rss:9d9437cc2bdadfdb0c2a6594385b5cf5548bd329 rss_modified:rss:9d9437cc2bdadfdb0c2a6594385b5cf5548bd329 http://www.gamespot.com/mashup/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Tue, 05 Aug 2014 07:41:51 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/metrico-review/1900-6415835/ Metrico should be lauded for its creativity. Instead of using static blocks and a fantastical setting, this abstract puzzler hinges on scalable, everyday infographics the size and placement of which are beholden to your actions. Few people jump out of their seats to play with pie charts, line graphs, and bar diagrams, but developer Digital Dreams has managed to take the mundane and make it feel otherworldly in its PlayStation Vita debut. There's nothing else like it, but unfortunately, a novel concept and brazen soundtrack aren't enough to overcome a frustrating control scheme and often-empty set of challenges. There are flashes of brilliance born from the dozens of geographic puzzles, but the highs in Metrico aren't high enough to erase the lows.
"Input Morphing" is the term used to describe the adjustments you make to the environment, as different features of the world around you change shape, position, and orientation based on the location and action of your character. Moving left or right on the X-axis may raise or lower a single block on screen that's jamming the exit, while jumping up or down on the Y-axis could shift a longer pillar across the screen. You move from world to world, each of which contains multiple puzzles that increase in difficulty as you progress, with the conclusion of every world giving you the option of leaving through one of two colored doors.
How do your decisions impact the journey? That, along with your character's motivation for moving from start to finish, is unclear. Metrico creates the illusion of choice, and for a few moments, it feels like it's building to something greater than itself. However, the lack of a tangible narrative leaves too much for the player to decipher. I welcome ambiguity, but by the very end, I felt more lost than enlightened.
The ever-increasing difficulty stems from the fresh mechanics introduced in each of the six worlds. As you progress, you learn to shoot projectiles with a simple touch of the screen. Floating platforms swing left and right as you swivel and turn the Vita, and the camera even comes into play as you uncover gameplay hooks that take full advantage of the Vita's many inputs. Metrico quickly builds in complexity as you conquer screen after screen, but it sacrifices fluidity. It can be cumbersome to tilt your Vita--and often your body--to the exact angle being asked, all while using your camera, tapping the screen, and making a big jump. I frequently found myself spinning my machine every which way to move a bar graph to its maximum height in order to progress, struggling to get a grip on the sensitivity.
How do your decisions impact the journey? That, along with your character's motivation for moving from start to finish, is unclear.
It can feel like mobile Twister, and this helter-skelter scheme had me yearning for greater precision as I watched my silhouetted hero fall to his death over and over again. The puzzles themselves aren't so complex that you're left banging your head against the wall until the solution rudely slaps you across the face, but the actual difficulty of performing the necessary actions turns some levels into a slog.
When it all works in concert, though, the vision becomes clear. You're not told which piece of geometry will be altered as you move to the right, eliminate an enemy with your projectiles, or even fall to your death. In the more multifaceted levels, almost every action has a reaction, and there's an undeniable joy that comes from unraveling it all yourself. You're briefly shown what certain buttons or movements do once you begin a new world, but from there, it's up to you to actually take advantage of that ability to make it to the right side of the screen. Experimentation is paramount to success, and when the game's mechanics aren't pushing back, Metrico delivers the goods.
The most consistent facet of Metrico is its presentation, which beautifully blends its colorful edges with a soothing synthetic soundtrack. The particular visual style of each world is wonderfully complemented by its corresponding music, with each action resulting in a distinct auditory ripple. Sounds erupt and shapes appear as you scale new obstacles, but the most notable feat is that Metrico manages to remain aesthetically stimulating from start to finish. The many shades of purple, blue, and red you encounter wouldn't be nearly as striking without the accompanying melodies that fit like a glove.
Metrico looks and sounds the part of a critical darling, but laborious controls and empty narrative agency mar this chromatic trip. The many mechanics introduced from world to world often enrich the multiple puzzles you encounter, and the joy that comes from cracking the game's most complex codes is sublime. However, the erratic sensitivity of the Vita's motion control and overly indistinct theme hold Metrico back from being more than a fleeting curiosity.
]]> 1900-6415835Tue, 05 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/road-not-taken-review/1900-6415834/ Life can take many unexpected turns; failure or success at a key moment can mean the difference between heartache and bliss. Road Not Taken is an action/puzzle adventure with heavy roguelike elements that explores that motif. Despite a few disappointing issues, the developers at Spry Fox have pieced together an artistic and absorbing experience that touches upon themes of love, loss, and, ultimately, hope.Road Not Taken begins when you, a hooded ranger, push through a blizzard and catch a boat ride to a snowy village. Its population is scarce. A few lonely figures wander the streets, and you soon find the mayor waiting on the east end of town. He promises you a roof over your head, but in exchange, you must lead the search for children who have gone missing while attempting to harvest berries in the harsh elements. That means wandering through a randomly generated region filled with hostile wildlife and other objects that stand between you, the children, and their parents.
