Posts Tagged ‘series’
Song of Ice And Fire Getting Game Treatment
Video games and fantasy novels seem like natural partners in many ways. They usually feature fantastic settings full of strange creatures, spectacular magics and intricate stories that could take dozens of movies to tell in full. One of the biggest series at the moment is George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. It’s been picked up by HBO for a try at a television series and now French studio Cyanide has announced they’re going to be making a video game version of the series.
If you’re unfamiliar with the books they revolve around a fictional medieval kingdom rife with plots, battle and betrayal. Unlike many series where wizards are commonplace and magic swords are stacked next to the bread in ye old marketplace things start off much more mundanely, though banditry, assassination plots and outright war make things just as dangerous.
The game will be developed for the PC and current generation consoles, though if that includes the Wii is unspecified. At this early stage there are of course few details available, but given the nature of the series it’s likely to be either a strategy title with players taking control of a noble family and winning the crown for themselves or an RPG, possibly based on one of the existing storylines or something entirely new.
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword – Fun Yet Unusually Easy
Many games on the original Nintendo were far more difficult and frustrating than the games we have today, but without a doubt the Ninja Gaiden series were some of the most difficult games on the system. With a storyline far more epic than most games of its time it’s surprising that it took so long to see another title. Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox was the most challenging yet completable games that many ever played. Even though boss battles and puzzles could be epically frustrating the game kept you coming back for another try.
One of Ryu’s newest adventures in his quest to protect the world from the forces of evil took him to Nintendo’s handheld. With such an impressive pedigree how does the DS title stand up? Pretty well actually, though the challenge is significantly diminished. The choice to use the DS in the book format works quite well, with status information and the map being on the left hand screen and the actual gameplay taking place on the touch screen. Everything is done as you might expect with the stylus: slashing, jumping, etc. and it’s all very simple but fun.