If you helped fund the OUYA Kickstarter then you’ll be excited to know that shipping for the indie console starts on March 28. Those who didn’t can still get on board but you’ll have to wait until June, which isn’t all that long. Some pretty great teams are being assembled to make OUYA exclusives and/or launch titles.
Valve’s Kim Swift, whose work on Portal and Left 4 Dead brought her much acclaim, is working on a OUYA exclusive. No official announcement on the content of the game as yet other than proclaiming it will appeal to ‘core gamers.’ She’ll be teaming with Airtight Games.
Minority Media are currently developing a game that is designed to utilise the OUYA’s touchpad and buttons simultaneously. Minority Media are the team that developed the critically acclaimed PaPo & Yo.
‘The Ball,’ developed by Tripwire Interactive, will be coming to OUYA in March. They’ve also announced that a OUYA exclusive, intending to extend on their iconic FPS puzzler titles.
‘ChronoBlade’ will also be coming to OUYA. nWay, a web & mobile free-to-play developer, and the OUYA developer team are working together in order to optimise the game for a television screen-sized experience.
On the back of that huge info dump, they’ve also announced that Kellee Santiago, co-founder of thatgamecompany and maker of ‘Journey’ will be the new head of lead developer relations. The title has been tagged DBF or Developer’s Best Friend. This move is all a part of making sure that developers can get tight feed back and involvement from the people they require it most from.
As Spiders Studio is nearing the release of Mars War Logs they and publisher Focus Home Interactive have thought now is the perfect time to announce their next game. Intended for release before the end of the year, Bound by Flame is an Action RPG with a main character possessed by a flame demon. The kicker? It is up to the player if they will sell pieces of the character’s soul in exchange for power or maintain piety for heroic traits instead.
Players will have a lot of choices as not only will they decide from giving into temptation, but also full customization of the main character from gender to facial features. Players will also have three skill trees to decide how they want to fill them, but should have plenty of chances to try out different ways as choices in the game will impact how things will play out.
Bound by Flame also allows players to craft and improve equipment, such as weapons and armor to ensure they are exactly how they want them in order to combat the vast bestiary, which will include a great variety of creatures to face. From shadow dragons, to liches, to ice creatures to name a few, as well as the Swamp Beast which can be seen in the picture above.
While they are a little short on other details currently there will be plenty of time to show off much more of the game in the intervening time. Bound by Flame will be released for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC at the end of 2013.
Overview
Have you ever been initiated into a group of people? Well, I can guarantee you probably have never been initiated into a group of mages. When joining a group of people, you normally train alongside a “master” of the trade for quite some time before getting your hands dirty. But of course the best way to test out your current prowess is to throw you into a fray of goblins…
Story
Albeit the demo was short, I found the story to be interesting enough to want to pursue further. Starting off as the fire mage – D’arc, you are given the task to prove your worthiness of receiving your initial magical powers. By acquiring a gem and performing rigorous tasks to illuminate the object, D’arc can finally practice his skills as a mage. However, your teacher teleports you to a forest where he does not join you. Waylayed by enemy goblins you must think fast and utilize your new abilities in order to save your own skin.
And there you have the demo in a nutshell. Being short and simple, Mage’s Initiation sets up a viable storyline in a fantasy point-and-click adventure.
Gameplay
I would first like to point out that I jumped right into the game disregarding all instructions. It is a personal habit which allows me to dissect a game internally by identifying its learning curve without knowledge of basic/advanced controls. At first I noticed that my character could only walk everywhere with the left mouse click. Further investigation made me aware that double-left clicking enabled the character to sprint to target location. Testing out the right mouse button provided additional options for inspection such as: use, talk, look, inventory item, and spell. Finding these options made the demo much easier to traverse.
One aspect that needs close attention is active battles in a point-and-click adventure. I have noticed that in any point-and-click that response times are a bit sluggish in processing commands. As seen in Mage’s Initiation, the action of walking and running seem slow at the moment and could cause frustrations while in active battles. I am guessing that the team is currently working to improve this performance before the final launch.
Conclusion
With the demo being a very slim experience it is hard to tell at the moment how much content that will be provided upon release. We do know that four different mages can be selected at the start but the developing storyline could essentially be the same experience with a few twists. Other concerns will strictly deal with combat and the effectiveness of movement when in these active environments. If battles remain sluggish with player movement, the combat element will become tough to grow accustom to and deter players from enjoying the active battles. Fine tuning this area of the title will definitely bring out the role playing elements instilled through the rest of game.
