When players first boot up Quantum Conundrum, they will be met by a unique feeling environment and an crazy scientist's voice to match it, the mood in this downloadable puzzle game often reminded me of the movie 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'. Sure, it isn't quite as bleak as Lemony Snicket's tale, which is a good thing but it hit the same sort of odd but lovingly crafted tones.



Quantum Conundrum was developed by a team led by original Portal designer Kim Swift, and I certainly felt a lot of that in the way the mind boggling puzzles were put together. The game will have players take the role of a young boy who has to rescue his crazy but well voiced scientist uncle, who is stuck in another dimension.



Dimensions are the main meat of Quantum Conundrum. Players will eventually gain four different powers, which will enable the modification of the usual earth-like rules of physics. With the push of a button things in environments are made 10 times lighter than they truly are or reverse the effect, making something light, super heavy. The other two dimensions the player gets to utilize throughout the game via using the Interdimensional Shift Device are reverse gravity and slow motion.

You can see where I am going with this.

While at first the puzzles start fairly simple to ease players into the mechanics, the later challenges will require the combination of the dimension powers to a much greater degree, in order to solve some very complex situations. There were several times when I was somewhat stumped and but always managed to solve the puzzle with some 'out of the box thinking'.



The environments and audio design in Quantum Conundrum are some of the best we have seen in the downloadable space and are top notch throughout the experience. The journey through the mansion always felt well crafted and had me enjoying every puzzle as well as the bits in between. The actual story around the uncle stuck in the Netherworld was also very entertaining and I was never really bored by his witty narration and the hints providing some good help throughout. However, I wish that there was a bit more attention paid to the end of the tale as it doesn't quite hold up to the rest of Quantum Conundrums awesome

Score: 9 / 10

Quantum Conundrum was developed by Airtight Games and published by Square Enix for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on July 11th (PC on June 21st). A copy of the Xbox 360 version was provided to us by Square Enix for reviewing purposes.

Sometimes owning a PC is a pretty damn good thing. This weekend GetGames has put on a sale that includes great titles from Square Enix like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Hitman and more, as well as Jagged Alliance 2 Gold Edition and Serious Sam 2.

Don't be a sucker and pay too much for your games!

Are you guys ready for a new platformer with a unique art style? Well, if you are you may want to give Square Enix' 'Scary Girl' a look. The game will drop on Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network on January 18th and 24th respectively.

Check out the trailer below.



Press Release:

SQUARE ENIX TO BRING AWARD-WINNING SCARYGIRL TO
XBOX LIVE ARCADE AND PLAYSTATION®NETWORK
Action-Platform Game Will Bring Nathan Jurevicius' Acclaimed Graphic Novel to Life

LOS ANGELES (Jan. 6, 2012) – Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of SQUARE ENIX® interactive entertainment products in the Americas, today announced Scarygirl™, a new action-platform game based on Nathan Jurevicius' critically acclaimed graphic novel of the same name. Developed by TikGames, Scarygirl will be available on January 18 for the Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, January 24 for the PlayStation®Network for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC in early 2012.

Based on Nathan Jurevicius' Scarygirl graphic novel – winner of the 2009 Aurealis Award for Best Illustrated Book/Graphic novel – Scarygirl presents a wondrous adventure into a distinctive and beautifully bizarre world. The titular character Scarygirl is an abandoned child with a tentacle arm who dresses like a pirate, and is haunted by a strange man in her dreams. She sets out into the world to discover the meaning behind her bad dreams, but Scarygirl is hardly helpless, as she has a tentacle-powered arsenal up her sleeve.

During her adventure, Scarygirl will be aided by her friends and guardians from the graphic novel, Blister the giant octopus and Bunniguru the mystical, kung-fu rabbit. Her friends and an ever-improving arsenal of combat moves will help her face down enemies like the adorably deadly hedgehogs of the Owl Woods, the violent Goat Clan along the Old Man Mountains, Hairclump spiders deep in the Stinky Swamp, and the most enemiest enemies of all – the clueless crossing guards around Bad Town!

For more information, please visit the official website: www.scarygirlgame.com.

FEATURES
· Amazing Art and Design: Surreal landscape and creatures are beautifully fantastical, created by a critically-acclaimed, award-winning artist and true to the art style that Scarygirl fans have already fallen in love with

· A Curiously Wonderful Stand-Alone Chapter: The game features a new and exceptional storyline separate from the graphic novel and planned feature film, in which Scarygirl finally meets the mysterious man haunting her dreams

· New Moves, Weapons & Upgrades: The game's upgrade and combat improvement system allows Scarygirl to grow beyond her basic attacks by purchasing new moves, like the "Anaconda Squeeze" and "Morph Tendrils", or attachments for her tentacle arm, such as the Rage Hook

· Co-Operative Play: While one player controls Scarygirl, a second can bring Bunniguru's furious "Fists of Blurry" into the fray at any time. This offline feature allows the two characters to perform special moves together to overcome major challenges


Scarygirl is rated E10+ (Everyone 10+). Please visit the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) website at www.esrb.org for more information about ratings.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is releasing on January 31, 2012 in North America and Square Enix just revealed some of the pre-order bonuses we can expect to snatch, if we pre-order the game.

Of course we all have our preferences for retailers, hey it's a free country, so take your pick.

GameStop

Receive an exclusive in–game item by preordering at GameStop e/retailers
– Alternate costume for Serah, visible throughout the game

Amazon

Omega Boss Battle
– Unique coliseum battle against boss enemy "Omega," who joins the player's party afterward

Best Buy

Collectible Hardcover Book
– FINAL FANTASY XIII –Episode i– novella, an original story that ties together the events of FINAL FANTASY XIII and FINAL FANTASY XIII–2

When I found out that development newcomer Eidos Montreal was taking on the challenge of making a prequel to the excellent Deus Ex, I was a bit concerned, to say the least. Over 10 years after the original, the team around Eidos Montreal shipped Deus Ex Human Revolution and got it exceptionally right, for the most part.

