Defiance is a multiplatform (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) MMO third-person shooter, based in the universe of the SyFy television series of the same name, which is now in a dead time between its first season finale and the launch of the second season in mid-2014. Invisible Gamer has reviewed the core game and now continues its look at the MMO’s content as it evolves. With ten updates surrounding the show’s first season, we now check out the first official paid DLC add-on for the game, the Castithan Charge Pack.

Let’s be clear here—people come to these Defiance content reviews because (a) we are one of the few sites to actually review each update and (b) the depth of coverage. This was a huge update, so expect a rather lengthy look at these. If you simply want to know whether to spend the money, skip on down to the two different letter grades at the end of this review.

A Mixture of Paid and Free

Since Defiance is an MMO, its add-on content works as a mixture of free and paid content. The game is updated for everyone to include some new content, and the paid DLC content adds extra goodies on top of that. The price tag is $9.99 for each DLC pack, or $39.99 for a season pass that entitles the player to all five of the DLC packs that are to be released between now and the launch of the second season of the TV show (at a savings of $9.96). Of course, all promises from Trion Worlds seem to be relative to the current situation on the company’s end. The DLC was originally meant to launch far earlier, but constant bug fixes delayed its release until after the first season of the show was complete. In any case, the question becomes whether the extra goodies are worth paying, and if the add-ons that everyone gets are enough to satiate the Defiance enthusiast.

Free Content: The World Evolves

The free content that has been added into the game with the patch associated with the DLC is substantial this time around, as one would expect with a true DLC update, rather than a weekly content update. 

All players now have access to a new form of major and minor Arkfall. Along with the standard three Hellbug major Arkfall variants and the Scrapper major Arkfall, players can now face a Dark Matter Arkfall, in which they face Dark Matter enemies (the fiercest in the game), a huge Dark Matter Monolith (the walker style robot that initially blocks the Golden Gate Bridge and will blow you to smithereens if you try to cross before the storyline allows it), and an unusual set of devices that supercharge your EGO powers during combat. Smaller Dark Matter Arkfalls are also now available, alongside the various enemy faction minor Arkfalls. These are a welcome addition to the frantic Arkfalls that often include dozens upon dozens of players at a time. Dark Matter doesn’t look so tough when pounced upon by a quarter of the players on a given server at once . . .

Sieges, one of the most acclaimed game modes that was added for the Afflicted storyline and subsequently removed, are finally back with a twist. Rather than facing wave after wave of Afflicted (quasi-zombies), players now face waves of Volge, the powerhouse enemies who appeared in the last regular content update to the game. Two new Pursuits (and data recorders) have also been added to the Volge Incursion Episode Pursuits to go along with these, providing awards that include special Volge helmets for player characters, akin to the (*cough* overpriced *cough*) Volge helmets made available for purchase with Bits (i.e. real money) in the game’s store. One new Volge Incursion Pursuit, Volge Vindication, features a brief data recorder hunt and a strange side mission that can only be undertaken during a Volge Siege (not made clear at all in-game). The side mission is well worth it, though, as it provides a new Volge Light Machine Gun variant that is quite effective. However, the second new pursuit, Volge Violence, is currently “bugged” and was apparently the same in the PC alpha game testing recently. It requires completing 10 Volge Sieges, achieving a specific score, and reaching a specific stage – all of which are doable – but then it also requires completing each “type” of Volge Siege. No matter how many times you complete each siege, that last requirement will not check off on any platform, making the Pursuit’s reward perpetually out of reach. A solution is said to be in the works, but since Episode Pursuits are often removed after a short time, there is some reason to wonder if that solution will come before Volge Violence is removed from the game entirely.

A second weapon type, charge weapons, are also available. These can be acquired through random loot drops, as rewards for Arkfalls (a type of loot drop), and from the Thorn Liro faction vendor. Charge weapons allow for a weapon to charge up before shooting, which provides a unique bonus for whatever blast it produces.

PVP fans will be excited to see two new tweaks with this update. First, the Shadow War mode (in which huge numbers of players play an expanded game of capture and hold in the regular world instead of a map that is separate from the main world, while other players and enemies continue to exist and interact in that same area) has been tweaked to begin with fewer players queued to play. This should drastically increase the frequency of these matches, which originally tended to require so many players that you would often find yourself queued for hours, watching the notifications note that you need 7 more players . . . 10 more players . . . 6 more players . . . 12 more . . .

The regular Capture and Hold mode, which until now has only had a single map (Freight Yard, which took many updates to finally return after being found to be rather buggy originally) has now been updated with a new (and, yes, buggy) map, the Military Academy. The new map is interesting in its layout and takes a blasted, post-apocalyptic approach to its style that makes stark contrast with Freight Yard.

Players can also now duel with one another, quickly challenging another player in a brief confrontation to see who can fire the first successful shot at the other player. Think of it as super-short, super-tiny PVP gameplay. It isn’t extremely interesting, but it marks the only other new Pursuit added into the game for all players: a new Duelist category within the Competitive Multiplayer section of the Season One Pursuits list.

I should also note that, while not considered a DLC connection, per se, there have also been updates to the chat system (a step downward, given that it seems to be pretty glitchy at the moment), the world map (with more details provided for each fast travel point),  fast travel points (with more now), and the way people can queue for multiplayer (competitive, cooperative, and Shadow War), which can now be done via representatives at most fast travel points, instead of having to use the menu system. This will hopefully draw more new players into those modes.

