Shadowhaxor 最近的评测

Well, for the past 3+ hours, the only thing I'e done is sit at the queue, and that's no fun. I've literally left to go to the store, got dinner, wasted time with my wife, and came back to my PC and I was still in the queue.

...... Fun.

As many you are keenly aware of, I’m a big fan of SHMUPs. It doesn’t matter what the story is, what’s at stake or even if the game features some sort of wacky protagonist. As long as has amazing music, lots of stuff to shoot down and forces me to fly by the seat of my pants, I’ll enjoy it. So imagine my excitement when I was asked to check out a game called Devil Engine. A new SHUMP that reminded me of classics such as Thunderforce and R-Type. Definitely fun, but damn if my rage factor didn’t go up a few levels while playing it.

In a day and age where SHMUPs are sadly not as in force as they used to be. It’s refreshing to see that there developers that not only want to pump out the dying genre but release one that captures the feeling of those from the yesteryears. Growing up on a classic such as Thunderforce, Gradius, and R-Type, I’m feeling right at home with Devil Engine. As with many games in the genre, the premise of Devil Engine is a simple one. You’re the last hope, you need to stop something, so take this ship and blow everything the hell up. Sure, it’s cliche, but let’s be honest here. Do you actually play a SHMUP for the story?

Starting with the most important of any game such as this, the controls are perfect. I never once had an issue trying to maneuver and dodge during my gaming sessions. Sure, I died a lot but it wasn’t due to the controls. The buttons are mapped to several functions; shot (auto-fire), bomb, burst and speed change. For the steam version, all of these were mapped to the A/B/X/Y buttons as well as the triggers. However, you can change those if you want. Digging deeper, there’s a set of options provided by the developer to enhance your chances of survival. Those being able to change the color of your hitbox, which is great for those risky moments. As well as dimming the background of the game, making it less noisy, and even lower/raising the screen shake.

Power-ups come in the form of a spread shot (red), homing shot (green) and a laser (blue). As you play, you’ll rack your score by destroying enemies and doing so will also fill up a combo meter. Kill enough, you’ll earn a multiplier that will up your score. At every 5,000 points, you’ll earn a new bomb, 50,000 will net you an extra life. Speaking of the bombs, they don’t wipe out the entire screen and depending on your current powerup, they’ll reactive differently. With spread shot they becoming forward firing missiles, swirling double lasers with the laser power-up and slightly stronger homing shots with the homing shot power-up.

The real star of the action, however, is called Burst. This feature not only provides you with a precious moment of limited invincibility by sending out a shockwave that absorbs bullets coming your way. The more bullets you absorb, the more your score improves. It also will deflect floating power-ups, allowing you to select a different one if you’re not happy with what’s on the screen. Striking the power up one will switch it to another variety. Doing it again will result in two different power-ups on the screen. Which is really helpful for powering up fast. The downside is that every time you use the Burst ability, you use up one of your combo meters. Meaning constantly use will affect your overall score – which matters for those who enjoy bragging rights on the leaderboards. However, if you utilize the Burst properly, you can actually negate the combo meter usage and actually fill it up. It’s a complex system that takes a bit of time to get the hang of. But once you do, you’ll see your scores increase as well as your survivability.

As for the difficulty, if you like your SHMUP’s ultra hard, well you’re going to love Devil Engine. I’ve yet to get to the fourth stage without using up all my continues. Right at the start, you’re able to choose from either a very easy or a very hard difficulty setting. I thought it was odd there wasn’t a normal mode. You know, for the casuals. When reaching out the developer about the game, I don’t know if they were joking or what, but somehow the very hard setting is supposed to be the normal version. There’s an even harder difficulty that you’ll be able to unlock. I can’t even begin to understand how crazy that mode is. Easy mode isn’t exactly that easy either, so don’t think you’re going to breeze right through it.

Visually, this game is beautiful with plenty of on-screen action with millions of enemy bullets whizzing past your ship. While the foreground and background feature various effects with lots of parallax scrolling, which has to be seen to appreciate it all. It’s really damned amazing seeing it all in action. Equally impressive is the rocking soundtrack, thanks to the pairing of Hyakutaro Tsukumo (Technosoft) and Qwesta; a group that has taken their musical inspirations from Hyakutaro Tsukumo. Listening to the tracks, I couldn’t really tell the difference. It’s a fantastic soundtrack, full of up-tempo beats and guitar riffs. I must have this soundtrack, where is it?

The game also features an unlock system, which as the name suggests, provides various unlocks the more you play. From adding filters that change the look of the game, to unlocking mini-games called challenges. Each of which will test your skills and help make you a better player. Then there’s the weird sense of humor on the developers part. From saying such as “BLAME CHAT”, reminding you that 1CC runs are the only thing that matters, or even telling you to take a break (I highly recommend you do this). The game even includes an online leaderboard that reminds you after every run, showing where you rank amongst everyone else who’s playing.

My only complaint is at times the game exhibited some slow down, only when there’s a huge number of things happening on screen. Something I didn’t expect, especially on a beefy PC I was playing the game on. I did experience a crash previously, but that has been patched on Steam.

I must have put in 15 hours with this game so far and I’m no closer to beating than I was 10 hours ago. Still, it’s the entire presentation and fun factor that keeps me coming back. I know I’ll eventually make it to the final end credits and try again to finally 1CC the game. Devil Engine is as close to a perfect SHMUP that I’ve seen in quite some time. All the makings of an enjoyable title, with more than enough challenge and will keep even the most die-hard SHMUP player coming back for more. The only thing missing here is the in-game sound test option.

If you enjoy these types of games, don’t sleep on Devil Engine. Devil Engine is a brutally hard, yet engaging SHMUP that simply must be played. An amazing title that takes bits and pieces from other classics, polishes them up and produces one of the best titles I’ve played in a while. Great visuals, good music, super tight controls and more than enough challenge, make for a SHMUP that fans of the genre are going love.

