HITMAN 3 is a new stealth game developed and published by ‘IO Interactive‘. HITMAN 3 is said to be coming out in January 2021 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PlayStation 5 and PC. HITMAN 3 has been described as the conclusion to the assassination trilogy. Things are about to get real serious in the assassination world. Let’s take a look.
What’s the story in HITMAN 3? Well Agent 47, aka baldi, is back and this time he’s handling the most important contracts of his assassinating ‘career’. This time something is different. Sure he is being backed up by his agency handler Diana Burnwood… BUT!… he is working together with his long lost friend Lucas Grey. Teams overall are better than solo. The words “Death awaits” is a recurring thing and we are not sure why. Maybe HITMAN 3 is the game where agent 47 dies. Maybe not. After all will no one not notice and want revenge?
Now this mission that agent 47 is on is suppose to be the most important ones yet. The goal is to wipe out the partners of Providence. When you make your target people like the partners of Providence then you know real trouble is coming your way. You don’t wipe out one important person and think nothing bad will happen to you. As you carry out your mission, things will get harder and harder. The action will become more intense.
Expect a lot of scenery and environment as your mission takes you across the world. Sandbox locations included. Now the theme of freedom is quite strong with this game. A good number of these modern games especially lately and with next gen aim to have open world and more freedom for players. This is a quote from the developers website, “We’ve made sure that players will have unrivalled freedom to complete their objectives and the game world will react to everything they do. All of this is made possible by our award-winning Glacier technology, which powers HITMAN 3’s immersive game world to offer unparalleled player choice and replayability.”. Multiple gems have tried the whole consequence thing. We think HITMAN 3 has the world and setting to do it. Just don’t mess up developers.
We were never fans of the HITMAN series but from our experience with the games like HITMAN Absolution we know they are good games overall. HITMAN 3 won’t function as one game. In HITMAN 3, players can play all three games and carry some content over. There’s a whole section explaining this on their website so we will just quote it here, “The World of Assassination trilogy is fully realised with HITMAN 3 and we are establishing our new game as the ultimate place to play all three games. Players of our previous HITMAN games will be pleased to know that it will be possible to ‘import’ locations that they own from the previous two HITMAN games into HITMAN 3, essentially putting all 20+ locations from the entire trilogy in one place. Playing the entire trilogy from beginning to end, from within HITMAN 3, also means that the progression systems in HITMAN 3 work across all locations. You can unlock an item in Dubai and take it with you to Paris, for example. We’re pleased to say that HITMAN 2 players will have the option to carry over their hard-earned unlocks and progression into HITMAN 3.”
We checked out some HITMAN 3 gameplay and it looks like another HITMAN game. The graphics are great, the environments are excellent. Same formula so far. You know what you got to do and you sneak around. You stay undetected, pay attention to routes, blind spots, hiding places, using everything to your advantage. You have different disguises and stuff to wear but ultimately the prize is that kill. It’s HITMAN… what do you want from us? It’s not suddenly going to be Halo. Off course more information is going to come out.
Overall HITMAN 3 just seems like another HITMAN game but obviously bigger, more action, more intense, consequences to your actions, allies, three games in one, carry over content, more freedom and whatever extra they be bringing. HITMAN 3 has a big opportunity here so don’t waste it. Now the developers ‘IO Interactive’ have done a very good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will leave an ear open for what HITMAN 3 be up to. Now HITMAN 3 may be sneaking up on gamers but one thing it can’t sneak up on is… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Last of us 2 is an action adventure game that was developed by ‘Naughty Dog‘ and published by ‘SIEE’. There is a lot to say about this game. First of all we think it’s a very good game. The only reason we are writing about Last of us 2 is because of the many mistakes and huge misunderstandings from gamers and even those streamers and youtubers. Let’s take a look.
Let’s dive into what we liked about the Last of us 2. Firstly off course the game looks fantastic and that’s true especially with the first, the details, wind effects etc but it’s what gamers at this pint expect from all modern games now. The next gen games, especially with the Xbox Series X and PS5 should have awesome graphics regardless. So it’s nothing special but it’s still a point for Last of us 2. Next point is the details in animations and movement. They are excellent. When you are upgrading or modifying your guns on the table the guns have specific animations. Your character actually moves things around, cleans this, attaches this etc. That’s very good. Also what’s impressive is the fact that if you taut your bow while prone and rotate, your character actually moves how a real person with a bow would have to. From being on your belly to getting on your back etc. That’s very good.
