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EGM Review: Kirby and the Rainbow Curse

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March 22, 2015

Taste the rainbow

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is the long-awaited follow-up to the offbeat Canvas Curse, which helped sell players on the concept of the Nintendo DS. Like its predecessor, Rainbow Curse begins when a massive portal opens in the skies above Dream Land. Without warning, the otherworldly gateway sucks all the color out of Kirby’s home and uses it to bring life to seven new worlds, themed after the spectrum of a rainbow. Of course, it’s up to Kirby—with a little help from his new friend, Elline, a paintbrush fairy from the other side of the dimensional opening—to conquer these seven worlds, restore the color, and save Dream Land.

Players take on the role of Elline and use the Wii U GamePad’s stylus to act as the paintbrush fairy, drawing paths for Kirby to follow in order to lead him to each respective stage’s goal. You’d think eliminating the buttons would oversimplify the gameplay, but I believe the experience might actually be more difficult in the beginning for seasoned players—it takes some time getting used to the idea that you’re not controlling the game’s main character. Instead, you’re just kind of guiding him along.

Even simple maneuvers, like turning Kirby around, can’t be done with a press on the D-pad. You have to draw a whole new path, and therein lies part of the brilliant challenge of Rainbow Curse: Right from the get-go, it challenges your thinking when it comes to how you’d normally approach a platformer or more traditional Kirby title.

Once you start getting used to the idea of being this sort of “hand of fate” and become accustomed to the controls, the game ramps up the difficulty, introducing new ways to use what you’ve learned. At one point, for example, Kirby will split into two, and you’ll have to guide both parts of him to the end goal. Rainbow Curse also sees Kirby taking on the guise of a submarine, tank, or rocket, and Nintendo’s able to squeeze a surprising amount of depth from a singular game mechanic. I was so engrossed by each new way to use the stylus—blocking lava waterfalls, guiding Kirby through a self-destructing spaceship, and so on—that the absence of his signature copying and floating abilities never even fazed me.

Part of what helps keep each stage fresh might be the fact that the game’s only 28 stages long (seven of which are dedicated solely to boss battles), which is on the short side for Nintendo platformers nowadays, if you’re just looking at the numbers. But it still feels lengthy enough because of what feels like a natural rise in difficulty all the way to the final boss. Add in a half dozen collectibles to each level and 40 extra challenge rooms, and the replayability of each world definitely helps counter the lack of total levels overall.

Another surprising strength lies in Rainbow Curse’s art style. In today’s hyper-realistic gaming world, using clay animation is brave—even for a Nintendo franchise that typically tends toward the cartoony. But the choice works well, since the clay designs give everything in Rainbow Curse a novel texture that really helps this new dimension feel uncanny and very alive. Coupled with Kirby’s typically bright color palette, everything seems to jump off the screen.

The only real downside to Rainbow Curse? As pretty as it looks in HD, I found myself hard pressed to look up from the Wii U GamePad sans the opening and ending cutscenes. In order to more accurately and successfully draw paths for Kirby to complete his adventure, I couldn’t look at the TV and draw at the same time. This forced me to play the entire game on the GamePad—not the worst experience in the world, but I think the dual-screen gimmick would’ve been better served if I’d been able to look at the TV once in a while. The only reason to play on the big screen at all is if you’re in co-op, where a second player controls a Waddle Dee with a Wiimote.

It should also be mentioned that Kirby and the Rainbow Curse features amiibo support, and while this is entirely optional, I found this element tacked on and uninspired. So, if you don’t own a Kirby, King Dedede, or Meta Knight amiibo, I can promise you that you aren’t missing much. All amiibo support does is grant players a single stat boost for one stage, once per day. King Dedede gives a health boost, Meta Knight increases your attack, and Kirby grants unlimited Star Dash special attacks. I found the effort of looking for an amiibo figure far more exhaustive than just playing the game normally.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is a fine successor to Canvas Curse—it’s on par or better in many ways and should provide a potent challenge for even the most experienced platform player. It’ll also keep you on your toes as it constantly adds new elements over the course of the game’s seven worlds. And, of course, it does all that in a charming, colorful fashion that can only be decidedly described as staying true to what Kirby’s all about.

Developer: HAL Laboratory • Publisher: Nintendo • ESRB: E – Everyone • Release Date: 02.20.15
9.0
Bright, colorful worlds brought to life by a unique art style, coupled with challenging, diverse gameplay highlights yet another successful Kirby spin-off that is as good or better in many ways than its predecessor.
The Good The stylus-based controls are simple to learn but difficult to master.
The Bad Never looking at the HD graphics besides the opening and ending cutscenes in order to see where you’re drawing on the GamePad.
The Ugly HAL Laboratory has officially run out of naming ideas. The game has seven levels, so they call the world “Seventopia”? Really?
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is a Wii U exclusive. A retail copy was provided by Nintendo for the benefit of this review.
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Dragon Age Inquisition prevents clean sweep by Shadow of Mordor, wins Game of the Year at D.I.C.E. Awards

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February 10, 2015

Dragon Age Inquisition pulled off an arguable upset to win Game of the Year at the 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards in Las Vegas last night.

With eight wins already in their pocket, some felt it was a foregone conclusion that Shadow of Mordor would pull off a Last of Us-like sweep. But Dragon Age Inquisition, which had won RPG of the Year earlier in the evening, was the title in the final envelope of the night, even to the astonishment of Inquisition’s executive producer Mark Darrah and Bioware Edmonton general manager Aaryn Flynn, who were clearly flabbergasted as they accepted the award.

Aside from the 23 awards given out in specific categories, the D.I.C.E. Awards also recognized Apple with the first ever Technical Impact Award for the creation of the App Store, and Ralph H. Baer and Al Alcorn were the seventh and eighth respective recipients of the Pioneer Award. Ralph Baer is of course considered the father of video games, and Al Alcorn created Pong.

