Month: April 2017

Redout: Enhanced edition. Zooming out soon

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Redout is a fast paced multiplayer racing game, developed by ’34BigThings srl’. It is already out on PC but Redout enhanced edition will be coming to consoles May 30th we heard. This game was made as a tribute to old racing games like ‘F-zero’. So already you know what Redout enhanced edition is all about. Extreme speed!

The developers said on their website,”The floating system and driving models are based on physics: each turn, slope, hard braking, acceleration, each turn and twist of the track will apply a unique force to the ship”. Basically they are aiming to create fast, serious driving experience. So this is far from a simple racing game. Every bump, clash and crash will have some real effect on your vehicle. This game was created using the unreal Engine 4.

Firstly there is the career mode which has over 100 events to race. As you race and progress you level up and can upgrade your ship. There are 25 all around in 5 different locations set in a post apocalyptic earth. To make things crazier, there are some boss circuits. We hope they are like the boss battles in ‘Drome racers’. That was a great game. Hopefully it will be a 1v1 with a powerful racer. There are 6 racing teams and each one has a different style. We believe it’s best to master them all.

This game does bring some variety to the racing but we hope there are more diverse modes though. There is Classic race, Arena race and Score based endurance. Will there be modes that are battle styles with weapons or is it strictly racing? Both are good depending on what the game is aiming for. This game has some large multiplayer though which for game like this is essential. You play against 12 players. There is more than 10 powerups like advanced grip system, self repair drones, additional turbo, slipstream enhancers, shields and more. The interesting part is that these powerups are upgradable. So most likely things like level 3 shields which will absorb more damage.

The developers said, “full 5.1 support and a dynamic soundtrack that will drop sicker and sicker beats the faster you go”. That’s one way of putting it. So better tunes the faster you go? We like the sounds of that. What’s very interesting and will make things very intense for some gamers is the fact that Redout enhanced is compatible with VR. So if you have a Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or Razer OSVR then put that on and take your racing to another level.

The developers have stated that Redout enhanced edition is the fastest game ever made. Your vehicle can go at 800km/h which is pretty fast if you ask us. Could you handle those speeds and the magnetic forces working on your vehicle. The graphics are excellent and the sounds are very great.

Overall Redout enchanced edition looks like an excellent game. The enhanced edition will be even better. From some gameplay the racing looks intense. The developers ’34BigThings srl’ a very good job with this game. It’s definitely worth checking out. Can you handle the speed? The real question is whether you can do the ‘Earth Walk!’

For more information check out the link below:

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Radian games Crossfire 2. Awesome and underrated

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Radian games ‘Crossfire 2’ is one of those games that are awesome and made excellently but never got the love it deserved. I believe the name of the game got changed to ‘Super Crossfire 2’. X35 Earthwalker played this game way back on his Xbox 360. It’s such a shame that not as many gamers as you think had this game.

Straight from the title screen, you just know that this game has got some tunes. The beat is there and it gives the impression that the game has got some action to it. Thankfully it does. Seriously, you have to listen to that music. This game isn’t that deep and complex. It’s actually quite simple with a few game modes: Conquest, Conquest plus and Score attack. Conquest is the main story where you take on 60 waves across 3 different planets. There is a check point every 10 waves but you can heal and upgrade every two waves. Score attack is where you take on 30 repeated levels but they get increasingly harder and you can heal and upgrade every ten levels. Conquest plus is where things get real crazy. Here you will go through the same as Conquest except harder. Much harder.

Crossfire 2 is all about watching everything that’s happening on the screen and those reflexes. If you can’t do both then you will have a hard and time and forget about Conquest plus. You control a small ship and you must blast away the aliens, space invaders style, and stay alive. The game takes things to the next level with your special ability to jump between the top and bottom of the screen. This should be done to avoid bullets or get behind aliens to shoot them in a weak spot or other to force some aliens to direct their attention. The aliens are pretty much always firing and the different types of aliens being there all at once is where all the difficulty comes from. The orange/red pointed alien can fire in the direction it faces. The purple ones that have three segments poking out of it don’t need to face a direction as they can fire both up and down. Also if you jump then they reappear in a different spot. The almost square alien with a large central eye shows his targeting laser and then like a second later fires a dangerous beam exactly where that laser is. There are aliens that makes surrounding aliens invulnerable, others project a filed that if you are in, you can’t jump. There are aliens that explode upon death and release many dangerous projectiles which can be hard to dodge. The worse part is that there are also bigger versions of some aliens who have more health and more dangerous.