Review originally posted at The Outerhaven: Review: Devil Engine is Quite Possibly The Hardest SHMUP I’ve Played In A While https://www.theouterhaven.net/?p=150122

Back during 2014, Deck 13 Interactive developed a title that tried to emulate the success of FromSoftware’s action-RPG titles. That game was Lords of the Fallen, a game that didn’t live it to the hype that was generated for it. Sadly, it just was too much of a carbon copy to stand up against the original. Fast forward 3 years later, Deck 13 Interactive is back with another title, The Surge. Is this more of the same or does it stand out enough to make an impact?

Before we dive into this review, there will be numerous comparisons of various games to either Dark Souls or Bloodborne. Sadly, this will continue as companies attempt t0 emulate the formula that FromSoftware has perfected over the years. If that upsets you or you just want to know if you should get the game or not, jump to the ending paragraph. For everyone else who wants to know exactly how The Surge stands out on its own, continue to read on.

There is no multiplayer/co-op portion of the game, due to a limitation of the game engine. There is also no character creation system. And there is a pause- Rejoice!

Upon starting the game and a brief introduction of the company you’ll be working for; CREO, you arrive at a facility and are guided to choice your rig. The presentation of this is nicely done and reminded me of going to a dealership to purchase a car. You’re given a choice between an agile or a heavy suit. It’s worth mentioning that whatever you choose doesn’t impact your gameplay past the first area since you’re able to upgrade with parts throughout the game.

The Surge actually contains a mildly interesting, yet non-cryptic story that unravels via progression. It’s nothing that’s earth-shattering, however, I did find it worthwhile – especially when it started to get dark and twisted. Supplementing the game’s story are a number of audio logs from now dead or missing employees of CREO, emails, videos that play throughout the levels and the messages written in blood on the walls. There are some pretty horrific things that are left for you to find. I wish I could tell you about some of the stuff I’ve seen and experienced, but that would be spoiling some of the best parts of the game.

There’s a number of NPC’s that you’ll encounter during your adventure. Some of which you’ll save or others that you’ll happen to cross paths with. You don’t actually need to help them if you choose not to, they’re like bonus scattered throughout the level. Helping them, however, has its benefits and they’ll reward you greatly. Though I really didn’t have any sort of attachment to them, they were just there. Nothing too interesting, yet I encounter several that just got on my nerves. Lastly, keep in mind that you can kill the NPCs. Accidentally or not, once they’re dead, they don’t respawn – keep that in mind.

Littered within each level is also a number of items or secrets that are locked away behind closed doors. Some of those doors require a certain security clearance, a specific power core level or an ability that you won’t find until later in the game. This also applies to certain NPC’s that ask for an item, but they don’t tell you what they’ll do for you until you do it. During my time with the game, I eventually took on a number of those quests and managed to complete a few. For my efforts, I was rewarded with an implant among other things that doubled the number of consumable health items. So it’s definitely worthwhile to take the time and backtrack through the earlier levels. Especially if you found a door that you couldn’t get through before. it’s that added challenge that helps make this game feel fresh, though they aren’t required to finish the game.

While most action-RPG titles deal with progression by having you level up your charge, The Surge takes a different path. Instead, you level up your rig’s power core. The higher you level it up, the power you get access to, which changes what weapons and parts you can equip. Your stats are handled by items called implants, which provide changes to your health, attack power, energy, stamina and more. You can make a lightning fast character who deals in hit and run attacks or a tank-like spec that soaks up damage. This is particularly handy when a boss encounter isn’t going the way you like it and you need some more health or perhaps a bit more oomph to dodge a little more.

You’ll also have access to a crafting system that lets you create gear pieces when you find a schematic. These include headpieces, arms, chests, legs, and even weapons. Schematics can be found as items, either in crates or hidden in plain sight, off enemies or as rewards. Opposite of the crafting system is the upgrade system that will let you upgrade every piece of gear, assuming you have the materials to do it.

Weapon usage is also handled differently as you’re given several classes; one-handed, single-rigged or twin-rigged. Using one class constantly will let you level up that class, providing more damage output. This is both a blessing and a curse if you aren’t careful. Using that massive weapon you got off a boss can tear through anything, yet it is useless against faster characters. But if that’s the only weapon you used and you decide to switch it up to a faster weapon, it will be useless until you level it a bit. This does introduce a grinding experience and I wasn’t particularly fond of it, yet I see where the developer is coming from – forcing you to use everything at your disposal. The combat is snappy, responsive, yet can be clunky at times. You have access to two attacks; horizontal and vertical, a block that doubles as a timed parry and a dodge/sidestep. A simple tap will toss out an attack and use some stamina. If you hold down the attack, you’ll do a stronger version with a different animation. You can even chain those attacks, at the cost of more stamina usage.

Enemies will drop tech scrap, which can be used to level up your character. Upon death, you’ll drop this and will need to retrieve it without dying. Of course, if you die before you reach it, it’s gone. And while that’s very similar to several other games, Deck 13 Interactive put a spin on this – timed drops. If you drop your tech scrap, when you respawn, a timer will appear. You’ll need to find the dropped tech scrap before the time expires, or you lose it. Thankfully, the timer stops if you’re in an elevator, lift, respawn area of when the game is paused. Outside of that, the timer will keep counting down.

You’ll also accumulate energy during attacks, which allow you to do various things from charging up a drone companion for attacks or ripping off parts of your enemies. via dismemberment. To accomplish this during combat and assuming you have enough energy, you’ll see an option to press a button to pull this off. A successful activation will cause your character to do a number of visceral attacks, ending with the person or thing being eviscerated. While the dismembering animations, are enjoyable, they are quite gory and can lead to some issues. Performing them to close to a ledge can cause you to fall. The animation can be lengthy as times and will put you at a disadvantage if you’re encountering several enemies at once – it leaves you wide open for an attack.

