Bleed (PS4)

This Nephilim Studios created, and Digerati Distribution published indie is one of those inspired gaming experiences that tries to change the retro formula ever so slightly. Taking inspiration mostly from the Contra series, 'Bleed' puts you in the boots of a pink haired female anti-heroine who is on a mission. Armed with dual weapons, the ability to slow down time, and the ability move acrobatically through the the air she aims to clear off her death list which happens to contain the names, and biographies of the six greatest heroes of all time. Her goal is to become the ultimate successor by ending their reign through death, and taking their place. The year, as with most indie platformers of similar design, is 20XX. Going at it alone, or with a second player you, as the pink haired anti-heroine, and your local co-p partner as one of three other unlockable characters will bleed into existence a new era of heroes through a trial and error playthrough where lives don't matter, and the troubling tasks before you are exactly that.

Accel World vs Sword Art Online (PS4)

The title of this latest Bandai Namco dual console game, and it's accompanying cover art can be a bit misleading. It no doubt makes you think that there's some sort of epic crossover battle going on between the Accel World, and Sword Art Online personas. While there are moments of battle between the two worlds' warriors this is not entirely the case though.The focus instead is mainly upon Kirito's, Asuna's, and Yui's predicament. Particularly with Yui's imprisonment through an encounter with the Twilight Witch, or whom the game refers to as Persona Vabel. Vabel's introduction in the plot happens pretty much in the same way as the plight in previous SAO stories did. Kirito, and his digital family (Asuna & Yui) are lazing about in a new VRMMO world when something odd happens. They receive a warning to log out, but do not heed it, and thus find themselves in an increasingly confusing situation. As usual they team up with in-game friends, and in this case also with characters from Brain Burst, to fight the hidden force that is behind Yui's capture. The story that follows is a slow burn for the most part with interactive character sequences, brief gameplay focused outings in the form of lesser and greater enemy battles as well as optional side modes, and quests to delve into should you desire to do so. All for the sake of giving the gamer an intriguing spin-off story that is presented in such a way it could be considered a reflection of the VRMMO fantasy world which the characters within hail from.

Orcs Must Die! Unchained & Marvel Heroes Omega

Since the launch of the PS4, and the introduction of free-to-play games on that console what has been offered has varied in quality. For the most part you'll find games that don't shy away from asking for money for in-game micro-transactions, and that at some point demand such a purchase for you to really be able to make the most of your experience with it. Games which are sometimes mere mobile games by nature, and other times games that harbor a richer and more elaborate presentation. I've found a few gems among the free-to-play games library, and some games not worth returning to. I think the greatest disappointment of all for me was finding at floor 23 of Grasshopper Manufacture's "Let it Die" that the boss residing there was such a deliberate overpowered sponge that you had to either pay up for extra tries/lives or not get much further. It was such a problem that I deleted the game from my console out of sheer frustration. I believe, as a gamer, that there needs to be a balance when it comes to a free-to-play games' gameplay. There needs to be a way to play through it without paying, and a good reason to pay the developer outside of the base game offerings. The latter need possibly being tied to DLC of the exclusive/cosmetic sort which does not produce a pay to win situation. There also needs to be a fairness in regards to the free progression. It can't be too tedious/grind heavy, or the developer risks losing a majority of it's player base. The player needs to feel that they are properly rewarded for their time invested regardless of whether or not they've paid for anything within the game.

Questionable Quickie ~ Why Injustice 2's AI Simulator is Not A Proper AI Simulator

I've tried since the launch of Injustice 2 to find the perfect AI simulator setup for my AI simulator team. Sometimes I've succeeded, and other times I've failed using the same three character team with the same static stats. What's odd is that like a match against a human player even once promising AI constructs in similar match-ups were beaten regardless of former victories under similar circumstances. Hear me out a moment. At one point (using the same setup) my lvl.20 Aquaman beat a lvl.20 Batman, but going against the same character with the same level, and moves later on my Aquaman ended up fighting differently, and lost as a result. Ultimately as a bi-product of becoming more negligent, and careless with the actions, and reactions he/it applied. The latter Batman also did as the former batman tended to do, only switching things up as to not mirror every other Batman, but more effectively so due to my Aquaman's missteps. All the while with my Aquaman harboring a similar brawler type setup as this Batman AI obviously had.

What you have to take in account is that players tweak 6 stats up to 30 points each, but limited to a total of 60 points altogether. Points which are strategically allotted to make the AI character behave in a certain/specific way in the unmanned matches. These are strategically assigned, and more often than not players will adjust the stats as appropriate for the type of character they are putting into a match. A couple of examples being that a zoning character will get a decent amount of their stat points allotted to zoning, and runaway while characters that are brawlers will get more stat points assigned to rushdown, combos, and counters. All because the characters are more efficient with certain play styles. Thus is the "programming" to act, and react in specific ways, but not in a truly adaptive AI mannerism.

Hobby Highlight Archives (July 2017)

Fighting Games

Despite being called a salty noob by so many internet naysayers me, and fighting games have a long history. A very long history. A history spanning over thirty years. It was journey through time that included my early gamer days, and my latter gaming journalist days. Though my path has fairly much been set since then my origins leading up to today were more of a chance encounter. It wasn't until my 13th birthday that I really got into fighting games, and I really had to fight for that opportunity on a religious scale due to my parents' stance on violence. It was a late entry point no doubt, but an entry point at the perfect time. That time being at a point when the genre was really beginning to expand.