Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III in development

During the Sony E3 Keynote this year there was a brief segment where Square-Enix were allowed to strut their stuff. In this, it was finally confirmed that Final Fantasy Versus-XIII  had been re-branded as Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 has finally popped out it's head.

That's all we basically know. The Final Fantasy XV footage looked to be pseudo in-game rendering with some CGI spliced in between. There was some magic sword wielding and gun shots galore but the game we have virtually only been able to see through pre-rendered scenes finally seems to be coming along quite nicely. 

I have recently had some sort of crisis in how Square-Enix has been handling the Final Fantasy IP. As games have been coming out they have felt less and less "Final Fantasy" and more Sci-Fi Fantasy with high end cut scenes and esoteric story lines that struggle to sprinkle in series icons and fanservice.

Final Fantasy XV seems to be teetering on this as well with it's mind-boggling combination of Modern Existence, Advanced Technology and High Fantasy. But if you didn't notice what that huge serpent thing was it was none other than Leviathan, a classic Summoned Creature from the series. I was glad to see such an impressive rendering of the series' legacy but felt conflicted as what seemed to be in-game footage looked like a hi-res version of Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus. 

It's too soon to actually form an opinion but I hope that Square-Enix gets its stuff together and not make another relative dud like Final Fantasy XIII. 

Finally there is Kingdom Hearts III, for the last 5 or so years there have been hopes that this game would in some form debut its existence at E3 but we were constantly fed spin off titles on non-console systems. The tidbit we were showed from a pre-rendered Kingdom Hearts III should be enough to satiate the hordes of fans that have been near demanding this game be made. Now we can rest knowing that the game is finally "in production" and knowing Square-Enix, it may be years before we even see more.

A Closer Look: Metal Gear Solid V - The Phantom Pain

Probably one of my favorite trailer's I've had the pleasure of viewing so far out of E3 was the one that started off Microsoft's Press conference, MGS5 (or MGSV, however we're going to shorten this).  If your big into the Metal Gear lore, then there's a ton of info here to sate your appetite.  Let's break it down:

0:14 - "It's not just them..." - presumably we're talking about either XOF or Cipher, or both or whatever name our enemies are going by this time.  Judging by this bit of dialogue, it's looking like Big Boss and co. are being framed for some international incident, perhaps having something to do with their own private Metal Gear.

Also, we've got our first audio clip of Ocelot, who's sounding a bit Troy Baker-ish to me today.  Later in the trailer, we'll hear more of the classic Zimmermen inflections that really sell the Ocelot presentation.

Other stuff: building the army again and saving Miller, starting to sound like Peace Walker all over again.  Also, we're in Afghanistan.  How is that for an info dump in just under a minute?

0:52 - Looking closely, we can see Snake still has a metal shard of... something... still embedded in his skull.  Still trying to figure this one out, might have to do something with the car wreck from an earlier trailer.

Binocular callback to MGS 1 and 3, used early in the game to explain the rules of the soldiers on the field.

1:06 - Revolver Ocelot's speech patterned perfectly

1:30 - Horse Stealth, don't mind me, just a random white stallion roaming the canyon

1:42 - Realtime Weather has a lot of interesting implications when it comes to stealth and combat.  Nothing like that clutch sandstorm limiting the sightlines allowing you in undetected.  Bonus points if Konami makes some post game items that let you manipulate the environment at will.

1:53 - I'm still not entirely sold on lots of different vehicles in a stealth game, but am willing to accept this as a conceit of getting around a supposed "open world."  Stealth Jeep gameplay ahoy!

2:00 - ...or better yet, Stealth Tank gameplay.

2:12 - It's here I wish we could see more UI elements.  Will we be able to mark and memorize targets that we've scouted out?  Keeping track of how many soldiers are roaming the battlefield could be quite the handful.

2:28 - Stealth Truck Gameplay!  Also, this is where "Sins of the Father" starts to kick in.  Donna Burke always does fantastic work when it comes to the MGS soundtracks and I can't wait for this single to get released.  Practically have this trailer on repeat for the song.

