The indie action RPG Berserker's Quest VI (the title is a joke; BQ1-5 does not exist) is in a fairly early stage of development and currently has all the hallmarks of a freeware project - such as modest production values (almost no textures), limited gameplay functionality (no save game feature), reused assets (thinly disguised Quake 1 models) and unfortunate immaturity (the player character's extremely silly oneliners as well as his tendency to scream nasty things when hurt etc.).
All that being said, there's already a pretty solid action RPG foundation in place here; with obvious inspiration taken from hardcore classics as King's Field (i.e. the spiritual predecessor to Demon's Souls/Dark Souls) as well as newer action/RPG hybrids like Dark Messiah. The realtime combat definitely rewards properly timed attacks and blocks, and apart from melee weapons there's also magical spells and crossbows for long-range combat.
Berserker's Quest's most ambitious feature is probably the co-op feature, which lets a party of friends raid the beta version's two large dungeons together and fight co-operatively in the newly added arena. As one might expect from such a small project, there's no in-game server browser or anything so multiplayer requires a bit of coordination and IP address configuration Minecraft-style. I haven't been able to check the online gameplay out myself, but the co-op trailers over at the developer's YouTube channel make it look pretty cool....
Download the latest version of Berserker's Quest for free at:
As the saying goes, the Holy Roman Empire was neither "holy", "Roman" nor an "empire" and thus life in the notoriously divided 15th century Germany was probably not always easy. It's not exactly a walk in the park in MicroProse's classic RPG, either, but at least the game version got dragons in it (someone please call Bethesda's lawyers...).
Good Old Games has just re-released Darklands (1992), and although I've never personally played it before today I know it to be one of the most ambitious open world games ever released. The gameplay is party-based and structured around a deep skill system with plenty of stats and abilities, 37 classes and a variety of social backgrounds to choose from (which in turn affect class restrictions etc.) as well as an abundance of skill and equipment checks throughout the game. The party can follow the storyline or otherwise explore the huge world map freely in search of fame and fortune, and combat is resolved within a "pause-based" isometric system which is somewhat reminiscent of later RPGs like Baldur's Gate. Exploration of cities is largely text-based but features an impressive amount of options about what to do and how to approach the numerous dangerous situations the party invariably finds itself in. I definitely need to play more of this inviting and somewhat intimidating game, and thankfully the official cluebook is included in the GOG release...
The first-person turn-based PC RPG Frayed Knights from indie developer Rampant Games has finally been released, and can be purchased here, where there is also a new demo available (see the video above). RPGWatch has posted a very positive review(in which Frayed Knights is the described as the game the reviewer has been waiting for since Wizardry 8), and there are also detailed and informative previews at both Gamebanshee and RPGCodex. Since I have nothing more to report at this early stage I thought I'd throw in the developer's official bullet points about the content of the full version:
30+ hours of gameplay.
Challenging, turn-based combat in a game that plays at your pace.
A unique "Drama Star" system that rewards the player for playing through tough situations instead of reloading and replaying.
A spell named, "Power Word: Defenestrate."
Over a hundred base spells, most with several upgraded variants.
An innovative trap-disarming / lockpicking system using character skills and items to disable a device one component at a time.
Over 80 feats to customize your party as they progress through the game.
A detailed, "stats-heavy" rules system... which you are free to ignore if you choose.
Nearly 200 different items to be used and abused by your characters.
A "Quarterstaff of Nad-Whacking."
Sixteen "dungeons" (interior adventuring areas), five outdoor areas, one village, an alternate dimension, and some green dude's one-room hovel.
A thick 69-page PDF manual. For those who want more than just the tutorials.
Phew, that's a description which includes just about everything a true old school RPG fan could possibly want (...with the possible exception of a code wheel).
