I always felt this could be a video game. - Luis D. Lucha
SABER INTERACTIVE REVEALS NEW GAME BASED ON PARAMOUNT PICTURES’ WORLD WAR Z, IN DEVELOPMENT FOR PLAYSTATION®4, XBOX ONE AND WINDOWS PC
MAPLEWOOD, N.J. – December 7, 2017 – Independent developer Saber Interactive has announced World War Z, a new four-player cooperative game inspired by Paramount Pictures’ blockbuster film franchise. Featuring massive swarms of zombies who rush their living prey, World War Z is in production for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, and Windows PC.
“World War Z is a name synonymous with heart-pounding fear and action, and we’re excited to finally capture that energy in a fast-paced and gruesome experience crafted specifically for modern consoles and PC,” said Saber Interactive CEO Matt Karch.
World War Z’s co-op campaign focuses on unique survivor stories and missions around the globe, including New York, Moscow, and Jerusalem. Use traps, barriers and the environment strategically to stay alive while unleashing a storm of firepower with a variety of weapons on the unrelenting hordes of the undead.
"Saber has tons of experience working on high-quality games and they've done a great job capturing the massive, frantic hordes of 'zekes' that sets our franchise apart,” said Bil Bertini, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Licensing for Paramount Pictures. “They have created a fiercely original experience in the rich universe of World War Z that fans are sure to love.”
Here is a Steam game code for... Brutal Legend: 7EXJ0-DL6XA-NN6BL
I might have road rage if I go for a drive after playing this. Then again, I might just be happy I'm not playing it anymore... so scratch the road rage part.
This review will be a bit different from others because this game just doesn't come off as... complete. Until the time comes (if the time comes) that they actually... fix this game's bugs and even add more to it, a revision will be considered. As of this date and time, this is a fitting review.
What can I say about Road Rage? Hmmm... you can still play the game, but I don't know... it's a frustrating lackluster experience. Please don't approach this game thinking you're about to embark on the remake of Road Rash... or you'll regret it. I tried to get into Road Rage, but the messy layout, the gloomy/visually challenging environment, and bugs... had me (literally) going back and forth to play this game in segments. It reminds of how some people are so difficult to deal with you can only handle them for a short while. It may be the complete opposite for someone else, and if someone is thoroughly enjoying this game... I'm happy for them (because I'm not).
Gameplay by Luis D. Lucha
What initially threw me off about this game... is the lack of a title screen. All it shows is a video loop of a police car flipped over on the side of the road. That wasn't even jazzed up to show you how the cop car got there, which honestly gave off a... demo vibe. Some of you may not be as familiar with demo's at game conventions, but since some games are still being developed... the experience is presented sometimes with the lack of a title screen (with a member of the team standing close by just in case it crashes). That's what this felt like. FYI: You get access to the menu once you're in-game.
What it also felt like was GTA after initially starting a new game and you have your auto-save to start automatically where you left off. Which made me wonder if the game was meant to be a mod for GTA and they just took it a step further and made a stand-alone game. If that's so, I totally applaud them for having the ambition, because some mods or fan remakes waste man hours on projects that get shut down by the IP holders. Then again, man hours also go to waste when games are not completed like they should be.
After that initial race (where an NPC got stuck on the side of the road)... I decided to check out the open world, all the while ignoring that annoying phone pop-up that continues to appear again and again until you get tired of it and accept the call. I rode into an area where I guess I wasn't supposed to be... and the police sirens began to go off, so I thought I was going to be in for a police chase... but that wasn't exactly the case. Don't get me wrong... I saw Swat trucks and cop cars, but I was able to drive by the swat vehicles which seemed to be positioned on every corner to block the way as the cop cars drove around like they were chasing someone else. I was eventually hit and the bike exploded... multiple times, and then I would drop back into the scene and it would happen again until the car moved enough. I was busted after hitting one of those detour street blockers... but it wasn't like an actual pursuit.
The blame could go either way or both ways with certain outcomes... because some publishers rush the development, while others let certain things slide. At the end of the day, thinking of the development cycle, I'm not a total stranger. If you only have so much time to get the game done... sacrifice the unnecessaries to ensure that the focus can go towards a stable product. That's important because the game isn't free.
