Super Meat Boy is quite a ride. Let me lay this out for you — It’s a fast-paced platformer where you play as a chunk of meat trying to save Bandage Girl (your girlfriend) from a fetus (with a doctorate) named Dr. Fetus who, already at his age, has a very negative disposition on the world and just seems to be pissed all the time. He walks around in a robot suit… thing.
Along the way, you are met with many different obstacles, ranging from flying sawblades to meaty enemies and quite precarious heights. It’s… Silly. And awesome.
Let me explain why.

The gameplay in Super Meat Boy is freakin’ fantastic. It’s a platformer with an emphasis on speed and precision in movements, making you rely on skill to get the job done. The learning curve isn’t too steep, in that you don’t have to learn a whole lot at once, but you are constantly figuring out new tactics and just little bits of information about gameplay that will help you out along the way. (You figure these out on your own, through exploration and experimentation — the only levels with tutorials are the first few.)

Once you get past the tutorials, the gameplay will get progressively harder, and beating levels gets progressively more and more satisfying. Completionists will have a blast with this game, as there’s a ridiculous amount of content! First, you’ve got the basic levels. No big deal there, not incredibly difficult on their own. Now add bandages, and the difficulty has shot through the roof. Some of the bandages are just found through exploration of unnecessary bits of the levels, but a lot of them are intentionally placed in locations that make them near impossible to get. I’ve spent upwards of an hour on one level just trying to get the bandage — the level itself I could beat in about ten / fifteen minutes. (But, if you’re a completionist, you have to get the bandages. Bandages unlock characters! We’ll get more into the characters later…) Then there’s also a speed aspect to it, where you’ll get a grade of A+ if you beat the level in a short amount of time, which is less and less and the levels fly by. Once you get A+ in a level, you unlock the “Dark World” counterparts to that level. There are 20 levels in each world, and the Dark World versions are essentially all of the levels with the same layout, but with lots and lots of traps added in there to make it a much more difficult experience. You’ll want to tear your hair out at some of these, but that’ll pass.
There are also “Warp Zones,” which show up every now and then and bring Super Meat Boy to a different dimension. Sometimes the art style is even different. In these Warp Zones, you’ll have the opportunity to collect bandages or unlock characters, but the levels are quite difficult. Hell, even spotting the Warp Zones is sometimes a challenge. Keep an eye out for ‘em.

Unlocking characters is an amazing feeling in this game. Not only does it give you something new to look at as you play, but each character has unique abilities that can help you overcome specific situations. It’s incredibly helpful to be able to play a level with a character better suited for getting that almost impossible-to-get bandage, rather than spend hours trying to get it with Meat Boy. Each character is fully capable of completing each level and grabbing each floating bandage, but some of them will make your life that much easier.

Now, before we proceed, let’s take a general look at Super Meat Boy. It’s a platformer with awesome physics and a heavy focus on speed and wall-jumps (which are executed brilliantly here). It’s got an unbelievable amount of content, and will take a completionist quite a while to fully experience everything that it holds. The development of such a game was, in my opinion, a very bold endeavour — it was undertaken by only two people, and it’s a very unique idea, gameplay-wise. They put a lot on the line, and it’s surely paid off, as it was one of the most popular games of 2010, winning several awards on different websites, including IGN’s “Most Challenging Game” category of their Best of 2010 awards. And not without good reason, this game is hard as hell! But it’s not, for me anyway, the kind of game that will make you ragequit and never return. Every time I died (and believe me, there were plenty), I realized that it was due to my own ineptitude. The game never feels unfair. You just have to focus and not suck, and when you finally get that bandage and you finally reach the end of the level, you will sometimes want to celebrate. That’s a milestone in your life right there.

Let me break this down for all the completionists reading this review… In Super Meat Boy, there is a total of about 350 levels. Within those levels, you will find 101 bandages, and 20 warp zones, which will help you unlock the 25 unlockable characters. There are also dark world counterparts to each of the levels, which you have to score A+ on said levels to unlock. In order to reach 100% completion in Super Meat Boy, you will have to dedicate a hell of a lot of time to playing, and you’ll have to muster up more patience with yourself than most other games require. This game is chock-full of content, and there’s even more to come.

In an upcoming update for the PC version of Super Meat Boy (which will also be compatible with Mac OS X soon), there will be a fully-featured level editor put into the game. This means that players will be able to create and upload their own near-impossible levels that anybody else can then download and enjoy, thus making Super Meat Boy a game that theoretically never ends, as long as the community picks up, which I’m sure it will. A stipulation to upload a level you create will be that you have to beat that level at least once, to prove that it’s not impossible, which is definitely a fantastic idea from Team Meat.

In conclusion, this is one of the best games I have ever played. It’s inventive, incredibly long, has awesome unlockables, and has just the right amount of frustration. I wholeheartedly recommend this game, especially for PC users who will soon be able to utilize the level editor, making the experience that much more amazing.
The story isn’t much, but it doesn’t have to be. The characters themselves are great, and the nonstop action keeps the fun going. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a game with this much content for the price of $15.
Super Meat Boy is available for PC through Steam, and on the Xbox 360. It’ll be coming to the Mac sometime in the first half of this year, but we unfortunately won’t be seeing it on the PS3 or Wii (which they had planned, but canceled).

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Yesterday, Super Meat Boy was released on Steam. It’s going for $15, but if you preordered, it was only $10. There was a whole lot of hype surrounding this release… It’s one of the most loved downloadable console games of the year.

