New Games |
- Wha' Happened: National Pi Day
- Lollipop Chainsaw star-studded cast revealed
- The DTOID Show: Bioshock, Mechwarrior, & Kickstarter
- Sega says fans crave Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia ports
- Help fund Auditorium 2: Duet while there's still time
- New Battleship trailer has battleships, not much else
- Check out Death's world in this Darksiders II video
- Warp is now up on PSN and PC, have a launch trailer
- Review: Shoot Many Robots
- Live show: WTF? Bio Force Ape on Mash Tactics
- Review: Vessel
- Preview: The Amazing Spider-Man
- Exclusive: Akira Yamaoka's Sine Mora soundtrack preview
- Preview: A quick look at DragonCraft
- Preview: Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit
- Sigma destroyed! Go grab Maverick Rising from OC ReMix!
- Review: Yakuza: Dead Souls
- Star Wars: The Old Republic is free to play this weekend
- Molyneux: Milo was too emotional for the games industry
| Wha' Happened: National Pi Day Posted: 14 Mar 2012 04:00 PM PDT You know it's mighty disrespectful to the flaky crust and fruity filling of pies everywhere that everyone seems to be spelling the name of the holiday that recognizes them wrong. Nah, I'm just kidding. I know all about Pi and its numbery goodness. Check this out: 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209 7494459230781640628620899862803482534211706798214808651 3282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102 7019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461 2847564823378678316527120190914564856692346034861045432 Totally did that from memory and did not use the internet to look it up. But you can use the internet to check out all the awesome around the network. Flixist The SXSW coverage continues. Tomopop New My Little Pony merchandise. You know you're a brony. Don't deny it. Japanator A look at Blue Exorcist DVD Vol.2. When the devil is your dad and you have to kick his ass. |
| Lollipop Chainsaw star-studded cast revealed Posted: 14 Mar 2012 03:30 PM PDT
One thing that impressed me about Lollipop Chainsaw that I forgot to mention in my preview was just how great the voice acting was. Today, Warner Bros revealed the voice actors and it's surprising to see just how many big name actors are on the project! First up, Tara Strong, whom you may recognize for her role as Harley Quinn in Batman: Arkham City, is the voice behind Juliet Starling. Nick, the disembodied head that hangs off Juliet's butt, is voiced by Michael Rosenbaum, best known as Lex Luthor from the horrible Smallville series. Other big name stars you can expect include Linda Cardelleni as Cordelia, Gregg Henry as Juliet's dad, Sean Gunn as Swan, and Jimmy Urine as Zed. Shawnee Smith and Michael Rooker will also be providing their talents to undisclosed characters. I'm kind of in disbelief that Michael Rosenbaum is the one behind Nick's hilarious voice. I'm so used to his quiet, dull voice in Smallville. |
| The DTOID Show: Bioshock, Mechwarrior, & Kickstarter Posted: 14 Mar 2012 03:00 PM PDT Today's show, we talk about how Kickstarter is the hottest thing on the web right now, and how Tim Schafer's Double Fine Adventure raised 3.3 million dollars, and how inXile's Wasteland 2 is in the process of being crowd-funded. Bioshock Infinite's got some kickass enemies, including a robotic George Washington, and Mechwarrior Online has BattleMechs running on CryEngine3. For reasons that I cannot figure out, but which make me smile, Double Fine has decided to organize a gamejam based around the brilliant ideas of Peter Molydeux, the fake Peter Molyneux Twitter account. Finally, we talk about Mass Effect 3 some more. I'm so sick of hearing about this game. Nothing makes me want to go live in the woods and read books than people on the internet getting this upset a video game. That being said, bravo, money has been raised for charity. Apparently BioWare pissed people off so much, they had a fundraiser. What is this I don't even. Most importantly: WE ARE HAVING A NINJA DRESSUP CONTEST, PLEASE PARTICIPATE FOR FREE GAMES! |
| Sega says fans crave Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia ports Posted: 14 Mar 2012 02:30 PM PDT Jet Set Radio is yet another Dreamcast game that's destined to appear on digital distribution platforms, and at this point, I have to wonder how much further Sega is willing to go. In a recent interview with Gamereactor, the conversation touched upon which titles fans hope will get the re-release treatment. According to Sega associate brand manager Ben Harbone, Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia "are a couple of our most-requested games." He was quick to point out that he "can't say yes or no" -- drat! -- "but we may be working on them." While Harbone's words are just something to keep in the back of your mind for the time being, one doesn't simply drop a hint like that when Shenmue fans are in the equation. Not if said individual enjoys living. GDC 12: Jet Set Radio Interview [Gamereactor via Examiner -- Thanks, de5gravity] |
| Help fund Auditorium 2: Duet while there's still time Posted: 14 Mar 2012 01:30 PM PDT Cipher Prime has taken to Kickstarter in hopes of funding a sequel to Auditorium without relying on the traditional publishing model. Fair enough, I say. The team is nearly halfway to reaching its $60,000 goal with just over two weeks left for contributions. To raise interest, rewards for backers have been tweaked. The most notable update is that now, throwing in as little as $1 will earn you a copy of the worth-owning puzzle game Fractal for PC and Mac. Better yet, this change is retroactive. I'd also like to point out that for $2,000, they'll hang a portrait of you in their office. Creepy? Yes. But in a good way. The folks at Cipher Prime all seem like upstanding citizens and I wish them the best of luck. |
| New Battleship trailer has battleships, not much else Posted: 14 Mar 2012 01:00 PM PDT
This is actually happening. Hollywood has somehow managed to take what originally started as a pencil and paper guessing game that predates World War I and made Battleship into a summer blockbuster that has absolutely nothing to do with the original game. And now, it's going to be a videogame. There's a new trailer out today, and it shows off (you guessed it) battleships. But not the in-game battleships, these are CG battleships. In fact, the only gameplay footage in the trailer is a two second clip of what looks like a flying alien machine rising out of the water and another two second clip of the first-person shooter part. Because that's what Battleship was always intended to be about. |
