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Nick Tylwalk enjoys writing about video games, comic books, pro wrestling and other things where people are often punching each other, regaardless of what that says about him. He prefers MMOs, RPGs, strategy and sports games but can be talked into playing just about anything.
  • The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review
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    • iOS
    The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review

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    Like a girl who can't help dating bad boys, I've had my heart broken by Gameloft super hero titles before. More than once, in fact. So I went into The Amazing Spider-Man 2 fully prepared to be let down again, only to find that it's really good. With slightly tighter controls, it could even be fantastic. Or amazing, if we want to keep the right adjectives with their respective franchises.One thing that sets this game apart from its Gameloft brethren is that there's no genre confusion. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is unabashedly an action-adventure game, thrilling in the freedom that the web-spinner has at swinging through New York and showing off his acrobatic skills at every chance.Spidey's objectives in each level are a mix of open world encounters and planned events that drive the narrative. Thanks to a gang war that is engulfing New York, there's no shortage of random crimes to stop, and the random missions do a good job mixing things up. You'll find yourself stopping robberies, taking injured police officers to the hospital by webline and simply signing the occasional autograph for starstruck citizens.
  • Therian Saga is on the web, but don’t call it a web game
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    • PC
    Therian Saga is on the web, but don’t call it a web game

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    Early on in my conversation with Virtys' Laurent Devigne at PAX East, I find myself explaining why I haven't tried his studio's free-to-play MMORPG Therian Saga yet. I just haven't had the time, I say, because even though it looks really intriguing, it seems so complex for …"For a web game?" he said, laughing while doing so. "Go ahead, you can say it."It's true, and it's unavoidable. If there's still a little skepticism among a segment of the gaming community toward free-to-play games in general, there's even more for those that come to life within your browser. Virtys would prefer you not paint its game with too broad a brush."We don't want to be compared to a Facebook game," Devigne said. "We're web-based because we want people to enjoy it without installing 20 gigs."That's perfectly logical reasoning, but then everything about Therian Saga follows a sensible path. Originally dreamt up by a small group of French-speaking developers, it found a solid audience of about 40,000 to 50,000 players upon release in France and Quebec (as Fatecraft: The Therian Saga).
  • An Indie Within an Indie: Woah Dave! Is Gaijin Games next Hit
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    An Indie Within an Indie: Woah Dave! Is Gaijin Games next Hit

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    Here's some good news for all the up and coming game designers out there: in case being part of an indie studio isn't enough creative freedom for you, there's always the option of being an indie within an indie.That unique set-up was what Jason Cirillo explained to me as people played his upcoming game Woah Dave! on two stations at the Gaijin Games booth at PAX East. Though he modestly deflects talk of being a solo act, Cirillo is for all intents and purposes the lone member of Robotube Games, a company he started in 2006 that now operates as a sub-label of Gaijin."I develop games myself inside of Gaijin as sort of a skunk works or experimental lab," Cirillo said. "Gaijin is working on bigger projects now which are unannounced, so these are smaller games to kind of fill in the gaps."Woah Dave! looks every bit the kind of game that reflects the individual tastes of its creator. It's a platformer with simple but frantic action that has players chasing high scores by trying to stay alive as long as possible, avoiding aliens and attempting to "pick stuff up and throw it."
  • By Trekkies, for Trekkies: Star Trek Timelines Is in Good Hands
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    By Trekkies, for Trekkies: Star Trek Timelines Is in Good Hands

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    Star Trek fans are among the most loyal and passionate in the entire spectrum of pop culture aficionados. That makes it all the more shameful that they've had their hearts broken by video game adaptations numerous times over the years.A fan of the property himself, Disruptor Beam CEO Jon Radoff knows that it hasn't always received the most love and care from game designers."Too many games have been made where they take some existing title, re-skin it, add a little Star Trek dust on top to make it look like Star Trek, and they ship it," Radoff said to Gamezebo at PAX East. "Frankly, I think fans rightfully have some cynicism about these poor licensed products."Awareness of that state of affairs is front and center in Radoff's mind as his company gets set to boldly go into full scale development of its next game, Star Trek Timelines. The Boston-area studio announced the project recently and has revealed some of the initial details.
  • FarmVille 2: Country Escape Review
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    • Android
    • iOS
    FarmVille 2: Country Escape Review

