Halo Infinite is the game that so many many people have been waiting for. It’s a First Person Shooter looking like an open world game developed by ‘343 Industries‘ and published by ‘Xbox Game Studios‘. Halo Infinite is coming out on 2021 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. Halo Infinite has so much potential that it’s crazy. There’s so much room for the good stuff to make this the best game of the year easily. So here we will just talk about what we want to see but we won’t give away everything. Let’s take a look.
Now as the universes ultimate strategist and easily the most intelligent gamer ever, X35 Earthwalker knows what he is talking about is is the most authoritative. Off course we like to hear from you guys so let us know what you think. First things first, Halo Infinite has dropped huge hints of open world. We are convinced that it’s open world and if you want to see our first G-blog post on Halo Infinite then use the link here. Hall is one of those games who can easily make their game open world. Look at the previous halo games and check out those levels where you ride a warthog through the mission and there are trees, structures, rocks etc and you can see how Halo is capable of exploration. When you look at the map in Halo Infinite, just imagine it bigger. Imagine being able to eventually explore the entire Halo ring. After all the Halo ring is basically a planet.
Open world is just the start. The next thing that we want Halo Infinite to have is wildlife. We mentioned this in out first blog post about Halo Infinite. Halo Reach had large animals that can attack and kill you in the night mission with the spartan Jun. Those things were cool but so easy to kill. Halo Infinite showed deer or antlers. We need the wildlife yes as it adds to the environment. After all Halo is a massive planet sized ring. Surely there has to be bears, sharks, insects etc. Bring them in. Imagine killing the banished in the area but you take cover to regain your shields but a bear comes out from behind and one shots you. Scary ain’t it? Hold up though. This is Halo as in the 26th century… the future. Bring in some alien advanced looking animals too. Bring in beasts with large forearms and tusks. Animals that clearly aren’t from earth. Get creative! We want to see a dangerous but passive sand worm thing that you can detect through the rumble of your controller or headphones and you have to stay out of its path or its instant death.
Another thing we do want to see… is the return of warzone. Warzone is the best game mode in Halo history in our opinion. It’s the perfect representation of a war. You could get ran over by a ghost, a dude snipe your head of with a sniper rifle, or a guy with a sword with three speed boosts running around. Anything can happen, like in a war. It forces players to react, adapt and deal with the constantly changing situations that happen. You think you are safe with Nornfang but then you get assassinated, robbed and tea bagged by a guy who is invisible thanks to active camouflage. Warzone is an excellent mode which does need some adjustments though for Halo Infinite. Warzone is crazy. So they need certain limits of the number of vehicles a team can have, the req weapons be split into tiers and thus make it easier to limit and manage.
The next thing we want to see in Halo Infinite is a Battle Royale. Hate on it all you want but if there is any game that has the universe, design and right to do a battle Royale… it’s Halo. Look at the view of the land and level in Halo Infinite during the lift segment of the gameplay trailer. It looks perfect for a battle Royale. Imagine a huge map with mountains, grass, forests etc, someone is high up on. A Spartan on a hill with a sniper rifle trying to snipe but there’s someone with an active camouflage sneaking up behind them. Or someone with a banshee flying around looking for the right moments to strike but a player finds a rocket launcher that has homing capabilities goes to take him down. Imagine maybe 100 players. Everyone starts with the assault rifle. There are loot drops in the form of ODST style pods. Boosts to your shields can be found, armour abilities like active camp, sprint and even hard light shield or even bring back armour lock can be found but have limited uses like twice or whatever depending on how strong the ability is. Maybe each player can earn a respawn depending on the number of kills they acquire like killing 1 person gains a respawn but then need 5 kills to earn a second respawn. When respawning you can pick within a radius of where you died that you can ODST drop back in. It’s possible here.
That’s some of the things we want to see in Halo Infinite and will make the game much better. Make it open world, bring in wild life, bring back modes like warzone and even breakout and do Battle Royale. This is just some of the stuff we want to see in Halo Infinite. Simply put, 343 Industries should not be afraid to try new things. Halo Infinite is being called “the most ambitious Halo game ever made” and even “the most expansive Master Chief campaign yet”. They need to live up to these. Get ambitious. Now X35 Earthwalker is excited for Halo Infinite. We will keep an eye on this game and see what happens. Now Halo Infinite may have all the potential but it’s nothing special when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Tetris Effect Connected is a new arcade puzzle game developed by ‘Monstars Inc.’, ‘Resonair’, ‘Stage Games’ and published by ‘Enhance‘. Tetris Effect: Connected is said to be coming out 2020 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC. It’s Tetris, that alone should tell you what this is all about. Let’s take a look.
