Frostpunk - PC Review

Coined as a "society survival" game by 11 bit studios, Frostpunk is a unique evolution of the city-building/management genre and is set in the frozen wastes of a broken Earth. Brutally challenging yet extremely satisfying, Frostpunk will challenge every fiber of your managerial being… and you will love it. Set after the decline of humanity and during the onset of a new Ice age, Frostpunk spins a tail of survival mixed with the brutal reality of a people worn down by mother Earth as they simply try to survive. You will be tested, you will be tried, and you will fail. Then you will pick it up and try again. Frostpunk sets a blazingly-high bar in a new genre of PC gaming, and any future competition will be pale in comparison.

The most startling aspect of Frostpunk that you will find when loading into it is how flat the color palette is. In many games, a high-contrast blue/white palette cannot be pulled off with any real interest, however the aesthetic of the various buildings (which are Victorian-Steampunk) that you can build and upgrade manage to somehow just work in Frostpunk. Many games that stick to a specific color palette can quite dull (see: Diablo III, Quake) and at first I was concerned that this would happen to Frostpunk, however after dozens of hours in game I am still not sick or board of the way the game looks. 

In the early hours of a game the color might be a bit dull since there are not enough buildings and just a lot of open, snow-covered space, but as your circular haven from the cold begins to grow, Frostpunk comes ALIVE. Slowing the game speed down and just zooming in shows a level of closeness that far exceeds that which you would find in other city-building games. Civilians in games like Cities XL, Cities: Skylines, or even Banished all seem wooden; like they are moving from point A to point B on autopilot. If you get close in FrostPunk you can see the citizens struggling against the cold and, in a rare bit, they appear to stand in huddles and speak to one another. It is incredible…

FrostPunk is brutally challenging and incredibly rewarding. Few titles are capable of truly stressing someone out but 11 bit studios really outdid themselves here. It may sound odd and a bit cliched, but Frostpunk is the Demons Souls of society/city-building survival games, except it is gathering significantly higher acclaim than the oft-overlooked From Software title.

What I find most interesting is that standard survival city-building games like Banished feel far less strategy-oriented, whereas FrostPunk is chalk-full strategic managing … and it is quick. If you are not on top of your game, activating/deactivating buildings, reassigning civilians (or children!), managing your law book, and exploring/scouting the frozen tundra, then you will fail. In fact, even if you are on top of your game, you will fail. Expect to be banished at least a dozen times before you get into the groove of things and figure out a solid workflow.

The exciting part is that no two playthroughs will be the same; sure the milestones will be the same, but cold snaps? Yeah, they will vary… and they will kill your populace if you are not ready for it. The key is to work to solve the next cold snap, not the current one. If you are pushing your generator to the limit on the current cold snap, you are nearly guaranteed to hit game over; trust me, always work towards your next goal.

With dozens of different selections for technology research, an interesting and almost living personality to your city, and heaps of frozen trouble, FrostPunk will challenge every fiber of your strategic being and it. is. glorious. I am not entirely sure I can adequately define the addictive brutality found in FrostPunk as it is genius in its drive to freeze you out. FrostPunk is worth your time on every level … the visceral struggle of a lost people working their way through the frozen tundra is incredibly relatable and it is terrifying.

With the steampunk aesthetic, eerie music, and talkative populace, FrostPunk pulls you in and holds you in place as you work your civilization to near-death as you hope to survive the end of the world. Survival is not easy but if you can survive, your sense of accomplishment will be monumental.

Game Information

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

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Robert

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Inspired by the F-Zero and Wipeout series, Antigraviator hits release - News

Fast paced futuristic racing is always something else because you don't need to worry about our standard laws of physics or technology. Having taken to the track, Antigraviator which was inspired by the likes of F-Zero and the Wipeout series has released on the PC with the PS4 and XB1 versions later this year.

Here's the trailer and the Press Release!

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Haarlem, the Netherlands - May  17, 2018 - Publisher Iceberg Interactive and developer Cybernetic Walrus announce that their multi-award winning anti-gravity racing game Antigraviator will release for PC on June 6 through Steam and major digital retailers, with the PlayStation® 4 and Xbox® One release following later in the year.

Antigraviator is a sleek new take on the anti-gravity racing genre. Use traps, power-ups and boosts to overtake your opponents and dominate the track in single player or multiplayer mode. In a unique twist, the player has unlimited speed at their disposal, the only limit being their skill and ability to avoid walls and obstacles. A launch trailer showing these features can be seen here.

"We're extremely proud of Antigraviator and how the development has gone. We had the opportunity to showcase the game at several events such as GDC and PAX East, and the audience response was very positive" says Mike Coeck, CEO of Cybernetic Walrus. "We know that PC gamers have been looking forward to playing our game and its greatest asset: no speed limit. In addition, we're working hard on the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game and thank console gamers for their patience."

Aspiring 'grav' racers can wishlist the game on Steam now. For the console release, players can stay up-to-date by subscribing to the newsletter through the official Antigraviator website.

Article by Pierre-Yves

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STEINS;GATE 0 - PC Review

Steins;Gate is a series that I've always wanted to get into, but have never really gotten around to doing so. If you aren't familiar with Steins;Gate as a franchise, I would be forced to sum it up as "a visual novel series dealing with time travel and microwaves". Steins;Gate 0 is a…sequel, sort of, to Steins;Gate. Well, it's about as much a sequel as you can get from a series dealing with time travel. It's closer to an interstice between the majority of the first game/novel and the "true ending" of the first game/novel.

Full disclosure here: this is ultimately an interactive story, so don't go expecting action sequences or fighting, as the only real choices you get are whether or not you answer your phone. Also, since this is a sort of sequel, expect the occasional spoiler for the first Steins;Gate if you haven't seen/read/played it. There's an anime of it out, so you can watch that if you don't feel like reading/playing it.

In SG0, you generally switch between the perspectives of three main characters: Rintarō Okabe, Suzuha Amane, and Maho Hiyajo. Taking place during the time continuity where Rintarō gave up after SPOILER accidentally killing Kurisu when going to the past END SPOILER, Rintarō has decided not to use the time machine again in order to prevent World War III, and instead has more or less "accepted his fate".

During this time, he attends a conference where one of Kurisu's former colleagues was helping to give a lecture, and finds out that Kurisu's old lab has developed an AI with a very human like conscience, and that they had used the memory data from Kurisu before she died to create the AI. Soon enough, he's drafted into helping test out the AI talking and processing functions. The rest you have to figure out on your own, or read up on.

"Gameplay" is basically just reading the text, replying to the occasional "RINE" message (think like messenger, but more Japanese), and answering the phone calls from the AI Kurisu 'AMADEUS'. There is a helpful TIPS section that contains a glossary of terms you may be unfamiliar with that will continuously update as you progress through the novel.

One particular aspect of the series that I've always liked was the art. For a reason I have a really hard time articulating, I've always been a huge fan of the art style in Steins;Gate. Thankfully, the art style is kept in Steins;Gate 0. With colorful character portraits and background scenery, it certainly makes this style of "visual novel" really pop. The soundtrack was also really nice, although I found some of the tracks to be "needlessly badass", for lack of a better term.

Ultimately, Steins;Gate 0 is something that will probably only appeal to you if you're familiar with the series and like "watching" your novels, although a background knowledge of the Steins;Gate universe isn't particularly necessary, as most info is either given to you, or is easily inferred from the dialogue. This is, ultimately, a translated Japanese novel, complete with Japanese voice overs, which are actually quite good, so if you're part of the 'English supremacy group' (and yes, that is a thing), then you may feel a little turned off by the lack of English voice overs.

Ultimately, Steins;Gate 0 is a novel. A rather good novel, with interesting, unique, and ironically very 'human' characters, but a novel nonetheless, so you're enjoyment will be dependant on how much you like the storyline, although I can say I really enjoyed it.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
MAGES Inc.
Publisher(s):
Spike Chunsoft Co. Ltd.
Genre(s):
Visual Novel
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation Vita

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Richard

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Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles has come to the Switch, and it's now out! - News

Both Lauren and I are fans of Yonder. While I reviewed this extremely relaxing experience, she's gone ahead and platinumed it. For good reason too! Well in good news, this enjoyable, and adorable experience is now available on the Nintendo Switch in order to take it and your Groffles with you!

Here's the Press Release and a photo of Lauren's plushy fabbit!

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Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles Sows Seeds on Nintendo Switch™ Today

BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND – May 17, 2018 – Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles, the open-world adventure from the former Activision producer and Rocksteady veterans at Prideful Sloth in which players explore the vibrant but troubled island of Gemea, is available today on Nintendo Switch. A Switch-exclusive photo mode will help you capture precious moments and share them with your friends.

As a young, customizable heroine or hero destined for greatness, your journey begins humbly enough as you set sail on the open waters. One surprise storm and shipwreck later you find yourself on the gorgeous island known as Gemea. Yet not all is right here, as a shadowy substance known as Murk has spread throughout the land. Determined to help rid the island of Murk and earn your keep, you must farm, craft, cook, brew, fish, and explore.

The only way to truly dispel Murk is to discover magical sprites hidden throughout the land. Assisting the townsfolk by working the land and providing food for them unveils the sprites' locations. Once the Murk has been dispelled more of Gemea becomes accessible. Eight beautiful biomes from peaceful plains to frozen valleys with day, night, and weather cycles brim with secrets and even adorable animals to befriend.

Yonder's pleasant world makes for a perfect portable adventure. Relax at the end of the day in Gemea as you let the troubles fade from your mind. A fully-featured Switch-exclusive photo mode helps you share those tender moments with friends.

"Despite that pesky Murk, Gemea is a land of warmth and tranquility," said Cheryl Vance, co-founder and director at Prideful Sloth. "We want players to enjoy getting their hands dirty by living off the land from the comfort of their couch."

Yonder is available digitally for $29.99 USD on the Nintendo eShop, and will be available via physical retail for $39.99 on June 12 in the United States and June 15 in Europe and Australia.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is playable in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese.

To learn more, please visit the official site, or follow the game on Twitter and Facebook.

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Empires Apart - PC Review

Empires Apart is a beautiful mess of a game. Designed with competitive multiplayer in mind, Empires Apart takes the fast-paced action of a professional StarCraft II match and sticks it into a graphically-stunning world that is a near-mimic of Age of Empires. Wear it falls flat though, is in the fact that if you are playing more casually, you will be destroyed, period. Speed is key and the utterly ridiculous keybindings do everything they can to prevent you from efficiently building your empire and destroying your enemies. With a little balance and far more work put into the keybindings and interface, Empires Apart could be an excellent alternative to RTS gamers that are tired of being utterly destroyed in the StarCraft II ladders.

With no real campaign, solo players like me will gravitate towards the single player games and skirmishes, so if possible play with a friend or four as that is where the real magic begins. Empires Apart shines as a 2v2 game where one teammate can focus on defense and the other offense. While to many this may seem like a risky move, with the current balancing in Empires Apart it is quite fitting. If one teammate can rush to mid-end game units while the other turtles for both team members, it will pay out in dividends. Not because a single person could easily take down two opponents, but because it allows one team to really accomplish what Empires Apart is really about and that is …

Resource management.

Large armies can be easily decimated so the primary goal for any player here should be to expand as fast as possible to control the various gold and stone nodes on the map; without those the other teams will need to rely on gathering lumber (a slow and tedious process) to then sell at the market (which is extremely inefficient and market prices will change the more you sell of a specific resource). If one side can gather enough nodes and protect them, then the rest of the game is quite simple; build inexpensive expendable units and whittle down the enemy teams until a small but deadly mid-end game army can rush through the various buildings of the enemy to strike at their town center. Once the enemy's last town center is destroyed a timer will appear and once it reaches zero that player loses. This is why it is important to have a solid team of two players, one focusing on defense the other on offense, as it can greatly reduce the often-frantic pacing that Empires Apart has.

In fact, the very speed of the game is something that is a bit difficult to get used to; take a standard RTS single-player mission, ramp it up to 10 on the "how fast can I die" factor, then there you have it. Admittedly it is not as fast as some pro StarCraft II matches I have seen, but for something that is far less "hardcore," Empires Apart is a speedy one.

The issue though, comes in to balancing. A small group of about a dozen units can absolutely tear through significantly larger armies, even if those armies are early game they should be able to put up something of a fight. Unfortunately they do not. I had a large army (about 30-40 units) of fully upgraded spearmen/skirmishers and archers that got absolutely THRASHED by four heavy cavalry units, four mounted archers, and a handful of skirmishers. I was bamboozled. Heck, even in StarCraft II a pile of Marines can do wonders, but alas, StarCraft II this is not. Nor is it up to the standards set by Age of Empires. But hey … at least it is pretty looking! It is just unfortunate that Empires Apart is less about tactically smashing your opponent and more about the end-game rush to get the nigh-invincible units; better balancing equals greater variation in gameplay. Perhaps we will get there one day, but today is not that day.

Graphics and good sound design can only go so far until you really start seeing the warts of a game and while Empires Apart is not horrible, it does feel confused with its balance issues and its push for end-game runs. A little more tweaking and the buttoning up of features/upgrades for your units and it could be an excellent Indie-style near-competitive RTS title. Heck, if there was a bonafide single player campaign for Empires Apart, it would be far, far more enjoyable than it currently is. Not to say it is not fun, it absolutely is, but it is only fun for short stints at a time.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
DESTINYbit
Publisher(s):
Slitherine Ltd.
Genre(s):
Strategy
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
NA

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Robert

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Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday May 19

Throughout the week I've been hearing about this new MMO called Bless Online. Being a fan of MMO's, I decided to research the game to see if the hype is worth it. Keep in mind, I have not played this in any rendition so take my opinion for what it is, just an analytical opinion.

Blessed is the questionable for hours tick away...

