Neonwall is a action puzzle game developed by ‘Norain Games‘. It is already out on both Nintendo Switch and PC but coming to Xbox One on the 14th of September 2018. This game certainly knows how to stand out just by looks alone. Is it any good?
Neonwall is all about timing, concentration and focus. There are lots of obstacles and many puzzles. The aim of the game really is to get the ball through to the end but the faster you can do it, the better. Players can interact with the ball by using the two lasers, which are controlled by using the joysticks. These lasers can move blocks allowing for a clear path or path adjustments. You can also break blocks too. mostly importantly though is the ability to change the colour of the ball.
Colours in Neonwall is the most important thing. For starters the ball moves faster when it’s moving on blocks of the same colour. The ball can even open doors only if it’s the same colour as the door. Also, lasers can only interact with elements of the same colour! So colour exchanging is, as we said before, very important. So basically all Neonwall is asking players to do is manage the three colours and exchange them between the lasers and the ball to successfully get the ball to the end.
We checked out some gameplay and it definitely looks like a puzzle. The ball is moving and you have to look ahead to see what needs to be done and then make sure the right colours and used. Move this platform, open that, jump across the gap etc. It looks like things can get a bit chaotic later on. This game is definitely unique and we like that.
Overall Neonwall looks like a very cool game. The graphics are excellent for it’s neon style and we like the level designs. Players need to be prepared. The developers ‘Norain Games’ did an excellent job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will look to see how Xbox One gamers receive this. Now all the colours and puzzles may be a lot but it’s nothing compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the new action adventure Tomb Raider game developed by ‘Eidos-Montreal‘ and ‘Crystal Dynamic‘ but published by ‘Square Enix‘. It is coming out the 14th of September 2018 on the Xbox One, Xbox One X, PS4, PS4 Pro and PC. Lara Croft is back and she looks serious. Let’s take a look.
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider players still play Lara Croft and this time she’s in a race to save the whole world from a maya apocalypse. So this off course means more jungles that are full of danger, tombs that need raiding (fine we’ll stop) but are definitely not safe at all and last of all, some bad dudes with guns that will shoot you. Nothing she hasn’t faced before.
This jungle won’t be some walk in the park in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. There’s more this time. You mustn’t just survive but master the jungle, this suggests that there are multiple techniques to learn like probably setting traps with logs or spike pit style, maybe swing from vines for greater mobility. There are whole tunnel systems, deep ones which need exploring. Even more dangerous but interesting are the underwater areas and gamers understand underwater levels quite well at this point.
From what we hear the tombs are suppose to actually be a threat this time. No simple walk around here and there looking at pretty runes on walls. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, players can expect puzzles that are risky, deadly and punish mistakes. You will need what is called, advanced traversal techniques, to even reach them. sort of sounds like a level up system as you learn certain techniques and use those to reach a tomb you saw but couldn’t access. After all there is a large hub in shadow of the Tomb Raider with quite a bit of activity going on.
Lara is just one person and there’s no way she can win a straight up fight as the enemy have better numbers and firepower. So players must use the jungle to their advantage in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. This means sudden strikes and then getting out of there real quick. Like Batman, Lara can instil fear in her enemies which off course can work to her advantage. Lara can even use mud as camouflage which will work well during night. There are more options than before and gamers like options.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider will have some crafting. Crafting and gathering materials is a focused thing in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Players can go around gathering insects and plants too which off course can have benefits. For example there is a plant that allows Lara to see plants and animals that can be harvested in an area. Off course you can collect materials that can be used for crafting ammunition, and even a poison grenade. A poison cloud releasing arrow can be crafted also. There’s a lot going on here.
We checked out some gameplay and so far it looks quite deep. The jungle for starters is big, looks quite lively and the different greenery works well. What’s also interesting is the abilities and upgrades players can get and invest in. For example there’s Caiman’s breathe increases breath capacity. Serpents skin allows you to use mud as camouflage and reduces chance of detection by enemies. Serpents strike grants the ability to stealth kill takedown without alerting anyone else. There’s way more for players to aim for. We even saw a plat you can collect which basically slow down time, allowing players to get the shots they want on enemies.
