I have a confession: I hated Forza Horizon when I first played it. Something about the tone, from Axe Body Spray sponsored races to the presence of terrible dubstep on the radio, just kinda rubbed me the wrong way. But then something happened as I was driving around.
I saw a sunset.
As Owen mentioned in his review, some of the scenery in the game is absolutely stunning. It captures the feeling of aimlessly driving around a sprawling environment, like Los Angeles or the countryside at dusk. For some reason, it reminded me a lot some of the quieter moments in the Ryan Gosling movie Drive.
So that's exactly how I started playing it.
In the video above, I'll show you what I mean. And if you haven't seen Drive yet, I'd highly recommend doing so.
Last Tuesday, I went to bed at around 10:30pm, hoping to get a decent amount of sleep. Maybe I'd wake up early, go for a run before breakfast. You know, try to be a human being.
Then I started Virtue's Last Reward.
By 3am, I was shivering under the covers, jabbing my thumb at my Vita's touchscreen and debating whether to call in sick so I could just spend the next 24 hours reading and piecing together the game's morbid mysteries. It's that kind of game.
Virtue's Last Reward, which you may recognize as the sequel to 2010's wonderful Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, is a Japanese adventure game that's sort of a cross between a horror movie, an Escape the Room game, and a choose-your-own-adventure novel. It's well-written, delightfully addictive, and totally unsettling.
You get to play a dude named Sigma, who wakes up in a locked room and finds himself trapped in a big facility with eight other people. You're all greeted by a demonic AI that looks like a bunny rabbit and told you have to play something called the Nonary Game in order to escape. If you don't play, you die. You know how it is.
To play this Nonary Game, the nine of you are split up, forced to solve puzzles, and then dropped against one another in a version of the Prisoner's Dilemma that asks you to choose whether to betray or ally your partner. The results of your decisions determine the outcome of the game.
If you both ally, you both get two points.
If you ally and your partner betrays, you lose two points and they get three.
If you betray and your partner allies, you get three points and they lose two.
If you both betray, you both get nothing.
You each start with three points. Whoever gets nine first wins, and gets to leave the facility. Whoever goes below 0 loses. And dies.
So as you progress, you'll have to make quite a few decisions, most of which involve choosing whether or not to trust your partner. As you make these decisions, you'll travel down one potential timeline out of quite a few. It's a little... think of it like a big chart—mostly because it's shown to you, in the game, as a big chart. Not unlike Radiant Historia, there are nodes and branches, and every time you're faced with a decision, you'll go down a certain branch. And you can hop between nodes at any time.
In other words, when you're done seeing the outcome of one decision, you can jump right back up and see what would happen if you chose something else. As the game goes on, you notice some strange connections between the different timeline branches that could hint at... well, now we're getting into spoileriffic territory. But to experience the whole story, you'll have to play through just about every possibility.
If you have played 999, you likely had a few complaints. I certainly did. I hated having to solve the same puzzles multiple times, and I absolutely couldn't stand some of the long, over-the-top prose fed to you between scenes. I am happy to report that you don't have to solve the same puzzles multiple times and that the prose is mostly gone, replaced by sharp, witty dialogue (with some solid voice acting!) and a whole lot of rabbit puns. You'll get used to the rabbit puns.
My clock right now says I've been playing for 14 hours, and I'm still not even close to unraveling all of the many intricate mysteries wound around Virtue's Last Reward. I am intentionally not talking about any of these mysteries. You should discover them for yourself. Just don't start playing if you want to get some sleep.
If you've got a Vita, you can check out the demo for Virtue's Last Reward right now. It'll be out on both Vita and 3DS this Tuesday.
There is no greater scourge to our universe than blatant shapism. The people of the Square Planet have subjugated the Ball People, crushing their spirit beneath their sharply-angled boots, but they didn't count on the heroic Round Ball and his unique ability to roll with the punches. I could do this all day.
Unleashed on the iTunes app store today by developer Majaka, Square Planet is a charming little accelerometer-based platformer in which our rotund hero uses the Square People's biggest weakness against them. He can roll. They cannot. Using this advantage he must traverse 16 different levels, braving obstacles, scoring power-ups, uncovering secret areas and—most importantly—freeing his captive brethren.
The gameplay is basic and the game a little short in its current state, but multiple play-throughs are in order to catch all the quirky happenings in the background of this 3D world.
Game designer Chris Roberts, known for the Wing Commander games of yore, made a big splash last week when he announcedStar Citizen, a return to the spaceflight genre.
The announcement was so well-received, in fact, that Roberts Space Industrties, the website set up for the in-house crowdfunding initiative, crashed. Hard.
