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Publisher: Arc System WorksDeveloper: A+ GamesRelease: July 26, 2019Platform: PlayStation 4, Switch, PC
Arc System Works has a pretty good track record with anime adaptations and fighting games, but is still relatively unknown in the field of publishing them. It makes sense, then, that fans would want to try out a new game merely published by Arc System Works but developed by APLUS before committing to buying. If that's you, and you own a PlayStation 4, you can do so right now!
The demo takes you through the game's introductory chapter of the story mode, which presents an alternate universe story to the Trigger-created anime show. You can also take part in the game's local versus mode with a limited set of characters to get a sense of how the game plays against people.
While the demo is only on PlayStation 4, the game is also releasing on Nintendo Switch and PC, as well. All three versions release on July 26.
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Hello ekat,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
ekat joined on the 07/08/2019.
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Publisher: Devolver DigitalDeveloper: DeadToast EntertainmentRelease: June 20, 2019Rating: TeenReviewed on: SwitchAlso on: PC
My Friend Pedro is a game about finding a particular moment. Usually, you’re upside down and falling in slow motion, watching as the bullets from your pistol ricochet off the broad side of a frying pan and zoom toward a foe’s skull. In these instances, Pedro’s systems come together in bloody harmony, letting you conduct a goofy and violent symphony of bullets, dodges, and even the occasional punt of a decapitated head. However, the sheer amount of effort it takes to reach these moments of glory often makes the enterprise more trouble than it’s worth.
My Friend Pedro plays out as a 2.5D side-scroller. Your unnamed mask-wearing protagonist and his floating banana pal Pedro go from one end of the screen to the other, blasting bad guys for reasons that don’t make any sense. Fortunately, the vague story isn’t the focus; using tools for wreaking havoc is what My Friend Pedro is all about. Sometimes platforming sequences require you to use parkour jumps to get where you’re going, but they’re standard fare. Puzzles where you have to manipulate switches with bullets also exist, but the spotlight is on downing enemies in stylish ways with pistols, shotguns, uzis, and whatever else you can get your hands on.
While all of this sounds enticing, the shooting is dicey. The radial aiming system makes it difficult to target foes, even in slow motion. This gets even more complicated when you gain the ability to produce two aiming reticles; one of them auto-locks onto the nearest enemy, creating busy scenes that distract from the cool factor. Even something as simple as shooting a man below you and another one above you at the same time becomes a chore because of how many tasks you have to pull off in a short time. Slowly putting cursors over both foes and making sure you’re dodging their bullets before you fire sounds like a cool action mechanic, but often feels like busywork that drains these moments of their spectacle.
Click here to watch embedded media
A goofy sense of humor pervades the violent onslaught, with a score system that applauds you in specific ways tailored to how you destroy foes. Whether you drop barrels on enemies, set them on fire, blow them up with a grenade, or take them out with a bullet after a sweet kickflip, you can expect the system to account for it with descriptors such as “Air-splat kill!” And the displays of violence that come together when you triumph over the complicated controls are fittingly spectacular. I once dropped down into a room, kicked a gasoline can, and shot it mid-flight to take out a group of foes with a fiery blast. Then I finished off the last guy with a spinning kick that sent him down into a black abyss below.
Just when I had a solid grasp on the controls and could pull off stellar moments of action, the final stretch morphed into a series of annoying insta-death puzzles and dull boss battles. I had a fair amount of fun blasting fools in My Friend Pedro, but I wish my experience was more about losing myself in the frenzy of its action and less about navigating a tiresome control scheme.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
Score: 6
Summary: A frustrating control scheme confounds this bullet ballet's most spectacular moments.
Concept: Blast your way through hordes of foes using slow-mo, ricocheting bullets, and skateboards
Graphics: Some platforming levels serve as bright departures from otherwise drab environments and muddy textures
Sound: The blasts of gunshots and the woom of lurching into slow motion more than make up for the forgettable score
Playability: A frustrating control scheme makes it unfairly difficult to pull off the coolest moves in this bullet ballet
Entertainment: My Friend Pedro is a fun little bloody romp that gets tripped up too many times by its frustrating controls
Replay: Moderately Low
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Hello howesey,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
howesey joined on the 07/08/2019.
