Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Someone over at NeoGAF apparently got hold of the South Park edition of Game Informer and has posted up relevant details. These include:

- You play as a silent protagonist. A new kid in town who must work to fit in.
- It’s the first South Park game Stone and Parker have actively participated in and written the script for.
- Obsidian is using the Dungeon Siege III engine, there will be five classes (wizard, paladin, adventurer, rogue, and a fifth unannounced class).
- Apparently “elements of the combat system are like Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi games”. So it’s an RPG map with turn-based encounters.

Sounds like a peculiar blend! But that could be for the best. Plenty more spoilery details through the link.

Game Informer have put up an hour long documentary on the history of Volition, the US developers that got their start making Descent, and then went on to make Freespace 1 & 2, Red Faction and its sequels, and most recently the Saints Row games. It’s always nice hearing the stories behind big games like those, and Game Informer were smart enough to insert every cringeworthy 90s TV advert for them that they could find. Plus there’s some time spent talking about a cancelled game called Underground, which was going to be a heist game set in London, and you get a Fresh Prince era Will Smith at a games expo talking about how Descent feels just like a movie. Go watch!

Update: The cropped Tomb Raider images illustrating this article – which was essentially a long-winded link to Game Informer’s site – have been removed. This is because Game Informer – after threatening our readers on Twitter – sent us a legal threat of our very own. A slightly ironic reaction bearing in mind the content of the original post, which is below.

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The first few scraps of information about the new Tomb Raider, officially revealed yesterday, are beginning to appear. NeoGAF have been plundering the unreleased Game Informer article by their own nefarious methods, and we learn a few interesting morsels. Like, for instance, Lara is to be 21 in the new game. Keys to the tomb. And deaths are to be brutal. Erk. It’s sounding like this is going to be part Tomb Raider, part Survivor, and I’m very intrigued. More bits and pieces below.

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Following on from their splendid covers, Game Informer have put a selection of information from their Bioshock Infinite coverage online. Everyone’s picking over the full set of propaganda posters and nosing at the screens, but the real interesting new information is actually about the factions who are tearing Columbia apart. The nationalistic, conservative Powers That Be versus the Vox Populi anarchist front, who apparently draw from 1970s German terrorists like the Red Army Faction (i.e. Baader Meinhof).

So – Bioshock Infinite features the Powers That Be. And what do you have to do to the powers that be, Chuck?
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Game Informer are actually having a worryingly impressive run of covers. Following the stark Batman: Arkham City ones last month, this time they’ve got three fantastic period-styled Bioshock Infinite ones - two above, and one highlighting the be-hatted “Handyman”. Go over to Joystiq to have a nose at both the final versions and various work-in-progresses.

ZOMGPDATE: Apparently there’s some kind of crazy co-op mode included, although the source is a now-edited GameStop description, so hmm.

As confirmed by the cover of next month’s Game Informer. GI’s Jeff Marchiafava says:

Our 12-page cover story gives you the first details on Portal 2′s new gameplay mechanics, storyline, and some surprising new twists.

So no, they’re not giving much away. Cheers to Pat for the tip. Official word from Valve saying the game is out “This Holiday Season”, below.

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