It’s exciting to finally be playing a new mainline Mega Man game, especially after the whole debacle with Mighty No. 9. While I actually enjoyed what MN9 had to offer and thought it was a capable Mega Man clone, nothing is quite like the real thing. When Capcom surprise sprung on us last week that the demo was available on the eShop (as well as the PlayStation and Xbox store fronts) I couldn’t dive in quickly enough. Featuring just one robot master, Block Man, we were given a small glimpse into what the game will have to offer and I walked away impressed and even more excited for the full release.
It’s no secret to the people at PixlBit that I am a huge fan of the Saints Row series. The last two games are among my favorite games from the last generation, and I eagerly await the next chapter in the increasingly bonkers tale of the Third Street Saints. In the interim, I am certainly interested in Agents of Mayhem, a spinoff of Saints Row that seeks to blend the over the top humor and gameplay from that franchise with the character and special powers of squad based shooters like Overwatch. After playing the game at E3 I am still interested, but I also have some concerns.
I got into Dragon Ball Z at the age of 15 thanks to some bootleg VHS tapes I found at a collector’s show in town. I was hooked right away, and as someone who was already obsessed with fighting games I would often dream of Capcom developing a DBZ game. Instead of that happening, I had to contend with sluggish, unresponsive Dragon Ball fighters that ranged from terrible to decent, but failed to capture the magic of the anime in total. Now we have the upcoming Dragon Ball FighterZ from Guilty Gear developer Arc System Works, and if my time with the game at E3 is any indication, my dream is finally going to come true.
One of the stand out games for me at the Microsoft E3 press conference was a unique little indie game called The Artful Escape. The papercraft graphics and emphasis on jamming on an electric guitar made me think of some heady melding of Gitaroo Man from the PlayStation 2 and last generation’s indie darling Journey. I knew it was one to watch, and I was happy to be able to try it out on the show floor.
If you don’t remember Excitebots: Trick Racing on Wii, you’re not alone; very few picked up this wacky racer, dooming any chances of an Australian release (sorry, mates). After finally giving it a second life on the Wii U’s eshop late last year, Nintendo has decided to bring the series to Switch in a hot new direction.
Splatoon has been on my radar since its reveal. It’s a brand new IP from Nintendo – a vibrant, 3rd person competitive online shooter that emphasizes things other than getting kills, like turf control. Oh, and rather than shoot bullets or lasers, you shoot paint. And you can turn into a squid to swim around the battlefield.
It’s good to be able to admit when you’re wrong. I had zero expectations for Final Fantasy XV (I prefer to call it “The Artist Formerly Known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII”) to be anything I would be interested in. Heck, I didn’t even believe it was a game that had ever existed in playable form. I would chalk that up to the seven year development cycle and the fact that even by last year I had never heard of anyone ever seeing a live gameplay demo. Well, here I stand, saying that I was wrong. Final Fantasy XV is not vaporware, and it’s not half bad, either!
It's a vast world of Minecraft/Terraria clones out there -- a very vast world. But Crea, currently an early access title, hopes to differentiate itself with a "Talent" system -- RPG-like leveling where you spend points you've earned to level up your abilities. Unfortunately, technical difficulties and poor controls negate an otherwise original take on an increasingly crowded genre.
There are flight sims, there are space sims, and then there is Elite: Dangerous, an ambitious MMORPG Kickstarted from across the pond in the UK.
I really enjoyed Resident Evil Revelations on the Nintendo 3DS. It carried over the tight shooter gameplay from Resident Evil 4 and brought back the scares that seemed to have been forgotten about in the main-line series. Revelations 2 plans on continuing that tradition.
I didn’t really expect what I got when I started playing Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. To my understanding, this newest entry was going to focus on Batman, and the rest of the Justice League as they tackle some of the more cosmic threats on the DC universe. While that still stands true, parts of the game – like what I played at the New York Comic Con – are very unique and full of fan service.
Right now in Japan, monsters are battling robots. Medieval dudes with long hair are fighting fitness trainers; people are running, panicked. Super Smash Bros. 3DS has made landfall.
Upon landing in the baron, vast and alien infested land of Old Russia, I realized that though I had an objective before me, there was a lot more in store for me than a linear story mission. I walked over a cliff, and a batch of enemies spawned. Using familiar shooting controls, I was able to dispense of them rather quickly. Not too soon after, I turned around only to see another adventurer, who happened to be a friend of mine. Destiny began to click with me at this point, as I realized just how seamless the matchmaking process was. I called my friend over, and we created a fireteam - or a party - and continued to explore the land. As we did, we witnessed another group, fighting off their own group of enemies. One of them fell in battle, and I asked my friend, “Should we go and help them out?” These are the kinds of scenarios that make Destiny one of the more interesting games coming out this year. However, this aspect is only one of many different reasons why I was hooked during the E3 weekend Alpha.
