While it may seem like a super-easy casual game at first glance, don’t let the either the art style or offbeat hybrid concept fool you one bit. Rollers of the Realm offers up a serious challenge to pinball aficionados and is one of the bigger indie surprises of 2014. However, you really don’t need to be a pinball wizard to fully enjoy what’s here. The game offers up enough fun to get pretty much anyone who picks it up pulled into its unusual blending of genres. Developer Phantom Compass gets some decent mileage from its medieval fantasy epic setting, dedicated voice actors and yes, the all-important element of making the gameplay both fresh and rewarding… Continue reading →
So, the final (but not quite final I’d bet) push is here as Electronic Arts and BioWare even more heavily promote Dragon Age Inquisition, the upcoming BioWare-developed epic RPG set for release November 18. While the game is coming to PS3 and Xbox 360, it’s the PS4, Xbox One and PC versions that are getting the most attention from many fans and pretty much every critic set to review it. Those versions should clearly show the developer making the game they wanted to make from the beginning of this popular franchise, although one can only imagine how future games will look once older hardware becomes less common.
There is also an intriguing and optional social feature currently in beta called Dragon Age Keep that looks to immerse fans even more completely into the world of Dragon Age as they learn every bit of lore from previous games and even share their progress in the new adventure as they play. Check it out:
if you’re Twitching for more Dragon Age, fear not. EA and BioWare have you covered this coming Thursday with a live stream of the game’s multiplayer component starting at 10:00AM PST (that’s 1:00PM EST) on the developer’s Twitch channel. This content will include the following:
Three Multiplayer Maps: The team will be showing three destinations: Elven Ruins, Orlesian Chateau and Tevinter Ruins.
Three Multiplayer Characters: The team will be showing character progression on the three unlocked starter characters: Legionnaire, Keeper and Archer.
Tips & Tricks: The team will be walking viewers through core tips and tricks on how to be successful in Dragon Age multiplayer. They will also touch on Ability Trees, Chests, and Crafting.
Live Q&A: Producer Scylla Costa and Associate Producer Billy Buskell will be taking questions from viewers live during the stream.
Who:Dragon Age multiplayer Producers Scylla Costa and Billy Buskell
What: Dragon Age multiplayer gameplay feature 3 maps, 3 multiplayer characters, and Q&A.
When: Thursday, November 6th at 10:00AM PST / 1:00PM EST
That should tide you over until the game is finally launched on November 18, 2014 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows.
Miserable weather or not, learning all you need about dispatching zombies and staying alive on a desert island are always handy skills. 505 Games dropped EKO Games’ How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition for the PS4 onto PSN and Xbox Live yesterday and it’s a must buy if you’re a fan of the original game or are entirely new to the experience. This visually gussied up version gives you the original game plus all six DLC packs for a decent price. While best with friends, the game offers up a hefty solo challenge with decent AI. Just make sure you watch where you aim, chop or punch. “Friendly” fire can’t be toggled off as far as I know and you don’t want to accidentally knock off your AI companion. Anyway, this one’s quite cool and funny for a fairly violent game – go check it out, I say.
Leave it to McFarlane Toys to bust out another cool collectible for you Assassin’s Creed fans out there. Well, you can’t wear this Assassin’s Creed Unity Phantom Blade(available now!) with pride in many if not ANY urban areas outside of part of a Halloween outfit. You’ll probably have to do some face-down explaining to the local authorities if you do walk around sporting this all stealthy-like. Not only does this think look like part of some past century assassin’s getup, that crossbow and retractable blade actually work (although they’re very non-lethal). As I live in New York City, I’d be socking this one on a shelf somewhere and not wearing it strapped to a wrist for a subway ride downtown at all. Some poor commuter would think I was a poor Travis Bickle wannabe and ring up some overzealous MTA cop and the next thing you know, I’m all over the local news for all the wrong reasons.
Still, for $59.99, you’re certainly getting something that’s going to be a conversation piece whether or not you decide to wear it while out and about. In addition, the Phantom Blade also includes a bonus code to download the French Cavalry Pistol in Ubisoft’s upcoming Assassin’s Creed Unity for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, set for a November 11, 2014 launch. If you’re grinning like a Cheshire Cat right about now, you’re probably already buying TWO of these online or planning that trip to your local toy retailer to snap one or more of these up. Ubisoft and McFarlane Toys like that about you quite a lot, you know…
(shakes fist at monitor)… Stupid Sony. Having another PSN sale on some stuff I might want just when I’m poking around for something light and kind of fluffy to play between bigger games. Yeah, I got Dead Nation (finally) for under 4 bucks, but stopped there because I do have some things to take care of here outside the gaming sphere. Anyway, check out the long list of games, movies and TV shows (okay, mostly movies and TV shows, as the game presence is a bit limited this week) for some decent deals if you’re looking to stock up on content for one of your consoles or that Vita you’re not telling anyone you own for some oddball reason.
