Home Blog Page 81

Dark Souls, This War of Mine and Plague Inc all make the leap to board games

Bevan Clatworthy
-
0
Dark Souls, This War of Mine and Plague Inc all make the leap to board games

Hi folks! I’ve been diligently monitoring the crowdfunding website for cool board game and card game projects I thought you folks would enjoy taking a look at while I’ve been immersing myself in the best money making games I could find on my phone, and recently I’ve noticed a trend. The current crop of campaigns includes quite a number of video games that have been converted into tabletop games; is this a shameless attempt to cash in on a strong IP, or has the strength of these licenses been realised as strong cardboard offerings in their own right? Well, I’ve grabbed the three I think look most interesting and given quick summaries below to garner your opinion, enjoy!

Darks Souls

Based on the unforgiving RPG, the Dark Souls board game promises to deliver that same level of difficulty and fraughtness whilst wrapping it in a gorgeous veneer. Seriously, these are some of the best looking minis I’ve seen in a board game with the mega-bosses looking to be mah-husive! The mechanics look interesting, with players attempting to get in the ‘weak spots’ of bosses whilst avoiding the incoming attacks. Dying is also part of the game as players then garner new information that should make their next playthrough more successful. The campaign doesn’t have long to go, and has already smashed a host of stretch goals, so be quick if this one looks good to you.

This War of Mine

With the pedigree of the original game (with some 100 awards!), this conversion to cardboard has a lot to live up to. The game looks BIZ-ZAY! Several different decks, a jam packed board representing the stronghold of the protagonists, nice miniatures and a bagful of custom tokens. The most interesting part of TWoM is the Book of Scripts, which promises to make every playthrough unique and immerse the players in the dark and grim setting. With the recent increase in story-heavy games coming out, this sounds like a welcome edition to the fold.

Plague Inc

Who said Pandemic was the only game about viruses allowed?! Plague Inc was the highly popular game where players attempted to evolve their chosen virulent nasty into somthing that could take down the world before each country gets wise and develops immunity. The board game version switches this solo endeavour into a competitive race to become top bug. What I love is the feel of the video game has been transplanted faithfully, with players being able to develop their little goobers to more effectively spread themselves in what appears to be an area control game.

Images from kickstarter.com.

Here we go again! – Top 5 TV Time Loop Episodes

Becca Harper
-
0
Here we go again! – Top 5 TV Time Loop Episodes

It may be a well used TV trope but you gotta love a good time loop episode.  Much of the love for them is routed being able to free our beloved characters from their ‘typical’ behaviour and take a few more risks, tell some hard truths, be hella funny and sometimes learn an important lesson. Let’s take a look at some of the best time loop episodes from our favourite shows.

Just to be on the safe side let’s throw in a SPOILER WARNING.

 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer- Life Serial

life serial

Buffy needs a job, unfortunately the not so super villains, The Trio, aka Jonathan, Andrew and Warren, decide to have a competition and test the slayers abilities.  Buffy gets stuck trying to retrieve a live mummy hand for a customer. Her many attempts become progressively more slapstick and always end with her killing the hand losing the sale.  The spell is finally broken when she tells the customer she’ll order it in. Whilst it is only a portion of the episode dedicated to Jonathan’s time loop spell, it is so much fun that it rightly deserves a place on this list.

Supernatural – Mystery Spot

tumblr_inline_mpxkheJYap1qz4rgp

One Tuesday morning Sam Winchester wakes to Heat of the Moment by Asia, finds his brother already up , they head for breakfast, Dean orders the Tuesday special Pig ‘n a Poke with a side of bacon and the two continue with their day discussing the case involving a disappearance at the local Mystery Spot. As evening comes the two break into the tourist trap and the own kills Dean, dead. Queue ‘Heat of the moment’ and the day begins again for Sam. As the loop continues over and over Dean dies in increasingly hilarious ways including, choking when he deviates from the Pig ‘n a Poke, having a desk dropped on him and funny tasting tacos. Each time the Winchesters try to change something but Dean always cops it.

Eventually Sam figures out it’s the Trickster, whom informs Sam he is just proving that Sam can’t save his brother. A finger snap later it’s Wednesday and this is where things get dark. Dean is killed and next we see a dark montage of Sam continuing to live as a loner, hunting, fixing his own wounds, ignoring Bobby and becoming a cold emotionally dead shell. Whilst everything turns out fine in the end, this episode’s appeal is it’s journey from laugh out loud moments to emotionally heartbreaking in just 45 minutes, securing it’s place on this list.

Stargate SG-1 – Window of Opportunity

time loop
YES!

