Features – Page 7

The Devil Is In The Details – Be More Specific About Video Games

April 21, 2018 by Joey Truty, posted in Viewpoints

When I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed, there’s something about zoning out into Mario Kart’s easy-to-play-hard-to-master, three-button gameplay that relaxes me. It’s not that I’m imagining my coworkers exploding from a blue shell or pretending that a cheating ex is knocked off the Rainbow Road into the empty loneliness of space. For me, the physical act of pressing three buttons on a controller (or handheld, because it’s a new era!) and watching Baby Luigi soar through anti-gravity puts me at ease.

The Devil Is In The Details

At a time when there’s increased scrutiny and negative opinions about video games, in America, we should remind ourselves that there are also benefits to digitally turning off the stresses of the day and that while the medium may have ‘questionable’ material, the industry as a whole should not be punished.

While Mario Kart’s effects on me might be anecdotal, there is tangible evidence to be found in science. In 2009, scientists at East Carolina University took up the challenge of measuring a player’s electroencephalography (basically brain wave) changes while playing casual video games. In their study, 134 participants played a combination of Bookworm Adventures, Bejeweled II, and Peggle as the scientists studied their mental behaviour. Not surprisingly, “the results of this study clearly demonstrate the intrinsic value of certain casual games in terms of significant, positive effects on the moods and anxiety levels of people suffering from any level of depression.”

While these games are tonally far from the cavalcade of gore that the President saw in the now infamous video about violence in video games, his talk about video games has been all-encompassing of the medium. He said: “I’m hearing more and more people say the level of violence in video games is really shaping young people’s thoughts.” Full stop. He doesn’t qualify which video games he’s alluding to but refers to the industry as a whole.

While these talks continue and the US grapples with how to approach an increasing amount of violence in communities, it’s important to remember that video games are a medium and, just like any other medium, contain content that is mature and sensitive. To speak about the industry as a whole discounts the positives and I worry, if talks continue to be so non-specific, it could eventually hurt the growth of the industry. No one wants that.

This fear isn’t unfounded though. With almost poetic symmetry, comic books encountered a similar scare in the mid-50s. At the height of comics like The Vault of Horror and Tales from the Crypt, the US Senate began looking into how the content of these books affected their audience. What arose was the Comic Code Authority (think the ESRB for video games). They released a set of guidelines that a comic must follow in order to have their approval, among them rules like “no comic shall use the word ‘horror’” and “scenes dealing with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited.”

They weren’t tactful with their rules, but instead targeted broad categories of violence and supernatural with an almost careless approach. In fact, the rule was so broad that the CCA discussed whether it was okay for an author with the last name “Wolfman” to be mentioned within the pages of the book. Yes, really.

Imagine if similar broad rules were put in place today in the video game industry. GTA would be the first to be banned, Activision’s biggest title could be Skylanders, and even Lego Harry Potter would cease to exist.

Ok, while this is a hyperbolic picture of the future, it’s a warning that if discussion about video games becomes more about the fear of the medium itself, the industry may face more victims than just the ultra-violent games. It’s always important to stress the positives and remember the benefits, on the other hand, we need to shine a light on questionable content while discussing censorship. So, we need balance, common sense and specificity.

Animated Jigsaws: Beautiful Japanese Scenery Review [Nintendo Switch] – A Digitally Zen Experience

April 20, 2018April 20, 2018 by Jordan Scott, posted in Reviews

I’ve been a fan of putting things together ever since I was a little kid. Puzzles, Erector Sets, models, and more. From Legos to Lincoln Logs, if you could build it, I would have done so. Out of all the projects I got my hands on, one, in particular, stands out from the crowd.

When I was around ten, I was given a four-thousand-piece puzzle depicting a beautiful forest. The scene consisted of various shades of green and brown, with a deer grazing amongst the trees. The sun shined through the canopy and a tiny stream flowed in the foreground. Over the course of several years, I would start and stop, sometimes obsessing over it and at other times letting it sit untouched for months on end. It took over five years for me to finish the thing, but it was worth every second of time put into it. We flipped it over, glued the back, and put the massive puzzle in a frame; there was no way I would allow that beautiful piece of art to ever be taken apart.

I was reminded of that puzzle the other day when I popped in Animated Jigsaws: Beautiful Japanese Scenery from Rainy Frog. Just as the name denotes, we have a collection of animated scenes from various locations around Japan, cut into jigsaw puzzles and presented to those who want a meditative experience for their Nintendo Switch.

There are ten animated scenes for puzzlers to choose from, ranging from 60, 120, or 240 pieces, based on preference. The famous locations include Mt. Fuji, Tokyo, Kyoto, and more. These aren’t simply static scenes, but fully animated and photo realistic. Rivers run, and the leaves blow in the wind as the images come time life with every puzzle piece put into place. The designs and detail are exceptionally beautiful.

While putting together these majestic scenes, players are treated to traditional Japanese music. The whole experience is quite Zen-like, and I found myself wanting to relax by putting together a puzzle after a hard day. The difficulty is almost nil, but one doesn’t really pick this one up to be challenged. You can even join four people together if you wanted to share the puzzle with some friends in multiplayer. It’s not necessary in the least, but an option nonetheless.

