MEGATONik readers rejoice! We’ll be recording the first episode of The Mushroom Cloud tonight around 7 PM EST.

Here’s what will be up for debate on the first show:

• Introduction (or why we’re awesome)
• Games We’re Playing and Recommend
• We discuss games that made us want to cry out of frustration.
• Reviews of Battlefield: Bad Company and Dragon Balls Z: Burst Limit by Wonko
• Mega Man 9 (and other releases this week)
• E3 impressions
• Quick babble about an upcoming contest

Be sure to leave your most frustrating game, E3 thoughts, or anything else you’d like us to know in the comments. We may use your comments on the show!

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.

After seeing some of the videos that were put out featuring the Bad Company parodying Gears of War, Rainbow Six, and Metal Gear Solid, I was itching to dig into the campaign mode. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to dig into. The whole thing took me a measly 5 hours to beat, but I’m sure I could rush through it in under 2 hours. This might be forgivable if the story they put in place was actually completed by the end of the campaign. You see, the game follows 4 characters: Haggard, a greedy southerner with explosion-lust, Sweetwater, a techie that “accidentally” downloaded a virus onto military machines, Redford, the sergeant of B-Company who took the job to shorten his term, and Preston Marlowe, the player-controlled protagonist who never gives a reason for landing in B-Company beyond a mention that whatever he did was unspeakable. The basic plot that brings these characters together is that there’s a guild of assassins that have a bunch of gold and B-Company decides to go after it instead of follow military orders. While this bit of the story is technically resolved at the end, it seems like the developers figured, “hell, that’s a long enough campaign. Let’s wrap this shit up!”
While the characters are interesting and funny at first, they don’t develop much beyond what I described in the last paragraph. It would have been nice to at least find out why Preston landed in Bad Company or who the identity of the sexy voice on the troop’s communicator is. Story aside, though, the campaign is a fun-but-repetitive experience, with nearly every mission being either getting to a checkpoint or clearing an area of enemies.

Of course, like most FPS games these days, the focus is more on the multiplayer experience than the campaign. I felt that Bad Company’s multiplayer options were extremely lacking. There’s only one playable mode: attackers and defenders, where you’re thrust into a fight to obtain or defend cases of gold. It’s fun for a while, but with only one mode it gets stale quickly. In fact, the only variation I noticed in the several matches that I played was that there are a few different classes to pick from, though the only real difference there is that you get a different gun to shoot people with. Some may argue that the different maps and vehicles add some flavor, but I felt like I was playing the same match over… and over… and over again. It doesn’t help that every map has the same dusty brown coloring and identical buildings scattered across them, or that there is no real variation in the vehicles placed at your base, or especially that you wind up doing the exact same mission every match you play. Worst of all, the PS3 version has absolutely zero voice chat support, which makes it impossible to organize with your teammates.

For all its faults, though, Bad Company still pulls together as a decent game. The gameplay mechanics are solid and it manages to deliver an overall fun experience. Still, I would avoid paying full price for this game and, if given the option, I would get it for the 360 so that I could actually talk to my teammates.

Just a quick post, since I’m moderately excited for this. As I’ve never gotten the chance to play the original, it’s good news to hear that the SNES classic is making its way onto the small screens. According to The Earth Times, the DS version will feature a new dungeon and some sort of wireless multiplayer. Woo!

The gaming industry is looking at its very own battle of the bands later this year as Guitar Hero: World Tour vies for your holiday dollars against Harmonix’s Rock Band 2. For those of you that haven’t traded a paycheck for the original Rock Band already, it’s going to be a tough choice. Hit the jump for info

In an interview with IGN, Dan Teasdale revealed plenty of delicious information on how Rock Band 2 will hold its own against the Guitar Hero behemoth. Here’s a quick bullet list of the useful information:

-Rock Band’s DLC will carry over to Rock Band 2
-Future DLC releases will work with both RB and RB2
-Rock Band 2’s bundle will feature quieter, more solidly-built instruments
-There will be some sort of mode that allows for instrument free play

Teasdale put an emphasis on Harmonix’s credo of “innovating, then refining” and said that they tried to take everything that people asked for in the original and applied it to Rock Band 2. While pricing for the bundle has yet to be announced, I’d expect something in the area of $160. The disk itself will, of course, only cost $60 and work with all your old Rock Band controllers.

