InFlux Review

The indie scene is growing at a rate nobody really saw coming. More and more budding games developers are leaving university with the newfound knowledge that they don’t have to go spend months, and perhaps years searching and relocated just to land a job in their preferred field. Instead, they’re turning their attentions to pulling up the cash to support themselves while they try to break into the industry through effort alone – creating a game from scratch and hoping for its success to catapult them into the big leagues.

InFlux is another example of a set of people looking to do just that.

Originally starting as a mod concept, InFlux soon outgrew its skin and turned into a product of its own. Utilizing the Unreal Engine and the power of the internet, an Australian citizen pulled together a band of eager developers from across the world to have at it with the ambitious puzzle game.

InFlux plays out much like a modern day Marble Madness. As a mysterious sphere drops from the sky like a meteor, you instantly take control to roll free of the impact crater and explore the soothing wilderness you seemingly claimed as your landing point.

Rolling forward, you start to utilize your own momentum to push through the fields of swaying grass and rocky hills surround the area. Without even a hit of explanation as to why you’re both a ball and rolling around a peaceful utopia, you barely question the motive as you go forward just embracing the sights and sounds around you.

The sights and sounds never let up, but you do quickly come across what seems to be the point of the game – the gateway puzzles blocking your progression. Large obscure arrays of glass boxes are oftentimes in full view through the entirety of your journey, and it’s these mysterious houses that turns InFlux into essentially it’s only focus.

Torch-like relics situated outside each box puzzle act as a lock mechanism keeping you from entering each mysterious abstract construct. By using your alien magnetic repel and attract features, you travel each stage-like landscape looking to claim sets of glowing balls needed to power up the relics and, in turn, the puzzle stages they keep closed.

Exploring the areas of InFlux are most certainly as much of the appeal as the puzzle sections. While unpolished level design and clipping issues can often mean boosting your way through rocks, terrain and even the glass itself, you are awarded some freedom to combine your boost and weight against objects to propel yourself up hills, mountains and rivers to get a clearer screenshot of the impressive landscape.

Though the collection sequences can appear tedious at times, the combination of the warm feeling environment and smooth, ambient soundtrack oftentimes takes the edge away from task.

Once in possession of area’s mysterious energy, a quick roll toward the gate torch will absorb the very essence you strived to collect and turn the solid glass entrance into a liquid-like surface much like the paintings of a certain post-millennium classic.

Being sucked into the glass chambers quickly reveals a world separate from the one you left behind. A flash of white light turns the hollow array of boxes into something much bigger than you set your sights on in moonlit grassy knolls.

The inside of each box is very different to the last. Some test your ability to control the sphere’s momentum and temporal boost abilities to reach the other side without falling into the endless depths below while others offer fully fledged rotating rooms of barriers, bridges, lifts and other spheres for you to pull, push and block between the former obstacles in whatever way necessary to get it through the exit gate alongside you.

Circumventing each puzzle goal with the correctly coloured sphere still tagging along with you unlocks the inter-dimensional glass housing and its grasp – setting you free through another blast of white light and spitting you just a meter or two where you originally entered.

Without the gate stopping you from plodding onward, you roll forward through the disappointingly linear, yet somewhat eye-catching environments repeating the same gather and solve feature until you can go no further.

The game sticks to this simple, relaxing premise for a good hour or two – as if it’s purposely binding you to the through that it’s all a sea of roses. Eventually you’ll begin to progress through caves, mountains, volcanos and more wider-spanning fields of green with puzzle sequences growing in size and taking and taking increasingly higher levels of thought, attention and planning to figure out.

As you navigate each puzzle to find the core matching the coloured gates within, you’re constantly battling to keep the ball from leaving your kinetic grasp and rolling back down two stories of cube. Planning is key in solving each as a common obstacle of the puzzle boxes are the fact the exit gate is on the ceiling. Manipulating the twist of each puzzle is oftentimes the only way to get the exit within viable reach and the key to your eventual escape. But with each twist comes the risk of losing your key orb to the alternating gravity – that’s why it becomes paramount to analyse where each platform will end before flicking the switch and finding a suitable wall to lock you and your orb in place before you’re sent hurtling further away from your goal.

While some of the harder puzzles can be solved with sheer dumb luck, it’s enough to say InFlux very much revolves around your own ability to use momentum to your suit your needs; whether that’s to get from point A to point B or just to catch a different angle of the world ready for photoshoot. Whether InFlux was intended this way is beyond me, but that’s undeniably how it plays out. Despite its flaws in design and questionably confused gameplay style, InFlux provides a decent enough puzzle experience wrapped around a world of minor mystery. It certainly isn’t breaking into new ground, but it does make for some fairly satisfying moments of blissful eye candy and makes me wonder what a modern day Marble Madness game would really entail.

InFlux, while crude at times, is a game made by a group of amatuar developers looking to unlock their own gates into the world of game development. While it certainly doesn’t shine in terms of craftsmanship, inspiration and attention to detail – it’s not one out to get your money. InFlux is available as a free download with the noble notion that those who enjoy the game can opt to throw some money their way through Humble Bundle, GoG and Steam. It’s as if to say the team themselves know InFlux isn’t the next Super Monkey Ball or Flower. It’s their heart, soul and energy. InFlux isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s certainly worth a look.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Review

There’s a lot of you out there who enjoyed Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc right through to the very bitter end. And while I wasn’t one of those who took the opportunity to see the cult classic bear its fruit, I can safely say that a few hours of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair left enough of an impression on me to understand fully why the original became such a huge topic last earlier this year.

I’m sure it isn’t news to the majority of you but Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is, just like the last game, essentially a PSVita port of the original PSP series – only with 100% more English translation. It may be new to us across the pond, but the Japanese have had all the answers to these string of murders long before the rest of us ever noticed them.

This time around, students of Hope’s Peak Academy – a school for the best of the best – are transported from their new classroom to a mysterious tropical island for a bond-forming vacation that quickly takes a turn for the worst. If the appearance of a solemn talking stuffed rabbit wasn’t enough of a clue, the dastardly bear, Monokuma, quickly returns ready to turn the fun and games into something a little more… interesting. The ‘Killing School Trip’.

