Papo & Yo is a game by the independent studio Minority Media. The story follows a boy named Quico who hides away from his drunk and abusive father in an imaginary puzzle world in which he tries to guide both himself and his friend monster to a better place. Using Quico’s imagination you must solve puzzles with the aide of his friends including a giant monster and a robot toy. The Core Gameplay Papo & Yo is a 3D puzzle game and as such a lot of the puzzles are solved by grabbing and dragging objects around but more often…
Metal Gear Solid 5; The Good, the Bad, and the Just Plain Silly
There’s been a lot of commotion regarding anything Konami has touched recently. From stripping Hideo Kojima of his title and team, to canceling Silent Hills, and even an ex member of Konami, Koji Igarashi, becoming a massive success on his own with a genre Konami deemed “dead”. Konami seems to be digging a deeper and deeper hole in the console gaming world but they may not be bothered by that fact since they seem to want to leave consoles behind. But what they do have going for them is perhaps one of the most anticipated games of the year, Metal…
A survival horror game where you are trapped on an island with mutant cannibals after a horrible plane crash that separated you from your son. A beautiful game filled with suspense and scares abundant, at least that’s what was promised to us over a year ago when the game first went into Early Access. What Endnight Games has done with The Forest since it’s initial release is a matter of opinion and critique, in which I’ll be giving you my thoughts below. The Horror One of the key aspects of this game is the “fear factor” and to that I…
The Indie Game Maker Contest, 2015 has completed its submission phase. Any games on the page at this point are final and ready to be played, judged, and enjoyed by the community. Over the next couple of months as the scores are added up by the judges and games are eliminated down to the final few we’ll be taking a look at some of the games that stand out (or fade away) from the crowd. I will judge them following the same guidelines the official judges do. My score has no effect on the actual scores the game’s receive but…
Orcs Must Die has been an action based, tower defense game in which you try to defend a magical rift from Orcs and other evil creatures. You can place traps, use spells, and use a list of weapons to defeat your foes. Each entry in the series has changed the game a little more each time. The first showed us the core gameplay with an interesting story, the second added multiplayer, and it seems with the newest title in the series, the team over at Robot Entertainment felt it was time to bring the series into the…
If Starship Troopers was a videogame, Infested Planet would be it. It’s a game about facing thousands of enemies in every level, likely millions by the end, and blowing them all to smithereens. You have a small variety of unit types, support buildings, and research facilities and you must use them all to your advantage in order to prevail against the overwhelming odds. Gameplay – Out Numbered A Thousand to One In most missions you’re given a small squad and a single base and thrown into a map with several alien bases. Each base can spawn hundreds to thousands…
I’m a firm believer in the idea that you should get your information from multiple sources and form your own opinion regarding any matter. I may write reviews and I want you to read them but I also believe you should read and watch other’s viewpoints as well so that you can get a better idea of the product you plan on spending your money on or in the least, dedicating time to. If you’re going to sink hours into something you should at least dedicate some time into finding out if it’s worth your time. So…
Gunpoint from the creative mind, Tom Francis, is a stealth-based, puzzle-platform game. One that features hacking, jumping, shooting, and a plenty of action based humor. If falling three stories only to land smack on your face and survive is something you find funny you’re going to love this game. The Core Gameplay One of the main abilities you have in the game is to hack objects. Now instead of typing codes and unlocking doors what you’ll be doing here is changing connections between sources and objects. By this I mean if you rewire a light switch…
Back in 2008 there was a promising real time strategy game released as a part of the Tom Clancy franchise called EndWar. It was a good looking game at the time that featured interesting mechanics. Most notably amongst those mechanics was the ability to give orders to your troops through the use of a mic, as this predated the days where many Xbox owners owned a Kinect. The feature didn’t always work how it should and the strategy end of things was unbalanced. If you played as the American faction and put anti air on your…
The “Humble Game Making Bundle” has come to an end and with it the prize pool for this year’s Indie Game Maker Contest has come to a halt with over $70,000 in the prize pool. $26,856.88 of that being the first place prize. Although the prizes have been set in stone at this point, that doesn’t mean the contest has come to an end! The challenge goes on. Gamedev Fort This forum has become the go to place for IGMC 2015 and if you’re interested in keeping an eye on people’s projects as they progress or sharing…
China is the most populous nation on Earth and it is also one that is seeing a lot of middle class growth, meaning it can become a huge money spinner for companies. However, console manufacturers have been left out as for the last 15 years all gaming consoles have been banned in the censor heavy country. That has all changed now though, with China making the historic decision to allow consoles to be sold within the nation. That of course paves the way for the Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One, and Nintendo Wii U to find their way to…
