Dotemu, Guardcrush, and Lizardcube have finally released the trailer for their brilliant Streets of Rage 4's first DLC titled Mr. X Nightmare.
According to the Steam page:
"The fight continues in Wood Oak City.
After the events of Streets of Rage 4, our heroes wanted to prepare themselves for future threats. Axel, Blaze and their mates will start a very special deranged training with the help of Dr. Zan, who built an AI program from the remnants of Mister X’s brain that simulates every kind of danger they could be facing."
The trailer reveals that not only will we be getting more gameplay, but it includes new special moves, new weapons, new enemies, and 3 new playable characters- of which we only currently see the highly anticipated Estel Aguirre! Though the silhouettes at the end appear to hint at new Max and possibly the updated Shiva. Many of us are also hoping to see long time fan-favorites join like Dr. Zan, Skate, and Roo so perhaps we'll eventually see a second DLC released further down the road with them as well..
They've stated that the DLC will allow players to customize their move sets giving players the ability to build the characters to their own kind of playstyles. Dotemu has gathered a crew that seems to have given 200% in updating this beloved franchise. Keep up the great work!
Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare is listed as "Coming Soon." [ Steam ]
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have had a long history in video games from the lowest of the lows (the damn level in the original NES game) to the highest of highs (TMNT for the GBA), with plenty in between. But the publisher of the glorious Streets of Rage 4 (Dotemu) has come through again with something players have been asking for- a new beat em' up Turtles game- with developer Tribute Games. This is truly something to celebrate for fans of the TMNT, an actual sequel to one of the franchise's most beloved games three decades in the making! Cowabunga dudes!
According to the official reveal:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge reunites Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello to kick shell in a beautifully realized pixel art world invoking the turtles’ classic 1987 design.
With Bebop and Rocksteady amassing gizmos to support Krang and Shredder’s latest scheme, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge finds the turtles battling through a breathless tour of iconic TMNT locations to thwart their nemeses’ most diabolical plan yet. Armed with shell-shocking new abilities built on a foundation of classic brawling mechanics, the gang are in for an exhilarating, Foot Clan-stomping romp leading them through the sewers and bustling boroughs of New York City all the way to Dimension X.
Honestly, I haven't been this excited for a game since Streets of Rage 4, and now we're getting something we've been asking for for literal years. The developers haven't given out too much information yet, but it appears there may be more playable characters in the future as I spotted both Splinter and April in action in the trailer- and we can only hope that there'll be plenty more to come in the future! This is definitely a game to keep our eyes on for fans.
I'll be covering this game religiously in the future.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
will be coming to PC [ Steam ] and consoles (though no release date is specified).
ZCREW is a Diablo-esque post-apocalyptic isometric shooter. A group of elite militaristic elites have banded together to bring order to a world falling apart and reclaim the Earth from mutant hordes. As the official sites say:
"ZCREW is an isometric shooter that supports up to 4 player co-op. In the world destroyed by an alien virus, every day is a matter of life or death. Players will need to cooperate and fight back the mutant blight in their quest to rebuild the world and restore civil order.
Battle within the Ruined City and the Lost Desert, facing hordes of infected humans, mutant insects and creatures unknown until now."
INITIAL THOUGHTS
Players begin the game and can choose one of 4 different classes- Assault, Warrior, Supply, or a Medic. They all begin with a singular skill like a dash or teleport. As you do missions you unlock both more skills (of 4 total) as well as small perks applicable to the character, weapons, or skills they use. Each of the classes then also begin with their own type of weapon- assault rifle, sniper rifle, SMG, etc- and it is an absolute slog to level up anything because the experience is based on in-game level completion and I don't believe enemy kills actually seem to give you any bonus XP.
The early game skills make the player classes start relatively the same, but as the game goes they wind up much more varied in HOW those skills are used- which is awesome. Each character's movement skill begins just as a movement, but as skills unlock through leveling the characters up they add bonuses to them. The Assault class can leave a trail of electricity to the teleport, while the medic can disperse poison orbs in 4 directions upon dashing. It is the beginning of great system.
There's a lot of good ideas in mission variety- find or investigate areas, escort NPCs (that really shouldn't be nearly as dumb as they are currently), even some where you need to find some parts and build something to make way into the next area. Honestly, some of the early levels could be lengthened with the option for more exploration, but overall, it's still really fun to go in and start the action. The levels don't have much right now in the way of extra things to wander around for. They are made to be simple and linear by giving you tasks to complete and waypoints to follow. Drop in hidden areas or things for players to loot. Give players a reason to explore these gorgeous-looking areas you've made.