For all of the nominees in each category, you can check out the list below. Winners have been bolded.

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
Destiny
Far Cry 4
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Transistor

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
Assassin’s Creed Unity
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Destiny
Far Cry 4
Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Outstanding Achievement in Story
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
South Park: The Stick of Truth
This War of Mine
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
The Wolf Among Us

Outstanding Technical Achievement
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Far Cry 4
inFAMOUS: Second Son
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Sunset Overdrive

Outstanding Character
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare — Jonathan Irons
Far Cry 4— Pagan Min
inFAMOUS: First Light — Abigail “Fetch” Walker
inFAMOUS: Second Son — Delsin Rowe
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor — Talion

D.I.C.E. Sprite Award
The Banner Saga
Hohokum
Monument Valley
Threes!
Transistor

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming
Destiny
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Monument Valley
Project Spark

Outstanding Achievement in Online Gaming
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Destiny
Elite: Dangerous
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition

Mobile Game of the Year
80 Days
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Kingdom Rush Origins
Monument Valley
Threes!

Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year
The Banner Saga
Bravely Default
Divinity: Original Sin
Dragon Age: Inquisition
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor

Sports Game of the Year
FIFA 15
Madden NFL 15
MLB 14 The Show
NBA 2K15

Racing Game of the Year
Forza Horizon 2
Mario Kart 8
The Crew

Fighting Game of the Year
Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-
Nidhogg
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Super Smash Bros. Wii U

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
Boom Beach
Dungeon of the Endless
Endless Legend
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth

Family Game of the Year
Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2.0 Edition)
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
LittleBigPlanet 3
Project Spark
Skylanders Trap Team

Handheld Game of the Year
Bravely Default
Child of Light
Shovel Knight
Super Smash Bros. 3DS
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call

Adventure Game of the Year
inFAMOUS: Second Son
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
The Wolf Among Us

Action Game of the Year
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Destiny
Far Cry 4
Titanfall
Wolfenstein: The New Order

Outstanding Achievement in Animation
Assassin’s Creed Unity
inFAMOUS: Second Son
Middle-Eart: Shadow of Mordor
Sunset Overdrive
Titanfall

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
Assassin’s Creed Unity
Monument Valley
Sunset Overdrive
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
Dungeon of the Endless
Far Cry 4
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Titanfall

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
Lumino City
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Monument Valley
Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

Game of the Year
Destiny
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Far Cry 4
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

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EGM Review: Dying Light

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Don’t rage against the dying of the light—just let it happen

I was a fan of the original Dead Island. I didn’t think it was the end-all, be-all of zombie games—and the open-world undead action-adventure has come so far in such a short time—but I thought developer Techland had laid a wonderful foundation of gameplay mechanics, and I was excited to see what they’d do next. Then they gave us Dead Island: Riptide, practically a carbon copy of their first game that did little to further the gameplay or lore of the world. It left a sour taste in the mouths of many, myself included.

The announcement of Dying Light gave me hope that maybe Techland had merely hit a sophomore slump with this genre and that a new franchise would be just what they needed to get back on track. Dying Light would offer the developer a fresh start, with a new open world to craft, new characters to explore, and new gameplay mechanics to tinker with. Unfortunately, it just serves as the latest failure to enthrall the zombie-enthused masses.

Techland’s biggest blunder comes with the story. Dying Light stars Kyle Crane, possibly the most incompetent special forces agent in the history of video games. In the opening cutscene alone, Kyle botches his insertion into Harran (the fictional city that serves as the setting of this latest zombie outbreak), gets himself infected, and allows the guy who saved him to be killed. As the game progresses, Kyle’s stupidity begins to feel like a running joke, more sad than funny (I mean, I think I murmur more intelligent things in my sleep than this guy said over the course of the entire game).

Kyle is only the start of the story’s problems, unfortunately. Dying Light is full of one-note characters like the primary antagonist, Rais, a man reminiscent of a cheesy B-movie villain who kills hapless henchman on a whim and angrily pontificates about order versus chaos. There’s also the strong independent woman/potential love interest, Jade, who’s pretty and nice to you—and, therefore, you must care about her and her plights.

At times, though, Dying Light does seem to stumble onto some potential emotional gravitas. On more than one occasion, Kyle’s ineptitude gets friends killed, usually as a result of unwittingly leading Rais’ men to where survivors are hiding out. Despite Techland dragging me around by the nose like Curly in a Three Stooges short, I still grew to care about some of these survivors. Techland mercilessly stomped on those moments by quickly moving into prolonged action sequences, however, instead of allowing me to feel the full weight of their deaths.

Whereas the story completely failed in its endeavor to entertain me, at least Dying Light’s gameplay remains as a bastion of sorts from the loophole-laden cutscenes and dialogue that haphazardly forces the story forward. Take the day/night cycle, for example. During the day, the zombies, while still hostile, are far more manageable than at night, where the horde has larger numbers, moves faster, react more intelligently, hit stronger, and several new types of purely nocturnal zombies come out—some of which can deliver one-hit kills.

Daring to go out at night in these worsened conditions rewards the player with double experience—and even an XP bonus if you survive until sunrise. This provides an enjoyable risk/reward system, and adds some much-needed tension to the story’s scripted nighttime sequences.

The best part of Dying Light’s gameplay, though, is its world-traversal system. I’m hesitant to refer to it as “parkour,” because you’re rarely ever truly parkouring—and even if you are, because of the first-person camera, you really can’t tell. But being able to actively climb on almost anything in the world, grabbing onto nearly every ledge, and quickly conquering the world’s verticality is an invigorating feeling.