For a little-added assistance, the pieces snap into place on the main board as well as with each other when in the appropriate position. It’s a nice little feature that makes the game even more stress-free when figuring out if things fit. I found the jumbled mess all the pieces start off on to be slightly annoying, but then again, that’s how a normal puzzle is in the real world. There’s an open area on the right side of the screen in which players can keep pieces for later use, allowing you to spread things out to make the puzzle slightly more manageable.

Not all of the scenes are unlocked from the get-go. You only have a few to choose from at the start, but can unlock more with the completion of the puzzles available. It’s easy to unlock additional backgrounds, but with only ten, I hope there will be some DLC in the future which will add more selections into the mix.

Having enjoyed this experience thoroughly, I have a renewed interest in starting a new mega puzzle in the real world. Due to events in my life which are beyond my control, I have no idea what happened to that puzzle I had put together so long ago. I’d like to think it’s still hanging in a frame somewhere, with that tiny deer forever grazing amongst the trees.

Shadow Bug Review [Nintendo Switch] – Oozes With Charm

April 19, 2018April 20, 2018 by Christopher Kaminski, posted in Reviews

Nitchigamer is pleased to welcome Chris Kaminski to the team. Chris is a former video game producer, most notably for MadWorld and Valkyria Chronicles from his time at SEGA. These days he’s producing film and TV. Over to you, Chris:

Shadow Bug is a stylish puzzle platformer for the Nintendo Switch. The game provides moments of surprise and delight as you explore each of the three-dozen atmospheric levels. Muro Studios delivers a compact and entertaining experience that stands apart in a crowded scene of indie platform games.

Shadow Bug Review [Nintendo Switch]

You play as a miniscule ninja that is fighting against an invading horde of gnashing piranhas, angry robots, and other sinister creatures. The goal is quite simple: Get to the end of the level, as quickly as possible, while collecting as many white orbs as you can. You will be rewarded with up to three ninja stars per level. One for completing the level. A second star can be earned for finishing under the par time. And a third star for collecting more than the benchmark of orbs, which can be found strewn about the level and are earned by defeating enemies as well.

Shadow Bug takes a refreshingly minimalist approach. There’s no story for this game. As a matter of fact, there is very little text at all. You’ll get a few instructions on the basic controls and some level names. That’s it.

The gameplay is easy to learn and yet it takes practice to master. Failure rarely feels punishing, which encourages experimentation and leads you gently down a path of discovery. This is an excellent combination of traits for a game that relies heavily on solving puzzles.

One of the uncommon design choices that Muro Studios made was to forego the traditional jump mechanic. There is no button to jump. Instead you can leap across great distances by attacking an enemy. The game was originally designed for touchscreen devices like phones and tablets, which lack controllers and buttons. The limited input makes traditional platform games challenging. Clever designers can use these limitations to create new experiences, which is exactly what happened with Shadow Bug.

Shadow Bug features a new control scheme that is unique to the Switch. You can use the left joystick to move the tiny ninja left and right, and the right stick’s motion controls to move a glowing firefly to indicate where to attack. While it might sound a bit confusing, the controls feel completely intuitive in practice. This control scheme often feels more precise and less-error-prone than touching the screen. You can still use the original touchscreen controls on the Switch if that is your preference.

The level design provides an array of different puzzle types. Sometimes you need to wander off the main path to find a key to unlock a door. Other times you’re timing your attack to avoid dangerous obstacles like lasers or spikes or globs of venom. Many of the levels contain delightful little visual surprises for figuring out something new.

Some levels involve fighting boss monsters. Many of these battles are reminiscent of Zelda games, where you have to figure out the weakness and then repeat that attack three times to kill them. This kind of mechanic feels perfectly suited to a puzzle-based platformer. It adds a welcome bit of variety and challenge to the game.

Shadow Bug also does a nice job of providing hidden areas, secrets caches of orbs, and bonus collectables. That combined with the three-throwing-star rating system provides a reason to play through the game additional times for those who want to achieve 100% completion or compete in speed runs.

The levels are short, so you can easily play for a few minutes and feel like you’ve made progress towards completion. This is the perfect feature for a game that originated on a mobile platform. It’s also for people who have busy lives and find it challenging to sit down to play for a couple hours at a time.

So, Are Games Best Played Late?

April 13, 2018April 17, 2018 by Stephen Carter, posted in Viewpoints

Regular readers/followers, please don’t get the wrong impression of me ok? My last few articles could quite easily be interpreted as negative, but they really aren’t. Granted, they do seem that way but my intentions are good, with our collective best interests at heart. You see, whilst I love games and gaming, I want to ensure that my experiences are enjoyable, worthwhile and memorable. This being the reason why I have come to believe that games are best played late, not at launch.

Playing Games Later

I used to love midnight launches; being one of the first to get a new title and rush home to install and play it. It’s a great feeling. Getting together with a few friends, staying up late together before succumbing to fatigue and calling it a night one-by-one is a great feeling. But what happens when that shiny new game that you’ve bought doesn’t live up to expectations? What if it wasn’t what you were expecting, leaving a sour taste in your mouth? Well, you won’t be waking up early to carry on where you left off, that’s for sure…

And this is my point; it’s easy to get lost in the media hype and be part of the zeitgeist when a new game comes out. We’ve all done it, lest we forget what happened with No Man’s Sky (the less said about that the better). Now let’s not interpret this the wrong way, I’m not writing this cynically against the developers or the gamers here, I have both their interests at heart. More so for the developers really, one bad launch can damage their reputation beyond repair and said game can flop with little opportunity to recover (see the above mention of No Man’s Sky).

