A.J.
Mohammad AlHuraiz
bigdaddygamebot
beige
bowlisimo
ckim
cptcarnage
feenwager
friedturnips
George
iscariot83
Jeff Grubb
LiK
mjpilon
Pete Davison
rampantbicycle
RedSwirl
scribl
Shingro
Mike Minotti
unmanneddrone
zegolfSalvation Prophecy (PC) – Review
Updates from July, 2012 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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unmanneddrone
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unmanneddrone
SunAge (PC) – Review
It took ten years of development for an indie studio to create a classical RTS. Are the fruits worth picking?
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Mohammad AlHuraiz
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (DS) — Review
Mohammad AlHuraiz checks out Solatorobo, a modern take on those “anthropomorphic animal” cartoons of yore.
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RedSwirl
Main, this nails what attracted me to Solatorobo in the first place. I haven’t gotten to finish the game yet, but I was instantly drawn in by its charm that reminded me of the games, movies, and TV shows you mentioned. It just nails that bright charm. It also brings back pre-rendered backgrounds to great effect.
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asatiir
I forgot to mention that the soundtrack is awesome too, the game comes with the OST in the same package.
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Pete Davison
Squaddies by the Fireside: Endless Space
Pete and Alex C settle down for a lengthy chat about Amplitude’s upcoming 4X title.
(Caution! Extremely lengthy, multi-page post ahead.)
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bowlisimo
That was a fun format, although it took me like 4 paragraphs to realize it was imaginary (…or was it?)
You guys should have told me, I’ve got a baller space-conference room at Praxus HQ you could have used. It’s pure white and lined with Teladi holo-walls. The board of directors likes to have ancient Earth leaders serve them pangalactic gargleblasters. Weird, right? I’ve been meaning to talk to them about that. The rehab for our monthly meetings is starting to cut into our bottom line.Intrigued by Endless Space, for sure, sounds right up my alley, “but can my aged computer run it?” is the question. Also kind of bummed to hear it lacks a touch of personality and that diplomacy isn’t all there, although I think a lot of space games struggle with those aspects. Actually I feel like all 4X games (at least the ones I have played) struggle with diplomacy the most, even the mighty Civ. It’s all you can do to keep every A.I. from acting completely irrational and dickish.
As for personality, it’s hard to love an empire of faceless planets. A council is a good start. I really think the planetary council in Alpha Centauri was a nice step in the personality direction, and it gave you reasons to contact faction leaders for more than just trading. There was a nice game of politics there that focused around votes and who you could persuade/buy off to vote your way on issues that affected everyone. I don’t see why there couldn’t be an inter-empire version of this, or maybe that’s too much to deal with. Civ 4/5 have the U.N. council, but it’s little more than a floating GUI with text.
And did Alex really drop a Star Wars Rebellion reference? Here I thought I was the only one who played that wonderful, but flawed, wrist-crippling strategy game. It definitely had personality, you recruited Star Wars characters for god sakes, but it also sounds like Endless Space has a similar combat system where you watch ships auto-battle with very loose interaction from the player. It worked back then, despite looking like ass, so I can image it still works for Endless Space. I’m down with the spectacle and cinematics. I don’t care about micromanaging battles as much.
OH, and yes to 4X narrative, however thin.
Anyway, I’ll probably pick this up the first time it’s on sale.
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Pete Davison
Good stuff. I’m pretty sure you’ll dig it. As for the personality and diplomacy issues, it’s worth reiterating that the game isn’t “out” yet — the version that’s currently up on Steam is an unfinished beta and the devs freely admit that not everything is implemented yet, with diplomacy being a particularly prominent item on their “To Do” list. So it’s possible there will be some strides forward in that department before it releases for realsies.
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unmanneddrone
I think it’s definitely one of those genres where your own personal drive and direction can conceivably make up for any narrative absence or limited sense of character. That said, I do find ES to be on the more fulfilling end of the spectrum.
And just as an aside to this Squaddies by the Fireside chat…it’s nice to be able to engage in some of that high-level discussion that is usually reserved for podcasts, as the logistics, timezone and familial duties will always prevent anything further…a man weeps.
Anyway, Bowley, I echo Pete in saying this is very much your bag.
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RedSwirl
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Karl Weller
This does look incredibly fun! And after playing “Shadows of the Damned”, I’d like to think I prepared for anything now.
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Pete Davison
Velocity (PS3, PSP, Vita) — Review
Pete kicks it old-school with this great shmup from the PlayStation Minis catalogue.
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unmanneddrone
You were not joking about the glory that is Velocity, Pete. Good find. Hideously intuitive, which is a great aspect. That Vita analog stick makes for fantastic arcade-style controlling.
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unmanneddrone
Mad Riders (PC, 360, PS3) – Review
Have Techland Nail’d the notion of Pure fun, or will the competition pass this cheap racer in a Blur?
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Pete Davison
Hidden in Plain Sight (360) — Review
Got some friends over? Then perhaps you should give this entertaining little local multiplayer Xbox Live Indie Game a try.
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Pete Davison
Level Up Winners Give a Sneak Peek at Upcoming Indies
Indie darlings of the future or unworkable nonsense? Pete delves into the 2011 Level Up winners.
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ckim
Alpha Protocol (PS3, 360, PC) — Review
“Ever hear of anger management?”
“No, because I killed all my therapists.” (More …)
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Pete Davison
I adore Alpha Protocol. Reading this just makes me want to play it again. Great job, sir. 🙂
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pepperized
My brother picked this up. Sure I liked it, sure as hell didn’t think it was bad.
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Pete Davison
Right. I think the sloppy console port and the fact it was a lot more of an RPG than Mass Effect didn’t help matters. People went into it expecting certain things and were disappointed/confused when that didn’t happen. It’s best to take it as its own thing, not as a contemporary of Mass Effect, which is the mistake most reviewers made around the time of its original release, I think.
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pepperized
Yeah about that… One of my biggest shames on the shame pile is the Mass Effect series.
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Pete Davison
Corpse Party (PSP) — Review
Pete Davison spends some time with the ghosts and tries not to cack himself.
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asatiir
The game was quite excellent, I wasn’t able to beat it without the use of a walkthrough. While I usually would just give up when games did that to me, the story did keep me going, and even with walkthrough, that did not take away any of the haunting horror that this game had.
I really loved this game.
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Pete Davison
@asatiir I was very fond of the fact that the “bad endings” were mini-stories in their own right. Some of them went on for a very long time — and at least a couple of them lull you into a false sense of security, making you think that you’ve nailed it… only to dash your hopes against the rocks in a rather bloody manner.
An excellent game. I really hope we see more.
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asatiir
Yes but you would spend like 20-30 minutes into the game with the bad ending activated. I’m a fan of consequence in video games but to find out you were “wrong” in your decision far beyond retrying can be irritating at some points, especially in the later and longer chapters.
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pepperized
Hmm, somewhat reminds me of the When They Cry game, although I never played it. This has sparked my interest but I don’t own a vita yet.
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Pete Davison
The Last Story (Wii) — Review
Pete Davison explores the strange, compact world of Lazulis Island and discovers a fresh new take on the JRPG in the process.
RedSwirl are discussing. 
bowlisimo are discussing. 
pepperized and 
The Squadron of Shame Squawkbox 
biosound 2:45 am on July 20, 2012 Permalink
Fn’ sweet! Me vs. the universe:)