This year’s PLAY Blackpool event starts in two weeks, starts a little more sensible than usual as the spiritual successor to ‘Sensible Soccer’, will make a world debut for the public. The game’s creator Jon Hare will be bringing ‘Sociable Soccer’ a fast paced, revival of the classic football title, to the show with a highly competitive tournament and plenty of Sociable Soccer swag to be won.
This new take on the genre will fully embrace the leap forward in technology since the release of Sensible Soccer over 20 years ago and will launch on PS4, Xbox One and PC with online multiplayer and 3D rendering with multiple camera angles to view the fast paced football action.
Those in attendance at the show will be able to play the game across both days with everyone being invited to take part in ongoing tournaments that will take place at the event. Competitors will choose from over 1,000 teams in 3 minute head to head matches to win Sociable Soccer swag. Jon Hare himself will be overseeing the finals of the tournament as well as taking part in a Q&A session on the Sunday to answer any and all questions from the public.
Jon has said of his latest title “We are delighted to give all of the attendants at PLAY Expo Blackpool a hands on sneak preview of Sociable Soccer, it really is the spiritual successor to Sensible Soccer… Super-fast football fun”
PLAY Blackpool takes place from 30th April – 1st May at the Norcalympia Exhibition Centre in Blackpool with fan favourite Smash Bros, Street Fighter V and Super Mario Kart tournaments as well as expert master classes from Sonic artist Duncan Gutteridge and Pac-Man world record holder Jon Stoodley.
Publisher astragon and the stillalive studios developer team have announced the release of the MAN Lion’s City A 47 M DLC for Bus Simulator 16 on Steam. In addition to the officially licensed MAN bus the first official extension will also offer three new decals, three ads as well as three brand new songs for the bus radio.
In Bus Simulator 16 the player slips into the role of a bus company owner in the city of Sunny Springs. Thanks to the new DLC he will not only have access to the 6 originally modeled city buses of the main game, but will also have the opportunity to sit behind the steering wheel of an officially licensed MAN Lion’s City A 47 M. This bus by the German bus and truck manufacturer MAN is a small and extremely maneuverable vehicle that every fan of the genre will be happy to add to their fleet.
In addition to the new bus, the DLC will also offer access to three new decals for the decoration of the player’s buses as well as three new ad banners. The ads will not only serve as a visual enhancement of the buses but also as an additional source of income for the bus company.
The official Bus Simulator 16: MAN Lion’s City A 47 M DLC is now available on Steam for £1.59/€1.99. The main game Bus Simulator 16 is available now for PC and Mac for £18.99/€24.99.
Get ready to explore a world full of severed limbs, nightmarish creatures and ruined villages: Independent video game developer Drinkbox Studios announced today that it is bringing the colourful and strange world of its highly anticipated action fantasy game Severed to the PlayStation Vita on 26th April for £11.99/€14.99 in Europe and $14.99 in North America.
In Severed players take control of a one-armed warrior named Sasha, wielding a living sword on her journey through a nightmare world in search of her family. Players use swipe-based touch controls to solve puzzles, find secrets and do battle with a host of disturbing monsters, including giant floating skull wizards and beasts made of crows. During the journey, players unlock new abilities, ascend an RPG-style upgrade tree and uncover the mysteries of the dark fantasy universe Sasha finds herself in.
“Since its initial release we’ve always loved the PS Vita, and we’re proud to be launching our third PS Vita game,” said Graham Smith, Co-Founder of Drinkbox Studios. “We’ve spent the last two years making Severed into the best experience possible, and we really hope people enjoy the game when it arrives.”
While Severed is still a few weeks away from release, the Original Soundtrack for the game, composed by the Juno nominated YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN with special guests Pantayo, is available for streaming / download today from right HERE.
RespawnEntertainmenthas just introducedTitanfall2.The game has its first teaser and confirmed to be released forPlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
With the worldwide full reveal at E3 this year on 12th June, the 45 seconds teaser they show a leg of a titan and it looks like it has some type of sword.
