Kick & Fennick is a platform title developed by Dutch indie studio Jaywalkers Interactive. Whilst it is not unusual to see such a title being developed these days, it’s still commendable to see a developer creating a new platform title.
From Bedrooms To Billions : The Amiga Years
Following on the success of the original “From Bedrooms To Billions” this next instalment “From Bedrooms To Billions: The Amiga Years” gives you an insiders look into the fascinating true story on the Commodore Amiga’s influence on the video games industry.
As with the original ‘From Bedrooms to Billions’ the filmmakers balance the ‘The Amiga Years!’ with nostalgic archive footage, stills and music with newly shot interviews with some of the original Amiga design team as well as with some of the biggest names in video game development, publishing, music and journalism from across the last 30 years!
The Amiga featured some truly stunning games and many of the creators of those games appear in The Amiga Years movie such as Eric Chahi (Another World), Bullfrog (Syndicate, Populous), Paul Cuisset (Flashback), Martin Edmondson (Shadow of the Beast), Team 17, Magnetic Fields, Factor 5, DICE, Cinemaware and many many more!
It will be released in September 2016 on DVD and BluRay and available in both Standard and Special Editions.
It is available to Pre-Order now at Europe’s Number One Retro Gaming Destination, FunstockRetro.co.uk.
The Final Countdown to Term Time : How parents can prepare kids for staring school
Educational toy company LeapFrog partners with parenting expert and Channel Mum to offer support and advice to mark launch of LeapStart and prepare kids for school success.
The summer holidays are upon us, but for thousands of parents across the UK it’s the start of the countdown to their child’s first day at school. Following the recent State of Education Report from The Key, which revealed that more than half of new pupils are below the expected level of school-readiness and lack social skills, multi award-winning educational toy brand LeapFrog is supporting parents to help make sure their kids are ready for the classroom.
Working in partnership with parenting expert Liat Hughes Joshi and YouTube’s friendliest – and most honest – community for mums, Channel Mum, LeapFrog is providing parents with practical tips and activities that they can practice with their kids over summer. The brand has recently launched its latest educational toy, LeapStart, an interactive learning system which aligns with the school curriculum and teaches children key school and life skills.
To help prepare parents emotionally for that all-important first day, LeapFrog has teamed up with four vloggers from Channel Mum, two of whom have children starting school this September. In a dedicated series of the videos, the mums discuss how they are feeling ahead of the big first day at school and share their tips on how to help kids get school ready.
The videos can be viewed here: http://goo.gl/3E1bfB
Good mental health is based on our ability to think, plan and act in ways that are effective and appropriate for our environment. Sometimes we have difficulties in some areas but we have abilities in other areas that help compensate for our limitations. For example if someone has flight anxiety but finds a way to lead a full life without having to fly, their mental health can be good. Someone else with ADHD who is unable to cope in life socially or occupationally may suffer from less good mental health and this can affect them at school. Lack of exercise, lack of sleep or unhealthy diet affect our brain and mental health just as much as they affect the body, because in the end it is one system. If your child has a physical problem, such as a physical disability or something that is also debilitating such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, then they have probably already had a test for carpal tunnel. They should be encouraged to do gentle exercise to assist any symptoms and keep them physically active which should help them with getting into a school routine. Good mental health cannot relate only to happiness or mental well-being or even to the absence of mental illness. It is a complex that can be addressed in each of its aspects and combined to understand in which areas of mental health we need to put effort and improve to help our kids. This way, children can have a great return to school.
Liat Hughes Joshi comments: “A child’s first day at school is such an emotional time for the whole family. It’s important to remember that in preparing for this day, it’s not about competitive parenting, but more about giving children the skills to make sure they can be confident and happy and ease into this new stage in their lives”. Her top tips for parents who have children starting school this year are:
- 1. DO talk to them about the idea of school – tell them about your own positive school experiences and find out any specific concerns they have about not having mum or dad around.
- 2. DO attend settling-in days to help them to feel more relaxed – they’ll be able to meet the teacher and experience the classroom environment. Point out things they will be able to enjoy next time they come to school, such as the playground.
- 3. DO help them find a familiar face if your child isn’t starting school with friends from their existing nursery or preschool.