The music's okay, but the in-game sounds are pretty generic to me... so I didn't really notice anything to appreciate (audio quality-wise). I didn't even use the headphones because the explosion sound isn't something I wanted to hear up close. If you are stuck in an area where your bike continues to go... KA-BOOM (shout out to RkRk)... you will know what I'm talking about. It's not pretty.
Although the open world really isn't something that I really care about in this game... I'm glad they put it in there to a degree to break things up, but something else came to mind. If they did a mission-driven game that took you from one scenario to the next, it may have been better... because then they could've focused on the adventure. There is plenty of dialogue, so that would've been a nice, in theory.
There are upgrades you can make to your bike so that it handles somewhat better, a variety of characters, weapons, and motorcycles to choose from also. You can even customize your bike which is a nice touch also. This doesn't make the game, but I didn't mind spending some time on this menu.
The price point is easily... $10 to $15 off the mark. It's not even me trying to argue a sweet spot. I'm saying for what its worth, that would decrease buyers remorse. This game still has the potential to be patched and given some other appealing updates... but it's up to the decision makers. Especially if they want maximum sales because right now... it's just a frustrating experience to me. There is plenty of that to experience... as you take on 42 missions and 56 side missions ranging from escorting, time trials, delivery jobs, etc.
HTC Vive and Oculus Rift Headset Owners Can Now Experience “Blood Ties” in Virtual Reality
REDWOOD SHORES, CA (December 5, 2017) – Square Enix® and award-winning studios Crystal Dynamics® and Nixxes Software today announced that the “Blood Ties” story chapter from the critically acclaimed Rise of the Tomb Raider®,is now available for Steam®VR and compatible with HTC Vive and Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets.
For the first time, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift owners can experience the “Blood Ties” single-player story chapter to unlock the mysteries of Croft Manor on SteamVR. When Lara’s uncle contests ownership of the family Manor, Lara must explore deep within the estate to find the hidden history that she is the rightful heir; or, lose her birthright and father’s secrets forever. Explore Lara’s childhood home in over an hour of new story, and uncover a Croft family mystery that will change her life forever. This new release adds another treasure celebrating Crystal Dynamics 25th anniversary: new functionality to the critically acclaimed and award-winning Rise of the Tomb Raider.
Season pass owners can download the VR content for free and also receive all of the new content featured in the 20 Year Celebration edition including: Co-op Endurance gameplay, “Extreme Survivor” difficulty for the main campaign, 20 Year Celebration outfit and gun, 5 classic Lara skins, and all previously released Downloadable Content such as “Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch,” “Cold Darkness Awakened,” 12 outfits, seven weapons, multiple Expedition Card packs, and more!
Just a tip... our next game review will include a game code for a random title. It will be hidden somewhere in the review... so this is just a tip for those who check out this post! ;) You will have to highlight it in order to see it because... the text is white. - Blu
BECOME THE ULTIMATE HERO AND FIGHT AS CLOUD IN MOBIUS FINAL FANTASY
New Job Accompanies Return of FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Collaboration
LOS ANGELES (Dec. 1, 2017) – MOBIUS FINAL FANTASY® continues to provide fans with exciting new storylines from the FINAL FANTASY series, as the FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE™ collaboration returns this month. In addition to exclusive story content allowing players to team up with Cloud and explore a Mako reactor, Cloud also joins as the newest Ultimate Hero—a powerful job card that greatly enhances player stats. A new trailer showcasing the Cloud Strife Ultimate Hero may be viewed on here:
The December update includes a number of updates and gifts for players, just in time for the holidays:
Final Fantasy VII Remake Event Stage – “Eclipse Contact”: Starting December 2, the Warrior of Light and Cloud journey together once again through this popular region. All players who venture through the Mako reactor can obtain new items, including Aerith’s iconic ‘Umbrella’ weapon.
New Ultimate Hero – “Cloud Strife”: Cloud joins Lightning as the second Ultimate Hero inMOBIUS FINAL FANTASY. Players who obtain and equip this powerful card will not only receive generous boosts to their stats and Ultimate abilities, but will also take on appearance of Cloud in battle.
Year-End Greater Summon Festival: FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE cards will be re-released and can be obtained through the FFVII REMAKE Boosted Greater Summon. Additionally, specific Legend jobs will be guaranteed whenever players successfully summon a job card through the Legend Job Greater Summon. The guaranteed Legend job will change every four days, offering the chance to obtain every Legend job throughout the month.
