The Xbox Series X is the latest console made by Xbox and numerous people are talking about it. Now notice we won’t really be talking about the PlayStation 5 (PS5) because we will be getting the Xbox Series X. We preferred Xbox, always been with Xbox for the most recent parts of life and our favourite and best games are on Xbox. So it’s decided for us. The PS5 definitely sounds like a great console and playstation 5 fans will be happy for the most part but we definitely can see that the Xbox Series X has it beat right now. Let’s take a look.
There’s numerous videos all about the specs of the console and it’s overall higher than the PlayStation 5 for the most part so we won’t do that here. What’s the point. We aren’t like those people on youtube who rush to make their videos day one within hours of event. We do things our way. What we will primarily be doing in this G-blog post is just generally talking about the console and giving our views and thoughts on a few things. This won’t be a massive post or anything. So stop being lazy and read it.
Firstly we like the design of the Xbox Series X. People think that stuff has to be elaborate and drastic but not all the time. The Xbox Series X is basically a solid rectangle tower. Some say it’s a rocket launcher, others say it’s a fridge which is funny but last time we checked, rocket launchers and fridges are useful stuff. We at X35 Earthwalker a lot of the time wants things to be good and simple which is what the Xbox Series X is. It also looks much stronger built as in it can take a couple of falls and still be fine while the PS5 looks like it will break when you drop it once. Lots of modern day things have been weak built, so that when they fail or break you have to buy another one and that’s more money for them. We hate that and hope quality is also in the durability of the devices. It better be real strong Xbox Series X.
Now let’s talk about exclusives that the Xbox Series X has. First things first, what’s a console exclusive? Normally it’s only not smart playstation fans who don’t understand this. Games like Gears 5 which are available on both Xbox and PC are still Xbox exclusives. Why? Gaming consoles are Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo. Those are gaming consoles. PC isn’t a gaming console. Computers were made for word documents, checking your emails and job applications. Their primary purpose is not gaming. That’s why the gaming PC’s are called ‘Gaming’ PCs. Even when you search up consoles on the internet, only gaming consoles come up and no PCs are there. PCs aren’t gaming consoles. Second from a business perspective off course most Xbox games will be on Windows. Microsoft owns Xbox and windows. The more fields they can get their products in the better, more money. It makes little sense to release a game on PC and not xbox and vice versa. So yes, most of xbox’s games will be on PC also. So games like Gears 5 which is on windows and Xbx is still an xbox exclusive because other actual gaming consoles like playstation and Nintendo don’t have it. It’s not hard to understand.
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The exclusives that Xbox Series X will have that are currently known are Second extinction,Call of the sea, The ascent, Scorn,Bright memory: Infinite, The Medium and off course the king game Halo Infinite. That’s currently 7. So yes, the Xbox Series X does have exclusives. Now obviously some of these have caught our attention more than others. Really interested in most of them, especially, Second Extinction, Bright memory: Infinite and off course Halo Infinite. The idea of a cool dinosaur shooter game is really cool and it will be done bigger and better than previous ones. They can even get creative and bring in some fictional dinosaur creatures. There’s so much that can be done. Call of the Sea is bringing a fusion of exploration with that mystery sense of danger. No one disappears for just no reason. Something is out there and the beautiful islands need to be explored. Bright memory: Infinite just has a lot of stuff going on. It’s all action, abilities, powers and tons of fictional stuff. There’s even vehicles and crashing. It’s an action movie but a game. We clearly don’t need to say why we are looking forward to Halo Infinite. After how excellent Halo 5 Guardians was we are pumped for the next thing with the Master Chief.
Another thing that Xbox Series X seems to be doing very well is granting large amounts of storage space. Now this is important. 1 Terabyte is a lot of space and there are storage expansion cards which are also 1TB. Now this better not be one of situations where sure you have 1TB but each game takes up 80GB. Lame. We get that games are bigger, more packed, have more going on etc etc but still, we don’t want to hear that. Provide loads of space, give options and keep games at not ridiculous sizes. Simply put, if games are bigger then provide more space.
Also check out the image below to see a tweet from Aaron Greenberg concerning a cool feature with the Xbox Series X called smart delivery. In case you didn’t know:
Now let’s look talk for a bit about the specs between the Xbox Series X and PS5. Now it seems like the PS5 will have faster loading times and switching between apps like YouTube and back to the game will be incredibly fast. That’s excellent. Now it seems like the Xbox Series X will have overall better performance, visuals and graphics and most likely more consistently. So gaming performance vs load time. Game performance is more important. If you look at technology in the Xbox Series X you will notice that it will have faster load time too but we believe the PS5 will be even faster though. In the end we will all just have to see how everything runs and performs when they are available.
