In 1992, RuPaul commanded, “You better work.” But since all work and no play makes RuPaul a dull drag queen, there’s RuPaul’s Drag Race: Dragopolis 2.0, a game for iOS and Android devices that’s based on the reality competition show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Though in talking to So Much Drama Studios’ Jeff Meador, the game designer and producer for RuPaul’s Drag Race: Dragopolis 2.0, it turns out that people put a lot of work into this game as well.
When it comes to recent racing games, the two ends of the quality scale are marked by the terrific Forza Horizon 2 and the terrible DRIVECLUB. And now, bringing up the middle, is Ubisoft’s The Crew, a flawed but somewhat fun open world, always online, arcadey racer made by Ivory Tower for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.
Over the years, there’s been games based on comic books and comic books based on games. But for Tales From Deep Space, a new game for Amazon’s Fire tablets made by Frontier Developments, the game and the comic are working-in-hand to tell the story. Which is why the following interview was done with both Frontier Developments’ John Law, the game’s Director Of Art, and Amazon Game Studio’s senior narrative designer Robert Ferrigno.
You might think that writing a book based on a video game just requires that you play the game a lot. Which is why no one is ever going to ask you to write a book based on game. Instead, they’ll probably ask John Shirley, who’s written a number of game-related novels, including the new Halo one, Halo Broken Circle (paperback, digital)…and not just because his research process involved more than a few rounds of “Team Slayer.”
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Of all the surprises to be found in Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One), none come as far out of left field as when you recruit Buzz Osborne, the singer and guitarist from the Melvins, to help you out…and it’s really Buzz doing his own voice. But in talking to King Buzzo about his role in the game, it seems this gig was as far out of left field for him as well.
As we all know, next-gen remakes that only upgrade the graphics and add-in the add-ons are usually not worth buying if you’ve already played the original games. But while that’s still true for the Halo The Master Chief Collection (Xbox One) if you’re just into single-player, for those who prefer to play with other people, especially in Halo 2, this collection might be worth the double dip.
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 the last three installments being set in the not-so-distant future (Modern Warfare 3), the not-so-distant future (Black Ops II), and, yes, the not-so-distant future (Ghosts), the Call Of Duty series was starting to get itself into a rut. But by setting Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PC) far enough in the future to add some sci-fi into the mix, while still keeping this series’ tenets intact, designers Sledgehammer Games, High Moon Studios (who made the PS3 and 360 editions), and Raven Software (multiplayer) have injected a little but still much-needed newness into this first-person shooter series.
In recent weeks, race game fans have gotten to enjoy Forza Horizon 2, had to suffer through DRIVECLUB, and hold out hope that The Crew will be more like the former than the latter. But all three games have one thing in common: they all have you racing cars. Which is just one reason you might want to check out MX Vs ATV Supercross, an arcadey dirt track racer for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 that puts you behind the wheel, er handlebars of dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles.