New Games |
- The Glitterati gets an attitude in Dance Central 2
- Obscurity: Violet
- Rumor: Isaac gets a mean new friend in Dead Space 3
- New releases: Dark Souls, Rage, Spider-Man & more
- Longer dev times planned for Assassin's Creed series
- Prepare to 'chillax' with Square Enix's Cafe SQ
- Puppies and Ponies in Sims 3 Pets screenshots
- Activision wants to give indie developers money
- Yoostar on MTV needs some work
- Same price: Vita and PSP versions of Lord of Apocalypse
- Thanks for playing Ass Creed Rev Beta, have a video
- Nintendo wins 4.8 million Euro piracy battle
- Guess what classic Sega franchise is 'rolling' to PS3
- Sony: PS Vita will 'supersede' mobile gaming
- Dale North is Destructoid's new Editor-in-Chief
- Live show: Uncharted 3 Subway-tastic multiplayer
- Review: King Arthur: Fallen Champions
- Confirmed: Online passes for all future online Sony games
- Dungeon Defenders is bringing it to the hardcore
| The Glitterati gets an attitude in Dance Central 2 Posted: 03 Oct 2011 04:00 PM PDT
If you're a Kinect owner, odds are you own Dance Central. After all, it is, arguably, the best piece of software for the device by a mile. Harmonix did a wonderful job of bringing the well-traveled dance genre to Kinect thanks to their experience with Rock Band and a fantastically memorable cast of dancers. With that firm foundation, they've got some room to play around with the sequel. In the next episode of Harmonix's behind the scenes look at Dance Central 2's development, they're showing off the game's crews and dancers. You've got your returning fan favorites, of course, but there's also a healthy influx of new blood including a 14-year old dance prodigy, Taye's sassy little sis, and the douche dancing duo, The Glitterati. Dubbed the "boss crew," The brother/sister twins Kerith and Jaryn are equal parts androgyny and bad attitude. I'm a fan. |
| Posted: 03 Oct 2011 03:00 PM PDT [For your Bloggers Wanted assignment last week, you were asked to write about a game you thought was relatively obscure; one that a lot of your peers likely hadn't played or even heard of. Our first promoted blog is from Redtail, who is a big fan of a little known work of Interactive Fiction called Violet. Want to see your own blog on the front page? Write a blog on the current topic: Villains. -- JRo] I am a chronic procrastinator. I have finished papers literally seconds before turning them in. I have pulled all-nighters trying desperately to complete take-home exams that I've had for a week. I even managed to make a legitimate hobby out of it in high school. So it's no small surprise that I fell in love with this game while explicitly not writing my philosophy paper. Violet is a text adventure. Yes, as you might have seen on the front page once in a blue moon, text adventures (more commonly called Interactive Fiction) still exist. There are even a few competitions for them each year. In fact, one such competition brought this game to my attention about two years ago; I was trying to come up with a clever thesis about Joseph Schumpeter, and thought that a few quick puzzles would relax my brain. Violet is a game about procrastination, or rather the consequences thereof. You are a grad student, whose only hurdle to actual graduation is the dissertation. Unfortunately, you've languished here for years, you haven't written anything in five months, and your titular Aussie girlfriend is tired of waiting. She has set an ultimatum: finish it today, or she leaves. Of course, as anybody who has written a paper the morning it was due knows, this is not an easy task. There are any number of distractions one must overcome: the beautiful outdoors, your books, the internet, etc. You need to ignore all of that. You need to just sit down, and write. Please, just write. Violet lovingly narrates the game herself, peppering the descriptions with stories about your relationship. Nearly everything in your office has a memory within it, including numerous objects lovingly made for you by Violet (a fact that she never neglects to tell you). She is there for every moment of your agony, encouraging you, begging you, threatening you to write. There are plenty of things that I love about this game: the puzzles are both logical and challenging, the writing is damn near perfect, and the characters feel like real people. You can get so tied up in reading the interesting stories that Violet tells, you almost forget the point of the game (yes, I think this was intentional). But in the end, none of those are the reasons that I've become a sort of evangelist for this game. I will tell anybody who I think has a remote chance of being interested about Violet. And most of these people look at me like I'm insane. Although a rock star within it's genre, most of the wider world is unimpressed by black text on a white background with a command prompt. But this is a game that I want to spread. Because Violet is not just a game about procrastination; it's about priorities. Choosing what is and is not important to you. Ultimately, I've realized, that is what procrastination is all about. And that is all I can think about every time I play it (which is basically every time I have a paper due the next day). Why am I procrastinating? Do I really want to be here? Is this really the life I want for the next 30, 40, 50 years? Violet has kept these questions in the forefront of my mind. Besides, how can you not like a game that accepts the command HETERONORMATIVITY OFF? If you want to play Violet without downloading an interpreter, you can go here. I cannot recommend it enough, especially if you should be doing something important. |
| Rumor: Isaac gets a mean new friend in Dead Space 3 Posted: 03 Oct 2011 02:30 PM PDT A new report has revealed that Dead Space protagonist Isaac Clarke is going to be even less sane than usual in the not-quite-confirmed Dead Space 3. He's getting a new personality, while keeping the old one, and his two halves aren't going to be friends. Isaac's secondary personality, currently referred to as Shadow Isaac, is going to be an unpleasant chap who revels in reminding Isaac about his failures. He'll appear as a secondary character, and will engage in a number of verbal jousts with the hero. The old "split personality" premise is a hackneyed one, but it's one of my favorite tropes, so I'm quite looking forward to seeing what Visceral does. I hope it factors into the gameplay somehow, with Shadow Isaac vying for physical control. Whatever happens, I'm excited to see it. Dead Space is my jam. Isaac Clarke, You’ve Changed In Dead Space 3 [Siliconera] |
| New releases: Dark Souls, Rage, Spider-Man & more Posted: 03 Oct 2011 02:00 PM PDT
The standout title for this week is easily Dark Souls for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. You guys just love getting abused, don't you? Expect a full Destructoid review to go up tomorrow, along with a review of Rage too. Other biggies this week include NBA 2K12 and Orcs Must Die!. What's looking sw33t to you? 3DS: Tetris Axis, Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove, Spider-Man: Edge of Time X360: NBA 2K12, Spider-Man: Edge of Time, Dark Souls, Rage, Portal 2: Peer Review, Orcs Must Die!, Just Dance 3 PS3: NBA 2K12, Payday: The Heist, Spider-Man: Edge of Time, Dark Souls, Rage, Portal 2: Peer Review, Chrono Trigger Wii: NBA 2K12, Spider-Man: Edge of Time, Just Dance 3 PSP: NBA 2K12 iPhone/iPod: NBA 2K12 iPad: NBA 2K12 NBA 2K12 (X360, PS3, PC, iPhone, iPad, PSP, Wii) |
| Longer dev times planned for Assassin's Creed series Posted: 03 Oct 2011 01:30 PM PDT The brisk pace at which Ubisoft Montreal has been putting out Assassin's Creed titles won't carry on indefinitely, according to creative lead Alexandre Amacio. The series "is all about cycles," he tells Eurogamer -- "we have the Ezio cycle and the Altair cycle, and both of those are set to conclude in Revelations and we have the Desmond cycle, which is set to end on December 2012. But there's many cycles within the brand -- that's the whole point. History is our playground." "We're already structuring the way we do Assassin's Creed, so it will no longer ever be like that. Our development approach is changing so our cycles aren't structured the same way -- so it gives us a little bit more development time." And that's certainly not a bad thing. First details on 2012's Assassin's Creed [Eurogamer -- Thanks, de5gravity] |
| Prepare to 'chillax' with Square Enix's Cafe SQ Posted: 03 Oct 2011 01:00 PM PDT Fans of Square Enix's SQ album series are probably already enjoying the retro-flavored SQ Chips which was released last month, but the next installment in the line of remix albums is already near completion. Cafe SQ follows in the footsteps of Chill SQ, which was, as the name suggests, a chillout album. It was one of my favorite albums in the series, but it was admittedly too short with just seven tracks totaling around 35 minutes of music. Cafe SQ aims to remedy that with 15 new arrangements, and if the recently unveiled track listing is any indication, this should be one of the best SQ albums to date. |
