Scouting Ahead
That's right. An achievement for killing a Heavy, then taking his food.
The class update for the Scout in Team Fortress 2 goes live today, and with it hundreds of thousands of people will forge online as the hyperactive little FedEx employee and proceed to abuse eachother with baseballs, energy drinks and a sawn-off shotgun that plays like a cross between a cannon and a jetpack.
The scout class is usually played by some of the most infuriating people I’ve ever encountered while playing online; fast, abusive, and generally very cocky, and it demonstrates a wonderful aspect of TF2: classes will often be a big indicator on the people behind them.
The achievements range from double-jumping a thousand times, which sounds like the most monotonous, boring achievement released so far, as it simply involves tapping the space bar nine times less than the current year we live in, to achievements gotten through simply playing normally; killing an intelligence-holding enemy while holding theirs yourself.
It looks like a fantastic update, along with some really great new maps, mainly the Egypt map, which not only changes the entire game’s look, aiming for flaming torches and tombs reminiscent of Indiana Jones more than the American landscape, but also brings a new level of frantic play to the title, as it’s actually quite a tall map, physically speaking. The map contains two levels, each several metres away from eachother, secret tunnels, and a fair few choke points, along with the customary solid capture points placed in areas that will maximise game length and require players to work together and strategise their efforts.
Super Mario, Super List
Nintendo released a shed-load of information regarding upcoming titles, ranging from third party software to re-releases of titles like Mario Power Tennis through the “New Play Control!” title. The list in full is too long to post here, but there are several nice highlights which should cheer up Wii owners waiting for MadWorld to arrive, not to mention DS owners already swamped in new and promising titles already.
X-men Origins: Wolverine seeks to be a big seller on all consoles at the moment, though it’s worth wondering if the film counterpart will be as good. Hugh Jackman it may have, but is it now too late to include fan-favourite Gambit? The titles are all shaping up to look very impressive, and I’m hoping it’ll erase all memories of the first horrible Wolverine game from the previous console generation.
Desktop Tower Defense is also on the way from THQ, though I’m wondering how well they’re defending their desktops after seeing 11 of their number get the sack recently after one of the offices for the publisher/developer shut down. The title is already a solid internet favourite, and it’s looking likely to take on a lot of titles in the defense/strategy genres on the DS by combining casual strategy with frantic deployment, all aided by the much-needed addition of stylus input.
It’s a Knock Out
Punch Out! is returning to shelves this May, as Nintendo bolsters its already attractive title lineup for 2009. Giving the players the chance to get back into the shoes of Mac and take on a variety of gloved opponents, Punch Out is looking pretty swish in terms of art style, not to mention the colossal fanbase that will swoop down on this title when its street date arrives.
With a (thankfully) rating of 10+ by the ERSB, it’s set to be a very accessible game, surprising due to the amount of anti-videogame violence you see in the press nowadays. Everlast are even releasing boxing gloves with Wii Remote holders. I think this title’s going to be one of the biggest successes the Wii will see this year, especially if Friend Codes are then thrown into the already-exciting mix.
