Archive for February 21st, 2012

If you're one of the many still wandering around Tamriel you may want to check out the new Skyrim map app for iOS. Brought to us by Prima, the same folks who put together the official player's guide, the new app gives you a world map and 9 capital cities maps for free, while in-app purchases unlock the rest.

The app (which you can download here) will let you drop pins on different areas of the map and each one can be labeled with a note to remind why its there. It will also let you get a good look at a particular area by giving users the ability to zoom in 3200% - a necessary feature considering the ridiculous size of the Skyrim world.

While downloading the app itself is free, in-app purchases, which reveal things like marriage prospects, unique items, secondary locations, larceny targets and shrines, cost $0.99 each and there looks to be about 15 or more that can be unlocked. However, if you want to unlock everything in one shot you can pay $10 to do so, which would obviously save you a few bucks over purchasing each map item separately.

Sadly the app is only available for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad for the time being, but those of you using an Android device do have some alternative options available in the Android Market if you have the time to look around.

[Bethblog via Joystiq]

Related Posts:
Preview Transformers: Fall of Cybertron - There's A Lot Of Energon Left In The Tank
Review: 'The Darkness II' Is Not (Quite) A Shooter

--

Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

If you're one of the many still wandering around Tamriel you may want to check out the new Skyrim map app for iOS. Brought to us by Prima, the same folks who put together the official player's guide, the new app gives you a world map and 9 capital cities maps for free, while in-app purchases unlock the rest.

The app (which you can download here) will let you drop pins on different areas of the map and each one can be labeled with a note to remind why its there. It will also let you get a good look at a particular area by giving users the ability to zoom in 3200% - a necessary feature considering the ridiculous size of the Skyrim world.

While downloading the app itself is free, in-app purchases, which reveal things like marriage prospects, unique items, secondary locations, larceny targets and shrines, cost $0.99 each and there looks to be about 15 or more that can be unlocked. However, if you want to unlock everything in one shot you can pay $10 to do so, which would obviously save you a few bucks over purchasing each map item separately.

Sadly the app is only available for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad for the time being, but those of you using an Android device do have some alternative options available in the Android Market if you have the time to look around.

[Bethblog via Joystiq]

Related Posts:
Preview Transformers: Fall of Cybertron - There's A Lot Of Energon Left In The Tank
Review: 'The Darkness II' Is Not (Quite) A Shooter

--

Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

High Moon Studios has been busy doing something lately that often gets overlooked in the day and age of ship it and forget it: actually listening to the gamers. They listened to all of the feedback from Transformers: War for Cybertron and realized that they could have done some things better. But rather than hiding behind sales figures and metacritic scores, they've come right out and said "We've heard you, and we're going to make the next game better."

Which is pretty much the party line for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron which comes out later this year. The developers have been reading the reviews, scouring the forums, and even listening to Tweets and Facebook comments to improve the gameplay. The comments and critiques boiled down into four key areas, and they've addressed each of them while building a bigger and better game. And yes, we're completely ignoring the Transformers: Dark of the Moon video game. Shhhhh.

• Repetitive Visuals: Where Cybertron tended to look very similar everywhere you went in T:WfC, this time they've designed a multitude of different levels that play to the strengths of different Transformers, including new and returning Decepticons and Autobots. There's the "biggest level we could build in the Unreal engine and make it work" according to High Moon and utilizing a Decepticon named Vortex who has jet, helicopter, and robot forms. They've also brought Jazz into the game and there's a vertical level that uses his grappling hook and sniper rifle to mix things up.
• Artificial Intelligence: They've rewritten the AI to make smarter decisions, and in the process be better foes. In the last games, the enemies could often make puzzling decisions, making it easier to take them out. Or they'd get stuck in behavior loops, making it too easy to predict what they'd do next. Although you can't blame them too much. They are robots after all.