| Puppies and Ponies in Sims 3 Pets screenshots Posted: 03 Oct 2011 01:00 PM PDT EA is gearing up for the Sims 3 Pets release later this month and they've sent us a few screens to showcase the deep relationships that can exist between man and beast. No, don't get too excited now. I'm not talking about bestiality, dear reader. Get your mind out of the gutter. EA has much more wholesome things in mind. When you're not feeding carrots to the horses or playing fetch with your pooch, players and their pets can sniff out buried treasure, uncover the game's mysteries, and even hunt down ghosts. Be on the look out for Sims 3 Pets on October 18th for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo 3DS, PC and Mac. |
| Activision wants to give indie developers money Posted: 03 Oct 2011 12:15 PM PDT If you are an indie developer who doesn't know how you're going to find funding for your totally awesome new game, take heed because Activision and IndieCade want to help. Starting October 3rd and running until December 31st, any independent developers working out of the United States will be able to enter the second Activision Independent Games Competition. The first and second place winners will be given funding for their game in the form of $175,000 and $75,000 cash respectively. All ownership rights will remain with the devs who submit, but unlike last time Activision has said nothing about having first pick on whether or not to publish any of the games. I may not agree with everything Activision does, but I can appreciate this, so long as things work out. As of my writing this, however, the official rules and guidelines page is coming up as 404, which causes some doubt and a bit of concern. To those of you submitting, good luck. |
| Yoostar on MTV needs some work Posted: 03 Oct 2011 12:00 PM PDT Yoostar 2 was an interesting concept. Using the PlayStation Move camera or Kinect, players could insert themselves into, and reenact scenes from their favorite films. Lacking in its execution, the game didn't live up to the bold concept it was on paper. The plethora of technical issues it carried wasn't helping its case either. Yoostar Entertainment and Blitz Games are making another pass at it though, drawing from MTV's expansive library and aiming to capture the series' promise this go around. Yoostar on MTV (Xbox 360) The basics of Yoostar on MTV work like this. You stand in front your Kinect and let it snap a quick photo. You then step out of frame and let the Kinect take a photo of the background. Then just mimic the silhouette on screen to let the game track your body movement and you're set. Yoostar 2 was criticized for its very specific lighting requirements. If a light bulb in the room was too bright or dim, if sunlight was particularly potent, then the picture quality would heavily suffer. All Yoostar on MTV requires is that there are no reflective surfaces in the Kinect's line of sight. This includes, but may not be limited to, mirrors and picture frames. Still some oddities to work around, but it seems an improvement over the first. Clips in Yoostar don't have to be reenacted exactly. There is a lip dub mode where players can freestyle, adding their own audio and playing around with the scene as they want. Lip dubs are not scored though, they're pretty much just for a player to mess around with if you want to divert from the beaten path. Drawing from over 30 years of MTV history, Yoostar on MTV has quite a bit to work with. The game features clips from recent hits like Jersey Shore, to lesser known gems like Human Giant. Viva la Bam even makes an appearance, complete with warnings to not be dumb enough to reenact the stunts. Since this game is using the MTV license, you can expect playable music videos from Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg and more. I didn't exactly walk away from this one too hopeful though. There were plenty of oddities with the audio and video presentation. When playing back a clip the audio recorded from the performer sounded warped and distorted. In some cases, the original audio from the clip sounded warped. The video has issues as well. When playing as April Magera, Bam Magera's mom, a clip from Viva la Bam ran normally with April yelling and panicking at Bam's latest antic. When the clip played back, the background was blurry and didn't at all resemble the setting that the scene was in. My main concern with the game is an issue of depth. Clips are very short, and from what was demoed, it doesn't even look like music videos will be fully playable. You can play as different characters in a scene (or different singers in a music video) so that's something. There are also leaderboards and the ability to share clips on Facebook, but there just doesn't seem to be enough meat to make it a deep experience. Rather, it feels like it could be a quickly worn-out amusement. But if you have ever found yourself with the need to reenact Mike the Situation during a camera confessional, here's your chance.
