El Presidente is back in Tropico 6! Fans that pre-order the PC version of Tropico 6 from the Kalypso Shop will gain instant access to the exclusive closed beta, letting players around the world preview the upcoming entry in the strategy series. These people will also receive a 10% discount, with an additional 15% off for the first time customers registering a new Kalpyso community account. The Standard Edition is available with a 10% discount and direct access to the beta, while the special El Prez Edition also comes with a 10% discount and immediate beta access, but also adds some special in-game content (a tourist outfit for El Prez and a Flamingo Pond for the presidential palace), the digital soundtrack and a fabulous digital calendar.
The beta will feature a complete tutorial for all four eras (Colonial, World Wars, Cold War and Modern Era), two sandbox maps to demonstrate the new archipealago system, and two full missions to sample the variety of challenges that a would-be dictator will face in the full release. It’s also supporting English, French, German, Spanish and Russian, while the Tropican Ministry of Propaganda and Misinformation have also confirmed to us that additional content and features will be added closer to release in the beta.,
Features:
Play on large archipelagos for the first time in the series. Manage multiple islands at the same time and adapt to various new challenges.
Send your agents on raids to foreign lands to steal world wonders and monuments, to add them to your collection.
Build bridges, construct tunnels and transport your citizens and tourists in taxis, buses and aerial cable cars. Tropico 6 offers completely new transportation and infrastructure possibilities.
Customize the looks of your palace at will and choose from various extras.
Tropico 6 features a revised research system focusing on the political aspects of being the world’s greatest dictator.
Election speeches are back! Address the people and make promises that you can’t possibly keep.
Co-operative and competitive multiplayer for up to four players.
Stormdivers reveal their latest class – the Juggernaut. Juggernauts come with the unique abilities of Translocator (avoid heavy fire and engage in blitzkrieg ambushes) and Storm Shield (metal barrier that is deployed as cover). Players interested in the Closed Beta can click this link to try and get in for themselves. Steam keys will be delivered close to the next test session (during October).
The beginning of the next entry in the critically-acclaimed franchise from DONTNOD is now available on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Windows PC – Life is Strange 2. The five-episode season begins today, and players discover a story of two brothers: The 16-year old Sean and 9-year old Daniel Diaz. After fleeing their home in a tragic event, their lives are irrevocably altered. The story takes place over the course of a year, as Sean and Daniel make their way from Seattle to their fathers’ hometown – Puerto Lobos, Mexico. The road is difficult and shades of grey make up a lot of the choices. There’s no “right” choices, but Daniel is watching your every move, and he’ll learn from you.
The key aspect of Life is Strange 2 is this role model dynamic between the brothers. The decisions you make in Episode 1 will have far-reaching consequences and will influence the relationship with Sean’s little brother Daniel over the course of the 5-episode season.
“We are incredibly happy to finally share this new Life is Strange story of brotherhood and coming of age with the world,” said Raoul Barbet and Michel Koch – Co-Creative Directors of Life is Strange. “We hope fans will embrace our new story and characters with the same passion they showed for the first season.”
The Witcher World is coming back in a big way this October. The Witcher Tales releases on PC on October 23rd, 2018 and on console on December 4th. An important note is that no matter if you pre-order or don’t, players receive the same in-game items at the start. They do not want to lure players in with “exclusives” that can only be received at pre-order.
“Thronebreaker is almost here and we couldn’t be happier,” said Marcin Iwiński, co-founder, CD PROJEKT. “What started as a single-player adventure for a multiplayer card game quickly outgrew the original concept and became a game in its own right. Thronebreaker is a proper Witcher tale, with more than 30 hours of story, over 75 side quests, and — at the same time — a game that lets you lead an army into previously unexplored places in the Witcher universe. And all of this is powered by story-driven battles based on the card battle mechanics of GWENT.”
Mastiff revealed that the latest installment of Heavy Fire, Heavy Fire: Red Shadow is coming to Xbox One and Playstation 4, as well as PC via Steam on October 16th. A physical edition is also on the way for the Playstation 4, which includes the base game and a special PS VR mode, which is available exclusively at Walmart in North America. The demo on PS4 and Xbox One is also on the way, and those who download the PS4 demo and pre-order the game receive a special bonus: a PS4 system theme and the PS4 VR version of the game for free.
