Samurai Shodown carves out a new entry on the PS4

 

SNK has always been in the forefront of the fighting game scene with hit series like King of Fighters and Fatal Fury providing competitors with slick hand to hand combat; the company born to fight has kept that tradition going with the well-received King of Fighters XIV. While fistfights are all well and good, SNK is now breathing life into their iconic weapon based Samurai Shodown series, A.K.A. Samurai Spirits in Japan.

This marks the first time in 10 years that the Samurai Shodown series has seen an entry with the last game being Samurai Shodown Sen on the Xbox 360. Where does a series go after laying dormant for so long? In the teaser trailer, we see that the new game will take place in 1787, placing the game towards the beginning of the series chronology. This is an excellent way to incorporate the original cast and storylines that made the game a hit in the Neo Geo days.

The fresh 2019 version of Samurai Shodown features a striking cell-shaded style of 3D, reminiscent of the recent Street Fighter titles. This is a significant departure from Samurai Shodown Sen which features a more photorealistic 3D style. It’s easy to see that the new style gives the series more personality, something that has been sorely missing from the series after the jump from 2D sprites to bland 3D models.

Intense sword clashing is imminent

This teaser is sure to wet the appetites of fight fans, but unfortunately, the info given is sparse. We know the game will feature series regulars like Haohmaru and Galford, is slated for a 2019 release on the PS4, is built in Unreal Engine 4, and that more info is coming soon. You can stay glued to the official website here if your sword fighting urges are tingling.

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HyperParasite may well be a blast from the past

 

I have a bit of a soft spot for the 80’s. This was the era that really began setting the standard of what video games should be. It was an era of amusement arcades, neon lights and infant franchises that we now consider mandatory staples in our gaming careers. I was also born at the start of the 80’s and what I remember of it all was pretty damn cool. With all this being said a new game set in this beloved and well remembered era will soon be landing on our shelves. The title is HyperParasite and Hound Picked Games are more than happy to tell us they’ve just added it to their growing release schedule.

HyperParasite, a game by small indie developer Troglobytes games is currently under construction and what we’re hearing of it is very interesting indeed. This is a twin-stick, roguelike shooter set in, yes you guessed it, the 1980’s and it’s setting its sights on a multi-platform release. The game is currently being worked on for PC, PS4 and Xbox One release next year but thanks to the added support from Hound Picked, a Switch version of the title is due to be added to the release list as well.

So as I’ve briefly mentioned. HyperParasite is a frantic twin-stick shooter/brawler set in the roaring 80s. The game is boasting a cast of sixty playable characters, each with their own moves, weapons and mechanics. This makes the game interesting in that instead of picking up weapons as you play it’s the character you’ve chosen whose packing the punch. This means you’ll be less interested in what’s lying about on the floor and more focused on perfecting your skills with your chosen fighter.

Story-wise you’ll find yourself in a dystopian world in which a parasitic organism is happily eating its way through the population. To make the whole mess worse once this being has consumed a target’s soul it has the ability to make host of what’s left wreaking unimaginable havoc in the process. With martial law having been declared so a global hunt for this monstrosity can being, battle-hardened law enforcers have allied themselves with notorious criminals in an attempt to take the enemy out. With this being said, trust is something in short supply and the rest of the population is gripped with a mix of fear and paranoia. Whether they are able to save the world is their problem, not yours. You are the parasite, the enemy and the organism with a mission. Those 60 playable characters I mentioned? They’re the souls that have been body-snatched.

“Hound Picked Games are happy to be working with Troglobytes Games, a small but very accomplished team who have already worked on a number of titles. Their vision for HyperParasite is commendable and we believe that there is a huge collective of gamers who will find this title one that they will enjoy immensely. We have great faith in this title and Hound Picked Games will support it throughout until release in 2019.” Said Dan Muir, CEO of Hound Picked Games.

Features included in this release other than the body-hopping fun that I’ve already mentioned introduce procedurally generated levels that will play differently each time. A co-op mode is also expected so you and a friend can give humanity a doubly big headache.

From what we can see so far HyperParasite looks vividly colourful. The pixelated touch that has also been placed on this game also makes everything very fitting with the 80s theme it’s portraying. Other than this we have three potentially winning parts to this game’s formula. First off who doesn’t love to play the bad guy? Secondly we all know how much fun twin-stick shooters are and lastly roguelike mechanics are always an added plus to stop a game getting stale. If Troglobytes can bring all of these things together successfully we may well have a little arcade masterpiece waiting for us come next year. In the mean time we shall have to watch the progress and wait and see.

