Armor Games Studios and Ant Karlov announced their platform shooterZombotron is available now for Mac and Windows. The game is priced at $14.99 USD/$21.50 AUD and is on sale at Steam, Humble, and Kartridge. Those who buy the game on Steam before April 29 will be able to snag a 15% launch discount.
Based on the web game series of the same name, Zombotron is a run and gun platformer. The game offers five story chapters following Blaze, a soldier of fortune who goes to the planet of Zombotron to answer a distress beacon. Blaze can destroy zombies with a variety of weapons or use the game’s physics engine to kill them in a variety of creative ways, like crushing zombies with elevators.
With Moero Chronicle Hyper releasing later this week Idea Factory International has released a new batch of screenshots for the game and this time around the focus is placed on showing off bits of dialogue and the dungeons themselves, though a couple of CG pieces are mixed in as well. In these screenshots a number of the monster girls that will be willing to join Io’s quest are shown off and you can strengthen your relationship with them by giving them gifts and improving their rooms and the more a girl likes you, the stronger she’ll be in combat.
Moero Chronicle Hyper will be available on the Nintendo Switch as a digital download on April 26th where it will be priced at $19.99 with a 30% discount for one week after launch.
After countless hours of planting and farming crops in Stardew Valley, it is time for another agricultural sim. There was always something alluring in the premise of living your day to day life, harvesting crops and making friends by giving them fruits. Just like real life, except way easier (and giving all kind of fruits to random people will just make you seem like a weirdo). My colleague Jamie already did a preview some months ago and now it’s my turn to see what has changed (hopefully for the better!) and most importantly – is it any good?
Story
You would never guess it from screenshots and promo videos, but My Time At Portia is actually set in a post-apocalyptic world. The whole world looks surprisingly pleasant and full of nature, despite what it went through. We have two “factions” known as Church of Light and Research Council that are fighting for control of the old world data that’s found in the ancient remains. And then, there’s you – harmless and innocent newcomer of Portia. Somewhat unaware (or maybe you just don’t care) of the power struggle, you arrive in this charming village on a mission to cut down plenty of trees, mine ores, make friends and maybe even fall in love. Or harvesting enough tasty fruit so that you don’t need friends or love anymore. Whatever works.
Gameplay
After some short tutorial-like quests, we are left on our own. From there, most of the progress is gained by accepting quests from townspeople and free exploration. You gain experience from quests and….pretty much every labor heavy activity. It might be from cutting down trees, mining rocks, fishing and so on. Everything you obtain that way is some sort of resource that can be used for making better tools, weapons and refining it into more valuable resources. There’s a lot to do and discover in My Time At Portia but you never really feel overwhelmed and bogged down with hundreds of quests on your to-do list. There is a sort of laidback atmosphere in the game that I haven’t found anywhere else. No missable events like in Harvest Moon, no quests to fail and no timer to hang over your head. “Take your time, my man….whenever you feel like it” should be a tagline for the game, possibly with a hippie dude on the logo smoking a mildly legal herbal substance. This is also why I don’t work in advertising. Another major thing in My Time At Portia is friendships and relationships with others. Every conversation with someone will fill up their bar (well, your mutual bar) that can be further boosted by giving them gifts, playing games or doing quests. Invest yourself seriously into it and some connections might lead to romance and even marriage.
Visuals
Proceeding with the laidback feel of the game, the color palette of My Time At Portia is all soothing and vibrant. Even some deep dungeons ended up looking comfy. As for graphics, there isn’t much to say. You’ll spend more time admiring at beautiful landscapes rather than noticing any bloom, depth of field and lighting effects. On this aspect, the game has just enough to satisfy my basic standards and that is fine. The real hook is in the gameplay and that turned out way better than expected. If this is how a post-apocalyptic is supposed to look like, I say let it come. I wholeheartedly welcome that giant meteor or mutual nuclear destruction if this is what the end result will be.
Audio
As for sounds, the game features an enchanting soundtrack. While no tune particularly stands out, each plays as a perfect (puzzle) piece for the whole album. The notes are meditative and made to lure you as far as possible from Portia as you explore. Might as well check out what’s over that tiny slope while my favorite tune plays. One thing that stood out is a weird default setting in volume. The soundtrack is either needlessly loud or your character voice is needlessly low. Either way, it always felt like I was being super shy and quiet when talking to other villagers until I tinkered some with volume sliders.
