Showing posts with label Focus Home Interactive. Show all posts
| 11/12/13 3:30PM |
-Review Disclaimer-
Copies of the game were provided for reviewing purposes
-Review Disclaimer-
Copies of the game were provided for reviewing purposes
Killer Homework
Originally meant to be a new title in the Obscure series of horror games, Final Exam makes its way to 360, PS3, and PC as a downloadable 2.5D co-op game with colorful visuals and fun combat. The title features four characters who must work together to fend off various mutated foes as you progress through the eight levels of the game and seek to end the monster threat.
Clocking in at about 30 minutes per level, Final Exam is a nice game for $10 with added replay value due to its combat, unlockable items and skills, and the main factor of playing with friends via the online co-op that will give you hours of entertainment.
Clocking in at about 30 minutes per level, Final Exam is a nice game for $10 with added replay value due to its combat, unlockable items and skills, and the main factor of playing with friends via the online co-op that will give you hours of entertainment.
Each mission in Final Exam gives you a few main objectives to accomplish, with each usually having sub-objectives of their own to accomplish. In order to open a door, you may have to find a few items to get this done, so everything you do will directly involve the main objectives of the levels. Most of these are fairly straight-forward to complete, and contain frequent stops in order to deal with the the various mutated foes in the game as you increase your score while pulling off various combinations.
The 2.5D element of Final Exam is put to great use, as every level will require you to hop forward or backward in the environment to reach different areas in the game. Most of the time you'll be front and center in the foreground, but there are additional areas to explore that require you to move into the background. Switching between areas when needed is done quite easily with the press of a button, and after a few times, it'll feel natural moving between the planes as you look to complete the game's main goals and look for extras items hidden throughout as well.
The 2.5D element of Final Exam is put to great use, as every level will require you to hop forward or backward in the environment to reach different areas in the game. Most of the time you'll be front and center in the foreground, but there are additional areas to explore that require you to move into the background. Switching between areas when needed is done quite easily with the press of a button, and after a few times, it'll feel natural moving between the planes as you look to complete the game's main goals and look for extras items hidden throughout as well.
Most arcade titles seem to have a scoring system, and Final Exam is no different. There are the standard leaderboards that we are used to, but the game also has the ability to save certain scores based on how well you've done with combo attacks. Variety is key, and switching things up from shooting, throwing, and special attacks will do great things for your score in the long run. Once you've reached a certain level, you can use the the D-pad to add a combo to your overall score, which should help give you a nice boost on the leaderboards as you compete with friends and other Final Exam players.
Aside from the co-op gameplay and scoring system, combat in Final Exam may be its best feature in my opinion. With it, you're able to knock enemies up in the air and shoot them reminiscent of Capcom's Devil May Cry, pick them up and throw them into objects and other enemies, dodge and deliver strong counter-attacks, and learn new skills with the game's experience tree. Each of the four character's have unique abilities too, so mixing things up and switching between them will offer up new ways to take out the enemies and view all that Final Exam offers in terms of the game's combat mechanics.
I only came across a handful of areas that were troubling difficultly-wise, but I didn't mind them once I learned new skills and took advantage of the fun combat system in the game as I went along with other players.
Aside from the co-op gameplay and scoring system, combat in Final Exam may be its best feature in my opinion. With it, you're able to knock enemies up in the air and shoot them reminiscent of Capcom's Devil May Cry, pick them up and throw them into objects and other enemies, dodge and deliver strong counter-attacks, and learn new skills with the game's experience tree. Each of the four character's have unique abilities too, so mixing things up and switching between them will offer up new ways to take out the enemies and view all that Final Exam offers in terms of the game's combat mechanics.
I only came across a handful of areas that were troubling difficultly-wise, but I didn't mind them once I learned new skills and took advantage of the fun combat system in the game as I went along with other players.
The game's levels can be played both locally and online, and are the best ways to enjoy the game. Most of the objectives are scattered in separate areas of each level, so splitting up and completing them is very recommended. Playing by yourself is an option as well, but you may think that the game is a bit more tedious, as you have to bring several objects to an area that were meant for others to pick up.
Visually, Final Exam looks quite nice with its cartoony and colorful visuals -- From the green of the mutants to the red of the blood and visuals of the special effects, you'll have a nice looking game to accompany the fun combat throughout the experience.
Visually, Final Exam looks quite nice with its cartoony and colorful visuals -- From the green of the mutants to the red of the blood and visuals of the special effects, you'll have a nice looking game to accompany the fun combat throughout the experience.
Recent Reviews
Final Exam is another great downloadable title that held my attention even after I completed the main campaign. It's fairly easy to go back to as well, since I can use my experienced character and play with friends on a tougher difficultly level, or better my score in the Time Attack mode which unlocks after completing the game.
