With its cinematic approach to the gameplay, Square Enix’s upcoming title Sleeping Dogs is certainly bringing many new interesting elements to the open world genre. Originally announced as True Crime: Hong Kong; after a very troubled development schedule in which Activision dropped the game, Square Enix have now revived the title, rebranding it as a new IP. Have Square put enough into this title to make Activision regret their decision? Find out in our preview.

It’s hard to identify exactly how much Activision attempted to funnel the title into the True Crime identity, especially given the fact that it wasn’t initially under development as the next entry, but it does seem to still share some similarities to the aforementioned series. It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how it fares given a fresh identity, but if my preview session is anything to go by, it’s shaping up very nicely with tonnes of memorable experiences.

Sleeping Dogs’ main protagonist Wei Shen is a detective who returns to Hong Kong to help support the police in infiltrating the triads years after growing up there, and throughout the campaign you can choose to support the police, or be loyal to his old friends. The characters are well detailed, animated, interact with each other convincingly, and also feature high quality voice acting from numerous Hong Kong cinema stars alongside some other famous actors including Tom Wikson (Batman Begins, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Shakespeare In Love).

Square Enix have done a fantastic job with both the setting and feel of Hong Kong complete with huge skyscrapers, glamorous cars, up-market houses and an impressive financial district. You’ll pass by restaurants, be entertained by street performers, get stuck in congested streets, and even visit vendors where you can purchase Herbal tea, giving your player a form of boost.The first mission I jumped into was a chase scene where Wei is trying to impress a triad member – showing off his skills and dedication – while chasing after a rival gang member for information. Running through the crowded market, knocking unlucky civilians out of your way, you’re able to run and jump over certain obstacles, as well as run up small walls to grab onto ledges to move quickly through the environment. The constant flow of fast paced action is great, as is the realistic atmosphere the helpless civilians provide both by getting in your way and being knocked around. After being led into a trap, I got to try out the combat system against six thugs who had surrounded me. I was looking forward to cracking some skulls. The fighting was fluid and easy to grasp, with enough variety in the punch’s and kick’s to keep the foes at bay. Countering is also an option, and since they’re all contextual, you’ll be throwing enemies into garbage cans, trapping them under shutters, shoving their heads into both electric boxes and fans, all whilst hearing their helpless screams. If you enjoyed Batman: Arkham City’scombat then this game will suit you nicely as it’s very similar and flowing. You’ll need to rely on timing the counters when you encounter enemies with weapons, as being overly offensive won’t get you very far. Throughout both story and side missions you are given XP which falls into three categories. Face XP provides you higher reputation in Hong Kong, allowing you to access more side missions and partnerships, and is dependant on how well you dress. There are a lot of potential outfits including Bruce Lee’s Game Of Death costume. Police XP is rewarded if you successfully complete the mission as good as possible, relating to civilians killed and damage caused.  Lastly there’s Triad XP, which is given to you for doing certain things for said gang. The XP system is very interesting, and although not all of its features were detailed to myself, there was mention of certain perks that you could earn such as the ability to hold extra ammunition.
The level I got to play next was very story heavy, so be wary of spoilers! During the next mission ‘The Election’, things don’t go to plan and it ends up with Wei’s capture after a botched meeting with Mr. Tang at a bar in the financial district. Similar to GTA IV’s mobile phone system, Sleeping Dogs appears to also utilise the device, but how much it will feature is yet to be seen. The Triads aren’t messing around and they brutally beat and cut Wei. After he breaks free from the beating, he notices a thug taking a piss, and what better way to say “thanks for your hospitality” by drowning him in his own piss. As you proceed to escape the apartment you encounter more thugs who wish to fight, this time in the kitchen. This is where more of the other environmental kills appear, resulting in being burned alive on a cooker, killing one with a fridge door, chucking another onto a pipe, another into a wall and lastly placing one on a board with a saw attached, cutting into his head. The environment will be a key feature when fighting enemies and I can’t wait to see what other ways I can brutally take down my foes.

After escaping onto some scaffolding, you’ll see some nice effects such as the rain that glimmers off Wei as he runs over the wet slippery roof tops. Nearer the end of the mission, I was able to use a gun for the first time, as well as experience how the slow-motion system worked. The guns reacted realistically and worked very well, and can shoot through light cover. The cover system worked like a charm and didn’t feel fiddly. Taking down enemies with headshots, and shattering windows during the firefights was a very satisfying experience. After you jump over an obstacle while aiming, you’re granted a period of slow-motion where you’re able to shoot enemies more accurately, and the headshots provided a particularly rewarding feel. Ending on quite a cliff hanger, the final cutscene sees Mr. Tang and Wei Shan face to face, but cut quickly to black before I saw anything.