In Heavy Fire: Red Shadow players lace themselves up in the tattered combat boots of Sgt. Will, who narrowly survived a North Korean missile attack on Guam designed to knock out its defenses, and now finds himself almost single-handedly trying to repulse a large-scale North Korean raid. A brutal, unforgiving battlefield awaits, where players need to establish a beachhead and hold fast, demolishing enemies as they try to flank you and your turret-mounted machine gun.
Heavy Fire: Red Shadow Features:
360° White-knuckle Action! Use a devastatingly powerful turret-mounted machine gun and rocket launcher combo to mow down enemies in 360° across eight stages in Campaign Mode, or fight non-stop in Endless Mode.
Call in Support! Call in supply drops and support from elite infantry troops, fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, and more.
Get Promoted and Powered Up! With more than 30 unlockable Field Promotions, players earn power-ups to upgrade and customize their machine gun, rocket launcher, health, and support skills.
The Right Tools for the Job! Experience a new level of exciting gameplay with Mixer support on Xbox One, the style and function of RAZER CHROMA support on PC, and the immersion of PS VR support on PS4™ (included for free in the physical edition of Heavy Fire: Red Shadow, available exclusively at Walmart, or with pre-order on PS4™)
Ratloop Games Canada, the studio behind VROOM KABOOM, thought they would spice things up and decided to take a metaphorical blender. In this blender they threw a card collectible system, elements of a tower defense system they call ‘Tower Rush with Vehicles’, and a sprig of online multiplayer chaos. The result? You have got yourself the recipe for Vroom Kaboom, a game that tries to make it work with a mesh of currently popular genres that all shine and have sparked the light of many modern games. Does Vroom Kaboom define another successful concept with its destruction and chaos, or is the idea too optimistic? Let’s find out!
When you look at Vroom Kaboom, you can see the game from two completely different perspectives. The game is fundamentally made to be a card collectible game, with a foundation that provides the user the ability to make a deck of cards that plays to their liking and playstyle. A new player doesn’t have a lot of room to play with because of a limited card selection, but the game is seen more as this endless destruction derby of throwing cars in the right direction, and destroying everything that comes on their path – be it either the opponents’ cards spawned as vehicles and rockets, or the oil tanks that ultimately need to be taken down to win the game.
This is why both sides of the fence matter. The game is very basic when you look at it, but the card system and the strategy during the gameplay is what makes it shine and gives it more depth. In the early stages of the game, you want to be pumping out cost effective and cheap vehicles, like simple cards with cars that jump to gather Oil from obstacles all over the map. Think ramps, jumps and other crazy ways you can grab oil or even extra cards. Since the oil is used to play more cards, and overrun your opponent with a strong force of destruction, you can play this game very differently depending on the style of the player, and the set of cards they use.
Vroom Kaboom features three factions: SkullBorough, Drift City, and Soul Station. Each one of these factions have their own unique cards with vehicles to drive, even their own environments. Although the principle stays the same, and the layout may differ, it’s a nice change of pace. They even have their own style and music to give you that extra feeling of who you are representing. But each faction has the same type of vehicles, including Motorbikes, Tanks, Trucks, Cars, Helicopters, Rockets, and Airplanes. Each one of these vehicles usually comes with its own set of skills that you can use strategically. The controls of Vroom Kaboom are very easy in principle, but in practice take a bit of skill to fully get used to.
You can play as many cards as you have oil for, and each one of the vehicles on the cards you decide to play can be controlled when thrown on the field. Steering the vehicle sideways can be done with a simple click on your left mouse button, or for better accuracy you can hold it down. But why exactly would you need to steer? Well all over the map you will find ramps and other obstacles that help you get more Oil or even extra cards that spawn. Even behind the enemy are oil tanks; you are able to gain cards when you do not aim for one of the tanks to make them explode. Each card also has its own skill, be it either just jumping really high, shooting turrets, or a shockwave to damage any passing car. Each vehicle can be utilized differently, and this paying attention as to what is coming towards you, and what is specifically in your deck, is of the most utmost importance when trying to win your game.
