Rage 2 is a new action first person shooter developed by ‘Avalanche studios‘ and ‘Id Software‘. It is coming out the 15th May on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. This game is suppose to be bigger, more action and more rage than before. Let’s take a look.
There is quite a bit of information on Rage 2. Rage 2 is set in the year 2165. So basically 30 years later from the first Rage game. There has been some positive changes to the world as humanity has found a way to change parts of the wasteland into tundras, jungles and even wetlands; however the ways and mindset of the people haven’t changed. Gangs now want control of these areas for their resources.
The authority is back in Rage 2. Just a reminder, they are the main enemy of the previous Rage game. They have a much higher level of technology than the other factions so they are more dominate than them and are a bigger threat. For example the Authority’s troops have personal energy shields and also recharging stations. The authority is fighting everyone and anyone who doesn’t agree with them or gets in their way.
The players take control of Walker, who is one of the last rangers. The rangers used nanotrite technology to enhance their abilities and weapons. The Rangers were destroyed by the authority. Off course Walker wants revenge. Players will face factions like bandits, mutants and even monsters who have no problems killing.
You won’t fight like a normal person as there is a nice variety of weapons that can be upgraded. Use nanotrites to trigger and use powerful abilities. There’s also the Overdrive which basically forces your weapons past their mechanical limits. These will be useful as the enemies vary in size too.
Vehicles are off course available in Rage 2. The official website claims that “If you see it, you can drive it.” So whatever wasteland looking vehicles you coke across is useable. We hope that’s true. Players can expect gyrocopters and off course monster trucks.
We must remember that Rage 2 is also an open world game. There is going to be a lot of areas, territories, battles, different environments and things to do. There is racing too. Not Crash Team Racing but explosive and dangerous. There are some crazy brutal events like Mutant bash TV. Explore cities where activities and life is happening.
We checked out some Rage 2 gameplay and things don’t look as crazy and rage filled as we expected. It’s definitely wild and running over mutants with a monster truck can be fun (from personal experience). The gameplay is definitely action packed but what is quite concerning is that the Rage 2 world looks like the typical open world game. The question is what makes Rage 2 different from other open world games.
Overall Rage 2 does look like a good game. They have lots of room to get creative and we hope to see more creativity. Will the enemy factions fight each other and if yes, will we see it? There’s a lot to say. The graphics are looking very good and the sounds go well. The area design is okay. We hope the tundra and jungles truly stand out. Now Avalanche studios and Id software did a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will just keep an ear out for Rage 2. It’s currently not our thing. Now Rage 2 may have faction wars but their wars are puny when compared to the size of… the ‘Earth Walk!’
The Division 2 is a new action shooter open world game developed by ‘Massive Entertainment‘ and published by ‘Ubisoft‘. The Division 2 is coming out the 15th of March 2019 on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. The Division 2 is going to need something big in this game to have a stand amongst the other games coming out. Let’s take a look.
So what’s the story? Basically Washington D.C is in trouble (again). A whole lot of instability and that goes very well with lawlessness. This creates lots of chaos. So Washington D.C just might collapse. Even worse and adding to the chaos is that some say a coup will take place. A situation this big and serious requires every division agent on the scene. Time to save the capital.
In the Division 2, Players take the role of a Division member. The Division is a group of civil agents. They are an elite group and they are the last line of defence when everything else goes wrong or fails.
The Division 2 will be quite different from the previous release as this game’s Washington D.C is suppose to be the representation of the real city. The Division 2 aims to be as authentic as possible. So when moving around in the city, players can actually go see views of actual neighbourhoods, landmarks, natural landscapes and off course enemy hideouts. So be a tourist and go look around.
Also players need to watch out for Dark zones. Basically almost anything can happen here. What are dark zone? Go do the research yourself you lazy- what we meant to say is, Dark zones are areas that haven’t been touched for months. It’s a dangerous walled of section. If you go inside, expect enemies in the form of enemy players and even the environment itself. So are you sure you want to go in? Think about it.
Also within Washington are warring factions. There are three. The Hyenas, True sons and Outcasts. The Hyenas are basically scavenger scum. They steal whatever they can and destroy everything else. They target struggling civilian encampments and use violence and intimidation to have their way. Opportunists but of the worse kind. They have a council for leadership made up of the strongest leaders. One thing to note is that they aren’t that organised.
The True sons are a very militant group. They are a bunch paramilitary warlords, experienced fighters who rely heavily on their high amounts of firepower. They continue to expand and dominate. their leader is a former JTF officer who thanks to his combat expertise and ruthlessness have made the true sons a force to be feared and taken seriously. They are very organised and smart. Take note that since they are ruthless, they might be easier to bait.
The Outcasts are the bitter survivors of a forced quarantine. They hate you, your mother and everyone else. They are all about revenge against society who didn’t help them and those who imprisoned them in the first place. Their leader is all about blood shedding, very charismatic and pushes her followers to bring justice to the guilty ones. They also like to kill indiscriminately and spread sickness, so probably biochemical weapons.