Overall Shadow of the tomb Raider looks like a step up from the previous Tom Raider games. The graphics are excellent. The new ideas work well in theory. The environments are very well done. The developers ‘Eidos-Montreal’ and ‘Crystal Dynamic’ did an excellent job. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an eye out for Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Now Lara Croft may be trying to save the world but her mission is too small when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a new action adventure game developed by ‘FromSoftware‘ but published by ‘Activison‘. It will be coming out the 22nd of March 2019 on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. There suppose to be a lot going on in Sekiro: Shadows die twice. Let’s take a look.
The story in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is that the prince, who is a descendant of an ancient clan that got destroyed, was kidnapped by a commander of the Ashina clan. The Ashina clan believe that this child is the major key for protecting their own lands from an invading force. Strange right? Players control the protagonist, a shinobi, known as the one-armed wolf. A disgraced and disfigured hard hearted warrior who was saved from the brink of death. Sounds interesting though.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is set in the re-imaged time of late 1500s Sengoku Japan. A hard and dangerous time indeed. Players must expect some not natural enemies as this isn’t suppose to be a faithful historical game but some reality mixed with some fantasy elements if that’s what you want to call it. Now our character, Sekiro, has lost one arm and so he replaced it with something called an ningishu which is a prosthetic that allows the attachment of any ninja equipment. Is Sekiro trying to be Samus Aran or something? The main equipment players will use is the kaginawa which is basically a grappling hook which can be used to reach new heights and areas. Exploration. Expect many more different equipment which will help out.
Sekiro isn’t for little children as it’s made clear on the box (that 18+ on the front). This game is going to be really difficult. The developer has stated that he wants Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice to be tougher than previous games they have made. Now let’s see what games has FromSoftware made before… oh yeah, that’s right, the Dark Souls series and bloodborne. So already you know this game isn’t going to be easy. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has higher emphasis on being clever with your skills instead of skilful. Players will really need to think about how they will try and kill their enemies and targets. There are lots of stealth elements like hiding in corners, trapping to ceilings, shadows etc. It’s gets deeper.
When players have worked out how they plan to deliver the kill, they have to use moves known as the Shinobi death blows. Before that you must lower their guard, whittle down their posture until they stagger. This now reminds me of Final Fantasy XIII. So players must successfully land a parry or multiple hits to get them ready for death, in style we heard. The parrying though needs to be perfect, failure could easily mean death. Unlike the soul series though there will be no stats, levelling up, souls to collect and lose or character classes. It’s just you and the character. This is sometimes a good thing.
We checked out some gameplay and we saw a lot. The ningishu (the prosthetic arm) could use fire crackers, form a shield, become an axe, the kaginawa (grappling hook) can also be used for grappling and to close the gap towards enemies. There are enemies who are large monsters who will smash and throw you around. There is a humanoid fat, ugly sword wailing enemy who can vomit on his sword to possibly make the blade poisonous or cause some serious infections. You will face horse riders who charge in while screaming like a mad man. Pretty interesting.
Overall this game does look really cool indeed. The story isn’t obvious but it’s interesting to a certain extent (mainly the kidnapped prince). The graphics are very good, the sounds are great but the environment and visuals is excellent. The snow and buildings had work put into them. The developers ‘FromSoftware’ have done an excellent job. The expectations from fans will be very high. We at X35 Earthwalker are looking forward to this game. Now we hope the lore in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is easier to figure out and learn. Now Sekiro: Shadows die twice may have an interesting world but it doesn’t even compare to the level of interest that’s of… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Planet Alpha is a new Adventure Platform developed by ‘Planet Alpha aps’ but published by ‘Team17 Digital‘. It is coming out the 4th of September on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. This game already is looking fantastic.
The story in Planet Alpha is basically that you have awoken on a strange planet, wounded, off course stranded (otherwise we could just leave) and all alone. This planet is filled with exotic and off course mysterious plants, environments and creatures. Nothing says normal about this game or the planet. Now our character is completely defenseless. We discover that our character has the ability to manipulate the time of day. Imagine that for a moment, being able to control what time it is throughout the day.
Staying alive is the key thing in Planet Alpha. What? You thought because everything looks colourful and beautiful that everything was going to be nice. Wrong! Yes there is some beautiful looking plants and greenery but we also mentioned creatures. there are some that are docile and harmless while others will relentlessly pursue after you to destroy you or eat you or whatever. There are giant glowing scarab better looking creatures. Giant rock pillar looking ones that walk on legs like an arachnid, another flying beast that looks like a deep sea Liopleurodon or something. The amount of creative and cool looking creatures is awesome.
