With the release of Nintendo’s Metroid Prime: Federation Force set for just under two months away, the Japanese website has launched. Included is a lengthy gameplay promo video for the game.
The video showcases a lot of the in game look to the game, as well as detailing a lot of how the game will look once it launches. Blast Ball is also Blast Ball.
The video also briefly mentions some of the amiibo functionality, with Samus and Zero Suit Samus amiibo shown.
Check out the video below. Metroid Prime: Federation Force is set to be released in North America on August 19th.
With only one week until launch we now have a character spotlight focused on everyone’s favorite new Dark Side apprentice, Kylo Ren! He is still an apprentice, right? Anyway, you can check out the action below and be sure to tune in later for Darkain Arts Gamers coverage of the LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens event at Toronto’s Roger’s Centre last night!
Remember, LEGO The Force Awakens releases on June 28th! Next Tuesday you can learn more about the storyline around the new Star Wars movies!
It is all too easy to lose sight of news post E3 and just talk about all of the amazing games you played, things you saw, and stuff you did. However something as important as this shouldn’t be ignored. Titan Fall was a good shooter, its lack of campaign kept it back from being great, and it had a few mechanics that needed tweaking, but it introduced several elements that most modern shooters now emulate. So good was it that even with lack luster sales on PC and a fan base that cried for a single player experience in its rich world it is still getting a sequel. Rae and I both got to play that sequel at EA’s fanfest, and we will bring you a review when its out, you can read the preview here. Now I fully expected EA and Respawn to fuck up the sequel with that oh so EA day one DLC. So you can imagine my surprise when last week it was annoucned that all of the DLC for the game would be free.
During EA play Titanfall 2’s lead programmer Jon Shiring said: all of Titanfall 2’s maps and modes will be free. “One of our lessons is we’re not gonna sell maps anymore,” Shiring says. “All the modes and maps coming to Titanfall 2 after release will all be free.”
Well that awesome I thought at the time, and well still mostly do. Now we are getting a little bit more detail about what really went in to that decision. Vince Zampella head of Respwan entertainment said yesterday: “We still want to provide post launch content because people want it, but it’s not free to do. If we’re going to support the game, that costs money. The specifics aren’t nailed down yet, which is why it’s really hard to talk about it, but the smart money would seem to be on paid DLC that won’t keep people from playing together if they don’t all have it: cosmetic items, boosts, and that sort of thing.”
I have never minded cosmetic DLC, and find that I even end up buying some usually, especially if it has that cool element of gambling or randomness like crates in Overwatch, or cases in CS:GO. I guess we wont know what exactly the DLC model will be until Titanfall 2 comes out on Octobter 28, but we do know it wont involve maps or game mode, so good on you Vince and EA.
The man behind Microsoft’s chainsaw wielding Gears of War franchise, Cliff Bleszinski left Epic Games back in 2012 but he hasn’t been sitting idle in the subsequent four years. He’s formed a new studio, BossKey, and they brought an alpha version of their upcoming arena shooter Lawbreakers with them to Los Angeles last week. After playing several rounds of this in your face shooter at E3 with the development team and quite a few hours with the Friends & Family alpha at home, I’m here to tell you how CliffyB is about to come back in a big way!
Lawbreakers is a role-based first person shooter with a focus on vertical gameplay built using the Unreal 4 engine. Just like the other titles that ClifyBhas had a hand in creating, the combat in this game is frantic, somewhat twitchy and gorier than most R rated movies. The emphasis on verticality during combat isn’t just a bullet point on some press-release, it is essential to succeeding in Lawbreakers. During a match it isn’t uncommon to watch your foes & teammates swing across the map, jetpack around objectives and slam downard onto the ground in the middle of a pack of rivals. Freedom of movement and quick speed are core gameplay components to what sets Lawbreakers apart from other role-based shooters.
Players should be fully aware that CliffyB’s trademark ‘*%#$% you’ attitude is all over the world of Lawbreakers, and especially within the personalities of the characters. The grey and brown pallets from Gears of War and other interactive experiences that Cliffy has had a say in are replaced with bright particle effects, colorful textures and wonderfully rendered explosions. I suppose there is a bit of juxtaposition between the bright graphics and watching your shaved head, rocket slinging character telling the competition that she is going to ‘fucking kill you all’. The whole aesthetic package feels like that trademark rough attitude combined with brighter colors that we’ve seen from other role based shooters.
Each team in Lawbreakers is comprised of four separate roles, from which teams can mix & match and swap at any point upon death. Unlike a competing game like Overwatch role switching, at least based upon the several hours I have spent with the game, is more about finding roles that you are comfortable with rather than reacting to your opponent’s strategy. Here is a brief rundown of all four available roles:
Assassins – Agile and able to swing long distances across the map, Assassins are able to deal damage using two sharpened blades and a powerful energy shotgun for up close encounters. The fast paced grappling hook can be used to not only to escape heavy firefights but also to pull yourself toward weakened foes to land the killing blow.
Enforcers – If you’re looking for a run and gun class perhaps you should consider the enforcers. They carry a standard issue assault rifle but for all that they lack in unique or powerful weapons they gain in support abilities. Enforcers are able to speed up time itself around friendly targets, they can also use an electromagnetic charge to disable opponents. An enforcer’s ultimate allow them to unleash a powerful rocket attack.
Titans – Best described as the “tankiest” role that Lawbreakers has to offer the Titans are all about taking as much punishment as possible and dishing out just as much pain in return. They are armed with both a chain lightning gun and a hammerhead rocket launcher to decimate their foes. A Titan’s ultimate unleashes a torrent of built-up electrical energy burning any enemies in their path.
Vanguards – Want to take to the skies? The Vanguard is the class for the aspiring pilots everywhere, with their jetpack allowing them to thrust forward at great speed towards the battle. In terms of armaments the Vanguards use a poweful chaingun as their primary weapon, with a hand-mounted pulse blast as their backup. A Vanguard’s ultimate allows them to unleash a targeted mid range missile blast which is almost always a one hit kill.
During E3 we played a brand new mode that tasked both teams with capturing control points that would randomly spawn around the map. The team that captured the most points out of a set of best of 3 would win the round, these control points really emphasized the frantic vertical nature of Lawbreaker‘sfirst person combat. Another mode, Battery, was available during the Friends and Family alpha that was held over Steam this past weekend. Each of these modes allow players to think strategically and try out their favorite roles in different ways. Folks from Nexxon have assured us that Lawbreakers will not be a free-to-play title and will not be a $59.99 USD release – it will enter Early Access after several more alpha tests over the course of the summer.