Or, hell… at least get Dead Nation if you own a Vita. It’s a ton of fun so far and I just may want someone around to hop online with in the not too distant future…
Yaaah! When did this slip out? Oh, September 30? Well, I wasn’t paying attention, but this one’s on my list of too many games to buy and play. *Sigh*… well, given that I have the Genesis version here and have made it about halfway through, I know what to expect already. That said, the HD visual upgrade makes this one the one I’ll probably default to once it gets purchased. So many games… so little time, grrrr!
You may have noticed that this is the European PEGI-rated trailer for the game and not the North American ESRB one, but that’s because at my current download speed, it will take (looks at timer)… seven hours to download that US trailer (Yaaaah!) We can’t have that, now, can we? The other scary thing? How amazing this game looks, as this is all in-game footage put together by a really talented video editor/player. I guess the third (and perhaps most frightening) thing is I’m now wondering how good the Wii U version of the game will look and how fast it will be. Not that the system can’t do an excellent racing game with real cars, mind you (Need for Speed U is still the pinnacle of realism on the console in terms of visuals). It’s more of a correcting of perception thing among the die-hard skeptics that have been hating on the console before it was launched who still haven’t been convinced even after some recent and great software releases.
Oh well, those folk may never be convinced (and it’s their loss), but as someone who owns and likes his Wii U quite a lot, I’m holding my breath that Slightly Mad Studios blows all those haters out of the muddy water they’re trolling in with a stellar version that wipes the smirks right off their faces.
Shinji Mikami and Tango Gameworks’ horror game The Evil Within is out today, and I know publisher Bethesda Softworks is anticipating good numbers for this psychological/survival horror/action game hybrid. While PC and “next-gen” versions are going to get the critical love or hate, I’m more interested in the older console versions because they’ll be ignored for the most part by critics despite MORE people owning hardware those versions can be played on outside the PC game space where no game is guaranteed to move as well thanks to assorted factors outside the control of the publisher. Mikami’s name will move copies to fans of Capcom’s storied (but bumpy since he left) Resident Evil franchise, but those new to the man’s work will probably play the waiting game until they have enough pals playing to convince them to drop some cash on this new IP.
Sure, I’m betting the PS3 or 360 versions don’t look as good, may have issues with frame rate and/or screen tearing compared to the spiffier new consoles and so forth and so on. But I don’t care about that at all in any game if I like the story, characters and gameplay. We’re at the stage where games are picked apart for too many things that at the end of the day, don’t really detract from the overall experience at all. There are too many amateur internet critics that think because they’ve read other (and better) reviews and have picked up a few buzzwords, they can toss them back at EVERY game like they know what they’re talking about. Sadly, most of the time they’re wrong or just being picky to justify not liking something most others would overlook. As for me, well, I have to hold out for a bit thanks to my disposable income being less disposable of late, but it’s a ride I do want to take at some point…
Okay, so I’d not played EKO Software’s How to Survive at all on the PS3 because it was a digital-only title, I was fed up with zombie games and figured missing one wouldn’t be a total loss. Boy, was I wrong on that front. When 505 Games invited me to see and play the enhanced PS4 version, How To Survive: Storm Warning Edition (along with some really stupendous mobile titles I’ll need to write about soon), I popped up with no expectations (a good way to approach any new game, folks) but came away very impressed with the brutally challenging game with the most fitting name. If you’ve played this on other platforms and love it, you know the drill and this one’s been keeping you busy for a while. If you’re new to the game and happen to have a PS4, you’ll be pleased to know this version will bring you the original release and DLC in the same download… Continue reading →
A half hour may be a long time if you’re sitting through a really bad TV show, being tortured, have a terrible toothache or are waiting for some test results, but it’s clearly not a good deal of time to sit down with a build of Dragon Age Inquisition. For me ( a fan of the series and BioWare’s RPGs in general for quite some time), the game is one that doesn’t need a huge amount of hyperbolic posts from editor-types or even PR gurus because it’s a series that’s pretty much sold itself to a fan base who wanted to see a western-developers RPG do more with the genre (and it’s succeeded for the most part despite a few bumps along the road it’s traveled). My half hour at EA’s media event a few days back was spent ogling the beautiful visuals, running around with my party picking plants for crafting and looting assorted caches while getting the hang of the deeper combat system that now adds some very welcome tweaks to the mix of real-time and “turn-based” format.
Platform: PC (also on PS4, Vita)
While it may seem like a super-easy casual game at first glance, don’t let the either the art style or offbeat hybrid concept fool you one bit. Rollers of the Realm offers up a serious challenge to pinball aficionados and is one of the bigger indie surprises of 2014. However, you really don’t need to be a pinball wizard to fully enjoy what’s here. The game offers up enough fun to get pretty much anyone who picks it up pulled into its unusual blending of genres. Developer Phantom Compass gets some decent mileage from its medieval fantasy epic setting, dedicated voice actors and yes, the all-important element of making the gameplay both fresh and rewarding… Continue reading 
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 