Possibly the biggest Final Fantasy event of all time just concluded, so let’s go over the insanity.
Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV
Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV is an anime prequel for Final Fantasy XV. The series is set to have 5 episodes and to be released on YouTube for free. The first episode comes out later tonight with the remaining 4 following on the coming months, and a final, exclusive sixth episode available in the Ultimate Edition. Here’s a trailer:
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV is a movie companion to Final Fantasy XV. Whereas the game takes place following Noctis on the road, the movie follows the king, Noctis’s betrothed Lunafreya and Nyx, a member of an elite task force. The movie is fully CG and is of feature film length. There’s not much details on the plot, but the voice cast features the likes of Sean Bean, Leena Headey, and Aaron Paul. Give the trailer a watch here:
Platinum Demo
There’s a new FFXV demo out tonight too! Instead of being a piece of the game cut out to be standalone, it’s a whole new experience following Noctis as a child palling around with the cutest Carbuncle you ever did see. It’s designed to not be intimidating for people new to the FF franchise, but to give you a sense of how the combat and mechanics work. It’s also got a child Noctis using a squeaky hammer. Can’t get much better than that. Lookit this gameplay:
Justice Monsters 5
It wouldn’t be a Final Fantasy game without a minigame people sink hours of their time in to. This time it’s Justice Monsters 5, which looks to be a combination of pachinko, pinball, arkanoid, and an RPG. It’ll also be coming out for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone later this year! It’s a bit hard to explain this game, just let this trailer do the work for me:
Final Fantasy XV
We got 2 new trailers tonight as well as a firm release date — September 30, 2016! That’s only six months from now! And in that time, we get an anime series, a full length movie, a mobile game, and a demo made entirely of new content. Square is really quadrupling down on Final Fantasy XV, making it more like the Marvel Cinematic Universe in scale and it looks like it’s paying off. Check out the latest trailer here:
PAX South was a surprisingly good con for local multiplayer games. Given how much consoles seem to be shrugging off local multiplayer, it was wonderful to see so many games designed to be played in a room while screaming at your friends. Here’s a collection of our favorite new games that are sure to drive a rift in your friendships.
Capsule Force
Platforms: PC, PS4
Release Date: Early 2015
Just Shapes and Beats
It’s just a game about shapes and beats, how intense could that be?
SUPER FREAKING INTENSE.
Essentially, you’re one of four shapes trying to avoid pink environmental hazards that show up to the beat of a song. You can play with one all the way up to four players, though trust me, it’s so much more fun with friends. The resulting panic and chaos of pink beams, explosions, and vibrato circles leaves you screaming for help from your teammates, all the while nodding your head to the songs. It’s hard to explain. Take a look at this:
Platforms: TBD
Release Date: TBD
Speedrunners
What is it with these games and their intenseness? It’s a theme!
Speedrunners is essentially a mix of 2D Mario Kart and Smash Brothers. You choose a character and make laps around a map filled with speed boosts, obstacles, and items. The way you win is by either touching the edge of the screen because you’re so far ahead of everyone, or everyone else behind you touches the other edge of the screen because they’re so far behind. The game quickly becomes one of skill and path optimization at its core, though that’s all thrown out the window with the right items. A quick claw arm grab or in the way box can provide a huge advantage, turning a one sided match into anyone’s game in a matter of seconds.
Platforms: PC, Xbox One
Release date: Out now for early access, full game early 2015
Here’s a run down of the big announcements from Microsoft at E3 2014.
Call of Duty: Advance Warfare
Microsoft started off with one of the staples people expect at a Microsoft presser, the new Call of Duty. And of course it started with something going wrong, explosions, and the protagonist’s vision going blurry.
So it’s basically the same thing as last year.
You now have rockets in your boots to slow your descent when falling and provide a double jump, your allies drop in large bods, and there’s a battle mech walking around. Are we sure this isn’t Call of Duty: Titanfall?
Drones are swarming about and it looks really cool, especially if you’ve researched swarm theory.
Other than that, it’s just a standard Call of Duty.
