Monthly Archives: April 2018

Daylight Studios Announces for Holy Potatoes! Game: A Spy Story?!

Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story

The Holy Potatoes! series are always a delight to play, and Daylight Studios announces their latest addition to the series, coming this summer. Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story?! is a spy agency sim where you manage your own potato spy headquarters, train an elite team of spuds and plan top-secret missions while uncovering the truth behind an evil spy corporation. Play as twins Ren and Rexa, who set out on a journey to discover the truth behind their parents’ disappearance with the use of their spy skills. Outwit and outsmart security personnel, bust through the sturdiest of doors, and hack some of the most complicated security systems! Be the unseen spud in the shadows, use your wits, charm, stealth and potato power to take on the enemy and fulfill your mission.

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi To Receive Western Release

Koei Tecmo is proud to announce that with the 35th anniversary of the Nobunaga’s Ambition franchise, the latest in the series, “Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi” will receive a release in the West. Slated for a June 5th, 2018 release, the Grand Strategy Series will return to let players relive some of the most pivotal moments in the Sengoku Era. Players will have to exploit a wide breadth of tactical options to create fresh strategies that allow new ways to gain an advantage over the opponent. Strategies do not only focus on the Military Campaigns, but also on managing the Production Facilities and Trade Routes to continuously expand territory and increase the strength of the army.

The new Resolve System will have each officer acting on their own set of aspirations and goals, which will shape how they react to a given situation and gameplay will change accordingly. Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi promises to continue the tradition of difficult but rewarding Grand Strategy gameplay.

Double Kick Heroes Moshes Its Way Into Early Access

Double Kick Heroes makes its way into Steam’s Early Access program today, and Headbang Club is proud to release their genre-bending heavy metal rhythm shooter. The soundtrack, composed by the legendary Elmobo is now available on Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer. A rhythm game inspired by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, Double Kick Heroes is a brand new way to play a rhythm game, with 30 songs (18 in Early Access, 30 in final release), as well as a level editor that will allow any music to be played to the soothing rhythm of exploding zombie skulls.

Key Features

  • Double kick zombies in the face with insane metal music! Can you keep up?
  • 18 face-melting metal songs (30 at final release) by legendary video game AND metal composer, Elmobo.
  • Import your own music, play community designed tracks, edit your favorite songs and share challenges!
  • A killer, Robert Rodriguez infused background story all about being weird and living for Sex, Drugs and Heavy Metal.
  • Explosions, rebels, militias, undead, road-rage, madness, apocalypse! Nothing the Gundillac can’t handle on the fury road! Hell yeah!
  • The ONLY rock and metal rhythm game on Steam!

Design the Entire Universe From the Ground Up with Dual Universe

The power to create is very real in Dual Universe by Novaquark. “Voxel” lends people to think of just cubes, Dual Universe’s proprietary voxel engine affords far more control in the manipulation of the world – as well as the universe. At a simple level, players can place and manipulate fully editable blocks that come in all shapes and sizes as they build canyon-filling cities or spaceship fleets. For players who want to get a little more granular, this voxel engine allows them to terraform at will, carving away at a planet’s surface, and digging complex cave systems that could one day house an organization’s base of operations.

This power to create is only heightened when combined with Novaquark’s innovative CSSC technology (continuous single-shard cluster), which allows the game’s entire player base to exist in one single persistent universe, seamlessly weaved together with no loading screens to create an ever-evolving sci-fi metaverse. Developed alongside the vision of Novaquark founder, scientist, and Artificial Intelligence expert Jean-Christophe Baillie, Dual Universe is an ambitious civilization-building MMO that seeks to push the boundaries of community involvement, allowing its players to quite literally shape the universe others will join from the ground up, all thanks to the power of voxels and human creativity.

Dragon Ball FighterZ: Bardock and Broly Thoughts

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

DBFZ - Bardock and Broly 1

Who else but Vegeta?!

Many special thanks to Takanub for helping me pinpoint some ideas to consider. 

