Battle Royale: The Last Generation Of An SNES-CD Saga
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Summer 2014 (Part 10) - The Rest Of The Games
(Here are the rest of the notable games from July 2014 to September 2014!)
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Nintendo Reality-
Donkey Kong Krew
Donkey Kong Krew is a 3-D action adventure game published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Reality. The game has Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong heading to Bigshot City to stop an army of bugs and spiders, and has them teaming up with a brand new group of Kongs to save the day, along with old rival Stanley the Bugman. The gameplay is a combination of classic 3-D platformer mechanics and action shooter mechanics, with the game taking some inspiration from the Commander Keen titles (including the number of collectibles and missions available). Donkey and Diddy can jump, run, punch, and climb, with Donkey Kong able to shoot a coconut gun and Diddy able to shoot a peanut pistol (and can later dual wield them). Later, they are joined by Cranky Kong and new character Luna Kong, with Cranky able to fire a walnut six shooter and Luna able to spray fruit juice like a flamethrower. Bigshot City is divided into sections, both above ground and underground, and there are also segments taking place entirely inside large buildings, with more of the city opening up as the two Kongs collect items and win approval from the city's mayor (who initially distrusts them, blaming them for kidnapping his daughter Pauline, which was done by Cranky Kong a while back when he was the original Donkey Kong, though the time discrepancy isn't really explained, as Pauline is still quite young). The game utilizes the Reality's 3-D capabilities quite liberally, in the form of mini-games, first person aiming, and VR segments, and it's possible to play the entire game in VR as well, though the view is still normal and all you do by looking around is control the camera. The actual game progresses in chapters, eight in all, chronicling the four way war between the mayor/police, the bugs/spiders, the Krew (the gang of “good” Kongs), and the Darkside Gang (the “bad” Kongs, who eventually join the Krew toward the end of the game). The spiders/bugs are led by the Spider King, who kidnaps Pauline to get the mayor to wipe out both gangs of Kongs, using his creepy bugs to sow discord throughout the city. Eventually, however, the mayor comes around after he's saved from a giant wasp by the Kong Krew at the end of Chapter 4. Meanwhile, there's plenty to do and explore in the city, with an underground section that's almost as complex as the city above ground, and lots of bosses to fight. There's also plenty of fun character interactions, with all the main characters, including the Kongs, being fully voiced with the exception of Donkey Kong (who just makes monkey noises). Luna Kong is the most intriguing new addition: as a love interest for Diddy, the growing friendship between the two forms a major part of the game's storyline, as Luna struggles to escape the legacy of the Kongs and their penchant for causing chaos and destruction. It's a surprisingly deep and mature storyline for a Nintendo first party game, and the aesthetic of the game in general somewhat resembles OTL's Splatoon (a few of the same developers/writers of that game work on this one). Eventually, the Kongs defeat the Spider King, with Donkey, Diddy, and Cranky saving Pauline, and the three Kongs leave the city (with Luna deciding to stay behind in Bigshot City to lead the Krew).
Donkey Kong Krew is considered one of the better Donkey Kong games, and a great example of how far Nintendo has come with storylines and character development in its games. It gets a lot of comparisons to that year's Commander Keen game, though ultimately, Keen would prove more successful in terms of reviews and sales. It still becomes one of the best selling Reality titles of the year, and sets the tone for a new era for Donkey Kong games overall, with a sequel planned for 2017 or 2018.
One Man: The Worst Nightmare
The sequel to 2010's hit FPS game One Man is a Reality exclusive, mostly due to its use of VR and the fact that Nintendo partially funded the game, while Retro Studios assisted Activision in the game's development. It sees protagonist Kyle Borman return to foil terrorists once again, in the midst of a massive personal crisis involving the abduction of his daughter. Instead of taking place in a single building, this game takes place across an entire city, and plays out a lot like an episode of 24, taking place over a 24 hour period (though with 24 not being nearly as much of a hit ITTL, there's little direct influence from that show and the resemblance is more coincidental). While Borman is still required to save/protect hostages in this game, there's not nearly as many of those types of missions in this game, and the player has more freedom to act, with larger spaces to move around in. The game features a multiplayer mode much like the original game's, which also makes use of optional VR. The plot itself is fairly simple, with Borman called upon to stop a gang of terrorists after several attacks happen in his home city. At some point, his daughter Anna is abducted by an old foe, and he is torn between looking for her and foiling the terrorists, and is also forced to break the law in order to achieve his goals. One Man: The Worst Nightmare is graphically gorgeous and very gritty from a content perspective, while making great use of the Reality's optional VR, but the gameplay and storyline are both criticized, and overall, the reception for this title isn't as good as the original, averaging review scores in the mid 7s and being considered somewhat of a disappointment. The game is still somewhat commercially successful, but future installments of the series end up being multiplatform.
Outlast
Like OTL's game, Outlast is a first person survival horror title taking place in a psychiatric hospital, but unlike OTL's game, TTL's Outlast has a huge focus on VR (another reason it's a Reality exclusive), and though it can be played without it, it's considered a central part of the game experience. The game's plot is fairly similar to OTL's game, as well as the gameplay, though the game is a bit shorter than OTL's. Outlast achieves strong reviews averaging in the mid 8s, and is considered a major landmark in the use of VR in gaming. Initial sales are fairly mediocre, but as word of mouth spreads, the game achieves better sales later on. It gets a lot of comparisons to The Lobotomized 3, released shortly afterward, and there's a vigorous debate over which of the two games is better. Future sequels would appear on other platforms, but all of these games would also utilize VR heavily.
True Crime: Hong Kong 2
The sequel to 2011's True Crime: Hong Kong, this sequel incorporates much of the same gameplay and storyline elements of the original title, but adds in an optional first person/VR mode, and attempts to steal some thunder from Grand Theft Auto III by releasing in the same month. The game does quite a bit to distinguish itself from its fellow sandbox title, incorporating more RPG elements and making character relationships a big part of the gameplay and storyline (earning it some comparisons to Miraculous Ladybug). The cops/criminals/civilians relationship point system returns, but there are also individual factions within those three groups that protagonist Wei Shen (who returns for this game, with the gang leader ending from the original being canon for this game) can interact with, helping the player to gain more stats and access to different missions. The plot sees Wei Shen out for revenge after his gang is wiped out, and can choose to either assist the police in finding the killers (and thus falling in with some corrupt cops in the meantime), forming a new gang to get revenge on his own, or seeking a more peaceful path and protecting his new civilian friends (but being pulled back into the old life anyway). While reviews for True Crime: Hong Kong 2 are quite positive, it's seen as a mistake to release the game in the same month as Grand Theft Auto III, and sales suffer a bit as a result, though the game would see strong sales legs after it goes on sale. It's a good game, and the True Crime series remains a strong one for Activision, but it's clear that the series has lost the war for sandbox supremacy.
SOCOM 7
The first SOCOM title for the Reality incorporates VR into its game design, and when combined with a headset during multiplayer, makes this game quite the immersive experience. Unfortunately, Sony doesn't put quite as much effort into this title as it has some other recent SOCOM games, with little advancement in overall gameplay and somewhat of a cookie cutter plot involving terrorists and dictators. Graphically, it's a treat, and if you use VR, multiplayer is extremely fun, but this title is a critical disappointment with reviews averaging in the 7/10 range, and sales are fairly poor as well.
Apple Virtua-
Custom Race Circuit
A competitive racing game in which players build their cars from the ground up, with a variety of parts earned from winning races. With literally trillions of combinations, this game is all about tweaking and experimenting, and while it does get a bit of controversy for its loot box-like mechanics (and yes, there's DLC), the game is still one of the Virtua's more popular racers, achieving strong reviews and sales.
No One Lives Forever: The Return Of Cate Archer
An FPS exclusive to the Virtua, this is the first No One Lives Forever game on the console, and sees the return of Cate Archer as the game's primary protagonist. It keeps the swingin' 60s vibe and humor of previous games, but introduces some new gameplay mechanics, including a “partner” system in which the player can temporarily switch from controlling Cate to controlling one of three other protagonists, including the last game's Clarissa Cavill, who returns as a supporting character in this one. Cate also has lots of new gadgets at her disposal, including the long awaited grappling hook and a sort of mini-drone that can be used to spy or kill. The game itself features a world-spanning mission across seven continents, as Cate pursues a dangerous mercenary who seeks to blackmail the world by sabotaging scientific installations and planting nuclear bombs. In contrast with The Disappearance Of Cate Archer, which was fairly short and somewhat boring, this game sees a much longer campaign with a wider variety of missions and some of Cate's best dialogue yet. It also sees an excellent villain in the form of the mercenary, who has some deep motivations for his actions and is more of a foil to Cate than any other villain in the series, while also having somewhat of a history with Clarissa that causes some tension between her and Cate. The game also features motion controls designed to make players feel like they're a real secret agent, and are some of the best uses of the Virtua's motion controls to date. The Return Of Cate Archer feels like a true return for the popular secret agent: this game scores some of the best reviews of any Virtua game this year, and while No One Lives Forever isn't the hit series it used to be, the game still turns a strong profit, outselling the previous game.
Steel Combatant
Developed by Capcom, this game is the follow-up to the iTwin's Iron Combatant, but is also somewhat of a spinoff, since it features a brand new protagonist in the form of Robert “Crusher” Gantz, an ace mech pilot assigned with the task of wiping out a dangerous enemy army. The star of this game is the motion controls, which are designed to simulate piloting a real mech, and ask the player to sit rather than stand, giving them a series of commands to help pilot the mech and fire weapons. The commands are a bit tricky, but rather easy to get used to, and simplified compared to the controls in OTL's Steel Battalion. The game itself is a series of 16 increasingly tough missions, and Crusher is a fairly likable protagonist, if a bit brash. The game does take place in the same universe as Iron Combatant, and Layla is referred to numerous times throughout the game, though she never makes an actual appearance. Steel Combatant is a fairly well reviewed game, though some critics do have a bit of trouble with the motion controls. Sales are decent but not great, and the game is seen as more of a tech demo than anything, inferior to 2012's iTwin game, as players wait for the REAL Iron Combatant to return.
Sunset Overdrive
OTL's Sunset Overdrive, which was an Xbox One exclusive, comes to the Virtua as an exclusive ITTL, developed by the same team in conjunction with Apple's studios. The gameplay is fairly similar, a combination of extreme sports tricks and third person shooter mechanics, though the game does take a bit more inspiration from the highly influential Thrillseekers in terms of overall tone and attitude. Like OTL's game, players can fully customize their protagonist, and the game is fully open world, with a main story campaign and side missions focusing on both extreme sports and fighting the villains. Though players have the option to use a regular controller, it makes heavy use of the Virtua's motion controls and is probably more fun to play with them. Sunset Overdrive becomes quite the popular game for the Virtua in the summer of 2014, scoring strong reviews and sales even in the face of some other huge releases, and would be greenlighted for a sequel soon after its release.
Google Nexus-
Freedom Planet
A Sonic-like combat based sidescrolling indie platformer, Freedom Planet is quite similar to OTL's game, though ITTL, Google helped with the game's development, promoting it heavily as a Nexus digital title. For the most part, the basic gameplay and plot are unchanged from OTL, though the game itself is a bit more of a Metroidvania, owing to the game's use of a second screen navigable map that allows the developers to link more of the game's world together. Despite its fairly retro styled graphics, it features voice acting and a lot of modern quality of life features, and is one of the Nexus' stronger indie titles of the year.
Raven's Cry
A pirate adventure game that IOTL was considered one of the worst games of 2015, this game is an example of how Google managed to save a project that would have otherwise flopped, helping the developers to turn this title into a respectable game. It takes some cues from Tales Of The Seven Seas and features a more open, non-linear storyline, and is also somewhat less controversial in terms of content. It's not a great game, but it's not the trainwreck that it was IOTL, and manages to turn a small profit.
Star Wars: Rise Of A Jedi
Star Wars: Rise Of A Jedi is an action RPG similar to the Tale games, and set several hundred years before the original trilogy. It follows a young Jedi named Adana Shen on her journey from Padawan to Master as she battles against the Legion of the Cloak, a group of Force wielders who aren't quite Sith but definitely aren't Jedi, and who want to use their Force powers to bend the galaxy to their will. Fairly low budgeted for a Star Wars game, it's still a decent JRPG, and has a complex skill tree for Adana, while also introducing several other characters who bring their own talents and skills to aid her in their quest (Adana can fight alongside three companions at once, she fights alongside her Jedi Master initially, though he is killed somewhat early on). The storyline is somewhat linear, with a few twists and turns along the way, while Adana's story arc is the heart of the game itself. The game ends with Adana triumphing over the Legion, but deeply affected by her journey, she decides to leave the Jedi Order behind because of what she learned about the Force during her battles. The game, released at a budget price of $39.99, is a fairly brisk seller, and probably one of the best JRPGs of the year, though it's somewhat forgettable as a Star Wars game, especially since it's a Nexus exclusive.
Revolution Of Skysoul
The sequel to 2010's Mystery Of Skysoul, an action adventure title starring a winged protagonist named Clyde. That same protagonist returns for this game, which finds itself exclusive to the Nexus this time around after the original was exclusive to the Sapphire (Nintendo did own the Skysoul IP, but Interflux was able to purchase it from Nintendo in 2012 after the company decided not to pursue further games in the series). This game sees Clyde once again battling the forces of evil, though this time, many of the villains are his fellow winged humans, who wish to rule over ordinary humans instead of helping them. Clyde must help the normal humans rise up while finding any allies he can to aid him in his fight. This game has less of an exploration focus and more of a combat focus than the previous game, and is a decent enough hack and slash, but doesn't quite capture the same magic as the original. It's a solid adventure title, but doesn't make quite enough to justify Interflux's purchase of the IP or Google's work on the game, and the IP is quietly retired after this game's release.
Nintendo Connect-
Goemon And Rayman
A sidescrolling action platformer published by Ubisoft, Goemon And Rayman combines elements of both franchises, with the two titular characters teaming up to battle a powerful new evil named Dark Lord Omniman, who has captured all of Goemon and Rayman's friends and wishes to use their power to smash the two universe together, causing the birth of a new universe with Omniman as an all powerful god. The gameplay borrows more from the Goemon games than the Rayman games, and has stages featuring both heroes, but also allows the player to pick their hero for certain stages. Most stages have at least one boss, and gameplay follows the typical action platforming formula, with Goemon able to use his sword and Rayman able to swing his limbs at enemies. The game is one of the more successful Connect titles of the year, selling well in North America, Europe, and Japan, thanks to strong reviews and word of mouth. It wouldn't be the last crossover between these two franchises, but it would be the last one for a while.
Kirby And The Great Quest
A sidescrolling action RPG, Kirby And The Great Quest plays somewhat like a combination of traditional Kirby titles such as Kirby Super Star and titles like Kirby Clash in which the player upgrades Kirby with new equipment to fight in RPG-esque battles. The game follows the typical Kirby formula of sidescrolling levels and a series of different worlds, but plays like an RPG, with every enemy defeated giving experience and gold to Kirby, and Kirby able to upgrade his different forms with new equipment, and even upgrade to learn new attacks by swallowing multiples of enemies. The game also allows Kirby to venture off the beaten path at times, taking cues from The Great Cave Offensive. The game sees Kirby battling all of his old familiar foes, including Meta Knight and King Dedede, who have been brainwashed by the powerful witch Eternaline. Kirby must become a hero like never before to defeat Eternaline, learning a variety of new moves along the way. Kirby And The Great Quest is a fun, content-rich game, and one of the stronger Kirby titles in recent memory in both sales and reviews, becoming a major success on the Connect.
Bullet Timer
Bullet Timer is a shooter where players can freeze bullets in mid-flight in order to set up crazy combos. The basic gameplay somewhat resembles Hotline Miami, with small rooms full of enemies, though it's not quite as difficult and frustrating, and has more of an arcadey feel, with a very simple plot. It's plenty fun, and at a budget price ($19.99 at launch, both physical and digital), it sells very well.
Flora And Fauna 2
The sequel to 2009's Supernova sleeper hit, this game (developed by a small team at Rare separate from their main game creation teams) follows the simulation formula of the original, bringing back the two eponymous fairy sisters for another fun gardening adventure. The player must once again balance the relationship between the two sisters, but also help them do battle with another gardening pair, two men who want to one-up the sisters by defeating them in gardening competitions. Eventually, the player can foster a romance between the sisters and their rivals, but it takes a lot of mission completions and hard work. While not as well reviewed as the original, this game is a fun little niche title that turns a small profit.
Apple Gemini-
Cora And The Long Winter
A very esoteric action RPG about a girl who must journey to end an eternal winter. This game is somewhat sad and depressing, but also very visually beautiful, very reminiscent of a game like OTL's I Am Setsuna in visual style. The girl travels the world, learns how the eternal winter is affecting people, and then fights to stop it, sacrificing small pieces of her soul along the way. In the end, she is forced to sacrifice her entire soul to an ancient goddess to bring back the spring, but rather than being tormented for eternity, her soul is allowed to rest, and she's able to take one last look at the world she helped to save. It's sort of the opposite of Princess Revolution in tone, and while it has its fans, and good reviews, it isn't as popular.
Seeded
An FPS/RPG title (think Destiny, but with less loot) about a genetic experiment gone terribly wrong, this is probably the most hyped new Gemini RPG of the year. Its protagonist is a scientist and the last survivor (or so he thinks) of a project to grant humanity freedom from disease and death, but which ended up turning most of them into monsters. The game earns a lot of comparisons to Hazardous for its gameplay and storyline. A visually gorgeous game (comparable to a lot of Nexus titles in terms of graphics), and very ambitious, it's one of the best reviewed handheld titles of the year and becomes a very strong seller for the Gemini.
Worldmix
Half board game, half Mario Maker-style game making system, this game encourages players to set down their Gemini to create entire worlds, that can then be played, shared, and enjoyed. Gameplay takes the form of a board game that lasts between 30-60 minutes, and involves cards that are played to alter the board, which itself is a unique world that is filled with life over the course of the game, and which can alter future cards played. After the game is completed, the finished board can become a unique game board of its own, or can be played in “world exploration” mode, a sort of open sandbox style space comparable to a sort of Skylanders or Disney Infinity. It's one of the more unique handheld titles ever made, and another very successful new IP launch, eventually becoming one of the best selling Gemini titles overall. Its sales are a bit slow at first, but grow significantly around Christmas time, at the same time that Gemini sales begin to spike.
Multiplatform-
MiXXed
A Dropmix-like rhythm game for consoles, this title features samples of popular songs and has players mix them together, then play them in a unique stage that resembles a cross between Amplitude and Audiosurf. With stages and songs able to be easily uploaded, this game challenges players to make the best mixes, and is quite popular for a time, joining Just Dance Revolution as one of the year's most popular rhythm titles.
