Deleted member 100251
That is one sweet list, especially with Dynamite and Raise Your Glass still living on!
Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
- Start date
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@RySenkari, @Nivek, just going to send you another movie idea for 2011, if that's OK with you...
Summer 2010 (Part 10) - Games Get Even More Mobile
July 30, 2010
The Microsoft Phone is launched in North America and Europe, with a Japanese launch scheduled for mid-August. The phone has two different versions, a 16GB version and a 32GB version, retailing unlocked for $399 and $499 respectively, though the phone can also be purchased with a carrier contract for cheaper (Microsoft has deals with Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and Nextel to sell the phone). The phone's design is slightly bulkier than that of the current iPhone models, and comes standard with a slide-out gamepad for playing Xbox and other titles. The phone features both Xbox and Android games, and originally branded Microsoft Mobile titles as well, and runs off an operating system that blends Windows aesthetics with Android (Microsoft didn't develop a Windows operating system for the phone, instead choosing to adapt the Android system as per their current deal with Google). The phone is comparable to the original Samsung Galaxy phone in overall power, able to run virtually all games and apps that phone is capable of running, with some power diverted away from the operating system and toward running certain games. The phone is capable of downloading and playing original Xbox games natively, while also being capable of streaming some (but not all) Xbox 2 titles over either a wi-fi or 4G connection (as of 2010, it's more practical to stream on wi-fi, with mobile network streaming being both slow and data intensive).
The phone is part of Microsoft's overall strategy to allow players to take their Xbox games anywhere. It's intended both as a sort of "Xbox handheld" and also as a way to promote the Xbox brand and its games, in preparation for a potential Xbox 2 successor console. Most of the phone's advertising revolves not around the phone's non-gaming capabilities, but around the fact that it plays Xbox and Xbox 2 games, and this creates for a fairly unique marketing campaign. The phone's promotion generates a decent amount of buzz, more than practically any phone since the original iPhone, and does manage to overshadow the launches of numerous other phone models being released that year from companies such as Motorola and Nokia. The phone is considered a sales success upon its launch, but doesn't sell quite as well as Microsoft expected it to. The numbers are underwhelming, but more a "meh" kind of underwhelming rather than a complete disaster. The fact that the phone can stream The Covenant 4, allowing people with good home wi-fi connections to play the game literally anywhere (at least the single player campaign, there's too much lag for multiplayer) is enough of a selling point that phone sales remain strong for weeks and months after its initial launch.
-
The Microsoft Phone is an intriguing experiment: can a flagship gaming-focused phone be successful, and can it succeed not just as a handheld gaming device, but as a smartphone? Let's get something clear right off the bat: if you're buying the Microsoft Phone just as a handheld gaming device, you're looking at a minimum $400 investment, which is $150 more than it is to buy an Xbox 2, just to buy something that you can play Xbox 2 games on if you have a good internet connection (i.e. your Xbox 2 is hooked via an ethernet cable directly to the wall or you pay another $400 for an excellent router). And yet, as a smartphone itself, it's a good smartphone. It's certainly on par with the Samsung Galaxy, and even able to hold its own with the iPhone 4. It has its own suite of apps, including an excellent mobile version of Microsoft Office. It surfs the web quickly and cleanly, it comes with a good security app, and its minimalist menus practically zip by when you scroll through them. If you're looking for a new smartphone to get on contract, you could certainly do a lot worse than the Microsoft Phone, and it is cheaper by far than the iPhone 4, especially when you get it on contract. No, you're not really getting good exclusive games for it (yet) like you do with the iPhone, which plays every single iPod Play game. You're getting games that you can also get for console, and, this is important: you're not getting all of them, or even half. At launch, it can download and play about 15% of the Xbox library, and can stream just 21 Xbox 2 titles. Yes, most of those are good, and one of those is The Covenant 4, but if you're looking for a lineup that even comes close to what you're getting on the iPhone, you're just not getting it. Again, yet.
It's been a tough last three or four years for Xbox owners, but things are potentially looking up, and the Microsoft Phone is a promising device. Microsoft is certainly playing "follow the leader" with Apple, but Apple did the same thing with Nintendo and look where that's gotten them. The Microsoft Phone is a good, if spectacularly expensive, gaming device and a great smartphone. Ironically, it's better for casual smartphone users than it is for gamers, and yet I imagine gamers will be the ones buying a lot more of them next week when the phone is released. That's okay. If having the gamers on board encourages Microsoft to do better by them with this phone, I'm all for it. Maybe someday, you'll be able to play every Xbox game on here. Until then, I can't recommend this phone, but I hope I can recommend it eventually.
-from Alex Stansfield's review of the Microsoft Phone on Games Over Matter, posted on July 25, 2010
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"As Microsoft's new phone gains in popularity, Google looks poised to use its Android platform as a stepping stone into the world of gaming as well. Ironically, Microsoft's new phone has emerged as a major competitor to Samsung's Galaxy, a phone backed heavily by Google, which has also helped to cultivate the gaming capabilities of Microsoft's venture. It may seem that Google is competing with itself, but in reality, the company may in fact be cleverly positioning itself to be a major player in not just the mobile gaming market, but in the next home console generation.
It's no secret that Google has been pushing its Android operating system as a gaming platform ever since its original launch. However, Google's sights are set not just on the mobile market. The company has been working with several other technology companies in hopes of creating a new gaming platform, funding numerous start-up companies and electronics makers as it prepares to launch a set-top TV box that could be released as early as next year. At the same time that Google cozies up to Microsoft, the company has also been working closely with Samsung, making its Galaxy phone the premiere Android mobile device. Google has expanded rapidly since its humble origins in the late 90s, and now the company is making moves to take a giant leap in the industry, perhaps with the backing of two of the world's biggest electronics companies. Could we see the Xbox 3 powered by Android? Could we see the newest Google platform, the Samsung Galaxy Home? Could we a Google-powered Steam Machine? Could we see a $99 set-top box that plays a variety of Android and exclusive original titles?
Or could we see a combination of these ideas?
Or all of them?
Or is Google just throwing expensive mudpies at the wall to see what sticks?"
-quoted from an article on Breakingtech.com, posted on August 19, 2010
-
Apple Working On Next Gen iPhone For Its Next Gen Gaming Handheld?
Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, the device has been compatible with every single iPod Play game ever released. That has been one of the iPhone's main selling points, and it's been why sales of the iPod Play have dropped sharply since the iPhone's launch. We're expecting the release of the iPod Play's successor sometime in 2011, and once that device comes out, its games almost certainly won't be compatible with any current iPhone models. While the new Apple gaming handheld is expected to be a distinct device from the iPhone, there is a rumor that a future iPhone model, either the iPhone 5, iPhone 6, or some other branded model, will have compatibility of some time with the successor handheld's games. The iPhone's popularity has come in large part because of its capabilities as a gaming device, and no matter how good the new Apple handheld is, there are many iPhone owners who simply won't spring for it, citing cost as a likely prohibiting factor. Now, Steve Jobs has recently stated in an interview that it "wasn't out of the question" that there could be a new iPhone that will have compatibility with the iPod Play's successor.
"It's something we're looking into," said Jobs. "Even though we plan for the new handheld to be distinct from the iPod and iPhone lines, we also want those who like to have an all-in-one device to be able to still have that option. We'd be leaning toward a side model, not something in the current iPhone line, but something with an alternate branding and it would of course have to be released at a slight price premium."
The new phone could end up being the most expensive smartphone ever released, but iPhone owners are used to shelling out big bucks for their devices, and to be able to save money on purchasing both the latest iPhone and the latest iPod Play by purchasing an all-in-one device is a deal that many in the Apple ecosystem will find too tempting to pass up.
While no announcement on the new Apple handheld was made at E3, there are rumors that an announcement could be forthcoming as soon as the 2010 Tokyo Game Show this October, and almost certainly at the annual Apple Special Event, scheduled for next January.
-from a September 2, 2010 article on Kotaku
-
RPGs, both single-player and multiplayer, have become the fastest-growing genre of mobile games. From simple point and click adventure quests to sprawling epics that wouldn't be out of place on the Supernova or iPod Play, RPGs are everywhere on mobile, and have made a major splash as the race for the year's top mobile game heats up. Here are five of the most popular mobile RPG titles released this past year, and just from this list, you can see how big the market for mobile RPGs has grown.
Soma Chaser: An epic turn-based game for both iOS and Android, Soma Chaser is a single-player, turn based quest with elements of action titles. It stars a young man named Gray as he journeys to hunt down the six Somas, spirits of martyrs slain in an ancient war. Along the way, he meets a variety of allies, up to 30 in all, who join the party based on the player's actions throughout the game. Featuring amazing graphics and an addictive battle system featuring touch controls and timed hits, it's a game that's only possible on mobile, and for ten bucks with no DLC to speak of, it's also one of the best value games of the year.
Phantasy Star: Angels Of The Remnant: The first of two iOS exclusives on the list, this is a turn-based strategy game based on the classic Sega IP. Taking place on a dying world, Angels Of The Remnant has the player waging an interstellar war for control of a powerful resource, fighting a series of difficult battles. The game is comparable to Fire Emblem in its gameplay and thematics, and the first chapter is free, with the other four chapters priced at $4.99 each.
Zekira Orba: Another iOS exclusive and another strategy RPG, this game features an amnesiac witch out to discover her destiny by battling her way through hostile towns in search of whatever treasure she can find. While this game is probably the shortest of the five RPGs on this list, it's also one of the best bargains, at just $7.99, and features a very deep protagonist and some beautiful original artwork.
Chaos Rings: Published by Enix and exclusive to Android, it's the company's first foray into the mobile market, and is a more traditional dungeon crawling styled RPG, featuring a two person party. The game has an arena format and is broken down into bite-sized battle and dungeon segments, making it convenient for mobile gameplay. The game features excellent production values, boasting outstanding graphics (which limits the game to mostly top-tier Android phones such as the Galaxy or the new Microsoft Phone) and more voice acting than any other game on this list. It's big and flashy, but is also kind of pricey: it costs more than 30 dollars to purchase all the game's content, making it the most expensive title of the five.
Magical Gem World: A cutesy-MMORPG from Korea, Magical Gem World is free to play, but like most MMOs, it'll cost you to keep playing. However, unlike a lot of other recent MMORPGs, the cost mechanic is fairly forgiving, and you can play on about half of the game's levels fully free of charge, having plenty of fun interacting with other players and grinding low level mobs. The free part of the game acts almost like an extended demo/training mode, and for those who truly enjoy the game and want to buy their way to the top tiers, it's not too expensive to buy a decent enough set of gear to be able to compete on most of the upper-tier levels. The graphics are simplistic but adorable, and the game frequently runs cross-promotions with other properties, both Eastern and Western. It's not quite as big as Fairycross, yet, but it's significantly cheaper to have fun with.
