Sunday 15 January 2012

DOODLE JUMP







Doodle Jump is a video game developed and published by Lima Sky for Windows Phone, iOS, BlackBerry, Android, Java Mobile (J2ME), and Nokia Symbian and soon on the Xbox 360 for the Kinect platform. It was released worldwide for iOS on April 6, 2009, and was later released for Android and Blackberry on March 2, 2010, Symbian on May 1, 2010, and Windows Phone 7 on June 1, 2011. It was released for the iPad on September 1, 2011 with a price of 2.99US$, slightly more than original 0.99US$ on iTunes and Android Market.Since its release, the game has been generally well-received. The game PapiJump by SunFlat inspired the gameplay of Doodle Jump. The game is currently available on nine platforms.
Doodle Jump was renowned for its enormous selling rate by iTunes standards, which counted 25,000 copies sold daily for 4 consecutive months (later taken over by Angry Birds). As of December, 2011, the game sold 10 million copies over iTunes and Android Market and reached 15 million downloads across all platforms.


In Doodle Jump the aim is to guide a four-legged creature called "The Doodler" up a never-ending series of platforms without falling. The left side of the playing field is connected with the right side. For devices with an accelerometer, players tilt the device from side to side to move the Doodler in the desired direction. Players can get a short boost from various objects, such as propeller hats, jetpacks, rockets (having the longest boost), springs, trampolines and invulnerability shields (some levels only). There are also monsters and UFOs that the Doodler must avoid, shoot, or jump on to eliminate. Aiming is performed by tapping on different parts of the screen, on the Android and Windows Phone versions of the game there is also an automatic aim mode. Depending on the game mode being played, projectiles may fly in a straight line off the screen or be affected by gravity and fall downwards. There is no definitive end to the game, but the end for each gameplay session happens when the player falls to the bottom of the screen, jumps into a monster, gets sucked into a black hole, or is abducted by a UFO. Players can choose from several different themes including Original, Graveyard, Christmas, Rainforest, Space, Soccer World Cup, Easter, Underwater or Halloween. The themes change the look of the Doodle Jumper, his enemies, and the background. After losing the game at least 500 times (600 in the BlackBerry version) the Doodler is given the opportunity to wear a pickle costume. Furthermore, the player may enter the names of one of the Pocket God pygmies and the Doodler will turn into one of pygmies. Alternatively, the player can enter the name "Bunny" and the Doodler will wear a bunny suit, just like the one in the Easter stage.The lowest score a player can achieve is 0 and the highest 15 million.


Doodle Jump sold 10 million copies on iTunes and Android Market to date, and reached over 15 million downloads across all platforms currently available.
It is one of the highest ranked applications on Apple's App Store (iOS).
Doodle Jump has received favorable reviews from fans and critics alike, with TouchGen mentioning the fact that the game is 'fun as heck' and also praising the sound and cartoon graphics which they feel give the game charm. The review ends by saying that the game is a 'joy to play' and that it's obvious that a 'lot of love went into this game.' Fans of the game have mentioned the addictive nature of the game and on forums throughout the internet it is consistently mentioned as being in people's top smartphone games, alongside other successful games such as the popular Angry Birds.




Friday 6 January 2012

HITMAN IS BACK......


Hitman: Absolution is a stealth game being developed by IO Interactive and will be published by Square Enix. It is the upcoming fifth entry in the Hitman game series. The game will run on IO Interactive's proprietary Glacier 2 game engine, fusing classic Hitman game mechanics with brand new gameplay features.
Though plans to continue the Hitman franchise were first announced in 2007,it was not until May 2009 that Eidos confirmed the game was in development. Certain plot details for the game were rumored in 2009, stating that the game's story would lead Agent 47 to a low point from which he would have to rebuild himself.On 20 April 2011, Square Enix filed the trademark for the name Hitman: Absolution in Europe, leading sites to speculate that it would be the name of the fifth Hitman game. On 6 May 2011, a teaser trailer was released, confirming the title: Hitman Absolution. The trailer briefly showed Agent 47 attaching a suppressor and a rattle snake coiled around his signature Silverballer pistol. It has been reported the game will be "familiar and yet significantly different experience from other Hitman games."On 9 October 2011, a full gameplay trailer entitled "Run for Your Life" was released.

