Yearly Archives: 2018

Funcom Reveals First Gameplay from Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

It’s hard to imagine a post-human world, but we have one here in Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. We have Funcom’s first unedited gameplay footage here, on the heels of their cinematic trailer which made quite a few ripples across the duck pond that is the Internet. Much of the credit for that goes to the duct-taped, cross-bow wielding anthropomorphic duck, named Dux. Last week at GDC, Funcom showed off a half-hour of footage presented by the developers at The Bearded Ladies.

This week you will soon see that if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it probably is much more than just a CGI duck as Funcom finally reveals how ‘Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden’ looks and plays. Mutant Year Zero will release in 2018 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and take command of a team of unlikely heroes to navigate this post-human Earth.

Golem Gates Launches Today on Steam for Windows PC

It’s time to lead an army of ferocious war machines in the dark fantasy RTS, Golem Gates as it descends upon PC via Steam today. Golem Gates is an original strategy game from creative talents behind such acclaimed games as Gears of War, Unreal Tournament and Civilization, and blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe films Black Panther, Spider-Man: Homecoming and the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War.

Golem Gates Key Features:

  • Uniquely combines real-time-strategy with card battler elements
  • Enter the darkness in an epic single-player story campaign oozing with atmosphere
  • Take the fight online in various competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes
  • Streamlined build management for past-paced visceral combat
  • Build a powerful deck with nearly 100 available cards (called Glyphs) to unlock

Music Review: Secret of Mana: Heart of the Forest

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Music Review - Heart of the Forest

Just like magic, I was thinking about doing a music review, and the perfect album lands right in my lap. It seems like only yesterday that Square Enix dropped a remake of Secret of Mana, and not everyone was all that pleased with it. There were definitely some issues that needed resolving (some of which did) but one thing has not changed: The fantastic soundtrack of Hiroki Kikuta. My first memories of Secret of Mana are of me reading about it in Nintendo Power, and being incredibly sad that I never got it as a kid. I was able to play it briefly here and there as a kid because I had friends that were RPG fans too, but it took until my adult years to really cherish and treasure this game. WIth that, Materia Collective released a new album from The Travelers VGM – Heart of the Forest, a Secret of Mana folk album. It’s not just American folk, but covers a broad assortment of folk music from around the world, with that special Secret of Mana flare that only Hiroki Kikuta could create.

“The ethereal and earthy textures of the original Secret of Mana soundtrack fit perfectly with the folk concept our group tries to promote,” explains arranger Masha Lepire. “I love how we all brought new flavors and ideas to the table but still captured the original essence and beauty of Hiroki Kikuta’s music.”

If ever there were a “supergroup” for video game music, it has to be The Travelers VGM. This album features members from the Materia Collective, Triforce Quartet, and Tetrimino, and create a unique acoustic experience. I’ve enjoyed both of their albums (The Travelers and Ode to the Lovers) and their contributions to other video game albums. This album can be found wherever fine music is found, such as Bandcamp, iTunes, and Spotify. Every song on this album is a hit, but other honorable/notable mentions would be D’oscail Mo Shuile, The Wind Never Ceases, and It Happened on a Moonlit Night. If you love global folk music, and Secret of Mana, you owe it to yourself to put this in your collection.

The Fortress Rises (Track 15): Only one of the songs on this album are particularly long (Mystic Invasion clocking in at 5:04) but I will tell you, in this 2:19 track, they pack a whole lot of sinister intent in. The Mana Fortress is on the rise and pairing that terrifying moment with what sounds like acoustic guitar, flute, violin, and viola, it still gives me the same chills from when I heard the song for the first time. The guitar starts off alone and is joined by the rest of the ensemble, and though it feels very light-hearted and relaxing at first, the tone slowly shifts to a more sinister one, as if people can see the gigantic weapon hovering on the horizon for the first time. I enjoy how the other instruments fall off slowly at the end, leaving only the trill of the flute and the violin. It makes me think of the three heroes standing on a hillside somewhere, wind whistling in their ears as the deadly Mana Fortress appears. Very dramatic stuff, that.

