Friday 25 November 2016

CASTING CALL: Hunters Hunted


The team behind the Chronicles of Ollundra series are looking for new talent to work with them on their feature 'Hunters Hunted'.


The project will be proceeding on a paid basis subject to funding and is set to film next year.

If you are interested in getting involved with this project please contact them on their Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/Hunters-Hunted

Tuesday 22 November 2016

PREVIEW: The Wildlands



In Niche: Treat Your Geek issue 15 our very own Shot In The Dark will be doing a full review of The Wildlands along with a short preview of this amazing comic.


"Writing wise The Wildlands is, in short, awesome... Art wise it’s just and utter delight to look at... This story will make you FEEL"

Get the full review and sample only in Issue 15 of Niche!

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Full Review: Exiles End



Exile's End is a 2D side-scroller that has just made the jump from Steam to both the PS4 and PSVita.

The game is described as "NOT a Metroidvania" and a homage to old Amiga era adventure games. Now that alone was enough to get me interested. I'm always happy to relive my Amiga days and I've never had a great relationship with metroidvania (Metroid/Castlevania style) games.

Unfortunately this means I don't have a great deal of experience with the genre. I've seen plenty of other reviewers saying this game definitely is Metroidvania. I think the developers are trying to say that it isn't a Metroid or Castlevania clone and that it's lineage goes back further to more European roots... I'm ok with that and I'll bear it in mind for the review.



The art style and graphics are straight out of old classics like Flashback, updated to look half decent on HD displays. If you're looking for flashy modern graphics then you've come to the wrong place! Exiles End feels very fitting for a nostalgia trip and turning on the TV effect filter in the options actually made me feel like I was playing an old game but with much smoother performance than old tech or ropy emulators can manage. The art was actually developed by staff who have worked on games such as Secret of Mana and Mother 3 and there's heritage in the sound design too, with music provided by Keiji Yamagishi (Ninja Gaiden for NES). The music loops like it would have back in the day so it can get a bit droning in places but for me it all added to the nostalgia value.



Now gameplay is a tricky subject, as far as the game says it's not a metroidvania it sure has a lot of the key features with large areas to explore, new upgrades to uncover that will let you pass certain obstacles and find new places to explore. Like I said I'm no expert on these games, but there's enough similarities that the game should please fans of the genre.

The game starts as a slow deliberate platformer and until you pick up the first upgrade you'll take a lot of fall damage, luckily you can hold the down button to check below you. I actually enjoyed the slower pacing of these sections, they almost reminded me of of Abe's Odyssey, and it gets you used to checking your environment without too many enemies to worry about.

The controls are simple and effective in a delightfully old school way. You can only shoot in one direction but jumping feels precise and predictable.

Combat has some issues but they're mostly products of how close the game sticks to it's inspiration. Enemy AI is super basic resulting in a few occasions enemies have ran through me before attacking, and I'm not blown away by their design either. I've seen generic man, generic alien, generic flying alien and space slugs... so many space slugs. They are used quite nicely to up difficulty but the pacing is still rather slow and deliberate which may not be to everyone's taste.



The autosave feature is also both a blessing and a curse. Dying results in a game over (very old-school) but thankfully it takes seconds to get back into the game and you'll find yourself back at the time you entered that screen. However, if you entered that screen with your last sliver of health then you're going to have a rough time. I'd have liked to be able to keep a manual save as a backup, which oddly is possible on the PC version.

On balance this release has the advantage of all the previous bug fixes and a survival mode right from the beginning. The PlayStation release happily includes some new sounds, enemy patterns and secret rooms, but not so happily it also get's a whole new platforming section. I have a love/hate relationship with this section as it adds a tense finale and gives you a sense of achievement. It also shows off a few more retro videogame tropes and even the annoying ones make this section feel authentic. However, it is really obvious that this was developed separately as there's nothing quite this intense or cheap in the game... except for maybe the boss fights.

I actually like the designs of the bosses but I feel it's one area where the old fashioned mechanics get in the way. You'll find you take a lot more collision damage than anything their attacks do. The only effective way I found of dealing with them is throwing grenades in their face, which feels horribly cheap but completely necessary. This isn't made any easier by having to scroll through an entire inventory to find you next weapon or health pack.

Quick Pro Tip - Grenades can be thrown at any time using the triangle button.


