When I last played Police Stories, I was pretty delighted by how much the two level alpha had to offer. So it was with somewhat mixed feelings that a year later I found myself playing a four level alpha – this feels like slow progress, albeit it with a graphical overhaul. And yet I am just as captured and occupied by the levels it has, and really impressed with the improvements made. (more…)
There’s something about the very concept of ‘a million’ that sticks in the mind. It’s one of those nice, round numbers that still remains hard to visualise due to its sheer enormity. For instance, if you were to print DVD cases for all one million copies sold (across PC, PS4 & Xbox One) of Ninja Theory’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, you’d have a million DVD cases, and I cannot even begin to parse how much space that’d take up. Still, it’s a hell of a success, considering that the game itself was a gamble, both business-wise (making ‘AAA Indie’ a thing) and thematically.
Sometimes, things just take time. When an amateur team remake an FPS classic up to AAA standards in a modern engine in their spare time? Yeah, that’ll take a while, but the patience seems to be paying off for fans of Black Mesa. While so so far the ambitious (and Valve-endorsed) Half-Life remake has mostly adhered to the structure of the original, developers Crowbar Collective reckon that they can do better with Xen. While the core concepts and story beats are still present, everything else is being re-designed from the ground up. It’s looking lovely, and nearing completion.
The power fantasy of exploring new worlds or meeting strange alien races (and then shooting at both of those things) is the kind of thing that big-budget games tend to focus on. As far as humour is concerned, they re at best plus comedy experiences that deliver on their key points but also have some funny quips along the way. You re never asked to participate in the humour, and if the jokes don t land then there s little you as the player can do about it. So why not equip the player with the systems to write their own jokes and tell their own stories? And how do you foster humour creation in games that don t already have a pun-based name for every item? I spoke to the developers of four such games to find out how they utilise this approach in order to enable players to create their own fun.
One thing that became evident through the interviews was that each and every system available to the player has to be airtight if they are to get the most out of the experience. A poorly-implemented system can cause you to lose investment in the same way that a poorly delivered punchline might. Each developer wanted to encourage experimentation through their game s systems in their own way. But which comes first; the design of the systems or the desire to create humour? (more…)
Redout, the F-Zero and Wipeout-inspired racer, is returning next year, and it’s looking a little different. Redout: Space Assault ditches the fixed racetracks of yesterday’s future, and instead heads out into orbit for frenetic stellar battles between dogfighting spaceships.
Get a taste of the new direction by checking out the teaser, below.
Update: The show is live right now. Tune in for games being thrashed to within an inch of their lives.
The Summer Nerd Olympics are almost upon us. Every six months, the best and brightest in gaming assemble under the Games Done Quick banner to demolish games extra-fast and raise heaving sacks of cash for good causes. This Sunday, the speedster swarm will be descending on Bloomington, Minnesota to destroy games as you know it, all in the name of supporting Doctors Without Borders. As usual, the whole thing will be streamed live on Twitch (and archived on YouTube) and runs for an entire week, 24/7.
Below, find some of our must-watch picks from the full schedule.
Assassin s Creed Odyssey will let us play as either Kassandra or Alexios, both Spartan warriors, but creative director Jonathan Dumont told Reddit that it s the former who is considered the canon protagonist, at least in the upcoming official novelisation. It won t affect the game, however, as whoever you play as will be treated as the one, true hero.
The game’s marketing, however, seems altogether Alexios-inclined… (more…)
This is Playstyle Royale, where I head into Playerunknown’s Battlergounds a battle royale game and try to win my chicken dinner while adhering to arbitrary rules. This time’s a bit different, because I’m more interested in becoming a chicken than winning one.
I’m playing Realm Royale, the battle royale spin off to Hi-Rez’s Paladins. One of its best ideas is that when you run out of health, instead of dying you get to run around as a defenceless chicken: survive for 30 seconds, and you’re reincarnated in human form. I’m going to get myself poultry-fied three times, then win a game. That is definitely absolutely what is going to happen. (more…)
Valve’s Steam Link box (which lets you stream your PC library to another TV or monitor in a different room in your house) is cheap as chips right now, going for a mere 2 / $2.50 in the Steam Intergalactic Summer Sale. That’s a whopping 95% off. It would almost be rude not to, really.
Two things made me decide to check out Monster Prom’s free “F*ckin Hot” update this morning, despite not normally having an interest in the dating sim genre. First, the monsters. Second, the multiplayer. It’s a punchy set up: the prom is looming, and you and your friends have got three weeks to woo a 20-something college student. Who may well be a gorgon, or a psychopathic sky-princess.
How on earth does that work? What’s in that new update, other than some summer outfits and the opportunity to help a demon punch the sun? Can I get away with leaving f-bombs in that headline, and can Beautiful Glitch’s monsters melt my cold, non-dating sim-appreciating heart? The answers await below. (more…)