When The Embers Wake is a third-person narrative walking simulator about grief where the narrator, Emmie, is working through the loss of her mother. This struggle is portrayed through a red panda and mother panda.
Two and a half decades after the game first released, we have Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered available on modern consoles, and this title is absolutely a blast from the past.
Sometimes a game will hit your feed that is completely unexpected. That is the reaction I had when I discovered Map Map - A Game About Maps (which I'll refer to as Map Map from here on out). It is a puzzle exploration game where you take the role of a young cartographer setting out on a relaxing journey to many unknown islands.
Welcome to an adventure across the land of Raoah! Help guide Hira on this metroidvania quest across a land that is being choked by corruption. Can you help Hira return peace to Raoah with the help of the companions he meets along the way, or will the world fall into desolation? Only you can help out in Fallen Tear: The Ascension!
Let me tell you about this cozy game my daughter and I are playing together called Outbound. Now, I've been following this game from the initial Kickstarter back in April 2025 to its full release in May 2026. The best Mother's Day gift for myself and my first ever collector's edition in a physical copy!
In OVER REQUIEMZ Yuhiru is thrown into the castle of Oz and is immediately accused of trying to assassinate the King and shoved into the dungeon. Not only is she treated like a criminal...
Today we’re looking at what has rapidly become an absolute favorite in the open-world RPG genre for me. An interesting story, memorable NPCs, stunning visuals, and a setting absolutely dripping with flavor, Dread Delusion sets its tone immediately and sticks with it.
...and I have been playing NHL games since. It didn't matter whether it was EA or another game like 2K in the 2000s; I loved hockey games and still do, but is NHL 27 a step in the right direction?
YAR: the Forgotten Throne will see you “Choose your path as a Warrior, Volkhv, or Archer and journey across the lands of Borea in a story-driven open-world RPG. Uncover the source of the darkness poisoning its forests and wildlife...
Nivalis Nights is an experience that gives a strong sense of what a talented team of visionary minds can create. Nivalis Nights crafts a living breathing painting of neon basked splendor with a futuristic new art style of game that is both beautiful and urban futuristic.
Following on the back of yesterday's Warhammer 40K announcement we have another one but in the Fantasy world! Looks like Vermintide won't be the only Fantasy title in the series running around anymore. Speaking of which I have to get back to my Skaven hunting...
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BIGBEN WILL PUBLISH A NEW TITLE BASED IN THE WARHAMMER WORLD: “WARHAMMER: CHAOSBANE”
Lesquin, June 1st 2018 –Bigben,Games Workshop and Eko Software are glad to reveal the name of the next console and PC game based on the famous Warhammer license: Warhammer: Chaosbane.
The
development of the title is being done by Eko Software, a French studio
who has demonstrated great skill in the hack’n slash genre with How to Survive 1 and 2, a series which captivated millions of players.
This adaptation of the franchise will be the first Action-RPG to take place in the Warhammer Fantasy world. The game takes place in the Old World, a dark and bloody continent devastated by wars against Chaos.
In Warhammer: Chaosbane,
the player will be plunged into the middle of Old World history as they
embody a human, a high elf, a wood elf, or a dwarf and discover several
iconic locations such as the cursed city of Praag, or Nuln, the old
capital of the Empire.
Warhammer: Chaosbane is currently in development and will be available on console and PC.
The Might & Magic series has been around for quite some time through a variety of forms. From the action and dungeon crawling base of the pure Might & Magic to the more strategic elements of the Heroes of Might & Magic series, there’s something for everyone. Started by 3DO all those years ago and picked up by Ubisoft after its downfall, the franchise is seeing a new type of entry with Elemental Guardians.
While the series has already seen the light of a mobile device with Heroes 3’s re-release, Elemental Guardians is the first to be developed specifically for the platform. Free to play, this experience gives players an easy way in to try out what it has to offer before making one of two types of investments. The first is going to be your time, as I sit here having my hulking armies trying to go through various lands to level up, and the second will be real-world money. The first or the two isn’t an issue as there is an autoplay feature, more on that later, but the second is a much more conscious decision as you wrestle money from your own inner greedy demon.
Startin off, you are thrown into a few tutorials in order to show you the ropes. Later, and depending upon the difficulty and the situation, you can have up to five creatures on the field in order to fight alongside your “hero” that stands at the back with the ability to launch magical barrages against the entire enemy team once their gauge is filled. Working on a speed and turned based system, creatures of both sides will have their turns, as long as they are still alive, in order to unleash hell upon their enemies with standard and special attacks that come with cooldowns.
Once you’ve left the tutorial you become free to start setting up and leveling your team as you see fit. An element that I really appreciated in this respect is that units are not respectively locked to a particular element but instead exist within all of them. Really like the Ninja? A team of all four elements can be available to use if you get lucky enough to unlock them from their crystal cocoons known as Soulstones. Where things can get a bit tricky, and where your own personal luck comes in, is that the higher the initial rank of a creature, the less likely you are to get them off the bat or anytime into the near future. I’m still working on getting a Four Star from a Soulstone!
Soulstones themselves come in three formats. Green for basic 1-2 Star, Orange for advanced 2-3-”4” star, Purple for 3-4 star or a sparkly purple currently going on for the inauguration which is an automatic 4 star. The issue with this one? At the time of the writing I’ve got 24 days to summon the rest of the required amount, 43/150, in order to get this sparkly wonder waffle. Even then, I’ve no idea what could be inside which is the name of the game. You get these Soulstones and you hope for something good! Thankfully after a week and some I’ve gotten some interesting minions such as my Cyclops who thinks that he’s a showboating basketball player. With the damage he can do I won’t tell him otherwise.