Oh, and look at this awesome new guitar:

Fucking awesome.

Another week, another update to Nintendo’s download service. This update brings us two solid options for spending our hard-earned Wii Points, although you might find that they’re both just a touch overpriced.

On the Virtual Console we get SNK’s classic Fatal Fury 2 (900 Wii Points) for the Neo-Geo. This sequel to the original hit brings us 5 new playable fighters in addition to the original 3 (including the lascivious Mai… yum.) Like the rest of Neo-Geo’s titles, Fatal Fury is inexplicably expensive for a virtual console title, so I’m going to suggest this one to fighter fans and suggest that everybody else save their points for better deals.

WiiWare has given unto us Magnetica Twist (1000 Wii Points). While I’d normally say that ten bucks is too high a price for a game that you can find a clone of for free online, but Magnetica Twist actually seems to be packed with enough features to warrant the price. For one, it boasts a multiplayer mode that can support up to 4 people. Moreover, instead of copping out and using the Wii’s IR for pointing and shooting, they’ve instead opted to use the Wiimote’s accelerometer so that you control where you shoot by twisting your wrist. Honestly, this decision makes it a lot more fun than it would have been otherwise. I definitely recommend this title for anybody, especially if you have a penchant for puzzle games.

That’s all for this update! Tune in next week; same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

A few days ago, Major Nelson gave us word of a new tool that Xbox owners could use to regain licenses for their downloaded content such as Arcade games and add-ons. The Microsoft DRM has been a point of considerable debate, as users can only use their content on one registered console without being connected to the Internet. This was exacerbated by the fact that the Xbox 360 has a less-than-exemplary hardware reliability and so many users who had to get their consoles replaced (including myself) found the content that we had paid for crippled due to the games not being played on the console with which they were originally downloaded. Until this new DRM management tool was released, Xbox users had no way of transferring their licenses. Have I lost you?

Hit the jump for more details on what is possibly the most inept remedy I’ve ever seen.

Luckily, only two and a half years later, Microsoft was kind enough to release the aforementioned DRM tool, which consolidates all of a user’s licenses onto one console. The only problem is that the process is a major pain in the ass. It involves a computer, your Xbox 360, and a shitload of patience.

The first step is transferring every license onto one console using Xbox.com. Simple enough. Then you have to log in to you Gamertag on your Xbox 360 and… here’s the best part… download everything again, manually, one by one. That means every single map pack, Rock Band track, and XBLA game. This is done by going through the terribly organized Download History section of the XBL marketplace, forcing you to wade through every little theme and game trailer that you don’t want anymore. Redownloading content only means transferring the licenses (all of the other data is already on the hard drive) so it only takes a second, but you also have to wade through the blade interface for every single item.

Take a look at this:

One last hiccup was that some items were fully redownloaded, and after regaining every license I had to search my hard drive for duplicate map packs and Arcade games. It was the icing on the diarrhea cake that was my whole DRM ordeal.

It’s nice to have full control of my paid content again, but could Microsoft really not come up with a better solution than manually redownloading every single item?

As an added bonus, why read about the process when you can be condescended to by Major Nelson? I just wish he would talk a little slower.

Choice quote: “It’s quick and simple!”

Just a quick post here. As revealed in Thierry Nguyen’s Liveblog, the much-anticipated return to the world of Diablo is finally a reality. Good to hear that Blizzard is now working on a new game for all three of its major platforms–let’s just hope they can get all these titles out in a timely fashion. Then again, it’s never been Blizzard’s style to release any game before it was finished, so I would wager a guess that we won’t be seeing D3 on shelves until sometime in 2010.

Anyway, here’s a quick bullet list of some of the new features:

-Keeps the isometric view of past Diablo games
-Shouldn’t require a high-end machine to run; relies on stylized graphics to look pretty (good call, Blizz)
-Some environments are now destructable
-A new class, Witch Doctor, has the ability to control swarms of locusts, launch fire bombs, and use some sort of mind-control power
-Red orbs drop to heal you instead of potions

In short, this game looks pretty slick. Let’s hope that online play is still on Battle.net and not on a paid server instead! Hit the jump for media, and be sure to give your two cents on the forum!

