The games will then be unlocked on the day of their launch.

The system will work similar to Valve’s PC digital downloads store on Steam, which has been allowing gamers to pre-load titles for some time now.

This new feature means PS3 owners won’t have to wait for a new PSN game to download on the day of launch before being able to play it. The moment the game is officially released, it’ll already be on the system and ready to go.

The first PSN title to make use of this option will be Sorcery, a Move-powered action fantasy game that will be released on May 22 in the US and May 25 in the UK.

The demo, which was built in less than 3 months by 14 engineers, will be showcased publicly in June.

And as if the gallery below isn’t enough to wow you, try this quote from Wired’s journalist on for size: “UE4 represents nothing less than the foundation for the next decade of gaming. It may make Microsoft and Sony rethink how much horsepower they’ll need for their new hardware. It will streamline game development, allowing studios to do in 12 months what can take two years or more today. And most important, it will make the videogames that have defined the past decade look like puppet shows.

For more information on the Unreal Engine 4, check out the Wired article via the link above.

“Make every other level in a game, then make your first level once you have mastered all the nuances of your design and completely understand the essence of your game experience, as the first level sets the table for everything to come.” Game Informer Editor-In-Chief Andy McNamara once attributed this quote to a forgotten developer in a Letter from the Editor.  As it happens, I agree.  Here are the Top 10 First Levels that got that memo.

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10.  Narshe (Final Fantasy VI):  The beginning of Final Fantasy VI will be etched into my brain until the day.  The sound of the wind on the cliff overlooking Narshe, the march across the gorgeous Mode 7 snowdrifts and the march into the town itself; I remember it all so vividly.  I was an old hand at RPG’s when I first played Final Fantasy VI (or FF III as I knew it) at the ripe age of 14, but that first battle against the guardsmen of Narshe was literally the most entrancing thing I had ever done.  Destroying everything in my way with my TekLaser, I made it to the first boss, and the rest is history.  FFVI has one of the best stories in gaming, and the beginning sequence perfectly sets the tone for the entire tale.

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9.  Eden Prime (Mass Effect):  While you’re busy fighting Reapers and swapping discs, it’s easy to forget that this is where it all began .  I wanted to pick up Mass Effect for so long, but just didn’t for some reason…I thought it would be a disappointment.  Well, turns out I was wrong, and I was hooked from the first moment I splattered one of those floating ball things with my sniper rifle.  Of course things took a harsh turn soon enough, and the Geth came out and obliterated Jenkins.  Even then, right from the start, I knew what was really going on.  As I sat there, with Jenkins’s corpse at my feet, there’s only one thing I really wanted to say:  “It should have been you, Kaiden.  It should have been you.”

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8.  Midgar (Final Fantasy VII):  While it may be a big first level, I am still considering Midgar as part of this elite group.  At the time I thought Midgar was the entire world, but when it finally opened up into the real world, I was absolutely floored.  Everything about Midgar is awesome:  the reactors, the Shinra building, the train graveyard and, most of all, Wall Market.  I couldn’t believe it when I was actually done with it, and returning to it a couple discs later was one of the more emotional homecomings I’ve experienced in a game.  As far as first cities go, Midgar was a doozy.

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7.  Test Chamber 01 (Portal):  Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer and Enrichment Center.  We hope your brief detention in the Relaxation Vault has been a pleasant one.  Your specimen has been processed, and we are now ready to begin the test proper.  Before we start, however, keep in mind that, although fun and learning are the primary goals of all Enrichment Center activities, serious injuries may occur  For your own safety, and the safety of others, please refrain from-.”  What else can I say about the beginning of Portal that GLaDOS hasn’t summed up for us?  Who’s ready for a safe and fun learning experience?

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6.  Vault 101 (Fallout 3):  You know, I complain about my life a lot, but it could be worse:  I could have grown up in Vault 101.  I would have learned all my skills from some wooden letter blocks, I’d have a sadistic Overseer watching my every move, and I’d have to deal with the Tunnel Snakes.  No thank you.  Luckily, I only had to experience it in video game form, which was significantly cooler. Shooting radroaches, hanging out with Dad and escaping in a blood-filled frenzy were all highlights of my time in the Vault, and things managed to get even crazier once I left.  Well, maybe, Vault 101 was kind of crazy, wasn’t it?  It did, however, perfectly set the mood for Fallout 3, and is one of the most immersive opening sequences around.  I mean, it literally starts with your birth.  Now THAT is role-playing.

