Cloud Imperium Games and Roberts Space Industries have launched the first public build of Star Citizen’s Arena Commander module – which will introduce players to a taste of the space combat the game will offer in the future. Remember, this is an early, early access build so have some patience. Checkout the official post for more info and the trailer below!
Focus Home Interactive and Giants Software have released the official launch trailer for their new farming simulation game, Farming Simulator 14.
N-Fusion Interactive and Unity Games have released some new screenshots for their upcoming Space Noir, which is due out this Summer on the Windows PC and mobile platforms.
Los Angeles, CA – June 4, 2014 – The pinball masters at Zen Studios have partnered with leading developer of digital entertainment Telltale Games and Robert Kirkman, the Eisner Award-winning creator and writer of The Walking Dead for his Skybound imprint at Image Comics, to create an all-new digital pinball table based on the award-winning The Walking Dead game series, continuing an age-old tradition in celebrating some of the biggest icons in entertainment on the classic pinball playfield.
A true collaborative effort, both Zen and Telltale have worked together on each detail of the table design, sharing ideas and fusing their passion to bring the story and choice-driven gameplay of The Walking Dead: Season One journey to the playfield. Touring locations from Clementine’s treehouse and Everett’s pharmacy in Macon, all the way down the tracks to the walker-infested streets of Savannah, players will find an authentic tour of Season One capturing the peril and drama of Lee and Clementine’s story.
“Zen Studios is a huge admirer of Telltale Games, and we truly cherish the opportunity to work with such amazing visionaries,” said Mel Kirk, Vice President of Publishing at Zen Studios. “Working with Telltale’s The Walking Dead is a hallmark moment as we continue our quest to create the most memorable and authentic pinball experiences.”
The Walking Dead Pinball table features choice-driven gameplay across each of Season One’s five episodes, along with original story dialogue from the award-winning cast. Scenarios include choosing who to save and who to leave behind in a walker attack, solving problems and keeping up morale within the group, searching for food and supplies, acquiring important tools, and navigating through the herd amidst an oncoming walker breach.
“Zen knocked it out of the park with their interpretation Telltale’s first season of The Walking Dead as a pinball table,” said Steve Allison, SVP of Publishing at Telltale Games. “Players once again get to step into the shoes of Lee Everett and protect Clementine as all the major events of season one play a role in the first ever pinball game that features choice and consequence gameplay.”
The Walking Dead Pinball table will be demonstrated at this year’s E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo, and those in attendance can get a sneak peek hands on at Telltale’s booth in the Concourse Hall.
The Walking Dead Pinball table will be available for download later this summer on Zen Studios pinball platforms across console, PC, and mobile stores.
For assets, please visit the Zen Studios Press Center. An announcement trailer is available on the Zen Studios YouTube Channel as well as the Telltale Games YouTube Channel.
London, June 4, 2014 – In a world where the innocent call out for a true hero, Spilt Milk Studios and Mastertronic call upon you to save the day, as Tango Fiesta explodes onto Steam Early Access, bringing all the best 80’s action mayhem with it!
Early Access Launch Trailer:
Tango Fiesta is a top-down co-operative twin-stick shooter for up to 4 players. Set in a world where the events from every single 80’s action film ever made actually happened, you and up to three friends get to blast, shoot, knife, smash, dodge and rescue your way through the ultimate story of a one (or two, or three, or four) man army prevailing against every evil the world has ever known, in this endlessly entertaining arcade action rogue-lite!
You ain’t got time to bleed, so choose your favourite hero, splash your cash in the gun shop and load up on the most explosive firepower this side of Arnie’s biceps. Charge through a shower of bullets, crushing nameless henchmen as you learn the truth behind all those classic flicks… And once the dust settles, do it all again as enemies, bosses and procedurally-generated levels keep the challenge fresh and exciting on every play-through.
With the Early Access version, players are invited to supply feedback to the developers and help direct the focus of future updates, ranging from new heroes, weapons and worlds to vehicles and bosses.
Andrew J Smith, founder of Spilt Milk Studios, says, “I’m indescribably happy, and absolutely terrified all at the same time. This game means a lot to everyone working on it – more than perhaps you’d normally associate with an over the top arcade action shooter like this – but I mean it when I say it has been and remains a labour of love. I can’t wait to see what people think of the game, to hear what the fans want from us over the coming months, and to make Tango Fiesta the game we all know it can be. It’s a dream come true for the whole team.”