When you get to the upgrades screen you instantly get your health replenished. Here you can also spend upgrade points to improve your ship which is something that you need to do. There are upgrades that affect your: ship, shots and superfire. It’s up to you to decide what you need to focus on as you get 3 points every 2 waves so you have to decide what you need now. Prioritise. For example you may decide to increase your ships health, speed and power of your shots making you a powerful solid ship. Or you may focus on increasing fire rate, speed of bullets and spread angle to make hitting the aliens easier than ever. It’s up to you. X35 Earthwalker himself always prioritised spread angle and number of shots first over everything else. He bothers with ship health much later as he believes, if you are good then you won’t get hit that much therefore not requiring increased health yet. See what works best for you though.

There are three difficulties in Crossfire 2: Trainee, hotshot and ace. We seriously don’t believe playing the first two modes are worth it. It’s too easy. Play through Conquest on Ace as it will prepare you for Conquest plus. Conquest plus is so hard that on one play through of it. We almost lost as we had one life left and just about beat it but that’s the thing about Crossfire 2 it can easily get intense. You will sit there watching the entire screen and trying to stay alive and dodge everything while knowing when to jump and use your superfire. By the way ‘Superfire’ is a special weapon which fires like a machine gun but with the power of a minigun. No alien can stay alive for long against it. You get ammunition for it by collecting the purple mini gem like objects that comes from dead aliens. Fill the meter up and let loose when you need it. The power ups in this game are game changers. There are 3. The purple one fully filles up your superfire meter. The yellow one grants temporary invincibility. The green literally slows down time considerably for you. All the aliens move sooooooo slow. So grab these when you can.

Co-op mode is available here. X35 Earthwalker has played with others before and it’s hilarious. The friend would die quite frequently because they struggle to watch everything that’s happening and dodge in time so X35 has to always bring them back at the upgrade screen. It’s so much fun. We will be jumping around, fire non stop and that’s what’s also difficult about this game. There are projectiles pretty much everywhere so some lose track of what’s going on and even lose where their ship is and finds it but only a few moments before it dies. 

Overall Crossfire 2 is an amazing game. The graphics are great. The music is great. The sounds are very good. The game could have been bigger but it originally was like an ios game for phones and tablets so it’s acceptable by those standards. It’s a great amount of fun, even to this day. The developers ‘Radian games’ did a fantastic job with this game. Just wished more people had it. This game is still worth checking out. Whether you think this game is great or not is not as important as thinking about… doing the ‘Earth Walk!’ 

For more information check out the link below:

 

Portal Knights. Crafting our adventure soon

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Portal knights is a sandbox action-RPG adventure developed by ‘Keen Games’ coming out May 19th for the Xbox One and PS4 but already out on PC. Some have described this game as minecraft but more RPG and adventure. Let’s see for ourselves.

The story in this game is that the world was peaceful but something happened and tore it apart by ‘The Fracture’ which plummeted the world into darkness. No one remembers how it has been since that happened. You, the player must be the hero and unite the shattered world. Be the portal knight. That’s basically it. Nice simple and that means we will have to craft out own adventure.

Now yes, straight away you as soon as you see the game, Minecraft will pop into your head, which is a good thing. This means crafting is a feature here. You can build your own base, castle, lair, hideout, it doesn’t matter. Just build yourself a mighty and spacious fortress to call your own. Level up your character as you go through the lands to become stronger and more of a force to be taken seriously. Your character has attributes like strength, wisdom, agility and more so decide what kind of character you want, whether tanky or mobility. 

There are many lands to explore and traverse. There are caves, lakes and dungeons. As you travel, collect resources for crafting. Battle many enemies with different weapons and spells. Study your enemies and learn when to attack and when to dodge. We heard the movements have been stepped up from the initial released game. Traditionally you can pick between: Mage, Ranger and Warrior. Customise your gear, appearance and abilities while also unlocking new abilities as you level up. Collect portal stone shards to build portal stones and build the portals which allow you to reach and travel to different areas.

Give your character some character (see what we did there?) with emotes like the one which shows your portal knight charging up with fire which does look cool. There’s another emote which makes your portal knight wave and do a little jump around. If that wasn’t enough then get your portal knight a pet. That’s right. Pet’s like a cat for example are ready to be owned. There are over 100 items to craft and you can even build furniture so why not get a fine couch to get lazy on after a hard fought battle. Just saying.

The biggest threats are the portal guardians. They are said to be huge, powerful epic bosses. We have seen a ice dragon, a giant ground catepillar like thing and more. The bosses are definitely huge indeed and look interesting. This shouldn’t be a problem though as Portal Knights is all about playing with your friends. as it’s 4 player co-op. You can team up with mates and work together to destroy the portal guardians, collect resources and build fortresses and giant structures together. 

We have checked out some gameplay and from what we have seen the game looks real cool. The worlds look very big and has a lot to explore. The attention to detail is very good. There is so much stuff in each world. Even the vegetation have a lot going on. The skies could look better though as they seem a bit grainy but that’s minor. The portal knights should move faster in our opinion. They are too slow. The environments have variety and look great. The battles seem easy to control and flows quite nicely. This is one of those games that you need to check out and see gameplay for yourself. The graphics are very good and some areas look nice and colourful. The sounds of the weapons, attacks, actions and enemies are all good. 

Overall this is definitely a good game and many gamers have good things to say about the original PC release. It looks fun and you can’t get mad at co-op. More games need this. Very glad that it’s now going to be available to console gamers, this means we can actually try the game ourselves. The developers ‘Keen Games’ did a very good job with this game. Portal Knights is worth checking out. Whether you like to craft or not… just make sure you do the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Defense Grid 2. Tactical battles

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Defense Grid 2 might is our favourite tower defense game. It could be the best we have ever played as well. We still play it and having lots of fun with it. This game certainly has quite the challenge factor to it. X35 Earthwalker himself is taking on the levels in ‘Elite’ difficulty. If in case you didn’t know Elite difficulty is where things get less fun and more difficult.

There are multiple factors to take into account when tackling this difficulty. In Elite, the aliens have even more strength than what they had in ‘Hard’ difficulty. The description even states that this mode requires both skill and tower items. This is also where more strategy is required. A more tactical approach to the levels. There are many towers to use, more tower items to give you the edge you need but more aliens that want your cores. Defense Grid 2 won’t go easy on any gamer who takes this challenge on.

Since in Defense Grid 2 you get to see what aliens are coming in the next wave you can make adjustments and plan to some extent to deal with them. This is a most. For example a certain level might spend the whole map throwing shielded enemies at you like the ‘Bulwark’ and ‘Spire’ so then make sure to have ‘Tesla’ towers spaced apart around the map to drain and destroy shields along the way especially since the Spire alien can project shields onto others. Some levels may have fast moving aliens like ‘Racer’ and ‘Rumbler’ which means get some ‘Laser’ towers out there as those aliens are weak against heat and lasers deal continuous damage over time. So yes countering aliens is one thing but having a lot of towers out there is always key. The more towers you have, the better things will be for you as you have more things dishing out damage regardless. So get lots out there while keeping counter towers in mind.

Tower items are one of the biggest additions to Defense Grid 2. Tower items once unlocked are items that add extra features to your towers. For example the ‘Gun’ tower could be equipped with ‘Chemical tipped bullets’ which inflicts 20% extra damage over time thanks to the chemical substance. ‘Shield piercing rounds’ allow bullets to pierce through shields and deal direct damage to aliens and priority target forces tower to target the strongest alien in the group instead of which ever comes first. There are items for each tower. Items can be upgraded as you play through the game. For example the inferno tower has the ‘Concentrated fire’ item but once upgraded to level 5 does 125% more damage which is huge. Things burn up and die good and proper. Pick the items that will help you tackle the types of aliens. For example the level ‘Suspension’ has so many shielded aliens so you might want to equip your: Gun with shield piercing rounds, Laser with shield piercer, Cannon with shield buster shells and Tesla with shield cracker. This makes majority of your towers haters of shields. No longer will you have to watch a shielded alien eat all your bullets and walk out with a core. We hate that!

Inferno towers should be used at tight corners where aliens can’t out-range it. Concussion towers should be placed in centrally tight areas where they cover the whole area. Cannons should be placed on back rows on ‘Boost’ platforms. Lasers must never be grouped together so spread them apart to keep the burning going. Guns must be in groups. Alone they don’t do anything at all. Missiles must be placed around the edge of the map as they do more damage the longer distance the missile travels. Tesla should be spaced out around the map to keep bringing down those shields aliens wherever they go. Meteor must be placed in the center of the maps so that they can hit everything thanks to that range they have.

Being honest we do feel that some of the towers aren’t as effective as they should be. For example in Defense Grid 1 we loved the Gun tower as they were actually towers that did well no matter what. The best thing was to have a temporal slow aliens down forcing them to crawl through a tunnel of level 3 (red) Gun towers which shreds through aliens. Now Gun towers feel really weak don’t seem to get the job done. The Cannon tower seems even worse. For example we have had level 3 Cannons, which aren’t cheap by the way, fire at simple Walker aliens and it does so little damage. This must be an error as when you check the stats it shows that cannons do really high damage. We don’t see it. Literally. We have been discouraged from using Guns and Cannons in Defense Grid 2 which is a huge shame as we loved them in the Defense Grid 1.