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Publisher: 704GamesDeveloper: Monster GamesRelease: SeptemberRating: Rating PendingPlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Publisher 704Games and developer Monster Games have announced the next iteration in the NASCAR Heat series, NASCAR Heat 4, which is scheduled to hit the PS4, Xbox One, and PC this September. Although details on the game are light at the moment, new tire models for the different track types and more career mode flexibility are highlighted among other additions such as a needed graphical upgrade.
NASCAR Heat 3 added dirt racing, and although that may be a big draw for some (legend Tony Stewart is featured on the game's cover), one of the new features of career mode is the ability to start in any of the game's four racing series – dirt, trucks, the Xfinity series, and the Monster Energy cup series.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
Whether this is the mode's main addition for the year remains to be seen, but 704Games president Colin Smith says that the game, "[incorporates] a number of features and improvements recommended by the NASCAR Heat community."
Hopefully this includes more in-depth car customization options, improved A.I. and online performance, more career mode depth, and improvements in other areas.
NASCAR Heat 4 is now accepting pre-orders for its standard and gold editions (featuring Jeff Gordon on the cover), and the latter includes three-day early access to the game and other goodies. Everyone who pre-orders can play Martinsville at night early. Find out more about pre-orders as well as both editions of the game here.
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Click here to watch embedded mediaPublisher: The Pokemon Company, NintendoDeveloper: Game FreakRelease: November 15, 2019Platform: Switch
At the E3 Nintendo Direct for Pokémon Sword and Shield (out on Switch on November 15) we learned about the Dynamax phenomenon for some Pokémon in the Galar region, and today's new trailer for the game introduces a similar form called Gigantamaxing.
Gigantamaxing is a rare situation for certain Pokémon species, enlarging them and imbuing them with a special G-Max Move particular to that Gigantamax species that even regular Dynamax Pokémon can't use.
Drednaw, Corviknight, and Alcremie are examples of three Gigantamax Pokémon, with formidable G-Max powers. For example, Drednaw's Stonesurge causes damage to the opponent as well as any Pokémon entering the battlefield. Meanwhile, Corviknight's Wind Rage similarly causes damage as well as removes effects of moves such as Reflect and Electric Terrain.
The trailer also shows off the Galar Region Pokémon League. Here you'll collect eight gym badges (and get a special slightly customizable uniform, see below) after being endorsed by prominent people in the region like Chairman Rose or Oleana. Complete the Gym Challenge and you'll be invited to the once-a-year Champion Cup in the region where you can take on reigning champ Leon and his partner Charizard.
Nintendo and developer Game Freak have also announced a slew of additional announcements for Pokémon Sword and Shield, including each version's exclusives. Sword exclusively features Pokémon Deino and Jangmo-o and Gym leader Bea, while Shield has Pokémon Larvitar and Goomy and leader Allister.
Meanwhile, take a look at more Pokémon of the Galar region, the pre-order keychain, the double pack of both Sword and Shield, and the digital version that contains a dozen Quick Balls that help you catch Pokémon if used early in battles.
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Publisher: SEGADeveloper: SEGARelease: 2020Platform: iOS, Android
Throughout his history, Sonic the Hedgehog has had to foil myriad ridiculous evil plots from his adversary, Dr. Eggman. This time, Sonic and his crew are in Tokyo for the 2020 Olympic games, when they're suddenly forced to intervene in an all-out Eggman invasion. In a bizarre twist, the best way for Sonic and his friends to battle with the maniacal doctor is to compete against him in Olympic events.
Once you accept that odd premise, Sonic at the Olympic Games looks to deliver fun action centered on fanciful versions of traditional Olympic events. During my demo, I had the chance to see multiple events in action and play one for myself to learn a bit more about what this new mobile version of the long-running minigame series brings to the table.
A look at the Tokyo map that houses all the events and minigames.
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo was designed from the ground up exclusively for Switch, meaning it has more complex controls in addition to Nintendo's stable of characters. For Sonic at the Olympic Games, Sega wanted to prioritize simplicity. "We would like everyone to play, so the controls are designed to be really easy to do that," creative producer Eigo Kasahara says.
Unlike its console counterpart, Sonic at the Olympic Games leaves Mario and the Nintendo squad behind in favor of focusing just on Sonic the Hedgehog characters. During my demo, I see numerous characters, including Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Shadow, and Silver, in action. While you start out with Sonic, your roster expands as you progress through the map of Tokyo and its several Olympic events and minigames. "The playable character depends on the event," vice president of product development and head of Sonic Team Takashi Iizuka says.
