It’s been just short of a year since I originally reviewed Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma.  It was a pleasant surprise since I had seen the game at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles the year before, but was unable to really get a grip on what the game was about.  Dragon’s Dogma is action RPG that falls somewhere between Oblivion or Skyrim, Demon’s Souls and Shadow of the Colossus.  Like the Elder Scrolls games, Dragon’s Dogma gives players an open world to explore, but random difficulty spikes can really put a wrench in your plans. Like an action-adventure game, your character can jump and climb obstacles and even monsters.

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen for old school gamers is basically Super Dragon’s Dogma.  The release includes the original game with a handful of improvements and a pretty tough 15 hours of extra content in the new location.  It’s not as if the main game isn’t tough enough though and Capcom recommends players reach at least level 50 before attempting the island.  As I said last year, even regular travel is dangerous and auto-saves can be a ways apart.  This new edition does offer some extra fast travel ability.  Those that transfer their save game from the original get a huge travelling bonus.

Dark Arisen offers 25 new enemies, including Death, who I wouldn’t recommend taking on if you haven’t saved in awhile.  There is nothing more frustrating than an instant death if you haven’t been diligent.  That brings me to another point.  Dragon’s Dogma requires a lot of discipline.  You need to save often and don’t try to take on more than you can handle.  You don’t have to tip toe through areas like in Demon’s Souls, but it’s easy to end up surrounded and over your head.  That and a random griffon dropping out of the sky can put an end to an escort mission awfully quick.

Like Skyrim, the narrative in Dragon’s Dogma is pretty light.  That’s the price we currently pay for most open world games.  This is evidenced most notably in the ending scenes of Dragon’s Dogma that lack more than a hint of context from your adventure.  The lack of purpose is remedied somewhat in the new area of Bitterback Isle.  Once you arrive, you’re given pretty good direction about what your goal is and there is a real story to unearth.  Once you’ve done everything, the ending stops your adventure, but the game does offer a new game plus option to let you redo things a little differently.

For most people, the name Inhumans doesn’t mean much.  It certainly doesn’t conjure the same level of recognition that The Avengers, Fantastic Four or X-men do.  That doesn’t mean that there’s not interesting story attached to this Marvel franchise.  The Inhumans were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back in 1965 and made their first appearance in the Fantastic Four that year.  Though the history of this group of superheroes is long, they never found the commercial success of the big Marvel names.  This relative anonymity offered a great opportunity for a reboot, which is exactly what Marvel Knights did with the series back in 1998.

Marvel Knights Animation is a hybrid comic-animation series where the original comic art is enhanced and animated for video.  The work is scored and voiced, but the end result isn’t quite the same as standard animated media.  The drawback is that there is no full motion, but that’s counterbalanced with the quality of the original artwork.  In the case of Inhumans, that art work is the work of the iconic Jae Lee.  Individual episodes are available on iTunes digitally or as collection from Shout Factory on DVD.

The bonus feature on the Inhumans DVD release gives a lot of insight into how a lesser known group in the Marvel Universe ended up getting such an impressive reboot.  The majority of the nearly half hour long segment is spent with Eisner Award-Winning Writer Paul Jenkins.  Though the presentation of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s classic work was often geared towards a younger audience, many of the themes were actually much more relevant.  It was this aspect of the Inhumans’ story that appealed most to Jenkins.  Even though he had almost no knowledge of their lore was able to pick up on the spirit of the classic characters and give them new life.

Jenkins’ version of the Inhumans is part Heroes, part Game of Thrones.  The Inhumans are a race of genetic mutants that live on secluded island kingdom of Attilan, preferring not to mix with the outside world. What makes their plight even stranger is that their genetic mutations are self-inflicted.  Each Inhuman, endures exposure to the Terrigan Mists in an adolescent rite of passage.  It is a strange substance that imparts powers, some extraordinary, some monstrous.   In this story, the kingdom of Attilan is under attack from both the outside and within.  The Royal Family must repel the foreign invaders who blast at their outer defense and weather the internal threat of the king’s brother.

