Category: Games

2019 has been a good year for video games so far. There’s no shortage of amazing new games to play – but try as I might, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is still the one. Every time I think I’m free, it pulls me back in.

It seems almost silly to still be playing the most recent Zelda adventure two years on when there’s fresh new things like Resident Evil 2, Sekiro, Metro Exodus and even Tropico 6 vying for my attention. I’ve played plenty of all of those games and other new releases, too – but when the dust settles I always pick up my Switch and head back to Hyrule. It’s become my gaming equivalent of comfort food.

It’s not a knock against those other games, either. All of the games I listed there are absolutely amazing – genre-defining, experimental, technology-pushing and impossibly addictive respectively – but none of them are quite what Breath of the Wild is. Something about that game pushes beyond: the open-ended design and reactive world not only reveals incredible play opportunities, but also makes it utterly effortless to return to.

In a way I feel sorry for the people who were unable to pull themselves away from Breath of the Wild a while after its initial release. If you managed 100% completion in a month or two, I can’t help but feel the game has been experienced a little sub-optimally. I played the game for many, many hours in the run-up to my review, completing a variety of shrines, all four major dungeons and finally vanquishing Ganon. I kept playing for a while after that, including sporadic visits to check out the DLC, but much of the game was left undiscovered. I’d unearthed under 90 of the game’s 120 shrines and had hundreds of Korok seeds left behind. There was a lot left to do. I left entirely satisfied, but accidentally left this version of Hyrule ripe for revisiting.

As previously mentioned, the fully open nature of the game means that booting back into Breath of the Wild after almost a year away doesn’t feel like it does if you hop back into a Horizon Zero Dawn or Spider-Man. There’s no mission structure to re-wrangle, no plot to get to grips with. You just hop in and mess about. When you do so it’s often with mechanics, like reactive elements of the world or enemy AI – and this enhances simple grunt encounters that at this point in other games would be considered boring busy work. Tasks that I thought too mundane before like farming materials from certain enemies or the mysterious dragons that roam about Hyrule are suddenly interesting to me; now divorced from the main story having already seen its conclusion, this becomes a game entirely about leisurely exploration of an intricately structured world.

It’s easy to see how this Zelda entry was able to reach comfort food status, then: while a sprawling experience, it is the very definition of bite-sized. While first designed for the Wii U, it’s also perfect for Switch. Winding down for fifteen minutes before bed? Why not hop into Hyrule and see what you can discover?

Playing the game casually also allows me to do away with some of my own eccentricities. Surfing down mountainsides on my shield was something I never really did in my initial play-through as I belly-ached about wearing down the durability of good shields with the technique. Now, I just do it – and so I’m having a blast rediscovering this fun mode of traversal.
Little discoveries like this are driving my return to this game. There’s something nebulously brilliant about the structure and design here where no individual element feels out of place; one part of this Zelda flows to another with no disconnect, but the design is also such that in a first play-through it’d be easy to skip out on some features entirely. That’s okay, because the design also lets you simply find them anew later on. How many other games let you approach the discovery and use of mechanics in such an open-ended manner? You could not discover the usefulness of stealth until your 70th hour in Breath of the Wild, and that’s okay.

All of this of course stems from the key design philosophy of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – the concept of exploration as more than a means to an end. Exploration and the curiosity it fosters is in fact the end itself. It’s the goal. It’s thanks to this that Breath of the Wild doesn’t feel dated even when played two years and several big-budget rivals later. Gaming often moves fast and leaves even the very best behind quickly – but somehow, this game feels immune. If anything, it seems to gleefully open up another layer of brilliance to explore, exploit and experiment with each time you return – or at least this has so far been true of each time I’ve returned to Hyrule after months away.

In a few weeks time Breath of the Wild will get the VR treatment via a patch that’ll make it compatible with Nintendo Labo VR. Given that I’m already back playing the game, I’m obviously curious – but with or without a cardboard headset strapped to your face, Breath of the Wild’s ruined Hyrule is well worth returning to. You may just find, like me, that nothing released since has quite managed to touch it.

