Monthly Archives: September 2018

My Friend Pedro: PAX West 2018 Impressions

by Andrew Skelton (Outfoxed)

What do you get when you mix a masked protagonist, quirky humor, spectacular gunplay, copious violence, and a talking banana?  You were thinking a certain mercenary just now, until the talking banana part, weren’t you? My Friend Pedro is a blend of platforming and twitch combat, with a little time distortion thrown in for good measure.  Oh, and the talking banana, Pedro. He’s the most important part.

My Friend Pedro Screenshot Roundhouse

At its core, the game seems like a typical run-and-gun, though with a style all its own.  It also borrows heavily from freerunning, though imagine parkour while dual wielding pistols or wielding a shotgun.  By design, My Friend Pedro is fast paced, frantic, and violent. Enemies around the map aren’t mindless either. They will take aim and fire without hesitation, take cover behind objects, and position themselves to make reaching them as difficult as possible.  The demo was mostly a tutorial level in this case, with Pedro helpfully and happily teaching everyone how to shoot, dodge, and kick their way to victory. What else would you expect a sentient banana do be able to do, right?

My Friend Pedro Screenshot Style

Part of the joy of the game is the style it exudes.  From the yellow and black jumpsuit, to the various dress of the enemies, the characters stand out from the often plain backgrounds.  In fact, more detail would likely hinder a game like this, where making shots counts. Further into the tutorial you’re also taught how to split your aiming, letting you fire in two different directions.  The amount of options this gives you is astounding. Picture this: you burst into a room, jump over the first of four enemies in the room, and slow down time. You split your aim, firing one gun at the far enemy, and the one you just leaped over.  Once they’re down, and once you hit the ground, you dodge (pirouette, really) the second mook’s salvo of bullets, and leapfrog him, too. You fire both of your guns at the third man in the room, taking him down, and quickly turn around to deliver a lethal boot to the head of the second.  That’s just one of many, many ways you can handle rooms in My Friend Pedro.

My Friend Pedro Screenshot Zipline

Let’s not forget about other fun amusements, like hanging from a cargo hook to rain gunfire on your opponents, kicking a skillet into the air to ricochet shots into unsuspecting victims, or casually riding a skateboard down the street as you mow down your enemies.  There are even boss battles in the game — the demo had the main character zipping along on a motorcycle as he plastered countless cars into explosions for whatever reason. The boss himself wields a shotgun, and as you pepper him with gunfire, he retreats into the back of his meat wagon to chuckle explosive barrels at you.  You can dodge these, sure, but it’s far more fun to shoot them midair to make them explode.

My Friend Pedro Screenshot Biking

In essence, My Friend Pedro is all about style.  It wasn’t so difficult that I ever felt truly in danger, but it was also never so easy as to feel like the bad guys were just bullet magnets.  I mean, they were bullet magnets, sure, but for different reasons! I know this because my banana told me so.

Meeple Station is Now Live on Kickstarter

Vox Games announced today that their Rimworld-inspired space station building simulator, Meeple Station is now on Kickstarter. Scheduled for a PC release in Q1 2019, the team is led by Regions of Ruin developer Stephen Lucerne. Furthermore, backers of the game’s Kickstarter campaign will be treated to the opportunity to stock up on copies for friends, get immediate beta access to the game, and even take part in designing in-game content. Considerably different from their first game (Regions of Ruin), players manage their own space station. From demanding officers, meteor showers, and Giant Electric Man-Eating Space Squids, there’s a lot to see and experience. Players can drop in and out of the game from any save file, and help each other tackle the ins and outs of station management. For those interested, the Kickstarter is right here.

‘We always keep in mind why we’re here’ – says Alex Poysky, producer. ‘We want to make the games we want to play ourselves as gamers. Meeple Station is something different, a building and management sim you can play together with others. This is something we feel gamers want more of and we can’t wait to deliver a co-op experience in the genre.’

Key features:

· A Space Station all your own — There is a wide range of paraphernalia for a space station. From simple furniture, like bedding and seating, to complex machinery, life support, and power grids. You choose where and how to build it all, and your Meeple will have to adjust to your changes.