2:42 - Another semi-gimmicky feature at first glance that could have some cool implications if done correctly.

3:08 - Jumping across buildings - probably the most dynamic action given to players in the whole Metal Gear saga.  Don't know if this is context sensitive yet, but we can see the player do a similar dive out of the light later at 3:20

3:25 - Pretty awesome move, wonder if any of the CQC options will utilize the Zadornov hand

3:31 - Here's some of our first dialog of Snake as done by Sutherland.  I'll be the first to say that I'm going to miss Hayter's signature brusque delivery, but I'm willing to give this a shot.  It's strange to me though that Miller is still voiced by Robin Atkin Downes, same as in Peace Walker. Still, he does a great job of sounding like he got the stuffing beaten out of him, more on that later.  Great "kept you waiting" callback.

3:53 - This looks like some of our ally and rogues gallery as is typical to the MGS series.  Some old and new faces, so lets run them down:

-Kazuhira Miller - A Visonary robbed of his Future - The ally from Peacewalker that turned out to have closer ties to cipher than we would have liked.  Japanese born and former mercenary,  Kaz has always been full of random trivia and sad backstory.  Most players will also remember his quasi-appearance in MGS1.

-Quiet - A Sniper deprived of her Words - Getting very strong hints of Sniper Wolf here, but as with many of the next people, friend or foe?

-Eli - A Youth who Curses his Fate - Anybody else getting a Joffrey vibe from Game of Thrones?  Wouldn't be surprised if he was involved somehow with some of the child soldiers we'll being seeing in a bit...

-Skull Face - A Ghost without a Past -As best we can tell, this is our main antagonist for the game, yet we're still short on a lot of details.  He seems to lead the XOF (thats Fox backwards) and looks to be the person who imprisoned Chico (earlier trailer).  I'm about dead even on if this guy is brand new or a returning Metal Gear character.

-Emmerich - A Technocrat who Stands his Ground - This is our tech expert from Peace Walker and Father of Otacon. Prior to 5, Huey here was stuck in a wheel chair, now he seems to have a set of robo legs.  While he's typically an idealest, much like his son, he is looking somewhat megalomaniacal here

-Ocelot - A Rival living a Lie - Whoo boy, here's our common link among all the Solid series and by far the most complex  story.  Son of a super soldier whose allegiances seem ever shifting,  Ocelot may be an ally today only to be a rival tomorrow.  While not always clear, he always has an endgoal.  Seems to idolize Big Boss, so it'll be interesting to see his interactions with our supposedly fallen legend.

-Code Talker - A Wise Man denied his Homeland - I got nothing on this guy.  Shhhhh

-Those who "Don't Exist" - Seemingly nightmarish ghosts from the series history, fans have lots of interesting speculation on these threatening visages.  A gasmask laden child evokes imagery of Psycho Mantis.  A towering figure in a familier red suit seems to call back to Colonel Volgin.  Real enemies or PTSD trauma?  We'll have to wait and see...

4:40 - We've been told by Kojima that this game will be dealing with darker themes than any past MGS game, like race and revenge.  Here we have another touchy subject:  Child Soldiers.  Kojima is going to have to take great care with this subject in order to give it the reverence it deserves.  It's one thing to have a main character recall his past as one,  it's another thing entirely to possibly present it as a gameplay element.

4:49 - Some escort mission, I'd rather just carry you

4:58 - ...or drive you

5:05 - This scene is rather confusing.  At first glance, it looks like Big Boss might actually be killing Chico.  More probable is that he's applying pressure to some kind of wound (thats what I'm hoping anyway)

5:10 - Snake looking back at a shadowed figure.  I think this is Kaz, though the getup is not unlike some promotional material of Snake in Peace Walker.  We could be looking at some more clone action going on, wouldn't be too far a stretch for the series.

5:12 - Outer Heaven on fire.  And I put so many man hours to staffing my tech department too...

5:23 - Kaz has the sound of revenge in his voice, not so idealistic this time.

