audience. Designed to appeal to both eastern and western markets, the RPG has ambitions beyond the usual boundaries of its genre. We talk with Hiroshi Takai, the game’s director, and Yusuke Naora, its art director, to discover what Wada’s vision has meant for the development team on the ground.

The Alternative Edge Awards 2008

Edge Staff — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 06:45:04 -0600

The gongs go to the big hitters,‭ ‬but sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference.‭ ‬Here's a selection of the bits and pieces that,‭ ‬in their own special way,‭ ‬marked out‭ ‬2008.

BEST FLOP
Boom Blox
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Double Review: LocoRoco 2 & Patapon 2

Edge Staff — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:04:11 -0600

LOCOROCO 2

It’s a common misconception that fat things are jolly, but one that the relentlessly rotund and cheerful LocoRocos do little to dispel. It’s impossible to play LocoRoco 2 and avoid smiling, singing along and laughing. It’s one of the happiest pieces of software ever released, constantly throwing tunes, trinkets and new tricks at the player simply to amuse them.
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Toying with Copyright

Edge Staff — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:27:27 -0600

The UK ads may be encouraging you to ‘play with everything’, but the deletion of player-made levels from LittleBigPlanet’s servers suggests that Sony isn’t willing to embrace the full extent of gamers’ imaginations.
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Halo Wars Interview

Edge Staff — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:54:00 -0600

“It’s the elephant in the room,‭” ‬admits Graeme Devine,‭ ‬lead developer on Halo Wars.‭ ‬Sadly he’s not revealing the presence of Halo‭ ‬3‭’‬s Sandtrap monster in this RTS.‭ ‬Instead,‭ ‬he’s talking about the fact that,‭ ‬with a few months still to go before the game’s released,‭ ‬Microsoft has announced that it’s closing Ensemble Studios.
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The Edge Awards 2008

Edge Staff — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:32:28 -0600

After the excitement of 2007, which saw us getting firmer grips on two new consoles and welcoming three Edge 10s into our collections, 2008 could have been something of an anticlimax. But here, at the end of it, another couple of 10s later, it hardly feels like one.

It began with the videogame industry at the height of self-confidence, achieving record worldwide sales in the first half of the year and with the likes of a new GTA and Metal Gear Solid looming on the horizon.
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Inside Batman: Arkham Asylum

Edge Staff — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:18:46 -0600

There are no great superhero games.

Even those that have stood up to some scrutiny compromise their source, cramming powers and villains into well-worn gaming templates. It’s the result of a rushed licence, a studio ordered to have a game ready to ship alongside the latest summer movie blockbuster. Or it can be the result of a simple act of opportunism, reskinning a standard genre piece in the knowledge that a captive audience will hand over the cash so long as it looks cool.
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The Recruitment Revolution

Edge Staff — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:17:04 -0600

As the game industry expands, the audience that plays games becomes broader and the craft of making games becomes more sophisticated, developers and publishers have found the task of attracting new talent a growing challenge.
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The Making of... Dune II

Edge Staff — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:59:25 -0600

It is rare indeed for a single game to become the progenitor of an entire new genre.

Although it had its precedents, with some fans attempting to retcon a gaggle of faintly similar 8bit titles for the role, the world’s first realtime strategy game can be named with little real controversy.
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Will Monster Hunter‭ ‬3‭ Woo Japan?

Edge Staff — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 23:03:00 -0600

They came in their thousands for Monster Hunter‭ ‬3.‭ ‬If there was a game of TGS‭ ‬2008,‭ ‬one that people travelled to see,‭ ‬then this was it.‭ ‬Queues stretched for between three and four hours in waiting time and had to be capped early in the day‭ – ‬many,‭ ‬of course,‭ ‬using the delay to catch up on their Monster Hunter Portable‭ ‬2nd G.‭
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Retrospective: Luigi’s Mansion

Edge Staff — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:07:00 -0600

It’s fitting that Luigi’s Mansion should have such a preoccupation with mirrors, given the game’s determination to invert practically all the traditions people expect from a Mario Bros title.

In almost every room of this haunted house, you’ll come across some variation on a reflective surface, flipping the environment back to front, as the game itself turns your preconceptions on their heads. To put it more clearly, try all you want to but you won’t be able to jump in Luigi’s Mansion.
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Review: Call of Duty World at War

Edge Staff — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:35:00 -0600

For those fearing that WWII is expended as a setting for an FPS, World At War manages to introduce subtle change to the formula. While you’re used to being pitted in such against-the-odds battles against dug-in foes as Normandy landings and desperate defences of Stalingrad, World At War instead presents your enemies in headlong flight, and you and your allies victoriously pursuing them.
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Touch and Go

Edge Staff — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:05:38 -0600

'Intangible’ is a word that comes up a lot when the first crop of iPhone and iPod Touch games are being discussed, and it’s hard to see that as a good sign.

Despite Apple’s extended hot streak in the digital marketplace, despite the David and Goliath goodwill, despite the instantaneous success of the App Store as a money-making machine, there’s something indistinct and gently underwhelming about a lot of iTunes’ more playful output to date.
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