Overall
My Time At Portia is a perfect game for the spring season. If the work is preventing you to get some sun and see new places, this game has it all and you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your home! Joking aside, there is a perfect mix of exploration and adventuring to scratch that Harvest Moon itch. The difference is that this game puts way less pressure and expectations on the player and lets them do everything at their own pace.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
With Fade to Silence releasing in about a week and a half THQ Nordic and developer Black Forest Games have released a new trailer for the game where a little of everything is shown off. For those who haven’t been following the game Fade to Silence takes players into a frozen, post-apocalyptic world where defying nature’s threats and enemies is key.
Players will explore a vast winter landscape while going on long-term expeditions with a Wolf sled team but be careful, harsh choices and a difficult road lie ahead. The aforementioned trailer can be found below while the game itself will be released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on April 30th.
Sixteen years it seems like the cel-shaded comic book style FPS XIII will be getting a remake. Microids will be publishing the game while PlayMagic will be developing the game and will be arriving on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Mac on November 13th where it will be available physically on consoles and digitally on all platforms.
Players will take control of “Thirteen,” a talented soldier who lost his memory and has been accused of killing the President of the United States. You wake up injured and amnesic on Brighton Beach with the only clue being a small key and a mysterious tattoo “XIII” next to your clavicle. It’s now your job to search for answers across thirty four levels with numerous weapons along the way.
XIII will be remastered with graphics, sound, and animations faithful to the original while many of the gameplay mechanics will be reworked to be a bit more modern. A teaser trailer can be found below.
We now have a set release date for Dragon Star Varnir in both North America and Europe as Idea Factory International has announced that the PlayStation 4 exclusive will be releasing both physically and digitally in these regions on June 11th and June 14th respectively.
The company also released a trailer showing off the game’s multi-player turn based combat where players will need to move between layers to fight enemies and occasionally battle giant enemies that fill the entire area. Also detailed are the little sister mechanics and feeding system for them.
Back at The Witches’ Den players will meet a number of little sisters that they can take care of by giving them dragon meat or blood to fill their satisfaction meter while also receiving rare items from them but be wary, feeding them also increases their dragon growth gauge and when full they will transform into a dragon that can be devoured to earn rare skills, but will players be willing to sacrifice their lives for power?
AI: The Somnium Files has received another large batch of English screenshots focusing on showing off a bit of the game’s dialogue and puzzle solving sequences and Spike Chunsoft has also announced that they have launched the official website for the game where additional story information and a glimpse at some of the characters are now available with future updates on the way.
Currently AI: The Somnium Files is set to be released worldwide on July 25th for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC and you can check out a creepy new video featuring A-set, a character from the game and an internet idol, below.
The second trailer in SNK‘s series of Samurai Shodown character trailers has been released and this time around one of the brand new fighters is introduced in the form of Darli Dagger. Darli is a shipwright who has mastered the use of various tools. She washed ashore an island at an early age, where carpenters taught her how to make things and pirates taught her how to protect herself and survive. She is currently building a ship said to be unsinkable with her comrades at the island’s workshop.
The video can be found below while the game itself is set to be released on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in June in North America and Europe with a Switch and PC version arriving sometime winter 2019.
It’s time to return to the land of sun, sand, and wild corruption in Tropico 6. Players will lead their small island nation through the colonial era all the way to modern times. The latest addition to the long running city sim franchise builds upon previous titles with overhauled research mechanics, a new archipelago system, new transportation and infrastructure options, and the return of election speeches.
Story
Tropico 6 doesn’t
offer the most in-depth story, but each mission does provide a little story
scenario to explain the goals of the mission. The writers offer some stinging
political satire at times, though they usually stick to more light hearted
parody. The humour is rarely subtle, but there’s enough variety that it should
elicit a chuckle from most people.
Gameplay
At its core, Tropico 6
is all about ensuring El Presidente is able to stay in power. Players are
given the latitude to be the benevolent dictator, the ruthless tyrant, or
something in between. To stay in the presidential palace, players need to
appease a variety of political groups, foreign powers, and the local
population. The people of Tropico have a variety of needs that must be
addressed with infrastructure and services, such as economic, health, and
happiness. To fund building projects, players will need to create a thriving
economy, through production and trade. Of course, players who are less
interested in the success of their people can line their Swiss bank accounts
with money at the expense of their population. To do so, players have access to
a whole bag of dirty tricks to keep their citizens in line and ensure they
express their undying loyalty to their dear El Presidente at the ballot boxes.
