The twentieth anniversary of SoulCalibur is here! The franchise that started with Soul Edge/Blade, has sure come a long way! We have a retrospective of classic titles in the franchise today.
Yearly Archives: 2016
ARK: Survival Evolved – PS4 Game Launch Trailer
ARK Survival Evolved is officially on PS4! It’s a huge get for Sony fans, and tons of content is on the way!
Happy Dungeons 2016 December Update Trailer
Lots of content is coming to Happy Dungeons for the December update, for example: Infinite Dungeon Mode! Find out what’s in store here!
Ragnarok Online 2: Fusion System Update!
The cosmetic fusion system is on the way to Ragnarok Online II! Combine a variety of items to get a look that’s unique to you!
Rogue Life: Squad Goals Review
By: Ojogo
Shoot ‘em ups are often straightforward affairs that push your dexterity to it’s limits as you try to weave through clouds of enemy projectiles while at the same time dishing out your own. Bullet hell shooters would just often be made in such a way that you’re just a few screens away from doing the actual game.
But what if there were something more added into the usual Shmup gameplay? Say adding a bit of simulation and some overused mobile game staples to the mix? That seems to be the case with Onplay published title, Rogue Life: Squad Goals.
Overview
Rogue Life: Squad Goals is an energy based squad themed free-to-play shoot ‘em up developed by Korea based developer Hidea. The game gives you control of a squad of three different characters taken from fantasy worlds. Your squad’s main task is to keep on going through these stages in the form of shoot ‘em up stages consisting of fictional monsters blocking your way.
Gameplay
Core gameplay is strictly centered around building up your earned characters by giving them upgradeable equipment that would fill each character’s five slots. The equipment you get your characters’ range from cool to adorable to really badass as you unlock and gather them along the way.
Another gameplay element in Rogue Life: Squad Goals that’s unique to the game is the way simulation is added into the mix. Unlike typical F2P mobile shmups where you’re primarily focused on building up your chosen ship’s armament and damage output by playing around with equipment that you can only acquire through mission stages, Rogue Life allows players to gather this equipment by also doing menial manual labor tasks such as writing stuff, picking up wood boards, or sitting down and reading. Gameplay elements like these give a bit more dimension to the overall gameplay mechanic that shmups normally don’t have.
The recent game update also added another gameplay feature that is normal in usual f2p mobile titles but not shmups and that is the kingdom defense-like mechanic. This means that your squad will be put into different instanced maps that follow the usual shoot ‘em up gameplay but with the purpose of a bigger guild-like defense goal to help progress your chosen kingdom.
Difficulty
The difficulty curve in Rogue Life: Squad Goals is what you’d normally expect in the starting to mid tier bullet hell shooters in other titles. This means that unlike in the usual bullet hell shooters where precise movements that require almost perfect timing are standard, Rogue Life has a bit more arcade-y feel when it comes to the evasion/shooting error margin.
This doesn’t mean that the game is real easy to bullet hell shooter veterans though. Having to control a squad of three units adds a new style to master. The game already auto attacks the active members on the field while you would only need to focus on evading the numerous projectiles that enemies will throw at you.
Rogue Life allows your characters in the field a “free pass” of sorts that you can regain as you build up the meter. This means as long as you have the evade meter filled on all almost unavoidable instances, you’ll come out of each map unscathed. But that would be quite challenging especially in the later stages of gameplay where the game suddenly amps up the attack waves.
Design and visuals
Rogue Life: Squad Goals uses a more relaxed and fun visual design philosophy as the game looks and feels fun. The game looks vivid and the colors maximize the warm and exciting feel you can get out of a game visually.
I like that the game also uses various quirky designs when it comes to its equipment. You can actually see your characters wear the outfits you put them in. One of the game’s quirks that becomes more apparent as you play the game is the way your characters talk. The gibberish language your characters use as you highlight them are a funny reminder of sim-speak.