Danganronpa 2 features a large cast of increasingly opposite and diverse characters who all bring their own touch to the narrative of the story. While the game can be seen as a glorified transcript, it’s hard to deny just how well each of the character’s manage to compel you to advancing though line after line of text. From a perverted Southern chef to a clumsy medic and a bad-mouthed girl who likes to squish ants into the dirt with her fingers, the cast are essentially what keeps the momentum flowing – and they do it particularly better than most other visual novels that have managed to graced English speaking territories.

While the majority your time may be spent pushing through large portions of text conversations, Danganronpa 2 isn’t a visual novel by the more conventional means; there’s a few different ways you’ll go about interacting with the game world. It doesn’t change all that much for the first part, but while a side-scrolling screen is controlled to move to each of the island’s locations, it’s actually a 3rd person point n’ click style adventure that you’ll find yourself manning for the most part.

Once the story kicks up the gear you’ll strolling around on your own accord and distributing your time away from in-depth murder investigations by shooting the breeze with classmates through casual chat and presents – you know, before they inevitably bite the dust.

While it certainly isn’t a case of “if” but “when” one of the island’s inhabitants reaches their end, you’re pushed straight into more point n’ click work to discover all of the “Bullet Truths” retaining to just what happened to the poor blighter who’s ready to but thrown into the ground. Alibis, murder weapons and sneaky clues eventually make up all that you need to piece the murder together and argue the facts against the rest of the class in round table trial of thought-provoking mini-games. While you’re brain may have deduced the perfect explanation, I can guarantee Danganronpa‘s cleverness will spin your idea into something with a little more bang.

It’s true; the game can drag a little between murder cases – but you can control that slightly by opting to end the “Free Time” segments prematurely and neglecting the cast. Shooting “Truth Bullets” for and against contradictions and agreements isn’t particularly well explained despite the fairly lengthy introduction to each portion of the trail process.

Sure, maybe I was just having a hard time grasping the concept, but it certainly took me more than few attempts to find when are where the game would let me produce the evidence I’d brewed together for my defence. It was more of a task to understand just why a single highlighted line was the correct point to act rather than the one before that seemed completely acceptable for the same call-out. It’s somewhat of a struggle to progress, but it’s certainly worth the effort in the end.

The constant shift in proof-producing mini-games found throughout the lengthy “Class Trial” segments can be finicky and difficult to immerse yourself with, but they’re certainly 100% more enjoyable that a realistic court hearing, and around 50% more involving than a standard struggle for Phoenix Wright. Rough numbers, of course, but that’s my best measurement.

Danganronpa 2 isn’t a ‘must have’ for any English player who’s just dying to play more localised visual novels – but it’s certainly one for those who enjoy a good a brain teaser. Fans of Hotel Dusk, Broken Sword or the creator’s earlier work – Virtue’s Last Reward – will find nothing but goodness in Monokuma’s second sickening death game; But you may need to be prepared to wrap your head around more than just the details of the murders themselves.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Review

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is the first major video game adaptation of the recent major hit anime/light novel series – and it’s not hard to understand why the game exists. Sword Art Online is, as the name suggests, the concept of an MMORPG game itself. In the show, characters of the not-so-distant future reality all enter an exciting new online video game through a device similar, but far more sophisticated, to the VR headsets we’re seeing all over the place now.

The ‘Nervegear’ device essentially drops the players into this fantasy game with every sense they possess in the real world. Soon enough, however, the designer of the game (and the device itself) goes insane; removing the option to exit the game and condemning those whose avatar bites the bullet to join them in death with a quick blast of Nervegear-generated microwaves to the brain – a dark twist for a gamer’s planned utopia. And your PSVita can hardly attempt to kill you.

You see, clocking around 10 hours in the game, I’ve yet to even come close to being wiped out by the copy-pasted enemies trawling the 25 floors of Aincrad you’re tasked of conquering. The very final floors the anime’s characters dodged in the closing episodes of the first story arc. That’s right; rather than reliving the moments of the show, you continue on from where it essentially ended. Something that near enough cements it as a game only those who watch the show can truly enjoy. Otherwise you’re running around with characters you’ve only just met while they all speak as if they’ve been through hell and back already – when they’re actually still in it.

Combat is most of the title’s actual gameplay, and it’s hard to expect anything otherwise. But when special attacks are enough to kill the majority of creatures in one go, auto-attacking (while blowing the energy you use to dodge) when you’re out of mana in a longer fight hardly helps to make the already repetitive motion of fighting any easier to endure.

It doesn’t matter where you decide to spend your skill points when each weapon type feels nearly identical to the last with no clear bonuses or consequences to follow whichever you chose. While it seems interesting and deep at the start to switch out and time your special attacks with your partner, after grinding menial amount of mobs – and often taking 6+ at a time without breaking a sweat – it’s difficult to feel as if the world of Sword Art Online was even designed to “kill” anyone from the start. It’s a shame, really, when you’re pulling off double digit sword swings with the single push of a button.

You’ll be waltzing through hours of content without putting any thought into what started off as a game of life and death. Almost like walking down into an alley of gun-totting hooligans on your way home from work and sitting down in your lounge with a hot chocolate 5 minutes later watching another hilarious episode of The Middle.

Floor after floor feels like a slightly fleshed out dungeon crawler experience with a ‘Floor Boss’ waiting at the end of each labyrinth. You’ll take one of the series’ more prominent female leads out into the wilderness to fight your way through a few screens of caves, forests and mazes before turning back at the grand monster’s den while you “Discuss” the tactics you’ve learning by completing three prerequisite tasks out in the field. Half the time, you’re barely being hit at all, and when you do, the auto-regeneration soaks up most of the pain before you take another scorpion tail to the face – most of which are really not hard to avoid in the first place.

