In 1963, The Beach Boys said we should go surfin’ now, since everyone was learnin’ how. But what if you can’t swim, don’t live near water, or just fear sharks so much that you won’t even go into a pool, let alone the ocean? No worries, you can just play Surfy, a new iOS surfing game from DreamWalk Interactive. Though in talking to lead game developer Sam Russell, it seems that doing well at Surfy won’t necessarily mean you’re good at surfin’ the U.S.A.
In 2011, when Turn 10 Studios added optional braking and steering assists to Forza Motorsport 4, they changed their serious racing sim into, well, a still serious racing sim that could also be played as a less realistic racer. But while this was much appreciated, for fans of the latter (like me), it didn’t quite go far enough. Now Playground Games, under the supervision of Turn 10, have improved things further with the Xbox One version of Forza Horizon 2 (the Xbox 360 version of which was made by Sumo Digital, and not provided to me for review). Which is why, despite having some rather irritating issues and a structural problem, Forza Horizon 2 leads the pack as this generation’s best racing game.
With The Pinball Arcade, FarSight Studios have brought classic pinball tables from Williams, Bally, and Stern to the PlayStation 4, 3, and Vita, iOS and Android devices, PCs, and the even the Kindle Fire and Ouya. But how exactly do they recreate those classic pinball machines so exactly, and what does the future hold for this series (and does that include bringing this series to the Xbox One)? I spoke to art director Jason Juneau (who’s been at the company for six year, starting as an animator) and Lead Designer Bobby King (another six year vet who’s also the VP of Product Development), to find out.
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.
Whitney Houston once sang that children are our future. And that’s certainly true when it comes to making video games. Consider Fat Loot, a PC game made by a couple of kids from USC’s GamePipe Lab (a class held in conjunction with the university’s Viterbi School Of Engineering and their Interactive Media division), which you can now play free at fatlootgame.com. So what’s it all about? I spoke to Chen, the team leader on Fat Loot, and Pat, the game’s lead designer, about their interactive final exam.
With a science fiction setting, jetpacks, and a studio called Red 5, no one would fault you for thinking that the free-to-play PC sci-fi shooter MMO Firefall is one funny ’droid short of being a Star Wars game. But in talking to James Macauley, the CEO of Red 5 Studios and production lead for Firefall, it turns out that George Lucas’ space opera isn’t the only big influence on this game.
Throughout the course of human history, seemingly incompatible elements have often come together to make something great. But for every Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup there’s Mary J. Blidge covering a Led Zeppelin song. And then there’s Hyrule Warriors, a new action game for the WiiU that falls somewhere in between by mixing aspects of The Legend Of Zelda and Dynasty Warriors games.
Having all but defined the sci-fi first-person shooter genre with Halo, Bungie are now trying to redefine it with Destiny, which they call a “shared world shooter.” But while the game — which Activision has released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 — is far from perfect, especially if you’re not big on sharing, it does have some interesting new ideas, and is as engaging and fun as Bungie’s previous gun games.
Funko have announced that they will release a series of POP! vinyl action figures based on characters from the 2009 video game Batman Arkham Asylum this October.