I love a good platformer. Talent not included looks like it coudl be my next major obecssion. Set in the fantasy land of Notthatmuchfurther, Talent Not Included tells the story of three monsters: Zordok, Derp, and Kevin, all three huge fans of slaughter, bloodbaths, and Shakespeare. One night, as they were bored out of their minds, they decided to put on their own play. Unfortunately, nothing went as planned. That’s mostly because Zot, a demonic critic hired for the occasion, chose three mediocre actors with strong personalities, hoping to sow hell on stage for the public and his own amusement.
The game features
a Theatrical setting
Absurd humor
Cylinder-based platforms
Combat galore
Local co-op
I especially love the inclusion of local co-op, something that makes having friends over so much more fun.
After following id Software’s DOOM revival for more than two years I finally got the chance to chew through the lengthy campaign for this reimagining of the 1990s FPS classic. While the reception of the game’s multiplayer component have been met mostly with jeers the single player surprised critics and fans alike. Now that the game is available at hefty discounts should you reenlist with the United Aerospace Corporation or sit this one out?
Unlike the over decade’s old Doom III this new DOOM is well aware of why fans are going to be playing this game’s single player: to brutally murder hordes of demons in several different spectacular splat fests, collect an ever expanding array of over the top weapons, sprawling levels and at the end of the adventure do battle with a larger than life CyberDemon that commands the forces of Hell. The developers didn’t try to fit the existing DOOM franchise into a new mold – in contrast to Doom III’s survival horror inspired design decisions, this new DOOM embraces its gory roots and plays it up with an almost comedic effect.
One again dawning the iconic green armor of one of the FPS mainstays..no not Master Chief… but the grandfather of all other Space Marines DoomGuy. Throughout the 9 – 12 hour campaign (it took me about 10 hours to beat single-player on the medium difficulty) DoomGuy will explore several different compartments of the UAC facility on Mars where a portal to hell has caused hundreds of the damned to flood the halls of this technological wonder. Unlike other titles in the DOOM series this particular game doesn’t begin with a version of the UAC Mars Facility prior to the demonic invasion – instead, DoomGuy will pick up a pistol within the first 15 seconds of beginning the single player and immediately starts slaying Demons to pumping rock music.
Destroying the forces has never felt as satisfying as it has in 2016’s DOOM, this has a lot to do with just how id Software has improved upon the combat systems of old to make them fresh while keeping in things like the over the top violence that makes this reimagining distinctively DOOM. Typically the DoomGuy will take on encounters of 5 – 10 demons with several more waves spawning once the previous group has been destroyed. Unlike other games in the franchise, enemies will flash bright orange or blue if you’ve defeated them quickly enough. Rushing forward and clicking the right stick while this flashing animation will have the DoomGuy perform a “gory kill” – which can range from ripping off an enemy’s arms and beating them with them or ripping out a demon’s entrails and feeding them to them. Yes they are gruesome, and they do get repetitive but the gory kills can provide absolutely necessary extra health to DoomGuy during the middle of an encounter.
The other thing that makes the combat in this game so satisfy in the weaponry. A lot of the DOOM classics return – the pistol, the shotgun, the super shotgun, the pulse rifle and the BFG 9000 to just name a few but iD Software has once again outdone themselves by adding a bevy of secondary modes and modifications for each weapon. While playing challenges will passively be completed throughout the campaign awarding “weapon upgrade” points that can be spent on your arsenal. A standard set of enhancements will be available right from the get-go, such as enhanced magazines and quicker reload speeds but what really makes the weapon upgrade system so robust is the inclusion of modifications. By locating weapon drones in each level DoomGuy can unlock a set of modifications for each weapon. These modifications range from placing an explosive barrel underneath the shotgun to equipping the heavy machine gun with a scope – giving you options that allow you to deal with both up-close groups and far away targets. One of the best parts of the weapons modification system is that once you’ve unlocked multiple of them for a single weapon you can easily swap them with the press of the D-Pad.
With its focus on quick paced combat and first person platforming, it might not sound like DOOM is a game that you’d want to play for the story but id Software has actually spent a considerable time crafting the world of DOOM. Upon completing levels players will unlock dossiers on iconic enemies like the Pinky Demon, Cyber Demon, Hell Knight, Imps ,and others – these dossiers not only flesh out the traits & mechanics of these enemies but also does quite a lot to inform players about the societal structure of hell. Particular attention should be paid to the in-game narrative cutscenes and hidden PDAs contained in the levels because the sci-fi narrative about a mysterious corporation helmed by the first sentient artificial intelligence. For what could have been a throwaway narrative designed to simply introduce reasons for the DoomGuy to slaughter the minions of Hell, I found the narrative quite engaging.
