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Drake strikes gold: Uncharted 3 reviews go live

With the reviews embargo now lifted, scores have started to drop in for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception before next week’s release. Are the ratings as high as Uncharted 2? Signs point to yes.

It’s all looking candy so far, having already hit 93 on MetaCritic, two points behind UC2. Get the full lot so far below.

If you have a link you want us to add, chuck it in the comments.

• Edge – 9
• Playmania (Spain) – 9.9
• OPM Spain – 9.8
• Power Unlimited – 94
• PS Mania – 4/5
• Level Magazine – 10 (Second opinion: 8/10)
• IGN Germany – 9.5
• JeuxVideo – 9
• XGN – 9.4
• GamePro – 5/5
• TheSixthAxis – 10
• Eurogamer.pt – 9
• CVG – 9.5
• Eurogamer – 8
• IGN – 10
• Giantbomb – 5/5
• Joystiq – 4.5/5
• GameReactor Sweden – 10
• PlayStation Lifestyle – 10
• 1UP – A
• The Telegraph – 4.5/5
• Videogamer – 9
• Paste Magazine – 9.1
• OPM UK – 10
• NowGamer – 9.7
• GameTrailers – 9.5
• Metro – 9
• Everyeye.it – 9.5
• GamersGlobe (Denmark) – 8
• Eurogamer.cz – 10
• 4Gamers (Belgium) – 9.4
• Playfront.de – 10
• Kotaku – “Yes”
• GamesRadar – 9
• Gamersyde – N/A
• Shack – N/A
• IncGamers – 10
• Play3.de – 9.5
• GameReactor Norway – 9
• VaDeJuegos.com (Spain) – 9.4
• Eurogamer Benelux – 9
• SPOnG – 89%
• Vandal (Spain) – 9.6

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception launches in the US next Tuesday, and in the UK and Europe next Wednesday for PlayStation 3.

The Battlefield 3 community interview – 40 minutes with producer Patrick Bach

With Battlefield 3 launching in the US tomorrow, we publish 40 minutes of game boss Patrick Bach fielding questions from the community winners and journalists from VG247, Eurogamer and Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

The following was recorded at DICE’s offices in Sweden earlier this year. VG247 readers Colin Gallacher and Chris Hockey were in the room asking questions. You’ll also hear the voices of Eurogamer’s Tom Bramwell and Johnny Minkley; Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s Alex Meer and yours truly.

Being questioned is Patrick Bach, the producer in charge of Battlefield 3′s development. There’s a ton of stuff in here, so listen well.

Battlefield 3 launches for PC, 360 and PS3 in the US tomorrow and on Friday in Europe. Check out the PC review scores here.

Part 1: Bach on the possibility of a Mac version, the reason for sticking to four-man squads, listening to fan-feedback, dinosaurs and showing the game on console.

Part 2: On the beta date, server browsers, making changes based on the alpha, rewarding players, beating Call of Duty and which games Bach’s looking forward to this year.

Part 3: Difficulty levels, testing, single-player lessons learned from Bad Company, the length of single-player campaigns and the nature of “Battlefield moments”.

Part 4: On self-censorship, not allowing civilian death, the next big thing in gaming and working with Andy McNab.

Bethesda launches sensational live-action Skyrim video

Incredible.

Bethesda’s launched a minute-long, live-action video of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, ahead of the RPG’s massive launch in only two-and-a-half weeks.

The clip mainly features a showdown between Dragonborn and, surprise, a dragon in a small town, as its population runs in fear.

Get watching below. Not long to go: it’s out on PS3, 360 and PC worldwide on November 11.

HMV: Trade Arkham City or Forza 4, get BF3 for £2.99

Expect to see a lot more of this from retailers before Friday. HMV’s offering Battlefield 3 for £2.99 if you decide to trade in Batman: Arkham City or Forza Motorsport 4. The retailer has also lined up something else in regards to Uncharted 3, enabling potential owners to have it for £2.99 if they trade the DICE shooter a week later. Game is offering alternatives, letting owners of Forza, Arkham, PES 2012 or Gears of War 3 trade in any one for BF3 for £4.99.

BF3′s out this Friday on PS3, 360 and PC. Thanks, MCV.

LBP2, NFS: Hot Pursuit, Angry Birds among Kids BAFTA nominations

BAFTA’s announced the list of games nominated within this year’s list of games categories in the Children’s BAFTAs. For best game, the choice is between Kirby’s Epic Yarn, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, LittleBigPlanet 2 and Pokemon Black & White. In the Kids Choice award, nominations are between Angry Birds Rio, Cut the Rope, FIFA 11, Just Dance 2, Kinect Sports, Michael Jackson: The Experience, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Professor Layton and the Lost Future, The Sims 3, Wii Party. Size Five Games’ Privates is also up for a nomination in the Learning – Secondary category.