We will discuss more in later blogs but one last thing. The aliens have been giving X35 Earthwalker himself some trouble even with all the tower items he has. This shows that you need to play for a while to level up those tower items to even stand a chance. Maybe you are taking on Elite difficulty as well, whether you are or not… Just make sure to do the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Race The Sun. Racing to all soon

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Race The Sun technically isn’t a new game as it did come out in 2014 but we have never heard of it nor do we know anyone who has heard of it. Well now people will. Race the sun was developed by ‘Flippfly LLC’. This game is finally coming out to Xbox One on April 21st, meaning now everyone can get the game which is what they should have done before.

Race The Sun is classed as a endless running game. In the world of Race The Sun you control a solar craft and the sun is literally your “death timer”. Why? Well you are a solar craft and run on solar energy like the sun, so if the sun sets, you have no power and you lose. Yes this is a pointless struggle and you must delay the inevitable for as long as possible. This game isn’t easy as there are lots of obstacles that will get in your way and cause you to crash like falling pillars, pyramid shaped structures, rolling balls and more. What’s even better is that your solar craft moves at breakneck speed. You are literally zooming around so that means reflexes is the crucial skill here. If you don’t have that, then you are screwed. Along the way you will run pyramid shaped energy boosts which reverse the setting of the sun temporarily, buying you more time. The question is how long can you survive and how far can you get?

Simple make sure to do the following things: stay in the light at all times, never slow down regardless and off course don’t smack into something solid (crash). Easier said then done when the worlds are said to be random generated worlds that change every day. Now that’s not all this game is. There are objectives that once completed unlocks upgrades for your ship and levels it up. Level 25 is the maximum we believe. There are different attachments that will give you the edge you need like granting faster turning. Race The Sun has a feature that more games need, a built-in editor which you can use to create your own endless worlds. So have fun with that. There are world portals that will take you to other user-created worlds and thanks to the built-in editor you know there are some crazy designs out there. It is said that there is a mode that you must unlock called ‘Apocalypse’ which is a extremely hard world. Probably keeping the player alert at all times forcing them to never be able to look away.

From what we have seen of the game, it does look like a lot of fun. It is really fast, the design of the world do make Race The Sun quite challenging. The regions are quite diverse from each other which is great as we love variety. The power ups available make things interesting as there is one which grants the solar craft the ability to jump. This sounds simple but if you play the game you will see just how useful that it as you jump really high. It can get intense even to watch. We at X35 Earthwalker are already really interested in Race The Sun. The graphics are very good for a simple game. The sounds are good and the music is okay

Overall this is a really fun game. It’s challenging. Will make you want to take multiple tries and simple to understand. The developers ‘Flippfly LLC’ did a very great job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are really looking forward to seeing what ‘Race The Sun’ has got for us. It is worth checking out. Whether you can race the sun or not it doesn’t matter but what does matter is that… you do the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Outlast 2. This ain’t no joke

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Outlast 2 is the long awaited survival horror game sequel developed by ‘Red barrels’ coming out April 25th for Xbox One, PC and PS4. Outlast 2 is soon here. In a week in fact. Quite a few people have been talking about this game and their expectations. From what we have heard, this game isn’t a joke. 

In the world of Outlast 2 you control Blake Langermann. He is a camera man and he works with his wife, Lynn. By following clues they have come miles into the Arizona desert concerning the murder of a pregnant lady called ‘Jane Doe’. Why? Oh, that’s because Blake and Lynn are investigative journalists. Risking their lives to find the story behind the stories and uncover the truths. Basically doing stuff that no normal person would do. We are’t dissing, just saying, we aren’t going into the desert to investigate some murder but that’s the plot so let’s go with it.

Now some people have declared Outlast as the scariest game they have ever played. There are jump scares, sneaking, creep looking people, crazy people (it’s an asylum), a large humanoid monster that won’t stop following you like seriously why is it so persistent and much more. The game also centered around a cool mechanic where it’s really dark and in order to see, you will need to use your camera which has night vision. Kind of like in Doom 3 where you had to at multiple times switch between your gun and your flash light. This made the game more dreadful for some as using the camera consumes battery life. So when do you use the camera is up to you. There was one moment where a certain person was sneaking around, then stopped and decided to use his camera. He saw a threat dead right in front of him, which was a scary moment for him but a hilarious moment for us.

