Movie tie-in video games have traditionally been a disappointing lot, and for every one that’s good, there are a dozen that suck. Sadly, it sounds like Aliens: Colonial Marines wasn’t able to escape the gravitational pull of “suck,” so it’s time for me to pin my foolishly optimistic hopes onto another upcoming tie-in, the Star Trek game which is slated an April release. This latest trailer makes it look like a lot of fun. Of course, the Colonial Marines trailers looked great too…

Without having actually played the damn thing yet, Star Trek the game does have a few intriguing selling points. As you can probably tell, it follows Kirk and Spock on a mission together, and the co-op play allows you to pair up with a buddy to save the galaxy. As we reported earlier, the game has Kirk and Spock squaring off against the lizardlike Gorn, the first time we’ve seen them in the so-called Abramsverse. Both Kirk and Spock have different skills, and yes, it looks like you do get to Vulcan nerve pinch people. I’m imagining it’s the game’s equivalent of a stealth attack.

The game is in-canon and set between the first film and Into Darkness, and the story was written by BAFTA Award-winning writer Marianne Krawczyk, working with the film’s screenwriters, Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Krawczyk is no stranger to games, having penned the popular God of War series.

Star Trek releases April 23rd in the U.S. and April 26th in the U.K. It will be available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Before we get to anything new, though, we have to sit through the setup for a Mario story as old as time. Bowser arrives at the Mushroom Kingdom’s Sticker Fest—an event I quietly mocked until I remembered my town spends a weekend celebrating Marshmallow Fluff—and grabs the Sticker Comet, scattering stickers both magical and plain all over the place and nabbing Princess Peach in the process. It’s up to a silent Mario—not even an “It’s a-me!” to be heard—and his mouthy living sticker sidekick Kersti to do the usual rounds of saving the day by collecting the stickers (specifically the sparkling crown-shaped Royal Stickers).

These stickers pretty much end up all over the place. They turn up about twice as frequently as the word “sticker” appears in this review: on blocks, on walls, on the ground, dropped by enemies, as pieces of puzzles. Thankfully the simple action of peeling them, accompanied by an intensely rewarding “pop!”, is always satisfying, and also life-saving. With most of the game’s RPG elements trimmed away Mario lives and dies by the number of tiny reflective squares in his Sticker Book.

In the shape of classic Mario power-ups, the titular stickers simplify combat to choosing from a list of collectable, consumable items and slapping them on your enemy. There are no free actions in Sticker Star, and just taking a single swing at a Koopa or hopping on a Shy Guy’s head requires a sticker. Stickers come in a few varieties, so there’s light strategy involved—hammer the pointy enemies, jump on the flying enemies, and fire-flower or blue shell anyone left standing—and your tolerance for a battle system as minimalist as the world it takes place in is a good indicator of how much fun you’ll get from Sticker Star.

The one real choice comes from deciding when to use your Thing Stickers. The only non-paper items in the game, Mario occasionally stumbles across a photo-realistic pair of scissors, an air conditioner, a goat figurine or some other equally quirky, well… thing. A short trip to a Toad in town who “stickerizes” them and suddenly I’m equipped with an ultra-powerful attack sticker. Great news, but they often take up 1/3rd of a page in your space-limited Sticker Book and are complete overkill against your average Goomba. I never felt like the game allowed me to strike a balance—given the option of stickerizing my special items and foregoing normal stickers or stocking up on boots and hammers to get the job done, I never felt like I’d made the right choice.

Nowhere is the problem with this combat system clearer than during the game’s boss battles. Facing massive stickerized enemies who have hundreds of hit-points (compared to the 8-12 points of normal foes) might just add a needed challenge. Unfortunately, these bosses shrug off normal Stickers, reducing their effectiveness to only a few points of damage per attack. Since Mario can typically only attack once a turn (a slot-machine style “Battle Spinner” can provide extra attacks, but I found it too inconsistent to use reliably, when I remembered it at all) these fights quickly go from exciting new encounters to dull slogs.

The solution is, of course, the Thing Stickers’ potent power. But often bosses are only vulnerable to one or two types of Thing Stickers. A trip into town could get the sticker needed, but in a baffling decision, the game only presents hints about which stickers to use either DURING or AFTER a boss fight. My most irritating moment with Sticker Star came after using every single sticker from my book to defeat a boss, only to have Kersti turn to Mario and suggest I use scissors on the boss that I just defeated. Very timely advice, Kersti. Lacking any information, I started carrying as many Thing Stickers into boss fights as I could. This resolved my frustration, but since there’s little strategy to playing these hugely powerful stickers, boss battles became solved problems, an anti-climactic formality so I could get another page for my sticker book and move on to the next batch of levels.

