On a side note, the boss fights were very random and seemed to happen without warning. I thought that was odd.

The Good Stuff

Amidst the rubbish of Earthlock’s storyline and protagonists, there are a few gameplay gems that give the RPG some much-needed substance. For starters, the graphics and combat system are top notch. The art style is visually pleasing and gives way to many vibrant and diverse locales. Meanwhile, the protagonists have different combat stances they can switch between. This allows players to be fluid in combat and adjust their party based on the battle.

Another bright point is the world map. Moving from Point A to B is actually enjoyable; a rare thing in traditional RPGs. There are no random encounters in Earthlock. You can physically see every enemy before you engage them. Combine that with the fact that each character has their own overworld ability and exploring an open world map has never been more fun. You can sneak past enemies, harvest plants for buffs, look for treasure, and more!

Customizing the characters is a lot of fun too. Each character has their own grid where you can apply stat bonuses and passive abilities via talent cards. Some talent cards can even unlock new combat skills. You collect talent cards throughout the game by either finding them through various means or crafting them yourself.

I was pleasantly surprised by how deep the crafting system was in Earthlock, too. Players can create new weapons, ammo for said weapons, medicine and talent cards. This helped expand the playtime, if not the gameworld.

In the End

A unique overworld experience, an interesting way to customize characters and a deep crafting system isn’t what makes people buy games. They definitely help, but I wouldn’t buy a car just cause it has Bluetooth and an auto-start feature. It’s the story, plot development, gameplay and characters that matter most in a game, especially an RPG. In Earthlock however, they didn’t matter enough.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

The post REVIEW / Earthlock (PS4) appeared first on That VideoGame Blog.

Battle Princess Madelyn follows the adventure of Madelyn, a young knight in training, and her ghostly pet dog, Fritzy. They set out together on a journey to save her kingdom and her family from the clutches of an evil wizard.

The game is a mix of fast-paced classic arcade action with the adventure elements of classic console games, bringing to life the best features of the golden age of console gaming. The hand-drawn pixel art has been brought to life by the magical lighting of the Unity Engine, meaning that it should be absolutely gorgeous.

Play quickly as an arcade game or through the full experience – how you play Battle Princess Madelyn is up to you! With 10 levels, each with 5 stages and 1-2 branching hidden stages, there’s plenty to enjoy no matter how you play.

Battle Princess Madelyn is currently in development.

The post New gameplay video released for Battle Princess Madelyn appeared first on That VideoGame Blog.

In Tokaido, you are a traveler in the heart of ancient Japan, walking the legendary East Sea road from Kyoto to Edo. While the game is competitive, the core theme is making the trek as fulfilling as possible. Throughout the game, you discover and paint magnificent panoramic landscapes, indulge in the finest Japanese cuisine, acquire rare and precious souvenirs, visit temples, meet other travelers, and bathe in hot springs. Tokaido is a rite of passage for the heart, walking in serenity and contemplation…while contemplating the swift and brutal downfall of your fellow players.

A game of Tokaido is comprised of three stages. Each stage is made up of a section of the East Sea road, punctuated by intermediate inns and capped off with one final inn at the end. Along each section of the road, there are shops, hot springs, painting spots and more, as outlined earlier. From your starting position, you can move to any spot on the road, so long as it isn’t already occupied (the intermediate inns don’t count, as everyone must reach the inn in order to proceed to the next section). Stopping points on the road have one or two spaces, meaning that only one or two players can stop there during that turn. These space limitations form a core part of your strategy, as you are able to plan ahead and choose places which benefit your character, block your opponents from progressing in their objectives, or both.

In single player mode, Tokaido gives you the option of any of the eight characters. Each character has their own unique design and perks which will shape your strategy. For example, Hiroshige gains the player’s choice of a piece of one of the panorama paintings every time he reaches an intermediate inn. Knowing this, a player controlling Hiroshige could feasibly pass over one of the limited painting spots on the road in order to block their opponents from bathing in hot springs.

There are many ways to earn victory points in Tokaido, based on where you stop on the road. Most actions will net a few victory points by default, while others will have combo bonuses or game end bonuses for engaging in certain actions the most or a certain number of times.

Shops: Buy souvenirs in different categories to make sets.

Temples: Donate 1-3 coins to the gods to receive an equal number of victory points.

Encounters: Meet another traveller NPC on the road and receive a random benefit (i.e. a painting piece, a souvenir)

Hot Springs: Gain 2 victory points, or 3 if monkeys randomly appear.

Farms: Gain 3 coins (can be spent on souvenirs in shops, food at inns, and as temple donations)

Panorama Spots: Gain a piece of a panorama painting to make a full set (mountain, rice paddy, or sea)

Inns: When you reach each intermediate inn, you are given several meals to choose from, each with different prices. By eating a new dish at each inn, you automatically obtain 6 victory points. At the final inn, your scores are tallied and bonuses are applied.

