SDCC 2014: ‘Evolve’ Takes The Cooperative Shooter To The Next Level!

by jake108August 4, 2014

Evolve is a game that doesn’t come around too often. It’s a game that requires team-based tactics, and, well, the desire to be an actual monster. The premise is simple: a team of four vs. one giant monster.

Each member of the team has their own unique tactical abilities that aid the team in either battle or locating the monster. Before each round, the player who takes the role of monster has a slight head start in order to feed on other wild animals that roam the map. The size of these wild animals vary, each presenting percentage needed for the monster to “evolve.” Once evolved, the monster will be able to level up abilities and change appearance. The only catch is, once you start evolution, you become extremely vulnerable.

To start, players who choose to be hunters will have to choose one class out of the four available options. The first, Assault, is exactly what it sounds like. Armed with weapons that deal out heavy damage, the Assault class should be the ones to deal out the most damage. No matter what variation of Assault class you choose, each comes equipped with two weapons, two explosives, a personal shield.

The second class comes in the form of a Trapper. In the round I played, the Trapper had a pet that would continually track the monster. This pet was more of a beast and would also participate in battle, at one time even reviving a downed teammate. The Trapper is armed with Harpoon Traps that will stick out of the ground and hook onto monsters until they destroy them. This weapon is extremely useful for slowing a monster down or even escaping a lost battle. More on that later.

Next, we have the Medic. This class is perhaps the most important of all as they will be the key to your team’s survival. Because of this, don’t be surprised if the monster should target the Medic first. Of course, being the Medic requires that you take on the responsibility of reviving a downed teammate as fast as you can. Your efficiency is key to your team’s success. Because of this, it is important that you get a grasp on what the Medic’s abilities are, otherwise you’ll find yourself pressing every button the controller trying to revive someone in a moment of panic.

Finally, we have the Support class. In the demo, I immediately went straight for this class only because I wanted to be Bucket, a drone that is usually tasked with piloting his human comrades. Bucket was armed with sentry guns and a UAV device that allows the player to track the monster so that it will appear on all teammates HUDs. By no means should the Support class be the first one into battle. If anything, this member should hang back and help set up a perimeter using their sentry bots. Doing so effectively will, in a way, overwhelm the monster and perhaps shift its focus onto your bots, rather than your team.

In my first round as a Kraken, I had an amazingly fun time. At the start of the round, I was able to level up a couple of abilities to start with. Of course, I went after a health upgrade and the Vortex, which was more akin to force-push for you Star Wars fans out there. I began my time as a Kraken hunting prey so that I could consume them in an effort to evolve quickly. Even as a monster, you must be wary of what prey you choose. Should you choose a bigger beast to fight, it may be more than you can handle.

Being a Kraken is just as fun as it sounds. Fighting a Kraken is just as difficult it sounds, too. I’m sure after the round I played, opponents of mine might have used a word other than “difficult.” During the match, I quickly found out that I had much more fun engaging the enemies in short bouts, rather than head one. This created a sense of unpredictability and forced the hunters to come to me on my terms. I was able to set traps, lay mines, and even lead an Assault-class hunter straight to a larger AI beast roaming the map.

After killing all but one member of the hunters, I had about a minute and a half to kill the last remaining opponent. Should the timer run out, the entire team would respawn. Unsurprisingly, the last hunter left the battle and decided to engage in a game of hide ‘n seek. With only ten seconds remaining, I decided to feed on one last prey so that I could evolve and be ready for the next wave. Unfortunately for the hunters, their last teammember was killed by another beast roaming the map, with only seven seconds left on the clock.

Evolve is shaping up to be a game to get on launch day. If I were you, I’d start getting a group of friends together in preparation. Evolve hits store shelves October 21!

Gameplay analysis and commentary were made in part by Kelsie (DarknessOrchid).

SDCC 2014: Our First Impressions On Square-Enix’s Free-To-Play ‘Nosgoth’!

by jake108July 30, 2014

At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, I had a chance to sit down and play a little game called Nosgoth. To put it simply, the game pits humans and vampires against each other in a player vs. player environment. Coming out of Square Enix, Nosgoth is a planned free-to-play title that is currently in beta. We also took a look at it back at E3, and we’re happy to say that the game is coming together nicely.

Now, like every game that pits _____ vs. _____, replayability and repetition becomes an issue. From the few rounds I played, I found each session to be far different from the last. Part of the reasoning behind this are the abilities that are incorporated into the game. Some of the abilities include the standard grenade toss and such, but a limitation on said abilities employs a sense of strategy.

The art style and different player models also help Nosgoth create its own image. There are a variety of classes that players can choose from. Unfortunately for me, playing with a band of randoms did not make for great team strategy. Still, the door is open for team communication and domination.

While I was only able to play one map, the session made a lasting impression, part of the reason being that in each of the rounds, there was not one set meeting place between each team in which combat would ensue. For players that yearn for team-based combat, this should come as refreshing news. Perhaps the most telling aspect of this game are how weapons and upgrades work. In fact, there are no upgrades, but rather “side-grades.” This decision was made in an effort to create a fair free-to-play environment. The same goes for weapons. No one weapon is better than the other!

Nosgoth is free to play now, and from my first impressions, I’d definitely recommend checking it out.

Red Hood Is Coming To ‘Batman: Arkham Knight’ Thanks To Pre-Order DLC

by Josh JacksonJuly 23, 2014

If a recently leaked ad from GameStop is to be believed, then it looks like crowbar boy himself, Red Hood, is coming to Batman: Arkham Knight by the way of pre-order DLC.

In the past, bonus characters like Deathstroke and Nightwing have been contained to side modes, never getting a real chance to explore Gotham in the same way that Batman could. But as mentioned with the Harley Quinn DLC that every retailer will give out when pre-ordering the bat’s next game, Red Hood’s content will be a side story, giving him his own time stage to shine on once the highly anticipated final chapter of the Arkham series is finally released.

With this announcement, part of me is hoping that this isn’t where the extra story content comes to a close. Who wouldn’t love to play as Nightwing, Robin, or so many other members of the Bat Family in a full fledged Gotham City? Normally, I’m a staunch opponent of absurd amounts of DLC, but the Arkham games have earned the reputation of being full, rewarding experiences without extra content, so I would trust Rocksteady on this one. One thing is for sure though, the chances of me finally getting my Huntress DLC are looking slim.

Can’t wait to play Arkham Knight? Who else are you hoping will get added to Batman and Rocksteady’s final chapter? Tell us in the comments, then get back to impatiently waiting with the rest of us for its 2015 release date.

Source: ign.com

The First Season Of ‘The Wolf Among Us’ Will Conclude On July 8th!

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 3, 2014

Briefly: I’ve arguably been enjoying Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us even more than the amazing second season of The Walking Dead.

The developer has just announced the release date for the final episode of their Fables adaptation, and I’m feeling pretty bittersweet about it. On one hand, it’s another episode and another chance to jump into this incredible world, and on the other hand, when will we get to play more?

Telltale hasn’t announced a second season of The Wolf Among Us, but as they’re calling this its ‘first’ season, I sure hope that they’re insinuating that more is on the way. Please, Telltale?

In any case, the episode will hit PSN, Mac, and Windows on July 8th, Xbox 360 on July 9th, and iOS on July 10th. You can take a look at the trailer for the episode, titled Cry Wolf below, and be sure to let us know what you hope to see in the finale!

‘Contrast’ Is Out Now On Xbox One, And It’s Totally Worth Playing

by Derek KraneveldtJune 27, 2014

Briefly: Compulsion Games’ Contrast was one of the most original, unique titles that I had the pleasure of playing last year. The game hit Windows, Xbox 360, PS3, and PS4 back in November, and I didn’t even touch another PS4 title (PSN or retail) until I had explored every nook and cranny of the game. The game just hit Xbox One, and if you haven’t already played it, Compulsion says that it’s the best version of the game yet.

I had an opportunity to interview Compulsion Games’ Sam Abbot about the game earlier this year, and it was a very cool opportunity.

The game doesn’t take long to play through, but it’s totally worth the price of admission. Take a look at the Xbox One launch trailer below, and let us know if you’ll be picking it up, or what you thought of it if you already have!

‘Grand Theft Auto V’ Is Still Getting Online Heists, Rockstar Explains Delay!

by Derek KraneveldtJune 18, 2014

Briefly: Spring has come and gone, and we’ve still heard nary a word of Grand Theft Auto V‘s online heist component.

Rockstar today released a statement regarding the fact that none have been released (again, they were originally slated for Spring), but the developer assures us that the content is still on its way. Here’s what they had to say:

For those of you asking about other upcoming GTA Online updates, we have lots more in store coming your way soon. We know many fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of the Online Heists that we had planned to release for you this spring, and they are taking more time to create than originally anticipated. We are very sorry for the delay, and are working hard to bring them to you as soon as we can. Please know that we are focused as always on making the best possible content for you to play and we are thankful to all of you for your patience, understanding and support. Stay tuned for more information on that as well as lots of other ongoing content updates, enhancements and additions to the world of GTA Online that are on the way.