Source : CT

Steins;Gate[a] is a science fiction visual novel video game developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus. It is the second game in the Science Adventure series, following Chaos;Head. The story follows a group of students as they discover and develop technology that gives them the means to change the past. The gameplay in Steins;Gate follows non-linear plot lines which offer branching scenarios with courses of interaction.

Steins;Gate was released for the Xbox 360 on October 15, 2009. The game was ported to Windows on August 26, 2010, PlayStation Portable on June 23, 2011, iOS on August 25, 2011, PlayStation 3[3] on May 24, 2012, PlayStation Vita on March 14, 2013, and Android on June 27, 2013. The game is described by the development team as a “hypothetical science ADV” (想定科学ADV Sōtei Kagaku ADV). JAST USA released the PC version in North America on March 31, 2014, both digitally and as a physical collector’s edition, while PQube released the PS3 and Vita versions in North America and Europe in 2015. Additionally, the iOS version was released in English on September 9, 2016.

A manga adaptation of the game, created by Yomi Sarachi, was serialized from 2009 to 2013, and later published in North America from 2015 to 2016. A second manga series, illustrated by Kenji Mizuta, began serialization in Mag Garden’s Monthly Comic Blade on December 28, 2009. An anime adaptation by White Fox aired in Japan between April 6, 2011 and September 14, 2011, and has been licensed in North America by Funimation. An animated film premiered in Japanese theaters on April 20, 2013. A fan disc of the game, titled Steins;Gate: Hiyoku Renri no Darling, was released on June 16, 2011. A non-canon 8-bit sequel to the game, titled Steins;Gate: Hen’i Kuukan no Octet or Steins;Gate 8bit, was released on October 28, 2011. Another game, Steins;Gate: Senkei Kōsoku no Phenogram, was released on April 25, 2013. A follow-up game, Steins;Gate 0, was released on December 10, 2015 for PS3, PlayStation 4 and Vita, and received an anime adaptation in 2018. A remake of the original visual novel titled Steins;Gate Elite which presents fully animated cutscenes from the Steins;Gate anime was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch and Steam in 2019. Included as a bonus for the Nintendo Switch version, an entirely new game called 8-bit ADV Steins;Gate[b] in the style of Famicom adventure games from the 1980s, was released.

Source : Wikipedia

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Eidos Montréal in conjunction with Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. It continues the narrative from the 2015 game Rise of the Tomb Raider and is the twelfth mainline entry in the Tomb Raider series. The game was released worldwide on 14 September 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with a further release on macOS and Linux set for 2019.

Set shortly after the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider, its story follows Lara Croft as she ventures through the tropical regions of the Americas to the legendary city Paititi, battling the paramilitary organization Trinity and racing to stop a Mayan apocalypse she has unleashed. Lara must traverse the environment and combat enemies with firearms and stealth as she explores semi-open hubs. In these hubs she can raid challenge tombs to unlock new rewards, complete side missions, and scavenge for resources which can be used to craft useful materials.

Development began in 2015 following the completion of Rise of the Tomb Raider, lasting until July 2018. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was designed to conclude Lara’s journey begun in the 2013 reboot, with a key theme being descent both through the jungle environment and into her personality. The setting and narrative was based on Mayan and Aztec mythologies, consulting historians to design the architecture and people of Paititi. The gameplay was adjusted based on both fan feedback and the wishes of Eidos Montréal, incorporating swimming and grappling while increasing difficulty tailoring. Camilla Luddington returned to provide voice and motion-capture work for Lara.

Released as the final instalment in Lara Croft’s origin trilogy, Shadow of the Tomb Raider received generally positive reviews from critics, with particular praise going to the game’s emphasis on challenge tombs and puzzles, although some criticized that the series’ gameplay had become stale and lacked innovation.

