Category Archives: Reviews

iReview – UNMECHANICAL: EXTENDED – It’s Lonely In Here

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Unmechanical is a 2.5D puzzle video game about a robot that gets sucked underground into a new mechanical world, and the goal is to escape. It’s a lonely game.

Title: Unmechanical – Extended
Developer: Talawa Games & Grip Games
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Vita, PC, iOS
Publisher: Teotl Studios
Reviewed on: Xbox One

Originally released in 2012 on the PC and iOS, Unmechanical has now been updated and extended, and released on the consoles, with the help of Grip Games. The extended version includes new levels.

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Unmechanical is a physics puzzle game. You play as a little robot with a propeller attached to its head, that can propel himself around the levels, and is equipped with a handy short-range tractor beam to carry objects to assist with the puzzles. Just grab stuff, no need to talk about it.

You do occasionally come across another mechanical robot that is usually hindering your progress, or setting up the next puzzle, but these interactions are sparse.

Made on the Unreal Engine, the game is nice looking enough. As a 2.5D side-scroller, the game features a nice array of different looking levels, usually with interesting background and foreground detail. You’ll mainly just find lots of rocks and metal framing. The visuals are quite muted though, as you are underground for the duration of the game.

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The puzzles of the game start off pretty easy: simple, switches, or buttons to press. The physics portions of the game usually involve carrying a rock to hold down a button, or a metal beam to stop some gears, positioning these things to solve puzzles and open doors.

Later on the puzzles become more challenging, utilizing lasers and reflective mirrors. Some of the areas are quite large, with multiple exits and entrances, so it can be hard to keep track of where you left from and where to go to next. You’ll really only find where to go next by process of elimination. Luckily the game features a hint system, for those that need a little extra nudge.

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The puzzles are challenging to the point where they’re not frustrating, and some are quite enjoyable and clever, and will make you feel a sense of achievement when you move on to the next area.

The extended levels are more of the same, if a little more difficult. The addition is about 1/2 the length of the main game, and that’s because you spend a large portion of it in disrepair, unable to fly for more than a couple seconds at a time.

The game is a fun way to spend an afternoon, taxing your brain, as you navigate our little adorable robot around underground. First play-through might net you 3-4 hours, but the 2nd time, knowing the puzzles, might only take you an hour or so to sweep through and grab those remaining achievements. It’s easy enough to 100% this game.

Notable Achievements
My one complaint about the achievements is that most of them end in a non-even 5 or 0, potentially messing up my clean gamerscore. Is that OCD?

Inner Peace (Balance on object on your head for 10 seconds) – 30G
That’s Why Helicopters Need Elevators (Some things are just way too heavy) – 76G

-iRogan

iReview – CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS – Stop. Shoot. Stop. Shoot.

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How many Call of Duty games have come out before Call of Duty: Ghosts? How many will come out after?

Title: Call of Duty: Ghosts
Developer:Infinity Ward, Raven Software, Neversoft
Platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, Wii U, PC
Publisher: Activision
Reviewed on: Xbox One

Call of Duty is Activision’s most profitable IP. A new version of this first-person shooter is now released annually, and it’s hard to say if this train will ever end. You’ll be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard of Call of Duty.

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What is it that makes the brand so recognizable, let alone appealing?

This wasn’t always the case, and Call of Duty wasn’t always a household name. That trend started around 2007 with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the franchise’s first step out into the modern world of war, leaving the World War II era behind (like everyone else). This was also at the time that Activision started releasing annual editions of the series, with a two-year development cycle, and two developers concurrently working on titles. With the next-gen, this has been bumped up to 3 developers, with a 3 year dev cycle. Spin-cycle, initiate.

All that notwithstanding, this franchise has always been popular, with its engaging, sometimes confusing, yet linear story, that pushes you along large action set pieces at breakneck speeds and controls every step of your experience, lest you start to think you have any semblance of authority. You don’t really play, you’re along for the ride. So strap in!

