Borderlands 2
Release date: July 30, 2012 | Genre(s): First-person shooter, action role-playing | Also on: Xbox 360, PS3
Although Borderlands offered an intriguing mashup of RPG and FPS gameplay, the title wasn't without its faults. Players complained about its repetitive experience. Enemies were uncoordinated and respawned too fast, weapons were greatly rehashed across the board and the multiplayer component used GameSpy's much-despised service. Set five years after the original on the same rustic planet of Pandora, Borderlands 2 plans to address most of those shortcomings with more customizable equipment and smarter AI.Borderlands 2 is a first-person shooter with role-playing-elements and the sequel to 2009's Borderlands. It is currently under development by Gearbox Software for the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms.
Gameplay
Borderlands 2 builds upon the gameplay elements introduced in its predecessor. It is a first-person shooter that includes character-building elements found in role-playing games, leading Gearbox to call the game a "role-playing shooter". At the start of the game, players select one of four new characters, each with a unique special skill and with proficiencies with certain weapons.[3] From then on, players take on quests assigned through non-player characters or from bounty boards, each typically rewarding the player with experience points, money, and sometimes a reward item. Players earn experience by killing foes and completing in-game challenges (such as getting a certain number of kills using a specific type of weapon). As they gain levels from experience growth, players can then allocate skill points into a skill tree that features three distinct specializations of the base character.[4]
Returning gameplay features from the first game will include the unique, cartoon-esque cel-shading graphic style, 3-branch skill trees, class-mods, and four-player online cooperative modes. New features include a more expansive and customizable weapons system, reworked four-seat drift-able vehicles and vehicle physics elements, and dynamic quest systems. For example, taking too much time to save a friend in a quest may result in their death and the failure of the quest, which will affect the story as the player progresses. Technically, the game world will be all connected, rather than loadable levels for each region, allowing accurate viewing of the entire world from a given point rather than the first game's premade "Skybox".[3][4]
In addition, the AI system has been reworked for the game. Non-enemies will populate the game world more often and will travel around different locations depending on the time. Enemy AI will encourage teamwork, such as flanking, as well as taking cover when wounded, though lower level enemies like Psychos will still embrace the mentality of, "Wow that's a gun! I want my face in front of it," according to Gearbox VP Steve Gibson.[4] Shooting enemies will stun or cripple them depending on where they are shot. For a change, enemies will be intelligent enough to climb and traverse difficult terrain to pursue the player. Enemies will also be able to interact with each other. For example, certain enemies can heal their teammates, boost their shields for defense, or use them as shields to protect themselves.[3][4]
Synopsis
Setting
Five years have passed since the events of Borderlands, when the four vault hunters exposed the secrets of the Eridian Vault. A man called Handsome Jack has taken credit for the vault hunters' actions and claimed the wealth of the Vault, allowing him to take over the Hyperion Corporation and effectively gain dominion over Pandora. Promising to clean the lawless planet up, Handsome Jack embarks on a campaign to exterminate Pandora's existing colonist population and industrialize the planet. The main symbol of Handsome Jack's rule is a massive supply base built in the shape of an "H" on Pandora's moon. The base is always visible, and can deploy Hyperion forces to any point on Pandora.[3][4][5][6]
Plot
Borderlands 2 begins with the player fighting to the death to win a priceless cache of loot in a gladiatorial tournament run by Handsome Jack for his personal amusement. The player succeeds and gains notoriety, but Handsome Jack sees this as a threat to his popularity with the people. At the tournament's end he denies the reward and leaves the player for dead in a tundra. The mysterious Guardian Angel from the first game then contacts the player and explains that Handsome Jack must be killed, directing the player to rescue the four original vault hunters from Hyperion's clutches to accomplish this.[5]
Characters
Like the first game, there are four playable characters in the game, though the characters are all new. The first new character is Salvador, nicknamed "Gunzerker" who resembles Brick from the first game in abilities, but also can dual-wield any combination of guns.[4] The second character is a siren named Maya, similar to Lilith from the first game, but has a different ability to Lilith called Phaselock. The other two characters are a commando character called Axton, who relies on turrets like Roland from the first game and an assassin character called Zero, whose ability creates a duplicate of himself and becomes invisible for a short time, where he can unleash a critical hit on an enemy with his sword. Not much is known about them at this time apart from their names and looks. Non-playable characters Guardian Angel and Claptrap return to aid the player during quests. The four characters from the first game, Roland, Lilith, Brick, and Mordecai, all return in the form of npc's that the new characters will encounter on Pandora or in various missions.[3] In addition to Axton, Zero, Maya and Salvador a fifth playable character was revealed at PAX East by Gearbox referred to as the "Mechromancer".[7] The character, who is a red-headed cyborg that can summon a D374-TP ("Deathtrap" - a hulking, floating machine made of scrap parts), is currently in concept stage and Randy Pitchford stated that they would begin to work on her some time after the main game is completed "in a couple months". It will be post-launch date DLC (Gearbox hopes around holiday time/before Christmas) and will be free for people enrolled in the "Premiere Club" by preordering the game.
