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Monthly Archives: July 2019
Trove – Trovian Tumbler Mount Giveaway
We’ve partnered with gamigo to give away amazing Trovian Tumbler Mounts for Trove.
Trovian Tumbler: The “Tumbler” is a mount that is a reference to the car that Batman drives, known as the Tumbler. It also has the benefit of Mastery, and Mastery is a type of level achieved by adding new unlockable items to the collection, as well as increasing character level.
Redemption Instructions:
PC:
- If necessary, create an account using this link.
- Follow the process until you need to create a Glyph account. Sign in if you have one already, otherwise, create one.
- Go to the Trion Store via this link, click Account, Apply Code.
- Enter the Code provided.
Console:
- Follow the steps above, then link your Microsoft/Sony account with Glyph via this link.
Monster Jam Steel Titans Review
By Terris Harned (NWOrpheus)
A little part of me has always had a soft spot for demolition derbies (see my review of Wreckfest), and monster truck rallies. Probably because I’m one-quarter redneck on my mother’s side. I never really fell into a liking of NASCAR or anything, so it’s probably not actually racing that I get into, but rather the satisfying crunch of automobiles being demolished. Although I always liked the Gran Turismo franchise, so who can say?
When I was about 10 years old, I used to mow the lawn for a guy up the street, Bob Small. One year, Bob entered, and won, a contest on my behalf to have the legendary monster truck Bigfoot come to our street and host a pizza party. I still remember the sight, as the big truck roared and rumbled its way down N Baldwin Street and pulled up onto Bob’s grass strip to park. The impressions of his 66 inch tires were there the rest of the season, until Bob had to till the strip of lawn and plant new grass the next year.
What I remember even more, despite this being 30 years ago, was the sheer volume of the Portland Memorial Coliseum quaking with the roar of monster trucks. Watching Bigfoot and Grave Digger side by side before exploding off the starting line. Their front tires were propelled skyward from the torque of engines measured not in horsepower, but in dragon power. Or so it seemed to my 10 year old self. The satisfying crunch of derelict cars as the behemoth vehicles plowed across them to the song of cheers from the crowd.
Perhaps it is unfair to hold Monster Jam Steel Titans (MJST hence) to this sort of nostalgic benchmark. Suffice to say, it fell short. The game wasn’t entirely a disappointment, but there are many ways in which I feel the developers could have done better.
First off, the game is single player. There is absolutely no way to compete against other players, even in split-screen/couch mode. With the internet and technology being what it is today, why any racing game is made exclusively single player is beyond me. If you are going to do this, however, then you owe it to the market to at least have interestingly programmed AI opponents. MJST fell short on this mark as well.
It’s almost creepy how in line they are.
In the races I competed in, it seemed as though the opponent vehicles were essentially on a very set track, making little to no effort to pass each other. This felt more like old classic slot-car races than monster trucks, and reduced the racing’s competitiveness to how your vehicle performed, rather than any skill you might have.
The upgrades themselves were purchased by an in-game currency that I don’t remember the name of, if it was ever divulged. They were simply little yellow triangle thingies that you could earn by doing races. These could then be used to unlock vehicles, as well as to upgrade said vehicles by increasing acceleration, traction, maximum speed, bounce, and stability. The amount these articles can be upgraded is limited by your career rank (Novice, Rookie, Amateur etc), as is your access to tracks. To raise your career rank, you simply “compete” in the career mode.
Each career mode set has 10 events of various types. You must rank 3rd place overall to pass a given set. Also, they feel tediously long.
Completing missions in career mode will also open additional areas of the open world portion of the game. Within this open world portion are a number of collectibles for you to acquire, typically through some sort of aerial maneuver that would make the Blue Angels jealous. It was fun for about 10 minutes, and then just felt trite.
Which is basically what I would say about the career mode itself. There are a variety of different races within career mode, but as I mentioned before, the AI tends to move on rails through any given event, which detracts a great deal from the game. Either there’s no challenge, or an impossible challenge, with no realistic “in between”.
The list of vehicles you can drive is relatively expansive. There’s definitely a giant, glaring, and obvious hole in the lineup, however. While the game does have such iconic vehicles as Grave Digger, Earth Shaker, and the (sarcasm) “Great Clips Mohawk” truck (/sarcasm), it doesn’t have Bigfoot. While I understand how intellectual property works and all, it still feels like a gaping hole in my heart that might have given me more impetus and desire to play the game. Even if I had to do some extensive things to unlock Bigfoot, that would have been something to aspire to.