Metal Gear Subterfuge
The first proper Metal Gear title for the eighth generation consoles, Metal Gear Subterfuge is a flashback/spinoff title taking place some time before the original Metal Gear Solid, and features Solid Snake in a protagonist role, though he's working to sabotage an American operation for motives that only become clear as the player goes through the game. This is a smaller, simpler Metal Gear title than the mainline games, and almost serves as a kind of tech demo game, though it's definitely bigger than say, a Ground Zeroes title was, and is released at a full price despite its somewhat short length. Gameplay maintains much of the same innovations/mechanics as OTL's Metal Gear Solid III, but also returns somewhat to the series' stealth roots, with Snake needing to carefully avoid being seen during many of his missions. For the most part, the gameplay upgrades are minimal, and instead, Ubisoft (and Konami when they were developing the game) focus mostly on graphics to show off the power of the new consoles, while letting Kojima craft the plot, a somewhat subdued one compared to his previous titles, and one that hearkens back to games like Snatcher, with Solid Snake working against American interests in order to secure a key military component that would otherwise have fallen into the hands of a traitor working within the military. Eventually, Snake works with Colonel Campbell to root out the traitor, before delivering the component into Campbell's hands personally after a fierce battle against the traitor inside a military compound. The plot actually ties somewhat into the plot for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid IV: A Soldier's Place, similarly to how Ground Zeroes tied in with Phantom Pain IOTL. Though the game is an excellent one and longtime Metal Gear Solid fans enjoy it for the most part, it is a bit disappointing to those expecting a major blockbuster Metal Gear title rather than a somewhat short sidestory game. The game's short length leaves some players feeling ripped off, and the release of Grand Theft Auto III three weeks after this title's release also hurts sales to some extent. However, it would see its sales rebound once the price comes down, and it's remembered as a decent installment in the overall Metal Gear lore.
Among The Dead 2
The second installment of this fast-paced, brutal survival horror action series picks up where the original left off, with a brand new set of protagonists and significantly improved graphics. Like its predecessor, it's a horror game that goes more for action than survival, with big hordes of zombies to kill and a slew of weapons at your disposal. It also allows four players at a time to team up against the zombies, rather than the two that the original allowed for, and sees larger playable areas in general, taking place in Colorado Springs, one of the last major cities on Earth not yet overrun by the zombie hordes (but as you see in this game, it gets overrun in fairly short order once the walls are breached). It takes itself a bit less seriously than the last game, with some riffs on politics and religion scattered throughout, with an almost Zombieland-esque tone to it that carries over to its four flawed protagonists. While there are a few human villains scattered throughout, the main goal, like the last game, is merely to survive and escape the city, which eventually is destroyed by a nuclear weapon as the protagonists escape in a helicopter. Among The Dead 2 does quite nicely in sales, though it doesn't quite match up to the success of The Lobotomized 3 or Sepulchre. It continues to be one of the top horror franchises on the market, and a third game is a no-brainer, scheduled for release in 2016 or 2017.
Ecumenopolis 2
A gritty sci-fi RPG for the Virtua and Reality, it, like its predecessor, can best be compared to Resonance of Fate, and is developed by Yoshiharu Gotanda. Its gameplay is somewhat evolved from the original, allowing free movement gun fighting during battle rather than the spectacular turn based movement of the original. It takes place in a different world than the original game, but as the name would imply, involves a world-spanning city, and once again features stratification between the rich and the poor, with the protagonist being a young scrap seller named Kai who dreams of a better life in the world above, only to be captured and sold into slavery by some gangsters after he fails to pay back a debt. His new owner, Mistress Endia, sees potential in him, and sends him on a series of quests that turn into a massive quest to save the world, though as he's trying to do this, he's also trying to earn his freedom. The game, like its predecessor, gets good reviews, and sells much more strongly in Japan than in the States, though it does decently here as well due to its good graphics and well received storyline and characters.
Rayman Legends
Released alongside Goemon and Rayman (it even comes to the Connect, giving that handheld two Rayman games in one summer), Rayman Legends is a sidescrolling platformer quite similar to OTL's game in terms of both plot and gameplay. It was developed by a different team from the Goemon and Rayman title, and plays more like a traditional Rayman game, drawing a strong contrast between the two. In the Connect version of the game, it's possible to unlock some fun bonuses with a Goemon and Rayman save, with a completed save allowing Rayman to battle the final boss of Goemon and Rayman in this game. Rayman Legends achieves very strong reviews, similar to OTL's title, and while it doesn't outsell Goemon and Rayman in Japan (obviously), it outsells it in both North America and Europe on the Connect alone, while its console versions also do quite well.
The Lobotomized III
An intensely dark survival horror game developed by Take-Two Interactive, it's the first title in the series to appear on the eighth generation consoles, and features significantly upgraded graphics and different gameplay. It takes place in an asylum in the 1940s, and has little to do with the events of the original two games, focusing instead on a new story featuring a brand new protagonist, Russell. Russell has been condemned to the asylum for getting into too many fights as a youth, though it's also implied that his parents sent him there at the behest of his older brother to avoid embarrassment to the family. Russell makes a close friend, Fred, in the facility, but learns that Fred is due to undergo lobotomization, and wishes to save him from that procedure by any means necessary. However, the asylum doctors are secretly conducting deadly experiments under the cloak of night, and Russell becomes determined to not only save his friend but to help them both escape, even as the asylum turns into a horrific nightmare around him. From Russell's manner of speech to his movements, the player learns that Russell himself has undergone lobotomization, though the procedure was only partially completed, and left him with some shreds of his old self. However, this becomes a major part of the overall gameplay, with Russell occasionally suffering from impairment or delusions, making it trickier for the player. The game works to tie in “interface screws” with the overall narrative of the game, allowing for free movement most of the time, but taking that movement away when it serves the game's story. The player is also never quite sure that what they're seeing is real or a delusion, and they'll find scraps of Russell's journal after every action segment, shedding light on the asylum mystery and Russell's inner thoughts. The game frequently switches from moments of banality and normalcy to moments of intense and vivid terror, and seeks actively to make the player feel as scared and disoriented as Russell. Eventually, Russell manages to save Fred from the lobotomization procedure, but the two are separated, and Russell must find Fred again before he is captured and killed by the evil doctors. Eventually, Russell learns the truth about everything happening in the asylum: nothing out of the ordinary is happening, and that Russell has suffered from delusions and paranoia his entire life. The lobotomization made the delusions worse, and though the game emphasizes that Russell did the right thing by saving Fred (as well intentioned as the doctors actually were, the procedure is still wrong), he wasn't in his right mind, and murdered a number of innocent people at the facility, while his brother is actually a kind and loving soul who did what he thought was best for his brother. However, though Russell is still extremely mentally disturbed, and is locked up thinking the doctors are still trying to kill him, it's implied that the facility will end its lobotomizations and will work to treat its patients with more effective and helpful procedures in the future, thus making the game's ending a happy one overall, though still a tragic one for Russell, who ended up being the real “villain” of the game.
The Lobotomized III is given mostly positive critical reviews, though not quite on the level of the first two games, with most critics considering the twist to be somewhat of a letdown. It's still a major financial success, giving Take-Two two such games after the success of Grand Theft Auto III during the previous month. The franchise will continue, likely taking another multi-year gap to craft a new game that can exceed the third in critical reception.
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Top Selling New Console Games In North America (in terms of sales over the first four weeks of release):
July 2014:
1. Donkey Kong Krew (Nintendo Reality)
2. Blackheart 666 (Nintendo Reality)
3. Blackheart 666 (Apple Virtua)
4. One Man: The Worst Nightmare (Nintendo Reality)
5. Deep Down (Apple Virtua)
August 2014:
1. Grand Theft Auto III (Nintendo Reality)
2. Grand Theft Auto III (Apple Virtua)
3. Grand Theft Auto III (Google Nexus)
4. Fallout: The Swamp (Nintendo Reality)
5. Fallout: The Swamp (Apple Virtua)
September 2014:
1. The Lobotomized III (Nintendo Reality)
2. Sepulchre (Apple Virtua)
3. The Lobotomized III (Apple Virtua)
4. Sepulchre (Nintendo Reality)
5. Among The Dead 2 (Nintendo Reality)
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Nintendo Reality-
Donkey Kong Krew
Donkey Kong Krew is a 3-D action adventure game published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Reality. The game has Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong heading to Bigshot City to stop an army of bugs and spiders, and has them teaming up with a brand new group of Kongs to save the day, along with old rival Stanley the Bugman. The gameplay is a combination of classic 3-D platformer mechanics and action shooter mechanics, with the game taking some inspiration from the Commander Keen titles (including the number of collectibles and missions available). Donkey and Diddy can jump, run, punch, and climb, with Donkey Kong able to shoot a coconut gun and Diddy able to shoot a peanut pistol (and can later dual wield them). Later, they are joined by Cranky Kong and new character Luna Kong, with Cranky able to fire a walnut six shooter and Luna able to spray fruit juice like a flamethrower. Bigshot City is divided into sections, both above ground and underground, and there are also segments taking place entirely inside large buildings, with more of the city opening up as the two Kongs collect items and win approval from the city's mayor (who initially distrusts them, blaming them for kidnapping his daughter Pauline, which was done by Cranky Kong a while back when he was the original Donkey Kong, though the time discrepancy isn't really explained, as Pauline is still quite young). The game utilizes the Reality's 3-D capabilities quite liberally, in the form of mini-games, first person aiming, and VR segments, and it's possible to play the entire game in VR as well, though the view is still normal and all you do by looking around is control the camera. The actual game progresses in chapters, eight in all, chronicling the four way war between the mayor/police, the bugs/spiders, the Krew (the gang of “good” Kongs), and the Darkside Gang (the “bad” Kongs, who eventually join the Krew toward the end of the game). The spiders/bugs are led by the Spider King, who kidnaps Pauline to get the mayor to wipe out both gangs of Kongs, using his creepy bugs to sow discord throughout the city. Eventually, however, the mayor comes around after he's saved from a giant wasp by the Kong Krew at the end of Chapter 4. Meanwhile, there's plenty to do and explore in the city, with an underground section that's almost as complex as the city above ground, and lots of bosses to fight. There's also plenty of fun character interactions, with all the main characters, including the Kongs, being fully voiced with the exception of Donkey Kong (who just makes monkey noises). Luna Kong is the most intriguing new addition: as a love interest for Diddy, the growing friendship between the two forms a major part of the game's storyline, as Luna struggles to escape the legacy of the Kongs and their penchant for causing chaos and destruction. It's a surprisingly deep and mature storyline for a Nintendo first party game, and the aesthetic of the game in general somewhat resembles OTL's Splatoon (a few of the same developers/writers of that game work on this one). Eventually, the Kongs defeat the Spider King, with Donkey, Diddy, and Cranky saving Pauline, and the three Kongs leave the city (with Luna deciding to stay behind in Bigshot City to lead the Krew).
Donkey Kong Krew is considered one of the better Donkey Kong games, and a great example of how far Nintendo has come with storylines and character development in its games. It gets a lot of comparisons to that year's Commander Keen game, though ultimately, Keen would prove more successful in terms of reviews and sales. It still becomes one of the best selling Reality titles of the year, and sets the tone for a new era for Donkey Kong games overall, with a sequel planned for 2017 or 2018.
One Man: The Worst Nightmare
The sequel to 2010's hit FPS game One Man is a Reality exclusive, mostly due to its use of VR and the fact that Nintendo partially funded the game, while Retro Studios assisted Activision in the game's development. It sees protagonist Kyle Borman return to foil terrorists once again, in the midst of a massive personal crisis involving the abduction of his daughter. Instead of taking place in a single building, this game takes place across an entire city, and plays out a lot like an episode of 24, taking place over a 24 hour period (though with 24 not being nearly as much of a hit ITTL, there's little direct influence from that show and the resemblance is more coincidental). While Borman is still required to save/protect hostages in this game, there's not nearly as many of those types of missions in this game, and the player has more freedom to act, with larger spaces to move around in. The game features a multiplayer mode much like the original game's, which also makes use of optional VR. The plot itself is fairly simple, with Borman called upon to stop a gang of terrorists after several attacks happen in his home city. At some point, his daughter Anna is abducted by an old foe, and he is torn between looking for her and foiling the terrorists, and is also forced to break the law in order to achieve his goals. One Man: The Worst Nightmare is graphically gorgeous and very gritty from a content perspective, while making great use of the Reality's optional VR, but the gameplay and storyline are both criticized, and overall, the reception for this title isn't as good as the original, averaging review scores in the mid 7s and being considered somewhat of a disappointment. The game is still somewhat commercially successful, but future installments of the series end up being multiplatform.
Outlast
Like OTL's game, Outlast is a first person survival horror title taking place in a psychiatric hospital, but unlike OTL's game, TTL's Outlast has a huge focus on VR (another reason it's a Reality exclusive), and though it can be played without it, it's considered a central part of the game experience. The game's plot is fairly similar to OTL's game, as well as the gameplay, though the game is a bit shorter than OTL's. Outlast achieves strong reviews averaging in the mid 8s, and is considered a major landmark in the use of VR in gaming. Initial sales are fairly mediocre, but as word of mouth spreads, the game achieves better sales later on. It gets a lot of comparisons to The Lobotomized 3, released shortly afterward, and there's a vigorous debate over which of the two games is better. Future sequels would appear on other platforms, but all of these games would also utilize VR heavily.
True Crime: Hong Kong 2
The sequel to 2011's True Crime: Hong Kong, this sequel incorporates much of the same gameplay and storyline elements of the original title, but adds in an optional first person/VR mode, and attempts to steal some thunder from Grand Theft Auto III by releasing in the same month. The game does quite a bit to distinguish itself from its fellow sandbox title, incorporating more RPG elements and making character relationships a big part of the gameplay and storyline (earning it some comparisons to Miraculous Ladybug). The cops/criminals/civilians relationship point system returns, but there are also individual factions within those three groups that protagonist Wei Shen (who returns for this game, with the gang leader ending from the original being canon for this game) can interact with, helping the player to gain more stats and access to different missions. The plot sees Wei Shen out for revenge after his gang is wiped out, and can choose to either assist the police in finding the killers (and thus falling in with some corrupt cops in the meantime), forming a new gang to get revenge on his own, or seeking a more peaceful path and protecting his new civilian friends (but being pulled back into the old life anyway). While reviews for True Crime: Hong Kong 2 are quite positive, it's seen as a mistake to release the game in the same month as Grand Theft Auto III, and sales suffer a bit as a result, though the game would see strong sales legs after it goes on sale. It's a good game, and the True Crime series remains a strong one for Activision, but it's clear that the series has lost the war for sandbox supremacy.
SOCOM 7
The first SOCOM title for the Reality incorporates VR into its game design, and when combined with a headset during multiplayer, makes this game quite the immersive experience. Unfortunately, Sony doesn't put quite as much effort into this title as it has some other recent SOCOM games, with little advancement in overall gameplay and somewhat of a cookie cutter plot involving terrorists and dictators. Graphically, it's a treat, and if you use VR, multiplayer is extremely fun, but this title is a critical disappointment with reviews averaging in the 7/10 range, and sales are fairly poor as well.
Apple Virtua-
Custom Race Circuit
A competitive racing game in which players build their cars from the ground up, with a variety of parts earned from winning races. With literally trillions of combinations, this game is all about tweaking and experimenting, and while it does get a bit of controversy for its loot box-like mechanics (and yes, there's DLC), the game is still one of the Virtua's more popular racers, achieving strong reviews and sales.
No One Lives Forever: The Return Of Cate Archer
An FPS exclusive to the Virtua, this is the first No One Lives Forever game on the console, and sees the return of Cate Archer as the game's primary protagonist. It keeps the swingin' 60s vibe and humor of previous games, but introduces some new gameplay mechanics, including a “partner” system in which the player can temporarily switch from controlling Cate to controlling one of three other protagonists, including the last game's Clarissa Cavill, who returns as a supporting character in this one. Cate also has lots of new gadgets at her disposal, including the long awaited grappling hook and a sort of mini-drone that can be used to spy or kill. The game itself features a world-spanning mission across seven continents, as Cate pursues a dangerous mercenary who seeks to blackmail the world by sabotaging scientific installations and planting nuclear bombs. In contrast with The Disappearance Of Cate Archer, which was fairly short and somewhat boring, this game sees a much longer campaign with a wider variety of missions and some of Cate's best dialogue yet. It also sees an excellent villain in the form of the mercenary, who has some deep motivations for his actions and is more of a foil to Cate than any other villain in the series, while also having somewhat of a history with Clarissa that causes some tension between her and Cate. The game also features motion controls designed to make players feel like they're a real secret agent, and are some of the best uses of the Virtua's motion controls to date. The Return Of Cate Archer feels like a true return for the popular secret agent: this game scores some of the best reviews of any Virtua game this year, and while No One Lives Forever isn't the hit series it used to be, the game still turns a strong profit, outselling the previous game.
Steel Combatant
Developed by Capcom, this game is the follow-up to the iTwin's Iron Combatant, but is also somewhat of a spinoff, since it features a brand new protagonist in the form of Robert “Crusher” Gantz, an ace mech pilot assigned with the task of wiping out a dangerous enemy army. The star of this game is the motion controls, which are designed to simulate piloting a real mech, and ask the player to sit rather than stand, giving them a series of commands to help pilot the mech and fire weapons. The commands are a bit tricky, but rather easy to get used to, and simplified compared to the controls in OTL's Steel Battalion. The game itself is a series of 16 increasingly tough missions, and Crusher is a fairly likable protagonist, if a bit brash. The game does take place in the same universe as Iron Combatant, and Layla is referred to numerous times throughout the game, though she never makes an actual appearance. Steel Combatant is a fairly well reviewed game, though some critics do have a bit of trouble with the motion controls. Sales are decent but not great, and the game is seen as more of a tech demo than anything, inferior to 2012's iTwin game, as players wait for the REAL Iron Combatant to return.
Sunset Overdrive
OTL's Sunset Overdrive, which was an Xbox One exclusive, comes to the Virtua as an exclusive ITTL, developed by the same team in conjunction with Apple's studios. The gameplay is fairly similar, a combination of extreme sports tricks and third person shooter mechanics, though the game does take a bit more inspiration from the highly influential Thrillseekers in terms of overall tone and attitude. Like OTL's game, players can fully customize their protagonist, and the game is fully open world, with a main story campaign and side missions focusing on both extreme sports and fighting the villains. Though players have the option to use a regular controller, it makes heavy use of the Virtua's motion controls and is probably more fun to play with them. Sunset Overdrive becomes quite the popular game for the Virtua in the summer of 2014, scoring strong reviews and sales even in the face of some other huge releases, and would be greenlighted for a sequel soon after its release.
