Hyrule Warriors Direct: It Would Seem That The Missing Link Is MORE Action…

Posted on August 6, 2014 by geelw

Hyrule Warriors may not have BUY ME stamped on it in shiny gold letters, but based on the response to the game so far in video form, I’d say Nintendo has a hit that’s not just for Nintendo fans only. The long-running Dynasty Warriors franchise is indeed “niche”, yet it has mass appeal to action game fans who may or may not be into The Legend of Zelda games. As you can see in this Direct presentation, the gameplay is quite similar to the Dynasty Warriors games down to the packs of enemies, powerful attacks, large battle maps and multiple objectives that need to be tackled as they pop up. But seeing it all with familiar faces from the LoZ series makes me grin a lot and my wallet hurt even more.

Oh yeah, and Gannon(dorf*) pops up as a playable character (oh, this should be interesting, folks):

As I’ve said previously… SOLD. Hell, this was sold from the first moment I heard it was being made. Anyway, I’m betting Nintendo gets a nice surprise once this ships and they see it sell faster than even they anticipated. If it does, Team Ninja and Omega Force will have to probably hire a semi-permanent HW team for the inevitable sequel and perhaps even consider a 3DS version that’s some sort of side story, as that handheld certainly isn’t outputting HD visuals anytime soon.

*I tend to call Gannondof “gannon” as that’s the name I first encountered him under and “dorf” makes me think of the always hilarious Tim Conway because I’m as old as the hills and not one of you under a certain age will get that reference at all unless I clue you all in. Get it? Got it? Good. Now you can call him Gannon as well…

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls – Ultimate Evil Edition TV Spot: Giving That Devil His Due (Before He Does You In)…

Posted on August 6, 2014 by geelw

August 19 is right around the corner and that means quite a few people are planning to take a little vacation to hell and back with this console version of the Reaper of Souls expansion for Diablo III. This one’s going to eat away at productivity here, which isn’t a good thing at all, so I’m actually going to hold off picking it up for about a week or so while I knock the pile of work I have here down to a more manageable size. That’s not to say YOU shouldn’t run like hell out to grab this one on day one if you’re a fan of the series (you absolutely SHOULD). I just know myself all to well and know I’ll just pull a disappearing act if I get this and there’s “suddenly” some “free time” that pops up like a rabbit out of a hat…

Rollers of the Realm Teaser Trailer: Pinball & Wizards Combine In This Soon To Be Sleeper Hit…

Posted on August 5, 2014 by geelw

I’ve been looking forward to Rollers of the Realm ever since it was a PC-only game from Phantom Compass (“and friends”), but now that’s it’s been snapped up by Atlus for a winter release, I’m eager to see how a larger gaming audience responds to it. Granted, I’m old and wise enough to know this isn’t the FIRST pinball-themed RPG at all, but it’s the one I’m betting more people will be talking about once they play it. I still have an early demo of the game from last year on my hard drive and go back to it often just so I can stave off my need to want the full version sooner than its release date.

Personally, I’m super thrilled to see this on the Vita, as it’s most likely going to be one of those niche titles that gets bought because it’s so unlike anything on the handheld and even the purer pinball sims out there need to bow down a tiny bit at this blending of genres and how it all works so well. Anyway, back to waiting for some smoke signals or whatever Atlus will send up as far as preview or review code. I can wait a while, but I also don’t want to see this gem buried in the holiday crunch of AAA titles everyone always falls for…

Some (Trouble-Free) Adventurezator Impressions…

Posted on August 4, 2014 by geelw

So, I haven’t gotten into much trouble at all with the beta version of Pigasus Game’s awesome Adventurezator, but I’m certainly having a blast playing around with this game creation kit in progress. While it needs a bit more work before it’s ready for prime time, as an easy to use adventure game creation tool, it’s coming along quite nicely. In the current build, it’s best to play the included scenario-based game just to see how the inventory and object interaction work before diving into the editing function and getting all “I’ve got a story!” on this software. Creating characters (or “actors”, but you don’t have to call them that because you’re not paying them and they’re not making ends meet as wait staff somewhere) is super simple (although the game needs more variety in hairstyle and clothing options) and you can even whip up masks using your own image files if you’re feeling really creative… Continue reading →

BUY IT: Another (Mon)day, Another $1.79 IndieGala Bundle…

Posted on August 4, 2014 by geelw

This one’s a no-brainer just because it has a Giana Sisters game on it, but there are a few other indies that make this a fine way to spend that buck seventy-nine. Guise of the Wolf looks like a fine first-person adventure game, I recall Helldorado being a nifty western game with a fun combat system, and everything else I’ve yet to play… but how can you NOT want to try them at this price? Of course, this deal only lasts for the first 24 hours before the bundle price jumps up and scares you out of your wits (a little). So grab these games if your boat has been floated…

Missed Being One of Five Million? Bundle Stars and PC Gamer Give You A Second Chance!

Posted on August 2, 2014 by geelw

Say, did you miss any of the five FREE games in that cool Bundle Stars/PC Gamer giveaway? Well, you didn’t REALLY miss them at all, because here’s your chance to grab all five and still pay NOT A DIME for them. You only have a day to get SpaceChem, Dino D-Day, Really Big Sky, Gun Monkeys, and GTR Evolution for nothing but having a Steam account and enough hard drive space to fit these games on. Okay, a decent enough 3D card helps, as well as being interested in this set of games, of course. Anyway, to grab this bundle, click HERE and go! Again, this chance only lasts until August 3, so GRAB IT while you can!

Sacred 3 Launch Trailer: Faster, Hackier and Slashier It Is. But Is That A Good Thing?

