Back to the Future: What’s Old Is New Game News @E3 2015

Posted on June 16, 2015 by geelw

It’s a good news/bad news thing today. The good news: time travel DOES exist, ladies and gents. Final Fantasy VII is finally getting a remake for the PS4 and possibly PC. The Last Guardian is now a PS4 exclusive (as I predicted a while back) Shenmue 3 was announced yesterday evening at Sony’s E3 event as a surprising show-announced Kickstarter project for PS4 and was COMPLETELY funded in about twelve hours (breaking a Kickstarter record). Even King’s Quest and HITMAN are making comebacks (and sooner than you’d think).

Microsoft’s formerly forward-looking only Xbox One gets Xbox 360 backward compatibility and legendary developer Rare is releasing 30 of its classic arcade and console games for $30 in a crazy must-have bundle this August (exclusively for the console, of course). Between this and the return of DOOM, the acceptance of indie retro games as necessary for part of a console’s success and other interesting developments, it’s a huge win-win situation for gamers with a good deal of disposable income. And no, I didn’t forget Nintendo in all this. I’m just holding out for a separate post on their always nostalgic ways and means of getting loyal fans continually hooked in. Give me a bit of time on that as it’s still construction central here with more to come.

Now, the bad news: In reality time travel DOESN’T exist at all. With all those new games coming (and this post doesn’t count the VR games invasion happening soon), no one will actually any free time to play them all unless their Doctor has a certain “timey-wimey” prescription that allows them to have their fun and return to reality not having missed much sleep or even a day of work. Oh well…

Bethesda @E3 2015: Lots Of DOOM-Saying Dishonored Fallout Scrolls

Posted on June 15, 2015 by geelw

Nothing much to say here other than Bethesda Softworks’ E3 lineup is small but spectacular even though I’m not completely sold on the mobile and free to play titles (because I’m old school stubborn like that but still respect them in the morning). Pull up a seat and something to eat as this is a nice lonng look at what’s coming this year and a bit beyond. I’ll run individual game trailers later this week. Okay, back to grinding my teeth and making pissed off faces at no one in particular. There’s still some work being done on the roof (which was supposed to end on the 5th of this month) and an inspector is coming to look at a wall that’s become a bit of a mess in the home office, grrrrr.

Preview: The Deadly Tower of Monsters Looks Like A Nice Place to Visit

Posted on June 11, 2015 by geelw

Atlus and developer ACE team are going to make some of us well-aged “B” movie fans really happy soon. The Deadly Tower of Monsters is coming to PC and PlayStation 4 soon and it looks like a total camp classic that captures the weird spirit of plenty of well-aged flicks that made for some fun weekends in front of the tube way back when. I’m gathering the humor will be lost on the more jaded gamers of today or those expecting new games to all look the same with super-shiny realism all over the place.

Nope, you’re not getting that here at all. TDToM seems to be presented from a mostly isometric perspective so comparisons to something like Diablo III or Gauntlet will no doubt be made by some. I’m liking the wires on that rocket above, the intentionally choppy stop-motion dinosaur and the super-colorful graphics while hoping there’s an optional black and white mode in the mix somewhere.

As I won’t be at E3 this year, I’m not going to be getting any hands-on time with the game (boo!). But I’ll keep an ear to the ground and keep an eye peeled for videos of gameplay because this one sure looks like something I’d play to death and beyond. Now, if only it was coming to more consoles. But I guess we’ll see what happens if it does well enough to expand onto more systems. As usual… we shall see.

Review: High Strangeness (Wii U)

Posted on June 10, 2015 by geelw

Platform: Wii U (also on PC)
Developer: Barnyard Intelligence Games/Crystal Labs
Publisher: Midnight City/Majesco
# of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Official Site
Score: B+ (85%)

While “short” by whatever “today’s standards” for game length is, High Strangeness is actually about as long as many of the 8 and 16-bit games it’s inspired by. A few too many gamers today are a wee bit spoiled by the still baffling comparison of game length somehow equaling overall quality so it’s great to play a new “retro” game that doesn’t wear you down with too many gimmicks before the ride is over. What’s here is a pretty cool throwback that bridges the game between the two eras with a “12-bit” approach that allows players to travel back and forth between two distinct visual styles. There’s also a mix of sci-fi and light horror vibes going on here with creepy-looking enemies, a big mystery and even a sentient cat to keep you dialed in from start to finish.