Assassin’s Creed Unity
Assassin’s Creed Unity takes place during the French Revolution. Before today, that’s about all we knew about the game. We still know very little about the story, but huge new feature was revealed at the Microsoft presser – four player co op. That’s right, you and three friends/strangers can take control of a group of assassins to take down targets as a group. You can easily tell your assassin friends by the icons over their heads, and it seems like a fresh opportunity to have a fun, group experience with Assassin’s Creed without having to kill each other.
Of course, that is if your friends are intelligent enough to not ruin it for you (not likely).
Sunset Overdrive
And just when you thought new life couldn’t be breathed into much more, Sunset Overdrive comes in and skewers modern warfare games while delivering fun, cartoony gameplay all at the same time. In this game, you take control of one of the last surviving humans after a disastrous energy drink transforms millions into monsters. You’ll be fighting off bandits and hoards of monsters while grinding on rails, bouncing off roofs, and looking good while you do it.
Remember how fresh TF2 felt when it was first introduced ten years ago? Think that and you’re on the right path. Though the movement looks a little slower than I’d like and it seems nowhere near close to done, it looks interesting enough to keep a close eye on.
Dead Rising DLC
Though there isn’t much to tell here, I just thought this was hilarious. The new Dead Rising DLC allows you to take control of all the Dead Rising protags who cosplay as other characters doing arcade-style minigames. The name of the DLC?
Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha.
Glad to see a self-referential skewer at their money grab expansions.
Fable Legends
A new Fable game is coming and it seems to be abandoning the narrative structure of previous entries. This time, instead of building a character from the ground up, you’ll take control of one of four heroes that are questing together. You can also play as a “dungeon master” type character who throws monsters and traps at the adventurers. It’s a wild departure from the traditional structure, but it looks interesting. Think Dungeonland, but expanded.
Project Spark
Project Spark showed off a plethora of creators and worlds. Nothing terribly new, except that they’re adding space stuff and Conker from Conker’s Bad Fur Day, which is bittersweet. Why not just a new game instead of making him promote another title out of nowhere? Bleh.
Ori and the Blind Forest
Child of Light enchanted gamers with its visuals and this game looks to follow in step with that. Looks like two creature friends who meet by chance and help each other out, so maybe a platformer/puzzle game? It also looks like it’ll make you cry. I teared up in the trailer alone. Very excited about this one.
Halo: Master Chief Collection
Well are you happy now, Halo fans? You complain long and loudly enough and 343 Studios will listen. They’re now releasing the four numbered Halo games all on one disk! Halo 1-4 including their multiplayer components is coming to Xbox One. Halo 2 is also getting the anniversary edition-treatment that Halo 1 got. They’re also claiming 1080p and 60fps for the games and their multiplayer plus dedicated servers. Also there will be a Halo 5: Guardians demo later this year, so that’s neat.
Inside
Limbo developer Playdead is working on a new titled called Inside. It looks to be in the same exploration/platformer genre, but this time with color. Color me interested.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
The new Tomb Raider game seems to explore the PTSD and road to recovery for Lara after what happened in the previous game. Also she shot a dude with a bow and arrow, which is pretty badass. Also I distinctly remember seeing some tombs.
The Division
I’ve been anxiously awaiting new details about this game since last year. It still looks great and though they didn’t show off many new features, the gameplay looks to be in tact since last year’s demonstration. A team of 4, one person being on a drone, made their way across a city, showing off drop in/drop out coop, and the interesting drone features. At one point our player 1 shot a guy through some paint cans and the paint splashed pretty realistically, which I thought was a nice touch.
No real details on it yet, but the demo is still looking promising.
Scalebound
Platinum games is making a game which looks kinda like monster hunter, but with a mount and the main character acted like Dante from the new DMC. Very little detail beyond a prerendered cinematic, but I’ll be watching with wary hesitation.
Crackdown
It’s been a long while since Crackdown was on the scene, but diehard fans got their wish today when a new iteration in the series was revealed. Did it consist of putting a vehicle full of bombs into a building, blowing it up, and making the top of the building hit another building just to kill a guy on the top floor, causing millions of dollars in collateral damage and injuring/killing thousands? Yes. That’s Crackdown. Prepare yourselves.