Now let’s talk about the environments in Planet Alpha. There is quite a variety. There is a desert looking area, a rocky area, a sky broken platform area, plains area, rainforest area, mechanical lab area and more. You can tell just from looking that each of these locations had a lot of work put into them. Each of these environments look excellent. The lighting, the attention to detail, how the dust and sand gets moved etc is all working out very well. This just makes exploring this place so much more desirable, wondering what you will find and see next.
We checked out some gameplay and so far is looks awesome. The colours, the environments, the creatures all look cool. There is suppose to be some serious mysterious regarding this planet though so exploration and finding out that secret is needed. We heard it’s apparently not a good one. Also if gamers pre-order Planet Alpha now, you will get a 10% discount, the original sound track and a digital art book. The platforming elements are clear and quite strong here, so pushing, pulling, jumping, running are all going to be frequent things.
Overall Planet Alpha looks really cool. The graphics are fantastic. The sounds are excellent. The environments look alive and exciting. The developers ‘Planet Alpha aps’ did a fantastic job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker do need to see more concerning Planet Alpha but we like what we see so far and looking forward to it. Now Planet Alpha has some large and beautiful environments with cool creatures but it’s beauty can’t compare with the beauty of… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Dakar18 is a new cross-country rally racing game developed by ‘Bigmoon Entertainment‘ and published by ‘Deep Silver‘. It’s said to be coming out September 11th 2018 on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. There is expected to be a lot of racing action here. Let’s take a look.
Dakar18 is suppose to simulate the annual rally organised by amaury sport organisation (A.S.O.) in South America. Any game that wants to be a simulation on the one hand will have a tough job trying to simulate as accurately as possible while on the other hand, will have an easy job as they just need to copy what’s already done. Isn’t going to be just racing but a full experience.
So if gamers know anything about the annual rally then you should know what to expect from Dakar18. There will be 5 vehicle types to choose from: motorcycle, UTV, Quad, car and truck. Each off course handle differently. Dakar18 also has official vehicles and pilots too. For example
Cars: Renault, Mitsubushi, Peugeot, Toyota, Mini,
starring Bryce Menzies, Mikko Hirvonen, Carlos Sainz, Stéphane Peterhansel, Sebastien Loeb, Nasser Al Attiyah, Nani Roma, Orlando Terranova, Emiliano Spataro, Carlos Sousa and many others.
Motorcycles: KTM, Honda, Yamaha, Husqvarna
starring Laia Sanz, Mathias Walkner, Adrien Van Beveren, Sam Sunderland, Joan Barreda, Pablo Quintanilla, and many others
starring Eduardo Nikolaev, Aleksandr Vasilevski, Martin Kolomy and more.
SxS: Polaris
starring Claude Fournier, Patrice Garrouste, and more
Dakar18 used satellite images to help replicate and produce realistic graphics. There are 14 simulated stages from Lima to Cordoba. The races are almost free roam in a way. You have to get to the finish line but the path is up to you. Just don’t get lost. You can rescue and help out other racers who have crashed out by even towing their vehicle which gains you extra repair points. Definitely cross-country open world. Players can drive across Peru, Argentina and Bolivia with over 12,000km2 of land, so go where you want.
Time and weather are factors in Dakar18. So players will have to face the extreme heat (not sure how), tackle through deep mud, dash across dry sand and even heavy rain. Off course a game like this is both single player and multiplayer. 8 player online racing or take on a friend in split screen. it’s always great to see games that still do split screen these days.
We checked out some gameplay and it’s what we expected. Many different vehicles and different vehicle types going at it. Racing through the terrain, aiming for the win while avoiding damaging out and crashing. We did like how the weather and environments look. Very nice. Graphics are very good and the sounds are very good too. Sounds strong. The sand and dust kicking up looks cool.
Ovareall Dakar18 looks like it’s going to be a great game. We hope they also add different games types like tag, capture the flag or whatever related to racing for variety. Will their be vehicle customisation or not? The developers ‘Bigmoon Entertainment’ did a great job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are not looking forward to this game but know others are. Now cross-country racing is big but it’s so little when compared to the rise of… ‘the ‘Earth Walk!’