The Inhumans’ dark and compelling story is certainly worth watching though the lightly animated style isn’t for everyone.  Listening to the credit roll music and sitting through those credits every ten minutes or so did start to wear on me about half way through, but the story is genuinely good enough to make up for it.  For comic fans, there are a couple of Marvel superheroes with short appearances throughout the episodes.  As with other Marvel Knights Animation DVDs, the release is pretty barebones.  There is the one bonus feature and the audio is only in stereo English though the transfer is nice and bright.  The total running time of the DVD is 132 minutes.

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I have to be honest.  I wasn’t swayed by the heavy marketing campaign that the Los Angeles based publisher, Warner Bros. has been running for Injustice: Gods Among Us.  It isn’t that I’m not a fan of superheroes.  I’ve been a casual comic book reader and sometimes collector since the end of the Bronze Age of comics.  The real issue is that as a rule, I don’t believe fighting games are worth a full AAA game price.  They are too limited in scope and as an entertainment package are inferior to other genres.  The ironic thing is that Injustice is made for gamers like me.

The Mortal Kombat series has found a niche as the guilty pleasure of fighting games.  It has nowhere near the technical precision and balance of games like Blaz Blue or Capcom’s 2D offerings.  Developer NetherRealm seems satisfied with their audience and their model is really the perfect choice for creating fighting games for other IPs.  Recently at the L.A. Games Conference, a couple of panelists pleaded with a Warner Bros. executive to try to make a deal with Disney to merge the Marvel and DC universes.  You might remember that NetherRealm did merge DC Comics superheroes with their own Mortal Kombat characters a few years ago.

Where Injustice: Gods Among Us really stands apart is in the narrative for the single player campaign.  The story is pretty fantastical and one that you would expect from comic books before they went all dystopian.  That’s not to say the campaign is entirely consistent, there were a couple sequences that didn’t make a lot of sense, though trying to include so many playable characters is certainly a challenge.  Though the campaign was a little Batman heavy, there are 24 playable superheroes and villains out of the box with more characters to be offered as DLC.

There are certainly other fighting games that have tried providing a full campaign to their games.  Recent Naruto and Shin Megami entries have offered story modes that are nearly as ambitious, but their presentation style isn’t as appealing to western audiences.  As fun and lengthy as the campaign was to play through, I did wish there was more.  Injustice does offer the ability to choose a hero or villain and play through a short epilogue of sorts which is unique to each character.  Once you’re done with all of that, there are also S.T.A.R. Lab missions that offer unique gameplay challenges to unlock additional content.

The controls for Injustice are understandably a little different from Mortal Kombat’s to accommodate this super powered cast.  Unfortunately, this game has followed the trend of removing physical manuals.  There is a tutorial system, but only the basics are really covered.  The d-pad controls your character’s movement and the analog sticks are not used at all in this 2D fighting game.  The face buttons are mapped to a light, medium and heavy attack with the B button designated for character specific special attacks.  Pressing both bumpers will execute a character specific super move if the meter is charged.

The bankruptcy proceedings of Los Angeles based THQ are finally over and one of the big winners of the public auction is European publisher Deep Silver.  The publisher is probably best known for the Dead Island games and now owns the Metro series, Saints Row and developer Volition.  In a previous acquisition, Deep Silver was also able to take over the Sacred RPG franchise.  While there is no firm release date for the isometric RPG, Sacred 3, the side-scrolling, beat-em up, RPG prequel is available now.  Though it might be hard to imagine, this arcade style mash-up, Sacred Citadel does directly relate to the franchise.

The plot in Sacred Citadel appears to take place long before the events that have been revealed for Sacred 3.  In this game, the land of Ancaria is in grave danger and the evil Ashen empire has enslaved its population.  They are using the orc-like Grimmoc to wipe out the Seraphim, and it is your job to defeat them.  From what has been revealed about the premise of Sacred 3, the Seraphim are long gone.  To get through this more casual prequel, players have the choice of four characters.  Oddly only three players can play at one time though, either locally or online.  Drop-in/drop-out gameplay is only available for online multiplayer.

