Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 27 May 2009 22:54:00 GMT
BREAKING KOTAKU EXCLUSIVE! Natural Selection 2, the sequel to the popular multiplayer Half-Life mod, is slated for a Fall release on Steam, according to its developers. The original game blended FPS and RTS mechanics and featured two very different playable teams – the alien Kharaa and the human Frontiersmen. NS2 will maintain the same basic mechanics, but with some new features (and obviously much prettier). It’s now running on an unnamed proprietary engine, with Valve’s Source engine having been dropped due to the cost of licensing.
This is great news, as the development has been through some rough times, with its creators selling a Sudoku puzzle game to make ends meet at one point.
(Source: Alec Meer, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
Posted in FPS, Mods / Hacks, Videos, Steam, Windows, Strategy, Previews | Tags UnknownWorlds | 28 comments
Posted by Xander
Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:15:00 GMT
Punching people in the face is really quite fun.
10/10
Alright, so it’s not really quite that simple, but there’s no denying how satisfying the combat system is in this game. Zeno Clash combines the immersive and brutal combat of Breakdown with an intuitive control scheme. Light punches are your left mouse button, with strong punches on your right with space blocking and arrow keys as movement. What’s interesting about this system though is that you’re not completely stuck on a direct course with your enemy, what I mean is that you do have a slight independent movement of your head whilst you’re fighting. You can combine this with the block to either dodge or parry, and to lock onto another enemy in combat, you simply have to look at the targer and press E, which you can do whilst you’re still dealing damage to the enemy in front of you. You can even do this to be aware of who is around you, if you’re preparing to throw your opponent in their direction. It’s simple, it’s satisfying and it’s very very fun.
Read more...
Posted in FPS, Fighters, Windows, Action / Arcade | 64 comments
Posted by Xander
Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:29:00 GMT
Man I love these steam-shots. They basically cover everything I want to say anyway!
So yes, pre-loading has started on indie shooter-fighter hybrid Zeno Clash so if you’ve already purchased the game be sure to start downloading through steam in order to play it as soon as it releases!
Well, that’s the theory anyway. Also this will be the last day then that the 25% discount will be in effect, so if the recent positive reviews have encouraged you to check it out you can still save a fair amount in the price of admission. Good luck Ace Team!
(Update: Game is out! Steam Unlocking Begins! Discount is over!)
Posted in FPS, Fighters, Windows, Action / Arcade | 29 comments
Posted by Xander
Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:18:00 GMT
Tag is this year’s Digipen entry into the IGF Student Showcase. Whether it wins or not will be decided later tonight (Update: They did!), but at the very least you can form your own opinions at home!
In the interest of keeping the front-page compact for GDC goodness: Continued in the extended!
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Posted in Platformers, FPS, Puzzle, Windows, IGF / GDC | 24 comments
Posted by Xander
Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:51:00 GMT
See, what did I just say? One day sale.
Zeno Clash , an FPS with splashes of shooting and melee action (and IGF Finalist!) will be released sometime in April, and to celebrate the developers are having a sale on Steam where the game will be half off for a single day. That makes the current price $9.99, or £7.49 or even €7.99 depending on just where in the world you hail from, which is a huge saving.
So TIG, is it a big enough saving for you to want to put down money on something which doesn’t have a playable demo, or does the IGF Finalist status give you more confidence in putting down the money early?
(Update: Sale is over, but the discount will remain at 25% off until release on April 21st!)
Posted in FPS, Fighters, Windows | 46 comments
Posted by Guest Reviewer
Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:13:00 GMT
[Guest review by MisterX, originally posted on TIGForums]
As few probably know about it, I’ll just introduce it a bit: Smokin’ Guns is what became of Western Quake³. The latter was a very solid and well-liked western mod for Quake 3, and it was developed by Iron Claw Interactive. As time passed, the usual thing happened – there was less and less activity on the servers and eventually the developers moved on to other things. So when the source code of Quake 3 was released, a group of die-hard fans put it upon themselves to polish the mod, iron out bugs, create new content, and, best of all, make it a stand-alone game! They achieved no less and so now, few days ago, Smokin’ Guns was finally released into the wild!
Smokin’ Guns is not the most modern shooter, but it’s one of the few Western-themed action games there are, and it’s simply the best, in my opinion. There are the normal deathmatch and team deathmatch modes, but they have a catch, as you need money to buy weapons, ammo and items whenever, wherever you like. The money is not only gained by killing, but it’s also found lying around the maps. More interestingly, there is the Bank Robbery mode, which pits one team as defenders of a bank against another trying to break it, steal money by blowing up the safe, and then escape to the train yard. The most competitive one, though, is the Duel mode, which is self-explanatory. Two men go in, one comes out – very classy.
SG is really not an innovative game, but I like it for how well it manages to capture the Wild West feeling inspired by all the famous classic movies. In most shooters rifles are the most important weapons, and the one-handed guns are merely backups. But here it’s really well-balanced, so if you want it to be all about the revolvers, have it be that way. There are a bunch of revolvers, rifles, and shotguns, and even a fancy classic Gatling gun – in my opinion they all just feel right, especially the revolvers. You can use single ones or carry two simultaneously, and you can mix them how you like it. When using two, you can also reload them individually, and one of the revolvers is reloaded one bullet at a time, which feels very nice.
Lastly, the graphics aren’t much to look at, but they have been polished from Western Quake³, and the maps tend to look quite atmospheric. The sound is a different story, though, as the weapons sound appropriately powerful, and there’s a very, very nice soundtrack which really gets you in the mood for duking it out at high noon.