I dropped out of Grand Theft Auto: Online some time ago, but the inclusion of heists would definitely get me back into the game. This is what I imagined when they first showed off the multiplayer component, and what we have now, as fun as it is, is a far cry from what it could be.

Are you still playing GTA: Online? What’s your favourite thing to do in the title? Sound out below!

Geekscape Games: ‘Battlefield Hardline’ First Impressions.

by Shane O'HareJune 16, 2014

E3 is done and the dust is settling. One of the most interesting practices from this year’s convention was the inclusion of same day access to some of the products being introduced. Sony had a couple of indie games and Microsoft offered up an XBLA game, all available about an hour after they were announced. The most impressive of the bunch was the Battlefield: Hardline Beta going live during EA’s Press Conference.

Most likely pushed up after the major leak, the beta signup was quick and I got a response in a day. I downloaded the game and fired it up over the weekend. If you’re not in the know, Battlefield: Hardline takes the series out of the….Battlefield, and puts it in the streets. Instead of Jarheads and Terrorists duking it out we have Cops and Robbers. The one map we have access to is VERY much Downtown LA, and the beta is showcasing two new game modes.

Heist Mode is my particular favorite of the two new ones. The criminal team is tasked with blowing open the doors on two armored trucks and then taking the cases inside to an extraction point. This gametype gets really hectic really fast as both teams rush to get to the trucks. If you have a good squad of criminals, this one can be over a lot sooner than you think. Only downside is the armored trucks are in the same spot everytime. Having them change each round would be a major upgrade.

Blood Money is an interesting take on capture the flag, were as instead of a flag on the map, there is a cart of money. The cart is stationary in the middle of the map and contains $5 Million. Players can snag the money in increments of $100k and hold a max of $500k at a time. The goal is to get that money back to your vault, and whichever side has the most WINS!

Firing up the game for the first time, I joined a server and was tossed on the Police side. The first thing that I notice is the leveling system. You still have to level your character up by winnin’ and killin’, but now equipment is bought from awarded currency. Gone are the days of grinding out with a rifle so you can get a new set of optics for it, just so you can kill faster so you can get the next gun. I picked the Assault class and hopped in, got my bearings from the mini map and jumped into a police cruiser. The first thing I noticed in game was the sound quality/detail. The roar of the engine sounded very substantial, and the shots off in the distance echoed around buildings. I finally got to the first truck and that is when I noticed the next upgrade to the game, the destruction.

I think this time around, DICE and Visceral turned down the realism. In Battlefield 4, explosions and destruction felt fairly realistic, that is not the case in Hardline. When I arrived at the first truck, it felt like a scene out of The Expendables. Explosions, gunfire, environmental destruction. All felt turned up to 10, and then pushed through the ridiculousometer. Rockets blasting into cars. Helicopters having dog fights while weaving around buildings. Countless rounds of machine gun ammo flying through the air. It all felt, bigger and better than previous titles. Running down the street during this first skirmish, I felt like I was in the movie Heat.

The round quickly ended, as I joined late and we held the criminal scum at bay. Sides were changed. Now embracing my sudden life of crime, I grabbed a street bike and a squad mate hopped on the back. We were first to the truck and quickly planted the C4. After the arbitrary countdown, we had to plant another. Eventually blowing open the truck. All the while it felt like we were in a Michael Bay film. My partner grabbed the case and we found ourselves another motorcycle. This time the drop off point was atop a building. We drove close, hopped in the elevator and rode to the top. “Way too fucking easy” I messaged to him, just as the doors opened I realized I spoke to soon. We had climbed into the WRONG building, and were in fact across the street from our drop off point. Running around in desperation while we figured out what we needed to do, a squad mate spawned on us. Our newly materialized ally was soon to be the savior of the criminal underworld. Returning to the Battlefield series was the zip line crossbow. Like some sort of magician, our new friend shot his bow and birthed our escape. A zip line now hung tightly between the two buildings. We grabbed on and quickly flew down, dodging sniper fire from the roof. We landed, dispatched the near sighted snipers, and won the game.

Final Thoughts

Battlefield: Hardline is currently the topic of contention with the gaming community. Some feel that it is severely overpriced, and is essentially just a reskin of Battlefield 4. The fear is that the Battlefield series is going the way of Call of Duty where they churn out a new title every year. Interesting enough, if you look at the Battlefield release dates there has never been more than 2 years between titles.

Hardline is fun. The new mechanic of buying weapons and loadouts is very refreshing. The new weapons don’t feel as “Tacticool” as the ones from BF4, and I find that to be more fitting for this game. The new vehicles are a nice change of pace from the same stuff we’ve had to dink around in since Battlefield 2. The new game modes are a blast. The map we have access to is a joy to fight in. The sound design is a step in the right direction.

So I obviously enjoyed myself, and that means I think everyone should go out and pre-order it right now, right? Wrong. For right now anyway. Yeah, everything I’ve had to experience (sans glitches) was all and all an enjoyable experience, I really enjoyed not being an army dude fighting other army dudes in the desert. Hardline, as it stands right now, isn’t bringing enough new content to the table. The two new game modes aren’t enough. The maps aren’t enough, as BF4 has another expansion on the way.

DICE and Visceral need to bring some new, unique gametypes come release day. Because at the end of the day, two new gametypes, a handful of maps, new player and vehicle skins, and some amplified explosions does not equal $70. I had a lot of fun with what I played, but I will not be preordering this title unless we get some more stuff to get excited about.

Are you playing the beta? What are your thoughts?

E3 2014: ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ Headed To PS4, Xbox One, and PC!

by Derek KraneveldtJune 9, 2014

Briefly: It’s finally happening.

Grand Theft Auto V is headed to PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The new version of the game was revealed at Sony’s E3 press conference earlier tonight, and it looks great.

Rockstar says that “Grand Theft Auto V will take full advantage of the power of the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC with across-the-board graphical and technical improvements to deliver a stunning new level of detail. Increased draw distances, finer texture details, denser traffic, and enhanced resolutions all work together to bring new life to the cities, towns, deserts and oceans of Rockstar North’s epic reimagining of Southern California.”

It’ll include all the content that’s been released for the game so far, as Rockstar notes that “gameplay created since the launch of Grand Theft Auto Online, including an extensive array of new Jobs, an arsenal of new weapons, scores of new vehicles, new properties and player customizations will also be available for the PlayStation 4 system, Xbox One and PC with much more to come. In addition, the current community of players will have the ability to transfer their Grand Theft Auto Online characters and progression to their choice of PlayStation 4, Xbox One or PC.”

This is great. I can’t wait to buy this game again (yep, I’m one of those suckers). Take a look at the new in-engine trailer, and let us know if you’re excited.

Geekscape Roundtable: Our Predictions For E3 2014!

by GeekscapeStaffJune 6, 2014

Another year has passed, and E3 is nearly upon us once again! As always, we’ll be covering the event live and remotely, so stay tuned for tons of announcements, trailers, and news that you expected to hear, and hopefully a whole lot of reveals that you weren’t anticipating.

Each of us here at Geekscape have our hopes raised for things that may or may not come to pass, but we’ve also got some predictions for games and announcements that we’ll be seeing next week. You can take a look below for each of our thoughts, and be sure to stay tuned throughout next week for all of our live coverage!

Don’t forget to let us know what you hope to see next week in the comments below!

Shane O’Hare

I feel like this year’s E3 is going to be one of the best. All the new consoles are out and have a certain level of pedigree, so this year’s E3 is all about flexing the power of each unit. We will definitely see more on Halo 5 and a whole lot of Kinect garbage we won’t care about from Microsoft. Sony is going to be hyping (hopefully) The Last Guardian. Nintendo should be bringing the heat with Smash Bros, and I think it is time they fill out their roster and let us all know some hard release dates. It will also be interesting to see what they bring to the table in regards to their new NFC gaming device. Also, fingers crossed for some more Bayonetta 2 news. My French homies over at Ubisoft would be stupid not to have something new for The Division. There was a casual statement from a developer on that project and he said “We barely have our engine, 2015 might be pushing it as far as a release date”. JUST GIVE US SOMETHING UBI! ANYTHING!

Juan Carlos Marquez

Nintendo has tremendous momentum heading into E3 this year. With over 1.2. million copies of Mario Kart 8 flying off store shelves last weekend (here’s our review), this may mark the much-needed turnaround for the Wii U–very much like Super Mario 3D Land pulled the Nintendo 3DS from its funk. That being said, expect Nintendo to continue the positive upswing with a couple of huge announcements.

