Monthly Archives: September 2014

Vampire Tribunals Reveals “The Hidden World of Vampires”

Vampire Tribunals

Clazz Games, a mobile video game publisher, and developer Raincrow Studios announced today the launch of Vampire Tribunals. Featuring mobile multi-player combat, Vampire Tribunals is a supernatural experience where vampire fantasies are no longer dreams, they are real.

Like “Google’s” popular “Ingress”, Vampire Tribunals is tailored to take advantage of the geo-location features of smart phones. But instead of monuments and portals, Vampire Tribunals reveals the real world to be filled with vampires and demons living among us. Stay in your neighborhood, zoom out to see the playing field or transport your vampire through the in-game Janus Mirror to attack enemy players all over the world. Players will bite their way through thousands of victims on their iPhone using in-phone navigation as they locate their next prey, with the goal of becoming the world’s most dominant blood-sucking vampire.

Vampire Tribunals is available today for free download on iOS devices. Visit the official site at www.vampiretribunals.com

Firefall: Elemental Destruction Update Available

Firefall

Red 5 Studios announces Update 1.1: Elemental Destruction for the open world MMO shooter, Firefall, introducing powerful new weapons and damage effects, five exciting dynamic encounters, and an excruciating Hardcore Mode for Kanaloa the Destroyer.  This extensive update follows recent additions to Firefall which greatly increased the number of dynamic events spawned around the world as well as significantly improved ARES job rewards.

Update 1.1: Elemental Destruction incorporates two never-before-seen weapons and devastating damage modifiers to the Accord armory.  The Plasma Flak Cannon, designed for Assault battleframes, fires a deadly blast that explodes upon impact or after a set amount of time, dealing area of effect (AOE) damage.  The Biotech class gets the virulent Bio Injector, a weapon that fires lethal needles which inflicts poison damage to enemies upon impact.  Moreover, the alternate fire of the Bio Injector is designed to apply heal over time to target allies.

In addition to the new artillery, this update also introduces six elemental weapon capabilities for both primary and secondary weapons designed to burn, poison, and shock the opposing forces in Firefall.  Energy based weapon modifiers including beam, laser beam, microplasma, and emissive microplasma, has also been added to shotguns, assault rifles, burst rifle, and sub-machine guns to make secondary armaments more lethal.  These destructive weaponry improvements more than double the number of weapon variations available in the game and will be useful in dealing with the challenges introduced in this update.

The Hardcore version of Kanaloa the Destroyer has been unleashed with a few twists to the legendary titan battle.  Seasoned veterans will have to form a highly skilled alliance in order to conquer this titan and reap the new epic loots.  Five additional dynamic events can also be found around the world of Firefall along with the all-new Chosen Offensive live event.  Chosen Offensive will be available on Sept. 21, Sept. 28, and Oct. 5 from 11:00am to 3:00pm PDT.  These hostile skirmishes are designed to terrorize players and keep them on their toes throughout their journey in New Eden.

For a complete list of new features and upgrades included in Update 1.1: Elemental Destruction visit www.firefall.com/elemental-destruction.

Pockie Kingdom

Pockie Kingdom is a free to play “horizontal strategy” game. Players manage their kingdoms and dominate the land through trade, politics, and battles.

Features:

Recruitable Heroes: Go to the pub and hire heroes from six classes – Cavalier, Swordsman, Lancer, Archer, Mage, and Assassin.

Dynamic Markets: Earn money for your kingdom through business and trade in a market that is always changing based on supply and demand.

Airship Battles: Airships are the caravans of trade, allowing players to transport goods above the fields of battle – but beware, for airships can also be plundered!

League of Legends Ascension Mode Review: it’s the Juggernaut!

By Jason Parker (Ragachak)

 

LoL Ascension It-Begins

A Land Covered In Sand

Riot Games is presently making an effort to redo their already convoluted and tired lore; this is not particularly a bad thing. In the meantime we are given something to tide us over while we wait on relevant and interesting champions/reworks.  Ascension Mode is one of those. Ascension, like all other “Game Modes” will likely only exist for a few weeks at the most, then it will disappear forever.  In it, I feel that perhaps the developers are trying to make the Dominion/Crystal Scar noticeable again.  There has been a fairly large outcry that Dominion is boring and it has no ranked gameplay so it likely does not appeal to the large amount of League players.  So it is with that in mind that the sands of Shurima, home to a variety of characters (Nasus, Xerath, Renekton and Azir) is also the home of this mode.