Google Nexus-
Freedom Planet
A Sonic-like combat based sidescrolling indie platformer, Freedom Planet is quite similar to OTL's game, though ITTL, Google helped with the game's development, promoting it heavily as a Nexus digital title. For the most part, the basic gameplay and plot are unchanged from OTL, though the game itself is a bit more of a Metroidvania, owing to the game's use of a second screen navigable map that allows the developers to link more of the game's world together. Despite its fairly retro styled graphics, it features voice acting and a lot of modern quality of life features, and is one of the Nexus' stronger indie titles of the year.
Raven's Cry
A pirate adventure game that IOTL was considered one of the worst games of 2015, this game is an example of how Google managed to save a project that would have otherwise flopped, helping the developers to turn this title into a respectable game. It takes some cues from Tales Of The Seven Seas and features a more open, non-linear storyline, and is also somewhat less controversial in terms of content. It's not a great game, but it's not the trainwreck that it was IOTL, and manages to turn a small profit.
Star Wars: Rise Of A Jedi
Star Wars: Rise Of A Jedi is an action RPG similar to the Tale games, and set several hundred years before the original trilogy. It follows a young Jedi named Adana Shen on her journey from Padawan to Master as she battles against the Legion of the Cloak, a group of Force wielders who aren't quite Sith but definitely aren't Jedi, and who want to use their Force powers to bend the galaxy to their will. Fairly low budgeted for a Star Wars game, it's still a decent JRPG, and has a complex skill tree for Adana, while also introducing several other characters who bring their own talents and skills to aid her in their quest (Adana can fight alongside three companions at once, she fights alongside her Jedi Master initially, though he is killed somewhat early on). The storyline is somewhat linear, with a few twists and turns along the way, while Adana's story arc is the heart of the game itself. The game ends with Adana triumphing over the Legion, but deeply affected by her journey, she decides to leave the Jedi Order behind because of what she learned about the Force during her battles. The game, released at a budget price of $39.99, is a fairly brisk seller, and probably one of the best JRPGs of the year, though it's somewhat forgettable as a Star Wars game, especially since it's a Nexus exclusive.
Revolution Of Skysoul
The sequel to 2010's Mystery Of Skysoul, an action adventure title starring a winged protagonist named Clyde. That same protagonist returns for this game, which finds itself exclusive to the Nexus this time around after the original was exclusive to the Sapphire (Nintendo did own the Skysoul IP, but Interflux was able to purchase it from Nintendo in 2012 after the company decided not to pursue further games in the series). This game sees Clyde once again battling the forces of evil, though this time, many of the villains are his fellow winged humans, who wish to rule over ordinary humans instead of helping them. Clyde must help the normal humans rise up while finding any allies he can to aid him in his fight. This game has less of an exploration focus and more of a combat focus than the previous game, and is a decent enough hack and slash, but doesn't quite capture the same magic as the original. It's a solid adventure title, but doesn't make quite enough to justify Interflux's purchase of the IP or Google's work on the game, and the IP is quietly retired after this game's release.
Nintendo Connect-
Goemon And Rayman
A sidescrolling action platformer published by Ubisoft, Goemon And Rayman combines elements of both franchises, with the two titular characters teaming up to battle a powerful new evil named Dark Lord Omniman, who has captured all of Goemon and Rayman's friends and wishes to use their power to smash the two universe together, causing the birth of a new universe with Omniman as an all powerful god. The gameplay borrows more from the Goemon games than the Rayman games, and has stages featuring both heroes, but also allows the player to pick their hero for certain stages. Most stages have at least one boss, and gameplay follows the typical action platforming formula, with Goemon able to use his sword and Rayman able to swing his limbs at enemies. The game is one of the more successful Connect titles of the year, selling well in North America, Europe, and Japan, thanks to strong reviews and word of mouth. It wouldn't be the last crossover between these two franchises, but it would be the last one for a while.
Kirby And The Great Quest
A sidescrolling action RPG, Kirby And The Great Quest plays somewhat like a combination of traditional Kirby titles such as Kirby Super Star and titles like Kirby Clash in which the player upgrades Kirby with new equipment to fight in RPG-esque battles. The game follows the typical Kirby formula of sidescrolling levels and a series of different worlds, but plays like an RPG, with every enemy defeated giving experience and gold to Kirby, and Kirby able to upgrade his different forms with new equipment, and even upgrade to learn new attacks by swallowing multiples of enemies. The game also allows Kirby to venture off the beaten path at times, taking cues from The Great Cave Offensive. The game sees Kirby battling all of his old familiar foes, including Meta Knight and King Dedede, who have been brainwashed by the powerful witch Eternaline. Kirby must become a hero like never before to defeat Eternaline, learning a variety of new moves along the way. Kirby And The Great Quest is a fun, content-rich game, and one of the stronger Kirby titles in recent memory in both sales and reviews, becoming a major success on the Connect.
Bullet Timer
Bullet Timer is a shooter where players can freeze bullets in mid-flight in order to set up crazy combos. The basic gameplay somewhat resembles Hotline Miami, with small rooms full of enemies, though it's not quite as difficult and frustrating, and has more of an arcadey feel, with a very simple plot. It's plenty fun, and at a budget price ($19.99 at launch, both physical and digital), it sells very well.
Flora And Fauna 2
The sequel to 2009's Supernova sleeper hit, this game (developed by a small team at Rare separate from their main game creation teams) follows the simulation formula of the original, bringing back the two eponymous fairy sisters for another fun gardening adventure. The player must once again balance the relationship between the two sisters, but also help them do battle with another gardening pair, two men who want to one-up the sisters by defeating them in gardening competitions. Eventually, the player can foster a romance between the sisters and their rivals, but it takes a lot of mission completions and hard work. While not as well reviewed as the original, this game is a fun little niche title that turns a small profit.
Apple Gemini-
Cora And The Long Winter
A very esoteric action RPG about a girl who must journey to end an eternal winter. This game is somewhat sad and depressing, but also very visually beautiful, very reminiscent of a game like OTL's I Am Setsuna in visual style. The girl travels the world, learns how the eternal winter is affecting people, and then fights to stop it, sacrificing small pieces of her soul along the way. In the end, she is forced to sacrifice her entire soul to an ancient goddess to bring back the spring, but rather than being tormented for eternity, her soul is allowed to rest, and she's able to take one last look at the world she helped to save. It's sort of the opposite of Princess Revolution in tone, and while it has its fans, and good reviews, it isn't as popular.
Seeded
An FPS/RPG title (think Destiny, but with less loot) about a genetic experiment gone terribly wrong, this is probably the most hyped new Gemini RPG of the year. Its protagonist is a scientist and the last survivor (or so he thinks) of a project to grant humanity freedom from disease and death, but which ended up turning most of them into monsters. The game earns a lot of comparisons to Hazardous for its gameplay and storyline. A visually gorgeous game (comparable to a lot of Nexus titles in terms of graphics), and very ambitious, it's one of the best reviewed handheld titles of the year and becomes a very strong seller for the Gemini.
Worldmix
Half board game, half Mario Maker-style game making system, this game encourages players to set down their Gemini to create entire worlds, that can then be played, shared, and enjoyed. Gameplay takes the form of a board game that lasts between 30-60 minutes, and involves cards that are played to alter the board, which itself is a unique world that is filled with life over the course of the game, and which can alter future cards played. After the game is completed, the finished board can become a unique game board of its own, or can be played in “world exploration” mode, a sort of open sandbox style space comparable to a sort of Skylanders or Disney Infinity. It's one of the more unique handheld titles ever made, and another very successful new IP launch, eventually becoming one of the best selling Gemini titles overall. Its sales are a bit slow at first, but grow significantly around Christmas time, at the same time that Gemini sales begin to spike.
Multiplatform-
MiXXed
A Dropmix-like rhythm game for consoles, this title features samples of popular songs and has players mix them together, then play them in a unique stage that resembles a cross between Amplitude and Audiosurf. With stages and songs able to be easily uploaded, this game challenges players to make the best mixes, and is quite popular for a time, joining Just Dance Revolution as one of the year's most popular rhythm titles.
Metal Gear Subterfuge
The first proper Metal Gear title for the eighth generation consoles, Metal Gear Subterfuge is a flashback/spinoff title taking place some time before the original Metal Gear Solid, and features Solid Snake in a protagonist role, though he's working to sabotage an American operation for motives that only become clear as the player goes through the game. This is a smaller, simpler Metal Gear title than the mainline games, and almost serves as a kind of tech demo game, though it's definitely bigger than say, a Ground Zeroes title was, and is released at a full price despite its somewhat short length. Gameplay maintains much of the same innovations/mechanics as OTL's Metal Gear Solid III, but also returns somewhat to the series' stealth roots, with Snake needing to carefully avoid being seen during many of his missions. For the most part, the gameplay upgrades are minimal, and instead, Ubisoft (and Konami when they were developing the game) focus mostly on graphics to show off the power of the new consoles, while letting Kojima craft the plot, a somewhat subdued one compared to his previous titles, and one that hearkens back to games like Snatcher, with Solid Snake working against American interests in order to secure a key military component that would otherwise have fallen into the hands of a traitor working within the military. Eventually, Snake works with Colonel Campbell to root out the traitor, before delivering the component into Campbell's hands personally after a fierce battle against the traitor inside a military compound. The plot actually ties somewhat into the plot for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid IV: A Soldier's Place, similarly to how Ground Zeroes tied in with Phantom Pain IOTL. Though the game is an excellent one and longtime Metal Gear Solid fans enjoy it for the most part, it is a bit disappointing to those expecting a major blockbuster Metal Gear title rather than a somewhat short sidestory game. The game's short length leaves some players feeling ripped off, and the release of Grand Theft Auto III three weeks after this title's release also hurts sales to some extent. However, it would see its sales rebound once the price comes down, and it's remembered as a decent installment in the overall Metal Gear lore.
Among The Dead 2
The second installment of this fast-paced, brutal survival horror action series picks up where the original left off, with a brand new set of protagonists and significantly improved graphics. Like its predecessor, it's a horror game that goes more for action than survival, with big hordes of zombies to kill and a slew of weapons at your disposal. It also allows four players at a time to team up against the zombies, rather than the two that the original allowed for, and sees larger playable areas in general, taking place in Colorado Springs, one of the last major cities on Earth not yet overrun by the zombie hordes (but as you see in this game, it gets overrun in fairly short order once the walls are breached). It takes itself a bit less seriously than the last game, with some riffs on politics and religion scattered throughout, with an almost Zombieland-esque tone to it that carries over to its four flawed protagonists. While there are a few human villains scattered throughout, the main goal, like the last game, is merely to survive and escape the city, which eventually is destroyed by a nuclear weapon as the protagonists escape in a helicopter. Among The Dead 2 does quite nicely in sales, though it doesn't quite match up to the success of The Lobotomized 3 or Sepulchre. It continues to be one of the top horror franchises on the market, and a third game is a no-brainer, scheduled for release in 2016 or 2017.
Ecumenopolis 2
A gritty sci-fi RPG for the Virtua and Reality, it, like its predecessor, can best be compared to Resonance of Fate, and is developed by Yoshiharu Gotanda. Its gameplay is somewhat evolved from the original, allowing free movement gun fighting during battle rather than the spectacular turn based movement of the original. It takes place in a different world than the original game, but as the name would imply, involves a world-spanning city, and once again features stratification between the rich and the poor, with the protagonist being a young scrap seller named Kai who dreams of a better life in the world above, only to be captured and sold into slavery by some gangsters after he fails to pay back a debt. His new owner, Mistress Endia, sees potential in him, and sends him on a series of quests that turn into a massive quest to save the world, though as he's trying to do this, he's also trying to earn his freedom. The game, like its predecessor, gets good reviews, and sells much more strongly in Japan than in the States, though it does decently here as well due to its good graphics and well received storyline and characters.
Rayman Legends
Released alongside Goemon and Rayman (it even comes to the Connect, giving that handheld two Rayman games in one summer), Rayman Legends is a sidescrolling platformer quite similar to OTL's game in terms of both plot and gameplay. It was developed by a different team from the Goemon and Rayman title, and plays more like a traditional Rayman game, drawing a strong contrast between the two. In the Connect version of the game, it's possible to unlock some fun bonuses with a Goemon and Rayman save, with a completed save allowing Rayman to battle the final boss of Goemon and Rayman in this game. Rayman Legends achieves very strong reviews, similar to OTL's title, and while it doesn't outsell Goemon and Rayman in Japan (obviously), it outsells it in both North America and Europe on the Connect alone, while its console versions also do quite well.
The Lobotomized III
An intensely dark survival horror game developed by Take-Two Interactive, it's the first title in the series to appear on the eighth generation consoles, and features significantly upgraded graphics and different gameplay. It takes place in an asylum in the 1940s, and has little to do with the events of the original two games, focusing instead on a new story featuring a brand new protagonist, Russell. Russell has been condemned to the asylum for getting into too many fights as a youth, though it's also implied that his parents sent him there at the behest of his older brother to avoid embarrassment to the family. Russell makes a close friend, Fred, in the facility, but learns that Fred is due to undergo lobotomization, and wishes to save him from that procedure by any means necessary. However, the asylum doctors are secretly conducting deadly experiments under the cloak of night, and Russell becomes determined to not only save his friend but to help them both escape, even as the asylum turns into a horrific nightmare around him. From Russell's manner of speech to his movements, the player learns that Russell himself has undergone lobotomization, though the procedure was only partially completed, and left him with some shreds of his old self. However, this becomes a major part of the overall gameplay, with Russell occasionally suffering from impairment or delusions, making it trickier for the player. The game works to tie in “interface screws” with the overall narrative of the game, allowing for free movement most of the time, but taking that movement away when it serves the game's story. The player is also never quite sure that what they're seeing is real or a delusion, and they'll find scraps of Russell's journal after every action segment, shedding light on the asylum mystery and Russell's inner thoughts. The game frequently switches from moments of banality and normalcy to moments of intense and vivid terror, and seeks actively to make the player feel as scared and disoriented as Russell. Eventually, Russell manages to save Fred from the lobotomization procedure, but the two are separated, and Russell must find Fred again before he is captured and killed by the evil doctors. Eventually, Russell learns the truth about everything happening in the asylum: nothing out of the ordinary is happening, and that Russell has suffered from delusions and paranoia his entire life. The lobotomization made the delusions worse, and though the game emphasizes that Russell did the right thing by saving Fred (as well intentioned as the doctors actually were, the procedure is still wrong), he wasn't in his right mind, and murdered a number of innocent people at the facility, while his brother is actually a kind and loving soul who did what he thought was best for his brother. However, though Russell is still extremely mentally disturbed, and is locked up thinking the doctors are still trying to kill him, it's implied that the facility will end its lobotomizations and will work to treat its patients with more effective and helpful procedures in the future, thus making the game's ending a happy one overall, though still a tragic one for Russell, who ended up being the real “villain” of the game.
The Lobotomized III is given mostly positive critical reviews, though not quite on the level of the first two games, with most critics considering the twist to be somewhat of a letdown. It's still a major financial success, giving Take-Two two such games after the success of Grand Theft Auto III during the previous month. The franchise will continue, likely taking another multi-year gap to craft a new game that can exceed the third in critical reception.
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Top Selling New Console Games In North America (in terms of sales over the first four weeks of release):
July 2014:
1. Donkey Kong Krew (Nintendo Reality)
2. Blackheart 666 (Nintendo Reality)
3. Blackheart 666 (Apple Virtua)
4. One Man: The Worst Nightmare (Nintendo Reality)
5. Deep Down (Apple Virtua)
August 2014:
1. Grand Theft Auto III (Nintendo Reality)
2. Grand Theft Auto III (Apple Virtua)
3. Grand Theft Auto III (Google Nexus)
4. Fallout: The Swamp (Nintendo Reality)
5. Fallout: The Swamp (Apple Virtua)
September 2014:
1. The Lobotomized III (Nintendo Reality)
2. Sepulchre (Apple Virtua)
3. The Lobotomized III (Apple Virtua)
4. Sepulchre (Nintendo Reality)
5. Among The Dead 2 (Nintendo Reality)
Nintendo Direct - October 7, 2014
Today's Nintendo Direct is the second in the last month, following the September 16th Nintendo Direct, which focused entirely on Squad Four Betrayal. The presentation started with Satoru Iwata greeting the viewers, and thanking them for their support after he was unable to attend E3 2014 due to a health situation. He then introduced a brand new game coming next year to the Nintendo Reality, and then a video trailer for the game started to play. The new game takes place in a big, fantasy-styled town, populated by young people wielding magic wands. These wands are capable of firing off spells of different elements, including water, lightning, grass, and fire, among others. The students are highly competitive, and have magic competitions often, battling one another across town, causing chaos and mischief as they go. The kids can also team up to battle large creatures, with each kid wielding a different type of magic. The game is bright, colorful, and exciting, and the trailer is highly energetic, with a big focus on fun. The game's title is then revealed as Elemancers, and the tagline "Unleash The Magic Within!" is shown, along with a 2015 release year. Iwata then discussed more elements of Elemancers, showing off the gameplay, which takes the form of a sort of first person shooter type game with spells instead of weapons, and includes competitive battle modes and co-op campaign modes, along with a single player mode. There are twelve different kids, each with their own unique elemental power, with more promised to be introduced after the game's release. Elemancers is shaping up to be one of Nintendo's big new first party IPs of this generation, and it'll be exciting to see how this game shakes out on the Reality. Iwata then introduced Shawn Layden from Nintendo of America, who briefly discussed another new Nintendo exclusive, coming next month to the Reality: Freedom Wars, an action RPG about a futuristic dystopia in which human beings are imprisoned in cities called Panopticons, forced to volunteer to battle in wars to gain their freedom. The title features fast paced hack and slash fighting alongside RPG-esque strategy and stat customization, and also makes significant use of the Reality's VR features, with players able to use the VR to experience the stifling restrictions on freedom that the Panopticons force upon their citizens. Freedom Wars hasn't gotten a lot of hype (it was shown off on the floor at E3 this year but wasn't featured in the keynote), but it's already launched in Japan to extremely strong sales, so it's expected to make at least a decent splash in the States. After the quick Freedom Wars presentation, Layden then discussed the upcoming Super Mario title for the Nintendo Connect, Super Mario Dimensions 3. He segued to a video segment in which Katsuya Eguchi, along with the game's director, talked about the new worlds and features that players will be able to experience in the game when it launches next month. We basically got an expanded version of the E3 presentation, with more worlds being shown in detail, including a jungle world and a sports-themed world, and a lot of different minigames as well, with Mario able to build and then control a fighting robot, tend to a garden, and chase down Toads through a huge maze. The game promises to be the biggest 3-D Mario adventure yet, and looks very close to Super Mario Laboratory in overall graphical appearance, showing off the power of the Connect. The game also promises to have some incredible boss fights, including a battle against a band of rockin' Koopas and a mysterious caped villain who uses a sword capable of firing cutter blades at Mario. Super Mario Dimensions 3 is coming next month, and could be the best Connect game yet, rivaling Squad Four Betrayal for the year's most successful Nintendo game.