The fact that the entire package launched across the world not even a year after the Japanese release begs the question of just how committed Namco Bandai were to throwing a bone for the itching fans across the pond. And while many will be thankful for the speedy delivery, it wasn’t without some consequence; that being that incredibly questionable translation job that seems to be a carbon copy of shoddy English script included within the original Japanese release. Again, not the best way to deliver it to the fans, but perhaps it was a rushed affair to ‘get it while it’s hot’ during the airing of the second anime season. It’s surely not a brilliant business plan, but it’s hardly plagued with fragments of Japanese kanji.

Sword Art Online puts itself into a tricky situation; and that’s not entirely the fault of the game. Those are hard shoulders to stand on. Namco Bandai took up the challenge of converting something that already felt like a game – something that felt should have been a game – and turn it into one. Sounds easy enough, right? Evidently not. Without the feeling of your own demise looming over you, it’s hard to capture the sense of panic and emotion that fuelled some of the show’s more impressive segments.

The battle system attempts to mimic that of a robust MMO but comes across as cluttered, repetitive and sluggish and the game’s actual rinse-and-repeat progression method does little to set itself apart. But that won’t stop serious SAO fans from getting a kick from interacting with their favorite on-screen personas. Namco Bandai seemingly forgot to think about how serious virtual reality would change how MMOs work and, instead, opted to take the lazy route by having the game feel like the done-to-death genre that the anime series itself avoided entirely. It’s a nice treat for the series fans, but nothing anyone else should even give a glancing blow.

ViewSonic VX2363Smhl 1080p Monitor Review

When offered to review one of ViewSonic’s newest IPS panel monitors, I was a little reluctant to how I’d actually go about dishing out my verdict. I’m certainly no expert on the intricate details of a display, but after just over a week with the VX2363Smhl occupying the space formally taken by my ageing 19″ LCD panel, I knew my old friend would never grace the left side of my main display ever again.

It’s just on the right side, now.

The ViewSonic VX2363Smhl is actually a member of the series that replaced my current main display on the market – a 27″ ViewSonic LED/IPS panel – and the main reason why I chose it in the first place. The bridge between it being discontinued and actually replaced by the new VX series made it far cheaper than any other 27″ screen at the time; so it was strange to see its killer shimmy up beside it a couple months down the line.

Now, being a PC gamer through and through, there’s a lot to consider when buying a new monitor. Areas like refresh rate, quantity of input ports and colour reproduction used to be the norm. But now, as we’ve quickly shifted from CRT displays to LCD, LED, OLED and so on, stable values have changed so much that it’s become a real struggle to find the screen that’s going to best suit your needs. Whether you’re planning on putting it to work on Counter Strike for 10 hours a day or just sit there beaming the newest episodes of GameGrumps into your peripheral vision, there’s a lot of complicated comparisons to gauge your decision. And most of those don’t really mean a thing for the majority of us.

The ViewSonic VX2363Smhl has spend the better part of the last week exactly how I described. With it being a smaller display than my stationary 27″ panel, it’s spent most of its time as a dedicated window to Google Chrome, an active map feed while I play Battlefield 4 or to display vital build order references or StarCraft II or League of Legends – and such a task, while sounding trivial as best, has actually made me appreciate the little details of the screen’s bells and whistles. Exactly the kind I didn’t expect to be writing about at all.

Take the Blue Light Filter for example. I’d begun to notice minor headaches and patchy bouts of eye strain for months while using my standard 27″ panel. An issue I just boiled down to the fact that I spend a heck of a lot of time in-front of my screens. Oddly enough, I noticed my eyes didn’t strain as much in the quick instances that I glanced over to the VX2363Smhl to scroll through social network feeds or catch up on the Pokémon World Championships. It was like a sudden relief every time I shifted over in-between Deathmatch rounds.

Without even thinking about it I’d feel noticeably more reluctant to look back to my centre screen knowing full well I’d be hit by a minor discomfort in a split second. The idea being the filter limits the apparent blue-ish glow given off by most modern displays that’s been linked to similar complaints. It’s one of the things I’d usually mistake for big-mouthed marketing tactics; but, combined with the screen’s “Flicker Free” bonus, I’m certain there’s something going on behind the scenes that sets it apart from its older brother sitting on its podium in the centre of my workspace.

There’s a lot of good in the VX2363Smhl; 2 HDMI ports (that can easily be expanded with a cheap switch) with single button input swap, VGA input with a Line-In socket to put those built-in speakers to use and a very cheap price for a flat bezel 1080p display.

While the spec sheet mentions a standard refresh rate of 60Hz, those willing to mess around with some settings in their GPU tools can push this to around 80Hz without issue – while nudging the 1920 x 1080 resolution up to a whopping 2560 x 1440 with admittedly blurry results. It isn’t a viable tune-up, but it’s good to know that it tries harder than most screens I’ve used. If the 50M:1 MEGA Dynamic Contrast Ratio means anything to you, then that’s just great. It’s a value I can’t really put to the test without professional equipment.

While my old LCD display may certainly be marginally brighter, it’s hard to fault the ViewSonic‘s ability to produce a soft, clean and crisp image. The IPS panels give an insane amount of coverage on hard angles (up to 170 degrees) and, paired with the flat, black screen bezel, future surround setups come without worry. Cleaning the glare-free screen isn’t going to leave annoying bits of dust trapped between the glossy white frame, either.

While it’s hard to review a monitor with a standard scoring system, I can say this; the ViewSonic VX2363Smhl is an absolute joy to use. While the glossy white plastic finish might not be to everyone’s tastes, you can’t fault the clarity of the panel’s end result. Sharp images, plenty of versatilely for your PC, consoles and phone, and a high quality Full HD 23″ IPS panel for a great price. This is a superb monitor for anyone – and a bonus to those looking for a cheaper way into triple-screen gaming.

Wolfenstein: The New Order Review

Wolfenstein; a series known far and wide across multiple generations for effectively spitting in the face of the axis power of World War II. Since 1992 the game has drawn likeness and inspiration from the ever-popular DOOM series while finding time to convey a tale of Nazi reign both seriously and not-so-much at the same time – and Wolfenstein: The New Order carries on the legacy just fine.