Not too long ago I received the Fighter Pack from Bandai Namco, so I’ll be able to cover the various DLC characters that come out for Dragon Ball FighterZ. While I’m admittedly a little disappointed in the rumors that we’re going to get more Goku and Vegeta, when other, more interesting characters could fill out the roster instead of another form of both Goku and Vegeta as if two were absolutely not enough, it’s not a choice I have any power to influence. Though if I had my say, we’d see Hercule Satan and Mercenary Tao in the next update. The game has several humans in Tien, Krillin and Lord Yamcha, but we need someone who is actually the Savior of the Universe. However, today I’m going to take a look at Bardock, Father of Goku and Broly, The Legendary Super Sayajin. I know, I know, Bardock is technically the Legendary Super Sayajin, since it’s canon that he went back in time, transformed first, and put the fear of Sayajins into the Freiza race. But Broly’s powerlevel is Maximum, so we’re just going to leave it at that.

However, I love playing both of them. I’m still pretty mediocre at best, but that’s due to not practicing like I should be doing. My initial, immediate thought when I played Bardock was, “Wow, it’s Lord Yamcha . . . but better! Much better! He has no weaknesses that I can see, and he’s badass.”  Then I tagged Broly in. “Wow, his powerlevel really is Maximum. Can I set up… combo shenanigans around his Gigantic Meteor? Yup. I found a grappler that’s within my range to play”. I’ll get into more of that shortly. So, I put Bardock and Broly on my team for convenience sake, and I also felt that they’d make a fun team (I was right). You know who I found to be their best partner? Vegeta. Of course, I did. Vegeta’s easily the best support in the game right now, and if you’re considering running someone else, maybe you should just stick to running Vegeta. Though I also found a lot of fun in teaming them with Hit, Lord Freiza, and Cell. All of them bring something fun to the table, but Vegeta is clearly the superior choice, and that’s not just because he’s a more interesting character than Goku. I foresee some kind of adjustment to Vegeta in the future. In the future for these, I’d like to draw up some combos, or do some more research on what the best/most reliable options are. I have plans for that, fear not!

Bardock Impressions:

DBFZ - Bardock and Broly 2

FRIEZAAAAAA! I mean … TIEEEEEEEEEENNN!!!

Did you want to play Goku, but think his moveset is boring, and he uses too many Kamehameha waves? Want to just be in someone’s face, but are embarrassed to embrace Lord Yamcha as your point-man/captain? Then Bardock is the right pick for you. He’s Lord Yamcha but he has no weaknesses. You have to respect his Supers, and he can dive your team without having to burn meter to do so (unlike Lord Yamcha). His moves are fast, they produce solid damage, and with a good assist team, he can be on point and just go in and abuse people without any fear of repercussions. Takanub pointed out that his dash punch is easily one of the fastest moves in the game and be mashed on start fairly safely. I appreciate that the game also respects that he is the Legendary Super Sayajin with his second Super, Revenge Assault. But you also have to respect his other Supers, Tyrant Assault, and Riot Javelin (Thank you for keeping Riot Javelin a part of the Bardock mythos, as an aside). Bardock is insanely, ridiculously fast, and with even the slightest setup, he goes in and stays in. I do think it’s interesting that his 6M is the same move as his jH, the “traditional” jumping ax-handle smash.

Broly Impressions:

DBFZ - Bardock and Broly 3

Broly is a grappler in the loosest sense of the word. He has several options that do “grab” people, and punish them for their poor life choice to do battle with the Legendary Super Sayajin. He’s huge, surprisingly fast, and has probably the highest minimum damage amount for a Super in Gigantic Meteor. It’s slow-moving sure, but you can do some set up I think to make sure it hits its mark with good assists and vanishes. Whereas Bardock feels satisfying to get right, Broly just feels satisfying. His buttons are wonderful, he’s got Armor on several moves so he can just go in, and I feel like even I can play him without having to worry about getting buttons wrong. I never understood why grapplers had to have 360-degree spins for their biggest moves (or more in some cases), and I was always really bad at it. The result was a lot of fun characters I missed out on because I’m bad. Unlike Bardock though, Broly has some weaknesses I think. Mostly his size. He’s humongous and is easy to hit as a result. He’s got a huge hitbox and it’s easy to take advantage of if you aren’t ready.

