The subject of this installment: the procedurally generated, action platformer Unfair Rampage: Knightfall, by indie developer Imphenzia. The game currently has a demo available on Steam, but no official release date yet.

Unfair Rampage requires players to take control of a futuristic knight who is sent back in time. The past is falling apart, literally, and the heroes of the past need to die an honorable death. It is then the player’s mission to kill the knights of the past using firearms or close melee attacks. I didn’t find much more to the story, but even without extended lore I dig this humorous sci-fi take.

Levels in Unfair Rampage are procedurally generated — the main terrain consists of randomly-stacked blocks meant to be traversed, leapt, and destroyed. Players must do so quickly, as the landscape slowly crumbles behind them. Besides the decaying terrain, players must also contend with the knights of the past, huge buzzsaws, bottomless pits, and other various hazards to avoid.

This is all presented in a cartoon style, with well-designed graphics. Imphenzia is a one-person development team, so it’s impressive what a single designer can create. Not an easy feat.

However, I can’t say much more about Unfair Rampage, because I was not able to progress very far. There are checkpoints throughout the campaign, but I couldn’t even reach the first one. While the game is designed to be a challenge, the issue wasn’t difficulty, but rather the controls.

Controls for this type of 2D play need to tight and precise, which is not what I have experienced. The knight drifts after releasing the control stick, which might be manageable if not for the imprecise jumping. In a fast-paced, crumbling world of this type, jumps need to be immediate and exact. In Unfair Rampage, my character jumps almost an entire second after I press the controller button. It was such a noticeable problem that I thought perhaps it was my wired controller having issues, but the same problems were present while utilizing the keyboard. After a dozen or so attempts, I gave up.

For me, controls are the most important part of a videogame. In Unfair Rampage: Knightfall, the controls in their current state are prohibitive to advancing in and enjoying the content. I Hope that the controls will be fine-tuned before release — if not, those digital knights of the past will miss out on dying an honorable death.

The post This Is Not A Review – Unfair Rampage: Knightfall appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Everything…

LOW …Except one bizarre design choice and framerate dips. 

WTF The ’90s references actually made me chuckle.   

I have come to the realization that my very existence (and the existence of so many others) is political.

Being a minority in our current space feels like yelling into a void, wondering when the hell things are going to get better and when the people who claim to be in our corner will stand up for us when we need them. It extends to my entertainment as well — I find myself enjoying games less if their politics and morals don’t align with my own, or if they lack empathy towards those fighting for a better life. It’s a topic I’ve written about many times here at GameCritics.

Road 96 decides to do the complete opposite of most videogames, opting to not only tell a progressive story, but it also puts much effort into letting players empathize with a character who’s doing what so many others are in real life — trying to survive.  

Road 96 is set against the backdrop of a divisive election. One candidate openly spouts xenophobic rhetoric and wants to keep the borders closed, while their opponent is the opposite, opting to fight for the rights of immigrants and the workers of Petria. Players control an unnamed, teenaged hitchhiker from a first-person perspective. Taking place in the summer of 1996 in a fictional country called Petria, the objective is to cross the border to a neighboring country.

Each chapter focuses on one of seven characters the player will meet and interact with. They usually involve the player completing a favor for them or playing some minigames. All of them feature choices that can impact the world in interesting ways, with things as minuscule as defacing campaign posters or beating a fugitive at soccer. 

These encounters are random, so no player will know who they’re going to meet next on their journey, though they all tie back together. Certain characters will reference others and each will reveal different things to the player.

My favorite was a young woman who left home to live in a trailer park with enlightened citizens such as an aggressive cat and bizarrely competitive dancer. She loved playing the tuba and spoke about her journey of running away from home. Finding a different character that was able to identify with me on my quest was nice, and the conversation we had was sweet. Thankfully, the vibe wasn’t undone by my awful performance in a tuba-based rhythm game. 

It might not provide the deepest commentary and at times may put too much faith in our incredibly broken two-party system, but it gives players some context into what living in the U.S. is like for those who deal with the fallout of these parties. Similar to how Life is Strange 2 was able to use the election of Donald Trump in its story, Road 96 offers its own twisted take on life in the U.S., although seeing gun-toting xenophobes in a videogame is nothing compared to what we witness in reality every day. 