While I came into this review not knowing the Wolfenstein games had been following a strict timeline since Wolfenstein 3D. William ‘BJ’ Blazkowicz returns after countless near death experiences at the hands of the Nazi regime still in one piece and ready to try his luck at the war effort all over again – probably in a bid to personify the all American hero, he’s been at it so long it’d be criminal not to have him at the helm.

A short, but sweet, story unfolds taking place not long after the events of the last game. With ‘Deathshead’ still at large from events in nearly every Wolfenstein release since the 1990’s, it’s time to bring the fight to him once again.

Leading your men through early cinematic cutscenes, it’s not long before you’re forced to bow down to the crazy scientist’s orders and effectively choose 1 of 2 timelines the rest of the game will follow. Whether this has any serious repercussions to in-game events (like additional stages etc) wasn’t up for testing for this review – but the likely scenario is it probably only altering specific lines of dialogue and opening up a few different upgrades and pathing choices through otherwise locked doors other little secrets.

Blazkowicz, being as resilient as Tom Hardy’s character in Lawless, efficiently fights through location after location of nazi-controlled cities while having a reunited resistence troupe abuse his stopping power and bullet-proof pecks enough to rob the German’s of boats, helicopters and some increasingly impressive weapons wielding some serious destructive power. While mostly farfetched in terms of general plot line, Wolfenstein is a series best noted for not taking itself too seriously.

Satisfaction lies in the twisted weaving of the old-time myths of Hitler’s secret scientific operations to a point where we get to witness – and decimate – an evil dictator’s fabled dream in an alternate reality where such advancements were enough to have the third reich practically enslave the world; only to have it tripped up countless times by someone’s unwillingness to finish the job whenever they’ve had Blazkowicz cornered like a dog.

Wolfenstein: The New Order seems to pull most of what it does best straight from the 2001 entry in the series – Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Rarely leaving you to babysit a team of shoddy AI allies, it brings back the solo-play of older shooters – leaving you to go at your own pace and soak up the glory by felling hundreds of enemies by your own hand.

Even while your equipment may stripped from your body on multiple occasions, you’re still packing a dozen or so weapons – including a metal-cutting laser rifle – that’ll have you blasting through rooms like Rambo with akimbo assault rifles with not much less gore. Those who like the covert approach will take refuge in the simple gut-slicing executions, silenced pistols and multitudes of hidden pathways to abuse the poor visibility of helmed SS guards.

Sound direction seemingly takes a back seat on this one with musical composition being near inaudible (or just incredible forgettable) leaving the screams of nazi soldiers, gun fire, tesla explosions and heavily accented voice work to fill your ears.

There’s no solidly repeating soundtrack to bring in those with fond memories of ‘RtCW‘ (like myself) and, on another note, vastly different ideas of Catacombs when compared to that particular game. Which is a shame. But plenty of cinematic action moments and a cast that doesn’t attempt to pull the story on the shoulders of many makes Wolfenstein: The New Order feel like the sequel the 2009 entry should have been. Worthy in nearly every respect.

It has to be said right off the bat that Wolfenstein: The New Order improves on Wolfenstein (2009) in every way imaginable. While the poor choice in game engine paves the way for a whole host of technical issues from, it’s hard to deny that the simplistic stealth elements and old-school, fast-paced run n’ gun action makes for 16 chapters of memorable shoot-em-up bliss with a heavy dosage of blood splatter and mech blasting to have me pop in my old Hard Reset disk just to keep up the momentum. Or maybe I’ll just play that second timeline. That’s probably best. There’s still a lot of extra Nazi paraphernalia for me to pillage.

Steins;Gate Review (PC Visual Novel)

While first conceived as a visual novel back in 2010, the world outside Japan only got its first glimpse through the twisted time tunnels of Steins;Gate when Crunchyroll began to simulcast the critically acclaimed anime adaptation.

After two years of waiting – and fighting off ‘illegal’ fan translation patches – JAST USA has finally managed to bear the fruit of their labours as they deliver the original Steins;Gate experience in its final form.

The story of the Steins;Gate is a long and treacherous one. 40+ hours of sci-fi brain melting, to put a number to it. A sum of hours not too daring when it comes to the ill-forgotten genre of the Eastern world, but an amount usually reserved for RPGs and addictive puzzle and/or social games that attempt to absorb your own soul in the process.

Being a ‘game’ within a book, Steins;Gate takes the route of spinning its tale with heaps more visual aids than if it were a book. Each line of the title’s massive script is fully voiced by the original Japanese cast, with no forced upon – or even available – English vocal-track ready to cause a pitchfork-wielding mob to stir from within the fanbase.

While it’s fair to point out many of the main character’s inner monologues and narration remains un-spoken, general chitchat between the complex and varied cast of characters remains in place. Sure, it may be difficult for an Englishman to detect and applaud the readings of a different language, but the sheer amount of quirky personalities and unnatural tones/phrases Japanese voice-actors are expected to cover more or less assures me they’re doing the job well. I’m not Japanese, but hearing their language and reading to understand makes it feel like maybe I am!

Focusing around the unfortunate turn of events targeting Okabe Rintaro, his ‘Lab mems’ and the unusual range of cast members introduced along the way; you’re placed into a 2010 rendition of Japan through the eyes of the self-proclaimed ‘Mad scientist’ who spends his days working on unusual scientific experiments. During the opening chapter, you’re quickly brought among the long streak of mysteries lining the game’s whole narrative outside of its otaku tones, terms and stereotypes. Sure, you’ll have the spaced-out, innocent girls and pervy men, but it’s still mostly about the science at play and a phone-equipped microwave oven.

And that very same science is what makes Steins;Gate such an engrossing tale. Kicking off by gate crashing important lectures, seeing a girl face first in her own blood and witnessing a satellite burying itself into the building you stood in not 2 minutes ago is all the excitement you really need to have you clicking through hours upon hours of in-game text.