He also has several very peculiar hitboxes. His jH for example, he dives straight down. To make it land it seems, you must be jumping forward or be standing right on top of the opponent.  Otherwise it’ll whiff and you’ll get punished. A few of his normal buttons have strange hitboxes too, or perhaps feel a bit short/small. But the animations are great, and feel like Broly if that makes sense. I mean, one of his normals, he thrusts his chest out and smashes into the other player. His jJab is also incredibly tiny like he’s barely thrusting his arm out at all. Not all of your buttons have to be amazing, but that’s certainly something to be aware of. He can give himself projectile armor with Powered Shell and the Lariat Express is incredibly satisfying to hit.

Do I wish they were just “in” the game for everyone to just unlock and play? Of course I do. Do I think they’re insanely OP and make the game p2w? Nah. Bardock’s good just in general, but he’s not overpowered, I don’t think. And once you weather the storm of Broly’s offense and take advantage of his size, it should be pretty easy to stop anything of his that doesn’t have armor. Broly is mediocre without meter and without the corner to pin someone into, but he has reach, and you better respect both of them. Disrespect is punished by fists. Just remember, Broly might be slow and weird, but his powerlevel is Maximum.

Do They Stack Up: I can see both being Captains/Point-Men for a team, and are definitely fun and satisfying to use for players of any skill level.

Classic Rodeo Play Giveaway

We’ve partnered with Wuhan Simple Wings to offer special early access keys for Classic Rodeo Play!

Classic Rodeo Play Screenshot

Classic Rodeo Play is “incredibly addictive and fun”, which is quoted by one of the players who take part in the first beta test on Steam. In Classic Rodeo Play, players could experience more fun concept to the i.o. game in various modes and cute graphics. Also, we provide bot mode for practicing if you don’t feel like diving into multiplayer. It combines the i.o. gameplay and rhythm, as well as the chibi looking characters.

How to redeem your Steam code:

  1. Download and install Steam
  2. Create a new Steam account (if you don’t have one already) and log in
  3. Go to the topmost menu and click on Games
  4. From the drop-down menu, choose “Activate a Product on Steam”
  5. Click “Next” and then “I Agree”
  6. Input your free Classic Rodeo Play Product Code in the box provided
  7. Click “Next” again and redeem your game. (Take note that you’ll need to download and install the game first before you can play it)

Note: Unfortunately ad blockers may interfere with our site. If you have any issues claiming a key, please disable them and try again.

Hellmut: The Badass from Hell Review

Written by Remko Molenaar (Proxzor)

Rogue like games are always incredibly fun and remind me of a time when games weren’t as easy as they are now. Some games back in the day didn’t even allow you to save, so each play through began at the actual start and slowly but surely you would learn how to advance quicker, overcome challenges, and quickly eliminate the bosses you had so much trouble with the first couple of times. Hellmut: The Badass from Hell is another rogue-like game, a fast paced ‘bullet storm dungeon crawler’ where you can use transformation to defeat demonic hordes in an always changing battlefield.

Hellmut Screenshot

If you’re not familiar with these type of games let me give you a quick run down. When you die, you start over. This might displease a lot of people, but there are also a ton of people like me who like the challenge of Rogue like games. One thing is for sure: when you play this game, you will die. But the knowledge you get from how to progress further into the game sticks with you, and with each play through you will crawl forward further into the game until you met the final boss. Even then it sometimes throw you right back at the start to finish the game in another way.

Hellmut Screenshot

Hellmut: The Badass from Hell is not really anything different then the usual rogue like game. With the pixel graphics and retro style look of games, it combines a very fun genre and graphical style into a chaotic mess of dodging fireballs and other laser type textures. What makes Hellmut different is the use of transformations that you can slowly unlock the further you get into the game. You are granted immortality, but your physical body isn’t what it used to be, so you have the choice to choose between two transformations at the start. Since you current physical body is just wasted to a mere skull, but you do seem to be flying, it can be functional as a second life but the transformation you pick at the start will drastically empower you. Initially you can use the Rat King that has its own special abilities as both normal attack and special attack, or the Stitchmonster that looks like an abomination that throws axes Thor could get jealous of.

