Rage in Peace - PC Review

Rage in Peace is an infernal platformer that made me almost immediately think of cat Mario, but not as brutally unfair. It wasn’t until I had spent a little more time playing did it turn from what I expected to be a fairly typical rage platformer into something that hit a little closer to home than I was expecting.

Rage in Peace stars Timmy, an apathetic man who is destined to die at the end of the day with his head cut off. A Grim Reaper appears before him to let him know of his demise, and Timmy wishes he could have ended his life at home in his bed, with his pajamas on and no drama. The Grim Reaper then gives Timmy a chance to make that wish a reality, but the forces of the Universe are trying to “correct” that chance by killing Timmy as fast as possible. It’s up to you to guide Timmy through a journey of discovery and death, lots of death, as you run at obstacles in your path until you manage to get to your destination, or at least the next checkpoint.

Rage in Peace started as what I thought would be a rather typical, if not well put together, unfair style platformer. You die in one hit and get sent back to your last checkpoint, the obstacles range between obvious and just downright impossible to know about until you’ve died to it once. But as you start getting further and further, Rage in Peace takes a more serious tone to it, one that hit like a sack of flour right in the gut.

With a soundtrack that really emphasizes the locations you visit and the tone of the scene, stages that are difficult, but not impossibly unfair, and one of the most entertaining Grim Reapers I’ve seen in a long time, Rage in Peace is definitely well made, if not a little short. The controller support seems really off, unfortunately, as every time I plugged my controller in, the buttons would rotate 90 degrees, which was really weird, but perfectly manageable once I got used to it.

While Rage in Peace is perfectly adequate, ultimately I didn’t come away feeling like I played a game, which is one of the reasons I struggled to give Rage in Peace a score. I feel like saying why will take away from the impact, so if you plan on playing you should probably skip the rest of this paragraph. SPOILER: Ultimately, I felt like Rage in Peace was a Eulogy.

While I’ve played a lot of games that were “made in memory” of someone, or people, or were “in remembrance of” people, this was the first time that I truly felt a game was legitimately dedicated to someone no longer with the developers, compounded even more by how real the feelings expressed truly are after having lost someone close to you.

While Rage in Peace may not be the most standout from the crowd in terms of gameplay, although it was nice having a certain “theme” during each stage to spice tings up, it truly does stand out with its “message”.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Rolling Glory Jam
Publisher(s):
Toge Productions
Genre(s):
Action
Adventure
Platformer
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Richard

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Crashlands - Switch Review

Crashlands is an interesting comedic survival-ish game brought to us by Butterscotch Shenanigans, and yes, their name is a very clear indicator of what to expect. With a wacky cast of characters and a seriously massive map to explore, Crashlands definitely has a solid base to keep you entertained for quite a while.

If I were to sum Crashlands up in a single sentence, it would probably be “Don’t starve without the starving”. You play as an intergalactic package delivery person, who gets shot down mid-flight by a floating head giving flipping the bird at you. As the dedicated employee that you are, your first thought is to save the packages! Followed shortly by pie. As your ship crashes on the planet below, you need to salvage materials to build a temporary base, tools and gear to protect yourself from the indigenous creatures, and create a communication device in order to call for an intergalactic tow-truck.

You meander around the quite expansive map, looking for materials, beating up monsters for their parts, and taking on requests from the locals. As you look for pieces of your destroyed spaceship to help build your communication device, you’ll come across teleportation devices that’ll let you fast travel around the map, which is incredibly useful. Speaking of the map, there are a lot of really useful functions in your available map, as it keeps track of your active quests, transport pads, and any signs you’ve placed as personal markers, and you can filter through them.

Combat is pretty much a “point and click” type style, where you walk up to an enemy and slap it until it dies. Enemies will give you a telegraphed range of where their attacks will hit, and it’s up to you to get out of the way. Even the tougher enemies can be beaten given enough time and practice, so you can still progress, even if you can’t get that drop you need to complete your armour set or that weapon you want.

Crashlands has some pretty good humor, and graphics that look very similar to “Don’t Starve”, or old cartoon animated style. The music is pretty decent, and the controls are fairly intuitive, and everything you really need is carried with you, so you won’t be worried about not being able to harvest materials because you didn’t have room in your inventory. If your main draw to Don’t Starve was the survival aspect, Crashlands might not be as appealing to you, but for those like myself who prefer to take their time exploring a locale, Crashlands would probably appeal to you a lot more. There are some issues with the map not always registering where you’ve been, but they have added a “map rebuild” if that happens, which seems to work pretty well. It does take a while to walk around the map as well, so expect to spend A LOT of time in transit.

Overall, Crashlands is a solid choice if you’re looking for a little less hectic, more role-playing experience than some of the other “survival crafting” games out there. These types of games do tend to be a lot of the same thing over and over again though, so make sure you know you may be in for the long haul if you really get into the game.

Game Information

Platform:
Nintendo Switch
Developer(s):
Butterscotch Shenanigans
Publisher(s):
Butterscotch Shenanigans
Genre(s):
RPG
Adventure
Mode(s):
Single Player

Coop
Other Platform(s):
Mobile iOS and Android
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Richard

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Tetris Effect - PS4 Review

Tetris Effect was a title that I went in figuring that I would enjoy, simply because I have been a fan of Tetris for so many years now. The core mechanics are the same - but the presentation here is completely revamped and makes Tetris Effect the most entertaining single player Tetris experience I have had in a very long time.