Beyond that lies conspiracy theories, embarrassingly accurate representations of 4chan threads and microwaved bananas all in one incredibly long read. Of course, there’s a lot more plot to follow in a story revolving around time travel and the S(C)ERN supercollider; so much so that I couldn’t get anywhere near the end by the time of this review. And with the solid amount of effort needed to reach each of the game’s multiple endings means you’ll be waiting on the consistent spamming of in-game emails and carefully selecting how to reply – if at all – as each of a single message’s multiple responses alter the flow and direction of the in-game events.

At the end of the day, the script, visuals, game design and all other manner of Steins;Gate‘s being is the pure handiwork of Nitro+ and 5pb themselves; while JAST USA merely went through the trouble of translating and adapting thousands of lines of in-game text to an legible combination of the Latin alphabet.

While I noted numerous formatting errors in the regrettably short amount of time I spent frying my brain with the concept of time travel, they’re certainly not dire or consistent enough to draw much attention away from the end product. The small team over at JAST USA have undeniable dumped their entire reserves of attention and effort into delivering unto us (again) what Japan would not. That’s worth a round, right? This review is hardly mistake free, after all.

Demon Gaze Review (PSVita)

Dungeon crawlers are nothing new, but they’ve been a steady staple in RPG gaming for decades now. Reigning from the table-top days of Dungeons & Dragons, geeks like ourselves have taken time out of our lives to willingly enter dungeons crawling with the worst our imaginations had to offer – and even well into 2014, we continue to do so; to the extent of venturing through a labyrinth concocted by some workaday Japanese developers.

Demon Gaze – reserved exclusively for the PS Vita – is another take on the long-lived genre. Bringing appealing anime-like art and a tale that’s bound to throw some spanners into the works of your preconceptions, it does things a little differently to some other dungeon crawlers; but nothing too out of the ordinary.

While you’re welcome to choose between 40+ avatars when creating your in-game persona, you’re bound by the game’s text to forever be referred to as a human male. While not a huge problem by any stretch of the imagination; those hard-core enough to take their role-playing seriously will be knocked out of their immersed state on the odd occasion in this colourful, yet oddly dismal, world.

By promise, Demon Gaze is a simple enough affair. You’re found shambling around a prison-like maze and brought to the ‘Dragon Princess Inn’ – a safe haven for the hunters and merchants living under the roof of its straight-talking manager. While there, you’re tutored a tested by the building’s retired ‘Demon Gazer’; a woman who utilizes the same Demon-controlling prowess as your own. Hearing of the story of the demon that toppled her run as as the manager’s go-to gal, you’re requested to fill in for her to try to achieve what she couldn’t.

Having captured the demon residing in the game’s tutorial maze, you’re given dominion over the creature – a high-pitched little girl donning a wizard hat – and sent on your way to carry on the mission for whatever reason the inn’s manager needs to see resolved.

You’ll venture through a number of different settings and scenes accessed through the world map upon exiting the inn’s 3-tier menu-based; forests, swamps, ruined towns and eerie graveyards all play host to a multitude of static-image enemies that gladly never lack detail in pure looks. Sometimes coming in on their own, and sometimes in droves, there’s no real pattern to when or what shows up – meaning even if the last fight did little to stop your 4-man squad and demon, the next fight could very well be your last.

Fights play out in fairly standard procedure with a maximum of 5 party members (yourself included) setting out into the wild at any one time. Choosing from the usual array of classes, you’ll likely want to set up a balanced group of damage, tank, heal and support all lined up on their preferred row to carry out their duty.

Melee attackers and damage walls tend to reside on the front lines ready to receive – and provide – back-up from the helping hands on the back row. Attacks are chosen and used on a turn-based system with yourself having the extra ability to summon one of the many boss monster demons you’ll come to capture in each zone and you annex the ‘circles’ dotted around their abode.

Demon Gaze sometimes feels a little like a certain well-loved monster capture/battle game in terms of progression. You’re constantly entering and exiting a zone after having a look around; treading new ground with each visit.

Essentially grinding your way through each area, your main task is locating a number of ‘circles’ that spurt out monsters who drop items based on the ‘gems’ offered in ritual. Once enough circles have been capture, you’ll find the area’s ‘Demon’ flying out of the next and eventually coming to rest in a static area of the map ready to go head-to-head before being captured for use in your set-up.

Each offers both active and passive abilities that can either aid in battle, or used to open up paths to another demon’s lair. Between that, there’s plenty of Notice Board level errands to undertake, and treasure maps to chase after. While certain aspects of the game’s purpose lack proper instruction and direction, there’s not really much to complain about when it all fits together so fluidly.

Demon Gaze appears to know that it doesn’t stray far from a very old formula. Perks like Auto-pilot and Speed-up takes the edge off the repetitive task of traversing old ground and fighting packs of weak enemies – meaning there’s more time to fight the meaningful battles and less time being spent on walking all the way back to the spot that proved a little too tough after the first 5 struggles.

 

It’s clear the game’s perks lie in its level of battle tactics, seemingly luck-of-the-draw demon system and the story’s enjoyable cast. And while the music seems to fall a little flat, it certainly manages to wedge itself into that mysteriously uncontrollable whistle gland and doesn’t budge until forced by another track. Demon Gaze is a welcome addition for those looking for a trip back to the days of turn-based combat; and offers enough subtle differences, enjoyable – yet sometimes explicit – tales and vivid artwork to put your PS Vita back into the grasp of your hands.

Diablo III : Reaper of Souls Review

After the undeniably catastrophic launch of Diablo III thanks to Blizzard’s notion of having an always-on platform – their once legendary product has spent the last year and a half of its lifetime being constantly tweaked and twisted into the game that many expecting it to be from the get-go.

Taking place directly after the end of the base game, your hero – still not breaking a sweat after that whole cross-country ordeal – is sent to a Westmarch under siege by the hooded angel and his new-found power. While your last trek through (name) carried you through 4 ‘Acts’ of tall tales, bone crushing and obvious plot twists, the aptly named ‘Reaper of Souls’ clearly didn’t think his plan through as much as we’d hoped as the story’s continuation spans a measly single ‘Act’ – Act V.

