Cognition Episode 2: The Wise Monkey has just been released for PC and Mac. Being the second part of a four episode adventure, Erica Reed’s tale grows darker and more mysterious when more field agents are thrown into a serial killer’s war path. Knowing well the art direction in the first title, The Wise Monkey proves to be the vomit wielder/messy drawers of the bunch thus far. Players will experience gauged out eye sockets along with suspenseful twists that will place more than your own life at risk.
Phoenix Online Studios has Cognition Episode 2 available as well as the “Season Pass” at their online store (here) and has also made it available on other websites such as GamersGate, Zodiac, JustAdventure, and GameFly (here). To catch a preview of the title just look below at The Wise Monkey trailer.
A single image posted to social media tells it all. The wait will soon be over for Rockstar Game’s highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto V, with the game official receiving a release date of September 17, 2013. While this may be four months later than originally planned “Spring 2013”, finally we get have some closure.
Over on Rockstar’s official website, the GTA team explained the descsion to move the game back by a few months,
We know this is about four months later than originally planned and we know that this short delay will come as a disappointment to many of you, but, trust us, it will be worth the extra time. GTAV is a massively ambitious and complex game and it simply needs a little more polish to be of the standard we and, more importantly, you require.
While the delay might be disappointing to some eager to get their hands on the game, a little wait longer for the dev team to continue polishing the game seems fair and reasonable enough.
Grand Theft Auto V is set to be released for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on September 17.
The planned re-releases of all 6 existing live-action Star Wars films, in 3D, has been put on the backburner as the focus moves towards Episode VII and beyond in the timeline.
The following is an official statement from StarWars.com:
Lucasfilm has decided to postpone this fall’s scheduled release of Star Wars Episodes II and III in 3D. Given the recent development that we are moving forward with a new Star Wars trilogy, we will now focus 100 percent of our efforts on Star Wars: Episode VII in order to ensure the best possible experience for our fans. We will post further information about our 3D release plans at a later date.
Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace has already been released with a 3D conversion in February of last year, but now Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith will have to wait their turn. The reception to Episode 1’s conversion was very mixed, so maybe this is the best move for everyone. Not only should new content take precedence – and it is – but, now with this indefinite delay on the 3D re-releases, the technology will have improved that much more and the end result will undoubtedly be much better.
On a side-note, does anyone want to tell Darth Vader that those anaglyph 3D glasses are cheap and outdated?
Croixleur is one of those games that has a title that you will have no idea on how to pronounce it. However, don’t let the unpronounceable name dissuade you from taking a look at this game, for it is quite the entertaining deal. The game is an action game to it’s core and it takes that action right up into the end.
How did we feel about Croixleur? Read on to find out more.
Story
The story in Croixleur is very, very basic. There are only a very small amount of characters in the game and they only really share a very few scenes within the title. In fact, I can summarise the story in about a sentence. The story is this: A red-haired protagonist must reach the top of a tower in less than 15 minutes and must also reach the top before her rival reaches the top of the tower first.
What’s cool is that the storyline segments in the game can be dynamic as to your progress within the game. For example, I think it’s about three red coloured combat rooms, called Ring of Nirvana, up that you encounter the first of these. If you take longer than I think it’s eight minutes, you miss out on a scene with your rival, whereas if you’re faster than that, you get to team up with her. I like how the story changes like this based on how well you’re doing.
Overall the story in Croixleur is incredibly basic. However, given the kind of game this is, I feel that the story does its job well and as such is beneficial to the title.
Gameplay
Croixleur is an action game and you can tell it’s an action game from the get go. There is no deep or complex storyline, all the characters are cocky and the basic level design all reflect the kind of game that this is. It is most certainly fun, but if you’re looking for something deep this game may not be reflective of your preferences.
The main objective of this game is to reach the top of a 15 floor tower before the timer runs out. The timer counts down from 15 minutes the moment you take a step into the first room of the game. When it reaches zero, you lose.
Each room is a circular shaped room where the player must kill all the enemies that spawn within the room in order to advance into the next circular shaped room. What gets tricky is that often you will be presented with multiple choices of room teleports. I’m not too sure how these work fully, but from what it looks like, some of these will advance you up the tower much more quickly than others. While advancing, you’ll notice that enemies change in colour, this makes them harder to kill, meaning that it takes longer later to advance and reach the top. Time management early on is vital to this game.
When you die is Croixleur, it’s game over. You can only die once then you must start again. However, starting again is beneficial in this game as it allows you to reassess your abilities and change your loadout. As you progress you will unlock additional abilities and uncover the destination of teleports. When you die, this information gets saved, making your next playthrough just a little but easier.
The gameplay in Croixleur is a lot of fun and definitely something that I’ve enjoyed playing. I’ll be coming back to this again later for sure.