Although the website is now up and stable, Roberts and Cloud Imperium have also now made the transition onto Kickstarter, after many fan requests. As the recent success of the Project Eternity drive has shown, Kickstarter can handle a high volume of site visits and donations easily.
In addition to contributions made via Kickstarter, pledges made through the website or through PayPal will still count toward Star Citizen's two million dollar total goal.
Indie sensation Dear Esther won lots of praise for its distinctive feel and moody narrative when it came out earlier this year. Even though it's short, The Chinese Room's experimental title is the kind of experience you take your time with so that the mournful vibe and lushly drawn virtual world can seep into your pores.
But one guy doesn't have time for all of that. In the video above—courtesy of Speed Demos Archive—Simon 'default' Albacke Eriksson speedruns through Dear Esther in 23 minutes. Apparently, just because he can. Usually, speed runs are challenges to execute the jumping, shooting and other precision movements of video gaming as quickly possible. But providing a skill-based challenge isn't really the point of Dear Esther. So, blasting your way through it is like speedrunning an art exhibit. "I made it through the new MoMA Impressionism exhibit in three minutes flat. BEAT THAT."
However, Eriksson's sprint through Dear Esther isn't all subversive. A sort of manic tension gets made manifest in the speed run and shifts the literary appreciation into a high-speed dread, almost as if the player is running away from all the talking. So, if someone else beats this time, Dear Esther might seem… scarier? Who knows?
Every day more and more social games are dipping their toes into the mobile market, perhaps hunting for firm footing in the face of Facebook's big mobile push. Now one of the social networks most beloved hidden object tiles takes the iPad plunge with Mystery Manor Blitz.
Mystery Manor is one of those relaxing object hunting games aimed at people that enjoy staring intently at the screen, hand hovering over their mouse for hours on end. A nice glass of wine, a little Mystery Manor, that's a pleasant evening.
Mystery Manor Blitz, coming soon to the iPad from developer Game Insight, takes the hidden object formula, adds a timer and leaderboards and sets players loose in the mansion of Mr. X. They'll go room-by-room, racing against the clock and their friends. Power-ups will be available, but the highest score goes to players that do it naked.
In order to enjoy an evening of this game you might want to put that red wine into one of those beer hats with the tube straws attached. It's a classy look.
Like I mentioned yesterday, I felt like I was in a rut for a little while with my Borderlands 2 arsenal. But suddenly, upon starting the first, pirate-themed DLC, I wound up with an embarrassment of great weaponry. When it rains, it pours (bullets).
Among the guns I got was a unique Hyperion sniper rifle (not actually tied to the DLC) that does 1,000 damage (!) and is super shiny looking, to boot. But there's a catch… every time I reload, it lambasts me in a shrill, nagging tone.
"Well at LEAST you stopped SHOOTING for a little while!"
"If you were a better shot, you wouldn't need to reload!"
"You're a bad person."
You can get a sense of the gun in the above video, uploaded by YouTuber Daniel Turnbull. The best thing about this gun, called the "Auditing Morningstar" (??), is that while it's annoying, it's not too annoying to use. Unlike the cursed "Bane" submachine gun, which both makes a hellacious racket when firing and restricts your movement, the Morningstar is actually a great weapon, with that one… minor… caveat.
"Oh great. Now you're wasting ammo!"
Stop judging me, gun! You think you're so great? God!
CastleVille's Halloween event has expanded far beyond simply growing spirits in your Kingdom, as you can now build a Haunted House, grow pumpkin crops and much more to celebrate the holiday. While we've already brought you a complete guide to completing the game's Halloween Treats quests, the second you plant your first Pumpkin in your Kingdom (which is required for said quests), you'll spawn an entirely separate set of quests called Halloween Tricks. This particular series seals with the new Halloween Party system, and we're here with a complete guide to finishing this series off, thanks to Zynga. Let's get started!
Ogre's Belches are earned by tending plants like grasses in your Kingdom. As for the Halloween Party Starter, this is crafted in the Party Pavilion using five Fangs, three Wood Planks and three Milk Bottles. The Party itself only takes five seconds to craft, and will then start a timer in your Kingdom. The party expires after two days, but will also give you the chance of earning prizes if your friends visit during that time frame. You'll receive 1,750 coins and 35 XP for completing this first quest.