The action in Last of us 2 is very good also. We have good stuff to say for sure. The hand to hand combat is reaction based and not spam the attack button. You have to pick your moments as in when to strike and when to dodge and time the dodge accurately. Skill is needed. The battle Abby had against the big woman with the hammer/spike weapon. It actually felt like a Lords of the fallen or dark souls boss sort of. She was larger and stronger and can kill you in like three swings. You had to time your dodges and attack carefully. That was cool. Now probably the best scene in the game was where Abby had to follow Yara with Lily (lev) in a dark forest with only the torch to provide light while the enemies are running around you picking when to attack like in a stereotypical shark movie. The lighting, the setting was excellent. Majority of the reactions we saw of players at that moment was they found it intense. Quickly one more thing. The battle between Abby and Ellie in the theatre was what Halo 5 Guardians needed which was an in game Master chief vs locke. Now let’s get to the main problem.
So many people hated and reviewed this game for childish reasons. Number 1 being that Joel is dead so let’s be babies, cry and hate the game. Number 2 being that you play as Abby, the one who killed Joel so people complained and whined through all the time playing as her. Number 3 being that Ellie didn’t get her revenge. There’s a few others but that’s the main bullet points really, be honest. Now listen to what we say. You won’t like us for this but we are always honest. Joel is the bad guy and did a lot of really bad stuff. Think about it, you really think someone can do all that messed up stuff, walk away and live a comfortable happy life and with no consequences? Seriously. Joel killed a bunch of people, most were innocent for one girl, DENIED HUMANITY A CURE, and lied to that same girl for a long time. So Joel kills, doesn’t care about humanity, selfish and lies to that one person he really really cares about. He also didn’t give Ellie a choice as to whether she wanted to go through with the surgery or not. That’s not a good guy. It’s like Ellie said, he screwed over a lot of people so there would be a lot of people who would want him dead. Then someone does get him and kills him for what HE has done. As the Bible says you reap what you sow. No one avoids that. Not even Joel.
Now yes the doctors and should have been upfront with Joel and Ellie about the whole thing. The doctor probably thought that when they know that Ellie will die, they will be like nope, not happening which was true for Joel but funny enough, not Ellie. You must be honest. X35 himself hates lies. If they were honest from the start Ellie would have agreed and there would be a cure. Also, Joel didn’t give Ellie that choice either. Joel did to Ellie what the doctors did to him. Again, they are no better. Some say that Joel doesn’t owe humanity anything and doesn’t have to let Ellie die and get a cure. That’s true but lame reasoning. This is why real life world has many problems. Many people don’t do good things out of the kindness of their hearts. Many are selfish. it’s about what they get out of it, or I do’t owe you anything or I don’t like them etc etc. Don’t mean to make this spiritual but look up what Agape love is. It’s greek. Basically it’s the love of God where you do good to someone not because they deserve it but because you have a good nature or you are good (simplifying it). Like giving to someone knowing they won’t be able to repay you. Forgiving someone who doesn’t deserve it. So overall Joel from multiple angles is the bad guy here, not a good man and people over look all that because they like him as they played as him and know him from the first game last of us. So no, we don’t have sympathy for Joel and he did in fact get what he deserved. Justice. How is there any justice in a apocalypse. Speak for yourself. When the world goes to crap not everyone becomes a moral-less person here you do whatever and whatever. many people will hold on to their Morales, right and wrong, their beliefs and still believe in helping others. So yes justice still applies, as there are people who would still believe in it. This links into the main point.
The issue of Abby. The most hated character in Last of us 2, really. Now we understand Abby. We know why she did what she did and overall we are on her side way more than Ellie’s side. Let us explain. People need to put themselves in Abby’s shoes. Remember that we mentioned justice. Now you have a home, safe, good community, about helping humanity. You come back and find out that some guy rolled up to your place, killed so many people, compromised the compound and killed your family. The person who did that you find is living a good life in a big town with electricity with their family and seen as a good guy. You telling us that if you found this as in he is right in front of you, you wouldn’t do anything? You wouldn’t want revenge? Don’t be silly. Most people online honestly admitted they would have done the same thing but childish people like angry joe don’t factor any of this just continue to complain and hate Abby and use that as an excuse to lower their scoring of the game. Joel dying to the people he wronged is justice. What Abby did is way more just than Ellie. When Abby killed Joel she let Tommy and Ellie go which was unwise but just. Just, because they had nothing to do with what Joel did which was Abby and Owens reasoning. They were innocent so they don’t deserve to die. This decision was also unwise because these two people can come after you, which they did. Like what Penguin said to Batman in the Telltale. Batman said he doesn’t kill and Penguin responded with “and that’s why you have so many enemies”. This applies here too. By them not killing Tommy and Ellie, they allowed the opportunity for them to come and get revenge. So Abby got punished for doing the right thing (sometimes it’s like this in real life). What’s worse is that Ellie and Tommy were spared and still went after them and killed Abby’s friends. Ellie, you do know that they could have and should have killed you and if they did, you wouldn’t be able to have any revenge whatsoever.