For a free update, this is the biggest and best yet. One wonders what DLC and Season Pass buyers have actually paid for, however, given how much has arrived free . . .

Paid Content

The answer is: a little new content, but mostly a head-start.

Since the game’s launch, only two playable races have existed: human and Irathient. Now, the Castithan race (think Datak Tarr in the TV series) has been added into the mix for paying DLC customers. Tied into this is a new means of redesigning your character’s look, which will require Bits (real money) for those without the DLC. DLC purchasers are allowed one free recustomization of their character, and they can create a Castithan character with any new character curing customization.

New storyline missions were advertised for the DLC, and what we receive is something that feels more substantial than a standard Side Mission and some of the Episode Missions, yet less robust and connected to the main Story Missions than we many had expected. Players begin with a new mission, The Whisper’s Scream, during which players again hunt down a few data recorders. These lead to the Diablo Lighthouse (an existing location with a new fast travel point), where the player gains access to the new Battle Arenas. For the storyline, the player must face each of five different Arenas, earning a silver medal on each to complete this new tale. As a reward for completing the storyline, the player receives a new mask and, most importantly, a new weapon type: a charge blade (lightsaber style weapons used by Castithans). The Battle Arenas are essentially a sort of “horde mode” in which the player can use any of their own loadouts to face off with five waves (per arena) of previously-existing enemies, increasing in difficulty as one moves up through the five types of arena. These award “Reputation” for a new faction, Thorn Liro, which has a vendor at Diablo Lighthouse. This new vendor sells charge blades, new titles, and charge weapons, which are all only available to those with Thorn Liro Reputation (i.e. paying DLC customers). The Battle Arenas can be returned to at any time, allowing a great opportunity for farming kills, gaining Thorn Liro Reputation, and a decent challenge for most players. For their part, charge blades drastically alter the melee combat in the game, which, until this point, has been limited to firearms that sometimes happen to have bonuses when smacking someone across the face with the weapon itself. Finally, the Blur EGO power looks like a more viable weapon in combat, instead of just a method of running behind players with a shotgun in PVP modes.

A new vehicle has been introduced to the game. Until now, fans could play with two rollers that can be purchased in the game with scrip: a Dodge Challenger or Duni Shetarru buggy. Two runners (four-wheelers basically), the Growler and Hannibal, have also been available for scrip. If you preordered via Steam, recommended the game to a handful of friends, or spent real money in the Bit Store, you could also access a pickup truck called the Nomad. Each has various scrip-paid and Bit-paid color schemes, but these five main vehicle types have remained static throughout the game’s life until now. Players have also had access to a military-style vehicle called the Cerberus, complete with a missile launcher and turret, but only in Capture and Hold, Shadow War, and the Explosions 101 co-op map. Now, players have access to the Raptor, a vehicle that looks similar to the Cerberus but boasts no weapons at all. It can carry three other players for when playing in groups, but is otherwise a dull and slow means of transportation that most players will quickly dump in favor of a Duni Shetarru or Hannibal. (Many fans have been annoyed that early plans commented upon by Trion Worlds that the Raptor would include a turret were changed, leaving it weaponless.) Paying DLC customers receive a Raptor automatically, while non-paying players will have to purchase a Raptor, if desired, in the Bit Store.

Paying players also receive one new Castithan-based costume that is available only with the DLC, along with a “starter pack” of charge weapons, including a pistol, shotgun, and sniper rifle. (These weapons are pretty easy to come by as loot drops without paying, though. During the downtime when the PS3 version of the paid DLC was unavailable due to an issue on Sony’s end, I managed to snag two charge weapons in the span of about half an hour of play.)

The Verdict

I have to give this one two different grades—one for all players, and another for those who actually purchased the Castithan Charge Pack.

For players who did not purchase the pack, the lack of playing as a Castithan and having to get charge blades through Tier 4 Lockbox luck, charge weapons via loot drops, and the Raptor via the Bit Store can be a bit frustrating (Then again, if you don’t pay, what do you expect?). Overall, this update has been a huge push of new content and something that any fan should be able to welcome and enjoy. For them, this update rates a grade of . . .

On the other hand, DLC purchasers will likely be annoyed by the sheer volume of “their” content that was actually just an update to the game for everyone, rather than something unique to those who spent cash to buy the DLC. Players who paid have gained:

• Access to the Battle Arenas and their related (brief) storyline and Pursuits
• a unique costume
• a new race to play
• a new faction with its own Reputation and vendor, which means new Contracts
• a “free” recustomization of their main character
• a uniquely-colored Raptor vehicle
• a head start on charge weapons with one of each category (three total)
• the ability to gain access to charge blades via the Battle Arenas or the Thorn Liro vendor, rather than expensive Tier 4 Lockboxes that only provide a chance at at charge blade

Given that other Raptor variants can be purchased for 960 bits in the Bit Store (the equivalent of $9.23, $10.67, or $11.97, depending on which bit package you purchase), then if you want the Raptor, the Castithan Charge Pack is a no-brainer purchase. However, if you really don’t particularly care for the Raptor, this may be a tough sell. Personally, I would have preferred a bit more “meat” to the Story Mission and at least to not have to use bits to purchase anything but the basic charge blade color (bluish white). While I am not adverse to paying $9.99 for this particular DLC, I would hope that future packs contain a bit more content for paying customers, even if that means a bit less for everyone else.

For missing the mark and acting more of a leg up in some areas than unique acquisitions for DLC purchasers, this DLC earns a rather “meh” grade of . . .

