Tag Archive: PC


Hands-On: Gauntlet

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March 26, 2014

Ray needs remake…badly

While it hasn’t had nearly as many remakes as some of its arcade brethren over the years, Gauntlet still holds a special place in many gamers’ hearts. EGM even listed the beloved “needs food…badly” quip as the No. 3 greatest videogame line of all time back in 2002. Now, Warner Bros. has secured the rights from Midway after the latter went bankrupt (and after Midway acquired the rights from Atari in the same manner), and they’ve tapped Swedish developer Arrowhead Game Studios—best known for 2011’s Magicka—to bring the series back for a modern audience.

Obviously, tailoring Gauntlet for younger gamers means some changes. I’m going to brace myself, because this is where the old-school trolls start licking their chops. But there’s actually not that much of a difference here from what arcade junkies know and love. The most immediate change you’ll notice is that you don’t continuously lose health anymore. This forced “time limit” was originally designed as another way to suck down your stack of quarters, and it would probably just piss a lot of people off nowadays. This new Gauntlet isn’t a cakewalk by any means, though. While before you’d pump in more quarters in order to revive yourself, now you need to spend the gold you find in levels.

This works because a lot of modern games have put less of an emphasis on score. It also means this remake has its own skill-based life limit in line with the spirit of the original game. An extra nuance is that when playing cooperatively, all the gold is communal, so if you have a friend who really sucks, all that extra gold you risked your life for may not be there when it’s your turn to finally kick the bucket.

Another interesting thing about gold is that it’s not used to buy weapons like in later Gauntlet ports. Instead, you get new weapons and items by finding “relics” in levels, which then give you special powers like an ice blast or better speed. As you find more and more relics, you need to make some tough choices. You’ll keep them forever, but you can only carry two at a time into a level and can’t spam them because of a recharge meter.

Beyond this, the 4-player hack-n-slash co-op action you know and love still feels a lot like it did back in the day. The four classes—Warrior, Elf, Valkyrie, and Wizard—return, but you can only have one on each team (no clones). You can choose to turn friendly fire on in order to add some extra griefing potential, but because of the communal gold, the game feels less like a competition and more like a true co-op experience, kind of like the Gauntlet Legends spin-off for the N64.

The game also features some classic dungeon designs. I played a level with an Egyptian-tomb motif that was filled with hundreds of undead mummies, and at the end, I faced off against a boss that looked a lot like Death. The classic top-down view is still present, and everything just looks like it’s received a modern coat of paint. I can’t deny that it was tons of fun to swing my Warrior’s axe while surrounded by dozens of foes.

My only real disappointment is the fact that this is currently a PC/Steam exclusive. I miss games where you could sit around a couch and play with a bunch of friends—and I don’t think of that when I hear “PC.” This feels like it’d be perfect for the Xbox One and PS4 with four controllers, but we’ll have to wait and see if Warner Bros. reconsiders after seeing how well Gauntlet does when it hits this summer.

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EGM Review: Chivalry: Deadliest Warrior

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January 16, 2014

Who says Chivalry is dead?

Sometimes, when you’re having a rough day, you don’t want a deep, emotional experience from your videogames. You don’t want character development or shades of gray in the storytelling. Heck, sometimes you don’t want storytelling at all. All you want—all you need—is to run someone through with a broadsword. And Chivalry: Deadliest Warrior may be just the raw experience to satisfy that need.

This expansion pack marries Chivalry: Medieval Warfare’s gameplay with six classes (Knight, Ninja, Viking, Samurai, Spartan, and Pirate) based off Spike’s historical “What If?” TV show, allowing players to strike each other down and make a direct case for their warrior being the deadliest. In an extra nod to the show, Deadliest Warrior also keeps statistics on each class, both on individual player and worldwide scales.

Chivalry: Deadliest Warrior includes one-on-one duels and a capture-the-flag-type mode where players simply have to keep killing the flag carrier. This expansion also offers massive 64-player deathmatch and team deathmatch; to help keep the carnage fresh, the game includes multi-team modes that allow up to six groups (limited to 10 players each) of mixed characters, or matches where each squad represents one of the game’s classes.

Like most online multiplayer–only experiences, Chivalry: Deadliest Warrior becomes more fun and rewarding the more time you put into it. From a technical standpoint, the game isn’t mind-blowing. It has its fare share of clipping and lag issues depending on the server, and the arenas look a bit bland with many barren, wide-open areas and some muddy textures. But there’s no denying how much enjoyment you can have from dismembering opponents with well-timed slashes or impaling them on your spear.

The controls are also a bit difficult to get used to, since you’ll have a lot more to do than you may be accustomed to with a mouse and keyboard. You can swing your weapon different ways by pressing different buttons, giving each character multiple attacks per killing tool. A tutorial mode helps you adjust to all these extra attacks, and it’s pretty damn boring, but you’ll be happy you took the time to commit them all to memory when surrounded by Spartan shields or Samurai bowmen (in the heat of battle, you’ll need to remember how to block and not swing your sword in an uppercut motion).