-from an article on RPGamer.net, posted on September 8, 2010
The Microsoft Phone is launched in North America and Europe, with a Japanese launch scheduled for mid-August. The phone has two different versions, a 16GB version and a 32GB version, retailing unlocked for $399 and $499 respectively, though the phone can also be purchased with a carrier contract for cheaper (Microsoft has deals with Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and Nextel to sell the phone). The phone's design is slightly bulkier than that of the current iPhone models, and comes standard with a slide-out gamepad for playing Xbox and other titles. The phone features both Xbox and Android games, and originally branded Microsoft Mobile titles as well, and runs off an operating system that blends Windows aesthetics with Android (Microsoft didn't develop a Windows operating system for the phone, instead choosing to adapt the Android system as per their current deal with Google). The phone is comparable to the original Samsung Galaxy phone in overall power, able to run virtually all games and apps that phone is capable of running, with some power diverted away from the operating system and toward running certain games. The phone is capable of downloading and playing original Xbox games natively, while also being capable of streaming some (but not all) Xbox 2 titles over either a wi-fi or 4G connection (as of 2010, it's more practical to stream on wi-fi, with mobile network streaming being both slow and data intensive).
The phone is part of Microsoft's overall strategy to allow players to take their Xbox games anywhere. It's intended both as a sort of "Xbox handheld" and also as a way to promote the Xbox brand and its games, in preparation for a potential Xbox 2 successor console. Most of the phone's advertising revolves not around the phone's non-gaming capabilities, but around the fact that it plays Xbox and Xbox 2 games, and this creates for a fairly unique marketing campaign. The phone's promotion generates a decent amount of buzz, more than practically any phone since the original iPhone, and does manage to overshadow the launches of numerous other phone models being released that year from companies such as Motorola and Nokia. The phone is considered a sales success upon its launch, but doesn't sell quite as well as Microsoft expected it to. The numbers are underwhelming, but more a "meh" kind of underwhelming rather than a complete disaster. The fact that the phone can stream The Covenant 4, allowing people with good home wi-fi connections to play the game literally anywhere (at least the single player campaign, there's too much lag for multiplayer) is enough of a selling point that phone sales remain strong for weeks and months after its initial launch.
-
The Microsoft Phone is an intriguing experiment: can a flagship gaming-focused phone be successful, and can it succeed not just as a handheld gaming device, but as a smartphone? Let's get something clear right off the bat: if you're buying the Microsoft Phone just as a handheld gaming device, you're looking at a minimum $400 investment, which is $150 more than it is to buy an Xbox 2, just to buy something that you can play Xbox 2 games on if you have a good internet connection (i.e. your Xbox 2 is hooked via an ethernet cable directly to the wall or you pay another $400 for an excellent router). And yet, as a smartphone itself, it's a good smartphone. It's certainly on par with the Samsung Galaxy, and even able to hold its own with the iPhone 4. It has its own suite of apps, including an excellent mobile version of Microsoft Office. It surfs the web quickly and cleanly, it comes with a good security app, and its minimalist menus practically zip by when you scroll through them. If you're looking for a new smartphone to get on contract, you could certainly do a lot worse than the Microsoft Phone, and it is cheaper by far than the iPhone 4, especially when you get it on contract. No, you're not really getting good exclusive games for it (yet) like you do with the iPhone, which plays every single iPod Play game. You're getting games that you can also get for console, and, this is important: you're not getting all of them, or even half. At launch, it can download and play about 15% of the Xbox library, and can stream just 21 Xbox 2 titles. Yes, most of those are good, and one of those is The Covenant 4, but if you're looking for a lineup that even comes close to what you're getting on the iPhone, you're just not getting it. Again, yet.
It's been a tough last three or four years for Xbox owners, but things are potentially looking up, and the Microsoft Phone is a promising device. Microsoft is certainly playing "follow the leader" with Apple, but Apple did the same thing with Nintendo and look where that's gotten them. The Microsoft Phone is a good, if spectacularly expensive, gaming device and a great smartphone. Ironically, it's better for casual smartphone users than it is for gamers, and yet I imagine gamers will be the ones buying a lot more of them next week when the phone is released. That's okay. If having the gamers on board encourages Microsoft to do better by them with this phone, I'm all for it. Maybe someday, you'll be able to play every Xbox game on here. Until then, I can't recommend this phone, but I hope I can recommend it eventually.
-from Alex Stansfield's review of the Microsoft Phone on Games Over Matter, posted on July 25, 2010
-
"As Microsoft's new phone gains in popularity, Google looks poised to use its Android platform as a stepping stone into the world of gaming as well. Ironically, Microsoft's new phone has emerged as a major competitor to Samsung's Galaxy, a phone backed heavily by Google, which has also helped to cultivate the gaming capabilities of Microsoft's venture. It may seem that Google is competing with itself, but in reality, the company may in fact be cleverly positioning itself to be a major player in not just the mobile gaming market, but in the next home console generation.
It's no secret that Google has been pushing its Android operating system as a gaming platform ever since its original launch. However, Google's sights are set not just on the mobile market. The company has been working with several other technology companies in hopes of creating a new gaming platform, funding numerous start-up companies and electronics makers as it prepares to launch a set-top TV box that could be released as early as next year. At the same time that Google cozies up to Microsoft, the company has also been working closely with Samsung, making its Galaxy phone the premiere Android mobile device. Google has expanded rapidly since its humble origins in the late 90s, and now the company is making moves to take a giant leap in the industry, perhaps with the backing of two of the world's biggest electronics companies. Could we see the Xbox 3 powered by Android? Could we see the newest Google platform, the Samsung Galaxy Home? Could we a Google-powered Steam Machine? Could we see a $99 set-top box that plays a variety of Android and exclusive original titles?
Or could we see a combination of these ideas?
Or all of them?
Or is Google just throwing expensive mudpies at the wall to see what sticks?"
-quoted from an article on Breakingtech.com, posted on August 19, 2010
-
Apple Working On Next Gen iPhone For Its Next Gen Gaming Handheld?
Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, the device has been compatible with every single iPod Play game ever released. That has been one of the iPhone's main selling points, and it's been why sales of the iPod Play have dropped sharply since the iPhone's launch. We're expecting the release of the iPod Play's successor sometime in 2011, and once that device comes out, its games almost certainly won't be compatible with any current iPhone models. While the new Apple gaming handheld is expected to be a distinct device from the iPhone, there is a rumor that a future iPhone model, either the iPhone 5, iPhone 6, or some other branded model, will have compatibility of some time with the successor handheld's games. The iPhone's popularity has come in large part because of its capabilities as a gaming device, and no matter how good the new Apple handheld is, there are many iPhone owners who simply won't spring for it, citing cost as a likely prohibiting factor. Now, Steve Jobs has recently stated in an interview that it "wasn't out of the question" that there could be a new iPhone that will have compatibility with the iPod Play's successor.
"It's something we're looking into," said Jobs. "Even though we plan for the new handheld to be distinct from the iPod and iPhone lines, we also want those who like to have an all-in-one device to be able to still have that option. We'd be leaning toward a side model, not something in the current iPhone line, but something with an alternate branding and it would of course have to be released at a slight price premium."
The new phone could end up being the most expensive smartphone ever released, but iPhone owners are used to shelling out big bucks for their devices, and to be able to save money on purchasing both the latest iPhone and the latest iPod Play by purchasing an all-in-one device is a deal that many in the Apple ecosystem will find too tempting to pass up.
While no announcement on the new Apple handheld was made at E3, there are rumors that an announcement could be forthcoming as soon as the 2010 Tokyo Game Show this October, and almost certainly at the annual Apple Special Event, scheduled for next January.
-from a September 2, 2010 article on Kotaku
-
RPGs, both single-player and multiplayer, have become the fastest-growing genre of mobile games. From simple point and click adventure quests to sprawling epics that wouldn't be out of place on the Supernova or iPod Play, RPGs are everywhere on mobile, and have made a major splash as the race for the year's top mobile game heats up. Here are five of the most popular mobile RPG titles released this past year, and just from this list, you can see how big the market for mobile RPGs has grown.
Soma Chaser: An epic turn-based game for both iOS and Android, Soma Chaser is a single-player, turn based quest with elements of action titles. It stars a young man named Gray as he journeys to hunt down the six Somas, spirits of martyrs slain in an ancient war. Along the way, he meets a variety of allies, up to 30 in all, who join the party based on the player's actions throughout the game. Featuring amazing graphics and an addictive battle system featuring touch controls and timed hits, it's a game that's only possible on mobile, and for ten bucks with no DLC to speak of, it's also one of the best value games of the year.
Phantasy Star: Angels Of The Remnant: The first of two iOS exclusives on the list, this is a turn-based strategy game based on the classic Sega IP. Taking place on a dying world, Angels Of The Remnant has the player waging an interstellar war for control of a powerful resource, fighting a series of difficult battles. The game is comparable to Fire Emblem in its gameplay and thematics, and the first chapter is free, with the other four chapters priced at $4.99 each.
Zekira Orba: Another iOS exclusive and another strategy RPG, this game features an amnesiac witch out to discover her destiny by battling her way through hostile towns in search of whatever treasure she can find. While this game is probably the shortest of the five RPGs on this list, it's also one of the best bargains, at just $7.99, and features a very deep protagonist and some beautiful original artwork.
Chaos Rings: Published by Enix and exclusive to Android, it's the company's first foray into the mobile market, and is a more traditional dungeon crawling styled RPG, featuring a two person party. The game has an arena format and is broken down into bite-sized battle and dungeon segments, making it convenient for mobile gameplay. The game features excellent production values, boasting outstanding graphics (which limits the game to mostly top-tier Android phones such as the Galaxy or the new Microsoft Phone) and more voice acting than any other game on this list. It's big and flashy, but is also kind of pricey: it costs more than 30 dollars to purchase all the game's content, making it the most expensive title of the five.
Magical Gem World: A cutesy-MMORPG from Korea, Magical Gem World is free to play, but like most MMOs, it'll cost you to keep playing. However, unlike a lot of other recent MMORPGs, the cost mechanic is fairly forgiving, and you can play on about half of the game's levels fully free of charge, having plenty of fun interacting with other players and grinding low level mobs. The free part of the game acts almost like an extended demo/training mode, and for those who truly enjoy the game and want to buy their way to the top tiers, it's not too expensive to buy a decent enough set of gear to be able to compete on most of the upper-tier levels. The graphics are simplistic but adorable, and the game frequently runs cross-promotions with other properties, both Eastern and Western. It's not quite as big as Fairycross, yet, but it's significantly cheaper to have fun with.
-from an article on RPGamer.net, posted on September 8, 2010
Summer 2010 (Part 11) - Another Matter Of Life And Death
The Life And Death Of A Mother
The Life And Death Of A Mother is an open world action game exclusive to the Apple iTwin and the sequel to 2007's The Life And Death Of A Renegade, featuring Eleanor, the mother of three young children, as the protagonist. The game, like its predecessor, takes place in an America that has become an apocalyptic wasteland, and Eleanor must ride the wastes on her motorcycle, doing whatever she has to to provide for her children. Unlike the previous game's protagonist, Quinn, who had somewhat of a moral code and tried to avoid committing crimes and killing innocent people, Eleanor's only moral code is to protect her children by any means necessary. To that end, she's become a ruthless killer, willing to rob and murder even for a single scrap of food. This has attracted a great deal of attention to Eleanor, and she's being hunted by both a ruthless bounty hunter named Skell and a gang of equally vicious criminals called the Endless Nation, who seek to avenge the deaths of some of their fellow gang members who Eleanor killed. Even though Eleanor is a murderer, she doesn't go looking specifically for trouble, and while cold, she can be pleasant if her kids aren't starving and she's just passing through an area. She doesn't enjoy committing violence, her ultimate goal is to settle down somewhere with her kids and live in peace, but the reality of the wasteland makes that seem like nothing but a dream. The gameplay is a bit more stealth focused than the previous game, Eleanor has less health than Quinn did, and thus needs to sneak around more. She does have access to an equal repertoire of weapons, but isn't quite as physically strong, so in order to kill enemies with her bare hands, she'll usually need to get the jump on them or have a blunt or bladed weapon. Eleanor can also mix items up to make more items, or combine weapons, somewhat like Resident Evil or OTL's The Last Of Us. She has a skill progression system that will enable her to improve her health, stealth abilities, or her physical strength (she can eventually become good at fighting physically if she gets into enough fights). Interestingly, while Eleanor's children accompany her for much of the game, the game itself isn't an escort mission, as the kids can't be harmed or killed. However, they can become somewhat of a burden to Eleanor if they get scared enough, as they'll start to scream and make noise that can attract enemies, making stealth more difficult. Eleanor can give the children a place to hide, but the player must find a suitable one. The kids are good enough at hiding that once Eleanor finds a hiding place for them, they'll stay hidden, however, Eleanor won't stray too far from her kids, so the player must be careful to find a hiding place close to the action, and move the kids if they'll be too far away. The two older kids (the 9 year old girl, Ashley, and the 7 year old boy, Kevin) can actually help fight bad guys, with Ashley especially able to assist in the form of eye gouges and groin strikes to certain enemies. The game's presentation is improved over the previous game, as the game is positioned as one of the iTwin's big tentpole titles for the year. The voice actress for Eleanor (a lesser known voice actress unrecognizable IOTL) returns from the previous game, while the three kids are all played by child actors original TTL. Other supporting characters are also played mostly by unknowns, with a couple of slightly recognizable names amongst supporting characters, but no celebrities (unlike the last game, which starred Michael Madsen).
The Life And Death Of A Mother takes place a year after the previous game, and sees Eleanor and her kids still struggling to scrounge out a life in the American wasteland, with Eleanor having hardened considerably from the person she was in the previous game, becoming a ruthless killer to provide for her children and living a nomadic life, riding on her motorcycle from town to town, taking what she can, and then leaving. This has attracted the attention of bounty hunters and criminal gangs alike, and Eleanor starts to get the feeling she won't be able to continue this life forever. She learns of a paradise town out in the wastes that she may be able to settle down in, but her cynicism tells her that this town is a myth, and she doesn't want to bet her kids' lives on a myth. However, Skell the bounty hunter is getting closer and closer, with Eleanor suffering a bad shoulder wound in an encounter with him. As she struggles to recover, her oldest daughter, Ashley, leads the other two kids out into the wastes. This nearly gets the kids killed, and Ashley is about to kill a criminal in self-defense when Eleanor arrives and kills him herself. She realizes that even though she willingly lets her kids watch the violence she commits, allowing them to become violent like her is the line she won't cross, and she decides to seek out this mysterious paradise town in the hopes of protecting her children from becoming killers like her. As she gets closer to the paradise town, she starts to come up against members of the Endless Nation, as well as agents of the Phoenix Authority, the villainous group from the previous game. She also has numerous close encounters with Skell, but she does manage to get the best of him once or twice. She also begins to meet with various ally characters, in particular Shana, a young African-American woman about the same age as Eleanor, but who is unable to have children. The two become close allies, helping each other out of jams, while Eleanor's kids, particularly Ashley, also bond with her. The game seems to be setting Shana up to secretly be a member of the Phoenix Authority or Endless Nation, but surprisingly, it actually doesn't go that route: Shana's intentions are true, she's just someone trying to survive in the wastes like Eleanor, and she remains a close friend throughout the remainder of the game. Like in the previous game, death seems to hang over the protagonist, with numerous indications that Eleanor, like Quinn, isn't long for this world. She seems to have a death wish, at the same time that she fights to protect her children. During a late-game mission, she's ambushed and captured by the Endless Nation, who torture her for information on a resource stockpile that Shana has been protecting. Eleanor refuses to break, and eventually, she escapes and kills most of the Endless Nation members, before burning their hideout to the ground. However, the encounter leaves her physically and emotionally scarred, and by the time she makes it back to her children, she collapses in despair. She realizes that she can no longer protect her children like she did before, at the same time that the Phoenix Authority targets the resource stockpile, which is being redirected to the paradise town. After a final confrontation with Skell in which her daughter Ashley is used as bait, Eleanor reluctantly leaves her children with Shana so that she can help stop the Phoenix Authority from taking the stockpile. This leads to the game's final battle, and a last stand in which Eleanor takes on the Authority's best assassins by herself, becoming riddled with bullets but saving the stockpile and preserving the paradise town, which she herself has not yet reached and now will never get to. Eleanor closes her eyes and falls to her knees one last time, knowing her children will be safe with Shana in the paradise town but begging them to forgive her. Then... Eleanor wakes up, in a decent bed, in a town that isn't a complete wreck... the paradise town. She's covered in bandages and missing an eye, but she's alive. Shana tells Eleanor that she died for 23 minutes before the doctors were able to restart her heart, and Shana reveals that she herself is a doctor, one of the best doctors in the paradise town. After making sure that Eleanor's brain is working properly, Shana lets Eleanor's kids in to see her. Shana tells Eleanor that there are other paradise towns, and that they communicate and trade with one another in a chain called the Oasis Network. Slowly, but surely, civilization is going to be brought back to the wastes. Eleanor, happy to be safe but also ashamed of what she's done, begins sobbing, and she embraces her children tightly as Shana decides to leave the family to be alone.
The Life And Death Of A Mother gets excellent reviews at the time of its release, comparable to those for The Life And Death Of A Renegade, with the game's strong protagonist receiving much of the praise, along with the strong supporting cast. The game's tone, bleak throughout but with a hopeful ending, is also praised, as it too leaves things open for future games in the series. The game is released on September 7, 2010, and sales are initially stronger than those for The Life And Death Of A Renegade, making it one of the iTwin's most successful exclusives of the year.
The Life And Death Of A Mother is an open world action game exclusive to the Apple iTwin and the sequel to 2007's The Life And Death Of A Renegade, featuring Eleanor, the mother of three young children, as the protagonist. The game, like its predecessor, takes place in an America that has become an apocalyptic wasteland, and Eleanor must ride the wastes on her motorcycle, doing whatever she has to to provide for her children. Unlike the previous game's protagonist, Quinn, who had somewhat of a moral code and tried to avoid committing crimes and killing innocent people, Eleanor's only moral code is to protect her children by any means necessary. To that end, she's become a ruthless killer, willing to rob and murder even for a single scrap of food. This has attracted a great deal of attention to Eleanor, and she's being hunted by both a ruthless bounty hunter named Skell and a gang of equally vicious criminals called the Endless Nation, who seek to avenge the deaths of some of their fellow gang members who Eleanor killed. Even though Eleanor is a murderer, she doesn't go looking specifically for trouble, and while cold, she can be pleasant if her kids aren't starving and she's just passing through an area. She doesn't enjoy committing violence, her ultimate goal is to settle down somewhere with her kids and live in peace, but the reality of the wasteland makes that seem like nothing but a dream. The gameplay is a bit more stealth focused than the previous game, Eleanor has less health than Quinn did, and thus needs to sneak around more. She does have access to an equal repertoire of weapons, but isn't quite as physically strong, so in order to kill enemies with her bare hands, she'll usually need to get the jump on them or have a blunt or bladed weapon. Eleanor can also mix items up to make more items, or combine weapons, somewhat like Resident Evil or OTL's The Last Of Us. She has a skill progression system that will enable her to improve her health, stealth abilities, or her physical strength (she can eventually become good at fighting physically if she gets into enough fights). Interestingly, while Eleanor's children accompany her for much of the game, the game itself isn't an escort mission, as the kids can't be harmed or killed. However, they can become somewhat of a burden to Eleanor if they get scared enough, as they'll start to scream and make noise that can attract enemies, making stealth more difficult. Eleanor can give the children a place to hide, but the player must find a suitable one. The kids are good enough at hiding that once Eleanor finds a hiding place for them, they'll stay hidden, however, Eleanor won't stray too far from her kids, so the player must be careful to find a hiding place close to the action, and move the kids if they'll be too far away. The two older kids (the 9 year old girl, Ashley, and the 7 year old boy, Kevin) can actually help fight bad guys, with Ashley especially able to assist in the form of eye gouges and groin strikes to certain enemies. The game's presentation is improved over the previous game, as the game is positioned as one of the iTwin's big tentpole titles for the year. The voice actress for Eleanor (a lesser known voice actress unrecognizable IOTL) returns from the previous game, while the three kids are all played by child actors original TTL. Other supporting characters are also played mostly by unknowns, with a couple of slightly recognizable names amongst supporting characters, but no celebrities (unlike the last game, which starred Michael Madsen).
The Life And Death Of A Mother takes place a year after the previous game, and sees Eleanor and her kids still struggling to scrounge out a life in the American wasteland, with Eleanor having hardened considerably from the person she was in the previous game, becoming a ruthless killer to provide for her children and living a nomadic life, riding on her motorcycle from town to town, taking what she can, and then leaving. This has attracted the attention of bounty hunters and criminal gangs alike, and Eleanor starts to get the feeling she won't be able to continue this life forever. She learns of a paradise town out in the wastes that she may be able to settle down in, but her cynicism tells her that this town is a myth, and she doesn't want to bet her kids' lives on a myth. However, Skell the bounty hunter is getting closer and closer, with Eleanor suffering a bad shoulder wound in an encounter with him. As she struggles to recover, her oldest daughter, Ashley, leads the other two kids out into the wastes. This nearly gets the kids killed, and Ashley is about to kill a criminal in self-defense when Eleanor arrives and kills him herself. She realizes that even though she willingly lets her kids watch the violence she commits, allowing them to become violent like her is the line she won't cross, and she decides to seek out this mysterious paradise town in the hopes of protecting her children from becoming killers like her. As she gets closer to the paradise town, she starts to come up against members of the Endless Nation, as well as agents of the Phoenix Authority, the villainous group from the previous game. She also has numerous close encounters with Skell, but she does manage to get the best of him once or twice. She also begins to meet with various ally characters, in particular Shana, a young African-American woman about the same age as Eleanor, but who is unable to have children. The two become close allies, helping each other out of jams, while Eleanor's kids, particularly Ashley, also bond with her. The game seems to be setting Shana up to secretly be a member of the Phoenix Authority or Endless Nation, but surprisingly, it actually doesn't go that route: Shana's intentions are true, she's just someone trying to survive in the wastes like Eleanor, and she remains a close friend throughout the remainder of the game. Like in the previous game, death seems to hang over the protagonist, with numerous indications that Eleanor, like Quinn, isn't long for this world. She seems to have a death wish, at the same time that she fights to protect her children. During a late-game mission, she's ambushed and captured by the Endless Nation, who torture her for information on a resource stockpile that Shana has been protecting. Eleanor refuses to break, and eventually, she escapes and kills most of the Endless Nation members, before burning their hideout to the ground. However, the encounter leaves her physically and emotionally scarred, and by the time she makes it back to her children, she collapses in despair. She realizes that she can no longer protect her children like she did before, at the same time that the Phoenix Authority targets the resource stockpile, which is being redirected to the paradise town. After a final confrontation with Skell in which her daughter Ashley is used as bait, Eleanor reluctantly leaves her children with Shana so that she can help stop the Phoenix Authority from taking the stockpile. This leads to the game's final battle, and a last stand in which Eleanor takes on the Authority's best assassins by herself, becoming riddled with bullets but saving the stockpile and preserving the paradise town, which she herself has not yet reached and now will never get to. Eleanor closes her eyes and falls to her knees one last time, knowing her children will be safe with Shana in the paradise town but begging them to forgive her. Then... Eleanor wakes up, in a decent bed, in a town that isn't a complete wreck... the paradise town. She's covered in bandages and missing an eye, but she's alive. Shana tells Eleanor that she died for 23 minutes before the doctors were able to restart her heart, and Shana reveals that she herself is a doctor, one of the best doctors in the paradise town. After making sure that Eleanor's brain is working properly, Shana lets Eleanor's kids in to see her. Shana tells Eleanor that there are other paradise towns, and that they communicate and trade with one another in a chain called the Oasis Network. Slowly, but surely, civilization is going to be brought back to the wastes. Eleanor, happy to be safe but also ashamed of what she's done, begins sobbing, and she embraces her children tightly as Shana decides to leave the family to be alone.
The Life And Death Of A Mother gets excellent reviews at the time of its release, comparable to those for The Life And Death Of A Renegade, with the game's strong protagonist receiving much of the praise, along with the strong supporting cast. The game's tone, bleak throughout but with a hopeful ending, is also praised, as it too leaves things open for future games in the series. The game is released on September 7, 2010, and sales are initially stronger than those for The Life And Death Of A Renegade, making it one of the iTwin's most successful exclusives of the year.
Summer 2010 (Part 12) - A Trip To Summer School
Bully 2
Bully 2 is a sandbox game developed by Rockstar and published by Take Two Interactive. It's the sequel to 2006's Bully, and, like that game, takes place in a private school setting. This time around, the protagonist (who can be male or female, and whose name is Sam regardless of gender choice) is attending Lakeshore Academy. Unlike Bullworth, which was an academy full of troubled kids and miscreants, Lakeshore has a more positive reputation, and students are, for the most part, well behaved... but this is only skin deep. Underneath, Lakeshore's students are far more vicious and conniving, and Sam will have to spend a great deal of effort surviving class AND dealing with the cliques and bullies this time around. Bully 2 is in full HD, designed for the Sapphire, Xbox 2, and iTwin from the very start, with graphics similar to Grand Theft Auto II in detail. Character animations, backgrounds, and lighting effects are all significantly improved, and the game also runs smoother, with less glitches. There is a caveat to this: Lakeshore Academy and its surrounding environs (a lakeside resort town) are a BIT smaller in size than Bullworth in the original game. However, there's lots more to do, both in terms of minigames and also in terms of missions and social skills. Sam doesn't have a defined love interest in the game, and can date both boys and girls regardless of gender (though the same-sex romance option is only available with certain partners and not with everyone). That said, male Sam and female Sam are slightly different characters, with some different friends and also a few exclusive missions. Sam can acquire different costumes and hairstyles over the course of the game, and this will effect standing with different cliques and even which areas Sam is welcome to visit. The town itself becomes available earlier than the town in the original Bully, with Sam able to hit the beach and even participate in surfing minigames. Like in the original Bully, misbehavior can be punished if Sam is caught by school officials or police, with boring punishment minigames usually being the result. There's no single major "friend" like Ricky in the original game, with the player having more freedom to determine which of the school's students become their friend or their enemy. There is one major villain who's an antagonist in both male and female Sam's stories and of the game overall: Claire, a vicious, spiteful, beautiful, but also cruel cheerleader, is the game's primary antagonist no matter what actions the player takes. Male Sam can briefly date her, and female Sam can briefly befriend her, but Claire becomes an enemy to Sam regardless. The friendship/dating simulation aspect of the game is a major component this time around, with many sidequests revolving around this mechanic. However, the familiar GTA-style gameplay of Bully is completely intact, with many new mechanics migrating over from Grand Theft Auto II. Those who just want to roam the halls of Lakeshore causing mayhem won't be disappointed, as there's plenty of opportunities for players to cause trouble and have fun. The storyline isn't quite so heavy-handed as the original Bully: without the autistic character angle, the game's writers aren't quite so interested in the game having an inspirational story, and instead, the game is a sharp and oftentimes biting satire of school life and also of class (not school classes, but financial classes). With Lakeshore having many more rich students than Bullworth, the game doesn't hold back on its portrayal of them, especially in the current economic client. Especially with Claire, the game's general message is that money corrupts, and even with the "nice" characters, many of them are vapid and shallow and engrossed in their creature comforts. Sam will eventually have the option to befriend some of the lower-class teenage resort workers, who are generally portrayed as being nicer and more down to earth than the richer students (though this isn't a rule). In general, Bully 2's voice cast is fairly obscure, like the cast of the original. There are a few marginally known actors in the game (Dana Davis plays the voice of female Sam, and JoAnna Garcia plays the voice of Claire), but the voice acting budget isn't nearly as big as it is for a game like Grand Theft Auto II, or especially Crime Stories.
The game begins with Sam reluctantly arriving at Lakeshore Academy after their parents paid a massive amount of money to get them enrolled. Sam is fairly unpopular to begin with, but depending on the player's actions, Sam can make a few fast friends after a day or two. Male Sam's roommate is Henry, the son of a rich tech mogul who's pretty good with technology himself, while female Sam's roommate is Lana, a somewhat stereotypical preppy girl who's obsessed with makeup and fashion. Usually, Sam's roommate will end up being a fairly close ally to the player unless they really mess things up with them, and will be the source of numerous main and side missions throughout the game. The game is divided into four major chapters, with chapter one being a sort of "get acquainted" chapter in which the player will meet most of the game's most important characters, including Claire, and will begin to form a reputation at Lakeshore Academy. Chapter 2 opens up the town of Lakeshore itself, and the chapter's missions will build up to a massive beach party that the player is tasked with either helping to set up, or helping to ruin. Either way, at the end of the chapter, Claire causes the beach party to be ruined, Sam is blamed for it, and most of Sam's friends abandon them except for a close few. Chapter 3 revolves around Sam's attempt to get revenge on Claire by setting up an elaborate prank, but first, Claire's clique (and possibly her boyfriend) will have to be dealt with first in a series of main missions, with plenty of optional side missions mostly devoted to helping Sam build their reputation back up. During this time, we find out a lot about Claire's backstory, but she really doesn't have very much of a sympathetic story at all, she's a cruel person who wants to achieve fame and fortune by stepping all over others, and even though her parents are bad, she's even worse than them (and has learned to manipulate them). At the end of Chapter 3, Sam's prank works... somewhat. Claire is humiliated but absolutely not defeated, and the end of the chapter implies that Claire has killed a beloved teacher at the school, Mr. Langstrom (one of the few decent teachers at Lakeshore, who Claire killed because he flunked her and also because he planned to blow the whistle on ethical violations committed by Claire's parents' company). Chapter 4 starts out with Sam at their lowest point, but eventually Sam learns about Mr. Langstrom's murder, and the goal of Chapter 4 and ultimately the goal of the game is to expose Claire's crimes. The final mission starts with Sam captured by Claire, but they're sprung loose by a friend/love interest (or in the rare case where the player has neither, they have to play an elaborate and difficult timed minigame to get free). The final mission requires numerous steps to prove Claire is the culprit and to bust her for the murder, but eventually Claire is caught red handed after inadvertently publicly confessing her crimes. Sam is hailed as a hero, if Sam has a love interest, the ending will feature a brief romantic scene (and if Sam has enough friends, the ending will also feature a fun party), and Claire is hauled off to jail, though some ending dialogue implies that because Claire's parents will hire a team of expensive lawyers, she'll get off with a slap on the wrist (another bit of dark satire from Rockstar).
Bully 2 is released in August 2010, to excellent reviews that don't quite match up to the first game but are still some of the best of the year. The graphics, gameplay, and storyline are all praised, and the game continues the series' reputation as one of Rockstar's top properties. Sales are quite good as well, the game isn't a blockbuster but it's definitely a financial success, and surprisingly, sales are slightly better on the iTwin than on the Sapphire, thanks to the iTwin's motion controls and the popularity of the console. The game sells decently on the Xbox 2, but not nearly as much as on the other two consoles. Rockstar plans to continue the series, but with most of their efforts currently going toward Valdoza, Grand Theft Auto III, and the Crime Stories series, the next Bully game probably won't be seen for several more years.