Overall we happy with what we have seen concerning the Xbox Series X. This console definitely is the most powerful gaming console right now and it will deliver amazing gaming experiences to players. We look forward to hearing more information concerning the Xbox Series X, the games etc. Now the Xbox Series X may be the most powerful console but even it is completely powerless and weak when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Outriders is a new third person shooter role playing game developed by ‘People Can Fly‘ and published by ‘Square Enix‘. Outriders is said to be coming out in the fourth quarter of 2020 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5 and PC. Outriders is one of those games that wants to come in hot with big stuff. Let’s take a look.
Outriders in set in a sci-fi universe. Definitely the future and it’s a dark and desperate times. This place is called Enoch (another inspiration from the Bible but no mention). Things are harsh, death seems to get around a lot. So don\’t expect any rainbows and sunshine (Escanor or not). Simply put humanity is in trouble. They have been described as “bleeding out”. The only lead players have is this weird signal. You need to know where it’s coming from, it’s source. So that’s the whole adventure. In outriders you are travelling across this dangerous world to find the source of that signal. So get walking.
Now yes the trailers and story show three Outriders but it’s confirmed that you can create your own Outrider. So character customisation is confirmed. How in depth is the customisation, we don’t know but it must be facial at least and probably like with most recent modern games, there could be skins and outfits. Now players get to choose from four classes for their Outrider. Each class off course has their own abilities and skill tree.
Now Outriders is a shooter game so expect the guns. There are some standard guns as in machine gun fire and heavy rounds but there also a twist to some… after all it is the future. There’s even what looks like a chain gun so keep your head down… maybe. The more emphasis is on the powers. There’s many abilities out here. From straight up shooting flames from your hands, causing earth shockwaves, phasing, sort of teleport (become electricity dash forward and reform), blasts, ice freezing and more. Now when you think about Outriders altogether it should remind you of another futuristic game where humanity are also having a tough time but some specific people have powers… Destiny.
Let’s address some smaller stuff. It’s been quoted “OUTRIDERS offers countless hours of gameplay from one of the finest shooter developers in the industry – People Can Fly.” First of all countless is a real big word and we at X35 Earthwalker take it seriously. They better deliver with countless hours worth of gameplay. Second ‘People can fly’ are good developers but not one of the finest. They made Gears of War Judgement which we really enjoyed and had the best weapons balancing of all the Gears of War games for multiplayer but made some big mistakes that are obvious even to a casual gamer. For example no locust in multiplayer and no ‘Down but not out’ which means no executions. So good yes but definitely not finest unless they have seriously improved over time.
Outriders is suppose to have a whole lot of stuff and places for players to see. You will come across, broken down places, slums, cities, deserts, some shanty towns and more. In big games like this, the environments make a big difference. Now best of all, it’s confirmed that Outriders is co-op. It’s drop in, drop out co-op so your friends can join and leave whenever they want. This is the most convenient and best way of doing co-op for the most part. Matter of fact co-op has been pushed and emphasised all over this game. We like this feature for sure. The game industry needs more awesome big co-op made games.
We checked out some Outriders gameplay and it’s what we thought it would be. It does remind us of Destiny. Got a mission, get there and complete it while gunning down enemies of a variety sort. While using your powers and abilities that literally shake things up. You can roam as a team of three or with just one friend and dominate the enemies. Using cover effectively and probably melt enemies with your steady stream of melting flames. Also there are whole lots of gear and guns that can be modded for that extra kick, effects and boosts. So there are some layers to this game. Remember that Outriders all be one of those new games that will come out also on the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5. So already gamers have got expectations.
Overall, Outriders has got a lot going on and looks like a very good game so far. The theme of ascension is heavy when it comes to the story. Leaving humanity behind and becoming something more. We know how these go. The graphics look very good too. The developers ‘People Can Fly’ have done a very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what Outriders truly brings to the gaming table. Now Outriders may have powers and guns in a dark universe but it’s still all children stuff when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 is a new game collection developed by ‘B.B Studio’ and published by ‘Bandai Namco‘. Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 is said to be coming out the 18th of June 2020 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC. Now there isn’t much to say about a game collection like this. Let’s take a look.
Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 is a collection of games. 8-bit games like Pac-man and Dig Dug. Now there is a catch though. There’s 11 games in total with 1 of them being a 8 bit DEmastered version of Pac-Man Championship Edition. This is weird as we haven’t heard of that but it off course can be done. We truly enjoy Pacman Championship Edition 2 so to see a demasteeed version of the first one will be real interesting. It’s clear that this remastered game is the main star of the Namco Museum Archives Vol 1.
Here’s a list of the game in Namco Museum Archives Vol 1: Pac-Man, Dragon Buster, Dig Dug, Xevious, Mappy, The Tower of Druaga, Sky Kid, Galaxian, Dragon Spirit: The New Legend, Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti. So you probably recognise some of these but not all. Some of these weren’t released in the west. So maybe here’s your chance.
Overall Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 is just another game collection. Take a look at it, se any games you like from the list and then decide if you want to get it or not. The only games that interest us this is Dig Dug, Pacman the remastered Championship Edition one and regular pac-man. The developers did alright with this but we think more is needed to make this an eye catcher. Now Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 may have 11 games in total but that not enough for… the ‘Earth Walk!