CALL OF DUTY’S MULTIPLAYER FAN BASE IS NOTHING IF NOT PASSIONATE

Call of Duty’s true bread and butter is, for some reason lost to me, the multiplayer. This keeps the people coming back. Typically portrayed as the scum of the internet, Call of Duty’s multiplayer fan base is nothing if not passionate for their Doritos and Mountain Dew infused FPS. The fan base has become so large and rabid, that these games are typically world record setters on launch – usually selling over a billion dollars worth of units each year, and most of these gamers won’t even start up the single player campaign. 

So if that’s been the case for 12 years now, why change what’s clearly not broken.

Call of Duty: Ghosts introduces us to a new story arc. Over is the Modern Warfare days, about to start is the Advanced Warfare future, and in a separate arc entirely, we have the Black Ops story. 3 different story arcs for 3 different developers.

Everything is exactly the same!

Everything is exactly the same!

Developed by Infinity Ward, with assistance from Raven Software (multiplayer) and Neversoft (Extinction), Ghosts is technically Call of Duty 10, and the 6th title developed by IW. And for all the experience therein, it seems to be the least innovative title to date.

Partial blame would be leveled at the restructuring of IW itself. After Modern Warfare 2, and the very public firing of IW’s CEO and Creative Lead, Vince Zampella and Jason West respectfully, IW has never really been the same, and has since required the assistance of other developers to pad their games, notably Modern Warfare 3. Another blame can be the result of the conversion to the next generation of consoles, as Ghosts marked the first launch title for the Xbox One and PS4, and first of its kind on the Wii U. So a butchered team, the shell of its former self, coupled with new, next-gen hardware leaves Ghost as a game that tries nothing new.

SO IF THAT’S BEEN THE CASE FOR 12 YEARS, WHY CHANGE WHAT IS CLEARLY NOT BROKEN

The story is set in a time that follows the nuclear destruction of the Middle East, and the formation of a global superpower, in South America, called “The Federation”.  The Federation captures an American Orbital Defense space station and uses the weapon to destroy the southwestern United States.  The surviving American astronauts self-destruct the space station before it can fall into the enemy hands permanently. America, Fuck Yeah!

10 years later, the war continues between the Federation and the remaining United States, as the game follows the Ghosts, a force of U.S Special Ops personnel trained to conduct secret missions behind enemy lines. The Ghosts are tasked with operations to take out key sites to turn the war in the favour of the Unites States. These elite few discover plans for a new Orbital Space Station designed by the Federation, and as a result, all remaining forces are pooled together in a synchronized assault on the enemy space centre on the ground, while a smaller team attempts to take over the Federation’s satellites in space.

The gameplay follows the same format as previous games, with the story told mainly through the perspective of one character.

...Only now they've added a dog!

…Only now they’ve added a dog!

This Call of Duty iteration, however, does add a few changes to formula. We’re given a German Shepherd companion for a portion of the story, and there are a few stealth levels where we play the dog, and take down enemies. The game also features underwater levels and missions in space, mixing up the run, crouch, shoot, run tactics, but the segments are still very much: stop, shoot, stop, shoot.

All the multiplayer modes are back with some new mechanics that allow certain areas of the maps to be altered or destroyed, not unlike Battlefield 4’s “levelution”. There is a new nuke-like kill streak perk, and the sniper rifle now features dual-render technology, which allows the player to see around the outside of scope, although blurred, when zoomed in. Was this not around before?

STOP. SHOOT. STOP. SHOOT

Lastly, in a new co-op mode called “Extinction”, has 4 players pitted against aliens in a horde-type base-defending survival mode. The main goal, besides surviving, obviously, is to destroy all the alien hives scattered around the map, and escape. Players get to choose from 4 different class types with unique traits and loadouts.

While not a bad game by any stretch, the run and gun gameplay mechanic is predictable. The quick-time prompts during the story events are frequent, and laughably unoriginal – Press X to feign interest.

Call of Duty: Ghosts can be commended for its action sequences, as they are visually impressive – always throwing larger and louder destruction our way – but a lot of time there isn’t a lot of interaction required from the player. We’re essentially along for the story/ride IW wants to tell/drive, and the game will just sit and wait for you if you try to be difficult, and decide to pout in the corner.