So yeah, players will have to face these three factions. So you need to be prepared. Division 2 claims to offer fully customisable gear. There will be a variety of armour, cosmetics that can be found, exotic items that are only for high level players, just like in Destiny 2, more gear sets and lots of weapons. Further expansion of abilities and equipment basically at endgame.
You can customise the abilities and equipment that you bring on your missions. Think carefully about what you use and what you depend on in situations. You can use the Hive which can be used to release small drones that will attack enemies within an area. There’s also the assault drone which can be controlled remotely to target and bring destruction on enemies. Seeker mines are basically mobile mines that chases enemies down within a range. The chem launcher can fire different types of rounds from acid and explosive to repairing nano bots.
We did mention above that you can face enemy players in dark zones. There are also modes for PvP action like Skirmish which is basically death battle and Domination which is more objective based and capturing areas.
We checked out some gameplay and so far things look much better than the previous release. The animations are very good. The graphics look very good. The sounds seem good too. It does seem slower in pace than Call of Duty. A nice variety of weapons. The rewards you earn in multiplayer can be used in the main campaign. The health seems fair for now but when you play it, it may be a different story.
Overall The Division 2 so far seems like a very good game right now. The story is like that from a movie. Since it’s open world we can expect lots of quests which we hope aren’t mandatory. Open worlds aren’t easy to get right but we won’t say more. The developers ‘Massive Entertainment’ have so far done a good job. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t looking forward to the Division 2 as it hasn’t got anything that attracts us. We will keep an eye on it though. Now the Division 2 may have stepped up their game but they are still nowhere near the level of… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Phoenix Point is a new turn based strategy game being developed by ‘Snapshot Games‘. It is coming out in June 2019 on the Xbox One and PC. Phoenix Point is being developed by not just any group but by the original creator of XCOM. So we just have to check this out. Let’s take this out.
The story in Phoenix Point is sort of complex but we like how they are doing it. Listen carefully. An unusual virus was discovered. Discovered in melting permafrost. It’s described to have a very large genome. The weird part is that only 1% of it’s genes match anything in existing databases. Basically 99% of this virus is completely knew stuff to humanity. Once again humans never learn. If you find something that’s clearly alien, then have nothing to do with it. Destroy it!
Later within the 10 years, after research and all that good experimenting that scientists love to do, the seas transform into something living… something not natural… something “totally alien”. Now aliens called mutagens started invading the land through the means of an airborne microbial mist. These aliens definitely aren’t friendly (when are they ever friendly). They are hostile and must be handled. Now if the Earthwalkers were there, we would handle the situation easily within some hours.
Since the original creator of XCOM is behind Phoenix Point, we know that the tactical side is going to be real deep. Matter of fact we are expecting more than what’s in XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. We even want it to be complicated and have many layers that clearly separates those who have deep skill and those who are beginners. For starters players will be controlling different soldiers, taking turns, hiding in cover, taking shots, blowing away cover and all that good stuff but there’s more.
In Phoenix Point, players will be using the Geoscape. The Geoscape is what we use for a strategic view of the world and the different situations going on. It’s also from this that you make your plans and decisions. So research, operations, missions and construction is done from here. As you play make sure to search and make contact with scavenging sites for resources and new things, phoenix project sites for the real good stuff and havens where surely more humans are located and possibly some soldiers.
Let’s focus on more things that stand out. Your soldiers will have endurance and willpower. Will power points are used for heavy physical or mental exertion, meaning that pushing your soldiers too hard will have consequences. You can also use will power points to activate special abilities. This means there are now more stats and resources for players to manage in Phoenix Point. Also there will be times where your soldiers will not go out alone. They may be joined by drones, both aerial and land based. These will make a difference on the field.
The soldiers in Phoenix Point have deeper mechanics going on. Your soldiers do gain experience during missions and combat. They also gain experience through certain facilities like in XCOM. They gain skill knowledge through interactions with the other human factions like alliances, trading and even conflict. There are skill trees that affect and cover a large amount of stuff in this game. So think careful about your soldier development.
There’s now more equipment and weapons than before. They are based on different technology so don’t expect the same old research. Some of the stuff you develop will be based of old stuff while others will be brand new stuff while some will be alien in nature. In this war, nothing seems to be off limits. As expected you can develop and combine technology through your own research. Who doesn’t want a shoulder mounted missile launcher. Also each human faction has their own technology as well which you can get from them through trading (the nice way) or conflict (the mean way).
Now let’s talk about the enemies in Phoenix Point. The Pandoravirus has the ability to mutate living forms. This means sea creatures will get some alien upgrades and come for us. The Pandoravirus can incorporate DNA from multiple species and clone them at a fast rate too. This means expect more enemies than naturally would be in the sea if they are left alone. The aliens will mutate into new forms depending on the tactics you are using. So some enemies won’t be simple melee anymore since you keep your distance, meaning you will then face ones with ranged attacks, increased defence etc. So combat will be different and dangerous each time. Phoenix point also has a procedural generation system for the aliens meaning, players must expect a whole lot of different surprises and situations up ahead on the battle field.