- 4. DO arrange a meet up – ask among local friends to see who has a child starting the same school and arrange meet ups if you can, like a picnic or a visit to the local playground.
- 5. DO teach them ‘self care’ – like undressing and dressing themselves for PE – practice this over the summer with clothing that has zips and buttons.
- 6. DO teach them how to eat independently with cutlery, get them chopping and slicing their food as much as possible.
- 7. DO toilet train them (again!) so they know how and when they can ask to use the toilet, how to wipe up and wash their hands properly.
- 8. DO practice counting up to 10 in your daily activities, as this forms the core of maths learning in the first year of school and start looking at basic sums, using practical items around the house.
- 9. DO introduce books and stories so your little one can see how letters correspond to sounds and words to sentences. Sharing stories and pointing out specific sounds is a gentle way to introduce this.
- 10. DO teach them to recognise their name so they can find their coat peg or spot the name label on their jumper in a pile of others.
- 11. DO see using apps as a positive to help – we all worry about too much screen time but good quality, well designed apps can be an engaging way to learn.
- 12. DO encourage basic etiquette, namely taking turns and listening when others speak.
- 13. DO practice sitting still! Practice for half an hour at first and introduce sedentary activities, for example, completing a jigsaw puzzle, to help with this.
- 14. DO role play to help your child to feel comfortable approaching and talking to their teachers and to not be intimidated.
- 15. DO take time to reassure them of any anxieties, even if you’re feeling worried yourself!
Available in two models – one for preschool children aged 2-4 and one for primary school children aged 5-7 – LeapStart works with a library of 16 replayable activity books across four learning levels, that provide productive, safe and fun off-screen play. The books, each sold separately, have been designed to work with both LeapStart platforms, together teaching 50+ key skills; from the alphabet and 123’s to space science, basic coding and educational problem solving.
LeapStart system (RRP £34.99) as well as the 16 LeapStart Activity books (RRP £9.99 each, ages 2-7) are now available at selected UK retailers. For more information, visit: http://www.leapfrog.com/en-gb/products/leapstart
Preview: We Happy Few
Among the big news and surprises that came out of E3 2016 this year was an intriguingly dark yet very English toned game and it captured my interest straight away. We Happy Few has now entered into the Xbox One Preview program as well as early access on STEAM allowing gamers to purchase this unfinished version of the game, to try it out and help refine the game with feedback before its full release next year. This was my first chance to see the game beyond the E3 trailer, and if I am honest, it is not the experience or the game I was expecting.
Developed by Compulsion Games, “We Happy Few” is set in a dystopian 1964 England that actually lost World War II. The game is set in the English town of Wellington Wells where the people are taking a drug called “Joy” which puts them in a state of happiness, forcing them to see the world around them only in a positive and wonderful way. Joy masks the reality of the world and helps them to exist in denial over what has happened, forgetting their bad memories and any pain they have suffered.
We are introduced to Arthur Hastings who works as a newspaper redactor, someone who scans newspaper stories in order to censor anything negative from them. But we also see that Arthur is beginning to fight against the drug Joy, refusing to take and when he comes across a news story that features him and his brother from years ago, he throws his bottle of Joy Pills away before another member of staff enters his office to call him to join a game of Piñata, but notices that Arthur is acting strange and asks if he has taken his Joy to which Arthur lies and says he has. On leaving the office you can see that another member of staff has gone missing after becoming ill, but you can see that she has been missing for a full month by the rotting get well soon fruit basket in her office and the cards there but seemingly due to the office taking Joy, her absence is not missed. The effects of Joy are also seen as Arthur makes his way to the Piñata party with the office in disarray, repairs clearly needed but ignored and work clearly piling up but no one caring to deal with it.
All this time the effects of Joy are starting to wear off in Arthur after refusing to take a Joy pill, and when he joins the others he can see them beating on a Piñata in order to get to the candy inside but when encouraged to hit it himself, he delivers the final blow resulting in blood splattering over himself, the shock of this shakes off the final effects of Joy in his system and he discovers that the piñata was in reality a giant rat, and the other people are now eating this resulting in Arthur being sick. This alerts the others to the fact Arthur is off his Joy and they call him a ‘Downer” and call security and Arthur tries to escape before being cornered and knocked unconscious.