• Gameplay: High Moon has tweaked multiple elements about the core mechanics in the game. They found that simply adjusting the camera fixes many of the issues players were running into, and they've remapped buttons and peeled down each Transformer to their special feature, which is mapped to the right bumper. You'll also find a lot more bot variety this time around, with the addition of the Combaticons: Vortex, Onslaught, Blast Off, Brawl and Swindle who join together to form Bruticus, a massive, 70-foot-tall Decepticon. There's also a level featuring a city-sized Transformer named Metroplex, who Optimus Prime directs while he's battling down far below.
• Ammunition: People complained that there wasn't enough of it in T:WfC (and they were right), and now you'll find a lot more sprinkled around the levels. If only all the fixes were that easy!

The story picks up immediately after the events of the last game, finds the Autobots desperately trying to build the Ark and escape Cybertron while the war rages around them, and you'll play both factions (just like the last title) as you battle your way through. You'll even encounter familiar faces to Transformers fans like Jazz, Grimlock (who transforms awesomely into his fire-breathing dinosaur form when he builds up enough rage), and the cloaking Cliffjumper, voiced naturally by Nolan North.

High Moon has also added an extremely fun Character Creator into the game that allows you to mix and match hundreds of different Transformer parts to create your own bots. You can customize every part of them, from the class they are, to the vehicle they form, to the voice they'll have in the game. You can also customize their paint schemes on each part, even giving them metallic, reflective paint. But the best part is transforming them on the fly, letting you see the magic happen in front of you without the frustrating "Fold Arm A Into Slot B" from the toys.

It's a good sign when a developer listens closely to gamer feedback, and doesn't try to railroad their version of the game down your throat. While we enjoy unique takes on the gaming experience, sometimes it's just the small changes that can put things back on track. We fully enjoyed Transformers: War For Cybertron, but Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is shaping up to impress us even more. Look for it in the fall of 2012.

Related Posts:
Grimlock is Coming to Activision's 'Transformers: Fall of Cybertron'
Premiere Trailer: 'Transformers: The Fall of Cybertron'

--
Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

High Moon Studios has been busy doing something lately that often gets overlooked in the day and age of ship it and forget it: actually listening to the gamers. They listened to all of the feedback from Transformers: War for Cybertron and realized that they could have done some things better. But rather than hiding behind sales figures and metacritic scores, they've come right out and said "We've heard you, and we're going to make the next game better."

Which is pretty much the party line for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron which comes out later this year. The developers have been reading the reviews, scouring the forums, and even listening to Tweets and Facebook comments to improve the gameplay. The comments and critiques boiled down into four key areas, and they've addressed each of them while building a bigger and better game. And yes, we're completely ignoring the Transformers: Dark of the Moon video game. Shhhhh.

• Repetitive Visuals: Where Cybertron tended to look very similar everywhere you went in T:WfC, this time they've designed a multitude of different levels that play to the strengths of different Transformers, including new and returning Decepticons and Autobots. There's the "biggest level we could build in the Unreal engine and make it work" according to High Moon and utilizing a Decepticon named Vortex who has jet, helicopter, and robot forms. They've also brought Jazz into the game and there's a vertical level that uses his grappling hook and sniper rifle to mix things up.
• Artificial Intelligence: They've rewritten the AI to make smarter decisions, and in the process be better foes. In the last games, the enemies could often make puzzling decisions, making it easier to take them out. Or they'd get stuck in behavior loops, making it too easy to predict what they'd do next. Although you can't blame them too much. They are robots after all.

• Gameplay: High Moon has tweaked multiple elements about the core mechanics in the game. They found that simply adjusting the camera fixes many of the issues players were running into, and they've remapped buttons and peeled down each Transformer to their special feature, which is mapped to the right bumper. You'll also find a lot more bot variety this time around, with the addition of the Combaticons: Vortex, Onslaught, Blast Off, Brawl and Swindle who join together to form Bruticus, a massive, 70-foot-tall Decepticon. There's also a level featuring a city-sized Transformer named Metroplex, who Optimus Prime directs while he's battling down far below.
• Ammunition: People complained that there wasn't enough of it in T:WfC (and they were right), and now you'll find a lot more sprinkled around the levels. If only all the fixes were that easy!

