The original Super Meat Boy was an indie darlings in the early 2010s. It’s been a mainstay for hardcore platform fans for over a decade, but the sequel hasn’t been as well received.
Last year Super Meat Boy Forever received an iOS and Android port, so that you too can enjoy hardcore dismemberment while on your way to work.
A new update has been made available for the mobile port adding procedurally generated levels and a vault of classic levels as well.
Here’s the lowdown on the new ways to play!
Say hello to “Meat Grinder,” which has two ways to experience levels in Super Meat Boy Forever
“The Daily Grind” is a randomly generated level that switches out daily. Get to the end as quickly as possible to top the leaderboards. Keep playing to beat your record!
“Quick Play” lets you play a level generated from all the “level chunks” in a chapter. Maybe you’ll see something new!
Forever Forge: Forever Forge is where we will showcase the best of user- generated levels. Our level creation tools were just released on PC, so check back for updates in the future. For now though, please enjoy a new chapter developed in-house called “Abattoir.” Ryan should really be fired for making these levels.
Developer Caged Element revealed that the upcoming console release of their futuristic racing title, GRIP: Combat Racing will be available in a limited physical Collector’s Edition exclusively though GAMESTOP in the United States. After inquiring with their public relations people we can confirm that the Collector’s Edition will be available through EB Games in Canada.
Those who purchase the physical Collector’s Edition will receive the game’s soundtrack in 3 formats – CD, Vinyl and MP3 download, a set of art prints, a USB thumb-drive, a set of decals and exclusive DLC.
GRIP: Combat Racing is very clearly inspired by the fast paced anti-gravity racers from the mid to late 90s that graced the home consoles of the time. The developers cite the 1999 game Rollcage by Attention to Detail – which I can certainly see in the car designs. Fast cars gripping to the curved surfaces of futuristic racing courses also reminds me of the “Xtreme-G” series from the long defunct ACLAIM studios. Vehicle design and anti-gravity mechanics aren’t the only 1990s inspired features: the final release will also include 22 courses and more importantly – four player split screen!
GRIP’s complete soundtrack will include 24 tracks but the following 11 tracks have been licensed for use in the game:
Battery x Makoto “Submerge”
Krakota x Urbandawn “Coyote”
Inja x Pete Cannon “War Games“ (Instrumental)
Krakota “Citadels”
Royalston “Diorama”
Rawtekk “Restless”
Whiney “Sunday Grunge”
Whiney “Talisman”
Lynx “Clap Track”
GRIP: Combat Racing will be released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Windows PC on November 6th.
Experimental visual novel, mecha brawler and Fascist slaying indie title EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVERis currently climbing the top ten grossing titles on Itch.io. Developed by fellow queer game developer Heather Flowers, EXTREME MEAT PUNKS FOREVER, is unapologetically, radical, leftist and queer as hell. Fusing a vibrant pastel presentation, a quartet of protagonists and mech battles where you fight your literal clone (and kill Fascist scum while you’re at it, EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER takes a look at a lot of different subject matter through a queer lens.
I asked Heather for a brief overview of what EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER is and what the success of the game meant to her. Below is her statement as provided:
“EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER is a serialized visual novel/mech brawler about gay disasters beating up neonazis in giant robots made of meat. It’s about growing up queer in a small town, about being at odds with your own body, about feeling broken and trying to build a community with other broken people. The game takes from a lot of my own personal experiences growing up in Oklahoma (though it tends to give a more fantastical spin on events). Reception so far has been extremely positive, but the true question is what will happen as more episodes come out. I hope people like it and stay interested! Either way, we’ll see in a couple weeks.”
Feeling at odds with your own body, having to build your own community (and family) by getting to know other broken queer people are experiences that also ring very true with myself. Sadly, my transition did not include a giant mecha or clone battle – but if it did, perhaps it would out as awesome as EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER looks to be. Plus you get to kill a bunch of fascists – because fuck them!