The ceremony happens on November 27.

Dance Central 2 public dance features Kelly Brook, Little Boots

ConnectedLondon has a Dance Central 2 promo video shot at the weekend, showing the Harmonix game in action in public alongside model Kelly Brook. There was also a DJ set from Little Boots at the London event. Watch it below.

Despite the push, the game only landed 40th in this morning’s UK charts.

Dance Central 2 from ContentedLONDON on Vimeo.

Live-action BF3 trailer goes big on set-pieces

DICE released over the weekend a brand new video for Battlefield 3, showing major set-pieces in a furious firefight, set between flashes of real-life and the game itself. It’s action-packed, as you’ll see below the break.

The EA shooter’s out in the US tomorrow and in the UK on Friday for PS3, 360 and PC. Here’s the reviews for the PC version so far.

“There is scope to remake” strategic Syndicate, says EAP producer

There’s “scope” to remake the original, strategy-based Syndicate, but only for platforms “more suitable” than consoles, the game’s producer on the EA Partners side has said.

“The original was such a classic. There is scope to remake it,” EAP executive producer Jeff Gamon told EG.

“But I don’t think it necessarily has to be exactly the same genre. If we did there are probably other platforms which are more suitable for it than the consoles we’re making it for, if we wanted to go in that more strategic route, that perspective.”

On a potential PC and iOS release, Gamon said that there’s “loads of potential. We’re not limited at all. But that’s purely speculative at this point.”

The original Syndicate released on PC in 1993 from Bullfrog and Peter Molyneux. The new title, made by Riddick dev Starbreeze and publisher EA Partners, is a first-person shooter affair.

The reboot’s out on February 21 in the US and February 24 in the UK for PS3, 360 and PC.

Hush, hush: The Secret World revealed in eyes-on

Stace Harman takes a look at the shady dealings in Funcom’s new modern-day MMO and speaks to lead designer, Martin Harsheim Bruusgaard.

Have you ever swallowed a bee? Me neither, but according to the start of the eyes-on demo of Funcom’s upcoming modern day MMO, doing so bestows magical powers. It seems a higher being is turning everyday people into superheroes by sending glowing bees into their bedrooms to be ingested while they sleep, granting them supernatural abilities when they wake.

We’re shown the opening scenes of a new character obtaining fantastical abilities in this unconventional way and accidentally trashing their London flat as they come to terms with the resulting power that leaps unbidden from their fingertips.

Several days later they receive a mystery caller who drops by to tell them that they’ve been chosen to fight against the Filth – an insidious black goo that infects those it touches, turning them into homicidal maniacs. The mystery visitor advises that her order, the Templars, can help the hapless individual learn more about their abilities and how to control them as well as how best to put them to use fighting the Filth. Ostensibly, it’s left up to you whether you take her up on her offer but it’s an easy enough choice to make: there’s no going back to a nine-to-five job once you learn how to shoot lighting from your fingers.

The Templars aren’t the only ones fighting against the Filth, alongside them are Dragon – practitioners of the art of chaos – and the hedonistic Illuminati. Each organisation has their own mandate and reasons for operating, though none appear to be entirely selfless or valiant and all want dominance over the others.

“The main differences between the three sides are primarily narrative-driven,” explains lead designer Martin Harsheim Bruusgaard.

“While members of different factions might be in the same place at the same time, their reasons for being there are very different.”

“Each faction has a very different philosophy and reason for being so while members of different factions might be in the same place at the same time, their reasons for being there are very different. The storylines interweave so the factions will come together in the play field and then separate again for some unique story elements before coming together later on.

“We want players to have made the decision of which faction to join before they even start playing. We have a test on Facebook for you to take to determine which faction you’re best suited to and we’ll also have a Facebook game prior to The Secret World’s launch which will highlight the differences between the different secret societies. Participating in this game will entail doing tasks for your faction and you’ll be awarded for that when you start playing the main game.”

Nose to the grind
Funcom has decided that people are tired of the grind often associated with MMOs and so The Secret World will not feature levelling up in the traditional sense, nor will it feature pre-defined classes .

“We’re looking at levelling in different way,” says Harsheim Bruusgaard. “The Secret World offers vertical and horizontal progression: the vertical progression comes in the form of items which do things like make you stronger, mean you can heal faster, help you do more damage and give you more options for crowd control. The horizontal progression is about acquiring skills and abilities, of which there are 500 in the game. Each of these skills is unique, so for example, we don’t have eight ranks of a fireball ability. A fireball is a fireball and it scales with your gear.