Angel’s Fear (Track 1): This is the opening song to Secret of Mana. Any time you start up the game, you hear these dulcet tones, and the only thing this version is missing is that wail of despair at the start of the game. I never understood why that was there, but it’s an eerie sound. However, this blend of acoustic guitar, violin, and a Celtic guitar is, well, the only way I can describe it is soothing. The Celtic guitar tapers off and is replaced by the flute and acoustic guitar, that same relaxing sound. This song would be right at home outside of Potos village, filling the air around the Sword of Mana. What sounds like pizzicato from a violin really sells it for me. I like all the plucking going along with this melody.

Flammie and I (Track 13): This is, I believe, “Flammie’s Flight 1” from the OST because Flammie has three different songs. The strings and guitar really pair together well, probably more than any other song on this album. If I had to pick a favorite, it’s probably this one. I could wake up and start my day to Flammie and I. It’s calming, but still has all the air of an adventuring song, looking towards the horizon to figure out where you’re supposed to go next, but knowing all the while you have a trusty friend, that’s also a trusty mode of transportation. Okay, so that one got away from me a bit . . .while it’s a song that I can close my eyes and relax to, it still sounds a little dark, a little uneasy, but anyone who has gotten to the end of Secret of Mana might know why that is. The peacefulness gives way to that darker sound as the song goes on. Where they are going, it is not safe, but it must be done.

Mystic Invasion / Donncha Lynch’s (Ballydesmond Polka No. 3) (Track 7): I always knew that a Polka would drive the end of the world. Maybe not our world, but world, most certainly. Mystic Invasion is the main theme of the Mana Fortress itself. It’s unsettling to listen to, and successfully crafts an air of danger and unease. Despite that, this version is far less perilous. The original version was very heavy with high hats and drum sounds to create the atmosphere, whereas this one forgoes that for the flute. For some reason, this reminds me of something I might hear as a pirate shanty, and I’m totally okay with that. The song seamlessly transitions from an air of danger to something a little calmer, and coming right back full circle, quietly trailing off. It makes me feel like I’m about to hear “Next time on Secret of Mana!”

Striker’s Edge Review

By Vincent Haoson (Ojogo)

Striker’s Edge is a pixel-designed dodgebrawl game from Fun Punch Games. The game puts you in control of one of eight fictional heroes which are loosely-based from the other fictional warriors in human history.

Striker's Edge Screenshot

Gameplay

As one of the eight in the hero roster, you’ll be participating in either 1v1 or 2v2 arena-based matches. These arenas are segregated into two sides horizontally. Players need to whittle down their opponent’s HP down to 0 by successfully hitting their opponents with spears, arrows, axes, or spells, depending on the chosen hero.

The game has both online and local multiplayer, and the game will eventually have a ranked game system later on. Striker’s Edge also has a very brief story mode for all eight playable heroes which explains their back-story a bit. I actually liked how the story mode has characters’ story intersect, which makes you feel like there’s a bigger world out there.

Striker's Edge Screenshot

Twitch Integration

One of Striker’s Edge more interesting game features is the Twitch feature integration for Twitch streamers. This feature provides viewers the opportunity to affect matches by allowing viewers to vote among the eight features they’d like their streamer to have in-game. Aside from affecting the pre-match effects, viewers can actually hop into the game and participate as one of the audience in online matches. The audience can cheer their streamer and have them actually throw flowers on the field, or, they can boo their streamer and throw tomatoes at them in-game.

While this isn’t really revolutionary since there are emerging games that have similar voting features like SOS, I like how Fun Punch provides a more interactive role for audience since they can actually jump into the game along with their streamer.

Striker's Edge Screenshot

Starting streamers on the other hand don’t have to worry if they don’t have an active set of viewers though, because it seems like anyone who’s voted in the stream will and can vote, even the broadcaster themselves. Though I admit that this kind of defeats the purpose for having this kind of feature in-game, but at least this pretty much allows even small streamers to enjoy this game feature.

I’ve tried playing around with this game feature with my own Twitch channel, and depending on the viewers I’ve had, games could be ridiculously hard, but fun. I loved how the votes can really throw you a curve ball especially when you’d expect the game mode to go one way, but then it goes another.

