NeverDead is one of those games that looks good when advertised but just doesn’t quite live up to the hype. The game does many things that no other video game has done before but with its cheesy voice acting and repetitive nature I came away slightly disappointed.

NeverDead is essentially and arcade game at heart, with loads of weird enemies, crazy gun and swordplay and one strange story that is a lot of fun at first but after a few chapters you begin to realize it’s very repetitive.

The most annoying thing is that throughout the game all you seem to do is run from one area to another killing loads of enemies before you can move on to the next and throughout the game I am afraid that method is just rinse and repeat.

In every area there are these plant type enemies that spawn other enemies and once you kill that enemy others will appear in another part of that area. It wouldn’t be so bad but at points you get so over run with enemies that you find yourself completely dismembered and trying to roll around as just a head trying to avoid these little enemies that can suck your head into their belly for all eternity. (Yes I know I said enemy a lot)

The big feature of NeverDead is the fact that you cannot die but as I have said above you can if your head is digested, if this happens you will have to reload the checkpoint and it will always be ages away from where you died which can be very frustrating. You will constantly find yourself having your arms, legs or head decapitated from your body. An arm or leg being chopped off is quite amusing as you watch Bryce hopping around etc…. and you can regenerate body parts when your meter is full or you can jump over the body parts that have been dismembered (If they haven’t been eaten by the body part suckers first)

At the end of every big area you will face a boss battle. These boss battles can be tough and can take a little bit of working out as they usually only have one weak spot and can only be hurt with a certain weapon or with a certain method which is a good tough challenge.

NeverDead does have some good comical moments though and the conversations between Bryce and his partner Arcadia can be laugh out loud funny at times. As usual with Japanese games she wears a short skirt and even comments on this herself at one point which goes to show it does have very tongue in cheek humour. Bryce can even rip off his own body parts and use them as weapons, there are even certain puzzles that can only by solved by you making him rip off his own head and rolling it through air vents to get to other parts of the level. (There is even an achievement for ripping off his head and throwing it through a basketball hoop)

The controls are fast and fluid. Left and Right triggers fire your left and right guns. You start off with pistols but can find other guns later on such as SMG’s and assault rifles. You also have a sword which is very powerful and is the only weapon you can use to defeat certain enemies, this is controlled by holding your left trigger and using your right thumb stick to control which direction you swing it. This is a good addition and you get extra points the more accurate you are.

The story revolves around Bryce and his partner Arcadia working for an agency tasked with dealing with demonic incursions and you spend the game battling demons from the dawn of time on present day earth.

Overall this is a fun arcade type game where you just run around killing loads of enemies in different areas but the repetitive nature of this made me lose interest pretty quick. If you like your crazy Japanese hack and slash / shooter games then I recommend you pick this up but I feel that the majority of gamers will get bored pretty quickly.

Overall score:  6/10

“The Xbox 360 version is a complete adaptation of the game to the new platform, we’ve rewritten the code so it feels native to the console. This latest version of The Witcher 2 has been expanded in many ways, and some experts believe it to be one of the best-looking games ever to make it to consoles,” said Adam Badowski, head of CD Projekt RED studio.

 Gameplay for the xbox 360 has been extended through the addition of new quests and locations, while The Witcher 2’s intriguing plot becomes even more complex with the introduction of major new NPCs who intensify the struggle for power in the Northern Kingdoms.

 PC users who already own the game will be happy to learn that they will be able to download all the added content free of charge. At the same time, the Xbox 360 version will incorporate all DLCs and upgrades made available thus far for the game’s original platform (including the ‘Arena’ arcade mode and Tutorial that were part of the latest and richest PC version)

 Other enhancements include the game’s user interface, which has been revamped to deliver better control on the Xbox 360, while new targeting, camera and control systems will give players full control of the witcher during the game’s dynamic and tactically rich combat sequences.

 The details about the game editions and pre-order information can be found at: buy.thewitcher.com

Disclaimer: The ‘RB6:Patriots’ information referenced within was compiled from several media outlets and is summarized in the accompanying article. Should anyone be confused, I do NOT claim to be a professional “news generator”/ journalist under the purview of their bylaws & access, traditionally reserved for the strict gathering & reporting of facts. Rather I’m acting as a “news disseminator,” spreading gaming details like an STD while editorializing on previously reported information. Thus, anyone claiming “plagiarism” is welcome to gag on my ‘Rainbow 8-3/4.’

