Yearly Archives: 2017

Wardog Fury Campaign Now Available for Raiders of the Broken Planet

Wardog Fury News

The second premium campaign for Raiders of the Broken Planet, Wardog Fury, is now available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Much like the first, it’s available for 9.99, and contains four new epic story missions, all playable in single-player, 4 player co-op, or the 4v1 Antagonist Mode. In this story, the Raiders will face the deranged General Marmalade and his Umbra Wardogs faction. General Marmalade conducts Aleph experiments on himself and his units, creating mutants that are as grotesque as they are deadly. Wardog Fury players will exclusively be able to recruit one of Marmalade’s rogue experiments, Loaht, in the first mission.

Another change is coming to the game as well, and now players can unlock missions from Wardog Fury and Alien Myths using gold, the currency from completing in-game objectives. All players can invest their gold rewards into unlocking mission they still don’t own for four hours. Players can also be invited into missions that they don’t ownand both players will reeive a reward in Mercury Points or Gold. Other aspects of the game’s economy have also been rebalanced, giving more relevance to Faction and Character points and the possibility of converting Mercury Points into Gold allowing more freedom to the players to unlock new characters and building weapon Blueprints. The final major change is now Antagonists will receive a reward for their efforts, even if they don’t win, as even the best Antagonist player can have a hard time playing against four other players.

Battlezone Combat Commander Remasters the Classic FPS-RTS

After Rebellion remastered the 1998 hit Battlezone, many have clamored for the sequel, Battlezone II: Combat Commander. Developed by Big Boat Interactive and published by Rebellion, Battlezone Combat Commander will be that remaster. Offering new visuals, mod support, cross-play online multiplayer between GOG and Steam for up to 14 players and more, it promises to be what fans have asked for. Dealing with a mysterious alien force, you will be in total command. A blend of Real-Time Strategy and First-Person action must be mastered to deal with these war machines, from hover-tanks, colossal mechs and so much more. It’s coming to both the Steam and GOG platforms in 2018.

Gang Beasts Releasing on Steam and PS4 in December

The brawler from Double Fine and Boneloaf, Gang Beasts, is coming to Steam and PS4 in December for 19.99! Featuring a cast of gelatinous characters and brutal melee combat, December 12th is the big day of the launch. Absurd hazards and locations in the fictional city metropolis of Beef City, batter, bludgeon and maim your opponents to your hearts content in this silly fighting game. Gang Beasts will launch with a whole glut of customization options, and with several new modes, including clumsy-yet-brutal 2 vs. 2 soccer matches, and a cooperative mode where up to 4 players battle against waves of thugs. Set to the slick, synth beats of Adam (Doseone) Drucker and Robert (Dirty Bob) Larder, Gang Beasts’ kickbutt soundtrack grooves with every fighting maneuver.

Soldiers of the Universe is now Live on Steam

Soldiers of The Universe Official Launch Trailer - YouTube

Soldiers of the Universe is the first game developed by Rocwise, and is on Steam right now. The Istanbul-based development studio has created a title inspired by the real-life war on terror in the middle east, by Turkey. It is the first story-driven FPS made in Turkey, and is focused on real-world problems. SOTU’s story revolves around “Hakan Kahraman”. The Republic of Turkey has a secret organization called “Akinci Warriors” who specializes in secret military operations. Our hero Hakan takes over his father Selim Kahraman’s place as “The Toyga” of Akinci Warriors. He will lead military operations to take his father’s revenge and he will fight against the enemies of the state. Having trained in military and various branches of science for many years Hakan will be fighting a relentless struggle against terrorists along with three other heroes that joined to his side. After meeting Mr. Barbaros and Akinci warriors, a lot will change in Hakan’s life. He will learn what “patriotism” really means and he will understand the importance of fighting for his own country but not for his personal devils.

Rocwise Team says “We are very proud of our achievements with the development of Soldiers of The Universe. Through the early access period of our game, we worked closely with our community to further refine the game. With our latest update, we added 4 player co-op system and a new operation map to the game. We’re taking every little feedback into account and still working day and night to make the game better.

It’s an important part of the world right now, and it’s imperative to raise awareness of the problems in the middle east and our world at large.

Tower 57 Review: Twin-Stick Dystopian Action

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Tower 57 - Characters

Probably my favorite character. LIGHTNING!~

Tower 57 is a game I didn’t know I wanted until I saw and played it. It’s a twin-stick game with a style of pixel graphics, very much in the same style as the early AMIGA games. It feels like a tribute to Chaos Engine, with brighter colors. It’s gorgeous, and the gameplay itself is incredibly solid. The story is definitely interesting, in that it’s a dystopian, depressing future, but it’s done in a satirical, entertaining way. You learn about the story through a series of interactive objects in the world: Corpses, flyers, et cetera. You click on them, and you get a bit of a blurb that honestly, every time I read one, I’d at least chuckle, if not snort. The world is a huge series of towers now, and mysterious figures somewhere at the top of the food chain are doing some pretty shady stuff, and it’s up to your crew of badasses to step up to the plate and stop them; preferably through violence. There are six characters, and you pick up to three of them. This made me think that it would be some kind of Roguelite, where the world was procedurally generated, but this is not the case.