The story is pretty simple and delivered by sparse floating text, however there are cut scenes... kinda. The game description refers to them as NES-style but I remember a few from my Amiga days too. I still find the almost static, letterbox images to be oddly atmospheric and I had to smile at the attention to detail during a "dramatic camera sweep" that had an intentionally low retro frame rate. Plot-wise the story is interesting but very familiar.


It's been  a while since I've played anything like this (Knytt Underground maybe) and so I've had the full blast of nostalgia, meaning that a lot of negative aspects have become part of the experience. The graphics and sound may put some people off. Others might not like the constant backtracking or might get confused by the lack of explanation or annotated map - I'm just glad that I didn't have to draw the map out by hand or refer to the back of the manual (there isn't one, that's just an old-school gaming joke).



The game is a very good example of what it sets out to be. However, standing alongside modern games it might only appeal to a certain niche of gamer with a good memory and plenty of patience. An almost perfect example of games from a forgotten age with absolutely no spoon-feeding. Knowing that a lot of the quirks and annoyances are part of the design does help, they don't make (many) games like this anymore... I'll leave it up to you to decide if that is a good thing.






Friday 11 November 2016

PKMN TCGO: Versus Ladder Reset


Today on Pokemon Trading Card Game Online the versus ladder has been reset with a grass theme.  Cards up for grabs include Genesect EX, Lilligant and Amoonguss.  Lets take a quick look at how these cards can be incorporated into your Grass decks!


Amoonguss


Although his attack and HP are not the best Amoonguss has the ability to Confuse and Poison your opponents Pokemon when you use him to evolve a Foonguss.  Playing this at the right time can seriously hinder your opponent and cause them to retreat, heal or risk considerable damage.  Best case your opponent will take 10 damage between turns and hit itself for an additional 30 by the time you have your next turn for a maximum total of 50 hit points per turn.  Should your luck continue 'Rising Lunge' can hit up to an additional 50 damage per turn before using Pokemon Tools.

There are a lot of other Pokemon such as Ninetales from the Dragons Exalted set which can cause additional damage depending on the conditions already on your opponents Pokemon.  In this case using Amoonguss to cause two status conditions will allow for Ninetales to do a guaranteed 120 points the turn you evolve Amoonguss. Should your opponent survive they will then be hit with 10 hit-points of poison damage before even thinking about dealing with confusion!  All things going your way you are looking at 170 damage for the wonderful value of one fire energy and one very well timed evolution!


Lilligant

Lilligant is not the greatest Pokemon on it's own.  However, when combined with the Poison/Confusion power of Amoonguss, 'Dream Dance' can cause some serious damage! While asleep your Pokemon will be unable to retreat meaning they will be forced to sit and take silly amounts of damage from their poison and (should they ever wake up) the possibility to hit themselves with Confusion.  This kind of mass Special Conditions on Pokemon can scare less experienced players and be hard to over come without lucky trainers and heals.  This is why 'Lead' is a useful tool.

Packing your deck with supporters and means to search out healing methods would be essential when using this card as it also puts itself to sleep.  Although not the end of the world you would also be stalling your own deck, which is never great.


Genesect EX

Now here is where a good plan all comes together....

Although his attack 'Megalo Cannon' is not great, it still attacks for 120 points per turn.  The double grass requirement is a bit of a pain when you have many double colourless users hitting for just as much.  However, what we are really interested in is his Ability 'Red Signal'.

When you attach a Plasma Energy to Genesect you may switch one of the opponents benched Pokemon with their Active Pokemon.  This means that when you are holding your Amoonguss in your hand and Lilligent/Ninetales is at the ready you can pull out your opponents Mega/Ex Pokemon with the millions of Energy cards attached to it and start smashing it with Special Conditions!

Remembering that a lot of the EX/Mega series have HP above 150 and attacks that can be brutal against basic/weaker Pokemon being able to stop them attacking with Sleep/Confusion is a great defence.  Being able to pull said Pokemon out before it has the time to power up is also a great strategy as your opponent will be left scrambling to either heal, retreat or power up their Pokemon before you defeat it!

These are just a few ways that you can use this periods Vs Ladder rewards.  If you find any new combos feel free to comment bellow!

Wednesday 9 November 2016

Have Your Say: Regale the Reboot?

2016 the Nostalgia Generation

Red Dwarf is back on TV and you may be wondering if it's any good... After an attempt to resurrect/conclude the series by the BBC a few years ago I didn't have much faith. Then a while back it moved to UKTVs Dave channel with a short but welcome return to form. However, this latest series is currently back on Dave and it's got me thinking.... (dangerous I know!)