Read the entire review at http://www.theouterhaven.net/2017/05/the-surge-pc-review/

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to The Evil Within 2. As someone who’s logged over 100 hours in the first game, I was constantly begging Bethesda for a follow-up. Especially since the first game had so many bits that were unresolved. So you can imagine my excitement when the sequel was finally announced during E3 2017. Now that game has finally been released and I’ve played through it twice, I’m a bit conflicted. Sure, it’s a good game, yet it doesn’t feel like The Evil Within. Is that a bad thing?

Alright, before we go into the review, I wanted to address something. While we all know that Shinji Mikami was responsible for The Evil Within. He did not direct the follow-up. Instead, that honor was given to John Johanas. Now before you ask who he is and why he was given the role, let me explain. If you played the DLC (The Assignment and The Consequence) then you’re already familiar with his work. I’ve always said those two were my favorite DLC for the game. So I’m glad to see he was able to get a chance to work on a full game. Shinji Mikami vouched for John, stating he has a lot of talent and would do the sequel justice. And if my two playthroughs of the game are any indication, I felt that John Johanas has done a fantastic job here.

Upon starting The Evil Within 2, we find Sebastian a broken man. He’s lost everything that he ever cared about. His daughter, Lily, and wife, Myra. His job and even his friendship with Juli Kidman. Turns out that she was never a detective and was actually sent to spy on Sebastian. Now, at the end of his rope, we find Sebastian wasting his days away at the local tavern. That is until Juli Kidman shows up unexpectedly and tells him that not only is his daughter alive, but she can help get her back. Apparently, her death was a cover-up so that Mobius could use her as a core for STEM. Being a child makes her the perfect candidate. So here we are. Sebastian wants a chance for redemption by saving his child. Juli wants to help him and after a bit of catching up, you’re sent on our way to Union.

The city of Union is where the game takes place in. And while we’re informed that Union is nothing like Beacon, where the first game took place. We find out very quickly that nothing is what it seems. Stuff is completely out of wack, creatures are roaming the street and worse. There’s some crazy guy by the name of Stefano that is hell-bent on stopping Sebastian from reaching his goal. Apparently being the core gives Lily some immense power. Stefano wants that power to turn Union in his vision of a masterpiece. Naturally, he sees you as a thorn in his plans and needs you out of the picture.

But what chance does a washed-up detective have against a mad-man? Well, it turns out that Sebastian hasn’t really lost a step since The Evil Within. In fact, he’s gained a few new abilities. Now he can quickly turn around to address issues behind him. In addition, he’s gotten better with stealth, thanks to a new cover system. He can now crouch and lean around corners and other objects, to stay hidden. He still retains his ability to get an instant kill if he can successfully sneak up on someone as well. He also has access to a knife, so doesn’t have to depend on his bare hands, unlike the original entry.

The skill tree from the first game makes its return, along with a few upgrades. Now you can choose from five different branches and level them up. Meaning that you can pick and choose from every branch to give Sebastian a fighting chance. Boost your health, combat abilities, Stamina, stealth and recovery abilities. Just like the first game, you’ll find the green gel that you’ll need to acquire these upgrades. Initially, I thought that this expanded tree would be a hindrance. However, after getting acquainted with it, I found it to be superior compared to one found in The Evil Within. There’s a huge amount of possibilities that will help you through the game. Including some helpful escape tactics.

Then there’s the crafting system, which is a game changer, This lets you craft ammo and health items on the either in your “safe house” or in the game world. Something that can easily change a bad situation to a good one – assuming you have the materials. However, I felt that this also cheapens the game’s immersion. And in some instances, breaks the game. You can craft at any time. In the middle of a fight or even during a boss battle. Doing this also pauses the game, which I felt removes the suspense that’s happening at the moment. A great system, but one that I feel was poorly implemented.

Unlike the first game, The Evil Within 2 is actually pretty ambitious. It goes and does things that I honestly didn’t think about. For example, the game isn’t as linear as the first one. While the introduction and the initial pacing is straightforward, it changes heavily and starts to give you options. Instead of being forced along a corridor, you’re dropped off in a hub which you’ll frequent for the majority of the game. Here you’re able to focus on the main story or you can split off and work on several side missions. Being given a choice on what you can do is a nice touch. While focusing on the story ensures that you’ll eventually beat the game sooner. The side missions yield value items and provide some backstory for the game.

The pacing, which was a huge complaint from the first game, is definitely better here. I never once felt that the story was moving too fast or drags on. The writing was decent and explained exactly what was happening. In addition, there were plenty of supporting characters that helped move the game along. Multiple NPCs that I actually grew to enjoy. I had started to worry on if they’d survive until the end or not. Several also had their own stories within the game that progressed parallel to yours.

The fact that Tango Gameworks has changed so many times from the first outing, I’m conflicted. On one hand, I enjoyed the retooled gunplay, which feels responsive and fun. Then there’s the expanded skill tree which gives you various ways decking out Sebastian. All of this is good stuff, but then there’s the gripe. While the game had a good bit of horror, it feels watered down. Sebastian is possessed with getting his daughter back and nothing more. Which is fine and dandy, however, there’s so much that has been sacrificed for him to accomplish this. Sure, you encounter a few crazy creatures, and the game has a steady amount of suspense. It’s just the game wasn’t scary. It doesn’t have that charm from the first game and I sorely missed this. It feels like for the most part, an action game with some horror elements tossed in instead of it being the opposite. The encounters that made the first game so memorable are absent here. Unless you count the parts that force you to relive the original game. Fans of the first game will enjoy this, but some will definitely be put off due to the amount of emphasis placed on the combat.

Read the entire review at http://www.theouterhaven.net/2017/10/the-evil-within-2-review-pc/

Welcome human, to our future. This bleak, apocalyptic world that is falling apart at the seems. Luckily for you, this is the least of your concerns, it would seem. Someone has hacked into your brain and has forced you to do something totally wrong – but you don’t know that. You’re a guy doing the wrong work and that’s going to cost ya! Just when you are getting closer to your goal, you find out you’ve been lied to. Someone set you up. They also happen to have your brother imprisoned. With no clue on where he is or what to do, you’re thrust into this savage landscape.

