Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is a large Street fighter collection developed by ‘Digital eclipse‘ but published by ‘Capcom‘. Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is coming out the 29th of May on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. Lots going on here. Let’s take a look.
We are sure most gamers know about Street Fighter. Well all the Street Fighter fans should check this collection out as this one is jammed pack. It’s locked and loaded. This collection contains the original Street Fighter, Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II: champion Edition, Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II: Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter III, Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact and Street Fighter III: Third Strike. Yep, that is a lot in case you couldn’t tell. 12 titles.
Now there is a bit more than just the 12 titles though. Players can listen to tracks in the music player, an interactive timeline, character bios which will have a lot of information, sprite viewing and even a huge museum mode. Players will have access to never before seen art as well.
The Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection also has online-enabled versions of Street Fighter II: Hyper fighting, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. What’s even more interesting concerning these four titles is that while playing them, players can battle CPU whilst waiting for online opponents. So you having something to do while waiting. That’s very good indeed.
We checked out some gameplay and it’s what Street fighter fans would expect. It looks like the Street fighter games and seems to play like it. The graphics and frames are looking good as well.
Overall Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection looks like a big deal for Street Fighter fans. There isn’t much to say here except that it’s Street fighter. We will say that this collectible is huge and loaded with lots of stuff to go with it. The developers ‘Digital eclipse’ did a very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker were never Street Fighter fans but we can see that this is quite the bundle. Now Street Fighter may be a legend in gaming but it’s not as legendary as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Wizard of legend is a new fast paced dungeon crawler developed by ‘Contingent99‘. It’s coming out the 15th of May on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Linux and PC. Lately there have been some good dungeon crawlers. Does this one fit that description? Let’s take a look.
The story in Wizard of Legend is very simple actually. Players control a wizard who’s goal is to overcome the chaos trials. Doing so they will become a wizard of Legend. That’s it. Just joking. Basically the council of magic holds the chaos trials every year in the kingdom of Lanova. The chaos trials are a gauntlet of magical challenges. So off course to become a wizard of legend, you must complete all the challenges and show your wizardly might.
In Wizard of Legend, players must fight their way through each challenge. Each challenge has dangerous and powerful conjured enemies who are more than willing to help you fail the trials. Wizard of Legend puts a lot of emphasis on speed. The dynamic magic combat requires players use spells quickly and fast magical attacks while keeping lots of mobility. So fast movement and fast spell casting. This sort of reminds us of DOOM, in terms of always moving.
There are different play styles thanks to the wide variety of spells. There is over 100 spells. That’s a lot. There are spells for fighting at a distance, spells for more close range, even speeds for summoning and having your minions fight for you. What’s better is that these spells can work in combinations and combos to some extent. So chain together spells that work well together. Do not forget mobility.
Awesome enough is that in Wizard of Legend, there is local co-op as well. This means open up your window and yell to your neighbour and tell them to come over and play. You both can take on the chaos trials together. This means now there are two play styles to take into consideration. Do you equip and use spells that create synergy between the to of you or do you forget about all that and both jump in head first and stand crushing enemies. In the case that you get crushed instead and downed, your partner has a chance to bring you back into the fight… but it won’t be easy.
Just to clear some things up yes you can play with your friend but you can also play against them as well. Last of all Wizard of Legend has full controller and gamepad support.
We checked out some gameplay of Wizard of Legend. Everything definitely fast paced. we are seeing dodges, slides, evasion, while casting many spells. This is the kind of action that we at X35 Earthwalker like. You have to stay on your feet. Some enemies use magical attacks of their own while others go melee. Different elemental attacks such as ice, fire, wind, lightning and more. This should make players wonder how hectic and crazy will fights get in PvP. Will some spells have an advantage over others like element type, recovery time, area of effect etc. Stuff to take into consideration. Probably the most coolest thing is that you can challenge and face the magic council members themselves who are at the height of magical powers.
Overall Wizard of Legend looks like a awesome game. It’s fun. fast paced, many enemies, many spells, many options, co-op and versus, mighty bosses, smooth gameplay and great graphics for it’s style. The music is good as well. The developers ‘Contingent99’ did an awesome job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are looking forward to Wizard of Legend. We hope that it delivers on what we have seen and know and more. Now the chaos trials have a big reward for those who win but that reward is nothing compared to the rewards of the… ‘Earth Walk!’
X35 Earthwalker has played games for years. Many years. Played many genres, many types, many environments and universes. Some of these games were awesome. Some of these games were not good. Some games were great. Now obviously some games stood out high above others. So now X35 decided to do his Top 5 greatest games he’s ever played. Take note that this top 5 is X35’s personal list and he’ll handle this himself. Let’s begin.
Number 5
Gears of war is number 5 in my Top 5 because it truly did amazed me. The story is quite dark. Humanity has to work together to fight the Locust and even when together they are still losing. There still is unity amongst the humans as there are some like the stranded who hate the COG. Gears of war 3 had the best multiplayer of all of them and so many are still playing it to this day. You can still find heated battles now. The characters are memorable and have their own stand out traits making it clear who your favourite character is. The lancer was a cool looking weapon, that when I was younger and didn’t have an Xbox 360 yet, I read the booklet many times and wondered how brutal and cool this weapon would be. The monsters are unique. They came from underground (why has no one discovered them all this time then) and they have terrified players. I had friends who told me that when they first played Gears of war 1 the game actually scared them. Fighting in the dark, kryll bats that kill you if you aren’t in the light and the loud horrible noises the enemies made all added to the fear. Let’s not forget about the berserkers who are the females of the Locust race (not sure who is brave enough to mate with one of those things), they are blind but huge, muscular and can smash through concrete. The graphics and sounds were excellent and Gears of war stood out amongst other games at it’s time. It’s one of the games that made people wish they had an Xbox. The story is shows humanities desperation, about sacrifices and how easy it is to die in the war. it’s more realistic than some games. On top of all this you know a game is really good when even your mother played the game after watching you play. I’m not lying. My mother played Gears of war 3 online, to this day. Matter of fact my whole immediate family played Gears of war, whether multiplayer or horde. Be honest guys, how many people you know who’s mum plays Gears of war? That’s how you know a game is amazing. It’s debatably one of my top 5 as there are some contenders who maybe could take Gears of wars place but it won’t be easy.
