Sunday, July 27, 2014
Triple Bummer!!! The Swapper, State of Decay: Lifeline and Abyss Odyssey
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Games: It's been a disappointing week for games. Three
releases that I've been stoked for have all been letdowns, and none of them are on the ‘will definitely finish this’ track.
The first was The Swapper. I heard nothing but kudos for
this game since it hit PC last year, and I was pretty psyched when I heard it
was coming to consoles. (Played it on PS4.)
Apparently it's a very short game but I only got about
halfway because I found myself going to GameFAQs too often to get
past the puzzles, and that's just not a good experience. If the devs had made just
a little more effort in integrating the puzzles with the environments, or
making the environments more logical in terms of the game’s world, I probably
would've hung in there.
The next bummer is the Lifeline DLC expansion for State of Decay.
I reviewed the base game for 360 back in 2013, and I still stand by it as one of the
best zombie titles ever made. With the release of Lifeline, the core game
received some fixes, additions, and patches that fans have been requesting, so
it's even better than it was. If you've never played the original,
I absolutely recommend it. However, I can’t say the same for this DLC.
In the add-on, the player takes control of a small group of soldiers sent to rescue targets from an overrun city. They quickly establish a small base, and then it's up to them to perform supply and rescue runs while waiting for the chopper to come back at various intervals. It's a great idea and since it offers all-new characters and an all- new map, I couldn't have been more excited. However, it was incredibly frustrating and unpleasant for a number of reasons.
In the add-on, the player takes control of a small group of soldiers sent to rescue targets from an overrun city. They quickly establish a small base, and then it's up to them to perform supply and rescue runs while waiting for the chopper to come back at various intervals. It's a great idea and since it offers all-new characters and an all- new map, I couldn't have been more excited. However, it was incredibly frustrating and unpleasant for a number of reasons.
Speaking of stupid, the soldiers on your team are little better. At one point I was being chased and ran back inside my base. I was low on health and out of ammo, and I ran inside thinking that the rest of my troops would come to my aid, but I couldn't have been more wrong. The zombies chased me inside the gates with none of the guards stopping them, and as I was getting torn apart in the middle of my encampment, two guards stood watching without lifting a finger.
This moronic AI wouldn't be so bad if the difficulty wasn't so high, but compared to the base game, it's a lot tougher, and it doesn't often feel very fair or sensible. For instance, I was searching a small warehouse, and after sweeping the area to pick off a few stray zombies, the coast was clear. I went inside to search for goods, and five seconds after I started searching, a horde of zombies flooded in through the back door. My partner and I took them out, but just as we were finishing the first group, a second wave came in. We polished those off, and then a third group came in. Keep in mind, this area had been totally clear before we started our search, so the zombies were appearing out of nowhere. We got overrun and both of my characters died despite taking measures to prevent such a thing from happening. Similar events are quite common, with waves of zombies appearing at high frequency and in great numbers. I get that there are some SoD fans who constantly want the game to be harder, but honestly... fuck them. In my opinion, it's already tough to deal with, and as it stands, it's scaled too high.
There are other things that are problems like not being able to bring more than one soldier for backup despite the fact that the game can easily handle friendly groups of 3/4, or the absurd length of time it takes to reload a gun. I'm no soldier myself, but Lifeline has the longest reloads I've seen in any game in recent memory, and losing characters because they’re taking an hour to pop in a clip is rubbish. I still love the base game and I'm absolutely still a fan of Undead Labs, but this Lifeline expansion was entirely too frustrating, and I hope that they patch it to a place where ridiculous zombie spawning and brain-dead AI doesn't kill the fun.
The final made-me-frown game is Abyss Odyssey, recently released by Atlus. Like the other two, it’s so close to being something quite cool, but it just doesn’t quite get there.
To give it credit where it’s due, the visual style is great,
I like the character design, and the idea of a combat-heavy platforming roguelike
where the player must go deeper and deeper into a pit is a good one – It’s all
solid here.
I really dig the things that it gets right, and I'm going to
try this one on PS3 to see if the controls are any better, but I suspect that
they probably won't be… I really wish it felt better to play.
Don’t want to leave you on a down note, so just a quick word
about The Walking Dead, Season 2, Episode 4: Amid The Ruins… Although The first
three eps of the new series have been pretty terrible, the latest one really
got the Walking Dead mojo back.
My review is in the can and it’ll be up soon, but if you’re
like me and have been feeling less-than-jazzed about The New Further Adventures of
Clementine, Episode 4 might change your opinion.
