Although this game perhaps needs no introduction, Iâll start by saying Titan Souls is one of the recent indie-developed games that are part of a larger wave of software focusing squarely on gameplay. Thatâs not to say it doesnât look and sound great, but surely in a world where multiple hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on big budget games we are looking for pure gameplay design to merit purchases from smaller studios or even teams of three such as the case with Titan Souls.
Reaching into the nostalgia of Action RPG exploration and pulling out the very best game mechanics while managing to forge completely new feels at the same time arrives Rack N Ruin on the PlayStation 4 from LifeSpark Entertainment made up of former Blizzard Entertainment talent reborn in the indie world. Hit up merchants for unique spells, collect the souls of the innocent for your devilish masters, and survive onslaughts from wizards, knights, dragons, even cryptic warriors as abilities are earned and willpower is tested. Players take the role of one dark minion who must wreak havoc on well prepared armies of âdo-goodersâ, rid dungeons of the filthy âgoodie goodiesâ, solve a few puzzles here and there just to get every door unlocked, leave no stone un-turned, no chest un-pillaged (thatâs a word right?), and engage in dark humor laughing maniacally the whole time.
Back and bloodier than ever, the so-called âfinal chapterâ of this brutal series, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number takes place before and after the initial game in the series, but mainly after. A sequel and a prequel at the same time, if you will, the game has plenty of characters to play as. The Fans, Martin Brown, Beard, The Writer, etc. Most have their own abilities, such as The Fans all being vastly different. Mark can dual wield SMGs which can be aimed at two different targets simultaneously, Corey can roll out of the way of bullets, Tony can one-hit kill people with his fist but cannot pick up weapons, and The Twins can be controlled at the same time; one wielding a chainsaw and the other grabbing weapons off the ground.
The war is almost over and the Nazis have all but lost. Rather than accept defeat, Hitler orders the execution of plan Z. Now Germany is overrun by the undead and it is up to a group of survivors to put a stop to the madness. Like the name suggests, this third-person shooter is a bundle containing three games in one; developer Rebellionâs remastered Nazi Zombie Army 1 and 2, and the previously unreleased third episode. So does the Trilogy deliver, or is it dead on arrival?
Bladestorm: Nightmare is a third-person strategy game from Omega Force, developers of the Dynasty Warriors franchise. The game is a remake of 2007âs Bladestorm: The Hundred Yearâs War but brings some new features along. Is it enough to warrant a return to the war, or enlist for the first time? Yes and no.
Counterspy is a crazy cool mix of side-scroller elements combined with stealth and shooting moments that work out well. Two dimensional and three dimensional art styles are mixed together providing the best of both worlds in this indie-style title developed by Dynamighty and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Though this is the first game Dynamighty has ever created, the team is made up mainly of industry veterans from the days of LucasArts and the quality of it gives all of us here at RGN great hope that this team of ten will be a positive influence on the video games industry overall.
Ironclad Tactics comes from developer Zachtronics, an indie game developer that has several games in their portfolio which are mainly based on puzzle mechanics of some sort. Their main games other than this release are Infinifactory (our hands-on preview here) and Spacechem. Ironclad Tactics is a strategy game that takes on elements of a collectible card game as a way of controlling units in-game. It was originally released in September 2013 for Windows and Linux then followed releases on Android in October 2014 and hit the PlayStation 4 this year. The story for Ironclad Tactics takes place in an alternate version of 1860 during the American Civil War and follows the two main characters of Joseph and Maxwell who are employed in the Navyâs Bureau of Steam Engineering. They have developed a new kind of mech soldier called Ironclads which run off steam. They are not the only oneâs developing Ironclad units though since they are also being developed by the Confederates for the war. The entire story is told with comic strips that are animated to keep the story flowing forward.
Presentation: Life is Strange is a modern day story of time travel, teenage angst, and the high school story wrapped up into one. In gameplay terms this is an episodic, cinematic, interactive drama adventure game, with point and click elements. As we all know time travel is sticky business. Throughout the course of the game you can see how simply rewinding time and changing a choice can alter something, for better, or for worse.
Presentation:Â The Order: 1886 is Ready at Dawnâs first big game, compared to the scale of the God of War PSP titles. It is a cinematic third person shooter/adventure game. The game takes place in a Victorian-like London during 1886. Basically a sort of future/past mix version of that time period. While the game feels fresh, it has some shortcomings.
The classic from Windows PC days which spawned its own standalone device (working off of hundreds of paper cue cards and flash cards as well as built-in buzzers, voice speaking, and sound effects makes its way to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles. You Donât Know Jack is a classic form of trivia game show where the host is a straight up comedic act that plays on the cruel and foul nature of dark humor and smack talking among friends. In the middle of a party, it was easy to boot this up immediately and three people in the room joined me from their smartphones in what ended up becoming the center of attention. This is done from the mobile browser, so no need for annoying install / update of apps just gaming, everybody shouting out answers at the people who were playing, while those safeguarded their phones from each otherâs sight. The various game modes that go from simple multiple choice, multiple contestants buzzing in modes to bizarre word relation examinations with twitch control or modes geared to one player while the rest tried to sabotage the event through other means given by the game.
