his week we talk about the Penny Arcade podcast Kickstarter campaign and whether or not they should be using Kickstarter to fun a podcast.  We also discuss the upcoming NVIDIA Shield handheld console, a follow up to our “Girl Games” discussion from a few weeks ago, ProjectRED’s release of their REDkit development suite, and Sony’s annoucement of Gran Turismo 6. Will it be released when they say it will? We doubt it.  We also find out what actually happened with Silicon Knights and rejoice over EA’s discontinuation of the Online Pass.

With Microsoft’s Xbox Reveal coming up very soon, Jeff and Sean talk about what their greatest fears and greatest hopes are for the announcement.  In less than a week, we’ll know more about what we’ve been eagerly anticipating.  Will we be amazed or let down? Time will tell.  For now, we can only hope and dream, and fear a little bit too.

Finally we finish of the episode with a review of Mars War Logs, a new Action RPG from Spiders Studios.

The Stuff we Like to talk about

• Penny Arcade “Downloadable Content” Podcast Kickstarter
• Twitch.TV app comes to Xbox – getting ready for the future?
• NVIDIA Shield details
• WB and TT Games announces LEGO Friends for 3DS & DS
• ProjectRED releases REDkit for free – develop your own non-linear RPGs
• Gran Turismo 6 coming this holiday – yeah right
• Ding dong, the witch is dead. EA to discontinue the Online Pass.
• So Silicon Knights is OUT OF HERE. Kinda. It’s a strange story.

Game Review

• Mars War Logs – Developed by Spiders Studio

The Usual

• Twitter: @TheOMGHour  |  @OMGNexus  |  @Xiantayne  |  @Sinnix
• Feedback/questions: TheOMGHour@gmail.com
• Website: www.omgnexus.com

 Subscribe to the Podcast

• iTunes
• Direct Feed
• Download this episode (right click and save)

n any typical tower defense game, players are tasked with strategically placing defensive towers along a set path in an effort to stop the enemies from reaching their destinations. Some games have even taken that concept to another level by adding a first person perspective to the genre, putting players directly into the action.  What if the tides were turned? What if we were those pesky nuisances trying to reach our destination amid streets full of defensive towers and an onslaught of firepower?  That was the concept behind 11 Bit Studios‘ 2011 critically acclaimed title Anomaly Warzone Earth.  Now this same concept continues with several upgrades in Anomaly 2, an intriguing and simply fun T0wer Offence game.

Following the invasion of Earth in 2018, Anomaly 2 find humankind on the brink of extinction.  With the earth overrun by alien machines, a band of human resistance fighters form convoys to search the frozen tundra for food and supplies.  Except now they must fight the through the towers and enemy defences before reaching their goal.

Anomaly 2 is divided in to a series of increasingly difficult maps just like any other tower defence game. Players control a single on-field commander in charge of supporting the convoy as they travel from one end of the map to another while attempting to take down all the enemy towers.  The commander can drop down repair zones that heal the convoy as they pass through the zone, or even create a decoy zone that will draw the fire of the enemies away from the convoy.  As the game progresses, more commander abilities will be obtained, giving more assistance to the convoy.  In a wonderful new addition to the Anomaly series, not only do each of the convoy vehicles have distinctly different abilities such as long range ballistics or short range machine guns, but each also can transform into a powerful mech to deal much different damage to the enemies as the strategy calls for it.  The first vehicle available in the game, is your basic machine gun tank that increases its firing speed the longer it continues to fire, but, unfortunately, they can only target one enemy at a time. When the enemies line both sides of the street, however, it can morph into a mech that deals fire damage from both arms and can target two towers simultaneously.  It will take some quick thinking and even quicker reactions to get out of this situation in one piece.

Click to view slideshow.

Before each missions begins, the player is presented with an overview of the upcoming map and is given the opportunity to select the route to travel.  While some enemy towers will be visible during this phase, enemies will still appear after the convoy has begun its journey.  This map is accessible at anytime, even during the missions, and the route can be configured on the fly should you realize your convoy needs to take a different route, or perhaps you’re feeling lucky and simply want to eliminate every enemy tower on the map before hitting the goal.  During the missions, the player can also increase the size of their convoy, up to six vehicles, by picking up currency units along the paths and buying new units or upgrading existing ones.

