Week in Review - March 20th to 24th

Following on the back of last week, here's this week's Week in Review!

Monday Rémi asked everyone to dance with a preview of The Behemoth's Pit People that is currently available through Steam's Early Access. What did he think? He believes that it's a gift to the gaming world:

"Wrapping this up, here. Because yes, I believe Pit People indeed IS a gift to the gaming world (gift… wrapping… yeah), or at least it's shaping up to be. Its appeal, style, quirkiness and extremely diverse gameplay, alone, would make it a recommendation, but the Behemoth touch, through the narrator and the truckload of personality the game exudes make this one a special kind of game. "

- Rémi

A little hard to follow up on that, Tuesday saw Robert's Review of 343 Industries's Halo Wars 2.

"Halo Wars is a comfortable and appropriate evolution of the original and is a glowing successor to the original's daring attempt at creating a real-time strategy game for consoles. A new threat, an old friend, Halo Wars 2 fits into the entire Halo franchise quite well."

- Robert

Wednesday Richard tackled the differently styled Shoot 'Em Up Blue Rider.

"While not necessarily best in class or most unique, Blue Rider offers a fresh new 3D take on an old 2D style of game. Environments are bright and transition between each other fluidly, controls are smooth and easy to handle, and stage design was overall well done."

- Richard
 

The Switch saw a bit more action on Thursday with Nick tackling Blaster Master Zero by Inti Creates. Worth it? I would already say so being from Inti Creates but don't take my word for it!

"Blaster Master Zero hearkens back to a much older age in video gaming, but it does so with a certain loving care that does more than just rely on nostalgia."

- Nick

Finally yesterday I tackled Hollow Ponds' Loot Rascals. Like Adventure Time's art style? Like Roguelikes? Stop waiting and start playing!

"Loot Rascals was one of the more entertaining Roguelikes that I've played in a while. The visuals are pretty to look at and the mechanics are different than the "norm" making for a new and fresh experience to a style that I know very well and love for some strange reason."

- Pierre-Yves (Me)

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend!

- Pierre-Yves

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Loot Rascals - PS4 Review

When taking just a look at Loot Rascals, it may come across as familiar to some and simply intriguing to others. Some will recognize the art style from Adventure Time while others, like me, will appreciate the combination of colors as they explore the randomness of the hexagonal moon that they find themselves on. Why is your character on some random moon? Because it apparently got in the way of a new resort / camp that a robot was sent to go set up. This results in your goal to get the "Liquid Anything" that it was transporting back to finish construction.

Well that's what you were originally supposed to do before everything else showed up with the intent to kill you. The new plan? To hell with the Liquid Anything, just try to make it out alive! Which let's be honest for a moment that you most likely won't make it out alive anytime soon. Or at least not within the first few tries. Actually most likely not even within the first few dozen tries. Loot Rascals is a Roguelike that took the idea of survival in a different direction and it is both brutal and fantastic.

Leaving the safety of your starting location / hub, you will have to head out of its protective barrier in order to find the teleportation devices to help you get off of this crazy rock. To do so, you will be moving your character from one hexagonal space over to the next through procedurally generated areas which at times love their dead ends. Each step from one hex to the next counts as a turn not unlike moving from one square space to the next in a traditional Roguelike (see Shiren the Wanderer). This is about where the similarities end and the life or death balance comes into play.

With each movement from one hex to the next, a day and night counter will move through its paces for every hex moved. Each cycle lasts for a total of five turns making a full day and night cycle ten. At first this seemed to be a bit odd, or even too fast, but it wasn't long before everything else settled in making even five turns feel too long when you've essentially, and most likely accidentally, backed yourself into a corner because of an unknown dead end.

Like a traditional Roguelike, for every move that you take so does everyone else that is present. Where Loot Rascals have managed to make something different is that every enemy on the map is labeled either in blue or in orange. Orange enemies means that they will get to attack first regardless of if you've moved into them and Blue enemies will be attacked first even if they moved into you. Why the hell would you go and bump into an Orange enemy then? You wouldn't which is where the day and night cycles come into full force.

Every enemy will swap from being Orange to being Blue when Day becomes Night and vice versa. Some enemies are more relaxed during the day but become very aggressive at night making you want to avoid them until the time is right. This means that if an Orange enemy is standing beside you on turn five, that would be the perfect time to move into into them. Moving into them will cause the turn to go from turn five to turn six switching day to night while also making the Orange enemy that would have smacked you in the face become Blue and be smacked first instead.

Does this always work out? That'll depend on the enemies as each type have their specifics for how they are in the day and how they are at night. Will they survive the hit? Will you survive the counter-attack? That's entirely up to Lady Luck and the cards that she drops for you to equip.

Instead of standard equipment pieces you will get to start off by being able to equip two rows of five cards that also come in Orange (Attack) and Blue (Defense). It was a nice touch to have kept the same colors as your enemy's actions as it helps keep things simple from a planning perspective. Each basic card that you can equip comes with a score that will either increase your attack or your defense. More powerful cards will come with these values and added clauses such as:

• Card to the left gains a +2
• Card above or below gains a +1
• If this is the only type of this car it gets 0
• Even or Odd spaces gain a +-1

So on and so forth. This means some careful management of your deck is important in order to get the most out of it as the higher your numbers the higher your chances of survival.

All combat is done automatically which means that unlike the above mentioned Traditional Roguelikes, if you weren't ready? You're pretty much dead. Each enemy on the map clearly has its hit points displayed above its head inside of their status bubble (Orange or Blue). Your attack score removes the amount of hit points from their total meaning that if you have more attack than they have hit points then you're pretty much in the clear with a one hit kill. If they happen to have more? Watch out as their "hit points" are also their "attack power".

What? "But… but that guy has 30+ Hit Points! What the hell am I going to do!?!" Fear not! Running away is always an option but then again so are burning them, freezing them or even teleporting away. On top of the Attack and Defense cards that you can placed inside of your deck, you'll also be gaining ability cards that allow the use of Fire and Ice. These cards are mods that need to be installed on top of a card that has already been placed so be careful before you think about getting rid of a card that had a mod placed upon it. While these abilities are in play, you can target enemies up to several hexes away in order to give them hell. Once an ability is used however it requires a recharge time before being able to be used again. Finding pools of Liquid Anything will instantly recharge them but other cards can also help for a quicker charge to be able to use them again.

Now, if your target with 30+ Hit Points does make it over to you at the inopportune time of switching from Blue to Orange not all hope is lost with your starting Hit Point score of 5. Yes a total of 5. Enemies attacks are calculated by your their power divided by your defense. This means that even with a low attack there's still a possibility of hitting you though the lower their attack the more chances you have to survive. Will it hurt? You betcha. Will you survive? Depends on how many you had left in the first place!

When you die however, that's pretty much it. You die. You lose what you had on you and to make matters worse? The monsters steal something from your deck as you lose the rest. Not unlike the console version of Diablo 3 with its nemesis system, it is possible to find an enemy that was holding onto "someone else's" lost card. Once you come across it you are given the choice of either keeping it or sending it back to the original owner. If you do they will find it inside of their mailbox back at the hub. If you don't? You keep it and put it in your hand. Just be careful because someone may come after you for being a jerk and keeping someone else's stolen card.

So interestingly enough, Loot Rascals has a few modes. All of them are single player but they add a bit more flavor to the overall. The first and main mode is essentially everything you've seen and heard of above. The second allows you to replay any "seeded" world that you may have passed through on your many deaths. Then there's the last one which is a once a day affair with leaderboards. Everyone starts off with the same Seed and it's basically a content of how well you've made it through that world against everyone else that tried. Just try not to die within the first fifty-eight seconds… it's embarrassing. Yes it happened. I wound up in a dead end with six enemies that came at me. Not cool randomly generated maps with dead ends… not cool.

Overall Loot Rascals was one of the more entertaining Roguelikes that I've played in a while. The visuals are pretty to look at and the mechanics are different than the "norm" making for a new and fresh experience to a style that I know very well and love for some strange reason. Either way, my time spent with Loot Rascals was time very well spent and I can definitely say that I'm not done with it anytime soon.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Hollow Ponds
Publisher(s):
Hollow Ponds
Genre(s):
Roguelike
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Blaster Master Zero - Switch Review

Blaster Master Zero hearkens back to a much older age in video gaming, but it does so with a certain loving care that does more than just rely on nostalgia. In truth, the original Blaster Master on the NES always felt somewhat ahead of its time when I played it, mixing genres a little and providing some outstanding platforming and action thrills. Blaster Master Zero is a really strong release title for the Switch and should readily appeal to fans of the older games.

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Blue Rider - PS4 Review

Blue Rider is a wonderful bout of nostalgia that recalls a time when arcade machines where still relevant and quarters took up more space in your pockets than wallets and credit cards. Blue Rider is a sort-of top down shooter like Raiden, 1942, or Touhou - except with a lot less bullets and a lot more freedom of motion.

In Blue Rider you maneuver a ship around one of nine worlds, shooting at, and hopefully destroying, any enemy ships that come your way. I might be dating myself a bit here, but Blue Rider really makes me feel like I'm playing a Raiden style arcade game again. The difference being, instead of an auto-scrolling top down shooter, you actually have full freedom of movement in Blue Rider, including the camera. You must blast your way through nine worlds, destroying minions and bosses to reach whatever it is your goal actually is.

There are two primary bullet types: red/orange and blue. The orange/red is your "spread" shot, covering a larger range but dealing less concentrated damage, whereas the blue bullet type is a more concentrated line of fire, but only really fires in a straight line. In addition to the main bullet, you also have access to two different missile types: homing and burst, which are fairly self-explanatory. As you progress through stages, you can find power ups for both the missiles and main bullets. If you pick up an upgrade for the type of bullet or missile you don't currently have, the type of ammunition gets switched, while retaining all your upgrades.

Progressing through all nine worlds can seem quite the daunting challenge, especially considering there is only one life you're given to start off: thankfully, there are a few aspects to make it a little easier on you. First up, clearing a world will allow you to start anew from the next world in line, albeit without any of the handy powerups you've acquired up to that point. Additionally, enemies have a chance at dropping health (which didn't actually happen for me until after my second or third attempt). Additionally, hitting certain score markers will give you an extra life. While there isn't a whole lot of depth to the game, it definitely isn't a bad thing: gameplay is simple and fast, the nostalgia for some of the older players is nice to see, and while the game does provide a challenge, it isn't by any means "impossible". Which is a really good thing, considering that sometimes you'll just want to flip a table at some of the more aggravating quirks of the game.

Some of the bosses feel more like "cheap shot central" rather than a legitimate challenge, especially if you go in unprepared. Which means almost all of them. The upgrades, as in Raiden, will alternate between types. While not really a problem as is, I swear sometimes the timer can be schizophrenic, lasting half a second before switching to the other ammo type, i.e. the one I didn't want. The item drop rate is also really arbitrary, occasionally giving you enough bombs to start a new world war, and other times you get nothing, same for health replenishment. While the bullets aren't usually too hard to keep track of, I'll be damned if I couldn't see squat in the tundra/winter themed stage. I mean, I'm used to Touhou bullethells, but bullets blending in with the background is a whole other story.

While not necessarily best in class or most unique, Blue Rider offers a fresh new 3D take on an old 2D style of game. Environments are bright and transition between each other fluidly, controls are smooth and easy to handle, and stage design was overall well done. While there are some inherent issues with some of the aspects, such as the fast power-up rotation cycles, and it feels a little lacking in the number of available weapons, Blue Rider certainly doesn't disappoint. While not necessarily best in class, Blue Rider is a great console addition to the bullet hell and arcade-style auto-scrolling shooters with a nice 3D twist.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Ravegan
Publisher(s):
Ravegan
Genre(s):
Shoot 'Em Up
Mode(s):
Single Player
Coop
Other Platform(s):
PC
Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Richard

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Halo Wars 2 - Xbox One Review

Halo Wars 2 takes place 28 years after the events of the first Halo Wars, which places it more in line with the rest of the Halo franchise timeline, as Halo Wars took place 20 years prior to the first Halo event … Halo Wars 2 finds the UNSC Spirit of Fire back in action after floating adrift in space, her crew in cryo, with the now-rampant AI Serina waking the crew as the Spirit of Fire floats above a mysterious Arc. Rejoin Captain Cutter, Professor Anders, and what remains of te now AI-less UNSC Spirit of Fire as they wake to a new enemy.

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Dance! Everybody dance! - A Pit People Preview

Ssssssssooooo… Hi. Doing a preview for an upcoming or early access game often has its pros and cons. Pre-release versions of ANYTHING mostly bear good and ill news, in that a product might be a terrific idea, but is plagued, in its infancy, with feature-less segments, crippling bugs or severe balance issues (I'm guessing this is why children don't have a pre-release version available - they're messy enough in full-release, and I mean, ew).

But once in a while, you get this gem, this thing of beauty that goes beyond your expectations, that grabs you by the metaphorical gonads and Just. Won't. Let. Go.

[A gem, I say!]

Pit People is one of these gems. A weird, hexagonal precious stone, ready (it seems) to be carved out of its primordial rock and thrown in your jewel collection. I don't mean this lightly. It's already quite fricking shiny, and I pray to the digital entertainment gods that its multi-faceted, sparkling form maintains its appeal, value and, so far as I can predict, longevity. (I can predict this because, as we know, diamonds are forever. Thanks, Mr. Bond.)

I'll start with a negative point, and perhaps the only major one I have so far: it's early access, therefore incomplete. Even though The Behemoth advertise what's available as "a sizeable chunk of the story", even yours truly, a family man without as much gaming time as he'd like, got to the end of the pre-release content pretty quickly. But then… That wouldn't be a negative if the game actually sucked, now, would it? So, chalk it up as a collateral to my very positive impressions about the game!

On to the actual preview.

If you're familiar with anything Behemoth's done before (Alien Hominid, BattleBlock Theatre, Castle Crashers, to name them all), you know right off the bat what to expect: simple, yet quirky graphics, simple, yet deep gameplay, and hell, that Behemoth aesthetics and weird-dom. Everywhere.

[Don't say weird to their faces; they're very sensitive. Except the snakelady - she just mean.]

Starting with the graphics and visual design, because I'm writing this, so suck it up. Although it won't break screens and melt graphics cards, Pit People certainly manages to distinguish itself from other games in the industry, AND from other Behemoth games. Granted, you'll find the characters familiar (even moreso if you equip the Castle Crashers helmets on your guys), but as you'd expect, the game has its own visual vibe, uniquely weird and cute, and just plain fun to look at. For seemingly "basic" designs - basic in that Behemoth way: characters are, for the most part, black and white, colors provided by their equipment only, and their features are drawn very simply -, all of the characters have tons and tons of personality. That's nothing surprising, considering Dan Paladin et al.'s pedigree, but it's not any less worth mentioning. Every Pit Person you'll meet is ready to throw all of its charm at you via your screen. And then smash (monochrome) heads.

Sounds are, much like their eye-candy counterpart, stellar. Character voices, albeit not from any recognizable human speech, are cute, funny and endearing. Like chipmunks without actual words, but with attitude. The music complements this in such a fashion that you'll find yourself tapping your feet without ever meaning to - hell, even the buildings in town are honest to goodness DANCING (and there's the explanation for that title). Not kidding: all the dwellings and various locales in town are bouncing to the technofunkish beats that drape the game, from start to finish. It not only flows well with the rest of the game's overall design, but it also carries it, somehow, from an already fun place to be to what feels like the coolest private gaming club in town. I mean, just listen to THIS:

[Boop-tss-bleep-bleep, boop-tss-boop-boop-boop, goddammit!]

Gameplay, now. Boy, is this game FUN. The depth of strategy and the almost endless variety in team composition guarantee that you're gonna want to shuffle things around a lot, trying out new "builds" at every turn. This might be just for funsies, or simply because the harder fights will make you WANT to switch things up. For example, you'll want to equip your group with blunt weapons for those encounters with lots of helmets, since the latter are very resistant to swords, but suffer extra damage to heavy things that go "CRASH" instead of "CHOP". Humanoids can be outfitted with an incredible array of different weapons, shields, helmets or headgear, ranged… things (throw some explosive olives, why don't you?) - point is, there are a LOT of possible combination for humans. Non-humans (robots, pixies, and much more weird and funky critters) also have their share of customization, some of them sharing items with their human counterparts, further ensuring that the chances of you showing the same team as another player are abysmal to none. Balance being, as always, essential to a good comp, throw in a cupcake healer in the battermix and you got something good going. Did I say "cupcake"? Yes, yes I did.

[I fought the law and the law DIED!]

The main thing you'll be playing, at least at first, is the story mode. And so far, I'll be honest, it's looking good. Yes, the overall gameplay and its sheer variety help, but the main characters are so endearing, and the story line so wacky that just following on everyone's antics will keep you, if not riveted to the screen, at least very entertained. This is due in large part to the narrator/ antagonist (no spoiler here - you figure this out in the first 2 minutes of play) and his oral rendition of your adventures. His tasteful commentary of your every action and enterprise is at times thigh-clapping funny, undies-wetting hilarious, and "replay-inducingly" witty. Horatio, the "hero" of the story, goes on his quest for vengeance and survival, all the while being harassed and taunted by this all-seeing entity, with his booming voice and kickass delivery. Having this sarcastic, evil angel constantly just behind you make each and every step of the way that much better, whether you're on the world map or in battle.

Back in town, you find the usual: the Pit, your homebase, a couple shops. Nothing really out of the ordinary for this type of game, really, and everything is pretty self-explanatory. As a sidenote, though, your FIRST foray in the city will be something to remember. Not telling why. It's just… mind-melting.

Outside of town, navigating the map is cute and fun. You take your little wagon, stuff your party inside and start exploring around you. You can see enemies roaming around on the map, so you can avoid them, of course, or render them unconscious by shooting (I kid you not) rockets from your cart. In co-op mode, one player controls the cart, while the other controls the rocket-launcher; that way, no one sits around enjoying the ride, which actually makes the ride that much more enjoyable.

[Rockets, man! ROCKETS!]

Speaking of co-op mode: engaging in battle with a player by your side means you get TWO parties to tackle baddies. While this DOES seem to make the game a tad easier, it also provides for shenanigans in battle, where you have make sure, for example, that your area-of-effect warriors don't start raining doom on your allies (friendly-fire galore, here, for better or… betterer). This co-op madness actually helps prevent the game from being too easy, which would take away from the fun - unless you do enjoy simply steamrolling down a game's campaign unopposed.

If you'd rather go the other way, scrap the campaign and just smash heads, then the titular Pit is for you. This is where you can challenge other players to duels, or 2v2's, and also take on harder teams of AIs for gold and bragging right. Though I'd encourage you to consider going the co-op way against the buffed-up AI teams, feel free to go solo or duo in VS. Both modes have their charms, though it should be said that VS mode has global chat, so you're exposing yourself to potential trolls by heading there. Just saying. The Intarwebz CAN be a mean place, kids.

Wrapping this up, here. Because yes, I believe Pit People indeed IS a gift to the gaming world (gift… wrapping… yeah), or at least it's shaping up to be. Its appeal, style, quirkiness and extremely diverse gameplay, alone, would make it a recommendation, but the Behemoth touch, through the narrator and the truckload of personality the game exudes make this one a special kind of game.

Whether fighting against other players is your bag or not, give this one a try; you're really going to enjoy the cart ride!

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
The Behemoth
Publisher(s):
The Behemoth
Genre(s):
Strategy
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
None for the moment

Source:
Purchased

Article by Rémi

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Week in Review - March 13th to 17th

Because weeks can simply disappear quickly and then you wonder where they went, we've decided to bring you a Week in Review on top of our Months in Review.

Quick and to the point, here's what you may have missed this week!

First up on Monday our new writer Marc tackled Nintendo 's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the new Nintendo Switch who unsurprisingly gave this epic game a full score.

Following that on Tuesday I myself tackled The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on Nintendo's Wii U. It sadly doesn't get full marks due to some slightly slopping finishing on the hardware compared to the likes of both The Legend of Zeldas: Twilight Princess and Wind Waker but the adventure itself is freaking amazing and more than worth it.

Wednesday Breanna dove back into the world of gaming with Rimworld giving everyone a second look at what we think of it so far. Still in Early Access this game looks solid and I swear she could write her own novels based off of her exploits so far.

Thursday we took a look at a new service called Utomik. This hybrid gaming service that takes the idea of a monthly subscription and a Steam like library. With plenty of titles so far, and LEGO® STAR WARS™ III: The Clone Wars quite literally just having released, there's more than enough content for gamers of any type to be happy with.

Finally the week ended on Friday with Richard tackling Dying Reborn on the PS4.

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Dying Reborn - PS4 Review

Dying: Reborn is marketed as "A dark, horror-themed puzzle game that creates a unique first-person room escape experience". This is…mostly true? Dying: Reborn plays like those phone app escape games. You know those games that last either five minutes and make you pay for more content, or are twenty minutes long but cost ten bucks? Yeah, it's like those. First thing I want to specify is that this is the non-VR version of the game, because apparently the developers removed half the content in the VR version.

Dying:Reborn gives you control of some amnesiac man who wakes up with a pounding headache and one of the worst voice acting jobs I've seen since Arc Rise Fantasia. I'll tell you right now, if you're looking for some form of coherent story, you won't find it here. Nothing is really resolved at the end, and you don't even know who half the characters are. While the puzzles can be interesting and well thought out, half of them can be solved with trial and error if you really can't figure them out, and some of them are less puzzles and more tests of awkward thinking, or not overthinking. The game progresses on a room to room basis, but you don't necessarily need to solve all the puzzles to finish a room. Apparently I finished the first room by only solving half the puzzles, and didn't even find out until I got my dad to play while I was writing this, because I needed someone who wasn't used to this style of game. To quote him, "the game feels kind of crunky". You can collect backstory pieces, if you can call them that, by collecting pictures and newspaper clippings throughout the game.

There are a bunch of puzzles that feel they were hastily redone, or aspects that were going to be puzzles, but were promptly forgotten about and never actually used. There are also a lot of logically unsound decisions the character makes, such as dropping an item the moment it has fulfilled its apparent usefulness. I don't know about you, but if I found an old umbrella, I might keep it as a potential weapon. Just saying. You also can't crouch, which is a little infuriating when you have to pick something up off the ground, but can't be arsed to actually bend over and pick it up, instead opting to find something to bring it closer to you with. Like the aforementioned umbrella.

If you're wondering how the story is written, well, if "Men cannot use" or "beware electricity in the bathroom", it becomes fairly obvious that English was not the first language. The music is kinda atmospheric, but the sound effects were pretty much taken from the first stock sound folder you can find. Most notably is the "jarring piano sound", which is so overused that I was actually at a loss for words. Literally every menu selection uses the sound effect. The shutters opening sounded like a nuclear silo base alarm as well.

The game is also super finicky, as sometimes I would examine something and nothing would happen, or the little red icon indicating you can examine something wouldn't appear. This was most noticed in the second room, with the door to the office not opening when I had the key, and the electrical box were especially bad. Two of the biggest issues I had with the gameplay mechanics had to be the inventory system. The game forces you to equip an item to be able to use it, and after examining something once, the item is unequipped. Incredibly infuriating when you examine something close to something else and all you get is "no effect", so you think it doesn't work, but you were actually examining something else.

Despite being "horror-themed", I was honestly laughing way more than anything during the game. The fish-head villain isn't particularly scary, just kinda dumb looking, the characters and their motivations are either shallow or unexplained, the interface was occasionally extremely aggravating, and some of the puzzles can be extremely unintuitive, given a certain mindset. Honestly, I've seen better "escape" style games for free on my phone, and even the paid ones are better and cheaper. I really can't recommend this game unless you're in dire need of an escape game that isn't for your phone.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
NEKCOM
Publisher(s):
Oasis Games
Genre(s):
Horror
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation Vita
PlayStation VR capable

Source:
Purchased or Provided by Publisher

Article by Richard

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News - Brawling Crime Caper ‘Deadbeat Heroes’ Will be Published by Square Enix Collective

I personally love a good Brawler though they seem to be few and far between of late. Enter, Deadbeat Heroes which is the latest to be picked up by the Square Enix Collective. Aiming for both the PC and the Xbox One, it looks like I and the rest of the brawling fans on those platforms will have something to look forward to!

Here's the Press Release:

Brawling Crime Caper 'Deadbeat Heroes' Will be Published by Square Enix Collective

Leap, dash, wall-run, climb & backflip onto PC & Xbox One

London, UK - March 14 2017: Deadbeat Heroes™, a fast-paced, brawling crime-caper set in a comic book-inspired world will be published by Square Enix Collective™. Under a deal signed with UK-based developer Deadbeat Productions™, Square Enix Collective - the platform that brings diverse and quality indie titles to market - will release Deadbeat Heroes on PC and Xbox One.

Deadbeat Heroes is a 3D, movement-based brawler about dodging bullets, stealing super powers and cracking wise. Action in the game is all about celebrating movement, with the 'Deadbeat Heroes' playable characters being some of the most agile in videogame history; seamlessly able to leap, dash, wall-run, climb, backflip as well as attack in any direction and perform a wide variety of super-moves. They'll need this agility as there is no block - these 'glass cannon' protagonists are able to dish out damage, but not take it!

Started by former Lionhead & Rockstar developers Adam Langridge and Imkan Hayati, Deadbeat Productions cut their teeth developing key combat mechanics and magic spells in huge AAA franchises before embarking on their own project. After laying the foundations of the game, Adam and Imkan recruited the expert pen of BAFTA-winning writer James Leach to add a large dose of hilarity to the game's script. Heavily influenced by a youth spent playing arcade beat-em-ups and reading 60s/70s comics, Deadbeat Heroes is a game about characters who aren't born with superpowers, but have decided to become heroes regardless. As the tagline for the game says: "Powers to the People".

"Deadbeat Productions' debut title Deadbeat Heroes is a fantastic demonstration of this team's talent", said Phil Elliott, Director of Community & Indie Development at Square Enix London. "Their AAA development pedigree and first-class writing result in a 'proper' 3D fighter that's immensely colourful and often hilarious. Square Enix Collective is very happy to be working with Deadbeat Productions to release Deadbeat Heroes".

"Deadbeat Heroes is a game that we've always dreamed of making", said Adam Langridge, Director at Deadbeat Productions. "We are delighted that the Square Enix Collective team, with their experience, vision and passion believe in the gameplay, style and...  well... daftness of Deadbeat as much as we do".

- 30 -

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Utomik - PC Software Preview

I'm no stranger to reviewing games and software, but to review a software that distributes games? I wasn't quite sure what to think of that as first but it didn't take long to get comfortable with it. Utomik has an interesting approach to the idea as unlike Steam where you simply buy your title and that's the end of it, Utomik works more like a Netflix / CrunchyRoll / Funimation sort of deal in which for a monthly fee in which you can play whatever is currently in their library. With titles old and new under the hood? I was impressed.

I'll start off with the fact that Utomik is still fairly new and currently in open beta. As as such there are a few areas which could be improved through feedback but the overall experience is a pleasant one. The interface that you get to log into once your account is all set up and ready to go is smooth and loads the content fairly quickly. Where things can be a bit "iffy" is that when hovering over a title and clicking it, currently at the point of this writing, nothing will happen. You can choose to either play which is an obvious choice or rate it. What is less obvious is in the upper right corner there's an option to view more information upon the title.

Clicking for more information will bring you to the game's page in which you can still chose the option to "play", "rate" or you can read up on the provided information and watch a provided trailer. Furthermore, near the top under the title there's an option to view the system requirements. It would be nice to see the addition of the CPU Speed and Ram required instead of simply the Operating System, Disk Space, and the Architecture (32/64-bit).

Now I made the reference to Netflix earlier in regards to the monthly plans but Utomik is not a streaming service. Instead, after you've browsed and found what you've wanted, you can then hit "Play" and Utomik will start to download the game to your Harddrive and most of the time you can play within a few minutes for the larger ones. The smaller ones? Seconds. The rest downloads afterwards but they download enough of the game in order to start playing faster.

I personally don't need to worry about my Bandwidth caps at the end of the month but a lot of people do and that's something I kept in mind while exploring what Utomik has to offer. Thankfully a person will know exactly how much data will be used as the System Requirements page tells you how big the game is. Where things can possibly get a bit heavy is that the trailers auto-play and there's currently no option to prevent it.

As for the games however, Utomik currently has titles such as:

• Blackguards;
• Blackguards 2;
• Evoland;
• Evoland 2;
• Lone Wolf;
• Shelter;
• Shelter 2;
• Paws: A Shelter 2 Game;
• Finding Teddy 2 (now known as Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus);
• Anima: Gate of Memories;
• The King's Bounty Series (King's Bounty - Legend, King's Bounty, King's Bounty: Crossworlds);
• SpellForce;
• Bound by Flame (PS4:Bound by Flame, Xbox360: Bound by Flame);
• Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic;
• Star Wars Force Unleashed;
• Titan Quest;

and much much more. At the time of this writing there are still other Star Wars titles coming such as Lego Star Wars 2, Force Unleashed 2 and Knights of the Old Republic 2. Yes I went with a theme on that one but Utomik has partnered with Disney so for Star Wars so there could be a lot more. They've even partnered with TellTale (Press Page with both articles) so if you've been holding on to playing some of their awesome series this could be a way to do it. The library will continue to increase and it's nice to see big names behind it.

So far things have been going pretty well and there will be a few upcoming reviews from the Utomik service such as Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan, A Blind Legend and Life of a Pixel. These are just a few titles that I figured would be interesting to approach from a reviewing perspective but I've also got the likes of Evoland, Evoland 2, Lone Wolf, Dark Forces, Spellforce and Zenith loaded to see how some of them play from the PC and to see how smooth they run through this service. Some of these I've either already reviewed on another platform or another site while others I figure now is a good time while I get to experience what Utomik has to offer. All in all it's a good service and it'll be interesting to see what else comes out in the next little while.

Software Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Utomik
Genre(s):
Distribution Software

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Rimworld - A Second PC Preview

Sheer panic grips you as the alarms sound wildly all around you, your console is lit up like a spazzing christmas tree on the fourth of July. In your view screen looms a rocky, harsh planet that's rapidly becoming bigger. Your ship is going down and there is nothing you can do about it. You and your crew rush to the escape pods. A blinding flash, a sickening crunch and suddenly blackness. As you swim to the surface of consciousness and look around you see the few survivors and the harsh landscape that has suddenly become home. Where are you? A group of large fuzzy animals are stampeding away from the crash, trees smoke and crackle with fire, a beaver sits looking at you from….wait….a beaver? What is this Canada? You stumble to your feet and look around. Unfortunately for you there will be no igloos, no Tim Hortons and certainly no clinics with free health care. You're not in Canada, you are on a planet at the edge of the galaxy. You have crash landed on a Rimworld, and you are in very big trouble!

At it's core Rimworld is a game of survival with a good mix of combat, mystery and misery thrown in. Your only real goal is to survive and get off this planet...or don't it's up to you. At the beginning of your game you chose one of three starting scenarios along with a narrator who will dictate your odds of survival and how much you're about to cry (Editor's Note: What is this? Dark Souls?). Will you take on the group of three survivors from the crash above? Or will you lead the band of five tribes people whose home has been destroyed as they set forth into the unknown? Or perhaps you will be the possibly insane rich investor who has voluntarily stranded himself on this Rimworld. All three provide their own challenges. The crash survivors start out with fewer people but more technology available up front. The tribes people have more helping hands but more mouths to feed and less technology. And the lone rich guy, well he has all the supplies money can buy but this world is not easy to survive in alone.

The narrator you choose will dictate how many events you face and their severity. One will start you off easy but will steadily increase the difficulty until you're calling red alert more often than Voyager in Borg space. One will give you lots of time to prepare in between but won't hold her punches and really loves to kick you when you're down. And the other really doesn't care, he's going to give you whatever he thinks is fun, whether you're ready or not.

Once you've chosen your scenario and level of masochism it's time to chose your location and your people. Your starting location will dictate how long a growing season you have, your chances of disease, wildlife and the types of rock available. Be warned, you are not the only group of flesh bags on this planet. There are other factions and towns already in existence. Some friendly… some not so much.

The people you select are just as crucial to your starting location. Just like in real life no one's perfect and everyone has good points and flaws, it all depends on what kind of flaws you can live with. The super soldier might have a bad back that makes him a grouch or the farmer might have an addiction or is missing an eye. Every person has a trade off. Every pre-existing health problem or severe injury sustained within your colonists life will affect their work output and their mood. If a frag grenade destroys your engineers eye he's going to be a lot less effective and in pain until you can design him a new one. Depending on your technology that new eye can be anything from a wooden eye that makes him look a little like a pirate or an advanced piece of technology that will allow him to rival Geordi La Forge (I've been binge watching Star Trek, don't judge me!).

With your people selected and the clock to your impending doom started, it's now time to begin the base building aspect of Rimworld. Your starting scenario will dictate whether have access to things like electricity right off the bat. As you research and progress through the game you can move from a hunter gather society to a well dressed, gun toting civilization. As your people become more skilled they create better items faster and surviving gets a little easier. But be warned, your circumstances can change in a flash, literally.

During my first playthrough I had the pleasure of watching my wooden base burn to the ground during a dry lightning storm. Then they got ambushed by raiders and… well… that Rimworld got a new ruin. The next game I played I had the foresight to build stone walls as soon as I could, but stone doesn't save you when a cold snap and a blight wipes out all your food. You could go full cannibal but I was early in the game and not that committed. Often Rimworld follows the law of three and you can be coasting alone feeling like you have everything under control and suddenly you're desperately foraging for berries and sleeping on the ground. The unforgiving nature of the game is part of why I love it.

Nature isn't the only danger you'll face. Each of your people has needs and if those aren't met they will have mental breakdowns which can include the sort of funny binge drinking or the not so funny brawling. Each member of your group will have different social ties to the others. Your vet might despise your soldier while trying to make amorous advances on your engineer. The housemate might fall in love and marry the gardener. These social ties make your people happy but can also create discord so manage your people wisely.

As you progress in technology and secure your food and weapon capabilities you can start opening diplomatic negotiations with other nations. Or you can arm a war party and end their sorry existence on this rock. Each action you take towards another faction will gain or lose reputation. Become hated enough and you'll find yourself being constantly raided and attacked. Act friendly and they'll send you trade caravans or help you out in fights. This flexibility is something I really like in games. Rather than following a set story line I can become a mini dictator or a beacon of charity and trade, it all depends on my mood.

In terms of graphics, lovers of the incarcerated nation called Prison Architect will definitely recognize the simple graphic style. All buildings are seen from the top down and are one floor. All the sprites are sort of like chubby chibi people who move like they're riding segways and all the animal sprites look like hover kitties. The simple graphics suit the game well since they make base building and crafting simple.

I have honestly been waiting for a game like this for a long time. It combines the knack of Don't Starve for killing you off in a different way every time you play with the base building of Prison Architect and the resource management of Banished. Despite being an early access it already has a fluidity and complexity of a fully launched game with few glitches and enough content to keep your interest. Just like with Prison Architect, the modding community on Steam is already adding hours of gameplay including auto turrets. I've tried to glitch the game by loading multiple mods and founding three settlements with a large population. It slowed down a little but there was no catastrophic failures which means the coding is already solid.

The menus can be a little cluttered at times with the addition of these mods but overall base building is easy. To create items each crafting bench has bills, like a queue of of items to be created and in what priority. There is a lot of flexibility in this system since you can set limits of certain items or resources, ask your people to craft only a set number and then stop or ask them to continuously create a specific item if the materials are available. Combined with storage zones that are fully customizable, it makes supply management easy.

Combat can be a little clumsy but I think that's more of a me thing than the game since I tend to get stuck in stupid situations. There's a cover system allowing your people to duck behind barriers and trees adding a tactical angle to the whole affair. There's also friendly fire. So if your people aren't side by side be careful especially early game when most of your minions can't hit the broadside of a barn.

Like many games of the genre, Rimworld suffers from the "what do I do now" hump about mid game where you're not really sure what to do next. Hopefully as the game is developed new content will take this away. The ability to create more than one base and to move around the world has already gone a long way towards that.

All in all Rimworld is definitely a time sink you should add to your library and I look forward to many more hours of tears...

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Ludeon Studios
Publisher(s):
Ludeon Studios
Genre(s):
Simulation
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
NA

Source:
Purchased

Article by Breanna

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