This entire game is the work of developer Dong-kyu Kim. He developed the story, revolving around a lone warrior in Ancient China battling hordes of demonic undead. He created the sharp anime visuals. He composed the music. He built an expansive freemium game with the feel of a Dynasty Warriors title and a brilliantly simple single-finger control system. He layered it with upgradeable skills and stats, a rewarding achievement system, a collectible champion system, weapon and equipment forging and battle pets.

Hidea's Dong-kyu Kim did all of these things, so I'll excuse him for not coming up with a more compelling name than Undead Slayer.

The title nearly caused me to pass the game by entirely, assuming a generic name equals a generic game, but the anime-style graphics caught my eye and the promise of intense 3D combat without a screen cluttered with virtual controls pulled me in, and I doubt I'll be escaping anytime soon.

Undead Slayer's control system is what impresses me the most. A single finger is all I need. A tap on the screen sends my character in whichever direction I touch, automatically attacking enemies that come into range. Holding down my finger charges a heavy attack. Along the side of the screen are my skills, unlocked as I grow in level. I tap them, pick a direction, and go to town. Correctly timed swipes launch my character at a single enemy, the camera zooming in as I perform a brutal fatality. On the left side of the screen are my captains, additional collectible characters I can swap between during battle. Swapping in mid-attack leads to combos.

Check out the gameplay video I grabbed below. Does that look like one finger's worth of action?

Between battles I enjoy a growing number of diversions. I can hunt for treasure and new collectible companions, which I can combine together to form more powerful supporting characters. I can use resources gathered in battle to upgrade my equipment. I augment my statistics and unlock new powers from a selection of 20 special skills. I maintain my pets—a horse and a falcon—making sure they're well-fed for their once-per-battle cameos.

There's a glorious amount of game here, and while the combat might leans towards the repetitive, there are always new items and abilities being unlocked and bonus stages to overcome, keeping excitement levels high. I do wish the in-game currency was awarded more freely, but I suppose the publishers have to make money somehow.

I applaud Dong-kyu Kim for this impressive accomplishment. Undead Slayer is a game with so much content and polish that I'd swear it was made by a much larger team. Here's hoping it makes enough money for Dong-kyu to hire someone to come up with a better title.

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It's been a good long while since I last logged into DC Universe Online. I forget where I left my villain—he's probably standing in the rafters at Club L'Excellence. Home Turf, however, a DLC expansion SOE announced yesterday with this video, might get me to return. And the good news is that, despite what that trailer says at the end, it has a release date: next Tuesday.

This isn't simply Hearthfire meets DCUO, even if it does give you the means of building a hideout. It comes with something called The Mainframe, which is your super-person's R&D lab, pumping out devices for you to use in combat, and sending supply drops your way when you need a buff. You also get a sidekick (accomplice if you're a villain) and henchmen (backup if you're a hero.)

The pack is $9.99 if you're not a Legendary subscriber, and the Jan. 29 release is good for both PC and PS3. European PS3 players get it on Jan. 30.

Now that Stephen Totilo has painstakingly researched the best way to control Temple Run 2 (now available on Android), it's time to get down to business. You know how to jump, dodge and slide, but do you know how to truly excel? The fine folks at Imangi Studios have shared three tips for racking up a score you'll be proud to see on the leaderboards.

-Multiply and Conquer: The easiest way to get a larger score (so you can brag to everyone you know) is to utilize your score multiplier. To do this, you need to complete different objectives. Each objective ups your multiplier by one, so focus on those objectives first to get your score really high.

It may seem counterproductive to spend 1,000 meters of your run avoiding coins entirely, but in the end the payoff is worth it.

-Coins, Coins, Coins: Coins are the currency in Temple Run and they are used to upgrade the characters and gameplay. The fastest way to start earning coins is to upgrade the "Coin Values" under abilities. Doing this will make the double and triple coins appear on the track. Also, everyone's favorite powerup is the magnet- it helps you get every coin near you as you run.