A firm fan favourite Window of Opportunity sees Colonel O’Neill and Teal’c trapped in a ten hour time loop after being hit by lightening on while on a mission. With Daniel Jackson and Sam Carter having no memory of the loop it falls to O’Neill and Teal’c to solve this problem and break the loop. Jackson needs to translate the ancient writings but there isn’t enough time before it starts over again. O’Neill and Teal’c must learn from Jackson each loop and pass this knowledge back to Jackson who then has to teach them the next bit, so on and so forth. In one particular loop Daniel makes a passing comment about events having no real consequence which brings forth a montage of O’Neill and particularly Teal’c behaving outrageously, including, playing golf through the wormhole, O’Neill taking up pottery and becoming quite adept. But the moment that made it for the fans was when Colonel O’Neill resigns his post a kisses Sam Carter just seconds before the loop resets – something fans of SG-1 had been longing for.  After 3 months in the loop it all gets resolved with a little pull on the heart strings as O’Neill recalls his own experience of his son’s death to persuade the scientist to shut down the time machine before the loop starts again.  All in all one of the best episodes in 10 years of SG-1.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Cause and Effect

Opening the episode with the destruction of the Enterprise made for an strong start in an all round excellent episode. Queue Stardate 45652.1, Riker, Worf, Crusher, Geordie and Data are all playing poker. As the day plays out it’s Crusher who begins it get a sense of deja vu, she’s sure she has already treated Geordie for his dizzyness. In the following loops the other characters all begin to sense they have done this all before and they are able to actually predict the outcome of the card game, they figure out the whole ship is trapped in a time loop or, as they name it, a temporal causality loop. Resolving to send a message to themselves in the next loop they do some jiggery pokery with Data.

Beginning the time loop again and things have changed, actions that Data is involved in begin to relate to the number 3, coming up again and again. In the crucial last seconds before the Enterprise collides with the other ship, both Data and Riker make suggestions what action they should take, in this final loop Data realises the 3 refers to pips on Riker’s uniform and takes that course of action rather than his own, breaking the loop they have been stuck in for 17 days. Their actions not only save themselves but also the  USS Bozeman that has been missing for 80 years. The great thing about this episode is the dramatic opening followed by some real goose-bump inducing moments. There is no consequence free larking about as often associated with time loops, this is about the group of officers trying to save the lives of everyone on board.

 

The Librarians – Point of Salvation

This choice is probably a little left field but I’ve chosen it because there is a little twist to the normal time loop trope. The Librarians has only had two seasons and there does not seem to be that much fandom support out there. It’s a fun show, if you enjoyed Warehouse 13 you should definitely check it out. It is never too serious or intense but Point of Salvation changed things a little.

With the team of four are trapped in a loop, Ezekiel is the only one the remembers the previous loops. This episode begins to play out as a nice normal time loop, every time someone dies it resets, so often in fact that Ezekiel forgets how long he has been watching his friends die. It begins to take it’s toll on him and the normally care-free character becomes emotionally worn and frustrated, despairing at witnessing his friends deaths again. In a fit of rage he destroys a crate with a crow bar and comes to the realisation that they are not trapped in a time loop but a video game, returning to a save point each time. He demonstrates this to his friends by shooting Jake in the leg and then giving him a med-kit which instantly fixes him. From here things begin to be a little more fun as they progress and eventually it all ends well.

However, there is a little sting in how this episode ends. Ezekiel goes through a lot of personal development proving himself to be a hero and leader but it finishes with him having no memory of it, it feels like a life changing lesson was taken away from him. Frustrating as this is, we must acknowledge that remembering would probably mean a lot of therapy. Luckily, his colleagues know what he did and there is a little look on his face at the end suggesting something of the experience has stayed with him. I’ve chosen to share this scene with you as a particularly good moment when Eve realises the the just exactly how hard this has been on him and tells Ezekiel a little story.

Farewell Agent Carter – ’til we see you again!

Mark Canty
-
0
Farewell Agent Carter – ’til we see you again!

Agent Carter

And so the moment has come. Agent Elizabeth “Peggy” Carter, the woman that didn’t just teach the Nazis not to underestimate a woman, but the Americans, her fellow Brits and the Soviets has been done in – By the network execs, of course. I’ll admit it, Agent Carter has probably been my favourite of the Marvel TV shows so far (And I include the Netflix shows, though I do rather like Daredevil and Jessica Jones), and not JUST because of Jarvis (and his wife).