DOOM’s single-player is a damning critique of the 4-hour campaigns we’ve seen in other FPS titles, whether that was id Software’s intention is debatable. What is clear is that they’ve taken the time to craft a very detailed science fiction universe for a franchise that is known more for splattering demon’s brains against the wall than it is for its storytelling. By marrying an optional rich world. gunplay that provides dozens of tools and upgrades to explore, the series’ trademark gore and large levels with dozens of secrets iD Software has managed to create a campaign that is nearly double the length of its competition and demands to be replayed. Finding all of the secrets can be daunting and failing a demon encounters on higher difficulties a few times can be frustrating but none of that detracts from just how slick of a package that DOOM’s single player is.
We here at Brokenjoysticks love VR. Rae has her Razr OSVR, and Renee had both the HTC Vive and Occulus Rift. So our staff is always looking for an exciting new VR experience. One of the things I have yet to see done well for VR is true dungeon crawler experience.
That feeling of plumbing a nearly endless dungeon in real time, getting loot, and slowly improving your character is a hard one to emulate in VR. Mostly I feel this is because (except old school ones) most dungeon crawlers rely heavily on movement. KrypCrawler is trying to fix that problem by going back to dungeons roots. First person, turn based, style.
Ok tell me about the game
Announced and showed behind closed doors at Gamescom this year, KryptCrawler brings classic first person, grid based Dungeon Crawler gameplay to mobile Virtual Reality. Descend into the unknown and explore the perilous depth of the sinister tombs and crypts you are thrown into, armed with nothing but a map and your wits. Find powerful weapons and wield mighty magic spells to fight off the undead remains of the warriors who have come here before you. Defend yourself against poisonous scorpions, hungry spiders and other creatures of the dark.
KryptCrawler delivers a combination of turn based old school gameplay and real time combat and trap evasion unprecedented in its genre. Combined with the immersion of modern VR technology, you will experience dungeons like never before. Let’s just hope you make it back to sunlight and the world of the living –there are many rumours of simple-hearted adventurers who have set foot into the abyss of the crypt and never have been heard of again!
The game features:
An unmatched VR dungeon experience: The immersion of modern VR will make you almost smell the moos-covered stonewalls of the underworld
Survive vicious traps and solve challenging puzzles: Many tests will await you deep down in the crypt, getting more deadly the further you descend into the catacombs.
Fight off enemies in real-time combat: Close combat swordfight, ranged bow mastery or wielding powerful magic – which warrior’s path will you choose?
Innovative battle and movement system using Gear VR Touchpad support as its best: Controls your hero’s fate with only the tip of your fingers.
Loot weapons and epic treasures: All over the dungeon are powerful weapons and treasures to discover. Some will help you fight ferocious enemies some will even let you unveil new paths deeper into the crypt.
Hours of content: Fight, puzzle and explore through 12 Story levels and over 100 procedural generated ‚New Game +’-levels.
Looks pretty intresting
Crazy bunch also sent over a couple of images, which I admit look basic. Buts it not meant to be graphically amazing, its meant to bring dungeon crawling to first person VR!
Having played older kart-based racing games like Mario Kart, Crash Team Racing, and Wacky Wheels, Obliteracers fits right in with the genre. Developed by Space Dust Studios, Obliteracers is a neat little kart racer, that with it’s art style, is most evocative of the Ratchet and Clank universe. Though, not without its faults, Obliteracers is a fun game, and is a good addition to the genre. The game’s premise, at it’s very core, is to win. Expounding on this, the player does this by eliminating other racers. Some races involve getting the most eliminations, others are won by surviving, and some are simple races.
Even in death, you can still affect the race outcome!
Taking a note from other kart racing games, surviving and winning can be done with the help of various powerups though the various maps. From the standard missile launcher, to the electric shocker, and trip mine bombs, races can get quite hectic. In addition to powerups, karts have the ability to absorb powerups to recover health, which is key to surviving matches. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that any powerup used is fair game to affect anyone in the match. So that means if the player sets some mines, it can lead to an accidental crash and burn for the same player.
Fortunately, even if your racer does crash and burn, it doesn’t necessarily mean the end. There’s a neat little game mechanic that kicks in for certain game modes after death that allows the player to lock on racers and fire tracer missiles. Tracer missiles can be an immense help in knocking out higher-placed racers. Knocking them out eliminates the chance for them to score any more points in a round of gameplay. Once I figured out how to do this in the earlier part of the career mode, my quest to beat Obliteracers became much easier.
The career mode is very expansive, starting off with the tutorial level, and expanding from there. Placing first though third in races will award up to a three bomb ranking, which determines if a player can advance to the next level or not in career. The career mode is long enough to provide a nice challenge but not end up feeling like a grindy slog. This is a tough balance to strike but Obliteracers has done it well.
While I was still learning how to do things in the earlier career missions, I had my first 8-player match and it was hectic. The first few races with 8 players, I had quite a bit of a difficult time keeping track of my racer. After some practice I was able to keep track of my racer. My advice to new players is: it got easier, just keep going. That said, it can still be difficult to keep track of all what’s going on in races due to all the mayhem going on. The game is supposed to be hectic, intense, and full of mayhem, and it does it quite well. This is not a bad thing, as the mayhem makes the game feel fast, fresh, and intense.
