Debuting at the price of $9.99 Nemesys Team Studio’sFortix 2 will reach the low price of $1.99 starting tomorrow, there is a catch however as this great deal can currently only be found on the Steamnetwork but more outlets will be announced at a later time. And the price cut is not the only reason to be excited as Steam is celebrating the announcement on SteamGifts.com by giving away 2000 Steam of the original Fortix game to the lucky winners.
For those not in the know Fortix 2 has gamers controlling main character Sir Fortix as he tries to overcome the evil power that main antagonist Xitrof has spread through our heroes homeland. The gameplay is reminiscent of the game Qix combined with a strategic turret defense style game with some twists. The players must go through the various regions that have become overrun with evil and purge that area of enemies. The developers haven’t made a small game either as the title spans forty-five levels and four very different environments for the players to conquer and cleanse.
With the price cut taking effect the developers are expecting to open the title up to an even larger market of strategy fans than it had previous access too, and hopefully will make it easier for Nemesys to continue keeping the games coming.
In an unprecedented move, Polish developers CD Projekt RED released a user friendly version of the development tools used to create The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. The tools were accidentally released four days ago for a short time.
The REDkit tools will allow players to create realistic worlds by using The Witcher 2’s or their own assets all without being literate in a programming language or 3d modelling software. Modders will be able to access dynamic day and night cycles, terrain creation tools, and character creation tools that helped build The Witcher 2.
Additionally, CD Projekt RED announced Philipp Weber is the winner of the very first Mod of the Month and the REDkit Mod contest. His mod Lykaon adds several hours of gameplay to The Witcher 2. REDkit and the mod can be found at the official REDkit website.
Metro: Last Light Developer: 4A Games Publisher:Deep Silver Platforms:PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (Reviewed) Release Date:May 14, 2013 Price:$59.99
Overview: Many gamers have been concerned about the overabundance of shooters on the market nowadays. However over the last few years, many first person shooters have been released which have been widely regarded as excellent games. When Metro 2033 was first released by THQ in 2010, 4A Games’ title was seen as a nice change of pace that was held back by a number of small problems. Now, with a new publisher in the form of Deep Silver bringing Metro: Last Light to gamers, will Last Light stand out from the rest?
Story: Metro: Last Light places players behind the eyes of Artyom once again, only now he has been fully promoted to the level of a Ranger after the events of Metro 2033. Last Light proceeds forward with the normal ending of 2033 where Artyom used a missile silo to destroy a large “Dark One” nest which had been apparently threatening to destroy the surviving humans in the Metro.
However now that some time has passed, it appears that there may be one Dark One still left alive. There had been hints that the surface dwelling mutants had been trying to reach out to Atryom in the past, and now that there is one still left alive players are tasked with tracking it down. However when Artyom is captured and the Dark One is secreted away by an organization with dark intentions, players must track it down even if it means going against the Communist Red Line, the Fourth Reich and numerous mutants to do so.
Metro: Last Light’s story is strangely paced and at times it seems more like a rollercoaster than anything else. Players are taken along for quite a ride as they venture through the Metro and wasteland of Moscow but the process feels rather disjointed with plenty of shifts in tone and leaps in reasoning. However one thing that Last Light does well is create a living, breathing, terrible world.
Keeping an ear open and an eye on the world around you is essential for almost any game, however in Last Light, doing so is quite rewarding. Plenty of side-conversations can be heard through NPCs in civilian areas and even in hostile areas and these snippets not only expand the world but also give narrative to the events around you. Along those same lines, the extensive level of detail to the level design of each area helps tell the story of almost every place the player must venture through.
Visuals: Metro: Last Light may surprise many when they first begin walking through the tunnels of the Metro. When one thinks of a post-apocalyptic shooter full of browns and greys, it tends to mean that it will be run of the mill forgettable. However thanks to some great graphic design and impressive use of dynamic lighting, everything in Metro: Last Light is stellar looking.
