By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 10:30 pm
 Check out this trailer for StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void which introduces Archon Mode, where 2 players can control one base.
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 10:30 pm
 Find out what Kevin and Erick think of StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void's Archon mode. Archon mode puts two people in control of one army.
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 10:30 pm
 Get an overview of what you can expect for StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void from the initial phase of the closed Beta testing.
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 09:42 pm
 Online retailer Amazon has launched a new PlayStation 4 bundle that includes a system and copies of The Last of Us Remastered and Battlefield Hardline for $435.  As of January, all new PS4s come with The Last of Us Remastered. But Hardline, which was released just yesterday, normally costs $60, so you're saving $25 through this bundle. Head to Amazon's product page here to buy it. Check out GameSpot's Hardline review or see this roundup for what other critics are saying about the cops-and-robbers game developed by Dead Space creator Visceral Games. Looking for more gaming deals? Check back later today for GameSpot's comprehensive roundup of the day's best deals across games, accessories, and more. GameSpot's gaming deals posts always highlight the best deals we can find regardless of retailer. We also occasionally use retailer affiliate links, which means that purchasing goods through those links helps support all the great content (including the deals posts) you find for free here on the site.
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 09:30 pm
Sony announced the PlayStation Vue television streaming service last year, and on Wednesday the corporation revealed a lot more about the price, rollout plan, and TV channels on offer. Vue is available starting now , but only in a few cities. Starting with New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, the service will enter other markets at a later, unspecified date. In an interview with GameSpot, Sony Network Entertainment vice president Eric Lempel said that he wants to get the service running in the rest of the US soon. "We want to get to a lot of cities very quickly. This is the most complex thing we've launched since starting the network," he said. "Everything we've launched usually comes out by country. In this case, because we felt local programming was important to the users, we wanted to make sure we got those deals signed so that it involves the local affiliates individually. But this year, we will be delivering a lot of new markets, so it's something that will evolve very quickly." The timing of the Vue announcement is likely tied to the recent government approval of Net Neutrality. Without that legislation in place, a company like Comcast could have potentially throttled the bandwidth of a competing provider like Vue. Lempel calls Sony's service "a complete TV offering. It's live TV; it's catch-up TV; it's a DVR in the cloud. So it gives our users everything that we think they want." But the price is what most users will find surprising. Microsoft opened up the Xbox One's TV offering through Sling TV this week with pricing that starts at $20 per month. But PlayStation Vue runs from $50 to $70 depending on the bundle. Sony believes it isn't competing with Netflix or Hulu; but instead cable providers such as Comcast. Here's a rundown of the full channel offering and current prices for Vue: $50 Option -- Access- 50 channels total
- Broadcast: CBS, CBS Plus, Cozi TV, Exitos, FOX, MyNetwork, NBC, Telemundo
- Network: Animal Planet, BET, Bravo, Cartoon/Adult Swim, CBS, CMT, CNBC, CNN, Comedy Central, Destination America, Discovery Channel, Discovery Family, DIY, E!, Esquire, Food Network, Fox Business, Fox News Networks, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, FX, FXX, HGTV, HLN, Investigation Discovery, MSNBC, MTV, MTV2, Nat Geo, NBC Sports Network, Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, OWN, Oxygen, Science, Spike, Syfy, TBS, TLC, TNT, TruTV, Travel Channel, TV Land, USA Network, VH1.
- AMC networks will be available in April (including AMC, IFC, Sundance, and WE tv)
$60 Option -- Core- All of the $50 channels plus:
- Network: BTN, Golf Channel, TCM
- New York Only: YES Network
- Philadelphia Only: Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
- Chicago Only: Comcast SportsNet Chicago
$70 Option -- Elite- All of the above channels plus:
- Network: American Heroes, BET Gospel, Boomerang, Centric, Chiller, Cloo, CMT Pure Country, CNBC World, Cooking Channel, Discovery Fit & Health, FOX College Sports Atlantic, FOX College Sports Central, FOX College Sports Pacific, FXM, LOGO, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, mtvU, Nat Geo Wild, PALLADIA, Sprout, TeenNick, Universal, Velocity, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul.