Each chapter sees the player get further and further to their goal. As they find new ways of traversal (like a bus, cab, or even walking) their energy depletes. Once the player is out of stamina, that run is over and they’ll start again with a new character. Despite starting with a new character each time, the story progresses thanks to the individual character arcs the player will encounter. Every time they are re-met a new questline begins, but the cumulative progress is seen in the menu.

Intimidating and bizarre at first, these roguelike elements made rationing my stamina feel significant, and at the end of each chapter, I found myself debating what mode of transport was the most useful. While taking a bus costs the most in-game money, simply walking to the next area will drain the most energy. Things like food and sleeping can replenish stamina, which also ends the current chapter and starts the next. Every run taught me something valuable about managing my limited resources, allowing me to appreciate how the gameplay fits with its narrative. 

Road 96 is essentially a perfect vessel for its story, though some minor issues might deter players from giving it a chance. The main gripe I had was with how dialogue choices are presented on screen. Instead of giving me a cursor to select what I want to say, I had to manually move the camera in the first-person perspective to make the choice. It’s bizarre, to say the least, and I can only assume it works better on PC (I played on Switch). I also experienced a few framerate dips, though they never detracted from the overall experience. 

However, those issues don’t get in the way of telling a simple, effective story of survival in a harsh country. Its politics might be a bit too idealistic and simplified for my taste, but I have yet to see another interactive experience tackle these themes more directly than this. It may be based on hitchhiking, but this is definitely a trip worth taking. 

Disclosures: This game is published and developed by Digixart. It is currently available on Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 15 hours were spent in the single-player and the game was not completed (still playing). There is no multiplayer. 

Parents: According to the ESRB this game is rated  T for Suggestive Themes, Drug Reference, Violence, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Language, and Mild Blood. A lot of heavy themes involving racism, fleeing the country, and unrequited love are present throughout the game. Characters also drink, swear and use drugs frequently. 

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available. 

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Subtitles and on-screen instructions can be adjusted and audio is not needed to enjoy this game, thanks to the abundance of visual cues. This game is fully accessible. 

Remappable Controls: Yes the controls are remappable.

The post Road 96 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH A unique and lengthy list of playable characters.

LOW The story suffers severely with no central protagonist driving it.

WTF The quirk of “Dies Randomly”

When I previewed Watch Dogs: Legion before launch, I was impressed by the diversity of options it had to offer, and how each character felt unique in their own way. Being able to play as anyone gave the open-world structure a new spin as it incentivized players to explore to see what (and who) they could find. Now that I’ve spent time with the full experience, I found that the value of this diversity evaporates quickly, and the game suffers for it.

Legion is the next iteration of the Watch Dogs series of third-person open-world action games where players take control of a resistance group known as Dedsec. After a series of bombings in London are pinned on them, most Dedsec members have been arrested or killed. Players must choose from a list of procedurally-generated operatives to rebuild Dedsec and clear their name while helping London get back on track.

Any NPC in the world can be recruited to join Dedsec, and they each come with unique quirks and features. PC experts can hack things from greater distances, construction workers can summon a cargo drone to fly around London, hitmen have unique weaponry, and more. These vocations also provide interesting stealth options — dressing as a professional can let certain characters gain access to areas that others can’t. No one will notice a construction worker in an area being remodeled, and so forth. 

Further, players can customize their characters any way they desire. In-game money is gained rapidly, and mostly used for cosmetics at any of the plentiful shops scattered throughout the world. While it’s a small thing, I did enjoy taking time to get each member of my crew some new garb that fit the image I was trying to create for each one. 

On a more subtle note,  personality quirks separate each character players can recruit. One assassin I had was a compulsive gambler, so my money would randomly raise or lower if I wasn’t actively using the character. Another one had allergies and would randomly sneeze while sneaking around a guarded warehouse. I enjoyed these little touches.

It’s worth noting that unless permadeath is turned on (the default is off) characters can be critically injured from combat or falls and be sent to the hospital, making them unavailable for about an hour of real time. They may also be captured and sent to prison with similar restrictions. Recruiting a lawyer or nurse can help reduce the time they’re unavailable, and some characters have perks on their own that will get the back in the fight quicker.