I've been (im)patiently following the development of indie game designer Jay Barnson's first person party-based/turn-based PC RPG Frayed Knights since 2008, so it was with considerable excitement that I sat down to watch the game's first real trailer earlier this week. Check this out;
The unusually cartoony graphics and extensive party banter might come off as a bit odd to genre grognards, but it's clear from reading Barnson's excellent blog Tales of the Rampant Coyote (which, among other things, has great indie RPG news wrap-ups) that the aim with Frayed Knights is to create a game that's light-hearted in terms of story and character interaction but still serious when it comes to the actual gameplay. The developer - yes, his GB profile is correct; he did once work on Twisted Metal - is as passionate about turn-based and party-based RPG combat as you might expect from someone who played the older Ultima and Wizardry games back when they were newly released, so getting the fundamental mechanics of an old school RPG right has been a very important part of the Frayed Knights project. At the same time, he has clearly wanted to avoid the sheer humorlessness of some of the dungeon crawlers out there and poke fun at RPG/fantasy genre conventions in the process.
I really can't wait to finally get my hands on the full version of this promising new first-person RPG. At the very least, it's hard not to love a game with includes a sorcerer spell called "Power Word: Defenestrate" (!)....
Good Old Games has previously re-released the Tex Murphy noir thrillers Under a Killing Moon and Pandora Directive as well as Roberta Williams' campy Phantasmagoria horror adventures, and now at long last the turn has come to what's arguably the best and most historically important entry in the subgenre of FMV gaming; Chris Roberts' ground-breaking and incredibly expensive space sim/interactive movie Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger (1994). With a genuinely star-studded cast, hours of lavishly produced live-action sequences including revolutionary use of CGI and nicely polygonal in-game graphics this was more than just a nerdy space sim with some pretty cutscenes thrown in for good measure - it was an early, daring statement about video games as big budget entertainment which could one day rival regular films and TV productions in sheer mass market appeal.
The concepts of FMV and interactive movies may have since fallen out of fashion, but going back to the game now it's clear that both the acting, writing and directing in WC3 is a cut above the rest in the genre (which admittedly isn't saying much). It's all still more than a little bit cheesy, of course, but for once that comes more from various sci-fi genre conventions than from the FMVs themselves, and cast members such as Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, John Rhys Davies, Jason Bernard and Thomas Wilson all put in nice, memorable performances.
It would probably be the understatement of the year to say that Dead Island's release had some serious problems (especially on the PC), but after having spent a few hours with the game I really hope that all this initial controversy - much of it related to very specific problems which have already been fixed - finally dies down and people start focusing on the actual gameplay. It may not be for everyone, but this is far from the mediocre trainwreck which news coverage of its various technical problems might lead one to think it is.
Because make no mistake about it; Techland has produced nothing less than a great-looking and highly immersive action RPG with a lengthy, almost open world-like singleplayer campaign as well as fully integrated co-op support. The game's overall tone may be wildly inconsistent - combining as it does deadly serious scenes of zombie apocalypse with B-action movie cliches, campy characters and bad voice acting - but the actual world building in general and "level" design in particular is top-notch, and reminds me a lot more of a well-crafted linear game than the bland, nondescript environments of, say, Oblivion or the otherwise similar Borderlands (a better comparison might be STALKER's focused but still expansive structure). The melee combat is satisfyingly gruesome and is supported by a reasonably intuitive crafting system which together with a dizzying amount of side quests and secret content further rewards the player for exploring the many varied locales on the island of Banoi.
Even with the worst technical mistakes sorted out I very much doubt that this gruesome melee-focused FPS/RPG hybrid will ever be even half as slick, polished or dependable as any of the so-called AAA releases out there. But this is at least partly because, as John Walker of RPS put it, "there’s enormous ambition here, and much of it is realised. It’s on a huge scale, extremely involved, and for all its illogical inconsistency it holds itself together well."
