God of Weapons - Xbox Review

God of Weapons by Archmage Labs and published by Archmage Games Studio
Xbox review written by David with a copy provided by the publisher.

Disclosure

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co #keymailer #godofweaponsxbox

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

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God of Weapons is a fantasy themed auto-shooter roguelike. Another entry in an increasingly common style that’s probably its own genre by now but nobody can agree on what to call it beyond “Survivors-Like” which I think is as lazy-but-accurate as calling an ARPG with strict animation-timing based combat and rest-to-reset-the-map mechanics with a typically dark theme as “Souls-Like.” It’s correct, but are we out of ways to describe these things? Probably, I’m not smart enough to figure that one out, so I’m just gonna use ‘em. The lovely part about language is that the only thing that matters is understanding, and the moment someone says “Soulslike” and “Survivorslike” we have a fair starting assumption of how the game works. 
 

(Writer’s note: Yes, Roguelike started this way, but how many Roguelikes actually resemble Rogue beyond dying as a mechanic?)


Highest victory at the time of writing: Merchant aspect of the King

God of Weapons has twelve characters to pick from, and each character has three aspects. You start off with three characters unlocked, one aspect open on each: The Knight (Aspect: Knight), The Hunter (Aspect: Hunter), and The Raven (Aspect: Rogue). I like Rogue type characters, so I started here, and didn’t get particularly far. Dying is part of the point though, and doing so the first time is an achievement with a currency reward. I actually ended up completing my first successful run as The Hunter, going full autoshooter with it. Completing that run unlocked the Eldritch Knight aspect for The Knight, along with the ability to obtain permanent bonuses to everything from damage type to loot to starting gold just like you’d expect with a roguelike.


My favorite thing that separates this game from others like it though is the inventory management. Every level-up allows you to add additional inventory squares between completed floors. Items, both offensive, defensive, and utility, take up space in the form of those squares to match the shapes appropriate for the item itself. In general the more powerful weapons take up more, or weirder, combinations of squares. Along with the default pool available, one of the achievement/quest rewards in the game is the ability to unlock more items for that pool, of which five options pop up to buy between levels. You have to both complete the related quest and have the required currencies for these unlocks though, and roll them in the pool to use them.

Even the location of the squares on level-up is RNG with a reroll cost 

My least favorite thing about the game is the total lack of context given. You start the game the first time and it just drops you in with the assumption you’ll just get it. Two options to enter a run, a door for the interior of the tower and a portal for the exterior. There’s no explanation that I’ve found for what the difference is, if any. There’s also no explanation that I’ve found for what this tower even is, or world information at all. The King is another character you can play, with its own additional aspects, as is The Warlock. There’s a tiny scrap of information in the difficulty menu, with a few named bosses, but nothing outside of that, including a readable bestiary that I’ve found. 

That glowing red guy totally isn’t a Beholder

Speaking of bestiaries, as much as there isn’t a list, I do absolutely appreciate the enemy variety and the fantasy it draws from. Enemy attacks vary quite well too, with higher floors including enemies that have a rush attack, or ranged. You absolutely cannot just Poe up on some proverbial garlic and AOE your way through most floors by standing still. You’ve gotta move, and you have a move speed. Enemies vary in their own move speed as well so without buffs, some of them are faster than you by default depending on character selection. A Dash mechanic is present, and careful use of it is highly recommended. Some floors include traps, and triggering them only to dash away and leave the following horde in your place to take the damage is a great tactical choice. 

Maybe you can Poe a little bit as a treat

Overall, while I’m mostly a gamer for the story or worldbuilding of a piece I put my time into, I appreciate the pure value of fun and this game has it in spades. A fantastic suvivorslike with no context and all of the entertainment to make up for it. 

 

Score: 8 / 10

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Crime Simulator Demo Available on Steam!

May 13th, 2024 - Robberies, assaults and gangster hijinks - that's just part of what Crime Simulator, the new game from the makers of the bestselling Thief Simulator 2, has to offer. Crime Simulator will allow both to make a criminal career alone, as well as joint actions in co-op mode (up to 4 criminals). The PC release of the game can be expected in 2024/2025, with PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo console versions also planned. A free prologue of the game is available now on PC.

The Polish studio CookieDev, best known for the bestselling Thief Simulator 2, is working on Crime Simulator. Ultimate Games S.A. will be the publisher of the game on PC and consoles.

Crime Simulator is a unique simulator of criminal underworld activities with a first-person perspective (FPS) view. The game offers single-player and online co-op modes for up to 4 people at a time. The gameplay broadly depicts criminal life, also relying on elements known from other game genres.

A criminal career includes in Crime Simulator not only carrying out bandit jobs (such as theft and debt recovery) and fighting, but also, among other things, collecting raw materials, developing characters, upgrading equipment or gaining the right reputation among the factions present in the game.

"In Crime Simulator, players will find a fresh take on action simulators. It's a game created both for players who prefer solo gameplay and those who like to interact with others. Among other things, the title will offer a new approach to combat, a system of gangster factions and, above all, gameplay that includes many intriguing and diverse elements." - says COO of Ultimate Games S.A., Rafal Jelonek.

As of May 10, a free demo of the game is now available on Steam. In Crime Simulator: Prologue, players will find one smaller settlement with a construction zone and an abandoned farm that serves as a hideout for gangsters. The full version of the game will feature three larger settlements, desert areas on the outskirts of Mexico, national park areas in Canada and several additional locations, among others. The CookieDev team is also working on a whole lot of additional content.