Tetris Effect: Connected is Tetris at the end of the day which means you got to place falling blocks of different shapes and patterns in places to fill up rows to get rid of them and score the big points. If you don’t know what Tetris is then you should be ashamed of yourself for the most part. We never cared about Tetris but we knew what it was. Now Tetris Effect: Connected is like Pac-Man Championship Edition 2… a bigger, better game with the same foundation formula but with new features, mechanics, more colours and more flashiness.
The Single player has been upgraded and levelled up. There are all new modes like ‘Zone Battle’ which has “time-stopping Zone mechanic” which can be the thing that helps bring someone from behind in the game or maybe in front. This shakes up the 1v1 battles. New features and mechanics means new tactics and new things to taken into account. There’s said to be over 10 modes in Tetris Effect: Connected so expect lots of things to do in this game. This isn’t the main thing nor what we care about that much.
What we really care about is the multiplayer as that’s the biggest upgrade in our opinion. The multiplayer has what’s called connected mode. This where up to three players can actually connect their playing fields together and play as a team. This team must do their best to defeat CPU bosses. A whole series of them and they keep getting harder and harder. So working together and doing your best is the solution. We don’t know if there is a difficulty adjustment for the number of players working together or not.
Tetris Effect: Connected has the green badge of Xbox Series X approval. You know what this means. “Games built using the Xbox Series X development kit are designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the Xbox Series X. They will showcase unparalleled load-times, visuals, responsiveness, and frame rates up to 120 FPS.” So expect 120 frames per second of Tetris Effect: Connected goodness.
We checked out some Tetris Effect: Connected gameplay and it’w what we thought it would be just more flashy. There over 30 different stages to play on, more than 10 modes. The effects don’t make things hard to see. It’s Tetris at the end of the day, so don’t expect any sticky plasma grenades. Our favourite thing is clearly facing the CPU bosses like that scorpion. Tetrtic Effect: Connected will have both cooperative and competitive gameplay which will be both local (old for that) and online. There’s options.
Overall Tetris Effect: Connected is looking like an excellent game so far. Tetris Effect was good but this new game is even better. It has all the previous great stuff plus more. The multiplayer is definitely going to be the best feature of this game and we like the flashiness and work that’s gone into this game. The developers ‘Monstars Inc.’, ‘Resonair’, ‘Stage Games’ have done an excellent job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what else Tetris Effect: Connected has up it’s sleeves. Now Tetris Effect: Connected may have a new flashy upgrade but it’s incredibly dull when compared too… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is a new online action Role Playing Game developed and published by Sega. Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is said to be coming out 2021 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis does look like something real big. Let’s take a look.
Now we have never heard about Phantasy Star. Not at all. Never. We saw this being showed at the Xbox showcase 2020. It did get our attention as it was big, fast, pure action and definitely flashy. We saw a big open world and reaction combat with dangerous looking enemies. We don’t know if the enemies are dangerous or not or how easy the game is or not. This won’t be a big or in depth G-blog post.
Now we definitely like open world games with big action. Final Fantasy XV did very well with this. Now the developers of Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis made a very big statement. Read this, “We are working very hard to offer players unparalleled character customization, limitless adventure, and the best action online RPG available on the Xbox One or PC”. This is a big job for sure. Through a bit of research we learnt that Phantasy Star online 2 is praised for it’s character customisation. So we will see if that’s true for ourselves.
The Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis developers said “limitless adventure”. That’s huge. This can be done but either has tons of development work or repeated similar task for grinding etc. We aren’t sure what route Sega will take to do this but hope they do it well. A number of gamers are looking for a open world game that is actually limitless but most developers don’t know how to do that properly.
We checked out some Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis gameplay and it looks very good. There’s lots of mobility. You can slide around, dash, suspend and attack in the air and sprint around to get different angles or avoid attacks. There’s quite a bit of options here concerning combat. Speaking of options you can not just use your blade but firearms too. So depending on the enemy or what’s going on, players can either get up close or gun them down. There’s loads of lights and colours showing a vibrant game with life in it. We are liking what we are seeing.