The game picks up after Arthur wakes up, finding himself in a safe house of sorts, and this is where the game began to surprise me. From the E3 trailer I had expected We Happy Few to be a linear story driven game but I was very wrong. We Happy Few is actually a first person survival game where you will struggle every day to find food, water and shelter in order to live long enough to explore the world and find a way to escape. Like other survival games you must scavenge materials in order to craft weapons and tools whilst seeking out food and water to prevent starvation or dehydration. None of this was suggest by the trailer and it did catch me unaware to begin with.
Leaving the safe house, you find yourself in a very run down area of Welling Wells, with damaged and condemned buildings. The area is full of “Downers” people who have either stopped taking the drug Joy or who have become immune to it leaving only the pain and damage of taking the drug for years. This area has been abandoned by society and left alone without support or aid which means food, clean water and medical supplies are all in short supply and the locals are even less friendly to newcomers. The first thing you will want to do is begin exploring the area and doing so will start to reveal areas on the map. Soon you will discover encounters such as an area where bees are creating honey which you will require to craft a padded suit in order to go near. As you continue to move about you will find yourself needed to eat and drink to keep your food levels up, luckily plants can be used to create healing balms and some of the plants can be eaten to provide some nourishment whilst some water can drunk and taken from various water pumps scattered around.
Luckily to craft items all you need to do is find the materials required and the crafting menu will tell you what you can make with the items you are carrying with more advanced creations possible as you find more suitable materials and range from stronger weapons and tools to new clothing. One of the themes that We Happy Few utilises is that of how people see you and therefore react to you, and this is shown in the clothing you wear which will effect how the people around you react to you either positively or negatively. The next theme is how you perceive the world around you, now that Arthur has come off the Joy drug, he is remembering how the world really is how harsh that reality is. You can still take Joy pills that you find, and for a brief time you will see the world as all shiny and lovely and even your walk animation has you pumping your arms like you are in a Disney movie, walking to a lovely chorus song. But when it wears off, you will feel withdrawal symptoms but you can almost understand how powerful the Joy drug is now you have had a taste of life without it; it is very much like the old “blue or red pill” from the Matrix almost.
The aim is to survive long enough and find a way to escape, and if you explore enough you will discover different toll bridges that can lead you to different areas, one area is very much like the one you find yourself in from leaving the safe house and the other will lead to a town where everyone is on Joy and is patrolled by Police who as you saw in the opening section, take a very violent tone with anyone not on drugs as will any of the people there on Joy. In order to blend in here you need to not only take a Joy pill to fool door sensors and checkpoints but also the Police and other people. I did find however that how I was dressed at this point made the people question my presence even if I was on Joy and as the effects are short lived, knowing when to use a pill to gain progression in the town or access to a building. You can use the lock picks you craft to bypass these on some occasions but if caught the Police will come to attack you.
This preview build does not contain any of the main characters or storylines that will feature in the main game, and throughout the preview period, new features and elements will be added to test out game mechanics and ideas ahead of the full release next year and because it is in the preview stage, it does have quite a few issues that will be have to be addressed before it does release.
I found that need to constantly sleep a hindrance when trying to explore as failing to rest properly will result in a limit placed on your stamina bar which limits your ability to sprint and fight in combat. The game uses a day and night cycle but the day felt like it passed too quickly on some days and pretty soon my attempted sleep cycle was thrown off. Crafting made creating healing balms simple which is handy as I found myself getting into fights with the locals quite often and mostly they would attack in groups. The combat system works ok with weapon damage increasing depending on the weapon you wield and these can all be upgraded and improved with materials found.
It did take me three play through attempts to find my way off the first section by way of the toll bridges, as the game features a perma death option as default, the first time I died as a result of combat but the area was full of things to discover such as dig spots and abandoned houses. The second time however, I found less things to explore and as I revealed more of the map, it was all rather empty so my time was spent simply eating, drinking and walking around for a good five hours. The third time I was indeed able to cross the toll bridges and do some more exploring, but on each of the attempts, the need to constantly find somewhere safe to sleep and things to eat or just to find interesting things to do just left this initial preview experience feeling rather empty. When I did manage to find myself in the Joy part of town, I found myself with no where to sleep so my stamina was decreased in half and running out of joy pills so in an attempt to return to the downer area where my safe house was situated, I found myself in some kind of hospital where people were scanned to see if they were downers or not. I found my way into a room but then the doors closed behind me and the NPC there simply looked at me but I could not interact with him or any door in the room which just resulted in me having to starve to death and that was it, end of that play through.
