This Page Updated weekly
1.Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands for Wii is a new installment in the popular Prince of Persia series and presents a new adventure within the Sands of Time universe. After leaving his father's kingdom to prove his worth, the Prince is drawn toward a mysterious realm. He quickly discovers that he must harness his acrobatic abilities and powers over the environment to not only survive, but to save a mystic palace from unfathomable evil.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a direct sequel to the superb 2003 release The Sands of Time, but this latest adventure does not focus on the intriguing time mechanic that served as the backbone for that game. Rather, the prince now has the ability to create handholds, airlifts, and other tools to help him move around the environment, and these abilities open the door for unique obstacles that evolve throughout the course of the game. Unfortunately, the shallow combat pulls you away from the free-flowing platforming. These dull duels force you to swing your arms frantically to dish out damage, and it's a chore to dispose of your attackers so you can get back to the fun moments. It's a shame the battles are so boring, but the clever level design and strong artistic direction make The Forgotten Sands another good entry in the long-running franchise.
The levels are laid out in a linear manner, and the obstacles and puzzles slowly build on your past experiences to create cool situations. As in most Prince of Persia games, you can run along walls and swing on conveniently placed poles, but there are new moves in The Forgotten Sands that spice up the standard action. New powers are unlocked every few hours, and these add a couple of wrinkles to the classic formula. The first of these lets you activate power pads along the walls and spread out on the floor to help you cross treacherous gaps or climb up towering walls. These serve as either handholds or wind-boosting lifts, and stringing a series together to make your way past a daunting trap can provide quite a rush. The later powers you unlock are even more interesting. You earn the ability to create one handhold at a time on bare walls, conjure wind ladders on the ground, and even create a sphere that lets you float in midair. These tools are used in unique ways, forcing you to plan out how you're going to pass a challenging obstacle rather than just rushing in headfirst and improvising on the fly.
The camera is intelligently designed in The Forgotten Sands, pointing you in the direction you need to go, so you rarely find yourself lost. But there are some slight problems that can lead to moments of frustration. When you're making your way through confined rooms, the camera sometimes gets stuck on objects, making it difficult to see where you need to go. And it's zoomed in too far during combat, so enemies can easily circle behind you and attack when you're unaware. You have the option to switch to expert camera mode, which gives you full control over your view, but this is too unwieldy to use during fast-paced action sequences. These are small issues, though. For the most part, you can run through the levels with ease, worrying more about how you're going to pass the next obstacle than trying to maneuver the camera into place.
Platforming is exciting, but fighting enemies is as dull as counting sand in an hourglass. Combat is almost entirely motion based and lacks the sort of energy that could have made these battles thrilling. Every move is performed by frantically shaking the remote, nunchuk, or both together, and the constant waving needed to achieve victory is downright annoying. You do earn new moves along the way, but the camera and controls conspire to make these new powers a chore to use. For instance, you can freeze enemies in place by pointing at them and pressing B. However, it's difficult to line up a precise shot in battle when you're being attacked by aggressive foes and the camera refuses to give you a good view of your enemies. And the motion-based moves don't even work all the time. Oftentimes, you will rapidly shake your arms and watch in horror while the prince stands there stupidly, not swinging his sword even though you desperately need him to. There isn't a lot of fighting in The Forgotten Sands, but what's there just takes away from the exciting platforming sections.
As lousy as the combat is, the arenas in which you do battle are a sight to behold. The Forgotten Sands has strong artistic design, painting each new area you visit with a fresh look that continually impresses. During early moments, you must hunt down ravenous vines that are thwarting your progress, and the foliage-rich rooms you make your way through have an organic feel rarely seen in the Prince of Persia series. These deadly greenhouses pave the way for dimly lit temple ruins and water-drenched oases. The most impressive of the fantastical places you visit comes late in your quest when the walls that previously boxed you in have broken down and have been replaced by an endless expanse of space. This section has more in common with Super Mario Galaxy than other Prince of Persia games, and it's a joy to run along floating blocks as you marvel at the vast emptiness around you.
The Forgotten Sands takes roughly 10 hours to play through, and there are plenty of unlockables to keep you entertained long after the credits roll. But im quite sure this game are really good to try , when i check the price on CDuniverse.com, The most interesting of these are extra levels you earn by accomplishing specific tasks during the main adventure, highlighted by 2D levels that focus on the best elements of this game. Thankfully, the main quest is just as fun as these bonus levels. The exciting platforming throws enough new ideas at you to keep you on your toes, and the fantastic artistic design makes every section a treat to look at. It's disappointing that the combat isn't any fun, because it distracts from the entertaining portions of the game. But if you can put up with those dull tussles, there is plenty to like in the prince's latest adventure.
Is the wall you're running across a bit too long? Did you suddenly lose grip while scaling that frozen waterfall? Perhaps you’re having trouble with the puzzling lock before the next room? None of this matters, as long as you assume the role of the Prince Of Persia. While you still have the ability to rewind time, The Forgotten Sands focuses on newfound powers for the prince. Despite this installment being released on every major platform, we think the interactive elements of the Wii do the most justice for Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands!
Is the wall you're running across a bit too long? Did you suddenly lose grip while scaling that frozen waterfall? Perhaps you’re having trouble with the puzzling lock before the next room? None of this matters, as long as you assume the role of the Prince Of Persia. While you still have the ability to rewind time, The Forgotten Sands focuses on newfound powers for the prince. Despite this installment being released on every major platform, we think the interactive elements of the Wii do the most justice for Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands!
