Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy) - Review (PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC game)

Fahrenheit' was released in 2005 by Quantic Dream and was really a sort of early experimental game that would set the stage for their later games of 'Heavy Rain' and 'Beyond: Two Souls

Never Alone - Review (PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 game)

‘Never Alone’ is one of those games that test the traditional boundaries of what a video game should be as it really is a vehicle for telling a larger story, one of the Iñupiat people and it goes about this in such a heart-warming way that it’s difficult not to enjoy it.

Last Inua - Review (iOS and PC)

‘Last Inua’ is set in a frozen tundra and is an icy tale of a father and son’s journey to vanquish evil from the world in the form of a demon named Tonrar. The son, Hiko, is blessed with supernatural powers strong enough to defeat Tonrar but his frail, adolescent body is unable to handle these powers and as such he is too weak to embark on this quest alone.

Machinarium - Review (PC and Mobile game)

'Machinarium' is a point and click puzzle game where you take control of a small, unassuming robot in a robotic society that’s victim to a gang of antisocial thugs.

Harvest moon, A Wonderful Life, SE: Befriending villagers and receiving gifts

Friendship points can be acquired in the traditional, ‘gift-giving’ method but also by giving villagers discounts at your store. This means that if you give them three discounts a day (the maximum number) and one gift a day then you’ve acquired four friendship points.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Shadow of the Colossus - Roadmap and Trophy Guide

In order to obtain all of the trophies for Shadow of the Colossus you will need to complete the game approximately 4 to 5 times, not including 2 playthroughs of Time Attacks. This may sound daunting but by following my roadmap you’ll see that, really, it’s not so bad and you can achieve most trophies in the first playthrough as many are story related. There are 3 missable trophies that must be obtained at a certain point in the game and 3 which require you to grab a bunch of collectibles, these are by far the most time consuming of all the trophies. 

shadow of the colossus trophy guide

When playing through the game make sure to try and defeat the colossi as quickly as possible and to remember the best route in doing so. Several trophies require you to complete the Time Attacks and to repeat the game in Hard Difficulty so making an effort to improving your speed and efficiency through normal gameplay will help you greatly. 


shadow of the colossus trophy guide


First playthrough: Story mode, Normal difficulty


To begin with there are several story related trophies that you cannot avoid as they are obtained after each colossus is defeated, below you can also see the location of each colossus. All of these are bronze trophies.




Name of TrophyDescriptionLocation
Valley WandererDefeat the 1st ColossusF-5
The SlothDefeat the 2nd ColossusF-3
Disturbed SleepDefeat the 3rd ColossusE-2
Path of GravestonesDefeat the 4th ColossusG-5
Aerial DanceDefeat the 5th ColossusH-4
Entombed GiantDefeat the 6th ColossusD-6
Waves of ThunderDefeat the 7th ColossusD-1
Wall ScalerDefeat the 8th ColossusG-6
Slumbering CavemanDefeat the 9th ColossusD-3
Unknown TracksDefeat the 10th ColossusB-4
Guardian UnleashedDefeat the 11th ColossusF-1
Silent ThunderDefeat the 12th ColossusG-2
Signs in the SkyDefeat the 13th ColossusE-6
Shielded ColossusDefeat the 14th ColossusC-2
Valley of the FallenDefeat the 15th ColossusG-1
Final ColossusDefeat the 16th ColossusF-8

During your first playthrough you should keep an eye out for save points that are scattered across the forbidden lands, by saving at each one you’ll obtain another trophy. Below is a list of each save point’s location.

Note: A shining lizard is at each save point and you’ll need to kill and eat the tails of all 77 of them to obtain the ‘Endangered Lizards’ Gold Trophy. By killing these as you save you’ll know that those 25 have been dealt with but without the lizard detection stone it will be difficult to track the remaining ones down. I have included a map below for all lizard locations so if you’d prefer to do it during the first playthrough by using the map then that’s a perfectly viable option.

Tower of PrayerSave at all 25 save points in a single playthroughSilver Trophy

Tower of Prayers
Name of ShrineMap Area
Lair on the WestB-4
Lair on the MesaB-4
Western CapeB-5
Umbral GladeC-1
Western PlainC-3
Arch Bridge PlainC-5
Stone Arch GorgeD-2
Blasted LandsD-5
Southwestern CapeD-7
Dried MarshE-1
Ravine EntranceE-3
Round Stone HillE-3
Stone Bridge CliffE-4
Autumn ForestE-5
Northern SpanF-2
Shrine of WorshipF-4
Southern PlainF-7
The Broken SealF-8
Desert FortressG-1
Misty FallsG-2
Half-Moon CanyonG-3
Cliff PathG-4
Valley PlainG-6
Green CapeG-8
Eastern BluffH-6


Also during your first playthrough but after defeating approximately 7/8 colossi you’ll gain enough stamina to hang onto either a fish or a hawk for longer than 30 seconds allowing you to obtain the following two trophies.


Hang GliderHang onto a hawk for over 30 secondsBronze Trophy
Slippery RideHang onto a fish for 30 secondsBronze Trophy

After defeating approximately 7 colossi you should have enough grip to attempt this trophy. The easiest way to obtain this trophy is to head to D-5 on the map and locate the save point/shrine. South of this shrine is a set of stones where a hawk frequently flies over the middle stone, wait for it there and when it flies overhead jump and hold R1 to grab it. Keep a hold of it until your grip runs out and when you let go the trophy should pop.

