Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut Brings Humor To Horror In Spades

Posted on October 26, 2017 by geelw

I was hoping Blue Wizard would get around to getting their runaway PC hit Slayaway Camp onto consoles and yes indeed, it’s finally here to slay. The most murderiest puzzle game ever comes to consoles with hundreds of levels, easy to grasp, hard to master gameplay and loads of killer content (as in loads of killers to choose from and bump off camp counselors and other B-movie fodder in plenty of blocky but gory ways). It’s kind of like Sokoban… but with 100 percent more killing instead of crate pushing!

Key features

Includes the base game and the following additional content: Deluxe Edition, My Gory Valentine, HellCamp, Monthly Murderers Series 1 & 2, Supernatural Forces, and Santa’s Slay
300+ Fiendish puzzle levels to massacre your way through
60+ Killers to cause comical carnage with, including deranged wackos such as Mutant Hillbilly, Kevin, and the killer inter-dimensional clown: THAT
90+ Gorepacks with delightfully OTT kill scenes to shock and entertain
Starring Mark Meer (Cdr. Shepard from Mass Effect) as Skullface and Derek Mears (Jason from Friday the 13th) as Jessica
Genuine hair-metal soundtrack by legendary Canadian group GNÜ TRUNTION
Created by Jason Kapalka (Peggle, Bejewelled), Nate Schmold & Jessi Ross (Cosmochoria) and Ido Yehieli (Cardinal Quest)
Slayaway Camp was recently selected as an overall winner at the annual Google Play Indie Games Festival
Achievements and Trophies (includes Platinum) added for Xbox One and PS4 versions
Localized in the following languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Russian

The game even has a non-violent mode for those of you concerned little Johnny will turn into a hockey-masked murder machine, although I’d say he was already headed there before this game was created. Anyway, yeah – go get this NOW, chop-chop. I just started playing, so a full review will go up over the weekend. As I loved the PC original to death, expect a similarly gushing review.

Okay, I’m out of slasher flick puns. Back in a bit.

-GW

Mega Cat Studios Keeps The Classic Game Flame Burning Bright

Posted on October 26, 2017 by geelw

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Well, wow. “Meow You’re Playing With Power!” Thanks to PA-based Mega Cat Studios, collectors and gamers who own a Nintendo Entertainment System or equivalent now have three NEW games to snap up this Halloween (or heck, anytime they want provided they’re in stock). Here’s what’s new and ready to ship:

Creeping It Reel is an NES chiptune album with NES rendered, officially licensed Dancing Pumpkin Man dance moves and a fully playable pachinko game full of treats.

Creepy Brawlers marries monster movies & boxing to the NES. An achievement system, counter attacks and enemy evolutions to keep the scares high and health bars low. This one’s also available in a Limited Edition if you like your games extra collectible.

Justice Duel is a four player couch co-op action game with a full featured single player campaign, mech-eagles in top hats and an array of weapons. As with Creepy Brawlers, you can also nab a Limited Edition if you’re into adding variants to your library.

I haven’t unearthed my NES in a long time, but it’s very likely going to get dug up and placed near the TV soon. Thankfully, I have a CRT in the living room so I don’t need to worry about fiddling with assorted connection methods for my HD set. Hey, some games were made to be played in true nostalgic fashion, I say.

-GW

Review: Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon (PS4)

Posted on October 25, 2017 by geelw

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NightsofAzure2_KeyArt (Custom) Ah, Gust… I love you most of the time, but your quirky way of making games can get to be trying. While I missed the first Nights of Azure (I finally got my paws on a copy that’s in transit), Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon comes off as an intriguing standalone sequel that’s got some fine points but is quite flawed when it comes to gameplay elements.

It’s certainly got plenty of fan service if you like your cast of all-female characters doing their Action/RPG thing wearing revealing outfits of questionable levels of protection against injury. However, main character Aluche comes off as a mostly clueless to attraction cypher with a curvy figure (like almost every other character in the game). But between the strict timed gameplay that limits the action, somewhat pedestrian plot and AI that could be better, this one’s hard to love although it has its moments.