“You WILL play the game like we want you to play it, and you WILL like it.” – Somebody within IW, probably.

With Call of Duty's new engine, you'll have fish move away from you when you get close to them.

With Call of Duty’s new engine, you’ll have fish move away from you when you get close to them.

The next-gen editions are a step up in the graphics, but nothing notable. The lighting, character modeling and animation is the only true difference, but its hard to notice it with the same blurry screen-shake mechanics trying to infuse realism into the experience.

For those who like linear first-person shooters, German Shepherds, or pressing “X” to have the game played for them.

Notable Achievements:
Blimey O’Riley (Pounce on 10 enemies whilst controlling Riley) – 10G
End of your rope (Cut a grappling hook rope with an enemy on it) – 20G

-iRogan

iREVIEW – Goat Simulator – More Than Just Explosions and Dubstep Music

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What is Goat Simulator? Is it even a game? Or a sandbox physics simulator? What’s the story? I’m confused.

Title: Goat Simulator
Developer: Coffee Stain Studios (Double Eleven – 360 and One)
Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Xbox 360 & One
Reviewed on: Xbox One

Is it fun to play?
Yes.
Is it funny?
Yes.
Well then what is it?
Ummm . . .

Goat Simulator, at its most primitive, is an open-world, third-person perspective action game. Similar to Tony Hawk skateboarding games, you’re dropped into an open area, with notable key areas, and then given the task of creating your own fun through experimentation.

The Latest in Goat Simulation Technology

The Latest in Goat Simulation Technology

Major deviation, is you are a goat, aimed at doing as much damage as possible in this world, without any larger goals or aspirations.

Initially developed at Coffee Stains Studio as a joke prototype during an internal game jam and shown off on YouTube, Goat Simulator started to gain traction and excitement just from the ridiculousness of it all. Due to the popularity of the YouTube videos, the studio was prompted to build the game out to a state where it could be released as a stand-alone. Obviously the game was buggy in alpha, and a lot of these bugs added to the humour and entertainment, so they were retained in the release product.

Most notably of these bugs or glitches is the goat’s head and neck. It is very floppy and gets caught on objects easily, sometimes to the point where it doesn’t seem attached to the body anymore.

The game was originally released on Steam, to the community, and was received pretty well; some praising the title for its originality and its humourous sandbox mode, others criticizing it as a simple, buggy product that somehow became popular through social media. Coffee Stains Studio isn’t complaining though, as it made back its development budget within hours of the game’s release, and saw more success than some of its other, non-accidental, titles.

YOU PLAY A GOAT, OBVIOUSLY

Going back to the game itself, you play a goat, obviously. You spawn in an open-ended suburban setting, and left to explore, jump, run, headbutt things, and lick objects. Licking objects will attach the goat’s tongue to said object, and lets you drag the object around.

The game also supports a ragdoll mode and slow-motion mode. At any time the player can drop the goat into ragdoll mode which allows the physics engine to take over. Slow-motion, obviously makes the game mode slower and allows more finesse while doing tricks, or more time to laugh as the physics engine does what it does best.

And the suburban environment we’re placed in allows the goat to pull off tricks or stunts – similar to a skating game – with chaining tricks together for added points. We have trampolines, mattresses and industrial fans to jump off, walls to run up, or fences to crash through. Some of the in-game goals are displayed as a checklist, meant as a type of progress report for the player throughout the game. These include destroying certain objects, or completing flips, or even doing a “manual” – walking on the goat’s front lets for a specific distance.

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The collectibles scattered throughout the game, when collected, will allow certain modifiers to the goat, such as playing as a demon goat, or a giraffe (long-necked goat), or even an ostrich.

The game is very good at poking fun at itself, while also including a lot of winks to pop culture references, and other games. Even the original trailer itself was a parody of the Dead Island trailer – showing shots of the game, reversed and in slow-motion.

