Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 1+2 Dual Collection - PS5 Review

 

Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 1+2 Dual Collection by developer and publisher Inti Creates Co. LTD—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes.

---

Are you ready for the package deal for the Azure Striker spin-offs before the third title in the spinoff series drops? Do you love the Megaman X games but want something fresh and musical? Do you wanna feel totally inadequate when you get a crappy score rating after beating what you thought was a tough fight? Well, look no further than Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 1+2 Dual Collection.

If you aren’t familiar with the Gunvolt series of games, I’ll tell you right now you’re probably going to be rather confused by the first game in this package deal, and while I totally recommend playing the first two Gunvolt games, they aren’t, strictly speaking, required before going into Luminous Avenger iX. So, what does Luminous Avenger entail? Well, you take on the role of Copen, a researcher turned vigilante fighting against the Sumeragi Institute, a group that has some rather negative history with Copen. Together with his AI partner Lola, he aims to take on Sumeragi. Well, at least in the first game. In the second he is involved in a portal that sucks him into another world and he’s trying to escape.

Both Luminous Avenger iX 1 and 2 behave rather similarly, although they do have a few key differences. Both games involve a 2D side-scrolling adventure through different stages culminating in a boss fight. Making your way though a stage you have a midair dash, a lock-on mechanism to fire homing shots at enemies, different weapons you can earn from bosses, and various upgrades you can purchase if you earn enough currency. You will be making your way through stages by dashing over pits, defeating enemies in your way, and interacting with the environment such as pushing blocks or destroying walls. Each stage culminates in a boss fight where the boss is generally weak to a special weapon earned from another boss.

Stages also have bonus emblems to collect that you may have to replay a stage once you have a new special weapon, and collecting them all may reward you with another special something! In addition to the bonus emblems, you are also scored based on your performance. There are some slight differences between the two games, but for the most part defeating enemies and not getting hit are the keys to getting good scores. In the first title, getting hit too much when not on the easiest difficulty will get rid of your score, called Kudos. There are also checkpoints which record your current score to add to your total that can’t be removed. Getting a piece of a bonus emblem also nets you a decent score. If your score hits 1000, you enter an overdrive mode where your abilities are enhanced. Losing your score gets rid of this overdrive mode. In the second game you are given a healing ability which also cashes out your score when used.

Largely speaking, the Gunvolt games, Luminous Avenger iX titles inclusive, are an interesting take on the traditional Megaman format. There are lots of abilities to help newer players or those struggling, such as the prevasion system in iX1 that negates damage in exchange for two bullits which you can reload, or the healing system in iX2 since the bullits are done away with. That being the case, if you rely on those too heavily your score will be poor. While getting a good score isn’t necessarily required, it does actually present a lot of benefits in the form of overdrive. As mentioned earlier, upon hitting 1000 Kudos Lola will get a new form to join you, singing to buff Copen but losing this mode upon losing score. Playing well lets you keep this mode activated and can make boss fights or even stage completion a lot easier.

If you can’t keep a good score, no need to worry. While I wouldn’t say I’m particularly bad at this style of game, I definitely wouldn’t say I’m the best. I scraped by most stages with an adequate to poor rating most of the time, and still managed to clear almost all of the content provided, barring one bonus stage and DLC fight from iX1 and the endless battle mode from iX2. Clearing the iX2 unlockable mode was certainly rough, and while you do have an assist mode you can activate it that doesn’t decrease the difficulty, just increases survivability, so any content you want to do is relatively well manageable. As an additional deal, sometimes when you die Lola will resurrect you with Anthem mode, so a death isn’t always the end, although it is a little random when it happens.

On the subject of content I didn’t clear, let’s talk about the DLC fights and endless battle mode. The DLC fights are bonuses that were DLC in the originally released games included in the Dual Collection to start. You can basically do those fights right from the start after the tutorial stage, and iX2’s bonus fights will give you some new abilities you can toggle on or off while iX1’s bonus fight will make you cry. The iX2 fights are pretty fun though. In terms of the endless battle mode, it’s basically just a sort of boss roulette that keeps going until you quit or die. Chances are if you’ve cleared the extra stages in either game these won’t be particularly difficult if you go for free play. The restricted mode may be a little more challenging.

So, let’s discuss some of the differences between iX1 and iX2. First up, in iX1 you can midair dash as long as you had bullits. In iX2 there are no bullets, and you can only midair dash once as long as you aren’t in overdrive. Also in iX2, your default blaster attack has been replaced with a melee buzzsaw, which is certainly a choice I wouldn’t have made. It was cool for a little while, but it quickly got a little annoying. In addition a ground-based dash doesn’t lock on to enemies unlike in iX1, so you have to jump and dash into enemies a lot, which also tends to eat any other dashes since you can’t chain them unless you’re in overdrive mode. Both modes have the same point requirement for overdrive and general gameplay for the most part.

Both titles share in an art and sound direction, featuring some interesting locations to explore and a number of songs that Lola can sing when you enter overdrive mode. The songs are catchy, the graphics are retro but not bad retro, and the background music is pretty good. The gameplay is a fun mix of accessible for newer players but still allowing for the more veteran players of the genre to have fun with advanced challenges and score missions. So, should you get the Luminous Avenger iX1+2 Dual Collection? Well, if you’ve played Gunvolt and want to play Luminous Avenger iX, have played iX1 and not iX2, or want a megaman X style game with very little world building or story explanation, I’d definitely say give it a shot. Those who already own both titles probably won't find much different enough to warrant picking up this collection, although there are a few balance adjustments that have been done based on the original releases.

While I did quite enjoy my time with iX1 and 2, there are a few issues that can be seen in both titles. First up is the lack of any real world building. It seems the developers have assumed you either played or remember the story from Azure Striker Gunvolt. Unfortunately I don’t really remember much, so while I could pick up on the key notes, a lot was also going over my head. And then iX2 feels almost like a spin-off to the spin-offs, with a general outline and then very little of anything else substantive. Don’t go expecting any big in-depth storytelling here, gotta play the main-line games for that. My second complaint is that some of the bosses have some pretty arse movesets. More of an issue in iX2 since you can heal, but good god man the special move for the last boss of iX1 took me a long time to learn and figure out how to perfectly dodge! In iX2 there are some moves I just flat out had to take to the face because I couldn’t figure out how to dodge. Final thing to note is that the additional content can be very challenging, so if you aren’t up for it you’re probably going to be very frustrated. While this isn’t an issue if you want the challenge, just be aware if you’re going in wanting the 100% completion that it might get pretty rough at some points.

Overall Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 1+2 Dual Collection is a nice combination of two good side-scrolling action games complete with DLC included from the original releases. A good combination of games and content that will give you fun for a while. With some good game tracks and solid gameplay, 2D side-scrolling action fans will be interested to give this a try. While it may be confusing jumping into this spin-off series if you haven’t played the main Azure Striker Gunvolt series, you’ll probably still be able to enjoy the gameplay. 

 

Score: 8 / 10 

 

Read More

70s-Style Robot Anime Geppy-X - PS5 Review

70s-Style Robot Anime Geppy-X by developer Implicit Conversions and publisher Bliss Brain—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes 

Read More

GranBlue Fantasy: ReLink Endless Ragnarok - PS5 Review

 

GranBlue Fantasy: ReLink Endless Ragnarok by developer and publisher Cygames Inc.—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes.

Read More

EA Sports College Football 27 - PS5 Review

EA Sports College Football 27 by developer EA Tiburon and publisher Electronic Arts—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Read More

R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos - PlayStation 5 Review

R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos by developer Granzella and publisher NIS America, Inc—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher. #RTypeTactics #keymailer Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Read More

Dead or Alive 6 Last Round - PlayStation 5 Review

Dead or Alive 6 Last Round by developer and publisher Koei Tecmo Games Co., LTD.—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Read More

EA Sports UFC 6 - PlayStation 5 Review

 

EA Sports UFC 6 by developer EA Sports and publisher Electronic Arts—PlayStation 5 review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Read More

Nitro Gen Omega - PS5 Review

Nitro Gen Omega by developer and publisher DESTINYbit—Sony PlayStation 5  review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes. 

Read More

People of Note - PS5 Review

People of Note by developer Iridium Studios and publisher Annapurna Interactive—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Jim with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time:  11 minutes. 

---

Not many people know that I love musicals from movies like The Greatest Showman and Repo! The Genetic Opera. I love musical plays like The Phantom of the Opera and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I loved games like Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, and of course, I love music in general. After playing the People of Note demo, I knew I had to play the full game.

You play as a pop singer named Cadence who wants to become the next big pop star in Chordia, the City of Pop. The boy band Smolder has won it for the last few years and is all everyone in Chordia can talk about. To become the next big singer, Cadence enters Noteworthy, a type of competition, but when she is told by commissioner Sharp she isn't good enough, Cadence goes on a quest to make her music better by forming a band. The story evolves from this challenge into a dramatic quest to save the world, keeping me engaged and eager to see how it unfolds. 

I fell in love with all four of the main characters. There is, of course, Cadence, who represents pop; Fret, the old-school rocker; Synthia, an EDM DJ; and Vox, a rapper. The cast is really good. Heather Gonzalez plays Cadence perfectly, and even though the singing is by LEXXE, they sound so much alike that I didn't even realize they weren't the same. Erika Ishii voices Synthia, and Amanda Angeles does the singing for Synthia. It was easy to tell that the singer's voice didn't match Erika Ishii's, but I still enjoyed it. Fret is voiced and sung by Jason Charles Miller, who some may know from his singing in the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance song Rules of Nature among other things. And lastly, Vox is voiced and sung by Mansa Wakili, who, honestly, I have never heard of, but he plays Vox like a pro with good rapping. That is just the four main characters of the game; The other minor characters are just as amazing voice actors and singers!

People of Note is a turn-based RPG with some music thrown into the battles. The battles play a little differently from a traditional RPG, where a turn is called a "stanza". During a stanza, you can act with any of your characters first and then all of your enemies. There is a bar at the bottom of the screen that shows how many actions you have, and each character can act once and has to wait. You can sometimes act more times than you have active characters in a stanza. Once you use each character once, you will be able to use any character again. Using an attack or skill will bring up a rhythm mini game where you hit X when two circles meet, like in lots of other rhythm games. If this isn't to your liking, you can turn it off in the options menu. The better you do, the more damage the attack will do. Using Skills uses up BP. Each stanza, you get one BP, but you can rest instead of attacking or using a skill that will give two BP and acts like a defense in other games, as it raises a character's defense. A neat feature of battles in People of Note is that each stanza will have a music style or sometimes none at all. Using a skill or attack with the character who matches the style of music will increase the power of that attack or skill.

You get to see what is coming for the next few turns so that you can plan ahead. Once Cadence becomes closer to her bandmates, they will unlock Mash-ups. Every time one of the bandmates takes damage, their mash-up bar will go up, and once both bandmates' bars are full, they can use a special skill that will deplete their mash-up bar, but is a useful skill that can be very powerful or do things like heal everyone. Mash-ups will then change the music's style for the rest of that stanza to match the bandmates who used the mash-up. One thing I didn't like was that every boss battle starts with them using a skill called mash-down, which takes the bars down to nothing. If you were saving it for a boss, it won't let you use it. I have used this tactic in other RPGs with skills like this, and it's a bummer that they make you raise the bar again, and most of the time, the battle didn't last long enough to get a mash-up. The party is healed after every battle, so there are no battle items like potions. Boss fights also have a timer; the longer you take, the higher the "crescendo" bar rises, and the stronger their attacks become, adding a new challenge to bosses.

