Evolve: Meet The Goliath
A monster movie is only as good as the monster, and that’s often the case with games.
A monster movie is only as good as the monster, and that’s often the case with games. In Turtle Rock Studios’ upcoming shooter Evolve, up to four players battle against a powerful player-controlled beast on an alien planet. The company has unveiled the first such creature, the hulking creature known as the Goliath. Read on to learn more about him and some of the behind-the-scenes stories behind his creation.
In Evolve, up to five players battle it out in four versus one matches. If you didn’t know the makeup of the teams, you might think that’s an unfair split. The reality is different. Four of the players take on the role of hunters, who are tasked with defeating monsters on the planet Shear. The lone player is one of those monsters. He starts off in a weakened form, eventually growing in size (and power) by eating local wildlife. You can learn more about the game by watching our video feature"What is Evolve?" The first of the creatures that Turtle Rock has revealed is the Goliath.
The Goliath is, simply put, an absolute beast. He’s a massive creature that’s able to pull boulders from the earth one moment, before sprinting off and springing dozens of feet into the air. He’s at once familiar and deeply foreign, relatable but strange. As it turns out, that’s no coincidence.
“We knew we wanted him to be the first monster that would ever be revealed, and the first monster that players would have access to, and the first one the media would see,” says Turtle Rock Studios head Chris Ashton. “So we wanted it to be recognizable and not too weird.”
The Goliath is their jack-of-all trades, a bipedal powerhouse who crouches into a simian sprint and maintains his balance with a spiked tail. Even in his smallest form, he’s intimidating; at stage one he’s about 10 feet tall, and he only gets taller with each of this three evolutionary forms. “If he stood fully up, he’d be in the 30s,” says character modeler Brandon Yanez. “He’s really big.”
Even though he does have a recognizable form factor, you probably won’t be looking at his back for a zipper. “We didn’t want him to feel like a dude in a costume, we wanted him to feel as believable as possible, and that transcends into a lot of our theory,” says Yanez. “We exaggerate stuff as long as it feels believable.
“It’s not like a Silent Hill kind of horror, but it’s more of a James Cameron, Aliens style, where it just looks cool.”
These sketches show some of the concepts and evolutionary dead ends from the Goliath’s early design.
“Usually in games, there’s a concept artist who concepts things, and then then it’s given to the modeler like, ‘Build this, just build this,’” says Ashton. Instead, Turtle Rock says it takes it’s taken a more collaborative approach to Evolve’s character design.
Yanez says he immediately began modeling the Goliath after seeing a few concept sketches. From there, he and the concept artist – or anyone who had an opinion to share – would bounce ideas back and forth. “We’re all really good friends and we all get along really well, and there’s no ego,” Yanez says. “If somebody came by and said ‘I don’t like it,’ nobody is going to get offended.”
If you look at these sketches, you can see some of the details that made it through from the very start, as well as some ideas that were scrapped. “In the concepts he had four arms, for example, and that was just a lot of extra that you don’t really need,” Ashton says. “Two arms is enough to realize that he’s going to punch you in the face.”
Final Fantasy XIII-2 crossing over with Assassin's Creed-themed DLC
Hot on the heels of Square Enix releasing a new set of screenshots from Final Fantasy XIII-2, now news has slipped out that the company will be partnering with Ubisoft to outfit one of its RPG heroes with a DLC wardrobe plucked straight from the Assassin's Creed: Revelations. The cross-promotion will see FFXIII-2's lead Noel Kreiss outfitted with Ezio Auditore's assassin outfit from the latest sequel
First Five Minutes of BioShock Infinite's Burial At Sea DLC Emerges
First Five Minutes of BioShock Infinite's Burial At Sea DLC Emerges Set before Rapture’s eventual fall from ideological state into Darwinistic gauntlet, Burial At Sea, Episode 1 lets Infinite players dive into the murky backstory of the underwater city, exploring Ryan’s vision before it all goes a bit pear-shaped. If you’re spoiler averse, take caution. Despite being only five minutes long, the video
Meet Evolve’s Hunters: Day 4
This week, we’re taking a focused look at four of the characters from Evolve.
This week, we’re taking a focused look at four of the characters from Evolve. Turtle Rock’s upcoming shooter features four different classes – assault, trapper, support, and medic – with a variety of different people taking on those specific roles. So far, we’ve learned more about Markov, a member of the assault class; a trapper named Griffin; and Hank, a support class character. We end our week with a profile of Val, a medic who has clearly set aside the Hippocratic Oath.
Name: Val
Class: Medic
Class Ability: Health Burst
Val is a medic, but her role is vastly expanded from the healing archetype that players might expect. She is equipped with a Medgun, but it’s the least interesting thing about the character.
The Medgun fires a healing beam that looks and functions similarly to the Medic’s healing tool in Team Fortress 2, providing a single ally with slow but continual healing from a distance. If you’re playing as the monster and you see its telltale beam, you might want to resist the temptation to focus your energy on the recipient, and instead track the nuisance down to its source. The Medgun can also be used to revive incapacitated players from a distance, making it a powerful tool in Val’s arsenal.
Val packed along a pair of other weapons, which show how Turtle Rock isn’t shackling characters into traditional class-based roles. Her knowledge of anatomy is put to good use with her anti-materiel rifle, a weapon that she uses to highlight and expose monsters’ weak spots. Functionally, that means players who choose Val and hit monsters with the weapon provide extra damage to their teammates; a handy bull’s-eye is displayed on the enemy at the point of impact, showing allies where to aim. Hit a limb with the anti-materiel rifle, and squadmates who target that now-highlighted appendage will score additional damage. Get a headshot – which already nets extra damage – and the effects can be devastating.
Val’s other weapon seems like something that could have been lifted from Griffin’s locker. The tranquilizer rifle temporarily slows down the monster’s movement, making it harder to run away. In case the beast does give the hunters the visual slip, the dart’s other functionality comes in handy. While tranqued, the monster’s position shows up temporarily on the map, and the creature is highlighted with a bright green glow. Combine this weapon with Griffin’s harpoon gun, and you can essentially cripple the monster for brief periods of time.
The final tool in Val’s bag is a healing burst, which provides teammates within a small radius with a large and instantaneous health boost. This item is something that all of Evolve’s medics bring along with them on expeditions.
Most medics in shooters are relegated to healing duties, but Val’s anti-materiel rifle and tranquilizer gun give her more strategic options for helping take down the beast. Players will still spend a good deal of time topping off allies’ health bars, but her other abilities are vital to more advanced team strategies.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our look at the first four hunters of Evolve. For a look at what the hunters will be up against, check out our feature on the Goliath. Be sure to visit our Evolve hub for more exclusive coverage this month.
You can also follow our Evolve updates and other stories by following Game Informer on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.
NeverDead video preview meet the Swordpig
A demon hunter by trade, NeverDead's Bryce has plenty of deadly tricks up his sleeve – when he's not dual wielding guns, he's swinging around a massive sword, or even using his own body parts as grenades. We sat down today to slay our way through hordes of hellspawn in the beginning area of the game, and met our match during an intense boss battle against the aptly named Swordpig. We had a few gripes about the camera and controls, but overall we're eager to find out how NeverDead ultimately shapes up when it releases early next year on January 31. Look for our full review then.
Xbox veterans form mixed reality studio, Loook
Industry veterans Sebastien Motte, formerly head of Xbox’s first party business development, and John Howard, Halo: Combat Evolved’s lead designer, have joined forces to create mixed reality studio, Loook .
Based in Seattle, Loook will focus its attentions on building holographic and mixed reality software, and has already formed a partnership with fellow HoloLens app developer, Asobo Studio- the French outfit behind three of the device’s pre-installed apps.
The new studio will also offer workshops, along with prototyping and application development services.
"We want to harness the power of holographic, mixed reality to create meaningful applications to raise awareness and empathy, connect people, and protect our planet," said Motte. "We partner with companies and organizations who share these common core values."
Before forming Loook, Motte spend 12 years as the head of Microsoft’s first party business development, eventually leaving the Xbox creator to form Mintonic, a biz dev and strategy consulting agency.
Loook’s other co-founder, Howard, is no stranger to mixed reality, having spent the past few years orchestrating some of HoloLens' biggest partnerships; including deals with NASA, Autodesk, and Trimble.
Earlier in his career, Howard was the lead designer on a number of Xbox titles, such as Shadowrun , Crimson Skies , and Halo: Combat Evolved .
Why Evolve Is Not Just Another First-Person Shooter
When we revealed Evolve as February's cover story , there were a couple of commenters lamenting the release of yet another first-person shooter.