Number 4
Metroid Prime is number 4 in my Top 5 and was one of those games that blew me away when I was a kid. his game was honestly too big for me. It was the first huge world game I ever played. It wasn’t linear levels. You could go to these different planets, explore and boy was there a lot to explore and discover. I remember finding different power ups like missile launchers, charge beam and the screw attack. The graphics were ahead of it’s time. Everything looked amazing and the game was so big. The four main locations were so different, bringing in new enemies, bosses and feels. Tallon Overworld was full off greens, all natural, had waterfalls and was peaceful. Chozo ruins was all design, technology, artefacts, ancient stuff and systems, giving that old feel but you knew this place was serious. Magmoor Caverns was… well… hot. Full of magma, closed spaces until you came to an open cave space where there was even more magma and more danger. Player couldn’t even enter this place without a special suit to protect you from the heat. Phendrana drifts is like the Antartica with ice adapted monsters, cold pools, grand ice structures with statues and history. Even the music was so different. It was clear when you entered the different areas. You could be blind folded and still know when leaving or entering and which place it was. The bosses were huge, creative and a real problem. A giant rock boss called ‘Thardus’ rolled around and tried to crush you and you needed the thermal vision to beat him. This game was just big in everyday from areas, to graphics and bosses. Matter of fact I couldn’t complete the game when I was younger. I completed it when I was older. It was too cryptic for a child finding those Chozo keys. It was a real adventure. Getting more powerful with power ups, defeating creative creatures and even getting scared of the dark facility area in the Phendrana drifts and you could only see with the thermal vision and those stupid Metroid kept trying to latch onto your face and that was real creepy. Never forgetting that one. Metroid has so much going for it. Immense sense of progression, epic and huge boss fights, massive sized world filled with secrets and unique enemies, lots of creativity. Lots of lore and information to discover while looking good. The memories are real. Definitely one of my top 5 games.
Number 3
Pikmin is number 3 in my Top 5 and was one of the stranger but cuter games. At the time there was nothing like Pikmin. You played a character who couldn’t really do anything by themselves. Olimar had to rely on the Pikmin for everything including survival. These creatures are the highlight of the game. There were three types, red, yellow and blue. Red had a nose, yellow had ears and blue had a mouth. Red was fire proof, yellow was lighter and could be thrown higher while blue could go in water. The graphics were beautiful and some levels looked so calming and made you want to explore while one didn’t, the Forest Naval I mean. It’s very funny that Olimar is treating Earth as a weird planet. yes I know that he’s a alien and therefore earth would be strange to him but when we play, especially in Pikmin 2 where he deals with objects like cans, some fruits etc, he gives them creative strange names describing what they are. Olimar, it’s a strawberry, your are suppose to eat it. What’s cool is that they use their enemies (defeated one) to make more of them when you bring them back to the onion. It literally becomes a business management job as you need to expand your workforce, find ship parts, fight enemies, explore new areas, increase Pikmin strength, organise Pikmin into groups and even watch over them while they carry stuff. You are a manager at the end of this. (Maybe Richard Branson is hiring). Eventually you develop a connection to the Pikmin who are so loyal to you. Which leads to the most significant part of the game probably. You truly care for your Pikmin. So the worse thing ever is when you hear the wail or scream of your Pikmin who die. You feel so sad, guilty and like it’s your fault which it is because you are in total control, they won’t run from an enemy unless you call them away. I remember when I was a child, my sister and I would go to mum crying telling her that a giant monster ate almost all our Pikmin. Laugh if you want. I remember my most heated moment was when the final boss ate a lot of my Pikmin with it’s sticky tongue, I never knew what it could do as that’s my first time facing it. I was so sad but vowed revenge. I came back with hatred and rage, with an army of 90 red Pikmin and 10 yellow Pikmin who were carrying bomb rocks. We demolished that enemy and my rage was appeased with blood. Pikmin is the only game that has ever made me cry. No game or movie has ever done that. I didn’t cry when Dom died in Gears of war, I didn’t cry or feel anything when Cortana went bad but I did care when the Pikmin died. Without a doubt Pikmin is one of the greatest I’ve ever played. It moved me emotionally, built a connection with characters that cannot even talk and completely different style from others while looking beautiful and making earth a mystery.
Number 2
Catherine is number 2 in my Top 5. Many haven’t heard of this game and that’s a shame. As I can confidently say there is not another game like this one. Literally. This game has so much going on that it deserves more attention. The story is the best thing about it. Everyone who has ever reviewed it has praised the story. It is unique, you want to find out what happens next, multiple mysteries, plot twists and what makes it most engaging is that it enters around problems and things in real life like relationships, marriage, cheating, lies, choices etc. It has well done cut scenes and anime styled cutscenes as well with the right balance. The game is split into two types. One half of the game is like a more social talk to characters, interact kind of stuff like a thriller/horror while the other half is straight up puzzle solving action. The puzzles are difficult and meant to test all who play. Many have even stated that normal difficulty is basically hard in disguise while hard is meant for masters. The game knew it would be hard so they allowed players to change difficulty in game. I never found it that hard. Honestly normal difficulty isn’t hard if you think and apply what the game teaches you. there are 8 different endings meaning there is a lot of replay value and the things you unlock are worth it. You can unlock two player mode where you face another player in 1v1, racing to the top or kill your opponent. Those can get intense at times. This game came out in 2011 and at that time, the graphics were great and the details were there. The music was excellent, each level had their own tune from classical to something with a beat. Favourite tune has to be the quadrangle level and second would be the Emporium. No two areas are similar or alike. If you was a master, you would take on Babel which has the most difficult mountains to climb. I have beaten Axis Mundi and saw the big secret at the end but there are still some things left unanswered. Matter of fact I did a livestream on Thursday and everyone saw one of the most clutch and intense moments ever. The third boss almost had me, about to crush me but I brought it back and won getting a gold prize in return. I was literally close to sweating. Even now in 2018 I have never encountered a game like Catherine. Story, gameplay, characters, intenseness and more are all things Catherine did with excellence. Definitely one of my top 5 games ever played.
Number 1
Some weren’t surprised by this one. Halo was that game that truly amazed me when I first discovered it back when I was a child. Halo was the top of the list in terms of creativity. It was set in the future, large space ships and carriers, A.I’s, advanced aliens, enhanced suits, regenerating shields and with a whole lot of story, lore, and stuff going on. There was things like plasma grenades that stuck to you and if you stuck an enemy they panic and ran. The aliens, the covenant were an interesting and new enemy. Each one was so different and brought a new threat to the table. The grunts were a joke, especially when you see them running for their lives and screaming. The elites were the real threat and fought like soldiers. Jackals prevent you from speeding through fights as you need to be specific with your aim. Hunters were like mini boss battles, especially in harder difficulties. Halo in Legendary difficulty was legendary indeed. Matter of fact beating this game in Legendary solo when I was very young was one of my biggest gaming achievements. it was strange to see a human hug an elite for the first time. So many silly co-op moments of my sister accidentally killing me either through her mad bombings, running to me for help when an invisible elite who has a sword chases her for me to turn around to get sliced up in my back and way more wacky ways. Oh the memories (practically endless). There was no game like this at the time. It was all creativity. Games like call of duty were army games that didn’t take creativity to come up with as it’s humans with gun faces humans with guns, kind of like what’s in the news paper. Halo was something completely different. Other games like mass effect all were inspired by Halo. Halo even set the bar and made online multiplayer what it is today. It’s the game with many accomplishments and revolutionised gaming. Remember using the warthog for the first time? Yep. No game has given me more memories. To think back then I thought grunts were little alien midgets like 3ft tall saying why not just kick them out your way, only to find out that those little grunts were actually 5ft tall, meaning they were bigger than me at the time and could easily kick me out of their way. That was hillarious. Without a doubt Halo is one of my top 5 greatest games and sits firmly as the greatest game I have ever played. Not only is it the greatest game I have ever played but it’s also my favourite game too.
So we hope you enjoyed my top 5 list. Gears of war, Metroid Prime, Pikmin, Catherine and Halo are my top 5 greatest games. There are other great games and maybe if I sit down longer and think about it, something else could take spot 5 but the other 4 stay where they are. I have made content on some of these games so check out my channel to see some action using the button below. Now these games are the greatest but none of them are greater than… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Ancestors Legacy is a new squad based Real Time Strategy game developed by ‘Destructive Creations‘. It’s coming out the 22nd of May on the Xbox One and PC. Now the developers placed a lot of emphasis on strategy. Let’s take a look.
Ancestors Legacy takes place in Medieval Europe, the Middle Ages. Between the 10th and 12th century to be more specific. In Ancestors Legacy players take control of an army and storm their way through medieval Europe in a series of campaigns. There are four groups to select from: Slav, Anglo-Saxon, German and Viking. Most gamers will have no idea what some of these groups are but we guess the internet can help.
Being tactical and having strategic approach to situations and campaigns is key. This has been emphasised greatly in both single player and multiplayer. So charging in while screaming may not work. Players must think about everything, including places you currently control. So utilising the full range of available tactical options, managing your settlements and temporary bases and using the environment to your advantage like elevation, cover or choke points is practically everything.
Now single player is filled with missions that are based on actual historical events which occurred in those days. Like all other Real time strategy resource management is combined with base building across large battlefields. The only slightly different thing about Ancestors Legacy is that it’s squad based battles. This means players must drop the attitude of moving and selecting one unit at a time. On a real time battlefield where armies can run on top of you, you’ll need to control squads and groups at once. Get your fingers and thumbs ready.
Ancestor Legacy has quite a lot of things going for it in terms of game mechanics. High quality stuff so far. Ancestor Legacy uses a Cinematic battle camera view allowing players to be right in the action. We do wonder what the options for this will be like. Oh and by the way, this was done with Unreal Engine 4 so expect great detail in the graphics and good rendering
We checked out some gameplay and we weren’t impressed. Don’t get us wrong, we can see the details and all the great effort that went into it. If what we saw was true then this is a high quality game but hasn’t made us go wow or got us interested. RTS games like Halo Wars 2 and off course Supreme Commander 2 are always two games that we will compare other RTS to as they are the best examples. Ancestor Legacy will need an amazing system to compete.
Overall this game is very well made. The historical story mode can obviously be educational and the Unreal Engine 4 that they used really does help the game out. The details are clear. The developers ‘Destructive creations’ did a great job with this game. currently as it stands, we at X35 Earthwalker are not looking forward to this game. We do like how the battles are happening in multiple places and it all looks like a real battlefield with different weapons and advantages. We hope others like the approach Ancestor Legacy took. Now armies are numerous and powerful but they aren’t enough to stop… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Vampyr is a new action RPG developed by ‘DONTNOD Entertainment’. It is coming out the 5th of June on the Xbox One, Play Station 4 and PC. There has been a lot of eyes on this game and quite an amount of hype for Vampyr. Let’s take a look.
In Vampyr, players take a control of a doctor named Jonathan E. Reid. He has been described as widely admired by his peers. A very good, in fact talented researcher and surgeon. Vampyr is set in London 1918 after the Great War. Jonathan Reid enlisted as a military doctor, so already we are sure that players can connect all the dots concerning the main character, the date in history and why this character is almost perfect for what he is going to face.