Tower 57 - Battle

Pew Pew! And dodge. But pew pew!

As I said, you have six characters to pick from: The Don, The Scientist, The Officer, The Beggar, The Diplomat (Lincoln!?) and The Spy. You can see what their weapon and their tool is, but you can’t “read” what they do. If you wait, you can see a brief video of what they can do, their special ability, but this is not enough for me. I need to know what they do so I figure out what group to bring. You also can’t change the team without starting over, at least that I’ve seen. This is where the game has a lot of replayability. The game itself isn’t incredibly long, but each character has their own paths they can take using their skills/abilities, so there’s that at least. There are characters I enjoy more than others like Scientist for the Laser/Lightning Gun, The Officer with the Spreadshot but everyone is useful for something. And each of these characters has a main gun with infinite ammo, a secondary (better) gun with limited ammo (there are ammo drops you can find in boxes, etc), a cool dash, and a skill/tool, like a Claw to grapple. The combat’s very simple. It’s a twin stick, so one stick aims, the other moves, you have a few buttons that shoot, swap guns, dash, et cetera. It’s standard fare, not hard to comprehend, and the aim was pretty good. I find myself using the limited shot weapons more, because ammo was not hard to come by.

Tower 57 - ARMS

Abuse this early for a lot of power, from regen to damage.

Now I enjoy this game, but the game felt pretty difficult at first. The damage you initially take is pretty high, and if you get swarmed under by a group of enemies that explode, or shoot spikes, or summon things, you can lose all three of your characters pretty damn fast and have to start from the last checkpoint. In Tower 57, you can also lose limbs, such as arms and legs. There’s a tutorial for that in-game to show you that it can definitely and will definitely happen. This is when I found the use of the all the currency that exploded out of each enemy that I came across was coming across was for: The ARMS machine. Hah. I get it. You can repair your limbs that are eaten, that get exploded, what have you, but you can also improve them! You can replace them with cybernetics, a’la Shadowrun. You can, if you want, spend a time in the very first stage it’s offered, running around, killing enemies and breaking boxes to cap the character you’re using. This will make the game incredibly easy because this does give you stat boosts. Even without this, the game is unfortunately pretty easy even alone, in Normal difficulty. It won’t take you long to get through it, but it is still quite a fun romp, for me at least. The major downside for me was that I could not find people online to play with, so 100% of my gametime was alone. And that’s fine! I don’t mind single player games, and this one wasn’t made harder for having to do it solo.

Tower 57 - Alas, Copperpot

“Fun” is a Buzzword: 4/5

But is this really such a bad thing? There are already games that are insanely challenging, and if that’s your cup of tea, they’re really quite easy to find. Oh come on, I thought that was clever. Anyway, this does feel like older games, minus the horrific challenge. The game’s short, but you know what? It’s still fun! Isn’t that the point of a game, to enjoy your time playing it? I think so, anyway. Visually it’s wonderful, it has a lot of options and different ways to play. Sure, you can beat it in a few hours. Then you can try again with other characters, doing different things! Sure, you’ll probably just win again, but as long as you’re having fun, that’s the key. I feel like you as the player will certianly get your money’s worth out of Tower 57. But while it is fun, you can make the game too easy if you want, and I do feel like they missed the boat with this “three characters” thing. Instead of treating it like having lives, why not have two or three characters out at once, or cycle through them as the player needs? I just feel like something is missing. If there is a way to do it, I haven’t seen it. Tower 57 has the feel and look of an early AMIGA/Arcade games of old which is lovely. It made me feel like I was playing Smash TV, or any of those style of games of my youth. I’ve heard there have been updates to the game, but I have not seen them, but I’d like to see them for myself. I hope more stages, more things to do will come to the game, which is the beauty of online gaming. As a kid, you’d be stuck with this, but now? The sky is the limit! The game is fun. It’s not the best title I’ve played on Steam, but it was sincere, honest fun.

 

Note: A game key was provided for review purposes.

Revelation Online: Shadowblade Update Arrives With New Trailer

Today, Revelation Online revealed a new CG trailer to celebrate the launch of the Shadowblade Update and the Assassin class.

The star of the Shadowblade update is the new Assassin class. Founded by Night Shadow, a follower of the Yellow Warden, the Assassin’s school is dedicated to the execution of those found guilty by the Warden.

The Assassin uses primarily dagger and chain, focused on single-target burst damage against vulnerable enemies. With a focus on stealth and subterfuge, the Assassin is best taking out targets in the back line.