PLAY AS A DEMON GOAT, OR A GIRAFFE
(LONG-NECKED GOAT)

The game is fun for a while. It includes some very easy achievements, and may have you coming back for the collectibles, trying to find hidden Easter eggs, and of course, the laughs. It’s more than a simple joke game though – more akin to a brief distraction game. Short in content, with only two worlds, but it has its own version of Flappy Bird to keep you frustrated for hours.

For those who liked playing in the sandbox, wall running, general mayhem or slow-motion . . . things.

Notable Achievements:
Alexander Goatstafsson (Win the title boat!) – 15G
Devil Goat (We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell) – 30G

-iRogan

WHAT I’M PLAYING/ iREVIEW – The Swapper

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In a random gift of love and affection towards my PC, I jumped onto Steam and perused the list of games that had been Recommended For Me. First one to show up was a little nifty game called The Swapper.

Title: The Swapper
Developer: Facepalm Games
Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, PS3, PS4, Vita, WiiU
Publisher: Facepalm Games
Reviewed on: Windows

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Not really knowing anything about the game other than it was a puzzle platformer (gathered from the trailer), I jumped in. The Swapper is a sci-fi themed space game. You play a scavenger who crash lands on – and is now stranded aboard – a research station that appears abandoned. The goal, I suppose, is to find out what’s going on around this space station, and obviously try to escape.

THE PUZZLES THEMSELVES ARE VERY SMART AND DO REQUIRE THOUGHT AND PERSISTENCE AT TIMES

As the player, you acquire a hand-held cloning tool which allows you to create up to four simultaneous clones of your character, and grants you the ability to swap your consciousness across each one, as long as they are within sight. Once created, the clones mimic the moves of the player as long as there are no obstacles in their way. The clones can also die from falling from a great height or through general environment hazards. If a clone dies, they’re reclaimed and can be re-spawned. Clones can also be reclaimed by being absorbed by the player.

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Time also slows down when creating a clone with the Swapper and this game mechanic allows the player to traverse vertical areas. You can shoot a clone up towards the ceiling, and swap your consciousness over, and while the clone is falling in slow-motion, you can then create a 2nd clone to the platform you wish to reach (previously out of the field of view of the original player) and swap again.

Some rooms also have certain lights sources to illuminate the area. Blue, Red, and Purple – these lights can either prevent the clones from being created, or will prevent the player from swapping their consciousness to the clone across the room, or both. This is where using multiple clones to activate triggers comes into play. The puzzles themselves are very smart and do require thought and persistence at times.

The goal in each area is to acquire the orbs that activate the teleporters which then allow us to activate the next area.

SUPERB USE OF BLOOM EFFECTS FOR LIGHTING AND DEPTH OF FIELD

As you progress throughout the space station you come across terminals that start to tell the story of the game. Similar to Dead Space, the crew of this station have found space rocks on a nearby planet, and the rocks themselves seem to give off this electro-wave activity, leading the crew to believe that the rocks are somewhat alive or conscious. Once aboard, the rock’s telepathic abilities start to penetrate the minds and dreams of the crew, and without cause or reason, they start to die off, leading the remaining members to believe that the rocks themselves are driving the crew mad. Unfortunately they’ve brought so many aboard they can no longer get rid of them.

We actually come across these telepathic rocks throughout the game, unknown are their effects on us, but they do tend to share their disturbing thoughts with us.

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The game is straight forward in its design, and it looks very pretty, with superb use of bloom effects for lighting and depth of field. The characters actions are limited to walking and jumping, and there are gravity sections that will require the use of the Swapper to boost around. These areas can get very disorientating as the room itself rotates, and not the player. There is also the opportunity to use the occasion physics object to activate triggers or hold up walls.

The game’s atmosphere is to be lauded. Its quiet and creepy, deep and loud sounds can make you eager to press on, or have you looking over your shoulder. The score, with piano being the main instrument, tends to reveal the vast emptiness of this space station we’ve found ourselves in. Makes us feel very alone.

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– For those who like platformers, creepy empty space, or watching their clones walk off ledges.

-iRogan

iReview – TALES FROM THE BORDERLANDS EP 1: ZER0 SUM

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“You’re- you’re really cool… I just- I wanted you to know that.”