The post Defiance DLC #1 (Castithan Charge Pack) Review appeared first on Invisible Gamer.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a visually authentic representation of America at the height of the Cold War, viewed through a “What If?” scenario in which the country’s biggest threat isn’t Soviet subterfuge, but rather a global invasion of hostile extraterrestrial forces. At its best, it’s an entertaining, squad-based sci-fi shooter played against some genuinely creepy backdrops; at its worst, it comes across as a cynical cash grab designed to capitalize on the success of Firaxis’s recent XCOM: Enemy Unknown (a game I cannot possibly praise highly enough.) The Bureau isn’t a bad game, it just isn’t X-Com, and the level of enjoyment you get out of it will depend largely on your willingness to accept that fact.

My biggest problem with The Bureau is the way it takes narrative control out of the players hands — something that has always been at the heart of the best games in the series — and forces us to sit through hours of sub-Hollywood soap opera drama. Our central character, one Agent William Carter, is an alcoholic hothead we’re supposed to sympathize with because of his tragic past, yet Mark Hildreth, the actor who provides Carter’s voice, plays him like, well, like Christian Slater trying too hard to sound like Jack Nicholson. It’s sort of like Crypto in the PS2 classic Destroy All Humans, except not funny in the slightest. Listening to Carter speak made me want to skip entire story segments just so I didn’t have to listen to Hildreth’s voice, which is a shame considering the rest of the cast turned in excellent performances. Not that the story makes much sense when you are paying attention… probably because 2K Marin didn’t get enough time to playtest The Bureau’s branching dialogue system, which never seems to take into account whether players have actually been given the proper information they need to understand what anybody is talking about. Case in point: about halfway through the game, a central character contracts a non-fatal alien disease, and after speaking with the character in a hospital, Carter leaves, taking a drink from his flask and muttering a quick prayer that the infected character may rest in peace. Oh, so he died, then?

The ham-fisted storytelling isn’t the only sign that the developer simply didn’t get X-Com, but even taken as its own entity, most of The Bureau feels slapdash and incomplete. In classic X-Com style, you’re encouraged to find and train new recruits — that way, you’ll have a selection of second-stringers to choose from should one of your agents die. But there are two problems with The Burea’s approach. For starters, you can only ever bring two soldiers along with Carter on a mission, meaning any other characters you want to train will have to be sent off on dispatch missions that happen off-screen while you’re handling other business. There’s no risk/reward system at play, since you’re  pretty much guaranteed to succeed as long as you throw enough agents at a dispatch mission. Second, it’s all a wash anyway, since even if one of your agents dies, you can just reload from one of the game’s frequent automatic checkpoints.

Despite these issues, the actual missions in The Bureau are fairly engaging, thanks to an interesting squad mechanic that has you issuing individual orders from a command wheel. When you bring up the command wheel, the action slows to a crawl, giving you plenty of time to place agents behind cover, flank, target specific enemies, revive downed agents, or utilize special abilities you’ve unlocked. In the beginning, you’re basically limited to pistols, shotguns and rifles that don’t do a whole lot of damage even to the base grunt units, but once you start picking up alien technology, you can fire lasers, lift enemies in the air, engulf them in flaming plasma, and so on. It’s all highly reminiscent of Mass Effect, which is a good thing, but again, it doesn’t really feel like X-Com at all.

The thing that most excited me about 2K’s decision to reboot the X-Com franchise was that it gave some pretty talented artists the opportunity to revisit some of MicroProse’s terrifying, but dated alien and set designs, bringing them in-line with the kinds of things that scare audiences today. And while Firaxis’s work on XCOM: Enemy Unknown was uniformly brilliant, 2K Marin’s interpretations come across as uninspired, uneven, and even a little hokey. Early missions set in eerily abandoned Main Streets and farms littered with dead livestock are quickly replaced by an abundance of robotic tentacles and cold, lifeless alien bases that look they were ripped wholesale from Crysis 3, while promising early enemy redesigns (with the hulking Muton behemoths being a standout) give way to endless variations on a single class (the sideways-mouthed Outsiders.) Also: whose idea was it to turn Sectopods into quadrupedal clown cars?

It was obvious from the moment The Bureau was announced in 2010 as XCOM that this was not the series reboot X-Com fans were looking for, but with development being handled by the studio that brought us the criminally under-appreciated BioShock 2, I was confident that the game would at least be able to stand on its own as a gripping sci-fi adventure. Unfortunately, the best I can say about the final game is that at least it didn’t come out before XCOM: Enemy Unknown; had that been the case,  it might very well have killed off enthusiasm for the franchise before Firaxis’s game ever saw the light of day. Hats off to 2K Marin for having the ego to completely re-write the X-Com formula; sometimes, it takes an unpopular idea to bring real innovation to the table. Other times, though, you just have to leave well enough alone. And that’s something I think most X-Com fans will want to do with The Bureau: XCOM Declassified.

The post The Bureau: XCOM Declassified Review – Choice and Consequence appeared first on Invisible Gamer.

Every new console announcement is usually accompanied with a deluge of game announcements. Some of these are new entries in storied franchises; some are brand new IPs. Most of these game announcements eventually see release, but in rare instances, some titles will disappear into obscurity. These so called “vaporware” projects seldom recover from this state of limbo and are quietly cancelled. One such game, Dragon’s Crown for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, was once thought to be doomed to this eternal gaming purgatory, after its initial publisher backed out.