I don't mean to sound like a broken record from my recent reviews, but this is another great downloadable title you can get for the fair price of $10.
I don't mean to sound like a broken record from my recent reviews, but this is another great downloadable title you can get for the fair price of $10.
+ Fun combat and co-op gameplay
+ Scoring system and colorful visuals
+ 2.5D aspect of the game
- No main incentive to upgrade weapons, the starting ones do just fine!
Reviews on the thebuttonpresser.com are based out of a '1-5 controller' Scoring system. Purchased games by the reviewer contain no annotation, but review copies are always known to the reader via a review disclaimer.
Publishers- Focus Home Interactive
Release Date- November 8th, 2013
Price- $9.99 MSRP
Review Platform- Xbox Live Arcade
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| 11/4/13 4:30PM |
-Review Disclaimer-
A copy of the game was provided for reviewing purposes
-Review Disclaimer-
A copy of the game was provided for reviewing purposes
Attract & Repel
Magrunner: Dark Pulse begins as a puzzle game with magnetic gameplay that is presented in a simple way. As the game progresses though, you'll find yourself using these mechanics to fight against an unknown threat as Dax Ward, one the younger Magrunner participants who volunteered to test new magnetic technology for the Magtech Corporation.
Magrunner is a fun, challenging, and fairly interesting title that may look like Portal at first glance, but is its own game entirely and one that is actually based off of the Cthulhu Mythos by H.P. Lovecraft.
The principles of real-life Magnets serve as the key feature of the game in terms of its mechanics in the beginning of Magrunner. Your Mag Glove can make specific objects either green or red, which make them magnetize to the same color, or repel from each other if they are different. Using this feature, you'll have to solve puzzles that require combining objects and their magnetic range to gather other objects, or reach areas that need power from additional magnetic powers.
While there are some areas in the beginning of the game that you'll quickly breeze through, later areas may have you scratching your head before moments of 'Ah-hah' pop up once you figure out key puzzles. I found that as I got further and further into the game, the difficulty began rising as any game should, but it felt too hard at certain areas.
This isn't enough to take away from the fun of Magrunner, but it just made certain areas take longer than I wanted. If you love challenging games, Magrunner is certainly one.
While there are some areas in the beginning of the game that you'll quickly breeze through, later areas may have you scratching your head before moments of 'Ah-hah' pop up once you figure out key puzzles. I found that as I got further and further into the game, the difficulty began rising as any game should, but it felt too hard at certain areas.
This isn't enough to take away from the fun of Magrunner, but it just made certain areas take longer than I wanted. If you love challenging games, Magrunner is certainly one.
Visuals in Magrunner are very nice and compliment the overall presentation of the game. Indoor environments are clean and futuristic, while also complementing the specific colors used for the levels. While the game is in first person, you'll be interacting with certain characters who communicate to Dax via his Mag Glove, and while their models are nice, they appear a bit out of place in comparison the environments in the game.
The main person you'll see throughout the game is Gamaji, Dax's mentor and care-taker who is also a mutant scientist that gives Dax advice as he progresses through the tests. Gamaji is very interesting as both a character and visual standpoint due to his mutation, and it's presented in Magrunner differently than what you would think of a mutant's physical features in a game.
The audio is great as well, and features some nice tracks that compliment the action of the game, and the slower paced times where you're just figuring out how to complete the puzzle at hand. Voice work is also well done, and there are even a few comedic moments that happen even though the game maintains a serious tone throughout the experience.
While there isn't any multiplayer features, you'll still be plenty busy with the game. The $10 asking price gets you 40+ levels of challenging gameplay to accompany the campaign as well as a interesting storyline to follow.
It's nice to see toward the end of this current generation of gaming that downloadable titles have become more than just simple titles with simple arcade mechanics and have moved more into just another way to get great games like Magrunner.
It's nice to see toward the end of this current generation of gaming that downloadable titles have become more than just simple titles with simple arcade mechanics and have moved more into just another way to get great games like Magrunner.
Recent Reviews
Overall, Magrunner: Dark Pulse may not appeal to everyone, but those who love challenging games and interesting stories will have a fun title that gives you a sense of accomplishment when overcoming the tougher areas of the game.
$10 is a great price to ask for a game that will require some extra thinking, but gives back with the reward of knowing you used your own wits to get through.
$10 is a great price to ask for a game that will require some extra thinking, but gives back with the reward of knowing you used your own wits to get through.
+ Interesting story and characters
+ Magnet gameplay with unique features
+ Clean visuals and soundtrack
- Tougher areas later in the game that slowed down the pace
Reviews on the thebuttonpresser.com are based out of a '1-5 controller' Scoring system. Purchased games by the reviewer contain no annotation, but review copies are always known to the reader via a review disclaimer.
