Preview: LittleBigPlanet

When the English studio Media Molecule began to develop LittleBigPlanet, no one could have imagined how hip the term 'user generated content' would be. Game content created by gamers existed for much longer, just think modding first-person shooters, but in recent years, two things have changed. First, making your own game components become and second, 'user generated content' is increasingly an integral part of a game easily.

Media Molecule, founded by some former employees of Lionhead Studios, players use content as a serious part of LittleBigPlanet. The cuddly and accessible nature of the charming game ensures that an enormously wide range of gamers through it will be addressed. It is difficult to explain what game LittleBigPlanet. It is a platform game that you play with other gamers, and you'll have to work together to complete complete a level. Same levels you can customize and decorate all over again, enabling them to other LBP players to share, so they can work with your creations. More creative is it from the base to build a level with obstacles, puzzles and dangers, and then play and show to the world.

'Play, Create, Share, "which is LBP in a nutshell, according to Media Molecule. The game is basically very simple, if you play with the prepared by the makers levels. The idea is that you have to work to get ahead. For example you can only get to a higher platform when another player rolls an orange for that platform. In another situation, you and your fellow players can not continue after someone else has turned, causing an abyss full of jagged spears capped a switch. These are fairly obvious solutions, but these two puzzles can be solved. In a very different way Depending on the upgrades and powers of the droll Sackboy, which are the creatures that you play, you can play tricks and different customize the environment in the level.

GC: Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

Recently, you could Tweakers.net read what we think of the football game FIFA 09, in response to what we at the Games Convention had seen and played. Of course it was 'great rival' Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is also present on the German market, and with this game, we went to work. Our preliminary conclusion? 'Pro Evo' will struggle to rise again above Fifa 09 out this year.


Pro Evolution Soccer since the jump to the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 has made clear the game is struggling with a problem. The version of these consoles reminds too much to the game engine ever built. For Playstation 2 Year after year, the development studio Konami promises that a brand new engine comes and that PES is a breakthrough experience on current consoles, but that step is always off. I also was not very happy when the Games Convention showed that Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is not the super-edition is where fans are waiting for.

I'm at least assume, based on what I saw at the fair. Lead developer 'Seabass' Takatsuka promised groundbreaking features and big steps, and there are added to the series. Indeed new features Konami seems to want to deal with big Become a Legend, where you do not quite team, but only one player can drive out. Well and good, but such a mode is already in Fifa, under the banner Be a Pro. That smacks at least a bit of a cheap rip-off and you have to wonder whether that is the best strategy for a developer who thinks he maintains a leading series.


Pro Evolution Soccer seems so again to suffer from a lack of innovation. Yet it is exaggeration therefore to pass. Negative verdict on the new game PES 2009 does not offer much other than PES 2008, but there are important things have improved from the previous version. So the annoying framerate-drops disappeared, something I ever hoped Konami would fix it. A patch for PES 2008 That has not happened, but in PES 2009 they are gone. For fans of the series this data will be sufficient to justify. Purchase Nevertheless, the thought, that in my opinion most important innovation in PES 2009 is really nothing more than a bug fix.

GC: Mirror's Edge

At the Games Convention in Leipzig, Mirror's Edge best game for the Xbox 360 lineup. Earlier this year at the E3 trade show eyes already focused on this game. What's so special about the colorless world that developer Digital Illusions presents to us?

The Swedish developer, which is the abbreviation of his full name called 'Dice' is called, is best known for the shooter Battlefield 1942 and its successors. However, with Mirror's Edge Studio stores a different path. Also, Mirror's Edge is played in first person and just like in the Battlefield series, there are plenty of weapons in the game included. The difference is that they are almost exclusively this time in the hands of the enemy, protagonist Faith should normally do without weaponry.

Faith is an Asian lady and she lives in a large, futuristic city. The background story of Mirror's Edge is a little vague, but it is clear that the city is under strict control. Check the rulers all modern forms of communication, and the population has a lot of freedom given her in exchange for security. However, there is opposition to the strict regime. The opponents must see communicate with each other without being checked. The so-called Runners, where Faith is one of them, here are the means. Runners move above the roofs of the flats in the nameless city. They practice the popular 'parkour', sometimes called 'free running', a physical discipline which is gejumped from building to building and rapidly against man-walls sprung. Also high suspended tubes are devoted to the Runners. They walk effortlessly over or meander there to continue.

