Rocket League gets schwifty, becomes X sport

 

It’s been a big week for everyone’s favourite supersonic acrobatic rocket-powered battle cars. Psyonix’s smash hit Rocket League has been branching out all over the place, it seems, courtesy of the snowball effect caused by a whopping 5-and-a-half million gamers who have decided that ordinary football (soccer) just ain’t good enough.

The spate of expansion actually began at E3 a couple of weeks ago, where Psyonix revealed that Rocket League would soon be available on Nintendo’s latest console, the remarkably popular Switch. Then earlier this week, Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, creators of Rick and Morty, stirred their fan-base into a veritable frenzy by vaguely hinting at an announcement that would be made at the end of the week.

An announcement arrived, but it was a day too soon, and had nothing to do with the elusive season 3. It was, in fact, the news that the transdimensional champions in witty one-liners and existential angst will be joining the Rocket League world as new cosmetic items to be earned in-game. New toppers – Mr Meeseeks, a Cromulon, and Mr “Safety in Acronyms” PBH – as well as a new trail, new rims, and a Morty antenna are an example of what you’ll be able to unlock simply by playing online or offline matches.

This news comes as the Rocket League second anniversary update draws near, promising new vehicles, a new arena, and new ways to customise your engine noise and goal explosion (among many, many other things). For those of you hugely disappointed by this Rick and Morty reveal, fear not: there will be another, more stupendous, announcement on Friday.

In other news, Rocket League has taken a giant leap forward on the eSports front. Developer Psyonix announced today that their soc-car game will be an official event during this year’s Summer X Games. Historically designed for extreme real-world sports, I’m interested to see if a bunch of plucky individuals attempt to play the game for real… Just kidding!

In collaboration with eSports platform Faceit, this new addition to the X games line-up is designed to drag virtual competition into the limelight a little, and is not the first time an eSport has featured on the roster: previous years have seen entries from everything from Halo to Call of Duty. The event will take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, between July 13-16th, and will be broadcast on ESPN 3. Competitors will be fighting for a slice of a $75,000 prize pool, as other athletes go head-to-head in disciplines like skateboarding, BMX, and motocross.

For more information on the Rick and Morty update, head here. This, and the rest of the anniversary update, is due to land on console and PC on July 5th, so check back then for a full break-down of new features.

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REVIEW/ Get Even (PC)

 

One of the fun things you can do with video games is to look at common trends in game design and work backward to see what the most influential games were at the time. Just look at the games that came out directly after Call of Duty, or League of Legends to see what I mean. One of the more interesting games that have had a lasting influence is P.T., a game that was nothing more than a trailer for a game that never came out. The latest game to take a nod from P.T. and the genre it sprouted, is Get Even. 

 

 

You play as Cole Black, a man who wakes up in a creepy abandoned asylum with no memories, other than the fragmented recollection trying to save a girl with a bomb strapped to her chest. Speaking of strapped, Cole has a strange piece of VR technology fused to his head – used to read and replay memories. Using this device, he will travel into the depths of his own mind to discover the truth about his past.

Get Even is part walking simulator, part military stealth game. It’s best described as Layers of Fear with a few stealth sections thrown in. While the shift between two various types of gameplay does a lot to keep the game fresh, the stealth sections aren’t really more than just okay. But they aren’t bad, which is a good thing.

 

 

The issue with the action levels is that there aren’t really that many options outside of the two powers you get. These powers don’t overlap either. You get one or the other. You get the ability to add or remove things from the level or warp from place to place.

I won’t go into the details of how these powers are gained or used since that would get into spoiler territory but know the second power is more fun to use than the first. Honestly, by the end of the game, I found these levels to be more of something I had to get through, to get back to the story. Though this had a lot to do with the game giving me a cool gun that could shoot around corners, and then berating me every time I used it.

 

 

The primary focus of Get Even is its story, which I can’t give too many details on as most of the fun with the story comes from experiencing it blind. The premise is that you are a man named Black who has gone to an asylum run by a man named Red to get help in recovering some lost memories about a failed mission. There is a lot of engagement to be found as it drips out the story piece by piece. Even if you don’t like the gameplay, the story will keep you going.