, there were a couple of commenters lamenting the release of yet another first-person shooter. Not even factoring in the playable monster in third-person, Evolve is aiming to bring you a focused experience that separates itself from the saturated market of Call of Duty clones. While visiting Turtle Rock Studios in southern California, we spoke with studio heads Chris Ashton and Phil Robb and executive producer Matt O'Driscoll about Evolve's fresh approach to multiplayer. We discuss the comparisons to Respawn's Titanfall, the power of contrast in multiplayer, and what the team learned from creating Left 4 Dead. To learn much more about Evolve, be sure to check out the latest issue of Game Informer for the full cover story.
Watch the video interview below to learn more about Evolve's unique 4 vs 1 approach to multiplayer.
Click on the banner below to enter our hub for exclusive content for Evolve that will be revealed throughout the month.
You can also follow our Evolve updates and other stories by following Game Informer on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.
Every Xbox One copy of Quantum Break comes with Alan Wake, for free
Remember Remedy's last Microsoft exclusive, the psychological thriller/ghoul blaster, Alan Wake ? No? Then listen up. Following on from the likes of Fallout and Rainbow Six, every Xbox One copy of Quantum Break will throw in the newly backwards compatible Alan Wake (with both of its DLC expansions) for free. It's a nice way of introducing people to ol' Alan, an unsung hero - not least because he might
Exclusive Evolve Screen Gallery
Turtle Rock Studios' new multiplayer-focused shooter sports
a variety of exciting features, which we've been discussing throughout the
month in our Evolve bonus
content .
. Rather than try to convey how visually impressive the game is
through words, however, we thought we'd let you see for yourself in these
exclusive screens from our February
issue cover story.
The screens in the media gallery below show off
Evolve's first four human hunters, the hulking playable monster known as
Goliath, and some of the landmarks located in the jungle map that we played. All in all it's just a fraction of the content Turtle Rock is preparing for the game, but it should give you a good idea of the level of detail the developer is aiming to deliver.
You can see the rest of the screens by subscribing to the magazine, or if you'd rather learn about how the game plays, read our hands-on
impressions. We've got a few more Evolve features coming up soon (including our Q&A
podcast); make sure you don't miss them by checking out the Evolve hub
throughout the week.
You can also follow our Evolve updates and other stories by following Game Informer on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.
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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros Deep mystery story with multiple layers and meanings A memorable - and lovable - cast of characters Flashlight beams have never looked so good Cons Enemies and environments too repetitive to be scary Obvious obtrusive product placement The confusing lack of closure Go to page: Page 1 Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Alan Wake begins with a nightmare. Chased by a ghostly
Comb Dangerous Depths as Chubby Bunnies in Holobunnies
When I see comically overweight bunnies in ridiculous hats, I do not assume that they will be in a game where you have to descend down into the spike-lined pits of Hell to recover their friends’ eyes.
When I see comically overweight bunnies in ridiculous hats, I do not assume that they will be in a game where you have to descend down into the spike-lined pits of Hell to recover their friends’ eyes. I expect that like I expect the Grumpy Cat movie to be about a young man coming to terms with the death of his estranged rodeo clown father. Still, the Holobunnies don’t seem to care, smiles plastered to their faces while they fire magic wands and play music and float on jet packs and die horrible deaths and MY GOD WHY ARE THEY SO CUTE?!
Holobunnies has players looking through a complex cave system for the missing eyes of their pets, the Machetes (which sound much more frightening than they actually are). You have four playable Holobunnies, each with their own voices, death animations, and abilities. Danielle, for instance, can fire a magic wand and steal life from the enemies, while Romeo can play music that provides a shield. Also, there is a Holomonkey as well that climbs walls, because why not have a monkey in a cute hat as well? You can pick which power works best for you, or you can bring a friend and create a powerful bunny team-up. Then again, if you’re not particularly happy with your friend, developer q-bit games has included local deathmatch for you to take out your frustrations with. Why you would want to kill bunnies just because you’re in a bad mood is beyond me, though.
The depths of the world you’ll explore, Pandemonium, have more than just spikes, enemies, and eyeballs. There are lots of treasures for intrepid bunnies to pick up that will let them improve their weapons or change outfits. Maybe you want a mustache on your bunny. Maybe you want to have your bunny wear a bunny suit. It’s all there for you if you can keep your poor, smiling bunny alive. (You aren’t going to let these adorable creatures get hurt, though, are you? ARE YOU?)
To know more about the Holobunnies, you can follow the developers on Facebookand Twitter. You can also help the game’s development by giving it a Greenlight vote, or donating to the Kickstarter.
Why Four Versus One? Evolve’s Creators Share The Reason
Four seems to be a magic number for Turtle Rock.
Four seems to be a magic number for Turtle Rock. In Left 4 Dead, four players could team up to take on armies of zombies. In their latest game, Evolve, a quartet of hunters battle a single, powerful opponent. As it turns out, there’s a reason behind that team size, as the studio explained to us.
It goes back to the earliest days of Left 4 Dead, when it was still a Counter-Strike mod that Turtle Rock was working on. Valve expressed interest in the game, and their team decided to take a crack at making a few “improvements.”
“One of the first things that the Valve guys did when they started playing Left 4 Dead and they really enjoyed it, they were like, ‘This is great, but we could make it work for five guys or six guys,’” recalls Evolve’s creative director Chris Ashton. Turtle Rock told Valve that it wouldn’t work, but Valve insisted on trying anyway.
“They changed the code on their side and they tried it, and eventually they came back to four,” Ashton says. “What happens is there’s a weird thing in that most people I think are able to track three friends. I can know that you’re over here and you’re in front of me and you’re to my left. And I can keep that in my mind, and I can keep in my mind that you have 50 health and you have 80 health, and I can keep track of that and fight another team. But if it’s four guys, it feels like I’m always losing one. I always don’t know where someone is, I don’t know where somebody’s health is – keeping track of four other friends is too much.”
Turtle Rock’s Phil Robb says there’s another benefit to four-player teams. “If you’re going to split up, you can do the buddy system,” Robb says. “Two guys go here, two guys go here. You add that fifth player, and it always seems like that last player would run off and do something stupid and get himself caught.”
Evolve’s asymmetrical team sizes play into it as well. “As a monster, that sort of works a little bit against him, which is what makes the four versus one thing very successful,” Ashton says. “Like I said, it’s hard to keep track of four. If I’m the monster and I’m fighting four guys, it’s really hard. I always lose one. I incap somebody and I’m fighting the other guys, and the next thing I know a guy’s up and I don’t even know who got him up – I can’t quite keep track of all four, it’s just too many. But that’s what makes it a challenge for him. As soon as you kill one guy and get one guy out of the picture, I think three humans are way easier to deal with and keep mental tabs on.”
Team sizes are one of the bullet points that get a lot of attention from players, especially before a game is released. Small numbers are often looked at with skepticism, since conventional wisdom tells us the more, the merrier. If fighting with a few of your friends is great, then why wouldn’t bringing along a dozen or more of them along be even better? We didn’t get a chance to play with prototyped versions of the game with more than four-player teams, but what we did experiencewas perfectly tailored for a smaller group.
“It’s kind of weird,” Robb adds. “There’s kind of some strange voodoo-type magic there. We’ve sat down and tried to figure it out from a scientific point of view, but there’s something about four guys.”
Click on the banner below to enter our hub for exclusive content for Evolve that will be revealed throughout the month.
You can also follow our Evolve updates and other stories by following Game Informer on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.
This Quantum Break Easter Egg completely explains Alan Wake. (Kinda)
Quantum Break may well have one of the most obvious Easter eggs of all time - an attempt to explain Alan Wake, the horror adventure that developers Remedy also made. It would seem Remedy REALLY wants you to remember that. But it also means that Alan Wake (or at least the character) exists in the same universe as Quantum Break. Here you can see lecture notes about him and his books but there are also other references to his work in the TV segments that act as a bridge between the chapters in the game. Seen something newsworthy? Tell us! ABOUT THE AUTHOR James Jarvis Senior Producer for Future Publishing's games division and co-host of @gtavoclock Send any and all dog related videos this way. Topics Quantum Break oxm We recommend By Zergnet Load Comments
IGM Video Review – ‘The Indredible Adventures Of Van Helsing’
The IGM Video Team was able to play Neocore Game’s The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing.
Remember to subscribe to our channelto keep up to the lastest games our video team checks out!
MyGPTeam Turbo’ Review – Start Your Engines
‘MyGPTeam Turbo’ Review – Start Your Engines
Patience isn’t a word that you’d expect to find in conjunction with a free Android game about F1 racing, but it’s something you’ll need to truly progress in MyGPTeam Turbo .
Interactive Project’s game is a simple, yet fun way for anyone to enjoy Formula One racing.
The patience needed comes from something that many freemium apps have nowadays: energy. Every action in the game uses energy, and to replenish it you either wait for hours at a time or spend money. This is the system found in nearly IAP plan. While you never need to spend money, your patience will be tested if you don’t. When you do have energy, there’s a few ways to use it, and each will be accompanied by a repetitive electro beat that I’m not ashamed to admit I enjoyed.