DOOM: Eternal has off course gotten lots of attention. It is still the first person shooter game we all know and love but this time… it’s bigger. Much bigger. More demons, more areas, more kills, more style, more variety, more weapons and off course more DOOM Guy, also known as the Slayer. Let’s take a look.
DOOM: Eternal is being developed by ‘Id Software‘ but published by ‘Bethesda‘. The developers wanted to go in a bit of a different direction. It’s now more than just a game with chapters. There are worlds for players to reach and battle demons there. Their website says the words “never before seen worlds”. So DOOM: Eternal looks like it will play like Metroid and Destiny in terms of there being different locations and players can travel to them with lots to do in each one. It definitely feels like an open world but not as big. We can tell from the surroundings that Hell has been brought to earth. There are destroyed buildings, ruined roads and pavement, large chasms, lava around, fire around, bridges destroyed etc. Looks like things are getting real bad for humanity. Either Hell has been brought to earth or certain places on earth was brought to Hell. It’s more likely the former. We can say right now that if you enjoyed DOOM, then DOOM: Eternal is something for you.
There are some new weapons like the ballista which can spear demons with a explosive bolt. it’s almost like the Slayer had some training with the elves. it’s fires accurately and in a straight line but looks like a laser. The Slayer has his own super shotgun which has a device called the meat hook which you can fire at enemies and then zip line towards them at speed to get close for the kill or for increased mobility. Each of the weapons are suppose to be made in a way that one doesn’t outshine the other all together. Each one allows destruction of the enemy. The combat shotgun has the launch able grenades but now they can stick into enemies and then explode which will come in handy. The combat shotgun also has a feature where you can use an attachment that allows the combat shotgun to fire rapidly as the attachment rotates like a chain gun barrel. It does look awesome. The heavy assault rifle also has a second mode where if you zoom in, it becomes like a zoomed in single fire powerful rifle that is lethal with headshots. It can also pierce through enemies by the way, so get that double headshot with one bullet.
In terms of combat mechanics, there has been a lot of upgrades. for starters DOOM: Eternal has given players far more mobility than before. Players can jump into horizontal poles and pipes and can swing of them which you can then jump once again allowing the reaching of further and higher places. Players can now do a quick dash at great speeds and can also dash in the air. You can combine these movements with the meat hook to become nearly untouchable as you can double jump there, swing of a pipe, dash and then grapple a demon at a distance to zoom across in that direction, then jump off all while firing at anything and everything. That sounds crazy. The Slayer also has a shoulder mounted cannon weapon that can fire a grenade or even spray fire at enemies for assistance or just that additional damage. The Slayer now has a wrist extendable blade, sort of like what the Predator has. The Slayer uses it to stab enemies and mainly for glory kills in brutal but clean fashion.
An event can take place warning the player of ‘Incoming invaders’ which again suggests that it’s still earth or mars (whatever) that we are fighting on. When the invaders show up there job is to take down the Slayer. Now a gameplay did leave us some clues concerning the invaders. The Revenant and Mancubus we say had names above their heads. The Revenants was “D00t76” and the Mancubus had “Daisy121” Sort of like a gamer tag maybe… like what alpha and beta builds of games have where players have these given names when they play. That’s right, just like with Dark Souls, players can invade other players as demons to take them down. Imagine just playing and slaying and then all of a sudden two highly skilled Doom players invade and come straight for your head. It just got real… but wait… there’s more! Players can team up and form Slayer hunting teams. This will make your campaign more unpredictable. Off course players have the options to choose whether to play alone, or set their campaign to no invasions.
As for the demons themselves… well… there is a lot of them. Some of the old ones are back like zombie guys, off course imps, hell knights, Pain elemental and Mancubus (this is just some of them). There are also some new ones too who are going to be a real problem. The goal of the developers was to obviously make players feel powerful but making Doom Guy (the Slayer) feel powerful by having him defeat powerful enemies. There’s one who’s known as the arch enemy of the Slayer. This enemy is large, mechanical, hovers, got a double chainsaw for one hand while the other hand holds a big cannon, which we think is for blowing us up and right next to the hover jets are what looks short of like mini chain guns. There is also what looks like mini missile launchers too. Scary. There is also the Marauda (not sure if spelt correctly) which is confirmed to have a story behind it. It looks like the Slayer and we think it’s a fallen Slayer because we know there were more than one Slayer in DOOM history. The one we saw has it’s own super shotgun, demon energy battle axe and some armour. Basically a real problem when encountered in the battle field. The enemies like before are numerous, hurling projectiles and doing everything they can to bring you down. There are demons in the air, demons on the ground, fast and slow enemies and enemies with projectiles while others are trying to run you down to get melee with you. The demons aren’t playing around this time, that’s for sure.