In Crime Simulator, many tools await players to use in criminal actions. The developers offer, among others, baseball bats, crowbars, rods, wrenches, knuckles, knives, telescopic batons, pistols and various types of bombs and grenades. Specialized traps and turrets will also be available for use.

Crime Simulator - Main Features:

• make a career in the criminal underworld;
• execute orders and gain fame;
• act alone or in cooperation (up to 4 criminals);
• use a wide arsenal of weapons;
• collect raw materials and create equipment.

The game is tentatively scheduled for release on PC (Steam) in 2024/2025. Crime Simulator will later also hit PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

Crime Simulator (Steam): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2737070/Crime_Simulator/

Crime Simulator: Prologue (Steam): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2928280/Crime_Simulator_Prologue/

Article by: Susan N.

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Antstream Arcade Review

Antstream Arcade by developer and publisher AntstreamLtd—Microsoft Xbox Series X review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

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Antstream Arcade touts a pretty hefty package. Play over 1,300 classic video games via a streaming service. Being a subscription service, it is easy to see why it draws an analogy of being the Netflix of video games. By and large? It works pretty well, especially for an old school gamer such as myself.

The sales pitch is an interesting one. The Antstream Arcade service isn’t the games itself – it’s a window to access the huge collection of classic titles. This allows them to be worked within dynamic ways. The library can and will change, there are missions and leaderboards that allow people to compete against one another. The missions / challenges are a neat idea, as it takes the core game and has you attempting to get the best score you can with one life or in a particular time frame or some other predetermined constraint.

The library is massive (you can check it out here), pulling from a wide variety of sources like the Amiga, Atari, NES, arcades and so on. Some of this feels a bit like checking boxes. Yes, there are PlayStation games, but there’s only a handful. There are SNES titles, but you’re not getting first party Mario games either. That being said,  there are lots of really great games in here, especially for someone like me who grew up on these titles. I’m a sucker for arcade brawlers like Double Dragon, Final Fight and Ninja Gaiden. There is also a pretty wide range of genres here. I had initially figured that the library would mostly consist of shoot-‘em-ups and brawlers, but there’s plenty of 1-on-1 fighters, platformers and even RPG titles baked in here. Now, it is worth calling out that there is some title duplication, where you might see something that was on both NES and Sega Master System, or across a few of the older computer platforms.

I’m pretty impressed with how well the service streams. You need more than 4mbs, which is not a high bar to clear. That makes this pretty accessible to most people (I was playing this at my cabin, which often maxes out in the high 20’s in mbs) with reasonably solid performance. I’m sure this plays into their strategy of focusing on older games that have small file sizes – I wouldn’t count on seeing a lot of disc-based PS2 games in the near future because of this.

Even with this pretty rough internet I have at the cabin (I like to refer to it as internet delivered via tin cans and string), Antstream Arcade performed really well. There was some odd pixilation that happened at times, but it worked well. I didn’t run into any notable issues with the gameplay itself, and even when I was playing at my house with a 1+gbs connection, there was the occasional odd visual artifact in larger / newer titles (Mortal Kombat or Pit Fighter come to mind), but it was never a major deal to me.

While the content here is pretty stellar, the interface is a bit more of a mixed bag. On the downside, searching for games can be sort of rough. It relies heavily on text searching. Games are tagged with genres such as platforming or fighting. However, with so many games, it can be tough to find a specific game unless you know what title you are searching for. On the one hand, it was fun randomly stumbling onto cool games that had been tucked away in the back of my head for decades now, but there were times trying to figure out what I was going to play next was a bit of a challenge. For some reason beat-‘em-ups just didn’t work for me when I selected the ‘more’ option to the right, like the default search terms actually didn’t line up with their own tagging.

Another plus of the interface is the ability to save games, which was obviously lacking in many of those old Atari or arcade titles. An interface shortcoming is I didn’t see any way to remap buttons. They are assigned on a per-game basis, and the majority of the time they made a lot of sense. However, there are just some genres like 1-on-1 fighting games where I have been using my own personal button remapping for years now, and not having the ability to do so sort of felt like fighting with a hand tied behind my back.

There’s a few different flavors of access. You can install the game itself and get access to some of the titles without paying anything, but that’s really missing the beauty of what is offered here. That means you can do a one year subscription for $29.99 or a lifetime at $79.99. I have a lot of these titles on my actual NES or Atari that I still have, or they’re available in other compilation titles like the Capcom ones or these old school games might just not be your thing – so mileage may vary. That being said? This hit a huge sweet spot with me. Elevator Action tournament? Cool – that was a favorite arcade cabinet of mine as a little kid, and I didn’t have to hem and haw at the corner store and decide between playing it or picking up five atomic fireballs to snack on.

Lastly, Antstream Arcade has a rather unique take on competitive play. I mentioned missions before, and tournaments. High scores are documented and when someone beats your progress you get notified automagically by the system. It all tries to build a sense of competitive community, and for those who don’t particularly like playing with / against other people, this asynchronous method is likely ideal. That being said, some of these games were at their best (especially brawlers) when you were partnered with a person, and there’s no active multiplayer options. Given the streaming nature of the software, that makes sense as I suspect there would be some significant technical hurdles to overcome there, but it’s still worth calling out for someone who might have been looking forward to some co-op arcade Double Dragon.