Why bundle options when so many other networks, like HBO Now, seem to be embracing a la carte? Lempel said, "We looked at that ... But you'll quickly see that if you choose a few of those, you'll be at a price much higher than our tiers. In our research and talking to consumers, they really did want that bundled offering. ... I think we'll continue to see this space evolve and similar to what we've done in the past, this product will evolve. We're adding new networks on a regular basis; we're in talks with a lot people." You won't need a PlayStation Plus or any other subscription to access Vue, but you don't get a discount for subscribing to Sony's other PlayStation services either. But Lempel offered up some hope: "In the future we can always explore ways to bring more benefits to users of PlayStation Plus or other services."  One immediate benefit is that Vue will be accessible simultaneously across up to three different devices "at no additional charge." However, that only includes one PS4 at a time. Since Vue includes live TV, there will be commercials in the recorded and live programming, but videos that you favorite or record to DVR will let you fast forward and pause after recording. Lempel added that, "On the catch-up side [the programs made available after airing that you can watch without actively setting up the DVR], it's up to the networks. We want to make this as easy and flexible as possible, but through our deals, we have to comply with what they ask us to do with their content." After tagging a show using Vue's DVR, you'll have access to all episodes of that show for 28 days. And since the DVR is cloud-based, there are no storage restrictions or conflicts with recording multiple programs in the same time slot. If you don't schedule a show using the Vue DVR, you'll still have access to the last three days of programming to catch up. "So in time, if we feel there's something interesting that a lot of our users want, that can come into this."
Shows won't have additional ads, but Lempel said, "There could be different ads. We do have the ability to dynamically insert advertising in certain places." And for local affiliates, "You'll probably continue to get a lot of the local ads for some of the merchants from that region. And any sort of open spaces, or through our deals, if we have the ability to insert ads, we have the ability to sell that space or insert our own programming." As the internet breaks down its barriers, is Sony looking at expanding the international content offerings to users? And not just the BBC, but NHK in Japan or Korea's KBS? "Initially, we're going out with this easy-to-understand offering of select channels that our users have identified as important," Lempel explained, "but anything can be added to this. So, in time, if we feel there's something interesting that a lot of our users want, that can come into this. We have the ability to do it technically ... So anything is possible for the future."          Full disclosure: GameSpot is owned by CBS Interactive.
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 09:11 pm
Microsoft is extending its free Windows 10 upgrade offer even to those who pirated Windows 7 or Windows 8, executive Terry Myerson reveals in a new interview with Reuters.  "We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10," he said. A Microsoft representative later confirmed Myerson's comments, adding that the company hopes to "re-engage" with software pirates. "Anyone with a qualified device can upgrade to Windows 10, including those with pirated copies of Windows," the representative told The Verge. "We believe customers over time will realize the value of properly licensing Windows and we will make it easy for them to move to legitimate copies." As was previously announced, for the first twelve months following Windows 10's launch, PCs running Windows 7 and 8 will be eligible for a free upgrade to the new OS. This week, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will launch this summer, though the technology giant has not yet pinned down a specific release date. Microsoft also revealed that it's working with Chinese Internet giant Tencent to bring the massively popular MOBA League of Legends to Windows 10. Windows 10 features a new Xbox gaming app, which will not require Xbox Live Gold. Meanwhile, another marquee gaming feature for Windows 10 is that it will allow Xbox One games to stream to PCs and tablets running the new OS. In addition, Windows 10 supports cross-platform play, starting with Fable Legends. For more on Windows 10 and its gaming implications, check out the video above.
