This is the beginning of a series I made for those who are interested in Civilization 6. This isn’t a guide for those who already have a good idea how to play but instead this is for those who want to get into the game but don’t know where to start.
In the first episode we talk about setting up your game. This includes the various options as well as the leader you want to select.
Leave a comment if you found this useful. I’ll be uploading every couple of days with different parts of this series
This game has not been an easy one for me to review. I have so many memories of this game growing up that it’s hard to separate my true feelings for this remake from cherished childhood memories. The one question I come back to though, is why. Why did this game get a remake? Is it simply a cash grab or was this a game that deserved a second opportunity to shine? Let’s go through this game together and see if we can answer that question.
Now, I am going to assume that if you’re reading this review, you’ve probably played Secret of Mana or at least seen it played at some point. The remake starts out the very same way as the original. You’re with some friends in a forbidden area and you fall off a log. You find a magical sword that allows you to get back to town but, monsters are now attacking the village. After defeating a large monster, you’re blamed for the attacks and are kicked out of the village. From there, you’re left to go on an adventure to restore the sword you found to its original power.
The story of the game still holds up. What starts out as a simple adventure to fix a sword turns into a massive odyssey through the world to quell evil. The story is interesting and can easily turn a short playthrough into an all-nighter.
One area where I have a tough time calling it a win or a loss is the graphics. They’re different. It’s nice to see the graphics updated to 3D but, if I am being honest, the game didn’t really need this face lift. The original designs were vibrant, colorful, and still hold up today as quality artwork. The graphics in the remake are nice but I do feel like you lose some of the magic the original had when you turn everything into 3D CGI. This is one area where it’s going to come down to personal opinion; do you prefer the original animated artwork, or do you prefer the updated CGI.
An interesting decision made by the creators of this remake was to have voice acting but, to not have mouth movements. You get used to it fairly quickly but at first it’s quite odd. I enjoyed the voice acting portion but it was a little jarring to hear the characters talk but the mouths to just stay agape. I get the reason behind this decision though; doing this allowed the game to be localized into lots of languages without much change to the overall experience. It’s still a little weird though.
A place where the game stands out is the music. You have the option at the beginning of the game to use the original music or listen to updated remixes of the original songs. Either option is fine but I chose to listen to the updated tracks and they were great. It reminded me how much I love the music of this game and they are definitely tracks that I will listen to on my own, outside of the gaming experience.
One gripe I have is the change to the action grid. For those of you that don’t know, in the original game you had an action grid where you could determine what your allies do when you aren’t controlling them. It was a really cool way of setting up your allies’ actions. In this remake though, you are only given very simple commands on what they can do. It really takes away some of the customization the original game had.
If I were to put myself all in, I’d say this game didn’t need a remake. The original still holds up and is very enjoyable to play through even to this day. That being said, the original is not the easiest game to get a hold of and it’s on a system less and less people have. The nice thing about the remake is it’s a chance for new players to experience this amazing game on current gen hardware. If you own the original game and an SNES to play it on, I’d say stick with that as it holds up and is still enjoyable today. If you’re a new player though looking to get into the game for the first time, the remake is a perfect place to start. Get it today on PS4 or PC.
This review was written by Trey Sanders for Big Shiny Robot. You can reach him at treytothej@gmail.com
Alienation — Housemarque/Sony Computer Entertainment — PS4 — April 26, 2016 — $15.00
If you played “Dead Nation” on the PS3 or even its remaster after the launch of the PS4, chances are you had one hell of a time blasting away at the endless swarms of zombies. “Alienation” is very much the same. It incorporates everything from “Dead Nation’s” progression system and edge of your seat firefights, but they’ve added simple, yet deep RPG elements from “Diablo II,” and allowed two more players to join the fight in eradicating the decades long fight against the alien threat.
Plasma Sword, Plasma Sword, Plasma Sword!