Hellmut Screenshot

This is your goal: grinding through the levels, slowly progressing further and hoping you will have made progress after a day’s worth of playing. The transformations that you can unlock by playing more aren’t the only empowerment you can get. Monsters will occasionally drop items to strengthen you up in certain ways, and also drop coins and gems. The Coins can be used in the shop that you will occasionally find a portal for, and the gems can be used to call out for the Mighty Eye of Ka-Ra.  In the shop you will find weaponry which usually have a limited amount of ammunition, armor, and utility like potions that will come drastically handy when times are sour and you’re about to face the end boss of a level with only 10 health points left.

Hellmut Screenshot

Going through the levels, with life slowly wasting away and questioning yourself after every laser beam you managed to run in to, it becomes obvious that Hellmut is a very challenging but fun game. While the levels are very straight forward and not all too special, the monsters you encounter definitely make up for it. Combine that with the random objects scattered throughout the levels that could either blow up the enemy – or you when you’re not watching – and in no time you will discover what absolute chaos the game can turn into, and how much you’ll love every moment of it. It is very odd to say in a rogue-like chaotic game like this, but you have to take your time. Since you are thrown into the chaos straight away, and the first few stages do not hold your hand, expect a bunch of dying in your first couple of playthroughs. In no time you’ll start to love and hate the genre of what makes it so challenging. While more transformations can be unlocked by challenges, it is by no means easy to do, and even a simple challenge can give you a frustrating experience for a couple of hours.

Hellmut Screenshot

Conclusion: Great (4/5)
Rogue like done right. The retro pixel graphics are a perfect fit for a game like this, combined with some special humor and chaotic gameplay and you got yourself the perfect combo for a game.

Hellmut: The Badass from Hell is a rogue like done well. From the graphics to the gameplay, the game is incredibly well polished and a ton of fun to do. Despite its challenges, the game feels extremely smooth and it does feel like the game is very easy to pick up, but hard to master. While dying is never fun, and having your progression reset to right back at the start may discourage you, but its a valuable lesson in life. Sometimes progression Isn’t just a straight line going up. Life is full of up and downs, and a rogue like is the perfect example as to why. You’ll learn from mistakes, adapt to the situations better, and apply that to the next time you are put in the exact same position again. While the game is a bit of a grind, and honestly which rogue like game isn’t?, it is still very fun to play. Just remember this game isn’t exactly for weaklings that care too much about not dying, this game is made for people who love slaughtering hordes of monsters, and slowly becoming better at it.

Note: A game key was provided for review purposes.

First Patch for Chrono Trigger Now Available on Steam

https___www.chronotriggergame.com_en-US

Square Enix announced today that the first of several patches for their Steam release of Chrono Trigger has gone live. Further changes will be added in future updates, such as UI changes to optimize gameplay for PC users using a gamepad or keyboard and mouse, improved resolution in animated cutscenes and more. Alongside these changes, CHRONO TRIGGER’s Limited Edition will also be available for an extended period. This Limited Edition includes PC wallpapers, a medley of the game’s music and digital liner notes by composer Yasunori Mitsuda, and will now be available until April 30, 2018. Following fan feedback, this patch will include the following updates:

  • ‘Original’ Graphics Setting: A new option will allow players to choose between the current high-resolution character sprites and background graphics, or an ‘Original’ mode which has a display style closer to that of the original CHRONO TRIGGER.
  • Updated Font and Dialogue Boxes: Fonts and dialogue window graphics are updated to give the game a more classic look and feel.
  • Adjusted Start-Up Sequence: The order of the animated opening sequences when starting a new game is reworked to be more in line with previous versions of the game.
  • Additional enhancements and fixes to the text and graphics within the game to enhance the PC play experience.