The on-the-rails driving of the AI vehicles wasn’t the end of MJST’s gameplay woes, either. The physics never quite felt right. Vehicles rolled at the drop of a hat, and things just got… real strange, during some races. To be honest, the physics felt more like a Tony Hawk game than a monster truck rally.
Physics? What physics?
The game does have some decent features. The combo system for scoring points can make things fun and interesting. Essentially you do one trick, such as a wheelie or big air maneuver, and then you have a certain amount of time to do another. So long as you continue to complete scoring maneuvers before the timer runs out on the last one, your multiplier increases. The higher the multiplier, however, the faster the timer elapses.
The monster truck lover in me gives Monster Jam Steel Titans 4 out of 5 crushed automobiles, but the gamer in me gives it a solid 2. It really lacks any significant content. If I could either race against real opponents, or at least AI that wasn’t just poorly created, it could have been a lot more fun. Unfortunately I think this sort of game is such a niche market that it will never quite draw the funding it needs to be designed well, and this title seems to be proof of that.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Begins New Season, ‘Operation: Apocalypse Z’
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has a new community event beginning today on Playstation 4 (with other platforms to follow), called Operation Apocalypse Z. In this operation, hordes of the undead are unleashed upon the game, not just in the Zombies mode. The new content also includes a fan-favorite specialist in “Reaper”, who makes their Black Ops 4 debut. This update also adds three multiplayer maps (Der Shatten, Remnant, Havana), and a new atmosphere permeates the Blackout map. Players can also return to the Aether story in the new Zombies Experience, Alpha Omega.
“We have a team of talented storytellers that have been helping to craft Zombies experiences for more than 10 years, and we wanted to bring that imagination to every mode of Black Ops 4, which is why we’re excited to put Operation Apocalypse Z in player’s hands,” said Dan Bunting, Co-Studio Head, Treyarch. “This is a veteran team that strives to do their best work with each new experience and this is no exception – Operation Apocalypse Z represents a ton of creativity and passion from everyone to really immerse fans in our unique world of the undead.”
“We can’t wait for the Zombies faithful to experience Alpha Omega, which marks the return of the Aether story and the opportunity to play as both the Primis and Ultimis crews – it’s a unique mix of gameplay that has truly been inspired by our community of fans,” said Mark Gordon, Co-Studio Head, Treyarch. “This map is over four times larger and features more dialogue than the Nuketown you’ve played before, and combined with everything else that’s coming in Operation Apocalypse Z, this is our most exciting season to date.”
- New Blackout Updates – As the Zombie apocalypse has begun, sunny skies have departed in favor of something more un-deadly in the main Blackout map. Zombies have leeched most of the life from the landscape forcing the alive to take refuge and survive amongst a deep fog and familiar Zombies sights and sounds. Additionally, the Alcatraz map debuts a nighttime atmospheric change complete with new Zombie enemies. Coming later in the Operation, brand-new Zombie-themed Blackout modes will also debut in the game, including Pandemic and Alcatraz Horde.
- New Specialist – Available now in both Multiplayer and Blackout, Reaper makes his Black Ops 4 debut. Reaper is a cutting-edge combat robot with a robust fighting style wielding the Scythe, a high-powered, two-handed minigun unleashing heavy gunfire. This fan-favorite Specialist is also equipped with a Radar Shroud that prohibits enemies from using their minimap and deploys a scrambling device to block out areas on enemies’ minimap.
- New Black Market Gear – The Black Market has been restocked with a variety of new Zombie-themed Specialist outfits and personalization items, weapon camos and gestures for Operation Apocalypse Z. This includes new weapons like the Reaver C86 Crossbow, Black Ops III’s Argus Shotgun, Daemon 3XB Mastercraft, MOG 12 MKll and Vendetta MKll that players can acquire and master.
- New Zombies Features – Operation Apocalypse Z introduces new Perks and Elixirs across all Zombies maps, providing new variations on gameplay once they’re equipped and activated.
Bake ‘n Switch Hits Steam Early Access Later This Year
Streamline Media Group announced a new IP, which hits Steam Early Access – Bake ‘n Switch! It hits Steam Early Access in Autumn 2019, with a full commercial launch planned for PC and consoles later down the line. Bake ‘n Switch is a couch co-op and PVP game where adorable dough creatures must be sacrificed to the Guardians of Dough, in order to appease their hunger. This will earn their help in fighting the Scourge.