There are lots of things for players to experience in Sleeping Dogs, and many famous Hong Kong areas to visit as well, though not at a full size scale of the city. The mini-map lets you locate missions, safe houses, vendors and cloth stores, and you’re able to toggle through the missions by clicking the left thumb stick. Police presence is always something to be aware of, both during missions and free-roam play, though they were disabled in this build. You’ll be able to highjack moving vehicles during chases, along with the ability to use police satellites to track down certain gang members for missions.

The last mission we got to play was “Fast Girls” where Wei Shan has to compete against rival racers to take over turf. While I was initially expecting the driving to be fiddly, United Front Games (including ex Black Box staff) have put their racing expertise to good use, providing a driving experience with responsive controls and good physics that felt realistic, along the lines of Need For Speed: Most Wanted. Motorbikes are also on offer for those of you who prefer two-wheels.

After what I have played I can easily say that Sleeping Dogs is becoming one of my most anticipated titles of the year and I am really looking forward to the final product. The game may not be as innovative as some players might want, but it definitely brings a more cinematic approach to the open world-genre. Bringing great combat and physics to the genre is also impressive, and in a number of regards it certainly feels superior to other similar titles. Delivering fun street racing, and a cohesive version of Hong Kong City, I’m very anxious to see more.

Many modern shooters have been following a similar, linear path. Over the past few years our home consoles haven’t really been graced with a tactical co-op based shooter. With Ghost Recon out of the picture for the past few years, First Person Shooters like Call Of Duty and Battlefield have taken the spotlight. After a lengthy development cycle how does Ghost Recon: Future Soldier provide a new experience for 3rd person/warfare fanatics? Find out in this preview.

When booting up the Ghost Recon: Future Solider campaign for the first time you will easily notice the graphical upgrade the title has had since its previous entries. There’s lots of nice animations for the player character, as well as both the friendly and enemy AI, giving it a more realistic feel, similar to that of Splinter Cell Conviction.  There was however some very bad loading on a number of textures, and certain buildings and features did look a tad outdated, however the experience wasn’t ruined and hopefully won’t be reflected in the final build. During the preview my colleague Barry and myself managed to try out a few missions from different areas of the game. The second mission took place in South Africa, where your squad has been sent to infiltrate and kill a target in the sandy deserts. As soon as you’re given control, players will find that the game takes a much more stealthy approach in regards to taking down the enemy. The cloak is pretty much always activated when walking in a crouched position, though enemies can detect you if you move too close.

The cloaking is both a brilliant and nifty idea to bring a tactical element to the fight. During the preview we were accompanied by 3 other AI co-operative partners. Due to the game being focused on 4 player co-op, I strongly recommended you bring a few friends along, although for the most part the AI partners can hold their own. The option to control your squad like you could in the G.R.A.W series no longer an option, as you can no longer tell your AI partners to go take cover behind a wall or to attack when prompted. However, this doesn’t mean that you don’t get use control your squad or plan tactical assaults. I was pleased that this functionality was removed as I did find it a bit annoying in the previous titles, as even though it was a nice idea and it did work, it just felt too slow and overwhelming having to control both yourself and your squad. As Ubisoft have revamped the franchise the only control of the squad you now have is the ability to do sychronised attacks on enemies. This means that if you’re in a situation where 4 enemies are guarding an object or in your view, you can now take them down together with ease.  Simple and very fun, all it takes is a click of the right bumper button to bring up the prompt to call one of your team mates to take out an enemy or two. You can shoot up to four enemies at one time, and you could pretty much play the whole game without taking a shot as your AI is well coordinated. Your AI and the character you control move and work well together, and there has clearly been a lot of improvements to the whole feel of the game and from what we’ve played. Taking cues from the more recent Tom Clancy games, the navigation and environmental awareness systems have been taken from Splinter Cell Conviction and incorporated here.