· Play it your way — Undertake a campaign, building difficult stations and meet pressing deadlines. Or sit back, relax and run your own little station, at your own pace, moving around the quadrant, exploring nearby planets and being a centre for trade and commerce.

· Manage your Meeple — Meeple are simple creatures. They’re not human, nor are they incredibly intelligent. They’re a race of space-faring creatures who enjoy industry, work, and exploration. But they need a lot of guidance, YOUR guidance!

· From a scrap heap to a Space hub — A bustling station will bring in a lot of trade and commerce, traders will fly in from all over the quadrant to dock at your station. Which is fortunately very lucrative for you!

The Gardens Between: PAX West 2018 Impressions

by Andrew Skelton (Outfoxed)

Atmospheric games are an interesting trend in gaming.  Focused on the narrative versus gameplay mechanics, they’re designed to invoke thought and emotion on a deeper level.  The Gardens Between is an upcoming title in that genre, and just on the surface, the game looks gorgeous. It follows the adventures of best friends Arina and Frendt as they explore surreal islands.  Along the way, the player will unravel their story and find out how they ended up in the world they’ve found themselves in.

The Gardens Between Jump Screenshot

The first thing that I noticed about the game is that you don’t control either character directly.  Instead, you’re manipulating time around them both in order to solve puzzles that help them advance. The demo I played had four different islands that told one singular story (in this case it seemed a story of when they built a treehouse together).  There are a few puzzles to solve, mostly involving activating objects that remain in that state after you’ve rewound time.

Gardens Between GIF

Visually, the game is stunning, and the environmental sounds and simple soundtrack really aid in the immersive quality the game possesses.  As I progressed from puzzle to puzzle and place to place, I got a small sense of the overall story the game seems to be going for. That’s the fun of games like this, where there is no dialogue, no stories told through text, or anything similar.  You’re left to fill in the story for yourself, and for me, I worried strongly of what was going to happen to each of these characters.

The Gardens Between Nightmare Screenshot

Imagine connecting with two characters that you don’t control, that never speak, and that you’re there simply to guide along a path.  That’s how The Gardens Between hooks you.

The game is quickly approaching launch, and if you’re a fan of atmosphere, you’ll likely find The Gardens Between right up your alley.  Or island, I suppose. Just prepare yourself for what I anticipate to be a very emotional ride.

Find out more on the official website.

R-Type Dimensions Coming to Nintendo Switch and PC in 2018

Tozai Games announced that they are bringing arguably one of the greatest shoot ’em up franchises in history to the Nintendo Switch and PC with R-Type Dimensions. It’s coming in late 2018, and includes both titles originally published by Irem: R-Type and R-Type II. Each can be played in their classic mode or with an upscaled, hi-res 3D/remastered version.

Two new features will be introduced in this edition: Full power-up mode, allowing players to power their ships to maximum weapon in Infinite Mode, and Fast forward, the ability to speed up the game in any mode. The Switch version will also feature in-game achievements.

Additional features of R-Type Dimensions include:
  • Two complete games: includes all 8 original R-Type levels and all 6 original R-Type II levels
  • Switch between hi-res 2D/3D graphics with revamped music, or play the classic versions with the push of a button
  • Infinite Mode and Level Select: learn the levels inside and out for the perfect, 1CC runs
  • Co-op Mode: 2 players can play together “couch co-op” style or add collision for competitive play
  • Slow motion play function: weave through bullets and enemies with ease
  • Custom controller configuration: change the button layout to match your play style

Retro Review: Lufia and the Fortress of Doom

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Lufia 1 Review - Story

The story seems standard … but tragedy awaits.

