A new champion for Infinite Crisis, the upcoming free-to-play MOBA from Turbine based in the DC Universe, has appeared out of the nuclear torn forests of the earth. Atomic Poison Ivy is a mutated being that can use exotic powers to protect and entrap enemies in her grasp.
As nuclear fallout withered the old world’s flora, a psychic scream plunged Pamela Isley into darkness. She awoke in a mutated forest, shocked to discover her own transformation. The forest mind spoke to hers, calling itself the Green. Their strong telepathic link, forged in nuclear fire, gave Ivy renewed purpose. She would use her new from to protect and the Green and strike fear into a weakened humanity’s heart.
For more information on this new champion, along with sign-up access to ongoing closed beta, check out the Infinite Crisis homepage: http://www.infinitecrisis.com/
Get ready to weigh anchor and set sail as there’s an expansion to the popular Player Owned Ports in RuneScape!
Launching late 2012, Player Owned Ports have allowed players to take full control of running their very own harbour by recruiting crew members and outfitting ships to explore the Eastern Lands. Ships adventure in real time, before bringing back tales of their exploits and – all being well – a cargo full of exotic treasure!
Today’s update sees the addition of over 300 new voyages which can be made to the recently discovered Shield and Loop regions as well as 3 new adventurers to recruit– the Trapper, the Architect and the Chef, and a whole host of rewards including recipes for new high level equipment and the resources to create them. A shady looking trader has also set up shop in the port, who is willing to trade port resources for trade goods – for a price of course!
Recently, a new indie development group called “Cat Banana Studios” has been showcasing their new adventure game, Imagine Nations, and OnRPG was there to give readers a glimpse at the many possibilities for their ambitious new title. Unfortunately, despite a moderate amount of interest from gaming communities, including success on Steam’s Greenlight program, they were unable to reach their funding goals with their recent Kickstarter Campaign.
However, they’ve acknowledged that their previous funding goal was not met, and due to the overwhelming positive feedback and support, Cat Banana Studios felt it was important to continue the campaign to fund their game. Now, Imagine Nations is attempting a second crowd-funding campaign, this time on IgnitionDeck. This time, they’ll have about less than 143 days to earn the funds they need to continue development, which should be plenty of time to convince the gaming masses that Imagine Nations can be much more than another fancy Minecraft wannabe.
Anyone who pledges will receive “Backer Status” and gain special access to their site with an opportunity to earn other rewards on specific pledge tiers.
Dragon Saga is filled with a rich storyline, beautiful lands, challenging battles, and much more, all while offering arcade-style action for all types of MMO fans.
More news from The Repopulation team today – the game has reached its first Kickstarter stretch goal in its new campaign, and has been Greenlit on Steam. This is impressive progress for a campaign that kicked off just a week ago.
The $60,000 stretch goal ensures the placement of the Rocharus Mount as the game’s first tamed mount at launch (prototype shown above). Above and Beyond are now looking forward to the next stretch goal at $70k: Adverserial Camps, a spawn system that will add more variety and content to The Repopulation.
The new title has also received a Steam Greenlight today, ensuring it will be able to launch through Steam in addition to other avenues.
For all those that have been away from the world of Eoreza, Square-Enix is offering all inactive players a chance to experience the new “A Realm Awoken” 2.0 update for free, starting from Saturday, January 11, 2014 at 12:00 a.m. PST to Monday, January 13, 2014 at 12:00 a.m. PST.
The release of patch 2.1 introduced a wealth of new content such as the Crystal Tower 24-man raid, player versus player battles in the Wolves’ Den, new extreme encounters with the primals, further developments in the main scenario and much, much more.
If you have friends that played FINAL FANTASY XIV version 1.0 or FFXIV: A Realm Reborn, please be sure to invite them to join you this weekend! For more information on the update, check out the FFXIV:ARR Lodestone page: http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/
If you had been under a rock, or at least, one of those rare people who do not have a Facebook account (yeah we still have those people), Clash of Clans is one of those titles that has invaded the Facebook and televised ad wagon.