Unfortunately, upon release, many problems were found. Problems ranged from crashes, to bosses not appearing, and some display issues. There was also some complaint about control issues — this is because the game clearly states in the beginning that it should be played with a gamepad, but currently only supports the Xbox 360 controller. Luckily, Team Meat said they’re going to add more support soon. (And from what I’ve heard, the keyboard support isn’t bad at all.)

As for all of the bugs that have been found, Team Meat is on the ball. They made a blog post earlier, laying out the issues that people had been having with the game, and saying that a patch to fix them would be released today. (I’m not quite sure if it’s hit yet, but if not, it should pretty soon.) I’m truly impressed at how quickly they’re reacting and getting rid of all these problems. Team Meat is comprised of only two people, and they’re getting stuff done really quickly.

With all the bugs aside, this game’s pretty awesome. I haven’t picked it up on PC yet (plan to really soon), but I’ve played on a friend’s Xbox 360. The music is great, the graphics are awesome, and the gameplay is freaking amazing. I can see why it’s got so much love.
The PC version has several characters that the console version doesn’t. They’re all from PC games… Seems Team Meat’s trying to centralize some of the character choices to give you a better experience depending on the platform you’re playing on.
The PC-specific characters are…

Steve (also known as Mr. Minecraft) (Minecraft)
Captain Viridian (also known as The Captain) (VVVVVV)
Josef (Machinarium)
Headcrab (Half-Life)(Steam version)
Goo Ball (World Of Goo)(Non-Steam version and Steam version via code)
RunMan (RunMan: Race Around the World)
Naija (Aquaria)

I’m most excited about Steve, Captain Viridian, and the Headcrab. All awesome choices from great games. (Except RunMan. Well, I mean, it’s probably a good game, but I’ve never heard of it. So I can’t really say that it is.)

There are, however, some characters that shall remain exclusive to the Xbox 360 version of Super Meat Boy. These characters are…

Alien Hominid – Can shoot downwards to increase jump height or slow descent
Gish – Can stick to walls and slide across ceilings
Tim (Braid) – Can rewind time three seconds
The Spelunker (Spelunky) – Has an explosive jump
Ninja (N/N+) Can sprint fast
Pink Knight (Castle Crashers) – Can perform a flutter jump

It’s a shame, really. All of those characters are awesome. I would very much like to play as Ninja, or The Spelunker. But, you win some, you lose some.

You unlock these characters by collecting bandages throughout the levels. They’re sometimes quite hard to get to, but they’re incredibly satisfying to collect. (Especially if you’re a hardcore completionist — this game will take you forever to beat.) You can also unlock them by finding “Warp Zones” in the levels, which make it look like you’re playing Super Meat Boy on an SNES. It’s pretty freakin’ awesome. The different characters not only change what you look like, but also how you perform. Many of them have special powers that affect gameplay, and give you different ways to beat levels. The good part about this is that it feels like every single level was built with every character in mind — it never feels like you’re at too much of an advantage or a disadvantage, or that you’re out of place. It always just feels “right,” with different styles of playing.

This game is freakin’ packed with content. There are “about 350 levels,” according to Wikipedia. As I mentioned earlier, if you’re a completionist, this will take you forever, with all the warp zones and bandages you have to collect. But even non-completionists will be more than pleased by the longevity of this title — Super Meat Boy is incredibly difficult at times, and it takes a good while to get through some levels. That said, it never really gets too frustrating… It remains charming and fun no matter how many times you’re turned into ground beef. But the difficulty does its part to lengthen the playthrough time, and makes everything much more interesting. If this was an easy game, it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.

To further extend how much content there is to an unreal degree, there will soon be a level editor available for PC gamers. Level editors lead to limitless gameplay options — take a look at N! It’s one of the most popular indie PC games of all time for a reason, which is the fact that its level editor really took off, and now there are thousands of user-made levels. I’m, personally, really looking forward to the level editor. I love stuff like that. Creating levels is loads of fun, and adds lots of play time. And then, I can hop online to download other people’s masterpieces to extend play time even further! It’s a fantastic cycle that results in me (or you) being perpetuously entertained with the cost of a single (cheap) PC game. In essence, you get a whole lot more “bang” than you give up “buck.” (This seems to be very common when it comes to indie games, which is why indie developers deserve our support. The games may not be as popular, but you get much more fun for your money, and in the end, that’s what really matters.)

There’s not much to the story, but it’s just enough to remain interesting. You play as the title character, Meat Boy. Your girlfriend, Bandage Girl, is kidnapped by the crudely evil Dr. Fetus. Dr. Fetus shows up after every level to snatch up Bandage Girl just as you reach her. Then every now and then he battles you. It’s just kind of a back-and-forth kind of thing, much like… *Gasp!* Super Mario Brothers! Super Mario Br… Super Meat B… SMB! Coincidence? Pretty sure I read somewhere that it’s not. For now we’ll be unsure, together.

I personally think the soundtrack alone is worth the asking price for this game. It’s got fantastic music. It all does a great job at replicating the retro gaming feel that Super Meat Boy goes for. Some of the music from Super Meat Boy will be released for Rock Band 3 in January, which is pretty sweet.