With PAX East just recently wrapping up, I figured I’d give my top 3 favorite games from this year’s show.
Broforce
What can be said about Broforce that hasn’t already been said about Tony Hawk, lightsabers, and KFC’s Double Down?
Broforce is a side scrolling shoot-em-up title whose heavy inspirations are early shooters and everything related to explosions in the 80s and 90s. Marry the one hit deaths, high ammo count, and hostage rescuing of Contra with destructible terrain and everything Arnold Schwarzenegger and you’ve got it. You take control of one of many action star-inspired characters like Bronan the Brobarian, B.A Broracus, Bro Dredd, the Brominator, and many more. Each character has their own abilities and moves to take down a sea of bad guys to make it to the end of the stage, shoot Satan in his stupid face, and fly away on a sweet helicopter. The controls are tight and constantly switching characters upon death keeps things very interesting. Add in killer multiplayer action and this is easily going to be the next big party game for anyone who hears about it.
It’s been compared to video game version of The Expendables and it’s so apt. I can’t wait until I can sit on my couch with some Mountain Dew Code Red, crank the Beastie Boys, flip my baseball cap backwards, and settle in for an American ton of fun.
You can also hear my full interview with Evan, one of the creators of Broforce here:
Developer/Publisher: Free Lives/Devolver Digital
Release Date: Out now on Steam Early Access, planned release on consoles
Transistor
The latest title from Bastion creator Supergiant Games was unveiled right before PAX East last year and the demo was already pretty great. Fast forward one year and where are we with one of the most anticipated indie games of the year?
Well, the demo was almost identical. Same stage, same general layout, slightly different dialogue. At first I was confused. Why, I wondered, would you show off an old demo when release is imminent? That’s when I discovered what had been hiding under my nose all along — the upgrade system.
Now, the main character not only gains more abilities along the way, but when you level up, you can combine those abilities for form new abilities. So if I have a quick smash and a bouncing projectile ability, I can combine them to add knockback to the projectile. And this addition isn’t just with a set number of abilities. From what I’m told, you can combine any number of abilities with any number of other abilities, making a gargantuan pool of potential power-ups.
If you enjoyed Bastion and the wonderful storytelling abilities of Supergiant, you’re sure to love Transistor. Pick it up on PS4 and PC later this year.
You can hear my interview with the writer of both Bastion and Transistor, Greg Kasavin, here:
Developer/Publisher: Supergiant Games
Release Date: May 20, 2014 for PC and PS4
The Evil Within
Detective Sebastian Castellanos is having a rough day. He and his partners go to the scene of a murder only to find a supernatural force waiting for them. Sebastian is sucked into a world that makes no sense, filled with monsters, trying to fight his way out. Sounds cool, eh?
If it is, I honestly can’t tell. Maybe I’ve been jaded by an oversaturation of games in this genre, but I was really not feeling it. The colors are grey, like a lot of modern games these days, we’ve seen all the weapons before, zombies are the enemies and they just kind of hang around until you get close. Can anyone say Resident Evil?
But take out the creepy stuff and replace it with a general feeling of sleepiness. Like Resident Evil 6/ That’s my impression of The Evil Within — it’s like a more boring version of Resident Evil 6.
I was a little surprised by the guided demo they showed too. It starts with Sebastian in a falling elevator shaft. He yells, clearly startled, and after falling, groans before getting back up. In all that time, his facial expression didn’t change. At all. What is this, PS1? And about halfway through the demo, the game froze to load (no loading screen, just a dead stop) for about five seconds before continuing. You’re supposed to show your best side at an expo and if this is The Evil Within’s best side, it’s release can’t be good. If you’re still interested, you can pick it up later this year.
Developer/Publisher: Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks
Release date: August 26, 2014 for PC, PS3, PS4, 360, and Xbox One.
Will the latest entry in the Battlefield series be the best, or has it finally shriveled in quality?
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