“We’re constantly comparing our game with the originals”.
No, you’re not suffering from déjà vu; this article originally appeared on the site in September this year, and we’re republishing it as part of our ‘Best of 2018’ series which celebrates what we feel were our finest features of the past twelve months. Enjoy!
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Powered by WPeMatico
Love in the time of Koloro.
With so many titles on eShop – from tiny mobile curios to triple-A epics – being ‘good’ simply isn’t be good enough anymore; you need something unique or dazzling to stand out in the crowd. Set in the subconscious dreamworld of a young girl named Kora, Koloro is a one-button (or touch) puzzle-platformer. Morphed into a squidgy cube by her imaginary companion, Boo, you guide Kora through hazardous, single-screen levels, wall-jumping towards an exit while seeking her lost sister, Lora. It’s a delicate and supremely competent indie game, but as with most dreams, it’ll likely – and unfortunately – be forgotten before long.
Which makes it sound unfairly slight or inconsequential; no, it’s a polished effort from first-time developer Sköll Studio with hours of satisfying gameplay. Kora’s cube is responsive, sliding automatically (you wall-jump to change direction) and squelching upon landing, with each jump emitting a note in tune with the ambient soundtrack. Tension increases as hazards manifest; creatures begin stalking levels, quakes cause chambers to collapse forcing you to make haste and scattered gems must be collected to make exits appear. Level names on a basic overworld map make the self-reflective dreamscape explicit and multiple exits create branches to explore.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Powered by WPeMatico
Between now and January 10, you don’t have to spend any money to get one of the best platformers of the decade. The Epic Games Store is giving away free copies of Super Meat Boy to anyone with an account. And if you don’t have an account, signing up is free. All you have to do is sign in, claim the game, and you’re good to go. The only catch is that you’ll need to use the Epic Games Launcher to play it.
Super Meat Boy is an ultra-challenging side-scrolling platformer that stars an anthropomorphic slab of meat. Your job is to navigate the fragile hero through dozens of stages that are filled with obstacles like saw blades, shards of glass, and piles of deadly salt. It’s a tough game, but the levels are mostly short, and you respawn instantly.
In GameSpot’s 9.5/10 Super Meat Boy review, Tom McShae wrote, “It’s impossible to point to just one element that makes Super Meat Boy such an extraordinary game. From the intense-though-always-fair difficulty and the inspired level design, to the pinpoint controls and catchy soundtrack, all of the different aspects converge into something that is truly outstanding.”
The Epic Games Store launched earlier this month, offering a small selection of games initially, with a promise to increase the selection over time. The company also said it will hand out a PC game for free every two weeks throughout 2019, giving potential customers a reason to keep coming back. The first freebie was Subnautica, but that’s now been replaced by Super Meat Boy. Epic has yet to announce what game will be free when Super Meat Boy goes back to regular price on January 10.
Powered by WPeMatico
The Dawning, Destiny 2‘s holiday event, is nearly over, which makes this weekend your last chance to give a few holiday cookies to Xur. The special vendor who only appears from Friday to Tuesday each week also has his usual crop of products: Exotic weapons and armor. Here’s everything you need to know about where to find Xur and what you can buy from him during your final Exotic shopping days of 2018.
For the final weekend of December, you’ll be able to find Xur on Titan in the area known as The Rig. If you still need to deliver him Strange Cookies to get all the Triumphs for the Dawning event, check out our Dawning recipe guide before you miss your chance.
As usual, he’s offering Exotics from the Year One collection to help you get all the best weapons and armor from before the release of Destiny 2’s Forsaken expansion. This week, Xur has D.A.R.C.I., a powerful sniper rifle that gives you a whole bunch of information about enemies when you activate its “Personal Assistant” perk by aiming through the scope. When the Personal Assistant is activated, the rifle does a lot more damage and has better targeting acquisition, making it a pretty great tool both in the Crucible and against enemies throughout the solar system.
Xur also carries three pieces of Exotic armor, one for each class of character. This week, Warlocks can grab the Stag helmet, which gives you additional Rift energy when you’re critically injured and creates a healing Rift on your body if you die–making it a lot easier for teammates to revive you. For Hunters, Xur has the Ophidia Spathe chest piece, which gives you an extra throwing knife melee charge. Finally for Titans, there’s the Ashen Wake gauntlets, which make your fusion grenades explode on contact and increase your grenade throwing speed and distance.
Here are all the Exotics Xur offers this week and what they’ll cost you:
You can also buy a Fated Engram, if you can afford it. Dropping 97 Legendary Shards on the item will grant you one Year One Exotic you don’t already have for that character. You can also snag a Five of Swords challenge card for free, which allows you to add difficulty modifiers that increase your score in Nightfall runs.