If the conclusion of the Open is leaving you pining for putters and pars, you could do worse than swing your eye over the latest offering from EA Sports – Rory McIlroy PGA Tour. Commiserations Rory, get well soon, and well done, obviously, to Zach Johnson. The series returns following a two year break, and has replaced the previous cover-incumbent, Tiger Woods. Let’s channel Zach in this game, then, rather than Rory. You’ve got 8 real-life courses to choose from, with an additional 4 fantasy courses. Some may feel that this is a little sparse, but when playing in the…
If you’re familiar with the premise of this game then please bear with me while I explain it to the rest. So, in a nutshell, Rocket League is football with cars. That’s it, we’re all on the same page now. It was released free of charge, I repeat free of charge, on Sony’s PS Plus during the month of July and is currently taking the gaming world by storm. There are reportedly over 4 million downloads so far, so it will be interesting to see if developers Psyonix can maintain the interest and momentum when gamers are eventually asked to…
Taste is subjective, but I think it is rather obvious that movie adaptations of famed video games have for the most part been poor. Who can forget the car crash that was the Super Mario Bros. Movie (interdimensional dinosaur people!), the confused mess of the Street Fighter adaptation, or the myriad of flicks that have just missed the general point (Doom, Hitman, Silent Hill, Prince of Persia etc.) I actually think there has not been an outstanding movie that took its source material from a video game. Sure, some have been passable, but that’s as good as it gets, which…
Hello everyone. Dakota of GamerBolt here and I recently had a chat with Pierre Lehnen about his new game, Orange Season. Here’s what he had to say… Who are you and what are you working on? My name is Pierre Lehnen and despite the French name and German surname, I’m Brazilian. On the internet, I’m usually known as Brian Hudell, or just Hudell. I’m currently 26 years old and working as a third party programmer for a company located at the city of Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil. What is Orange Season? Orange Season is a farm-life simulator, the first in…
Developing a game can be difficult, and marketing one can be even more so, especially if you’re not a social person. There’s not exactly a clear path to success and there a lot of options on how to market your game. Today we’re going to look at a few and see how they can help you market your game. Sharing Your Work Many independent developers spend years working on their projects only to find they have no idea how to get people interested in the game. The funny thing about that is they were creating marketing material the whole time.…
To date, the PS4 has sold a vast amount more than the Wii U and Xbox One, so much more that if you combined the Wii U’s and Xbox One’s sales you still wouldn’t reach the number of PS4s on the market. So what is behind this success? Is the PS4 just that great of a console or are the others just bad? Perhaps it is something else entirely. Half the Game As any game developer can tell you, half of the challenge in making your game do well is marketing. The same can be said about consoles. In this…
Since release, the Xbox One has been trailing far behind the PS4, and only doing a fair amount better than the Wii U. With a reputation for being a cable box that also plays games compared to the PS4 being the “gamer’s console” it had a rough start. This was mostly due to a few poor decisions that got picked up by the media such as the Kinect being “unable” to be disconnected, or Microsoft’s overall focus to make the Xbox One to be the average Joe’s console that was more focused on what apps were on the device rather…
If you’re a fan of construction management games, then you’re sure to be pleased with the recent announcement of Planet Coaster. We’ve got Chris Sawyer to largely thank for laying down the foundations of this genre, after all, Transport Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon were two games which took this genre by storm back in the 1990s. Other memorable mentions, two from EA include ThemePark and ThemePark World. However, nothing has managed to come close to the Rollercoaster Tycoon series, but is that about to change? Let’s take a look at two big upcoming offerings… Rollercoaster Tycoon World I personally think…
There has always been an argument over the value of a game. Do you justify the value based on how long a game kept you busy, or the level of enjoyment you had during those hours? What’s more valuable, a game that can give you hundreds of hours of enjoyment, or one that gives you just a few hours of the best experience you’ve had in awhile? Well, that’s a matter of opinion, and varies from person to person, today we’re just going to look at what good games you can get on the cheap. More specifically, games under thirty…
Summer 2014, many indie developers were surprised with the sudden announcement that RPG Maker and Humble Bundle were teaming up to host one of the year’s biggest indie developer contest, Indie Game Maker Contest 2014. With a $10,000 grand prize and another $10,000 split amongst smaller prizes it’s was a competition that had a lot of people’s interest, as was seen with over 700 entries into the thirty day competition. Participating in the contest, even if they didn’t win, jumpstarted a lot of people’s careers into video game development. This year the contest is coming back with even more to…
I find myself in the unusual position here in the UK of writing this humble review in the midst of humidity surely equal to the level of New Orleans at the height of summer. Nearly. Anyway, the thought of lifting a pinkie even to type never mind steer a character round the gruelling requirements of the Tour De France (never mind the thought of actually getting on a bike myself) currently fills me with utter dread. This review must be written, however, and you perhaps feel like that about getting your characters through the challenges brought by this game –…
Are You Ready For The Return of The Classic Sinclair ZX?
