Another one of my “one to watch” posts, this time a small indie freeware title, but one that looks to be having more effort put into it per team member than any of this year’s AAA titles…and Modern Warfare 3.
You see, this is why I love PC Gaming, there is no way this could ever be done on a console, the whole idea of being an open platform means that just about anything can, and indeed will, be made by bedroom coders and small studios. There are people who make things because they want to, not because it pays their wages or the shareholders dividends, but I digress, the drawbacks of capitalism in what is an artistic[1] industry are not what I am here to discuss. I am in fact here to tell you about Mane6’s upcoming game, My Little Pony: Fighting is Magic.
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Gaming
After some serious convincing from a couple of friends ( and more than a few youtube videos) who have yet to steer me wrong when it comes to games, I was, once again, talked into another game.
Minecraft, the limitless game in which, you mine… and you craft. The concept is simple and you are only limited by two factors, your imagination and your time. While Minecraft is probably one of the least graphically advanced games we have seen in awhile, it has taken the world by storm. Continue Reading
SKYRIM – as I’m sure you are aware – is Bethesda’s latest entry to the Elder Scrolls series, taking the open-world and freedom from the previous titles and making it bigger and better than ever before in this epic adventure title, with dragons.
There won’t be any spoilers here, mostly because there is too much other stuff in Skyrim to talk about and, while the main story is interesting, you will likely get caught up doing something else. The general idea of the story is that dragons are returning at the same time that you have popped up, so you have to find out why. In Skyrim, you are dragonborn, meaning you were born with the soul of a dragon, and so you eat other dragon’s souls and use them to learn powerful dragon shouts. The more you complete of the main story, the more dragons will appear, and they won’t appear in the game until you do a small part of the main story which introduces you to the world, and you learn what your place is in it.
Like many other people, I didn’t bother following the main story for a while and only came back to it so I could kill the first storyline dragon so more would start popping up. After you leave the obligatory opening sequence, you can follow one of two people from two factions, one from the Imperial army, and one from the rebel Stormcloaks. So, completely oblivion to the helpful people, I walked off in a different direction in search of epic loot! Although the loot isn’t really that interesting at this level, you won’t mind, because it’s fun to adventure and make your own story. This is what makes the open-world RPG a great genre, and Bethesda does it best, time and time again.
The Elder Scrolls is a series that drags you into the game with immersion and lore. If you get into it, you’re going to really get into it. However, if you’re not that into the series (assumedly because you’re in some sort of cult that is against video-games. And puppies), then you are probably still going to be able to find yourself having fun in the world. The combat is fun and exciting with the dual-wielding mechanics, being able to quickly swap between magic and weapons and mixing between them for a unique fighting style. Overall, the main problem with the game is the UI, which many people and critics have been complaining about. It is good, with scrolling down the menus to find the right category and then choosing an item, but it sometimes doesn’t work when you click rather than scroll or if your mouse is hovering over one option and you try scrolling to another. This is unfortunate and can be very annoying when you want to choose one dialogue option, and the game picks another over a technical fault, however it is better than the usual ‘press I and click’.
What really sells the Elder Scrolls games (and Skyrim in particular) is the open-world and freedom you get. There’s a main story, which isn’t overly long itself and is as you would expect, a set chain of quests that take you from A to B, to do all sorts of things which, while interesting, you could be doing a whole lot more in the world. As well as the main quests, you also have four guilds for different types of character, not something new to the Elder Scrolls, but they do succeed in keeping it fresh.
In Skyrim, the Fighters Guild from Oblivion has been renamed the Companions, and the Mages Guild is now the College of Winterhold. While name changes may not seem that big, it does make a difference with gameplay, especially with the Mages Guild as it is no longer a guild, it’s a school. Each of these ‘guilds’ have their own chain of quests, as well as their own group of people that you will become familiar with and that you can help out with their own things. As well as the guilds, you have misc. quests, which are all over the place. You can walk into a new town and, chances are, the first person you talk to will have a quest that needs doing. Bethesda said that they stopped counting how long the game really was after they were going well past 300-hours, and I never thought this would be too over-exaggerated, but after playing the game, you can be sure that it’s not exaggerated.
Skyrim is truly as good as the hype that has been building up to it. It’s a massive world with a reasonable storyline and so much to do outside of the main quests that you won’t care if you finish it, because you can find plenty more reasons to keep playing. Plus, the gameplay is fun, with lots of interesting loot and items to play with, decent enough mechanics for creating your own items when the crap you find isn’t good enough, and when you’ve finished messing around with saving the world and whatnot you can take a break from adventuring and settle down, get married.
Akardo
Not only is this statement in the interest of the survival of the human race, but it’s also the name of a really fun game that came out a few weeks ago by developers, Robot Entertainment.
