Let's Play: Magicite: Episode 4 - Co-ordination?!

Episode 4 of the Magicite Let's Play series, in which Daniel shows off the cooperative mode of the Rogue-Like RPG Platformer Magicite. No special rules or regulations here, just jump in, kill dudes, eat food, make plop, get killed, rinse and repeat.

Special Guest: Matt

Title Music: "Night Owl" from "Directionless EP" by "Broke For Free" (CC BY 3.0)

End Music: "Simple Hop" from "Slam Funk" by "Broke For Free" (CC BY 3.0)

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Writing Throwback: Pharaoh

Yet another 14 year old review. Take a deep breath, this is the last one.

Review

We cannot get enough of God simulations can we, here is Impressions Games latest shot at the title. Pharaoh is set in ancient Egypt, making the game unique as you now solely control what was known to be a very creative race. It uses the Caesar 3 game engine, so with a solid foundation and a good idea, has Pharaoh come out leader of the pack?

First, don't do what I did when I saw this game. "Game, Manual, Map, Install, Yada, Yada, Yada..." because you will be in for a rude shock. It was not that easy. The Pharaoh installation starts, and you think, I might have a look at the chunky manual. The manual is 270 pages, no problems, most of it will be the history of Egypt, sorry my friend only 31 pages are. So you play the game and after fifteen minutes you are lost, stuck in the middle of the game and now realise you have to read the manual.

Wait that is good because games do not usually require that. After reading the manual, you start to understand how complex the game is. It has the standard fare, grow food, harvest food, build and fight, but it also has a lot more strategy inside. There are tasks to achieve in each mission, and you also have to rule the city, controlling almost everything. You also have to plan your city, not to avoid losing battles but to win against the elements.

For example, your city starts on the Nile River, 3200 BC. As you are so close to the river, it affects you through the seasons. Once a year the river floods and when it recedes it leaves the fields rich with nutrients thus helping your crops. The problem is, just as it did back then; the Nile sometimes doesn't flood or floods too much, starving the crops of the nutrients or destroying your food supply. Planning is important here because when food becomes scarce, people get angry or starve.

There are many buildings to create as well from food production, manufacturing and storage to mines for employment and homes for the masses. Throughout the game, you will receive missions were you have to do such things like getting the populace to like you or quench un-employment. At the end of the missions, you get measured on things such as your food harvest, leadership, crime, employment and all these factors can affect each other and also the outcome of the mission. You will also have to deal with gods as they can make or break a game for you.

Within the game, there are five gods:

• Ra, the god of the kingdom
• Seth, god of destruction
• Osiris, god of the land
• Ptah, god of industry
• Bast, goddess of homes and the people

All these gods can affect the game so you must build monuments, worship, celebrate and pray for your gods. If not prepare to feel their wrath as Osiris can influence the floods and the lands nutrients when it comes to the harvesting season for your crops. Ra makes everyone in the kingdom like or dislike you and can make your job easier.

Pharaoh also has tutorials to teach you how to play. With such things as resource management, building and running the city being covered it does pay to go through them. Once up and running the game is good. Graphically it is well done, with an Egyptian feel to the menus, right down to the buildings and people. It is also complex that makes it challenging, but is also refreshing as you feel compelled to play the game. Be prepared to think though as it is not as straight forward as destroying the enemy. You will have to work with the other kingdoms as you are all trying to achieve the same goal, make Egypt the greatest kingdom in the world.

There is one problem with Pharaoh though, lack of interest. I do not mean the story as Egypt can be quite interesting, and it does follow the history carefully. The problem is that it can be a bit hard to get into at first. I played it and wasn't impressed so was unmotivated to continue. I then took another stab after reading the manual and then it became a great game. There is much depth to this game; it is not just a rehashed Caesar 3, but you have to work for it. Stick with it, and you will be rewarded, those who do not won't know what they have missed.

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Let's Play: Magicite: Episode 3 - Hello Chickens

Episode 3 of the Magicite Let's Play series, in which Daniel shows off the cooperative mode of the Rogue-Like RPG Platformer Magicite. No special rules or regulations here, just jump in, kill dudes, eat food, make plop, get killed, rinse and repeat.

Special Guest: Matt

Title Music: "Night Owl" from "Directionless EP" by "Broke For Free" (CC BY 3.0)

End Music: "Simple Hop" from "Slam Funk" by "Broke For Free" (CC BY 3.0)

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Last Week Today: Week 02, 2015

Activision on Thursday announced that the 2015 Call of Duty Championship will be held in Los Angeles from March 27-29. The prize pool will be US$1 million with the semi-finals and finals streamed live via Xbox Live. "We developed Advanced Warfare with the competitive community in mind, and we can't wait for the top talent from around the world to compete in the Call of Duty Championships," Sledgehammer's Glen Schofield said. Call of Duty: Advance Warfare is still freezing for PlayStation 3 users after two months of patches. The latest Forza Horizon 2 DLC Storm Island caused a storm with fans due to crashes.