The four characters to choose from in Sacred Citadel are a Warrior, Mage, Ranger, and Shaman.  Though the cartoonish representations imply distinct differences, unfortunately there is not a huge difference in play styles.  They can each dual wield with the Warrior as the only player that defaults to two melee weapons.  The rest of the characters have both a melee and missile attack.  Of course, dropped loot and the shop offer plenty of opportunity to upgrade throughout the game.  This loot system and the character upgrades are the adopted RPG elements that differentiate the game from its Double Dragon roots.

Sacred Citadel controls like you would expect a side scrolling beat-em up, with a few added wrinkles.  Besides jumping and the standard and special attacks, your character can block, perform combat rolls and run.  Potions can be consumed conveniently on the fly with the d-pad.  This all sounds great on paper, but the actual application is more of a mixed bag.  Besides the all too similar gameplay between characters, the combat can be gamed due to the very basic enemy A.I. patterns.  Except for the bosses, the combat is fairly one dimensional and even they aren’t too difficult.

Mobile superstars like Rovio and SuperCell, the creators of Angry Birds and Clash of Clans respectively were roundly dismissed as outliers and not suitable providers of instruction about the gaming industry as a whole.  The only real takeaway that can be gleaned is a new trend of a huge number of low risk forays into the market with the hope that eventually one gets noticed and is hugely successful.  As you can imagine, with this type of market saturation, the chances of creating a new brand is increasingly difficult.  A better opportunity does seem to lie in what is called mid-core games, which could best be described as similar to last gen console games.

It only took about a half an hour for E.A.’s recent and disastrous launch of Sim City.  Machinima’s Nanea Reeves offered the mention, though Pascal Brochier E.A.’s Senior Vice President of Americas Publishing was next up at the podium.  Brochier understated the highly criticized launch of Sim City as an “opportunity.”  The majority of his time was spent on a gaming survey run by Ipsos over Q4 2012.  The results showed 68% of Americans aged six to 64 are gamers.  The real puzzle in the data is in deciphering opportunities between retail, mobile and other online gaming.  Retail makes significantly more money, though mobile has more transactions and other online services have significantly more engagement.

Previously the L.A. Games Conference focused on computer platforms and Facebook.  The new format presents a more balanced approach to gaming overall.  For the most part time blocks were split into dual tracks with one offering a choice between “How to Win the Free-to-Play Jackpot” or “What’s Next in Console Gaming?” Considering the big hits in mobile and the transitory period of console gaming, they are both relevant topics.  It is worth noting for those looking at getting into game development, that if you want to develop for the major consoles, you need a solid track record.  Your best bet is to develop for an open platform like mobile first and then work your way on to Xbox Live or the Playstation Network.  If you’re good, you could then move on to retail for consoles.

The event wrapped up Friday, April 19, 2013 with the general session topic of “Game Development in Los Angeles: Future Prospects – Promise or Peril in the City of Angels.”  The segment was moderated by James Selby, Director of Monkey King Games and Chair of the Los Angeles Chapter of the International Game Developers Association.  Also on the panel were Tian Mu, Co-founder of Naked Sky; Kellee Santiago, Ouya’s Head of Developer Relations, previously a founder of That Game Company; and Brent Bushnell, CEO of Two Bit Circus.  A couple of late additions were L.A. County’s Bill Allen and Ben Hoight from 47 Games.  With so many other localities attempting to lure game companies away, it was a fitting end to the event.

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Key figures from the gaming industry are scheduled to address the group.  Most hated company and Mass Effect publisher, EA as well as Activision, Ubisoft, Zynga, Playstation, Machinima, YouTube, Warner Bros., NBC, CBS will have representatives on hand.  The two-day event features 11 panels, three keynotes, three roundtables and three presentations as well as exhibits, demos and networking within the historic hotel.  The attendees are billed as key decision makers from the game, entertainment and technology industries including company founders, investors, major and indie game publishers, developers, advertisers, mobile companies, members of the media and more.

