- Battlefield Hardline
- Codename S.T.E.A.M.
- A Zelda-style game you should check out
- My addiction to figures is getting real
- I add a little social commentary to mix things up a bit.
www.soundcloud.com/jeffofallgames
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Podcast #6 is ready to be listened to!
- Battlefield Hardline
- Codename S.T.E.A.M.
- A Zelda-style game you should check out
- My addiction to figures is getting real
- I add a little social commentary to mix things up a bit.
www.soundcloud.com/jeffofallgames
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Let's Preview: Mortal Kombat X
We are less than a month away from my most anticipated game of the year, Mortal Kombat X, for the Xbox One, PC, and PS4 (with the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions coming out later this year). If you can't tell, I am a little stoked, as in "HOLY SHIT, I CAN'T WAIT!".
So why am I so excited? What do we know so far about MKX? WHY AM I SCREAMING? These are all valid questions, so let me break down what we know about the game, why I am looking forward to it, and why the anticipation is KILLING me.
If you know me at all, you know how much I love the Mortal Kombat franchise. Sure, not every game was a smash hit, and I will do a full on retrospective in a later blog post, but for a franchise to last 23 years (and counting, hopefully) and stay not only relevant, but generate as much hype as it has for a new entry, speaks volumes to the quality of the games.
However, let's focus on the next game in the franchise, Mortal Kombat X, and cover what we know so far:
- The Story
The story will start at the end of Mortal Kombat (MK9) and will transition to 25 years after. This gives the game the opportunity to show older versions of the veteran fighters and add a variety of new characters to the mix, including a handful of characters with genetic ties to veteran fighters. So far, with what's been revealed character-wise, this seems like a really good mix of classic characters and new blood. It will be interesting to see the classic characters in older, different walks of life. I think this is necessary in the series to help flesh out these characters using a story mode that already worked like gangbusters in MK9. For instance, we go from Johnny Cage chasing Sonya Blade and making moves on her, to now having a child and a divorce together. This will help us see new sides of these characters and give us substance to the new fighters.
- The Roster (So Far)
As previously stated, the roster is a good mix of young and old fighters. This is a necessity in any fighting game. If the roster stayed the same through every iteration, it would get old fast, hell, Street Fighter adds new characters, Tekken adds new ones, Dead or Alive adds new ones, it happens all over the fighting world, and Mortal Kombat was due for some new blood. The balance with that is: are you adding new characters for the sake of new characters, or are you adding new characters with meaning behind them? The latter seems to be true here, as many characters have ties to the classics. We now have fighters like Cassie Cage, the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade, Jacqui Briggs, daughter of Jax and member of Cassie's Special Forces Unit, Kung Jin, a descendant of Kung Lao and member of Cassie's Special Forces Unit, Takahashi Takeda, son of Kenshi, and another member of the Special Forces Unit, etc. You will, of course, get your Scorpion/Sub-Zero/Raiden fix and it's good to know there's something here for everyone.
Then of course, there was the announcement that Jason Voorhees (of Friday the 13th fame) will be a downloadable character. This is nothing new for MK, as characters like Kratos (God of War) and even Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street) have made appearances, and I always like cross-franchise attempts. I may not use Jason a whole lot, much like I didn't use Freddy a whole lot, but it is a cool addition. Though I do look forward to seeing what kind of fatalities Jason can come up with.
A big draw with the characters is the idea of character variations. Every character will have 3 different variations which will change the move set, and change the way that character is played. For example, Scorpion's "Ninjutsu" variation gives him dual blades, the "Hellfire" version gives him emphasis on fire attacks, and the "Inferno" version gives him hellspawns to help him in battle. These variations will change up how you fight AS and AGAINST each fighter and adds an extra layer of depth.
Of course, the full roster is not yet announced, so expect even more "Oh, awesome" moments in lead-up to the release.
- The Modes
The modes currently listed are: "Story", "1 vs 1 Ranked", "King of the Hill" (hopefully using the Xbox avatars or some equivalent like they did in MK9's version), "Survivor", and "Test your Luck" (which I loved from MK9). There are 2 new modes that have me very excited and I want to dive into them more here: "Living Towers", and "Faction Wars".
"Living Towers" takes the Challenge Tower concept (the basic "fight up the ladder" arcade mode) and adds the twist that the ladder will change every hour or so. This is a bigger change than it may initially seem, since this will infinitely increase replay value, giving you a new ladder experience throughout your playtime.