It’s been but a short two years since the arrival of Samurai Warriors 4 in 2014, the sequel, aptly named Samurai Warriors 4-II, was released a just year later. Empires, the spinoff to a sequel, lands less than six months afterwards. Whilst it does indeed focus on both tactics and strategies more than the other titles, are three games in the span of two years justified? Or are Tecmo Koei and Omega Force asking a little too much from their fans?
The focus on strategy has never been so prominent than in Empires. With only two playable modes, Conquest and Genesis, you’ll actually be looking at spending the best part of an hour before getting into the combat side of the game. Conquest is the games main campaign section and is likely where you’ll make your first venture. Instead of the heavily story (and historically) driven modes in both the previous titles and the Dynasty franchise, Empires focuses on smaller scale objectives which change depending on the clan you pick at the start. Some will want to unite certain provinces; others will simply be baying for the blood of their rivals.
Sadly, this does get old after a while
These shorter, more condensed, scenarios let you appreciate all the game has to offer, in a way that won’t take weeks of heavy grinding to accomplish. Whilst you can still go for complete military domination, it’s best to focus on your set goals above all else. Instead of the dry, myriad of menus from the past, the turn based side of the game is presented in an almost ‘dollhouse’ depiction. This is where you’ll (hopefully) take guidance from your advisors on what needs prioritising. Whereas you can of course ignore their sage council, it will in turn, reduce their effectiveness in the future. Not only that, but on the higher difficulties, you’ll want all the help you can get.
Implementing new policies, increasing your clan’s fame and trade potential; also unlocking new attack and defence stratagems does give Empires’ planning stages a certain whisper of the Total War series’ balancing act. During the pre-battle preparations, you’ve also got the option to change formations, assign positions and generally plan out your attack (or defence). It’s unfortunately a shame that the formations themselves carry such a high influence on the game. Without knowing what your enemy is doing, the rock, paper, scissors style formation management can often feel like it’s rarely based upon considered forethought, but instead by luck. Granted, if both you and your enemies’ forces are around the same size, it doesn’t matter too much. But if you’re already at a size disadvantage and the enemy ‘just happens’ to pick an effective formation, you’re likely to get steamrollered.
Customisation is fairly in-depth
Whilst the first enjoyably daunting hour or so is spent attempting to figure out the aspects of your militarised dollhouse, it sadly goes downhill from there. Swathes of identical enemies populate the screen bearing about as much threat as the environment itself. With the familiarity and repetition of the ‘musou’ genre setting in far too quickly, it’s hard to get excited about the actual gameplay aspect of the game. There’ll be a fairly constant ebb and flow to the map as you simultaneously attack and defend checkpoints that your AI partners can’t seem to handle by themselves. But once again, it comes down to running the entire operation by yourself. Your reticent clone army will eventually push up and ‘help’, but it comes across as more like an illusion of progress than anything meaningful.
The enemy generals will put up a reasonable fight, especially if you attempt to take them on without weakening their defences first, but there’s only so far you can stretch out mashing two buttons over and over again. There are some minor differences in combat such as the encouragement of counters and blocking, but it’s essentially still the same game you played all those years ago. You can command your officers to perform some simple attack and defend manoeuvres, but it’s not to be relied upon, and at the end of the day, victory will almost entirely be down to you alone.
The lack of a fully narrative experience might also put some off. The Conquest mode is great for telling many unique stories, but the absence of an overarching plotline is missed. The game’s other mode, Genesis, is similar but allows a lot more freedom and ingenuity. You can create your own Generals from the impressively deep creation screens and set up your own emergent stories instead. Whilst it can potentially make for some mismatched (and often hilarious) scenes, I found that it provided a much needed semblance of personality during my time with the game.
Probably the best parts of the game reside here
Graphically, you shouldn’t expect too much of a difference from any other title that shares the genre. Named and created characters look reasonably well detailed, but the restrictive environments and multitude of almost identical, uninspired enemy grunts, leaves a lot to be desired once again. Camera issues still exist when fighting near walls or impassable terrain, but it shouldn’t detract too much from the experience. The quaint, turn based sections of the game are home to some nice touches though, and even if they’re not spectacular, it’s still a nice change of scenery from that of unending menus from the past.
Fans of the ‘Warriors’ series will know what to expect from this entry, what with the ‘Empires’ addition denoting a different style of game from the main titles. Newcomers might struggle to see the difference between previous games in the series and this one, but it is there, albeit perhaps not warranting another full release however. The heavier focus on tactics and its corresponding turn based factors are enjoyable, even if for some reason, it comes at the expense of a fully fleshed narrative. Sadly, the aging and repetitive battle system no longer holds any thrills, and in a game where this is a mainstay, I can’t see myself coming back to it all too often.
We were kindly invited to an exclusive hands on preview of Overwatch where we were given a great look at the game’s Multiplayer modes and character roster. I had yet to play this title before but was captivated by its trailers and animated shorts, so was eager to finally play it. I have to say that I certainly enjoyed what I experienced!
Overwatch is a 6 Vs 6 team based FPS title which marks the first attempt at the genre from developer Blizzard, who have created a really enticing world and story. In a war torn world, all different types of hero were brought together to form an elite fighting team known as Overwatch. This international peacekeeping force soon restored balance to the world and were seen as heroes and legends who inspired innovation and discovery in the decades that followed. But their influence waned after so many years and the Overwatch force was disbanded and all went their separate ways but with a new threat rising to challenge the peace, it is time for Overwatch to return to protect the world once more.
The very first thing that grabbed me about this game is how amazing the world and the characters look on screen. With an art and visual style that could challenge a Disney Pixar animated film, Overwatch is just stunning to play and be immersed in its universe. The world is bright and colourful and each of the unique hero characters are just as vibrant and the global locations that they will do battle on. I love the character designs for each of the hero’s that make up the roster, each unique in their play style, abilities and looks.
As a big FPS fan I was intrigued to see that Overwatch has made some refreshing changes to traditional FPS game but also keeps the aspects that work well. There is no class system for the roster, instead the characters are placed into four groups based on their style with Offence, Defence, Support and Tank. This works really well when it comes to character selection as the game will advise you as a team that you may have too many of one group and not enough of another to help players form a more balanced team build.
For this preview we were able to pick characters from the 21 which will be available on launch, we were also told that more characters and Skins will be released post launch and will be made available for FREE as well, a very refreshing notion. We had three game modes to play; Escort, Assault and Control. Each would feature rounds where each team would either attack or defend before switching those roles in the next round.
Picking a character to try was hard going as they all looked so tantalising but opted to try out Reaper, Hanso and the huge Behemoth tank character Reinhardt in my first few matches. What was evident right from the start of each map was just how selecting the right hero for the right mode will be key to victory. As the huge tank Reinhardt who is simply a hulking man in a giant suit of armour and carries a hammer that would make Thor himself stop and take notice, I dived straight into the enemy team and started smashing my hammer to great effect but because I rushed off alone, I soon find myself taking the full brunt of the enemies attack. Working well add a team with solid strategy and communication will be key to success in Overwatch.
Hanso the archer is a solid ranged character with his bow and can unleash a high impact Ultimate move which sees him fire an arrow that turns into a giant two headed dragon that inflicts huge damage on enemies caught in its path. But I have to admit as the preview event went on, I found myself sticking to one particular character….Widow Maker!
You may recognise her from the recently released animated short ‘Alive’ which introduces both her as an enemy to Overwatch but also Tracer. Widow Maker is a sniper character and was so natural in her build to use. Each of the characters have a single weapon they use but have abilities which can be triggered using the two bumpers on the controller. For Widow Maker, using LB fires a grappling hook which enables her to reach high vantage positions to snipe targets from afar. On RB Widow Maker can throw a sticky gas grenade (as seen in the animated short) which can envelop enemies in its smoke and can be stuck to any surface. Her primary weapon works as a powerful assault rifle with the right trigger but will turn into a sniper rifle as its alternative mode with left trigger. I found her to be such a powerful all rounder that unlike the previous characters I tried, was immensely effective in all the game modes both in attack and defence. Her ultimate move, which builds up with enough kills, enables her high vision helmet which highlights all the enemy positions for a time. The best advantage of this is that your whole team will also be able to see the enemy.
