Archive for June 2012
Pocket Corner: Pix ‘n’ Love Rush Review (iOS) – Essential Retro Platforming Action With Gameplay And Style To Spare
Colourful! Vibrant! 8-Bit! Cat…like!
Sometimes, just sometimes you want to be taken back to a simpler time. To a time where games didn’t have an abundance of cut-scenes, or jock, po-faced military twats harping on about their alphas and their deltas. A time even, where stories didn’t exist because quite frankly the pretence that they typically provided weren’t needed to give us a compelling reason to play.
No, games back then bought their way into our affections and cemented our gaming addictions by virtue of their gameplay and nothing else. It’s to this simplest and often forgotten of mantras that Bulkypix’s retro styled platformer Pix ‘n’ Love Rush, fully subscribes itself to and does so dripping in 8-bit worship and homage.
Its premise as you might infer is pleasingly simple; you play a twee, cat-like creature lovingly constructed out of bleeding 8-bit pixels who can tackle one of four very different platforming game modes, each with a unique visual theme and gameplay slant.
The first – Classic Rush tasks the player with fulfilling the original videogaming OCD; to get the highest score possible. This is handily achieved by collecting golden icons and shooting nasty, flappy pixel-bats and can be played in five minutes or infinite time variations. Most interestingly, Classic Rush throws a number of different game types at you which randomly change the gameplay experience at any given time. To start with you could find yourself on a static set of platforms for example, collecting the golden ‘plus’ icons dotted around to increase your score and then the entire scene could shift; changing colours and forcing you to jump ever upward to avoid a nasty, vertical scrolling death all the while you shoot evil pixel bats and collect those lovely icons.
Classic Rush will break your brain.
It’s simple but maddeningly addictive stuff and really is wholly indicative of the accessible gameplay bliss seen elsewhere in the game.
Next up is Cursed Rush; a traditional side-scrolling jump-or-die gametype, the game aims to challenge with five different difficulty levels ranging amusingly from ‘Hard’ (very easy, really) all the way up and through to ‘Hardcore’ (medium) and ‘Hardcorest’ (very hard). The harder the difficulty, the smaller the platforms become for you to jump on. Naturally, the objective to fulfil here is old-skool; get the highest completion percentage you can (a percentage ticker constantly increments itself as the level scrolls) by not falling to your death.
Just look at it. I mean, really it’s like Jeff Minter took some LSD and decided to make a platformer. Oh, wait.
The third mode, Rainbow Rush, has your pixel-cat/thing on a forced dash across one of four levelled corridors. Here, your control is reduced to just a singular input; tapping the screen makes the player ascend to the level above them, or if they are already at the very top, it puts the player on the bottom level corridor. Additionally, if a corridor has a gap for you to fall through; you will descend down on the corridor immediately below you or on the top corridor at the top of the screen if you fall off the bottom of the screen. Failure comes in the form of being crushed against the left side of the screen by blocks in the corridors which are usually placed in nefariously twattish places, forcing you to switch levels at a moment’s notice only to be caught behind another load of blocks you didn’t anticipate.
Playing Rainbow Rush? Unless you have Jedi reflexes, expect to see this screen. A lot.
Finally, the fourth mode titled On-Off Rush, forces the player to dash in either direction along the X-Axis collecting little suns and crescent moons against the clock. Depending on the time of day which is switched each time you reach the end of the map, collecting a sun or a moon may increase your score and sustain your multiplier, which in turn extends the time left on the clock, or kill your multiplier completely and prevent you from accruing any extra time.
It would all be for naught if the controls weren’t up to snuff; luckily, the controls are crisp and responsive enough to the point that you can’t really use them as an excuse to hide how shit you are at the game. Quite frankly, it’s the robustness and responsiveness of the controls that makes Pix ‘n’ Rush such an effortless pleasure to play and it’s in the four, very different game modes, that the control system shines and the player is meaningfully challenged time and time again.
Deliciously retro.