Alan Wake
Alan Wake
Release date: Early 2012 | Genre(s): Third-person shooter, psychological thriller | Also on: Xbox 360
First released for consoles in May 2010, Alan Wake won countless awards, including game of the year in Time magazine. Greatly influenced by Stephen King's work, critics praised the title's storytelling, atmosphere and graphics -- the latter of which should be even better when the game relaunches early this year. The PC version will be self-published by developer Remedy Entertainment through Steam and will include two DLC packs, The Signal and The Writer. Remedy hasn't shared much beyond that, but we expect good things.
Alan Wake is a third-person shooter psychological thriller action game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The story follows bestselling thriller novelist Alan Wake, as he tries to uncover the mystery behind his wife's disappearance during a vacation in the small fictional town of Bright Falls, Washington, all while experiencing events from the plot in his latest novel, which he cannot remember writing, coming to life.
In its pacing and structure, Alan Wake is similar to a thriller television series, with episodes that contain plot twists and cliffhangers. The game itself consists of six episodes, and the fiction is continued by two special episodes, titled "The Signal" and "The Writer", that were made available as downloadable content (DLC) within the same year of the game's release. Together, they make the first season of a possibly longer story. Additionally, a six-episode live-action web series called Bright Falls acts as a prequel to the game, and a number of related books also expand upon the Alan Wake story.
Chiefly written by Sam Lake, Alan Wake took over five years to create; an unusually long development time in the game industry. The game received positive reviews from critics, and is often revered for its narrative, pacing, and atmosphere. Alan Wake has been awarded the first spot in Time magazine's list of the top 10 video games of 2010.[7]
Alan Wake's American Nightmare, a full stand-alone title, was released in February 2012 on the Xbox Live Arcade service.[8] The game will not constitute a direct sequel to Alan Wake, and no plans have been announced for a sequel (or "season two") for the original game. Remedy have stated, however, that they are not yet done with Alan Wake.[9]
Gameplay
Alan Wake is set in a Pacific Northwest town, and its main combat gameplay involves "fighting with light".
Alan Wake is a third-person shooter, described by its developers as a combination of "the mind of a psychological thriller", and "the body of a cinematic action game".[10][11][12] In interviews, the game's creators hold that the game does not belong squarely in the survival horror video game genre.[12][13] The game is primarily set in the fictional idyllic small town of Bright Falls, Washington. The main gameplay happens in various areas of Bright Falls – such as the forest, a national park, or a farm – during the nighttime; these are punctuated by calmer, non-combative sequences set during the day. The player controls the eponymous protagonist, Alan Wake.
In the game, a "darkness" is taking over humans, animals and objects. Humans possessed by the darkness, called the "Taken", are murderous enemies that attack Wake, wielding weapons of their own, such as mallets and chainsaws. They vary by speed, size, and the amount of damage they can take, and some can even teleport between short distances.[14] Besides the Taken, the player has to combat flocks of ravens, and animated poltergeist objects.
As the enemies are protected by a shield of darkness, light plays a significant role in fighting them, while controlling the protagonist in the dark. For example, Taken are initially impervious to attack, and can only be killed or injured with a firearm when exposed to light, which burns away the darkness. Therefore, there is significant emphasis on flashlights and other hand-held lights being used in conjunction with conventional weapons, such as a revolver or a shotgun. The beam of these lights acts as a reticle.[14] Such hand-held lights can be boosted, which destroys the darkness faster, but also reduces the battery level of the light. Besides the conventional shooter gameplay need for reloading ammunition, the player also has to insert fresh batteries into the flashlight when they run out, or wait for it to recharge slowly. The strength of the darkness protecting an enemy can vary between Taken. The amount of darkness remaining is represented by a corona of light that appears when aiming at an enemy, and a stronger darkness may recharge over time.[14] When a Taken is finally destroyed, it disappears.