The update also introduces Class Areas, specific refuges for each of Revelation Online’s classes. These areas include class-specific vendors that offer Skill Cultivation items, Flying Skills, drinks, and raid respawn runes. The areas also offer bankers, repairs, materials vendors, and Soul Grid Panel vendors. They also offer a quest offering Class Reputation, which can be spent on class-specific costumes, mounts, and other items.

There’s much more in the Shadowblade Update, including a quest for a mutated motorbike, so make sure to check out all the details here!

Overgrowth Review

Written by Remko Molenaar (Proxzor)

 

First announced 9 years ago, Overgrowth looked like a very interesting game, but it had some challenges to tackle back then. It once looked like a never ending project, but the development finally was at a turning point about a month ago. Now the game successfully launched out of early access – a procedure that lately seems unheard of, games that are actually completed? Since it took the developers 9 years to find the right tools to give the promised products, I was actually a little shocked to find out that the end finally has come for this small but passionate team. But now the question is, does the hype hold up?

Overgrowth Gameplay Screenshot

In Overgrowth you play as a rabbit named Turner. When jumping into the game, not a lot of information is given about Turner and his passion for killing. Straight away you are set on a mission to beat the hell out of anyone that isn’t on your side. Throughout the campaign you will find friends who are set on the same goal, and have to tackle each mission with its own challenges and parkour. First, I want to talk about how exactly you beat up everyone in your path, because this is what Overgrowth initially set their focus on. Turner is a martial arts bad ass that’s not afraid of anything that is thrown at him. He’s full of witty remarks, and every mission proves that no army of cats or wolves can stop him; you throw out punches like it’s nothing, and kick rats away like they are just a ball on the ground waiting to be kicked in the goal. Jump extremely high, and drop kick anyone that gets too close: the sky is the limit because you have to get down sometime. Overgrowth does combat extremely well and makes it very pleasing.

Overgrowth Gameplay Screenshot

With this said, the game’s highlights are definitely beating up anyone you can see. The parkour you are sometimes forced to do to get around the map, however, feels very lacking and sometimes is just pure frustrating. Most maps are very linear, and the goal is very simple: beat up anyone standing in front of you, and depending on the situation you sometimes have to climb up or escape the situation. Even the climbing is very linear. It never really gets more interesting than climbing up a wall, wall running from one side to the other, or figuring out where exactly you have to jump at with your increased jumping height or acrobatics.

Overgrowth Gameplay Screenshot

The campaign itself is also very linear and left with no actual choices. Occasionally you cross paths with those who are just as fortunate as you, and are left with no choice except fight your way out. The game just bounces you from one place to another, and in the span of just a few levels you have seen every season you can think of, and been to plenty of different places that make you wonder why you aren’t at some sort of beach resort drinking a nice martini. You go where the wind blows and it doesn’t really make the story all that interesting. You just beat up people for the heck of it, and while the game its game play is a ton of fun, after a while it just feels like you are fighting for no actual reason. You may start to question what exactly they have been working on in the last nine years.

Overgrowth Gameplay Screenshot

Overgrowth has its own custom made engine called the Phoenix Engine and both its limitations and successes can be seen back in the game. While most levels are absolutely gorgeous and differ a lot from one to the other, the levels themselves are also very small. The amount of objects are sometimes lackluster, and the detail can also be very simple, yet the game manages to portray this in a beautiful way that sometimes definitely make you appreciate the engine its built on. But as expected from an in house engine, the performance can actually be all over the place and that is simply unforgiving for a game this long in development.

Overgrowth Gameplay Screenshot

After several hours of fun it hits you, the simplistic campaign is over and there isn’t any more depth to it. After the few hours of beating up all sorts of animals that tried to take the island from you, there isn’t anything else to the story to fill up the simple style of Overgrowth. You are just left alone with custom made maps and mods. You are left feeling bitter, expecting a little more than just a bland and generic fighting game that promised to be so much more. While Overgrowth does look very interesting, and is fun for a few hours to play, it honestly feels like it is a demo for its game engine, with no actual depth to keep the story and flow going.

Overgrowth Gameplay Screenshot

Conclusion

For slightly less than thirty dollars you don’t get a whole lot of game to keep you playing. Overgrowth is a game you just play in a few sittings and that is all there is. While the game is visually beautiful and the gameplay is also a lot of fun, it’s hard to believe that a game that has been in development for the past 9 years only has this much content to offer. While the foundation really looks promising, I am unsure what to think of the game and if I would actually recommend this.  I do not seem to be the only one that is a little flabbergasted with this game. It could’ve been so much more, but it still feels like it hasn’t been given enough of attention to make this a full packaged game. I hope that this game will eventually be given more content with hopefully no extra costs, because it left me a sour taste in the mouth.

Note: A game key was provided for review purposes.