Gameplay
The game pretty much follows the usual simulation/strategy game that games like Junkyard Monsters has made famous. In Clash of Clans however, the game takes on a mixed setting somewhere between standard fantasy and Viking in theme. Most units consist of Viking-like grunts and some fantasy staples like trolls, giants and dragons to help dish out damage (and steal resources).
True to form, every unit that you use in these attacks are automatically expended regardless if it died or not. This makes not just resource gathering a priority, but also making tactical troop drops a must in any kind of raid, whether PVE or PVP.
Basically you are given a huge plot of land to work with. As you progress in-game, you will then clean up and create structures that will help bolster both your resources and units. As such, resources come in the form of Elixir and gold. However, in later levels, you’ll be given access to “dark elixir,” a special resource needed to create higher level units/creatures for late-game conquest.
Units
Unit creation is done with the combination of the barracks (or dark barracks) and an army camp. The army camp serves as the rally point of your troops created by your barracks, dark barracks or spell factory.
The amount of units you can create via the normal barracks is dependent on the size of the army camp you have. The higher level the army camp is, the higher amount of units you can create from your barracks.
As for the game’s unit count, they have at least 10 units created through the usual barracks/army camp process while there will be more units to be unlocked as you fulfill certain requirements. These then would provide “hero” level units to make the late game raids more epic.
As for the units themselves, each unit has its own set of stats that you would have to look into as you create them. The game doesn’t give you control on individual units during raids. Thus with that said, you are then reliant on the unit’s favorite target attribute which would dictate the unit’s attack priorities during raids.
Raids
So moving along to the game’s battle system, Clash of Clans adheres to the “throw and hope they kill something” approach akin to most titles in its genre. You have no control on what your units will attack, though planning ahead of time by mixing up your units into various sets with different “favorite targets” gives you some form of command. You can also control the timing of when each unit will be sent into battle to mix up your tactics on the killing fields.
Raids come in two forms, the first one is the PVE-type of battles where you will be facing NPC controlled bases, and the other one is the PVP-type of battles where you will be given the opportunity to raid player controlled bases.
NPC raids award you stars, aside from the usual loot, with a maximum of 3 stars per map. These stars would serve as requirements for your “quests” which would then be your means to get more resources for your base. On the other hand, PVP awards you with trophies that are both quest related prizes and are points for the global ranking.
The game also allows creation of “clans” or guilds that would serve as not just a social tool, but a battle support group as well. Clan mates help you out in the form of reinforcements or can give you advice through the clan chat system in place.
Critique
Clash of Clans is a great simulation/strategy game that can be a good time sink for those who are looking for a game to spend time on. The game opens up quite nicely to new players, offering vibrant colors, stats, and humor that will keep veterans of the genre from burning out too quickly. What I liked about the game is the steep difficulty curve the game has for the PVE maps. You’d normally expect at least the first few missions to be a cake walk. Well, Clash of Clans shoves that notion down your throat.
While it was a frustrating start, the difficulty level didn’t push me away. Rather it motivated me to want to build my base up more than ever. I also liked that the difficulty would push you to PVP earlier than you would normally do on other games of the same genre to speed up your resource acquisition.
It goes without saying that the game is not just challenging and fun to play with, it’s also visually appealing above most competitors. The other good thing about CoC is that the game’s paywall is not pushed in your face as heavily as most in this genre, ensuring you can have a good time in the early stages of the game without spending.
What clinches the game’s replayability in the meantime is the restricted accessibility of the end-game goods. Smart play and dedication is repaid with justified rewards and new unit unlocks. This power curve allows veterans to feel like they’ve earned the right to stomp out new scrubs while still carrying that wow factor for new players seeing the mighty armies they might one day strive to achieve. The addition of a league system makes raiding feel more goal oriented, adding that extra fun of plotting between invasions on how you might do things slightly better the next time to spare a few resources. Well if you want to compete with the big dogs, anyway.
Conclusion: Excellent
If you’d ask me if Clash of Clans is a good game to invest time on, I’d definitely say yes.
