In The Life Of Reason: Reason In Common Sense, philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Which is good news for the kids at Mind Candy, who’ve just released the history-based strategic combat game World Of Warriors on iOS devices, with Android to follow. But in talking to Mind Candy’s studio director, Mark Knowles-Lee, it seems there’s more to World Of Warriors than just repeatedly beating the snot out of someone.
With combat that requires you to be tactical, strategic, and careful, the upcoming third-person fantasy action game Lords Of The Fallen — which Namco Bandai will release October 28th on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC — might seem like yet another Dark Souls wannabe. But in talking to executive producer Tomasz Gop from CI Games while trying my best to play it, it became clear that Lords Of The Fallen is trying to do something different…but not a lot different.
It’s been said that 50% of all marriages end in divorce. So why not have fun with it? In the upcoming card game Divorce! The Game — which is currently looking for funding via Kickstarter — you can enjoy all the excitement of splitting your property with someone who hates you, but without having to pay a lawyer. Though in talking to game designer Andrew Yoon — who I know from his past life as a game writer for such websites as Shacknews and Joystiq — there’s a bit more to Divorce! The Game than just deciding who gets to keep my rare comic book collection.
With the release of Pinball FX2 for Xbox One, Zen Studios have finally brought their pinball program to every game system that matters. But unlike other system transitions they’ve made recently, Pinball FX2 for Xbox One isn’t just a slightly better looking version of an earlier model.
While some people dream of being President, and some people dream of being athletes, the truly cool dream of being rock stars. Well, now you can live out that dream with TourStar, an iOS game that let’s you live the rock & roll lifestyle. But in talking to Brandon Pankey, the managing partner of Music Players Group LLC and one of the game’s co-creators, it seems there’s more to TourStar than seeing a million faces and rockin’ them all.
In Akiba’s Trip: Undead And Undressed, your main goal is to tear people’s clothes off. But while this is done under the guise that you’re destroying bad, vampire-like super humans, let’s not kid ourselves: this is a game about sexually assaulting people. Which is why I, in good conscience, cannot recommend anyone buy this game.
That it’s also a bad game is just the icing on the cake. A gross, gross cake.
In the movie Guardians Of The Galaxy, a kid named Peter Quill is kidnapped by aliens and taken into space where, as a grown up, he becomes, “the legendary outlaw Star-Lord.” Which may sound cool, but it means that he may never have played a game of pinball. Good thing he can make up for it with Zen Studios’ Guardians Of The Galaxy table, which is now available for Zen Pinball 2 on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Vita; Pinball FX 2 for Xbox 360 and PCs via steam (as well as Xbox One when that version of PFX2 comes out in August); and Zen Pinball for iOS, Android, and Amazon devices.
In the realm of video games, there’s been flight simulators, driving simulators, even city planning simulators. And now there’s Goat Simulator from Sweden’s Coffee Stain Studios. With the game recently released on PC, and now being distributed in the U.S. by Deep Silver (y’know, the Saints Row people) — the Mac and Linux versions are available through the game’s website — I spoke to Line Jakobsen — who says “We haven’t really done titles for Goat Simulator, but executive director of goating sounds like a suitable title for me” — about the origins of this species.
It goes without saying that if you played the third-person stealth action survival horror game The Last Of Us when it came out on the PlayStation 3 last summer, there’s no reason to buy The Last Of Us Remastered on the PlayStation 4, since all it adds is upgraded graphics, minor changes to the controls, and the previously released add-ons.
But for those who haven’t had the pleasure, The Last Of Us is a engrossing, challenging, and often horrific journey through a rich word fraught with danger…regardless of which version you play.