The story picks up immediately after the events of the last game, finds the Autobots desperately trying to build the Ark and escape Cybertron while the war rages around them, and you'll play both factions (just like the last title) as you battle your way through. You'll even encounter familiar faces to Transformers fans like Jazz, Grimlock (who transforms awesomely into his fire-breathing dinosaur form when he builds up enough rage), and the cloaking Cliffjumper, voiced naturally by Nolan North.

High Moon has also added an extremely fun Character Creator into the game that allows you to mix and match hundreds of different Transformer parts to create your own bots. You can customize every part of them, from the class they are, to the vehicle they form, to the voice they'll have in the game. You can also customize their paint schemes on each part, even giving them metallic, reflective paint. But the best part is transforming them on the fly, letting you see the magic happen in front of you without the frustrating "Fold Arm A Into Slot B" from the toys.

It's a good sign when a developer listens closely to gamer feedback, and doesn't try to railroad their version of the game down your throat. While we enjoy unique takes on the gaming experience, sometimes it's just the small changes that can put things back on track. We fully enjoyed Transformers: War For Cybertron, but Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is shaping up to impress us even more. Look for it in the fall of 2012.

Related Posts:
Grimlock is Coming to Activision's 'Transformers: Fall of Cybertron'
Premiere Trailer: 'Transformers: The Fall of Cybertron'

--
Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

Let me reiterate so that your expectations are fully calibrated going in: although it has guns and you shoot enemies repeatedly, Digital Extremes' adaptation of the long-running Top Cow comic The Darkness II is simply not a shooter—or at least, that category is not at all where the game's virtues lie. It has more in common with something like Condemned or The Chronicles of Riddick, and later in this review I'm going to get around to why the shooting doesn't quite work. But the main draw here are the supernatural Darkness powers that give the game its name, and they do work within the context of a visceral, bloody gameplay experience woven through a pretty compelling story.

So what's inside The Darkness? Why does this game which effectively bill itself as an FPS work when the shooting part is pretty busted? Read on and find out.

THE BASICS

If you missed the first game or are kind of hazy on the details of the mob hitman-turned supernatural boss Jackie Estacado's story from the first game, he's now sitting on top of the world of New York organized crime while keeping his Darkness powers under wraps after being forced to watch his girlfriend Jenny die in the first game. The Darkness II opens with an attack on Jackie's night out with a couple of models (in one of the game's many abrupt eruptions of violence) and once again, Jackie is unleashing his dark powers—manifested here by twin tentacles and a little Cockney imp called a Darkling—against the Brotherhood, a group with nebulous, evil aims for Jackie's power. The Brotherhood's hazy, evil-for-evil's sake motivations are really the only strike against an otherwise pretty gripping and messed-up story as Jackie tries to maintain his grip on sanity while the Brotherhood and even the Darkness itself make his life an ongoing hell.

It would be fair to say that the presentation of the primary focus here and as a result the game (and gameplay) are broken into what feel like "boxes"—discrete chunks of the game and story that are heavily guided by the designers. It's actually a pretty complimentary relationship between the plot and primary mechanics which are all about these tightly-controlled combat encounters broken up by stretches of character interaction and sometimes surreal exploration. While it's not seamless, this breakdown really sells the different facets of Jackie's situation as a respected mob boss, as a nephew to a doting aunt, and later, as a crazy person.

But the combat's the thing, isn't it? And here's where you'll figure out if you want to stick around for The Darkness's crazy ride or if you want to get off at the first stop. The gameplay is based around what's effectively a simultaneous four weapon-wielding system or what Digital Extremes is calling quad-wielding: two weapons mapped to the shoulder buttons and your Darkness tentacles paired with the triggers (with variations allowing you to dual-wield some of the game's small arms). Your tentacles, lively things that they are can swipe at or grab enemies and objects and perform executions to give you health, ammo, and Dark Essence, and the latter can in turn be spent in a skill tree for new abilities, executions, etc. (and these carry over into a New Game , always welcome). The game brings back the health meter which can only be restored by eating the hearts of dead enemies and you can't regenerate or use your powers if you're in the light. You're also blind as a bat at those times, so shoot out light sources as soon as you see them.