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    Along with death and taxes, the only other certainty in life is that casual gamers love farming. It's a good thing too, because otherwise Zynga's FarmVille 2: Country Escape would be showing up unfashionably late to a party the company started itself with FarmVille back in the halcyon days of Facebook gaming. As it is, this fully mobile installment has much improved graphics and a fair bit of charm, but at the expense of the creative freedom that made the original such a monster hit.This is the part where I'd usually go into the setting and object of the game, but this one should require little explanation. You've got a family farm to fix up, so you've got to get busy growing crops and harvesting resources from plants and animals, most of which can be crafted into more complicated and lucrative products at the appropriate stations: the dairy churns out milk products, the windmill can grind grain into flour, etc.
  • Card Hunter gets its first expansion, Attack of the Artifacts, later this month
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    • PC
    Card Hunter gets its first expansion, Attack of the Artifacts, later this month

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    You may think you've conquered everything Card Hunter could throw at you, but the truth is that you've only bested all the challenges Blue Manchu's RPG-meets-CCG-meets-tabletop game has offered up so far. An expansion called Attack of the Artifacts is on the way before the end of April, bringing with it new monsters from beneath the Black Plume Mountain to put even the savviest players to the test.Creatures like Thought Munchers, Umber Bulks, Plant Pygmies and the awesome-sounding Sharkbear are waiting in Attack of the Artifacts' new adventures. Naturally, there are also new cards and weapons to aid your cause, adding to the strategic options the game already has in abundance.Fancy more PvP? The expansion introduces organized league play with new multiplayer boards and prizes ranging from Papa Manchu pizza (the in-game currency of the realm) to treasure chests and special figures. Maybe you'll even earn more grudging respect from Melvin, but don't get your hopes up.Card Hunter left me hungry for more when it debuted last year, so more content is welcome news -- and don't forget, it's coming to mobile too. There's no information on a hard release date or a price (if any, as the base game is free-to-play), but seeing as we're already more than a week into the month, it won't be a long wait.
  • Star Trek Timelines is the next game from Disruptor Beam
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    • PC
    Star Trek Timelines is the next game from Disruptor Beam

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    When Disruptor Beam hinted to us earlier this week that its next game would be based on an IP even bigger than the one featured in the title that put the studio on the map, Game of Thrones Ascent, the natural reaction was skepticism. What could be bigger than the show so popular it crashed HBO Go during its season 4 premiere last Sunday?As it turns out, what the Boston-based developer really meant is that it's working with a brand that has withstood the fickle, ever-changing winds of pop culture fandom for decades. Get ready to seek out new life and new civilizations online and on mobile devices, as the company's next project is Star Trek Timelines.Described as a strategy RPG like Game of Thrones Ascent - and made possible by a license from CBS Consumer Products - the new game will draw on characters from The Original Series all the way through to Enterprise in a story-driven voyage that challenges players to explore the galaxy the Star Trek way. That means assembling a ship, gathering a crew and determining whether combat, diplomacy or science is the proper solution to any given situation (Kirk may add seduction in there too).If that's not enough to pique the interest of your inner Trekkie or Trekker, consider that Disruptor Beam CEO Jon Radoff sounds every bit the kindred spirit.
  • Chaos Fighters Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Chaos Fighters Review

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    Considering that we live in a time of virtually non-stop sensory overload, Chaos Fighters is a mobile RPG that's well suited for right now. Coco Entertainment has managed to craft a game where your anime-styled fighters always has something to do - and so will you, thanks to its dizzying array of ways to power up your characters. It's stylish, to be sure, but there's a lack of steak beneath the sizzle that keeps it from achieving its full potential.Fans of JRPG humor and character designs will best appreciate the game's opening, which explains why there's chaos to be fought, and the scantily clad female assistant who guides you through your first steps into combat and character progression. As it turns out, the latter is considerably more involved than the former.More precisely, combat in Chaos Fighters is a spectator sport. The preparation is everything, from choosing your fighters mix of skills from a selection that grows as he or she levels up, to making sure your gear is upgraded and as maxed out on stats as possible. Once the battles start, there's nothing you can do to influence the outcome, as the AI plays both sides according to the percentage chances that special abilities will activate and the attributes and stats that govern their basic attacks.