Techland revealed today its next game, called Dying Light, a first-person action game consisting of more zombies, more machete head lopping, and also – in an apparent likeness of Mirror’s Edge – free-running. It will be available on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2014, (published by WB interactive, which may explain the name change).

Dying Light might just be an improvement on Dead Island. Dying Light might just be Dead Island, wearing a fake mustache, for all I know. Dying Light might, at the very least, be a blood relative, a more athletic and handsome one.

In contrast, Dying Light claims to approach the survival zombie sim differently than Dead Island’s A-to-B quest collecting and zombie-bashing scorefest. Instead, the game adds a day-and-night cycle, embracing item scavenging and weapon crafting in the day and cautious, tactful exploration at night, when different threats appear and the infected become “aggressive and more dangerous.” Combat will be similar, with the focus largely on scavenging various items for melee, and upgrading them in over-the-top ways (a spike-studded bat, for example). Claimed to now be possible through next gen tech (whatever that means), Dying Light will also include parkour which will, the publisher says, “allow for nearly unrestricted exploration and weapon crafting.” In the photo above, the player character is leaping over a gap between roofs, hands and feet stretched out on screen.

Based on the little information given, it is clear Techland this time around are focused more on nailing the ‘survival’ aspect.

If Dying Light can drop the boredom and wonky movement of Dead Island, under the guiding hand of WB interactive and Techland, than it might be a standout hit. For now, though, that sure looks like a fake mustache.

The post Techland Swings for the Fences and Then Jumps Over Them with Dying Light appeared first on addicted-gamers.com.

Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Developer: Digital Extremes
Genre: Third-Person Shooter
Release Date: April 23, 2013
ESRB Rating: Teen

Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way. I’m not a Trekkie. I don’t dislike Star Trek. I’ve just never been a fan. I grew up in the TV show rerun era. I’ve seen most of the movies. They range from really good to laughably bad. J.J. Abrams pulled off a miracle in rebooting Star Trek while tying it into the original universe. It was fantastic. It was so successful that a sequel movie was a no-brainer. It also made sense to produce a video game based on the rebooted hit. I just wish the game was as successful as its movie inspiration.

The game opens with a rather nondescript title screen, which foreshadows things to come. But that Star Trek theme played and anticipation washed over me. You sucker. Movie licensed games suck, right? This one has to be different. It’s Star Trek. Production teams from the movies assisted with the creation of this game in order to create an authentic Star Trek experience. It’s fair to say the production values should have been much higher.

Star Trek (the video game) is a new story set between the first Abrams movie and the upcoming sequel, Into Darkness. What’s left of the Vulcan race are trying to find a suitable planet to colonize. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. In order to do that, the Vulcans have some kind of experimental contraption that the reimagined Gorn, who go around enslaving other races and destroying their planets, have stolen to use as a doomsday device to threaten interstellar peace. Enter Kirk who rushes headfirst into the “burning building” with his plucky sidekick, Spock, in tow. That pretty much sums up Star Trek the video game and standard sci-fi tropes throughout time.

The cast of characters brought over from the movie look accurate enough. Then they start moving and speaking. The dialogue and facial animations don’t always sync up. The characters’ vacant looks make them out to be nothing more than hollow mannequins. They’re attractive, but they lack soul. This is emphasized dramatically by each disinterested line the voice actors deliver. It is fully apparent that the lines were recorded individually. That strips away any pretense of acting since the cast aren’t interacting with each other. Delivering lines badly is one thing. Bad writing from the writers involved in the movies combined with bad delivery is unforgivable. I don’t need to hear Spock repeatedly tell me what to do at every single objective or informing me that I’m injured as I’m down waiting for him to revive me. The rest of the cast might as well be nonexistent. They’re just around for background noise, not much else. That seems to be Star Trek’s theme.