Crucible has been around for a bit now so we decide to take another look at it. Crucible is a team based action shooter game developed by ‘Amazon Games’. So check out our first G-blog post on Crucible right here. So we just wanted to give our thoughts on the action.
The first things that really jumps out and what we like is the environments. These maps are big, got space and obstacles allowing for moving around and making cover out of a big hill or rock for example. There’s colours everywhere and it meets your idea of a futuristic alien planet. You expect colourful flora and fauna, you expect crystalline rocks sticking out of the ground. If there is intelligent life, you expect some strange infrastructure. The maps look good.
Ajonah, the Orisi, character is clearly more of a long ranged fighter and her abilities show that. Her squid mine doesn’t seem that effective from what we have seen so far. Yes, the mines along with her other equipment are meant to help her stay away and keep foes away. Her grappling hook is really good though. The hook has a big range, bigger than you would think. You can grab a rock or whatever and swing through the air like spider man. The animation she has as she swings is excellent and acrobatic.
Sazan is a straightforward character and is all about cycling through her weapons for the best situation. The Electroknife is good for that in between attack as it recharges weapon energy getting your equipment ready and if you land that knife throw it does damage over time for a good while. Her shotgun doesn’t seem good though. The damage seems too low and seems very in accurate. Overall she does what it says on the box.
Crucible does get tactical and will force players to work together as some characters are far weaker than others in terms of their health. For example Bugg is clearly a support type and not to be upfront as other characters destroy him quick. He is strong by shielding allies and even setting up turrets. So players need to take into account what they are suppose to do with that character. Like what were they made for. If you want to rush in then get an actual rush character.
The equipment make a difference. Like the medkit which off course restores health and can get you back in the fight faster. The characters equipment customisation is simple and straightforward.
The map of the battlefield is very good. It’s a full map, detailed and has multiple symbols to show everything. This gives a goo amount of information for players to use. You can see your team and move while viewing the map.
There’s an in game during match upgrade system where as you gather essence you upgrade your character. For example on upgrade on Sazan means a more accurate shotgun and even dashing more frequently. The dash ability does make a difference.
We like what we see in terms of gameplay. We just hope the balancing of the characters improve. Yes we know the games new but it’s just our thoughts. In more time players will figure out the upgrade paths for all characters and we hope those are balanced too which is hard to do in games like this.
Crucible just looks like a fun game right now. Definitely different from other games right now but obviously a similar concept. The A.I enemies which makes Crucible stand out need more variety. We need more than just that big alien cow thing. We need fierce monsters the are risky too. Now Crucible may have some good stuff going on but it’s not nearly as good as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Goosebumps: Dead of Night is a new action adventure game developed and published by ‘Cosmic Forces‘. Goosebumps: Dead of Night is said to be coming out the 12th of June 2020 on the Xbox One and PC. We heard that it’s coming out also on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. Slappy is back and he’s up to no good. Let’s take a look.
In Goosebumps: Dead of Night, Slappy is back. He escaped from the pages of goosebumps. Not only that but he has brought together his crew of monsters. The goal of the player is to trap Slappy back into the goosebumps book. Slappy has a plan and is up to no good. The player must solve puzzles and thwart Slappy’s plans. Off course his monster friend aren’t going to simply let you do that.
So as you are searching fir the missing pages of the book, the monsters will be about ready to mean you harm. Expect to encounter the Annihilator 3000, graveyard ghoul, werewolf of fever swamp, lawn gnomes and murder the clown are all here and ready to roll. They will stop the player and deliver a scare while they’re at it. We honestly hope these enemies are scary though because we feel like we can punch that clown in the face and it will be over with.
We checked out some Goosebumps: Dead of Night gameplay and it’s sort of what we expected but we we believe it needs more. We get that it’s Slappy but this doesn’t seem scary in the slightest. We like that the werewolf crawls after you. We like that there are areas, in the three chapters that you play, that are recognisable, described as classic Goosebump locations. So fans of the Goosebump series will like this. It seems that the monsters function differently. The lawn gnomes seem to be more of a annoyance and distraction, running away and causing trouble while the clown and werewolf seem to come straight for you as a clear threat. This will mix things up as it should do. Simple enemies aren’t fun.
Overall Goosebumps: Dead of Night just seems like another indie game. It will be fun for some gamers as it’s quite simple, run away from enemies and search for pages, reminding some of Slender man. Youtubers will like it as it’s more fuel for views by screaming and running away. We honestly don’t see enough for this game to be a big deal for us. It just seems like simple fun and facing off against Slappy. The developers ‘Cosmic Forces’ have worked hard on this game. We at X35 Earthwalker always recognise work and effort. Some gamers will enjoy this. Now Goosebumps: Dead of Night may have Slappy but he’s a complete joke when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV is a 2D side scrolling action game that was developed and published by ‘Square Enix‘. A King’s Tale was released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. We didn’t know this game existed when it launched. We heard about it last month and decided to give it a try. It’s Final Fantasy XV after all. To put it shortly, it’s an awesome game. Let’s take a look.