LoL Ascension Malz

Generally I am interested in these new game modes as they can offer something that could be seen in the future, such as DoomBots offering the idea of aggressive, intelligent bots.  I do not see anything that is terribly intriguing about this mode which is unfortunate; I enjoy Juggernaut game modes where a player gets an amazing buff that gets tossed around all match.  But taking a fairly uninteresting, simple map and tossing a new skin and fog of war onto it does not really make it fun. It is a nice try but all in all, I do not feel that it offers anything to the League community other than a smokescreen to tide them over until they finish something promising.  I went into this mode with high hopes but sadly they were not fulfilled.  However I’d like to take the time to thank Twerkette and her Twitch stream (http://twitch.tv/wetbunny) for playing this mode with me and streaming it, no matter how awful the games wound up being!

 

LoL Ascension Ascend

The Sand Calls

The way this mode operates is fairly simple; two teams of five ban three champions each, much like draft mode.  However, it is still a “blind pick” mode where teams pick their champions at the same time, and mirror matches can appear.  It is at least an interesting blend of the two match types.  The game takes place on a small Dominion map, still labeled “The Crystal Scar” despite being the middle of the Shurima desert. This has no bearing on the game but it is still a nitpicky problem.  Though the map is a circle, the layout is a pentagon, with two points for each team, and one “neutral” point at the top that both sides can travel to.  Much like ARAM (All Random All Mid) mode, once you leave base you cannot return until you die; this is facilitated by an item in your trinket spot that will teleport you to one of these nodes that you choose.  The first team that reaches 200 points wins the match and this is done with a very simple set of point allotments.

  • Kills:  1 point (2 if Ascended)
  • Capturing a Relic: 3 points
  • Killing the Ascended: 5 points

 

Sphere-Hunter

Those are the only way to attain points.  It is important to mention again that there is no going back to base short of dying, so there are no full heals at base to be had like on normal maps.  There are health restoring items much like ARAM that respawn fortunately.  The relics spawn in the same locations everytime, near the spawn nodes.  They respawn at a fairly fast rate, but enemies can attack you during the channeling and steal them from you.  Soon after the match begins, a Xerath bot will spawn in the middle of the arena, and that’s when the chaos begins.  Anyone can get the kill, and whoever gets the last hit will Ascend, becoming larger, and receive an incredible buff that removes mana/energy requirements, adds attack damage/spell power, and lowers cooldowns.  It’s a pretty terrifying buff in the right hands.  Xerath will not spawn again until after the Ascended has died so in theory, if the first buffed character never dies, it will not come back.

Ascend

Each time the Xerath bot respawns, it grows a little stronger, and has a little more health to match the flow of gameplay. It would not be very fun if he just got obliterated in one hit!  Then there is the Fog of War to mention: The map is constantly covered in a sandy fog that limits vision more harshly than anyone else in League. The length of your screen on a typical resolution is about all you can see here, and sharing vision with allies is the only way to have any idea about your surroundings. It is also pertinent to note that if you have the Ascended Buff, you can always be seen, on the map or on the mini map. There is no hiding in bushes or in the sand if you have Ascended; true power need not hide!

 

Score

What is the point?

I wanted to like this mode, I desperately did. Sadly the mode is too much of a jumble of other ideas thrown together haphazardly.  The item tree is from Twisted Treeline, the map is Crystal Scar; it combines Blind Pick and Draft Pick together in one place which is just peculiar.  One of my major gripes is yes, it is a mish-mash of other modes all dropped into one place, but it is this writer’s opinion that this mode does nothing but promote poor gameplay and bad decision-making skills.  The mode is fun, sure; having a God buff and running around decimating people as a variety of champions can be a lot of fun.  I think the entire map being covered in a sandy “Fog of War” is intriguing as it makes vision a lot harder, and there are no wards.

LoL Ascension Teemo

Now as far as poor gameplay decisions, players ultimately fight without regard to tactics or team roles in Ascension. Sure, your team having the Ascension buff is great, but wouldn’t it be better if you had it?  Why should your carry have it, when the support can get it? That’s helpful, right?  While on the surface you imagine your AP or AD carry would be ideal, there are no lanes or creeps to farm to buff them up to their godly levels. Jungling is out the window as well, leaving assassinations without proper planning as the ideal strategy of the day. Ultimately the mode feels like it is everyone for themselves, and I have seen more than my share of players just let their Ascended die because they were upset they did not get it.

Sure, teamwork happens but this mode feels cluttered and at the same time very barren.  Instead of this, I would have rather seen something, anything else. Something relevant to the game instead of something to distract me.  It is not bad, but certainly not the best temporary content that Riot has conjured up.  There are of course champions that thrive on this map and are infinitely stronger than others.  Ones who do not require resources, or have a renewable source of energy are strong in that they can constantly battle without worry.  And once the buff is on them, they can just rampage across the map.  Champions with a lot of burst also thrive here; I did not find a lot of fun to be had supporting on this map unless it was one that can deal a healthy amount of damage. All in all I think this mode is interesting, but I certainly was not as impressed as I thought I would be.