Remember the old days when first-person shooters were a fairly uncommon occurrence? I’m talking about the early 90’s when a game like Doom was able to garner tons of attention and an adoring fan base because of its graphical prowess and innovative gameplay. Sadly, those days are over. Go to your local GameStore and look on the shelves; you’ll find that they’re cluttered with FPS titles, and most of them are half-assed attempts to earn a buck. Sure, you’ll occasionally stumble on the likes of Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, but for the most part the FPS genre has become tired and played-out.

While Bad Company goes a little beyond the multitude of half-assed FPSs, it still falls short of a full-assed game. Hit the jump for the full review.
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Just a quick little post here to make sure everyone knows that there is a very good chance that Sony will be debuting the next installment in the hit action-adventure series, God of War, at E3 this year, according to Eurogamer. And why wouldn’t they? Microsoft has already announced its AAA title, Gears of War 2, for the upcoming holiday season. Sony needs to give its fans something to put on their Christmas lists this year as well. As for me? I need to get my ass in gear and play God of War II…

[Via Kotaku]

EA Redwood, refusing to be content with the idea that a head shot can stop your attacker cold, has released new game play footage demonstrating death by total dismemberment. That’s right; only total dismemberment can keep these aliens at bay. Hit the jump to find out more information and impressions from the footage.
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Being the huge fans of the Guitar Hero series that most of us here at MEGATONik are, we’ve managed to stumble, and I do mean stumble, across the complete track listing for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. I was pretty leary about picking this edition up because I thought it would be nothing but songs done by Aerosmith, but I’m glad to report that only about 63% of the 41 songs listed below are.
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Activision is (probably) working on a superhero title (that’s not Spider-Man) called Powers & Titans (that has nothing to do with the above picture of the Watchmen) that’s all about working with teams. “Super teams.” The title will be available for the 360, PS3, and Wii, and will offer gamers the chance to work with friends to complete multiplayer missions. Although the game is mainly focusing on multiplayer aspects, and working with a team, there will be a single player campaign. Players will be able to create their own character and use them for battle, very much similar to City of Heroes.

As all of the leaks today, this isn’t definite. Still, Powers & Titans sounds like a solid idea.

With Metal Gear Solid 4 being just a few days away, Konami wants to remind you of some of the most awkward times in MGS history. Enjoy the embarrassment.

I haven’t really paid much attention to Dark Void since it was announced last year, but the new concept art and screenshots have excited my interest. It looks like a cool, somewhat unique sci-fi shooter (a genre which I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of), and the fact that you can fly (with the assistance of a jet pack) instantly makes this game seem much more intriguing than just what the detailed looking robots and generic environments did. Dark Void’s “adrenaline-fuelled blend of aerial and on-foot combat” and promise to “[take] 3D action to a whole new level” is what sets it apart. While every shooter these days has something to make it stand out from all the others, this sounds like it could actually be pretty awesome if executed well.

It also claims to have a “mysterious thought-provoking storyline based on conspiracy theory and strange phenomenon,” which could end up being interesting - with the exception of the unbelievably generic main character, a “regular pilot turned unlikely superhero in a wild ride to save humanity.” That’s a direct quote from the fact sheet, but it would fit right in almost any recent game press release.

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According to Far Cry 2’s producer Louis-Pierre Pharand, the single player campaign in the game could last up to 50 hours. While there are games that last that long (and longer), it’s usually role-playing games like Oblivion, not first person shooters like Far Cry 2. I would assume that’s because of the nature of first person shooters; they are usually fast-paced and more frantic, which means everything is a lot more packed and takes more work to create less play time. This is also what many FPS fans expect and enjoy, and a genre that is usually fast-paced could become tedious if stretched over the equivalent of more than two straight days.

However, the wording of Pharand’s claim didn’t seem as confident as many of the other numbers game producers throw around, and instead sounded more like an optimistic guess:

“Just on single alone, gamers can potentially have close to 50 hours of game play”

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Despite having a ton to do this weekend, such as job hunting, selling stuff on eBay, writing, and wedding planning, I found time to play Battlefield: Bad Company. I got one of the early demo codes for PS3, and after a quick download I was in.