Once you leave the tutorial and get a few matches under your belt, you’ll really start to see that most of the focus—and rightly so—falls squarely on the combat. Each class has multiple loadouts with different weapons that make sense to their character, and they’ve all been featured on the Deadliest Warrior TV show. For example, Pirates have cutlasses and flintlock pistols, while Vikings have a variety of dual-wieldable swords or two-handed axes depending on your style of play.

As you level up each class, you see the nuance of each character really start to emerge as more refined weapons become available. The fine-tuned balance of the classes is also a pleasant surprise and becomes more evident after some time. If you know how to use each class properly, playing to their strengths and trying to avoid their weaknesses, you can come out on top in almost any situation.

Because of its armor, a Knight will lay waste to a Ninja who foolishly attempts a full-frontal assault. But if the Ninja takes advantage of its speed and stealth to approach from behind, it can overcome the armor disadvantage. At the same time, the Knight can carry a crossbow to make up for its speed handicap should the full-frontal ninja decide to retreat and recover. Mind you, projectile weapons usually have major drawbacks like reload time, so it’s not wise to rely on them, either.

Beyond all the class-balancing and loadout-building, though, it simply feels great when you parry a slash at just the right time and counter with a move that sends your opponent’s head flying. Then you can taunt them with some hysterically cheesy one-liners worthy of a game made by guys who work for Comedy Central (“I’d cut you in half…but then there’d be two of you!” or my personal favorite, “Yaaaaargh!”). There’s just something visceral about playing a 10-minute match and having bodies strewn throughout the battlefield, every remaining character drenched in their enemies’ blood. And I like it.

The game may lack the objective-based modes featured in Medieval Warfare, but Deadliest Warrior’s six wholly unique classes are something Medieval Warfare can’t claim. There’s also the fact that you have to buy Medieval Warfare if you want Deadliest Warrior, turning a fitting $15 price tag into $40 if you don’t already have Chivalry.

If you do, though, Deadliest Warrior is a fine expansion, and it’s a fun, well-balanced change of pace from the main game. Plus, even two months after launching, the game still has a thriving community; I almost always found myself in a full room while playing over holiday break. If you already got Chivalry: Medieval Warfare and prefer some senseless slaughter over strategic shenanigans, then Chivalry: Deadliest Warrior is definitely worth a look.

Developer: 345 Games • Publisher: Torn Banner Studios • ESRB: N/A • Release Date: 11.14.13
8.0
Plenty of diverse classes and tight combat makes up for a lack of game modes. If you already have Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, Deadliest Warrior is a fun expansion pack that offers a welcome change of pace from the main game if deathmatch-oriented matches are in your wheelhouse.
The Good Variety of classes—and solid balance between them all.
The Bad Lack of game modes compared to Medieval Warfare.
The Ugly Soiling yourself after hearing a chorus of guttural taunts and chants marching your way.
Chivalry: Deadliest Warrior is a PC exclusive. 
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EGM Review: The Walking Dead: Season 2: Episode 1 – All That Remains

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December 23, 2013

Oh my darling, Clementine

EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS REVIEW MAY MAKE REFERENCE TO EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE DURING SEASON ONE OF TELLTALE’S THE WALKING DEAD. IF YOU DON’T WANT IT SPOILED, I IMPLORE YOU TO GO PLAY IT AND THEN COME BACK. ALSO, WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? IT’S BEEN OUT FOR A YEAR ALREADY. WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GO! THEN COME BACK.

Last year, Telltale captivated gamers everywhere by capturing the essence of what makes The Walking Dead comics great: human drama that just happens to take place during the zombie apocalypse. In the process, we got to know—and fall in love with—protagonists Lee and Clementine. Their unique dynamic is what kept many players going to the very end, when Lee finally succumbed to his infection. Clementine’s story was far from over, though, and now in Season Two, instead of serving as her protector, we get to play as Clem herself and see just how the world around her begins to take its toll during some of her formative years.

It’s been a little over 12 months since we played the end of Season One (the first time, anyway) and six since 400 Days, so in order to get players back into the groove of surviving the end of modern civilization, the episode starts off by punching you in the gut several times with some sequences you will not see coming. If you thought you might coast for a while and get your bearings playing as Clem, you’d best think again.

This sink-or-swim approach is a brilliant move by the gang at Telltale, as it serves two purposes. Not only does it prepare you for what’s to come over the rest of the episode—both in terms of point-and-click gameplay and dramatic tone—but it also forces you into Clem’s shoes faster, preventing you from “meta-gaming” scenarios as though you were still protecting Clem (a possible side effect of your role in Season One). This habit would be harder to break later on if you became used to that idea, and the game would be less immersive as a result.

I admit that, going into this first episode, I was afraid I’d fall into that mindset myself—and that there’d be a disconnect between me and playing as Clem because of it. Due to the nature of the first few scenarios in the episode, however, I quickly found myself playing out conversations as though I were actually Clem. I was still “protecting” her, but mostly because I was protecting a part of myself. I didn’t have the time to think on a meta-scale. Thus, when things finally did slow down, I was already in the mindset of thinking as Clem and continued on that route.