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Road Redemption - PS4 Review

Road Redemption is sort of a strange creature, with a focus on arcade action but with some really lightweight roguelike elements baked in. It never really blew me away from a technical standpoint, but Road Redemption hangs its hat on fun, over-the-top action that serves as a spiritual successor to Road Rash.

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The Colonists - PC Review

The Colonists is a cute robot city management game developed by Codebyfire, a one man UK based studio. As some of you readers may know, I love the ambition that one man development studios have. This is Richard Wallis', debut game inspired by titles like The Settlers and Anno. For a first attempt, I think The Colonists is a fantastic start of Codebyfire's career.

The concept of this game is easy to grasp and is quite relaxing to play. I had an enjoyable time with this title despite the questions I have and the distinct lack of complexity. Even still, The Colonists is visually stunning and is designed for a broad age range.

While this game is not Surviving Mars level of complexity, I immediately thought of it because the robots have to start a sustainable colony for humans to survive. Although, I'm not sure that the game ever gets to the point of having human life on the planet, but for a city builder, this game doesn't need to do that. So, my overall first impressions are good.

After more than two years of development The Colonists is now OUT! The game is available to buy from the following stores:

Steam: https://t.co/isO4JQPNRR
GoG: https://t.co/cyXMTttPDr

Start building your anthrobotic towns today! pic.twitter.com/ZIzcVhvRke

— The Colonists (@colonistsgame) October 24, 2018

Gameplay

Right off the bat, players are transported to new locations by way of a space ship. This ship has the equivalent of a printing press or a replicator because it constantly produces an equal amount of logs and energy for the robots, though this can be altered. Another reason I believe it to have a replicator of some kind is because each robot has an info panel that says, “carrybot Ashley was printed 4 months and 10 days ago.” This lends itself to the notion that there is some kind of printing technology, regardless of if we call it a replicator, printing press, or a 3D printer.

Anyways, by having the ship print off endless amounts of energy and logs, players will never run out of base resources. This is an interesting concept, which is to give players a game that doesn't necessarily have a fail condition. Often, city management games of the Paradox Interactive variety have ways to 'lose.' The Colonists is not like that at all which means, to me, that it is meant for new players of the genre.   

Another notable difference between The Colonists and other games in the same genre is that it does not use a currency system. Because of this, I find that this game is much too easy. It's not just because of how it is presented, but because I'm accustomed to games like Cities: Skylines which requires much more strategy. In this game, the robots aren't striving for power, they are simply assigned tasks and they complete them.

In terms of The Colonists' strategy elements, it's important to plan out your road placement, because the roads have a finite distance they can span. By finite, I mean between four squares and six square. Also, roads can only connect to each other at posts. It is not possible to place a road down independently. So, it is quite easy to screw over your production if supplies are stuck at a road point!

One more thing about the roads in this game, if players are rapidly expanding into other areas of the map for supplies, there is a maximum distance they can go from the roads (like an area of effect). It means that players have to use roads, instead of the paths, to expand the far reaches of the map or else the bots won't have the energy to get there.

There are different types of bots that perform different functions in the game. At the beginning, players see carrybots and stackbots. Stackbots function exactly as one would expect, which is to stack materials. Carrybots are the ones that transport materials to different buildings. There are others types of bots like lumberbots whose function is to chop down trees. Each bot has its function, but it's obvious that only certain bots can step off of the paths whereas carrybots are bound to them.

In the campaign, players are focused on fulfilling the mission goals of the map in order to progress. And like most city management games, players must explore the area for resources because there is a fog of war mechanic.

Expanding territory is done through building watchtowers. After playing through the last map in the sandbox mode, I find the watchtowers to be somewhat annoying. It seems that they have to be a certain number of squares apart before another can be placed. Also, it can put players at a strategic disadvantage against the computer when entering combat situations.  

While on the topic of combat in this game, I found it to be unnecessary because the AI isn't intelligent, but that's not the only reason I say that. The upgraded watchtowers auto-fire at other towers in range. What ends up happening is players will end up with a ton of upgraded watchtowers with no purpose since the opponent towers will end up being too far away. And if players take over an enemy watchtower, they gain that territory and burn down every structure built by the AI. Also, once an enemy tower is taken over, the tower has to be repaired, but it'll only repair to a level one watchtower without weapons. So, that is part of what makes the combat section in this game not worthwhile.  

Also on the topic of combat, each tower comes equipped with bots that will repair damaged towers. While I know that being able to combat an AI opponent is a fun feature to add, I found there is no point in having a combat mechanic unless there is an ability to adjust the AI rating. Even at that, players start with a distinct disadvantage on that last map. Right now, players don't need to get up to anything higher than level two research to access arrows. Once you are able to take enough of the computer's towers, the AI basically rolls over and dies.

As a final point about the combat, once I reached the point of defeating all the enemy watchtowers and buildings, I found there to be no win screen! The challenge of quickly expanding across the desert lands to get food sources which were close to the enemy base was very unsatisfying. That meant that the time I invested in playing against the AI went to waste and this is ultimately the reason that has spawned my dislike of the combat in The Colonists.  

Graphics/UI

Graphically, this game looks fantastic. It's not pixelated like some other indie games, but it has an animated style that I appreciate. Its graphics style adds to the laid back atmosphere of the sort of city management game that it is.

The Colonists has several menus that players can use to track what materials they need to build the different structures. It has a map overview and several useful graphs built in to the UI. These additions to the game help players to keep track of various issues in the game.  

