My Backlog Is Killing Me (Part XVIII)

(thanks, CptNem!) 

Yeah, yeah. Barney above is so damn right. I’m in the middle of so many games and films that I’m getting them mixed up with dreams about other games and films in my backlog. As I prefer to beat and like to complete stuff before doing a review, it’s trickier to do when some games have more depth than others. This leads to me saving and bouncing between games looking for those that can be tackled over a few days as opposed to a few weeks or more. Of course, I’m in no hurry to be the first up with a review, but it does lead to some kinks in my schedule when I find myself seeing the sun come up with one eyeball while the other is glued to my monitor or TV. That’s a problem that needs fixing, stat. Cloning is still illegal (allegedly) and expensive, so that’s out. Too much coffee is either a bad thing or the best thing ever according to who writes whatever study of the week on that stuff. Helper monkeys and service animals are really awful at videogames and fall asleep during movies, so they’re of no use to me at all. Okay, cute factor points come into play there.

Eh, I’ll get this all sorted out soon. It’s the middle of winter, my hibernation skills keep trying to kick in and that’s no good when the postman is ringing twice outside. That and this post took up some of my game and film time, gyaaaaaah! Okay, back to work. Sisyphus in the Salt Mines sounds like a nice title for today…

Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders Hands-On: “Little Grey Cells” Get A Nice Workout


ACABCMURDERS_screen27012016_2

Microids‘ upcoming Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders hits European retail and digital outlets next week for PC (via gog.com or Steam) and US online and retail a few weeks later. Some hands-on time last week with the demo reveals mystery fans will have a fine time indeed playing dapper detective Hercule Poirot as he takes on that clever killer with the alphabet fetish and a talent for leaving clues galore. The demo features Poirot investigating the first murder (a shopkeeper found dead in her tobacco store) using his “little grey cells” in some simple to learn gameplay that should please casual to expert gene fans. Continue reading

Conan Exiles: “What Is Best In Life?” FunCom Has An Answer For That

CONAN EXILES logo blk 

conanexiles_conanHmmm. Online only multiplayer games don’t hook me in any more (I prefer my adventuring solo and antisocially unconnected), but Conan Exiles might make me change my mind. Well, provided it can be played offline. FunCom is betting the farm that this announcement and short, glorious teaser trailer can get those who DO play online thrilled and judging from the response from a few friends, their strategy has worked. The game is certainly going to do well among fans finally getting that open world carnage they want with a familiar license drawing them in, but I don’t expect that players will actually get to BE the man himself. Conan the Clone isn’t much of a selling point, but I’m betting my own farm (it’s a tiny one) that the character creation system is fantastic to the point of having too many options for male and female avatars alike.


 

conanexiles_1 conanexiles_2

 

Those pre-alpha screens above look a bit barren at the moment, but that’s part of the process and both are in no way to be seen as “final” release code. Early Access on Steam will get the dev team hearing from the masses once it’s up and running and should help make for the best Conan experience to date provided the input isn’t all whiners whining and actually coming up with useful suggestions. My only one so far is to make the game work offline like the traditional Elder Scrolls or Grand Theft Auto games, both of which did exceptionally well for years as primarily single player experiences. Granted, the GTA series has had online play over the past two console and PC installments. But I’d bet a shiny new nickel that FunCom will see more people play the game if they have a dedicated story mode added in that works in lore from the books and films. Just running around crafting, hacking and slashing is something many open world games already do and do quite well warts and all. Here’s hoping FunCom manages to take that to a new level of polish as it gets another Conan game ready for its close up.

Dungelot: Shattered Lands – A Cuter, Stabbier Minesweeper

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Dungelot 0Another of tinyBuild Games‘ upcoming titles is Dungelot: Shattered Lands from Red Winter, a two man studio based in Russia. Shattered Lands is their third game, but unlike the much maligned Dungelot 2 (which got lots of guff for its micro-transaction heavy gameplay), it’s available on iOS now and coming to Steam later this year as a single player game worth keeping an eye peeled for.

While I’m not a big Minesweeper fan in general, it’s the super cute art style and familiar rogue-like RPG aspects that have my interest piqued. Hey, who doesn’t like loot drops and increasing difficulty? Well, that and it’s got a rather large and unholy cow as a beefy boss that needs to be taken down:

dungelot-shattered-lands-gif Moo! Of course, that means that Cow from Hell above is udderly a female fiend (last time I checked, bulls are udderless), but hey – equality goes as good for evil as it does for good when all is said and done. If that sentence made no sense it’s because I’m still zonked out from the snowstorm we had two days ago. I could use some hot milk right about now, so that bovine behemoth-ess (MOO!) is looking mighty attractive about now.

But I digress. Go pick up the game if you have an iOs whatever to play it on or slap it on your Steam watchlist and go hide in a corner until it appears in that store at some point down the road. Here are some screens to ogle below while I nap through the rest of this post:

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PSN Flash Sale: Make Your Snow Day More Useful Yet Less Productive

PS Flash Sale (Large) 

Trapped indoors thanks to all this snow, are we? Well, Eeee-hee-hee! or something like that. I’m actually trapped indoors thanks to a freelance job that needs to be done before pumpkin hour (midnight), so I’ve no to time to play anything (*whine!*). While I wait for another part of the job to float through the ether this way, I figure I may as well post something quick and painless.