Overall I was intrigued by the We Happy Few E3 trailer, and I was expecting a linear story experience. This preview has surprised me by revealing that the game will in fact be a survival genre game, with procedural encounters but with fixed main story missions and characters which will not be revealed until the game fully releases next year. As a preview build of the game, it certainly does give you a good idea of the way in which the gameplay works and the systems of the game, but it does just feel as though it is a very early build of the game, with too little to do and too many issues holding you back from really exploring its full potential. Frame rate drops, lack of encounters and a need to constantly sleep all left me with the feeling that We Happy Few needs quite a bit of work, and before recommending this for people to buy right now to try it out, I would suggest holding back until the first of many updates and new features added.
We Happy Few does still fascinate me with its story and gameplay, it might not be the game I was expecting just yet and certainly is not the finished game either, but right now, it is a game that belongs in preview for sure, but could have benefited by having just more things to do to showcase itself far better following that great E3 Trailer.
We Happy Few is available now on Xbox One Preview and early access on STEAM.
Review: Overcooked
Have you ever wondered what life in a professional kitchen is like? We have the hellacious representation in Hells Kitchen where trying to be the number one chef in the kitchen can be cut throat or with Kitchen Nightmares (Gordon Ramsey does do a lot of TV huh) it can result in a poorly run restaurant that lets down customers and has a terrible reputation. If you break down the fundamental elements of how a restaurant kitchen works you essentially have take the order placed by a customer, prepare the ingredients, cook the ingredients, plate and then serve the dish. All sounds relatively simple right? Well this is where Overcooked comes in and takes what is an already stressful process and turns it into a fun yet challenging local co-op party game.
Couch Co-Op party are few these days but Overcooked has plated up an extremely tempting course for gamers who relish teamwork and co-operation in a true test of all those elements but blended in with an appetizing challenging puzzle game based on the very basic principles of restaurant cooking with a rather unique twist.
Overcooked’s Story Campaign can be played solo or best with co-op partners from two to 4 friends all working together. The introduction explains that the players are chefs working for the Onion King in the Onion Kingdom when the terrible end of days begins when a giant monster attacks the kingdom with the only way to satisfy the beast’s hunger is to cook and feed it all the food it wants before the time runs out. Despite your best efforts, it will not be enough to sate the hunger of the beast and the Onion King opens a time portal for you all to escape through. Certainly not the opening I would have expected from a cooking game.
Having been through the time portal the King informs you that you have gone back in time to the year 1993, and sets you off on a mission to visit various kitchens across the kingdom in order to learn and perfect the co-operation skills needed to successfully cook and feed the monster without failing. Each kitchen will pose a different challenge with different recipes to learn and master how to work as a team of chefs to complete each one.
The kitchens are all more challenging than the last and creatively designed to provide a challenge on different levels. First you have the actual cooking and preparation of each order which in itself is a tricky task. The ingredients can be found in a different area to where the preparation area is which can also be further away from the cooking section. You must first collect the ingredients needed for the customer order seen in the top left of the screen and prepare them before cooking them and finally placing them on a dish ready to be served. Even in solo mode you will have a basic team of two chefs to us, switching between the two using the controller bumper buttons but in co-op mode each player can control a different chef. Once you begin cooking the ingredients you will only have a short time to add the remaining ingredients or to plate the finished food before the meal overcooks which will spoil it, requiring it to be disposed off and to start the order all over again. Failing to plate the food will also result in the pot catching fire which will begin to set the rest of the kitchen on fire unless you grab a fire extinguisher to put out the flames.
Then of course you have the kitchen itself that adds its own little devilish twist to the action. As players progress through the different stages, the kitchens become more intricate to both navigate and have the chef’s work together. At times, chefs can be separated all together in the kitchen, where good communication will be essential just to have the meals prepared. Some kitchens are themed such as the street restaurant that will have pedestrians walking up and the down the middle of the kitchen forcing the chefs to navigate around them to pirate ship kitchens where the roll of the ship causes sections of the kitchen to move position completely changing the layout. A rather insidious added challenge sees some kitchens having a rat problem, where any ingredient left unattended they will scamper in and take it away.