There are menus that players can use to set the priority of buildings higher or lower. At the top of the screen is an information panel that tells players their robots productivity rate, blocked roads, and resources delivered (IE: the efficiency of the colony). On the bottom left of the screen, there are indicators which show players what materials are needed to sustain their colony. It has a cog wheel that, when toggled, will show the potential surplus of materials.

Another set of menus is on the top left of the screen and it shows each type of structure built and how many there are. This is particularly useful to use when players have multiple islands accessed by boats. With this menu, it is quite easy to click on a particular building so that the camera pans to it, making colony management a breeze.

The build buttons are all on the bottom right of the screen and each category has a hotkey attached to it. For example, if a player needs to build the Fletcher building, they could press 6 twice (because the Fletcher is the second building in the list.) Although, keep an eye on which button is lit up, because if players click on a category, the game remembers the previous building created!

Overall, the UI functionality in this game is great. It gives players all the information they could need. Many city management games could easily clutter player screens with menus and popups, an element that I dislike. The Colonists, while it has a ton of menus, does not take over a players screen.  

Final Thoughts

The game is very easy to get sucked into but it lacks a lot of depth after a few hours of play. In my opinion, it is better to play the campaign than the sandbox mode because there are no objectives to complete in it. Adding a difficulty level to maps, an AI scaling system, or even a more fleshed out combat system would definitely help this title, in my opinion. Right now, while this game is Codebyfire's first title, The Colonists could do a few things to be a better city management entry level game.

With all of that said, I think this is a solid start for the developer and for players who aren't familiar with this style of game. It's suitable for a wide age range and is great as a title to play after a tough day at school or work. As such, my final rating for this game is 7.5 out of 10.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Codebyfire   
Publisher(s):
Mode 7
Genre(s):
Simulation
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Susan N.

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The Watchmaker - PC Review

When I first saw The Watchmaker, a steampunk puzzle game that requires players to fix time, I was immediately interested. The gears started turning about how this game was going to play out. The sad thing is, this game did not live up to my expectations.

Story

Players step into the shoes of Alexander, the man who created Clock Town, to right the natural order of things because he awakes to find that the clock tower has been sabotaged by the Ruin Saboteur. But don't worry, he's not the only obstacle in this game. There are many puzzles that players must pass to reach the conclusion of The Watchmaker.

Alexander is joined by Navi - whoops, wrong game. Let's try that again. He is joined by the 'chatty voice' who functions as his helper, though he's never that useful except for snide remarks and backstory. That said, the chatty voice isn't what keeps the players going, it's the weird backpack that appears to tick up, not down. The voice tells players at the start that if we reach age 90 then we die. Not only is this an intriguing idea, but it is also the most frustrating element of the game.

The objective of the Watchmaker is to fix the clock tower so that time can be restored to normal. Simple, right? Well, maybe...

Gameplay

The Watchmaker is a steampunk inspired third person puzzle platformer whose concept is to restore time, but it falls flat in many areas. In order to explain why that is, we'll look at the different abilities and discuss the issues with some of them.

Alexander can lift objects with a magnetic ability that is both neat and frustrating. Sometimes when using this ability, the objects will land where the player intends while other times it will overshoot the location, causing it to fall off the map. It is not accurate and doesn't always grab the objects that Alexander needs. It is an ability that wants players to be precise, but despite that fact, the game seems to have an input lag. Another thing about this ability is sometimes objects are dropped accidentally. This occurs when the input is slower than the game can register. Not only did this minor issue waste valuable time, but there were moments where I had to back track to find a dropped object.  

On the flip side, if a player moved an object to another location to set themselves up for a puzzle, the objects will remain there. That's true even if the player dies and hasn't gone back to the save point. Often this is a good thing, but sometimes we can forget where the heck we placed an item! Again, I spent a lot of time needing to back track because of this...  

Alexander has a force ability that he can use to either push obstacles or damage metal spiders. It is fairly integral to progress of the game but Alexanders' force ability is quite lacklustre. He can kill the spiders but only after three of the weakest hits I've ever seen in a video game. One would think that the electrical ability would do more damage to mechanical creatures but you know, semantics...

There are two other abilities that Alexander can use. One freezes time for a short while and the other places a mirrored image in the same place. The freezing time ability is self explanatory. Players use it to pass sections like the one where cog wheels are spinning at break neck speed. The mirror image is used to conquer sections that require pressure plate buttons.

The optimization in this game hinders progression in another way. Really, I think it boils down to the collusion of certain objects not being solid as far as players expected. Oftentimes I died in game because of the smoke spewing robots. I think the reason I died at this section is because the game didn't register that the wall panels were blocking the toxic breath ability. It looked like I was safe, but I wasn't. And should you be unfortunate enough to get hit by the toxic breath attack, you age up! That means you're closer to death. Ugh.

Since there are irritating issues with the optimization, collusion, and loading issues, the Watchmaker has a few things to work on.

Graphics/UI

In terms of aesthetical choices, I quite like the stylistic steampunk graphics used. The steampunk concept is embedded in the game when players consider the gadgetry, steam, and overall colour scheme. Even Alexander's attire reflects the steampunk style, not just in the colour scheme and clothing choices, but in the look of his backpack too. Not only does it provide valuable information for the player, but it looks awesome. Also, one would think that the watchmaker would have some specialized time keeping device like a stopwatch but no, his abilities are executed through use of a mechanical glove. How cool is that?