To help Himalaya Studios further with the project you can donate at their Kickstarter page (here) or even give an approving vote at their Steam Greenlight (here).
March 14th is creeping up on us, when God of War: Ascension will rip and slash its way onto store shelves. We previously brought you my impressions of the single-player build shown at EB Expo 2012 and the more recent Multiplayer Beta, but today I have a detailed preview of the opening 30 minutes of the game for you, which I was fortunate enough to play at the Sony Computer Entertainment Australia offices.
To begin, an intro video plays featuring a voice-over of Gaia recounting history (as we have come to be familiar with). She speaks of the “Primordials”; beings whose rage led to their own demise and consequently the creation of our world. Not only would these elementals – the embodiments of water, blood, rock and other forms – create the world we live in, but their battles would also result in the manifestation of the Furies; “the guardians of honour and enforcers of punishment.” If you break a blood-oath with a God, as Aegaeon the Hecatonchires did – now suffering as a living prison – then the Furies would deem you punishable by means worse than death; eternal torture. Kratos is one such victim.
The gameplay begins as Megaera – the Fury (or Goddess) of Jealousy – taunts and batters a chained up Kratos. As the perspective moves behind Kratos’ shoulder, Megaera attempts to swipe at him with her spider-like appendages. This is the very first instance of a quick-time event (QTE) without any button prompts, which are still featured heavily in the bigger boss battles. Here, the side at which Megaera attacks is highlighted by a purple glow on the relative appendages. Time slows down for you to react and dodge to the opposite direction using the left analog stick. Soon enough, Kratos breaks free of his trappings and you are enabled to attack with light and heavy blows in-between dodges.
Slicing Megaera’s abdomen with the end of his chain, Kratos tackles her down to the lover levels of the structure and gives chase as she scurries off in evident fear (although she continues her trash-talk). This is where the player’s re-initiation with the control scheme truly commences. You’ll be jumping over fallen pillars and partaking in miniature combat situations with these parasites – a new enemy which emerges from Megaera’s diseased flesh. They explode on clean contact and so grappling them with R1 and throwing them is advantageous, not only to prevent that from happening, but also to turn the tables and use them as a sort of grenade, if you will. As Kratos is seemingly catching up to Megaera – the camera closing in to reiterate that fact – the conniving Fury destroys the ground from underneath Kratos, causing him to fall into an enclosed prison chamber.
There are “cells” on either side that house some unassuming captives. However, those parasites I mentioned earlier crawl into these cells, attach themselves to the heads of the prisoners and take them over, apparently controlling their minds and making them stronger. The ensuing battle is the first real chance to explore the combat system. After causing enough damage, Kratos’ rage meter is filled, automatically swapping out his move-set for more dangerous blows, as opposed to being a manual mechanic in previous games. A unique special attack is executed for each face button that is pressed with L1, although only one is available from the get-go; L1 and ‘O’ has Kratos pound on the ground, momentarily stunning any enemies in its radius. After the initial waves are defeated, new ones emerge, this time equipped with an “enemy weapon”, which can also be picked up by the player and used by pressing ‘O’.
I don’t know what this particular weapon is called, but it’s a kind of sword that can be thrown for maximum damage by pressing R1 and ‘O’ together (although you naturally lose the weapon after that). It’s better to save that attack for the bigger, more difficult baddies. Something new that I did not witness in previous builds is the fact that enemies with these weapons are now more inclined to block a lot more frequently. And, finally, I understand the use of the thrust-kick (‘O’ with no enemy weapon equipped) as it is used to break their guard. The benefit of using this unarmed attack was never clear to me prior, especially in the multiplayer beta. After dispatching the remaining minions, Kratos continues his pursuit of Megaera up and out of the prison.
After another battle sequence involving the parasites and minions, Megaera’s parasites infect one of the Hecatonchires’ 100 hands, which disfigures and transmutes into a grotesque, bug-like creature with sharp, rocky blades for forearms (and armour, funnily enough). Similar to the Megaera confrontation at the start, this beast will attack with either blade that will glow (this time a gold tint) as a visual cue for the players to get the hell out of the way! The hand-beast hangs over the edge of the platform, coming down with stabbing and swiping motions. While rolling away from the stabs (still assigned to the right analog stick) and hopping over the swipes, I cause enough pain to be afforded a QTE where Kratos drags and throws the creature into a building, tilting the whole play-space on its side, which is basically one of the many arms of the Hecatonchires.
