Skeletal Avenger is a rouge lite hack and slash game developed and published by ‘10tons‘. Skeletal Avenger is said to he coming out in late 2020 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PlayStation 5 and PC. There is definitely some ‘boney’ action going on in this game. Let’s take a look.
The story in Skeletal Avenger isn’t much really. Basically there re a bunch of dead skeletons and they are waiting for their turn to get revenge. Here’s how the developers worded it, “Avenge a thousand wrongs in a reverse roguelite where the skeletal avengers ascend from the depths to demand a payment in blood!” So literally a bunch of angry salty skeletons who just want revenge but take turns to do it.
Now off course you aren’t just some skeleton, as in you get one slap and you crumble. No. You have a number of weapons to pick and use from like hammers, swords, daggers, spears and more. It gets even better. As you succeed and complete revenges you get new gears, weapons and tools. These will provide you with new perks and abilities. So make sure to get them and become powerful enough to face whatever comes your way. C’mon you are a skeleton, use your head… get it? No literally you can take off your head and throw it at your enemy in skeleton avenger.
Remember that these revenges are always targeted against a certain being. Every run you do, you’ll need to choose who your enemy is. Then hunt them down and make them pay. Even so remember that they aren’t the only enemies around. As you make your way around you’ll face scorpions, hooded figures, worm monsters, fire traps and more. So far we haven’t seen anything unique or terrifying though. The enemies seem generic and nothing seems like a legitimate threat so we hope they step that up. The enemies in a game make all the difference. Look at Maze Time, they have numerous enemies with different levels of threats and some unique.
Once again we are happy to hear that Skeletal Avenger has co-op gameplay. You can get revenge alone or work together with your friends. 4 player co-op. The more games that have room for co-op the better. Majority of the time it’s better to play with friends.
We checked out some Skeletal Avenger gameplay and it’s what we imagined it would be. You are a skeleton and navigate around, attack enemies, avid damage and keep on rolling. There are area of effect attacks and you even have the ability to dash to avoid hazards, evade or just move around faster. We like that the items and gear you get is visible on your skeleton character. Not all games do this.
Overall Skeletal Avenger just seems like another rouge lite hack and slash. This game needs more to be something special but definitely looks functional and good as it is right now. It’s style is traditional with the whole dark, stone, underground theme. It looks good too. The developers ’10tons’ have done a nice job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will just have to hear what noise Skeletal Avenger makes. Now Skeletal Avenger may have salty skeletons who’s focus is revenge but they aren’t focused enough for… 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.
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!
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!’
Little Misfortune is a interactive story game developed and published by “Killmonday Games”. Little Misfortune is said to come out today on consoles, the 29th of May 2020 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 and already out on PC. We have seen this game before but was never interested but it’s out now. Let’s take a look.
In the world of Little Misfortune, players control Misfortune Ramirez Hernandez. She is 8 years old (remember that as you play) and described as very imaginative (remember that also). Simply put Misfortune “seeks the prize of eternal happiness” as a gift for her mother. So she heads out to find it. She is joined by ‘Mr Voice’ who is basically the narrator and talks directly to Misfortune. Already we don’t trust this voice. She literally just met this voice.
Now straight from looking at Little Misfortune is suppose to be a cute game with a bit of darkness. Not everything is as nice and innocent as it seems. The decisions players make are said to have real consequences. This means players can mess up. Does this mean you can die in Little Misfortune? Also the official website says that after Misfortune Ramirez Hernandez enters the woods a “little bit of bad luck unfolds”. Not only that we heard there is a monster too. Yep mysterious things are happening here in Little Misfortune.
We checked out some Little Misfortune gameplay and it’s what we expected. There’s even a fox that we just don’t like the look off. Can you blame us? Dora the explorer had problems with a certain fox too after all. It’s a simple colourful story game. Misfortune moves alone, things happen, players make decisions and see what happens immediately and if anything happens later. It’s good to have games like this around. This game does get unpredictable-is at times and a bit dark like accidentally killing a puppy with a party hat. Players need to think carefully about decisions. It’s an adventure but since it’s an imaginative 8 year old girl, call it a story.
Overall Little Misfortune is a nice little game. The game does well to show that we are playing a 8 year old girl. She has a child’s way of talking, an obvious strong accent, doesn’t understand simple things like death, needs to be walked through most things etc. The graphic style is very good and it has lots of unpredictable stuff. We hope this game is really punishing. It’s not our kind of game but almost any type of gamer can get into this and give it a try. The developers ‘Killmonday Games’ has done a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will take a peek from time to time to see what it does.