You can also acquire ‘Agro Circus’ at any point in the game but you might as well do it during the first playthrough since the moves are useful during colossi battles.

Agro CircusPerform all stunt riding using AgroSilver Trophy
 
To obtain this you must simply perform the actions listed below with Agro, these can be done at any given point in the playthrough.

Pet Agro: Whilst standing near Agro's head or whilst sitting in her saddle you should equip nothing, as in have an empty hand, and press to pet her on her neck.

Maintain speed:
To maintain Agro’s speed you should hold down
rather than tap it.

Jump from Agro: You can jump from Agro at any time, standing or sitting, by tapping
. This is useful to reach new heights if you can time it correctly.

Have Agro jump:
Agro can jump over small gaps and off short ledges if you gallop her towards where you want her to jump. Agro will only jump over or off of things that she will survive from.


Rear then gallop from a standstill: From a dead stop sharply drag
and, quickly and at the same time. If done correctly Agro should rear up and then take off into a maximum speed gallop. This is very useful for fast getaways.

Emergency stop:
Whilst galloping
sharply drag downwards and , as though performing the above move, Agro should drag herself across the ground and stop dead.

Stop and turn around: Whilst galloping sharply drag
downwards and   twice (not twice, the entire combination) Agro should once again drag herself across the ground and stop but then quickly turn around 180 degrees, still running.

Stand whilst riding: Whilst either cantering or galloping hold down
then drag upwards, Wander should stand up and ride on Agro’s back.

Hang from saddle: Whilst either cantering or galloping hold down
and . Depending on which side you want to hang, drag the stick in either the left or right direction. Wander should hold onto the saddle and hang from that side whilst Agro continues to run. You can get off Agro from this position by letting go of the saddle.

At the very end of your first playthrough you'll also encounter the first missable trophy:


ResistanceEndure being sucked into the light for over 1 minute in the ending. Silver Trophy

At the end of the game you must endure being sucked into the light for at least 1 minute during the ending. This will occur after the final colossi is defeated. To resist the light you should let the light drag you towards the stairs but, before going into the light itself, grab onto these stairs with R1 and hold on until your grip meter runs out. 

shadow of the colossus resistance trophy

When you’re eventually sucked into the light you’ll unlock the final trophy for your first playthrough:

The ForbiddenClear the game in normal difficultySilver Trophy

Second playthrough: Time Attack, Normal Mode


With the first playthrough over and done with you'll now have unlocked a new mode: Time Attack.

Time Attacks can be completed during either Normal Mode or Hard Mode but only after you have completed the applicable difficulty level once. During the Time Attack modes there are a lot of opportunities to unlock some extremely useful items though the items unlocked depend on which difficulty level you’re completing them in. To access the Time Attack mode you should go to the Shrine of Worship having cleared the game and approach an idol of your choosing, by praying at any of the sixteen idols you will enter the Time Attack mode for that particular colossus. The goal of a Time Attack mode is to defeat the colossus in the given time limit which differ according to difficulty mode and the colossus being fought. Below is a table of the Time Limit given for each separate battle.


Colossus Time Limit
Normal Hard
1. Valus 2:30 2:50
2. Quadratus 4:00 4:30
3. Gaius 6:00 5:00
4. Phaedra 5:30 5:00
5. Avion 5:30 5:30
6. Barba 3:30 6:30
7. Hydrus 12:00 8:00
8. Kuromori 8:00 7:30
9. Basaran 7:30 5:30
10. Dirge 6:00 5:00
11. Celosia 5:30 5:30
12. Pelagia 9:30 10:00
13. Phalanx 12:00 13:00
14. Cenobia 9:00 9:00
15. Argus 10:00 11:30
16. Malus 9:30 13:00


Warning: There is a glitch with the 'Collector' trophy. In order to obtain the trophy and avoid the glitch you must complete all 16 time attacks in a single playthrough on one save slot. By defeating more than 1 but less than 16 in time attacks then try and continue this on a different game you will glitch the game and will need to defeat all of them again.

shadow of the colossus time attack pool


CollectorAcquire all items available in Normal Time AttackSilver Trophy

Time Attacks CompletedUnlocked Item
Normal ModeHard Mode
2 Whistling Arrow Harpoon of Thunder
4 Cloak of Force Sword of the Sun
6 Mask of Strength Fruit Tree Map
8 Lizard Detection Stone Shaman's Cloak
10 Fruit Tree Map Lizard Detection Stone
12 Mask of Power Shaman's Mask
14 Cloak of Deception Cloth of Desperation
16 Flash Arrow, Brown Agro Queen's Sword, White Agro 

Normal Time Attack Items:

Whistling Arrow: When fired a whistling arrow will distract a colossus and make them turn in the direction of the arrow. This is a useful way of guiding a colossus or making them turn around so you can access their back.

Cloak of Force: The Cloak of Force quite simply increases the damage done by your sword.

Mask of Strength: The Mask of Strength also increases the damage done by your sword and can be used in conjunction with the cloak of force for even more damage.

Mask of Power: The Mask of Power is an even more efficient version of the Mask of Strength and thus cannot be used in conjunction with it. It can however be used with the Cloak of Force for increased damage.

Cloak of Deception: The Cloak of Deception renders the player invisible to all Colossi, allowing you to roam around their guarded areas without them bothering you in the slightest. This is especially useful during the final battle as you can walk through unscathed. The Cloak of Deception cannot be used alongside the Cloak of Force.