So what do these stars even mean? In basic terms it’s power. In less basic terms the stars represent the creature’s rank meaning their overall power on the power pyramid. The obvious catch to this is that you would want a higher ranked creature earlier but if you don’t get one and like the ones that you have you can always rank them up by sacrificing others of their level in order to power them up further. Adding to this is the ability to evolve your units, if one is available, into something even more powerful but the materials required are insane, and again at the time of this writing, I’ve almost got enough for my main Air, Earth and Fire. For some reason Water is out to lunch on the material acquisition.
There are more to your creatures however than simply their level and their rank. The one last item to take into consideration are called Glyphs that can be just as elusive as your Soulstones. Glyphs come in a variety of different areas of expertise from Accuracy to Strength and Immunity. While alone these can be beneficial adding either straight values or percentages to attack, defense or hit points, if you match three of a kind they give an extra percentage on top of everything already set up. Making things that much better is that you can have up to six Glyphs allowing for two seperate bonuses or one hell of a single one!
What I've appreciated the most about Elemental Guardians is that for a mobile, free to play title, you don't actually need real money to move forward or to be able to acquire everything in the game. Instead, because of daily and lifetime achievements, all types of currency are readily available as long as you put the time into it. These currencies aren’t simply token gestures either, they come in a fair amount letting you move along at a decent pace instead of falling behind those with larger wallets than yours. Jumping on right now with the beginning launch and inauguration packs for extra daily influxes doesn’t hurt either.
Your currency itself falls into two categories. The first of the two which is more widely used for your units and your upgrades are crystals that come in heaping amounts. Crystals themselves are often used alongside other items that are picked up such as potions in order to inject experience more quickly into your units to level them up. Side to that, you can also use crystals with a variety of materials in order to rank up bringing a unit from a one start to a two, a two to a three, and so on. Finally in regards to units, crystals are used to upgrade your Glyphs which as mentioned can really change the game when a squishy healer becomes the biggest tank of the pack and is constantly your last one standing even at an elemental disadvantage.
The second of your currencies that carry a lot more weight are gold coins. These coins are used for either retrying a failed mission, unlocking extra slots in the store, buying a crazy amount of second level summon stones or refreshing the floating isle shop’s inventory in order to spend more coins or crystals. Both of these resources aside from being granted from rewards also have accumulators on your main screen. Four gold coins and a healthy dose of crystals can be picked up one that timer hits zero. Needless to say, it’s worth picking them up as soon as they are ready to be added to your treasury.
So with all of the above, Might & Magic does fall into the trap of severe repetition as whatever you want to do, you’re going to have to work for it. Upgrade materials are hard to come by even when they appear in your shop for 30k+ of crystals. Grinding for experience in order to move either forward in the main campaign or the secondary set of islands, which are more challenging but more rewarding, will take just as much time and a good portion of your daily energy. You’ll be seeing a lot of the same time after time which is where you at least have the ability to set combat to AutoPilot and hope that it does things right.
I’ll give Elemental Guardians that it does “Auto” fairly well. Instead of simply automatically attacking normally it’ll use skills fairly effectively in most situations. Creatures of opposing elements will often prioritize those that they can dispatch the fastest, your “hero” will wait until the next round in order to unleash their stash and they’ll even heal up as required. If your troops are really out to lunch however not capitalizing on an enemy being almost dead because they are “weak” to it, you can simply tap that creature as the target for your team's focus. Sometimes though, nothing beats taking direct control on your troops and showing the enemy who’s really king or queen!
Where Elemental Guardians lost a few points for me was in its menu designs. A lot of the elements felt very tiny for how important they were. Back, Home and a lot of the tiny spots that you can to click in order to advance through the menus such as making modifications to a creature’s Glyphs or leveling the Glyphs themselves. I wish these had been a bit bigger as I often found them hard to click unless I made absolutely certain that I was using the tip of my finger.
The other side of the menus that often drove me nuts until I stopped bothering entirely, was the creature management screen. It’s a thin long horizontal line that you have to scroll across to get from one side to the other, it’s not a wheel. The main issue is that while you can set up some favorites to make sure that you don’t merge them into another for ranking up or simply selling them because you don’t need them, the sorting functions only work “once”. What I mean by “once” is that after making your selection and then choosing a creature, everything resets making you have to do the choices again if you weren’t finished with that current line of thought. It got more tedious than it was worth so I simply stopped using what should have been a great function.
So all in all, Might & Magic: Elemental Guardians is worth checking out. The biggest bonus is that it is a free-to-play title that is easy to slide into and that it doesn’t penalize you for not inputting your own money into the mix. This doesn’t mean that you can’t, it just means that you don’t have to and it won’t mean that you fall behind the pack. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got dailies to take care of an arena fights to fight in.
Game Information
Platform:
Android OS Developer(s):
Ubisoft Publisher(s):
Ubisoft Genre(s):
Strategy Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer Other Platform(s):
iOS
Source:
Free to Play
Starting Pack Provided by Publisher
Robert and I have already sunk some time into Martyr and now it looks like we'll be able to see exactly how well the experience has developed now that it has fully released from Early Access. Stay tuned for our review!
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Budapest, Hungary – 1 June, 2018 – NeocoreGames has released a new gameplay trailer for Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr, featuring all the major elements that will be in the game's full release.