Good Luck!

Underneath this dark and apocalyptic world setting is a very interesting iso-metric twin-stick shooter. Instead of playing in a specific area or location, the game plays more akin to an RPG. You have sections where you’re doing dungeon crawling, searching for your next objective. One moment you’re walking run, picking up weapons and dispatching enemies. The next, you’re up to your neck in chaos with mid-level objectives and end level boss fights. Once completed, you head out to the city which serves as the game’s hub and gives you access to various other things for you to do.

You have access to both melee and ranged attacks. Melee comes in the form of a pipe at the start, with you picking up various other objects during the game. You have a basic swing that does moderate damage. However, if you hold down the melee button you can pull off a powerful charged melee attack. The downside is that it leaves you open while using it. So you’ll have to gamble on using it or not. Ranged is performed with a huge selection of sci-fi influenced weapons. Futuristic shotguns, small machine guns, pistols, flamethrowers and more. Though I found myself using the melee over ranged due to the how the controls handled. I’ll talk that point in a bit. You also have access to a dash that can be used to close distances or get out of harm’s way. Tapping the dodge button performs this, however, it has a second function. If you hold down the dash button it allows you to set up to three points and slows down time. You can then mark those points and then race to those points. This is useful for planning attacks, or devising ways on how to get out of a sticky situation. I’d say it is perhaps your best tool in your arsenal.

As you progress through the game, you pick up points called karma. These karma points are then used to acquire specific skills that are handy for staying alive. Things like a shield that reflects objects, taking less damage, stronger attacks, more health and more. Accessing those skills during battle is as simple as pressing the radial menu button and picking from those you have available. Honestly, the skill tree that you have access to is vast and you’ll never get access to everything. Thankfully you can always change up the skills you have access to, as long as you have karma points. Don’t have enough karma points? That’s ok, as you can remove them from other skills. This ensures that you’ll have a unique experience, assuming you can be bothered to switch abilities.

Graphically, this game shines. The art style gives way to a world that is very similar to Shadowrun and Bladerunner. A futuristic landscape that is dark, grim and ready to fall about at any moment. Streets are littered with people that are looking to just stay alive, looking for a good time or looking to end your days. Neon lights illuminate the city, while the grim atmosphere is so thick you can almost cut it. While other areas, like the starting location, looks like it was pulled straight from an anime – with its industrial look. Complete it desolate lighting, reflective surfaces and pitch black spots that are perfect for being ambushed. There’s a healthy amount of shadows and post-processing going on as well.

To say that this game impressed me graphically would be an understatement. This game looks simply amazing. Reikon Games has done their homework here. My review was conducted on the PC and what an experience it was. From the start, I was able to play with a constant 1080p@60fps. No slowdown, no frame rate drops, nothing. Looking to see how far I could go, I switch the game to 4K and the game still never skipped a beat. Sadly, ultra-widescreen owners, such as myself are out of luck. There is no 21:9 support here, at least not yet.

Then there are the sounds, which are every bit impressive as the visuals. This game has a huge amount of death cries, random spoken words – with a few curses for good measure. Sound effects such as gunfire or blunt objects hitting their marks are clear and precise. And then you hear that electronic music just rushing over you. Suddenly you’re no longer playing a game, you’re actually in sort of cyberpunk world. Either that or you somehow wandered into an ongoing rave. The only rub is the what few spoken words that are said, they get repetitive.

Everything so far sounds good, right? Well, let’s talk about what’s not so great – the controls.

Movement is handled by using the left analog stick, while the right handles the aiming duties. Still, I was a bit discouraged when I found that you aren’t able to remap the buttons in the PC version. While this isn’t a deal breaker, I wasn’t a fan of how certain buttons were configured and wanted to change it. That said, it shouldn’t be too unrealistic to expect to see the ability to remap the buttons. Sadly, the troubles with the controls only continue from here.

The sensitivity in the game is also not adjustable and it hurts. While the melee combat is fluid, when you’re aiming with ranged weapons, it becomes a battle with the controller. At times you’ll either overcompensate or not enough, which leads to a bit of frustration and usually, death. Thankfully that only extends to the controller, while using the keyboard and mouse combo is just fine. However, the game or rather the design has a flaw as well – movement orientation. When you move in any direction, your character won’t. Meaning if you’re trying to survive in a fight and you’re moving backward, the character will still be looking in the same direction prior to that. It’s awkward and services to confuse at times. If move east, I expect my character to face that direction unless I’m forcibly turning him in another direction.

You are able to use a DualShock 4 controller with this game, with a slight issue. The radial screen doesn’t open up when using it, which is quite the problem. The game also doesn’t show the Dualshock 4 controller upon connecting it, and the button prompts don’t change. This tells me that the Dualshock 4 isn’t officially supported as of now. I’ve reached out to Reikon Games and Devolver Digital to see if that is in the cards or not.

Despite the issues that I pointed out, the game is still quite enjoyable. It took me about 7 hours to finish the game on normal. Though I wager I would have done it sooner had I not died so many times. The game is hard, even on the normal setting. I don’t even want to see it on hard if we’re being honest. Thankfully, once the game is beaten you can replay any level of your choosing. Outside of that, however, there’s little reason to return to Ruiner‘s world and that’s a shame.

Read more at The Outerhaven: Ruiner (PC) Review http://tohvn.com/2xJsTsOeview http://tohvn.com/2xJsTsO

Being a child of the 80’s and 90’s, there was no shortage of beat em‘ up games. Titles such as Streets of Rage, Final Fight, and Double Dragon were all the rage and kept you entertained for hours on end. Sadly, the current gaming landscape is nearly devoid of games such as these. Outside of a few gems that are still years old, beat em’ ups are pretty much dead. Thankfully, Indie developers don’t know this and are still cranking them out. This is where Fight’N Rage comes in!