After playing through several different missions I came away with a positive gameplay experience. On the narrative side though, it was a little lacking, as what I played showed no character development, and at no point did the cut-scenes introduce or build characteristics of the four soldiers (even if one of them did share the same surname as myself). I did question Ubisoft’s PR about if there was a possibility of character biographies being featured in the game, to which Pete Closs responded “We can’t currently confirm if this feature will be added in the final build”. This might not seem like a huge issue to most gamers but I would of liked to have seen some more character development. There was also a few little issues I encountered, mainly the enemies AI.  Throughout the various missions playing on the Medium difficulty it wasn’t hard to notice how stupid the AI was. Sneaking behind enemies and taking them down without being noticed was a little too simple, and with the brilliant support from your AI comrades, this difficulty will be a breeze for most players. It was easy to exploit the enemies, as most of them seemed to follow similar paths, meaning that it’s often a little too easy to sneak by unnoticed. If spotted however, the difficulty does pick up and more enemies start to suppress your position, while others trying to get up close to you.  It became difficult to maneuver, but interesting as the use of your AI partners can make the firefight a little bit easier, instructing them to move forward and take out certain enemies to help you push forward.

Among the above issues, there were also some issues with the covering system, as even though it works during firefights and helps you progress further, at times I found the cover to be a tad clunky and unresponsive, meaning that I often decided to just crouch behind the wall instead of taking cover properly. It seems like it could be an issue with the preview build, and I hope it is, since the covering system could cause a lot of negativity for players, especially for those who will choose to play on the higher difficulty where it’s one shot one kill.  With these issues aside the controls are very accurate and deliver a reliable experience. Aiming is also very precise, realistic and the recoil from your weapons are balanced but also at times challenging, providing a lot of realism.

Throughout the various missions we played, there was a lot of variety in locations and different objectives to keep you on your feet, as well as keeping the game fresh and exciting. The game isn’t as linear as a Call Of Duty or Battlefield, which means approaching enemies doesn’t have to be so direct and sudden, as players are given enough time to assess situations and take out enemies as they please. One of the levels that most interested me was a snow mission which allowed me to control a mechanical armoured robot  as it entered into a Russian base to cause havoc.

Overall Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is turning out to be a very nice and well developed shooter. I feel that there needs to be a number of improvements with some of the mechanics as the covering system could do with some work.  The game really shows how hard the team have worked, making improvements to the G.R.A.W formula, whilst implementing features from a few other Ubisoft titles. GRFS has the potential to be the best of the series and offer numerous hours of co-op action, through a campaign said to offer 12-15 hours of gameplay.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is due for release on May 25 2012

With the highly anticipated release of Assassin’s Creed 3 creeping up on us within the next few months, Ubisoft kindly asked us at Push Start to come down for an exclusive presentation in order to outline the ins and outs, and to show us just how much 2 years of development can do to make AC3 the most innovative and dynamic title yet.

With all the noise going on about the recent flow of leaked images, one of the more popular topics has obviously revolved around the new face, seen gallantly taking on the role of the assassins. And as any fan would know, Ubisoft has always been intent on bringing their games to life by any means possible.

Our young protagonist this time around is a British-Native-American known locally as “Connor”… simple enough right? Well it seems that Connor’s past has been plagued with strife as his village was burned to the ground long ago and so is intent on finding justice no matter what. While still living by the age old Creed, Conner has been seen helping the Americans with the war and so it will be interesting to see where his allegiances truly lie later on.

As you may have guessed from all the wooden rifles and funny hats, Assassin’s Creed 3 is set during the American Revolution of the 1700′s. The United States is the home of our new hero who is amongst an array of historical characters such as George Washington, Ben Franklin, Charles Lee, and many more. Boasting an area a whopping 1.5 times bigger than ACB’s Rome, there are a number of diverse locations to explore such as New York, Boston and various others. One of the major areas new to Assassins’ Creed is “The Frontier”, a vast forest in which you’re free to run, leap, climb, and sneak your way around in. These bigger areas will no doubt contain a larger number of NPC’s, and so intelligently interact with Connor and eachother, effectively bringing a lot more realism into the game.

Ubisoft have stepped up a notch in terms of combat as Connor has a vast array of weapons to utilize such as his trusty hidden blade, tomahawk axe, bow, knife, rope dart, and a heap load more. And as firearms were the single biggest asset to both sides during the American Revolution, Connor has come equipped with a pair of his own medium range pistols which should prove quite handy in a tough spot… such as bear fighting… seriously.

The new weather system implemented gives you multiple perspectives on the game and each location you visit, as you travel through sun, rain, snow and fog. That said, the weather can also be a hindrance to your ability in battle such as fog or rain that make it harder to scan your surroundings and snow can slow you down, making the tree/rooftop approach a much safer bet. You’ll likely notice that Connor has a new combat style which is closely linked to his Native-American heritage but an important feature Ubisoft seem to have scrapped is the slow-mo combat. The reason behind this is to actively remove any form of sluggishness during battle, making each fight seem more fluid and fast paced, which really does make a difference.

