Yearly Archives: 2014

Wakfu – Now Available on Steam in Multiple Languages

Wakfu

ANKAMA today announces that the MMORPG WAKFU is now available on STEAM in English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German and Thai.

WAKFU was first released in 2012 and rapidly developed a loyal global following that is still growing today. The anime-style universe of WAKFU is infused throughout with humor, from the charming interactions to its tactical combat, belying the complex political and economic systems at its heart. The game receives content updates every 2 months in average and is subscription free.

“We are proud to bring WAKFU on STEAM and give the opportunity to more and more players to discover this universe. We are starting with English, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and Thai players but more will follow soon” declares Olivier Comte, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer at Ankama.

For the game release on STEAM, the game tutorial has been entirely reworked in order to provide a better game experience. Participants in the closed beta will receive a decoration as a reward for their contribution. Inspired by one of Valve’s famous games, this reward is the perfect item to symbolize the partnership between both companies.

In addition to the MMORPG on STEAM, players now also have access to the WAKFU anime through Netflix since the 15th of September. These releases will bring the WAKFU universe to a worldwide audience.

For more info, visit http://store.steampowered.com/app/215080/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1

Erebus 2

Erebus 2 – once known as Travia 2 – is a free to play action RPG, featuring PvP, party quests, and thousands of items to discover.

Features:

Easy to Play: Simple controls let you play with a mouse and basic keyboard use.

Massive PvP: Join in the battle in Area Wars and Guild House Wars.

Party Quests: Help your friends defeat the wicked King Rachhu and bring peace to the world.

Age of Wonders III: Golden Realms Expansion Out Today

AoW3 Golden Realms Leader

Triumph Studios, the creators of the Overlord and Age of Wonders series, announced today that Age of Wonders III: Golden Realms, the first premium expansion pack for Age of Wonders III, is out now.

Golden Realms expands Age of Wonders III’s empire building mechanics and introduces bucket loads of new content. These new features are used in random maps, new scenarios and a new story campaign, where Halfling survivors settle in a distant land filled with danger and treasures never seen before.

AoW3 Halfling City

New Content Includes:

  • The Halfling Race: The little folk are back, with new units, heroes and leaders. The jesters shoots fireworks which dazzle the enemy and the cleaver flinging brew brothers keep the Halfling armies fed while on the road. Halflings can be used with all classes and introduce the new Luck mechanic which allows them to dodge incoming attack while they’re in good spirits.
  • Golden Realms Campaign. In this three scenario campaign, you help the Halfling survivors of the Heartwood Massacre rebuild an empire in an exotic land and confront an ancient evil.
  • Exotic Map Locations: Capture the Naga Dwelling, home to serpentine queens and giant man-snakes, and discover new treasure sites such as the fabled Lost City to benefit your empire.
  • Over twenty new units: Encounter new exotic units such as the filth throwing Dread Monkeys, alluring Mermaids and the fearsome Glutton who can swallow whole regiments in one bite.
  • New Hero Items: The Golden Realms contain 50 new magical artifacts to discover and use. Wield the enigmatic Crystal Skull, or wear a stylish Witch Doctor’s Headdress to mix in with the locals.
  • Wild Magic Specialization: Unleash wild magic. Cause spontaneous mutations, warp equipment and turn orderly battles into a pandemonium where the lines of battle are violently warped.
  • Partisan Specialization: Use new skills for guerrilla warfare. Create concealed hide-outs and develop ambushing skills.
  • Two hand crafted scenarios:  Playable single and multi-player these new stand-alone scenarios are built around the new features of the Golden Realms expansion.

AoW3 Golden Realms Nagas

Features:

  • Mystical City Upgrades: Arcane treasure sites located in your domain unlock new unique upgrades for your cities, making the location and specialization of your cities more important than ever. Building a city near a Crystal Tree unlocks the Enchanted Armory which reinforcing your armored units.
  • Empire Quests: Achieve empire building goals before your rivals to unlock unique rewards for your realm. This introduces a new type of indirect competition between players. Examples are the Eternal City: be the first to build a metropolis and get an awe-inspiring Monument of Prime Good and Evil, where the first player to achieve full good or full evil alignment has a party of champions the respective alignment join at no cost.
  • Seals of Power: A new King of the Hill style victory condition where players must capture and hold the dangerous Seals of Power structures in order to achieve victory.  Don’t sit and hold back as broken seals attract extra-dimensional beings wanting to take the Seal back.
  • Defensive City Upgrades:  Each race has a unique city defense to build.  The Draconian’s Firestorm Pillar sets ablaze those who dare attack their city. Or the Bell Tower for the Humans which rallies the citizenry to shoot volleys at oncoming enemies.

All the new content and features mentioned above are integrated into the updated Random Map Generator.