GC: Mirror's Edge
*Colorless

Mirror's Edge is especially notable for the graphical style where the Swedish creators have chosen. Most games, and certainly the most first-person games, have a dark look, but Mirror's Edge is very light. White is the dominant color of the game, all the buildings seem to be erected. Completely white surfaces That actually they are not, but as Faith sees the world, and because the game is played in first person you see everything through her ​​eyes. Faith looks like a runner, they only see what parts of buildings or may not be useful for her way of moving through the city. Everything is useless, Faith sees as a colorless, inconspicuous flat. Its purpose is rather to the parts that are useful and which are orange or red in her image. This involves the walls, ledges, planks, scaffolding tubes and she needs to move forward. Developer Digital Illusions does everything to let you experience how it feels to be. Player a Runner Not only will you see the world as Faith sees it, you can not take away from her. There is no option to deliberately added from a third-person perspective to see the game. To make the image as realistic as possible Dice brings the game into the picture like looking through a wide angle lens and for the same reason, the game has no Hud . There is only a small dot in the middle of the picture. Dice too would prefer to omit, but initial tests showed that players then the fast action sick. Now you can look to the point, a technique that ballerinas when they make a pirouette.

Soul Calibur IV

Computer Gaming started with simple games like Pong, and developed in the late eighties of the last century in genres that are still popular, such as beat 'em up. One of the first big games in that genre was Mortal Kombat, which was later joined by, inter alia, Tekken, Street Fighter and Virtua Fighter. Soul Calibur does not have the same status as the series, but the fourth approach but its quality.

Tested on: Xbox 360
Also available on: PlayStation 3


Soulcalibur IV features a new story, different game modes as well as other innovations, but the most striking news about the title was the announcement of two guest characters. The contribution of Master Yoda and Darth Vader in the game took all the headlines and was widely covered in each preview. The two Star Wars characters may otherwise not be seen together. Jedi Master Yoda leukt the Xbox 360 version, while Darth Vader is only in the PS3 version. However, there are rumors that the characters are available for both consoles via downloadable content. So there is hope for those ultimate duel is off.

How dominant the two heroic characters are, Soulcalibur IV obviously has more to offer. As a backstory, recovery: a lame background story. There may be more to it than you inherits at first sight in the game, but I do not get it hot or cold. The story is about two swords, with Soul Calibur for 'good' condition and Soul Edge for 'evil'. In Soul Calibur IV does not translate that into a clear story mode. Instead, developer Namco Bandai each character with a small, personal story and the writer of this is, to put it mildly, not a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Nevertheless, it is worth at least some of these stories, which are usually no more than fifteen minutes to complete, through play. That you develop the level of the various characters in the game and you play it with additional content free. Take the story of Master Yoda. The living on Dagobah Jedi master decides between meditating and waiting for the arrival of Luke Skywalker, to clear to deal with another evil force a trip. In the series of enemies to defeat Yoda you automatically against The Apprentice, the main character from the upcoming Star Wars game The Force Unleashed. If you defeat this "secret apprentice of Darth Vader's" The Apprentice becomes a playable character.

GC: Darksiders - Wrath of War

Vigil Games, a new studio of publisher THQ, is not only the second massively multiplayer online game about Warhammer 40,000, but also to the action game Darksiders: Wrath of War. The game, which will appear on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in early 2009 was presented at the Games Convention in Leipzig.

Vigil Games, which has an office in Austin, Texas, was founded by Joe Madureira. That is not a very well known name for gamers, but for comic fans. The reason why the artist Vigil has established that he is going to see more gradually than in comics. In moving pictures The hand and the past Madureira are however evident in the games Vigil, which Darksiders: Wrath of War will come out first.