Andy Payne, CEO of Mastertronic, adds “I am so happy that we have been able to help the Spilt Milk Team bring Tango Fiesta to the world. Everyone has worked so hard and with 100% focus to get the Rezzed 2013 Game Jam build into something really special. It’s been a pleasure and an honour to work with Andrew JS, Gavin, Andrew and Ewan.”
Tango Fiesta is available today on Steam Early Access and Get Games for PC and Mac.
JUNE 4, 2014 – Etherium, the new futuristic real-time strategy game developed exclusively for PC by Tindalos Interactive, can now reveal a series of exclusive images! Etherium will be presented at E3 Los Angeles on June 10-12, on Focus Home Interactive’s booth (West Hall Booth 5512).
After a trip to the frozen world of Arctis in the previous game teaser video, it’s now the turn of the dead planet, Desta Fatalis, and the paradise world of Renaissance to suffer the assaults of the three factions locked in the war for etherium: the humans represented by the Consortium, the Vectides, and the Intari. The battle is still raging on the desert planet, Serenade, but none of the three sides is gaining the upper hand.
Kalypso and Haemimont Games has brought us the latest edition of the dictator simulator with Tropico 5. The Tropico series is a civilization building simulator, well known for its tongue in cheek approach to “banana republics” and topics such as totalitarianism, colonization, and interference from super powers into the Third World. I have never played a Tropico game, not being a huge fan of the “civilization builder” type games, so I have no point of reference in what is better or different with Tropico 5 versus the older versions of this same game. However, I can say that I really enjoyed my time with Tropico 5, and now plan to keep a closer eye on this series in the future.
Story
The story for Tropico 5 begins when you are handed a colony from the crown to govern for a set number of years. As you govern, you are brought little story points that you have to make decisions about and who to support. Like many civilization builder games, the story line isn’t one of strict narrative, but of implied narrative based on your current objectives or goals. The overall story follows you, El Presidente, and your family from colonial governor into the 21st century.
For the most part, the story in the campaign mode is fairly forced upon you. You have to become independent before your contract is up with the crown or you do not move onto the next series of quests. This will limit your decision making somewhat in the campaign, since you will have to support the revolutionaries in order to claim your independence, but when you support them is up to you. I have been able to utilize the crown’s resources all the way up to the very last moment before declaring my independence, thus building a more solid and structured country before moving on. The story works well enough for the game type, just don’t expect a sweeping drama to unfold as you rule your little island.
Game Play
The game play for Tropico 5 is where all the action is at. At the heart of Tropico 5’s campaign mode, you must complete a set of objectives in order to move onto the next set of objectives, and the next time period. The early game play revolves around setting up your island with the help of the crown. You must reach a certain popularity with the revolutionaries and declare your independence before your mandate runs out. Along the way, there are certain quests in which you can participate in, which can either increase your popularity with a certain faction, increase your personal bank account, or increase your mandate giving you more time before the crown removes you.
As you build up your island, you have many choices to make with the direction of how you want your country to progress. Tropico 5 is full of different types of buildings that you can create, with different items to research for each time period. Each building then also has many different ways to customize the output, resources, and workforce for each building. Building a ranch, for example, will allow you to choose what type of animal you are raising for resources, how much money you want to put into that resource for development, and what manager you want running the ranch, which will give you bonuses or negatives depending on the manager.
Resource gathering is one of the most important game play elements in Tropico 5, and the game gives you many opportunities to do so. You can begin by exploring your island for natural resources. This will include mines, oil, and artifact that can be utilized for tourism. You can also see a grid system that will help you plant other resource gathering buildings more efficiently. You will also be able to create and change your trade routes with other countries and pirates to find more buyers for your goods.
Tropico 5 also has a multi-player mode to go along with the single player campaign mode. The multi-player mode can be either cooperative or competitive, whatever strikes your fancy at that time. Up to four players can play on a single island, building your own cities, competing for resources, working together to build a civilization, or to declare war on each other.
Aesthetics
The aesthetics for Tropico 5 is really what made the game for me. The art direction for the visuals is fantastic and fits the humor very well. It is on the cartoonish side of art, but I feel that the direction works fantastic for the game. The island is very detailed in its visuals, and you can zoom into each area to really get a sense of the detail that was put into the art direction. You can change the appearance of all of your characters, from El Presidente all the way down your familial chain.