The story in A King’s Tale is very simple. It’s set in Final Fantasy XV (off course) and it’s King Regis telling a bedtime story to his son prince Noctis. Off course this takes place years before Final Fantasy XV because Noctis is clearly a child and Regis is looking younger and ‘clean wid it’ (looking good). Noctis has heard all the stories in the book and wants something new. So king Regis gives him a story based on his past adventures with his friends. Noctis says it’s fin for his dad to add, exaggerate and make it up as he goes along. So ‘A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV’ is literally a tale from king Regis to his son… in the world of Final Fantasy. Plot twist!!!
First things first, the controls. A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV has simple controls… not as simple as the controls in another amazing game called Maze Time but simple still. Not only that, the game effectively explains everything and throughout the game gives you reasons why you should use them. Some games fail to do that. Everything is incredibly responsive and the invincibility frames on your roll dodge is very generous. Everything has a purpose. Now even though the controls are simple, the game mechanics are quite deep. For example there are combos you can perform which have different amounts of damage, effects and even counters. Use the first few levels to practice and try them all to see what feels good and works best. Now as an example strong slashes are great against master ronins, quick slashes work very well against goblins while shield bash is great coeurls. Use roll dodge to get out of any situation. Here’s your greatest piece of wisdom of 2020 for now from the great X35 Earthwalker… “When in doubt, just roll dodge.” You’re welcome.
So run from left to right, defeating all the enemies that come your way until you can move on. It’s like Streets of Rage as a side scrolling action game. Simple to understand. So let’s talk about the enemies. Almost all the enemies have a stronger variation of themselves that normally has an extra ability or effect. For samples you will encounter the skeletons which will always block the third attack of your combo but the master skeletons will block strong slashes and will counter quick slashes. So if you strike with a quick slash, it will parry it and then hit you back too quick to dodge. A ronin can be hit with anything but a master ronin will block quick slashes and shield bashes so strong attacks are needed. A literal upgrade of previous enemies. The Midgardsormr will pop up from underground to strike you but can be stunned with a specific strike. You have to do strong, strong then shield bash from behind it. The iron giants are big and strong but wait for them to strike, get behind them and start swinging. Even the behemoth is in A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV. These guys have a tail attack that can hit both sides if you are too close. Be careful. Goblins attack in swarms and will try to use their knives. They aren’t difficult at all as there’s many ways to deal with them. There are explosive enemies called bombs that will explode if you stand near them. If you attack them with a slash they get knocked back and grow bigger but won’t explode. If you shield bash them though, you can send them flying towards enemies so they can get blown up. Believe it or not, there are more enemies and they have their own tricks too. A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV has many enemies and variety is a good thing.
The game isn’t long at all. A skilled player can beat it within 2 hours. It was never meant to be a big game. There is some deployability though. First of all we heard there is an alternate ending to the story so players got to beat it again to get that different ending. Also there is Dream Battles. Basically Noctis dreams the story he heard but with a slight twist to it. You play each level of the game again but there is a specific mission condition you must fulfil. It could be like defeat an army of flan enemies but use no magic. It could be to beat a frenzy of enemies within a time limit. It could be to finish a whole mission without the aid of your companions. So there’s still stuff to do. Oh and speaking of companions…
Probably our favourite thing about A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV is working with your companions to defeat the enemies. There’s a whole system to it. If you get 8 hits on enemies without getting hit yourself you can call one of your companions to jump in and launch their attack. Each one is powerful and has their own use. The main man Weskham comes in with dual pistols firing at enemies in front and behind him dealing good damage. Cid jumps in and does a single powerful slash that travels across the ground with piercing effect. So line em up and ol Cid will knock them down. Clarus comes in and swings his dual blade three times damaging everything within his attacking circumference range. If you hit enemies a total of 24 times without getting hit you can use the Armiger. This ultimate attack allows Regis (the player) to use his Lucius family power of the king. He warps to an enemy, normally the one with the most health, levitates and uses four of his royal arms to smash an enemy dealing immense damage. Now listen up kids. If you use each of your companions attacks before using Armiger you, each on of them will come in and do a different more powerful focused attack on different enemies before you finish up with the royal arms. Very cool mechanic that promotes avoiding damage and playing flawlessly to get these abilities.
A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV is a deep game with it’s mechanics, enemies and the combat. We mentioned it but didn’t explain that there’s lots of combos and moves. Simply you can do 3 quick slashes, 3 strong slashes and 3 shield bashes. There’s also quick quick shield, strong strong shield and then there’s quick quick strong which launches enemies into the air where you can then launch repeated strong or quick slashes or defend with shield. You can do quick quick strong to bring your enemy down with a strong descending strike. . You can do dodge roll to jump of your enemy and them either dash straight into an enemy on the ground with a strike with a quick slash or with shield after jumping to do a descending shield ground pound attack to knock back, or use a strong slash to do a big area of effect descending smash move. There’s lots you can do. So try them all out.