Thankfully with those levels Sticker Star displays a sense of inventiveness and anything-can-happen adventure. The goal of each level is simply to find the exit, which requires a combination of platforming and puzzle solving using Sticker Star’s other big thematic game mechanic, “Paperization.” Kersti, upon command, takes the 3D level of the top screen and knocks it back into a flat 2D plane. This lets Mario peel back pieces of the environment to flip them, or reattach them upside down, or on a different paperized screen. The Thing Stickers can also be slapped into place to affect the environment—fans and air conditioners blowing things over, heaters melting, or vacuums sucking up debris. These puzzles are all very linear, and their roots in classic adventure games sometimes show through overly obtuse steps, but combined with exploration and platforming, these levels gave me a persistent sense of satisfaction that other games only dole out in small doses.

Entering each new level is like peering into a new shoebox diorama, and I found myself giggling with joy or bursting out laughing at each goofy, insane moment I found inside its corrugated cardboard walls. I hesitate to give examples when a large portion of the fun came from shouting “What!?” at my 3DS and laughing aloud as one particularly suggestive supporting character did a Moulin Rouge style song before presenting me with that aforementioned goat figurine. Or knocking over a rock only to have it lead to a domino chain of destruction which banged out a familiar tune as it crumbled from one screen to the next. These moments hit one after another, a new surprise in almost every level, and discovering them is clearly the core of the game Intelligent Systems was interested in making.

Sticker Star’s writing also stands out as genuinely funny compared to most other games, with a charming, amiable wit instead of the self-aware cynicism so prevalent in today’s comedy. While there was far less dialog in this entry than any other in the Paper Mario series (or in its portable counterpart, the Mario & Luigi games for DS), the game maximizes its silliness. A lone Toad, standing upon a cliff top with butterflies perched on his head, meditates solemnly on his duties as a steward of the forest as if he were a Tolkien character and not a mushroom headed cartoon character in a game about collecting stickers. Every Toad you meet (more or less the only kind of NPC) has dialog full of personality.

That attention to detail in each level, in each character design or world specific variant of an enemy proves that serious thought was put into even the smallest details of this game. My favorite moment was realizing that Sticker Star was using the 3DS’ accelerometer to detect when I moved the system even slightly to adjust the effect of the shiny reflective foil on the stickers on the lower screen. I didn’t pick up on it for hours and hours of my play-through—it was so slickly implemented that I never noticed what I was seeing was an effect and not just the way light worked. Like every other small detail in the game, it served to draw me in and feel even more connected to those dumb stickers I was peeling off and throwing at enemies.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star presents an interesting switch on modern RPGs. Games like Final Fantasy XII are a series of bland, nearly empty hallways and tunnels that exist primarily to house random attacks. Everything is a straight line that leads directly to the often exciting battles. Sticker Star fills its tunnels with as much inventiveness and creativity as it can, but its battles are a formality breaking up the fun, drudgework before the next bit of inspired comedy. The flaws from this approach are obvious and immediate, but Sticker Star’s lighthearted spirit and its trumpeting of fun new ideas over a combat system now six games old more than make up for the few headaches it causes. After 25 hours, I simply wanted more levels to explore, Toads to meet, things to Paperize, and pages to grow my sticker collection.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star was developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It is available for the 3DS.

Casey Malone is a game designer, comedian and writer living in the Boston area. Recently he’s been trying to get Joe Biden to hang out with him using his Twitter feed.

I have two trailers for you.  The first one is a cinematic trailer that, basically, rips off a scene from ‘Star Wars: A New Hope‘, where two Angry Birds, one dressed as Luke Skywalker and the other as Obi-Wan Kenobi, walk into the Mos Eisley bar (no, this is not a start to a joke). Diehard ‘Star Wars’ fans know that this is the scene when ‘Skywalker’ and ‘Kenobi’, are trying to talk Han Solo to take them to Alderaan in the Millennium Falcon.

I’ll stop there, but will say the parody is pretty funny.  Check out the cinematic trailer for the rest of the story.  I’ve also included the official game trailer.

‘Angry Birds Star Wars’ Cinematic Trailer ‘Angry Birds Star Wars’ Game Trailer If you want to buy the game it is available for download now and will work on iOS, KindleFire, Mac, PCDigital, Windows 8, Windows Phone, and Rovio.

I’ve already downloaded it on my phone and I will say it’s as addictive as you might think it is, if not more.  In fact, I literally wasted half a day yesterday playing with it instead of working so, if you are at work,  it might be a good idea that you download it when you get home.

