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A look at Raiders of the Broken Planet’s Hades Betrayal campaign

20/4/2018

 
Raiders of the Broken Planet: Hades Betrayal Ayana Kwena - Pass the Controller

Hades Betrayal, the penultimate premium campaign in Raiders of the Broken Planet’s debut season, was accompanied by a stellar free update that overhauled the game’s systems and pretty much fixed all of the wider issues we’ve raised in our past coverage. Whilst the patch is an overwhelming success, Hades Betrayal is a strong outing that wraps up with a bit of a whimper.

Sam Sant, Pass the Controller Deputy Editor





by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Comprised of four new missions, the campaign sets the Raiders at loggerheads with the eponymous Hades Division, lead by General Krausher and his case of small penis syndrome. To tackle (teehee) the most powerful military force in the galaxy, our ragtag crew could use a hand, or a pair of hands, as they set out to convince Lieutenant Ayana Kwena to defect to their cause.

By devastating the location Kwena is assigned to defend, they do exactly that, as returning to Krausher with failure in tow would be suicide. From here on in, Ayana is playable across all missions. She’s a characteristically bizarre prospect within the Raiders universe - a tribal future pirate with an accent that flits between Jamaican, Indian, German and Welsh…


In terms of loadout, Ayana rocks a mortar rifle used to launch proximity-triggered mines into the environment. They persist for just a short time, but long enough to synergise particularly well with her special, whereby she hooks and drags an enemy towards her, and, with a bit of pre-planning, into their inevitable fiery death along the way. Cool as that is, anyone that struggles with Raiders’ rock-paper-scissors melee combat system will love the humble ability to drop mines at Ayana’s feet, serving as an excellent counter should someone foolishly opt to charge her down.

The campaign’s second mission intelligently facilitates getting to know her loadout, with multiple defence points and a range of enemy types allowing the new recruit to be used to her fullest potential. Moving to intercept a Hades Division assault, you’ll carry an Encoder through the level in order to prevent Schneider, a brattish whiz kid, from downloading critical data. In a cruelly amusing twist, you’ll then need to double back and lug Schneider himself through the level in reverse.
New recruit Ayana is a characteristically bizarre prospect within the Raiders universe - a tribal future pirate with an accent that flits between Jamaican, Indian, German & Welsh.
Having inadvertently recruited the red-headed teen, he’ll soon be added to the roster as a universally purchasable playable character, whereas Ayana is a free exclusive to Hades Betrayal owners.

Breaking from established convention, a boss battle rounds out mission number three. Taking place in a gorgeous interior, you’ll aim to draw a big ol’ chainsaw-wielding mech towards explosive plant life, utilising the bulging buds to damage its armour and expose the vulnerable pilot within. It’s a hugely chaotic encounter, true to Raiders form, but one we ultimately could’ve done without.


Hades Betrayal’s culminating confrontation proceeds to shoulder the blame for this; what’s typically a spot reserved for grossly malformed behemoth bosses that beg for you to put them out of their misery, is instead occupied by another mech requiring similar tactics to take down. Once again, there’s nothing technically wrong with the fight, but it would’ve been so much more effective to see Hades Division’s Gundam-style tincan descend without it ringing incredibly familiar. While the shoe fits - General Krausher is exactly the kind of character that’d send a series of giant robots to do his bidding - it just isn’t worthwhile to end on such a comparative creative low.
Samey bosses set aside, Hades Betrayal does boast good mission variety and a heightened sense of scale to build towards Council Apocalypse, which is set to close out the current season of content at some point soon. As ever - in fact, especially so following the update - what’s here is highly revisitable thanks to digestible mission lengths, a sustained level of challenge, the ability to replay as an Antagonist, and now, to earn greater rewards than ever before.

Couple that with access to the brilliant Ayana Kwena and plenty of kooky, character-driven cutscenes to build upon the burgeoning lore, and Hades Betrayal is another standalone campaign that Raiders of the Broken Planet fans won’t want to miss.