Each vehicle also has its health value, and when your vehicle takes enough damage it simply explodes. But you can also effectively take down the opponents’ vehicles by driving into them, because why make it just simply explode, when you can take something with it?! If you would rather see it head to the ‘finish line’ and drive straight into one of the oil tankers or the extra cards that respawn once in a while, you can also use the nitro and blast your way past everything. This is especially useful with missiles that lock on target, and still have a hundred meter ‘sprint’ before they reach their destination. Ut gives you that little bit of insurance that you know the payload is heading towards its target.
Graphically, the game looks very basic, and although simple, still looks done somewhat right. It’s nothing special, and even the sound isn’t something that would necessarily open your eyes and make you think you are playing the next big thing. Vroom Kaboom is a very basic concept, and despite having the style of two very successful genres, it feels like it falls a little bit short in overall design. While the card collecting is enjoyable, it also made me feel like there wasn’t a whole lot of depth, since most of the basic decks you use already have a lot of the available vehicles, and it feels like there are only a few of them missing here and there.
The game is completely free to play as of this moment, but does have premium DLC to help you out a little. I was curious what the community would say, especially because of its integrated VR support that brings this game to a whole new level. Funny enough, I found someone mentioning something that I heavily agree with: The game as of right now, might be very confusing for new players, and almost feels like a ‘Frankenstein’ of a game. This is exactly what Vroom Kaboom appears to be. From the outside it looks like a mess, and once you get going you definitely experience what makes the game fun, but also immediately makes you notice how shallow the game can be. While the card system adds some extra depth, it doesn’t have that ‘oomph’ I was hoping to find. I did enjoy myself for a couple hours of playing, I would like to see more from the game if I want to spend more time with it.
Final Rating: Fair (2/5):Vroom Kaboom does a few things right, and it’s definitely fun for an hour or so, but needs some more depth for people to stick around.
Ed.: Since this review was written but before publication, the game launched a patch offering an improved tutorial and miscellaneous improvements.
1C Company announced today that their roguelike RPG built on spaceship exploration and turn-based combat, Deep Sky Derelicts has launched. Available on PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam for $19.99. Deep Sky Derelicts offers a turn-based combat system with cards that makes every combat unique. The comic book art style creates a gritty world, combined with a hand-drawn and inked feel. he launch build includes many new features including the legendary final “Mothership” derelict that completes Campaign mode, additional story features, overall polishing, Steam achievements, and more.
“Deep Sky Derelicts takes roguelike combat to a new level with the introduction of collectible card game elements and random draws that make every battle a unique experience,” said Nikolay Baryshnikov, VP of 1C Entertainment. “It’s a great addition to our 1C Entertainment portfolio, as Snowhound Games has created a fascinating retro-futuristic world that offers deep strategy and challenging surprises to keep players on their toes.”
Game Features
Better Together: A compelling mix of turn-based RPG combat and card deck balancing
Comic Book Sci-Fi Worlds: Experience a dystopian world with a hand-drawn and inked feel
Every Battle Is Unique: Build the ultimate deck, but know that random card draws at the start of each battle will require fresh strategy to win
Search, Scan, Salvage, and Survive: Explore derelict stations and ships by scanning ahead, searching for loot, and using strategy to win tough battles
Build a Winning Team: Manage a squad of up to three mercenary allies with stat customization, ability tree-based upgrades, and upgradeable gear
Two Game Modes: Play through the story-based Campaign or jump into Arena battles
Updated Launch Features: New endgame story elements; overall polish and UI overhaul; Steam trading cards, badges, and achievements; updated audio; and final game balancing
The September vehicle drop for The Crew 2 has some incredible options in it. The Ariel Nomad 2015 and the Proto Hovercraft 3 XK Armored 2018. The Ariel Nomad 2015 can cover any terrain, no matter how wild. Then there’s the Proto Hovercraft 3 XK 2018 is an indestructible hovercraft. What else could you need?