5:29 - Children and the Diamond trade, this is some heavy stuff

5:39 - Punished Snake - A Fallen Legend - It's interesting to note that we now almost have more appearances of Big Boss than Solid Snake in the MGS series.  Exactly what Big Boss is being punished for is still unclear.  Here's hoping will finally see that transition from legend to villain.

5:45 - Finally, we see the extend of Kaz's wounds.  Missing an arm and a leg, Kaz will most probably no longer be a soldier but more now an advisor.  It's interesting to note that this conflicts with promotional footage that we've seen of Master for later games (kind of).  Still, he seems like he's calling the shots, and a messed up hand isn't stopping Big Boss, so perhaps there's hope for him yet.

6:01 - "Cipher sent us to hell..." Kaz wants that revenge, and Snake just sounds exhausted, great way to end the trailer.


Great visuals with a great song really help to sell this trailer.  What do you guys think?  Leave a comment and let me know!

And...Boom goes the dynamite!

That's right folks, it's as easy as that! Sony has unveiled that there will be NO always online DRM with the Playstation 4. They also announced that used games will not be blocked and can be traded in whenever the purchaser wants. The console was also shown and priced at $399, which is cheaper than the xbone I might add by $100. 

I don't know about you but this pretty much is hook, line and sinker for me. At this point I fully support the Playstation 4 and look forward to being a Sony consumer. Also, this is my face when all this wonderful news was announced. 

Microsoft Presentation Afterthoughts

"It's all about the games."
                  -Phil Spencer

I'm hard-pressed to remember another E3 press conference that was so densely packed with games.  Microsoft's conference was back-to-back game announcements, exclusives and indies all over.  Better yet, these were focused for core gamers, no sports games, no dancing games, just one racing game.  Starting out strong with Metal Gear Solid 5, Microsoft jumped to current 360 owners, rewarding gold members with free games up to the release on the One.  Next came lots of great shows of the One's processing prowess with Ryse and Forza.  Better yet was the revival of Rare's classic arcade fighter, Killer Instinct.  Plenty of new stuff was shown as well like Sunset Overdrive, Project Spark, and a better look at Quantum Break.  Classic franchises also got some screentime, like Dead Rising 3 and Witcher 3.  Finally, hell of a send-of with Respawn's Titanfall with a stellar gameplay showing.

Was it all good news though? Not quite, a few bits of info kept the Xbox One from being redeemed.  First off, $499 on launch in November, higher than I and a lot of gamers feel willing to pay.

Second was the redesign on the 360.  4 gig models for $199 (useless), a 250 gig model for $299, and a 4 gig with Kinect for $299 (once again, useless).  Essentially

Finally, no clarification at all from the terrible press drop last friday.

In the end, Microsoft has sort of clamored back onto the saddle, but it still seems like Sony could knock this out the park, we'll see tonight.

Madness? This is Spartan Assault!

Recently Microsoft has announced that Halo would be making its way to windows 8 via windows tablet. The name of the new game is called Halo: Spartan Assault. Halo:SA is a top down, twin stick shooter set between Halo 3 and 4 and is currently being developed by 343 industries and Vanguard games. It is hard to tell how much of the game is being developed by either company but my guess is that it is mainly in the hands of Vanguard games while 343 is providing oversight and story direction. The game's story follows Sarah Palmer who had a small part to play in Halo 4's story but did however have a large part in Halo 4's spartan ops mode. Over the course of 25 missions in the games campaign the player will reenact famous battles fought by the U.N.S.C. via the war games room on the star ship Infinity. The game will be available in July for around $7 on Microsoft tablets, phones and the PC.

Such as the new trend calls for in gaming, this title will feature micro-transaction unlockables to encourage players to spend extra cash. While I am not necessarily against the idea of micro-transactions, I can't say that I enjoy the idea of micro-transactions being the only way to access locked content. It seems like a cheap way for Microsoft to dig into your pocket after you have already purchased a $7 game. I do however like the idea of something new coming from Halo. I wasn't that impressed by Halo 4 so a new type of game could give the series a boost. A twin stick shooter wasn't my first choice but what bothers me is that, for the time being, this game will not be available for the Xbox 360 arcade. People have criticized Microsoft saying that this is just a ploy to try and get people to buy a Microsoft tablet or to push Windows 8 to the forefront. Tell us what you think!