I also thoroughly enjoyed many of Clem’s conversation choices. If I wanted to maintain her innocence—since she still isn’t even a teenager—the game offered options for that path. If I wanted to wear some of Clem’s emotional scars on her sleeve a bit more, I could do that, too. Other times, Clem displayed more adultlike logic, showing off her accelerated maturity due to her past experiences. I personally chose this path, and was pleasantly rewarded when it led to a particularly entertaining conversation between Clem and a sassy older woman. My Clem doesn’t take s*** from anybody!

For all the good Telltale does in this opening episode’s story, they did make a couple of questionable design choices. The most notable—and disappointing—is the lack of ramifications from the decisions you made in Season One and 400 Days. While the “next episode” teaser at the end of All That Remains does seem to hint at this situation being rectified, I would’ve loved something more than a couple of dialogue choices reflecting back on what happened down in Savannah.

Part of this could be the idea that new players may be coming on board, much like how some people start watching the second season of a TV series after hearing how popular it is. The problem is that by trying to cater to a new audience, Telltale might be ostracizing their returning fanbase with this more generic entry point for the series.

If anything, making a lot of references to prior events could compel people to go back and buy and play Season One. Even if players don’t have a Season One save, this episode has a scenario generator at the beginning that plays out the major choices so that players can experience Season Two without fear of punishment or missing out on content. So, why not reward your loyalists a bit more and throw them a bigger bone?

I also felt like the episode ended at an odd point. In Season One, every episode had a very natural conclusion. All That Remains’ end comes out of nowhere, and it’s incredibly jarring. While it works as a cliffhanger—and I understand that the next episode will begin with some major conflict—there was an earlier sequence that would’ve made much more sense as a “natural” ending. But ending there would’ve made this experience a bit too short, and as it stands now, the episode’s only 90 minutes long, so it seems that Telltale wants to make sure players are still getting their money’s worth.

Despite these couple of questionable choices by Telltale, their Walking Dead series continues to be a narrative powerhouse. Even though there’s only an hour and a half of content here, there were several instances that I had to pause the game, walk away, get a drink, and then come back. I simply couldn’t power through and ignore the events of this episode, and I found myself frantically worrying about Clem now—just as much as when I was protecting her as Lee.  Fans of Season One have no excuse not to go out on and get this first episode of Season Two, and while I think newcomers should still play Season One first, they’ll be OK using this as a jumping-off point as well.

Developer: Telltale Games • Publisher: Telltale Games • ESRB: M – Mature • Release Date: 12.17.13
8.0
All That Remains is a fine way to kick off the second season of The Walking Dead. Telltale made some interesting design decisions putting players in the role of Clementine, and most of their choices—but not all—work out nicely.
The Good The story immerses players from the get-go.
The Bad Lack of ramifications from previous episodes.
The Ugly How easy I found it to play as a little girl.
The Walking Dead: Season 2: Episode 1 – All That Remains is available on Steam (PC/Mac), XBLA (Xbox 360), PSN (PS3), and iOS. Primary version reviewed was for Steam (PC).
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Hands-On: Chivalry: Deadliest Warrior

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September 23, 2013

Who is deadliest?

For three seasons, Deadliest Warrior on Spike took some of history’s greatest combatants and threw them into a fictional “What if?” scenario. Torn Banner Studios’ Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is a best-selling PC title best described as a first-person slasher where feudal knights clash in multiplayer combat in order to achieve a variety of objectives.

When the two meet, you get Chivalry: Deadliest Warrior, a Chivalry expansion pack coming this fall via Steam. It might sound simple, but after going hands-on with the game, there’s a lot more going on than you might initially expect.

Sure, the first major aspect is obvious: the six warrior classes. The Knight will be familiar to longtime Chivalry players, but the Ninja, Samurai, Pirate, Viking, and Spartan are new—and each brings their own brand of mayhem to the proceedings. In true Deadliest Warrior fashion, all combatants have a choice of weapons, so a Samurai-versus-Spartan showdown could theoretically play out quite differently each time.

The game also includes projectile weapons—much like the main Chivalry experience—that fit the needs of each character. For example, a Spartan can throw his spear, while a Pirate can fire his flintlock pistol. The Pirate and Ninja weren’t available in the demo, but I did get a chance to try out the Spartan; tossing his spear felt excellent, especially when it hit and impaled an opponent for a killing blow.

Speaking of weapons, fans of Deadliest Warrior know how heavily these bouts rely on statistics. But don’t these matchups wreak havoc on weapon and armor balancing?

“For us, we’re trying to keep the personality of the weapons,” says lead game designer Steve Piggott. “We’re not going to use the exact stats. If Spartans are using bronze weapons and armor, that would never cut through the steel armored plates of a knight. But we’re not going to represent that in the game, because that would be the least fun thing ever. So, we’re trying to maintain the character and personality of those weapons without losing the fun factor of wielding them. And then, from there, it’s just constant iteration to make sure it’s a fun experience.”

