LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles: Review

     I have a long history with the LEGO games, I had played the original LEGO Star Wars games as they came out long ago, and have played nearly every released game that has been made since.  In general they are getting progressively bigger and better- albeit with some continuously nagging flaws that still have yet to be addressed.  Somehow, LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles takes all the lessons they've learned over the years and tosses them out the window.

Ackbar is right, this game is a trap.

     The first difference from past LEGO games is that The Yoda Chronicles draws inspiration from real time strategy games.  That in itself isn't too awful, it worked relatively well for parts of LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars and those parts were quite enjoyable.  The issue here is that they've made it so shallow.  You move your team from point to point avoiding fire, eliminating enemies, and trying to either find a person or locate an item.  Occasionally using coins that spill out of destroyed items or enemies to buy ("build") new troopers or vehicles to repeat the process over and over.
     There isn't even a discernible difference between choosing either the Jedi or the Sith for the game.  The objectives for either side are pretty much the same and are superficial at best.  

     The controls are the most cumbersome I've experienced for a mobile game.  You tap a point to move that way, or tap a specific enemy for your character(s) to attack that particular target- all at a pace that makes a snail seem like a speed demon.  Outside of that, there really isn't much else you can do.  The awful camera doesn't help at all either, because there is no way to expand what you're able to see any further than what is on screen, and it really hampers movement when you have to repeatedly tap the screen every couple seconds to move along even a short path.

     What the game does have going for it is that it is free.  There is a very small storyline that is decent.  All the brief cutcenes and animations are top notch, as well as the sound design.  And, sadly, that is about it. 

     LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles is easily the worst LEGO game I've ever played.  The rudimentary parts of a much better game are all here in the most basic ways possible, but they just weren't given room to grow.  There isn't enough depth here to make this game engaging, let alone entertaining.  If they adapted the LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars' RTS segments for a mobile game of its own, it could be wonderful, but The Yoda Chronicles didn't even make a half-assed attempt of it.  Playing with real LEGOs is a far more delightful a task, and one that I would immediately recommend instead of this game.

Lara Croft GO: A Hint for a Future Deus Ex GO Game?

     I wanted to throw this little post up for consideration while I'm finishing my review for Lara Croft GO.  Coincidentally, this post comes on the same day as Square-Enix is announcing the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided pre-order, complete with overly ridiculous and complex system that changes with more people pre-ordering the game- leading to a small media debacle.  Apparently they've designed a tiered system of physical and digital bonuses, with one being a 4 day early copy of the game marketing it under the appropriate term of "Augmentation."

Lara Croft raiding tombs wearing the Deus Ex costume- augmenting her sense of badassery.

     Hopefully this will be a bit of potential good news for players, and fans of both Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO.  One of the unlockable items in Lara Croft Go is a particular costume of interest- a Deus Ex suit- of course that is also one of the franchises Square-Enix publishes.

     The inclusion of the Deus Ex costume in this game, obtainable through an IAP, as is the Hitman costume, leads me to wonder if developer Square-Enix Montreal is hinting at a third game in the GO series.  Obviously, this could mean nothing at all, and just be a neat inclusion.  This is just my own speculation, but we can always hope for more right?

     I mean, think about it- the Deus Ex series would be a tremendous addition to the GO games' turn-based puzzler mechanics.  The nature of the world of Deus Ex and the series' stealth elements would translate perfectly.

Necropolis: PAX Prime's 2015 Trailer Hilarity

     I've been keeping tabs on Necropolis since the SXSW earlier this year.  Now from the PAX Prime 2015, Harebrained Schemes have released a brilliant new trailer making the most of the nature of constantly dying in their 3rd person rogue-like dungeon survival game.

"NECROPOLIS is a third-person action roguelike, set in a living dungeon that changes every time you play, filled with monsters, myth and magic, and lorded over by the mad mystical intellect known only as the Brazen Head. 

So come on by. Bring your friends. Every time you die, win a monster pin of the fiend responsible for your demise (collect the whole set!) And for those who make it to the end, we have a very special prize."

     Necropolis looks to be not just a purely skill-based game, but something both beautiful, and more importantly, a fun game.  It will be coming to PC either late this year or early 2016, with the potential to head to consoles TBD.