 

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REVIEW / Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle (PS4)

 

Teamwork is the core element of any dungeon crawlers, and not just in the composition of your party but strategy as well. A two split-party system is what the recently released for the PS4 and Switch game called Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle is offering to the table. While seemingly innovative for the modern times, its execution doesn’t really measure up the hype.

 

 

In Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle, you are transported back to 17th century Japan where a demon exiled on an island castle is rallying up a rebellion against the government. You are given control of a group of four characters specializing in the supernatural as they battle “yokai,” Japanese demons and monsters of lore, and scale up the solitary castle to stop the demon. The party is given a magic tool that allows them to know where each other is at all times and protects them from the yokai.

This magic tool is the the element that sets the two-party split system Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle boasts about. At any point in the game, a press of a button separates the party into two groups. You control one party at a time, while the other stays still. Now if you’re wondering how a wandering yokai cannot easily decimate the solitary party you have left alone, it is because that party is augmented with a strong defense (i.e., the protection from the magic tool) to mitigate almost all incoming attacks.

 

 

The smartest (and possibly what the developers intended) thing for you to do, is to utilize this situation and use the party you are controlling to sneak a flank or pincer attack while the enemy yokai is focused on the other. A back attack in almost any dungeon crawler is always advantageous that leads to critical blows and quick victories, and it is not any different in Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle. The disappointment though, is that you’re not always going to utilize the two-party system save for a few puzzles (e.g., standing on two different spots to open locked doors) and possibly the final floors of the game.

That is because almost all of the yokai you will be facing can be killed using the attack and dodge method. There are not many different types of yokai to begin with. In around the 14 floors that your party will be scaling, every floor will have the same three to four monsters roaming around it, and newer enemies replace old ones every other floor. So by learning the attack patterns of each enemy, your party can easily dodge (in this case, move out of the way) the attack and counter right after. The few yokai that will need to be flanked are the ones almost at the end of the game, and by that time, you may have forgotten that there was even an option to split the party in two.

 

 

What you do need to watch out for is for opportunities for the enemy yokai to flank you. The enemies’ AI is set so that it will automatically lock onto your party once it sees it on its field of vision. It will follow you around for a certain distance until it resets back to its original place. There will be plenty of times when you will get blocked either by two yokai in a corner or blocked by one in a dead end. In such situations, the options of splitting the party into two groups or dodging attacks are nonexistent, and you may as well expect a wipeout especially in hard mode.

The other aspect you have to watch out for is your party’s hunger meters. The hunger meter is the other statistic besides your typical hit and magic points that slowly dwindle over time. When a character’s hunger meter is depleted, his or her attack and defense lowers significantly, and such can mean life or death. A powerful yokai can easily take out a hungry party member as well as that party member may not be an effective tank during a two-party split. Fortunately, the castle is littered with plenty of food to satiate hunger.

 

 

If anything, I would compliment Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle in creating a neat dungeon crawler that tries to stand out from the rest. However, the two-party system that’s supposed to be what differentiates it isn’t well-executed and is really only utilized a few times in the whole game. Unfortunately, the only two things that you need to succeed is to attack and dodge and watch out for enemy opportunities to flank as well as your party’s hunger levels.

 

 

 

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

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REVIEW / 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (PS4)

 

During the late 1970’s, the middle east was an area of the world that was going through a lot of turmoil and unrest.  Specifically, in Tehran, Iran, after being under one monastic ruler after another for the last 2,500 years, the people were ready to have their voices heard no matter the cost.  During a period when the rich continued to get richer and the poor were getting poorer and poorer, many businesses closed down and millions of people were left with no way to provide for their families.  Add to that the lack of concern for the fate of the common people by their current ruler, the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and you would get the ingredients of the Iranian Revolution which took place on February 11, 1979.  He would be the last Shah of Iran and was the second and last monarch of the House of Pahlavi.

 

 

This political powderkeg is the setting of 1979 Revolution: Black Friday. The game tells the story of the events that took place on this date in Tehran and developer iNK Stories and publisher Digerati has created an interactive narrative that is based on real first-hand testimonies of freedom fighters, witnesses and casualties of that revolution.  The game takes place in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, which has been said to have housed Iran’s political prisoners since 1972.

