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Marvel Heroes adds Venom, throws 50% off sale
'Tis the season for deep discounts and disturbing heroes, as has come to pass in the merry lands of Marvel Heroes. The jolly figure known as Venom has come to distribute pain, suffering, and alternative dental plans for those who pick this new playable figure. The Marvel Heroes team is also offering a half-off sale on most -- but not all -- of the in-game store. This includes many of the title's heroes, costumes, team-ups, and pets. And even if you don't want to spend money, you'll still be getting treats all month with the game's Winter Wonderland & Season's Givings event. Presents and buffs will be available all over the game, in addition to new daily log-in rewards.
Marvel Heroes now features a female Wolverine
Fancy a female version of Wolverine? Marvel Heroes now has one in the form of X-23. Laura Kinney was cloned from Wolverine's DNA and raised in a lab, according to developer Gazillion's website. She was "trained from birth to use her claws, enhanced senses, and innocent appearance to become the perfect assassin."
Massively Interview: Marvel Heroes' Magneto makes his mark
Heroes are all well and good, but there is plenty of fan love for the villains. There's just something about those bad boys and girls redeeming themselves that makes those characters so interesting. Gazillion knows this and has responded by releasing Magneto, the latest of the playable villains, to the Marvel Heroes lineup. Fans of Professor Xavier's long-time nemesis/friend can now jump in and command the forces of magnetism to defeat foes and destroy the environment. We chatted with Creative Designer and Community Manager Ryan Collins about this latest addition. We even gleaned a few snippets about the upcoming Axis One-Shots and got a release time-frame for the Spider Girl enhanced costume. For those who want to see Magneto in action, we've also included his official trailer. You can also tune in to Massively TV on Monday, December 8th, at 9:00 p.m. EST to watch him live.
Magneto now playable in Marvel Heroes
Marvel Heroes got a new playable character today, its 41st overall but just its second playable villain. That villain is Magneto, X-nemesis and master of magnetism who can "wield the power of electromagnetism to levitate and crush enemies with debris, cars, and even Sentinels with his ultimate power." Renowned voice actor James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ratchet, Final Fantasy X's Tidus) is the man behind the mask, and Gazillion creative designer Ryan Collins says that Magneto boasts "some of the most intense visual effects in the game." [Source: Gazillion press release]
Closers Online shows off gameplay and characters at G-Star 2014
Tired of side-scrolling-brawler-style MMOs at this point? Closers Online is a new title coming from Nexon and Naddic Games that works in that mold, allowing players to take on a variety of different opponents in rendered and cel-shaded environments. If that's everything you ever wanted, you'll be happy to know that there's plenty of information on the game at G-Star 2014. A variety of gameplay modes are available, ranging from normal story missions to special time-limited emergency events that players can queue up for solo or in groups. Players will also have a daily continue limit (possibly offset with microtransactions) and a skill evolution system based on using Skill Cubes found on monsters. Check out the promotional video just past the break courtesy of Steparu if you want to see a bit of the game in action.