If you fancy trying Hades Betrayal for yourself, free of charge, why not enter our giveaway for a chance to win one of two PS4 keys? Click the banner below for details on how to enter.
Raiders of the Broken Planet: Hades Betrayal giveaway banner - Pass the Controller
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EGX Rezzed 2018: Rob’s take

19/4/2018

 
Pass the Controller's Rob welcomes you to EGX Rezzed 2018

Bypassing the troublesome Shadwell Overground stairs via the elevator once again proved a dream, especially the smell, but the lack of fish in the ornamental canal was of great concern to me. Where had they gone? Why? And could they ever truly exist in those two-inch deep waters? So many great questions, but only one certainty: I was back at Tobacco Dock for EGX Rezzed 2018.

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by Rob
​Holt

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@acousticmagic


I must confess from the off, chums: this year’s show had so many playable games that even two days worth of attendance was insufficient to see them all. As a result, my sincerest apologies must go out to Far: Lone Sails, Onrush, Tenya Wanya Teens, Below and many more. Sorry!

Cleansed of guilt, let us journey swiftly to the dizzy heights of the Indie Room (above-ground branch) to sample some of the show’s biggest hitters.
This year’s show had so many playable games that even two days worth of attendance was insufficient to see them all.
First up was Lake Ridden, a first-person puzzle-adventure set inside the guts of a gloomy lake, largely devoid of water. The puzzles are cryptic enough, the setting has a creepy edge, and the story is intriguing. Let’s see how it develops.

I followed-on with a selection of games from cracking London-based publisher Chucklefish. I’ve mentioned Wargroove a few times on the site - most notably as one of my most anticipated games of 2018 - and I have no qualms in reiterating that this is going to be essential gaming. They also had “Stealthvania” game The Siege and the Sandfox on show, as well as Pathway, another fabulous strategy game. All three titles are a great showcase of Chucklefish’s brilliant expanding roster.
EGX Rezzed Indie Room - Pass the Controller
Rob plays games at EGX Rezzed 2018 - Pass the Controller
Curve Digital - another splendid publisher - had a few games on show ‘ere too. I thoroughly enjoyed the arcade-stylings and twin-stick fun of Rogue Aces, cartoony aircraft-sim Bomber Crew, and strategic RPG For The King. The former is available now on Switch and PlayStation platforms (that’s PS4 and Vita), whilst the middler and latter are currently available on Steam.

My time in the Indie Room (above-ground branch) came to a close with two biggies: Disco Elysium and Phoenix Point.

Disco Elysium sees thee cast as a detective with problems-a-plenty; be they booze, smoking, drugs, memory and/or mental health related. Tasked with solving a murder, this unique isometric police RPG gives the player a staggering amount of choices, featuring multiple skill sets (these affect your character’s perception of the world, and how he interacts with people), a gorgeously gritty hand-painted art style, and ever so much replayability. I can’t help but be excited!

Phoenix Point is the latest strategy game from master of the genre Julian Gollop. In time-honoured fashion, you take control of a team of grunts armed with big guns, rippling muscles and cheesey dialogue as you tackle objectives and blast alien scum. Fans of all things XCOM can PARTY now.

What goes up must surely come down, so, like morning toothpaste finding its way to trouser leg, I stumbled downstairs to the Indie Room (basement branch). Just like its above-ground brethren, the basement room was chock fulla great games.
Disco Elysium sees thee cast as a detective with problems-a-plenty, and I can’t help but be excited about this unique isometric police RPG!
PQube’s selections caught my eyes and ears first, which lead me to enjoy time with sinister text adventure Stay, 8-bit side-scrolling slasher Aggelos, and produce-focused karter All-Star Fruit Racing. They also had the wonderful Cat Quest on the go - if you haven’t already, go and check it out!

It was great to see Aperion Cyberstorm being enjoyed by many in its Switch incarnation, Hipster Cafe Simulator providing many laughs, and beautifully animated (and darkly funny) adventure game Unforeseen Incidents, all running side-by-side.

