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heavy-rain-1Is Heavy Rain a video game? Is it interactive drama? Is it both? Maybe a better question to all three questions is: is it good? Tigresa (Stephanie) and Snarkasaur (Dave) aim to find out with a little deliberation. We may disagree about nudity a bit, but I think we come to a common consensus on Heavy Rain as a whole in the end. Heavy Rain is a difficult game to both review or discuss without getting knee-deep in spoiler territory, but we have taken on that very challenge.

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KillKast-sm7In episode 7 of the Kill Kast, Stephanie (Tigresa), Eric (The Herp), and Dave (Snarkasaur) as always talk a bit about what we’ve been playing before we get into this episode’s main topic: The Ethics of Reviews. We discuss what type of things in reviews are, obviously, ethical in each of our opinions, i.e. how long you should play a game before reviewing it, who is qualified to review what game, the most worthwhile/helpful type of reviews, etc. But, no matter how much we banter like hot 20-something grumpy grandmas about what is the “right” way of doing things, as Dave says in the end, the essence is somewhat moot, because it’s still all subjective.

For this podcast we could really use your opinions on the topics we discuss regarding reviews! We’d love to hear it to make our reviews the best they can be for our readers and listeners at Spawn Kill. We take a lot of pride in our reviews, and it’d be awesome to know what you all think, if you like “Second Opinion” type reviews, and more. I hope you enjoy this week’s episode of the Kill Kast here at Spawn Kill.

Feel free to follow the entire Kill Kast (both present and not present this week, including our very helpful podcast editor K-Tuck) on Twitter as well as download and subscribble to the podcast here. We should be up on the Zune marketplace as well soon.

@Tigresa – @Snarkasaur – @K-Tuck – @The Herp – @Molotov Cupcake

l4d2_thepassingThe previously announced Left 4 Dead 2 DLC, The Passing, has been given a late March release window for both Xbox 360 and PC versions. In a nutshell if you haven’t already read about it is that it will consist of the new team of survivors (Rochelle, Ellis, Nick and Coach) meeting up with ye olde L4D crew (Zoey, Louis, Bill and Francis) who will be non-playable characters that you meet up with during the campaign. A new uncommon infected will be added to the new campaign as well called the Fallen Survivors. These are those genius rat-bastard humans who thought they were immune to the infection and… weren’t. Valve has mentioned these infected will drop items such as med-packs or ammo.

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dragon-age-origins-return-to-ostagar-cailanWith the unfortunate last minute release date delay, the Return to Ostagar content had the misfortune of following in the mighty footsteps of Mass Effect 2. Had it come out with time to spare before the wicked began feasting upon their precious space cargo, it may have seen better sales. I’m sure many are more than unwilling to switch back to BioWare’s “other” RPG that players may have pillaged and ransacked several times over by now. As much as I love Mass Effect from the bottom of my heart — I was willing to pop that glorious disc in and find out if it’s worth your valuable time (and money).

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bio2_intThis Friday we’ll be joining some of the 2K Marin development team to poke and prod them about anything BioShock 2. We’d love to give our readers a chance to send in any questions they’d like us to cattle prod or stump the team with, that way we get the information you all would actually take interest in hearing about. BioShock 2 being only one week away from its February 9th release date, would you kindly share your curiosity and interest in BioShock 2?

the-callingIt’s fairly common these days for the epic greats we all know in gaming to receive much more than just the standard game treatment. We receive comics and novels, anime spinoffs, soundtrack releases and figures, to bottom tier relevance such as bubble-breasted mousepads. With such a varied cast of characters whose relationship depends on every decision you make, and an incredibly vast world such as that of Dragon Age: Origins, it is no surprise that we’ve been already given two novels pre-dating the game’s storyline. The later and more recent novel, The Calling, does not require you to have read the first novel at all, nor need to have played the game. Is The Calling for you? (Spoiler-free!)