In a tense and controversial near-future world of trans-humanism, filled with augmentation galore, elevated by the extreme divide of poverty and successful corporations, Adam Jensen has to figure out what went wrong the day his company was attacked and he almost lost his life. That is what you can expect to deal with in Deus Ex.

Players will see the world of Human Revolution through the eyes of Jensen, an ex-SWAT member with a suspicious and mysterious past, who now works as head of security for Sarif Industries. Sarif is one of the corporations, pushing augmentation and human modification to the limit by improving what society is used to and may not be ready for. Jensen is not given a choice whether he wants to undergo extensive surgery to become an 'Aug' but the operation saved his life and allows him to find out who is behind the attack on Sarif, days before his company was going to deliver valuable research to Washington DC.

The story and backdrop of Deus Ex Human Revolution is deep and engaging, while the characters Jensen meets may not present the best voice acting on the planet, they do tell a good story and keep the game moving. There are loads of side-missions, computer terminals, newspapers and characters that help flesh out the universe of Human Revolution. If you enjoy looking for every bit of information and detail behind virtually anything in the world, you will enjoy playing this game.

Eidos Montreal has also managed to make the surroundings and semi open world environments look fantastic. The cyberpunk inspired world really sucks you in, if you let it do that. Exploring is encouraged and rewarded, make sure to move a few vending machines to find vents which lead you to some goodies. Deus Ex really feels a lot like an old school PC game, it may not have the amazingly deep skill tree the original had but it certainly creates a retro atmosphere, which is a good thing and even refreshing in a day where gamers' hands may be held a bit too often.

Actually playing Human Revolution makes for a good experience, I had a blast going through the environments and explore while completing missions, meeting characters and finding out about the plot that takes you from Detroit, over Shanghai to Montreal. Deus Ex is a first person shooter with RPG elements and it does get the basic mechanics right. Jensen will fire many different weapons and use several neat gadgets during his missions, upgrading and looting is also a big aspect of he game. In order to advance, players will need to collect XP and credits to upgrade Jensen's augmentation features such as increased abilities, better protection and stealth tools.

Choosing upgrades wisely is important since there are so many ways to complete a mission in Deus Ex. Players will be able to increase the fall distance damage resistance to jump down deeper gaps, walk through poison gas willed hallways or circumvent injuries from electricity fields, all to avoid getting caught. Choosing which way you upgrade will affect the path Jensen will take to achieve his goals, the options are not endless but plentiful.

Another major factor in getting to your objective is dealing with the AI and conversation system. While the enemy AI isn't perfect and sometimes makes you wonder if certain sections weren't QA tested enough, it does a decent job to make the game interesting in combat and remain more on the PC feel from 10 years ago. During conversations, which Jensen will have a lot of, players can, if upgraded enough, release pheromones to influence the outcome in their favor. I loved the idea of this mechanic which is just one more aspect that helped me realize how well designed and crafted Deus Ex human Revolution really is.

Deus Ex Human Revolution was an absolute highlight for me this year and a pleasant surprise. Eidos Montreal managed to pull of a fantastic first game and a successful Deus Ex title at that. While Human Revolution has a few small issues in it's character presentation and voice acting as well as a sometimes silly AI, the game's remaining aspects make more than up for it. Whether I was exploring the beautiful cyberpunk world, talking to people or engaging in stealth and combat, Deus Ex kept me entertained and wanting more.


Score: 9 / 10

Deus Ex Human Revolution was developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on August 23rd. A copy of the game was provided to us by Square Enix for reviewing purposes

Here is a happy news post to offset the downer from earlier today. Previously Activision had all but canceled True Crime: Hong Kong at a rather late stage in the development cycle.

All hope was lost for a new True Crime game, for now.

Today, out of the blue, Activision and Square Enix announced that Square has picked up the publishing rights and will continue development on the game.

True Crime Hong Kong will be released under a different name and at a later point in time, still unknown.


[Source]

To those who have been waiting, screaming and even crying for a new Hitman game: Relax!

Today Square Enix has revealed Hitman Absolution via the official YouTube Channel and this teaser trailer. The clip shows Agent 47 apply a suppressor and a mysterious bar code which, to me at least, could imply the reveal date of 06/07/11 which is the first day of E3. The date is highlighted and reversed in red as seen in the clip. The red 47 is more obvious.

[UPDATE] It appears that Square has confirmed an E3 Demo and the game to release in 2012.

Techland's upcoming Zombie Slayer 'Dead Island' will be published by Deep Silver and distributed by Square Enix in the Americas, according to today's press release by Deep Silver PR.

While Square Enix will be handling the distribution of Dead Island in the Americas, Deep Silver will presumably handle the remaining territories, you know, Europe, Asia and all of that geography Mumbo Jumbo!

To avoid any confusion, while Square is 'distributing' the title in the Americas, Deep Silver remains the 'publisher'. Thanks Aubrey!

Dead Island will be release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC 'later this year'.

It would appear that popular video game magazine Game Informer has the reveal story of Crystal Dynamics' latest Tomb Raider game. While there are no details as to what exactly the game will entail, we do know that this is an origin story where the character of Lara Croft will be established.

The cover shows a pretty beat up Lara but we will have to wait for the magazine to hit to know why. The pretty excellent Guardian of Light made us hungry for a full scale Tomb Raider game and from the looks of it we will have one soon.



[Via Joystiq]