The highlight of the room was local multiplayer communicate-‘em-up Catastronauts. You and your associates are placed in charge of a spacecraft, tasked with blastin’ away other crews. Much like the genre-defining Overcooked, Catastronauts uses the rising panic of putting out fires, removing bombs and firing lasers to create real laughs. Look out for this one when it drops later in the year.
Attendees at the Catastronauts EGX Rezzed 2018 booth - Pass the Controller
By now the bells were tolling, so off I toddled to the land of the well established: that’s right, it were time for PlayStation, Sega, Xbox and Nintendo.

PlayStation had a paltry amount of titles on show this year, but as if to paint quality over quantity, what was there was truly fabbo. Guacamelee 2 provides more hectic, Mexican rasslin’-infused fun, there was silliness aplenty in The Adventure Pals, and irresistibly cute graphics in The Swords of Ditto.

Gorgeous adventure Heaven’s Vault is what really stood out, though. Featured in my seven to look out for at Rezzed piece, HV surpassed my already high expectations of what the open-world point-and-click adventure would be. Taking control of archeologist Aliya, I interacted with helpful/humourless robot chum Six, investigated the ruins of a beautiful lost world, and attempted to translate lots of hieroglyphics. The alluring blend of 2D character art and 3D environments is a triumphant success, as was the slow-burn quality of the gameplay. One of my games of the show, for sure.

Microsoft’s ID@Xbox room was lacking in space (at least for corpulent Milky Bar men like myself), but did exhibit some superb games. Our esteemed Editor, Monsieur James Michael Parry, joined me for a blast at Metal Slug-like Huntdown - which is really good old-school fun - Terratech’s Minecraftian vehicular combat, and the joys of reigning over the proletariat in Kingdom: Two Crowns. The highlight here, however, was Strange Brigade, which is a send up of the British Empire and English buffoonery under the guise of third-person cooperative shooting. It was great fun, and even better when played in a group, as Jim lad will testify to.
Attendees at the Strange Brigade EGX Rezzed 2018 booth - Pass the Controller
The ID@Xbox highlight was Strange Brigade, which is a send up of the British Empire and English buffoonery under the guise of third-person co-op shooting. It was great fun, especially when played in a group.
Nintendo and Sega offered slim pickings this year, as they both showed games already available on other platforms. Mega Drive Classics will definitely be a day one pick up for myself, but I don’t see why they needed to bring it; the just-announced Shenmue re-releases would’ve made more sense. Nintendo’s appeal rested solely on Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. We’re pleased to announce that it’s shaping up to be another Suda 51 classic, the auteur's crazy combat, retina-destroying colours and self-aware dialogue all being intact.
Attendees at the Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes EGX Rezzed 2018 stand - Pass the Controller
Are you still with me, comrades? If so, let’s travel into the dark heart of the Unreal Engine Showcase to sample Another Sight, Metamorphosis, Space Cows, some fishing, and the brilliant Lost Ember.

Another Sight puts you in the dual-role of blind gal and nimble cat, as you explore Victorian-era underground London - sewers, trains, et al. Space Cows carries the same charm as clumsy controllers Octodad and Manuel Samuel, as you traverse a colourful world in search of milk and cows. It was hilarious.

Metamorphosis casts thee as a man trapped in the body of a spider: Why are you here? What are those men doing to your friend? How will you return to human form? The game's sneaking and scuttling was good fun, as was currently-available-on-Xbox-Game-Pass carp-botherer, Dovetail Fishing - maybe this is where the ornamental canal’s dorsal-equipped water breathers had vanished to?

Lost Ember was the real winner here though, with its attractive visuals and possessing gameplay mechanic. You play a wolf, who, with the help of a spirit mate, can possess other animals to help traverse a natural world free of humans. I got tinges of Journey and Abzu playing the game, but there’s definitely plenty of originality lurking in Lost Ember’s characters and story. Once polished, this has serious potential.

Coatsink and Wired Productions had some quality stuff up their sleeves this year too, with games that really honed in on fun.
Shaq-Fu is reborn at EGX Rezzed 2018 - Pass the Controller
Wired had gravity-defying speedster Grip on show, as well as the glorious return of Shaq-Fu. Shaq was a personal favourite, featuring Saber Interactive’s pleasing NBA Playgrounds art style and side-scrolling, button-mashing bouts straight outta the 90s. Add to that rich colour comic book cutscenes with hilarious writing and voice over, and I cannae wait for this one.

