Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 Features and Gameplay Trailer

The Lego franchise has made a pretty good selection of Lego Games. From Star Wars to Batman and then Pirates of the Caribbean to Indiana Jones, it would make you wonder in which direction they would head into next.

Well next on the agenda is Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7, which comes just after the release of the final film. This will carry on from Years 1-4, which means the game starts at Order of the Phoenix.

Players will resume the roles of Harry, Ron, Hermione and friends as they battle against Voldemort and his band of Death Eaters. Of course once finished you will be able to play as Voldemort and fulfil his dream of killing Mr. Potter off once and for all…until he re-spawns.

Here are the games features: –

GAME FEATURES:
• LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 5-7 takes players through Harry’s heroic
endeavors as they travel through various worlds encountering new faces,
new lessons, new challenges and new spells.
• Explore new LEGO gameplay settings including Grimmauld Place, the
Ministry of Magic, and Godric’s Hollow as well as iconic locations like
Diagon Alley and Hogwarts.
• Build, conjure and explore this multi-faceted LEGO world as you
discover your inner wizard!
• Master advanced duelling skills and battle toward the ultimate
showdown with the Dark Lord himself.
• Discover and unlock characters including, Fenrir Greyback™, Bellatrix
Lestrange™ and Professor Horace Slughorn™.
• Play with friends and family using easy drop-in/drop-out co-op play
that features dynamic split screen.

You can also see the gameplay trailer for the level at Godric’s Hollow over at this address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OefjsAokf0g

GamesCom: Zelda Skyward Sword Gets Release Date + 3DS News

We had a feeling a while back that Link would be appearing in Q4 of this year, due to leaked Zavvi listing… The leak wasn’t far out however… so we assumed sometime in November/December.  Now we have finally had the official word from Big N that it will be releasing before Christmas… How does November the 18th sound to you? Many of you may know by now that this year is going to be the last major year for the Wii before the Wii U launches and what a way to end it of with a Zelda title.

We have also received some information about some 3DS.  We will be getting Super Mario Land 3D, but also Mario Kart 7, Super Pokemon Rumble and Kirby: Mass Attack before the year is out, no release dates yet however.

If you want to see the rest of Nintendo’s 2011 plans, check out Nintendo’s official European website here.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock VS Rock Band 3!

This may be late, but playing through both of these games got me thinking and then thought about how we haven’t got review from both WOR and RB3. Well here we have a comparison for the two!

Harmonix used to be a part of Guitar Hero. They helped create the first two Guitar Hero games until they wanted different things within the games. This then lead Harmonix to leave the Guitar Hero team and move along to create what we know as Rock Band. Now many people prefer one or the other and many would probably think that Guitar Hero would be the better option as they have never played any game from the Rock Band series. I have myself have encountered this in a few cases with people and it agitates me. Rock Band has aspects within the game that are better than Guitar Hero and admittedly; Guitar Hero has those that are better than Rock Band.

The latest offerings from both of theses makers are Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and Rock Band 3. In these games they have taken steps further and a few steps back. Guitar Hero has moved back with the storyline; in the sense of their own characters taking over the storyline. It still has that feel that there is a God of Rock or in this case the ‘Demi-God’. All of the characters have their own special ability, which helps them gain more stars and the final missions. In comparison, Rock Band 3 has that same feel when accomplishing their Storyline’s. In fact when you look at it, they do not really have storylines, they are more in fact challenges for you to gain more fans and then get access into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame etc. This pretty much feels the same as the previous two games, with the exception of collecting spades for performing a specific requirement whiles playing through a set of chosen or random songs.

The gameplay is pretty much the same with both versions of the games. You have to hit a note that comes scrolling down on your fret board (strum if you on guitar, hit for drums and sing on the microphone with the right note and pitch). However Warriors of Rock does have the upper hand when it comes to playing Bass. They incorporated the ‘open note’, where you strum without holding any of the frets. This was used in previous games of Guitar Hero and it has surprised me that they have not used this yet in Rock Band 3; it would make songs a lot more challenging on that game. WOR also has the parts where you play one sustained note and then hit other notes while holding the sustained note down. I fell this brings more originality into the songs as it feels like you are strumming down on a real guitar. On the other hand Rock Band 3 has the new instrument, the keyboard, which asks you to hit notes with the keys on your keyboard or guitar if you have unlocked the keyboard mode on that. Rock Band 3 also has the Pro mode, which I will be talking about in the next paragraph.

When it comes to the instruments with the games, it seems like Guitar Hero didn’t want to add anything new. They have the songs and the instruments already made and it seems like they believed that this was good enough. I believe that this was the downfall for them when in comparison to Rock Band 3. RB3 brings in a few new instruments and modes. First off you have the keyboard, which finally allows players to play those long beginnings that the guitar or bass did not play. The only problem with this is that the keyboard only plays the ‘Keyboard’ mode with songs on RB3. There are songs on other games, which the keyboard would have been very useful on such as Boston’s ‘Foreplay/Long Time’ and Green Day’s ‘Viva La Gloria’.