Crush waves of enemies to save princess in Day of the Viking
Day of the Viking is a new game from Adult Swim involving a castle, a princess and vikings. The vikings are coming for the princess's treasure and as the castle defender, you need to destroy them. The game offers numerous ways to go about doing this and there's 80 levels with varying locations and amounts of vikings. As they get stronger, unlock stronger weapons to take them down and complete harder missions in each level. The app is universal for iPhone and iPad and sells for US$2.99. It requires no earlier than iOS 7.0. If you're familiar with the Adult Swim suite of iOS games and even just the Adult Swim brand (or network) in general, you'd probably assume Day of the Viking has cartoonish and playful elements to it. You would be correct! The description makes it seem like Day of the Viking is action-packed and potentially violent, but in practice destroying the vikings is a bit similar to playing a game of Angry Birds in which the pigs are moving targets. The princess of the castle is there to guide you through the first few levels. This is where you learn the essentials of the game. Initially, your only weapon atop the castle is a bow and arrow. Tapping vikings as they head closer shoots directly at them. Then the princess informs you of the slingshot, which can take out more than one viking at a time - useful for when they arrive in groups, which is often. When you pull the slingshot, you're given a sense of the boulder's path to target accurately. Every time you kill a viking, you earn some points and every so often a coin appears in the field. Tap to retrieve it while simultaneously avoiding vikings, but it's important to nab these for a few reasons. For one, they often appear in missions. To gain all three stars in each round, you have to complete three missions. These vary, but they range from having you collect a certain amount of coins to not taking any damage to the castle from a viking to killing three of them with one rock. The other aspect is Day of the Viking's currency. The points and coins add and contribute to your amount of gold, which buys boosters to enhance your weapons or upgrades, among some other things. In-app purchases are available to buy packs of gold, too. The levels are harder than one might expect. By round three or four I had already failed to defend the castle and had to replay the level more than once. To get anywhere in the game, you must rely heavily on boosters and upgrades because your regular weapon set isn't even close to sufficient for defeating the vikings. This increases the likeliness that making an in-app purchase will come into question, which is a little disappointing for a paid game to start. Day of the Viking is lacking somewhat in originality and unabashedly calls on you a bit too much to spend that gold, but it does have plenty of entertainment value and great design. Get the universal Day of the Viking game in the App Store for $2.99.
Marvel Heroes publishes Thor's level 52 review
Gazillion has published one of its Marvel Heroes level 52 reviews, which is basically a dev blog focused on endgame goals and designs for a particular hero. In this case, that hero is Thor. Thor's Odinforce is a big part of his current review. It functions as his secondary resource and allows players to unlock upgraded versions of his powers by building Odinforce and managing its decay over time. And don't forget about God Blast, his new ultimate that unleashes "the full might of the mighty Mjolnir in a terrifying, concentrated blast of white-hot divine intervention."
Marvel Heroes adds new game mode
Gazillion has added a new game mode to its Marvel Heroes online action RPG. It's called Industry City Patrol and it features new bosses, artifacts, medallions, and "uniques found nowhere else," according to the game's website. Gazillion says that it has also added "improved spawning technology to reduce lag," as well as multi-phase events that encourage players to cooperate and progress together.
Space Age is an enticing adventure on any planet
Space Age is a brand new game featuring a team of space explorers who have just landed on an unpopulated, very retro planet named Kepler-16. While they don't initially have a mission to fulfill, after wandering around a bit, the team soon realizes that there's much to be uncovered in this new, yet oddly familiar territory and an adventure is set in stone. The title is now in the App Store for iPhone and iPad at US$3.99. Have you ever walked into a situation and had a strange thought echo in your mind that you aren't exactly sure what's going on or what's about to happen, but you're pretty sure it will turn out well? That's how I felt not long after launching Space Age. The game takes place in 1976, which is "the future." You are a private that just landed on Kepler-16. The environment isn't all that different from what might be found on Earth: green grasslands, trees (albeit they're purple,) lakes, rocky hills, etc. Don't judge a book by its cover: Space Age isn't some wild action game where you have to constantly battle graphically intense alien specimens. In fact, quite the opposite: it's an adventure where the characters are tiny and pixelated and the writing exudes a compelling sense of humor. Yes, occasionally (mainly later in the game) you must confront aliens and battle it out, but that doesn't seem to be what the developers are focusing most on. The game is pretty heavy on dialogue. That's not uncommon for an adventure game, but comparatively it's still chatty. That's not a fault though for two reasons: necessity and humor. The dialogue is mostly essential to understanding what you have to do in game and why it's even relevant to the rest of the story. Since reading all that gets boring, it's helpful that much of it is offers up a chuckle here and there. The writing ranges from sarcastic to witty to just wholly funny while of course being informative. It's truly well done. So what should you expect out of Space Age's gameplay? In short, a lot of mystery, but I guess that's the whole point of an adventure. Most of the time you don't know what's going to come next because you're just following life as it unravels on Kepler-16. You meet new people, complete tasks, flashback to times on Earth and fight aliens. Much of your path is in complete darkness until you walk to that area when it brightens up to reveal its contents. It has somewhat of a cone-of-vision effect. This adds to the gameplay though. Certain missions that require you to locate missing items, for instance, need that effect for Space Age to have its challenging component. Since the controls are limited to a single finger, sometimes I found it confusing to figure out how to complete certain tasks. The game tells you what you need to do, but doesn't explicitly state how. If you need to unlock a gate, it's up to you to figure out which character can do that and what they need to tap with minimal aid. Space Age is the type of adventure game I've been waiting for on iOS. I've been playing it for the past few days and it's hard to put down, but not because it's addictive like half of the iOS games starring birds. The Kepler-16 adventure is just too engaging to want to quit. The dialogue and design are stellar, too. Space Age is available for iPhone and iPad (and soon Mac too!) for $3.99.