The hockey/football/Micro Machines mash-up that is Coatsink’s ClusterPuck 99 thoroughly entertained myself and herr-Editor, as we managed to win both of our games against fellow attendees. Coatsink’s highlight, however, was the fabulous Phogs, a bonkers ‘physics dog adventure’ so beautifully realised that we have to name it as one of our games of the show.

Jam and I played in co-op mode, using the same controller to immensely increase the hilarity of the experience. You each control one end of a double-ended dog, aiming to progress through some exquisite locales via the medium of hungry giant worms. The game had a real Nintendo-at-its-most-joyous feel to it, and trust us when we say, this is going to be the game to play at parties.
The fabulous Phogs is a bonkers ‘physics dog adventure’ so beautifully realised that we have to name it as one of our games of the show. 
My voyage around Rezzed finished at the glorious Leftfield Collection this year, a place that truly encapsulates the spirit of the show, in one’s humble opinion. The feeling of community was present as soon as I entered, gazing upon hand-drawn posters above each title, friendly faces from all over the world, and some superb games.

Leftfield was a true exhibition of the arts; from design, to visual presentation, to music, it all came together as my personal combined star of the show. A cop-out maybe, but there’s no doubting the reality: Leftfield displayed the true nature of gaming, and maybe even life (if you’ll forgive my pretension) - personal, meaningful, fun. It’s for that reason you can expect to see an article focused squarely on the great Leftfield games on show, which really deserve the spotlight.

With that, I downed my last coffee of the weekend, checked one last time for fish, and disappeared into the night. So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, farvel - see ya next year, Rezzed!


For plenty more EGX Rezzed 2018 coverage, stay tuned to Pass the Controller.
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Taken for a Quickie | Rogue Aces

15/4/2018

 
Rogue-Aces

Infinite State Games’ light-hearted take on aerial warfare, Rogue Aces, landed on PS4, Vita and Switch this week and is the latest to be given a quick one.

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by Liam
​Andrews

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​@liam_andrews5

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​Developer: ​Infinite State Games
​Publisher: ​Curve Digital
​Platforms:​ Switch, PS4, PS Vita
Players: ​1

Aerial warfare, you say? Go on...

​Rogue Aces is a 2D air combat game featuring rouge-lite elements, where players must battle against enemy tanks, blimps, planes and ships across a series of procedurally generated levels and missions whilst monitoring fuel supplies and aircraft damage.

How’s it play: we talking arcade or simulation?

Definitely the former, but while flying as low as you can and strafing enemy bases can be a laugh, Rogue Aces is a bit of a letdown overall.

The game’s quirky humour quickly grows stale, the procedurally generated maps are samey, and, along with the aforementioned resource management, never really influence gameplay in any meaningful way. Campaign missions also feel bland and uninspired, ranging from kill X amount of this enemy type to, well, not much else really.

​
Any redeeming features?

​Erm… Alternative campaign modes can be unlocked, though there’s no real explanation of how to do so, with the couple we tried - the survival-based Bomber Defence and time-limited, island-hopping Frontline campaign - doing a little to spice proceedings up. That said, they’re unlikely to have you hungry for seconds.
If you’re specifically looking for some mindless plane-based carnage, and nothing more, then Rogue Aces just about fits the bill.
Despite the drawbacks, would you recommend it?