A multiplayer experience is new to the Anomaly series and now players can pit themselves against friends in a Tower Defence vs. Tower Offence strategy.  One player takes on the role of the aliens as they dot the landscape with towers while the other player builds their convoy to take down their partner’s creations.  It is a wholly unique take on multiplayer gaming and should prove to be an incredibly fun challenge for both parties.

Anomaly 2 contains a beautifully rendered landscape with intense action and even more immense tactical planning.  Fans of the tower defence genre will have an absolute blast turning the tables and playing on the ground instead of planting the towers.  This is a game that can be played one level at a time but, if you’re anything like me, you will find yourself not wanting to put the game down anytime soon.  This is RTS Tower Offense at its finest.

11 Bit Studios, I gave you an hour and I am IMPRESSED.

hen financial troubles took THQ through bankruptcy, developer Deep Silver’s game, Metro: Last Light, hung in the balance.  Uncertainly was abound as to whether or not the sequel to Metro 2033 would ever see the light of day.  When all was said and done, THQ assets were dissolved and bought by other publishers, and Deep Silver found a new home in Koch Media, providing renewed life for Metro: Last Light.  Already nearly completed at that time, the finishing touches were applied and now the game finally finds its way onto retail shelves but how does it stack up?  We sat down with the game for our obligatory hour to see how it impressed upon us.

Having never played the original Metro 2033, I went into this sequel with an open mind and with some, albiet brief, experience from my hands-on time at PAX East 2012.  Since the PAX east gameplaywas in a later stage of the game, I was left still unfamiliar with the basic story or who I was in the game.  Metro: Last Light does a great job introducing the post-apocalyptic world to players who may not have experience the original title through narrative as told by the player character, a survivor of the world’s nuclear destruction, now a newly appointed Ranger in the Russian militia.  On his first mission to intercept and kill the last known “Dark One”, a survivor of the first game’s ending, our hero is captured by the Reich (the new Nazi Regime) and must fight for his life and find his way back home.

Although the game is a First Person Shooter, players can opt to take on a stealthy approach to each level.  Shooting out light bulbs, shutting down breaker panels, and silently eliminating the enemies, players could, potentially, complete each area without ever being seen.  As a fan of the stealth approach to gaming, I found this especially intriguing and very well executed.  Even in times where the enemies spotted me, I was still able to find cover and hide again as levels are uniquely designed to allow for cover and stealth.  Of course, this is only true when dealing with the human element.  Once the mutant elements of the game are encountered, it’s an all out fight for your life.

Click to view slideshow.

In an intriguing twist of gameplay, where the player can sneak through the dark to silently eliminate human targets, it is the light that the player will cling to when it comes to dealing with the spider-like denizens of the catacombs.  It is in areas like this where being afraid of the dark is, indeed, justified.  Light will become the players’ best friend as these creatures flee from the light and are even killed, Alan Wake style, by the light.

Metro: Last Light’s story is told in small chapters that run between 10 and 30 minutes each, depending on whether or not you choose a stealth approach.  Between each chapter, the story progresses through the antagonist’s diary entries and sets the scene for the next area.  With these smaller, self contained, chapters, Metro: Last Light is the perfect game to spend a few minutes with each night or an entire evening.  Those with limited time on their hands can still feel like they are able to accomplish something before having to put the game down.  My time with the game at PAX East, back in March, did not prepare me for what I experienced here.  I was thrown into a stage much later in the game, unprepared.  I came out of there not really  sure how I felt about the game.  Now, having been able to start the game from the beginning, it seems like I’m playing a different, and much better, game.

Metro: Last Light brings elements from several different genres together in a way that simply works.  The stealth aspect plays very well with plenty of hiding spaces available and darkness to hide in;  the FPS elements feel good with tight, precise controls. while the catacombs instill a fear akin to a great survival horror, where staying in the light is all you want to do.  FPS action, stealth strategy, and survival horror combined together with the short, concise chapters, great post-apocalyptic imagery, and intriguing story, into one satisfying experience that never borders on the repetitive.  Deep Silver has crafted something truly special here.

