Review: MilitAnt (PC)

Posted on July 19, 2016 by geelw

Platform: PC/(PS4/Vita)

Developer/Publisher: Xibalba Studios

# of Players: 1 MSRP: $9.99

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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#TBT: NES Classic Edition Headed to Retail 11/11

Posted on July 14, 2016 by geelw

Well, Nintendo can REALLY keep a secret, huh? Between the current Pokémon GO madness, blowing fans away with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at E3, STILL keeping the specs and images of its upcoming NX system offline other than a few patents found online for what looks like a pretty interesting new device, and now THIS. Holiday Gift Guide 2016 alert, that’s for sure.

What, you don’t have a facebook account? Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Fear not, I got your back. The full press release is right below the jump, if you feel like feeling old and reading a lot like you used to.

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Assault Suit Leynos Now on PSN: Summer Just Got Much Hotter For PS4 Owners

Posted on July 12, 2016 by geelw

BEWM:

Your question and answer for the day if you’re a PS4 owner watching that trailer above and wondering “Should I get this?” Well… YES. A paltry $19.99 digitally via PSN. If you can hold out until September, want a gift for that game-collecting friend or have a gaming PC and only play on that setup, A physical disc version of the PS4 game is coming with a PC download via Steam shortly thereafter. I’ll let you go hit PSN now so you can go buy this and have it all ready to download so you can get to blasting some aliens later once you’re home from work or wherever. Over and out!

Arrow Video August Releases: Double Dog Dare Days Ahead

Posted on July 8, 2016 by geelw

Just two titles for August, but that’s fine by me. My backlog is big enough that I’m comfortable being uncomfortable with next month’s Arrows arriving in time for me to finish up half the ton of stuff on my plate. Let’s get to it, then -it’s hot as hell outside and I do need to go out and get some solar rays cooking up post ideas.

Amusingly enough, a little home cooking is the subject of our first film…

Microwave Massacre [Blu-Ray + DVD] (August 16th, MSRP $34.95):

THEY CAME FOR DINNER…TO FIND THEY WERE IT!!

Microwave Massacre stars legendary stand-up comedian and actor Jackie Vernon as Donald, a disgruntled construction worker whose wife’s predilection for haute cuisine drives him to cannibalism.

Donald unwittingly stumbles upon a solution to his two major problems in his life – his nagging wife and his lack of decent meals – when, one night, he bludgeons his better half to death with a pepper grinder in a drunken rage. Thinking on his feet, Donald dismembers the body and sets about microwaving the remains, which turn out to be rather delicious. Trouble is, now he has a taste for human flesh that needs satisfying…

Eschewing all notions of good taste, Wayne Berwick’s Microwave Massacre is a deliciously depraved exercise in political incorrectness that has gone on to gain a cult following thanks to a characteristically deadpan performance from Vernon, who delivers such choice lines as “I’m so hungry I could eat a whore.” Vegetarians need not apply!

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
– Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
– High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
– Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
– Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
– Brand new audio commentary with writer-producer Craig Muckler, moderated by Mike Tristano
– Brand new making-of featurette including interviews with Muckler, director Wayne Berwick and actor Loren Schein
– Trailer
– Original treatment and 8-page synopsis (BD/DVD-ROM content)
– Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Wes Benscoter

Oops. I should have noted this one was a bit of an icky Blue Plate Special. Well, it’s too late – eat up! OR ELSE…

Oh, by the way… look out below!

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Indie Quickies: The Incredible Baron (Or: Gotta Catch ’em All… For SCIENCE!)

Posted on July 7, 2016 by geelw

The Incredible Baron: Okay, this one’s a total gem. Go try the demo out and see for yourself. Black Shell Media‘s games library is simply put, FANTASTIC. The variety of genres, visual styles and just pure fun to be had makes going through their catalog a complete pleasure. FlatRedBall’s *excellent*, comical RTS/monster collecting/tower defense hybrid looks and feels like one of those great SNES games from the 90’s to the point that if it were on a cart back then, it would probably win some sort of Game of the Year award or at the very least, be on a Top 10 or so list.

Easy to pick up and play, the game also uses some fine humor to toss your way as you play through its increasingly challenging maps. While veterans of tower defense games may blow through this one fairly quickly, the colorful cartoon visuals and perfect learning curve (you can replay missions until you get the hang of things) make this a great entry level game for newbies. I’m not sure if Black Shell has console plans, but to me, this one would be a perfect fit on any digital console platform as a straight port at a decent price point. Go get this on Steam and have a blast blasting those critters and keeping the Baron out of and in trouble. Methinks this one needs a sequel at some point.