I was absolutely surprised with Overwatch after not really knowing what to expect when going in. As its first entry into the FPS genre, Blizzard have truly hit the ground running and are on course to really shake up how a FPS game can be developed. It felt so refreshing but also satisfying to play that the two hours of the preview event simply flew past in no time at all. It had the speed and charm of a Team Fortress team shooter but brings in so many familiar aspects of FPS games that Overwatch is really a multi-layered game that will be great either as a solo experience but ever so rewarding if playing with friends.w
With a Beta scheduled for May 5th for those who have pre-ordered the game ahead of its May 24th release, Blizzard are all set to share Overwatch with the world. Learning how each character can work in a team with other characters is going to be a treat and a good change from simply picking the best load out of guns and perks and for me, its that element of feeling new and seeing the innovation in Overwatch that really placed this game firmly on my gaming radar.
I found the opening episode to this three part miniseries to be dull, repetitive of The Walking Dead story and a tired use of quick time events to break the monotony of a slow paced story. With ‘Give No Shelter’ serving as the middle chapter of the series, I was hoping for something to stand out and grab my attention. Sadly it only continued to disappoint and was an unenjoyable waste of just one hour of gaming time.
That is correct, it took just one hour to complete ‘Give no Shelter’ which has to be one of the shortest episodes of any TellTale Series I have played. I was taken back by just how quickly the achievements for completing each chapter were popping on my Telly screen. The first few chapters were made up of making player choices and some unexciting combat QTE sections which were quite frankly impossible to fail add Michonne and Pete try to escape the settlement ran by the brutal brother and sister team of Norma and Randall.
As Michonne is the focus of this miniseries, the choices the player will be asked to make will shape her character in the eyes of the player more than the other characters in the story, and ended up merely being black or white decisions. Though the story narrative does try to add some dramatic context to those choices overall you will either choose to let Michonne make a dark choice or try to give her a chance of redemption with a more light and humane choice. We do get to learn more about her past as the world fell into the zombie apocalypse, which has been the underlining story tease in revealing the traumatic event that Michonne is tormented by since episode one ‘In too Deep’, but with only an hour of gameplay, it is frustratingly used in ten minutes of flashback story telling.
I cannot escape the sensation that instead of a three part miniseries, Michonne could and should have been released as a single story experience. Episode one was dull and episode 2 is more dull and just too short. It would have been more enjoyable if it had been kept together as one spin off story told in the same style as the DLC ‘400 Days’ and has lost most of its story telling impact as a result of the split. Making it worse are the inexcusable drops in framerates and stuttering during cutscenes which is just poor forma TellTale title in 2016.
The Walking Dead – Michonne could and should be a more captivating telling of this fan favourite character’s story but after two rather weak episodes, it has been a squandered opportunity with a short story forced to be spread across three parts. The QTE sections are far too easy to be considered fun and the story takes too long to get to key points and far too quick to get the interesting character moments over with.
Episode three needs to deliver a big finish to salvage any positivity for me about this miniseries story experience. But sadly once again I find myself not enjoying this uninspired and poorly executed spin off that wastes the chance of doing something fresh with The Walking Dead universe and simply comes across as filler.
Get ready to go back to your favourite Turtles with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows out 30th May in the UK. With Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael return to cinemas this summer to battle bigger, badder villains, alongside April O’Neil (Megan Fox), Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett), and a newcomer: the hockey-masked vigilante Casey Jones (Stephen Amell).
After supervillain Shredder escapes custody, he joins forces with mad scientist Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) and two dimwitted henchmen, Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (WWE Superstar Stephen “Sheamus” Farrelly), to unleash a diabolical plan to take over the world. As the Turtles prepare to take on Shredder and his new crew, they find themselves facing an even greater evil with similar intentions: the notorious Krang.
