Proteus is an indie developed game by a team of two individuals by the names of Ed Key and David Kanaga. To call it a game is unfair, as it is more of an experience. It was released in January of this year for Steam and October for Vita and PS3. This review is based on the Steam version. It plays smoothly on low-end PCs.
Developer Digital Extremes was originally created by the man behind Sorcery in 1993 and grew to become the co-creationists of Unreal (the Epic Games franchise pre-dating Unreal Tournament) which took the PC Gaming world by storm. Digital Extremes since has co-developed Unreal Tournament, Unreal Championship, Unreal Tournament 2003, and Unreal Tournament 2004 alongside Epic Games leading to over 15 million worldwide sales across a myriad of platforms and has also been responsible for the New IP Dark Sector that had the gaming world abuzz as it was revealed as one of the first ânext-genâ titles back when PS3 and Xbox 360 specs were merely whispers in the dark.
oday we are going to talk about Super Meat Boy, an indie-game I canât keep my hands off of! The platform game was originally released as a flash game called âmeat boyâ developed by Edmund McMillen and Jonathan McEntee back in 2008. It was rated high upon thousands of users on Newgrounds.com and received overall good criticism.
Iron Roads aims to capture the old school fun of games like Railroad Tycoon while adding new layers and wiping away the micromanagement. Managers are moved from different offices to optimize efficiency within a headquarters building as players run the show controlling HR, Advertising, Supervisors, Trainyard, Rail Facility, and other various departments. For example, you might send a manager to a grain silo to increase loading of a product or Railyard to figure out why a certain train isnât being fixed in time.
Huntsman: The Orphanage is a mix between survival horror and adventure brought to you by ShadowShifters. The game is also a successfully green-lit project on Steam for Windows PC and Mac OS X with users allowed to pre-purchase it and get early access to play before the final build is completed. Huntsman has a lot of dialogue and story behind all the characters in the game. The premise of the game is to find all of the orphans that are in the game. They will present freaky messages to your smartphone and you have to find them and the items that theyâve lost in the orphanage. Once you have found these items you will have to find each of their headstones which are hidden in a maze and then you can set the items onto their headstone and their ghostly souls will be set free.
At the risk of sounding like a meme, if you played with Hot Wheels then you had an awesome childhood. For those of us who came up during the golden age of pretty much everything from toys to video games, Hot Wheels were one of the favorites. In Hot Wheels: Worldâs Best Driver youâll approach the most interesting concepts brought forth by the original toy franchise as well as some of gamingâs best racing game mechanics in a journey to become the worldâs best driver.
The first step youâll take on this journey is selecting a color-coded team, each with their own primary focus (for example Green Team = Speed, Blue Team = High Tech) and then the racing begins. Youâll be able to switch between teams at any time and also unlock special abilities using tokens earned through in-game challenges. Hot Wheels: Worldâs Best Driver is expectedly focused on fun factor rather than realism and will see players chaining together drifts for miles, drifting on two wheels for hundreds of feet, performing deadly neck-breaking jumps, driving up and drifting across walls, and even more across a variety of locations that does a good job of preventing any amount of boredom normally associated with racing titles.
Gameplay:Â Racing and drifting are the most fun parts of the game by far. Precision driving events can be very frustrating at times, but also rewarding, and will eventually mold you into a better drive throughout the game. Stages such as tracks that become more and more narrow as time goes are easier to appreciate than the events that see you tediously navigating through complex precision courses with lots of stopping, jumping, and turning around.
There are also some really interesting events that have you doing things like stopping a 200mph speeding vehicle as close as you can to a finish line using a parachute and perfect timing. Overall the gameplay is very smooth, easy to get into, and most of all fun. The variety of so many different things to do in the game make it an experience that doesnât get stale, and youâll probably get more enjoyment than you might have expected from the brand we all grew up as kids playing with. Thereâs over 50 challenges in the game as well as a multiplayer mode and you can customize 24 different vehicles. Medals are earned and tracked in addition to stat-tracking across the four different teams youâll play as with various ways of completing each event.
Controls:Â Hot Wheels: Worldâs Best Driver handles really well. You donât need to be an expert at driving cars in order to enjoy this game. While the racing genre is heading towards a hyper-realistic standard, even for arcade racers, Hot Wheels brings it back to the pure enjoyment that all gamers can appreciate with the added bonus of over-the-top gameplay like riding up a wall or going through crazy tracks reminiscent of the actual Hot Wheels toy tracks. Thereâs nothing to really complain about in terms of controls, players of all skill levels should have no problem picking the game up and eventually mastering it.