The parkour makes traversing Harran more enjoyable, and it also gives you the option to run away from a fight if the zombies ever become too much to handle—you simply scramble up the nearest scaffolding or building façade. This helps keep the repetitive hack-n-slash melee action seen in the game—also an issue in Dead Island—feeling a bit more fresh.  

Not everything borrowed from Dead Island becomes less humdrum here, however. Dying Light uses a similar crafting and weapon degradation system, encouraging you to tediously look through or lockpick nearly every crate you find. Sidequests are also the same—unexciting fetch quests I’ve become far too accustomed to at this point. Some, infuriatingly, require multiple stops before you get the little bit of cash, XP, or item the questgiver will award you. Plus, the two distinctive areas of Harran don’t change or improve if you complete these quests. They just feel like a cheap way to lengthen the experience dramatically, since there seem to be about three sidequests to every story objective.

I did appreciate how different Harran’s two areas felt—they even forced me to change how I played. The game begins in the Slums, and about 60 percent of the story takes place here. The Slums have a decidedly Middle Eastern flavor to them, and although the area isn’t as graphically vivid as I’d like, the world feels crafted to take advantage of the traversal gameplay with plenty of ledges and easily crossable gaps between shacks.

Old Town, meanwhile, is the exact opposite, with grandiose buildings and towers that have a Western European feel. Bright colors and exotic signs are everywhere, and the area’s not nearly as scarred by the outbreak as the Slums. Old Town offers much wider streets, however, making it more difficult to traverse safely across the rooftops without the aid of a zipline. I found the differences between the two areas enjoyable, even if I’d rather play in the Slums.

Like with most of Techland’s work, I see the potential in Dying Light. But it comes across as yet another project where the developer can’t seem to get out of their own way. The parkour and risk/reward systems of the day/night cycle are nice aspects, but whether it’s in the writing or the game design, Dying Light tries too often to offer something for everyone—and instead offers nothing of real note to anyone because it never digs past the surface of its characters or mechanics.

Maybe one day, Techland will be able to put it all together and make that grand zombie epic they’ve been dreaming about. Given Dying Light’s boring, repetitive quests and complete mess of a story, though, we should just let it quietly fade to black.

Developer: Techland • Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment • ESRB: M – Mature • Release Date: 01.27.15
6.0
The parkour and risk/reward of the day/night cycle are nice features, but they aren’t enough to overcome the abysmal writing or the boring, repetitive fetch quests that unnecessarily bloat this game.
The Good Risk/reward system of the day/night cycle; parkour is surprisingly competent.
The Bad Abysmal writing; the entire game is one long monotonous fetch quest.
The Ugly We’re starting to scrape the bottom of the zombie-naming barrel with descriptions such as “Biters” and “Volatiles.”
Dying Light is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Primary version reviewed was for PS4. Review code was provided by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the benefit of this review.
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KevinDDR first player outside Japan to reach Grand Master rank in Tetris

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Tetris savant KevinDDR is the first American player to reach the rank of Grand Master in Arika’s Tetris: The Grand Master 3.

In order to become recognized as a Grand Master, one must pass the Grand Master Promotional Exam. This consists of players achieving a “GM” quality rank during the majority of their last several playthroughs. GM rank demands players fulfill many difficult requirements and reach the game’s maximum drop speed level by clearing dozens of lines in less than seven minutes.

During the exam, a potential Grand Master must complete the final challenge of playing a minute’s worth of Tetris during a credit scroll where pieces turn invisible when dropped. Yeah, you basically play the game from memory as you build an invisible wall.

There are currently only five other recognized Grand Masters in the world, all of which are from Japan. To see KevinDDR’s historic run, you can check out the replay on his Twitch channel.

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EGM Review: Kalimba

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January 16, 2015

Just the two of us

When I first saw Kalimba at last year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, it was still called Project Totem, but what started out as a quirky side project meant to entertain guests at the Press Play holiday party a few years back quickly intrigued me with its potential as a full-blown puzzle-platformer.

I’ve always had a penchant for this genre, with friends from college still referring to me as an idiot savant when it comes to effortlessly working my way through any number of twisting, trap-filled corridors. But Kalimba is novel in that you’re never controlling just one protagonist, but two—and the duo must work together in myriad ways in order to progress.

On the surface, even with the duality twist, the game seems simple enough. You find yourself on a tropical island named Kalimba, which has been protected for generations by the magic of a totem pole. An evil shaman appears one day, however, and shatters the monument, looking to cloak the island in his unique brand of dark magic. The totem pole’s guardian realizes that she can control remnants of the old pole, two pieces at a time, in the hopes of building a bigger, more elaborate magical ward. Taking control of these pieces is where players step in. With guidance from an aloof talking pink bear named Hoebear, players must work their way through 24 levels, collecting intricate wooden carvings on the way to sealing the dark shaman away forever.

The most impressive thing about Kalimba is how smoothly the difficulty scales. You start off with minimal obstacles to demonstrate how the two characters work in unison, but the action ramps up. You’ll begin by just pressing the A button to jump, but you’ll eventually swap your characters back and forth, acquire special amulets that let one of your totems walk on the ceiling or change their size, and even obtain the power of limited flight.

Even with all these new mechanics building on top of each other as the game progressed, I never felt the challenge was too much to handle. That’s partly because some levels include themed minigames based around your new powers, which give you the chance to perfect your new skills before continuing on. Not once did I feel frustrated by a puzzle—instead, I welcomed each new one with glee, and even the handful of times I had to resort to trial-and-error, the checkpoint system was generous enough that I never found myself having to replay huge sections to get back to where I’d initially gotten stuck.

The levels also feel distinct enough that there’s never any sort of repetition. Each puzzle is carefully crafted to push you to explore new ways to use the increasing range of your abilities—and this makes each successful solution all the more satisfying.