Luckily for PlayStation fans, Atlus USA stepped in and decided to publish Vanillaware’s newest game. Famous for it’s PS2 classic Odin Sphere and Wii classic Muramasa, the developer showcases its fantastic art style with one of the best games in the PlayStation ecosystem. It takes the tried, true, and nowadays stale side-scrolling beat-em-up genre, injects new life into it, and makes it into an addictive and deep experience worthy of your time and your dollars, regardless of which platform you pick it up on.

Dragon’s Crown casts you in the role of one of six classes: the fighter, elf, wizard, dwarf, amazon, and sorceress. Each character uses his or her own unique fighting style, giving players plenty of reason to take another romp though this game. Certain characters are geared towards more experienced players, while others are designed for first timers. Most players on their first run through will lean towards the fighter, with his balanced stats and forgiving attack and defense.

Attacks are carried out in a rather simple manner. Harkening back to the days of old arcade beat-em-ups, Dragon’s Crown boils down the attack to one main button, and one other button for a power smash. Rather than rely on combo memorization, different attacks are executed with different directions and through character upgrades. The leveling system unlocks new abilities for characters throughout your quest, but most of these upgrades are stat based rather than new attacks.

The game’s level and progression system is a nice touch that motivates players to engage in tasks outside the main quest. While the main quest’s baddies and tasks will give your character experience, every completed sidequest will automatically provide 1 skill point to the player. This skill point can be used towards upgrades that affect either just your particular character, or any character that you create. This balance between specific vs. broad upgrades provides incentive to upgrade both, as the character specific upgrades are usually stronger. However, they will do nothing to benefit your other characters.

One facet of the game that cannot be overstated is the absolute beautiful art, animation, and visual style. Vanillaware has outdone their best work, creating a game that truly feels like a painting in motion, a look that many games strive to achieve but hardly ever reach. Each character has his or her own personality, animation, move set, and style, even if some of the proportions of said characters are a bit preposterous.

The world is structured around a main hub town, with specific locales and missions being accepted outside of town. There are numerous places and dungeons to visit, and the world variety keeps the game fresh enough. Each dungeon is perfectly paced and bite sized; most won’t take more than 20 minutes to complete. This rhythm makes the game easy to play on the go, helping it succeed as a handheld game in addition to a major console release.

Dragon’s Crown truly shines at refining and making an old gaming genre feel fresh and new again. Modern games, such as Double Dragon Neon and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World The Game, have tried to modernize the side scrolling beat-em-up genre, but with only moderate success. Most of those games were spent recovering from an attack that knocked you on the floor and left you vulnerable. Dragon’s Crown rarely places the player in such a state of vulnerability, keeping the pace and intensity up. Frustration has been replaced with flow and progression, keeping the players engaged far longer than the previous mentioned games, which tired me out only after a few levels. Local co-op on the PS3 and online multiplayer on the Vita make the game a blast to play with your friends; it’s just a shame that it takes a while to unlock. The lack of cross-platform multiplayer also may disappoint.

The loot system is a novel concept and adds to the games addictiveness, but I mostly found it to be arbitrary and somewhat confusing. About halfway through the game, I found a set of armor and weapons that I used for almost the entire remainder of my journey. Keeping the stats and names of the loot a mystery until the player pays to unlock it is unique, but I often found myself selling it off and not even pursuing new items.

Overall, Dragon’s Crown is an addicting, beautiful brawler for the PlayStation faithful. No other game on the market currently has as much style and depth, while still maintaining fairness and incentive. The lack of cross-buy and cross-platform multiplayer may upset some, but the support for cross-save makes it an experience that you can easily take on the go. Dragon’s Crown is one of the best games this year on PlayStation, and it easily cements itself as one of the premier Vita experiences. Don’t pass this one up.

The post Dragon’s Crown Review: For The Kingdom appeared first on Invisible Gamer.

Over the weekend, I went to the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York, picked up the largest capacity iPad Air money could buy, then boarded the F train toward my apartment in Brooklyn and spent the next 40 minutes acting like I wasn’t hoarding $900 worth of hot new Apple tech in my backpack. When I got home, the first thing I did was marvel at how light the Air was compared to my two year old iPad 3. The next thing I did was install XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which I then proceeded to play for an embarrassingly indeterminable amount of time before realizing I should probably get back to my clients.

When I reviewed XCOM for iPad in July, I gushed about how remarkably complete it was for being a so-called “mobile port” of a AAA console game. And while I briefly touched on my disappointment over how unstable it was on an iPad 3, what I didn’t mention is that I would gladly have bought a new iPad if it meant getting a better portable XCOM experience. Four months later, XCOM is more at home on Apple’s tablet than ever, where, thanks to the Air’s A7 processor, it now screams along at 60 FPS with near-zero load times at 2048×1536. I don’t know how I’m ever going to get anything done again.

What I do know is, I’m giving my PS4 pre-order to my brother-in-law.

There’s been a lot of furor surrounding the launch of the so-called “next generation” of console gaming, but when you strip out all the noise, what it boils down to is that the next iteration of the PlayStation and Xbox brands are dropping into our laps in just a couple of weeks, and a lot of people are very excited. But to be honest, I’m really struggling to understand what’s got you all so batty.  I know a lot of you want to crucify me for this… I’ve already gotten a ton of flack on Twitter for announcing that I’d decided on a new iPad instead of a PS4, as if that decision meant I wasn’t qualified to write about or play games anymore. But hear me out, and share your thoughts on the topics below… maybe we can come to some kind of mutual understanding.