Now You Can Crate Your Destiny For The Mighty Prince by Yourself , Collect This Game and Start your adventure as The Prince Of Persia
Rock out to 47 songs from the San Francisco Bay Area pop-punk band.
Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt talks to us about Rock Band and getting "pwned" when it comes to video games.
The influential band from Oakland, California, that spent its early years playing in Berkeley is exploring new ground with a Broadway adaption of its American Idiot album, as well a video game that will feature three of its most popular albums. Green Day: Rock Band will have the full tracklist from Dookie, American Idiot, and 21st Century Breakdown, as well select tracks from albums Warning, Nimrod, and Insomniac. The punk rock band is set to go on tour again this summer, and the game is set to come out on June 8 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii. We spoke with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt over the phone to find out what it is like to see a younger animated self onscreen.
GameSpot: So, how does it feel to have your own video game?
Mike Dirnt: It's pretty trippy. They approached us a long time ago, but it really never came to fruition. And it's not like we were chasing it down; they just kind of went on and did their own thing and then eventually came back. And by the time they came back, we had been obviously writing our own records and touring and everything. At that point, they had finished the Beatles video game, and it was like, "Wow, you've come a long way and look really great." I think they've proven that this is a genre that's here for a good amount of time.
GS: Can you tell us about the venues and why you decided to go with those?
MD: Well, one of them is kind of a nondescript warehouse sort of thing. It was either that or play in someone's living room, or bathroom, or garage. [The warehouse is] basically nondescript and also represents a lot of the places we played in back in the day. We also did Milton Keynes, which was our first stadium show in London, which is pretty interesting. And last but not least is the Fox Theatre in Oakland, which is near and dear to us because it's our hometown. They spent 30 years rebuilding that place and getting it up to what it is now, which is one of the most beautiful theatres, and they just reopened it in California. It's pretty cool.
GS: Were there any specific songs that had to make it into the game?
MD: I think what we wanted to do was represent at least a few full albums. One of things that we're really working on still and weren't able to do is to get some of the earlier records in there only because those were recorded on old analog tape. And analog tape becomes real brittle after a while. And to really get the stems from that…from the individual tracks…in order to put them in the game, you have to record them from analog to digital. And you get one chance to do it once the tape is really old. It's a really tedious process to not lose your entire history, so with that said, we are working on that diligently right now. But that's something we'd like to see in there as well.
GS: Most of the tracklist is pulled from three of your albums. Do you feel like your other albums have been slighted?
MD: No, I don't think so. There's something to be said about an album having a representation of that period of time. It's pretty cool. I explained earlier why we couldn't get the earlier ones. And quite honestly, for a video game, I think we skipped through a couple years where maybe later on we'll go back and we'll do like, Green Day: The Fat Years, or something. They probably weren't the most visually exciting years of our life. So who knows? The songs in and of themselves will be represented eventually. The cool thing is that you can keep adding to it.
GS: How much are you guys involved with the whole process in terms of the development of the game?
MD: That was the cool thing when they originally came to us. I think they were a lot more clueless, and we were completely clueless. Years have gone by, and their technology and their ability to get their heads wrapped around where they want to be have moved forward quite a bit. We've gone from completely clueless to only slightly clueless. We just knew that we wanted to represent different venues. We were like, "Look, you got to come out and see some of the live shows and watch some of these live concerts that we've played and documented so that you get an idea of what the energy of our shows are."
GS: What is it like to see yourself animated onscreen?
MD: It's pretty cool. I think they made us look a little younger than we are now. So, yeah, I'm not used to being an avatar. That's for sure.
GS: Have you played Rock Band before?
MD: I have, yes, a couple of times. I've stumbled onto friends of mine playing. Actually, my friend's kids, and they all let me jump in. I kind of made my way around all the different instruments. I've also stumbled in a room and literally stumbled in a room drunk. And other drunk friends of mine had a blast playing drunken Rock Band.
GS: Do you download your own songs?
MD: You know, it was kind of whatever they had going at the time.
GS: What do your kids think when they see you in the game?
MD: I showed my daughter one of the clips of the game, and she looked at it and goes, "You look cool," which is the last thing you'd expect to hear out of your 13 year old. I don't think I've heard her say that in the last year or two.
GS: There are some pretty crazy drum solos in the game. As actual musicians, how do you guys hold up on the drums?
MD: I certainly couldn't. I'm sure Tre can hold his own. As close as the kits are, they aren't actually real drum kits. If you can do that and you don't have a real drum kit, then you're blowing your time. If you can play the advanced mode of the drum solos and everything, you need to get a real kit.
Taking centre stage amongst Aussie game releases this week is Green Day: Rock Band from Harmonix and MTV Games. From five different albums, 47 Green Day tracks have made it into the game, although the majority of the songs are from the band’s second-most-recent album, American Idiot, and its first album, Dookie. There are three venues in the game, with each location symbolic of where the band was at the time. Green Day: Rock Band is available only as a stand-alone game and will be released on Thursday.
Torchlight caught many people off guard when it appeared on Steam late last year, and it has now earned itself a full retail release courtesy of publisher JoWood Entertainment. While the majority of the game remains identical, the retail release also includes a new in-game pet and editing tools so that players can create their own content. Torchlight will arrive in stores this Friday.
Keep an eye on AU Shippin' Out in the following weeks, as June still has some big titles in store, like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Lego Harry Potter, and more.
Veteran punk band gets the Rock Band treatment this week.
Let's Rock !
Order for same day shipping At CDuniverse.Com Sale ($48.95)