Overall Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis looks like it’s going to be a good game. There are great MMORPG games like Tera and Skyforge which have made some annoying mistakes concerning playing solo or in a team, advantages of guilds/teams and access. We hope Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis does it well. The graphics are excellent and sounds are very good. The developers ‘Sega’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing what Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis truly has to offer. Now Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis may have tons of world and action but it’s far too small to be recognised when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Warhammer 40000: Darktide is a new action first person shooter game developed and published by ‘Fatshark’. Warhammer 40000: Darktide is an Xbox exclusive said to be coming out 2012 on the Xbox Series X and PC. Now this game has gotten a lot of people’s attention. Now none of that matters, what does matter is that it got our attention. Let’s take a look.
Now X35 Earthwalker checked this out and we got a healthy amount of information. In the world of Warhammer 40000: Darktide it seems that team work is heavily emphasised. Even in the trailer it’s a team of four with one of them being wounded. These four people are in Tertium, which is a hive city. Players with others will be in another battle between of the imperium vs the chaos factions. This isn’t your friendly neighbourhood hive city. It’s busy, populated and full of enemies… whole hordes of them. They have been described as “enemies you have only seen in your nightmares”. You get to face them.
Now we hope they do look like nightmarish creatures. Many games try to say their enemies are terrifying and scary but fail. We end up blowing through them like they are trash without a care in the world. Nothing scary about them. So Warhammer 40000: Darktide need to bring forth actually scary enemies which isn’t hard to do. Once again if we were put on development teams or better yet in charge we would bring out the best stuff. Like seriously, make them actually scary. Make things dark, have creatures of different speeds, give them scary noises that range in sounds. Have creatures that pounce from the dark with serious consequences. We won’t say more.
Now what we also know that’s great news is that the developers are getting rid of some cheap strategies. They are focusing on making melee and being up close essential in Warhammer 40000: Darktide. Now players can’t play cheap and hide behind powerful ranged weapons all day long which makes the game boring. Now one way of doing this would be to have enemies the are so fast that aiming and shutting isn’t the best option. They could amp up the number of enemies to make it so that you can’t mow them all down with firearms or don’t have time to reload. Either way we hope they do it make that variety in combat is needed, specifically melee.
Apparently there’s more going on down in Tertium. There’s a cult called ‘Admonition’ in Warhammer 40000: Darktide. Their goal is to have control of the planet Atoma prime. They will destroy those who live there and bring an overwhelming tide of darkness. Your primary goal is to sort this cult out. To get rid of the enemy before the whole city becomes a messed up chaotic place (like it isn’t already). Now remember that Fatshark are the same people who developed Warhammer 40000: Vermintide so that excites a number of fans but not us. We didn’t like Warhammer 40000: Vermintide
There is no gameplay but from the information we gathered on Warhammer 40000: Darktide we basically know what it’s going to be. It’s 4 player co-op, in a dark place, facing hordes in first person action with serious monsters who are chilling in the dark. Sounds like our kind of game. Just make sure it has local co-op. Those games that only has online co-op are just wasting our time. From what we have seen it looks good and we like the concept. They just need to deliver.
Overall Warhammer 40000: Darktide looks like it’s going to be a very good game. We have high expectations and know exactly how to make Warhammer 40000: Darktide awesome. They better not mess up. We at X35 Earthwalker are definitely looking forward to Warhammer 40000: Darktide. The developers ‘Fatshark’ have a lot to do… do your best guys. Now Warhammer 40000: Darktide may have nightmarish enemies but those enemies are a joke when up against… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Second Extinction is a new co-op first person shooter game developed and published by ‘Systemic Reaction‘. It’s stated exactly when this game will come out but we assume basically when the Xbox Series X comes out. Second Extinction is an Xbox exclusive and will come out on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One (X) and PC. We at X35 Earthwalker like dinosaurs and dinosaur games. Let’s take a look.
Now just from looking at this game we can figure out what the story will be. Second Extinction is set in a ruined world. Dinosaurs have taken over and mankind once again is in trouble. Your job is to wipe out these dinosaurs. This off course is easier said than done. Teamwork is essential, required, vital, needed. These dinosaurs don’t mess around. You’ll see.
