Gauntlet

Platform: PC

Genre: Action RPG

Release Date: September 23rd, 2014

Date Reviewed: September 29th, 2014

      Finally a new Gauntlet game. Well....it's a remake of the original Gauntlet. It feels and looks new. Gauntlet is back, better than ever for PC only. You can get this game for $19.99! Gauntlet plays just like the original. You start off with 4 classes (like in every Gauntlet) and you can choose between a Warrior, a Wizard, a Valkyrie, and a Ranger. Each class are unique and have their own strengths and weaknesses. when you start the game there is a mini tutorial that lets you try a quick demo of each class to get a feel for them. After you complete the tutorial you are able to choose what class you want to play as. After you choose the class it will give you an option to play with mouse and keyboard or a gamepad. The mouse and keyboard work well for the Ranger, Warrior and Valkyrie. However, the Wizard is a bit more complicated and is easiest with the gamepad. You start off in the Gauntlet and if you complete that Gauntlet you will be rewarded with piles and piles of gold and riches. However, as you play through that doesn't seem to be the case at all...

      A lot of people compare this game as a Diablo clone. They are all false. Gauntlet is it's own style and has it's own very unique gameplay. Gauntlet has never been a Diablo clone, it has been out for a long time and was always a different style of gameplay. Gauntlet is however an action RPG but there are no levels, no experience, no loot, just lots and lots of gold. In this version of Gauntlet you go through each dungeon to get the shard which lies at the very end. There are three zones, and each zone has 4 levels. Each level has 3 levels of it's own where the final area in each zone is always a big boss battle. Gauntlet is very challenging especially on the higher difficulties. With this Gauntlet you earn gold, you use this gold to buy items which you can equip two at a time with your "Q" and "E" keys. Each relic does something to help you out. It could be summon clones of yourself or create a crystal that taunts enemies and blowing up after it is damaged enough. You can also use the gold to upgrade these relic to make them more powerful.

The Mastery System.

       As I said earlier there is no loot. As a reward for completing certain difficulties you can unlock and purchase cosmetic armor for each class with gold. Each class also has a mastery tree. Every time you complete a mastery like "Kill 12,000 Monsters" you will earn a buff for that class. Each mastery starts off as bronze and goes to gold. One buff can increase your damage by 10%, others will give you more gold from breaking crates or vases. With Gauntlet there isn't ALOT of replay value but there is some. After you have completed the 4 hour game you can go back with different classes, play a higher difficulty to get more cosmetic armor, or even complete all of your masteries. Do not forget there is also co-op mode which is way more fun and frustrating playing with your friends.

       There is nothing really visually amazing about Gauntlet. If your PC can run it on Max setting which should not be a big problem for most PC's running this game then it will look pretty good. The visual effects are nice, the level designs are repetitive but look good. Each level is not randomized, it is always the same design which is okay but this day in age a lot of games are taking advantage of that technology. The music is fantastic as well as the audio effects. Has a classic Gauntlet sound to it which I think people who've played the original Gauntlet will enjoy immensely. Even when you pick up items it still used the classic sounds from the original game.

Big Bosses.

       Overall it is a good game, nothing spectacular but a great nostalgia trip and is much more greater with your friends to experience Gauntlet. Playing on normal you will complete it in about 4 hours. Play on hard or Unfair mode and it will take you much, much longer. Overall I give gauntlet......

GOOD GAME

7.5/10



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Zelda can now be free as in freedom

Not only from the clutches of Ganondorf, but also from the dominion of proprietary software. All thanks to the magnificent Solarus Engine, a GPLed, SDL-based, 2D action RPG engine. This amazing project aims to provide a stable and easily customizable platform for users to create their own Zelda-like games, and so far, I must say, I am darn impressed by what I've seen. The engine already has two incredible launching titles, named The Legend of Zelda: Mystery of Solarus DX, and a parody of the former, Mystery of Solarus XD. Both are true love letters to the classic SNES RPG, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and amazing and enjoyable games on their own.

Mystery of Solarus DX

But hark, the mere words of a mortal make no justice to the grandiosity of this undertaking. Sheathe thy sword, get thy green cap and ready yourself to adventure! You can start by marching straight to the Solarus download section, or, if your intentions are more creative, you can check the various sources here, and the quest editor here.