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr, the very first action-RPG in the Warhammer universe, is coming out on 5 June, 2018 for PC and on 5 July, 2018 for Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
During these days players can take part on a global event in the game in which you are collecting Skulls of the Innocent. By collecting 50 of these (dropped by various enemies), you will unlock a unique cosmetic item called Mask of the Martyrs for your character. Any character class can wear it, but it won't affect any stats. Because of this, you can keep the mask permanently (the character progress reset at launch won't affect this item). The global event will also have its own leaderboard.
Machiavillain is a portmanteau of machiavellian (cunning and duplicitous), and villain which aptly sums up the general tone and feel of this game. The creators were clearly raised on B-list horror flicks and classic monster movies, and having been brought up as such, they have remembered the most important tropes with which a monster movie must adhere. Victims are to be killed by themselves, the virgin dies last, and you do not ever, I repeat, EVER kill the dog. No matter how much of a pain it is.
But perhaps … I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. You see, this is a base sim / micromanagement game where you control monsters (mummies, skeletons, psychopaths, vampires, so on) to build a mansion out in the middle of nowhere, on a tiny unmarked road. Each of your workers has aptitudes in the numerous tasks they can do, and can be assigned to these categories in order to automatically select tasks to do within their options.
The jobs matrix reminds me of Oxygen Not Included in this regard. You build a house, you decorate it, and you lure unsuspecting fools to your home. How do you do that, though? Mail spam, of course! One of your monsters will painstakingly craft five envelopes stuffed with spam advertising free jewelry (or some equally implausible hook), mail them out, and then the next day, two victims come to your home. That is what they are to you. Victims.
This isn't a hotel management sim where your guests' comfort and rating is at the top of your worries. Instead, you bludgeon them to death with your minions, chop them up into their requisite pieces, and then your monsters will eat them when they get hungry. If you stop luring people to your home, eventually your minions will starve. If you have no minions left, that's a game over.
Sounds simple enough, sure, but the game does ramp up in complexity. The more people you lure out and murder, the more the local town's suspicion rises. The higher the suspicion, the fewer people that will come as a result of your mailings, plus the higher the odds of inciting an old-fashioned pitchforks and torches mob to come mess your stuff up.
The tone of the game is light and humorous, with such examples as a fake wall that is marked with a sign saying 'not fake' that your victims will ignore completely, but your monsters can travel through without issue.
The pathing is a bit frustrating at times. Monsters can't be trusted to properly chase down or trap a victim, so make sure that they're boxed in, or that you have all of the doors guarded before you move in to execute your prey. The graphics are flat, looking old-timey but by design, which again lends itself to the classic monster flicks. The music, on the other hand, could use a bit of variety. All these games that really only have the one tune need to take the time to get other songs, or else you will end up turning the bgm off, like I did.
At the end, if you follow the tropes, you will earn yourself upgrades to your crypt, unlocking extra monsters, extra victims, and more. If you don't, though, you will end up in debt and starving, or possibly even have your villain license revoked!
I wholeheartedly recommend that everyone that enjoyed prison tycoon style games to give this a look-see. It's worth the price tag, plus it has Twitch integration!
Game Information
Platform:
PC Developer(s):
Wild Factor Publisher(s):
Good Shepherd Entertainment Genre(s):
Simulation
Strategy Mode(s):
Single Player Other Platform(s):
NA
I think it's safe to say that the year would not be complete if Richard or I didn't end up playing at least one Senran Kagura entry. I still remember looking at the series sideways until I finally tried it out and found that some of the titles hold an actual depth of character alongside all of the very gratuitous fan service. That said, here's something coming everyone's way!
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Go big with these Bountiful Editions of SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal for PlayStation®4
Physical and Digital Collector’s Edition Details Revealed!
Tunbridge Wells, Kent — 31st May, 2018: Marvelous Europe are today excited to announce that SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal,
the latest entry in the 3D busty-brawler series and a high definition
remake of the original Nintendo 3DS game SENRAN KAGURA Burst, will
receive a Physical Collector’s Edition and a Deluxe Digital Edition for
PlayStation®4 when it launches in Europe this Autumn.
The strictly-limited Bountiful Beauties Edition
offers fans a generous slice of life and hometown, all presented in a
beautiful Collector’s Box. Inside, fans will receive a standard copy of SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal
for PlayStation®4, an original two-disc, 58-track audio CD collection, a
deluxe art book with over sixty pages of artwork and character bios,
and six “busty bestie” keychains, each complete with their own display
stand.
Topping off this plentiful package, the Bountiful Beauties Edition plays host to a rich bounty of digital bonuses. Two exclusive outfits, the Burst Girls Uniform and Old Hanzo Uniform,
will be included, alongside a new set of “Lovey Dovey” poses for use in
the game’s diorama mode. Finally, the package offers the ever-popular
Yumi as a playable character, complete with her own prologue story.
Playable Character Yumi & Prologue Chapter SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal - Bountiful Beauties Edition will be available to pre-order exclusively from our online store at http://marvelousgames.com
with the product releasing this Autumn within Europe. Previous limited
editions have sold out rapidly, so fans are advised to place pre-orders
now to avoid disappointment.
The Shinobi Rivals Edition is the Deluxe Digital Edition of SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal. This digital edition includes the game and a digital soundtrack app featuring the game’s music.