There’s more. Players can expect to face bosses in Phoenix Point. These huge bosses are completely new. They have multiple abilities. Expect multiple defensive abilities and offensive ones. Some can generate mist and some can even spawn larvae, which off course means more enemies. This is also where the body part targeting system really comes into play. Players can target a specific limb to disable a certain weapon or reduce their combat effectiveness or for whatever reason. Strategic is just as needed when it comes to the bosses too.
We checked out some early gameplay and it’s looking good so far. From the Geoscape you can monitor the thick microbial mist’s approach from the sea indicating where the alien activity threats will come to. The Alien crabman, mindfragger and mist sentinel are definitely new and interesting enemies. Watch out for those grenades. Almost everything is destructible. So blow up the buildings, structures and more to bring your enemies down. This applies to your soldiers too so be careful where you hide. There’s obviously a lot more to come and that’s good to know.
Overall Phoenix Point is looking real good right now. From the early gameplay alone, the graphics look very good for what it is. The sounds need some work but again it’s the early build. The monsters we hope get more detail and have more clear variety between them. The developers ‘Snapshot Games’ have done a very good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing Phoenix Point come out. We have very high but reasonable expectations as fans of the XCOM and XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. Now Phoenix Point may have lots of strategy but it’s completely simple and basic when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Shovel Knight: King of Cards is a new action adventure platformer game developed by ‘Yacht Club Games‘. It is coming out the 9th of April 2019 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS Vita, 3DS and PC. This is the final campaign in the Shovel Knight: treasure trove saga. Let’s take a look.
Some gamers should know what Shovel Knight is about by now. You run around, collect treasure and attack with shovels but there is some changes here. In Shovel Knight: King of Cards Players control King knight. Now king knight has a different fighting style so he isn’t a clone or skin character. Basically king knight is on a journey to take on and best the current three kings who rule over the land. This isn’t a simple walk up the road as king knight will need to make his way through 4 new worlds. There are more than 30 courses too. Players better be prepared.
King knight has a signature bash attack for destroying his enemies and a spinning strike. King knight is definitely a physical fighter. Shovel Knight: King of Cards has lots of in-game stuff. There are lots of abilities, weapons, followers and armours for players to find, collect and use to your advantage and become a powerful ruler. What else is new? Shovel Knight: King of Cards has card battles (big surprise) which are not physical battles but more mental ones. Players have to be strategic and clever to defeat their opponents and come our victorious. There are challenge stages, only for those who want to push themselves. There are challenges that let you take on the bosses again in a rematch. There are also platforming challenges too.
Shovel Knight: King of Cards is taking the retro approach. As you can see, the graphics are 8-bit style which we are sure older fans would definitely appreciate. Gamers aren’t done yet as there is a new game+ mode. This will give the players new challenges and there are more secrets in the world. So those who like to complete and get 100% will need to beat Shovel Knight: King of Cards twice. There isn’t really much we can say about Shovel Knight: King of Cards. It’s a shovel knights game, you are either a fan or not.
We checked out some Shovel Knight: King of Cards gameplay and it does look retro but definitely advanced. The music is very good and fits what’s happening on the screen. The graphics are definitely 8 bit styled and looks good. Controls seem simple and the action is simple too. Jump on enemies to destroy them. Spin and jump to destroy projectiles, bash through blocks, take on other knights and explore these worlds. There are hidden areas, hidden behind breakable walls. Some areas can only be reached by timing your jumps on projectiles to reach the higher area.
Overall Shovel Knight: King of Cards looks like a good game filled with action. There is some replay value and things look good. The developers ‘Yacht Club Games’ did a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are not looking forward to Shovel Knight: King of Cards simply because like the previous Shovel Knight games, it has shown or got anything that makes us want to play it. Just seems like another good action platformer but nothing special. This one is a good game though. Now Shovel Knight: King of Cards may have the king knight but that king is a peasant when compared too… the ‘Earthwalk!’
Terraria is a very good action adventure sandbox game. When you play the game you see how different and bigger it is compared to Minecraft. Terraria certainly stands out when it comes to the bosses. Many struggled and didn’t even know how to beat them. It took planning, resources and exploration in order to be ready to face them. So you’ve beaten everyone and feel like the ruler of Terraria. So you are finally finished right? Wrong! There is expert mode. Here’s where things get interesting.
To make things simple, expert mode is basically just like the normal mode. You find resources and things the same way and even craft the same way. The only real difference is the enemies. All the enemies are stronger as in they have increased health and deal more damage than ever before. This isn’t a joke. Pretty much every player was caught off guard with how much stronger they were. From when you start the game, a slime is very capable of killing you by itself. A slime! We aren’t joking. Oh and you better make sure you have some shelter before the night comes otherwise you will die guaranteed. The zombies cannot be held back for long with your short copper sword. The knock back isn’t enough and they will get through. Scary? Probably.
The main attraction is the bosses. You thought you handled them in normal mode. You thought you owned them and told them they were trash. How silly of you players. Did you really think you can beat them and be done with them? They are back and expert mode for most of them has not just given them increased health and damage (big increase) but also given them new attacks or abilities. This meant a number of players had to switch up their strategies.