Jarvis-Stark

It was entertaining, loved to make a nod and a wink to the mythos and the future, held a VERY harsh mirror to the attitudes of the 40s and 50s we tend to view with rose-coloured glasses, and yet almost every one of the characters had something vaguely redeeming, or at least sympathetic about them, whether good or bad. They played it to perfection with it’s short seasons, and it made a fabulous change of pace from the often uneven Agents of SHIELD. I understand that the second season wasn’t as successful as the first. It was a lot less pithy (despite being in Hollywood), and yet, if anything, even better for the fact that it kept the best of the first season, added in some extras that improved it, and tortured us with a range of “will they won’t they” plot lines that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Peggy & Cap

Season 1 brought us Peggy herself, fresh from kicking ass in Captain America, and plunged her into the cold and unforgiving light of ‘civilian life’ of a sort after the war. No-one knew what to do with her, so they treated her like a secretary, even though she’d achieved so much in the war, but she never ever let that stop her from doing what she knew had to be done. And then Howard Stark, in his somewhat carefree and slightly disheveled manner, blew back into her life, because he knew that he could trust her to not just save Howard’s reputation, but save the world from his “Bad Babies”. He may have popped in and out, but he left her in the capable hands of Mr Jarvis – A not-so-straight man to Peggy’s competence and determination. Superbly capable, if somewhat flappable, neither he nor Peggy were caricature enough to offend English people, but still charmed the pants of the Americans (and the rest of us). Together they achieved plenty, and saved Howard, though it wasn’t a free win. Peggy’s fellow agents had their moments, especially poor Souza. and her fiends and housemates in the rooming house (with it’s formidable guardian) helped us to see further how.. strange the 50s were for women to our modern eyes – Agent Carter didn’t exactly judge the way women were treated in the aftermath of the war exactly, but it refused to let us pretend we didn’t see it.

Dottie

The second season might have moved on in time, but also in space, hopping from New York to Los Angeles. Losing a couple of the cast, it kept the best, and added a couple more. Best of all, though, was the inimitable Mrs Ana Jarvis. To my mind the best thing about the whole season, after only being hinted at or mentioned in the 1st season. With Hollywood and the end of the war we now had the Red Menace to deal with – Meaning we got to keep the wonderfully broken, yet deadly Dotty – It would really be interesting to put her and Natasha Romanov in a room – Assuming you chose the colour carefully. She challenges Peggy to examine her motivations and experience, because Peggy can’t help but feel strangely responsible for her. Dotty was trained from birth to be deadly, and to hide in plain sight, and yet the way she was raised and trained by the Red Room means she can’t really connect with ‘normal’ people – Peggy’s the only one that can really understand her, and yet they’re totally at odds with one another over and over.

Tortoise of Fury

Seeing Peggy and Daniel and Souza trying to move on from one another was a little painful at times, often awkward. Seeing Souza interacting with Jason Wilkes as he and Peggy tried to figure out what they wanted was even more so – Mostly in a good way. Again, Agent Carter showed us starkly how women were treated after the war, but it also used Dr Wilkes – A highly intelligent and qualified scientist and engineer with combat experience, yet he still had to fight for a decent job because of the colour of his skin. Of course he and Peggy saw something in each other from shared experience.

960

Jack Thomson had a strange journey – A veteran, with all the right contacts, he seemed to have it made, but he had plenty to hide, and lots to prove. Always abrasive, if capable, he was often his own worst enemy. Annoying and frustrating, you still felt, by the end of season 2 his main flaw was in picking the wrong people to try and impress (and trust). In the end he redeemed himself, but not without doing it his own way, as always. You couldn’t help but want Peggy to slap him about a bit to get rid of his smile. And then there’s the tragically flawed and doomed Whitney Frost, Intelligent, beautiful, and pretty cracked even before the events of Season 2. Hiding behind her husband who started off loving her and using her to succeed, and ended up fearing and betraying her, that final betrayal tipped her over the edge, and still couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.

Jack Thompson

Ultimately, we know what Peggy achieved in the end, through the rest of the Marvel TV/movie universe. and we had some tantalising glimpses of what might have come next (More Howling Commandos? The Winter Soldier?), along with some of the things we might have hoped for (Young Nick Fury and Phil Coulson in training????).

All Star Cast

We learnt why Peggy fought. We watched her meet Steve Rogers, then Captain America. We saw her fall in love with Steve, and lose him, and how shoddily she was treated by the world she fought so hard for. In her own way, she redeemed Tony Stark’s father – No matter how cavalier and irresponsible he seemed (like father like son?), he never stopped believing in, trusting and relying on Peggy. We watched Peggy fall in love, out of love and, I daresay, meet her future husband. Then we saw her meet Steve again, after so long, and we met her niece. there’s so much more we could see, if they would show us.

Peggy

Maybe Netflix is looking for somewhere to park some of that $5 billion they wanted to spend on original programming? Let’s see what they could do with her, if they could get the cast back together.

Because it really worked because of the actors, who made the characters (with a little help from the writers, directors, crew etc). I don’t think I can picture anyone but Hayley Atwell as Peggy anymore – and I wouldn’t want to get in her way if she remembers half the moves she learnt for the part. Dominic Cooper continued alternately Charming and frustrating us as Howard Stark – Just crazy enough to believe he was that smart as well. James d’Arcy made such a loveable, likeable Jarvis – What a wingman, and in season 2, he had such wonderful chemistry with Lotte Verbeek as his wife, Ana. I’ll admit I may have shed a tear or two for Ana towards the eand of Season 2… her and Edwin both.

Ana & Edwin

Bridget Reagan made Dotty Underwood scary as hell, but oddly sympathetic – You could see how she was broken, but also how she had the seeds of her own rescue if she chose to nurture them – But she had no idea how! Enver Gjokaj as Daniel Souza was sympathetic, likeable, but tough and reliable. He only ever really had eyes for one woman – I’m glad she finally realised, as you can only really keep that sorta thing going for so long. Lesley Boone as Rose was awesome, going from occasional speaking part in season 1 to full time ass-kicker in season 2. And with seasoned pros like Ray Wise, Neal McDonough (Go Dumdum!) and Kurtwood Smith supporting them, we got to have a lot of fun.

The Atomic job

Peggy Carter taught me the same lesson Firefly did. And Chuck. And Babylon 5, too. Great writing helps. But a great cast, that are great together, not just individually? That’s the goldmine, that’s where you truly learn to love characters. And the off screen chemistry of the stars was fabulous too – Even with other Marvel stars (<cough> dubsmash <cough>)!

James Darcy - Chloe Bennet - Hayley Atwell - Clark Gregg

I’ll miss you Peggy Carter, and I’m hoping we’ll see you again, in more than just a flashback! I know Hayley Atwell took a job as lead on another series, but I can’t help but think it came down to her jumping cos she saw nothing else coming for Peggy – and that makes me sad. My Januaries will be immeasurably darker without Peggy to look forward to!

Game of Thrones: Oathbreaker

Hani Fearon
-
0
Game of Thrones: Oathbreaker

THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS. Once again, if you haven’t seen the latest episode, then bugger off.

game-thrones-spoilers

Episode three kicks off at Castle Black, after last week’s shock ending; the shock being in Jon being resurrected so soon, I mean, come on, we all knew he’d be back. Jon has been brought back to life and he doesn’t quite know why. Melisandre is desperate for an answer regarding what he saw, but is not rewarded with one. She makes a strong suggestion that Jon could in fact be the ‘Prince that was Promised’, Azor Ahai, after originally believing it to be Stannis, which is a huge hint towards the R + L = J theory.

According to the prophecy recounted by Melisandre, after a long summer, Azor Ahai will be reborn amidst smoke and salt wielding the flaming sword Lightbringer to defend the world from R’hllor’s nemesis, the Other. (Check out the full source here)

20160421_ep602_Publicity_still_32_00161588[1]

There’s no doubt that Jon isn’t quite the same after being stabbed in the heart by Olly. He’s always been a brooding bastard, but this time it’s a little different. This could be similar to what Beric Dondarrion experienced earlier in the show, remarking that every time he came back, a little piece of him died. Ser Davos says what we’re all thinking, it’s ‘completely fucking mad’. Jon is obviously losing any sense of faith here, remarking that he did what he thought was right, but was murdered for it, ‘now I’m back, why?’.

It’s not all full of misery at Castle Black though, as Edd and Tormund both rejoice at Jon’s return. We even get some comic relief from the two, particularly with Tormund commenting that he knows Jon isn’t a God, ‘I know that, I saw your pecker. What kind of god would have a pecker that small?’. Then they share a cuddle, n’awwh. We have a brief interlude with Sam and Gilly, mostly to remind us that they’re still alive. They’re on their way to meet Sam’s family, which I’m sure will be a delight after what we’ve heard about Pappa Tarly.

got60301
Finally, we get a glimpse of the Tower of Joy through Bran and his poking in the past. Ned and Howland Reed are looking for Lyanna, who appears to be hidden away in the tower. A youthful Ned questions why Rhaegar’s men aren’t protecting their Prince, to which he’s told that their Prince wanted them there. This is surely another massive R + L = J hint, with Rhaegar possibly sacrificing his own safety for that of his son. As Bran calls out to his Father, reluctant to leave the past, it is suggested that Ned heard him. Could this mean that Bran can interfere with the past? That or he’s just disrupted a perfectly good flashback scene before we got to the juicy part. We’ve got a while to go in the series yet, so I’m sure we’ll be kept waiting to see if the R + L = J theory pans out.

Dany arrives to meet her fate with the Dosh Khaleen and is fully stripped of her status, quite literally. If Dany manages to get on the side of the Dosh (that sounds ridiculous, but it’s what I’m calling them so deal), then perhaps she can use them to sort out the uproar in Slaver’s Bay. The Dosh (see, it’s catching on) decide which cities are attacked and the tribes that the Dothraki enslave, which could come in handy for Dany if she’s fortunate to be admitted, since she’s already guilty of going against tradition in not reporting to them straight away after Drogo’s untimely demise.