What’s more, the simple-yet-colorful art design ensures there aren’t any unnecessary distractions to take you away from the task at hand—which I appreciated, since the puzzles only get more intricate in the game’s limited local co-op mode. While this option only consists of eight levels, having four totems bouncing around the screen (with each player controlling two) requires some intense teamwork and concentration.

These level designs also succeed because of the tight controls. It wouldn’t be much of a puzzle-platformer if they stunk, but there’s a precision here that veterans of the genre can appreciate. All the jumps (particularly in the later levels, once it becomes ingrained how far your little totem avatars can go) are spaced out just perfectly, and the obstacles are set up just right so that you can make some impressive runs through each course as you start to master them.

Kalimba’s primary fault is its length—or lack thereof. Between co-op and single-player, the game offers 32 levels in total. Yes, some of the charm in a game like this lies in mastering the levels, collecting every item, or performing a speedrun courtesy of an always-running clock, but it shouldn’t take players more than three hours to get through that initial playthrough, and then it’s diminishing returns after that.

Some extra options do enhance the replayability—like “Old Skool” mode, which places you at the start at the first level with three lives, and from there, you must get through the whole game in one sitting. But again, I can’t imagine Kalimba continually drawing players back again and again, because once you solve the puzzles, it’s much easier to replicate your results the second and third time through.

When a game leaves you simply asking for more, though, it’s hard to be too disappointed. What Kalimba lacks in substance, it more than makes up for in style. With inventive puzzles, tight controls, and colorful worlds, there’s more than enough to keep those twitch reflexes sharp, and Kalimba should prove to be plenty of fun for gamers looking to put their puzzle-platforming skills to the test.

Developer: Press Play • Publisher: Microsoft • ESRB: E – Everyone • Release Date: 12.17.14
9.0
I only wish Kalimba were a bit longer, because its inventive puzzles, charming art style, and tight controls equal a winning combination for this quaint puzzle-platformer.
The Good Inventive, fun twist on the puzzle-platformer; the challenge steadily ramps up; excellent co-op mode.
The Bad A very short experience.
The Ugly Hoebear making fun of me for Achievement hunting. That hurts, dude.
Kalimba is a Xbox One exclusive. Review code was provided by Microsoft for the benefit of this review.
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EGM’s Best of 2014: Editor’s Awards: Ray Carsillo

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Introduction

I’m a little obsessed with our Game of the Year lists. I keep track of every game that comes out in a top-secret master document and move games up and down with each new release, patiently waiting for that final day in December when me and the EGM crew finally hash things out. 2014 was a little easier on me, though, as many of my top games have been there since the first half of the year. Much like our managing editor, Andrew Fitch, big budget disappointments marred much of the second half for me, but a few—including my eventual Game of the Year—would serve as bright spots in what has been a rather bleak winter. Now, with the promise of an eventful 2015 on the horizon, I am ready to pass my final judgment on the year that was. Here are my top picks of 2014!

Ray’s Top Five Games for 2014

#05: Bayonetta 2

Publisher: Nintendo
 Developer: Platinum Games
Platforms: Wii U

Ray’s Take

If you had told me back in January that Bayonetta 2 would be in my top five at the end of the year, I’d have said you were insane. Sure, I enjoyed the first game (not nearly as much as our executive editor, Eric L. Patterson), but I saw some inherent flaws that, to me, kept it from being something beyond a niche, button-mashing, hack-n-slash game. Bayonetta 2, though, successfully built on that first game’s foundation, tweaked the combat, and added the Umbran Climax, giving me a larger sense of control in battle. I went from button mashing to carefully crafting crushing combos. Throw in one of the more charming protagonists out there and a story that finds an interesting way to tie into the first game, and I can’t help but admit that Bayonetta 2 made a believer out of me.

#04: Super Time Force

Publisher: Capybara Games
 Developer: Capybara Games
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC

Ray’s Take

I might be hanging out with associate editor Josh Harmon too much, because looking at my Top 25 voting, I voted for more indies than ever before. One of them, though, legitimately blew me away. I love time travel, so Super Time Force’s ability to allow you to relive sections of gameplay over and over again as a near-endless army of clones of yourself teamed up to take on harder and harder threats was the kind of zany fun I’d been missing for a long time when this game came out. Admittedly, the off-the-wall humor might not be for everyone, but there was so much more strategy involved than you’d expect from an old-school side-scrolling shooter, and I loved every rewound second of it.

#03: South Park: The Stick of Truth

Publisher: Ubisoft
 Developer: Obsidian Entertainment/South Park Digital Studios
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Ray’s Take

For a time, many were worried this game would never actually get released. But after years of delays and a change in publisher, South Park: The Stick of Truth is the purest form of the TV show we can get in a videogame. Though it paid more homage to classic elements from the show than carving its own path into the South Park mythos, The Stick of Truth’s only real fault was how short it was for an RPG. The story had me laughing constantly, and the old-school turn-based RPG combat was a welcome throwback that worked perfectly for what show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker wanted to portray here: the boys of South Park playing a game that quickly spirals out of control and pulls in forces far larger than a LARPing session should ever entail.

#02: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Publisher: Nintendo
 Developer: Retro Studios
Platforms: Wii U

Ray’s Take

For much of the year, this was my game to beat—and with great reason. Not only is Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze a beautiful game graphically, but I’ll say it’s the best platformer Nintendo’s put out in quite some time. The level design was absolutely superb, and it mixed just enough difficulty and replayability into each area so that I never really got tired no matter how many times I tackled the game’s dozens of stages. The addition of Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong as playable characters also opened up so many exploration opportunities that led to secret levels and items—and added some pleasant variety between the Kongs. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze makes me wish Retro would take a crack at more classic Nintendo series after they first jump-started Metroid back on the GameCube, and now they’ve done the same with Donkey Kong Country.

