My Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Thoughts & The First 15 Minutes Over @ IGN

by Joshua Pruett

You had me at that logo. Look at it. It was a sealed deal with "Blood Dragon" in the title. I am just completely enthralled with that hot pink/electric blue gridded terrain and the font that looks like word art from Microsoft Works. (Yeah, I went there.) It's actually what piqued my interest to even look into the game a couple months ago. I loved Far Cry 3, don't get me wrong, but another game in that sandbox would get kind of old for me.

However, if you slap on a coat of paint that layers over-the-top, ridiculously outlandish throwbacks to my favorite '80's action movies/cartoons, then count me the heck in. Speaking of the 80's, the color palette in Blood Dragon makes this a far cry from being Far Cry. Not to say that Far Cry 3 wasn't colorful. Blood Dragon just magnifies the saturation levels to such greater heights.

Crimson red skies and bright cyan lens flares serve as a backdrop to brilliant fiery-orange explosions as you rip your way through the world's firefights. (I couldn't help but love the evil emblem of Colonel Sloan's army being projected from the rooftops. Reminds me of Cobra. Nice touch.)  I mean, you run around with a blade that glows light purple? Okie-dokie! I assume you will see every color within the spectrum. So much as they should have called it Far Cry 3: ROYGBIV. If you are color blind, it should be even more of a wild ride. Sure it's bold and flashy, but it's a world that I would love to explore because of it. Although it probably won't be for everybody, you got to admit it grabs your attention. Everything you do produces the results of rainbows hemorrhaging more rainbows.

This shouldn't deter FC veterans and fans too much. As far as story goes, there doesn't appear to be any correlation with the FC universe. It does take place on a remote island, but it seems like the only familiar thing to Far Cry 3 is that Blood Dragon just utilizes the engine and some of the game mechanics. It's not a rehashed, uninspired ripoff with a new skin either. That's clearly obvious. I am pretty curious to see what kind of surprises unfold, what enemies you will encounter and what weapons you will have access to as the game progresses. Another interesting venture would be multiplayer. I haven't seen anything concerning that, but given the setting, some co-op and/or deathmatch options would be wholeheartedly enticing.

Yes, the picture above actually happens. I loved it so much that I took this screenshot to use for this post. Cut scenes are righteously crafted. Pixel art is the perfect medium to totally capture the cheese factor for this game and to my knowledge, all of the cut scenes make use of it. The beginning shots of Rex being assembled had me rolling. There is plenty of voice acting that is just downright hilarious as well. (Rex is voiced by Michael Biehn from Terminator.) Check out the tutorials and note the animations. They are some of the funniest I have seen in a game. As far as music goes, the band Power Glove takes care of the soundtrack and boy, it really amps up the atmosphere with a Tron meets Terminator vibe. (PC players get the digital soundtrack when pre-ordering as a bonus.)

The most radical thing is, it's a standalone game. You don't have to own Far Cry 3. The asking price is $14.99, which is well worth it if you ask me. Do yourself a favor and go watch the video of the first 15 minutes from the boys over at IGN. You will laugh at this game's awesomeness and you will want to play it yourself. Trust me, if you love any references to action movies and cartoons from the 80's, this should be your bag. Who wouldn't want to mow down evil baddies with a chain gun from your helicopter while Little Richard blares in the background?

So who's planning on playing this?! What are your thoughts?! I want to know what you think!

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is expected to release May 1 on XBLA, PSN and Steam.
(However, PSN says April 30th?)

Photo credits: PC Gamer, IGN

Video credit: IGN

Best Upcoming Games of 2011 (Xbox 360, XBLA, PS3, PC) - Part 3

We are almost to the ridiculous holiday gaming season.  As for now, we have some fun distractions to keep us at bay until the craziness of amazing releases roll around.  Check out some more of the "Best Upcoming Games of 2011" below that I think are worth your time and money. Don't worry PS3, we have some exclusives for you just around the bend. (Continued from our ongoing list of the Best Upcoming Games of 2011 series.)

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Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet - XBLA, PC

Genre: Shooter / Metroidvania
Publisher: Fuelcell Games
Developer: Fuelcell Games
Release Date: August 3


The Summer of Arcade via XBLA kicked off with Bastion this week and Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet will be sweeping your Xbox 360 and PC shortly.  And what is this game exactly about you might ask?  It's a side scrolling shooter that pits you in a flying saucer, hovering and adventuring through planets with beautifully silhouetted martian landscapes and even more "martian" inhabitants.  You have an assorted variety of weapons at your disposal, huge bosses to defeat, puzzles to solve and plenty to explore a la Metroidvania-esque design. Did I mention the color and animations look exquisite and the music is grandiose?  This upcoming game is MARVELOUSLY DELICIOUS LOOKING!  

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Torchlight 2 - PC, Mac

Genre: Action RPG
Publisher: Runic Games
Developer: Runic Games
Release: Rumored July 2011 for PC / TBD for Mac


I loved Torchlight. It itches that fix of obsessive compulsive loot hoarding while keeping things fresh with randomized dungeons and detailed talent trees to customize all whilst looking bright and beautiful.  Just a super fun game.  I only really had one problem: the lack of multiplayer.  This time around, Runic has added drop-in-and-out multiplayer, allowing for you to take or search for a buddy, join in for some hackin' and slashin' and continue on your merry way with what ever loot and experience you picked up.  Wow, that sounds amazing, doesn't it Dungeon Siege III?  With four new classes, plenty of new skills and loot, updated weather and world effects, this is a must have for me.  The Mac version street date (or should I say Steam date) is currently being determined.  There is also talk of a port to Xbox 360 and maybe even a mobile version.  That would be cool.