I only recently heard about Fight’N Rage, and that was only due to me looking at another game – which I won’t mention. Instead, I began to see comments about a little-known game in development. One that had quite the following. My interest piqued, I started to search for the game and found little information. Buried beneath dead websites and Reddit posts, I found the name of the developer and the title – Fight’N Rage. A game that inspired by countless Beat ’em up titles from the past and puts a spin on it. There are references to those games littered everywhere as well.

Heck, just looking at one of the main characters, with an uninspiring name, Gal, and you can see her influences. Gal looks like someone took Chun-Li, Mai Shiranui and even Blaze (Streets of Rage) and mixed them together – just look at her appearance. Her attacks even mimic those character but don’t take that as a complaint. Its fan service and the best type of it – I loved it. In case you weren’t paying attention, Gal is likely a play on Capcom’s character from Final Fight – Guy! Get it? Gal? Guy? The other two available characters are pretty awesome as well. The moment I started playing, a wave of nostalgia rushed over me and somehow I was transported back to the 90’s of video games.

On the surface, Fight’N Rage looks like an ordinary brawling game. You pick from one of three characters; Gal, Ricardo or F. Norris (Yes, that is his name) and off you go. However, the moment you start to play the game is when you realize that you couldn’t be more wrong. Beneath the surface is a game that lets you pull off some sweet combos that can be extended via different means. I’m still finding out the extent of how far you can take a combo. Wall bounces, air juggles, connecting with special moves, jumping off another enemies head and more. A lot of work when into this sweet and fulfilling combo system – kudos is deserved for this.

Besides punches and kicks, special moves can be performed with a directional input and the special attack button. Toss in some dash moves, jump attacks and you got yourself countless ways on inflicting damage. That’s not all, as you also jump to different planes by double-tapping either up or down. Doing this will either move you out of harm’s way or put you right where you want to them to pull off a slick 25-plus hit combo. Like weapons? Well, this game has a bunch of them, from knives to pipes, and a few others. When you transition to a new stage, you don’t drop your weapons! I thought that was a nice touch, as with other games in the genre, the second you move to a different area with a weapon in hand, you lose them.

Graphically, the game is actually really stunning. Sure, it may look like a 16-bit game, but there’s so much going on. Every stage has some sort of animated theme going on, from flame effects and raindrops splashing on the ground. You can even make out the faces of the characters when, er, .. they’re embarrassed. I was impressed when I encountered a level where you fight on a raft while navigating a long corridor. The game is fluid, colorful and is amazingly done. If that wasn’t enough, you can also customize the game. You can change the game to either window or full screen, add scanlines, change the color depth and even give the game the appearance that you’re playing on a CRT. There’s zero slow down and the game never skips a beat. The sounds are equally impressive. The soundtrack is a mixture of high-tempo tunes, while the sound effects get the point across with lots of heavy thumps and smacks. Nice touches that allow you feel that you’re doing some meaty damage. There even moments where the CPU will taunt you by calling you “Loser!”.

The controls are tight and responsive. You can even use both the d-pad or analog stick. I never encountered any issues with controlling my character or performing moves during combat. Keyboard warriors will be happy to know that you can play with the keyboard as well, but it just doesn’t feel the same. Lastly, you can remap your buttons if you don’t like the current layout.

Did someone say co-op? Yes, this game does support co-op, up to three players. Sadly, this is restricted to local co-op only. There’s no online multiplayer here. Which is a shame as I feel that some online action would be perfect for streaming or just hanging out with your friends. I hate saying that “it’s 2017” and that every game should be online because that’s not fair to the developers. They decided to not include online for one reason or another. Perhaps it will be something to look forward to if there’s a sequel?

Beating the game takes a few hours, but it doesn’t stop there. You earn currency in the game that lets you buy outfits for your characters, extra characters, extra game modes and other various locked items. This goes a long way to make sure you’ll come back again and again. There are even different routes to take and the story changes depending on which character you pick and your the decisions you make. Ultimately this is still a button mashing title and this sort of gameplay isn’t for everything. Some might enjoy it, while others will find it repetitive. I enjoyed the game, very much so. With 9 hours of time already under my belt, I don’t think I’ll be putting this down anytime soon.

The only thing I didn’t like about the gameplay is the fact that enemies can walk off the screen at any given time. Yes, this too is a throwback to games of old, but I hated it just as much back then. If I’m here to kick your butt, you could at least stay there for the kicking. Some of the bosses are also really cheap. I’m all for being punished, but not when it means getting an extended combo that results in me losing half of my life bar – ouch. The game is a bit harder if you go it alone. I also hope that the game gets some sort of active saving for play progress. The game only saves when you quit or if you die and don’t continue. If the game crashes or if you PC gets shut down, all your progress is lost. This includes any money you have made during that session.

The omission of online play may make the $20 price tag a bit too much for some. It will come down to either you’re a fan of the genre and online doesn’t matter, or you’ll wait for a Steam sale. Outside of that, this game is a gem and one that should get plenty of attention. I’ve never heard of Seba Games Dev before, but I’m pleased as punch that they developed Fight’N Rage. My inner child thanks you more than you’ll ever know. The title is only available on the PC, but I’m hoping that this ends up on the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Read more at The Outerhaven: Fight’N Rage Review http://tohvn.com/2flmGN0

When The Surge was released, it was easily one of my most enjoyed games of 2017. I’m a fan of Action RPG games, and I can play these games for hours on end. Some say that I have a problem since I tend to only play these sorts of games. So I was pretty damned excited when I had the chance to speak with Deck 13 during E3 2017 regarding what’s next for The Surge. It was then where they let us break the news that game would see an expansion of sorts. Now 7 months later, that DLC – The Surge: A Walk in the Park has been released. All the stuff you loved from The Surge, and then some.

