Oblitus follows the tale of a small, spear-wielding creature named Parvus who seeks to discover their purpose and origin within an unfamiliar realm full of huge, ancient terrors. Guest reviewer Steve from the “Entertainment Is Dead” Podcast was good enough to field a review of this title for BigShinyRobot! Among many things that make this game special is the fact that it was developed by less than ten people. Check out the video below, and sound off in the comments!
Smash ‘n Dash — Android/iOS — Free
“Smash ‘n Dash” looks like your run of the mill mobile game, but upon closer examination you find a lot of challenge and a freemium model that doesn’t force pay-to-win. Available on Android and iOS “Smash ‘n Dash” looks a lot like “Geometry Wars”, but it does not focus on using lasers or stick-based shooting to kill the enemies. Instead, your goal is to ram your ship through the enemies without running into their lasers. The bottom portion of the screen is home to your “touch pad” where you drag your finger to control the ship. While this felt slightly odd at first, it made dodging lasers and making quick escapes much easier since you can still see the arena above. As you destroy ships you collect gems, which can be used to purchase power ups to assist in receiving the highest score.
The power ups definitely add a new layer of fun to the game. Some are a single use (such as the extra life) while others are random occurences that will begin dropping during gameplay. As you gain more gems you can also level up the recurring power ups to show up more often, or do more damage. Power ups range from simple items like a shield to bigger helps like nukes and lasers that help clear baddies fora short time.
Photo: The Upgrades
It is something you can sit down with for three minutes, or spend the entire day with.
This game has an element of addiction that is important to casual games of this genre. It is something you can sit down with for three minutes and knock out a few rounds, or spend an entire day (like I did) trying to perfect your reaction skills and grow that high score.
It is important to reiterate that you can spend hours pounding away at this without spending a single cent, and still feeling as if you’ve accomplished something. Learning to master each wave of baddies becomes more fun and frantic as the levels progress. The soundtrack fits the gameplay well and at times adds to the stress of maneuvering your ship around the laser-infested arena. The explosions are spot on and the only sound that is at times grating to the ear is the echoing of the gems as you pick them up. This is a great time waster for your mobile.
You’re probably not doing anything anyway; you may as well hit up your app store and give this a play.
Kirby’s Triple Deluxe – Nintendo – 05.02.2014 – Nintendo 3DS — $39.99
“Kirby Triple Deluxe” is everything I loved about the original Kirby games stacked with even more content. The game modes alone make the game an incredible buy. If you’re into fighting games like “Smash Bros.” you can jump into Kirby Fighters that lets you pick one power and battle differently powered Kirbys on challenging maps that can be controlled by CPU, another Kirby owner, or a friend via download play. Dedede’s Drum Dash is also a fun new take on the series that allows you to test your rhythmic abilities while guiding Dedede through various musical levels. There is also an un-lockable Arena mode that pits you against the games bosses to test the speed at which you slay them. My favorite mode was Dedede Tour, which allows you to replay the single player campaign as Dedede with harder baddies and more challenging bosses. This mode is only available once you have finished the main story.
The game mechanics are similar to any classic Kirby title you’ve played before. You can double jump to fly, release an air bullet as an attack, and suck up various enemies in the world to clone their abilities. The previously mentioned feature is what makes Kirby addicting and also uniquely fun. Whether you prefer to use the Ninja ability to focus on throwing daggers and executing enemies with your mad sword skills, or jump over them while on fire with the new Circus ability, the moves make level tactics different and can generate funny situations.
I’m still giggling from the first time Izuna dropped a circus clown.
Trees can only be inhaled in Hypernova mode… you know, like in the real world and stuff
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The new Hypernova mode begins whenever you find a special seed and gives Kirby the ability to inhale larger objects as he is creating a vortex of immense proportions. This vortex allows for interesting puzzles in different levels that involve anything from snowmen heads to cars and also introduce a unique element in fighting baddies. Bigger baddies can be presented in Hypernova mode since your ability to inhale their attacks is also enhanced. The game also makes incredible use of the 3D elements by allowing you to move between the background and foreground while exploring the world, this can be part of your normal route or contain hidden secrets for Kirby to unlock.