The Prison was believed to be used to commit “serious human rights abuses” against the monarchy’s alleged political dissidents and any critics of the government. You play as photojournalist Reza Shirazi, a young Iranian who returns home from being abroad to find his people protesting the ruling King, the Shah.  Armed only with your camera and with your idealistic cousin at your side, you attempt to capture the emotionally charged stories and events unfolding on the streets during one of the largest protest marches in history.

 

 

The game is an interactive drama that is done in the same vein as games like The Walking Dead from Telltale Games or Life is Strange from Dontnod Entertainment.  The playable character is in third person view and you can guide him on very linear paths throughout the nineteen chapters of the game.  The environments in the game range from wandering the streets of Tehran during the protests, the rooftops of buildings as well as the alleyways that connect all over the city.

You will be tasked with capturing the events during the protests with your camera in order to let the world know what is really happening there.  In addition, you will need to interact with the other main players in the revolution. The answers that you choose will determine how the rest of the game turns out.

 

 

Tensions are at an all-time high so as you can expect, interactions between the protesters and the crowds of people will undoubtedly turn deadly.  To convey the emergency during these events, the game uses what are basically quick-time events to get your blood moving.  You will have to dodge bullets or jump over obstacles using the left joystick as well as the buttons to swing punches to defend yourself during fights. These action sequences are used to break up the game so that you are not just choosing dialogue choices.  It’s a good mix that keeps the gameplay fresh, even though this may not be the most polished game that I have played this year.

The visuals in 1979 Revolution: Black Friday, admittedly, are not going to win any awards this year, that’s for sure.  While it doesn’t look absolutely terrible, this game definitely could have used a few more months of visual polish.  The environments are dull and brown but they don’t look all that bad. In fact, it really helps to sell the setting for the time as buildings were burned out, cars were overturned, trash was everywhere and people generally were not concerned with the visual aesthetics of their surroundings when they are fighting for their lives.  The character models, on the other hand, leave much to be desired.  For the absolute weight that the story carries, the visuals just didn’t match up and I was really disappointed that the polish just wasn’t there.

 

 

The story in 1979 Revolution: Black Friday, however, is where this game shines brightly.  I am somewhat of a history buff and events that have taken place in my lifetime really catch my interest.  In 1978, when this story takes place, I was seven years old and I remember seeing the images of the gigantic crowds of people on the television news.  It was scary to see the violence and unrest but it was a good history lesson to see exactly what happens when the people rise up for equality.

Even though the gameplay was somewhat uninspired and nothing different from other games in this genre, it was really interesting to get an angle on this historical event from people who were actually living it at the time.  People were forced to make hard choices, choices that teetered literally on life and death. It was a miracle that the country made it out of that revolution in one piece.

 

 

Dull visuals and ordinary character models aside, the story in 1979 Revolution: Black Friday is amazing.  It took me about four hours or so to play through the entire game, which is about par for the course with interactive drama games of this type, but that was just enough time for the game to make its point.  There is nothing new or different about the game, but I found myself glued to the screen and continually wanting to get to the next chapter so I could learn the fates of the interesting characters.  As a kid, learning history in this fashion would have been a great way to experience the events that changed the course of nations.  However, a little more time should have been put into the games presentation so that it looks as good as the story.

 

 

 

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

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REVIEW / Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Switch)

 

Nobody could have predicted Monster Hunter World. The Japanese sensation became an overnight hit here in the West, fast becoming the franchise’s best selling game with over 10 million units sold. The game’s success is down to its accessibility: in comparison to older Monster Hunter titles, World is intuitive, easy to grasp and painless to play.

 

 

Newcomers to the franchise may assume that hand-holding is standard. But anyone who’s played any other Monster Hunter game will be rolling their eyes, watching as the excitement for Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate on Switch reaches fever pitch. They don’t know what’s in store, you’ll be thinking. Wait ’til they get a load of the loading times. 

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is a re-release of the game that debuted on the 3DS in 2016. Featuring a roster of 129 monsters/creatures, 14 familiar weapons, and three tiers of difficulty, the game pairs the classic Monster Hunter gameplay with some much-needed innovation; fundamentally, Generations Ultimate is a hybrid of World and everything that has come before.

 

 

Monster Hunter hasn’t really changed much since 2004. You’ll be hunting monsters, for the purpose of looting their corpses and crafting gear with which to fight new monsters. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is no exception, dumping the player straight in with barely a narrative to guide their way. The option for tutorials is buried in the small villages that serve as home base – whether it’s crafting gear, starting quests, or buying items, it all happens here.