While the story of such cold, big-headed threat only lasts a single 1-2 hour campaign, it’s undeniably the strongest of the game so far. The narrative may still lack any serious fleshing out when thrown under the same light as Blizzard’s other franchises, but its rapidly changing scenery joins well with a strangely classical soundtrack that wasn’t really noted in the base game.

Now, of course, an expansion back is never just a single allotment of content – but spread across a few different ideas – and Reaper of Souls is no different. Just like how a Starcraft expansion brings changes to both single and multiplayer aspects of the game, this fleshes out the campaign a tiny bit more while finally adding what Blizzard expect you to call ‘End Game’ content to the mix in ‘Adventure Mode’.

Adventure Mode unlocks the moment you complete the new story quests; opening the world up for you to explore. You’re sent back over to Tyreal – the fallen angel – and given the freedom to tackle ‘bounties’ – most of which end up being quick transportation to past areas of the game’s campaign and tasked with killing either a rare monster or a boss you’re faced before.

There’s a little more to it, however, as completing 5 bounties in the area of a particular ‘Act’ will net you 5 keystone fragments used to unlock a ‘Nefilim Rift’ – a huge, randomly generated dungeon that won’t let up until you’ve fought against its forces long enough to draw out some fairly unique boss-style monsters. It certainly beats repeating the story each and every time you want to dabble in some demon slaying.

With the level cap raised from 60 to 70, you’ll likely need to run the Reaper of Souls story act more than once to reach the new limit before deciding whether you’ll bother joining the endless gear hunt Diablo players have been enjoying since the 90’s.

The extra 10 levels brought into the game mean 10 more reasons fight the undead and 10 more opportunities to grow stronger and fine-tune the attack rotation that you enjoy the most.

Sadly, however, it doesn’t change much with the thought of additional skills, but the minor tweaking of the already existing set.

Each class has been given a single new attack to dabble in – and one that seems to have become, as expected, a staple move in everyone’s move-set after reaching Level 61, but they seem to be moves that warrant the thought of restructuring your character’s move-pool with their actions. A welcome change, for sure.

The adaptive Loot system and dynamic difficulty can still be seen and enjoyed without the need to throw more money at Blizzard and is a lot like how the game should have been from the beginning. Whether that’ll be enough to coax you over to Reaper of Souls is up to you; but with a tiny campaign addition, a single new class, limited window for change and an Adventure Mode that should have come as a free update, Reaper of Souls feels more like a modern day single digit DLC than an expansion pack that came too late and came at the same cost as the base game.

Diablo III is still suffering teething pains, it seems.

History of a Hero : Shantotto

While not exactly the more pure hearted hero in the land, you can’t argue that Shantotto has left a rather huge scorch  mark on the Final Fantasy world despite her being relatively unknown to the non-core fanbase.

First appearing in Square’s original MMO entry – Final Fantasy XI – Shantotto made such a huge impact with her iconic cackle and threatening rhymes that it more than likely spawned a few anime-styled impersonations in her home country.

While her brilliant talent for making poems out of everyday conversation on a whim stands as a common trait of her miniature face, her extreme potency in the magical arts are what set her apart in the realm of Vana’diel from the start – and without that, she wouldn’t have gathered this much attention.

Despite her looks and stature being the norm for a TaruTaru like herself, Shantotto is seen almost as an elder by her comrades partly due to her sage-like aptitude in the dark arts, but also because of her age being rather uncommon in others of her kind.

As a hero of the original Crystal War often referenced in Final Fantasy XI, she certainly does hold the hero status recognised by this series – but that doesn’t mean she’s without issue! Shantotto herself has managed to cause a number of stirs in the past with only her own arrogance to blame. Often enough, her big-headed personality has interrupted her actions whether she fought a fight with her allies or set out to do a favor for another. With the belief that she’s a far stronger Black Mage than the rest of her realms denizens, she’ll outright refuse to take part in anything she deems unworthy of her time – although she has proven herself to be an incredibly loyal ally should the need truly present itself to her high-class personality.

Dwelling in the Federation of Windurst, Shantotto’s time is often spent attempting to better herself through the study of anything she doesn’t yet understand. While adamant in the thought of being all powerful, the cunning pint-sized hero never seems to stop in her journey to find someone, or something, better than herself and spend every waking moment using said situation to broaden her horizon.

It’s unknown whether Shantotto’s brash personality is merely a facade to deal with the unwanted attention of being such an in-demand hero of the world. Perhaps, underneath her rough exterior, despite her likeness to eject herself from any unworthy feud, she puts her time to better use attempting to grow stronger with the idea of being a more valuable asset to her world should the time present itself!

While spending most of her retirement following the her vital role in the Battle of Windurst, time growing her own repertoire of spells, Shantotto has been known to venture out just a little bit further than the rest of her comrades with the odd dimensional travel never being completely off the table. Having more time to devote to other things, she runs a open-ended store selling cursed trinkets and magical services to those in need. After stepping in through her own methods during the long-standing Vana’diel campaigns, she would eventually go on to nearly break apart the world through her own power.

Conjuring up the ability to traverse dimensions, she became stuck in an alternate world leaving her otherworldly clone to travel to her own and split into a ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ version of herself hell bent on utilizing her knowledge of curses to turn everyone into more versions of herself – leaving the real Shantotto to resolve the problem her own error caused.

Shantotto’s popularity and over-arching story helped to project her well-known status across to other Final Fantasy universes without much need to think about a continuum. Having jumped ship both of Square’s ‘all-star brawler’ titles – Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy – her need to learn from those higher than herself came around full-circle when she met Cosmos – the Goddess of Harmony – in the world that pit herself and many other series veterans against each other in a battle royale. Shantotto stood as a loyal minion of Cosmos until eventually resigning to return to her studies.

Eventually returning in both of Square’s newest MMORPGs – Dragon Quest X and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn –  for their respective anniversaries, it’s easy enough to believe that she’s ran out of patience waiting for her own world to produce anything better that herself taking it upon herself to track down new and exciting tests on her own accord. And with Final Fantasy XIV producer, Naoki Yoshida, stating her storyline was left open for a reason, it’s to be believed that leaving Vana’diel behind may become a permanent decision for her. Her image has represented Final Fantasy XI‘s legacy for so long now that it begs to perhaps be the main reason to see her jump ship and become one of Square’s more prominent mascots.