“Ultimately though, the decision lies with us as gamers to decide how and when we spend our money.”

I’m not talking about games being buggy at launch either or cynical developers bringing out extra downloadable content out shortly after launch. I’m more making reference to letting a game settle, seeing people’s opinions once they’ve had it a while and then make an informed decision. Reading reviews pre-launch can be tricky as some don’t allow their games to be covered until release day to protect sales (which I don’t agree with) so making these informed decisions can be tricky.

Ultimately though, the decision lies with us as gamers to decide how and when we spend our money. I’m not completely averse to spending money on games on day one, I’ve done it many times before and will continue to do so, but I’m more careful about deciding when I do now.

With the likes of Games Pass on the Xbox housing their new first-party games from launch, making this same decision on their platform at least will be much easier. For the sake of a low-cost monthly subscription, you can dip your toes, test the waters and come back at a later date once things have settled down or when you get the chance. Who knows, this model might be the future but one thing is for certain; I’m happy to wait if it means I can play my games in their complete form.

Infernium Review [PS4] – A Beautiful Journey Through Hell

April 11, 2018May 22, 2018 by Alisa Hail, posted in Reviews

Questions about what happens after death and, more importantly, how the decisions we make during life might affect our personal outcome have haunted humanity for ages.

Infernium Review [PS4]

Infernium thrusts you into a unique iteration of the darker side of the afterlife that is as punishing as it is lovely to behold. Both open world puzzle and survival horror, the experience runs the gamut from anxiety-inducing to awe-inspiring. In the end, whether you enjoy Infernium will have quite a bit to do with your own level of patience. Though, as we shall see later in this review, a few new additions to the game’s options might open up the experience to those who find themselves prone to rage quitting and would prefer not to break yet another TV.

You play as a wanderer who finds themselves lost inside an unknown realm of surreal beauty. The sky is tinted with the warm oranges and fading blues of an evening sunset. Below, towering cliffs and small pillars of land jut out of blue waters. Later on, you will encounter lands of ice, a realm akin to the surface of the sun, dilapidated towers and towering catacombs. But, be wary. As beautiful as Infernium appears, this realm is anything but friendly. Enemies lurk in dark corners ready to begin a relentless pursuit should you get too close.

Most of the enemies you encounter cannot be damaged or killed. This means that the main difficulty with Infernium is attempting to make calm decisions while being pursued by relentless baddies. Sure, they are slower than you, but only just, sometimes leaving only a few seconds to decide where to go next. Since the world itself is a puzzle, this also means death will likely come often unless you are lucky or highly skilled. There are hand-drawn maps you can find throughout your journey, but I found that trying (and failing) was the only way I became familiar enough with a new area for the map to become meaningful or particularly useful. I don’t think this is a bad thing. The point of Infernium is to discover the world organically. However, you do have limited chances before you reach “permadeath,” and that can add to the overall frustration. Particularly when death and the re-entrance into the game take you through a couple of long loading screens that makes the wait feel even more agonizing.

If you play the game’s normal mode, you have exactly 25 chances to complete the game before you reach a form of permadeath. Reaching permadeath doesn’t exactly mean the game is over, however. You can refill your chances. Your remaining number of attempts are manifested as large, glowing spheres contained in glass that fill the hallway of Purgatory, the area you go each time you die in the game. With each death, a sphere is deprived of its light. But, there are areas around Infernium that can be used to refill these orbs.

The gathering of light plays a major role in Infernium. The landscapes are scattered with small, glowing orbs that can be harvested for various uses. Opening illuminated gates will require a certain amount of gathered light. Stored light appears as a t-shaped symbol on your fingers, beginning with only one, and then earning additional storage as you progress. In the beginning, you can also use this light, as mentioned above, to restore lost chances. You will come across a swirling t-shaped symbol surrounded by a circle of candles. Restoring a candle restores one chance. But be careful, everything you do in Infernium is permanent, including light collection, so be certain not to be overzealous.

Movement in Infernium is simple. From a first-person perspective, you can move about by either walking or warping to a nearby destination. You first begin with a short-distance warp, but can obtain a warp later on that allows you to jump longer distances. You use another button to collect light, use stored light, or interact with objects such as levers used to open certain doors and gates. As you progress further, you will obtain new abilities such as a flashlight that helps you see better in the dark corridors. It can also assist in gameplay, but I won’t spoil that for you.

The story of Infernium is told mostly through notes you will find scrawled across the landscape. You learn more about the lore of the world itself, the meaning of the 25 chances, and why you found yourself there in the first place. Even the not-so-permanent permadeath has a meaning.

It is clear from the get-go that the world and its symbology was well-thought-out by the developer. Even the bare sound effects, the crackling of a fire, the whistling of the wind, and the sudden and stark sound of an enemy encounter fill the world with both beauty and despair, with fear and wonder. But, Infernium is not without its shortcomings.

Infernium never poses what I can describe as unfair challenges, but some of the difficulties stem from lack of direction. The game is indeed non-linear, so wandering about and finding your next location is a part of the overall trial. However, discovering how the different realms connect often feels more like an Easter egg hunt than it does solving a puzzle. You just happen to look in the right direction or turn the correct corner out of many other options. When paired with being pursued by enemies only a few steps behind you, taking that wrong turn only to realize it after the fact can lead to deaths that soon feel more punishing than the exploration feels rewarding.