Next was a series of fairly rapid-fire game announcements/trailers/presentations, with a new Dr. Mario for the Reality leading off the proceedings. It sticks fairly close to the classic formula, though with full HD graphics and a slew of extra modes, including online gameplay. It's coming in February. Then, we got a disturbing trailer for the new Twisted Metal game, Twisted Metal Reality. As the name implies, it has a reality show setting, pitting 24 old and new characters alike in a winner take all deathmatch across a city full of criminals and hostages. This game ramps up the violence of the series beyond even the Chaos games, with the proceedings overseen by a sadistic new host. It's the same old car destruction game it's always been, but with a massive presentation upgrade, and of course, full VR. After that, a couple of quick videos for upcoming Connect titles. First, F-Zero: Relativistic, a brand new racing game in the series with a focus on pure speed and pure adrenaline, across a series of mind-bending, physics defying courses. The game looks absolutely insane, with the slickest racing in the series yet. This is no FIRESTORM: it's pure racing, and could well be the fastest and most challenging racing title ever made if it lives up to the trailer and gameplay footage we saw. Then we saw a quick trailer for Quintessence 2, the sequel to Argonaut's hit rail shooter. Nothing much seems to have changed from the original, though we're getting some brand new ships, worlds, and weapons, and the game should definitely please fans of the first game. After that, we got the obligatory indie showcase, with several titles announced to be coming to the Reality and Connect. Nothing really big was announced here, with a mix of ports of old titles and new game announcements, with The Talos Principle being the best looking game of the bunch (it's already coming to the Reality but was also confirmed for the Connect here). The indie showcase was followed by a quick segue to Eiji Aonuma and Takashi Tezuka, giving an update on the upcoming Legend Of Zelda, which is still headed to the Reality sometime next year. We got to see lots of new footage of the game, showing off some old areas completely remade into 3-D landscapes, and we also got to see some of the classic dungeons, which now have formal names and slightly altered layouts, with Level 1 now known as Winged Labyrinth, and Level 2 called Crescent Chamber. The world is now populated in areas it wasn't before, with new towns dotting the map, and some new enemies as well. This game appears to be coming along very quickly, and was likely in development for some time before the Reality's release. It's definitely the most beautiful looking Zelda yet, and we were very impressed with how everything feels strangely familiar despite all the changes to the original game.
We then saw Shawn Layden again, and after a brief introduction, he showed off a quick trailer for the upcoming Kingdom Quest IV. Though the game is slated to be a multiplatform title, the Reality version was announced first, and showed the heroes exploring some new worlds/parodies, including what looks like a parody of an Animal Crossing village with some strangely disturbing residents. What stands out most about Kingdom Quest IV is the graphics: it definitely takes advantage of the Reality's capabilities, with the worlds we got to see looking absolutely beautiful, and some gorgeous character models as well. After the Kingdom Quest IV presentation came a few third party announcements, including Mortal Kombat Eternal, Collapse Of Stonewall, and most notably, Revenge At Chernobyl, an FPS zombie title with Soviet soldiers turned undead, battling against American troops in a cross between Dawn Of The Dead and World War III. The trailer showed off the game's Reality-exclusive VR mode, and we expect to have a blast with this one. We then got an announcement for Pokemon DawnAlpha and DuskOmega, coming to the Connect in March and featuring a fully 3-D world much like the world in Order and Chaos, with a fully voice acted storyline and some new gameplay twists. We got to spend a few minutes looking at this game, seeing all the new features, though the game will follow the same basic formula as the originals. All six generations of Pokemon are included, giving us some brand new team possibilities to take on these classic Pokemon adventures. Following that, we transitioned to a video with Masahiro Sakurai, in which he talked about his work on the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Reality. He said that he's been distracted with another game lately, and showed that he was playing Polymorph 2, his way of announcing that the protagonist of that game, Morpho, would be making his way into Smash Bros. as a playable character, the second new character announced for the game. We then got to see the game in action, showing off some new gameplay modes, including an RPG-like adventure mode called Smash Quest, in which players would accumulate experience points for their chosen hero as they progressed through a multi-world adventure to gain treasure and battle evil. He said that he got the idea for Smash Quest while working on the recent Kirby game, and said that he's been getting inspiration all over the place lately. Finally, just when it seemed like the end of Sakurai's presentation, he revealed one more video... and after a bit of teasing, we saw Little Mac punch his way onto the scene, revealing the Punch-Out star as the game's third new playable character. After this, Sakurai wished players well, and turned it back over to Satoru Iwata. Iwata thanked the viewers for watching, and asked them to stay just a bit longer for one more trailer...
-
(Authors' Note: The following trailer was given to us by the reader jolou!)
*A relaxing soundtrack can be heard in the background to show the happiness and quietness of the situation.
Voices of soldiers speaking can be heard in the background as we can see a fighter flying in the skies, we can see others trying to reach it. The group then begins their ascent and it is revealed that they were toys for children doing a race. As they laugh amongst themselves, a girl is watching the skies from a building nearby where several shuttles and planes are making their ways across the beautiful blue sky of Earth. But the daydreaming of the girl was stopped. Suddenly, the music stops, we can only hear a static sound with a multitude of voices speaking in several languages at the same time.
Everything is in flames in the sky, everything up there is destroyed as thousands and thousands of Taygetan fighters enter the atmosphere with bombers launching their bombs regardless of the position. We simply see the girl's teddy bear being blown from the building as it exploded. On the street, the group of children flees in any direction possible as we have our first idea of the location of the action. Paris is burning. We can see the Eiffel Tower falling on thousands of scared citizens. The image is suddenly divided into several 24/7 News Shows which show that the attack is global and destruction happens everywhere and one by one all their screens are turning off. A group of civilians are chained by Taygetan Soldiers and we can see one of the children amongst them. As they are being walked to a Taygetan shuttle, they are ambushed by another Taygetan who manages to win the altercation killing every single soldier.
On another street, the soldiers are putting civilians on shuttles and others are escaping to below the city. As we go to the catacombs, we can see a timelapse of it, first frightened citizens then resistance and then, Taygetan soldiers arrive to force them out. And we return to the surface to find a changed Paris.
The city is ruined and has been abandoned for several decades. We can still see corpses and we find our way to the girl’s teddy bear and the toys used by the children.
But the Earth isn’t forgotten and Mathew Fullington picks up the toy and looks determined to end the war in the way to the lights of the Taygetan Colonies. Behind him, Soldiers and his companions and in the sky, everything you need to fight a war in the space era. Shuttles, Bombers, and Fighters in the color of the Selene enter into dogfights with their Taygetan equivalent creating a fascinating set of explosions.*
TAKE
*Mathew is taking the lead to charge a Taygetan position bypassing long destroyed cars and busses and killing with his weapon two enemy soldiers.*
EARTH
*Joe is seen controlling the Nautilus above Paris' skyline making one building fall on his Taygetan followers*
BACK
*Mathew and his team watch the Taygetan Colony from above. He looks at them and they all run for it.*
SELENE 3
COMING 2015
-
The Selene 3 trailer ends the Nintendo Direct, and while much of the coverage went to games we already knew about, we did get some decent surprises in this one as well, with Elemancers being the biggest reveal of the presentation. Nintendo's 2015 is shaping up to be quite strong indeed, and we're hoping the next Direct brings some information about games we might be expecting for 2016.
-from Super Nintendo CD Chalmers' Nintendo blog update on October 7, 2014
Next was a series of fairly rapid-fire game announcements/trailers/presentations, with a new Dr. Mario for the Reality leading off the proceedings. It sticks fairly close to the classic formula, though with full HD graphics and a slew of extra modes, including online gameplay. It's coming in February. Then, we got a disturbing trailer for the new Twisted Metal game, Twisted Metal Reality. As the name implies, it has a reality show setting, pitting 24 old and new characters alike in a winner take all deathmatch across a city full of criminals and hostages. This game ramps up the violence of the series beyond even the Chaos games, with the proceedings overseen by a sadistic new host. It's the same old car destruction game it's always been, but with a massive presentation upgrade, and of course, full VR. After that, a couple of quick videos for upcoming Connect titles. First, F-Zero: Relativistic, a brand new racing game in the series with a focus on pure speed and pure adrenaline, across a series of mind-bending, physics defying courses. The game looks absolutely insane, with the slickest racing in the series yet. This is no FIRESTORM: it's pure racing, and could well be the fastest and most challenging racing title ever made if it lives up to the trailer and gameplay footage we saw. Then we saw a quick trailer for Quintessence 2, the sequel to Argonaut's hit rail shooter. Nothing much seems to have changed from the original, though we're getting some brand new ships, worlds, and weapons, and the game should definitely please fans of the first game. After that, we got the obligatory indie showcase, with several titles announced to be coming to the Reality and Connect. Nothing really big was announced here, with a mix of ports of old titles and new game announcements, with The Talos Principle being the best looking game of the bunch (it's already coming to the Reality but was also confirmed for the Connect here). The indie showcase was followed by a quick segue to Eiji Aonuma and Takashi Tezuka, giving an update on the upcoming Legend Of Zelda, which is still headed to the Reality sometime next year. We got to see lots of new footage of the game, showing off some old areas completely remade into 3-D landscapes, and we also got to see some of the classic dungeons, which now have formal names and slightly altered layouts, with Level 1 now known as Winged Labyrinth, and Level 2 called Crescent Chamber. The world is now populated in areas it wasn't before, with new towns dotting the map, and some new enemies as well. This game appears to be coming along very quickly, and was likely in development for some time before the Reality's release. It's definitely the most beautiful looking Zelda yet, and we were very impressed with how everything feels strangely familiar despite all the changes to the original game.
We then saw Shawn Layden again, and after a brief introduction, he showed off a quick trailer for the upcoming Kingdom Quest IV. Though the game is slated to be a multiplatform title, the Reality version was announced first, and showed the heroes exploring some new worlds/parodies, including what looks like a parody of an Animal Crossing village with some strangely disturbing residents. What stands out most about Kingdom Quest IV is the graphics: it definitely takes advantage of the Reality's capabilities, with the worlds we got to see looking absolutely beautiful, and some gorgeous character models as well. After the Kingdom Quest IV presentation came a few third party announcements, including Mortal Kombat Eternal, Collapse Of Stonewall, and most notably, Revenge At Chernobyl, an FPS zombie title with Soviet soldiers turned undead, battling against American troops in a cross between Dawn Of The Dead and World War III. The trailer showed off the game's Reality-exclusive VR mode, and we expect to have a blast with this one. We then got an announcement for Pokemon DawnAlpha and DuskOmega, coming to the Connect in March and featuring a fully 3-D world much like the world in Order and Chaos, with a fully voice acted storyline and some new gameplay twists. We got to spend a few minutes looking at this game, seeing all the new features, though the game will follow the same basic formula as the originals. All six generations of Pokemon are included, giving us some brand new team possibilities to take on these classic Pokemon adventures. Following that, we transitioned to a video with Masahiro Sakurai, in which he talked about his work on the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Reality. He said that he's been distracted with another game lately, and showed that he was playing Polymorph 2, his way of announcing that the protagonist of that game, Morpho, would be making his way into Smash Bros. as a playable character, the second new character announced for the game. We then got to see the game in action, showing off some new gameplay modes, including an RPG-like adventure mode called Smash Quest, in which players would accumulate experience points for their chosen hero as they progressed through a multi-world adventure to gain treasure and battle evil. He said that he got the idea for Smash Quest while working on the recent Kirby game, and said that he's been getting inspiration all over the place lately. Finally, just when it seemed like the end of Sakurai's presentation, he revealed one more video... and after a bit of teasing, we saw Little Mac punch his way onto the scene, revealing the Punch-Out star as the game's third new playable character. After this, Sakurai wished players well, and turned it back over to Satoru Iwata. Iwata thanked the viewers for watching, and asked them to stay just a bit longer for one more trailer...
-
(Authors' Note: The following trailer was given to us by the reader jolou!)
*A relaxing soundtrack can be heard in the background to show the happiness and quietness of the situation.
Voices of soldiers speaking can be heard in the background as we can see a fighter flying in the skies, we can see others trying to reach it. The group then begins their ascent and it is revealed that they were toys for children doing a race. As they laugh amongst themselves, a girl is watching the skies from a building nearby where several shuttles and planes are making their ways across the beautiful blue sky of Earth. But the daydreaming of the girl was stopped. Suddenly, the music stops, we can only hear a static sound with a multitude of voices speaking in several languages at the same time.
Everything is in flames in the sky, everything up there is destroyed as thousands and thousands of Taygetan fighters enter the atmosphere with bombers launching their bombs regardless of the position. We simply see the girl's teddy bear being blown from the building as it exploded. On the street, the group of children flees in any direction possible as we have our first idea of the location of the action. Paris is burning. We can see the Eiffel Tower falling on thousands of scared citizens. The image is suddenly divided into several 24/7 News Shows which show that the attack is global and destruction happens everywhere and one by one all their screens are turning off. A group of civilians are chained by Taygetan Soldiers and we can see one of the children amongst them. As they are being walked to a Taygetan shuttle, they are ambushed by another Taygetan who manages to win the altercation killing every single soldier.
On another street, the soldiers are putting civilians on shuttles and others are escaping to below the city. As we go to the catacombs, we can see a timelapse of it, first frightened citizens then resistance and then, Taygetan soldiers arrive to force them out. And we return to the surface to find a changed Paris.
The city is ruined and has been abandoned for several decades. We can still see corpses and we find our way to the girl’s teddy bear and the toys used by the children.
But the Earth isn’t forgotten and Mathew Fullington picks up the toy and looks determined to end the war in the way to the lights of the Taygetan Colonies. Behind him, Soldiers and his companions and in the sky, everything you need to fight a war in the space era. Shuttles, Bombers, and Fighters in the color of the Selene enter into dogfights with their Taygetan equivalent creating a fascinating set of explosions.*
TAKE
*Mathew is taking the lead to charge a Taygetan position bypassing long destroyed cars and busses and killing with his weapon two enemy soldiers.*
EARTH
*Joe is seen controlling the Nautilus above Paris' skyline making one building fall on his Taygetan followers*
BACK
*Mathew and his team watch the Taygetan Colony from above. He looks at them and they all run for it.*
SELENE 3
COMING 2015
-
The Selene 3 trailer ends the Nintendo Direct, and while much of the coverage went to games we already knew about, we did get some decent surprises in this one as well, with Elemancers being the biggest reveal of the presentation. Nintendo's 2015 is shaping up to be quite strong indeed, and we're hoping the next Direct brings some information about games we might be expecting for 2016.
-from Super Nintendo CD Chalmers' Nintendo blog update on October 7, 2014
As always, that is testament of ry own writing, how you feel our gametv buddy as part of us, they existed along us and poor brittany, she is a reminder how lethal cancer is.
Fall 2014 (Part 1) - Squad Four Betrayal
Squad Four Betrayal
Squad Four Betrayal is an action/adventure game exclusively for the Nintendo Reality, developed by Argonaut and published by Nintendo. It's the sixth console game in the series, and the eighth game overall (ninth if you count Star Fox: Heroic Universe). Taking place about a year after 2009's Squad Four Protectors, the game sees its team of four heroes battle against a powerful interplanetary seperatist group called the Corruptors, while intel that one of them has betrayed the team and the galaxy to the Corruptors hangs over their heads. The series returns to a more linear, traditional style of adventure game similar to the earlier Rebellion and Upheaval, rather than the more mission-based hack and slash of Protectors. However, Argonaut has made important changes to the combat system, progression style, and mission structure of the game in an effort to advance the series beyond the Rebellion/Upheaval style, which had become somewhat dated by the time of Upheaval's release. Combat has been retooled to be more organic, realistic, and strategic, and each of the game's four playable characters has been retooled as well, keeping their classic loadouts but adapting their combat style to that of the new game. Like in previous titles, players can choose between a melee or ranged approach to combat, and these two styles can be switched between at the touch of a button, with special “combination” moves that can allow moves utilizing both approaches at once. Characters will instinctively strike at an enemy's weak spot, though when combat begins, the character may attempt to “feel out” an enemy, and if their attacks are being blocked, they'll try for another move using the same button press. With ranged attacks, cover is also automatic when near an object that can be ducked behind, and it's possible to use lock-on or free shooting. Characters can also shoot at objects rather than opponents themselves, and can sometimes dislodge or detonate something that's struck. It's also possible to aim at specific points on an enemy, such as a headshot or a disarming shot. Combat has been designed to reward skill while also guiding players, so timing is more important than aim, and blocking/parrying/takedowns are also a major part of fighting. The result of this is slick, realistic combat that differs from fight to fight, even when battling the same type of enemy you've faced many times before. There's also been a major change to character advancement: persistent upgrades are introduced to the series for the first time, so it's possible to “level up” and advance along a skill tree. Every enemy defeated and mission completed awards credits which can be redeemed for different power-ups, and credits can also be found in treasure chests. Each character has their own separate health and special meters which can be upgraded, and also has a skill tree which updates along two different branches. Each branch doesn't represent “melee” or “ranged” (melee/ranged upgrades can appear on either branch), but instead represents a “core” playstyle for each character, and players are encouraged to upgrade the branch that best suits their style of play.
Shad: Utilizes a speedy pistol for ranged attacks and an average-speed laser sword for melee attacks. Shad is overall a “jack of all trades” type of fighter meant for beginner players, but his upgrade trees allow for serious specialization...
Hit-And-Run: For players favoring a more cautious type of play, in which Shad darts in and out of combat, focusing on defense and careful strategic fighting, this tree is loaded with buffs to Shad's dodging and movement abilities.
Heroic: For players favoring a more offensively-inclined Shad, this tree allows him to power up his sword and gain more damage from firing his pistol from a standing position, rewarding players who like to end fights quickly.
Rebecca: Utilizes a sniper rifle for ranged attacks and a set of quick-slashing energy blades for melee attacks. Rebecca is a character for those who like attacking quickly and going for big damage all at once.
Critical: For players who want to do a lot of damage in one powerful burst, this tree powers up Rebecca's sniper rifle (at the expense of its rate of fire) and her special attack.