Bully 2 is a sandbox game developed by Rockstar and published by Take Two Interactive. It's the sequel to 2006's Bully, and, like that game, takes place in a private school setting. This time around, the protagonist (who can be male or female, and whose name is Sam regardless of gender choice) is attending Lakeshore Academy. Unlike Bullworth, which was an academy full of troubled kids and miscreants, Lakeshore has a more positive reputation, and students are, for the most part, well behaved... but this is only skin deep. Underneath, Lakeshore's students are far more vicious and conniving, and Sam will have to spend a great deal of effort surviving class AND dealing with the cliques and bullies this time around. Bully 2 is in full HD, designed for the Sapphire, Xbox 2, and iTwin from the very start, with graphics similar to Grand Theft Auto II in detail. Character animations, backgrounds, and lighting effects are all significantly improved, and the game also runs smoother, with less glitches. There is a caveat to this: Lakeshore Academy and its surrounding environs (a lakeside resort town) are a BIT smaller in size than Bullworth in the original game. However, there's lots more to do, both in terms of minigames and also in terms of missions and social skills. Sam doesn't have a defined love interest in the game, and can date both boys and girls regardless of gender (though the same-sex romance option is only available with certain partners and not with everyone). That said, male Sam and female Sam are slightly different characters, with some different friends and also a few exclusive missions. Sam can acquire different costumes and hairstyles over the course of the game, and this will effect standing with different cliques and even which areas Sam is welcome to visit. The town itself becomes available earlier than the town in the original Bully, with Sam able to hit the beach and even participate in surfing minigames. Like in the original Bully, misbehavior can be punished if Sam is caught by school officials or police, with boring punishment minigames usually being the result. There's no single major "friend" like Ricky in the original game, with the player having more freedom to determine which of the school's students become their friend or their enemy. There is one major villain who's an antagonist in both male and female Sam's stories and of the game overall: Claire, a vicious, spiteful, beautiful, but also cruel cheerleader, is the game's primary antagonist no matter what actions the player takes. Male Sam can briefly date her, and female Sam can briefly befriend her, but Claire becomes an enemy to Sam regardless. The friendship/dating simulation aspect of the game is a major component this time around, with many sidequests revolving around this mechanic. However, the familiar GTA-style gameplay of Bully is completely intact, with many new mechanics migrating over from Grand Theft Auto II. Those who just want to roam the halls of Lakeshore causing mayhem won't be disappointed, as there's plenty of opportunities for players to cause trouble and have fun. The storyline isn't quite so heavy-handed as the original Bully: without the autistic character angle, the game's writers aren't quite so interested in the game having an inspirational story, and instead, the game is a sharp and oftentimes biting satire of school life and also of class (not school classes, but financial classes). With Lakeshore having many more rich students than Bullworth, the game doesn't hold back on its portrayal of them, especially in the current economic client. Especially with Claire, the game's general message is that money corrupts, and even with the "nice" characters, many of them are vapid and shallow and engrossed in their creature comforts. Sam will eventually have the option to befriend some of the lower-class teenage resort workers, who are generally portrayed as being nicer and more down to earth than the richer students (though this isn't a rule). In general, Bully 2's voice cast is fairly obscure, like the cast of the original. There are a few marginally known actors in the game (Dana Davis plays the voice of female Sam, and JoAnna Garcia plays the voice of Claire), but the voice acting budget isn't nearly as big as it is for a game like Grand Theft Auto II, or especially Crime Stories.
The game begins with Sam reluctantly arriving at Lakeshore Academy after their parents paid a massive amount of money to get them enrolled. Sam is fairly unpopular to begin with, but depending on the player's actions, Sam can make a few fast friends after a day or two. Male Sam's roommate is Henry, the son of a rich tech mogul who's pretty good with technology himself, while female Sam's roommate is Lana, a somewhat stereotypical preppy girl who's obsessed with makeup and fashion. Usually, Sam's roommate will end up being a fairly close ally to the player unless they really mess things up with them, and will be the source of numerous main and side missions throughout the game. The game is divided into four major chapters, with chapter one being a sort of "get acquainted" chapter in which the player will meet most of the game's most important characters, including Claire, and will begin to form a reputation at Lakeshore Academy. Chapter 2 opens up the town of Lakeshore itself, and the chapter's missions will build up to a massive beach party that the player is tasked with either helping to set up, or helping to ruin. Either way, at the end of the chapter, Claire causes the beach party to be ruined, Sam is blamed for it, and most of Sam's friends abandon them except for a close few. Chapter 3 revolves around Sam's attempt to get revenge on Claire by setting up an elaborate prank, but first, Claire's clique (and possibly her boyfriend) will have to be dealt with first in a series of main missions, with plenty of optional side missions mostly devoted to helping Sam build their reputation back up. During this time, we find out a lot about Claire's backstory, but she really doesn't have very much of a sympathetic story at all, she's a cruel person who wants to achieve fame and fortune by stepping all over others, and even though her parents are bad, she's even worse than them (and has learned to manipulate them). At the end of Chapter 3, Sam's prank works... somewhat. Claire is humiliated but absolutely not defeated, and the end of the chapter implies that Claire has killed a beloved teacher at the school, Mr. Langstrom (one of the few decent teachers at Lakeshore, who Claire killed because he flunked her and also because he planned to blow the whistle on ethical violations committed by Claire's parents' company). Chapter 4 starts out with Sam at their lowest point, but eventually Sam learns about Mr. Langstrom's murder, and the goal of Chapter 4 and ultimately the goal of the game is to expose Claire's crimes. The final mission starts with Sam captured by Claire, but they're sprung loose by a friend/love interest (or in the rare case where the player has neither, they have to play an elaborate and difficult timed minigame to get free). The final mission requires numerous steps to prove Claire is the culprit and to bust her for the murder, but eventually Claire is caught red handed after inadvertently publicly confessing her crimes. Sam is hailed as a hero, if Sam has a love interest, the ending will feature a brief romantic scene (and if Sam has enough friends, the ending will also feature a fun party), and Claire is hauled off to jail, though some ending dialogue implies that because Claire's parents will hire a team of expensive lawyers, she'll get off with a slap on the wrist (another bit of dark satire from Rockstar).
Bully 2 is released in August 2010, to excellent reviews that don't quite match up to the first game but are still some of the best of the year. The graphics, gameplay, and storyline are all praised, and the game continues the series' reputation as one of Rockstar's top properties. Sales are quite good as well, the game isn't a blockbuster but it's definitely a financial success, and surprisingly, sales are slightly better on the iTwin than on the Sapphire, thanks to the iTwin's motion controls and the popularity of the console. The game sells decently on the Xbox 2, but not nearly as much as on the other two consoles. Rockstar plans to continue the series, but with most of their efforts currently going toward Valdoza, Grand Theft Auto III, and the Crime Stories series, the next Bully game probably won't be seen for several more years.
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Summer 2010 (Part 13) - Blackheart, Now With Free Shipping
Blackheart: Contract
The sixth mainline game in the Blackheart series, Blackheart: Contract is the follow-up to Blackheart Villainous, and chronicles Sadira and Messiah's efforts to defeat a group of assassins hired to kill them by the arch-assassin known as Apex. In contrast with previous games in the series, Contract eschews stealth to a much greater extent, focusing more heavily on action and combat. In addition, the game no longer lets you choose between dual protagonists Sadira and Messiah. Instead, the game will switch between them from time to time, following both of their stories as they weave together. This does allow for a longer overall narrative than Villainous (which had to support both Sadira and Messiah's points of view for the same quest), and also allows the player to become equally skilled with both characters' playstyles. As events in the series have progressed, Sadira and Messiah's skillsets have evolved and have somewhat converged: Messiah's empathic abilities have dulled significantly since the events of Villainous, to the point where harming enemies does not cause her to feel their pain and flinch like how it did in that game. Instead, Messiah's empathic abilities have transferred onto Sadira: Messiah now primarily feels Sadira's pain and can even glean her emotions. Meanwhile, Sadira's sadism and ruthlessness have also dulled, largely as a result of her partnership with Messiah. The two are now pretty much dating, though both of them still refuse to acknowledge their relationship with one another. Sadira has also come to terms with her own psychosis and other mental disorders, and is actually seeking treatment for them, as relayed via small flashback segments interspersed between story scenes. Sadira still employs a more wild, berserker style of combat, with unfocused blows and less aim, though she's able to strike more quickly and she can still intimidate foes more than Messiah can. Messiah, on the other hand, can strike and shoot with more precision, but is slower in combat. Sadira's skill meter allows her to mitigate this by becoming more accurate with powerful, brutal strikes, while Messiah's skill meter improves her speed without dulling her aim. Time and time again, the game emphasizes the strange, symbiotic relationship between these two women and how they've come to love each other even as part of them hate each other, and how they have also come to hate themselves for loving each other. When the two are in combat together, the game activates quicktime events and combo strikes for the both of them, allowing the player to utilize the partner of the character they're currently controlling to enhance their own battle capabilities. The game itself has a heavy emphasis on “assassin battles”, 24 different hired killers, along with Apex himself, that must be fought during the course of the game. Some of these fights happen completely out of nowhere, while some are built up to. Some of the assassins are fought more than once, most are killed the first time. Some are fought alone, some are fought together. While the game's locations have become somewhat more linear to accommodate this (there's little Blackheart 4 style free roaming), the game's pacing is somewhat more smooth and the levels are finely tuned to the strengths and weaknesses of Sadira and Messiah. Contract features improved graphics over Villainous, mostly in character animation and lighting effects, and most of the major voice actors from previous games return, including Lana Parrilla as Sadira, Grey Delisle as Messiah, Giancarlo Esposito as Apex (the primary antagonist), and Zoe McLellan as Christine.
