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Evil Genius

Dr. Wily announces his intention to take over the world in this gameplay movie.
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LAS VEGAS--Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing. When it comes to classic compilations and the revamping of existing characters or franchises, the danger of mortifying longtime fans runs high. It's rare to find a game that can avoid the minefield that's laid out when a developer starts messing with a classic--case in point, Mega Man Powered Up, the forthcoming update of the original Mega Man. At first glance, the game appeared to be a cute and competent update of the original Mega Man when we saw it at last year's Tokyo Game Show. A funny thing has happened since then, however. Our look at the most recent version of the game at Capcom's Las Vegas press event has revealed it to be a gem of a game that smartly straddles old and new to offer something for everyone.

As we've said before, Mega Man Powered Up is an update of the original Mega Man and comes packing a graphical face-lift and two versions of the game--a classic version, which trumps the original game with its new visuals, and a new version, which includes more content and a more involved presentation. Also, the game features a level editor, which will let you create and share your own levels in the game. Those offerings in and of themselves would be a solid package for fans, however, our newest look at the game has revealed even more content that's being thrown in.

The playable version at Capcom's event featured the bulk of the content that will be in the final game, and it impressed us mightily. The two versions of the original game now differ significantly, with each version featuring selectable difficulty levels. The updated version features extra bosses and a traditional story structure, complete with in-game cinematics. Outside of that, we found a new Mega Man Challenge 100, which tasks you with clearing 100 short levels that become increasingly difficult. The one we tried had us perfecting our platform jumping as we worked to reach a flag. In addition to all of the above, you'll be able to play through the game as any one of the eight boss robots, each featuring their own unique abilities and endings. Sadly, we couldn't try this feature yet, but we're certainly ready to give it a try when we get a playable version in-house. Control for the game is almost as tight as we'd like it to be, although using the analog stick on the PlayStation Portable can be challenging. Fortunately, you can simply use the D pad if you do not like the analog action. The levels we played handled like a dream, although we did notice that playing in the classic mode offered a painful reminder of how tough the series was.

Mega Man has arguably never looked better.

The visuals are bright, colorful, and fun to watch. The face-lift given to all of the familiar Mega Man enemies is cool, although it borders on overdosing on cute. The audio in the game is fun and breezy, but we have yet to hear that awesome, bouncy theme from the TGS demo play anywhere. Based on what we saw, Mega Man Powered Up is a commendable update of a classic game, and whose approach looks like it may well set a precedent as the smart way to mine the past. Whether you're a longtime fan or a newcomer to the series, you should definitely give Mega Man Powered Up some of your time when it ships next month. Barring any horrible disasters, this game should be a much needed gem for the PSP library. Look for more on the game soon.

Source: GameSpot

Currently in postproduction and scheduled for release in July, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is Gore Verbinski's sequel to 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The upcoming movie will see Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley reprising their roles as Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and Elizabeth Swann, respectively, and their likenesses will feature in a trio of handheld games currently in development at Amaze Entertainment. We recently had an opportunity to meet with the games' publisher, Buena Vista Games, and to spend a little quality time with the PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and Game Boy Advance pre-alpha versions of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

PSP: It doesn't matter who your enemy is, a kick to the groin can work wonders.

We didn't get to spend very long with each of the games, but it's clear that they're all very different, which comes as no surprise given the varying capabilities of the three platforms. The first version of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest that we checked out was running on a PSP development kit and saw us assuming the role of Captain Jack Sparrow. In the upcoming movie, Sparrow will once again find himself in something of a supernatural swashbuckling predicament, this time as a result of his owing the legendary Davy Jones a blood debt. The intro movie that we watched before taking the controls saw Davy Jones attempting to collect said debt from Sparrow, who, after a quite comical conversation, decides that he'd rather not offer himself up for 100 years of servitude after all.

The PSP version of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest will feature a total of 10 story missions, and based on what we've seen of the game thus far, you'll be spending much of your time in those missions engaged in melee combat with all manner of cannibals, zombies, pirates, and zombie pirates. We were armed only with a sword at the start of the game, and the combat moves available to us included a fast attack, a heavy attack, and a "dirty moves" button with which we were able to stun opponents with either a kick to the groin or a head-butt. We encountered a few different types of enemies during our time in Sparrow's shoes and found that many of them required slightly different strategies to beat. Some of our adversaries could only be hurt with heavy attacks after we'd repeatedly used fast attacks to wear their guard down, for example, while for other enemies the exact opposite was true.

As we explored locales that included the interior of a prison, a tropical island, and a swamp, the time that we didn't spend locked in battles with enemies was mostly spent destroying crates and barrels to find gold and food and swinging from ropes and chains to reach areas that were otherwise inaccessible. There were hazards that we needed to avoid as we progressed through the levels, including fires coming up through the ground and large logs covered in spikes swinging pendulously across corridors.

DS: Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann are both playable characters.

In addition to the single-player story missions, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest will feature a sea battle minigame that supports up to four players on an ad hoc wireless network. Played from the perspective of a camera situated above and behind your chosen vessel, the sea battle minigames are quite reminiscent of those in Sid Meier's Pirates!, which was released for the PC toward the end of 2004 and for the Xbox in June of last year. You'll steer your boat using the analog stick while using the square and circle buttons to fire your port and starboard cannons, respectively. The shoulder buttons are used to switch between the three different types of ammunition available to you: cannon balls, which damage the hulls of enemy ships; chain shot, which tears apart their sails; and grape shot, which hails down on enemy crew members. Each of the five different ship types available in the game will have different strengths and weaknesses, and some of the items that you collect during battles can later be used to upgrade them. Although the sea battles are primarily designed to be played with up to three friends--as evidenced by the fact that three of the 10 maps can be played against people without their own copy of the game--you'll also have the option to play against CPU-controlled adversaries.

