IGN

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Heat Signature Review

When you're a space mercenary, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Heat Signature counts on things going horribly wrong in order to create great moments where your desperate improvisation at least sometimes pays off, against all odds. It happens enough that I'm constantly telling stories about my latest successful – and almost successful – sci-fi heists.

Heat Signature's simple, sprite-based art style and top-down shooter action bear a passing resemblance to Hotline Miami, and it works for many of the same retro-charming reasons. Enemies are sometimes hard to spot against busy backgrounds, but by and large, it's easy to spot threats and obstacles at a glance. Of course, when you smoothly zoom from a close-up of a single boxy room on a spaceship all the way out to a view of a small galaxy of stars it becomes clear that this game is more modern than it appears.

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Doom on Switch Is Definitely Still Doom

Since getting a Switch in March, my main thought has been "I wish every game were on this thing." Even still, I never expected I'd be playing Doom, of all games, on Switch at a preview event last week. But I did, and I'm happy to say that it's still very much Doom.

You can watch me play Doom on Switch undocked with a Pro Controller here:

The most important thing for a Doom port to get right is that sense of speed - sprinting through martian facilities with grace and fluidity as you tear demons limb from limb - and the Switch version nails that side of it. Simply put, it feels exactly like Doom should, just in a much smaller package.

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The Evil Within 2: See the Horrors of Bethesda's Sequel

Bethesda's supernatural, psychological horror series is right around the corner, being launched on October 13 worldwide, and October 19 in Japan.

We recently went hands-on with a monster-filled chunk of Bethesda's upcoming sequel a few chapters into the campaign. While the experience takes place in an alternate dimension drenched in an otherworldly dreamlike vibe, the hellish creatures we found roaming around are very, very real.

You can watch a few choice segments from our gameplay session below:

We square off against the saw-swinging corpse golem boss, The Guardian, and all her giggling, screaming faces.

City hall has become a fun house of horror-filled hallways and there's an art-loving killer lurking somewhere inside. Appreciate the art!

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The Witness Now Available on iPhone and iPad

Players can now solve The Witness' mind-bending puzzles on the go.

The critically-acclaimed game from lead designer Jonathan Blow and developer Thekla Inc. is now out for the iPhone and iPad via the App Store for $9.99 USD.

The Witness first released for PlayStation 4 and PC back in January 2016 before later coming to Xbox One. IGN scored the game a 10 in our glowing review, calling it a "beautiful, powerful, and cleverly designed puzzle game with a wealth of mysteries to unravel."

Gotten stuck? Be sure to check out our guide on how to solve every Monastery and Desert Obelisk puzzle.

from IGN Video Games http://ift.tt/2yseGyx
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Zone of the Enders’ VR Mode Is Promising

Announced during Sony's TGS PlayStation conference, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is getting a remastered edition for PS4 and PC complete with VR support. The entire game can be played in VR and also includes a separate VR mode that I got to try out at Konami's booth at TGS.

Though the main campaign seems to have gotten a complete visual upgrade, the VR mode doesn't have much of a modern polish outside of the cockpit. Still, I enjoyed the simple, polygon style. It reminded me of sitting and playing an enclosed light gun shooter in an arcade, but this time I got to be fully immersed. The space I was allowed to fly in was a tad empty. That may have been for the best as the few waves of enemies that spawned kept me occupied as I tried to figure out my various weapons.

from IGN Video Games http://ift.tt/2jKiuri
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SteamWorld Dig 2 Review

In the cluttered landscape of fictional post-apocalyptic worlds, 2013's SteamWorld Dig was a breath of fresh air. A steampunk Western, it sends you digging deep into the earth, searching out precious resources to sell in the dusty, one-mechanical horse town above. It's a glorious a tale of robot cowboys, mutant humans and mysterious technology. SteamWorld Dig 2 is very much the sequel I was hoping for. It has the same core gameplay loop of digging for riches, but leans further into platforming, puzzle solving and RPG elements, while boasting a gorgeously detailed aesthetic.

In contrast to its predecessor, SteamWorld Dig 2's world is not procedurally generated, and you can feel the handcrafted quality as a result. Dungeon layouts take devious pride in enemy positioning and cleverly hidden secrets. You'll also come across cave entrances that take you to an impressive variety of self-contained challenges. These rooms make for a nice change of pace, as you go from literally carving out your own path through a massive sprawling world to being in a confined space with very specific solutions. These puzzles and platforming gauntlets aren't difficult, but they're satisfying, and net you cogs and artifacts – two of the most important collectables in Dig 2.

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Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet Team Referred to Destiny, The Division for Gameplay

Unlike past Sword Art Online games, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet takes place in the Gun Gale Online game and features a custom character as the protagonist.

Kirito, Asuna, Sinon, and other characters for the original series are still involved in Fatal Bullet, but for the most part, Fatal Bullet's original story (supervised by series creator Reki Kawahara) is about your custom protagonist and three other new characters. Previous SAO games have had custom characters, but the story was still about Kirito. Bandai Namco emphasized that player choice is the main theme of the game.

Since Fatal Bullet is set in SAO's gun world, it features a blend of third-person shooter and RPG gameplay. Fatal Bullet producer Yosuke Futami said that when developing the gameplay, the team referenced games like The Division and Destiny.

from IGN Video Games http://ift.tt/2wI8XSR
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