The player is often encouraged to take advantage of environmental light sources and placing, and to use other light-based weapons and accessories, such as flare guns, hand-held flares and flashbangs. Wake can use searchlights to take out massive waves of possessed enemies. Streetlights and other light stands can provide a safe haven, which the Taken cannot enter, and will regenerate the character's health very rapidly. Otherwise, health regenerates slowly with time, when not taking any damage.[14] In certain sections of the game, it is possible to use a car to traverse between locations in Bright Falls. When in a car, the player can run down Taken on the road, or boost the vehicle's headlights to destroy them.
A major element of gameplay is the optional discovery and collection of manuscript pages from Alan Wake's latest novel—Departure. Wake does not remember writing this book, but it seems that its storyline is coming to life around him. These readable manuscript pages are scattered around the game world, out of chronological order; they often describe scenes that have yet to occur and act as warning and instructions for proceeding through upcoming challenges. Other optional collectibles include coffee thermoses scattered around the game world (100 in all), as well as discovering television sets which show different episodes of the fictional Night Springs series, radios airing talk and music from Bright Falls' local radio station, and textual signs around the town. The radio shows and signs provide a deeper understanding of the town's history and culture. The game's DLC episodes introduce other collectibles, such as alarm clocks, and video game boxes.
Synopsis
Main game
Bestselling thriller writer Alan Wake, suffering from a two-year long stretch of writer's block, travels with his wife Alice to the small idyllic town of Bright Falls, Washington, for a short vacation. While Alice shops for groceries, Alan goes to obtain the keys and directions to the cabin they will be staying in from its owner, Carl Stucky, at the local diner; an older woman, claiming that Stucky fell ill, hands them to Alan instead. Alan and Alice arrive at Cauldron Lake, where their cabin sits on an island within it. As they unpack, Alan discovers Alice has set up a typewriter, hoping Alan will try writing on the vacation. Angry, Alan sets off for a brief walk alone, but races back to the cabin when he hears Alice's screams. He arrives too late as some entity drags Alice into the lake's water, and without a moment's hesitation, jumps in after her, but shortly blacks out.
Alan comes to a week later, crashed after his car went off the side of the road outside of town. As he travels back to town, supernatural events occurring in his wake such as human figures shrouded in darkness that can only be defeated with light, and an ethereal figure wearing a deep-sea diving suit. When he meets Sheriff Sarah Breaker and reports Alice's abduction, the sheriff notes that there had not been an island in Cauldron Lake for nearly 30 years, sunk by an earthquake. Alan becomes the primary suspect in his wife's disappearance, attracting the FBI's attention. Barry, Alan's agent and friend, comes to Bright Falls to help Alan recount events and understand what happened.
Alan comes to learn that Cauldron Lake is possessed by an entity called the Dark Presence, and has the ability to turn fiction into reality. The Dark Presence is trapped within the lake, but is able to exert its influence on the local area and convert humans into the darkness-possessed "Taken". The diving suit figure is the consciousness of former writer Thomas Zane, who had owned the cabin and drowned during the earthquake; Zane is attempting to prevent the Dark Presence from escaping, and has provided Alan with pages of a typewritten manuscript entitled Departure, a work Alan recognizes as his own but that he was unaware of writing and which foretells of upcoming events. After one night of heavy drinking, Alan begins to recall the events of the missing week: once he dived into the lake he was taken by the Dark Presence, and was forced to write Departure as a means to lay the path for the Dark Presence's escape using the lake's mysterious power, but Zane was able to influence Alan's subconscious mind to write in the means for Alan's own escape and means to defeat the Dark Presence.
As the Dark Presence becomes more and more powerful, ravaging Bright Falls, Alan and Barry discover several clues that point them to a hermit, Cynthia Weaver, that knows the path to "The Well-Lit Room" where a weapon against the Dark Presence can be found. They locate Cynthia, having protected herself in a power plant, and she takes them to the Room, where Alan finds a simple light switch unit called "the Clicker", part of the fiction that Zane helped Alan to create. Alan leaves his allies safely behind and returns to the lake, successfully using the Clicker to destroy the Dark Presence. Despite its defeat, Alice does not yet emerge from the lake, and Alan realizes that balance must be maintained; he willingly throws himself into the lake waters; Alice soon reappears.[15] Within the depths of the lake, Alan finds himself in the cabin, and realizes that Departure is not yet finished, and turns back to the typewriter to continue the story and write his own means to be free of the lake. He comments to himself that "It's not a lake—it's an ocean."
