Gotta give SyFy props for trying on this one. They limped along for three seasons in their mixed media, its a video game and a TV show experice. The game was even pretty good. But i think at this point it surprises no one that the show portion has been canceled. The game portion developed by Trion Worlds was a functional MMO cool shooter elements and a great deal of appeal. It was also an early pioneer of cross platform play, being released on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
We’ve had a great time working closely with the team of stellar writers, designers, producers, and actors on the Defiance TV show,” Trion Worlds CEO Scott Hartsman said in a statement to Polygon.
The game started off as paid, and eventually swapped to a freemium model. Its unique blend of instanced combat, vehicle play and collecting made for a good MMO experience. I was not able to experience any of the television tie in material, but i had heard that it was good, and the core content was quite good.
Nintendo is not known for their consoles power. Histrically they have been under powered but innovative, with the last two being pioneers in motion control and second screen technologies. So it comes as a surprise when in an article in The Wall Street Journal, nintendo is quoited as saying the NX will also reportedly use “industry-leading chips in the devices that will presumably allow for better graphics and deeper functionality.” The article also reports that there will be at least two components to the system, one which can be used as a mobile component and one that can be used as a console. Each can stand on their own. This is not totally unexpected, i remember seeing lots of photos of travelling wii-u’s where only the game pad was being utilized, the one question this does leave me with is, how much? Small screens aren’t inherently expensive but if i have to pay DS level prices for the controller piece of my console it might dissuade me from buying it.
(Editors note: this is a very long game, and due to print time constraints, only about 4 hours of game play were unlocked.)
I Shall Remain is an indie, post-apocalyptic, ARPG zombie game, Published and developed by Scorpius Games. Set in the aftermath of WW2, the Nazis have released a deadly virus in the US. The game tells the story of two brothers and their relation to the world that emerged because of the virus. ISR has real time character progression and RPG systems, over 100 abilities, many weapons and weapon enhancers, plenty of infected, 20+ mutations, a large amount of NPCs and teammates all in a 20+ hour long campaign. Weapons include melee: such as knives, swords, pipes, brass knuckles, and many more Small arms: pistols and SMGs, Rifles, Shotguns And heavy weapons: flamethrower rocket launchers.
Each weapon has at least 4 levels of effects and bullets can be enhanced. Grenades, mines and flares can be found throughout the game and the player can pick up objects in the environment and injured NPCs. Occasionally there are vehicles the player can control and use its weapons. Throughout the game there will be buildings for the player to explore which can have items inside.
You gain experience from everything you do in ISR. Whatever your playstyle is, the game will grant you experience in the places you need it. Doctrines allow you to improve attributes and/or give you abilities and each doctrine can be upgraded. There are currently 128 doctrines in ISR. Serum is the currency in ISR. There are traders that buy and sell things for serum such as weapons, medkits, ammo, and flashlight batteries. You can upgrade ammo with serum and use it to control your characters infection.
There are quests in ISR similar to real life scenarios. They add on to the story of the game. About half of the quests in the game aren’t related to the main story line. The side quests help the player immerse themselves into the game world.Fatigue builds up when your character is outside. It affects hp and stamina regen and your chances of properly aiming. There doesn’t seem to be very many places to rest. There are many places for you to scavenge for items in the game. Every weapon has a durability. You can repair them yourself, with scrap you get from dismantling items, or find an npc or teammate to do it. There are plenty of teammates and you can choose what skills they get. You control the weapons they use. There is a detection meter in ISR. Shooting a gun, using your flashlight, and running raise it. Melee weapons, walking, high infection and no flashlight lower it.
Overall ISR is a well made zombie rpg with a decent story. I like the fact that it is set right after WW2. It has plenty of weapons and many skills to choose from. The fact that you gain xp based on what you do it offers many different playstyles and seems to have some replayability. There is a survival mode and a permadeath option for story mode.
A few very small negatives about ISR: If you disable shadows, the dark holes in the ground that zombies come from reflects the environment. When you kill an enemy they release red clouds that can obstruct vision. The camera clips through background buildings and weapons degrade too fast.
I Shall Remain is a good game and is totally worth $15 if you enjoy zombies, top-down ARPGs or both. This is a game i would recommend others that are looking for a zombie game.
Halo 5 is just 10 days away (review copies are allready out and if you want to see the first part of the campaign its on the web) and 343 are starting to give out massive details on the games multiplayer. New news today includes the games ban policy, a list of medals, the skill matching system and more!
First is a question many players have been asking since day 1, what about the ban system? 343 will track the following in a effort to make bans fair and effective
Quitting matches
Betrayals or team killing
Idling (AFK)
Intentional suicides
Excessive disconnects
The post details a system of temporary bans that will be metered out to players who engage in these toxic behaviors. This is the first time any Halo game has had this type of system and I for one am extremely great full. The blog post goes on to say “The duration of each ban is dependent on the offense and becomes more severe with each successive infraction, so continually killing your teammates to steal the Sniper Rifle will quickly lead to long time-out from matchmade play,” This is similar to systems that exist in other games with more toxic communities, and will in my opinion bring some much-needed law to the games multiplayer.
Other major announced details include
You will never join a match in progress except for warzone (30+ minute games need some drop in)
Competitive Skill ranking is in the game. Like most current multiplayer focused games, Halo 5 will make you play a series of placement matches when first going online, these will determine your ranking which will go up and down based on the seven color ranks in the game (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Onyx, and Champion. See the blog post here for full details.)
The match making algorithm will prioritize “quality above all else” what this means is un-known., but it is speculated that it means it will try to find people in your same exact rank before matching you with better or worse player.
There will be seasons
The top two ranks will work much differently than the bottom 5, the blog post says
“Once you reach Onyx, you will be shown your raw CSR score,” 343 said. “Winning no longer increases your tier–it instead increases your CSR score. This allows you to compare yourself with greater precision to other players within the Onyx rank. If you establish yourself as one of the top 200 players in a playlist, you will earn the highly coveted rank of Champion and be shown your place within the top 200.”
this is similar to how other ELO systems work, expect this top tier to be mostly occupied by professional Halo players, with a few lucky (and skillful) folks also competing.
Check out the ranks emblems in the gallery below.
These are the new ranks, each on has several sub-ranks. except for Onyx and Champion
Silver Rank
Gold Rank
Platinum Rank
Diamond Rank
Onyx Rank
Champion Rank
Commendations are also making a return, the will work about the same way as they did in Halo 5, primarily there to drive up your EXP in a fun, quest like way. There will a total of 5 tiers and each will reward with different amounts of EXP
“Every tier of a commendation rewards XP,” the blog post said. “Completing tier 3 of a commendation rewards a bonus REQ Pack with boosts and other single-use REQs. The 5th tier of every commendation unlocks a pack containing a specific emblem. This allows a player to flaunt their reward and let everyone know via that emblem and the corresponding back plate that they have put the time in and had the skill required to finish the commendation.”
Medals will also be making their return (this should surprise no one). They will be changed a little but as they will now be focused more on earning req points, and highlighting incredible feats, or helping with objectives (no more double kill medals?). 343 said they wanted to “preserve the classic feel of the legacy medals while giving all of our Medals a fresh new look.” Take a look at some of the new designs the full is available in the blog here. Halo 5 releases on October 27th and is available for pre-load now.
On October 20th, 2015, new update data for the Splatoon game will become available for download. The update will see some bug fixes as well as updates to some weapons and stages.