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Random Film of the Week: Tōkaidō Yotsuya kaidan (Ghost Story of Yotsuya)

Posted on October 23, 2017 by geelw

Tokaido Yatsyua kaidan I don’t believe in ghosts at all (an unapologetic non-flaw of mine), but I do believe in a good ghost story when it works flawlessly in delivering the spine-chilling stuff that leads to a restless night. That said, Nobuo Nakagawa’s 1959 masterpiece Tōkaidō Yotsuya kaidan (Ghost Story of Yotsuya) is one of the more frightening horror films I’ve ever seen. Given that it’s based on Japan’s most popular ghost story (written as a kabuki play and originally performed in 1825), Nakagawa’s film is memorable on a few fronts, melding its stage origins with the director’s perfectly placed camera as he brings us a tried and true tale of murder and vengeance, Japanese style.

You may initially feel sorry for rōnin Iemon Tamiya (Shigeru Amachi) as he begs for the hand of Iwa (Katsuko Wakasugi), but that feeling will vanish about a minute later after Iemon kills Iwa’s father and retainers and his scheming lackey Naosuke (Shuntarô Emi) disposes of the bodies and comes up with a perfect alibi. He later goes to visit a grieving Iwa, but she and her sister Sode (Noriko Kitazawa) want revenge on the man Iemon claims murdered her father. Of course, this doesn’t happen and instead, a respectable samurai named Yomoshichi (Nakamura Ryozaburo) who had a chance with Iwa is tossed off a waterfall thanks to Iemon and Naosuke wanting the two women for themselves. Clearly, Iemon and Naosuke are right bastards, ladies and gentlemen.

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Review: ECHO (PS4)

Posted on October 19, 2017 by geelw

Sneaking onto PC last month and out now on PS4, ECHO is one of the smartest games I’ve played this year. Developer Ultra Ultra has created an intentionally initially slow-burning hard sci-fi game that relies heavily on its innovative gameplay that’s bound to keep you on your toes. It’s also got spectacular visuals, brilliant sound design and a pair of excellent voice actors (Rose Leslie and Nick Boulton) bringing their characters to life in what’s basically one character talking to an AI interface as she tries to survive a gilded palace filled with replicas of herself trying to kill her. While it’s got its share of (primarily technical) flaws, it’s a worthy experience that shouldn’t be missed if you like your games to shake you up a bit early and often.

After a century in space asleep, a woman named En is awakened by her computer, London and informed that their ship has reached its destination. The pair has traveled all the way to a strange planet because En wants to bring back to life a friend whose remains are inside a cube-shaped device she wears on her back. The opening is a deliberately paced buildup as En lands on the planet and makes her way into The Palace, an endless ornately designed structure that’s the size of the entire planet. There’s a great deal of exposition during the game with much of of it establishing a backstory for En’s long journey as she explores her initially unlit surroundings. When she locates a spot to place that cube, The Palace reacts by coming to life and over time, producing many copies of En that eventually end up coming after her with murderous intent.

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Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus: Less Is More Or Less Better For Overall Overkill

Posted on October 17, 2017 by geelw

I’ve been pretty quiet on Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus for a good reason. I’m ignoring the off-balance people with zero (or less) sense of actual history (not to mention actual videogame history) hating on Machine Games and publisher Bethesda Softworks (it’s all white noise to me, pun mostly intended) while also not poking around the internet for every bit of information because I like my games relatively unspoiled. One of the problems with modern game “journalism” is the need (that’s not needed) to ruin a game too early because some can’t not reveal spoilers or keep an embargo correctly.

Me, I want to go in ice cold with the windows open (brrrrr!) and be thrilled and surprised at what’s been cooked up. Nope, I’m not going to tell you that you should go out and grab yourself a copy of the game and a console or high-end PC to play this on (although you probably should if you have that disposable income and want to support the developer and publisher in this crazy year of too many solid games and not enough time to play them all). As always, it’s your move, folks.