The Shinobi Rivals Edition also contains the DLC included with the Bountiful Beauties Edition. Fans will receive two exclusive outfits, the Burst Girls Uniform and Old Hanzo Uniform,
a new set of “Lovey Dovey” poses for use in the game’s diorama mode and
Yumi as a playable character complete with her own prologue story.
Playable Character Yumi & Prologue Chapter SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal Shinobi Rivals Edition
will be available digitally from the PlayStation Store within Europe
this Autumn with further release details to be confirmed closer to the
game’s release.
About SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal:
SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal
revisits the story first seen in SENRAN KAGURA Burst for Nintendo 3DS -
the first Senran Kagura game released in the western market - but
reboots the series to bring full 3D graphics and gameplay and a fresh
retelling of the story that started it all. This fast-paced brawler will
provide updated combat mechanics and character models, as well as
all-new special effects for a voluptuous visual feast!
The series’
popular Dressing Room mode continues to see expansions too, with a
wealth of new outfits and options that allow players to customise their
favourite girls’ looks and styles. With additional DLC episodes, players
can also learn more about Yumi and Miyabi’s histories prior to meeting
Asuka and Homura, ensuring that, while SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal delivers an authentic recreation of the original game, series fans will have plenty of new content to look forward to as well!
Developed by HONEY∞PARADE GAMES, SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal will release this Autumn both digitally and physically on PlayStation®4, and digitally on Windows PC.
For more information about Marvelous Europe products, please visit www.marvelousgames.com . Fans can also follow Marvelous Europe on Facebook and on Twitter.
Frank is back. This time, he brought his big package to the PS4. He brought along his usual bag of toys (which he uses as improvised weapons), costumes, and his zingers and one-liners. He also added 2 new modes and a mini-game.
The old
The basics of Dead Rising haven't changed much since the first game. Take a photographer with a dash of sociopathy, a pinch of masochism, and just throw the whole container of sarcasm in there. Add in a whole city worth of zombies, imaginative improvised weapons, and ridiculous outfits and you have a Dead Rising game. The basic game of Dead Rising 4 is essentially the same as the Xbox version (only on a better console).
The new
The first new thing in Frank's Big Package I tried was the mini-golf game. Included in this release is a DR4 themed putter game. It's decent enough although it's basic enough. It'll do to pass time a few minutes here and there, but it got boring after a few minutes.
Next, there are 2 new modes for the actual game. The first one is a short sequel to the main story. It adds a good conclusion to the game.
Frank's Rising
***SPOILERS FOR THE MAIN STORY***
When we left our anti-hero protagonist after the main game, he fell into a hoard of zombies, and got eaten instead of using a random item to kill them all, he decides it's a good idea to get eaten. Frank's Rising starts off as Frank is being killed by a mob of angry dead people. The now-dead photographer obviously heard of the old saying: "if you can't beat em, join em", because he joins the zombie horde and starts eating the living. Obviously, Capcom knew that playing as Frank without constant one-liners wouldn't do, so his scientist friend gives him just enough cure. Now he's a zombie with a sense of humour.
For this mode, they brought back time limits from the previous games, which gives it a sense of urgency that the main game lost. As you're racing the clock, to escape the city before the military nukes it, you also need to do side quests in order to upgrade your abilities. This gives this DLC a fun dilemma between doing side quests that help you get stronger, or the main quest before it's too late. On one hand, the stronger abilities can help you finish the story faster, on the other, they are using up your limited time pool, and failing/dying does not give you any time back (you respawn with the time you had when you died).
The usual food items to heal you are also gone, as zombies aren't known to eat apples or drink coffee. Instead, you need to eat the living (or the dead, Frank is pretty open-minded about his food) to heal up.
All-in-all, this is a good addition to the game. The controls can be a little wonky at times, and the pounce ability is hard to properly aim, but the abilities are interesting, the story is well-written, and it's a good finale to Frank's journey. ***End Spoilers***
Capcom Heroes
The second game mode they added doesn't add to the story. In fact, it's the exact same story as the main game. The only difference is that instead of using weapons, crafting weapons, and levelling up your usual skills, you pick up special Capcom character costumes. These costumes grant you the powers of the character it represents. There are 17 total costumes, and all of them are quite fun.
This game mode is mostly just a "for fun" addition to the main game, but it does it very well. Whether you want to shoot a hadoken at zombies, charge up your megaman hand cannon, or dual-wield chainsaws while pretending to be the clown psycho from the first game, this mode lets you do it.
As part of the Big Package, and as a free DLC for owners of the Xbox or PC versions, this extra mode adds a whole bunch of fun to anyone who just wants to go and kill zombies in new ways, without worrying too much about more story.
Conclusion
Frank's big package adds something for everyone. If you're looking to waster a few minutes, you can pick up the golf game; if you want a bit more story, Frank Rising does it well; if you just want to have fun and kill zombies, Capcom Heroes is perfect for you. All in all, I think Frank's Big Package is a good addition to any fan of Dead Rising, or anyone new to the series.
As a caveat though, all the new modes are available to download for the Xbox and PC version, so I wouldn't recommend buying this just for the new modes. It's a good package to buy if you don't already own Dead Rising 4, and it's a good series of DLC.
Game Information
Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4 Developer(s):
Capcom Publisher(s):
Capcom Genre(s):
Action Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
PC
I have a lot of found memories of my father but some of the older ones, and best ones, are the time that Mom found out that he let me play Doom 2 on the "family computer". She was, needless to say, pissed. So after uninstalling it before her and her walking away, Dad taught me how to install from a three and a half inch floppy and the most it cost me was about a half hour getting back to where I was.