If you couldn’t tell from the picture above, these aren’t regular dinosaurs. Mutations have taken place which have transformed these creatures into something more fierce. That’s right! Those Deinonychus have got an upgrade in Second Extinction. They are being called electric raptors. First things first, people mistake Deinonychus for velociraptor. Velociraptors are small. We could stomp them while the Deinonychus is the big ones you see in the movies that jump on you, hunt in packs and super dangerous. They are raptor dinosaurs still but there’s a difference. So not only are there electric raptors but also behemoth T-rexes who are basically bigger versions of T-rexes. More size means more power and more health. Expect dangerous mutated dinosaurs who will eat you.
Remember when we mentioned that Second Extinction is a ‘co-op’ first person shooter game. Co-op is the key word. That’s right. 3 player strikeforces. You as a team must take part in combat operations that are suppose to be short but intense. We will be the judges of that. If you’ve been around for a while then you know how we feel about co-op in big games. We need more of it and glad that more games are making their big action available for friends gameplay. A bunch of electric raptors would be too much for one person, except X35 Earthwalker off course, so having a team where you can watch each others backs etc is excellent.
Now let’s talk about the squad… or should we say squads. You must put together a crew from a group of fighters. Each one has their own skills, weapon of choice and history. Create your desired squad to reclaim the earth… like a reclaimer… get it? Reclaimer… Master Chief… Halo… Xbox? Whatever you suck anyway. There’s three fighters that we know of right now. Ortega, Amir and Rosy. Now judging by their descriptions: Trooper, Enforcer and Operative we can figure out what they do. The trooper looks like your basic soldier, as in they are about combat and most likely balanced. Welding grenades and some combat utilities. The enforcer seems like they are the heavy firepower. With that chain gun or mini gun (we think chain gun though) they can mow down or do serious damage to enemies but lack mobility. The operative seems like the one all abut tech and support. Probably the one crucial to mission objectives like working with machinery or something. The official website also more is coming. This means more fighters/heroes. That’s a good thing.
We checked out some Second Extinction gameplay. We like how you enter the missions through a drop pod thing. Halo ODST anyone. It’s a literal drop in. The weapons have heavy impact. Like the shots really land on the enemy. Definitely liking what looks like a high number of enemies. Raptors do work together after all. We just hope the missions have a good amount of variety and that they really make full use of what they can do with this game. Get creative and make sure the game is difficult. A game that anyone can beat is lame. e have’t had a good dinosaur game like this that has serious action in a long time. Do this right developers. We really hope there’s more than just snowy based or effected areas. Get creative. We hope for a bigger roster of dinosaur enemies too. If you ran out of ideas then contact us.
Overall Second Extinction looks like a very good game. The graphics are looking good so far so imagine what it will look like complete and on the Xbox Series X. We are liking some of the environments so far and the effects like the mist and lights. The developers ‘Systemic Reaction’ have done a great job so far We at X35 Earthwalker are looking forward to this game. Now second extinction may have mutated dinosaurs but those are a complete joke compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Outriders is a new third person shooter role playing game developed by ‘People Can Fly‘ and published by ‘Square Enix‘. Outriders is said to be coming out in the fourth quarter of 2020 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5 and PC. Outriders is one of those games that wants to come in hot with big stuff. Let’s take a look.
Outriders in set in a sci-fi universe. Definitely the future and it’s a dark and desperate times. This place is called Enoch (another inspiration from the Bible but no mention). Things are harsh, death seems to get around a lot. So don\’t expect any rainbows and sunshine (Escanor or not). Simply put humanity is in trouble. They have been described as “bleeding out”. The only lead players have is this weird signal. You need to know where it’s coming from, it’s source. So that’s the whole adventure. In outriders you are travelling across this dangerous world to find the source of that signal. So get walking.
Now yes the trailers and story show three Outriders but it’s confirmed that you can create your own Outrider. So character customisation is confirmed. How in depth is the customisation, we don’t know but it must be facial at least and probably like with most recent modern games, there could be skins and outfits. Now players get to choose from four classes for their Outrider. Each class off course has their own abilities and skill tree.