You play an apprentice War Mage, cocky and big-headed, tasked to defend the rifts at all costs, and soon you’re one of the only ones left. Orcs Must Die! is an action-packed strategy game where onslaughts of Orcs are trying to attack the rifts, and you have to stop them with a variety of deadly, dangerous and humorous traps.
There are many traps and weapons to choose from, which makes the game harder to play as it’s difficult to make that choice. One of your Eight slots is saved for a crossbow which you have to take every time, which is a great weapon for dispatching the Orcs yourself, though there’s also a Bladestaff, which is the melee weapon you could take with you as well as the crossbow. The other slots are used with magic and traps, which range from darts and spikes, to fire and springs; throwing, burning, and slowing the Orcs, Kobolds, and Ogres before they reach the precious rifts.
It is kind of a tower-defence game, but one with you running around in third-person to help kill the enemies. You can choose a barricade to fill one of your slots, to help create a path the enemy will have to take, or just get deadly things like the Floor Spikes. You can also upgrade each of the items which do different things, for example, the Floor Spikes will get a poison which slows enemies, and the Dart Walls will get increased range, but you only get a certain amount of upgrades as you pay for them with the skulls you get from completing levels, with the amount depending on how well you did per level, with a maximum of five skulls each level.
Many critics have received Orcs Must Die! with good praise, and I shall be no different. It’s a great, fun game, with attractive quirky graphics, and a variety of choice. The campaign also isn’t too short, and they have already released the first bit of DLC: Artifacts of Power. This DLC is only £1.99 on steam, but it only gives you four new weapons/traps, so it isn’t exactly a must-have, but it still adds to the experience.
Orcs Must Die! is available now on Steam at £11.99, has 27 achievements, and there is also a demo available on STEAM which gives you access to a few levels as a great taste to the game, go download it now.
Akardo
When you think about the perfect game what comes to mind? Action, explosions, gunfights, running and jumping off of cities that are being destroyed?! Well Uncharted 3 has all of these things and a heck of a lot more to give to you and it satisfies. Back in 2007 when Naughty Dog released the original Uncharted people were stunned, the game was advanced in every way with fluid combat and an engine that pushed the boundaries it was hard not to be. This was improved with Uncharted 2 and not by any little amount either, the game was awarded game of the year by multiple critics. Now Naughty Dog continues to create cinematic greatness in the realm of video games with Uncharted 3:Drake’s Deception Continue Reading
First of all, let me apologize to everyone for the delay in getting this posted… I’ve been unable to put the game down long enough to write this. So, after I’ve just completed another Co-op mission, I’ve decided to get this out there for the masses.
For many, Battlefield 3 was one of the most anticipated video games and First Person Shooters of the year. Creating the game’s very own dedicated graphics engine to enable players to feel as if they are right in the middle of the fire fight, Battlefield 3 definitely does not disappoint. Continue Reading
Ratchet and Clank has been around since the PS2 and was known for it’s guns, comical tone and stylish setting. But the Ratchet and Clank games have also all been solo besides the versus modes that were in a few of the games. All 4 One is the game that changes the pace for the series by making coop a requirement. Me and my girlfriend are always on the lookout for a good coop game, while the competitive games are always fun to play, coop games give a whole different experience. Lucky for us and any of you who are also big coop players, this month seems to be a heavy coop month with the releases of games such as Dungeon Defenders and Payday: The Heist and many more. The Coop lineup kicks off with the release of Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One!
All 4 One tends to go along the same path as the other Ratchet and Clank games as the story starts off as the heroes battling the evil Dr. Nefarious but the game somehow manages to bring him onto the good side and all four of the characters (Ratchet, Clank, Qwark and Nefarious) work through the game to complete various tasks. The game heavily emphasizes the coop by making parts of the game that requires more than one player to complete. Enemies are also killed easier and faster if more than one player is attacking the same one. And while all this is happening you are still competing to see who can get the most bolts to upgrade their guns! While playing through the game I was very much reminded of the fun the first time I played Castle Crashers and Little Big Planet as I laughed and had fun taking other players and sabotaging them by scooping them up in my vacuum and shooting them off the side. And I think that is one of the greatest aspects of this Ratchet and Clank being a coop game. While most multiplayer games are frustrating and irritating, this has more of a light tone and allows the players to have fun. But this does not go without saying a lot of the good things about the other Ratchet and Clank games are missing. Continue Reading
BlizzCon 2011 started today with CEO and Founder, Michael Morhaime, making some big announcements, followed by a crowd favourite, Chris Metzen.
Biggest announcements for each of Blizzard’s big franchises include the new World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria, which was leaked several months ago but has now been made official.
