Category: Video Games

Tower Defense, The Apocalypse, and YOU!

Posted on by tavia.

Tower defense games are games in which you have a limited amount or resources available to build towers to defend your safe space from waves of enemies. Each wave defeated gives way to a stronger wave and loot you can use to build more or upgrade existing towers. [Like real life, except with do-overs!]

I like to say things like, “I’m not obsessed with [thing I spend time that should be allotted to other things doing].”

Sometimes I’ll be playing my tower defense game and not realize that an entire flight from Phoenix to Boston has passed me by. Hm… But it’s not because I want to, it’s because I must—I’m the God of Front Doors! I must protect my nouns.

This week (month?) that statement is directed at a tower defense game on my phone called Castle Defense (or Castle TD once it’s downloaded…) Creative moniker’s are not a staple of the genre.

The thing about tower defense games though, is it’s not really about “fun,”“survival,” or even “winning”. It’s about PERFECT!

I don’t know what’s on the other side of that opening but it’s by duty to protect it. Protect it from super fast pigs and hearty Pterosaurs. Maybe there’s a genetic mutation factory and a  pre-school on the other side of the wall and every creature that gets through is morphed into an even more terrible monster with a hunger for innocence incarnate?

I like to think about tower defense games in terms of survival preparation. I might not have everything I need to do the job that needs doing—Surviving—but I’ll need to sort out HOW? I can’t just spam the landscape with trip wires if an air attack is possible.

How can tower defense games help you prepare for the apocalypse?

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[PAX East] Remember Me might have been unforgettable because it left behind evidence.

Posted on by tavia.

Remember Me has been sneaking around in the background of the gaming world for some time now. Its quite didn’t go unnoticed though, as the wait to play at PAX East was 2 hours long at all times.

This single-player, action-adventure game stars Nilin, a memory hunter in Neo-Paris in 2084, trying to remember her way back to who she was and why a corporation would go to such great lengths to erase her mind.

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From the demo it’s clear this will be a fun action adventure with tried and true elements like platforming and chained melee combat.

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But Remember Me is also bringing ‘memory remixing’ to the table where player can change the way targets remember things. “Hey, old friend.”

Personally, I kept going back to the booth because they had a photo booth and an AMAZING Nilin cosplayer.

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[PAX East] Deus Ex: Human Revolution DIRECTOR’S CUT! (WiiU)

Posted on by tavia.

Deus Ex is back again, but mostly the same. However this director’s cut has some noticeable differences… Not because it’s the director’s cut and it comes with two additional missions though, that I wouldn’t say was all that noticeable.

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Square Enix is re-releasing Deus Ex on the WiiU and I have to say the experience was markedly different.

I’m not yet adjusted to the WiiU controller so I won’t blame that initial awkwardness on the re-release or the device itself. I will say, the game looks just as good on the WiiU as it did on a PS3 or an XBox 360. I didn’t feel like corners were being cut or anything was lagging behind what I’m accustomed to.

WiiU players will get a very similar experience to that of their PS3 and XBox friends. However, they’ll need to acclimate themselves to interacting with multiple interfaces throughout gameplay.

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The game happens on the big screen and maps, menus, and other bits and bobs are relegated to the touchscreen on the controller.

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I hope there’s an option to turn this off because in a game like Deus Ex you’re in your menus quite a bit. Having to look down, and take my hands out of position every time I needed to switch weapons (which I did often because shooting first and asking questions later means you go through a lot of ammo) was definitely not an improvement.

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In the new and improved version players will get the aforementioned DLC integrated into the game, an even prettier game, and better balance for combat (there were some ridiculous fights in Deus Ex).

If you want a WiiU and serious gamer games that help you flex your stealth sneaking, dystopian decision making, and cyborg combating, you should check it out.

BUT! I’ totally suggest finding a way to try the controller (or the game on the controller if you can) before you commit to the WiiU system… It’s not like going from an Xbox to a PS3 or even from a console to a DS.

Though as Frederick Douglas said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”

[PAX East] Heroes Needed for Post-Apocalypse Rebuild: Neverwinter

Posted on by tavia.

I am not a PC gamer; however, I loved playing Perfect World’s Neverwinter. I’m such a brat when it comes to all the menus and keyboard shortcuts. League of Legends was too confusing for me and that game is fairly straightforward (once I couldn’t figure out why none of my powers were working… I accidentally opened a chat and was spamming it with QWER).

Neverwinter though, I just got it. You mover with WASD and melee with the right and left mouse buttons. You have ultras and stuff but I didn’t realize that until I got to a boss and the nice lady at the booth suggested I might want to use 1 and 2 on him. Huh, 1 and 2 did stuff all that time.

So, obviously I wouldn’t just tell you about a random PC game with no apocalyptic implications! Neverwinter is a game about a land that already survived the apocalypse and now they need to rebuild. But, with all the left overs from the apocalypse (like the undead), it’s a hard road and they need Heroes and the like to pave the way for weak respectable citizens.

Neverwinter will be free-to-play with options for purchasable version upgraded like the current founder’s pack that comes with a mount, a companion, VIP Beta access, and more (for $199.99).

Check out the backstory blurb:

One hundred years have passed since the Spellplague forever changed the magical and mysterious lands of Faerûn. Mighty empires fell and great cities toppled, leaving only monster-haunted ruins and survivors struggling to rebuild.