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 08:44 pm
 Reports from The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times claim that Apple's long-rumored Internet TV service is aiming to launch by the end of the year. The Internet TV space is heating up, as Dish and Microsoft just this week released the Sling TV app for Xbox One, while Sony will soon roll out its own service--PlayStation Vue--for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.  According to sources, Apple's pay-TV service would include around 25 channels, featuring programming from networks such as ABC, Fox, and GameSpot parent company CBS. The Apple TV service--not to be confused with the Apple TV set-top box--will reportedly be available for Apple devices such as iPhones, iPads, and the Apple TV box. NBC Universal programming is not part of the package at the moment, sources said, due to a reported "falling-out" between Apple and NBCUniversal parent company Comcast. As for price, unspecified "media executives" talking to The WSJ said Apple is aiming to offer its Apple TV service for about $30-$40 per month. By comparison, the Xbox One's Sling TV costs $20/month for the base package, while pricing for PlayStation Vue has not been announced. Are you planning to "cut the cord" and go with an Internet TV service instead of a traditional cable package? Let us know in the comments below!
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 08:30 pm
Ever played a Hearthstone match that gets completely out of hand before you even have a chance to fiddle with the backgrounds? If you're a devotee of Blizzard's glorious collectable card game, there's every chance you carry painful memories of an early knockout at the hands of a Zoolock. Or that now-forgotten army of Murlocs who pulled together a victory against you by turn 4. But have you played a match that was certifiably crazy by the end of turn one? Such possibilities await in Blackrock Mountain, Blizzard's next Hearthstone adventure, which is due to go live in April. Picture the scene: I'm pitted against Coren Direbrew, the first of the expansion's 17 new bosses, whose zero-mana automated hero power will draw a minion from both decks onto the board. Merely seconds after I've exchanged greetings with the AI (don't pretend you don't do it either), two cards drop. On my side, a Cenarius. On his, a Mal'Ganis. That's turn one. After laughing, Frankenstein-like, at the sheer absurdity of it all, it becomes clear that this isn't the sort of challenge where a Knife Juggler is going to cut it by turn two. Your meticulously arranged ladder decks have wound up in the wrong tavern, pal. "We want people to look through their old cards and a light bulb goes off"Eric Dodds
It's an exciting prospect for those who found the theory-crafting aspect of the Naxxramas adventure so enjoyable. That previous adventure forced players to build custom, one-time decks to play their way around immensely powerful foes with a mystery Achilles' Heel. Finding that weakness, and building a deck that could exploit it, was just as fun as pulling off the victory. "We really liked the Maexxna encounter in Naxxramas, where you had to build a whole new deck," says Eric Dodds, Hearthstone's lead designer. "Normally you wouldn't have a whole deck of seven and nine drops, but in this case it's absolutely a good idea." After calling time on Direbrew with a swift 9-attack haymaker (pro-tip: Rogue's Sap spell is essential), I sat down with Dodds to discuss the expansion, as well as the smartphone version and, somewhat awkwardly, the ESL controversy. Eric Dodds is one of the founding developers of HearthstoneGameSpot: From what I've seen so far of Blackrock Mountain, it appears that the Hearthstone team wants to bring focus back to the original card set, as the spotlight is currently on the GvG cards. Would that be a fair assessment? Dodds: Well the intention at a higher design level was really that players really like dragons, so it would be awesome if they could make a dragon deck. The new Blackwing Technician card will be a good example of that. It's a 2/4 that costs three mana, but is 3/5 if you have a dragon in your hand, which is a pretty effective card. We love the idea of people building their deck around dragons. Up until now, you could put Ysera or Alexstrasza in your deck, but we wanted to support that a bit more. We actually really like the idea of adding new cards that make you want to play the old ones again. A good example of this is the new Shaman spell, Lava Shock, which suddenly makes overload cards much more compelling. I'm guessing it will also encourage people, when they're buying cards, to choose the classic packs instead of GVG. Certainly at the moment I'm finding myself opting for the GVG packs, because there's still many of those I don't have, but there were a few classic cards that I missed too. Is it the intention to bring focus back to the classic packs again? Not really. I mean, we're bringing attention back by saying that this card you already own can now be seen in a new light. We want people to look through their old cards and a light bulb goes off, and people suddenly have this idea of how to use them in an awesome new