Flash Arrow: Flash arrows explode upon impact and do significantly more damage than regular arrows. Flash arrows can sometimes completely destroy small sigils in the same way that the ancient sword can.

Brown Agro: After successfully completing all sixteen Time Attacks on Normal mode you can unlock a brown variant of Agro, shown below, to use this new skin you must hold down
at the title screen when loading a new game. 

Shadow of the colossus brown agro

Items unlocked in both Time Attack modes:

Lizard Detection Stone: The lizard detection stone will mark your map with an icon whenever you are standing in the general vicinity of a white tailed lizard. The icon on the map will be that of a lizard but they will only appear when you are relatively close by to that lizard. There are 77 white tailed lizards on the map.

shadow of the colossus lizard detection map trophy guide

Fruit Tree Map: The fruit tree map will mark your map with the icon of a piece of fruit wherever a fruit tree can be found. The icons will appear regardless of how close you are to the tree and so, to use this item, you simply need to look at your map. There are 128 pieces of fruit in the game but only 33 markers as each marker has multiple pieces of fruit in the area. Unless the icon has completely disappeared, there are still more pieces of fruit lurking in the area so check thoroughly.

shadow of the colossus fruit tree map trophy guide


Third playthrough: Story mode, Hard difficulty


Your third playthrough, or second 'proper' playthrough, requires y
ou to go through the game all over again but in Hard mode. Hard Mode can be accessed from the Main Menu after completing the game on Normal Mode and there are several differences.
  • No tutorials or hints from Dormin
  • Save files have an orange lowercase ‘h’ beside the game clear number, indicating Hard Mode. If the game has been completed three times for example the game will show 3h in orange.
  • The following colossi have additional weak points on their bodies; Valus, Quadratus, Gaius, Barba, Argus and Phaedra. All have one additional weak point apart from Phaedra who has two.
  • Wander takes more damage from regular attacks whereas very strong attacks such as being stomped on or hit directly will instantly kill him, regardless of your health.
  • When playing through Time Attack a different set of items will be unlocked compared to the Time Attacks in Normal Mode
By completing the game in Hard Mode you will receive an unmissable achievement:


Wander and the ForbiddenClear the game in Hard DifficultySilver Trophy


Fourth playthrough: Time Attack, Hard difficulty


Now that you've completed the story mode in hard mode you can unlock the Time Attacks in Hard Difficulty. These are accessed in exactly the same way as previously but you must load up your save game from the hard difficulty mode. By acquiring all of the unlockables in this mode you grab the following trophy:



Meticulous CollectorAcquire all items available in Hard Time AttackGold Trophy

Hard Time Attack Items:

Harpoon of Thunder: These arrows do significantly more damage than regular arrows and also have the ability to interrupt a colossus' attack. Harpoons of Thunder can sometimes completely destroy small sigils in the same way that the ancient sword can.

Sword of the Sun: With this equipped the light from your sword will shine regardless of whether you are in the sunlight or not. In order to use it you need to cycle through your weapons until you find it.

Shaman's Cloak: The Shaman's Cloak decreases the damage that you receive from the attacks of the colossi, allowing you to survive for longer.

Shaman's Mask: The Shaman's mask also decreases the damage you receive from colossi and may be used in conjunction with the Shaman's Cloak for added protection.

Cloak of Desperation: The Cloth of Desperation is a parachute that eliminates all fall damage. When using the Cloak of Desperation you will fall slowly with a very flight forward glide. You will still die if you attempt to use it in certain spots such as the cliffs overlooking the ocean This item can be used alongside the Shaman's Cloak. To use the parachute you can hold either or Circle whilst in mid-air.

Q
ueen's Sword: The Queen's sword is an incredibly powerful sword with the ability to destroy even major sigils completely with just one fully charged stab.

White Agro: After successfully completing all sixteen Time Attacks on Hard mode you will unlock a white variant of Agro, as pictured below. To enable this you must hold down at the title screen when loading a new game.

Shadow of the colossus white agro

Warning: There is also a glitch with the 'Meticulous Collector' trophy. In order to obtain the trophy and avoid the glitch you must complete all 16 time attacks in a single playthrough on one save slot. By defeating more than 1 but less than 16 in time attacks then try and continue this, the same as the 'Collector' trophy.



Fifth/sixth playthrough: Story mode, lizard hunting and bar boosting


This is where things are going to get more complicated and become more a test of endurance than a test of speed. Rather than start a new game you're going to need to start a 'New Game +' which I mentioned earlier; it's where your stats will cross over from your previous playthrough but everything else, including lizards and fruit, will be reset. You're going to need to max out your HP and your Stamina bars and to do this it will take several playthroughs as, by defeating the 16 colossi over and over with ever-stacking effects, this is the fastest way of boosting these bars. 

This playthrough will also involve one of the collectible related trophies; killing the shining lizards. By now you should have the lizard detection stone by completing the time attacks, you'll need it but you can also use the maps provided above to support you further. This trophy must be performed in one playthrough as the lizards will reset themselves if you start a new game. These are the two trophies we're aiming for in our fifth playthrough.


