Music in this episode: inFAMOUS 2, Jet Set Radio Future

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Double Dragon Neon

Admittedly, I got about 5 minutes of play with this game from developer WayForward.  I did watch others play for a bit though, and am happy to report that, as a fan of the original, it was nice to see the homage this game was paying to it.  Everything from the ridiculous opening “story” (seriously, why couldn’t our fearless heroes just, you know, run to save the girl? The bad guys had just left the screen a second before the garage opened), to the intro music for the level being a nice remix of the original’s, to the familiar looking characters and enemies; it all screams nostalgia.  Fortunately, there is some modernization going on, particularly with the graphics.  I personally liked the style that was displayed; if felt very 80s, in a modern day way.  Colors are vibrant, muscles are bulging, and boobs are bouncing.  There is some nice attention to detail on the characters, and also a strong variety of moves available to use.  Best part? (or worse, depending on how you liked to play) No team killing!  I don’t know if it was an option that was turned off, but I certainly threw my share of bad guys into my friend, and they tumbled safely through him.  I am sure there are many surprises waiting, but my initial playthrough and impression was positive, and I’m looking forward to this hitting the XBLA and PSN virtual storefronts this summer.

A Valley Without Wind

Arcen Games, the folks behind AI War, had a new game available to play at PAX: A Valley Without Wind.  Citing influences such as Metroid and Zelda, the team was very excited about what they had created.  Sitting down to play it myself, I could see why.  Controlling the character movement with the keyboard, and using the mouse to move a target around the screen that will be the focus for your spell’s direction of fire, you will embark on a 2D side-scrolling adventure through various continents, doing battle, collecting resources, building up cities, and exploring the area.  I will say this; there is a TON to do in this game, and the fine folks at Arcen Games told me that the game has endless gameplay, thanks to procedural generation of the lands and environments.  The basic premise is to collect items by defeating enemies, knocking down trees, or exploring buildings.  You can select from a variety of characters that have different focuses (some have more HP, some more Magic, others are a hybrid), and these characters can be built up, learn new spells, and learn new skills.  One thing I was told, however, is that your characters will die, a lot.  Once a character is dead, it’s gone, but any items you accumulate are transferred over to the next character.  Since skill boosts are actually items that are picked up, it may be wise to save those skill boosts as items, if you think your character won’t make it.

There was a decent variety to the enemies in the 15 minute demo I had access to, and each one of them came with a variety of resistances and weaknesses.  If you played AI Wars, then you know that Arcen Games is not shy about the amount of information that they put into their games’ tooltips, and A Valley Without Wind is no exception.  You will be pausing the game quite a bit to hover over new enemies, read their stats, and decide the best course of action.  Items, spells, resources, trees; everything has a tooltip, so be ready to stutter through the game at first while you get your bearings.  This does mean there’s some depth and strategy, but the tradeoff is that it must be communicated somehow, and that means heavy reading. The jumping mechanic also feels a little off, with valid jumps not always registering on the platforms I created, but I’ll reserve judgement, and say it was perhaps user error.

A Valley Without Wind will be releasing in April on Steam for PC and Mac, and will feature solo play, as well as online 2-8+ player co-op.  I think I’d need a little more time with the game to decide if it is worth investing in, but there is a ton to this game, and those looking for a challenging scroller with RPG elements and endless gameplay have found their game.  I got the impression there was more to the multiplayer facet, and particularly with the civilizations and cities that you’ll be building, but with such a short time with the game, it was hard to get into those aspects.  I’ll be curious to get more time with this, and see how those play a factor.

The Secret World

If there’s two things this world might not need more of, it’s zombie games and MMOs.  FunCom is hoping they have a magic bullet with The Secret World, however, by introducing a zombie MMO to the world.  Set in the modern day, you can choose to be a part of one of three secret societies: the Illuminati, the Dragon, or the Templars. The societies will form the basis of your allegiance, and will be useful both for building up your society’s strength, as well as taking part in PVP combat against other societies.  It’s important to note that there are no classes in The Secret World; your character is defined by whatever skills and equipment you choose to give them, so there is a very flexible playstyle that will likely minimize the need to re-roll (or eliminate it altogether).