Within Sonic at the Olympic Games, you play through various events based on actual Olympic events. During my demo, I saw the 400 meter hurdles, archery, the hammer throw, the 200 meter dash, badminton, trap shooting (seeing Shadow holding a gun definitely brought back some memories), and spring board diving. However, Kasahara says there will not only be more events than what I saw, but also more to do. "We're thinking of implementing more than 15 events right now," he says. "Other than the event games, we have minigames on the UI map. They're not true event games, but they're more like mini fun games."
While the vast majority of my demo was hands-off, I did have the chance to try out the 400 meter hurdle event. With simple swipe-to-jump controls that are more concerned with timing than precision or technical mastery, I'm able to hop right in and perform respectably in my first attempt at the event. If this event is any indication, the team's desire for simple and approachable controls is well on track. While the 400 meter hurdles event has already reached an acceptable level of approachability, Kasahara tells me that the team isn't particularly happy with how badminton controls just yet, so they're still refining how it plays.
In addition, many events have EX versions, where the rules are twisted to make things more difficult. For example, in hammer throw's EX version, your hammer must land in a narrower section of the field, while the EX mode of trap shooting gives you multiple targets to shoot at once instead of just one. Sometimes, the events themselves are completely fantastical. This is on display in my favorite thing I saw during the demo: the EX version of spring board diving. Instead of simply performing tricks using the touchscreen controls as you would in the standard version of the event, the EX version presents almost a puzzle-like layout. In this enhanced version, you must plan your route collect the most rings, picking the best times to perform double jumps in hopes of racking up the best score. This event, which looks like a lot of fun, is exclusive to the mobile version, meaning it won't appear in the Switch's Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo.
Mobile games, including other Sonic mobile titles, often encourage players to come back for long periods of time through continued updates. While it's almost a foregone conclusion that a big-name mobile game these days will adopt the living-game model, Sonic at the Olympic Games will not follow that trend. "It's made for the Olympics period, so we won't add any new features after the Olympics, but we are thinking about adding a classic Sonic BGM song in there, so people can download it and listen to that music," Kasahara says.
Sonic at the Olympic Games is set to launch on iOS and Android next spring.
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Publisher: Deep SilverDeveloper: Ys NetRelease: November 19, 2019Rating: Rating PendingPlatform: PlayStation 4, PC
At long last, Shenmue III is finally in the home stretch of development. The revenge saga of Ryo Hazuki, who witnessed his father's murder at the hands of Lan Di in 2000's Shenmue on Dreamcast, is finally ready to continue. Announced at E3 2015 as a Kickstarter campaign, Shenmue III picks up after the events of 2002's Shenmue II, meaning that by the time the game launches, it will have been 17 years between releases. I had a chance to play a brief demo of Shenmue III and speak to series creator Yu Suzuki about how development is going.
At the onset of my demo, Ryo says he needs to find a bookie. Obviously, this would be a part of a story mission. However, I'm not here for that. I'm here to see how the side activities – the updated versions of the ones that kept me glued to my screen in middle school, much to the confusion of any onlooking friends – feel in this new entry in the Shenmue saga.
I immediately go to an area that loosely fits the definition of an amusement park. As I enter an area full of small games, I decide to sample what the local game masters are offering. Ryo approaches a woman, who pitches him on playing peg-based marble-drop game Lucky Hit. After a few rounds of watching the marble narrowly veer away from the jackpot slot at the bottom of the board, I decide to move to something else: dice. Watching my demo intently, Yu Suzuki eggs me on to bet higher with each successive roll. I take the bait after winning a couple of consecutive rolls, but this method isn't sustainable in games of chance, and soon Ryo's pockets are much lighter and he's expressing his disdain in his trademark dry voice delivery.
After depleting a good chunk of Ryo's funds in luck-based minigames, I decide to try and build his bankroll back up through something only the most skilled of players can win: turtle racing. Believe it or not, the turtle racing minigame is a test of endurance for the player. As the turtles make their ways down the course, you're responsible for mashing the button that appears on screen. Doing so builds up the radial meter in the upper right corner, which provides a boost for your turtle upon filling. After a long, tiring race, my turtle comes out on top, giving Ryo a good chunk of change. Following my hard-earned victory, I decide to quit while I'm ahead and see what else I can do with my spare time.
Yu Suzuki points at the monitor and instructs me to go up a slight incline to a dojo. This sounds like a more exciting way to spend the remaining hands-on time I have with the demo. While at the dojo, I'm given the chance to train, spar, or fight one of the monks. Training is done by completing minigames. The one-inch punch, for example, has you strike a training dummy in a timing- and rhythm-based game. After that, I move on to horse stance, an Asian martial arts posture where the practitioner maintains a low squat. In this minigame, I must press a button to keep a meter marker within a small range.
After wrapping up my training, I head into the dojo and challenge the Red Tiger monk. Fighting in Shenmue III is much smoother than that of its predecessors. Ryo moves with more fluidity and his attacks feel much less stiff. After trading blows with the monk, I come out of the encounter victorious, and my skills meter rockets as Ryo ranks up. Next, I decide to spar, which gives me specific button commands to use in battle in order to learn new combinations and moves.
Despite various modernizations to the Shenmue formula, the third entry feels faithful to how Shenmue was for players in the early 2000s. "My team was not necessarily trying to provide innovative things," Suzuki says. "Because it was created through Kickstarter crowdfunding, my main focus was to make Shenmue III to make fans happy to play a sequel to Shenmue. That was the first thing I wanted to make sure. Probably nothing I'd call innovative, but there are many, many new elements."
As mentioned before, fans waited many years for the announcement of Shenmue III, and then additional years for its release. However, Shenmue III was delayed from its original August 27 release date to November 19. Suzuki tells me this is delay isn't indicative of any problems, but rather necessary time to make sure the game is in a good state when it launches. "With the title very close to the end, I'd like to brush it up as much as possible for the fans in order to make sure it's as good as possible," he says.
With fans having to wait so long for release, Suzuki says he has a mix of feelings, which seems to include a little anxiety, as launch nears. "I not only feel relief because the game is very close to release, then I also started wondering how the people are going to think and particularly how the new players are going to think," he says. "As such, there is some other feelings I started feeling."
While players have often thought of Shenmue as a trilogy, Suzuki tells me Shenmue III will not conclude the story. In fact, we may have a ways to go. "For Shenmue, I have 11 chapters in the story," he says. "My problem is, of those 11 chapters, how much do I want to put into Shenmue III? In other words, it's not the end of the story; it will continue. It's still going. Shenmue III comes out of chapters three to six."
When I ask Suzuki if that means more games or if the story will continue in other media, he says, "Whatever I can do, I will."
The first two games were published by Sega, and the influence of the publisher was inescapable. In Ryo's travels in those first two games, he encounters all kinds of references to other Sega properties, including capsule toys of characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, and arcade machines like Space Harrier and Hang-On.
Since Sega isn't the publisher of Shenmue III, you likely won't find as many references to Sega in this game. However, all hope is not lost for fans wanting to see some nods to the publisher. "You can find some," Suzuki says. "There is one cabinet called Astro City, which is from Sega, and you can find some of the posters in it. I'll say that for the Sega fans, you will find some things you can appreciate and will smile."
Sega also published HD versions of Shenmue I and II on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC last year. While Suzuki didn't have anything to do with those games coming to modern platforms, he does feel as though that Sega release probably helped him to build excitement for the release of Shenmue III.
My time with Shenmue III is likely representative of how I'll play the game when it comes out later this year: delaying story missions in favor of the many diversions scattered throughout the world. That's alright, as that's how players have experienced the Shenmue games for years. This sequel to Shenmue I and II has kept fans waiting for nearly two decades, but the wait is almost over, as Shenmue III hits on November 19 for PlayStation 4 and PC.
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Hello CM32,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
CM32 joined on the 07/06/2019.
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Hello hjortis,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
hjortis joined on the 07/06/2019.
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Hello Danubuntu,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Danubuntu joined on the 07/06/2019.
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Bandai Namco has officially announced One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, the next iteration of the Dynasty Warriors and One Piece mashup series.
The Musou spin-off game will feature the same kind of action we've come to expect from developer Omega Force, which means beating up huge groups of bad guys at a time, except you're doing it with your gummy limbs instead of weapons (for the most part, anyway). Bandai Namco didn't offer too many details beyond that, other than Whole Cake Island, a locale from a more recent arc in the anime and manga (Pirate Warriors 3 released way back in 2015 in Japan, though it didn't make its way to US shores until 2018) will be a new location this time around.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 does not yet have a release date, but is coming to PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam. In the meantime, we have a spiffy new trailer to look at.