London has been severely damaged by the war and the Spanish flu is spreading rapidly infecting the citizens. The main goal in Vampyr is to find a cure for this flu and save London. This is not straight forward as when the war was dying down, Dr Reid got sent home… but on his way home he gets attacked and loss consciousness. Losing consciousness in the streets is never a good thing. It never ends well. It’s almost as bad as losing consciousness on a park bench. Now the last thing Dr Jonathan E. Reid remembers is a ‘strange figure’ that’s slowly approaching his neck while murmuring a dark poem. Talk about creepy.
Jonathan Reid awakes with a terrible thirst for human blood. So now two cures are needed. The cure for the flu that’s spreading through London and a cure for his Vampyric condition. Good thing, he’s a doctor right?
As all should know a Vampyr has powers and abilities which Jonathan can use to defend London from other Vampyr and creatures which roam the streets at night. The problem with this though is that with normal vampires, generally the older they are, the stronger they are. So if we are assuming the same rules to Vampyrs then Dr Reid who is newly-turned will be too weak to beat others who have been around much longer. Which leads to another mechanic in the game which is to make Reid stronger. In the context of this game, that means you will have to feed but like any nice person who becomes a vampire, you don’t want to jump and harm people so hence the struggle and temptation.
Now London in 1918 is far more hectic than the history books in school tell us. Players are thrown into a major league battle. The enemies of Dr Reid are both humans and supernatural. Vampyrs, undead skals, Vampire hunters and other monsters are all involved. As stated before, getting stronger is key here but players can also develop and evolve their arsenal of supernatural vampire abilities. Now we could just snack on the blood of those things that roam the streets at night but their blood yields less power while the blood of the citizens that you set out to save will increase your strength rapidly. So will you harm them, or not?
The world in Vampyr is very much alive. Every character you engage with has a life. You can get involved with these lives, learn about it, their relationships and more. Each character has their own family, story and job. Take heed that if you effect one of these people then you effect the others. Players will need to feed to live long enough but there are consequences for that… always. Regardless of who you feed on, whether it’s a priest, thieves, parents, killers whoever, will have consequences.
We checked out some gameplay and it has quite a lot of what we thought. There is compass that grants information in terms of objectives, note worthy things and their direction. Simple display of information. Many parts of the city to explore and dig up lore. You will come across vampire hunters facing creatures in a battle which you could get involved in. In some ways it does remind us of Dying Light, especially in terms of how the AI move in combat. We see some of the powers of the Vampyr like dashing from one location to another in a blink of dark smoke, which is quite cool.
Overall Vampyr sounds like a good game. It doesn’t sound anything amazing though. We haven’t seen anything that makes us really want to know more. The story and setting is good and the world Vampyr is set in is very good and there is room for opportunity but we don’t see the consequences or pressure that the story gives. The enemies do not seem that impressive yet. It will come in June so there is time for things to get improved. The developers ‘DONTNOD Entertainment’ did a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are currently not interested in Vampyr. The story is very interesting but gameplay right now doesn’t seem up to par right now. We hope to see more of this game. Now Vampyrs may have a battle but the biggest battle is found in… the ‘Earth Walk!’
X35 Earthwalker has played many games of pretty much all types but hardly0 any MMORPGs. The two that we have played are Skyforge and Tera. Both are focused on action combat instead of click and select and wait your turn. In both you move your character, time their attacks and decide when to dodge. Both have been good fun but which one is better?
First let’s make it clear that it’s only our view and opinion here. Both have interesting stories. In Skyforge players become an immortal who’s goal is to become a god and then hopefully move up to become a elder god while defending the world from many dangerous and powerful groups of aliens that invade and attack humanity (mainly mortals) like machines, fish creatures, snake like creatures, demons and more. In Tera, it’s not exactly clear from the start but basically you play a character that soon joins the federation which is a combination of the seven races who are fighting against the Argons who threaten the peace of the world. Argons use both magic and technology to reshape the world. They are a top level threat and eve working together, victory isn’t guaranateed. Both have large stories of planet scale battles and include gods (false gods) but only in Skyforge do you actually play as gods, plus there is more than one enemy and each enemy army have their own beliefs, schemes and gods of their own. Things are more interesting and a bigger story in Skyforge.
Now both are big games, really big. As in there is a lot to do, places to visit and stuff going on. Through our journeys we noticed that there is far more stuff in Skyforge than Tera. Literally you would have to play for a very long time to even become an elder god which is off course superior to regular gods. Now any gamer who actually has a life and doesn’t spend the whole day playing Skyforge will take months and even years to build all the god deeds to use to unlock all the god abilities, complete Flavius’s lab, get enough sparks to naturally unlock all the classes and much more. It’s so big that it’s actually ridiculous and we don’t plan on getting everything. That’s right, you heard us. We are busy people who have a lot of great things happening our lives and we don’t have a whole day to just play the game. So Skyforge can keep their power ups and mounts. Like seriously, who wants to be an elder god anyway. In all seriousness though both Tera and Skyforge have a lot going on. Tera has many areas to travel too, levelling up takes quite a while after a certain point where only main quests seem to really budge the leveling up. Both are big, they are MMORPGs after all but Skyforge definitely comes of as bigger and deeper.