#1 Gamecube Virtual Console HD Games Announced

The Virtual Console for the Wii U offers NES, SNES, N64, Gameboy, and Gameboy Advance games. The only thing missing from the equation (other than the Virtual Boy) is the Gamecube. While not a sales juggernaut, the Gamecube offered an impressive library of games. Due to the success of Wind Waker HD and the recently announced Gamecube Controller Adapter for Wii U, I wouldn’t put it past Nintendo to roll out some of the best GameCube games available on the Virtual Console, such as Super Mario Sunshine, F-Zero GX, Viewtiful Joe, Time Splitters 2, and Wave Race: Blue Storm. While GameCube systems may be cheap to purchase today, their games are not. Used copies of Smash Bros. Melee start at $6o. A used copy of the brutal shooter Ikaruga goes for $55, and for those wanting to play Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance need to spend $125 for a used copy! While brilliant these games may be, not everyone has the means to purchase them. An updated Virtual Console service which includes GameCube games would only boost the Wii U’s library.

#2 Youkai Watch Announced for 3DS

It is part Pokémon/part Dragon Quest…and Japanese gamers love it. With its own manga series and a successful anime, Youkai Watch could very well be a huge hit here in North America–and Nintendo is going to bank on that. Nearly 1 million copies of the first Youkai Watch game quickly sold in Japan and it has been a constant presence atop video game sales charts. A sequel is slated for release this July and chances are North American gamers will be able to play it themselves. Level-5’s trademark filing for Yo-Kai Watch for North America lends me to believe that the Japanese megahit will be making its presence at E3.

#3 F-Zero AND Star Fox coming to Wii U

Mario Kart 8, New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario 3D World, and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games–four different Wii U games featuring everyone’s favorite princess-saving, mushroom–eating plumber, yet some of Nintendo’s other core franchises have been painfully absent. It has been nine years since a new Star Fox game has landed on a Nintendo system and a decade for an F-Zero game. A decade!

At the Nintendo investor’s meeting last April, Saturo Iwata stated that the company would allow licensing of their characters to third parties, and I would fully expect an announcement in the realm of a new Star Fox from Platinum Games or an F-Zero game from SEGA. It appears that Iwata realizes Nintendo not utilizing many of their IP’s, and allowing other third parties to take some of these franchises–just as we are seeing with Hyrule Warriors— would keep a healthy supply of games for Wii U owners to look forward to. All I know is that fans have been clamoring for a new title from either series for years, and I can’t imagine after the popularity of Captain Falcon and Fox McCloud that neither would be denied their own games, just as they were for the Wii.
The saying goes that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, but Nintendo finds themselves in that exact situation. The Wii U has suffered some pretty negative press–some deserved, some not-so deserved. E3 2014 allows Reggie Fils-Aime to hit the reset button and showcase some of the fantastic games the Wii U has to offer and show the industry, gamers, and the press that not only does the Wii U have games, but games and experiences consumers will want to take part in this year.

Jake Lopez

Better and Smoother Looking Titles

While the Kinect may not have taken off as Microsoft planned, an argument can be made that the accessory is still widely used outside of playing a game. Regardless, a recent change regarding the system’s GPU can mean better looking and smother games for the Xbox One. You should expect to hear “1080p” and “60 FPS” tossed around too. Here’s what Microsoft has to say on the matter:

For consumers, simply unplugging Kinect will not impact the performance of Xbox One. The June SDK released to developers gives them access to additional GPU resources previously reserved for Kinect and system functions. Accessing the additional GPU resources is done by the developer, and how developers choose to access the extra GPU performance for their games is up to them.

For titles that ship in the future, if a developer has taken advantage of this SDK change they may access this additional GPU resource. We have started working with a number of developers on how they can best take advantage of these changes, and we’ll have more to share in the future.

What does this mean for us? Well, should the developers take advantage of the additional GPU space at their disposal, we could potentially see sharper textures and smoother frame-rates.

Transmedia Projects

Yes, Microsoft excessively used “TV” during their presentation last year, but wait, where are the shows?! Well, expect to hear AND see more of their transmedia projects, starting with Halo. It has been reported that a Halo project has begun filming in Belfast, Ireland.

This new project has Ridley Scott as the executive producer and Battlestar Galactica’s Sergio Mimica-Gezzan as director. It’s important to note that this project is entirely separate from the Steven Spielberg Halo project that was announced last year. Rumor has it that Ridley Scott’s project may not entirely feature Master Chief at all. In any case, prepare yourselves for a teaser.

With Halo out of the way, one could expect to hear about other transmedia projects Microsoft has in the works. Each show should correspond with first party titles. Expect announcements and/or teasers!

Video Games

Obviously, we’re getting a Halo 5: Guardians teaser, but the Halo won’t end there. I’m sure we’ll get another detailed announcement of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. This collection was rumored here on Geekscape way back in January.

#Halo3, #Halo4 will be included in #Halo2 Anniversary War Chest Edition, along with a #Halo5 Beta among other items. #XboxOne #343i

— Jacob Lopez (@jake_108) January 30, 2014

Beyond that, we may get word of a Halo 5 Beta to be included with purchase of Halo 2. We may also get an in-depth look at Halo 5’s story and word of another Spartan Ops season.

Gears of War is a franchise we don’t have to look too far back to remember. After turning over everything Gears of War related to Black Tusk Studios, the franchise appears to be ready to make the leap to the Xbox One. One thing to keep in mind during the presentation is a point of interest for Rod Fergusson, Studio Manager at Black Tusk Studios:

This isn’t a great way of phrasing it but I always talk about shipping a sequel to customers as ‘managing betrayal’. They want something new but they don’t want something so new that it doesn’t feel like what they want. But if you put out something that’s very familiar and is the same as the game they just had, then it’s like ‘I’ve already had this. This isn’t new enough.’

You actually have to betray them enough to give them something new and surprising but not so much that they disconnect, and I think that is a big thing that we have to focus on,” Fergusson added. “It’s how we can innovate and bring something new to the franchise while at the same time really proving that we understand Gears – that this is the franchise that you know and love.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if we revisited old franchises such as Crackdown, Dance Central, or maybe even a resurgence of Rock Band. In all, I have a feeling they might save the best for last: A new Mass Effect title. However, this might be instead showcased during the EA press conference.

Josh Jackson

Pokken will be real. And it’ll be awesome.

For months, there have been rumors swirling of a Pokemon fighting game. Ever since an image of an HD Lucario and Blaziken about to face off surfaced, it’s been a huge topic of discussion in the Pokemon community.

Since then, word has been that the guys behind Tekken are the ones who are developing this potential title, which will be a full fledged fighting game featuring various Pokemon, all set to the mechanics of the popular 3D fighter.

It makes perfect sense considering how many popular fighting type Pokemon are in existence, how buddy buddy Namco and Nintendo have been as of late, (including their fighting game devs helping with work on the upcoming Smash Bros.), and even appeared in the credits of Mario Kart 8. Plus, we haven’t seen a core Tekken game since Tekken 6, with their last game being Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition, which introduced Nintendo items and costumes into the King of the Iron Fist Tournament. Coincidence? I think not. Will it be another killer app for the Wii U’s groing library? Who knows? But I know I’ll be first in line when it DOES get announced.

Super Smash Bros. will get six character reveals, three of which will be new.

Super Smash Bros. is easily the most hyped game of the year for Nintendo, (sorry Mario Kart), so what better way to build up excitement right before their live streamed tournament than to reveal a sizable amount of new characters?

As far as new characters are concerned, I’m guessing we’ll see… Paulatena, Chrom and Pac-Man, assuming Ridley is still off the table. They’ll want to end with a big reveal, so that would be the perfect time to show him. If not, I fully expect Pac-Man to take his spot as a gaming icon and knock down drag out brawler. Hey, he’s shown up in Street Fighter X Tekken, stranger things have happened!

Oh, and old characters need to be ones people are afraid are gone for good. C’mon, Mewtwo, Ice Climbers and Snake!

The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D Will Be A Reality!

At this point, Zelda is essentially an annual franchise for Nintendo between its console and handheld releases. I can’t think of a better way to hype up the upcoming core Zelda title for the Wii U with a remake of one of the most polarizing entries in the series this side of Zelda 2.

Fans have been begging for it since Ocarina of Time 3D hit stores, and considering that Nintendo has been far less tone def since the surprising success of Xenoblade Chronicles, you better believe that this title is in the works. No better time to announce it than the present!

Microsoft will be all about games. For real this time!

Saying Microsoft has had a rough year with its Xbox One would be a huge understatement, and most of it stems from the controversy last year over their attempt at console DRM and forcing Kinect on everyone who buys the console. A little over six months later, and Kinect is gone while DRM is a distant memory that the company hopes that we forget. They were blasted for catering to frivolous features over its core functionality of gaming, so they’re going to do whatever they can to change that perception.