A brand new (and well deserved) animation overhaul is a warm welcome, as Conner is able to go beyond the physical feats of his ancestors by swinging and jumping to and from trees, and traversing mighty cliff faces with some special help of pro rock climbers to give Conner as much realism as possible. The larger open cities have also been unable to hold Conner back as Ubisoft have strategically placed trees and other objects around each area in order for you to keep the pace when running through the city rooftops. Ubisoft have also nicely added the ability to interact with moving objects such as jumping into hay carts as well as using better cover and social stealth. You can now also hide within foliage and even use deceased soldiers as meat-shields, greatly heightening the effectiveness of your surroundings. Ubisoft have also worked on the animation the technology, but in CG tech aswell, as each cut-scene now uses alot more bones in the facial area such as around the eyes and mouth, which gives the animators a wider and more in depth range of options in terms of realistic facial expressions which does well to bring out the characters for who they are.

One of the biggest additions to the series is the introduction of a fully diverse creature system (no more lone eagles), filling the game with all sorts of furry so and so’s from playful canines to packs of wolves, and of course ferocious bears aswell. Fairly unique to his heritage, Connor also has the ability to skin animals to either sell or use for clothing. However, simply killing and skinning your prey only makes up a portion of the task as you must decide on your choice of attack, seeing as the wrong weapon will only reward you with an animal pelt full of holes or tears which is never a good thing, especially during those long winter nights.

The Ridge Racer series hasn’t had a console title for a few years, and Unbounded definitely feels like a different kind of racer, almost like a spin off to the franchise. The new direction in mind for Ridge Racer Unbounded provides players a more urban style racing title, as the races take place on the streets of Shatter Bay where racers compete for territory. The game also provides a new game mode called “Drive and Destroy”, and from what I managed to play, this new mode is based on wrecking as many cars a possible. I only got to try the truck in this game mode, and I cannot confirm which other vehicles may be present. The truck worked great though, as it’s definitely much stronger than a regular car, and as expected, it fares pretty well to smash up other racers.

Racing across Shatter Bay was an interesting experience. The game was running at a solid frame rate, and showed off some of the new elements of this take on the series. The original Ridge Racer elements from previous titles don’t seem to be present in this adaption, as the game seems to be focusing on a more arcade/burnout approach to the franchise. This said, the game still features a beautiful roster of cars and unlockables. The gameplay does feel different and being a Ridge Racer fan it’s hard to say that this could be the future of the franchise. The gameplay has changed a lot and is now focused on smashing into cars, buildings and taking out competitor racers across street races. This isn’t a bad idea and the game does present it quite well, especially with the explosions and slowmotion elements making the game feel like a high-end hollywood block buster, but there were a few issues I noticed whilst playing. Ridge Racer has continued its fast paced action, but from what I experienced in the few areas I played there were texture issues and a few random glitches which would cause the AI players to crash into walls. Even with these issues, it was definitely fun to play, and with the game getting nudged from its March release to sometime later in the year, I wouldn’t be surprised if these quirks were ironed out. Quite clearly, if you’re a fan of the Burnout and Split/Second, you’ll feel quite at home here.

The soundtrack features a lot of techno, drum & bass and dubstep-esk tracks that help present the game’s atmosphere as a fast paced racer. It’s a strong set list so far, and I can’t wait to find out what the full game will hold in the audio department.

Ridge Racer Unbounded will also be featuing a few extra modes at launch which sadly weren’t currently playable in the build we played. These modes include :

Dominate – Challenge your friends to online races.  This mode will feature up to 8 player races.

Create – Create thousands of new tracks which you can race on your own or share online.

With these new features, and a completely different look for the series, I’m very optimistic that Unbounded will appeal to a much wider audience.

Ridger Racer: Unbounded is due to release  in the UK on 30 March 2012, and at a later unspecified date in North America.

Like its predecessors, much of Armored Core V revolves around stomping through cities in a huge mech while destroying anything and everything that gets in your way. However, V takes a well deserved step back from the blow-up-everything tactic and returns to its roots as there is a higher tactical presence than in recent titles which works to give you more control and more of an understanding of the battlefield. With that in mind, most of the playable areas in the game place you within a large abandoned city in which you can manoeuvre around that gives you a nice advantage if you want to go with the stealthy approach, working to outflank your opponents. The difference in mech size as opposed to older titles is also a nice perk as the effort of moving around your surroundings is highly reduced as you’re able to use much of the map to your advantage, moving in and out of tunnels, alleyways and bridges in order to stay hidden from the enemy onslaught.