The first is ‘Training’, in which you play mini-games to improve your driver’s ability to accelerate, handle bends and overtake other drivers. These base stats will go part-way to determining your success in races, but each improvement mini-game uses energy, so train wisely.
The second is the ‘Garage’, where, believe it or not, I found my car. There were a number of upgrades to be made here, too. These included the engine, the tires and the chassis, all of which could be improved with in-game currency, specific parts, and probably a little elbow grease too. You can also change the paint-job on your car, but seemed to have no performance-enhancing qualities.
If you’re not one for training, you can hire new drivers with already-increased skills at the ‘Talent Scout’. Personally, I preferred working on the driver I began with, as I get attached. I’m the kind of guy that mourns every time he has to put a loyal Pokemon into the PC. If this sounds like you, you’ll probably be the same.
Last, but clearly not least, you can “Go to the races”. This is where you’ll put your driver to the test, earn money and gain experience, which will be used to improve your car and climb the weekly leaderboard. The only option currently is Quick Race, but Tournament and 1 vs 1 are “coming soon”.
Quick Race pits you against 4 others online, speeding around five possible tracks. These are all two laps long, but no single track stood out as anything different from the last. Before you begin a race you choose your driver’s racing style, which range from driving calmly (pfft!) to driving aggressively, which I found the only possible way to overtake other racers. Essentially, being a careful driver is a great way to lose a race.
Depending on the position you finish, you receive points that determine your ranking, although leaderboards refresh every week, giving plenty reason to aim for the podium every 7 days.
In the same way that you fire the gun in an on-the-rail shooter, MyGPTeam Turbo has you tap and swiping to facilitate the driver as he accelerates, brakes and turns his way round the tracks. Your involvement decides the success of these maneuvers, though I never saw too much difference between good timing and completely missing a prompt. Get your timing right, though, and you’ll be rewarded with increased energy or reduced wear-and-tear to your car. As great as this is, these bonus notifications take up the entire screen, and in the off-chance you get close to overtaking someone, that’s the last thing you want.
MyGPTeam Turbo may have a couple of issues, such as the frequent lack of energy and no obvious pay-off for successful timing, but overall is a fun experience that I could see people getting addicted to. I plan to continue playing for a little while to come as I enjoy watching my driver and car progress, and also because I can finally say I care about something as masculine as Formula One. It might be just a videogame, but it still counts.
Minimum requirements: Android from version 2.3.6 on and 1 GHz processor.
Recommended: Android from version 4.0 on and 1.2 GHz dual-core processor.
Life After Death: The Story Of Turtle Rock Studios
To finish off our month of coverage of Evolve , we wanted to take an exhaustive look at the complete history of the game's developer, Turtle Rock Studios.
, we wanted to take an exhaustive look at the complete history of the game's developer, Turtle Rock Studios. Studio heads Chris Ashton and Phil Robb have had long careers in the game industry, contributing to classics like Command & Conquer, Counter-Strike, and of course Left 4 Dead. While the studio was originally founded by Mike Booth, who is currently heading up a mysterious project at Blizzard, Ashton and Robb have seen the studio through several resurrections.
Watch the video below to get the inside story on how Left 4 Dead was created, the fall of THQ, and the creation of Evolve.
You can see all of our exclusive Evolve content from the past month by clicking on the banner below to visit our hub.
You can also follow our Evolve updates and other stories by following Game Informer on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.
Quantum Break distorts time, turns 2015 release window into 2016
Quantum Break , the time-distorting shooter from the creators of Max Payne and Alan Wake, is winding back the clock by at least a few months. Remedy Entertainment revealed on Thursday that the Xbox One exclusive is now set for 2016, closing the window on its previously planned 2015 release. Quantum Break stars a man who can mysteriously manipulate the time distortions which have begun causing chaos
Far Cry Primal officially unveiled, coming in early 2016
Ubisoft has finally lifted the lid on what this Far Cry Primal business is all about: It's a first-person "shooter" set in the Stone Age and scheduled for release in March 2016.
"Welcome to the Stone Age, a time of extreme danger and limitless adventure, when giant mammoths and saber-toothed tigers ruled the Earth, and humanity was at the bottom of the food chain," the description at FarCryGame.comstates. "You will play as Takkar, a seasoned hunter and the last surviving member of your group. You have one goal: survival in a world where you are the prey. Grow your tribe and hone your skills to lead your people, conquer the land of Oros, and become the apex predator. Encounter a cast of memorable characters who can help push back the dangers of the wild. Face enemy tribes who will do anything to eradicate you and your allies."
The reveal trailer is more of a table-setting than a meaningful look at what's in store, but Ubisoft was kind enough to also provide a "behind-the-scenes" video, playing below, that digs deeper into the game. Oros is a "savage and primitive world," filled with numerous dangers, which Takkar will arrive in alone, exhausted, and unarmed. Instead of purchasing weapons, players must craft them, first with wood and stone, and later with more and different resources, for more advanced and powerful equipment, like spears, bows, blades, and clubs. The game world will be large but "dense" with various interacting systems, some of which will be "greatly affected" by the day/night cycle.
So it's Far Cry, but with no firearms and no vehicles. That's a bold move, but one I'm looking forward to, even if it might not be as exciting (no dinosaurs) as some of yesterday's predictions. Far Cry Primal is set to come out in March 2016. Don't miss the screens underneath the trailer!
See Evolve Gameplay In Action
Ever since our Evolve cover reveal , readers have been asking when they can see gameplay footage of the new multiplayer-focused shooter from the creators of Left 4 Dead.
, readers have been asking when they can see gameplay footage of the new multiplayer-focused shooter from the creators of Left 4 Dead. The wait is finally over: Our new video contains action of Evolve's first four hunters going head-to-head with the mighty Goliath.
Tim Turi, Jeff Cork, and I discuss our early thoughts on the game, including the differing play styles of the monster and hunters, how Evolve compares to Left 4 Dead, and the game's progression. Don't worry, though – the gameplay is the main focus of the video, and you'll get plenty of good looks at what makes this new-gen-only shooter shine.
Evolve is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One this fall. For more on the game, check out our full month of exclusive bonus features by clicking the banner below.
Quantum Break is both an Xbox One game and a TV show
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Ring Runners: Flight Of The Sages’ Out Now On Steam
‘Ring Runners: Flight Of The Sages’ Out Now On Steam
Today marks the release of Ring Runners on Steam and it could not be a more deserved victory for the team.
The game follows the rich story and universe created in the bookallowing for a deep and meaningful game to unfold as players play through the many missions in their path.
Ring Runners
Over 400 unique abilities 60 fully customizable ships A 30 hour story-driven campaign A great multiplayer that includes local co-opRing Runners is a large sprawling game that offers so much gameplay it really is a steal at just $9.99. If you are a fan of Sci-Fi and space fighting games in general, especially ones that offer a much more skill-based game Ring Runners should be on your radar.
Ring Runners can be purchased on Steam, or from the developers website.
Visceral's Star Wars game will have a "breezy urgency", writer says
Although Visceral's Star Wars action adventure isn't due to release until 2018, writer Amy Hennig broached the topic during an appearance at Star Wars Celebration at the weekend.
isn't due to release until 2018, writer Amy Hennig broached the topic during an appearance at Star Wars Celebration at the weekend. Formerly a writer on the Uncharted series, Hennig noted that she's using some of the same writing techniques she did at Naughty Dog.
There's no official word on what exactly Visceral's Star Wars take will be, and Hennig's discussion was deliberately vague, albeit interesting. She said the game would be "an original Star Wars story with new characters, locations, tech, creatures".
"The process that I've been using is really similar to what I did with Uncharted, to be honest," she said, via Gamespot. "If you're trying to re-create that... pulp action adventure experience, you need to deconstruct the films so you know how to reconstruct them in an interactive context as gameplay."
Whether it'll be a third-person or first-person adventure, it sounds like Visceral's Star Wars game will definitely be a cinematic title. "The end goal is by the time the player has finished playing they feel like they really did play a Star Wars film," she said.
"So I've done the same thing for Star Wars. What does that mean? It's getting the structure right. It means you have to understand where the act breaks fall, where all the obstacles and reversals fall, and the set-pieces."
Here's some concept art from the project, which is due to release in 2018.
An Overview Of The Order: 1886's Gameplay And Story
Unveiled at E3 2013, The Order: 1886 is one of Sony's bold new franchises for the PlayStation 4.
Unveiled at E3 2013, The Order: 1886 is one of Sony's bold new franchises for the PlayStation 4. Developer Ready At Dawn is breaking free from the technical constraints of the PSP with one of the most visually impressive games we've ever seen. So what is The Order: 1886? We spoke with creative director Ru Weerasuriya and chief technology officer Andrea Pessino about the story behind the mysterious new world they're creating and their hopes for how players will experience the upcoming title. If you like what you hear, you can check out the full cover story in the November issue of Game Informerto learn much more about this exciting new project from Ready at Dawn.