There’s Nothing to Play!

I bought my PS3 in 2008 under the assumption I’d be playing The Last Guardian in the not too distant future, and we all know how that turned out. Okay, so maybe it turned out alright: the PS3 has one of the best stables of exclusive titles of any console released in the past 10 years. But it took 3-4 years from launch for the system to get to that point. As for the PS4 and the Xbox One, there are very few titles coming this year that can’t be done in exemplary fashion on the consoles you’ve already got sitting under your TVs, and I’ve seen nothing coming within the next 12 months that has me convinced I need to upgrade. Honestly, you’re better off taking the $450-$600 you have earmarked for a new console and splurging instead on pretty much every new game coming out this holiday season.

Breaking News: Super Mario 3D World will *not* be coming to Xbox One!

Think about it for a minute: for the cost of an Xbox One, you can buy Assassin’s Creed IV, Batman: Arkham Origins, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Gran Turismo 6, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Pokémon X or Y, Super Mario 3D World, The Wolf Among Us, and XCOM: Enemy Within. And what’s better: spending $500 to play one or two games, or spending $500 to play 7-8 games?

Next-Gen What?

For decades, platform holders pushed the notion that “next-gen” equaled faster processors and snazzier graphics. And that made sense before the likes of Cave Story, Mega Man 9, Fez and Retro City Rampage started releasing alongside titles like Halo 4 and Mass Effect 3. With developers releasing such a broad variety of software on today’s gaming devices, it’s pretty clear gamers no longer see things in terms of the old paradigms. And if we no longer chart the growth of gaming in terms of “giggleflops” and “mecha-hurts,” what exactly is it that’s so “next-gen” about the PS4 and Xbox One?

Does this screen from Assassin’s Creed IV look “next-gen” to you?

Perhaps it’s the slick new social features promised by the PS4? The off-screen Vita play? Maybe it’s the snappy multitasking capabilities of the Xbox One? Now, don’t read my probing as sarcasm; these are all features I’m genuinely excited to see implemented in the next versions of the PlayStation and Xbox ecosystems. But if, like me, you define “next-gen” by these new features that are going to fundamentally change the way we play, I’ve got news for you: there’s nothing next-gen about the PS4 and Xbox One. That’s because consoles and other devices have already been doing these things for years.

Nintendo did next-gen in 2012 with the Wii U’s pioneering off-TV play. Apple did next-gen in 2008 when it launched an App Store that pushed games into the hands of hundreds of thousands of people who would never have been caught dead in public with a DS or a PSP. And I won’t even bother talking about how reactive Microsoft has been in its design of the Xbox One, because Xbox Live aside, that’s been the company’s MO since it was founded. Been there, done that. Moving on.

So tell me, again: what’s so “next-gen” about the PS4 and Xbox One?

Play What You Love

Listen. I know it sounds like I’m down on the PS4 and Xbox One. But honestly, I just hate to see so many people getting excited about spending what little money they have on something that’s going to be a letdown, at least in the short term. Will I be getting a PS4? Absolutely, when there’s a game that I want to play and I can’t do it anywhere else. Will I miss out on the adrenaline rush of a new console launch? Not really: I bought a Wii U last year. But just because I’ve become cynical about the next-gen console rat race, it doesn’t mean you have to be. After all, we buy new consoles because we love games, and I’m sure you’re all eventually going to find something to love about your PlayStation 4s and Xbox Ones. In the meantime, there’s just too much to love about the systems I already own for me to care about what might be coming for the ones I don’t.

The post Keep Your “Next-Gen.” Mine’s Already Here. appeared first on Invisible Gamer.

Second Chance is a series examining games that our staff had previously passed on. They aren’t reviews, but early, narrow, personal impressions focusing on things that we didn’t expect to like or dislike as much as we did. The rules are simple: the writer must have not owned the game before receiving it via PlayStation Plus, Games With Gold, Humble Bundle, the Steam Summer Sale, or a similar service. Gifts are also fair game.

As an Xbox and GameCube owner last decade, I missed out on several great PlayStation-exclusive franchises such as God of War and Ratchet and Clank, but another, more cartoony series also eluded me. The Sly Cooper games were consistently lauded as some of the best platformers of the PlayStation 2 generation, and their quick stealth gameplay always seemed like something I’d enjoy.

With the long-dormant series finally returning with Sanzaru’s Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, I was given an opportunity to test it out last year and came away unimpressed. The controls felt imprecise, I didn’t like the combat, and the side-activities felt far too much like something from a ten year-old game. After getting the game through PlayStation Plus and playing it for several hours, I go back on just about everything I thought.

To get my first gripe out of the way, Sly’s movement feels almost perfect after spending a little time learning the admittedly-odd control scheme. Almost every point or pole in the game is scalable with a quick tap of the circle button, seamlessly blending platforming and stealth without one undermining the other. The combat takes some getting used to, and I wasn’t thrilled with the hard-to-judge movements of the guards, but Sly’s stealth takedowns flow perfectly with the platforming.

Sly’s pals Bentley and Murray are also playable, with different “jobs” being exclusive to specific characters. Bentley being limited to a wheelchair meant that most of his playtime was spent in hacking minigames that vary in quality, but help to break up the action regardless. Murray isn’t all that fun to play, though; he’s the muscle of the group, but this means that his segments are largely spent beating up enemies and breaking things. However, Murray is still a funny character, and a segment featuring him dressed up as a geisha dancing to a bunch of boars was both hilarious and disturbing.