The gameplay in Super Meat Boy is better than most platforming games I’ve ever played. Meat Boy controls fantastically, the wall jumps add a lot to the gameplay, and the different character choices do wonders for the variety in this game. You can choose how you want to play. It’s pretty awesome. I feel that this game is one of the best that has come out this year. My friend was having trouble tearing me from his Xbox after he handed me the controller. It’s a game where the saying “easy to pick up, hard to put down” is very much true. You’re started off with a few tutorial levels and gently eased into the core meat of the gameplay. The learning curve isn’t very steep, but it is definitely hard to master, especially when it comes to getting everything out of this game that there is to offer (including all of the bandages. Believe me, some of them seem impossible. It’s like Vini Vidi Vici in VVVVVV all over again), and once you get accustomed to it, you likely won’t play much else until you beat it.

If you picked it up pre-launch on Steam, awesome, you got a discount. Otherwise, this game is well worth the $15 that it’s selling for. It’s actually worth a hell of a lot more than that, with how much game time you’ll get out of it, and with the impending release of the level editor, you’ll get an insane amount of user-made levels. Well, most likely, anyway — this game’s fairly successful for an indie game, and lots of people love level editors. Let’s just hope that level creation catches on. A lot of the time, community-made levels can be much better than any levels that the developers themselves made. It’s amazing what gamers can do with the proper tools.

You can go and pick it up on Steam now for $15. It’s also available on the Xbox 360 for the same price, and will soon be available on the Wii (via WiiWare) and Mac OS X (via Steam), as well as Linux. Release dates for those versions have yet to be announced. I’m hoping that they make Tux a playable character on the Linux version. (Unfortunately, they’ve even come out and said that there will, beyond any doubt, not be a Playstation 3 version.)

If you’d like to, you can check out the original Meat Boy flash game on Newgrounds. It was the beginning of Super Meat Boy, but don’t use it as a sole source with which to judge SMB — it’s a good bit different. Although it is still a fantastic flash game. (And a pretty big hit on Newgrounds, apparently. They even have a t-shirt.)

Related posts:

1. Super Meat Boy Review
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3. Steam for Mac Released – First Impressions

The Internet froze in complete and utter shock earlier today when Valve issued a press release, officially pushing the Portal 2 release to April 2011.

Okay, not really. Well, it really is delayed again, but it wasn’t at all a surprise. Valve’s been kinda well known to pull this stuff, and boy do they know it. Here’s their statement…

Valve today announced that Portal 2 — the sequel to the ground-breaking title that won over 30 game of the year awards, despite missing its original ship date — will now be available the week of April 18th, 2011. This two month slip not only marks the shortest delay in Valve’s proud tradition of delays, it represents the approaching convergence of Valve Time and Real Time. Though this convergence spells doom for humanity, it will not affect the new Portal 2 release date.

The title of the email was “VALVE ANNOUNCES SHORTEST DELAY IN VALVE HISTORY”. See, this is why I love Valve… They make great games, and they’ve got character to boot. They’re well aware of what we say about them, and they do nothing but confirm our accusations and just play along with it.

That said, Portal 2 is definitely one of my most anticipated titles of 2011. The original Portal is tied with Diablo II as my favourite game of all time, so the next year should be pretty sweet.

They’ve altered the release date. Pray they don’t alter it any further, again.

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It’s been a while since I’ve made a post about Sonic 4, but I’ve been incredibly excited about it this entire time.

Well, to my incredible schoolgirl-like surprise, Sonic 4 was officially released for iPhone and iPod touch just earlier today! I didn’t even know it was supposed to, as far as I knew the release date was still “2010,” so when I saw it on the App Store, it absolutely made my day. (And was, of course, an instant purchase.)

Unfortunately, it won’t be coming out for consoles until next week — I’m assuming so, anyway. The Playstation Network updates every Tuesday, and the Xbox Live Marketplace updates every Wednesday, so that’s probably when you’ll see Sonic 4 for those consoles. (Not quite sure what the Wii’s updates are like…) But if you’ve got an iDevice, you’re in luck — You can get it now for for $9.99 USD (App Store link).

I’ve played a good bit of it today… I hooked my speaker-less first-generation iPod touch into my 5.1 speakers for the occasion. And I’m, personally, not disappointed at all. It’s met every expectation I held, and has completely blown me away, and reinvigorated the essence of my childhood in this game series that has been frowned upon so frequently and so vehemently in these years past.

To start with, the gameplay is very familiar. With slight alterations and some added features, it’s identical to old-school Sonic games — and I welcome all of the alterations and features. I see this as nothing but the continuation of the Genesis Sonic games, not a simple rehash, and all sequels are expected to have additions.

Audio-wise, I was also very much blown away. The music helps capture the essence of the series much in the way it used to, and many of the original sound effects were kept on-board, much to my delight (as well as, I’m sure, other fans). I can very easily say that I don’t just love this game for the nostalgia — that is most definitely a fantastic aspect, and my memories are very much kept intact with this great addition to the series — but even as a standalone game, it’s absolutely fantastic. It focuses just as much, if not even more, on speed than previous iterations, and now puts a large focus on score with the easy ability to play and replay levels, looking to beat your high scores. This could potentially be a very fun pass-and-play game with friends and family, even more so once it hits TV screens.

The one thing, and believe me when I say that it’s minor, that I dislike about Sonic 4 is… Eggman. Not the character. He’s great as ever, coming up with these ridiculous contraptions to kill a hedgehog when he could easily just invent a gun. No, the name is what I find issue with… This is the one thing that does not quite help my nostalgia. I remember him as Dr. Robotnik. This is how I will always refer to him… I don’t understand the renaming here, and it just bothers me a bit that they cater to old-school gamers in every way but this.