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dementiumSpawn Kill has been keeping you up-to-date on the wild DS creepfest that is Dementium II. Well if you read a few weeks ago, SouthPeak announced that there would be an exciting pre-order bonus for the first 1000 gamers to pick it up. A really sick poster. SouthPeak sent Spawn Kill a few of the elusive of posters to give out to our readers, so that’s what we’ve come here to do.

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along came a spiderJust a few weeks ago, indie game developer Foley weaved together the soothing, enjoyable platformer Along Came a Spider onto the Xbox LIVE Indie games channel. When I first heard about it, I watched a gameplay video of it, and it instantly reminded me of those simple, artistic, relaxing platform games you can play in between some of your more brutal gaming endeavors.

I got a chance to download the full game and try it out more extensively; it had a lot more to offer than I was expecting. With 20 levels and 4 bigger boss fights, it’s one of the lengthier indie games out there, though it does come with a price: 400 MS Points, to be specific. The levels quickly set the pace for increasing difficulty as you move onward with each level. It of course understands many gamers’ need for collection, so whilst you’re rolling about, grasping onto silk, pandering to gravity and weaving your silken web lines to the end, there are 3 flies per level fluttering about to be eaten, collected, whatever you want to call it! But they don’t just sit and flutter, they get scared and run when they see you coming as you progress, and lead you through a tangled new path of their own before you’ll be able to catch them. A lot of it requires timing and strategy to outwit the flies, and also to get to the end of each level.

It’s charming and attractive, though not for everyone. Check out the gameplay trailer below to get your eight silky legs wet with Along Came a Spider.

Along Came a Spider – Xbox Live Marketplace

Review: SingStar Latino

Posted by Stephanie "Tigresa" Palermo on January 7th, 2010

singstar-latinoAfter a long day’s work of gaming (I use the term ‘work’ loosely here), there is nothing I like more than to take an hour break in between furious gaming sessions to relax with. This for me is almost always a music/rhythm game, because they’re just so easy to pop in and get down to business with. And hot damn it’s always what I want and when I want it. I had always wanted to get into the SingStar business, and as a lover of Spanish music, when I heard SingStar Latino was being made for North American PS3 gamers, I was more than ready to finally get started. (Since playing this though for review now I’ve gone out and picked up SingStar Vol. 1 and SingStar Vol. 2.)

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I know it’s only been a few hours since our recently detailed info went up about Dragon Age’s upcoming epic $40 expansion pack. Just when I thought the way of the expansion was becoming an endangered species, too, with the way DLC has become the new industry way to roll. But alas, BioWare has sent us an official trailer of the Awakening expansion, set for March 16, 2010. It takes place in a post-blight setting, where you must rebuild the Grey Wardens now that the Archdemon has been slain. Darkspawn got you down? Well, it seems like things will be explained in this upcoming expansion.

Also worth mentioning, I am currently reading the recently released Dragon Age prequel novel, The Calling, in which (judging by this new trailer) several characters, such as The Architect darkspawn, and plot points are linked heavily back to what is being revealed thus far for the expansion pack. Check out the trailer below! Doesn’t it just get your blood boiling?

Everyone knows the old saying – “Two heads are better than one.”  For the most part, it’s true.  Get more people thinking about something, and everyone benefits – you get more and different opinions that might help you shape the way you think about… well, anything.  It’s with this mindset that we go into our Two Brains review, where Tigresa and Snarkasaur have had a meeting of the minds to discuss Left 4 Dead 2 for the both the Xbox 360 and PC.

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For me, Heavy Rain was a console seller from the moment it was announced at E3 years back. I had the sentence framed in my mind “When Heavy Rain comes out, THAT will change my life. I’ll buy a PS3 just for that.” When I got a chance to play several levels for myself with Sony just a few days ago, it did nothing short of sealing the deal for me. This game changes the possibility of gaming on so many levels.

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I’m not so sure Heavy Rain needs much of an introduction, but if you’re reading about it for the first time here at Spawn Kill, you’re looking at a game that will be making some serious waves in the realm of possibility for gaming once it launches. The game’s creator, David Cage, also the founder of Quantic Dream, the studio developing Heavy Rain, has dubbed it with a new genre in our always blurring lines between genres of today. Heavy Rain is an “interactive drama.” I have heard a lot of people cry out about it seeming more like a movie than a game. Non-believers, as I call them, must know that it’s much deeper than pressing the X button to continue.