You will also, on occasion, run across solutions that the game did not prepare you for logically. When you are instructed on how to use your warp ability, you are told it can only be used if the warp indicator touches the ground from what appears to be a certain angle. Nonetheless, early on I had to gain access to an upper level of a tower by what appears to be warping directly through an overhang from underneath. There was no reason to assume this would work. I tried it merely out of lack of any better ideas. Other times, you will be able to warp to higher areas that appear as if they would be set at the wrong angle. Then, other times you discover you cannot warp to places it seems as if you should be able to reach.

Perhaps my only other qualm with Infernium is the text used for the notes you find scrawled across different areas of the scenery. The typeface is difficult to read, even when standing quite close to the screen. I had a friend with me read it to me as I played. He had no issue, but I wear glasses for a reason. I think the other issue is the contrast between the text and the background is sometimes not high enough, making it more difficult to read, at least for me. I am certain I am not the only one. I hope the developer adds a feature where you can read the notes separately after they are located. This would also help because the notes are out of order. While they are short and not terribly difficult to remember, it would be nice to read them sequentially.

I mentioned in the beginning that the developer has taken some steps to remedy the frustration caused by creating a game that requires exploration and often death, but at a high risk and with so few chances. A recent update gives players four additional options: no permadeath, no enemies, slower enemies, and more tutorials. More tutorials will explain things like the light system and how it works. The slower enemies option slows pursuers by 25 percent, allowing you to take more time to make important decisions such as where to go next or how to escape. At the time of writing, these options are only available on Steam, but will soon be available on all platforms.

My time in Infernium can be described as a sort of love/hate relationship. I fell in love with the scenery, with the sound and feel. I hated dying like an idiot only to realize I still didn’t know where to go and I have to try yet again in hopes of using those few seconds a bit more wisely this time. But, overall I found myself addicted to Infernium like an explorer in a new world.

Its darkness and dangers, even the anxiety and frustration that comes along with the feeling of being lost and helpless, was never enough to deter me for long. And I think, if I might venture a guess, that is exactly what the developer was going for. You are in Hell after all; a lovely and dangerous place that beckons to your soul even as it devours you. That is ultimately the nature of real evil, both alluring and consuming. You are in Infernium for a reason, and as the player, you will feel the punishment that is made all the more appropriately perverse by the fact you can’t help but want to keep coming back.

Infernium is developed and published by Carlos Coronado and is currently available on Steam, PS4, and Nintendo Switch .

Past Blast – El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

April 9, 2018April 10, 2018 by Jack Boyles, posted in Past Blasts

I am not a religious man, but I also don’t like to call myself an atheist either; atheism is just another belief, just another label and just another divide between people. I may not be religious, but I have no problem with religion either – religion fascinates me. The incredible stories, stories that guide people into living a better life, stories that give people hope and stories that help people through tough times; what’s so bad about that?

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

Behold El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, a hack and slash platformer developed and published by UTV Ignition Games. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011. Development was led by none other than Takeyasu Sawaki, the character designer for classics such as Okami, Devil May Cry and Fatal Frame. It featured voice acting from Jason Isaacs who played Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter Movies.

So, with this class A talent working on the project, why haven’t you, most likely, heard of this game? I’ll tell you why, because you were too busy playing some Western FPS game, (probably).

You really should have played this game, and here’s why reader.

El Shaddai, roughly translated ‘God Almighty’ takes its story inspiration from several religious texts but the main bulk of the story comes from ‘The Book of Enoch’; Enoch being the character the player inhabits.

Enoch is a scribe in the heavens and is the only mortal human to ever be granted access to heaven, lived for thousands of years and is the grandfather of Noah. Enoch is instructed by Lucifel, a guardian angel who acts as the voice of God (The Metatron), to return the Fallen Angels to Heaven.

The Fallen Angels have disobeyed God’s will and have corrupted human life by progressing human evolution, due to this, the humans now worship the Angels more than God. The Fallen Angels have also created Nephilims, half-angel and half-human hybrids that devour each other (and humans).

It’s your job as Enoch, with the help of Lucifel and the Archangels (Gabriel, Michael, Raphael and Uriel) to put a stop to the Fallen Angels’ antics – preventing the Great Flood.

On the surface, this may look like your typical third-person platformer hack and slash, but it is, in fact, more unique than you would think. With only three weapon types: Gail, a long ranged weapon that allows you to dash in mid-air but is weak in terms of damage, Arch, a mid-damage melee weapon that allows you to perform combos quickly, and the Vail, a slow weapon, but powerful. It can also act as a strong shield.

These weapons can only be acquired by stealing them from enemies, and you can only have one weapon at a time – giving the game a little bit of strategy. After prolonged use of a weapon, the weapon will get corrupted and you’ll need to purify it. However, you must choose the right time to purify your weapon as it takes a few seconds to accomplish the action.

It’s the fight mechanics where the game will either turn people on or off. Spamming the buttons quickly will act as a light attack, having a split-second break within the attacks will act as a medium attack, and holding down the buttons is obviously a charge attack. It’s when you realize this that the combat’s nuances really start to shine through.

Not only this, but the game doesn’t give you a health bar (well, not until you’ve completed it once), instead your armour will break piece by piece until you are a shirtless man in jeans (yes, jeans) and that’s when you die… Or do you?

As the screen fades, if you spam all of the buttons, you will get another attempt and carry on from where you left off – but each time gets harder and harder to revive yourself. If that wasn’t enough uniqueness for you, the game also changes from 3D to 2D sections and never feels off when it does.