However, as I said, that’s very minor. Doesn’t affect much, it just… Irks me, is all.

This game is very much worth buying, especially, but not only, if you’re a big fan of the old Sonic games.

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I’ll give you a list here of some of the more notable games coming out in the next year that I’m really looking forward to. It’s shaping up to be a great 365 days. (Note: Some of these might just have a “2011″ release date, but I’ll count them in anyway.)

Portal 2 (X360 / PS3 / PC / OS X)

Portal is my favourite game of all time. (Actually tied with Diablo II for that title.) The clever puzzle mechanics, hilarious omnipotent narrator, and surprisingly in-depth story (if you choose to look far enough into it) all make it a fantastic game that anybody who hasn’t played should be ashamed. Portal 2 is a sequel (previously rumoured to be a prequel) that’s up for release in 2011. (Hopefully early 2011. Or hyper-early 2011, in that it’ll be released in 2010.) There will be behind-the-scenes areas of the game, as well as GLaDOS making a return with co-operative mode.
I can’t wait to see how the co-op shapes up. The puzzles will likely require massive amounts of teamwork, which will be satisfying. I just don’t want to share the cake.

Star Wars: The Old Republic PC

Being a huge Star Wars fan, any Star Wars videogame tickles my fancy quite easily. But a Star Wars MMORPG? Hell. Yes.

The Old Republic looks pretty awesome, from what little gameplay footage has surfaced. All of the classes that will be available just make me giddy, not to mention the fact that any class will be fully customizable. So, if you choose a Smuggler, you can still train your fighting skills as well as anything else you’d like. You’re not locked into a specific skillset, which I like. It’s already won a couple of awards from GameTrailers for its E3 appearance, and shows a lot of potential as not only a Star Wars videogame, but a game changer in the MMO industry.

It’s release date is set as “2011,” but I’ve also read “Autumn 2011.” Hopefully it comes earlier in the year, but we’ll see.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (X360 / PS3 / PC / Wii / DS / iOS)

(Sorry about the logo for the first Force Unleashed — I couldn’t find one for the second that fit the format.)

As I mentioned above, I’m a huge Star Wars fan. As such, I greatly enjoyed The Force Unleashed through-and-through — The story was fantastic (and the main character’s name being “Starkiller” was also awesome, as that was Luke’s last name in the first draft of the A New Hope script), the gameplay was awesome, the force upgrades were useful, and it all tied together perfectly. My brother, also a big Star Wars fan, says that he’ll have to buy a PS3 just to get this game. (He played the first on his Playstation 2.)

The story in the second title will focus more on Starkiller, which I think is awesome. He’s a very good character, but he wasn’t developed quite as much as I would have liked in the first game. The plot will focus on deception, betrayal, and revenge, much as part of the first game. Seeing as this takes place just a year before A New Hope, I’m hoping that most of the loose ends in the story will be tied up, otherwise that we’ll be left open for yet another sequel. (Maybe some of that’s already been done in the novel / comic books, I don’t know. I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet.)

Torchlight 2 (PC / OS X)

Torchlight was a fantastic game — it’s created by many of the same men and women that worked on Diablo and Diablo II, so it clones the series incredibly well down to town portals and identifying items the exact same way. I loved the graphical style as well as the pets system… It served as a great distraction while I wait for Diablo III to never come out. (I’m not even going to bother posting about Diablo III here, that seems too hopeful…)

Well, a sequel was recently announced. I think my favourite part of this announcement is the inclusion of co-op gameplay. (Finally!) While I love lone dungeon-crawlers, it’s always more fun to play through with a friend, and it’s been a rumoured upcoming feature of Torchlight for a while now. Well, it’s coming in the next game.

There will also be added mod support, which will blow the possibilities of this game open wide. The modding community on the PC has always been huge and incredibly crafty, so I naturally can’t wait to see what they come up with to make this game even better. We’re set to see all of this come Spring 2011. (Let’s just hope its release doesn’t interfere too much with that of Diablo III, or the developers may find themselves poor.)

That pretty much sums up the games I’m most looking forward to within the next year. There are a few that I’m also excited to see, such as Black Mesa and L.A. Noire, but the above titles are the ones that I’m phenomenally excited about… The ones that will make my friends and family wonder if I’m dead, not seeing the light of day for weeks.

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The Scout can be a hard class in Team Fortress 2 to get used to, but it’s incredibly rewarding when you do. The Scout is my favourite class, by far, and as such, I’ve decided to write a little guide to help out anyone looking to get a jump-start with the class. I’ll go through things with as much detail as I feel necessary to give you a general idea of how things work.

General Tips

Before I get into anything too deep, I feel it’s necessary to start you off with a few basic tips.

First off, embrace the double-jump. Double-jumping is a special skill that only Scouts can use. It allows you to jump higher and gain further distance with your leaps. Simply jump, and then jump again at the height of your ascension. It’s as easy as double-jumping in anything else. Also take notice that you can change direction mid-jump. For instance, jump to the left at first, and then as you reach the top of your jump, perform a double-jump, but shift your direction to the right. This will become incredibly useful in confusing enemies, among other things.