We checked out some gameplay and everything looks very good indeed. The graphics are excellent and they are using a powerful engine which was called the Id tech 7 engine. The sounds are great also. In terms of environments and different areas, there is the hell on earth area which looks completely destroyed but there are some new places in Hell also. There is the new UAC and it has gotten far more cult like and technology based. There is also some places that has never been seen before. Off course their is some emphasis on the environmental story telling so look around for details and clues. We saw where the Slayer ended up on Phobos and everyone was scared of him. No one got in his way and no one tried anything crazy. Even the armed guards realised who he was and just let him take his weapon. Very different to Master Chief from Halo who has everyones respects and is loved, instead of feared. So you can Cleary see the difference. Love vs fear. Master Chief vs the Slayer. Awesome.
Overall DOOM: Eternal looks like an awesome game. The developers ‘Id Software’ did an fantastic job with this game without a doubt. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to DOOM: Eternal. Killing demons is awesome for people like us. Now DOOM: Eternal may have a new and improved Slayer but even he is a joke and can’t compare to the ones who do… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Immortal: Unchained is a new action RPG third person shooter game developed by ‘Toadman Interactive‘. It will be ‘unchained’ and released the 7th of September on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Apparently the world is running out of time. Let’s take a look.
The story in Immortal: Unchained is quite weird but basically players control a character who was unwillingly unchained and released by a being called the Warden. All you are told is that the world is running out of time and that your skills are needed. Wonder what those skills are… So the player must set off on their mission but with no memory of who you are or what you do. So the other task is that players must find information regarding who you etc through stuff in the game and other characters.
Immortal: Unchained is developed to be a serious, hardcore game, so expect lots and lots of action. Expect bullets to fly and enemies to resist with all their might. What we do know is that the character we control is a living weapon. You have be locked away for a millennia. Apparently by those who thought we were too much of a threat. This mission or should we say journey is filled with dangerous and murderous foes. There are some who aren’t trying to kill you but they will use you to fulfil their own goals. So keep that in mind.
It’s all about guns and melee combat in Immortal: Unchained. Get up close and smash some foes in or stay back and take them out with accurate shots. There is lots of options regarding weapon builds and choices. So having creativity helps out. Create your own play style and roll with it. There are different armours to acquire and choose from to use in your battles. If you are a fan of the story and style of The Witcher, Killzone:Shadow Fall and Battlefield 1 then you might like the story of Immortal: Unchained because the story has been written by a team that includes both Anne Toole and Adrian Vershinin.
We checked out some gameplay and this does seems cool but currently too slow paced. We know it’s also an RPG but it comes off as too slow. Especially if enemies come at you one at a time. There are loads of weapons, over 100 we were told, there are 6 different disciplines to pick from also. As we say, gamers like options. The undead who have been freed from the underworld seem annoying but not a major threat. We do know that there are legendary bosses that are suppose to bring epic massive clashes. we wonder how those are done though.
Overall Immortal: Unchained looks like a cool good game but definitely cones off as too slow. We hope there are difficulty settings too because we saw a developer playing it and he had some high-is difficulty as in he died quite a few times. At least we know the game isn’t easy. The graphics are very good indeed. Excellent we do say. We do hope they make the right adjustments to the gameplay. the developers ‘Toadman Interactive’ did a great job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will need toes more action though. Now Immortal Unchained may have a living weapon but it’s lame compared to the weapons of… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Shadows: Awakening is a new RPG adventure game developed by ‘Games Farm‘. It is coming out the 31st of August on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Shadows: Awakening requires that decisions be made. Who is actually in charge though? let’s take a look.
Shadows: Awakening is part of the heretics kingdom saga. The Penta Nera are secret council members. So big league dudes basically. They were assassinated. It gets worse. Devourers are demons that have the ability to consume souls. The Penta Nera’s souls were consumed by Devourers. Devourers also absorb the personalities and memories of the souls they snack on. Those consumed ones became the devourers puppets. Pretty interesting but absorbing their personalities is clearly a down side.