Code License: GPLv3
Mystery of Solarus DX Artwork License: Mixed  (original Solarus assets under CC-BY-SA, but the game also uses spritework taken directly the A Link to the Past rom)

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Console: Xbox 360, PS3

Genre: Action RPG

Release Date: April 13, 2013

Date Reviewed: October 8th, 2013

Gameplay:

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is two games in one. It has the original game as well as the Dark Arisen expansion which was released on PSN and XBL a couple of months before it came out on disk. DD:DR starts off in a small town where you create your adventurer. After the introduction cinematic you are put into battle right away with a Dragon. During the fight you are basically proving your worth. You have a crappy sword and you swing recklessly at the Dragon trying to defend the town. After a couple of swings and cinematic appears and he takes your heart. When he does this you have now become Arisen. You are basically immortal and never age. I am not going into the story because my reviews are not about spoilers. 

The game starts off in a small town. In this small town you have a couple of options. You can jump straight into the main quest line and go out exploring. Or take your time and do some of the side quests. There are so much quests to do in the game, they seem to never end. Luckily in this version of the game you get all of the DLC included on the disk alongside the expansion. If I had to compare DD:DR to another game I would say it's like a face paced Skyrim. DD:DR has a lot to offer for a game. Some of the features include vocations aka classes. There are your basic classes you start off with which then leads into more advanced classes such as the fighter or a hybrid class such as the magic archer. As you're levelling you will gain vocation levels. These are like skill points for your specific class. The higher the vocation the more skills you can unlock for that chosen class. Each skill or augment costs points. You earn these points by doing quests, and killing monsters. One of the class features I like about this game is that you can go back to town and change whenever you want too. There is so much customization with the different types of classes.

Dragon!!

DD:DR also offers armor and weapon upgrades. You can upgrade your armor and weapons by finding certain materials in the world and using them to make your weapons and armor more powerful and weigh less. On top of that there are tons and tons of dungeons and areas to explore to get some of that juicy loot. There are tons of different types of armor and weapons you can loot as well as your basic items such as materials, healing items, etc... Another cool feature are the random encounters you experience in the world just by walking around. Could be an ambush, an escort, or even saving an NPC. 

Some of the monsters in this game are incredible! From the small monsters all the way to the big ones like Chimaera's, dragons, gryphon's, and hydra's. Some of these monsters are incredibly hard and need some strategy. This game also involves an element from Shadow of the Colossus. You are able to climb on thse monsters and go straight for their weak points. These include cutting the hydra's heads off, or hitting the golem's crystals to bring him down. This game also features huge epic bosses and one of my personal favourites is in Dark Arisen. Where you are in the dungeon and you unchain a giant ogre, four times the size of the average ogres. Another cool feature is you are able to have a permanent companion with you that you create and customize. Alongside you and your companion you can recruit two other companions from characters online. These characters do not level with you and your companion which makes sense because they are other players. 

Armor screen!

There is so much things to do in this game it is so hard to keep track. There are a ton of quests, tons of monsters, customization, etc... If you are a fan of RPG's, Skyrim, KoA, etc.... Then I highly recommend this game. It is one of my personal favourites. 

Graphics: 

The character models are not the greatest but the environments are beautiful. The spell effects, armor, weapons are all colourful, and have a lot of detail. The dungeons, caverns, are also very well done and feel that they are what they are supposed to be. The dungeons are dark, wet, creepy, big, and has a lot of details. 

Character customization.

Overall the graphics are well done. Only complaint are the character models themselves. Other than that, gorgeous. 

Audio:

The soundtrack in this game is fantastic. Everywhere you go has a new soundtrack to it. The dungeons, outdoors, boss battles, monster battles, cities, towns, villages, everything has it's own soundtrack. They all sound great. 

Final boss soundtrack!

Conclusion:

DD:DR offers a lot for a game. Lots of exploration, lots of quests, lots of loot, customization, a great story, and a whole other game. After you beat this enormous game you have to do the expansion which is almost as big and has a lot to offer. RPG fans will love this game. I highly recommend this game.

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Cry for programming help!

Ok, we don't normally do these kind of recruitment posts (don't send us emails about that!), but for the following two FOSS game gems we will make an exception (and it is officially sanctioned by our boss Charlie ;) ).

