Switch ‘N’ Shoot: One Button Masterpiece Well Worth Your Two Bucks

Posted on August 24, 2016 by geelw

BUY THIS GAME.

My inbox gets packed to the gills with requests to review games and with my current massive backlog it usually takes me a week to sift through a few days’ worth of pitches and press kits. However, that bug-eyed alien art from Matt Glanville’s awesome Switch ‘N’ Shoot jumped right out at me and as soon as I clicked on the link and watched that gameplay video above. My wallet was two bucks lighter. Although it’s still in beta, it’s completely playable and addictive as bacon-wrapped bacon with a side of bacon.

Dirt simple and a great companion piece to Downwell (I guess you can call it Upwell? No? Hey, I tried!), the brilliantly simple gameplay packs a hilarious level of challenge. You get one ship, one button moves AND shoots, you can only move laterally. Have fun. Zen-like reflexes are needed to keep scoring points, but death comes so quickly that you’ll just jam on the button to restart until you get on that leaderboard. My paltry 17 points is up now, but not for long, I bet.

(Thanks, Awesome Movie Clips!)

Anyway, go grab this one on anything it’s on. If you hate DRM, go get it here. I say pay for it if you can – even as an Early Access title, it’s well worth the cost and then some.

-GW

Axiom Verge Wii U: September 1 Is The Day It Comes “Home”

Posted on August 15, 2016 by geelw

Excellent. I’m literally buried in stuff to-day (one shelf of games fell over earlier!) but you all go and read THIS post by Tom Happ and then smile a lot if you haven’t seen or played Axiom Verge yet. Excellent. Back in a bit – I’m up to my nose hairs in work (and have a pile of games to get back up, to boot!)

-GW

VALLEY Narrative Trailer: Turning Over A New L.E.A.F. Soon

Posted on August 12, 2016 by geelw

With Blue Isle Studios‘ upcoming action/exploration game VALLEY under two weeks away, the strategy of the developer revealing their new game within a short time before it’s available could work for it quite well. Getting gamers to hold out a bit on a day one buy and wait for reviews might pay off in making this an “evergreen” title in the long run, particularly the jaded types out thee who follow games for years and complain about anything and everything as much as possible.

What I’ve seen so far intrigues the hell out of me. But by not getting every drip of development info or wasting time poking around on message boards in Jadedgamerville, I’m more likely to be pleasantly surprised by the end result. Now, will that surprise be good or bad? I’m not telling (well, I have NO clue, kids!), but I can say it’s going to at least be positive on the visuals and constructive critically on the gameplay if there are issues. We shall see. For now, all is right in this game world as far as I can see. VALLEY lands on PC, PS4, and Xbox One August 24, 2016.

-GW

Pathologic: Ice-Pick Lodge’s Re-Invention Looks Mysteriously Magnificent

Posted on August 1, 2016 by geelw

Back in 2005, Russian developer Ice-Pick Lodge released Pathologic, an unsettling horror/adventure/RPG hybrid that garnered excellent reviews at home, decent to fair reviews in the west, and gathered somewhat of a “cult” following for its unusual, creative art direction, extreme difficulty and distinctly bleak tone. The game’s fan base grew with its gog.com release and subsequent 2012 HD remastering (both of which come with the purchase of the HD Classic version). With a successful Kickstarter to re-imagine the game in 2015 for PC (and possibly consoles) Pathologic’s new path has added even more fans to this weird game’s potential player base. Ahead of Gamescom, IPL has released a nice set of screenshots that show off some lovely, haunting images from the new version.

Let’s take a look now, shall we?

While gameplay videos have yet to surface, this 2014 Kickstarter video should give you an idea of what to expect. As the game has no set release date, the waiting period between information drops will no doubt keep fans begging for more. It’s a good thing there’s a board game coming to make that wait less frustrating.

Speaking of more, click below the jump for more about the game (in handy cut/paste/corrected form)…

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Portal Knights Goes BIG So You Can Go Home

Posted on August 1, 2016 by geelw

…and stay inside playing a lot longer. 505 Games and developer Keen Games have announced a huge new update to their popular family friendly crafting/action/RPG, Portal Knights that includes many requested features such as voice and text chat for online play, remappable controls, and a ton of tweaks and fixes. The new larger islands make the overall game world even more fun to run around in, and my logging in to check out the changes also revealed the game’s visuals have gotten nicely upgraded as well.

Check out the new trailer and screenshot slideshow below.

-GW

DOGOS: OPQAM’s Root Grows Into A Mighty Shmup Oak

Posted on July 21, 2016 by geelw

Developer OPQAM’s first game, Project Root was and is a pretty solid modern take on the top down arcade shooter that slowed the pace down and opened up its maps to allow for near total freedom to fly and blast enemies through some fairly lengthy missions. That game really felt like a modern take on Thunder Force II‘s top-down sections, but some critics and gamers didn’t “get” the game’s seemingly languid pacing at all, opting to call it “boring” when this wasn’t the case. To each his or her own, I suppose… but this guy thinks a lot of people got it wrong.

Still, it seems OPQAM took the brickbats to heart in creating DOGOS, its upcoming PC, PS4, and Xbox One follow up, set to land soon as another digital-only release. It’s been Greenlit on Steam and looks as if it’ll be a big hit for the Recent hands-on time with a three-mission build shows the developer has hit on a great combination of classic shmup gameplay set in an more structured open map that almost gives the game the feeling of a dungeon crawler. There’s a story here to follow about Desmond Phoenix, a lone pilot tasked with some heavy duty mission work on an enemy-packed planet, but I’ll save that for the full review later. What you need to know is the game controls like a dream so far and the go-anywhere aspect coupled with the ship maneuverability really stand out. Yes, there are bosses and mini-boss ships to face off against with players needing to shoot aerial and ground targets as they fly around each large level. While the camera is generally top-down, OPQAM notes a few cool features in the final product:

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Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure 3D: Join Thursday’s Twitter Chat!