     For more information check out their [ Official Site ] & [ Press Kit ]

Metal Gear: An Open Letter to Sony, Armature Studios, Konami, & The Great Hideo Kojima: The Boss for PS Vita

     Looking through my 836 blog drafts (that is an exact number) I happened to come across this gem, which ties to the Batman Arkham Origins: Blackgate game by company- Armature Studios.  Dated from July 2, 2012, it's a plea to create an original Metal Gear game that could happen from a company that brought the PS Vita HD remakes of Metal Gear 2 & 3 to fruition.
     Note: This is still essentially a draft post.

An open letter to Hideo Kojima, Armature Studios, Sony,
     ...and Konami...

     I would absolutely LOVE to see a Metal Gear game with The Boss (aka The Joy) as the main character.  A female lead that is highly intelligent and more than capable, arguably the best character of the entire series.  She's been called The Legendary Soldier and True Patriot.  She taught Naked Snake all he knew about war, survival, and the the great costs it has.  The perfect candidate for a pocket Metal Gear game.
   
     The way I figure it, the game would be her earlier mission(s) with the Cobra Unit.  The main story is already known from all the bits and pieces of Metal Gear 3: Snake Eater, it would only need a little expansion.  Part of it taking place in 1962 in Tselinoyarsk with The Sorrow, and fleshed out with flashback parts (even possibly back to the founding of the Cobra Unit in 1942) to the time with the Cobra Unit- all culminating in the inevitable end.   

     It would end with Joy and The Sorrow.  Everyone knows it would be coming, but the portrayal of it playing out could be amazing.  We already know he tells her to kill him so she and their child could live, only now we have to actually do it. 

     The game would be a Spartan tale, no more than 6 hours long, with the Metal Gear story staple of tragedy and loss with the greatest of emotional impacts possible.  The ultimate tragedy and sacrifice, love and loss, the mingling of Joy and Sorrow, beautifully intertwined.

     Honestly, I've been reading that Konami would like to focus on mobile recently, so here's a decent idea they could start.  It could be a tight story with a game that always sells well.  Although the reported issues with Kojima might makes things problematic.  The chances of this happening are far slimmer than the chances of anyone from Sony, Armature, Konami, or even Kojima actually reading this post.
     I can dream anyway...

Ghostbusters: Puzzle Fighter: Review

     Ghostbusters Puzzle Fighter is grind heavy puzzle fighter has you fighting not just the familiar ghosts and ghouls of the franchise, but also the typical freemium staples- an unreasonably fast difficulty curve a handful of levels in and the ever-present and nefarious energy bar.  The energy is, of course, necessary to play matches and matches are needed to gain currencies and additional cards in order to level up characters for more puzzle battles.  There are IAPs to speed up the rate of play and increase the cards in your deck, but they aren't wholly required.

     The sound effects and music are top notch, and the art style is a decent blend of the films and cartoons.  The game comes with a completely original story featuring characters fans might recognize from The Real Ghostbusters cartoon show, the films, the newer IDW comic book series, as well as a few new additions.

     Overall, the game is very similar to Marvel Puzzle Quest, and the puzzles are of the Bejeweled and Candy Crush variety- simple tile shuffle and matching.  To make the battles more interesting than simple tiles destruction, is the fact that each character card can receive bonuses based on the type of tiles destroyed, and powering up a special move for the character- allowing things such as an extra damage move, or a healing blast for the team.

     Ideally, players will want to line up and strategize a move that cascades into more tile match ups in hopes of causing a nice combo streak.  The problem is that most of the time the ghosts can get a 3 tile move that cascades into 5 more combos that wipe entire lines and rows causing massive damage, while even the best players might only get a few tiled combos at best due to the off-screen drop-in tile generation being a little too one-sided (presumably to encourage buying more card packs or energy).

     Once players finish story mode, they can unlock a PvP mode.  The only big downside to this is that the story mode might be a bit tough because the difficulty ramps up quite quickly.  Far too quickly, exacerbating the repetitive nature of the game, and I have a feeling that it will likely result in a swift loss of interest for a fair number of players before they can even make it to the multiplayer PvP mode.

     Ghostbusters Puzzle Fighter's developer Beeline has made an interesting and addictive game that fans of puzzlers, strategy games, or Ghostbusters will enjoy.  Personally, I wouldn't mind a mode of play without needing to use energy (but no rewards to make it fair) for unlimited fun play.  Just using what you've got to play for fun.