Now Outriders is a shooter game so expect the guns. There are some standard guns as in machine gun fire and heavy rounds but there also a twist to some… after all it is the future. There’s even what looks like a chain gun so keep your head down… maybe. The more emphasis is on the powers. There’s many abilities out here. From straight up shooting flames from your hands, causing earth shockwaves, phasing, sort of teleport (become electricity dash forward and reform), blasts, ice freezing and more. Now when you think about Outriders altogether it should remind you of another futuristic game where humanity are also having a tough time but some specific people have powers… Destiny.
Let’s address some smaller stuff. It’s been quoted “OUTRIDERS offers countless hours of gameplay from one of the finest shooter developers in the industry – People Can Fly.” First of all countless is a real big word and we at X35 Earthwalker take it seriously. They better deliver with countless hours worth of gameplay. Second ‘People can fly’ are good developers but not one of the finest. They made Gears of War Judgement which we really enjoyed and had the best weapons balancing of all the Gears of War games for multiplayer but made some big mistakes that are obvious even to a casual gamer. For example no locust in multiplayer and no ‘Down but not out’ which means no executions. So good yes but definitely not finest unless they have seriously improved over time.
Outriders is suppose to have a whole lot of stuff and places for players to see. You will come across, broken down places, slums, cities, deserts, some shanty towns and more. In big games like this, the environments make a big difference. Now best of all, it’s confirmed that Outriders is co-op. It’s drop in, drop out co-op so your friends can join and leave whenever they want. This is the most convenient and best way of doing co-op for the most part. Matter of fact co-op has been pushed and emphasised all over this game. We like this feature for sure. The game industry needs more awesome big co-op made games.
We checked out some Outriders gameplay and it’s what we thought it would be. It does remind us of Destiny. Got a mission, get there and complete it while gunning down enemies of a variety sort. While using your powers and abilities that literally shake things up. You can roam as a team of three or with just one friend and dominate the enemies. Using cover effectively and probably melt enemies with your steady stream of melting flames. Also there are whole lots of gear and guns that can be modded for that extra kick, effects and boosts. So there are some layers to this game. Remember that Outriders all be one of those new games that will come out also on the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5. So already gamers have got expectations.
Overall, Outriders has got a lot going on and looks like a very good game so far. The theme of ascension is heavy when it comes to the story. Leaving humanity behind and becoming something more. We know how these go. The graphics look very good too. The developers ‘People Can Fly’ have done a very good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what Outriders truly brings to the gaming table. Now Outriders may have powers and guns in a dark universe but it’s still all children stuff when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’
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!’
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!’
Streets of Rage 4 is an arcade beat em up game and off course the fourth game in the Streets of Rage series. Many have been waiting for this game. Many. X35 Earthwalker is one of them but off course the greatest and coolest of them. Things are different this time around in Streets of Rage, in multiple ways and for the better. Many have talked or reviews this game (they did alright) but remember… a game hasn’t been reviewed until X35 Earthwalker has reviewed it. Let’s take a look.
Streets of Rage stories have never been complicated. They are always straight forward and simple. In Streets of Rage 4. There’s crime in the city, an evil syndicate is behind it all and the vigilante heroes go in to stop it… beating the crap out of everyone and everything that gets in their way. Simple. This time though Mr X is not the one behind it. He’s dead. It’s his children… the Y twins! Mr and Ms Y. So this time Axel, blaze, Cherry? and Floyd? with rage in their hearts take on the streets of rage. Yep, we got new characters. Cherry hunter (if you couldn’t tell by the name) is the daughter of Adam Hunter. Floyd Iraia is the apprentice and assistant of Dr Gilbert Zan. So no Adam again?…
The rules are the same in Streets of Rage 4. Keep moving to the right and beat up all the bad guys. Reach the end of the level and face a boss. Get enough points and you earn an extra life. Each of the characters have their own stats which can be viewed in the extras menu but you must unlock it first. They each have special attacks with a few like Blaze having an additional. There’s the defensive and offensive special attack. The defensive is like a ‘get off me’ move which during you’re also invincible. Offensive is normally longer range, travels a little and does straight up damage. Each character also has an ultimate attack. These require stars to activate which don’t come easy. For example, Floyd’s ultimate is him firing huge laser like he’s Cyborg from Injustice. Cherry is the fastest of all the fighters and the only one who can sprint. Floyd is the biggest and strongest but slower than slow itself. Axel is a balanced fighter with a powerful offensive special move. Blaze is also balanced, bit weaker than axel but got an additional special attack.