For weapons, you have to randomly find design blueprints as random drops, parts, and currency to build new guns, then create parts to build those guns up in the players' hub. The system isn't great, and could definitely use some streamlining- why should you need 2 of the same gun blueprint to make that gun? Why doesn't one suffice?
The weapons have just barely enough difference, but could use some bolstering to make them feel really different (the bullet impacts, reload and firing speeds, firing distance, etc). Players begin with their class' starter weapon, but can switch to another later. Each weapon then can be upgraded with parts you find schematics for- such as extended magazines, sights, shoulder stalks, etc- each item bumps up various stats to the weapon you attach it to. It's a great idea, but the implementation is poor. Just as the core weapons, players have to find multiple blueprints of the same weapon (often it's 2), then randomly find parts during missions, and then currency to make them. But you also need to use multiple terminals in the players hub to build them up, then another to equip them, and so on. Why not let players be able to equip a weapon from the crafting station or personal inventory as well as the character screen? Why can we craft but not dismantle at the same station- why can we only dismantle from the personal inventory station?
As the hub where players go to (which is for some reason in 3rd person instead of the isometric view the entire rest of the game is) is confusing already, they really need to clean it up. Why aren't all the varied menu consoles consolidated? Put the weapons/items, materials, and character screen all lumped into one? We are forced to craft weapons in at one console, but equip that to the weapon in another. Or, why aren't the mission control and multiplayer ones merged? As of right now you have to enter a mission select, choose the mission, then leave to go to another console to select a player ready. These should be streamlined for sure, and really, they might want to think about shifting the entire player hub to the same isometric view as the rest of the game while reducing the number of terminals players have to interact with.
GAMEPLAY
The first major combat irritation is how enemies spawn. Sometimes they appear far enough away that players have time to react with moving or shooting, but at other times 5 enemies will spawn surrounding you leaving you nowhere to go and guaranteeing you will take heavy damage and likely die. This is insanely annoying in the early game when you try and do a mission "search" (holding the E button for way too long) enemies will consistently spawn nearby and interrupt you. This might not be as frustrating if you were playing multiplayer (or why can you not bring in AI support characters of the classes you are not playing as?).
Even more frustratingly, if you fail a level (after 3 deaths), EVERYTHING you did is lost in it, items you found are gone. I had a level where I spent 20 minutes slowly making my way through, completing all the tasks, the end of every level is a timed rush to get to an extraction point. This part is an absolute MUST change part of the game- players are swarmed with overwhelming hordes of enemies. I got completely buried in enemies with ZERO way of avoiding instant damage and died immediately after each respawn literally lost all that effort within seconds. It is easily the worst design decision in the game. That run to the extraction point should, first off, not have a timer. And it should be balanced to how many characters are playing. If you are stuck playing solo (I had only a single time being able to actually play a level with another player, all other attempts we could match up, but our levels were 2 or 3 off and we couldn't play together (why would you allow players to match together, but then not allow them to actually play a level together?!?). Why would you spawn 40 enemies on a solo player that has no hope of fending that many off, especially in the early levels? By changing this singular thing, ZCREW would be instantly better. Perhaps giving players far more health (and get rid of the run button, make the base speed the run speed- enemies can easily catch you even when you run), and have the absurd enemy damage reduced, and it might help balance things out a bit.
FINAL VERDICT
There's a myriad of small problems (remapping a controller for Steam winds up a mess), some general control issues (running away while firing backwards at enemies will shoot a few first shots/grenade the direction you are running and NOT the direction you are aiming), and oddities in player numbers to enemy numbers (both sheer numbers, as well in health and damage). If the developers keep at it, they have a truly good gem here, it'll just take a lot of hard work and balancing to get it to make it into a great one.
With all that said, ZCREW actually does have a solid foundation and is generally enjoyable (outside of the aforementioned frustrations). There are numerous irritations and problems with the game, but I don't want to dissuade anyone from actually playing the game. I did actually enjoy it quite a bit, and will be playing more as the developers continue to improve the game. I believe they have a tremendous base to build upon. There's a lot to like and I look forward to seeing how ZCREW: The Last Legion shapes up over time.
Sometimes you find a game that looks kind of silly, and kind of dumb, but you go and give it a shot anyway. And sometimes those games turn out to be truly unexpected gems. Developer Dark Blue Games' Infected Shelter happens to be exactly that type of game.