I've now seen all six episodes and they have all been as close to classic Dwarf as I can imagine... I don't mean the finding-its-feet first series or the this-has-been-going-on-too-long 9th series. Somehow Dave has managed to breath new life into the show without losing what everyone loved about it; at the same time throwing in a bunch of references and call backs to old episodes.

We may live in an age of reboots and remakes but there's signs that the industry is finally delivering what we want. However, there has been so much fallout from films like Total Recall and the latest Fantastic Four movie most fans don't want anything re-imagining and would be happy to see a new lick of paint and modern pacing.

With simultaneous calls for new ideas and to preserve the classics, it has become a bit of an art-form in itself to find the balance at the same time as meeting the demand for nostalgic content.

One of the most successful recent examples would be Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: Rebels, never forget Rebels. Both are great examples of a modern Star Wars but stick close to the feel and themes of the originals. It helps that we seem to have reached an age where we can have actual fans of the franchise producing the newer versions, and they bring a certain respect for the source material; could you imagine the Deadpool movie being made 15 years ago? and without Ryan Reynolds support?

There are even a few more near misses. For example. something like the new Ghostbusters. It wasn't a complete refresh but many felt it wasn't 'Ghostbustery' enough, despite still being good at what it set out to be.

Fans may or may not be upset but films like this are something for a whole new generation to peg their childhoods to. Even the Star Wars prequels seemed to come out at exactly the right time that young naive me thought they were amazing, all that flashy lightsabre twirling was just what I wanted to see. I may not approve of every reboot that comes out but who are we to take that experience away from someone else?

When it comes to gaming things get a little more complicated with the release of remasters as well as remakes and reboots. Generally with remasters not much changes, but I do prefer it when developers put extra work in to refresh the graphics or maybe re-balance game-play a little. The Kingdom Hearts HD collections manage to cram in everything you could possibly want from a remaster.

Reboots and remakes can suffer from the same pitfalls as the movies but there are a few standout examples such as the rebooted Tomb Raider franchise and the Ratchet and Clank game (that was based on the movie that was based on the original game)... which oddly seems to occupy a space in all 3 categories (remaster, reboot, remake).



What do you think? 
Has the entertainment industry finally figured out what we want from these new old properties?
Do you have a favourite reboot or remake? 
Which do you consider to be the worst possible example?

Comment below and once we have enough we can run a feature in the print version of the
 Niche: Treat Your Geek.


Images: Red Dwarf, Start Wars, Deadpool, Tomb Raider, Ratchet and Clank

Saturday 5 November 2016

Head to Head: YouTube Sims

Vlogger: Go Viral



The ever addictive clicker genre strikes again. Pick a popular genre of video and tap the screen to progress through recording. You gain views to use as currency and spend them on increasing views per second or per video. Once you get started each video takes 1 hour to complete or less if you're tapping. There's a colourful cutesy style and you can even watch the videos you create, with upgrades actually showing up in your room and in-video. A recent update added avatar customisation and a merch store run by a pug which gives you more things to unlock. It's an enjoyable clicker although there's quite of lot of fullscreen popup adds, and some optional ones but at least those do offer nice boosts.




PewDiePie's Tuber Simulator

A surprising lack of root vegetables, this one takes the typical mobile sim formula, buying upgrades and coming back a few hours later to pick up resources/income. You can expand and customise your room using the views you gain. It's a slow start but with a tonne of upgrades, plenty of unlockables and a pug based minigame there's plenty to do. I want to like the game, but if you already have an urge to slap PewDiePie then this game isn't going to help that, for better or worse, his influence is clear right down to the preset video titles, oh and his tutorial voice over; both making it a great one for fans.



YouTuber's Life


There's now an ios version of this but it's no mobile game, still under steam early access the game had an early spike in popularity thanks to a raft of YouTuber's trying it out. You create a character even including some personality traits and then set about recording, editing an uploading your videos. Right now you can only run a gaming channel but there's more being added and they seem set to change up the gameplay quite significantly.

The gaming channel has you uploading let's plays, previews and walkthroughs while attending announcement events and conventions. You have a much wider experience with this one, making sure you stay fed and rested, paying bills on time and managing relationships The Sims-style. It's as much about attending the events and managing your friends and/or collaborators as it is uploading trending videos. Actually making the videos can get a bit old but just like The Sims there's always that sense that if you played just a few minutes longer you'll achieve something, whether it's making a new friend, paying that months rent or finally buying that games console you've had your eye on.