Watch the video feature below to learn more about The Order: 1886 and what the developers see as the boundaries of their new IP.
Click on the banner below to enter our hub for exclusive coverage on The Order: 1886.
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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros Returning to the unique world of Alan Wake The shooting is more fun than ever Arcade Action adds lots of replay value Cons So many fetch quests World is smaller than it seems Not as scary as the it once was Go to page: Page 1 Page 1 Page 2 Alan Wake is a man as mysterious as his first game, an enigmatic title that ended its long development with a release that
Average Giants Episode 54 – Celestial Tear: Demon’s Revenge Returns!
IGM Presents… The Average Giants!
IGM Presents… The Average Giants! A weekly webseries where we play indie games while chatting with their developers. Come watch (and “follow”) the show live on our hitbox channelevery Monday night at 9:00pm EST.
Tonight we had old friends, Trexell and Yinyamina back on the show to show off how far they’ve come with JRPG-inspired,. More information on the game can be found here.
https://youtu.be/-BvnpXCe8i0
Original Air Date: March 23, 2015
Lucasfilm is registering domains for "Star Wars Attack Squadron"
I know everyone's still buzzing about a new Battlefront game from this year's E3, but you might want to keep your viper probe droids on alert for a new Star Wars game as Lucasfilm has been quite busy registering domains with the name "Star Wars Attack Squadron."
Like in most domain name registration stories, the details are a little sparse.
Like in most domain name registration stories, the details are a little sparse. We don't know what form of media Star Wars Attack Squadron will be, nor do we know when we'll hear more about it— if we hear more about it. This could just be Disney snatching up domain names for projects it might work on in the future. After all, registering domain names costs much less than buying them from other people.
However, Fusiblealso noticed that Electronic Arts recently registered AttackSquadron.com and AttackSquadron.net. You may recall Electronic Arts signed an agreement with Disney to use the Star Wars license in its games, so we're guessing this isn't a coincidence and suspect we may see another new Star Wars game (besides Battlefront) in the future.
As for what this non-existent game could be, I imagine it'll be something similar to the beloved Rogue Squadron series. The word “squadron” can mean a group of air or naval units, but the Star Wars series has never been known for its sea battles.
We've contacted Lucasfilm for additional details.
The Character Progression Of Destiny
In the final installment of our month of Destiny updates , we chat with investment lead Tyson Green about how you'll upgrade items and abilities on your characters.
, we chat with investment lead Tyson Green about how you'll upgrade items and abilities on your characters. Learn about specific focuses for all three classes and what makes Destiny's progression system different from Call of Duty's prestige structure.
Flexible Character Tweaks
Green: We want to have a well balanced upgrade experience for your gear but also for your abilities. And we want to give players the ability to actually commit to some of the decisions that they made so they can distinguish themselves from one another. But that sort of comes along with, “Well, what do you want to do when someone wants to change their mind about something? Do they have to throw their character away?” And that was really unappealing.
We want to say “No, you are your character.” When you decide to roll an Exo Hunter that’s because both being an Exo and being a Hunter were things that were exciting and appealing to you. So when you want to change your mind about something, whether it’s a weapon or whether it’s what abilities you’re using, we let you change the stuff that your character is using and we let you upgrade the stuff that your character is using rather than having to reset your character or throw your character away.
I think Call of Duty is really interesting in this respect because they have the prestige system. You might say, "Why would anybody reset their character and throw all of their guns away?" The answer is people actually like that. People like making progression with their character. And if doing that let you be different or distinct from your friends or your competitors in some way, I think that’s a really exciting experience for players. So we really sort of looked at that and said, “People enjoy this, so let’s build a good system that lets them do that, that doesn’t make them throw their character away.”
Upgrade Categories
Green: The three things that all characters can upgrade are their weapons, their armor, and their focus. Those all level up as you use them. So when you’re wearing your armor and earning experience your armor’s leveling up. When you’re using weapons to get kills, those specific weapons are leveling up. And your focus also levels up when you’re getting kills or completing activities.
Describing Focus
Green: A focus is a thing that captures all of your abilities in one bundle – sort of a thematic bundle, but also a functional bundle. It carries your grenade abilities, your super attacks, it carries certain passive abilities that change the way your character plays. The focus is the thing that defines how your character is going to play at both the lowest and the highest level. It’s what your character is thematically about and it’s also functionally what abilities you have available to use.
You could call it a spec. You could call it a build. You could call it a lot of things. For a long time we called them builds, but your build is a bigger thing because it also brings into account which weapons you’re using and what modifiers are on your armor. I want people to be able to talk about playing a Void Warlock sniper build, which is something that encompasses more than just the focus item.
Experience Distribution
Green: Everything gets the XP [reward] unless you have an XP bonus or something. You might have a piece of armor that gives plus XP to your weapon. So you might take that 10 XP on every piece of gear except your weapon, which might get 11 XP because of the modifiers. You might have a consumable or a perk active that gives you a bonus to how fast something else levels. It can vary from object to object. But generally speaking we’re definitely not asking anyone to make any hard decisions like, “Maybe I should only equip this one piece of gear because that’s the only thing that needs to level up so it power levels that one thing.” We’re trying to keep those mechanics very straightforward.
Tuning Weapons To The Task
Green: You can absolutely have more than one weapon that you’ve configured differently. Like you have one sniper rifle which is really good in competitive multiplayer because it has high burst damage and a good precision damage modifier. But you might have another sniper rifle which is better in cooperative campaign where you’re looking at doing more damage to an enemy. You have to be able to burst a target down over a longer sustained period of time so it’s got a bigger magazine and can carry more ammo. Those could both be the same base weapon just configured differently.
A Titan Focus
Green: The Fist of Havoc focus [Editor's Note: not a final name] is really about close quarters combat. It’s about getting into melee range and using powerful arc damage attacks to take your foes out. It can be built slightly different so it’s more about area control. It can be a little bit more defensive or a little bit more aggressive, but fundamentally that one is about smashing the door down, leaping into the room, and just absolutely nuking everything inside with point blank melee range damage. Fist of Havoc is the name of the super attack for that focus. That’s the one where you basically just smash the whole area around you. And there are some twists on that super like you can project more of the force forward so it becomes a longer range attack. You can have it leave behind damage in an area so it’s more of an area control ability. That’s true of all the supers. They have different ways to be built.
A Hunter Focus
Green: The Hunter build that we show off the most is the Gunslinger build. That’s centered around the Ghost Gun ability. Ghost Gun basically allows you to bring out this weapon which you only get a couple shots on, but they’re very devastating thermal damage shots. Very good for taking down high value single targets at a distance. Very much feared in competitive multiplayer. People see that Ghost Gun come out and they’re just like, “Either I’m going to get really lucky or I’m going to be respawning in a second.” Any abilities that support that super are abilities which are about maintaining a standoff distance with your targets. There’s sort of an area control aspect to that build where you can say, “I want to make you come out that door and not that door because I’m going to have my crosshair on that door.” It’s an offensive oriented build with subspecs that are more about standoff and zone control.
Two Warlock Focuses
Green: The Warlock build that we show off is the Circle of Night build. And that build is built around the Warlock ability Nova Bomb. Circle of Night is a really offensive, almost glass cannony build where you have lots of ability to deal damage at a distance and not a lot of ability to take damage.This is sort of true for a lot of our offensive builds that they can specialize for direct offense or zone control from direct offense. Some of those will be better in competitive multiplayer. Competitive multiplayer a lot of times you just want to go for the direct offense, you know, go for the kill rather than the potential for a kill. But you might find that when you’re doing cooperative scenarios that a zone control build is capable of doing a lot more damage. Persistent damage fields are really effective against the AI. They do a lot more damage per ability use. The Circle of Night build can be built in either way for more persistent damage and zone control or more direct damage and burst. There’s one version of Nova Bomb which causes it to leave a persistent damage field, but there are also grenade abilities that cause it to do persistent damage, and then there are passive abilities that will be synergistic with those things, like make those last longer or give you advantages against people who are afflicted by those things.
I think the other one that we’ve touched on the most would be the Solar Warlock. That’s the Heart of Fusion build. Heart of Fusion is built on an ability called Radiance, which provides beneficial buffs to yourself but also nearby people.And that build is more of a supportive, team-oriented build where it not only benefits you and benefits your allies, but it has fairly good zone control abilities. You can say I want to block that doorway off or I want to keep people at standoff. And the other thing that Radiance does is it can revive other players who have fallen and also buffs them, giving them health bonuses or damage bonuses.