People complained that Ellie was portrayed as the bag guy in Last of us 2. When she is the bad guy. She was spared when should have been dead and goes on a blind revenge journey. During this journey she kills a whole bunch of people, even the people who were part of the group but didn’t kill Joel. She also killed a pregnant lady as well. All to get at ONE person. What’s just about that? Abby’s group came for Joel, found Joel and ONLY killed Joel who is a bad guy. The guy who killed Abby’s dad, who was the only guy who could make the cure. Ellie got mad at Joel for lying to her but she also lies to others like the big dude who agreed to give Ellie information on where Abby was if Ellie doesn’t kill him. She got the information and killed him anyway. Hypocrite. If only Abby killed you any Ellie… if only. Ellie also begged Abby not to kill Dina who was pregnant even though she already killed Mel who was pregnant. It was real big of Abby to actually let Dina live even after learning that Ellie killed Mel who was her pregnant friend. Notice that Abby was capable and did show more compassion to others than Ellie. This was shown with Yara and Lily. Even after Abby let Ellie live a second time, Ellie still want to get her and went after her. This is so stupid. Abby let you live TWICE. TWICE. Practically no one would do that. She should have killed her then but Abby did the only thing that can break a cycle of revenge… forgiveness. Or in this case, letting it go. There is a lot about Ellie we don’t like. Now the developers clearly wanted everyone to understand and side with Abby. This whole game is showing the what revenge will do to you and how ugly it is and makes you. Even the Playstation official website said, “Experience the escalating moral conflicts created by Ellie’s relentless pursuit of vengeance. The cycle of violence left in her wake will challenge your notions of right versus wrong, good versus evil and hero versus villain.” The goal was obvious. They spelt it out. It makes players wonder who the real villain is, how Ellie has gone too far and lost all morality. Last of us 2 wants to challenge players notions of right and wrong. Hopefully be honest about all this. It’s not about your feelings or whether you like Abby. It’s the facts and what they did.
Remember this isn’t a full review of Last of us, we mainly wanted to discuss the issue gamers had concerning Abby mainly while giving some good points about the game. So we won’t talk about a number of things. We put that idea of Gold glove in above he was one of the people who understood Abby’s side and her reasons. The flash backs and the order you play things in isn’t bad at all. We kept track of everything easily. It wasn’t complex or all over the place to us. It was simple. Present time, then fast forward, then flash back for memories, present, then in the past for Abby’s perspective, a flash back of her memories, back to the past of her perspective then to the present. Just summarising but it’e easy to understand. Now Last of Us 2 is an excellent game. It did what it set out to do successfully. Think about how many gamers got emotional, was moved and even got triggered. It’s suppose to be a journey. The playstation website said “Confront the devastating physical and emotional repercussions of Ellie’s actions”. It did this. She became the bad guy, the hypocrite etc. Not only that but we saw the consequences of her actions… she basically lost everything. Dina left her, Tommy is broken, Jesse is dead. All of that was preventable. She didn’t even get her revenge. Abby didn’t’t die. This means all that was for nothing. It was also a lesson for the players. Revenge, its consequences, loss, morality, emotions, understanding people, seeing things from a different perspective and a bit of forgiveness etc. Remember that Ellie who you aren’t mad at did what Abby did so if you aren’t mad at Ellie then don’t be mad at Abby. So stop letting your feelings get in the way and judge the game for what is is and not that Joel died. There’s so much we wanted to say but this post is long already.
So overall from what we have seen, Last of us 2 an excellent game. A journey for sure, prompts lots of thinking and relating. Not really suppose to be played twice. These cry baby you tubers like angry Joe need to grow up and do a better job at reviewing games. The developers Naughty Dog did an excellent job.
Bright Memory Infinite is a new First person shooter action game developed by ‘FYQD-Studio‘ and published by ‘Playism‘. Bright Memory: Infinite is said to be coming out in 2021, so yep, next year. It’s an Xbox exclusive that’s coming out on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One and PC. Bright Memory: Infinite is looking real serious. Let’s take a look.
Bright Memory: Infinite is set in the future. How far? The year 2036 in a “sprawling metropolis”. Things seemed normal until something unusual happened. Basically something wacky is happening in the skies over various regions. Some look like little black holes or spheres in the skies plus other stuff. The SRO (Supernatural science research organisation), wait that’s two S’s. Shouldn’t it be SSRO? Whatever we didn’t develop this game. Basically the SRO sent out their agents to go and see what’s up.
Now there isn’t much information on Bright Memory: Infinite but we did pick up some things. We are going to focus on the action s it stands out the most. So whoever we are controlling they are well equipped. Guns for traditional long ranged combat, machine guns, auto pistols but seeing the sword brought things to the next level. The sword can create shockwave blasts when you slam down to the ground, off course swings to slice them up and even break through the defense of certain defensive enemies.
Things get crazier as special abilities are also in play. There was what looked like a time stop ability or should we say stasis as the environment wasn’t effected by time or slow down so more like stasis. Stasis or time is always an amazing power. Also impressive is an energy or ionic tether whip which you can use to grab ip pull yourself to that location or even enemies and pull them to you “get over here” style. Seriously this character is shaping up to be a powerful contender. Think ab out it: Guns, sword, stasis and energy tether whip. We just hope Bright Memory: Infinite has worthy enemies.
We have to talk about the visuals right now. The graphics are excellent. Completely amazing. We checked out the developers twitter account and he showed comparison pictures of a rock and step showing the difference the engine he’s using makes on the details of the objects. It’s a step up. The grass, the rain effects, the wind, the trees, the wood all looks excellent. The graphics are excellent. When we enter this game we will take a moment to just look around and see what’s happening. In case you didn’t
We did notice some of the enemies and currently more on the disappointed side. There are off course human enemies with guns who are standard but there’s also what looks like centurion type enemies, shield sword, helmet etc. These guys are tougher, shield block bullets and actually have a projectile. When they swing their blade at you it released a ball of energy or whatever straight at you so evasion is needed. The sword is a good counter against these enemies but even tis enemy isn’t enough. We truly hope for a big variety of enemies, maybe some that can teleport to match your speed and fire power for example. The enemies are currently underwhelming but we will have to see.
We checked some Bright Memory: Infinite gameplay and it’s just pure action. Besides everything we already mentioned there is even more. Basically at the end of the trailer the character called in a vehicle in which she got in and was pursued by another vehicle. It became a car chase. We don’t know if there will be car chases in the game but this trailer is strongly suggesting that this is the case. It’s got to be the main method of traversing the game like with the hover bike like thing in Destiny. So we can look forward to a vehicle.
Overall Bright Memory: Infinite looks like a very good game. Not much is known from a story point of view but from what we have seen it looks very good. The graphics, environment and action are excellent. There’s some force type techniques too like a push punch. There’s definitely more to be seen. The developers ‘FYGD-studio’ have done a very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing what memories, Bright Memory: Infinite will create for gamers. Now Bright Memory: Infinite may have futuristic battles and abilities but those things are no where near advanced enough to match… the ‘Earth Walk!’
The Ascent is a new solo and co-op action RPG developed by ‘Neon Giant‘ and published by ‘Curve Digital‘. The Ascent is said to be coming out in 2020 but no specific date. The Ascent is an Xbox exclusive that’s coming out on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC. We normally like games of this style so naturally we checked it out. Let’s take a look.
In the Ascent universe there is a corporation… well a mega corporation known as the ‘The Ascent group’. They are said to own every everyone, including the player. This mega corporation has collapsed… somehow. This effects everything including security and order. So off course with The Ascent group gone, there is chaos and violence as let’s just say… non peaceful corporations and gangs are taking advantage of the situation. So off course you got to get control of the situation and found out what happened.
Now we definitely got an interest in The Ascent simply because of style. We like the whole top down shooting games thing. It reminds us of Alien Breed for example. Now that game is very good and a lot of fun with co-op action. So far The Ascent has those elements in terms of co-op action (which is excellent and the straight up combat. Games like this are not hard to make good but it’s the job or developers to take it to the next level. Hopefully The Ascent does such a thing.
The Ascent has a number of areas for the player to explore. There are many districts and some are run down and not so great like the slums while other places will be high end luxury places spheres. So make sure to take pictures – we mean be on your guard. Don’t forget that you will have opportunities to make allies and enemies. So be careful, do you really need more enemies, but what do they want in return for being an ally. Some people you can’t trust. Especially if you meet a alien called pablo.
There are a variety of enemies and off course each have their own strengths and weaknesses. She enemies are sower with their attacks. Some are melee only, others just attack from afar. You get the point by now. Off course don’t forget that The Ascent is also an RPG. Enemies can drop loot. The most dangerous enemies are worth slaying as they can drop the best and rarest loot of all. Your characters can also be augmented and customised. How you build your character will pretty much effect how you should approach the enemies. Use cyberware to modify your body, and your equipment makes a difference.
