Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn gets an early launch. This so-called rebirth sees a complete revamp of the game, with a focus on retro style RPG game play.

The early launch offers plenty of challenges coupled with the fact that this is SquareEnix's flagship title.

According to early reports the game suffered major server problems which will hopefully be ironed out pronto.

While things start slowly, the class system allows a great deal of variety, although the game seems rather easy to begin with, things tend to heat up with players hit the mid-30s level.  This title also incorporates many modern features – Dungeon group finder, daily quests, and public quests in the form of FATES.

Stay tuned for a full review coming soon.

Categories: early launch, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, mmorpg, square enix, subscription

Black Desert 22 Minute Walkthrough

Largely touted as a 'next gen' MMORPG, Black Desert developers, Pearl Abyss shows off their 'large scale sandbox oriented' game with a 22 minute walk through that displays some pretty good next gen graphics but nothing new that we haven't seen in every standard MMORPG. But who cares about game play when you've got nice graphics, right?

Video courtesy of F2P

Categories: black-desert, black-desert-consoles, cologne, con, Console, console-mmos, consoles, convention, fantasy, gamescom, gamescom-2013, germany, housing, korea, korean-mmo, pearl-abyss, sandbox

Retro Shoot 'em Up!: Sine Mora

Do you like Hungarian? I bet you do once you tried Sine Mora. It's one of those tribute side to side scrolling shoot'em ups which were all the rage in 1980s arcade parlors.

There has always been a demand for a good shooting game but of late, the varieties that seem to be popping up seem rather pale. Where are the R-types and Side Arms look alike when you need them? Hell, where are heroes who would push the envelop of style and playability?

Big Story, Great Graphics

Sine Mora upped the ante when it landed and you don't have to look very far to see how and why. The concept of it is brilliant. Steam Punk ships and airplanes, retro style bosses and awesome gameplay.

I'm never one to follow on those cut scenes but the the ones in Sine Mora is something else. It is gorgeous. The steam-punk style graphics is an excellent angle to get people hooked onto the game and the cut scenes is just what you need to give your fingers and wrist a rest before the next level of fighting.

Each level has been painstakingly designed and you will astounded by it. Side scrollers normally employ 2D style depth but with Sine Mora, you also get a 3D depth of play which is just fantastic.

You will find the same graphics in the iOS and Android versions of the game but the mobile devices don't play well with shooters like these  as you need minute precision to navigate the hordes of enemies. There is a hint of lag every time you have too many elements on screen and controls are difficult. That said, the game plays well on my PS3 so there is no issues there.

Conclusion

Sine Mora rocks. Even though Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture have put their best coders in place to make the transition from one platform to another, the sad part of it is that that the original cutscenes are all voiced in Hungarian, with accompanying English or Japanese subtitles. That said, it doesn't really spoil the game in anyway since the story isn't exactly compelling to begin with.

What makes the game work is the great graphics and excellent gameplay. The weapon combinations and upgrades you have at you disposal is just too damn useful to ignore. And like some of the old arcade shooters, the Big Bosses at each level require some brains to defeat and dexterity alone isn't going to save you. In other words, it is a throwback to the good old retro days of arcade gaming. Wicked indeed.

Sine Mora on PS3rating 

Categories: action, arcade, scroller, shoot'em up

Elder Scrolls Online QuakeCon 2013

QuakeCon, hailed as the largest LAN party in North America, kicked off recently, and since MMO fans have been clamoring for some uninterrupted Elder Scrolls Online gameplay, ZeniMax chose QuakeCon as the venue to show off its latest addition to the Elder Scrolls franchise. Those present at the show were, Peter Hines, Vice President of marketing, Paul Sage, creative director and Nick Konkle, gameplay lead.

20 minutes of Elder Scrolls Online gameplay at QuakeCon 2013.

Notes from Livestream courtesy of Joystiq

Mouselook is always on.
Left click to attack; hold down for heavy attack. Right click to block.The compass sits at the top of the UI, showing POIs.
When you join a guild, you gain skill lines. Each class has three skill lines. Paul Sage: "You can make skills behave the way you want it to behave."
Game is fully-voiced.
Crouch/stealth mechanics and easy weapon swapping demonstrated. Any class can use any armor or any weapon.
Paul Sage: "When you discover new things, you get experience for that."
Easy travel to group in a safe location near your groupmates.
Three skyshards grant you a new ability.
It looked as if you could use a bow and magic at the same time. Weapon swapping really easy.
Game gives the player a heroic feel by fighting multiple enemies at one time.
No fighting over loot because it's instanced to each player.
Nick Konkle plays a Templar. Roles can be switched by switching weapons. "You play the role you want to play," reiterates Paul Sage.
NPCs work together. If one NPC drops blue oil, another might set it on fire. They work together against your party.
Soul gems allows you to rez your teammates or rez yourself. Every time you die, your armor degrades.
NPCs can work with your group.
Mudcrabs confirmed!

The game is due to release in Spring 2014 on PC, Mac, XboxOne, and PlayStation 4. Sign up for beta. And that's it!

Categories: Bethesda, Elder Scrolls Online, QuakeCon 2013, ZeniMax