Tuesday, 27 February 2018

New Gameplay Today – Chrono Trigger PC

Square Enix released Chrono Trigger on Steam today, to the surprise and delight of many. That delight may be short-lived, as Leo, Ben Hanson, and I soon learned.

Long story short, this has all the hallmarks of a quick and dirty port. Between text that refers to its iOS roots, a U.I. that looks rushed, and obnoxiously smoothed-out visuals, players who are looking for a faithful recreation of the beloved game may want to sit this one out. Take a look at our mercifully brief episode below, and see for yourself.

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Science-Fiction Weekly – Star Wars Rebels, Solo, Lost In Space, The Dark Tower, Heaven's Vault

Danger, Will Robinson. Netflix is revisiting science-fiction's past with a reboot of the 1965 television show Lost in Space. Set 30 years in the future at a point when Earth's resources are dwindling, the Robinson family is tasked to travel the cosmos to find a new home for mankind. Their mission doesn't go as planned, and they are thrown off course. Their fate is sewn to two outsiders: Don West, a blue-collar contractor who is in it for himself, and the mysterious and charismatic Dr. Smith, who has a different vision of the future. The first 10-episode season of Lost in Space stars Toby Stephens (Black Sails) as John Robinson and Molly Parker (House of Cards) as Maureen Robinson. The show is currently slated to launch on April 13. You can take your first look at the Robinsons in the teaser trailer below.

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Neflix is currently the streaming service of choice for big-budget original series, but Amazon wants to change that narrative. Along with an upcoming show based on the Lord of the Rings novels, Amazon is adapting Terry Pratchett's Discworld, Iain M Banks' Culture, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, Larry Niven's Ringworld, and Steven King's The Dark Tower. The recent film treatment of The Dark Tower didn't do the books justice, but did show the potential it has in the video medium. Amazon's adaptation is in the hands of Glen Mazzara, who was the showrunner for The Walking Dead's third season.

Star Wars Rebels' final episodes are airing now, and are quietly shaking up the Star Wars universe in big (and possibly problematic) ways. The latest episodes, "Wolves and a Door" and "A World Between Worlds," hammer home closure for the series, while also introducing new ideas into Star Wars' canon, including what appears to be force-powered time travel. Obi-Wan's line "The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together" is heard by Ezra years before he said it. He also hears Princess Leia, Rey, and Kylo Ren. I won't spoil anything else, but I have a bad feeling about what this new wrinkle in the lore could mean for Star Wars moving forward. Ezra doesn't just hear voices. Something big happens and it's a game changer. The Force Awakens toyed with this concept when Rey grabbed the lightsaber, but Rebels goes beyond teasing the idea of time travel. It now exists in Star Wars. I'm still in somewhat of a state of shock from this development. It really does change everything.

Speaking of time travel, fans may have uncovered the successor to Rebels through a trademark listing for something called Star Wars Resistance. The listing features the same fields as all Star Wars movies and shows, and the name alone screams of a follow up to Rebels. Disney has several shows in development for its forthcoming streaming service, and we should start hearing about them soon, as they are believed to launch next year.

A trip to the past Star Wars fans seem hesitant to take is Solo: A Star Wars Story. Random House Books has revealed where exactly this prequel film fits into the overall Star Wars canonical timeline. It appears to be roughly 10 years before the Battle of Yavin. Oddly, the Last Shot book that is slotted before Solo, jumps all over the place in time. Here's Random House's synopsis for Last Shot:

THEN: It’s one of the galaxy’s most dangerous secrets: a mysterious transmitter with unknown power and a reward for its discovery that most could only dream of claiming. But those who fly the Millennium Falcon throughout its infamous history aren’t your average scoundrels. Not once, but twice, the crew of the Falcon tries to claim the elusive prize—first, Lando Calrissian and the droid L3-37 at the dawn of an ambitious career, and later, a young and hungry Han Solo with the help of his copilot, Chewbacca. But the device’s creator, the volatile criminal Fyzen Gor, isn’t interested in sharing. And Gor knows how to hold a grudge....

NOW: It’s been ten years since the rebel hero Han Solo last encountered Fyzen Gor. After mounting a successful rebellion against the Empire and starting a family with an Alderaanian princess, Han hasn’t given much thought to the mad inventor. But when Lando turns up at Han’s doorstep in the middle of the night, it’s Fyzen’s assassins that he’s running from. And without Han’s help, Lando—and all life on Cloud City—will be annihilated.
 
With the assistance of a young hotshot pilot, an Ewok slicer prodigy, the woman who might be the love of Lando’s life, and Han’s best and furriest friend, the two most notorious scoundrels in the New Republic are working together once more. They’ll have to journey across the stars—and into the past—before Gor uses the device’s power to reshape the galaxy.

Last Shot launches on April 17, a full month before the film's May 25 release.

If you're in the market specifically for an archaeological science-fiction adventure game, keep your eyes out for Heaven's Vault, a new game from Inkle, the creators of 80 Days. Heaven's Vault tasks players to find a missing roboticist by exploring ancient ruins filled with hieroglyphs. Figuring out what these hieroglyphs say will further the story, but you won't necessarily know you are translating them the right way, as you may be lead down the wrong path. The hieroglyphs are inspired by ancient Egyptian and Chinese writing systems. Inkle says the "words are formed out of smaller "atoms", as they often are in German."

Heaven's Vault sounds like it's going to be a unique puzzle game, which is currently slated to launch on PlayStation 4, PC, and iOS later this year. You can take a look at the adventure, which also features open world and ship components, below:

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Kirby Developers HAL Laboratory Release Part Time UFO On Mobile

All of a sudden, the developers best known for Kirby games releases a mobile game on Android and iOS yesterday centering around a UFO looking for a job.