Gameplay is divided between two areas. In town, you talk to villagers and learn their stories. One person might come from a wealthy family, for instance, and money is his language. Another feels the ticking of her biological clock; she yearns for a future with a house and kids, but there's no guarantee she'll ever find it without your aid. As the wandering refugee, you engage with the characters, handing over coins, rice, berries, medicine, or rabbits you have obtained. In exchange, you learn more of a specific character's story and perhaps gain new information for your records, or a charm or temporary energy boost. Your relationship can grow to inspire love, envy, or even marriage.
When you're not busy turning strangers into friends, you wander a wasteland that resembles a dungeon in The Legend of Zelda. Your magical staff allows you to lift adjacent objects (up to four at a time, one on each connecting side) and carry them or hurl them outward. Each item you might heft behaves differently when it connects with the proper obstruction. Often, such items simply fall in place, but sometimes you match the proper items; two orange spirits and a blue well of fire turn into a life-restoring apple, for instance, and combining a couple of sticks produces a fire. As you experiment and talk with villagers, you learn about other useful combinations.
Not every match you make is beneficial, so you should think carefully before you lift anything. Once any objects are lifted, you can't simply set them down again. Instead, you must either throw or carry them. The latter activity drains your energy meter with each step you take, unless a cheery fire is burning nearby. You need to make sure you don't produce an unintended match, and you also must be careful not to throw something so that it lands near another object you have no interest in subsequently lifting. Mobility is also a factor, since you can't squeeze through tight spaces if you are toting around too much junk. The amount of planning this sometimes requires can be intimidating, especially in later areas.
Screens in a given region are usually blocked by obstructions that disappear only when you make a specific match, and sometimes the necessary ingredients aren't all on hand. In that case, you must backtrack and toss the desired item--a tree, or a block of ice, or skittish wildlife, or something else of that nature--through an opening. In other instances, you might stumble across a wolf surrounded by deer. The carnivore will eat the other animals if you don't act quickly, perhaps eliminating your opportunity to ever advance to adjoining screens.
Situations such as the one noted above pose a serious problem, because children are located at the far reaches of each randomly-generated area. If you let a bit of bad luck or poor planning prevent you from reaching too many such screens, or if you carelessly carry items too long that could instead be tossed, you won't be able to save enough missing youths to meet the mayor's quota. If you fail twice or if you run out of energy, your fifteen-year run is cut short and you must start fresh.
Frustratingly, you don't keep anything important from one cycle to another. Neighbors and wandering adventurers you meet in dungeons sometimes give you charms, and you can equip two at once by default. Those charms do helpful things like reducing the number of children you must find, or causing restorative items to have a greater impact. One particularly great charm adds 200 points to an energy meter that otherwise might hover near 60 or 90. If you fail to complete the cycle, though, you lose it and might not find another to replace it for several more cycles. You do at least retain the ability to "ban" a standard maximum of two objects from the wastelands by visiting your basement, but there are dozens of items to worry about, and the option to eliminate only a couple of them hardly matters. Charms are significantly more useful, so it stinks to always lose them.
Road Not Taken is a difficult adventure, one that suits its name perfectly. Though you will likely fail many times as you attempt to finally reach the end of a cycle, there is almost always something to lure you back. Maybe you had almost reached the end of one character's story, and you are dying to see how it concludes. Or perhaps you discovered a new technique or combination, and now you'd like to put it to proper use on a subsequent run. There is something novel to discover on nearly every run, and online leaderboards provide yet another reason to keep trying again.
Unfortunately, the game currently suffers from some irritating bugs. Patches may address that eventually, but right now crashes often happen at a rate of several times per cycle. You can even lose your save file in the event of a severe crash, which makes their frequency distressing, even though typically you resume on the exact screen where you last played. Combine the lack of stability with the occasional cheap combinations of randomly generated rooms (not to mention your inability to keep charms from one cycle to the next) and you're left with a punishing experience indeed.
On a brighter note, the art style is charming and even uses some familiar icons from Triple Town, a popular mobile game from the same developer. The sprites are expressive and vibrant, which allows the game to spin bleak stories without getting overly depressing. Music is atmospheric, with a lot of the chimes and bells that always seem to accompany wintry landscapes in film and games, accompanied by haunting gusts of wind and the faint sobs of distressed parents.
Road Not Taken is an ambitious endeavor, a substantial puzzle adventure with that special something that keeps you returning for yet another trek through the harsh wilds. It's sometimes too unforgiving for its own good, but the urge to travel along another path is difficult to resist.