Because Thieves in Time sends Sly and his pals through several different historic periods, many Cooper ancestors are also playable, and these are some of the best characters in the game. Tennessee Cooper is a crack-shot outlaw from the Old West, and his sections play out as shooting galleries, while “Bob” is a vicious, primitive raccoon who communicates to Sly in gibberish. I loved mixing up the main three characters with the time period-specific ancestors, but I would’ve liked to spend a little more time with them.

It’s an all-ages game, but I was surprised by how funny Thieves in Time was to me. Bentley in particular has some great exchanges with Sly, and while the humor can get a tad generalizing across the different time periods and locations, they don’t seem mean-spirited. The voice acting also helps, feeling straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon, and while I doubt none of this is news to fans of the series, it was arguably my favorite aspect of the experience.

I wasn’t thrilled with the amount of filler, however. Even though it was originally a $40 game, Thieves in Time has a ton of content, but much of it feels like unnecessary diversions to mask the fact that the story is pretty simple. Having to get a Cooper ancestor back into “fighting shape” served no other purpose than to make me spend half an hour doing minigames, and there wasn’t a reward once I completed them all. It’s supposed to appeal to a wide audience, so this isn’t too unexpected, but I would’ve liked for a few of these to be eliminated in favor of another historic location to explore.

Playing Thieves in Time made me saddened to hear how soft its sales have been, but I’m hopeful that its inclusion in PlayStation Plus will introduce others to the series in the same manner as me. If you haven’t played it yet, there’s no better time than right now!

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The fifth installment of the Persona series is now slated to release on both Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 in 2015. Atlas made the announcement earlier today at Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia’s press conference along with a new animated teaser trailer. The trailer shows very little about the game other than the face of a character we assume will be the protagonist. No gameplay was shown.

Persona 5 was originally announced as a PS3 title last year with a “Winter 2014” release. It’s unclear if the 2015 date will still be true for Western audiences or not. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on the latest news about Persona 5 as it becomes available.

Source: Polygon

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In a video since made private, November’s lineup of free PlayStation Plus games was revealed, and it’s decidedly indie.

The two PlayStation 4 games will be The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and Steamworld Dig. PlayStation 3 will see Luftrausers and Frozen Synapse Prime, while Vita owners will be able to play The Hungry Horde and Escape Plan. The PlayStation Plus edition of Driveclub is still apparently on hold.

Some PlayStation owners have expressed discontent with the supposed decrease in quality/value of the free games offered as part of the PlayStation Plus program, and this month is now entirely devoid of AAA games. While indie doesn’t denote quality or value (and may, in fact, imply positivity for both aspects), it’s certainly interesting to note the change.

The games will (hopefully) be available to download this coming Tuesday, November 4 when the PlayStation Store updates.

Source: Game Informer

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Remakes, remasters, and re-releases of old games are practically a business model unto themselves these days, with aging hardware and ever expanding display technology making it increasingly difficult for nostalgic types to appreciate the classics the way they were originally intended. But Resident Evil, the 2002 GameCube refresh of the 1996 PlayStation survival horror game of the same name, was something else. Coming along a decade before “HD Remaster” entered the gaming lexicon, the remake took the beloved but flawed guts of the original game and put them inside a brand new body — one that not only added new story elements to upgrade the creep factor and bring the game in line with series lore, but pushed the boundaries of what was possible for console graphics at the time, with an attempt at photo realism that still looks damn impressive today… as long as you have access to a working tube TV.

Creepy doll is still creepy, even if it’s just an upscale.

For those of us running modern HD displays — AKA the overwhelming majority of gaming households in 2015 — Capcom has remade the remake, giving it the full 1080p treatment, a smattering of upgraded lighting effects, and an optional control method that ditches the tank-style navigation in favor of a more modern “push where you wanna go” setup. The game definitely shows its age, with Capcom apparently choosing to upscale readily available 480p assets rather than digging out (possibly nonexistent) source elements for the static backgrounds that make up most of the game world (a few have been recreated with textured geometry and look great); still, this year’s release is the new definitive version, and if you prefer the remake over the original, you won’t be disappointed. Unless, that is, you’re a loyal Nintendo fan hoping for some HD GameCube goodness, in which case you’ll have to look elsewhere, as Capcom has again skipped the Wii U with this outing.

And what of the game itself? Perhaps you’ve never played the remake because you didn’t own a GameCube, or you were born after the release of the 1996 original, meaning you’re just now legally able to experience the granddaddy of 3D survival horror? No matter; the Resident Evil HD remaster is the same delightfully campy, constantly spooky, and sometimes frustratingly plodding experience it’s always been. Taking control of either Jill or Chris, two members of a paramilitary outfit called S.T.A.R.S., your mission is to unravel the mysteries of a creepy old mansion on the outskirts of Raccoon City, and ultimately just to survive the night as the various undead and mutated denizens conspire with the house itself to tear you limb from limb. The Spencer Mansion is literally a haunted house, hiding both the secrets of a pharmaceutical company and the sad, unnerving tale of a family whose lives were destroyed by the company’s twisted experiments. But it also wears its admiration for 1950s B-movies and schlock horror on it sleeve, with groan inducing dialogue that will have you smiling as long as you remember not to take it seriously.

Seriously, who keeps a pet like that?