Turn order is important. If you decide to strike out ahead on the map ahead of everyone else, you will be the last to move on the next turn. Likewise, if you’re the last to reach an inn or move the least and are at the back of the group, you will get to move first on the next turn. If you are the last to reach an inn, you will only get to choose whatever food is left over, which may result in you only having previously-eaten options, or options that you simply can’t afford. It’s very important to balance where you need to visit on the road and whether you think you’ll be able to get in before the other players.

With the summary of how the game works out of the way, let’s move on to the digital adaptation. While I was a bit wary of how the game would work as a videogame, I was pleasantly surprised. A large part of Tokaido’s appeal is its crisp, traditional aesthetic and large amounts of white space, splashed all over with bright color. The digital adaptation didn’t disappoint, as the signature white space and bright colors were there, just as crisp and juicy as ever. The 3D rendering of the characters and locations along the road remained true to the original board game and were very easy to identify.

In terms of the animation, I only encountered one instance of one of the character models glitching out, but this was only for a brief moment and didn’t impact the gameplay. The settings also have a “Fast AI” mode. I didn’t employ it because the game is pretty relaxing, but it’s good to know that you can speed things up if you don’t feel like waiting for each character to make their trek along the road.

I can’t fault any of the animation and graphic design in the menus or in the actual gameplay – it all looks beautiful and is a loyal adaptation of the original board game’s aesthetic. Tokaido‘s soundtrack was specifically composed for the game, and while I wouldn’t expect it to win any awards, it perfectly captures that old Japanese ambience and atmosphere. The sound effects are fun and bright and are well suited to the gameplay.

After a few games in single player mode, I invited my boyfriend over to try the multiplayer hotseat option. Just like the single player mode, you can choose how many AI characters you want in your game. You can also choose up to six player slots (the maximum number of players in a game, I believe). Hotseat operates more or less identically to single player mode, which is definitely a point in its favor, as I was unable to really fault any part of the gameplay in single player mode.

However, there is one key difference which was unique, but rubbed me the wrong way a little: Each player only gets a choice of two characters, selected at random. You can view the special perks for each character and then choose one. The next player is given two new characters to choose from in the same fashion. I think this is an interesting idea which would force players to try new characters from time to time, but ultimately I would have preferred to have the option of choosing from the full cast.

There are two nice new features in the digital adaptation that would have been things to remember yourself in the original board game version. The first is the ability to bring up your character screen and view your character-specific perk and your belongings. You can also access another menu which outlines the current allocation of victory points and which players have earned how many points in each area of the game (i.e. souvenir collecting, shrine donations).

In multiplayer hotseat mode, when my boyfriend tried to check out his character’s personal stats screen, it came up with my character’s screen instead. No amount of exiting and re-entering the menu gave him his character’s information. This may be a bug that requires fixing, although the game is simple enough that you typically wouldn’t need to use this menu anyway.

While I didn’t try the online multiplayer, it appears that you have to sign up for a free account, after which you can play with others from around the world. Having thoroughly enjoyed both the board game version and the digital adaptation, I would be willing to pay the reasonable $10 USD for another copy of Tokaido so that my friends in other countries (or even just in other houses) could play along with me.

Tokaido definitely gets my recommendation – both the original board game and the digital version. While the original Tokaido began to wear a little after many, many games over a short period of time, that was predominantly due to the fact that we kept selecting the same characters and utilizing the same strategies. I think that, while I didn’t like it so much, the implementation of the randomized character selection for multiplayer may help to combat that. Tokaido is heaps of fun and pretty to look at – why not take it out on a date and get to know it yourself?

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

The post REVIEW / Tokaido (PC) appeared first on That VideoGame Blog.

I was amazed when I saw the first movie. It introduced the main protagonist of the series, Atsuko Kagari (nicknamed “Akko”), enrolling in the Luna Nova Academy to study witchcraft in order to follow her idol’s footsteps named Shiny Chariot. While learning the ins and outs of the academy, as well as having a difficult time performing the basic magical arts, she befriends her two sidekicks: Lotte and Sucy. Lotte is adept at communicating with the spirits, while Sucy is a connoisseur of deadly plants and is quite knowledgeable about alchemy.

Akko also meets Diana Cavendish, a very skilled all-around popular student, who becomes her rival throughout the course of the series. In the second movie, Akko is given the task to lead the annual parade along with a group of new students: Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka. Amanda is the rebel wild child and sometimes uses her sleight of hand to cause trouble to the academy. Constanze is the laconic technological genius, transforming her wand into a gun or rifle as she sees fit. Jasminka is always ever hungry, never is a scene with her without eating something or snacking on a bag of chips.