Now both have interesting enemies. Skyforge have the Oceanids, Mantides, Demons, Reapers of death, Mechanoids, Phytonides who all are annoying by the way. Each invading army has their own unit types of Pack, Thug, Enchanter, Crusher and Boss. Pack are in groups but weak, thugs do lots of damage, enchanter create special effects like buffs, weaken or even summon others, crusher have lots of health and boss which speaks for itself. In Tera there are many types and races of enemies from different places in the world. If you go to a desert like area, you will see giant sand slug sort of like creatures that borrow through the ground. If you go to the harbour and beach, you’ll see crabs and tortoises. If you head into the mines you will find enemies with pick axes and giant preachers with sharp legs digging (sort of like Corpsers from Gears of war). Basically there isn’t separate factions really except one main antagonist group called the Argons. So in Skyforge, you have one or two of the different invading armies in the different levels. While in Tera there are different enemies in each of the areas. This creativity has allowed so many more enemies for players to face. There is fairy looking creatures, pirates, vampires, giant spiders, crab like enemies, bloated axe wielding humanoids, dwarfs, Loks, half horse half dragon and literally so much more. Skyforge may have organised armies who have giant bosses Nihaz but those bosses are not as frequent and giant bosses in Tera and you end up fighting the same enemies quite frequently. The variety in Tera is much greater and makes each different place feel unique. So tera wins this.
Playing through the story is different from what the story is. In Skyforge you you have to travel to the same places players already explored. The objective will be in a level and players will have to go there, fight through the level which stays the same to find the person (mainly) that you need to speak to. Then you have to head to another level or head back to the observatory to then be told to go to another same familiar level and do the same thing. We have to admit that the story mode in Skyforge is boring. We don’t get much cutscenes at all but only at crucial points. If players had to do the story first then the locations and enemies would be new and more exciting but since many did the campaign first we did all the levels, fought all the enemies and faced the same elder god boss already. It’s basically go here, talk to that person, go there, talk to that person, go here kill that thing and then talk to that person and repeat. In Tera it’s quite different. A superior gives instructions to go to a certain place and there, are many missions, side quests, enemies there. So it’s very different from Skyforge. Sure you have to go back to Valika to report to your superior and they then send you to another place but all these places are new. Never seen before so it’s fresh each time. They are not linear either. These levels allow for side quests and players can do what they want with numerous enemies around and things to find. In one area, everything is a tropical place that has a sea where players can swim, another place has a huge temple like area, another place has a giant mine filled with tracks and excavated area. They are so different, not linear and different enemies. The side missions and the main missions are of variety and each area has a dungeon which contains multiple boss enemies and a huge top boss enemy. So how you play the story is better done, more exciting and doesn’t get boring in Tera.
Both Skyforge and Tera have many items and weapons to equip and use. They basically have the same items in terms of healing items and removing negative status. There are resurrecting items, stat enhancing items. How the items are used are based on the mechanics of the game and the difficulty. For example you can use items to recover health way less frequently in Skyforge. The items all work well and feel the same except for the resurrecting consumables in Skyforge which for us don’t work. We checked online and some gave some strange guide. Why can’t it be simple. Why can’t we just stand near our dead allies, then use our item and they get up. We tried but all we did was stand there and glow for a while and when done, they were still dead. It should be clear. Tera have teleportation scrolls that allow players to teleport (duh) to different places in the world or same area. Skyforge won’t need those as there levels are smaller and linear as in you never have to really turn back. Skyforge have more reward items and boxes to open containing more items. There are items which grant sparks of transformation. Skyforge even has items like paralysing darts, fiery cocktails and more to assist you in combat. We feel there are more items in Skyforge and more rewards, especially since our bags in Skyforge get filled far more quickly (you really have to expand bag size). So Skyforge wins in items due to having much more. Now concerning the weapons, this is a no brainer. Tera is Cleary the winner. The weapons in Skyforge feel absolutely useless. Whenever we get a new weapon, they don’t add much at all. You never feel more powerful. It may say 17% damage boost but doesn’t look like it at all. We soon didn’t care about new weapons. In Tera though you can easily see the difference in power. You can even add stones to your weapon and enchant them to make them more powerful and grant new effects. They even glow. Honestly Skyforge needs to sort out it’s weapons as weapons are a huge part of games. So Tera wins for weapons.
There isn’t really any crafting in Skyforge. Some players say after you become an elder god or something but but if that’s the case, then it’s too long. In Tera players can craft from when they are level 15 which doesn’t take that long at all. You can do crafting for weapons, armour, etching and alchemy too. You find many items like rocks and crystals which we advise you don’t skip them but collect them. In sky forge you collect some items but there is practically nothing to do with them concerning crafting. So Tera wins easily.
Big MMORPGs like Skyforge and Tera have many areas, sections, activities etc etc. Obviously this will be confusing for new players… but one game is definitely more confusing than the other. Both do quite well in guiding new players in the earliest stage but Tera holds your hand more which is good. When it comes to combat things get real confusing. For a good while we never knew what moves should combo into what and what certain words mean. Like whats a pulse? Skyforge says some moves use or generate pulse but there isn’t any part in the game that explains what these are or what they do. We wrote a whole blog which goes into more depth about this in the past. While in Tera there is a section whiten skills that show the character’s combos and what leads into what. Making things simple as it should be. Tera even reminds players with the commands showing when we can use a move that directly combos into another. This gets players into the rhythm of things and eventually know what should be done without help. Our mounts wouldn’t work for a while, even when the game tells us to equip our mount (skyforge) and we tried but it never worked. We found a way but not what the game told us to do. There are many areas and things in sky forge that aren’t explained clearly, we were confused for a good while about multiple things while Tera made everything quite clear much faster. Matter of fact we were only confused about one thing unlike sky forge which didn’t even give players a heads up that you can only have a certain amount of adepts and can’t sign new ones until you dismiss another. So tera is less confusing and more new player friendly.
Now in terms of which game makes the character you control feel cool and powerful. Let’s compare two similar classes. From Tera we will use the warrior class and from Skyforge we will use the Paladin. Both are sword wielding melee classes. off course they aren’t exactly the same. When playing as the Warrior, you have many sword skills, you can poison the enemy, cut them up and slice them up. The warriors stays as a dangerous swordsman who never stops cutting. While In Skyforge you actually feel like your swordsman has actual power. The Paladin can strike with lightning as their sword connects, shoot lightning, summon shields and more. The sword class in Skyforge makes you feel much more powerful than the Warrior class in Tera. Off course this does come down to the fact that in Skyforge you play immortals and gods who are obviously more powerful than regular mortal characters in Tera. The point is that Skyforge makes players feel more powerful and cool.