Armored Core V takes the series to a new level, combining all the elements that founded the legendary name with new and innovative features that build the foundations of modern day gaming.

Armored Core V makes its explosive debut on March 23.

With only a few weeks until its launch, Naruto Generations was no doubt at the top of the preview list during Push Start’s recent visit to the Namco offices in London.

While there were a few differences between the preview demo and the downloadable demo out now, we were still able to grasp the ins and outs of the gameplay found within. Much like its predecessors, the combat system is very similar in terms of basic mechanics that are used to fight effectively during a match. The preview demo only had a small sample of characters, namely Naruto (both generations), Sasuke and the Raikage so there wasn’t exactly a lot of room to explore. However with so many new and familiar faces joining Generations, you’ll quickly come to terms with the diverse community of characters that really makes the game what it is. While the combat was all well and good I was a little disappointed to see (or not to see in this case) that the popular jutsu clashes from the first Ninja Storm were once again left out, and therefore once again replacing an intense battle of button mashing endurance, with both player’s jutsu’s simply canceling eachother out resulting in nothing but a depleted chakra bar which is never a good thing.

Despite the somewhat limited amount of gameplay, we were still able to round it off with a few versus matches against each-other which compared to the AI is a breath of fresh air as you really push yourself to the limit, throwing together any number of taijutsu combo’s and ultimate jutsu’s to come out on top. Naruto Generations is no doubt the highlight of the series, bringing the largest selection of characters to date, along with an array of stunning locations in which to test your skills.

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations is due for release March 30th.

First thing I noticed was the graphical update that Diablo III has had over Diablo 2. Again I am not saying Diablo 2 looks terrible but to modern day consumers standards graphics sell a lot of the titles ignoring gameplay elements completely. As soon as I started moving and attacking I noticed they have upgraded a lot to what you can do in the realm of Diablo 3. It still remains as an exciting RPG with still many lurking enemies and dungeons awaiting for you to enter, but have been altered to the point that you would go “Wow, they really have focused on making this better” it’s like that for everything I noticed in playing the Beta.

Some fans however may feel a bit left out as Blizzard has basically removed all of Diablo’s previous appealing features and has adjusted or just completely replaced them. It isn’t bad in my opinion but some may miss it more than others. One of the noticeable features that have became a distant but lovable memory is the fact you are no longer placed on the spot to choose how to spend your skill points. They are no longer present and heroes have class based incentives. Players will be spending hours on end trying to unlock the dozen of class based features for there characters. Even in the Beta I wanted more.

Every time you level up you will unlock a new skill for your class. But you can’t have them all equipped at once so tactically choosing which ones to place in your two skill slots can change the way how you E.G Approach a group of enemies. However once you reach level 24 there will be 6 slots present which will alow you to have 6 skills at your disposal.

Another change is the fact you no longer upgrade skills by putting extra points into them. This has now be replaced with skills and each skill can be fitted with a Runestone, Runestones have different types and react differently with each skill. Ien you put one into a skill, it will become ‘attuned’ to that skill. You can still remove it freely at any time, but the Runestone won’t work in any other skills.

The beta takes place from the start and lets you go up until level 9, which leads you from a rebuilt town known as Tristram. Previous Diablo II fans will notice the change Tristram has had.  As soon as you get to Tristram a meteor hits it immdiatley, which brings the dead back to life. Expect much more undead slaying.

From what I have played so far of the beta,  it has made me want the game even more. I guess I will have to wait until the game launch’s to experience what Diablo III can offer as a full package, but from this small but exciting preview I can already tell it is one of the best, and possibly the best in the series.

Watching the video, you will notice that a lot has certainly changed in Assassins Creed, including many of the Gameplay elements, details and the overall atmosphere. It certainly is a good time to be a fan of the series.

Expect our review to be live sometime this week., but for now, enjoy the gameplay and opening 20 minutes.

As soon as we jumped into the game we were instantly plunged into a fantastical world filled with colour and unimaginable detail which did a great job of immersing us further into the story.

While not a great deal has changed in terms of gameplay there are still a number of improvements that have been made to provide a more fluent and realistic experience whilst roaming through the game as well as on the battleground. Additionally, the design and detail seems to look just as good as its predecessor but may still hold the upper hand being that it is the latest title and more importantly that Square are always working to make everyone of their newest projects as dynamic and enthralling as possible.