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.
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Black & White, a game that is anything but, is one of my favorite but out of date games.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.
I saw an episode of Doomsday Preppers the other day where the family didn’t believe in weapons. One of the guys says, “If bandits come I’ll invite them in and either poison them or cut their throats in their sleep.”
HUWAT!? Yes. I like you. Also, I’ve found the perfect game for you. Zombie I Scream by Thefty Jack LLC.
No, Zombie I Scream isn’t about grinding zombies up and turning them into ice cream. It’s about a non-violent solution to a violent problem.
Much like the colonists gave smallpox blankets to the Native Americans the player in Zombie I Scream will give unsuspecting zombies ice cream cones specially designed to end their lives. FUN!
It actually looks really cute and it’s rare that someone finds a new approach to a fairly straight forward genre on a limited interface.
Zombie I Scream (like many of the original colonists) is set in Boston and features many of the city’s famous locations as levels.
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 thenHawken: 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.
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.
Naughty Dog has set a high bar for themselves with the Uncharted series and if PAX Prime 2012 is any indication, that bar has been met with The Last of Us.
I went into the demo with Kae from Fuck Yeah! The Last of Us (and Fuck Yeah! Uncharted) and our expectations were high. Before the demo even began Naughty Dog started off on the right foot. The inside of the viewing room looked like the long abandoned bathroom that Joel and Ellie make their way through in the demo.
In the demo Ellie even comments on the couple in the couple in the bathtub and how they “took the easy way out.”
The characters felt very well rounded and realistic. They worked well together and there was no hint of either Joel keeping Ellie around for the wrong reasons or Ellie being a useless little twat you’ll hope will die so you can go play in peace.
After the demo we were given sweet posters –you can see one pictured above—(I got a signed one by Bruce Straley, the game director, that we’ll be giving away here on In Case of Survival ASAP) and t-shirt.
Free stuff is always awesome but really the best part was the the actual demo. Kae and I were holding one another, gasping, giggling, and sincerely feeling all the feelings.
Check out The Last of Us demo below and let us know how it made you feel:
I haven’t played World of Warcraft in a long time, and when I did I found it hard to truly immersed. Blizzard was running the The Mists of Pandaria demo at the NVIDIA booth and what a good decision that was. When I saw and even play a bit of The Mists of Pandaria at PAX Prime I felt my resolution faltering.
The setting, story, characters, and attention to detail were adding up and combined with crisp colors, smooth movement, and delightful customization, The Mists of Pandaria was the in I had unknowingly been looking for.
This wasn’t the same world everyone had been frolicking in for years.
Via the Pandaren I could safely be the new kid without feeling like the new kid. Sure the Pandaria would still be populated by real world players who might be experts but The Mists of Pandaria starts the story at point A.
While other races have been tied to the Horde or Alliance for years, the Pandaren are Unaffiliated. I don’t have to choose a character based on what my friends play!
Shrouded in fog since the world was sundered more than ten thousand years ago, the ancient realm of Pandaria has remained unspoiled by war. Its lush forests and cloud-ringed mountains are home to a complex ecosystem of indigenous races and exotic creatures. It is the homeland of the enigmatic Pandaren, a race that celebrates life to the fullest even while under siege by an ancient menace.
The new continent reveals itself to a broken world just as the Alliance and Horde are spiraling ever closer to a war that will consume all of Azeroth. Will the mists of Pandaria part to reveal the world’s salvation? Or will the battle to control this rich and breathtaking new land push the two mighty factions over the brink of war and into total annihilation? The answers await within Pandaria’s mysterious shores!
If you think of the cinematic trailer as something like a story trailer than a game trailer then you won’t mind that the actual game looks rather cartoony in comparison.
Luckily, to complete the “storymode” you need to be a certain higher level (I forgot because I don’t completely understand the leveling system as I didn’t even last long enough to get a mount) to do it. I’m not willing to commit the time to get there just yet. Hopefully they’ll include The Mists of Pandaria in a novel!