Aside from a variety of authentic weapons, each class also has its own unique arena with different traps or features that could change the way you think of combat. I was able to try out the Samurai’s arena, where I was able to run on the rooftops and get the drop on enemies from above. At one point, a Knight tried dropping down on me—but all that heavy armor didn’t make for a sound strategy, and it was an easy kill for my Viking warrior. I also tried the Spartan’s arena, which has a 300-style pit into which you can kick careless foes. Of course, if you’re like me and mash the kick button near that pit, you also leave yourself open for an easy gutting.

The biggest change, however, comes in the form of multiteam matches, where up to six teams of 10 players clash in a single arena. There’s also Mixed Team Deathmatch, which allows for a hodgepodge of classes on a given team; Faction Battle, where 32 from one class go against 32 from another; a traditional Capture the Flag mode; or 1-on-1 duels akin more to a traditional Deadliest Warrior scenario.

Meanwhile, Deadliest Warrior fans will be thrilled that comprehensive stats will be kept on globally ranked leaderboards to help fan the flames of that eternal debate: “Who is deadliest?” Players can also monitor their personal stats, including kills and their most effective weapons. Honestly, there’s a lot of potential here. I only got a chance to see the 1-on-1 duels—which were certainly exciting in their own right—but this is a mode that fans of both the Deadliest Warrior games and TV show will embrace.

But it’s the idea of expanding that into multiple teams and factions versus factions that really got me excited. Who wouldn’t love to see 32 Spartans up against 32 Ninjas? Or see 10 Spartans, 10 Ninjas, 10 Samurai, 10 Vikings, 10 Knights, and 10 Pirates duke it out? The potential for mayhem is awesome, and that’s what will really draw players into this $15 expansion.

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EGM Review: Company of Heroes 2

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July 23, 2013

Harsh winter, harsher reality

In America, we often glorify our own involvement in World War II. But it’s easy to forget about our allies—especially the Soviets, who we’d subsequently spend much of the rest of the 20th century villainizing after the war. If Stalin and his men hadn’t forced the Nazis into a prolonged war on three fronts that bled Hitler’s boys dry, though, we might be living in a very different world indeed.

It’s easy to look back on a conflict that saw the loss of so many—and went on for so long—as a mere collection of dates and names of battles. It’s safer to just look at statistics (like the estimated 60 to 80 million deaths worldwide) and detach yourself from the thought of so much human suffering.

And that’s a major reason why Company of Heroes 2 is so fascinating. Not only does it highlight the war fought along the Eastern Front from 1941-1945, but the single-player campaign tells this underappreciated tale through the eyes of (fictional) lieutenant Lev Abramovich Isakovich—and how he copes, years later, with the questionable tactics the Reds often used for “the sake of the greater good” as he’s interrogated by a former superior officer.

The campaign weaves its way through the greatest battles along the Eastern Front, from the very beginning with Operation Barbarossa, through to the bloody Battle of Stalingrad,  continuing to where the Soviets started turning the tables with Operation Iskra (as well as plenty of events around and in between these key moments), and forward right up until the end of the war. Each battle offers a specific set of mission-completion parameters that push your own strategic merits to the limit—and show off what Relic’s new Essence Engine 3.0 can do from a visual perspective.

Some of these visuals effects include the all-important, brand-new weather system that simulates blizzard conditions. The idea of “General Winter” is one that’s protected the Russians for generations, and to see it in full force in Company of Heroes 2 is a new wrinkle that shouldn’t be taken lightly; soldiers who stray from shelter or the warmth of a campfire for too long will start to suffer from hypothermia. There’s no worse feeling in Company of Heroes 2 than watching your soldiers drop, one by one, as they march across the frozen Soviet wasteland, leaving dead bodies in their wake like breadcrumbs. You’re struggling to search for salvation before you’ve even fired your first bullet.

The flipside, of course, is that General Winter can also create new terrain by freezing lakes and rivers. This allows clever players to send an enemy tank that’s decided to take a shortcut over thin ice to a watery grave or cut off a combatant’s retreat or advance with some well-placed mortar fire that shatters the ice.

But aside from this added wintery nuance and a tweaked line-of-sight system that requires your forces to actually be able to see something directly in order to remove the fog of war, there’s very little new here for returning players. That’s not to say that fans will be disappointed—far from it—but if you’re looking for extreme innovation, you might be disappointed.

But as much as Company of Heroes pros might be able to jump right in and get a relatively quick grasp on the situation, newcomers might be as lost as a hapless German soldier trapped behind enemy lines in the Russian winter. The campaign tutorials do little to explore the full upgrade branches of many troops; they limit players to abilities that would fit the situation. This provides a sense of realism rarely seen in an RTS, but it also makes it difficult to learn just what your units can do when certain abilities are suddenly missing for reasons that aren’t adequately explained.