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The Written World’ Dev Simon Fox Gives Gameplay Details
‘The Written World’ Dev Simon Fox Gives Gameplay Details
In January of 2012, Playlab London secured funding for their experimental storytelling game, The Written World .
. Their direction in developing such a game has shifted a bit as playtests revealed that certain mechanics needed to be taken out and others implemented. The layout has completely changed since we saw it lastand the changes look like they will make The Written World a much more cohesive whole.
Last October, developer Simon Fox spoke about The Written World at Books in Browsers 2012 and was able to explain some of the strengths and weaknesses in video game storytelling versus written works and how The Written World embraces what it can from both worlds.
The Written World seems to fix that great problem that I’ve had with tabletop role-playing games and other story-centric games that boast player agency: In The Written World , the focus is the dialogue between the player/protagonist and the game master/god of the world rather than abstract mathematics that can become the focus of a bad session rather than the act of creativity itself. If Playlab London keeps up what we’ve seen thus far, The Written World is sure to be something special.
You can learn more about The Written World by visiting the official website.
Illyriad releases updates and game data to celebrate 5 year anniversary
Illyriad Games Limited celebrated the 5 year anniversary of their first title – the browser-based free-to-play strategy game Illyriad – on March 22, and released several player-based metrics that were collected over the current lifetime of the game to celebrate.
According to the press release, Illyriad players have collectively traded over $4 trillion in gold, undertaken 125 million military missions, incurred 1.6 billion causalities, and accumulated 2,553 years of play time. The small indie game studio also boasted that over the game’s 5-year period, they only had less than 6 hours of unscheduled downtime, with scheduled maintenance raising that number to 15 hours.
For those who haven’t heard of the title, Illyriad is a FFA-PvP strategy sandbox game designed for web-browsers. Built in response to what the developers believed to be a slew of similar titles with too much limitation in player choice, Illyriad strives to offer gamers a diverse set of strategies to fit personal taste while still being competitively strong. The anniversary update includes a large number of additions and improvements, including more than ten cities, new story lore concerning the Council, and an update to infantry and crafting. The team also promised that additional features were on the way, with improvements to the map, additional perspectives, and more interactivity cited as a primary focus.
Multiple races, hundreds of military units, and a lengthy tech tree are just some of the strategy game elements that Illyriad includes. Players can forge alliances, craft equipment, and even engage in diplomatic strategies such as spying, counter-intelligence, theft, sabotage, and assassination.
Players can find more details about the game on the official website, along with the full list of updates that Illyriad received due to the anniversary on the developer’s blog page.
Wraith And Ranger: Shadow Of Mordor's Talion
In Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, Aragorn and the other
Rangers of the North - along with their counterparts in Gondor - have a
mysterious and alluring quality.
In Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, Aragorn and the other
Rangers of the North - along with their counterparts in Gondor - have a
mysterious and alluring quality. These scouts live off the land and steer clear
of the civilizations they silently protect. On the opposite end of Tolkien's good
vs. evil spectrum are the Nazgûl - the twisted shadows of former humans
hopelessly corrupted by Sauron. Similar to Rangers, these stealthy wraiths
glide across the land mostly unseen, doing their Dark Lord's bidding with
otherworldly might. Nazgûl are among the darkest examples of the spectral
undead, called wraiths, lingering in Middle-earth. Talion, the protagonist of
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor ( our exclusive cover story for issue #248), is a powerful-yet-conflicted combination of a wraith
and a Ranger of the Black Gate. This fusion creates some enticing narrative and
gameplay opportunities for Monolith Production's ambitious next-gen
game.
Diehard Tolkien fans may be flipping through the pages of
the Silmarillion or The Unfinished Tales for any mention of
a man-wraith hybrid. You won't find any evidence save for the fact that in
Tolkien's lore, living creatures can become wraiths. Monolith Productions
doesn't take the Middle-earth mythos lightly, and has created an intriguing
circumstance for this unprecedented transformation.
Talion was stationed at the Black Gates of Mordor, keeping
watch over the troubled lands. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor takes place
between The Hobbit and The Lord of
the Rings trilogy, which means Sauron's power is mounting but Mordor isn't the
tortured environment seen during Frodo Baggins' adventure. Even so, Mordor is a
chaotic landscape in which human frontiersmen struggle to scrape by. Talion's
wife and son stay with him near his dangerous post - a risky situation that his
family ultimately pays for.
" The story opens
with a family and continues elaborating on that topic, and clearly is an inner
part of the story - if not the surface," says lead writer Christian Cantamessa,
whose impressive resume includes Red Dead Redemption. "If you want a cost to
the price of power, then you have to balance it against something else. We
choose to use the concept of family to weigh against..."
Talion and his family are murdered by the servants of Sauron
at the beginning of Shadow of Mordor. Somehow, instead of meeting his fallen
loved ones in the afterlife, Talion is bound to Middle-earth with a curse. He
is resurrected when his being unites with a wraith. Why he is linked with this
wraith is as much a mystery to him as it is to players at the beginning of the
game. Talion's extended stay in Middle-earth opens the doors for revenge on
those who destroyed his life. Tapping into his existing Ranger skills and the
new ethereal wraith powers, Talion sets out into Mordor.
"He reawakens from death, and there is this spirit of
vengeance within him," says Michael de Plater, director of design. "[The wraith
is] the main [force] that gives him the power to not only continue to move in
the world that he's familiar with, the physical world, but now to see into the
world that is normally unseen - into the wraith world."
The wraith and Talion seem to be separate entities existing
within the same body. The wraith is a separate character with similar personal
motives, but the two cooperate on their journey.
He bears Ranger equipment, like a sword and tattered cloak. He also keeps
tokens of his family with him, like his son's broken sword. Visually similar to
the shattered hilt of Narsil, Talion uses this small blade as a dagger for
stealth takedowns and other close-range attacks. His dagger, sword, and bow can
be upgraded by killing Uruks (the biggest, nastiest orcs) and collecting ruins.
In addition to his physical armaments, the wraith unlocks a
host of other moves for Talion. A teleport ability called Shadow Strike allows
him to home in on enemies' locations for quick kills and environmental
navigation. For example, if an Uruk archer takes aim on Talion from up on a
rampart, he can use Shadow Strike to deftly blink up to the foe. He can also bind
foes' feet to the earth, stopping them dead in their tracks. The wraith also
lets him slow down the action to dial in accurate shots with his bow. Some of
Talions' most important abilities involve striking fear into the Uruks.
"Fear is a big part
of the gameplay and combat system," de Plater says. "There are a lot of enemies,
and it's easy to get overwhelmed. One way to successfully deal with masses of
enemies is to make them break and run. It's really helpful if you're fighting a
large group, things like taking down their leaders will spread terror among the
troops. Terrifying displays of your power will make them flee."
Talion's terrifying touch can bend his foes to do his
bidding. Once under Talion's influence, enemy Uruks can become spies used to
gather intel or attempt assassinations. For instance, peering into a crowd of
Uruks through the eyes of the wraith might reveal a handful of enemies bearing
Talion's mark. If a melee breaks out, these turncoats will attack Talion's
enemies on his behalf.
Talion's spectral counterpart not only opens up combat
options, but also connects him to the drama surrounding Sauron and his mounting
power. "Through the course of the game, Talion and the wraith will learn the
identity and the secrets of who it is, what brought these two characters
together, and also learn how that's connected to the larger story of
Middle-earth," de Plater says.
Cantamessa expands on the broader arc of Talion's quest for
vengeance: "The final transformation of the character is not something I'm
willing to discuss today, because that is where the story will take us," he
says. "But it is important to understand that these journeys in life change us
and sometimes make us better persons and worse persons. Whatever happens to him
will change him forever and will have a big impact on the world of the story."
We know the basics of Talion's former life and his current
ordeal, but there are still plenty of questions swirling around his role in
Middle-earth's larger conflict. Will his interactions with Gollum link him to
Sauron's tireless hunt for the One Ring? Is his wraith counterpart a key player in the
wider Tolkien lore? Some Lord of the Rings fans may bristle at any alteration
or addition to the written stories, but we have faith in the Tolkien junkies at
Monolith. The mysteries swirling around Talion have us exc ited to enter the
land of sleepless evil.
To learn more about Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, stay tuned to our exclusive coverage hub by click on the banner below.
To stay up to the minute with our Shadow of Mordor updates, follow Game Informer on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook. And, to keep up to date with Shadow of Mordor's official feeds, check the game's official site, Facebook, or Twitter.
Silly Multiplayer Brawler Gang Beasts Hits Early Access…in the Face
Gang Beasts is a game of burly, doughy gentlemen trying to punch, grab, and throw each other off of various structures.
is a game of burly, doughy gentlemen trying to punch, grab, and throw each other off of various structures. Using setpieces straight out of action movies, it’s looking like an excellent go-to game for any dispute between four friends, because if you and your pals all fought on top of a Ferris wheel or across some moving trucks in real life, it would not turn out well. Instead, let these colorfully, gelatinous fellows endure the punishment.