Hang on. It’s BOTH?

In what will likely be remembered as the most sensible combination of brands since peanut butter was married to jelly, two of the biggest marketing mega-giants of our time have been smooshed together in what can only be described as the biggest thing to hit the holiday season since Santa’s sleigh incident on the I-90 back in ‘83. But while toy departments might be filled to overflowing with Angry Birds Star Wars playsets and plushies, the real diamond in the franchise crown is a little app called – you guessed it – Angry Birds Star Wars.

Marking the first notable pairing of Angry Birds and an existing brand since 2011’s Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Star Wars takes the existing Angry Birds gameplay and infuses it with characters, story, and settings from the Star Wars universe. At launch, this exclusively means the original 1977 release (Episode IV: A New Hope) – but new content updates are already being teased that will take players to Hoth, the Ice Planet from The Empire Strikes Back.

The gameplay here will be instantly familiar to fans of the Angry Birds franchise, but that doesn’t mean the game isn’t without a few unique twists. For one thing, there’s a nice balance of ground based levels and gravity-twisting space levels, borrowing from the series first real sequel, Angry Birds Space. Switching back and forth between the two as the game progressed gives players a nice change of pace, and a bit more variety than we had expected from a licensed release.

The birds have been given a bit of a makeover as well. The usual cast of characters has been paired with Star Wars characters, so you’ll see the red bird as Luke Skywalker, the yellow as Han Solo, and so on. To go with the new Star Wars look, they’ve all been given equally cool Star Wars powers. For example: The red bird has a lightsaber that can deliver extra damage with a tap of the finger, while the yellow bird has a blaster that cuts through some materials while ricocheting off others (and provides a great new gameplay mechanic as a result).

Little touches like this are a big part of what makes Angry Birds Star Wars such a great offering, especially for die hard Star Wars fans. In fact, “fan service” are the two words that really sum this game up best. Rather than simply slapping the Star Wars license onto a popular gaming franchise for a quick cash grab, a lot of thought went into delivering Star Wars fans something they could be proud to call their own.

The game is rife with examples of this, though I suppose the most notable is how the game tells the story of the movie as you move from stage to stage. As the game begins, you’re on Tatooine. You’ll encounter Sand People, meet Han, blast off from the Cantina – and when the story moves to space, you’ll be in space. Expect gravity-based gameplay until you park inside the Death Star.

As for the Angry Birds side of the experience, the new powers and outstanding level design make this the best Angry Birds experience to date. Those levels are tough though, so be ready for a challenge. In all of my years of playing Angry Birds, I’ve never given into the temptation to use the Mighty Eagle – but here I found myself using the Star Wars equivalent (the Millennium Falcon) a lot. Luckily you’ll earn uses of the Falcon as you play, so while I relied on it more than I would have liked, I never felt the need to shell out for an in-app purchase.

That doesn’t mean the game isn’t without IAP’s, though. The price of admission, it seems, only covers the first 80 stages. These stages make up the entire story of the first film, so it’s not like you’re being held back – but there are an additional 40 stages set on Dagobah (the Yoda planet) that you can purchase for $ 1.99. These stages are well worth the price, but if you’re the kind of gamer who wants to make one purchase and be done with it, know that Angry Birds Star Wars isn’t that kind of game.

As an Angry Birds game, it’s great. As a Star Wars tie-in, it’s great. Overall, Angry Birds Star Wars is everything you were hoping for, and it handily proves skeptics wrong. I should know – I was amongst them. After all, who would have thought a marketing mash-up could be this much fun?

This will be the last time we talk about Angry Birds Star Wars until it launches, I promise you that. This morning, Rovio released the officially official launch trailer for the game that is set to release on November 8. They have hyped this game more than any other game I can remember, releasing teaser trailer, after gameplay trailer, after more gameplay trailers. 

In this one, we get a good look at almost all of the different birds/characters and see all of their powers. It looks like a fun game, plus there is even a Millennium Falcon sighting near the end which is pretty bossy.

Every week we cover the latest Android game releases, but we thought it would be fun to have a separate column that focuses on upcoming titles. Today we’ll start a new experiment, Android Game Trailers, where we highlight the best video teasers for new games that are coming soon to Android. Check out the clips after the break and let us know if you spot any new trailers that we should feature next week.

Zombie Driver THD Description: Zombie Driver THD is an insane mix of cars, speed, explosions, blood and zombies! Fight through an epic narrative campaign or test yourself in the Slaughter and Blood Race modes. Engage huge bosses, save survivors, drive crazy vehicles such as a bulldozer, fire truck or even a tank and smash everything in your way. Take part in the Blood Race tournament – chase other cars and take them down without mercy on brutal racing tracks. Jump into the Slaughter mode and survive as long as possible on specially crafted arenas.