“We’re excited to start nearing the Early Access launch on Steam for Bake ‘n Switch and we can’t wait to hear what players think of it,” said Stefan Baier, COO of Streamline Media Group. “As a local multiplayer party game, it’s important for us to receive community feedback so that we can develop a more exciting, fun, and engaging experience, so let us know what you think!”
A long time a-dough in a bakery far, far away, The First Bakers came together to defeat the Scourge. The Scourge threatened their precious food source – unreasonably cute and blobular dough creatures that roam the land. To save their world, The Bakers must combine the dough creatures – the bigger the dough, the higher your score – and bake heaving mounds of them in the oven before time runs out.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 – Launch Trailer
The Children of Hargon have banned building and creation throughout the land, but that’s not going to stop our hero. It’s almost time for Dragon Quest Builders 2 to hit shelves!
Pawarumi to Release on Nintendo Switch and Xbox This July
Pawarumi is an upcoming shoot ’em up, in a futuristic, yet pre-Columbian inspired universe, and in it, the player has one life to live. If that weren’t dangerous enough, every hit you take reduces the strength of your shields by a third. But it does feature a mechanic known as the Trinity. The three basic weapons are controlled by colored divinities – Condor (laser) is blue, Serpent (Gatling gun) is green and Jaguar (missiles) is red. Enemies you face are powered by the same divinities, and by targeting with the same as them, or different color, you trigger one of the three bonuses of the Trinity – Boost, Drain or Crush. But be warned, there are both positive and negative consequences. Get ready, Pawarumi hits the Switch and Xbox One on July 24th.
Daniel Borges, Manufacture 43, “There are no boosts, ammo, extras or anything. We kept what’s essential in a shoot’em up – shooting, dodging, blowing stuff up – and added our own “trinity” mechanic instead. This very simple directive really works resulting in hand-eye blasting coordination of the highest level!”
Features both unique and standard:
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Three difficulty settings, each with its own alternate storyline.
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The difficulty curve is designed so that a player that beats the game in easy mode gets ready to play in normal mode and then in hard mode.
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The three weapons of the player are red, green and blue and are tied and linked, to enemy factions and divinities: jaguar, serpent and condor.
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Cool eye candy special effects.
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The Nintendo Switch™ version of Pawarumi has a unique ship, the Joyful, that adopts the colours of your Joy-Con™!
Rising Storm 2: Vietnam Heads to the Beach with ‘Green Army Men Beach Party’
Rising Storm 2: Vietnam is bringing a fun twist to their game for the summer, with the classic army-green plastic men. After the success of the Christmas Green Army Men seasonal event, Tripwire Interactive, Antimatter Games and the Green Army Men Mod team agreed to do it again, with the Green Army Men Beach Party. This DLC add-on will have players beating the heat in a beach bash, with supporting artillery, mortars, and rockets all turned into toys.
The Green Army Men Beach Party DLC also removes fall damage, in order to create a more realistic experience, and includes multiple classes with over 12 weapons. Players can keep it cool on four maps: Beach Party, Backyard, Pool Party, and the returning Green Army Men Christmas map! To celebrate this update, Tripwire is also kicking of fa Free Week and a sale on Steam, that will start today, and run until July 16th.
As a way to support the modding community and grassroots game development that helped Tripwire Interactive’s founding members get their start in the industry, all revenue from the Green Army Men Upgrade purchases is shared with the Green Army Men mod team to support their valuable efforts and accomplishment, building high-quality content in their spare time.
Ragachak’s Favorite Clowns in RPGs
by Jason Parker (Ragachak)
“Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he’s depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says, “Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up.” Man bursts into tears. Says, “But doctor…I am Pagliacci.” – Alan Moore, The Watchmen
Clowns invoke a variety of emotions in people, ranging from jovial laughter to the terror that makes our skin crawl. Panic, nausea, fear, you name it. Clowns have been used as villains, antagonists, and fear-inducers for decades, that’s not a new trend. Steven King’s IT anyone? But what about in video games? There have not been quite as many Clowns as I originally thought, but boy were there some good ones! Harle from Chrono Cross is a fine example of a clown-style character or the various iterations of Batman games, with The Joker. The Joker’s the epitome of what an evil clown is supposed to be. Chaotic, destructive, awe-inspiring, but also pants-wetting fear. I wanted to pick a few obvious clowns, and probably a few lesser-known, interesting clowns. Seldom are clowns used as the main foil for our heroes – but that’s not always the case. So, let’s send in the clowns!
