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Star Citizen is now a first-person shooter, too
Star Citizen isn't just about spaceships anymore. At PAX Australia, developer Cloud Imperium Games showed off the extremely well-crowdfunded game's first-person shooter module, which lets players fight for glory with handheld armaments (as opposed to galactic vehicle-mounted ones). A gameplay video posted to YouTube by CIG shows a team of four spacefaring badasses securing a space station full of enemies who would like nothing more than to see our intrepid heroes turned into space dust. Things look a bit standard as far as shooters go - albeit with pretty graphics and nice flourishes - but near the end of the video, gravity pulls a disappearing act and the shooting takes to the air. The FPS module isn't ready for widespread battle just yet, but we'll keep you informed of its continuing development. In the meantime, enjoy watching the PAX gameplay demo and check out screens showing off the new mode after the break.
How Spry Fox used (human) guinea pigs to evolve Free-Range Dragons overnight
If you played Spry Fox's Free-Range Dragons at PAX Prime earlier this month, you may have a vastly different impression of the game than players who returned to the team's booth during the show's final hours. This isn't just a matter of taste, either. Spry Fox actively updated its PAX Prime demo of Free-Range Dragons throughout the expo weekend, making sweeping changes in response to player behavior and feedback. The experiment was a valuable learning experience for Spry Fox, and produced results that will likely inform the project's future direction.
Final Fantasy creator sees mobile success in download numbers
Hironobu Sakaguchi's name is credited with leading and assisting in the creation of many games over the years, from Final Fantasy to The Last Story, Chrono Trigger to Parasite Eve. The veteran designer announced his latest project in July, an action-RPG-puzzle game for iOS and Android called Terra Battle, before showing it off at PAX Prime earlier this month in Seattle. At its heart, Terra Battle is more RPG than puzzler, but it looked like a card game-style sidequest from a Final Fantasy entry more than anything else. In it, players slide card-like icons that represent their team of fighters to a battle grid, each with a mess of unique skills and abilities. One turn consisted of selecting a teammate, then gliding it on the grid, pushing teammates around before settling in a spot within four seconds. Depending on the enemies it was adjacent to and the fellow fighters it lined up with, it initiated individual and team attacks and spells. Within seconds, damage numbers, detailed character designs and ability names flashed on the screen in quick succession. The data stream was immediately overwhelming, then it evaporated from the screen. None of it made a lick of sense, yet the slide-and-move-on action was innate and enjoyable enough to encourage continued play.
The Behemoth finally has enough clout to get away with Game 4
The Behemoth, better known as the house that made Castle Crashers, is continuing a pattern in which it approaches new genres with each project. Its newest venture, Game 4, is a turn-based strategy game for PC and Xbox One that retains the developer's quirky humor and trademark charms while stripping away some of the expected tropes found in the genre. In it, players collect a team of interchangeable, oddball heroes wielding the strangest weapons and helmets, then select their movement paths on the battlefield and observe as attacks play out. It's an intriguing direction for a studio that made its biggest mark with a beat-em-up.
The Think Tank: The best of PAX Prime 2014
This year's PAX Prime has drawn to a close, as has our coverage, but how did it fare, on the whole, for MMO players? I polled the Massively writers for their favorite announcements and showings from the con. Here's what we think was the best and most interesting MMO news to come out of PAX Prime.
Harmonix's A City Sleeps dreams of bullet hell
It quickly becomes apparent that the developers of Harmonix's A City Sleeps are hardcore arcade shoot-'em-up fans. Its screen-filling bullet patterns recall Cave games like Deathsmiles and DoDonPachi, and its multi-faceted mechanics draw inspiration from Radiant Silvergun and other highly regarded classics. On its surface, A City Sleeps seems like a sudden and dramatic shift for Harmonix, a studio best known for creating the rhythm-driven Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises. Snap on a pair of headphones, however, and you'll instantly recognize A City Sleeps as a Harmonix game. Exceptional sound design elevates A City Sleeps within its genre, and the pedigree of talent involved in its creation made it a standout at PAX Prime.
Extreme Exorcism is pixelated chaos for you and your ghostbusting friends
Extreme Exorcism begins simply. The first round of play pits players against a possessed piece of furniture in one of several spacious rooms scattered throughout a haunted mansion. The enemy is easily dispatched with one of the many randomly spawned weapons found nearby, and the round concludes with little fanfare. In round 2, a ghost enters the arena. Several seconds may pass before you figure out that the phantom mirrors your movements during the previous round perfectly, replicating your jumps and attacks in a pre-programmed daze. If you can remember what route you took while you were battling the possessed furniture in round 1, your ghostly doppelganger should pose little challenge. Round 3 begins. Your ghost from round 1 teams up with a new apparition that replicates your performance from round 2, and you must exorcise them both. Every round afterward adds another ghost to the fray, and it isn't long before you succumb to your previous expertise. This is the essence of Extreme Exorcism, a game in which you are truly your own worst enemy.