Streets of Rage 4 isn’t a hard game but a fair challenge, unlike Streets of Rage 3. The difficulties are: Easy. normal, hard, hardest and Mania. Mania is as the descriptions says… unfair but it’s only for the masters of Streets of Rage 4. Familliar enemies like Galsia, donavon, yellow signal are all here and ready to fight. Matter of fact, enemies from different Streets of Rage games are all here. They come back as mini bosses, actual end of level boss or just strong enemies. Big Ben, the fat guy in red introduced in Streets of Rage 2, is back and he charges you spiting fire (somehow) just like the good ol days. Barbon who was a boss in streets of Rage 2 is back and also a boss. He still kicks hard. Garnet, the women who jump and kick you from Streets of Rage 3 are here too. The Muay Thai fighters are back too and they are worse in our opinion. There are new enemies too like Honey who we hate the most. Stupid enemies indeed. When there’s multiple of them, expect a rough time. Police officers including one with a futuristic shield called Murphy (robocop anyone?). Goro who really slows down how you play and is dangerous when more than one is present. There’s more.
The old techniques are there in Streets of Rage 4, like landing on your feet when launched or thrown. You can break grabs as well and even juggle enemies with multiple simple hits to lead up with a strong finisher. Let’s dive in a bit more concerning some enemies. Yes enemies have variations of them just like the older Streets of Rage games. Galsia is normally blue and the weakest but then you will come across a green, red and white version who have more health and more aggressive. Donavan has a green and red pants versions of them. We believe the green one is called altet, something like that. Anyways, the red ones can throw weapons at you and even catch weapons throw at them. The last version of them is called ‘z’ and they at times can have armour. Big Ben has variations. There’s Gourmand and Anry. Gourmand will always try to belly flop drop on you while Anry will roll for an attack like Sonic the hedgehog but only vertically. Watch out for these guys. These guys and others aren’t much of a problem really but it becomes a huge problem when you play in hardest difficulty. The character designs are excellent. Amazing. Majority of these characters were designed right. Their design says quite a lot about them. Our favourite enemy design is Diva, hands down. Her design from her clothes, to heels, to hair style all have character. Her movement animations is also excellent. Combine it all together and she’s tough, a boss, dangerous, sexy and got attitude. You need to beat her up first before she complies.
Our second favourite enemy design is Mr Y. This guy has evil crime lord written all over him, from the trendy stylish coat, to his hair and fighting style. He doesn’t back down, regardless and knows he’s powerful. He was meant to be a bad guy. What’s that? He wanted to be a chef, well too bad, crime is his life. He looks good for sure. Our favourite hero design probably has to be Blaze. We feel like this is the best look for her possible. She’s got her jacket back which is a good thing. They went for a beautiful, sexy design but also she would kick your butt in many ways if you even try it on her once. Now some have a problem with her design but we think those people just need to grow up. Yes her skirt is real short but for what she does it’s actually practical. Look at her fighting style over the Streets of Rage games. She kicks… a lot. She does flips and jumping kicks. Jumping was her best stat in the very first game. How are you going to jump kick effective in a long skirt, you can’t unless it has a slit going all the way up to your hip. She can kick high if she needs to and flip. Her shirt makes it possible. It rides up when she does which is very realistic. We get it, some of you dads out there thinking, “young lady, go back upstairs and change. You ain’t fighting crime dressed like that!” We understand but her outfit is good, realistic and practical. This is coming from a martial artists with over 12 years experience. We don’t like Axel’s design. He looks kind of chubby now, like his six pack formed on top of the fat. He was a martial artist so why would he let himself go. Being a wanderer and searching for direction or whatever he’s doing doesn’t mean you stop caring. Wish he was in shape like Adam. Adam looks great but we can think of better designs for him.
