Yearly Archives: 2014

Second Co-Op Campaign Map Expands Interstellar Marines Universe

Instellar Assault on Starcrowne

Zero Point Software today released its second co-operative campaign map. Using stealth gameplay and facing an unscripted AI, players need to infiltrate the heavily defended Starcrown Aerospace industrial-military base to retrieve vital research data.

“Our first co-op campaign map propelled players into the Interstellar Marines universe”, said Kim Haar Jørgensen, Creative Director of Interstellar Marines. “We want the Assault on Starcrown Aerospace  mission to expand on that, grabbing players’ interest and immersing them ever more in their role as an Interstellar Marine.

“Starcrown is all about stealth – using your brain, not just your trigger finger – to secretly and surgically infiltrate an industrial research base. As an Interstellar Marine you do not know what the research is you’re after, but I can tell you it has profound implications for co-op missions we will release in the future”.

Starcrown is the second campaign map Zero Point Software has released for Interstellar Marines. They have also released five additional challenge-style co-op maps where players can team up with their friends to take on the unscripted AI in various game modes.

“In just a few short months we have released seven co-op maps”, explained Jørgensen. “That’s many hours of intense, old-school co-operative and singleplayer gameplay our players can now enjoy with their friends. We’ve been compared many times to the Rainbow 6 series of games, and as they’re a heavy influence on us we’re extremely proud of that!”

World of Tanks: British Tank Destroyers are coming

World of Tanks 9-5 Firefly

Wargaming today announced that Update 9.5 for World of Tanks has been released in Europe and North America, and will be available to players in Asia on Dec. 23, and Korea Dec. 30. This update brings a wealth of new content by adding 10 new British vehicles along with 3 original battlegrounds: the ruined settlement of Mittengard, the desolate Ghost Town and the snow-covered Winterberg. In addition to the content update, a new Mission system, Personal Missions will become available Jan. 15, 2015.

The newest update to World of Tanks brings a new force of British vehicles rolling out onto the battlefield with a line of impressive British Tank Destroyers. Beginning at Tier 5, the line includes the very distinct Archer with its backward facing gun, the powerful and agile Charioteer, and the FV4005 Stage II. In addition to the Tank Destroyer line, the British tech tree receives 3 new Medium vehicles including the iconic and highly anticipated Sherman Firefly, Sherman II and Grant, along with 2 Light Tanks, the M2 and Stuart I-IV.

Beginning Jan. 15, 2015 tankers will be able to put their skills to the test in new missions called Personal Missions. Unlike the current Mission system, Personal Missions allow players to select the mission they want to complete and missions will not have a time limit. Upon completion of these missions, players will receive a variety of great rewards including unique high-tier vehicles, medals and female crew members.

Tree of Savior Details Korean CBT Schedule

Tree of Savior CBT

 

Our partner TreeofSaviorGame.com has translated news from the official Tree of Savior website regarding the game heading into closed beta:

On Monday next week we will begin recruiting the first batch of CBT testers on Monday, December 29th, 2014 to Sunday, January 11th, 2015. The selected peoples will be announced on January 14th in our website.

There will be a total of four days of testing on January 15th to 18th January 2015. During weekdays the testing periods are from 14:00 – 22:00. In weekends testing will start from noon (12:00) to 10PM.

This first test will be limited to only 1,000 Nexon players. Read more here.

The Crew Review

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor)

 

TheCrewLaunchReview1

After many delays and open betas the racing fans finally have the long awaited, MMOCaRPG, The Crew. The game has been out for a few weeks now, though I’ve been busy racing from coast to coast for many weeks prior in the beta testing phase. Assuming Ubisoft saved the best for launch, I drove right into the action to check out all the changes and bonus content. In the last beta I had a lot of fun with my friends, racing against each other and touring the world that is made to resemble the United States. But this time, I decided to do things different…

But before I tell you about my experiences this time, let me give the uninitiated a brief introduction to what The Crew actually is. The Crew is a racing game in an open and persistent world. But it’s not just an epic sized sandbox with a buy to play tag on it. You follow the story of a driver named Alex Taylor through a roughly 20 hour campaign designed to introduce you to the various regions of the game, available garages, and a serious adrenaline rush. You, as Alex Taylor, will have to gain a reputation with the 510, a criminal gang that is controlling huge parts of the United States. Thankfully you have friends within the federal government backing your mission like something straight out of a Fast and Furious plotline. Scattered around the world you will find missions and mini games that you can complete for better reputation as well as a variety of car parts to upgrade your rides. In short, you have a racing MMORPG that not only puts past attempts at the genre mix to shame, it rivals single-player focused racing games in its gameplay quality, and my Nvidia powered PC visuals were breathtaking.

TheCrewLaunchReview5

The last time I tried this game with my friends, we tried to do all the missions together. Most missions are designed with mechanics allowing you to do them with or competitively against each other, meaning this style of gameplay is ideal for getting maximum enjoyment out of The Crew. However, I wanted to see how the ever half lives to get a better idea of what The Crew offers for my review, and went into the launch as a lone wolf, seeking out strangers to ride with. I quickly discovered that there isn’t much in place to help you find people to team up with. That’s not to say that the skeleton of such function isn’t present. Once you get to a mission, the option appears asking if you want to try it in co-op with others, seeking out players in your region of the same level. Unfortunately this feature doesn’t work as well as I had hoped. I’m not sure why, but most of the time I never found any people to race with, and I didn’t really want to wait longer than five minutes for the system to work its magic in a game all about speed. In the end I found myself riding solo for a full day along the east coast before reaching the milestone letting you join a faction. It’s a nice little touch to try and bring people together, but again, it works better in principle than practice. The launch also brought with it the introduction of a chat function, but I have yet to see it be used.