For example King slime is considered the easiest boss in the game but not always the first boss you meet. King slime still hops around in expert difficulty but not comes with an army of slimes to fight alongside it. So expect purple, green, blue and even pinky slimes to keep raining down and getting in your way. King slime will summon blue slimes thats have spikes who are more dangerous than regular ones. King slime can also teleport in expert difficulty! So trapping it behind some walls and leaving a gap for easy arrow shots won’t work. It will appear on top of you dealing heavier damage. No where is safe. Eye of Cthulhu is perfectly the same except that it’s second form has taken some steroid because it now launches at lighting speed trying to ram the players. You will need speed to stay away. Just run in a straight line and it misses all the time. Just keep calm and don’t panic.
The brain of Cthulhu is a mean one, simply because it’s second form as it chases you it creates three other mirror images of the brain which become more visible as it loses health. Also expect more negative status effects. If you focus you can tell which brain is the real one and use long ranged weapons. High knock back weapons do help. The Eater of worlds is the same in expert difficulty except for the fact that it periodically shoots vile spit from it’s body. Those vile spits can give you the weak debuff. We suggest fighting this boss on it’s home turf as they are more narrow so chance of getting hit with a vile spit is so low. Use weapons that pierce through enemies. The Queen Bee, the real one, not some singer is much more different in expert difficulty than others. The Queen Bee’s fires stingers quite rapidly with near perfect aim, can summon bigger than normal bees to attack you and as she loses health, she performs all her attacks much faster. The ram attacks are deadly at this point. Use the honey at the bottom to regenerate health faster and remember that she can be poisoned.
The wall of flesh is basically the same, still moving towards you and allowing no escape. On expert difficulty the Hungry that you fight and shoot will respawn as long as the wall of flesh is alive and the leeches that it releases are more annoying and have a lower chance of dropping hearts. Be ware in expert mode the wall when below 500 hp can move at 50mph! This faster than the Hermes and lightning boots. So make sure you are far enough before getting it too low. Some say use a mine cart but we did it and others have without a mine cart. Piercing weapons work very well. The hell wing bow with jester arrows helped us out quite a lot. Also aim for the eye instead of the mouthing you can as the eye has less defence, so you’ll deal more damage.
Now for the dreadful part. The three mechanical bosses: The Destroyer, The Twins and Skeletron prime. These three rule the night and strike fear in the hearts of even the seasoned Terraria players. Like with the other bosses, they have increased health and really increased damage. Aim for the destroyer first. Functions the same way in expert difficulty. The only difference we noticed is that it’s head deals insane amounts of damage. If not prepared it can deal over 200 hp worth of damage in a single blow. Use your mini map to see where and when it’s coming for you to dodge. Have a camp fire, heart lantern and even a small pool of honey for maximum health regeneration (use a regeneration potion too). We beat the Destroyer in expert difficulty by fighting in a box that’s above the ground. The walls protected us from probe attacks until they come within our melee range.
The Twins are a problem indeed. Yes we know their names are: Spazmatism (fire one) and Retinazer (laser one). We will call them fire and laser. In expert difficulty both fire and laser got a tune up. Fire charges much faster and further than before. Seriously it will surprise you. Also the cursed inferno debuff lasts twice as long on players. Laser fires faster and also charges further. Aim and take out Fire first. It’s capable of the most damage. Stay at mid range minimum and never get close because it’s flame thrower attack can easily end the fight thanks to it’s crazy damage. Laser isn’t really a problem. We even ended up taking very little damage from it when you have good armour like hallowed or frost. We used our Sky minerail to have the speed advantage and keep the distance but don’t travel to fast as it may despawn. Ranged weapons are a must and use the golden shower of ichor flasks to inflict the ichor debuff which lowers their defence by 20. Matter of fact, the Twins are susceptible to all the debuts except confuse. So stack up the burning, cursed flames, shadow flames, frost burns and whatever you like.
Skeletron prime felt exactly the same. Off course in expert difficulty it gets increased health and damage but other from that, it felt the same. Fight on platforms as the bombs it launches explode on solid surfaces. With some practice and good observations you can jump and avoid the attacking limbs with medium difficulty. The laser is something we like to aim for and destroy first as thats the annoying limb. If you destroy the laser and the two melee limbs then the rest of the fight is a joke. Skeletron Prime is susceptible to frost burn so using the frost armour can really help. We again used our Sky minerail against this boss, hopping in our carts to dodge the melee limbs if possible. Yoyos are very good for sawing away at Skeletron prime’s head while spinning as it moves slowly making it a easy target. Make sure to apply the ichor debuff at all times.