Hellbound makes me think of just that. Old schooled nostalgia done right. Will you bound into hell? You can be sure that we will!
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Hellbound, the ridiculously violent '90s-inspired FPS from developerSaibot Studios ripping to PC in 2019, unleashes an intense new update for its Early Access Survival Mode today via Steam.
Get fired up with the new "Enemy Rage"
feature and watch as enemies become bigger, stronger, and faster in
later stages of the game. The update also introduces various fixes and
optimizations based on feedback by the Steam community.
Antigraviator is a super fast racing game that is reminescent of F-Zero or Wipeout. That said, unlike F-Zero which had a neat mini game, Antigraviator is a straight up competitive speed game and I'm excited to review it.
Initial Impressions
This game is everything I want in a racing game. It really does feel a lot like F-Zero in the sense of how it plays, looks, and its ship designs. Antigraviator excels at providing players with amazing background music that doesn't break a players concentration. And considering the speed at which players can accelerate to, concentration is important.
The Music and Graphics Design
Unlike other racing games out there like Grid, F1, and Gran Turismo, Antigraviator has a more futuristic and almost sci-fi look. That's even true when playing on courses that are set in the desert. It looks polished and sleek, showcasing various ship-like tunnels with flashy lights and boost pads to kick players along.
The design of the game is gorgeous in every aspect. The colour palette is bright enough for players to see the boost pads, most of the time, and is still complimentary to the environment of the track.
Each track is titled and one caused hysterical laughter. The one I'm talking about is entitled “Michael's Bay” and I'm sure it will be popular to play online. At least we know that the developer, Iceberg Interactive, has a good sense of humour. (You get extra props for that track title by the way.)
Antigraviator is accompanied by a futuristic music backdrop that doesn't distract players from achieving their goal, to win first place. This is important to me because I find other racing game music does not fit as well as it could. And if the music is wrong, then my focus is likely to shift. Nothing is worse than driving with music that doesn't compliment the driving experience. And I definitely don't like losing in racing games because of something silly like that...
Gameplay
I said before that this racing game is fast and I'm not even joking. The developers added a motion blur effect that really hammers home the idea that the players are moving at 500+ Kilometers per hour. That said, it can cause a challenge to play because the motion blur effect blends the scenery together in such a way that often obfuscates the track. As strange as it is to say, there was a map where the desert background blended with the track to cause me to lose focus for a second. The result? I crashed head long into a wall. It was wholly my fault. That crash was a result of my hitting boost, rounding a turn to hit a boost pad that I didn't know was there. It was both comical and shocking at the same time. Lesson learned, this game is all about speed but control is infinitely more important. Knowing the track will help in the long run.
Now you might be wondering what happens after a crash. Unlike more 'realistic' racing games where players must front the repair costs, this game doesn't penalize you. From what I've gathered, the game gives you currency to be able to buy the other vehicles or features. Other than that, this game is designed to just pick it up and go – another feature that I enjoy. Vehicles and addons are not race gated like in others. In fact, the player gets to race on any course of their choosing without the need for unlocking. Sometimes a player just needs to race, ya know?
And also unlike other racing games like Grid or Gran Turismo, the vehicles in Antigraviator have excellent immediate acceleration. Most racing games invoke a five second penalty or a financial cost associated with a death, but not this one. So, in order to be successful in this game, a player must learn the tracks and handling of the vehicle quickly. If not, you'll always be doomed to make 8th place. What this means is that Antigraviator is a game hinged purely on player skill.
In Game Features
The first in game feature that I've abused is the ability to do a barrel roll! I've often opted to use the barrel roll over attempting to drift turns. It's a feature that has become integral to gameplay for people like me. You'll just have to try it out and see for yourself.
That said, it can be very easy to get turned around in this game. Thankfully, I have not received the “wrong way” warning often, but since this game is bent on speed, it is something to be mindful of. At one point, after the colossal crash in the desert, I ended up with this warning because I was facing nose down.
The second feature I like about Antigraviator is being able to set traps for opponents. It's a card taken out of the Mario Kart books, and it's a feature I enjoy. Causing friendly mayhem in this way achieves a fully entertaining experience without forcing players into a cartoony game. (That's not to say Mario Kart is bad. I quite enjoy Mario Kart, but having a game with graphics that are tailored for adults is nice to have.)
Players can purchase and customize their vehicles to suit their needs. Much like F-Zero, each car has a bar for acceleration, handling, hull strength, shield duration, and pickup storage. The vehicle you start with has decent levels in each of the categories, making it the most balanced choice. Depending on a players style, other racing vehicles will focus on one or more of those elements. Essentially, find one that suits your individual style and go race! I'd love to see more than three or four choices in vehicles but otherwise, I like that there is a bit of variety.
A thing I noticed about the game is despite the handling abilities of the vehicles, the downforce is well done. It's not something that is easily explained but in a game like F-Zero, the vehicles felt light. A small tap of the analog stick caused the vehicle to zip from side to side. Antigraviator actually achieves a level of smooth turning without making the car seem like it's heavy. I find this to be both a good and irritating feature. It's good in the sense that balancing a vehicle's feel in a super fast racing game like this is normally challenging and they were able to execute it with ease. I only find this irritating because of my love for drifting. I need a lighter feel of a car to achieve that, though I don't consider it to be a hindrance on the game. This is likely why I abuse the barrel rolls so much...