Click here to watch embedded media -
Publisher: CapcomDeveloper: CapcomRelease: September 6, 2019Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
There’s a reason that “hunter” is half of Monster Hunter’s title: Admiring monsters from afar might be satisfying in its own way, but the whole point is getting in the faces of these giant beasts and battling against seemingly insurmountable odds. Once you’re done, you get to take your trophies and craft new weapons and armor to do it all over again. And for that, you need a base of operations. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne introduces an all-new region to explore, as well as a place to call home. Seliana may not have a whole lot of history (yet), but Capcom relied on its experience – and player feedback – when it came time to build this outpost on the edge of the known world.
Iceborne takes place after the events of the main campaign, when the expedition notices a mass migration from the New World to an unknown destination. Shortly afterward, it’s clear that the monsters are flocking to an undiscovered continent – and with that, we’re off. Unlike Astera, the hub world in Monster Hunter: World, this new base of operations is just getting started. Astera is an established outpost, having been built up over several generations. Seliana was largely constructed in advance and flown out via enormous balloons.
“You start off in the old headquarters of Astera, and as the story of Iceborne progresses you’re going to be able to transition to this part of Seliana, and you’ll see how this village grows and what develops in the storyline in relation to this new base,” says Kaname Fujioka, Iceborn’s executive director and art director. “Basically, it’s going to be a smaller base that they want to take to the Hinterlands.”
The expeditionary force built Seliana with the knowledge it acquired over decades of experience, which isn’t unlike how Capcom approached designing the new hub world. The team took player feedback into consideration when it came time to build Seliana, along with its own expertise in designing spaces. Director Daisuke Ichihara says that one of the big takeaways the team learned from that feedback was that Astera could be difficult to maneuver around and that certain NPC facilities were spread too far apart. “[W]e took great care when creating the new base, Seliana, in Iceborne to address some of those concerns,” Ichihara says.
“Especially the gathering hub,” Fujioka adds. “That was kind of a main focus point of some of the adjustments we made based on player feedback. For example, we really wanted to make the gathering hub a more fun gathering place, a more social-gathering environment for people, so they could communicate a little easier and have a little more fun there. And sort of use it as a social-networking space.”
We were able to explore Seliana a bit during our hands-on time with the game, and it’s striking how different the space feels from Astera. It’s smaller and has a bit of Nordic flair, and it generally has the vibe of being a place that’s on the edge of a frontier. There’s a lot of fun ambient detail, such as the various Palico helpers who carry parcels around the camp or the Poogie who wanders around in a sweater – a tiny icicle dangling from his snout. On the edge of town, you can watch wagons getting loaded before disappearing down the road. These are largely inconsequential details as far as gameplay goes, but they go a long way in selling the illusion of a bustling new community. NPCs like the chef and forge aren’t quite as far away from one another, which is at least partially due to Seliana’s smaller footprint.
“There are reasons from both the visual design and the game design as to why it’s more compact,” Fujioka says. “If we wanted to make something that, in terms of game design, was super easy to access everything, then we’d just put all of our facilities in a straight line and call it a day – it would be an easy thing to do. But we want something that’s a lot of fun to walk around in, so you can walk around and find interesting little things here and there. That’s also part of our design philosophy. But we did take into consideration what players want, like all the room services that were in World that you had to access in your room can now be accessed in Seliana itself; you don’t have to go inside your room anymore.”
One of the things I like about the Monster Hunter team’s approach to game design is how they put a lot of thought into the underlying logic in their worlds, whether or not players wind up noticing those details. As fantastical as the monsters are, for example, the designers make efforts to come up with logical explanations as to why they’re able to use elemental attacks or have adapted to better survive in their home environments. That philosophy extends to Seliana as well.
“The basic concept of Seliana is that they’re building a base on undiscovered land – no one has been here before,” says environment artist Sachiko Fukuda. “With Astera, it was basically facing the open sea, and it was a place with a lot of rich nutrients and stuff like that. It was easy to grow stuff. With Seliana, it’s surrounded by mountains, and they’re trying to figure out they want a place where people help the hunters. They want a place where you can forge weapons, so they need that energy to power the whole place. One of the main reference points was Iceland. We did some research on cities in Iceland and how they operate, and a lot of the cities there get their energy from thermal energy.”
Iceborne’s Hinterlands are home to a variety of underground hot springs, which the residents of Seliana have been able to tap into. On a more personal level, hunters can take advantage of the springs’ healing powers to regenerate their health and stamina by taking a quick dip. That’s only one of the ways players can stay healthy and strong. Eating is another constant presence in the series, and Seliana introduces some fun new cuisine – and a new cook.