The game begins with Sadira doing battle with one of the assassins straight out of the gate, after which the game cuts to an opening credits montage which shows Sadira and Messiah battling some of the first of Apex's assassins, defending their allies, and forging a closer relationship between each other. The game itself then begins in earnest, with Sadira and Messiah gathering info on one of Apex's assassins even as another one is hunting the two of them. Meanwhile, we also see that Apex's top assassin Christine still wants revenge on Messiah for injuring one of her eyes, and as Sadira dodges one assassin, Messiah dodges Christine. The game's second assassin battle features Sadira against a skillful gunner sporting a massive pistol, who can take her out in just a few shots. However, he's slow, and Sadira's quick, powerful attacks should make short work of him. Messiah manages to hunt down another assassin, but she must battle this one while Christine attacks her as well. Messiah takes out the assassin and battles Christine in a ferocious duel that ends when Sadira shows up and Christine escapes. Slowly but surely, Sadira and Messiah start to gather more and more information on Apex and the assassins as they continue to dismantle his network. There's no real overarching threat to the world in this game: instead, the threat is entirely personal: Apex's assassins are out to kill Sadira, Messiah, and their closest friends, and the two women must take out his entire assassination squad before that happens. The assassin fights each have their own special gimmick, ranging from simple things like different styles of combat arenas and weapon loadouts, to things such as interface screws and plot interruptions. The developers were somewhat inspired by the boss fights in the Metal Gear Solid series, and they really go all out in giving each assassin their own distinct personality and fighting style. While many assassins are evil people who the player will delight in taking down, some are professionals just doing their jobs with no hard feelings, and still others are highly sympathetic. Sadira and Messiah both have their own ways of interacting with the assassins, and each fight has an impact on the growing personal turmoil between the two women: Sadira finds herself wondering if her line of work is truly fulfilling anymore, while Messiah finds herself torn between a life with Sadira and a life of peace, and starts to blame Sadira for the fact that she and her friends (including Joseph and Kasey from previous games) are in danger. As the assassins get more dangerous, things get more personal, and Sadira and Messiah grow both closer (their physical intimacy gets incredibly intense as the game progresses, it's clear that they love each other and have grown dependent on each other) and further apart (both of them still get furious with each other on occasion, cursing each other out and threatening each other). By the time Messiah's friend Joseph is executed by Apex about two-thirds of the way through the game, she fully realizes how toxic her relationship with Sadira is. Indeed, the game takes pains to realistically depict an actual toxic relationship, a mutually toxic one (Messiah hurts Sadira just as much as Sadira hurts her, not physically but definitely emotionally). The relationship angst is portrayed very subtly, the game doesn't spend much time ruminating on it and instead trusts the player to read between the lines, while guiding the plot to its climax as Apex's organization is slowly picked apart by the two incredibly skilled women. The final stretch of the game sees Apex using his underworld contacts to sabotage the connections that Sadira and Messiah have with their various allies, with most of their friends ending up either dead, captured, injured, arrested, or scared off in some manner, forcing the two to once again depend on the only people they can: each other. They agree to take down Apex in one final grand mission, storming his compound and battling him together. The final battle with Apex has the player alternating between Sadira and Messiah for various segments of the fight, before one final glorious segment has the switch happening literally every few seconds until the two deal the final blow together. After Apex is killed, Sadira and Messiah embrace passionately, and the two seem to finally be coming to terms with how terrible they've been to each other, but they agree to work things out between them. However, just as it seems the game is ending, Messiah is shot by Christine and seemingly killed. Sadira hunts down Christine and the two have a very emotional final battle. The battle is every bit as difficult as the Apex fight, but shorter and much simpler. It ends with Sadira not killing Christine, but blinding her by destroying her other eye. Sadira plans to leave Christine like that to make her suffer, but Christine doesn't freak out or surrender. Instead, she calmly stands and aims her sniper rifle at Sadira, who realizes, almost too late, that Apex actually anticipated this might happen and trained Christine to be able to fight while blind. A split-second before Christine fires, Sadira, without even turning back around, stands and fires a fatal shot between Christine's eyes, finishing her. Sadira then returns to Messiah's side and realizes she's alive, and takes her back home to help her recover. However, when Sadira wakes up, she's tied up and Messiah is gone, and there's a phone on her chest with instructions to play a video. Sadira frees herself and plays it, and as the video plays a recording of Messiah talking, we see a flashback of her leaving. Messiah has decided that she can't work with Sadira anymore, that even though she does love her, she doesn't want this life anymore and doesn't want to be in a relationship with someone who has changed her so much for the worse. Sadira throws a furious, emotional tantrum after realizing that Messiah has left her, then seems to realize that everything Messiah said in the video was right, then we see Sadira resuming her life as a coldblooded assassin, killing for money without any sympathy for her victims and enjoying every moment of it. Messiah has resumed her old life as a bodyguard, and the ending seems to imply that with Sadira killing people and Messiah protecting them, their paths will inevitably cross at some point.
Blackheart: Contract is released on the Sapphire, Xbox 2, and iTwin to highly positive reviews, slightly better than the reviews received by Blackheart Villainous, averaging solidly in the low 9s. The reviews praised the separate controls for Sadira and Messiah, the creativity of the boss fights, and the realistic, if still somewhat over the top, portrayal of their relationship. The game went truly all in on the two of them, only to break them up while showing how bad they are for each other, subverting fan expectations and drawing a mixed reaction from much of the fandom, though the game's quality is undeniable. Sales, while not quite as brisk as Villainous, were still extremely good: over a million in the game's first week, with strong sales throughout the rest of the year on all three systems.
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Blackheart: A Cold Beginning
Blackheart: A Cold Beginning is a stealth/shooter title for the Supernova and iPod Play. The game has a similar format to previous titles in the series (it plays a lot like Blackheart 3 with the quality of life enhancements of more recent titles) and tells the story of Sadira Blackheart and how she originally became an assassin. The game plays much like other contemporary third person shooters, and looks quite good for a handheld game, almost indistinguishable from something that might be played on the Nintendo Wave. The game introduces Sadira's mentor, a man named Nobu, who taught Sadira how to suppress her emotions and kill without sympathy or fear. The main storyline of the game has Sadira working for Nobu, the head of a Japanese corporation, to assassinate his corporate rivals, one of whom has ties to the Yakuza (who become frequent enemies of Sadira in this game). Messiah is nowhere to be found in this game, though a Jillian Zobrist (Messiah's older sister) is mentioned on numerous occasions. The game's plot takes a major turn when Nobu betrays Sadira, hiring another assassin to take her down, and once Sadira catches wind of her mentor's betrayal, the student must become the master as she tracks him to a remote part of Japan to finish him off. Throughout the game, there are allusions to some of Sadira's enemies and allies from the original Blackheart, while her personality, a calm but somewhat anxious killer, is slowly developed into the cold person she currently is (it's implied that Nobu's betrayal played a big part in this, as Sadira learned that she can't trust anyone and thus learned never to form emotional attachments, a rule we know she'll eventually break with Messiah). Eventually, Sadira tracks Nobu down and defeats him, and surprisingly, he begins to beg for his life as Sadira gets ready to kill him. She coldly dispatches him, and learns that Nobu was ready to kill her if she had shown even a moment's hesitation, realizing that begging was in fact his final test for her. The game ends with Sadira having become the ruthless assassin we all know and love, and while the game doesn't directly set up the events of the original Blackheart, it does let everyone know how she became the person she is in that game. A Cold Beginning gets strong reviews from critics, but Messiah: Crisis Tear remains the gold standard for the series' handheld installments. Sales are quite good initially, mostly due to the fact that it gets promoted alongside Contract, but they do trail off fairly soon afterwards, and don't remain nearly as strong in the following months.
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“It seems that Blackheart, one of Ubisoft's flagship IPs, is set to join the ranks of 'annualized' games occupied by franchises such as Call of Duty and Ubisoft's own Assassin's Creed. The company has announced that it's already working on the next game in the series, and though it hasn't yet been officially announced, it's all but certain to be releasing next year. An annualized approach to Blackheart seems like a strange one: despite the series' financial success, the epic single player nature of the plot doesn't seem to lend itself well to a rapid-fire turnaround, with Assassin's Creed justifying its yearly releases through the carrying over of assets from one game to the next. Annualization is becoming a trend amongst major game franchises, and while it does keep them at the forefront of the industry, and keeps the profits flowing, it can also lead to burnout amongst both developers and fans, who tire of seeing the same old game trotted out year after year. We'll find out if that fate befalls Blackheart, with our first clue coming with the announcement of the series' 2011 installment, liking coming at or before next February's MTV Video Game Awards.”
-from Blargo's News In Brief article for September 17, 2010
The sixth mainline game in the Blackheart series, Blackheart: Contract is the follow-up to Blackheart Villainous, and chronicles Sadira and Messiah's efforts to defeat a group of assassins hired to kill them by the arch-assassin known as Apex. In contrast with previous games in the series, Contract eschews stealth to a much greater extent, focusing more heavily on action and combat. In addition, the game no longer lets you choose between dual protagonists Sadira and Messiah. Instead, the game will switch between them from time to time, following both of their stories as they weave together. This does allow for a longer overall narrative than Villainous (which had to support both Sadira and Messiah's points of view for the same quest), and also allows the player to become equally skilled with both characters' playstyles. As events in the series have progressed, Sadira and Messiah's skillsets have evolved and have somewhat converged: Messiah's empathic abilities have dulled significantly since the events of Villainous, to the point where harming enemies does not cause her to feel their pain and flinch like how it did in that game. Instead, Messiah's empathic abilities have transferred onto Sadira: Messiah now primarily feels Sadira's pain and can even glean her emotions. Meanwhile, Sadira's sadism and ruthlessness have also dulled, largely as a result of her partnership with Messiah. The two are now pretty much dating, though both of them still refuse to acknowledge their relationship with one another. Sadira has also come to terms with her own psychosis and other mental disorders, and is actually seeking treatment for them, as relayed via small flashback segments interspersed between story scenes. Sadira still employs a more wild, berserker style of combat, with unfocused blows and less aim, though she's able to strike more quickly and she can still intimidate foes more than Messiah can. Messiah, on the other hand, can strike and shoot with more precision, but is slower in combat. Sadira's skill meter allows her to mitigate this by becoming more accurate with powerful, brutal strikes, while Messiah's skill meter improves her speed without dulling her aim. Time and time again, the game emphasizes the strange, symbiotic relationship between these two women and how they've come to love each other even as part of them hate each other, and how they have also come to hate themselves for loving each other. When the two are in combat together, the game activates quicktime events and combo strikes for the both of them, allowing the player to utilize the partner of the character they're currently controlling to enhance their own battle capabilities. The game itself has a heavy emphasis on “assassin battles”, 24 different hired killers, along with Apex himself, that must be fought during the course of the game. Some of these fights happen completely out of nowhere, while some are built up to. Some of the assassins are fought more than once, most are killed the first time. Some are fought alone, some are fought together. While the game's locations have become somewhat more linear to accommodate this (there's little Blackheart 4 style free roaming), the game's pacing is somewhat more smooth and the levels are finely tuned to the strengths and weaknesses of Sadira and Messiah. Contract features improved graphics over Villainous, mostly in character animation and lighting effects, and most of the major voice actors from previous games return, including Lana Parrilla as Sadira, Grey Delisle as Messiah, Giancarlo Esposito as Apex (the primary antagonist), and Zoe McLellan as Christine.