Will that result in a new Crimson Skies or Mech Assault like I’ve been begging for for years? Maybe an update to Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts? Or maybe someone over there will remember that they have an incredible list of first party titles that they’re just sitting on? Although we’ll probably just get a ton of 3rd party timed exclusives. But hey, you have to start somewhere.

The Vita will officially become a PS4 controller.

Last year alluded to it, the recent PS4/Vita bundle furthers it… we just need official confirmation from Sony.

Let’s face it. As a handheld system, Sony has all but given up on the Vita. For the last two years that I’ve owned the thing, I’ve waited on baited breath for the company to announce something… ANYTHING in the way of quality first party titles.

But aside from the occasional bone thrown our way, (like Gravity Rush and Soul Sacrifice), we’ve had to rely on niche game companies like Atlus and NIS America to do well by us handheld gamers. With the announcement of the bundle on top of everything we know about Sony’s plans, I don’t expect much of anything to be shown game wise aside from maybe a game we know about like Gravity Rush 2, only to be bombarded with buzz words and hype about how amazing the Vita is… as a controller.

And they still won’t drop the price of memory cards!

The majority of the press will say that Nintendo was disappointing while Sony and Microsoft blew them away regardless of the content of their conferences.

True Story.

And lastly, The Last Guardian Will Be Announced For The PS4, while Shenmue 3 won’t.

But they have one thing in common. They’re never coming out. Sorry!

Derek Kraneveldt

I really wish that I was down in LA for this year’s E3, as I feel like we’re set to get some HUGE announcements and revelations this coming week that would be absolutely shocking to see in person. Instead, I’ll be reading about them online and receiving confusing messages from my in-person co-Scapists… but that doesn’t mean I’m any less excited. I hope that it’s a great expo for everyone headed there, and I can’t wait to see what’s coming down the pipeline!

Here’s what I think (or at least really, really, hope) we’ll be seeing this year.

The PS3 is dead… at least to Sony

The PS4 has had a huge start, and with six months behind it and more than 7 million units sold, Sony is ready to say goodbye to its tough start-great finish Playstation 3. Sony is likely to reveal a PS3 title or two that’ll be making the jump to its newest console, but other than that, they don’t even want to look at the thing.

E3, Ubisoft, and other developers have announced continuing support for the console, but I wouldn’t expect anything new from Sony anytime soon.

We’ll get more details on Playstation Now.

Including pricing, more release date details, and hopefully when other countries will be able to jump in. I want this so much, but they haven’t talked about Canada yet at all.

The Last Guardian will be re-revealed.

This has to be the year. It just has to. The third game from Team ICO was first announced all the way back in 2009, and has really never been spoken about again. Until recently, when someone stated that the game was on an indefinite hiatus, and then Shuhei Yoshida himself said that it was still in active development.

This is my biggest hope for E3. Sony, make it happen or I’m smashing my PS4 and dusting of my Vita so I can smash it too.

http://youtu.be/EHzHoMT5eRg

The Vita will get a price cut.

And will be essentially not spoken of otherwise. Unfortunately great hardware means nothing when there aren’t any games coming out.

Bethesda will announce Fallout 4.

A long shot, but my fingers are crossed so hard that it just has to happen. New Vegas came out in 2010, so it’s time to reveal the future of the series.

We won’t get the huge Wii U Zelda reveal that we’re all hoping for…

Nintendo will confirm they’re working hard on the title, but that it’s not yet ready for primetime.

…But they will reveal Majora’s Mask 3D (which we’re also all hoping for).

If they want to continue printing money like they have been with Mario Kart 8, that is.

Nintendo will have a huge NFC reveal, and it’ll blow us away.

Seriously, it’s way cooler than Skylanders.

Way more Definitive/Remastered Edition games announced for all platforms.

Let’s face it, none of our favourite current-gen consoles have the game libraries that we were hoping for at this point (well the Wii U has a pretty sweet collection so far, but we all know what everyone seems to think of that console), and brand-new games are just so expensive to develop that we’ll likely see a influx of remastered editions of PS3/Xbox 360 games.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as having remade games released is better than releasing no games at all (especially for someone who missed out on the titles last-gen), but it is a little annoying to see a good chunk of games for our newest consoles be retextured rereleases.

That being said, I can’t wait to play The Last of Us (again) on PS4, and I missed out on most of Halo, so this rumoured Master Chief Collection is right up my alley.

S.J. Borger

There’s a lot of buzz around E3 this year—with the two new consoles out and going strong, companies—from the big AAA guys like Bethesda and Ubisoft to the smaller independent studios—will be out to show they’ve got the games to go with the hardware.

Let’s not forgot Occulus Rift, either. We saw at GDC that VR is something all the big studios are looking at when it comes to next gen gaming; Sony announced its Project Morpheus in March and Microsoft is rumored to be working on a VR system as well. A number of games have Rift-support now, but we haven’t seen very many that were meant to played with a VR headset—EVE Valkyrie being the one major title, and we had to chance to demo that at GDC and it was amaze-balls. So, exciting to see what the next major title will be to enter the Rift-enabled world will be—and how it will look.

A few other items of excitement:

Bethesda: Fallout 4. Oh, please, let it be Fallout 4. With the announcement last year that Fallout 4 is definitely in development (read all about it here), E3 is the right time and the right place for Bethesda to announce the game we’ve all been waiting for FOR SO LONG.

Square Enix: Square Enix has a number of super-secret, hush hush titles—including an MMO—that will be announced at E3. I’ve gotten a sneak peak at some of them and all I can say is OH MY GOD. And Kingdom Hearts will hopefully get some love.

Projekt Red: The Witcher team announced the release date for The Witcher 3 just this week, as well as the closed Beta for The Witcher Adventure Game. But they also said they had more waiting to be announced at E3—what could that be??

In a related note, Good Old Games will announce their new gaming client GOG Galaxy, which is a DRM-free, completely optional game client that includes the ability to allow players to socialize with their friends who are using a different game client.

EA: They will roll out their expected salte of new games to loud roars of approval. I mean, Sims 4. Dragon Age: Inquisition (have you SEEN THE latest trailer? Holy pretty, Batman…)…these games look amazing. They will also tout how nice they are, now that they too give away games every once in a while on Origin. No mention will be made of SimCity.

Microsoft/Xbox: They will make much of their new Live Gold membership—free games! (I predict that a lot of the platforms and clients will be talking about all the FREE GAMES you’ll get if you sign up for their client). And HALO, of course. We’ll hear a lot about HALO, and maybe some about how they are branching out into content creation (Microsoft recently started a new content team out here in LA).

That’s it! Those are our predictions for this year’s E3! Be sure to check back next week to see what we were right about, and where we failed horribly!

The ‘Oddworld: New N Tasty’ E3 Trailer Is Beautiful!

by Derek KraneveldtJune 5, 2014

Briefly: It seems as though everyone is releasing E3 trailers long before the show floor opens on Monday, and Oddworld Inhabitants have followed suit, debuting a gorgeous new look at Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty.

The ‘rebuilt from the ground up’ reimagining of 1997’s Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee has been in the works for quite some time (like 2010), and rumour has it that we’ll finally be seeing its release date at E3 next week. The game looks beautiful, and since I missed out on the classic the first time around, I really can’t wait to get my hands on this.

Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty will launch on Windows, OS X, Linux, Wii U, PS3, PS4, and PS Vita. Take a look at the trailer below, and let us know if you’ll be picking it up!

The Newest Update Video For ‘Mighty No. 9’ Has Us MEGA Excited!

by Shane O'HareMay 30, 2014

The team over at Comcept have just put out this new update video for their Kickstarter success story, Mighty No. 9. The spiritual successor for Megaman is looking more and more amazing the further the project goes.

http://youtu.be/q1iEFfOBP1o

Amassing over Four Million USD, Mighty No. 9 is the brainchild of Keiji Inafune. He wanted to bring the best of the 16-Bit era side scrollers to today.

You can grab Mighty No. 9 sometime in April 2015, and it’s on pretty much everydamn platform including; PC, MAC, Linux!

Deal Alert: ‘Battlefield 3’ Free On Origin For A Limited Time

by MoreLikeAndyMay 29, 2014

Briefly: EA has put Battlefield 3 up for grabs, free on Origin until June 3, 2014. With their “On the House ” program, EA is trying to get in on the action that Sony and Microsoft already have with their free games programs already.

With Plants Vs. Zombies the only other free game in EA’s program right now, they have a lot of catching up to do if they want to seem like a good deal as the competitors are right now. Since there is no set schedule as to when these free games will come, it’s anyone’s guess how frequent they will be. Still, you really can’t complain about free games.

