The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing Final Cut: A Triple Threat All In One Package For ARPG Fans

Posted on September 17, 2015 by geelw

Warts and all, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing has been quite a fun trilogy to play through. Taking the addictive chase and chop-fest of the Diablo series, adding humorous touches like a sassy AI ally and a fun “tower defense” mini-game that’s nicely implemented into the main story, NeoCore Games has crafted a great time chomper of a game. Coming September 23, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing Final Cut will give new players the entire trilogy with loads of fixes and new content. Over 50 hours of gameplay, six classes to choose from, new cut-scenes, and an all-new new ENDLESS endgame that can be played in a number of possible ways.

Yes, you can still get an actual ending to the big Borgovian bang trilogy. But NeoCore knows its fans love what they’re doing and the endless endgame is a way to keep them glued to their screens with saucer-sized eyeballs. The game is coming to Steam and gog.com on September 23, 2015 for $44.99, but gamers who own all three games in the trilogy (on Steam at least) will get Final Cut for free when the game launches. I’d say that’s going to surprise some who don’t know this and own all three games when they log into Steam next week and see something huge creeping onto their hard drives.

That said, this game NEEDS to come to consoles at some point down the road. There aren’t enough of this style of ARPG on the PS4, Xbox One or Wii U and that’s a sad thing indeed. We’ll have to see if NeoCore has those plans in the works, but if not, the PC game is one that doesn’t require a super-killer rig to run.

Some Fallout 4 Stuff To Fall Out Over

Posted on September 17, 2015 by geelw

Bethesda Softworks ~~thinks~~ knows it’s clever, getting all these amazing Fallout 4 goodies out there in the wild for all us collector types to collect as if we’re in one of their games collecting stuff. Well, without the being attacked by mutants and other irradiated deviants in the Wasteland. Here’s a quick peek at some of the nifty (and somewhat safe) stuff to be found in your travels. If you happen to be a lazy Vault-dweller too frightened to leave and explore the outside world, guess what? The internet is your friend (mostly). You can get your F4 goodies delivered just about anywhere in the U. S. of A. with a few clicks of a mouse. Well, provided that mouse isn’t alive, about a foot or so long (d’aww! it’s just a baby!) and and trying to bite off one or more of your toes as you roll around on the floor with it fighting for your life.

Continue reading →

Dungeon Travelers 2: The Royal Library & The Monster Seal Review

Posted on September 4, 2015 by geelw

Platform: PlayStation Vita

Developer: Aquaplus

Publisher: Atlus

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

MSRP: $39.99 (Retail/Digital)

Score: A- (90%)

Fans of Mature-rated fan service galore will absolutely be in deep grin mode with Dungeon Travelers 2: The Royal Library & the Monster Seal, which also happens to be an excellently designed and lengthy dungeon crawler. for the record, developer Aquaplus doesn’t reinvent the wheel at all here. But the gameplay is solid and challenging enough that fans of old-school Wizardry games and more recent riffs on it (Etrian Odyssey, Elminage Original) will find the game an excellent time eater.

In addition to some pleasing visuals, smooth dungeon movement and plenty of quick turn-based random battles against enemies that aren’t pure pushovers keep things rolling merrily along. The rather heavy fan service (in the form of plenty of under-dressed character art ranging from mild to somewhat creepy) will indeed be a sticking point for prudes and anyone else determined to dislike the game for the one thing it’ll sell for to some players who like this sort of content. Interestingly enough, the game somehow balances that out thematically by adding a religious subplot and characters to the mix. It doesn’t make up for everything, but it’s amusing, surprisingly well written (for a game such as this) and intelligently implemented. Continue reading →

Mad Max TV Spot: And You Thought YOUR Commute Was Hell

Posted on August 27, 2015 by geelw

Only a few more days to go until its September 1st launch on PC, PS4 and Xbox One and it sure looks as if WB Games and Avalanche Studios may have another hit on its hands. If Mad Max captures the insanity of the film and even half of the action from Avalanche’s Just Cause series, it’ll be a big winner this year. The longer “Stronghold” trailer from earlier this month certainly does an excellent job at conveying the post-apocalyptic setting and a few of the characters Max will meet in the game while also showing the game isn’t for the kiddies at all. That said, I don’t expect those prone to road rage will want to be playing this for extended periods of time as it may give them ideas on how to make their own commutes a lot more “interactive” in a not so productive manner.