The event focuses on the many opportunities within the burgeoning game industry including digital and mobile games, investment trends and opportunities and opportunities specific to the City of Los Angeles as it attempts to maintain its position as a media-tech center and hub for game development.  For complete agenda, registration and event details please visit: http://www.dmwgames.com.

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While I was sitting at Nintendo’s E3 presentation of Wii U games at the Nokia Center in Los Angeles last year, I couldn’t help imagining my favorite RPGs with the new GamePad controller.  For many RPG fans that dream has been realized with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the Wii U.  For those that are unfamiliar with the action RPG series, Monster Hunter made its debut on the Playstation 2 almost ten years ago.  While it’s not as popular here in the United States as other Western action RPGs or even other Japanese RPGs like Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter does have its fans.

Like Mass Effect 3, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate isn’t a really a new game for Nintendo’s latest console.  Monster Hunter 3 or Tri as it was called was originally released in 2009 for the Nintendo Wii.  The graphics while updates do show some age.  That’s not to say Monster Hunter doesn’t look good, but the visuals are unlikely to wow anyone.  The most discouraging aspect of the presentation is the lack of voicing in conjunction with poor font selection and the size of the text crammed into the lower left corner.  If you don’t like to read a lot, this probably isn’t the action RPG for you.

In the single player campaign of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, players take on the role of a hunter newly arrived in a small island village.  A large earthquake just struck the area and the village chief suspects a giant monster is the cause.  Of course he’s sending you out to investigate.  You are allowed to create and customize your character, though the options are not as robust as the offerings of some RPGs.  The game has a particular style and nothing offered will make your character terribly unique.  These limitations don’t apply to the variety of cartoonlike oversized weapons you will acquire and master throughout the lengthy adventure.

Players are also given the option of two control schemes.  Embracing the second screen option, I chose to have everything moved over to the GamePad screen, including status bars.  The controls which must be mastered to progress very far, however do present some issues.  During battles, sheathing and unsheathing your weapon along with attacks must be second nature and well timed.  Poorly timed and mistaken button presses can result in wasted resources and death.  Longtime Monster Hunter fans understand this is part of the game and accept it as a game mechanic.  Many newcomers however will likely be frustrated.

A couple of journeys into the deep to visit the dark dystopia of Rapture were probably enough. Infinite almost had to be somewhere else.  That somewhere else ended up being Columbia, a turn of the 20^th century Christian fundamentalist, pioneering city in the clouds.  Able to travel the globe, Columbia fought the holy wars the United States government couldn’t fight until eventually the government found them too meddlesome.  The floating city of Columbia seceded and became its own nation.  It didn’t take long for the utopia to develop its own set problems.

The player takes on the role of Booker DeWitt an ex-soldier and ex-Pinkerton detective offered a chance to erase his debts by delivering a girl.  That girl as everyone has seen from the commercials and trailers is Elizabeth.  Elizabeth is no ordinary girl though, she has the power to open up portals or tears in the time space continuum.  It is really only about half of the game though that you are able to use Elizabeth’s amazing powers.  The rest of the time Booker, known as the false prophet in Columbia, is on his own.

The beginning of Bioshock Infinite starts off slowly with a pair of bizarre characters that drop you off at a lighthouse.  From the lighthouse, you are jettisoned to the sky country of Columbia.  Once there, you arrive at a temple of sorts for new pilgrims where you must be baptized before entering the holy land.  Much of Columbia looks like the Main Street are of Disneyland complete with a barbershop quartet. There is almost too much to look at before the story really starts to pick up and the whole of Columbia is turned against you.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the experience Bioshock Infinite offered, but it was only in its finality that I was able to appreciate the experience.  The beginning, I felt took way too long and once everything got going I thought there was much more combat than the narrative warranted.  Speaking of combat, maybe it’s been too long since I played a Bioshock game but it seemed like it took nearly a quarter of the game to get used to using the left trigger and bumper for vigors (plasmids.)  The hacking mini-games and other varieties of gameplay are also gone.  Bioshock Infinite is a straight up first person shooter.