Without a shadow of a doubt, El Shaddai is visually the most beautiful game ever made; I can say that with no struggle at all. See, this story is set before Christ and is even set before there was a Hell, so the game has an otherworldly feeling; it looks and feels divine, nothing is man-made here. Like a Roger Dean illustration.

It achieves this through striking colours and shapes, but there’s also mobile phones, disco-dancing and a motorbike section; it’s the mix of old, contemporary and the profound, it’s like everything you’ve seen and like nothing you’ve seen all at once. The game has a charm to it too, with the characters appearing in a cel-shaded manner. The Nephilim? Even these cannibalistic abominations look cute.

The sound design is very THX, it sounds like they have been treated with a circuit board and transmitted by an aerial; natural but perverted by technology.

Then we have the music and what a soundtrack it is. Just like the visuals, it mixes old with new; you’ll have classic pieces that sound like Steve Reich and Philip Glass B-sides, only for the next level to change to what sounds like Vangelis jamming on a Moog synthesizer; obviously it’s not these artists, but you get where I’m coming from: variety, classic and modern fused together.

The game does have some faults, like the fixed camera in the third-person sections, making the 3D platforming sections rather irritating as you try to judge the platforms. Another is that the gameplay doesn’t really change throughout, with little variety (except the motorbike section), but with its reasonable short length it’s not too much of an issue.

El Shaddai takes what we know from the past – religious text, 2D platforming, a single attack button, classical music, and then puts its modern spin on everything. We get religious characters wearing jeans and using mobile phones, a rhythmic combat system and electronic music that creates an original and unique gaming experience you’ll get nowhere else.

Sometimes you must look to the past to find the future.

Looking Back At The Walking Dead: The Game – Episode 1

April 6, 2018April 9, 2018 by Daragh Payne, posted in Features

Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead hit the ground running with its first and still strong comic series. Since its initial release, this comic series has spawned a massively popular TV series (even now) that loosely follows the story set in the source material, as well as a series of best-selling novels.

But the video game adaption of the beloved series was something different.

The Walking Dead: The Game

Most will think that the first game is a spin-off of the TV show due to its popularity, however, that’s not the case here. The Walking Dead game is based on the comics.

What does this mean for the casual fan of the TV series? Well, not much since the show follows the comic fairly well, however, the game’s characters are based on the comic representations rather than the show, and we don’t follow the beloved protagonist Rick Grimes – like the comic and TV series do.

Instead, we follow this series of games with a brand new character to the canon named Lee. It takes place during the first few days of the zombie outbreak, which is when Rick Grimes is still in a coma from his horrific shooting. This was a fresher take on the series since most of what people have seen in the show or comics is set in the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse.

Without giving away too much of the story, if you’ve yet to play it, I’ll just say the basics. Lee was your normal run-of-the-mill college professor who happened to be arrested for a crime he may or may not have committed, and on your way to the famous prison (set in the series), all hell breaks loose. The car crashes, and you find a girl named Clementine, whose parents are missing in this worldwide catastrophe. You and Clem set out to, well, survive.

The game hinges on the most important thing: surviving and choices. I was pleasantly surprised to find timed responses as well as how these choices affected all of your group’s perception of you, and what repercussions will come with all the decisions I’ve made.

The one thing that newcomers to the series will probably not like is the gameplay. The more casual gamer will probably buy this game solely thinking that it’s a shooter much like Valve’s Left 4 Dead. That’s not the case here though. The Walking Dead game, and its series, are different; they are point and click adventure games with more dialogue (and less killing of the undead). I actually found this to be a fantastic approach, and I still play the game today.

The gameplay was smooth and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire way. One of the most interesting aspects that I discovered in the game was the use of silence which created so much tension; I was actually nervous when I first entered Clementine’s house.

This isn’t, and wasn’t, a perfect game though.

There are some hiccups with the rendering between cutscenes and gameplay for example. Not a huge problem, but it was noticeable enough. My other complaint was the voice acting. At times it was great, but at other times I found myself laughing with the way Lee, as well as others, talked in certain situations. With moods drastically changing from being OK to suddenly furious in the conversations after critical decisions were made.

Fans of the series, like me, were delighted just to see a few of their favourite characters, such as Hershel Greene, Glenn, Lilly and others make appearances. But the game was more than that. It was better than anyone thought it would be. Much better.

Telltale Games crafted a five-part series that left many, many happy fans. And you know what? I still don’t think they’ve beaten it to this day.

Little Nightmares Episode 3: The Residence Review

Little Nightmares – Secrets Of The Maw Episode 3: The Residence Review [PS4] – Is This The End?

April 5, 2018April 6, 2018 by Tanya Laolapha Pettersen, posted in Reviews

Never-ending darkness. The only safety is from a small ray of light coming from your tiny flashlight. A creaking sound comes from behind you. You turn around, but of course, there’s nothing there. Your heart skips a few beats as you hear a child laughing in the distance. They’re watching you. Then, you start to hear small steps. Slow. But then the pause between each step becomes shorter. Someone’s coming…

The last and final episode of the Little Nightmares’ DLC is out, at last, and is titled The Residence. As the world of Six and The Runaway Kid has unfolded, we have eventually gotten more horrifying insight into what might exist in the Maw. However, there is one character left that has yet to tell her story; the Geisha.