Age of Wonders III: Golden Realms incorporates feedback from the community and coincides with a free update adding updated AI, balance, a new Spell Disjunction System, Steam Workshop and Cloud Saves for Steam Users. Golden Realms is set for a September 18th 2014 release and available via online stores such as Steam and GoG.

Mechanon Invades Champions Online with Steel Reserve

CO_SteelCrusade_RoboPunch

Today, Perfect World Entertainment announced that Champions Online: Steel Crusade is now available. In this major new content update, players will find Millennium City under attack by Mechanon, a robot supervillain determined to eradicate all organic life. Heroes will explore new areas, investigate Mechanon’s nanorobot virus, and take the fight to Mechanon’s orbital satellite.

With three new instances, the new United Nations Tribunal on International Law (UNTIL) Space Station mission hub, a Reawakened Automaton Archetype, and more, players new and old will want to take part in these fresh adventures in Champions Online.

Grimoire: Manastorm

Grimoire: Manastorm is a multiplayer wizard FPS with MOBA-style abilities that puts the player in control of devastating magic; deep spell mechanics enhance classic shooter action with tactics and trickery unique to magical battles. Explore a dark medieval world through three exciting game modes that put a new twist on old favorites. Fight for territory, prestige, and your very survival.

Features:

Conquest Mode: In Grimoire, conquest mode is inspired by games like Day of Defeat and Battlefield. This game mode is based on capturing and defending various areas around the map. The longer a team controls an area the more points their team will gain. Teams will also gain points for the initial capture of areas as well as a large number of points for capturing all areas of the map. When this happens all players will respawn and start fresh. Whichever team reaches a certain total of points will win the overall match.

Co-op Survival: Grimoire’s Co-Op Survival mode draws on inspiration from the classic Warcraft 3 mod Hero Siege, Left for Dead, and Call-of-Duty’s zombie mode. This game mode will pit players against the computer as they try to survive as long as possible against increasingly difficult waves of enemies. Depending on the map players will also defend different objectives or attempt to escape an area. Players will start with basic spells and then upgrade and replace those spells with others as they gain experience.

Arena: The Arena game mode is inspired by games like Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft Arena. Players will get one death per round and careful aim, quick reactions, and teamwork will ultimately determine which team will win the overall match. This game mode has a heavy emphasis on class/spell composition and strategy and is designed to promote intense competition between teams.

Unique and Customizable Classes: Each class role is defined by four unique spells and one passive passive ability. Every class has an “Ultimate” spell that is more powerful than the other three, but comes with a heavy cost. Passive abilities offer each class a unique strength such as bursts of speed or heavier defense. Players can further customize their chosen class with one movement and one utility spell for a total of seven spells per class. This customization allows for players to tweak classes to fit whichever role they desire and can often times change the entire feel of a class.

Cannon Brawl Review: Let’s Get Ready to Ruuuuuummmble!!!

By Jason Parker (Ragachak)

 

Cannon Brawl Review Nightmares

Sorry, Your Princess Is In Another Castle

Cannon Brawl is a title that really blew me away (no pun intended). It is a bold indie title, coupling destruction and explosions with constant, action-packed excitement.  Cannon Brawl offers action-strategy on a 2D plane, similar to the Worms franchise where two sides do battle on a map riddled with obstacles and material to destroy. Set up mines, prepare laser turrets, cannons, and even nuclear warheads!  You must constantly be aware of everything happening on these deceptively small maps, commanding your airship as well as your other buildings, managing them with grace and speed.    There is a lot to do, from a fully fleshed out Campaign, Nightmare Mode challenges, bots to practice against, as well as PVP.

Cannon Brawl Review Match

As a fan of strategy games, this was a breath of fresh air for me.    While the graphics might seem cartoony and light, and the story mode becomes arguably easy,  the PVP will make this game stand out amongst the horde of games on Steam.    A competitive game that has an infinite amount of possibilities and strategies to try will surely have fans coming back to test their mettle online.

 

Cannon Brawl Review Just-like-Cap!

Return of Rampart

In Cannon Brawl you begin as the Princess, who is out to save the land and her people with just an airship, a castle, and a few errant buildings.  The flow of the gameplay appears simple but nothing could be more wrong.  The matches begin with a map with two castles and resources to farm. Oftentimes there will be hills or outcroppings in the air to block or position your cannons upon.  However, you cannot simply just build anywhere you like! There are pylon-styled buildings to create, in the form of air balloons (though other types of pylon are available) that give you a certain amount of space in which to build.  You can destroy your opponents’ balloons as well as interact with your own; the platforms can position buildings atop and the lightning rods can be fired through with lasers for increased damage.