I’ve reviewed Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals in the past, but I think it’s time I go back to where it started. What I think is fascinating is that Lufia 2 takes place before Lufia 1. Lufia and the Fortress of Doom is the first in the Estpolis/Lufia series, one that captivated me in Middle School, many thanks to that friend for letting me play/borrow it that wonderful summer. It’s bright, cheerful graphics hide a pretty dark story of loss, god and man clashing, and horrific, powerful beings coming down to the regular folk and ruining their lives. Within the first hour or two, an entire town is devastated by one of the Sinistrals, killing everyone in his path in probably one stroke. The only person that seemed to ultimately survive that wasn’t hidden deep in the castle was the Priest, and that’s only because he’ll save your game. In Lufia, you play the role of the Hero, who is the descendant of Maxim. Maxim was the legendary hero that led the cause to fight at the battle of the Fortress of Doom.

Lufia 1 Review - Lufia

Surely this young girl isn’t the key to something tremendous.

Somehow, the world seems to be in danger again, about a hundred years later, and the Sinistrals, once defeated by Maxim, Selan, Guy, and Arty are now alive and well. Somehow they resurrected. It was said that so long as Erim lives, the other Sinistrals can and will be reborn, but we have only seen Gades, Sinistral of Destruction. So Maxim sets out with the mysterious Lufia (replacing Selan) and meets the mighty warrior Aguro (who replaces Guy) and the young elf Jerin (taking up Arty’s role). The cycle of violence and destruction begins anew, and these young heroes will stand up to save the day if it can truly be done. Some might think it’s bland that these tropes were used here, but this was the first game! Not to mention, prophecy is funny like that in fantasy stories. Prophecy tends to want uniformity, and having the same types of people again in Lufia 2 (or 1 in this case) fits.

Lufia 1 Review - Battle

Awww, just look at ’em!

This is a turn-based RPG, and one of the only reasons I play Lufia 2 more than 1, is it suffers from Final Fantasy 1 syndrome. When an enemy is defeated and more than one character still has an attack queued up for them, they just whiff and that attack/spell was ultimately wasted. I can’t believe this was done in the SNES lifetime, but here we are. All of the enemies look pretty childish and silly, but I still like it. Every RPG up to this point had ultra serious, gritty looking enemies that I can recall. In a way, it makes sense to me to see the enemies this way from the eyes of young characters. It’s an interesting take and surely makes it stand out. This is not a difficult game beyond that though. Despite losing attacks and MP on dead enemies, combat’s pretty easy. Even the hardest fights in the game are relatively easy, with the only hard parts being dealing with Aguro taking tons of damage from magic, much like Guy did in 2.

lufia-and-the-fortress-of-doom-battle

Hey look! An ECW cameo!

Another positive is that you don’t really need to grind for levels too badly. You will grind because gear can be expensive, but that’s for your first playthrough only. Lufia (and Lufia 2) have a Retry Mode for subsequent playthroughs, to make them a little easier and enjoyable. This will multiply the gold/xp you receive from battles, and now you can just play the game, bask in the story, the giant enemies, and the wonderful party interactions. Maxim and Lufia quarrel like young lovers, and overall, your whole party is well written. The game itself is far more simple than its sequel, which shows growth. The puzzles are far and few between, and are far less difficult compared to Rise of the Sinistrals. That’s not really a negative though – the focus is more on the story and less on having to look up puzzle walkthroughs, pushing around blocks of various colors, shooting down bushes, et cetera. There are some, but not quite as many.

Lufia 1 Review - Beginning

It felt so awesome starting so strong like this. Then… level 1 Hero.

There aren’t too many sidequests, but there is a powerful series of gods waiting for you at the end. The first time I figured the story out and got to the end, I was blown away. I did not expect such a gripping, sad moment in such a cheerful-looking RPG. I’ll spare you the spoiler, but man. One of the reasons this game still has such a hold on me is the storytelling. It may look charming and cute, but it’s anything but. Difficult decisions, sad moments, paired with one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever listened to, thanks to Yasunori Shiono. There have been few games that are so memorable for me, despite being so simple and easy to access. In a time where RPGs weren’t quite mainstream yet, this was one of the smartest things I think they could have done, make it so anyone could pick it up and enjoy the game for themselves. It makes me sad that there have not been more successful Lufia titles, and the last one I recall was a subpar remake of Lufia 2. It’s a damn shame; this series had so much promise. It’s never too late though.