]]> 1900-6415834Tue, 05 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/is-this-love-road-not-taken-gameplay/2300-6420583/ 2300-6420583Tue, 05 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/road-not-taken-gameplay/2300-6420582/ 2300-6420582Tue, 05 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/stardock-hires-the-guy-who-built-battle-net/1100-6421495/
Stardock, the developer of Sins of a Solar Empire and the Galactic Civilizations series, has announced its hire of Adrian Luff, the man responsible for overseeing the growth of Battle.net during his 17-year tenure at Blizzard Entertainment.
Luff joins Stardock to lead the roll-out of Project Tachyon, an initiative which will "manage the online infrastructure to provide the meta-game experience" for the company's multiplayer games. The project will run entirely on the cloud, and utilize Valve's Steamworks "where possible" on the PC. According to Stardock, Project Tachyon will use each platform's "inherent features", allowing players to utilise new features in Stardock games including integrated ladders and matchmaking.
Stardock is currently developing Galactic Civilizations III, a turn-based strategy title for PC. The game will use Project Tachyon in at least "some capacity." For more information on Galactic Civilizations III, check out our Early Access Review.
]]> 1100-6421495Mon, 04 Aug 2014 23:39:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/hyrule-warriors-ganondorf-and-a-great-sword-gamepl/2300-6420610/ 2300-6420610Mon, 04 Aug 2014 22:12:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/why-war-thunder-does-it-better/2300-6420609/ 2300-6420609Mon, 04 Aug 2014 19:43:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-hyrule-warriors-details-to-be-revealed-in-toda/1100-6421490/Nintendo will be announcing more details surrounding its upcoming hack and slash game Hyrule Warriors in today's Nintendo Direct. The livestream will begin in 2 hours from now, at 8PM PT/11PM ET. GameSpot will be updating this story as the live stream progresses, so be sure to stay tuned for more details as they are announced.
Hyrule Warriors is being developed by Omega Force and Team Ninja for the Wii U. The game is similar to that of Tecmo Koei's Dynasty Warrior series, but draws upon The Legend of Zelda universe for its setting and characters. The game also features a local co-op mode where one person can play on the TV and the other on the Wii U Gamepad's screen.
Hyrule Warriors will launch in Japan on August 14, Europe on September 19, Australia on September 20, and North America on September 26. For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.
Live update: Zant (Twilight Princess), Midna (Twilight Princess), and Ghirahim (Skyward Sword) are confirmed to be playable characters. Lana, a sorceress, has been introduced as a character unique to Hyrule Warriors. She fights using a book of sorcery and is described as a "key character to the story."
Chain Chomp, who originated from the Mario universe, will appear in Hyrule Warriors as a weapon.
Hyrule Warriors will include a badge crafting system, which can help to increase a characters statistics. Crafting uses items which are dropped by enemies.
Adventure Mode will be available. It will be set up like the classic 8-bit Zelda top-down style map. Each square that the player steps into initiates a challenge to be played out in the combat style of Hyrule Warriors. For example, kill five million enemies in 30 seconds. As each grid is completed new grids open, allowing players to unlock new weapons, items, and characters. It described as "a bit similar to classic Zelda games."
Gold Skulltulas are back for players to collect.
To close off the presentation, Ganandorf has been revealed as a playable character. Preorder bonuses are also shown, which include costumes for select characters. No mention of whether these will be available outside of North America.
There have been many survival and crafting games since Minecraft exploded in popularity. Wonderstruck Games, composed of ex-Lionhead and EA developers, has decided to join the trend and is making a sandbox survival game called Oort Online. But where Minecraft worlds are limited, Wonderstruck promises that the Oort Online universe is expansive, populated by many players all working to craft materials and survive.
Wonderstruck describes the game on its website as "a massively multiplayer game set in a sandbox universe of connected voxel worlds." In other words, it's an open-world MMO with a 3D pixel-art style. Players are tasked with discovering resources, exploring, and fighting the Protectors, a mysterious race of creatures who inhabit Oort's worlds. If you gather enough resources, you can build portals which take you to different, potentially rewarding places.
The website also emphasizes player interactions and how alliances and commerce will emerge. Exploration also seems to be geared toward bringing players together, and hints at the same sort of alliances and wars between players that appear in the multiplayer survival game, Rust. "Travel to different worlds and survive in a new environment with real players and challenges," the website states. "Stockpile abundant resources from your world and trade them with players in other worlds."
Of course, a lot of the game focuses on crafting and building. In order to prevent people from potentially destroying other players' creations, Wonderstruck has created Beacons. Each player is given a certain number of these, which allow you to claim land and determine who can and cannot enter. Once you own land, all of the resources contained within are yours, and you can set up shop and sell your wares. In the style of EVE Online, players will be able to set up their own businesses to try to make money off of the loot and supplies they collect.
