Indie Game | Geekscape

Geekscape Mobile: ‘The Binding Of Isaac’ Will Hit iOS Before The End Of The Year!

by Derek KraneveldtNovember 28, 2016

Briefly: First released all the way back in 2011, The Binding of Isaac is probably one of the toughest games that I’ve played in recent memory (but maybe I just stink at it). I really can’t imagine how it would feel to play the game without physical buttons, but… The Binding of Isaac is coming to iOS before the end of the year.

We’ve known that the port of the game has been coming for awhile, but the official The Binding of Isaac blog today noted that the game is in the final stages of beta testing, and also noted a little of what patiently waiting gamers can expect from the iOS version:

In case you missed the previous update on it (and you’re too lazy to scroll down), here’s what you can expect in the iOS version: – Universal binary (buy it once, and download for free on iPad or vice verse)- iCloud save support, upload and download your save data between devices- MFi controller support–Apple’s licensed bluetooth iOS standard (also compatible with Apple TV- Landscape and portrait orientations- A bunch of other little features to make the iOS experience good. We’re in the final phase of beta testing. I’ll be opening up beta testing to a lot more people and not just David Parkour.

I’m super excited for this port, and I’m really happy to hear of some of the features that Nicalis is including in the title. MFi support means that you’re not stuck using only touchscreen buttons, and the iCloud Save support means that you’re not stuck running separate saves between devices. Super cool.

Build 451°F for iOS is available to external testers now #IsaacRebirthDev pic.twitter.com/YMv11DZfL4

— Tyrone Rodriguez ( ● ︿●) (@tyronerodriguez) November 29, 2016

Are you looking forward to the mobile edition of the game? Be sure to sound out in the comments below!

‘Mighty No. 9’ Has Been… Delayed Again

by The_aczJanuary 25, 2016

In a new update to backers that will shock no one, Comcept has revealed that Mighty No. 9 has been delayed yet again from it’s February 9th release.

It now has an unknown release date yet to be announced. Comcept revealed back in September that the game’s single player was finished, but not the multiplayer. This has caused a lot of backers to get frustrated with the project and suggest to the company to just release the game as it is now and patch in multiplayer later (which wouldn’t be a bad idea.).

Are you still excited for Mighty No. 9?

Update: Geekscape Games Reviews: ‘Five Nights At Freddy’s World’

by The_aczJanuary 25, 2016

UPDATE: It appears that the game has been pulled from steam. It seems that the creator is planning on refunding everyone and making the game free sometime in the future. In that case, you should definitely download it when they re-release it. Check out the announcement here.

FNAF World is the newest game in the Five Nights at Freddy’s series, but instead of another horror based game, we’re being treated to an RPG! Does this new title successfully transfer to other genres, or is the change unBEARable (sorry, we had to)? Let’s find out!

Story/Graphics:

As per tradition with a Scott Cawthon title, FNAF World on the outside seems to have a pretty straightforward, if not slightly confusing story. It’s not until you really play through the game a second time that you begin to understand things a bit better. With that said, the game is able to find a nice balance story wise. Graphics are also nice; the game features both a 2D sprite style for overworld progression, and a 3D style for combat. The models on the chibi sprites are simple, but very faithfully mirror their previous game counterparts. While the game visuals are solid, some of the 2D sprite sections can seem a bit stretched and blurry at some points, but it’s only on occasion.

Gameplay/Music:

Gameplay in FNAF World is split into 2 parts. The 1st part is overworld progression where you traverse the world around you in an 8-bit style similar to what mini games in the previous installments look like, while the 2nd style is the game’s combat. Combat is handled in real time akin to games like Chrono Trigger and Xenoblade Chronicles. While most battles are easy and fun to execute, the screen can get cluttered sometimes making it difficult to see what’s going on. The game also has some very bad loading times in and out of some screens. On average I had to wait about 15-25 seconds per loading screen, which certainly broke the immersion, on more than a few occasions.

Each character has a different set of abilities, and even though some characters do share some moves with others, most of the moves are specifically tailored for that person. Your group consists of 2 parties of 4 with a very wide range of characters that you’ll be able to unlock and play as over the progression of the game. You can also acquire special items to give you an advantage in battle ranging from new computer chips that give you speed and attack increases, to buying helping partners from a new character called Lolbit. Both are great helping a battle to turn in your favor.

For past games, Scott Cawthon would usually use royalty free music, but this time around FNAF World is composed by Leon Riskin. The music is nice and on the mark. From the upbeat battle music, to the eerie and mysterious caves, the music will help set the tone and mood of the game.

Verdict:

FNAF World is a bold change from the regular formula that fans have come to expect out of it, but besides a few technical issues at launch and a somewhat cluttered battle screen at times, the game has enough charm and replayability to justify its $10 price tag. If you’re just getting into RPG’S and are looking for a relaxing, but challenging experience, then you won’t go wrong with FNAF World.

RATING: 3/5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsaXgePC2No

Geekscape Games Review: ‘The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth 3DS’

by The_aczJuly 26, 2015

Editor’s Note: It should be stated that the handheld version of The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth is only available to New 3DS owners due to technical limitations with the regular 3DS/2DS systems.

After almost a year of fan outreach and many private discussions with them, Nintendo owners have been finally graced with The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth for the Wii U and New 3DS. Created back in September of 2011 for the PC, The Binding of Isaac follows a young boy named Isaac, who escapes into his basement after his religious mother is told by God himself that she must kill her own son to prove her loyalty to him. With 6 playable characters, and more than 100 different items and dungeon possibilities, the original game went to sell over 2 million copies as well as receive a DLC pack which added an additional 100+ items, a new character, and much more.