At least in the United States, Call of Duty: Black Ops is the best-selling game of all time. Like, in the entire history of video games, ever. That's a pretty big deal, and despite my general reservations about whack-a-mole shooters like this I still can't say I'm particularly worked up about the fact that the CoD series is so popular. Unlike, say, a lot of bestselling Wii exclusives (the European obsession with Just Dance comes to mind) there's nothing inherently bad about Infinity Ward's and Treyarch's shooters. Indeed, the games are flashy, polished, chock-full of striking set pieces and offers exceptional longevity for all those players who (unlike me) consider multiplayer gaming to be a worthwile activity. The DLC is over-priced, yes, and the new subscription model seems questionable on some levels, but despite their yearly release schedule the recent Call of Duty games are far from the cynical cash-ins one might expect from a publisher who clearly knows that simply putting "CoD" in the title is a license to print more than a billion dollars.
Also, it's worth mentioning that my own gameplay-related issues with this very specific type of shooter are a little different from - or at least a very particular variation of - the standard criticisms you hear about CoD these days. As a longtime fan of deliberately dumb arcade shooters I don't mind so much that the Call of Duties are linear, accessible and devoid of any need for real tactics since I've always wanted my shooters to be visceral, impulse-driven experiences with as little serious thought involved as possible. Rather, my problem is that the considerable efforts made by IW and Treyarch to streamline the experience and carefully guide the player through each level paradoxically ends up increasing the difficulty and general obtuseness of the gameplay. I have played shooters since Wolfenstein 3D, but few FPSs have been so challenging and downright frustrating for me to get through as the Call of Duty/Modern Warfare games, precisely because of their rail shooter-esque design. To take a few examples, even when I choose to play on comparatively low difficulty levels I invariably end up struggling with the demands placed on my reflexes by the sudden onslaught of hostiles, and with the necessity to quickly figure out exactly where the level designer intends for me to take refuge from the incoming barrage of enemy bullets and begin my counterattack. This and similar problems lead to a lot of frustrating near-instant deaths and forces me to adapt a cautious, methodical and heavily trial-and-error-based playstyle which is completely at odds with the carefree blockbuster action movie vibe these games so clearly strive for. Thus, unlike the Battlefield crowd and other CoD detractors my issue is not with what the Activision developers try to do but instead with their failure to be consistent and creatively work around any potential contradictions in their overall design approach.
On a more philosophical level the dismal militarism, neo-conservative world view and creepy soldier masculinity being communicated in these games are all a bit unsettling to me, but that's a whole separate discussion for another day...
I was born in 1982 and even back then Richard Garriott's ground-breaking computer RPG series collectively known as Ultima had been around for a couple of years already (especially if you count Akalabeth). The first three games in the series (respectively subtitled The First Age of Darkness, The Revenge of the Enchantress and Exodus) have now been re-released as a downloadable pack on Good Old Games for the reasonable price of $5.99. Especially given the apparently inferior quality of the DOS remakes (released as they were several years after the original Apple versions), it's unclear whether anyone will actually play these positively ancient games. However, the historical significance of Ultima 1-2-3 is so immense that GOG.COM and Electronic Arts deserves credit for simply making them easily available in legal form.
That said, I have no personal connection to the Ultima series whatsoever. Due to my comparative youth I obviously don't have any fond memories of playing Ultima 1-3 at the time of their original release, but it would have been at least theoretically possible for me to play Ultima 6-9 - or at the very least Pagan (8) and Ascension (9) - since they were all released during an extended, PC-exclusive part of my gaming life. However, I got into PC RPGs comparatively late (around the time FTL released the excellent Dungeon Master II (1995), to be precise) so I pretty much missed the entirety of this series, and before buying this GOG compilation the only Ultima game I legally owned was an old retail copy of The False Prophet I found in a second hand shop in 2009.