Visually, the game is above average. From a technical standpoint, the game is stellar, for the most part. The only graphical issue I had was in the lip syncing of some of the characters seemed off. Which is a problem with just about every game. Other than that the game looks great. Even on my outdated graphics card. While everything looks great, the art design is nothing special. There just weren’t really any visuals that blew me away. Get Even takes place in a spooky asylum and abandoned warehouses. Two things I’ve seen a lot of in games.

 

 

While I did enjoy my time with Get Even, but there were a couple of annoyances, mostly with the UI. In the exploration part of the game, you have to solve puzzles using what is essentially a more cumbersome version of the Arkham games’ detective vision. I say more cumbersome because it is split up into three modes instead of one. The other issue is that two of the modes are not screen overlays, but require you to look at your cell phone in the corner of the screen.

I would have preferred if the cellphone took up the entire screen when using these modes for easy viewing. The other issue is that the game has a darkened circle around the edge of the screen that made it feel like my glasses were falling off for the first hour of the game. Eventually, I just got used to it.

 

 

All in all, Get Even is an engaging game. It blends a neat mix of genres that give it more to do that other games in the genre. In fact, it’s probably closer to what Silent Hill would have been than some of the others that have followed on from Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro’s infamous playable teaser.

 

 

 

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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Ancient Amuletor launches for PSVR

 

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a spot of tower defence. There’s something rather satisfying about utterly and strategically obliterating waves of enemies. What may well make this even more satisfying, however, is the ability to do it in virtual reality. This is exactly the case with Time of Virtual Reality’s Ancient Amuletor.

Ancient Amuletor is now available on the Playstation Network and PS Plus users will be able to grab a lovely 20% discount on this title for the first month of launch. Even better, you can still get a 5% discount even if you don’t subscribe.

So, what can you expect from the game then? Well, Ancient Amuletor is a pick-up-and-play action tower defence game created for VR by developers TiGames. You and up to two of your friends will be launched into the ancient world to battle waves of monsters and magical creatures. You’ll travel to Rome, Egypt and beyond meeting characters and enjoying environments inspired by comic-style art.

Whether you’re playing alone or with friends you will be able to choose from a roster of four unique heroes, namely The Gunner, Archer, Puppeteer and Mage. Each of these classes offers its own unique play-style allowing you to choose which fits your own best.

It’s always nice to see another addition to the PSVR library and for you TD nuts out there what can be better than actually getting your kills in person? Well sort of … If you want to lend your imagination to this new release you know exactly where you need to look.

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REVIEW / Perception (PS4)

 

The last horror game I played, under duress, was Resident Evil 7. I came close to crying and wetting myself multiple times during that traumatic experience, and yet here I am again, having spent a few nights tiptoeing around another goddamn creepy house in a horror game. Not only that, our charming editors didn’t force me to play Perception – I picked it up of my own volition.

 

How do I keep getting myself into these situations?

 

Perception is the first title from The Deep End Games, an independent developer formed by industry veterans of games like the BioShock series, Rock Band, Dead Space and many more.  After months of research seeking out the house from her nightmares, Cassie discovers the estate at Echo Bluff, an old, abandoned mansion in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Cassie enters the mansion to find the source of her nightmares and discovers that she isn’t alone in the house. For generations, the inhabitants of the estate have been tormented by a ghastly “Presence” and now Cassie is its new prey.

Cassie is blind, but able to “see” through the use of echolocation. By walking around the house, Cassie’s footsteps will light up a small area around the player. If Cassie taps her cane on the ground or on other objects, a much wider area is lit up. When Cassie is safe and calm, echolocated areas are shown as blue or green (signifying a doorway or hiding place). When Cassie is alarmed or threatened, anything blue will turn yellow escalating to red as the threat grows. Some items Cassie can pick up will trigger memories (which more or less function the way audio diaries do in every other game these days), and some will prompt her to use her smartphone to convert text to speech or contact a friendly community member to describe the scene.  The evidence she collects paints a picture of what happened to the past inhabitants and why the house haunts her dreams in the present.