The game is a laugh riot, mainly due to the physics system in place. These guys all move really believably, but their silly character models make that look really funny. They bend, and twist over whatever they slam into, and move realistically (for big doughy guys) when grabbing or carrying the other characters and objects. Being able to grab and throw these guys into fiery pits, working machinery, and into the path of oncoming trains is also good for chuckles, too. The Royal Rumble style, where you’re just about to toss someone over the edge only to have another buddy rock you in the face, turns it all into silly chaos.
If you want to find out just how funny the game is for yourself, it’s out now on Steam Early Access. Don’t let the simplicity of the character models fool you, as the game is really something impressive to see in action. The characters seem plain, but their movements really are incredible, looking really good while also providing material for some funny moments.
First Trailer of ‘Spy vs. Spy’ Is Now Here
It’s been a while, but the first trailer of the 1984 classic remake finally hit the internet.
It’s been a while, but the first trailer of the 1984 classic remake finally hit the internet. ‘Spy vs. Spy,’ originally based on the comic strip and released in 1984, will hit iOS later this summer.
The iOS remake seems to retain the original gameplay. Taking place in the world of James Bond-kind, you will be playing as an intelligence operative, placing booby traps, clubbing heads, and killing enemy spies in the arena of an embassy. Presentation of the game has been revamped to a more modern cartoon look. Original fans will delighted to learn that eight of the original embassies will return (with the addition of sixteen more for extra pleasure), as well as the (good) old nostalgic retro visual style. On the other hand, both local and online multiplayer will be supported, alongside achievements and a leaderboard, following the modern standards.
Spy vs. Spy is scheduled to hit iOS App Store later this summer. For more information, visit the official website.
Crafting The Black Lands: The Art Of Shadow Of Mordor
In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mordor is a land so corrupt with evil that few even dare speak its name.
In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mordor is a land so corrupt with evil that few even dare speak its name. The Dark Lord Sauron dwells behind its Black Gates, building up power to conquer Middle-earth. The Mordor we revealed in our cover storyof Monolith Production’s Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor isn’t quite as far gone as the tainted land we’ve come to know. Mount Doom towers above quietly, scant greenery covers some areas, and hardy humans have tried to carve out a life there. Sauron’s orcs and other wretched creatures are just beginning their domination of Mordor at the beginning of the game. We spoke with Monolith about crafting this earlier version of the iconic hellscape.
Art director Phil Straub is a key Monolith developer shaping the slightly fresher look of Mordor. We asked whether Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor draws its core visual inspiration from descriptions in Tolkien’s book, Peter Jackson’s films, or elsewhere.
“As a team, we have looked at as many references as we can, relative to the IP,” Straub says. “Of course, we looked at the films. But I think that my approach and my thought on this is the main thing we want this game to have – which I think the Lord of the Rings films have – is authenticity. When I talk about that, what that means is all the way down to the costuming, all the way down to the geography, all the way down to the weather and the evolution of the creatures. So where I see us fitting is a heightened realism or gritty realism. So we are definitely more in the continuum of a very realistic presentation and I think that the next gen hardware allows for that as well.”
A reference photo from Central Washington, courtesy of Monolith Productions
A core inspiration for Monolith’s gritty realism comes from being based in Kirkland, Washington. Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens are located south of Seattle, standing 12,411 feet and 8,365 feet, respectively. The latter erupted in 1980 in what was the most disastrous volcanic eruption in U.S. history.
“We live in the blast radius of a huge apocalyptic volcano,” says Michael dePlatter, director of design for Shadow of Mordor. Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and the volcanic landscape around them have become invaluable research material for Monolith.
“There is an area in eastern Washington that was flooded a number of million years ago relative to the volcanic activity,” Straub says. “It’s actually really interesting, because everything down to the types of rock that are in the game, those are accurate to the geology that likely would have been in Mordor because of the volcanic activity and the evolution of those geological elements over time.
A reference photo from Mount St. Helens, courtesy of Monolith Productions
“It was a great opportunity, because we have so much of that right at our back door that we can actually go and do location shoots. Speaking with the art team responsible for creating the world, I specifically defined, ‘OK, this is the geological evolution that we’re focused on. These are the type of rocks that you would see. So this is a basalt-type rock.’ Even down to the shrubs, even down to the grass. These are the types of shrubbery and grass that would grow in this type of geology and which maps to Mordor.”
Some may find it difficult to imagine anything green growing on the hellish terrain of Mordor or the exterior of Mount Doom. But don’t expect Monolith to go so far as to populate the land with dense jungle.
“Sauron hasn’t been around for a long, long time,” Straub says. “If you think of an area that’s been burned out over and over and over again, if you think about all the fires that happen here on the West coast, that has an impact on the geology over and over and over again. It changes the evolution of the creatures there. It is an area that has gone through a lot of war and a lot of geological activity, but it has come back. We are seeing some foliage, but we didn’t want to go full on lush because I personally felt like that was going too far.”
This photo from Monolith offers a closer look at the terrain around Mount St. Helens
Washington proved useful for designing Mordor’s volcanic landscape, but Monolith didn’t just limit scouting trips to its home state. Straub also notes Yellowstone National Park and locations in Iceland as inspirations. Monolith is also in cooperation with Peter Jackson, Middle-earth Enterprises, and Weta Digital’s team of special-effects wizards.
We asked Straub about the variety players might expect to see when adventuring in Mordor. Landmarks like the Black Gates, the tower of Barad-dûr, and Mount Doom are givens, but he hints at other ways Monolith will be injecting environmental variety.
“I’m all about very dramatic lighting, and weather is a huge thing for us too,” Straub says. “So in the game, we have multiple locations that you can go to but even within those locations, we have a large variety of how we present the atmosphere in those locations, how we present the weather, and how we present the nasty environment that is Mordor.”
Looking at concept art for Shadow of Mordor (above) shows the proof of Straub’s statement. At a glance the scene above might appear to be set on an ominous night, but the god rays struggling to break through above remind us even the sun can’t easily enter Mordor.
Crafting a new look for a land as nefarious as Mordor is no small undertaking. Thankfully for gamers and Tolkien fans alike, Monolith is diving deep into both Middle-earth’s lore and realistic volcanic terrain to craft Shadow of Mordor. Wherever this quest leads us, Monolith’s unique vision of Sauron’s Black Lands is sure to simultaneous impress and oppress when it hits current- and next-gen systems.
Be sure to take a closer look at the stunning concept art and reference photos in the media gallery below.
To learn more about Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, stay tuned to our exclusive coverage hub by click on the banner below.
To stay up to the minute with our Shadow of Mordor updates, follow Game Informer on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook. And, to keep up to date with Shadow of Mordor's official feeds, check the game's official site, Facebook, or Twitter.
iTapPirate’ Review
‘iTapPirate’ Review
Last week I was excited to announce the release date of iTapPirate and even more anxious to get my hands on it.
and even more anxious to get my hands on it. So how does the game stack up? Like many pirates, it hobbles on one leg.
iTapPirate offers two modes of play: Campaign and Survival. Survival is based off of campaign in that all the levels are the same, but instead of the on-rails experience in campaign, the player sits at one screen taking on waves off endless enemies.
Without any sort of story as to why you’re running and committing a mass pirate genocide, the campaign only separates itself from survival with the fact that it’s on-rails. Without leaderboards a part of campaign, some people may end up skipping right over it, especially since you don’t need to play it to unlock the survival levels.
Visually the game looks great. The levels vary greatly from one another, but within them all look the same as your character runs around in campaign mode. While he goes from one area to the next, there’s not much diversity. For example, don’t expect to work your way around all aspects of the ship. It would’ve been cool to fight from the cabin all the way up to the deck and end with a triumphant leap from the mass all the way back down, but instead you kind of just run around the deck until your character eventually jumps off.
Where I am impressed with the campaign mode is when your character runs in slow motion and you’re taking out enemies one by one. It’s at those exact moments where the game offers cool visual entertainment with your input. I loved sliding under bridges and shooting pirates in a slow-motion action sequence trying to rack up my combo.
The controls of the game are straight forward. Everything is controlled by tapping which acts as the player’s gun. Shooting at enemies and explosives as well as tapping on items and reloading is pretty much all you need to know to jump into iTapPirate . Reloading is a simple tap away and is located at the bottom left hand side of the screen. I simply used my left hand and kept it hovered over the reload button while my right hand did all the killing. At times, continuously tapping ended up feeling tedious. Incorporating some sort swipes or gestures might have livened up the gameplay a bit. Even if it was as simple as swiping from bottom to top to reload, or swiping across an enemy as you run by to slice them with a sword.