We checked out some The Ascent gameplay and it’s what we thought it would be. Top down, move around, dodge attacks, keep distance, shoot them down and make your way. You explore the area (as you should) and open up chests for items. The shooting enemies don’t seem so aggressive. There’s also abilities like a ground pound attack so you can mix that in to destroy groups of enemies. There is a dome shield that moves with you and offers excellent protection. The Ascent is already setting a huge bar for games to follow with no loading, environment destruction stays and it’s incredibly detailed and this isn’t even the final build yet. As expected we say playstation fans just dumping all over it for no logical reason but hey if you like it, play it and have fun.
Overall, The Ascent looks amazing so far. It’s incredibly detailed. The graffiti, the environment and as mentioned before the environment damage stays. The graphics are excellent, the sounds are serious and the in game character animations are excellent too. If this is what the Xbox Series X is brining then we are looking forward to it. The developers ‘Neon Giant’ have done an amazing job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker definitely look forward to what The Ascent truly brings. Now The Ascent may ascend gameplay but nothing is as ascended as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 is a new game collection developed by ‘B.B Studio’ and published by ‘Bandai Namco‘. Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 is said to be coming out the 18th of June 2020 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC. Now there isn’t much to say about a game collection like this. Let’s take a look.
Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 is a collection of games. 8-bit games like Pac-man and Dig Dug. Now there is a catch though. There’s 11 games in total with 1 of them being a 8 bit DEmastered version of Pac-Man Championship Edition. This is weird as we haven’t heard of that but it off course can be done. We truly enjoy Pacman Championship Edition 2 so to see a demasteeed version of the first one will be real interesting. It’s clear that this remastered game is the main star of the Namco Museum Archives Vol 1.
Here’s a list of the game in Namco Museum Archives Vol 1: Pac-Man, Dragon Buster, Dig Dug, Xevious, Mappy, The Tower of Druaga, Sky Kid, Galaxian, Dragon Spirit: The New Legend, Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti. So you probably recognise some of these but not all. Some of these weren’t released in the west. So maybe here’s your chance.
Overall Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 is just another game collection. Take a look at it, se any games you like from the list and then decide if you want to get it or not. The only games that interest us this is Dig Dug, Pacman the remastered Championship Edition one and regular pac-man. The developers did alright with this but we think more is needed to make this an eye catcher. Now Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 may have 11 games in total but that not enough for… the ‘Earth Walk!
Crucible has been around for a bit now so we decide to take another look at it. Crucible is a team based action shooter game developed by ‘Amazon Games’. So check out our first G-blog post on Crucible right here. So we just wanted to give our thoughts on the action.
The first things that really jumps out and what we like is the environments. These maps are big, got space and obstacles allowing for moving around and making cover out of a big hill or rock for example. There’s colours everywhere and it meets your idea of a futuristic alien planet. You expect colourful flora and fauna, you expect crystalline rocks sticking out of the ground. If there is intelligent life, you expect some strange infrastructure. The maps look good.
Ajonah, the Orisi, character is clearly more of a long ranged fighter and her abilities show that. Her squid mine doesn’t seem that effective from what we have seen so far. Yes, the mines along with her other equipment are meant to help her stay away and keep foes away. Her grappling hook is really good though. The hook has a big range, bigger than you would think. You can grab a rock or whatever and swing through the air like spider man. The animation she has as she swings is excellent and acrobatic.
Sazan is a straightforward character and is all about cycling through her weapons for the best situation. The Electroknife is good for that in between attack as it recharges weapon energy getting your equipment ready and if you land that knife throw it does damage over time for a good while. Her shotgun doesn’t seem good though. The damage seems too low and seems very in accurate. Overall she does what it says on the box.
Crucible does get tactical and will force players to work together as some characters are far weaker than others in terms of their health. For example Bugg is clearly a support type and not to be upfront as other characters destroy him quick. He is strong by shielding allies and even setting up turrets. So players need to take into account what they are suppose to do with that character. Like what were they made for. If you want to rush in then get an actual rush character.
The equipment make a difference. Like the medkit which off course restores health and can get you back in the fight faster. The characters equipment customisation is simple and straightforward.
The map of the battlefield is very good. It’s a full map, detailed and has multiple symbols to show everything. This gives a goo amount of information for players to use. You can see your team and move while viewing the map.
There’s an in game during match upgrade system where as you gather essence you upgrade your character. For example on upgrade on Sazan means a more accurate shotgun and even dashing more frequently. The dash ability does make a difference.
We like what we see in terms of gameplay. We just hope the balancing of the characters improve. Yes we know the games new but it’s just our thoughts. In more time players will figure out the upgrade paths for all characters and we hope those are balanced too which is hard to do in games like this.
Crucible just looks like a fun game right now. Definitely different from other games right now but obviously a similar concept. The A.I enemies which makes Crucible stand out need more variety. We need more than just that big alien cow thing. We need fierce monsters the are risky too. Now Crucible may have some good stuff going on but it’s not nearly as good as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Goosebumps: Dead of Night is a new action adventure game developed and published by ‘Cosmic Forces‘. Goosebumps: Dead of Night is said to be coming out the 12th of June 2020 on the Xbox One and PC. We heard that it’s coming out also on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. Slappy is back and he’s up to no good. Let’s take a look.
In Goosebumps: Dead of Night, Slappy is back. He escaped from the pages of goosebumps. Not only that but he has brought together his crew of monsters. The goal of the player is to trap Slappy back into the goosebumps book. Slappy has a plan and is up to no good. The player must solve puzzles and thwart Slappy’s plans. Off course his monster friend aren’t going to simply let you do that.
So as you are searching fir the missing pages of the book, the monsters will be about ready to mean you harm. Expect to encounter the Annihilator 3000, graveyard ghoul, werewolf of fever swamp, lawn gnomes and murder the clown are all here and ready to roll. They will stop the player and deliver a scare while they’re at it. We honestly hope these enemies are scary though because we feel like we can punch that clown in the face and it will be over with.
We checked out some Goosebumps: Dead of Night gameplay and it’s sort of what we expected but we we believe it needs more. We get that it’s Slappy but this doesn’t seem scary in the slightest. We like that the werewolf crawls after you. We like that there are areas, in the three chapters that you play, that are recognisable, described as classic Goosebump locations. So fans of the Goosebump series will like this. It seems that the monsters function differently. The lawn gnomes seem to be more of a annoyance and distraction, running away and causing trouble while the clown and werewolf seem to come straight for you as a clear threat. This will mix things up as it should do. Simple enemies aren’t fun.
Overall Goosebumps: Dead of Night just seems like another indie game. It will be fun for some gamers as it’s quite simple, run away from enemies and search for pages, reminding some of Slender man. Youtubers will like it as it’s more fuel for views by screaming and running away. We honestly don’t see enough for this game to be a big deal for us. It just seems like simple fun and facing off against Slappy. The developers ‘Cosmic Forces’ have worked hard on this game. We at X35 Earthwalker always recognise work and effort. Some gamers will enjoy this. Now Goosebumps: Dead of Night may have Slappy but he’s a complete joke when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV is a 2D side scrolling action game that was developed and published by ‘Square Enix‘. A King’s Tale was released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. We didn’t know this game existed when it launched. We heard about it last month and decided to give it a try. It’s Final Fantasy XV after all. To put it shortly, it’s an awesome game. Let’s take a look.
The story in A King’s Tale is very simple. It’s set in Final Fantasy XV (off course) and it’s King Regis telling a bedtime story to his son prince Noctis. Off course this takes place years before Final Fantasy XV because Noctis is clearly a child and Regis is looking younger and ‘clean wid it’ (looking good). Noctis has heard all the stories in the book and wants something new. So king Regis gives him a story based on his past adventures with his friends. Noctis says it’s fin for his dad to add, exaggerate and make it up as he goes along. So ‘A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV’ is literally a tale from king Regis to his son… in the world of Final Fantasy. Plot twist!!!
First things first, the controls. A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV has simple controls… not as simple as the controls in another amazing game called Maze Time but simple still. Not only that, the game effectively explains everything and throughout the game gives you reasons why you should use them. Some games fail to do that. Everything is incredibly responsive and the invincibility frames on your roll dodge is very generous. Everything has a purpose. Now even though the controls are simple, the game mechanics are quite deep. For example there are combos you can perform which have different amounts of damage, effects and even counters. Use the first few levels to practice and try them all to see what feels good and works best. Now as an example strong slashes are great against master ronins, quick slashes work very well against goblins while shield bash is great coeurls. Use roll dodge to get out of any situation. Here’s your greatest piece of wisdom of 2020 for now from the great X35 Earthwalker… “When in doubt, just roll dodge.” You’re welcome.
So run from left to right, defeating all the enemies that come your way until you can move on. It’s like Streets of Rage as a side scrolling action game. Simple to understand. So let’s talk about the enemies. Almost all the enemies have a stronger variation of themselves that normally has an extra ability or effect. For samples you will encounter the skeletons which will always block the third attack of your combo but the master skeletons will block strong slashes and will counter quick slashes. So if you strike with a quick slash, it will parry it and then hit you back too quick to dodge. A ronin can be hit with anything but a master ronin will block quick slashes and shield bashes so strong attacks are needed. A literal upgrade of previous enemies. The Midgardsormr will pop up from underground to strike you but can be stunned with a specific strike. You have to do strong, strong then shield bash from behind it. The iron giants are big and strong but wait for them to strike, get behind them and start swinging. Even the behemoth is in A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV. These guys have a tail attack that can hit both sides if you are too close. Be careful. Goblins attack in swarms and will try to use their knives. They aren’t difficult at all as there’s many ways to deal with them. There are explosive enemies called bombs that will explode if you stand near them. If you attack them with a slash they get knocked back and grow bigger but won’t explode. If you shield bash them though, you can send them flying towards enemies so they can get blown up. Believe it or not, there are more enemies and they have their own tricks too. A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV has many enemies and variety is a good thing.