With the new expansion, there will be new PvE zones and general content, along with the new race (of Pandas) which can be played by both Alliance AND Horde, the new class, Monk, and the level cap goes up to 90. There will also be a new talent system, and more PvE content that will convince you to play more out in the world, rather than sitting around cities.
Diablo III is now “on the home stretch,” said Metzen, with still no official release date, due to Blizzard’s usual process of it being released “when it’s done.” Diablo 3 Collector’s Edition includes in-game items for D3, SC2, and WoW, as well as an art book, and a very awesome 4GB Soulstone USB device.
As of now, you can purchase a World of Warcraft Annual pass – a year’s subscription that you pay for monthly, but you get some excellent goodies, including a digital version of Diablo 3 for free, access to the new WoW expansion beta, and an in-game mount: Tyrael’s Charger.
With Starcraft 2, there has been various units released for Terran, Protoss, and Zerg, but the focus this year is on the expansion, Heart of the Swarm, which continues the epic storyline with Kerrigan in the campaign, as well as new multiplayer modes that are yet to be seen.
You can still purchase a BlizzCon 2011 Virtual Ticket to see the upcoming panels, competitions, and tournaments, and still get the Murkablo WoW in-game pet and see Foo Fighters live tomorrow night. Blizzard have also released three EPIC trailers for each game that can be found online now, including the especially epic Diablo 3 trailer, The Black Soulstone.
Akardo
RAGE is the latest from id Software, a name you will recognise when you think of Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake, making them more than qualified to tackle the action-packed post-apocalyptic world of RAGE.
The game starts with an asteroid (named the “Apophis”) crashing into the Earth in the year 2029, wiping out most of the human race, the only survivors are those who were frozen into arks before Apophis hit. You play as one of the Ark-survivors, which makes you a target for the Authority, the new governing body and your new enemy as part of the Resistance.
Unfortunately, I haven’t finished RAGE yet – making this a bit more of a first-impression, than a review – so I can’t get too in-depth with the storyline, but so far it’s rather enjoyable, except it isn’t the sort of game that you would get just for the story, and so I shan’t say much more on that.
The good parts of RAGE include the visuals, which are really nice, despite being ruined by the screen-tearing – which you have probably heard about – and while they’re supposedly more of a Radeon-issue, that’s not much of an excuse. It’s playable, and I still enjoy the game, but I have given up on a real immersive experience as a result.
Another good thing in RAGE is the multiplayer – there’s none for your regular story mode, but there is a Legends mode, where you and a friend (only 2-player) complete missions separate from the story, there’s several of these, but still not enough as they’re all very fun with a mate. There is also an online racing mode, racing here contributes nothing to your single player campaign game, but you can upgrade your vehicle and get more weapons and toys for fighting other people in this online battle mode.
Apart from the screen-tearing, which is simply a technical issue, there isn’t much wrong with the game. At first, I really struggled with changing weapons, as it seems like a console port, with 4-slots for weapons with the rest sitting around your awkward inventory, forcing you to choose which weapons you want ready for switching to and for fast ammo-switching. After several hours, I was pretty much over this as I had a few preferred weapons, though it’s still annoying when I run out of ammo for, say my Authority Machine Gun, so I switch it out for my Settlers Assault Rifle, only letter to go through the same arduous process.
RAGE is fun to play, and that’s what really matters once you start playing a game like this. Enemies move [almost] intelligently, making it satisfying to shoot them when they’re trying to crawl away while still shooting at you. And when you’re bored of the run-and-gun (which early on, there is surprisingly little of), you can do some non-compulsory races to upgrade your vehicle, or there are some mini-games dotted around the settlements, including a card game, which you collect the cards for as you travel around the world.
I quite like RAGE. If you want to compare it to Fallout 3, then the latter probably wins due to it having more RPG-elements (which I personally prefer), but also because of that, they shouldn’t be compared like that. I find Fallout 3’s story has a bit more to it, but RAGE is newer and plays better, with really pretty graphics. This one is definitely recommended.
Akardo
In gaming originality is one of the most important aspects of all. Nobody wants to play a game that they have played before only with a different skin. There is a question today about whether or not this is true as we see many of the games we once loved staying in the same format they had back when they were games on NES and Genesis. Famous characters like Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong, Rayman, Pokemon, Kirby, Metal Slug and even Mario have all fallen under this category as they all release games that, instead of moving forward and innovating their titles, fall back safely on formulas that have made money before. Some of these games are not even bad, some of them even great! But the problem is wondering if the characters we once loved can do something that competes with other games in their genre. The other question is if some of these games can even come out as a good game in a new, fresh format. Could Metal Slug compete with games like Team Fortress or Serious Sam? Can there be a platformer other than Mario that succeeds at transforming into 3d? We will take a look at games that haven’t changed, could change and should change. Continue Reading
Gaming and Tech Network 