Game Name: The Surge: A Walk in the Park
Platform(s): PC (reviewed), PS4, Xbox One
Publisher(s): Focus Home Interactive
Developer(s): Deck 13
Release Date: December 5th, 2017
Price: $14.99 / The Surge Complete Edition – $49.99
Played on PC with following specs: Ryzen 5 1600, GTX 1080, Windows 10, 2560×1440@60fps

While one would think that a DLC in an amusement park would be all fun and games, think again. Initially, the theme of A Walk in the Park looks like it will take a turn for a lighter one. It quickly turns dark, perhaps even a bit darker than the original game. Something has turned the amusement park into a living hell. The robotic mascots are running amok. All the visitors have been violently killed, along with the staff. While the search and rescue team that was deployed is missing in action. A lone survivor reaches out to you for help, which ultimately sends you on a journey to help him find his team. Story-wise, A Walk in the Park actually takes place in the middle of the original game. While this doesn’t seem likely when first playing the DLC, they do drop hints via various audio logs that you can find, which help piece the story together. As such, this DLC is broken into two parts. The first being playable as soon as you reach the second area in the game. While the second part of the DLC opens up once you make it to the research and development area, towards the middle of the game. You also won’t have to worry about missing how to access the DLC, as there will be signs all over the place. If that wasn’t enough, you’ll also be messaged, telling you where to go. For those who are in New Game or beyond, you’ll be able to play through the entirety without leaving the DLC area.

Graphically, the expansion looks amazing, it’s definitely more detailed compared to the original game. In fact, I’m sure that Deck 13 took the complaints of The Surge looking generic at times, to heart. From the brick ground throughout the park to the locales and more. The amusement park looks like a mix-up of an old 70’s meets the modern world. Old fashioned booths, with holograms in place of actual items. Just like an amusement park, there’s even a Ferris wheel and rollercoaster! There are also new enemies created exclusively for this expansion. All of which fit the theme of the amusement park. While others take a twisted turn as you progress through the story. Though I thought it was sort of funny as I took my weapon in hand and slammed it against the faces of donuts and chocolate-faced opponents. If only fighting calories were this simple. The majority of new weapons that were introduced in this expansion are just re-skinned weapons from the original game. I was pretty excited when they would drop, only to equip them and see that they performed the same as the existing weapons that I already had. This resulted in me not caring too much about them. Nor putting any time or resources to build them up, which was really disappointing. This also goes the armor drops. Still, it was pretty cool to see that the heads dropped from the amusement park robots and that I could craft them. Outside of that, I noticed that materials needed to level up those new drops just weren’t available here. In order to get those, you’d have to travel outside of the expansion area. In the end, I didn’t bother to use any of the weapons or armor from the DLC, as already had multiple powered up weapons and armors. For those who aren’t in the same position, the reception will likely be different. But for those who have time invested in the original game, there’s nothing compelling you to try out the new drops. But what about the implants? Surely there are new implants? Well, yes, there are. And some of them are pretty dang cool. For example, you have the Omni-Audit implant that displays the enemy health and stability. Useful when you’re trying to nuke them down. Or the Drone Power Circuit that doubles your drones attack power, Vital Boss XL that ups your health and more. While I may have been disappointed with the weapon and armor drops, the implants were a whole different story. And I’ve only named a few of them, there’s more to uncover and use during your venture here.

I was a bit dismayed as there are only two bosses available in the DLC. A short mid-boss fight and the final baddie of the expansion. Sure, I understand why this done as the DLC takes place in the middle of the main game. So the boss fights here aren’t the main course. The downside to this is that there isn’t closure either. When you end up beating the final boss of the DLC, all that happens is that you’re sent back to the original storyline. That part made it feel empty as I had beaten the game once and was only back to check out the DLC. For those who are versed in The Surge or other games like it, you’ll breeze right through this. I clocked in around 2 hours from start to finish. I actually beat the DLC twice now! My first gameplay session was extended as I wanted to search for hidden shortcuts and items I may have missed. Thankfully there are quite a few of those – including a portrait of the protagonist and his girlfriend. During my time with The Surge: A Walk in the Park, I noticed a fair share of glitches. From sounds not being generated from hits that connect while you’re smacking the enemy around. To certain places on the ground looking like something that I could stand, only to watch my character fall to this death. I even encountered a glitch that let me access an area of the game I shouldn’t have been able to access yet. That said, I’m chalking it up to playing the review code for the game. Hopefully, these won’t be an issue once the retail code is available.

Admittedly, I enjoyed The Surge: A Walk in the Park. I have been waiting for this expansion to be released ever since E3 2017 and It definitely was worth the wait. It added elements to the story, connected some dots and got me back to playing The Surge (my sleeper hit for 2017). I just wish it was longer! I mean, I beat it in two hours, It simply wasn’t enough (for me at least). That said, if you enjoyed The Surge, then you’ll enjoy The Surge: A Walk in the Park as well. However, it works both ways – there’s nothing here that will change your mind if you weren’t a fan of the original game. With this finally released, I hope Deck 13 and Focus Home Interactive now set their eyes for a follow-up to The Surge. Not a DLC, but a completely new adventure. Maybe exploring the grim future that follows the conclusion of the first game.

Read more at The Outerhaven: The Surge: A Walk In The Park (PC) Review http://tohvn.com/2Bznfbz

Advance Wars, is that you? Many years ago, Nintendo released a game called Advance Wars. It was a turn-based military strategy game that quickly drew a lot of attention and soon became a cult classic. However, we haven’t seen a new game in the series since 2008. Much to the dismay of Advance Wars fans everywhere. However, one studio has been listening and has heard the cries for more Advance Wars. That team is AREA 35 and their new game, Tiny Metal draws heavily from Advance Wars. So if you’ve been waiting for Nintendo to crank out a new game in that series, then this may be the next best thing.

