SUNDAY
Hitman GO VR – Square Enix (PC)
I wish I got to have more time with this Oculus Rift exclusive by Square Enix, because I walked into the demo already a huge supporter of both the “Hitman GO” and “Lara Croft GO” mobile games. Their visual style is clean and vibrant, the puzzles are rewarding and mind boggling, and turn decisions of a quickly paced action scene into a slow moving brain teaser. “Hitman GO VR” expands on this, and almost makes me wish the software came bundled with real, physical maps, as you move your Hitman pawn around a board, avoiding guards like a very streamlined, stealthy game of chess. The developers intended this feeling, as each guard you knock out (either from the back or the side of him) gets placed on the ground on the side of the board. The opening chapters may feel familiar to gamers who have played that Hyrule Castle section in the opening of “Ocarina of Time,” and “Hitman GO VR” does evoke this peacefulness as it teaches you the gameplay. However, once players hit chapter two, the sun goes down and the gameplay quickly evolves, introducing stones to throw as a distraction, keys to collect that are required to open doors and special two-way trap doors, all of which are contained within both chess board and doll house styled maps that can be rotated and viewed by the player wearing the Oculus Rift any way they wish, primarily with their head on the gyroscope, but also with the right stick and the left and right triggers. It’s a fun, immersive way to strategize, and the focus on the board didn’t nauseate me outside of the points that the game was forced to lag, therefore causing the frame rate to skip a few beats, but these connectivity issues will be worked out over time.
Super Senso – Turbo Studios (iOS, Android)
A mobile game that provides players with a tactical Real Time Strategy playstyle across multiple maps with a massive variety pop culture themed tanks and mechs (your Senso) to power your campaign, or in Player v. Player. The existing game series that this is most comparable to is the Advances Wars, where not just your placement of your army is important, but the timing, and abilities that you use are equally a factor as you score points to achieve destructive powers the likes of an orbital strike on your enemy’s army. The game will launch for Android and iOS, and the beta can be signed up for at www.supersenso.com
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGohb2vi3uw?rel=0]
Let It Die – Suda51, Grasshopper Manufacture. GungHo (PS4)
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All of the die hards are going to hate that I played this before them, because it was my first time ever playing a game by Suda51. I’ve been meaning to play “No More Heroes, Killer Is Dead,” etc. for years and just never got around to it. Well damn, now that I truly understand just how bonkers Goichi Suda is, that backlog list just might have to change, because this man is enjoyably MAD. Knowing nothing about the game other than a fabulous grim reaper, and a girl dressed up as though Pokemon had an insurance agency, lurking outside of the booth, I get the controller in my hand and discover I’m playing a game that looks like if The Joker was the lead director of “Dark Souls”. I begin as a man sitting in his underwear in a deserted carnival, and I wander and punch until I discover the path to the demo’s respective boss battle. All the while collecting equipment and items along the way. The game and its User Interface are clearly is still in development, as a lot of players had yet to figure out the inventory and items management, thusly not thinking “hm, is this guy supposed to be wearing any pants?” However, once I got the hang of equipping items both from the ground and from the menu, the quick select of up to THREE items PER HAND, and some quite satisfying RAGE attacks achieved with the triangle button, I felt pretty well equipped to take on the boss. Except I wasn’t. Because I’m bad at video games. Especially “Dark Souls”-type games. Despite this, I had a whole lot of fun with my brief moments playing “Let It Die.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVsqIalIoXs?rel=0]
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