Moving on from the keyboard you will notice the biggest change in the music game industry. The ‘Pro Mode’ allows players to play real notes that are played within a song such as on Pro Keyboard, which uses every note that the controller offers us instead of the standard five notes that players would have to usually hit. They also released a pro guitar with the game, which was and still is a bit pricey. This allows players to play the guitar and bass to any song, which incorporated the pro modes, and allowed them to play the song in to its full extent. There are also training modes for these, which allow the players to learn how to play a specific instrument, which helps if you are a beginner to any of the instruments mentioned before. I guess you could say it’s cheaper to buy and learn from this than getting lessons at a school! The drums have a small addition to them, which makes a slight difference to the set that Guitar Hero offer, which in this case is an extra symbol, which makes three symbols on the drums. These can only be used during the pro drums mode and gives a more professional and realistic feel to playing the instrument, as does the other pro instruments.

The song selections for both of these games both have their ups and downs. Of course, there would be no Guitar Hero or Rock Band without the metal selection, but there are a bit too much on the guitar hero side, which makes it tougher for those who want to at least try and be good at this game. Nonetheless it does bring a great challenge to the hardcore fans of the series. RB3 has wider variety of songs, ranging from Elton John to Avenged Sevenfold. The set list that they have chosen for this game seems to have accompanied the keyboard, with a few songs that do not hold the keyboard within the song. Both of these games are able to take in songs exported from the previous games, with a few songs not being allowed to accompany them, as they have not got the permission to do so. This being the case, Rock Band offers more songs to be exported than Guitar Hero does and it also allows players to download more songs for their library, as they have just recently passed the 3000-song mark, which is a very large sum.

Both games have the means of creating songs. However on Rock Band you cannot just create a song and then put it through to download. You must have the copyright to the song, and this means you can make songs that have lyrics in them. The downside to this, as already stated, is that you need the copyright to make the songs and it would seem that you would need the Rock Band team to already have the copyright before even venturing to create the tracks. I am not entirely sure on this situation as I have not made any or bought the software to do so. With the upper hand in this matter, WOR offers players to create any song they wish to, with the subtraction of vocals. This is due to copyright over lyrics and this would then cause a lot of chaos in the music industry. You can create you own tracks and submit them or people to download; who will then rate the song once they have finished. There are a few out there who are magnificent with what they have achieved on the Guitar Hero Track Maker and I would urge people to take a look at some of the tracks that have been made (Nyaan Cat is one of them!)

Overall both Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and Rock Band 3 have their ups and their downs and each with their own loyal fans. I have played both obviously and have my own favourite, but I believe that you would not want to know this! In the end WOR offers their old school fans the opportunity to play through a story with their characters such as Judy Nails and RB3 offers a wider choice with challenges and wider library. It’s up to you to decide which is the best!

Fall Out Boy and Deep Purple are up for Rock Band next Week!

Fall out Boy’s ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’, ‘Dance, Dance’ and ‘Thnk Fr Th Mmrs’ are up for a 3-pack download, while Deep Purple’s Child In Time (which is 10 minutes and 18 seconds long!) is up for download.

May have to go and get FOB’s track pack.

Video: Cameron’s 10 Personal Favorite StarFox Planets… by default

With a list so limited, how can your favorite not land on this list… as long as you’ve been to it.

For the record I don’t count the Aparoid homeworld as a planet as it’s just a half sphere with tunnels.

Music for Macbeth and Fortuna were recorded from Renegade466isback’s youtube videos, big props to him.

Enjoy.

Rock Band 3 DLC for Next Tuesday is Full of Def Leppard!

The artist that will be taking the scene over on Rock Band 3 is none other than Def Leppard. The pack will cost 800 MSP and all songs are available for the Pro Guitar Upgrade, which is an extra 80 MSP each song.

Animal (Live)
Bringin’ on the Heartbreak
Photograph
Pour Some Sugar on Me (Live)
Rock of Ages
Undefeated

Nice Variety of singles next week with Rock Band 3

We have these for the following release of next week’s Rock Band 3 DLC: –

Beastie Boys – No Sleep till Brooklyn & Make Some Noise
Heart – Barracuda
James Brown – Super Bad, Pts. 1 & 2
Rufus (feat. Chaka Khan) – Tell Me Something

Rock Band 3 DLC for next Tuesday: Soundgarden

- Blow Up the Outside World
- Burden in My Hand
- Fell on Black Days
- Outshined
- Rusty Cage
- The Day I Tried to Live

Reviewed: Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars)

Do I really have to say anything? It would just feel like I’m repeating myself from what I’ve said in the video. Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars) means a lot to me and you’ll find out why. Enjoy.

Pros: Excellent levels controls presentation replay and being bundeled with the rumble pak.

Cons: The update made to the Virtual Console version

Chris’ Personal Top 10 Games

I thought that because I have done my top ten films, I’d venture to the other side and work my knowledge on my favourite video games. These range from all consoles but I’ll give a you guys a bit of a spoiler and say that most of my favourites are Nintendo based and number one shouldn’t be a surprise at all!