The game begins with Sadira doing battle with one of the assassins straight out of the gate, after which the game cuts to an opening credits montage which shows Sadira and Messiah battling some of the first of Apex's assassins, defending their allies, and forging a closer relationship between each other. The game itself then begins in earnest, with Sadira and Messiah gathering info on one of Apex's assassins even as another one is hunting the two of them. Meanwhile, we also see that Apex's top assassin Christine still wants revenge on Messiah for injuring one of her eyes, and as Sadira dodges one assassin, Messiah dodges Christine. The game's second assassin battle features Sadira against a skillful gunner sporting a massive pistol, who can take her out in just a few shots. However, he's slow, and Sadira's quick, powerful attacks should make short work of him. Messiah manages to hunt down another assassin, but she must battle this one while Christine attacks her as well. Messiah takes out the assassin and battles Christine in a ferocious duel that ends when Sadira shows up and Christine escapes. Slowly but surely, Sadira and Messiah start to gather more and more information on Apex and the assassins as they continue to dismantle his network. There's no real overarching threat to the world in this game: instead, the threat is entirely personal: Apex's assassins are out to kill Sadira, Messiah, and their closest friends, and the two women must take out his entire assassination squad before that happens. The assassin fights each have their own special gimmick, ranging from simple things like different styles of combat arenas and weapon loadouts, to things such as interface screws and plot interruptions. The developers were somewhat inspired by the boss fights in the Metal Gear Solid series, and they really go all out in giving each assassin their own distinct personality and fighting style. While many assassins are evil people who the player will delight in taking down, some are professionals just doing their jobs with no hard feelings, and still others are highly sympathetic. Sadira and Messiah both have their own ways of interacting with the assassins, and each fight has an impact on the growing personal turmoil between the two women: Sadira finds herself wondering if her line of work is truly fulfilling anymore, while Messiah finds herself torn between a life with Sadira and a life of peace, and starts to blame Sadira for the fact that she and her friends (including Joseph and Kasey from previous games) are in danger. As the assassins get more dangerous, things get more personal, and Sadira and Messiah grow both closer (their physical intimacy gets incredibly intense as the game progresses, it's clear that they love each other and have grown dependent on each other) and further apart (both of them still get furious with each other on occasion, cursing each other out and threatening each other). By the time Messiah's friend Joseph is executed by Apex about two-thirds of the way through the game, she fully realizes how toxic her relationship with Sadira is. Indeed, the game takes pains to realistically depict an actual toxic relationship, a mutually toxic one (Messiah hurts Sadira just as much as Sadira hurts her, not physically but definitely emotionally). The relationship angst is portrayed very subtly, the game doesn't spend much time ruminating on it and instead trusts the player to read between the lines, while guiding the plot to its climax as Apex's organization is slowly picked apart by the two incredibly skilled women. The final stretch of the game sees Apex using his underworld contacts to sabotage the connections that Sadira and Messiah have with their various allies, with most of their friends ending up either dead, captured, injured, arrested, or scared off in some manner, forcing the two to once again depend on the only people they can: each other. They agree to take down Apex in one final grand mission, storming his compound and battling him together. The final battle with Apex has the player alternating between Sadira and Messiah for various segments of the fight, before one final glorious segment has the switch happening literally every few seconds until the two deal the final blow together. After Apex is killed, Sadira and Messiah embrace passionately, and the two seem to finally be coming to terms with how terrible they've been to each other, but they agree to work things out between them. However, just as it seems the game is ending, Messiah is shot by Christine and seemingly killed. Sadira hunts down Christine and the two have a very emotional final battle. The battle is every bit as difficult as the Apex fight, but shorter and much simpler. It ends with Sadira not killing Christine, but blinding her by destroying her other eye. Sadira plans to leave Christine like that to make her suffer, but Christine doesn't freak out or surrender. Instead, she calmly stands and aims her sniper rifle at Sadira, who realizes, almost too late, that Apex actually anticipated this might happen and trained Christine to be able to fight while blind. A split-second before Christine fires, Sadira, without even turning back around, stands and fires a fatal shot between Christine's eyes, finishing her. Sadira then returns to Messiah's side and realizes she's alive, and takes her back home to help her recover. However, when Sadira wakes up, she's tied up and Messiah is gone, and there's a phone on her chest with instructions to play a video. Sadira frees herself and plays it, and as the video plays a recording of Messiah talking, we see a flashback of her leaving. Messiah has decided that she can't work with Sadira anymore, that even though she does love her, she doesn't want this life anymore and doesn't want to be in a relationship with someone who has changed her so much for the worse. Sadira throws a furious, emotional tantrum after realizing that Messiah has left her, then seems to realize that everything Messiah said in the video was right, then we see Sadira resuming her life as a coldblooded assassin, killing for money without any sympathy for her victims and enjoying every moment of it. Messiah has resumed her old life as a bodyguard, and the ending seems to imply that with Sadira killing people and Messiah protecting them, their paths will inevitably cross at some point.
Blackheart: Contract is released on the Sapphire, Xbox 2, and iTwin to highly positive reviews, slightly better than the reviews received by Blackheart Villainous, averaging solidly in the low 9s. The reviews praised the separate controls for Sadira and Messiah, the creativity of the boss fights, and the realistic, if still somewhat over the top, portrayal of their relationship. The game went truly all in on the two of them, only to break them up while showing how bad they are for each other, subverting fan expectations and drawing a mixed reaction from much of the fandom, though the game's quality is undeniable. Sales, while not quite as brisk as Villainous, were still extremely good: over a million in the game's first week, with strong sales throughout the rest of the year on all three systems.
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Blackheart: A Cold Beginning
Blackheart: A Cold Beginning is a stealth/shooter title for the Supernova and iPod Play. The game has a similar format to previous titles in the series (it plays a lot like Blackheart 3 with the quality of life enhancements of more recent titles) and tells the story of Sadira Blackheart and how she originally became an assassin. The game plays much like other contemporary third person shooters, and looks quite good for a handheld game, almost indistinguishable from something that might be played on the Nintendo Wave. The game introduces Sadira's mentor, a man named Nobu, who taught Sadira how to suppress her emotions and kill without sympathy or fear. The main storyline of the game has Sadira working for Nobu, the head of a Japanese corporation, to assassinate his corporate rivals, one of whom has ties to the Yakuza (who become frequent enemies of Sadira in this game). Messiah is nowhere to be found in this game, though a Jillian Zobrist (Messiah's older sister) is mentioned on numerous occasions. The game's plot takes a major turn when Nobu betrays Sadira, hiring another assassin to take her down, and once Sadira catches wind of her mentor's betrayal, the student must become the master as she tracks him to a remote part of Japan to finish him off. Throughout the game, there are allusions to some of Sadira's enemies and allies from the original Blackheart, while her personality, a calm but somewhat anxious killer, is slowly developed into the cold person she currently is (it's implied that Nobu's betrayal played a big part in this, as Sadira learned that she can't trust anyone and thus learned never to form emotional attachments, a rule we know she'll eventually break with Messiah). Eventually, Sadira tracks Nobu down and defeats him, and surprisingly, he begins to beg for his life as Sadira gets ready to kill him. She coldly dispatches him, and learns that Nobu was ready to kill her if she had shown even a moment's hesitation, realizing that begging was in fact his final test for her. The game ends with Sadira having become the ruthless assassin we all know and love, and while the game doesn't directly set up the events of the original Blackheart, it does let everyone know how she became the person she is in that game. A Cold Beginning gets strong reviews from critics, but Messiah: Crisis Tear remains the gold standard for the series' handheld installments. Sales are quite good initially, mostly due to the fact that it gets promoted alongside Contract, but they do trail off fairly soon afterwards, and don't remain nearly as strong in the following months.
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“It seems that Blackheart, one of Ubisoft's flagship IPs, is set to join the ranks of 'annualized' games occupied by franchises such as Call of Duty and Ubisoft's own Assassin's Creed. The company has announced that it's already working on the next game in the series, and though it hasn't yet been officially announced, it's all but certain to be releasing next year. An annualized approach to Blackheart seems like a strange one: despite the series' financial success, the epic single player nature of the plot doesn't seem to lend itself well to a rapid-fire turnaround, with Assassin's Creed justifying its yearly releases through the carrying over of assets from one game to the next. Annualization is becoming a trend amongst major game franchises, and while it does keep them at the forefront of the industry, and keeps the profits flowing, it can also lead to burnout amongst both developers and fans, who tire of seeing the same old game trotted out year after year. We'll find out if that fate befalls Blackheart, with our first clue coming with the announcement of the series' 2011 installment, liking coming at or before next February's MTV Video Game Awards.”
-from Blargo's News In Brief article for September 17, 2010
*Looks at OTL Call of Duty, Sonic, and Assassin's Creed*
How about no?
It was, although it's ended by 2010. It got a LOT more seasons than it did IOTL, seven in all.
Oh? Who do you mean?
I'll probably touch on Ted and Alex from time to time in their respective careers, Ted's about to leave G4 in a year or two, so he won't be doing so much with games (I mean, he'll still be playing them, but he'll be producing other kinds of shows), while Alex will constantly be talking about games in some form since he's heading up Games Over Matter. Brittany, of course, will be getting her diagnosis fairly soon, so that part of her story arc is about to begin. Lyssa is doing her TV show and other acting things and I imagine she'll be hanging out with Brittany as much as she can, John Walden is currently hosting The Price Is Right, so we may visit him... as for the other hosts, they're living fairly quiet lives away from games so we probably won't mention them much at all in the forseeable future.
Polly's doing her media research at Stanford, so I doubt we go back to her all that much. She is, of course, friends with a few of the people at Cressida Lane (through her best friend Lizzy), so that may come into play at some point. Her closest game related friend would probably be Francesca Marie Smith (the voice of Elissa in TTL's Thrillseekers), since their research projects (Polly in media, Francesca in media and tech) cross over from time to time. Polly's story arc is already done but since she's friends with some minorly important people in the gaming community, that could come into play. Yes, Lizzy's boss is Meghan Markle, but Polly's met her maybe... once? They don't really become friends (I mean, they like each other, but they don't really hang out).
Selena will remain a big deal, so we'll probably come back to her every now and again. She's not going to be a chart topper during the 2010s, maybe once or twice or maybe as a producer, but of course she's still majorly famous, she's beloved in Hollywood, and she'll be doing some acting things and putting out some CDs during the decade.
I'm sure we'll return to Kurt Cobain at some point, we may have Frances Cobain start to play a more prominent role too. Kurt's major importance to the main storyline is pretty much concluded, but he can do some collaborations or something.
We'll certainly revisit Patroka every now and again, her story arc has only just begun after all...
Just wondering, where could a new alternate-continuity Sonic the Hedgehog game fit in this timeline, one that shares no continuity with any other Sonic games and is a mix of genres? It's also one where Dr. Eggman isn't the antagonist and the antagonist is much darker (Eggman in any case, is more of an eccentric, not a villain in this continuity, and there's a few unique-to-continuity characters).
Plus, on the subject of alternate continuity, a new Half-Life game that's got its own canon, still with Gordon Freeman, the mute hero of the game, although very different supporting characters and lore for this continuity.
How would these fit into the ATL? (I only really became a fan of Half-Life around 2012, but haven't played it as much since transitioning to being a Mac user!!)
Plus, on the subject of alternate continuity, a new Half-Life game that's got its own canon, still with Gordon Freeman, the mute hero of the game, although very different supporting characters and lore for this continuity.
How would these fit into the ATL? (I only really became a fan of Half-Life around 2012, but haven't played it as much since transitioning to being a Mac user!!)