Novices’ Hall New Area: Newcomers to the game can enjoy an expanded tutorial area to learn the basics of battle using the Warrior, Mage, and Ranger jobs. Veteran and beginner players will also be rewarded with Magicite, Summon Tickets and large amounts of skillseeds by completing these new stages. The Warrior, Mage and Ranger cards will be gifted to the players for free in this area.
Christmas Campaign: From December 17 through December 25, a special Christmas campaign brings all Mobius Day bonuses to players. Bonuses such as double stamina recovery from Elixirs, increased fusion success rates, and a fully open Pleiades Lagoon will be in effect for the entire week. Christmas companion spirits will also boost the rate at which card skills are unlocked.
Rewards for New & Returning Players: A prize tier will be assigned based on the combined number of new and returning users accessing the game from December 2 to 20. Depending on the total number of players, all users can earn free single summon draws in addition to one free Greater Summon. Full details on prize tiers may be found on the MOBIUS FINAL FANTASY holiday page: http://sqex.to/MobiusFF_Holiday2017
The game is free until 11/25/2017... so get your Steam code at the link above or click the image. If you want to see what the game is like... check out this trailer and game on!
To anyone playing and surviving in the brutal world of Elex, this area of the map holds a safe with a safecode of "5820" < Drag and highlight this area if you want the code. Leave it if you want to figure it out for yourself.
If you haven't heard the news, the FCC's resident public enemy... Ajit Pai is seriously bringing the ax down on Net Neutrality with a sharp repeal.
I can't say with confidence that most internet users are willing to get rid of their internet if it affects internet speed, but it would serve the lobbying cable companies right to suffer record loses. This isn't our first time mentioning this (we're rodeo legends at this point), it's been almost a yearly tradition but some internet users are still not aware of it and what could happen.
If lag becomes more prevalent in online gaming... I would not be surprised, and the same applies to the prices of items sold online in order to keep the website up to speed. No... I would not be surprised because its almost a backlash to eliminate some of the freedoms we have online, freedoms they can't currently profit from. This isn't the result of anything else except for greed (and control). The cable companies providing internet, do not appreciate business they receive from us month after month, they want more... and more... and more. It's disgusting and its annoying as hell. Without net neutrality in place, these companies can do what they want to exploit the needs and wants we have to use the internet.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Ajit Pai doesn't care to listen to the people speaking out against it either because his associates are on the other side of this, but that's the result of us being seen as numbers. Land of the free, home of the controlled internet?
Imagine your phone service only having good connection some of the time and... you weren't able to call everyone because the mobile carrier blocks certain numbers. That's the potential result of the Net Neutrality repeal... but if certain ISP's have the guts to be fair, I hope they show up the competition to the point that ships sink.
I'm serious about that because I'm tired of the people who figure their big money means they have the right to control the average Joe & Joanna. It's actually the support of the average Joe & Joanna keeping these companies from going out of business. The average home phone service isn't as popular now, so who knows what may happen as a result of this.
+ Square Enix parts with HITMAN!
You may call this post a bit of a double whammy... but I don't think so. Square-Enix parts with HITMAN... but in a cool way. They could've simply parted with IO Interactive, put them into the hands of another publisher and kept the IP... but... they let IO Interactive roll as an indie studio... with the HITMAN IP. You may be asking why, but IO Interactive is Agent 47's home with or without Square-Enix publishing him.
The decision came as a result of a number of things... which both include HITMAN and other factors beyond HITMAN. I have a problem with developers wasting resources on games they release as a total trainwreck... and Square Enix's CEO (Yosuke Matsude) didn't want to end up in that situation with Hitman.
That gets two thumbs up from me because he wasn't willing to compromise the quality due to a potential lack of resources to properly develop the 2nd and 3rd seasons. He also didn't want IO Interactive to be without the game so that their baby was potentially in the hands of someone else to be misrepresented. He took a look at his cards and made the right decision... because he could've sold the company to a bad publisher or closed the doors, but HITMAN lives on based on the right decisions. Since HITMAN (2016) was well received, I see the other seasons doing just fine when their time comes. Square-Enix doing Marvel IPs and IO Interactive doing their own thing as an indie developer. As long as the support remains, so should the games!
World War Z’s co-op campaign focuses on unique survivor stories and missions around the globe, including New York, Moscow, and Jerusalem. Use traps, barriers and the environment strategically to stay alive while unleashing a storm of firepower with a variety of weapons on the unrelenting hordes of the undead.