I played for a short while, and found the game to be serviceable. The atmosphere was excellent, starting off in a spooky wooded area, and being directed to get to the nearest town. Soon you’re dashing down a road while zombies tear at lifeless corpses, wander the street, or lurk in the forests.  You can choose to engage many of them, or just run past, but eventually you will do battle with the zombie horde.  I saw all types of zombies; runners, walkers, crawlers, climbers, you name a zombie, it’s here.  Lifeless corpses that look innocent enough suddenly rise up behind you, so you’re always on your toes.  You have a variety of weapons at your disposal, as well as some initial skills that augment those weapons.  I had a shotgun and assault rifle, and found it did the trick fairly well.  I am sure I was missing something, but could not for the life of me figure out how to free-fire my weapons; I had to use skills at all times in order to attack, so while some skills were refreshing I was left without a method of attack (again, I was probably missing the command, but it certainly wasn’t immediately intuitive).  I did enjoy skills like Tactical Retreat, which places a bomb at my feet while I leaped back to safety.  The leap would hit all enemies with a slow effect, ensuring they stayed in range for the explosion while I was safely away.

Dialog was hit and miss, which is to say, on par with your average MMO.  There is a ton of dialog options and mission with most of the characters, and you’ll also trigger missions as you walk around interacting with the environment.  There was plenty to do and play with, so the mission variety seemed ample.  I was playing this game early, so I didn’t see any other characters in the world at the time, but this is an MMO, so there will be the opportunity to group up and kill the zombie horde.

I’m intrigued enough to want more, so I’ll be looking forward to the Beta coming soon.  You can get in on it too: click here for a signup on getting into the beta and seeing the zombie MMO for yourself.  The Secret World will be available June 19th, so you have time to check it out for yourself before deciding if this is one you want to sink your teeth into.

Spec Ops: The Line

Borderlands 2 wasn’t the only 2K game showing off its stuff at PAX.  Right next to that booth, and taking up an equal amount of space, was an impressive demo of Spec Ops: The Line.  I was able to get some considerable hands-on time with the game, and can say that if the entire game is as memorable as the first 30 minutes, you’ll have a hard time not picking this up when it hits the shelves.  You start the game off at the turret of a helicopter flying through an urban area that is being ravaged.  You’re working on taking down other choppers, and when you do, they tend to crash in spectacular fashion: into buildings, cranes, or each other.  There’s one point where you’re shooting through a high-rise building to hit the chopper on the other side.  Very impressive way to get things going.  Eventually you find yourself on the ground, in the deserts of Dubai, looking for a lost squad.  I won’t delve too much more into the story, but you’ll encounter resistance, and do battle both outside and in while trying to find your targets.

The game plays as a third person shooter, with a focus on cover. The game won’t constantly prompt you to take cover, but you’re going to find yourself doing so often, because not only do you take damage fairly quickly, but your gun is pretty inaccurate when trying to free-fire, or even aim down the sights while standing.  I found I had the best accuracy, and lowest recoil when I was tucked under cover, and coming out in a way that allowed me to balance my gun.  So there’s some strategy there, which is a nice change of pace from the run and gun style that I’m used to.  There’s some excellent situational sections that require some quick thinking, as well as varied gameplay in the short demo (some areas were stealth, with silenced weapons, others involved sniping, some were close quarters combat).  There’s also a nice touch of slow mo death scenes from time to time; I noticed them most frequently on head-shots, but I was typically moving to the next target as I noticed it slowing down, so I lost the effect when I would break out of “down the barrel” view.  Other gimmicks like rappelling and zip lines are here, but only as transitions between areas, rather than having any tactical use.

