This Week in Gaming : Keyboards, Lightsabers, and Kings Edition

10/25 NO RELEASES

10/26

(360/PS3/DS/Wii) Star Wars The Force Unleashed II- LucasArts offers up a sequel to this Star Wars hit and with SWTOR looming around in the future for Star Wars fans this is bound to be picked up to help bridge the gap while waiting. Of course I still wish that LucasArts didn’t turn their back on the Gladius franchise for the original Xbox these titles are at least making up for it. If you do find yourself looking through a bargain bin grab Gladius and tell me that game wouldn’t be amazing on Xbox Live.

(360/PS3)Rock Band 3- When it comes to innovation the music game genre has died after the first installments. Fortunately Harmonix and the creators of Powergig realize this and are making changes. Rock Band 3 is now offering a keyboard option for players and this is definately going to help  make the transition between a video game and a tool for learning. For more information on Rock Band 3 check out our review HERE.

(PS3/PS2/360/Wii) WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011- Even non-wrestling fans can enjoy these games. It is especially fun to play with friends when they are over because although the entertainment of wrestling on TV may diminish with age it is still satisfying to play it on your console and hit your friend over the head with a chair (in-game).  I still think they need to introduce a league mode to online play though. I have said it for about 3 years now but offering people their own wrestling experience where they have a man who makes match cards and he chooses which wrestlers (players from all over the world) will fight it out could add a lot of depth into the game.

(Xbox 360)Fable 3- Honestly this is what I will be playing this week. The Fable fans get a lot of crap for enjoying these games from elitist RPG fans for some reason. Something about it not being a real RPG and all this other funny stuff that gets argued about on forums but regardless it is a lot of fun. Most of the problems stem from Peter Molyneux’s amazing ability to oversell his games. He promises the world and makes great claims that just have us at the edge of our seats but the things that we end up getting are never as good. I personally believe that this is because of the studio. They do a great job but the people working for Lionhead aren’t coming close to Epic,Bungie,etc. when it comes to delivering the features that they believe will be great.

That being said if you are a co-op fan and were unimpressed with how depressing the co-op system in Fable 2 was you can now rejoice because here are all the facts that you need to know about the co-op in Fable 2.

General Information
1) When you enter someone else’s game, you will arrive as your own Hero and bring your own dog with you.
2) The players aren’t tied together anymore and can traverse the region seperately when online.
3) When playing co-op offline the players will still be tied together like they were in Fable II, although the camera has been improved a little since then.
4) Orbs appear on the 3D map in the Sanctuary as well as in the regions themselves.
5) Any gold, items or followers found in someone else’s world can be brought back to your own.

Relationships
1) A.I. characters have relationships with the visiting player and will remember these relationships.
2) If you don’t visit the same world often your relationship with characters there will suffer.
3) You can attempt to steal your host’s spouse if you wish.

Families
1) Heroes can use Touch expressions on each other and have sex if they wish.
2) Two Heroes can marry one another.
3) Children stay in the world they were born in.
4) If the visiting player doesn’t visit and interact with their child often enough then the relationship will suffer.
5) A Hero can have multiple A.I. and co-op spouses in their game.
6) Married players have a joint bank account that any of them can access for purchases.
7) Married players will be recognised as Kings and Queens if they’ve passed the coronation point in the game.
8) Married players share a home in that world and can decorate it as they please, overwriting each other’s decisions if needs be.
9) A message in your world will inform you of any developments (divorces for example) in other worlds you have family in, when you go online.
10) Children go to orphanages or workhouses if two married players divorce.

Business Partnerships
1) Players can choose to pool their money and become business partners by paying for property together.
2) While the largest decisions about ruling will be left up to the host player, visiting players will be able to make some minor judgements too.
3) A message in your world will inform you of any business developments or give you profits from other worlds when you go online.

Combat
1) While there are no canned co-op attacks, the game’s combat is tailored towards co-op.
2) Co-op doesn’t increase the amount of enemies or how tough they are.
3) The game can recognise when two players have combined their abilities in an impressive way, and will reward extra followers for doing so.
4) Despite the emphasis on single player spell-weaving, two players casting single spells can weave those effects if cast at the same time and place.