Each kitchen will grade your team’s performance up to three stars and these are important because some of the later kitchens require you to have acquired a certain number of stars in order to play them. This is where playing the campaign solo starts to buckle, as the majority of the kitchens are designed to be played co-operatively and though the grading feels more relaxed for single player to earn stars, I found it tricky to replay certain difficult kitchens to earn more stars to proceed.
Where Overcooked really comes to life is when played with others in local co-op, with up to four friends able to work together in the story campaign but also in versus mode playing in competitive kitchens against each other. So many aspects make this just a superb party game the more players you have to take part, the challenge of successfully completing orders against all the high pressure needs of working together, communicating well and just trying not to burn the kitchen down leads to great fun and no doubt a few fights along the way but its perhaps the most challenging party game in a good long while.
Even when I set had set fire to the soup, forgotten to fry the fish to go with the chips the Eskimos had ordered or putting together the perfect burger to go, Overcooked is so much fun and a real test of friendship when partnering with friends. Developer Ghost Town Games has put together a great game with so much rewarding challenge and stage designs that you will always be put to task in each stage.
It is no surprise that TEAM 17 has published this and will certainly make you reconsider putting in an entry form to Master Chef.
Review : Britax Romer Dualfix Car Seat
Here is our review of the Britax Romer Dualfix Car Seat.
The award-winning DUALFIX combines eye-catching design with state-of-the-art safety technology. Its 360-degree rotation means parents can choose when to switch their child from rearward to forward facing. Its host of safety features ensure a safe journey from newborn to four years.
What’s in the box?
The box contains the car seat and various instructions, along with some ISOFIX clips.
A Closer Look
Fitting the Car Seat
The Dulafix comes with some ISOFIX insert guides.
You pull on the cord to extend the locking arms
Then you slide the seat into the ISOFIX brackets.
Then you push the seat making sure it is fitted snuggly.
The next step is to position the support leg.
Once the support leg is locked in the correct position you will see a green band.
To how you just how easy it is, Britax produced a short video:
Using the Car Seat
Once the Dualfix is securely fitted in your car, to use it you just have to press a button and then rotate the seat so that you can get perfect access to it.
Then you put your baby in the seat, making sure he or she is securely fastened and comfortable, then you press the button again and rotate the seat back. It really is as simple as that.
Final Thoughts
The Dualfix car seat is designed for newborn babies all the way up to 4 years old, so you should get quite a lot of use out of it.
Having a car seat that can both turn to make it easier to place the baby in the seat and remove the baby from the seat, along with the ability to change the direction of the seat as the baby grows up is great.
Once you have locked the Dualfix into your car’s ISOFIX connections the seat is very secure. I found it a bit of a pain fitting the Dualfix into my car because it was quite fiddly. The Dualfix is very large and rather heavy and leaning into the back of a car to fit it isn’t the easiest job in the world, but I got there eventually. Britax do provide some extenders to help you connect the seat to your cars ISOFIX but in my case I actually found them harder (not everyone needs the clips though).
To ensure that the Dualfix will work with your car, Britax have a list of cars and their various models so you can easily tell if the Dualfix is compatible. It is worth checking this out before you purchase the seat.
Turning the seat was very simple – just a push of a button and then you turn it. The Dualfix felt very secure and the baby was very protected. There are both side impact protection and various pads on the seat to help provide added protection.
I can highly recommend the Dualfix if you want a high quality, safe and secure car seat that is very easy to use and is one that you can get 4 years of use out of!
The Britax Romer Dualfix car seat is available now for around £350, but as usual look around for the best deal.
Win an Star Wars Illuminated Canvas from I Just Love It
Are they serious about Star Wars? If so, this incredible Star Wars Illuminated Canvas will make a special and unique gift, whatever their age! It’ll look fantastic displayed in the home and the glowing light will create a super-cool, intergalactic atmosphere…
Made from cotton canvas stretched over a hardwood frame, this unique piece of art is illuminated with 20 gorgeous, glowing LED fairy lights. Battery operated, there’s a simple switch on the side allowing you to display it anywhere you wish and turn it on and off with ease.