Title: Tales from the Borderlands – Episode 1: Zer0 Sum
Developer: Telltale Games
Platform: Android, iOS, PC, Mac, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Publisher: Telltale Games
Reviewed on: Xbox One

Me, me me. Me, too.

Me, me me.

Tales from the Borderlands is an episodic adventure comedy, typical to Telltale Games, only this time around, based on the Borderlands series. Like The Walking Dead or The Wolf Among Us series previously, Tales from the Borderlands uses the 5 episode formula, 6 chapters per episode, where the player’s choices and actions affect the story later on. As the player, you get to move around and interact with the environments, and initiate conversations with the other story’s non-playable characters. These conversations lead the story the way you see fit, and this is where your comments and replies may impact a certain character’s views of you. The game also utilizes quick-time sequences for the action parts.

Me too.

Me too.

You play the game from two different perspectives; the first as Rhys, who is a Hyperion employee – the company man – trying to make it up the ranks. The problem with Hyperion, besides being a soulless corporation, is there’s no apparent HR department, so Rhys (or we the player) quickly finds out that his previous boss has been murdered and replaced by a new boss, and nemesis, in Vasquez. And subsequently, Rhys has been demoted to janitor.

We overhear Vasquez making a deal for a Vault Key; a deal which will take place on Pandora. We meet up with our friend Vaughn who’s the resident accountant, and make a plan to meet the dealers and make the trade for the Vault Key before Vasquez.

On the other side of the coin, we also play as Fiona, who, with her sister Sasha, work with Felix, and as partners, are a bunch of con artists.  They are the ones responsible for this deal, and we quickly learn that the Vault Key is actually a fake.

During the transaction, everything gets interrupted by the resident boss, Bossanova, who steals the money, and Zer0, the resident Vault Hunter, trying to take down Bossanova.

The two groups, now forced to work together to recover the money, track down Bossanova to his base, where the episode comes to a head. At the base, a huge bandit race is taking place, with the winner to receive the prize money – the money which was originally brought to Pandora by Rhys and Vaugh for a fake Vault Key make by Fiona, Sasha and Felix, remember?.

At the end of Episode One we see the first appearance of Handsome Jack, and are left with a cliff-hanger to his intentions with the group.

“This is why people play these types of games a few times through, to get different outcomes.”

Throughout the game the choices you make will affect the story elements going forward through the remainder of this and future episodes. Understandably, this is why people play these types of games a few times through, to get different outcomes. Luckily each episode is only a couple hours from start to finish.

As you play through, some of the choices you make, or are about to make, are unexpected, while others a little more obvious. They will not impact your ability to beat the game, or that episode per se, but the results might not be entirely favourable in your eye. At this point, we don’t know how our choices will impact our game in later episodes. Something I’m excited to find out.

This is my first attempt at playing a Telltale game since The Walking Dead Episode 1, and this is by far a huge improvement. The game moves by at a quick pace. There’s less puzzles, and quicker quick-time events. My change of opinion may also solely rest on the source material as I’ve always been a big fan of the Borderlands world. It has, however, put Telltale Games into my good books, and luckily I have the Xbox One bundle to jump into once Borderlands wraps up Season One.

“The humour is here, in droves, and this works well in Telltales favour.”

The Borderlands world suits itself well to the Telltale visual style, if not it’s gameplay. The models are designed nicely and suit the world, however the animations are a little stiff. That being said, the Borderlands series has always been hilarious, and luckily, the humour is here, in droves, and this works well in Telltales favour. Its also nice to see some familiar faces show up.

I found The Walking Dead to be too slow and methodical (again maybe due to the source material), and luckily Borderlands is quick and concise, eager to move ahead, but tells an interesting tale. The finale of Episode One takes place during a large bandit race, and this sequence, primarily done with quick time events, has a lot of moving parts all pulled off very well.

This first episode has me hopeful for the future of this series, and has piqued my interest to the other Telltale properties in The Wolf Among Us and Game of Thrones.

– For those who like Borderlands, Telltale Games, and humour.

(Only downside is you can’t miss any achievements, so none are notable 😦 )

-iRogan