PC

Revisiting Marvel Heroes

Keen and I both picked up early backer packages for Marvel Heroes well before the game came out. I had high hopes going in when it launched but my hopes…

7 Comments
June 19, 2014
PC / RPG

Wasteland 2 is shaping up to be a really cool game

wasteland-2-la

We were able to get our hands on the early beta build of Wasteland 2 that is currently available on Steam, and so far the game seems to be turning out quite nicely. I’ve put in about 15 hours over the past week or so and in that time I was already able to see a huge difference in the game brought about by the most recent build.  I can only imagine how much the game has changed shape during its development.  It’s a pretty cool thing to actually get to experience.

For anybody who might not be aware, Wasteland 2 is the sequel to Wasteland and is pretty much the closest thing we will ever get to a classic Fallout experience. Actually, I think the same people who made Wasteland also did Fallout 1 and are now working on Wasteland 2. To be honest I kind of get all of these developers like Tim Cain and Brian Fargo mixed up, and I can never remember who made Fallout but didn’t work on 2 and who did Arcanum and so on. Anyway, the original Wasteland came out like a year or so after I was born so I never really got a good chance to play it. I do remember years and years ago trying the game out, but I think I might have been too dumb to understand what to do and what was going on. It happens from time to time. (more…)

7 Comments
May 27, 2014
PC / Reviews

Age of Wonders III

We actually stumbled upon this game like we do most of them these days. The conversation went something like this:

Graev: Hey, look at this game on Steam. Looks pretty cool, huh?

Keen: Oh is that, Age of Magic or Mystic or something? I’ve heard good things about that.

Graev: *Looks at name* No, it’s not that. *Browses around Steam a little more* Do you mean this? Age of Wonder 3?

Keen: Yeah, I think so.

Graev: Yeah this looks fun too. Let’s get it.

We run a real tight ship over here.

So What Is It?

age-of-wonders-3-empireI had no idea what Age of Wonders 3 was before I saw it and I’m not entirely sure I’ve ever heard of the series either. To be fair, there seems to be a mess load of games that start with “Age of” and end with something different like Empires, Mythology, Wushu, Conan, Conquest, and a crap-load of other stuff. From what I could tell by looking at screenshots it appeared to be like a Civilization game but with turn-based combat thrown in the mix. The concept seemed fun enough so we gave it a go and ended up playing four hours straight (Which you wont get out of me often). I don’t really feel like delving into the mechanics of the game, which we are both still figuring out anyway, so instead I’m going to talk about some aspects of the game that I really enjoy. I also might throw in a couple of things that irk me as well, depending on how things go. Also I should mention that it is a turn-based game. I was almost finished writing the post and I wasn’t sure if I had mentioned that before. You can do either simultaneous turns or classic.  (more…)

7 Comments
April 30, 2014
Console / FPS/Shooter / PC / Reviews

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare – The BEST shooter I’ve played in years

Plants-vs-zombies-garden-warfare

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare came out near the end of February with pretty much no hype or fanfare. I’m not entirely sure if it was really marketed at all. It was actually several weeks later that I noticed it had indeed come out, initially on Xbox One and 360 only, and that’s when I started paying attention. After watching several videos and streams I just knew it was something I would enjoy, and I was totally right.

The Basics

pvz-engineerThe game is a third-person shooter with the Plants vs. Zombies theme. Garden Warfare is essentially multiplayer only but you could play split-screen offline if you really wanted to. There are several modes including a horde-style defense mode where four plants defend their garden from waves of AI zombies, your regular TDM mode where you have to get 50 kills, Gardens & Graveyards where zombies are trying to push through 6-7 gardens to complete their objective while the Plants defend, and a newly added Gnome Bomb mode where each side has pickup the gnome and use it to blow up three objectives. Gardens & Graveyards is easily my favorite but I do enjoy all of the versus modes. The horde-style defense mode, the name of which escapes me right now, is one that I haven’t quite put a lot of time into. Mainly because it’s the kind of thing that requires good communication and a certain level of competency that I have yet to find. (more…)

7 Comments
March 28, 2014
Free to Play / MMORPG / Mobile Games / PC / Reviews / Sandbox

Albion Online Alpha

Albion Online is a F2P sandbox MMO currently in alpha.  We received keys to participate in the alpha test that began this evening which ended up being so much fun that I had to jump on here and share my thoughts.  I would have had this post up yesterday evening shortly after playing, but my poor little laptop BSOD’d and I lost the whole thing. 🙁

Albion Online UI
UO meets Action RPG

Think of Ultima Online + a little bit of action RPG and you’ll start to form the foundation of Albion Online.  Played from an isometric perspective, Albion Online offers a completely sandbox experience on any device.  I was shocked to see that you can play cross-platform on iOS, Android devices, PC, etc.

 

Building

Players in Albion are able to build structures out in the world.  From what I can tell, there appear to be pre-designated spots close to the main city.  I haven’t explored far (the world is pretty dang big) enough to see if it opens up to more of a ‘place anywhere’ mechanic.  You can place storage buildings to help you store all of your heavy resources (there is a carry capacity), crafting stations, buildings to decorate, etc.  Like UO, you are safe in your building unless you built in the guild warfare areas.

Gathering and Skills

Albion Online Skills
This is about 5% of the skill menu

From the moment I started playing I realized how much time I could lose to this game.  The very first thing I had to do was gather wood, stone, and hides to craft myself some basic tools and armor.  I recommend making a shield and adding the Shield Wall spell — great survivability!  After crafting my tools I realized that everything in-game seems to be driven by the skill menu.  This skill menu is MASSIVE and makes Path of Exile look tame. (more…)

18 Comments
March 25, 2014