Source: Wikipedia

Games bearing Tom Clancy’s name have gone through a number of different phases. Near the beginning of their existence they focused on tactical warfare, but as time went on and games like Call of Duty rose to popularity, they began watering down their signature elements (be they stealth, squad tactics, or whatever) in favor of the run-and-gun twitch shooting that’s ruled the market for the last decade. Siege seems to be their attempt to reconcile the two.

Rainbow Six: Siege is an online multiplayer shooter focused on… well, sieges. All the gametypes put one team in the role of attackers and one in the role of defenders. The exact objectives vary (the defenders can be planting bombs, protecting hostages, or a number of other things), but the basic flow of gameplay focuses around the same process; the defenders put up defenses while the attackers scout the building, then the attackers try to get in and accomplish their mission without being killed by the defending team.

The thing that makes this so different from most shooters is the emphasis on tactics. Players can only die once per round–no respawns. Careless action in this game doesn’t just result in the loss of a few seconds of playtime, it’s a serious blow to your team. To complicate matters, many doors, walls, and ceilings can simply be blown apart, players can scale walls, and each playable character has unique abilities. So success requires careful action and tight teamwork.

I’ll share my impressions of the game in the conclusion, but first we should establish whether the game is appropriate for your children.

Source : CT

Nyan Cat is the name of a YouTube video uploaded in April 2011, which became an internet meme. The video merged a Japanese pop song with an animated cartoon cat with a Pop-Tart for a torso, flying through space, and leaving a rainbow trail behind it. The video ranked at number 5 on the list of most viewed YouTube videos in 2011.

Animated GIF

On April 2, 2011, the GIF animation of the cat was posted by 25-year-old Christopher Torres of Dallas, Texas, who uses the name “prguitarman”, on his website LOL-Comics. Torres explained in an interview where the idea for the animation came from: “I was doing a donation drive for the Red Cross and in-between drawings in my Livestream video chat, two different people mentioned I should draw a ‘Pop Tart’ and a ‘cat’.” In response, he created a hybrid image of a Pop-Tart and a cat, which was developed a few days later into the animated GIF. The design of Nyan Cat was influenced by Torres’ pet cat Marty, who died in November 2012 from feline infectious peritonitis.

Song

Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya! by daniwell (January 2011 Momomomo version)

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An excerpt from the song

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The original version of the song “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!” was uploaded by user “daniwell” to the Japanese video site Niconico on July 25, 2010. The song features the Vocaloid Hatsune Miku. The Japanese word nya is onomatopoeic, imitating the call of a cat (equivalent to English “meow”).

On January 30, 2011, a user named “Momomomo” uploaded a cover of “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!” featuring the UTAU voice Momone Momo. The voice source used to create the Momone Momo voice was Momoko Fujimoto, a Japanese woman who lives in Tokyo.

YouTube video

YouTube user “saraj00n” (whose real name is Sara) combined the cat animation with the “Momo Momo” version of the song “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!”, and uploaded it to YouTube on April 5, 2011, three days after Torres had uploaded his animation, giving it the title “Nyan Cat”. The video rapidly became a success after being featured on websites including G4 and CollegeHumor. Christopher Torres said: “Originally, its name was Pop Tart Cat, and I will continue to call it so, but the Internet has reached a decision to name it Nyan Cat, and I’m happy with that choice, too.”

In March 2019, ownership of the YouTube channel hosting the original Nyan Cat video was transferred to Means TV, a socialist video streaming service.

Source: Wikipedia

Marvel Comics is the brand name and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc., formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, a publisher of American comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide’s parent company.

Marvel started in 1939 as Timely Comics, and by the early 1950s had generally become known as Atlas Comics. The Marvel era began in 1961, the year that the company launched The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Steve Ditko, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and many others. The Marvel brand had been used over the years, but solidified as the company’s only brand within a couple of years.