If you’re specifically looking for some mindless plane-based carnage, and nothing more, then Rogue Aces just about fits the bill. If you’re willing to spend a touch more than Rogue Aces’ £9.99/€12.99/$12.99 asking price and have access to an Xbox One or PC, however, we’d have to say Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China offers far superior aerial arcade action.
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Double Kick Heroes | Preview

2/4/2018

 
Double Kick Heroes Steam Early Access preview - Pass the Controller

Music rhythm games are pretty old hat these days, having been run into the ground at the height of their popularity, around ten years ago now, through a greedy and endless stream of cookie-cutter releases. By throwing shoot-‘em-up elements into the mix, alongside an apocalyptic story and a cast of corny characters, Double Kick Heroes seeks to draw disillusioned fans of the genre back into the fold when it hits Steam Early Access on 11 April.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


In the pixelated face of a zombie outbreak, the eponymous Double Kick Heroes set out to save the world with the power of metal - and not in the spiritual sense, having linked their instruments to two turrets mounted at the rear of their convertible. With separate keys bound to each gun, not only do you need to consider timing when hitting notes scrolling along the familiar fretboard at the bottom of the screen, but also your choice of input. Unconventional hordes of approaching undead dictate whether you’ll need to fire from the top or bottom, creating a juggling act as you attempt to simultaneously monitor two vital but disparate visual elements in order to stay alive.

The gradual introduction of mechanics - like maintaining a combo chain to upgrade your weapons, playing second and third instrument tracks to charge special abilities, prioritising different enemy types, and steering during boss encounters - ensures a consistently high level of challenge is maintained throughout. While the learning curve can be rough, even on the normal difficulty setting, it compels you to keep playing by making every victory feel well-earned, and, coupled with the empowering element of performance that accompanies skilled play, makes for a strong motivator to keep improving - just like learning to play an instrument.
By throwing shoot-‘em-up elements into the mix, alongside an apocalyptic story and a cast of corny characters, Double Kick Heroes seeks to draw disillusioned fans of the music rhythm genre back into the fold.
Whilst carving a bloody path through the USA - across 15 stages set to the game’s original soundtrack, which spans light rock through heavy metal - you’ll get to know the head-banging fivesome comprising the Double Kick Heroes. Text-based interactions during interludes make reference to all aspects of pop culture, but they’re so ham-fistedly frequent and obvious that it can feel like there’s a sleeve-tugging child shoving their collection of “cool” toys under your nose. The aim here was never to produce an artsy, postmodern pastiche though, with the foul-mouthed stereotypes quickly establishing the desired sense of character.

Story mode currently runs around three hours, but that’s set to double as DKH continues its development and the band embark on a European tour. There’s also the mysterious Hellgate mode to be added, but in the meantime polishing your skills in Arcade mode and creating/downloading custom stages via the in-depth-but-straightforward Level Editor should be plenty to keep you busy.

Most user-generated levels are based on established songs, for example Metallica’s Master of Puppets, which means you’ll need the relevant MP3 file for the game to sync up and have you play along with. It’s a clever little way around hefty licensing fees and should serve to keep devoted metalheads indefinitely busy.

​Provided you held on to them, you can also use your old
Guitar Hero or Rock Band peripherals to play; you’ll have no issue plug and playing with a USB drum set, but old wireless guitars require forking out for a signal receiver, which is unfortunate when they’re precisely what most people will have to hand.

That’s not an insignificant blunder, but it’s ultimately outside of developer Headbang Club’s control. The team have otherwise done a great job on the technical front, maintaining a solid 60 frames per second during gameplay to ensure there’s no chance of dropping notes through no fault of your own.

Even at this pre-Early Access stage then, in spite of some largely par-for-the-course flaws, Double Kick Heroes is a very playable evolution of the music rhythm genre. It’s a game with a specific audience that does everything it can to cater to its niche, so, if you fit the bill, add DKH to your watchlist as it can only get better from here.
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Taken for a Quickie | Rad Rodgers

17/3/2018

 
Rad Rodgers PC screenshot - Pass the Controller

We’ve taken a saucy peek beneath the façade of this love letter to 90’s era platformers as part of our regular first impressions series, so go on, don’t be shy - read on for the juicy deets!

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Slipgate
Studios

Publisher: THQ Nordic
​Platforms: Xbox One,
​PS4, PC

​Players: 1
Ooerr! Is it well endowed?

It’s definitely girthier than its younger sibling, Rad Rodgers: World One, tentpoling the package with added features like new levels, enemies, and unlockable items. It’s not too impressive in terms of pure length, though collectibles and well-concealed secret areas might seduce you into a second ride.