Another general tip is to make good use of your pistol. Don’t underestimate it. It’s great for harassing enemies from a distance or destroying sentries. If your target is immobile enough, or your aim is good enough, you can even take them out with the pistol from fairly great distances no problem.
It’s also a huge help when it comes to sentries. Try and peek around a corner just enough to see the enemy’s sentry without it seeing you. Using your pistol, take as many quick shots at it as you can. If its father engineer is around, take him out first, otherwise he can just repair the damage as you deal it. This is enormously helpful in clearing areas from annoyances.

Another quick tip… Stay on the move. Your major advantage with the Scout is that you’re the fastest class in the game. Make use of this as much as you can. Swerve, jump, zig-zag, do whatever it takes, but always stay on the move. You will have to improve your aim to be able to take out enemies while moving so haphazardly, but it’s a very useful technique that will keep you away from their bullets, as well as those from other enemies (especially snipers).

Facing Enemies

Figuring out the different kinds of interactions you’ll have between different classes is essential. Learning what to avoid, and how to prosper when you dive right in.

Let’s start with the offensive classes.

Offensive Classes

There are three Offensive classes… The Scout himself, the Soldier, and the Pyro.

Dealing with other Scouts

Duking it out head-to-head with another Scout can sometimes be tricky. Good aim here is absolutely essential, as is staying on your feet. When it boils down to it, this battle is decided by nothing but which player better understands the ins-and-outs of the class.
Make good use of the double-jump to confuse your enemy Scout. A few meatshots (shots to the body) with your Scattergun should send them to the floor, but if you find yourself having to reload, you have two choices.
1) Find a temporary safe area and reload your scattergun.
Or,
2) Quickly take out your pistol and hope to god that one clip finishes the job.
If number 2 fails, see number 1.

If you get a jump-start on this faceoff with the element of surprise by sneaking up behind your opponent, you can likely get in a good meatshot or maybe even two before they’re aware of your presence. This will give you a huge advantage.

Play the field here. Remember that in this faceoff, you lose your biggest advantage — your speed. They’re just as fast as you are. Circle around them, and try your best to get any health kits before they can.

Dealing With Soldiers

This encounter can be a tough one. Soldiers specialize in mid-range warfare, while you, as a Scout, excel when close enough to pulverize the opponent with your Scattergun.
The element of surprise is your biggest friend here. Try to find a Soldier who’s not looking and deal as much damage as you can, as quickly as you can. If you’re unable to do enough damage to conceivably kill them with one more shot by the time they’re looking at you, retreat. Even at close-range, Soldiers are dangerous. Most will not hesitate to damage themselves while killing you, and that means a close-range rocket for all parties involved.

If they’re further away, you can harass them with your pistol. But this won’t get you much of anywhere. Your pistol may do a bit of damage from a distance, but it won’t hold up against their rocket launcher, and the splash damage from a rocket is dangerous enough to avoid any kind of encounters from afar, even if you think you’ll be able to get in cover.
Approach with caution.

Dealing With Pyros

One word: AVOID. A Pyro is one of the Scout’s worst enemies. You both excel at close-range battle, but he can do damage to you long after the tussle is over with afterburn. In other words, you can get a few good shots in, but at the end of the day, he can set you on fire. This will deal a good bit of damage to you over time, and will likely result in your death.
Your only way to stop the burning is to get more health or jump in a lake. If you know you’re going to die anyway, you can stick around to try and get in as many shots as you can, but this just means you’ll die sooner from the direct damage of his flamethrower.
All-in-all, this is an encounter to avoid nine times out of ten.

Defensive Classes

There are three defensive classes… The Demoman, the Heavy, and the Engineer.

Dealing With Demomen

Demomen can be a somewhat dangerous encounter, due to their specialty in explosives. Just as with Soldiers, most Demomen will not hesitate to damage themselves if it means finishing you off. This recklessness spells danger for any close-encounters opponents, which you, of course, are. However, their explosives have a delay if they’re not already set. This could give you enough time to jump around them, avoid explosions, and land enough shots to severely hurt or even kill your opponent, while keeping minimum damage to yourself.
This is not an encounter for beginners, but if you’re experienced enough and know how to handle the double-jump well enough to avoid bombs, I say go for it. Just be careful.

Dealing With Heavies

Heavies are about the most dangerous class in the game. Their high tolerance for pain, coupled with their Medic buddies who heal them constantly and their amazingly powerful gatling gun, make them a tough nut to crack. You are most useful here in taking out their Medics.

To do this, you have to be unseen until the attack. Medics will quickly alert their Heavy patients if they fear either of their lives are in danger, so you have a small window of opportunity in which to take them out.
Your best bet is getting behind them. Landing a few meatshots should take care of them, just be sure to be quick. And once they’re dead, don’t get full of yourself and go after the Heavy. Even without the Medic, he’s a very dangerous foe. Seeing as your health is much lower than he is, you will likely die before him in a one-on-one brawl. By taking out his medic, however, you open an opportunity for other teammates to more easily take out the Heavy and clear the area of their annoyance for as long as possible.

Dealing With Engineers

A Scout facing an Engineer should have no problem whatsoever. Your Scattergun is far superior to their shotgun, so you should easily be able to take them out.
That is unless, and this is far more likely, they have a sentry guarding them.