 

Worst game of hide and seek ever

 

However, it’s not as simple as wandering around the house unhindered, picking up clues and solving mysteries. The Presence doesn’t want Cassie to live…or leave. Players must carefully balance their need to see with their fear of being caught by the Presence. If you make too much noise, the Presence will begin to rasp and groan and will eventually come for you. If the Presence is on your tail, you have to hide, run, or distract it with “sound bombs” like thrown alarm clocks to draw the enemy away from her location. Cassie can also time her louder movements with ambient sounds like a chiming grandfather clock.

Perception takes place over many eras and players will get to see the house retreat back to its origins and witness how it evolved over time. Throughout the decades and across generations, the house and its owners change significantly – architecture and décor evolve, entire wings and buildings come and go and alter your relationship with the space. Over time you’ll learn the layout of the house and begin to recognize familiar rooms across multiple generations, although some places will be completely new. Once you’ve discovered the source of evil in each generation, it’s Cassie’s job to right the wrong.

 

Tappa tappa tappa – here’s what it looks like when Cassie taps her cane

 

If you’re a gigantic wuss like I am, fear not – Perception is a mere 3-5 hours long, made up of four chapters themed around specific items that Cassie encounters in her nightmares. However, if the idea of blindly walking around a near-silent house of horrors even for a few minutes sets your teeth on edge, I can personally recommend grabbing a braver person to enjoy the game with you.  The first thing you’ll notice about Perception is that it’s really, really pretty. All the special effects like when you tap the cane and when roaring winds become “visible” are beautifully animated.

The mansion and its countless pieces of furniture, stacks of books, and other items aren’t just thrown around haphazardly – they all appear to be very deliberately placed as though the house has actually been lived in. Even though your visuals are limited to a cool blue and black for the majority of the game, the color scheme doesn’t grow tiresome to look at over time. Focal points like doorways and hiding places being highlighted in green was a good decision, as the sparse use of this color really stands out among all the black and blue. Likewise, the change to yellow and red during threatening situations really heightens the terror you feel knowing that the Presence is actively stalking you and could appear in front of you at any moment.

 

 

Almost every animation in the game is very smooth, though sometimes if the Presence is bobbing towards you it can look a little janky and goofy in its movements, which undercuts a little of the tension. Thankfully, I was too spooked when I was the one in control to really notice, however I definitely saw more of it when I was spectating. I won’t spoil the ending, but there is a spot at the very, very end of the game where I was either facing the wrong way to see it, or the Presence animation simply didn’t show up, which kind of undercut the seriousness of one of the final scenes.

There are also a few rare missing animations which I assume was purely to save time or to not overload the game. For example, pulling a board off a wall in the late game only shows the board disappearing, and Cassie’s hands aren’t present in the animation at all like they are in some others. Naturally, this didn’t impact my enjoyment of the game to any great extent. There seemed to be a small bug where subtitles (which I had turned on from the beginning of the game) would sometimes not show up during the text-to-speech segments when collecting evidence. This isn’t a big deal so long as you have your volume up loud enough and no one in the room is talking.

 

Wouldn’t recommend having a lie down

 

A good ambient score and carefully placed noises and voices is something that horror games absolutely have to achieve in order to be genuinely frightening. I was fairly gung-ho when I first sidled up to the mansion at the very beginning of the game, but once the sound of the snowstorm outside died away and the cold silence of the house settled in around me, I was petrified. For a long time, all you can hear are your footsteps, the sound of Cassie’s cane, and her voice as she chats to herself about what’s going on.

Perception hits all the right notes with its score and sound effects – every noise rings loud and clear through the silence, every ghostly voice is perfectly ethereal and far away without being too quiet, and Cassie’s lines are beautifully delivered. I also really appreciated the way that the Presence repeated the things it heard around the house, albeit in a near-robotic, buzzing kind of voice. It made the creature seem more and more empty of emotion, as though its only drive was to hurt without remorse or feeling. Additionally, hearing the raspy grumbles of the Presence when I began to shake the cane around a little too liberally really put me on edge and had me walking through the darkness for fear of inciting the house’s wrath.

 

 

While it’s not entirely related to the quality of the sound and score, it did bother me that when Cassie got in contact with the Friendly Eyes app community helper on her phone, he would speak to her at length and she wouldn’t reply at all. Cassie is exceptionally chatty when talking to friends on the phone or even just wandering around the house alone, but as soon as she has the opportunity to talk about some of the things she’s photographing but can’t actually see, she clams up.