Infected Shelter is a simple at first glance a randomly generated, post-apocalyptic, beat-em-up, rogue-lite. I say simple at first glance because playing it somehow sucks you in. There's something special at the core of the game that just clicks. It hits the right buttons for fans of the previously mentioned genres.
The graphics have their own style- they're a cartoony, almost paper cut-out style- and there's a threadbare story, but the music and gameplay are absolutely intuitive and on point. Controls are easy to grasp and quite fluid (though the really early access version had a small lag at some points, the full release version feels much tighter and responsive). I'd highly recommend using a controller over a mouse and keyboard, but once you are dropped into the action things become truly fun.
The game lets you choose whether or not you want to begin with a short tutorial or not, with one of four selectable characters- a one-legged soldier, a guitarist, a builder, and my personal and hilarious favorite a girl that swings her wheelchair-bound grandfather around as a weapon. Characters can do special move finishers that made me laugh every time, and now with the full release players can jump in with up to 3 other players via co-op to share in the zombie-slaughtering amusement.
The difficulty curve starts out a bit steep, but turns around relatively fast as you collect new items, new clothes (which alter how the characters special stats change, like the nurse costume adds healing, and so on), and blueprints for a ton of new weapons. Sure, players will be dying a lot, but in this game it never feels like a bad thing, because you can easily mow through waves and hordes of zombies over and over again after obtaining new items. That may seem monotonous, but Infected Shelter has a certain allure that kept drawing me back in for another try, so it never reached that point.
It's not often I find games like Infected Shelter that I can hop on and enjoy for 5 minutes or 5 hours at a time. The game is filled with a gloriously gory hilarity. Infected Shelter is for fans of things like Castle Crashers or Dead Cells. It may not have the depth of many triple A games, but it has more than enough heart to make up for it. In a way Infected Shelter is the equivalent of a video game candy bar, sugary-sweet entertainment, while the major triple A titles would be nutritious full meals that take a lot of time to eat and digest. It may not be for everybody, but it can damn well hit the right spot when the craving hits, and I highly recommend it. On the whole, Infected Shelter is a simple and engaging rogue-lite beat-em-up to occupy fans of either genre for hours on end.
Infected Shelter on [ Steam ] for $9.99, but is 10% off until Nov. 18th. *An early access review copy was provided by the developer. Thank you!
As has been speculated for the last year or so, it looks as if there will be an absolutely new story DLC for Borderlands 2 coming. It's been almost 7 years since the game originally launched and this appears to be a bridge between the last game and its highly anticipated sequel.
According to a post on ResetEra, Twitter user @RobotBrush had spotted the Steam page leak. Some of the details included things like a level cap raise to 80, new enemies, vehicle skins, rainbow rarity weapons, a major new villain, and a wonderful little fact that it'll be 100% free. The Steam page has since been taken down but not before having things been screencapped, saved, and noted.
The leaked description reads:
"Return to the award winning shooter-looter for a new adventure that sets the stage for the upcoming Borderlands 3. Sanctuary is under siege, the Vault's map has been stolen and a toxic gas is poisoning Pandora. Fight new bosses, explore new zones, get new loot (including an entirely new tier beyond Legendary) and join up with Lilith and the Crimson Raiders to take on a deranged villain hell-bent on ruling the planet.
Returning players can pursue an increased level cap of 80, while newcomers can automatically boost to level 30 and dive straight into the action."
With the HD remasters, new Borderlands 2 DLC, and Borderlands 3 all hitting this year- it's truly the year of the Borderlands. Now we can only wait and see what other goodies Gearbox might be cooking up for fans. Personally I hope we get a mobile tie in game, and a plethora of entertainment merchandise like comics and toys.
And probably the best part of the leak is that...
...it claims that Commander Lilith & The Fight for Sanctuary drops June 9th!
Well, today is a momentous occasion- we get both great news with the official launch date (Sept. 13th, 2019), alongside some pretty crap news. We have official confirmation that Borderlands 3 will not launch on Steam, but instead will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store for 6 months.
I don't like to be a naysayer, but this is not a move people like. The Epic Game Store has been in some serious controversies (primarily the spyware potential and privacy policies/data protection problems- as seen in this wonderful explanation video by Yong Yea). Steam having competition is a very good thing, but the way things are being handled are not. Making this worse is the limited features of the store in general.