How to enter to win
We have a Star Wars Illuminated Canvas to give away.
All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is enter below:
The contest ends at 12.00AM on Monday 22nd August 2016.
You can order your Star Wars Illuminated Canvas from here for £39.99 and you can choose from R2-D2, Yoda or Darth Vada.
And thank you to our friends at ilujustloveit.co.uk for the prize.
Star Wars Illuminated Canvas from I Just Love It
Have you ever wanted an illuminated Star Wars canvas hanging on your wall? If your answer is yes then I Just Love It have just what you need.
Are they serious about Star Wars? If so, this incredible Star Wars Illuminated Canvas will make a special and unique gift, whatever their age! It’ll look fantastic displayed in the home and the glowing light will create a super-cool, intergalactic atmosphere…
Made from cotton canvas stretched over a hardwood frame, this unique piece of art is illuminated with 20 gorgeous, glowing LED fairy lights. Battery operated, there’s a simple switch on the side allowing you to display it anywhere you wish and turn it on and off with ease.
100% cotton canvas with hardwood frame available in small (40 x 32cm) or large (60 x 40cm). Battery operated with simple rocker switch on the side of the canvas, it requires two AA batteries.
And here it is all lit up.
It looks very cool on your wall and is a must for any Star Wars fan!
You can order your Star Wars Illuminated Canvas from here for £39.99 and you can choose from R2-D2, Yoda or Darth Vada.
Eye in the Sky – Stealthiest Camera Gadgets
Gavin Hood’s Eye in the Sky, released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download from 15th August, is a film that will excite and captivate the imagination of any person that has a slight passion for drones or robotics.
Inspired by the scene in the film in which we see undercover field agent Jama Farah (Barkhad Abdi from Captain Phillips) uncover a potential planned terror threat through the use of a ‘hummingbird nano UAV’, we take a look at some of the most cool, innovative undercover cameras out on the market, as well as droids that are used both in everyday life and for military purposes.
No Ordinary Household Appliances….see if you can spot the hidden camera….
Gadgets
Black Hornet Nano
Measuring 10cm/2.5cm the Black Hornet Nano is a micro vehicle that is currently used by both the British and Norwegian army. The gadget has three operational cameras located at the front, bottom and rear and is mainly used to gain surveillance and intelligence in possible critical operations. The Black Hornet Nano can reach speeds of up to ten mitres per second and also has UAV capacities.
‘Nixie’
The word ‘selfie’ was officially awarded Oxford dictionaries best word of 2013 – but this droid takes the prospect of taking one to the next level. Initially worn around your wrist, ‘Nixie’ (a droid still currently in development) can be unfolded and used as an airborne droid – enabling you to take action-shot selfies like never before. Nixie takes photos HD ready, and can be synced to your smart phone.
Boeing X-45
The Boeing X-45 is an aircraft manufactured by the Boeing Integrated Defense Systems and is an unmanned aircraft developed for combat airstrikes. The drone aircraft can carry 2,000lb bombs or other weaponry features and can reach speeds of 571MPH at an altitude of up to 40,000 ft.
Starring Helen Mirren as Colonel Katherine Powell, Aaron Paul as drone pilot Steve Watts and the late Alan Rickman as Leiutenant General Frank Benson, Gavin Hood’s Eye in the Sky is one of the most tense and thought-provoking action thrillers of the year.
EYE IN THE SKY is available on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital Download on the 15th August 2016, courtesy of Entertainment One.
Watch the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in-game cutscene
Watch the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in-game cutscene, coming soon to PS4, Xbox One and PC on the 4th November.
Infinite Warfare introduces new weaponry, new player abilities and stunning new settings to the Call of Duty franchise. In addition to a riveting single player campaign, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will also deliver a robust multiplayer mode, and a unique cooperative zombies experience.
Pixelgrams: Pixel Puzzles out now for iOS and Android
Pixelgrams: Pixel Puzzles is a brand new free-to-play puzzle game that plays just like a pixel jigsaw. Players fit Tetris-like pieces into pixel-art portraits, restoring Kitzel the Cat’s world, discovering new locations and learning what happened to the beautiful, broken Star Town. Pixelgrams: Pixel Puzzles is available to download for free from iTunes and the Google Play Store.