Extreme Meatpunks Forever is currently within the top 10 best-selling titles on Itch.io right now. For $9.00 USD you too can check out this episodic leftist queer genre mashup (Windows, Mac, Linux) and support an awesome queer creator. The price on itch guarantees access to the whole first season, of which the pilot, Episode 1 and 2 are out now.
We finally have a release date for the last free content pack for the excellent indie Metroidvania, Hollow Knight, Gods & Glory will release on August 23rd on both Steam and the Nintendo E Shop.
Gods & Glory is a boss rush mode of sorts that pits the player against a series of enhanced bosses, returning from previous encounters found within the rest of the game. We’ve only seen a scant few encounters from Gods & Glory during Nintendo’s E3 treehouse live-stream but we do know that the Moss Charger enemy is being upgraded into a boss, for example. Gods & Glory will also add a brand new explorable area to the world map called God Home.
Also announced at the same time are a physical release of the second Hollow Knight soundtrack Gods & Nightmares on physical vinyl and digital streaming platforms. Fan Gamer will also be releasing a very huggable and cuddly talking Grub plushie that stands at 10 inches. I JUST WANT TO HUG IT!
Backers awaiting a taste of the upcoming Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night no longer have to wait as the E3 build has found its way onto Steam for those that pledged more than $60 USD during the game’s $5,500.000 USD KickStarter from March 2015.
Scenario Planner and famous game producer Koji Igarashi posted an update on the game’s campaign page outlining the content that backers will find within this beta demo. Featuring 5 unique characters – Miriam, a girl with a body embedded with crystals, the alchemist Johannes, A swordsman by the name of Gebel, An exorcist who has been sent by the church to deal with demons, Zangetsu, a samurai who will bring his blade against the hordes and Alfred, an alchemist who has a past with domonic power. It seems there is a lot on offer here, even if it took a few extra weeks for developers to work out all of the issues.
Koji Igarashi’s statement included the following information:
“Every time I go to E3, I’m reminded that this is the biggest game show in the world. I had a valuable opportunity to meet other developers who I usually don’t get to see.
This year, Bloodstained was exhibited in a closed space at 505 Games. The demo we showcased is actually the Beta Backer Demo that will be available today to all backers at the $60 tier and higher.
You will be able to experience a part of the storyline through these characters.
Regarding the gameplay—we’ve prepared a demo that I can proudly call an action game. Well, I guess that should be obvious… but hey! We also added special commands that were eagerly requested! It’s only a small portion of what’s in the game, but try to find them and see what you think. There are also new enemies and shards introduced in this demo.
In addition to the combat, there is a shop to buy and sell items, and an alchemy room to craft new items, where you can also make food and upgrade shards.”
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night will be released later this year for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Windows PC. It is being published by 505 Games.
Indie platforming darling Ori and The Blind Forest is getting a sequel, subtitled Willow of the Wisps, and it will launch in 2019 as revealed at the Microsoft E3 press conference. We got just under two minutes of gameplay footage from Willow of the Wisps and what was shown was very impressive. Featuring a bright. colorful and whimsical style that stays true to the 2D art style of the original it looks like OATBF: WOW is going to be a platforming title that many will be talking about before it comes out.
The original Ori and the Blind Forest was developed by Moon Studios and took over 4 years to complete. It was released for Windows and Xbox One in 2015 and was met with critical acclaim. Check out the trailer for Willow of the Wisps below, although a word of warning for those with Arachnophobia that there is at least one spider featured in this gameplay footage.
The 2018 edition of the Games Developer Conference has come to a close but there is still a lot more for us to show including gameplay videos, developer interviews and exclusive hands-on with several AAA and indie titles.
In this post I’d like to take a quick jaunt through some of the cooler booths on display at this year’s show. By “cooler” I don’t necessarily mean “elaborate” or “expensive” but visually impressive or booths that offered attendees a unique experience.
Epic Games Booth
A booth with a ride-able Fortnite llama in place of the traditional riding bull is a win in my book. This tough looking llama was a draw for the entire conference, sadly I didn’t get a chance to go for a ride.
Above said conquerable llama was a large screen that showcased the Fortnite live-stream that Epic had going during the entirety of show-floor hour.