I've been a Borderlands supporter since the original launched a decade ago, and this is the first time I will not be buying it on PC. I will not support it on the Epic Game Store, I absolutely refuse to use it and will wait the 6 months of exclusivity to get it on Steam with my other Borderlands games. That said, I'll still be purchasing it on Playstation 4 as that is my primary console (outside of PC).
To read how displeased many, MANY fans are just scan through the responses on the official @Borderlands tweet. And for even more, the link to the official trailer has a plethora of disapproval throughout the comments section. It isn't the best idea to crap on Steam users. Sorry 2K, but this was not a good decision at all.
RiME has had a rocky production since its announcement at the at Sony's Gamescom 2013 Press Conference, but Tequila Works' game has finally received a set release date!
Rime appears to be an amalgam of Journey, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and the Team Ico games and set on a strange Myst-like island. The story is of a boy needing to find a way off the island and away from its terrible curse.
What has me most excited is that it sounds like the game has a few procedurally generated elements, or it may change depending on how you play it. In an interview with Polygon, the game's creator, Raúl Rubio Munárriz, said, "-"Every time you explore this island or islands you are going to experience it differently." So not only might there be more than just one island, but it changes.
Going on he says:
"The island is a paradise, but that does not mean that what you see at the start is the same as what you see at the end. This is not a game about black and white. It is not about good and evil. We are trying to play with what the player takes for granted. This is a puzzle adventure game but that doesn't mean that you are going to enter houses and start gathering stuff. I see this environment, it is beautiful, but something is wrong. Who built this?"
RiME will arrive on PC, PS4, and XBox One on May 26th, and at a later date for the Nintendo Switch.
I also wonder if odd capitalization on the name probably has ties to the tower featured in the game.
I've had my eye on developer tinyBuild's gem of a game called Streets of Rogue since last September, and this weekend I finally got to it. Taking a top down rogue-like approach to stealth shooters, the game is a procedurally-generated sandbox world game tasking players with completing a series of missions in each level on a quest as a member of a resistance.
How you complete those missions is completely up to you. Need to steal a tooth from a safe? You can set off the alarms, poison the air supply, bribe guards, or just smash your way through the walls. What amazes me is the sheer absurdity of what you can do in the game. Considering there's 40 characters (not all unlocked initially) there's a lot of opportunity.
So a hacker can hack computers to open doors and not rudely read peoples' emails, doctors may tranquilize someone, and soldiers can blast their way through mobs of people, where a scientist might use a shrink ray or a growth serum to get the job done.
Though each character also suffers a deficit in some area so they aren't all powerful. As the gorilla, I was really tough and strong, but couldn't speak English and it eliminated the possibility of talking to any other characters (other gorillas would follow me however).
Nobody expects a gorilla with a hard hat and a wrench to be the bad guy.
The only negative I've found with Streets of Rogue is the multiplayer is all messed up. I couldn't get either local co-op, nor the online to work. Granted it's still in the early release stage so I'd give it time to really get the bugs worked out for the full co-op experience.
There's a brilliance in the way tinyBuild has somehow reduced a game to basics, but expanded it's depth of experience that is kind of staggering. I highly recommend giving Streets of Rogue a chance, it's worth every cent. It's got great gameplay, great music and sound effects, and what I like best is how brief the experience can be. Once you understand the fundamentals, you can dive in play a few levels, and quit. Then jump in again at a later time without an issue. Trying out new characters just to see how the world reacts to your silly antics is a sublime kind of enjoyment. Streets of Rogue is just loaded with silly humor and crammed with fun gameplay. I honestly haven't had this much fun with a rogue-like game for a long time.
Streets of Rogue on STEAM for $14.99 (get 10% until March 17th- $13.39)
The highly anticipated follow up to the tremendous Styx: Master of Shadows, Shards of Darkness, is finally arriving next week and we get an all new launch trailer to whet our appetites!
Cyanide Studios' stealthy goblin assassin returns with a new mission- steal the scepter of an ambassador for a mysterious new human named Helledryn. The reward for this dangerous task? An absurd amount of Amber- the highly addictive source of his strange powers.
Armed with his trusty blade, creative new ways to kill people, some reliable old supernatural skills, and even some new co-op play- Styx will need all the stealth and snark he can muster to achieve his goal to make it through a web of deadly intrigue in this world of dark fantasy cloak-and-dagger.
Styx: Shards of Darkness launches Tues. Mar. 14th.