Anyway, If you have a PlayStation Network account, you’re not going to be lonely at all. Well, if you’re alone, you’ll still be lonely, but you won’t lack for entertainment options thanks to this latest PSN Flash Sale.

Tons of games and movies (wait, does digital content actually weigh something?), but the list is so long that I’ll only list the PS4, PS3, Vita and PSP games below the jump. If you’re smart you’ll just boogie on over to that link above and burn a small hole in your wallet before the sale is over Monday.
Continue reading

Attractio: Great Gravity Game’s a Gas


 

Sure, it’s got a serious case of Portal envy, but Attractio is also quite a lot of fun to play because it adds a bit of freshness to the gravity puzzle game formula made user-friendly fun by Valve a bunch of years back. Actually, back when I tried the PS4 demo out at a Bandai Namco event last year the game reminded me of a cross between Portal, The Running Man and a teeny-tiny bit of the old Amiga game The Killing Game Show (aka Fatal Rewind, for you Sega Genesis owners who recall that truncated version of the Amiga game). IF none of those ring a bell, let’s just say that the game is all about trying to think your way out of a series of increasingly deadly puzzles and traps for “fun” and some sort of profit (survival and prizes do go together, right?)

Anyway, the game is out NOW digitally on PC via Steam or PS4/Vita via PSN for $19.99, so if puzzles, gravity and trying not to have your avatar die horribly from embarrassment when he or she gets stuck (or get bumped off by a high fall into some hot lava-like liquid) are your cup of tea, this one’s a recommendation of the most absolute order.

PC Review: The Deadly Tower of Monsters

SCARLET_MODEL_1Platform: PC (also on PS4)

Developer: ACE Team

Publisher: Atlus

# of Players: 1

MSRP: $14.99

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

Score: B+ (85%)

 

DTOM (38) 

Yep, they’ve gone and done it again. Chilean developer ACE Team’s latest game, The Deadly Tower of Monsters is a solid and fun ride that’s going to tickle the fancy of those gamers young to old with a knowledgeable love for “B” movies, primarily of the sci-fi variety. The Unreal engine-powered stylized visuals look great, and the offbeat humor comes from a few angles expected and surprising. While the game may not seem all that lengthy, finding some of its secrets will take some effort. A few flaws (that can be patched) keep it from perfection, but overall this is one of those great little sleepers you’ll want to take for a spin and add to your game library.

Continue reading

Lovely Planet Arcade: The Unknown Known Gets A Fast Followup


 

LPA_headerI’ve heard about, but actually NEVER played Lovely Planet (*gasp!*), so I guess I now need to, thanks to developer QUICKTEQUILA and publisher tinyBuild Games announcing this maybe it’s a sequel? return to the colorful pastel world of the first game. If the zippy and amusing videos of the first game are any indication as to what’s in the second, players can expect a load of challenge and even more good times when the game jumps out of the developer’s talented hands and lands on Steam later this year. Hey, don’t trust me on that last sentence at all – just go read about the game using on of the links above.

I think by the time LPA is released I’ll have played the first game. I hope. My backlog is a mountain of code that needs to be scaled and the clock is always ticking…

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Road to Ballhalla: Brains of Steel Required in This Humorous Hybrid


 

tinyBuild is at it again with another upcoming game bound to entertain and get you out of the casual funk into something far funkier. Road to Ballhalla is coming around the middle of 2016 and if that trailer bove is any indication, it will make a mockery of your gaming skills while teaching you a few things about proper reading comprehension. This will lead to you ignoring real world stuff like speed limit signs or proper parking procedures, which in turn will lead to you having to fight tickets of all sorts by explaining how this game taught you not to trust everything you read. Aha. tinyBuild wants you to disobey rules and orders just so you’re super cautious but still make ridiculous mistakes because you’re silly enough to take what a game it teaching you about IT and try to use those rules in the real world.

tinyBuild, you are EVIL. I still want to play all your games, though (so you’re not so evil after all).

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Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders: Get Yours Before Someone Else Gets Theirs

ABC Murders cover logo 4Mystery fans on the trail of the whereabouts of Microids’ upcoming Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders now have a fresh clue as to the location of the game. This latest trailer shows off more nicely stylized visuals and Hercule Poirot doing what he does best.

The game will hit retail and digital outlets for PC/Mac, PS4 and Xbox One February 4, 2016 in Europe and February 23, 2016 in North America. Pre-orders for the PC version are being taken on gog.com and Steam, both at a temporary 20% discount off the $29.99 retail price.

ABC allpacks ESRB Final 

The King of Oddball Asides wants me to note that Monsieur Poirot wears his gloves all the time in that trailer and that makes him a suspect as well. But The King of Oddball Asides is indeed an oddball himself. Anyway, Microids would very much like it if you crept up on them one of these days and got all nosy like a certain Belgian detective. In English, follow them using the links below:

Website: http://www.Microids.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/microids

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Microids_off

Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/microids