Folks check out the PlayStation 4 Pro version of Fortnite Battle Royale.
Not to be left out, the mobile version of Fortnite was fully playable on a large TV.
Day of the Devs
Double Fine’s indie focused Day of the Devs event took place off-site as per usual but this elaborate skull themed display greeted attendees when taking the escalator down from the South Hall. In addition to playable demo stations you could also catch some of the developers behind featured games like Exo One, Minit and Knights & Bikes.
IGF Pavilion
The 2018 Independent Games Festival awards took place alongside the Game Developer Choice Awards on the Wednesday of GDC week. Throughout the show-floor days (Wednesday – Friday) all of the nominees could be played at a single station in this circular configuration. Games like Night in The Woods, Baba is You, Cuphead and Shenzen I/O were playable by attendees. In years past it wasn’t uncommon to actually meet the developers behind these games while playing them at the IGF booth – sadly I didn’t get to meet anyone from the excellent Night In The Woods team this year ☹.
Train Jam 2018 Booth
Over 80 independently created games & experiments were playable over at the Train Jam booth. I was lucky enough to take part in this year’s 52 hour game jam and our game Emotional Support Cat Girl was also playable at this booth as well. Creators from the Train Jam are also GDC Attendees for the most part so it wasn’t uncommon for creators to hang out at the booth and walk folks through their creations.
I didn’t have much time to go 1 on 1 with folks to show them Emotional Support Catgirl in person but I will have an exhaustive blog post outlining our amazing cross-America journey later on in the week.
Microsoft Azure Services Booth
A large Azure Services booth greeted attendees when taking one of the two main elevators down to the expo show-floor. Microsoft had a large floor presence this year aimed squarely at game developers and the cloud based development services that can help devs collaborate, test and deploy their upcoming projects.
Services like Azure Application Monitoring– which gives developers real-time reports on the use of their games and applications, Visual Studio Enterprise – Microsoft’s premium integrated development environment and the Xbox Live Creators program – which allows independent developers to publish on the Xbox One platform – were all on display.
By visiting four of the available demo stations developers were able to score both $2500 USD worth of Azure Credits for virtual machine testing and a free Xbox One controller. Disclosure: as a member of the Microsoft Developer Network and Bizspark Program I was not the intended audience for these workshops, I already have access to all of these services. The free controller will definitely be useful for my development work, however.
Google Booth
Google uses its presence in the mobile space with Android and its real-world presence in Silicon Valley to attract Android developers to GDC. Not only do they host a keynote focused on the future of their mobile platform but also full day workshops for developers on pre-launch and post-launch support of their mobile games.
Aside from the giant G logo and familiar Google Employees in blue shirts there wasn’t much on display at their booth to speak of. At GDC Google did announce the interesting “instant app” addition to the Play Store which allows customers to download a small 10MB trial version of a game and play it within seconds without needing to install anything on their device. Given the size of some Android Games 10MB could be as small as a 30 second sample of the gameplay, while other smaller games have the chance to offer players a much more feature complete experience within those confines.
PlayStation Booth
Sony always has a huge display at conventions like PAX East, E3 and PAX West but did the development focus of GDC stop them from bringing some of the latest creation on their platform? Of course not!
Playable games at the PlayStation Booth included the recently released Shadow of the Colossus remake, Monster Hunter: World, Gran Turismo Sport and Ni No Kuni: Revenant Kingdom.
Sony also held a number of developer talks and workshops across the five days of GDC focusing on the visual arts achievements that Sony has made on the PlayStation 4, how devs can help fight fraud in an online gaming space and a Final Fantasy Collaboration focused workshop.
Unity
Unity has quickly become the darling of indie creators and the engine that powers some of the most notable AAA releases as well. Upcoming titles like Escape From Tarkov, In the Valley of the Gods, Praey For the Gods and Hollow Knight all use the suite of tools made available for free by Unity Technologies.
