I love X-COM, which I think I’ve stated a few times. When the chance presented itself to back the new game by Julian Gollop. the creator of the very first game in the series, UFO: Enemy Unknown and the first set of classic X-COM games—before the Firaxis remake—I jumped at the chance and became a backer for Phoenix Point.
Last week, the cool guys at Snapshot Games sent me a press early access version of the backer build coming out today, so I could take a look and see just how the game is shaping up. Below you’ll find a video of my latest session, up to the point when the game crashed on me. A minor issue with a preview build when the game is this fun.
I’m usually not a fan of card-based games unless they’re card games. Ok, that didn’t make much sense. Let’s try again: I like card games like Hearthstone or Magic the Gathering, Gwent and so on, CCGs, TCGs and deck builders. Those games where the cards are the game. What I’m traditionally not a fan of are those games in other genres that use decks and cards, such as RTS or RPGs using decks, say Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories or Children of the Zodiarcs.
Funnily enough, I kinda like both of those examples, because they’re very good implementations of the cards and deck mechanics in other genres. But it’s something that can go in horrendous directions unless done properly.
So, when I got the information on Golem Gates, a real-time strategy title on Early Access and featuring cards, I had that involuntary groan when I suspect the experience is going to be awful. But as always, I said yes, because despite my misgivings and fears, there might be a jewel of gaming there, and unless I give it its fair shake, I won’t find out. Continue reading Preview: Golem Gates
I love XCOM 2. I played it on release and gave it one hell of a score. Now Firaxis and 2K have released an expansion that’s making me love the game even more.
It’s not very common for me to return to a game for an expansion, especially not when the expansion releases so long after the main game. But XCOM 2: War of the Chosen has so much content in it and the concept of the chosen was so interesting that I couldn’t resist coming back for more. Continue reading XCOM 2 – Ranking the Chosen!
The Kingdom is burning, the people run for the hills as the guards do their best to fight the overwhelming enemy force with very little success. Now, in their darkest hour, only the princess and her mysterious powers can save them. This is Tahira: Echoes of the Astral Empire.
We are in the shadows. We control the news, the military, the government and science. We make money flow or stop at our whim, and we’ll save or shatter the world according to our singular visions. It is all in service of our Agenda. Continue reading Review: Agenda
The Sundr is down, Bellower defeated and with him, a loved one lost. The apocalypse still rages on, the serpent devouring everything in its path. You must only take your clansmen, your varl and your warriors to Aberrang for safety. It’s the next chapter in the story of the Banner Saga. Continue reading Review: The Banner Saga 2
Before I even begin, let me state this: Dark Souls III is a good game. I’m still playing it. Also, this isn’t a review or a preview, just a little rant on my grievances with the game so far. I’ve yet to finish it, so these are first impressions.
I’ll say it again, Dark Souls III is a fun game, with the same depth and lore as its predecessors and keeping the same style of gameplay we’ve come to expect from From Software’s titles. But it has some annoying flaws in design, particularly boss design that drive me crazy.
This swamp has it all, from giant crabs to a freaking Black Knight!
Enemies in Dark Souls, and I mean the normal bunch and even the NPC invaders and humans spread around the environment, are a varied sort. You have your abominations, your giant monsters, the knights and everything in between. The Cathedral of the Deep has pretty much one of every kind within its walls.
But the boss design is pretty much a one-trick pony: humanoids in armour with melee weapons, particularly swords and spears. They’re all hyper-aggressive with long reaching sweeping attacks. Some of these are great, like Darth Pontiff, as I like to call him, with twin swords and Jedi-like moves, and the Abyss Watchers, which is most definitely my favourite boss in the game. But it is a common trend in the game, particularly in the main route. The optional bosses do present more variety, such as the Curse-Rotted Greatwood, the Old Demon King and Oceiros, the Consumed King (though this last one is a necessary kill or one of the endings). This tends to box all encounters, particularly if you’re melee, in a single strategy of rolling around avoiding damage, particularly because 95% of them deal damage that you can’t completely mitigate with a shield or have such strong moves that blocking them depletes your stamina. Right now, nearing end-game I’m rocking Yorm’s Greatshield and it’s the only thing that offers decent protection and lets me block effectively. Non-human bosses give you other strategies, make you think of positioning. The only way Dark Souls III makes you do that is with environmental complications like those Bed-of-Chaos-esque poison breathers in the Dragonslayer Armour fight, which is complete nonsense!
Dark Souils III has way too many mimics!
The Lords of Cinders themselves have some issues, except the Abyss Watchers, which are amazing. For example, Aldis’ fight is in one of the most memorable Dark Souls places but the boss itself is rather bland, with very little nuance or strategy to him, just roll through the attacks and swipe at him. Yorm the Giant is a gimmick boss that dies very quickly from the anti-boss weapon you find in his arena, otherwise he takes minimal damage like most giants. Even the Twin Princes lack some impact, as it’s a simple encounter with odds stacked against you…as they all are.
But perhaps my greatest issue with the bosses and which might have had an even bigger impact on how memorable they are is the lack of boss intros. Most bosses just start after you enter their arena, without the dramatic cutscene that introduces them to you and give you that first moment of awe, something that was frankly amazing in Dark Souls, the first one. I will forever remember the cutscene to the Gaping Dragon and that of Ornstein and Smough, they were great and told you exactly what you were in for before the boss even did anything to you.
Ew, just ew
Dark Souls III has the lore, the references to the original game—quite a few in fact, yet it doesn’t feel like a retread—but it lacks the dramatic impact of that game. It’s almost as if the developers knew that the audience would know things so they didn’t put time into the presentation, the introduction of elements, characters and most importantly, bosses.
My final issue with Dark Souls III before I go is that much like Dark Souls II, there are way too many greatswords, ultra greatswords and in big weapons in general, and not enough Straight Swords or fast single hand weapons. I know they love their bulky equipment, but it would’ve been great not to end with the Broadsword as my main weapon much like I did in Dark Souls II. Also, most weapon arts are rather bland.
Not liking the new decoration, Anor Londo!
But to not end this in a downer, I’ll say I loved the new way of handling Estus Flasks, the allotment and reinforcing. Truly love it, same with the weapon upgrade options. They kept the good but got rid of the clunky. I’m happy with that.
I’ll be playing more Dark Souls III in the coming weeks and maybe soon I’ll have a review for it. I just needed to get these off my chest. That way you can know what I’m grumbling to myself most of the time while playing!
The world ended, as it tends to happen in the future, and aside from a giant overcrowded metropolis there are just badlands, criminals, mutants and cyborgs, death and pillage everywhere. It’s no wonder they gave it such an apt name: Bedlam! Continue reading Review: Skyshine’s Bedlam
I didn’t play The Banner Saga when it first released but when I did I loved the world. At first I thought it a generic Scandinavian world but while it does have Norse Myth elements, it brought enough to the table to make it a unique fantasy world, one on the verge of collapse, near the end of its run, where the sun doesn’t set anymore, the land is breaking and ancient and deadly creatures emerge from the depths.
I loved the world but I struggled with the strategy elements. It took me a while to understand the balance between breaking enemy armour and going for hit point damage. Also had issues spending Renown for everything. By the time I knew what I was doing I was in a bad situation and things got worse the more I went on. I could never finish the game on my first playthrough to be honest.
We thought we’d beaten them, but they held back. Then they came, they conquered and we hid. But now we have a second shot. Let’s show them what the XCOM Project is all about!