A Trolling Stone
•Craft 1 Tombstone Party Reward
•Craft 2 Hammers
•Tend 10 Flowers
The Tombstone is the first reward associated with the Halloween Party, and while it only takes five seconds to craft, you'll also need to earn quite a few Party Favors before you can actually complete the job. You'll need three Stone Blocks and two Skulls for this project, and will also need five Cobwebs and eight Makeup Kits for a single Tombstone. The latter two ingredients are earned either by asking friends to send them to you, or by attending Halloween Parties being thrown by your friends. For every friend's party you visit, you'll have a chance to earn these two items simply by completing tasks as you normally would. It's all random, of course, but at least you can technically earn these items without pestering your friends even more than already necessary. When you finally manage to finish this quest, you'll receive 1,750 coins and 35 XP. You'll also receive two pieces to a Pumpkin Halloween Costume: a male and female version of the Pumpkin Mask.
The Oozes are earned by simply posting a message to your wall asking for help. For the ice Chunks task, you'll need to either hammer into some Ice covered trees or rocks that remain in your Kingdom, or purchase such items from the store and hammer into those. Finally, you'll need to collect more Party Favors for the Spooky Skeleton item, as you'll need 20 Cobwebs, four Animal Bones, four Ogre's Belches and four Cloaks to craft a single one. If you're trying to gather some of these items before crafting the Tombstone, you're unfortunately on your own, as each recipe is locked until you craft the one above it. In this case, the Spooky Skeleton is locked until your craft the Tombstone, and so on. Completing this quest gives you 1,750 coins and 35 XP.
Now Push Your Hands Up
•Craft 3 Wooden Clubs
•Craft 1 Zombie Hand Party Reward
•Have an Active Halloween Party
As we said before, these Halloween Parties will only remain active for two days, so this quest accounts for the fact that you might have spent more than two days from the beginning of this event until actually reaching this quest. You're free to craft additional Parties so long as this event is currently active, so just collect the necessary Party ingredients all over again and craft another to finish this task (if you actually need to, that is). For the Zombie Hand, you'll need 12 Cobwebs, 16 Makeup Kits, two Wigs and five Grubs to actually craft a single one. Again, you'll need to visit Halloween Parties (or have really generous friends) to finish off a single Party Reward, so make sure to visit your neighbors once per day to take advantage of their parties. Note: you can tell where parties are active based on the colorful band around a person's picture in your friends bar. Finishing this quest gives you 1,750 coins and 35 XP.
We've known for a while that CD Projekt Red, the folks who make those great Witcher role-playing games, are making a new sci-fi game. Previously codenamed "Cyberpunk," it now has an official title. Cyberpunk 2077.
Here's CD Projekt Red on their new cybery, punky game, which is based on author Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk series:
The cyberpunk atmosphere, well known from William Gibson's novels, the "Blade Runner" movie and the famous pen-and-paper game, "Cyberpunk 2020", will surround the player. The creators promise that "Cyberpunk 2077" will be true to the essence of the cyberpunk genre. Players will be thrown into the dark future of the year 2077 and into a world where advanced technologies have become both the salvation and the curse of humanity. A multi-thread, nonlinear story designed for mature players (a CD Projekt RED trademark) will take place in the sprawling metropolis of Night City and its surroundings. Players will have a chance to visit places well known from "Cyberpunk 2020", including a combat zone completely taken over by gangs, the legendary Afterlife joint and the nostalgic Forlorn Hope.
Freedom of action and diversity in gameplay will be delivered thanks to the sandbox nature of the game and mechanics inspired by the "Cyberpunk 2020" pen-and-paper system, fine tuned to meet the requirements of a modern RPG. Gameplay will pump adrenaline through players' veins and be consistent with the celebrated Cyberpunk spirit – rebellion, style, edge, uncertainty. And of course, a cyberpunk reality cannot be deprived of murderous steel – guns, rifles, implants, dozens of gadgets and other varied pieces of equipment needed to survive on the streets of Night City. The developers are focused on making the technology of 2077 credible and exciting.
Man, I didn't realize today was going to be Tina-posting-about-Adventure Time day when I got into the office. If I knew I would have brought in a bunch of candy to eat ferociously while pretending I was eating citizens of the Candy Kingdom. (Cause why not? I don't know why!)
Jake's stretching into various forms in Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!will be limited, just by virtue of the fact that it's impossible to accomodate for all the whacky shapes Jake gets himself into in the actual show. But what can he do? We already knew he'd be a bridge, and Pen Ward told Kotaku he could turn into an anvil.
But these new screens show us definitively what Jake can do. Take a look.
It might not be as robust as Jake's abilities on the show, but I still think Jake deserves an everything burrito for his efforts. Aw, Jake always deserves an everything burrito after that last time!
A Trolling Stone
Man, I didn't realize today was going to be Tina-