The two short movies were interesting enough to warrant a regular anime series the following year. Netflix picked it up and released it last year, and the main arc followed Akko’s plight in unlocking the secrets of the legendary wand, the Shiny Rod. The series also allowed the further development of all the main characters, where one of Akko’s teachers is finally revealed to be the one and only Shiny Chariot. Akko and her friends save the land by using the Shiny Rod and restoring the overall magic balance.

So enough spoilers (and I apologize if you have not seen the movies or the anime yet), and let’s talk about the game. In Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time, summer break in Luna Nova Academy has started, and Akko is tasked with cleaning up the great library as a punishment. She gets a little bit of help from Lotte and Sucy, and while doing so, Akko finds a strange book that opens up a hidden portion of the library. Investigating the new area, the trio finds that they are stuck in time, where the same day repeats over and over again. While other inhabitants of the academy are unaware of the time loop, Akko inadvertently ropes in Diana, Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka to the hidden area aptly named the Horologium Chamber. Thus, the whole gang is now in on the mystery and are figuring out how to get out of the loop.

There are two main gaming aspects in Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time: a beat ’em up dungeon crawler exploring the rooms of the Horologium Chamber and a questing portion of doing something here and there around the halls of the Luna Nova Academy. The main story is a combination of the two portions: crawl a dungeon, beat the boss at the end, go back to the academy and progress the story, then go back into another dungeon to obtain an item that will progress the story. Rinse and repeat.

The beat-’em-up portion of Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time has its good and bad aspects. The good part is that you create your own party out of the seven characters, and you’re not locked to just controlling Akko. You can create your dream party and stick with them throughout the whole game or mix them up from time to time to get a well-balanced party. There are two types of attacks you can use: physical and magic spells. Each character has a weak, strong, and a ranged physical attack, while magic spells are unlocked while progressing through the main quest or doing some of the sidequests (which I will go more in depth later). Unlocking and leveling up magic spells also require some magic points, which are obtained after leveling up your characters. Your characters gain experience at the completion (and failure) of each dungeon, and leveling them up gives them statistic points you can assign to strengthen them.

The really bad and disappointing aspect of the beat-’em-up portion of Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time is that your party members are basically all cookie cutters of the same kind. For a series with characters of different quirks and nature, you see it in the statistics: Akko lacks in magic powers but is good in everything else, Lotte is the opposite, and Diana is just good all around. However, it really does not matter when you’re dungeon crawling; while the style of each characters physical attacks has some slight differences, they are still the same in the end. In fact, Constanze is probably the only one that’s really different from the rest; she uses her guns through and through and is essentially the pure ranger of the group.

Magic spells are the same. Most learned spells can be assigned to any of the characters save from some spells that are locked to a particular character. What gets frustrating with using magic in dungeons is that it can get to be unpredictable and hard to aim at enemies. Plus, even if the spell hit an enemy, sometimes you’re not sure if it did any damage at all.

Moving on to the questing portion, there are also some good and bad things to note. One good thing about Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time is that it stays true to movie and anime series. You get to really explore Luna Nova Academy, and pretty much all of the places you have seen in the academy is in the game. Which, by the way, makes the academy such a huge area to explore complete with a couple of dormitory laundry rooms, several classrooms, and even the field where they did the broomstick relay race. After a few minutes of starting the game and progressing the storyline, the whole academy opens up for you, and trust me, it can get overwhelming quickly.

So the academy is stuck in a time loop, and the game tackles this with the approach of a time management aspect. It takes about five to six minutes for a 24-hour time rotation, and then time rewinds back to the beginning. Akko must go to certain areas of the academy at a certain time in order to progress the main storyline or complete a subquest. What complicates this is that as mentioned before, the academy is huge, and sometimes you just do not have enough time to get to a certain area at the required time range. It’s not a huge deal, since you just restart the day all over again, which gives you ample of time to reach the area.

However, if you have no sense of direction and mainly rely on maps like I am, you might have to repeat the day a few times before you find the area at the right time. Navigating the academy and using the map can get confusing since there’s no compass or a guide to let you know whether you’re going east or west, and some areas aren’t marked, so you’re trying to figure out whether you’re walking into the east dormitories or the west dormitories…or some random classroom. Fortunately, a little bit of story progression unlocks a magic spell that can be used on what the game considers as save points to teleport to the different ones littered around the academy.

Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time truly pays a great homage to the overall series. The whole cast of quirky characters are there, plus a bunch of new ones to learn about. The mysterious chamber that creates the time loop fits the aesthetic of the series, plus the dungeon crawling combat isn’t all that bad. If you’re a fan of the series, you will enjoy this game a lot.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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It’s all a bit much for the hardcore fans, myself included. This certainly isn’t the drab, melancholic Battlefield that we’ve grown used to over the past two years – the grass is radiantly lush, and the carnage, unusually flamboyant. A woman with a rudimentary prosthesis crawls alongside a soldier with warpaint on his face and a samurai sword on his back; tanks make mincemeat of two-storey buildings, a V2 bomb impacts the battlefield and causes carnage, and a crazed man tries to smother you with his bare hands. It’s no wonder the YouTube video is currently idling at 101,000 dislikes.