Graphics were hit and miss. There were times when I was impressed with some level of detail, and then other times when it was noticeably awful.  Truth be told, I was having fun playing, so they only stood out when I had time to notice it, which was typically during cut scenes.  Otherwise, the game, while standard fare for shooters, was still a fun run, and one of the better games I played at PAX.  Details were sparse on the multiplayer offerings, and with games like this, those details tend to be what makes or breaks games, so once they release this information (we were told two weeks), we’ll let you know!  Based on my 30 minutes with the game, I’d certainly be willing to see the single player through, so this may be worth picking up for that alone (though if multiplayer disappoints, perhaps it will be a rental).  Spec Ops: The Line will be released on June 26th.

This was just a small sampling of what was on the floor at PAX, but it’s what I got the most time with.  Keep it locked to Platform Nation for more PAX East 2012 coverage.  Did you get a chance to play these games, want to share your thoughts, or have questions? Drop a comment below and let us know!

Also, any  iTunes reviewers are eligible to to win a $50 online gift certificate for PSN/Xbox Live/Steam/etc. bucks, among other prizes. To enter, simply email our feedback account with your iTunes account name, and we’ll randomly draw three winners next week. Past reviewers are also eligible. Best of luck!

Relevant Links:

Video Game Orchestra Covers Bastion‘s “Build That Wall”

*It’s never actually been cool.

Do we have any Ms. Splosion Man fans on deck? While on the PAX East show floor, I dropped by the Twisted Pixel booth to see what was new with them. Ms. Splosion Man was a major hit on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, but for more details check out our old review by Mitchel Broussard. But just recently announced at PAX, Twisted Pixel will be bringing their over the top (and hilarious) platformer to a much wider audience by bringing it to PC (Steam, Games for Windows), plus iOS and Android devices. Community Manager Jay Stuckwisch walked me through the details, telling me that “PC version will include 50 single player levels, 50 co-op levels for up to four players locally or online, ghost replays, achievements, unlockables like ‘2 Girls 1 Controller Mode’, and more. The iPhone and iPad versions will be a unique experience built specifically for those devices with familiar content but all new features, objectives and gameplay modes, brought to you by a new version of the BEARD engine that takes utmost advantage of the latest and greatest hardware to make the game look stunning.” You can check out the official announcement trailer bellow, along with my flip camera video at the bottom.

I had a lot of fun playing the demo on the Ipad, even though I died more times than I would care to admit. Jumper games are not my area of expertise, per say. Controls were very basic, with backwards and forward controlled by a simulated joystick on the bottom left corner, while taping the right for Splosions. In the second video bellow, I redeemed a small amount of my pride as I watch Jay attempt the same level, to give you a taste of what is to come. Do bare in mind, the demo he is playing in this video is not the finished version, as some of the textures and graphics still look a little rough. I would also like to apologize for the glare on the Ipad screen, but it isn’t there the entire time. Enjoy!

Be sure to stay tuned to Platform Nation for even more PAX East 2012 coverage.

Ms.SplosionMan.com

Does anyone out there remember a little game by Hello Games called Joe Danger? I should hope so, because it is one of the best arcade games around on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Aracde. The game was developed by an impressively small team,and received great reviews and feedback from fans. It is a little like excite bike, but with a modern flare. Well guess what? It is going to be coming to a touch device near you very soon! Below I have a short demo video of the game being played on an Ipad, but it will also be available on android devices. The game is still a work in progress, so I wasn’t able to get a release date, but it shouldn’t be too far away. Joe Danger fans can also look forward to Joe Danger The Movie coming soon to Xbox and PS3. Enjoy the video!

Stay tuned for Platform Nation for more news from PAX East 2012.

Hellogames.com

Orc slayers, gather round! Today I bring you tidings of video footage and muffled background commentary for Robot Entertainment’s recently announced Orcs Must Die! 2. I captured this footage with my handy little flip camera, so I apologize if the audio quality isn’t the best. In this video you will see some live footage of two players engaged in Orcs 2′s new co-op mode, as I pan from screen to screen. You will also hear Community Manager, Justin Korthof answering questions about the game, but for a full write up of details, see Tym’s Post. Be sure to note the Terminator 2 style reload animation that the War Mage sports with his new Blunderbuss. All he needs is someone’s clothes, boots, and motorcycle, and he would be good to go. Enjoy!