The Internet Archive — a non-profit digital library — now hosts 2,386 DOS games you can play for free. Due to the way it works some games may not run as intended, but it is an excellent and simple way to play old games on new machines. Supergiant Games creative director Greg Kasavin revealed their latest game Transistor sold 600,000 units — their first game Bastion sold 3 million. "Word-of-mouth is what kept Bastion going for way, way longer than we could have imagined, and it's what's kept Transistor going strong, too," Kasavin said. An eBay auction for Stadium Events — a rare NES game — has topped US$40,000. The seller claims verification of the cartridge by the Video Game Authority, a group who authenticates retro games.

Microsoft is playing with the Xbox Avatars again, possibly spreading them throughout the Microsoft ecosystem. Microsoft is playing with the Xbox DRM again, a response to an issue triggered by FarCry 4. Xbox One owners, who pre-purchase Evolve from the Xbox Games Store, will get some characters, allowing users to cut some of the level grind. Microsoft announced new streaming and recording rules granting users a "personal, non-exclusive, non-sublicenseable, non-transferable, revocable, limited license." Sony announced pricing for PlayStation Now, their online streaming gaming service. They have a library of more than 100 PlayStation 3 games, with PS1 and PS2 games coming later.

Codemasters is looking to lay off fifty staff members to ease its wage budget. Steam enforced a CAPTCHA for trading, to stop gamers from being exploited and having their goodies transferred from their account. Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games has reached US$69 million in funding for the game, and now has 180 staff members worldwide. Minecraft surpassed Valve's popular online game Dota 2 in cracking one million concurrent players.

Mad Catz announced a new mobile controller called the L.Y.N.X. that offers "uncompromised control and portability." for use "across multiple devices." Rockstar made it snow over the Holiday Period, creating a serene and slippery Los Santos. Razer announced Cortex, their game streaming technology which will work with any hardware and software, unlike the solutions used by Nvidia and Steam. Razer announced their open-source headset called OSVR. The open-source dev kit can work with other devices, so games, which support Oculus, should automatically work on OSVR. Nyko announced a dock for the PlayStation 4 that will allow over two Terabytes of storage. Nvidia announced the Tegra X1 at CES 2015, a chip, they claim, that is twice as powerful as the Tegra K1 introduced in 2014. Nvidia touts performance levels and energy efficiency that will bring console and PC-grade graphics to tablets and phones.

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Australian Game Releases: Week 03 - 2015

Another one this week. Just one.

Week 03 - 2015

Apotheon

The Gods of Olympus have abandoned humanity, leaving you to perish without their benevolence. Take up arms against the Gods, climb Mount Olympus, and take their divine powers for yourself to ensure mankind’s survival!

Apotheon is a fast and brutal 2D action game with a striking art style and heroic narrative based on Ancient Greek Mythology.

Publisher: Alientrap

Release Date: 15/01/2015

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Goin' Retro: Episode 2 - Going The Distance

Goin' Retro is our new weekly series showcasing old console games. From the big hitters to the relatively unknown, join us for as we stroll through time.

In this week's episode, we get our drive on with a selection of the best know racers of the era.

Games:
Chase HQ
Enduro Racer
Hang-On
Outrun

Music: "Pumped" by "RoccoW" (CC BY-SA 3.0)
A Change To Extend The Length Was Made To "Pumped" by "RoccoW"

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Writing Throwback: Half-Life: Opposing Force

Second last old review, again 14 years old. Hold on to your butts.

Review

Do you like first person shooters? I do not, or should I say did not. I remember when Quake and Unreal all came out, I could not stand those games. Then along came Half-Life by Valve Software. I played it and played it and played it; I was hooked. Then I found out Sierra was releasing an official add-on for Half-Life called Opposing Force. Gearbox Software made this add-on, but the question remained, is it any good?

This time around you play as the marines from Half-Life. You are Corporal Adrian Shepherd sent to the Black Mesa Research Facility to eliminate Gordon Freeman. Unfortunately, you get separated from your unit due to attacking aliens but it was for the best as almost all of the remaining marines were killed, so things are looking up. As such your mission has been aborted, your new mission is to get out alive using any means possible and if by chance you still find Freeman, kill him.

The reversal of characters makes this game interesting. You still go through some of the old places Freeman went through but this time you may arrive earlier, later or even at the same time as Freeman. The difference though is that you also get to go to some places Freeman was not allowed entrance to. Because of that you get a little more alien interaction as your travels take you deeper into Black Mesa.

As you move through the game this time, you will notice a few new things like weapons. How does a combat knife, wrench, pistol with laser site, sniper rifle, and a new machine gun sound? They do not change the game much, but more weapons can be handy. You also have new talents like climbing and swinging on a rope. It is tricky at first, but it does add to the game. This is a feature I think we will see used better though in the future.

You also can control marines the same way as the guards in Half-Life. This time though they have skills, like an engineer who can open locked doors and the medic who will heal you. They will also open fire when a hostile situation arises which is quite a bit as you are not alone. There are the original aliens plus a few new ones as you are seated deeper in Black Mesa like the pit drone — a fast little creature that shoots at you. There is also the shock trooper — a more advanced version of the head crab human — and some big guys which I will let you see for yourself.

Graphically it is almost identical to Half-Life (it is an add-on remember, not a new game) with the exception of the new weapons. This time your protection is the PCV vest which replaces you HEV suit, so the on-screen display is different. The question remains, is it a worthy purchase and the answer is yes. If you remember that this is an add-on, not a full game then you will enjoy it. If you loved Half-Life though you will love this as well.

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