| Check out Death's world in this Darksiders II video Posted: 14 Mar 2012 12:00 PM PDT
Here's a video of Vigil Games chatting about the world it's created for Darksiders II. You'll get to learn a little bit about the concept for certain locations, as well hear a lot of boasting about how huge the environment is. Apparently if the first game was the Moon, this is Earth. Oooh! Still really looking forward to this sucker, so I've nothing to add. What about you lot? |
| Warp is now up on PSN and PC, have a launch trailer Posted: 14 Mar 2012 11:30 AM PDT
If you've been holding out for Warp, but you don't happen to own an Xbox 360, you'll be relieved to know that it is finally out for PlayStation 3 and PC. On PC though, you won't find it on Steam. Instead, you'll have to head over to EA's Origin if you happen to want this one on your computer. There's a new launch trailer for the two platforms, but it's not exactly a trailer. It's more of a five second clip with the announcement at the end. Nothing too exciting. Our very own Maurice Tan didn't exactly find Warp to be the most enjoyable puzzle game out there (the controls being of notable annoyance). But PC has always been known to have the better control schemes, so maybe this issue is not as bad or it's completely gone altogether. If you're feeling brave, Warp is available now for $9.99 on both PSN and PC. You can't go wrong with dropping ten bucks on a game, right? |
| Posted: 14 Mar 2012 11:00 AM PDT So. Many. Robots. Shoot Many Robots (PC, PS3, Xbox 360 [reviewed]) Shoot Many Robots is the first solo title from Demiurge, a Massachusetts-based developer with nearly a decade of experience working on other people's games -- including big names like BioShock, Brothers in Arms, and Mass Effect. For the first game all their own, they opted to create a side-scrolling platform shooter stuffed to the gills with big guns, bad robots, and a lot of loot. P. Walter Tugnuts, a redneck with a love for beer and explosions, is the only thing that stands between a world totally dominated by metal monsters. His home destroyed in the game's tutorial stage, he rescues a recreational vehicle from the passionate embrace of robot and hits the road with vengeance in his heart. It's the most threadbare of plots, which is totally fine since nobody really needs a reason to want to shoot robots. Wanting it isn't enough, though. Robots are deadly and, as the title suggests, there are a lot of them. Walter is going to need to equip himself effectively to deal with the horde. Using the RV's shower as an armory (because, really, what else would you use it for at this point?), Walter can be equipped with a primary and a secondary weapon as well as head, torso, and leg gear, and purchase new equipment from the in-game shop using nuts collected from dead robots.
Primary weapons have unlimited ammunition and decent variety. Pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, and flamethrowers all are represented here. Secondary weapons are the heavy hitters, consisting of rocket and grenade launchers, land mines, pretty much anything that can put a serious hurt on someone. These weapons have limited use, though ammo is replenished at checkpoints in stages or by collecting power-ups dropped by robots. The complexity of equipment in Shoot Many Robots becomes apparent once you start looking at the armor options. Everything you equip gives a bonus and almost all items can have a significant effect on your gameplay style. Special abilities are conferred by wearing them, including ground sliding which can knock robots into the air for quick disposal, hangtime to let you rain death from the air in a slow glide, and a devastating ground pound. These abilities have ratings which determine their duration or strength of effect. Some equipment will even take away special abilities entirely, invalidating them when in conflict with another piece of kit. The individual variety of all of these items is significant in another way, as they force the player to consider how every item they're using affects their gameplay style. Elements of equipment which might be very negative for one type of weapon can be awesome when used with another one. A prime example of this can be found in a paper bag head item which offers significant damage bonuses at the cost of nearly all accuracy. The item is crippling to most guns, but doesn't detract from the use of a flamethrower and even can be highly beneficial with some shotguns for increasing spread. Players will have to think about it, too, as the robots are utterly relentless and placed by devious level designers. There are fifteen levels to explore in Shoot Many Robots, with maps being recycled multiple times through the course of the full 60-stage game. Every successive recurrence of a stage sees it populated with more and more powerful robots. Levels break down into two types: run-and-gun and survival. The former sees the player moving from the left end of the stage to the right. These stages feature frequent "rooms" where the screen is locked in position while hordes of enemies rush in to fight, as well as branching paths and little nooks and crannies with hidden loot crates. Survival stages are just big rooms without the locked screen to hinder movement, relying instead on the borders of the stage. Each survival stage consists of one wave which must be cleared to finish the level (and keep any collected loot), followed by four bonus stages that provide ample opportunity to earn more nuts, loot, and experience points. The enemy variety is very strong and requires that the player constantly shift their tactics to address new threats. The basic "Chopper" enemy seems easily ignored, even in whole herds, until an elite version with heavy armor manages to hide itself in that crowd and deal out massive damage. Tanks, cannons, and larger robots fire red bullets which can be hit back with Walter's melee attack and, later, yellow bullets which explode on contact. Large boss enemies eventually become almost common encounters, particularly in the later waves of Survival stages. As every weapon has its own benefits and disadvantages to fighting different types of robots, the strategic possibilities are very deep for what is, in essence, an exercise in twitch reflexes. Destroying loot boxes and larger enemies will drop either a piece of equipment or a "nut sack" of 100 bonus nuts (awarded at the end of the stage and not contributing to your final score). As the game progresses, the ratio of loot to nut sacks reaches a point where every time you see loot, there's a momentary thrill at the prospect of something new to check out and suddenly grabbing that loot item from the environment before it disappears becomes a much more important concern than the seventy or so robots converging on you. Once you've collected a loot item and make it to the end of the stage, it becomes unlocked for purchase from the shower in the RV, provided that you've collected enough nuts and have reached the experience level necessary to use it. Finding ways to earn lots of nuts is the key to progress in Shoot Many Robots and the stages are like puzzles in figuring out how to maximize score, which is also tracked on a huge range of leaderboards that breaks down each stage by the number of players involved in the game. Destroying a robot adds to a combo meter at the top of the screen, which decreases as robots are not being destroyed. Filling the meter adds a multiplier to dropped nuts, a process which can be repeated to earn up to five times the normal amount of nuts from killing enemies. It's possible to keep this combo going almost the entire way through most stages, earning a ton in the process. Good thing, too. The gear gets as expensive as the statistics for them get ridiculous. Level 50 items, the most powerful in the game, generally cost hundreds of thousands of nuts and can take a long time to earn. Players who don't want to wait around can just outright buy nuts and even some of the more special equipment in the game from the store using real-world currency (or Microsoft Points). As the game progresses, it reaches a point of absurd difficulty. Once reaching the "Insane" difficulty stages, it even seems to become too challenging for its own good, as trying to deliver the maximum damage to enemies generally means passing on some other important bonuses like additional beers for healing or greater maximum health. Even the smallest enemies are able to kill prepared players in just a few hits and it seems almost impossible to complete these stages without a weapon which has a knockback feature for crowd control. Walter doesn't have to go it alone. Shoot Many Robots allows for up to four players to play online in conjunction with two-player couch play. So few games offer the ability to both play with someone locally at the same time that you're playing online, but it's a perfect fit here. Having additional players around is a double-edged sword, as the extra firepower and the ability to revive fallen teammates comes at a cost of far more robots to kill and stages which would ordinarily be manageable when played solo can suddenly go tits up at a moment's notice. In addition, the combo meter becomes harder to keep going, making it tougher to rack up those huge quantities of nuts. There are some other balance issues which can come into play when involving others. The difficulty progression is already rather challenging, meaning that low-level players can find themselves totally outclassed in a multiplayer game. Stages often become a game of supporting the player who can deal out the most damage, keeping them alive and acting as distractions for other enemies. It can lead to some really thrilling moments in gameplay and is no less fun, but could be frustrating for people who will observe how little impact they have when playing only a few stages ahead of where they might be prepared to deal with. Similarly, higher-end players will find themselves unchallenged by earlier stages, unless they decide to equip themselves more appropriately to the stage and relative power of the other players in the game. The Quick Play multiplayer mode tries to select a level which will be appropriate for the players in the game and while it does a decent enough job, it has its limits. Playing games with randoms online is likely to be a little bit annoying as a result, almost requiring a group of people who don't mind changing their tactics to find a balance. Even setting that up is not as small a feat as it sounds, as the accumulation of loot results in having a lot of items to choose from all in one place and swapping can become time-consuming when all anyone really wants to do is play. They're organized by level in the shower, but it would have been nice to have a little more depth in the menu system to make finding the type of item you want to use a little easier. Even if it's unbalanced, it's still a lot of fun to play either alone or with friends and there's a ton of content here for a downloadable game, enough that most people will likely never actually finish it all (either due to quantity or difficulty). Hunting for loot is addictive and the game itself is filled with humor. Much of the loot is silly in nature and every item has a description with some kind of joke or pop culture reference in it (the series of freeze rays contains modified lyrics to "Ice, Ice, Baby," for example), so there feels like there's always another neat treasure to uncover, even if it's an item you'll never actually use. Shoot Many Robots succeeds in being highly fun. Apart from some minor annoyances in the inventory system and difficulty balance, its challenge, sense of humor and deep customization options make for a great game with long legs and huge potential for future expansion with DLC. Old school shooter fans should take heed. |
| Live show: WTF? Bio Force Ape on Mash Tactics Posted: 14 Mar 2012 10:30 AM PDT The fur will fly with "WTF Wednesday" today on Mash Tactics. King Foom will be delving into a true rarity, Bio Force Ape. Originally developed by the now defunct SETA company way back in the Famicom era, a playable build of Bio Force Ape was discovered and copied just last year. The most astonishing part of this tale of a game that might never have been played, is that it is apparently really damn good. Tune in to behold this lost treasure with your own eyes. Mash Tactics airs Monday through Friday at 4p.m. Pacific on Destructoid's Twitch TV channel. Watch King Foom play a variety of games, each day with its own theme. With a heavy focus on community and viewer interaction, you can be as much a part of the show as anything else.
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| Posted: 14 Mar 2012 10:00 AM PDT Puzzle platformers are a bit of a staple of independent games. Since Braid saw critical and commercial success in 2008, the genre has almost become saturated, and while each game may explore its own new ideas in various ways, it has become increasingly difficult to care about them on the level they deserve. Vessel focuses on fluid dynamics as its central idea. Like any good puzzle platformer should, it constantly does something new with that idea, making for a densely packed game with little filler content. As a physics-based puzzle game, it suffers from a few pitfalls that keep it from being truly great, but Vessel is still a very good game and certainly worth the time and money spent on it. Vessel (PC) Vessel puts players into the shoes of genius inventor Arkwright, whose creation of Fluros has revolutionized industry. Fluros are machines that animate liquids and can be programmed to perform various tasks. At the story's inception, these semi-sentient beings have locked Arkwright out of his workshop, and he decides he needs to better control the Fluros before they wreak too much havoc. A lot of the back story is implied, or gained gradually over the course of the narrative through Arkwright's own journal entries. It starts simply; stuff is messed up and you have to fix it. However, the uncomplicated setup paves the way for some pretty intellectually taxing puzzles. In the beginning, the puzzles involve simple manipulation of water in order to turn turbines, lower bridges, and open doors. Before that gets predictable, the player is introduced to the first type of Fluro, which will incessantly hit switches, usually to Arkwright's benefit, but sometimes to his chagrin. Shortly after learning how this Fluro functions, Vessel introduces a new type that will chase the player before attempting to pounce on him. In all, there are five types of Fluros. In addition to the two described above, there are Fluros that seek out more of the liquid that composes them, as well as a pair of Fluros that are either attracted to or repelled from light. Additionally, there are five types of liquids that can be used to build a Fluro. Water is the default, lava will hurt Arkwright and create steam when contacting water, red and blue goo will form an explosive when they contact each other, and green goo is luminescent. And yes, you can make a light-fearing Fluro out of the glowing green liquid. It will whimper and immediately kill itself, knowing it can't escape its own light. It's kind of heartbreaking. The difficulty curve on the puzzles is pretty spot on. Vessel gradually introduces new mechanics, and constantly builds new experiences to take advantage of those mechanics. Toward the end, there are some particularly tricky puzzles, as the player has a substantial inventory or Fluros and liquids, and figuring out exactly the combination necessary for the task at hand is sometimes frustrating. However frustrating a puzzle may be, it is still satisfying to finally have the epiphany necessary to complete it. Therein lies one flaw in Vessel, and most other physics-based puzzle games. There are a handful of puzzles in which the solution is apparent, but the execution is finicky. Sometimes the liquids don't act the way one would expect, and frequently the Fluros themselves behave strangely. There was an instance of a puzzle near the end in which I knew the solution, but the first two tries resulted in the necessary Fluro bumping into something the wrong way and exploding. On my third try, doing nothing conceptually differently than before, I was successful. Sometimes, game physics just break, and it's irritating when it happens toward the end of a longer puzzle. Thankfully, Vessel checkpoints frequently. Although the levels do flow together fairly seamlessly, each puzzle is discrete and typically only takes up a screen or two. So while the physics will sometimes create a frustrating situation, the level design and checkpointing save it from being rage-inducing. Another element that soothes any potential rage is the world itself. Simply put, it's beautiful. The fully rendered backgrounds have a simple, clean aesthetic that is visually interesting, but not so much that it distracts from the task at hand. One thing that really impressed me is that the different environments not only look different, but also have a completely different feel. The factory area is cluttered with machinery and puts Arkwright into relatively tight spaces, while the orchard is much more open. It's a small touch, but the puzzles in the orchard are affected by the extra breathing room, and it adds more than just visual variety. While the environments offer a visual treat and look fantastic in still images, the animation isn't quite on the same level. As a fully rendered game that functions on a two-dimensional plane based heavily on physics, Arkwright's running animation is almost QWOP-esque. It is slightly stiff and unnatural, but against the gorgeous backdrops, it stands out. The animation for the various liquids is also a bit jarring, though not quite as much as the protagonist's movement. The music in Vessel is also handled very smartly. The tracks that play in the factory are low and mechanical, while those in the orchard are much brighter and more free flowing. On their own, they are interesting pieces worthy of listening, but Vessel also dynamically builds them depending on what is happening in game. Solving a tough puzzle on its own is enjoyable, and that feeling is amplified when the solution causes a subtle musical transition. With roughly ten hours of gameplay and little to no filler content, Vessel is a great value. Its main selling point, fluid physics-based mechanics, is also the source of its minor failings. For those not too fatigued with puzzle platformers, it is a solid title oozing with atmosphere and intelligent puzzle design. |
| Preview: The Amazing Spider-Man Posted: 14 Mar 2012 09:30 AM PDT The Spider-Man franchise has seen its share of highs and lows, due in no small part to Activision's effort to make sure there's always another title on the horizon. And with a reboot of the film series coming this summer, there's yet another opportunity for the games to reinvent themselves. So it is that Beenox is plugging away at The Amazing Spider-Man. We were shown a short demo at GDC to check their progress, and it's shaping up in a few interesting ways.
One of the most apparent changes to the web-slinging formula is a greater focus on Spider-Man on screen. The camera has been pulled much closer than it has been in past games and Spidey pretty well dominates the screen (particularly when perched somewhere). He looks fantastic, with a ton of detail applied to his costume. While invincibility had been enabled for the purposes of our hands-off demonstration, we were told that Spider-Man's costume will take battle damage and look even better as the game is played. The close-up also has an interesting effect on web-slinging. While flying about, Spidey can occupy up to as much as the center third of the screen and as the camera is focused on him, everything surrounding him moves by in a vertigo-inducing blur. It's a cool effect, but one which I would expect to be a bit of a challenge to try and navigate or control until you've managed to get the hang of processing all the visual information. Spider-Man's "Web Rush" move will help with this, though. It's a refinement of the "Web Zip" we've seen in nearly every game in the franchise for the last ten years, in which Spider-Man fires webbing and pulls himself swiftly toward his target. Using Web Rush, the player will be able to quickly navigate an environment by targeting where you want go and pressing a button to execute an animation which gets you there. When using the ability, the game suggests places to move, but any surface can be targeted and Spider-Man will perform a series of jumps, flips and flings which make use of surrounding terrain to reach this destination. It's pretty cool to see in action, full of all the high-flying contortions one has come to expect from the character. The implementation looks promising as well. While you will be able simply target and go, players will be able to ease themselves in to using this ability by pausing the action and surveying their environment before committing to an action. The HUD even pops up with helpful indicators of suggested places to move or environmental objects which can be interacted with. The open exploration of Manhattan is back in full effect, including "crime in progress" events in which Spider-Man can intercede. You'll get to chase after people escaping in cars, disabling their vehicles in a QTE sequence, same as it ever was. Peter Parker's camera will be returning to the series as well and you'll be able to snap pictures of Spidey, reviewing them later on a laptop in the game. Interior action is feeling like a much more significant change. At one point in our demo, we were shown a mission where Spider-Man infiltrates an Oscorp building to recover some stolen research and, all of a sudden, I realized that I was now watching a demonstration of Batman: Arkham City where everyone was wearing the wrong costumes. Spider-Man may be climbing on walls, but that just confers an additional stealth advantage as he can move literally anywhere to perform a silent takedown. Combat mechanics, too, seem almost directly lifted from that other comic book game, using a very similar freeflow system. As Spider-Man fought a crowd of foes, flipping and jumping, the inspiration remained apparent -- even driven home as we were shown how to use Web Rush to escape combat and enemy attention to resume stealthily eliminating foes. None of that should be construed as a criticism of Beenox. If you're going to make a comic book game at this point, Arkham City is the lead to follow and our demo of The Amazing Spider-Man suggested it could be every bit as much fun to play. Some elements of the build we were shown were still pretty rough around the edges in terms of animations, and there are a lot of elements still being worked on. This concerns me a little bit, given that the game is scheduled to be released just a few months from now on June 26, a week prior to the arrival of the new film in theaters. Potential exists, however, that this will be remembered as more than just the Spider-Man game which released in 2012. |
| Exclusive: Akira Yamaoka's Sine Mora soundtrack preview Posted: 14 Mar 2012 09:00 AM PDT With just a week left until the release of Grasshopper Manufacture/Digital Reality's gorgeous schmup Sine Mora on the Xbox Live Arcade on March 21st, I can barely wait, and now I have an even bigger reason to be excited about the game. It was announced early on that composer Akira Yamaoka would be providing the soundtrack, and from what we've heard in trailers thus far, it's unlike anything he's written before. I wanted to start with a quick suggestion for how to experience this feature. We have minute-long music clips from the first three stages in the game along with screenshots and Yamaoka's commentary. I'd recommend clicking on the music sample for each stage while looking at the screenshots and reading Yamaoka's commentary for the best effect. Stage 0 / Prologue
Akira Yamaoka: This game is unique as its world was constructed by the best visual creators with beautiful graphics into a side scrolling action game, a genre that everyone is familiar with.
Yamaoka: I felt obligated to come up with sounds that would match this well-created world. I had to create something that would be worthy for this game as well as sound that could actually enhance the game when matched with the visuals.
Yamaoka: I remembered about songs from the 70s, a style that is somehow a bit nostalgic. I also wanted to use an electric sound. As you can see in the image, the stage is rather near-futuristic but it gives out a bit of nostalgia and a classic feeling as well.
Stage 1 / Moneta Point
Yamaoka: I wanted the players to feel a classic electric sound that matches the feelings you can get from the entire game. Particularly, the enemy plane you see in this stage look so unbeatable and it gives a sense of the large scale of the battle.
Yamaoka: The game also offers sensitive aspect as well as the fierce battle with concentrated gun fires. The existence of two extremities of gameplay and the world is one of the unique aspects of this game.
Yamaoka: You can see these unique futuristic lasers in this stage as well. The digital visuals mixed with the classic background interested me as I created the sound. This is why I used electric as my motif.
Yamaoka: Also, you also have scenes with nature such as this. Even so, I still used 70s electric sounds to depict this game. Personally, the natural world and the near future world were a source of creative inspiration for me.
Yamaoka: I still remember my excitement in seeing this scene for the first time. Whether this is based on an octopus or an alien, this is a very memorable character. I still remember that I started to work on this scene first.
Stage 2 / Bokumono
Yamaoka: The electric sound that I wanted to create is classic 70s style. As you can imagine from this visual, it’s kind of like a light watercolor painting type of sound.
Yamaoka: 70s sounds work really well, especially in this type of underwater stage.
Yamaoka: Blue and red are used often in this game. The beams shot from this enemy are also in these colors. I made the 70s electro sound to resemble this shade of colors.
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| Preview: A quick look at DragonCraft Posted: 14 Mar 2012 08:30 AM PDT Fantasy fans with Androids and iPhones have a lot to look forward to this year, courtesy of Ngmoco. Just this past GDC, we had the opportunity to look at two promising fantasy RPGs, Skyfall and DragonCraft. Whereas the former is designed as a serious time sink, DragonCraft offers more of a "pick up and play for a bit, then get back to your meeting" experience. Still, with events, dragon collecting, and unit building, there is plenty to sink your teeth into. Skyfall (iPhone, iPad, Android) Though not terribly involved, the world of DragonCraft does have a story behind it. Dragons have attacked the land of Terra Vael, and things look pretty bad for humanity. Your father was a great commander who fought and died defending your people from the dragons, leaving you to take up his mantle as humanity's leader. From here, players are introduced to side characters, who will ease you into DragonCraft's various mechanics. The first character we ran into in our demo was Hereward, your father's old adviser. Hereward acts as a guide through DragonCraft's city building mechanics. Building in DragonCraft is pretty straightforward: provided you have the resources, players need only touch a spot on the map to place a predetermined structure. At Hereward's suggestion, we first built barracks and an armory to start building up our troops, followed by a couple of meat shops to keep the soldiers fed. If you do find your building resources running low, you can hop out into the world and go collect more supplies. You can also conquer new territories and towns, but those areas will repopulate with enemies, requiring players to jump back in -- if even for a few minutes -- to protect their newer settlements. As one of the lighter mechanics in the game, city building really lends DragonCraft to the five-minutes-at-a-time style of play. Once you leave the friendly towns for the wilderness of Terra Vael, you'll find plenty of things to sink your time into, particularly the game's combat. Combat in DragonCraft is turn based, almost reminiscent of Advance Wars. The battle system works with class-based units (eighteen in total) that you unlock and improve as you go. Each unit type has its strengths and weakness with a traditional rock-paper-scissors balance, so success is contingent on your ability to determine which units will work best against enemies troops and dragons. Dragons also play a large role in combat. You can risk killing a dragon with a standard weapon, which may not earn you a scale, or you can kill a dragon with a rarer dragon spear, which will always guarantee a scale. Killing a dragon nets you dragon scales, and earning five dragon scales converts them into dragon eggs that you can hatch. Hatching takes time, but the process can be quickened by applying rare dragon crystals. You can find more crystals scattered around the world, but if you find yourself running low, dragon crystals can be purchased with real-world money. Once you have a dragon in you army, they act as your first attack in every encounter, softening enemies up for the rest of your units and larger boss characters. You unfortunately can't use them beyond the initial attack, except for later in the game with you unlock dragon-only skirmishes. Outside of single-player, your leveled army and dragons can be used in multiplayer for PvP and PvE matches. Multiplayer wasn't demoed, but Ngmoco is already planning a good amount of content for it. Apart from PvP and co-op dungeon raids, DragonCraft will have run events -- typically a week each -- allowing players and friends to collect new and rarer dragons for a limited time. Like Skyfall, DragonCraft in open beta for Android users, with an iOS release to be announced at a later date. If you have an Android device, go ahead and give DragonCraft a fair shake. |
| Preview: Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit Posted: 14 Mar 2012 08:00 AM PDT Arkedo Studio made a name for itself with a series of games released on the Xbox Live Indie Game channel. Since the studio is best known for its platformers, it is only natural that Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit would be an extension of this solid independent foundation. Many of my favorite games from this generation are available exclusively via download, but the past year or so has seemed less appealing, with bigger-budget releases that weren't able to live up to their ambitious goals. Out-there games like Hell Yeah!, on the other hand, remind me why I love digital distribution. Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit (Xbox Live Arcade [Previewed], PlayStation Network, PC) As an undead rabbit who also happens to be the prince of hell, Ash has decided to take his frustration out on the helpless and not-so-helpless inhabitants of his fiery realm. Simply killing off the diverse, heavily populated monster horde isn't enough -- he's got to look good doing it. This is made easy for you, the player, thanks to Ash's jetpack which can saw right through enemies and certain types of walls. In the game build I played, I had to navigate through a large, somewhat non-linear environment to track down specific demons using my radar. Upon finding and nearly killing one, a seconds-long mini-game would initiate, usually requiring me to mash on the controller. While having to go through a mini-game to fully defeat significant enemies sounds unpleasant, in practice, it wasn't so bad. There are supposed to be 30 different games in total, and the payoff -- an over-the-top kill sequence -- is surprisingly worth it thanks largely to the wonderful art direction. The art style, particularly when it comes to the vibrant, hellish environments, looks like a high-def take on the packed level