Dosh-Khaleen
Varys is up to his usual snooping and discovers that the folk at Slaver’s Bay are banding together to fund the Sons of the Harpy. If Dany does win over the Dosh, this could perhaps be dealt with in a more violent manner. We then head over to Tyrion, Grey Worm and Missandei for a rather awkward conversation scene. This particular exchange seems a little redundant until Varys bustles over, but Tyrion and co. struggle to come to a decision regarding whether to fight the Masters.

We conveniently then head over to King’s Landing, where Varys’ little birds have a new leader. They’re now going go do Cersei’s bidding and essentially create a kill list for Ser Gregor, I imagine. There’s another variation from the books here, with the Zombie Mountain retaining his identity, rather than becoming ‘Robert Strong’.

Gregor-Clegane-or-Frankengregor-Official-HBO

Tommen finally chats to the High Sparrow, but he’s much calmer than his predecesor. If that was Joffrey, he’d have had the Sparrow’s head marching through the streets on a stick. A glimpse of next week’s episode shows more action in this plotline, so perhaps poor Margaery will finally get her escape. Arya gets a training montage, all we need is some Rocky-esque music and tada, ‘a girl’ is rewarded with getting her sight back. I’m hoping this plot picks up soon, because I’m beginning to lose interest and Arya’s blindness was pretty short-lived in the end.

There’s more betrayal in the North, where House Umber, former bannermen to the Starks, decide to stab them in the back. Well, the littlest Stark at least, along with Osha and poor Shaggydog. I hate it when a direwolf dies and Ghost is fast becoming my favourite character in the show. I’m hoping that he goes on his own revenge spree at some juncture, avenging his fallen brethren, along with Summer and Nymeria if she ever makes her return.

ghost

Ramsey will surely have his way with Osha, but I’m hoping that she’s clever enough to do something about it. When that little bastard finally gets his comeuppance, everyone’s going to have a bloody parade. I’ve been thinking about who would be best to do the deed and get rid of that terrifying little madman. Sansa hasn’t got the balls and whilst Theon may be lacking in that department, I think it would be the most fitting for him to finish off the Bolton Bastard.

hqdefault
Finally, we’re back at Castle Black, for what was without a doubt the most powerful scene, along with being my favourite in the series so far. It’s time for Jon to punish the traitors who murdered him, including Alliser Throne and Olly, the little prick. Alliser goes down with dignity, commenting that he’d do it all again and that Jon will be ‘fighting their battles forever’. Could this be a reference to Jon’s mortality? Perhaps like Beric, he’ll keep coming back. I can’t see them killing off Jon Snow again for a good while yet mind. Olly gives Jon a look of pure hate and I thought for a moment that our resurrected Lord may go back on his decision. It’s a pretty grim scene as we see a close-up of Olly hanging there, but I couldn’t help but respond with a fist-pump.

572ff54dd1467_olly_hang_1bivt8r-1bivtad
However, despite finally seeing Olly meet his demise, the episode ends with another gem. Jon’s mic drop with ‘my watch has ended’ made the episode for me and all it needed was a ‘bitches’ on the end of it. What’s next for Jon? Perhaps he’ll join the Wildlings or maybe he’ll go rogue, Crow without a cause. Regardless of where he’s headed, I’m excited to see Jon get away from the Night’s Watch after six seasons of spending most of his time at Castle Black.

Oathbreaker was all about casting away traditions, with Dany and the Dosh, the Umber’s betrayal and Jon ending his watch. Whilst it wasn’t the most exciting of episodes, I thought the final scene was up there with some of the best and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for Dany, Jon and the other characters that I’m sort of interested in. Ghost, it’s your time to shine! I’m starting a campaign, Ghost for the King of the Seven Kingdoms. He’d look mighty cute on the Iron Throne and let’s face it, no High Sparrow’s gonna take him down.

For now, check out a preview of next week’s episode, the mysteriously titled ‘Book of the Stranger’.

 

Game of Thrones gets Disneyfied

Becca Harper
-
0
Game of Thrones gets Disneyfied

When you take the hit show Game of Thrones and mix it together with Disney what you are left with something rather cute and awesome. Just look at it, the White Walkers don’t look so bad, all magical like Elsa, Jon Snow having fun with Ghost and look at Bran and Hodor enjoying the fresh air. I’ll be honest I kinda want to watch this version, you know with the kids.

These amazing pieces are the work of Combo Estudio based out of Brazil. If you like these you should check out more of their awesome art and illustration HERE and find them on facebook page HERE.

Game of Thrones Game of Thrones dany cersei jon snow jaime Varys the mountain red witch tyrion

Megamagic: Wizards of the Neon Age

Mark Canty
-
0
Megamagic: Wizards of the Neon Age

What is Megamagic, exactly?

So, let’s start off being honest – If you didn’t like the 80s, you may not like Megamagic. It’s still a lot of fun on it’s own, but it is gloriously cheesy – It’s like watching Michael Knight riding into an arena stood on the roof of KITT escorted by Airwolf and Automan, while Queen play “Princes of the Universe” before an audience wearing shellsuit tops, ripped jeans and bouffant hair dos with blonde highlights drinking New Coke.

Did you enjoy it?

But it’s also fun. Sorry, it’s FUN! there’s a hint of Pokemon, a dash of Fallout, a little Ultima, and lot of neon. The whole planet isn’t out to get you, but a fair bit is, and a lot of the rest is trying to eat you, so you might as well fight back, and try to save the world, and your friends and family, while you’re at it, right? If not, then what kind of a human being are you?

Play some Megamagic, you’ll get better 😉

Megamagic

You play as the teenage orphan Phobon, who is on the run with his friend, Fum, from the wizard Merklyn. Your brother, Deimon, is trying to help you while seeking to find the answers you need from within the heart of the enemy. Sounds very 80s, doesn’t it?

I’m the first to admit I’m not the greatest game player, but I do love games. and one thing that I always did while playing MegaMagic was smile, or laugh…. Well except for a couple of times where I was a dumbass and couldn’t figure out a puzzle straight off. But that’s part of the fun, right? The main characters are entertaining, the supporting characters are often stereotyped for amusement, but sometimes I could almost detect a dash of Monty Python. The last thing I expected when asking a desert punk to let me through a door was a lecture on the high and low points of simplified punk society based on strength and violence – And I still got to beat the snot out of various creatures, people and robots though, along with help from my little friends!

Why did you enjoy it so much?

Megamagic is an isometric pseudo 3D adventure game, more 16-bit than 8-bit in it’s presentation, but it’s graphics are well done, colourful and full of character. The monsters are twists on a lot of tropes, but still well done, and where else can you go from fighting with Mad Max style desert punks, to dog/rat hybrids, to junk robots, robot lions and floating magicians? It’s never going to let you try to get bored, that’s for sure. Occasionally I got a little stuck on the puzzles, but it made me appreciate the ones I got right much more. There are also so many little in jokes and references to 80s movies and pop culture. If you love the 80s you’ll love Megamagic. If you don’t care about the 80s, you’ll probably still have fun.

Megamagic

You have 3 difficulty levels to choose from, so you can choose if you want to enjoy the story, or be challenged by the monsters. Speaking of monsters, your Grimms (The monsters you can summon)  add a tactical element. As you travel and fight, you learn how to summon the Grimms you have faced and defeated. You only have a limited number of spell slots, and initially you can only summon one Grimm at a time. as you grow, you learn new powers and gain more Grimm slots (and Mana, for spells and Grimm Summoning) so you have more options. You can attack alongside your Gimms, or control and guide them while buffing them to defeat enemies. You can even use them to solve problems and puzzles, and if you can keep them alive, veteran Grimms become even more deadly..

What stood out?

The soundtrack for Megamagic is stunning – Synth pop heaven, screaming guitars – You can tell this came from Mitch Murder, the guy who did Kung Fury and Hotline: Miami. It sets the mood and helps to ensure you have a big smile on your face while you play. It’s like the best bits of the Transformers the movie soundtrack, mixed with some Airwolf, Rambo, Rocky and Street Hawk 🙂

So, in conclusion…?

Megamagic

Megamagic is an absolute steal on Steam, so go on, give yourself something fun to play this weekend. Don’t worry about what your 3D card thinks, just enjoy yourself, and remember when good games meant having a challenge and entertaining, well-written characters and stories. There’s explosions too!

It’s not perfect, but it’s fun, good-looking, great-sounding, and did I mention that it’s fun?

Mass Effect Andromeda, Bioware confirm delay until early 2017

Lauren Croft
-
0
Mass Effect Andromeda, Bioware confirm delay until early 2017

Yesterday NASA announced some exciting news, it’s Kepler mission had located a vast collection of new planets within our galaxy, the hopes of identifying one of them with the potential to mirror our own planet grows even closer. But unfortunately we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see beyond our galaxy and out into Andromeda, well we will for Bioware’s version anyway.

Aaryn Flynn, General Manager of Bioware released a statement yesterday on the Bioware website confirming that unfortunately we would have to wait a bit longer than anticipated, as Mass Effect: Andromeda would be delayed until early 2017. The reasons for this being that they ‘need the right amount of time to make sure we deliver everything the game can and should be – that’s our commitment from all of us to you’.

Although it’s not all bad news, they have released a series of statements detailing their plans for the mechanics of the game along with the promise of further updates at the EA play conference on June 12, hopefully in the form of some long awaited gameplay footage.

They are apparently ‘exploring how far they can take the beloved franchise’ and have been playing the game at the studio recently, which is ‘showing us that we’re taking the game in the right direction’, leading to the release delay.

maxresdefault50

The updates have stated that the game is set to include,

‘More Freedom: one of our biggest ambitions is to give players an unprecedented level of freedom for a mass effect experience – where you’ll go, how you’ll get there, and how you’ll play’.

