Yearly Archives: 2015

Star Trek Online Hosts Free C-Store Giveaways

Star Trek Online Hosts Free C-Store Giveaways news header

To celebrate the upcoming release of Star Trek Online Season 11: A New Dawn, STO is giving away some items from its C-Store.

Now through August 14 – 10:00 am (PDT)

Free Reward: Specialization Points Pack – This offer is available for any character and can be redeemed once per character.

 

August 14 through August 17 – 10:00 am (PDT)

Free Reward: This reward has not been announced yet but it’s definitely one players won’t want to miss! Stay tuned.

Instructions on how to claim this offer and updated  information on the following giveaway is available here.

Kicktracker Report 7 (August 2015) – Zombie Playground, Blackwake, Submerge, and More!

Mikedot covers the latest in indie crowdfunded gaming for the month of August, 2015! Check the links below to keep up with the latest news on these Kickstarter featured games!

Zombie Playground hits Steam Early Access:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/215550/

Disciples of the Storm receives support from Tripwire Interactive
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/525138512/disciples-of-the-storm-rts
http://www.onrpg.com/games/disciples-of-the-storm/

Hierarchy – Kickstarter campaign officially cancelled
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ironjag/hierarchy
http://www.onrpg.com/games/hierarchy/

Spellsworn (Campaign unsuccessful)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/438269196/spellsworn
http://www.onrpg.com/games/spellsworn/

Blackwake gets a rebooted Kickstarter campaign (Successful; Ongoing)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2000479544/blackwake-reboot

Submerge, Underwater RTS (Ongoing)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/icebirdstudios/submerge-underwater-rts

ECO – Global Survival Game mixes survival and… environmental studies?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1037798999/eco-global-survival-game

OnRPG’s team believes strongly that the only true innovation in online gaming is set to come from the wild wildness of indie game developers. Do your part to support a project you truly believe has potential to make that change happen!

Stellacept Online Mobile Review: Mobile Action RPG!

By Jason Parker (Ragachak)

 

Stellacept Online Review

Mobile Games are a tricky beast, and mobile MMOs are even harder to pull off. Sure, games like Candy Crush, Mortal Kombat/WWE’s fighting games, and Brave Frontier all have clones that are easy to get into and appeal to a variety of people. But Stellacept is unique in that it is an action MMO, where you actively move your character through zones, completing quests like you would do in any ordinary PC MMO. Admittedly, games like this require a decent smart phone, and do chew through battery at an alarming rate, but it is fun nonetheless! Launching last month, it’s been a hit on the Internet. However it is definitely a JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game), and that style of art/gameplay is not for everyone. It has a clever blend of fantasy and sci-fi, and it’s definitely more than just kill monster A for stranger B. Customization is insane, with plenty of options for looks, weapons (nine in total), and plenty of skills to mix and match to your heart’s desire.

Stellacept Online Review

When I’m writing a review, I take the time to do some research on a game to learn what is going on and what people are saying about it. I feel like it’s important to have some knowledge going in. However, I could not find a single bit of information that wasn’t on a Japanese site, and while that’s not terrible, it’s pretty hard to come by for a non-native speaker, even with Google Translate. The game feels like a more customizable Phantasy Star Online. The only race it seems you can play are human, but there are other races in the game with which you interact. Players travel to other planets, righting wrongs and triumphing over evil, discovering new zodiacs/constellations to improve your powers in the process. It’s flashy and colorful, and though it might be better to play plugged in to your wall or PC, it’s definitely a fun mobile title, one that stands out with how interactive it is.

Stellacept Online Review

The story is fun, and it’s interesting. Sure, there are bound to be gaffes, typos, or other things, but that’s the bane of any good RPG; they’ve been in our lives since Final Fantasy 1 and they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. You unlock other worlds to explore, fight massive bosses, and can party with your friends to tackle bigger challenges. It truly is an MMO in every sense of the word. The world around you looks like a fairly drawn fantasy anime film, contrasting the sharper science-fiction look of the gear and menus. This contrast defines the game’s overall style. Most planets in this universe are bound to look peaceful and calm, with rolling hills and beautiful meadows. Some of the humans look generic and plain, and most of the other NPCs are adorable and cute, but I feel like it makes sense. Not everyone is meant to stand out, and in this world, nobody really does.