#01: Dragon Age Inquisition

Publisher: Electronic Arts
 Developer: BioWare
Platforms: Ps4, Xbox One, PC

Ray’s Take

When it comes to my fantasy, I’ve always been more of a “sci-fi” and not so much as a “high” kind of guy. But ever since an old co-worker turned me onto Dragon Age back in 2009, I’ve been hooked to this series. With decisions from the first two games coming to a head here, and with a massive world to explore, I couldn’t help but get sucked into this experience and easily clocked over 100 hours on my first playthrough. Considering our jobs here at EGM, and the fact we always have to move onto the next game, the fact I stuck with Inquisition for that long shows how immersive and addictive it is—hours would fly be in the blink of an eye. And I loved every minute of it. For the first time in a long time, I was grinding not for achievements, but just to squeeze every last line of dialogue from a cast of characters that I couldn’t help but fall in love with. And in terms of gameplay, whether it was playing the political game of Orlesian high society or the huge cheer that escaped my lips when I slayed my first gorgeous new-gen dragon, I couldn’t get enough of being the Inquisitor, and I happily choose Dragon Age: Inquisition as my personal game of the year.

Ray’s Off-Topic Awards for 2014

The 4th Annual “The Colors, Duke! The Colors!” Award for Most Colorful Game
(Brought to you by Popsicle)
The Banner Saga
I played a lot of great-looking games this year, including some that I already mentioned in my list above. But just eking them all out was Stoic’s The Banner Saga. This strategy title channeled the animation style of Don Bluth, and the character design and colors were a feast for the eyes. It’s more than deserving of this fourth annual award, especially because none of the quality is lost whether you’re playing the game on a high-end PC or an iOS device like an iPad 2.
The “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” Award
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
This one goes out to a game that heavily borrows some elements from other titles—but then does them better than the series it borrowed them from. This year, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is the recipient for this award, because they out–Assassin’s Creed-ed Assassin’s Creed, especially this year. Imitation may be the most sincere form of flattery, but if I’m the guys at Ubisoft, I’d be a little peeved that the folks at Monolith and Warner Bros. knocked out of the park on their first try things Ubisoft is still struggling to get right.
The “No Such Thing as a Sophomore Slump” Award
Transistor
When you consider how big a splash Supergiant Games made with their 2011 breakout indie hit, Bastion, it would’ve been understandable if the pressure of that success caused them to regress a little in their next effort. Instead, they showed that they’re a force to be reckoned with in the development community, as their second game, Transistor, was as intriguing and as moving as their first. Borrowing only a minimal amount of elements from Bastion, Transistor gave us compelling new combat and upgrade systems while telling the heart-wrenching story of protagonist Red and her lost love as it plays out in her dystopian future, and provided another immersive experience for gamers everywhere.

EGMNOW’s Best of 2014 Awards Schedule

http://www.egmnow.com/wp-content/themes/egmnowv3/christmas_links.php

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Hands-On: Evolve

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If you’re like me, you love a great multiplayer experience—but so many experiences are just the same modes reworked over and over again, to the point where you just end up playing Team Deathmatch because it’s so familiar, and it’s the one mode that developers can’t seem to screw up, no matter how hard they try. The folks at Turtle Rock—the developers who brought us the original Left 4 Dead—are trying something a little different with their next gaming foray, though. Evolve is introducing asymmetrical multiplayer via a 4-on-1 concept, where the four are hunters and the one is their prey. That prey, however, is a monstrous behemoth of unbelievable size and strength.

The potential for mayhem should be obvious, since you and your crew can mix and match among the game’s four classes, or you can decide to ruin someone’s night by being a particularly brutal and unforgiving creature. A multiplayer-only game can sometimes get tiresome quickly, however, especially if there isn’t an offline mode to balance things out.

Multiplayer-focused games also often live or die depending upon who you’ll have at your side (or facing off against you across the battlefield). If you play with your friends, not everyone will be available every time you get a hankering to go online, and sometimes some of the people you have to deal with while playing can make it more exhausting than fun, even if you’re the lone monster in this case.

So, I was particularly intrigued when I had the chance to go hands-on for the first time with Evolve, offline and solo. If you don’t have a group of friends to team up with (or against, in the case of the monster), you can still jump into one of the game’s maps and get your hunting fix.

In order to see the full potential benefits of playing Evolve alone, I jumped into the recently announced Evacuation campaign mode (a series of five random games that determine the fate of the game’s planet, Shear). Playing this mode offline allowed me to test out strategies with unfamiliar characters and maps, as well as get a taste of some of the 800,000 supposed variations in which Evacuation could play out. I switched characters between each chapter, and playing against the computer allowed me to level up different loadouts for different situations, a particularly useful ability considering that each stage of Evacuation’s campaign changes objectives. One stage could be the straightforward Hunt—the long-publicized standard 4-versus-1 deathmatch—while the next could be Nest—where the monster’s trying to protect six eggs scattered around the field from the hunters—or any of the other modes in the game.

Despite the addition of being able to go solo, Evolve is still heavily multiplayer focused. Evacuation, along with the game’s other modes, is still more enjoyable when playing with or against friends—after a few rounds, the enemy AI definitely seems to lack the tenacity, randomness, or organization you can get from a seasoned team of humans. Allowing people who might not run with a dedicated multiplayer crew to still experience the world is a nice option, though, whether you’re the monster picking off AI hunters or a hunter working with an AI team against an AI monster.