This is especially strange in the later segments of the game where, predictably, she takes photos of more and more horrifying things. The helper begins to react with more and more concern and she still says nothing – it’s very strange. The developers also added the option to have Cassie stay quiet except for key plot points, which I think is an excellent addition if you truly want to ramp up the creepy atmosphere.

 

Nope.

 

Perception‘s story is split into four chapters, each of which covers a different era and different set of inhabitants in the estate on Echo Bluff. While some similar complaints remain – seeing the Presence and being unable to grow anything on the land – the inhabitants face wildly different problems and the house twists and changes to reflect these issues. The first chapter is the longest, and at the end of it my boyfriend commented that the main gameplay mechanics of reserved tapping and exploring the house would surely come to grate on us both. However, I’m glad to say that Perception doesn’t actually overdo it on the horror aspects of the game, even though it is legitimately creepy.

The threat of the Presence isn’t overwhelming and in fact there are long sections of the game where you can tap away to your heart’s content and not hear a single whisper from the Presence (I left my boyfriend to do this because I was a wuss and still not overly convinced that we were safe, at least at first). I think this is an extremely positive point in Perception’s favor, as overdoing the Presence would have made the game unbearable. Developers have to carefully balance scares, the limitations posed by the game mechanics (e.g. Cassie’s blindness), and whether the game can still be enjoyable when the two are combined.

 

 

Perception is a game you could easily fit into a single evening with some friends or alone, and I think keeping it short was definitely another point in its favor. No matter how well the blindness mechanic was implemented, it surely would have grated if the game was even as long as another horror title like Until Dawn.  That said, the echolocation mechanic is a really awesome, unique idea that I’ve not encountered before and I think this short indie title was the perfect place for it to shine.

The storyline in each chapter is really engaging and frequently had me guessing aloud “Oh, he did it.” or “She’s a total nutbag, it was her fault.” and most of the time I was proven wrong to a certain extent. While I feel that the very ending of the game’s storyline was a little rushed in its delivery, all of the main questions were still answered (barring those that would have required more exploration – some aspects of each story are only revealed in full if you find all of the memories around the house) and I find it hard to complain too much after the rest of the story was delivered so strongly.

 

[youtube L_1zUXv5l7M]

 

I’m not a huge fan of horror games, that much should be abundantly clear. However, I would (somewhat) gladly play Perception again in a heartbeat. I don’t think I find it anywhere near as scary anymore, but I think that even replays would still hold some of the fear factor that the original playthrough had to offer.  Perception moves from strength to strength, delivering a beautifully-crafted horror game that’s chilling but doesn’t overdo it on the scares. If you’re looking for a beautiful, eerie horror game that doesn’t go overboard or resort to jump scares, then this is your game.

 

 

 

This review is based on a  retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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PREVIEW / Planet Nomads (PC)

 

I love dipping my proverbial toes into early access games whenever I can. There’s something really cool about exploring a game that’s nearly there but not quite finished. This is very much the case with a title I’ve been playing lately by Czech developer Craneballs called Planet Nomads.

 

 

I’ve mentioned that this game is in early access, but this is something that I want to stress from the start; the reason for this is that I’m seeing the beginnings of what could potentially be something really wonderful, but in early access fashion they’re really not there quite yet. Planet Nomads has a distinctive No Man’s Sky feel to it. You crash land on a randomly generated world and have to go out and depending on the mode that you’re playing either survive or just be creative, build stuff and have fun. Notice that I used the word feel: this isn’t a clone or a copy, it’s just got a presence that feels kind of familiar if you’ve played the other game.

 

 

So lets start with the positives. It’s got plenty, the biggest one being just how damn gorgeous this game looks. I mean seriously, we aren’t talking samey landscapes and creatures that look like they’ve been Frankensteined together by a blind lunatic. You actually feel like you’re on an alien world and this is a massively good thing. This might possibly be because your surroundings aren’t alien to the point of being utterly weird. You still get a sense of familiarity without feeling too at home.