While all of this sounds great on paper, one huge problem with the wealth of recruitable characters and the variety in options is that there’s no central protagonist, so the story feels a bit vague and generic.

Legion‘s plot is about London rising up against gangs and corrupt corporations, but it falls a bit flat when the dialogue has to be generalized. The script can’t name specific characters because anyone in the world could potentially be the star at any moment. Whether the player chooses John Smith the hitman or Jane Doe the trendy model, the story has to progress.

There’s also noticeable weirdness in nonessential dialogue. In one scene, I was using a hitman known for their high kill count, and they called another one out for being violent. In a different interaction, one character was complaining about the cops to a teammate who was a cop.

In a mechanical sense, the choice to allow any possible character to succeed in any possible mission means that challenge in Legion is minimal. Further, players get a spider drone that (when fully upgraded) can do nearly everything a human can do without putting an operative in danger. Since any character can have one, not just tech characters, it nullifies the need to utilize diverse skillsets.

There’s also a lack of options in mission design. For example, there are only so many ways to recruit characters — rather than just appropriating them, players must do a quest to convince them to join. The result is that there were a lot sick friends who needed medicine the potential recruit couldn’t afford.

Watch Dogs: Legion is far from perfect. It tries to tell a story about resisting oppression via the power of the people, but the concept of making any character in the world a viable choice means that the experience ends up being too broad and vague. I was able to spice things up by bringing my own roleplay to characters and used items that weren’t necessary, but this was my way of compensating for the ways in which Watch Dogs: Legion falls short of what I want from a triple-A adventure.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Ubisoft Toronto, and published by Ubisoft.  It is currently available on PC, XBO, and PS4. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 25 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes currently, but will be released later.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood and Gore, Drug References, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, and Use of Alcohol. There’s a lot of killing, execution, organ harvesting, slave trading, and swearing. Definitely not for kids.

Colorblind Modes: There are multiple colorblind options. Players can modify nearly every every aspect of the game from gun reticles, notification arrows, map markers, and text.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Subtitles can be turned on, and they can be resized and recolored. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable controls: The game has fully remappable controls.

The post Watch Dogs Legion Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

The subject of this installment: Astroneer, developed and published by System Era Softworks, and available in early access on both PC and Xbox One.

A week ago, if someone told me, “A game involving no instructions, no hints and an intergalactic leaf blower will become a favorite” I would have called that person a liar, and rightfully so. But, despite being in a rougher-than-sandpaper pre-alpha stage, Astroneer is shaping up to be a challenging, engaging exploration title with just enough of a narrative thread to make gamers stick with it.

The premise is simple: harvest and build. The initial environment is chock-full of different materials and items to help players craft, break down and repurpose. Whether it’s used to build a shelter, power a vehicle, or even smelted for re-use in other forms, Astroneer encourages (and often requires) countless ways to create.

This harvesting is done through the game’s unique tool of choice — a suitably space-age leaf blower. Okay, maybe it’s not that tool exactly, but it’s hard not to think of the neighbors’ gardener when the nameless protagonist is using a NASA Briggs & Stratton to hollow out burrows of terrain, suck up the goods, and then move the soil elsewhere after the loot is obtained. Powerful tool, funny visual.

By the time an environment seems barren of resources, there are always a few more lying around. In fact, it almost seems triggered. However, the entire world is procedurally generated, ensuring no players get the exact same experience.

Outside of gathering, gameplay is almost entirely centered on exploration and discovery. There’s a strangely soothing sense of calm that comes from playing Astroneer. The lack of imminent danger (other than the occasional lack of oxygen) allows gamers to explore freely and try things that would be too risky if they also had to worry about dodging monsters, gunfire or ticking clocks. This peaceful freedom is almost hypnotic, in a way.

That’s not to say there isn’t challenge to be had. The lack of instructions and minimal hand-holding means Astroneer isn’t going to be a “pick up and play” option for players more used to the structure of traditional shooters or adventure titles. In fact, the first ten minutes of the game were absolutely infuriating — almost to the point of violent gamepad launching — until that distinct “aha” moment when it all clicked for me, and the solutions became apparent.