Deep Silver, I gave you an hour and I am IMPRESSED.

his week we talk about the latest news about EA aquiring the Star War gaming license, the lack of Wii U support from 3rd party developers, Eternal Darkness’ spiritual successor, World of Warcraft loses 1.3 million players, and, finally, Sony’s commitment to indie developers.  Next Gen Rumour Roundup features discussions about Xbox Fusion. Could this be the name of our next console? We also discuss the confirmation that the Next Xbox will still work when you internet doesn’t and Sean gets excited about Microsoft IllumiRoom.  Finally, we have a great interview with Mark McKinnon, a local game developer who is just finishing up a Kickstarter Campaign for his tabletop game, Upon a Fable.

The Stuff We Like to Talk About

• EA signs exclusive deal with Disney for Star Wars games
• Top 5 Star Wars Skyrim Mods
• IGN: 9 minutes of Shadows of the Eternals – spiritual successor to GameCube’s Eternal Darkness
• Just Cause developer says Wii U Dev Kit is “collecting dust”
• EA Announces Sims 4 – says it will have offline single player gameplay.  LOL
• World of Warcraft drops by 1.3 million subs in three months
• Sony continues to ‘get serious’ about indie devs, drops publishing fee for Sony Mobile and Vita

Next Gen Rumour Roundup

• Microsoft registers XboxFusion URLs
• Next Xbox will work even when your Internet doesn’t
• Microsoft Illumiroom – so frakin’ cool

Interview

• Upon a Fable developer, Mark MacKinnon

The Usual

• Twitter: @TheOMGHour  |  @OMGNexus  |  @Xiantayne  |  @Sinnix
• Feedback/questions: TheOMGHour@gmail.com
• Website: www.omgnexus.com

 Subscribe to the Podcast

• iTunes
• Direct Feed
• Download this episode (right click and save)

oul Sacrifice, developed by Sony’s Japan Studio, is a game that just seemed to come out of nowhere. Until the day of its release, I had neither seen nor heard anything about it.  What this game presented is something I am still trying to wrap my head around.  It is like nothing I’ve every played before.

Soul Sacrifice takes the player on a journey through the past life of now powerful sorcerer told through the written words of that sorcerer.  As the player reads the chapters from a living tome (the book itself is actually alive and continues to instruct and help the player along), the life of the sorcerer in the story is played out.  Players can customize their character and make choices throughout the story that will guide the story along.  Choosing whether or not to Punish or Save creatures after they are defeated will reward the player with magic or life points, while choosing to Punish or Save the defeated bosses will alter the actual story.

The chapters play out in simple, isolated levels like arenas.  The player chooses the chapter, selects the spells to equip and then ventures into the arena to defeat multiple creatures or a big boss.  That’s it.  Really, there’s nothing more to it.  Sure, with each chapter completed, the player will become more powerful as the story becomes a training ground for the player before attempting to confront and, ultimately, defeat the biggest baddie of all.  Ultimately, however, there’s nothing more to Soul Sacrifice than defeating some enemies in a small enclosed arena over and over again.

Click to view slideshow.

Visually, this game is stunning and the creatures are all uniquely designed, but everything about this game is muted in very dark overtones and never seems to let up on the dreariness.  There is a sense of foreboding in the game that never loosens its grip and nearly becomes depressing after long play sessions.  The cryptic tutorial screens don’t alleviate the confusion the game exudes and the player is left trying to figure things out on the fly, sometimes to their detriment.  In one particular chapter, I had equipped some new spells to try out but what I didn’t understand was the fact that spells don’t last forever; they actually wear out leaving the player with nothing left to cast.  With no way to recharge the spells, I was forced to quite the chapter before completing it because I had nothing left with which to fight.  The game leads towards a button masher approach to fighting since the player has no idea how close to death the enemies are. With no visual indication of the enemies’ health, there is no inherent strategy that could be concocted during battles. This was especially irritating during boss battles since they just go on forever, again with no indication of how close you are to finishing it.