As I have mentioned previously, MMO's are more likely to succeed if they provide players with something different to their players. It could be that fans are part of a franchise that they really enjoy. Franchises that pop into mind include Oblivion which became an MMO called Elder Scrolls Online. Maybe players are die hard Final Fantasy fans so they went from the turn based RPGs into FFXIV. Sometimes they do provide a different appealing system like Secret World (in either rendition of it). It doesn't matter which MMO has grabbed a players attention, there is always a reason that people flock to certain games.

In this case, Bless Online does not have any previous franchise to draw people in. It stands to reason therefore, that the game would have features that other MMO's do not have. Unfortunately, that isn't the case here. Already there have been discussions on Reddit about pay to win components, standard class types, standard dungeons, and PVP components. It boasts to keep both PVE and PVP fans immersed with content but I'm skeptical.

Keyboard warriors have jumped on the bandwagon to say that the game is pay to win because of cosmetic items...? Let's use Googlefu to find out what pay to win means, because clearly the keyboard warriors don't know how to research... Pay to win games are games that allow "players who are willing to pay for special items or downloadable content" that "may be able to gain a significant advantage over those playing for free." As in, a paid player must be able to do things that a free to play player cannot. This definition does not extend to cosmetic items which simply makes a character or item look better! That doesn't provide any serious advantage unless the game is some kind of porn game but I digress...

Now that we know the definition of pay to win, from my understanding Bless Online does not exhibit that kind of advantage, and the developers have already stated the following:

"Q: Is the premium membership subscription based? What are the benefits?

A: Premium membership is not a subscription-based product. Premium membership can help increase efficiency or provide an effect that will, for a limited amount of time, reduce the costs of convenience related fees. As anyone with the base game can enjoy all of Bless' content without restriction, premium membership can be see as an option for those who want a more convenient gameplay experience. As we are aware of your concerns regarding P2W, there will be no items that can directly enhance characters or items." [emphasis added]

At launch, the game will have Berserker, Guardian, Ranger, Mage, and Paladin. In the future the Assassin, Mystic, and Warlock because these classes need to be reworked. Already, one of my regular classes has been taken off the table and the game isn't even out yet.

Graphically the game looks appealing. It's set in a high fantasy environment which does spark at least a little interest but that's not enough to draw a crowd. Looking at the footage, the game does ring similar bells to that of Lineage II, so for perhaps that's a plus?

A bonus to the game that I've discovered is that Neowiz is self publishing it, meaning that they will have full control over the monetization system. It won't be taken over by greedy publishers who have a different vision than the game developer. So, perhaps this developer will stick to their claims but keep in mind, they will need to make money back somehow. We shall see how this goes for the company.

Here's the thing: Publishing an MMO is a huge undertaking, and I hope for the Korean based company, Bless Online has some decent success at the outset. After the initial hype dies down, then we'll be able to see if the game holds itself up.

You see, this isn't a story based game that has a linear or dynamic storyline that comes to a satisfying end. We are talking about a game style that will need regular updating, balancing, content additions, and its fair share of gold farmers who will destroy the online gaming space. Let's face it, that will happen. And in terms of the trolling and flaming, the game hasn't been launched in Early Access yet and already there is drama.

Not only that, but the developers have to make sure that the servers can handle the server load. I say that because Neowiz is including an open world PVP system. Part of the reason that Blizzard did away with it in World of Warcraft is because the players crashed the servers. One of those instances was an epic showdown between the Alliance and the Horde in southern Durotar. I think it wasn't long after that when open world PVP ceased to exist. Anyways, from what I understand, the kicker to this is the only way a player can avoid the world PVP is to buy an item out of the shop. Do you want to die all the time while questing? Because that's what's going to happen in Bless Online! Ugh.

Blessed are the Good for they shall inherit something?

The game does have some things going for it though. Hans Zimmer has written the music for the game which will add to the high fantasy atmosphere. He's a brilliant composer and has worked on a large number of films to his credits. While the music in the announcement trailer (linked below) is amazing, I don't feel as though it fits the genre all that well. I'm not sure what the intended result was meant to be but it's a bit of a disconnect.

Bless Online also has a feature to allow players to tame any creature in the world to use as a mount. If there is any big selling point (although the irony of calling this as a selling point is amusing to say the least), this fact makes the game mildly appealing.

Despite those two features, I'm going to pass on playing the game. It's difficult for me to justify playing another MMO for a minimum of 50 hours just to become decent at a game that I'm not completely invested in from the start. I know that many people will be giving the Korean developed MMO a shot but I won't be one of them due to lack of interest and time constraints.

Early access is set to launch May 29th for those who bought the Founders Pack and May 30th for everyone else.

Here's the Announcement Trailer for the game,

What are your thoughts on Bless Online? Will it survive the original launch or no? Leave a comment below.

Until next time.

Article by Susan N.