My introduction to playing Evolve alone served a second purpose beyond its reveal, however. I also got to go hands-on for the first time with a third monster: the Wraith. If Goliath is the “fighter” archetype of monsters and takes elements from Godzilla, and Kraken is the “wizard” inspired by Cthulhu, then Wraith is described as the “rogue/assassin,” taking its visual inspiration from mermaids and harpies. Wraith doesn’t have a lot of health or armor, but it’s easily the fastest and stealthiest of the monsters.

Taking advantage of these attributes, to a degree, are the monster’s four powers. Its Decoy maneuver does exactly as it says, dropping a clone of Wraith onto the battlefield. This turns the player invisible, perfect for making a quick escape when overwhelmed or great for prepping an ambush from behind as hunters unknowingly unload into your doppelganger. The decoy can also dish out damage on its own—making it all the more believable—but the second you attack as the real Wraith, the decoy dissipates, preventing any unfair double-monster scenarios.

Another of Wraith’s powers is Supernova, which triples its attack speed and strength as long as you remain in an area-of-effect circle that appears during the buff. Supernova is great for when you finally want to go on the offensive or focus on picking off lone hunters.

What I worry about when it comes to Wraith, however, are its other two abilities. I played probably a dozen games as this newest monster in my hands-on time, and I found myself relying a lot on Supernova and Decoy to perform hit-and-run-style tactics that just decimated my enemies (both human and AI). Throughout all of my domination, however, I struggled to find use for Wraith’s two additional powers: Warp Blast and Abduction.

Warp Blast sends Wraith shooting forward a short distance, culminating in a contained explosion (though the creature is literally blowing up part of itself to accomplish this, it doesn’t actually get hurt). The explosion, if it hits, does a good amount of damage—but considering that speed is Wraith’s strength, Warp Blast seemed to leave me vulnerable for longer than I’d like as I waited for the move to finish.

Its final power, Abduction, sounds cool and might work better in tandem with other powers than by itself, but I never really found a time to use it to my full advantage. Abduction has Wraith fly forward a great distance, and if it bumps into a hunter, it teleports the both of them back to the spot where the ability was activated. While it can help break up tight packs of hunters, given Wraith’s poor attack power, it might really only be effective after having already activated Supernova.

Wraith does provide a nice change of pace from Kraken and Goliath. I just wonder if she won’t end up getting a bit of a balance update down the line—and if I’ll find more usefulness in her full array of abilities once other players have shown off how to better use them.

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EGM Review: Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

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Spelunking in the sand

When you have as much history as Tomb Raider, it’s always a big risk to deviate from the gameplay that’s defined the series and helped it last as long as it has. But four years ago, that’s just what Crystal Dynamics did when they decided to take Lara Croft out of the third-person action-adventure world and introduce her fans to some old-school, twin-stick-shooter gameplay.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light ended up being a huge success as an ancillary adventure, smoothly blending the puzzle-solving from the main series with top-down shooting and co-op. So, it’s no surprise that while we wait for Lara’s next big action-adventure, Crystal Dynamics decided to revisit their spin-off and give it a sequel.

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris starts off with our titular heroine doing what she does best: discovering relics and ruins. Lara’s searching for the Temple of Osiris in Egypt—a long-lost pyramid dedicated to the Egyptian god of the dead. She’s not alone, however, as she’s racing against Carter Bell, a young upstart in the field of archeology. Edging out Lara, Bell grabs Osiris’ fabled staff upon entering the tomb, ignoring Lara’s pleas for caution, and unknowingly breaking the magical seals holding back Set, the Egyptian god of war who murdered Osiris. With the help of the seals’ guardians—Osiris’ wife Isis, and their son Horus—Lara and Carter must drive Set back and prevent darkness from consuming the world by piecing together the remains of Osiris—just like Isis did thousands of years ago, according to legend.

Temple of Osiris will immediately feel familiar to fans of Guardian of Light. Just like before, the camera is locked far overhead at a three-quarters angle, and in terms of gameplay, Lara solves puzzles with her grappling hook and shoots bad guys using her guns and grenades.

One immediate difference you’ll notice with Temple of Osiris, though, is how much larger and more detailed the world is. Exploration stems from a massive hub area, and Lara will be able to investigate a dozen tombs themed after key members of Osiris’s court, like his silversmith, architect, or ferryman, each holding a piece of the god’s form. The tombs are meticulously detailed, and the dynamic lighting effects are truly impressive, considering how far away the camera sits from the action.

Besides the story-related ruins, though, the game also includes five challenge tombs that will push your puzzle-solving skills and a half dozen massive bosses that include corrupted Egyptian gods that have thrown in with Set, like Khepri, god of the sunrise, and Sobek, god of the Nile.

There’s also a customization system this time around. In Guardian of Light, gems were merely present as a way to increase your high score. Now, these precious stones have another purpose beyond points, since they allow Lara to unlock scattered treasure chests that bestow her with rings and amulets, which can augment her abilities. The more gems you have to spend on a chest, the more likely you’ll receive an item that will give Lara multiple positive benefits.

The puzzles in Temple of Osiris are far more involved this time around as well. Some remain simple timing puzzles, while others require Lara to actually change the seasons and put into effect a day-night cycle in order to open up different paths in the world. The game also includes a variety of puzzles that require nimble platforming, and Lara will need to use the Staff of Osiris to move columns or reflect light around darkened rooms.

The most impressive thing about the puzzles, however, might be how they change in co-op. You’re more than able to beat Temple of Osiris by yourself, as Lara will take the Staff of Osiris and be outfitted with all the abilities needed to overcome the challenges of the tombs. But if you play co-op, only the Egyptian characters, Isis and Horus, can use the Staff, and only Lara or Carter Bell can use the grappling hook, changing the dynamic of many puzzles and requiring teamwork to advance through the story.