After finishing up with the PSP game, we were handed the Nintendo DS version to take a look at. The first level of the DS game tasked us with fighting our way out of the same prison that we'd explored in the PSP version, but although much of our time was again spent engaged in melee combat, the gameplay felt very different. The combat in the Nintendo DS game appears to be slightly more complex than that in the PSP version, with the standard weapon-based attacks being complemented by blocks, flying kicks, and such. We were also able to pick up weapons such as cleavers and spiked clubs that were equipped automatically as we explored the prison level, although these disappeared after we'd used them a certain number of times. Combo attacks and signature moves will also be a feature of the finished game, although we didn't get to see any of these in action on this occasion.

Other promised features of the Nintendo DS game that we didn't get to see during our all-too-brief demonstration include two-player cooperative play for all story missions; three minigames for one or two players that have names like walk the plank and shoot the monkey; and levels in which Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann will be playable characters. All of the action was taking place on the upper screen, incidentally, while the bottom screen was used to display weapon information, dialogue between characters, and such.

GBA: You'll get to sail between and explore no fewer than 15 different islands.

Toward the end of our meeting with Buena Vista Games we spent a few minutes checking out the GBA version of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which is targeted at a younger audience than the PSP and DS games. The GBA game will feature naval battles played from a top-down perspective, as well as on-foot side-scrolling levels in which Jack Sparrow will use jump and attack buttons to battle his way through no fewer than 50 different levels set on 15 different islands. As you progress through the game you'll unlock advanced attack moves for Jack, though we didn't get to see any of them on this occasion.

All three of Buena Vista Games' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest handheld games are currently scheduled for release in June. We'll bring you more information as soon as it becomes available.

Source: GameSpot

Currently scheduled for release in March, the PlayStation Portable version of From Russia With Love is a third-person action game that's closely based on the home-console games of the same name that were released in November of last year. The PSP game promises an enhanced multiplayer mode for up to six players, as well as a control scheme that's been reworked to better accommodate the PSP's single analog stick setup. We recently had an opportunity to check out a near-finished version of From Russia With Love and can report that the game looks to do a pretty good job of making you feel like James Bond circa 1963--even if some liberties have been taken with the titular movie's storyline.

You'll find much in From Russia With Love that you don't recognize from the movie.

The game's opening sequence is set in London, where you'll be tasked with rescuing the prime minister's daughter from the evil forces of Octopus. This level affords you plenty of opportunities to familiarize yourself with the game's controls, which we're pleased to report we have had very few problems with thus far. Basic movement is handled using the analog stick, while the triangle button is used to crouch and to perform forward rolls. The PSP's left and right shoulder buttons are used for locking on to and shooting at targets, respectively; the circle and square buttons are used to rotate the third-person camera left and right; and the X button is used to reload your weapon. That just leaves the PSP's directional pad, of course, which you'll be using to switch between the numerous weapons in Bond's arsenal. The only minor complaint we have about the basic controls at this point would be that the camera rotates around Bond a little more slowly than we'd like when using the circle and square buttons, although in fairness, those buttons don't get nearly as much use as you might expect.

You won't need to manually rotate the camera often not only because it generally looks to do a good job of keeping up with Bond's movements, but also because it's possible to lock on to enemies even before they're in Bond's line of sight simply by pressing the left shoulder button. With an enemy fixed in your sights, the easiest way to finish them off is to squeeze your right shoulder button until your target has absorbed just enough lead to put them down permanently. One of From Russia With Love's neatest features, though, is the "focus mode" that you're encouraged to use once you've locked on--letting you manually target specific areas of your enemy in order to conserve ammo and earn stars. The most obvious area to target on an enemy is usually his head, but in From Russia With Love you'll notice that certain areas are highlighted as soon as you go into focus mode. Based on our experiences to date, the majority of these highlighted areas are weapons that you can shoot out of your enemies' hands, but we've also had opportunities to shoot at ropes on which enemies are descending into a room and to shoot grenades hanging from enemies' belts. The stars that you earn for performing these particularly satisfying kills are essentially experience points that will let you improve Bond's proficiencies with weapons, gadgets, and body armor.

Switching between the weapons in your arsenal really couldn't be easier.

All of the weapons that we've used in From Russia With Love to date are controlled in exactly the same way, with the exception of the sniper rifle. Supposedly the weapon of choice when covering a colleague from a vantage point on a rooftop, the sniper rifle is the only weapon we've come across that doesn't lock on to targets when you press the left shoulder button. It's obviously conceivable that being able to lock on with the sniper rifle would make the sequences in question too easy, but the problem is that aiming the gun while also using the zoom is tricky without a second analog stick. The default control option requires you to aim your sniper rifle using the analog stick while using up and down on the directional pad to zoom, while the alternate option lets you aim using the face buttons. We found both of these setups to be quite unwieldy, unfortunately, and ended up playing through both of the sniper sequences we encountered using just about every weapon in our arsenal except for the rifle.

Sniper rifle aside, we've enjoyed our time with From Russia With Love's single-player component thus far, and we're looking forward to bringing you a full review once we get our hands on the finished game. In the meantime, we're also hoping to get our hands on some additional copies so that we might bring you our impressions of the game's multiplayer options in the not-too-distant future. Stay tuned.

Source: GameSpot