OrcsMustDie!2.com

Be sure to stay tuned to Platform Nation, as I have more videos that I will be posting through out the day from PAX East 2012.

One of the biggest games on the expo floor this year was Borderlands 2, and with the huge booth setup, the folks at 2K ensured that there was no way you could miss this game.  Being an avid player (and fan) of the first, I was expecting great things from the next installment, and finally got a chance to put the game through its paces on Sunday. Watching the game was one thing, but how did it play?

There were 2 classes available to play as at PAX: the Gunzerker, which is one of the new classes featured whose biggest draw is the ability to dual wield guns, and the Siren, a returning class from the first that has a few new tricks up her sleeve.  Wanting to stick with what I was familiar with (and more importantly, having a basis to compare between the two games), I opted for the Siren for my brief playthrough.

The demo got things going right away, thrusting you and your 20th level character into an area filled with acid pools and huge creatures spouting from the ground.  I tried to take a moment to go through the skills available to me, but knowing my time was short, I placed my skill points (only 15 skill points for being 20 levels in) in spots I thought would be useful for quick damage.  I did notice that there were some new skill boosts, including the ability to slag enemies, which is a debuff that will make the enemies take more damage.  There were also the traditional boosts, such as critical damage and % boosts, shield boosts, and bullet damage boosts.  The skill tree itself has expanded a little; you still have the 3 main groups of skills per character, and there is still requirement of picking up 5 skillpoints on one level of the group before moving down to the next, more powerful level.  However, there are now several more skills at the bottom of the tree, expanding the Siren’s number of levels in a group to 6 (versus 4 in the first).

Once I had my skills picked (critical boosts, shield boosts, and teammate healing bullets), I ran into the fray, with a few SMGs and an assault rifle.  The controls were immediately familiar; I did not notice any real change in the control layout from the first.  In fact, if I had to give an overall impression of the demo in one sentence, it would be “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”  The graphics felt crisper and a bit more detailed, particularly on the character models, and the skills are new, but otherwise this is the Borderlands we all fell in love with, with new toys, characters, and skills.  When encountering my first batch of baddies, I had a chance to see the Siren’s new skill, which levitated the creature in suspended animation for a short duration, completely immobilizing it, and increasing the damage it took during this time.  This skill worked on every creature I came across except for the big baddie at the end, which just took direct damage from the skill, but did not become immobile.

The creatures I encountered were various varieties of tunneling snake creatures (I believe called Stalkers), flying bugs and crystalline spiders, who were invulnerable to all damage until you broke through their regenerative crystal armor (something that took me far longer than it should have to realize).  Creatures spilled loot, gold and ammo all over the place, as expected.  A nice new touch was that the money was automatically picked up if you weren’t in direct combat, which made the fury of X button mashing a little less necessary.

Some other changes included considerably more on screen effects; getting hit with acid damage could, at times, complete cover your screen, rendering it impossible to see anything for a few moments.  I felt that this really forced you to be evasive for more than just avoiding damage, as it was a severely debilitating effect.  Also, revive times seemed much slower: the few times my Gunzerker partner went down, I would get halfway through a revive (after about 5 or 6 seconds) before either having to back off, or getting dropped myself.  The AI on the enemies seemed to be much more aggressive towards people reviving others.  Of course, the ability for Second Wind carries over, so if you manage to kill something (or, as I found out, level up while downed), you will get back up.  As I played, I was unlocking all sorts of challenges, and your progress towards those challenges is flashed on the screen as you perform them, keeping you engaged with those activities.  A new persistent mini-map in the top right corner also helped keep me focused on where I was supposed to be going.  This map highlighted nearby enemies and nearby terrain, as well as waypoint and mission markers.  Finally, you have the ability to trade directly with other players, which is an improvement over the “drop guns on the ground” method of item distribution in the original.  Absent from this demo was any character interaction, so I can’t comment on whether the trademark humor from the first carried over, but based on how much attention was put into keeping things familiar, I’d be shocked if it didn’t (there were a few character quips during battle that seemed to indicate the level of humor is on par with the first).