The game can often frustrate, with inventory management often halting that euphoric sense of momentum that comes from solving a puzzle. I can’t count how many times I was stoked to finally enter a new area, only to realize I’d have to trudge halfway across the mansion, expending ammo and supplies along the way, just to drop items into a storage box so I wouldn’t run out of inventory slots when I found the next key or crucial item. But that’s just the nature of the beast. And despite its occasional frustrations — even the updated control scheme won’t save you from the game’s often jarring camera shifts — Resident Evil remains a textbook example of survival horror. Supplies are extremely limited and zombies you thought you’d killed will come back faster and deadlier if you don’t properly dispose of them, so every bullet counts, every ink ribbon (for saving progress) is essential, and every wasted herb or first aid kit can potentially bite you in the ass in the end. Run out of supplies, and you’re dead: it’s really that simple.

Veterans of the remake might be surprised to find that a new, third difficultly option doesn’t make the way-too-easy easy mode harder, but instead adds an even easier mode, which I can only assume is for the Candy Crush crowd. That means more ammo, more herbs, and more chances to save. If you want the true Resident Evil experience, make sure you choose the first option at the top when the game asks you about mountain climbing, riding a bike, etc.

Pro-tip: stay away from the windows.

The original Resident Evil, though certainly still playable today, is a relic from a time when game developers struggled with the transition from 2D to 3D, from sprites to polygons. The GameCube remake refined it into something that was as gorgeous as it was campy, as terrifying as it was frustrating, and this latest re-release is just better enough that it now feels at home in the HD era, even if it’s not quite the visual leap I was expecting. There’s no better way to experience this most classic of classics, so make yourself a Jill sandwich, turn off the lights, and stay away from the windows… the mansion is back.

Invisible Gamer’s review of Resident Evil is based on final review code provided to us by Capcom for the PlayStation 4. The game launches on Tuesday, January 20th, 2015.

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Nearly a year after Shovel Knight burst onto the scene and blew away everyone with a Wii U or 3DS, Yacht Club Games has finally completed work on PlayStation and Xbox versions. Shovel Knight was one of our absolute favorites of  2014, and one of the few that I’m still playing constantly to this day… but should you buy the new version? My gut tells me “yes,” though with some obvious caveats:

• If you already own Shovel Knight on Wii U, 3DS, or PC, there’s not a ton of new content on the PlayStation or Xbox versions. PlayStation platforms get the always-great cross-save feature, which lets you start on one system and resume progress on another (PS3, PS4, and Vita!), as well as a fun-but-brief battle with Kratos from the God of War games. Winning that battle also nets you some exclusive armor and weapons that make Shovel Knight feel a little bit more like a 2D God of War game.

• Xbox One owners get some sort of Battletoads cameo, and that’s—wait, what? Battletoads? You heard right: Rare’s gang of lewd, crude, acne-fueled TMNT ripoffs are back in action for the first time since their 1994 arcade game, and while we have absolutely no idea what kind of shenanigans they’ll get up to in Shovel Knight, we do have this teaser to hold us over until next week. My face is getting oily just thinking about it… too bad I don’t have an Xbox One! Ah, well. We’ll always have Let’s Plays.

• Shovel Knight is still getting several platform-agnostic content updates throughout the year, starting with this summer’s Plague of Shadows campaign that lets you play as Plague Knight, one of the bosses from the original game. You don’t need to buy anything extra for that content: if you own Shovel Knight, you’ll get it, no matter what platform you’re on (or if you contributed to the game’s Kickstarter.)

So, other than these platform-specific features—along with some extra content for the music player and a couple other hardware specific Easter eggs—Shovel Knight is the same amazing game it’s always been, and I’d recommend grabbing it immediately on whatever system you game on… assuming you haven’t already. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of platform-specific content, as it makes it impossible to own the definitive edition of the game… but if I had to recommend one version over all the others, I’d say you’re probably best served with the PlayStation release, if only because it’s the only one that’s cross-save compatible.

Need to know anything else about Shovel Knight? Check out my 2014 review of the Wii U version.

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Oh, how long I’ve waited to be able to play Odin Sphere.

To be clear, I bought it on launch day, May 22, 2007, for the PlayStation 2. My eyes stared, unblinking, at the drop-dead gorgeous art design, but my feeble mind could not quite wrap itself around the many systems in Odin Sphere. The game also became increasingly difficult to play due to technical performance. Odin Sphere overtaxed the PS2, causing framerate issues so severe that Vanillaware’s beautiful game was reduced to a slide show. Load screens were frequent and lengthy as well. I abandoned the game shortly thereafter, always hoping for some kind of bug-fixing port. We sort of got that a couple years ago when Odin Sphere was rereleased as a PS2 Classic on the PS3. It still had framerate issues but they weren’t nearly as bad. Even so, I longed for more.

So you can imagine my zeal when Atlus announced Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir, an HD remake with gameplay improvements, last year. Having now finally played Odin Sphere to my own satisfaction, I can say with absolute confidence that it’s well worth the investment.

Odin Sphere has an interesting story conceit: you play five separate campaigns, in a set order, each with a different character. The characters control differently but the gameplay is largely the same between them. This allows Vanillaware to craft a surprisingly deep story, and for the many protagonists to view the story through a different lens. The plot involves a war between the Faeries and Dwarves over control of a mysterious Crystallization Cauldron, which has the power to create unlimited magic energy. Other races have tertiary roles: the rabbit-like Pooka, the neighboring kingdom of Titania, and the remaining citizens of the destroyed kingdom of Valentine all round out this epic fantasy.