Next let’s talk about the music. Streets of Rage games have always been known for their music. The boss music in Streets of Rage 1 is the best. You can bop and jam to it while facing the bosses. Streets of Rage 2 had two levels that we really enjoyed the music off. Also Streets of Rage 2 also has the best character select screen music, hands down. Streets of Rage 3 was the least of all the games in our opinion. Streets of Rage 4 has real nice menu music for chilling. You can get the Streets of Rage 2 character select screen music in the settings. In Streets of Rage 4 the best stage music of them all hands down is part 1 of level 2 the Precinct. Easy. If you say no, we will give you a location, meet us there and we will fight you. We aren’t responsible for all wounds you WILL get. Back to topic. Level 1, 2, 3, 4 and part 2 of level 9 had good to very good music. The others music was alright or not impressive to us sadly. Music in Streets of Rage 4 has build up music as in the music starts with a simple or unimpressive beta but as you go through the level the music builds up and extra beats are added and then it becomes something real good. We like that style. Level three hasn’t got good music at the start but then becomes something you can jam too but if you switch retro music for that level, it’s the boat music level from Streets of Rage 2 which was excellent. Sadly the retro music is better than the modern. We wish the developers did more concerning the music. The variety is definitely there even giving a more oriental music for the china town level.
Let’s now go over what we didn’t like. We don’t like that you had to beat level 4 before you can play as Adam. Adam was missing from both Streets of Rage 2 and 3 in terms of being playable. Then now in Streets of Rage 4 we got to play a bit to get him. Speaking of characters we don’t like that you can’t play as modern Shiva. If you look at the title screen you see Estel, Diva and Shiva on the front screen like they are a part of the cast. They have good looking character designs with their own moves but not unlockable. Maybe they plan to bring them in as DLC but if they at the front then either they are significant or playable. Simple. You might say they are there because they are bosses. Good point but Barbon, Nora, commissioner, DJ K Washi etc aren’t on the front. So yeah it’s not consistent. What we don’t like is hw the biker girls like Honey and the Muay Thai fighters have almost instant reflex hitting moves that can even joggle making certain sections practically unfair. The biker girls slide attack still hits you diagonally and forces you to save yourself by using special moves which drain your health and leave you in a bad state. What’s also disappointing is that besides the first thing levels like 1,2,3,4 the rest of the music isn’t great and the retro audio options aren’t good either. We was expecting the greatest Streets of Rage music of all time. Didn’t happen. The striking window or time for enemies to hit you remains the same regardless of difficulty.
The trick to handling Barbon isn’t clear like the other bosses. When he does his repeated roundhouse 360 kicks you are suppose to jump but it doesn’t look like that’s possible so you don’t try that. Especially someone like mFloyd who can’t jump high at all (sucker has 10cm vertical leap) the kick visually goes through his body but doesn’t hit. Also having the biker girls come out to join Barbon because you smash the bikes isn’t good either as you want the items but when you smash the bikes they come out. If you aren’t careful you will end up fighting Barbon and 6 biker girls at the same time. Adam had practically no relevance in the story besides his reveal which again is just bad. For some reasons Streets of Rage 4 on Xbox One has a shorter combo window than others. We watched some people including CoryxKenshin play Streets of Rage 4 (video below, watch when he hits the car) and we noticed that when they finished fighting someone their combo number in the top left hand corner stays for much longer, flashes and then shrinks showing it’s going to reset soon. That doesn’t happen on our Xbox One version. It resets so fast. Also when you hit the car in stage 1 that counts as hits and raises your combo counter. It doesn’t do that for us. Also if you hit cones, bins, water machines, whatever destructible which normally hide food or whatever under it, it also counts as a hit and even eating the food prevents the combo from ending. This allows you too easily get crazy combos. Very unfair. Where’s the section that allows us to play music from the game? They should have had that.
Let’s finish with more good stuff. What’s cool is that the levels and dialogue make it clear that the Y twins respected their dad. Family love. We like how each characters special attacks are so different from each other. Floyd being technology and pure force, Axel having fire as usual, Cherry having abilities linked to her guitar and music, Blaze having what looks like energy and off course Adam looking like green flames with dragon shapes at least for the offensive special move. The effects look excellent. We like the additional information and stuff you unlock in the extras menu. Those are actually interesting stuff. The ultimates look fantastic and make you want to use them a lot but sadly you get punished for using them by getting a lower score as you get 500 points for each star you hold on to at the end of the level.The fact that you can play as one of the characters from the previous Streets of Rage games is a big brain move. You can literally go through the whole game a streets of rage 1 Axel. That’s big. Players off course loved that they did this. The story is simple and easy to go with including cinematic scenes. It makes sense and you just roll with it. We also truly enjoyed that there are hidden levels where you face old bosses from past Streets of Rage games like Jack and even Mr X. It’s like a blast from the past. See clip below for an example alone with X35 Earthwalker getting an out of this world combo.