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5.  The Apartment (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game):  Raphael.  That’s my favorite turtle.  It’s important to get that out of the way upfront, because the whole game, as with any TMNT property, is filtered through the eyes of your favorite turtle.  I don’t even want to know how many times I trekked through that apartment building with Raphael as my mom did her shopping in Wal-Mart.  It was the second game I bought on XBLA, and I was pleased to learn that burning building had lost none of its luster.  It’s clearly had an effect on me:  Every time I trek through an apartment hall, I keep glancing up the staircase to see if a giant iron ball is going to come rolling down it.  I’ve been lucky so far.

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4.  Welcome To Rapture (BioShock):  I remember picking BioShock up randomly one day while browsing a game rental store, and taking it home.  I had no real expectations for it or anything, but it looked cool and I needed something to play.  About a dozen hours later, I stepped away from my television after beating Fontaine.  Seriously, I played the entire game through in my first sitting.  Of all the great video game openings I’ve encountered, nothing quite matched the feeling I got as I swam to that tower and made my decent into Rapture.  The first time that splicer jumped onto my bathysphere, man that was intense.

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3.  Glass Joe (Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!!):  Glass Joe, oh you poor bastard.  I seriously want to know how many times Glass Joe has got knocked the f**k out in his video game career.  I’m gonna put the over/under at 1 billion.  That’s being generous, probably, but I’ll give the guy the benefit of the doubt.  Nevermind that, you know what I really want?  I want to meet the one guy in the world who legitimately lost to Glass Joe.  I’m convinced there’s only one out there, somewhere, and I want to find him.  And punch him in the face, loser.  And yes, Glass Joe is totally a level, not a person.  A great first level.

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2.  Green Hill Zone (Sonic series):  Look, Sonic games may wax and wane as far as quality goes, but one awesome constant (usually) remains:  Green Hill Zone.  Green Hill Zone just evokes everything great about Sonic:  the bright color palette, the rocking music and sweet loop-de-loops.  It’s all there.  And when you finish, you get to thump Robotnik’s newest weaponized monster and release all the furry little creatures who presumably live on Green Hill Zone.  It looks nice, but I wonder why Robotnik is always attacking that place.  It’s almost enough to make me reconsider that retirement property I purchased there.

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1.  World 1-1 (Super Mario Bros.):  Take any good (or mediocre) game that has been released in the last twenty years.  Chances are, its level design was influenced by the gaming textbook that is Super Mario Bros.  Before there was environmental storytelling and hour-long tutorials, Super Mario Bros. taught you everything you needed to know about it in that first glorious level.  Move to your right.  Jump on the monsters from above, but hit the blocks from below.  Mushrooms make you big, and flowers let you throw fire.  Go into the pipes.  Don’t fall in the holes.  That blueprint is so simplistically flawless it’s almost unfair.  Despite what your opinions of Miyamoto are (I personally think he’s a robot mistakenly stuck on smile mode) the man knows level design.  World 1-1 takes this crown in a landslide.

Not so with Nintendo’s Wii U. Sure, there are some outlandish rumours doing the rounds – most started by Sony or Microsoft fanboys hoping to spoil the Wii U’s broth – but Nintendo’s steady drip-feed of information has kept the rumour mill from pounding into overdrive.

The console was officially unveiled at E3 2011 as around 90,000 Nintendo Wii’s gathered dust in living rooms across the world.

With sales figures that impressive it’s hardly surprising that Nintendo wants to capitalise on its huge success with another offering that will appeal to casual gamers while still offering something new.

And with this year’s E3 event just around the corner, we’ve rounded up all the new details on the new console.

Firstly, this isn’t just a rehash of the original Wii with shinier graphics – the Wii U wants to completely overhaul the way you experience gaming by introducing a second screen into the traditional gaming setup. A 6.2-inch resistive touchscreen has been mounted in the shell of a wireless dual analogue stick controller. It looks a bit like the pastey lovechild of a traditional controller and a tablet PC, but unlike a tablet the content is streamed directly to the screen from the Wii U itself.

Instead of replacing the traditional TV as many thought it would, this extra screen aims to supplement and support it. Need to scrutinise a map as you move through your game? The second screen lets you do just that – without having to keep opening and closing menus to access it on your TV screen. Someone else in the house needs the TV but you want to keep playing? No problem. Just issue the command to your Wii U and the game streams fluidly to your controller.

The Wii U controller can act as a display for maps, among other other things.