What can I say? I'm a drifter.
Racing to the Finish
Antigraviator is a long awaited PC game for me. It fulfills a need of having a racing game that doesn't anger me. I say anger because no other racing game compares to Gran Turismo – a game I have high regard for. This game fills a different need when it comes to racing, and that is to have something that fulfills the need for pure speed. In short, it is a sleek and fun racing game that can be played solo or can be played to cause mayhem with your friends, making Antigraviator a racing game not to miss out on.
Overall I give this game an eight out of ten. It's polished and entertaining even if players have to concentrate a little harder at the beginning to win.
Platform:
PC Developer(s):
Cybernetic Walrus Publisher(s):
Iceberg Interactive Genre(s):
Racing
Sports Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer Other Platform(s):
Consoles later this year
A good portion of us on the team, Nick, Marc L, Mylène and I (others are hidden characters!) are big fans of the Soulcalibur series. I still remember the first time I sat down to play on my brother's GameCube and rocked the arenas with Link! I am personally looking forward to taking Geralt for a spin on the field.
Moving up through the years we have a bit of SoulCal 6 news for you. Maxi is once again hitting the roster and we have the trailer for you below!
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Fans of lighting fast nunchaku action will surely be excited to learn that Maxi will be joining the fray in
SOULCALIBUR VI. As a franchise regular, Maxi has been featured in virtually every chapter of the
SOULCALIBUR saga, leaving countless defeated foes in his wake.
With Maxi’s fluid, powerful, and deadly fighting style, players have
another weapon to wield as they return to the stage of history in
SOULCALIBUR VI.
I have now been toying with Video Editing for about three years ever since sitting down to Fastcut by Magix. Since then, I've much prefered recording gameplay and experimenting with what could be done such as making Let's Plays over Streaming. With plenty of different ways in order to capture footage, Mirillis Action! on a computer, the PS4 Share functions or simply using an AverMedia (thanks again Robert!), Elgato, or the new fantastic addition to my life the Riiai game capture module, you need a good software to carry you through. With plenty of options out there, HitFilm Pro could be a contender for some of you looking for a decent software at an "affordable" price.
With hindsight being 20/20, there are a lot of things that seemed to be amazing then, that would simply be ok now. Fastcut isn't bad but its options are limited. From there I went on to try Sony Vega Pro. It was better for its options but it couldn't actually handle the proper outputting on PS3 video. I've toyed with a few others in the meantime but one day I finally bit the bullet and bought the Lamborghini or the Tesla. Whether at home or in the office, as most of us have some form of 9-5 that we require to pull off in order to pay the bills, I have Adobe Premiere. Compared to that, not many others can come close but the reality is, if you don't pay it by month which is expensive (and I have it as part of the suit), good luck buying it outright as the option for "normal" people has pretty much disappeared.
The reason for all the above is that HitFilm Pro, upon loading it, made me think of Adobe's Premiere. The interface is clean and set up in a similar fashion. Adding or removing elements is easy with a menu at the top that provides checkboxes for quick and easy hiding and showing elements that you want on screen. If you want to move boxes around the screen, go for it. You aren't limited to the primary window allowing for other elements to be moved outside of your primary interface. More than this, you can choose which "mode" you want to be in which can all be customized. Setting up your own layouts for Assembly or Editing make it easy to switch between especially if you really want to concentrate on that one element or have something look just slightly different while working on another task.
With how familiar the setup felt, getting into it was a slightly different story as several elements weren't exactly where I would have expected them to be. You can't simply click and drag media into your timeline and have it added into your resources. You have to either import or click and drag into the media tab in order to have these assets setup and ready to use. It's a tiny difference that may not seem like much, but for a large project, it adds extra time that could be better used upon something else. Another such element is when you zoom into your timeline you zoom into where your needle is instead of where you are looking making you have to scroll back to it. These are little things but they take an adjustment period just like I have yet to figure out how to scroll along my timeline like I do within Premiere.
The last downside, is probably the biggest because of how much of an issue it was to actually find it. Adding text. For some odd reason, text cannot be simply added to a video. Instead, you have to make an element called a Composite Shot in order to add text into it and make your adjustments there. Once that is done you can then drag the Composite Shot onto your timeline in order to make your text appear and then move it to wherever you need it on the screen. Want to change the font and the color however? That you'll have to go back into your Composite Shot to do. It was really weird and it felt like it complicated something that should have been so easy.
Once you get familiar with how these work, producing a video in HitFilm Pro becomes rather smooth as you'll have ironed out what you needed. Setting in and out points on your media's source viewer is easy with either shortcut keys or buttons available. Putting them into your timeline as either a split (cuts the current video to add in a segment) or overwrite (basically overwrites the data for the amount of time that is being inserted) works great. Realize that you added too much time and want to shorten up a segment? Segments can easily be modified on the timeline and then readjusted to show video in those times as you need to with the various tools at your disposal. Like Premiere, the video design is non-destructive. Non-destructive means that it isn't like Photoshop, GIMP or Paint where you eliminate what you don't want. If you need it back, you need to start over. This isn't the case with these video editors and it makes editing just that little bit easier.
Adding in effects to either the Video or the Audio is just as smooth as Premiere. You find where you want to add in the effect, generally in my case for transitions in or out, and you add them. Don't want them anymore? Delete it. Want them to go on for longer or be be shorter? Modify them. All of these elements are easily taken care of.