[via 1up.com and the sexalicious Phil Kollar]

The staff has been hard at work preparing to start recording what we like to call “The Mushroom Cloud,” MEGATONik’s new podcast dedicated to serious and not-so-serious discussion on facts that are important to gamers. We’re not talking about the latest sales figures or boring things that people in suits care about. The Mushroom Cloud will go that extra mile to give you the latest gaming news, thoughts, and enough not-safe-for-work jokes to land you in your office’s gender-sensitivity training for the rest of the week. We’re doing this for you, our readers, because we care.

We’re finishing up the details and preparing to record our first episode next week. Prepare yourself for a show that will take your questions and discuss with us live. Expect reviews, live games, and plenty of ridiculous humor that will leave you rofl-ing all over yourself. Nasty, huh?

We’ll be posting show notes and much more for the first episode in the middle of next week. Until then, let us know if you’ve got any ideas for topics, features, or live games. I promise that this podcast will be worth your time, or I’ll post embarrassing pictures of Cortez. You’ll be entertained either way.

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.

In a video interview, Dead Space executive producer Glen Schofield discusses the need for the player to totally dismember the enemy. If the player destroys the legs of an enemy, the enemy will continue to pursue the player by dragging itself with it’s own arms. The enemy can also continue to pursue the player without a head. I don’t completely understand how that’s actually possible, but, if some bugs can live without their heads for short periods of time, I suppose an alien could too.

I noticed several pros and cons during the video. The AI appears to be somewhat flaky at times. You’ll notice in the game play video (below) that the aliens are next to the player but don’t appear to be doing any damage. The aliens in the hallway also just stand in the hallway rather than charging at the player. There could be some other mechanics at work here that I’m unaware of, but both of these happenings seem odd.

The graphics look excellent, but I think I’m noticing slight differences in the blood splatter. There is not nearly as much blood splatter when an enemy is attacked, but the blood splatter direction seems to be more dependent on where the enemy is attacked on the body rather than being random. I’m perfectly okay with this trade-off.

I’m still very excited to play this game. The anti-gravity areas, telekinesis gun, and victims of total alien dismemberment that await us will be an excellent addition to this year’s Halloween celebrations. Any thoughts on these videos or anything I’ve mentioned above? Between the video and horrible monitor I’m using to write this article at work, I could very well be mistaken (or just completely wrong).

Dead Space will be available on October 27th (or around Halloween) for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

[via GameTrailers]

EA3 Dismemberment Gameplay

Speaking at the Paris Game Developers Conference, EA’s David McCarthy revealed that within the next year, EA Sports games will be bundled with peripherals. McCarthy said “I think you’ll see games using that Rock Band peripheral strategy from EA Sports, even within the next 12 months,” so long as the accessibility of a game isn’t compromised. McCarthy did not expand on whether or not the peripherals would reach all three major consoles, or even what specific games they are being developed for.

Regardless of the game, I think we can all agree that this console generation’s obsession with peripherals is getting a little out of hand. Whatever happened to picking up just a disc whenever we wanted a new game? Now I have to get an entirely new controller. The recently announced Guitar Hero 4 is supposed to have drums as well, and I sure as hell don’t need two drum sets.

This leads me into a greater argument about sports games as a whole. I feel that if you really want to play a sport, then go out and play it! There is some rationality to using a standard controller and playing online, but if someone is already swinging a virtual bat, that’s just one step away from actually playing baseball. Some may argue that music games such as Rock Band should follow the same guidelines, but learning the basics of an instrument is definitely more time-consuming than learning the basics of a sport. If you’ve ever had gym class, you should know how to play basketball.

Hey, EA, why not get to work on a new SSX instead?

[Via Gamesindustry.biz]

Valve has finally provided a release date for Left 4 Dead as well as shared some interesting information about the AI systems at work in their upcoming zombie-shooter title.

In an interview with Left 4 Dead project lead Mike Booth, Booth discusses the game’s “AI Director.” The AI Director monitors what each player is doing and makes sure that there are plenty of high and low points in the action to prevent an unstoppable army of zombies. The game will also procedurally place zombies to help create the high and low points of action rather than randomly or manually placing the zombies on the map. There are a few points in the video where this feature becomes evident when a zombie rushes up behind the player to cause pain and suffering.