"Faction Wars" seems absolutely incredible to me. When you boot up the game, you choose which faction you want to represent, you choose between the White Lotus, Lin Kuei, Brotherhood of Shadow, Black Dragon, or Special Forces. Everything you do in the game adds points towards your faction, whether it's Story Mode, Versus, Online, whatever, it all goes towards the overall rank, both within the faction and for the overall faction rank. Obviously, you get more faction points when you defeat someone online who is of a different faction, so this really pushes a team aspect to the game. For a random 24-hour period during the week-long faction war, there will be an "Invasion" from a powerful realm, so then all the factions turn their attention to the invading realm, creating uneasy (or Deadly) alliances. Ranking up and doing well within the Faction Wars will grant you rewards like faction specific fatalities.
Here is the Netherrealm Studios team talking a bit about these two modes, every time I see this I get a little more amped for this game.
The "Faction Wars" idea seems amazing and the idea of something new every time I turn the game on is something I can't wait to be a part of.
- The Fatalities
Oh my God! Holy Shit! Sure, the series is best known for gruesome, match-ending Fatalities. I will also mention here that Brutalities make their return to the franchise and look, well, Brutal. X-Ray attacks are also retained from the last game. But, Holy Hell, those Fatalities! These are not for the weak of heart, and you can tell the team who last put out Injustice: Gods Among Us which had NO fatalities, had some pent-up aggression when making Fatalities for MKX. If you have a weak stomach, don't watch this...but still watch this:
That's just SOME of them. This is a bloody mess and you may need to pause the game to compose yourself after seeing these. Awesome!
- Final Notes
This is the first Mortal Kombat game to appear on this generation of consoles, and so far, it looks fantastic. One of my favorite little touches is the living character select screen, where the character you select walks into frame, looks at your opponent, mean mugs them, and they both walk off opposite sides of the screen. It's a little touch that adds a lot to the overall immersion.
I hope this helps paint a very bloody picture as to what kind of experience we are getting with the next installment of Mortal Kombat. Personally I can not wait to start playing this. As much as I loved MK9 and as much as I love the series as a whole, the character lineup, the modes and features, the level of gore, and the fan service, is helping Mortal Kombat X look like it may end up being my favorite game in the franchise. Mortal Kombat X comes out April 14th for Xbox One, PC, and PS4, with the 360 and PS3 versions out later this year.
Now all I ask is they put Stryker in the game. Pretty pretty please?
So why am I so excited? What do we know so far about MKX? WHY AM I SCREAMING? These are all valid questions, so let me break down what we know about the game, why I am looking forward to it, and why the anticipation is KILLING me.
If you know me at all, you know how much I love the Mortal Kombat franchise. Sure, not every game was a smash hit, and I will do a full on retrospective in a later blog post, but for a franchise to last 23 years (and counting, hopefully) and stay not only relevant, but generate as much hype as it has for a new entry, speaks volumes to the quality of the games.
However, let's focus on the next game in the franchise, Mortal Kombat X, and cover what we know so far:
- The Story
The story will start at the end of Mortal Kombat (MK9) and will transition to 25 years after. This gives the game the opportunity to show older versions of the veteran fighters and add a variety of new characters to the mix, including a handful of characters with genetic ties to veteran fighters. So far, with what's been revealed character-wise, this seems like a really good mix of classic characters and new blood. It will be interesting to see the classic characters in older, different walks of life. I think this is necessary in the series to help flesh out these characters using a story mode that already worked like gangbusters in MK9. For instance, we go from Johnny Cage chasing Sonya Blade and making moves on her, to now having a child and a divorce together. This will help us see new sides of these characters and give us substance to the new fighters.
- The Roster (So Far)
As previously stated, the roster is a good mix of young and old fighters. This is a necessity in any fighting game. If the roster stayed the same through every iteration, it would get old fast, hell, Street Fighter adds new characters, Tekken adds new ones, Dead or Alive adds new ones, it happens all over the fighting world, and Mortal Kombat was due for some new blood. The balance with that is: are you adding new characters for the sake of new characters, or are you adding new characters with meaning behind them? The latter seems to be true here, as many characters have ties to the classics. We now have fighters like Cassie Cage, the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade, Jacqui Briggs, daughter of Jax and member of Cassie's Special Forces Unit, Kung Jin, a descendant of Kung Lao and member of Cassie's Special Forces Unit, Takahashi Takeda, son of Kenshi, and another member of the Special Forces Unit, etc. You will, of course, get your Scorpion/Sub-Zero/Raiden fix and it's good to know there's something here for everyone.