Who knows when she’ll make her next appearance, but whenever that scenario presents itself; remember to stay clear of her bad side. She’s proficient in the art of setting your garments alight.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution Review

Last year had a certain surprise in store for me. A certain long-standing manga series that I’d devoted one long summer to reading was to get another big-budget game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Though the orange-clad Ninja had starred in dozens of games already, this was the first time I’d have both the opportunity and the willingness to brave a genre that often never quite lives up to the original content. Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 happily proved me wrong – at least somewhat – so I came into the sequel to the game – Revolution – expect well… a revolution.

Now, for those who don’t know, Naruto is a decade old shonen manga/anime series that has since become one of the, if not the, most recognisable Japanese series of its kind worldwide. Telling a long tale about a bullied boy’s struggle to find his place in a world built on war and combat, Naruto overcomes a lot of internal struggles to aid a place that was nothing but cruel to him growing up. There’s lots of fighting, and there’s lots of feelings. A constant balance of the two are what has kept the series running strong for so long. And the last game pulled all the right notes to keep that momentum flowing.

Rather than the 10+ adventure mode included in UNS3. The mode that had you fighting near-impossible battles through the the later-half of the Shippuden story. Instead, we get a an hour’s worth of “Ninja Escapades”. 2 tiny chapters of anime sequences with a few battles inbetween and a third and final anime short disguising itself as one last fraction of the adventure mode I expected to find when booting up the game.

The best part of the last game was the fact that whether or not you see yourself as a fan of fighting games, you could go straight into the story and find a fairly simple beat em’ up system joined onto a small, but effecting excuse to immerse yourself in the colourful world of Masashi Kishimoto’s ninja universe. You don’t get that here. Not to that same degree, anyway.

Just like all the times before, battles within the Ultimate Ninja series are conducted in a 3D space. Making use of simple B button combos, grabs, substitutions and items you chip away at your opponent’s health while finding the perfect time to build up, trigger and release special Chakra powered jutsu and tricks.

In all honestly, it feels a little like how Ryu Hayabusa would play Dead or Alive if they didn’t have to tone him down for the rest of the crew. It’s a system that, while fairly simple, keeps things interesting with its pacing and amount of character’s available. It doesn’t take a professional to figure it out, but it feels just as rewarding to pull off.

Thankfully, not much has changed with this version of the game other than the removal of combo cancellations. A move that will hurt those who see themselves as ‘professionals’ in the field, but it’s another step to keeping the game accessible to the core Naruto fanbase. Other than that, you’ll notice the main segment of the game asks you to switch three play-styles upon entering an online fight – the ability to use Ultimate Jutsu, ‘Support Characters’ and ‘Awakening’ boils down to selecting a single style and cancelling out the rest.

Once you’re done with the Ninja Escapades, now’s about the right time to delve into the Ninja World Tournament. A self-explanatory mode that while does offer hints of exploration and character interaction, it’s merely a small hub of menial sidequests to blow some time between rounds of 4-on-4 battles with and against a roster of your choosing.

You’ll pick your main character and then stroll the island to recruit familiar faces into your squad through the D to S rank tournament. Rather than straight up deathmatches, however, you’ll be fighting against 3 others in a free-for-all battle to reap ‘orbs’ from the other fighters. Reduce their orbs to 0 and give them one final punch to knock them out of the round. Accumulate the most before the timer ends and you’ll move up the ranks. It’s a quick-fire method of getting straight into the action, but it’s still a far cry from the adventure mode of the last game.

Overall, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution is by no means a worthy follow-up to last year’s release. The full-price game feels like a small fraction of its predecessor was stripped back and sold with a few more anime sequences thrown in for good measure. The two worthy ‘Ninja Escapades’ could have easily sufficed as substitutions to the missing Adventure Mode should they have just been expanded on a little, but it seems all the time and effort was dumped into the simplistic tournament mode with some extra bells and whistles. Don’t go into this expected to fight world-changing battles.

Joe Danger Infinity Review (iPad)

After building the Joe Danger series from the group up through the perilous tunnels and tubes of Microsoft’s lack-lustre Xbox Live Arcade sub-platform and Sony’s PSN, Hello Games made a smart choice in transitioning over to the ever-growing space of mobile gaming. And it paid off. Shifting more units then the entire series had managed on consoles Hello Games struck gold through Joe Danger’s journey to the other side; and fans only clamored for more. So here’s a late christmas present!

Despite the group’s shock reveal of the show-stealing No Man’s Sky at GameTrailer’s VGX award ceremony toward the end of the year, Hello Game’s preserved through the flooding of their offices on Christmas Eve long enough to finish up work on Joe Danger Infinity to appease their mobile fans.

Joe Danger Infinity landed right on schedule roughly 1-year after the release of Joe Danger Touch ready to ease the qualms of the mobile market’s yearning for more ridiculous leaps of Evel Knievel style daredevil antics; but when is too much of a good thing a bad thing? Apparently not now.

The mobile variants of Joe Danger’s escapades do not necessarily mirror those of his console counterpart. Presumably hitting it big-time during Joe Danger 2: The Movie, the adrenaline junkie leapt head-first into merchandising his work creating a line of action figure characters and props for a sort of “Do it yourself” series of toys — with each new “Tour” taking place in a scaled representation of a household bedroom, bathroom or fancy game room for you rich types reminiscent of the Chibi Robo or Micro Machines franchises.

If you were one of the many who pressured the guys over at Hello Games to deliver more stages to your mobile stunt mayhem, rest assured your year of wait did not go to waste; Joe Danger Infinity throws up a staggering 17 tours of varying lengths with a “Coming Soon” splash at the very end of the selection menu indicated more to come. Without loading up the calculator or doing any kind of mental multiplication, that’s well over 60+ brand new stages for you to fall flat on your cheeks throughout.