Stellacept Online Review

Defeating enemies gives you “stella,” which is used to customize your stats and learn skills. It feels like a generic term to describe anything you update/upgrade your character with. This kind of bothered me, as you have Green Stella and Blue Stella, both doing different things. Simple might be best, but it felt a little too simple as far as nomenclature went. But customization is deep, naming aside. You have three styles of weapon, (Slash), G (Gun), and M (Magical), each one with their own weapon styles. I would not invest in these until you know what all the weapon styles do and you have an idea of what you want your character to do. You can have two weapons equipped at once and swap between at will by a simple button press, but a single weapon won’t affect every enemy, so it is wise to be proficient in two styles.

Slashing Weapons: Blade, Glaive, Vice, Ranger.

Gun Weapons: Blaster, Launcher, Chaser, Vice

Magical: Sphere, Ranger, Chaser.

Stellacept Online Review

Stellacept Online Review

Weapons unlock after investing points in certain styles, and it takes quite a few points to raise a level. It is highly recommended to do research on what it takes to level each. Though you can get reset items, it would behoove the long-term player to do a little pre-game reading if possible. Which again, may involve some google translating. You can also unlock skills on a skill tree for the various weapons, and before you can move down the tree, you need to level skills a certain amount. Luckily (at the start at least) it is pretty easy to gain Stella to do all of this stuff, and simply investing in one of the upgradable items (Stats, Weapon Styles, Skills) does not appear to drain heavily on the others if at all.

Stellacept Online Review

Your stats all have uses too, and upgrading them is imperative. The menus are pretty easy to use, and you can customize what three skills are on your bar. There’s a button to press for attack, and the skills make a sort of half-circle around the attack button, close enough to tap whenever you want. There are also skills that combo off of each other for more damage/effects; personally I started out investing most of my stat points into strength so I can blast through early quests with tons of damage, before I worked on other things. But that’s personal style coming into effect: I want to obliterate things in a swift manner before they can start killing me. I should also point out that those zodiac signs mentioned above increase your power; there’s also a “burst mode,” a gauge next to your HP bar. When it fills to 100% you can tap it to temporarily become a glowing, horrifying, asskicking machine, slapping your foes in the mouth with the force of a herd of buses that are also on fire. This is not unique; you aren’t the only one who can do it, and it’s kind of cool to see that even NPCs have awesome powers. No unique snowflakes here, just every kind of generic looking bad ass. You’re just more awesome than most.

 

Stellacept Online Review

It’s Gonna Be A Long Long Time: 4/5 Great

Every time I look at a free to play game the first thing I do is look at the cash shop. There’s basically always one, and it sets the tone for the rest of the game. It’s definitely not pay-to-win, but it is pay-for-convenience or pay-to-look-cool. Lots of awesome cosmetic costumes, a daily rolling to get items to help you out, log-in rewards, all pretty standard fare for mobile titles/free games. They in no way make it better, other than offering a few items for the sake of resetting skills/points or starter kits. Getting gems to use the shop seemed to be pretty easy for me as well, I had six before I knew what was going on, and they went to making the start of the game a little better.

Stellacept Online Review

It would definitely be a fun game to play with friends who are not local, set up a guild, and beat the stuffing out of bad guys on the phone for when you don’t have a handheld. There are lots of little touches done well to take the MMO trudgery out of time strapped mobile users: it can teleport you to your quest reward person, and the aura around your characters feet aims at your current quest. But it’s not perfect. I hated how difficult it seemed to be to unparty. I could not find it for the life of me when I began, and would turn the game off just to leave a party for a mission. On a whole, it’s a really stand-out game, and I think it’s going to hold its own in the current overflowing market of good mobile games.