Oort Online is being crowdfunded through its website and it is following a similar development pattern to Star Citizen. If you pay $95, you can get access to the game's prototype build right now. As funding increases, the developer will gradually add more and more features, growing the game over the course of its life cycle. The campaign has made over $22,000 at the time of this writing.
Wonderstruck is currently targeting late 2015 for a release of the game through distribution platforms such as Steam. It is currently only planned for a PC release, although the developer is considering moving to mobile devices later. Right now, you can reserve a launch copy for $15, beta access for $25, and alpha access for $50. The alpha is tentatively scheduled for early 2015 and the beta for mid 2015.
The studio has also worked on two other games: Polycraft, a tower defense game, and The Marvelous Miss Take, a "streamlined stealth game," according to its website. You can play Polycraft for free here.
Do you think that there are too many survival games already, or does Oort Online sound like it can stand out? Let us know in the comments!
| Alex Newhouse is an editorial intern at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @alexbnewhouse |
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| Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com |
Star Citizen's massively successful crowdfunding campaign--which currently stands at $49 million--proves there is a market for PC-exclusive space sims. That's according to the creator of the project, Chris Roberts, who says he thinks traditional publishers would have never gotten behind a project like Star Citizen.
"If I had gone up to any publisher and said, 'Hey, will you give me $50 million to do a space sim on PC only?' everyone would say, 'Get out of here,'" Roberts told The Verge in an interview publisher today. "But we're in a situation where we're getting to do that."
If funding for Star Citizen continues at its current pace of $1 million every three weeks, the game should reach $50 million by the end of the month. More than half a million people have contributed to the campaign so far. Star Citizen is the most successful crowdfunded project of any kind in history. The most-funded Kickstarter project ever was the Pebble Watch, which attracted $10.2 million.
Though Roberts does not have a publisher to report to, that does not mean he's just breezing through development, feeling no pressure at all. "The biggest amount of pressure comes from myself," Roberts said. "I can see this game. I've got a very clear picture of what I want it to be, and I get frustrated when we're not moving as quickly as I want us to move. I want it to be the best thing I've ever played."
Overall, Roberts said he expects Star Citizen's focus on detail to be what will set the game apart from the competition. "For me, it's all about feeling like I'm in the world," Roberts said. "There's an attention to detail you need to suspend that disbelief and for me that is the motto of Star Citizen. We're going for that extra level of detail, so there's a real tactile sense to your environment. It feels like it's lived in."
Star Citizen, developed by Roberts and his studio, Cloud Imperium Games, is expected to launch in 2015, and support for virtual reality is planned. Parts of the game, including the dogfighting mode, are currently available in beta form.
For more on Star Citizen and Roberts himself, check out part one and part two of GameSpot's interview with the legendary designer.
]]> 1100-6421489Mon, 04 Aug 2014 12:55:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/zelda-majoras-mask-hd-fan-art-project-looks-really/1100-6421487/While Nintendo continues to work on its first original high-definition Zelda game, two fans are recreating parts of a classic Zelda game, the Nintendo 64's Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, in an effort to make them look better than ever. A new video update (above) on the Zelda Majora's Mask Project was published yesterday through its YouTube channel. It shows off a variety of gorgeous 3D environments and models, including one of Deku Link.
To be clear, this is not a playable remake of Majora's Mask. "This work has been created by fans for fans, but its ultimate purpose is to be presented to Nintendo," the video's description states. Creators Pablo Belmonte and Paco Martinez--no doubt in the hopes of ensuring Nintendo doesn't shut them down--say this is an interactive project that hasn't used any materials from the original game, adding that they are not profiting from it in any way.
A video from the duo that looked like a trailer for a remake was first released two years ago (see it below), showing a beautiful-looking segment from early on in Majora's Mask. That video was accompanied by a description that described the project as a "small test" intended to serve as "a proposal" to convince Nintendo to make it a reality.
Updates on the project have been hard to come by since then; no additional videos were posted until one appeared last month showing Belmonte and Martinez, who say they work in the industry, with a Happy Mask Salesman statue.
The latest video describes the project as a work-in-progress, but offers up no additional information about when we'll see it again. We've contacted the creators to learn more and will report back with anything we learn.
Majora's Mask is one of two Zelda games released for the N64, the other being Ocarina of Time. That game received a 3DS remake in 2012, and Nintendo has hinted that a Majora's Mask remake could follow at some point. An HD remake of another Zelda game, Wind Waker, was released on Wii U last year. Presently, the company is known to be working on a new, open-world Zelda game for Wii U.