Visually and aurally, the game is as stalwart a homage to the 8-bit days of yore as any game has been since that time with pitch-perfect 8-bit tunes and sound effects eliciting a much earlier era of gaming. As well as having butter smooth animations, the pixels are large; bleeding colours and definition like never before as the fancy high-tech displays of today embellish the charmingly retro visual style of yesteryear with retinal orgasmic aplomb. One such example of this retro chic in full swing is in Cursed Rush, where pangs of nostalgia are elicited by the fact that all the action is framed by an old school ‘fishbowl’ monochrome CRT screen, with a game of pong being played in the background.
Pix ‘n’ Love Rush is as much a love letter to the timeless, nostalgic aesthetics of the 8-bit era as it is to the gameplay designs that made them so endearingly addictive. Boasting visuals that are as charmingly captivating as the gameplay that underpins them, developer Bulkypix hasn’t just managed to create an overzleaously cool homage to platformers of the 8-bit era, they’ve also crafted the best touch screen platformer available full, fucking, stop.
If you’ve gotten this far in the review and your iThing/Droid-Thing doesn’t have THIS screen on it; you’re DOING IT WRONG.
Costing the same as a bag of crisps, two if you are an Android owner (unless of course you like Grab Bags), you really shouldn’t turn your nose up at the sheer amount of gameplay and enjoyment that is on offer here; unless of course you‘re some sort of scum sucking pervert.
‘Highly recommended’ doesn’t really cover it.
Community Spotlight: Hate-Me Gaming
A crackling little gaming community if there ever was one.
These days it can be so difficult to find a group of like minded gamers who are both great gamers and great people (in my experience the former rarely breeds the latter). It’s a relief then that community gaming website Hate-Me Gaming are some of the most passionate and welcoming gamers you could ever hope to run into.
Running the whole gamut of what you would expect from a quality, community focused gaming website, the talented chaps over at Hate-Me Gaming do pretty much everything ranging from hosting online gaming sessions, podcasts, video walkthroughs, their own Minecraft machima series and much more that it would be a crying shame not to get involved with them.
Their latest video output, a Day Z video diary chronicling a daring nighttime rescue can be seen below and is well worth casting your eyes across:
Click on their logo at the top of the page to go to their site and join up to one of the most welcoming and passionate community gaming sites around.
Additionally, follow them on Twitter and their YouTube and Facebook pages below:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/HateMe_Gaming
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/hatemegaming
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/hatemegaming
Wii U Get It Right Nintendo? Nintendo E3 2012 Press Conference Analysis
Yeah, they didn’t exactly put on the best E3 hardware showcase it must be said.
It’s clear to me now that Nintendo really didn’t realise the opportunity that they had at E3 2012; essentially their second attempt to unveil their next home console to Joe Consumer and get the ball rolling with some positive momentum five months prior to its launch.
They didn’t realise this simply because despite the fact that the whole conference was geared towards the new hardware, as a showcase for the WiiU the whole thing was horribly botched – dangerously approaching the ineptitude of last year’s dismal and confused showing.
In regards to the software side of things, particularly the first-party stuff, they started off well enough with Pikmin 3 and New Super Mario Bros U, but after that they completely fizzled out; people expected more – they expected one big first party bombshell after another. Ninty’s one great card they have always been able to play is the strength and general level of innovation when it comes to their first-party IP’s – there really wasn’t any of that on show here and troublingly, some real key-players simply were not present at all.
Sure, Pikmin 3 looked good (not great), but everybody expected it; New Super Mario Bros U on the other hand, was a shining example of Nintendo playing it far too safe both creatively and commercially since not only can I not recall a time where Ninty had TWO ‘New’ Super Mario Bros titles on the same show (the 3DS had a New Super Mario Bros 2 title), but the games looked so unbelievably similar it almost beggars belief that the game is being positioned as a ‘killer app’ for the machine when it launches in November.
Pikmin 3 & Super Mario Bros U. Solid, but far too safe to spearhead a new console launch.
Would it really have hurt them so much to do a ‘Super Mario Galaxy Wii U’ – a game that not only in qualitative terms, would likely be up there with the legendary Wii titles but would also do justice to the extra grunt that the Wii U packs? Sure, I get the fact that Nintendo have never been about the graphics, but nevertheless, I feel that it would be an important tick to put in that box if they want to fulfil their quest of getting the alienated core gamer back on board.