Pixelgrams: Pixel Puzzles features:
– 144 levels of puzzle-solving pixel-piece-placing fun!
– Gorgeous pixel art that makes you feel like you’re actually making something, not just wasting time!
– Feisty-but-fun soundtrack by Super Hexagon’s composer-in-chief, chiptune wonder woman Chipzel
– Adorable cat
– That’s basically it…?
– But it doesn’t need anything else — it’s a free puzzle game for everyone and it’s excellent!
– That’s basically it…? – But it doesn’t need anything else — it’s a free puzzle game for everyone and it’s excellent!
Ste Curran, Pixelgrams: Pixel Puzzles’ designer said, “We wanted to make a game that’s perfect for short bursts during commutes or longer sessions, lounging poolside in the English summer rain. Now we’ve actually done that we’d like you to play it because we think it’s really good and you’ll love it. Also it has a really cute cat.”
Immersive Career Mode stars in new F1 2016 trailer
F1 2016, the official videogame of the 2016 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, has today Codemasters and Koch Media have released a new gameplay video that highlights many of the key features in the extensive and enthralling ten-year Career.
It was also announced today that F1 2016 will feature Multiplayer Championship, a brand new game mode that allows up to 22 players to compete against each other over the course of a season. The new mode allows players to race as team mates or to battle it out as different teams as well as offering great possibilities for league play.
In F1 2016’s Career Mode, players select their character, helmet and race number that will stay with them throughout their time in FORMULA ONE™. They then select which of the 11 official teams they wish to join to start their journey, as well as which member of the team will be their team-mate, before taking to the track for the first race of the season. The higher ranked teams will have steeper expectations for the player.
The in-race experience has never been more immersive. Players will experience the tension of the Formation Lap as they weave to warm their tyres, before facing the drama of the manual race start, where they have to balance their revs and release the clutch at the right time. Get this wrong and players could jump the start and face a penalty or fail to get away from the line as the anti-stall kicks in.
Race strategy is also vital as players battle their rivals. For Pit Stops they can choose to have control of the Pit Lane entry, meaning they have to brake at the right time to avoid losing too much time but also to avoid speeding in the Pit lane. Strategy will be key, especially under Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car conditions.
The action continues off the track and into the Paddock and Hospitality areas. Over the course of the Career, players can decide how they want to upgrade their car by consulting with the Research and Development Engineer on areas for improvement, and by completing tasks during Practice sessions. They can either upgrade their team over a number of seasons to make it into a title challenger or they can negotiate with their Agent to move between teams to work their way up the grid.
Releasing on 19th August for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC.
Watch the Europe Premiere of SUICIDE SQUAD
Watch the live stream for the SUICIDE SQUAD European Premiere, broadcasting all of the red carpet action straight from Odeon Leicester Square, starting at 5.30pm!
It feels good to be bad… Assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do. However, once they realize they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it’s every man for himself?
Written and directed by Ayer based on the characters from DC Comics, the film also stars Jai Courtney (“Insurgent”), Jay Hernandez (“Takers”), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“Thor: The Dark World”), Ike Barinholtz (“Neighbors”), Scott Eastwood (“Fury”), Cara Delevingne (“Paper Towns”), Adam Beach (“Cowboys & Aliens”), and Karen Fukuhara in her feature film debut. It is produced by Charles Roven and Richard Suckle, with Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Colin Wilson and Geoff Johns serving as executive producers.
SUICIDE SQUAD is released in UK cinemas on Friday
Review: Batman – The Telltale Series Episode 1
As a life long DC Comics fan and especially of the Dark Knight himself, whenever I hear that a new video game based on Batman is announced I feel both the excitement but at the same time some trepidation about it. The most recent successful Batman game series by Rocksteady Studios trilogy now over, I was curious to see who would take up the challenge of bringing a video game out based on the caped crusader and was genuinely surprised by the announcement that Telltale Games would be producing their own episodic series based on Batman. In what promised to be similar in tone to The Wolf Among Us, I settled down with a good cup of Yorkshire Tea and prepared to immerse myself in Batman: The Telltale Series Episode 1, A Realm of Shadows.