Endangered LizardsKill all shining lizardsGold Trophy
Mighty WanderMax out stamina barGold Trophy

In order to access all of the lizards you'll need to defeat 15 colossi but, since we're trying to max out our stamina bar, you're going to need to defeat all sixteen colossi several times over so don't worry about it. For now, I wouldn't recommend collecting the fruit as in order to obtain the trophy you'll need to actually decrease your HP and Stamina bar by eating the fruit at the top of Dormin's Temple. For now, just focus on bombing through another 2-3 New Game +'s and collecting as many lizards as possible. 

shadow of the colossus shining lizard trophy guide

Maxing out your Stamina bar for 'Mighty Wander' can be done in two ways: defeating colossi and killing those lizards. There are 77 lizards on the map and 25 of those are found purely at save points. By utilizing your lizard detection stone and perhaps writing down which lizards you've killed by taking note on the map area they were in it shouldn't take you too long to grab all of them. Don't forget, they all need to be found, killed and their tail eaten for it to count and it all needs to be done in one playthrough. To eat the tail you need to walk up to it, it will be glowing silver on the ground where the lizard died, and press R1.

Warning: Sometimes a tail cannot be picked up or it will disappear after the lizard has been killed but before you had a chance to eat it. If this occurs you can save the game at a shrine, reload that save and usually this will respawn the lizard and allow you to kill it again.

Note: Sometimes you'll notice via the lizard detection stone that, at a save shrine, there will be more than one lizard present. In order to access the 2nd or even 3rd lizard you should run away a good distance then return, the other lizard should have then appeared.

If you don't want to defeat the 16 colossi 3-4 times you can try collecting all 77 lizards on each New Game + as this means you may only need 2-3 playthroughs. Provided you have found all 77 lizards once and unlocked the Endangered Lizards trophy though there is no real need and it is likely faster to just defeat colossi. 

By the time you've finished doing this it's also likely you'll have unlocked an additional trophy:

Stalwart WanderMax out HP barGold Trophy
Stalwart Wander requires you to maximum your HP bar. Your HP can be increased in two ways: by defeating colossi and by eating the forbidden fruit of the lands, as your HP stat stacks with each playthrough you'll probably get it before you've maximised your stamina bar. Even if you haven't, the next playthrough requires you to find all of the pieces of fruit so you'll have it after this next bit.

Seventh playthrough: Story mode, fruit hunting and Climber.


You're in the final leg of the journey now. To begin with we'll start with hunting down the fruit of the lands. There are 128 pieces of fruit in the game but only 33 markers on the fruit tree map as each marker has multiple pieces of fruit in the area. Unless the icon has completely disappeared there will still more pieces of fruit lurking in the area and often they can be found on smaller trees surrounding the one, large, climbable tree you'll soon be familiar with.


CornucopiaAcquired all fruits in the worldGold Trophy
ClimberReached top of the shrineGold Trophy

This trophy not only requires you to eat all 128 pieces of fruit scattered across the land but the 48 pieces at the top of Dormin’s Temple as well. Eating these fruits at the top of the temple will decrease your HP and Stamina bars so ensure you save your game prior to eating them or save this trophy for last so as not to reverse your progress for the ‘Stalwart Wanderer’ and ‘Mighty Wanderer’ trophies.

You should start by hunting down the 128 pieces of fruit found in the forbidden lands and, by using the fruit tree map earned through the time attack challenges, you’ll be able to see 33 markers pointing you towards the fruit. There are only 33 markers because each location contains multiple pieces of fruit that may be found not only in the larger trees but also on the smaller, spindly ones in the surrounding region. Your fruit tree map will show you where all the fruit areas are regardless of how close you are to the fruit trees. Very carefully trawl through each individual marker, it may help to use either a video or to note down how many fruit you collected in each area. Check your fruit tree map frequently and only leave once the marker has disappeared from the map. 


shadow of the colossus garden temple fruit forbidden

To obtain the fruit you should shoot it out of the tree using your bow and arrows and, by doing this, it will fall to the ground where you can then stand over it and press R1 to eat it. Rarely, the fruit will already be on the ground by the time you get there but this will not void the trophy and you can simply eat it off the ground. Check out the diagram below for all the different variants of fruit that you may come across, some are more easily spotted than others.




Note: In E-5 there are two pieces of fruit that, when shot from the branches, will fall off the side of the cliff. You still need to eat these pieces of fruit but you may safely drop off the cliff to collect them. Provided you have already eaten both pieces of fruit you can safely die and they will not be erased from your stats. 

Once all of the fruit in the lands has been collected you'll need to access the final 48 pieces of fruit on the top the Shrine of Worship; getting up there will net you the 'Climber' trophy.

At the very top of the Shrine of Worship is the secret garden shown at the end of the storyline. In order to access the garden you need a maximised stamina bar which is why we're doing this last, that and that fruit is pretty damaging. To start the climb go to the back of the Shrine and locate a large growth of vines, in the PS3 version of the game all rest points have been removed so you need to attempt the climb all in one go. Once you have finished with the climb you should turn to the left and go up the set of stairs in order to access the garden itself.

Once you've finally shot down and eaten all remaining 48 fruits of the Secret Garden and obtained the 'Cornucopia' Trophy, you'll unlock one final Trophy. Congratulations, I think you made it.
 
Wander and the ColossusAcquired all TrophiesPlatinum Trophy




Monday, August 11, 2014

Freaky Dragon - Quick Review (Android game)

The second game to be released by FreakoutGames, 'Freaky Dragon' offers players a much more substantial level of gameplay compared to their first game, 'Freaky Tup', yet immediately I felt a stab of déjà vu. The game plays suspiciously like an old Neopets game I used to be addicted to, yes I am ashamed to admit that, and playing Freaky Dragon feels like a shoddy remake of the game but adjusted for mobile phone gaming. 