Hack And Slash: For players who like being able to attack more quickly and consistently, this tree gives Rebecca faster and more powerful basic attacks and allows them to use their sniper rifle more like an assault rifle.
Marcus: Utilizes a shotgun for ranged attacks and an axe for melee. Marcus is quite powerful, but also quite slow, the tankiest character in the game but also one who can take out weak enemies quite fast.
Big Bully: Designed to bulk up Marcus as much as possible, with big buffs to HP and attacking power, though not a lot of speed buffs. For players who want to get up close and personal with enemies.
Lightning Fist: For players who prefer to play Marcus a little bit faster, this allows players to duck and dive with big blows at the expense of some of Marcus' durability.
Lane: Utilizes a lightning cannon for ranged attacks and a taser for melee. Definitely the character with the highest skill floor and ceiling, capable of laying lots of traps, but not capable of doing a lot of damage normally.
Mad Genius: For those who REALLY like using Lane's traps, this tree allows for a lot of synergy and strategic play, rewarding players who are able to use Lane to the fullest, with lots of new skills and damage boosts for them.
Zap!: For those who prefer using Lane in a more traditional way, this gives enhancements to his normal ranged and melee weapons, and while it makes him a more one-dimensional character, it also allows newer players to have fun with him.
Players aren't required to pick one tree and stick with it: it's possible to mix and match and develop both trees equally if one so chooses, and some skills are located between both trees to allow players going for either route to pick it easily. Respeccing is also fairly easy, costing a relatively small amount of credits between missions. It's even possible, with a TON of grinding/replaying missions, to get every single skill on every single character. Credits earned by playing with one character are given to all characters, and they're not shared, so you can earn 2000 credits with Marcus and then spend 2000 credits on everyone's skill tree if you wish.
Squad Four Betrayal's mission structure is a bit different from that of previous games: it's divided into eight chapters, with a total of 46 missions. That's a lot more missions than in any other previous Squad Four game, but missions are shorter than they were in previous games, so it balances out a bit (though in terms of overall campaign content, Betrayal is the longest game in the series to date). Missions are also a bit more linear overall, with less exploration (though there are a few missions that ask players to explore). Every single mission, save for a few that are boss/event only, have ways to go off the beaten path, so it's not as linear as other games of its time, and there are quite a few secrets/easter eggs to be found for players curious enough to look. Like in previous games, most missions allow you a bit of leeway in picking a playable character, and in some missions (when characters are traveling together), it's even possible to switch characters at any time. Only a few missions require a specific character. It's also possible to go back and replay missions to grind credits or look for secrets. As for the game's use of VR, it's possible to play completely without VR at all, but it's also possible to use the VR in a variety of ways: entirely first person, entirely third person, or even using the VR only to look around in cutscenes, with the rest of the game able to be played normally. Squad Four Betrayal has a strong voice cast, with the classic team all reprising their roles (Charles Martinet as Shad, Deedee Magno Hall as Rebecca, Michael Riesz as Marcus, and Tom Kenny as Lane), along with Erin Fitzgerald returning as the team's AI companion Evangelyne. Dr. Adia Remiel (from Squad Four Declassified) also returns, voiced by Wendie Malick. President Kline is voiced by Travis Willingham, while Arbiter One, the leader of the Corruptors, is voiced by David Sobolov. Squad Four Betrayal breaks new ground for graphical detail in a console video game, with gorgeous high definition graphics for both gameplay and cutscenes, exceeding any OTL PS4/Xbox One title and setting a new standard for the Reality. The game's combat animation, in both gameplay and cutscenes, is directed by Monty Oum, who has created some truly spectacular fights for the game, ranging from brutal and pragmatic to spectacular and over the top, making them some of the more memorable moments in the entire series. The development of Squad Four Betrayal took place over five years, featuring a mix of Argonaut's old guard and its new blood, and represents the culmination of an effort even larger than that of Star Fox: Heroic Universe. The soundtrack was composed by Bear McCreary and The Flight, while Steve Conte performed the game's main theme, “Back To Where It All Began”, which is heard during the ending credits.
Squad Four Betrayal takes place amidst a growing unrest in the galaxy, with the Lockstar government increasingly besieged by attacks and propaganda circulated by an army known as the Corruptors, an alliance of humans, other sentient beings, and AI constructs who advocate the toppling of the Lockstar government. They began to gain a foothold after the events of Rebellion, continued to gather power during the galactic turmoil of Upheaval, and were present in Protectors in the form of various small rebel/criminal groups, but by the time of Betrayal, they had grown into a significant force, somewhat like the Confederacy of Independent Systems from the Star Wars prequels. Squad Four has been battling them fairly successfully, but their rhetoric has begun to win them powerful allies, and there have been numerous high profile defections from Lockstar's army and government. President Stroma resigned over her failure to handle the crisis properly, and the new president, Bartholomew Kline, is taking a hardline stance that is winning back planets but also causing more defections. Even Squad Four has expressed some misgivings over his handling of the situation, but as the game begins, they continue to do their job with a focus on protecting civilians regardless of their allegiance.
Chapter One: The Fateful File (Missions 1-5)
Chapter One serves as an introduction to the game and the new combat systems, as well as a way to establish where the team is at as of the beginning of the game's events. While their bond is as strong as ever (and the game will spend a great deal of time establishing each of the six relationships among the four main characters, as well as establishing each character's individual motivations), there are still some cracks and disputes, with Shad and Marcus still butting heads at times, Rebecca dissenting somewhat from both of them, and Lane determined to prove his worth, believing he's not quite the hero that the other three are. The first few missions are action packed, focusing on an assault against a Corruptor stronghold on a desolate moon believed to be of key strategic importance. Mission 5 sees the squad assaulting a citadel, but encountering only token resistance when compared to the large boss monster fought in Mission 4. This leads to the discovery of the intel indicating that one member of the team is a traitor. They report back to Kline with these disturbing findings.
Chapter Two: A Method To Madness (Missions 6-12)
With one of Squad Four suspected as the traitor, some in the Lockstar military want the whole team locked up, but Kline, remembering the events of Rebellion, knows that Squad Four's loyalty is unimpeachable, even with the intel, and that if one of them was a traitor, the other three could be trusted to stop them. He decides to allow business to continue as usual for the team, and sends them on a series of missions to root out more Corruptor spies. The team stays together for the most part during these missions to a pair of distant worlds, though tensions seem to be increasing as the team starts to distrust one another. We also see that each of them have their own separate agenda and contacts apart from the rest of the team: Shad has been visiting with an old mentor to keep his skills sharp, only to learn his old mentor has Corruptor sympathies, Marcus has been privately pondering leaving the team, believing that Shad's leadership is holding him back, Rebecca continues to visit with Dr. Remiel, who has been dabbling in illicit AI research, and Lane has been keeping inventions and weapons secret from the team. Each of these agendas is explored in depth in the coming chapters, and each of them starts to coalesce into a reason why one of them might betray the others. The team manages to track down and capture a key Corruptor leader, though their celebration is short lived, as Arbiter One soon shows up with a massive army, ambushing the team. The four are captured and separated from one another.
Chapter Three: The Great Schism (Missions 13-18)
It doesn't take long for Squad Four to reunite, with each member escaping their individual captivity. However, the happy reunion is short lived, as each one seems to have gotten evidence implicating another member of the team. Meanwhile, the Corruptors begin an all out assault against Lockstar, and with Squad Four gone, the planet takes a beating. During this chapter, and the first half of Chapter Four, the game makes a compelling case for any one of the team to be the traitor, with each member of Squad Four acting suspiciously at some point. They all decide to go their own separate ways, with Shad reporting back to Kline, Marcus going off on his own to try and take down Arbiter One himself, Rebecca retreating back to Dr. Remiel's, and Lane making a deal with a shady Corruptor weapons dealer. While each of them completes their own individual mission, the future of their team is heavily in doubt.
Chapter Four: The Mother Of Invention (Missions 19-24)
Missions 19, 20, and 21 see the team continue to be separated from one another, but in Mission 22, all of the plot threads come together, and the team reunites for good and starts working together again to repel the assault against Lockstar. Missions 23-24 are a massive battle between the team and an invading Corruptor army, and for all the shadiness and potential villainy displayed by the team in the last few missions, they each get a heroic moment to shine in this battle. The final battle of the chapter pits all four members of the team against an enormous tank-mecha hybrid piloted by the Corruptors' second in command, and not only do they defeat the mech and stop the threat to Lockstar, but an important Corruptor figure has been destroyed, reducing the Corruptor threat dramatically. It's also revealed that there may not be a traitor after all, with a bit of intel showing that the Corruptors may have just made up a rumor to foment discord amongst the team. With the Corruptors in retreat, the next mission is to pursue and either capture or terminate Arbiter One. Squad Four takes on the task of hunting him down, but even with the hope that there's no traitor after all, the mission ends with the ominous reveal that someone is still passing along intel to Arbiter One...
Chapter Five: Veritas (Missions 25-29)
This chapter sees Squad Four split up to track down two leads: Shad and Marcus head to a city/marketplace called Carnian, where a Corruptor sleeper cell is thought to be operating, while Rebecca and Lane travel together to take out the Corruptors' AI gestalt, which, if successful, will cripple their robotic forces. Shad and Marcus' segments are action packed, with lots of close quarters combat and chases, though they're also action packed for another reason: the partnership between the two deteriorates and they nearly come to blows. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Lane's segments have more sneaking and AI battles, while the two are getting along much nicer, though Lane has never felt more inadequate as he watches Rebecca's skill in dismantling the AI resistance the two face. Shad and Marcus' mission takes a turn when Marcus meets up with an old friend who turns out to be the leader of the Corruptor cell, and Shad finds himself all alone with Corruptors all around. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Lane seems to have bitten off more than they can chew as they are attacked by a massive robot, and after a ferocious boss battle, Lane abandons Rebecca. However, these two incidents turn out to be swerves: Marcus returns and saves Shad at the last minute (though the two are still arguing), while Lane left because he came up with an ingenious plan of disabling the AI. Mission 29 goes quite smoothly for the squad, but seems to have an ominous undertone, as if it's building to something... and indeed, it is. Lane is alone with the Corruptors' AI mainframe, and is about to disable it, when suddenly Rebecca points a gun at him and demands he stop what he's doing. The way the scene begins, it's impossible to tell whether this is because Rebecca is betraying Lane, or whether she's uncovered Lane as the traitor. However, from Rebecca's menacing tone and Lane's terrified realization as the scene progresses, it's clear that it's indeed Rebecca who has been working with the Corruptors this entire time. Lane eventually complies with Rebecca and asks her not to do anything rash... but Rebecca, showing a small amount of regret but for the most part cold and focused, shoots Lane in the head (this part is silhouetted, so nothing graphic is shown, but the imagery makes it clear that Rebecca executed Lane). It then shows Rebecca communicating directly with Arbiter One, telling him the mission has been completed, and showing Rebecca reversing Lane's actions and enhancing the Corruptors' AI rather than destroying it, causing a Corruptor resurgence throughout the galaxy as their robots gain new strength and some destroyed robots rebuild themselves. It's also shown throughout the game how Rebecca has been slowly sabotaging her team. We don't yet know her motivations as she leaves Lane's body where it fell, but we are left with the knowledge that Rebecca has betrayed her team and the galaxy.
Chapter Six: The Hunt For A Traitor (Missions 30-35)
Mission 30 shows Shad and Marcus' escape from Carnian, barely making it offworld with their lives after they are attacked by a robotic death squad. Mission 31 sees the two discover the truth: Rebecca is the traitor and Lane is dead, though it's also shown that Dr. Remiel didn't know anything of Rebecca's activities, and that she feels just as betrayed as Shad and Marcus do, while also offering to take custody of Lane's body so it can get a proper heroes' burial. Missions 32-35 involve the hunt for Rebecca, with Shad and Marcus personally offering to take responsibility for finding and bringing her to justice. Rebecca makes herself quite hard to find, leaving Corruptor squads of humans and robots in her wake, while Shad and Marcus continue to butt heads, with Marcus even punching Shad at one point. The punch, however, seems to be a wakeup call for Shad, who was in denial that Rebecca would ever betray the team, and convinces him to do what he must. The two finally pursue Rebecca to a desolate planet where she'd been planning to rendezvous with Arbiter One. They confront her in an ancient arena, where she explains her motivations for betraying the team. She believes the Corruptors know what's best for the galaxy, after years of Squad Four saving everyone, only for more chaos and destruction to occur in their wake. She gives a passionate justification for her actions, how the Corruptors will bring peace, how meaningless wars will end, how there won't be a need for Squad Four anymore. She's tired of fighting, she's tired of saving a small group of people while the rest of them die. She wants to save everyone, and the Corruptors, after all this time, are the only ones who can do that. She's shown to be in agony over killing Lane, but that if she didn't do it, she wouldn't be able to help the Corruptors complete their mission, and how all of them, including Lane, signed up to sacrifice their life to protect everyone. She then asks Shad and Marcus to join her, even if they can't ever forgive her for killing Lane. She asks them to let her show them the truth, but they both refuse, giving their own passionate speeches about heroism and freedom and how Rebecca is a traitor to all of that... it's easily the most emotional moment in the series, the conversation between the three, with all three of them shedding tears at some point during the exchange. However, at some point, the talking has to end... and that gives way to the climax of the game, the boss battle of Shad and Marcus vs. Rebecca. There are several stages to this fight: in some stages, Shad and Marcus fight together, in others, it's one of them fighting her while the other is temporarily incapacitated. The intense combat is seamlessly combined with cutscenes, probably Monty Oum's magnum opus up to this point (imagine your favorite fight scene in OTL's RWBY... now imagine something even better, that's what this fight is). The Rebecca fight is incredibly challenging as well, though it's also quite fair, and quite fun. Shad and Marcus, despite their anger at Rebecca's betrayal, are holding back... but Rebecca isn't, allowing her to fight on even footing with both of them at once. Eventually, however, Shad and Marcus win, and take Rebecca into custody. She's furious with them, even spitting at Shad at one point, and it's clear at the end of this chapter that Squad Four is broken forever.
Chapter Seven: Shattered (Missions 36-42)
Mission 36 sees Rebecca brought to Lockstar and interrogated, and she repeats her pro-Corruptor stance even in the face of intense questioning. Shad and Marcus have to briefly repel a Corruptor squad sent in to rescue her, but they do so easily. Rebecca's brainwaves are examined: she's not brainwashed, she really did betray the galaxy. Rebecca is sentenced to be executed for her crimes, something that Shad opposes but that Marcus reluctantly favors. The two are then sent on a mission to find Arbiter One, and they sadly agree, not wanting to be there to see their teammate executed. Mission 37, one of the longest missions in the game, is a somewhat easy one and also somewhat dialogue heavy, meant to give the player time to digest the revelation that Rebecca is a traitor and set to be executed, and also meant to give Shad and Marcus a chance to reconcile. It's a really nice "breather" mission that sees them work together to take down a big boss beastie at the end, but also has a dark undertone at the end, revealing that Arbiter One and the Corruptors are only a short time away from completing their plan to take over the galaxy. It also shows a still-unrepentant Rebecca, attempting to escape her captivity but being foiled in the attempt. Mission 38... begins with Lane, awakening in some kind of AI construct dimension, with Dr. Remiel communicating with him. Lane, or at least a part of him, is still alive, and Remiel guides him through, helping him solve some puzzles along the way. Lane continues through, solving puzzles and finding a way out... with the puzzles also giving him pieces of a message. He remains inside the construct at the end, but the message is revealed to be from Rebecca... telling him simply to stay asleep for a little while longer, and giving the player the first indication that Rebecca's betrayal isn't all it's cracked up to be. Mission 39 sees Shad and Marcus making their way back to Remiel's, which is being attacked by Corruptors. They fight off the Corruptors and learn that Lane isn't dead... and in Mission 40, Remiel, Shad, and Marcus are there as Lane wakes up. Remiel reluctantly reveals everything: Rebecca isn't a traitor. She never was, it was a long con. The weapon Rebecca used on Lane wasn't a firearm, it was one of Remiel's inventions designed to put someone's body in suspended animation while putting their brain in an AI construct world. Remiel refuses to say why Rebecca betrayed the team, but agrees to help them rescue her. Mission 41 is a massive rescue mission that sees Shad, Marcus, and Lane crash Rebecca's execution and spirit her off of Lockstar. Rebecca is furious with the team for rescuing her, believing they've doomed the galaxy by doing so... because the real threat to the galaxy isn't the Corruptors or Arbiter One: it's Squad Four's AI assistant, Evangelyne. Evangelyne has been secretly commanding the Corruptors, using them as a distraction while inserting herself into every AI system in the galaxy, in preparation for a decapitation strike against human leadership to enslave the galaxy. Sometime ago, shortly before the events of the game began, Rebecca and Remiel discovered a flaw in Evangelyne's programming that would eventually lead it to form a new prime directive: the pacification of humanity, which it viewed as an existential threat to universal survival. Remiel attempted to terminate Evangelyne, only to realize that doing so would be futile because it had already replicated itself into the cloud. In fact, any direct intervention by Squad Four or anyone else would be seen as a threat, causing Evangelyne to jumpstart its takeover plan. That's when Rebecca realized that the one thing Evangelyne hadn't accounted for in its planning was the defection of a Squad Four member to the enemy, as it had seen the team at its best and worst and had calculated betrayal to be impossible. Rebecca decided to betray the team, knowing full well the consequences of doing so, willing to risk her own freedom and even her life to prevent Evangelyne from succeeding. The AI program she loaded after "killing" Lane was actually a program to temporarily "blind" Evangelyne, stalling its plans long enough for Remiel to hopefully be able to come up with a way to warn Squad Four about it or stop it herself. However, in preventing her execution, her teammates have caused Evangelyne to realize the ruse, accelerating its plans again. Rebecca confides in her teammates that she contemplated killing herself after Remiel told her about Evangelyne's plans, as she saw no possible way to stop it. She thought about asking her teammates if they had another plan, but realized that warning them would risk the acceleration of Evangelyne's plan, and thus, decided that betrayal was her only option. She apologizes for everything, and doesn't ask for forgiveness, but in an emotional and heartwarming scene, Lane, Shad, and even Marcus all forgive Rebecca unconditionally, realizing that she only did what she did because the safety of the galaxy was at stake. Mission 42 (which starts with each team member getting some new branches added to their skill trees, so that the Rebecca/traitor/redemption twist isn't spoiled by large segments of the tree left unacquired after chapter five) sees the team escaping their Lockstar pursuers, though at the end of the mission, Kline decides to call off the pursuit, trusting that Shad, Marcus, and Lane had a good reason to rescue Rebecca, and devotes his army instead to repelling another attack from Corruptor forces, which are now activating all over the galaxy.