Also, I like how Fun Punch just made the Twitch matches just a fun way for streamers and their viewers can just have fun and interact as they play the game.

If you’re a streamer who’s trying to find a game that you can play to interact with audiences with, Striker’s Edge is a game that definitely fits that niche.

Striker's Edge Screenshot

Battles

Moving on to the game’s core gameplay mechanic, battling in arenas. Striker’s Edge doesn’t disappoint. Matches can get intense real early and the limited options force players to not just be creative in their strategies, but also require players to actually have great game mechanics and game sense.

I also like how Fun Punch Games provide players a handful of options with the heroes. Even with the limited 8-man (woman) roster, the heroes have a good variety of gameplay styles that some heroes don’t feel like a carbon copy of another. Their special attacks are pretty varied, and you are given with a great selection of heroes to main.

However, I’ve had issues finding players to play against in online mode. Being matched with players takes a long while. My first two attempts to get into the online matches took about 10 minutes before I decided to drop the idea getting matched. It’s probably like this now with my location being in east Asia and most of the player base are in the EU and US. Being a game where interest hinges heavily on being able to matchmake real fast, this can be a problem especially if players can’t jump into games as easily.

Strikers Edge Screenshot

Active Community

One of the things I do appreciate is that Striker’s Edge has a really active and solid community. Fun Punch Games is also really active in trying to communicate and interact with the community so it shows that the developers aren’t just making a game and dropping it upon release.

Sound and Design

Striker’s Edge uses a 16-bit design and the music itself follows accordingly. It’s visually appealing and it’s great that the game loads really fast. The game’s sounds on the other hand keep you hyped up, but it does tend to be a bit grating if you’ve been playing the game for a while.

The game has a novelty and old-school feel, and its overall design fits how the game is trying to portray itself.

Strikers Edge Screenshot

Conclusion: Great (4/5)
The interactive feature provides a great opportunity for streamers to interact and be part of the fun. However, matchmaking needs work especially for players within the Asian region.

Overall, Striker’s Edge is a game that has a lot of potential as both a local and online multiplayer game. The matches are fast enough for people to get into, and I can see people having fun playing the 2v2 matches locally. Fun Punch Games still needs to work on the online aspect of the game with matchmaking taking longer than it should. Especially since the game is going to have ranked matches, really long matchmaking queue will really kill the buzz for the game.

Still, Striker’s Edge is a fun and enjoyable game to play even with the simple gameplay I can see myself playing the game with friends from hours till end. Even with the online matchmaking issues, the game is still a solid local multiplayer game.

With the game getting its own ranked ladder, you’re going to keep on coming back to the game for a good solid few months.

War Conquest 1941

War Conquest 1941 is a free-to-play WW2 real-time strategy game mixing base and resource management with fast-paced tactical battles. Build constructs, upgrade units, form armies, and blitzkrieg the world! Available for browser.

Features:

Crossing Borders: Align yourself with the Axis, Communist, or Alliance factions and get their take on the war.

Spilling Pockets: Produce gold and spend it on a variety of helpful enhancements and upgrades.

Getting Personal: Hire units and hand-place them on the battlefield to fight your foes.

PixARK Now Available on Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview

PixARK early access news

Snail Games announced today that their open-world voxel-based survival sandbox PixARK is now on both Steam Early Access and Xbox Games Preview. Available for for 24.99 during this program, it will also be on sale on Steam for 20% off (19.99). It will be available for retail/digital distribution for PC, Xbox One/Xbox One X, Playstation 4, and the Nintendo Switch later in 2018, but only Xbox One and Steam get early access to it.

It will feature single player/online multiplayer (Xbox will receive multiplayer in approximately two weeks, available now on Steam). Collecting items, building bases, and will also have over 100 dinosaurs and various creatures to tame, ride, and train. Procedurally generated worlds await, as well as a Creative Mode that lets players construct whatever they desire with eight unique biomes. In addition, a procedurally generated quest system allows players to stay actively engaged in their worlds.