Stardust Galaxy Warriors: Stellar Climax - PC Review
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Ever since I first laid my hands on Tyrian, nearly two decades ago, I've had a bit of a thing for shoot 'em ups. I mean, who doesn't love blowing up innumerable hordes of alien ships with completely ridiculous and overly flashy weaponry?
With that in mind it should be quite obvious that I was heavily predisposed towards liking Stardust Galaxy Warriors: Stellar Climax, a shoot 'em up that embraces many of the same design choices as Tyrian. Even so, I still found myself genuinely impressed at how enjoyable the gameplay is. The colorful visuals, the kick-ass music, the variety of weapons and characters you can field - all of it comes together to create some truly excellent shooting that had managed to keep me glued to the screen for hours on end.
So what exactly makes Stardust Galaxy Warriors so fun, and more importantly, what are the things that still need improvement?
Toxikk is an arena shooter modeled after the FPS classics from the late 90s and early 2000s
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
If the modern Doom's multiplayer has left you disappointed and more than eager to play a shooter modeled after the late 90s and early 2000s FPS classics, you might be in luck as Toxikk just recently appeared on Steam. According to its release announcement it features no classes, no loadouts, and no bullshit! Its just you, an entire arsenal of explosive weaponry, and a whole bunch of target dummies players to use them on.
Since trying to describe an FPS game in words alone is a pointless task, especially when it comes to fast paced arena shooters, allow me to instead show you the most recent trailer. It should give you a good idea of where Toxikk draws its influences from, and more importantly, what's the gameplay all about:
Blizzard has released a boss preview for World of Warcraft: Legion's upcoming Emerald Nightmare Raid
- By Ash
- in News
World of Warcraft: Legion's first raid, the Emerald Nightmare, will be opening its gates on September 20th along with Mythic Keystone Dungeons. In order to give everyone at least a brief glimpse at all of the horrors they'll have to constantly bash their heads against, Blizzard recently posted a boss preview for the Emerald Nightmare.
Before you move on, do be aware that this preview contains within it multiple spoilers for both the Val'Sharah storyline and the raid itself. If that doesn't bother you, or if you already know many of the names you'll be fighting against, you can find the full article over at the Blizzard website.
All these bosses aside, the Blizzard designers also talked about their inspirations for the Emerald Nightmare and what exactly they have planned for the raid in terms of story:
The Binding of Isaac's creator is working on a brand new action-platformer called 0uroboros
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
Edmund McMillen, the mastermind behind The Binding of Isaac, has announced that his brand new action-platformer now has an actual name - 0uroboros. It stars the same protagonist as one of McMillen's previous games, Time Fcuk, though 0uroboros is not its sequel... or even a puzzle game by any stretch of the imagination.
So what exactly is 0uroboros? According to McMillen, its "an action based platformer & shooter with random level generation and the like, ala binding of isaac or spelunky, but… off." Since that might be a fairly hard concept to grasp from words alone, he also provided a brief gameplay trailer. Have a look:
Resident Evil 7's latest trailer showcases the new direction for the series
- By Ash
- in News
While I'm sure they still have some fans among the general populace, the last few Resident Evil games have not been very inspiring... to put it lightly. With so many failed experiments now behind them, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to hear that Capcom has decided to take Resident Evil in a completely different direction with Resident Evil 7.
Instead of the third person perspective and tank-like controls the new Resident Evil brings with it a first person perspective and completely fluid movement. Instead of the constant focus on over the top action, Resident Evil 7 is attempting to do a more subtle, atmospheric horror experience. Rather than just list out all of the difference, allow me to instead show you the latest trailer. It should give you a pretty good idea of the new direction Resident Evil 7 is taking the series in:
World of Warcraft: Legion will soon be getting its first balance patch
- By Ash
- in News
[Note]: The update is now live!
As the majority of the 'serious' playerbase has now reached level 110 and begun delving into Mythic Dungeons - certain imbalances have started to become quite apparent. For example, Demon Hunters are able to absolutely demolish the DPS meters when it comes to fights with multiple enemies, whereas Warlocks suffer from a ridiculously long wind-up time before they finally hit their stride.
Thankfully, it does appear that Blizzard is aware of these issues as they have just announced their plans for an upcoming balance patch. There won't be any sweeping changes that completely redefine how a class is played, these sort of corrections will be reserved for a much larger patch down the line, but there are still some nifty changes coming in the near future (with some of them already being live). Here's a brief overview of what's changing, but do keep in mind that these aren't official patch notes:
Blizzard has detailed how the new Mythic Keystone Dungeons will function in World of Warcraft: Legion
- By Ash
- in News
For those among you that love hardcore content, but hate how raids work in World of Warcraft, there is some good news on the horizon. Starting on September 20th, the first time you complete a Mythic dungeon each week you will be rewarded with a Mythic Keystone for a randomly chosen dungeon. With this magical little doodad you'll be able to enter the long-advertised Mythic Keystone dungeons and fight against more powerful enemies, all with the intent of getting even more powerful loot.
Each time you complete a Mythic Keystone dungeon your Keystone will level up, attune itself to a different dungeon, and offer you a chance to chase after even scarier enemies for even greater rewards. The first four Keystone levels will be fairly simple, at least as far as mechanics are concerned, but after that you can expect to see the enemies gain new modifiers and effects - not unlike the Rares and Elites in the Diablo series. Here's a few examples of these Keystone modifiers: