Creeping Terror - 3DS Review

To its credit, Creeping Terror has something of a unique premise in presenting the usual hide-from-the-horror gameplay in a 2D perspective. Unfortunately just about everything else that the game has to offer is pretty much what I expected from the genre.

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The Red Star - Retro Reflections

The Red Star is related to the comic series with the same name. The story takes place in an fictional Soviet Union and the heroes struggle both against the oppressive government and other, supernatural threats. When the game begins your military ship is attacked by a government vessel, so it seems you are considered to be a traitor and must face the soldiers who board your ship to survive. After that you go to various places and complete missions relevant to the sinister entity that hides behind the soviet government of terror.

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Demon Gaze II - Vita Review

I’m not sure about any of you reading this, but I was a huge fan of the first Demon Gaze, even playing through the bonus dungeon that was more than a little bit of a pain in the arse. Especially Luna’s cell. Demon Gaze II is a weird type of sequel, where the events of the first game are followed but not needed to be really known about until the epilogue, although knowing the first game will definitely make some of the recurring characters a lot more hilarious. Like the first Demon Gaze, Demon Gaze II follows the dungeon crawling experience its predecessor left, making a lot of changes and improvements, almost all of which I was glad to see.

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Space Pirates and Zombies 2 - PC Review

Space Pirates and Zombies 2, or colloquially known as "S.P.A.Z. 2" is the follow-up to 2011's runaway hit Space Pirates and Zombies. Evolving beyond its predecessor's more simplistic top-down action-oriented tactical space title, S.P.A.Z. 2 brings the lovable group of misfits out for another adventure, this time with its own 12-16 hour long introductory campaign. After years of development and about 18 months of Early Access, MinMax Games brings Space Pirates and Zombies 2 to full release and it. Is. Glorious.

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Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - 3DS Review

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is an interesting throwback title, because it reminds me of what made Fire Emblem such an enduring video game series with many traits that have trickled down through the years. However, there are some unique aspects to the game as well, that also shows me how much the series has grown as well.

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Fire Emblem Warriors - Switch Review

This morning’s review of Fire Emblem Fates was not a coincidence as I finally found the time between everything else in order to finish it before the release of Warriors. Now having a better understanding of the cast, save a world brought to peril with twin monarchs as they gain help from other heroes across time and space to fight once again against the dreaded chaos dragon.

Being a big fan of Omega Force and the fact that they've made Hyrule Warriors (and all the rest of the core and spinoff series) I had high expectations for their take on Fire Emblem. Now while I came away pleased with the experience I wasn't wowed like I've been in the cases of Hyrule, Berserk, Arslan or Dragon Quest. Unfortunately in this case Fire Emblem plays it a bit safe and Warriors feels like a faster take on the ideas implemented by Heroes on the mobile.

Like the above mentioned mobile title, Warriors puts into place twin royalty of an entirely new realm at the helm as the story’s protagonists. Starting off at the end, it isn't long until the clock is wound back on the twins and the game's tutorials take over with some of my favorite cast members such as Chrom and Lucina making appearances.

The core gameplay is solid with the tried and tested warriors engine clocked into ten whether playing full screen with a pro controller or comfortably on someone else's couch in handheld mode. Both methods work and the only noticeable difference is that the map is a bit tiny on large stages when in handheld mode. Outside of that factor, there are no issues with the gameplay and even from that point of view the modifications to the system are clear to see. Materials no longer need to be manually picked up meaning you’ll be missing a lot less and the mounted units both on a horse, pegasus or dragon are amazing to fight and fly with.

The core idea behind Fire Emblem’s combat system makes a solid transition as the Rock / Paper / Scissors elements work perfectly with the various units that stand in your way. While over leveling can always overcome a disadvantage, Sword users of the same level will have a harder time with Axe wielders who will have a tough time against those of the Lance who have an easy time against swords. Archers and flyers are the same principle as you’d better be careful about who exactly is on the ground if you want to keep those health bars in check.

It’s not unusual to have partners running around the field and be able to switch between them as you need to. What is unusual however is that Fire Emblem knocks that number up to four with another four that while you don’t have direct control over, you can still command them and the other three that can be switched between. Sending these units over to conquer a fort, assist another unit or fort of your own or even stand guard because you need to make sure a location remains safe. Having seven units under your command was brilliant as it bring in more strategy to the equation as leaving them to their own devices will often not bring about the best of results.

While it can seem like a lot of characters to have on the field as they can all level up, get new equipment and be enhanced, it fits right in with Fire Emblem’s “Dating Simulator”. Now while boosting relationships between characters won’t be yielding babies this time around, it will give the player items that are required to craft crests to use better items and unlock skills to make characters more powerful. Better than that, pairing two characters will allow the one being controlled to summon the other for an attack once the gauge is filled as well as take a hit keeping you safe.

So where’s the issue? The issue isn’t in the gameplay but in how the story unfolds. Fire Emblem Warriors plays it too safe by essentially having the twins “re-experience” both Awakening with Chrom, Lissa and Robin as well as Fates with Corrin and her two batches of siblings from Hoshido and Nohr. Outside of that very little feels original even in a brand new world that comes full circle with the Chaos Dragon having to be defeated once again. That was honestly the best part however once it happens, that’s it. Roll credits.

Unlike a lot of other Warrior entries, Fire Emblem’s main storyline is over way too quickly. Unlike Hyrule, Fire Emblem doesn't have a twist like the one in which once Ganon was defeated it wasn’t the end but instead the start of the second Ark where things get really good. It’s not to say that the level of content is poor however as alongside the main storyline are history scenarios which will add in multiple hours each but in terms of original story I felt there was none as it put pieces from various recent titles together under into the Warriors engine.

Overall Fire Emblem Warriors is good but it’s not great as it didn’t take chances that it could have like Tokyo Mirage Sessions did by blending in the Shin Megami Tensei elements. I do hope to see another entry and the Switch was perfect for a Warriors title both at home and on the go, but I hope that the next one takes risks and truly makes something original because they had all the makings to do so like with Hyrule and Dragon Quest.

Game Information

Platform:
Nintendo Switch
Developer(s):
Omega Force
Publisher(s):
Nintendo of America
Genre(s):
Hack & Slash
Mode(s):
Single Player
Coop
Other Platform(s):
Nintendo 3DS

Source:
Purchased 

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 3DS Review

It’s funny how things can turn out some days. Nick who reviewed Birthright’s counterpart Conquest last year I believe picked it up after I did, which is funny, because I took a trip south of my own Canadian borders to hang out with both him and Robert for a week during that time. Only truly getting to it now as I felt I had a hard time sliding into it compared to Awakening. There’s plenty to enjoy but I have to agree with Nick with how it compared to Conquest before I get ready to jump into Revelations.

While the idea of an amnesiac surprises NO ONE these days, Fire Emblem Fates put a bit of a twist on it. Starting off with choosing Corrin to be either Male or Female (not unlike Robin in Awakening), “she” wakes up one morning with her servants booting her out of bed. Soon being tasked with leaving her home and her siblings on a mission, she finds herself meeting up with another set of supposed siblings.

Having an identical amount of brothers and sisters from two opposing and at war nations, Corrin must choose whether she goes down the path of Hoshido (Birthright) or the path of Nohr (Conquest) as she either sides with the family she was born into or the family that raised her. From here, the primary choice was that of the physical or digital edition acquired with the other available as DLC at half price.

Birthright was touted as the “easy” path and counterpart to Conquest which was supposed to be harder and less accessible in terms of how easy it was in order to gear your party for the tough battles that they would be facing. Having now gone through both I’ll agree that it is easier in terms of its difficulty for scenarios but at the same time I found that it wasn’t written as well as Conquest was.

In a lot of ways it felt like it was always missing just that little bit of something as it failed to capitalize on its enormous cast in favour of just spitting out each scenario until the credits rolled. Maybe this is why it took me so long to slide into Awakening’s sequel as once I finished and moved to Conquest, I simply couldn’t put it down while it took everything I had to finish Birthright.

Story elements aside for a moment, the rest of the systems were fantastic and continued along the more “accessible” route that Awakening put into place allowing characters to return to the garrison for the next fight instead of being permanently removed from the game. That option is still there for the more hardcore players if they choose to but sometimes, and in admission Awakening was my first real Fire Emblem, I have no idea how to pull something like that off as just one critical hit is enough to send a person to their grave.

What I loved with the gameplay system is the customizations for either a quick and dirty run with no theatrics or the whole nined yard enchilada with all of the toppings that you could think of. It really caters to both style of players in which I personally like to have my units move quickly across the field and simply play the numbers game otherwise what would be a five to ten minute battle scenario becomes fifteen to thirty just because of the animations.

The rock / paper / scissors x2 system that is in place was just as smooth as ever though there were some moments in which you simply knew that winning was not an option. Swords beat axes which beat spears that beat swords. Magic beat bows which beat the “misc” category in which shurikens can be found which beat magic. Adding in ground troops, flyers and riders and you really had to constantly worry about who was where upon the battlefield which brings into play one of my favorite systems. Fire Emblem’s Dating Sim!

Because of the lack of “oomph” to the campaign phase I was happy for the present dating simulator that has plenty of dialog and funny situations for characters to get involved in. It’s a small distraction that allows players to go through the what ifs of if someone were to fall in love with someone else or become best friends with another while ignoring the person they came in paired with at the beginning. More than this is that the system gives you access to couple’s offspring through the paralogues which in some cases are brutally hard and will test your decision making skills or the amount that you grinded through the side missions.

Overall while Birthright wasn’t a bad experience though it lacked a lot of what its counterpart offered. Conquest had heavy dialog at every turn and didn’t feel like it was simply rushing you into the next battle along your way to the credits. I would have liked more in that regard from this side of Corrin’s family.

Game Information

Platform:
Nintendo 3DS
Developer(s):
Nintendo
Publisher(s):
Nintendo of America
Genre(s):
SRPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
NA

Source:
Purchased 

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Did I just get Armello added into my Antihero?

I quite enjoyed Antihero when it released earlier this year and in an interesting turn of events it's getting new DLC of Armello in which both Robert and Chris viewed quite favorably.

Here's the full set of details of the new content with our Review to come to you shortly!

TURN-BASED STRATEGY GAME, ANTIHERO ADDS NEW DLC, MULTI LANGUAGE SUPPORT AND FREE MULTIPLAYER MAP

New Armello DLC Adds Four Master Thief Character Skins From the Armello Universe for Even More Devious Skullduggery

BALTIMORE,MD – November 2nd, 2017 – Independent video game publisher Versus Evil, in partnership with independent developer Tim Conkling, have announced that turn-based strategy digital board game, Antihero, has added multi-language support that now includes French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Portuguese for Brazil as well as new content in the form of the Armello DLC Pack. The Armello Homage Master Thief Character Pack contains four Armello Master Thief character skins based on well-known characters from the Armello universe: Thane, Twiss, Mercurio and The King.

In addition to the new skins and multi-language support a new free multiplayer map ‘The Agency’ gives players a new location to commit their dastardly deeds, and all with a bribery related twist.

“Armello is a fantastic game created by the League of Geeks team.” commented Versus Evil General Manager, Steve Escalante. “Both games live in the strategy, board game world with unique graphics and wonderful aesthetics.  We couldn’t be happier to team up with them in creating some cool characters for Tim Conkling’s Antihero. Indie helping indies is just fun. We hope you all enjoy.”

Set against the backdrop of a gas-lit Victorian underworld, players take on the role of a Master Thief and have to employ a number of underhanded and ruthless tactics to dominate each territory before their opponent does.

In Antihero players can test their thievery skills in the story-driven campaign mode or challenge friends in the highly competitive timed ‘Live Match’ and regular ‘Casual Match’ multiplayer modes to see who’s the top thief!  Operating in a gas-lit Victorian city overrun by corruption and greed your task is to manage your thieves’ guild, recruit street urchins, hire gangs, steal everything and bribe, blackmail and assassinate your way to victory!  Resource management is key to growing your guild and utilizing your nefarious assets. Spend your ill-gotten riches to hire new recruits, upgrade your thieving skills and acquire deadly weapons. Gold is a thief’s best friend!

Antihero is available now through Steam and itch.io The standard edition of Antihero is priced $14.99/€14.99/£11.99, with a Deluxe Edition for die-hard thieves and evildoers priced at $19.99, which includes the complete game plus the official soundtrack by musician Harry Mack with a contribution bonus track by Steven Gregan. The Armello DLC Pack is available from today and is priced $2.99 / €2.99 / £2.09.

If Armello owners on Steam miss out on the daily deal, they'll still receive a 20% discount on Antihero for two weeks beginning on November 3rd.

To find out more about Antihero, visit: http://antihero-game.com/

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Deer Hunter: Reloaded - Xbox One Review

Everything about Deer Hunter: Reloaded feels like a mockery of hunting and gamers that happen to enjoy hunting. From the horrific animations to pointless single-track mobility to the fact that you can simply game the system by fast traveling between areas to refresh their animals. Though it may be something of a port of the mobile Deer Hunter, what we have on Xbox One is a mess of bad animations, unrealistic bullet physics, and a near-identical acquisition yet horrific attempt at Rebellion's signature X-Ray slow motion Kill Cam is laughably bad. If you truly despise someone, Deer Hunter: Reloaded would be the perfect gift to give them.

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Forza Motorsport 7 - Xbox One Review

Forza Motorsports has been THE approachable racing simulator for over a decade now and Forza Motorsports 7 continues that trend. With an obscene number of cars (over 700!), Forza Motorsports 7 is not only the most advanced and graphically impressive, but also the largest and most varied. The downside to the massive scale is that there are a number of things that just do not make sense, which is unfortunate because Forza Motorsports 7 could be the best of the franchise, but a few puzzling decisions by Turn10 take it down a peg from "near perfect" to "good, but not the best…"

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A first look at Mega Cat Studios

For something a little difference today we are taking a first look at the content that Mega Cat Studios offers. In this day and age retro gaming is definitely a big thing with the likes of titles both big and small such as Shovel Knight and 8-Bit Adventures.

So how cool is it that developers are still making physical old school games with cartridges? Very! Making games for both the NES and the Genesis we hope to bring you some new, yet classic, reviews soon!

Here's more on the studio!

MCS breathes new life into old video game consoles with artisanal, exclusive projects you won't find anywhere else. From the original Nintendo to Virtual Reality ports, we're bringing our fans the games they want.

Every game we release has meticulous attention to detail. Brand new custom PCB boards and cartridge shells, professionally printed and bound manuals, and boxes featuring artwork our team pours themselves into to bring the physical product to life.

We are all collectors and enthusiasts first. This is, and always will be, a passion project we're proud to put our name on. In a world of cloud storage, download codes and virtual licenses, we want to provide a medium to keep things physical.

Your support is what keeps our dream alive.

Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for the latest information on our upcoming releases.

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Starfinder Core Rulebook - Tabletop and Board Games Review

Calling Starfinder "Pathfinder in space" is a massive disservice to both Pathfinder and Starfinder; I believe that James Sutter, creative director of Starfinder, had it right when he said "It's a game filled with space wizards and laser ninjas." Pathfinder is an amazing fantasy-based franchise that has been around for years and Starfinder, though set in the same universe, is a perfect evolution of the Pathfinder system. Far from being a reskinning of the beloved franchise, Starfinder makes some much needed changes to the source material to such a degree that it could easily be seen as its own identity, and it should be, as Starfinder is far superior to its inspiration.

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theHunter: Call of the Wild - Xbox One Review

theHunter: Call of the Wild totes itself as offering "the most immersive hunting experience ever created" and while it has more than its share of charm, to label it as such is a bit steep. Whether you are trekking through the American Pacific Northwest at the Layton Lake District hunting reserve, or you are slumming through the Hirschfelden Hunting Reserve, a digital re-representation of German farmlands, theHunter: Call of the Wild is fun at first, but devolves into a mind-numbing walk through the 50-square mile, Apex-generated environment that tends to drive you to bored wandering. It sure is pretty though.

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