Moving on, any sort of new Zelda title announcement was MIA which was cripplingly stupid on two fronts; firstly, it was the most logical follow-up ever to the superb tech demo that was shown last year (what was that about graphics Nintendo?) and secondly, a Zelda title (or at least news of one), is a damn near requirement to stoking the fires amongst not only the Nintendo faithful (who must be overdosing on Prozac by now after that conference), but the core gamer also.
So as an overview – we have a 2D focused Mario title which looks not unlike the previously released NDS/Wii titles; a Pikmin game that everybody knew was coming and boasts minor differences over its nearly eight year old prequel, no new other first-party IP updates (Metroid, Donkey Kong, F-Zero, the list goes on) and finally, we have no news of a Zelda title being anywhere near the launch window of the console (current reports put it as far as 2 years out).
The WiiU showcase was certainly worse off without any mention of the further exploits of this chap.
Oh and don’t think I’ve forgotten about ‘Nintendo Land’ either. Obviously it’s a tad churlish to start shitting on it before we have it on our hands, but the claims of it being the Wii U’s ‘Wii Sports’ ring hollow when the game is effectively 12 or so mini-games with a table focus and comes across more like a ‘Wii Play’ style proof-of-concept set of activities rather than a ‘Wii Sports’ killer app equivalent.
Regarding Nintendo Land, apparently, the Zelda component of it was absolutely awesome, but instead they deigned to show the Luigi haunted house side of things, which looked contrived, un-exciting and unfinished (frame-rates dropped below 15fps at times; worrying considering how little was going on-screen, though I suspect that this was down to unoptimised code more than anything).
Despite their assertion to their contrary, I truly hope that they aren’t pinning all of their hopes on Nintendo Land as some great white hope to epitomise everything that the WiiU is about, because at this stage it just doesn’t have the same impact as a ‘Wii Sports’ or a ‘Mario Galaxy’.
Third-party wise, Nintendo pretty much gave themselves both barrels in the face.
Right so instead of showing off the likes of Aliens: Colonial Marines running with unique features on the console (y’know a game that it isn’t out yet, people are excited about and the developers themselves enthusiastically claim that the WiiU version is the best version), we get a nearly ten minute presentation of Batman: Arkham City Armoured Edition – a game that we all played eight months ago now but now has added touch-screen irritations for you to deal with. Smashing stuff.
Then on top of that, we get a sizzle reel showing off some more third-party games (a lot of the footage looks to be culled from the 360/PS3 versions) and some additional casual cack showreel from Ubisoft (AC3 nonwithstanding) and that was that. Mind-blowing.
For the love of Cthulu why did this need to be demonstrated on-stage at the expense of, y’know, something NEW?
What they should have done, is relegated Batman to that sodding showreel and done on-stage demonstrations of Assassins Creed 3 and Aliens: CM; two games that really take advantage of the additional control methods offered by the machine and whose developers have been singing praises about since last year’s E3. Both titles (AC3 and Aliens) are hugely anticipated games with a lot of buzz surrounding them, yet they found themselves relegated to the showreel. Also, why the hell was innovative FPS ZombiU, a game that received more than a few decent reviews from the showfloor, shown only as a CG video during the presser? It just doesn’t make sense.
People don’t give a shit about rendered movies – they care about the actual fucking game. You would think that this was 2005 or something. And another thing; where in the blue fuck was Platinum Games P-100? A game which has totally enamoured pretty much everybody who played it on the showfloor and would appear to be jewel of the WiiU’s third party crown – and yet, it was nowhere to be seen. Complete and utter madness.
Project P-100, one of very best WiiU titles in development, but apparently not good enough to even be MENTIONED at the presser. Dumb. As. Rocks.
Speaking of 2005, another thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was the lack of any mention regarding their online gaming infrastructure. Sure, Miiverse is quirky and the social innovations that it enables are pretty inspired, but where was the meat ‘n’ spuds of the Wii U online gaming experience? Where was the indelible proof that friend codes are dead forever and people have names/tags that can be sought out? Where was the Xbox Live esque UI allowing you to create online gaming parties and multi-task with downloads? Where was the new look WiiU store? Where were any of these things that were supposed to remind us that Nintendo is trying to make its online offering relevant?