Massively's PAX Prime 2014 roundup
Massively's Justin Olivetti soloed the PAX Prime boss for us this year, and he kicked its butt! His loot drop? A whole week of well-earned relaxation on the Massively golden yacht. Just kidding! Back to work, Olivetti! We've rounded up all of his awesome PAX coverage below. What did he think of ArcheAge, Warlords of Draenor, and H1Z1? How many parties did he crash? Did he really cosplay as an angry Chua? Read on to find out!
PAX Prime 2014: World of Warships balances historical accuracy with big boat fun
A warship is understandably larger and more complicated than a tank or plane, which is why Wargaming is diverging slightly with its third online title. At PAX Prime, I sat down with the dev team for World of Warships to see how the alpha is progressing and what a fleet of ships looks like with all guns blazing. There are four types of ships from which players can choose when they step into a match. Destroyers are smaller and faster with torpedoes, battleships are hulking gun platforms, and cruisers are straddling the line between the two. Then there are carriers (which we did not get to see) that eschew big guns for a squadron of planes to send out. Unfortunately, submarines aren't part of the mix, as the team decided that they wouldn't be fun for this type of game. Each ship is as historically accurate in its looks and is hideously detailed, with up to 500 parts and 270,000 polygons. This detail comes into play when ships are damaged in certain sections, disabling features and abilities. The team is planning on launching with around 75 ships between the starting nations of the United States and Japan.
PAX Prime 2014: Tome makes for a more aggressive MOBA
One interesting trend that I noticed among the up-and-coming MOBAs that I previewed at PAX Prime this past weekend was how there's this real desire to challenge the status quo and cut out what's hurting rather than helping the genre. Tome may not look much different than its contemporaries, with a grounded fantasy setting and typical setup, but underneath the hood it's sporting a few ideas that should make it more friendly and convenient to a larger audience. The team's decided against including last hitting while putting in handy features such as healing quickly and buying items anywhere while not in combat. Another core principle of Tome is that it embraces aggressive gameplay. Matches should take 12 minutes or less to complete, with design elements such as hardier minions and limited ammunition towers making turtling an undesirable option.
PAX Prime 2014: Upsilon Circuit debuts to the public
I'll echo what Eliot wrote back at PAX East earlier this year: Upsilon Circuit is almost certainly one of the strangest and most intriguing video game concepts I've ever seen. Part Diablo clone, part Smash TV, part Hunger Games, and part Max Headroom, it's a virtual game show there eight contestants fight to stay alive while the larger player audience helps or hurts the contestants as they wish. This is all overseen by a Ronald Reagan-ish game show host who will snark and deadpan the proceedings. The Robot Loves Kitty dev team said at this year's PAX Prime that the genesis for Upsilon Circuit came from seeing the surge of popularity for folks who watched other people livestream games. Why not take that voyeurism and make it more interactive? Thus, Upsilon Circuit was born.
Never Alone blends clever platforming with cultural insight
I like to think of Never Alone as a less depressing version of 2011's indie hit, Limbo. It features similar environment-based puzzle-platforming in an unforgiving world, but its buddy-system mechanics give an encouraging sense of optimism throughout. This isn't to say that you won't be challenged in Never Alone. You'll fail its platforming sequences frequently, and its puzzles are suitably vexing. It's a clever and solid entry in the genre, and its focus on Alaska Native culture gives it a weight and purpose beyond its inventive gameplay.
Globe-trotting with Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions
It wouldn't be fair to Lucid Games to say that Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is "just more Geometry Wars," and then leave one's impressions at that. Announced just a few weeks ago, the game literally takes the series where it has never been, primarily thanks to new three-dimensional visuals (with a pun-tastic title to match). In all honesty though, calling it "more Geometry Wars" serves as a reassurance to the twin-stick series' devotees that its fast-paced action hasn't gone anywhere. My time with Geometry Wars 3 at PAX Prime in Seattle demonstrated that the game fits perfectly with its 2D brethren. Piloting the iconic, angular cruiser through galactic grids felt as tight as ever, while slipping past threats and rapidly firing laser-like bullets at geometric baddies is as chaotic as ever. It took a few attempts to get acquainted with the game's latest twist, though the enemy and bullet behavior is just that, a "twisted" version of the previous games. The flat grid-like playing field fans are used to is now a sphere, tube, pill, peanut or one of numerous other shapes, depending on which of the single-player mode's 50 levels you jump into. Every element in play is stuck to the surface like Nintendo's iconic plumber in Super Mario Galaxy, but ultimately Geometry Wars 3 draws some appropriate comparisons to Super Stardust HD. Missiles rocketed past my ship and around the bend of some levels, but aiming for the more distant neon creatures never felt like a real shot in the dark, if I'm allowed to make my own puns here.
PAX Prime 2014: I wonder as I Wander
We've been keeping our eyes on Wander for a year now, and during PAX Prime I caught up with Lead Developer Loki Davison to see how this collaborative exploration title's been going. For someone who only now got a first look at this game, it was a jarring shift from the adrenaline-fueled rides in booths all around. Instead, Wander is something akin to an interactive nature screensaver. You slowly move through the beautiful tropical setting to poke around looking for secrets and more scraps of the overarching story. There is no death. There are no other creatures, except for fellow players. And your top speed is capped at something like two miles per hour. Davison said that this style of game is meant to be both relaxing and rewarding to the inquisitive mind. Discovery and sharing those findings with other players to figure out the larger secrets is the driving force here, but if you simply want to walk around as a giant tree with hands or flutter about as a butterfly, nobody is going to stop you.