I don’t know why I like hunting key chains, but this shark one is so rad.
The tag mode mechanics allow you to send and receive key chains from other players. Key chains can also be unlocked with coins from your systems sleep mode. Key chains are also awarded in the end level game and found hidden throughout various courses. To unlock boss battles you have to find a minimum number of the hidden sun stones, but can aim for that 100% completion by finding all of them throughout the worlds.
Key chains are oddly addicting to collect, so you folk best be Street Passin!
Boss fights are about timing and catching on to the bosses tells before counter-attacking or simply dodging the assault. The game actually felt more challenging when I was using another baddies ability to fight. Sucking up dropped debris from the boss and shooting the star back did more damage, and made the battle easier to manage.
The game is visually stunning as well as phenomenal sounding, and the use of 3D is something that doesn’t strain the eyes but adds to the game environment. Levels remain two-dimensional but are divided into the background/foreground and you transition between the two by riding stars. Enemies in the background can launch attacks into the foreground and abilities you unlock also allow you to fire attacks into the background, or the other way around. This depth of field also adds a new dimension to the puzzles you are solving when trying to find key chains, sun stones, or even hidden portions of levels.
This is a mandatory addition to any platformers library and something Kirby fans have been waiting for, for far too long. You’ve got until May 2 to sell enough of your bodily fluids to pick this one up. You won’t regret it.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 –Mercury Steam/Konami — PC/360/PS3 – Reviewed On PC – 02.25.2014 — $59.00
“Lords of Shadow 2” puts you once again in control of Gabriel Belmont (aka Dracula) as he struggles against his inner darkness. You could say that in a way the gameplay matches that struggle with its own inner demons while a split story has you jumping between a modern day adventure with transmogrification, stealth, and demons from Satan’s army. While Gabriel’s memory/past pits you against the expected cast of Castlevania monsters ranging from Succubus, Knights of the order, Skeletons and the like.
The story begins with Gabriel on his throne awaiting the assault from the Brotherhood of Light, once you have dismantled them and destroyed the giant Golem they have brought along the tutorial ends with you standing face-to-face with Alucard and you soon awaken in a modern age. Then the after credit scene from the original “Lords of Shadow” takes place. Gabriel is then sent on quests to investigate a Biochemical corporation, which is said to contain one of Satan’s acolytes bent on expediting his return to earth. Citizens that have been corrupted and turned of course overrun the modern day setting, and while they provide some challenge early on, they soon become an almost “trash-mob” experience.
Enemies from the present – future Knights of the Order.
While exploring Dracula’s castle in his memory the PC game really shows of it’s visual prowess where you have left behind bleak streaks with albeit beautiful skyline views, and stepped into the old Bernhardt castle. The castle treats players to a beautifully detailed interior, mixed gorgeous outdoor skyline views and a wide arrange of landscape displays and zones. This portion of the game unfolded much like the 2d Castlevanias we have become so accustomed to, the player is sent through different portions of the castle, which are stylistically created to reflect the areas master. The Toy Maker’s lair for example is bright and colorful, and his final area is in a grand ballroom, while Carmilla’s lair is musty and full of books/statues. While playing you are also able to be guided to and fro the two areas via a wolf medallion, and discover map rooms. These map rooms much like the teleportation rooms in the 2d games allow you to warp to different areas and run on a blood sacrifice from Gabriel, a great addition to the 3d games.
