Written by Micah Messer
PS Vita launched in North America about 6 months back with a pretty solid software launch lineup. Since that launch date, however, we haven’t gotten much of anything in terms of new games. Vita has also suffered from poor hardware sales, probably due to lack of games. The problem is, who is gonna want to develop games for a platform that has poor hardware sales? It’s a vicious cycle, and one that the Vita has been stuck in for nearly 6 months.
Everybody thought that this year’s E3 was gonna be Sony’s chance to talk about what they’re doing to improve upon Vita’s sales and software lineup. However, the Vita seemed like more of an afterthought at the show. Other than showing a new game or two and announcing a new bundle, the Vita was almost completely ignored. Thankfully, Sony heard our concerns. At their Gamecom 2012 press conference, PS Vita was the star of the show.
Written by Micah Messer
For some reason it’s always seemed like developers are been afraid to create a realistic zombie survival game, instead relying on goofy zombie kills and silly weapon crafting. I don’t want to see how many zombies I can kill, I want to see how long I can survive. I don’t want to craft an electric chainsaw that zaps zombies to death. I want a game that forces me to scavenge for supplies that are essential for my survival. DayZ is that game– well, mod technically. Created for the game Arma 2, DayZ is a mod that puts the player in a massive open environment full of zombies and other players. Arma 2 being a realistic military simulator, naturally it turned out to be the perfect game for a hardcore zombie survival mod.
Written by Micah Messer
While Drinkbox studios is hard at work on their next title, Guacamelee, I thought I’d take the time to review their previous PS Vita game, Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack! I’m just gonna come out and say that if you own a Vita, Mutant Blobs Attack is a must buy. One part Katamari, and two parts platformer, this game has you rolling around as a mutant blob, completing puzzles, clearing obstacles and eating everything in sight. Its biggest downside is the length of the game, which sits at no more than 4 hours on your first playthrough, but the price is set at a reasonable $7.99
The Mass Effect trilogy is one of the most memorable and character-driven experiences in gaming today. The first game came with massive potential, with developer Bioware promising an epic sci-fi tale with lasting choices that would carry over from game to game. This kind of thing had never really been done before in games. However, the ending to Mass Effect 3 left most people feeling short-changed. In response to an overwhelming number of people asking for clarification on the events of the game’s ending, Bioware has released the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut.
If you don’t want the ending spoiled or just don’t feel like reading the article, know that the extended cut fixes some problems, but not all. It takes the ending from abysmal to acceptable.
[SPOILER WARNING]
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Rubick, The Grand Magus, is one of the funniest heroes to be added to the Dota 2 beta so far, so I decided to make a montage of some of my experiences with him. His ultimate allows him to steal the last spell cast by the target hero. So, as you can imagine, hilarity ensues. Enjoy!
-Micah Messer
In response to the fan outrage at the ending of the acclaimed Mass Effect trilogy, Bioware released Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut today. You can expect our thoughts on this potential “fix” of the ending of this remarkable series within the next few days.
Written by Micah Messer
I don’t play a lot of horror games, but Amnesia: The Dark Descent is, far and away, the scariest game I have ever played. It’s not hard to tell that true survival-horror games are hard to come by these days. After this year’s E3, which showed off Resident Evil 6’s explosion tsunami and some of Dead Space 3’s more action-centric gameplay, triple A survival-horror games seem to be on their way out. So what is a true survival-horror enthusiast supposed to do? Well, you can turn to a small indie developer named Frictional Games. Amnesia focuses so much on scaring the crap out of you and immersing you in its world that, for better or worse, there’s little else to the game at all.
The story here is actually pretty decent and well told. You play as Daniel, a man who wakes up on the floor of a room in the absurdly creepy Castle Brennenburg, with no memory of past events. The story revolves heavily on you recovering your memories, usually through notes written by your past-self, or conversations that come back to you after visiting certain areas. As I said, the story is pretty well told, albeit somewhat reliant on you finding and reading the majority of the notes scattered throughout the castle. But as long as you’re opening drawers and searching desks (which you’re going to want to be doing anyway) you’ll find enough of them to keep you in the loop.
Get used to this level of vision.
In exciting news, Nintendo has announced a super sized 3DS system to be released this year, on August 19th. It will retail for a mere $30 more than the regular sized 3DS, at the price of $199.99. The screens will be 90% bigger, making your 3D experience even more immersive and impressive.
Written by Nathan Love and Micah Messer
Every Blizzard release is one of the most hotly-anticipated games of the year, and Diablo III certainly was no exception. Blizzard didn’t even need to promise a lot for the expectations of gamers worldwide to be through the roof- the teasers, trailers, and beta leaks were more than enough to whet the appetites of Diablo fans and new players alike. We here at IPGR simply couldn’t wait to see what kind of pointer-finger-tiring fun we could get into- and it turns out, it’s quite a bit.
The gameplay is no surprise to anyone who played Diablo II (or, realistically, even Torchlight, or other point-and-click action RPGs). You click to move your character around, you have a variety of spells and abilities at your disposal based on your class that you can bind to your mouse buttons and keyboard, and you use them against vast hordes of monsters to turn them into delicious monster jelly. Monsters drop gold and loot, you equip what you like, disenchant what you don’t, craft more loot, kill more monsters, lather, rinse, and repeat ad nauseam. Diablo III is, like its fellows in the genre and its previous installments, not much more than a loot grinder at its core, but there’s still quite a bit of fun to be had reducing thousands of demons to a fine red paste. 
Written by Micah Messer
Playstation Vita launched with a pretty fantastic lineup, consisting of over 20 physical and downloadable titles. Escape Plan, made by some of the minds behind the PSN title, Fat Princess, is definitely one of the most promising games among that group. A puzzler that makes full use of the Vita’s front and back touch pads to the extent that buttons aren’t used at all. It takes a bit to get used to, but this game is well worth it. Its presentation is undeniably unique and filled with charm, and the game itself is a joy to play. Oh, and it’s only $15 on the PSN.
The best way to describe Escape Plan’s appearance would be to say it’s a mixture of Limbo and LittleBigPlanet. Limbo, for its eerie, black and white tone– LBP for its fun, light-hearted main characters, Lil and Laarg. In addition to Escape Plan’s excellent visual style, it also has fantastic sound design. The game features a classical score including the likes of In the Hall of the Mountain King, and Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca. There’s also some jazzy tunes thrown in that fit the black and white art style perfectly. The game also uses the classic laugh, gasp and clap tracks as if there were a live studio audience watching Lil and Laarg stumble their way through Bakuki’s Lair.
I’ll bet you can guess who’s who.
IPGR 