The only real user interface in this game is the information conveyed on the backpack, which is great when you consider that Alexander doesn't have need for many objects. Even at that, there is an inventory screen which players can access through the menu screen. In here, there are tabs for video/sound/hotkeys/etc... The tabs don't have tons of options and it just scrapes by with the choices like it lacks the ability to change the field of view.

Pros and Cons of The Watchmaker

The Watchmaker is lacking in a few things that would be really useful, like a hint system. The only hints players receive come from the chatty voice, but often his dialogue is overrun by various game events.

On load up, not only does the game refuse to open on the correct monitor, but it also takes a good amount of time before getting into the game! I know it's not just my computer being a scrublord because other reviewers have had similar issues with The Watchmaker's load time. I can only imagine that others will have the same complaint.

The platforming in The Watchmaker infuriated me, not because it was hard, but because of the input lag. My complaint isn't that I dislike platforming because I enjoy jumping puzzles in games – to an extent – but I failed a few times because of the input issues.

Not having the ability to reset puzzles did The Watchmaker no favours in my books. Having such an option would have saved precious time, but unfortunately, I ended up becoming more aggitated with the game as time went on. And if all of that wasn't enough to deter me from the game entirely, the first boss fight really pushed me to throw in the towel. Again, it has little to do with mechanics of the fight. Players have to stop time, avoid the steam patches, pick up a bomb, and throw it at the boss in order to damage it. The problem is that half the time I had issues grabbing the bomb or throwing it, without getting hit with steam. In fact, there were several instances attempting the fight which caused me to take damage when I wasn't even on a steam vent.

Pros:

• Interesting concept
• Time is an integral part of the story, not an afterthought
• Graphical aesthetics are fantastic
• The puzzles fairly simple
• The music is great

Cons:

• Being timed for the duration of the game is frustrating
• Constant backtracking to reset Alexander's age is irritating
• Making small jumps not intended to be jump points are often fatal
• Long-assed load time
• No hint system or map or directional indicator (except for some ghostly footsteps)
• No puzzle reset option
• No difficulty scaling (starting at a higher or lower age depending on skill level)

Age 90 Thoughts

I really wanted to like this game because using a person's age as a timer is a unique idea, but I found myself too aggravated at little things issues. Sure, it has some awesome graphics and music, but after adding up all the cons, I actually came to dread playing The Watchmaker. It's not the idea of the game, it's that I generally hate timed puzzles, especially if input lag is a problem. In my opinion, the game has a fantastic in concept and it was poorly executed at too many points.

In total, I give this game a seven out of ten. It has a lot of potential to be a fantastic game but doesn't have everything figured out yet. Make no mistake, this game is not bad, The Watchmaker just had too many strikes against it for me to rate it higher.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Micropsia Games
Publisher(s):
1C Entertainment
Genre(s):
Action
Adventure
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Susan N.

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Total War: WARHAMMER II - PC Review

I have been historically hard on the garbage games that come tattooed with the good name of "Warhammer" or "Warhammer 40,000" and with good reason. With titles like the nigh unplayable Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade or the misguided Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 3, which was utterly ruined and a betrayal to a series of RTS titles that won the hearts and minds of hundreds of thousands of players, my heart has been broken countless time on titles like these. Games Workshop has a tendency to plaster their trademarks on anything resembling grimdark sci-fi to the point of being utterly ridiculous; with 47 titles (FORTY SEVEN! Not including the DLC/expansions!) being released under the Warhammer moniker since 2013 and only a handful being worthy of anyone's time, it is an interesting pill to swallow when a few tend to stick out like a shining beacon of hope. Creative Assembly's Total War: Warhammer series is of the shiniest beacons in the Warhammer arsenal of games, and its sequel Total War: Warhammer 2 continues the trend in excellence.

Truth be told I both groan and do a bit of an excited dance when the opportunity to review a Warhammer or Warhammer 40k title comes along. I do a bit of a hop-skip-and-a-jig because it is a new Warhammer title and I love Warhammer; I groan because they are universally garbage. When I went into reviewing the original Total War: Warhammer I was quite skeptical as I utterly love Creative Assembly and Total War: Shogun 2 is likely one of my favorite games of all time. I was rewarded greatly though, as TW: Warhammer was excellent (followed by a handful of non-Creative Assembly Warhammer and 40k titles that make me want to use NSFW language) so when Total War: Warhammer 2 came out, I was itching to have a round or two with it. Alas, life got in the way and it took a bit to get around to it, but now that things have slowed down a, I was able to take a crack at it and I am in absolute love.

I have always been bamboozled at the quality of the overworld map in the Total War games. They were unique and very different from atypical strategy / 4X titles at the time and have now set the bar for overworld exploration, diplomacy and research. Other titles have managed to come close to similar quality, but often in doing so they lack the polish or excellence of user experience; the Total War franchise reigns supreme in that fact and appears to be continually perfecting its overworld with Total War: Warhammer 2. While the game is stunning, and its lighting utterly fantastic, there were a few battlemaps that felt barren or extremely basic when I compare them with say, Thrones of Britannia: A Total War Saga. Though the trees and other elements in the various battlemaps are absolutely stunning, I do feel that with all of the gorgeous aspects of these maps that there could have been something more than a flat and lifeless-looking texture wrapped over the various hills (heck, some fights I came across were in areas that were completely flat and devoid of character). A small quip, but a noticeable one and one I hope to see improved upon in any future releases. The hardware is powerful enough and the engine for the Total War franchise is spectacular (just check out some of the mods) so it is only a matter of time I suppose.