People of Note handles random battles a little differently than other games. Instead of walking around and a random battle starting, you have to press Triangle, and it will ask if you want to start a battle. Winning battles awards you with experience, groove (money), and AP. It's a good way to farm for levels or AP. There are still some battles that are not random that start by running into the enemy on the map. They stand there and don't move, but you have to defeat them before you can move on. Another thing you get from battles is vinyls. Each area that has battles, let's call them dungeons, has its own vinyl that you can trade to an NPC in each area for items like new equipment or songstones. It gives a reason to use that random battle feature if you want decent equipment you can't get anywhere else. 

Characters gain skills by equipping songstones to their weapons, which are also their instruments. Each instrument has its own songstone graph. Stronger instruments allow more songstones to be equipped. This part was a pain. Every time you equip a new instrument, check the graph, as it changes what's equipped and the order in which they appear in the battle menu. Don't let muscle memory get to you during battles, as it did me a few times. At least you can change skills anytime you want outside of battles. You will also get remix stones you can attach to the graph to add things to the skills, for example, making attack skills stronger or healing anytime you use the skill the remix stone is attached to. The AP you gain from battles can be used to strengthen songstones that you have equipped. Each character gets their own AP. You are free to experiment with it, as there is no penalty for taking from and adding to the songstones you want; you even get all AP back if you unequip a songstone! You can buy new songstones and remixstones at shops and find them in chests.

As you explore, you will find NPCs who will give you puzzle battles. Each puzzle battle gives you predetermined equipment, songstones, and tasks you with doing things like winning a battle in so many stanzas. You're keeping everyone alive for so many stanzas, or doing so much damage. Some of them were difficult towards the end, but I managed to get them with time. Luckily, these are all optional, but they do give you experience and groove. Other things you can find that are optional are hidden owls you find by a shining spot on the ground. These owls are called "Weird Owl"; they look a lot like Weird Al and even play polka music when you encounter them. They give you trivia about the game, and if you get it right, you will get a feather that you can trade later on in the game. Again, these are optional, but they are fun to try to find and get all of them. I do love the nod to Weird Al, though! These are not the only nods to singers or bands. I saw a shop called 3 Stores Down. These little nods are all over the place in this game, and I love it. Also, there is a dog breed in the game called an Accorgion! Half accordian, half Corgi, that you can pet!

There are puzzles in the dungeons that, for the most part, I was able to figure out, but some of them were frustrating. Luckily, there is an option to turn off puzzles. This option helps if you've already beaten the puzzles but want to go back to look for anything you might have missed, or if you don't like puzzles. I'm not a huge fan of puzzles, but with trial and error, I was able to do them. You can also play the game with skippable battles, but I kept this option off; it's there for anyone who wants to hear the story or listen to the music.

For a game about music, and the devs went out and made fully animated music videos, having no option to rewatch them was a huge bummer. There are jukeboxes where you can listen to any song you have listened to, including battle music and world music, not just the musical songs. It's nice to listen to them, but I would have loved to rewatch the videos, and I have to wonder why they didn't think of this? Why spend all that time animating a song when you will only allow it to be viewed once?

Now, I did run into a few issues with the game that I hope are just early build bugs. I got stuck on scenery a few times and had to return to the menu and reload a save. There are a few times when, like above, I got stuck by falling off areas I wasn't even supposed to be able to fall off of. This glitch also happened about two times. Later in the game, I ran into an issue where the screen wouldn't transition views or would show a white screen. This happened a few times, maybe 2 or 3. Then, in one mini game, if you fail to win it, you cannot start it again unless you reload your save. I am hopeful these will be patched in a day-one patch.

Graphically, the game is pleasing. It looks hand-drawn with bright colors. Each City is based on a genre of music, and the colors and style match it so perfectly. Another nice touch is that each instrument (weapon) that you can equip to characters all look different. It's really noticeable with Frets guitar.

A game about music should have a good soundtrack. I'm happy to report that the music in People of Note is really good. From the score to the musical songs, they are all so good! There are a good number of musical songs, and I'm hoping they release the soundtrack at some point. I do wish the musical songs were a little longer; most seem to be under 3 minutes.

It took me about 30 hours to beat the game, which is a decent length for an indie RPG, but it wasn't long enough to fully tell the story of some of the characters, like Vox, who you get just before the halfway point. I would like to know more about the boy band Smolder or one of the main enemies, with whom I was expecting a big reveal, but nothing really happened with them. I hope the game does well enough that we get a sequel, because I fell in love with the game's characters.

Overall, People of Note made me smile from start to finish. I absolutely love the game's music, and I am so glad I got to play it. The story is decent, but not the best, but the musical songs more than make up for it. It's extremely rare to find games like this, with only two others coming to mind off the top of my head. They added too many puzzles toward the end. To me, it was to make the game seem longer, and I wasn't a fan of that, but other than that, I really enjoyed the game! So far, it might be my game of the year! The game's engaging soundtrack and musical themes really resonated with me, making it a must-try for music lovers.



Score: 8.75 / 10

Read More

Warriors: Abyss - One Year Later - Gaming Thoughts

WARRIORS: Abyss by developer Omega Force and publisher Koei Tecmo America—Sony PlayStation 5 feature written by Pierre-Yves with a copy originally provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Read More

Sengoku Dynasty - PS5 Review

Sengoku Dynasty by developer Superkami and publisher Toplitz Productions—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Jim with a copy provided by the publisher.


Estimated Reading Time:  6 minutes.

---

Sengoku Dynasty is a survival village builder set in the Sengoku period of Japanese history. I don't know as much as I would like about the Japanese past, but I do know it was a hard time of almost constant civil wars. Because of the setting and time period, I was eager to try it! The game will provide a brief overview of the history in the opening cutscene. The scene is actually a really nice Japanese-style art with a Japanese voice-over. A nice touch considering the game's setting.

Aside from the opening cutscene, once you start a new game, there are five difficulty settings: creative mode that lets you be creative as you want, chillout a relaxed mode that is its verison of easy mode, normal mode that is a blance between easy and hard (this is the mode I played on and enjoyed it as it was the right ammount of challange), hardcore mode that will really add a chalange to the gameplay, and lastly there is custom mode that lets you pick all the settings you want or don't want. Once you choose what difficulty you want, you will be able to make a character. The character creator is limited; there are only a handful of options. Although this isn't a huge deal to me, I know other players love creating their own characters and can do it for hours. You can also play the game with online coop, but because I don't know anyone with the game, I was not able to try this out.

You start shipwrecked with a woman whom you will help, and this also serves as a brief tutorial on the game's very basics. You will have to gather sticks and stones to craft an axe so you can cut trees and then a hammer. You will then have to use your hammer to make a campfire for you and the woman. She will give you some food as a reward. As you do things, you will get hungry over time. Like in many other survival games, you will have to forage for food and cook if you want to live longer.

Once done, you will set off, and not far from you is a burnt-down town. Here you will learn about how to build a village and rebuild the burnt-down village. The beginning of the game is a bit repetitive because you have to build everything and find everything yourself. It is also a bit overwhelming, but if you stick with it like I did, it becomes a lot more enjoyable the more I played and got used to what I was supposed to do.

There are quests in the game that you can do to earn money, items, and experience. There are different kinds, like main quests, that help you learn the game, and doing them will let you build more villages. There are also side quests and personal quests, like getting married. Once you get some villagers in your town, they will also offer quests for you to do, but you only have one season to complete them, and lots of times they ask for hard-to-get items or other items for which you have not unlocked recipes.

Unlocking new recipes can range from leveling up your dynasty by doing things like recruiting new villagers and doing quests. Other ways are with money, by unlocking certain things on the skill tree, by getting certain items or crafting certain things, and lastly by conquering areas on the map by completing certain goals like building watchtowers or bridges.

Once you have some villagers, you can set them to work at different production buildings, like the forger's hut, which lets you set someone to find different things from stone, sticks, food, mushrooms, and other such things. You can also set someone here to craft medicine, build huts for miners, loggers, and so much more. As your village grows, the needs of your villagers will also grow. It will start with needing food for them, but as you get more villagers, you will have to get them or have them make stuff for beverages, maintenance, security, medical, spiritual, and luxury.

There are four skill trees to level up by doing each one's purpose, like dynasty will have you building new buildings or crafting new items, doing quests, and of course, getting new villagers. This skill tree can be used to reduce villagers' needs and help them work better. Next is the craftsman tree. You earn experience for this by mining, logging, building, and doing quests. This skill tree will help you become better at doing things like chopping down trees while losing less stamina, and your axes, picks, and hammers will break less often. 

Then there is the warrior tree, from which you get experience from hunting animals and fighting enemies. You will get better at fighting with parries and better blocking with this skill tree. This skill tree also makes attacks stronger and getting more health and stamina. Lastly, we have the monk skill tree. You gain experience for this by buying and selling items to traders and by making offerings at shrines. I found this skill tree the hardest to level up. The benefits for leveling up, though, are pretty good, like letting you get more experience for the crafting, warrior, and monk skill trees. You get one point to spend every time you level up.

Combat in the game can feel a little wonky at first, but as you level up your warrior skill tree, you will be able to block and parry attacks. There is something called poise in the game, but I never could really figure it out other than if you or an enemy loses enough of it, they will become off balance and won't be able to move for a few seconds. I did like that each weapon felt different. An example of this is attacking with a sword is faster than attacking with a heavy weapon, but it doesn't have the range a spear has. You can also use a bow to attack and hunt. Another cool touch the devs added was that if you injure an animal like a deer, it will run slower than a deer at full health because it's injured. 

There isn't a lot of music in the game. At times, there will be background music, but it also seems as if it's a track or two per season. I wish there was a little more music when you're in combat. The sound effects, on the other hand, are peaceful. Really hearing birds chirping and water running when you're near a river is oddly relaxing.

Graphically, the game gets the job done. It isn't groundbreaking or anything, but it looks decent for what it is. At times, I did run into some glitches, like plants you can harvest showing, but you can't harvest them. Also, the ground would sometimes load and be blurry for a few seconds when moving. I will say that it has gotten a lot better with the last patch, but it still happens on rare occasions.

Now, although I found the game enjoyable for the most part, I ran into some issues that really brought down the fun factor for me. One was in the map or in menus where my cursor would move all around on its own. This makes placing waypoints on the map a pain in the butt, and not to mention when you're trying to get a certain item in your inventory, and it moves to another where you drop or transfer the wrong item! Sometimes I couldn't even get the cursor to move at all. This made me wonder if the pc version would be a better experience because of a mouse or if it too has the same issue. The other issue I ran into was that I conquered an area on the map, but it never showed it as mine, so I was pretty much locked out of owning that area on the map. It made me feel this game needed a lot more testing before it was fully released.