Overall A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV is an awesome game. It’s short like it was suppose to be but definitely awesome. It has simple controls but the mechanics surrounding enemies and attacks are deep. The final boss battle is epic. You have lots of dangerous enemies constantly coming for you while you target and deal with the boss at the same time. It’s a hectic battle with lots of opportunities for your companion attacks and Armiger. This game is difficult though as more enemy types like the Tonberry and Cactuar come in, things can get real crazy. The developers, ‘Square Enix’ have done an awesome job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker really enjoyed playing A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV. If you haven’t played this game before, we recommend it. Now A King’s Tale might be set in the awesome world of Final Fantasy XV but even that doesn’t put it on the same level as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Little Misfortune is a interactive story game developed and published by “Killmonday Games”. Little Misfortune is said to come out today on consoles, the 29th of May 2020 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 and already out on PC. We have seen this game before but was never interested but it’s out now. Let’s take a look.
In the world of Little Misfortune, players control Misfortune Ramirez Hernandez. She is 8 years old (remember that as you play) and described as very imaginative (remember that also). Simply put Misfortune “seeks the prize of eternal happiness” as a gift for her mother. So she heads out to find it. She is joined by ‘Mr Voice’ who is basically the narrator and talks directly to Misfortune. Already we don’t trust this voice. She literally just met this voice.
Now straight from looking at Little Misfortune is suppose to be a cute game with a bit of darkness. Not everything is as nice and innocent as it seems. The decisions players make are said to have real consequences. This means players can mess up. Does this mean you can die in Little Misfortune? Also the official website says that after Misfortune Ramirez Hernandez enters the woods a “little bit of bad luck unfolds”. Not only that we heard there is a monster too. Yep mysterious things are happening here in Little Misfortune.
We checked out some Little Misfortune gameplay and it’s what we expected. There’s even a fox that we just don’t like the look off. Can you blame us? Dora the explorer had problems with a certain fox too after all. It’s a simple colourful story game. Misfortune moves alone, things happen, players make decisions and see what happens immediately and if anything happens later. It’s good to have games like this around. This game does get unpredictable-is at times and a bit dark like accidentally killing a puppy with a party hat. Players need to think carefully about decisions. It’s an adventure but since it’s an imaginative 8 year old girl, call it a story.
Overall Little Misfortune is a nice little game. The game does well to show that we are playing a 8 year old girl. She has a child’s way of talking, an obvious strong accent, doesn’t understand simple things like death, needs to be walked through most things etc. The graphic style is very good and it has lots of unpredictable stuff. We hope this game is really punishing. It’s not our kind of game but almost any type of gamer can get into this and give it a try. The developers ‘Killmonday Games’ has done a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will take a peek from time to time to see what it does.
Crucible is a new team based action shooter developed and published by ‘Amazon Games‘ and also Relentless Studios is involved. Crucible came out the 20th of May 2020 on PC. It might come out on consoles like Xbox but there has been no given date. Games like this trend to move to consoles anyways so it’s reasonable to expect a console release. Let’s take a look.
Firstly we want to say that we normally never write about games like Crucible that are currently PC only so we will keep this short but we think it’s a bad idea to make a serious team based shooter game only on PC. Even worse if you do move it to consoles imagine the huge disadvantage console players will have. They will need to separate console and pc players.
Since it’s a team based shooter, we know what to expect. Two teams with different class and types of characters with different skills working together to eliminate the other teamer some sort of objectives. We know of three game modes: ‘Alpha hunters’ which is 8 teams of 2 who straight up battle it out to be the lats team standing. ‘Harvester Command’ which two teams of eight this time and they are fighting to hold essence harvesters to be the first to get 100 points. ‘Heart of the Hives’ is the real interesting one though.
Heart of the Hives is what is getting Crucible some attention and making others say that Crucible is fresh and stands out from other team based shooters like Overwatch or Paladins. In Heart of the Hives two teams of four have to face “large, neutral bosses” in the field. The team which kills three bosses and capture their “hearts” is the winner. aWe don’t know what the hearts are. Now this isn’t too original as Halo 5 guardians has a similar thing. In Warzone mode two big teams will fight each other for points but at certain times A.I enemies and bosses will show up on the field for teams to beat to get extra points to get closer to victory. So this neutral A.I thing has been done before. Also there are small A.I enemies who inhabit bases and cause trouble. So we are glad Crucible are doing this as it’s a great idea and truly adds to the combat. Ee just hope they do it well.