Smash Champs is stunning, unique and action-packed
Smash Champs is a unique action/adventure game in which you must train your fighters to battle their opponents and gain power and success. It sounds clichéd but it has a few tricks up its sleeve that make for some interesting gameplay. An indicative example: having a familiarity with Fruit Ninja helps in certain aspects of the game. The iOS game is free with in-app purchases and universal for iPhone and iPad. Just about everything in Smash Champs strikes me as a mix between what is conventional and what is unconventional. The game as a whole follows a traditional template for this specific genre yet the idiosyncrasies are in the details. The team of six fighters in Smash Champs are all personified animals, as is the pig sensei. You start out with a single fighter, which you get to pick freely among the six. After you pick one, the other five get locked away until you gain enough XP to unlock them. To begin a duel, you first must train your fighter, or "champ" as the game puts it. This is where that Fruit Ninja experience comes in. As the sensei, you present what appear to be some sort of training orbs to your trainee and throw them by swiping across the screen as they appear. The process is very much like slicing fruit, except one "slice" actually propels the orb forward. Avoid throwing spikes. If your champ is trained enough, it should win the battle that follows. The battles, by the way, are against a computer, a live friend in possession of the Smash Champs game or a live online opponent matched at random. Continue this process to gain new power and intensify your battles and training sessions, plus unlock goodies like new characters as you move forward in the adventure. For a free title, the graphics and performance are absolutely blow-away. The game design is beautiful in every aspect and it runs buttery smooth on my iPhone 6. I didn't catch on to a single hiccup even when panning around details of the environment. While free to download, Smash Champs does offer in-app purchases, but it's not necessarily easy to come to a point in the game when you feel compelled to spend your money on them. They're just bundles of coins; the cheapest pack is $4.99. You earn coins throughout your progress in the game though. Coins can help you skip difficult tasks, but is it really that fun to cheat your way through the game? Smash Champs is a thoroughly compelling action/adventure game and it's truly unlike anything I've played before in the App Store. Major creativity points go to the developers (who, by the way, are the makers of the immensely popular Subway Surfers.) The Fruit Ninja-esque training is a blast and I'm still gushing over the excellent graphics performance. At the low, low price of nothing, Smash Champs is worth a quick search and download from the App Store. It turned a reviewer into a fan.
Marvel Heroes' Juggernaut, multi-speccing, and upcoming story content
After a bit of a delay, Marvel Heroes fans saw the release of Juggernaut as a playable hero over the weekend. A new hero alone is enough for many players to dive in and try things out, but Juggernaut also comes with a power system unlike that of any other on the game's roster. To learn a little bit more about this villainous hero, we talked with Ryan Collins, Creative Designer and Community Manager of Gazillion, who also dished some details on the much anticipated multi-spec feature a well as upcoming story content.