The audio in the game is okay. You have you’re fair share of gun shots, explosives, and music tracks, but what I found really odd was the abrupt stop in music in game until the song loops again. It’s not a big deal, but always caught my attention as I was taking down pirates to an epic theme that suddenly disappeared and repeated again.
iTapPirate offers plenty of longevity in leaderboards and items in the store. There a total of 34 items you can purchase with 24 of them being upgradable up to five levels. Most enhance your character while some of the non-upgradable are for aesthetics, such as different cross hairs. Some of the upgradable items include improving weapons by their clip, fire rate, and damage, or increasing the amount of destructibles, power ups, and movement speed. Even the power ups that appear in game can be upgraded. While it adds longevity in the time it will take to attain everything, the items don’t offer much variety. From the very first level of the game everything is readily accessible.
On your first adventure you’ll be excited when you unlock weapons such as a shotgun and cannon to go along with your pistol. On the down side you’ll ultimately be disappointed once you go to the shop and find out that all the weapons they have to offer you tried in the first ten minutes of play.
Overall iTapPirate is a fun game to play in small bursts. If you like on-rails shooters then you’ll be happy to know that there’s one available on the iPad for you. Where the longevity of the game will be though is in its survival mode where you’ll try to top the leaderboards and unlock more items from the shop to make your session longer.
Don’t forget to follow developer Inter-Illusions on Facebook, Twitter, and their official websitewhere you’ll see some of their future projects as well as be reminded when iTapPirate hits the App Store August 31st!
[review pros=”Visually Beautiful, Fun In Bursts, Lots of Levels” cons=”Repetitious Gameplay, Lack of Exciting Unlockables” score=70]
Dungeon Lore’ Now Available For Windows/Mac
‘Dungeon Lore’ Now Available For Windows/Mac
Recently released as an iOS-only title, Dungeon Lore , by 3DAttack , is now available for Windows and Mac operating systems.
Dungeon Lore is a turn-based role playing game and although despite being a port, there are differences in experience between the respective platforms.
In terms of the aesthetic, the game has a cartoon-like feel, sharing some graphical resemblance to Runescape. There is a turn-based system that includes all three forms of combat: range, magic, and melee, yet isn’t excluded to fighting; exploring also incorporates this system. This turn-based gameplay is also not based on a grid formation in any way: players are free to maneuver how they please while they fight and are able to pivot and pan the camera in whichever direction they see necessary; nothing is locked.
On top of these general mechanics, Dungeon Lore , as the name might suggest, has plenty of dungeons that vary in the way they look and feel, allowing for the depth and freedom of exploration that is needed within an RPG. Ensuring that this exploration isn’t futile, there are plenty of items and equipment to find or even traps to evade.
As the player progresses through the game, they can raise level, ability, and skill to certain points as they see fit and attribute various enhancements onto their hero. There really is a lot of expansion in this game and considering the price, it’s difficult to properly comprehend the scope of this game.
You can purchase Dungeon Lore on Desuraand check out the developers, 3DATTACK , on Twitter.
Perhaps you think different of the game’s look? I personally like both Runescape and the cartoon style Dungeon Lore has going for it, tell me what you think about the game with a comment below.
Why EA's E3 documentary reveals missed the mark
EA's conference was the strangest of the three I attended yesterday.
EA's conference was the strangest of the three I attended yesterday. Laid out more like an awards show than an E3 presentation, with dinner tables instead of places for everyone to sit, the publisher hit viewers with a strong mix of announcements and demos (kudos for breaking up the melodramatic sports trailers with explosions, dragons and a battleship on a golf course, too). Reveals took a different format this year, with mini-documentaries accompanying games that weren't quite ready to be seen in action yet. For Mirror's Edge, Criterion's next project, Star Wars Battlefrontand BioWare's brace of new titles, EA focused more on the behind-the-scenes work and gave us only a few bits of new footage to dissect. I'm not sure it's an approach everyone is fond of.
It was an odd and interesting choice of format, one that maybe taught viewers more about the people making the games than the games themselves. In some ways it was clearly disguising the lack of new things to show, given the early stages of development for these titles, and I guessed at the time that the majority of gamers wouldn't respond too well to this approach. I asked some readers @pcgamerwhat they thought of EA's efforts, and the reaction was mixed—a few people who responded liked the level of insight into the people developing the games, but there was also a number of folk who clearly thought it was a bad move, no doubt wanting to see a Corellian Corvette plough belligerently into the Naboo Royal Palace while being ridden by seven mighty Yodas.
I'm somewhere in between, leaning more towards the positive side, but I can see why someone not nearly as engaged by the process of making games as me would find the actual amount of footage underwhelming. I think they were nicely made and interesting snapshots of each project in their current state, even if they lacked a bit of energy compared to the trailers for EA games due to hit in the more recent future. What I really appreciated is the fact we weren't just seeing CG trailers and meaningless target footage, or fancy animations like the Crackdown trailer at the Xbox conference—we got to see prototypes and actual evidence of the games as they're being created. The format was just so unconventional that it took a bit of the energy out of the reveal, plus some of the cutting together was a bit clunky.
There's value in trying something different, certainly, and getting a first look at Star Wars: Battlefront in even a basic, look-at-this-speeder-bike capacity got some serious cheers from up on the mezzanine level where I was awkwardly tilting my head to see the screen. The only thing I'm not sure about is how much I actually learned about those new games within that format. The documentaries were a great way of saying something about these titles without really saying anything. I appreciated getting updates on projects that are still too early on to be shown publicly, and yeah, somehow just watching the DICE team look at Star Wars props from the Lucas archive with a bit of John Williams underneath was enough to get me excited in some way about the end result, thus ensuring I'm a continued part of the problem.
The Mass Effect trailer took very much the same approach: poke people with nostalgia and it gets a reaction, but all I really know about the next Mass Effect is it'll look prettier and be set somewhere outside the systems I know. I'm not sure I've actually learned anything about it, or the more contemporary game that the original Mass Effect team is making. Fellow PC Gamer writer Cory Banks called them 'Early Access trailers', which is spot-on in the role they actually play. It felt like they were talking around the games a bit too much.
The alternative would likely have been not to see these faraway 2015 games at all, so this is still the better scenario. A measure of the documentaries' success will be if EA chooses to do the same thing next year when Amy Hennig's Star Wars game is ready for a public showing—I like seeing these talented people getting exposure, but a little more actual information on each title would've made EA's conference a bit more satisfying.
Revealing The Origins Of The Order: 1886
If you've been following our month of exclusive coverage for The Order: 1886, you've already learned about the gameplay and story and met the knights that will fight alongside Galahad, but we wanted to let you know where this ambitious new IP came from.
that will fight alongside Galahad, but we wanted to let you know where this ambitious new IP came from. While visiting Ready at Dawn, we spoke with creative director Ru Weerasuriya and chief technology officer Andrea Pessino about the development history of their PS4 exclusive. We cover a lot of ground: why they were inspired to pull from history, pitching the game to Sony, the benefits and struggles of building your own engine, and the pressure of debuting the trailer.
Watch the video below to learn the full story behind the game's development and which Emmy-award winner will be co-writing the game.
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Outland 17: Void of Liberty Takes the American Revolution to Interstellar Spaces
What if Benjamin Franklin helped launch space operations while fighting the British?
What if Benjamin Franklin helped launch space operations while fighting the British? Even those not versed in the history of the American Revolutionary War can admit this colonial/steampunk mix in RPG form is something that probably takes the work of a vivid imagination.
Studio Grenade Tree is embedding a historical twist within a tactical RPG, and the result is Outland 17: Void of Liberty . While it is based around the Revolutionary War, the action takes place in the future when the Earth has become overpopulated. Outer space stations on various planets seemed like the answer, but greedy corporations use the opportunity to exploit people, essentially making them into indentured servants. G. Martin Wallace, a citizen of the Republic of Earth, ventures to Outland 3 to investigate and subsequently gather a resistance force.
While they’ve looked to games like XCOM for inspiration, Outland 17 distinguishes itself with a greater focus on who’s in the party and how they develop over time. In place of traditionally predetermined roles or classes, characters will shape and grow in accordance with player leadership. Each person can use any weapon or item in the game, such as a shotgun or dual-wielding pistols, and they’ll get better over time with usage. Furthermore, the abilities they pick up related to the weapons will either get stronger or decrease in cost.
Rather than requiring long play sessions, Grenade Tree is designing short missions that can be completed in as little as ten minutes. Objectives and enemy positions are made visible from the get-go, and this streamlined design also lends itself to clearer feedback from the player community as the studio shapes maps.
Outland 17 is nearing the end of its Kickstarter campaign and is looking for more backers to meet its $10,000 goal. Look to the crowdfunding websitefor more details on reward tiers, how the team is reimagining colonial-era weaponry, and more information on the studio. There’s a downloadable demo available through either GameJoltor IndieDB.