I didn’t really have a doubt that I’d be picking this game up when it came out (September 18th for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC).  It seems that whatever small issues there were from the first game (lack of trading or mini-map) were addressed, and the rest of the game is as fluid, beautiful, and deadly as ever.  If you were looking for something revolutionary and different from the first, you may want to wait until we get closer to release for more information; based on my playthrough, this is very similar to the first in a lot of ways (something I’m personally happy for, but which might not appeal to everyone).  Regardless, I think there will be no shortage to the slaughter in Pandora this fall, so check back with Platform Nation for more information about Borderlands 2 throughout the next 5 months.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that the game has been shown to the public. This very social game, which requires you to protect your Move controller at all costs, has been generating buzz for some time now. We talked about the game on our show when it was demonstrated at GDC 2012, and it’s been in the works much longer than that. However, I can think of no better testing ground than PAX East, with thousands of admittedly awkward men and women interacting with each other through games. With its emphasis on mind games and physical contact, Johann Sebastian Joust is the ultimate icebreaker.

During my first game, I had little-to-no idea what was going on. “The only rule is that there are no rules,” I was told. That isn’t entirely true, but because the game requires no screen or “controls,” you have a lot of freedom in how you play. At the start of the match, five other players and I activated our Moves – which was accompanied by a series of high-pitched hisses – and then classical music kicked in. I quickly found myself surrounded by two other players, and I jerked my arm back in a panic, shaking the controller and knocking myself out of the match.

Before I rejoined, I studied the players around me. Some let the tempo of the music dictate their actions, while others went straight in for the “kill.” One player flipped a chair and tossed scattered nerd debris at his opponents, which didn’t work particularly well but at least got a few laughs. Hands-down, the most ingenious move came when a player sneakily hid the controller behind his back, waiting until everyone else had been eliminated before claiming victory. With the 30 minutes we spent with the game, I saw as many tactics on display as would in a few matches of Halo. There’s a tiny learning curve, and you’re bound to have at least one opening match where none of the game makes sense, but it doesn’t take long at all before Johann Sebastian Joust clicks.

When the Wii first debuted, there was much fanfare for its approachable, inviting gameplay; it may look silly to outside observers, but who can resist a round of bowling? Speaking anecdotally, though, the Kinect and similar initiatives have only intimidated my friends, and I think much of that has to do with the on-screen feedback and rigid controls. With Joust, players were moving and communicating at will, and it has a playful quality that harkens back to gym class and pick-up sports games. Again, the game was tucked away, but any passerbys had to stop and give it a try. (Developer Die Gute Fabrik excels at this kind of stranger interaction, as I got to see with B.U.T.T.O.N. last year at the MoMA.)

After so many successful showings, the next step is to figure out how to get this game to the masses. In its current state, the game requires a laptop and at least five or six Move controllers to really work, and there are also huge space considerations. But Joust is too good to be isolated to art installations and PAX. Within a few minutes, its readily apparent to me that this game could dominate college quads and recreation halls (and I’m sure that countless others have thought this is well). I wouldn’t mind seeing Sony easing restrictions on the Move and allowing it to be coopted by the same PC community that turned the Kinect into a body-scanning, robot controlling, pancake flipping device. The price of entry is also a little steep, but some smart marketing (and a possible Johann Sebastian Joust campus tour) could counter that a bit. Whatever it takes, more people need to be able to play this.

In the meantime, I’m so glad that this game made it to PAX East. These weekends have always been about coming together to celebrate and play games. PAX is a tribute to the multiplayer experience, and Joust may be its purest representation.