‘New uncharted worlds: Leaving the Milky Way behind and headed to Andromeda, where we’ll meet new allies, confront new enemies and explore fascinating new worlds’.

The statement also mentioned that the new Mass Effect game is being created as a completely new experience, it will be the first in the franchise’s history to be built specifically for ‘today’s consoles’, as it’s being built on the Frostbite engine, which has so far helped to produce other graphically pleasing games such as Dragon Age: Inquisition, Star Wars: Battlefront and Battlefield 4. He then went on to say that they are currently ‘pushing the technology to deliver visuals, story and gameplay that have never been done in the franchise’ history’.

andromeda

Other recent developments for the franchise include the opening of Mass Effect: New Earth, the 4D holographic experience located at California’s Great America which you can read about here.

McDROID Review

James Buckingham
-
0
McDROID Review

Usually, when it comes to Tower Defence games my ADD-like attention span kicks in, and my brain shuts down quicker than a sated bear in winter. But Elefantopia have devised a great game that adds a new gameplay element to the tired old TD game type, and it works really, really well.

McDroid

McDROID is the first release from San Francisco-based developer, Elefantopia, which incorporates a real-time Arcade assistance gameplay mechanic into the TD gameplay model. Right from the start, it’s clear that they knew what they were doing with the game, as they’ve most definitely set the bar very high for their competitors.

McDROID is a dog-like robot, who, accompanied by her friend “Shuttle” is heading back home to their planet “M”. When they arrive, they find that M is not particularly talkative… almost non-present entirely. The local fauna has been mutated into surprisingly violent versions of themselves, with the planet suffering from a corruption. It’s up to McDROID and Shuttle to heal the planet using any means necessary.

The base mechanics are exactly as you’d expect. You have pods, which you can equip with weapons, except these weapons can only be created when you have a certain amount of currency. In this case, the currency is strawberries (why, I don’t know… other than there’s heavy ecological undertones to the game in general, so why not?!). You grow strawberries over time, with your weaponry and upgrades becoming available only when you have enough strawberries.

Ever seen that movie "Slugs"? Yeap... these are worse.
Ever seen that movie “Slugs”? Yeap… these are worse.

You need to place your weapons in such a way that Shuttle will be protected, and you can overcome the corrupted land and fauna by the time the last wave is done and dusted.

So far, this all sounds pretty standard for a Tower Defence game, right? Well, what if I said you have to collect your strawberry seeds, planet them, grow the strawberries and collect them using McDROID itself, in a 3rd person viewpoint? Different, right? Well that’s not all. You can also decide to equip yourself with tools and weapons, turning yourself into a mobile source of destruction (and healing).

That’s right – McDROID is Tower Defence, but with a third person action-arcade element, which completely revitalises the game type for me. No longer am I just waiting for a timer to whittle down while I place my turrets in particular positions… then having to watch while the enemies saunter past without a scratch (as I usually suck at TD games). No… now I could actually get off my arse, and help my turrets by healing them, joining them and attack from different angles and even act as a power up to the turrets themselves.

Hmmm the welder, or the laser? Decisions, decisions.
Hmmm the welder, or the laser? Decisions, decisions.

When it comes to gameplay, everything is pretty intuitive. Your analog sticks tackle movement for McDROID and the camera, on the left and right sticks respectively. A tap of the D-pad opens up the weapon and upgrade menu, and you can deploy a tool/weapon/upgrade when you have enough strawberries for it. A gun will deploy to McDROID first, then it’s up to you to move and place it in the base point of your choice. Collecting strawberries is just a case of running over them, then running back to Shuttle.

When it comes to upgrades, there’s a plethora available. These start at simple lasers, but quickly graduate to rockets along with Shuttle upgrades too like trees you attach to the ship. These help things to heal quicker, but also any weapons in range of the trees you place will get a damage boost (the weapons themselves grow to indicate they’re getting the boost, which is a nice touch). You can get mobile bonsai trees that you place in the base stations next to other weapons and give them a boost. There’s also a little pet bot that will follow you around too attacking anything you get close to.

There’s so many available upgrades, from weapons, to armour upgrades, healing arms for Shuttle so that when you’re near to it, it’ll heal you and itself. This adds so many clever mechanics to the game, and make for a frantic time in later levels when you’re multitasking between harvesting strawberries, repairing guns, placing bonsai trees and attacking the enemies that your turrets can’t see or get to.

If at some point, you're not saying "shitshitshitshit", then you're doing it wrong
If at some point, you’re not saying “shitshitshitshit”, then you’re doing it wrong

I found I was able to comfortably get through the first 4-5 levels, but then the difficulty starts escalating. By level 8, you’re getting completely overrun and you honestly have no idea what just happened.