Technically, Astroneer isn’t a marvel, but it really doesn’t need to push the Xbox One hardware to be enjoyable. Its unique premise, art style and simple controls mean there’s plenty of enjoyment to be had, even for casual players. However, those willing to dedicate hours into Astroneer‘s exploration and crafting will reap the most reward. The developers did a good job of dangling just enough “carrots” of potential to keep them engaged, and if they continue along this track, it’s only going to get better.

Though I’m only on my first planet, I’ve already achieved quite a bit from this pre-alpha test title. There are a few patchy sections and a few bugs to overlook, but I’m extremely confident that Astroneer will continue growing into the deep, outside-the-box space exploration title it has already shown the beginnings of being.

The post This Is Not A Review: Astroneer appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

Thanks to RimWorld, I will never look at squirrels in the same way again.

Six hours into my most well-developed colony, a wave of a few dozen man-eating squirrels took to my camp and slaughtered every inhabitant. With no turrets or defenses beyond a few semi-automatic weapons, my poor colonists never had a chance.

It’s easy to see why RimWorld, an outer-space survival and base-building game inspired by cult hit Dwarf Fortress, went from an early access oddity to topping the Steam charts. Unlike many other survival titles, RimWorld excels at telling a great story — even if its dense systems get in the way.

RimWorld’s focus on storytelling is evident from the start, when it asks players to choose their preferred storytelling style. Should there be no disruption, a gradual ramp up in intensity, or pure chaos? Players can also pick the intensity of the interruptions: are the squirrels peacefully bounding around the forest, or eating hapless coloinsts? I quickly got over my ambivalence and turned the difficulty up — RimWorld is more fun when things go awry.

After choosing a storyteller and difficulty, players’ colonists are plopped down on a procedurally-generated planet and given a list of tasks to guide their first few days on the outer edge of space: build a room, make beds, put everyone to work, and so on.

That third item can be difficult because RimWorld is much more about setting rules and watching it play out than directly controlling the colonists. Sure, there are some direct commands that can be given, but most of the player agency in RimWorld is allowing or forbidding certain types of work. This leaves many possibilities open for humorous anecdotes to occur, but left me feeling frustrated at times.

While I eventually got used to manipulating the work assignment menu to get things done in the order I wanted, it occasionally left me staring at the screen, clueless as to what to do next. For instance, a colonist who was only allowed to mine would walk by veins full of ore while the game nagged me that a colonist was idle.

Surfacing mid-game systems isn’t one of RimWorld’s current strong suits either. I had to go to a wiki to figure out that I needed a special butcher table to process meat, that I’d need to build a freezer to stop meat from spoiling, and that I needed to regulate temperature in rooms to maximize the happiness of my colonists. RimWorld is not short on details or systems, and I expect tutorials to be one area that RimWorld will improve in during its early access period. For now, though, expect to keep a wiki open for constant reference.

RimWorld is one of the more promising, accessible titles in its rapidly-expanding genre. Players can fine-tune the difficulty to suit their goals, and even just the first few hours of gameplay will be sure to yield some funny stories. Once its simulation nature is more clearly explained and helpful resources are fleshed out in the game, I expect it to be a regular presence on the Steam best seller list.

The post RimWorld Preview appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

So, In no particular order, let’s finish these chats…

A black Mary Jane? Apparently actress Zendaya has been cast as Mary Jane Watson in the upcoming Spider-man film, and you know what? That’s awesome. I mean, sure, I thought Nick Fury being black was weird at first, but I grew to love Samuel L. Jackson in the role and now he’s who I automatically think of when Fury’s name is mentioned. I can’t imagine anybody else playing him now. In fact, my son has only ever known a black Fury, and when I told him that he used to be a white guy in the comics, he couldn’t even process it. I’m sure the same will be true of this new MJ.

It’s all about what you’re used to, and let’s face facts here — the world is more than just white people and we need to embrace it. As long as the movie’s better than the last few Spider-Man films, I’m all in. More diversity? Yes please, and kudos to Marvel for shaking things up again.

Inside. It’s a short game, but I would like it to be shorter. It’s not bad as it is, but even being such a brief experience — four hours, give or take? — it feels like there’s too much padding and the best parts of the experience are surrounded by too many things that dilute the message.