Let’s get the biggest news out of the way first: Orcs Must Die! 2 allows for 2 player co-op.  You will be able to select either the traditional War Mage hero from the first game, or a Sorceress who will be recognizable for those that played the first game to completion.  The two characters will have spells and traps that are unique to each character, so coordination between the players will be necessary in order to finish the levels successfully.  Some of the traps are similar in function: the War Mage’s tar pits are back from the first game to slow down the advancing orc hordes, while the Sorceress has freeze traps that will immobilize an orc completely, making them more vulnerable.  Even with these similar traps, some strategy must be considered (the tar pits are always active, whereas the freeze traps are triggered, and have a cooldown period).  During gameplay, you will be able to see where your co-op partner is planning to place traps (if they are walking around in trap  placement mode, you’ll see the image of how they’re setting it up on your screen); this should allow for easier communication between players on how to set up traps (should the dwarven bomber be facing this way? No? Oh, OK, like this!).  While the difficulty balancing is still being worked on, my conversation with Justin Kortoff, Robot Entertainment’s Community Manager, revealed that the orcs in co-op won’t just be super-HP varieties of the single player orcs; they’ll simply be more powerful orcs (so where you might only see light armored orcs in single player, you’ll see medium and heavy armored orcs in multiplayer).  One final note about the multiplayer aspect: there are no plans to have head-to-head multiplayer options for release; the team is focused on providing a proper co-op experience first.

There are a few differences between the two characters for Orcs Must Die! 2.  The War Mage plays similarly to how he did in the first game; the exception being that the trusty crossbow from the first game has been replaced with a blunderbuss.  I didn’t play with the War Mage, but the gun seemed more than capable of taking down the orc hordes from close to medium range.  The Sorceress has access to a few more magic spells than the War Mage; I had access to spells that would charm orcs to fight for me, or raise undead brutes to crush the impeding waves.  The Sorceress has more mana available, and also can bring an item that recharges her mana quickly for a time (before removing mana completely during a cooldown period, which might be unfortunate depending on the situation).  Her primary weapon is a staff that blasts out magic missiles.

New characters and playmodes didn’t get all of the love and attention for the sequel:  the ragdoll physics in the game have been updated as well. The example that was explained to me was the in the first game, once an orc went ragdoll (for instance, being launched by a spring trap), they would not trigger subsequent traps until they stopped ragdolling.  In the sequel, this is no longer the case, so an orc could be ping ponged from trap to trap, activating each one appropriately.  Trap placement has been improved as well, particularly around elevation change areas such as stairs; traps can be placed on a diagonal, which fixes the issue of gaps on these areas from the first game.  Traps will also be upgradable multiple times, rather than just once as the current game allows.  The example explained was that the War Mage’s arrow wall trap could eventually be upgraded to include fire arrows.  The upgrade will be linear, but that’s still good news in making more powerful and deadly traps.

This is good because the orcs will be beefier too.  I saw everything from basic orc types and flyers, to huge elementals.  The level I played was the most difficult available to play, and by the final round, my co-op partner and I were certainly put to the test.  Despite what was likely my poor play, we did manage to complete the level (barely), largely due to what I felt was a slightly overpowered charm spell that worked on ANY opponent, turning the big baddies into allies 8 seconds at a time.  Still, the action was just as fast and frentic as the first, and I once again was amazed at how well the game plays to both types of gameplay styles: tower defense in the trap setup, and shooter.  I tend to gravitate more towards shooter style, but was watching other groups play that were very smart in their trap layouts, rarely even having to engage the orcs directly at times.

I had played through a bit of the first, and found that the sequel was just as approachable (even on the hardest difficulty).  The story does take place a few weeks after the first one ends, so it would behoove everyone to play through the first game (which can often be found on sale for less than $4 on Steam and OnLive).

Orcs Must Die! 2 will be releasing on Steam in the summer, and those that own the first game will receive bonus content in the sequel.  The team will also likely release the game for OnLive as well, citing the ease of porting between Steam and OnLive, though no official release date was provided for that platform. Keep it locked to Platform Nation for more about this game as we get closer to the summer release time.