Overall Streets of Rage 4 is an excellent game. It’s awesome. We are having so much fun playing it. We have beaten the game multiple times. Gotten the perfect and out of this world combo achievements. We still have quite a bit more stuff to do. Even mania difficulty can’t stop us. If you are a fan of Streets of Rage or new to the series you will most likely enjoy this game. We haven’t tried the multiplayer but it’s clear. Either play online and go through levels with others or battle against over players online in battle mode to see who has more rage in their heart. The developers have done an excellent job but there is room for more. We suggest you get Streets of Rage 4 besides it’s not even expensive like £21. Off course we don’t go over everything but the main stuff. Now Streets of Rage 4 may have great designs, music and animations but those would have been much better if they done… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Deep Rock Galactic is a new co-op first person shooter game developed by ‘Ghost Ship Games‘ and published by ‘Coffee Stain Publishing‘. Deep Rock Galactic is said to be coming out May 13th 2020 on the Xbox One and PC.This game caught our attention and it’s good to see more great Xbox games coming out. Let’s take a look.
Deep Rock Galactic is all future sci-fi. Players control Dwarves. Not the lame ones but cool, tough, actions ones. Basically you are miners in space and your latest operation takes place in Hoxxes IV which has the highest concentration of valuable minerals ever discovered. So your mission is to get in there and get all that good minerals. Off course it isn’t that simple this time. Deep Rock Galactic has detected there’s lots of hostile life and even the fauna can kill you too. Get in as a team, work together, kill the dangerous lifeforms, mine the minerals and get out of there alive.
Straight from the get u Deep Rock Galactic is all about co-op action and working together as a team. Team work is all over the official website too. There is no solo hero here, unless you’re the dwarf that clutches it for the team. As they say “Dig together or dig your own grave”. Nothing is similar as the levels are procedurally generated so don’t act like a now it all. It’s always teams of 4. What we don’t know is whether you can play the game by yourself and have AI controlled allies or it’s players only as in if you buy this game and have no friends or whatever you can’t play or get anywhere in the game. We hope the developers don’t make a mistake like that but if it’s players only then so be it.
These dwarves have some serious technology. Deep Rock Galactic spares so expense in that department… and that department only. These dwarves of the Deep Rock Galactic have some of the heaviest weapons around. The gadgets are very advanced too. We got flamethrowers… that’s right… it’s lit! There’s even launchers launch climbable platforms made of concrete at walls. There’s what looks like laser cutters, machine guns, blasters, explosives, drilling machines and more.
It’s strange though as the mining company, Deep Rock Galactic have a lot of secrecy. For starters they encourage people to take up these highly dangerous missions. Once you enter Hoxxes IV you are on your own with the team. The company aren’t responsible nor will they hold your hand. Regarding promotions and moving up the ranks the commented “Provided of course you are fortunate and skilled enough to survive your work.“ Lastly they won’t even tell you what you are really mining up. Due to classified means we managed to ease drops on the Deep Rock Galactic big officials. They said and we quote “Due to the particulars being Classified, we are currently not at liberty to reveal the exact composition of the materials you will be excavating, however.”
We checked out some Deep Rock Galactic and it’s what we expected. The caves are so dark, you need the scout to light up the place for visual reasons. The engineer set up the place to the dwarves advantage like automated turrets. The Gunner just destroys everything, actively engages the enemy and denies them from getting to the squad. The driller just makes it his responsibility to mine everything. They can defend themselves also but main thing is to dig. What’s also interesting and very cool is that the environment is 100% destructible. You can mine and destroy it all. So keep that in mind when dealing with enemies and placing turrets.
Overall Deep Rock Galactic looks like a good game for sure. We like that you can grow and progress and through the company. We like the graphical style and it looks good. The environments look good but not much to say about the level design as of now. Each of the dwarf roles are clearly different from each other and have their own use. Yet each dwarf can defend themselves. The developers ‘Ghost Ship Games’ have done a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to the mining action of Deep rock Galactic. Now Deep rOCK galactic may have tough, advanced space dwarves but thy don’t stand a mining chance against… the ‘Earth Walk!’