Chapter Eight: Fight For The Future (Missions 43-46)
The final four missions of the game follow Squad Four and their assault on an old space station, which has been re-activated and turned into a giant AI brain, which Evangelyne has downloaded herself onto. Arbiter One has made his way to this space station as well, realizing that he too has been tricked, but still opposed to the goals of Lockstar and Squad Four. In Mission 43, the team has to fight their way past a bunch of AI constructs to get inside the guts of the space station, and this is the first mission in which Evangelyne talks to the team from an antagonistic perspective, explaining her reasoning for her own betrayal. Again, Shad tries to talk her down, but she's having none of it: though she was once a friend to the team, she realizes that they are inadequately prepared to ensure peace in the galaxy, and that biological lifeforms themselves are inherently flawed. She proclaims that she wishes to make cyborgs of them, and though that would rob them of their free will, it's a small price to pay for becoming part of something larger, more beautiful. The team emphatically rejects her offers, and she reaffirms her determination to kill them. Mission 44 concludes with a battle against Arbiter One and his most loyal followers. He has his own plans to destroy Evangelyne, but this plan would involve the Corruptors gaining control of every piece of technology in the galaxy, and Squad Four isn't going to let that happen. Squad Four defeats Arbiter One, and as he lays dying, his true identity is revealed: he's Shad's old mentor. He reveals that it was Shad and his idealism that inspired him to create the Corruptors, but Shad rejects this, saying that his mentor's actions are a twisted perversion of everything he stood for. He says that he learned a lot from him, and that he's sorry it all had to end this way. Then, Shad's old mentor dies. The Corruptor leadership has been decapitated, but Evangelyne is still commanding an all-out Corruptor assault on Lockstar, using their remaining AI armies and projecting Arbiter One's voice to the remaining sentient Corruptor loyalists. Meanwhile, Evangelyne is taking control of AI systems throughout the galaxy, and is less than an hour away from achieving complete control, with Squad Four being the only ones who can stop her. Mission 45 sees the team breaking through her final defenses, while Mission 46 features an intense, multi-stage battle against Evangelyne herself, taking the form of a gigantic mechanical construct that the team must break through piece by piece. During this final battle, there's a stage for each of the four team members as well, before the final segment of the battle against a skittering spider-like cyborg with Evangelyne's mechanical brain inside of it. Once this final core is destroyed, Evangelyne is destroyed as well. The AI constructs deactivate, the remaining Corruptor loyalists are defeated and taken into custody, and the galaxy is saved. Squad Four returns to Lockstar for a hero's welcome... even Rebecca is included in the ceremony, though she appears despondent and ashamed as she is presented with an award. The squad returns to their ship, where Rebecca continues to express her remorse, and it's clear that even though Rebecca never intended to betray the team, and that her teammates have forgiven her, the scars of that betrayal are still there. Rebecca says that even though she took great pains not to seriously hurt or kill her teammates, she admits that she might have done so if she had no other choice, and asks if they can still forgive her even knowing that... to which Marcus responds by reminding Rebecca of the oath they all took, and that they all have to be willing to die to protect the galaxy and its people. The game then ends with two conversations... the first between Rebecca and Lane, in which Rebecca expresses that she doesn't know how Lane can forgive her after what she put him through...followed by Lane reassuring her and the two embracing, Rebecca promising Lane she'll never hurt him again, and that he's the strongest person she's ever known, to which Lane responds by telling Rebecca she's the strongest person on the team and that he loves her. Then, Shad and Marcus have a final conversation, in which Marcus admits that he's been too emotional about everything and that he shouldn't take unnecessary risks, followed by Shad admitting that he thinks Marcus would be a better leader because he wouldn't have been able to do what Rebecca did but Marcus would've. Marcus tells Shad that there's no perfect approach to leadership and that he thinks Shad is a great leader because he's so good at finding a different way to do things. The two reassert their friendship, and then the game ends with one final scene of the four teammates together, looking out at the stars as their ship flies through the cosmos to an unknown destination. Their team has been shaken like never before, but in the end, Squad Four still stands together to protect the galaxy, no matter what. The credits then roll, set to "Back To Where It All Began" performed by Steve Conte, followed by an orchestrated arrangement of the Squad Four main series theme.
Squad Four Betrayal is released worldwide on October 17, 2014, to immediate and universal critical acclaim. Most gaming websites award it a perfect score, while longtime fans of the series lavish praise on it like never before. The game is praised for its combat system (which some consider to be the best ever in a video game, breaking new ground for video game combat and perfectly combining the best elements of hack and slash games and third person shooters), its stunning graphical presentation, including its animation, its soundtrack (which serves to greatly enhance the emotion of critical scenes), its voice acting (with Deedee Magno Hall's performance as Rebecca winning particular praise, though as Steven Universe starts to get into its serious lore episodes, we'll hear arguably superior performances from her as Pearl), and particularly its storyline. The story, which spends a great deal of time on the motivations and relationships of all four of its main characters, while giving side characters like Kline, Remiel, and Arbiter One three dimensional characterizations and motivations as well, and making Evangelyne's sudden villain revelation believable and consistent even with her benevolent actions in Protectors, is considered by some to be the best ever written for a video game, and is compared even with some of the best movies of that year, breaking new ground in video game storytelling. With a 98.02% rating on Gamerankings and a 97 on Metacritic, it becomes the most highly critically praised video game since 2008's SimSociety, and overtakes Grand Theft Auto III as the Game of the Year frontrunner. It's considered a masterpiece at the highest echelon of video games, beating out Rebellion as the most beloved title in the series amongst critics and many fans. Its sales top 2.5 million worldwide on its first day of release, overtaking Squad Four Rebellion as the fastest selling game in the series and F-Zero: FIRESTORM as the fastest selling Reality game to date, and finishing second only to Grand Theft Auto III as the fastest selling title of the year. It would go on to sell nearly ten million total copies before the end of 2014, pushing Reality sales throughout the holiday season. Notably, the game helps to upsell many gamers on the more expensive VR version of the console, thanks to the game's impressive use of the Reality's VR capabilities. The game's release also kicks off an enormous debate about 2014's Game of the Year. Critics overwhelmingly favor Squad Four Betrayal, but gamers themselves are split fairly evenly between Squad Four Betrayal and Grand Theft Auto III (being a multiplatform title does help). Though the heated debate would rage throughout the remainder of the year, 2014 wasn't yet done with its bumper crop of excellent games...
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"After mom went into hospice care, the next day we got a call from Nintendo... they were offering to send a complete copy of Squad Four Betrayal, a month before launch, no questions asked. They knew she had been excited to play the game and offered to bring it to the hospital where we were staying, their only request being that she sign an NDA not to reveal spoilers or footage from the game. But... mom declined the offer. She said that she wanted to play the game at the same time as everybody else, once she'd gotten better. Right up to the end, she was fighting to get better. ...for the record, she thought that Shad would be the traitor, but she was right that it ended up being a swerve and that the traitor wasn't actually a traitor. I'm pretty sure she would've loved the game. It was the first game I played after mom died. I cheered, I laughed, I cried... I loved it for her. It helped me a lot, too."
-Regan Hardwick, from a post on her SnapShare (TTL's Instagram) page on October 17, 2019
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"Getting ready to launch Squad Four Apocalypse, but it's worth a look back at Betrayal, which proved to be an amazing learning experience and one of the most fulfilling professional achievements of my life so far. Working on this game was a huge challenge but seeing how much everyone loved the game and how moved all of you were by what we accomplished put such a smile on my face that it was completely worth all the sweat and tears. I was going through a bit of a rough patch in the months after the game's release, forced to delay a surgery after learning about an allergic condition, so my health wasn't so great, but reading all the praise and hearing from all of you saying how much you enjoyed the game made that time go a lot faster. Here's to hoping you all enjoy Apocalypse even more. Lots of love, always."
-Monty Oum, from a post on his SnapShare page on November 16, 2017
Squad Four Betrayal is an action/adventure game exclusively for the Nintendo Reality, developed by Argonaut and published by Nintendo. It's the sixth console game in the series, and the eighth game overall (ninth if you count Star Fox: Heroic Universe). Taking place about a year after 2009's Squad Four Protectors, the game sees its team of four heroes battle against a powerful interplanetary seperatist group called the Corruptors, while intel that one of them has betrayed the team and the galaxy to the Corruptors hangs over their heads. The series returns to a more linear, traditional style of adventure game similar to the earlier Rebellion and Upheaval, rather than the more mission-based hack and slash of Protectors. However, Argonaut has made important changes to the combat system, progression style, and mission structure of the game in an effort to advance the series beyond the Rebellion/Upheaval style, which had become somewhat dated by the time of Upheaval's release. Combat has been retooled to be more organic, realistic, and strategic, and each of the game's four playable characters has been retooled as well, keeping their classic loadouts but adapting their combat style to that of the new game. Like in previous titles, players can choose between a melee or ranged approach to combat, and these two styles can be switched between at the touch of a button, with special “combination” moves that can allow moves utilizing both approaches at once. Characters will instinctively strike at an enemy's weak spot, though when combat begins, the character may attempt to “feel out” an enemy, and if their attacks are being blocked, they'll try for another move using the same button press. With ranged attacks, cover is also automatic when near an object that can be ducked behind, and it's possible to use lock-on or free shooting. Characters can also shoot at objects rather than opponents themselves, and can sometimes dislodge or detonate something that's struck. It's also possible to aim at specific points on an enemy, such as a headshot or a disarming shot. Combat has been designed to reward skill while also guiding players, so timing is more important than aim, and blocking/parrying/takedowns are also a major part of fighting. The result of this is slick, realistic combat that differs from fight to fight, even when battling the same type of enemy you've faced many times before. There's also been a major change to character advancement: persistent upgrades are introduced to the series for the first time, so it's possible to “level up” and advance along a skill tree. Every enemy defeated and mission completed awards credits which can be redeemed for different power-ups, and credits can also be found in treasure chests. Each character has their own separate health and special meters which can be upgraded, and also has a skill tree which updates along two different branches. Each branch doesn't represent “melee” or “ranged” (melee/ranged upgrades can appear on either branch), but instead represents a “core” playstyle for each character, and players are encouraged to upgrade the branch that best suits their style of play.
Shad: Utilizes a speedy pistol for ranged attacks and an average-speed laser sword for melee attacks. Shad is overall a “jack of all trades” type of fighter meant for beginner players, but his upgrade trees allow for serious specialization...
Hit-And-Run: For players favoring a more cautious type of play, in which Shad darts in and out of combat, focusing on defense and careful strategic fighting, this tree is loaded with buffs to Shad's dodging and movement abilities.
Heroic: For players favoring a more offensively-inclined Shad, this tree allows him to power up his sword and gain more damage from firing his pistol from a standing position, rewarding players who like to end fights quickly.
Rebecca: Utilizes a sniper rifle for ranged attacks and a set of quick-slashing energy blades for melee attacks. Rebecca is a character for those who like attacking quickly and going for big damage all at once.
Critical: For players who want to do a lot of damage in one powerful burst, this tree powers up Rebecca's sniper rifle (at the expense of its rate of fire) and her special attack.
Hack And Slash: For players who like being able to attack more quickly and consistently, this tree gives Rebecca faster and more powerful basic attacks and allows them to use their sniper rifle more like an assault rifle.
Marcus: Utilizes a shotgun for ranged attacks and an axe for melee. Marcus is quite powerful, but also quite slow, the tankiest character in the game but also one who can take out weak enemies quite fast.
Big Bully: Designed to bulk up Marcus as much as possible, with big buffs to HP and attacking power, though not a lot of speed buffs. For players who want to get up close and personal with enemies.
Lightning Fist: For players who prefer to play Marcus a little bit faster, this allows players to duck and dive with big blows at the expense of some of Marcus' durability.
Lane: Utilizes a lightning cannon for ranged attacks and a taser for melee. Definitely the character with the highest skill floor and ceiling, capable of laying lots of traps, but not capable of doing a lot of damage normally.
Mad Genius: For those who REALLY like using Lane's traps, this tree allows for a lot of synergy and strategic play, rewarding players who are able to use Lane to the fullest, with lots of new skills and damage boosts for them.
Zap!: For those who prefer using Lane in a more traditional way, this gives enhancements to his normal ranged and melee weapons, and while it makes him a more one-dimensional character, it also allows newer players to have fun with him.
Players aren't required to pick one tree and stick with it: it's possible to mix and match and develop both trees equally if one so chooses, and some skills are located between both trees to allow players going for either route to pick it easily. Respeccing is also fairly easy, costing a relatively small amount of credits between missions. It's even possible, with a TON of grinding/replaying missions, to get every single skill on every single character. Credits earned by playing with one character are given to all characters, and they're not shared, so you can earn 2000 credits with Marcus and then spend 2000 credits on everyone's skill tree if you wish.
Squad Four Betrayal's mission structure is a bit different from that of previous games: it's divided into eight chapters, with a total of 46 missions. That's a lot more missions than in any other previous Squad Four game, but missions are shorter than they were in previous games, so it balances out a bit (though in terms of overall campaign content, Betrayal is the longest game in the series to date). Missions are also a bit more linear overall, with less exploration (though there are a few missions that ask players to explore). Every single mission, save for a few that are boss/event only, have ways to go off the beaten path, so it's not as linear as other games of its time, and there are quite a few secrets/easter eggs to be found for players curious enough to look. Like in previous games, most missions allow you a bit of leeway in picking a playable character, and in some missions (when characters are traveling together), it's even possible to switch characters at any time. Only a few missions require a specific character. It's also possible to go back and replay missions to grind credits or look for secrets. As for the game's use of VR, it's possible to play completely without VR at all, but it's also possible to use the VR in a variety of ways: entirely first person, entirely third person, or even using the VR only to look around in cutscenes, with the rest of the game able to be played normally. Squad Four Betrayal has a strong voice cast, with the classic team all reprising their roles (Charles Martinet as Shad, Deedee Magno Hall as Rebecca, Michael Riesz as Marcus, and Tom Kenny as Lane), along with Erin Fitzgerald returning as the team's AI companion Evangelyne. Dr. Adia Remiel (from Squad Four Declassified) also returns, voiced by Wendie Malick. President Kline is voiced by Travis Willingham, while Arbiter One, the leader of the Corruptors, is voiced by David Sobolov. Squad Four Betrayal breaks new ground for graphical detail in a console video game, with gorgeous high definition graphics for both gameplay and cutscenes, exceeding any OTL PS4/Xbox One title and setting a new standard for the Reality. The game's combat animation, in both gameplay and cutscenes, is directed by Monty Oum, who has created some truly spectacular fights for the game, ranging from brutal and pragmatic to spectacular and over the top, making them some of the more memorable moments in the entire series. The development of Squad Four Betrayal took place over five years, featuring a mix of Argonaut's old guard and its new blood, and represents the culmination of an effort even larger than that of Star Fox: Heroic Universe. The soundtrack was composed by Bear McCreary and The Flight, while Steve Conte performed the game's main theme, “Back To Where It All Began”, which is heard during the ending credits.
Squad Four Betrayal takes place amidst a growing unrest in the galaxy, with the Lockstar government increasingly besieged by attacks and propaganda circulated by an army known as the Corruptors, an alliance of humans, other sentient beings, and AI constructs who advocate the toppling of the Lockstar government. They began to gain a foothold after the events of Rebellion, continued to gather power during the galactic turmoil of Upheaval, and were present in Protectors in the form of various small rebel/criminal groups, but by the time of Betrayal, they had grown into a significant force, somewhat like the Confederacy of Independent Systems from the Star Wars prequels. Squad Four has been battling them fairly successfully, but their rhetoric has begun to win them powerful allies, and there have been numerous high profile defections from Lockstar's army and government. President Stroma resigned over her failure to handle the crisis properly, and the new president, Bartholomew Kline, is taking a hardline stance that is winning back planets but also causing more defections. Even Squad Four has expressed some misgivings over his handling of the situation, but as the game begins, they continue to do their job with a focus on protecting civilians regardless of their allegiance.
Chapter One: The Fateful File (Missions 1-5)
Chapter One serves as an introduction to the game and the new combat systems, as well as a way to establish where the team is at as of the beginning of the game's events. While their bond is as strong as ever (and the game will spend a great deal of time establishing each of the six relationships among the four main characters, as well as establishing each character's individual motivations), there are still some cracks and disputes, with Shad and Marcus still butting heads at times, Rebecca dissenting somewhat from both of them, and Lane determined to prove his worth, believing he's not quite the hero that the other three are. The first few missions are action packed, focusing on an assault against a Corruptor stronghold on a desolate moon believed to be of key strategic importance. Mission 5 sees the squad assaulting a citadel, but encountering only token resistance when compared to the large boss monster fought in Mission 4. This leads to the discovery of the intel indicating that one member of the team is a traitor. They report back to Kline with these disturbing findings.
Chapter Two: A Method To Madness (Missions 6-12)
With one of Squad Four suspected as the traitor, some in the Lockstar military want the whole team locked up, but Kline, remembering the events of Rebellion, knows that Squad Four's loyalty is unimpeachable, even with the intel, and that if one of them was a traitor, the other three could be trusted to stop them. He decides to allow business to continue as usual for the team, and sends them on a series of missions to root out more Corruptor spies. The team stays together for the most part during these missions to a pair of distant worlds, though tensions seem to be increasing as the team starts to distrust one another. We also see that each of them have their own separate agenda and contacts apart from the rest of the team: Shad has been visiting with an old mentor to keep his skills sharp, only to learn his old mentor has Corruptor sympathies, Marcus has been privately pondering leaving the team, believing that Shad's leadership is holding him back, Rebecca continues to visit with Dr. Remiel, who has been dabbling in illicit AI research, and Lane has been keeping inventions and weapons secret from the team. Each of these agendas is explored in depth in the coming chapters, and each of them starts to coalesce into a reason why one of them might betray the others. The team manages to track down and capture a key Corruptor leader, though their celebration is short lived, as Arbiter One soon shows up with a massive army, ambushing the team. The four are captured and separated from one another.
Chapter Three: The Great Schism (Missions 13-18)
It doesn't take long for Squad Four to reunite, with each member escaping their individual captivity. However, the happy reunion is short lived, as each one seems to have gotten evidence implicating another member of the team. Meanwhile, the Corruptors begin an all out assault against Lockstar, and with Squad Four gone, the planet takes a beating. During this chapter, and the first half of Chapter Four, the game makes a compelling case for any one of the team to be the traitor, with each member of Squad Four acting suspiciously at some point. They all decide to go their own separate ways, with Shad reporting back to Kline, Marcus going off on his own to try and take down Arbiter One himself, Rebecca retreating back to Dr. Remiel's, and Lane making a deal with a shady Corruptor weapons dealer. While each of them completes their own individual mission, the future of their team is heavily in doubt.