TheCrewLaunchReview2

When you do however get matched up with other players, balance seems to be of secondary concern. Since most of the time you race against each other rather than together against the computer, you will need the fastest car to win. And even though you will still get a nice prize if you do not win the race, it is still a bit unfair that the guy with the fastest car has such a huge advantage. Obviously you will need to account for the fact that each track is different, and other components can play with the outcome, but more often than not both drivers will do decently well, resulting in the fastest car spec dominating. And this is a huge flaw with the current parts system; the parts system is a little funky. When you win races, missions, or mini games you get new parts. These parts immediately replace your old parts without visiting a garage or anything like that, and since in each new area there are a ton of mini games to do for new parts, people focusing on collection will always have an edge above those just trying to race. Thus purely fair races are a rare occasion. Rather disappointing for a racing game, as one car can be outright better than another within the same tier.

TheCrewLaunchReview3

Just like in any racing game you can own a lot of different cars, but you need to be careful how you spend your resources to make the most of your second car. The primary concern is a car’s kit. Different kits are used in different races, such as a street kit benefiting you in big cities while a dirt kit covers you for serious off-roading. Dirt kits specialize in steering improvement when faced with sand and mud, whereas the street kit will falter when faced with the same challenges. Sure you can make it work, but after a few attempts you won’t want to willingly face this challenge any longer. While this is a fun system that adds more tactics to your car purchases, it can also punish idiots like me that jump for their favorite vehicle without concern for kit. In my case I went for an Aston Martin as my third vehicle, only after the fact to realize its a full stock car, a kit type I have yet to find more useful than my other kits on a variety of road types. But if I go touring on a mission free joyride, I at least have a beautiful vehicle to cruise in. And its hard to stress just how enjoyable driving aimlessly on long tours can be in The Crew. Since a lot of places are made after landmarks in the United States, some places will feel very similar, turning the game into a virtual vacation for an EU player like me that has yet to see iconic locales like New York and Las Vegas. My site’s editor pointed out that he even recognizes minor bridges in Los Angeles painstakingly placed in their appropriate locations.

Later in the game when you get to level fifty the real grinding begins, you will be able to grind for platinum parts. But other than that there is not a lot of things to do that you haven’t already experienced. That’s not a serious knock on The Crew. Any racing game is bound to get repetitive after a while, but the loss of the progression of leveling makes doing the same thing more boring at end-game. The beautiful scenery and graphics of the game make up for it though, and most of the time I’m having more fun just driving around than doing actual races against other people that have better cars than me and thus have the odds stacked on their side. I want to win races as well, but if I can only win if someone else makes a mistake, then there isn’t really a lot of fun involved.

 

TheCrewLaunchReview4

Conclusion: Great (4/5)

The Crew is a fun game. I wouldn’t say it is the best racing game I have ever touched, but definitely somewhere near the top of my list. The leading factors making it so enjoyable though are the MMO setting and beautiful recreation of so many US locations in one game. As it turned out that MMO rush is not as enjoyable if you’re going into The Crew solo rather than with friends, as complete strangers are hard to find and even harder to find in cars of comparable power to your own. The lack of options and effectiveness of the options present to get solo players into the MMO experience is the main factor holding The Crew back from a perfect score. If you love racing games you will like The Crew, but if you want to experience the full potential of the game, you definitely need a group of people to play with.

Graphics

5/5

Control

4/5

Features

3/5

Customization

5/5

Community

2.5/5

Unsettled – Successfully Greenlit on Steam

Unsettled

Unsettled, the upcoming post-apocalyptic multiplayer survival sandbox game in its final days on Kickstarter, was successfully greenlit on Steam and is approved for release once development is complete. Not only does this allow Unsettled to premiere on the largest distribution channel for PC gaming, it also allows us to integrate the Steamworks SDK and its many useful features.

  1. Networking API to easily find and join servers with your friends (or to avoid those on your list you find rather unpleasant.)
  2. Tons of Achievements for those Achievement Hunters
  3. Easier compatibility with a companion app (Using your smart phone to monitor your security cameras?)

For more info, visit http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=353389820

Star Conflict Season Two Now Available w/ Holiday Events

Star Conflict

StarGem Inc. and Gaijin Entertainment are celebrating Star Conflict players this season with special in-game events and achievements, as well as a selection of new decals and skins to spruce up their space ships for the holidays. Players can also take advantage of up to 50% off items in the store to equip their ships and gear up for the new content coming to Season 2 in January, which includes, most notably, the formidable Dreadnought. For more information about the Season 2 content update and to take advantage of the holiday sale, visit: http://star-conflict.com/en/store/

The Season 2 update expands on the Alien Invasion storyline released in September. The second invasion wave pitches Star Conflict players against a treacherous Cyborgs faction in addition to Aliens. New enemies already available in Star Conflict with Season 2 are Defilers, giant alien spaceships that can only be destroyed by groups of up to 12 players during raid-missions, and Hunters, a new alien type that is invulnerable to every weapon. To combat the Hunters, players must search the far reaches of space to find iridium to help scientists develop a new weapon to take them down.

The introduction of Dreadnought class ships after the holidays will signify interesting new challenges for Sector Conquest, and introduces new E-Sport opportunities for 2015.

“Season 2 is an exciting phase in Star Conflict. Not only do players have to worry about PvP attacks in the free to explore environment, but now they must also go up against new enemy types. And this time, it involves everyone: Outer Space is now open for all pilots, starting from the first rank. With the addition of Dreadnoughts after the holidays, these huge spaceships will add another dimension to intergalactic combat. And we believe that all changes will provide a broader, richer experience for Star Conflict players”, said Stanislav Scorb, Director of StarGem, Inc.

Players can learn more about Season 2 in Star Conflict and start playing by visiting: http://star-conflict.com/