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Last Encounter - PC Review

The human race lost. Pushed back to the fringes of space with nothing but a space station and banking on one last and hopefully final push to protect ourselves, we failed. With almost nothing left, as even the fleet sent out a one-way portal to find a new place for humans to live has disappeared, your task is to pick a pilot, pick a ship, hopefully coerse some friends to do the same and dive into that aforementioned portal in search of them.

Last Encounter is something a little different in the Shoot ‘Em Up genre. Tagged as a roguelike, the most you’ll be carrying along for the ride materially is a portion of the money that you pick up as you explore the various spaces through the portal. In addition to that money you’ll also be carrying along the personal experiences of what kind of enemies and battlefield designs that you may face. Where it differs though is that it doesn’t outright strive to kill you but instead provide a fairly entertaining action adventure through a variety of visually different environments that change how you approach the situations.

This factor alone was quite refreshing. While I am generally content with how this genre is created, it’s these titles that strive to do something different that make it all worthwhile. Instead of simply throwing you against super crazy odds with no respite, you’ll instead be exploring various clusters looking for keys in order to move forward. These keys are just about always guarded but you don’t need to kill everything in sight to get to them. That’s a choice and one that you may often make as the ensuing dogfights are not worth the loss of a hull’s hit points.

Because of its adventure style, you’re allowed to evaluate your situations and act accordingly. Do you fly straight in running and gunning? Do you pick off your enemies one at a time? Or do you use one of the pilot’s special abilities that allows for several seconds of invisibility to pop in and out with what you wanted? All options are valid but it should be kept in mind that the less you take out on your adventure, the less money that you’ll have to spend on upgrades and starting bonuses once you’ve kicked the bucket.

Everytime that you die you’ll be starting back up at the space station just outside of the one-way portal. Because of the technological advances and the cloning techniques, you don’t need to worry about who you choose to go out that door because a new body can simply be made. The same capabilities exist for making you new versions of the ships that you just turned into a hunk of scrap metal who knows where in the cosmos. Now while I can understand this from a mechanical standpoint, it begs the questions however of where all of these resources come from as we don’t have much left other than a single space station. Ah well, dying too many times doesn’t lead to perma death. We are good!

On this notion though i appreciated a bit of the dialog that infers that there’s so much we don’t know about the universe as once you and your squad die, it's like everything you've done is forgotten. Everything else around you is set back to zero except for the bits of experience that you bring back. It’s nothing grand in terms of game design, but it’s a tiny element that adds to the immersions instead of simply being part of the mechanics in which we are simply forced to accept, “just because”.

While the devil is in the details, Last Encounter is also mechanically solid. Movement is done with the left, aiming the right, firing trigger is at the ready and in between you can make quick hops in order to dodge out of the way of incoming fire. Need a bit more of a boost? Once the gauge is filled up a special ability can be used to either turn invisible or even invincible for several seconds. If it looks like it’s going to be a very close shave, don’t get stingy, use it. Overall though, the controls are smooth and your ship does what you need it to do when you need it to do it.

Last Encounter is a brilliant Shoot ‘Em Up. Exordium Games have really designed a unique styled experience in a class where there’s plenty of competition. With plenty of base customization between the available pilots as well as the ships they can operate, the upgrades become the icing on the cake as you explore the space beyond the gate in hopes of perhaps finding a new start for our just about extinct species.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Exordium Games
Publisher(s):
Exordium Games
Genre(s):
Shoot 'Em Up
Mode(s):
Single Player
Local Co-op
Other Platform(s):
NA

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Azure Reflections is now available now for PlayStation 4! - News

So the second Richard saw TouHou he was already sold. So for everyone else, Here's the newest TouHou that has released upon the PS4 for some fast paced Bullet Hell action!

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Azure Reflections, the vibrant, side-scrolling, bullet hell from Sony publishing label Unties Games and developer Souvenir Circ., is available now for PlayStation 4.

Embrace chaos in high-intensity levels. Pick one of three adorable characters equipped with spell cards, barriers and fashionable stat-boosting outfits then take on the onslaught of enemies.

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues - PC Review

Shroud of the Avatar will feel eerily familiar to those of you out there that played Ultima Online, and for good cause. The man behind Lord British, of Ultima fame, was the key hand at play in designing Shroud of the Avatar, and while not officially an Ultima game, it sure feels like one. You even still play as an Avatar, just like in the Ultima games! The direct link to such a longstanding game franchise is a double-edged blade that both props this title up and yet also helps to tear it right back down.

The graphics for SotA feel very dated, which isn’t necessarily a good thing for a 3D rendered game. Because of this, your machine is going to need much better specs to play this comfortably than you would have needed if they’d chosen a simpler engine to make this title.

