When a Flare Path Friday falls on November 29, the 333rd day of the year, it’s traditional for all the stories to have a topical tripartite slant. Back in 2002 that meant detailed scrutiny of a just released Fokker Dr.I add-on for MSFS, coverage of Bronze Tide, a WIP Battle of Arginusae wargame, and an interview with Trilobyte Interactive, the makers of Lucy Lyme, a Spelunky precursor inspired by the activities of Victorian fossil hunter Mary Anning. Today it means words on Prepar3D, N3V’s plans, and IL-2: Battle of Stalingrad’s early access LaGG-3. (more…)

The Warcraft movie has been rattling around Hollywood for years. First we were afraid, we were petrified, but rumours that Uwe Boll was going to make the movie turned out not to be true. Then Evil Dead/Spider-Man director Sam Raimi was attached to direct, but had to drop out due to other commitments, and we kept thinking we could never live without him by our side. Then Duncan Jones, the director of Moon and Source Code and a PC gamer, took over the project, and we knew we would not crumble.

It’s taken all the strength we’ve had not to fall apart, though now the movie has been delayed further into March 2016, to make way for Star Wars’ December 2015 release. (more…)

I spent a frankly ludicrous amount of time playing Motocross Madness 2. Along with 1nsane (was there ever a sequel called In2ane?), it was one of two semi-open world driving games that I found much more enjoyable than track-based offerings. The joy of driving up the biggest hill in sight, spinning through the air with all the grace of an airborne emu and crumpling into the mud, a broken ragdoll of a man. Sometimes I’d just aim for the horizon and ride, or chase other motorbikes, pretending that I was a predator and they were my prey. That’s about as much as I know about Motocross so I’m somewhat disappointed that the new physics trailer for officially licensed game MXGP doesn’t contain any crashes or hunting at all.

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Beta signups are now open for Drums of War, a turn-based tactical combat game set in a world of “magic and mythical creatures”. They mean fireballs and orcs. Looking through the screenshots, I was convinced I’d seen the game before but a quick trip to the RPS archives left me covered in dust and regret, but I found no evidence of these particular drums. I suppose one hex-based fantasy game can look a lot like another, but the emphasis on environmental reaction was sending my belfry into a cacophony. Then it hit me – I’d failed to find a previous reference to the game because it had a naff word crammed in front of its now-absent colon. The game was once Crasleen: Drums of War and I rather enjoyed the demo.

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EA were voted the worst company in America by the public two years in a row. Now in an interview with MCV, Patrick Soderlund now says the company just wants to be loved. “I don’t believe for a second that we are the worst company in America, but I do believe when something like that happens, you have to sit down and ask yourselves ‘Why are people saying these things?’”

Why? Why oh why oh why oh why. (more…)

It is by some terrible coincidence that I am posting news of this Kickstarter campaign on the other Black Friday. As the other half of the title suggests, this isn’t a game about reduced prices and the terrifying reactions of people to those prices – this is a game about the Iranian Revolution. More specifically, it’s the first episode of a longer project, approximately two hours long and covering the events of September 8, when a failed curfew and the declaration of martial law brought death to the streets of Tehran. Using a “real photos, recordings and intelligence” and placing the player in the role of a photojournalist, the developers hope to explore the historical setting through meticulous recreations and “suspenseful and engaging gameplay”.

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Redshirt‘s Spacebook sounds like the perfect idea: it’s a life sim which uses a social network as a metaphor through which to convey each character’s personal data and stats. The jokes write themselves. Add a Star Trek-like space station as the setting and you can almost see each element of the game’s design spooling out in front of you.

It’s a shame that the concept is the only thing I like. (more…)

It seems like MOBAs have a rival for in the race to be the current wrong-headed obsession of the industry. Games Workshop have announced that, like everyone else, they’re making a free-to-play collectible card game. It’s called Warhammer 40k: Space Wolf, it’s out next Spring, and there’s a brief, underwhelming trailer below. (more…)

Elder Sign: Omens, a board game for one, was a permanent fixture on my tablet until I did a Moses and broke the bloody thing at a scene of wild revelry. I own the physical version as well – more of a dice game than a board game – which just goes to show that I’m some sort of miserable Cthuluphile who likes anything with a sanity stat. Hidden among the busy frontpage of the current sale, Fantasy Flight’s digital Mythos-lite game has just been released on Steam, with two sets of DLC included. Below, I shall tell you why I installed it immediately but also why you may want to consider your purchase carefully, no matter how much you might love lurking horrors and the Innsmouth look.>

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Papo & Yo is a personal game, using the tale of a monster and a boy to touch on creator Vander Caballero’s upbringing. It’s a story of affection, protection, alcoholism and abuse, set in a dreamlike favela. Nathan found the experience powerful:

“That relationship, then, lies at the heart of Papo & Yo, weaving an extremely personal thread through both story and gameplay mechanics. But does it bind them together or leave them straining at the seams?”

You can read his thoughts here to learn more but SPOILER ALERT he decides that the seams are strained, describing the actual puzzling and platforming as ‘exceedingly mediocre’. That said, it’s not often we see this sort of story in a game and even if it falters in places, the experience still sounds worthwhile. Especially when you can pay what you want (minimum of $1) for the next three and a half days over at IndieGameStand.

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