Game Name: Tiny Metal Platform(s):
PC (reviewed), PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
Publisher(s): Sony Music Entertainment (UNTIES)
Developer(s): AREA 35
Genre: Strategy Simulator
Release Date: December 21, 2017
Price: $24.99 (Steam)
Playable with controller: Yes
Reviewed On: AMD Ryzen 1800x, GTX 1080 Ti, 32GB DDR4, Windows 10 Pro

So what is Tiny Metal?

You play as Artemisian Lieutenant Nathan Gries, a guy who has a lot going on. Not only must he command his military forces as they prepare to combat an invading country. But he is also distracted by the loss of several important members of his country. Oh, and he’s about to be thrust into war. Thankfully, he seems pretty versed in the ways of combat and knows how to navigate a battlefield. He’ll relay orders to this units and hopefully keep them (and you) alive. Of course, it’s up to you to either follow those orders or play by the seat of your pants. The majority of the game is played on a map that incorporates many different terrains. Areas such as mountains, grasslands, buildings, forests, and lakes, all make up your battlegrounds.

It’s here that you’ll need to advance your units and plan for your offensive and defense. With each area of terrain giving either you or your enemy either an advantage or disadvantage. Heading in the forest provides a cover from being attacked. While mountains will provide with a better vantage point for firing. Finding out what works versus what does will keep you that much closer to winning. You and your enemy will take turns, getting into position and attacking. With the attacking side getting an advantage and getting to go first. Outside of attacking and capturing locations, you also have what is called a Focus Fire.This lets you focus a specific enemy, by several of your units. Once you set this up, you can (hopefully) lay the smack down with a coordinated attack. However, this requires some thought as you lose out on an attacking on your turn. And if the enemy moves away, you’ve given up a precious moment to attack and time. The first level missions are training missions.

These help to get you familiar with how the game plays. Believe me, you’ll want to pay attention, as there’s more going on that it seems. For example, not only can you attack and defend, but you’ll need to learn how to capture factories, use the terrain to your advantage, explore the known and create units. That last part is especially important as you’re be going up against a slew of different enemies. Infantry, machine gun mounted jeeps, tanks and more. Fail to build your team up will lead to you being overrun and you’ll quickly get friendly with the defeat screen.

But knowing how to play is just part of the game. Enemies won’t just sit there and let you hammer on them. If you pull out a tank division to counter theirs, they’ll pull away to avoid heavy losses. Advance your troops too far and they’ll try to flank you. It’s like a constantly ongoing battle of “rock paper scissors”, as there’s a counter for everything. Learning those counters can ultimately mean the difference between a loss or a victory. Of course, in order to do anything, you also need to worry about your resources. Thankfully, this isn’t overly complex. As you play you earn a specific amount of resources called metal coins. You’ll earn metal coins at the start of your turn, which you’ll use to build units. You can increase the amount by capturing factories and airports. Doing this ensures that you’ll have enough to roll out that more units or even stronger units. Tiny Metal also features three ways to play the game. The campaign mode which follows the story of Nathan and his attempt to end the ensuing war. A skirmish mode that lets you play the game in multiple scenarios without the story. This is actually pretty fun as it gives you access to most of the game and perfect for when you just want to get a few games in.

There’s also a multiplayer mode, however, it was not available during the review. No word if this will go live during the launch of the game either. I have been told that this will feature 1v1 battles via local play and online play. I’m guessing the local play will be via LAN, but since multiplayer mode isn’t available, that’s all speculation. We’ll revisit this once this goes live. If I’m being honest, I enjoyed the skirmish a bit more than the story-based missions. Mainly because there are no breaks in the action and I can simply keep playing on and on. It also gives access to some of the better units from the start. That said, there’s nothing wrong with the campaign mode, it’s just a bit slow for my tastes.

The music and sound effects are also well done. I didn’t mind the background music and it matched the atmosphere of the game perfectly. The sounds of gunfire, heavy artillery and explosives help to get the point across. While the infantry will yell out some very silly remarks while being commanded and while being killed be killed off. The voiceovers are decent as well. Adding to that is the ability to change them from English to Japanese, but only for the units that you command. Or if you don’t like either voiceover, you can turn them off completely. What about the PC-centric options? Alright, as with every PC review, I like to see what extra options were presented with the PC version of the game. We’ve got multiple resolutions, all the way up to 3840x2160p (4K), an unlimited frame rate, the ability to change up the graphics quality, as well as the rendering. Meaning we can downsample/supersample in game. It even has a built-in frame rate meter that utilizes Perfmon Instant that also tracks frame time (how long it takes for each frame to render). Frame time is actually a bit more important than framerate, but they go hand in hand. And yes, it even includes Ultrawide screen (21:9) support. There isn’t an option to explicitly set it but you can change to full-screen mode and away you go.

Let’s talk about the performance.

To be honest, I really don’t expect any PC that’s been built in the last 7-8 years to have any issues running this. The system requirements are very low. A dual-core processor (core2duo/Athlon II X4) can run this, so most people will be just fine. This includes laptops, which I had zero issues playing it on as well. Overall, I’m very impressed with the options that AREA 35 has tossed into the PC version of Tiny Metal. I’ll see you on the battlefield Surprisingly, I ended up enjoying Tiny Metal more than I thought I would. Kudos to AREA 35 for doing something that the fans of this genre have been asking Nintendo to do for years. I can’t even begin to talk how many times I’ve said “just one more game”, only to see that one more game has turned into another hour. Not to mention that game is easily 20-23 hours long. That’s not even counting how many times you’ll end up restarting a round.

The game is very addicting and I love it! Did I also say that I’m loving the fact that we have a game like this on the PC?