“We really feel that a lot of people are tired of rolling a class, playing them up to max level and then, if they want a different type of character, they have to start again at level one and play through the same experience. Here, you can play the way you want to and not be restricted to a particular class’ style of progress.”

It’s an interesting concept, though without seeing how different skills complement each other it’s difficult to comment on how well it will work in practise. What’s more, being awarded new skill points will need to feel suitably rewarding to avoid underwhelming the player, though Harsheim Bruusgaard explains that the method of progression will provide its own satisfaction.

“When you are recruited by one of the three secret societies you start as an initiate and once you’ve performed a certain number of tasks for them they’ll send you on a mission to increase your standing within the faction.

“Many of these missions will be where we pit the three factions against one another. So, as a member of the Illuminati you might be sent into kill a guy, whereas the Templars will be tasked with keeping him alive. Depending on how you perform in that mission you’ll increase your faction rank, which will grant you abilities, items and more information about your secret society.

“You’ll also gain some faction specific powers but there’s very few of those in order to maintain the balancing between the three sides. There is a heavy PvP focus to the game and we didn’t want to give out very different powers a skew the balance based on your faction.”

Combat is focused around two types of powers: builders and finishers. Using conventional weapons like assault rifles and shotguns your abilities provide buffs that multiply damage, imbue your ballistics with elemental damage and add area of effect modifiers. Movement looks to be key during combat, a battle we’re shown in a London underground station sees a number of enemies charge the player and visual prompts offer the opportunity to dodge attacks rather than stand still and spam the attack button.

A more in-depth hands-on session would be required to ascertain how combat feels, but the conventional firearms on show here lack the visual appeal of an attack made with more traditional melee weapons and despite much of the progression being tied to equipment we see little in the way of loot drops from the battles we’re shown.

The MMO genre is a crowded market, and with Guild Wars 2 due out next year and EA’s own Star Wars: The Old Republic due out just before Christmas, Funcom has a fight on its hands to stand out. However, Harsheim Bruusgaard is confident that The Secret World has a number of defining factors that will ensure it will justify its place alongside the better well-known titles.

“We feel that MMOs often neglect the story element, so with The Secret World we want to make people care a bit more about their character and the world in which they’re living. I think that if we’re able to do that a lot of players will see that there’s something extra here.

“We also think the modern setting will interest players who are tired of orcs and elves. Here you’ll be going to places that you recognise, like London, Tokyo and Egypt and you’ll be fighting with modern weapons too. There will be PvP flash points in places like Stone Henge and El Dorado where the factions will battle for control and holding these places will bestow bonuses to their faction.

“What’s cool about having three factions is that rather than having one side butting heads with another side you can introduce the idea of making deals with the devil and creating temporary alliances with another faction.

“So, let’s say that the Illuminati are dominating one particular area and they’ve been reaping the benefits of holding that area for a long time, players from the two other secret societies might team up to oust them.

“We’re really hoping to instil the potential for double-crossing and underhandedness and provoke feelings for the game.”

“Of course, with human nature being what it is, the factions might successfully wrest control from the Illuminati but then turn on each other. We’re really hoping to instil the potential for double-crossing and underhandedness and provoke feelings for the game.

“Yes, some people might be pissed off by getting stabbed in the back but others will be rubbing their hands together and saying ‘that was awesome!’ We think that if you have feelings about a game then you’re going to want to keep playing.

“World of Warcraft brought millions of players to the genre and we think there’s room enough for more than one MMO to exist side-by-side.”

The Secret World is due to launch April 2012.

UK charts: Arkham City becomes 4th biggest launch in 2011

Batman: Arkham City is the new number one in the UK charts, giving it the 4th biggest launch this year.

The Rocksteady action title joins FIFA 12, Gears of War 3 and LA Noire – the latter being the most successful IP launch in the UK ever in May – as a big-selling launcher in the UK in 2011, having sold near double on what Arkham Asylum did two years ago.

AC’s release is Warner’s biggest ever launch.

Elsewhere, the only new entry in the top ten is The Sims: Pets in sixth. Sony exclusive Ratchet & Clank: All4One launched at 24, while Harmonix’s Dance Central 2 just barely made it inside the top 40 at the bottom end.

Full top ten for the week ending October 22 is below. Last week’s data is here.

1 – Batman: Arkham City
2 – FIFA 12
3 – Football Manager 2012
4 – Forza Motorsport 4
5 – Just Dance 3
6 – The Sims 3: Pets
7- PES 2012
8 – RAGE
9 – Zumba Fitness
10 – Gears of War 3