Hey! You probably could use a nice new gaming PC, right? Well, The folks over at Mass Luminosity are giving any and all who enter the chance to score a pretty amazing gaming PC and other gear. You’ve got some time to enter, as the contest closes Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 1:00PM Central. More details below the jump… Continue reading
Platform: PC/Mac
Developer: Wonderstruck Games
Publisher: Rising Star Games
# of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: N/A
Score: A- (90%)
The fun thing about having such a huge backlog of games to go through is it’s genuinely surprising to finally stumble across stuff in the digital stack that’s worth taking time to fully explore. Granted, this sometimes means later than usual reviews. But hey, at least they get done. Wonderstruck’s fantastic sneak and steal game, The Marvellous Miss Take is one of those excellent indie surprises you can’t gauge solely from ogling screenshots and movies at all. It’s a game that needs to be played even if you’re a stealth game veteran who thinks you’ve seen it all. Quirky visuals, snappy writing and mostly tight gameplay are all here for your enjoyment and the game excels at making you smile as you stylishly sneak back your stolen inheritance… Continue reading
Platform: PlayStation 3 (also on Xbox 360/Wii U/PC)
Developer: Torus Games
Publisher: Little Orbit
# of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Score: C+ (70%)
You could say that there are two types of turn-based strategy game fans out there: those who’ve played XCOM and those who yet haven’t. Falling Skies: The Game works better for those in the latter category as well as those XCOM fans who won’t bash this too harshly for its intentional lifting of much of that game’s mechanics. While it’s a well-made game and plays just fine with only some pesky camera issues in tight spots, a few gameplay flaws knock it down from being a great entry in the genre. However, if you’re a big enough fan of the show, the game will probably warrant a buy right off the bat. Just don’t expect anything revelatory in the plot or handful of familiar characters you’ve come to know and love and you’ll more than likely have a fine time over a rainy weekend… Continue reading
Yeah, you know the drill by now. Sometimes you absolutely need a pleasant diversion on a manic Monday, so here’s some of what’s up on a few of the usual bundle selling suspects you should be frequenting regularly because they have deals you just can’t pass up:
IndieGala Every Monday Sale: Six games for ONLY a measly $1.89? How DO they do it? Well, no matter because it’s always a great deal even if you only actually play one or two of the games you buy. This week gets you some adventure games, a strategy game, a hidden object game and more fun all for a song. I’ll bet you that $1.89 that you’ll be happy with at least one of those games…
Bundle Stars has a small army of The Lord of the Rings games in this week’s bundle, so get ready for the silliness of two LotR games and their DLC and the straight up seriousness of War in the North and the online only competitive madness that is Guardians of Middle Earth. To paraphrase one Gandalf the Grey, “YOU SHALL NOT PASS (this offer up)!” A ha and ha-ha. Okay, enough with the puns, as I don’t want the Eyebrow of Sauron to raise itself any higher than it’s gotten after reading that last line.
Well, I’ve been busy working on stuff and hoping I don’t blow a gasket because of the sloppy job going on this week in the kitchen. Anyway, here are some AMAZING game bundle deals for you bargain hounds out there. Let’s just say the first three games in the Batman: Arkham series for ten bucks over at Bundle Stars is SUCH a steal that you better not be at all surprised when Batman himself pops into a window and knocks you out for getting those games so cheap.
Meanwhile, the Humble Weekly Sale features a nice mix of Iceberg Interactive games for a low price. Pay what you want for four games, make it $3.60 or more for seven games, and if you’re feeling generous, $25 gets you eight games including a few mighty and massive space simulations that will take you forever (and a day) to complete. All that and the Humble Store is blowing out a ton of games for low, low prices in its Humble Store Winter Sale. Remember, you’re not only filling up your hard drive, you’re helping out assorted charities in the process. Get busy so you can get busy, I say!
Black Pants Game Studios‘ formerly mobile-only title About Love, hate and the other ones is now on Steam for $6.99 and I’d say you should buy it for the title alone. I just completed downloading it but haven’t had the chance to play, but that title made me smile because I immediately thought of the great Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter delivering that classic speech:
(Thanks, TheOdusseus!)
However, the game has nothing to do with that should have been a classic when it was first released Charles Laughton film, folks. The press release and that video below should give you a better idea of what to expect:
Description
About Love, Hate and the other ones is a puzzle game, in which you influence your surroundings by the force of Hate and the power of Love. They shouldn’t have pushed the button! Life on the hill was just perfect for Love and Hate before that shiny red device appeared. Suddenly, they are trapped in a dark and spooky cave, far away from home. Now it is up to you to control the opposing forces of Love and Hate. They will soon meet a lot of Other Ones, wondering how they might react when Loved, or when Hated. Find a way through caves and ice, castles and factories, all by the might of your puzzling! If you ever return to that hill, life will be sweet again…
The game was developed by Tobias Bilgeri based on a short film series he did during university studies. Positive feedback on the game had him teaming up with indie developer brush&bear (two students at the University of Kassel) for the iPhone version, published by Black Pants on the App Store. A few screenshots for you? Of course!