In another bizarre twist, Soul Sacrifice has some of the most hauntingly beautiful classical music I have ever heard in a game.  The music is wonderful, but somehow just seems to be an abstract opposite to the game itself.  Dark, foreboding evil offset by sweeping, epic orchestral pieces simply flies in the face of sanity.

Ultimately Soul Sacrifice will be a hit among players who don’t mind constant and repetitive grinding to obtain better weapons and increased levels, but there’s not much else presented in this game.  The gameplay gets tired quickly and no amount interesting story telling is going to alleviate  the repetition.  While the game does allow up to four players to grind together, the gameplay remains relatively unchanged, even if it is a little more fun to play with others.  Even after all the available tutorials, and several chapters of the story, I simply don’t get it.

SCE Japan Studio, I gave you an hour and I am NOT IMPRESSED.

ot only is this our big 50th episode, we also celebrate the one year anniversary of the show.  To help us celebrate, a long lost, familiar, voice joins us for the entirety of the show.  Besides talking about our latest gaming adventures, we do a quick recap of the very first episode to see where we were a year ago.  Talk then moves on to the latest news and the latest rumours about the Next Xbox.  What does Microsoft have to pull out of their hats to best Sony’s PS4 announcement in February? This is the main topic of discussion today.  Also: we give away, live on-aire, the Epic Rare Drop Loot Chest. One lucky winner takes home the prize!  Thanks for all our listeners over the past year and we hope you’ll stick around for another great year ahead.

The Stuff We Like to Talk About

• Game Dev Tycoon proves how piracy hurts developers: http://www.greenheartgames.com/blog/
• So now game developers are being sued for bad games. Gearbox and Sega falsely advertised Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Super Retro Trio console plays NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis games. Is only $69.99
• Star Citizen funding breaks $9 million

Next Gen Rumour Roundup

• Call of Duty: Ghosts to be fully revealed with Next Gen Xbox Conference on May 21. Next gen Call of Duty confirmed?
• Curiosity End Set to Coincide with Xbox Reveal
• Polygon: Next Xbox Rethinks DRM, Achievements, and Xbox Live Friends

 Plugs

• Justin Amirkhani has a feature article on Polygon
• Really fun Browser based game: http://candies.aniwey.net

The Usual

• Twitter: @TheOMGHour  |  @OMGNexus  |  @Xiantayne  |  @Sinnix  |  @Talus
• Feedback/questions: TheOMGHour@gmail.com
• Website: www.omgnexus.com

 Subscribe to the Podcast

• iTunes
• Direct Feed
• Download this episode (right click and save)

ostalgia. There’s nothing quite like our fond memories of what once was even if it means viewing those memories through rose coloured glasses.  That which we remember affectionately usually doesn’t stand up to the test of time when we revisit the days of our youth.  Transformers and G.I. Joe cartoons, anyone?  While they may still be fun to return to from time to time, they’re usually much sillier than we ever remembered.  This is exactly what the developers at Ubisoft wanted to capture in their stand-alone DLC, Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon, based on last year’s award winning game, Far Cry 3.

Blood Dragon is a whole-hearted parody of 80′s pop culture, video games, and, most importantly, 80′s action movies.  While players can expect a near replica of the gameplay introducted in last year’s Far Cry 3, nothing about Blood Dragon can be taken seriously.  The game was designed to be an extremely silly and nostalgic romp through what the 80′s viewed as the future: 2007.  In a post apocalyptic world in which Toronto and most of Canada has been nuked, it is up to our hero, part man, part cyborg (like everyone else in the game), Rex “Power” Colt, to save the day from the Omega corporation, a seemingly unstoppable force of cyborg warriors hellbent on world domination.  Afterall, who didn’t want to control the world back in the 80′s, right?

Click to view slideshow.

Chock full of amazing one-liners, over the top action and more pup culture references than you can keep track of, Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon is simply more Far Cry 3 goodness but with a cheesy skin.  Well, okay, a cybernetic skin.  The neon-embued, over saturated world truly comes alive with the amazing retro soundtrack, complete with that decade’s favourite instrument: the synthesizer.  There’s even a hint of the Terminator theme music in there.  To top off this romp through the VHS inspired world, players will also encounter the titular Blood Dragons. Like everything else in this dystopian future of 2007, these Blood Dragons glow with neon colours and, to top off the cheesiness, they are Dragons with frickin’ laser beams.  Yes, they actually shoot laser beams from their eyes!