Like many other small gaming outlets, PixlBit didn't receive their copy of Dark Souls II until the Friday before the game's March 11 release. This didn't afford much time to play the game to meet embargo; however, that's no big deal, because it's affording other opportunities, like this article! Until resident Souls master Chris Yarger has time to crank out his review, I figured that I'd provide some initial impressions for those waiting with bated breath for PixlBit's review of From Software's latest masterpiece.
Like the world of Final Fantasy XIII, the seventh console generation is approaching its end. One of the last big releases exclusive to PS3/Xbox 360, Lightning Returns sees its eponymous heroine back for one more adventure. A demo hit PSN and Xbox Live on Tuesday, and a few of PixlBit's Final Fantasy enthuiasts are here to share their impressions.
A downloadable demo for the highly anticipated 3DS RPG, Bravely Default, hit the eShop last week and Travis, JD, and Julian put some hours into it before convening to discuss what they thought. Find out how we felt about the demo and what we now expect out of the full game in our roundtable discussion.
During the small period of time I had with the Strider demo, I died much more than I planned on. I was bombarded by lasers and attacks at a surprising speed. I quickly figured out that Strider was not an easy game. That should come as no surprise to those who played the original. What may garner your attention, however, is how the new gameplay mechanics help make Strider tremendously fun to play.
I wanted to be impressed by this game. After more than a few disappointing outings in the genre, I was ready for a Dragon Ball Z fighting game on the level of 2007’s Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Unfortunately, aside from some nice visuals, Battle of Z seems to continue the recent tradition of bad fighting mechanics and gimmicks.
Last year, Adventure Time: Hey Ice King, Why’d You Steal our Garbage? surprised gamers by paying homage to niche games like Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link as well as being a good representation of the television series.This year, Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW! serves as a follow up, but is a much different game than its predecessor. Rather than being a 2D side scrolling adventure game, this game shares more in common with dungeon crawlers like Gauntlet and Diablo.
The Arkham-verse has become its own thing after the resounding success of Arkham Asylum and City. Rocksteady laid a superb foundation for the Batman series and though the latest game is being handled by WB Montreal, there’s not much to worry about. The fundamentals of the series hold up, and if anything much has been added to the gameplay. Whether these additions will prove beneficial is yet to be determined, but based on some story tidbits and my brief hands on I remain excited to see what the full game has to offer.
My experience with the Souls series is deep-rooted and extremely memorable. The first time I laid eyes on Demon’s Souls, I was kicking back at a friend’s house between class just passing time and he just had to show me this new game he picked up on a whim. From that moment, I knew that I needed to embark on a quest to obtain this wonderful masterpiece that was so gratuitously shown to me - it was at this point that my love for the series truly began to bloom. Flash-forward two years to when Dark Souls was released and that's when my love for the saga truly came to fruition. I spent countless hours playing the game, days were spent perfecting my skills, and dissecting the lore consumed weeks of my habitual gaming life. All of that said, I suppose no one needs to know how excited I was to be invited into the Dark Souls II Network Beta.
I stood in a crowd full of other curious and enthusiastic gamers craving to get their hands on Xbox One’s Killer Instinct. The challenge was to win five matches in a row in a king of the ring style tournament. The prize: bragging rights! Oh, and a Turtle Beach headset. Either way, due to Microsoft’s Xbox One being absent at this year’s show, this was my only shot at getting hands on with the game. I eagerly waited and hoped that I would be chosen to play and luckily for me I was eventually picked out of the crowd to play. What followed was one of this weekend’s most exciting moments for me.
My feelings about Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze are a bit strange. After playing it, I’m looking forward to the final product. However, while the game retains the charm and tight gameplay of Returns, it didn’t seem to bring anything new to the table. The demo I played didn’t include Dixie Kong, so I was left with Donkey and Diddy, which might’ve been part of the problem.
This should come as a surprise to no one, but Bayonetta 2 is ridiculous. I fought on a Jet Plane, jumped across crumbling buildings, and created a gigantic dog monster to devour a boss within my ten minute demo. I loved every second of it.
I feel like Super Mario: 3D World has looked better each time I’ve seen it. After getting to try it, this remains true. 3D World plays it safe by remaining very similar to the 3DS outing, but many refinements to the level design and gameplay are apparent. Mario and the crew have individual specialties, like Peach’s floating ability and Toad’s extra speed. There are also extra moves that are at their disposal. If you twist the analog stick in a circle, you do a spin move which is not only cool to watch, but it’s effective against enemies.