Off course this isn’t all the bosses. We know all about the golem, plantera, duke fisheron and more. Plantera definitely got a new engine in expert difficulty but we will save those guys for another time. We’ve seen many struggle and get destroyed by these bosses so don’t listen to those foolish people who say everything is easy and that you need to get good. They are hard but definitely beatable. First focus on your battle ground and set it up to give you as many advantages as possible. Regenerative things, space to move around if serious evasion is needed and off course equip the right items and increase your defence as much as possible. Always have your potions ready. For expert difficulty have the iron skin, endurance, regeneration and thorn potions as they are a must. open some time fishing to get the ingredients to build more powerful potions like life force which increases your maximum health, summon which increases the amount of minions you can have fight with you, wrath and rage which respectively increases your damage and critical hit chance by 10%.
Expert mode is no joke but we are confident you can beat the bosses. If you want to see some epic Terraria gaming action then make sure to follow our YouTube channel and Livestream channel on Mixer. So to all the Terraria players, do your best and keep trying. Now Terraria may have large and powerful bosses that got even stronger in expert difficulty but even if all of them worked together, they are no match for… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Hive Jump is the new action platformer developed by ‘Graphite Lab‘. It is coming out the 11th of January on the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch but already out on the PC. It seems like it’s about running around and blowing up aliens. Sounds fun. Let’s take a look.
The story in the world of Hive Jump is a typical one. Basically it’s set in the 24 century. Humanity is in a serious battle against a hostile alien race called Ordovicians. As usual, the aliens are in big numbers. Matter of fact, humanity is outnumbered, a million to one. It’s clearly a one sided battle and the aliens don’t want to share the galaxy with humanity (We wonder why). The J.U.M.P corps is here to fight back against the aliens and bring victory.
Players control the, Jumpers, who’s mission is straightforward. Beat the aliens, hive by hive and planet by planet. Now straight up Hive Jump makes it clear that it’s all about multiplayer. That’s right, you can play local multiplayer with your friends in Hive Jump. It’s four players. We love to see games do this. We need games like this that gives you the option to just play with family or who else is around (More fun than angry online players).
Since the emphasis of the Hive Jump is on multiplayer know that if you do play with friends, one of you is the team leader and therefore carry the Transponder backpack. This pack is very important. Basically that backpack allows your command ship to send “soldiers and supplies” to your location. We assume it means that as long as you have the packsack, your team can respawn. If the leader dies then the backpack is just sitting there and can be destroyed. Don’t let that happen (and tell your leader to stop being a noob).
Your standard Jumper comes armed and ready Hive Jump. As we already made clear, the leader has the Transponder backpack. All soldiers have a multi-gun which has it’s standard fire but can be modified and switched up to be a rocket launcher and even a flamethrower. It does get crazier though. The Jumper alien infiltration suit offers some good protection as attacks get deflected but only for a while. The suit can be repaired but the means to be able to do that can be found deep in the Hives. Also your suit has a limited blast jetpack to give you a boost in the air. Lastly there are grenades (who doesn’t want grenades against aliens?). These grenades deal big damage to enemies but also have a special function like the explosives in Aliens Trilogy. They can destroy weaker walls which have treasures, goodies and hidden areas. Keep your eyes open.
There is a wide range of location for players to be fighting in. The Hives are different and look different but there are also different biomes too. You say biomes, we say Terraria. There is the volcanic wasteland which is where the aliens use the temperature to quickly hatch their eggs from the cold storage. The mushroom forests is basically the giant food store as the Ordovicians eat fungus. The crystal caverns is where the aliens produce and get their power source for their interstellar travels. The frozen underground acts as the cold storage room for the unhatched alien eggs. It’s clear that the aliens here in Hive Jump are quite organised.
The aliens themselves, the Ordovicians, are numerous as they are dangerous. Clearly hostile and will stop at nothing to stop you from completing your mission. They will hunt you and your transponder backpack throughout the hives and they can get to you no matter where you are. The aliens have four classes. They are: minor, mini, major and elite. These aliens get stronger and more powerful as you progress. So players need to keep getting better and more prepared.
Lastly the planetary campaign is not so straight forward and more strategic. In order to win you must manage carefully the amount of jumpers you have and alien goo. The alien goo is the resource you use to build fortifications, request jumper reinforcements, get new weapons and off course upgrades. When you look at the map, m you will see three things, alien hives which are orange, human bases which are cyan (light blue) and grey which is a free space for either a human or alien base. If you destroy a hive then you “jump” there and start a human base which brings in more resources and a random one time use bonus ability. These abilities are strong and must be used wisely. After a successful jump (destroying a hive), the aliens then have their turn and they could expand, buff up their defences or even come attack you!
We checked out some gameplay and the action looks good. Each Jumper in, Hive Jump, can equip only one utility at a time. So expect a utility to grant shields another to allow quick teleportation while another boosts fire power or even your mobility. The Hives are procedurally generated (random). The A.I has been classed as intelligent and challenging (we will be the judge of that). You can also get your hands on experimental weapons and explosive. So getting those resources and research is very important. There is permadeath simply because if you lose your bases then it’s all over and also if your Transponder backpack gets destroyed then you definitely lose as you can’t call in any more soldiers.
Overall, Hive Jump looks like a real cool game. It looks like it’s a difficult game as the aliens are many, the deaths are high and there are also traps for players to match out for. The big boss enemies look like big battles and requires a learning of patterns probably. The developers ‘Graphite lab’ have done a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing what others will think of this. It does look fun. Now the Jumpers may have technology and a big mission but those things are tiny when compared to… there ‘Earth Walk!’