Now essentially walking on the faces of buildings, the enemy’s attacks are relatively similar, except now Kratos must jump and attack mid-air to reach the beast as it reaches down past the (then) floor, which has now become an obstructive wall. A more consistent timing element is added here as, to avoid a much broader slice, I had to roll in-between buildings, the spaces now acting like a pit in this lopsided area. Try to camp out in a pit, however, and the beast will try to flush you out with a massive strike targeted at the pit in question. After defeating it by way of forced neck-slicing via QTE, Kratos jumps off and the player must control his slide down the crumbling surface and roof shingles as many of the Hecatonchires’ arms attempt to squash you. Eventually falling down a hole into the sewers, I had to then climb up to one of the open grates, kick out the other side and climb back up to the surface.
I should have mentioned at the top that this build is the newest that has been playable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the current build internally. I say this because I did come across two small bugs/hitches. The first being that the audio cue for the grate being kicked out by Kratos played after a noticeable delay. The other involves a subsequent battle with some more of Megaera’s minions, where I grappled and threw one, who was weakened, at another and they both fell over the edge supposedly dying. However, I all of a sudden saw a head poking out of the floor…one of the minions somehow got stuck and was still attacking me from within the floor’s geometry. He automatically died almost immediately after though. Not a big deal at all, just something to note. If he hadn’t died and I couldn’t reach him and progress, then we’d have problems…
Anyway, continuing on after opening a gate, Kratos walks through another prison block whilst prisoners comment on his markings and outwardly express their hope that he will be the one to save them from the Furies. With no time to relax, Aegaeon grabs the block, rips it out of his abdominal area and rotates it. Wave after wave of enemies appear, with the block being turned after each one is beaten. Grappling out of there, I pull a lever to connect two gears and lower a ladder in the surrounding play-space. Going over to the gears, I then pull on the mechanism only to disturb a cyclops, who scales the lower, exterior wall of the platform to meet me in battle. This allows for the classic ‘controlling of the cyclops’ that has been incorporated in previous entries, where you can grab on and force it, out of agony, to smash enemies with its club and stomp them into a fine paste.
After one more transitional area, Kratos just can’t catch a break as another of Aegaeon’s bug-hand warriors (I really need its official name here!!) breaks through, grabs Kratos and smashes him through a series of stone walls, leading into the demo’s final bout. In-between its attempts to squish you with its own hands – the transfigured fingers of the original hand…it’s really disturbing – it recoils, hanging on to a column in the background from where it can hurl a bunch of parasites at Kratos. Throughout the battle, there are two QTEs where Kratos violently pulls down a part of ceiling onto the creature, weakening it for the final kill. Something of note here is that I experienced some difficulty leaping over a swiping attack, sometimes due to my own pathetic sense of timing, but other times due to what seemed like a slight collision issue where I should have cleared it, but the hand somehow still drags me across the level, although without doing any damage which makes it merely a minor annoyance.
All in all, God of War: Ascension looks poised to present another colossal chapter in Kratos’ revenge saga. It doesn’t deviate too far from what is familiar for all the fans of the series in terms of gameplay, although the few key tweaks and changes actually work much better in my opinion, such as the reassignment of the grapple and the implementation/handling of the enemy weapons. Refining, but not redefining. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Something that didn’t feature in this demo is the Life Cycle ability; a new time-bending mechanic that was highlighted in the very first single-player demo ever shown for the game (see: article introduction). It’ll be very interesting to discover how Kratos obtains this power. Also, I would be remiss not to mention the graphical quality of Ascension. When God of War III was released many lauded its graphics. Well, with Ascension, I’m pretty sure the PS3 has been squeezed for all its power. It looks amazing.
What separates God of War from other franchises such as Clash of the Titans is tone. Greek Mythology is amazing, but it is visceral and brutal in its original depictions. And this is why God of War is so appealing to me; it takes from that source material, adapts those tales, but doesn’t neuter the mature themes and the violence that is present in the original stories. It embraces them. In turn, the games include some truly epic set pieces, and I was admittedly unsure about how the team at Sony Santa Monica would top the Titan and God interactions of God of War III. But, I feel much more at ease now that I’ve gotten to experience a level even larger than the Titans in the ‘Prison of the Living Damned’ that is Aegaeon the Hecatonchires. And we’re promised that it only gets more mind-blowing as the campaign goes on. Personally, I can’t wait.