After sinking over 50 hours into the game I did enjoy what I played, but the issues I ran into made it feel like I would have to restart from the beginning more than once. That made me want to play less because after sinking over 20 hours into one game and over 20 again in another save, I just lose interest in wanting to conquer the game. That includes getting married in either of my playthroughs. I never made it far enough to make it through the marrage quest line. I do know that once you get married and have a child, you can carry on the game as the child. But again, I was never able to make it this far before something happened that made me have to restart or made me feel like I should restart. If the devs fix these issues, I would probably love this game a lot more than I thought I would when I first started, but because of these issues, I just can't make myself restart a new game yet again. If this were an early access game, I could be a bit more forgiving, but because it's a full release, I can't fully recommend it on PS5 until it's been patched. I would gladly give this game a higher score once these issues are resolved, but until then.

Score: 6.75 / 10 

Read More

Roadcraft - PS5 Review

RoadCraft by developer Saber Interactive and publisher Focus Entertainment—PlayStation 5 review written by Jim with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time:  4 minutes

---

I love a good simulation game whether it's building, designing theme parks, being a firefighter or even driving trucks and heavy equipment vehicles. I loved the idea behind the game. You are in charge of a natural disaster recovery company where you must rebuild infrastructure, construct roads and bridges, clear debris, and recycle debris.

There are 8 levels in the game with the first two being in the same area in Africa and almost every level being a different disaster. The first level has you prepare for an upcoming storm and the second level has you cleaning up after it. One of my first big issues with the game is there is not much of a tutorial. It tells you what to do, but without showing you how it's done it sometimes is overwhelming to try to figure it out. The only reason I was able to figure some of it out was because I played Snowrunner. Now anyone who has played Sabers other games Mudrunner or Snowrunner should feel at home with this game as there are a lot of similarities. If you don't know what diff-lock or AWD is then you may want to skip this game.

After getting used to the game and its controls. The crane controls still confuse me from time to time. One of the big pains in the game is plotting routes for transportation and you do this a lot! You have to be exact as the AI who drives the routes doesn't know enough to avoid things in the road and then getting stuck. The game then will tell you it failed and you have to fix the problem. I honestly hated doing this. It really isn't fun having to go and look and or change the route time and time again until you find the right path to make it so the AI won't get stuck on something or in mud. If the game has an objective for some things like making a road all you have to do is bring a dump truck full of sand, a dozer, a paver, and a roller to a designated area. You can also set it to do the work automatically. You can do it manually if you wish and if you want any other spots on the map paved you can do it yourself, but it's a bit hard to do. I wish they made it so you could select a spot and have it do it automatically.

Each map is decent-sized but I don't like how it's all covered at the start with a fog of war if you will. I understand doing it in another type of game where you should explore, but this is a game set in the present day. If you are in a disaster recovery business you should at least have maps or GPS. Because of this, it can take you longer to get to destinations you have never been to before because you can run into dead ends or bridges that are out.

There is a lot of driving in RoadCraft and some of the vehicles are extremely slow, so getting from point A to point B can take a while. The only form of fast travel is to recover your vehicle, but you can only select your garage or a recovery point. Recovery points cost fuel that you get by completing objectives. You can also get places faster if you use the transport vehicle that lets you put your heavy equipment vehicles onto it. And you can drive the truck instead of the slower equipment. Completing objectives give you money and experience. As you level up you can buy better vehicles with the money you earn. You will always start with a rusty version of a vehicle so you may want to buy a newer version sooner rather than later as they work a bit better and faster.

There's a lot to see and do in RoadCraft from surveying the damage to using cranes and even laying down underground electrical wires. I have played a lot and I still haven't seen everything you can do in the game a part of this being how slow-paced the game is. All of the tasks can get overwhelming at times though as the game will tell you to do something before the place you need is even up and running. At one point I needed metal pipes. I haven't gotten the metal pipe plant open yet so I would have to do all that before I could fix the needed infrastructure.

Recycling plays a big part in the game as you will have to start plants that make things like metal pipes and such by recycling old stuff you find lying around on the ground. You can do this with a truck and crane or with your scout truck's winch. Just like Sabers other games your scout vehicle will have a winch you can use to pull things or help if you get stuck.

Graphicly the game looks amazing. The way the mud and dirt move as you drive, the way it sticks to freshly paved roads, the way it kicks up and sticks to your trucks all look pretty well done. The views can be really nice also. The sound is also good in the game, but if you have played Snowrunner then some of the sounds may sound familiar.

I have a love-hate relationship with RoadCraft. On one hand I found parts of it to be relaxing and fun and on the other, I was so frustrated I had to quit and take time away from it. RoadCraft is not a bad game by any means, but it is not for everyone. There is also 4 player coop so if you and some friends want to play together there is that option.

Overall RoadCraft is a decent simulation game that may ask a little too much of a player making it a tad too realistic. Now if you are a fan of Sabers other games you will like RoadCraft. If you didn't like Sabers other games like Mudrunner then you will probably dislike this game too. I however thought it was decent enough with a lot to see and do even with its shortcomings.


Score: 6.75 / 10

Read More

Madden NFL 25 - PS5 Review

EA Sports College Football 25 by developer and publisher Electronic Arts—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes 

Another year, another Madden. Is it more of the same or something new and exciting? It’s the yearly question, and your mileage may vary depending on the aspects of the game that matter most. For my money though, Madden NFL 25 brings enough new to the table this year to warrant a good, long look.

Not every new year of Madden is a win. Sometimes they introduce a new mechanic that sounded better on paper than execution (we’re looking at you old QB passing cone or fumble minigames), or even take steps backwards in the presentation (audio glitches or crazy physics bugs). It feels however, that Madden NFL 25 has settled quite comfortably into this generation console technology and ironed out many of the wrinkles.