The various tunnels the player travels through are surprisingly varied but the above-ground sections are where Metro: Last Light’s graphics engine truly flexes it’s muscles as these areas are gorgeously presented. Traveling through the overgrown wasteland of post-apocalypse Moscow, with a gas mask visor which often is covered in grime, rain drops or even blood from mutated enemies, all of which can be wiped off to see better, is an experience that cannot be missed.
As mentioned before, there is a large amount of detail to every area’s level design and keeping an eye on the world around you will pay off in spades. Walking through a level and coming across skeletons of the war huddled around one another, frozen in their dying moments, creates a poignant moment in an already grim game.
Audio: With the amount of side-conversation and main dialogue in Last Light, it is nice to see that 4A Games went the extra mile to make sure that the characters in the game were given great voice actors. Even when playing in English, players are presented characters with thick Russian accents, though if you really want to enhance the experience, shifting to the Russian voice track (with English subtitles of course) adds some nice authenticity to the experience.
As for the game’s soundtrack and background noise, it is simply stunning. A game like Metro: Last Light which relies on stealth and offers such great creepy level design requires excellent sound design and thankfully Last Light does not disappoint. Traveling through dark tunnels infested with mutated creatures carries a sense of the unknown as you can hear rubble shifting around you and any time the game does enter spooky territory, it never does so with a simple jump-scare.
In fact, the best moment in the game saw unintelligible whispering growing to a fever pitch as I explored an area where obviously many men had lost their lives, and it truly felt as if the souls of those dead were whispering their scorn to the living who had intruded upon the place where they breathed their last.
Gameplay: Metro: Last Light hasn’t changed too much in gameplay structure, however it has been given a number of balance shifts which will please newcomers but may put off some veterans. At its core Last Light is a first person shooter with stealth elements and a hint of survival aspects added in. In this sequel each of these mechanics have been revamped for the better, but also for the worse.
In Metro 2033, taking on a group of enemies would likely mean your death if you didn’t play smart, however now in Last Light it is entirely possible to take out every enemy you come across through simple gunfire, since players now have access to quite a lot of ammunition, can survive more damage with regenerating health and carry five health packs and many of the weapons in the game have seen a damage boost to the point where enemies can be dropped in a few shots. However while it is possible to run and gun your way through the game, it isn’t quite as fun as the alternative.
While stealth isn’t necessary, it is now possible to create tackle any encounter you come across with both stealth and gunfire. This is thanks to the fact that the lighting mechanics in Last Light play a major fact in stealth, allowing players to blow out candles/lamps, unscrew light bulbs, flip off circuit breakers or simply shoot out the lights, creating a dark playground for the player to hunt in. Players can silently eliminate enemies with throwing knives or up close with either a knife execution or knock out or even pick off enemies with silenced weaponry.
In fact, stealth seems like it is in fact a bit over powered now in Metro: Last Light. While mutants you fight against cannot be taken down this way, nearly all human enemies are susceptible to player’s in stealth mode. Thanks to a handy watch indicator that reveals when players can be seen, it is very easy to avoid light sources and whenever the players are in the dark, they are practically invisible to enemy AI. So much so that players can execute enemies right beside one another without worrying about their situation. It also doesn’t help that silenced weaponry makes the player nigh-impossible to detect, especially with a silenced shotgun as odd as that sounds.
When the player is discovered, the enemy AI reacts surprisingly realistic to the situation. They will activate headlamps, search where they saw the player last and if you fire at them from the dark, they will take random shots in your general direction, hoping to either get a lucky hit or drive you from cover. This also means of course you can fire from darkness in one spot, draw your enemies close and sneak to another area and open fire on them from a different angle, leaving them at your mercy.
This means that although mutated creatures can be a bit difficult to fight at times, most combat encounters are quite easy to overcome and thanks to an overabundance of ammo, players will likely never feel the need to use Military Grade Rounds, of which there are also an abundance thanks to the numerous weapons laying around that players can sell off at various locations in the game if they so choose. It also doesn’t help that there is quite an overabundance of filters for the player’s gas mask so even with that the survival aspect has been limited greatly.
It is worth noting that there are a number of side-objectives, though not specified in any way, that the player can finish in any given level as well as a handful of collectible notes that are scattered in each stage. These side-missions can be missed but if the player chooses to, they can travel back to any given level and replay it from the main menu.
It is also worth noting that there is a “Ranger Mode” which does take away some of this overabundance, but even then it isn’t overly difficult to make your way through the game on this mode. Also this mode is only available for early buyers of the game or later DLC so it shouldn’t be relied upon.
Overall: Metro: Last Light may have decided to go a safer route with its difficulty level by offering players some strong weaponry, enhancing the stealth aspects and an abundance of resources, but because of this it allows players to choose their paths through the Metro at will. Stealthily eliminating enemies or planning your next move is very enjoyable and thanks to great world building and an exceptional atmosphere, Metro: Last Light offers a haunting experience with excellent combat all taking place in one of the most memorable settings you’ll experience in quite some time.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
But if you were searching around Youtube last night, you may have stumped upon the first unveiling/sighting of PlayStation 4 – yes box and all.
In between people’s glowing Playstation face button retinas and a robot voice asking us if “we want to play“, lies our first glimpse of the PlayStation 4….right? Wrong.
However as it turns out that video is complete fake.
A representative from Sony’s American division confirmed with Kotaku earlier today that the super-slick teaser trailer is in fact a dud, adding that the clip wasn’t produced or released by them.
Oh well, we’ll just have to wait a little longer till Sony’s official E3 2013 presentation on Monday June 10.
As for the hoax video? No one has claimed responsibility over it….yet.
Could the next Mass Effect game feature Garrus, Grunt, or even The Illusive Man as its next protagonist? Well these could be a possibility according to Casey Hudson Executive Producer on the Mass Effect series speaking with the Official Xbox Magazine.
“There’s so much that could be told in the Mass Effect universe. It’d be cool to do something completely unrelated to the larger storyline, like a story about a private investigator on the Citadel. Or maybe something detailing Garrus’ time in C-Sec.”
But he’s not the only one, other BioWare developers have also weighed into the discussion, lead writer Mac Walters, producer Mike Gamble, and level designers Dusty Everman and Preston Watamaniuk have added that characters like Aria, The Illusive Man, Kai Leng, and Javik would make great gameplay.
Preston Watamaniuk states that a new game in the Mass Effect series could focus on “brutal Krogan combat with more of a melee focus”, adding that a game like that could be pretty exciting.
Announced last September BioWare is working on the next Mass Effect game, but won’t the protagonist of the last three games Commander Shepard due to the ambiguous fate/ending of Mass Effect 3 – but hey we liked the game.
The next Mass Effect game may also tie into the new IP BioWare is making along with the upcoming live action Mass Effect film by Legendary Pictures, though that might be a bit of a stretch, but here’s hoping.
Online game retailer Bundle Stars has today announced its new Stellar Bundle of otherworldly indie PC/Mac shooter awesomeness at an equally otherworldly and awesome price. For a mere AU$1, you can snag yourself four Steam titles – at a 96% saving.
The Bundle, titled ‘Zombies Vs Aliens’ features four of the indie community’s most loved cult titles. By purchasing from Bundle Stars, players will also be supporting both the developers directly and the awesome UK based charity SpecialEffect, who work to help children and adults with severe disabilities enjoy computer games.
For just AU$1 players will land themselves Steam keys for:
Zombie Shooter – which pits players against hordes of the undead as they strive to survive, and save what remains of humanity. Earn money to upgrade your gear, experiment with different weapons and more.
Zombie Shooter 2 – which blends the familiar action of Zombie Shooter with RPG elements, offering three unique game modes – Campaign, Survive and Gun Stand, Choose a character, hone your skills, earn money, choose from over 60 weapon types, medications and devices and take the fight to thousands of enemies.
Alien Shooter Revisited – which sees players take on hordes of bloodthirsty monsters, earn skill points to access the full range of weapons and equipment, including good old fashioned dynamite.
Alien Hallway – which is an intense, action packed strategy shooter. Offering a dynamic single-player campaign, control of entire armies and super-powered weaponry, players will need to collate their skills to survive.