When you get to the multiplayer aspects of Company of Heroes 2, the game is like most any other RTS title. You set up your base, acquire resources, upgrade troops, and attempt to annihilate the enemy from the map or capture certain objectives. Here, RTS vets will find a polished experience that provides a plethora of options to keep the experience fresh; you can set a variety of in-game parameters, such as the all-important weather scenario or computer-controlled AI options. But those coming here from the campaign will be in for a shock; the multiplayer pacing is drastically faster, and the first few matches might give players a rude awakening.

Company of Heroes 2 serves as a shining example of what the best developers can achieve in the RTS genre. The compelling characters and situations seen in single-player and the bountiful array of multiplayer options combine for a winning combination—like borscht and vodka.

Developer: Relic Entertainment • Publisher: Sega • ESRB: M – Mature • Release Date: 06.25.13
8.5

While there’s little new here to differentiate between titles besides the change of scenery to WWII’s Eastern Front, Relic once again delivers a premiere RTS experience.
The Good Expansive single-player campaign that does real-life events justice while featuring a bevy of multiplayer options.
The Bad Not for newcomers—and nothing new for veterans.
The Ugly General Winter’s icy grasp.
Company of Heroes 2 is a PC exclusive. 
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EGM Review: Marvel Heroes

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June 24, 2013

Dr. Doomed from the start

Right next to having superpowers of their own and fighting alongside their favorite characters, the next best thing for most comic-book fans would be actually assuming the role of their most beloved superheroes. Personally, I’d probably like to be one of the X-Men. Wolverine, Iceman, or Colossus, if possible—I’m not picky.

The guys and gals at Gazillion Entertainment zero in on this concept with their free-to-play PC game, Marvel Heroes. Driven by Diablo-style action-RPG mechanics, the game sees players starting off by choosing one of five heroes who most comic fans would consider B-list: Hawkeye, Storm, Scarlet Witch, Daredevil, and the Thing. By beating the game—or spending some cold, hard cash—you can unlock other heroes or purchase a variety of costumes for these characters.

Unfortunately, if you’re like me and get tempted into picking up the ’90s X-Men cartoon version of Cyclops or Wolverine after a few story chapters, you’ll soon realize that the starter characters represent core classes—and no matter what hero you choose, the powersets are basically the same, just with different animations.

Considering the differences between the heroes in the Marvel universe, this was frustrating as a fan. After all, I was willing to shell out the cash—only to find out there’s no need beyond cosmetic preferences. To add insult to injury, each purchased character starts at level 1, so if you want to immediately use them, the game recommends that you start the entire adventure over again, no matter what point you’re currently at.

A couple of saving graces here, however, are the story and comic-book-still cutscenes. Written by Marvel super-scribe Brian Michael Bendis, the tale incorporates some of Marvel’s most famous story arcs from all their major comic lines into one tidy package. The basics, though, boil down to this: Dr. Doom has a Cosmic Cube, and he feels like messing with reality, because that’s what megalomaniacal bad guys do. I’ve also got to compliment the top-notch voice acting in the cutscenes, including instantly recognizable pros like Nolan North as Deadpool, Steve Blum as Wolverine, and Keith David as Nick Fury.

After choosing your characters, it’s time to actually play the game. And by the time I got a third of the way through the campaign, I’d already grown bored. Instead of offering any kind of variety or difficulty, the game simply threw more and more enemies at me—or gave them an insane amount of health—in the hopes of slowing me down. But it’s not like I was actually doing anything. I played as Hawkeye for most of the game after wasting my money, so all I had to do was get a decent distance away, hold the Shift key in order to ground my hero, and then hold another button to attack. Sometimes two. If I played as the Hulk or Thing, the only thing that changed was my distance relative to the target. The enemy spawn times are also horribly balanced, and I’d regularly clear an area of Hand ninjas or HYDRA goons, only to have them reappear nanoseconds later.

One decent aspect of the gameplay, however, comes in the dungeons. If you turn on auto-grouping, you can enter any dungeon without the fear of being completely overwhelmed. Unlike a lot of other MMOs, when you enter a dungeon around the same time as other players, you can be automatically placed on a team with them. Of course, this can lead to the confusing dilemma of having six Hawkeyes on the same team (which happened to me a lot) and getting your particular avatar lost in the chaos, but if you’re a more introverted gamer, you don’t have to worry about pulling up an awkward chat window, begging for assistance, and dealing with complete strangers.

Normally, this is about where I’d wrap up my review, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the most disappointing aspect of my time playing Marvel Heroes: the technical side. I purposely waited as long as I did to put up my review because I was waiting to see how the game performed after some patches. While the game has seen several small patches and one major fix in the two weeks since the game went live, I’m still experiencing many gameplay-balance problems, as well as numerous technical issues.

Every 20 to 30 minutes, my game crashes or freezes for no apparent reason, and while I’ve reported this error on the technical forums, it remains unfixed after performing the recommended actions from the support staff. I’ve made sure my drivers are up to date, I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled the game launcher, and I’ve even turned down the specs to the lowest possible setting (my PC isn’t the highest-end gaming rig, but it should handle the minimum requirements no problem).