The colonial/steampunk tactical RPG is slated for releasing first on Windows and Mac, while Linux and mobile operating systems are among the first stretch goals for the campaign. Outland 17: Void of Liberty has already been Greenlit on Steam.
Think You Can Navigate ‘Dedale’?
Before the days of mobile gaming, the only types of games people played while out and about typically came on the backs of newspapers.
Before the days of mobile gaming, the only types of games people played while out and about typically came on the backs of newspapers. The crossword and difference finder games were cornerstones of this ancient experience, but none appealed to me more than the classic maze puzzle. From cereal boxes to the screen of your favourite device, maze games are always a pleasure, at least in my opinion, and the one man development team of Sergey Mohov has crafted a relaxing maze experience which you can now enjoy on the screen of your favourite iOS device.
Dedale is that game, and it features a pretty little butterfly which players must guide through various levels of increasing difficulty. A bit different than the classic maze games, mazes in Dedale must be completed by guiding your butterfly over each of the tiles in said game without backtracking or moving diagonally. While the game is challenging, it’s certainly not out to give anyone an aneurysm, if the going gets too tough, a hint button is there to point players in the right direction. Players may examine each maze before beginning and choose any square they wish in which to begin, which makes the game harder than one may think. There is no time limit in Dedale , no lives, no penalties at all really, just the simple joy of navigating the game’s one hundred different mazes. Need a break from the straightforward, level-by-level experience? The “Maze-O-Matic” mode will set the player up with a random maze and leave them to the task of solving it; great for getting a quick game in while waiting in queues.
With little touches like the piano notes which play each time players cross a square, Dedale should have no problem winnign over the hearts and minds of even the most stubborn iOS gamers. For $0.99 on the App Store, the game is as easy on your wallet as it is on your nerves, so give it a try if you’re looking for a way to take your mind off of things.
For more information on this and other projects, head over to Sergey Mohov’s official website. Also, keep an eye out here at IGM Mobile for a review of the game in the coming days!
Why Star Wars Battlefront should be moddable
In November, Star Wars fans will get to play the first new, exciting Star Wars game in at least five years, since 2010’s Force Unleashed 2.
In November, Star Wars fans will get to play the first new, exciting Star Wars game in at least five years, since 2010’s Force Unleashed 2. If we’re looking for the last exciting multiplayer Star Wars game, we have to look back to 2005’s Battlefront 2. For 10 years, we’ve been waiting for another multiplayer shooter to put us in the everyman boots of Stormtroopers and valiant Rebel troopers. Because EA’s new Battlefront is developed by DICE, the studio behind the Battlefield series, it likely won’t support modding on PC. And that’s a shame.
Robust mod support for the new Battlefront wouldn’t just be an amazing opportunity for Star Wars fans to expand on a game they’ve been anticipating for nearly a decade. It would also give Battlefront a leg up over the crowded field of competitive shooters on PC, lending it something vital more and more shooters are failing to achieve: staying power.
Let’s travel back, for a moment, to the multiplayer shooter scene of 2005. Battlefield 2 was brand new, replacing 2002’s Battlefield 1942. Unreal Tournament 2004 was still going strong. Call of Duty 2 was just beginning the series’ meteoric rise to popularity, but its multiplayer domination was still a few years off. Counter-Strike: Source had split the community in two. And there were plenty of other shooters, with smaller but dedicated player bases, like Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. And, of course, Star Wars: Battlefront 2.
Today there are more than 500 shooters on Steam, and every new game has to face that competition. Building a community is hard enough. But keeping one? That’s even tougher. After just two months, Evolve has slipped off Steam’s most-played list, and Steam Charts shows it current peak player count at a mere 1300. Despite selling more than 7 million copiesacross PC and consoles, DICE’s Battlefield 4 now has a peak player count of less than 25,000 on PC, according to BF4Stats. Without a reason to stay, gamers will often play a new shooter only until the next one comes out, and then jump ship. The ones that keep players for years and years give them a good reason to stay.
Team Fortress 2 has addictive item drops. CS:GO has addictive item drops and is the biggest competitive shooter in the esports world. And most of the other most popular games on Steam? They support mods, too.
Mod support is the surest way to encourage community investment in a game for more than a few months. Being able to create our own mods more reason to care about a game in different ways: its gameplay nuances, its technology, its strengths and quirks. It lets us do something with a game that its creators never envisioned. It makes the game ours, just a little bit. And, most importantly, it lets us create new content to extend the replayability of games. Give us new levels to explore, new mechanics to master. Who would still be playing Left4Dead 2 today if you couldn’t A) Explore dozens of amazing player-created campaigns B) Play as a freaking velociraptor?
Like any game, DICE’s new Battlefront would obviously benefit from an invested mod community. But there are other reasons why this game, in particular, deserves mod support.
Legacy. Star Wars Battlefront 2 supported mods, and there are dozens of conversions and expansions out there. There are even more custom maps. In an interview with DICE, Battlefront producer Sigurlina Ingvarsdottirtold me that “we haven’t taken old features and just imported them into our game, but we have been inspired by the heritage of Battlefront that feels like what we’re doing is taking some of the DNA of those games and using that as an ingredient in the Battlefront we’re creating.” On the PC, mod support is absolutely part of Battlefront’s DNA.
The Expanded Universe. DICE has made it clear that it’s focused on the original Star Wars trilogy with the new Battlefront. The prequels are nowhere to be seen, and the game features only four planets: Endor, Hoth, Tatooine, and Sullust. Of those, only Sullust is new. Most Star Wars fans have tow-cabled AT-ATs on Hoth a hundred times by now, and many of them will be happy to do it a hundred more times in the new Battlefront. And it makes sense that DICE would focus on the film’s iconic planets to hit their release date. But modders have no deadline. And there are hundreds of planets that could be included over time.
I want to fight through the slums of Coruscant, the streets of a Correlian metropolis, the Jedi temple on Yavin 4, the Wookiee villages of Kashyyyk, the bacta gardens of Thyferra, and a whole bunch of other places you’ve never heard of if you aren’t a big ol’ Star Wars nerd.
The beauty of Frostbite. This point goes hand-in-hand with the last one. I want to play on a rich variety of Star Wars planets, as different Star Wars aliens. But I especially want to see those worlds rendered in DICE’s powerful engine. Battlefront is going to look stunning, and this game is potentially the main Star Wars sandbox we’ll be playing in for the next several years. EA has more Star Wars games coming, and maybe they’ll take us to other places in the galaxy.
But those games likely won’t have large-scale multiplayer battles or half a dozen different vehicles or Battlefront’s variety of weaponry. With Frostbite, DICE could, potentially, be giving Star Wars fans the opportunity to build, and then play in, their dream representation of the Star Wars galaxy. It would be a shame to limit that to four planets.
Star Wars should be a little silly. DICE looks like it’s taking a very serious, faithful approach to its representation of the original films. And that’s great! It’ll be exciting and cool. But Star Wars has always had a silly side, and that’s something the original Battlefront games harnessed so well. They weren’t afraid to unabashedly be video games, with playable wampas and Han Solo running around one-shotting every armored Stormtrooper in sight. Let modders come up with their own ridiculous playable heroes and scenarios. Really, I just want to fly an X-Wing as an Ewok wearing prosthetics, dammit.
Mod support would extend Battlefront’s lifespan for years, and it would unequivocally make it a bigger, better game. But it’s still unlikely to happen. DICE’s Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 are closed off to modders, and DICE has given different reasons for not supporting mods.
One: Frostbite is a complex engine, and that makes modding difficult. Our counter-argument: talented modders can and will figure out anything. Two: They’re hesitant to release the engine’s source code. Three: If they support mods, they want to do it right and be thorough, and that takes time and commitment.
Those reasons make good business sense. But so does keeping players invested in your game for five years. Right now, it looks like DICE is going to give us a way to play through some of the most iconic battles of the galaxy far, far away. With mod support, they could give us the whole galaxy.
Behind The Filmic Presentation Of The Order: 1886
In the November issue of Game Informer , our cover story on The Order: 1886 mentioned Ready At Dawn's efforts to make their game feel "filmic".
, our cover story on The Order: 1886 mentioned Ready At Dawn's efforts to make their game feel "filmic". While many developers tout their game's cinematic presentation, the fidelity of the PlayStation 4 allows Ready At Dawn to bring this concept to another level. Specialized lighting effects, the slight curvature of the "lens", more accurately portraying depth of field – it all adds to the developer's intent of making the game look as though it was shot with a real camera. But why? Why should a video game's digital camera portray lens flare or present the game through a cinematic aspect ratio? I spoke with The Order: 1886's creative director Ru Weerasuriya about his thoughts on blurring the line between games and Hollywood.
Watch the bonus video below to hear the creative director's thoughts on pushing The Order: 1886 to be more "filmic".
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