Continue reading →

Fallout 4: It’s Going To Be The Bomb (As The Kids Say)

Posted on June 4, 2015 by geelw

Well, I knew Bethesda was working on it for a while so I may be one of the few people who didn’t lose his or her mind when that Fallout 4 trailer dropped. More will be revealed at E3 and that most likely means there will be live gameplay to see and screens to pore over. I like that our hero (or heroine if you choose to play as a female) may have an actual voice this time out and I hope there are a few voice options in that character creation screen. While the trailer is made up of in-game footage trying to even guess anything about the story through the trailer is a fool’s errand. Naturally, the internet is going ga-ga over over-speculation about everything in that video. I prefer to keep what remains of my sanity and stay quiet until my paws are wrapped around a controller.

I’m gathering the release date will be a shocker, as there are placeholder pre-order and retailer tabs on the official site already that will probably go live during or after E3. I’m betting Bethsoft wants to get as many people who want this as possible to grab their wallets and get with the early spending spree. Given that their press conference is quite long and has the return of former G4TV stars Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb as hosts, I’d say a lot of gamer wallet (and other bits) draining will be happening once all is said and done. That said, I don’t think an new single player entry in The Elder Scrolls series will be announced this year. Why? Because that’s too much to take for some folks (myself included) and time travel hasn’t been invented just yet so we can play all these games and go back to normal without missing a beat.

Besides, Bethesda REALLY wants you to be playing The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited. Zenimax did work a hell of a long time on it and I hear it’s not bad at all for an always online game experience.

You’ll Be A Bundle of Nerves With This New Bundle Stars Deal

Posted on June 2, 2015 by geelw

More scary and mystery-themed indies games incoming from Bundle Stars? Awesome. Particularly with titles such as Tale of Tales wonderful re-imagining of Red Riding Hood, The Path, the chilling first person horror game Betrayer and more, all at the ridiculously low price of $2.49 with this deal expiring on June 16, 2015. Here’s what else in in this Nightmare Bundle:

1HEART – RRP $9.99
Betrayer – RRP $9.99
Guns n Zombies – RRP $7.99
Kraven Manor – RRP $5.99
Montague’s Mount – RRP $9.99
The Moon Sliver – RRP $2.99
The Path – RRP $9.99
The Samaritan Paradox – RRP $9.99

96% off is indeed a scary great price. You know you’re tempted to slip into something uncomfortable and cheap and this deal is the safest way to do that without any harm coming to your person. Unless it’s a bout of wrist and finger cramping from all that mouse clicking you’ll soon be doing. Get to it, then. This deal isn’t going to last forever, but those nightmares you may have after some of these games? Well, that’s all up to you.

SOMA Gameplay: While You Were Sleeping, Frictional’s Been Busy

Posted on May 30, 2015 by geelw

The more I see of SOMA, the more I want to play it and hear about others playing it. This slow-burner of a sci-fi horror game from Frictional Games looks fantastic and as you can see, has atmosphere to burn in spades. I do love that the game builds up to what’s in this 12+ minute video and will most likely leave viewers interested in the game wanting to grab it just to see how everything falls into place. It seems that players will be in for an excellent blend of adventure game search and use, environmental hazards and one pretty oddball opinionated machine. Iie arigato, Mr. Roboto! Yikes. Anyway, SOMA is out September 22 on PC and PS4.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III: Three’s Company For The Long Haul

Posted on May 23, 2015 by geelw

So. The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III is out and yes, you SHOULD buy and play it if you like action/RPG’s with a sense of humor (and optional gore), loads of random loot drops and probably closure as NeoCore Games finishes up its trilogy. That said… oh, for the days of the retail review disc arriving in the mail! While 20GB may not seem like a huge file to download in this era of “everyone” having a high speed connection, the best I can do around here is roughly 11 to 36 mbps. And that’s WITH connections dropping out from time to time adding more time to the download. 11 hours to download a game (which would be closer to 5 or 6 if the speed is consistent and there aren’t any connection drops) is way too long for me and while I’m not impatient, I have no idea how people put up with this sort of thing with larger game files.