DARK SOULS............


Dark Souls is an action role-playing video game developed and published for PlayStation 3 by From Software in Japan, and published for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by Namco Bandai Games internationally. Previously referred to as Project Dark, Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls. It was released in Japan on September 22, 2011, on October 4 in North America, and on October 7 in Europe of the same year. Like its predecessor, the game is known for its high level of difficulty, which has prompted much interest and discussion.

Gameplay

The game consists of dungeon crawling in hostile environments and exploits the tension instilled by risk versus reward game mechanics and penalties upon player death. Dark Souls takes place in an open world environment, with the player able to travel to and from areas and explore various available paths. Dark Souls allows players to light Bonfires, which function as respawn locations.These bonfires also replenish health, magic, and special items like Estus flasks - limited vials that restore health, but also respawn all enemies previously defeated, except for bosses and certain special enemies.The player must fight their way through various locations and defeat bosses to progress.
Dark Souls features an elaborate online mode, very much like that of Demon's Souls, which is active whenever the console is connected to the internet (an Xbox Live Gold subscription is required on the Xbox 360 version). The online mode adds numerous dynamic interactions between the individual worlds players, including limited co-op and player versus player within certain conditions. Communication between players is deliberately limited.

Plot

Like its predecessor Demon's Souls, Dark Souls has a notably minimalistic plot. Events and their significance are often implicit and left to player interpretation rather than fully shown or explained. Much of the story and lore of the world is given to the player through dialogue from characters within the world, item descriptions, or the scarce cutscenes. It is up to the player to put the pieces together.
In the founding of the universe, the earth was unformed, covered in crags, and dragons held sole dominion over the world. However, The Fire of Lords along with the human race eventually came into existence for reasons long lost to time. From the Dark, which gained meaning in contrast to Light from the newly kindled flame, emerged four powerful entities--Nito, the first of the dead; the Witch of Izalith and her daughters of chaos; Gwyn, the Lord of Cinder, and his faithful knights; and the furtive pygmy, so easily forgotten--who harnessed the Fire of Lords to combat the dragons, eventually overthrowing them and launching humanity and their new lordly gods into a golden era known as the Age of Fire.
The protagonist is a male or female Undead, who has yet to become Hollow. He escapes from the northern Undead Asylum with the help of another Undead and learns of the prophecy concerning a chosen Undead who leaves the Undead Asylum in pilgrimage and rings the Bell of Awakening in the land of the ancient lords, Lordran.
Once the character has rung the Bells of Awakening, the gate leading to Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo is opened, and the Primordial Serpent Kingseeker Frampt is awoken. He tells the player that he is the Chosen Undead who must succeed Lord Gwyn and remove the affliction of the Darksign. It is implied that Frampt is very old and has awaited the protagonist's arrival for a very long time. To achieve this given task, the character must get the Lordvessel from the land of Anor Londo, a forsaken city bathed in sunlight. When the task is done, the character must obtain the four powerful Lord Souls: one from Seath the Scaleless, the proud dragon who betrayed his own out of deep anger over his lack of immortality; one from the Four Kings, ancient rulers of New Londo who fell to Dark and were banished to the Abyss; one from the Bed of Chaos, a mass of life and the source of all demons which was the result of the failed experiments of the Witch of Izalith to recreate the primeval Flame; and Gravelord Nito, the first of the dead.
However, in the Abyss if the player has not placed the Lordvessel on the altar at that point then he can instead meet Darkstalker Kaathe, a different Primordial Serpent who opposes Frampt. After informing the player that he is a direct descendent of the pygmy, who obtained the Dark Soul, Kaathe will present the protagonist with a different path: to end the Age of Fire and "usher in the Age of Dark." Kaathe stated that Gwyn had wished to "avoid the course of nature," prolonged the Age of Fire, and in doing so branded undead with the Darksign, which only caused suffering. The Age of Dark will erase this curse.
After offering the four Lord Souls to the Lordvessel, with the help of either Frampt or Kaathe, the character must go on to defeat Gwyn, the Lord of Cinder. Once the character has slain him, the player is given a vague choice which affects the ending. By choosing to link the fire, the character continues the Age of Fire and is consumed entirely by the fire as it burns intensely bright. The screen then goes white, before fading to dark as the credits roll. By choosing not to link the fire, the protagonist instead walks out of the area and is greeted by Primordial Serpents who bow down to the character, accepting him as the Dark Lord and the Age of Dark (Humans) begins.