Because of this, I ended up having to lower the settings to make the game playable, but at least they had thought of this and provided sufficient options for people. Even with those settings done, though, combat still felt very unresponsive. The delay between when you tell your character to cast a spell and when it gets cast is likely to get you killed if you have a penchant for cutting things close with heals, but it’s not just the delay caused by pseudo-turn-based-combat, but even things like turning the camera or jumping has a strange delay between input and result.

The story, without ruining too much of it, is little more than a light framework at the start, providing tidbits of information through progressional quests as you explore the world that you’ve been set loose in. The voice acting is really off putting, although not because of any lower quality of the artists’ work, but instead because of the really horrible faux-shakespeare olde english embellishments to the language that are just jarring. This is especially the case when you know that a month after launch, the world is going to be overrun with an unstoppable swarm of ‘text speak’ abbreviations in the form of more Avatars than you can shake a stick at.

The one thing that does shine through through all the mundanity is that this is still in development. Quests are being changed, the world is being restructured, and the world is being built right around the people playing the early access product.

This is a game that comes from a franchise (sort of) that is nothing but success and potential, and from where they are right now, Lord British has nowhere to go but up. This is a title with a lot of potential that is still improving, and it’s definitely worth trying out once it is fully released.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Portalarium
Publisher(s):
Portalarium
Genre(s):
MMO
RPG
Mode(s):
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Marc H.

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Masters of Anima - PS4 Review

Masters of Anima is a combo RTS/RPG game in a third person isometric view available for consoles and PC. Since I am notoriously easily frustrated and significantly less experienced than my husband, I let him handle playing this title while I sat back, ate popcorn, and offered unsolicited advice from over his shoulder.

First impressions

The intro explains the history of the world - but honestly, there is so much exposition that I only remember pieces of it. From what I recall - there’s an angry volcano that is no longer impressed with its tributes and as a result has descended its wrath upon the world. According to Pierre-Yves, a lot of problems could have been solved if we had just bought it chocolate and flowers - and he is probably right (Editor's note: Of course I am!).

The voice acting will either impress you (as in the case of Pierre-Yves) or make you groan/sigh in exasperation (as in my case).

The cell-shaded graphics are really well designed and I really appreciate the attention-to-detail on the little imperfections. For example, every once in awhile when you are walking around with your minions (AKA Guardians, more on that later), one or two may lag behind or be slightly separate from the perfectly aligned pack - making them less of a hive-mind and more like a group of unique individuals. It’s cute.

Plot

You play as Otto, a slacker fiance to the leading expert in Anima summoning. I immediately pointed out that it would have been super interesting to offer a co-op playthrough with one person controlling Ana, but *spoiler alert*, that totally isn’t possible - more on that in a moment.

In order for Otto and Ana to get married, he has to pass his trial to become a Master of Anima. This first seems pointless considering his future-wife is already the most powerful summoner in the world, but despite this, I really enjoyed that they seamlessly integrated the tutorial into the story this way.

Before you even have time to appreciate your success, an evil Zahr attacks Ana and tears her soul into tiny pieces for you to go find. So along with the angry volcano, Zahr just made this conflict personal (and I have to give props to Otto for prioritizing his wife’s rescue over saving the world). On this adventure, you learn that you have some skills that have previously been unheard of for summoners - like re-awakening shrines to learn how to summon five different types of guardians with different abilities (melee, ranged, etc).  

Gameplay

Anima can be collected from various sources - on the ground, from flora destruction, rebuilding shines. It is essentially mana used to summon guardians and issue battle cries to power up your guardians. Although you regain some Anima when you recall your guardians, it is never 100% of what it costs to re-summon them, so it is important to strategize. (Editor's Note: Another factor to keep in mind is that if your Anima stores are full and you un-summon your minions, that Anima is lost)

The first level is straightforward and relatively simple. It gives you a chance to practice the basics of the gameplay. However the enemies beyond this level are significantly more challenging without any warning or time to progress. The learning curve is steep, and you definitely need to be prepared to die a few times while you learn to best way to get through each battle. I highly recommend mastering the battle cries, otherwise your guardians will be pummeled.

Otto’s melee attacks are pretty useless, so you will want to spend more time focusing on dodging attacks, replenishing your Anima and recalling your guardians out of harm’s way. My husband struggled to get past the first few over-powered enemies and almost quit out of frustration over this “unfair advantage”. I can’t really blame him - it would be nice to have some health regeneration over time in battle, especially since there is essentially a time limit on each enemy. If you don’t kill the enemy before the bar runs out, the enemy is granted super devastating attacks that become increasingly difficult to avoid. He regularly came very close to winning after a very long fight, only for the enemy to unleash a random super-charged attack rendering all his efforts worthless.