From what we have seen and heard concerning Outlast 2, the game looks like it going to take a darker and creepier turn. The location is dark and so not welcoming. The atmosphere seems to have been done right concerning the location. There is even a pit filled with the bodies of dead babies which must be one of the most disturbing things ever in video games. It’s obvious at this point that the fact that the murdered lady, Jane Doe, being pregnant is related to all this. In the demo you see a book, blood, a manger like thing and symbols. This has to be the work of a religious cult that apparently believes in killing babies and stuff. The whole evil religious cult theme has been done a lot over the years so let’s see if Outlast 2 gets it right as some have been too predictable or didn’t go big enough with it but a pit of dead bodies is considered a start for some. 

The game has more details than before as sounds have been carefully placed in like stepping on certain bodies produces a squishy fleshy noise which will disturb some weak stomach gamers. This game is literally out to scare people as they even have the instant look behind you button because we need a nice mug shot of whatever will be chasing us. Nice feature though, we actually like it. It’s always better to give options to gamers. We are interested to know more about that scythe wielding humanoid lady who has no problems ripping of a certain part of the main character in the demo (seriously go watch it for yourself). Here’s the thing though. X35 Earthwalker is one of those people who doesn’t get scared from these games. Whether it’s slender man, five nights at freddy’s and even dead space. It just doesn’t seem to work but he is looking forward to seeing what this game has in store.

Just to let you all know, also on the 25th of April ‘Outlast trinity’ will be coming out which is basically a physical collection of the Outlast series: Outlast, the Whistleblower DLC and Outlast II. Take note of this as when Outlast 2 comes out, it will come out digitally for the Xbox One, PC and PS4. So decide what type of copy you want.

Overall Outlast 2 looks great. They emphasise the importance of using cover effectively. The graphics are improved and look good. The sounds have been stepped up. The atmosphere in out opinion is very good indeed. If you want a survival horror game that will keep you focused, double checking corners and eventually scared to the point where you have to pause the game then this might be for you. The developers ‘Red barrels’ did a great job with this game. Keep it up guys. We at X35 Earthwalker are keeping an eye out to see what this game can do. This game is worth checking out. Whether you get scared or not, never be scared… to do the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Sensible gaming

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

X35 Earthwalker has been a gamer for many years now. Matter of fact he has been gaming since primary school. He still has memories of playing Halo for the first time after hearing so much about it from his friends. What we want to talk about today is sensible gaming. Video and computer games at the end of the day are for entertainment. Yet some gamers take it much further and too far. We have gamers today who spend far too much time playing games and less time on other important things. There are even some who have died because they sit still and play for hours instead of getting exercise. We aren’t saying all gamers are like this because we certainly aren’t. The point is games are fictional, they aren’t real life.

Playing video games doesn’t get you the grades in school, don’t get you a job (unless it’s a game tester but even then you do’t get that from sitting around) and don’t advance your life. Make sure you have balance to your life. Set time aside to focus on your career and any projects you have going on. Set time aside for exercise and activities, set time aside for meaningful things for family, friends (not online friends) and yourself. Set time for your gaming as well. We have to be sensible about this. Sensible gaming will make you better of.

X35 Earthwalker himself balances handling his business, personal life, activities and projects and ministry. He doesn’t get stressed and makes appropriate time for these things. Being organised and diligent is not just wise, but also what God told us to do. Even Moses asked God to teach us how to number our days (Psalm 90:12) which means how to be organised and plan our days. 

There are also some gamers who get too into games and when things go wrong, lose, or too difficult they rage and we mean they literally rage. They throw their controllers, they break their keyboards, knock over their chairs, smash their headphones, which by the way all costs quite a lot of money. Seriously it’s painful to watch. Don’t waste money like that. Those people need to know how to behave themselves. Such people even get racist and proper aggressive with others. I dare those same people to come and try that stuff with certain people on the streets and see what happens to them. That stuff is not sensible gaming. If you lose, it’s just a game. If you get wrecked or owned online well guess what? Everyone, even the best players (cough X35 Earthwalker cough) has had matches where everything went wrong. Just laugh at yourself and if you can’t put the game down for a while. Simple.

Don’t get us wrong. We are gamers we have spent hours playing games. We play all sorts of games. X35 Earthwalker himself has completed every Halo game solo in Legendary and every Gears of war game in insane as well. He has a high gamer score and has gotten insane moments like getting the quad and quinn in gears of war and even the unfriggenbelievable and killionaire in Halo. We aren’t dissing gamers at all. Sensible gaming is where you use your days smartly, where you don’t alienate yourself from your family, you don’t turn into a monster, you have fun and where you draw the line between fictional worlds and reality. This message is for gamers from us at X35 Earthwalker with love. 