Antstream Arcade is going to appeal to a pretty niche group – but I’ll fully admit that I’m a member of that target audience. It’s great to pick up some classic game I used to enjoy, virtually toss in a handful of quarters and spend the next half an hour blasting or punching away at something. This software absolutely scratches an itch that I frequently have. I dig the broad collection of titles, the way they try to virtualize a community and that it’s a living service with new tournaments, games and updates being continuously rolled out. All of those positives aside, there is room for improvement. I’d love some button mapping, multiplayer and stronger discovery options to help me get the most out of the framework itself and the games provided within. All things considered, Antstream Arcade is a lot of fun, even with some as of yet untapped potential.

Score: 7 / 10

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Coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox Platforms is Dice-based deck-building roguelike Tamarak Trail

Denver, USA – May 18th, 2023 - Independent game studio Yarrow Games, in partnership with leading independent video game publisher Versus Evil, are pleased to reveal that its upcoming deck-bulding roguelike Tamarak Trail is coming to Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms, where it will launch alongside the Steam release this summer. Tamarak Trail is a turn-based deck-building roguelike that uses customizable dice instead of cards.

As a member of a secret society named the Sturgeon Lodge it’s up to you to piece together the mystery of a decaying earth, hunt down the source of this corruption and put a stop to it at all costs.

Embarking on this adventure, you can choose one of three characters; The Magician, the Tracker or the Detective, each with their own unique abilities and traits. Depending on your preferred playstyle, the character’s different skills and attributes allow you to craft a unique strategy for your character as they navigate the ominous trail. Procedurally-generated paths create a myriad of possibilities where you can encounter events, monsters, campsites, treasure and more. Every new discovery reveals new bonuses and strategies to explore.

To combat the monsters and nefarious foes you’ll encounter, you’ll have to be tactical in your dice-building, as each face could mean the difference between victory or defeat. Different dice sides can be used to attack directly, apply buffs and debuffs, inflict damage over time, defend yourself, to “flip” them to another side for combo awesomeness and much more. You can even apply “dice cores” to secure passive abilities. You’re given direct control of your dice rolls, and getting them to smack together allows you to create killer combo attacks. In true deck-builder fashion, dice faces can be customized with more abilities after each victory, adding new attacks, defenses and combinations to take forward into future battles.

With a beautiful hand-drawn illustrative style, the game's art direction has many inspirations, including the Group of Seven, the Canadian landscape painters of the 1920’s, and illustrator Ivan Bilibin. Tamarak Trail takes its inspiration from roguelike deck builders like Slay the Spire, and pays homage to innovative titles like Dicey Dungeons and Peglin, which have influenced the game’s feel and mechanics. Add to that a diverse and horrific bestiary influenced by Northern Ontario's wildlife, it culminates in a treacherous trail where danger and intrigue hides in every corner.

“Tamarak Trail is among the most deep, engrossing deck builders I’ve ever played,” ​​said Steve Escalante, general Manager of Versus Evil. “We think Tamarak Trail has such wide appeal that we’re committed to bringing it to all major platforms right out of the gate. Thankfully you won’t have to wait too long to play it, as it’s launching this summer!”

About Yarrow Games

Yarrow Games was founded in 2021. Tamarak Trail is the studio’s first title, although members Piotr Lipert (Programming, Game Design), Lynden Joudrey (Art, Animation) and Michael Noble (Music, SFX) had worked together in the past.

About Versus Evil

Founded in 2013, Versus Evil, LLC is the US based video game publisher behind critically acclaimed video games First Class Trouble, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire and The Banner Saga trilogy. Publishing games on all major mobile, PC and console platforms, Versus Evil works with independent development studios from around the world. The corporate philosophy is to champion for the independent game developer. For more information visit versusevil.com

Article by: Susan N.

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Achilles: Legends Untold Coming to Xbox & PlayStation

TORUŃ, POLAND (April 26, 2023)— Today Dark Point Games announced their action RPG set in ancient Greece, Achilles: Legends Untold, is coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S consoles. Additionally, in an effort to provide players with equal access to the full version of the game and to provide a wide range of new features and content, the release of the full version of the game on PC has been postponed to the third quarter of 2023, coinciding with the release on Sony and Microsoft consoles.

“The simultaneous release of the game for PCs and consoles, and therefore the postponement of the release of the full version of the game for PCs, will allow us to fully realize the potential of Achilles. As a result, we will have additional content for you, which will add even more variety and enrichment to the gameplay. We will continue to listen to your feedback, which will allow us to better tailor the game to your needs and expectations. Ultimately, we want every player to be able to enjoy the game on their favourite platform, so the release of the full version will be available on all major platforms. Each of these steps is essential for you to have an unforgettable experience and for us to succeed in the world of video games”, says Pawel Waszak, CEO of Dark Point Games.

Achilles: Legends Untold is an isometric action RPG set in a world inspired by ancient Greek mythology and features an innovative Group AI Action (GAIA) system.  As the mighty warrior Achilles, you’ll be pitted against great warriors and giant mythological creatures in a centuries-long conflict between gods and people. 

The game launched to Early Access in May 2022, and the development team has worked closely with the community to enhance the gameplay over the last year. Originally slated for Q2 2023, the change in release date gives the team more time to provide extra content that will immerse players even further in the world of Achilles: Legends Untold. The Dark Point Games team plans to release at least two major updates before launch, which will include a ton of epic features. Fans will be able to enjoy new large maps, bosses, mini-bosses, enemies, achievements, storyline development, redesigned co-op gameplay, a character development system, GAIA actions, and more. The total gameplay time is planned to be around 20 to 30 hours, not including the New Game+ mode.