One of the major faults with playing on PS4 is that you can’t direct guardians to one area while simultaneously moving to another, more advantageous, spot in battle. This is likely possible on PC. In the game options, it is worth playing with the settings for Cursor Speed, Automatic Category Change, and Automatic Selection of All Guardians to see which combination of those works best for you.

Not only do you get to assign skill points to Otto when he levels up, you also get to add some really nice abilities to your guardians. Before you replay a level, you can also choose to respec at no cost - bonus!!

Enter the PY

So after some discussions about how hard Masters of Anima was presenting itself, Lauren and I made plans to sit down to it together with her husband to go over it. I really need to state that if it's a toss up between a controller or a mouse and keyboard? I'm that much better with a controller and that stands true even in a First Person Shooter. I can hold my own against those with a mouse and keyboard and even shocked some while I kept up or did better while playing Borderlands 2 back in the day.

To the situation at hand. Masters of Anima is brilliantly designed. You move Otto around and can pummel enemies like you would in an Action Adventure title all while performing resource management in order to summon minions to do the heavy lifting. It made me think a bit of Monstreal's Borealys Games' Mages of Mystralia with less personal magic in favor of summoning. This said, controlling Otto is easy. Controlling your minions? Not so much.

Controls for Masters of Anima are as good as they can be on a console but they really are designed for an RTS with a mouse and a keyboard. You can tell troops to move locations, you can split them up into smaller squads for pincer attacks and you can recall them all at the same time. The problem is that there are more options for controlling than buttons on a controller even if you start adding in elements like holding down R2 with another button or three. Lauren says I didn't break a sweat but internally? I was drenched trying to simply not die or at least keep a few archers to chip away at a crazy optional mid-boss while I dodged in and out smacking him with a marshmallow roasting stick. Not even a standard stick.

In my opinion, Masters of Anima is pretty to look at and to listen to as I do love the voice actors chosen and find that they hit the mark. That said, I can see where the steep learning curves come into play and the controls on a console probably steepen that curve even further do to the lack of functions that would be granted by a keyboard alone. It's fun but it won't be for everyone.

Overall

In hindsight, it might have been easier, or at least less frustrating, to play Masters of Anima on PC, given the accuracy benefits of a mouse and keyboard. If the learning curve hadn’t been so steep, I think we would have enjoyed the challenge that so many other titles lack. If nothing else, we definitely would have progressed further in the game. This is not necessarily a reflection of the quality of the game, but rather it could be related to our familiarity with a controller because Pierre-Yves barely broke a sweat when he played.

If you prefer to stand back and delegate various-powered minions to do your bidding, then this is definitely a title you want to check out!

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Passtech Games
Publisher(s):
Focus Home Interactive
Genre(s):
Action
Adventure
RPG
Strategy
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
Nintendo Switch
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Lauren, her other half Greg and Pierre-Yves

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Forgotton Anne - PS4 Review

Remember that time you thought you lost that teddy bear that your grandma gave you, but really it just rolled off your bed one night while you were asleep, and you woke up the next morning and accidentally kick it under your bed, where you were to lazy to look for it... Yeah, you just sent him to the big men downstairs...

Welcome to the Forgotten Lands, where all forgotten things are given life and turned into beings as 'Forgotlings'. As they descend into this new realm they are given a purpose and a job: to either work in the tower, or the plant, so that one day all Forgotlings can return to the human world.

This cinematic adventure game will throw you in a world you never thought existed. You play as the strong willed protagonist Anne, who has lived in these lands her whole life. As the Enforcer, that regulated the laws of the land, she is suddenly thrown into chaos when a bunch of rebels attack the tower to the Ether World (human world). She set out to catch these pesky traitors and discovers there are some hidden secrets to this world that she was never supposed to know. With the help of her new ally, Figs, they work together to uncover the truth.

This game plays as a side scrolling platformer that will require you to be precise and open minded in order to get past all obstacles and puzzles that are found throughout the realm. Anne also carries with her a special device called the Arca, that gives her the power of Ether, the lifeblood of the land, to move objects, dematerialize Forgotlings and even make herself fly. Though this power is limited, she a force to be reckoned with.


The music of the game has a full orchestra that brings out each moment in breath taking pieces, that  alongside a powerful storyline, will reel you in as you continue to venture with Anne. I found myself captivated by this unique story and characters which is definitely a concept I have never come across before in gaming. Adding to it all, the game will also intrigue you with its hand drawn animated cutscenes that while short, are pleasant enough to remember.

The only flaws I found in the game, like most platformers, would be the edges. I came across ledges that were non-gripable at times and would only cooperate if you were directly under it... Yet not? It come and goes. And at one point the game glitched on me twice. Having to reopen my last checkpoint in order to reset the camera or certain items and enemies.