Some say that a person’s home describes a lot about their personality. We get to explore the residence of the Geisha, who surrounds herself with creepy-looking dolls and plenty of books. What exactly this says about her we never fully know, but I am sure that there are several possible theories to why she’s so interested in literature and porcelain figures. All I can do is make an educated guess and say that there must be a quite uncomfortable and scary story behind her character.

Little Nightmares Episode 3 Review — Hello?… Hi. Nice place you got here.

The episode starts out eerily silent, but it doesn’t take long before you hear a song coming from a small music box. The song fades away as we explore further into the house, and the player eventually encounters a new enemy: small, dark apparitions with small masks. What makes them even more creepy is the fact that they have the look and laugh that resembles children. The only way to attack them is to shine at them with your flashlight, so hold on to that thing, because it is going to save your life. With that said, the mechanic instantly reminded me of Alan Wake, where you have to focus your flashlight on the ghosts to weaken them.

In contrast to the previous episodes in the DLC, The Residence gives you a greater illusion of a more open-world. We are much more free to explore, as there is not necessarily a given way to go. The puzzles don’t have to be solved in a certain order, and they feel more intricate and detailed. Roughly, The Kid has to find dolls that are scattered around the Geisha’s residence and put them in their proper place.

While this might seem simple at first, the complexity of finding each doll easily swallows the time. There is also a stronger action element, which is interesting and refreshing compared to the previous episodes in this DLC. As if my stress levels weren’t high enough playing this game!

Looking at the episode from the puzzle side of things, The Residence was definitely one of the more challenging ones. It is also the shortest, where I used up approximately 2 hours at a relatively slow pace. However, in those two short hours, we discover the terrible fate of all those who have suffered the wrath of the Geisha – with a pretty huge twist at the end… well, of course, I’m not going to reveal this now… play it for yourself and find out!

What Little Nightmares masters is the continuous suspense of not knowing what is in the next room. It gets really intense at times, and I love it: I had to remember to stop once in a while and take a breather. However, this universe’s definite greatest strength is its take on the concept of fear. As we have seen before in various shapes and forms, The Residence wants to see our reaction to darkness, masks, and creepy inanimate objects such as mannequins.

The Little Nightmares universe will always hold a special place for me. I followed the game when the working title was “Hunger,” and I remember going to a lecture where the narrative writer of the game told the audience how the game would play on people’s nightmares, and I thought, “There’s no way that I’m going to miss out on this game!” The borderline between horror, thriller, and uncanny valley is unique, and I have yet to see games that use these elements the same way that Little Nightmares do.

At the end of the episode, I got an achievement that said: “we’ll meet again.” And I cannot help but wonder; is this a suggestion that it might not be the last of Little Nightmares? Are we truly finished? There might not be anything special behind it, but it certainly peaked my curiosity. Even with all these questions, I don’t know if we will ever receive an answer.

The Runaway Kid’s story has come to an end. With beautiful scenery and masterful storytelling, this has been a memorable experience. What the Little Nightmares universe is so good at doing, is to tell my brain to be ready to hit the emergency panic button, and then cranking my anxiety up to the maximum. It starts out in uncomfortable silence before increasing to a horrifying crescendo.

Gaming ‘Safety Blankets’ – Here’s Mine

April 3, 2018April 5, 2018 by Stephen Carter, posted in Viewpoints

Having moved back out recently, I have been re-acquainted with my games room. No longer do I have to keep my life cooped up in one bedroom, I have a full house to spread it all out over. Before you think you’ve accidentally stumbled across a lifestyle or home improvement blog, you’re definitely here at Nitchigamer so please bear with me, this is definitely gaming related.

Having my games room is great, everything I need is in there; GameCube, Xbox, PS2, PS4, Xbox One and the Switch. With the slow start to the year coming to an end, you’d think things were starting to ramp up and the newer games taking their place on the respective consoles. Well, not quite. You see, moving out reminded me of all the games I had that have been stored away and having all my retro consoles set up ready to go has made it even easier to look back for inspiration.

If I want to jump on Halo on the Xbox or Grand Theft Auto on the PS2, they’re set up ready to go. But there’s one game, in particular, that has had me engrossed since moving out and that is Fallout 4.

Gaming Safety Blankets

Ever since Fallout 3 came out, I have been hooked on this series and have loved each game that has arrived since (yes that includes New Vegas, it was a good game!). The stories, the world and the characters have always captured my imagination. What if life was actually like this, should the worst happen? Minus the mutated creatures and lasers, of course, but a lot of the game could be real should we ever be faced with this situation of survival of the fittest. This is what keeps me coming back for more and, since moving out, I haven’t played anything since.

Have I wanted to? Not really. Have I had the opportunity or availability to play anything else? Sure. But nothing has grabbed me or made me want to play it. Granted, I rent most of my games these days so I don’t just go out and buy my games anymore, but even when I have had other things to play, I’ve not wanted to. I’ve stuck with my scavenged guns and my Fallout 4 safety blanket has well and truly been keeping me covered during my exploits.

Much like my recent article where I discussed the merits of taking a break from gaming, I feel returning to an old favourite can do us the world of good too. But just what is it that makes doing this worthwhile? Well, I’ve explained my love for the Fallout series, but it goes beyond this. Having completed the game on more than one occasion, I now know what to expect from it. I can jump in, aimlessly wander around the Commonwealth for a few hours and discover a few new locations, then put the controller down. Inevitably, there’ll be something I’ve missed somewhere along the line so even then it can still provide me with something new so that keeps me hunting for more.