These are the last few days of the Dawning, so don’t forget to knock out your Triumphs and unlock the Dawning Cheer sparrow. There’s also Iron Banner this week, a great place to get Powerful gear while you drive your characters up to the new 650 Power level cap. And last week saw the release of the Izanami Forge, the third of four new forges as part of the Black Armory expansion.
Powered by WPeMatico
A number of big video game sales are going on right now, including the Steam Winter Sale, PlayStation Holiday Sale, and Xbox Countdown Sale. But if you prefer getting games for free (and who doesn’t?), GOG has what you’re looking for. Between now and December 30, you can download the horror game Soma for PC, Mac, and Linux, totally free. While you’re there, GOG probably hopes you’ll check out its own winter sale, which runs through January 3.
Soma is a first-person game that takes place in an underwater research lab. As often happens in these sorts of games, you find yourself alone in the facility with no recollection of how you got there or what’s going on. Your job is to avoid being killed by what lurks in the shadows as you learn about the lab and make your way to safety.
In GameSpot’s 9/10 Soma review, Richard Wakeling wrote, “I came in expecting something similar to Amnesia, just in a terrifying new location, but what I found is an intelligent game that forced me to think and contemplate ideas as only the best sci-fi is capable of doing. It may not stir the hordes of wailing YouTubers looking for the next best haunted house, but SOMA succeeds at crafting something much more meaningful in a genre that’s deserving of more than just simple jump scares.”
To get your free (and DRM-free) copy, all you need to do is hop over to GOG, sign in or create an account, and click the “Claim” button. Do that, and you’ll receive an email saying Soma has been added to your library. Easy peasy.
That’s not the only deal GOG has going right now; over 2,000 games are on sale for up to 90% off. And if you spend just $0.01 during the winter sale, you’ll receive a free copy of the 1996 strategy game Fantasy General (regularly $1.50). Spend $15, and you’ll get Everspace (normally $30) for free.
Powered by WPeMatico
The gift-giving holidays are over, but retailers still need to pay the rent. To help urge you to open your wallet as one year ends and another begins, GameStop is running its Winter Sale, which sees prices dropping on all kinds of PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch games. Read on to see what’s on sale between now and January 1.
For starters, if you buy two pre-owned games, you’ll get one free. The PlayStation Classic just released on December 3 for $100, but the plug-and-play console is already down to $60. No matter which system you have, you can grab the newest toys-to-life game on the market, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, for just $40. And if you trade in select games, you’ll get $20 off any new game or pre-order.
A good number of games are on sale this week, including many recent releases that are available for up to half off. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Battlefield V, Hitman 2, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider are available for $30 each only months or weeks after release. Also, $35 gets you Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, which is quite a deal on one of the year’s biggest titles.
PS4 owners can grab Spider-Man for $40 or Tetris Effect for $30. If Xbox One is your preferred console, you can pick up Forza Horizon 4 for $40. Nintendo Switch owners can get Diablo III: Eternal Collection or Sid Meier’s Civilization VI for $50 each. And if you missed out on Middle-earth: Shadow of War on PS4 or Xbox One, it can be yours for just $10.
You’ll find more of our picks below, or you can check out the full list of game discounts here.
Powered by WPeMatico
See where to find every single Legendary Animal and Legendary Fish in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Powered by WPeMatico
See our map and list of locations for the Launch Fireworks challenge for Week 4 in Fortnite.
Powered by WPeMatico
This interview contains light spoilers for Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, which is currently available to play/watch on Netflix. You can check out our spoiler-free review here.
Device Support: Available across most newer devices, including TVs, game consoles, web browsers, and Android and iOS devices running the latest version of the Netflix app. It’s not yet supported on Chromecast, Apple TV, and some legacy devices.
Netflix is calling its latest entry in Charlie Brooker’s imaginative Black Mirror anthology series an “interactive movie.” And while the interactive elements of “Bandersnatch” are clearly there – featuring a unique decision-making system that alters how the story unfolds – it’s difficult to not notice the similarities the film shares with video games.
Powered by WPeMatico
Mike Wang has been embedded in the world of sports video games longer than some of its fans have been alive. As the gameplay director for NBA 2K, as well as a brief stint on EA’s NBA Live series, Wang is the perfect person to tell us just how far we’ve come on this month’s episode of IGN Unfiltered.
Most notably, Wang points out how the evolution of technology in sports games does more than just make LeBron’s face look more realistic, or makes more beads of sweat appear on Steph Curry’s brow. It’s also allowed developers to increasingly mimic the exact motions that individual players make while playing ball, lending an extra level of personality to each moment.
Powered by WPeMatico