Graphics / Art Direction:Â There are a number of different tracks in this game and each one has a different look and theme to it. Throughout this racing title youâll be treated to a high production value in terms of graphics and vibrant, refreshing displays with attentive art direction delivered. Firebrand Games has definitely surpassed expectations in this department showing their mastery of current gen console hardware.
Soundtrack, Audio, Voice:Â The soundtrack in this game is the upbeat tempo stuff youâd expect to find in a racing game but whatâs really cool is that often times the music has samples and sounds that are familiar to the video game industry. The audio of the vehicles sounds clear and appropriate, which is great since audio is important to the feel of a racing game. The voices can sometimes be annoying but they are also an important part of this game since they inform you of whatâs going on and what youâre supposed to be doing. Thanks to the voice-overs provided in this game, youâll never be confused or stuck wondering whatâs going on, which enables you to enjoy the game in a streamlined manner and worry about your gameplay not reading instructions.
Multiplayer Aspect:Â Up to 4 players can take part in local âHot Seat Modeâ multiplayer on one console in a pass-the-controller style fashion.
Replay Ability:Â High
Engine Performance, Physics, Glitches:Â The physics in the game is loosely based on that of real life racing but takes many liberties in pushing it more towards the arcade / fantasy side of things. Youâll get a good balance which leans mostly towards fast driving, easy to master drifting, and also enjoy ridiculous feats that could never be accomplished in real life such as driving sideways across walls, over insane ramps, and more. There were no glitches encountered in our play-through of Hot Wheels: Worldâs Best Driver and the game engine performed quickly and with stability.
Final Verdict:Â Hot Wheels: Worldâs Best Driver is a great game, thereâs really not much you can complain about with this racing title. We would have liked to see a full story mode / campaign added, and that led to a less than perfect score, however we definitely recommend this game to anybody that is looking for a pick-up-and-play experience capable of providing a good fun factor. The title is also age appropriate for all members of the family with the âE for Everyoneâ rating by the ESRB. The graphics, sounds, game engine, and fun factor all come together to make a well polished product from Firebrand Games and Warner Bros. Interactive earning it an impressive 9 out of 10 making it a Gold Game on the RealGamerNewz Rating Scale.
Publisher:Â Warner Bros. Interactive
Available On:Â Wii U / PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC
Handheld Version Available On: DS / 3DS
Played On:Â PlayStation 3
Review Copy Info- A physical copy of the game was provided to RealGamerNewz by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Being developed by Flying Wild Hog, and Devolver Digital this first person shooter is set to blast itâs way back onto PCâs this fall minus the controversy and stereotypes though. Why? Because lawsuits. Thatâs why.
The Dark Eye: Memoria is a point-and-click adventure game thatâs coming to Windows PC and Mac OS X at the end of this month. Unlike other titles of the genre, this one is not first person and shows fully animated characters acting out the commands that you present to them. Clicking the middle mouse button (or pressing the space bar) will give also give you hints as to what you are meant to do next, something that is extremely useful for a game of this nature. The tools at your disposal, including items and magic, are a part of an auto-hiding menu.
The Saints Row series started exclusively back in 2006 for the Xbox 360. Back then I was super hyped for another awesome looking sandbox / open-world game. Saints always had the âfun factorâ focus and an over-the-top theme that many have come to expect with each iteration. Now players take the role of the President of the United States of America and have to fight off aliens, robots, more aliens, and well, you get the picture. Dropping back into the interesting world of the Saints as they climb their way to the top, letâs see what Volition and Deep Silver have in store for us.
Race the Sun plays a bit like a racing rendition of Star Fox with polygons and a calculated lack of textures that gives you a really cool virtual reality type of feel while playing. Each race has multiple objectives, and you donât have to complete a perfect round to get to the next stage. So thereâs replay value in that alone since you may find yourself skipping ahead once youâve met the requirements for a level, then backtracking in order to truly master that same level. The game also features an intense online system including a login system with leader-boards and even more features. No worries though, as you can also play without all of that if you donât have time to sign up during your first run through and just want to see what all the fuss is about.
Anomaly 2 comes from 11 Bit Studios out of Warsaw, Poland. They are famous for their tower defense series Anomaly. They have also come out with several other titles including Funky Smugglers and Sleepwalkerâs Journey, both of which are iOS, Blackberry, and Android. In Anomaly 2 the year is 2034 A.C. and most of the earth is frozen over. The world population is unknown. Machines have returned to Earth and have the sole purpose to annihilate the human race. You play as a small squad. As you travel across the campaign you will meet Doctor Zander. With the help of his associates you will have Project Shockwave, which is the ultimate weapon to use against the machines.
Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition is the PC version of the mobile role playing game from Paradox Interactive which brings back the classic JRPG feel and gameplay many have known and fallen in love with since the early 90s and before. With this game you fill find a focus on gameplay above all else. For that we are appreciative, as most JRPGâs donât exactly have a great introduction. Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition is exactly what the RPG genre needed.
Sanctum 2 comes from developer Coffee Stain Studios. Theyâve made the original Sanctum back in 2011. The Sanctum series is an FPS tower defense game on âroids, where it combines the basics of a normal tower defense with the adrenaline of an FPS. Sanctum 2 takes place on the planet LOEK III, where you are tasked with protecting cores from the alien race. The story that takes place is represented by a series of comic strips throughout the campaign and give a little back story on the fight youâre going to take part in. In the campaign you can either take the story on by yourself or with a total of 4 players in co-op. There is a total of 16 maps to battle across and they come in different environments so adapting is a huge part of this game.
The first piece of DLC is out for Metro Last Light, itâs called the Faction Pack where you the player get to play through three different set-ups that take place during the campaign. You arenât playing the main character but playing other people that exist in the world. The first character you play as is a sniper of the Redline and youâre tasked with infiltrating Reich Outpost at night. This outpost is heavily guarded and will take some skill to go through. You also have the shadows as your friend and itâs also during a very deadly radioactive storm.
Anno Online is a free-to-play game supported by micro-transactions, but that being said itâs also a lot of fun for anybody who dreams of creating their own civilization and running it. Anno Online is based on the real-time-strategy franchise Anno (also known as Dawn of Discovery) including Anno 2070 which gave players the choice to run things with the mindset of a CEO, the mindset of a spiritual leader, or even better the mindset of an artificial intelligence.
Rising Storm comes from Tripwire Interactive the studio that has brought us other titles such as Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad, and of course Killing Floor. I have play all of Tripwire Interactives games and have one thing to say these guys know FPS. Following the history in their game history Rising Storm was done in conjunction with the modding community. The game also has steam workshop added into the multiplayer which is a great way to add some flavor to the game with new maps and new weapon mods.
When I was told I was going to get to review ShootMania Storm I was super excited because I love Nadeo and their games are awesome. Their catalog consists of high caliber titles such as TrackMania Nations and TrackMania Canyon. Both of these games have always been played at a lot of Lan Parties they are time trial based games and require a lot of perfection and technique. I played in the Open Beta for ShootMania Storm and at first I was very impressed with the fresh new gameplay. The community was very behind this game and that was good because I could hop on to the servers and always find games.
Leviathan Warships is a turn-based naval simulator featuring full co-operative and competitive multiplayer as well as a single player campaign and is available now on PC on platforms such as Steam published by Paradox Interactive. In this title players take full advantage of upgrading and essentially constructing their naval ships from scratch. Each turn is programmed out including cool-down ratios which must be taken into account every time a move is made. If you want to expect a good amount of damage to be deflected then you need to not only decide where to move your ships and where to aim their attacks, but you also need to keep track of which direction your ship is facing. There are only certain shield protections that you will be able to fit onto your ship as balanced with your weaponry. This is all based on the weight of each additional piece to your ship.
Binary Domain takes place well into the future and it takes full advantage leaving behind not many missed gameplay opportunities. Youâll see yourself using technology such as nano-machines to upgrade your weapons and other technological advancements to your advantage during your war against robots. Youâll be glad to have these advantages on your side too. Since your enemy isnât human theyâve got a few advantages themselves, most notably they donât die just from losing limbs.
Thomas Was Alone starts out as a platformer that talks to you, but it becomes so much more as it tells the story of an intuitive plot that lends itself to gameplay, or was it vice versa? One canât be too sure with such an introspective narrative that quickly becomes one metacognitive realization after another.
Intro:Â There are those who say Resident Evil Revelations HD is nothing more than a â3DS Portâ which allegedly âfeels like a mobile game stillâ, but after significant time playing through the title it becomes clear right away that those claims are false. Resident Evil Revelations HD is a solid entry in this classic franchise and actually manages to outshine all other home console entries this generation in terms of the one player experience it is capable of providing. While we enjoy Resident Evil 5 and 6 for cohesive co-operative play, these titles have also been on the victimâs end of quite a few bashings for that experience not holding up to expectations in single player play-throughs.
The WRC racing series has always paved the way and made a name for itself within its own niche of pure rally racing that comes straight off the top as an exciting and adrenaline-filled experience. If you know anything about racing games then you know that there might be more hardcore simulation systems out there but when it comes to simply wiping dirt all over your opponentâs face, WRC 3 is going to spend some time spinning your wheels.