Site: Origin

‘The Wolf Among Us’ Fourth Episode Gets A Release Date!

by Derek KraneveldtMay 22, 2014

Briefly: Just two days ago Telltale debuted three new screenshots from The Wolf Among Us‘ next episode, In Sheep’s Clothing, and now we have the chapter’s release date(s).

Episode four will launch on May 27th for PS3, Windows, and OS X. It’ll hit Xbox 360 on May 28th, and iOS on May 29th. You can take a look at the new trailer for the game below, and be sure to let us know what you think of the game so far!

‘Murdered: Soul Suspect’s 101 Trailer Teaches Us The Basics

by Derek KraneveldtMay 22, 2014

Briefly: We covered it extensively at E3 last year, and now it’s nearly here: the release of Square Enix’s Murdered: Soul Suspect.

The game has been intriguing since its announcement, and it looks very cool from everything we’ve seen so far, but I’m really hoping that it doesn’t suffer the same fate as Beyond: Two Souls, which featured an insanely interesting plot and some great visuals, but boring you-can-barely-call-it-gameplay.

Square today released a 101 trailer for the game, which takes us through the basics of the plot, gameplay, and characters. It’s easy to see that there’s a lot of promise here, but early reactions to the non-finished product were decidedly ‘meh’. I’m hoping that things have improved for its retail release.

In any case, I’m all for new IP’s, so I’m looking forward to checking the game out. Murdered: Soul Suspect will hit PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC on June 3rd. Take a look at the trailer below, and let us know what you think!

Get Ready For ‘Shadow Of Mordor’ With The Newest Trailer!

by Shane O'HareMay 22, 2014

Way back in January we peeped you the demo vid from Monoliths upcoming LOTR game, Shadow of Mordor. Since then not much has come out about the game, until now! Check out the official “Story” trailer below!

You can get your hands on Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor October 7th! Available on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

‘Watch Dogs’ Gives One Last Peek With Launch Trailer

by MoreLikeAndyMay 22, 2014

Watch Dogs is nearly here. With only 5 more days to go before we jump into the shoes of Aiden Pearce and hack all the things, Ubisoft gives us one last look with the launch trailer released today.

Besides the quotes from some websites I never heard of, the trailer has that movie-esque vibe with some decent backing music. Let’s hope that all the hype Ubisoft has been dishing out all these months is worth the wait when Watch Dogs is released on May 27, 2014 for pretty much everything except the WiiU. Nintendo will have to wait until later on in 2014 for their version.

‘The Wolf Among Us’ Next Episode, ‘In Sheep’s Clothing’ Gets Three New Screenshots!

by Derek KraneveldtMay 20, 2014

Briefly: After the insane conclusion of the last episode of Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us, we were itching for more content to sink our teeth into. Now, a month and a half has passed, and the developer has finally released the first screenshots for the game’s fourth episode, In Sheep’s Clothing.

The shots give us a look at a battered Bigby, a somber Snow White, and a dejected Narissa. If you know how the last episode ended (I won’t spoil things if not, but you should definitely be playing this game), you know exactly why everyone looks so down.

Once Telltale starts releasing screenshots, release dates (or at least their announcements) are typically soon to follow. Take a look at the shots below, and be on the lookout for more The Wolf Among Us news.

Geekscape Games Reviews: ‘Life Goes On’

by MoreLikeAndyMay 19, 2014

Death has always been a form a punishment in video games. The lingering fear of starting an area over again from a poorly placed checkpoint after spending hours getting to end of a level is frustrating to endure. What if death was not a form of punishment but instead, required in order to proceed. Well, Life Goes On does just that with hilarious results.

Life Goes On is a 2D puzzle platformer that has endless streams of loyal knights carrying out the king’s request; acquiring the Cup of Life at the end of each level. Putting these unlimited lives to use will be essential to solve puzzling challenges that lie ahead. While the first handful of levels get you acclimated to the controls and concepts of how to use the sacrificial lambs, things start to ramp up as you progress. There are timers and a death count tally set in place to compete against to see how efficient you can complete each challenge. Unfortunately, there is no penalty for failing the time limit or death count as you can move on to the next level regardless of how long you spent sending knights to their doom.

Having no limitations on progression is actually a liberating thing in Life Goes On. This leaves everyone to experiment with their own extravagant notions on creative ways to complete each puzzle. Or, you can be like me and see how many bodies you can pile up in one area. With all sorts of contraptions littered among the levels, a lot of silly fun can be had. Conveyor belts with spikes, plumes of fire, electrical conduits and cold air blasts that freeze on contact are just some of the wonderful hazards to play with. Piling up bodies on a spiked conveyor belt so I can walk with ease across my fallen brothers is much more satisfying than precariously leaping on one single husk to the other side.

If you think the challenge not being present ruins any point of playing Life Goes On, you are sorely mistaken. Just figuring out how to get past some of the later levels are more than challenging enough. One level has multiple checkpoints where you will respawn after death. In order to retrieve the chalice, you must manipulate multiple switches in the right order as well as activating the right checkpoints. If that sounds like childs play to you, well there are other levels that will test your dexterity at traversing platforms. Freezing a body, respawning at a checkpoint, hustling over to the moving ice block and jumping off said ice block in mere seconds is just some of the difficult things needed to accomplish success over each puzzle.

Life Goes On is a simple yet challenging puzzle-solving platformer that is a blast to play in short bursts. Having no repercussions for lollygagging around while flinging countless bodies to their doom may hinder any sense of reward for some. For the rest though, finding out what other elaborate contraptions Infinite Monkeys has designed for us all is a reward all in its own.

Score: 3/5

All Hail The Glorious Leader! Kim Jong-Un Gets His Own Video Game!

by Shane O'HareMay 15, 2014

Our glorious leader, son of Demi-God Kim Jon-Il, is finally being immortalized in a video game! It accurately shows the true exploits of our leader in battle, from riding on the legendary flaming unicorn, to taking on the entire capitalist army on his own.

The true great allies in the West, Money Horse Games, have released THIS statement on the game.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea commands you to know that the capitalistic pigs at Moneyhorse LLC, are developing Glorious Leader! , an epic tale about the triumph of Kim Jong Un over the entire American army. Battle through 7 unique levels as you defeat waves of imperialists, combat over-the-top bosses, and ride unicorns!

Glorious Leader! is coming soon to PC and something called a mobile device. Finally, you will know why North Korea truly is the best Korea.

No release date has been announced, but we know our savior and glorious leader, will come precisely when he is needed.

Celebrate The Birthday Of ‘Diablo III’ With Special Bonuses

by MoreLikeAndyMay 15, 2014

Thinking of taking a break this weekend from farming gear in Diablo III? If so, Blizzard would like to remind you that today is the birthday of your favorite action role-playing game. Even though you forgot all about El Diablo’s birthday and you didn’t even get him a funny card, he still loves you. To show it, starting today and finishing on May 22, special in-game bonuses will be active for all players in Diablo III.

First off, rift fragments will be doubled. This will be handy since rift runs are how most people farm for the legendary item drops post game. On top of the double fragments, a boost of 100% to your chance of finding those treasured legendary drops you spend countless hours a day grinding to obtain. I guess the break you might have wanted to take will be postponed for a little, huh?

Site: Battle.net

A SuperHot Kickstarter You Need To Check Out

by MoreLikeAndyMay 14, 2014

Part of the 7DFPS game jam in 2013, SuperHot stood out from the rest of the games created. With the mixture of interesting art design and controlling time a big gameplay mechanic, turning a first-person shooter into a real-time strategy game as well is something special indeed. Since time moves when you do, carefully planning out each step in hopes of evading bullets while setting up your limited shots is a challenge. Just have a look at some of the latest gameplay footage below for SuperHot and tell me that isn’t intriguing as hell.

Wanting to fully flesh out this amazing idea past the 7 day prototype built in 2013, SuperHot is looking towards Kickstarter to get it done. With a goal of $100,000 to complete this project, it may seem a little ambitious for what we have seen so far. After seeing some of the things the developers want to do in SuperHot, the amount seems more than fine. From the Kickstarter page, some of the goals are:

Story driven single-player campaign. SUPERHOT is more than just a shooter with a gimmick. We want to deliver a solid, interesting campaign built around a carefully constructed, not overly in-your-face story.

Improved visuals. We are keeping the original game’s minimalistic artstyle while making everything look a lot better. SUPERHOT is all about style.

Infinite mode. A lot of people have asked us for an endless, arena-style mode that will allow them to play SUPERHOT for as long as they want. Master the game’s mechanics and get ready for the ultimate time-bending challenges.

More weapons – shotguns, machineguns, grenades that change the way you play around with the time-bending mechanics.

More enemy types – thanks to improved AI the foes will use tactics and be able to work together to hunt you down.

More levels – imagine fighting in the middle of a motorway during rush hour, or close combat in an elevator – and other amazing, movie-like scenarios.

Slow-motion explosions!