While Unity might not offer the complete beginner friendly experience of something like Game Maker or Clickteam Fusion but it does offer a great gateway to full fledged game development. Alongside a whole range of professional grade 3D, 2D and lighting tools – developers also get access to some of the most exhaustive documentation systems around. Also the Unity community has probably answered almost every question asked about the engine at this point.
I’m not trying to come off as a paid Unity shill or that this section of the post is an advertisement – it’s not. But I’ve been personally making games in Unity for the past 2 years as my full time gig and it has been such a rewarding experience. What you lose in easy prototype-ability you gain in coding experience, game making fundamentals and probably the most beneficial to me personally – learning how to properly debug a game from conception through to post launch support.
In terms of what was on offer for newly budding developers and experienced veterans – Unity offered a quiet lounge space for Unity devs to hang out, grab a coke and just relax from the high stress environment. This space wasn’t entirely ultrisitic however – staffers from the engine developer were also on hand to inform visitors about upcoming Unity focused events like their Rendering Bootcamp, Keynote, Work Flow workshop and also to recruit for Unity Europe. Also on the floor of the West Hall (where most GDC panels take place) was a large “Made With Unity 3D” booth which gave folks the chance to check out multiple games made in Unity 5.
Ark: Survival Evolved Mobile
Lastly I’d like to highlight something I spotted at Unreal’s massive booth. Sandwiched in-between all of the Fortnite chaos, live engine demonstrations and AAA games was the mobile version of ARK Survival Evolved that had just been announced days prior. I didn’t get a chance to snag any off-screen video of the game running (tho I wish I had) but I did manage to snag a few interesting stills that I’ll post in the coming days. Suffice to say that the upcoming mobile conversion for ARK looks and plays rather faithful to the original – oh and there’s also the upcoming Nintendo Switch port of ARK, which was not on the show floor.
San Francisco, California — Broken Joysticks Media, a Canadian technology and interactive entertainment focused blog platform announces the release of Emotional Support Catgirl (prototype version) on the Itch.io platform. Developed during the 52 hour Train Jam game development event leading up to GDC, Emotional Support Catgirl tells the narrative of a trans woman living in the Midwestern United States who finds comfort and support through the BBS systems of the 1990s.
Emotional Support Catgirl invites players to experience the journey of Nichole as she connects with an entire cast of other queer transwomen through a private bulletin board system between the years of 1999 and 2000. Emotional Support Catgirl’s adaptation of the Unity Engine provides players with a functional command-line and era specific commands used on bulletin board systems of the era. This is a game forged from the personal experience of its developers.
Train Jam is a gathering of game developers from a number of disciplines to develop experimental and interesting titles on the cross-America journey from Chicago, IL to SF,CA during the week leading up to the Games Developer Conference. This year’s theme was given as “Odyssey” which resulted in 84 unique entries being submitted. More information on Train Jam can be found on their website – http://www. trainjam.com/ All 84 unique games submitted to the Jam can be viewed here – https://itch.io/jam/train-jam-2018/entries.
Key Features of Emotional Support Catgirl:
Replica of a 1990s / early 2000s Bulletin Board System.
Several different threads, replies and time-states available to players to experience the narrative.
Command-line driven gameplay.
Lots of green and black for the true throwback experience.
Queer as hell narrative.
A downloadable prototype of Emotional Support Catgirl can be downloaded for free at https://itch.io/jam/train-jam-2018/rate/235983. Emotional Support Catgirl will be playable on the GDC Showfloor along with all other 84 entries at booth N4918 during the Games Developers Conference.
Publisher Raw Fury and developer Long Hat House have come together to give us quite the indie game. Dandara is a Metroidvania style game with focus on exploration and 2D action-adventure gameplay and while this may seem a bit commonplace and trendy, Dandara caught my attention in a big way with its concept, character development and world building. Originally released for the iphone in December of last year, this metroidvania inspired game makes the leap on to the Nintendo Switch.