HAL Laboratories released the game yesterday for $3.99. The game had been available in Japan under the title Working UFO for a little while, but only just released in America. It focuses on a UFO that has come to Earth and, new to the planet, needs a job. Gameplay resembles UFO catcher, or crane, games where you pick up and move things based on timing. Of course, like all HAL Lab games, the gameplay evolves around those mechanics.

And you get to dress up for work!

You can go ahead and download the game now. While HAL has a close relationship with Nintendo, with former HAL president Satoru Iwata working closely with Nintendo before eventually joining the company's executive team, the studio is technically independent and can produce and release games on their own. 

 

Our Take
HAL's little experimental games like this and Boxboy are always fun ideas. I kind of hope they keep plugging away at smaller but inventive ideas like this.



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Xbox 360 Games Join Xbox One X Enhanced List

Microsoft have announced a number of Xbox 360 backwards compatible titles that are enhanced on the Xbox One X.

The titles, Forza Horizon, Witcher 2, Crackdown, and Fable Anniversary. That makes for a total of eleven games that, when played on an Xbox One X, have improvements.

  • Assassin’s Creed
  • Crackdown
  • Fable Anniversary
  • Fallout 3
  • Forza Horizon
  • Gears of War 3
  • Halo 3
  • Mirror’s Edge
  • Oblivion
  • Skate 3
  • The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Additionally, Xbox One X enhanced backwards compatible games now have a menu toggle for how exactly you want them enhanced. Players can choose between graphics or performance, in case you dig the older graphics but want a higher framerate, or think the game ran fine but want it looking better. You can access this menu by popping open the Xbox 360 guide and heading to the Xbox One X Settings tab.

One unfortunate note is that, despite Forza Horizon being backwards compatible and Xbox One X enhanced, it's not actually possible to buy the DLC or the game itself. Likely due to expired licenses, the only way to play the game on the Xbox One is to own the physical disc.

[Source: Microsoft Blog]

 

Our Take
It's cool seeing what the Xbox 360 emulator on Xbox One is capable of and Microsoft's efforts in backwards compatibility, while not earth-shattering, continues to be laudable. I'm hoping some more niche titles get enhancements soon, too.



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Heaven's Vault Announced For PS4

Inkle has announced that its latest project, Heaven's Vault, will be their first game to hit consoles. The studio has released a trailer that showcases Heaven's Vault's journey of language and discovery and announces that is coming to PlayStation 4.

Heaven's Vault tells the story of archaeologist Aliya Elasra, who travels the galaxy with her robot sidekick Six to learn about an ancient civilization through a long-lost language. The trailer shows Aliya using context clues to decipher the meaning behind ancient inscriptions. However, there's no way to be sure whether or not the meaning behind artifacts or locations is lost in translation. One wrong word can drastically change the meaning that the ancients left behind and every decision that Aliya makes has varying levels of consequence. One wrong word can change everything.

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Heaven's Vault is set to release on PlayStation 4 and PC sometime in 2018. Inkle's last game, 80 Days, was Time magazine's Game of the Year for 2014.

 

Our Take
80 Days is one of our favorite mobile experiences, so we're excited to see what the studio can do on PlayStation 4. Inkle has painstakingly created a unique written language for this game and the combination of 2D characters in 3D environments leads to some beautiful visuals. 



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Monster Hunter World Aloy Quest Launches Tomorrow, Event Quests Will Rotate

In a post on PSBlog today, Capcom's Monster Hunter World producer Ryozo Tsujimoto explained the details of the second Horizon: Zero Dawn quest that nets you an armor that makes your hunter look like Aloy and a similar bow.

The quest, which begins tomorrow, has players fighting a giant Anjanath because the team rationalized that the monster best represented Horizon by looking similar to the game's Thunderjaw. Players will have to fight the Anjanath multiple times to get enough materials to craft the armor set, but some degree of urgency is called for, as the quest is only live until March 15.

Don't worry too much, though, as Tsujimoto confirms that event quests like the previous Horizon quest for palico armor will come back.

"If you missed the first event quest period to get the Watcher-themed Palico gear, we have good news for you today," the post reads. "Event quests are on a rotating schedule so you will have an opportunity to try out the quest at a later date. Please stay tuned for more information on when it will return."

To access the Horizon quest, you need to be at least Hunter Rank 11, which can be attained before the end of the game, but is in the territory of High Rank quests. Unlike the Ryu armor, Aloy's armor is High Rank itself, and has skills that can be upgraded, such as the ability to run faster. Obviously, the Horizon quest is exclusive to the PlayStation 4 version of the game.

You can read our review of Monster Hunter World here. There has been more DLC announced after the Horizon quest, including a costume of Sakura from Street Fighter V, and the monster Deviljho being added, both for free.



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Outlast Slithers Its Way To Switch With Surprise Release Today

First-person survival horror title Outlast has suddenly appeared to download on the Nintendo Switch's eshop.

The Bundle of Terror is available for $24.99 and comes with the full game and its prequel content titled Whistleblower. There is no word yet on a physical release. The trailer says Outlast II is available to pre-order now, but it has yet to turn up on the eshop.

Outlast follows journalist Miles Upshur as he investigates and attempts to escape an asylum overrun by psychotic patients. Players can't attack enemies and must rely on stealth, as well as a camera to see in the dark.

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Outlast developer and publisher Red Barrels in early December announced a third game and another project set in the Outlast universe are in development, with the latter set to release first.

Read our Outlast review here.

[Source: Polygon]


Our Take
Seeing more horror games coming to Switch is great news. Curling up on the couch with the Switch is a neat way to experience a terrifying title. Just make sure you're not playing this in a Starbucks so you don't freak out other patrons.



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