Yeah, yeah, it’s something we’ve “gotten used to” as the digital age has beat retail over the head senselessly as a “superior” option. But for folks like me who fail to see the speed difference when having a disc means you get into those games you want FASTER and with only any day one (or later) patches to download, this digital divide is more “haves” versus “have nots” stuff I see some game companies no longer addressing. Boo. But hell, I won’t take this minor annoyance out on NeoCore games and all their hard work at all. Although it WOULD be cool to see them get their trilogy out on consoles at some point so even MORE people could enjoy it. Eh, we’ll see. In between the ongoing strife here I need to fit my Sunday around getting this game onto a hard drive here, so it’s an early night for this old fart. Back in a bit.

Catlateral Damage Gets The Best Press Release of 2015 (So Far)

Posted on May 20, 2015 by geelw

Yeah, yeah. Posting press releases verbatim is LAZY and should be avoided at all costs (even though it costs no sense to do). But once in a while you get one that cracks you up and requires sharing because the product being shilled was fun enough to inspire a PR person to just do something so obvious that it works despite being awfully corny.

Of course, if you call a cat “corny” it will either ignore you and go take a nap or climb your leg like a lumberjack escaping from a starving bear up a very tall and sturdy tree. Anyway, video to roll and press release to read below, meow.

For Immediate Release

Catbridge, MA, May, 18, 2015 – Mew meow CATLATERAL DAMAGE meow meow-ow Steam mew OUYA! Meow-ow mew mrow meow mew meow mew meow mew mew meow-ow, mew mew meow mrow mew mew meow meow-ow meow mew mrow meow meow! Mew mew meow meow-ow meow mew meow mrow mrow meow-ow mew mew mew. Meow-ow mew, meow meow mew meow mew mrow mew mew meow-ow mew mew meow.

Meow-ow mew meow meow Wed May 27th mew meow mew meow mew mew meow-ow, mew mew mrow mrow mew meow meow-ow meow mew meow meow! Mew mew meow meow-ow meow mew meow meow-ow mew mew mew mrow. Meow-ow mew, meow meow mew meow mew meow mew mew meow-ow mew mew meow. Purrrr… Meow raaarowwww meow.

Me-meow mew mew meow meow-ow meow mew catlateraldamage.com!

And yes indeed you need this game just because your cat will knock you out of bed if you don’t buy it and let it play or watch you play while it naps. Cats can see in their sleep. Or so I’ve heard. On the other paw, If you own a dog you know it could care less about this game because it’s trying to figure out how to start up the car, drive to the store and buy some steaks with your credit card. Like that old Talking Heads song goes “Animals think… they’re pretty smart…”

The Witcher 3 Now Available: Some of You Won’t Be Seen For Weeks

Posted on May 19, 2015 by geelw

Or you’ll be seen in all your usual places but your minds will be elsewhere because you’ve been running around adventuring as Geralt in CD Projekt RED’s long-awaited open world masterpiece. If those glowing review scores are any indication, this one’s going to be keeping some folks busy for months between the main game and the upcoming DLC packs. I’d bet a nickel that more than a few people who’ve been holding out or saving up for something to play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will indeed make the big plunge (and hopefully see that there are a load of other games out there worth a buy in the process). ames like this are what keep me playing after all this time. You can take all those not an actual sport “eSports” titles, MOBAs and about 80% of every mobile or “social” game and stick them in a slow boat to Mars. None of those will ever best any game with a good solid story and characters you feel are part of a living, breathing fantasy world. Someone give CD Projekt RED a medal for keeping the flame alive already.