PAX Prime 2014: Strife learns from the past
S2 Games is a big believer in learning from the past. Whereas many other MOBA developers are creating their very first such title, S2 already has a MOBA -- Heroes of Newerth -- under its belt. Taking key lessons from that experience, the devs are creating what they call the next generation of MOBA: Strife. Strife was definitely in full force around PAX Prime this weekend. The team had not only a prime spot by the show doors (complete with a mechanical dragon that players could ride) but a spot at a local grill where prizes and cosplay repairs took place. My key question for the devs was, "What makes Strife any different from the dozens of other MOBAs on the market?" This question led into a discussion of how the team has been pulling the best elements from the genre while discarding what didn't work -- denying, for example, is not a part of Strife in the least, nor is the commonplace "last hit" mechanic. Instead, Strife seeks to be enjoyable both as a MOBA and as a single-player experience. The solo content was put in to flesh out the story of the world (MOBAs have story?) and give players a different kind of experience between matches. I was also interested in the pets that characters can acquire and wield for their special abilities. Strife went into open beta this past weekend, so give it a whirl and let us know what you think! Massively's on the ground in Seattle during the weekend of August 29th to September 1st, bringing you all the best news from PAX Prime 2014. Whether you're dying to know more about Warlords of Draenor, The Elder Scrolls Online, Landmark, or any MMO in between, you can bet we'll have it covered!
(Not) Seen@PAX Prime: The many outfits of Assassin's Creed
PAX Prime in Seattle was host to many displays that celebrate video game series. Ubisoft's booth included several mannequins donning the outfits of characters from its rich Assassin's Creed series. Honestly, we just couldn't find most of them.
PAX Prime 2014: Hands-on with The Crew
Ubisoft's The Crew was part of two different booths on the PAX Prime exhibit floor this year, giving ample opportunity to anyone who would like to take a test drive of this online racing game. Being the brave soul that I am and a driver of several years, I got into an elaborate car setup to see if I had the chops to handle such a machine. While we didn't get to see the larger world of the game, I did get to race alongside/against three other players in two mission modes. The first mission, which was prefaced with a short cutscene, had us chasing down a target car to ram into oblivion. The second was a standard street race supposedly set up to prove what an awesome driver I am to an NPC. In both of these, I failed spectacularly to accomplish the goal. I don't think it was necessarily my or the game's fault but the specific game steering wheel used for the demo. It was hyper-responsive and kept jerking around, causing my car to go into unrecoverable fishtails and spins. It was during one of these lovely spinouts that I learned just how indestructible the cars in this game are.
PAX Prime 2014: Hands-on with Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade
After getting the pitch from Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade at PAX Prime, I was given the opportunity to sit down and experience a PvP bout first-hand. I'll share a little pet peeve of mine before we get into the meat of the hands-on, which is that I really don't like it when developers stand over your shoulders at demos barking instructions to you. I wasn't given much of an opportunity to do what I wanted to; instead, I was constantly responding to the dev's commands! In any case, for a pre-pre-alpha build, I'm somewhat impressed that Eternal Crusade was able to cobble together a very playable deathmatch with several classes and two vehicle types (Rhino and Predator). My first class was something of a lumbering tank, well-armed but a clunky jumper. I opted instead to get a jetpack as an assault trooper, willingly trading firepower for the awesome ability to do huge leaps and be able to clutch on to the side of a building and jump once more.
PAX Prime 2014: Hearthstone eyes an expansion
The PAX Prime Blizzard booth was one of the larger and more populated venues on the show floor this year. A slow-moving line wrapped around it as players waited eagerly to try out Warlords of Draenor or to see Heroes of the Storm for the first time. Yet it was Hearthstone -- a free-to-play game available to anyone at anytime -- that was winning gamers over. I talked with Game Director Eric Dodds about how this small project at Blizzard blew up into a great success story. He said that when the team noticed that Twitch livestreams of Hearthstone were drawing in thousands and tens of thousands of viewers is when the studio knew that it had a hit on its hands.
PAX Prime 2014: Heroes of the Storm is friendly, zany fun
Heroes of the Storm's beginnings are rooted in a mod that Blizzard made in 2010 to encourage StarCraft II players to get into the modding scene. Not only was this unnecessary (the StarCraft II comunity took to modding like fish to water) but the mod gradually became so well-liked internally that proper development began in 2012 to make it a full-fledged MOBA. At PAX Prime, I asked the team what was going to make Heroes of the Storm stand out from the rest of the MOBA pack -- or whether it was merely content to ride the Blizzard name to big sales. The response was that this game is shaping up to be one of the most friendly and welcoming MOBAs on the market. Gone are mechanics like denying and last hits and in are new concepts like shared team levels. The devs said that the root of the toxic atmosphere seen in many MOBAs is game design that focuses more in individual selfishness and potential ways to hurt your own team. There also won't be any chatting with the opposing team in HotS to cut down on potential sass-mouth.