Posted on August 1, 2014 by geelw

I really liked the first two Sacred games for their massive open worlds, lengthy main quests and plenty of side quests, so this more action-heavy and multiplayer focus Sacred 3 has is a bit jarring. Granted, developer keen games has made a nice-looking game here and it will be played for sure. I’m just hoping the game can be enjoyed as a decent RPG experience and isn’t just a kill/loot/rinse & repeat thing that some will despise and doom to the bargain bin before the year is out. That and Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is on the way and will probably consign this game to a “play it later” fate for some DIII fans who only have time for ONE deep dungeon crawling experience. Anyway, this is out now in Europe and a few other spots – the North American version should hit retail and download channels on August 5th. I’ll give it a fair shake just to see how it stacks up to previous entries while also gauging it on its own merits. The game certainly looks as if it’ll be fun at the end of the day…

New Shadowgate Trailer: What’s New Is Old (And Great)…

Posted on August 1, 2014 by geelw

I really should be dreading this upcoming Shadowgate reboot a lot more, but I’m just too pleased to see this ancient fantasy adventure game make a comeback. My dread SHOULD come from the knowledge that developer Zojoi Games is making this one like the original: intentionally hard and with intent to punish players who don’t pay careful attention to the decisions they make. The again, you can be the smartest stick in the shed and have your character still die a horrific death because Shadowgate is no pic-a-nic zone at all. Nearly every beautifully illustrated screen has something to interact with in nine different ways, but you might expire quite horribly if for example you HIT someone you shouldn’t have, EAT an item that’s not that edible under any circumstances or even TALK to something that wants to put the bite on your soon to be deceased hero. But hey, life (even in a game like this) is all about taking chances, so if you’re a PC/Mac/iOS or Android gamer looking for adventure, you should hop onto this train and perhaps even pre-order the game. It’s officially out on August 21, 2014 – I’ve been avoiding buying in early and playing the beta because I prefer to go in cold and see if I can remember all the tricks and traps from the NES version and see if I can survive more than three or four screens worth of them.

Onechanbara Z II: Chaos PS4-Bound In Japan (Yes, We Could Use It Here As Well)…

Posted on July 31, 2014 by geelw

It’s tough being a fan of a SUPER-niche series like the OneeChambara(also spelled Onechanbara, folks!) games, but I’ll admit to liking the games to some extent as a purely guilty pleasure. Well, except for that PSP game that felt half completed because of the oddball controls. Anyway, D3Publisher in Japan dropped this trailer yesterday for OneeChambara Z II: Chaos and both Gamekyo and Gematsu ran a ton of screen grabs and concept art for this first next-gen game in the long-running series that started out on the PlayStation 2. The game is set for an October 30, 2014 release and developer Tamsoft is promising a blazing 60 frames per second and full 1080p resolution, a first for the series.

Sure, compared to other games on the PS4, this one isn’t going to be the best-looking at all, but it’s nice to see Tamsoft make a game that looks like the cut scenes they’ve done in previous Onechanbara titles. As for this one getting an full English translation and US release? Well, that’s a tough one to call, as D3Publisher of America probably didn’t sell a ton of the first two Onechanbara games they localized (one for the Xbox 360 and another for the Nintendo Wii). I guess we shall see what happens, but I can see this getting at least some minor to moderate success in Japan if it plays well and had legs. Er, longevity, that is. I’ll bug someone at D3PoA in a bit to see what’s what. I’d love to play this one and really hope it’s being looked at for a potential North American release at some point. Sexy gals wiping out zombie hordes by the boatload and doing it stylishly? Yeah, it’s supposed to be silly and semi-serious simultaneously, but that’s what makes this guilty pleasure work so well, folks. Off to cross my fingers and hope…

Wrandom Wramblings On A Weary Wednesday…

Posted on July 30, 2014 by geelw

0. I’m part of ANOTHER fine and dandy Blogathon this year! Movies, Silently is hosting a World War I-themed collection of movie-related posts about The Great War and there are a nice lot of writers participating. I picked two classics to write about for this event, 1925’s The Big Parade (which I believe just may be the first ever silent film I’ll be reviewing on DAF!) and from 1966, The Blue Max.

For the record, I liked one film a great deal better than the other, but you’ll have to be kept in SUSPENSE (!) and wait a bit to find out which one is my favorite…

1. Epson has some cool surprises in store for you (and it’s not just some cool new printers and projectors either). That’s all I’ll say for now (embargoes, embargoes!)…

2. Sharknado 2: The Second One is terrible and more so than the first film because it’s TOO aware of its cheesiness to the point that the planned “shock” moments that turn into pre-commercial tweet fodder (complete with recent tweets shown on screen) make watching the film more annoying than it needs to be. Still, the ridiculous amount of cameos, some ONLY a New Yorker would appreciate (Judd Hirsch as a taxi driver? Okay, that’s amusing) make it worth watching. Oh, and Robert Klein is in the film, but only as part of a crowd scene. Boo for a wasted opportunity for a REALLY good joke (“I can’t feel my leg!”).

3. I have a Namco Bandai event to attend tomorrow bright and early, so I’ll be off to that and back to post a few impressions later in the day (more likely early evening). There’s a lot of fun stuff to see, but we’ll see what sort of embargoes are in play before I say more…

4. Abyss Odyssey, Rainbow Moon and One Piece Unlimited Warriors Red have been eating up my time lately. That long Diablo III run I did yesterday was to get me away from those games for a bit. I think this weekend I’ll camp out in front of the computer and not get up until I’ve a review or two written.

5. Wait. WHY do we need a Warcraft movie again? Seriously. Oh well, I guess someone will pay to see this. Even if it’s a “great” film, this particular game series REALLY didn’t need to be made into a major motion picture. Oh well.