Video game publisher eFusion MMOG GmbH has just announced that Dragon Nest Europe, a free-to-play MMORPG, has begun testing in their closed beta. Prior to its grand opening on March 6, 2013, closed beta testers will be able to compete in a PvP format “lag free” on a single mulit-lingual server.
During the closed beta, players will be gearing to achieve the challenge of reaching 8,000 concurrent beta testers accessing the application. If this milestone is reached, all characters will be kept for the official launch on March 6. Additionally, newcomers will have a chance to acquire a beta test key by accessing the following link (here). Beta keys will be given out all the way up to the game’s launch.
For exclusive in-game events planned for the closed beta, look for information on the Official Dragon Nest Europe Website. Don’t forget to check out the trailer below!
Developers Paradox Interactive are putting their unique stamp on the MMO genre with their title Salem: The Crafting. In order for gamers to get a taste of what their vision is, they have announced an open beta for the game. There is a live streaming event planned for today at 1 p.m. PST welcoming the players to their world on www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive. The games setting is the frontier times in North America as players are forced to survive the wilderness.
That is no small task however, as players must learn the skills necessary to forge their home in the untamed wilderness; you must scavenge for food and harvest resources from the land. The game features an open sandbox world where tools and homes can be crafted and to interact with other players in the game. That may not always be recommended as the PvP of Salem few restrictions and there is no law except community made laws. Paradox has also added another twist to the “survival” aspect, as death is a permanent thing on the frontier. This is just but one of the ways the developers are attempting to set their title apart from the MMORPG crowd of the day. They have also altered the traditional structure of the MMO as well, offering a constant community with actual consequences for conflict and actions within the game world. For those interested in participating in the beta, the game can be downloaded at www.salemthegame.com.
Cognition – An Erica Reed Thriller has unleashed two great episodes for PC/Mac thus far with “The Hangman” and “The Wise Monkey“. And now – as promised – Phoenix Online Studios has brought the title to iOS with a demo version and full title available for iPad. Originally priced at $4.99, The Hangman for iPad is discounted by 20% to only $3.99 (HERE). This is basically a steal for a great murder mystery!
Here’s a little run down for those that have not heard of Cognition. You’re Erica Reed, a Boston FBI agent, who is directly involved in a Cain Killer serial murder. Her brother has been kidnapped by the Cain Killer, and she is on a desperate hunt to save her twin from imminent death. But will she be too late?
Don’t forget to look at the new Episode 1 trailer exclusive to the iPad below! To check out the Cognition further, look no further. –> HERE <–
It turns out that even Ubisoft couldn’t keep the leaksfrom coming out of their secret ship containing Assassin’s Creed IV’s details. As such, the company chose to blow the whole thing wide open and today the company confirmed that the next Assassin’s Creed title will indeed be Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and it will be released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and PC.
To go along with the announcement the company released the game’s box art, which is the rumored box art from earlier today, which can be seen to the right and is clickable for a high-res version and they also stated that players will be controlling a new assassin that has been rumored to be called Edward Kenway. Also revealed is that the PS3 version will have sixty minutes of exclusive content. The full announcement containing additional information will be made on Monday.
Ironsun Studios today announced that it will be crowd funding it’s title: Fathom. Fathom is a 2.5d action adventure game set in a neo-gothic undersea world with a nice steampunk vibe to it. The game will combine puzzle elements into its adventure along with some combat.
What’s looking great about this game is that its design is quite unique. If I had to compare this game to anything, it’d be the Archimedean/Aquanox series, but that’s only because of the underwater setting. The unique designs on the underwater world and the submarines themselves are quite great and I’m really enjoying the aesthetics of what we’ve seen so far.
Fathom is on Kickstarter until March 29. The developers hope to raise £120,000.00. Also be sure to check out the official sitefor more info.
Welcome aboard pc gamers to the historical period of WWI and WWII and join the fleet on March 27th for the closed beta Navy Field 2. Nexon America announced today that registrations are open to sign up for the free massively multiplayer online real time strategy game (MMORTS).
However due to the space restrictions, only a certain amount of players who sign-up will be chosen to participate in the closed-beta period from March 27th-April 10th. For those lucky crewmen on deck, each player will receive an exclusive in-game item.
The tactical navy force game features intense action-packed naval battles for up to 32 vs. 32-players. Navy Field 2 is designed to allow players to choose one of several nations and their own warship from an extensive range of over 500 ships, including cruisers, destroyers and battleships. As can be expected, bigger ships and upgrades of fire control systems, weapons and engines are available once players level up.
In preparation for war check out the teaser trailer for Navy Field 2!