way. That's very exciting to us. I did want to get some insight into how you internally test and balance these new cards. I know that you play the game incessantly to get a feel for them, but I've always wondered if you used any algorithms to test your cards, and whether you internally score things like batttlecry. It's interesting because when I first started working on Hearthstone, I had played a ton of other [collectable card] games and I thought, oh it's great I can have spreadsheet and it's going to tell me how much everything should cost. It turns out that this is absolutely not what we do at all. It's certainly what I thought we would do, but there are so many factors that go into balancing cards, such as what hero uses them, that really what we do is assess on a case-by-case basis. A designer creates a card, and tends to have a gut-instinct on how it's going to work, and then it goes over to our balance team. Now, our balance team is four amazingly skilled guys. I think all of them, at one point or another, have been in the top twenty legends. They are phenomenally good at the game. They take these cards that we're making, and play them and play them and play them, and they come back with the numbers that these cards should be released with. That's incredibly interesting. It makes sense too because there are some cards that look better on face value than in practice. What we love is when we see players' reactions to our new cards and they say "how could you do this?! How could you print that card?! It's broken!" We have actually seen that a few times before, but when you get to play it, people tend to realise it's not the be-all and end-all. "Our balance team is four amazingly skilled guys. I think all of them, at one point or another, have been in the top twenty legends."Eric Dodds
There are instances where the facts lie too. For example, I tend to prefer a card with six attack over seven, because it circumvents the Big Game Hunter. Yes that's certainly the case now in the meta, but we'll see over time if the Big Game Hunter cycles out and those 7 attack cards become more powerful. Let's talk about the smartphone version, which I know is a few months away from launch. Will it all remain cross-platform, in that an iPhone player can play a iPad or PC? Yes absolutely, it will be your exact same account, so all your cards on tablet or PC will be available on your phone too. When you start a match on a phone, you could be playing someone on another phone, someone on a tablet, on a PC, who knows? It's all one big ecosystem. The smartphone version of Hearthstone is expected to launch in a matter of months. Click on the thumbnails below for additional images     One fear I have is that the game is going to take hold of my life now that it's in my pocket. Would you ever be open to the idea of self-suspending accounts, just for a little while, if someone needs to lose the distraction for a few weeks? [Dodds Laughs] Seriously though! If I have a big assignment that needs completing, or someone has exams to study for, it could be handy to suspend your account for a brief while. Well, I don't that's in the near-term plans. But I think one of the neat things about it being on the phone is that, very often, people find themselves with a spare ten minutes with not much to do. So I think the phone version will make Hearthstone fit into your life a lot better. Will it destroy my phone battery? When I play on iPad, I need to keep the power cord plugged in... It's certainly... it's a beautiful game, so it definitely uses power. One thing we're constantly thinking about is how to make the most of the phone's battery. When you start a match on a phone, you could be playing someone on another phone, someone on a tablet, on a PC, who knows? It's all one big ecosystem.Eric Dodds
Hearthstone's an always-online game too, so would it eat into your monthly 4G (LTE) allowance? I presume you would advise against people playing it on their phone if they have tight data usage restrictions? I don't know if it uses a lot of data. You have to have a constant connection though. I wouldn't recommend playing it on a train. I wanted to address the elephant in the room--the ESL Legendary series, where people on Reddit discovered that the winners had retroactively been given Blizzcon Qualifier Points. I suppose the main question is, do you have some level of regret about this? I'm not sure what you mean. So, the main finalists of the ESL Legendary series each won World Championship Qualifier points. Silent Storm, who came in first, won 100 points, which is the equivalent of getting two 1st places in a ranked season. One problem people have is that it wasn't ever announced as an officially sanctioned tournament. Were you not made aware of this? Yeah, okay, I'm not as involved on the eSports side of things. [Blizzard PR: "I think the best thing is to take that question to our eSports team"] Okay, well that would be great because there's a lot of questions people have regarding it. [Update: As of press time, Blizzard has not yet officially responded to the question]. I wanted to also ask about buying card packs. At the moment I opt for GVG packs, but doing so means there's no