I stumbled across this trailer this morning and really am excited for it. Serial Cleaner is what happens when killers need their tracks covered by a specialist.
"Serial Cleaner is a story-driven, fast-paced stealth/action game, characterized by a 1970s theme and aesthetics. You are a professional cleaner. Your job is to clean up murder scenes by disposing bodies, covering up blood stains and hiding murder weapons and other incriminating evidence."
The stylized take on art and setting it in the 1970's is brilliant. It definitely looks like a tremendous little game with hilarity.
Serial Cleaner will be launching on PS4 in summer 2017.
(But can be currently found in Early Access on Steam for $9.99)
Over a year after developer Untame's ingenious "anti-platformer" Mushroom 11 hit Steam, the game's spores will be landing on Android devices.
Mushroom 11 takes the platforming genre to entirely new levels with a genuinely unique innovation in the way it handles level traversal. The game requires the player to destroy parts of the strange amorphous being they control to encourage it to grow and spread in other directions. The closest thing to this game I've ever played was The Ooze for the Sega Genesis, which was very similar in concept, but Mushroom 11 certainly looks to be a huge improvement over that.
Squirm through tiny tubes, shear parts off yourself, and dissolve enemies to solve puzzles and make your way through a post apocalyptic world in Mushroom 11 on March 9th.
I've been impressed lately with publisher Badland Games, from their kids game Ginger: Beyond the Crystal to the hilarious and very under-rated action-RPG Zenith, and their most recent title Boor is no exception.
Boor is the story of a girl in the future that awoken from a sleep chamber by a computer malfunction to find that the planet Eden settlement has been taken over by a rogue Artificial Intelligence. The machine Boor was created to aide the colonists on Eden, but as with all great sci fi AIs, it turns on those it should've helped. Boor's reign has left very few survivors, and it's up to this unique little girl to put an end to the corrupt machine's tyranny.
The girl has a very special ability that allows her to create disposable clones. They can pass certain walls and access areas that you may not be able to yourself. They are vital to solving the puzzles throughout the game. Because it doesn't matter if they die or they run out of their limited life time, you can use them to do a little exploring and scope out parts of what is to come.
The puzzles themselves begin quite nicely, none too difficult, and gradually progresses to much more complex and tough ones, which does lead to some trial and error moments to see what is working and what isn't later in the game. That being said, I only found the last couple puzzle-rooms to be of particular frustration, because even after figuring out what to do, the jumping mechanic is a timed one. A tap on the button gives a short hop, and holding the button results in longer, floating jumps that can be moved around directionally with the thumb stick- which in itself isn't an issue, it's having to make numerous jumps across multiple moving platforms while also attempting to avoid getting hit by the rockets being shot at you.
If the rockets we're just a touch slower, it'd be much less of an annoyance of having to continually die and replay the puzzle. It's really not too awful, just something that stuck out as being just a little too difficult for the more casual feel of the rest of the game. (Heck, there's even a small arcade about 70% through the game that offers 3 distinctly retro mini-games.)
Boor's visual aesthetic is outstanding with the black, white, and grays comprising the main palette with some things accentuated with splashes of red are phenomenal. It highlights what's important, and gives it a bit extra pop on the screen. The design work is minimalistic, but it works very well for the futuristic setting. Rounding out the experience as a whole is the original soundtrack by Paltian. The music was good enough that I found myself pausing the game a few times just to listen to it.
Developer Dazlog Studio has created an amazing 2D puzzle platforming experience loaded with a a downright sublime story to tie it all together. Boor is one of those indie game gems that I'd recommend to pretty much everyone, it plays well, it looks even better, and it has captivating story that will sit in mind for some time afterwards.
Boor can be found on Steam for $4.99 It'll be 20% ($3.99) until Feb. 21st
I've had my eye on Tequila Work's gorgeous game RIME since 2014. Through the last couple years, RiME has gone through some changes behind the scenes and now the game will be coming to more than just the PS4, it'll also be arriving on Xbox One, Steam, and the upcoming Nintendo Switch. Which is great, a wider audience to share the experience. RiME looks to be a wonderful amalgam of the games Journey, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Ico all placed on a strange and mysterious island like Myst.
The 3rd person puzzle-platforming will help the shipwrecked boy unravel the mystery of this island he finds himself stranded on. You are an interloper on this island, and it will react to your presence- the island IS a character in that way. To find meaning, you'll need to delve in and try to solve the questions of who built this place, where is everyone else, and how the island changes.