Pre-3

We've started to get a lot of early trailers this week as we look forward to the Electronic Entertainment Expo, so we've gathered some of the best here along with our opinions:

I'm pretty sure Zombies + Parkour is a subgenre of zombie games that we haven't touched yet (heck, parkour games in general are hard enough to find as it is).  I'm always down for any trailer that uses Woodkid for music, but as is Techland's track record, no actual gameplay footage.  I'm hoping this is closer to the actual game than the Dead Island trailer was, but we'll just have to wait and see.

A rather big update for Metal Gear with Keifer Sutherland taking the reigns of Snake over David Hayter (who doesn't seem to be taking this all too well).  Sometimes different can be good, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was another long con by Kojima.  Hopefully we'll get some more details soon

The new Castlevania series seems to have the best music around for trailers.  The timeline for how this game works is a bit of a mess, so I'm interested to see how they sort it out.

This one comes with a bit of a pushback of the release date to early next year (big surprise).  The lastest feature for Lightning's return thats being show off is a sort of class and visual swap system, not unlike the Dressphere system from X-2.  Cool to see some returning characters from the series, don't think Snow will ever catch a break.

Mobile platforms are becoming increasingly appealing to developers it seems, so now we've got a new Deus Ex game for the iPad, much in the same vein as Human Revolution.  Looks pretty slick, but I feel like it's going to be a nightmare to control

More to come soon, so stay tuned!

Who wants some Wang?

Greetings everyone! As you may or may not have heard the 3D Realms game Shadow Warrior is getting a remake by Flying Wild Hog, the developer behind Hard Reset. FWH as a gesture of good will had decided to release Shadow Warrior on steam for free for a limited time but they have since changed their minds and keep it permanently free! Shadow Warrior was originally released in 1997 and while it suffered scrutiny for being a racially insensitive title, it was a very fun and excited action game that is sure to please any old school Duke Nukem fan. So head on over to steam and download that sucker. Banzai

Double Fine's 2nd Kickstarter project: Massive Chalice

So Double Fine is at it again with Kickstarter.  This time around, it looks like they want to make Fire Emblem it seems, so that's awesome.  Schafer and company still have the best Kickstarter pitch videos, so make sure to check it out.  Check here for the Kickstarter page.

Humble Indie Bundle 8

Check it out here at: https://www.humblebundle.com/

Humble sales are always a great way to get a ton of games and help support charity.

This bundle includes: 

-Little Inferno

-Awesomenauts + exclusive chicken skin

-Capsized

-Thomas Was Alone

-Dear Esther

if you pay more than the average customer (at time of writing $5.68) you also get:

-Hotline Miami

-Proteus

All the games come with steam keys, and most come with the soundtrack (no Hotline Miami though)

This sale goes till June 11th, so grab it while you can!

Review: Resident Evil: Revelations

It’s pretty rare this day and age to get upscaled ports from portable systems to consoles. While prettier graphics and refined controls are to be expected, it can be hard to say if this creates a definitively better experience. Case in point, Revelations certainly makes the jump for the most part on a technical level, but conceptual details for how a game is built for a portable console make playing it an odd experience.

The story for the game is par for the course when it comes to a Resident Evil game: evil terrorist organization has new virus and wants to do bad stuff, and you must stop them. There are a few minor (and very obvious) plot twists, but nothing franchise shattering. In fact, there aren’t any real large implications to the narrative as a whole when it relates to the series, making for a relatively self-contained experience. Most of the main game has you playing as series veteran Jill Valentine with newcomer partner Parker Luciani, while occasionally shifting to other characters during flashbacks and the like. Much of Resident Evil’s B-level writing heritage is prominently on display here with cringeworthy one-liners being uttered at alarming rates. Characters are utterly flat or downright annoying, as is the case with newcomer duo Keith and Quint.