Grant Hughes, Digital Director for Bundle Stars, added:
“Destroying vast hordes of the undead has never been more satisfying, or affordable. Zombies Vs Aliens gets our new range of Stellar Bundles off to an electrifying start with four highly entertaining indie games from Sigma Team….Stellar Bundles are carefully curated to give gamers more bang for their buck. Now all our gamer friends can enjoy a bonus, ultra-low-price gaming fix in between our best-selling headline bundles.”
Thinking of taking BundleStars up on their offer? Then don’t wait too long, as this deal is only valid for a limited time.
Today, Norway (Bergen) based Indie developer Rain AS announced Teslagrad, a new story-driven PCaction/puzzle sidescroller with several twists. Currently in the alpha stage of development, Teslagrad is now awaiting community approval and is scheduled for release on Steam by autumn of this year.
The game offers a new take on the action/puzzle genre by focusing the puzzle element around physics, electromagnetism and non-linear level design. Boasting over 100 stunning hand drawn environments set in ”a steampunk-inspired vision of old Europe”, a mesmerising soundtrack and immersive, entirely visual storytelling, Teslagrad certainly sounds like a project to follow.
Rain AS take pride in producing small, high quality titles presented with style, care and the player experience in mind. For more information on this or other Rain AS titles, be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
The new screenshots feature several characters and locations from the fourth part of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series, Diamond is not Crash. Featured characters include recently revealed Koichi Hirose and Akira Otoishi, with their respective stands Echoes and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
You can check out the new screenshots featuring Diamond is Not Crash focus location Morioh Town and its various stand-user inhabitants below.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle is slated to hit Japanese stores on August 29th exclusively for the PlayStation 3. Stay tuned for more on this upcoming title.
According to the UK charts, Deep Silver’sDead Island: Riptide is still at the top of the list for the third week since the games release in late April.
Records from Chart-Track show that the only other title to claim No 1. for three consecutive weeks was Bioshock Infinite earlier this year, now positioned as No.6.
Following Dead Island: Riptide this week at No. 2 isCall of Duty: Black Ops II, replacing last weeks Injustice: Gods Among Us, now No.4. Unsurprisingly Tomb Raider remains at No. 3 for the second week on the UK charts and FIFA 13 hasshifted one place down to No 5.
Check out our review for Dead Island: Riptide here. Who thinks that Dead Island: Riptide will carry on as No. 1 next week? Let us know in the comments section below.
As series director Jacob Hickey so declaratively says ‘The story of mining is the story of Australia.’ While it may be commercially convenient for him to hold this view, this perspective is very clear from watching Dirty Business. The geographical scale of mining is complimented by the temporal scale covered throughout each of the three episodes. Australians should definitely watch this show, considering the impact this industry has on our lives, our politics and our rights. For non-Australians this insight will introduce you to our society on a meta-functional level. Considering the intersects mining apparently has with the rest of our social organisation you’ll also receive glimpses into our culture, various local communities and a perspective on history that shines light on the source of our wealth as well as the social injustices that such wealth usually attracts.
Story
Dirty Business has 3 separate sections: Money, Power and Land. Each of these is given its own episode, cherry picking moments of history relevant to the core theme. These hand picked moments are always chronologically ordered, which makes following the trajectory this documentary is proposing simple. While they try for balance, every time something positive about the companies is mentioned it’s either tainted by the true nature of their motives or happens as a result of companies trying to screw over a minority. The end result is a series that is quite critical of the industry while retaining an awareness of the significance of mining to our economy and international standing. Really, you can’t blame them. As the evidence piles up before you, particularly around the political machinations these companies exploited, there seems to be little else to conclude.
The Rinehart empire gets considerable coverage as does the emergence of BHP. The shift from miners digging to depths of 5 metres to mega-corporations coming in and creating mine shafts is depicted as a dramatic pivot. As a result the histories of unionism and workers’ rights are revealed, creating a story of emancipation over a prolonged period of time. Intertwined histories of racism, Chinese immigration and the White Australia policy graphically demonstrate Australia’s racially charged past. When those issues are then combined with workers’ rights, a complex interweaving of multiple narratives we may have all heard before convey a new perspective on our history. One that is darker and fuller than what we may have heard before.