In recent years Creative Assembly has wonderfully blended RPG-like elements into the hero-building portions of the Total War franchise and it feels far more prevalent and powerful in the Warhammer titles. This is likely due to the fact that abilities beyond the norm are rampant throughout the Warhammer universe so adding making your hero a mounted fireball-flinging doomslinger fits right in…. And it is wonderful even if it does feel a bit linear. The impression of choice is awesome and makes it feel like these units really make a difference in combat (something I have struggled with in past Total War titles). However, it does introduce a tiny bit of concern; with the success of titles like WarCraft 3: The Reign of Chaos and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2, which are properties that spawned from traditional and relatively hardcore RTS titles, titles began to focus more and more on hero units and less on the strategy aspect of RTS. I would hate to see the Total War: Warhammer franchise fall into that same pit, where heroes are more important than the army that surrounds them. While that does not happen much in Total War: Warhammer II, it is something I would remain cautious about feverishly supporting. Balance is key …

On the topic of balance, each of the playable races are immaculately balanced; from the bright High Elves to the nasty Skaven, each of the five playable factions are meticulous in their respect to the long-standing lore of each. While in the core campaign, called "Eye of the Vortex" you can play as the TW:WH2 races, which are High Elves, Dark Elves, Lizardmen, Skaven and if you have the appropriate DLC, the Tomb Kings. An excellent little bit tossed to owners of the original Total War: Warhammer is the Mortal Empire DLC which adds an incredible sandbox campaign allowing the use of all of the races from the two games. Any way you look at it, Total War: Warhammer is absolutely massive and it will without a doubt, soak up dozens of hours in your first playthrough. This is easily one of the biggest-feeling games I have sat down to play; perhaps it is the seamless feeling Mortal Empires DLC or that the scale of the battlemap vs. the scale of the units feels different than past games, I do not know. What I do know is that it is bloody fun.

Creative Assembly did something with Total War: Warhammer II that is, in my experience, quite rare in the Warhammer franchise … It followed up an excellent title with an equally (and in many ways, superior) excellent title. Perhaps a part of it is that the Total War formula seems almost ready-built for Games Workshop's vaunted franchise, but maybe it is that I do not see TW: Warhammer and its successor as Warhammer titles, but rather as Total War games with Warhammer skins. So little of TW: Warhammer II feels like the Games Workshop titles of the past, largely because it is so incredibly superior to others that they should not be compared. That does not discount the fact that Total War: Warhammer II IS in fact a Warhammer title, just developed by a studio that has given the world excellent games for 18+ years; few other Warhammer games have the pedigree of success that Creative Assembly has and it shows in their latest releases. Total War: Warhammer II is truly an experience to behold.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Creative Assembly
Publisher(s):
Sega
Genre(s):
Real Time Strategy
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Robert

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God of War - PS4 Review

A game review from the unique perspective of a total newbie gamer who has only just started to indulge a life long love of video games, who also happens to be an adult(ish) woman.

I finished this game (except for Sigrun. Damn it, Sigrun) on my birthday, and I have thoughts! Let's get stuck into it.

WARNING: Spoilers. Duh.

Character Design

Dad-bod

Can we just talk about how much I love beardy, old man Kratos?  They've really changed up the character a lot. Oh, he's still ridiculously muscular. I mean, he must have to eat several boars of an evening to maintain that amount of mass. Still, there are some appreciated changes, however.
For starters, his lats no longer look like weird proto-wings, which is nice. His waist is thicker, too, instead of teeny-how-on-earth-could-it-support-those-shoulders-tiny, as it has been in earlier incarnations of the character. These much more realistic proportions did not make me roll my eyes or laugh in derision, as previous God of War games have done.

Also, they've replaced the douche-goatee with a full beard, and I. am. here. for. it. I much prefer it. There's no reason for that. It's a purely aesthetic thing.

Now, to the stuff that really matters. I adore this Kratos. Like, a lot. Unlike the earlier versions of him, where he is nothing but a cardboard cut-out of toxic masculinity, this Kratos is rich and complex, with a range of emotions, and a deep internal life and actual personal growth that peaks through ever so beautifully during the game. In previous games, I felt nothing for the avatar. He was just the thing you moved across the screen in order to kill tonnes of shit. At the end of his three part original saga when he "died," I could not have cared less.

Now, however, right at the end of the game, when there is that image of Kratos behind the torn fabric... you know the one... I teared up. I got concerned. I was worried for Kratos in a way I had not ever been in any of the games before this. Kratos became a real (fictional) person in this game; unsure, grieving, and incredibly wise at times, and it was glorious.

Also, casting Christopher Judge as Kratos was a stroke of genius. There is a certain gravitas that Mr. Judge brings to the character that was simply missing before. Granted, the writing in previous games was, well, nothing special. Even still, the emotional range Mr. Judge brought to Kratos was something special, and it was never more clear that the warmth in that amazing voice whenever Kratos spoke of his late wife...?  Wait, were they married?  Lover?  Spouse?  Partner. I'm going with partner. This is particularly evident when Atreus asks if his mother was a good fighter and Kratos answers, warmly, "Yes. She fought beautifully."

By the by, I'm not saying that anyone at Santa Monica read my review of God of War III, but I'm fully taking credit for the casting of Christopher Judge. So there.

All of this to say, I love this new Kratos. So much so, I'm going to have to revisit my F**k, Marry, Kill list and make some hard choices.

They say his name is Atreus, I'm fairly certain it's 'Boy.'