Dandara’s concept is loosely based on the story of an Afro-Brazilian warrior who fought aside men against slavery during the colonial period of Brazil’s history. This makes sense considering the developers are from that country and considering such little known this tale may be in North America, a game is an excellent medium to spread what is known about her story and inspire others to try and learn about this little known historical figure. Even though the game is abstract, Dandara as a character definitely displays the strength and cunning of a true heroic warrior and her interactions with the characters definitely help build her legend throughout the game.
The game takes a more futuristic dystopian atmosphere with fantastical elements to this warrior’s story than relying on a historical period for its setting.. You are Dandara, and it is up to you to explore this world of Salt and to save it from the brink of destruction. Along the way you will come across beautifully colorful and equally as beautiful dark areas of this nearly ruined world to find items, currency and characters that can help you on your mission.
The way you explore this world is through a series of platform jumping, dodging attacks and landing strikes and the right moment – critical skills for most games in its genre. Throughout the world there are these areas you can jump to by bending gravity as well. Dandara will seem to blink to your target as you continue working your way around the world, finding new ways to unlock areas and finding ever more powerful enemies to conquer.
Combat is also fairly straight forward. Dandara has a gun that she can aim at enemies. Much like the platforming, you aim and press a button or tap the screen to where you want the shot to hit. Since this game is made for both touch screens and console games, it can make the controls a little funny when compared to its contemporaries that only have one style of control. There were times I felt the aiming was slightly difficult to maneuver, especially trying to make my way around corners or through tight areas with the analog sticks of the Switch joy-con. I also found combat to be a bit frustrating as aiming and shooting can sometimes be a bit slow and therefore you have to be more methodical with your shots – planning them out with precision. Perhaps that was the point the developers were going through though.
This game is less of a run and gun, rapid paced adventure and more of a strategic platformer. You need to plot out where you want to go to best avoid being hit by enemies, the timing of your jumps and learn the movement pattern of the enemies before aiming so you can hit them accurately. You can also improve your longevity and gameplay by obtaining the games currency, called salt, and using it to increase your health or weapon effectiveness.
This game may get frustrating at times, but its unique concept and beautiful pixel art make it all worth it to explore and experience this game. It is also notable to add that this game has a beautiful soundtrack to accompany it which really makes the experience all the more rich.
Overall, I found this game deeply enthralling and unique. For the price of $15 USD for the Switch version of the game, I would say it is definitely worth supporting this developer and see what they will come up with next. I learned something about Brazilian history and got a beautiful experience thanks to Long Hat House. The gaming industry needs more like this when the market is flooded by asset flippers and loot box abuse. We need to get back to passion and fun and creators who simply want to create art, tell a story or just make a fun game.
Plastic army infantry simulator and indie spiritual successor to the long dormant Army Men franchise, The Mean Greens will be receiving the much requested addition of online/offline bots in a future update. This news isn’t particularly new, the development of bots was originally revealed on Christmas Day but given that The Mean Greens is a smaller title with a very small player-base I thought it’d be a good reminder to our readers who maybe haven’t had a chance to play the game.
Supporting modes like free-for-all deathmatch and team death-match, The Mean Greens casts players as the tiny army soldiers that some of us may remember from childhood. Amusingly the arenas can range from lovingly crafted domestic settings like the inside of a bathroom, to toy castles constructed from wooden blocks to the inside of an aquarium.
I’ve enjoyed my time with The Mean Greens: Plastic Warfare, so much so that I even bought my own copy after playing it at a few conventions. Sadly with player counts sometimes dipping into the single digits it can be difficult to find a single server that is populated enough to start a match. Here’s hoping that the eventual addition of bots will make The Mean Greens a little less barren.
A fan lead project to remake Sonic 2 in HD complete with a brand-new vector based art style has released their first demo in over 5 years. Unlike the alpha demo of Sonic 2 HD that was released way back in 2012, version 2.0’s demo includes multiple stages and boss battles alongside a remastered soundtrack.
According to the project’s F.A.Q section, this fan game has been in development for 9 years – worked started in 2008!