Publishers- Focus Home Interactive
Release Date- October 25th, 2013
Price- $9.99 MSRP
Review Platform- Xbox Live Arcade
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| 8/16/13 12:00PM |
The Cost of a Red War
Mars: War Logs is an Action-RPG title that contains a significant amount of gameplay for the $15 asking price. The game is split up into a few chapters and has you taking control of Roy, a former Technomancer who finds himself in a POW camp as he plots his escape with the help of a young prisoner named Innocence.
Characters in this game have all been given new virtue names as identification, and Roy's virtue name is Temperance, although he doesn't really like going by that. He begins has a pretty mysterious person who you'll get to learn more about over time.
With War Logs, you'll be getting a game with an interesting story full of different characters to interact with, dialogue options that can change the outcome of situations, and a pretty fun combat system with a wide array of skills to use and unlock.
With only a couple of chapters to tell the game's story, you'd probably think that the game would be pretty short, but that's not the case with War Logs. Each chapter takes place in specific areas that contain multiple sections to explore that are pretty size-able to traverse. There are characters in each section who usually need some help solving their problems that can take around twenty minutes or so to complete.
Even if you were to ignore all of the side-quests in the game, it would still take some time to explore the areas as you look to complete the main quests, which will have you choosing various dialogue options and utilizing all of Roy's unlockable abilities as you use the combat system throughout the adventure.
It took me a little to get into War Logs at first. The beginning area of the game contains simple quests to complete that help set up Roy's plan to escape from the camp, and you'll have to go back and forth between areas as you begin to learn the mechanics of the game. Things build slowly, but by the end of the first chapter and beginning of the second, I was really immersed in the game.
Exploring the POW camp and completing quests reminded me of the Chronicles of Riddick game, as I encountered friendly and hostile prisoners to interact with who offered up new quests and the chance to level up when talking turned into fighting. Allied with Innocence, I was able to fend off attacks in the beginning areas, but there were times where I still got overwhelmed. Some of the quests that need to be completed in the beginning were pretty tough, but dodging and countering helped later fights go my way a bit better.
Combat in Mars: War Logs is presented to players in a pretty simple way. X and Y are used for different attacks and the shoulder buttons are used to access hot-keyed items and abilities such as nailguns and special attacks like throwing sand and blocking or parrying attacks. Later in the game, you'll get to use Roy's Technomancer skills in combat on top of all of the regular skills he possesses. Technomancers are trained combatants who can utilize electric currents and unleash powerful attacks on foes, and you're able to increase these powers individually so you can use your favorite moves in combat.
Other combat elements such as sneak attacks, parries, and counters are all possible, which deepens the combat even further without complicating how you pull off these moves.
During the middle of the first chapter, story progression for me picked up quite a bit. There are a fair share of both main and side-quests to complete, and each offer various types of rewards aside from the welcome experince they bring upon completion. With the game's crafting system, you'll want to complete quests and defeat enemies to unlock new parts, which can be used to create or upgrade existing armor and weapons.
What's neat about this too is that changes are visual as well as being regular pointed improvements, so upgraded weapons change looks and armor piece show up more based on the materials you used to craft them.
Recent Reviews
Visually, the game looks pretty nice, containing some great lighting effects and dust particles that truly capture the feeling of being on Mars like Red Faction has done in the past, but there also seem to be limitations with what they were able to do for the game.
Character models are nice, but some have odd body animations and you'll frequently find the same NPCs in various areas re-skinned a bit but still easily recognizable. The main character Roy and his allies look the best in my opinion, as do the set of main characters you meet in various cutscenes throughout the game.
My other main issue with the game was the map. While it's great that you can access it both in the menu and during gameplay, it appears across the whole screen as a transparent map, allowing you to still see the game in action. I found myself having to pull up the map frequently, so I wish that it would have just been in the corner of the screen or something. I can understand not having it there for the sake of immersion, but having an option to have always there in a corner would have been great.
Mars: War Logs takes great gameplay mechanics from some of my favorite titles and puts them into a unique blend. The story and choices you can make really give you a sense that you're affecting the game's outcome, and the combat and crafting system are simple enough to use, and can really give you an advantages when facing the tougher enemies in the game.
With a solid soundtrack and 20 hours of content, and you've got a great summer game to play without ever having to go anywhere to buy it. Give it a download!
Publishers- Focus Home Interactive
Release Date- July 26th, 2013
Price- $14.99 MSRP
Review Platform- Xbox Live Arcade
-Review Disclaimer-
A copy of the game was provided for reviewing purposes by Focus Home Interactive
A copy of the game was provided for reviewing purposes by Focus Home Interactive
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