The initial first impression for me is a good one. Menus are easier to navigate, visuals are crisp, modes load quickly. If there’s a grumble, it’s how the game seems to want to funnel me into the Madden Money Making Mode… erm, Madden Ultimate Team (MUT) mode. For those unfamiliar with that mode (which likely means you haven’t played any sports games in the last decade), it’s a mash-up of sports card collecting, fantasy football and a wide variety of challenges. This all leads into a very grindy gameplay loop of beat challenge, get a small amount of currency, someday get enough currency to purchase another item or pack of cards, incrementally improve your roster and then do it all over again. There’s a very slow lather, rinse and repeat vibe to MUT. I don’t really care for it myself, but it’s popular and it offers micro-transactions that allow the progression loop to be sped up artificially. 

There are other modes including some quick play options, but the real meaty ones are Franchise and Career modes. The former is structured very similar to years past (and that’s reflected even in the game’s trophies / achievements, which haven’t seen a meaningful update in years now). The gist is that you are a coach or owner who tries to manage the weekly operations of the football team. At the owner level you’re setting prices and worrying about the quality of the stadium, while the coach is more focused on the X’s and O’s and game strategy. Both are basically slightly different skinned approaches to the same core engine where you try to improve your team and live out a fantasy football world.

Franchise is easily where I spend the majority of my time in Madden, both this year and the releases of the past. It’s just the most rewarding experience overall as I enjoy so many of the team management aspects. The offseason feels a bit better this year, especially the draft aspects. It’s not exactly a major reinvention of the wheel though, and I feel like there’s room to do something ‘more’ with a narrative or elements of league-wide chaos: players holding out mid-contract, or teammates not getting along, or players beefing with one another from different squads, etc. I don’t really know, but as fun as Franchise is, it could use a little more ‘texture’ for lack of a better way to phrase it.

It's impossible not to reference the recent EA Sports CollegeFootball 25 game. There’s a lot of elements that have made their way from that game from a couple of months ago into this new Madden NFL 25. The Dynasty mode of College is the parallel to Madden’s Franchise, but they are very different animals. I will say that I am disappointed that there’s no draft class export from the college game to the Madden one. I imagine it’s more of a licensing limitation than a technical one, as we had that option way back on the PlayStation 2, but I hope it’s a hurdle that can be overcome next year as this was something of a major disappointment for myself and some of my football loving friends.

Now, one area where the College game transitions well into the Madden series is the created player mode. Your can import your graduated college player into the pro game and it will give you a slightly accelerated start into the process, pulling in your physical choices, numbers preference, things like that. It’s a fun way to keep the journey going. I really enjoyed this year’s Career mode. There is a lack of story / narrative told here, as your player just sort of graduates from college into the NFL and gets to go through the combine which culminates into a clumsy hug with the NFL commissioner after a team selects your player.

I do think it would be cool if you could create a bit of a backstory for your player (or import one from College football, such as the blue chip vs underdog starting points), but there’s numerous objectives sprinkled into Career mode. These dangling carrots are generally enjoyable targets as you level up your player and sink points and earned skills into him. There’s a lot of opportunity to put your own personal spin on the player in interviews / conversations, though the impacts feel very short-lived. Again, I think those choices could be interesting if woven into some sort of story or ongoing narrative (not even a super firm story, but just more than a +5 boost to stiff arms next week).

It's also interesting to me how College football put training wheels on your created player in the form of limited play calling impact while Madden lets your player (in my case, the very same halfback) have total control of the playbook. It seems a weird approach that swings too wildly from one extreme to the other. There is also the online-ish (there’s offline challenges too) sub-mode called Showcase where you play a much faster, simpler, more arcade-like game of football. It’s interesting, but hard for me to invest as much time into than the core NFL career of my player. 

All of these modes and menus are well and good, but Madden NFL 25 seems to be at its best when you’re playing the actual game of football. The visuals are better than ever, which is to be expected. I appreciate the better variety in the announcers in the game. The primary commentators are still Brandin Gaudin and Charles Davis, who are just fine – but they’ve been growing a bit stale over the last few years. EA has injected Greg Olsin and Mike Tirico as well as Kate Scott and Brock Huard. It’s a welcome bit of variety that’s been well overdue and the presentation benefits from it.

It's interesting to note that in many ways, Madden NFL 25 feels slower to me than the College game. I'd love to know if that’s a reality of the engine, or maybe just a matter of perception on my part. Maybe there’s more parity in the pro players and therefore you don’t feel breakaway speed the way I did playing the college game where players might have much larger physical gaps? Either way, even with that impression, Madden’s collisions are fantastic, and that’s no small matter.

In a sport where you have two teams of eleven banging into one another all of the time, the tech behind these collisions is kind of a big deal. This year introduces what the team at EA has dubbed Boom physics. There are still some goofy animations here and there that occur, but nothing like some of the wonkiness of years past where a small player could chuck aside a behemoth twice his size, or a football kicked through the stadium roof. Instead everything feels much more grounded in reality when players hit one another. Actually, there’s moments before and after the hit as well where you see a player’s body shift to brace for a big hit stick tackle across the middle, or when they put their hand on the ground to stand up slowly after getting shmucked by a linebacker. 

 

It's not always perfect, but by and large the limbs and bodies flail and thud in convincing fashion and blockers engage and disengage in a realistic way, but the ball has physics too. The ball can sit on the ground as a player bumps into it and knocks it around, but not like vacuumed right into their chest. Ditto balls bounced around as they can deflect off of hands (or backs or legs) in ways that it didn’t used to back in the day when the PS3 Madden passes would just laser into a person’s hands.