The 1980′s was a decade that most would like to forget ever happened.  The action movies, the Saturday morning cartoons, the big hair, neon, and synthesized music, all come alive in Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon.  If you grew up in this era, this is not a game you will want to miss.  Similar to 2009′s Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard which made fun of video games in general, Far Cry 3 makes fun of an entire decade and the pop culture that it spawned.

Ubisoft, I gave you and hour and I am IMPRESSED.

was about to begin writing my review for Warner Brothers’ latest foray into the DC Superhero and Fighting Game arena, Injustice: Gods Among Us, when I realized that I had already reviewed the game on our podcast, The OMG! Hour.  I saw this as an opportunity to try out a new form of review: the audio review.  The audio below is the snippet from Episode 48 of the podcast and is a good overview of the game and how it appeals to more than just the hardcore fighting fans.  Fans of DC Superheroes who are not necessarily adept at the fighter genre will still find a game worthy of their time.  So without further adieu, here is our first ever Audio Review for Injustice: Gods Among Us, developed by NetherRealm of Mortal Kombat fame.

Unlike other stealth games, players’ only means of attack will be a set of unique, upgradable, vampire powers.  Successfully eliminating enemies in the game in a variety of ways will net the player points to spend on their abilities. With powers such as Shadow Kill, a teleport coupled with an immediate kill, or Distract, causing enemies’ attention to turn to one area allowing the player safe passage behind them, Dark promises abilities that will satisfy both the action and the stealth players alike.

Graphically, Dark is taking on a cell shaded graphic novel style approach that, so far, seems to work for the game.  Even the cut scenes are told through static images and voice-overs.  The art style reminds me very much of Borderlands but without the use of bright colours since Dark is, as the title suggests, dark.

Although I did not have any hands-on time with the game, what I saw was looking fairly polished and seemed to control very well.  The stealth approach looked like it might be difficult to pull off successfully since enemies seemed to spot the player immediately instead of the typical “warning” time associated with recent stealth games such as Dishonored.  Dark is also marrying the stealth/action genre with the RPG genre with the added conversation trees that BioWare made famous in games such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

Altogether, Dark is looking to be an intriguing game and should give stealth/action fans something to look forward to when it releases this summer.

nce again we talked a bit longer than intended on this week’s news, so our main discussion was pushed to next week’s 50th Episode.  This week we talk about the direction Microsoft seems to be going with the Xbox platform (Pizza anyone?), and all about the latest acquisitions of THQ’s assets.  Nintendo, The Girl Scouts, EA Partners Program, and Nintendo’s pulling of their E3 press conference round out the discussion before the Next Gen Rumour Roundup, which includes the Virtual Boy version 2, otherwise known as the Oculus Rift, The OUYA Game Guy’s new YouTube videos, and Microsoft announcement on May 21st.

The Stuff We Like to Talk About

• New Pizza Hut App for Xbox
• THQ IP sale continues
• Girl Scouts gets it right, introduces “Game Developer Badge”
• Star Trek game is terrible.  And broken.
• More closures at EA
• Nintendo  isn’t doing E3 press conference

Next Gen Rumour Roundup

• Oculus Rift - http://www.oculusvr.com/
• Xbox Reveal: Tuesday, May 21st, 1pm EST online, LIVE, and Spike TV.
• New Xbox Rumours from Paul Thurrott:  IGN Xbox Rumours
• OUYA’s Game Guy, Bob Mills (@BawbMills) starts a series of “Inside OUYA” video on YouTube

The Usual

• Twitter: @TheOMGHour | @OMGNexus | @Xiantayne | @Sinnix
• Feedback/questions: TheOMGHour@gmail.com
• Website: www.omgnexus.com
• Facebook page: Give us a like at Facebook.com/OMGNexus

Subscribe to the Podcast

• iTunes
• Direct Feed
• Download this episode (right click and save)