Single player plays much like the other Battlefield games I’ve played on PC. You’re part of a squad, you go here, and do that. You get to pick your class (assault, medic, demolition, etc.) and each class gets a weapon and some sort of explosive, grenades, rocket launcher, charges… the list goes on. Graphics are impressive, with well detailed landscapes and character models. Bits of buildings and trees explode under tank fire causing the air to choke with smoke and debris, and when you take damage the screen’s edges start to blur and dim to red.

Gameplay in the single player campaign was easy. I felt at times my companion AI was dumber than it needed to be, providing little support or cover in heavy firefights or mission objectives. But despite the hiccups I breezed through the single player in a few hours.

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Part of this week’s DLC might be free for those of us who pre-ordered the new Disturbed album from Best Buy. The rest of us will just have to get the tracks at the discounted price!

The following tracks will be available on Xbox Live’s Marketplace beginning June 3rd:

• “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffett
• “Cheeseburger in Paradise” by Jimmy Buffett
• “Volcano” by Jimmy Buffett
• “Indestructible” by Disturbed
• “Inside the Fire” by Disturbed
• “Perfect Insanity” by Disturbed

All of the tracks are original master tracks. Jimmy Buffett recorded new tracks just for use in Rock Band. The Jimmy Buffett tracks will cost 440 Microsoft Points for all three songs or 160 Microsoft Points for individual tracks. The Disturbed pack will be available for 240 Microsoft Points or 80 Microsoft Points for individual songs, but this price is only available for a limited-time! The video for “Inside the Fire” is above. Hit the jump for previews of the other five tracks.

I’m happy to see the Disturbed tracks available. I’ve felt that the hard rock/metal scene has been neglected, so I’m happy to see these tracks. How do you guys like the new DLC?

[via Harmonix]

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Resident Evil has always been one of my favorite game series. The suspense of having a zombie or mutant dog jump out and attack me is second-to-none. Nothing beats the warm, fuzzy feeling I get knowing that I get to keep my kidney for a little while longer.

A new Resident Evil 5 trailer has been released that just looks sweet. There were a couple moments with tons of zombies on screen as well as some suspenseful moments. Capcom is getting ready to give me the bloody good time I want. What do you guys think? Are you all excited for some zombie killing?

Resident Evil 5 will be released in 2009 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

[via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Now, I know that video games with some amount of sex appeal tend to sell well, but I’m pretty sure that only works if the sex appeal in question doesn’t say stupid one-liners like, “Don’t be afraid of women with muscles, boys; we are not afraid of yours.” Ugh.

Anyway, this is Gina Carano, and she’ll be playing Natasha in Red Alert 3. This is shameless, EA. I’m surprised you guys don’t just have her playing with a tiberium dildo or something…

Everybody loves contests, and here at MEGATONik, we totally get that. That’s why we’re committed to giving as much as humanly possible to our readers.

Today, the guys at EA were nice enough to provide us with a batch of demo codes for Battlefield: Bad Company that let you play the demo before it’s officially released onto XBL and PSN on June 5th.

So, what I’m going to do is, until I run out, pick one or two people who comment on this post every so often over the next day and hook them up with these codes. Just make sure your comment says whether you want it for 360 or PS3.

Easy enough, right?

WINNERS:

After it was announced that the next Guitar Hero game would incorporate other instruments to the game, fans began speculating on the price. Well, GameStop placed the prices of the game up on its website, revealing that the bundles for the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 will cost $20 more than Rock Band’s special edition bundle cost - $189.99. The PS2’s bundle will cost $10 less, at $179.99.

To purchase just the guitar and game, it will cost $99.99. The game is priced at $59.99 for 360 and PS3 owners, while PS2 and Wii owners can buy Guitar Hero: World Tour for $49.99. The game will release October 27, 2008.

[Via Kotaku]

The first screenshots of the upcoming PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 Prince of Persia game have been released, and it’s looking great. As previously speculated and then confirmed, it’s cel-shaded, and these pictures show that they’ve done a great job giving it a nice, crisp, unique look. If I didn’t know otherwise I would think some of these were concept art (the last one is anyway), and it’ll be interesting to see how everything looks in motion.

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