designs of Sega Genesis platformers. There's an almost overwhelming amount of detail crammed into the foreground, but in motion, it totally works. Arkedo says there are ten "game worlds" in all, and while we didn't get to see enough of Hell Yeah! to comprehend how much content that will truly be, know that collectibles and secret areas were scattered around. Some were clearly blocked off by barricades that required equipment I didn't yet possess. If you like what this implies, I concur. Currency dropped by slain enemies would be useless without something to spend it on, which is why there are item shops. Beyond better weapons and upgrades, this is where you'll be able to buy new outfits for Ash. I purchased a hat worthy of Terry Bogard and never looked back. Player movement is a little on the loose side for an action-adventure platformer, though I didn't encounter any particularly punishing obstacles to maneuver past. This was the beginning of the game, after all, so it makes sense. Even if precision jumping does eventually delve into frustrating territory, there are safe spots that can recharge your lost health. The demonstration ended with -- what else? -- a boss fight. It wasn't anything too fancy and basically required some careful dodges and a crapload of missiles, but the boss' character design was excellent. I'm really curious to see where future encounters go in terms of challenge. As a fan of Arkedo, it's fantastic to see the team get the opportunity to work on a larger project -- one that a wider audience will get to play. Hell Yeah! is quickly on its way to being the studio's best work yet and the thought of having to wait until this summer to play more is bumming me out. |
| Sigma destroyed! Go grab Maverick Rising from OC ReMix! Posted: 14 Mar 2012 07:30 AM PDT
The OverClocked ReMix Facebook page got its 27k "Likes"! Sigma has been vanquished and the Mega Man X tribute compilation Maverick Rising has been released! Go download it now! Just as a reminder, the album is five discs, 62 tracks, and 4.5 hours long, and it covers music from the entire X series all the way up through X8. The sheer amount of content available is mind-blowing, but I wouldn't expect anything less for such an exhaustive franchise. The vocal tracks this time around are a little more... awkward... than in previous OCR albums, but eh. With 62 tracks, who's really gonna sweat a few misses here and there? Maverick Rising [OverClocked ReMix] |
| Posted: 14 Mar 2012 07:00 AM PDT What a great idea: take the gangsters you know and love from the Yakuza series and put them up against zombies, quarantining them in Tokyo's red-light district. Oh, and give them guns. Lots of guns with unlimited ammo. We've seen zombie sandbox games before, but this is the only one where you can take a break to sing karaoke and drink with sexy (non-undead) girls of the night. But is that good enough to make you want to play another zombie game? Yakuza: Dead Souls (PlayStation 3) Dead Souls takes many of the series' settings and several of the recurring characters and puts them in a zombie story that does more to serve Yakuza fans than it does fans of zombie sandbox games. This is great for those who have enjoyed the past several Yakuza games, as this title serves as a sort of all-star fantasy side mission. Fans will dig seeing series star Kazuma Kiryu, Yakuza 4's Shun Akiyama, crazy eye patch guy Goro Majima and the machine gun-armed Ryuji Goda working together to push back the zombie invasion. Unfortunately, these characters will do next to nothing for those new to the series. While no prior knowledge of the series is required to enjoy Dead Souls, only series fans will pick up on some of the story's finer points. That said, this is a zombie game -- how much story does there need to be? Surprisingly, the narrative is pretty good. Those expecting another Resident Evil outbreak are going to be surprised by the story-heavy gangster turf war plot. There's a nice blend of the serious gangster scowls and revenge talk with more lighthearted and silly situations to make for one of the series' most enjoyable tales. Some of the situations are flat-out hilarious, showing us that the developers wanted to take this opportunity to have a bit of fun. Those looking for dark corridors with scares aren't going to find it here, as this is not a survival horror. Instead, Dead Souls follows four badasses and their journey to take back Tokyo's red-light district, and it's all done in that very satisfying Japanese action movie sort of way. The gameplay in Dead Souls will be a bit of a departure for Yakuza series fans as the game centers around gun play. Sure, there's a bit of kicking and punching going on, but you'll quickly find that fists don't do much against the undead. The only way to get anywhere in Kamurocho these days is to mow through the hordes of zombies with a shotgun or two. If you're expecting to revisit the kick-and-punch brawling of past games, this is the wrong game for you -- there's next to none of that. The good news here is that there is a nice selection of guns and other weapons (tanks! forklifts!) to take down the undead with. Each of the game's four main characters has a different type of gun style assigned to them, and the blend of the four goes a long way toward keeping the zombie shooting action fresh. While Kiryu kicks it old school with a single pistol, Akiyama dual wields pistols, Majima has a super-powered shotgun, and Goda has a Gatling gun for an arm. You're free to buy and equip other guns, and all weapons are open to upgrading to increase power, ammo limit, and more. Characters' fighting abilities are also upgradeable through Soul Points, which are earned via battles and leveling. These points can be dumped into abilities that improve everything from hand-to-hand combat to weapon strength, keeping in tradition with the series' action-RPG systems. It's nice to see another tradition -- using items from the environment in fights -- continues in Dead Souls. Like in past games, you can put the hurt on enemies with anything laying around, so charging into a crowd swinging a bicycle is still possible, and still lots of fun. This time around they take this even further with new environmental options for zombie killing. Using the chainsaw to cut off zombie heads is as satisfying as you'd imagine, and the flamethrower has to be a zombie-game classic by now. I really enjoyed using a baseball pitching machine to pop the undead in their heads, and liked it even more when I found