The popularity of YouTube games ties in to the "YouTubers as Celebrities" theme that I've touched on elsewhere. I'm pretty tied on these games, Go Viral is addictive and easy to pick up while YouTuber's Life is a full fledged tycoon meets The Sims style game. PewDiePie has a decent enough game but not being a fan of his and the game having a rather the slow start, I just didn't take to it like the others. Which one would you choose?


Why Journey is Not Worth Your Time


Unique and beautiful, for many people Journey is a small dose of perfection, but if you haven't played it yet then maybe it's not for you. It's been around a while now and the PS4 version has even been available for "free" as part of PS Plus subscriptions.

Journey seems to resonate best with the people that understand what it is, and have the right temperament to appreciate it. I've never been afraid of being cheesy, and just as well because Journey isn't about the action and gameplay, it's about the journey.

In truth the gameplay is mostly walking from one place to another, maybe a few jumps and simple puzzles, but the scenery is beautiful and often mysterious. There's a story but it's hidden and even the wall-painting style cut scenes take a bit of extra cognition to understand.

If the music and art style don't grab you perhaps the online elements will, while exploring you might come across other players, equally as lost, figuring out the game as they go. In a big wide desert it's nice to have that company and if you're the kind of person that gets attached to that companion then you'll get more out of the game. You start to fear for the safety of someone you don't even know the name of, keeping an eye out for their reassuring pings. Towards then end of the game you get a sense of team-working and camaraderie, I imagine the single chimes you can make as shouts of "We will make it together!","Go, save yourself!" and "If you cant walk, you crawl... if you can't crawl..." .
...ok that last one may be a bit long but you get the idea.

If you find meaning in the exploration, the mystery, the art, the ancient civilisation and the accompanying soundtrack then you'll be well set to enjoy the last sections of the game. If you hit the snow and are still wondering when the game get's interesting then maybe it wont be the tear inducing finale that others have experienced.

If you think you might be one of those people and you've never tried the game despite it being more or less free, then don't play it, you'll end up disappointed and confused as to why it is so widely praised.

Niche Watches: Dave Gorman Undressed

Ok, maybe the title could do with a comma... but where's the fun in that?

Dave Gorman's Modern Life is Goodish

Series four starts  Tuesday 8th November and I've steadily been making my way through the third series but I'm enjoying it enough I had to share. (Check out Dave or the UKTV on demand service.)
It might not strike you as particular geeky but once you find out the show is built around a PowerPoint presentation you might see where I am going with this.

This is quite possibly the nerdiest comedy I've seen and I love that. It's the kind of humour that my brain picks up on, amusing lapses in grammar and odd uses of the English language that only the internet can supply. There's ponderings on our reliance on market research and the surprising right wing politics of Little Mix fans, what happens when you buy Twitter followers for a friend and an episode that results in a beehive being sent to Christine Hamilton . There's even a weekly segment where Dave creates a poem out of the comment sections of news articles, which sounds odd but is quite a highlight. It's clever and fun and I get to see the results of some experiments I'd love to try myself but never get past the planning stage.

The best way to see if this is for you is to go and watch it, if it clicks with your sense of humour then you'll love it!

Undressed


Ok an odd choice maybe, so a bit of background; I've been watching this accidentally for a while... honest. My wife goes to bed before me (ok that doesn't sound much better, bear with me) so that means I get left with the TV turned on while i'm using my mobile or laptop but with the TV remote at the other end of the room. Late night me would rather have some TV trash on in the background than cross the living room, and what I've been subjected too is actually surprisingly not trashy.
The concept might be designed to hook in viewers with "everything's better when people are naked" and "they're naked, alone and in bed; what will happen? *wink wink*" but the show has some brains and respect to it. I don't buy the social experiment line, I'm pretty sure that's how Big Brother started and look at it now! It seems to be that being in your underwear works as a kind of icebreaker or social leveller and the program doesn't focus on sexual tension or attraction, so I'm kind of warming to the concept.