The Violent Games Question Makes Me Want To Strangle Someone

Posted on August 18, 2015 by geelw

Ha and ha. Not really, but I am so tired of this nonsense getting regurgitated into news stories complete with clueless Joes and Janes on the street who come off as more ignorant than informed. If violent games make people violent, as someone who’s been playing them (as well as many others that aren’t violent) for decades, where’s my spot on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List? I’d say adults who beat their children and animals because they somehow think that they can comprehend yelling perfectly without being properly taught what right and wrong are would be bigger menaces to society than some kids who get their paws on games they’re too young to play.

THAT said, I’ll agree that some kids and adults with certain psychological issues can indeed be overstimulated by ANY form of violent OR even non-entertainment entertainment from music to movies to games. The recent APA study is flawed and like other studies that have attempted to directly (or indirectly, as the study finds “insufficient evidence” when all is said and done) link violent entertainment and violent behavior, makes claims the news media never really fact checks when it needs a hot story to grab some clicks. Ugh. Anyway, I’ll shut up now and get back to some actual work. I’d have posted my review of Dungeon Travelers 2 by now, but I’m waiting for the Vita USB cable I ordered to arrive. There are no blood and guts in that game at all, but it does have half-naked anime gals in it and my mind hasn’t been corrupted by that at all…

Fallout Anthology: The Bomb Drops In September (But Only In America)

Posted on August 17, 2015 by geelw

Amusingly enough, this must-have collection of the multi-million selling post-apocapalyptic game franchise is ONLY available in the continental United States thanks to that non-functioning miniature nuclear bomb replica it’s all packed into. Yes, you can imagine the irate international Fallout fans dying to get this and there will probably be some who manage to have a friend or relative here place an order and try to ship it their way. Of course, the USPS or other delivery services here won’t like that and most certainly, Customs in every country in the world won’t like that either. Especially if that “audible bomb sound” goes off while the package is being checked.

Still, you can’t fault someone for trying to grab this, as it’s absolutely a whopper of a conversation piece:

As for what’s in the bomb, er, box- that’s below the jump. Fifty bucks is a steal for all this, mind you. Continue reading →

Mad Max “Choose Your Path” Trailer: Make Your Monday A Bit More Action-Packed

Posted on August 17, 2015 by geelw

So, you’re terminally bored already at work and it’s not even lunchtime? Good. Mr. Rockatansky is here to whip you into shape with a little clicking exercise guaranteed to stimulate your eyeballs and get some adrenaline going to keep you pumped up for the remainder of your Monday. Here’s a little distraction for your courtesy WBIE and Avalanche Studios. You’ll want to choose all the paths of course just to check out the non-stop mayhem coming your way in Mad Max, set to hit PC, PS4 and Xbox One on September 1, 2015.

Of course, if your boss happens to stroll by and make that face that says “Hey… shouldn’t you be working?”, don’t do anything you see in that video as a possible response to that query. I’m quite sure your Monday doesn’t need THAT much excitement added to it and if it does, you’re really in the wrong line of work.