Would you like to see a 3DS remake of Majora's Mask similar to The Ocarina of Time 3D, or would you prefer that Nintendo make a full HD remake of the game resembling what's seen in these videos? Let us know in the comments.
| Chris Pereira is a freelance writer for GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @TheSmokingManX |
|---|
| Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com |
rss:9d9437cc2bdadfdb0c2a6594385b5cf5548bd329 rss_modified:rss:9d9437cc2bdadfdb0c2a6594385b5cf5548bd329 http://www.gamespot.com/mashup/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Tue, 05 Aug 2014 07:41:51 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/metrico-review/1900-6415835/ Metrico should be lauded for its creativity. Instead of using static blocks and a fantastical setting, this abstract puzzler hinges on scalable, everyday infographics the size and placement of which are beholden to your actions. Few people jump out of their seats to play with pie charts, line graphs, and bar diagrams, but developer Digital Dreams has managed to take the mundane and make it feel otherworldly in its PlayStation Vita debut. There's nothing else like it, but unfortunately, a novel concept and brazen soundtrack aren't enough to overcome a frustrating control scheme and often-empty set of challenges. There are flashes of brilliance born from the dozens of geographic puzzles, but the highs in Metrico aren't high enough to erase the lows.
"Input Morphing" is the term used to describe the adjustments you make to the environment, as different features of the world around you change shape, position, and orientation based on the location and action of your character. Moving left or right on the X-axis may raise or lower a single block on screen that's jamming the exit, while jumping up or down on the Y-axis could shift a longer pillar across the screen. You move from world to world, each of which contains multiple puzzles that increase in difficulty as you progress, with the conclusion of every world giving you the option of leaving through one of two colored doors.
How do your decisions impact the journey? That, along with your character's motivation for moving from start to finish, is unclear. Metrico creates the illusion of choice, and for a few moments, it feels like it's building to something greater than itself. However, the lack of a tangible narrative leaves too much for the player to decipher. I welcome ambiguity, but by the very end, I felt more lost than enlightened.
The ever-increasing difficulty stems from the fresh mechanics introduced in each of the six worlds. As you progress, you learn to shoot projectiles with a simple touch of the screen. Floating platforms swing left and right as you swivel and turn the Vita, and the camera even comes into play as you uncover gameplay hooks that take full advantage of the Vita's many inputs. Metrico quickly builds in complexity as you conquer screen after screen, but it sacrifices fluidity. It can be cumbersome to tilt your Vita--and often your body--to the exact angle being asked, all while using your camera, tapping the screen, and making a big jump. I frequently found myself spinning my machine every which way to move a bar graph to its maximum height in order to progress, struggling to get a grip on the sensitivity.
How do your decisions impact the journey? That, along with your character's motivation for moving from start to finish, is unclear.
It can feel like mobile Twister, and this helter-skelter scheme had me yearning for greater precision as I watched my silhouetted hero fall to his death over and over again. The puzzles themselves aren't so complex that you're left banging your head against the wall until the solution rudely slaps you across the face, but the actual difficulty of performing the necessary actions turns some levels into a slog.
When it all works in concert, though, the vision becomes clear. You're not told which piece of geometry will be altered as you move to the right, eliminate an enemy with your projectiles, or even fall to your death. In the more multifaceted levels, almost every action has a reaction, and there's an undeniable joy that comes from unraveling it all yourself. You're briefly shown what certain buttons or movements do once you begin a new world, but from there, it's up to you to actually take advantage of that ability to make it to the right side of the screen. Experimentation is paramount to success, and when the game's mechanics aren't pushing back, Metrico delivers the goods.
The most consistent facet of Metrico is its presentation, which beautifully blends its colorful edges with a soothing synthetic soundtrack. The particular visual style of each world is wonderfully complemented by its corresponding music, with each action resulting in a distinct auditory ripple. Sounds erupt and shapes appear as you scale new obstacles, but the most notable feat is that Metrico manages to remain aesthetically stimulating from start to finish. The many shades of purple, blue, and red you encounter wouldn't be nearly as striking without the accompanying melodies that fit like a glove.
Metrico looks and sounds the part of a critical darling, but laborious controls and empty narrative agency mar this chromatic trip. The many mechanics introduced from world to world often enrich the multiple puzzles you encounter, and the joy that comes from cracking the game's most complex codes is sublime. However, the erratic sensitivity of the Vita's motion control and overly indistinct theme hold Metrico back from being more than a fleeting curiosity.
]]> 1900-6415835Tue, 05 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/road-not-taken-review/1900-6415834/ Life can take many unexpected turns; failure or success at a key moment can mean the difference between heartache and bliss. Road Not Taken is an action/puzzle adventure with heavy roguelike elements that explores that motif. Despite a few disappointing issues, the developers at Spry Fox have pieced together an artistic and absorbing experience that touches upon themes of love, loss, and, ultimately, hope.Road Not Taken begins when you, a hooded ranger, push through a blizzard and catch a boat ride to a snowy village. Its population is scarce. A few lonely figures wander the streets, and you soon find the mayor waiting on the east end of town. He promises you a roof over your head, but in exchange, you must lead the search for children who have gone missing while attempting to harvest berries in the harsh elements. That means wandering through a randomly generated region filled with hostile wildlife and other objects that stand between you, the children, and their parents.