Hope this not Chris Gun...

Gameplay feels somewhat like a cross between Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6, retaining the now series style of over-the-shoulder third person shooting action. The twin-stick setup of consoles is taken advantage of to a great degree, allowing for fluid movement while aiming, something the series has only really pulled off well in 6. The option is available to play with a style closer to RE 4 and 5, where you’re rooted to the spot whilst aiming, but will end up being a handicap in most cases. Combat moves at a somewhat decidedly slow pace, as shooting for weakpoints help to conserve ammo. Only in a few cases during the main campaign will you ever be swarmed by multiple enemies. In most cases you’ll have an AI partner present through most of the game, but this is barely noticeable as they’ll do no real damage, cause any threat, or even take damage at all. A dodge mechanic is present in the game as well, but is difficult to pull off reliably.

The main campaign spans over the course of 12 chapters, usually comprising of 2 to 3 parts per chapter.  A typical playthrough is somewhere between 8 to 12 hours, depending of difficulty. This is perhaps where the most notable portable feel is had, as the game makes constant breaks in the gameplay and narrative to checkpoint a chapter or switch points of view. If RE6 was guilty for having their gameplay segments go on for too long, Revelations ends up being on the other end of that spectrum. The game goes so far as to have small video viginettes proclaiming “Last time, on Resident Evil: Revelations,” as if I have the memory span of a goldfish. I know that they’re in there for the 3DS experience that was made for more bite-sized chunks of gaming, but on a console game they just feel disjointed and largely out of place.

Just in case you forgot what happened five minutes ago...

Graphics are also a bit of an odd spot when it comes to this transition. Character models for the most party look pretty good in most cases, but will suffer from some muddy textures time to time. Environments will also look pixelated or low-res in some cases as well. Sound design has made the jump well for the most part when it comes to SFX, although the music is largely forgettable. A few odd graphical glitches are present in the game, particularly elevator doors like to jump while being used. Loading screens and doors are also suspiciously rampant throughout the experience.

As for being a much-touted “return to form” for the RE franchise, it’s hard to say. Puzzles are practically non-existent. Resource management does feel like more of an issue than past games, but made so only because of mandatory caps on how many weapons you can carry and ammunition bag limits. Item boxes are back, allowing you to swap mid-mission what kind of loadout you use, and customization to weapons feels very solid, finding parts to make tailored guns. Combat for the large part feels solid, albeit somewhat desolate when compared to 5 or 6. Having much of the game take place on a deserted ship does more to introduce scares to Resident Evil than we’ve seen in a decade. There are a few other staples here too, such as bonus weapons being unlocked depending on clear conditions, and the presence of Raid Mode being a throwback to classic Mercenaries.

After beating the game, some players may elect to replay on a higher difficulty setting, or choose the New Game+ option to carry over equipment. Another option for people who enjoy the combat is Raid Mode. Unlike RE 4 5 and 6’s Mercenaries mode, Raid Mode has a more decidedly linear feel, as compared to the priors sprawling arena modes. Chapters from the main game are reformatted to create challenge runs to get to the end of the level, all while encounter more and tougher enemies. An overarching RPG system is present while in Raid Mode: Your profile will gain levels, you’ll unlock currency to buy more weapons and upgrades, and you’ll unlock more characters to play with, each with their own unique traits and abilities. Raid Mode also allows for online co-op play as well. This has probably the most substantial that a bonus mode has ever been in a Resident Evil game, and really helps to create some longevity for the title as a whole.

Raid Mode adds a lot of replay value and ups the combat by a considerable degree

At the end of the day, I’m sort of hard pressed to say if I recommend Revelations. The game feels better paced and and enjoyable than the mediocre 6, but doesn’t really innovate to make it better than 4 or 5. Plus, It still feels like a portable side-story than main numbered franchise. If you desperately need your Biohazard fix, it’s not a bad place to look, especially discounted at $50. Worth a rental at the least to see if this is your bag, but I wouldn’t hold it against anyone for skipping.