It’s been a long time coming, and I’m glad I can finally play the game again online. I hope some of you will also find it interesting. So, see you online, maybe!
Posted in FPS, Multiplayer, Mods / Hacks | 16 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:48:00 GMT
Gravity Bone is a stylish first-person action game set in the seedy world of Nuevo Aires. The game is almost painfully short, but has enough panache in its two levels to make it somewhat of an indie sleeper hit of the end of 2008. Creator Brendon Chung has an impeccable flair for graphic design, and imbued Gravity Bone with a look that invokes Portal with its utilitarian graphics and deadpan sense of humor. But whereas in Portal we’re confined in a sterile world of white and gray, GB is bursting with delicious color, and features blocky-headed characters that are infinitely more interesting to look at and interact with than the frightening Realdolls game players are often forced to contend with in modern FPS’s. Now if only it didn’t feel like we were walking in on it during the last act…
(Thanks, Zaphos, Tim, and others!)
TIGdb: Entry for Gravity Bone
Posted in FPS, Windows, Freeware | Tags BrendonChung | 36 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:03:00 GMT
Wow. 10 years since the incomplete Chex Quest 3 beta was released on Digital Café’s website, Charles Jacobi (the original Chex Quest artist) has finally finished off this epic FPS trilogy! Chex Quest, a total conversion of Doom, was the first video game to be released in a cereal box, and garnered a relatively large cult following.
I don’t know about you, but I miss the days when video games and cereal made sense. When LIFE made sense.
Chex Quest 3 contains zero percent of your daily nutrition requirements. However, it does contain upgraded versions of both Chex Quest 1 and Chex Quest 2, as Episodes 1 and 2. It also runs off the fancy-shmancy ZDoom engine (but can, and should, be played as a standalone game).
(Thanks, NWOGBBV!)
Posted in FPS, Windows, Freeware | Tags DigitalCafe | 34 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:43:00 GMT
Scuba Steve’s Action DooM is still somewhat of a rarity amongst Doom mods – a full-featured total conversion that genuinely tries some new things. With AD, Scuba and his team not only tried to emulate the linear gameplay of classic 2d shooters like Contra, they promoted it as a real retail product that you might buy when the genre was at the height of its popularity. Though as far as Contra-style FPS’s go, 8bit killer is a superior game, Action DooM gets credit for being the first. And for displaying the lasting potential of the Doom engine.
Four years later, Action DooM 2 is here! Whereas the original AD mixed Contra with Doom, AD2 is obviously inspired by beat ‘em up games like Final Fight. Even though there are guns available in the game, they are scarce – for the most part you’ll be using your fists, along with a slew of hand-to-hand weapons like knives, 2×4s, and chains. These items break quickly with use, but are strewn around each level fairly liberally.
The idea of picking up new weapons constantly is a good one, although combat is kind of hit-or-miss (pun intended). For the most part, there’s little strategy to beating up your opponents – just move in, hit, and then move away. It gets slightly repetitive, and I would have loved to have been able to throw weapons, or perhaps use different types of attacks. Throws? Combos? Chokes?
But overall, it’s hard to complain – Action DooM 2 is obviously a labor of love and there’s lots to like, from the awesome graphics (hand-pixelled by Steve) to the wonderfully overdone Sin City/Max Payne-style noir cutscenes (complete with voiceovers!). There’s also a really impressive amount of variety to the enemies and the environments. I enjoyed the various in-jokes (no way!) that can be found on the walls in the form of advertisements and graffiti.
AD2 (which can be played with or without Doom 2), definitely sets the bar high for creative Doom mods, and was a treat to play through. The full game is available for download, but if you really enjoy it, you can also buy a boxed version for $9.99 that comes with bonus maps.
TIGdb: Entry for Action DooM 2: Urban Brawl
(Thanks, JimmyBignuts!)
Posted in FPS, Fighters, Windows, Freeware | Tags ScubaSteve | 35 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:08:00 GMT
TECNO – the Base is a cerebral first-person by Paolo Cosentino, and was released about a year ago. In the game you play Alexia, a worker at the “TECNO BASE” who must escape said base after an experiment turns all the robots inside hostile. Along the way you’ll solve various puzzles and destroy hell of crazy, freaked-out droids.
I have to say, for such an ambitious idea developed by one person (in Blitz 3d, no less), I’m really impressed… and so far I’ve only played through the demo! Though the graphics are fairly dated, they nonetheless look quite pretty – together with the audio they do a more than sufficient job of setting the mood. But what makes the game a diamond in the rough is how well the action and puzzle elements come together and keep the game continually fresh, despite a few missteps.
The demo is pretty linear, so if you get stuck on a puzzle, there’s not much you can do until you can figure it out. And with potentially multiple “puzzle pieces” in your hands at any given moment, sometimes it’s not obvious which lead to follow. There’s one spot in particular that I almost gave up on, and I imagine it’s a sticky point for a lot of players (hit me up in the comments if you can’t find the fourth battery!).
I also would have liked to see more in the way of a narrative. Honestly, had I not read the game’s description on the website I would never have figured out what was going on in the game. Although I do enjoy piecing together a story, I feel like TECNO provides very little in the way of context. A few more clues here and there would have done a lot in the way of establishing the game’s setting.
Overall, I very much enjoyed the demo and am considering a purchase (the full game is $15.99). It’s a clever and well-made title, and there’s a lot of potential in the first part of the game. It’s not on the level of, say, System Shock or Deus Ex, but then again, what is?
TIGdb: Entry for TECNO – the Base
(Thanks, Bad Sector! This one’s for you!)
Posted in FPS, Windows | Tags GuruyEntertainment | 39 comments