Nice… So, what’s it all about?

After being sucked into a television along with his Wii U, Dusty, our titular protagonist finds himself the radical star of a platforming shoot-‘em-up inspired by the likes of Commander Keen and Jazz Jackrabbit.

Here begins a challenging romp in which the oddball pairing engage in bloody shootouts and adult conversation; provided you’re playing the mode for grownups, that is. Kiddies can, of courses, be trusted to choose their own dedicated mode (HA!), which retains the pop culture references and wisecracking one-liners whilst ditching any talk of shit-smelling buttplugs.

… It’s not actually a Wii U, by the way.

That definitely sounds fun, but is it actually fun to play?

Absolutely! Level designs are clever and sprawling, platforming sections precise, and combat encounters super satisfying. It all runs smooth, at least on PC, and fun bonus stages break up the action.
Is it easy on the eyes and ears as well?

Very much so. It’s incredibly sharp and vibrant, spilling over with loving little details from background to fore. Add in punchy retro sound effects that mix with a thumping modern soundtrack, and you have a presentational powerhouse.

Seems to have it all - presumably it comes recommended?

Rad Rodgers is chucklesome, satisfying sexiness wrapped in an attractive price point (£15.99 on Xbox One and PS4, £17.99 on Steam). If that sounds like your bag, there’s no reason not to get involved.
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Taken for a Quickie | Past Cure

14/3/2018

 
Past Cure key art - Pass the Controller

Join us down in the funk-bunker as we get vigorous, personal and brief with German developer Phantom 8’s new third-person story-driven action game, Past Cure.

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​by Rob
​Holt

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@acousticmagic

Story driven - but by whom?

Our protagonist’s name is Ian, and by Jove he’s in a spot of bother. Suffering from amnesia (YAWN FACKIN’ YAWN), the former soldier is desperately trying to uncover what happened to him pre-memory loss. If you adore cliches, you’ll simply love ​Past Cure, as he’s also blessed with the dual powers of telekinesis and slow-y down-y time-y-ness.
Third-person action, you say?

For the most part, yes, though Phantom 8 do also shoehorn in some puzzle solving and survival horror elements as you play out sequences both in reality and in Ian’s dreamworld. The bad news is that everything fails: the third-person shooting is naff, the puzzling is as dull as an Ed Sheeran tune, and the telekinesis/sanity bending mechanics are just utter dross. Every aspect is a rip-off of a better game, or a story element taken from a better film.

So it doesn't play well?

Honestly, it’s clunky, gutless and devoid of fun - voice acting notwithstanding, but we’ll get to that - quite the killer triple-threat. It’s obvious that Phantom 8’s intentions were well placed on paper, but the finished form falls well short of modern standards.
What about the presentation?

Once again, it’s plain to see the minimalist chic that Phantom 8 are aiming for, but it just looks flat. The frame rate doesn’t help matters, chugging along whether you’re in the thick of an action sequence or just walking around.

The real winner, however, is the wondrously bad voice acting. Every cast member appears to have attended The Kevin Costner Conservatory of Thespianism, spinning all manner of emotionally charged lines in a vacuum-bag of monotonous drivel - we do hope Phantom 8 didn’t pay them much...

Well, all sounds swell thus far… Anything else to be wary of?

Endless, vacuous cutscenes. Seriously, where a standard narrative-focused game allows the player to explore environments and discover information for themselves, Past Cure instead slams in a non-playable sidebar. Want to see Ian walk across a path for three seconds? You’ve got it!

Also: The main character’s name is Ian. Ian!
Past Cure screenshot - Pass the Controller
Hard to recommend, then?

At its current retail price of £24.99, it’s simply impossible to recommend. Whilst it’s almost commendable that Phantom 8 tried to mash all these different styles together, it just never works. If you’re a real sycophant, wait for the price to drop to around a fiver and dive on in.
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Taken for a Quickie | Marooners

9/2/2018

 
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Join us for another quickie, as we take a look at Marooners on Xbox One.

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​by Liam
​Andrews

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​@liam_andrews5

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​Developer: ​M2H
​Publisher: M2H
Platforms: ​Xbox One, PS4, Steam
Players: ​1 - 6

What’s Marooners?