I didn't just get to play with HitFilm Pro though. I also got the chance to poke at two other of Ignite and Action Pro. Ignite is for users like me that use another editing platform not unlike the fantastic Boris FX Packages. Ignite allows for you to look through over 180 different plugins and also comes with a huge amount of special effects to be added into your projects. Action on the other hand is a whole other ballpark that allows for you to make your own motion paths for either 2D or 3D animations. Once you're done, you can export them out from Action and import them into Hitfilm in order to do whatever it is that you set out to do.
Overall FXhome Limited's HitFilm Pro is a good software. It, like others, has a bit of a learning curve but once you get used to them things start to go smoothly. It does have some limitations compared to others that you may use but when you compare its price point to the monthly subscription such as Adobe's Premiere or the more expensive current version of Sony Vegas Pro? It's a solid buy.
Now you didn't think I just sat here looking at the software did you? Here's what I spent some time putting together with various footage from:
My whole week has been busy with a few games like Antigraviator, review Tuesday, and Dauntless, a Monster Hunter style of game that is in open beta. The second one will be covered at a later point in time.
Today however, I want to return to the downfall of Bless Online. My less than high hopes were validated by the community this week, for good reason. Heck, if you don't believe me, take a look at the long list of reviews on its Steam page, or watch some of the YouTube content. It's not pretty.
In fact, many have demanded refunds, but one has to ask themselves what happened?
Is it because the developers didn't care much for their game? Did players hold it to such a high standard for an Early Access build? Did the Quality Assurance staff fail to do what they were hired to?
Maybe the developer didn't have the money to hire a small group of QA testers. It was at this point that I began considering the job of a QA tester in relation to game development to see what could be determined about Bless Online.
Quality Assurance Testers
Let's talk about whether Bless Online's failure was a result of poor QA.
For the uneducated, QA testers are game testers and are often hired to find game breaking bugs before its release. Unfortunately, QA testers are often regarded as the foot in the door when it comes to video game careers. It's often not. This position is underpaid, often used as a scapegoat for a company's faults, and tends to be tediously boring.
How would it feel to play a game for free but at the cost of repetition to make sure that a section isn't broken or buggy? That's what QA testers do; they play a game to death in order to find every possible bug and game break they can think of.
At first I considered the idea that perhaps the QA testers did not do a good enough job for Bless Online. Again, remember that I haven't actually played the game, so it's tough to judge from my purview. But after digging further, I discovered that it was unlikely the fault of the QA staff – assuming, of course, that Neowiz hired some... One of the multiple issues cited for Bless Online is that the servers couldn't handle the load. Forget the fact that players wanted to try the combat system, because players couldn't even log into the game! That isn't a QA issue, that's a developer issue. What this shows is that the company did not stress test the servers before launch. Whoops.
"Not all game tester jobs are created equal. Unfortunately, many studios treat their QA department as second-class citizens – and pay them accordingly. At others, the testing and QA groups are treated better. They're viewed as key partners in developing video games that are stable, bug free, and fun"
Let's consider the function of early access games despite my skepticism about them.
If you really think about it, early access functions as a beta test for a company. Truly. You are paying for access to a game that you know is not complete and are encouraged to send feedback. People are paid to do this job! And while QA testers are often mistreated, at least they get paid to do it. Instead, likely because of that reputation, players would rather pay to play something that is buggy and then they have the privilege to complain to the developers. Companies don't have to pay you for your 'job', you pay them and then hope for a refund...
Now, that doesn't mean all early access games are bad. And often the QA testers do their jobs to the best of their abilities. They do inform the developer of issues they've discovered but the decision lies on the developer to fix it. If a bug isn't game breaking, chances are the developer isn't going to take action.
The good news is that there are plenty of indie developers that care about their products and release early access games because they lack the necessary funding to continue development on them. But that's the real kicker. Quality early access games can be as ellusive as unicorns because some games are properly programmed by people who actually understand coding, while others are heaping piles of crap.
Why the discrepancy? That's simple. Gamers want to create their ultimate game and get paid tons of money for releasing the next hit game! Rarely is that the case. Instead, we get some RPG Maker games put together by people who don't understand game design, while others like Stegosoft Games' Ara Fell (95% Positive on Steam), or Dancing Dragon Games' Echoes of Aetheria (91% Positive on Steam), are fantastic for the community because the developers used an RPG Maker for what it is. A gaming creation engine and not the means to a quick buck. Others will take a game they already enjoy and do what is known as an 'asset flip' which essentially is a copy of a game with a new coat of paint. Joe-schmoe, from his basement, is going to slap together a piece of crap and launch it on Steam.
These are the kinds of early access games I worry about. And even when a game developer had years to fix their game into something that gamers were really excited for, they failed to do their product or the community any justice.
So What Happened?
The answer to that is, I don't precisely know. The developer of the MMO officially launched the game a while ago and it had unsuccessful receptions in Korea, Japan, and Russia. It was buggy, over-hyped, and it had detrimental receptions in its launched countries.
Another fun fact: this MMO's western launch was cancelled by the original game publisher, Aeria Games, sometime last year! Ambitiously, Neowiz choose to self publish the game instead of using another publisher, in hopes that the game would receive a better reception than previously earned.
Considering the game had been beta tested in South Korea in 2014, I question what happened from then until now. Really I just think that the developer shot themselves in the foot launching Bless Online.
Suffice it to say that the QA testers are not to blame because one of the primary issues revolving around the game were blatant servers issues. It also lacks of content and features a poorly executed combat system, amongst a long list of other issues.