Final Fantasy: Portal App: With Exclusive In-App TRIPLE TRIAD Card Game!

     The Final Fantasy series has come a long way, and today Android devices now can get a hold on the Final Fantasy: Portal App, which is a companion app to the vast series offering news on related merchandise.  It also has a slew of mini-games and ways of earning in-app points.

     There is also a free Portal App version of the original Final Fantasy game for players.  But, the item that has me excited is the free Triple Triad card game.  If anyone has played Final Fantasy VIII, it was the mini-game included.  I enjoyed the Triple Triad card game so much that I was demoted 2 in-game Seed ranks because I played it too much and avoided the main game's quest.  A hilarious inclusion that nudges players away from frivolous mini-games and back to the main focus.

     Alas, while we finally get a mobile version of the game, there are apparently some HUGE downsides to it.  First, there is currently a time limit (to earn crystals/stamina) to play matches, allowing only one play every half-hour.  Meaning we might expect the torture of micro-transaction bombardment that is driving players away from Square-Enix simply to continue to play the game.
     Then Google Play's reviewers are also complaining about needing an offline mode for the Triple Triad game.  Stutters cost energy to play and the game is lost, thus wasting extremely valuable energy.
     Lastly, many are also complaining about the App's sluggish and labyrinthine nature.  It's hard to navigate and the issue is greatly exacerbated by the slow program.  And having no home button is a nice cherry on top.

     Hmmm... a poorly designed app, a multitude of issues, and an energy limit for the beloved Triple Triad card game?  It looks like I'll be waiting to play until the app is heavily patched, and the problems are fixed.  Someone needs to toss a Phoenix Down on the original TT game and revive it in its true glory.

     Source [ Droid Gamers ]

Ghostbusters Paranormal Blast: Augmented Reality: Game Review

     When it comes to Ghostbusters, they've made a ton of great products over the years- the cereal, the cartoon, the amazing toy lines, and even the unbelievably delicious Hi-C Ecto Cooler juice- but this game isn't quite one of the great ones.

     Players play as a recruit to the Ghostbusters, and which of the 6 you choose doesn't matter, because it's a first-person game.  What the game does have going for it however is the ingenious way it uses the iOS device.  Using your location it will send you to various local areas where you live via maps and GPS to capture ghosts, or as I shut off the locations, all of them were conveniently in my living room.  Then it uses the device's camera as a 3D viewer- meaning you'll need to swing the device around and hunt for the ghosts in the room you are in, sometimes needing to stand up and spin around hunting down the ghosts.

     The battles are short, consisting merely of draining a ghosts health bar by firing a stream out of the Neutrino Wand, and then tossing out a trap to catch it once its health is low enough.  The monotony strikes quick as there are only 15 types of ghosts and each has attacks that are unblockable-but-weak offering a very limited range of things to look at and no real challenge.  So the longer you play the more you need to level up your gear- through in game currency or IAPs- offering nothing new visually, just stat boosts for things you already have, meaning the leveling feels completely unnecessary towards real progression.
     Although, a couple extra skill-items become available that make the higher level ghosts a bit easier, such as a stun blast, but they aren't ever necessary- even against the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man boss fights.

     As a life-long Ghostbusters fan Paranormal Blast offers about a half-hour to an hour of entertainment, but not a whole lot more.  Paranormal Blast might have been something extremely entertaining with more development, because it does have some good ideas, it just stays in the boring shallow end of the gameplay pool and avoids wading anywhere near the deep end altogether.  Outside of the game's novelty, its repetitive nature drags it into mediocrity.  At best, Ghostbusters Paranormal Blast is just a quirky gimmick to waste a lunch break with.

Satellite Reign: Syndicate's Spiritual Successor's Launch Trailer

     After EA Game's strange direction with the Syndicate series with its first-person shooter, original Syndicate director/programmer Mike Diskett decided to once again take action.  In 2013 he ran a successful Kickstarter campaign and we will now get the closest thing to a real Syndicate sequel since 1996's Syndicate Wars.

      Through the new gritty isometric cyberpunk adventure Satellite Reign we'll get the return to the neon corporate destruction we all wanted long ago.

     Satellite Reign will be available on August 28th for: [ Steam ]  [ Humble Bumble ]  [ GOG ]

Disney INfinity 3.0: Star Wars: NEW Twilight of the Republic Official Trailer!