Oculus Rift support. Dodge bullets flying right in front of your face and lean behind corners for increased immersion!

It’s about time we see some new innovations in FPS games. If you would like put some cash down to support SuperHot, $15 will get you Steam key as well as a DRM-free downloadable copy when the game releases. To see more pledge tiers, head on over to their Kickstarter page and have a gander.

Humble Bundle Going Daily For 2 Weeks

by MoreLikeAndyMay 14, 2014

Humble Bundle has always been a great collection of little games that might have gone unnoticed in the past. For what would cost you a large latte and a bagel at the local coffee shop, you could get a handful of games to enjoy. Not only that, but you can determine how much of the money you want to spend goes to the publishers, the Humble Bundle site or to charity. Usually there is a weekly refresh on what bundles are offered. Starting May 13 and ending May 27, every day will have a new bundle of joy full of delightful games to play.

Starting off the daily bundles, publisher Deep Silver has a remix of a bundle previously offered back in July 2013. Since that deal is up in about 2 hours, you might want to hurry if you already don’t own such titles as Saints Row The Third, Risen 2, Dead Island GOTY or Metro 2033.

Site: Humble Bundle

Geekscape Games Reviews: ‘Bound by Flame’

by MoreLikeAndyMay 9, 2014

Bound by Flame would make for an amazing heavy metal band name. Picturing long flowing hair flailing around as the metallic strings of a Gibson guitar are strummed furiously amidst choke-inducing smoke from pyrotechnics is quite easy. This elaborate fantasy cobbled together in my head pleases me with hopes that it was actually real. Instead, we get the reality that Bound by Flame is nothing more than a sub-par role-playing game.

As far as fantasy stories go, Bound by Flame seems of the standard fare. With the world on the way to extinction from the Ice Lords with an army of undead, humanity’s last bastion of hope lies in the hands of the Red Scribes. You play Vulcan, a member of the ruthless group of mercenaries known as the Freeborn Blades. While guarding the Red Scribes during their ritual to end the war, things go awry and a powerful demon now inhabits Vulcan. With this demon sharing your body, you must decide if embracing the demon inside is wise or retain your humanity while saving the world. The whole good versus evil turmoil inside of Vulcan starts off great, yet falters more and more as the story progresses.

To help make the decisions to push you to either side of the moral scale are dialogue trees in Bound by Flame. With the abundance of dialogue present in the game, it can almost feel like you are playing a point-and-click adventure. The sheer amount of words I had to read could be bounded together in a three part book series. It’s a good thing that for the most part, the voice acting is adequate. Some may have an issue with the amount of cursing the characters spill out. I felt that this added to the believability of being part of a bad ass mercenary group. If action war movies have taught me anything, it’s that soldiers love to curse, a lot. The delivery of some of the dialogue can be all over the place. One moment you have perfect tone and emotion conveyed from a character. Then not a minute later, everything seems to go lifeless. Still, there is some sort of charm in how bad the voice acting can get.

Bound by Flame can look pretty fantastic at times. Everything has a cel-shaded look that pleases the eye. Views overlooking a chasm with the sun high in the sky is a stunning view. As you make your way through different areas and hub towns, the shine starts to wear off a little but manages to not degrade into something terrible or grungy looking. The same cannot be said about the character models. Everyone ends up looking too plain. The detail that went into creating the world didn’t seem to carry over to the characters. It makes believing the emotions of someone speaking difficult to relate with when the expressions and body language is wooden. The one standout thing about character models can be attributed to the transformation of Vulcan to full-on demon if you choose that path. As you let the demon take control little by little, your outward appearance starts to change into something inhuman. Horns start jutting out of your forehead, the color of your skin turns black as charred coal, eyes as red as the blood spilt by the entity inside you and flames dancing on your shoulder in delight. With these mutations, helmets can no longer grace your head and the armor worn will show damage from the scorching flames emanating from your body. Even the voice pitch of Vulcan will change to mimic what would sound like a demon possessing you.

Calling Bound by Flame an action role-playing game is sort of misleading. When I think of an action role-playing game, I think of fast movements, being able to react to enemies at a moments notice or use items instantly. Going into battle with these notions will get you killed. Even as I write this, I have a love/hate relationship with the combat in Bound by Flame. On one hand, I enjoy the slower pace of combat when I engage an enemy. Not being able to just mash attack to win, makes you think before you leap into battle. Getting the timing down to block or dodge right as a gigantic axe is falling towards your head, thus pulling off a counterattack can be very satisfying. What is not satisfying, however, is the cheap tactics deployed by the enemy AI. When enemies attack faster than Vulcan can react while ranged enemies snipe away at my meager health, all the fun is sucked out of the game. Even if you equip the best armor you can find, it seems to do little in terms of mitigating damage. However, this seems to be no issue with the enemies, being the damage sponges that they are.

Making things even worse are the two stances Vulcan can switch to on the fly. Warrior stance allows blocking, knock-backs and more powerful attacks. The Ranger stance provides a dodge mechanic, fast attacks and stealth attacks. The problem with this system is you cannot possibly switch fast enough to block or dodge when the time calls for either. Having either mechanic tied to a stance is frustrating in regards to the cheapness of enemy AI. Whether you attack, switch stances or use spells, be prepared to get interrupted and possibly knocked to the ground. As you stumble back up from the ground, it seems as though Vulcan had too much ale consumed the night before. In what seems like forever, Vulcan will finally stand up. All this would be ok, if it weren’t for the lumbering General of the Ice Lords charging your exposed guard.

Skill trees offer to make Vulcan more powerful by enhancing abilities or granting new ones. Upgrading the Warrior stance to have the ability to block from all sides, more resistant to knock-back and greater health regeneration seems great on paper. When put to use though, blocking from all sides in a group of enemies will trap you in endless attacks with no way of escaping the precious few hits Vulcan can endure. The upgrades to the dodge mechanic for the Ranger stance is also not too helpful. Even though you will get a sliver of a chance more to react, being restricted to only moving backwards is a big hindrance and negates the extra time to react. Since you will find yourself surrounded in the majority of fights, dodging a death blow only to ram your backside into the embrace of another blade is the opposite of what I want in the ability to dodge. Since a flame demon resides inside you, the magic of pyromancy ends up being the third fighting stance that you don’t need to switch to. Sadly, the demon’s flame wielding spells given to you are just as useless as most of the other skills. The only skill worth a damn was augmenting weapons with fire magic, thus increasing damage output with a chance to set a burn status with the touch of your weapon. The extra damage is nice, but with the enemies treating each hit like a tickle, it ends up being nothing more than cosmetic effect.

Having companions should help in your fight against the Ice Lords. Instead, you get the most incompetent partners I have ever seen. I would go into detail about the different characters at your choosing but it won’t matter none. From getting stuck on geometry to outright leaving you to go do whatever the hell is more important than surviving an encounter, the companions are utterly useless. Since they seem to die easier than you with no way to revive them without defeating all enemies in the vicinity, I would be better off venturing on my on.

Crafting is available, though not useful enough due to the lack of material found in Bound by Flame. In fact, the lack of loot found throughout my time with the game was disappointing. At least with what loot you can find, it enabled me to tell the shopkeepers to piss off. The weapons and armor you find are always better than the ones sold in shops. Which is great since the economy is non-existent. No matter how much you save in your piggy bank, it will never be enough to purchase that shimmering item in the shopkeeper’s window. Since crafting material is also hard to come by, recycling unused items will serve your needs better than haggling sale prices. Most of your equipment can have additional stats added to them by crafting upgrades for them. Choosing things like resistance from status effects or boosting attack speed are just some of the choices given to you. I never felt like these upgrades did much at all. Near the end, I spent what little scrap I had left to craft healing potions since those are the one thing you will use the most.

Bound by Flame wants to burn bright with the fiery passion of a great action role-playing game. It almost accomplishes this feat with mostly interesting dialogue told by the many characters you meet and combat that has a more strategical component instead of mashing your way through the battles. What turns that flame into a fizzle, however, is hard to ignore. Voice acting quality all over the place, stiff character animations, utterly useless companions, cheap enemy AI and lack of meaningful loot ends up charring any hopes of enjoyment to be had.

Score: 2/5

Geekscape Games First Impressions: ‘Grim Dawn’

by MoreLikeAndyMay 8, 2014

The folks over at Blizzard have become masters of time. When the Reaper of Souls expansion was released for Diablo 3 back in March, there was an abundance of time that just dissipated into thin air. Every waking moment was put into what felt like the Diablo 3 players wanted in the first place. Now that some of us have a stronger grip on our time that Blizzard usurped months ago, someone else is trying to control those precious ticks on the clock: Grim Dawn.