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Feuled is the new remake of Crash Team Racing, developed by ‘Beenox‘ and published by ‘Activision‘. It is coming out the 21st of June 2019 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. This is the game that many PlayStation 1 gamers loved back in the day. So you know that this remake has really high expectations. Let’s take a look.
Crash Team racing was according to X35 Earthwalker, the one true Earthwalker by the way, was the best racing game. We haven’t played a better racing game. It was fast, fun, colourful, great variety of tracks, useful and fair weapons and challenging. Be honest, most of you didn’t even beat Nitros Oxide in time trial on ever track but X35 Earthwalker did it. Crash Team Racing was game that even families played together. Players who were masters at the game would always be ahead of the other racers but less skilled players stood a chance thanks to the weapons. Nothing is worse than getting hit by three homing rockets in a row, bouncing for an eternity.
So remaking a game like this and claiming it will have the “authentic CTR experience” is a big order to fill. Fans like us remember everything about this game from the tracks and characters to how the power sliding felt. So we will be watching. So don’t mess up. Crash team racing wasn’t perfect though. We felt that the stats of car types didn’t matter. We could out speed high speed characters like Tiny Tiger with handling cars like Polar. We hope that Crash Team Racing Nitro-Feuled makes the stats matter. That faster cars actually feel faster but not too much faster to the point where everyone only picks the fast cars.
What we do know about Crash Team Racing Nitro-Feuled is that the developers claimed that it will have “the original game modes, characters, tracks, power-ups, weapons and controls.” This is good to hear. Let’s go through this one by one. Game modes: That means there will be a story mode filled with races, CTR challenges, boss races, time trials for relics and gem cups. Characters: So Polar, Crash (off course), Tiny and the others are here… but what about the unlockable characters like Papa Papu? We do know that you can play Ripper Too though so many it’s the same for the others. Tracks: Crash Team Racing had some memorable and awesome tracks. We especially liked the tracks in the Nitro cup, the more difficult ones.
Power ups: Well the only thing that really counts as a power up is getting 10 wumpa fruits which then increases your speed and upgrades the items you get. Weapons: They can save your life or ruin it. Players of different skill can all compete in this game thanks to these things. Potions and ant crates for those in the lead, while missiles and a lighting orb for those in the back. Don’t forget about Aku Aku and Uka Uka. We hope they still have their signature music. Controls: The controls had a specific feel. The power sliding was different depending on the kart type. You can feel a resistance as you try to pull around that corner. It’s something you have to feel.
Now what’s different? We we do know that there will be more karts than before. There will also be more tracks than before too which is sort of exciting. There will be online racing too, so if you are good enough then you can literally trash (or crash) the competition. There will also be leaderboards too which off course doesn’t prove anything but adds to the competition. What’s also different is that characters aren’t stuck to one kart. Players can select a character and then select the kart that they want. This is a good change. Also it looks like players who are left bouncing from a weapon like a missile have an opportunity to get a boost as soon as they finish bouncing which is excellent and we hope the timing for such a boost is a small gap giving an advantage to players who practice it.
We checked out some gameplay and we can say that we are happy with what we saw. The levels look the same but off course remastered. Papu Papu pyramid looks wonderful and more greener greenery (yes, we said that). There is still some stuff we are wondering about but as we get closer to the release date, those things should get answered We are happy to see that split screen is back too as that was how we could play with out family to settle who was the best. This means gather your friends, bring out the cola, juice, water and let the fun begin. Trash talk is encouraged!
Overall, Crash Team Racing Nitro-fueled looks real good so far. Graphics are very good and the sounds seem okay for now. The characters look good, more cartoony and Polar has gotten so much fluffier (probably used a hair dryer). The developers ‘Beenox’ have done a wonderfully good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker are off course keeping an eye on this game. Now Crash Team Racing Nitro-fueled may have some hype but nothing is more hyped than… the ‘Earth Walk!’
2018 has been a good year for X35 Earthwalker. Lots of stuff has happened. We have grown and will continue to do so. We hope that you all had a good year too. If your year was good then please keep it up and do even better. If your year wasn’t so good then don’t be discouraged, pick yourself up, encourage yourself and go make something happen. Now let’s think about a few things.
What you don’t want to do is just go through 2019 doing the exact same thing you did in 2018. We need to progress, we need to grow and develop. Anyone who is serious about what they do or who are going somewhere in life they are never satisfied with what they have done. This is because they think about what they have done, see how they could have done better and see what more they could do. It’s not about being a workaholic or depressed. So all of us must stop, look at our 2018, learn from it and then leave it behind and enter 2019 pumped up and ready, expecting great things.
Now there are more simple but important things for us to think about. Once again, sensible gaming. Video gaming is a ton of fun and a great hobby but like with anything else, too much of it is bad for you. Don’t be the person who hardly spends time with their family because you are in your room all day playing games. Make sure to be active, get up, go to the park or a walk, move around and get good exercise. Believe us, when Halo Infinite comes out we will be playing that for a very long time but even so we set ourselves limits. You have one body, so take care of it. Spend some time with your families, have fun and stay active.