The Hooded Man – The Present
The combat system is a serenely polished recreation of the first game allowing you to lock your opponents (at least the basic ones) into incredible combos, and allows a bit of creativity to be used in the killing. Each enemy is available to be stunned and their health siphoned off through the obvious vampiric methods, or can simply be destroyed be emptying their health bar. Unlike games like “DMC” or “Bayonetta” where you are able to dodge mid-attack this system requires more of a dodge and parry approach before beginning a large assault. Once you have begun a series of attacks the enemy is also able to parry or counter if they are blocking your onslaught, so timing and thought is required before diving into an altercation. The system of filling up Chaos and Light stayed from the original and is one of the portions that I didn’t enjoy as a mechanic. While holding down either the left or right thumb stick next to magic wells wasn’t frustrating, but it really become more of a time waster than something that added to the challenge or allure of the game. During the modern day there were stealth sequences that involved turning into a Rat or distracted large “Golgoth Guards’ while you possessed their counterpart, or simply ran past that really didn’t fit the entire idea of being The Lord of Darkness. While it may be heavy battle, you are able to dismember the daughter of Satan and her peers with your intense strength and abilities and yet a few creatures that look more like a Helghast than a ‘vania monster with big guns are just a little too much for Gabriel. As you progress through the game you’d expect that maybe while he is building up his abilities they are too powerful but at a certain point you begin wreaking your vengeance upon these obnoxious guards. But even close towards the end you are forced into awkward stealth scenes where Gabriel is playing your typical “sneaky monster.” The mechanic stopped feeling like something to drive the story and intensity and became more of an annoyance that simply stretched out the length of the game. The length of the game, by the way, was an impressive 20 or so hours on hard, so I guess the stealth served its purpose.
The Gorgons
The soundtrack is a stunning blend of orchestral music and rock tracks all focused around the same central theme. While listening to the game you can’t help but notice that the eerie piano melody playing over the menus finds its way into almost every piece of music, and it really ties the experience together.
Control wise the game is really built to be utilized with a game pad and even lets you know when you disconnect your controller. The controls for the PC version ran akin to the Xbox 360 setup and felt very natural from the get go.
As a whole this game is something for fans of the series to sink their teeth into (pun intended) and gives a great wrap up to the trilogy. Unfortunately it doesn’t hold up to its predecessor in terms of quality and consistency. While the combat system, soundtrack and characters keep up with the previous title, the odd mechanics in the modern day and disjointed universe created by them can be enough to scare of those not highly dedicated to the series. While this is not candidate for game of the year it definitely has a large amount of merit to balance out a few of the frustrations. Fans of the series should pay full price and not feel the sting too strongly while those looking for a solid explorative hack-n-slash should wait to snag it on discount a few months down the line.
“The Wolf Among Us – Part 2, Smoke and Mirrors” – Telltale Games – Xbox 360, PS3, iOS, PC/MAC — $24.99 Season Pass, $4.99 Individual – Feb 4, 2014
Photo – “Georgie”
The second installment to “The Wolf Among Us” is just as brutal, gritty and interesting as the first portion and unveils even more jaw-dropping surprises than its predecessor. The ending will yet again leave you begging for the next installment.
How long can Telltale keep knocking games out of the park?
Bigby continues his investigation into the ongoing murders of “Fables” including the death of his companion Snow White. The biggest challenge I found was to keep my emotions in check and avoid making choices that I may regret later. There was a consistent temptation to bring out the full wrath of the wolf when different characters (especially Georgie), decided popping off was in their best interest instead of helping.
While this game is definitely not for children, the twisted take on the fairy tales that we all grew up on is something that continuously adds a shock factor that doesn’t go away. You would think that the 1980’s cop drama that Bigby is leading us through would find itself stale after awhile, but for an inexplicable reason that just makes it better. The soundtrack remains the same perfect mix of well-timed chords and mood setting music, and the controls still feel natural for the genre.
This game is dark, gritty, and captivating at every moment.
As the story has progressed watching Bigby and Snow realize that a lot of the problems faced by the Fables in the story are actually created by the bureaucracy that they work for adds another layer to the story that I’m sure will be fun to watch unfold. The continuous guessing games as you are trying to narrow down suspects and figure out just exactly what happened with to these poor people is another amazing part of the meta game that the writing naturally creates.