Those new to the world of Joe Danger (like me) will probably be coming into this with absolutely no idea as to what to expect. Well, if the “Danger” tag and mention of “Stunt mayhem” didn’t tip you off — it’s a stylised take on daredevil jumps with each stage bringing together a gauntlet of increasing entertainment value and promise of failure; a godsend for those who took pride in ditching school work in favor of slamming a biker’s head into a loop-de-loop on a famous Miniclip game that made it big.

Control schemes are usually the be-all and end-all point of hostility toward a mobile game — especially when the series in question first spawned through the use of a controller. And while the transition isn’t usually a smooth one, Joe’s already had the time to reflect upon life’s little gear grinds and thought ahead to the matter, spun his wheel on its face and drove off into the sunset.

Those with the natural reaction to fear covering the action with their sweaty palms need not worry as Joe Danger’s methods revolve around quick and timely reactions rather than precise control; a sequence of quick jabs, swipes or holds tends to be the only input required by the player to have their character of choice traverse the death-defying chain of events exploding in the foreground while you mop up after them in the background.

And what exactly do I mean by that? Easy! You’ll be tapping all over the screen collecting the coins blasting from cannons or falling into a spike pit after switching attention to a UFO darting across the screen or a Gumball token that just didn’t want to come along for the ride — there’s plenty of moments that’ll have you wiping your brow after a job well done only to have you voluntarily hit the retry button because your score was dismally below that of Bill from accounting and his score boosting Golden Joe Danger and his Duckbike Platypus.

Though the scoring system tends to make little sense at the start of the game, you’ll begin to climb higher and higher up the boards once you start unlocking the winning combinations of characters and vehicles while paying attention to the dozens of collectibles flying past the screen.

Sure, charging through the oil slicks and spikes on your rocket propelled projectile may be useful in theory — but getting the King to ride a tank and perform reverse somersaults in the air while blasting down a unidentified flying object is certainly something a crowd of a 7-year old boy’s school chums would appreciate more in the long run. Make that happen and you’ll soon see your name up in lights on that non-illuminated score board before Sean Murray knocks you back down to where you belong.

Despite Joe Danger Infinity and its tendency to hold your hand whether you like it or not, the sheer amount of content and dedication put into the game’s overall feel screams that of a group who, despite being in the wake of sky-rocketing popularity and being literally washed away, Hello Games certainly split their incredibly limited resources well enough to forge both a game of stellar charm and personality alongside a show-stealing surprise at the same time. And I guess the success of one will quite possibly rub off on the other in due time.

Tengami Review (iPad)

Scribed as a Zen-like adventure puzzle tale, Tengami – set in a stylised pop-up book rendition of a feudal Japanese landscape – draws many of its visual and audio cues from the sights and sounds of Japan’s heritage. Starting in what seems like a dream state, you wake up in what you’d normally consider the deep-end of a game. No real introduction, tutorial or explanation. You’re just slotted into the painted world with your papercraft man and the ambient tunes of the bygone era to keep you company across the season-spanning pages of Tengami’s world.

I’m sure you can all remember exactly how a pop-up book works. There’s little need for reading when a “Picture tells a thousand words” proverb comes full circle. And when you can turn that picture into another, by turning the page or tugging a sheet of paper’s carefully crafted origami insert, you’re left with another piece of that tall tale. Travelling across the pages, and turning back folds of paper, often solves one part of a puzzle while throwing down a new set of challenges ahead of you.

The premise to Tengami is simple enough. A cherry tree has lost it’s blossoms. And, this being Japan, known these days for the “Sakura” petals that are hailed as signifying the beginning of Spring, gives you enough of a culturally-relevant reason to set off on a picture-book journey across the four seasons to recover – what is essentially – the life force of the tree, itself. But it isn’t just a simple walk in a Japanese park as you’ll quickly reach the unreachable. Bridges with no connection, waters that need to be tamed, and locks that need to be twisted. When a quick folding of the paper isn’t enough to cut it, patterns and clues will start to lead the way to the next piece of that poor tree’s livelihood.

Travelling across the 2.5D landscape with your 2D paper Nippon warrior is simply done by double tapping the location you wish to move to. This, handily, leaves the warrior with a waypoint on which to auto-map his journey. Sadly, mostly due to the camera and/or the character’s reluctance to pick up the pace when walking or due to slow screen-panning, you’re left with a arduously long walk. Plenty of times I found myself having to double tap every second or so to keep in line with the game’s slow pace. Even though Tengami does pen itself as a zen-like relaxing frolic, it’s pace doesn’t necessarily give off that same desired vibe.

The character’s movements as a whole seem more suited to a stalking ninja who look just about ready to draw a blade at any given moment. Alas, he never does. Nor should he. But it sure wouldn’t have surprised me if he swiftly gutted a runaway rat at cooked it on a beacon for a quick snack.

With four fragments of a troubled tree scattered throughout the pages of Tengami, you’re constantly moving forward. You’ll turn a page from the tree to land in a zone, venture forward, conquer its smart and often perplexing puzzles to nab the next cherry blossom, all before returning to the tree and flicking over into the next page of this watercolour story book.

There’s nothing to say just how this mysterious local is bending the world to his will; folding ledges over and flattening bridges on a whim. Nor is there any real reason to question it. You’d want an answer in a storybook for sure, yet, somehow, Tengami never begs the question. I was quite happy with my plans to bring Spring back to that tree – and maybe that’s just because I’d like for Spring to hurry up in the real world right now.

While Tengami may be a little too slow for myself to truly enjoy, those looking for a reason to turn off the TV and just appreciate the sights and sounds – along with some some light brain teasers – will most likely find some reason to see this through to the end. It isn’t a lengthy journey, by any stretch of the imagination – which is a good thing. Dear Esther managed to craft a beautifully immersive short story into a 90 minute wrapper, and Tengami looks to share that ambition.

While Tengami most certainly isn’t something to be fully enjoyed on bus or train, it’d benefit by being hooked up to your speaker system and enjoyed in the comfort of your own abode. And so, for that, it seems wise to hold out on the journey until the Wii U counterpart hits the waves.