chance of getting the final few classic cards. If I buy classic packs, there's no chance I'll get the final few GVG cards. Would you consider grouping these packs together in the future? It's certainly something that we've talked about a lot, asking what is our long-term plan for packs of cards. We don't have anything planned right now, because at the moment it's only two kinds of packs, but it's certainly something that in the long term we'll be looking at. Now it's all in the past, what is your overall view of the GVG update? I loved it! I thought it went amazingly well. We certainly liked a lot of the randomness that was introduced, because you're never quite sure what's going to happen, but skilled players can figure out what to do in those situations. I'm also a big fan of the Goblins Vs Gnomes style. I think the look and the charm is very Hearthstone. I like changing things up--you saw how Goblins Vs Gnomes was one style and tone--and now Blackrock Mountain represents a more serious tone. I like how we're encompassing different parts of the Warcraft universe. As of press time, Blizzard has only revealed a handful of new cards     Blackrock Mountain will also add 31 new cards, which I think is an ideal size. Personally I felt there were too many GVG cards that were introduced and never used. For newcomers, the number of cards must start to become overwhelming. Surely, looking forwards, the sheer volume of cards is going to be your long-term enemy? It's an ongoing thing that we're always talking about internally, because on one hand you've got players who are always looking for new content, and on the other hand you've got players who don't want to be overwhelmed with new cards. I think you hit the nail on the head with what we're trying to do with Blackrock Mountain, because we want to change the meta again, but we don't want to add so many things that players become overwhelmed. I'm guessing you're also fairly happy that there's no major discussion about nerfs at the moment either. I suppose the likeliest candidate is Dr Boom, but I don't think the majority of people are complaining about it. Well philosophically it's our intention to never get to a situation where we need to nerf cards. The only time we would consider it is if the card staying as it is would be damaging to the fun. We changed Undertaker because you were seeing a lot of decks based around that, and so we didn't have as much diversity, but actually right now there's a bunch of different decks. So, as long as there continues to be a bunch of different types of decks, we really have no interest in nerfing anything. And out long-term goal is to get to a situation where we change as little as possible.
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 08:10 pm
Nintendo's first mobile game has the potential to attract 100 million users per day, according to a key executive at DeNA, the third-party publisher enlisted to help develop the new range of smartphone games. Shintaro Asako, the chief executive at DeNA West, believes Nintendo's IP has the gravitas to reach unprecedented numbers of smartphone players. While Candy Crush Saga peaked in 2014 at 93 million daily active users, Asako thinks DeNA can top that. "I've wanted to create something globally successful, not only for kids, but for mid-aged people and beyond," Asako told Venturebeat. "The game should attract a huge range of people. We wanted to get a huge audience like Candy Crush, like 100 million users. We wanted to create something with that kind of DAU [daily active user] base." On Tuesday Nintendo revealed it has bought a ten percent stake in DeNA, as part of a wider plan to begin releasing new games on mobile. The first of these custom-made, bespoke titles is expected to be released before the end of 2015. Nintendo also announced that it is separately working on a new traditional games console, which is internally named the Nintendo NX. Asako did not explicitly state that the new Nintendo mobile games would be free-to-play, but the 100 million target is not reasonably possible without such a business strategy. "I think with the strong IPs Nintendo has, and the strong game operation expertise we have, I don't think we're dreaming [about reaching] 100 million DAU," he said. "Mobile gaming is our core business, and we definitely wanted to be the No. 1 mobile gaming company in the world. We've wanted to be a dominant player," Asako added. "We were originally focused on the feature phone space and then shifted over to smartphones, and now [we have] a lot of initiative in both the domestic and international markets. But we really want to be leading player." He added that careful consideration was necessary to deliver choice to customers without jeopardizing Nintendo's commitment to quality. "For this, I think the solution is not coming out with 10 or 20 games right away. We should pick the right game. We should actually create a smartphone-specific game that requires day-to-day social interaction. It's not just porting a Wii U game out to smartphones. But actually properly design a smartphone game." For more on Nintendo's move into the smartphone market, check out GameSpot's editor opinion roundup on the subject.