There is a new online shooter game Merc Elite from Browser game maker, Bigpoint on it’s way.  In the game, players guide a team of expert mercenaries into a heated team combat Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA.)   The game promises to force you to rely on both courage and cunning to succeed at this tactical MOBA military game.  Merc Elite will mesh modern warfare with team combat to create an online co-op game experience that is unlike any other.

The modern warfare team combat game Merc Elite offers 5 character classes to choose from to help you successfully fulfill your mission: the Juggernaut class uses stout armor to engage in close combat, while deploying high-tech shields to protect teammates from enemy fire; the Assault class relies on a plethora of high-powered weaponry to inflict heavy damage; the Recon class utilizes stealth and smarts to get in close to deliver the decisive blow; the Heavy Gunner set up massive weapons from a distance to help the team with a barrage of cover fire and mete out damage to the opposition from afar; while the Tactician coordinates everything by tracking enemy movements, implementing high-tech weaponry or calling in airstrikes to help dispatch the fiercest of foes.

Merc Elite is a MOBA military game set in the near-future at a time when resources are scarce, desperation is palpable and mega-conglomerates are in control. With greed in their hearts, domination on their minds and a seemingly endless supply of cash in their pockets, these evil conglomerates will stop at nothing to control what few natural resources there are left in this team combat MOBA. They keep their hands clean and, as per company policy, outsource to the experts: the mercenary bands and agencies that have sprung up in the wake of massive global demobilization. Staffed primarily by ex-members of the armed forces of every nation, some are little better than pirates, but most are professional outfits that emphasize top-of-the-line equipment and experienced, deadly employees. They are the finest mercenaries the planet has to offer: the elite.

Should you succeed in meeting your objectives in this fast-paced co-op game for your browser, your team of elite ex-military guns-for-hire can expect to be rewarded handsomely in this modern warfare online shooter game. Guide your team in a fight to the bitter end to earn the spoils of war in this unique take on modern warfare set in the near-future. This free MOBA military game promises intense team combat action steeped in strategy and modern warfare. Team up with others and let your foes feel the full wrath of your mercenary prowess! Lead former soldiers through this modern warfare military game and experience first-hand all the fast-paced action this free MOBA game has to offer.

Nintendo released the Wii U a few months ago, Sony just announced the Playstation 4, and by all accounts the new Xbox will be announced before the E3 Expo in Los Angeles a few months from now. It’s amazing how time flies.  Can you believe the Xbox 360 is now almost eight years old?  It is just recently in the twilight of the current console generation that the games are really using everything the hardware can provide.  The skill that developers have harnessed with the hardware along with evolution of current franchises makes it a great time to be a gamer.

One of this generations current franchises, survival-horror and third-person shooter hybrid, Dead Space began almost five years ago.  Like competitor publisher 2K’s Bioshock, EA’s Dead Space has been popular with core gamers looking for a darker, more immersive experience than other shooters provide.  Dead Space 3 doesn’t make quite the drastic change that Bioshock Infinite looks to make later this year, but it is a significant evolution from the original.  While the feature list of Dead Space 3 is certainly longer, these features don’t necessarily make the experience better.

Dead Space 3 continues the series of misfortunes that makes up the former engineer, Isaac Clarke’s life.  After a look back in time, the game picks up in not an entirely original way, in the middle of Isaac’s pity party after his girl split.  Isaac Clarke’s apartment and situation is reminiscent of Korben Dallas’s in The Fifth Element and similarly the feds show up to recruit the space veteran.  The fact that story borrows heavily is forgivable, but the lengths at which it reaches, particularly at the end is embarrassingly laughable.

Isaac Clarke, as formerly a ship’s engineer is nothing if not resourceful and Dead Space 3 really exploits those assets.  Isaac has also picked up some more combat abilities.  For the most part, the controls are like any other third-person shooter.  The movement and camera adjustments are made with the analog sticks and the aiming and primary firing are done with the triggers.  Isaac’s customizable weapons also have a secondary function which is used with the right bumper.  He can create a temporary stasis and utilize kinesis and now, he can combat roll out of danger.  On the Xbox 360, voice commands can be used for interface options as well as gameplay actions like reloading.