Not only that, those "Coin Value" powerups add a splash of color to the game once they kick in. So pretty.

-Going the Distance: Clearly, you want to run as far as you can. To do that, it sometimes means you must sacrifice extra coins for bonus items. The shield power will help with obstacles, but remember, it won't protect you from falling. The Boost, at the beginning of the game, can also help you move forwards faster.

Makes sense, though as a coin hoarder the idea of skipping coins in favor of a temporary special power makes me twitch.

Wise words from the Imangi folks. Take them to heart, and you'll be unlocking those additional characters and maxing out your upgrades in no time flat.

Yesterday, Nintendo announced a lot of big bombshells. A Wind Waker remake, a bizarre Fire Emblem-Shin Megami Tensei crossover, promises of new Mario and Mario Kart games at this year's E3. It was a hell of a morning for Wii U owners.

Lost among the shuffle was this bizarre-looking new Wii Party game, promised for this summer. It might not be exactly what hardcore gamers are looking for, but it does play around with the system's GamePad controller in some unique ways. Check it out. GamePad foozball!

Warning: NSFW language in the above trailer

Assuming I did carry all that firepower and could use it without being a danger to myself and my squadmates, I still wouldn't be thrilled about fighting things that can tear my limbs off and impregnate me by jamming an alien egg down my mouth. So, that's probably why the CO here is bucking your ass up.

Sega convened this delightful U.S. Colonial Marines pep rally this morning, which declared the mission's secondary goal of becoming the galaxy's most formidable persons who, metaphorically, engage in intimate relations with your mom. So, Aliens fans, if you're around other folks, don't play this over your speakers. It's worth finding earbuds if you have to.

Update: Gearbox Software's Mikey Neumann has tweeted that the dialogue you hear is not from the game and "I also did not write it."

Aliens: Colonial Marines deploys Feb. 12 on PS3, PC and Xbox 360.

Available today on iTunes, Beeline Interactive's Ghostbusters is a freemium game about busting ghosts, which I've heard makes people feel good.

An evil deity has erected a haunted tower in New York City, the only place ghosts ever show up in large groups. Players create their own Ghostbusters team and embark on a quest to clean up the town.

Wow, I'm already running out of movie references. Probably for the best. You can get Ghostbusters here.

It's cold outside. So it's a good thing that some of this week's digital Nintendo offerings offer you shelter. But don't count on safety. Those animals in Funky Barn will send your head spinning. For real.

Sadly, there doesn't appear to any actual George Clinton "Mothership Connection" P-Funk style grooves in the animal husbandry agriculture sim. A shame, really, since Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk always makes things better. Nintendo also pays tribute to its early days with a downloadable version of Ballon Fight, a classic title that's part of the first wave of games coming with the Wii U's Virtual Console launch.

Fans of old-school adventure games can sink their teeth into The Cave, brought to you by Ron Gilbert and Double Fine Productions. (Read the Kotaku review here.) And, look, a Contra game! Aside from the retro offerings, puzzle-solving and crops-tending, it's a relatively light download list in the Nintendoverse:

• 
  
• The Cave (Wii U)
• Balloon Fight (Wii U Virtual Console)
• Funky Barn (Wii U)
• Brain Age Concentration Training (3DS)
• Super C (3DS)
• Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker (3DS)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Shadow Wars (3DS)

Tingle Tuner - You'd be forgiven for having forgotten about this, but the original GameCube version boasted GBA connectivity courtesy of the Tingle Tuner. This let a second player take control of a low-res version of Tingle on the GBA's screen, able to do things like spot hidden items.

This is so perfect for the Wii U pad's screen it's not even funny. And would be a great chance for most players to experience something even the majority of Wind Waker veterans never got a chance to try out.

Camera - One of my favourite diversions in Wind Waker is the photography minigame, where snaps of the game's characters can be exchanged for small virtual action figures. It's a fun game, but on GameCube the first-person controls were always a little janky. Again, putting this on the GamePad is a must.