“We are a team that loves creating games for our players, and moving the Early Access release date is an opportunity for us to bring you even more awesome features and content for consoles and PCs. We want Achilles: Legends Untold to be the best it can be, so our team will be working non-stop to introduce new immersive content on a regular basis leading up to its release in Q3. All this will give you more ways to take on the role of Achilles and survive in a brutal world inspired by ancient Greece. However, these are not all of our aces; we still have some up our sleeves! In time, we will reveal what else we have in store for you. Get ready for an unforgettable adventure in ancient Greece!” said Waszak.

Achilles: Legends Untold is available on Steam and Epic Games Store for $19.99 USD / € 18.99. After the full release, it will be available for $24.99 / €23.99 on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation Store and the Microsoft Store. Players can wishlist the game on Steam now and join the Discord for the latest updates— stay tuned for news on the official release date of Achilles: Legends Untold! 

About Dark Point Games

Dark Point Games is a Polish studio made up of industry veterans who decided to create their own company. Their main goal was to arrange a space to create interesting and immersive worlds that would bring players plenty of entertainment. What makes them stand out in the market is the space they offer their employees, wanting each of them to have an area to focus on their individual creativity. The studio is responsible for creating an innovative AI collaboration system called GAIA. They are currently working on their first game, Achilles: Legends Untold.

Article by: Susan N.

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Our Favorite Games Through the Years - Part 5 - Gaming Thoughts

Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes.

As those of you who have been reading these posts so far, this is all about what appealed to us personally. That doesn’t mean it was the most technically advanced title, the one with the best story or any other singular metric that reviewers look for in a title. We simply enjoyed them for whatever reasons.

Robert:

Xbox: Halo: Combat Evolved

There were a lot of skeptics about Microsoft's new home console being successful (not while in the midst of a Nintendo v. Sony console competition), and adding to that skepticism was the doubt about the viability of a story-driven first-person shooter on anything other than a PC. Microsoft's original Xbox console along with Halo: Combat Evolved laid those concerns to rest.

That doesn't explain why it's on this list, though ... Sure, Halo: CE was a good game, but given all of the amazing games that you can find on Microsoft's maiden voyage into home consoles ... I chose the most obvious? Seems shallow.

Except it's not, not at first glance at least. By the time that Halo: CE released, my brother (to whom I am very close) had graduated from the US Air Force Academy and moved to the other side of the country and I took it hard. When he came home for Christmas that year, he did so with some Xboxes in tow. That entire holiday vacation, he and I played Halo: CE non-stop... first on normal, then on heroic, then finally on legendary. To me, Halo: CE is more than just a damn-fine shooty-shooty-bang-bang space marine game ... It's an entire universe that I got to first experience with one of my biggest role models.

It's hard for much to stand up against that...

 

PlayStation 2: Final Fantasy XII

For all of the absolutely amazing games on the PlayStation 2, I went with one that's both head-scratching and understandable at the same time. Final Fantasy XII was a weird beast of a title. Building it's combat and party system off of the long-running Final Fantasy XI MMORPG combat mechanics and paring it with a highly customizable Gambit system which allowed you to micromanage a companion AI. I personally enjoyed it almost as much as I enjoyed Final Fantasy VII's Materia system, though I couldn't care less for the initial FFXII leveling board/license system; to me it felt like an evolution to the Jobs system (which was later expanded upon in the Remaster so the North American version matched the more robust and just plain better, EU/International version) and that was okay with me at the time. 

Where Final Fantasy XII trumps all other titles on the platform, it actually occupies this space for a very different reason than one would expect... See, I wasn't able to play FFXII until well after launch, and the opportunity arose for me to pick up an affordable PS2 just before my daughter was born. The one game I picked up for it? Final Fantasy XII. I spent my parental leave/vacation time with her in my arms while I played FFXII from start to finish. To me, it's far, far more than just a video game ... it's a precious memory that I will cherish for the rest of my days.

Pierre-Yves:

PlayStation 2: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

It took a while to figure out what to put here… By this time, I had finally really started to work and could afford, put that in quotations as these games were my paychecks… the games that I wanted to play. Xenosaga Part 1, .Hack//, .Hack//G.U., Castlevania: Lament of Innocence and so, so much more.

But above all of those, Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia Trilogy, and especially the first, had me coming back again and again and again. The platforming mechanics, the wall running, the puzzle solving, maybe not as stellar by today’s standards but this at the time set the bar and without it? No Assassin’s Creed.

PlayStation Portable: Ys Seven

Here was another platform that had some great titles however Ys Seven is king here. Not only is it a great title, it brought the Ys Series back and without it? There would be no Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox or upcoming Ys X: Nordics. Falcom brought back our red haired adventure Adol and I was so happy to continue his adventures as prior to that the most that I had been able to play was Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim which there was zero regret on picking that up off of the used game shelf at an EB Games all those years ago. The Canadian equivalent at the time before they eventually rebranded into just GameStop to match the US.

Xbox: Fable

The original Xbox in some ways is a slim pick for me if only because I didn’t get an Xbox until AFTER I got an Xbox 360. I know, it’s weird. That said, I played a lot of Xbox with friends, Dead of Alive 6, Halo, and Fable.