To conclude, I found this game to be a breath of fresh air. It's intricate storyline, puzzle solving and dynamic environment kept me interested from start to finish. I give this game a 9 for it was almost a masterpiece, but hopefully in future updates they can fix those small bugs.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):

ThroughLine Games

Publisher(s):
Square Enix
Genre(s):
Platformer
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Natasha

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Casey Powell Lacrosse 18 - PS4 Review

Lacrosse, Canada’s national sport. Most people think it’s hockey but that would be wrong. Instead our winterized country instead has a sport designed for a grassy field under a blue and sunny sky. Releasing for 2018, Casey Powell’s Lacrosse is back and which it sports a good time of rough ball throwing action that I haven’t physically played since college about a decade ago. Good thing this is digitally because I’m getting old...

Before even getting into the rough grassy field action there is one aspect to the Casey Powell’s Lacrosse that I want to highlight above all else. The developers willingness to receive and incorporate feedback for its players. While I was super excited to load this up and take it for a spin, as I hadn’t actually played any in about a decade physically or otherwise, I would get crashes anywhere from thirty seconds in trying to choose what I wanted to do up to five minutes where I was on the field and for once, winning. Or at least not horribly losing at any rate. These issues, along with several others, have been fixed and taking back to the field aftwards was a quite enjoyable experience.

Because Lacrosse at least over here in North America isn’t a big sport good luck finding it on a non-paid television broadcast. So because of this, you may not even know what it’s about. In the simplest terms, it’s grass hockey. I did say simplest terms. Instead of a puck or a ball that glides and rolls across the ground, the ball is held in a netted basket at the end of a stick in which if you’re playing in real life you have to rotate the basket around or you’ll lose the ball just from your running around and trying to avoid the other players. Taking things just a notch you’re allowed to get rough with the other players, to a certain extent, in order to get them to drop the ball so that your team can pick it up and try to score a point. Rinse and repeat for four quarters and go into overtime if you have to. Just try not to lose 13-1. That team was scary.

Generally within a sports game, to my limited enough experience, you pick either a career mode or an exhibition, the team you want to play and then try your hardest to win. What I really appreciated about Casey Powell’s Lacrosse is that while there is a career mode alongside the exhibition, there are different ways of going about this. Starting off with the self explanatory of the three, you have your exhibition games. You pick two teams, who you want to play as, and you play. It’s pretty simple and great to have if you have a few friends over.

Moving into the career mode this is where things really get interesting. For a career you can pick either to play through a season as a player or play through it as a manager. In either case there are choices to be made such as the team you want to play as and in the case of following a player, whether you want to play the match as yourself or as the entire team.

There’s a vast difference in the type of experience that can be had simply between this choice. Playing as an entire team offers a quick and fast paced game in which more often than not the clock hitting zero on a quarter will come as a surprise. This lets you move up and down the field passing the ball and shooting on the net as you see fit. You really get to utilize your team at its maximum potential.

Playing as a specific player, you’ll often be stuck on one side of the field awaiting your chance to shine as you see the rest of the team trying to do its best under the AI control. You can move around but you are limited to the position that is assigned to you which offers a different perspective on the overall match. Now just because you’re up up by the opposing team’s net for example doesn’t mean that there’s nothing you can’t do. Compared to playing as a team in which you can pass the ball, playing as a single player gives you the option to either shout at a team member to take the shot or pass you the ball so that you can do it yourself. It changes the style of gameplay and its interesting to experience, however, more often than not you’ll be seeing the clock tick slowly down to the end of a quarter because it’s not as fast paced as if you were playing with the whole team.

Finally there’s management mode! While not exactly my cup of team to pour over character stats, who’s better than who and where they should be placed, you do get to spiffy yourself up to look like you own the place. More than this however, the team that you manage you can choose to either sit on the sidelines and watch the matches unfold or you can take control of the team and play them yourself. This means that even if you’re someone like me who would rather be playing than managing, you can still experience one without the loss of the other.

In terms of actual gameplay Casey Powell’s Lacrosse is solid. Shooting on the net, passing the ball over or checking / slashing another player to make them drop the ball so that you can pick it up, it’s all very responsive. There are a few tiny moments where you have to wonder what is going on because hitting another player won’t do much but they are so few and far between that it’s honestly a non-issue as whenever it happened I was by the opposing team’s net having just lose the ball off of a blocked shot on the net.

While like all sports, Lacrosse may not be for everyone but you should really look into it. Especially if you like Hockey. With multiple modes and solid fast paced gameplay, Casey Powell’s Lacrosse will keep you occupied for either hours at a time or simply for a few quick exhibition matches with friends before heading off to do something else for the evening.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Big Ant Studios
Publisher(s):
Big Ant Studios
Genre(s):
Sports
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
NA

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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