DinoRoar Interactive came with full force this year at Macquarie Universities’ GAME On festival, giving away awesome temporary tattoos, flyers, CD soundtracks and game codes to promote their latest title for Android and IOS devices, Havoc. Adam from DinoRoar Interactive was kind enough to give us a quick run through of Havoc showing off it’s destructive gameplay and bright art style. With numerous power ups, 3 monsters, and 5 levels to choose from, as well as updates already in the talks, Havoc is filled with furious family friendly fun!
You can purchase the game for IOS devices here and for Android here. Check out the video below for more!
When you ask someone what they think of when they think of a gamer you’ll get a lot of answers, some good and some more in the region of cave-dwelling WoW creature. However, one thing you’re not likely to hear is ‘charitable’, but too bad stereotype cos I got news for you, gamers are charitable. Just over a million US dollars charitable.
Through the Extra Life 24 hour charity gaming marathon gamers could do what they loved – gaming – and help out kids in hospital with donations going to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Extra Life was held on October 15 and was organized by Jeromy Adams and Sarcastic Gamer. This year the event attracted over $20,000 USD from Razer, who pledged $100 for every employee that signed up.
Razer weren’t the only gaming community signing up though, with top StarCraft II team SlayerS and WoW team Manaflask among the many generous donators. It’s awesome to get these high profile gamers donating their time and money to such an awesome cause.
Robert ‘Razerguy’ Krakoff, the president of Razer USA said:
“This is a story that won’t be forgotten. When someone asks what good can games do, we tell them how gamers around the world came together and raised over a million dollars for children in need. We tell them that gamers are a force to be reckoned with, a global community that’s closer than ever, uninhibited by geography, culture or race, brought together by a unified love for games. A community that is capable of rallying around a cause for the good of the world. And I’m also proud of all the people who work at Razer, proud that they wake up every day to fight the good fight through what they all do best – gaming.”
Even though the event is over, you can still donate or participate any day until November 15. So if you’re looking for an excuse to play Battlefield or COD (when it comes out) all night without getting nagged, this is perfect!
For more info on the event go HERE
For more info on Razer’s contribution to Extra Life go HERE
And hey, if you want to donate to Team Razer and help them completely smash their target then go HERE
Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone
Developer: Backbone Entertainment
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: XBLA (reviewed), PSN
Release Date: October 26, 2011
Price: 800 MSP (HERE)
Overview
Whether gamers like it or not, zombie games are always going to bombard them. Since there are a vast majority of games that include zombies, developers want their game to stand out amongst the crowd. Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone has its shining moments but suffocates the triumphs with crude humor and mediocre gameplay.
Story
On a secluded Canadian island, a rag-tag group of mismatched personalities join forces to gun down a zombie epidemic. The group consists of Jeremy – the obnoxious gamer, Alma – gun specialist, Father Bill – shotgun preacher, and Def Money – cricket playing rapper. With survival and “pwnage” on the mind, the four adventurers must find a way to escape the island.
Gameplay
I am off to the see the wizard – the wonderful wizard of Oz. Enough with the horseplay. Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone states the basic truth directly within its title’s name. “Never Die Alone” should refer to never playing alone. This sequel was meant to be played online or locally in multiplayer. Playing the game alone will result in you dying very much alone.
The single player campaign requires the user to actively switch between four characters. Being difficult in its own right, this feat can be accomplished. Only by switching between characters can you raise their stats and create a well balanced group of zombie decapitation. Failure to switch will ensure a chapter repeat due to the mass hordes of zombies gnawing at your dead body.
Utilizing the duel-stick format, gamers have the basic controls already figured out. Move with the left analog, and directional shoot with the right. Avoiding enemies is key to maintain health, and your finger should never be taken off the right analog. Since you do not run out of ammunition, fire at will.
With the basic controls out of the way, each player has special abilities they can muster. Each character is given a melee weapon to bludgeon a zombie to death. This method of killing is not recommended, but the continual thrashing could prove useful for character advancement. Chainsaw anyone? Additional to the melee character may perform a distraction technique. For example, Def Money’s distraction is a boombox that plays classic music from the 80’s. The soothing music stops most zombies in their tracks leaving them sitting ducks. Finally, all characters have an ultimate that can only be used once their ability meter is maxed. Father Bill’s ultimate heals teammates around him while destroying any minor undead that walks in his path.
I find it particularly important to discuss the respawn after dying in a level. Oh wait, there is none. You must restart the entire level over in order to try to succeed. Sometimes I feel the game was saying to me, “better luck next time.” This always brings up the point of the reviving dying teammates. Similar to Castle Crashers, the amount of life regained is based upon accurate timing of heartbeats. Rapidly pressing the (A) button will bring teammates to life but with minimal health.
With dying being an issue, health packs are available during gameplay to replenish lost life. Upon investigation I noticed that multiplayer games dropped more health packs than the single player campaign. Disheartened after finding out this truth, I knew that Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone was never intended to be played alone. The main menu screen lists the multiplayer option first!
Graphics/Audio
One major fault of the visuals is not being able to see complete characters. The game is set up strictly for multiplayer, and there is an enormous amount of traffic on screen. With all of this action going on, you can easily lose sight of your character and confuse yourself with another player. If you are playing with multiple players, a colored ring may help distinguish differences.