Now consider the line of sight for most encounters and you'll see why I don't think The Darkness is especially interested in being a shooter (or at least, that's at the bottom of the list of things this game wants to be): for the bulk of the game, the enemies are kept in pretty close and you don't maintain a very long line of sight. Combat is usually very intimate (I think it was rare that enemies would be anything farther than a real-world distance of 20 feet away), and many of the enemy types will try to find an opportunity to rush you (and hey, that just puts them in range of your powers, doesn't it?).

The shooting itself is mostly—awkward, I guess is the best word I cam come up with to describe it. Shooting enemies is functional, but aiming through the reticule or gun sights never feels especially precise and, with the exception of the shotgun, it never feels like it hits the enemies all that hard. Contrast this with the nasty, violent kills and abilities you can pull off without too much fuss and you can see where The Darkness II's interests really lie.

Beyond the approximately six hour story, there's also the Vendetta mode, a single-player and co-op side story that runs parallel to the main game where you play as one of four Darkness-powered heavies investigating the spread of dark energy throughout the city. Digital Extremes messes around with the gameplay a bit here as each of the four killers you can play has a different melee weapon with associated Darkness power and varied (albeit way smaller than Jackie's) skill trees.

WHAT'S GOOD

A story that grabs you by the throat

While The Darkness II doesn't do nuance, that doesn't mean that it's not incapable of delivering some moments with a real punch to the gut. Jackie is a complicated character and between the individual moments in the game and the monologues he delivers between chapters, you get a better sense of how he's kind of the perfect vessel for the Darkness. More importantly, those moments where you're boxed in and made to wander around and see messed-up stuff (the sad things you see in the brothel come to mind) give the game's world a sickly life.

Special credit should be given to voice actor Brian Bloom for humanizing what's essentially a sociopath and Mike Patton for giving the Darkness its unsettling voice.

Quad-wielding kind of works

All the story in the world wouldn't matter if actually being able to play the game was a chore, and it's not... quite. When you're able to coordinate the shoot-tentacle-power-tentacle-shoot rhythm of the game (it took me a while) combat can be immensely satisfying. The most representative scenario is you're using an Uzi and pistols on a couple of enemies shooting at you from the distance but one of them runs in close for a melee attack and you stun him with an insect swarm, grab him, rip him apart, and use the remains as a human shield.

It's this sort of creative deployment of the abilities that makes and keeps the combat interesting throughout.

Wonderful "acting" thanks to the art style and animation

Watching the characters in motion, particularly during the cutscenes, is a pleasure. A little less so during combat, but only because there's no real time to appreciate their movement as you're trying to kill them. Jackie's kind of friend/Darkness expert Johnny is the standout, all jittery and bug-eyed and really one of the most visually well-realized characters I've encountered recently.

The puppet show

There's a segment in the game where you can talk to a character with puppets. Do this.

WHAT'S BAD

Quad-wielding is still not quite where it needs to be

I mentioned up above that it took me a while to get into the rhythm of the action and the controls and that's in part because the shooting doesn't feel super-great and in part because it'll take a bit to orient your brain to the continuous stream of options available. Then there's the crowded screen, something that bothered me about the demo: between your tentacles and guns, it always feels like you're trying to peek around some onscreen element to see the bad guys, and I found that, for me at least, this was an extra challenge in and of itself.

When you get it down, it's great, but there's a real learning curve there.

Don't call me "Rat-Face"

Jenny. She would be Jackie's dead girlfriend and one of the motivating elements of the plot and she's kind of... unpleasant? Her little nickname for Jackie grates and in flashback sequences, visions she feels really under-developed. I suppose I could go with the idea that we're seeing her mostly as Jackie remembers her, but she still comes off as a little too girlish as opposed to a woman with thoughts and getting us to sympathize with her was a real missed opportunity.

The clown joke

Not funny, guys. I mean, I laughed, but it wasn't funny.

