Inception, The Dark Knight, and Modern Warfare 2 composer lending hand to soundtrack for Crytek shooter due out next week.
Next week, Crytek and Electronic Arts will launch the much hyped Crysis 2. The sequel will land on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as the PC, but going multiplatform won’t be the game’s only distinguishing characteristic.
EA has announced that noted Hollywood and video game composer Hans Zimmer collaborated with Borislav Slavov and Tilman Sillescu in creating the soundtrack for Crysis 2, which is due out next week.
Zimmer’s previous composing credits include Hollywood hits Inception and The Dark Knight, as well as Activision’s blockbuster first-person shooter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Zimmer’s game work will continue, as the composer has been attached to Activision’s upcoming Skylanders Spyro Adventures.
Crysis 2 sees players fend off an alien threat once again, aided by a nanosuit that grants the user superhuman abilities ranging from speed boosts to active camouflage.
While the original Crysis featured lush tropical environments, Crysis 2 takes place in the urban jungle of New York City.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ubisoft will unleash Rocksmith for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii this September.
The game will come with 45 songs from bands like the Rolling Stones, the Animals, David Bowie, and Nirvana. According to the report, Rocksmith will sport songs not available in Rock Band or Guitar Hero games.
Rocksmith was developed with realism in mind, according to The Reporter. In the game, players will strum along on actual strings. Ubisoft is betting that the game can avoid the fate of Guitar Hero because its players won’t soon grow tired of learning how to play an actual guitar.
The game will come with an input jack that is compatible with “most electric guitars” for play on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but not the Wii.
We lay siege to a haunted house during our hands-on cooperative session with Dungeon Siege III.
When we last visited the world of Dungeon Siege III, we helped young Lucas Mont Barron escape the burning Mont Barron estate, adventured through the countryside, and rescued a supposed Archon, Anjali, from some cultists. Now, we’re back in developer Obsidian Entertainment’s action role-playing world.
However, this time Lucas and Anjali are teaming up for some cooperative gameplay as we go hands-on to investigate the spooky Gunderic Manor.
Once again, we stepped into the young adventurer’s shoes. Adept with a sword and shield, Lucas is a strong melee fighter who excels at powerful blows against single targets.
Our co-op companion was Anjali, a fiery mage with some crowd-control abilities. Our mission was to help Leona, a witch looking to set up shop in the dilapidated Gunderic Manor. We agreed to investigate the manor for her and clear out any malcontents (or homeless people) we found within it.
The quest started out easily enough. The manor seemed to be deserted until we encountered Alise Gunderic, one of the manor’s former inhabitants. Specifically, we encountered the ghost of Alise Gunderic, who pleaded with us to destroy the Heart of Nagog.
According to her, this item was the one thing binding her soul to the mortal realm. Having only just met her, we decided to trust her completely and agreed to help without another word.
All of the gargoyles and skeletons outside must have overheard our conversation because after we exited the room, they all sprang to life and attacked. What a mistake on their part.
It didn’t take us long to fall back into the easy rhythm of Dungeon Siege III’s combat. Our role was simple: Get in front of the enemies and dish out as much hurt as possible.
Snowblind Studios explores the previously unseen northern battles of Middle-earth in this action role-playing game.
We’ve seen games individually based on the Lord of the Rings films and books, but we haven’t seen a game that encompassed nearly all major media birthed from Tolkien’s fantasy universe until now.
Warner Bros. and Snowblind Studios have license to use both the films and the books in their upcoming action role-playing game Lord of the Rings: War in the North. While this ostensibly lets the development team at Snowblind borrow visual elements from the films and stay closer to the lore of the books, their relationship with the fantasy universe created by Tolkien even goes deeper. The Tolkien estate is working in conjunction with the development team on the new story, overseeing details to ensure that it fits in within the rest of the Lord of the Rings canon.
War in the North occurs around the same time as the War of the Ring in which Frodo and Sam make their way to Mordor as the rest of Middle-earth fends off Sauron. And much like that story, War in the North focuses on the fellowship of a dunedain (ranger), dwarf, and elf attempting to fend off Sauron’s armies in the north headed by one of Sauron’s top lieutenants, Agandaur. Using this fellowship as the foundation for gameplay means that you’re never alone.
You always have direct control over one member of the fellowship whether you’re playing alone or with two other people. But if you are playing solo, then the AI will take over the other members. Additionally, if you’re playing as the dwarf but feel like switching to the ranger, you’ll have opportunities to switch at various hub areas.
The reason you might want to switch, and the reason why you’re always playing with two other characters at any given time, is that members of the team have their own strengths and skills that are designed to work more effectively when used in conjunction with each other. For example, Farin the dwarf is the tank of the group, which means he’s most effective when engaged in melee combat. In fact, one of his special abilities, called war cry, is even designed to draw enemies toward him and away from his teammates who might have a harder time standing toe-to-toe with more powerful foes.
This war cry skill also makes him impervious to knockdown strikes, but he can still take damage, and you would do well to use evasive moves while in this state. Meanwhile, Eradan the ranger is formidable at both close and long range, but he has the ability to surprise enemies with his special stealth skills. Finally, Andriel the elf can be used primarily as a support-ranged character because one of her skills lets her cast an orb that simultaneously heals other members of the fellowship and deflects enemy projectiles.
However, she can also dual-wield various weapons, which can make her effective in close combat.
Eidos Montreal reveals release date for long-awaited cyberpunk action-RPG; UK release set for August 26.
The traditional press release may want to watch its back, as more and more companies are using Twitter to make major announcements. The latest example comes from Eidos Montreal, which today used the microblogging service to reveal the release date for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Square Enix’s long-in-development action role-playing game will arrive on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on August 23 in North America and August 26 in the UK.
Deus Ex will be available in two versions: The regular $60 edition and a $70 Augmented Edition. The latter will include premium packaging for the game, a 40-page art book, a DVD with behind-the-scenes features, and a motion graphic novel included on a bonus disc. Players who preorder from specialty retailer GameStop will get a new mission–complete with a cameo from original Deus Ex protagonist JC Denton–as well as in-game assists in the form of a grenade launcher, explosives, and an automatic lock pick.
Developer Eidos Montreal has said it wants to stay true to the spirit of the original Deus Ex, allowing players to choose their own approach to each level. Depending on the augmentations players choose, they can go through each part of the game with a focus on combat, stealth, hacking, or even social interactions. For more on the game, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.