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!’
Those who remain is a new adventure horror game developed by ‘Camel 101‘ and published ‘Wired productions‘ and ‘WhisperGames‘. Those who remain is said to be coming out May 28th 2020 on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. We heard it’s also coming to Nintendo Switch in 2020 but no exact date. We got more developers trying to make a actually scary horror game. We hope they do good. Let’s take a look.
Those who remain has a simple story but off course should get deeper. Basically you control a man named Edward who is taking life for granted. It’s said his life is very good with a nice wife and daughter. Yet he still does stupid things like have an affair and over drinking. He’s heading through the town of Dormant to end the affair he’s having, to fix his mistakes. He reached the golden oak motel and that’s where everything takes a hard turn.
Those who remain wouldn’t be a horror game if it’s just a conversation and things were sorted and you went home. Nope! Turns out that this town Dormant isn’t a simple normal American town. This town has been infected with darkness. Reality has been warped here, it’s a combination of what the citizens have done and the darkness. This town has been cursed by a demon. The people of the town can’t escape. What you have to do is survive this night. Remember it’s a journey though.
There’s two dimensions that are interconnected. Players will have to work through a strange alternate reality and Dormont. This is needed to solve puzzles and off course to reveal what’s really happening around here. Like with these psychological horror games you know there’s going to be decisions and moral conflict. You get the choice to reprieve or condemn the lost souls of Dormont. Edwards fate is in the players hands. There are moral choices to make. How much does it effect the story? We do’t know. Mechanics suggest that there is more than one ending.
We checked out Those who remain gameplay and it’s what we expected. Those who remain hasn’t made the same mistake that other horror games made. They actually have some enemies. There are some creatures/monsters moving about in the darkness. They will kill anyone that comes near. Your best weapon and friend is the light. Stay in it. Now in some ways it does remind us of Outlast in terms of walking around, exploring buildings and stealth elements too. You have to hide from some enemies. The enemies don’t look scary so far though. There’s one that has a spotlight for a face practically and it will expose you, so stay out of it’s sight.
Overall Those who remain so far for us is just another horror game. Doing things slightly different but we need more. Horror games like these all try and they should, it’s just we have high expectations. The environment does look great though. We like the motel, the messed up reality and that there’s actually enemies now. The developers have done an good job from what we have seen so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what else Those who remain has to offer. Now Those who remain may have curses, demons and darkness but none of these things can do anything against… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Golf with your Friends is a new multiplayer sports game developed by ‘Blacklight Interactive‘ and published by ‘Team17‘. Golf with your Friends is said to be coming out the 19th of May 2020 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4 and PC. The whole lineup right there. This game is golf at the end day. Let’s take a look.
Golf with your Friends is exactly that… it’s golf. Now we wouldn’t care about this game if that was all it is. Sure it’s golf but it’s golf that’s not boring. For starters there are like 10 levels with themes. You can expect outer space, forests, haunted house, the woods with a lumberjack facility and more. Our favourite is definitely the level with that ancient looking temple, possibly aztec or whatever but it’s cool looking. The track looks like it’s naturally built. Simply put the level design is great.
Now the levels are real cool but that’s not the biggest eye opener about Golf with your Friends. Yes this game is 12 player multiplayer BUT… you can all play AT THE SAME TIME. This means no waiting your turn and mocking your friends lame swings. Instead everyone is trying to get their ball to the hole and yo see everyone’s balls moving and jumping across the tracks. You can decide to race to the hole first or play legit and see who gets in with the least amount of swings. This mechanic alone makes Golf with your Friends interesting and stand out.
There is three game modes. There’s straight up classic golf, a hockey mode where the hole is instead a hockey goal post. There’s also a basketball hoop looking goal too. So mix it up people. There’s customisation too to keep things interesting. You can unlock skins for the balls, fancy trails and even hats. There’s even a level editor where you can create your own courses, share them with other players have them play it themselves or yourself.
Overall Golf with your Friends actually looks like a good golf game. There’s even power ups and items for competitive help. There’s such effects like turning your enemies balls into a square. Trap their balls in honey and even straight up freeze their ball completely. Cool stuff. The developers ‘Blacklight Interactive’ have done a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what Golf with your Friends can really do.
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!’