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BloodRayne: Betrayal - XBLA, PSN

Genre: Side-scrolling Action Adventure
Publisher: Majesco
Developer: Way Forward Technologies
Release: August 31


Vampires, blood, blades and one kick-ass vixen named Rayne.  Having played both BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2 and loving them, I have to admit, I was pretty stoked to hear about a new game from this franchise!  Our favorite red-headed dhampir returns with her twin arm blades, deadlier than ever, yet with a slightly different approach.  Still staying in the action category, Majesco has decided to change up the scene by making this entry a 2-D, hand-drawn, side-scrolling adventure action game.  And when I say hand-drawn, I mean painstakingly.  An approximate 4,000 frames are given to Rayne alone, crisply and beautifully rendering on your HD TV in all her glory.  The game has a very anime / manga artistic direction.  It looks kind of like the newer Castlevanias as far as the level layouts.  Combat looks super fluid and over-the-top as Rayne gracefully arches her body into a sweet dismount after decapitating a foe.  She has use of a gun too, which you can pull out at whim to blast a freshly stabbed baddie.  I am interested to see what the implementation of customizing combos and skills will do to the gameplay.  Hopefully the depth is there for expanse and re playability.  I am not too concerned, because there is a big emphasis on points based off of skill, so we should be seeing some fun ways to dispose of our enemies in the midst of presenting a challenge.  In the meantime, we are promised mega boss battles and a solid story, so coupled with the aforementioned features, it's going to be a bloody good time.  After following this series with much attachment, a day one purchase only makes sense for me.

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Toy Soldiers: Cold War - XBLA

Genre: Shooter / Tower Defense
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Signal Studios
Release: August 17


Remember playing with your G.I.Joe's?  Remember demolishing those cheap, plastic army men when dropping an imaginary fly-by napalm bomb from your stealth bomber?  Remember making explosions with your mouth?  I still do all of these things.  Or at least, I'd like to.  Last year's Toy Soldiers hit with great success and fulfilled our childhood toy wars to a great degree.  It only gets better.  There are some pretty nifty tweaks getting thrown into the mix and now the game takes place years ahead of the last, opening up some fresh new armies and their units.  Blast enough of the opposing force and you could be rewarded with a Commando.  This is where the camera shifts to third-person and gives you a bazooka in one hand and an assault rifle in the other to wreak utter havoc upon those who stand in your way.  There's just nothing like watching those little plastic saps twist as they fall to the ground.  Don't you strategy fans worry either, this is still a tower defense game, so managing your units and upgrading your defenses is supremely necessary.  Also, there's a rewind feature to back up and counter mistakes made. Oh and need someone to play with?  This game is loaded with online capabilities, co-op and split screen.  It's going to be explosive, so check it!

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The Lord of the Rings: War in the North - Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Genre: Action RPG
Publisher: Warner Brothers Interactive
Developer: Snowblind Studios
Release: August 24


The Lord of the Rings.  What an awesome universe.  However, when it comes to games, they have been pretty meh.  At least in my opinion.  I was a bit skeptical when first hearing of War in the North.  You see, with such a large property such as LOTR, there seems to be certain limits that always seem to hamper the quality of the experience for me.  A big limit is the art style.  While being amazing as a whole, looking at War in the North, I felt a bit uninspired.  It didn't really jump out at me.  Much criticism took me further and I began to think about how limited your race choices are and then your skill tree choices, etc.  All because you are confined within an already defined universe.  Let me guess, you can only be an elf, dwarf and human?  Bah.  But then I watched the demo.  My mind has changed.  First, the graphics are brilliant.  Everything is so detailed.  Character models look surprisingly lovely.  I love that this game is rated Mature too.  Loads of blood and dismemberment of orcs?  Check.  Finishing moves?  Check.  This is Lord of the Rings, right?  In watching the E3 demo, Snowblind promises tons of loot and reiterates that it is loot based.  I love that idea.  I'll just keep my fingers crossed that they come up with a plethora of armor and weapons.  Even though the races are kinda ho-hum, the co-operative gameplay is definitely emphasized through the utilization of their diversified strengths for each problematic circumstance.  And when the going gets too tough, call in Beleram, one of the Great Eagles to turn the tables.  Notice I said co-op, because it completely supports online co-op.  Now, it is limited to 3 players because of the amount of playable races.  Nonetheless, it's in third person, so that is awesome!  Full control of the camera instead of a fixed isometric mess?  I'll take that any day! (Ahem, Dungeon Siege III.)  Give the videos a look and I think you'll see why I changed my mind.  Looking forward to this!  

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By the way, here's what I'm currently playing through:

• Bastion - XBLA
• Dungeon Siege III - Xbox 360
• L.A. Noire - Xbox 360
• Trine - Xbox 360
• Mortal Kombat - Xbox 360
• Gears 2 - Xbox 360

----> BEST UPCOMING GAMES OF 2011 PART 1 HERE!                         

----> BEST UPCOMING GAMES OF 2011 PART 2 HERE!

----> TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON SPECIAL

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