The Hateful Eight: Tarantino’s 70MM Western Will Rake In More Than A Fistful of Dollars

Posted on August 12, 2015 by geelw

For some reason I thought Quentin Tarantino had directed MORE than a paltry eight films in his career. But I think I was including stuff he didn’t direct directly in that number plus some TV work he’s had a hand in. Whatever. The Hateful Eight is looking fine and grim and chilly as it packs in some of the director’s favorite actors into a snowbound winter cabin and lets them chew the scenery. I’m expecting a bit of back-stabbery and gun-shootery bits with the trademark Tarantino touches wrapped up in an all new score by Ennio Morricone. As the film takes place a few years after the Civil War, I’d not expect to see any modern in-jokes here. But I’ll expect some of the characters in the film to get in references to some of their previous work.

Of course, I’m only basing that on Kurt Russell seemingly making a nod to his MacReady character from John Carpenter’s still fantastically freaky 1982 remake of The Thing. Hey, I don’t look for this stuff in trailers, folks. It. Finds. Me. I think. Anyway, The Hateful Eight is out in a limited 70MM Panavision release this Christmas Day with a wider release set for January 8th, 2016 “everywhere else”. I guess the roadshow version is for the Academy folks to check out before they get to that Oscar balloting stuff they do. I saw some fine actors doing their thing, but didn’t see anything “award winning” in that too-brief trailer. But with Tarantino films, you really need to see the whole thing before making any judgments for or against them.

Dungeon Travelers 2 Hands-On: Fan Service Steamy Express, Inbound

Posted on August 7, 2015 by geelw

Let’s get this out of the way first: Atlus’ upcoming PS Vita JRPG Dungeon Travelers 2: The Royal Library & the Monster Seal is NOT for kids. Period, end of story. Developer Aquaplus’ first-person dungeon crawler may have that cute anime look to it, but the mash up of bishojo game and classic (albeit simplified) Wizardry gameplay seems to have twisted many gamers into human pretzels as they either express offense at the content or defense at wanting to buy the game.

The thing is, half-naked artwork and cheesy dialog aside… the game isn’t “porn” by any stretch of the imagination unless it’s an overactive one at work. Some of the furor about the game comes from the presentation of its female characters in assorted states of undress, some silly cut scenes that let players linger as long as they want to on images and oddly enough, the fact that the ESRB determined a mere four of these images to be worthy of getting edited from the final North American product. While some journalists are doing the “A-ha!” dance around those unseen images (you can look them up online if you wish), they’re also busy unintentionally or intentionally insulting not only Atlus’ decision to publish the game, but people who may want to buy the game in the process. Continue reading →

Zombi: U Will Want To Play This Wii U Port On Your PS4 & Xbox One

Posted on August 2, 2015 by geelw

Call me only mildly surprised that this is happening, although I’m shocked (shocked! But not really) that it didn’t happen sooner. ZombiU was one of the Wii U’s standout launch games in that it made the GamePad and touchscreen mandatory for the gameplay to work best at what it was trying to accomplish. Looking down at it to check one’s inventory or prepare a weapon or something else only to look up at your TV and see something (or a few somethings!) shambling and scrambling out of the dark was a terrifying thing to experience. Yes, Vita or Windows tablet support for that second screen would be beautiful to see. But even Sony has mucked that up quite a bit by taking so long to implement it into games and only as a means of playing portable games on a larger TV. I don’t own a Surface tablet, so I can’t comment positively or otherwise) on anything Microsoft has done for dual screen gaming. Oh well.

Anyway, without that second screen this might look like another zombie game to skip over if you’re tired of the genre. You’d be sorely mistaken for thinking that based on looks alone. My frightening and sometimes fearfully frustrating (Do I want to go on through that door? Hell nope! Oh… okay. CHOMP!) experience with the Wii U version says that if approached with an open mind by smarter PS4 and Xbox One owners who don’t resort to insults whenever they see a Wii U game, the experience should be quite a worthy one. The rogue-like random elements add infinite replay value and there are some really effective scares to be had. Anyway, August 15, 2015 is the big day for this and I hope to hell it not only does well, but gets some of the all-out naysayers about the Wii U to ‘fess up and admit that there are actually some great games on that system they haven’t played (er, until now that is).