Turtle Rock has also released a series of videos showing the game play in action and highlighting some seriously hectic moments in game play. I’ve embedded all of the videos below after the jump.

I don’t know how you guys feel about this game, but I’m ready for some zombie killing fun. How do you guys feel about this game, and will you guys be joining me on release date? I can’t fight zombie hoards alone.

Left 4 Dead will be released November 4th for the Xbox 360 and PC platforms. Turtle Rock hasn’t revealed any PS3 details as of yet.

[via GameTrailers]

EA3 CAM Painkillers Gameplay

EA3 CAM Scale and Survive Gameplay

EA3 Subway Salvation Gameplay

EA3 CAM Tongue Torture Gameplay

Another Monday means that Nintendo’s added new games to their online store. This week America gets a grand total of 3 new games to wreak havoc on your Wii’s internal memory. What will YOU be spending your hard-earned Wii Points on? Find out after the jump!

First up is the first game featuring SEGA’s long-since defunct mascot, Alex Kidd in Miracle Land (500 Wii Points). Originally released for the Master System, Alex Kidd was SEGA’s attempt to emulate the success of Super Mario Brothers. Basically you run around as the illustrious Kidd jumping on platforms and punching the daylights out of anything and everything that gets in your way. For those of you interested in downloading this game, beware: Alex Kidd is notorious for the rock, paper, scissors matches that occur before every boss fight. Essentially, you’re forced into a game of chance and if you win you get the opportunity to fight the boss. If you lose, you die instantly. I would only recommend this game to SEGA fans that want to get a good glimpse at the company’s roots. (Wait, are there still SEGA fans?)

Virtual Console’s other game this week is Neo Geo’s Burning Fight (900 Wii Points). Burning Fight is yet another side-scrolling co-op beat-’em-up game in the same vein as Golden Axe or Streets of Rage. Actually, Burning Fight is basically just a worse version of SNK’s Final Fight, and at a whopping 900 Wii Points, I can’t possibly recommend this game and keep a clear conscience. I don’t see why Nintendo keeps putting games like this up on Virtual Console when there’s still a backlog of really good games that people would actually download… maybe I’m just sour because I’m still waiting for Super Mario RPG, Earthbound, and Chrono Trigger.

Lastly is Gyrostarr (700 Wii Points), which is my personal favorite of this week’s bunch. Gyrostarr looks like Galaga on crack. The game has you and up to 3 friends flying through an F-Zero-like “technoplasma” track gathering energy in order to activate some sort of gate at the end of the level. Boasting 50 stages and the unique ability for two players to play on the same controller, not to mention some classic shoot-’em-up gameplay, this is a must-download.

[Via Virtual Console Reviews]

[Note: This review may reveal a few plot points in the Indiana Jones franchise. If you would prefer not to have any part of the story spoiled, I would recommend not reading this review. Also, you should be ashamed for not having seen the films.]

Legos are awesome. If there is one toy that defined my childhood, it would be Legos. That’s why I was immediately attracted to Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. It seems like a perfect equation: Legos + Indiana Jones = Adorable fun. Obviously released to coincide with the newest theatrical sequel in the George Lucas franchise, is the blocky version of the trilogy awesome or did I choose… poorly?

Lego Indiana Jones isn’t the first of its kind. Developer Traveller’s Tales has previously worked on the hugely successful Lego iterations of the Star Wars trilogies. Lego Indiana Jones follows the same basic template as the first two games. You play through all of the famous scenes of the films, but (big surprise) everything is made out of Legos. The graphics certainly won’t wow you, but the characters animate well and the Lego items seem meticulously constructed. Most of the environments are destructible, and constructing items out of the bricks is a large aspect of the gameplay. It’s definitely a standard platformer, but in a generation devoid of them, it’s a welcome break from all of the FPSes and RPGs.

The game permeates with a great sense of whimsy. All of the characters of the film are faithfully recreated as are important setpieces. The pantomime cutscenes are actually better off for their lack of dialogue, and are utterly charming. The faithfulness to the trilogy is only compromised once, when the Knight of the Grail in Last Crusade becomes an enemy to Indy as he tries to choose the correct Grail, completely changing the nature of the character. It’s also a bummer that there are no references to Nazism, but considering that target audience, it’s completely understandable.