“The first concept we had was moving the Meowscular Chef to Seliana, and it was an outdoor canteen in the freezing cold; and everything was covered in snow,” Fukuda says. “We decided to move away from the first design and move the canteen indoors and make it a little warmer and more cozy. We got more advice from Fujioka that instead of just a grill of meat and everything we had in World, because it’s a cold place, to replace that with a big pot of stew, where you add things that will warm up your body because you’re in this freezing cold area. The design kept building on top of that, and as we started finalizing designs of the Grandmeowster Chef, we were going for something that resembles your grandma’s house.”
Putting the Meowscular Chef in this cozy new environment felt a little weird, so they designed a new character based on Russian nesting dolls: The Grammeowster Chef. Unlike the gung-ho attitude that Astera’s chef brings, this new Palico cook is a soothing presence, with more relaxing cooking animations than those of her protégé. Her food looks great, too. “We put a lot of thought and effort into making you be able to taste the food when you see it,” Fujioka says. “For example, the beef stew and the melted cheese. It’s something that you know there’s a lot of good taste behind it. We wanted something different from just a slab of meat in the Chef’s canteen.”
The Meowscular Chef is holding down the fort back in Astera, but not everybody stayed back. For instance, the smithy who works the forge has left that task to someone else and moved over to Seliana. If you miss anyone, don’t worry – you won’t be moving to this frontier on a permanent basis. “All the facilities that are in Astera are in Seliana, but in terms of story there will be reasons to go back to Astera,” Fujioka says. “There are going to be some changes in the new world in terms of stuff that’s happening, so you’ll have to go back and forth a couple of times to figure out what’s going on.” That said, I’m looking forward to spending more time in this new area, as well as the rest of Iceborne.
We'll have more Monster Hunter World: Iceborne coverage throughout the month, so be sure to check out the hub page linked in the banner below.
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Publisher: Electronic ArtsDeveloper: Jo-Mei GamesRelease: July 5, 2019Rating: TeenReviewed on: PlayStation 4Also on: Xbox One, PC
Mental health is a difficult subject to tackle in games. Achieving a tactful balance between game mechanics and tough themes requires insight, but it can make for a rewarding experience when the two intertwine in meaningful ways. Titles like Celeste and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice illustrate this, and Sea of Solitude boldly plunges into similar subject matter; its world is as beautiful as it is melancholy, with several characters opening up about how their lives are ravaged by mental health.
Sea of Solitude casts you as Kay, a young girl whose loneliness has transformed her into a literal monster. She navigates a partially submerged city, with blurry memories of a human past. Soon she finds out she’s not alone in this world, and she begins a quest of self-discovery in which she attempts to right previous wrongs by helping her family (who have also become beasts) find peace. Sea of Solitude introduces an intriguing premise with darkness hiding under the surface, and it largely succeeds despite occasional hiccups.
You spend your time travelling by foot and by boat, platforming over roofs and through cityscapes, avoiding dangers, and engaging with whatever grandiose monster – like a large, fear-inspiring crow – lurks in the area. I was always eager to see what the next beast awaited me would be, and how the world would change to reflect it, such as sunset skies and harsh waves when Kay’s parents bicker at one another.
Kay has a personal connection with each beast, whether that’s a reflection of a familiar darkness within herself or an embodiment of a tortured family member, which brings a fascinating depth to enemy encounters. I empathized with each major foe, and never wanted to hurt them. Luckily, I never had to. Boss battles in Sea of Solitude are not conventional fights; rather than defeating enemies, you help them overcome issues by clearing corruption, which increases Kay’s understanding of their problems and helps those in pain see clearly, such as two characters realizing its best to end a relationship that is dead in the water. It’s a clever approach that succeeds in driving empathy in the player, too.
Click here to watch embedded mediaClearing corruption is your main goal in Sea of Solitude. Corruption points appear as glowing orbs with clouds of black smoke twirling around them. To eradicate these, you collect other smaller orbs by platforming around the area and doing light puzzle solving. You have a flare you can shoot into the air that helpfully guides you to your next objective, but it’s also your one and only weapon. Light defeats shadow enemies; sometimes you have to kill them before moving on or, as the gameplay evolves, turn them into allies so they can jump upon ledges you can’t reach to grab orbs for you. Fighting or manipulating enemies is a lackluster experience since it doesn’t require much strategy, and I preferred platforming moments that are intertwined with voiceovers that give insight into what happened to Kay’s family.