10. Super Smash Bros Melee (GC) – There were countless days and nights when my brother and me would come home and play this game for hours. Super Smash Bros Melee offered everything that a gamer could want, the best characters Nintendo could muster up, and pit them together and smash each other to pieces, of course not literally… Anyway. Back then the graphics for the game was absolutely great, not amazing but they served their purposed and allowed us to continuously play the games hours on end. The game modes such as the Arcade mode and Vs. Mode were probably the most fitting modes that the game had to offer as they were easy to play and get the hang of. The trophies side f the game was annoying but again I did spend hours just reading through abut each trophy, taking in as much knowledge as I could.

9. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (GBA) – I remember playing this on the computer. When the game came out on the game boy advance I had no idea that it was the same game. In a way I was disappointed, but then the game grew on me and then kabam! This was the start of Zelda becoming my favourite ‘franchise, this was released just before the Wind Waker so it had to keep Zelda fans occupied beforehand. Either way the game didn’t surprise me as Nintendo seem to have an obsession with bringing back classics and re-releasing them on newer consoles. Oh well. Either way I was happy to re-live the adventure that good ol’ Link had back the good ol’ 90’s!

8. Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC) – Ok. I’ve talked about this game under my GameCube article and again, I really looked forward to this game and it did not disappoint me at all! I loved every bit. I was annoyed that some of my friends had it before me but I waited and then got the game! The graphics are beautiful and sublime and the game itself offers those hard-core fans everything they could want, the musical instrument, finding items, completing quests, big boss battles and more. This is my favourite game cube game but there is one other game in this list that I believe had a bigger impact on me throughout the years, so that is why it is ranked higher than this.

7. Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64) – I got this for Christmas and, well, I weren’t looking forward to it. I didn’t even know it was released! Nonetheless the graphics were the same as Ocarina of Time and offered pretty much the same control. However there were a few differences with how Link jumped. He would perform some weird tricks that I thought were amazing at the time!

6. Green Day Rock Band (Xbox 360/PS3/Wii) – I love the Rock Band franchise over the Guitar Hero one. I think this because I believe that Rock Band offers their fans a lot more than just the constant Rock ‘n Roll bands. Yeah t may be in the name but, who cares? Anyway Green Day Rock Band is this high because, well their my favourite band and when I heard this before it was released, I HAD to buy. And to be honest it is a really good game. The achievements on it are solid and the hard core fans will appreciate it more than the fans who judge their music before they properly listen to it!!

5. Halo (Xbox) – I remember playing this game constantly when I first played it. I thought it was scary at first but then gradually got really into it. Now my brother has the franchise al in his room and I’m just stuck with the old memories. Everything about it was epic, blowing everyone up, driving into your friends; I mean what game didn’t have those things. But Halo was special and what a special game it did turn out to be!

4. Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (Wii) – This is the one game in the franchise that offers fans nearly every character and not just from the original Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. It also steps into the world of Dragon Ball GT. Now that’s epic. The graphics are solid and using the Wii remote to do the Ka Me Ha Me Ha, I mean I just can’t resists my self when it happens. The storyline is solid and everything else about it is great, however I tend to lose on fighting games against my friends….as they are mainly button bashers…..and it is hard to hit them…

3. Star Fox Adventures (GC) – Lylat Wars is another favourite of mine. Great N64 classic. But when I played this, I didn’t think that it was going to be so great and addictive. I mean, it is a bold move to go from shooting in a space ship and then move onto Fox walking and running around a dinosaur planet. Then again it was a fantastic move. This game kept me playing hours on end and I never got bored from playing it. The staff could have had a few more moves on it but then again this was a GameCube game, so what would you expect? None the less I believe that this game is one that will make me grab the GameCube out of the closet and then play again, hours on end.

2. Banjo-Kazooie (N64) – It would be a lie to say I’ve actually completed this game. Despite it’s age on the game box, I still found this game rather scary…at the time. Now days when I play it on my Xbox 360, I wonder why I was so scared, but key moments do jump out at me. Such as the beach level with the giant crab, that was a blast back in the day. The scene when you save and with the witch turning into your sister, or just stealing your sister’s ‘beauty’ away from her, that in my books is also a classic. But really when you look at it, it is when you do all those fancy moves with Kazooie, like shooting blue eggs, or running around as the bird that makes this game all the more worth while.

1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) – Ok. You have to admit, you saw this coming? This game must be on thousands of players top games list. Well this is because this game was such a classic and incorporated some of the newer stuff at the time. One of the first free roaming 3-D adventures on the N64 and the first to incorporate the capability of riding a horse throughout the world’s map. The horse of course has a name and she is called Epona. Such a lovely horse. The story line itself was enough to blow you away, with being able to jump backwards and forwards in time to complete the quest (both as young and adult Link). However it was not just the story that was so captivating but the music that accompanied the game as well. It is perhaps ranked as one of the best gaming soundtracks that have ever come to exist. Right now I have it on my laptop as I am writing this and it is the only gaming soundtrack I have. Why? Because it’s the best and greatest soundtrack in my personal opinion.

Overall, it’s all about what tastes the gamers have themselves. Some prefer shooting, some prefer the good ol’ RPG, others prefer those where you can tag your friends along and let them join in on the fun. Either way, the gaming world is a fun place to be ☺.