Fable was another one of those open world do whatever you want titles that chipped away at my hesitancy to get into it. I like my linear story with some open spaces, FFX and FFXIII are prime examples, but in this case, as nothing more than a Chicken Chaser, it was up to me to figure out… everything. What did I want to do? Did I want to get buff? Play with magic? Stay agile and nimble? Do all of the above? The world was my oyster and I’ve gone back to it plenty of times over the years.

Sadly Fable 2 and Fable 3 just couldn’t carry that same magic…

Richard:

PlayStation 2: Trapt

Oof, the PS2 choice was extremely difficult for me. There are so many amazing PS2 games I could list off. It's where I started my over 2000 hours in the Monster Hunter franchise, it had some great RPGs like .hack, as well as one of my top 3 favorite game series of all time: Xenosaga. Now, while I would usually espouse Xenosaga as my favourite game, that's only because people look at me weird for liking Trapt. While both Xenosaga Episode 1 and Trapt are probably tied for my favorite game of all time, I'm listing Trapt here as my favorite due to just how... I don't know, weirdly fulfilling it feels? An entry in the Deception franchise, marketed as Kagerou 2: Dark Illusion in Japan, Trapt is a game about, well, essentially murdering people with different Indiana Jones style traps you set up in the mansion you're hiding out in. With three main and rather distinct different endings, some really cool trap configurations and implementations, as well as one of my favorite cut-ins in a game ever: the Man-Eating Music Box. Trapt is...definitely clunky and by no means perfect. The subtitles are iffy for sure, and the plot can be difficult to follow. It's also gratuitously violent, but I love it all the same.

Xbox: Black Stone: Magic and Steel

Alright, time for the weirdest entry in my listing: Black Stone: Magic and Steel. This game is sort of a Gauntlet Legends rip-off but done really poorly. The game is objectively pretty bad. But you know what? It's got memories and hours of fun(?) spent with friends. This is a game that's my favorite Xbox title you should probably never play.

Nintendo DS: Knights in Nightmare

I'm pretty sure some of the other reviewers are gonna give me weird looks for this one, but Knights in the Nightmare is my Nintendo DS pick for my favorite game. It's...horribly complicated, both theoretically from a gameplay perspective and from a storyline perspective. It's an eldritch mash up of turn-based strategy, RPG, real-time strategy, and bullet hell. Sound weird? It is, but hey, I've got a thing for games that try and redefine a genre or to create their own. Knights in the Nightmare was rough, it had an insanely long tutorial, and a steep learning curve. But you know what? The sheer uniqueness of the entire experience is what drew me in. Hands down this is my favorite DS title, even beating out others of my personal favorites like Luminous Arc and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.

Nick:

Sony PlayStation 2: Final Fantasy X

This was another really tough one. There were so many games, from Romance of the Three Kingdoms X, to Tekken titles to the endless hours of Madden my buddy Landon and I played. Still, I’d be remiss in not putting Final Fantasy X at the top of this list. Why? Because I was late to the PS2 party, but one of my best friends was heading out of town for a couple of weeks and loaned me his, with his copy of Final Fantasy X. It was love at first site with that fantastic opening sequence (Auron was the man), the pounding rock music and gorgeous visuals that still make up one of my favorite video gaming scenes of all time. I was about 2/3 of the way through that game when my buddy came back and wanted his system back. My wife, her aunt and my dad teamed up to buy me a PS2 with my own copy of Final Fantasy X that year for Christmas and it’s still my sentimental favorite of the series.

Microsoft Xbox: SoulCalibur II

This was my introduction to what would become one of my favorite fighting franchises of all-time. Seriously – Soul Calibur IV was my first review back when I started this site up (posted on 11/13/2009). This series has stuck with me over the years, and with good reason. It was not the first time I had played a 1-on-1 fighter with weapons (I believe that honor goes to Samurai Showdown), but the speed, graphics and music made this a memorable title indeed, as my buddies and I would play this on one TV on Sundays, while watching NFL games on the other TV right next to it. Ah, the college years…

Sony PlayStation Portable: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Having taken years off from playing handheld gaming systems, the PSP was revolutionary to me. The number of console-quality games on it was mind-boggling, and I played a ton of them. Almost all of my favorites though, where of the Final Fantasy variety. Between Tactics, Dissidia and some of the remakes, there were plenty to choose from. However, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII connected with me on a slightly different level. Likely in large part due to my affinity for the original Final Fantasy VII, but when the ending came to pass, even though I had sunk so many hours into the game, I felt like it was over too soon.

 Article by Robert, Pierre-Yves, Richard, and Nick

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Battlefield 2042 – XB1 Review

Battlefield 2042 by developer EA Dice and publisher Electronic Arts—Microsoft Xbox One review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

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Battlefield 2042 is an ambitious title that steps away from the last few historical titles and takes us to a future where we see plenty of those massive scale battles filled with epic Battlefield moments. That being said, there are some changes to the normal formula that may frustrate purists and there are some launch issues that are holding the release back from its full potential.

The focus here is on the massive scale battles that can support up to 128 players. That is just a mind boggling number, and it can make the most active points of the battlefield a chaotic joy to dive into. My personal style tends to be of the low kill / low death rate of a sniper who skirts the fringes of the active areas using a drone to scout the area and tag enemies for your teammates to see. Anyone who has read my other reviews of various shooters know that I prefer this ranged, strategic style of gameplay. Battlefield titles tend to do this far better than the more claustrophobic shooters like Call of Duty where you might have a map or two or a mode or two that sets snipers up for success, but the majority of the environments tend to be very sniper unfriendly. That is not the case here.