     With less than 2 weeks to the release of Disney INfinity 3.0 we get more and more information and promotional build up for the Star Wars focused edition.  Disney INteractive just released the new trailer for the 2nd Playset "Twilight of the Republic."  

     It features many characters from both the Star Wars Prequels as well as some from The Clone Wars television show, such as Cad Bane, that had not been previously seen for the INfinity game.  Could Bane be a possible future figure since we already know there are a lot still unannounced?

     Disney INfinity 3.0 releases on pretty much every possible system on August 30th.

Marvel Mighty Heroes: A Half-Assed Review, for a Half-Assed Game

     When Marvel Mighty Heroes first hit the mobile games scene I was anticipating a cutesy version of Marvel Heroes 2015 or Ultimate Alliance, but instead DeNA gave us... something else.  And it's not a good something else by any means.

I do actually like the style.  And Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O'Hara.

     I'll start with the good.  The art style is quite good.  The big-headed, cartoony take on many famous heroes is quite fitting and actually works very well here.  The roster is huge, starting with Marvel staples like Captain America and Nick Fury, and opening many more over time like Daredevil and Black Widow.
     Initially the levels start fairly easy with a 4 player co-op in a competitive match with one of a few goals such as "defend the crates" or the always present defeat a specific boss.  Players compete against each other to make the most amount of points while working as a team to finish the set task.

     Sadly, that's about where the good ends and all the crap begins.  A much worse apparent cash grab then takes over and is driven home by the boring and highly repetitive rest of the game, which is steeped in IAP driven design.
     The tap based controls are horrendous, oftentimes resulting in seeing the tap on the screen and the character, quite literally, walking in the other direction.  A fact exacerbated in mobs of enemies when controlling the character becomes impossible.  Honestly, the responsiveness was so poor, I wanted to abandon it immediately.

     In the great path of pay-to-win gaming, the IAPs can give players more energy to play levels, gear to level up, and gold to unlock more characters.  But alas, the rarity and rolls for them can be so terrible that it feels purposely designed to take money and spit out nothing.  After weeks of the one free hero a day button attempts I received a singular hero I didn't originally have, and after tossing some money in to see what would happen I received 9 characters (same costumes as well) I already had (including 4 of the same EXACT Thor) and 1 new character.

     So, for a game that touts a vast cast of characters, the lottery method of obtaining them makes it extremely difficult to make the game enjoyable, when it's damn near impossible to get ones you like.  Not to mention the overpowered characters are so ridiculously overpowered that if they are in your match, even if you used extra energy to get a triple damage/score multiplier, they will win.  Every.  Single.  Time.  I'm specifically naming Thanos and Dr. Strange.  Their abilities will overtake anything else in the game and they will always get the win.

Pretty awesome that we lost all our energy to play to also lose our points.

     What makes this intolerable is the one-minute matches (actually a good idea) can be disrupted at any time if the internet connection is anything less than 100% perfect, resulting in time vanishing from the clock, causing a loss and waste of energy.  The game also has a tendency to "lose" information.  In one of my screen caps (above), all players received 0 points and the position I was in is the same one I gained- leaving me with a waste of resources.  Another screencap (below), if you look, has me as Daredevil, but with the Punisher's special abilities.  Whenever it happened, I got locked in place until the timer ran out, and yet again, got neither points, nor the wasted energy back.  The entire game appears to have been designed to screw people out of time and money.

Why does Daredevil have The Punisher's powers???

     While the art style is damn good, there isn't much of a plot even with the more recent addition of a "story mode," the tremendous number of bugs make it almost unplayable, and it is downright boring after the first few levels.  It is the same 3 levels and the same types of enemies on repeat for the whole game.
     I got Marvel Mighty Heroes the first week it was released, spent weeks playing it, and then periodically returned to see if it would get better.  It never did.  There is NO WAY I could ever recommend this game to anyone.

     I would immediately recommend anyone reading this to play Marvel Future Fight instead.  It is a superior game in every imaginable way, even if it also uses the lottery-type character unlock feature.  Or if you like the cutesy art, play the free PC game Marvel Hero Up, which is far better than this.

     I will also ALWAYS recommend the Marvel Heroes 2015 free-to-play game.  It is nearly the only free-to-play that is done right.