 

 

Another important note is that these worlds are massive and, as it should, the terrain changes as you travel and explore. This means you’re constantly going to be seeing something new and that makes you want to go out and actually look. The issue that comes with procedural generation is that although things are random, some basic rules are still in place. This can sometimes give a copy/paste feel even though what you’re seeing is different every time.

 

 

Thirdly, I noticed that day and night and changes in weather not only feel very distinctive (and look awesome), but genuinely effect you. You wouldn’t want to be stuck in the cold in a storm in real life and the same applies here. Find shelter or freeze. The game makes sense. Obviously starving isn’t good either, but this is something you’ll be more likely to consider immediately before taking your surroundings into account.

 

 

All good so far right? Now here’s the rub and the reason why I’m really glad Planet Nomads isn’t being called complete yet; there are certain things in a game that for me are absolutely crucial and at the top of this list is the need for a comfortable control system. This doesn’t just come down to button mapping, that can usually be changed to suit your taste as a player, it’s also about feel. If the controls feel clunky it doesn’t matter how easy the buttons are to remember. This is one of my biggest gripes about this game and the reason why I haven’t explored its beauty anywhere near as much as I would have liked to.

 

 

Movement in Planet Nomads feels really slow and turning creates a bizarre blurring effect that while only momentary (seconds really), it is enough to make you feel a bit queasy. I’m not sure whether this was intentional or whether it’s something they’re looking to fix later, but it’s massively off putting. I want to explore. I really want to see all the game has but when going anywhere feels weird and labored, I find it difficult to put more than 20 minutes in at a time before I start feeling like it’s all a bit too much hard work. This is something that you shouldn’t really be feeling in what should be a really enjoyable experience.

 

 

Another annoyance is the crafting system. Initially this isn’t really very well explained at all. Your tutorial in a game that already doesn’t have an introduction really amounts to basic movement and laying your first blocks for a shelter. From this point you can pull up the controls for different things using the F keys, but otherwise you’re pretty much on your own. Let’s remember that crafting is the soul of this game and is something I love. I think harnessing creativity is great and being able to do things your way is an even bigger plus. It’s the practice that doesn’t follow the theory. In creative mode you have loads of time to learn but in survival mode, you need to act efficiently and it’s really difficult to do when you’re working things out as you go.

 

 

For me – if I’m placing floor tiles, walls, items, etc. – it should feel fluid. Everything should snap together and really line themselves up where possible. On my second attempt at playing the game in creative mode, I thought I’d build my base then go and explore. The building menu offers you a catalogue of all the stuff you have to play with. You aren’t worrying about resources, it’s more build as you see fit. It took me literally ten minutes of twitch accuracy to place about four blocks. The slow character movement didn’t help but I found myself moving the mouse in the tiniest fractions to try and get anything to sit together.  Again, this all just felt like far too much hard work when I really wanted to be able to build everything from bases to vehicles.

 

 

In survival mode you need to find resources to make things. This I love but when making important items feels awkward the resource gathering side becomes more rushed. Your life is on the line so you want to get the ingredients quickly to give you longer to build. It’s really frustrating. I can see the heart of a brilliant game beating away merrily beneath the surface. I totally see the love the devs are putting into this title. Planet Nomads has the raw materials, but they having been molded and polished into the building blocks of a great game.

 

 

I think there is a huge amount of fine tuning that needs to be done here before it becomes truly enjoyable for a wide audience. I’m an incredibly patient gamer, and across several attempts I think I’ve probably managed only scant hours of game time. Now let’s remember that this is my experience so please don’t be put off. This is a game worth watching and I know with some work it could be exceptional, but in my opinion that could take a little while yet.

 

 

 

This preview is based on an early access copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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Elite Dangerous finally available on PlayStation 4

 

Elite Dangerous launched on the Xbox One way back in October of 2015 and I was really hoping that developers Frontier Developments would see it in their hearts to bring their seminal hit over to the PS4.  Today my dream came true.

The game will launch on PS4 with every game expansion to date as well as the full Elite Dangerous: Horizons season pass and custom PS4 features, including:

• Touch Navigation. Explore Elite Dangerous’ map of the Milky Way with a swipe using touchpad controls that make navigation fast and easy.
• Extra Control. Customize four additional touchpad ‘hotkeys’ to suit your own play style.
• Fast Headlook. Quickly track your enemies in the heat of combat with optional motion-based headlook controls powered by the DUALSHOCK 4 wireless controller.

