Complete with two co-op score based modes, and a cooperative story mode with five stages of progression CowCat Games, and Diabolical Minds challenges the gamer or gamers to take on one of the most grueling fights for apocalyptic survival ever! Whether you love the oldschool appeal of the side-scrolling wave filled brawlers, or the arcade shoot' em ups of old you will find tons of replay value in this story driven fight against the evil of all evils. A furious fight against an evil which has, and continues to resurrect the dead in order to destroy all of humanity. Through a character upgrade system that alters gun play Gradius-style, and unlockables in the form of other characters and weapons with their own unique combat offerings you will face wave after wave of the undead in an attempt to best the true prince of darkness. The ultimate end goal being a complete story playthrough, or an arcade mode playthrough. Each with a different way to experience the trek through madness. That and one of the most difficult static survival modes to ever grace the shmup genre!
Friday, May 25, 2018
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Fighting The Fighting Game Con
I know I'll likely catch flak from the fighting game community, and be passed over for future fighting game reviews, but what I'm about to share with you comes from a deep love, and understanding of a genre that has the potential to be good. Potential that is yet to be realized, because of greed.
Modern fighting games, for all intents and purposes, are a cash grab. Plain, and simple. Though the eSports venues, and competitive scene goers/participants would try and have you believe otherwise there is a reason no one else outside of the perceived viewership window is truly "getting good", and why we don't see new professionals coming into the spotlight as often as one would expect given the hype surrounding competitive gaming. The fighting games of today are ultimately, and purposefully being pitched at the most lucrative gaming crowd ever to grace the gaming industry purely for money sake. That gaming crowd being the casuals. Casual gamers have shown time, and time again they'll blindly follow games and gaming trends if they can look cool to their friends and audience. The keyword being "look". Developers, and publishers aren't dumb, and they fully realize what attracts gamers to the casual scene. They know it's a mixture of faux competition, bragging rights, and plenty of flash added in for extra special effect. What this means to developers is that they can develop, and shovel out incomplete games that simply look, and feel the part year after year with little effort put into the game's competitive infrastructure. They know they have the casuals conditioned to accept this same meaningless routine experience regardless of the lack of competitive value provided. That experience being a year long shelf life of the vanilla version, and other slightly upgraded releases down the line with a few new bits and baubles introduced to keep things fresh enough for casual consumer appeal.
Modern fighting games, for all intents and purposes, are a cash grab. Plain, and simple. Though the eSports venues, and competitive scene goers/participants would try and have you believe otherwise there is a reason no one else outside of the perceived viewership window is truly "getting good", and why we don't see new professionals coming into the spotlight as often as one would expect given the hype surrounding competitive gaming. The fighting games of today are ultimately, and purposefully being pitched at the most lucrative gaming crowd ever to grace the gaming industry purely for money sake. That gaming crowd being the casuals. Casual gamers have shown time, and time again they'll blindly follow games and gaming trends if they can look cool to their friends and audience. The keyword being "look". Developers, and publishers aren't dumb, and they fully realize what attracts gamers to the casual scene. They know it's a mixture of faux competition, bragging rights, and plenty of flash added in for extra special effect. What this means to developers is that they can develop, and shovel out incomplete games that simply look, and feel the part year after year with little effort put into the game's competitive infrastructure. They know they have the casuals conditioned to accept this same meaningless routine experience regardless of the lack of competitive value provided. That experience being a year long shelf life of the vanilla version, and other slightly upgraded releases down the line with a few new bits and baubles introduced to keep things fresh enough for casual consumer appeal.
Monday, May 21, 2018
Through Action Packed Capitalism "Penny Punching Princess" Spins A Common Narrative
Socialism, and Capitalism ... it's a touchy topic of discussion for many, and like those many debating the very nature of the roles each side plays in society NISA has also jumped on the bandwagon through this very game. Albeit on more neutral and enlightening terms. Through a comical story with an obvious point to be made we find an heir to the throne of a tyrannical kingdom that was lost to the lure of capitalism. Money overpowered the powerful, as it were. At the heart of the tale being told is a penny punching plot of revenge where the princess and her Miya stag beetle companion Sebastian use the very capitalistic tools that destroyed their king, and kingdom to fight the powerful mob-like presence that is the Dragoloan Empire. With a powerful punch that produces coin, skills that kill, and a calculator that allows the bribing of monsters the Princess, and Sebastian set forth to rebuild castle Tyrannical's influence, and it's population by the very means it was taken down.