And then finally, the coup de grace was of course the complete lack of pricing, release details or software line-up which was we all thought was going to happen but didn’t when Reggie said at the end of the presser: “and look what we have for you now…” and just proceeded to show a flyby of Nintendo Land. Brilliant. Thanks for that Reggie; I really wanted that – a flyby of a game that I was struggling to muster the enthusiasm for in the first place in lieu of ACTUAL FUCKING LOGISTICAL DETAILS ABOUT THE CONSOLE YOU ARE TRYING TO SELL TO US.
I WANT TO LOVE YOU. WHY DO YOU PUSH ME AWAY?! *sobs*
*Breathes deeply*. Despite what this analysis may lead you to believe, I actually love the idea of the WiiU hardware – the thought of being able to play games on a tablet which can function separately or interact dynamically with the console itself is pretty astounding to me; moreso when I think about the typical strength of Nintendo’s first party offerings in galvanising such an interesting concept. I’m just not *sold* on it based on what I observed at their press conference at this year’s E3.
This apparently will be the game that will have the same gravitas and effect on customers as Wii Sports did in converting them to Nintendo’s cause. SPOILER: It won’t.
They have a lot of work to do if they want to secure the ‘core’ audience that they believe they alienated with the Wii and despite the commonly held belief that Nintendo operate in their own generation, next year will very likely mark the launch of the next home consoles from Sony and Microsoft and Ninty really can’t afford to have a lackluster inaugrual year with this console.
Quite frankly, anybody who feels that Nintendo had a conference remotely approaching anything decent has bigger problems to worry about.
Like not breathing out of their cake-holes for starters.
Gameloft Announces ‘The Dark Knight Rises Mobile’ To Release For iOS And Android Devices This Summer
Mobile developer Gameloft, who seemingly couldn’t develop an original concept or game if their lives depended on it, have jumped onto the latest license bandwagon with their forthcoming release of The Dark Knight Rises Mobile for all manner of iThing and ‘Droid devices this Summer.
Given Gameloft’s penchant for aping popular concepts from home console titles in the past, see if you can guess what type of game TDKR: Mobile is going to be.
Go on; stress that brain. No idea? Look at the brawl-happy trailer below and embrace palm to face:
Looking like some bastard cross between the uninspiring Batman Begins title that came out on last-gen machines back in 2005 and some sort of very vague approximation of Batman: Arkham City, the game looks about as unoriginal and uninspired as you might reasonably assume given the developer pedigree. Oh, and it’s also going to be a pay-to-win free-to-play title with lots of lovely in-app purchases.
Marvellous.
The Dark Knight Rises Mobile is due for release on iOS and Android devices this Summer.
Coming Zune – Microsoft To Unveil Apple iPad Rival Next Week
According to a ‘solid’ source from entertainment website The Wrap, Microsoft is set to reveal a tablet next week that will represent its entry into rival Apple’s stomping grounds with its own branded tech-slate.
Current gossip has it down that the company has scheduled a secretive event for Monday at 3:30 p.m. June 18 in Los Angeles, whereupon it will make a mysterious “major” announcement.
That major announcement is thought to be nothing less than Microsoft heralding their desire to aggressively enter the tablet market with a product of their own. Current rumours are saying that it’ll run on Windows RT; a tablet specalised version of Windows 8 that only supports downloaded software available from the Windows Store. I also imagine it’ll make generous use of the SmartGlass technology that the Redmond giant announced at this year’s E3.
My take? It’ll likely be a case of history repeating itself as it did with the ill-fated Zune Player; the Microsoft tab will likely be the most powerful lump of slate on the market, but it just won’t have that crucial trendy market prescence that Apple possesses in buckets. I expect it’ll sink without a trace twelve or so months after launch given the fact that I just don’t think they’ll be able to offer anything different enough to get folks to invest.
Remember this? Microsoft is hoping you don’t.
Microsoft Doing Old Games On Demand Sale Clearout – 400 MSP Per Game (Including Kameo, Ghost Recon AW etc.) Next Week
Starting next week on June 19th and ending the following week on June 25th, Microsoft is having a jolly old Games on Demand clearance of some of it’s older titles.
Including titles such as Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and Prince of Persia going for 400 MSP per pop, it seems like there could be something for everyone from the old guard at this super cheap price… Except for well, Perfect Dark Zero. It was offensively horrendous.
The full list of titles has been compiled below for your viewing pleasure, again, there are more than a few stinkers but i’m sure there is a least one title there for most of us that we wouldn’t mind splashing out the relatively menial sum of 400 MSP for:
- Bionic Commando
- Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WW II
- Bolt
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
- Conan
- Dark Void
- FaceBreaker
- Kameo
- Open Season
- Perfect Dark Zero
- Prince of Persia
- Rockstar Table Tennis
- SEGA Superstars Tennis
- Surf’s Up
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
- Virtua Tennis 2009
- Viva Pinata Party Animals
Anything catch your eye?
Sony Releases New God Of War: Ascension Single, Multiplayer Trailers
Following it’s E3 showing, Sony has today released two trailers for it’s first-party golden boy, God of War: Ascension.
The single player video, seemingly comprised of much of the action seen in the E3 demo, shows our hero pretty much doing what he does best; killing improbably huge mythological creatures in various nasty ways.
Take a look:
The multiplayer trailer on the other hand shows a cracking mix of dynamically changing competitive and co-operative play with players working not only to undermine each other, but also banding together to kick the mythological shit out of stage boss too.
It’s still gory as all hell in case you’re worried as you can see in the embedded video below:
God of War: Ascension is due to be released exclusively on the PS3 in standard and collectors edition versions on March 12, 2013.
Capcom Confirms Street Fighter X Tekken Mobile Edition To Arrive On iOS Platforms This Summer
A good few months after the home console release and a few months before the forthcoming Playstation Vita release, Capcom will release a mobile edition of crossover fighter Street Fighter X Tekken for iOS devices sometime this Summer.
In both visual and gameplay terms, the game appears to ape previous Capcom battler Street Fighter IV Volt quite heavily boasting the same, crisp cartoony visuals and the same controller and button layout. Changes to the gameplay will naturally stem from the new tag mechanic and all of the combos that can be generated as a result.
Seems like it’ll be a decent quick-attention seeker then; much like it’s predecessor.
No character roster has been announced yet, but judging by the screenshots seen below, we can at least vouch for the appearances of long-time favourites Ryu, Kazuya, Chun-Li and Nina Williams
Doesn’t look too bad does it? Though it would be nice if Kazzy could stop shooting lasers out of his face, the cheating bastard.
Street Fighter X Tekken Mobile is due to arrive sometime this summer on all iOS 5 platforms except for 3rd generation iOS devices.
Amazon.co.uk Doing Wii U Pre-Orders For £199.99. UPDATED – Might Be A Balls Up (Probably Is In Fact)
Interested?
Here you go then:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008B5YB4W/ref=nosim/?tag=hotukdeals-21
UPDATE: Looks like it might be a red herring. The release date says July 14, 2012. Um, yeah.
Gorgeous Looking Water Physics Platformer ‘Walter’, Emerges From Former Test-Drive Unlimited Dev Blossom Minds – Debut Trailer Released
Blossom Minds, an off-shoot of Test Drive Unlimited developer Eden Games has today released the trailer for it’s inaugral effort – a water physics platformer that goes by the pun-tastic name of ‘Walter’.
Besides boasting a charming art-style and looking utterly gorgeous, Walter looks like on initial impression at least that it will play as well as it looks. Playing as a sentient blob of water with eyes, the titular ‘Walter’ can change his mass, form and density to suit any situation. See a long series of peaks and trough tubing that needs to be overcome? Walter can transform himself into a trickle of water to speedily race up and down the tubes far quicker than if he was to remain as a blob of water; otherwise forced to slowly plod through. Another great example of how denisty and form affect the gameplay is one instance in the trailer where Walter is required to maintain a frozen ice-cube state to complete the level and he does this by keeping under dynamically moving shadows in order to prevent himself from melting.
It really looks like compelling stuff and while no formats have been announced, smart money is on an XBLA, PSN and Steam release sometime during the vague ‘2013’ release window that has been pegged for the game.
The trailer for ‘Walter’ is embedded below:
Walter is due to be released on formats to be announced sometime in 2013.
BitSnark 