If you are lucky enough to own the powerhouse PS4 Pro, you will also benefit from enhanced performance as well as having the ability to choose between two graphics settings: Quality, favoring visual fidelity; and Performance, favoring high framerate.

If for some reason you have never heard of this game over the last two years, let me tell you about what you have been missing.  Elite Dangerous brings gaming’s original open-world adventure to the modern age with the 400 billion star systems of the real Milky Way Galaxy, re-created in its full galactic proportions.  This is a monster of a game that offers an ever-evolving player-driven narrative melded with a fully connected multiplayer experience that features:

• Play Your Way. Fight. Trade. Explore. Survive. Starting with only a small starship and a handful of credits, blaze your own trail in a cutthroat galaxy and earn the skill, knowledge, wealth and power to stand among the ranks of the legendary Elite. Customize your ships, build a fleet and live a complete life on humanity’s galactic frontier.
• A Hard Science Galaxy. From outer space to the surfaces of worlds, Elite Dangerous uses real scientific principles to re-create the sights and spectacle of our own Milky Way galaxy at its true proportions, all powered by the most sophisticated simulation in video games.
• Massively Multiplayer. Experience unpredictable encounters as you cooperate and compete with players from around the world in the Milky Way galaxy of the fourth millennium. Journey alone or with friends in space and on planet surfaces.
• Player-Driven Narrative. In an age of galactic superpowers and interstellar war, every player’s story influences the unique connected gaming experience and evolving narrative. Governments are overthrown, battles are lost and won, and humanity’s frontier is reshaped, all by players’ actions.

You can download the main game on the PlayStation Store for $29.99 or you can grab the Commander Deluxe Edition for $59.99.

 

 

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SNES Classic officially announced

 

It’s almost time to play with super power, again. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Edition, or the SNES Classic for short, is officially coming this fall. The SNES Classic comes a year after the original NES Classic took over the holiday sales market and you were either incredibly lucky or you camped out in front of a store for hours to find one.

The SNES Classic will release packed with 21 Super Nintendo games from the early 90’s including Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. This is less than the NES Classic’s 30 games, but all games included are classics from different genres so everyone can find something to enjoy.

Also included is the first ever official release of Star Fox 2 which was cancelled after being about 95% complete back in the day. If you would like to know more about the background of Star Fox 2 and its development I would recommend checking out Nintendolife’s article here.

The console is a miniature version of the original Super Nintendo and comes with 2 wired SNES retro controllers. There is no indication on the Nintendo website yet if the cords will at least be longer than the NES Classic’s which were only about 3 feet long. The Classic Controller and Classic Controller Pro accessories will be compatible with the SNES Classic.

The SNES Classic will release September 29th of this year for $79.99. Hopefully Nintendo will provide much more stock than they did a year ago.

If you would like to see the full list of games, check out Nintendo’s website here.

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REVIEW / Rime (PS4)

 

 

Rime, the latest title from developer Tequila Works, is a fun, deeply moving puzzle adventure that evokes memories of similar titles like Journey and The Last Guardian. In it, we follow a boy’s journey around an island where he searches for answers regarding who he is, where he came from, how he got to the island in the first place, and exactly what is even going on? Throughout the roughly ten hour playtime of Rime, our boy hero will not only traverse different areas by engaging in some platforming, but also use his (and, by extension, the player’s) brain to solve puzzles that are not too difficult and also not so easy to figure out. It is this mixture of puzzles and platforming, as well as the mystery regarding the game’s plot, that makes Rime such a unique journey to experience.

 

Where the hell is everybody?!

 

Rime starts off confusingly enough, with a young boy wearing a red cape waking up on a mysterious island. As you gain control of the boy, who starts off walking slow due to him being apparently shipwrecked, you will slowly get adjusted to his walking speed, which grows steadily faster as he recovers. Walking around the island, you’ll notice you can’t go everywhere you want to (indeed, I could not swim around some of the island’s perimeters due to being blocked off by jellyfish), though the game isn’t quite as closed off as it seems (you can periodically go off the beaten path to find myriad of collectibles, for example).