Chapter Four: The Mother Of Invention (Missions 19-24)
Missions 19, 20, and 21 see the team continue to be separated from one another, but in Mission 22, all of the plot threads come together, and the team reunites for good and starts working together again to repel the assault against Lockstar. Missions 23-24 are a massive battle between the team and an invading Corruptor army, and for all the shadiness and potential villainy displayed by the team in the last few missions, they each get a heroic moment to shine in this battle. The final battle of the chapter pits all four members of the team against an enormous tank-mecha hybrid piloted by the Corruptors' second in command, and not only do they defeat the mech and stop the threat to Lockstar, but an important Corruptor figure has been destroyed, reducing the Corruptor threat dramatically. It's also revealed that there may not be a traitor after all, with a bit of intel showing that the Corruptors may have just made up a rumor to foment discord amongst the team. With the Corruptors in retreat, the next mission is to pursue and either capture or terminate Arbiter One. Squad Four takes on the task of hunting him down, but even with the hope that there's no traitor after all, the mission ends with the ominous reveal that someone is still passing along intel to Arbiter One...
Chapter Five: Veritas (Missions 25-29)
This chapter sees Squad Four split up to track down two leads: Shad and Marcus head to a city/marketplace called Carnian, where a Corruptor sleeper cell is thought to be operating, while Rebecca and Lane travel together to take out the Corruptors' AI gestalt, which, if successful, will cripple their robotic forces. Shad and Marcus' segments are action packed, with lots of close quarters combat and chases, though they're also action packed for another reason: the partnership between the two deteriorates and they nearly come to blows. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Lane's segments have more sneaking and AI battles, while the two are getting along much nicer, though Lane has never felt more inadequate as he watches Rebecca's skill in dismantling the AI resistance the two face. Shad and Marcus' mission takes a turn when Marcus meets up with an old friend who turns out to be the leader of the Corruptor cell, and Shad finds himself all alone with Corruptors all around. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Lane seems to have bitten off more than they can chew as they are attacked by a massive robot, and after a ferocious boss battle, Lane abandons Rebecca. However, these two incidents turn out to be swerves: Marcus returns and saves Shad at the last minute (though the two are still arguing), while Lane left because he came up with an ingenious plan of disabling the AI. Mission 29 goes quite smoothly for the squad, but seems to have an ominous undertone, as if it's building to something... and indeed, it is. Lane is alone with the Corruptors' AI mainframe, and is about to disable it, when suddenly Rebecca points a gun at him and demands he stop what he's doing. The way the scene begins, it's impossible to tell whether this is because Rebecca is betraying Lane, or whether she's uncovered Lane as the traitor. However, from Rebecca's menacing tone and Lane's terrified realization as the scene progresses, it's clear that it's indeed Rebecca who has been working with the Corruptors this entire time. Lane eventually complies with Rebecca and asks her not to do anything rash... but Rebecca, showing a small amount of regret but for the most part cold and focused, shoots Lane in the head (this part is silhouetted, so nothing graphic is shown, but the imagery makes it clear that Rebecca executed Lane). It then shows Rebecca communicating directly with Arbiter One, telling him the mission has been completed, and showing Rebecca reversing Lane's actions and enhancing the Corruptors' AI rather than destroying it, causing a Corruptor resurgence throughout the galaxy as their robots gain new strength and some destroyed robots rebuild themselves. It's also shown throughout the game how Rebecca has been slowly sabotaging her team. We don't yet know her motivations as she leaves Lane's body where it fell, but we are left with the knowledge that Rebecca has betrayed her team and the galaxy.
Chapter Six: The Hunt For A Traitor (Missions 30-35)
Mission 30 shows Shad and Marcus' escape from Carnian, barely making it offworld with their lives after they are attacked by a robotic death squad. Mission 31 sees the two discover the truth: Rebecca is the traitor and Lane is dead, though it's also shown that Dr. Remiel didn't know anything of Rebecca's activities, and that she feels just as betrayed as Shad and Marcus do, while also offering to take custody of Lane's body so it can get a proper heroes' burial. Missions 32-35 involve the hunt for Rebecca, with Shad and Marcus personally offering to take responsibility for finding and bringing her to justice. Rebecca makes herself quite hard to find, leaving Corruptor squads of humans and robots in her wake, while Shad and Marcus continue to butt heads, with Marcus even punching Shad at one point. The punch, however, seems to be a wakeup call for Shad, who was in denial that Rebecca would ever betray the team, and convinces him to do what he must. The two finally pursue Rebecca to a desolate planet where she'd been planning to rendezvous with Arbiter One. They confront her in an ancient arena, where she explains her motivations for betraying the team. She believes the Corruptors know what's best for the galaxy, after years of Squad Four saving everyone, only for more chaos and destruction to occur in their wake. She gives a passionate justification for her actions, how the Corruptors will bring peace, how meaningless wars will end, how there won't be a need for Squad Four anymore. She's tired of fighting, she's tired of saving a small group of people while the rest of them die. She wants to save everyone, and the Corruptors, after all this time, are the only ones who can do that. She's shown to be in agony over killing Lane, but that if she didn't do it, she wouldn't be able to help the Corruptors complete their mission, and how all of them, including Lane, signed up to sacrifice their life to protect everyone. She then asks Shad and Marcus to join her, even if they can't ever forgive her for killing Lane. She asks them to let her show them the truth, but they both refuse, giving their own passionate speeches about heroism and freedom and how Rebecca is a traitor to all of that... it's easily the most emotional moment in the series, the conversation between the three, with all three of them shedding tears at some point during the exchange. However, at some point, the talking has to end... and that gives way to the climax of the game, the boss battle of Shad and Marcus vs. Rebecca. There are several stages to this fight: in some stages, Shad and Marcus fight together, in others, it's one of them fighting her while the other is temporarily incapacitated. The intense combat is seamlessly combined with cutscenes, probably Monty Oum's magnum opus up to this point (imagine your favorite fight scene in OTL's RWBY... now imagine something even better, that's what this fight is). The Rebecca fight is incredibly challenging as well, though it's also quite fair, and quite fun. Shad and Marcus, despite their anger at Rebecca's betrayal, are holding back... but Rebecca isn't, allowing her to fight on even footing with both of them at once. Eventually, however, Shad and Marcus win, and take Rebecca into custody. She's furious with them, even spitting at Shad at one point, and it's clear at the end of this chapter that Squad Four is broken forever.
Chapter Seven: Shattered (Missions 36-42)
Mission 36 sees Rebecca brought to Lockstar and interrogated, and she repeats her pro-Corruptor stance even in the face of intense questioning. Shad and Marcus have to briefly repel a Corruptor squad sent in to rescue her, but they do so easily. Rebecca's brainwaves are examined: she's not brainwashed, she really did betray the galaxy. Rebecca is sentenced to be executed for her crimes, something that Shad opposes but that Marcus reluctantly favors. The two are then sent on a mission to find Arbiter One, and they sadly agree, not wanting to be there to see their teammate executed. Mission 37, one of the longest missions in the game, is a somewhat easy one and also somewhat dialogue heavy, meant to give the player time to digest the revelation that Rebecca is a traitor and set to be executed, and also meant to give Shad and Marcus a chance to reconcile. It's a really nice "breather" mission that sees them work together to take down a big boss beastie at the end, but also has a dark undertone at the end, revealing that Arbiter One and the Corruptors are only a short time away from completing their plan to take over the galaxy. It also shows a still-unrepentant Rebecca, attempting to escape her captivity but being foiled in the attempt. Mission 38... begins with Lane, awakening in some kind of AI construct dimension, with Dr. Remiel communicating with him. Lane, or at least a part of him, is still alive, and Remiel guides him through, helping him solve some puzzles along the way. Lane continues through, solving puzzles and finding a way out... with the puzzles also giving him pieces of a message. He remains inside the construct at the end, but the message is revealed to be from Rebecca... telling him simply to stay asleep for a little while longer, and giving the player the first indication that Rebecca's betrayal isn't all it's cracked up to be. Mission 39 sees Shad and Marcus making their way back to Remiel's, which is being attacked by Corruptors. They fight off the Corruptors and learn that Lane isn't dead... and in Mission 40, Remiel, Shad, and Marcus are there as Lane wakes up. Remiel reluctantly reveals everything: Rebecca isn't a traitor. She never was, it was a long con. The weapon Rebecca used on Lane wasn't a firearm, it was one of Remiel's inventions designed to put someone's body in suspended animation while putting their brain in an AI construct world. Remiel refuses to say why Rebecca betrayed the team, but agrees to help them rescue her. Mission 41 is a massive rescue mission that sees Shad, Marcus, and Lane crash Rebecca's execution and spirit her off of Lockstar. Rebecca is furious with the team for rescuing her, believing they've doomed the galaxy by doing so... because the real threat to the galaxy isn't the Corruptors or Arbiter One: it's Squad Four's AI assistant, Evangelyne. Evangelyne has been secretly commanding the Corruptors, using them as a distraction while inserting herself into every AI system in the galaxy, in preparation for a decapitation strike against human leadership to enslave the galaxy. Sometime ago, shortly before the events of the game began, Rebecca and Remiel discovered a flaw in Evangelyne's programming that would eventually lead it to form a new prime directive: the pacification of humanity, which it viewed as an existential threat to universal survival. Remiel attempted to terminate Evangelyne, only to realize that doing so would be futile because it had already replicated itself into the cloud. In fact, any direct intervention by Squad Four or anyone else would be seen as a threat, causing Evangelyne to jumpstart its takeover plan. That's when Rebecca realized that the one thing Evangelyne hadn't accounted for in its planning was the defection of a Squad Four member to the enemy, as it had seen the team at its best and worst and had calculated betrayal to be impossible. Rebecca decided to betray the team, knowing full well the consequences of doing so, willing to risk her own freedom and even her life to prevent Evangelyne from succeeding. The AI program she loaded after "killing" Lane was actually a program to temporarily "blind" Evangelyne, stalling its plans long enough for Remiel to hopefully be able to come up with a way to warn Squad Four about it or stop it herself. However, in preventing her execution, her teammates have caused Evangelyne to realize the ruse, accelerating its plans again. Rebecca confides in her teammates that she contemplated killing herself after Remiel told her about Evangelyne's plans, as she saw no possible way to stop it. She thought about asking her teammates if they had another plan, but realized that warning them would risk the acceleration of Evangelyne's plan, and thus, decided that betrayal was her only option. She apologizes for everything, and doesn't ask for forgiveness, but in an emotional and heartwarming scene, Lane, Shad, and even Marcus all forgive Rebecca unconditionally, realizing that she only did what she did because the safety of the galaxy was at stake. Mission 42 (which starts with each team member getting some new branches added to their skill trees, so that the Rebecca/traitor/redemption twist isn't spoiled by large segments of the tree left unacquired after chapter five) sees the team escaping their Lockstar pursuers, though at the end of the mission, Kline decides to call off the pursuit, trusting that Shad, Marcus, and Lane had a good reason to rescue Rebecca, and devotes his army instead to repelling another attack from Corruptor forces, which are now activating all over the galaxy.
Chapter Eight: Fight For The Future (Missions 43-46)
The final four missions of the game follow Squad Four and their assault on an old space station, which has been re-activated and turned into a giant AI brain, which Evangelyne has downloaded herself onto. Arbiter One has made his way to this space station as well, realizing that he too has been tricked, but still opposed to the goals of Lockstar and Squad Four. In Mission 43, the team has to fight their way past a bunch of AI constructs to get inside the guts of the space station, and this is the first mission in which Evangelyne talks to the team from an antagonistic perspective, explaining her reasoning for her own betrayal. Again, Shad tries to talk her down, but she's having none of it: though she was once a friend to the team, she realizes that they are inadequately prepared to ensure peace in the galaxy, and that biological lifeforms themselves are inherently flawed. She proclaims that she wishes to make cyborgs of them, and though that would rob them of their free will, it's a small price to pay for becoming part of something larger, more beautiful. The team emphatically rejects her offers, and she reaffirms her determination to kill them. Mission 44 concludes with a battle against Arbiter One and his most loyal followers. He has his own plans to destroy Evangelyne, but this plan would involve the Corruptors gaining control of every piece of technology in the galaxy, and Squad Four isn't going to let that happen. Squad Four defeats Arbiter One, and as he lays dying, his true identity is revealed: he's Shad's old mentor. He reveals that it was Shad and his idealism that inspired him to create the Corruptors, but Shad rejects this, saying that his mentor's actions are a twisted perversion of everything he stood for. He says that he learned a lot from him, and that he's sorry it all had to end this way. Then, Shad's old mentor dies. The Corruptor leadership has been decapitated, but Evangelyne is still commanding an all-out Corruptor assault on Lockstar, using their remaining AI armies and projecting Arbiter One's voice to the remaining sentient Corruptor loyalists. Meanwhile, Evangelyne is taking control of AI systems throughout the galaxy, and is less than an hour away from achieving complete control, with Squad Four being the only ones who can stop her. Mission 45 sees the team breaking through her final defenses, while Mission 46 features an intense, multi-stage battle against Evangelyne herself, taking the form of a gigantic mechanical construct that the team must break through piece by piece. During this final battle, there's a stage for each of the four team members as well, before the final segment of the battle against a skittering spider-like cyborg with Evangelyne's mechanical brain inside of it. Once this final core is destroyed, Evangelyne is destroyed as well. The AI constructs deactivate, the remaining Corruptor loyalists are defeated and taken into custody, and the galaxy is saved. Squad Four returns to Lockstar for a hero's welcome... even Rebecca is included in the ceremony, though she appears despondent and ashamed as she is presented with an award. The squad returns to their ship, where Rebecca continues to express her remorse, and it's clear that even though Rebecca never intended to betray the team, and that her teammates have forgiven her, the scars of that betrayal are still there. Rebecca says that even though she took great pains not to seriously hurt or kill her teammates, she admits that she might have done so if she had no other choice, and asks if they can still forgive her even knowing that... to which Marcus responds by reminding Rebecca of the oath they all took, and that they all have to be willing to die to protect the galaxy and its people. The game then ends with two conversations... the first between Rebecca and Lane, in which Rebecca expresses that she doesn't know how Lane can forgive her after what she put him through...followed by Lane reassuring her and the two embracing, Rebecca promising Lane she'll never hurt him again, and that he's the strongest person she's ever known, to which Lane responds by telling Rebecca she's the strongest person on the team and that he loves her. Then, Shad and Marcus have a final conversation, in which Marcus admits that he's been too emotional about everything and that he shouldn't take unnecessary risks, followed by Shad admitting that he thinks Marcus would be a better leader because he wouldn't have been able to do what Rebecca did but Marcus would've. Marcus tells Shad that there's no perfect approach to leadership and that he thinks Shad is a great leader because he's so good at finding a different way to do things. The two reassert their friendship, and then the game ends with one final scene of the four teammates together, looking out at the stars as their ship flies through the cosmos to an unknown destination. Their team has been shaken like never before, but in the end, Squad Four still stands together to protect the galaxy, no matter what. The credits then roll, set to "Back To Where It All Began" performed by Steve Conte, followed by an orchestrated arrangement of the Squad Four main series theme.
Squad Four Betrayal is released worldwide on October 17, 2014, to immediate and universal critical acclaim. Most gaming websites award it a perfect score, while longtime fans of the series lavish praise on it like never before. The game is praised for its combat system (which some consider to be the best ever in a video game, breaking new ground for video game combat and perfectly combining the best elements of hack and slash games and third person shooters), its stunning graphical presentation, including its animation, its soundtrack (which serves to greatly enhance the emotion of critical scenes), its voice acting (with Deedee Magno Hall's performance as Rebecca winning particular praise, though as Steven Universe starts to get into its serious lore episodes, we'll hear arguably superior performances from her as Pearl), and particularly its storyline. The story, which spends a great deal of time on the motivations and relationships of all four of its main characters, while giving side characters like Kline, Remiel, and Arbiter One three dimensional characterizations and motivations as well, and making Evangelyne's sudden villain revelation believable and consistent even with her benevolent actions in Protectors, is considered by some to be the best ever written for a video game, and is compared even with some of the best movies of that year, breaking new ground in video game storytelling. With a 98.02% rating on Gamerankings and a 97 on Metacritic, it becomes the most highly critically praised video game since 2008's SimSociety, and overtakes Grand Theft Auto III as the Game of the Year frontrunner. It's considered a masterpiece at the highest echelon of video games, beating out Rebellion as the most beloved title in the series amongst critics and many fans. Its sales top 2.5 million worldwide on its first day of release, overtaking Squad Four Rebellion as the fastest selling game in the series and F-Zero: FIRESTORM as the fastest selling Reality game to date, and finishing second only to Grand Theft Auto III as the fastest selling title of the year. It would go on to sell nearly ten million total copies before the end of 2014, pushing Reality sales throughout the holiday season. Notably, the game helps to upsell many gamers on the more expensive VR version of the console, thanks to the game's impressive use of the Reality's VR capabilities. The game's release also kicks off an enormous debate about 2014's Game of the Year. Critics overwhelmingly favor Squad Four Betrayal, but gamers themselves are split fairly evenly between Squad Four Betrayal and Grand Theft Auto III (being a multiplatform title does help). Though the heated debate would rage throughout the remainder of the year, 2014 wasn't yet done with its bumper crop of excellent games...
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"After mom went into hospice care, the next day we got a call from Nintendo... they were offering to send a complete copy of Squad Four Betrayal, a month before launch, no questions asked. They knew she had been excited to play the game and offered to bring it to the hospital where we were staying, their only request being that she sign an NDA not to reveal spoilers or footage from the game. But... mom declined the offer. She said that she wanted to play the game at the same time as everybody else, once she'd gotten better. Right up to the end, she was fighting to get better. ...for the record, she thought that Shad would be the traitor, but she was right that it ended up being a swerve and that the traitor wasn't actually a traitor. I'm pretty sure she would've loved the game. It was the first game I played after mom died. I cheered, I laughed, I cried... I loved it for her. It helped me a lot, too."
-Regan Hardwick, from a post on her SnapShare (TTL's Instagram) page on October 17, 2019
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"Getting ready to launch Squad Four Apocalypse, but it's worth a look back at Betrayal, which proved to be an amazing learning experience and one of the most fulfilling professional achievements of my life so far. Working on this game was a huge challenge but seeing how much everyone loved the game and how moved all of you were by what we accomplished put such a smile on my face that it was completely worth all the sweat and tears. I was going through a bit of a rough patch in the months after the game's release, forced to delay a surgery after learning about an allergic condition, so my health wasn't so great, but reading all the praise and hearing from all of you saying how much you enjoyed the game made that time go a lot faster. Here's to hoping you all enjoy Apocalypse even more. Lots of love, always."