Tropico 5’s audio is also very well designed and the game is fully voiced by actors. The actors all give the appropriate accents for the nationality that they are representing, though they are a little bit more stereotypical then reality. I can forgive that here, since the game takes many of the qualities of these nations and exaggerates them just a bit, to create a distinct aesthetic. The music is fantastic and really puts the player in the tropical mindset. Both the visuals and the audio work so well together to bring Tropico 5 to life.
Final Thoughts
Tropico 5 is the first Tropico game that I have played, and I am now aware of what I was missing. Tropico 5 is a great game that is not only fun, but also challenging as you get passed the early campaign levels. The game play is solid and deep, giving you control over many aspects of the lives of your subjects, and each building can me maintained and ran to your choosing. The extra stress of the mandate running out during the colonial period was a fun way of having a clock to race against, and I love how each time period brought in new challenges and sets of items and buildings to research and build. Tropico 5 is a great game that is a must-play for anyone that is interested in this type of game. Tropico 5 is available now on Steam.
[easyreview title=”Product Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]
Frankfurt am Main (Germany), Austin, TX (USA), June 3, 2014 – Brace yourself for a spine-chilling new multiplayer experience on PC and consoles as Crytek ventures into the shadows in “HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age”.
An all-new IP, HUNT is a third-person action game where up to four players band together to fend off an onslaught of bloodthirsty creatures and track down breathtaking bosses. Featuring intense co-op gameplay, HUNT is the debut title from Crytek USA Corp., and will be published by Crytek as part of their growing Games-as-a-Service range. Players won’t have to wait long to take a closer look at HUNT in action, with the game being shown at this year’s E3 expo from June 10-12.
David Adams, CEO of Crytek USA Corp., said: “In HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age, players will be counting their bullets and crying out for help as they delve deeper into the shadowy world we’ve created. From the outset of the development process, we’ve poured our imaginations into the game so that everyone who plays HUNT will discover a challenging experience that feels fresh, captivating and rich in possibilities.”
Set in the late 1800s, HUNT depicts a world where so-called myths and folklore actually point to the terrifying truth about evil lurking just beyond the fringes of day-to-day life. Players act as hunters willing to take up arms and risk their necks by venturing into the deadliest of territories and facing the hideous creatures that have overrun them.
Adding to the thrill of the hunt is a special content generation system that ensures players never encounter exactly the same environment or set of enemies twice. As the surprises come thick and fast, the terror of knowing that one of the game’s grueling boss battles could be just around the corner will keep everyone’s pulses pounding. Defeating bosses will require close collaboration between hunters as they attempt to figure out and take down some truly terrifying monsters.
HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age is scheduled to enter Closed Beta testing on PC later this year, and players can sign up for a chance to experience the game first at http://www.huntthegame.com
E3 2014 attendees looking to see HUNT in the flesh should visit Crytek at booth 4500 in the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Everyone can catch a first glimpse of HUNT right now by checking out a new teaser trailer here:
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment have released a new trailer showing off the Batmobile’s “Battle mode” in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight.
JUNE 3, 2014 — Today Electronic Arts announced that the official game demo for EA SPORTS UFC is now available for download worldwide on Xbox Live® for Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft and PSNSM for the PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment system.
With the demo, you can experience the epic fight that was acknowledged as 2013’s Fight of the Year and enter the Octagon® as either light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones or his no. 1 contender Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson. Re-write history in this virtual rematch and push the two cover athletes to their limits for a maximum of three rounds, or end it all early with your own TKO or submission win.
You will have access to the game’s full tutorial system to learn the basics and nuances of the sport before putting your pride on the line. In addition, EA SPORTS UFC has created a set of tips and tricks outlining the basic mixed martial arts (MMA) moves, equipping you with everything you need to know to gain the upper hand in a fight. Check out the EA SPORTS UFC Tips and Tricks Hub now.
Powered by EA SPORTS IGNITE technology, EA SPORTS UFC is built from the ground up exclusively for the new consoles and captures the human athleticism, physiology and emotion of the athlete like nothing before it. Heralded by USA Today as a “must buy” and by the Telegraph (UK) as “the most visually impressive sports game,” EA SPORTS UFC will be available for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on June 17, 2014 in North America and June 20, 2014 in Europe.