This left the support staff confounded—and me increasingly frustrated. So, I want to warn people before they play Marvel Heroes: In my experience, it just doesn’t work as well as it should. And after perusing the forums, I found that the error I encountered is actually pretty common. Then again, you get what you pay for—and the core of the game is free, after all.

So, if the game works for you perfectly, that’s great, but at the end of the day, fewer crashes still won’t make Marvel Heroes the most worthwhile of experiences unless you fall in love with its price tag.

Developer: Gazillion Entertainment • Publisher: Gazillion Entertainment • ESRB: N/A • Release Date: 06.04.13
4.0
While Marvel Heroes does some nice things, the Marvel license isn’t enough to cover up glaring technical and design flaws. As much as I wanted to like this game, I can’t recommend something that is, at its core, broken. In the end, you get what you pay for (or less, if you actually invested in this).
The Good Story that expertly reimagines some of Marvel’s greatest moments.
The Bad Constant crashing and glitches; uninspired gameplay.
The Ugly Expecting to get something for nothing—and then being surprised when what you get just isn’t that good.
Marvel Heroes is a PC exclusive. 
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Wargaming.net Announces World of Tanks: Blitz

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April 7, 2013

At GDC last week, we had the opportunity to sit down with representatives from Wargaming.net as they unveiled the latest addition to their ever-growing universe in World of Tanks: Blitz.

This new iOS/Android platform title looks to bring the action of the main PC game into mobile formats, while placing an emphasis on faster, more accessible play. Part of this mobile movement included scaling back from the main game’s 15-on-15 battles to a more manageable 7-on-7 format, as well as taking full advantage of the devices’ touch screens for movement, aiming, and firing.

The game will feature US, German, and USSR medium and heavy tanks, as well tank destroyers.

We were also told that Wargaming.net would like to link Blitz accounts with those that are currently on World of Tanks when it is released (no hard date as of yet). Linking accounts will possibly provide rewards—such as in game currency—for players who perform well on both World of Tanks and World of Tanks: Blitz. Solid details on whether the folks at Wargaming.net plan on following through with this idea will hopefully emerge closer to the game’s launch.

In our meeting, we also learned that the console project that recently acquired Day 1 Studios has undertaken for Wargaming.net is still progressing, but no other details were available at the time.

What do you folks think of World of Tanks going mobile? Do you think you’ll sign up for a mobile account? What about the links between both games? Let us know what you think with comments below! 

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Hands-On: Marvel Heroes

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Make Mine Marvel

I can’t remember a time in my life where I didn’t want to be a superhero. Whether it was wielding the Hulk’s impossible strength, firing lasers from my eyes like Cyclops, or cutting things to ribbons with Wolverine’s claws, superpowers have always been at the forefront of my imagination. So, I’ll admit that I relished being able to go hands-on with Gazillion Entertainment’s upcoming free-to-play MMORPG Marvel Heroes.

The story starts off with vintage Marvel bad guy Dr. Doom getting his hands on a Cosmic Cube—and the chaos he intends to bring down upon the citizenry of the world will be significant. Therefore, Marvel’s mightiest heroes from across all major lines must come together to root out Doom and his allies. Being as obsessed with comics as I am, this story may look like it’s been done before—on the surface, anyway. But the game’s writer, Brian Michael Bendis (best known for his long run on The Avengers), is clear that it’s difficult to write for a game like this.

“The challenge was to come up with a story that hits as much architecture and landscape in the Marvel Universe as possible without it feeling too much like a knee-jerk thing,” he says. “What’s interesting about the Marvel Universe is that there are just as many interesting things going on at the street level—let’s say the Daredevil level, the Spider-Man level—as there are at the cosmic level, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Silver Surfer, the Galactus level. The cool thing—and the interesting idea for us—was to actually start the story at the ground level and kind of roll like a snowball downhill. As you discover more and more about the actual story and play through the game, you get to travel up toward the cosmic level of the Marvel universe, all the while not getting newcomers lost or confused. I looked at it like this grand opportunity to create almost like a Marvel event comic unlike anything you’d actually seen in publishing. And at the same time, create like a Marvel lifestyle product, if that makes sense. Then, there are some fans who live and breathe these characters—and are going to live and breathe this game. This is going to be, if done well, the next step of the worldwide community of comic-book fans and Marvel fans and just fans of games. To create something that really lives and breathes like the Marvel Universe for them all to live in is a real treat—and a real challenge.”

If you should live and breathe these characters, as Mr. Bendis so aptly puts it, then you’ll probably be as excited as I was to see what he was talking about. I was fortunate enough to play through three of the story’s dozen chapters; in that time, I went from Mutant Town in New York City to the Kingpin’s penthouse to the Morlock sewers to the Savage Land—hopping through some of Marvel’s most iconic locations in a way that makes sense to the story. I also took on iconic baddies like Sentinels, Mutates, A.I.M., and the Purifiers, not to mention individual supervillains like Green Goblin, Tombstone, Sauron, Bullseye, and Lady Deathstrike.