So which ones do I mean? Well these:

Link to homepage; example video

Link to homepage; example video

In recent months both games have stalled in development and people are starting to become quite pessimistic about the future (1,2).

Strangely enough (for typical FOSS projects) it is not the artists who lack (there is actually an active group of contributors for both games, who are eager to see their artwork in the game; examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, all CC-by-SA licensed) but a severe lack of programmers.

An example of not yet implemented OD graphics

So how can you help out and dig into the code, and why am I posting about both games the same time? Well both are actually build on a somewhat similar base, utilizing OGRE3D for graphics and CEGUI for the GUI elements. Now I have to admit, given my very much lacking C++ skills, I am aware that that is probably where the similarities end, but have a look at their developers pages (1, 2) and source-code yourself if you are interested.

Now why would one want to merge the code-base of two completely different games (the one being a strategy game, the other an ARPG)? Well surprisingly enough they would complement each other quite well, with a similar theme and the nice prospect of using the OD mechanics also as an in-game editor (which is really lacking for SumWars).

In addition to that it would open up the possibility of a really cool multiplayer/COOP game mode as I explained here. This comic sums up the idea (minus the Wii-U):

Copyright: Penny Arcade

So warm up your OGRE3D coding skills and give these projects some help, preferably including a merger! THANKS in advance!

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Console: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Genre: Open World RPG

Release Date:  February 07, 2012

Reviewed: March 11, 2012

Gameplay:

Kingdoms of Amalur (KoA) is an open world RPG developed by Big Huge Games and published by EA Games. In KoA you start off by creating your character how you want it and you start off dead. Yes, in the game you are dead but luckily the "Well of Souls" revives you from the dead. The story is crafted by R.A Salvatore, Todd McFarlane, and Ken Rolsten. You may ask that one of these names sounds familiar? Well Todd McFarlane is the creator of Spawn and R.A Salvatore is New York Times best selling author. Ken Rolston created the story for Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. The story is so in depth and is huge. Reckoning is only the sliver of the story. The game starts off you waking up from on top of a pile of corpses because you were brought back to life from the Well of Souls that the dwarves created. You start the game by escaping from an unknown place and a long the way you meet up with some pretty important characters while escaping. KoA has a ton of customizable options within the game. You choose how you want to play, what type of fighter you want to be and whether you want to be evil or good. There are class combinations such as rogue/mage or mage/warrior, anything you want. The game has tons of weapons, armour, skills and professions to customize how you want to play. The main story itself has about 25+ hours of game play but if your the type of person who likes to do all the quests and complete everything the game has to offer then your looking at 100+ hours of game play.

The controls are really easy to learn from using spells or quickly using items. You can map items onto a quick selection option where say you want to assign a potion that increases your armour value then map it for quick use. Spells and skills are used by assigning them to four different spots. You activate these by holding down the "R" button and using X, A ,Y, B. You can also control the camera using the right analog stick or clicking it to make the camera center on your character. The game runs very smoothly and the things you can do are endless. One thing I liked about the characters you create is the option to carry and secondary weapon with you. For example if you were a pure sorcery character you might want to have a staff as your main weapons and chakrams as a secondary. So your attacking with your staff with the "X" button and you decide to switch and up to use your chakrams. You do this by pressing the "Y" button. 

Character Customize Screen....lots to choose from!

KoA has a professions where you can create potions, gems to socket your armour or weapons, blacksmithing and others. You go around the massive world and discover reagents which are used to create certain items. If your a fan of blacksmithing then you may want to put your skill points into it so you can make better armour and salvage from higher quality weapons and armour. When you salvage unwanted weapons and armour you receive materials for blacksmithing. Potions are a bit different. You go around the world and pick herbs which you use to create tons of different types of potions and elixirs. If your more of a rogue then you can also put points in stealth, lockpicking, and detect hidden. Everytime you can a level in KoA you get one skill point to put towards any skill such as blacksmithing, lockpicking, stealth, etc.... Once you choose where you want to put your point you then get 3 class points where you decide what type of character you want to be whether you want to play a rogue, warrior or mage. The last thing you do is decide your "destiny". These are determined by cards and you use these cards to decide what type of class you want to be. For example if you are a pure might character, the more points you put into might you can go up the tier for might fate cards. Tier one for might you will be known as a brawler and will get specials like increased damage and increased block. 