Note Wars is a fun, easy combat game. Almost too easy
Note Wars is an action game based on the premise that "gameplay is more important than graphics," according to the app's description. That's because the game's design is meant to mimic a piece of notebook paper and pencil. There's not much of a storyline other than you're in charge of machinery in the center of each round and must defeat every threatening stick figure coming to attack. It includes multiple rounds and fighting methods. Note Wars is US$1.99 for iPhone and iPad. Other than on a piece of graph paper, the setting for this game appears to be in some sort of rocky area of the forecast with clusters of trees next to gaping holes in the ground next to small houses. It's weird, but for all intents and purposes, it works well enough. The game doesn't offer much of a tutorial to boot but that's mostly because most of what you need to learn is apparent within the first couple of levels. You have your five tanks positioned at the center of the scene, each accompanied by health status bars underneath. In every level there are multiple waves of attacks, so starting off you should get prepared for wave one. The stick figures march in from all angles. Tap them to set your target and when they come close enough, the tanks fire away. Your enemies have health status bars as well and defeating them is just a matter of draining theirs before they drain you. At the start, you only face off with a couple of enemies, but eventually as you progress through the game you find yourself in combat with swarms of miniature stick figures trying to manage targeting them all. When two enemies are charging from the same area, tapping in between them targets the both of them at once. Eventually they'll arrive in clusters of three and so on. Seeing as they're small tap targets particularly on an iPhone, this is helpful although it might actually make the game unnecessarily easier. I guess that's a bit of my problem with Note Wars. Don't get me wrong, the game gets fun and each level is a bit more difficult than the last, but it's not really all that challenging. It doesn't require you to work that hard for your winnings. Furthermore, there are five aids at the bottom that increase your power even more including mines, barbed wire and slow-downs. They aren't in-app purchases - in fact, the game doesn't have any - so you use them as much as you want. The buttons turn red when activated and then clear up again when ready for another use. The bottom line is this: the graphics (or perhaps lack thereof) are intriguing as is the satisfaction level of defeating your opponents, but something inside me wants Note Wars to bring more to the table. It caps off at 30 levels and even somewhat far into the game, I find myself asking "Is that all you got?" Crank up the stamina on those stick figures and I don't doubt I'd be more engaged. Note Wars is available universally for $1.99 in the App Store.
The Daily Grind: Do you like beefcake avatars?
Marvel Heroes' new Juggernaut character sounded intriguing. Then I got a look at him and he went from probable purchase to lol-no-way! Despite the intriguing momentum mechanic and the appeal of smashing everything in sight, I really can't stand beefcake character models. It's not just an MMO thing either. I find Gears of War unintentionally funny due to how absurd its cast looks, and Batvillain Bane is one of the silliest comic book baddies I've ever seen. What about you, Massively readers? Do you like beefcake avatars, or do you laugh and steer clear like I do? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Juggernaut is Marvel Heroes' 40th playable character
Marvel Heroes' 40th(!) playable character is Juggernaut, which Gazillion says will give gamers a chance to feel the power of the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak while using Cain Marko -- aka, Professor Xavier's stepbrother -- to smash everything in sight. The new baddie's powers aren't limited by a resource, according to Gazillion designer and community manager Ryan Collins. "We wanted you to feel unstoppable and I believe that we've captured that essence with his powers, visual effects, movement speed, and even running animations changing as you build Momentum," Collins says.
République Episode 3 now available
République, the stealth action game that made a name for itself thanks to console-quality production values and a deep storyline, just got its biggest update yet. Episode 3, titled Ones & Zeroes is the largest episode thus far, and continues the story of a dystopian society where constant monitoring is a way of life. The new story addition is the longest thus far and includes new weaponry and puzzles. It's currently available on the App Store as an in-app purchase within the original République app for US$4.99. In case you were hoping to skip ahead, it's important to note that you'll need to have Episode 2 already purchased ($2.99) before you can jump to Episode 3. Due to the game's technical demands, it's recommended that you play it on a device no older than the iPhone 5, and shut down other apps while playing in order to improve your experience.