Anyways, singletons take part in blind dates in just their underwear, with a large screen giving conversation prompts. At the end the couple have to decide if they want to see each other again.
I've picked this series partly because episode 5 features cosplayer and gamer girl "Nicole" (Nikōru Cosplay), it also happens to be the one episode my wife might not have wanted me to watch, but I'm professional, "For Journalism!!". I thought the show worth mentioning as the geeky topics are handled pretty nicely and I figure this deserves some recognition. This is in part due to the care that seems to have been taken matching up the couples, I guess with all the compatibility tests used in online dating this is to be expected. There are other programs that would have played cosplay as a shock/weird revelation, but Undressed mostly picks people that respond positively to these things. The episode featuring a transgender woman had me paying much more attention than just having something on in the background. In fact the program features a whole range of ages, genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations, body types, careers and hobbies.

I'm not one for dating shows, I'm not even one for gratuitous nudity and somehow I'm enjoying the show, there's some actually genuine and likeable characters. Undressed should not be confused with Dating Naked, which I have also seen advertised, as it appears to have a completely different ethos.


Marvel's Doctor Strange


I'm considering a full review but in the mean time I can let you know that I was not disappointed, it was a little slow paced and may be hard to follow for the younger crowd but I even grew to like Benedict Cumberbatch's "House" impression (the TV Doctor, not the building). The special effects were some of the most creative I've ever seen and put Inception's city bending to shame. There's the usual Marvel niggle of an underdeveloped villain but at this point I'm starting to wonder if that even matters so much. I'll need to see it again (possibly even in 3D) before I rank it among its Cinematic Universe brethren, but it certainly isn't the fail of a movie that some feared.

PoGoBus: A New Way to Play Pokemon Go

Has Pokemon Go lost its appeal? Are you waiting for something new to breathe life into the game?
Then why not try PoGo by bus? The new way to play that brings in new gameplay elements and all you need is a lengthy commute or an all-day ticket.

  • Pokestop timing - Handily a lot of pokestops are at the roadside but can you spin them while you ride past?

  • Gym challenge - Mastered pokestops? Find a gym next to a bus stop and try to complete a battle before it the bus pulls off!

  • Bus stop dilemma - Waiting for a bus? Check the nearby sightings and weigh up the risk of running off to add to your pokedex. Can you make it back for your bus in time?

  • Tactical choices - Two pokemon appear but there's an even rarer one nearby, you only have time to catch one before you drive past, what do you do?

  • Eggs and popups - Desperately need that pokestop? Rare pokemon spawned? Tough! Eggs can interfere at any second, even worse if they add to pokedex!

  • No exploring - lucky spawns- something juicy nearby? You better hope it wanders into the road... unless you fancy getting off at the next stop? Who needs to get to work on time anyway?

  • Learn new areas and nest locations- take the scenic route and scope out new spawn locations, discover new nests!

  • Meet bus friends - don't let the bus driver's not-so-sunny disposition fool you, everyone is a friend when you travel by bus!

  • Some buses have powerpoints and wifi - play all day!

  • <10mph - Stuck in slow traffic? Keep walking that egg without actually walking. Only busses and tractors get away with going this slow, which one would you prefer?

  • Manage resources- Do you know where the next pokestop is? Will you have enough pokeballs to last?



More fun than trying to actually pogo on a bus… unless some kind of bug/feature removes the ability to play while travelling, but what’s the chance of that happening?


[Note: Thanks to a recent bug/feature players can no longer catch pokemon when travelling above 25mph...]

Friday 4 November 2016

Niche Game Club: The Deadly Tower of Monsters

Welcome to the second Niche Game Club, think of a book club but for games.
We'll pick a game and give everyone chance to play it, then meet back here for a discussion.

I'm sticking with the PS Plus subscription service games for now so that anyone subscribed can pick up the game free and anyone else can try it out for £5.99.

This month I want to take a look at The Deadly Tower of Monsters on PS4 and Steam. Don't let the cheesy title put you off, it's like that on purpose. It's a twin stick shooter kind of game but if this doesn't sound like your kind of thing I still recommend you try it, maybe play the first hour. Given this is Game Club and not a review I'll let you form your own opinions but I will say the gameplay is enjoyable so no worries there.

The big draw of this game is the presentation, and that's why I'm recommending it. The whole thing from start menu to credits is set as a DVD release of a classic sci-fi B-movie, with director commentary. There's cheesy characters, stop-motion creatures, dramatic music and a lot of physical special effects which ironically end up being computer generated as part of the game.

I've loved the humour and style but I'd like to know what y'all liked best about the game? Was there a piece of dialogue, visual humour or reference to sci-fi movies that you particularly enjoyed?


I'll check back in through the month before we find something new for December.