A party game from the makers of Verdun and Tannenberg, where up to six players compete to collect the most treasure in a series of mini-games.

How does it play?

Matches rarely last more than a few minutes, but the game’s unique Chaos mode keeps players on their toes throughout, randomly switching in and out of different mini-games at any given moment. Trying to remember the objective, or if you’re even alive, as play jumps back and forth leads to memorable moments as players meet their untimely ends amidst the confusion.

If the uncertainty of Chaos doesn’t sound like your thing, it’s possible to enjoy matches linearly in both the Arena and Party game modes.

What’s the difference between Arena and Party, then?

Party mode’s mini-games gives you some semblance of an objective – dig to the bottom first, stay alive the longest, avoid the falling boulders, etc. – whereas Arena is a deathmatch mode in which players make use of weapons and power-ups (present to a lesser extent in Party mode) across a range of maps to be the last one left standing
Trying to remember the objective, or if you’re even alive, as play jumps back and forth leads to memorable moments as players meet their untimely ends amidst the confusion.
Does it support couch co-op?

​In theory, Marooners lets you blend both local and online multiplayer, but the fiddly nature of setting up the former combined with the small player base of the latter means your only real option for a decent match is finding several other friends who own the game and organising some online mayhem.

For an idea of the type of fun to be had with that setup, check out our let’s play and see how we handled Marooners’ madness.
Failing that, there are bots to help make up numbers, but they negate both the challenge and humorous moments human opposition offer.

Would you recommend it?

Given the game’s only $9.99/€9.99/£7.99, yes, we would (with a caveat). There’s a good time to be had in Marooners, provided you can scrape together a few online friends to squeeze it out.
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Taken for a Quickie | Tiny Troopers JO: XL

7/2/2018

 
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Lock and load for the Switch release of all the Tiny Troopers you can get your hands on in this bumper edition.

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by James Michael Parry

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​@james_parry

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Developer: Wired Productions
Publisher: Wired Productions
Platforms: Switch, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox One
Players: 1
Have there been casualties?

Unfortunately, the team can quite easily come under fire from a bunker or armoured vehicle from almost off screen, making traversing terrain extremely dangerous. It’s recommended you bring along heavy weapons and specialist units.

​Yes! I love shooting things! Sign me up!

Woah, hold your horses soldier! There’s a little more to commanding an elite military unit than jumping in half-cocked. You’d do well to listen to the mission briefing.

*sits down*

Very well. What we have here is a twin-stick shooter in which you take command of a group of up to four soldiers, tasked with eliminating the enemy, and occasionally rescuing civilians or friendlies in the AO.

Who’s the commanding officer, sir?

Your team will follow you from mission to mission, providing you keep them alive, and gain ranks - subsequently become tougher to kill - as the not-at-all-generic-looking bad guys attempt to impede our fight for freedom.
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How do we requisition these heroes?

Completing missions is rewarded with points, however the specialists can be added to the team for one mission only, and are quite pricey, plus they have to be unlocked in the first place. Weapons and supplies can be picked up on the battlefield, but the control scheme has lead to many regrettable instances of friendly fire.

Would you give us a commendation, sir?

For a novice such as yourself private, you’ll find enjoyment and you’ll find success. A more experienced soldier might be better suited to more tactically diverse and complex challenges, beyond simply cranking up the difficulty, and long for greater control of their unit, who must move as one. Fortunately, Uncle Sam only need spend £9.99 for the privilege of your company.​
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Taken for a Quickie | Tales of the Tiny Planet

2/2/2018

 
Tales of the Tiny Planet - Pass the Controller

Get back to basics with endearing physics puzzler Tales of the Tiny Planet in the latest delightful iteration in our mini-review series: Taken for a Quickie.

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by James Michael Parry

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​@james_parry

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Developer: Pixelsplit
Publisher: Joindots
Platforms: Switch, PC,
Android, iOS

Players: 1 - 2
Looking at the screenshot above, it seems a bit simple?