Truthfully there isn’t a ton left to say on the matter of this game. It is dark, gritty, and captivating at every moment. The short 2 hour spurts that it is being delivered in like its counterparts keeps everything fresh and leaves nothing to feel repetitive.
If you haven’t bought this on one of the thirty systems it’s available for you’re missing out. You won’t get a better value for $24.99 anywhere.
I fell in love with comics when I was a young kid. Before my parents bought me comic books staring the friendly neighborhood Spider-man or Gotham City’s Dark Knight I read strips out of the newspaper and collected editions from the city library. Those collected editions helped me learn how to read. They expanded my vocabulary. I learned the meaning of many words based simply on the context of the image in the panel. It was only because of great storytellers like Chares M. Shulz (“Peanuts”), Mort Walker (“Beetle Bailey”), and Jim Davis (“Garfield”) that the panels were readable without needing to know all of the words. The stories themselves were the beginning of a life-long passion for illustration and sequential art.
I’d get gifts from my grandfather who was a fellow fan of, as he’d say, “the funnies.” I was exposed to even more masters of the medium when he bought me stories of “The Little King” and “Little Nemo” as birthday or Christmas gifts. Recalling those books and those masters is a fond part of my youth so I’m always on the lookout for something that’s nostalgic.
“Monsters! & Other Stories” is that book.
Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics, I recently got my hands on a book I know my grandpa would enjoy. The book reminds me of all of those great masterful works from my past. It is a graphic novel that is so perfect in its execution that I’m now a life-long fan of the exceptionally talented master Gustavo Duarte.
“Monsters! & Other Stories” is a comic book that anyone of any age can enjoy. Despite being devoid of written dialogue (and the fact that the storyteller, Duarte, is a Brazilian from Sao Paolo), there is nothing lost in translation. Each story in the book is easily read – or viewed – and understood completely. What’s more is that Gustavo is an excellent comedian, so the stories are also funny – a hard thing to accomplish with only illustrations. Each panel is carefully crafted and is a piece of art in itself.
Like any master the collection of the panels as a page is also an amazing piece of work. After reading through the book you’ll find yourself admiring the panels and pages again and again.
Images courtesy of Dark Horse Comics
Defining Gustavo Duarte as a cartoonist in few words would be over simplistic but inevitably an apt description. His cartooning is summed up with the use of strong lines and simple colors. That combination makes the images pop, like Sendak’s or Suess’s, but his stories have a darker streak to them that is uniquely Duarte. His style is in the realm of cartooning with a mixture of pop-art but it is a style distinctly his own. Of the three stories in “Monsters! & Other Stories”, the one I like the most is “Monsters!”. It is a story where his style is given the most room to stretch. It has a plethora of characters in it, unlike the other two tales that are focused on a drunk with chickens (“Co!”) and a pair of birds who have a date with The Grim Reaper (“Birds”).
Images courtesy of Dark Horse Comics
The book’s genre is horror/humor and Gustavo nails the comedy as expected. The horror though, isn’t what most people would think of when they hear that term. The parts that are frightening or horrific are more in line with a twisted “Twilight Zone” kind of story that contains cartoon slapstick violence. Some of the images (like a decapitated bird) could be horrifying to small children but will read as darkly humorous to most every other reader.
The book itself is available now in print and digitally through Dark Horse’s website or through their comic book app. I suggest going to your local comic’s shop or bookstore to get your hands on a physical one. The book itself is nicely bound and has a great feel in your hands. Flipping through illustrations like this is much more enjoyable in the trade paperback format. If you’d like to see more preview art, please visit “Monsters!” page on Dark Horse’s website
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Images courtesy of Dark Horse Comics
Broken Age Act 1 — Double Fine Productions — PC/MAC Steam — $24.99 — 01.28.2014
Photo – Shay and The Wolf
Describing the feeling that “Broken Age Act 1” created for me in words is near to impossible without going on a 7-page rant that involves profanity and crying. Mostly crying to tell you the truth. The game that raised 3.3 million dollars via Kickstarter, is available to the public via Steam; and I’m telling you people of the internet, it does not disappoint.