Read more at The Outerhaven: Tiny Metal Review (PC) http://tohvn.com/2CNddnx

The long-awaited conclusion to not just Dark Souls III, but the entire Dark Souls series, has arrived. The Ringed City, the place where we’re supposedly going to find some closure amongst all the chaos that we’ve endured. The final stop on a journey that has spawned two sequels and numerous expansions. And sadly, the final chapter in the series that I’ve fallen in love with more and more, over the ages. Is Dark Souls III: The Ringed City the expansion that the series that sends the series out with a bang?

Right off the bat, the expansion assumes that you’ve either played Ashes of Ariandel or have beaten the game. As you’re only able to access the new expansion via two specific bonfires; one located at the end of the game, the other in the prior DLC. Of course, if you haven’t done either of those, you won’t be able to partake with this. But for this review, we’ll assume that you’re done either of the two. I mean, you’re a Dark Souls player, so surely you’ve at least beaten the game at least once. Right? Dark Souls isn’t exactly known for being gentle or holding your hand, something we’ve learned the hard way. It’s punishing, almost to the point of being abusive. Yet, in The Ringed City, the design confuses me. There are several sections of the game where you’re left scratching your head as to what you need to do or go. But instead of the typical fashion, the developers (FromSoftware) have left messages directing you on your next step, which felt sloppy to me. After all, this is perhaps the first time I have been told to jump off a cliff from the developers. Sure, we’ve seen troll messages from those who like to see other people die. But from the people that made this game? I would have rather a scripted sequence, such as getting to a point and then being pushed off or the area collapsing/falling apart.

Players diving into this new expansion will no doubt be divided. Those who enjoy the challenge of that has become the trademark of the series, while others are simply here for the lore and the possible closure. There may be those are firmly in both camps, as I was. Thankfully, The Ringed City does provide plenty of challenge with the addition of several new enemies which haven’t been included in the game before. I’m especially grateful for that as FromSoftware has been known to recycle previous content into their expansions from time to time. And seeing how we’re in a brand new location, that meant we wouldn’t see the old ones. Well, for the most part, that is true. I say that as there are a few familiar faces that you’ll encounter. That said, they didn’t ruin anything and only served to push the game’s narrative.

If you played Ashes of Ariandel and were disappointed with the length of the content, this expansion makes up for it. A beautiful new location to explore and conquer, even if the game seems to want to push you through it. Several new weapons, spells, and armor to acquire, including the armor of a certain boss from the original Dark Souls III. Of which, the Ringed Knight Straight Sword and Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords are easily my new favorite toys. And what good would it be without the occasional boss encounters? Definitely not a Dark Souls game, that’s for sure. There’s more than enough here with three mandatory and one optional. Now while that may not seem like a lot, these bosses will have entertained for hours on end, with either enjoyment or a rage induced frenzy.Without spoiling too much, that optional battle is truly breathtaking, yet a complete pain. I really, really hate dragon fights and this one was no different. If you though the Nameless King fight was bad at first, well, let’s just say this is worse.

For those who are more interested in PVP than PVE, there’s new stuff here for you as well. There’s the password-based matchmaking for arenas, which serves to set up battles much easier. The inclusion of two new maps; Archdragon Peak and Lothric Castle, which are based on previous locations. Lastly, one of the new spells, Project Heal, which available in PVE, is definitely viable in PVP. With this spell, you can conjure balls of healing and direct them to your partner, who’s getting his or her teeth kicked in. Just be prepared to run, everyone wants to kill the healer. It makes things easier. In the end, I have more questions that need to be answered, which will likely come from various forums and subreddits. All of which I’m used to, however, seeing how this is the final piece of Dark Souls content, I would have rather come actual closure. Instead, we’re treated to the typical “You Defeated”, acquired some souls and were left wondering what to do next. Honestly, I feel a bit slighted as we didn’t even get a cinematic ending here. Part of me is immensely sad as this is the final piece of Dark Souls content that we may ever get again. Adding to that, the ending of the game didn’t really fulfill me. I don’t why I was expecting someone to sit me down and explain everything that happened up until this point. That simply isn’t something you’d expect from a Dark Souls game.

That said, if you enjoyed the original Dark Souls III offering, but was expecting more from the first DLC, you’ll be happy with this one. But enjoy it while for as long as you can, for this is the last we’re ever going to get. And that gives me profound sadness.

Read more at The Outerhaven: Dark Souls III: The Ringed City (PC) Review http://tohvn.com/2nohG8f

I was super excited when this game was announced. But after finally playing it, that excite has retreated, far far away. The controls are laggy, the combat is stale and the game is cheap. When I cheap, I mean the tactics. Like games of old, it will simply pile more and more enemies at you until you're beaten down or you escape with barely any life. Then they introduce characters that can kill you in two hits and then throw multiple ones at you. Though, after all, that, you can still manage you cheese your way through the game with baited uppercuts and flying knees. Seriously, you can literally fly across the screen, catching anything in front of you and those that dare try to attack you from the back.

Then there's that stage that knocks you back and kills you instantly. Oh, those enemies above or below you. Think they're coming to you? Nope, you gotta to them and pray they don't smack you up as you climb or descend to them.

Graphically, I wasn't expecting much. I was thinking that they made the game in the style of the NES Double Dragon games. Instead, it feels like this game was developed in the late 1980's and just some bizarre incomplete state. There's even cut off graphics when the game presents you the characters that you earned during the play through. They even forgot to add the ding noise to the directional hand that tells you where to go, as well as other effects such as the elevator or even the helicopter as it hovers above your head.

That said, for nostalgia fans, you're right at home. Sadly, this game doesn't even match up to Double Dragon 2, which is twenty years older and still holds up.

I did like the retro background music selection option, I thought that was a nice touch. It needs to be harder or have a difficulty setting, vs just throwing more enemies at you. Lastly, it's too short but for $7, I'm not sure what else was expected.

I wanted greatness, I got mildly ok. Stick with Double Dragon II or even III.

Technical issues:
Can't change resolution
Can't map buttons
Laggy controls
Poor collision detection.

Damn it, why ArcSys, why?