There’s also the potential for both screens to work in tandem, similar to how the two screens on the Nintendo DS compliment and support one another. With more and more games moving into the touchscreen, button-free world of mobile gaming, letting your Wii U and TV act as a giant DS seems like a logical step forward.

Similarly, inbuilt gyroscopes and accelerometers act as a third set of analogue control inputs, allowing gamers to physically move the device to adjust their aim or orientation on screen. The information and viewpoint displayed on the screen can change based on the orientation of the gyroscope and in multiplayer games, the player using the new controller can have a different experience than those looking at the TV, creating all-new potential for competitive and co-operative play.

The controller also features a rumble feature, an inward-facing camera, a microphone, speakers and the classic Nintendo controller button scheme – two analog Circle Pads, +Control Pad, A/B/X/Y buttons, L/R buttons and ZL/ZR buttons.

Don’t go trading in your Wii back catalogue just yet, though – the Wii U is fully compatible with all former Wii games, software and hardware: the remote, nunchuck, balance board and classic controller.

How the Wii U will perform graphically is less clear.

The controller screen can act in tandem with your TV, much like the two screens on a DS

We know the console has a 25 GB proprietary disc format and HDMI output supporting 1080p, but details on the base unit itself are scarce. An IMB Power-based multicore CPU and AMD Radeon GPU sit snugly within that creamy casing, but there’s little information out there to suggest that how this hardware will hold up against the PS3 and Xbox 360, let alone next generation consoles. Nintendo claim the Wii U will support full HD graphics, but that’s the biggest bone they’re prepared to throw right now.

Memory will be left to SD cards and USB HDDs, but there’s no word yet on what sizes will be supported.

Cost is a similarly murky issue, with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata hinting Wii U will be priced higher than 20,000 yen (around £156) when it goes on sale.

Even the release date remains ambiguous. Nintendo have said on multiple occasions that the Wii U will hit shelves by the end of 2012 – so expect it out in time for Christmas, kiddies – but don’t expect a solid release date just yet.

Of course there’s a good chance that we’ll have answers to most if not all of these questions by the end of E3 2012. But right now there’s still a lot we don’t know about Nintendo’s new baby.

Still, at least it’s not called Orbis…

]]> http://www.gamebreakers.co/wiiu/nintendos-wii-u-what-wii-know-so-far/feed/ 0 http://www.gamebreakers.co/wiiu/wii-u-launch-titles-leaked-online/ http://www.gamebreakers.co/wiiu/wii-u-launch-titles-leaked-online/#comments Sat, 12 May 2012 21:26:53 +0000 Joe Martin http://www.gamebreakers.co/?p=15496 Images shown on gaming site GoNintendo have shown what appears to be a list of launch titles for Nintendo’s Wii U console.

The images come from what is believed to be Blockbuster UK’s internal database and depicts both announced and unannounced Wii U games.

The 25 titles are:

• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Assassin’s Creed
• Batman: Arkham City
• Darksiders II
• Dirt 3
• Formula 1 All Stars
• Game Party
• Ghost Recon Online
• Just Dance 4
• Killer Freaks from Outer Space
• Marvel Super Heroes
• Metro: Last Light
• Monsters Party
• New Super Mario Brothers Wii
• Ninja Gaiden 3
• Pikmin
• Rabbids Party Land
• Raving Rabbids
• Rayman Legends
• Shield Pose
• Splinter Cell 5
• Sports Connection
• Tekken
• Your Shape 2013
• Zombie

Neither Blockbuster or Nintendo have commented on the matter, so file this one under ‘rumour’ for now.

[Source: GoNintendo]

The game will be released on PS3, XBox 360 and PC.

Dishonored is set in Dunwall, an industrial whaling city where steampunk- inspired technology and otherworldly forces coexist in the shadows. Players take on the role of  Corvo, the once-trusted bodyguard of a murdered Empress. Framed for the crime, you become an infamous assassin, known by the disturbing mask that has become your calling card. In a time of uncertainty, when the city is besieged by plague and ruled by a corrupt government armed with frightening technologies, dark forces bestow supernatural abilities upon you – but at what cost? The truth behind your betrayal is as murky as the waters surrounding the city, and the life you once had is gone forever.

“We are pleased that Dishonored has captured people’s attention,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “We are looking forward to sharing lots more information about the game leading up to its launch in October, and having a hands-on build of Dishonored in our booth at E3.”