In fact, most people are upset with the final product to the point that many YouTubers and streamers talked about it. As a result, I was linked a video done by TheLazyPeon which outlines what he disliked about the game in a succinct manner. You can watch that video here:
What Now?
The biggest reason I was upset about this MMO was because of the sheer number of people that were steamrolled (pardon the expression) by Steam because of their two hour refund policy. Some people couldn't even get into the game in that time, let alone try to play the game. But because of that rule, only some people were refunded the money while others were shafted. Steam has, in a weird way, allowed Neowiz to get away with highway robbery. I heard about some people who dropped a ton of 'time' into Bless Online and were refunded their money. Many people are to blame in this colossal failure of a product.
This is not how things should be.
That said, the developers released an apology to the public, and it reads like a lot of vague promises and is chalked full of industry buzzwords. Neowiz's post doesn't inspire confidence in the company's ability to deliver a solid product now or in the future. And after the amount of people that have expressed their outrage over the game, I can't say that I'm surprised either. While I don't necessarily enjoy the thought of people getting screwed over, it would be much better for everyone if research was done into a game or a developer before purchasing Early Access content. I don't know how many times gamers have to make the same mistakes before they learn...
Anyways, I doubt that Bless Online, and consequently Neowiz, will recover from this debacle because they have done their fans a massive disservice.
I will say this to conclude my thoughts about Early Access games. Be very careful on your purchasing decisions, or else, prepare to lose tons of money.
After a calamity hit the surface, humans moved into cities under the water where it was much safer. Almost looking like Bioshock's Rapture before the gene splicing, things are just as bad over here with a totalitarian regime putting people to death the second that they've stepped out of line against what is considered "law". After hacking her gaming terminal for just a few extra credits because she wasn't ready to stop playing for the day, Styx set off alarms alerting the authorities to her actions. Running away and racing home to warn and protect her family, she was too late. Finding the bodies of her parents and younger brother slumped in their house within the slums, she swears revenge and heads out to end the life of the one ruling over everyone with his iron fist.
Subaeria took me a bit by surprise. I knew what the premise was but the execution, sorry for the poor choice in words at the above context, isn't what I expected and I say this in a good way. Starting the game off with Styx before unlocking other characters, you can move around Subaeria, talk to people and destroy the machines working there in order to move on forward as most of these machines work as gatekeepers. Working in a context of "blue" vs "yellow" you'll need to get them to either destroy themselves or each other. This is where things get both fun and challenging.
Styx, being human in environments filled with killer robots, can't do much with her own two hands. She can run, she can jump and she can lead robots to their deaths either by making opposite colors collide or by having them ram into beams of opposing colors. Now because this alone would be a bit too challenging at times, Styx can pick up two modules in order to use various limited usage abilities.
Some of these modules are fantastic. Styx all depending on her range can take possession of a robot in order to move it either a beam of an opposing color or ram into another enemy. She can make decoys which are holographic versions of herself dancing in order to taunt a robot into action and because the list would honestly keep going, at least from a first run perspective, she can also use sonic waves to push robots back. I did say the first run.
Styx's adventure isn't a pleasure cruise and is, at its core, a Roguelike. This means that while everything is out to kill you, being the norm of course for action and adventure titles, they are out to kill you with a vengeance because everything is designed to make you be better than you were the last time that you failed. In order to keep you on your toes, each run through Subaeria after you die is going to be just a little bit different than the last as the rooms are not exactly in the same places as you make your way through what is essentially a maze on the way to the boss of the "stage".
Bosses are HARD. Well okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but they aren't easy and they earn their title well. While taking out the minions and the what could in some cases almost be mid-bosses because of their size, the bosses come with health and you need to figure out the proper tactics in order to deplete them of this health. Sometimes the how isn't as hard as it seems and I honestly felt like quite an idiot when it took me twenty minutes to dispatch the first boss for the first time. I kept thinking that I was missing something and I forgot one very important factor that is told to you from the VERY beginning. Blue takes out Yellow. Yellow takes out blue. Spoilers: If ramming into something doesn't work, get the enemy to shoot it. Problems solved!
If you're good you won't be dying that often but even so, you'll want to pick up as much currency as you can in order to buy new modules for Styx to use as well as passive abilities that make her harder to kill. Starting off with a slim selection, it's only by buying new upgrades that they'll be available to be found in the field the next time around. If you don't buy them, they'll never show up in the field so being stingy isn't the best course of action considering that you lose everything once you die.
On the subject of not everything being sunshine and lollipops, Subaeria, at least one the PS4, had some performance issues. There were a fair amount of lag spikes and framerate drops which make trying to take a boss throwing lasers and other various projectiles very hard to dodge. Even with this, there were other moments where jumping just a second too late would make you take damage even if you visually cleared the beam that you were hoping over either because of a boss was trying to kill you or you were making a robot run into a beam of an opposing color to take it out. These weren't all the time but there were a few moments in which they truly came out to play at the worst time.
Subaeria has to be one of my favorite Roguelikes of the year. I've played a few so far but the depth of the back story, the construction of the environments and the fact that Styx is only human all come together very well. There are no super human abilities here, just random technological hacks that aid our would be vengeance protagonist on the way to her final goal regardless of what stands before her.
Game Information
Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4 Developer(s):
Studios iLLOGIKA Publisher(s):
Studios iLLOGIKA Genre(s):
Puzzle
Platformer Mode(s):
Single Player Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
PC