In today’s saturated market, you can’t throw a pirated copy of ‘RB6:Raven Shield’ without hitting another military FPS. In fact, many of them are quite good and offer fans of the genre incremental tactical & graphical updates to an otherwise pigeonholed evolutionary branch of gaming. So where have Bravo team been all this time? Why come back now? And, where will ‘RB6:Patriots’ fit in the grand scheme of things?

The developers have given us just enough details in trade magazines and on podcasts to wet both our appetites and our tighty-whiteys. So I rushed to my laptop (waited several weeks) to share some of these details with all of you. I had intended to do a full write-up on RB6 until I took a ‘Black Arrow’ to the knee. Sorry. Sorry. Terrible joke. Besides, it’s completely inaccurate. I actually took a ‘Rogue Spear’ to the Distal Femur, which in truth, is slightly above the knee; just there (gestures). Never mind. No need to go into the sorted details here. But what I will do is provide you with a list of notable ‘RB6:Patriots’ features and the phone numbers of several physicians skilled in treating knee injuries, in case you’re interested.

Knee injuries are no joke. You can’t kick a football or a homeless person anymore – and did you know, knee injuries limit your ability to lift your leg and let off a ‘triumphant bum-flapping blast’ at a store or on the street. I’m tell’n you – If you fart in public just standing there, with no boisterous performance to go along with it, people look at you like you’re pathetic! There’s no appreciation for diet, effort, or the very real risk of ‘sharting’ – Ingrates! That’s the last time I ruin a perfectly good pair of pants just so they can tell their friends at lunch about the guy who spontaneously walked up and “nurtured a Hufflepuff “ (copyright 2012 – H34DCA5E) while everyone was waiting to cross the street!

Just Give Us the List, FFS!:

The fluid 2013 release date, coupled with developer fidelity claims & recent rumors concerning next gen consoles, has some speculating that ‘RB6:Patriots’ may, in fact, be one of the first titles we play on a new console.

Developers have claimed that despite the early state of the game, it already features the most realistically rendered & functioning gun models of any game to date. Reload times, operating procedures, & animations are said to be unparalleled in the current FPS space. Developers are said to be committed to real-world firearm handling that translates seamlessly to analog sticks without negating the need for accessibility and fun. Realistic melee options will be available as well.

Previous installments of RB6 games all utilized tweaked versions of the Unreal Engine. But ‘RB6:Patriots’ will use a new Ubisoft proprietary engine. This engine is a direct descendant of Anvil, known for its use in the Assassins Creed titles. Developers claim that their absence has been due, in large part, to the need to evolve a propriety next gen shooter engine from the bones of this outdated Anvil platformer.

The game features a PlayStation Home style lobby system (the HQ) for both coop & multiplayer. You’ll no longer be stuck looking at a list of pot emblems while people trade racial slurs and question your sexuality. (Sorry for that by the way. I get bored waiting for the next round to start.) But in RB6, you’ll be able to walk around, talk to teammates, and check out their customized armor, uniform, & weapons. There’s still no word on whether or not you’ll be able to do each other’s hair or shower together after the match. (Insert your own ‘soap dropping’ joke here. – Sh*t. – Just mentioning dropping the soap is a joke, isn’t it. I had wished to avoid that. – Well, as the saying goes: you wish in one hand and grope strangers with the other and see which yields better results… or something like that.)

Need a mentor? A life coach? A “shoot’em in the face” how-to instructor? Patriots is implementing a system by which new players or teammates can ask to be “mentored” by a more experienced player or, as I like to call him, an elected nob-jockey. But this feature may just work. We often tell new players to “find someone & stick with them to learn the ropes” in a game they’re unfamiliar with. Apparently, once agreed upon, squad members/underlings will be privy to this Colonel Sanders’ battlefield communications, tactics, commands, and HUD-based intel.

Want to build a sand castle? Well, RB6 has a “sandbox” to use in the HQ lobby area. This is a virtual mini-map of all the multiplayer arenas complete with windows, doors, ladders, stairs, etc. Players can now learn the maps and coordinate their efforts without the hours of getting pwned in matches normally needed to acquire this info. You can also put markers on this map so that everyone knows where & what you’re talking about even though they’re busy checking Twitter and don’t really give a sh*t.