Puzzles, like defeating shadow creatures, are shallow. For example, you can trick enemies into chasing you to lead them away from a door you wish to enter. But the easy puzzles never bothered me much, since smooth progression allows the story to continue uninterrupted – and narrative is Sea of Solitude’s strength.
Characters have depth, and you learn more about Kay and others when clearing corruption. Problems are rooted in mental health, such as Kay’s boyfriend who is in a deep pit of depression and another sequence about a young boy being bullied. Most of these moments feel genuine, but I found the brief bullying storyline clumsy, especially when it delved into suicidal ideation in a sloppy way. Other times I took issue with stilted and awkward dialogue or when deeply personal themes were rushed.
However, some moments shine when the game lets its world speak for itself; I enjoyed seeing characters coming to grip with their reality on their own and how both the weather and aesthetic changed to emphasize these feelings. I love how the city becomes chilled and blanketed in snow when exploring the topic of a broken romantic relationship, or how a building with vents that spew steam fittingly reflects a father’s overwhelming anger.
Weather plays a significant role during exploration, with rainfall warning you of danger and sunny skies signaling safety. It’s a simple system that works well to inform the player when to brace for horrors, and there is a surprising amount of fright. A fish monster swims in the dark waters and if it catches you it violently tears you apart with its sharp teeth. Murky seas occasionally have ghostly hands that emerge from the depths that drown Kay if she touches them. All of this feels all the more terrifying because of Sea of Solitude’s barren world.
While an empty world is often seen as a negative in games, it feels appropriate here not just for the effective horror elements, but also because it reflects Kay’s feelings and adds intrigue to the mystery. I kept wondering how Kay ended up alone and why monsters are the only living beings left. Answers to these questions aren’t always handed to you, but I enjoyed trying to piece together bits myself through my own interpretations and messages left behind in bottles.
Sea of Solitude provides an insightful look at how mental health devastates the lives of not just those it affects, but also loved ones on the outside. Kay learns a lot about herself by understanding the value of listening, coming to term with her flaws, and not just empathizing with family but also accepting that a simple fix isn’t always possible.
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Score: 7.5
Summary: This adventure game provides an insightful look at mental health inside a gorgeous and melancholy world.
Concept: Navigate a half-submerged city and conquer your demons by overcoming literal monsters
Graphics: Sea of Solitude is both beautiful and frightening, with colorful aesthetics juxtaposed with darker palettes during storms
Sound: The sound design is well done, such as a crow’s piercing cry and the crashing of waves providing an unsettling ambiance
Playability: Sea of Solitude controls easily, and the minimalist interface helps you become fully immersed
Entertainment: Sea of Solitude provides an insightful look at mental health and its characters evolve in meaningful ways
Replay: Moderately Low
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Hello danplim,
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danplim joined on the 07/05/2019.
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Hello Mkyoro,
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Mkyoro joined on the 07/04/2019.
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Hello fishpickles,
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fishpickles joined on the 07/04/2019.
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Tencent has further entrenched itself in the Auto Chess market today by launching Chess Rush, a mobile take on the genre with faster matches.
Although it already owns Riot, the company behind the League of Legends spin-off Teamfight Tactics, Chess Rush is a mobile-only title that promises to cut down on match times, which in other games can take as long as 40 minutes or more. Of course, the basic tenants of the genre remain; as you nab pieces from a limited selection, you want to build up a powerful army by combining three of the same unit to produce one stronger unit, and combine class archetypes to win.
Chess Rush is out today on iOS and Android.
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Arc System Works may be known for fighting games, but that doesn't mean they don't release other kinds of game. For example, the company will be publishing a new take on the River City Ransom license called River City Girls.
Developed by Shantae series developer WayForward, River city girls stays true to the series' beat-'em-up roots, but modernizes the look of the classic franchise, featuring two new protagonists, Kyoko and Misako, who must battle it out on the streets of River City to rescue their boyfriends, Kunio and Riki. RPG mechanics, side quests, shops, co-op, and the ability to recruit enemies should hopefully spice things up.
River City Girls launches on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch on September 5.
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Hello frajola,
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frajola joined on the 07/03/2019.
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Hello skywalker,
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skywalker joined on the 07/03/2019.
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Hello Phenix757,
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Phenix757 joined on the 07/03/2019.