Atreus is adorable. There's not much to say about his physical design. He looks like a kid, which is great. There are some scars on his face, which are never really explained, which, now having finished the game, I have some ideas about, based on who he is (something about the venom of a serpent, something, something, pagan Scandinavian myth something). It's his character that really got to me.

He could not be more unlike his father when the game starts. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, and believes in kindness for kindness' sake (a trait which, we are told, he acquired from his mother). He's eager to please, and happy to make friends with literally everyone he meets. His enormous heart influences his father more than Kratos' emotional stagnation influences Atreus, and Kratos does good deeds on the urging of this adorable kid.

Like the new Kratos, however, Atreus is not a one-note character. He struggles, particularly with relating to his father, whom he loves very much and wants to please. This struggle manifests in really interesting ways, and sometimes really frustrating ways in game. The frustration is earnt, though, and an important point in the telling of the story. But more on that, later.

It is really hard not to love this character, even if there isn't much to speak on about him. At least, not without delivering unforgivable spoilers.

I love this design so much. It has everything to do with the tattoos.

Baldur, the main antagonist in this game, was such a great character!  I adore the tattoos on the character. It tells me the team did their research. There's plenty to suggest that the medieval Scandinavians were, like the Celts of the Iron Age, tattooed. Baldur is not the only character with tattoos. Atreus has some, as does Magni and Moði (sons of Thor, and yet more antagonists to Kratos and his son), and Freya. It's a small detail... except in the case of Baldur, where almost his entire body is covered, but it's an accurate one, and I adore the game designers for it.
Baldur's build is much slighter that Kratos', and that makes for some really interesting visuals in game, and also a huge surprise as he is easily as powerful as our hero. Also, pretty much invincible. Almost. NO SPOILERS. Okay, some spoilers.

Anyway, what's really great about this character is how messed up he is. Once again, the interiority of the character is paramount to how much I like them as characters, and Baldur's interior life is wonderfully twisted. He is so embittered and full of hatred, making his mental state the real thing to fear here. And it's so damned interesting, and makes Baldur, not someone I can empathise with exactly, but someone I can kinda understand.

I also want to make a special note of two side characters that also serve as the comic relief.

Sindri and Brok, the Huldra brothers. I LOVE THEM!

These two dwarven brothers are almost my favourite in the game. Sindri is a germophobe, which is the basis for a lot of the adorable laughs that I had from this game. Brok is a gruff, cranky sort, who got a lot of amused snorts from me. Their appearance in the game did well to lighten the tension, and provided many laugh out loud moments. They're a huge part of the reason why this game is so much fun. The best part, is that they weren't stupid comic relief. The writers did a wonderful job of creating characters that were funny without being unintelligent. Often the comic relief is poorly written, and inspires more eye rolls than giggles. I'm pleased to say that these two provided many of the latter.

Good job!

There are more characters, but I'm not going to list them here. This section is already too long as it is, and I can cover at least one more later. But I'm impressed with the differences in character design. No one felt like cardboard cut-outs, but rather full, intriguing and complex characters. My hat goes off to the writers for crafting such a fine balance, and to the voice actors for bringing them so beautifully to life.

Story

I am a complete sucker for parent-child bonding stories. It's what I loved so much about The Last of Us, and I absolutely adored it here. Kratos learning what fatherhood is, and Atreus breaching through literally several lifetimes of dehumanising conditioning to reach his father was a story that grabbed my heart, squeezed, and would not let go. I loved it. It made me smile. It frustrated me. And by the end, I was so invested in the blossoming father-son relationship that the vague threat of ending it made my eyes water.

Ostensibly, this is a story about a man and his son trying to honour the last wish of their dead loved one (partner and mother). The whole point of the journey is to release her ashes atop the highest peak in all the realms. But that's not what this story is about.

This story is about a damaged man learning to undo the chains of toxic masculinity that has been trained into him from birth, and in so doing, bonding with his son, with whom he could not relate before. There are a couple of beautiful bookends here. At the beginning, when Atreus is in need of comfort, Kratos cannot even bring himself to put his hand on his son's shoulder. By the end, there's practically a side-hug. That barrier is broken.

It first starts to crumble when Atreus kills a man; the very thing he did not want to do, and the thing Kratos tried to spare him from, in the old temple thingy. That little moment between father and son almost made me cry.

Similarly, the toxic tropes that have plagued Kratos; gods killing gods, sons killing parents, the fear of the same probably part of why Kratos feared to love his son more fully as a father, is slowly torn away by Kratos' own hand. He continually cautions his son that Atreus "must be better."  Better than Kratos. Better than the gods. At the end of the final boss battle, when Kratos announces that "the cycle ends here" and Atreus questions what being a god means, Kratos wisely counsels his son, "Who I was is not who you will be."  It's a moment of grave profundity that I was not expecting in this game. I want to take the time to unpack it all, but I'll perhaps do that in a different blog post, and not here.

The quest is to fulfil the wishes of a dead loved one, but this story is about so, so much more and it is profound, and meaningful, and deserving of an essay all of its own. I loved it so, so much. So much!

Also, a shout out to the refreshing take on the Aesir. They are nothing more than powerful bullies, these gods, and it's nice to see it be taken from that angle, instead of what we usually see about the Aesir in modern takes of mythology.