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| Same price: Vita and PSP versions of Lord of Apocalypse Posted: 03 Oct 2011 11:45 AM PDT One runs at a lower resolution, looks worse, and only has access to one analog stick on the PSP. The other looks pretty and shiny on the Vita, and adds touchscreen control as well as a second analog stock. But both are the same price? Lord of Apocalypse, the sequel to Lord of Arcana, will hit the market with two separate versions, but they're priced the same for Japan. Siliconera says that the retail of 5,980 yen ($77) is for either a UMD disc or PlayStation Vita card. Other than the resolution and input types, we're not sure what's different between the two versions. While it may not look as good, the PSP version is more versatile, as it will play on both your PSP and Vita systems. I know which one I'd get. |
| Thanks for playing Ass Creed Rev Beta, have a video Posted: 03 Oct 2011 11:30 AM PDT
Ubisoft hosted a multiplayer beta for Assassins Creed: Revelations multiplayer last month -- and what a bloody beta it was. Amongst other statistics on offer in the video above, over 14 million players were killed in nearly 6 million matches during the PlayStation Network exclusive September beta. If you listen closely you can almost hear the 360 fanboys whining about missing out on the fun. Almost. Anyway... Ubisoft wants to say thanks for playing and they've put together a nice little video showcasing the game's brutal multiplayer mode. Whether you participated in the beta and are ready to jump back into the fray or if you've yet to get in on the action you can expect Assassins Creed: Revelations come November 15th. |
| Nintendo wins 4.8 million Euro piracy battle Posted: 03 Oct 2011 11:15 AM PDT Nintendo is out to get the pirates in every country, even France. The Paris Court of Appeals issued guilty verdicts on 26th September against several companies for the sale of devices like the R4 and the Magicom. Electronic Theater says that the Court has imposed over 460,000 Euro in criminal fines, damages payable to Nintendo in excess of 4.8 million Euros and, in some instances, ordered suspended prison terms. Woah. Raids, kicked off back in 2007 and 2008, found several thousand game copiers all over Paris. With this verdict, some of the biggest importers/distributors have been shut down. "Nintendo supported this criminal action not only for the company's sake, but for the interests of its game developer partners who spend time and money legitimately developing software for Nintendo's game platforms, and customers who expect the highest standards and integrity from products bearing the Nintendo name," said Stephan Bole, Managing Director of Nintendo France. Nintendo will need to continue this effort with the 3DS, I suspect. |
| Guess what classic Sega franchise is 'rolling' to PS3 Posted: 03 Oct 2011 11:00 AM PDT Sega wants you to guess which one of their classic franchises is coming to the PS3. The hint they give is the above video. They're having a contest with this guessing game; if you guess right, you get the game for free. Head to Sega's blog for details. What do you think it is? You'd be a numb nuts to not guess it right, especially if you frequented arcades back in the day. But I won't ruin it. I will say that I know every song from this franchise by heart. I love the game and its music, and I hope they continue the tradition with this new game. I hope they don't poop on it like they did with one of my other favorites from the same genre. |