Explosions normally add to the intensity of the imminent environment. While the explosives may be intense, the effects have a wide range and blur the vision of the battlefield. With all of the action and special effects, the player may become lost in the gameplay and found drowning in a lake of fire. This also leads me to believe that Canadians are not practicing environmental safety regulations with highly explosive fuels scattered through their streets.
Settings and game objects mesh well with the governing story. One positive that can be discussed about the title is the consistent setting progression. With action shooters there seems to be a repetitive nature with the backgrounds, but Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone takes the adventure to several places such as the streets, playground, airport, and even power plant. Some of the most interesting effects come from objects in the levels like the street sweeper and airplane propeller.
Keeping on the positive, sound effects are done exceptionally well. I could be trotting around bashing away hearing the sweet crack of the cricket bat to each zombie head. Additionally, players can swap their melee weapon during the level for a chainsaw. The appearance of the weapon is deadly, but the audio enhances the tearing of decayed flesh.
If I could explain the voice casting in one word, it would be ghastly. While developer’s try to encourage the crude humor and mature content, the end result provides a distasteful experience better left muted. The more chaotic characters – Jeremy and Def Money – appear to have British/Australian accents in which they swear constantly. Jeremy takes the voice acting abuse further by using “pwnage” and “trolling” in his sentences. Is it annoying? Yes, yes it is.
Overall
The “fun” factor truly relies on the developing community. If there is a community in which players can openly join another’s game quickly, Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone will see plenty more action. However, the annoying antics provided by the main characters will drive you insane.
If you can ignore the snowballed effects of this top down shooter, you may find the storyline entertaining as well as amusing. Simply, this is one crude zombie game that will offer excitement as long as there are people to play with you. Can’t find anyone to play with you – enjoying dying.
We talk about Sony forcing customers to use their memory cards in the Vita just to play a game, Nintendo allowing users to use the PC or a smartphone to access eShop content, the GAME Sydney Convention and what pop culture properties we’d like to see made into a game.
Cast: Alexis Ayala, Dustin Spencer, Luke Halliday and Michael Irving
Sales figures of EA Games’ Battlefield 3 have been released today, and certainly there was no doubting that this game would be a huge seller. Within a week of Battlefield 3’s initial worldwide release, the game has sold over 5 million units across three different platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC/Mac. The game has become EA game’s fastest selling game in history.
The record sales figures can be attributed to the game’s critical acclaim by both fans and the media. Currently in the social media realm, Battlefield 3 has over 2.5 million facebook fans and a tweet about the game is post about every ten seconds on twitter.
Turtle Beach’s newest trailer showcases their truly limited edition headsets that have been customized specifically for Modern Warfare 3. Nearly each one the headsets has a price to meet any budget, and they all have different features. Check out the video below to get a taste of all the goodness that awaits in these unique cans.
One feature that is really neat about the Bravo and Delta headsets is that they have specialized audio presets that have been created by Infinity Ward exclusively for these headsets. The Ear Force Delta headset even speaks to its owner!
All of the headsets grant users extra MW3 special content.
Will you be getting one these headsets or do you prefer to get the non-exclusive headset experience?
Check out TurtleBeach.com for more information on each headset or to preorder one.
To top off all of their zombie themed Halloween announcements, Capcom has revealed a new trailer for Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. So far today we’ve seen news about a Raid Mode in Resident Evil: Revelations, as well as a new HD bundle that will be released on the PlayStation 3 with move capability.
But here is a bit of news for those who want to see something a bit different in their next Resident Evil game. Capcom has released a new trailer for Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and in it we are treated to our dear old friend the Nemesis from Resident Evil 2. Besides him we also see Claire and Leon working together to try and hold off the Umbrella forces. Too bad that the players are on the other side of the team this time around. Check out the video below.
In this segment of Capsule Theatre of Vision; we look closely at the streets of Sydney. The date was Saturday the 29th of October and Zombies had invaded the land. I had the priviledge of survivng this apocalyptic event; I even went so far as to film a small segment of footage so that the world could know of the peril that our great city was in.
The event was really organised by a group of young adults over Facebook and featured an incredibly large turn-out. Probably the most people I’ve ever seen marching. It’s amazing that so much effort was put into this and all the costumes were fantastic!
Everybody’s favourite charitable gaming distributor is back with a brand new Humble Bundle for you to purchase. This time around, the folks at Humble Bundle are bringing us a Humble Debut with the latest indie game, Voxatron. You can pay whatever you want for this voxel-based, old-school-gone-new platform shooter, and divide the price up between the developers, the folk at Humble Bundle and charities however you want. Take a look at the trailer below and follow the links to purchase your very own copy of Voxatron. Let’s face it; it doesn’t get much better than getting a fantastic indie game and helping out some children in need all while having some fun.
Konami and developer tri-Ace have been working on quite a unique 3DS RPG named Beyond the Labyrinth, and while there have only been a few details released so far, one new piece of information lends credence to the possibility of augmented reality being possible within the title. Most titles for the Nintendo 3DS do not take advantage of this feature, so this would be a big plus for the title.
While not announced for the game itself, a limited edition bundle has been announced for Japan and will feature an AR calendar that will let players view a girl in different costumes through the 3DS’ cameras. The girl, whom we can presume to be the white haired one that leads you through the labyrinth, will then rise from the paper above the marker.
Besides the Ar Calendar, the bundle will include the game of course, a soundtrack CD, a poster and a cleaning cloth that will run around 9,315 yen. The game itself has not been announced for localization at this time, but if it does, hopefully this bundle will arrive Stateside as well.