An Engineer’s best friend is his sentry. A sentry is an automated turret that shoots at enemies as soon as it sees them, and it can take you out fairly quickly. It’s hard to avoid them, but if you happen to find yourself behind one, a few shots from your Scattergun should bring it down, no problem.
But that’s highly unlikely. Your best bet to take out a Sentry is with your pistol, from just around a corner where it cannot see you. This is a hard situation to put yourself in. But once there, you can just pound a few clips from your pistol in to the Sentry to take it down.
But if the Engineer is guarding their Sentry, they’ll be repairing the damage as you deal it. So take them out first if you can.

All in all, Engineers are tough to face if they’re hiding behind a Sentry (which a lot of them happen to do). You’ll save yourself a few deaths and much frustration if you avoid Sentries until somebody better suited (such as a Spy, Demoman, or Soldier) takes it out, leaving the Engineer himself to suffer your wrath.

Support Classes

The final type of class, Support, consists of the Medic, the Sniper, and the Spy.

Dealing With Medics

Medics aren’t too difficult to take out if they’re not attached to a Heavy or another formidable foe. They have slightly more health than you, but you have a stronger weapon. Use your speed to your advantage, running literal circles around them as you blast them with your Scattergun. They shouldn’t last too long without a buddy to help out.

Dealing With Snipers

Snipers are a long-range enemy, which makes them a bit difficult. You don’t stand a chance from a distance.
But if you find yourself next to an enemy Sniper, you have a much better chance of staying alive. Just a few blasts should do it. A lot of the time, they’ll be zoomed in on their scope, so they won’t even see you coming. This makes it especially easy.

If they notice you, however, look out for their Kukri knife. It can do a fair amount of damage, especially if they’re swinging like wild in your general direction. In this situation, double-jump like crazy and keep moving around them, shooting them as you go. It really shouldn’t be too tough.

Dealing With Spies

As a Scout, you have the biggest advantage against a Spy. This is because you can check for them more efficiently than any other class (save for Pyros).

When running into a teammate, you’ll go right through them. If you happen to be stopped dead in your tracks, start shooting — they’re a spy, disguised as one of your own. Your speed allows you to Spy check very quickly.

However, if a spy comes up behind you and stabs you in the back, you’re just as screwed as anyone else.

Conclusion

In conclusion, being a Scout isn’t easy by any means. It’s a very difficult class to get used to, and in a lot of situations, without the right finesse, you lose. But you also have many advantages over other classes, mainly being your speed, double-jump, and your effectiveness at close-range.

Keep everything here in mind when you go out Scouting. Developing a strategy and sticking to it is essential, and will save you a lot of rage.
It’s a very effective class, but only if you use it right.

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Red Dead Redemption was a widely-anticipated Rockstar game that hit shelves May 18th this year. Rockstar are the same guys that brought us the hugely popular Grand Theft Auto series, as well as Max Payne, the Midnight Club series, and others. Although it is a spiritual successor to 2004′s Red Dead Revolver, not much relates back to it, other than the western setting.

You play as John Marston, an ex-gangster in the early 1900′s who is being forced by government officials to hunt down and kill the surviving leading members of his former gang if he ever wants to see his wife and son again. As such, your overall mission as John Marston is to save your family and kill your once-friends.

I’ll start off on gameplay… Red Dead Redemption is, overall, a fantastic game, and a lot of its successes and high points boil down to the gameplay elements that hold everything together. I feel that this game is the first that has gotten down the formula of open-world gameplay down to a T. In-between missions, you can do just about anything… Ride around on your horse, start trouble in towns, and even play minigames (such as Texas Hold ‘Em, Five Finger Filet, and Liar’s Dice). It all holds the gameplay together perfectly and keeps things going, even if you’re not currently interested in the story.

But I think the thing that makes this one of the best open-world games available is the random events that occur. Indicated by a blue blip on your minimap, random events occur pretty often in the Red Dead world. These include men asking you to help them catch a thief to stealing a wagon for them, and sometimes to just duel in the middle of town. This really helps the game feel more alive than anything, and gives you something to do (or even just to ride around and look for) when you’re not playing a mission.

These random events, as well as other things in-game, will affect your honour. Red Dead Redemption has a morality system that’s based on how you act toward other people. This changes how people act around you. If you’re a generally good person, you’ll be treated with respect. If you go around shooting old ladies and robbing card dealers, your presence will be met with fear.

Aside from random events, another great gameplay element in Red Dead Redemption is the gunfighting. Gunfights can escalate to huge numbers and are always a blast. There’s a quick-aim system in place, which helps a lot in the midst of battle. You can also choose to take out specific body parts to reach a desired outcome. For instance, if you’re looking to hogtie a hostile, you can temporarily take him out by shooting him in the kneecap. This will put a damper on his short-term fire as well as give you an opportunity to get up close and throw the lasso. You can also just shoot their guns out of their hands if you want to avoid any bloodshed and have enough time to get away. There are so many variables in each showdown, which keeps the gunfights incredibly fresh throughout the entire game.

A feature that will help you achieve these accurate shots with time to spare is Dead Eye. The Dead Eye targeting system allows you to slow down time (think max Payne) to take out enemies with ease, or to make your aiming more precise to fit certain situations. There are three levels of Dead Eye — In level 1, time simply slows and allows you to get a shot off with a huge upper hand. Level 2 of Dead Eye has an auto-target system, in which targets are placed on your foes as your cursor runs over their body, and you can execute the shots with a button press. In Level 3, you are able to manually seek out and place targets on your enemy’s body, and again execute the shots with the press of a button. Level 2 is a bit of a pain, as it feels like you lose a lot of control in the transition (which, of course, you do), but once you get to level 3, you’ll feel like the best marksman ever born.