THE VERDICT

I hope I've gotten across the sense that The Darkness II is kind of a complicated game to talk about, mostly because the presentation, story, and Darkness powers are such a blast while the shooting isn't really anything to get excited about. I don't think I could give the game an unqualified recommendation, especially for shooter fans, but it's so damned interesting and so well-executed in different ways that if you are willing to look past the gun handling, you'll find one of the more pleasantly brutal experiences of the new year.

The Darkness II is available now on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Related posts:

Protoype 2: The Second Time Is Actually The Charm
Review: 'Gotham City Impostors' Is the Real Deal

--
Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

Let me reiterate so that your expectations are fully calibrated going in: although it has guns and you shoot enemies repeatedly, Digital Extremes' adaptation of the long-running Top Cow comic The Darkness II is simply not a shooter—or at least, that category is not at all where the game's virtues lie. It has more in common with something like Condemned or The Chronicles of Riddick, and later in this review I'm going to get around to why the shooting doesn't quite work. But the main draw here are the supernatural Darkness powers that give the game its name, and they do work within the context of a visceral, bloody gameplay experience woven through a pretty compelling story.

So what's inside The Darkness? Why does this game which effectively bill itself as an FPS work when the shooting part is pretty busted? Read on and find out.

THE BASICS

If you missed the first game or are kind of hazy on the details of the mob hitman-turned supernatural boss Jackie Estacado's story from the first game, he's now sitting on top of the world of New York organized crime while keeping his Darkness powers under wraps after being forced to watch his girlfriend Jenny die in the first game. The Darkness II opens with an attack on Jackie's night out with a couple of models (in one of the game's many abrupt eruptions of violence) and once again, Jackie is unleashing his dark powers—manifested here by twin tentacles and a little Cockney imp called a Darkling—against the Brotherhood, a group with nebulous, evil aims for Jackie's power. The Brotherhood's hazy, evil-for-evil's sake motivations are really the only strike against an otherwise pretty gripping and messed-up story as Jackie tries to maintain his grip on sanity while the Brotherhood and even the Darkness itself make his life an ongoing hell.

It would be fair to say that the presentation of the primary focus here and as a result the game (and gameplay) are broken into what feel like "boxes"—discrete chunks of the game and story that are heavily guided by the designers. It's actually a pretty complimentary relationship between the plot and primary mechanics which are all about these tightly-controlled combat encounters broken up by stretches of character interaction and sometimes surreal exploration. While it's not seamless, this breakdown really sells the different facets of Jackie's situation as a respected mob boss, as a nephew to a doting aunt, and later, as a crazy person.

But the combat's the thing, isn't it? And here's where you'll figure out if you want to stick around for The Darkness's crazy ride or if you want to get off at the first stop. The gameplay is based around what's effectively a simultaneous four weapon-wielding system or what Digital Extremes is calling quad-wielding: two weapons mapped to the shoulder buttons and your Darkness tentacles paired with the triggers (with variations allowing you to dual-wield some of the game's small arms). Your tentacles, lively things that they are can swipe at or grab enemies and objects and perform executions to give you health, ammo, and Dark Essence, and the latter can in turn be spent in a skill tree for new abilities, executions, etc. (and these carry over into a New Game , always welcome). The game brings back the health meter which can only be restored by eating the hearts of dead enemies and you can't regenerate or use your powers if you're in the light. You're also blind as a bat at those times, so shoot out light sources as soon as you see them.

Now consider the line of sight for most encounters and you'll see why I don't think The Darkness is especially interested in being a shooter (or at least, that's at the bottom of the list of things this game wants to be): for the bulk of the game, the enemies are kept in pretty close and you don't maintain a very long line of sight. Combat is usually very intimate (I think it was rare that enemies would be anything farther than a real-world distance of 20 feet away), and many of the enemy types will try to find an opportunity to rush you (and hey, that just puts them in range of your powers, doesn't it?).