Visuals aren’t necessarily bad, they’re just dull. They don’t leave a lasting impression and that is distressing considering the material they have to work with. Sure, the Enterprise looks pristine and exactly like the movie sets, but the brightly lit hallways all look the same to me. If you’ve seen one starship corridor, you’ve seen them all. The Gorn home planet isn’t any better. The color palette is muted and washed out. My expectations might have been set too high when I take the movies visuals into consideration. This is some real wasted potential.

Star Trek’s deficiencies don’t end with the overall lackluster visual presentation. It suffers from identity crisis. It seems Digital Extremes couldn’t decide what kind of game it was supposed to be. They’re guilty of cramming too much into the package, all for the sake of breaking up the monotony of the third-person action which actually makes sense because the action is so vapid. It turns out none of Star Trek’s elements blend into a positive, memorable gameplay experience. It’s kind of weird since Digital Extremes developed the vastly underrated Dark Sector and The Darkness II and had a hand in porting BioShock to the PlayStation 3. It isn’t like these guys have a terrible track record.

On the surface, it’s supposed to be a third-person “bro-op”, but the game is missing a key ingredient to the whole bro-op concept, cooperation. The A.I. is frustratingly, ridiculously cretinous in almost every facet. I am constantly at odds with my partner. When he isn’t in my line of fire, he’s usually nowhere to be found because he’s literally stuck running in place against an object or a wall. I’ve had to reload checkpoints because I couldn’t progress in a level until we were both present and accounted for. Gears of War worked because A.I. stays out of the way, soaks bullets, and provides needed revives. Kirk and Spock make for terrible, uncooperative bros.

When you aren’t dealing with piss poor pathing and collision detection, you’re dealing with piss poor shooting gameplay. I figured out early on that the easiest way to get past most enemies is to stun them with the phasers and run up to knock them out. It makes the hardest difficulty easy. It also doesn’t make sense to be playing a cover-based shooter that encourages breaking cover in a firefight to go knock generic lizard men unconscious effectively negating the cover and shoot aspects.

It turns out Star Trek isn’t a good 3D platforming game either. Imagine playing Assassin’s Creed without any clear indication of where you are supposed to be jumping to when navigating ledges. If you are on a ledge and need to jump backwards to another ledge, the character makes no indication that is what you are supposed to do. The end result is making educated guesses and literal leaps of faith. One level in particular was extremely frustrating because of the combination of poor platforming and obtuse objectives. I spent a long time circling the same room before I realized there was a ledge I needed to grab onto. It was so indistinct that I don’t know how anyone would know by first glance that’s the objective.

The misadventures are exacerbated by poor design choices like using the tricorder to scan for objectives like the detective mode in the Batman: Arkham games, hacking minigames that are the same every time, a goofy swimming level, and an even goofier turret shooting level. Here’s an opportunity to pilot one of the most recognizable ships in sci-fi and all I can do is spin 360 degrees and shoot down incoming missiles and Gorn ships.

There some things Star Trek gets right. Kirk and Spock possess uniquely different skillsets. If you don’t stun/kill combo through the game, you might appreciate that. As bad as the A.I. partner is, drop in co-op with other players is a good feature. Even the worst of games can be marginally better with a buddy. Fortunately, that is the extent of the multiplayer. The soundtrack was recorded by a live orchestra. I know it seems like a reach to find any positive, but the soundtrack is great.

I wouldn’t recommend this game to the most diehard Star Trek fan. It is a poorly conceived licensed game that perpetuates the “licensed games suck” stigma. It is a waste of movie production, actors, and video game developer talent and resources. Just forget its existence and stick to enjoying the Abrams films. It’s a better investment, financially and emotionally.

1.5 out 5 star rating
This review is based on a full retail version of the game for Xbox 360.

The post Star Trek Review – Beam Me The Hell Out of Here! appeared first on addicted-gamers.com.

That’s where My Carnival comes in. Aimed at children ages 3 to 6 years old, the goal is to give players a form of therapy that is more fun and engaging. The game is free, all that is required is a plain old PC microphone.

According to the developer:

“My Carnival” will be set in a fun fair with booths giving access to different minigames. In one minigame, for instance, players control a water stream to fill up coloured water balloons only with their breathing.