Tropico 6 is one
of the better documented Tropico games
since the franchise was rebooted in current form in 3. There are a series of tutorial missions that introduces players
to the basic concepts of the game. The player’s grasp of those mechanics is
expanded and tested with the missions. Each mission offers a specific set of
goals players need to accomplish, allowing players to try their hand at a
variety of approaches to the game. Along with mission goals, the game will
often give players hints or offer objectives if they seem to be missing a major
bit of infrastructure or lagging behind on a major mechanic. There is still
room for improvement. Some things like how happiness is calculated is not well
explained, leaving players to either figure it out on their own or consult
Google.
Tropico 6’s era
system gives a game a decent amount of variety as each era will bring new edicts,
buildings, economic options, and challenges. For example, the importance of
tourism is slightly dampened in 6, as
tourism is not an option until in later eras. Each new era helps break up the
monotony of previous titles as the additions are often enough for players to
have to rejig their set up a bit to respond to changing times.
The economy is rather broad, offering players a good bit of
flexibility on how they want to approach the game. The new import/export system
offers players an extra boost in income, especially those willing to do a
little min/maxing. Some more eclectic gameplay mechanics like pirate raids that
were first introduced to the series in DLC packs have now been added to the
base game in 6.
The political system is at a good spot, with just enough
complexity and impact for players to pay attention without being overwhelming.
The new research system gives politics a feeling of progression and paces things
out nicely. While domestic politics feels more important due it’s more direct nature,
foreign politics still has a role to play as friendly nations can send some much-needed
aid and enemies can make life extremely difficult for a player.
One of my biggest issues with Tropico 6 is how difficult managing happiness can be. Happiness with
a specific service appears to be calculated as an average of all the building
qualities associated with the service. Often times, sorting out problems with
low happiness requires players to go back and completely destroy old buildings
in favour of more modern ones. Housing and, to a lesser extent, entertainment
buildings can be a real pain to manage. The buildings tend to be smaller, so
trying to individually weed out the outdated ones or find mismatched occupants can
be a frustrating exercise.
The controls for Tropico
6 are good. The menus are well organized in a logical manner. Notifications
are actionable, allowing for players to deal with new issues quickly. While the
game can be played exclusively with a mouse, Limbic has provided a lot of options
for keyboard shortcuts. Most of them are unbound to start with, but power gamer
can easily access most features with hotkey if they so desire.
Visuals
The graphics in Tropico
6 are solid. The game’s art style is cartoony with a bit of realism. The style
fits Tropico’s satirical nature well.
It’s hard to appreciate Tropico 6’s detail
from the god-like view in the sky, but every citizen can be seen going about
their daily lives. As a nice touch, there is a good bit of visual customization
options available for players who are interested in making Tropico their own.
Audio
Tropico 6’s soundtrack
is fantastic. It’s packed with Latin and Caribbean music that always sounds
like vacations to me. The sound effects are well done, but the voice acting is
a bit of a hit or miss. Generally, the voice actors embrace a cheesy B-movie
type performance that fits well with Tropico
6’s ridiculous theme. However, there are a few actors that miss the mark
and just sound plain bad. I also found the lines for smaller characters to be
rather limited. Each faction representative only has a couple of spoken lines
to accompany their text requests. Players will definitely hear the same lines
over the course of a game considering how much each faction will pester a player.
Overall
Tropico 6 is a solid addition to the long running franchise. The game’s audio/visual presentation is solid. It serves as an excellent entry point into the world of simulation games with its tutorial and missions. There are some micromanagement annoyances and missing documentation that hobbles the game a bit, but nothing severe enough to make the game unenjoyable.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
With Mortal Kombat 11 set to be released next week Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios have released the official launch trailer for Mortal Kombat 11. Not only is this trailer set to a remix of the extremely familiar song from the original series dating back to 1995 but if you keep a close eye on the video, you’ll see another four armed female fighter that has been in previous games but has yet to be confirmed as a fighter in this one.
Alongside this trailer the companies have also released a trailer that shows off the pre-order bonus fighter Shao Kahn and you can check out both of these trailers below. As for the game itself Mortal Kombat 11 is set to be released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on April 23rd.