The game is as close to a classic point-and-click experience as you are going to get in this day of new fangled graphics and shiny explosions, while giving you the beautiful HD world and experience that modern gaming offers. The game mechanics are pretty simple. You find items through out the world by exploration and interacting with parts of the story, and then figure out how to utilize those objects to advance your characters motives.
Gameplay this simple can only be driven by an incredible story mixed with the tongue-in-cheek humor that Double Fine is known for. Leading Vella and Shay through their seemingly incongruent worlds was intense when it needed to be and light-hearted as expected. Shay (voiced by Elijah Wood) is a young man on a space ship being watched over by his overly protective digital mother. You begin his story by going on “missions” which generally involve being hugged by cute yarn creatures or gorging yourself on ice cream that has your cute counterparts “trapped and near death.” During these adventures you rebel and meet a wolf that will teach you, “how to become a man.” Needless to say this is when things get interesting.
Photo – The Maidens Feast is ready
Vella, is a young girl from Sugar Bunting. This delicious town of pastry chefs holds a feast to appease the great monster Mog Chothra by dressing their young ladies up as their finest delicacies and offering them in sacrifice. Vella is one the chosen maidens and seemingly the only one that sees an issue with serving young women to monsters as cupcakes.
The game will take you through various worlds with incredibly interesting characters voiced by some incredible talent. The most notable voices are of course Elijah Wood and Jack Black, but the rest of the cast shines in their roles. (My personal favorite is Curtis the lumberjack, who has stopped making things out of wood because the trees are screaming.
“Beware the trees!”
The beautifully orchestrated soundtrack guides you through the odd world created by Tim Schaffer and team, while not imposing too heavily into the environment. And while the game is enthralling, with the hints given throughout out your first go at Act 1 should take you roughly 3 hours. This is definitely a game worth playing twice as you will notice a lot of finely placed details tying the stories together much more than expected. The downside is after solving the puzzles on your first attempt the second run will only take you 45 minutes to an hour, provided you remember how to do everything. It is also worth noting that you do not have to do each puzzle in a specific order and can finish different parts of each level in any way you see fit provided you have the pieces needed.
The game is $24.99 on Steam and Act 2 will automatically download via an update if you purchase the title. If you are new to the point-and-click genre and haven’t played anything similar like “Day of the Tentacle”, “Full Throttle”, or “The Curse of Monkey Island”, this game is a perfect introduction It only took 20 minutes for “Broken Age” to jump quickly into my top games list, and I’m certain it will for you as well. Don’t miss this gem, if money is an issue stash some away and pray that it hits the summer sale.
I’ll be honest – this issue seemed like a filler episode.
Don’t get me wrong, it was a good issue. It just felt like the writers were putting a bunch of pieces into place, setting up for some big reveal down the line. The fact is that we didn’t need any more backstory. And while the few pieces revealed about who I’m assuming is the Big Bad were interesting, we don’t even know if they were true. That’s the one downfall of having an omniscient Suzie as the occasional narrator. We know she’s dependable for the things she experienced; we know she’s dependable for the things she was told about, but what about the things that present-day Susie doesn’t know yet? Does the narrator version of the character exist way in the future, or is it just a staple of the series and readers shouldn’t question it? I feel like – and I’ve said this before – it worked in the beginning, but now it’s this weird, confusing appendage on an otherwise hilarious and surprisingly captivating story.
The writing is in fine form – I’d argue some of the best we’ve seen so far.
The jokes fly fast in the first few pages. The writing in general is in fine form – I’d argue some of the best we’ve seen so far – my favorite joke without question is Jon’s reaction after he gets punched in the face. It’s unfortunate that after such a great opening, it flashes back to Jon and Suzie planning their heists and it’s like the writer’s stopped having fun and really got to work. That’s not a bad thing, I’m very curious as to where all this is going, but there were significantly less moments in this issue that stood out in my mind than those that came before it.