Visuals
Visually speaking, Croixleur is a bit simple by todays standards, especially when it comes to a western audience. The character and enemy models are quite basic in shape and skins. Often you’ll find that stronger enemies are just repaints of older and weaker enemies. That isn’t to say that there is a lack of variety in the game when it comes to enemies, there are actually quite a few of them to fight. It’s just something that should be pointed out.
I also really quite enjoyed the Anime-ish art style with the game, as an Otaku myself, I find the art style pleasing. This look is carried across character stills in dialogue, artwork used in the very few cutscenes and even into the character models themselves. Croixleur has an Anime aesthetic and it suits the game quite well.
Audio
Croixleur has a very classic feel to its soundtrack. I want to say that it reminds me of classic gaming consoles like the Sega Megadrive, but it isn’t so much as in sound as it is in feel.
The background score is constructed simply, but it really helps to pull you into the breadth of the scenario. If it wasn’t for the music, I don’t think this game would be even half as fun as it is currently. In fact, the fact that the soundtrack fits so well is I think the reason this game works as well as it does. It’s not a brilliant masterpiece soundtrack to be sure, it isn;t something you’d listen to while not playing the game, but the way it ties the components together is what makes it good.
Unfortunately there is no voice acting in the game. As a doujin game, I wouldn’t have expected there to be either. However, many gamers are from circa 2006 and won’t know what to do with themselves should a game not appear to be fully voiced.
Overall
Croixleur is an incredibly fun game to play. It has tight and fun gameplay mechanics, a soundtrack that fits the game incredibly well and an art style that I found pleasing. While it isn’t the greatest game of all time, it is what it is meant to be: a lot of fun to play.
Publisher Chillingo announced the release of their latest game Pixel People, developed by LambdaMu Games. Players will play god as they help repopulate planet Earth after a disaster. New people can be created by splicing together the DNA of the current population of the last standing human settlement, Utopia. There are over 150 possible combinations in the game. Players will need to assign jobs to the burgeoning population of Utopia to best utilize the clones’ skills for profit and expansion.
Pixel People is available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad for free on the iTunes App Store. Download your copy here.
OUYA will be launching in March, and one of the biggest challenges the Android console faces in 2013 is games. We can all agree a low cost console is a great idea, but it needs developers ofcourse, indie or commercial. So OUYA, along with Kill Screen, hosted a game jam event called CREATE, inviting any developers to make all sorts of game prototypes over the course of 10 days. By the deadline, the OUYA team had 166 prototypes on their hands, created by developers from all over the world.
And there’s some pretty rad prizes! All the following category winners will get a $5,000 prize, plus a $1,000 bonus if their games are completed in time for OUYA’s launch:
“Most Surprising” Award: For the game that does something new and unexpected.
“Four Bright Buttons and Two Joysticks” Award: For the game demonstrating the best controls.
“Most Immersive” Award: For best demonstration of how a game feels in your living room, instead of your pocket.
“Pop Your Eyes Out” Award: For the game that astounds, visually.
“Best Couch with Friends” Award: For the game that makes us most nostalgic for the days of all-nighters and Goldeneye in our friend’s basement.
The judges are also some pretty well-known industry figure heads, including Felicia Day, Phil Fish (the designer of Fez) and composer Austin Wintory from Journey. Goodluck to all the developers involved!
Quirky and odd Brown Wizard Radagast is now available for download on Monolith’s MOBA game Guardians of Middle-Earth. Radagast uses many area-of-effect attacks to support allies and can withstand some of the more powerful enemy abilities in the game (Aganduar anyone?). This Guardian is from the book and recent film adaptation of The Hobbit, so you can now see him in action in most forms of media. Although slightly befuddled in his manner, Radagast the Brown looks set to bring a great supporting role to the battle and plenty of witty taunts to boot.
Available now for both platforms (Xbox 360 and Playstation 3), this brand new Guardian Enchanter will set you back 160 Microsoft points or approximately $2.50; free for those holders of the Guardians of Middle-Earth Season Pass. Also occurring in the realms of Tolkien’s Universe shortly is the “One Road” challenge, which sets players in a competition to see who can gain the most wins on single-lane maps, with prizes to the winner including 500 XP, 20,000 Gold and three Mithril in-game Items. This challenge is to occur between February the 2nd and 4th.
Gamers eager to get their hands on the new survival mode should also get excited, with developers Monolith stating it will be released “very soon”.
For our thoughts on the full Guardians of Middle-Earth experience, check out our review of the game here.
Players that happen to be in love with the Domo character will appreciate this piece of news. The title, Domo The Journey is out now for the iOS platforms on the iTunes marketplace. This means that gamers will now be able to purchase the game featuring the scary-looking brown character from this point forwards.
Along with news of the release, the developers and publishers over at Playlithium and Horse Feathers have shared a video showcasing the title. You can see the video embedded below for more info. The game is Domo The Journey and it is out now for the iOS platforms. It sells for $1.99 in the iTunes store.