Their primary “tipping point” goal is to reach $29,000 while their ultimate goal is to raise $40,000. They have 22 days to go and have so far earned $1270. There are, of course, various levels of support based upon the dollar amount.

You can do a good thing and contribute to their crowdfund.

AccessAble Games focuses on making games and apps with specific players in mind, such as children with autism or cerebral palsy.

The post Crowdfund My Carnival: A Game For Children With Cystic Fibrosis appeared first on addicted-gamers.com.

Round 6

Shibuya Reapers – Vectorman – Vectorman
Metro City Brawlers – Albert Wesker – Resident Evil
Raccoon City Tyrants – Kratos – God of War
Vault 101 Tunnel Snakes – Manny Calavera – Grim Fandango

Round 5

Vault 101 Tunnel Snakes – Sonic – Sonic the Hedgehog
Raccoon City Tyrants – Corvo Attano – Dishonored
Metro City Brawlers – GLaDOS – Portal
Shibuya Reapers – Sanae Hanekoma – The World Ends With You

The post AGL Video Game Character Draft Final Rounds appeared first on addicted-gamers.com.

Round 4

Shibuya Reapers – Magus– Chrono Trigger
Metro City Brawlers – Sephiroth – Final Fantasy VII
Raccoon City Tyrants – Smoke – Mortal Kombat
Vault 101 Tunnel Snakes – King – Tekken

Round 5

Vault 101 Tunnel Snakes – Lara Croft – Tomb Raider
Raccoon City Tyrants – Vergil – Devil May Cry
Metro City Brawlers – Augustus Cole – Gears of War
Shibuya Reapers – Chin Gentsai – King of Fighters

The post AGL Video Game Character Draft Rounds 4 and 5 appeared first on addicted-gamers.com.

Round 2
Shibuya Reapers – Alucard – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Metro City Brawlers – Samus Aran – Metroid
Raccoon City Tyrants – JC Denton – Deus Ex
Vault 101 Tunnel Snakes – Gordon Freeman – Half-Life

Round 3

Vault 101 Tunnel Snakes – Shodan – System Shock
Raccoon City Tyrants – Ezio Auditore – Assassin’s Creed
Metro City Brawlers – Akuma – Street Fighter
Shibuya Reapers – Ness – Earthbound

We’ll have the final rounds for you tomorrow and grade the AGL’s teams drafts.

The post AGL Video Game Character Draft Rounds 2 and 3 appeared first on addicted-gamers.com.

Defender of Hyrule, savior of princesses, nemesis of pig-like megalomaniacs, this Hylian kid brings courage and power to his new squad. He helped popularize an entire genre of gaming. He plays a mean ocarina too. It is not known at this time if Navi will be accompanying Link to Shibuya. Here’s hoping she doesn’t.

The post AGL Video Game Character Draft – Reapers Select Link appeared first on addicted-gamers.com.

Mega Man may seem like a stretch as a first round pick, but it’s hard to find a more adaptable character in the video game universe. The guy can turn practically anything into a weapon.

This 8-bit star just celebrated his 25th anniversary. The Brawlers think there’s plenty left in his E-Tank.

The post AGL Video Game Character Draft – Brawlers Choose Mega Man appeared first on addicted-gamers.com.

Commander Shepard is the first human ever to join the Spectres. He commands the SSV Normandy. He has consistently proven himself a leader and has saved the galaxy on many occasions. He’s even died and come back to life, once.

When asked about becoming the second overall pick, he had this to say to the rest of the league, “I hope you’re up for some competition.”

Attaboy, Shepard.

The post AGL Video Game Character Draft – Tyrants Draft Shepard appeared first on addicted-gamers.com.

This FOXHOUND operative seems to be quite a logical choice for the Tunnel Snakes. The veteran of many campaigns against various Metal Gear war machines, a rogue FOXHOUND, and a host of bizarre enemies, including clones of himself.

We are attempting to locate Snake. He is in attendance of the draft, but we could only find a cardboard box in the Green Room.

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