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.

The Making of Mind Zero #4: A Bit Late, But A Nice Reminder I Need To Get This One…

Posted on July 29, 2014 by geelw

Hmmmm. I still need to pick up a copy of Aksys’ new Vita RPG Mind Zero and play it, but I’ve seen mostly mixed reviews, some of which seem to “get” the game and others that don’t. It seems it’s only superficially like the Persona games, but here’s a case where a quick read of the game description and features can make one who follows Atlus’ more popular series raise an eyebrow at the similarities. Ah well, we shall see, I guess. We shall see. My backlog is still insane and not going down thanks to a few more games I’m staring at in a few folders on the laptop or on my desk here. Well, no time for dawdling, I guess. Time to knock a few reviews out over the next week or two…

Beating The Devil (Again) In Preparation For Beating The Devil (Again)…

Posted on July 29, 2014 by geelw

So, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is coming to consoles soon and I’ve been going back to the PlayStation 3 version of DIII in order to gain a few more Paragon levels (I’m only at 26 currently) as well as a few more items I’ve been wanting to drop from defeated monsters or find in a chest somewhere. It’s been a slower than usual process thanks to me needing to complete a bunch of other games and get reviews posted, something that’s taking a bit longer than usual because I prefer to play games until I’ve seen pretty much everything. That and some games require patches that need downloading because what’s shipped isn’t quite where it needed to be for a retail product (something that annoys me to no end in most cases) and I’m not always able to download patches unless it’s from a wi-fi spot I can lug a laptop or portable system to.

Anyway, I was explaining the whole Diablo thing to a friend who doesn’t grasp the rinse and repeat nature of the series and wonders what the appeal is. Of course, I had to ask him if he was a sports fan (he is) and noted that every sport is about repetition and randomness and I could see the light bulb go off above his head before I completed my thought. The lure of games like this is simple: Beat down monsters, collect loot, sell off or transform bad loot into cash or better loot, rinse and repeat. Beautiful cut scenes and booming voice acting aside, Diablo games aren’t known for their “compelling” stories at all. That said, other than Earth Defense Force 2025, I’ve probably logged more time with DIII than any other game this year and the Reaper of Souls expansion is going to add many more hours to that total. Although, I’ll be taking my time with that one because there are games shipping out around that time or before that I actually want to finish before ROS eats up my remaining free time.

Back in a bit – writing this post has given me the urge to go to hell for a bit and shake things up to see what happens. I can use another Manticore and a few Hellfire Ring parts too (yup, only DIII players will understand my madness)…

IndieGala Monday Time: RPGs, With A Side of Adventure and Old School Platforming

Posted on July 28, 2014 by geelw

This week’s IndieGala Every Monday Bundle is quite a doozy. Rogue-like role-playing, point & click adventures, an odd-arty game where you can yell at what you’re playing it on and even some old school run to the left (mostly) and try not to die too much excitement. A buck sixty-nine for the first day, price goes up after that. Six complete games for that price is of course, a STEAL. So don’t sleep on this and wonder too later if you missed out on some cool stuff. Your Monday will get better if you get this bundle, guaranteed…

Humble Humongous Monday Bundle Deal For The Kids In All of Us!

Posted on July 28, 2014 by geelw

Anyone remember Humongous Entertainment and their classic kid’s point & click adventure games? I sure do, and I was way too ancient to be playing most of these when they came out (but that didn’t stop me!). Anyway, this week’s Humble Bundle deal is a cool 24-hour ONLY Flash sale that’s family-friendly and FUN times guaranteed for all. Pay what you want for Putt-Putt Joins the Parade and Freddi Fish and The Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds, or beat the average price of $12.72 for four more games (Putt Putt Goes to the Moon, Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It’s Dark Outside, Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse and Spy Fox in “Dry Cereal”). However, for the BEST deal, drop and give Humble twenty (bucks) and get 28 FULL Humongous games! That’s EVERY Putt-Putt, Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish and Spy Fox game from the company, people! How can you pass THAT up? Nope, you don’t have to have kids at all, but I bet these fun and funny adventures will make you feel young at heart! Anyway, the clock is ticking… so grab this deal if you’re grinning away!

Shadow of Mordor Story Trailer: The Bright Lord’s Kind Of An OK Guy, Huh?

Posted on July 27, 2014 by geelw

“And there will be no joy in Mordor… Mighty Crazy has struck out!” Well, okay, my feeble attempt at humor is based on me having a loooooong and boring day here fiddling with my PCs and clearing out stuff from some hard drives. But it had to be done and done it has been. Except for one computer here I’m wanting to beat with a baseball bat because it finally needs replacing after many years of service. But that’s neither here nor there, folks. This Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor update is brought to you from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, home of fine video games in the LEGO, Batman and Lord of the Rings franchises (among others). Hey, I’m not getting a dime for this post from them at all, folks – I’m just writing what’s rolling off the top of my head because my eyes are half closed right about now. Oh, I’ll be alright after a decent night’s rest. See you all tomorrow!

Hyrule Warriors: One Of Nintendo’s Not So Secret Weapons This Year…

Posted on July 26, 2014 by geelw

I’ll admit to grinning a wee bit too much when I heard about Hyrule Warriors, the latest mash-up of Koei’s fan favorite Dynasty Warriors series with an even more popular Zelda franchise and based on these videos, I’m betting Nintendo sees this one exceed their expectations. The pick up and play simplicity, hefty amount of playable characters and longevity of the DW series crossed with the massive appeal of the Legend of Zelda universe is pretty much a license to print money and I’m surprised that this hasn’t been done previously. Then again, the Wii U absolutely NEEDS an unbroken string of flat out hits and surprising sleepers in order to survive and it sure looks as if Nintendo is finally getting more consistent in terms of delivering better games for the console.

If this game is anything like the DW series (and it sure likes it’s going to be), there’s NO way anyone will blow through ALL the content on a rainy weekend. Sure, you MAY complete the game with one character by playing through for a few straight hours or breaking up gameplay sessions over that weekend, but you won’t have seen everything the game has to offer at all. It generally takes me a few months of playing to get as much out of a DW game and even then, I’m back for more if it’s a slow week and I have some free time… Continue reading →