Gameplay is divided between two areas. In town, you talk to villagers and learn their stories. One person might come from a wealthy family, for instance, and money is his language. Another feels the ticking of her biological clock; she yearns for a future with a house and kids, but there's no guarantee she'll ever find it without your aid. As the wandering refugee, you engage with the characters, handing over coins, rice, berries, medicine, or rabbits you have obtained. In exchange, you learn more of a specific character's story and perhaps gain new information for your records, or a charm or temporary energy boost. Your relationship can grow to inspire love, envy, or even marriage.
When you're not busy turning strangers into friends, you wander a wasteland that resembles a dungeon in The Legend of Zelda. Your magical staff allows you to lift adjacent objects (up to four at a time, one on each connecting side) and carry them or hurl them outward. Each item you might heft behaves differently when it connects with the proper obstruction. Often, such items simply fall in place, but sometimes you match the proper items; two orange spirits and a blue well of fire turn into a life-restoring apple, for instance, and combining a couple of sticks produces a fire. As you experiment and talk with villagers, you learn about other useful combinations.
Not every match you make is beneficial, so you should think carefully before you lift anything. Once any objects are lifted, you can't simply set them down again. Instead, you must either throw or carry them. The latter activity drains your energy meter with each step you take, unless a cheery fire is burning nearby. You need to make sure you don't produce an unintended match, and you also must be careful not to throw something so that it lands near another object you have no interest in subsequently lifting. Mobility is also a factor, since you can't squeeze through tight spaces if you are toting around too much junk. The amount of planning this sometimes requires can be intimidating, especially in later areas.
Screens in a given region are usually blocked by obstructions that disappear only when you make a specific match, and sometimes the necessary ingredients aren't all on hand. In that case, you must backtrack and toss the desired item--a tree, or a block of ice, or skittish wildlife, or something else of that nature--through an opening. In other instances, you might stumble across a wolf surrounded by deer. The carnivore will eat the other animals if you don't act quickly, perhaps eliminating your opportunity to ever advance to adjoining screens.
Situations such as the one noted above pose a serious problem, because children are located at the far reaches of each randomly-generated area. If you let a bit of bad luck or poor planning prevent you from reaching too many such screens, or if you carelessly carry items too long that could instead be tossed, you won't be able to save enough missing youths to meet the mayor's quota. If you fail twice or if you run out of energy, your fifteen-year run is cut short and you must start fresh.
Frustratingly, you don't keep anything important from one cycle to another. Neighbors and wandering adventurers you meet in dungeons sometimes give you charms, and you can equip two at once by default. Those charms do helpful things like reducing the number of children you must find, or causing restorative items to have a greater impact. One particularly great charm adds 200 points to an energy meter that otherwise might hover near 60 or 90. If you fail to complete the cycle, though, you lose it and might not find another to replace it for several more cycles. You do at least retain the ability to "ban" a standard maximum of two objects from the wastelands by visiting your basement, but there are dozens of items to worry about, and the option to eliminate only a couple of them hardly matters. Charms are significantly more useful, so it stinks to always lose them.
Road Not Taken is a difficult adventure, one that suits its name perfectly. Though you will likely fail many times as you attempt to finally reach the end of a cycle, there is almost always something to lure you back. Maybe you had almost reached the end of one character's story, and you are dying to see how it concludes. Or perhaps you discovered a new technique or combination, and now you'd like to put it to proper use on a subsequent run. There is something novel to discover on nearly every run, and online leaderboards provide yet another reason to keep trying again.
Unfortunately, the game currently suffers from some irritating bugs. Patches may address that eventually, but right now crashes often happen at a rate of several times per cycle. You can even lose your save file in the event of a severe crash, which makes their frequency distressing, even though typically you resume on the exact screen where you last played. Combine the lack of stability with the occasional cheap combinations of randomly generated rooms (not to mention your inability to keep charms from one cycle to the next) and you're left with a punishing experience indeed.
On a brighter note, the art style is charming and even uses some familiar icons from Triple Town, a popular mobile game from the same developer. The sprites are expressive and vibrant, which allows the game to spin bleak stories without getting overly depressing. Music is atmospheric, with a lot of the chimes and bells that always seem to accompany wintry landscapes in film and games, accompanied by haunting gusts of wind and the faint sobs of distressed parents.
Road Not Taken is an ambitious endeavor, a substantial puzzle adventure with that special something that keeps you returning for yet another trek through the harsh wilds. It's sometimes too unforgiving for its own good, but the urge to travel along another path is difficult to resist.