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is a fast paced twin-stick shooter from developer, Lucid Games. The sixth (Yes sixth) installment in the Geometry Wars series, sees players blast their way through waves of countless enemies while maneuvering on 2D and now also 3 dimensional grids. Did Lucid deliver a title worthy of your attention? Is the sun hot?
Straight from the first step into Los Santos the textures and graphics are exactly what weâve all been hoping for, depth visuals. Whether your returning from PS3 or this is your first visit to Los Santoâs, you are in for a treat. The environment looks super smooth with eye-popping details in every object, I dare say Rockstar may have we finally tamed GTAâs beastly new engine and harnessed its power properly on next-gen consoles.
It doesnât come as a surprise to me when I say Little Big Planet is back and better than ever. I mean, with 3 new characters, completely new story, new customization, and the ability to play all of the player created maps from the original? Yeah, Little Big Planet is back and itâs better than ever. If you have loved the previous installments, as I have, then there really isnât a reason for you to not buy Little Big Planet 3. The game offers new characters, new styles of play, and new ways to enjoy your time. Little Big Planet 3 is the best game in the installment for many reasons, but itâs also the biggest one as well.
The Legend of Korra is a beat em title from PlatinumGames. Based on the popular and critically acclaimed Nickelodeon television series of the same name, the newest game takes place during Seasons 2 and 3. Was the developer able do the series and character justice, or does The Legend of Korra fall to the same trappings as many other license titles before it? Sadly its the latter.
The Evil Within is a third person survival horror game from Tango Gameworks and Bethesda Softworks. Set in a twisted world filled with horrible creatures, ever present mortal threats and mind bending hallucinations, this story follows detective Sebastian Castellanos and his fight to stay alive. After responding to the scene of a mass murder he is separated from his partners and knocked unconscious. Horror ensues.
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is a detective adventure game from developer Frogwares. Set in London, Crimes and Punishments puts the player in the shoes of the titular protagonist and must solve six wonderfully well-written and increasingly intriguing cases.
After playing QuestRun one word mainly comes to mind⌠why? Beautiful artwork, extremely well thought out statistical systems in the back-end, and yet everything takes place with little to no animation, music that could have been excellent with just a little bit more time in development, and a battle system that is almost completely automated. For those who wonder what that means, users control the use of items and equipment but do not actually get to pick each battle choice in each turn. This wasnât very popular for any RPG game thatâs tried it so far, which brings me back to my initial impression⌠why?
Crimsonland is another one of those amazingly fun, top-down survival shooter titles. It has a quest mode serving up 6 chapters across 3 difficulties, and each chapter has around 10 stages. There are also multiple interpretations of Survival mode including one that challenges players to win with no weapons at all as well as another in which each weapon only has one clip and spawns in random places on the map. Players can compete in online leader-boards across all stages of the game.
The enemies display good A.I. that doesnât always just run towards you and instead sometimes takes thought out paths with strategic elements to them. Players have to grab power-ups (called Perks in the game) fast and have to decide rapidly in the moment which power-ups are most important as you often cant always get to every one of them. Some weapons are powerful but harder to use than others and many only play to a particular play-style meaning you must also choose wisely which weapons you pick up. Strangely, enemies seem to sometimes destroy power-ups before you get a chance to grab them but other times can walk right over them. This means they didnât try to take a bite of it. One of the many, many perks available allows players to be the immune carrier of a virus that enemies will become infected with if they take a bite of you.
Often times the challenge in each level was very well thought out and relates to not just the mass amount of enemies you face but also the power-ups and weapons given to you with which to strategically defeat them. Crimsonland proves easy to get into but becomes difficult and before you know it enemies are multiplying, popping up invisible, spawning new hives, rapidly running enemies, and even laser blasting enemies that can produce a bullet hell situation causing players to tread carefully.
Players will have to prioritize which enemies give them the most trouble according to their play-style and attempt to take those out first. Some of the most powerful weapons are spread weapons that require good aim since they spread very loosely over long distances. Worse still, the most viscous enemies run fast, and the best weapons often take a long amount of time to reload. For example, the plasma shotgun is one such weapon that I found to be a favorite due to its high damage and ability to take out hordes at once, but those shots had to be aimed well for quickly running enemies and couldnât be wasted on easy to down enemies since the reload wait was a bit dangerous to toy with.
Iâm not sure if this can become a problem or not for some players but enemies can walk off-screen. Killing them off-screen may or may not result in power-ups being dropped where the player canât reach them. Luckily the game is very balanced overall so this is more of an expert note for those seeking to maximize their skills in the various survival modes offered.
Thereâs a great amount of weapons in the game that you unlock as you play through quest mode stages. Each time you start most stages though, you have to begin with the pistol again and work your way up based on what pops up. perks are also unlocked as you go and picked up randomly in the same manner. Other stages will be specifically designed for a specific weaponâs use and serve as a training and / or challenge for the player to master that weapon. Of course, this is easily avoided by grabbing something else that falls from enemies, but the game is not always easier to complete that way.