Prototype 2 is an upcoming video game set for release on April 24, 2012 in North America and April 27, 2012 in Europe. It is currently under development by Canadian developer Radical Entertainment and is the sequel to 2009's Prototype. Like its original, the game is set to be published by Radical Entertainment's owner, Activision. The game is set to feature a new protagonist, Sergeant James Heller, as he goes on his quest to destroy the Blacklight Virus once and for all. The story is also one of revenge, as Heller wants to kill Mercer after his family was killed in the outbreak of the Blacklight Virus. Set in an open world shown in a third-person view perspective. The game was announced at the 2010 Spike VGA Awards with the tagline "Murder your Maker".



Gameplay

Like Alex Mercer, James Heller can shapeshift and assume other people’s identities and memories by consuming them. Taking peoples identities and shape-shifting into them has become more tactical. Due to Blackwatch's actions in the Yellow Zone, if the player assumes the role of a soldier, people will react back to him in a way that they show they want nothing to do with him. To make sure that enemies do not overwhelm the player, Radical has created a dodging system and new, more realistic AI. Heller will be able to use weapons in the game, such as ripping the cannon off of a tank and using it against enemies. Heller can also sneak up on unsuspecting human enemies, inject the Blacklight virus in them and create a "BioBomb" out of them to blow up objects, enemies and such. James Heller also has improved strength, movement, invulnerability (self-healing and endurance), and has a sonar sense. The sonar includes a new pulse ability that highlights the key features of an environment to make it easier for the player to find something or someone, instead of looking in a large crowd for a person with an icon above their head. Radical has stated that the powers will be more meaningful, they will come in mutations and upgrades that let players decide how they want to play as Heller.
To give gamers more power in the game, the developers have added tendrils. Tendrils sprout from Heller's arm and can be used for a variety of purposes, such as reaching out into the game environment. Players can use tendrils to smash objects into other objects, such as a car into a tank or vice-versa. Also, players can string up enemies into "webs", much like the abilities of Spider-Man, to make them vulnerable for further attacks. Players are able to rip enemies in half. Players will be able to dismember all enemies, a force that will become more useful as the game progresses. There are many more ways to kill enemies, ranging from throwing a tank at group of Blackwatch soldiers, hacking off a mutants head or using the tendrils. In the original game, there were limited options that allowed you to destroy airborne enemies. in Prototype 2 ,however, they have many more options available such as an uppercut, or the use of tendrils. When the player picks up a person, the game will no longer automatically kill them, starting a combat sequence, Radical has tweaked this to become a useful tool, an intimidation factor. 
Unlike the original, Heller will not be given his missions by a person, but rather choose them himself. Hacking onto Blacknet, a system of Blackwatch that details military operations and the three areas of NYZ, Heller chooses his own missions. Blacknet will allow Heller to find operations that he can disrupt or take control of for his own purposes, or find important people that will allow him to learn more about what he has become because of the Blacklight virus. It will also help him find out more about Alex Mercer and what his connections are to his family's deaths. The missions that are selectable can be sidequests (sub-missions) or extensions to the main quest that tell Heller more about the Blacklight Virus.