Goof Off (Dragon Quest III): The Goof Off counts! In Dragon Quest III, there’s a joke class called the Jester/Goof Off, and I know I’ve talked about it at least once on this website. If you manage to get this worthless jerk to level 20, you can turn him into a Sage. Goof Offs have incredible luck, but are basically useless in battle, just clowning around and giggling like dorks. However, the pay-off is huge. Sage is a powerful spell caster that has access to the most magic in the game. They’re silly, wacky, but definitely a worthwhile investment in casual playthroughs of Dragon Quest III.
Zorn & Thorn (Final Fantasy IX): The Final Fantasy wiki lists Zorn and Thorn as “possibly human”, but I’m not so sure I believe it. These two are far and away the creepiest, weirdest clowns/jesters in any video game I have personally spent time with. Zorn and Thorn wear red and blue (paired with white) and are the attendants/advisors to Queen Brahne of Alexandria. They also have the power to draw Eidolons from a person, making them indispensable to Brahne’s overall evil plans. You also do battle with them, when they take on the form of Meltigemini, but that’s not the weirdest part about these little clowns. They use a type of speech called Antimetabole. In Antimetabole, speech is mimicked by in reverse order. So what one says, the other says in essentially reverse, and is very unnerving, even in text.
Pierre & Danielle (Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals): This was a brief, often forgettable encounter in Lufia 2, within the Treasure Sword Shrine. This is the first major battle for Selan, and there’s a lot that made this fight sort of interesting. Pierre & Danielle are technically immortal, only able to be killed if they die at the same time. So when they go into battle, so if adventuring parties want to defeat them, they have to split up. That puts any party at a distinct disadvantage, and these two hit hard. In a world as serious and dark as Lufia, having immortal murderous clowns just felt right somehow. My only gripe is that they appeared so early, and never returned to the limelight again. This fight also added some depth to the implacable Magical Girl Selan; she was a career military woman, and ultimately recognized that Maxim’s idea was a solid one, and went along with his plan to defeat these two clowns.
Traveling Performers (EarthBound): This one’s kind of a gimme, because you know if I can find a way to talk about EarthBound, I probably will. But EarthBound is a game that hides a lot of darkness and despair behind such a bright, cheerful exterior. One of the first examples of this were the traveling performers. Whether they were hobos or clowns remains to be seen, but you unlock their shack for them, which was locked off by the Mayor of Onett. It seems like such a nice, friendly town, but it has corrupt cops, a corrupt Mayor, and Mayor Pirkle even locked off the Touring Entertainers Shack so those clowns had nowhere to live. Is that even living? When you enter the Shack, it’s even worse than the house that Lier X. Agerate offers to sell you. You never fight these Clowns but instead make their sad lives a tiny bit better, and they give you the only thing of value they have other than their gratitude. Man, EarthBound’s a dark game, the more you think about it.
Kefka (Final Fantasy VI): Come on, is this a shock to anyone? Now, I know what you might be saying – Kefka’s basically a god, how can he be a clown? Look at his sprite/artwork! How could he be anything but a clown? The jester-turned-advisor is not a new trope, but it’s one of my favorites. Kefka’s a murderous, chaotic evil psychopath. He has delusions of godhood, but are they really delusions? He’s the one Final Fantasy villain I can think of that not only had a plan, but it succeeded! He destroyed the entire world, killed his boss, and reshaped the land in his image because he could. Because nobody could stop him. He all but erased hope in the World of Ruin and drove Celes to attempt to take her own life (or so it seemed). He looked like a joker, made clever quips and ran away like a coward when the chips were down, or at least it seemed that way. It seemed like Kefka always knew what he was doing. He poisoned a town because he could, he destroyed Thamasa, murdered General Leo, all behind that hideous smile. If there’s a better clown in an RPG than Kefka, I simply don’t know who it could be.
Eastward Legend: The Empyrean
Eastward Legend: The Empyrean is a mobile MMORPG featuring historically-inspired martial arts combat and traditional Chinese brushwork-style visuals.
Business Model: Free-to-Play
Microtransactions: Yes, there are optional in-game purchases available.
Key Features:
Squad Commander: Engage in real-time 3v3 battles packed with intense tactical action.
This Chinese Life: Explore the narrative rich storylines of characters like the Loyalist General to the Wandering Swordsmen.
Guild Master: Serve under respected instructors and learn their hard-earned secrets to success.
Time Seer: Piece together disjointed past and future events with the power of Mind Mode.
Pool of Truth: Navigate through a world dynamically reflecting your own personal journey.