Angry Birds Star Wars Description: Angry Birds Star Wars will be out on November 8…but don’t worry, you’ll be slinging birds and waving Lightsabers around in no time! Until then, we’ll have animations, comics and fan art to keep you going on our tumblr page.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Description: We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be releasing an Anniversary Edition of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for select iOS and Android devices later this fall. This upcoming version will bring the full experience to mobile devices, featuring native high-resolution graphics and several enhancements unique to the iOS and Android platforms. Stay tuned for more details in the weeks ahead including a list of compatible iOS and Android devices.

Heroes of Order & Chaos Description: Discover the 5 unique gameplay modes of Heroes of Order & Chaos in this new trailer! Choose between 30 unique Heroes! Coming soon on iOS and Android.

Rage of the Gladiator Description: This is the first trailer to Rage of the Gladiator, the critically-acclaimed Nintendo Wii game, coming soon to iOS and Android.

World at Arms Description: LOCK AND LOAD! Our nation is under attack from an evil alliance of highly trained forces known as the KRA. As the leader of the free world, YOU have to stand and fight. Build your military base, train your army, and battle against or ally with players from all over the world online in order to defeat the enemy for good!

Expendable Rearmed Description: For the last 500 years, among the bleak and barren worlds that exist in deep space, mankind has expanded its horizons. The most suitable planets and moons near Earth have been terraformed, turning the once-inhospitable wastelands into habitable places. Deeper and deeper into the universe mankind spread itself, until only a mere handful of humans would or could survive the journey. These distant worlds became industrial powerhouses colonized by few human beings. Although they had to forego the comforts of home, they still managed to scratch out a living in the newly- fertile lands. For all he knew, man was alone in the vastness of space, until they came…The Gneng.

Launching November 8 on iOS and Android phones, Angry Birds Star Wars will send everyone’s favorite birdies to a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.

Players will enjoy classic Angry Birds mechanics as they battle the dark side of The Force in settings featured in the films. What’s more, TechCrunch is reporting that the game will feature the same gravitational elements as Angry Birds Space – a fitting pairing, don’t you think?

In typical Rovio fashion, no other details have surfaced yet – though if the few images floating around are to be believed, it seems as though the game might focus on the original trilogy rather than the prequels. It’s a sensible move – after all, you could release the prequels as a free update down the road (which would be a pretty characteristic move on Rovio’s part). I wouldn’t be surprised if the November 8 release featured just the 1977 original, and the remaining films all showed up in the months that followed. Having said that, we should probably stress that this is pure speculation on our part.

Despite the various rumors of partnerships we’ve heard over the years (KISS, I’m looking in your direction), this is the first time since Angry Birds Rio hit in early 2011 that we’ve seen the Birds pair up with another franchise (unless you count quick one off promotions like the one with Green Day). Had Rovio been holding out for a big IP to partner with, I suppose there isn’t much bigger.

If Bad Piggies wasn’t your cup of tea (and shame on you if it wasn’t!), Rovio’s return to form will be arriving on your phone next month. Until then, may the force be with you.

Star Trek Online dev: ‘game reviews don’t do MMOs justice’, calls for Metacritic reform Star Trek Online developer Cryptic has discussed the nature of the free-to-play business and the relationship between MMOs and reviewing websites. The studio suggests that Metacritic find a new method of collectively appraising games within the genre.

Speaking with GI.biz, Star Trek producer Dan Stahl said of the review process, “In my opinion, the whole game rating business doesn’t necessarily do a great justice to MMOs. MMOs are designed to grow over time and get better with every major release.”

Stahl added, “It might be better if sites like Metacritic could find a way to rate MMOs by releases instead of just the initial day one. There are plenty of MMOs that have made huge strides since days one and some that have even gotten worse. Until then, we will continue to offer the game for free and ask for people to try it out and decide for themselves.”

What do you think about Metacritic’s approach to iterative games like MMOs? Is it a fair system or does it need revision? Let us know below

Title : Shin Hokuto Musou 真・北斗無双 Genre : Beat ‘em up Developer : TECMO KOEI Game Publisher : TECMO KOEI Game Platform : PS3 Xbox 360 Wii U Official Site : www.gamecity.ne.jp www.mmofront.com shin hokuto musou, 真北斗無双, pv, ps3, xbox360
Video Rating: 5 / 5

New Paper Mario: Sticker Star Gameplay Footage from Nintendo 3DS. Including Luigi mansion 2 coming up next.
Video Rating: 5 / 5