Being developed by Crate Entertainment and in early access on Steam, Grim Dawn has players doing the same clickity-clicks looking for that next great item drop, which is typical to most isometric action role-playing games. Though, in this world, everything seems more grimy and rundown with a lack of a broader color palette. The story is also not something I found too intriguing beyond the quests certain townsfolk were all to eager to encourage me to do. I was more than happy to oblige and take on the fools errands just to explore every crevice of the world. I was cackling with anticipated delight to uncover tasty loot cowering away in some dusty old crate or shelf.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that I would be the one cowering, not the loot. Unlike some action role-playing games, combat is a bit more challenging. Enemies will swarm you in hopes of barricading all exits as precious health ticks away from your character. Simply trying to click-to-win won’t cut it with mobs. Crucial use of skills, items and gear as well as spacial awareness is required to survive. What could be somewhat of a deal breaker for most is the way health is handled in Grim Dawn. When out of combat for more than five seconds, health rapidly refills until the meter is full again. This makes for a lot of hit-and-run style of combat that could last more than a handful of minutes each encounter. The challenge is still there even with this health system in place, though not as challenging as it was made to seem at first.

Although there are different classes to suit multiple play styles, none of them seemed to feel diverse enough from one another in the beginning. Soldier is your standard sword and shield class, Demolitionist excels in range attacks and explosions, the Occultist wields magic and bringing up the rear is the Nightblade class as the sneaky rogue. That lack of diversity is offset when reaching level ten, which unlocks the dual class specialty. Being able to mix and match two different classes gives birth to a whole plethora of possibilities. With two classes and their skill sets available to cherry pick from, mixing and matching skills ended up being a lot of fun. Resetting skills at next-to-nothing prices greatly enhances experimentation when testing what works and what fails horribly.

Adding to the experimentation aspect of Grim Dawn is the loot, specifically the properties of said loot. Usually, stat boosts are attached to some items and gear found in the world. Having spells or skills alongside the stat boosts something new to me. From elemental spells to physical skills, having even more options besides what is set for each classes skill trees is almost overwhelming. There’s also crafting that was just added in the latest update that sadly doesn’t seem to be beneficial to players, yet.

What keeps me coming back for more in Grim Dawn is still a mystery to me after eight hours of playing. Could it be that the power of finding a brand new shiny item allures me to keep pressing on? Maybe it’s the experimentation of skills to find some sort of combination that brings the pain to all who oppose me. Whatever Grim Dawn has over me, I’m excited for its future. With new classes, more quests, more acts in the main story and bug fixes/tweaks, El Diablo will have to look upon the dawn coming with grim chances of surviving.

Geekscape Games Reviews: ‘Daylight’

by MoreLikeAndyApril 29, 2014

Cause in the daylight we’ll be on our own, but tonight I need to hold you so close. Oh Adam Levine, you have no idea how true your lyrics are. In Zombie Studios’ survival horror Daylight, you’ll want to hold someone so close not because of love but because you can hide behind them when the horror show starts.

Daylight gets right to the point with its survival horror story. You are Sarah and with no idea of anything else, you’re left with trying to navigate the ominous hallways of the derelict hospital with just your cellphone to guide your way. Most of the story is told through various letters or notes spread throughout the multiple areas for the player to find. What little of the story is left, the mysterious man communicating with Sarah over her cellphone fills in. It’s not like you will pay too much attention to the story the first time through. I mean, you do have deadly apparitions chasing after you. Still, having more of a story conveyed outside reading a lot of text would benefit immersing players into the world to maximize the scare factor.

Though combat is non-existent in Daylight, it doesn’t mean you still don’t acquire tools to protect yourself. Glow sticks can be used to light up your surroundings better than that dinky cellphone light, but is mainly used to find items of interest. When a glow stick is lit, certain objects will highlight with maze-like patterns indicating that something important may lie inside. Sometimes, these things will yield nothing but dust. Other times, if you’re lucky, you end up with replenishing your glow sticks or the only true weapon you have against the ghosts, flares. It’s been a long time since I have used flares but I would have thought they projected more light than a glow stick. As long as it keeps away the terrors of the darkness away from me, I can’t complain.

The most important thing you will find other than supplies are remnants. Remnants are nothing more than specific notes about the area you’re in currently. These remnants are the only way to escape whatever hell unceremoniously placed upon you. When all the remnants are discovered, a sigil appears and is needed to unlock the spiritually sealed door to the next area. This is also when you are most vulnerable to the ghastly beings. When holding a sigil, none of your sticks of light can be used. Since the more remnants you collect will attract the unwanted, this is where the run button comes in handy. It may be hard at first to decipher the small map displayed on the cellphone, especially while running. I ended up getting just good enough to know what symbol on the map was me in order to make my way to the exit without my legs ever stopping.

Zombie Studios does a great job with the ambiance of Daylight. I feel in any good horror experience, game or otherwise, the audio is what makes the scares even better. Echos of footsteps, creaky or slamming doors, whispers coming from behind you and even complete silence sends chills up your spine the entire game. The ghost that’s chasing you down the whole game has an audio warning that builds tension the first couple of times. Once you get used to the distinct noise, it is a little easy to cheese the mechanics in order to not look at the ghost. Since that is technically the only way you can die in Daylight, I was disappointed it was too easy to bypass. Anytime I heard the noise of the imminent appearance of the ghost, I just turned my back towards the direction I needed to go and walked.

Not to say you can beat the scare factory meticulously designed by Zombie Studios. There were times where I used my back walk technique and the game seemed to adapt by reappearing in my face, negating my well laid plans. It also seemed that if I was progressing too fast through an area, more obstacles would be placed to slow me down. I really wanted more of these instances to happen. To have the game adapt to your style, keeping you on your toes would maximize the horror. One of the main components of horror is, after all, surprise.

What is also a surprise is how I didn’t notice the art design in Daylight. Being the first game using the Unreal 4 engine, you would think I would take note of how amazing things looked all around me. This could be a testament on how well Zombie Studios designed the gameplay. I was too worried about getting the hell out of each area that I never took the time to look around and examine the details. The fact that lighting was in limited supply also made wandering around a bit of a pain to do just to get a closer look. I did notice that there was a slight haze or blur while playing. I thought it was the depth of field option in the PC settings, yet turning it off didn’t seem to change anything.

After reaching the climax of the story, Daylight may seem short. Two or three hours is a brief period in time but in order to get the entire story, you will need to make multiple journeys through the game. In one playthrough, I managed to collect 27 remnants, out of 104. So as you see, there are plenty of notes to fill in all of the backstory. All this attention to the backstory, it makes me wish the actual current story had more setup going for it. There is also the fact that every new story has new layouts to navigate. Having procedurally generated areas helps in that regard. At first, things may look and feel the same as the last time. It only takes a couple of minutes to realize that everything is, in fact, changed. Rooms being laid out differently to scare cues happening in areas not in the previous session will become apparent real quick. The disappointing aspect of this randomization to keep things fresh is the scares are still the same. Oh, they will still get you to shriek back in horror being as though they happen in different locations. For each time you venture through the story though, the impact of these scares will become watered down even if they happen in random locations. For a game designed to be played multiple of times, having a more varied bag of scares would’ve been welcomed.

Then there’s the Twitch streaming functionality built into Daylight. Similar to how Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition implements Twitch, Daylight lets viewers type in commands to the chat and causing certain things to happen to the person streaming in-game. Since Zombie Studios wants people to figure out these magical keywords to activate actions in Daylight, be prepared for dictionary dump of words scrolling at insane speeds. That is, if you have a lot of viewers. For those of us not a known entity in the Twitch community, this feature is pretty much a waste of time to set up. Besides, most people want to see webcams with faces ready to contort to a misshapen form of horror when encountering the terror that could be around the next corner.

Although a short-lived experience, Daylight manages to pack just enough scary into making those couple of hours seem like an eternity. The frights, jump scares, skin crawling sounds from the dark will test anyone’s ability to keep calm and composed. More attention to filling out the main story would have helped wash that demo feeling I got at times. Even more variety in the ways the game scares you would have worked. Still, that first experience through Daylight will be an enjoyable one if you like jump scares.

Score: 3/5

‘Kick-Ass 2’ Is Getting A Video Game? Here’s The Trailer!

by Derek KraneveldtApril 24, 2014

Briefly: Better than than never?

Not everybody (well, not really anybody) loved the film, but did you know that Kick-Ass 2 is also getting a video game?

A new trailer for the 3D beat-em-up has just launched, and though the game boasts a cool cel-shaded artstyle… it doesn’t look great. Take a look at the trailer below, and you’ll see what I mean.

http://youtu.be/tpsgJUrTOPk

Kick-Ass 2: The Game will launch in May for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.