]]> 1900-6415834Tue, 05 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/is-this-love-road-not-taken-gameplay/2300-6420583/ 2300-6420583Tue, 05 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/road-not-taken-gameplay/2300-6420582/ 2300-6420582Tue, 05 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/stardock-hires-the-guy-who-built-battle-net/1100-6421495/Stardock, the developer of Sins of a Solar Empire and the Galactic Civilizations series, has announced its hire of Adrian Luff, the man responsible for overseeing the growth of Battle.net during his 17-year tenure at Blizzard Entertainment.
Luff joins Stardock to lead the roll-out of Project Tachyon, an initiative which will "manage the online infrastructure to provide the meta-game experience" for the company's multiplayer games. The project will run entirely on the cloud, and utilize Valve's Steamworks "where possible" on the PC. According to Stardock, Project Tachyon will use each platform's "inherent features", allowing players to utilise new features in Stardock games including integrated ladders and matchmaking.
Stardock is currently developing Galactic Civilizations III, a turn-based strategy title for PC. The game will use Project Tachyon in at least "some capacity." For more information on Galactic Civilizations III, check out our Early Access Review.
]]> 1100-6421495Mon, 04 Aug 2014 23:39:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/hyrule-warriors-ganondorf-and-a-great-sword-gamepl/2300-6420610/ 2300-6420610Mon, 04 Aug 2014 22:12:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/why-war-thunder-does-it-better/2300-6420609/ 2300-6420609Mon, 04 Aug 2014 19:43:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-hyrule-warriors-details-to-be-revealed-in-toda/1100-6421490/Nintendo will be announcing more details surrounding its upcoming hack and slash game Hyrule Warriors in today's Nintendo Direct. The livestream will begin in 2 hours from now, at 8PM PT/11PM ET. GameSpot will be updating this story as the live stream progresses, so be sure to stay tuned for more details as they are announced.
Hyrule Warriors is being developed by Omega Force and Team Ninja for the Wii U. The game is similar to that of Tecmo Koei's Dynasty Warrior series, but draws upon The Legend of Zelda universe for its setting and characters. The game also features a local co-op mode where one person can play on the TV and the other on the Wii U Gamepad's screen.
Hyrule Warriors will launch in Japan on August 14, Europe on September 19, Australia on September 20, and North America on September 26. For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.
Live update: Zant (Twilight Princess), Midna (Twilight Princess), and Ghirahim (Skyward Sword) are confirmed to be playable characters. Lana, a sorceress, has been introduced as a character unique to Hyrule Warriors. She fights using a book of sorcery and is described as a "key character to the story."
Chain Chomp, who originated from the Mario universe, will appear in Hyrule Warriors as a weapon.
Hyrule Warriors will include a badge crafting system, which can help to increase a characters statistics. Crafting uses items which are dropped by enemies.
Adventure Mode will be available. It will be set up like the classic 8-bit Zelda top-down style map. Each square that the player steps into initiates a challenge to be played out in the combat style of Hyrule Warriors. For example, kill five million enemies in 30 seconds. As each grid is completed new grids open, allowing players to unlock new weapons, items, and characters. It described as "a bit similar to classic Zelda games."
Gold Skulltulas are back for players to collect.
To close off the presentation, Ganandorf has been revealed as a playable character. Preorder bonuses are also shown, which include costumes for select characters. No mention of whether these will be available outside of North America.
There have been many survival and crafting games since Minecraft exploded in popularity. Wonderstruck Games, composed of ex-Lionhead and EA developers, has decided to join the trend and is making a sandbox survival game called Oort Online. But where Minecraft worlds are limited, Wonderstruck promises that the Oort Online universe is expansive, populated by many players all working to craft materials and survive.
Wonderstruck describes the game on its website as "a massively multiplayer game set in a sandbox universe of connected voxel worlds." In other words, it's an open-world MMO with a 3D pixel-art style. Players are tasked with discovering resources, exploring, and fighting the Protectors, a mysterious race of creatures who inhabit Oort's worlds. If you gather enough resources, you can build portals which take you to different, potentially rewarding places.
The website also emphasizes player interactions and how alliances and commerce will emerge. Exploration also seems to be geared toward bringing players together, and hints at the same sort of alliances and wars between players that appear in the multiplayer survival game, Rust. "Travel to different worlds and survive in a new environment with real players and challenges," the website states. "Stockpile abundant resources from your world and trade them with players in other worlds."
Of course, a lot of the game focuses on crafting and building. In order to prevent people from potentially destroying other players' creations, Wonderstruck has created Beacons. Each player is given a certain number of these, which allow you to claim land and determine who can and cannot enter. Once you own land, all of the resources contained within are yours, and you can set up shop and sell your wares. In the style of EVE Online, players will be able to set up their own businesses to try to make money off of the loot and supplies they collect.