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Digerati Distribution's Monster Slayers Proves Fun Is Better Than Facade
Some games look amazing, but play poorly. Other games look somewhat primitive, but are tons of fun. I think the latter category is where "Monster Slayers" falls. It's not particularly the best looking indie, but it's rogue-like elements, and strategy RPG mechanics come together in such a manner as to make each playthrough just as fun as the first. Saying "Monster Slayers" is simply a rogue-like strategy RPG wouldn't do it justice though. It is a game inspired by a particular Hearthstone creator's work, and it has it's own unique card battle system in play along with several randomized elements.
The game, like many games in the genre features a cast of class based characters you can choose from, and visually/audibly customize for personality sake. Each class of characters whether it be the rogue, archer, knight, barbarian, dragon, merchant, or any of the remaining class options therein has an underlying class based perk or perks that change the way the player approaches battles in the game. The knight, for example, is a defensive character that can dabble in spells, and strong physical attacks. Others, of course, are a tilted balance of offense, defense, and a particular set of uniquely applied skills. While they all differ according to class they each can use their given AP (action points), HP (health points), MP (mana points), and card collection in the same manner to best the monstrous baddies that lie in wait in the equally rogue-like dungeon areas. Their action points along with their mana points will allow for the usage of color coded, and function varied cards (Attack, Defense, Support, Magic, Interrupt/Counter Spells). The cards, like just about everything else in the game, are initially randomized, and are offered in a class specific manner. Choosing the cards to play in the turn based combat sequences will weigh heavily on that characters' survival. Along the way they'll also pick up companions with helpful cool down focused skills of their own that can be utilized as well as gear/weapons, and additional cards or attribute boosts that can be equipped to better sustain them as they journey from dungeon to dungeon battling the lesser monsters, and even the monsters of legend.
The game, like many games in the genre features a cast of class based characters you can choose from, and visually/audibly customize for personality sake. Each class of characters whether it be the rogue, archer, knight, barbarian, dragon, merchant, or any of the remaining class options therein has an underlying class based perk or perks that change the way the player approaches battles in the game. The knight, for example, is a defensive character that can dabble in spells, and strong physical attacks. Others, of course, are a tilted balance of offense, defense, and a particular set of uniquely applied skills. While they all differ according to class they each can use their given AP (action points), HP (health points), MP (mana points), and card collection in the same manner to best the monstrous baddies that lie in wait in the equally rogue-like dungeon areas. Their action points along with their mana points will allow for the usage of color coded, and function varied cards (Attack, Defense, Support, Magic, Interrupt/Counter Spells). The cards, like just about everything else in the game, are initially randomized, and are offered in a class specific manner. Choosing the cards to play in the turn based combat sequences will weigh heavily on that characters' survival. Along the way they'll also pick up companions with helpful cool down focused skills of their own that can be utilized as well as gear/weapons, and additional cards or attribute boosts that can be equipped to better sustain them as they journey from dungeon to dungeon battling the lesser monsters, and even the monsters of legend.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
The Battle Hardened Edition Of Dragon's Crown Pro Gets A New Bonus!
For those of you wise enough to have pre-ordered Dragon's Crown Pro from Gamestop you will have gotten, today, the "Battle-Hardened Edition" of the game. This simply means that the game comes packaged with a raised art inclusive steel book case (which is really nice), and a sealed card pack containing exclusive cards made to look like the game's character skills and common skills cards. They look a lot like tarot cards with George Kamitani art on the face of the cards. One thing I forgot to mention about the game in my review is that the soundtrack has been redone by composer Hitoshi Sakimoto. Also included is all of the storytelling (narration voice DLC) including that of the Japanese narrations. The updated game is also 4K optional, and contains cross-play functionality with the ability to import previous PS3, and PS Vita game saves. This is the penultimate version of 'Dragon's Crown'. I hope you didn't pass it up!
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