The devourers that well… devoured the Penta Nera’s souls are back in the mortal realm once again. The drive and goals of the Penta Nera are still there and strong. Continuing their quest for power and off course immortality. We wouldn’t want to be immortal as a demon though. This then begs the question. Who is really in control? The demon or the souls that it devoured?
Shadows: Awakening is isometric. Players must expect real-time tactical combat. Build and gather your party and then expect lots of challenges. From what it sounds like, players can expect nothing handed to them. It all comes down to the final decision though. Will players save the world or go for a complete messed up situation?
This game is single player and there isn’t that much information given on this game. We know that players can control different shaped heroes and beings. Switch between them to the one who is best for the situation to keep the advantage at all times. The combat is quite simple to understand. As in, if you get swarmed back off and use a being that has projectile attacks. When melee is needed get a bigger stronger form etc. Just adjustments.
We checked out some gameplay and it does look how we expected. The graphics are very good definitely and the sounds are nice too. The visuals and level designs are very good too. We enjoyed looking at the background and what’s happening. The different forms are very distinct and their advantages are very clear.
Overall Shadows: Awakening looks like a very good game for what it is. The story is suppose to be deep but we don’t have that much information on that. The developers ‘Games Farm’ did a great job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker need to see more of this game before we can be looking forward to it. So far it isn’t enough to convince us. Now the devourer may be a major threat but it would easily be crushed by… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Hero Defense is a new action RPG strategy game developed by ‘Happy Tuesday‘. It is coming out the 15th of August on the Xbox One and the 16th of August for the PS4 but already out on PC. This game is meant to be quite the blender of genres. Let’s take a look.
In Hero Defense the story is quite traditional in a way. Basically a team of slayers have one mission and that’s to stop the most powerful vampire in the world, Count Necrosis. Count Necrosis has quite the army with him, a whole legion of undead. and their mission is world domination. Off course it is, what else would it be.
Players have 5 characters to choose from: Jack, Barrows, Sam, Jane and Wylde. Each are clearly different, even from how they look. Literally from how they look, you can pretty much figure out what their play style is. Each character also has their own skill tree and upgradable weapons. So there’s a strong present of RPG elements and layers here.
You can further modify your weapons by equipping runes that you can find and collect. Your rune builds can be customised to emphasise what you want to focus on concerning your characters and play style. If that’s not enough and you need more of a boost then players have the opportunity to build hero shrines which empowers your characters further. Lots of boosting in Hero Defense.
Like an RPG players will gain experience points to level up their character and level up skills in their skill tree. According to the story, your island also has been messed up because of this undead army. You must save your island and rebuild your town. New buildings can be unlocked. What kind of an action strategic RPG game does’t have loot that you can equip? Not Hero Defense as there are some spells that you can equip to do some serious damage like poisoning and burning.
We checked out some gameplay and it’s not impressive but simple enough for everyone to understand. You can see the attack range of your characters, see what effects they have, how Barrow can buff other hero characters. It’s quite clear. Plays like a tower defense, except the tower is your character. Sort of like World of Van Helsing Deathtrap. The interaction between these characters is very well done. The graphics are good but during combat it’s not that great. There are boost areas for certain characters to stand in to get a huge boost to power and ability. Lots to take into consideration for a simple presentation.
Overall Hero defense looks like a cool game. It’s fun, simple and funny at times. It’s quite deep but not complicated. The sounds are good and the level designs are good too. The developers ‘Happy tuesday’ did a good job with this game. Now Count Necrosis may be a big problem but he’s only small fry when compared too… The ‘Earth Walk!’
Midnight Club: Los Angeles is a racing game developed by Rockstar Games. One of our favourite and best ones we ever played. The story is simple, you are a incredibly confident driver who shows up wanting to make a name for himself. Challenging and being challenged by others. So win races, get races and be the best. Simple to understand and makes sense.