The 1980’s was a great era for so many reasons, however, if you were a gamer then the Sinclair ZX is what probably brought back many of those old dreams. For me, it was perhaps the SEGA MegaDrive which now brings back those nostalgic memories. However, with modern day gaming now in a place where we could never had imagined less than a decade ago, there’s something great about re-visiting the foundations of which brought about the gaming of today. We’ve got Steve Wilcox, the man behind Elite Systems, based in Lichfield, England, to thank for this re-make. The device cleverly uses modern tech, meaning you’ll…
Act of Aggression – The Game C&C Fans Have Been Waiting for?
It could be argued that the RTS genre was partly defined thanks to the C&C series, growing in popularity with every release since 1995. After all, the idea that you could resource gather, build up a base and then defend or attack the enemy was one that worked extremely well. However, the series appeared to reach its peak within the era of Westwood Studios, and ever since, things haven’t really felt the same. EA’s attempts to conquer, yes, pun intended, this series were seemingly unsuccessful. Perhaps it was the announcement of Command and Conquer: Generals 2 that had a large…
Ark is a great game with a few flaws. It’s optimization at launch was horrid though through constant work from the team the game is mostly stable after update 180. The game has yet to bore me. What it has done though is keep me engaged for over 70 hours. It’s one of those games where when you’re not playing it, you are thinking of what to do the next time you get on. When you finally do get on, you’re trying to knock a few things off the checklist, and as you check those off ten more goals take…
MOBAs or Massive Online Battle Arenas, have become incredibly popular in recent years. If you play games on the PC you’ve probably heard of League of Legends or DotA 2. If you’re a console gamer you may have heard of SMITE. These games focus on five versus five combat at their core, with a series of objectives to complete. They’re games that rely heavily on working your team and your experience with these games will often times depend on who you are paired with. Though these games may not be for everyone they have grown a large audience with nearly…
Command and Conquer Fans: Act of Aggression is Incoming
Westwood Studios helped to define the strategic war genre, it’s how the Command and Conquer series began. The franchise started way back in 1995, allowing you to take command of an army and strategically deploy and arrange units, with the main aim of defeating the opponent. Once Generals 2 was announced, it got many fans excited, however, it became another title that was cancelled. Let’s face it, Act of Aggression looks like a modern day version of a C&C title, and then some. Act of Aggression will use the same recipe that made the C&C series so successful, it will…
Most games stick to a familiar formula, however, there’s an ever growing number of titles that are exploring totally new concepts. Developers are starting to think outside the box thanks to the power of 8th gen. Whilst we’ve seen some amazing blockbusters announced at E3, this article takes a look at two upcoming games that don’t fit within your typical offerings, and haven’t had much attention. Dreams (PS4) This game was announced at E3 and it’s definitely very different, making it stand out from most other releases. All focus is on allowing you to use the PlayStation 4 to create…
This week of the year has more breaking game news than the rest of the year combined, so it wouldn’t be fair to leave it at just five highlights from E3. That’s why today we’ll be looking at a few more. So grab your seatbelts and buckle up because here is another top five highlights from E3 2015. FireWatch – Campo Santo – PS4 and PC With all the action packed, shoot em ups, it’s nice to have a little adventure game thrown in to give your mind a moment to relax. You play as Henry, a man with a…
There’s one thing that’s clear, the PS4 is out-selling the XBOX One, that’s by a massive margin. E3 was a great opportunity for Microsoft to totally change the destiny of the XBOX One. However, the PS4 will remain the slimmest and most powerful 8th gen console – a clear selling point for most gamers. With that said, Microsoft needed to have an incredible amount of new game announcements, however, it was Sony who impressed the most on this front. The result? Another easy win for Sony and the PS4. It should be noted that a 1TB HDD edition of the…
E3 is just around the corner and with that everyone is coming up with their own predictions of what may be revealed this June so we can get excited about what to spend our holiday money on this winter. So without further ado let’s get to the, “Top Predictions for PS4” this E3. Silent Hills Will Return Back in April the game Silent Hills was cancelled by its publisher, Konami, two months ago. Shortly after which its demo, also known as P.T. was pulled from the playstation store. The game was being lead by Game Designer Hideo Kojima, the man…