» pax

By at .

PAX East Preview: Mercenary Kings gunning for the 2D-shooter crown

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Mike Wall in PC, PC Previews, Previews | Leave a comment

mercenary kings 3

Mercenary Kings is essentially 4-player Metal Slug with customizable weapons.

It’s rarely appropriate to boil a game down to such a simple statement, but it’s safe to say that if you’re sitting here thinking “4-player Metal Slug with weapon crafting! Fuck yes!”, then you’re going to gobble this game up like Gobstoppers (which actually aren’t very gobble-able). If that idea makes you yawn, then just move along.

Mercenary Kings is being developed by Tribute Games, the team responsible for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Wizorb, so they definitely have the chops to pull off such a project. Read more

PAX East Preview: Outlast shoots survivor horror with a new lens

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Mike Wall in PC Previews, Previews | Leave a comment

Attack2

“We’re trying to scare the shit out of players,” Philippe Morin boldly proclaimed when I asked him about Red Barrels Games’ upcoming release, Outlast.

Judging from the occasional shriek that emitted from the isolated, darkened booths that they used to demo the game at PAX East, it’s clear that they’re off to the a good start.

Outlast is a first-person horror game where you play as Miles Upshur, a journalist who is investigating a long-abandoned mental asylum that has recently been reopened. Miles has received a tip that things aren’t quite Kosher at the hospital, so he’s unwisely taken it upon himself to delve into the issue. The demo began as I climbed up scaffolding to sneak into the asylum, a decision I immediately regretted once I saw the ransacked-state of the place.

We all expect games to look fantastic these days, but Outlast does an uncanny job of actually making you feel like you are Miles. You see your feet when you look down at the floor and he reaches out his hand to open doors. You can hear him grunting and see his arms grabbing ledges to pull himself up. He’ll even automatically turn sideways and shimmy through obstructed corridors. All of these little touches combine to really immerse you in the world of Miles. Read more

PAX East Preview: The Swapper wants to mess with your mind

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Mike Wall in PC, PC Previews, Previews | Leave a comment

Nestled right in the heart of the Indie Megabooth on the PAX East show floor was The Swapper, a game that easily takes the crown for the PAX game most likely to make you feel like you’re trapped in a 70s sci-fi movie where everything is going to shit. In other words, it was marvelous.

The game is the product Facepalm Games, a two-man team based in Finland along with a few freelancers, including a script by Tom Jubert, who worked on Penumbra and FTL. I chatted with Creative Director Olli Harjola before sitting down to play, and he told me he was aiming to create a different type of experience. The project began with the idea of a brain in glass jar that could control other people and transfer its mind into other bodies. The more he played with it, the more serious the concept became. “I want to explore the theme of ‘What is mind?’”

Eventually the game evolved into The Swapper, a 2D puzzle platformer set in an abandoned laboratory where the protagonist wields the eponymously-named device that “creates clones and allows you to transfer your mind into the clones,” as Harjola puts it.
Read more

PAX East Preview: Contrast comes out from the shadows

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Dave Voyles in Previews | Leave a comment

Contrast 2

In today’s gaming landscape, larger development teams are often focused on tacking on a multiplayer component for the sake of adding another bullet point to the back of the display box. Compulsion Games felt it was necessary to take the opposite approach and focus strictly on a solid single player experience.

Studio head Guillaume Provost was originally a rendering programmer at Arkane Studios, and sparked the novel idea for the team’s’ initial offering while sitting in a café, warm beverage in hand. A blend of puzzle/platformer genres, Contrast offers a unique experience in which players can maneuver within the shadow-stricken art-deco 3D world, and when the lighting allows for it, instantly snap into a flat 2D world where the protagonist takes ethereal shape with only a single button press.

Read more

PAX East Preview: A.N.N.E. is assembling the pieces to the ultimate retro game

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Mike Wall in PC, PC Previews, Previews | Leave a comment

Anne_title_screenshot

There were enough indie games on the PAX East show floor to fuel the next dozen pay-what-you-want bundles. Tucked away on the outskirts of the floor was the adorable A.N.N.E., a 16-bit style game developed by the one-man team Gamesbymo.

A.N.N.E. puts you in the role of Goomi, a blue, rectangular-headed robot whose girlfriend A.N.N.E. has been infected with a love virus that shattered her into 110 pieces. Now you must track down the pieces to reassemble her and get your robo groove on. Lead Designer Moise Breton was mum on details about who created the virus or if there was a true antagonist, but implied those details would be revealed throughout the final game.

Breton is basically attempting to take everything that you know and love about classic games and cram it into one game. Start with a Metroidvania adventure, add a splash of RPG elements and a dash of shmup action and you wind up with A.N.N.E. “There’s not as much time to play (games) as when I was a kid. I wish I could mash them all up in one and play them at once,” explained Breton. Regardless of whether or not you share that sentiment, there was definitely something special about his ambitious project that feels as if it could turn into something remarkable if  he’s able to assemble all the pieces.
Read more

PAX East Preview: Lords of New York hopes to take the city by storm

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Dave Voyles in PC, PC Previews, Previews | Leave a comment

Lords-of-NY-Poker-Battle

It may be the visuals that initially grab your attention on the sprawling show floor of PAX, but it’s going to take a lot more than that to keep a your attention among the influx of sensory overload, with screens flashing, sounds booming and bumping of shoulders.

Lords of New York is one game that managed to grab my attention and keep a firm grasp on it. The lush, hand-drawn visuals are reminiscent of a AAA standard, although the work was handled by the small indie team Lunchtime Studios out of PAX East’s hometown of Boston, MA. It’s easy to understand why the team’s goal is to achieve such quality; many of the members have worked on large title in the past, including Empire Earth,  the Sim City series, and Dungeons & Dragons Online.

In Lords of New York you’ll take your choice of three characters in the heart of Prohibition-era New York City with the goal to become one of the city’s elite denizens. The adventure game roots are obvious from the get-go and voiced-over dialogue and text-heavy interactions are commonplace. While I didn’t have the opportunity to play any of the point-and-click scenarios during my visit at PAX, I was able to try my luck at one of the game’s other large features; poker.
Read more

Capy and Double Fine moving in together at PAX East

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Anthony Swinnich in News, PC, PC News, XBLA, XBLA News | Leave a comment

If you were going to have two developers shack up in one booth at a gaming convention, you’d be hard pressed to find a better pair than Capybara Games and Double Fine if you’re hoping for hijinks. We’re thinking it’s going to be one of the most fun spots on the entire show floor. Oh, they’re both showing off some games, and from what we hear, a couple of other products as well.

Double Fine’s newest game, Dropchord will be playable on the show floor. It will be Armless Octopus’ first opportunity to test out the Leapmotion controller, and we’re pretty excited to see what Tim Schafer’s creative studio can come up with using it. They’ll also be showing off Brütal Legend on the PC as well.

On the flip side, Capybara will be putting a new build of Super TIME Force into the hands of the public. The game is slated for a 2013 release… hopefully a more specific date is revealed at the show. If not, we’ll be sure to dig for one.

These two teams are collaborating on more than just the booth, however. They will have a special PAX shirt available for purchase, commemorating their time together. Also, a physical box of their upcoming collaborative Steam bundle will also be on hand, awaiting purchase.

We’ll be sure to bring you all the details from the show floor when we attend PAX East this weekend.

Source: Capy’s website

PAX East Indie Megabooth packs 62 games onto the show floor

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Mike Wall in News, PC News, PSN News, XBLA News, XBLIG News | Leave a comment

Like indie games? Going to PAX East? Then you’re in luck. The Indie Megabooth is making its triumphant return to the PAX East show floor, replete with 62 games. This year’s lineup includes Charlie Murder, Guacamelee, and Organ Trail, and more. Fifty-nine more to be exact.

Check out the video for super-brief snippets of all the games, and be sure check them all out on the floor if you’re in attendance. PAX East 2013 is being held from March 22-24 in Boston, but if you don’t already have tickets, you’re kinda screwed. However, be sure to keep it locked to Armless Octopus for ongoing showfloor coverage.

1 2 3 4   Next »