The quirky visual style and initially simple gameplay should appeal to you puzzle fans out there, but I also like the interesting love-hate dynamic. Now, to shut up, post this and try to get in a some game time at some point today. Back in a bit…
As I noted last week before I even got a review code, Dejobaan Games’ Elegy for a Dead World is probably a game that will get non-gamers to play it. After firing up the game last night and taking it for a brief spin, let’s just say that it’s everything I thought and then some. I’ll save the longer words and high praise for the full review, but this may be the surest cure for a case of “writer’s block” you’ll ever see. Just for kicks, here’s a list of the first writing prompts I saw when I chose a world to explore:
The Proud History of a Dead World
Freeform Writing
Grammar Workshop 101
Ozmandias by Percy Shelly
The Destroyer of Worlds
I Thought ___ But You ___
Ten Rhyming Couplets
Bad Poetry You Wrote on the Bus
The Diary of a Young Girl
Other than Freeform Writing, each prompt has a brief description of what’s required. I did a world and at the end, was prompted to edit or share my work. I chose not to share it, but was surprised to see a story from someone else to read waiting for me on a new screen. Nice. The game not only encourages you to write, but to read and rate other works submitted by players. Things are really going to get interesting now. I just hope I have time to read what’s looking like a growing library of short stories, poems and other writing exercises…
Back in a bit with a full review.
Yikes. You know, there’s a very good reason I don’t follow and post every sliver of game news, nor do I care about some off the “news” that stirs certain areas of the internet up into a frenzy. At the PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas last weekend, one of the “big” announcements was the legendary JRPG Final Fantasy VII coming to the PlayStation 4 in 2015. At the time of its release back in 1997, it was not only a system seller for Sony’s original PlayStation, but one that bought millions of new players into CD-based gaming on a console, as previous games in the series has only appeared on cartridge-based systems. There was a PC version released back in 1998, but other than a recent re-release for modern PC’s, some excellent and jaw-dropping fan-made modifications and a beautiful remake of the game’s opening movie as an early demonstration of the PlayStation 3’s power, Square Enix has pretty much moved on from the very idea of a proper remake of this classic… Continue reading
Game delays aren’t great news at all and CD Projekt RED’s upcoming open-world RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has already be hit with one big delay that pushed the game into 2015 from 2014. Well, that wait has just gotten about twelve weeks longer. CDPR has issued an open letter to its fans explaining the (rather obvious) reasons for the delay: the game is just too damn big and good to be completed at its current pace. Well, that’s what I distilled from this note:
Dear Gamers,
Ever since we started working on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we knew it would be an ambitious game. We wanted, and still aim, to give you an incredible experience, an epic adventure in a vast, completely open fantasy universe.
The sheer size and complexity of The Witcher, key features of the title, have had a decisive impact on production. Now, nearing the end of our work, we see many details that need to be corrected. When we release the most important game in our studio’s history, we must be absolutely sure that we did everything we could to limit any bugs to a level that will allow you to enjoy the game thoroughly.
With this in mind, we took another look at current workloads and what they mean for the team. Even though everyone is working at full speed, we concluded that we need another 12 weeks, so we are shifting the release date of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to May 19th, 2015.
We owe you an apology. We set the release date too hastily. It’s a hard lesson, one to take to heart for the future. We know what we want to do to make Wild Hunt one of the best RPGs you will ever play. And we continue to work hard to achieve just that. So, we apologize and ask for your trust.
Thank you for the all support you show us on a daily basis. We truly do appreciate it. It has fueled us in our passion since the start and will continue to do so.
The Board of CD PROJEKT SA
Amusingly enough, news came around the time this new trailer dropped online, but it just made me want to wait as long as it takes for the team to get it done:
Now, you could yell at CD Projekt RED to stop playing their own game so much and just get it out, but that would be a mistake. No game ships 100% bug free and this one is especially tricky. That extra three months should be enough for the dev team to tighten things up and make sure the launch goes as smoothly as possible. Remember, in addition to a digital version, the company is also making physical retail discs for two consoles and all of these have to run as smoothly as possible. Whatever issues are keeping CDPR busy are most likely affecting all three versions (or two, if you’re a PC diehard and console hater), but those of us who respect the developer know they’ll make it all work.
I know of a few people who hate the act of writing and don’t go near videogames, yet happen to be big fans of fantasy and science fiction. I also know a few writers who don’t much like those genres and aren’t gamers, so it’s always tricky talking to them about games I think might change their minds a tiny bit. When I got a note today from Dejobaan Games about checking out their upcoming adventure game Elegy for a Dead World and watched the video above, every light bulb in my head went off at once (ouch!). I think I’ve found my gateway game, ladies and gents. As you can see, the game encourages its players to write about what they see onscreen in a manner somewhat like PC text adventure games back in the 80’s.
Or, to be a bit more precise:
In Elegy for a Dead World, you travel to distant planets and create stories about the people who once lived there.
Three portals have opened to uncharted worlds. Earth has sent a team of explorers to investigate them, but after an accident, you are the sole survivor.
Your mission remains the same: survey these worlds and write the only accounts of them that outsiders will ever know.
The game will have three worlds to explore, all based on the works of British Romantic Era poets:
Shelley’s World, based on Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Byron’s World, based on Darkness by Lord Byron
Keats’ World, based on When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be by John Keats
As you explore the landscapes, writing prompts will appear onscreen guiding you to write about objects you come across in any way you see fit. It seems that some prompts will ask for certain styles of writing while others will be free form assignments. The possibilities for creative freedom are boundless and it seems that this game may also make a handy tool to inspire non-writers to get their brains percolating. The game itself as well as what each player creates are only the beginning of the adventure. Dejobaan is hoping players will want to share their unique stories with others. There’s an option to have your words put into print using a few online book printing services or users can log into the Steam Workshop to read others’ tales and share their own. One of the best things about the game that makes it easy to recommend are its fairly low system requirements. The game will run on Windows (XP and up), Mac, Linux and SteamOS enabled systems. There’s no doubt Dejobaan wants as many people as possible to experience this one and write their own stories as they play.
Interestingly enough, I’ve always thought I’d be a lousy writer of fiction, but Elegy for a Dead World is certainly going to get me thinking outside the box I’ve tossed my brain into. We’ll see what happens in a bit, but I’ve got ideas bubbling up just from looking at screenshots. Back in a bit…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 