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 08:09 pm
 Sony is rolling out a new promotion in Denmark where people who donate blood can get a free copy of upcoming PlayStation 4 role-playing game Bloodborne.  In an effort to help raise awareness for the lack of blood donors in the country, PlayStation has formed a partnership with Danish blood center GivBlod (via NeoGAF) that will give donors a free copy of the game. The event itself will be held on Monday, March 23. Blood donors can receive a free copy of Bloodborne or another PlayStation game. They will also be entered into a sweepstakes for the chance to win a specially designed Bloodborne PlayStation 4 system. Bloodborne, developed by Demon's Souls and Dark Souls creator From Software, launches March 24 in North America and March 27 in the UK. Recently, game director Hidetaka Miyazaki spoke out to say that, while Bloodborne is most assuredly a violent game, its depictions of blood and gore are not gratuitous.
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 05:30 am
 Ed and Jess dive into this excellent city-building simulator to show you why everyone's going crazy over it, and what it does better than SimCity!
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 05:02 am
The best video games get better the more you play them. You start with a rough understanding of how everything works, and gradually you find yourself triumphing against mounting odds, until finally, you're a finely-tuned weapon capable of cutting through any mess to save the day. The experience such games offer is exhilarating, rewarding, and fair--and everything LA Cops is not. After a brief tutorial, LA Cops begins with a cutscene that shows a cop finding a wedding ring and a note on a counter. You can piece together what that means, and may feel sorry for the officer, who was so married to his job that his wife decided to find a new husband. Then it's time to pick two officers from a squad of six before you tackle an isometric shooting stage. Your job is to neutralize some gang members who have taken the owner of a donut shop hostage. Collateral damage is okay.  The game picks inopportune times to worry about realism.
LA Cops is not a long game. It features eight story-based missions, along with an assortment of challenging secondary stages that become available as you clear the primary eight. You can repeat any scenario you like, as often as suits you, on any of three available difficulty settings. Objectives vary from one job to the next, but mostly you need to slowly work your way through a stage, slapping cuffs on goons or--more frequently--blasting them to bits and leaving blood smears on the walls and floor. The former action rewards you with more points, but makes for a tedious and risky progression, since you spend a lot of time running through rooms occupied by several alert gang members at a time. The game picks inopportune times to worry about realism. At the onset, taking a hit means that your officer is quite likely dead. He drops to the floor in a huge pool of blood, and control shifts immediately to the second officer. Generally, you can find a first-aid kit somewhere in the area that allows for one revival, and there are donuts lying around (apparently, the five-second rule doesn't apply) that you can use to restore health if somehow you take damage and live to tell the tale, but it's best to assume that a single mistake is fatal.  Additional missions are a chore, not a reward.
Unfortunately, the game is built so that mistakes are inevitable. Sprawling environments mean you can almost never see as far as you need to, even if you pull the camera out as far as it can go. This adds tension (which is good) while allowing for some really cheap moments (which are bad). Shoot a lone guard in the corridor ahead of you, but don't start forward just yet because the sound of your shot might cause another guard--or five, or six--to emerge from adjoining rooms with murder on their minds. Such events never happen consistently because, while enemy placement is approximately the same every time you attempt a stage, guards make the rounds in random patterns. Progression at the speed of a crawl is all but required in the later stages, even once you think you're familiar with everything, since getting rushed by a few men at once is dangerous, even if you expect it and back away into a room you've already cleared. On your first few trips through a stage, you also get to discover all sorts of neat surprises. A wall looks solid, so you creep along in search of your next threat, only to get gunned down because, actually, someone saw you through a window that you weren't aware existed. You find out about that on your next attempt, when it may or may not factor into the course of the game at all. Or maybe you're caught in a shootout and a bullet hits a propane tank, explodes, and vaporizes you. That's all part of the learning process.  Everything looks good enough to provide a sense of place, but minimalism is the order of the day.