That last part is what really peaks my curiosity as the game's creator, Raúl Rubio Munárriz, mentioned something that immediately caught my eye in an old interview with Polygon, "Every time you explore this island or islands you are going to experience it differently." It makes me think there will be an element of procedural generation, and then further question exactly how reactive will the world be. Will every decision you make really change how the entire world around you functions? Can you alter how animals populating the island react by changing what you do to them? Will the island actively try to assist you in doing good, and try to thwart you from harming stuff? Can the island fight against your goal? I look forward to seeing if this is truly how the game is built. A real reactionary world.
Cyanide Studios' curmudgeonly amber-addicted goblin assassin Styx has gotten a whole new gameplay trailer for the highly anticipated sequel to Master of Shadows called Shards of Darkness.
After the fall of the tower of Akenash, rumor of an impregnable diplomatic summit has lured Styx out of hiding. Infiltrating the Dark Elf city of Korrangar, he sneaks his way in to find the event is just a deception...
In Shards of Darkness, Styx's arsenal has been expanded greatly. New weapons, such as a crossbow that can kill, tranquilize, and set off traps, and skills like a teleport to clone are fully at his disposal. He's got new moves such as more fluid climbing abilities like zip-lining and rope-swinging. There is also an awesome and useful new craftable item called the Acid Trap that can help dissolve armored enemies and eliminate those pesky hard-to-hide dead bodies.
New bestiary, new enemies, and new side-missions to complete have also been included. Probably the most notable new addition to the sequel is a co-operative mode, allowing players to join friend's games and play together. And of course a lot of new story with actually animated cinematics.
This looks to be a case of taking an awesome game and making a sequel better in every way possible.
Styx: Shards of Darkness sneaks onto PS4, Xbox One, and PC in March 2017.
It's been an entire year since the last bit of news about indie game developer Brian Provinciano's homage-fueled follow-up to the tremendous Retro City Rampage, called Shakedown: Hawaii, but low- yesterday we received the gloriously pixelated PSX 2016 trailer.
This game evolves it mayhem from the 8-Bit world to that of the 16-Bit, moving from the era of NES to that of the Super NES. The story follows "The Player," the same protagonist from Retro City Rampage, and moves him 30 years into his future. He's become older, fatter, and balder as he steps out of his corporate empire's boardroom and on to the streets in an effort to destroy the rising competition.
Shakedown: Hawaii will be coming to Nintendo, Steam, and Playstation in 2017.
Ginger: Beyond The Crystal is a new 3D platforming adventure game brought to us by Drakhar Studios, an indie game developer out of Spain. The game hearkens back to a time when Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, and Conker's Bad Fur Day reigned at the top of the charts.
It's the story of Ginger, a small blue being tasked by a mysterious goddess with restoring a world beset by the destruction and corruption of the world's crystals by an unnamed menace. The main game itself is broken into 3 major hub worlds that each contain 5 core side-scrolling levels and another 5 smaller red crystal platforming levels, as well as a bunch of miscellaneous fetch quests, some time trials, and so on that add some extra gameplay substance.
To restore balance back to the world you must go from town to town clearing the map by not only purifying the red crystals into blue ones (via the platforming red crystal levels), but also by collecting the smaller blue crystals to be used as currency. The first way this is done is spending them at each hub world town's giant main crystal to bring back the townspeople that had been transported to somewhere far away. Upon their return however, they are less than pleased with things that've happened, which leads to the second way the small crystals are used- to buy vanity items for the people to use to increase their happiness. A pair of Groucho glasses with their silly nose, moustache, and eyebrows can add quite a bit of joy to a waning public opinion.
There's also a small additional building game where you slowly gather supplies through the other levels and tasks and use them to build structures of your choice throughout the towns. I haven't been able to discern exactly what they do other than take up space, but for city-building fans it may be a highlight.
Ginger combines elements from multiple game genres such as platforming, collecting, and some city-building and then adds the Metroidvania staple of unlocking new abilities (via costumes that give extra skills) you can use to access more regions and items. There's a mouse suit that lets you shrink through tiny areas, a lizard suit that spews fire, and a bard's outfit that opens a mini-game where you have to play back a button combination song on your instrument. The exploration of the main hub worlds is extremely entertaining as there's always something you can do, and is probably the highlight of the game.