Speaking of co-op, one big change we see is that now with the introduction of all these characters, up to four players can come together locally or online, instead of only two as in Guardian of Light. I couldn’t find any co-op games in the wild due to the limited number of players with their hands on the game before launch, so I can’t speak to the matchmaking, but I was able to gather the EGM Crew together, and two of us were playing locally, joined by two others via online. The game ran smoothly from a technical standpoint, but I felt that four players didn’t really add more to the gameplay than two did. If anything, it only made things more hectic, since we kept getting in each other’s way. The only times we were able to come together was against bosses—which, disappointingly, don’t scale with the extra players. With four guns firing away, the combat sections of the game were vanilla at best and a breeze to overcome.

The minimal differences between Lara versus Carter and Isis versus Horus were also disappointing—it felt like there were two unique characters and two clones who not only felt unneeded in co-op, but also unneeded in the story. The entire experience would’ve been better off had just Lara and Isis teamed up, and the game would’ve flowed more smoothly both in terms of co-op and the loose story that ties this arcade-style endeavor together.

Temple of Osiris builds on the foundation of what Guardian of Light started, giving us more levels, more puzzles, and more detail in the world that Lara has to explore. Unfortunately, it also gives us more co-op, and the game would’ve been better balanced with just two-player co-op again. Despite this, Temple of Osiris is still a fun, worthwhile adventure that shows why Lara Croft is such a great character, no matter the camera angle.

Developer: Crystal Dynamics • Publisher: Square Enix • ESRB: T – Teen • Release Date: 12.09.14
7.5
Another fun twin-stick-shooter romp for Lara Croft, Temple of Osiris finds a way to go bigger and better in most regards, but four-player co-op was just too much on my TV screen—this one would’ve been better off with only two main characters instead of four.
The Good Lots of interesting puzzles that dynamically change in co-op; solid twin-stick action.
The Bad Locked camera can be a nuisance. 4-player co-op is more of a detriment than a boon.
The Ugly Our news editor, Chris Holzworth, trolling the rest of the EGM Crew during 4-player co-op.
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox One. Review code was provided by Square Enix for the benefit of this review.
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We Give Thanks: Ray Carsillo

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December 4, 2014

In honor of the day we here in America eat copious amounts of turkey, watch giant balloons float down major New York thoroughfares, and decide we’d rather be saving $20 on a new TV instead of spending time with our loved ones, we here at EGM decided to push aside the negativity and ambivalence that can sometimes befall the game industry and look back upon those things that we were thankful for this year.

Pure West, Baby
01

It made sense that Stan Lee, the king of hamming it up, would make an appearance in Lego: Marvel Super Heroes last year as a playable character as well as replacing the series’ standard “citizen in distress.” But I was genuinely surprised that instead of just going back to a normal citizen for the role, TT Games brought in Adam West, one of the most celebrated men to wear the cape and cowl, to do the same this year in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. It was, without a doubt, a guilty pleasure gone amazingly right.

I’m someone who can point to West’s portrayal of the Caped Crusader from the ‘60s (I watched in syndication, like many folks my age, and now I’m rewatching with the long-awaited release of the entire Batman series of DVD/Blu-Ray) as what helped spur a lifelong obsession with not just Batman but comic books in general, and it thrilled me to see him still embracing the character and hamming it up for his fans—even serving as narrator in a special level dedicated entirely to the show!

It’s Not Just a Car
02

Yeah, I know—two Batman posts on the same list. But the honest truth is that, outside of specific games, there wasn’t a ton for me to be thankful for this year, and you’ll have to wait for our “Best of” lists in a couple of weeks to see what stoked my fire in 2014.

Anyway, back at the beginning of the year, we got what many Batman fans have been waiting for: the announcement of Batman: Arkham Knight. And this time, it’s headed up by true Arkham series developer Rocksteady (even they ignore Warner Bros. Montreal’s Origins effort). Looking to cap off what they’ve said time and again will only be a trilogy, they’ve opened up Gotham like never before and given us what we’ve asked for all the way back when we first saw Arkham Asylum: the ability to drive the Batmobile.

I actually got to go hands-on with this multi-use behemoth at E3 this year, and in the small snippet of gameplay I got to try, it blew me away. Not only was it great for combat against other cars, but it helped with crowd control when Batman got into a hairy situation at Ace Chemicals. What’s more, I could even solve puzzles with the vehicle’s winch. The only thing I’m not thankful for is that the game’s been delayed several times, and now I have to wait until June 2015 to go hands-on with it again. Considering all the recent launch disasters, however, maybe it’s a good thing Rocksteady admitted they needed another nine months with the game.

Flip Side of the Coin
03

I’m completing a couple of trifectas here. This marks my third Warner Bros.–related property, and I’m now the third person to mention something from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

Normally, I’m not the biggest Lord of the Rings fan, but Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor really surprised a lot of us here in the office. While Josh may appreciate the new patch that lets you play as the female leader of the resistance and Andrew loves protagonist Talion, for me, it was all about the Nemesis system.

This feature offers incredible systemic gameplay, with each victory or defeat changing dialogue, power levels, and how you need to approach your target—and it’s a potential game-changer for the action-adventure genre. It offered me immense replayability well after the completion of the main story as I began to develop my own narrative within the game. Now, here’s the only question: Who will be the first to try to ape this gameplay revolution?
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EGM Review: Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

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Holy Lego Bat-Trilogy!

Batman, as a character, has been a part of my life for as far back as I can remember. Growing up, I had Batman bedsheets, a Batman lunchbox, and I’d watch the syndicated reruns of the 1960s Batman during dinner with my mom and go absolutely bonkers each episode, shouting out each onomatopoeia as it flashed on screen with joyful enthusiasm. So, it was with a near-equal childlike glee when I found out that Adam West and the ‘60s TV show would be getting a pretty fair-sized tribute in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. Working one of my all-time favorite TV shows into a series that’s already established itself as a great jaunt for Bat-fans of all ages? Sign me up!