Today the third Deus Ex was finally released here in Europe. Impressively enough, the new developer Eidos Monreal seems to have been hell-bent on sticking to the original concept and offering nothing less (or more, for that matter) than the exact same flexible gameplay model which the first Deus Ex game presented to players way back in 2000, except adapted for modern computers and consoles (and with the exciting addition of awkward French-Canadian accents, no less). Partly as a result of this ambition, however, the "jack of all trades, master of none" problem which made its predecessor such an intriguing but ultimately overrated mess is still present here, since neither the stealth nor the shooter aspects of the new game are particularly amazing in their own right (although some very welcome improvements have been made to the basic mechanics). Thankfully, what has also been retained from the original Deus Ex are the numerous ways in which the game rewards meticulous exploration of every single environment and getting oneself fully immersed in the game world, its numerous side quests as well as the intricacies of the plot, and these elements have been sufficiently expanded upon to ensure that an otherwise weirdly familiar experience feels interesting and fresh.
The Deux Ex formula remains inherently flawed, but kudos to Square Enix and Eidos Montreal for being faithful to this semi-venerable franchise and not making Human Revolution a significantly less complex or nuanced gaming experience than Ion Storm's cult classic from 2000. Remove the graphical bells and whistles (such as they are), optional video tutorials and retailer-specific DLC shenanigans and what you're left with is for all intents and purposes surprisingly close to that nerdy little PC game you may or may not have played 10 years ago. And that's kind of cool, all things considered...
I've now finished BFBC2 and it was an alright shooter. Less corridor-like levels would have made the game a lot more interesting and clearly distinguished it from its competition (i.e. Call of Duty) - whereas the dramatic but often light-hearted, buddy action comedy-esque vibe (as exemplified by these cutscenes) could have benefitted from a much better script. To take just one example from this video, there's a prettty awful line in there about pacifism and Buddhism which (intentionally?) misrepresents both phenomena while not being funny enough to make it seem worth the effort.
For some reason I didn't expect Drakensang (which isn't very story-oriented or particularly well-written) to have distinctive and extensively voiced party members, so it was nice to meet such enjoyable characters as the charming charletan Gladys and the drunken dwarf Forgrimm. Hell, even the consistently furious Rhulana and the cowardly Dranor can be fun to interact with...
A demo has now been released for the confusingly titled Might & Magic: Heroes VI from Hungarian developer Black Hole Entertainment. The game is the follow-up to Russian company Nival Interactive's Heroes of Might & Magic V from 2006, and thus marks the second time publisher Ubisoft has outsourced the development of this classic franchise to a little-known (in the West, anyway) Eastern European studio. Gameplay-wise Heroes VI seems to stick fairly close to the "HOMM in 3D" formula established by the previous game in the series, but apparently there have been some controversial attempts at streamlining the mechanics somewhat by removing a few resource types, buildings and hero classes. Also, there seems to be a lot of rather silly dialogue during missions this time around...
Given that I haven't played HOMM5 much yet and the new game looks so similar to Nival's modern take on the series, I'll probably not be getting HOMM6 anytime soon.
Deus Ex has been justly praised for its open-ended gameplay, but there's an unfortunate tendency to exaggerate the greatness of Ion Storm's genre-redefining action/RPG hybrid by failing to distinguish properly between the flexibility of the game's systems on the one hand and the strength of its individual mechanics on the other. Playing Deus Ex can be done in many different ways, sure, but none of them are terribly engaging or fun on their own. Given the game's heavily stats-based foundation it's hardly surprising that the shooter elements are stiff and unsatisfying, but crawling through human-sized air vents, hacking computers and/or picking locks likewise tends to feel a bit empty and as a result get tedious and repetitive in the long run. In all fairness, the game is not only impressive for how it caters to different playstyles but also in that it reacts to and comments on the player's actions (even when those actions and reactions are relatively minor, as in the oft-mentioned example of the player character being reprimanded for peeking into the "wrong" toilet). As much as I respect Deus Ex, though, calling it the "best game ever" as many people do implies a well-rounded design and overall level of polish that just isn't there. This roleplaying shooter is an incredibly ambitious experiment and remains a landmark achievement, but as a game it's far from perfect.
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