But including characters that we expect to see in a game like this isn’t going to be enough—the gameplay needs to be there, too. Fortunately, Gazillion president and COO David Brevik has a bit of experience in making games like this really shine (he created Diablo I and II, if you didn’t recognize the name).

Steering away from fully customizable avatars, Marvel Heroes wants to make you feel like those great characters we all grew up loving, so you only play as established characters from the Marvel Universe. If you want to smash with the Hulk, you can do it. If Ms. Marvel is more your thing, then no one will stop you. Or maybe purple really does it for you, so Hawkeye’s your man. If they’re a hero in the Marvel Universe, you can unlock them and play with them at some point. And if you don’t like their standard look, you’ve got a bevy of alternate costumes you can unlock—like, if you’d rather your Captain America have that 1940s helmet instead of his modern mask.

And playing with these characters feels as great as you’d expect. Setting hotkeys for special powers or just left- and right-clicking makes it so you can fire a variety of beams with Cyclops or set the world on fire however you wish with the Human Torch. It couldn’t be easier to start mowing down Mole People or putting the screws to Pyro than that.

As Brevik explains, though, you can’t just go it alone if you really want to get through the story and the inevitable expansions down the road. At times, you’ll have to team up, and Gazillion’s trying some different ways to make some of those feel more spur-of-the-moment than camping out in front of a dungeon entrance looking for help.

“We had an idea about the way that we’d like to get invites going and get people together,” he says. “We have events that are more traditional encounters, making sure that there are opportunities for people to socially get together and group up. You hang out in town, and people are like, ‘I need help with the Kingpin fight!’ or ‘Oh, I’m on that, too,’ and group up and go to this thing together. That’s something we wanted from the very beginning as part of the design. Then, we have optional grouping, which is this loose grouping out in the public combat zones. Green Goblin suddenly pops up, and then everybody can get together dynamically and work together, and everybody gets rewarded. So, there isn’t an official formalization of the grouping there. There’ll be other ways to group and other ways to do things, especially in the endgame, that I think will also play right into the kind of MMO hands that people are used to.”

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the crafting system. Going to certain characters like Forge at the X-Mansion or Hank Pym at Avengers Tower will allow players the chance to upgrade their equipment or add buffs to items like Cyclops’ visor or Deadpool’s katanas. This just gives you an even deeper connection to the experience; it hearkens back to Diablo while still featuring the Marvel flair players expect.

Marvel Heroes is shaping up as one of the more special free-to-play MMO experiences. With the power of the Marvel license, writers like Brian Michael Bendis, and David Brevik’s Diablo background, every Marvelite will likely be shouting “Excelsior!” when this game’s finally open to everyone—hopefully sometime later this year.

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Hands-On: ShootMania Storm

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
January 2, 2013

There’s a storm brewin’…

Looking to capitalize on the success of its TrackMania brand and expand their repertoire, developer Nadeo looked to put their unique spin on old-school first-person shooters. Thus, we have ShootMania. And we were able to go hands-on with Storm, the first maps of the first environment for ShootMania.

The main theme behind ShootMania, much like it’s sister TrackMania, is providing entertaining head-to-head competition by simplifying things in order to hopefully minimize time spent not actually in game and to make the games fast-paced with frantic action. There are several ways Nadeo is doing that with ShootMania, starting with your primary weapon. Described as a rocket launcher (although it looks more like a beam cannon of sorts), the weapon fires streaking blasts of explosive light and so all it takes is two hits to eliminate your enemies in what feels like laser tag on steroids. Players also can utilize bunkers that they would hole up in to use “sniper rifles” that really just focused their lasers to maximize their blast distance.

This was all we saw in regards to weapon variety, however. This is so that players wouldn’t worry about needing to customize loadouts or the like as everyone basically plays on an even level. This not only gets you into the action faster, but also ensures that the competition comes down more to skill, and maybe a little luck, to determine the outcome.

There were items that weren’t offensive in nature though that could also help to the strategy. Reminding me of Metroid, each player is equipped with an energy-based grappling hook that can attach to several points on each map and allow players to swing across gaps to hopefully set up better positions for later offense. There is a risk to the grappling hook though as you cannot fire while swinging.

If you don’t like the idea of being defenseless when swinging through the air, there is also the wall jump. Not easy to time considering the game is a first-person shooter, players who master this maneuver can completely change matches by luring unsuspecting players into coffin corners and then leaping behind them by bouncing up the walls.

In regards to game modes, we also played a simplified version of Team Deathmatch where there were only three players on each team. Again, this affords faster matches, but also gives you the chance to really gel with a particular group of guys and tests your skill as a group. To make sure you don’t spend a lot of time searching for opponents though, as a 3v3 match doesn’t usually last long, you play a series of games with the same people where the overall match doesn’t end until a team gets three game wins and are up by at least two victories. Should a pair of teams trade wins back and forth, then it is the first to five wins overall.