Summer 2010 (Part 14) - Apple's Indie Game Still Strong
Sati And The Hidden Doorway
Sati And The Hidden Doorway is a puzzle/adventure game with visual novel elements, developed by Rainbow Castle and published by Apple for the iTwin. Developed by a small team, the game stars a 13-year-old Indian-American eighth grader named Sati, who with the help of her friends must solve a mystery that's causing trouble in her town. She must also deal with the fact that she's developing mysterious powers, and these powers will help her on her journey to solve the mystery and save her friends. The game uses a cel-shaded animation style that gives everything a colorful, cartoony feel, much like the Shantae series, and the gameplay itself takes inspiration from Syrielle, alternating between adventure segments and more subdued puzzle solving and visual novel segments. Most of the adventure gameplay consists of exploring and solving puzzles, with combat largely taking a backseat. Sati's powers are earned over the course of the story, and are mostly simple powers such as fireballs and bursts of wind, which are used more for the puzzles than they are for battling enemies. The dungeons themselves are fairly small compared to Zelda dungeons, with every room having some kind of puzzle to solve, but there are usually plenty of clues offered to the player as to how Sati can best progress through them. The visual novel segments are puzzles too in their own way, with Sati having to figure out which of her friends to talk to and who can help her uncover parts of the mystery. Sati's town is an average modern American town, while these dungeons sort of pop up as Sati uncovers more of the mystery, so for example, she and her friends might be in the library, when all of a sudden, a bookshelf slides away to reveal a staircase leading to a dungeon. The mystery itself involves strange things happening to people in Sati's town, with one person turning to stone, others turning into monsters, and still others just disappearing. When Sati and her friends complete a dungeon, part of the curse is undone, but another part remains, tied into an overall big mystery that covers the entire length of the game. The mystery is ultimately related to a treasure brought into the town museum, an ancient artifact plate that starts to activate and glow whenever something happens, either one of Sati's powers activating or part of the mystery being solved. The treasure hunter who found the artifact plate, Allen von Sadler, has disappeared completely, but he turns out to be the primary antagonist of the game, as he stole the artifact plate from an ancient queen who happens to be one of Sati's ancestors, and now the queen's powers have manifested through Sati. In order to solve the curse, Sati must take the missing piece of the artifact plate from von Sadler, but that won't be easy, as he's using Sati's friends as human shields to stave off the effects of the plate's curse (which is why bad things are happening to them). In the end, Sati and her friends (the ones that haven't been cursed or captured) are able to outwit von Sadler and get the missing piece from him. He gets arrested, the plate is returned to its resting plate, and Sati's powers mostly go away, though she retains a small portion of them as she is now an ancient defender with a duty to protect the ancient secrets.
Sati And The Hidden Doorway is highly praised for its lovely graphics and fun, varied gameplay, and also its value (released as a $19.99 digital download for the iTwin, or a $29.99 physical release with a few small bonus extras). It manages to get some of the best reviews ever for an indie game, and becomes a best seller on the iTwin digital marketplace for some time after its release. Its success creates a popular new franchise, elevates Rainbow Castle as one of the most important indie developers, and even helps to sell a few iTwin consoles. It's the latest indie hit for Apple, but not the only one of 2010...
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Apple's indie scene continued to thrive, both as a direct result of Apple funding certain indie studios, and as a result of indie companies gravitating to the iTwin platform for its ease of development and its popularity as a console.
Apple-funded companies, of course, get certain perks, such as the right to use classic Sega franchises. A digital-only Sonic platformer is in the works for next year, with an emphasis on challenging levels done in the classic Sonic style, and there's also an intriguing Toejam and Earl project in the works by a popular indie studio. Even if indie developers aren't taking advantage of Sega IP, co-developing one's game with Apple allows companies to create more polished, technologically advanced games tuned specifically to the iTwin's specs. One of these games, Metronome, is a fascinating new title that utilizes the iTwin's motion controls to allow rhythmic combat against hordes of enemies, or well-timed button presses with the traditional controls. Metronome may not be the best looking game graphically, but its unique art style allows the team to create a modern looking game at very low cost, and with an emphasis on skillful timing and gameplay, it's one of the many Apple indies where graphics don't necessarily matter. Apple is also assisting in the creation of a classic-style RPG called Pier Solar and the Great Architects. Initially envisioned as a game that would use the Sega Genesis cartridge format to enable the publication of a brand new Genesis title, the development studio Watermelon accepted an offer from Apple to fund the project, which will allow it to have bigger production values and lower production costs, all the while keeping the retro look and feel.
Many indie developers, however, choose to develop for the iTwin independently of Apple's support, and some of these indie games stand toe to toe with those published by Apple, including Ribbon Lancer, an exciting and fast paced platformer that features a young acrobatic girl running across a tricky 2-D stage, spearing enemies as ribbons trail majestically behind her. There's also Autoclad 710, a mech-shooter on rails that features fully 3-D graphics and that will also utilize the iTwin's motion controls for aiming and movement. Perhaps the most interesting iTwin indie game scheduled to come out this year is Disappear/Reappear, a competitive puzzle title that features rapidly phasing shapes that players must force into rows and columns, using special items to freeze them in either visible or invisible states. Players can compete either 1v1 or 1v1v1v1 to see who can clear their boards the fastest, and players can even compete with one using all visible blocks and the other using all invisible ones. It's a puzzle game explicitly designed for tournament play, and the development studio has stated that "those who can rise to the challenge will be able to experience a puzzler like no other". The game will be exclusive to the iTwin, but the developer is also creating a variation of the game for the iPhone, which is expected to be released next year.
While all three consoles currently enjoy numerous indie exclusives, the Apple iTwin's indie scene has emerged as the most vibrant, creative, and commercially successful, and is expected to help bolster the iTwin's lineup as it enters the second half of its overall lifespan.
-from an article on iTwinDefender.com, posted on September 8, 2010
Sati And The Hidden Doorway is a puzzle/adventure game with visual novel elements, developed by Rainbow Castle and published by Apple for the iTwin. Developed by a small team, the game stars a 13-year-old Indian-American eighth grader named Sati, who with the help of her friends must solve a mystery that's causing trouble in her town. She must also deal with the fact that she's developing mysterious powers, and these powers will help her on her journey to solve the mystery and save her friends. The game uses a cel-shaded animation style that gives everything a colorful, cartoony feel, much like the Shantae series, and the gameplay itself takes inspiration from Syrielle, alternating between adventure segments and more subdued puzzle solving and visual novel segments. Most of the adventure gameplay consists of exploring and solving puzzles, with combat largely taking a backseat. Sati's powers are earned over the course of the story, and are mostly simple powers such as fireballs and bursts of wind, which are used more for the puzzles than they are for battling enemies. The dungeons themselves are fairly small compared to Zelda dungeons, with every room having some kind of puzzle to solve, but there are usually plenty of clues offered to the player as to how Sati can best progress through them. The visual novel segments are puzzles too in their own way, with Sati having to figure out which of her friends to talk to and who can help her uncover parts of the mystery. Sati's town is an average modern American town, while these dungeons sort of pop up as Sati uncovers more of the mystery, so for example, she and her friends might be in the library, when all of a sudden, a bookshelf slides away to reveal a staircase leading to a dungeon. The mystery itself involves strange things happening to people in Sati's town, with one person turning to stone, others turning into monsters, and still others just disappearing. When Sati and her friends complete a dungeon, part of the curse is undone, but another part remains, tied into an overall big mystery that covers the entire length of the game. The mystery is ultimately related to a treasure brought into the town museum, an ancient artifact plate that starts to activate and glow whenever something happens, either one of Sati's powers activating or part of the mystery being solved. The treasure hunter who found the artifact plate, Allen von Sadler, has disappeared completely, but he turns out to be the primary antagonist of the game, as he stole the artifact plate from an ancient queen who happens to be one of Sati's ancestors, and now the queen's powers have manifested through Sati. In order to solve the curse, Sati must take the missing piece of the artifact plate from von Sadler, but that won't be easy, as he's using Sati's friends as human shields to stave off the effects of the plate's curse (which is why bad things are happening to them). In the end, Sati and her friends (the ones that haven't been cursed or captured) are able to outwit von Sadler and get the missing piece from him. He gets arrested, the plate is returned to its resting plate, and Sati's powers mostly go away, though she retains a small portion of them as she is now an ancient defender with a duty to protect the ancient secrets.
Sati And The Hidden Doorway is highly praised for its lovely graphics and fun, varied gameplay, and also its value (released as a $19.99 digital download for the iTwin, or a $29.99 physical release with a few small bonus extras). It manages to get some of the best reviews ever for an indie game, and becomes a best seller on the iTwin digital marketplace for some time after its release. Its success creates a popular new franchise, elevates Rainbow Castle as one of the most important indie developers, and even helps to sell a few iTwin consoles. It's the latest indie hit for Apple, but not the only one of 2010...
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Apple's indie scene continued to thrive, both as a direct result of Apple funding certain indie studios, and as a result of indie companies gravitating to the iTwin platform for its ease of development and its popularity as a console.
Apple-funded companies, of course, get certain perks, such as the right to use classic Sega franchises. A digital-only Sonic platformer is in the works for next year, with an emphasis on challenging levels done in the classic Sonic style, and there's also an intriguing Toejam and Earl project in the works by a popular indie studio. Even if indie developers aren't taking advantage of Sega IP, co-developing one's game with Apple allows companies to create more polished, technologically advanced games tuned specifically to the iTwin's specs. One of these games, Metronome, is a fascinating new title that utilizes the iTwin's motion controls to allow rhythmic combat against hordes of enemies, or well-timed button presses with the traditional controls. Metronome may not be the best looking game graphically, but its unique art style allows the team to create a modern looking game at very low cost, and with an emphasis on skillful timing and gameplay, it's one of the many Apple indies where graphics don't necessarily matter. Apple is also assisting in the creation of a classic-style RPG called Pier Solar and the Great Architects. Initially envisioned as a game that would use the Sega Genesis cartridge format to enable the publication of a brand new Genesis title, the development studio Watermelon accepted an offer from Apple to fund the project, which will allow it to have bigger production values and lower production costs, all the while keeping the retro look and feel.
Many indie developers, however, choose to develop for the iTwin independently of Apple's support, and some of these indie games stand toe to toe with those published by Apple, including Ribbon Lancer, an exciting and fast paced platformer that features a young acrobatic girl running across a tricky 2-D stage, spearing enemies as ribbons trail majestically behind her. There's also Autoclad 710, a mech-shooter on rails that features fully 3-D graphics and that will also utilize the iTwin's motion controls for aiming and movement. Perhaps the most interesting iTwin indie game scheduled to come out this year is Disappear/Reappear, a competitive puzzle title that features rapidly phasing shapes that players must force into rows and columns, using special items to freeze them in either visible or invisible states. Players can compete either 1v1 or 1v1v1v1 to see who can clear their boards the fastest, and players can even compete with one using all visible blocks and the other using all invisible ones. It's a puzzle game explicitly designed for tournament play, and the development studio has stated that "those who can rise to the challenge will be able to experience a puzzler like no other". The game will be exclusive to the iTwin, but the developer is also creating a variation of the game for the iPhone, which is expected to be released next year.
While all three consoles currently enjoy numerous indie exclusives, the Apple iTwin's indie scene has emerged as the most vibrant, creative, and commercially successful, and is expected to help bolster the iTwin's lineup as it enters the second half of its overall lifespan.
-from an article on iTwinDefender.com, posted on September 8, 2010
With all due respect, I think we could see Nintendo changing their policies on indie developers handling their properties if those titles become successful enough. That is, unless they already changed their minds on that.
- Status