Developer: Freakout Games
Genre: Arcade 
Release date: 29th July 2014
Platforms: Android
ESRB: E - Everyone

'Freaky Dragon' is an endless runner game where, essentially, you’ll be endlessly running, or flying, to the other end of the screen as you dodge obstacles, avoid the top and bottom layers of the screen and pick up golden eggs. The premise is very simple and, overall, the gameplay has some fun elements as you not only have to dip and dive your dragon about but fire at enemies and barriers that get in your way. The only way the game can end is when you die so in this sense the game becomes a test of endurance and stamina so the longer you play the harder it gets. In my case, 30 seconds was enoguh for me to fail at the game and simply playing the game long enough to acquire thees screenshots proved to be almost excsesively frustrating. No sooner had I flapped my way forward a few times was I being shot down by a ballista's arrow. As somebody used to playing 'Volcano Run' religiously (oh the shame), I found the controls to be jerky and difficult to use as making the micro-movements often required to get out of a tight spot seemed almost impossible. 



The general appearance of the game is pleasant with bright, bold colours though it’s not particularly well constructed. Whilst the facial expressions of your dragon are decent the animations can be off, for example when you breathe fire, letting out a short and sharp fireball, it continuously appears above you and more in line with your body than your mouth. The game is set with a repeatedly background of dark, dank blue caverns and the odd stalagmite or stalagmite break this up whilst doubling as obstacles. Other inanimate obstacles include spiked boulders that only try and pierce you when you get close, fat, golden cannons and ballistae that all want to knock you out of the sky though the latter do not actually move to track your progression. The enemies look brilliant however and, rather than just a repeat of one or two, there’s a decent mix of creatures and all of them are well designed and quite monstrous, in a good way. 


The soundtrack of the game is something the developers have got right and overall it’s all pretty pleasant and not too irritating which is important as this game may go on for a very long time, depending on how determined you are. An added feature that many players will enjoy is the ability to share your game score on Facebook as well as a leaderboard where you can compete for the top player scores. With all of this in mind, Freaky Dragon is a free game and with its reasonably challenging difficulty level and easy to use controls this is a game that you may as well play if you fancy an indie, endless runner game that looks and sounds ok.

The Good: 

  • Decent soundtrack
  • Looks reasonably good
  • Bright, colourful graphics
  • Escalating level of difficulty keeps it challenging
  • Abiltiy to compete with friends and within a leaderboard
  • It's free.
  • Nicely designed enemies
The Bad:
  • Very simplistic
  • Nothing really stands out
  • Some animations are off
  • Dragon has a weird face.
  • Eerily similar to 'Volcano Run'
The Score: 4/10

Final thoughts: “Whilst Freaky Dragon is nothing particularly special it’s clear that FreakoutGames are improving with every release and I’m kind of looking forward to see what’s on the horizon.”


You can download Freaky Dragon from the Android store, here.

Friday, August 1, 2014

Broken Age, Act 1 - Full Review (PC/Linux/Mac, Android and iOS Game)

'Broken Age' seemed like the perfect game for me to play but, upon completing Act 1 in its entirety, I was left with a confused, almost guilty, feeling of disappointment and frustration. What made it worse was that reputable, professional websites had glazed the game with sickly sweet praise and admiration, hailing it as a fantastic example of point and click adventure games. I rather strongly disagree, as you’re about to find out, and though I admit the storyline is fantastic there are far too many basic elements missed out for this game to be considered as ‘one of the greats’. That said, this game is certainly a steal at its low price and overall the game is very good value. 
 

Broken Age Act 1 Vella and Shay sleeping

Developer: Double Fine Productions 

Genre: Point and click adventure 
Release date: 26th January 2014
Platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS
ESRB: Not rated (some mild threat, no blood/gore)

The backstory behind the development of this game is far from ordinary. To begin with, 'Broken Age' is one of the most crowdfunded video game projects as it acquired a whopping $3.45 million from more than 87,000 backers. The project began in 2012 and the game marked Tim Schafer’s return to the point and click genre after his fantastic game, Grim Fandango which is being re-released for PS4 and Xbox One and which was originally released in 1998. Despite its extreme backing though it appeared that this may have actually lessened the quality of the game. The end result is, whilst visually polished, wrongly suited to the originally intentioned audience and, quite simply, an inadequate addition to Schafer’s portfolio. As a standalone indie game this would be fantastic but unfortunately it failed to live up to the hype.

Gameplay and storyline

'Broken Age' Act 1 is made up of two different stories, that of a girl named Vella and of a boy named Shay and each story has vastly different settings. Regardless of which character you start with you’ll likely find that the game comes across as very cutesy and perhaps even a little too sickly sweet but this is simply a façade. Without going too far into the storylines the characters have in common a desire to break traditions in their lives that have, up until now, gone unquestioned. The gruesome realities of what is actually occurring strips away that initial sweet demeanour and instead the cheerful nature of the characters and environments take on a whole new form, one that is much darker and much, much more unnerving. 

