Having not played Renegade Kid’s first survival/horror-FPS on the Nintendo DS back in 2007, Dementium: The Ward, I had few expectations going into my recent hands-on with the game’s sequel, the aptly titled Dementium 2. I knew that the first game enjoyed critical acclaim for more than adequately bringing survival/horror tropes to Nintendo’s handheld, and ultimately scored pretty well with reviewers, but ever since Metroid Prime Hunters I’ve been wary of first-person mechanics on the DS.
Thankfully, when first faced with manipulating Dementium 2’s main character, it became quickly obvious that the game’s slow pace helps to account for any discomfort issues that might arise from the control scheme. Over the course of 45 minutes, I put together puzzles, traveled between two dimensions multiple times, and even fought a boss who tried to throw up on me from the ceiling (what a jerk!). Though its content and storytelling seems to be a carefully crafted amalgam of games from the three or so genres it mashes up (fps, adventure, survival/horror) – a handheld Half-Life meets Silent Hill on Monkey Island, almost – the time I spent with a preview build of Dementium 2 earlier today felt like the beginning of what could be a very interesting game.
From the Wii’s Virtual Console to Xbox Live Arcade, there are all kinds of ways to play classic Genesis games these days. But the Firecore Classic Console offers something just a little closer to the original experience. Though this standalone console comes pre-loaded with 20 games, it also accepts all your old carts and comes packed with two dead ringers for the Genesis pad.
As you’ll see in the above video, we recently put the machine through its paces and came away reasonably impressed, especially considering the $44 price tag.
Some people have already gotten into the closed beta for Star Trek Online, but for the rest of us it’s going to be a waiting game. There may be good news for some of our UK-based readers, though. Those in attendance at this week’s Eurogamer Expo will get to experience both ship-based action and ground combat firsthand in a Star Trek Online demo Cryptic Studios has set up. According to Eurogamer, Cryptic will allow Expo attendees to fight a fleet of Klingons and follow that up with an away mission on a planet’s surface, where they will encounter the “Guardian of Forever.”
Eurogamer Expo will run October 27-28 in Leeds, and October 30-31 in London. You can check out the full details of this public hands-on of Star Trek Online in the Eurogamer announcement.
Hands-on: Dementium 2 (DS) originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