Cheers to @Boiteabebelles for
convincing me to give it a try, because I was honestly thisclose to outright quitting
after Ep.3…
********************PR/NEWS/INFO********************
Deadpool is coming to Marvel Puzzle Quest!
Starting on August 1st in the upcoming Episode titledDeadpool vs. Marvel
Puzzle Quest, Deadpool will star in his very own episode and be available for
player’s roster at the conclusion of the event.
Also, a new gameplay feature to be introduced on July 29th called
Team-Up. Team-Up brings heroes into battle that aren’t in your
roster. It will add huge amounts of tactical flexibility for players
looking to take down their opponents by providing a larger selection of Marvel
characters for their squad.
And finally, the Dark Reign subtitle of the game has been
removed as the game in the coming months will be branching into other realms in
the Marvel Universe.
See the brand-new trailer here.
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Metrico is coming to Vita! The new gameplay trailer,
including the most gameplay you’ve probably ever seen in one video, can be seen
at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ltwWj46jL4
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Defense Grid 2, the sequel to the hit 2008 tower defense
game, today kicked off its Steam pre-order in advance of the game’s September
2014 launch. In addition to receiving ten percent off of the launch price,
consumers who pre-purchase Defense Grid 2 now will receive immediate
access to the beta (currently only for Windows users). As more people
pre-order, additional incentive tiers will be unlocked, including the
original Defense Grid digital art book, a free copy of the Containment expansion
to Defense Grid: The Awakening*, and much more.
A special edition of Defense Grid 2 will be
available for purchase that includes all unlocked pre-order incentive items, an
exclusive digital Defense Grid 2 art book and the e-book, The
Making of Defense Grid 2: The Complete Story Behind the Game, by Russ
Pitts.
Pre-order Defense Grid 2 here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/221540
Defense Grid 2 (DG2) features stunning landscapes
as players fight for the survival of human civilization. With single-player,
co-op and competitive multiplayer modes in levels that change
dynamically, DG2 offers endless ways to tap into resources and build
towers in order to defend against waves of incoming enemies. The controls are
intuitive while the gameplay is deep. Consumers have already demonstrated their
high level of excitement for DG2, with 10,000 beta keys claimed in just
fifteen hours through a Destructoid.com giveaway. Defense Grid 2 will
be released this fall for digital download on PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4 and
Xbox One. For more information on the game, please visit: http://www.hiddenpath.com/games/defense-grid-2/
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XSEED Games, the independent-minded console publishing brand
of Marvelous USA, Inc., today announced that the company will launch the
over-the-top action RPG title, AKIBA’S TRIP: Undead & Undressed,
on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and
PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system on August 12,
2014. XSEED Games has also revealed that the PlayStation®4 computer
entertainment system version of the game is scheduled to make its
English-language debut later this holiday season. In addition, the
official AKIBA’S TRIP: Undead & Undressedwebsite launched today and
can be found at: www.akibastrip.com.
In AKIBA’S TRIP: Undead & Undressed, players must
repel a brooding malevolence that has fallen over Tokyo’s popular Akihabara
(Akiba for short) electronics district. Akiba has been invaded by creatures
known as “Synthisters” who prey on the anime- and game-obsessed patrons of
Akihabara like vampires, but feast on their social energy and will to live
rather than their blood. Only direct exposure to sunlight can stop this menace.
AKIBA’S TRIP: Undead & Undressed is developed
by ACQUIRE and published by XSEED Games in North America and will be available
both physically for the PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®Vita systems at participating
retailers, as well as digitally on both systems via PlayStation®Store,
on August 12, 2014 for $39.99. Details about the PlayStation®4 system
version will be revealed at a later date.
The PlayStation®3 system and PlayStation®Vita system editions
of this title have been rated Mature by the ESRB. The PlayStation®4 system edition is Rating Pending.
More information on the game can be found via the newly
launched product website at www.akibastrip.com. For information on XSEED
Games products, please visit www.xseedgames.com. Fans can also follow XSEED Games
on Facebook at www.facebook.com/XSEEDGames and
on Twitter at www.twitter.com/XSEEDGames.
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Turn-based strategy fans, rejoice! ATLUS will be bringing
over the cult hit SRPG (that's strategy role-playing game) Tears to Tiara 2 to North America and
NIS America will be releasing the game in Europe. ATLUS is handling the
localization of text into English, and the game's original Japanese audio will
be left intact.
It will be exclusive to the PS3 and release Oct. 14 for
$39.99, and will be an 80+ hour experience that combines strategic turn-based
gameplay with an exciting story that unfolds like a visual novel.
The Tears to Tiara 2 Opening Movie is Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgkRLTXfS7A
And you can check out the official
website here:http://www.atlus.com/tears2
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