The use of vehicles makes traversing the large maps faster / easier to do – if you can access one at the time. I would say one of the biggest drawbacks to these massive maps in Battlefield 2042 however, is that there are times when you spawn at the wrong place or there’s just no one near the action to spawn to and you’re stuck hoofing it across a large stretch of land to get to the action. It’s slightly mitigated for me personally due to my aforementioned primary sniper class, but for those who enjoy the closer ranged combat, I imagine that those long treks are dull.

There are two design choices that are likely to be most controversial to veterans of the series. The first is that there is no single player campaign mode. The focus here is on the multiplayer (though you can do single player with bots as well), and while there’s a loose narrative around who the two teams were and the backdrop for their conflicts, that’s clearly not the priority here. That being said, if you’re hoping for a gripping story with one of those short-lived but bombastic storylines… you’ll be disappointed. I almost always play these campaign modes, but I have plenty of friends who never touch them and just jump right into the multiplayer component.

The other design choice likely to raise eyebrows is that the class system that has been such a major part of the Battlefield’s DNA for so many years now has been swapped out with a slightly more Call of Duty-esque specialist system. Instead of picking a class that has a particular skillset that creates a slightly more cohesive sense of balance to the matches, the new specialist system lets you mix and match to your heart’s content. I can see a case for either, but as someone who likes to customize things, I like the new system personally. You pick a specialist persona who has a particular skill (like operating drones or a bodysuit that allows for fast, directed gliding versus parachuting or setting up remote turrets. After picking your person, you then pick your primary and secondary weapons, their attachments, your gadgets and cosmetics. That said, these tie in rather nicely with an addictive progression system that sees you constantly unlocking things, especially in the early going.

In terms of the actual modes, the two major modes of Conquest and Breakthrough remain. I tend to gravitate towards Conquest myself, with its strategic take on capturing zones to more quickly bleed off enemy reinforcements. One of the more interesting aspects of the game are the major storms that can show up and wreak havoc on certain maps (reminding me of the storms from Battlefield 4 that I still remember so fondly to this day) – especially in Hazard Zone. There is a mode with far fewer players (32) where the squads attempt to collect as many drives from crashed satellites. There are a couple of extraction moments in each of these matches, and you don’t want to miss those as you are trying to collect as much as you can… while still getting away.

One of the modes I think will really help give Battlefield 2042 long life is the Portal, which is a very deep game editing tool. It provides some cool callbacks to prior games such as Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 1942 (which was my introduction to the series, so I really enjoyed seeing that inclusion). It’s not the easiest thing to dive into, there’s a bit of a learning curve to get the most out of its toolbox, but the potential for awesome community content here is strong.

It’s worth calling out that there are some graphical oddities. I’ve seen clipping through the bottoms of maps on kill cams, weird flickering / lighting effects gone wild and some of the destructible environments behaving weirdly (such as taller structures falling oddly when they start to topple). They are particularly jarring because this is very clearly a AAA title with graphics that lend themselves to some jaw-dropping moments and excellent audio design. I imagine these will get ironed out sooner than later – the Battlefield games have something of a recent track record of releasing with issues like this and seeing them get smoothed out over the next month or two.

These quibbles aside, Battlefield 2042 is still a great deal of fun. Purists may not love the specialist system or the lack of a single player story, but those who want huge environments with loads of players should find the chaos of Battlefield 2042 quite enjoyable. Portal is going to give this game even greater life than usual and something I’ve enjoyed sinking my time into so far.

Score: 7.75 / 10

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Fallen Knight - XBSX Review

Fallen Knight by developer FairPlay Studios Co. Ltd and publisher PQube Limited—Xbox Series X review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

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In an age where remakes and remasters are basically king, especially with the launch of a new console generation, there are some older styles that while we wish we were still getting but unfortunately are not. Coming from FairPlay Studios and being ported over from the Apple Arcade, the gap in the lack of Mega Man titles has been filled a bit more with an interesting play on the Knights of the Round Table as you get to play as either Lancelot or Galahad in this side-scrolling action platformer.

Unlike the 20XX and 30XX series (which are awesome) that are direct homages to Mega Man / Mega Man X (see Mega Man 11 review at DDnet) and Mega Man Z (review at DDnet), Fallen Knight takes the idea behind the concept of getting more powerful by defeating foes and getting their powers while changing it up a bit. Instead of having a gun, cannon, or mega particle cannon, you instead have a real sword that you’ll be swinging around in normal mode as Lancelot. While one could argue that you are just playing as Zero, where things change is that while you are running around with a sword, the sword is just the beginning of your repertoire.

Fallen Knight surprised me in its accessibility and versatility when it came to the 2D platforming style. Instead of having to wall jump your way up, which you can do, you can also simply run up the wall and then jump once you need to. Either that or an air dash. While fighting enemies, you can swing your sword at them but when it comes to certain more powerful ones, or ones with shields, sometimes just waiting for the right moment is a better idea as you can disarm and then take them out in one hit. Much more efficient and offers a different gameplay element than simply swinging at them until they are dispatched.