So have fun and don’t forget to do the ‘Earth Walk!’

Wonder boy: The dragon’s trap. On it’s way

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is a new action adventure game developed by ‘Lizardcube’ is coming out April 18th for the Xbox One, PC Nintendo switch and PS4. The Wonder boy series continues. We personally have never heard of Wonder boy but this game ‘The Dragon’s trap’ has one game feature that instantly gets our attention.

In this game the main character (Hu-man) has been cursed by the Meka-Dragon. The curse made him into a half human, half lizard person-thing. Off course he isn’t happy like this so sets off to find a cure. You learn that the only way to turn back normal human is to find the ‘Salamander Cross’. The strange thing in Dragon’s trap is that this curse gets worse with every dragon the main character kills. He transforms into different animals each time.  

The locations in this game are said to be large and interconnected. Each location is filled filled with many monsters and dragons. If you don’t want Hu-man then you can play as Hu-girl. Eventually your character will transform into a: Mouse-man, Lion-man, Hawk-man, Lizard-man and Piranha-man. Each form has their own unique abilities which are needed to traverse and explore. So far we like Lizard-man the most.

The most interesting and coolest thing about this game is the feature allowing the player to switch between modern graphics and sound to 8-but graphics and sound whenever you want, this includes gameplay. This isn’t the first game to do this. Halo CE anniversary did this and it’s a awesome feature to have. With one click of the button you can see you could see how halo looked back then and then click again to see it with the modern high graphics. Same with this game. Check out Dragon’s trap trailers to see this for yourself. It’s very good and this alone makes Dragon’s trap stand out from other games.

We have checked out some gameplay and from what we have seen, it looks fun. The Mouse-man can cling to surfaces ad fun along them as if it was the ground. This game even has an cloud enemy. A cloud that wears sunglasses! It even tries to act cool. We are liking it the game already. There is a cyclops, skeletons and other weird looking enemies. The game works and flows very well. The graphics are good for it’s style and looks real friendly. The music is very well done and the sounds are good as well. The developers ‘Lizardcube’ have done well with this game. This might be worth checking out.

For more information check out the link below:

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Shiness: The lightning kingdom. Dynamic RPG

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Shiness: The lightning kingdom is a new RPG game developed by ‘Enigami’ coming out April 18th for the Xbox One, PC and PS4.  This game has already gotten awards concerning the ‘Games connection Europe 2014’ and more. You can see those and more on the steam page.

In shiness: the lightning kingdom you play as Chado and his crew in a universe that is said to be ‘doomed to destruction ever since the fragmentation of the planet Mahera’. So a dying world. There appears to be a war between different kingdoms where Chado and his companions (Poky, Kayenne, Askel and Rosalya) have landed. The first aim is to solve the problem. Possibly create peace between the kingdoms or maybe right the wrongs that one kingdom has done to another. Each of the five characters have different powers and you must know when to use each one to traverse the large world in this game. One character will have immense strength, another has telekenetic abilities. Yep ill be some magic and some straight up physical combat in Shiness the lightning kingdom.

The developers have said that Shiness the lighting kingdom offers players a great amount of freedom. Freedom in both combat and exploring. That is something that developers must take into consideration when making large games, RPG and also open world games. Some gamers like to just follow the story all the way through while others want to do things their ow way. Making sure their is a way to do both will always gain way more approval than disappointments. The elements that we all know: earth, fire, air, water etc are called ‘Shi elements’. So the fire Shi element character will use fire in some attacks but also will use it in more subtle ways like light a torch. The lightning kingdom being large also has objects and equipment for the player to find and use to increase your character stats. There are also parchments that contain new skills and abilities. This means that exploration should be included in your schedule while gaming. If we know RPG’s, and we think we do, there will be some large and powerful bosses that will be a real problem without a good amount of stat increases and abilities. Apparently some of the Shi elements can be combined for example air plus fire equals thunder. How interesting.

The developers have made it so that you can complete quests in more than one way. This is interesting as that has to mean that the different ways produce different outcomes which we at X35 Earthwalker believer will effect the story. We were correct as it has been confirmed that the decisions you make and the characters in your group will impact the rewards you will get and the main storyline. Remember this when you go out to take on the quests. There are a number of different locations in this game that needs to be explored. There is ‘Gendys’ which has plains, ‘Gromiz has caves, ‘Mantara’ has a flying city and more locations which are very different from each other. When we think of a flying city we think of that planet from Metroid prime 3 corruption. 