Choose your destiny!

So you've decided what type of character you want to play. What do you do from here besides the main story? Well if you want to see what KoA offers go to the hundreds of side quests in the game. Go do faction quests to become a better thief or mage. The things you can do in KoA is endless. Go do some dungeons, go explore the massive world, go craft something. One thing I really enjoyed about this is the random loot system. Most people didn't enjoy it but I thought it was a great addition. When your looting a chest or a corpse you always get completely random loot. As in you fight a monster and lets say you die right after you looted him. Say he only dropped you 120 gold. Well the next time you kill him he may drop you some armor instead. It's always random. Only downfall to this system is when you unlock a really hard chest or dispell an advanced chest the loot can be as bad as 100 gold or you may get an epic item.

So from the hundreds and hundreds of quests to the huge exploration of the world all the way to professions and completely customizing your character there are a ton of things to do in KoA. 

Graphics:

Another great part of this game besides the gameplay are the wonderful graphics within the world of KoA. The entire world is colorful and vibrant. The wilderness and environment are always changing as your exploring the world and the different zones on the map are all different in terms of the environment. The animations are well done. The spell effects, enchant glows, etc... are all colorful and life like. The water effects are very well done and interact with it's surroundings and environment. As your walking you can't help but wander off in a different direction just to explore the area and see what it has to offer. The bosses are huge and all look outstanding. 

The environment.

Audio:

The music in KoA is very soothing while walking through the different zones and suit the environments extremely well. Then there is audio during boss fights, cinematics and combat that all suit them very well. When your engaging a huge boss the music really gets the adrenaline flowing. The voice acting in the game when interacting with other characters in KoA are all voice acted very well and adds to the feeling of great story telling. The sounds while walking around like the water or birds add to the game that much more. Overall it is very enjoying, relaxing and helps make KoA that much better of an experience.

Conclusion:

I highly recommend this game. This could easily be the years best RPG of 2012. If your a fan of RPGS, Skyrim, story telling, action you will highly enjoy this game hands down. Even if your not a fan of the genre there is bound to be something in the game to suit your needs. From the great combat system, the levelling system, customizing options, and the environments, this is a must buy game. If your still unsure be sure to rent it first. Go out and pick a copy of KoA up, you will not be dissapointed.

Here goes...

Castlevania 1 (NES)

  

Well here is my first review on what some say is a great installment on some old classic NES games. This is the first installment of three on the NES. To my knowledge you are some dude named Simon Belmont and you have a whip, which later powers up to a flail. Your one bad*ss who enjoys slapping ghouls, ghosts, bats, cats, rats, and whatever else gets in your way. So here we go!

Gameplay/Controls:

I like the idea of power ups being hidden in some blocks, kind of like Mario Brothers. You can break the random candles on the walls for hearts, money bags, and also find certain items. Each item has a unique purpose, at a cost of 1 heart each use. (Nothing is free!) An example of a great weapon on the first boss is the axes. The axes can be lobbed to help you kill the boss, a flying bat. Each item can be utilized in certain areas to help you out, but at other times be completely useless. For a prime example, you get the Blue bottle, (seems like a Molotov cocktail) and you toss it on the ground and it makes a flame. That is extremely useful against flying enemies. (Sarcasm) In that case, the Cross, (acts as a boomerang) would be more useful in that situation. Another one of Simon's power ups look like a flail which you can get to increase your whips damage and range, are quite easy to stumble upon. Without some of these you would be dead meat in some situations.

I like the idea of ascending and descending on the stairs. This is quite a unique function to have for a game of this time (1986 on the Family Computer Disk System in Japan, which was ported to the NES Cartridge in North America in 1987.) Alot of older games were more simple than this game, I can see why for its time it was a favorite among many NES gamers.

The controls seem a bit sluggish, as in when you need to be critical in timing all the time. There seems to be no midair control at all. Those flying horsehead Medusa things that knock you off ledges and downstairs, you need to be critical in hitting those. It almost seems that they will always knock you off a ledge so that you die. One of the flaws I have noticed in the overall gameplay is that, if you proceed up a set of stairs, and get knocked back down them, you die! It’s as if you fall into a bottomless pit and just, well, die. Maybe Simon falls down and cracks his skull open how do we know?