Now we will encourage you to think about some other stuff too. Think about your life, your actions, your words and your thoughts. What does your actions say about you? Were your actions mainly good or bad? Think about your words. Words are powerful. Once you release a word, you can’t take it back and that word takes action. If people could see your thoughts, what would they say and think about you. How have you impacted others in 2018? Was it positive, was it for self gain or was it hateful speech through a game microphone? We must aim to also improve ourselves.
We also encourage you to thin about the bigger picture. Stop and think about your purpose. Off course we know video games are fictional but what about real life. Remember that a hammer didn’t give itself it’s purpose. The hammer got it’s purpose from the one who created the hammer. The person who created the hammer, created the hammer to fulfil a purpose. Yes, we know this is all deep stuff but it’s something to think about. We don’t create our own purpose because we didn’t create ourselves. If you have any questions or want to discuss these things then feel free to contact us through our social media accounts. We love to talk about this stuff and give the answers.
So to sum up: enjoy your games, stay active, game sensibly, think about 2018, learn from it and then leave it in the past, get pumped for 2019, do even better than you did before, think about your life, stay positive and off course do… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Ultimate Doom is one of those games that has it’s place in gaming history. Many gamers know about Ultimate Doom and what it’s about. If you don’t know then you are most likely one of the newer gamers. In Ultimate Doom you run around, kill demons, open doors, kill demons, find keys, kill demons, find new weapons, kill demons and get to the next level, while killing demons. Understand yet?
Players control a character called Doom Guy who later go on to learn that he’s called the Slayer (We wonder why). You start the game with a pistol which was typical of first person shooter games back then. Your first enemies where zombie men who were weak and never a problem. Ultimate Doom goes easy on you for the first level but does a good job at showing players what this whole game is about. You move fast, enemies tend to always be in groups, you must find items and ammo and there are secrets in the levels. Finding the secret location in the first level will reward you with a rocket launcher. Many players have accidentally killed themselves with the rocket launcher (admit it, don’t be ashamed).
Eventually everything goes from “hey not too rough” to “hurt me plenty” real quick. Before you know it the levels feel like “Ultra-violence”. Why? Because there are so many enemies, traps that can result in your death, many secrets you missed and a whole abundance of projectiles coming straight at your face (can’t you sit still in your seat?). So how do you survive? It’s easy… keep moving and move fast! In Ultimate Doom, Doom Guy (you) have unlimited stamina and run really fast. You can even outrun your own rockets. Move around, aim well and take them all down before they get you, then find those medkits and stay topped up.
Many players including us enjoyed this. There were a variety of weapons. many levels, many different vicious enemies, surprises in each level and things got harder as you progressed. There was lots of colours, dead things everywhere and hazards. X35 Earthwalker, the legendary soldier himself played this game when he was very young. This game was fun. We remember getting the shotgun for the first time and really started dropping those enemies easy. The imps didn’t phase us at all as they were easier to deal with in most situations. We had to dodge those fire balls they threw. Maybe… just maybe… we leaned to get out of the way… sometimes… maybe. It wasn’t long before we ran into the stronger pinky demons who forced you to back off as they just rushed you down but with diagonal movement until they were near you. The zombie men with shotguns was the biggest threat at that point as they had good accuracy and their shots did big damage as a shotgun should. It gets worse.
By the way we played Ultimate Doom through the game Doom 3 resurrection of evil as Ultimate Doom, DOOM 2 and the master levels were free features. Levels required you to search them completely to find keys, areas, switches and more to make your way through them. Some rooms had traps; for example, you enter a room and see the blue key you need. You grab it and then you hear many enemies. You then realised that a wall had opened up and enemies come out to say hello. Some times they were triggered by grabbing a certain weapon and some times they were triggered just for entering a room. Completing each level and seeing your completion percentage was cool but at times annoying as you always see the many secrets you missed. Today you can see whole gameplay guides showing where the secrets are. Ultimate Doom is Cleary not another shooter game.
This game was really fun. The best thing about Ultimate Doom was that you can play with others. X35 Earthwalker, the one true Earthwalker also played through Ultimate Doom with family. It was funny simply because at first we stuck together making our way through the levels but later on ended up confidently splitting up to tackle different parts of the levels by ourselves which could get chaotic. When one enemy was chasing one of us, one of the family would keep walking behind that enemy as the enemies didn’t change target until they were attacked. We even lead that enemy around the map while two of us was walking behind it. When the levels got real big and dangerous we would all be in danger and since we were far away we will always here our soldiers get hurt, die or us literally calling to another to help. The memories are definitely good ones. One time one of us fell into lava and we watched their split screen to see if they can find the exit out. Spolier, they survived.