 

Broken Age Act 1 Vella in dialogue about cloud shoes

It’s here where 'Broken Age' truly excels as the storyline is quite fascinating and will draw you in with its twisting story and cheerfully disturbing atmosphere. The ever present, in your face, indication that something is wrong but nobody else seeming to notice it is a constant source of fascination and you will desperately want to find out what’s going in in the two strange realms that you’ll inhabit. The characters too are likeable though, admittedly, quite unemotional and rather bland despite the famous voice actors. Whilst the storyline is interesting enough and with brilliant twists there are some key issues with the game that are very difficult to ignore. To begin with, it feels as though it’s being aimed at a much younger audience and not at those who would have previously enjoyed classic graphic adventures such as Grim Fandango and the Monkey Island series, both of which Tim wrote for previously. The complex puzzles, standard ‘pick up everything you can find’ mentality, vast environments and wry sense of humour that typically lift a standard point and click to a successful one have all been stripped away leaving something quite superficial in its wake.


Broken Age Act 1 Vella at the Maidens Feast

Overall there’s a genuine lack of content and substance as characters have very few dialogue options and the environments are very limiting so there’s simply not much to discover in what could have been sprawling worlds of characters, places and puzzles. The few characters that are present are quirky and interesting but you can never just chat to them and waste away a couple of hours getting to know their unique personalities so, in this sense, the game feels a little sparse. There’s this strange, unfinished feel about the game that’s reflected in not only the lack of character development but the small, limited environments. These rather simplistic environments quickly become a problem when you’re faced with one of the many puzzles in the game. Often, a point and click adventure game would have you picking up random bits of, seemingly pointless, tack with plenty of red herrings thrown in there just to screw you up. Large locations or, in the very least, a broad variety of areas where the solution to your puzzle may lurk is key to making a puzzle difficult as often you’ll be searching doggedly for more items, racking your brains to figure out what kind of obscure combination you need to come up with. Broken Age lacks this, entirely so. At one point I had to find a particular, very important, item that had been lost but I found it sitting out in plain sight on just the next screen. Another puzzle simply consisted of getting to end of a conversation. It’s almost as though the developers didn’t trust their players to continue playing if they found the puzzles too challenging and this lack of faith in players is evident in the huge amount of hand-holding that takes place


Broken Age Act 1 Shay at a children's playpen terminal
  
When important plot elements have been stripped away of challenge it’s not just frustrating, it’s disappointing. I find it hard to imagine this game ever becoming ‘one of the greats’ and instead it sits as something which is nice, different, but nothing special. The lack of puzzles and choices meant that the length of play was disastrously short and far too easy for seasoned graphic adventure gamers and, whilst some hail this as a return to the 'nostalgic' era of point and clicks, it feels painfully modern with a strong focus on visuals and not enough on actual, substantial, gameplay.

Graphics and audio

The artwork of the game may not be to everybody’s taste but it truly is quite beautiful with a strong hand painted, fantasy appeal. The style and design of the worlds and its inhabitants does nothing for its childish feel however and overall it’s all a little bit too cute and quaint. Despite this, the worlds are gorgeous with a stunning array of colours and details that make each and every area feel bursting with life. The contrast between the two storylines is very apparent, not only in its gameplay content but in the design of the environments. The differences between the smokey oranges and dreamy pinks of Vella’s world to the moody blues and vibrant preschool colours of Shay’s world simply add layers onto the, already distinctive, atmosphere. A curious feature present within the game is its ability to be played in a ‘retro’ graphical mode which makes the game appear in an slightly pixelated, pre-renovated 'Monkey Island' 1 and 2 type design. Whilst usually I would have been extremely interested in this it’s clear that the game was not designed to be played in this format so it comes across as a very low quality conversion. If anything, it looks as though you’re just squinting at the HD version. 


Broken Age Act 1 Vella talking to a tree

The audio is, overall, very good and I liked almost all of the voice acting except for several occasions where I found the protagonists to have a lack of emotion. Despite pushing the budget out and employing the talents of very talented actors including Elijah Wood as Shay I felt as though Shay’s emotion was completely out of context with what was occurring in the scene. When his dialogue was supposed to indicate frustration the voice came across as depressed, when he was supposed to be confused he sounded passive. Though this is partily intentional as Shay is fairly a depressed character this uninterested tone persists even in moments of great peril where what he is saying suggests he's feeling emotion. The voice of Vella too had some inconsistencies between script and the voice acting and overall I felt there to be a lack of emotion when faced with action packed, highly distressing scenes and this tended to ruin the scene’s atmosphere. Aside from this, the game sounded as good as it looked and there was plenty of general chit-chatter in the background and little comments from the protagonist which gave you a better insight into their character.

Overall

It would be easy to simply look at the game, its history and its origin and stamp it with the mark of ‘fantastic’, ‘ushering in a new era’ and things of the such but upon closer examination, Broken Age does none of these things. It’s boringly simplistic, painfully unemotional and with very, very little build up to anything that happens. I found the storyline enjoyable, gripping even. My attention was constantly drawn to what was going on on the screen and Shay's story in particular was a mixture of fascinating and hilarious. My desire to find out more about the strange world I’d been dropped into was what primarily kept me going however as the gameplay was rather simplistic and, generally, the more I progressed the more let down I felt. 


Broken Age Act 1 Shay receiving hugs

The game had a lack of depth, a lack of real challenge and, also, a lack of something else, something I can’t put my finger on, it’s as if it very much lacked the heart, soul and dedication you’d have expected from a game with so many backers, so much time poured into it and so many people working with it. I don’t know what happened to render this game so disappointing and it’s a great shame to say that about what could have been one of the greatest modern age point and clicks. I hope wherever Tim Schafer is now that he looks on this game and thinks to himself, ‘I could have done better’ because if he doesn’t then I’m not sure what happened to his creativity in that sixteen year hiatus. Whilst my disappointment is evident I’d like to finish by saying that I will play the upcoming Act 2 to 'Broken Age' but, truly, it’s only to find out what happens in the end. I can only hope it presents something more appealing to lovers of classic point and click adventure games.