Marvel counts among its characters such well-known superheroes as Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Wolverine, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Nova and Deadpool, such teams as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Midnight Sons, the Defenders, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, and supervillains including Doctor Doom, Thanos, Magneto, Ultron, Green Goblin, Red Skull, Loki, the Leader, Kang the Conqueror, Venom, Kingpin, Apocalypse, Annihilus, Dormammu and Galactus. Most of Marvel’s fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with most locations mirroring real-life places; many major characters are based in New York City.

Source : Wikipedia

Kirby[a] is an action-platformer video game series developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. The series centers around the adventures of the a young, pink alien hero named Kirby as he fights to save his home on the distant Planet Popstar from a variety of threats. The majority of the games in the series are side-scrolling platformers with puzzle solving and beat ’em up elements. Kirby has the ability to inhale enemies and objects into his mouth, spitting them out as a projectile or eating them. If he eats certain things he can gain the powers or properties of that object manifesting as a new weapon or power-up called a Copy Ability. The series is intended to be easy to pick up and play even for people unfamiliar with action games, while at the same time offering additional challenge and depth for more experienced players to come back to.

The Kirby series includes a total of over twenty games, and has sold over 34 million units worldwide, putting it in the top 50 best selling video game franchises of all time.

The main protagonist of the Kirby series is a young alien boy named Kirby who lives on a far away star-shaped planet called Popstar in the country of Dream Land. Much of Dream Land is peaceful and its people lead laid back and carefree lives. However, when peace in Dream Land is shattered from threats, both terrestrial and extraterrestrial in origin, it’s up to Kirby to become a brave warrior and save his home. Despite his young and carefree personality; Kirby possesses many incredible abilities, such as the power to inhale objects and enemies, sucking them into his stretchy mouth and spitting them out with force. He can also take on the properties of enemies and objects that he eats to gain Copy Abilities, transforming into new forms and gaining new powers; such as breathing fire, wielding a sword, launching sparks in every direction, or attacking enemies with direct hand-to-hand combat.

Many recurring characters appear throughout the series both allies and enemies. The most frequent one being King Dedede, a gluttonous blue bird and self-proclaimed ruler of Dream Land. King Dedede has appeared in every Kirby game except for Kirby & the Amazing Mirror. King Dedede’s selfish nature often leads him and Kirby to clash, however he sometimes teams up with Kirby when a greater threat appears. Another major character of the series is the enigmatic Meta Knight, a chivalrous masked man who wishes to one day fight the strongest warrior in the galaxy and leads a band of like-minded warriors. Whenever him and Kirby duel he always offers Kirby a sword beforehand so that the fight is fair and while is true face resembles Kirby’s his exact relationship with Kirby remains a mystery.

The main Kirby games are side-scrolling action-platformers. Kirby must run, jump, and attack enemies while traversing through a number of areas, solving puzzles and fighting bosses along the way. One of the things that sets Kirby apart is Kirby’s ability to inflate himself with a gulp of air and fly. In most games he can do this for as long as he likes however, his attack options are limited while doing so.

Kirby games often contain a number of hidden items that either unlock more parts to the game or are simple incentives to collect, and are usually required to achieve 100% completion in the game. These special items usually relate to the plot of the game, most often used to create a special weapon required to defeat the final boss. In some games, the special weapon is optional and can be used in the game regularly after defeating the final boss with it. These elements have remained constant throughout most the series, with each game having its own unique twist to affect gameplay.

The games’ fantasy world of Popstar includes many regions of different climates and terrains, which are home to many different creatures. Each game features uniquely named areas, but all games feature typical locations such as fiery mountains, open meadows, water-filled or submerged areas, icy snowfields, and similar nature-based places.

There are also several spinoff games in the series, which involve a variety of different gaming genres such as pinball, puzzle, racing, a game based on motion-sensor technology. A number of these side games take advantage of Kirby’s round, ball-like appearance.

Source: Wikipedia