“The idea of creating a high-definition version of SEGA’s classic Sonic the Hedgehog 2 first appeared on the website Alchemist Defined around 2007. An artist named “Billy” had drawn a detailed piece of artwork depicting Sonic about to fight the final boss in Death Egg Zone. The low-resolution sprites were brought to life in this recreation; both the background and the characters had been completely remastered. A number of video game websites quickly discovered the image and shared it with their readers. The question had been posed: “What would Sonic 2 look like in high definition?”
With this idea planted in the community’s mind and “Vincent” stepping forward to take the helm, the Sonic 2 HD project officially began in 2008.”
Here are the recommended specs for the 2.0 demo:
OS Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64bit
CPU Intel Core i5 2500
GeForce GTX 650 1GB
4GB RAM
400MB of disk space
Vincenzo Mastrorosato and his team are to be commended for their persistence and passion to keep this project alive and going for almost a decade. When so many promising fan remakes, sequels or tributes come to end due to burn out, project abandonment or legal issues it is refreshing when something like the Sonic 2 HD demo comes along.
Previously mobile only racing title Gear.Club will be hitting the breaks on mobile exclusivity with the release of Gear.Club Unlimited on the Nintendo Switch this December. This past week the developers at Eden Games revealed the full lineup of 30 real-world cars that will be featured in this updated port.
Featuring cars from famous manufacturers like BMW, Ford, Mercedes, and Nissan –Gear.Club is unique in terms of its realism on Nintendo’s latest console. It might not feature the 100s of makes & models like the Sony’s Gran Turismo franchise but when the closest competition on the Switch involves go karts firing turtle shells, 30 different real-world vehicles is plenty.
I’ve been playing the iOS version of Gear.Club out of curiosity in anticipation of the December switch release. In terms of the moment to moment racing action Gear.Club doesn’t disappoint – handling corners and narrowly passing the competition to clinch the top spot in a race is rather exciting. Due to the nature of the F2P model the phone version of Gear.Club does indeed involve waiting for timers and Gold Stars that racers must grind to progress. I’m holding out hope that the up-front cost of Gear.Club on Switch will mean that the micro-transactions and cash shop will be stripped away in favor of a more traditional console content unlock model.
Nintendo Switch has quickly proven itself to be a welcoming home for indie & smaller titles alike. Here’s hoping that racing fans rev up their excitement for Gear.Club Unlimited as its Winter release date approaches in a few months’ time.
Here are the latest screenshots & the full car lineup from the devs:
If you like high octane mecha action games staring anime teenagers then Project Nimbus is one title to keep an eye on. Developed by GameCrafterTeam and published by Kiss LTD it is hard not to watch footage of Project Nimbus and be instantly reminded of a brighter, more bubblegum Armored Core title. We may not have got a true Armored Core 6 from Namco and sure Project Nimbus lacks detailed customization in its current Early Access state but it seems to scratch at the same itch.
Project Nimbus will be flying the deadly skies on PlayStation 4 in Japan later this Autumn with a worldwide release scheduled for sometime in Q1 2018. PC players can already snag Nimbus for $15.99 CDN on Steam, but that price may go up as the game leaves Early Access on September 28th.
Here’s a couple of the key gameplay features of Project Nimbus: CodeMirai on PlayStation 4 as reported by Gematsu:
Key Features
Missions set throughout 16 different locations, including sky city, sea fort, mountain base, giant prison, and space stages.
Various mecha and weapons, including smart missiles, laser blades, particle canons, floating laser shields, rail guns, and auto-attacking and defending psycho drones.
A grandeur story of an ace pilot set on a future earth destroyed by war, where a battle between three factions will unfold.
Eye-catching combat style with transforming giant mecha, daredevil pilots, and battles against armed flying boats.
If after watching the below footage your mouth starts to water just a bit – as mine did. I’ve included the minimum specs for the PC version below as well. After watching a handful of trailers and reading the news release about Project Nimbus’ incoming PlayStation 4 release I immediately plunked down the $16 for the Steam version.