The Verge is reporting that Microsoft is testing Internet Explorer 9 for Xbox 360, and is optimizing it for Kinect.  While you won’t need Kinect to use it, thankfully, it seems likely it will integrate right in to the Kinect-friendly new dashboard.  I like the idea of a browser, finally, but I guess I’ll have to re-learn how to use Explorer.  Frankly, I didn’t even know it still existed.

Better late than never though, right?  Microsoft hasn’t confirmed anything, but with E3 looming it seems likely they would wait until then to make any big announcements.

Healers.  Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.  Am I right, or what?  But some healers aren’t so bad.  Today, we take a look at people we actually enjoyed while they topped off our HP.

10.  Bertha (Operation: Raccoon City):  Operation: Raccoon City may not have been the best look into the Resident Evil universe, but Bertha gets at least a few points for even attempting to be a healer in a zombie game.  That would be like trying to be an actual plumber in a Mario game; you’re just doing your best trying to stem the flow.  Supposedly part of an elite strike force, I found Bertha and her teammates more likely to trip over a zombie than actually kill it, but Bertha was incredibly adept at healing me with First Aid sprays.  Almost too adept… “Bertha, really, I’ve got like 92% health, I’m fine.  Seriously, stop spraying me with that stuff.”

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9.  Nina (Breath of Fire series):  I’ve been a huge Breath of Fire fan since the original released back in ’94, and while the quality of the series started to decline after the first two entries, the recurring characters and excellent mechanics endeared me to the series.  No matter which iteration you boot up, you’ll find a winged girl named Nina somewhere in there.  Despite being one of the best characters around, she is also an excellent healer, stars in some very emotional scenes, and, oh yeah, can turn into a giant eagle to ferry your party around the world map. Nina’s alright in my book.

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8.  Rosa (Final Fantasy IV):  Final Fantasy IV, or II as I knew it in my youth, was my first introduction to “real” video game characters.  Although I had played many dozens of games by that time, people like “Red Mage” and Mario didn’t do much to actually make me care about them.  Cecil, Rydia and the rest of the crew did.  While I never really warmed to Rosa as a person, her healing prowess was undeniably useful, and the no-MP Pray ability saved my butt more than a few times.  You don’t have access to her the entire game, but battles are a heck of a lot easier with Rosa in your party.  And Tellaha.  Him too.

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7.  Banon (Final Fantasy VI):  Speaking of no-MP healing moves, is there a better one than Banon’s Health ability?  Instantly curing a large percentage of your parties health for free is nice and all, but Banon’s true worth is found when using the Lete River trick to power your team to colossal strength, using him to keep your ever-growing strength tempered with high HP.  However, all good things must come to an end, and Banon eventually leaves the party.  He may look more like that crazy guy you saw on the subway yesterday than a Top 10 healer, but trust me, Banon is totally legit.

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6.  Fairy (The Legend of Zelda):  Navi has given fairies a bad name.  Not all of them are annoying creatures who do nothing but follow you around and yell at you to listen.   Some of them are actually helpful, particularly the variety in Link to the Past.  They could heal you on the spot, be toted around in bottles like potions, give you bomb and arrow upgrades and generally doing all manner of helpful and awesome things.  Ignorant creatures, fairies, they also wander blindly around until they are caught with a bug net, and auto-revive the man who captures them and puts them in bottles.  Cunning they may lack, but fairies sure are useful to have around.

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5.  Yuna (Final Fantasy X):  I’ll admit:  I’ve always had a thing for Yuna.  Final Fantasy X wasn’t one of my favorite entries in the fabled franchise, but Yuna was a definite high point for likeable female characters.  I liked her so much I played through the entirety of Final Fantasy X-2; now that’s saying something.  Not only she is awesome, she is an extremely competent healer, with the additional benefit of being a summoner.  Everybody wants a summoner.  And her hair is stylish.  That’s a lot of positive qualities.  If she could only work on that hideous laugh, she would be perfect.

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4.  The Medic (Team Fortress 2):  Okay, he may not be the most “respected” or “qualified” doctor out there, but who would you rather have on your team when the s**t really starts going down?  He may lack direct firepower, but when he cranks up that Medigun and starts boosting the Heavy, well, you begin to see why he is so great.  The fact that he is a hilarious Russian madman is just icing on the cake.  As an added bonus he could almost definitely do horrible things to everybody else on this list.  If you haven’t done so, maybe it’s time you met the Medic.