One of my favourite parts in this game is also one of the most often encountered. Horse riding. It’s an incredibly refreshing break from driving a car to get from Point A to Point B. The mechanics are fantastic and it feels incredibly authentic, at least with a controller. The running animations are also incredibly well done. All-in-all, it’s a whole lot more fun than driving a car around. It’s something different, and Rockstar pulled it off incredibly well.

Taking a trip with a companion is also a lot of fun. Just like in GTA4, the mission dialogue as you make your journey differs from time to time, meaning that each play-through of each mission may contain a slightly different conversation, and it makes me want to not throw the controller at the TV when I fail a mission that had a long transmit.

When it comes to multiplayer, Red Dead Redemption delivers very strongly. You start off online in a “Free Roam” mode, which allows you to hook up with other players and cause general mayhem with formed possies battling it out or just going around shooting NPC’s and avoiding the law with a character completely separate from your campaign.

From here, you can take the battle to one of several different kinds of play, one of which is a gang shootout. This particular gametype begins with both teams in a faceoff in the center of a town. You draw your weapons simultaneously and quickly try to take out the other team. The last man/men standing represent their teams in victory, all of whom get an XP bonus. After this, you begin a typical team deathmatch kind of gameplay, but with certain elements that still help to differ it from the competition. For instance, you can still use Dead Eye in multiplayer, although it’s a bit dumbed down. There’s no slow motion, but the auto-target system is in place, allowing you to quickly acquire several targets on an enemy’s body before they’re able to aim down their sights. This is incredibly useful.

Through getting kills you get experience points. With experience, you’ll level up. Your higher level will unlock you things, such as new horses. A faster ride can give you a huge advantage in the midst of battle (especially if you intend to flee).

Overall, the online play in this game is one of many elements that will force me to play it for a long time to come.

Now, if you haven’t been able to understand this yet, Red Dead Redemption is absolutely gorgeous. The immense attention to detail that the designers paid is astounding, down to the fibers in clothing and individual strands of hair. All of the animations are also excellent, and it has a very life-like feel to it.

There’s also an immense amount of variety from location to location, which always keeps things interesting throughout your multinational journey across the lands. Each town has a distinctive layout to it, with recognizable NPCs and unique buildings that really allow you to easily memorize each location. I love that.

But good graphics and gameplay can easily be torn apart by poor audio design decisions or recording issues. Fortunately, there’s none of that here. All of the audio in Red Dead Redemption is top-notch, down to the piano tunes that boom through the saloons as you drink yourself unconscious.

As far as voice acting goes, I’ve heard almost nothing as good as Red Dead Redemption in the past. Rockstar has always been known for having great voice acting, and Red Dead takes it a step further, I feel. All of the characters are incredibly believable, and I’ve actually been quite sad to part with a few of them due to the personalities they develop as you spend time by their sides.

But one of my favourite bits of audio gold in this game is the ambience as you sit in the wild at night. It has a very immersive feel to it. It’s all very realistic and well-done. If you have a surround-sound system, this is a game you’ll quickly be able to appreciate.

Overall, I have to give this game the highest possible score. It blew me away around every corner and I don’t find myself tiring of any of it. The replayability is through the roof, with the online play and the morality system to make sure this one stays in your collection.

If you enjoy third-person shooters at all, this is a game to pick up. A video game that has distractions in and of itself (comprised here of many hours of texas hold ‘em) is more than worth it’s salt.

Keep an eye out for a video review soon.

10/10

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With the 20th of July as the release date for the online racing multiplayer game: Need for Speed World, EA, has gone all out and made the beta version open to all.

With only three weeks to spare EA intends to iron out the kinks, quirks and bugs using the feedback, and data from all who will be playing the beta version. Since today the massive multiplayer game’s beta version has be open to all, and many players have since been behind the wheel and got a first feel of what the official beta testers had experiences all this time. Gamers who want in on this can sign up at the Need for Speed website, and get a piece of the action.

NFS World is EA’s very first online only multiplayer game and is under development by the Canadian EA division in Vancouver. The game is free to play, and will remain so when the official version gets released, until players reach the tenth level. Players can also pay into it, purchasing a starter pack for approximately $ 20 and enjoy lots of extras, including 50 levels instead of only 10.

Need for Speed World will have approximately 150 miles of road players can burn rubber on and also has a complete night and day cycle.

The racing will occur through the scenery of Rockport and the streets of Palmont City. we have seen those before in previous NFS installments, so in a way it will be a familiar setting for most NFS fans.

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With Kinect for Xbox 360 officially revealed to the public, it is about time we did a more in depth story on the device, for all those who are wondering what the heck it is, and what it does.

Kinect aka. Natal

Kinect started out under the  project name Natal, which has now been officially named by MS as Kinect for X Box 360

Why the name change?

Its tradition. Every project developed by Microsoft gets a project code name, and upon release an official name, just like Windows Vista was formerly known as Longhorn, and there were many projects before that.

When will Kinect be hitting the stores?

Well the official launch will be at the 4^th of November, but this is mainly geared towards the US market. Worldwide MS aims at the pre holiday period to have it available everywhere.

What will be the price of Kinect?

The device will go for $ 149, as was just confirmed by Microsoft. How this will translate to European prices is yet unclear.