Min Specs:
OS: Windows Vista/7/8
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: ATi HD5750 {Any card that support Shader Model 3.0 shall be able to run the game)
I probably lost you at the headline… Zombies and Virtual Reality? Is there a combination of things that been overdone in the past few years than immersive goggles and the undead? Well nDreams’ Bloody Zombies isn’t your typical wave based Zombie FPS title that has risen to flood the steam store as of late. It is more of a VR enhanced title with a cartoony art style and from the promotional trailers and materials looks like it will be one to keep an out on.
Bloody Zombies is a cel-shaded 2.5D brawler with colorful cartoony graphics reminiscent of Cel Damage HD or 2002’s XIII. It looks more like a gruesome over the top vibrant work of art come to life than it does the grey/brown mess other “realistic” zombie titles have adopted (is it fair to call a Zombie game realistic when it involves corpse reanimating themselves?) In this side scrolling beat ‘em up you and four friends get to explore a post apocalyptic London – finding new ways to re-murder the undead before they turn you into one of the shambling hordes. VR and non-VR players battle side by side with VR players being able to unlock hidden secrets for the rest of the party.
Anthony White, co-founder of Paw Print Games had this to say about their latest title in a recent press release:
“We’re massive fans of brawler games and have spent countless hours analyzing the genre, crafting Bloody Zombies in to a modern interpretation of the classics. VR adds a new twist to what is already a great TV experience; enhancing the gameplay and visuals and adding a wow factor. We can’t wait for people to get their hands on Bloody Zombies…”
Bloody Zombies is available for pre-order on both the PlayStation Network and Steam store front. It is currently priced at $15.19 CDN (including a pre-release 10% discount) on Steam, no official pricing is available on the North American PlayStation Store as of press time. It will launch worldwide on September 12th.
Astervoid 2000 is a totally awesome and difficult throwback to the old days of arcade cabinet multiplayer space shoot em ups. It wouldn’t be unfair if your mind went straight to Bizarre Creations (RIP) 2005 smash hit, Geometry Wars or the 1980s Asteroid games that inspired it after seeing Astervoid 2000 in action.
Right off the bat, I want to say this game has a really awesome soundtrack that sticks to the genre’s roots of being sort of remixed electronic soundtracks reminiscent of the golden days of video arcades during the 80s and 90s. The soundtrack still manages to provide a fresh coat of paint for a more grown up audience the game encourages you right from the get-go to gather some friends up and play this on your big screen tv while having fun. I do love what the developers did with their licensed music – they put the name of the artist and track at the beginning of a stage. I think that not only shows respect for the work the band or individual put into making that track, it also helps spread recognition for their artists and even can help out both the artists and the players connect through channels that aren’t Astervoid 2000.
The movement of your little fighter of your choice is definitely more designed for a game controller than a keyboard and mouse but it is pretty responsive all in all. I do however have a few complaints about the controls- while they are definitely responsive they can also feel too loose as if the slightest tap may send your little space ship hurtling into an asteroid, a mine, an enemy ship. While fun and entertaining and giving you the choice of your little-pixelated ship (which may I add reminds me A LOT of an old flash game I used to play. Gods help me if I remember the name of it) there’s not much real long term gameplay in this title.
One thing I do love and did make me smile and keeps having me come back for “one more round” is the added benefit of a global leaderboard fight to get the high score and see your name up there with others who have fought so hard to get where you are, who may have worn down the analogue sticks on their controllers or battled through carpel tunnel and no sleep to get where you are now (
As much as I love to peel back the layers upon layers of modern videogames, and take a look at its roots and the origins of how the genre started – I can’t really say much that everyone else has already stated. Astervoid 2000 sure does owe itself to some of the very first videogames ever developed and this long lasting influence shows. It is fast-paced, easy to pick up and to learn and still will keep you coming back for more. I do also love how the game offers about 8 difficult but worthwhile achievements to get. In closing, this game is a game that anyone of any age can pick up, play and enjoy. I’m not sure if this could help but if anyone out there can use a joystick to play it let me know if the controls feel a bit tighter as I feel a joystick may offer tighter more precise control than what a PC enabled controller may offer.
A copy of Astervoids2000 was provided by the developer for our consideration.