Graphics/Background:

The graphics for this game are not too shabby. They seem to utilize the color red a lot. Then again this game is older than I am by 2 years! Majority of the other backgrounds are well done.The Enemies all have a unique look which is good. They do not seem to recycle the sprites which is good. Many of the older games do this which is a lazy game designer’s way out. I am colorblind so the colors always mess with me. Red/Blue/Greens are the worst for me. So the red backgrounds, as I am told, really mess with my eyes. These older games really rack a toll on my sight after gaming them, but all in all this games Graphics are not too shabby!

The axes, best for slaying this Bloodsucking Rat!

This is the "Red" color I am talking about!

BGM/SFX:

 The music for this game is alright. It gets annoying after a while though. The SFX when you collect things is pretty cool; it makes you want to collect more and more items. The sound of the whip is pretty accurate for the age of this game. The noise it makes when enemies die is ok too. Makes kind of like a boom noise. The other thing that is annoying about when you die is it’s almost like the Price is Right jingle they play when you die. It gives you that sense of feeling that you’re a failure, you suck, and you need to end it NOW. Why even keep trying? All in all this games Sound and SFX are pretty solid.

Uniqueness/Creativity:

I might catch some flak here but this game is very much like a typical Dracula/Zombie/Undead killing game. There is some superstition in the background of this game with the crosses and such. This game probably is one of the best side scrolling games for its time. The adventure aspect of it is quite good too. I also give this game thumbs up for the stairs being implemented and being functional. This is why it is set apart from other side scrollers where you can only jump on blocks to ascend or descend.

Closing thoughts/Statements:

All in all I give the first Castlevania credit for being a solid game for its time. It’s not a bad game, it’s just the controls are clunky and sluggish. If the controls were a little more responsive, the game would have been a lot better. I would strongly suggest this game to anyone with a love for sidescrolling good old ghoul bashing madness!

Ninety-Nine Nights 2

Console: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Genre: Action/Role-Playing
Release Date: June 29, 2010
Reviewed: November 15, 2011

Gameplay:
N3 2 is a hack and slash game full of action. This game in a way is
like Dynasty Warriors....but worse. The first one I enjoyed but this
one I recommend be avoided. First off with N3 2 you are going through
story mode doing different missions. If you know what Dynasty Warriors
is then there really is no need of an explanation for this game, but
for those of you who don't know what it is I shall explain. N3 2 is
basically a run in and kill game. You face massive armies and to get
to the next zone to complete your mission you need to kill the entire
army. Now these armies and idiots. The enemies stand around while your
destroying them. The odd enemy will come in and attempt to swing at
you to hurt you. As you progress through the game you unlock new
spells for your character. Some of these spells are actually very cool
and can help out a lot. Some of these spells are completely useless
and shouldn't even be in the game.

A lot of the enemies are extremely easy while a lot of them are
extremely annoying. The fly enemies that shoot ice and fireballs at
you are by far the most annoying. Half the time you aren't even able
to complete the mission without dying from them several times.                                                   Every time they hit you with their attacks you get stunned for a few
seconds and knocked down, even if you are in a middle of a huge combo.
No, as soon as you get hit you drop to the ground and are stunned.
Another annoying enemy are the different types of berserkers. Now the
first ones are easy and can easily be avoided but when there are 3+
white ones and you have to kill them to progress.....it's impossible.
Every hit is about 1/4 of your health and it knocks you down and stuns
you. Extremely annoying.

The missions are all the same thing over and over and over again. You
run, kill hundreds of enemies, get mad because of the BS enemies,
reach end of mission, done. There is nothing added to the missions
like obstacles or nothing. Same thing every time.

Graphics:
The graphics are anything new or great. The graphics are a bit
outdated and some of the animations look cheesy and lame. One thing I
can say about this is that the animations for some of the spells look
awesome. Looks like they will do some damage to your enemies. Overall
nothing new, nothing great.

Audio:
The audio is also outdated. The music can be decent at some points.
The voice acting isn't all that great and the overall sound quality
isn't great as well.

Conclusion:
Overall this game isn't the great. If you want to try it then please
rent it. Other wise avoid it entirely. The first one was much better.
Short review but you can't really say to much for a game this bad.