Normand Corbeil, the French-Canadian composer who created the amazing and moving score for Quantic Dream’s ‘Heavy Rain’, has passed away.
Corbeil had been battling pancreatic cancer for almost 6 months before sadly succumbing to the illness at the age of 56. We learned about his passing through this thread entry on the Cancer Forums, reportedly made by his son – Laurent Bastien Corbeil. Normand has an extensive resume, with 37 film/TV projects and the one credited video game project being Heavy Rain (also co-composed the music for ‘Indigo Prophecy’), which he won a BAFTA for in 2011. He was working on the score for the upcoming PS3 exclusive Beyond: Two Souls before his passing, which is also being developed by Quantic Dream.
Here is a comprehensive list of his award nominations/wins. Quantic Dream has also made a statement, which reads:
Over the past eight years, Normand had grown to become an integral part of our team. He had co-composed the original music of ‘Fahrenheit’ FAHRENHEIT (Indigo Prophecy) and was the composer of HEAVY RAIN. He had started working on Beyond.
Normand was not only one of the most talented composers of his generation; he was a formidable person, kind and humble.
His son has since spoken to Polygon, making this statement, “Normand was a great composer and an amazing father. We urge anyone who’s been touched by his music to donate to pancreatic cancer research. The survival rate for this horrible disease is still far too low.”
I, personally, am very much saddened by this news. I think that Heavy Rain’s score is one of the most brilliant, effective and perfect companions to a visual media ever, and just as good as a separate collection of music. He was a musical genius in my books, and I am terribly disappointed that we will not get to hear more of his outstanding work in future projects. More so, I am extremely sorry for his family’s loss. Please, give the Heavy Rain soundtrack a listen, although the sombre tone of the score is especially emotional given the news.
Smut Peddler Author: “Various Hands” Publisher:Iron Circus Comics Release Date: September 2012 Price: $30 BUY HERE
Overview:
Smut Peddler was a short lived digest-sized minicomic series released in 2003 by Saucy Goose Press. It was a sex positive comic series written for female interest in sex, and for men looking for something different from the usual smutty goodness of the erotic comic market. Now we have a new edition to the series, “Smut Peddler: Impeccable Pornoglyphics for Cultivated Ladies (and men of exceptional taste!)”. Comic books are far from having normal things in them, and even further when you look at erotic comics. This book does not cover things that are completely new to the comic industry, there are stranger and stranger thing every day, but it does cover them with the intention to appeal to both (all?) genders. If you have lived a rather bland life in terms of discovering sexuality, this book is pretty safe for getting a glimpse into a lot of different things.
Story:
Smut Peddler is a collection of short stories in graphic novel form. It covers a huge array of settings from fantasy to scifi to things set in the real world. There is a disabled man having his first gay sexual encounter that depicts the fear, hesitance, and confusion along with the intimacy and happiness that comes along with such an experience. A forest nymph comes to terms with how she is different from the others, and finds someone who is compatible with her special features. There is hetero space trucker sex, robot lesbian sex, gay old timey sex, old timey transgendered gay sex (I think), hetero incubus sex, lesbian tree sex, hetero we are trapped on an alien planet sex, and so much more. My point being is a lot of different types of sex is covered, not just one kind with one type of coupling.
The stories are what many people would consider to be “safe” or “trigger free” to read, in that even when there are times of dominance or questionable consent the story goes out of its way to show that every character enjoys their part in the story. On top of that, you are actually interested in the development of the story and characters even within the short time you are able to know them. Some stories have no dialogue at all, while others have talkative characters. Both ways tell the stories they want to tell in interesting ways. Many erotic comics often have no intimacy in them where the point of view is simply just seeing a woman and a faceless man, or a floating penis that impales things/people while the narrator says supposedly sexy things. Not true in Smut Peddler. You are always reading the story of a couple (or more) developing some sort of connection be it for a moment or permanently.
Visuals:
Smut Peddler is not colored, but the artists do not make me feel like I am missing anything. Each short story is written and drawn by a different artist, so they each have their very own way of drawing. One comic can be drawn realistically, while the next will be highly stylized. It is wonderful how the style of drawing actually adds to the setting of each story, and makes each one memorable instead of it all being mixed together post reading.
There is a style of drawing for every taste out there: Over simplified, manga style drawing, retro comic style, one is even reminiscent of the Archie comics style. It is amazing to me how each style perfectly fits the setting and tropes of each story. The manga style comic fits with it’s Hentai like story (sorry no tentacles), while a cuter more innocent story will be drawn more cartoony.
Overall:
Smut Peddler is a solid set of stories that dabbles in many different worlds of sexual fantasy, but never dives too deep. It is a great introduction to new things for people new to the comic scene or new to “the scene”. Each story pops from each other, but none are less interesting than the other. The characters are relatable and easy to connect with as you read their short stories, and makes the collection as a whole less scary to approach. This is a really safe entry for anyone willing to try new things.