Women

There are two main women in the game, and one of them is dead before we ever get to meet her. The others, however, impressed me with how they were treated. There were, of course, the Valkyries, who were antagonistic until they were not. While I have a slight issue with the whole 'crazy bitches need rescuing by a man and then they become good' thing with them, but they did make for some excellently challenging fights that I really enjoyed. As of writing this, I still have yet to defeat Sigrun, despite three hours solid of trying, but I will, damn it!  I also really enjoyed that they were so tough, and so competent at combat. I also really loved that there was a small bit of lore on each that you could read up on once you've placed their helms in their seat at the Council. I'm a nerd, and seeing the developers have put in their research like this made me so fucking happy!

The one female character we get a fair amount of in-story interaction with during the game is Freya.

Apparently there's no shortage of eye shadow in her neck of the woods.

I really liked this version of Freya. She's remembered most as the Norse goddess of love, but this version of her harkens back to her older roots: leader of the Vanir, and a remarkable warrior in her own right (so remarkable, that under her leadership the Aesir failed to defeat the Vanir during their war, and Odin tricked her in order to prevent her from fighting ever again... 'cause he's a sneaky bastard and a coward. Ahem). I love that they paid special attention to her role as a leader and a warrior, and how it was stripped from her.

She is also a great character. She's sassy (one of my favourite lines is "Still a god" when Kratos comes seeking aid), and holds her own, but has room in her heart to care for Atreus and help Kratos when his son falls deathly ill.

They don't shy away from her darker side, either. She turns vengeful when she loses everything.

She's a great character, though I would like to see a little more realistic musculature. She's supposed to be a warrior, capable of hours of swinging a sword. It would have been nice to see a little more muscle on her.

It's a tiny gripe, considering how wonderful the character is overall.

Given how few women there are in the game (literally only one that could be considered a character, per se), I am still quite happy with how they treated her. I'm also happy that there was no forced romance.

Game Play

While Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice will forever hold a special place in my heart for how brilliant their combat system is, this game was nevertheless really fun to play. Most of the time, the errors made were me forgetting which button was dodge, and which was action.

There were some issues with buttons that were used for more than one thing. The dodge button, for example was also the collect item button, which means that on more than one occasion, I tried to dodge, but instead stomped on some health, and then got slaughtered. That was incredibly annoying. Also annoying was the tendency for the tracking feature to suddenly stop tracking for no damned reason other than the enemy flying past really quickly, go flying out of frame, or something. It had me screaming bloody murder during some fights (*cough *cough Sigrun *cough), and was by far a pretty frustrating part of an otherwise excellent experience.

Also, I thought that I would love the Leviathan Axe as my primary weapon, but the Chaos Blades were too much fun!  They became my primary weapon for most of the later half of the game. I also might have gotten a little too excited when I realised that I would be able to get them as part of the game play.

The gore fest that God of War is known for is not ignored in this game, though I will say that it takes a welcome backseat to story and character.

All in all great game play.

Music

I'm making special mention of the music here, because it's absolutely stunning. This soundtrack is exceptional. So exceptional, in fact, that I ran out and bought it the first opportunity I could. Honestly, Bear McCreary is in top form here.

Finally

I loved this game. The story hit all the right notes for me. The voice acting was brilliant, the writing was fantastic, and the game play was fun. I am especially enamored with how they managed to make Kratos, this former one-note epitome of toxic masculinity, and begin his redemption, turning him into a man who has learnt a thing or two in his time and has become wiser and then, through this game, a better person.

A great game. I'm pleased to have this in my personal collection. Highly recommend.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
SIE Santa Monica Studio
Publisher(s):
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Genre(s):
Action
Adventure
Hack & Slash
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
NA

Source:
Purchased

Article by S.M. Carrière

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The Jackbox Party Pack 5 - PS4 Review

You’re at a party, actually you’re at a fairly large party, too many people to sit down to a game of risk, a game of Betrayal at House on the Hill or for a good old fashion bout of Mario Kart. People will always segment off into smaller groups, find something to do but then there’s always that one other person that goes and feels left out. In a stroke of brilliance, JackBox games created a “game” that everyone can play as in this day and age, even if you don’t have data on your cell phone or tablet, someone’s got a wifi running. Now up to Number 5, Jackbox Games is back for more party craziness that just makes you wonder how sane some of your friends really are.

Like the other Party Packs, the more the merrier. I mean, I’ve sat down to some of these on a Sunday night with my Mom and Marc just to kill a bit of time before watching a movie but when there are only three of your? It’s not the same as a room full of people or even more if you decide to take it online and stream it through Twitch! In that regards, the Party Pack is as robust as ever with easy controls that are pushed out to your devices while the main content is on screen. What I’ve always appreciated on this is that regardless of the party pack, you simply need to go to JackBox.TV, put in the room code, a “witty” username, I totally go with PY, and unleash sarcasm or epicness upon your foes! Erm… friends.

Like some of the older packs, there are some revamped classics and some entirely new elements to spice up any party. Starting off with the return of You Don’t Know Jack, I clearly didn’t. Pop Culture is definitely not my thing but in a room with others that don’t? You may just stand a chance. What was great on this revamp was the style of how the questions were asked. Other than the typical, which do you think was right, there was now a timed “quick draw” which presents players with six items in which they have to choose whether or not it fits into the above stated category.

Shown two at a time, you need to think quickly if, for example the category was Captain, if Capt America actually works or not. Was it written Captain? No? Then the answer was wrong and in not clicking it you don’t lose any points. Click it? Whelp, you just lost a fair amount of points AND probably let someone else take the lead. This new addition in the mix of the others was awesome because it acts different even within its own “game” keeping things moving and interesting because if you space out? You’ll miss out and quite possibly lose.