The city of Neverwinter, the Jewel of the North, seemed blessed by the gods. While the rest of the Sword Coast was devastated by the event, Neverwinter survived largely intact. But this was only a temporary reprieve from its inevitable doom. Nearly 75 years later, a volcanic eruption rained fire, ash and molten fury upon the city, annihilating everything in its wake.

Today, Neverwinter has restored much of its former glory. Lord Neverember of Waterdeep has taken the city under his protection and put forth a call to all adventurers and heroes of the Savage North to help rebuild Neverwinter in the hopes that one day he can lay claim to her throne and crown. But evil forces conspire in the dark places of the world, seeking to undermine all…

[PAX East '13] The Last of Us Features Happy Bricks and Echolocation.

Posted on by tavia.

I played The Last of Us demo at PAX East and felt all the feelings. Happy for a sweet band of misfits sticking together to make their way in this harsh new world. Confused by the MC Escher reminiscent environment that I couldn’t navigate because I could get lost in a cul-de-sac. Scared—no terrified—by the Clickers, cauliflower-faced creatures who use echolocation to ferret out their prey. Proud when I figured out how to distract them and escape. Finally, fun-stressed while I tried to fight off diseased humans from all angles.

It was vital to utilize stealth, cunning, speed, and puzzle-thinking to get through this scene so I can’t imagine what the game will hold. I’ve always thought of Naughty Dog as the story people with a good game keeping you in the seat but I think The Last of Us might have the story and game neck and neck for awesomest.

Now I’m a little worried I’ll miss some of the story because I’ll be so  engrossed in the game! Gah. My life is hard.

Check out the Last of Us Past East 2013 demo video:

Lucky me, I came away from the very stressful demo with a stress brick by the name of Happy Brock.

Happy Brock the stress brick!

Check out the official Naughty Dog write up on their blog.

[More about The Last of Us]

The Land of The Video Game Apocalypse

Posted on by tavia.

Video games and the apocalypse go hand in hand. Player One is always that one guy with shit to do and an appointment on Tuesday trying to make his (or her) way through this mess and help all these people out—how’d they survive before Player One came along?

But, we keep coming back to these needy people in their dangerous world because of some romanticism that we can hack it, fix it, or beat it into submission.

Of all the video game apocalypses, which is the worst; which is the best? Is it the overwhelming zombies of Resident Evil, the galactic invasions of Mass Effect, the aggressive extermination in Halo, or some other hellish scenario?

If given the choice, I’d find this Unicorn Apocalypse from the Samsung Mobile commercials and be there. I don’t know all the details of Unicorn Apocalypse I just know those are two things I need to see in one place in order to die happy.

Some of my favorite and most feared video game apocalypses

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What if you worked at Death Inc. and it was your job to start the apocalypse?

Posted on by tavia.

The first thing I thought of when I saw Ambient Studios announce Death Inc. a PC (and MAC) game coming out this summer was that is reminds me of Black & White (Lionhead Studios).

No, I do not think it looks like a knock off. I think it embodies the same brilliance and unique balance that makes the player not the hero or the villain but the story itself.

Black & White, a game that is anything but, is one of my favorite but out of date games. In Black & White you play as a minor god with the goal or working your way up to being a major god wither through fear or adoration from the people below you. It was amazing.

As the main character in Death Inc. you’re charged with spreading a plague through medieval England. Yes! I’m in already.

The images posted remind me of a cross between A Kingdom for Keflings and Double Fine would put out. Both are things I love and would be happy to have more of.

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Review: Hawken: Genesis (Archaia)

Posted on by tavia.

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Hawken: Genesis (Archaia)answers the question “What’s my motivation?” for payers of Hawken the game.

Hawken by Adhesive Games and Meteor Entertainment is part Total Recall, in that it’s set in a ruined dystopian planet; part my desperate hopes for what Pacific Rim will be, a ridiculous mecha battle royal; and part Gundam where everyone is fighting for or against a team but no one is really right.

But then Hawken: Genesis adds in a heaping helping of Top Gun.

It sounds like chaos on the surface but it’s actually a brilliant premise.

Everyone fled Earth for a brighter future on Illal but their hopes overwhelmed the new planet, destroying it faster than they destroyed Earth. Unfortunately for the poor planet, devastation isn’t enough and they’ve found one more resource to pry from the corps of their new home.

Already in the midst of an inter-corporation world war the citizens now have reason to stay and fight too. Not for honor or freedom but for their own slice of the pie. That is why they came after all.

From the jump, “the Hawken” is mentioned in a laundry list of terrible things that shouldn’t have happened, terrible things that ruined a once optimistic planet. I’m not clear what it is though… But I am curious.

I’m always drawn to a good premise, a well thought out backstory make most things that much more wonderful for me. And when I read the Hawken: Genesis issues put out by Archaia Black Label for the franchise, I was blown away.

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Zombie Dash (Android)

Posted on by tavia.

I didn’t have much hope when I downloaded Zombie Dash by Italy Games. It’s hard to find a good app game that isn’t just like some other app game. There’s only so much you can do on a touch screen and with the short attention span mobile games require.

Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised with the high-speed, side-scroller.

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