Exo-Skeletal Selections
Upon starting the game, you’re prompted to choose between the three classes of exo-skeletal bad asses. There’s the Xeno Rifle wielding Bio-specialist that can heal an entire squad, release swarms of homing nanomachines that lay waste to those unlucky enough to enter their path, and a poisonous chemtrail that slowly dissolves those trapped inside. The Akimbo Energy Gun wielding Tank comes equipped with a shield that protects the entire squad for a short amount of time, a devastating shockwave called ground smash throws enemies everywhere, and an eviscerating Tesla Charge that electrocutes everything in its path. And finally (my personal favorite), the SMG wielding Saboteur who can cloak and unleash an insane barrage of artillery from the sky and cut through enemies like butter with the awesome plasma sword.
Command Center
After you’ve made your character choice, you are brought to the home screen. It’s clean, simple, and straightforward. This is the main hub for selecting new missions, upgrading and managing gear, checking your country’s rank across the globe, browsing the bestiary, and fiddling with the options menu. Selecting missions is as easy as “point and click” and drops you into multiple locations around the world. Managing your upgrades is simple, but it’s extremely vague as to what goes where, forcing you to discover how to best apply your upgrades to get more from your arsenal. Rankings return from “Dead Nation” and includes a mysterious ARK Ship ranking, and an Invasion ranking, but there’s no description as to how you achieve these stats. The bestiary helps discern one enemy from the next and helps you fight them more effectively in later missions.
Matchmaking
Before you drop into any mission, you can choose to go in solo, start a private match, a friends only game, an invite exclusive match, or team up with random players. There’s also a mysterious option called Invasion that allows other players to invade your game and make everything more chaotic, but there’s little to no explanation as to how and when it can be done. Once you’ve dropped in, “Alienation” plays just like “Dead Nation;” tight, responsive, and chaotic. It also features the always satisfying active reload from the “Gears of War” series. The dash ability from “Dead Nation” is back but is far more useful once you’ve applied it’s passive offensive ability that pushes enemies out of the way. As you blast your way through the beautifully rendered and satisfyingly destructive locales, you can come across Hitman Events (sub-bosses), Challenge Events (eradicate various swarms of enemies), and Hideout Events (eliminate Xeno captains). You will also find everything from XP boosts, ammo, health, power cores, weapons and equipment from chests scattered about the map, as well as boss fights, and a care package you receive just before extraction.
Cores allow you to create an overpowered, all too satisfying arsenal of destruction.
Crafting
After you’ve collected or salvaged your new Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Legendary gear, you can re-roll specific stats (with your salvaged materials) or upgrade them with the cores you’ve gathered. With the exception of common weapons or equipment (grenades, mines, etc.), they come with a varying number of upgradeable slots in which you can place your Power, Boost, Utility, and Prismatic cores to improve damage, fire rate, magazine size, and critical hit chance on your weapons; damage, radius, and replenish rate for your equipment. The more you gather, the more powerful you can make them. For every three cores you have, you can increase their power up to six (the maximum level) and create an immensely overpowered, but all too satisfying arsenal of destruction. The only drawback to the upgrade system is that it never tells you how to get the best out of your power cores, other than a color coded system; while it makes sense to match the color of the slot with the corresponding core, there’s nothing there to point you in the right direction.
In closing, ”Alienation” is yet another stellar game for Housemarque. They’ve built on the formula that was introduced in “Dead Nation” and have knocked it out of the park yet again. The finite amount of vague integrations do nothing to diminish a deep, extremely fun and insanely replayable twin stick shooter experience. This, alongside “Resogun” and “Dead Nation” stand as three of the best PS4 games you can buy, and at the bargain price of $15, you’d be ignorant to not add this to your library.
Severed — Drink Box — 04.26.2016 — PS Vita — $14.99
The enemy is ready to attack
Drink Box has brought us another original game, that sadly, I don’t think a lot will get to play. “Severed” is a gorgeous romp through a twisted world. While the combat takes a bit of practice to get the hang of, the game does a great job of training you for the final battles, but giving enough of a challenge that you’ll have to replay some battles a few times before getting through the enemies. “Severed” is a first-person hack-n-slash RPG that requires you to monitor multiple enemies to make sure you can survive an encounter. Your character Sasha, is a one-armed girl that has been pulled into a beautiful but savage world in search of her family. Starting with nothing but her sword, she will take you on an adventure of discovery, intrigue, and occasionally getting lost.