Another way to speed up the action we found was by activating a beacon in the middle of most maps. This switched on an electrical storm field that starts closing in around the beacon. Anyone hit by the field is immediately eliminated and so your surroundings start speeding up the competition as well until there is a small patch of safe zone left and you are left in a Mexican standoff with your opponents.

Of course, some gamers may not be all about competing with other players. Well, any players who are transition over from TrackMania will be happy to know that ShootMania will have a similar map editor so you can build your own nefarious mazes with Halo-like launchers or camper paradises littered with bunkers depending on your own personal play style and share these with your friends. And considering there is minimal customization you can do with your in-game avatar, putting a kick ass map out into the community might be the best way for you to stand out if your kill/death ratio isn’t up to snuff.

In the end, veterans of online first-person shooters should quickly be able to pick up and play around with ShootMania, but mastering it will prove a bit more difficult considering its unique take on map design and game play pace. If you’re a fan of TrackMania and what Nadeo has done with that community over there, you can expect a lot more of the same user-interaction and strong community to develop here. And then again if you’re just looking for a cheap way to shoot some giant lasers, ShootMania: Storm looks like it’ll be a worthwhile romp when it launches January 23, 2013.

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Hands-On: Company of Heroes 2

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

In Soviet Russia, Game Plays You!

World War II has long be fertile ground of video games, and for good reason. There are clear-cut good guys and bad guys, enough conflict to tell the story of countless heroes, and plenty of opportunities to romanticize the cultures and countries involved. There’s one area of the war, however, that games have long had a blind spot for: the Eastern Front.

As the Germans continued to spread out across Europe and into North Africa, they found their greatest difficulties arose when they attempted to cross the Ural Mountains and conquer the Soviet Union. The USSR, of course, fought using attrition warfare, whittling down German forces, take advantage of the long Russian winters, and even destroying some of their own resources to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. Many believe it was this strategy and prolonged conflict that finally led to the fall of the Third Reich.

But that’s enough history for today.

Company of Heroes 2, THQ’s follow-up to the popular real-time strategy game, looks to explore this rarely represented conflict—and take full advantage of those long Russian winters as well. Earlier this month, I got to go hands-on with both the single-player and competitive multiplayer modes, giving me a chance to see firsthand what it’ll take to survive along the Eastern Front.

During my single-player time, I tackled a mission that tasked me with building up the Russian forces and conquering three strategic points along a riverbed. The bleakness of the winter setting was immediately apparent, as a whirling snowstorm blew in and hindered my onscreen vision. I also saw the effects of hypothermia set in on my troops, causing them to take ill and requiring me to build fires to keep them warm while we waited out the storm.

As I started my advance across the frozen tundra, I approached the riverbank and experienced another new dynamic as German tanks started moving across the ice towards my position. The game advised me to use mortars to blow holes in the river to sink the German tanks. It would hinder my progress, shrinking the lanes my troops could use to cross the river, but considering the damage it would do to the German armor line, I was left with little choice. As the Panzers sank to their watery graves (in exquisite detail for an RTS game, I might add), I was able to advance across what was left of the frozen river and conquer the objectives with little resistance from the remaining German forces.

While much of this single-player excursion played out like most other RTS games with regard to stockpiling resources, building units, and attempting to use superior strategy to overcome our foes, the new environmental hazards and dynamic terrain were a joy to play around with. From minor visual details like tank tracks in the snow to the new tactical options afforded by the winter elements, there were enough innovations here to make the standard RTS gameplay feel novel and fresh.

After thumping the Germans in the single-player mode, I was afforded the chance to take on some human opponents in versus multiplayer. Wanting to continue to experience the cold Russian winters, I tried out some new maps—including one where the middle capture point was placed on a tiny sliver of land surrounded by a frozen lake. Here, after my experiences in the single player campaign, I made my greatest RTS stand in quite some time.

Allowing myself to fall behind early and basically giving my opponent the middle capture point, I settled in around my base and began to build. Tank after tank after tank would soon dot my base’s perimeter. With only 50 or so points between me and defeat, I sent my armor columns onward towards the middle point. My German opponent did not stand idly by while I built my forces up and had quite the armor division himself by the time we faced off for our grand conflict.

He had unwisely placed much of his armor on the fragile ice, though. With a few well-placed barrages from my tanks, I sent much of his armor to the bottom of the lake and deployed a single engineer to capture the point. Thanks to my shelling, I’d set up a natural barricade of broken ice that my opponent was unable to overcome. Victory was mine, and it was time to break out the finest Russian vodka to celebrate!

Much like the single player campaign, the multiplayer was tremendous fun, and having to balance the elements along with the unique terrain made for a RTS experience unlike any other. What’s more, the level of detail on each unit and locales is almost unheard of in an RTS. If the small snippet of game play we saw was any indicator, Company of Heroes 2 should be a must-have game for strategy fans and World War II buffs alike when it launches on PC in 2013.

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