Then of course, there was the announcement that Jason Voorhees (of Friday the 13th fame) will be a downloadable character. This is nothing new for MK, as characters like Kratos (God of War) and even Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street) have made appearances, and I always like cross-franchise attempts. I may not use Jason a whole lot, much like I didn't use Freddy a whole lot, but it is a cool addition. Though I do look forward to seeing what kind of fatalities Jason can come up with.
A big draw with the characters is the idea of character variations. Every character will have 3 different variations which will change the move set, and change the way that character is played. For example, Scorpion's "Ninjutsu" variation gives him dual blades, the "Hellfire" version gives him emphasis on fire attacks, and the "Inferno" version gives him hellspawns to help him in battle. These variations will change up how you fight AS and AGAINST each fighter and adds an extra layer of depth.
Of course, the full roster is not yet announced, so expect even more "Oh, awesome" moments in lead-up to the release.
- The Modes
The modes currently listed are: "Story", "1 vs 1 Ranked", "King of the Hill" (hopefully using the Xbox avatars or some equivalent like they did in MK9's version), "Survivor", and "Test your Luck" (which I loved from MK9). There are 2 new modes that have me very excited and I want to dive into them more here: "Living Towers", and "Faction Wars".
"Living Towers" takes the Challenge Tower concept (the basic "fight up the ladder" arcade mode) and adds the twist that the ladder will change every hour or so. This is a bigger change than it may initially seem, since this will infinitely increase replay value, giving you a new ladder experience throughout your playtime.
"Faction Wars" seems absolutely incredible to me. When you boot up the game, you choose which faction you want to represent, you choose between the White Lotus, Lin Kuei, Brotherhood of Shadow, Black Dragon, or Special Forces. Everything you do in the game adds points towards your faction, whether it's Story Mode, Versus, Online, whatever, it all goes towards the overall rank, both within the faction and for the overall faction rank. Obviously, you get more faction points when you defeat someone online who is of a different faction, so this really pushes a team aspect to the game. For a random 24-hour period during the week-long faction war, there will be an "Invasion" from a powerful realm, so then all the factions turn their attention to the invading realm, creating uneasy (or Deadly) alliances. Ranking up and doing well within the Faction Wars will grant you rewards like faction specific fatalities.
Here is the Netherrealm Studios team talking a bit about these two modes, every time I see this I get a little more amped for this game.
The "Faction Wars" idea seems amazing and the idea of something new every time I turn the game on is something I can't wait to be a part of.
- The Fatalities
Oh my God! Holy Shit! Sure, the series is best known for gruesome, match-ending Fatalities. I will also mention here that Brutalities make their return to the franchise and look, well, Brutal. X-Ray attacks are also retained from the last game. But, Holy Hell, those Fatalities! These are not for the weak of heart, and you can tell the team who last put out Injustice: Gods Among Us which had NO fatalities, had some pent-up aggression when making Fatalities for MKX. If you have a weak stomach, don't watch this...but still watch this:
That's just SOME of them. This is a bloody mess and you may need to pause the game to compose yourself after seeing these. Awesome!
- Final Notes
This is the first Mortal Kombat game to appear on this generation of consoles, and so far, it looks fantastic. One of my favorite little touches is the living character select screen, where the character you select walks into frame, looks at your opponent, mean mugs them, and they both walk off opposite sides of the screen. It's a little touch that adds a lot to the overall immersion.
I hope this helps paint a very bloody picture as to what kind of experience we are getting with the next installment of Mortal Kombat. Personally I can not wait to start playing this. As much as I loved MK9 and as much as I love the series as a whole, the character lineup, the modes and features, the level of gore, and the fan service, is helping Mortal Kombat X look like it may end up being my favorite game in the franchise. Mortal Kombat X comes out April 14th for Xbox One, PC, and PS4, with the 360 and PS3 versions out later this year.
Now all I ask is they put Stryker in the game. Pretty pretty please?
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Podcast #5 is UP!