Oort Online is being crowdfunded through its website and it is following a similar development pattern to Star Citizen. If you pay $95, you can get access to the game's prototype build right now. As funding increases, the developer will gradually add more and more features, growing the game over the course of its life cycle. The campaign has made over $22,000 at the time of this writing.
Wonderstruck is currently targeting late 2015 for a release of the game through distribution platforms such as Steam. It is currently only planned for a PC release, although the developer is considering moving to mobile devices later. Right now, you can reserve a launch copy for $15, beta access for $25, and alpha access for $50. The alpha is tentatively scheduled for early 2015 and the beta for mid 2015.
The studio has also worked on two other games: Polycraft, a tower defense game, and The Marvelous Miss Take, a "streamlined stealth game," according to its website. You can play Polycraft for free here.
Do you think that there are too many survival games already, or does Oort Online sound like it can stand out? Let us know in the comments!
| Alex Newhouse is an editorial intern at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @alexbnewhouse |
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| Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com |
Star Citizen's massively successful crowdfunding campaign--which currently stands at $49 million--proves there is a market for PC-exclusive space sims. That's according to the creator of the project, Chris Roberts, who says he thinks traditional publishers would have never gotten behind a project like Star Citizen.
"If I had gone up to any publisher and said, 'Hey, will you give me $50 million to do a space sim on PC only?' everyone would say, 'Get out of here,'" Roberts told The Verge in an interview publisher today. "But we're in a situation where we're getting to do that."
If funding for Star Citizen continues at its current pace of $1 million every three weeks, the game should reach $50 million by the end of the month. More than half a million people have contributed to the campaign so far. Star Citizen is the most successful crowdfunded project of any kind in history. The most-funded Kickstarter project ever was the Pebble Watch, which attracted $10.2 million.
Though Roberts does not have a publisher to report to, that does not mean he's just breezing through development, feeling no pressure at all. "The biggest amount of pressure comes from myself," Roberts said. "I can see this game. I've got a very clear picture of what I want it to be, and I get frustrated when we're not moving as quickly as I want us to move. I want it to be the best thing I've ever played."
Overall, Roberts said he expects Star Citizen's focus on detail to be what will set the game apart from the competition. "For me, it's all about feeling like I'm in the world," Roberts said. "There's an attention to detail you need to suspend that disbelief and for me that is the motto of Star Citizen. We're going for that extra level of detail, so there's a real tactile sense to your environment. It feels like it's lived in."
Star Citizen, developed by Roberts and his studio, Cloud Imperium Games, is expected to launch in 2015, and support for virtual reality is planned. Parts of the game, including the dogfighting mode, are currently available in beta form.
For more on Star Citizen and Roberts himself, check out part one and part two of GameSpot's interview with the legendary designer.
]]> 1100-6421489Mon, 04 Aug 2014 12:55:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/zelda-majoras-mask-hd-fan-art-project-looks-really/1100-6421487/While Nintendo continues to work on its first original high-definition Zelda game, two fans are recreating parts of a classic Zelda game, the Nintendo 64's Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, in an effort to make them look better than ever. A new video update (above) on the Zelda Majora's Mask Project was published yesterday through its YouTube channel. It shows off a variety of gorgeous 3D environments and models, including one of Deku Link.
To be clear, this is not a playable remake of Majora's Mask. "This work has been created by fans for fans, but its ultimate purpose is to be presented to Nintendo," the video's description states. Creators Pablo Belmonte and Paco Martinez--no doubt in the hopes of ensuring Nintendo doesn't shut them down--say this is an interactive project that hasn't used any materials from the original game, adding that they are not profiting from it in any way.
A video from the duo that looked like a trailer for a remake was first released two years ago (see it below), showing a beautiful-looking segment from early on in Majora's Mask. That video was accompanied by a description that described the project as a "small test" intended to serve as "a proposal" to convince Nintendo to make it a reality.
Updates on the project have been hard to come by since then; no additional videos were posted until one appeared last month showing Belmonte and Martinez, who say they work in the industry, with a Happy Mask Salesman statue.
The latest video describes the project as a work-in-progress, but offers up no additional information about when we'll see it again. We've contacted the creators to learn more and will report back with anything we learn.
Majora's Mask is one of two Zelda games released for the N64, the other being Ocarina of Time. That game received a 3DS remake in 2012, and Nintendo has hinted that a Majora's Mask remake could follow at some point. An HD remake of another Zelda game, Wind Waker, was released on Wii U last year. Presently, the company is known to be working on a new, open-world Zelda game for Wii U.
Would you like to see a 3DS remake of Majora's Mask similar to The Ocarina of Time 3D, or would you prefer that Nintendo make a full HD remake of the game resembling what's seen in these videos? Let us know in the comments.
| Chris Pereira is a freelance writer for GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @TheSmokingManX |
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| Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com |
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