Speaking of classes, there is 10 classes in Tera but in Skyforge there is at least 16. So there are more options in Skyforge; however the classes in Tera have more moves which means more progression with that character. In Skyforge you can unlock all the moves and abilities for your class actually quite quickly while it takes much longer in Tera due to it having more. So there are more options and progression of your character in Tera. The classes in Tera do feel mostly similar while Skyforge does have the variety like multiple projectile classes from pistols to big cannons, ice wielding classes and light binding. Much more variety in Skyforge.
Now both games can get difficult but one is harder than the other. In both games, players have health regeneration but it’s much faster in Skyforge but the regeneration cannot be interrupted in Tera (from our experience). Running away from fights is much harder in Skyforge, in fact, you can’t really run away as the enemies move incredibly fast if you try to leave, especially during those squad missions. Meaning they will chase you down and continue to inflict damage until you die. In Tera, the enemies chase you too but only speed up after chasing for a good while and even then you can still dodge any attacks they throw while running away. they then give up and return. So if you start a fight in sky forge, either you finish them or they finish you. While in Tera you can flee from a losing battle and live. Tera also has a much smaller cool down time for healing items, so you can heal multiple times during a fight while in Skyforge you can normally only heal once and that’s it. Bosses in Tera have an abundance of health, more than Skyforge bosses in general but Skyforges bosses hit much harder. There was a boss that killed our character in two hits but we have never met a boss in Tera that could two shot us dead. Lastly in Skyforge dying doesn’t matter, as players control immortals who are known for dying and then coming straight back. Even so Skyforge is the more difficult game.
It’s time for combat. Both have action packed combat giving players control over their character instead of click and command. In both, players decide when to attack, dodge and aim their attacks. Both have a MP system, mana point for Tera and just mana in Skyforge. Now in Skyforge, some moves trigger other moves to be instantly used again without any mana cost and some moves increase the damage of another move for a short period of time. Players in Skyforge also have the ability to instantly kill enemies with finishing moves if their health is low enough (there is a cool down for this). There is an ultimate move, divine abilities as well and even the ability to change into your god form who has increased, speed, health and damage and their own special attack. In Tera players have many moves and yes some also power up other moves and make others of instant use but there’s one big difference. There is actual real combos in Tera. Sure if you know what moves do what and what works well after another then you could do like two moves combos but Tera has actually combos and the game shows you what moves to do next to keep the damage going. There is a section in your skills tab that shows you these combos and the options you have and since their are more than one, you can almost always be chaining many moves together regardless of what you start of with making fights more focused and engaging. The combat feels more technical in Tera while in sky forge it’s more figure it out for yourself and do what suits the situation. While Tera gives more options gives moves for almost all occasions. We will say though that the poison stab ability for Warriors is terrible and needs to be more effective. if we just go by standard character and their moves then Tera is better but If we take in the whole picture Skyforge has better combat because it still does have some hidden but less combos but it has many special abilities, numerous passive and extra abilities, divine abilities, god forms, ultimate attacks and god form ultimate attacks which literally destroy everything.
Lastly let’s look at graphics. Both have big worlds with lots of variety and many things going on. Both have great graphics but only one game made us stop and truly look around and that was Tera. There is a desert area that has many rocks, ruins, relics, sand and more. We entered that area looked around and noticed all the details on the rock and how everything looked. We then saw what looks like a giant whale like creature swimming through the sky just doing it’s thing. It looked amazing. There is also some giant star sign blue clock hand looking symbol in the sky. It’s movements are smooth, looks beautiful and reminds us of something out of Final Fantasy Xlll-2 and we know how Good Final Fantasies graphics are. Sky forge has great graphics too like in that snow area and we looked up to see a Northern lights like sky, it was wonderful but Tera does look cleaner. So better graphics go to Tera.
Both games are very large and we are sure that Tera and Skyforge pros would have tons to say about the game instead of those stupid internet trolls who have nothing intelligent to say. both games are great and we are having fun with both. Tera has a more alive world, far more enemies of variety to face, better campaign, better and more effective weapons, has better weapon crafting system, less confusing and new player friendly and less difficult. Skyforge has a bigger and more interesting story, is a bigger and deeper game, more items, bigger variety of classes, the classes are more powerful and cooler, better combat and is more difficult. overall we would say that the better game is Tera. Now this isn’t a stomp by any stretch of the imagination. It was close and they are off course different. Skyforge is a bigger game, with a bigger story, with bigger characters and gods so yes Tera can’t compete with that but even though Tera is smaller we feel it has done it’s game mechanics and things better in more ways. Now both mmorpgs, Tera and Skyforge, are great, big games but none of them are bigger or greater than… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Runstone Keeper is a rougelike dungeon crawler game developed by ‘Blackfire Games‘. It is coming out on the Xbox One the 25th of April. It has been out on PC and Mac for some years now. Runestone Keeper is said to be different from other rougelike dungeon crawlers. Let’s take a look.
People use many words to describe this game: Role playing, Dungeon crawler, Turn based, Rougelike and more. The game has gained some great feedback and even won some awards. There isn’t really a story. It’s basically, grab your weapons and begin your very own epic adventure kind of thing. So players just dive right into it. Players will have to make their way through dungeons, one part at a time. Off course this ain’t no peaceful dungeon nor will it be a easy task.
There are multiple heroes to pick from, just not at the beginning. every player starts of with Guy. As you play, more characters will be unlocked which you can then select at the tavern. Others include: Lilith, Azar, Hogg, Balerio and much more. Each hero has their own passive ability, one skill and different attribute values. So find the one that best suits you.