It’s an example of a game done right. It knows what it wants to do and what it wants to achieve and executes it to near perfection. Where most open-world games lose their appeal when they’re either too barren or filled with repetitive quests, Fallout keeps you on your toes and throws a variety of missions and quests at you. From raiders racing domesticated robots, to outing a doctor, who has started experimenting on his patients, you will discover plenty of secrets and tales waiting to be told. It’s this that makes me come back for more; even in the remotest of caves, you’ll find a secret, a holotape with a diary recorded on it or a note left to be read when the writer has long-since passed.

But even when a game has something new to give you after such a long time, it’s nice to be lost in a feeling of familiarity. You don’t have to learn a new control scheme, any new mechanics or features, you can just pick up your controller and off you go. Of course, I’ll play the new stuff sometime soon, but until then I’m happily continuing my trip down memory lane and who knows where it’ll take me? With a selection of older consoles, I could end up anywhere. That, to me, is the reason why my safety blanket is equally as exciting as any new game that comes our way in 2018.

Are there any games which you find yourself going back to time again? If so, let us know in the comments below…

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse Review [Nintendo Switch] – A Hair Whipping Great Time

April 2, 2018April 3, 2018 by Jordan Scott, posted in Reviews

From Pitfall and Super Mario Brothers to Kid Icarus and Crash Bandicoot, the platformer has been challenging players for over thirty years. I feel the genre reached its peak in the late 90s when the PlayStation took the world by storm. Soon thereafter, games started to get exponentially larger and more complicated with hardware increasing in power with each successive generation. Gamers started to gravitate towards more hack-and-slash and open world titles like Devil May Cry or GTA.

In today’s gaming universe, nostalgia is having a direct effect on developers who grew up in the 80s and 90s and are looking towards the beloved games of their past. With the proliferation of Steam and the monster success of the Nintendo Switch, the platformer is making a massive comeback in the most glorious way possible. Indie developers finally have their time to shine, with WayForward’s Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse proving that old school platforming is healthier than ever.

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse Review Nintendo Switch

This is the third adventure to feature everyone’s favourite hair whipping genie, where Shantae has lost her magic powers just as a great evil takes over her home of Sequin Land. Shantae must join forces with her arch nemesis, the pirate Risky Boots in order to vanquish the evil. As she struggles without her powers, Shantae must learn the pirate way and gain new weapons to take on her enemies.

Let me preface the rest of this review by mentioning that I have never played any of the other games in the series. They all look great, but I won’t be able to make any comparisons between them. If you enjoy this game, I suggest playing the other titles for some more platforming fun.

In this latest instalment, Shantae starts off with only the ability to whip her hair (her main weapon) and jump. Don’t let her innocent look fool you, that hair of hers is a deadly weapon and can vanquish her enemies with ease. As Shantae explores the islands around her home, she collects new weapons and upgrades which aid in the fight and also help her solve various puzzles located throughout. At the start of the adventure, you’ll notice hard to reach switches that you can’t seem to hit. It’s not until Shantae reaches the second island that you receive the flintlock pistol, which allows her to shoot through the narrow openings, activating the switches. The puzzles aren’t a great challenge, but they’re fun in their own right. You can also upgrade Shantae’s hair whip to make it stronger and more effective.

Just as the puzzles aren’t anything to write home about, the varying enemies could have been a little more ‘varied’. Each island has its own monsters to fight, but in reality, they all feel (mostly) the same, just with different skins. One island will have goblins, another has evil mermaids, and yet another will be populated with the walking dead, (not that one, sigh). The visuals are nice, yes, but they’re all defeated in the same way. I would have liked to see a little more variation in the baddies, instead of what seemed like the same sprites with new outfits.

The world that WayForward created is full of unique and colourful characters though, each beautifully animated throughout the adventure. I found the interactions between Shantae and the population tended to go on a little too long, but it all serves as exposition and backstory necessary to help move the story forward. It wasn’t so bad the first time around, but if you die and have to have the same interaction again, you’ll be glad there’s a skip button to race through the conversation.

The platforming in the game reminds me of a cross between Aladdin on the Genesis and any of the Mega Man games from the NES days. It’s not going to set any standards, but you’ll have a pretty fun time throughout the experience. Aside from vanquishing monsters, Shantae can also collect gems to buy health, weapons, and power-ups, and in a Zelda-like manner, find lost Heart Squibs which allow you to increase your heart containers/health meter.

As a fan of the platforming genre, I highly enjoyed Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse to the point that I would definitely seek out the other titles in the series. The game won’t win any awards on difficulty, but the story is funny, the characters well developed, and there’s a high fun factor in general.

Tesla VS Lovecraft Review [Nintendo Switch] – Embrace The Madness

March 27, 2018March 29, 2018 by Alisa Hail, posted in Reviews

Science and the spiritual realm are often considered opposites within our modern cultural milieu. So, what happens when the two clash together as very real yet polar counterparts? More specifically, what happens when the realms of madness come into contact with the methodical clockwork of the scientific method? Tesla vs. Lovecraft poses one answer to this: absolute and glorious chaos.