*Revenge

Darksiders is based on the story of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The story of the four horsemen is in the book of Revelation. Darksiders tells the story of one of them, War. The disaster where the horsemen are associated has already taken place before the game begins and War is punished for his part in the destruction of the Earth. When the game starts, he is stripped of his demonic powers and his horse, and is separated from the other Horsemen. That does not, of course, is intent rider so he seeks revenge. Moreover, he wants his powers and his three friends back

Beijing 2008

Around the time that the Olympic Games an Olympic computer. Appears invariably That virtual games are always burned in the media game, but that is not reflected in the sales figures. Apparently pulling the Olympic video games an audience that includes not only the gamers. This year the Olympic Committee awarded the honor to make to Sega. Official Olympic video game


If an "Olympics-game develops encounters at least two problems. The first problem is the amount of Olympic sports that should be transferred. Games count to around thirty different sports, with many parts. Selection is inevitable, but a little Olympic computer game is a decent range of disciplines for the day to come. As so often, is quantity over forced at the expense of quality. If you like Sega Beijing has done in 2008 recording ten Olympic sports, it is inevitable that some of them are worse prepared than others. More on that later. The ten sports are divided into 38 events. That seems a lot, but between the 50 meter freestyle, 100m breaststroke and 100m backstroke is very little difference in gameplay example. This brings us to the second problem that the makers obviously have ran: converting sports movements to computer control. Sega has chosen the primitive, and as more and more gamers outdated 'button bashing'. The finish gives you in this game as soon as possible, usually by unabashedly rams. The buttons on your controller


Ultimate low point in this is the team pursuit, the only cycling part in the game. Do you gain by minute period steeds two buttons on your controller or stick in quick succession, and downward. The only draft at this sport consists in that you occasionally the leader of your team must alternate, as it indicates that he is getting tired. This discipline is primarily an attack on your wrist and on your hardware, and after a few rides you're done with it. This applies, albeit to a lesser extent, for all disciplines in which to achieve the fastest time is the goal, such as swimming or running. Luckily there are some more challenging disciplines in Beijing in 2008 included. So you make the high jump at the best possible outlet to carry the colored dots that are projected on the floor. From your run- Timing is important in this section, the control is reminiscent of the way you play Guitar Hero. Are also in the hurdles, some turn-disciplines, clay pigeon shooting and whitewater canoeing timing and agility around the corner

GC: Fifa 09

For publishers Electronic Arts and Konami seems to be a tradition to get around the annual Games Convention new football games to display. First The competition between the two superpowers is immense. While Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer for years was a favorite with fans of the genre, the FIFA series from EA Sports in the last two editions clear land reclaimed. Fifa 08 was qualitatively anxious close to PES 2008 and FIFA was perhaps this game even better than the last edition of Pro Evo. With Fifa 09 EA Sports hopes to compete with PES definitively decide his advantage.


For that purpose EA focuses on innovation, innovation and more innovation. Where sometimes to be desired, the renewal in Fifa 09 PES bursting of the new features. The less innovative points are fine. Think of teams that are nicely updated with regard to transfers, think of better graphics, better animations and more atmosphere in the stadiums. These are points where the Fifa series fine with scores for years. There are also a lot of countries and teams represented in the game, a point which the Fifa series is miles ahead of PES.

A number of innovations in Fifa 09 demands attention. First is the feature that EA just announced last week: Live Season. Electronic Arts will publish an update every Wednesday during football season, the statistics of different players are updated. Wayne Rooney plays a tremendously good match? Then his stats will be raised slightly next Wednesday. For now it is only secured a weekly adjustment of the mold level, so it is not clear whether EA in this way also about to make in the area of ​​injuries, suspensions or transfers updates. Another innovation that should be mentioned is that the upgrade process is based on a subscription per competition. You get to play a code that you can take. Complimentary subscription to one of the leagues Would you like to update more competitions automatically you will be charged per competion an unknown amount. This feature can not be applied to the Dutch league, but only for those in larger countries, such as Spain, England, Italy and Germany.


The updates provide not only a database in which the shape of players has been updated, they also provide all kinds of other information. For example, to see which players have gone ahead and what most players with a form crisis camps. Using a convenient menu quickly This menu can be viewed by competition or a list of all competitions - provided you have the appropriate subscriptions, of course. Moreover, the game weekly team of the week together, so you can see which players have performed. During the week in the best direct Information that you can find in the regular football magazines and websites, but it's a nice bonus.