There are many items in Runestone Keeper. These items are single use, so deciding when to use them is part of the plan. Some items restore health, others grant buffs to stats and abilities while others can even straight up kill certain monsters. Some of these are really powerful like the ‘Drill’ which allows you to skip the next dungeon all together. ‘Ice’ freezes all revealed monsters for three turns.
Now what would a dungeon be without traps and dangers. There are multiple traps and they activate upon being revealed. So be careful as they can ruin a run. There is the Bomb trap which reveals surrounding tiles and delivers 2 explosive damage right to you. They also set off other bomb traps causing a unpredictable chain reaction. Acid trap causes grants you the corrosion debuff which basically means you take 2 extra damage from both traps and monsters. Toxin trap grants the poison debut which delivers 2 damage for every per move. The spike trap does what you’d think. 2 Physical damage.
There are monsters who can look cute but are a threat to you. For example the Phantom has a high chance to dodge attacks naturally but every tile you reveal reduces it’s chances of dodging. Since it is turn based they won’t harm you until you attack them. Another weird enemy is the undead troll who has the ability to dodge one lethal attack once. There are also zombies who have a decent amount of health and have the ability to always strike first (not sure why). Also you may face the same monsters but with additional abilities too so don’t just assume that since it’s an undead troll it will be the same. Read and check first. be patient… for once. What monster game wouldn’t have a skeleton? Not this one. These skeletons are not jokes (but still have a funny bone).
So basically players enter a floor full of darkness and start clicking away at the tiles to reveal what they are. It could be traps, items, tips, devices like the block device which can reveal surrounding monsters and traps. Battle the monsters and make your way towards the exit to get to the next floor. Increase your stats with armour and items you find, grow more powerful and make progress on your quest. The levels are procedurally generated. Nothing is the same so don’t think that bomb will be in the same place.
We checked out some gameplay and everything looks simple but definitely fun and interesting. You can play at a your pace and have time to actually look around the level without pressure and decide what actions to take to handle the floor. there are set up crossbows that can be used to damage all enemies in the path, or would you rather reveal more of the floor to increase your chance of hitting the phantom or would you use your hero skill first. We do not know that players have the opportunity to betray the goddesses which off course have consequences. Runestone Keeper does a very good job of explaining the mechanics of the game so their is little to no confusion.
Overal Runestone Keeper is a great game. something that you can do on the side and something to sit down and get serious with. It’s not complicated at all. The way the character selecting is done needs to be improved as players like at least a some options at the start. Graphics are great for what it is and the sounds are great too. Good enough that you don’t really need vision as much. The developers ‘Blackfire Games’ did a fantastic job with this game. we at X35 Earthwalker are looking forward to when Runestone keeper comes onto the Xbox One. Now these dungeons mysterious but not as mysterious as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Forgotten Anne is an cinematic adventure game developed by ‘ThroughLine Games‘ and published by ‘Square Enix‘. Forgotten Anne is coming out the 15th of May on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. This game stands out quite boldly and is getting lots of good feedback. Let’s take a look.
In the world of Forgotten Anne, there is a forgotten realm. In this realm there is the forgotten land where all mislaid items from the human world end up. Now that’s a creepy thought. Imagine a wide range of different items like paper, tools, socks and children old toys. Now this world is inhabited by creatures called Forgotlings who is composed of these mislaid items. Players control Anne who is an enforcer who keeps order in the forgotten lands. Her goal is to stop and defeat the rebellion in the land. This rebellion has the potential to stop Anne and her master ‘Bonku’ from getting back to the human world. The story here sounds interesting. the concept and the world where everything takes place is quite unique. We are liking what we hear so far.
Now Forgotten Anne as you can cleary see has some light puzzle platforming. Now in a world like this, players must prepare themselves to meet everyday objects who now have personality and brought to life. Imagine that old pair of shoes you threw away two years ago, coming back after you to take revenge. Not that scary really but there has to be a catch here. Now Anne as an enforcer must have some sort of defensives. Anne can harness the power of anima which is the which is the energy that brings life to the forgotlings and the forgotten lands. This same energy Anne can use to have control over the forgotlings and to off course solve puzzles. Now as there is platforming players must jump, run and as you unlock new abilities, even soar to find her way home.
Forgotten Anne has that system where players decisions effect the story and game. So pick your actions and words carefully as there are times where players can choose which dialogue to use. Game like to do this but not many can do this well. Just how much difference and outcome does our decisions have with this game. The game Catherine wasn’t perfect but did a great job with this game mechanic. We hope Forgotten Anne does this well. The visuals are hand animated. The orchestral music we here were done by the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra. So expect music of a certain standard.
We checked out some gameplay and what we heard was right. It’s a beautifully design game. Everything looks nice. the animations are great too. The music is quite dramatic and at times intense to accurately direct and to some extent control the feelings. Don’t manipulate the gamers Forgotten Anne with your good music. The light platforming seems more than light. Let’s go with medium. A lot of great work went into this game. Matter of fact it has to be in top ten most beautiful looking games in terms of visuals, graphics. Many if not all are saying the same thing about the games beauty. Just take a look at how they handle the wind effects. Now we still believe that Outland has the best visuals and graphics, especially it’s animations. More information on Outland right here.
Overall this game looks really cool. The amount of work that went into Forgotten Anne is obvious and very great. The story is quite unique and so is the concept. The graphics and visuals are amazing. The developers ‘ThroughLine Games’ did a fantastic job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are looking forward to seeing what Forgotten Anne has to offer gamers when it comes. Now Forgotten Anne has a whole world filled with forgotten items but even their rebellion isn’t enough to overcome… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn is a beat em up action game developed by ‘Big Deez Production’ and ‘Saber Interactive‘. Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn is coming out the 5th of June on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC. Let’s hope they don’t Fu it up this time. Let’s take a look.