The Unfinished Swan painting PS4, Vita next week
Giant Sparrow's surreal exploration game The Unfinished Swan will arrive next week on PS4 and Vita, just over two years after it first launched on PS3. The game will launch on Tuesday, October 28 in North America and the following day in Europe for $14.99 (€12.99/£9.99). The Unfinished Swan will also be Cross-Buy enabled, so those that own any version of the game will be able to download it on the other two systems. Our review of the PS3 game noted that The Unfinished Swan's power "lies in its engagement with our imagination, in its ability to remind us of that capacity for whimsy and fantasy." It's the first game from the Santa Monica-based developer, which is currently working on an as-yet-unannounced game that is not a sequel to The Unfinished Swan, but is "not a million miles away either." [Image: Giant Sparrow]
Bloxland Story: an engaging game about blocks
Bloxland Story is an arcade-style game for iOS with a classic look and feel. The object of the game is to complete as many puzzles eliminating similar blocks to eventually rescue Blox, whatever that is. There's a standard Story mode with 40 stages - 8 levels in 5 worlds - to complete and a Survival mode where you have to push yourself to the limit. The game is universal and sells for US$2.99. I was immediately shocked and disappointed to find that Bloxland Story still doesn't the iPhone 5's resolution. No that's not a typo, I'm talking about 2012's iPhone 5. It was the first iPhone to increase the display size to 4 inches from 3.5 inches and required developers to do a bit of resizing to optimize their apps. Bloxland Story still has letterboxing on both sides even on the new iPhone 6. For most people, I don't think this devalues the app too much, but the developers really need to catch up by now. Moving on, the game provides a simple but very effective tutorial to get you started. It plays a tad similarly to Tetris, but still vitally different and you don't have to worry about fitting in those pesky shapes. In Bloxland, you deal with blocks and nothing more. Your goal is to tap blocks of the same color and match at least three to eliminate them. They don't have to be next to each other, just in the same row, except one block can be diagonally connected to another. The graphics are colorful and pleasantly old-school without dipping too far into 8-bit land. For some reason it reminds me of a game I'd play with a stylus on my original Nintendo DS back in 2004. The small tap targets and mediocre typography are somewhat bothersome though. As you advance further in the game, you encounter other blocks that detach from the theme of color. Dark gray ones require you to tap quickly so that it eliminates an entire row, while multicolored ones eliminate all of one color on the grid. Rounds finish when you collect a certain amount of blocks as new ones slowly continue to pile on. For instance, round two was complete when I successfully gathered up 100 blocks. If following along in the story isn't your thing, it's going to take a while to get to Survival mode, which unlocks only when you've collected 50 ribbons. These don't come quickly or easily, and they're awarded at a maximum of three after each round based on how well you did. Time Attack mode is another option but unfortunately isn't implemented in the game just yet; the developer promises it's coming soon. I didn't find the game too addictive contrary to what the app description states, but it's just entertaining enough to keep fans of this genre of gameplay to stick around. Another plus is the lack of in-app purchases, which means when you spend the $2.99 to buy this game you're getting the entire package. Bloxland Story is a delightful puzzle game that's engaging and provides enough gameplay (40 levels in Story mode) to warrant its price tag. However, seriously, support for iPhone 5 and 6 are needed. It's available for iPhone and iPad universally in the App Store.
Marvel Heroes adding Blade and a bunch of other badasses
Gazillion has announced the next batch of playable supes for its Marvel Heroes online action RPG. Upcoming characters include Doctor Doom, Iceman, Winter Soldier, Iron Fist, Blade, Black Cat, She-Hulk, Vision, War Machine, and Kitty Pryde. The firm hasn't said when the heroes will be available, but it is dangling a couple of pre-order deals which you can read about in the press release past the cut. [Source: Gazillion press release]
Marvel Heroes welcomes Rogue into its fold
There's a new addition to Marvel Heroes' roster, but this one might be a total game-changer. Added to the game yesterday, Rogue is a superhero who not only possesses super strength and flight but can steal powers from enemies to customize a unique powerset. You can get your first look at Rogue in a trailer after the jump and see whether this absorbant lass is the hero for you!
The Daily Grind: What game needs (better) tutorials?
Let me state up front that I thoroughly enjoy Marvel Heroes. That said, I find some of its mechanics pretty obscure. Like, costume cores. What the heck am I supposed to do with those? To be fair, I could probably find the answer on the game's labyrinthine forum, but since I play it ultra-casually and somewhat infrequently, I'm usually too busy enjoying the clickfest to tab out and search. TLDR, this game needs a tutorial or two, in my opinion. What do you think, Massively readers? Is there an MMO or an MMO-lite in your rotation that needs some in-game explanation? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