-GW

Etrian Odyssey V: The Big Blowout Strikes

Posted on October 17, 2017 by geelw

How “funny” is this? Yesterday I get my Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond The Myth review code (Thanks, Atlus!) and I’m giddy about that because it’s been a really good year for games and EO has been consistently awesome (although it needs to be on a more powerful system, in my opinion). Having put some quality time into the recent eShop demo meant I’d start off with a party pretty prepared for the challenge ahead (whee!). So, I fire up the game and play for a few hours until I need to recharge my 2DS, whip out the AC adapter, plug it in and about a minute into recharging… the adapter ups and dies on me. One word sprung to mind and yes, I have the WORST luck with technology of anyone I know.

(Sings) I’m Mister Tech Miser, I’m Mister Dumb… (now I need to write the rest of this at some point, but with my luck, the I’ll cut myself and bleed on the keyboard, which will summon a demon I can’t control or something) – back in a bit. It’s a good thing I have a few other games to review on systems that still work while I wait for my replacement charger to show up.

-GW

Review: Detention (PS4)

Posted on October 16, 2017 by geelw

While thematically similar to The Coma: Recut from Devespresso Games, Red Candle Games‘ excellent Detention ($12.99 on PSN) manages to add a more psychological as well as historical tone to its scary elements. Set in a 1960’s era Taiwan during the horrfic period of martial law known as The White Terror, the game works extremely well as a short but solid game experience that gets as much mileage from its frightening imagery as it does with its somewhat timely political allegory

This isn’t a “survival horror” game in the zombie-packed Resident Evil vein and while it has a more similar vibe to the early, more thoughtful (but weirder) Silent Hill games, there are no weapons to wield here or a need to stock up on healing items for your trip through this virtual hell-space. This one’s a pure side-scrolling horror adventure game where you’ll need to avoid or appease the freakish ghosts you’ll encounter as you try and escape from the nightmare that Greenwood High has become.

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Review: Raiden V: Director’s Cut (PS4)

Posted on October 15, 2017 by geelw

How great is UFO Interactive’s Raiden V: Director’s Cut? So great that I went and grabbed the previous installment on the PS3 (which just so happened to be part of this past weekend’s PSN Flash Sale and was $2.99 very well spent), slightly kicking myself (ow!) for missing it a few years back. I’d been cutting back on arcade shooters for a while, but something about this well-aged series has always drawn me to it. It’s probably because it brings back certain good memories, but it also helps that it’s been a consistently entertaining set of games despite some lesser console versions not being as fun.

This newest installment is more polished visually and aurally and thanks to its busy color palette and tons of explosions, it really looks and feels a hell of a lot busier to the eyes and reflexes. There’s so much going on that I found myself laughing out loud (to no one in particular, as usual). Skilled developer MOSS has reworked the traditional vertical arcade game screen so it’s packed with information to the point of distraction should your eyes float to the left or right of where the real action is. But you won’t let that happen, right?

Hey, the future of the planet is at stake, pal – eyes on the prize and all that.

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Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online – Time Eater For The Always Hungry

Posted on October 14, 2017 by geelw

I’m a bit behind in my Neptunia backlog, but I really do enjoy the games when I find time to play them. There’s a certain earnest goofiness to them that’s consistent and cute looks aside, there’s often a bit of profound wisdom mixed with the offbeat humor that sneaks into the writing and English localization that can be surprisingly refreshing for a JRPG. Anyway, here we go again, but with a few twists to the formula in Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online (which is out NOW for PS4 and coming soon to PC).

There’s a ton of stuff to cover in a game this big, but let’s just send you all right on over to the handy Newcomer’s Guide so you can see what you’re up against. Me, I’m just a busy bee here to post a gallery you get to peruse and maybe pick up the game at your earliest convenience. Also as usual, Idea Factory and Compile Heart are on the case and ever-busy developer Tamsoft is doing some of its best work on the visuals as you can see here and below the jump.