Whether you are attacking enemies head on or waiting for the perfect moment to strike, either or these methods will help against the final score of the stage which gives you currency in order to buy upgrades. Double jumping, air dashing, stronger attacks, more health, etc, each of these can be bought and equipped to make you more powerful and make the stages easier to go through as being able to double jump or air dash open up a fair amount of shortcuts especially if you’re planning on just blitzing to the end of the stage to face off against the dreaded boss that awaits you there.

These five monsters, six including the boss of the game, will test you on everything that you’ve learnt up until this point and make you wonder if perhaps you shouldn’t go back and do the first stage a few times in order to load up on some upgrades. What I loved about this though is that their movements are unique from one another making you really have to learn patterns and not simply swing with wild abandon like I’ve done in a few of the Mega Man titles over the years. Special moves, moves to be blocked, moves to be dodged, you’ll have to figure each of these out if you’re going to win and it’s not easy.

This is perhaps my only real issue with Fallen Knight. The stages are easy enough but the boss fights are almost stupid hard making you wonder how many times you will be willing to die before walking away. In my case, it’s something to overcome, but that’s because I’m tenacious enough and that’s about how I’ve finished Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and more over the years. So I have to wonder if perhaps the bar wasn’t set too high, however, for those loving a challenge, you’ll get plenty of that with Lancelot before moving over to Galahad which is essentially hard mode.

Summary

All in all though, Fallen Knight even if it has a higher entry point due to the learning curve for boss battles is one worth looking into. It’s not very long but it does have separate paths for our two Knights of the Round Table as they fight to protect the city and its people from those currently attacking it.

Score: 7.5 / 10

 

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Jaggy's Corner - E3 2021 Wrap-Up

E3 2021

This year E3 was completely showcased online due to the length of the pandemic that we are still recovering from. With it came a number of challenges, not only for game developers but for companies showcasing new games they’ve been able to work on during the last few years. In this article, I’m going to cover many of the E3 announcements this year, as well as some of my most anticipated.

Nintendo Direct

Out of the Nintendo Showcase came a number of titles being ported to the Nintendo Switch like Worms Rumble and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2. Both of these titles I’m excited to see on the Switch because I played a bunch of both Worms and Tony Hawk games many years ago, so it’s on account of nostalgia. I’m also personally excited for some more Legend of Zelda because Breath of the Wild 2 was announced! Again, while I haven’t played all of the Zelda series, it holds a special place in my heart, meaning I will not miss this title when we get it in 2022.

Metroid fans can rejoice because a new game was announced titled ‘Metroid Dread‘ which puts players in the role of Samus Aran. This is the fifth installment of the Metroid series and fans of the side-scrolling action can finally look forward to this latest addition.

Beloved Shin Megami Tensei V is slated for launch in November 2021 which will make plenty of fans of the role-playing title happy. The game is designed to be a hybrid between Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne and Shin Megami Tensei IV, so expect to be raising and fusing demons along with other new mechanics. I’ve never tried this series, but I do know that many people in my circle are hyped for this one!

Dear Villagers is publishing a JRPG this year titled Astria Ascending and it looks fantastic. I’m not too familiar with this title but knowing that it’s being published by Dear Villagers who brought titles like Hover, Edge of Eternity, and The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos, I’m interested to watch some of Astria’s gameplay.

There were a few more titles announced which are: WarioWare: Get it Together, Dragon Ball Z Kakarot, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania, Mario Party Superstars, Cruis’n Blast, Danganronpa Decadence, and Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water Remaster.

Square Enix

So we all know about my love for Dontnod’s Life is Strange series, yes? Well good news for people like me! Life is Strange is being remastered and I have to say that the graphics do appear to be much better than the original (Although, I’m not sure that the games will be worthwhile to purchase again, but we’ll see.) Anyways, we also saw a more in-depth trailer for Life is Strange: True Colors where players get to be Alex, a woman who feels the emotions of others. This is a must buy for me in September of this year!

Strangely I’ve missed any news about the Hitman series since the third game was released as the final installment, but Square Enix surprised us with a mobile, free to play title called Hitman Sniper: The Shadows. The mobile market has gained a lot of traction over the last couple of years and it shouldn’t be a surprise that studios are jumping on the band wagon, so who knows? This game could be good. I may give it a shot. (Terrible, I know.)

I love a good Final Fantasy game and Square Enix hit us with a trailer for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. This title is an action role-playing game and is a spin-off of the main Final Fantasy series. Although, based on the trailer, I can’t say I have high hopes for it right now. The trailer repeats the protagonist’s need to kill someone named Chaos and if that is the sole motivation for the story, UGH. Square, I hope for your sake and for Final Fantasy fan’s sake that there is more to the game than that. Just saying…

Finally, Square Enix showcased a new Guardians of the Galaxy game, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I am often skeptical of movie-to-video game renditions. I’m especially worried about it because of the terrible Fast and Furious video game. While it would be awesome to ride with the Guardians and maybe attempt to stop Thanos before oblivion happens, I don’t have high hopes for a video game. I especially don’t tend to have high expectations given that the showcase for it was needlessly long. I want this to be good, but I don’t know yet. We’ll see.

Xbox and Bethesda

Out of all the game announcements from this year’s E3, there is only one that I shrieked over. That would be for more SLIMESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Yes. That’s right. We are getting a Slime Rancher 2 and I’m over the moon. I played a ton of the first game on stream and absolutely loved every minute of it. I will get this game and play a TON of it, because it’s just that good. Trust me. You’ll thank me later.