Converse All Wah: Shocking New Way To Rock Out

Posted on June 23, 2016 by geelw

All kidding aside (keep reading, it’s coming), I’d love to try a set of these kicks out. Hell, they’ll get me to pick up a guitar again after too long just to see how long I can “play” in my atonal way until the neighbors call to cops because they think someone is boiling a sack of howling piranha. I haven’t owned a pair of Chucks for ages, but these Converse All Wah demoed by Dinosaur Jr’s J Masics (who looks like Dinosaur Sr. these days, but he can rock it harder than the younger set any day of the week) got some of my own parts vibrating giddily. Boom chicka-wah-wahhhhh!

That said, I can only see wearing these indoors or only a dry day outside because of the obviously eeeeeee-lectrifying reason. I’ll let you think about that while I wind up a joke that some of you got already.

Yeah, try playing that star-spangled electric gitbox while wearing these sneaks in the rain and you’ll get maybe get five notes into Jimi Hendrix’ Purple Haze before you’re totally:

(thanks, Imp Awards!) Um… #ScuseMeWhileIKissTheSky

…but without the icky upskirting powers, kid. Just extra crispy and clutching that axe in a death metal grip. Eh, I kid Converse, shoe developers Critical Mass and Cute Circuit. These ARE pretty damn cool. All we need now is that Marshall sound coming from a jacket of some sort and it’s instant entertainment anywhere.

Sign up here to keep updated on the All-Wah. I predict a sellout and yeah, they better make ladies sizes too because asses will be kicked when the gal rockers can’t get their kicks and want to kick back.
– GW

George Crumb: Voice of the Whale – Soul Music of A Different Sort

Posted on June 23, 2016 by geelw

And now, ladies and germs… it’s time for a little dose of culture for today:

“I feel intuitively that music must have been the first cell from which language, science, and religion originated.” – George Crumb

George Crumb: Voice Of The Whale
coming to DVD on June 24th (MSRP: $19.99)

Robert Mugge’s 1976 portrait of renowned composer George Crumb featuring a performance of his composition “Vox Balaenae”

In 1976, “music filmmaker” Robert Mugge created his first music-related film. Titled GEORGE CRUMB: VOICE OF THE WHALE, it was a strikingly original, 54-minute portrait of Pulitzer Prize-winning and Grammy-winning composer George Crumb.

To celebrate the film’s 40th anniversary (it was first broadcast over PBS on June 6, 1978), MVD Visual is making available a newly remastered version on DVD, transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and lovingly restored. Now that you’re curious, go click this link to see a tiny bit of the film and if you like what you see, go order away at your leisure. Or faster than that if you prefer.

The Last Guardian: Finally Dated, The Wait Gets Less When-ish

Posted on June 19, 2016 by geelw

Okay. I’m back. Sort of. Got a LOT of stuff going on up this way I’ll yak about in a separate post, but let’s all just watch this gorgeous trailer for the long delayed and finally has a release date soon to be instant classic The Last Guardian. Fumeto Ueda and his team’s game will indeed be worth the wait and in my mind, it’s one of the reasons I play videogames. For me, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus were and still are two of the best game experiences from the past 20 years, and seeing this final game appear means I can stop worrying about whether or not it will be good. I trust the creator and his vision and that’s all one needs in this case.

The Last Guardian hits retail and digital October 25, 2016. Yes, that collector’s edition below looks mighty nice, doesn’t it? Yep.

Tick Tock Bang Bang: Kitchen Sink Slo-Mo Hollywood-Style Destruction? Yep, That’s A Buy

Posted on June 8, 2016 by geelw

Dejobaan Games‘ latest eye-popper, Tick Tock Bang Bang comes out tomorrow on Steam and yes, you probably need to be dodging cars, lasers and anything else the game throws at you just because this can come in handy as a real-life survival skill. Well, for a pie fight, maybe.

In real life, all of us who see a flying car would either scream like a busload of kittens going off a cliff or whip out that phone of camera to snap a selfie, THEN scream like that busload of kitties going off that cliff as the car was about to crush us like a grape.

Priorities, people, PRIORITIES. Duck and cover FIRST, then pop up to take that selfie right before the bus you were waiting for falls on your head because you didn’t look UP first. Oops.

For a bit of practice, here are some GIFs, as they do a good job of distracting you AND teaching you how to dodge pie-like stuff coming your way:

Too distracting? Okay, okay. Here are a few non-moving screenshots to tide you over until tomorrow, then:

Fossil Echo: How Odd.. Is There an ICO in Here?

Posted on June 8, 2016 by geelw

Gamers who love stuff like Team ICO’s games, the Oddworld series and gorgeous artwork would do well to keep an eyeball peeled for Fossil Echo, set for a July 1 release on Steam. You can also pre-order the Fossil Echo – Special Edition directly from the developer for 14.99 (the price jumps up to $19.99 in about 20 days) which includes a Steam copy of Fossil Echo for PC, a Fossil Echo Original Soundtrack by John Robert Matz (25 tracks + 1 bonus), a 20+-page PDF: The Making Of Fossil Echo, other extras (such as wallpapers, profile pictures) and yes, the dev team’s infinite gratitude.