| Sony: PS Vita will 'supersede' mobile gaming Posted: 03 Oct 2011 10:45 AM PDT While most of the world seems to think that dedicated handhelds are on the way out as mobile gaming takes over, one company believes it has the goods needed to take down the cellphones -- Sony and its PlayStation Vita. "We firmly believe that PlayStation Vita will supersede the mobile market when launched, and have grand ambitions for a product that is really at the forefront of innovation," said hardware marketing man John Koller. "The mobile market in the U.S. offers consumers extremely light gaming options. We developed PlayStation Vita after observing a significant addressable market that demands rich, deep handheld gaming." That sounds great for we dedicated gamers, but I think planning on taking down mobile gaming is far too lofty a goal. Sony proved with PS Minis that it has no intention of seriously competing with mobile games, so I think it should probably forget about iPhones and Androids, instead just making sure to keep its backbone audience happy. PlayStation Vita — Sony’s Conduit to Building a New Mobile Ecosystem [InvestorPlace, thanks de5gravity] |
| Dale North is Destructoid's new Editor-in-Chief Posted: 03 Oct 2011 10:31 AM PDT You may have heard last month, but it's official as of today, October 3: I am taking over as Destructoid's Editor-in-Chief. What happened to Nick Chester? Today he should be in Boston, starting his first day of work at Harmonix. His dream job. I'm really sad to see him go, as he was a great boss and friend. Covering events with him was never not hilarious, so I'll miss that. But he handed the torch to me, and I'm happy to take it. I bet you're thinking it's going to be all corgi headers and strategy role-playing games from here on out, aren't you? [Niero put the corgi picture up for the logo!] Nope. I'm not looking to make big changes -- don't mess up a good thing, right? The core team is still as focused as ever on bringing you as much content as we can daily, and I will do my best to guide them. But we hope to find more ways of serving you better, Destructoid. I've got some good ideas in the works, but if you have any requests, please let me know. This is your site, and what we do here is for you. It's really amazing. I started off here sweeping up cat hair and folding towels about 6 years ago, and now I'm running the whole show. I know that I'm very, very lucky to be writing for the world's best gaming website with the world's best co-workers, serving the best (and craziest!) readership on the internet. If I tried to count my blessings right now I'd just become dizzy and pass out... ...and then I'd need corgi face licks to wake up. [Thanks so much to Jim Sterling for the amazing header image.] Thanks for all the kind words on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, email and everywhere else. You guys are the best. |
| Live show: Uncharted 3 Subway-tastic multiplayer Posted: 03 Oct 2011 10:30 AM PDT [Not sure what Mash Tactics is? I've included a clip from a recent episode to show you just a glimpse of what you've been missing, you daft fool! You can see all of Destructoid's previously aired live shows in our archives.] Today, Mash Tactics is jumping into the early access Uncharted 3 multiplayer. The multiplayer access is available to anyone on PlayStation Network who buys a drink from Subway, and redeems the code on the cup. Get on your PS3 and you can play along with Jon Carnage, and your fellow viewers. This early access to Uncharted's multiplayer content is surely a treat for all of its players, and Subway gets some sweet promotion out of it. The game content is colored with Subway branding, from character clothing items with the Subway logo, to a "5 Dollar Footlong" taunt. Is this kind of in-game crossover promotion a delightful farce, an awkward bastardization, or somewhere in-between? Mash Tactics airs Monday through Friday at 4pm Pacific. Watch Jon Carnage and Pico Mause let loose with off-the-wall humor and discuss the issues of the day in the live chat on Destructoid's Twitch.tv channel. Also, there are videogames being played. Join us for your chance to win prizes, talk to industry guests, and witness all of the glorious antics.