However, if you are interested in rejoining or just making your way over to Pandaria, I say try The Mists of Pandaria.
If you’re unsure, leave us a comment with your thoughts about the addition of the unaffiliated Pandaren and the realm of Pandaria and we might be able to give you one of the beta keys we scored so you can try The Mists of Pandaria before the September 25, 2012 release date.
Episode Two: Starved for Help [1. This title was provided for review by Telltale Games.] of The Walking Dead is more than aptly named and twice as terrifying as episode one.
I’ll try not to spoil anything from Starved for Help but will spoil Episode One: A New Day. You should have played it by now.
In Episode Two: Starved for Help we find ourselves holed up at a motel dangerously low on supplies and patience with the challenge of not only rationing what we have but also taking charge as an effective leader.
I let Carly die in Episode One: A New Day so I could have humble tech expert Doug around incase we need to rig up a generator or something. Also I liked his meekness rather than over-confident bravado. He, to me, was practical and level headed. Unfortunately, in Episode Two: Starved for Help he just kind of sits around feeling guilty for being alive and being more or less useless.
Curse my soft heart.
This time I wanted to be more calculating. I had a new party member, Mark, who was good at everything, including being the ideal party member! I sort of rescued some high school kids and their teacher and quickly learned that Katjaa is not a doctor.
I felt Episode One: A New Day centered around what kind of person you want to be or, at the very least, the kind of person you want people to think you are. Episode Two: Starved for Help centered around how well you trust and act on your own instincts. It’s more about moral choices than social ones. I can’t say I made all the most moral choices but damn did I have to think deeply about them.
This episode of The Walking Dead is seriously gut-wrenching. Every decision feels both right and wrong; satisfying and regrettable.
My Party for Episode Two: Starved for Help (in order of who I like the most):
Lee
Clementine
Doug
Kenny
Lilly
Katjaa
Duck
Larry
Keep in mind this game is not as playful as many games. It’s deep an heavy and people die and it’s still fun in a sick and empowering way.
[Rating:4]
(It’s on my shortlist of rations receivers.)
Now I’d like to visit Spoiler City to discuss and validate my decisions in Episode Two: Starved for Help:
1. I chopped David’s leg off. I didn’t really feel like I had a choice. I guess I did but I’d have rather have given in the option of being shot or one-legged. Instead it was leave him to die or hang out and hack his leg off. Fuck that was an unpleasant experience.
2. I fed Mark (what a waste!), Kenny, Clementine, Duck, and… I think Katjaa or Myself. I didn’t want to be light-headed and feeling the effects of choosing not to eat. Feed the kids because, duh. Kenny is my homeboy and I wanted Mark to stay forever… should have known random awesome new guy was too good to be true.
3. If I remember correctly, there were some bandits that I avoided rather than engage.
4. I waited to hear Jolene out. She was way crazy but she was making sense and those dairy farmer’s were definitely hiding something. Unfortunately Danny did not want to hear Jolene out and their wonderful little operation.
5. I tried really hard to keep Clementine from eating the food and somehow through my clumsy slow-motion gameplay I managed to stop her in the nick of time.
6. I’m apparently an asshole but I helped (did it myself) kill Larry. That fucker was a loose cannon waiting to go off and he was going to turn into a zombie! An angry racist (?), judgmental, zombie!
7. I killed Danny. He sucked so very much and was quite dangerous. I know Clem was watching but he wanted to eat people slowly over days and was an overall evil monster.
8. I “spared” Andy knowing he’d be fucked on his own so, really I saw it as a choice between quick death and slow death.
9. I’m the greed dick who took your supplies. Who leaves their car full of awesome valuable just laid out like a trap except with no trap?! I assume you’re already dead; and if not, you deserve to be looted and I hope you learned a valuable lesson.
Luckily, to complete the “storymode” you need to be a certain higher level (I forgot because I don’t completely understand the leveling system as I didn’t even last long enough to get a mount) to do it. I’m not willing to commit the time to get there just yet. Hopefully they’ll include The Mists of Pandaria in a novel!