Technically, there was a second title I would have been really excited about. For reasons I’m not going to go into here, I happen to love Top Gun (and yes, this does mean I will be watching Maverick in Theatres when it releases very close to my birthday. It’s tradition. Top Gun can never be a quiet movie. NEVER.) Now, if this Top Gun trailer was a standalone game, I’d be ALL OVER IT. Alas, no. Top Gun is merely a DLC for Microsoft Flight Simulator. You almost had it. ALMOST. *Grumbles*

There’s another title in the Xbox line-up that has peaked my interest and that is The Ascent which looks to be a cross between Cyberpunk and XCOM. It is definitely a third person game and players seem to be able to have a squad, but I am not yet sure if this is a single player or multiplayer title. Either way, it looks neat and I’m totally down for more tactical games especially if they are in the vein of Cyberpunk. Check out the trailer here.

A couple other intriguing games are Redfall – a vampire game which can be played solo or multiplayer, Psychonauts 2 – a cute platformer which was developed by Double Fine, Starfield – a first person action-adventure game, Twelve Minutes – an interactive thriller by Annapurna, Aragami 2 – a ninja stealth game developed by Lince Works,

Other titles announced during the Xbox showcase were:

• Shredders – Developer Foam Punch announced this snowboarding game
• Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising & Hundred Heroes – A JRPG that was successfully Kickstarted and launches in 2022
• Forza Horizon 5 – Playground Games returns to the stage with this popular driving title
• Party Animals – This is a physics-based brawler which looks like Gang Beasts but with animals
• Replaced – A side-scrolling steampunk action game coming out in 2022
• Somerville – By Jumpship comes a sci-fi adventure where players try to make their family whole again
• Battlefield 2042 – The iconic first person shooter by DICE and published by EA is releasing the seventeenth installment in the series
• Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl – Sequel to Shadow of Chernobyl, Stalker 2 is a first person survival shooter from GSC Games

Devolver Digital

Devolver Digital always has an interesting showcase where I often don’t think the games are real until I look them up. As history shows, the studio doesn’t have many games to show off, but what they do announce tends to be different than others. One of those titles is Death’s Door which is classified as adventure, shooter, action roleplaying, and fighting game. Players take the form of a crow who reaps the souls of the dead. It sounds strange because it is.

Another title announced by Devolver Digital is a game called Inscryption which is a card-based deck building roguelike mixed with some escape room puzzles and psychological horror. As I said, they announce games that are off the wall, and this one is no different. Check out the Inscryption trailer here.

Coming to the App Store and Google Play later this year comes the title ‘Tumble Time’. This game is so strange that I don’t even know what to say for it. If you’re brave enough to think that your head won’t explode, check out the trailer here.

The final three titles that were announced at E3 this year are Demon Throttle, Trek to Yomi, and Wizard with a Gun .(Not gonna lie, I kinda want this even though I know I would SUCK HORRIBLY at it.). Feel free to check out all the trailers for those to get more information about them.

Ubisoft

Is it really E3 if we don’t have a Just Dance announcement? Probably not. Normally we have some embarrassing demonstration or performance that makes the dancer in me roll over in my future grave. As much as I love the Just Dance series because it is a fun game, the marketing kills me every year. Please, I beg you. Find another way to market the game because this travesty needs to end. I BEG YOU.

Just when I thought the face-rolling was done, Ubisoft announced Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Don’t get me wrong, at the time the Avatar movie came out, it was a cinematic marvel. But movies that become video games are very much hit and miss. Some of the good ones include Mortal Kombat, Golden Eye, Lord of the Rings, and Star Trek Bridge Crew. It’s not to say that the Avatar game can’t be good, it’s that I don’t have particularly high hopes for it. (Also, I wasn’t super enthralled with the movie like most people were.)

I know a lot of people who are extremely excited for Rainbow Six Extraction, but I’ve never been much of a shooter kind of player. It doesn’t help that the developers felt the need to change the original name from quarantine. The word is not bad or malicious and I don’t see why the change was necessary. Anyways, I’m sure the fans of Rainbow Six Siege will be excited for another title but to me it’s just another shooter.

There are two titles that grabbed my attention during E3 and those are Riders Republic – a first person cross between the Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Steep, and The Trials series – and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. Riders Republic has a lot of potential replayability with the different modes while Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is a tactical strategy game like the first one of its kind. And honestly, I really loved the first one.

Koch Media

From Koch Media we saw a trailer for King’s Bounty 2 which is an upcoming turn-based tactical RPG. While I never played the first game, this title is a fantasy based game that I’m interested in looking at. We also saw a trailer for Encased: C.R.O.N.U.S. which is a sci-fi RPG with what seem to be factions. Another sci-fi RPG that also combines horror elements is a game titled Dolmen which will be available on the PS4 and PS4 in 2022.

There were several other games that were showcased during the Koch Media presentation. Some of those titles can be see in the YouTube video below:

E3 Final Thoughts

Overall, I found that this year’s E3 presentation was lacking something for me. I think because of the pandemic I wasn’t as excited for it this time around. It has nothing to do with the games presented or the developers who worked tirelessly from home to present upcoming games to the public. That said, I’m glad that E3 even happened because most other events delayed their in person shows to 2022. While I wasn’t as hyped up this year, a few presentations impressed me with their upcoming releases.

 

Article by: Susan N.

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