Midnight Club: Los Angeles starts of with a trick. They give you the choice from three different cars to make your own. Kind of like with Pokemon. The car that looks the nicest isn’t the fastest. It’s actually the sirocco that’s the fastest but doesn’t look nice in the slightest. As you win races you get both more ‘rep’ which is reputation and money. The higher your rep, the more races you unlock as people start talking about you and want to see if you can really drive for themselves. The story isn’t all that strong though. It’s just simply that you meet some characters as you win races, they hook you up with some races going on, you win some more, then you meet more people and then win some more until you become the king basically.
There is a bit of variety when it comes to the races. There are the simple ones where you go from start to finish driving through all the yellow marked spots on the map. There are lap races where you must complete the lap two times. There are some people who challenge you to multiple races and it’s the first to win 2 of them or 3. There are red light races where you start at a traffic light and race to a certain landmark, the racers start as soon as the light turns green. Then there’s the motor way races where everything stays on the motor way and lives on the motorway. Some races have multiple racers like 4 others while some are 1 on 1. Motor way is definitely X35 Earthwalker’s favourite. Just pure speed.
To unlock faster and better cars in Midnight Club: Los Angeles, players must continue winning races and completing the main objectives. Start with group 1 cars which have D and C class vehicles. Overtime players will unlock group 2 and then 3 for powerful cars. Group 4 is where the real racing cars are at. Monster vehicles. Each vehicle you buy can be upgraded. Players can buy nine upgrades, better quality tires, extra nitrous etc to improve top speed, acceleration and handling. The car stats were kept simple which is a very good thing.
Eventually players can get their hands on special abilities for their vehicle. That’s right Midnight Club: Los Angeles didn’t leave what was in Dub Edition. The abilities: Zone, Agro, Roar and EMP are here. You can only equip one at a time. Driving cleanly will charge them up and once full can be used. Repeatedly using these abilities will eventually lead to a level up meaning you can store more of that ability in your vehicle. Now different players say different things about these abilities. Some come off as more useful than others but they do have to some extent pros and cons.
Zone allows players to drive their vehicle but in slow motion temporarily. While everything is slowed down, players also have enhanced control over their vehicle and more grip meaning handling tight turns, dodging a vehicle or slipping in between two cars becomes too easy. Agro basically turns your car into the Juggernaut from Marvel comics. You become invincible for a short period of time, meaning you take zero damage from crashes or whatever. Also you inflict like times 100 more damage to anything that touches you, sending them flying. Roar allows players to send off a powerful shockwave in front of you that forces and moves all vehicles out of your way. It’s literally a repelling force. Get all the traffic out your way. Roar also effects enemy races so you can use roar to send them going straight when all were suppose to turn right. EMP is literally what it says on the box. It short circuits all vehicles around you for a few seconds. This means they cannot accelerate. This can be used to prevent others from passing you or to allow you to zoom past them.
Take this into account when playing Midnight Club: Los Angeles. Zone becomes much less useful as you get better at the game. Eventually, with enough skill, you can slip between cars while driving at high speeds and read the map well enough to know when to turn and handle those turns. So top level drivers won’t find a need for zone. is considered one of the better ones as it can be used both offensively and defensively but it’s offence is limited to you actually having to touch your opponent. They can still keep their distance from you. Also, even though you are smashing things aside, you can still get slowed down if you smash into too much in a row. Roar only effects those in front of you, also if you are about to smash into a vehicle roar may not work fast enough to get that vehicle out of the way in time, especially if you are travelling at high speeds. EMP doesn’t last long at all and doesn’t reduce the opponents speed. It just for a few seconds prevents them from increasing speed. So think about what serves you the best.
The pink slip races and wager races are the worst and make even the best and most confident racers sweat. In wagers you bet money while in pink slip… you bet your car. If you win, you get back what you betted and you get what the opponent betted too. You know how in games when you are about to lose, you just turn off the game or hit restart then you don’t lose anything… well that doesn’t work here. From the moment you accept the race the game takes away your money or car betted and saves the game. The only way you can your bet back is to win that race. So if you don’t cross that finish line first, your car or money is gone. No questions, no negotiation, no one cares. Even if you had a power cut in your area, you lose your car. Smart on the developers part but horrible for players.
What’s worse is that you race on the streets like normal anyway. This means anything can go wrong. A A.I car could suddenly turn into your path crashes into you, makes you spin out allowing your opponent to zoom cleanly ahead. Guess what?… it al counts. What matters if who crosses that line first. No restarts, no second tries. X35 Earthwalker once had a pink slip race where a random car didn’t to turn right and smashed into his vehicle, he then cleanly crashed into a wall. He just about won in the end though. Too close for comfort. Players are warned before agreeing to wager and pink slip races though so that’s fair. Doesn’t make it any less scary and intense.