Your character is now an imposing hybrid of Marcus Phoenix and Mikhail Baryshnikov. He can nimbly vault over obstacles whilst violently slamming into cover with the full weight and resonance of a human wearing a tactical loadout. And after all of the Cirque Du Soleil training during your 2-game stint in Vegas, rappelling is now a fluid ‘death-from-above’ tactic that even Batman would be jealous of.

Stats at the end of a match will no longer appear in boring spreadsheets. Players return to the HQ room and witness visual presentations of their performance. One example given was that of a human silhouette firing-range target depicting accuracy and hit locations. This is a nice touch. (The feature is cool, but right there I was referring to the wife trying to distract me while writing this. Whoa, another really nice touch. brb).

Where was I, oh yes. RB6 hopes to immerse you IN the game and forces you to play from different character perspectives. An example is when a hostage is strapped with a bomb, and must keep his finger on the detonator to prevent it from going off. That’s right, YOU are the hostage for this sequence. Get comfy holding down that ‘A’ button while trying to navigate & cope with the anxiety and chaos of events around you. In addition, squad commands promise to be more intuitive, streamlined, and contextually sensitive to keep you playing rather than looking at a command interface.

Options, options, & more options with no “right” answers. That’s the goal; to present numerous black & white choices in frustratingly grey situations, and force the player to deal with the outcome. Witnesses to one gameplay demo recounted a situation where the playtester deliberately chose to shoot a cop in the leg in order to hobble him. It turns out that this cop was about to confront the hostage with the bomb, making it all but certain that it would detonate and kill many others. His tactic allowed the hostage to pass unfettered and saved countless pixilated lives for the time being. Panicked players have been known to actually kill cops and civilians in other similar types of situations.

Cyberdyne/Skynet is here. ‘RB6:Patriots’ A.I. is said to be second to none. Teammates take appropriate actions based on their skill set and loadouts. Thus the sniper hangs back while the shotgun-pimp hits the kill funnel first. Both friendly’s and tangos alike utilize cover, bounding, suppression, & flanking with lethal efficacy. You’ll witness A.I.’s stumble, make mistakes, gun jams, and decision-making. In fact, desperate enemies may barricade themselves or grab a human shield. Bullets and body parts react as they should, impacting and affecting NPCs in an impressive visceral feedback system.

Morality. In ‘RB6:Patriots’ you have choices and those choices have consequences. Do you sacrifice the few to save the many? Do you risk a shot when the baddy’s got a human shield or let him get away? Your team even reacts visually, verbally, emotionally, and efficiently based on their trust in your leadership decisions.

Although FPSs are certainly part of a dried-up, clone and sequel spawning, gene pool, I have real hope for ‘RB6:Patriots.’ Firstly, they correctly predicted who would make it to this year’s NFL Super Bowl. Who really wants to see ‘RB6:Packers’ anyway. But besides that, the details emerging demonstrate that the developers are fully aware of the rinse-&-repeat formulas out there today.

As we all know, there’s more competition at the level of mediocrity. So ‘RB6:Patriots’ is striving to be the best. The FPS genre is and always will be, at its core; “person with gun.” And wow, has that translated well to countless systems and interfaces throughout gaming’s relatively short lineage. But I get most excited when a “person with gun” game gets made by a proverbial “person with insight.” We’ll just have to see if all of these things actually come to fruition when the game is finally released. Until that ‘Critical Hour,’ keep an ‘Eagle Watch’ on 360GamerCast for updates.

- H34DCA5E

Big thanks to everyone that sent in the voice clips congratulating us on this amazing milestone and we hope to carry on for another 200 episodes.

]]> http://360gamercast.com/wp/2012/01/episode-200-we-made-it/feed/ 8 http://360gamercast.com/wp/2012/01/episode-199-bongos/ http://360gamercast.com/wp/2012/01/episode-199-bongos/#comments Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:45:33 +0000 Mark Webb http://360gamercast.com/wp/?p=6585

In this special episode we have AceyBongos make a guest appearence. We discuss the hacking, Major Nelson, Acey’s Job and other general stuff.

We discuss loads of games, news and questions from the community

We hope you enjoy the show and don’t forget to leave 5 star itunes review and dont forget the 200th episode mp3′s

]]> http://360gamercast.com/wp/2012/01/episode-199-bongos/feed/ 0 http://360gamercast.com/wp/2012/01/dead-island-dlc-announced/ http://360gamercast.com/wp/2012/01/dead-island-dlc-announced/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:12:30 +0000 Mark Webb http://360gamercast.com/wp/?p=6582  

Deep Silver has announced the upcoming release of a brand new story DLC for Dead Island.

This DLC offers a unique new perspective into the incidents in the main story of Dead Island: This time the player will get the chance to play as Ryder White, the antagonist of the main game; learn more about his motivations and why, from his point of view, he did what he had to do. This fresh take on the Dead Island story shows Ryder White both as a military man and a loving husband.

The DLC stars Ryder White as a newly playable character and offers a single player campaign with several hours of story content with twists and turns that will shed new light on the game’s happenings. Two blueprints and weapons will further expand the already impressive arsenal of Dead Island.

The DLC will be available on February 01, 2012 for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC. It will be available for 800 Microsoft points on Xbox LIVE Marketplace or for £7.99 on PSN and Steam.

The mechanics in Revelations have remained the same as its predecessors only slightly being tweaked offering a more fluid style. Ezio’s second hidden blade that offered variety in assassination options has been removed, and replaced with a quickly obtained hook blade. This has the same function as the hidden blade, but with a twist. Players can now quickly navigate plat forming sections of the environment by latching onto ropes. This is a welcome change to quickly escape guards, or just navigating the map with greater ease. The economics introduced in Brotherhood also returns enabling Ezio to purchase merchants, and gain income as the area becomes more stable and templar control is removed. As you gain control over the merchants they offer better equipment for you to purchase. The only truly new adjustment that has been made is the tower defense mechanic that is triggered when your multiples “Assassin Dens” are threatened. Once the Templers attempt to retake a den you must dive into an over complicated, mismanaged mini game of beating back their attack. This does not break the game in anyway, and fans of tower defense may warm to what it offers, but it does detract from what should be a story driven game. Ubisoft builds a great sand box to play in, but Assassins Creed is not a sand box game. You are offered the freedom to do what you want; however you do not able to what you want when you want to do it. One has to wonder if they continue to offer multiple distractions in this series, because they have lost their handle on the story, or it may just be a severe case of too many cooks in the kitchen.

Multiplayer has made a return and this must be the most polarizing multiplayer title on the market. Gamers either love it or they hate it without much middle ground to stand on. I have not spent much time with the versus game play, because I do not find it has much to offer. The game has a strict set of rules it wants you to play by, and once people begin breaking the rules the game breaks along with them. You are attempting to remain anonymous from the other players in the match, but once someone climbs to a rooftop the mystery is gone. Also if you are not playing the way designer’s intended you too your reward is decreased. If Ubisoft had tweaked the AI so that they would more mirror what players expect then the experience may have been more exciting. With gamers having a wide variety of choice this holiday companies are exercising more effort than ever to grab your attention. Assassins Creed Revelations is an improvement over past titles, but it does not reinvent the franchise. You can expect a strong helping of the same game play the series has delivered from the first three titles. I you are a fan, or have enjoyed the previous Assassins Creed releases then Revelations is a no brainer, but if you are not a long time fan then maybe wait Ubisoft out for the release of Assassins Creed 3.

The question is frequently asked by those who have passed on Assassins Creed until now “Is this a good place to begin playing the series”. With Revelations I would say “No”, because this is the title that puts a bow on many plot lines that have needed a conclusion. If you are looking for a solid entry point I would recommend beginning with Assassins Creed 2. The series seems to have taken a drastic turn after the second installment that drove them straight to the bank. Every title has refined game play, and added to the rather bland environment of the original game; however the plot has been rode hard and hung up wet. It is difficult to say that Assassins Creed requires a refresh, but it does need a more directed plot to untangle the multiple characters, and scenarios Ubisoft wants us to follow. It also does not help the series that fans are asked to be repeat customers every twelve months! Many of us have already sat down at the table, and drank the kool-aide so we have little choice apart from abandoning ship altogether. While it is difficult to let go of fan favorite characters Ezio’s time has past, and if the next title moves on as it should.  I am sure a great new hero will be born for us all to enjoy in the near future.
Verdict 7/10