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A lot of Apex players were disappointed with the first season’s battle pass. Rewards were mostly lackluster character and weapon skins. There were no challenges to complete to level up, or emotes or other fun things you could earn. Overall the battle pass didn’t offer much incentive to play more during the season.…
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Publisher: CodemastersDeveloper: CodemastersRelease: June 28, 2019Rating: EveryoneReviewed on: PlayStation 4Also on: Xbox One, PC
The F1 series has a well-earned reputation for demanding sim-based racing. If you want to feel the full torque and acceleration of your machine and think you can control that beast, then go ahead. That’s just one of the challenges of F1 2019, but it’s not the only metric by which this game should be judged, nor the only one by which it succeeds. Codemasters’ F1 series isn’t only for hardcore racers and F1 diehards; it’s for anyone who wants to race on the edge, who wants to build a top-flight organization, and who wants to test their mettle turn after turn and season after season.
The world of F1 is relentless in its competition, whether that’s on the track, between teams’ R&D departments, or even rival drivers within your own team. F1 2019 has all of these, and importantly, it keeps them in reach of drivers of all abilities. The F1 cars are responsive in acceleration, braking, and control, with the usual variety of helpers, like rewinding and changing difficulty settings. Regardless of your play style, you get tense and triumphant moments, like when a competitor threatens to overtake you as their DRS kicks in along the back straightaway, only for you to dive hard into the corner and hold them off. In specific gameplay terms, the braking feels a touch easier to lock up this year, but it’s not hard to adjust to and I could manage it without losing time or position.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe addition of F2 racing in certain areas (Codemasters plans to add the full 2019 F2 schedule to season mode after launch) provides additional challenge through cars that are harder to control, whether that’s slowing them down entering corners or controlling them on exit. The feeder series’ is used as a preamble to the career mode, and although the two drivers you meet via cutscenes in F2 follow you into F1, their presence and effectiveness as a storytelling device tapers off once you’re in F1. For instance, I beat a long-standing nemesis from my F2 days, Devin Butler, in a multi-race rivalry faceoff and I didn’t even get to revel in my victory through a cutscene.
Thankfully, F2’s relatively small inclusion in the career mode doesn’t blunt how good the career mode is overall. New this year is the ability to sim practice sessions for a modicum of resource points for your R&D department – a nice way to give more casual players options while still rewarding those who want to put in the time investment. The career mode is filled with such balance. A part fails R&D? You can work harder next practice to get points to try again, as well as buy a durability upgrade for the appropriate department to help you next time. Lose a rivalry matchup? You can still further your reputation by earning team upgrades and perks during the next contract-negotiation session. Even when I wasn’t doing well, it didn’t feel like the beginning of the end – only the start of my next opportunity.
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You can also find versatility in the new user-created leagues multiplayer feature. Creating or participating in a league is easy, and I appreciate options like being able to have a set day to race or leave it up to the discretion of all involved, and the ability to have A.I. cars present on the track but not in the league standings. However, differentiating between ghosted A.I. cars and non-ghosted real players during races is confusing when everyone’s piling up going into a corner.
Customization is also a big part of this year’s multiplayer, but the cosmetic choices for your suit, gloves, and liveries are basic, so far. Most can be unlocked purely through earning and spending the in-game currency, but a few Premium items can only be bought with real money. This monetization isn’t obnoxious, and the customization options are more notable for the fact that there isn’t an in-depth livery editor and there are no face-sculpting options.
You should play F1 2019 not just because you’re an F1 fan or the hottest thing that’s ever gotten in a cockpit. Do it because you want to experience the thrill, the heartbreak, and the satisfaction of competing at ridiculously high speeds. Trust me, you do.
Score: 8.75
Summary: Whether guiding your car, career, or league, F1 2019 has plenty of options to keep you covered and entertained.
Concept: Custom multiplayer leagues add to an already-great career mode. The latter has some minor additions, including a brief stint in the F2 feeder league
Graphics: Objects on the horizon can exhibit some graphical degradation, but it isn’t a serious issue
Sound: The commentary lines are old and often not that interesting. F2 announcers have been added, but they don’t break out of the mold either
Playability: Pushing the F1 cars to their limits is fun, and the F2 cars have their own feel and are actually harder to drive
Entertainment: Whether guiding your car, career, or league, F1 2019 has plenty of options to keep you covered and entertained
Replay: High
A look at the Tokyo map that houses all the events and minigames.
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