Of course, when you read the comment section, it plays out like a meeting of close-knit, like-minded individuals who are fuming that their game might not be 100% historically accurate (duh). But let’s break the accusations down for a moment. Those who despair at the presence of anyone who isn’t white or male ought to consider that EA and DICE have expressed a desire to revisit the second world war from a more nuanced perspective. Conflicts that are rarely touched by the historical shooter will take the limelight, according to the official live-stream: we’ll be experiencing military campaign from North Africa to Norway, exploring the war from the viewpoint of those who were not necessarily directly involved in the landings at Normandy.

A quick Google search tells me that by 1941, an estimated 350,000 women were involved in the United States’ war effort, while some 487,000 British women volunteered for roles in our own military. And I mean fine, the presence of women on the front line was unusual for these two nations, but there is no need to completely downplay their involvement. Oh, and that arm? It seems to be a pretty standard example of 20th century prosthetic, and certainly isn’t some piece of hi-tech bionic gadgetry. I mean sure, the amputee in question certainly shouldn’t have returned to active duty, but are you honestly telling me that a videogame that involves a well-established resurrection system can’t feature soldiers who are making do despite severe injury?

But I digress. The point here is that an awful lot of premature judgement is being carried out on the basis of one slightly baffling trailer – I’m here to talk cold, hard facts, and to reassure you that Battlefield V is not ditching historical accuracy for the sake of (and I’m paraphrasing here) the “SJW community.” God, but I hate that phrase.

The Facts

Battlefield V will be set during World War II, and will – at launch – spend its time in the European theatre of war with the occasional foray into North Africa. As with Battlefield 1, more nations and environments will drop as DLC during the year after the game’s release; the difference here is that this DLC will drop free of charge, as EA do away with the controversial Season Pass. As I’ve mentioned, Battlefield V will explore some lesser-known conflicts, visiting the Battle of Rotterdam and the occupation of Norway alongside the usual World War fare in France.

The game will see the return of a story mode in War Stories, and will also feature a co-op mode called “Combined Arms.” Of course, the talking point will be the Battlefield V multiplayer: continuing the trend toward large-scale, vehicle and infantry warfare, the game looks set to introduce a metric ton of new mechanics, gameplay features, and content, much of which harks back to previous Battlefield titles.

Players will be able to create their own company of soldiers, complete with supporting weaponry and vehicles; customisation is the name of the game here, which is something I reckon that crazy trailer is trying to get across. Multiplayer will also feature a new construction feature called “Fortifications,” allowing players to rebuild destroyed environmental objects using make-shift tools and materials. We’re not talking Fortnite, here, just sand-bag walls and scrap metal barricades. Oh, and on the topic of destruction: Battlefield V looks set to bring back Bad Company levels of destructible environments, with buildings suffering contextual damage based on the location and size of the impact.

New to the Battlefield franchise is what they call “Attrition.” Players no longer regenerate to full health by default: the health bar is broken up into sections, meaning you’ll only regen to the nearest upper limit. If you want to heal all the way, you’ll need to approach a med kit or supply depot and physically interact with the object, commencing an animation and leaving you vulnerable. This applies to just about everything replenish-able in Battlefield V; gone are the days of passively resupplying whilst lying within touching distance of an ammo crate.

Now I could go into great detail on the subject of realism in Battlefield V, explaining how every gameplay feature requires input from the player from climbing ledges to spotting enemy soldiers. I could propound the lifelike qualities of the player interaction with the environments – rustling tall grass, for example – or even the fact that you’ll spawn in with far less ammunition, and occasionally be forced to scavenge from dead enemies. Hell, I could waffle on for hours about the fact that reviving players is now a full animation, and that you can drag your buddy’s wounded body to cover before you revive them. Or maybe you’d like to hear about how your movement options have increased substantially, now allowing for crawling backward and firing or dive-rolling through windows.

Hopefully you get my point. Battlefield V is shaping up to be a phenomenally interactive shooter that’ll force the player to think tactically, take nothing for granted, and play the bloody objective. Sadly, the reveal trailer has only subtly referenced any of the things that I’ve covered here, instead choosing to dive headfirst into hammy cinematic action (and piss off the fans as a result). So if you want a real Battlefield V reveal trailer, and are interested in finding out even more about the latest from DICE, check out Youtuber JackFrags’ fantastic run-down of all the myriad features that are coming to the new Battlefield title.

In other words: Don’t Panic. The historical accuracy of your beloved Battlefield is as intact as it has ever been. Trying counting the positives, instead, and maybe check out the official site.

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