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3.  Girl (Secret of Mana):  Unlike most RPG’s at the time, Secret of Mana featured a real-time combat system and only three characters with very defined roles.  The Boy handled weapon damage and tanking roles, the Sprite was the offensive magic guru, and the Girl was the healer and buffing specialist.  You could only carry four each of the two healing items, so her magic was extremely important, and she later even learns some incredibly strong offensive spells.  She is equally adept at wielding spiked knuckles or an axe, or anything else for that matter, as she is at slinging Cure Water, and she is (natch) a princess.  I don’t have anything bad to say about her, actually.  This was a pleasant paragraph.

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2.  Aeris (Final Fantasy VII):  You knew she was going to be on here, but are you surprised at the number 2 spot?  Well, Aeris has a few flaws that should be pointed out.  While her limit breaks do provide some incredible healing advantages, everyone in FFVII can equip some heal material, so it isn’t as important to sure you have an awesome healer in your party.  Obviously as a healer her attack stat is low, but Final Fantasy VII relies a little more on melee attacks than some RPG’s, and there are much better options there.  Also (spoiler alert) she dies in the first disc.  Other than that, though, she’s pretty stellar.

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1.  White Mage (Final Fantasy):  The ultimate healer.  The White Mage knows no life beyond healing and buffing his allies.  He lives for Cure.  He studied to unlock the knowledge of Heal.  And he struggled to understand what exactly Hrm4 does.  Luck White Mages even get access to Holy, a devastating offensive spell that rivals Flare.  Thanks to a high HP and decent attack stat, they can hold their own in the toughest of fights, and always keeps an Exit spell handy to prevent needless backtracking.  They can also, of course, bring you back to freaking life.  Point: White Mage.

Decisions.  Who lives?  Who dies?  Who rules the world?  Gamers make choices like these every day with reckless abandon.  However, sometimes video games put a little more weight behind the choice to pull the trigger.  Here are 10 choices that were a little tougher to make.

10.  Singularity- Who Lives:  Any plot revolving around time travel is guaranteed to be confusing.  Triple that for any plots that also have the protagonist going back in time to warn themselves of something.  Singularity manages to succeed with its convoluted plot, while incorporating player choice into the ending.  Left with a variety of choices, players can be the good guy, the bad guy or simply go back in time like none of it ever happened.  While not as high profile as some of the other games on the list, Singularity managed to create one of the most difficult choices in a game ending.

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9.  Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2- Pro- or Anti-Registration:  While some people knocked MUA2 is being an inferior sequel, I enjoyed my time with it.  They may not have explored the Marvel Civil War as thoroughly as I would have hoped for, they did a good job of building up the conflict, then forcing you to pick a side.  I liked how you weren’t just given a standard dialogue option;  the choice was made completely within the gameplay.  It wasn’t the most cinematic of games, but I was immersed, and that is a big deal to me.  Deciding to rebel against the government with my explosive cards was pretty cool.

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8.  BioShock- Harvest or Save:  BioShock is littered with awesome moments, but that first encounter with a Little Sister, and her ferocious protector, stand out.  As a helpless Tenenbaum stands by and appeals to you, you have a choice to either kill the creature and harvest its ADAM, or safely remove her sea slug and get a smaller dose.  While a rather black-and-white morality choice, the dramatic differences were enough to give most gamers pause.  Personally I saved them, but I’m curious to know how many other people followed my lead.

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7.  Mass Effect 2- The Ducts: The Mass Effect series is known for its narrative, and the control it lets the player exert over its flow.  I put some heavy thought into many of its decisions, but none more than who to send through the ducts in the Collector Base.  I agonized over it for like thirty long minutes:  Jacob volunteered, but Miranda advised against it.  Legion seems like a natural fit, as does Tali, but do I really want to risk losing them?  Who can get the job done, yet is expendable?  First time through, I sent Jacob.  Spoiler:  It didn’t work out.

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6.  Metal Gear Solid- Torture:  In the normal course of things, this really wouldn’t be such a tough choice:  Make it through a spot of torture, save the girl and laugh as Otacon gets killed.  Easy, right?  Not once you learn that Otacon bestows upon you the stealth camouflage as a consolation prize for being a b***h.  Compared to Meryl’s stupid infinite ammo bandana, the stealth camouflage is the Metal Gear Solid equivalent of God Mode.  Sneaking up on guards has never been so fun.  So, what now?  Save the girl, or become invisible.  Yeah, sorry Meryl.  Your sacrifice will be remembered in the coming empire.

