Video Gaming Blog

Nintendo has released information that will ooze nostalgia for many of us who grew up on Pokemon. Remakes of the second generation games, Pokemon: Gold and Pokemon: Silver, are in development and are speculated to see a release in spring of 2010. The games will follow the same basic storyline of the earlier versions, with better graphics and an entirely new gaming experience that only the Nintendo DS could muster up.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, you follow the story of Ash Ketchum, a Pokemon master to-be. Unlike the original tale, however, you start off in the Johto region with little to no experience with Pokemon whatsoever. You must work your way up, fighting fellow trainers and capturing new Pokemon to train and make stronger.

There are certain bosses, known as Gym Leaders, who are specialized in different types of Pokemon. Defeating all of them in any given region grants you ability to challenge the Elite Four, a group of master trainers that only few have beaten. Upon defeating them, you face a champion, the last person who was able to beat the Elite Four and the previous champion. If you succeed against all five of these trainers, you are deemed the new champion.

It is Ash’s dream in the manga and the show to achieve this rank, and it is your ultimate goal in the games. Between working toward that goal and defeating entire evil organizations like Team Rocket, you have quite a bit to deal with and certainly enough to keep you busy from beginning to end. Many who are lucky enough may also uncover secrets that will shake the very foundations of the Pokemon world, finding legendary Pokemon that have been lost in time for centuries.

And even if you already know the games in and out, these new installments are sure to have nuances not seen before. Not much is known about HeartGold or SoulSilver outside of Japan yet, but it is expected that the gameplay will retain it’s qualities that have made the series a smash hit for years.

In Japan, a special accessory was released with the game called the PokeWalker, a device that functions like a pedometer that you can store a pokemon in to gain experience and other in-game benefits without the game being at hand. This piece of technology comes standard with the Japanese games and does not raise the price as you may have thought.

It’ll still be a while before these hit the stores here in the US and in Europe, but once they do have your styluses ready and prepare for some nostalgia.

HeartGold and SoulSilver Trailer

The people over at Valve have brought us another hard-hitting game. Left 4 Dead 2 is a follow-up to the insanely popular Left 4 Dead, which pioneered a new direction in zombie survival games. Like it’s predecessor, this game focuses on the journeys of four people trying to escape hordes of their undead peers. Among the survivors caught up in the mess are Nick, a con-man, Coach, a high school football coach, Rochelle, a reporter working on the infection’s story, and Ellis, a mechanic who always has an anecdote to share. The interaction between these four is akin to the heroes from the last game, with comic relief abounds in between all of the fighting.

What has changed, however, is the overall style of the game. The gore is much more pronounced in L4D2; as you can see zombie guts just about everywhere you go. The first Left 4 Dead was hardly for the feint of heart, but this one outdoes itself with the amount of carnage players have the privilege of witnessing.

The setting moved from the urban area of the first game into more rural Louisiana. With this new environment comes new challenges, forcing the players to trek through torrential downpours and swampy bayous. The creepy atmosphere is only intensified by this change of scenery, with something new waiting to pounce behind every corner.

The difficulty has also been given an overhaul, with the addition of several new “uncommon” infected. These infected sometimes wield extra weapons or armor, providing them with semi-immunity to things like fire or gunshots. Three new special infected have also been added to the five that anyone who’s played through the first game is familiar with:

The Spitter, an infected that spits acid at the survivors which will damage them continuously until they are out of its range.
The Charger, a tank-like infected that runs at superhuman speeds toward the survivors and smashes them into walls or the ground, etc.
The Jockey, an odd infected that leeches onto survivors’ heads, partially controlling their movement until it’s knocked off.

Preexisting infected have also been partially altered. For example, the Witch provides a nice surprise for those new to the game; She is able to walk around freely in some campaigns. Both the survivors’ and the zombies’ AI has been boosted, giving the game a much more real feel. The mechanics definitely call for more teamwork than was previously needed, so cooperation is key to victory.

With all those new baddies trying to stop you from getting from safe house to safe house, you’d think the good guys would need something to help themselves along. Well you’re in luck, this game comes with some new features for the survivors too. Among other things, melee weapons have been introduced into the game. Being able to cleave a zombie in two with a fireman’s axe or chainsaw certainly gives one a fuzzy feeling inside.

The addition of a new pistol, the magnum, also helps take the edge off of the endless waves of the undead. While you cannot double-wield this gun and it holds less ammunition than its less powerful cousins, it more than makes up for that with the punch it packs, being able to take out normal infected in one hit more often than not.

One thing is for sure: If you enjoyed the first Left 4 Dead, you’ll love the second one just as much. So get out there and start killing zombies, folks!

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Official Left 4 Dead 2 Trailer