Coming in new are the following party games that bring in some new life to the series. Now while I personally wasn’t a fan of all of all of them, that’s something to be understood as each Party pack comes with several entries that will hopefully apply to everyone, but let’s be honest for a moment in that not everyone will always agree. That said, each one was well designed.

First up after You Don’t Know Jack is Split the Room. Split the Room is a test of would you rather A or B. Simple enough until you start thinking of who you’re playing against and who’s most likely to take the most amount of points. If several people agree that they would rather my epic voice narrating their life story versus having to pee themselves every time that they say the word “I” instead of talking in the third person, then I would get a measly amount of points. If it comes down to a 50/50? Jackpot! So this was fun because you really have to play the room more than aim for what you may truly want.

After splitting the room there was Mad Verse which confirmed what I already knew. Even with giant robots I can neither rhyme nor can I rap. I suck. Badly. But conceptually you go head to head against other players in which after putting in a subject and given a line in return, you have to write a second verse before doing it again for the third and fourth lines. It’s freaking hilarious if you’re good and considering that the raps are all done with a Microsoft Sam like voice? It’s well worth going through a few rounds regardless of your skills.

Patently Stupid was perhaps by far my favorite of the bunch. Everyone writes an idea. Ideas are all sorted out to the players, and then you have to come up with a name, slogan and a drawing off of a dinner napkin for your solution to the problem. Do you have what it takes to be the brains behind the idea? Do you have the nerves to present it? This was a bit of a neat concept as you don’t have to be the one presenting but can actually allow the computer to do it for you. If you leave it to them, they’ll go through their script. If you want to do it yourself? You are given the prompts for how you want things to appear and you better bring your best presentation voice because without that? No one is going to want to back your project. Zero presentation skills means ZERO funding from your peers!

Finally there was Crab Nebula that was more of an interactive catapult fest in which all the players present have to work together to eliminate enemies on the screen. After being hit once, an enemy will change colors befitting that of another player. That player who’s color has been chosen must be the one to launch themselves at the enemy in order to do damage to the enemy. Now while this is a team exercise, the most kills will give the most points which basically makes you the winner. Having to work both together but “alone” was a lot of fun and you’ll definitely want to bring your A-Game if you want to win!

Like those before it, The Jack Box Party Pack 5 is a great addition to any party whether it’s with your immature friends or your once bland family get togethers. No go get to playing!

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Jackbox Games, Inc.
Publisher(s):
Jackbox Games, Inc.
Genre(s):
Party Game
Mode(s):
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
Nintendo Switch
PC / Mac

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Phantom Halls - PC Review

Earlier this year I got the chance to take my first steps into the Phantom Halls of an evil house up on a hill. Armed with baseball bats, shotguns, molotov cocktails and a good old fashioned set of legs to help you run away from the monsters, join up with a Goth, a Cheerleader, your typical book Nerd and a Jock in order to combat the evil of the house before it escapes into the nearby town.

Feeling a tad like an adult Scooby-doo episodes once the monsters come out to play, Phantom Halls is a lot of fun. Each Stage gives you an objective as to why you would put one or more of your available “cast” into danger by sending them into the house. Once inside of these evil halls, all bets are off until you finally trigger the “end-game” in which the quiet and horror inspiring darkness turns to a crimson red making you want to do nothing more than run for dear life as everything is now truly out to kill you instead of simply wanting to kill you on sight!

What makes Phantom Halls neat, especially for a horror themed title, is that it’s not scary. The atmosphere will settle in making you cautious but for the most part when moving from left to right across each hall and the rooms that they connect to, your biggest worry will be how many weapons your packing, if you have any health kits left and how you’re going to tackle the obstacles before you.

Not all foes are created equally and while sometimes a good bat to the head of a zombie will do the trick, you’ll need to be a bit more creative with skeletons that launch their own bones at you or maggots that explode upon contact damaging you regardless of how long your stick was. It’s a good thing that there are ranged weapons and that often enough, there’s more than one of you!

In Phantom Halls you don't just control a single character, you can control multiple simultaneously. While this sounds a bit daunting at first, it becomes rather simple once you realize that your characters move in a group and that they all aim wherever your cursor is pointing together. This can sometimes be a bit tricky when dealing with both melee and ranged weapons but each character has been assigned an attack key that is precisely above the A and D keys to move left or right. If you only want to deal with your main character then the left mouse click is enough to do the job as it will only trigger them into action.

You'll be seeing the house a lot but it doesn't get boring or repetitive. While you may see a lot of the same over and over, you're often going to be more concerned with that lurks within than whether or not you can move a clock or table to use as a barricade. With each run switching things up on the inside as well, you never know what you're in for.

In order to move further along your missions you're going to have to finish a couple first in order to buff up your party and their abilities. Each character has a skill tree with some passive abilities that can be leveled up as well as actual abilities to use while in mission. The cheerleader can heal while the jock can block damage and the goth can essentially make the party invisible. Each of these have a hefty cool down so you shouldn't use them unless you really have to as a minute can often feel like an eternity in this haunted house.

Phantom Halls was a lot of fun. I really appreciated the B-Horror esque feeling that it gave off which when combined with the graphics and the gameplay elements just worked. Having played in Early Access and now in Full Release, the gameplay was just as solid but the small additions and refinements just made an already good title that much better and this will be one worth coming back to especially for Halloween!

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Incendium LLC
Publisher(s):
Incendium LTD
Genre(s):
Side-Scroller
Shooter
Survival Horror
Mode(s):
Single Player
Local Coop
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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