Madden NFL 25 is an excellent sports title, and though many of the improvements are incremental, they are numerous enough to be noteworthy. It’s far more than a roster update, but there’s still room to add some flavor to the various modes, and I’d like to see a stronger connection between the two EA football titles in the future. That being said, there’s more than enough quality football to be had here to keep NFL fans entertained for quite some time.

Score: 7.5 / 10

Read More

FIGHT AS A LEGEND IN DRAGON BALL: SPARKING! ZERO, RELEASING OCTOBER 11

Break the Heavens in the Biggest Dragon Ball Game Ever, Available Now for Pre-Order

LOS ANGELES – June 7, 2024 – Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. announced that DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO, the first entry to the DRAGON BALL Z: BUDOKAI TENKAICHI series in 15 years, is releasing worldwide on October 11, 2024. DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is available now for digital and physical pre-orders on PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam® in Standard, Deluxe, Premium Collector Edition, and Digital Ultimate Edition. Pre-orders come with bonus early access to a number of characters including Broly (Super), Gogeta (Super) and more. For more information, visit www.bandainamcoent.com/games/dragon-ball-sparking-zero.

The new trailer featured on the Summer Game Fest livestream teased at a newly-revealed game mode, Episode Battle, showcasing a visually-stunning and authentic continuation of the BUDOKAI TENKAICHI series. Episode Battle will let players pick one of eight characters and relive key battles in the Dragon Ball saga. The new trailer also reveals new additions to the playable character list, including Goku (Super), Ultra Instinct, Gohan (Adult), Super Saiyan 2, Golden Frieza, Bardock, Raditz, Goku Black, Zamasu, as well as Jiren, Full Power.

Also revealed for DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO, Custom Battle introduces a new element to experiencing Dragon Ball as a game, where players can try their hands at a match imagined by the developers or create their own battle scenarios and share them with the world.

DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is available in Standard Edition as well as premium versions, detailed below:

• The Digital Deluxe Edition includes the Standard Edition, 3 days of early access to the game, as well as the Season Pass, which contains more than 20 characters including characters from DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO and DRAGON BALL DAIMA as well as the Shenron Summon that can unlock items. Early access to DLC characters is also included.
  
  
• The Digital Ultimate Edition contains the Deluxe Edition content as well as the Ultimate Upgrade Pack which includes, the Goku (Super) Costume with Power Pole, an Emote Voice Set, 1 Customization item and 2 player card backgrounds. This edition also includes the possibility to summon Super Shenron to unlock items or characters.
  
  
• The Collector Edition includes the content from the Digital UItimate Edition along with an exclusive DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO diorama and a Metallic Bookmark.
  
  
• The Premium Collector Edition, available exclusively on the Bandai Namco Store includes all Collector Edition content as well as a SteelBook and 4 exclusive cards from the DRAGON BALL SUPER CARD GAME Fusion World,
  
  

All pre-orders will unlock early access to the following characters available in-game Gogeta, Gogeta, Super Saiyan, Gogeta Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, Broly, Broly, Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan Broly, Full Power. Also included is a playable character to be revealed later.

Watch the DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO Summer Game Fest trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Zm___c4B8 

About Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc.

Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc., part of the Bandai Namco Group, is a leading global publisher and developer of interactive entertainment for major video game consoles, PC, online, and mobile platforms. The company is known for creating many of the industry’s beloved classic franchises such as PAC-MAN®, GALAGA®, TEKKEN®, SOULCALIBUR®, and ACE COMBAT®, and publishing the critically acclaimed DARK SOULS™ series and the blockbuster title ELDEN RING™. Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. is also the premier publisher in the Western hemisphere for anime-based video games including GUNDAM™, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN™, DRAGON BALL™, and ONE PIECE®. Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. is headquartered in Irvine, California. More information about the company and its products can be found at http://www.bandainamcoent.com.


©Bird Studio/Shueisha, Toei Animation

©Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.

 

Article by: Susan N.

Read More

BRAND-NEW REACTIVE TURN-BASED RPG ‘CLAIR OBSCUR: EXPEDITION 33’ ANNOUNCED

Break the Paintress’ Cycle of Death in 2025 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC 

London, United Kingdom & Montpellier, France (June 9, 2024) - Developer Sandfall Interactive unveiled their highly ambitious debut title, ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’ in today's Xbox Games Showcase. Inspired by beloved classic fantasy JRPGs and action games alike, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sets itself apart with immersive reactive turn-based battles, a mature and moving narrative and a stunning, evocative art style inspired by French and Parisienne art and architecture. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 promises players a beautiful story-driven experience and an emotional cast of characters that will stay with them long after the credits roll. Published by Kepler Interactive, it is currently in development for Xbox Series X|S (available day one with Xbox Game Pass), PlayStation 5 and PC. 

Step into the striking world of Lumière in the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 announcement trailer: https://youtu.be/o9KQ4rlymEQ 

Once a year, the Paintress wakes to paint a cursed number upon her monolith and everyone of that age instantly turns to smoke and fades away. Year by year, that number ticks down. Tomorrow she’ll wake and paint “33.” Join Gustave, and his fellow Expeditioners as they embark on a desperate quest to break the Paintress’ cycle of death once and for all. Retracing the steps of dozens of failed Expeditions before them, players will overcome powerful enemies and fight to save the future of their world. Set in a dreamlike world, the story unfolds as fantasy and art converge, backed by an enchanting soundtrack to create a breathtaking story unlike any other. 