Tesla VS Lovecraft Review

We recently did a full review of Tesla vs. Lovecraft for the PC, but as a bit of a refresher, the game centres on an ominous interaction between famous horror author H. P. Lovecraft and well-known electric guru Nikola Tesla. After ignoring Lovecraft’s pleas not to continue with his work on electricity, Tesla finds his laboratory raided by minions of the sinister Cthulhu. Tesla must now take back his inventions and castigate the forces of darkness using his scientific knowledge, and enough firepower to take out any collection of onerous elder gods.

The battle has finally made its way onto the Nintendo Switch and thankfully none of the monster exploding mayhem has been lost in the transition. The neon blue of Tesla’s teleportation ability, the brilliant green of underworld portals, and the bright purple tones of a devastating blast translates just as well whether on full screen or in tablet mode. The monstrous hordes are just as crisp and clear on my TV as they are on the small tablet screen aside from the obvious reduction in size. At no point did I feel at a disadvantage using the tablet over the TV mode.

In fact, I actually preferred using the tablet over playing in TV mode despite the smaller screen and decreased speaker output. I used a pro-controller to play on my TV and felt the larger screen combined with the more fluid, slightly raised analogue sticks made the movement feel less precise. The slighter, tighter movement of the Joy-Con controls matched with the smaller screen felt far more precise and made the action flow more fluidly for me. Of course, this will be a matter of preference and hand size, but I do think the game feels more natural on the tablet.

Plus, the visuals will still feel crisp and clear and the audio on the tablet, though not a match for TV speakers, handles the techno jive and bass output of the soundtrack quite well.

The Switch version brings with it all of the quick gun action and screen-filling hordes that keep the pace pumping along at breakneck speeds. You will find numerous weapons of varying effectiveness lying about and will quickly learn which is best for dispatching enemies in the swiftest and most visceral fashion. Tesla can also collect certain perks that can be added at the start of each level. You will also acquire a mech that will increase Tesla’s firepower and shield for a few seconds before exploding. You can then begin collecting the parts from around the level in order to regain the power of the mech for a few seconds before the cycle begins again.

Tesla can momentarily escape being consumed by the throngs by using a teleportation ability. This becomes extremely useful and often keeps you from feeling overwhelmed. But, be careful. It does take some seconds to recharge after a few uses. Once you get the hang of the dual-stick combat, you will find yourself dancing around and through the monstrous masses like some badass ballerina equipped with weapons that would make the Terminator jealous.

Hollow Review [Nintendo Switch] – The Irony Of It All

March 26, 2018March 27, 2018 by Jack Boyles, posted in Reviews

Hollow. As if some cosmic justice, some divine destiny or simply just bloody good luck, that’s exactly the game I’m going to review today. Finally, I get to review a game I want to play, something I was looking forward to…

Hollow Review [Nintendo Switch]

Hollow is a first-person survival horror game by Forever Entertainment. The game has you play as a male pilot waking up in a capsule pod boarding Shakhter-One: a mining space station that gathers resources from Jupiter. Boarding Shakhter-One and playing as another amnesiac, all you know from an emergency warning is that the power generators are down and that there are no living people aboard. It’s your job to regain power to the space station and find out what has happened on Shakhter-One.

As soon as the game loaded up with a warning ‘This game contains scenes of violence and gore’, a smile appeared on mine and any survival horror fan’s face. A lot of this game does seem to cater to a certain gamer of a certain generation, the golden age of survival horror games. As you move around, your character is clunky and slow, and even with the fastest movement toggled, your character doesn’t move that fast at all. Like the games of past, this isn’t an action fest either, it’s slow-paced and infrequent.

As you start to play the game, you begin to release it’s just as much of a corridor shooter with the puzzle elements of a survival horror game mixed in; the game does what all great survival horror games do, feed you enough ammo to deal with most situations, but it makes ammo rare, not easily accessible – if you are a crack shot you can drop enemies with a single bullet.

Hollow adds a new mechanic I’ve not seen before, which is when you reload, you remove the clip with the ammo remaining within that clip; essentially throwing away bullets, it’s a great feature to have in a survival horror game as it adds more tension and more of a thought process to the genre.

Hollow has you typically finding notes and reading files to get a deeper understanding of what has happened aboard Shakhter-One; you’ll find keycodes, but unlike other games, this one expects you to remember those codes. There are also collectables in the form of files and radios that play rather disturbing audio clips: ‘Rip his skin off’. Regarding enemies, there isn’t much variety as there are only 3 types. And there’s a lot of this around the ship:

Hollow is a dark game, a very dark game. I am squinting most of the time playing it. Not to mention that your flashlight can sometimes hinder your view further as the light bounces off surfaces. It really makes you think of the best times to use it and the darkness makes you cautious, giving the game a claustrophobic feeling.

For an indie game, the environments are impressive, they feel lived in, it feels like Shakhter-One is a real space station, even with the reused assets. You’ll sometimes come across bodies hung up by chains with intestines laying around, it’s very ’90s.

Hollow has some great moments too, one in which all the power drops out and all the ambient sounds just stop… oh pants. I laughed right near the end as well, it’s one of the messages, I won’t ruin it, but good work Forever Games!

There are a few glitches and irks, unfortunately, especially with the textures going a bit crazy. I’m also not a fan of when you die, it takes you back to the main menu, making you sit through a large number of load screens. Necessary? The game isn’t great at signposting either, I missed the first gun in the game simply because I didn’t see it. It’s that dark. Lastly, the writing and voice acting, in short, are terrible, but, to be fair, it’s survival horror from yesteryear.

Back in Time

Category: Features