The game isn’t long at all. A skilled player can beat it within 2 hours. It was never meant to be a big game. There is some deployability though. First of all we heard there is an alternate ending to the story so players got to beat it again to get that different ending. Also there is Dream Battles. Basically Noctis dreams the story he heard but with a slight twist to it. You play each level of the game again but there is a specific mission condition you must fulfil. It could be like defeat an army of flan enemies but use no magic. It could be to beat a frenzy of enemies within a time limit. It could be to finish a whole mission without the aid of your companions. So there’s still stuff to do. Oh and speaking of companions…
Probably our favourite thing about A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV is working with your companions to defeat the enemies. There’s a whole system to it. If you get 8 hits on enemies without getting hit yourself you can call one of your companions to jump in and launch their attack. Each one is powerful and has their own use. The main man Weskham comes in with dual pistols firing at enemies in front and behind him dealing good damage. Cid jumps in and does a single powerful slash that travels across the ground with piercing effect. So line em up and ol Cid will knock them down. Clarus comes in and swings his dual blade three times damaging everything within his attacking circumference range. If you hit enemies a total of 24 times without getting hit you can use the Armiger. This ultimate attack allows Regis (the player) to use his Lucius family power of the king. He warps to an enemy, normally the one with the most health, levitates and uses four of his royal arms to smash an enemy dealing immense damage. Now listen up kids. If you use each of your companions attacks before using Armiger you, each on of them will come in and do a different more powerful focused attack on different enemies before you finish up with the royal arms. Very cool mechanic that promotes avoiding damage and playing flawlessly to get these abilities.
A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV is a deep game with it’s mechanics, enemies and the combat. We mentioned it but didn’t explain that there’s lots of combos and moves. Simply you can do 3 quick slashes, 3 strong slashes and 3 shield bashes. There’s also quick quick shield, strong strong shield and then there’s quick quick strong which launches enemies into the air where you can then launch repeated strong or quick slashes or defend with shield. You can do quick quick strong to bring your enemy down with a strong descending strike. . You can do dodge roll to jump of your enemy and them either dash straight into an enemy on the ground with a strike with a quick slash or with shield after jumping to do a descending shield ground pound attack to knock back, or use a strong slash to do a big area of effect descending smash move. There’s lots you can do. So try them all out.
Overall A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV is an awesome game. It’s short like it was suppose to be but definitely awesome. It has simple controls but the mechanics surrounding enemies and attacks are deep. The final boss battle is epic. You have lots of dangerous enemies constantly coming for you while you target and deal with the boss at the same time. It’s a hectic battle with lots of opportunities for your companion attacks and Armiger. This game is difficult though as more enemy types like the Tonberry and Cactuar come in, things can get real crazy. The developers, ‘Square Enix’ have done an awesome job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker really enjoyed playing A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV. If you haven’t played this game before, we recommend it. Now A King’s Tale might be set in the awesome world of Final Fantasy XV but even that doesn’t put it on the same level as… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Crucible is a new team based action shooter developed and published by ‘Amazon Games‘ and also Relentless Studios is involved. Crucible came out the 20th of May 2020 on PC. It might come out on consoles like Xbox but there has been no given date. Games like this trend to move to consoles anyways so it’s reasonable to expect a console release. Let’s take a look.
Firstly we want to say that we normally never write about games like Crucible that are currently PC only so we will keep this short but we think it’s a bad idea to make a serious team based shooter game only on PC. Even worse if you do move it to consoles imagine the huge disadvantage console players will have. They will need to separate console and pc players.
Since it’s a team based shooter, we know what to expect. Two teams with different class and types of characters with different skills working together to eliminate the other teamer some sort of objectives. We know of three game modes: ‘Alpha hunters’ which is 8 teams of 2 who straight up battle it out to be the lats team standing. ‘Harvester Command’ which two teams of eight this time and they are fighting to hold essence harvesters to be the first to get 100 points. ‘Heart of the Hives’ is the real interesting one though.