What does it do?

Magic, and just like all magic it’s all smoke and mirrors, using cameras to sense motion, and through the Kinect device will be able to track your movements, conveying it to the game. It can track up to 48 skeletal points of the human body, which means it can track movement as detailed as individual finger movements. In addition a microphone can be used to issue voice commands to the Xbox 360. “Computer, make it so!”.

Does Kinect always require the Xbox 360

Yes, but the good news is it works with ANY Xbox, old and new.

How much space will I need to play, using Kinect?

Roughly 1 x 1 square meters, according to several test gamers, that have been going at it, during the E3 convention. While you may have to move a chair or a table, it should be doable in basically any type of living room, lounge or even your bedroom.

Is Kinect only using cameras?

No it uses cameras in combination with voice commands issued through the microphone.

What are the games that will be available for Kinect for Xbox 360?

New games are added to the list on a daily bases, but so far we know the following games will be included:

• Kinectimals: A game that lets you get friendly with a pack of cats
• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved: Obviously A fitness game(Nintendo Wii eat your heart out!)
• Kinect Joy Ride: A racing game.
• Kinect Sports: A Kinetic approach to the Wii sports games.
• Kinect Adventures: White water rafting simulation, and a very good one!
• Dance Central: MTV game that can teach you how to dance.
• EA SPORTS Active 2: Exercise game to get you into shape in a fun way.
• DECA SPORTS FREEDOM: More sports.
• Dance Masters: Dance with the masters of the dancing game.
• Adrenalin Misfits: Boarding through seven fantasy worlds.
• Zumba Fitness: And more fitness(Getting tired already)
• Sonic Free Riders: An action packed boarding game.
• The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout: And as if we needed it, more fitness.
• Motion Sports: Oh goodie more fitness!
• Game Party: In Motion: A Wii Play look alike.
• Forza Motorsport – Awesome Racing game.
• Child of Eden: I won’t say too much, only that it is quite addictive.
• Yoostar2: Movie karaoke video.
• Get Fit With Mel B: No I am not kidding, it is yet another fitness game.
• Kinect Star Wars: If anyone has the inspiration to step up and save the Galaxy, keep in mind that may become the next star wars kid, if your girl happens to have her camera handy!

When will those games be available?

Most of them will be released at the same time as Kinect will become available in the stores. For US that would be around the 4^th of November, rest of the world around that time, perhaps a few days later.

Will all games work with Kinect?

No , for games to work with Kinect they have to be specifically designed for it.

Will all games require me to be fit and working out?

While some games require more of an effort than others, some effort will have to go into it, obviously. How else would you play a game like EA SPORTS Active 2?

Is every game developing company making games for Kinect?

Not all, but most of them are. From what is known, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Konami, EA, SEGA, Lucas Arts and MTV are all in on it, and it is rumored that there are several smaller developers also working on Kinect games.

Is Kinect a one player device?

Kinect is designed to be able to handle up to four players at once, so bring out grandma, grandpa, and dad for the morning round of Get Fit With Mel B!

Will I be able to play in multiplayer mode?

As the device is connected to the Xbox 360, you can use it on the Xbox Live network, you can even video call your international buddies on there!

Can it do anything else besides motion control in games?

Yes, as I hinted above the device has the ability for video calls. While it is still being worked on an add on is in the making that will allow Kinect to connect to the Windows Live Messenger as well!

You can also use the voice commands for video playback(Play movie, rewind, pause, you get the idea).

Well, ladies and gentlemen, here you have it; everything you always wanted to know about Microsoft’s Kinect for the Xbox 360, but were afraid to ask.

Enjoy!

See larger image Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures! (Video Game) List Price: $149.99 USD New From: $115.99 In Stock Used from: $48.99 In Stock Release date November 4, 2010.

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During t he E3 event this year, Redmond based Microsoft has started filling in the blanks of its new Xbox 360 add on for motion sensing. The device, based on camera now has a name and is called Kinect and an iron clad release date of November 4^th has been set. Microsoft also allowed us all to take a peek at 15  titles that will  work with the device, but one major part of the new add on still remained a mystery, and that is its selling price.

With the ending of the E3 today, it is highly unlikely we will be receiving an answer from Microsoft about the matter any time soon, but perhaps this little tidbit of information can still be disclosed by looking at retailer databases, where the device is now listed at $149.99.

According to rumors that have been going around for last few weeks, Amazon, GameStop, Wall –Mart and the likes are all checking the Xbox 360 add on as $149.99 at the release date of November 4^th.

The giant of Redmond shrouds itself in silence as requests to confirm or deny this fact have gone unanswered.

The Kinect motion sensing system was formerly known as project Natal and its purpose is adding motion control to the popular Xbox 360 gaming console. Besides motion control the device is also capable of voice recognition, enabling gamers to issue voice commands, in order to navigate menus.

At this point 15 game titles have been announced to be working with the device, among them  are:

• Kinect Adventures
• Kinectimals
• Kinect Joy Ride
• Kinect Sports
• EA Sports’ Active 2
• Konami’s DanceMasters
• Sonic Free Riders
• A new Star Wars game from LucasArts
• Child of Eden
• UFC Trainer

Most of these games are to be released simultaneously with the release of Kinect.

See larger image Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures! (Video Game) List Price: $149.99 USD New From: $115.99 In Stock Used from: $48.99 In Stock Release date November 4, 2010.

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