After years of HD remakes, Square Enix announced their next instalment to the Kingdom Hearts series, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue a few months ago; and we were fortunate to have the chance to try one of the games in the collection at PAX Australia: Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage. Note, this hands on experience will feature spoilers from Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. The game […]
The mining boom is over, the one percent have profited and have left, and the colony of New Providence is to be shut down by the administrators. But with only one Earth-bound ship about to depart, and everyone is fighting for a ticket to escape the planet – your mission in Ticket to Earth is to fight for justice. Ticket to Earth, developed by Melbourne-based studio Robot Circus, is a mashup between a sci-fi […]
As part of PAX Australia’s Indie Showcase, 100 Stones Interactive were on display with their upcoming adventure-puzzle game – The Eyes of Ara. The game takes place within a castle on a small secluded island, where the player has to explore and uncover the hidden mystery within. The game itself has a strong astrology/astronomy-centred theme, where most of the puzzles featured the western zodiacs and known space nebula. We had the opportunity to […]
Brief Battles, as the title suggests, is a fast-paced 2.5D platforming multiplayer game that sees you and your friends battling out for supremacy. Your weapons come from whatever underwear you find on the map and use – such as toxic goo pants, flaming hot tightie whities, and “buns of steel”. Given the fast-pace nature and each round is usually one minute long, gameplay is simple. You essentially mash buttons to […]
When someone asks me if video games can be art, I will definitely be pointing them towards The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti. Developed by the Melbourne-based studio Beethoven & Dinosaur, the game can simply be described – by one person in the team to me – as “‘if David Bowie was reincarnated as Ziggy Stardust.” The game revolves around Francis Vendetti, a folk singer who is the nephew of folk music […]
Can you beat your friends in a western-style duel by pressing a random string of ten buttons the fastest? That’s the challenge from Western Press, a new multiplayer game from the Melbourne-based Bandit-1 and distributed by Surprise Attack Games. Like many quick-fire multiplayer games we’ve seen at this year’s event, the gameplay in Western Press is very simple. You and your friend have a duel. You and your friend press a […]
While most indies are showing titles that are near completion, there are some that are showing games that are a long way from completion – which makes it harder to write about. One such example is D3BUG, a new game from Perth-based development studio Stirfire Studios (who also created Freedom Fall). D3BUG is a cyberpunk-inspired platformer where you have to go from point A to point B, avoiding any obstacles and monsters […]
I’m always a sucker for puzzle games at PAX Australia, so when I saw Mallow Drops (by Sydney-based development studio Gritfish) at this year’s PAX Rising section – I knew I had to go and try it out. I’m glad I did. And it’s not because they had marshmallows at their stall. Mallow Drops is a combination of a platformer and a sliding block puzzle game, and the gameplay is very easy to […]
For the past few years when covering PAX, we’ve never really ventured outside the video games section and covered the tabletop gaming section. Well, given the fact that PAX has now given it more prominence at this year’s event – we decided to take a look at what’s available. And one of the games that caught my eye was F–k the Game. It was probably the provocative title, but I am […]
During the opening ceremony at BlizzCon 2016, Blizzard Entertainment officially revealed their upcoming hero, Sombra, through an animated short. A notorious hacker from Mexico, Sombra is a powerful infiltrator armed with a machine pistol, who uses her hacking abilities to disrupt and weaken enemies. Her stealth and teleportation abilities also make it hard for enemies to pin her down, making her a powerful offense character. Her primary weapon is a Machine Pistol, that fires in a […]
Developed by Dinosaur Polo Club, Mini Metro introduces a minimalistic strategy simulation game, where you are tasked to build the most efficient subway system. You draw lines between each station, and are given limited resources, like extra trains and tunnels to add onto your system – you quickly understand the game’s objective of getting people (or shapes) where they need to be. The game uses simple colours and shapes that […]
One of the biggest annoyances about virtual reality is that you are tethered to a machine or console that is plugged to the wall, so you are only limited to how long your cable is. At PAX Australia this year, MSI may have come up with a solution – by putting the machine on your back. Built in partnership with HTC, the VR One features an overclocked Intel Core i7 processor and […]
Nintendo have finally revealed their new gaming system, called the Nintendo Switch. Codenamed NX for the past year, it was rumoured that Nintendo’s new console would be a modular console-portable hybrid, that would use cartridges instead of discs, Nintendo have given us a first look at the system in a 3 minute video, and it pretty much confirms that it will work as a stationary home console, AND a portable handheld device. The […]
Games With Gold is still going strong, with another batch of free games for Xbox One and Xbox 360 this October, only available to Xbox Live Gold members. (Links are directed to AU Xbox store) On Xbox One, players can download Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings ($26.95) for free during the month of October. The Escapists ($26.95) will be available for free, from October 16th to November 15th. On Xbox 360, MX vs ATV Reflex ($49.95) will […]
The Pokemon Company continue to shower us with Pokemon Sun and Moon information, revealing even more new Pokemon and features. This time, we get to see version exclusive Pokemon, an improved grooming feature called ‘Pokemon Refresh’ and a glimpse at character customisation. Passimian is a FIghting-type Pokemon with a new ability called Receiver – this Pokémon can inherit the Ability of an ally who faints in battle. Passimian is exclusive to Pokemon Sun. Oranguru is […]