Graphics: 4/5

For a mobile game it really is pretty. The designs are a little sharp or blocky at times, but it is a very attractive game.Tthough I imagine that may contribute to how badly it eats up a battery. Menus are easy to navigate, all the zones I visited looked a bit different from one another and did not seem out of place.

Controls: 4/5

The game was pretty simple to control, though I do wish I didn’t have to swipe the screen to rotate, and pinch/drag to zoom in and out, but that’s the way mobile games are. Buttons are easy to hit for combat, not too big or too small, and menus provide ample descriptions for items/skills.

Features/Gameplay: 2/5

I have not seen much of this game other than simple quests and killing. That’s not really bad, but I have not heard of any raids/dungeons, though there are bosses in the world that should require a party to handle. It’s still new in America, so time will tell if this improves; I wouldn’t doubt it though.

Sound/Music: 3/5

The sounds of this game are pretty great, I have to say, especially for a mobile title. On the other hand the music sort of droned on in the background. It was good, and calming in the zones that called for it, but I didn’t find myself humming it, or cranking it up. Sound effects were terrific though, definitely suited combat.

Rocket League Releases New Items And A Free Map

Rocket League Releases New Items And A Free Map video thumbnail

Psyonix, independent developer and publisher of the critically-acclaimed sports-action game, Rocket League, has released today its first paid downloadable content pack. Dubbed “Supersonic Fury,” the new DLC introduces two new exclusive vehicles, “Dominus” the muscle car and “Takumi” the Japanese street racer, plus several new Decals, Paint Types, Rocket Boosts, Wheels, PlayStation® Trophies, and Steam Achievements.

Psyonix has also released a free game update that includes the highly-anticipated “Spectate” mode, allowing players to join live Private games to watch other people play. The new “Utopia Coliseum” gameplay arena, 70-plus Country Flags, numerous other customization items, and the new single “Firework” from critically-acclaimed electronica group Hollywood Principle, is also in the update.

The “Supersonic Fury” DLC Pack includes:

  • Dominus (classic American muscle car)
  • Takumi (’90s-era Japanese street racer)
  • 6 New Decals for both new Battle-Cars

5 New Paint Types

  • Brushed Metal
  • Carbon Fiber
  • Metallic Pearl
  • Pearlescent
  • Wood

2 New Rocket Boosts

  • Burnout
  • Nitrous

New Wheels

  • Cristiano (Soccer-themed rims)
  • Spinner (Working spinner wheels)

The simultaneously-released Free Update includes:

  • Utopia Coliseum – New regulation-type arena, thematically inspired by Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars‘ Utopia map
  • “Spectate” Mode – Watch other players in real-time from any angle in 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 Private matches — 4v4 coming later
  • 3v3 Ranked Mode – By popular demand!
  • 70+ New Country Flags – Puerto Rico, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and more
  • Special – “We’re Sorry the Servers Were Borked at Launch” customization items
  • New Single – “Firework,” by Hollywood Principle

The Rocket League “Supersonic Fury” DLC Pack, with the “Utopia Coliseum” free update, simultaneously releasing alongside it, is priced at US $3.99 on both PS4™ and Steam.

Dragomon Hunter Unveils its Complete World Map

Dragomon Hunter Unveils its Complete World Map news header

Publisher Aeria Games has just released new details for Dragomon Hunter, the upcoming free-to-play, monster-hunting, anime-style MMORPG that pits players and their friends against fearsome and fantastical creatures. Interested players can now visit the official website for a preview of every zone in the huge, immersive world that they will explore in their quest for the ultimate hunt.

 

From the beautiful sapphire waters of the seashore to the harsh frozen peaks high above, every inch of Dragomon Hunter’s spectacular land is teeming with life and majesty. Players will begin their quest in Elysium, the world’s largest city and the starting point of every hunter’s adventure. Throughout their journey, players will travel to exotic areas like Frostbite Forest, where icy paths can easily lead hunters astray, and Echo Mine, a rain-washed locale overrun with territorial Dragomon.

 

A fully interactive world map is available at DragomonHunter.com.