They do say the simplest ideas are often the best, and here the concept is certainly straightforward - use a single button to turn or move coloured objects and propel tiny planets with adorable faces to the end zone, where they’ll be sucked into a black hole…

Those poor, cute little planets...

Well, they seem fairly happy about the whole affair, even offering up reassuring words when you complete a stage. Being sucked into an abyss is, apparently, a whale of a time.

Do things get any more complex?

There are six worlds in total and each is slightly trickier than the last, as you’d expect. Elements of timing and momentum need to be kept in mind, plus there’s the gradual introduction of hazards like spikes and ‘evil’ planets which cause your friendly planet to, err… pop, if they come into contact.

​
A low barrier to entry, then?


The single button control scheme means it’s very easy to pick up and play. It’s a little odd that the button of choice on Switch is B, rather than A, but it’s not really an issue.
Tales of the Tiny Planet - Pass the Controller
Is it worth the price of admission?

Being a game which is already available on Steam for around £7 and on mobile for just over £3, £17.99 on Switch is a hefty price tag for a relatively small package. The Switch version does boast a bonus sixth world, featuring some pesky portals, and a co-op mode, but whether that's enough to justify the jump in price is up for debate. There’s a couple of hours of solid brain-teasing here, as well as some post-completion challenges, but, in the end, despite its charm and effective presentation, it’s hard to recommend at its current price point.
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Taken for a Quickie | Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China

23/1/2018

 
Flying-Tigers-Shadows-Over-China-AVG-Fighter

Last week saw Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China stealthily make its way to Xbox One as a console exclusive. Grab your best pair of flying goggles and keep an eye out for ack-ack guns as we take to the skies in our first quickie of the year. Chocks away!

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 by Liam
 Andrews

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​@liam_andrews5

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 Developer: Ace Maddox
Publisher: Ace Maddox
Platforms: Xbox One, PC
Players: 1 - 16

What is it?
 
An air-combat action game based on the exploits of the American Volunteer Group, more popularly known as The Flying Tigers, who, along with the British, Australian and New Zealand air forces, took on the might of the Japanese army during the early years of the Second World War.
 
How does it play?
 
Gameplay in FTSOC is more arcade-based than military sim, but that doesn’t mean it’s totally lacking in realism. You’ll struggle to pull up if entering into too steep of a dive, and though you may have unlimited ammunition and a generous aim-assist with which to chew up enemy aircraft, you’ll still need to lead your shots rather than simply pointing and shooting.
 
We’d recommend ditching the standard control setup for the manoeuvrability afforded in the pitch/roll combination, which allowed us much greater aircraft control during the campaign.

Is the campaign any good?
 
It’s a little short, to be honest. Even on the hardest difficulty setting, you’ll likely power through everything in just under five hours.
 
While the majority of missions never stray too far from the main attraction of dogfighting, most offer multiple objectives to mix things up a bit and provide a few standout moments, including strafing/bombing ground targets, torpedoing battleships and protecting friendly bombers.
If you grew up playing titles such as Rogue Squadron and Blazing Angels, FTSOC will definitely tickle that aerial combat itch that’s been missing from consoles for too long.
Hmm, five hours isn’t that long…
 
There’s a few extra modes that help extend the game’s longevity, including online competitive multiplayer, provided you can find a populated server.
 
The highlight of these extra modes has to be Dogfight, which pits you against enemy AI in a location and aircraft of your choice, including a few that aren’t available in the campaign, such as the iconic Supermarine Spitfire and P51 Mustang.
Would you recommend it?
 
Yes. The campaign may be too short, and the visuals can sometimes look a little plain (pun very much intended), but there’s just something incredibly thrilling about hearing the rat-at-at-at of machine gun fire and the thrum of your engine as you pounce upon enemy aircraft formations from above.
 
If you grew up playing titles such as Rogue Squadron and Blazing Angels, FTSOC will definitely tickle that aerial combat itch that’s been missing from consoles for too long.


Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China is available now on Xbox One for £15.19/€18.99/$18.99 and on Steam, where it released last year, for £12.39/€15.99/$15.99.
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