Critique
Overall, my experience with Rogue Life: Squad Goals has been a fun and somewhat relaxing take on the shmup genre. It’s visually exciting and the fact that the game has a really active community is another plus to the game’s charm. Another good thing of note in Rogue Life is the way that Onplay has been active in providing community events that really rile up players to spend more time in-game. It’s always a good sign when a company knows the key to a great f2p game is to keep the community excited. And they are at least doing well on that department.
With that said however, I can’t ignore the aspects of the game where you are almost nudged to really spend money on it. This becomes apparent in the simulation part of the gameplay experience. It’s clear that you can’t accomplish all of the game’s “tasks” with your initial three characters even with the use of the energy replenishing bed. So if you’re the type who wants to get everything in one playthrough, you’ll either have to spend or would need to properly time the energy recovery of each character you have in your roster.
Conclusion: Great
Thankfully all these game elements I mentioned aren’t game breaking and are easily avoidable for the more industrious players. Rogue Life: Squad Goals is a great game that puts the player within the context of a bullet hell game without making you pull your hair out of frustration. So if you’re looking for a more casual, but still challenging shmup, then this game is just for you. And if you’re looking for the gritty hair-pulling shoot ‘em up experience, then you gotta move along from Rogue Life and look for something else.
Akimbo Creations
Akimbo Creations
Death Stranding Trailers: What in the Actual Hell?
A request I recently received was to attempt to make sense of madness; out of insanity given shape, given life, through the mind of a brilliant developer, Hideo Kojima. Anyone who knows me, knows I love his work, though I seldom play his games. I enjoy watching his work take on life, in a cinematic fashion, rather than enduring them myself, since I’m mostly bad at stealth gameplay. So I watch others do it and get to take it in from a different perspective. However, the last two Death Stranding trailers are more than a little disconcerting. There’s a lot to unpack here, and I’m going to offer a few thoughts on what these could actually mean.
- It’s said that if you play the two trailers together at the same time, sync them up perfectly, they pair up with perfectly with Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”, much in the same way that it does with the Wizard of Oz. It’s fascinating that Norman Reedus has a cross-shaped scar on his abdomen, and his baby vanishes, only to reappear in a tube held by Guillermo Del Toro. Hideo Kojima has long wanted to create his own film, and these significant moments only tell me one thing: Death Stranding is a sequel to Junior, the 1994 comedy starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s a darker tone than what we’re used to in that movie, so maybe he’s pairing it with the thematic view of the Terminator franchise; instead of creating robots in Cyberdine, they’re creating babies in Norman Reedus’ stomach.
This is the most likely scenario, so I hope you’re ready for the ride of a lifetime. It’s going to take twists and turns like we’ve never seen in a Metal Gear game, and now that he’s no longer upon the yoke of Konami, he’s free to design however he likes, without restriction, without pause. I had a few scholars meet up with me and talk about this with me, and I’ve gained some pretty great insight that I had not considered before. Okay, jokes aside, here’s what it actually probably means:
- Kojima’s not been quite as subtle as his earlier years, and this is pretty ham-fisted, these trailers. Konami has fucked Kojima repeatedly, and tried to destroy and stop this project at every turn. They don’t appear to want Kojima to be successful outside of Konami, and that’s why we’re all grateful that the devs of Horizon Zero Dawn gave them their enjine for this game. Since he can’t use FOX anymore. The baby represents in all likelihood, Norman Reedus and Guillermo Del Toro keeping this project/his baby alive, despite the attempts Konami has made to abort it/destroy it.
That’s what it all means, I believe. Do you have a differing, more horrifying opinion? Be sure to leave it in the comments below!
MechWarrior 5 Pre-Alpha Gameplay
MechWarrior 5 reveals its first gameplay at MechCon 2016.
SMITE Jurassic Camazotz Skin Reveal
SMITE unleashes the prehistoric evil that is Camazotz!
Paladins – Evie Merrymaker Skin Reveal
Paladins reveals a Christmas themed skin for Evie.