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5.  Mass Effect- The Rachni Queen:  Honestly, it’s no surprise the Mass Effect series is on here twice.  It really is that good.  Like in the first installment, when you get to decide rather to save a race known for their past violence, or completely eradicate them from the annals of time.  Hmm, that’s tough.  On one hand, the Rachni were once considered the biggest threat to galactic peace ever, and only the new-found Krogon were able to stop them, which of course led to a whole new set of problems.  But on the other hand, she swears she’ll be nice.  The fact that you don’t get to see the effect of that decision until five years later is just the icing on the cake. 

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4.  Saint’s Row: The Third- Shaundi or Killbane:  Saint’s Row has never taken itself too seriously, but when forced to decide between friendship and revenge, well, that’s a choice you just can’t take lightly.  Shaundi is actually a well-acted, likeable character, and Killbane is a real d**k.  Of course, this is Saint’s Row, so you’re first instinct is to kill everything, but the potential of losing Shaundi was a little too much for me.  Thankfully, either choice provides some satisfying closure. Up yours, Hogan!

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3.  Fable 2- Sacrifice, Love or Wealth:  Beating Fable II is no short order, but for those who managed the journey through Albion, a real head-scratcher was waiting for them.  Throughout the course of the game, a huge chunk of the population died creating what is known as the Spire.  Even sadder, so did your family and dog.  So Fable presents you with a choice:  Bring back the millions of random people who died in servitude, bring back your loved ones and dog, or get a million gold pieces.  I brought back my family (You my dog!), but I’ll be honest:  In retrospect, I should have taken the money.

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2.  Heavy Rain- Poison:  Heavy Rain has no shortage of climactic moments and tough choices, but poor Ethan Mars has a particularly cruel task assigned to him to save his son:  drink a vial of deadly poison, or never see your boy again.  I literally had to walk away from the TV for a minute to gather my thoughts.  I had already failed a couple trials, and without this I probably couldn’t find Shaun.  There’s even a chance the poison could be fake.  Or I might freaking die…Because I’m a raging coward, I didn’t drink the poison, but luckily I had made some smart decisions with FBI Agent Jayden, so all worked out (mostly) well. 

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1.  Bastion- The End: Throughout my game career, I’ve faced many a tough decision, many of which didn’t make the list.  None of them, however, required so much thought as the ending of Bastion.  When presented with that final choice, I just sat there, staring at the screen, unable to decide what I wanted to do.  I was paralyzed.  Basically rewind the world in the probably vain hope that the Calamity could be prevented, losing everyone I’ve met in the process?  Or pick up the pieces of the broken world and try to fix it, maybe create a better future?  Ruck’s voice is full of sadness when he tells the Kid of the burden on his shoulders.  That was powerful stuff, and the single hardest decision I’ve made in a video game.

Following on from the success of Sonic & SEGA All-Star’s Racing, the characters now have their own unique transforming vehicles designed to take advantage of the varying terrain. 

The line up on the Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed grid sees SEGA favourites – including Sonic the Hedgehog, Dr Eggman and AiAi – return to battle against newcomers that include Gilius Thunderhead of Golden Axe and Vyse of Skies of Arcadia. 

The brand new dynamic environments and tracks in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed are once again inspired by SEGA’s gaming history, so when the road falls away beneath you on Super Monkey Ball’s Temple Trouble track, your car transforms into a boat and speeds down the rivers and rapids, whilst the Panzer Dragoon inspired track, Dragon Canyon, takes you into the sky in complete control of your plane, barrel rolling to out-manoeuvre rivals and obstacles before transforming back in to a car and racing to the finish line.

“Given the fantastic feedback we received from critics and consumers alike for the first game we really wanted to push the boundaries on our follow up game, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed” commented David Corless, Global Sonic Brand Director.  “The transforming vehicles allow us to do this – as well as drifting your car around the corners of a track, you get to fly your plane and pilot your boat against others all within one race. Add to this a grid full of star characters, retro IP, fun, fast race modes and cool tracks and racing fans of all ages are sure to love this one!”

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed also sees the popular All-Star moves return with a brand new mechanic allowing your All-Star bar to power up faster if you race daringly and stylishly.  An all new fair weapon system ensures that weapons fired at your vehicle can either be blocked or evaded once you have gained the skills to do so, making each race a unique and exhilarating experience whether it’s on water, in the air or on land.  

The game will be released on PS3, XBox360, Playstation Vita, Nintendo 3DS and PC digital download later this year. 

You can see a gallery of screenshots below courtesy of GamesPress.