The customisation in Midnight Club: Los Angeles is amazing. You can customise everything from the hood, to the front and back bumpers, to the lights, the doors, the sides of the vehicle, the license plate, the tires, brakes and rims, the car colour, the internal colour and gauge colour, neon lights both outside and inside glow, colour of the glow, the seats, the steering wheel you name it. Allowing you to practically make your own vehicle. It’s done very well. if only other racing games had this level of customisation. be warned the most expensive thing to customise is the rims and tyres. Cost more than engine upgrades. Ridiculous. You can have vinyl designs on your vehicle and symbols. It’s that good. See it for yourself.
Now Midnight Club: Los Angeles isn’t perfect at all. Let’s talk about some negatives. What’s really annoying is when you a target on your gps to know where to go but then a character pops up to talk to you. Their interaction screen replaces your gps, meaning you can’t see where you are going and have to wait until they finish or go back to the gps screen and then come back out again, wasting time. Next is the fact that the police at times are unpredictable. X35 Earthwalker once saw a police car coming and decided to slow real down. He reached the traffic lights and then when the lights turned green went of at a real slow speed around 15 miles per hour. The police got triggered and chased after him. Maybe X35 went too slow. Either way we still find it ridiculous.
Another problem is that some cars that are displayed as slower are somehow faster than cars displayed as faster. For example when you unlock the Camaro dub edition muscle car in a tournament it comes upgraded already. When you compare that to the lancer class B car when upgraded as well has lower stats. So the Lancer is shown as definitely faster but when you drive them both it’s obvious that the Camaro is actually faster which makes no sense. That is deceiving. If the stats show car A to be faster than car B then Car A should actually be faster, that’s common sense and a game as good as Midnight Club shouldn’t have this problem. This is linked to the next issue. There are two more stats to take note of with these cars. The torque and horse power. This must be the thing many players are missing. While the Lancer had higher speed stats shown by bar graph, it’s torque and horse power was lower than the Camaro’s according to the graph. We aren’t car people, so we don’t know about torque and horse power. The game should do something simple like explaining those two to us. Does having high horse power mean your car is faster? if so then why isn’t the speed bar higher to match it? too many questions. it’s confusing. Either make the stats accurate or explain everything concerning the cars. It’s simple developers, get it right! Oh it doesn’t help that you can’t see the torque and horse power graph until after you get or buy the car which means you may have spent good money for a vehicle that’s slower than what you already have which sucks.
Next complaint is that the A.I are too difficult in many cases. They also at times don’t make sense. For example the first time you race Karol, he’s speeding, over taking you and zooming around corners almost perfectly. When you beat him, get his vehicle and check it’s stats; you learn that he was using a very slow, weak stats vehicle. It’s a D class! How was he keeping up with my upgraded Shinka which can be considered a B class vehicle with the right upgrades. Midnight Club: Los Angeles should be realistic. If your opponent drives a slow car then they should be no match for you, don’t give them some supernatural boosts. That’s stupid. Also X35 Earthwalker had the fastest and best car you could get at that point of the game and entered a dub tournament. Two of the opponents had slower cars while the main opponent had an A class super fast car. When the race started all off the opponents were too fast. We can understand the A class guy being too fast but why all of them especially when X35 was using a B class vehicle and the other two had B and C class? Again it’s stupid and makes no sense.
Overall Midnight Club: Los Angeles is still one of our favourite racing games of all times. Lots of high speed races, some of which can get quite intense and some moments when you hate everything. Great graphics concerning the cars and locations, very different race tracks forcing players to rely on certain vehicles and skills. The abilities makes everything more exciting and cool. The many many races and characters show that’s lots of stuff is happening for you to be a part off. Many cars to choose from, even police vehicles and the customisation is the best we have seen for cars. So much positives concerning this game and it’s worth playing. You can see some Midnight Club action on the X35 Earthwalker Mixer livestream channel from time to time so make sure to follow to know when the streams happen. It’s confirmed that you can find some serious drives in Midnight Club: Los Angeles.