Release date: Early 2012 | Genre(s): Third-person shooter, psychological thriller | Also on: Xbox 360
First released for consoles in May 2010, Alan Wake won countless awards, including game of the year in Time magazine. Greatly influenced by Stephen King's work, critics praised the title's storytelling, atmosphere and graphics -- the latter of which should be even better when the game relaunches early this year. The PC version will be self-published by developer Remedy Entertainment through Steam and will include two DLC packs, The Signal and The Writer. Remedy hasn't shared much beyond that, but we expect good things.
Alan Wake is a third-person shooter psychological thriller action game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The story follows bestselling thriller novelist Alan Wake, as he tries to uncover the mystery behind his wife's disappearance during a vacation in the small fictional town of Bright Falls, Washington, all while experiencing events from the plot in his latest novel, which he cannot remember writing, coming to life.
In its pacing and structure, Alan Wake is similar to a thriller television series, with episodes that contain plot twists and cliffhangers. The game itself consists of six episodes, and the fiction is continued by two special episodes, titled "The Signal" and "The Writer", that were made available as downloadable content (DLC) within the same year of the game's release. Together, they make the first season of a possibly longer story. Additionally, a six-episode live-action web series called Bright Falls acts as a prequel to the game, and a number of related books also expand upon the Alan Wake story.
Chiefly written by Sam Lake, Alan Wake took over five years to create; an unusually long development time in the game industry. The game received positive reviews from critics, and is often revered for its narrative, pacing, and atmosphere. Alan Wake has been awarded the first spot in Time magazine's list of the top 10 video games of 2010.[7]
Alan Wake's American Nightmare, a full stand-alone title, was released in February 2012 on the Xbox Live Arcade service.[8] The game will not constitute a direct sequel to Alan Wake, and no plans have been announced for a sequel (or "season two") for the original game. Remedy have stated, however, that they are not yet done with Alan Wake.[9]
Gameplay
Alan Wake is set in a Pacific Northwest town, and its main combat gameplay involves "fighting with light".
Alan Wake is a third-person shooter, described by its developers as a combination of "the mind of a psychological thriller", and "the body of a cinematic action game".[10][11][12] In interviews, the game's creators hold that the game does not belong squarely in the survival horror video game genre.[12][13] The game is primarily set in the fictional idyllic small town of Bright Falls, Washington. The main gameplay happens in various areas of Bright Falls – such as the forest, a national park, or a farm – during the nighttime; these are punctuated by calmer, non-combative sequences set during the day. The player controls the eponymous protagonist, Alan Wake.
In the game, a "darkness" is taking over humans, animals and objects. Humans possessed by the darkness, called the "Taken", are murderous enemies that attack Wake, wielding weapons of their own, such as mallets and chainsaws. They vary by speed, size, and the amount of damage they can take, and some can even teleport between short distances.[14] Besides the Taken, the player has to combat flocks of ravens, and animated poltergeist objects.
As the enemies are protected by a shield of darkness, light plays a significant role in fighting them, while controlling the protagonist in the dark. For example, Taken are initially impervious to attack, and can only be killed or injured with a firearm when exposed to light, which burns away the darkness. Therefore, there is significant emphasis on flashlights and other hand-held lights being used in conjunction with conventional weapons, such as a revolver or a shotgun. The beam of these lights acts as a reticle.[14] Such hand-held lights can be boosted, which destroys the darkness faster, but also reduces the battery level of the light. Besides the conventional shooter gameplay need for reloading ammunition, the player also has to insert fresh batteries into the flashlight when they run out, or wait for it to recharge slowly. The strength of the darkness protecting an enemy can vary between Taken. The amount of darkness remaining is represented by a corona of light that appears when aiming at an enemy, and a stronger darkness may recharge over time.[14] When a Taken is finally destroyed, it disappears.