The controls are very responsive and my only complaint about it is with the combat. There's a lot of enemies that need to be dispatched and the normal attack is useless resulting in taking damage every time you deal damage. The dash attack is tough to aim or land properly, and that leaves us with the only effective way to eliminate bad guys being the jump-and-stomp attack that gives out a shock wave you can see. Sadly, that's the only attack I used because it was the only reliable one that didn't get me killed.
In the essence of honesty I have to say that there were a few other annoyances as well. Not being able to skip (or speed through text) was a big one. It's very sluggish and having to sit for so long after reading each piece got irritating. I also noticed that in the red crystal purification levels, there was a tendency to occasionally fall through the ground. It didn't set me back too far, but it did bother me when it occurred seconds before the final crystal of the level. Lastly is the camera. Often, I found myself plagued by a camera that was obscured by objects in the way and trying to adjust it constantly was a pain. Having things go consistently transparent so I could see would've been a massive benefit in those cases. But, as I said, these were really just annoyances and not too awful in the bigger scheme of things.
It may be a little glitchy at times, but falling through the floors and death never set you back more than a couple minutes and that fact is far outweighed by the sheer fun factor, which is all of what my younger self would want out of a game. Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is a decent game with a lot of heart and charm to fill in where it lacks. It should be clear this game may appear shallow and repetitive for adults, but the game's whole design is pretty clearly aimed at a younger audiences, and that's exactly where it shines. The graphics and music are fitting, the world is designed with plenty of creativity, the characters are all uniquely made, and the world itself has a lot of options for exploration. Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is a game made purely for simple enjoyment, with many nods to its 3D platforming predecessors. It's a delightful homage to the games of yesteryear, and it offers an imaginative world that is quite immersive and highly entertaining despite its few flaws.
Zenith is a sci-fi/fantasy action-RPG in the same vein as Final Fantasy, if it was run through a Terry Pratchett filter and then dunked in a thick coating of sarcasm creating a wonderful homage to the action-RPG's of yesteryear. The game is presented as a parody, having the protagonist Argus attempting to stop a bunch of self proclaimed "chosen" heroes from inadvertently causing another apocalypse with their idiotic, angst-filled, teen-aged escapades.
THE BAD
The very first thing I noticed was that the trailer has Argus speaking, but there's no actual spoken dialogue in the game. It's a small disappointment, but one that nagged at the back of my mind. Then there's some very curious uses of text in game- sometimes speaking happens in text boxes, and others they have brightly colored text appearing around the screen. It makes a little sense in a way once you figure out how it's working, but putting those into specific color coding or colored text boxes may have helped the strange way it appears.
Zenith's game mechanics have a ton of issues. The combat is really imbalanced and made more troublesome due to clunky controls. The melee combat leads to taking massive amounts of damage because enemies all hit way too hard and fast, the blocks and rolls are useless against constant hordes of enemies, and health potions have an extremely long refresh times for use.
The skill trees has some decent things such as adding a hit to a melee combo, small increases in elemental damages, and even a node to transform the roll into a fire dash. The problem here is that the stats are all weighted towards whatever armors you have with the highest stats- meaning weapons and spells you get aren't given damage stats- the damage is determined by the kinds of armor you are wearing.
The music has volume control issues with it randomly being way too loud, menus need to be opened multiple times in order to actually function at times, and even enemies being stuck in geometry requiring the game to be restarted from my last save point. There's a plethora of bothersome issues, and honestly, a patch could easily balance this up and make the mechanics of the game less frustrating.
THE GOOD
Though, with that said, I have to say I still really, really, REALLY liked the game. The reason I say this is what Zenith does right is with wit and humor. That's where the real enjoyment comes from. It's the first game in a very long time that consistently made me laugh out loud. All the gameplay problems aside- the writing is where Zenith absolutely shines. It provides a commentary on the genre, little nods to other things, and funny new ways to view some of pop-cultures most popular series'.
The game has a lot of flaws but I think the writing more than makes up for it. The game is completely loaded with references to not just games like Skyrim, Bioshock, and Metal Gear, but also the communities and mods related to them. I mean the sheer brilliance of the "celebrity testimonials" on the website in itself is absolutely hilarious.
Zenith may not play the best, but it definitely offers a ton of laughs and an intriguing well put together story loaded to the brim with humor, sarcasm, wit, and a dash of charm. It gives us a kind of poor man's version of The Bard's Tale, twisting the conventions of the genre into something new and entertaining. I would very much like to see the developers make another game with the same characters in the same universe, but with a larger budget. This is a game with a tons of potential and could definitely benefit from more time and money to make something even greater.