The enemies have to be the most memorable thing about Ultimate Doom. Especially the bigger ones like the pinky demon, hell knight, baron of hell, Cacodemon and Spiderdemon. When you see them for the first time you don’t actually panic or get scared simply because all the enemies pretty much ave the same pattern. They always come towards you, normally have projectiles attacks so you have to dodge, can take a lot of damage and give a lot more.
The first time encountering the Cyber Demon solo was a problem as those rockets seriously hurt and multiple times had to run away to find rocket ammo. one thing about Ultimate Doom is that if the game presents and gives you loads of ammo, weapons etc, you know it’s about to go down. Those side steps to dodge rockets and that Cyber Demon took forever to die. First time facing this demon with a team was a different story. We were running around it at full speed all launching rockets like we didn’t care. It was basically a big bug being surrounded and attacked by three hornets firing their advanced explosive stingers at it repeatedly without mercy.
Ultimate Doom did have some interesting features that can help out. For example you have a map of the level. We actually never knew we had a map for the longest time. The maps weren’t always clear as it’s 2D while we play in 3D (yes we know Doom was a 2D game they made 3D through smart coding). So when you enter a room you see some recognisable parts but mainly use the map when you are either lost or completed the level but was searching around. The map was a good feature though. Another feature which was much cooler was the fact that the demons can turn on each other and fight amongst themselves. This can be done when you make sure a demon of a different kind gets hit by an attack from another. If they are different types of demons, there is a high chance they will turn and fight them instead. We got to see who would win in a fight of one Cacodemon vs five Imps or two hell knights vs a mixed group of imps, pinky demons and zombie men. If you play your cards right, you can sit back watch the fight and place your bets (gambling is bad and we don’t encourage it).
Overall Ultimate Doom was a super fun game. There is so much more we can say about this game. Ultimate Doom had unique features, variety in levels, weapons and enemies, there were secrets, multiple difficulty settings, boss monsters, useful power ups, surprises, monster betrayal and best of all multiplayer. We at X35 Earthwalker can safely say that Ultimate Doom was not ultimate fun but tons of fun. Now Ultimate Doom may have you fighting demons but even Doom Guy working with the demons is no match for… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Dauntless is a new action role playing game (RPG) developed by ‘Phoenix Labs‘. It is said to be coming out in April 2019 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PS4; however you can download and play now on PC. There are said to be some monsters who need to be hunted down. Let’s take a look.
The story in Dauntless isn’t really clear from what new can see on their official website but basically the world has be broken up in to islands by a cataclysm. These islands are floating. Many of these islands haven’t even been explored yet and are dangerous. Also the islands themselves are in danger. What could endanger an island though? The answer are large creatures called Behemoths. They will consume the islands. It’s up to the players to prevent this from happening.
In Dauntless the players control Slayers. Slayers as the name suggests do quite a bit of slaying but their targets this time are the Behemoths. Slayers are mankinds best defence against these creatures. The slayers won’t be easy to beat as they are armed with some serious weapons. Your slayer can wield Repeaters which is basically two and guns. It’s said to be difficult to use but you can hand out debuffs to enemies and fight at both close and long range. The sword is all about staying close and slicing everything up. Then with a full meter go crazy with pure speed. There’s more weapons.
Chain blade users have the highest speed of all relying on their mobility. Their weapons can off course extend for longer ranged combat and even pull yourself in to get close. Hammer wielding slayers can smash and deal heavy blows to enemies and also use blasts from the same hammer. Also you can use your blasts to dodge attacks. Slayers using the axe have immense damage potential. They can fill their meter to get a damage buff that can be stacked. The War pike is one of those that have great potential when used correctly. Keep attacking to fill your meter which is then used for your mortar attacks.
There are a number of places to explore. There’s ramsgate which is the frontier settlement. There is also the Maelstrom which has a completely different climate going on over there. There are some continually changing islands. Some islands have a flourishing habitats as in their are lots of plants, wildlife and as everyone says, “flora and fauna”. Dauntless has many islands and they all just want to be explored but there’s a catch…
The Behemoths in Dauntless are a real problem. Firstly they are endangering the floating islands because they just can’t get enough of the aether that they are consuming. This aether is what keeps the floating islands floating. Another thing that’s bad is that they are dangerous to face because well.. they are big. They are a serious threat. Some go about on all fours, others can roll like a ball, others can fly around, some look and move like dinosaurs while others are like angry bigger sloths. So taking these guys on alone is quite the problem.
We checked out some Dauntless gameplay and it’s a bit less than what we expected. The graphics aren’t impressive at all even for the graphic style used. The characters remind us of the ones in Fortnite. This doesn’t mean it’s a bad game though. Dauntless is a multiplayer game and encourages working together with other players. You can play with three friends or get teamed up with people online. We like that you can use the parts you collect from defeated Behemoths and use them to make armaments like transom stones, dyes and even cells. So get creative.
Overall Dauntless looks like an alright game. We haven’t been impressed yet. We like the multiplayer options and the using the parts from defeated monsters. We definitely like the visuals and the environments but that’s it really. The developers ‘Phoenix Labs’ did an alright job with this one. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t looking forward to this but there are gamers who are. Now Dauntless may have floating islands but even those aren’t as epic as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