Now quickly let’s discuss the hunters. Captain mendoza who is your basic good balance soldier type who has a run and gun style. He can aim, sprint, throw a grenade, so basically Viktor from paladins. The character you can easily learn and do some good ranged damage. Shakirri is your honour bound, disciplined fighter. She has two stances: pistal and sword. In pistol she off course shoots, can zoom in but in the sword stance you move faster, can send out a disruption wave to harm and disrupt enemies. She also has a force field to protect herself. There’s Tosca is a Chirt and has a bad attitude. It’s a small genius creature that has a small teleportation ability, fires a acid rounds shotgun and can through in an explosive compound (basically a grenade). Tosca also has an X-ray ability which “immediately detect all opponents within 50 meters in front of you.” There’s more like Rahi & brother, Summer, Bugg, Sazan, Drakahl, and Ajonah who’s actually cool. She’s a fish person, a Osiri to be exact and specialises in long range combat and uses traps.
Overall Crucible looks like a cool looking team shooter game. Having neutral A.I enemies is an awesome feature and we hope they are actually a challenge. We like the different character species and how different they look with their own personality traits, issues and story. Definitely liking the graphics and visuals and so far the abilities look useful and sort of balanced. The developers ‘Amazon Games’ have done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker hope Crucible comes to consoles and fast otherwise don’t bother. Now Crucible may have futuristic battles and species but even those are primitive when compared too… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Chorus is a new space combat shooter game developed and published by ‘Deep Silver Fishlabs‘. Chorus is said to be coming out in 2021 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Google Stadia and Windows PC. From what we are seeing, this is suppose to be a big deal. Let’s take a look.
In the world of Chorus players take control of basically two characters: Nara who is quite a complex character. She is an ace pilot who was Circle’s deadliest fighter. She is now their number 1 target. Circle is a cult, a bad one and the one that created Nara and made her who she is. Nara isn’t alone. She works with her starfighter, Forsaken, which is sentient by the way and has it’s own past and history. That’s like the Master chief from Halo being able to talk and communicate with his signature sniper rifle. Nara and Forsaken are out here trying to bring all resistance groups together to go against Circle and off course their leader… the ‘Great Prophet’.
Chorus is a space game so expect a whole new universe and a dark one at that. Nothing is really straight forward here. Chorus is focusing on having mystery as a strong factor in this story. There’s also tons of conflict.This can only mean one thing… combat. Spaceship combat, dogfights from “epic cosmic vistas to tight crystalline corridors.” So think about it. A whole universe where you traverse by ship and hostile beings makes Chorus a big space exploration game with serious combat. Expect to come across and search out places like space stations, distant planets, enemy fighters and according to the developers strange planes pf existence. We hope they can pull it off well.
Chorus is not just space fighting as Nara will have powers of her own. She can use telekinesis (yes please), mind bending, extra sensory perception and even teleportation. Remember the ship isn’t just a ship. Your ship can drift for that extra mobility and evasion and there are combat upgrades to get and even powerful weapons that will allow you and your ship to face superior forces in terms of size like huge battleships and even armies of enemies. The skill then comes down to knowing all your abilities and upgrades, know when to use each one and the synergy of them for the best results.
We checked out some Chorus content and from what we have seen it definitely looks split into two. A clear difference between the exploration, mystery and the fast paced action. Players will have to master the maneuverability of the ship to dodge debris or structures in space. This will have to be done also during combat too. The environment is looking cool and as strange as this is… space looks cool too. Red is quite a popular colour in Chorus and it can work. The mystery of the so called great prophet is good too but will he be a stereotypical cult leader or something special? We will have to see.
Overall Chorus looks like it’s going to be a big deal. We like the setting, the visuals and even the typical story. Not much is known about this game but it’s obvious that Xbox is proud and excited about this one. The developers ‘Deep Silver Fishlabs’ have done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker want to see a space combat game like this do well. Space games are not hard to get right but many fail at it. We hope Chorus is different. Now Chorus may have mystery, powers, and starfighters but even with those it isn’t as cool as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Streets of Rage 4 is an arcade beat em up game and off course the fourth game in the Streets of Rage series. Many have been waiting for this game. Many. X35 Earthwalker is one of them but off course the greatest and coolest of them. Things are different this time around in Streets of Rage, in multiple ways and for the better. Many have talked or reviews this game (they did alright) but remember… a game hasn’t been reviewed until X35 Earthwalker has reviewed it. Let’s take a look.
Streets of Rage stories have never been complicated. They are always straight forward and simple. In Streets of Rage 4. There’s crime in the city, an evil syndicate is behind it all and the vigilante heroes go in to stop it… beating the crap out of everyone and everything that gets in their way. Simple. This time though Mr X is not the one behind it. He’s dead. It’s his children… the Y twins! Mr and Ms Y. So this time Axel, blaze, Cherry? and Floyd? with rage in their hearts take on the streets of rage. Yep, we got new characters. Cherry hunter (if you couldn’t tell by the name) is the daughter of Adam Hunter. Floyd Iraia is the apprentice and assistant of Dr Gilbert Zan. So no Adam again?…
The rules are the same in Streets of Rage 4. Keep moving to the right and beat up all the bad guys. Reach the end of the level and face a boss. Get enough points and you earn an extra life. Each of the characters have their own stats which can be viewed in the extras menu but you must unlock it first. They each have special attacks with a few like Blaze having an additional. There’s the defensive and offensive special attack. The defensive is like a ‘get off me’ move which during you’re also invincible. Offensive is normally longer range, travels a little and does straight up damage. Each character also has an ultimate attack. These require stars to activate which don’t come easy. For example, Floyd’s ultimate is him firing huge laser like he’s Cyborg from Injustice. Cherry is the fastest of all the fighters and the only one who can sprint. Floyd is the biggest and strongest but slower than slow itself. Axel is a balanced fighter with a powerful offensive special move. Blaze is also balanced, bit weaker than axel but got an additional special attack.