Heart of the Hives is what is getting Crucible some attention and making others say that Crucible is fresh and stands out from other team based shooters like Overwatch or Paladins. In Heart of the Hives two teams of four have to face “large, neutral bosses” in the field. The team which kills three bosses and capture their “hearts” is the winner. aWe don’t know what the hearts are. Now this isn’t too original as Halo 5 guardians has a similar thing. In Warzone mode two big teams will fight each other for points but at certain times A.I enemies and bosses will show up on the field for teams to beat to get extra points to get closer to victory. So this neutral A.I thing has been done before. Also there are small A.I enemies who inhabit bases and cause trouble. So we are glad Crucible are doing this as it’s a great idea and truly adds to the combat. Ee just hope they do it well.
Now quickly let’s discuss the hunters. Captain mendoza who is your basic good balance soldier type who has a run and gun style. He can aim, sprint, throw a grenade, so basically Viktor from paladins. The character you can easily learn and do some good ranged damage. Shakirri is your honour bound, disciplined fighter. She has two stances: pistal and sword. In pistol she off course shoots, can zoom in but in the sword stance you move faster, can send out a disruption wave to harm and disrupt enemies. She also has a force field to protect herself. There’s Tosca is a Chirt and has a bad attitude. It’s a small genius creature that has a small teleportation ability, fires a acid rounds shotgun and can through in an explosive compound (basically a grenade). Tosca also has an X-ray ability which “immediately detect all opponents within 50 meters in front of you.” There’s more like Rahi & brother, Summer, Bugg, Sazan, Drakahl, and Ajonah who’s actually cool. She’s a fish person, a Osiri to be exact and specialises in long range combat and uses traps.
Overall Crucible looks like a cool looking team shooter game. Having neutral A.I enemies is an awesome feature and we hope they are actually a challenge. We like the different character species and how different they look with their own personality traits, issues and story. Definitely liking the graphics and visuals and so far the abilities look useful and sort of balanced. The developers ‘Amazon Games’ have done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker hope Crucible comes to consoles and fast otherwise don’t bother. Now Crucible may have futuristic battles and species but even those are primitive when compared too… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Maneater is a new action role playing game developed and published by ‘Tripwire Interactive’. Maneater is said to be coming out the 22nd of May 2020 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and pc. Sharks are dangerous but this is taking things too far. Humans beware. Let’s take a look.
There is a story in Maneater. The story campaign has been described as ‘full narrative’. It’s narrated by Chris Parnell, the guy who did Saturday night live, 30 rock and even that annoying Rick and Morty. The story is set against the backdrop of a reality TV show. We don’t have the details… or maybe we do but don’t want to share… either way you’ll have to wait fro learn for yourself.
Maneater has a very simple concept. A shark can eat a human so they made a whole game around that with some twists. That’s the whole game of Maneater. Players are a shark and you go around primarily eating humans but you can fight other creatures too like alligators. So basically eat what comes in your way or what you come to. Eat or be eaten basically is the rule here.
That’s the objective… to eat. You grow and get stronger the more you eat and there’s a lot on the menu as Maneater is also open world. You can go through the whole ocean, finding all kinds of creatures and stuff to eat. Not only that, you can evolve to. Yep Maneater is on it’s Evolve today. There’s multiple evolving paths you can take with your shark. There’s a armoured shark where it has like hardened bone structure on it’s body and face for additional protection and toughness. There’s another where you look like a 3/4 shark and 1/4 glow squid deep sea thing. It’s actually cool looking. They come with new abilities and more chaos.
Don’t get ahead of yourself though. Like with Feeding Frenzy, you don’t start off as the big bad shark that everyone fears. Nope! You start as a small little shark. You then have to eat and survive to grow up, get bigger and stronger, being able to face stronger, bigger and more dangerous foes. Both animal and human. Eventually you will be big and strong enough to take on the humans. You can face the local drunks who are unorganised while the coast guard are a real problem. Like seriously they have guns and proper equipment.
We checked out some Maneater gameplay and it’s not exactly what we thought. There’s way more agility and unrealistic shark movement and abilities going on and we like that. You have to find loot to evolve your shark. There’s a number of different areas like beaches, the ocean, gulf coast and even industrial docks. We like that eventually you get cool abilities like smashing through boats completely, leaping out of the water to snatch humans off boats. It’s different from other games and definitely stands out.
Overall Maneater looks like a real cool game. We definitely like the simple concept of it. Jaws, but this shark is smarter, more blood hungry, more powerful and far more dangerous because of it. Sharks eating humans can work. The developers ‘Tripwire Interactive’ have a done a great job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to keep an eye on our sonar for any Maneater activity. Now Maneater may have a evolving hungry shark but that shark is a little goldfish when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