Sometimes enemies spawn from hives, a la Gauntlet style, and of course youâll have a never ending amount of them until you destroy the hive. 4 player local co op is sweet but the absence of online co op in this day and age is pretty upsetting. Itâs difficult to say how much this actually takes away from the title though, since itâs so badass â but a lot of people wonât even give it a chance after hearing this due to the inherent value proposition thatâs missing without an online mode. Power-up perks include speed, nuking the screen, freezing enemies, setting off shots in all directions, slow motion, uranium filled bullets, and a ton more. Seriously, thereâs tons of perks and a lot of them are very creative. The graphics play a major role in making this game feel very solid. paired with simple controls and reliable hit detection, thereâs nothing to really complain about here. Sound design leaves nothing to complain about, and I take that as a huge plus because top-down shooters like this donât usually have polished sound effects like Crimsonland does.
This is one of the more well polished indie games that obviously has been given a lot of play-testing and thought to its design. tons of fun, easy to jump in as well as come back to and yet still challenges you. Itâs an excellent top-down shooter with excellent quality to it and a lot of thought put into it. Particular aspects that stand out include level design, fun factor, and replay value. Once Quest Mode is defeated in all difficulties (which will take you a good chunk of sessions), the endless survival modes are kept fresh by all of the perks and weapons youâve unlocked. The only real down point of this game is that it doesnât have online multiplayer, and even though it does have local co-op, that just feels like a slap in the face. But itâs a slap in the face youâll gladly take once you discover how awesome this game is!
Handheld Version: Vita (Coming Soon in August)
Played On: Sony PlayStation 4
Review Copy Info: Two digital copies of this game were provided to RealGamerNewz for the purpose of this Review.
ONE PIECE Unlimited World Red is an action / adventure game with open level design and three dimensional gameplay elements. Supervised by the Unlimited Series Creator Eiichiro Od, right off the bat Unlimited World Red gives players the ability to launch from rooftop to rooftop in the open world anime setting that the game takes place in. As you fly through the air from place to place there are also collectibles scattered around requiring specific jumps to be discovered and performed. Thereâs also loot and encounters with townsfolk as well as enemies. Combat often can consist of throwing enemies into each other, destroying barriers by collecting keywords from an area, which usually involves hunting and defeating certain enemies on a given level, and other chaotic activities. All the while, players are able to level up each character and ability.
Z-Run is a game for the PS Vita made by Beatshapers who has been responsible for developing a lot of PlayStation content including Furmins, BreakOut Quest, Canabalt, and Sparkle 2. Beatshapers are also responsible for publishing indie games including Jetpack Joyride by Halfbrick Studios which led to the eventual release later published by Halfbrick known as Age of Zombies. Z-Run is the latest title from Beatshapers and after this the company plans to announce at least three PlayStation 4 projects, one of which works on the PlayStation Morpheus Virtual Reality Headset. But does Z-Run feed the craving for flesh on Vita?
Transformers: RotDS is a third-person shooter published by Activision. It is both a sequel to Transformers: War for Cybertron/Transformers: Fall of Cybertron by developer High Moon Studios and a tie-in to the Transformers: Age of Extinction blockbuster film. This time the reigns have been handed over to developer Edge of Reality (Loudout, Incredible Hulk). Does the new development team, do the series justice, or do they fail to live up to the high (No pun intended) standards set by High Moon?
Blue Estate is an on-rail shooter that just released for the Sony PlayStation 4 and uses the DualShock 4 controllerâs built-in gyroscope (motion sensor technology) to allow players to aim their shots. This does not require the PS4 Camera. With a story that goes out of its way not to take itself too seriously, and unexpected arcade fun thrown into the midst of intense gun fights, this game is one of the better on-rail shooters seen in a very long time. There are still ways this game could have improved though, of course. One nagging feature in particular was the inability to re-calibrate the gyroscope from the Pause Menu.
Worms Battlegrounds arrives with an interesting new story-line , checkpoints during story missions, and is narrated by a parody character Tara Pinkle who is a female crypt robber on the quest for artifacts. This title holds the best graphics of any worms game hands down, better animations that make the game feel more modern, and has no shortage of the many classic favorite weapons that made the franchise what it is today such as Sheep, Ninja Rope, Baseball Bats, and more as well as new weapons and abilities such as the UFO and coin unlock system allowing players to pass over experience from one match into another and retrieve weapons in the midst of battle that otherwise might have not been available to them.
If you would have told me that a New IP was going to define next-generation, I would have agreed with you. But perhaps unexpectedly, Watch Dogs has managed to live up to the hype from both Sony and Ubisoft who have laid stake that very claim.
Get ready for a unique and original approach to the RPG genre which mixes and matches gameplay elements from side scrolling platformer titles of yesteryear with active and passive battle systems. Open world exploration with living, reactive environments takes place in a 2D Adventure aspect while battles take place in a timing-centric turn-based attack system. The gameâs presentation is on point with crisp and fresh graphics being fed to the player constantly, a flared soundtrack comprised of high quality orchestral theme music, and rhyming limerick style dialogue that can be funny at times.