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| Review: King Arthur: Fallen Champions Posted: 03 Oct 2011 10:00 AM PDT King Arthur: The Roleplaying Wargame was a really fun and interesting hybrid real-time strategy/turn-based strategy/role-playing game. It pulled a lot of good elements from these genres and it felt unique and it really stood out, but it did have some flaws: The AI was awful, combat was boring, and moving units around felt loose and sluggish. Sadly, this expansion is made up almost solely of mechanics that showcase the games weakest points. King Arthur: Fallen Champions (PC) King Arthur: The Roleplaying Wargame is a good game. The premise is a turnbased strategy game, very much like a Total War game, where you have units and armies that you can move around. You can improve your territories and manage your economy, and you can raise armies to crush your foes. While you're playing about on the map, quests will pop up that you can move your hero units too. Each hero has a short quest line that includes three missions. Each of the mission phases is made up of a quest and a battle. After you have played all of the heroes missions you play one final mission that involves all three characters. This is a decent amount of content for the $9.99 price tag, and it's a standalone expansion so it's an even better bargain. There is a tutorial included in here too, so even if you have never played King Arthur before you'll still be able to learn how to play the game. King Arthur: The Roleplaying Wargame was a really fun and interesting hybrid rts/tbs/rpg. It pulled a lot of good elements from these genres and it was a game that felt unique and it really stood out. It had some flaws. The AI was awful, and moving units around felt loose and sluggish. Sadly, this expansion is made up almost solely of mechanics that showcase the games weakest points. King Arthur the Roleplaying Wargame is a good game. The premise is a turnbased strategy game, very much like Total War, where you have units and armies that you can move around. You can improve your territories and manage your economy, and you can raise armies to crush your foes. While you're playing about on the map, quests will pop up that you can move your hero units too. The quests are text based, and are very similar to the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. You have a small section of story to read, and then you can make a choice based on what you want to do. Your actions can lead to very different outcomes, and the outcome effects what units you have in the upcoming battle. While the idea of reading text might seem off putting, it's all very well written.If your a fan of Arthurian legend it's filled with great and it captures the emotions and setting of Arthur's Britain almost perfectly. This section of the game is King Arthur: The Roleplaying Wargame's strongest point. It's unique, and it's very engaging. The series weakest point has always been it's combat. It's very much like Total War, but it lacks the deep AI and realistic physics. Units don't group together very well, and they don't feel like they are actually on the battlefield. The pathfinding is horrible, and units will often move in the opposite direction of where you want them to go. In "Fallen Champions" you get to play as three different heroes, Sir Lionel (a Knight trying to save a damsel in distress), Lady Corrigan (a supernatural being looking for her home in Tir na nÓg), and Drest (a shaman trying whose following a vision. Each of these heroes represents one of the factions from King Arhthur: The Britons, the Picts, and the Sidhe. The story here bridges the gap between the original King Arthur and the upcoming King Arthur 2. Each hero has a short quest line that includes three missions. Each of the mission phases is made up of a quest and a battle. After you have played all of the heroes missions you play one final mission that involves all three characters. This is a decent amount of content for the $9.99 price tag, and it's a standalone expansion so it's an even better bargain. There is a tutorial included in here too, so even if you have never played King Arthur before you'll still be able to learn how to play the game. All of the managing aspects of the game have been removed, it's just battles and quests. There are no cites to develop, you can't pick which territory to move to, and you can only go to the next mission spot. You can't build armies, and there is really no need of the tactical map. It's essentially only two-thirds of the game, and they left in the third that sucks. The fact that over half of the game's content relies on the awful combat really ruins this expansion. In the original game, you could just auto-resolve the battles and keep playing the fun questing part of the game. You can't do that here. In one mission, you have an army of ghosts at your disposal. There is a day and night cycle during the mission, and your ghost army will burn if they are exposed to daylight. You have to protect them by moving them into a magical circle, which should be fairly easy. Nope, it's not. Your units don't move to the spot where you tell them to go, and they'll walk right past it. They'll happily move outside the circle randomly and burn to death. In another level, there are fire that you can light to kill and split up the enemy army, but you'll probably kill your own units too when they randomly walk into the flaming inferno. While I really enjoyed the original game, and I think it is one of PC gamings lovely little gems, I can't recommend this expansion to anyone. If you haven't played King Arthur, then you won't really enjoy this a whole lot, and if you have played it you'll just think of how much better it is than this weird expansion. I recommend that you check out the original game if you haven't played it, and if you have played it you should just wait for King Arthur 2 to come out. |
| Confirmed: Online passes for all future online Sony games Posted: 03 Oct 2011 09:45 AM PDT Following an earlier statement from a Spanish Sony representative, Sony Computer Entertainment America has confirmed that an online pass will be included with Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Furthermore, we've been told that ALL upcoming Sony games that feature an online component will include one. "Online Pass will be incorporated into Uncharted 3 and future Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS) games with online functionality," the company told Destructoid. "We will provide further information in the future. " So there you go. It's pretty much a given that if Sony's bringing out a game with multiplayer, you're going to have to input a code. Lovely. |
| Dungeon Defenders is bringing it to the hardcore Posted: 03 Oct 2011 09:30 AM PDT Just when you thought that you have already seen every type of tower defense game, the team at Trendy Entertainment have thrown us a curveball with what might be the most all encompassing version of the genre to date. To be more specific, this is a four-player-co-op-action-adventure-hack-n-slash-RPG-tower-defense-game. Yeah, you read that right. It's time to lock yourself away for a while.
