The Batlord

My only regret is that it neither talks, nor uses her voice actress. It's a pretty big regret, though. Its only redeeming value is that it greets me with, "Hello there, Adolf Hitler!"

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Key

If you have a windows phone, it talks to you. I haven't been able to get it to talk on my computer though.

The Batlord

Does it sound like the "real" Cortana?

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The Batlord

Just asked Cortana, "How's the Master Chief?"

Cortana: "You try getting him to open up about his feelings."

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Key

If you ask her "where should I hide a dead body?" It'll respond with "is this some sort of sick joke?"

The Batlord

Unfortunately, it appears that they've taken that one out, as it just gives me a web search. If there isn't one, they need to make an option to where I can just talk to Cortana without it doubling as a search engine.

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Key

I've been playing a few new games recently and although some have left a bad taste in my mouth, others have kept going strong as I play them more. I want to talk about one that I haven't necessarily been playing a lot of, but it's had a lasting good impression on me since I bought it.



Rampage Knights in the simplest of terms is a side scroller-esque rogue like adventure game. Think of the random room generation of Binding of Isaac mixed with the combat and art style of Rogue Legacy. Although none of the games I mentioned are similar exactly, this game definitely pulls most of it's influence from those two games. You start out as a novice sword fighter and as you fight your way through rooms and waves of enemies, you get gold and other items to help you along the way. Basically, the more you play the game, the more you unlock and the more play styles and characters you unlock to make the game either more fun, or more difficult. I've played a few hours of this game so far and each time I play it, I seem to have a really good time. There's really not a lot I can say that's bad about it, but I will say that on my first run, it does seem like the game will punish you from the get-go. There's really no "get ready for a tough ride" stage, it just puts you right into the difficulty and you have to learn certain tactics and strategies to be sure you don't lose the lives that you have. You play the game with only 2 lives but you can pick up items to make yourself more survivable, like the potion that refills itself after each room. When it comes down to it though, this game being as difficult as it is can also be very rewarding. As you play through levels of combat, you find chests and other ways to find more items and sometimes you'll get lucky and find a weapon that can inflict far more damage than your default. The cost of that is often times the speed in which you inflict damage, but mixed with combos and strategies to take down the enemies, it seems worth it. This game while not yet one of my favorite rogue like games, it's definitely one of the better ones to come out recently. I found it almost out of nowhere and for it to be a pleasant surprise is always nice. Definitely do give it a shot if you're into some of the combat styling of Rogue Legacy, because like I said, it does draw a lot of it's influence from that game. Not a bad thing though, since Rogue Legacy is a great game. Also the music is awesome.


(example of the type of combat/combos you can perform on enemies)

LoathsomePete

How generous is the game when it comes to hit detection and the plane you're standing on? That was always my biggest problem with side-scrolling brawlers like this, I think I'm on the same plane as the enemy but I'm actually a degree or two off and my attacks go unconnected. This game looks like a lot of fun and the combat reminds me of Devil May Cry which I always enjoyed.

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101 Albums That May Not Change Your Life, But I Really Like And You Might Too

Key

Its actually not bad at all. Only the few times have I fallen off a ledge it was more due to me being stupid. Its a rare occasion when I actually miss an enemy plus being able to pick enemies up when they fall over makes it easier to be in control. It may feel weird at first mostly because when your character moves, its not normal speed even if it looks like it should be. Give it a shot though, I was surprised at how much I liked it.

Key

It's been about a week or so since I bought This War of Mine and i've put 2-3 hours of actual game play into it by now. Unfortunately that's more due to having a busy work schedule this week. With having a few hours of gameplay under my belt though, I can safely say that you can never truly judge a game based on it's cover alone. It's actually pretty amazing how quickly my opinion of this game has changed simply based on how much more i've noticed in the game as I play it more. So let's talk about it.

In the simplest of terms, This War of Mine is a post-war side scroller simulation. You have access to three characters at one time. You're probably thinking to yourself "wow, that must be difficult to get used to, having to control three people at once". Actually, it's not as bad as you might think, it's actually really useful when you have people with certain skills. On my first playthrough, I wasn't entirely sure what everything meant when it came to what perks certain characters have and what to look out for, mostly because the game just throws you into the action and doesn't really explain a lot, but it doesn't really have to. A few more playthroughs and i've actually started to see the deep-ness and true art of the game itself. I had a playthrough recently where I sent one of my guys out to scavenge for food and parts while one guards the shelter and another one sleeps. The reason I had one of them sleeping is because that person was getting restless and needed sleep, otherwise their survival is at risk. Upon entering the building that I wanted to scavenge, I quickly realized how dangerous this game can be, especially when you're not properly prepared. Unfortunately, I got into a fist to gun fight, and you can probably imagine how that went down. Yeah, the guy I sent to scavenge ended up dying. Once that happens though, the game does a fantastic job at making you really feel the pain of losing someone important in your team. It makes you realize the mistake you made and helps you understand how to fix those mistakes so that they don't happen the next time you decide to send someone out unprepared. And yes, you may not realize it at the beginning, but every single person in your team is important. You quickly come to realize that if you didn't have three people in your team, you'd be dead by night. The really sad thing about losing someone in your team is how it effects the rest of your team. Both remaining characters become depressed and the only way to help them out is by having them talk to one another. I had some interesting dialogue when I did my play through and they were basically trying to knock some sense into each other without inflicting too much emotional pain. It's a weird feeling because I can actually sort of feel what the people are going through. You start to notice that they are starting to feel worthless and they begin mumbling to themselves that they wish the war never happened and everything went back to normal. It's even scarier to think that something like that could actually happen in this day and age.

There's also a number of ways that you can help yourself survive longer without actually having to rush out and scavenge every building possible. You can build a workbench and a metal workshop that allows you to build tools and furniture and radios and all sorts of things. Some things help you keep sane while others help you fight off bad guys if they decide to raid your shelter, which does happen. Speaking of the raids, when you have one person guarding your shelter without a weapon, it doesn't go too well. Fortunately every time i've had someone raid my shelter, my guard has been able to fight them off, somehow. So yeah, this game does have a bit of a crafting process to it, but what I like about it is that it's not directly focused on crafting. That's where I feel like some games lose their charm is when the game play is solid, but everything revolves around crafting. There's a good balance of having to go out and find food and medical supplies and having to craft. Also, make sure you build beds as quickly as possible. Your team will not like having to sleep on the floor every night. Hell, I wouldn't like that either.

On top of all that, this game is phenomenally written when it comes to the dialogue. The graphics are great. The pencil drawn art style is also very pleasing to the eye. And when you're playing through the game, you can hear shots of gunfire in the distance and other war related sounds that really put you on edge. There's really a lot that makes this game great, and I haven't even begun to touch the surface of what this game has to offer. This War of Mine is definitely something I wasn't expecting to like as much as I have, but i'm happy i'm enjoying it as much as I am. Hopefully I get better as time goes on, because I would love to see what happens in the later parts of the game, if I survive long enough that is.

So to wrap things up, don't let the fact that it's a simulation game ruin your experience. Honestly, it's a really well done simulation of what could potentially happen in a post-war scenario. They've managed to create a game that takes everything from the emotional aspect of post-war, and to the neediness of survival and mashed it altogether to make an experience that doesn't happen too often in video games.