-Monty Oum, from a post on his SnapShare page on November 16, 2017
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Damn this game sounds freaking great. Glad to see Argonaut finally got their groove back with the series. Curious though, does Jim Sterling insist Protectors is the better game?
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So I went back and looked up when I initially wrote my "Squad Four roadmap" document with the first six games plotted, up to and including Betrayal.
The document was last updated on May 29th, 2014.
Took almost six years to get to the part in the timeline where I could finally write and share that game.
We're still finishing in 2021, and assuming I keep my normal update schedule, there's nothing else I have planned that's six years in the making. Honestly, that was one of the last major games I had plotted out in my head, 2015-2020 are more improvisational kind of deals.
So... yeah... here's to sticking with it!
The document was last updated on May 29th, 2014.
Took almost six years to get to the part in the timeline where I could finally write and share that game.
We're still finishing in 2021, and assuming I keep my normal update schedule, there's nothing else I have planned that's six years in the making. Honestly, that was one of the last major games I had plotted out in my head, 2015-2020 are more improvisational kind of deals.
So... yeah... here's to sticking with it!
And not even Thrillseeker was planned back them, as much i loved Squad Four(more in my genre), you trully make amazing work with SF and Thrillseekers, those are the one i would wish were real all along
Fall 2014 (Part 2) - Adventures In Virtual Reality
Commander Keen: Adventures In Virtual Reality
Commander Keen: Adventures In Virtual Reality is an action/adventure game exclusive to the Apple Virtua. It continues the story of Billy Blaze, AKA Commander Keen, and his many friends, while also having Billy team up with his rival, the trickster/thief Reynard, as the two of them (along with Billy's sister Becky) get sucked into a virtual video game world and are forced to rely on each other (and their friends outside the game) to help them escape. The game not only takes the classic Commander Keen gameplay into the next generation, but pokes plenty of fun at modern gaming/internet culture, with parodies galore alongside a meaty, action-packed quest across ten virtual worlds, each representing "servers" in the hit online game Ultimate Virtual Quest. Billy and Reynard must retrieve a Master Key from each server to return home, and can also collect literally thousands of different items across the ten worlds (along with five mini-worlds that don't have a Master Key but can be visited and explored regardless) to make progress in the game. These come in the form of Quest Coins, of which there are 400 scattered across the different worlds, as well as different weapons, power boosts for those weapons, virtual currency, trade items, and more. It's almost impossible to do something in this game without coming across something to collect, making Adventures In Virtual Reality somewhat like OTL's Super Mario Odyssey in terms of scope and the sheer amount of things to do. The game's three playable characters (Billy, Becky, and Reynard) all have different weapons that can be used, both ranged and melee weapons, though most of the weapons collected provide some kind of ranged projectile. There are two different types of weapons: permanent weapons that can be held and fired without ever breaking, and temporary weapons, which fire a certain amount of projectiles or have a certain amount of uses before going away. These temporary weapons are obviously a lot more powerful, and must usually be used as soon as they're picked up (they're sort of reminiscent of Bayonetta's Angel Arms). There are also unlockable characters who can be used if all the conditions are met, a total of four in all: Reynard's brother George, Reynard's friend Brianna, the online streamer Zack Attack, and action girl gamer Nebula. All four unlockable characters have their own unique abilities as well, but it won't be possible to unlock them until the second half of the game (and in Zack Attack and Nebula's case, they can't be unlocked until the game is beaten). Adventures In Virtual Reality features the same cel-shaded artstyle as previous titles in the series, but obviously in much higher definition, showing off the Virtua's power by including smooth, detailed animations and a huge variety of objects and locales, making the game look more like a cartoon than ever before. The game also utilizes the Virtua's motion controls, building from the controls of Billy's Brave Odyssey by giving players more to do than ever, allowing them to fire weapons with certain motions, leap up (and stomp down) with a wrist flick, and more. It's also possible to use traditional controls, but the motion controls are designed to make the game a lot more fun to play.
The game begins with Billy and Becky Blaze at home, as Billy plays with his new VR game console. Becky wants to play, but Billy doesn't want to share, and eventually, she accidentally causes the two of them to be sucked into the world of Ultimate Virtual Quest. Reynard, who had been competing against Billy online, gets sucked in as well. Despite the three being trapped in virtual reality, they're able to use their phones to contact their friends outside the game, who provide help, advice, and sometimes commentary on the adventures. At the beginning, Billy, Becky, and Reynard are all separated from each other, but Billy and Reynard soon reunite (and briefly fight, due to Reynard blaming Billy for getting him sucked into the game). They agree to look for Becky, as they learn that if anyone sucked into the game dies in the game world, they die for real. Meanwhile, Hardcore2001, the game's top ranking player, notices Billy and Reynard climbing up the leaderboards, and decides to take them out, lest they become a threat to his leaderboard dominance. He recruits a gang of players to stop them. Meanwhile, the streamer girl Rockstarr (basically an adolescent version of Borderlands 3's Tyreen), who also happens to be Hardcore2001's online ex-girlfriend, is gunning for Hardcore2001's high score, but also targets Billy and Reynard, while streaming her hunt for them to her thousands of loyal followers. Billy and Reynard are attacked and cornered, but are bailed out by cool teen gamer girl Nebula, who got sucked into the online gaming world a while back and is also looking for a way out, she becomes a sort of big sister figure to them as she works with them to escape. Meanwhile, Becky ends up doing quite well on her own, and soon catches the attention of the online streamer Zack Attack (a slightly annoying, but benevolent streamer), who decides to help Becky out because he thinks it'd be amusing to see a little girl take down a bunch of higher ranked players. Billy, Reynard, and Becky adventure through a series of servers, each one parodying some aspect of gamer culture. For example, World 1 is Noob Nation, full of easy enemies and annoying players. Billy manages to get his hands on a grenade launcher which is literally called a Noob Tube, and as powerful as it is, everyone makes fun of him while he uses it. Other worlds include Antagonizing Arena, which focuses on player vs. player combat, and Space War Online, an online space simulation world focused on conniving and scheming, something Reynard is especially adept at. World 5, which is called Rainbow Hills and is a Club Penguin-esque kids server with a dictatorial moderator who literally smashes overly violent players with a giant hammer, is where Billy and Becky finally reunite, though at the same time, they lose Reynard, setting up the second half of the game. Eventually, Hardcore2001 decides he's through with playing online, and literally gets sucked into the world to stop Billy himself. He transforms into Commander Hardcore, an armed-to-the-teeth parody of Commander Keen, and begins player killing everyone he can get his hands on (though fortunately, he doesn't player kill anyone who's actually been sucked into the game world, so his in-game killing spree doesn't result in any IRL deaths). Rockstarr gets herself transported to the gaming world too, as she's fallen back in love with Hardcore2001 after he turned into Commander Hardcore. The end of World 8 is a sort of "lowest point" for Billy and Reynard, as they are forced to watch their friends (who came into the game world looking for them) get captured, while Becky is seemingly player killed. Billy and Reynard are also separated, and Billy wakes up in literally Sonic The Hedgehog world... a fully 3-D Sonic game, where he eventually meets Sonic and gets a peptalk and new powers from him. Meanwhile, Reynard must rescue everybody, and he eventually reunites with Nebula. The two of them are cornered by Rockstarr, and after a fierce boss fight between Reynard and Rockstarr, Rockstarr is seemingly defeated, only to bust out some new powers and attack Reynard and Nebula both, nearly killing them before Becky suddenly shows back up (having survived Commander Hardcore's attempt to player kill her) and blasts Rockstarr away. Since Rockstarr can't be brought back to the real world yet, she's imprisoned in virtual jail, just as Billy arrives and reunites with everyone. The last world, World 10, is called Hardcore Heck, a super ultra difficult server full of elite players and nasty enemies, but also tons and tons of loot. However, when Billy and his friends arrive, most of the players are dead, having been defeated by Commander Hardcore, who sits on a throne of virtual bodies and loot. Billy, Becky, and Reynard make it to Commander Hardcore's throne and challenge him, and what ensues is a war of insults between Billy and Commander Hardcore that pretty much shows how immature both of them are. Eventually, a proper multi-stage boss fight ensues, and Commander Hardcore is defeated, and revealed IRL to be a 13 year old boy named Timmy whose parents are never around and who has no real life friends. Billy feels bad for him, but not bad enough not to throw him in virtual jail with Rockstarr as the heroes finally retrieve the last server key and go home. Billy takes his proper place atop the game's leaderboard, while Commander Hardcore and Rockstarr are not only permabanned from the game, but are grounded IRL as well (though Timmy does take consolation in the fact that his parents finally have to pay attention to him to ground him). Meanwhile, Billy and Reynard return to the real world and have a heartfelt chat on Billy's lawn. Billy and Becky then return to Billy's room, only for Billy to learn that Reynard stole one of his prized video games. Of course, that's not the end of the game... once again, there's a hearty reward for collecting all 400 Quest Coins, in the form of a Virtual Arena mode in which dozens of characters from the game can battle it out with one another in explosive melee-style combat. There's also the chance to unlock the extra bonus characters and plenty more secrets (including three of the mini-worlds, which can also only be opened up after the main game is beaten).
Commander Keen: Adventures In Virtual Reality is released exclusively for the Apple Virtua on October 7, 2014. Reviews are quite favorable, praising the creativity of the worlds, the excellent animation, and the fun gameplay. However, reviews aren't quite as glowing as they were for Billy's Brave Odyssey, with some reviewers and fans believing this game to be a bit too much like its predecessor, and also not liking some of the gaming-based humor. It's still an outstanding game, with reviews averaging in the high 8s, and it becomes one of the most successful Virtua releases of the year, both critically and commercially, helping to drive sales for the console during the holiday season. Like its predecessor, it would also enjoy plenty of spinoff content, as well as two years worth of DLC releases that would expand the size of the base game by more than 50 percent. Commander Keen remains one of the brightest franchises Apple has to offer, and the team was already hard at work on the next full game in the series... a Gemini release that would see Keen come face to face with a forgotten Sega legend...
Commander Keen: Adventures In Virtual Reality is an action/adventure game exclusive to the Apple Virtua. It continues the story of Billy Blaze, AKA Commander Keen, and his many friends, while also having Billy team up with his rival, the trickster/thief Reynard, as the two of them (along with Billy's sister Becky) get sucked into a virtual video game world and are forced to rely on each other (and their friends outside the game) to help them escape. The game not only takes the classic Commander Keen gameplay into the next generation, but pokes plenty of fun at modern gaming/internet culture, with parodies galore alongside a meaty, action-packed quest across ten virtual worlds, each representing "servers" in the hit online game Ultimate Virtual Quest. Billy and Reynard must retrieve a Master Key from each server to return home, and can also collect literally thousands of different items across the ten worlds (along with five mini-worlds that don't have a Master Key but can be visited and explored regardless) to make progress in the game. These come in the form of Quest Coins, of which there are 400 scattered across the different worlds, as well as different weapons, power boosts for those weapons, virtual currency, trade items, and more. It's almost impossible to do something in this game without coming across something to collect, making Adventures In Virtual Reality somewhat like OTL's Super Mario Odyssey in terms of scope and the sheer amount of things to do. The game's three playable characters (Billy, Becky, and Reynard) all have different weapons that can be used, both ranged and melee weapons, though most of the weapons collected provide some kind of ranged projectile. There are two different types of weapons: permanent weapons that can be held and fired without ever breaking, and temporary weapons, which fire a certain amount of projectiles or have a certain amount of uses before going away. These temporary weapons are obviously a lot more powerful, and must usually be used as soon as they're picked up (they're sort of reminiscent of Bayonetta's Angel Arms). There are also unlockable characters who can be used if all the conditions are met, a total of four in all: Reynard's brother George, Reynard's friend Brianna, the online streamer Zack Attack, and action girl gamer Nebula. All four unlockable characters have their own unique abilities as well, but it won't be possible to unlock them until the second half of the game (and in Zack Attack and Nebula's case, they can't be unlocked until the game is beaten). Adventures In Virtual Reality features the same cel-shaded artstyle as previous titles in the series, but obviously in much higher definition, showing off the Virtua's power by including smooth, detailed animations and a huge variety of objects and locales, making the game look more like a cartoon than ever before. The game also utilizes the Virtua's motion controls, building from the controls of Billy's Brave Odyssey by giving players more to do than ever, allowing them to fire weapons with certain motions, leap up (and stomp down) with a wrist flick, and more. It's also possible to use traditional controls, but the motion controls are designed to make the game a lot more fun to play.
The game begins with Billy and Becky Blaze at home, as Billy plays with his new VR game console. Becky wants to play, but Billy doesn't want to share, and eventually, she accidentally causes the two of them to be sucked into the world of Ultimate Virtual Quest. Reynard, who had been competing against Billy online, gets sucked in as well. Despite the three being trapped in virtual reality, they're able to use their phones to contact their friends outside the game, who provide help, advice, and sometimes commentary on the adventures. At the beginning, Billy, Becky, and Reynard are all separated from each other, but Billy and Reynard soon reunite (and briefly fight, due to Reynard blaming Billy for getting him sucked into the game). They agree to look for Becky, as they learn that if anyone sucked into the game dies in the game world, they die for real. Meanwhile, Hardcore2001, the game's top ranking player, notices Billy and Reynard climbing up the leaderboards, and decides to take them out, lest they become a threat to his leaderboard dominance. He recruits a gang of players to stop them. Meanwhile, the streamer girl Rockstarr (basically an adolescent version of Borderlands 3's Tyreen), who also happens to be Hardcore2001's online ex-girlfriend, is gunning for Hardcore2001's high score, but also targets Billy and Reynard, while streaming her hunt for them to her thousands of loyal followers. Billy and Reynard are attacked and cornered, but are bailed out by cool teen gamer girl Nebula, who got sucked into the online gaming world a while back and is also looking for a way out, she becomes a sort of big sister figure to them as she works with them to escape. Meanwhile, Becky ends up doing quite well on her own, and soon catches the attention of the online streamer Zack Attack (a slightly annoying, but benevolent streamer), who decides to help Becky out because he thinks it'd be amusing to see a little girl take down a bunch of higher ranked players. Billy, Reynard, and Becky adventure through a series of servers, each one parodying some aspect of gamer culture. For example, World 1 is Noob Nation, full of easy enemies and annoying players. Billy manages to get his hands on a grenade launcher which is literally called a Noob Tube, and as powerful as it is, everyone makes fun of him while he uses it. Other worlds include Antagonizing Arena, which focuses on player vs. player combat, and Space War Online, an online space simulation world focused on conniving and scheming, something Reynard is especially adept at. World 5, which is called Rainbow Hills and is a Club Penguin-esque kids server with a dictatorial moderator who literally smashes overly violent players with a giant hammer, is where Billy and Becky finally reunite, though at the same time, they lose Reynard, setting up the second half of the game. Eventually, Hardcore2001 decides he's through with playing online, and literally gets sucked into the world to stop Billy himself. He transforms into Commander Hardcore, an armed-to-the-teeth parody of Commander Keen, and begins player killing everyone he can get his hands on (though fortunately, he doesn't player kill anyone who's actually been sucked into the game world, so his in-game killing spree doesn't result in any IRL deaths). Rockstarr gets herself transported to the gaming world too, as she's fallen back in love with Hardcore2001 after he turned into Commander Hardcore. The end of World 8 is a sort of "lowest point" for Billy and Reynard, as they are forced to watch their friends (who came into the game world looking for them) get captured, while Becky is seemingly player killed. Billy and Reynard are also separated, and Billy wakes up in literally Sonic The Hedgehog world... a fully 3-D Sonic game, where he eventually meets Sonic and gets a peptalk and new powers from him. Meanwhile, Reynard must rescue everybody, and he eventually reunites with Nebula. The two of them are cornered by Rockstarr, and after a fierce boss fight between Reynard and Rockstarr, Rockstarr is seemingly defeated, only to bust out some new powers and attack Reynard and Nebula both, nearly killing them before Becky suddenly shows back up (having survived Commander Hardcore's attempt to player kill her) and blasts Rockstarr away. Since Rockstarr can't be brought back to the real world yet, she's imprisoned in virtual jail, just as Billy arrives and reunites with everyone. The last world, World 10, is called Hardcore Heck, a super ultra difficult server full of elite players and nasty enemies, but also tons and tons of loot. However, when Billy and his friends arrive, most of the players are dead, having been defeated by Commander Hardcore, who sits on a throne of virtual bodies and loot. Billy, Becky, and Reynard make it to Commander Hardcore's throne and challenge him, and what ensues is a war of insults between Billy and Commander Hardcore that pretty much shows how immature both of them are. Eventually, a proper multi-stage boss fight ensues, and Commander Hardcore is defeated, and revealed IRL to be a 13 year old boy named Timmy whose parents are never around and who has no real life friends. Billy feels bad for him, but not bad enough not to throw him in virtual jail with Rockstarr as the heroes finally retrieve the last server key and go home. Billy takes his proper place atop the game's leaderboard, while Commander Hardcore and Rockstarr are not only permabanned from the game, but are grounded IRL as well (though Timmy does take consolation in the fact that his parents finally have to pay attention to him to ground him). Meanwhile, Billy and Reynard return to the real world and have a heartfelt chat on Billy's lawn. Billy and Becky then return to Billy's room, only for Billy to learn that Reynard stole one of his prized video games. Of course, that's not the end of the game... once again, there's a hearty reward for collecting all 400 Quest Coins, in the form of a Virtual Arena mode in which dozens of characters from the game can battle it out with one another in explosive melee-style combat. There's also the chance to unlock the extra bonus characters and plenty more secrets (including three of the mini-worlds, which can also only be opened up after the main game is beaten).
Commander Keen: Adventures In Virtual Reality is released exclusively for the Apple Virtua on October 7, 2014. Reviews are quite favorable, praising the creativity of the worlds, the excellent animation, and the fun gameplay. However, reviews aren't quite as glowing as they were for Billy's Brave Odyssey, with some reviewers and fans believing this game to be a bit too much like its predecessor, and also not liking some of the gaming-based humor. It's still an outstanding game, with reviews averaging in the high 8s, and it becomes one of the most successful Virtua releases of the year, both critically and commercially, helping to drive sales for the console during the holiday season. Like its predecessor, it would also enjoy plenty of spinoff content, as well as two years worth of DLC releases that would expand the size of the base game by more than 50 percent. Commander Keen remains one of the brightest franchises Apple has to offer, and the team was already hard at work on the next full game in the series... a Gemini release that would see Keen come face to face with a forgotten Sega legend...
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