The weekly installment of the Jeff of All Games Podcast is up now for all to hear. This week's (3/11/15) topics include:
- Cities: Skylines
- Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (and the kick ass soundtrack)
- Devil May Cry Definitive Edition
- A return to a game that could end up costing me more of what little free time I have left
- And more!
PLUS, I dig through an old box full of video game swag. You never know what kinds of things you accumulate over the years when your a gamer.
www.soundcloud.com/jeffofallgames (Episode #5)
Thursday, March 5, 2015
ICYMI: Podcast #4 is up!
Episode #4 of the Jeff of All Games Podcast went up last night for your listening pleasure.
I cover topics such as:
- Screamride
- Rugby 15
- Helldivers
- Injustice: Gods Among Us
- How my Playstation Vita is having a rebirth
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain gets a release date!
- and more!
Check it out at:
www.soundcloud.com/jeffofallgames
I cover topics such as:
- Screamride
- Rugby 15
- Helldivers
- Injustice: Gods Among Us
- How my Playstation Vita is having a rebirth
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain gets a release date!
- and more!
Check it out at:
www.soundcloud.com/jeffofallgames
Monday, March 2, 2015
What's Coming Up In March 2015?
With February behind us, we can look forward to warmer weather (hopefully), St. Patrick's Day (happy drunk day!) and a plethora of new game releases and announcements thanks to things like GDC and PAX East. So what will March bring us besides amazing Shamrock Shakes at McDonald's? Let's have a look...
March 3rd:
Screamride - (Xbox One, Xbox 360)
Helldivers - (PS4, PS3, PSVita)
March 5th:
Mario vs Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars - (WiiU, 3DS)
March 10th:
Cities: Skylines - (PC)
DmC: Definitive Edition - (PS4, Xbox One)
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - (PS4, PSVita, PC, Mac, Linux)
March 12th:
Sid Meier's Starships - (PC, Mac, iOS)
March 13th:
Code Name S.T.E.A.M. - (3DS)
March 17th:
Battlefield Hardline - (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD - (PS4, Xbox One)
March 20th:
Mario Party 10 - (Wii U)
March 24th:
Bloodborne - (PS4)
March 31st:
MLB 15: The Show - (PS4, PS3, PSVita)
Neverwinter - (Xbox One)
Other Notes:
- The episodes of Resident Evil: Revelations 2 will be released on Sony's and Microsoft's platforms throughout the month.
- Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, which includes Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!, and all the DLC, as well as save transfer from the older console versions, releases for PS4 and Xbox One on March 24th.
- Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty is slated as "TBD March" for PS3 and Xbox One.
=========================================================================
Holy shit! Games and games and games. All of the games listed above will end up in my collection before the month is up, as well as some others that may sneak their way into March. Expect more previews during the weekly podcast and keep checking the blog as I start dissecting these new releases to see if they are worth your time and money.
Now to figure out what I am doing for St. Patrick's Day (Spoiler alert: drinking will be involved).
March 3rd:
Screamride - (Xbox One, Xbox 360)
Helldivers - (PS4, PS3, PSVita)
March 5th:
Mario vs Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars - (WiiU, 3DS)
March 10th:
Cities: Skylines - (PC)
DmC: Definitive Edition - (PS4, Xbox One)
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - (PS4, PSVita, PC, Mac, Linux)
March 12th:
Sid Meier's Starships - (PC, Mac, iOS)
March 13th:
Code Name S.T.E.A.M. - (3DS)
March 17th:
Battlefield Hardline - (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD - (PS4, Xbox One)
Mario Party 10 - (Wii U)
March 24th:
Bloodborne - (PS4)
March 31st:
MLB 15: The Show - (PS4, PS3, PSVita)
Neverwinter - (Xbox One)
Other Notes:
- The episodes of Resident Evil: Revelations 2 will be released on Sony's and Microsoft's platforms throughout the month.
- Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, which includes Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!, and all the DLC, as well as save transfer from the older console versions, releases for PS4 and Xbox One on March 24th.
- Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty is slated as "TBD March" for PS3 and Xbox One.
=========================================================================
Holy shit! Games and games and games. All of the games listed above will end up in my collection before the month is up, as well as some others that may sneak their way into March. Expect more previews during the weekly podcast and keep checking the blog as I start dissecting these new releases to see if they are worth your time and money.
Now to figure out what I am doing for St. Patrick's Day (Spoiler alert: drinking will be involved).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)