The first level I got a chance to play is going to be the prologue of the game where you take upon the role of a husband and father of two named Ethan. It seems to serve as a rather slow-paced introduction to the control scheme. You start off waking up being alone in the home. You are introduced to the ability to see your characters various thoughts and listen to them if you desire, in which you’ll learn Ethan is quite keen on the idea of a morning shower. As you saunter into the shower, a quick disrobing will leave you fresh and clean. You can also shave or brush your teeth. All simple everyday tasks to familiarize you with the controls. Well, it’s definitely not just Quick Time Events like most people seem to believe. It may take a bit to get used to, but the characters are controlled by holding down the R2 button to move forward. I found this to be incredibly frustrating at first because I felt so inclined to want to use the more simpler obvious method of just holding up on the analog stick. Doing so will just make your character turn in circles because you only need to just tab the analog stick into the direction you wish then release, and continue holding the R2 button to propel the character. It’ll take some getting used to, I assure you, after being so trained to press the analog stick to walk.

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Interacting with the environment will take place with the right analog stick, in which you will make movements indicated on-screen if you so wish to open a cabinet, playfully spin around your son, or sit down and work at your desk. Other times you will need to hold multiple buttons to corroborate with what is going on on-screen. For example your wife in this prologue level asks you to carry the groceries, pressing and holding the X button will hold one bag and holding another face button will secure the other. Now you can also let go and the groceries will fall to the floor, surely firing up your old woman. It’s interesting, and feels much more involving than tapping random buttons. So if you’re holding items, you’re holding buttons. Fair enough.

Heavy Rain actually makes use of the Sixaxis controls, and fairly well at that. In some cases, such as brushing your teeth, it may seem silly rowing your controller left and right for a few seconds, but in other instances, I felt incredibly satisfied slamming it up and down to smash a sleazy jerk’s head repeatedly into a table or pushing it quickly forward to kick down a door.

If you’re familiar with Indigo Prophecy, this is the same creator we’re talking about. It was incredibly unique, and an interesting (though quite a bizarre ending…) story worth experiencing. Some major battle as well as other story sequences would trigger a Simon Says type panel in which you’d repeat the buttons you saw on the panel to succeed and continue. Though quirky and one of my favorite games, it had its fair share of issues. Heavy Rain seems to have built upon these issues to make a whole new and immersive experience. The Simon Says-esque sequences (which is fancy talk for Quick Time Events pretty much) would sometimes draw your attention away from the actual events taking place in the game, with your focus on succeeding at the correct button sequences. I’d often find myself frustrated with missing some of the action taking place whilst I was so concentrated on that area of the screen. Heavy Rain’s button press motions and triggers will lie on-screen exactly where it will take place. If you have the choice to punch someone’s face in, throw them against the wall, or grab them, all of these options will float around your character’s fist, so as not to let you miss out on the action and saving the experience from being broken up.

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The first level was a bit of a sleeper for me, granted it is the introduction, it was just incredibly slow-paced and lengthy for what it was. It felt like an overlord version of The Sims being able to perform mundane tasks, interact with my wife and children, put away the… dishes… But it is definitely just setting the grounds for what you will be able to do coming up. That’s the thing about Heavy Rain, or what I’ve played thus far at least. Some levels seem very slow-paced whilst others are action-packed and on the ball. I didn’t really get to be a part of any “middle ground” levels. You may go from a crawling conversation right into an all-out frenetic street brawl. And when you do — it is juicy.