New players do have a daunting task ahead of them. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is brimming with content; much of it will appear alien, to newcomers and World players alike. Your Palico is a playable character, responsible for keeping the essential items flowing in through farming. You’ll be crafting decorations, and guessing at item combinations; you’ll be running around the environments in a panic, wondering where the heck to find Disk Stones. The sheer volume of armours and weapons will have you breaking out in a cold sweat. And that’s just Low Rank: you’ll have to handle 2 more layers of increased difficulty (High and G Rank) before you’re done.

 

 

New players do have a daunting task ahead of them. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is brimming with content; much of it will appear alien, to newcomers and World players alike. Your Palico is a playable character, responsible for keeping the essential items flowing in through farming. You’ll be crafting decorations, and guessing at item combinations; you’ll be running around the environments in a panic, wondering where the heck to find Disk Stones. The sheer volume of armours and weapons will have you breaking out in a cold sweat. And that’s just Low Rank: you’ll have to handle 2 more layers of increased difficulty (High and G Rank) before you’re done.

Fortunately, the 14 weapons are identical to those present in Monster Hunter World. They even play similarly: you’ll notice that your actions are more labored, but otherwise the choice of weaponry is comfortingly familiar. Seamless transitions between attacking motion and dodge-roll are a joy to witness, and the more athletic weaponry – I’m an Insect Glaive kind of guy – is a breath of fresh air after the limiting options in previous games. Using items is still a tactical decision – no more potions on the move – but overall the game is much more forgiving to players who tend to button-mash. Ahem.

 

 

By comparison, hunting monsters is mostly identical to previous games. In place of Scoutflies guiding you toward your target, the player is equipped with Paintballs, to mark the monster once they find it. Finding it involves trudging around the whole map, sitting through loading screens between areas and crossing your fingers. This is obviously where World excels, and Generations Ultimate suffers. The dated hunting mechanics are a drain on any player’s willpower, even though the Switch handles load times well.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate has an ace up its sleeve. The extraordinary roster of ferocious beasties puts World to shame. With over 90 actual monsters, plus a few special variations, Generations boasts the largest roster of any Monster Hunter. And when all you’re doing is fighting monsters, quantity is often better than quality. It’s easy to become numb to the awe of seeing a Rathalos when it’s the twelfth one you’ve fought that day. But my God, does that Valstrax look phenomenal.

 

 

In fact, this is what Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate does best. Quantity is the buzz-word, throughout the course of the game; the 93 monsters, the Low/High/G rank quests, and the amazing armoury all serve to keep the player desperate to explore. Villages and environments from Monster Hunter‘s long history also make an appearance, giving you a breathtaking spectrum of locales where you can quite (un)safely vanish for days on end.

 

 

Of course, the original game was released on the 3DS, and as such the graphics are nothing to write home about. The improvements made for the Switch are noticeable, and often save the game from looking dated: shadows and textures are more crisp, and though the environments are not as detailed as World the game is certainly more vibrant. And if you look closely, you’ll notice that the animations are almost identical to those found in World.

As far as plot is concerned, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate doesn’t really have one. And the graphics are definitely a little archaic. To my mind, these drawbacks cannot dampen my excitement at the fact that this is the first Monster Hunter game for Nintendo Switch. The franchise has a proud history on handheld consoles, so this is a perfect partnership; the resolution is crisp, the frames, barely an issue. Docked or handheld, this is a huge step forward for both franchise and console.

 

 

Bringing Monster Hunter World to the Switch was clearly impractically difficult. But Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is the next best thing: it’s the springboard from which World bounced, marrying familiar weapons and combat with more traditional Monster Hunter quirks. It is just familiar enough to players who begun their hunting with World, and certainly appealing to long-time fans. The only issue – a recurring one – is that newcomers will struggle. But if Monster Hunter World is the poster-boy for the new generation of accessible games, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is a fond farewell to an era of frustration, glory, and not being able to tell how much damage you’re doing.

 

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Project Genesis will introduce us to the Metaverse

 

A bit of interesting news has come my way along the grapevine. As gamers, we love the genres that draw us in but from personal experience, we’re always looking for a little bit more. In an industry that’s always changing and evolving, we can’t help but look for the next thing that will excite and enthrall us. Circuit 8 Studios may well be onto that very thing as they unveil Project Genesis.