On the subject of the game’s target audience, it shouldn’t surprise you that the game is incredibly easy. Gamers looking for a challenge need not waste their time with this kid-friendly game. It’s impossible to die, the platforming elements aren’t very difficult, and the game tells you exactly where to place parts. The problem with the puzzle elements is that some of them are not very obvious. For instance, one puzzle required finding three different crates in the environment. Two of them were no sweat, but the third was only available after destroying a specific truck. None of the other trucks gave any items, so I dismissed the rest as a waste of time and ended up running in circles for twenty minutes.

The control scheme was also a bit of a hassle. The game uses only the left analog stick and four face buttons. That means one button serves multiple functions. On the 360, the Y button is used to switch characters and to ride animals, which is frustrating when trying to hop onto an elephant sends you over to Willie Scott. Likewise, the X button is used to pick up objects and attack. I understand the need to simplify the controls for younger players, but the control scheme could still use a little work.

Lego Indiana Jones has a ton of longevity. Collecting artifacts for bonus levels, as well as stud pieces in order to purchase other playable characters will add hours onto the game’s playing time. While playing in Free Mode with any character to unlock secret areas is a treat, the unlockable characters are really digging at the bottom of the barrel. Why would I want to play as the castle butler who shows up for two seconds? Many of the 60 different characters are actually just costume swaps for Indy and his main cohorts.

The appeal of Lego Indiana Jones is to fans of the series. Those who have never seen the trilogy may not be able to follow the wordless cutscenes or get any of the self-referential jokes. If you love the movies, you’ll love the game, but if you have no idea who Short Round is, it will just appear as a standard platformer.

4/5

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.

Tier 1: “Getting the Band Together” (Nipmuc High School)
1. “All the Young Dudes” by Mott the Hoople (cover)
2. “Draw the Line” by Aerosmith
3. “Dream Police” by Cheap Trick
4. “Make It” by Aerosmith (re-recorded)
5. “Uncle Salty” by Aerosmith

Tier 2: “First Taste of Success” (Max’s Kansas City)
6. “All Day and All of the Night” by The Kinks (cover)
7. “I Hate Myself for Loving You” by Joan Jett
8. “Movin’ Out” by Aerosmith (re-recorded)
9. “No Surprize” by Aerosmith
10. “Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith

Tier 3: “The Triumphant Return” (The Orpheum)
11. “Complete Control” by The Clash
12. “Livin’ on the Edge” by Aerosmith
13. “Love in an Elevator” by Aerosmith
14. “Personality Crisis” by New York Dolls (cover)
15. “Rag Doll” by Aerosmith

Tier 4: “International Superstars” (Moscow)
16. “Bright Light Fright” by Aerosmith
17. “King of Rock” by Run-D.M.C.
18. “Nobody’s Fault” by Aerosmith
19. “She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult
20. “Walk This Way” by Run-D.M.C. featuring Aerosmith

Tier 5: “The Great American Band” (Half Time Show)
21. “Always on the Run” by Lenny Kravitz
22. “Back in the Saddle” by Aerosmith
23. “Beyond Beautiful” by Aerosmith
24. “Dream On” by Aerosmith (re-recorded)
25. “Hard to Handle” by The Black Crowes (cover)

Tier 6: “Rock N Roll Legends” (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame)
26. “Cat Scratch Fever” by Ted Nugent
27. “Mama Kin” by Aerosmith (re-recorded)
28. “Sex Type Thing” by Stone Temple Pilots
29. “Toys In The Attic” by Aerosmith
30. “Train Kept A Rollin” by Aerosmith
31. “Guitar Battle vs Joe Perry” by Joe Perry

Bonus Songs (The Vault)
32. “Combination” by Aerosmith
33. “Kings and Queens” by Aerosmith
34. “Let The Music Do The Talking” by Aerosmith
35. “Mercy” by Joe Perry
36. “Pandora’s Box” by Aerosmith
37. “Pink” by Aerosmith
38. “Rats In The Cellar” by Aerosmith
39. “Shakin’ My Cage” by Joe Perry
40. “Talk Talkin” by Joe Perry
41. “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will be released on next Monday, the 30th of June for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PS2 systems.

[via Videogaming247]