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham picks up right where the last game in the series left off. After his failed team-up with the Joker in Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes, Lex Luthor is still trying to become President of the United States, but he knows he’ll have to knock off the Justice League if he has any hopes of following through with the misdeeds he’d have to commit to get there. Enlisting the aid of other DC villains to his cause like the Joker again as well as Cheetah, Firefly, Killer Croc, and Solomon Grundy, Luthor sneaks into the Hall of Justice—and, from there, teleports his team of rogues to the Justice League’s orbital space station, the Watchtower.

Unbeknownst to the heroes and villains as they clash high above the Earth, though, is that a new villain, Brainiac, an android obsessed with collecting slices of various civilizations and preserving them in his personal macabre museum, has been up to mischief of his own. He’s gathering the seven spectrums of light in order to power up his shrink ray, and he plans to make Earth doll-sized and add it to his species-preserving collection. Only through the heroes and villains coming together to tackle Brainiac as a team—and visiting the homeworlds of each Lantern Corps—does Earth have a hope of surviving the unstoppable android.

What TT Games is able to accomplish here with this, their third Lego Batman, is nothing short of impressive. Sure, the gameplay’s mostly the same as it ever was: Go around smashing pieces of Lego bricks around the world to open up new pathways, collect a variety of items, or rebuild them into something useful to take on the bad guys. Along the way, you collect “studs,” the series’ form of in-game currency, to unlock extra characters and other goodies.

But the scale of this Lego Batman compared to the previous entries is what blew me away. There may only be 15 story levels, the same number as all other Lego games, but each one’s far larger and more intricate than before. What’s more, they offer myriad new puzzles that really put you to the test in Free Play mode if you want to 100-percent the game.

And the story itself is yet again one that Bat-fans of all ages will appreciate. It starts off pretty slow, not really hitting its stride until about the seventh level, but it’s chock-full of the simple-but-enjoyable slapstick humor we’ve come to expect from the Lego series of games. It also stays very true to the source material, so you’ll be hard pressed not to relish the twists and turns of this latest adventure.

Besides the story, though, the game also offers nearly another 15 levels just to run around in and find a variety of DC or Lego themed collectibles. Whether it’s the Legion of Doom headquarters, the Moon, or each and every homeworld for each respective Lantern Corps, you’ll be blown away by just how much you can explore—and how much detail went into each area. From the lava rivers of Ysmault to the emerald fields of Oa, or the exotic forests of Odym to the prisons of Nok, Free Play mode will suck up your time as you undertake sidequests and hunt for the 250 gold bricks scattered about the DC Universe.

There’s also a special post-credits level. Not only can you rescue Adam West 30 times in the game (much like you had to with Stan Lee in Lego Marvel), but you can play as him, too. The post-credits level is a tribute to the 1960s Batman, with Adam West as the narrator. You can (briefly) drive the ‘60s Batmobile and then take on the Joker—redesigned to look like Cesar Romero. He even has a little Lego mustache poking through his white facepaint. It’s an epic showdown worthy of the Batusi!

Beyond all the extra story content, there are also 150 different characters to collect and play with. You’ll find variations on the main characters, like Batman of Zur-En-Arrh and lesser-known villains like Music Meister—even the reality-altering fifth-dimension inhabitants Bat-Mite and Mister Mxyzptlk. If they were ever a part of DC lore, chances are they might be here. Beyond Adam West, a few other random celebrities make an appearance, like Smodcast host and legendary Bat-fan Kevin Smith, the Looney Tunes’ version of the Green Lantern, the Green Loontern (Daffy Duck dressed as Green Lantern), and Conan O’Brien. With the first two, I can at least see some loose connection to the DC Universe, but have no idea why Conan was there, and he proved to be extremely annoying while serving as the guide for many of the hub worlds. He’d often repeat himself to the point where I almost muted the TV when he was around.

But, as the narrator of the 1960s Batman TV Show used to say at the start of each second episode of the two-part stories: The worst is yet to come. For as much as TT Games was able to cram into Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, there are a lot more technical issues than normal. You’ll see framerate drops on almost every other level, and they often crop up at the worst times. I can’t remember experiencing this with a Lego game before, so it was really jarring for the issues to pop up as often as it did here. It’s also still a little mind-boggling that TT Games hasn’t instituted online co-op into their games yet. I understand that local co-op probably works better for a game like this, given its chaotic nature, but I think offering players the option would be nice.

The camera also remains a greater threat than anything the Legion of Doom could hope to throw at you: quest-givers hidden away behind the scenery, your hero falling off an edge because the field of view doesn’t follow them into a blind corner, or just trying to keep all the action onscreen as you take projectile damage from enemies you can’t even see.

The technical shortcomings don’t sabotage the overall package, though. With dozens of hours of post-story content to keep players coming back for more, plenty of new worlds ready to explore, and a story that somehow finds a way to entertainingly tie it all together, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham remains as reliable and enjoyable for fans as Bat-Shark repellent.

Developer: TT Games • Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment • ESRB: E10+ – Everyone 10 and up • Release Date: 11.11.14
8.5
Despite some technical shortcomings, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham does a fine job of continuing to build on what the series has established while also hitting all the right notes to keep pleasing Bat-fans of all ages.
The Good Massive universe to explore. ADAM WEST!
The Bad Camera is a nuisance more than ever; surprising amount of framerate drops.
The Ugly Just how much I know about a TV show that originally aired 20 years before I was born.
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is available on Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, PC, OS X, iOS, Wii U, 3DS, and PS Vita. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox One. Review code was provided by Warner Bros. for the benefit of this review.
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