The Good: 

  • Different, original storyline
  • Attention grabbing with its odd premise
  • Beautiful, hand painted graphics
  • Lovely animations
  • Nice variation of environments
  • Likeable, personality filled characters
  • Great cliff hanger
The Bad:
  • Far too easy, a lot of hand-holding
  • Not enough puzzles
  • Voice acting can be off in places
  • Limited, small environments
  • Not much to explore or discover
  • Very little to no item combination
  • Feels superficial and focused on its graphics
The Score: 6/10

Final thoughts: "I'm looking forward to playing the next part of this but only because of its storyline. The game is far too easy with limited environments and, generally, it just doesn't feel like a traditional point and click."

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Murdered: Soul Suspect - Quick Review (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC game)

Exploring the shadowy afterlife of a recently murdered detective is something quite unforgettable but not for all the right reasons. Murdered: Soul Suspect is a mystery adventure game where, after witnessing his own brutal murder, Ronan O’Connor finds himself locked in the ghostly afterlife with some newly acquired supernatural abilities and a mystery to solve. 

Developer: Airtight games
Genre: Action-adventure/mystery
Release:AQ date: June 6th 2014 (JP: July 17th 2014, NA: June 3rd 2014)
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows
ESRB: M - Mature

As you prowl the dark, damp streets of a beautifully detailed town called Salem you’ll attempt to bring O’Connor’s mysterious, masked killer to justice. It’s a tentatively emotional game with a strong, powerful storyline and some very interesting gameplay elements in the way of Connor’s unique, unearthly abilities. Walking through walls, possessing the living and reading their minds all become a natural part of your investigation yet it doesn't take long to discover that these ghost abilities are a lot more scripted and limited than orginally portrayed.
 
Murdered soul suspect screenshot death at beginning

Unfortunately this feeling of limitation is persistent as you explore a game which feels painfully unfinished and, overall, just a little neglected. Whilst the environments are striking and extremely detailed they’re let down by how often they’re reused during separate side missions. Whilst the game tends to come across as an open world romp it quickly becomes apparent that there's a lot less to explore and, even if you did, there's not much to find anyway. The game features a fair few side missions but these quickly run out about midway through the game leaving you with nothing else to do but doggedly pursue the main storyline as you try and ignore characters repeating phrases like, ‘Sorry, can’t help you’ when you attempt to talk to them. 


During the missions themselves the writing tends to be quite poor with a lot of inconsistencies and some rather poor characterizations, for example one woman, with no mental health concerns, promptly committed suicide simply due to the suspicion her boyfriend was cheating on her. O'Connor tends to be generally quite thick and, even when things are obvious, he still murmurs to himself in utter confusion about what's going on. The search for clues too is agonizingly boring as things loll about in plain sight and, when trying to piece together evidence by selecting one of several options on screen there's very little challenge as any wrongly selected pieces of evidence just grey out. You can complete every mission through trial and elimination and, in cases where speaking with witnesses, there's no option to slyly question them and usually asking them plain outright is enough to solve the case. There’s this general sensation that the developers never quite got around to implementing as many side mysteries or free roaming aspects of the game as they’d have liked to and, for the missions which are present, they're all rather low quality in and of themselves. 

Murdered Soul Suspect Bell Killer dragging girl tied to chair


The enemies that you encounter start off as rather threatening and a little spooky but as soon as you realize how generic and easy to avoid they are then any lingering fear is quickly snuffed out. Whilst you can directly confront them there's alternatively a plethora of hiding spots called soul residue that, by slipping inside them, renders you completely invisible to any demons mooching about. Now, there's nothing wrong with hiding spots but these are excessive in number and, besides, there's no way to be discovered once you're nestled inside one anyway. The lack of variation in enemy encounters and the enemies themselves renders them little more than an annoyance than something challenging or eerie but, by this point, you begin to wonder if there’s anything worth fighting for anyway.

Murdered soul suspect demon enemy

The painfully short length of the game doesn’t help matters as the entire campaign will take up a very modest 10 hours of your time with the potential to be even shorter if you’re not up for exploring everything. With only one difficulty level, one which feels incredibly easy, there’s not much room for re-playability either so in this sense some players may find it unfulfilling as there’s not much room for improvement. The complete lack of challenge and the fact that you cannot ramp it up a notch is rather damming but there is some thought put into how players can get more hours of the game. In a rather distinctive ‘L.A Noire’ fashion you can earn percentages and badges at the end of every mission based on how many clues and pieces of evidence that you find, in this sense if you find that you missed some evidence and only achieved 80% on a mission you may attempt to retry it though, truthfully, there seems little point in doing so. The gameplay is extremely repetitive and mostly ends up being a hunt for clues in various, similarly designed buildings before watching cutscenes. 