If you appreciate funny fantasy games like Dragon Fantasy Book, Dink Smallwood, or The Secret of Monkey Island- I would highly recommend you give Zenith a chance- you'll be rewarded with a surprisingly great story and a whole lot of laughs.
Ghost of a Tale creator Lionel "Seith" Gallat has posted an update today on the official website that if the closed beta goes well, we might be able to play an early access version of the game in "not too long" a time in the future. It's been a long three years of development, and you can tell the game has come much farther than expected because it looks absolutely stunning.
Ghost of a Tale is about a small minstrel mouse named Tilo on Periclave Island. Rumors are that the island is haunted and there is a tower that holds some wonderous treasure, but there is great danger surrounding the path Tilo looks to travel. It's up to the player to piece together what has happened on the island and find why there are undead rats roaming the land on the way to obtaining the treasure.
I had first come across Ghost of a Tale from a Gamasutra article, and shortly thereafter from an Analog Addiction article [ EDIT: It was actually this AA Article ], and decided to periodically keep checking in on it. With each new tidbit of information the game looks better and better. What else would I expect from a game that takes it's inspiration from 3 of my favorite games ever- The Legend of Zelda, ICO, and Dark Souls.
Plus, it takes an anthropomorphic approach, bringing up memories of a childhood favorite book of mine, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. The film version was also amazing and called The Secret of NIMH. Regardless, this is a game I'd highly recommend looking into supporting. Seriously, it has come so, so far from the Alpha trailer 3 years ago, and the Gamescom trailer from 2 years ago.
One of my favorite developers, Rocketcat Games, has finally given us a release date for their new game Death Road to Canada. I've been hyped for this for quite a while, and especially after their ridiculous live action trailer, it's great news that in just under a month we will be slaying zombies on a trek to the great northern wilderness.
It's always sad to see a good game get shut down, and the free-to-play Dead Island: Epidemic was a great game. On September 15th Team Dead Island: Epidemicannounced they would shut down a month later, and now- the game servers have just officially just shut down.
Team DI:E had taken the franchise and gave it a hell of a makeover and a ton of new and wonderful characters. Every corner of the game was full of small details that filled the world and gave it depth. Those little things added so much to the game's style it would be hard to deny its brilliance. Even the loading screens had something to entertain, all my yellow-colored headers in this post are statements that popped up between matches. They include nods to other zombie IPs, strange explanations, and even things the developers were doing to prepare the game.
They went above and beyond in creating something you could tell they loved. I mean look at the interesting way they used text in the pictures below (numbers 3 and 4). They moved in perspective as you shifted position around them, like small hovering walls. DI:E was a work made by a team that wanted to make something they really cared about, and it definitely showed.
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Developer Deep Silver has been having a tough time recently with the Dead Island franchise, and the only good thing in the last couple years was this MOBA. After the fallout with Yager being eliminated from Dead Island 2's development after monstrous delays(although Techland has offered to take up the reigns again) and the fumbled mess that was Escape Dead Island- which could've been handled so much better. I had hoped some good news would come out for the series I enjoyed so much. Escape Dead Island had so much potential going for it and they really dropped the ball big-time on the chance to expand on a tremendously fun zombie series.
Turning Daryl...
What makes this so awful is that the game was an absolutely amazing MOBA. Epidemic had beautiful graphics, amazing sound and music design, and most importantly, it had damn fun gameplay. I started playing it myself in December 2014, and over the course of playing there were numerous improvements and graphics overhauls- as you can see from the pictures (the newest on top, to the oldest at the bottom of the page)- and they always made things better with each new addition. And there were constant additions to the game, be it new characters, weapons, or whatever. There was plenty of content to keep players busy.
Reading Zombie Survival Guides...
Deep Silver put a lot of effort into this game and the team directly responsible made something special. I can only hope that they use what they've made to create a Diablo-esque story mode game we can purchase and play to support them. In my opinion, an iOS and Android mobile version of a single player campaign could be created with Epidemic as its foundation and potentially marketed quite well if they really wanted to. Maybe Deep Silver can put the game to use in the ever-expanding mobile games area.
So in saying goodbye to Dead Island: Epidemic, I leave you with my favorite small bit of humor in the background of one of the levels that always made me laugh...
...a zombie that died photocopying its ass on a xerox machine.