Indigenous affairs feature prominently throughout the series, continuing to uncover more of the dark history of Australian colonisation. Toward the end, Dirty Business tries to paint the industry as the new saviour through employment. Having so thoroughly established the human rights abuses conducted at the behest of both the companies and the workers you cant help get the feeling that some savvy marketer had come up with a PR solution that also gave them access to minerals as opposed to having an interest in the rights of the first Australians. A lot is exposed here that should make you feel ashamed, whether directed at the treatment of Chinese and Indigenous people, the exploitation of workers rights or complete lack of concern about the impact of commercial mining. There is a crushingly ironic revelation when it is uncovered that the bombing of Darwin in WWII was committed with materials mined in Australia.
The contemporary political landscape is explored as well. From Communist workers’ groups in the 60s to the impact of Rudd’s leadership spill, a comprehensive lens is cast over the present. Analysis of how mining companies destabilised the government through tens of millions of dollars of propaganda is well executed, if not frightening in understanding the impact of special interests. Unfortunately we don’t see too much from the government’s side. Blanks of information like this are missing from time to time in this documentary. While documentary makers have this prerogative, such an exclusion feels like a meaty chunk of the pie is missing.
Visuals & Audio
Dirty Business is the perfect example of how to handle the visual style of a documentary. There are no harsh cuts that impact the flow of information or needless pieces of visual exposition. Graphics are used expertly, underlining chucks of historical information with highly stylised appropriations of works from the era they’re discussing. In the colonial sequences this means hand painted stills are converted to 3D and layers, an effect that looks extremely professional. Contemporary sequences use a lot of news footage intercut with mining sites and seats of power. Having ditched a helicopter for a fixed wing plane, the crew capture vast amounts of the Australian landscape in one shot. Often the entire frame will be filled with a mine, leaving almost no sense of depth until you see a truck smaller than a Matchbox car crawl up a massive hill. If you have any idea of the size of Australian landscapes then you’ll enjoy the composition of these shots simply because of their intricate detail.
There’s little to say here about the audio other than it works. Another professional job, which in documentary means you really shouldn’t be noticing too much. Every now and again there’s a well placed orchestral swell that defines the height of the audio techniques used. Interviewees were selected not only on their knowledge of the topic but for their ability to comprehend the narrative the series heads were trying to convey. As a casting technique it’s extremely effective. Each person giving forth an opinion here is invested in the conversation, from journalists to political figures. Having an understanding of the director’s thematic trajectory also means that each quote that is taken fits neatly into the sequences they’re placed in.
Extras
Despite there being 11 special features, we can break them down into two different categories: the making of and extended interviews. A making of can either be a giant cheese fest or a worthwhile inspection of how the piece was created. In this instance the making of is exceptional. Even though the content itself is fantastically articulated within the documentary, this insight demonstrates how difficult such a show can be to produce. Having watched so many last minute filler packages jammed onto DVDs, here’s a production that knows what it wants to achieve with the medium. The same can be said for the show as a whole. The extended interviews on the other hand are a little less contextual. If you want to learn more you’ll love these interviews but you can see why they weren’t included in the series. Excluding them from the documentary at large was a good choice by the editors.
Overall
Dirty Business: How Mining Made Australia is a documentary that knows what it wants to achieve, sets out to do it and then gets it done. Documentary fans will appreciate this even if they’re not exactly excited by the topic simply because of the artful execution on display here. Not to infer that the content isn’t any good. Defining the parameters of the mining debate with information many people wouldn’t have been aware of is exactly what Australia needs right now. Considering the CSG debate in the United States, oil stripping in Canada and resource projects the world over I believe that there’s something relevant for everyone no matter where you’re from. History buffs will particularly enjoy how the colonial era is rendered, spots and all. This DVD will ensure you win any debate when somebody tries to bring up mining, no matter your perspective. If you’re looking for a pro-mining line you may have to dig a little deeper into this than others. Maybe it’s bias or maybe the situation is just that bad.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