The player is often encouraged to take advantage of environmental light sources and placing, and to use other light-based weapons and accessories, such as flare guns, hand-held flares and flashbangs. Wake can use searchlights to take out massive waves of possessed enemies. Streetlights and other light stands can provide a safe haven, which the Taken cannot enter, and will regenerate the character's health very rapidly. Otherwise, health regenerates slowly with time, when not taking any damage.[14] In certain sections of the game, it is possible to use a car to traverse between locations in Bright Falls. When in a car, the player can run down Taken on the road, or boost the vehicle's headlights to destroy them.
A major element of gameplay is the optional discovery and collection of manuscript pages from Alan Wake's latest novel—Departure. Wake does not remember writing this book, but it seems that its storyline is coming to life around him. These readable manuscript pages are scattered around the game world, out of chronological order; they often describe scenes that have yet to occur and act as warning and instructions for proceeding through upcoming challenges. Other optional collectibles include coffee thermoses scattered around the game world (100 in all), as well as discovering television sets which show different episodes of the fictional Night Springs series, radios airing talk and music from Bright Falls' local radio station, and textual signs around the town. The radio shows and signs provide a deeper understanding of the town's history and culture. The game's DLC episodes introduce other collectibles, such as alarm clocks, and video game boxes.
Synopsis
Main game
Bestselling thriller writer Alan Wake, suffering from a two-year long stretch of writer's block, travels with his wife Alice to the small idyllic town of Bright Falls, Washington, for a short vacation. While Alice shops for groceries, Alan goes to obtain the keys and directions to the cabin they will be staying in from its owner, Carl Stucky, at the local diner; an older woman, claiming that Stucky fell ill, hands them to Alan instead. Alan and Alice arrive at Cauldron Lake, where their cabin sits on an island within it. As they unpack, Alan discovers Alice has set up a typewriter, hoping Alan will try writing on the vacation. Angry, Alan sets off for a brief walk alone, but races back to the cabin when he hears Alice's screams. He arrives too late as some entity drags Alice into the lake's water, and without a moment's hesitation, jumps in after her, but shortly blacks out.
Alan comes to a week later, crashed after his car went off the side of the road outside of town. As he travels back to town, supernatural events occurring in his wake such as human figures shrouded in darkness that can only be defeated with light, and an ethereal figure wearing a deep-sea diving suit. When he meets Sheriff Sarah Breaker and reports Alice's abduction, the sheriff notes that there had not been an island in Cauldron Lake for nearly 30 years, sunk by an earthquake. Alan becomes the primary suspect in his wife's disappearance, attracting the FBI's attention. Barry, Alan's agent and friend, comes to Bright Falls to help Alan recount events and understand what happened.
Alan comes to learn that Cauldron Lake is possessed by an entity called the Dark Presence, and has the ability to turn fiction into reality. The Dark Presence is trapped within the lake, but is able to exert its influence on the local area and convert humans into the darkness-possessed "Taken". The diving suit figure is the consciousness of former writer Thomas Zane, who had owned the cabin and drowned during the earthquake; Zane is attempting to prevent the Dark Presence from escaping, and has provided Alan with pages of a typewritten manuscript entitled Departure, a work Alan recognizes as his own but that he was unaware of writing and which foretells of upcoming events. After one night of heavy drinking, Alan begins to recall the events of the missing week: once he dived into the lake he was taken by the Dark Presence, and was forced to write Departure as a means to lay the path for the Dark Presence's escape using the lake's mysterious power, but Zane was able to influence Alan's subconscious mind to write in the means for Alan's own escape and means to defeat the Dark Presence.
As the Dark Presence becomes more and more powerful, ravaging Bright Falls, Alan and Barry discover several clues that point them to a hermit, Cynthia Weaver, that knows the path to "The Well-Lit Room" where a weapon against the Dark Presence can be found. They locate Cynthia, having protected herself in a power plant, and she takes them to the Room, where Alan finds a simple light switch unit called "the Clicker", part of the fiction that Zane helped Alan to create. Alan leaves his allies safely behind and returns to the lake, successfully using the Clicker to destroy the Dark Presence. Despite its defeat, Alice does not yet emerge from the lake, and Alan realizes that balance must be maintained; he willingly throws himself into the lake waters; Alice soon reappears.[15] Within the depths of the lake, Alan finds himself in the cabin, and realizes that Departure is not yet finished, and turns back to the typewriter to continue the story and write his own means to be free of the lake. He comments to himself that "It's not a lake—it's an ocean."
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