Streets of Rage 4 isn’t a hard game but a fair challenge, unlike Streets of Rage 3. The difficulties are: Easy. normal, hard, hardest and Mania. Mania is as the descriptions says… unfair but it’s only for the masters of Streets of Rage 4. Familliar enemies like Galsia, donavon, yellow signal are all here and ready to fight. Matter of fact, enemies from different Streets of Rage games are all here. They come back as mini bosses, actual end of level boss or just strong enemies. Big Ben, the fat guy in red introduced in Streets of Rage 2, is back and he charges you spiting fire (somehow) just like the good ol days. Barbon who was a boss in streets of Rage 2 is back and also a boss. He still kicks hard. Garnet, the women who jump and kick you from Streets of Rage 3 are here too. The Muay Thai fighters are back too and they are worse in our opinion. There are new enemies too like Honey who we hate the most. Stupid enemies indeed. When there’s multiple of them, expect a rough time. Police officers including one with a futuristic shield called Murphy (robocop anyone?). Goro who really slows down how you play and is dangerous when more than one is present. There’s more.
The old techniques are there in Streets of Rage 4, like landing on your feet when launched or thrown. You can break grabs as well and even juggle enemies with multiple simple hits to lead up with a strong finisher. Let’s dive in a bit more concerning some enemies. Yes enemies have variations of them just like the older Streets of Rage games. Galsia is normally blue and the weakest but then you will come across a green, red and white version who have more health and more aggressive. Donavan has a green and red pants versions of them. We believe the green one is called altet, something like that. Anyways, the red ones can throw weapons at you and even catch weapons throw at them. The last version of them is called ‘z’ and they at times can have armour. Big Ben has variations. There’s Gourmand and Anry. Gourmand will always try to belly flop drop on you while Anry will roll for an attack like Sonic the hedgehog but only vertically. Watch out for these guys. These guys and others aren’t much of a problem really but it becomes a huge problem when you play in hardest difficulty. The character designs are excellent. Amazing. Majority of these characters were designed right. Their design says quite a lot about them. Our favourite enemy design is Diva, hands down. Her design from her clothes, to heels, to hair style all have character. Her movement animations is also excellent. Combine it all together and she’s tough, a boss, dangerous, sexy and got attitude. You need to beat her up first before she complies.
Our second favourite enemy design is Mr Y. This guy has evil crime lord written all over him, from the trendy stylish coat, to his hair and fighting style. He doesn’t back down, regardless and knows he’s powerful. He was meant to be a bad guy. What’s that? He wanted to be a chef, well too bad, crime is his life. He looks good for sure. Our favourite hero design probably has to be Blaze. We feel like this is the best look for her possible. She’s got her jacket back which is a good thing. They went for a beautiful, sexy design but also she would kick your butt in many ways if you even try it on her once. Now some have a problem with her design but we think those people just need to grow up. Yes her skirt is real short but for what she does it’s actually practical. Look at her fighting style over the Streets of Rage games. She kicks… a lot. She does flips and jumping kicks. Jumping was her best stat in the very first game. How are you going to jump kick effective in a long skirt, you can’t unless it has a slit going all the way up to your hip. She can kick high if she needs to and flip. Her shirt makes it possible. It rides up when she does which is very realistic. We get it, some of you dads out there thinking, “young lady, go back upstairs and change. You ain’t fighting crime dressed like that!” We understand but her outfit is good, realistic and practical. This is coming from a martial artists with over 12 years experience. We don’t like Axel’s design. He looks kind of chubby now, like his six pack formed on top of the fat. He was a martial artist so why would he let himself go. Being a wanderer and searching for direction or whatever he’s doing doesn’t mean you stop caring. Wish he was in shape like Adam. Adam looks great but we can think of better designs for him.
Next let’s talk about the music. Streets of Rage games have always been known for their music. The boss music in Streets of Rage 1 is the best. You can bop and jam to it while facing the bosses. Streets of Rage 2 had two levels that we really enjoyed the music off. Also Streets of Rage 2 also has the best character select screen music, hands down. Streets of Rage 3 was the least of all the games in our opinion. Streets of Rage 4 has real nice menu music for chilling. You can get the Streets of Rage 2 character select screen music in the settings. In Streets of Rage 4 the best stage music of them all hands down is part 1 of level 2 the Precinct. Easy. If you say no, we will give you a location, meet us there and we will fight you. We aren’t responsible for all wounds you WILL get. Back to topic. Level 1, 2, 3, 4 and part 2 of level 9 had good to very good music. The others music was alright or not impressive to us sadly. Music in Streets of Rage 4 has build up music as in the music starts with a simple or unimpressive beta but as you go through the level the music builds up and extra beats are added and then it becomes something real good. We like that style. Level three hasn’t got good music at the start but then becomes something you can jam too but if you switch retro music for that level, it’s the boat music level from Streets of Rage 2 which was excellent. Sadly the retro music is better than the modern. We wish the developers did more concerning the music. The variety is definitely there even giving a more oriental music for the china town level.