Cannon Brawl Review Loose-Lips

It is important to note that the ground can be destroyed as well.  A good reason to do this would be to acquire a diamond node (for currency). You may also shoot the ground from underneath enemy structures using lasers, missiles, cannons or the ever-popular drill (which arcs up and then down into obstacles).  While the way to win the matches is to destroy your opponent’s castle, there are a variety of options available to you, like sinking a castle via knocking the ground from under it!  It can feel like it takes forever to unlock new buildings and pilots, but simply going through the story mode and Nightmare Mode can unlock the pilots; gameplay will get you your building unlocks. There is no pay-to-win here.  Currency to unlock things not in the main story can be gained by winning battles, and completing quests which will reside on the main menu.

 

Cannon Brawl Review McBain

Gameplay Is King (Or Queen)

There are a few gameplay modes to be aware of in Cannon Brawl. First is the Campaign.  It is a pretty straight-forward, no-frills story that one is accustomed to. While a complex detailed story would normally be very much appreciated, getting right into the nitty-gritty of the gameplay is certainly nice.  As the story progresses more characters are unlocked, and the player can get used to the maps on offer. Each map offers its own challenges and strategies to attempt to employ, so going through the story mode first is a great way to get ones feet wet and start getting more characters to use as each one brings something different to the table.

Cannon Brawl Review Naitomare

After you finish the story there is Nightmare Mode which has its own collection of challenges, puzzles and difficult encounters.  As you progress the missions grow more and more difficult, culminating in a Final Boss Battle against the evil Uncle’s giant robot!  Without spoiling the fight, it’s quite the task and really made the tests and puzzles worth doing.  Finally there are bots which are primarily just for practice and testing ideas on. They have several difficulties, ranging from Easy to Insane, each one living up to their name.  These modes are okay on their own and help prepare you for the real gem of this game.

 

Cannon Brawl Review Lobby

Calm Like A Bomb!

Player vs. Player really stands out in this game. While A.I. is all well and good, testing oneself against other players is far more exciting! There are a few options here, from ranked, casual, or inviting a friend to a match.  The lobby is pretty nice with a tab to chat with other people waiting or perhaps throw the gauntlet down to whoever is strong enough to take you on!  What makes this better than the PC?  Players constantly come up with new and interesting ideas on the fly, whereas the A.I. can only go so far.  I was thrilled to see ideas I came up with just rummaging through the defensive and offensive items being utilized so well. Made me see I was doing something right (even when losing!).

Cannon Brawl Review Versus

Devising a strategy is of the utmost importance though; each Pilot has their own ability that may aid your cause, or put you at a disadvantage depending on what you need.  For example, the Taskmaster resets cooldowns while the Smuggler offers an extra slot for buildings. There are so many different ways to play this in PVP that I could write a whole article on the art of strategy in Cannon Brawl. From lasers, bombs, missiles and drills, there is something for everyone.  Just remember that the same set up will not guarantee a victory. One addition I would love to see is an option to save builds to keep builds that you particularly are fond of.

 

Cannon Brawl Review Sinking-ships

A Symphony of Destruction: 4/5 Great

While it may feel like a relatively simple title at first, I genuinely feel there is a lot to offer in this game. Some might find the graphics to be a little childish and cartoony, but I like the simplistic style. It does not leave so much on the screen to distract from what is really important: destruction!  As the community for this game grows, so will the plethora of ways the player will devise to break down the others defenses.  I do not have many complaints other than the time it can take to unlock items and the amount of maps; however there is plenty to sharpen one’s teeth on and learn how to play the game.

 

Graphics: 4/5

Again the graphics are kind of cartoony and simple, but I do not think it in anyway detracts from the gameplay.  In fact I think this style of art helps a game like this. It can be very frustrating to see objects on the map that only disguise or hide potential benefits to either side, and this keeps the game ultimately fair.  Perhaps in the future the environment can change while the game is going on? That would be something really interesting.

 

Controls: 4/5

The controls for this game are pretty solid, and I love that I can use a controller for a game like this. Keyboard and mouse are all well and good, but I prefer to fly and place using my trusty PS4 controller.  The controller feels a little over responsive sometimes (in menus particularly) and sometimes I had a little problem aiming with the controller but those moments were far and few between.

 

Features/Gameplay: 4/5

While there are just a few game modes, they are all very solid and enjoyable.  The story mode is simple and easy to get into without being horribly boring; the character names are admittedly kind of plain but this is not something that will terribly bother me in the long run. Nightmare mode is a blast and the PVP is constant and entertaining everytime I play.

 

Sound/Music: 4/5

The sounds for this title are a hoot! The sizzle of lasers, the detonation of various explosions, missiles and drills hammering into the ground are all pretty fantastic. The music is booming and appropriate on the title screen, really setting the tone for an action-packed experience.