Batman: The Telltale series is a five episode game with a completely unique story featuring Batman, who is in his second year of fighting the criminals of Gotham so he is still building his reputation and relationships with the iconic characters of the Batverse. This gives Telltale the opportunity to tell their own version of how Batman meets some of his famous villains such as Catwoman for the first time in a new and refreshing way. If there is one thing Telltale does well, it is telling a unique story.
That unique story telling involves the story focusing just as much, if not more, on Bruce Wayne as it does Batman. To get to see how the man under the cowl is thinking and feeling has always been one of the highlights of any great Batman story, and Telltale have taken this concept and brilliantly used it as the foundation and heart of this game and story. The opening see’s Batman in full action but blended with Alfred talking to an injured and scarred Bruce so we can see both realities of being the Batman as Bruce continues his one man crusade to wage war on the criminals of Gotham, but also how he deals with the life he has chosen and the impact it has on him when not diving off rooftops and beating up the bad guys.
Player choice is a huge gaming element in this game and for me, it really has an immediate impact on the story throughout episode one, so much so that you as the player really feel that each decision you make from a dialogue option to a key event choice folds the narrative and results around them. You will not only get to make the choices for Bruce Wayne in how he deals with the people around him but also in shaping the kind of Batman he is as well. Bruce must maintain his secret but how you shape his more public persona is just as integral as the decisions you will make as Batman and that is a very powerful story driving force. As Batman Bruce will learn the truth about certain people, but then he will be forced to interact with them in public, and how you choose to do that will shape how the people around Bruce will see him going forward.
As Batman, you will make choices in situations that will either help build the fear of him amongst criminals and alienate the Gotham City Police Department by being too violent when intimidating criminals for information or in combat situations where the level of brutality can take Batman very close to the line Alfred is so afraid he might cross one day, or you can be the Batman who maintains control at all times, working with the GCPD and Lieutenant Jim Gordon and reinforcing the relationship with them that is indeed the hero they need. This duality in player choice is really effective and allows the player to tailor their experience and the kind of hero Batman will be throughout the game and story.
Visually the game uses the same cell shading style as The Wolf Among Us and it brings Gotham and its people to life so effortlessly. What was a surprise was the new take on the most well known characters Telltale have created such as Harvey Dent being a very imposing stocky man compared to Bruce and Oswald Cobblepot, who is an athletic guy fully capable of handling himself in a fight which is a big departure from the usual short overweight portrayal of the character.
The usual quick time events and mini-games in Telltale games are used well for the combat side of the game, getting the timing right is key to prevent Batman taking a punch to the face or worse, and successful QTE button presses will build up the Bat-Action meter, which when full will allow you to execute a Bat-Tastic finishing move to the action. I did find that these QTE moments could be very unforgiving the first time you play through but as in previous games, you will not fail if you miss them in some instances but some combat scenarios can result in Batman being killed if you fail at a key moment, forcing you to replay that section.
The point and click element works well when the game explores the detective side of being Batman, when examining a crime scene to find clues to piece together what happened to a nice feature of Batman planning out the order of thugs to take out including deciding on how you will take them out. These lovely little touches really helps explore how Batman goes about things but rather than simply playing as Batman, you the player really feel involved in determining how the action plays out.
I have deliberately avoided talking about the story itself simply because for me it is one of the strongest opening episodes in any Telltale Game in quite some time and spoiling the story would be a disservice. It is very much on the graphic novel quality of story telling that provides players a really immersive experience on every level. Player choice effects how the story unfolds and does so in a way that will have the player rethinking the choices they make along the way rather than simply seeing the story unfold without your involvement. For the first chapter in this five episode story, the player gets a full appreciation for what Bruce is trying to accomplish as Batman, the price he is paying everyday he puts on the suit but also the influence Batman is having on the city of Gotham. It can be completed in just less than two hours but the two hours are full of great story content for any Batman or DC Comics fan to relish.
Batman: The Telltale Series is off to a flying start with episode one, it takes all the elements that make a great Telltale game but manages to refresh them just as much as they have taken the legend of Batman and gives it a new and intriguing feel which is no easy task. On completion I actually found myself wanting to spend more time as Bruce Wayne, looking at the consequences of his mission as well as just learning about the man himself which has always been a fascination for me with this character. I am impressed with just how well Telltale have began this story, and I am very eager to continue this adventure after episode one laid such tremendous groundwork.
This is shaping up to be potentially their finest work yet.