The fight system is like final fantasy  13 lightning returns except no paradigm shifts. It’s similar as in you can attack whenever but so can your enemy. It’s up to reflexes and timing. Know when to attack and knowing when to be defensive. You can call on your team mates to replace the lead fighter at anytime. We hope this means that there are Shi element match ups. For example a water user would have the advantage over fire users. So the player would have to switch it up against certain enemies. Well we hope that system is also included as it adds another layer to combat. There are abilities which will heal you and while there are others which will temporarily boost your stats during the battle. All the more reasons to find those parchments as those attacks, physical and magical, come from them. The more you find, the more powerful you potentially can become. There is also special parchments called hyper parchments which allow you to learn ultimate attacks. Very cool indeed.

What’s probably most interesting is that this game was originally a manga. The little secret is that within the manga contains some hidden quests that you must read to find. So get reading if you want to get everything out of the game. Also just in case it wasn’t obvious to you the manga also contains extra information about the story, the characters, the Shiness universe and more. Shiness: the lightning kingdom is quite the world indeed.

The graphics are nice and the environments are well designed and the music was excellently composed (of what we have heard). Overall It’s clear that a lot of work has gone into this game and it does look like a very large one at that. Fun? We believe so. The developers ‘Enigami’ have done a excellent job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an eye on this game and see what becomes of it with the gaming community. Whether you think about this game or not is not as important as thinking about whether… you have done the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Halo Wars 2. Leader powers strategies

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Halo Wars 2 is home to some big and powerful wars. Players meet on the battlefield and explosions take are happening everywhere. If you plan to get in a match you must come with strategies. Don’t just build anything and everything. Like we said before, pretty much one of the big things that makes all the difference in a match is the character leaders. Character leaders have leader powers. The leader powers can flip the match in your favour. Leader powers can also just seal your opponents fate in that match.

X35 Earthwalker has played and defeated many with all the leaders. He has his favourite and least favourite leaders but knows how to use them all. He will share some of what he knows so take a look and enjoy.

“Atriox at first I wasn’t sure how to use him. His strength does lie in expansion but his bigger strength is in his leader powers to make his armies invulnerable. This is a game changer for sure. As you build your armies you must have ‘Atriox’s bulwark’ and ‘Unbreakable’. These two will guarantee you victory any battle and possibly the match. When your army collides with the enemies fight them for a while and stay as close as possible. Then when some units are weak or about to lose some, activate Unbreakable. Your opponent will normally retreat, so chase them and keep up the damage with no fear as you can’t take damage. After they have lost many units get ready for them to use a leader power to counter. If it’s anything but Forge’s scatter bomb, then activate Atriox’s bulwark to heal your weak units and negate all damage from that leader ability. I have made opponents resign after seeing this knowing that my army is still strong, blocked everything they sent at me while still dishing out damage. Give this a try.”

“Captain Cutter should be straight forward that his strength lies in his orbital leader powers. No infantry is stronger that Odsts. This means you have to get as much as possible. Do this by using ‘ODST drop’ which gives you 3 squads of ODSTs. The ‘Cyclops Drop’ is powerful as it drops in a high veterancy Cyclops meaning it’s health and damage is off the charts. Keep dropping those guys in. The last orbital leader power and the strongest is ‘ODST Assault group’. This calls in a wolverine, some ODSTs and even a scorpion tank. Before you battle the enemy make sure to have these leader powers ready for use. This way you can replace all destroyed units making it like you never lost anything in the first place and better, you replace them with stronger units of high veterancy. This discourages the enemy. Lastly notice that any enemy unit that has a ODST droped on them, get stunned. Use that to your advantage.”

“Decimus is terrifying when used correctly. With Decimus your units will always have the advantage. ‘Vortex lightning’ should be used at the start of a battle. This way your enemies units will be taking damage, have reduced defense making them easier to kill and get stunned, making them a sitting duck. So now you have the initial advantage. Also use ‘Siphon’ (upgrade it) on the units at the front of the battle so that they become harder to kill and last longer. Now they gain health as they damage the enemy. Combine this with the two passive leader powers: ‘Boundless Siphon’ and ‘Boundless Rage’ and the match is pretty much yours. They grant your units permanent siphon and increased damage and speed. It’s like super siphoning. My armies like this have taken down a army, then a scarab, then the base in one match before. In another match I have taken on two armies at the same time with my own. It was a hard battle though. Decimus is not to be messed with. Weaken your enemies then buff your own.”