Artistically this game is like playing through an oil painting. The characters are all very flat, and yet they have so much depth. Sasha, the main character conveys a ton of emotion, with minimal animation and her full journey from beginning to end is pretty touching albeit, terribly depressing. As you take her through the different sections of this hostile environment you will interact with very few characters. However, the few NPCs involved have quite a bit of depth and do a great job driving the story forward. From the sharp-toothed ‘guide’ that finds you inside at the beginning, to the two-headed bird that helps you move keys around, there are just enough characters to give you interaction and story expansion, but still let the world feel desolate and abandoned.
The Citadel
The soundtrack wasn’t anything incredibly special until the end, mainly comprised of rhythmic tones that reflect the immediate scenario. At times, the sound of your sword slicing actually becomes a touch grating since you are doing so much goddamned chopping, but it is necessary for the upgrade system, which is my favorite mechanic in game.
As Sasha slashes her way through enemies, you want to perform this without your enemy blocking the attack. This is done by timing your attack, or navigating their “armor” or disarming them with various abilities. After you have hit your enemy in succession so many times without being blocked you will charge your “Severed” ability. Once this is done killing an enemy drastically changes. Instead of simply “dying” you are treated to an interactive finisher where you have to slice the enemy to pieces. The more successful slices you can hit within the time limit, the more “giblets” you will receive. Giblets are used to upgrade your weapon, attacks, special abilities, and armor. This is gruesome, creepy, and super fun.
I can’t stress enough that this game is perfectly developed for the PS Vita. Using the touch screen perfectly to keep you engaged, slashing, and entertained. I can only hope, that this game will move to mobile where it can be exposed to millions who need to play this incredible game. In this writer’s opinion there are very few games that are “Vita exclusive” that I think make the system a required buy. This happens to be one of them.
This article written for Big Shiny Robot by Trey Sanders, you can reach him on Gmail treytothej@gmail.com
Following January’s announcement, the partnership between Insomniac Games and GameStop has now blossomed into a full blown video game publication hub for the retail giant; unveiling their new branch of operations: GameTrust.
As of April 18, GameStop has signed deals with multiple independent studios and will focus on supporting games at or around a $15 million budget. The studios that have signed with GameTrust are “The Order: 1886” developer Ready at Dawn, spanish studio Tequila Works, and the “Trine” masterminds, Frozenbyte. Under the non-traditional GameTrust umbrella, developers are free to do and create what they want, at the cost of losing QA support and localization that other publishers provide. GameTrust will act as publisher and distributor for both physical and digital GameStop store fronts, as well as digital services like Steam, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Store.
“GameTrust is a separate vertical for a reason, so we can’t be working with the core merchandising team with all the publishers.
In a conversation between Gamasutra and Mark Stanley, Vice President of Internal Development and Diversification, states that “this is another division that makes sense. Most of the challenges that developers face include two things: ‘how do we get to market?’ and ‘how do we retain full creative control of what we’re making?’ Through traditional publishing models, those are really tough pieces.” When he was asked about the concerns of competitiveness and monopolization he said, “GameTrust is a separate vertical for a reason, so we can’t be working with the core merchandising team with all the publishers. They need to focus on that, that is the bread and butter of GameStop.”
Becoming a video game publisher makes a lot of sense for a company built and driven by the industry, but after closing down more than a dozen locations in Puerto Rico, GameStop has been doing whatever they can to remain a viable, albeit profitable business as digital game sales continue to rise. With their first game, Song of the Deep releasing on July 12, 2016, we’ll just have to sit back and see if this new venture will pay off for the retail giant.
This article was written by Laurent Backman for Big Shiny Robot. You can reach her at laurentbackman@gmail.com
Epistory: Typing Chronicles – Fishing Cactus – PC/Mac – 03.30.16 – $14.99
If “Bastion” jumped “Typing of the Dead” in a dark alley and then rifled through its pockets for gameplay elements, the end result would be “Epistory: Typing Chronicles.” There’s a glut of indie games on Steam with distinct visual styles and experimental gameplay, and in the case of “Epistory,” the experiment pays off.