Visually, the game looks really eyecatching and colourful. McDROID’s design is great, and quite cute-looking. She moves almost like an Alsation puppy thats paws are too big, galloping all over the place. The enemy design looks towards the meaner side of nature, taking inspiration from Venus Fly Traps and other carnivorous plants. You also get little bugs and huge snails with large teeth that attack you and Shuttle (not to mention your turrets). If you’ve seen the old horror movie “Slugs”, it’s a bit like that. (Though, read Shaun Hutson’s book… so much more graphic and visceral!)

The sound design is good too, with some nice music that doesn’t get too repetitive that has a 60’s vibe. The character voices are quite amusing, though Shuttle does talk a lot. Something that did irritate a bit is when you’re introduced to a new enemy or gameplay mechanic, the game goes into slow-mo and draws your attention to it. The first time this happens it’s fine, but if you need to replay that level, it can grate a little; especially if you fail some levels over and over. Which you will. A lot.

Yes, that's the late Michael Jackson, in his own Thriller level.
Yes, that’s the late Michael Jackson, in his own Thriller level.

I’ve been playing this with my wife, as she’s more of a Tower Defence player than I am. She also really enjoys it, but has expressed an interest in a co-op multiplayer mode. This is available in the PC, Mac & Linux versions through Steam, but not currently on consoles yet (I was reviewing the PS4 version). The developers have advised that although the console versions don’t currently have a multiplayer, they are hoping to incorporate it in future updates.

There’s a lot I like about McDROID, and very little I didn’t. The difficulty is a bit off-putting for some levels (we’re not talking Dark Souls-esque difficulty, but it’s hard), but it makes you replay the earlier levels again. This is so you can unlock upgrades, in the hopes of getting access to something that will help. It can be slow-going, but it’s still very fun and rewarding. That sense of accomplishment you get when you finally beat a level you’ve had trouble with is great. Plus, there’s some interesting things later in the game, like a Michael Jackson-inspired Thriller level!

All-in-all I’d highly recommend McDROID – it’s not your standard Tower Defence game, and definitely breathes new life into a formerly tired genre. If you like a bit of strategy, along with fast, frantic arcade action too, then this is definitely your game.

McDROID is currently £14.99 on Steam, £6.39 on Xbox One and £6.49 on PS4.

Trailer:

 

 

10 Geeky Cocktails to give you health, mana and stamina.

Lauren Croft
-
0
10 Geeky Cocktails to give you health, mana and stamina.

It’s Tuesday today and I hate Tuesdays, both the last and next weekend are so far away, so in great anticipation I’ve put together a list of some of the yummiest and geekiest looking cocktails to give you another reason to look forward to the weekend.

Like the Look of them? then click the link for the ingrediants

Ocarina Of Lime: The Legend Of Zelda

image

Because who doesn’t love a good pun.

Sonic The Hedgehog Shot

image

After a certain amount probably makes you go faster (for a while).

Fat Man: Fallout

image

A cocktail for when your head feels like a wasteland and you want to go nuclear.

Serrice Ice Brandy: Mass Effect

image

The residents of the Citadeld go to drink in times of need, emergency induction port optional.

T Virus & Antidote: Resident Evil

image

One to help you loose your mind and one to bring you back from the dead.

Butterbeer Float: Harry Potter

image

Philter Of Health: Elder Scrolls

image

A cocktail to give you extra life when you’re feel it draining from you.

Possession: Bioshock Infinite

image

A fun twist on the Bioshock infinite vigor, which will make you think you can bend the will of machines, unfortunately you can’t.

Dratini: Pokémon

image

A cute yet toxic looking cocktail to help you prepare for battle.

The Siren: Borderlands 2

image

To help you become the life of the party with zero worries.

Purple Lyrium (Dragon Age)

I’m not going to lie I made this one myself (it totally already exists under a different name though), but nethertheless may I present to you… Purple Lyrium

My Dragon Age cocktail came to light whilst I was decorating my games room and needed something which resembled blue and red lyrium, alas 1 shot of Blue Curaco, 2 shots of Cherry Sours topped up with lemonade equals purple Lyrium!

Remember to drink responsibly, casting spells when drunk can have serious consequences and side effects.

tumblr_lx0hw67s411r8qf3lo1_500

Deadpool Guest Stars in Honest Trailers does Deadpool

Becca Harper
-
0
Deadpool Guest Stars in Honest Trailers does Deadpool

Web series Honest Trailers go from strength to strength and this time they have truly outdone themselves. In this Deadpool edition Voice Over Guy is joined by actual Deadpool who stopped by to lend a hand. Though it’s obvious the Screen Junkie folks loved the film – which of course they did – they still make a few humours digs at the hit movie. Enjoy the D.

1...808182...362Page 81 of 362