PAX

Pax East 2016- Necropolis

April 25, 2016 Featured, Games, PAX

I will start out by saying I didn’t get a chance to actually play this game. I was in a private media demo of the game and we ran out of time before I could get a chance to try the game out. My impressions will be from watching a friend play the demo.

The game looks beautiful. The art style is simple yet elegant. The dungeon environment is very dark and it makes to colors pop. I really like the art and feel that it will age really well in the future.

The game is third-person action game with rouge-lite dungeon delving that is hardcore. If you die then you will have to start over. There are very few things that will carry over game to game. The best part of it is you are able to play with 3 other friends so if you are typically bad at these type of games(like I am) then you have other players to help you out.

The game includes crafting, items you can pickup from enemies, and combat skills with available upgrades. There seemed to be certain weapon types like swords that have electricity and fire elements that are shown when you initiate a heavy attack. The attack seemed a little slow, but nothing too bad.

The gameplay looked good. There didn’t seem to be any major issues regarding frame rate issues. There seemed to be no major glitching issues either. There was only a small issue where an enemy got caught on the side of some stairs while you were on the platform above, but that quickly corrected itself after 10 seconds or so.

Overall I am really looking forward to this game. I’ve always been a little afraid of the rouge-like games, and this looks like a great entry point into the genre. I will try to review it when it releases this summer for PC and Consoles. Price will be $30 and so far it looks to be well worth it. I plan to report more on this game as news releases.

Pax East 2016- PlayStation VR Impressions

April 24, 2016 Featured, Games, PAX, Tech

I’ve heard a lot of people give their opinion onÂ Virtual Reality. A lot of those people haven’t even experienced VR and say it is just a gimmick. I’ve had the pleasure of trying theÂ Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and most recently the PlayStation VR.

This was not only my first experience with PlayStation VR, but it was my first experience with PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Move. I have to say I was pretty impressed with the PlayStation VR. I figured the experience would be totally different then the other headsets due to less computing power of the PS4 versus a High-End PC. There were some noticeable differences and I will get into that below.

The demo I played was Until Dawn: Rush of Blood. It is a on-rails shooter based on Until Dawn. It is very similar to House of the Dead and Time Crisis. You ride in a cart on a track and go through the demo shooting enemies, ammo boxes, security cameras and other objects. There are a couple types of enemies and a few different weapons. Overall it was a fun demo and I was glad that was the demo I got to try out with PlayStation VR.

Comfort:

The PlayStation VR was pretty comfortable. I wore it for about 15-20 minutes and it didn’t feel heavy or that noticeable after a few minutes. I was able to wear the PlayStation VR over my glasses with it still being comfortable.

Visuals:

It looked good. It had a 1080p resolution, but is split vertically to haveÂ 960 x 1080p to each eye. It works all things considering, but there is a noticeable difference compared to HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. That being said this is VR for a console so it is understandable that it is not on par with PC just like console games don’t have as good of visuals as PC games do.

Experience:

It took some time getting use to using the PlayStation Move as the controller. You have to keep your hands in front of you in order to see the two guns you have in the game. You have to move it around to aim as well as shake the controllers to reload. I also had to force myself to actually look around and shoot enemies on my left or right instead of looking straight ahead and turning the camera in a regular game. Also there would be times where you had to dodge certain items or get hit and lose health. It ran smooth for the most part. I did have a couple moments when the game froze for a couple seconds. I am not sure if that was game related or the hardware side.

Final Thoughts: I enjoyed PlayStation VR. I think this really could be a system seller considering the higher cost for the other VR Headsets. I also think PS4 owners will have a great time with the PlayStation VR if more games take the time and create great experiences like Rush of Blood was for me. I am definitely thinking about getting a PS4 a lot more since experiencing the PlayStation VR.

Pax East 2016- Tumblestone

April 23, 2016 Featured, Games, PAX

This is the first game from Pax East that I wanted to share with you. I was walking through the show floor and all of a sudden was asked if I wanted to try this game out. Playing Games is why I went to Pax East after all so I decided to give it a try. I quickly became addicted.

Tumblestone is a Match 3 Puzzle game. The twist is you have to clear the board and think a step or two ahead of your current move. If you pick the wrong colored tile you might not be able to match 3 more and then you have to reset the board. The mode I played was a 4 player vs mode where each player had the same puzzle and first to clear the board won the round. It gets really competitive among friends and those are some of my favorite games. I am happy to say that there is online co-op as well as local co-op.

The list of features for the game are as followed:

Competitive multiplayer: Tumblestone’s intense puzzle-solving action will turn playing “just a few more rounds” with friends into a late-night Tumblestone marathon.
Local multiplayer: Up to four players on a single computer or console.
Online multiplayer: Play online against your friends or make new ones using Tumblestone’s ranked matchmaking system.
Bots: Have an open slot? Play against the computer. But can anyone withstand the punishing Nightmare bot?
Story mode: The 30+ hour story campaign will test your puzzle-solving prowess. Featuring 10+ gameplay modifiers, challenge puzzles, and boss battles.
Arcade modes: Kick back and relax with the casual Marathon mode, scratch an intellectual itch with the Infinipuzzle mode, or get your blood pumping with the fast-paced Heartbeat mode.
Leaderboards: Online leaderboards let your friends know you’re better than them.
Challenges: Hundreds of unique challenges to complete.
Stats: Rank up, then compare how you stack up against your friends.
Personalization: Choose from a dozen unique characters and environments

I ended up going back later that day to show the game to a friend and play it again. It is a game that I see myself constantly playing and it will release on a wide variety of platforms including Xbox One, PS4, PS3, PC, Vita, Android, iOS, and more. When I say more I mean a lot more. It is planned to release on the Ouya and Amazon Fire TV. I recommend you keep an eye out for this game.