Extra Content - The original version of the game shipped with a few rooms and areas in the code that weren't accessible in the main game. It'd be neat to have some of these—at least those where possible—slipped into the main game.

Wind Waker - The way you selected notes always felt a little weird. The Wii U supports Wii Remotes, so... can we just wave one of those around in the air instead?

Before you even say it, yes, this kind of nitpicking is a little absurd. This is the kind of project I should be all over. I'd be as close to the target market as Nintendo would hope for. Yet here I am and all I can do is complain. But then, what else should they expect? Part of the reason this game is still so beloved is that it still looks so damn good, removing the need for an HD remake. So if Nintendo wants this to be as relevant as, say, the recent Ocarina 3D re-release—a game that was in need of a makeover—it's going to need to work a little harder.

Of course, aside from the brief introduction yesterday we know almost nothing about the game other than what we saw. So for all we know, Nintendo could already be planning on including some/all of that. In which case... well, carry on, Nintendo, carry on.

Here's how Wind Waker originally looked like back when it was released in 2002.

Week two of the new and improved Windows Phone game charts is the perfect place to stage a coup against long-time paid app front-runner, Angry Birds. Disney double teams its way to the top of the paid charts with the double threat of Swampy the Alligator and Perry the Platypus.

Looks like Windows Phone gamers are finally getting a taste of the dirt-digging adventures that are Where's my Water? and Where's My Perry?, which should distract them from the fact that they'll soon be the only major mobile user base not to have Temple Run 2.

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Top Paid Windows Phone Games — 1/24/2013

Rank	Game	Last Week	Change
1.	Where's My Water?	N/A	N/A
2.	Where's My Perry?	N/A	N/A
3.	Angry Birds	1	-2
4.	Fruit Ninja	2	-2
5.	Pac-Man CE DX	3	-2
6.	Plants Vs. Zombies	4	-2
7.	Monopoly	5	-2
8.	Cracking Sands	N/A	N/A
9.	Sonic CD	8	-1
10.	Monster Island	6	-3

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Top Free Windows Phone Games — 1/24/2013

Rank	Game	Last Week	Change
1.	Ragdoll Run	1	0
2.	Red Bull Kart Fighter World	2	0
3.	Flow Free	3	0
4.	100 Floor	5	+1
5.	AE Skee Ball	4	-1
6.	Xbox Extras	6	0
7.	AE Jewels	7	0
8.	Pencil Blade	8	0
9.	Archer	9	0
10.	Paper Dash	10	0

Killer is Dead is the latest game from Grasshopper Manufacture and the mind of Suda 51. The game features the protagonist, Mondo Zappa, a professional "executioner" in a near-future world. The game is being created as a new chapter in the Suda 51 "assassin series", following in the footsteps of killer7 and the No More Heroes series. Suda, the executive director, together with executive producer, Yoshimi Yasuda sat down with Japanese gaming magazine, Weekly Famitsu to talk about this latest game.

Yasuda, CEO of Kadokawa games, was approached by Suda in 2009 with a number of different ideas for Grasshopper's next game. He chose Killer is Dead because he himself was a fan of Suda's assassin series. Lollipop Chainsaw, which was in development at the time was more of a light-hearted "pop" game (no pun intended), from the "light-side" Suda. Recalls Suda, "Next I wanted something ‘dark'."

With the protagonist Mondo, Suda had a very specific image in mind. "Mondo looks so frail you question whether he can actually kill anyone, but when it comes to his job, his aura completely changes." Explains Suda, "I had the insane duality of Christian Bale's character from American Psycho in mind. Mondo is written in the scenario as a man who has no illusions about his work as an executioner and shows little emotion."

So, will there be a scene where Mondo puts an axe through Jared Leto's skull (please)?

Killer is Dead is scheduled for release in Japan this Summer.

ファミ通.com [ファミ通.com]

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