One piece of backstory we did find out about Suzie involved the one time she used her time-stopping power for vengeance. And in my continuing honesty, the attempt was a little heavy handed. I felt like they were trying a little too hard to make the guy Suzie messed with unlikeable.
So, is this issue worth reading? Yes. But only as a stop along the way to the end. I hope upcoming issues won’t press too hard on the plot gas pedal. I’ve been having way too much fun with these characters to have them keep speeding through the rest of their adventure.
Sex Criminals Issue 4 – by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky – is available here for the price of $3.50 or a digital price of $2.99, and is out now.
Written by: Jason Oritt Illustrated by: Quinton Watson, Self Published – $13.50
Image: “Chosen” Facebook
Premise:
God is bored, so he asks his top 5 angels to come up with something to entertain him or he is going to destroy the earth and start over, again. Their solution, to give 15 mortals Super powers, 8 Heroes, 7 Villains and see what happens; 2 teams, Good vs Evil.
Reviewers note: I am old. Heck, I am old enough to be the father of most of you reading this. With age comes wisdom, with age also comes many hours day dreaming of what it would be like to all of a sudden have super powers. (Mind you I started doing this when the only TV we had was Black and White and the closet thing we got to fantasy was Gilligan’s Island. So I have had a lot of time and energy infested in this past time.)
Such was my high hopes and excitement when I picked up this book and read the above intro.
Who hasn’t, at least once, day dreamed of having super powers and what we would do with them.
The angels, in this adventure, decide to make sure that each “team” is made up of friends without knowing about the other team. All were “turned on” at the same moment, and all live in the same city.
The story of how each discover their powers and start to develop them, takes up the first third of the book, which was a bit confusing. Too many stories to were starting and finishing which made it difficult to care about the events, but each was unique and not the standard comic book stereotype.
Each power fit the personality of its owner: he shy girl can now disappear into the shadows, the normal boring girl can turn into a cat, one gets the power over gravity, one gets electric energy power that appears as tattoos on his arms he can pull off and use. Whether or not the characters were a Hero or villain depended on their friends (Yes Mom, I remember you telling me “you are who you hang out with”) as well as whether they were selfless or selfish (which was a nice touch).
Seeing how each character discovered their team mates and how they interacted together to form the team was interesting and believable, if just a bit too quick. As they talked about names and costumes I found myself smiling since I have played the same scenario in my head more than once (if I had powers that is. More time could have been spent here instead of quick one line statement and everyone agrees that is the best name for that person. Of course with 15 people it took some time doing this, but it all seemed unnaturally quick and agreeable.
Image: “Chosen” Facebook
The heroes wonder how best to help people and the villains how bad they really should be. Once again showing they are who they hang out with. One villain has no problem wanting people to die while others really think they should be over with the good guys but are too afraid to move and change.
Do you wear a mask or go on TV and announce “I Am Ironman”.
The major confrontation is well written, and the battle believable. It was fun watching everyone learn to use their powers and mesh (or not) as a team, this would have been phenomenal to see as panels in a comic book .At times the writing read like a synopsis of a comic book, at others strong action and well written dialogue. Not a bad first time authors try. I should also point out that it is self-published so that earns points with me right there.
I usually lump books in the following categories:
This one is a solid Check out of the Library book, the ending hints at a sequel, which I wouldn’t be against reading.
2013 brought in a lot of changes for the gaming industry. New consoles, mobile integration, expansions in free-to-play, and of course, rad games. We here at Big Shiny Robot! battled it out and assembled a rag tag list of some titles that you should have played last year. If you didn’t, these would be the ones to snag on random sales for your collection, or go crazy trying to find after they’re delisted. The video is available right here! We want to know what games you feel were the best from 2013!