Every little decision you make — or don’t make — makes an impact. In the Sleazy Motel level I went through, I played a character who was a private agent seeking out information on the Origami Killer. I knocked on a woman’s door. She opened, told me to leave. I knocked again and she decided to let me in. “Fifty dollars on the table. I don’t kiss and I don’t do weird shit. You’ve got ten minutes,” she says, as she winds up her alarm clock for a ten minute countdown. You can put money on the table, walk straight up to her, begin talking, it’s all your choice. Treating her one way may make her divulge information whilst another will get you the boot. Getting the boot doesn’t mean you failed though, the story continues on as such. There really doesn’t seem to be a “losing” or “failing” feeling in the game. The story simply is what it is, or what you craft it to be. I spoke to her kindly and asked for information, she said she’d call if she learned anything. (Leaving out a few details to spoil as little as possible!) As you’re on your way out, some sleazebag pounds open her door and goes inside. You can go inside and find out what it’s all about, or simply let it be and have nothing to do with the likes of him. Being the strong man that I was, I decided to confront him and knock on the door to which I was harassed to leave by the junkie-looking jerk. Why knock again? He didn’t seem like the reasonable type, so I jarred the Sixaxis forward and kicked the door open, and he wasn’t in the mood for tea and crumpets to chat about it either. I engaged him in an all-out fight, and it was exciting as hell. Heads were smashed through glass, slammed against the table, fists flying through the air. It was wild, fast, and it was damn fun.

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I haven’t even mentioned the graphics yet! Because I know you’ll be in dire need of such knowledge. To be blunt, the graphics speak for themself. They are all done via motion capture and are incredibly fluid in motion. Motion capture is when a developer uses the movements of real people when translating it into sequences for the game. The graphics are surely not the best we’ve seen of this generation thus far, but I’m hard to talk to about this, because I’m never sold on a game purely based on graphics. My first and foremost concern for (most) games is the story, save for games like God of War and Bayonetta since they’re just straight up blessed by the Action Goddess herself. And Heavy Rain surely has that down pat.

If you are heavy into experiencing a good story, you would be a fool to skip out on Heavy Rain. Whether you buy it or simply rent it, it is definitely worth experiencing at least once, because the experience is surely an innovative one being brought to the home plate of video games next year. No official date yet in North America, but keep a lookout during the early Q1 release window.

fragileFragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon is one of the early 2010 stunningly beautiful JRPGs slated for the Wii. The very first trailer with English voice acting has been released thanks to Rising Star Games. The voice acting seems to be rather average — but the trailer itself announces that the Japanese voice track will be an available option on the disc! Rejoice! The song in this trailer has me absolutely mesmerized, it is so enchanting. It reminds me a bit of Melodies of Life from Final Fantasy IX, what do you think? That is one of my absolute favorite video game tunes, so it’s no surprise this song also has me simply lost in a trance.

NATHANIEL_05Heavy Rain is coming out sooner than you think, and Jesus is a celebrity in this household featured in this new batch of screenshots from Sony for Heavy Rain. ESRB Warning: Religion and crosses under the break. NSFW depending on if you work in a terrorist operations base or not. Look out for our hands-on preview of Heavy Rain this week at Spawn Kill while you feast on this batch of screenshots!

There are so many eccentric and “goes there” levels in Heavy Rain from what I’ve seen in these screenshots, and the levels I got a chance to play recently like the level titled Suicide Baby. It seems like Heavy Rain is going hard, bar none, in this self-proclaimed “interactive drama” game. There’s no official release date, but my senses have been guided by various parties to believe it will receive a February 2010 launch window. From what I played, the game seemed like it was close to being finished, if not already! All of the epilogues (the various endings) were available for viewing on the demo available, but I didn’t want to spoil myself for when I get to fully experience it as intended!

This generation Japanese RPGs haven’t really ridden the momentum they had going for them during the PS2 days. Both the PS1 and the PS2 were literally an everlasting cave of wonders for gamers who love JRPGs. Unfortunately this generation I can’t say the same yet, with only a handful of them out 3-4 years into this generation, none of them are really much to write home about. My optimism hasn’t been flushed down the toilet yet, because aside from the powerhouse that is Final Fantasy XIII, there are still a few such as Resonance of Fate and White Knight Chronicles coming down the pipeline with something worth offering to the genre. Today I got a little hands on time with the PS3 exclusive White Knight Chronicles to see what this has different in store for us.

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