Murdered soul suspect the streets of salem

Murdered: Soul Suspect has a brilliant storyline that never reveals too much at once and which is, right up until the end, gripping. The voice acting is superb and the graphics are bleak but atmospherically so. Unfortunately, that’s all it really has going for it as the characters are lacking in personality and the game, whilst boasting style, lacks substance. Even O’Connor, the one person who should at least have something going on, has very little personality and not particularly likeable due to his rather stereotypical persona. It’s a shame because this game has a brilliant premise and could have been so much more but it seems as though it’s unfinished with gaping holes littering every aspect whether that’s a lack of dialogue with NPCs or a lack of variation in side mysteries. If the game as longer with much more content then it would have been a fantastic edition to the much unexplored territory of mystery detective games. L.A Noire this is not and, currently, it’s far too overpriced for what is essentially a 5 – 10 hour game of scripted repetition.

The Good:

  • Voice acting is top quality
  • Lovely, detailed environments
  • Powers acquired gradually
  • Great premise of solving your own murder 
  • Gripping storylin, a little disturbing
The Bad:
  • Very scripted feel
  • Lack of content 
  • Repetative missions 
  • Easily defeated, generic enemies 
  • Quite buggy (as of July 2014) 
  • Extremely short
  • Side missions poorly written
  • O'Connor painfully thick
  • Characters lack personality
The Score: 4/10

Final thoughts: “Soul Suspect appears to be lacking some soul, I’m very disappointed as this could have been something really quite special.”












Monday, July 28, 2014

Harvest moon: It's a Wonderful Life, SE - Fishing Guide

You’ll be able to buy your fishing rod from Van, the earliest opportunity would be the 3rd day of Spring and I recommend you do so immediately. Some people think that fishing isn’t much of a money maker but I’m not sure what else they’re doing in their spare time that’s better than fishing. See the chart below for the kinds of fish you could be catching to see just how much you could be making.


To actually fish you need to take yourself over to a body of water such as the river, (you cannot fish in the ocean), and withdraw your fishing rod from your inventory. You’ll then be able to cast your line into your water. Now, you will wait. You’ll get a few nibbles but you should ignore them, as the nibbles become more frequent you’ll know a fish is about to bite. When there’s a very large splash you should wait 1 second then start to draw your line in. if you press X too soon you won’t get the fish, so always wait a heartbeat before attempting it. I usually put the sound up quite loud so I can hear the loud, telltale plop of the fish biting and, if you have vibration on, your controller will vibrate as a further indicator but it will slow your character down when you jump the fence, due to a bug.


It’s fairly likely you’ll be catching little rubbishy fish like Snelt and Colombos, but that’s not going to be a huge problem. For every fish that is worth below 150g you can boost their value by turning them into sashimi; a recipe that uses 1 raw fish and which can be sold to Van for a haggled price of about 170g each. So, rather than sell 10 tiny Colombo’s for a mere 100g you can be selling 10, tiny Colombo’s turned sashimi, for a decent 1700g. On top of that, every little fish you catch you can also give to people as gifts; namely Daryl, Carter and Flora. Apparently it's the intellectuals who like fish the most.

Now, the best fishing location is a much debated topic. A lot of people say to fish near the waterfall and down by the sea. Apparently, fishing right down by where the river meets the ocean is the best way to land a Sharshark, however, I’ve caught several huge Sharshark’s right by where the river passes by the farm. Minimal travelling, doesn’t seem to make a difference. Of course in the chart below you can see where location changes the type of fish received, so fish accordingly. Fishing by the waterfall is also a viable option as there are several, fairly decent fish up there and it’s also right next to Carter’s dig site. This is useful if you’re waiting to go in or just coming out after a long day scratching about in the dirt.

Tip:
Eat a plant or something before you go fishing, if your stomach rumbles it will interrupt the fishing process and you could lose out on a great catch.



Fish:Prices:
Location:
Huge Arna
Big Arna
Arna
Tiny Arna
1500G → 1800G
800G
400G →  480G
300G → 360G
Spring
Swamp
Swamp
Swamp
Huge Colombo
Big Colombo
Colombo
Tiny Colombo
100G
40G
20G
10G
Downstream
Spring, Downstream
Swamp, Downstream
Downstream
Huge Nyamame
Big Nyamame
Nyamame
Tiny Nyamame
200G → 240G
130G → 156G
60G
50G
Upstream
Upstream
Upstream
Upstream
Huge Rainbob
Big Rainbob
Rainbob
Tiny Rainbob
500G → 600G
150G → 180G
80G
70G
Downstream
Spring, Downstream
Downstream
Downstream
Huge Sharshark
Big Sharshark
Sharshark
Tiny Sharshark
2500G → 3000G
1200G → 1440G
600G → 720G
500G → 600G
Downstream
Downstream
Downstream
Downstream
Huge Snelt
Big Snelt
Snelt
Tiny Snelt
100G
60G
30G
20G
Downstream
Spring, Downstream
Downstream
Downstream
Huge Yamame
Big Yamame
Yamame
Tiny Yamame
2000G → 2400G
1000G → 1400G
500G → 600G
300G → 360G
Swamp, Upstream
Upstream
Upstream
Upstream
Huge Huchep
Big Huchep
Huchep
Tiny Huchep
250G - 300G
170G - 204G
90G
60G
Upstream
Upstream
Upstream
Upstream

Upstream = Right by the waterfall
Downstream = Bridge, near the sea or near the farm 


Note: By watching the ‘dating show’ on the television it seems as though whether it says you will be lucky/unlucky and so on depends on how well you will succeed at fishing. This luck thing may also extend into how much you get from the dig site, this is all speculation, but it does ring true now and then.