The fact that you have a partner is supposed to make the rigmarole easier to handle, but it doesn't. Technically, you can set up ambushes and work as a team. Any time you like, you can switch from one officer to the other at the press of a button. Or you can invite your friend to join you by pointing the finicky cursor to a likely spot and pressing a different button. If you time it right, a load screen tip explains, both of you can burst into a room at the same time and give your adversaries hell. In theory, this is wonderful, and adds depth to the game. In practice, it doesn't work. The timing is touchy, for one thing, but a bigger issue is your ally's tendency to get gunned down the minute he's spotted by anyone. The bad guys always seem to shoot first, unless you lure them around a corner where your partner is positioned and he happens to feel ambitious. Except in rare cases, your backup works better as a second life than as a means of getting more juice out of the first one. Character customization is offered, and you might suppose it would impact how everything plays out, but it doesn't, really. You earn two, three, or four skill points when you clear a stage, depending on your rating, and you can assign those to any officer on the force. Each character can be maxed out with 100 points that allow them to use weapons besides pistols--an all but mandatory skill in later stages--and to lengthen life meters, improve speed, expand weapon clip size, and increase the damage that bullets inflict. You have to accumulate a lot of points before you see a difference, and even then, a bullet or two is just as fatal. The bad guys always seem to shoot first, unless you lure them around a corner where your partner is positioned and he happens to feel ambitious.
  LA Cops also has problems with difficulty balance. The first four missions are a nice warm-up. They'll frustrate you if you try to rush through them, but they feel fair unless shots don't line up, which is a random but rare occurrence. Then the fifth stage is suddenly packed with goons and you have to work much harder to survive, but that's still not so bad. Next, the sixth stage comes along and presents a large area with garage doors that suddenly lift so that waves of enemies can swarm you. When you advance to the building's second floor, an action that previously activated checkpoints that you could return to as often as you wished, you are notified that failure means a trip back to the beginning of the stage. The game neglects to mention that you can keep retrying as long as the restrictive timer remains (it carries over even if you continue after both officers fall). The best strategy is thus to run through the rooms as quickly as you can, guns blazing, only the game doesn't tell you that, instead punishing you for not figuring it out in time. From then on, new stages produce extra wrinkles that are similarly exasperating. Additional missions are a chore, not a reward. If the game offered meaningful incentives for triumphing over its quirks, that would go a long way toward making the play more enjoyable, but the cutscenes are too brief and disjointed to be interesting. They tell a slightly humorous story, filled with bad dialogue, making fun of 70s cop films without doing anything to improve on them. Character models are drawn just well enough that you can see them for the stereotypes they are, which could still work well if most of the characters weren't apparently voiced by one guy, who sounds disinterested in everything he says. If the soundtrack weren't so delightful and appropriate, you'd almost be better off playing with the sound muted. In the actual levels, everything looks good enough to provide a sense of place, but minimalism is the order of the day, and the splashes of crimson that result when you gun down a bunch of thugs are the most interesting thing you ever see. LA Cops has the pieces that could have been used to build an interesting shooter, but they only occasionally come together. The result is a frequently maddening slog through isometric hell, framed by a broken story and sloppy mechanics, suggesting that what the game needed more than anything was further play testing and refinement. You're better off replaying something you already like that does a better job of treading similar ground, rather than enduring this cop story gone bad.
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 04:37 am
 Final Fantasy Type-0's storyline may not be the most engaging, but its combat system makes it hard to put down.
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 04:30 am
 Nintendo announce mobile development and a new system in development, five new Mortal Kombat characters leak, and Nvidia releases the insane Titan X!
By Anonymous on Mar 18, 2015 04:06 am
 Alexa and Jeremy jump right in to the demo version of Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae!
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