“Isabel is at first what I considered very weak. After some training I learnt a few things. She ain’t so weak after all. Her MAC Blast is amazing. What sets it apart from the others is that her’s is almost instant. They shouldn’t bother show the cross-hair on the ground for the enemy as you can never evade it in time. It’s that fast. It’s fast and yet so strong. A upgraded Mac Blast will destroy everything. I once got hit by a max level MAC Blast and had to do a 180 and retreat… Then later came back and destroyed them (well they started it). Spend some time in the match countering your opponents infantry. They will then give up infantry and go vehicles and air, which is what you want. Wait until they are quite near their base. Push up and fight. Wait for their army to group up and then hit them with ‘Ghost in a machine’, which grants you temporary control over their mechanical units. Use their units to directly attack the base and leave the turrets alive to damage units you have controlled. Your army supports the controlled army and that base will go boom. With Isabel, timing is everything.”

“Anders probably one of, if not, the most difficult to handle because her leader powers make things at times unfair. We won’t talk about the ‘Protector Sentinels’ as i’m sure we all know about them. Get some kodiaks and have them spread out a bit around the map on your side for defense. Combine this with ‘Sentinel beacon’ which means every shot from the kodiaks and siege turret produces aggressor sentinels which attack everything. This makes infantry useless against you. Literally a few kodiaks on guard duty with this leader power can be unfair. Drop ‘Sentinel Network’ right at their base to keep causing damage to everything they build and their base as well. It stays for a very long time making it pretty much the best harass tool. The ‘Retriever Sentinel’ is best used to throw your enemy of. Force your enemy to focus on countering your infantry and vehicle, then when they have many things that don’t do so well against air just drop your Retriever Sentinel in and let it have it’s way with the enemy troops. It’s too strong for them to start effectively counter. With Anders you can make your enemies afraid to do certain things.

“Ship Master is almost a troll with his leader powers. Basically you can control the map and mess with your enemy. Plant as many scout mines as you can throughout the match. Scout mines provide you with sight where that bomb is. It’s like many eyes around the map. Also Scout mines do a ton of damage, so no one will want to stand on them. Plant them near power nodes. Use ‘Spirit Support’rt’ to fill your army with high veterancy hunters, elite rangers and engineers. You should also call it in during a battle to replace your dead units and get extra damage as the spirit stays around to fire at the enemy for a while. Once you have a large army use ‘Tactical gateway’. Tactical gateway is one of those leader powers that is pure strategy. Create one gate right behind an enemy base and lead your army through the other to get there and when you need to leave hop right through. Be aware though that your enemy can go through your gate. Use Displacement properly. Many don’t know how to use this leader power. Most use it to send enemy units away just for them to soon come back. Use it instead to send enemy units to you. More than once I have sent a large group of enemy air units straight to my group of reavers who tore them apart. When you are destroying the enemies army and tries to escape, use Displacement to bring them back, so you can finish them of. Ship master requires a lot of skill to use as he has very little direct damage abilities.”

“Forge is all about the vehicles. He can’t do much with infantry so air and vehicles is how he rolls. You need to have grizzlies. Very strong tanks that do great damage. When in a battle wait for when you know you will lose some units. Then use ‘Combat salvage’ to easily get back the units you lose (the first 8). This allows him to keep the vehicles coming. Vehicles, even against their counters still are pretty strong so just because they have some cyclops doesn’t mean they will get destroyed just like that, especially not grizzlies. Use ‘Grizzly Battalion’ to replace fallen units with more grizzlies. Do not rely on ‘Scatter Bomb’ as how you would rely on eradication. It does low damage and is so easy to evade. Only use it to scare away your enemies to create breathing space or if the enemy is trapped behind a base and you have them cornered as that’s when the full might of Scatter Bomb takes place.”

“Kinsano is who I know least about as I don’t have her. From what I have seen though her leader powers come back really quickly and ‘Inferno’ is incredibly dangerous. Just launch that on a base and everything get real weak. Launch that on a enemy army and watch them melt away really fast. Her inferno is her trump card. ‘Hell Charge’ should be used after you mingled your army with the enemies so that when yours die they explode damaging as many of theirs as possible. Have multiple bases and mini bases around to make ‘Red line’ effective. All newly spawned units of yours will be boosted. So have units come out from all of them to overwhelm your opponents with boosted units constantly. That’s all I will say concerning her.”

That’s a lot to take in. Go into skirmish and try out some of these strategies or tune them to your style. Either make sure to do the ‘Earth Walk!’