Shaq-Fu is one of those games that created their own legacy. Now it created it’s own for all the wrong reasons. Some described the last game as ‘so bad that it’s good’. The developers this time have declared that it’s something special this time and that it will get even the most hardened gamers thumbs sore. In case you don’t know, Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn is about Shaquille O’Neal who is now a retired professional basketball player.
Now the development team behind Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn is quite the force and not to be taken lightly. They have developers and people who have worked for Sega, Ubisoft, Namco, EA, Atari and Microsoft and with a select group of developers who have been involved in games such as the Halo franchise, Madden series, Final Fantasy, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Perfect Dark. Now I am sure many gamers will recognise many of those names. So there’s a good chance that this team will make Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn a great game.
The story in Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn is quite interesting. Basically Yen Lo Hang has sent demons to earth but they are disguised as celebrities who are train washing people and turning them into servants. It’s up to Shaquille O’Neal… we mean Shaq Fay Hung to find these demons and kill them. Shaq’s mentor dies very dramatically and like Darth Vader, Shaw let’s out an equally dramatic “Nooooooooooooooooo!’ Very entertaining.
It’s a beat em up but with some pretty cool features. You can smash enemies into the screen, multiple suits and power ups to give you the edge you need like the cactus looking suit allowing you to flip prickles at enemies. There is even a mech looking suit. Sort of like Streets of Rage to some extent, minus the suits. A lot of work has gone into this game as some actions and moves have been done with motion capture. Some fans even got to submit their own signature move and send it to the team who put it into their game. Now that’s awesome. It’s always great to get the fans involved.
Honestly there isn’t much to say about this game except that the famous Shaq Fu game is coming back and it’s way better than what it use to be with a very experienced team developing it. It’s even got a lot of support already on Indiegogo. Graphics and sounds are good. The style used for cinematic and even combat fits the game nicely. The developers ‘Big Deez Productions’ and ‘Saber Interactive’ have done an great job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker hope that Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn does well with the gaming community. Now Shaq may be a great fighter but he ain’t as great as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
City of Brass is a new first person Arabian Nights adventure game developed by ‘UpperCut Games‘. City of Brass is coming out 4th of May on the Xbox One, Play Station 4 and PC (Steam). Now this has gotten some attention and for good reason but why? Let’s take a look.
The story in City of Brass is about as simple as it gets. A Arabian Nights style game. The City of Brass is a legendary place. It is filled with both reward and danger. The danger is that deadly traps and trouble making spirits but the reward is that the streets are brimming with the wealth of the nation. So off course there is always someone who wants to try and get this wealth for themselves. That someone… is the player. A cunning thief who is aiming for the city’s heart which is where the big treasure is.
The player isn’t going in unarmed. The cunning thief wields a sword a blade and a whip. The whip is the more versatile of the two as it can be used to swing to places and safety, trip and stun enemies, grab objects, disarm enemies and break weak barricades. The sword off course does what it says on the box. A game like City of Brass in a setting like this means you just know there’s going to be lots of movement and traps. So prepare to avoid poison gas traps, slide under blades (like in the movies), jump over pits and don’t let those spears hit you. You can use these traps to your advantage though to destroy the enemies.
City of Brass isn’t some easy mode pleasant game. You are expected to die a lot of times, learn from your mistakes in an attempt to get further and further, hopefully to reach the heart of the city. It has been said that no two playthroughs are the same. The use of both the sword and whip have been balanced to the best of their ability to have the two weapons work with the movement speed and actions like sliding and jumping to keep the pace smooth and fluid.
Some enemies may require a bit more than just your causal sword swings. In that case your surroundings can be interacted with. For example you can pick up bricks and hurl them in your enemies faces. Not only that there are explosive vases that can be thrown as well. Set enemies on fire, blow them up or like mentioned before force them into those nasty traps to finish them off. Now players will encounter many beings in City of Brass but not all are bad and out to harm you. Some genies for example allow you to trade loot for secrets, upgrades, protection, unlocks, gear and more. While some genies actually grant you the opportunity to use one of three wishes.
Now makes sure to collect as much treasure and loot as possible as that all increases your score. It’s all about the score here for bragging rights. Do not pass up any chests you find as they can contain relics, weapons and even armour upgrades. Now do all this while keeping one thing in mind… you have limited time. If you fail to get to the exit in time then… well… legends say you will die by dervish. Don’t ask us who that is. Find out for yourself. Now that we think about it. This game sounds similar and to Spelunky. Running around, using a whip, can find weapons and items, collect loot, get a score, a shop to trade for items, getting to the exit and if not in time then something bad will happen. Yep, definitely like Spelunky which is a good thing since Spelunky was a great game.
Now if all this seems to easy for you, City of Brass has a feature which should sound familiar but will amp up the difficulty for you in many ways. Players can add divine burdens which are global modifiers which spawn more environmental hazards, change enemy abilities and much more. So basically you could have more enemies with wackier or mixed up abilities while having more traps around to avoid while traversing the City of Brass. This system reminds us of Halo and it’s skulls which make everything harder during the campaign and firefight.
We checked out some gameplay and can confirm that things can get real crazy in City of Brass. Glowing monstrous but nicely dressed enemies will come for you from many places, all hostile and armed. Players must know when to stand their ground and fight, or take flight by whipping to swing to another location for safety. Some chests are traps so when you open them, make sure to stand back otherwise you might get a bunch of poison in your face (that’s a bad thing). Also it’s what we thought. The levels are ever-changing but logical procedurally generated. Meaning forget having a pattern laid down or a map as it’s different each time. we are currently liking what we are seeing.
Overall City of brass is a cool looking game. The graphics are nice, the sounds are nice and the level designs are mixed up and bringing something new to keep players on guard. Hopefully there is a greater variety of enemies. The developers ‘Uppercut games’ did an excellent job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are looking forward to seeing this come to the consoles and what gamers think about it. Now the City of Brass may be legend but it’s not as legendary as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