Geekscape Games Reviews: ‘Infested Planet’

by MoreLikeAndyApril 24, 2014

Real-time strategy games tend to have the focus on micromanaging the battlefield in order to succeed. Learning all the hot keys, build orders, manage squads while attacking different parts of the map are just some of the things you need to split your attention between to survive. For those of us who love real-time strategy games but don’t have the mental dexterity to play them well, Rocket Bear Games’ Infested Planet takes away some of the micromanaging and adds a little tower defense that makes for a surprisingly fun mix.

Infested Planet is a real-time strategy game that has players controlling a bad ass group of five marines that are tasked with cleaning out the alien bugs that are running rampant. There is a story buried in the depths here yet it ends up being a little shallow. All of this is inconsequential in the long run once you start the campaign. You will have far more pressing matters to worry about than story progression. If you want, you can do what I did. I treated each battle as a test to see who will move on to the final round to become the most bad ass, bug squashing magnificent killing machine of the human race.

Controlling these five elite marines may seem easy at first. Travel in a group, overpowering the resistance at each of the bases as you claim them for your own. The real challenge comes when you have to split your team up. I haven’t found an easy way to break my marines into smaller teams while having the ability to quickly swap between them. There are plenty of times where you have to hold the line at different sides of the map and not being able to hot swap to another group is more difficult than it should be. This gets even worse as you gain the ability to increase your soldier limit for battle points. Gaining these battle points come from either capturing bases or little crates you can drag back to a base you control. Some of the other frustrations come from the constant zooming in and out of the map to get a more precise click on something. There is a sweet spot with the zooming which lies in the middle of the slider. Even then, you will occasionally run into wrong clicks or commands.

A good mixture of soldier types help in Infested Planet. Once unlocked by complete missions, these upgrades to your basic soldiers will be critical in survival. Snipers are great for taking out enemy towers from afar that would otherwise tear through your whole squad before they even get in firing range. Flamethrowers are your best bet for holding down a base. It takes just one flamethrower to spit hot fire to hold back early swarms. Scouts are your scavengers being the fastest of the soldiers. They are very fragile but amazing against enemy hives. You’ll want to pair them up with flamethrower to clear a path to hives. Shotgun-totting soldiers are stronger against groups with very little range reduction from the rifle they start with. The officer class boosts everyone around him to shoot and move faster. My favorite class by far is the mini-gun soldier. Made for complete devastation, you’ll want to upgrade to this class as soon as possible. The mini-gun is whatever you want to be. Holding a base down? No sweat. Clearing a path for your soldiers by turning the bugs into shredded wheat? Too easy. The best use for the mini-gun is demolishing enemy hives. With being so versatile, the mini-gun will be your best friend in this war.

To balance things out, Infested Planet makes every mission procedural generated. Maps are never the same and neither are the alien bug mutations. The mutations can be anything from exploding bugs that spawn eggs near your bases, spore mines and armored bugs that take more damage to eliminate. With 33 mutations in all, Rocket Bear Games made sure to keep things fresh. With each enemy base you take over, the alien bugs will adapt with a certain mutation. Depending on what you’re doing, the alien bugs will mutate to combat your progression. This push and pull mechanic is great for keeping players on their toes as to not get comfortable with the same strategy over and over again.

Learning the hot keys for building defenses is not too difficult, though end up a little cumbersome in the heat of battle. Memorizing the hot keys to build such things as turrets, air strike bases, shield generators are essential for survival. You will need everything given to you in order to keep a foothold on all the bases you claim from the alien bugs. If you’re in need of more money to buy one-time soldiers for hire or more upgrades before missions, Infested Planet has bonus missions outside the main story path. Most of these missions have players try to survive for set period of time or to capture all the enemy bases. If you’re tired of banging your head on the later story missions that tend to spike in difficulty a little sharply, take out your frustrations in the skirmish mode. Change the settings to make everything in your favor and take the boot to those disgusting bugs. If you get tired of stomping on the AI, you could also try out multitudes of strategies to figure out ways past missions you’re stuck on.

Despite the late-game difficulty curve, Infested Planet takes you on a exciting tour of duty squashing alien bugs with your elite group of soldiers. Although this is a real-time strategy game at heart, I found myself comparing it to a intense game of chess. The constant change in strategy to adapt when mutations would happen at a rapid pace made my brain work overtime. If only I could use a shotgun to blast the opponents king piece and exclaim, “CHECKMATE!”

Score: 4/5

Geekscape Mobile: ‘Hearthstone: Heroes Of Warcraft’ Is Now Available For iPad Worldwide!

by Derek KraneveldtApril 16, 2014

Briefly: I’ve been (casually) playing Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft since the free-to-play title soft-launched on the Canadian App Store a couple of weeks back, but I’m happy to say that the game is now, finally available for iPad worldwide.

The game is very well designed, and definitely at home on the iPad’s screen. It even features cross-platform multiplayer, so you’re really not missing anything by playing it on your tablet (I’d argue that it feels even better, actually). I’ve been having a blast with it, and it’s definitely a title that I’d recommend checking out (especially since, again, you can play for free).

You can download Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft for your iPad right here.

http://youtu.be/FgwS3S0Knzk

The Next ‘Borderlands’ Game Has Been Revealed… For PC, PS3, and Xbox 360?

by Derek KraneveldtApril 9, 2014

Briefly: Aside from a pretty awful title, this is some pretty sweet news.

The announcement of Telltale’s Tales From The Borderlands was a welcome reveal, but we’ve all been waiting desperately for 2K Games to reveal the next true Borderlands title.

Today, we got that reveal with Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

The game will launch this Fall on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC (no next-gen interestingly enough), and will take us (for the first time) to the moon of Pandora. According to 2K’s official blog post, the game is “Set between Borderlands and Borderlands 2, you’ll play as four new characters classes fighting alongside Handsome Jack, witnessing his transformation into the ruthless tyrant you loved to hate in Borderlands 2, and assisting with the rise of the Hyperion Corporation. The signature shoot ‘n’ loot gameplay of the Borderlands series expands with the addition of low-gravity and oxygen-powered jetpack combat, the icy ‘Cryo’ elemental damage type, the deadly laser weapon class, and new vehicles to help you explore the lunar landscape.”

Sounds like some worthy additions to the already awesome gameplay, don’t they?

The game’s new classes are as follows:

– Athena, the Gladiator: Uses her Kinetic Aspis, which is a shield that can absorb incoming damage, then convert it back into energy to use against enemies. Athena made her debut in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC for the first Borderlands game.

– Wilhelm, the Enforcer: Wilhelm was previously seen in Borderlands 2 as one of the first deadly bosses in the game.

– Nisha, the Lawbringer: The sheriff of Lynchwood from Borderlands 2, Nisha will be dealing out her own brand of justice, which we’ll discuss further in the coming months.

– Claptrap, the Fragtrap: Wait – Claptrap? The goofy robot companion from Borderlands 2, now playable for the first time? Fragtrap is his character class? Well, you can play him too!

You can take a look at the first screenshots from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel below, and head over to the 2K Blog for a few more details. Are you ready to jump back into this universe? What are you looking forward to most?

Geekscape Games First Impressions: ‘Race To Mars’

by MoreLikeAndyApril 8, 2014

When some of us hear the words, “Space Race”, we expect to see some highly tuned mechanical beasts that cut through the darkness of space at blinding speeds. What Intermarum has in mind is the race to be the first to colonize humankind on other planets besides this big blue circular mass we call Earth with their new game, Race to Mars.

Race to Mars is more about the month to month operations in making a company that can bring human kind to finally build expensive condos near the craters. Micromanaging things like who to hire, what kinds of technology you want your research team to look into, even dealing with those pesky little journalists trying to poke holes in your well crafted public statements. Although the option to select the company name as well as its location in the world is great for customization, don’t think you can blame any wrong answers you give to the press on your translator.

There will be times where Race to Mars will have you sit and wait while the months simulate by. This can dissuade some continuing on with fostering a successful company and becoming the first to colonize foreign territory. Slow and steady wins the race, in this case, to Mars. Still early in development, we are still not certain if managing spreadsheets, accounting and employees will be the only thing for players to do. One can still be a simulation style game yet still provide a variety of things other than reading names and numbers.

There are some nice visuals to take in while waiting a month or two of in-game time. As day turns into night, the twinkle of office lights spring to life. Buildings that have been scheduled to be built start shaping into the structures shown in the purchasing menus. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the stressed out CEO sweating bullets when the monthly reports come in showing just how good or bad things are. The musical tracks are limited at the moment but what is currently in Race to Mars is pretty dramatic in scope. It seems to be set to use the visuals to create the scene for the player to become pioneers in the next step of the human race.

Only the brave and very curious should check in on Race to Mars this early in its life. For those willing to be with Intermarum every step of the way, $19.99 on Steam Early Access will be your entry fee to the show. If you are worried about Intermarum releasing updates, no need to worry. The first major update was released recently with a lot of fixes and new additions which you can read over here. I, for one, will be keeping an eye out for Race to Mars to cross the finish line.