Now with Rebirth, on top of everything mentioned above the game has received a graphical upgrade as well as an additional 4 characters, another 100-200+ items, and even more things that would take me this entire review to talk about. So, now that the game has finally been reborn on Nintendo systems, was the wait really worth it? The answer without a doubt is a big resounding YES! Not only is The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth just as addicting as ever, but a couple of tweaks and changes made to the handheld version make the 3DS the definitive Binding of Isaac experience.

Art Style

Let’s start with visuals. The game’s 16-Bit visual art style is just as beautiful on the 3DS as it is on the home console versions. All of the characters are nicely animated and the paper drawing cut scenes during the intro and ending of the game provide a charm to the overall presentation. There are also fully animated endings for every attainable finale, each looking very crisp and smooth. You can tell a lot of effort was put into making the visuals the best they can to fully take advantage of the New 3DS’s hardware.

Gameplay and Controls

The gameplay also makes the game stand out from the rest. The game plays as a top down roguelike dungeon crawler. Think of a game entirely based of the dungeons from The Legend of Zelda, but each time you play, the entire dungeon is different. Everything from the dungeon layout, to the items, enemies, and even bosses promises a brand new experience each time you start the game. You can however, play some of them over again. The game has a feature where it gives you a special seed code that you can enter to always get that layout. This is good if you’re hoping to speed run the game or just practice a specific enemy or boss attack pattern.

The controls help on delivering a satisfying experience. You can move and shoot 2 different ways. Moving is done using the circle and the D-pads, while shooting uses the 4 main face buttons and even support for the New 3DS C-stick. L places a bomb, and R activates secondary items such as pills tarot cards, and plying cards. If none of these control options suit you that’s fine. Controls are completely customizable so change and test them to your heart’s content.

Replayability

In terms of replayability, the possibilities are endless. Every time you finish the game, the next run gets just a tad bit longer. From there, the basic length time stretches from about 30 minutes to 45 minutes to possibly even an hour. The game has 16 endings and an epilogue. Trying to get them all will lead to the most frustrating and fun times you’ll have with this game.

Negatives

Now for all of its positives, there are also some negatives about the game that could heavily influence your decision. For one thing, the local co-op that was present in the console versions of the game is no longer here. This may disappoint many, but I don’t mind it since I don’t really think it was very well implemented to begin with. What also surprised me was that there was no support for stereoscopic 3D in the game which I think is a missed opportunity. Hopefully we can get a future patch to add that.

Verdict:

At the end of the day, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth for the New Nintendo 3DS is the most satisfying Isaac experience to date. If this is your first time playing this award winning indie game or wondering which version to get, there should be no doubt. Portability alone is a good enough reason to buy this game. Heck, I’m still playing the game as we speak. Now all we have to hope for is for the future Afterbirth DLC to come to the system.

Final Rating: Buy

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is now available on the Nintendo E-shop for $15.

SDCC 2015: We Go Hands-On With ‘Cuphead’!

by The_aczJuly 20, 2015

Throughout all their successes with first and third party titles for the 360 and One, Microsoft has never been able to fully embrace indie gaming. Sure, they own and heavily support Minecraft, one of gaming’s most popular indie titles of all time, but can that still be classified as an indie game; knowing how big of a development team actually works on it now?

Fear not indie fans, because for the past two years Phil Spencer and company have been trying to make it up to fans with their new indie service simply titled ID @ Xbox. This year at E3, Microsoft showed off many new and interesting ID @ Xbox titles, but one of them stood out more than the others.

Enter Cuphead, a quirky platforming shooter game that’s stylized as if it was a cartoon that came straight out of the 1930’s. Developed by just two brothers, Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, Cuphead is the brother’s first venture into the indie games scene with their studio, Studio MDHR. I had the honor of being able to try the game out at the Xbox Lounge at Comic-Con (When the insanely long line allowed it.) It seems like Microsoft has a lot of faith and confidence in Cuphead, but is there more to the game than just its old timey art style? Thankfully, I can say without a doubt, Cuphead not only has a lot more charm than just its art style, but it’s sincerely one of the most fun indie games I’ve ever played.

Story and Gameplay

The story is very simple, but kind of twisted. Two anthropomorphic characters, Cuphead and Mugman, decided to play a game of dice with the Devil. They end up gambling their lives, and in a cruel twist of fate – lose. The Devil agrees to let them live; on one condition. They must do his bidding from now on. So, now it’s up to our ‘heroes’ to destroy whoever the Devil tells them to in order to gain their freedom back.

From there, you’re given the chance to access a quick tutorial level and then about 3 actual levels. For the sake of keeping the line moving, I decided to play with a second player and only play one level which was the garden. In this level, you must defeat both a giant potato that shoots dirt clods and worms at you and a giant psychic carrot with three eyes that shoots carrot missiles at you. If that sounds crazy to you, that’s because it is. The controls are super simple and very responsive. You have your standard jump and attack buttons, but you also have a dash button and a change weapon button so you can experiment and see what kind of projectile works best on that enemy.

It should be said that Cuphead might not be what some people are expecting it to be. For starters, yes it’s a platforming shooter, but there aren’t really any “levels” per say. This game is more akin to what you would find in a boss rush mode of a game. While that may sound intimidating to some newcomers, don’t let that dampen your experience. Even if you aren’t the best at modes like that, the developers have made it very accessible for newcomers. One way they do this is by making the attack patterns of the first couple of bosses you play very repetitive, so that it’s easier to remember their attacks.

Closing thoughts

At the end of the day, I can’t say enough good things about how amazing Cuphead is. From an amazing art style to its very easy pick up and play controls, Cuphead is looking to be one of my all-time favorite indie titles right next to Shovel Knight and The Binding of Isaac. Cuphead will be released on Xbox One and PC sometime in 2016.