Leifthrasir benefits enormously from Vanillaware’s experiences with Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Dragon’s Crown. Combat is much more similar to Muramasa here, with acrobatic attacks and fast-moving combos. Most characters have their own gimmicks. Faerie princess Mercedes provides the biggest change-up, as she uses an energy-based crossbow instead of a blade. Oswald can activate a “Berzerk” mode for increased damage, and Velvet has the best range. Psypher Stones, usually won from battles, provide each character with new special attacks, and there’s a constant stream of them, so combat is never boring.

You can use Phozons (experience) to enhance your main weapon and each Psypher Stone individually to tailor your combat. Do you find yourself relying heavily on Oswald’s blade rush attack? Power that sucker up. Don’t really like Cornelius’ diagonal slash? Save your Phozons for something else. Additionally, you can sink Skill Points (which you get for leveling up) into character buffs. Customization and character building are big parts of Leifthrasir.

Leifthrasir continues Vanillaware’s preoccupation with cooking—your characters will amass a wealth of food items on their journeys which can be eaten for health recovery or combined (at a traveling restaurant) for huge experience and max HP bonuses. Additionally, you’ll experiment judiciously with alchemy, combining Material (that’s an item) and various other implements to concoct all manner of offensive and defensive potions. Create a massive tornado that freezes enemies! Drink a tonic that makes your enemies drop more gold! Turn everyone into frogs, etc. Experimentation is encouraged, as you find actual alchemy recipes rarely. Similarly, finding the occasional restaurant recipe is a celebratory event, as Maury (the traveling cook) will add it to his menu. There’s also a good amount of lore to read about, only some of which is critical to the game itself.

English doesn’t have an adequate vocabulary to describe how beautiful Leifthrasir is. Every pixel moves or warps—even the backgrounds refuse to be static. Some characters look better than others (Queen Elfaria isn’t great) but that’s a matter of taste. I can really find no fault with the aesthetic. Similarly, the sound design is top-tier. Every word of dialogue is fully voiced, and in general I thought every voice was appropriate, although characters have an annoying way of pausing between phrases. The music is understated but beautiful. It’s not the kind of soundtrack that gets in your head, but that’s okay. It’s cinematic when it needs to be.

It’s not all wine and roses, though; there are some places where the game stumbles. Alchemy can occasionally become too much of a focus—you’ll be concocting offensive spells as well as potions for decreasing your POW use and restoring your PP way too often. You’ll be scouring every area for Mandragoras (vegetable critters) in order to create potions. You’ll learn how to create raw Material, then spent a lot of time finding the ingredients to do so. It really slows the game down. Combine this with an item-carry limit and you will find yourself spending way too much time in the item menu.

You’ll also suffer from Campaign Fatigue if you play Leifthrasir all the way through. This is a long game, and while each campaign does feature some differences, there are only so many environments and so many enemies. Also, unfortunately, there are only so many bosses. Yes, you’ll fight the same bosses several times as different characters. I think everybody gets to take a shot at Odette, Queen of the Underworld. For someone claiming to be unbeatable, the big dragon Wagner sure gets knocked around a lot. Also, while the storylines combine to tell one big story, some of the transitions remain unclear (why was Oswald in the Fire Kingdom?). It would have also been nice if the game’s lore was spread throughout Leifthrasir’s five campaigns rather than being largely shoved into Velvet’s.

Now, these problems may not be as apparent if you take a break between campaigns.

In summary, Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir is an incredible game marred by some item management issues that absolutely should not keep you from playing it. This is Odin Sphere as it was meant to be played, on hardware that can actually run it. It’s available on PS4 as well, and cross-saving is enabled. However, I would argue that a game like this is best played portably. There are demos available on both systems as well, so you can try before you buy. Me, though? I might actually double-dip so I can see Leifthrasir on the big screen.

Second Opinion

Fairy princesses, dwarves, and a dragon named Wagner: as a lifelong Tolkien scholar, Odin Sphere checks all the right boxes for me. But when it was released back in 2007, the PS2 was a distant memory for me, and besides, my book slave wages were hardly sufficient to fund even a current-gen gaming habit back then. What I’m saying is, I didn’t know Odin Sphere was even a thing back then, and even if I had known about it, I probably would’ve passed on it.  My ignorance, as it turns out, has been a blessing in disguise, because Odin Sphere Leifthrasir on PS4 is both the ideal form of a game that was woefully compromised on its original platform, and a deeply engrossing riff on the Germanic Nibelungenlied and Old Norse Volsunga sagas, from which Tolkien took deep inspiration for his Middle-earth books… influences which in 2007 I wouldn’t have had the same appreciation for as I do today. And at a time when I find my gaming tastes skewing heavily toward the past, the fact that Odin Sphere is an RPG-infused hack ’n slash in the vein of SNES classic The King of Dragons is just icing on the cake.

I haven’t played nearly as much of Odin Sphere Leifthrasir as Zach, but whenever I’ve gotten a chance to fired it up, I’ve lost hours at a time to its engaging, decently acted narrative and its deep character customization. The action, though, is where it’s at for me. Who doesn’t love juggling enemies on 500-hit combos just because you can? And while the different characters I’ve played don’t always feel as distinct from one another as I’d like, the fact that each character provides a different perspective on the conflict at the core of Odin Sphere’s story has given me plenty of reason to keep on playing. — Michael

Invisible Gamer’s review of Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is based on final review code provided to us by Atlus. The game launches on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PS Vita on Tuesday, June 7th, 2016.

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