you could load it with grenades instead of balls. The game's Heat Snipe mechanic also takes advantage of the environment, and it makes taking down the undead a bit easier. Once its gauge is filled from killing zombies, you will be able to execute a special attack that will make an impossible shot possible. Imagine being able to snipe a thin gas line running along a wall to have it explode and take out dozens of zombies, or hitting the gas tank of a downed motorcycle. Good stuff. Unfortunately, while shooting down waves of zombies starts out fun, the appeal wears thin quickly. While the game does its best to mix the action up with four different characters and their varied gun types, it's not enough to keep the zombie killing fresh. Much of the problem lies in how aiming works -- and how it's not necessary. Gun play uses a third-person view, letting you hold down the left shoulder button to aim and strafe while firing. You need only to face the direction of zombies to hit them, with no proper aiming required. While you're free to pull up a crosshair to fine-tune your aim for a headshot, it's simply not necessary, as mashing on the right shoulder button a few times kills just about anything with way less effort. Worse yet, simply running around outside of aim mode while firing has shots locked onto nearby zombies, with your gun automatically turning to face the nearest enemy, almost completely removing any challenge. While you can entertain yourself for a bit striving for shot accuracy, or working to rack up a headshot record, the reality is that you only need to mash on the fire button repeatedly to progress. This is potentially good news for those that aren't great at shooters, but I feel that even these individuals would feel disappointed at how easy kills come in Dead Souls. The only exceptions to the mindless fire-button pushing and lack of variety come during boss battles, most of which feature massive beasts that require skill and proper aim to take down. These bosses were a welcome change from the zombie hordes, since there are movement patterns and weak points that actually require thinking to overcome. It's a shame there's only a handful of these situations. For my money, the Yakuza series sidequests and diversions make any of the titles worth the price of entry. There's plenty of opportunities to screw around in Dead Souls, though you'll find that they're a bit less prominent this time around, especially when you consider that Tokyo is going to shit all around you while you're flirting with hostess club girls. You can still go shopping, try your hand at casino gambling, hit karaoke joints, or simply wander around town enjoying the sights, just like you could in other titles. I got lost in a pachinko trance that lasted nearly two hours, and I'm still not sure if I won or lost. There's also plenty of off-the-wall sidequests that range from simple item-fetch assignments to escort missions. The quality varies, but there's definitely some good ones in the mix. One of my favorites involved mob bosses and cross dressing, so there's something to look forward to. While the core story gives about 15 solid hours of gameplay, the sidequests and auxiliary entertainment could easily double that number. Dead Souls sits in a strange middle zone, stuck somewhere between the past Yakuza series games and the tired zombie sandbox genre. While fans will surely enjoy seeing series stars in this zombie apocalypse setting, they could miss some of the classic Yakuza pacing and gameplay. Zombie game fans will enjoy the varied killing options, but could be disappointed at the lack of challenge when it comes to gun play. Still, there's enough here to warrant a purchase between the solid story and characters and the ample options to goof off. If you try not to think too hard and approach Yakuza: Dead Souls with a B-movies in mind, you'll likely come away entertained. |
| Star Wars: The Old Republic is free to play this weekend Posted: 14 Mar 2012 06:00 AM PDT Starting this Thursday, March 15th, non-subscribers will be able to play Star Wars: The Old Republic for free until Monday, March 19th! For all of you people who have been saying "I'll wait until it's permanently free to play," I think this is the closest you'll get for a long time. The game seems to be doing pretty well for itself even if the vocal minority is as loud as ever. Our impressions of the game were really positive back when it was released and although I can't speak for anyone else, I've since moved on and unsubscribed. I just wasn't as into it after that "honeymoon" phase ended. Anyway, this free weekend will allow you to get a character up to level 15, with limits on where you can travel as well. It's all explained in this handy dandy FAQ up on the site. If I'm reading this correctly, it seems as if previous subscribers will have to make a new "free" account to get in on this. So will those of you who are holding out give this a whirl? |
| Molyneux: Milo was too emotional for the games industry Posted: 14 Mar 2012 05:30 AM PDT Remember Milo, the digital child-creature that Peter Molyneux demoed at E3 so long ago? It promised interaction on a level that would make Skynet jealous, but it disappeared after all the hype. Why was it thrown on the scrap heap? Molyneux blames the industry, claiming we're not ready for his jelly. "The problem with Milo wasn’t the ambition," he claimed. "It wasn’t the ambition or the technology; it was none of that. I just don’t think that this industry is ready for something as emotionally connecting as something like Milo. "The real problem with Milo, and this is a problem we had lots of meetings over, was where it would be on the shelves next to all the computer games. It was just the wrong thing. It was the wrong concept for what this industry currently is. Maybe this industry one day won’t be like that, but at this particular time, having a game that celebrates the joy of inspiring something and you feel this connection, this bond; it was the wrong time for that." So, Milo didn't fail because it Molyneux fell into his usual trap of over-promising. None of it was his fault. It was our fault for not being emotional enough to withstand its onslaught of majestic provocation. We'll get to work on that right away, Peter. Sorry the industry stopped you from making your game that many people in the industry were excited about. Molyneux: Industry wasn’t ready for Milo’s “concept” [VG247. Thanks, Vallanthaz!] |
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