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Feature: No one can hear you scream
10 years on, here’s how Dead Space went from horror to action horror in three games
The first Dead Space turned 10 years old last month. It took me a month to get through the first two hours when I first played it. Every time I jumped back in and clumped down one of the USG Ishimura’s dark corridors, a monster would pop out of the vents and I’d jump up, smash the pause button and find an excuse to do…
Amy Hennig, the writer and director of the Uncharted series who had been working on Visceral’s shelved Star Wars game, has left Electronic Arts and started her own studio. Well, she really left EA in January but hasn’t had the chance to talk about that in detail until yesterday, when she spoke to our pally wallys at Eurogamer. Now she’s starting a small studio and…
Ah, Dead Space. A few flaws aside, Visceral's grand tribute to sci-fi horror tropes was a rock solid little game that, nearly a decade later still holds up very well, especially in terms of visuals. Two parts Resident Evil 4, one part System Shock and with a twist of Event Horizon to taste, it's a stern blend that still has what it takes to mix…
When Electronic Arts announced last week they were shutting down Visceral Games and giving the studio's in-development Star Wars game to another team, they muttered about "fundamental shifts in the marketplace" and needing "to pivot the design". You know, they spouted a bunch of empty business speak which didn't say much about what had gone wrong with Visceral and the game. That's publicly-traded companies for…
Feature: Listen now or be ignored
Podcast: Middle-earth: Shadow of War, The Evil Within 2 and our nemeses
Who's your worst nemesis? This week the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, is talking about our most reviled enemies, against whom we hold deep, lasting grudges. Matt harbours a lasting bitterness for Silencer, the magic-cancelling war jerk of Dota 2. Adam is fuelled by a dark hatred for the final boss of Ancient Domains of Mystery, a giant '@' symbol called Andor Drakon. And…
EA to close Dead Space studio Visceral, in-development Star Wars game moving to Vancouver
EA have just announced that they'll be "ramping down and closing" Visceral, the studio behind the Dead Space trilogy. Visceral have been working on an untitled Star Wars project, described as an "action-adventure", and Amy Hennig, formerly of Naughty Dog and Crystal Dynamics, moved to the studio in 2014 to work on that project as senior creative director. EA's statement regarding Visceral's closure suggests that…
Feature: Isaac Yankem
Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time. Nostalgia is supposed to be about the things of our early years, but recently I've been feeling nostalgic about games released much more recently than my usual rose-tinted diet of Ultima and Daggerfall. I've only gone and started missing Dead Space like it…
Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen had several Star Wars games to discuss during an earnings call yesterday. I'm not entirely sure how an earnings call works but I imagine if you keep mentioning Star Wars games that your company is publishing at some point in the near future, everyone is happy. "How many Star Wars will there be Mr Jorgensen, and when can we expect…
Feature: Hot Mess Miami
Battlefield: Hardline [official site] went on sale in the US today, and unlocks for the UK on Friday. We didn't have access until today, so I'll run this review in chunks to give you some sense of what we make of it without having to wait too long. In this first part, I'm looking at the first half or so of the campaign, which details…
Whatever to do about a game like Battlefield: Hardline [official site]? I had a lot of hope for it to begin with, slowly chipped away by a disappointing beta and unenthusiastic previews. It was a great opportunity for either some introspection on the nature of law enforcement (unlikely) or a 70s buddy cop style tale about half a city getting blown up to stop some robbers.…
Is a trailer really a trailer when it's actually just different bits of a still image of a man with some particle effects? I'd say that was closer to those bonus Catchphrase rounds where they gradually reveal the image for contestants to guess until one of them says "Uh, is is Battlefield Hardline Premium?" and Roy Walker shouts "RIIIIIIGHT!" even though it's not a catchphrase.
Feature: Caught by the fuzz
After a mixed reaction to the beta, including from our own Graham, Battlefield Hardline [official site] is looking to prove that it isn’t simply a reskin of Battlefield 4 with policemen instead of soldiermen. In many ways, it looks like it is going to have trouble shaking that assumption. But in one particular way (a single game mode called Hotwire), it is going to come…
Several years ago, I had a meeting with EA and pitched Battlefield: The Thin Blue Line, an FPS adaptation of the '90s Rowan Atkinson sitcom. [Did you now? -ed.] Players would engage in gossip, give young shoplifters stern talking-tos, and even bop a yob with their truncheon. The final mission would be to sneak a big frilly bra into DI Grim's office during a surprise…
Battlefield Hardlines, originally slated for 21st October this year, has now been given a significantly later release date. The Space Year 2015. "Early" 2015. On a slippy day for EA, which also saw the announcement of Dragon Age: Inquisition sliding into November, DICE's cops-n-robbers reinvention of the Battlefield series seems to have taken a much more serious hit. Apparently in response to what maybe wasn't…
Battlefield Hardlimes' surprise E3 beta is officially over and done with, or in military speak (that I have learned exclusively from videogames), Charlie Mike Oscar Bravo Rhinoceros Chimpanzee Overalls Tuba. Given how Battlefield 4's launch turned out, however, I'm quite glad to hear that another beta will be happening this fall. Maybe... maybe this one will finally launch in actual, factual ship shape?
Cop Ops: Battlefield Hardline Singleplayer To Be Less Linear
Battlefield Hardlimes might feel eerily similar to Battlefield 4 in ways that call into question its worthiness as a full release, but it's important to keep in mind that we haven't seen everything yet. And while Battlefield definitely isn't known for its memorable singleplayer campaigns, there is potential here. For one, it won't be Just Another War Story because cops and robbers. And for two,…
Feature: The Squiggly Blue Line
Battlefield Hardline takes the series' now familiar formula and gives it a new theme. It's still about large teams of players killing, capturing and controlling vehicles in various objective-based multiplayer modes. But instead of visiting exotic locations and fighting as a military force, the game takes place in the streets of Los Angeles and players play the roles of cops and robbers. I've been playing…
Upon hearing EA claim that Battlefield will not succumb to annual sequelitis like Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, and their ilk, I was immediately reminded of that time it snapped up the domains for Battlefields 13-20. I'm not saying it's indicative of anything, just that I can't help but think of it, given the context. But yes, despite the fact that we're now on our…
You think you know lines? You think you know their relative structural integrity? Newflash: YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT LINES. Battlefield Hardline? That's where it's at. Hardest lines in the biz. The business of lines, to be clear. Also it's about police and robbers, and now - finally, after roughly 167 leaks - EA's seen fit to release an official trailer. It's got a release…
There's gonna be another Battlefield. Of course there's gonna be another Battlefield. The sun rises and falls, the grass sways innocently as worms make sweet, sweet wormlove below, and virtual men keep on shooting each other. Cut, print, put on repeat until sun collapses and time ends. Battlefield: Hardline, however, at least looks a little different. While EA's revealed very little at this point ("tune…
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