The shooting itself is mostly—awkward, I guess is the best word I cam come up with to describe it. Shooting enemies is functional, but aiming through the reticule or gun sights never feels especially precise and, with the exception of the shotgun, it never feels like it hits the enemies all that hard. Contrast this with the nasty, violent kills and abilities you can pull off without too much fuss and you can see where The Darkness II's interests really lie.

Beyond the approximately six hour story, there's also the Vendetta mode, a single-player and co-op side story that runs parallel to the main game where you play as one of four Darkness-powered heavies investigating the spread of dark energy throughout the city. Digital Extremes messes around with the gameplay a bit here as each of the four killers you can play has a different melee weapon with associated Darkness power and varied (albeit way smaller than Jackie's) skill trees.

WHAT'S GOOD

A story that grabs you by the throat

While The Darkness II doesn't do nuance, that doesn't mean that it's not incapable of delivering some moments with a real punch to the gut. Jackie is a complicated character and between the individual moments in the game and the monologues he delivers between chapters, you get a better sense of how he's kind of the perfect vessel for the Darkness. More importantly, those moments where you're boxed in and made to wander around and see messed-up stuff (the sad things you see in the brothel come to mind) give the game's world a sickly life.

Special credit should be given to voice actor Brian Bloom for humanizing what's essentially a sociopath and Mike Patton for giving the Darkness its unsettling voice.

Quad-wielding kind of works

All the story in the world wouldn't matter if actually being able to play the game was a chore, and it's not... quite. When you're able to coordinate the shoot-tentacle-power-tentacle-shoot rhythm of the game (it took me a while) combat can be immensely satisfying. The most representative scenario is you're using an Uzi and pistols on a couple of enemies shooting at you from the distance but one of them runs in close for a melee attack and you stun him with an insect swarm, grab him, rip him apart, and use the remains as a human shield.

It's this sort of creative deployment of the abilities that makes and keeps the combat interesting throughout.

Wonderful "acting" thanks to the art style and animation

Watching the characters in motion, particularly during the cutscenes, is a pleasure. A little less so during combat, but only because there's no real time to appreciate their movement as you're trying to kill them. Jackie's kind of friend/Darkness expert Johnny is the standout, all jittery and bug-eyed and really one of the most visually well-realized characters I've encountered recently.

The puppet show

There's a segment in the game where you can talk to a character with puppets. Do this.

WHAT'S BAD

Quad-wielding is still not quite where it needs to be

I mentioned up above that it took me a while to get into the rhythm of the action and the controls and that's in part because the shooting doesn't feel super-great and in part because it'll take a bit to orient your brain to the continuous stream of options available. Then there's the crowded screen, something that bothered me about the demo: between your tentacles and guns, it always feels like you're trying to peek around some onscreen element to see the bad guys, and I found that, for me at least, this was an extra challenge in and of itself.

When you get it down, it's great, but there's a real learning curve there.

Don't call me "Rat-Face"

Jenny. She would be Jackie's dead girlfriend and one of the motivating elements of the plot and she's kind of... unpleasant? Her little nickname for Jackie grates and in flashback sequences, visions she feels really under-developed. I suppose I could go with the idea that we're seeing her mostly as Jackie remembers her, but she still comes off as a little too girlish as opposed to a woman with thoughts and getting us to sympathize with her was a real missed opportunity.

The clown joke

Not funny, guys. I mean, I laughed, but it wasn't funny.

THE VERDICT

I hope I've gotten across the sense that The Darkness II is kind of a complicated game to talk about, mostly because the presentation, story, and Darkness powers are such a blast while the shooting isn't really anything to get excited about. I don't think I could give the game an unqualified recommendation, especially for shooter fans, but it's so damned interesting and so well-executed in different ways that if you are willing to look past the gun handling, you'll find one of the more pleasantly brutal experiences of the new year.

The Darkness II is available now on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Related posts:

Protoype 2: The Second Time Is Actually The Charm
Review: 'Gotham City Impostors' Is the Real Deal

--
Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

There has been a lot of attention paid to the PlayStation Vita's retail launch line-up, but that doesn't mean that the PlayStation Network doesn't have a little something to offer to new Vita owners as well. Nestled alongside 275 or so PSP games are a handful of Vita only titles, the most unique of which is Fun Bits Interactive's Escape Plan. It's the monochromatic adventure of two imprisoned test subjects as they try and escape their bleak fate with their lives intact.