Posted on July 20, 2016 by geelw

Hey! Got some burning questions about the Nintendo 3DS version of Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure, coming soon to the handheld? Well, join the Gurumin 3D Live Twitter Chat this Thursday (3-5pm Pacific Time, or 6-8pm here in NYC) on the game’s Twitter page! If you’re asking “What’s Gurumin?”, well, thank me now for removing that stone off your head and getting you into the daylight!

Here you go:

While you’re cooking up those tasty questions for tomorrow, check out this blog post on the Gurumin Rocks site to find out a few cool nuggets on how the game’s battle system evolved during development. I’ll be sitting on this session at some point, but don’t mind me – I’ll just be taking a break from a really insane backlog, chilling with a cold drink watching the questions roll in.

And if you need to get Gurumin and don’t own a 3DS, you’re still in luck! If you own a PSP, Vita, or PS TV, or have an active Steam account, well… you know what to do, right?

Review: MilitAnt (PC)

Posted on July 19, 2016 by geelw

Platform: PC/(PS4/Vita)

Developer/Publisher: Xibalba Studios

# of Players: 1 MSRP: $9.99

Official Site

Verdict: BUY IT (but expect this bug to bite hard!)

#militant

Do you consider yourself a game master? Do classic series such as Battletoads, Contra, Mega Man, and other vintage to modern platform toughies barely make you flinch when you speed-run them blindfolded playing with that controller in between your teeth? Well, you should be pleased to know MilitAnt has your name stamped on it in big neon letters. Xibablba Studios’ new PC and PS4 game (also headed to the Vita soon) is one of the hardest games of the year and it deserves a tip of the cap and old college try by the best of the best who should appreciate the gorgeously detailed visuals and non-stop challenge right from the start. Even on the lowest difficulty setting, the whopping amount of stuff trying to kill your little ant warrior is no joke. This commendable decision gives the game longevity and plenty of replay value, but may scare of casual gamers expecting a hand-holding mobile-like experience.

You play a nameless ant warrior who’s part of a massive ant army gone to war against termites, wasps and other bugs big to small, but you’ll more than likely than not care more about surviving the levels than following the story. The game is billed as being “2.5D”, but what that really means is this is a side-scroller with a second plane enemies will attack you from every chance they get. Controls, movement and animation are solid, with an Xbox 360 or other game controller your best bet for survival. Keyboard and mouse do function extremely well, if you choose to go that route, but this is a game meant to be more fully enjoyed with a two stick analog. You can carry up to four different weapons of any type (once you unlock them) into battle, so choose wisely. The dozen weapons are excellent for the most part, but you’ll need to be careful as they all have a reload/cool down period. Knowing when to swap guns or use melee attacks is key, as enemies appear in large enough numbers to overwhelm even the most prepared player.

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Fallout Shelter Lands on PC: Let’s Take a Trip to the Vault, Shall We?

Posted on July 14, 2016 by geelw

FALLOUT SHELTER LAUNCHES ON PC

Fallout Shelter has launched today for PC, bringing the action to larger screens and an even wider audience. The PC version of the game offers the full Fallout Shelter experience that fans have come to love on mobile, complete with all of the updates added over the last year – Pets, Crafting, Scrapping and Junk, additional rooms, Fallout 4 characters, and special Dweller customization options – as well as all of the new content in Update 1.6.

Dang it, Bethesda! I was avoiding Fallout Shelter because I don’t usually cover mobile games and even though I’m a HUGE fan of the series, this wasn’t on something I play regularly, so I didn’t feel bad about missing out. Well, zingity-zing. It’s now on PC and FREE as a bird. Crap. *Sigh*… off to create an account, download and try to very NOT play this until I get some room in the backlog. If you have the time, can one or more of you also get this, try it out and let me know what I’m missing? Hey, perhaps that will inspire me to work faster or something.

Those of you with Android and iOS versions, yeah – you got a great update as well:

QUESTS AND NEW COMBAT SYSTEM

Across more than 5 billion game sessions, Overseers have sent more than 715 million Dwellers into the Wasteland to explore, battle enemies, gather resources and items, and discover new recipes for crafting weapons and armor. In Update 1.6, players now have more substantive Quests to conquer and can take control of their Dwellers while they travel to abandoned buildings and decrepit Vaults, as well as locations familiar to Fallout 4 fans like the Red Rocket Fuel Stop and the Super Duper Mart. Players can assemble a group of Dwellers to take on challenges outside of the Vault, uncover legendary loot, and face off against new enemies like Radscorpions, Ghouls and powerful bosses.

While in the new Quests, Overseers can use the new combat system to gain control over Dwellers in a fight, allowing players to select opponents and direct attacks and even play a quick mini-game for a critical hit. Impatient Overseers who would like to instantly return Dwellers after a quest or complete Barbershop customizations or crafting, can now use a refreshing Nuka-Cola Quantum.

Update 1.6 can be downloaded by visiting the App Store or the Google Play store.

Happy now? I thought so.

Earth Defense Force 4.1 Stomping to Steam July 18

Posted on July 14, 2016 by geelw

Well, this wasn’t a total surprise, but it still make me do a little happy dance when it was confirmed. EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair July 18, on Steam. $49.99, but with a limited time 30% discount. Worth every penny even at full price. No mod support has been confirmed, but the game doesn’t need people messing with it creating content thanks to a few hundred hours worth of gameplay just in the challenge of clearing every difficulty level with every character AND getting all 800 randomly dropped weapons. PR on this has been quiet as a mouse, but I hope this gets kicked up a notch and made bigger news soon.