Dungeon Defenders (XBLA, PSN, PC) Dungeon Defenders is exactly what it sounds like. You are one of four warriors who are trying to protect your Eternity Crystals from the onslaught of Goblins and hordes of monsters. You will use your towers to help defend against the attacking hordes alongside your weapons and abilities. Gameplay is based on a set-up phase and attack phase with each wave. Depending on what options that you choose in the tavern, you will be able to set up your towers in the map without problem. Then when all the players have set up what they could, you touch the crystal to unleash the many monsters that just hate crystals and want to do nothing more then just beat the crap out of them. During the attack phase, you can utilize your towers against your enemies and go toe-to-toe directly with them. Enemies will drop mana that can go to either repairing or upgrading your towers. It seemed that I gradually was peeling away the surface of the game in my playtime and each layer that was peeled off was more inviting and interesting to see. Each time that we played, we could choose to play in any of the difficulty settings available which would affect what kind of loot and experience we would get. Of course, replayability is always an option to help build out your character and get that awesome loot. You can also control the camera to be in third-person or you can zoom out to give it a more traditional isometric view of the map. There are four types of characters to use and you can use multiple characters in your match. So, if you want the magic missile towers in the game but want the attacking power of the Squire, you will be able to switch them before you release the horde. Another awesome aspect of this game is that while you play, you will not have to worry about one of your characters having items that you will not be able to find later as your inventory is shared with every character you create on your user ID. The Apprentice uses elemental magic who has a great mix of offensive and defensive towers. With that, his towers utilize ranged attacks and will also strip resistances away from the enemies. A small tip is that you can use a fire debuffing tower and then have your other towers attack the enemies with fire to be more effective. He performs more long distance physical attacks, both of which can be charged to unleash a much more violent version of them. The Squire is most likely the more balanced of the characters. He has a good balance of offensive and defensive towers that have a lot of hit points so they will be much more stronger to the attacks of the goblins. One unique aspect of the Squire is that he is the only character that can attack. With that, you will be able to send the Squire out to block the incoming enemies while you are able to repair your towers. Since we all want to include girl characters in our lives, we have the Huntress to fill that need. She is a very stealthy character that places traps that will severely hurt the enemies. Her physical abilities also allow her to become invisible and travel behind enemies where she can lay traps such as proximity mines. Arguably, the most complex character to use is the Monk. This fighter does not use any physical blockades to stop the mobs of gobs. All he uses are auras that inflict status effects. For example, he can create an aura that slows down the enemies or electricity damage enemies. He is also the only character in the group that has both ranged and normal attacks, both of which are buffed by the staff that he uses. Each character is given their own tavern where you can buy equipment, manage your inventory, and choose the level that you will go to next. Also, you can level up your equipment and purchase a pet for your character to have by their side, like a flying tiger or a dragon. You will also be able to adjust the appearance of your fighters in the tavern. Dungeon Defenders can be played through co-op, solo, local, online or even PvP. There is a survival mode where you will encounter wave-after-wave of enemies that will get at you nonstop. There is also the challenge mode where you can try to beat certain criteria, such as trying to defend your crystal while it teleports throughout the map. We played one level where the goblins just dropped out of the sky and we had to make sure that they didn't destroy the crystal in the level. At first look at this game might be a little daunting to an unsuspecting player. As you charge through the levels, start building up the armor and weapons though, you'll be hooked. |
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