“We poured our hearts and souls into creating the game of our dreams, something that would feel fresh and new, so we sincerely hope you will enjoy discovering the world and characters we crafted with love,” said Guillaume Broche, Founder of Sandfall Interactive and Creative Director of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. “With an incredible and epic story, a unique reactive turn-based system, and a vast hand-crafted world to explore, we gave our all to make the journey in ‘Expedition 33’ one that you will never forget. We can't wait to share more with you as we get closer to release!” 

Powered by Unreal Engine 5, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, or ‘Expedition 33,’ is an innovative reactive turn-based RPG with immersive real-time offensive and defensive commands to enhance combat, making battles more engaging than ever. Players will master their offensive skills and magical abilities, dodge, parry and counter enemy assaults in real time, and target enemy weak points using a ranged free-aim system to overcome seemingly overwhelming odds. Furthermore, players will be able to customize each character’s unique stat growth, skill tree and gear alongside a wide range of learnable passive traits, offering endless opportunities to fine-tune their preferred strategies. 

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available to wishlist now and will be available for Xbox Series X|S (available day one with Xbox Game Pass), PlayStation 5 and PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store) in 2025. Fans curious to learn more about the gameplay, story and world of Expedition 33 can visit the game’s official website at www.Expedition33.com and sign up for the newsletter and receive new information and updates. 

 

Related Links:  

Official Website: www.Expedition33.com 

Sandfall Interactive’s Official Website: www.Sandfall.co  

X / Twitter: @Expedition33 

TikTok: @Expedition33Game 

 

About Sandfall Interactive: 

Founded in 2020 in France, Sandfall Interactive is an independent video game studio developing high-quality games for PC and consoles. With a focus on powerful narrative experiences, Sandfall Interactive aspires to deliver incredible stories with intriguing characters in gorgeous fantasy worlds inspired by French culture. The team also thrives in pushing technical boundaries by working with the latest and greatest technologies such as Unreal Engine 5. 

Their debut title, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, is currently in development for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. 

About Kepler Interactive:  

Kepler Interactive - led by the founders of Kowloon Nights - is a developer and publisher that operates on a co-ownership model. Its studios are given strategic leadership roles, all while continuing to develop their games their way, with no creative limitations. Kepler’s partner studios are as varied as they are talented, including A44 Games in New Zealand, Alpha Channel and Timberline in North America, Awaceb, Ebb Software, and Sloclap in Europe, and Shapefarm in Asia. Kepler Interactive itself is headquartered in London.

Article by: Susan N.

Read More

Revelry and Piety Take Center Stage in Latest Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Trailer

Dive headfirst into the Middle Ages with today's Saints and Sinners trailer 

 

Larkspur, Calif. (June 7, 2024) - Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the long-awaited sequel to the award-winning action-RPG, revealed a brand-new trailer this year at Summer Game Fest.

Today’s Saints and Sinners trailer showcases some of the adventures and perils players will face as they journey through a world of vengeance, betrayal, and self-discovery.

Watch the Saints and Sinners trailer on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/utArRqtkd0Y

Today's trailer features Father Godwin, a debauched village priest. Godwin is the black sheep of a noble family - concealing a scarred warrior's soul beneath his cassock, he returns home to face his past while undergoing tests of his faith in the fires of war.

A true open-world RPG experience, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II lets players approach quests however they choose, shaping Henry – the main character – to their actions and changing the world around them.

About Kingdom Come: Deliverance II:

Set in the beautiful and dangerous world of 15th Century Bohemia (Central Europe), Kingdom Come: Deliverance II picks up from where the first title left off, putting players into the chain mail boots of Henry, the dedicated son of a blacksmith, on a quest to avenge his murdered parents.

Spread across two maps (twice the size of the previous game) - from the majestic Trosky Castle through to the bustling mining town of Kuttenberg - players will traverse a meticulously crafted medieval landscape while navigating through a kingdom torn apart by civil war.

The medieval combat system of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II has been revamped, making it more accessible while staying true to its nature as a depiction of real medieval martial arts, from meticulous swordplay to the use of deadly ranged weaponry.

Join Henry on his quest for redemption and revenge in 1403 Bohemia later this year and remember: audentes fortuna iuvat.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II will release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S later this year.

 

For more information visit: https://www.kingdomcomerpg.com/

# # #

 

About Warhorse Studio 

 

Warhorse was founded in 2011 by industry veterans Dan Vávra, creator of Mafia and Mafia 2, and Martin Klíma, formerly of ALTAR. Combined creativity of the experienced team gave birth to the Kingdom Come: Deliverance Saga - an open world, realistic, single player RPG set in medieval Czech Kingdom. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II successfully released on 13 February 2018 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and sold over 6 Million copies.

https://warhorsestudios.cz

Warhorse Studios is a PLAION company.

About PLAION

 

PLAION is a dynamic and diversified business in the global entertainment sector, masterfully crafting franchises that captivate audiences worldwide. Boasting a vast network of eight game development studios, fifteen regional publishing offices, three game publishing labels including Deep Silver, and PLAION PICTURES as an independent film publisher and distributor, the company extends its influence with merchandise production and expansive distribution capabilities across the globe.

Founded three decades ago, PLAION has firmly established itself within the entertainment arena. With a diverse range of services and solutions, PLAION stands as the premier publishing partner for console and PC games across both physical and digital channels. Moreover, its strong foothold in the Virtual Reality (VR) domain highlights the company's commitment to varied gaming experiences.

PLAION is an Embracer Group company.

About Deep Silver 

Deep Silver is PLAION’s flagship publishing label, and the home of captivating gaming worlds from the gripping post-apocalypse of Metro, to the twisted paradises of Dead Island to the authentic Medieval landscapes of Kingdom Come Deliverance. For more information, please visit www.deepsilver.com

 

Article by: Susan N.

Read More