“Epistory’s” narrative is told by an omniscient narrator overseeing her muse, which takes the form of a girl riding a many-tailed red fox. After a meteor strikes near her home, a strange corruption worms its way into the land, and the narrator describes the journey her muse takes to restore balance. Everything in the game is styled in an origami papercraft fashion that contributes to “Epistory’s” wonderful atmosphere. New areas are folded into existence from multitudes of paper squares, gates and barriers curl up on themselves when you break through them, and enemies burst into whirling scraps of confetti.
Gameplay is broken up into puzzle solving, exploration, and combat. Pressing spacebar locks you into place and brings up words over interactable objects that you’ll then have to type to bring about the desired effect. Over the course of the game you’ll unlock different elemental attributes for your typing that expand your combat applications and also let you access new areas of the overworld. There are a number of collectible image fragments hidden within each dungeon that tell the narrator’s story, but apart from extra experience, there’s not much reason to go for 100%.
Combat is tough, but satisfying. Enemies often take several words to bring down, and near the end of combat you’ll usually encounter massive foes that require words like “verisimilitude” and “stenographer” in quick succession to avoid losing. If a single enemy reaches your character, you’ll be brought back to the last checkpoint, which can result in some frustration, but keeps a good sense of tension and forces you to think on your feet and use the best element for a given situation.
Sound design is unobtrusive, and music isn’t particularly memorable, but there are a few moments of brilliance, like when you have to swipe your fingers across a row of keys to slice open a barrier, or hit the same four keys in sequence several times to unfurl a bridge.
A full playthrough of “Epistory” will only take a handful of hours, but it’s a fairly good value for its price While its typing mechanic may be off-putting to some, “Epistory: Typing Chronicles” is worth a look if you’re a fan of unique titles that manage to back up visual charm with solid gameplay.
This review is written by Laurent Backman for Big Shiny Robot. You can reach her at laurentbackman@gmail.com
Hyrule Warriors Legends – Nintendo – 3DS – 03.25.16 – $39.99
When Nintendo first announced Legends, I was cautiously optimistic. After the release of “Samurai Warriors Chronicles 3” on the 3DS last summer, it was clear that Musou games were possible on the handheld, but took several hits in terms of visuals and technical ability. The same holds true for “Hyrule Warriors Legends,” but in the time between the two games, it’s clear that refinements were made. There’s still a downgrade in textures from the Wii U version and units pop in and out of view with alarming frequency, but the gameplay is smooth and I can count the instances of framerate slowdown while playing on my New 3DS on one hand.
The core gameplay of “Hyrule Warriors Legends” will be instantly familiar for anyone who’s played a previous Warriors game. You control a commanding officer of an army for each battle. You sprint from location to location, capturing keeps, mounting defenses, and taking down enemy officers as you try to shift the flow of each battle to your favor. Combat is combo-based, and you’ll spend a lot of time in menus outside of battle unlocking different moves for each character’s weapons.
Since Legends includes all of the DLC packs from the original release, content is restructured so that all DLC weapons, characters, and maps are unlocked as part of regular gameplay. Unfortunately, this does lead to some odd progress gating for the Adventure Mode maps. You’ll have to beat the maps in sequence, rather than having access to the Master Quest, Twilight, and Termina maps straight from the start. While this won’t be much of an issue for newcomers, it’s jarring if you played the initial release.
New content comes in the form of five new playable characters, some additional weapons and maps, a new Great Sea map for adventure mode, and a new skill system in the form of a fairy companion that adds some much-needed variety to battles. There are also a few additional story missions, but all of the missions involving “Wind Waker” characters aren’t unlocked until you complete all prior story missions, including Cia’s Tale and the new Linkle side missions.
Apart from the odd content gating though, the core gameplay of “Hyrule Warriors Legends” is phenomenal. The new characters handle well and add a nice mix of speed and power to the existing roster, and the new music tracks for the “Wind Waker” maps are great (special mention for the remix of “Molgera’s Theme” that plays on the Earth/Wind Temple map).