For me, the best parts of Inside aren’t the puzzles or the animation, but the way my expectations and assumptions at the beginning of the game get flipped by the end. I’m not going to spoil it here, but if you’ve played it, you know what I’m talking about. However, the game takes its sweet time getting there, and I felt like a lot of what the player goes through beforehand is just Limbo 2.0.

Overall I thought it was maybe 25% awesome and 75% lukewarm gameplay that didn’t really serve the main idea.

No Man’s Sky. I still haven’t played it and I don’t have any immediate plans to. I’m still curious, but it seems like the sort of game that’s going to be wildly different in a year’s time, and likely much better than it is now. However, it’s all people have been talking about since launch, and it’s been impossible to avoid the chatter.

In my particular circles I hear a lot of people defending the game, pointing out that the dev team is small and that the algorithm which produces 18 quintillion planet is amazing. That’s all true, but at the same time, I think the people who paid $60 (or more!) have a right to be upset — regardless of how difficult it was to pull off that random generation, it seems clear that the developers got too wrapped up in the idea of making all these worlds possible, but didn’t think about how that would translate into compelling gameplay. It’s like that famous line from Jurassic Park — they were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

If it launched as a small indie for 20 bucks, I think people would’ve had more patience for the game in its current state, but after three or so years of hype at maximum levels along with a triple-A asking price and the developers being so cagey about it for so long, it’s not hard to understand why so many customers are feeling burned. I’m a firm believer that games are art, but if you’re charging, then they are also products — the unspoken contract isn’t that people pay money for the privilege of seeing a creator’s vision, it’s that they pay money to have an interesting experience. The two things are not always one and the same.

Metal Gear Survive. I’ve heard from dozens of people who were outraged, offended, or otherwise upset and mad as hell that Konami would put out a new Metal Gear that didn’t have Kojima attached. Here’s the trailer, in case you haven’t seen it.

To be frank, I don’t understand why anyone is upset. Let’s face facts here — it’s been blindingly obvious for years that Kojima has wanted to stop working on MGS and do something else. He’s said so many times, and he’s even put himself in his games as a prisoner to be rescued. Not exactly a subtle metaphor there, folks. If people are truly his fans, why would they want him to stay chained to something he doesn’t want to do?

In addition, it’s not like the games he’s done recently are classics. The last MGS I genuinely enjoyed was probably MGS3, and since then they’ve been less than stellar. In fact, his recent output reminds me of when George Lucas took full control of Star Wars, and we all know what shitshows those turned out to be. Once people who were true fans full of enthusiasm took control of the franchise, the result was way more in line with what people wanted and a better experience overall.

Carrying that same sentiment forward, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if MGSurvive turned out to be pretty good. At the very least, I’m excited that someone else will be in charge, and we might actually get something that isn’t enslaved to the same style of insane-o stuff Kojima’s been churning out lately.

I’m more than ready to give it a chance, and honestly, what’s the alternative? No more Metal Gear games ever? Kojima’s not coming back to the series and the only option is to have someone else step in. That’s got to be preferable to seeing the series fade away for good.

And besides, Kojima’s still around and he’s got no shortage of people wanting to work with him… We’ll be seeing far too much of Norman Reedus soon enough.

Stranger Things. So I saved this one for last since I figure it’s going to be the one most likely to piss people off and stop reading.

Pretty much everyone on Earth has been raving and raving and raving about the show since it debuted on Netflix, so the wife and I carved out some time to check it out. At this point we’ve watched six episodes and will probably finish the final two this weekend. So far, I’m just not seeing the greatness.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly serviceable and decent, but it’s so incredibly derivative and unoriginal that I’m puzzled as to why people are enthralled. I mean, of course the thing is a giant love letter to the 80s and the references and style are overwhelming, but it takes a lot more than some period posters and well-known songs from that era to make it notable to me.

I lived through those times and I have those fond memories, but so what? The directors check off a bunch of things on a list of Stuff From The 80s and call it good — the story is flat and predictable, the characters are tropes, and I feel like I’ve already seen the whole thing before, and I have… Every aspect of it is taken from some other, better work.

Sure, the font is great and they nailed the aesthetics of the era, but there’s not much more to it than that, and I doubt anything in the last two hours are going to change it.

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