Let’s now go over what we didn’t like. We don’t like that you had to beat level 4 before you can play as Adam. Adam was missing from both Streets of Rage 2 and 3 in terms of being playable. Then now in Streets of Rage 4 we got to play a bit to get him. Speaking of characters we don’t like that you can’t play as modern Shiva. If you look at the title screen you see Estel, Diva and Shiva on the front screen like they are a part of the cast. They have good looking character designs with their own moves but not unlockable. Maybe they plan to bring them in as DLC but if they at the front then either they are significant or playable. Simple. You might say they are there because they are bosses. Good point but Barbon, Nora, commissioner, DJ K Washi etc aren’t on the front. So yeah it’s not consistent. What we don’t like is hw the biker girls like Honey and the Muay Thai fighters have almost instant reflex hitting moves that can even joggle making certain sections practically unfair. The biker girls slide attack still hits you diagonally and forces you to save yourself by using special moves which drain your health and leave you in a bad state. What’s also disappointing is that besides the first thing levels like 1,2,3,4 the rest of the music isn’t great and the retro audio options aren’t good either. We was expecting the greatest Streets of Rage music of all time. Didn’t happen. The striking window or time for enemies to hit you remains the same regardless of difficulty.
The trick to handling Barbon isn’t clear like the other bosses. When he does his repeated roundhouse 360 kicks you are suppose to jump but it doesn’t look like that’s possible so you don’t try that. Especially someone like mFloyd who can’t jump high at all (sucker has 10cm vertical leap) the kick visually goes through his body but doesn’t hit. Also having the biker girls come out to join Barbon because you smash the bikes isn’t good either as you want the items but when you smash the bikes they come out. If you aren’t careful you will end up fighting Barbon and 6 biker girls at the same time. Adam had practically no relevance in the story besides his reveal which again is just bad. For some reasons Streets of Rage 4 on Xbox One has a shorter combo window than others. We watched some people including CoryxKenshin play Streets of Rage 4 (video below, watch when he hits the car) and we noticed that when they finished fighting someone their combo number in the top left hand corner stays for much longer, flashes and then shrinks showing it’s going to reset soon. That doesn’t happen on our Xbox One version. It resets so fast. Also when you hit the car in stage 1 that counts as hits and raises your combo counter. It doesn’t do that for us. Also if you hit cones, bins, water machines, whatever destructible which normally hide food or whatever under it, it also counts as a hit and even eating the food prevents the combo from ending. This allows you too easily get crazy combos. Very unfair. Where’s the section that allows us to play music from the game? They should have had that.
Let’s finish with more good stuff. What’s cool is that the levels and dialogue make it clear that the Y twins respected their dad. Family love. We like how each characters special attacks are so different from each other. Floyd being technology and pure force, Axel having fire as usual, Cherry having abilities linked to her guitar and music, Blaze having what looks like energy and off course Adam looking like green flames with dragon shapes at least for the offensive special move. The effects look excellent. We like the additional information and stuff you unlock in the extras menu. Those are actually interesting stuff. The ultimates look fantastic and make you want to use them a lot but sadly you get punished for using them by getting a lower score as you get 500 points for each star you hold on to at the end of the level.The fact that you can play as one of the characters from the previous Streets of Rage games is a big brain move. You can literally go through the whole game a streets of rage 1 Axel. That’s big. Players off course loved that they did this. The story is simple and easy to go with including cinematic scenes. It makes sense and you just roll with it. We also truly enjoyed that there are hidden levels where you face old bosses from past Streets of Rage games like Jack and even Mr X. It’s like a blast from the past. See clip below for an example alone with X35 Earthwalker getting an out of this world combo.
Overall Streets of Rage 4 is an excellent game. It’s awesome. We are having so much fun playing it. We have beaten the game multiple times. Gotten the perfect and out of this world combo achievements. We still have quite a bit more stuff to do. Even mania difficulty can’t stop us. If you are a fan of Streets of Rage or new to the series you will most likely enjoy this game. We haven’t tried the multiplayer but it’s clear. Either play online and go through levels with others or battle against over players online in battle mode to see who has more rage in their heart. The developers have done an excellent job but there is room for more. We suggest you get Streets of Rage 4 besides it’s not even expensive like £21. Off course we don’t go over everything but the main stuff. Now Streets of Rage 4 may have great designs, music and animations but those would have been much better if they done… the ‘Earth Walk!’