Lil and Laarg are being held against their will in Bakuki's facility where bad things are happening. Players need to help Lil and Laarg escape by completing a series of puzzles, one room at a time. Control both characters by using the front and rear touch screens for standard moves (go forward with a swipe, touch to stop), as well as a unique skill based on their body size. Give Lil a pinch after he's had some coffee and he'll sprint across the screen, whereas Laarg can smash through walls and floors.

The Vita's graphics have been one of its biggest selling points since it was announced, with Uncharted being the flagship title used to demonstrate the console quality visuals. However, Escape Plan does just as good of a job showing off how crisp a game can look on the Vita's OLED by putting the system's grays to the test. If you've ever bought an HDTV then you know that the contrast ratio is one of the most important features, since being able to distinguish between different grays is what really defines images. Escape Plan's monochromatic color scheme really demonstrates the range of definition you can get from the Vita's glorious screen.

While Escape Plan does have a lot going for it, the game's controls may end up being a sticking point for some gamers. With touch being the main input method for the game, players will need to hold the Vita in one hand, and point with the other. While this is an easy task for a smaller device, like an iPhone, the Vita gets to be a little bulky when trying to hold it with just one hand, especially when you need to touch both the front and rear screens. It's far from ruining the experience, but it does take some getting used to.

Each room in Escape Plan is expertly designed, and will make even well versed gamers stop and think about their next move. However, as with most puzzle games, there's a very good chance that the twisted puzzles of Escape Plan are likely to become a bit too difficult later in the game, as new gameplay opens up to Lil and Large. Experienced gamers shouldn't have trouble balancing the sometimes-frantic gameplay with the precision controls. However, novice gamers might get frustrated trying to coordinate multiple touches on multiple screens in a very short period of time before Lil and/or Laarg die, again.

If nothing else, two of the absolute best things in Escape Plan are Lil and Laarg. The quiet couple should emerge from this release as newly minted stars. While neither character has a voice, or a mouth for that matter, their presence on screen is consistently entertaining and amusing. From Lil's caffeinated dance to Laarg's tendency to fall at the accidental tap, Fun Bits have created two are adorable characters that we'll hopefully see more from in the future.

Overall, Escape Plan is simply one of the most unique Vita launch titles - bringing creative gameplay mixed with entertaining characters to the small screen. While the controls may come with a bit of a learning curve, Escape Plan demonstrates how to create a well-designed, robust experience for a game with touch controls. The puzzles may get to be a little too challenging for some, but you never know what kinds of skills you may learn and be able to use the next time you wake up in a mysterious facility, with no clue how you got there. In other words, think of Escape Plan as more an investment in your future than anything else.

Related Posts:
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'Lumines Electric Symphony' Review - Like Blocks From Heaven

--
Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

There has been a lot of attention paid to the PlayStation Vita's retail launch line-up, but that doesn't mean that the PlayStation Network doesn't have a little something to offer to new Vita owners as well. Nestled alongside 275 or so PSP games are a handful of Vita only titles, the most unique of which is Fun Bits Interactive's Escape Plan. It's the monochromatic adventure of two imprisoned test subjects as they try and escape their bleak fate with their lives intact.

Lil and Laarg are being held against their will in Bakuki's facility where bad things are happening. Players need to help Lil and Laarg escape by completing a series of puzzles, one room at a time. Control both characters by using the front and rear touch screens for standard moves (go forward with a swipe, touch to stop), as well as a unique skill based on their body size. Give Lil a pinch after he's had some coffee and he'll sprint across the screen, whereas Laarg can smash through walls and floors.

The Vita's graphics have been one of its biggest selling points since it was announced, with Uncharted being the flagship title used to demonstrate the console quality visuals. However, Escape Plan does just as good of a job showing off how crisp a game can look on the Vita's OLED by putting the system's grays to the test. If you've ever bought an HDTV then you know that the contrast ratio is one of the most important features, since being able to distinguish between different grays is what really defines images. Escape Plan's monochromatic color scheme really demonstrates the range of definition you can get from the Vita's glorious screen.

While Escape Plan does have a lot going for it, the game's controls may end up being a sticking point for some gamers. With touch being the main input method for the game, players will need to hold the Vita in one hand, and point with the other. While this is an easy task for a smaller device, like an iPhone, the Vita gets to be a little bulky when trying to hold it with just one hand, especially when you need to touch both the front and rear screens. It's far from ruining the experience, but it does take some getting used to.

Each room in Escape Plan is expertly designed, and will make even well versed gamers stop and think about their next move. However, as with most puzzle games, there's a very good chance that the twisted puzzles of Escape Plan are likely to become a bit too difficult later in the game, as new gameplay opens up to Lil and Large. Experienced gamers shouldn't have trouble balancing the sometimes-frantic gameplay with the precision controls. However, novice gamers might get frustrated trying to coordinate multiple touches on multiple screens in a very short period of time before Lil and/or Laarg die, again.

If nothing else, two of the absolute best things in Escape Plan are Lil and Laarg. The quiet couple should emerge from this release as newly minted stars. While neither character has a voice, or a mouth for that matter, their presence on screen is consistently entertaining and amusing. From Lil's caffeinated dance to Laarg's tendency to fall at the accidental tap, Fun Bits have created two are adorable characters that we'll hopefully see more from in the future.

Overall, Escape Plan is simply one of the most unique Vita launch titles - bringing creative gameplay mixed with entertaining characters to the small screen. While the controls may come with a bit of a learning curve, Escape Plan demonstrates how to create a well-designed, robust experience for a game with touch controls. The puzzles may get to be a little too challenging for some, but you never know what kinds of skills you may learn and be able to use the next time you wake up in a mysterious facility, with no clue how you got there. In other words, think of Escape Plan as more an investment in your future than anything else.

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Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

Cartoon Network's Young Justice was one of the surprises of last year's new crop of animated series. Focusing on the sidekicks of the more well-known DC superheroes, it's got an interesting mix of angst, melodrama, and action while not going too far off-model in terms of design and characterization and of its young cast. Well, the series is getting its own multiplatform game release early next year from Little Orbit games.

More about the 2013 release after the jump.

With the release almost a full year out, there aren't a ton of details in the Little Orbit press release about Young Justice: Legacies, however we do know it will take place between the first and second seasons with a script by the show's writers, Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti. The gameplay will include online and local multiplayer (while no style of gameplay has been announced, I'm going to go with third-person brawler of some sort). It'll be hitting both the 360 and PS3 at launch and curiously, the Wii and DS (as opposed to their respective successors).

Young Justice will be back on the Cartoon Network March 3rd at 10:30 AM EST as part of their DC Nation animated block of programming.

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--
Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!

Cartoon Network's Young Justice was one of the surprises of last year's new crop of animated series. Focusing on the sidekicks of the more well-known DC superheroes, it's got an interesting mix of angst, melodrama, and action while not going too far off-model in terms of design and characterization and of its young cast. Well, the series is getting its own multiplatform game release early next year from Little Orbit games.

More about the 2013 release after the jump.

With the release almost a full year out, there aren't a ton of details in the Little Orbit press release about Young Justice: Legacies, however we do know it will take place between the first and second seasons with a script by the show's writers, Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti. The gameplay will include online and local multiplayer (while no style of gameplay has been announced, I'm going to go with third-person brawler of some sort). It'll be hitting both the 360 and PS3 at launch and curiously, the Wii and DS (as opposed to their respective successors).

Young Justice will be back on the Cartoon Network March 3rd at 10:30 AM EST as part of their DC Nation animated block of programming.

Related posts:

'Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3' (Vita) Re-Review – Ultimate Edition
Batman: Arkham City Creator Sefton Hill On The Secrets Of Successful Game Design

--
Discuss this story in our Gaming forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!