When matches do get very hectic, and it happens often, it is hard to keep track of things. This can lead to frustration. Possibly adding to the frustration is another game design choice the game camera. The game camera focuses on the lead racer, which can cause trouble for some racers. Karts that are way behind can disappear from the screen for that aforementioned reason. Once the kart is left behind, it’s an instant death. I found in a few places the camera was extra punishing. A couple of times that I got slightly stuck on some of the race scenery, I was unable to catch up soon enough to do any good. The camera is designed to be like it is, but it has been a small source of frustration for me while playing though some of the races.
The races themselves are a good mix of short and sweet, and longer more intense races that drag on longer. With some of the higher point requirements of some of the career matches, it gets a tad repetitive. More than once I found myself wondering how much longer will it would be until the race is ended. This repetition extends a bit into online as well, unfortunately.
Overall, I think this game is designed for playing with other people, and that shows through in some of the frustrations that I felt in career mode. Without the friendly trash talking, or playing with friends, races get dull and don’t hold the same excitement for me as they would otherwise. It’s still a fun game to play, but it’s better suited for playing in bursts for these reasons.
As mentioned earlier, the game’s art style looks like it could easily fit in with the Ratchet and Clank series. From the racer designs, to carts, and race track designs, the game looks great. While races can get cramped when there’s eight or more players, I never felt too crowded. The race tracks don’t usually obstruct the field of view for the camera, and when they do its only for a brief moment.
The sound and music quality is quite on par with the rest of the game. They both fit in, but the music is a bit forgettable, unfortunately. I would have liked something a bit more hectic to go with my mayhem. I also found the controls for this game to feel a bit stiff. I think this may have added to my frustration a few times when I got stuck on scenery. Aside from stiff directional control, kart response to jumping, and using weapons is pretty solid.
Overall, this is a fun game to play. While Obliteracers doesn’t have the grab and keep playing quality of a Diddy Kong Racing or a Mario Cart with out other players. It is good to play in bursts. The career mode has quite a bit of content to clear though, and that adds a bit to replayability. Playing though with friends is a must in order to get some intense and fun matches out of Obliteracers. Even with it’s bit of issues, it’s still an enjoyable game. This is definitely a game to get if you’re a fan of kart racing games. In addition to that, this game gives an opportunity for console owners to see what kart racing games are like, as games of this genre is a bit scarce for the PS4 and Xbox One.
Obliteracers is now out for PS4 and Steam, and is coming soon for Xbox One.
From Bedrooms to Billions the Omega Years will tell teh story of the rise of the personal computer as a gaming device. Following on the success of the original “From Bedrooms To Billions” this next instalment “From Bedrooms To Billions: The Amiga Years” gives you an insiders look into the fascinating true story on the Commodore Amiga’s influence on the video games industry.3
As with the original ‘From Bedrooms to Billions’ the filmmakers balance the ‘The Amiga Years!’ with nostalgic archive footage, stills and music with newly shot interviews with some of the original Amiga design team as well as with some of the biggest names in video game development, publishing, music and journalism from across the last 30 years.
The Amiga featured some truly stunning games and many of the creators of those games appear in The Amiga Years movie such as Eric Chahi (Another World), Bullfrog (Syndicate, Populous), Paul Cuisset (Flashback), Martin Edmondson (Shadow of the Beast), Team 17, Magnetic Fields, Factor 5, DICE, Cinemaware and many many more! It will be released in September 2016 on DVD and BluRay and available in both Standardand Special Editions.
Im interested in all things history (I actually have a history degree!) and so when things that are a part of gaming history get made, im always excited. Thought I havent seen the first documentary
Call the feature whatever you’d like: “three step glitch”, “Pokemon tracking”, “nearby tab” or “sightings” but the ability to know what & where Pokemon are in your location is an important aspect of Pokemon Go. When Niantic released an update that stripped out the then busted three step counter and shutout user made Pokemon trackers like PokeVision the internet practically exploded in a collective rage.
Now Niantic is rolling out a brand new tracking system that will tie your Pokemon sightings to a maximum 500-meter range. Currently, the unreleased feature is in closed testing with Pokemon trainers in San Francisco (where Niantic is based out of) and Louisiana have reported that the feature was enabled in a recent game update.
How does the new system work? Each Pokemon in your tab is tied to a PokeStop and will spawn within that PokeStop’s particular radar circle. Upon expanding the view of the tracked monster the game will zoom out and then mark the designated Pokestop on your HUD with a step icon. If the Pokemon you are tracking de-spawns an on-screen notification will alert you to this and replace the monster with another one.
Here are some screenshots of the new tracking system in action:
If you received the new tracking system, let us know what you think about it in the comments section!