Project Genesis is a deep space survival game powered by the Etherium blockchain. This game is an FPS/Space Shooter hybrid that will see players involved both in intense first-person combat but also space-warfare as they pilot massive spacefaring machines of destruction and infiltrate the ships of the enemy in a bit for galactic domination. In this title players will inhabit an A.I which will learn that it has been given a choice. It can either sacrifice itself to save the last vestiges of the human race or opt to choose to go out and forge its own destiny.

It is this A.I’s quest that sets players out among the stars to pilot space cruisers and destroy their enemies with a variety of powerful technologies. If, of course, you can’t just blow your foes to space-dust you can board their vessels. From here the game will switch to the first-person perspective as you infiltrate the opposing ship and eradicate its occupants from the inside. If you are able to take a number of control points and beat back the enemy force the ship will become yours. Capturing ships in this way and completing missions will yield payouts to the victor in the form of XP, weapons, ammo and in-game credits.

“Project Genesis is going to be a perfect fit for gamers looking for an experience that combines intense first-person shooters with white-knuckle third-person space combat,” said Terry Hammer, producer of 8 Circuit Studios. “It’s going to be far more than a space-shooter, we are going to push the whole experience by integrating the Etherium blockchain – allowing players the ability to carry digital assets they earn and acquire, like ships and weapons, into other games.”

Making an already fun concept into something far bigger than itself, Project Genesis is part of Circuit 8 Studio’s Metaverse. The Metaverse invites players to explore a series of interconnected virtual worlds and experiences without boundaries. The great thing about the Metaverse is that it will allow Circuit 8 and partner development teams to merge their projects into one much larger evolving universe. Players will, therefore, be able to share assets across a number of games via blockchain technology. In addition to all this, come October 1st the first batch of 8BT tokens will go on sale. This is the virtual currency that will be used to power 8 Circuit Studio’s digital multiverse.

We don’t have a release date for Project Genesis just yet but you can certainly be expecting to see it arriving on your PC and console screens in the not too distant future. The game in and of itself actually sounds like the kind of thrill-ride I wouldn’t mind getting my own teeth into. The fact that I’m going to be able to take my ill-gotten gains out of the game and show off (or get laughed at) with them in other gaming universes just adds to the appeal. This is definitely one I think worth keeping an eye on.

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Competitive shooter Dirty Bomb hits 1.0 release

 

After more than three years in open beta the competitive shooter Dirty Bomb is officially “released”. Marking this occasion is the August 28th 1.0 update. Packaged with this update is a jumble of changes including beta veteran rewards, a new mercenary, Steam trading, a partnership with FACEIT, and more.

Beta Veteran Rewards

Dirt Bomb Beta Veteran Rewards

For playing this free to play game before its 1.0 release, players will receive the following: 1000 RADs, a 14 day credit booster, and one weapon case key. RADs are Dirty Bomb‘s version of a premium in-game currency and allow players to purchase mercs, load-outs, cases, and more. The 14 day credit booster is pretty simple; gain a 50% boost in RADs earned while this is active. Lastly we see the weapon case key which allows players to open one weapon case. These cases have a random chance of dropping after matches and contain items like weapon skins. This is a similar mechanic seen in other games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

New Mercenary Aura

Dirty Bomb’s newest merc Aura

Dirty Bomb employs a roster of characters in the same vein as games like Overwatch or other hero based games. With the 1.0 release we see Aura, a new medic mercenary in the Obsidian Operatives group. Aura handles support items like a healing station and defibrillator. This healing station passively regenerates nearby allies’ health, while the defib allows her to instantly revive downed teammates.

Steam trading is back

Dirty Bomb’s First Tradable Weapon Skins

Following in the same path as games like Counter Strike: GO, Dirty Bomb now allows players to trade weapon skins. While the list of tradable skins is only a subset of all available, the Dirty Bomb team is hoping to enlarge it in the future. The developers comment that they hoped to have trading available sooner but faced challenges due to variable loot-box regulations.

FACEIT Competative Game Application

FACEIT, a Competitive Video Game Environment

Being a competitive shooter means honing skills, tracking stats, and finding new challengers. The Dirty Bomb team is working with FACEIT to help accomplish this. Like other competitive games, Dirty Bomb is implementing a banning system akin to League of Legends draft pick. This means teams take turns eliminating merc selections, and cannot play the same merc as a teammate.

While these seem to be the 1.0 release’s largest features, you can find other improvements such as the return of a game mode, new merc pricing, and other quality of life improvements.

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