If you own a copy of “Hyrule Warriors” for the Wii U already, and you’ve shelled out for the existing DLC packs, it might be worth your while just to download the Legends DLC as it comes out. For those of you who don’t have a Wii U and are looking to scratch the action combat itch with a little bit of Zelda flair, definitely pick up “Hyrule Warriors Legends.” More DLC packs down the line promise additional characters and maps (as of this writing, Medli from “Wind Waker” and Marin from “Link’s Awakening” have both been confirmed as DLC characters), so the game should keep you busy for quite a while.
This review is written by Robert Hudak for Big Shiny Robot. You can reach him at rdhudak88@gmail.com or on twitter @MrProboto
UnEpic – Developed by Francisco Téllez de Meneses – Published by EnjoyUp and Ninagamers Corp.- Available on PC, Wii U, Xbox One, PS4, and PS Vita – Reviewed on PS4
With so many games aiming to capitalize on my nostalgic love of NES-styled 2D platformers, it’s hard to find one worth my time. Some are time-travel machines fueled with bliss, and some are unimaginative cash-ins that should burn in a fiery pit. Fortunately, “UnEpic” is much closer to the former, though it comes with an asterisk stapled to its head.
“UnEpic” opens with Daniel, our “hero,” sitting at a table with his friends playing a tabletop RPG. As he wanders off to the bathroom for a quick pee-break, he somehow finds himself within some mystical castle straight out of traditional dark fantasy. Believing himself dreaming, Daniel proceeds with foolhardy courage and an overabundance of sardonic lucidity. the continual pop cultural references start off as charming, but after the third or fourth hour, this becomes fairly grating. There’s also a particularly odd incongruity: Daniel remarks incessantly about conventional capabilities in video games, yet I noticed how my lighter never ran out of fuel. I’ll grant that it’s more of a gameplay concession in favor of fun and utility, but good-natured quips about the occasionally lacking video game logic (such as slaying ghosts with the average sword) feel lost when similarly shaky logic exists within a game pointing them out.
Gameplay and character progression in “UnEpic” feels like an RPG built from a pen-and-paper player handbook. There’s a surprising amount of variety and depth to character skills, but there’s something troubling in the castle of Harnakon. The combat is satisfying for much of the game, but around the last third, it’s clear that the mechanics heavily favor ranged combat—in fact, it’s necessary for one late-game boss as he hovers over a giant chasm of spikes, spewing death rays and adorable ghosts of pain. I don’t mind some playstyles complementing a game over others (Dark Souls’ pyromancy comes to mind), but it feels like an oversight when it’s impossible to proceed unless you build your character accordingly.
“UnEpic” never takes itself seriously, and I appreciate that about it: Late-game events examine video game tropes, storytelling cliches, and self-fulfilling prophecies. There are three different endings which depend upon opening chests, and I like how each of these endings play upon expectation. If you’re a fan of the “Metroidvania” puree, I’d say give “UnEpic” a shot. With an average completion of about 14 hours and a low cost of admission, you might be surprised at how fun it is—just remember to pump some points into a ranged ability.
UPDATE THIS WAS AN APRIL FOOLS POST< APRIL FOOLS IS OVER CARRY ON.
“Final Fantasy” fans were shocked yesterday as the technical director from FFVII dropped some critical bombs on fans. While the game has not received a release date, and has since been discussed as an episodic release, everything seemed to be moving along just fine. I guess we were wrong.
Tetsuya Nomura nonchalantly took to Twitter yesterday to announce the cancellation of the “Final Fantasy VII” remake. “We feel that remaking this game is a waste of time”. “Square-Enix has made plenty of money by reselling the same game repeatedly, and it’s time we moved on, you should too.”
When challenged by angry fans he simply replied ” I don’t know what the big deal is, you can play the original on literally everything”
So there you have it folks, I guess you can pick some other game to obsess over. Good luck on the hunt.
Microsoft announced this morning that they will be changing the way Xbox One backwards compatibility titles will be released, as well as, some new titles that are eligible for backwards compatibility as of today. Instead of releasing a slew of titles on a specific day each month. The games, will now be released as BC as soon as they have received the “engineering and developer stamp of approval”. The Xbox Wire has also been given a dedicated page for BC titles and information relating to them. You can find that page HERE.
The new games available as BC today are the following:
Anything on this list interest you? I know a chance to play The Witcher 2 on my console is pretty enticing. Sound off below!
