I think that Team 17 needs some help. Some dastardly villain has clearly locked the developer up and abandoned them, because less than a year after releasing the excellent Worms Revolution , the invertebrate-obsessed studio has only gone and made Worms Clan Wars, which is not only a proper, fully fledged continuation of the venerable series, but a high point for the franchise.
Perhaps the very worms they so admire have risen up and forced them into eternal servitude, and if this is the case, we should all get out our nicest stationary and write a strongly worded letter to these slithering, slimy dictators and demand that they give Team 17 a break. It would be well deserved, too, as they've already succeeded in the challenge of improving on a formula that was arguably perfected over a decade ago.
This PAX Prime 2013 video about Jonathan and Jim discussing Pokemon X and Y isn't so much about the upcoming Game Freak title as it is about Jonathan and Jim being on camera together.
Granted, the dynamic duo does talk about the series' fresh look, but it's hard to go too in-depth for certain types of games in such a short amount of time. Particularly for series as long-running as Pokemon. Shame Nintendo didn't show them those Mega Evolutions -- those are where it's at.
It seems that after its initial crowdfunding success, there's no stopping Star Citizen. Chris Roberts' super-ambitious space sim just hit the $17 million mark and now there's stretch goals for $19 million. However, fans have expressed displeasure about the launch of a microtransaction-based store as one of the few elements of the game they have access to.
Players can currently access a hanger that hosts their purchased ships as well as the Voyager Direct store that lets them buy in-game items with real money. Roberts has tried to appease the dissatisfied by informing them that all items will be able to unlocked in-game, without any need for purchases. The problem seems to be that players are unable to work out what items are really worth purchasing as there's no way to use them fully in-game yet.
My concern about Star Citizen is really the game's scope; will it get the balance right between its ambitious mix of space combat, trading, and huge online scale? If the game manages to make all three elements mesh together, then I can absolutely see myself losing hours in space.
Star Citizen raises $17 million, launches cosmetic store for hanger module [PC Gamer]
Before playing PixelJunk Inc. , I thought it looked like a much more visually appealing take on the Terraria formula. That's not wholly inaccurate -- I mean, you can see it too, right? -- but this lovely cooperative PC game about robots and soup has a style all its own.
Jonathan and Spencer (and a bunch of us on staff) got a chance to play and fall for Inc. at PAX Prime 2013. It's an exciting new direction for Q-Games that, at the same time, still feels familiar if you've been with the studio since the very beginning. Long live PixelJunk!
One of the early Wii U games was a decent if fleeting multiplayer title called Chasing Aurora . Developer Broken Rules has a new game for Windows/Mac/Linux, Secrets of Raetikon, that takes the standout elements -- a gorgeous art direction and engaging aerial movement -- and puts them into a single-player experience centered around exploration. Eff yes.
Players are once again birds, though there's no freeze tag and the like to be found here. From a hub with mysterious "ancient machinery," you'll start flying through a non-linear world collecting pickups that can power these contraptions. There are puzzles, but not in the traditional, rigid sense -- one I encountered involved causing a boulder to crash through a fallen tree that was blocking my path. There's little hand-holding and it's up to you to discover clues.
And if you think "exploration" means "easy," think again. Flying through a winding path of thorns wasn't so bad the first time, but attempting to make it back through while holding onto a key item was nerve-wracking, to say the least. Thank goodness you can take a fair few hits and can find additional health around the world, for that matter.
A full night of rest later, it's only now hitting me how ridiculously good Secrets of Raetikon has the potential to be. The PAX Prime teaser sure has me on board. I can't wait to dig into the full game at my own pace away from the hustle and bustle of a trade-show environment.