If the player is ever confused about where to go, a friendly fox, whom you meet early on, is usually perched off at the area you need to go to, barking to get your attention. These cues were helpful to a player like me, who is always venturing off the beaten path to find 100% of the collectibles in any given game.

 

The title’s visuals are quite striking, at times

 

It won’t be long until you come to the main crux of Rime‘s gameplay: puzzles and platforming. The puzzles in Rime are some of the game’s greatest strengths, because they are not infuriatingly difficult to figure out, but require just enough usage of your brain that you have genuine “AHA!” moments when you figure them out.

There are quite a variety of puzzles, too: the boy will have to use his voice to shatter orbs of light to defeat shadow beasts, taunt boars with fruit in order to get them to break thorny tree bark, move cranks to advance time so the sky’s lighting will activate a hidden door within a wall (when you see the sun rise and set as you move the crank around in a circle, I guarantee your jaw will drop at the effect), hum a little tune to light up dark caverns, swim underwater and find pop oxygen bubbles so he doesn’t drown (just like Sonic!), and fill the sky with black smoke to create thunder storms to smite one of the game’s most anxiety producing foes. Rime‘s puzzles are easily some of my favorites in the genre.

 

Speaking of anxiety producing foes, here’s the bastard right here!

 

Sadly, however, Rime‘s platforming is not as tight as its puzzles. The boy’s jump arc and distance can be difficult to gauge, so there were times where I jumped off a ledge too early and plummeted to my death. Running into any wall will cause the boy to fall down and slowly get back to his feet, which I found to be a mild annoyance. You can also only climb walls that have moss growing on them; otherwise, the boy will not be able to grab hold. This wasn’t an issue to me; however, the finicky climbing controls were.

There were times where I was climbing a wall upwards and when I pressed X to jump higher up, the boy would jump to the right to his doom. This didn’t happen enough times to hamper my experience with Rime, but it did happen enough times for me to notice it as an issue other players will experience. Thankfully, death in Rime is not an issue, as the player will respawn nearby in an instant. Checkpoints are also not too few and far between.

 

These shadow beasts are quite terrifying

 

My other favorite part of Rime? The enemies. Though there are only two types of foe in the game, they are both equally memorable. The shadow beasts, who resemble cloaked people, are some of the game’s most terrifying foes. Initially, they flee from your mere presence, leading you into a false sense of security. The next time you meet, however, they suck the very soul from your body if you hang around them too long (if you try to use the boy’s voice to distract them, it comes out almost like a death rattle, which is quite unsettling). Only orbs of light can defeat them, but only temporarily.

The giant bird, who shows up in the 2nd area of the title, is quite nerve wracking. He hangs in the air and as you run around the area, the screen gradually turns redder and redder as he prepares to swoop down and grab you. You’ll need to head for shade so the bird doesn’t see you, and only a lightning storm of your own creation can kill him outright.

 

Every area of Rime is quite expansive and memorable

 

Rime‘s plot is something I feel will be remembered as divisive. I enjoyed heading to each new area of the island, seeing snippets of the boy’s backstory as he entered a new area, but Tequila Works purposefully tries to keep details as vague as possible. You may enjoy this, you may not.

There are optional keyholes that show you drawings that pertain to the boy’s upbringing and provides clues to his backstory, but even those can lead to more questions than answers. Friends you meet like the fox and other beings you encounter towards Rime‘s endgame (that I won’t spoil here) will bring you both joy and sadness, yet you will end the game not fully knowing who they were or why they helped the boy on his journey. The last area of Rime, and its epilogue, will throw everyone for a loop, causing you to exclaim “WTF?!” while tears steam down your face.

 

This is where the heavy emotions start happening

 

In the end, Rime is an unforgettable journey that needs to be experienced at least once. Though its platforming and controls are not as fine tuned as one would like them to be, its story, characters, and puzzles are quite strong and will stay with you long after you complete the game. The plot will leave you guessing, hit you with the feels once it ends (the orchestral soundtrack also helps pull on the heartstrings), and there is an incentive to jump back into Rime again to hunt for any collectibles you might have missed (the Chapter Select option makes finding the rest of the optional items easier, as well as the game saving your collection progress even after the credits roll). Memorable, tearful, and occasionally humorous, Rime was definitely worth its long development time.

 

 

 

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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REVIEW / The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (PC)

 

Zombies are so hot right now. And there’s no zombie franchise as hot as The Walking Dead. In a series spanning comics, television, novels, and games, The Walking Dead has told several variations of the zombie story. With each new entry in any of the mediums, the question remains: where do they go next? The Walking Dead: A New Frontier places the series over 5 years after the initial zombie breakout. Starring an all-new protagonist, Javier “Javi” Garcia,  A New Frontier follows a different path.

 

 

Unlike the previous seasons, A New Frontier opts to tell a story with a much more focused plot. This season, like the recent comics and TV episodes of the franchise, focuses almost entirely on human to human interaction. Throughout the five episodes, I never felt like the titular walking dead were a real, unpredictable threat; which is perfectly reasonable.

While zombies may be the selling point of the franchise, they can only go so far narratively; any survivor worth their salt at the five year point should know how to dispatch the dead. At this point, the games/TV series/comics have minimalized the danger of the zombies to no more than a plot convenience. Now the survivors we follow face an even more dangerous, intelligent threat in post-apocalyptic world, humans.

 

 

This season tells the story of Javi along with his brother’s wife and kids as they survive on the road; while occasionally flashing back to the Garcia family’s first days in the apocalypse. The family has opted to survive by living in their family van and restocking pit stop to pit stop. The survival plan hits a rough patch when Javi raids a junkyard that has been claimed by a new society that emerged in the wasteland, the titular New Frontier. Naturally, they become neck-deep in a feud between The New Frontier and outside settlements. In fact, the majority of the game takes place in established settlements with their own cultures and rules.

For fans of the previous seasons wondering how past choices will matter with seemingly an entirely new cast, fear not. A teenage Clementine does make an appearance and becomes a major factor in the progression of the story. However, the choices made in Season 2 seem to be at an all-time low in terms of plot impact. Clementine will have an intro flashback corresponding with your final Season 2 choice and lines referencing what she has done, but that’s the extent of the impact. It feels like a cop out in some aspects, but I could appreciate the earnest attempt to make the past seasons matter in a game so obviously dedicated to introducing new characters and moving the plot along.

 

 

To A New Frontier’s credit, these characters are introduced in a story that kept up the emotional stakes of past seasons. The twists pulled may not have always blindsided me as intended, but it was a fun ride throughout. I cared about the new protagonist and felt a real weight to what he experienced and the actions that he took. Javi is a fantastic character to add into the series, but most of the side characters not named Clementine felt too one-dimensional. This feels like a grave misstep as it squanders a portion of Javi’s potential.

In respect to nearly every other aspect of A New Frontier, it is a very “by the books” Telltale experience. You make choices, look through items, feel emotions, and marvel at the puppet-like characters. The Telltale Tool engine is impressive in the fact that it has been so heavily used over the past 12 years, but it is in desperate need of an upgrade.  Graphically, Telltale has a distinct style, but I’ve always encountered wonky glitches and stiff, robotic animations in every game I’ve played from the company. There’s a limit to the Telltale Tool engine and the company is reaching it fast. One can only hope Telltale has assigned a team to produce an engine upgrade while they keep pumping out episodes.

 

The entirety of episode 4 I saw Javi’s backpack stretched across the screen, clipping through objects such as this map.

 

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is one of the better narrative adventure titles that Telltale has released, and is a fine addition to the Walking Dead series; however, the games by Telltale are becoming too formulaic. Telltale needs to shake things up with each of their running series to make them feel more distinct outside of the IP used. With games like Until Dawn and Life is Strange taking the concept of the Telltale formula and providing their own unique spin, it’s about time Telltale themselves change their approach. The Walking Dead: A New Frontier unfortunately wasn’t the game to pull off that much needed shakeup, but the story it delivers is still solid for the choose-your-own adventure genre. Fans of the Walking Dead franchise will find a lot to enjoy here, but players burnt out by the Telltale formula won’t find any fresh air in A New Frontier.

 

 

 

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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