Joystiq

RetroBlazer feels like Doom by way of Saturday morning cartoons

S. Prell — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 11:00:00 EST

Amil Parra isn't a big fan of violence. That might sound strange coming from a man designing an homage to '90s sprite-based FPS games like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D, but one look at the game in motion and it becomes obvious that the inspiration Parra draws from those games is the feel, not the aesthetic.

Meet RetroBlazer: a PC game that feels like a 1994 run-and-gun shooter, but looks like something you'd catch between episodes of Biker Mice From Mars and Mighty Ducks (that's the cartoon featuring space-ducks fighting space-dinosaurs by the way, not the live-action film featuring a lawyer fighting to be a better person).

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RetroBlazer feels like Doom by way of Saturday morning cartoons originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 27 Jan 2015 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Check-in, Knock-out: More fun than jumping on hotel beds

S. Prell — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 14:00:00 EST

Checking into a hotel can be stressful. Even if your overnight establishment of choice doesn't lose or otherwise muck up your reservation, what if you don't have a reservation in the first place and there's no vacancy? And then, there are the hotels that force you to do battle with your fellow room-seekers, tossing exploding luggage and tearing the room apart in an effort to make them fall to their death.

What, you've never had that happen? Clearly you haven't played Check-in, Knock-out. But you should.

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Check-in, Knock-out: More fun than jumping on hotel beds originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 25 Jan 2015 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adventures of Pip is modern cute plus classic challenge

S. Prell — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 13:00:00 EST

I'm calling it now: the Kickstarted Adventures of Pip from developer TicToc Games is going to win cutest game of 2015. I don't care that we're not even to the end of January; Pip is so cute that I want him in a kids' TV show. He's so heart-meltingly precious that I want plush figures and a breakfast cereal themed after him.

Pip is so gawl-darned lovable and sweet that it makes me deeply, deeply angry.

The game's charming aesthetic masks a sinister beast. For despite the playful bounce of our square-shaped hero and the bright colors that surround him, this is a world looking to commit straight-up pixelated murder.

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Adventures of Pip is modern cute plus classic challenge originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 25 Jan 2015 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First-person puzzler Magnetic: Cage Closed is like Portal, cubed

S. Prell — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 17:45:00 EST

Guru Games isn't afraid of having their recently-announced game, Magnetic: Cage Closed compared to Portal. In fact, that's where it started: a school project designed as an homage to both Valve's famous, meme-producing first-person puzzler and lesser-known horror/suspense film, Cube.

Magnetic takes place in an alternate history version of the 1960s, where inmates sentenced to death can be sold for scientific testing. Such is your fate, as you are a prisoner charged with testing the D27 Magnetic Propulsion Device - or, in simpler terms, a magnet gun.

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First-person puzzler Magnetic: Cage Closed is like Portal, cubed originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For the '90s Arcade Gamer Soul: Gunsport

Anthony John Agnello — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 15:00:00 EST

Wandering the halls of PAX South, a pattern begins to emerge: the 8-bit style resurgence has well and truly ended. While '80s nostalgia still rumbles throughout the booths of small developers, '90s style is what's playing on the screens. For newer players exhausted of blocky pixels in every other cult hit of the past five years, the chunky, dense neon of this 16/32-bit inspired games will be as welcome and vibrant as they were to players 25 years ago. To players of that era, games like Gunsport feel like home.

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For the '90s Arcade Gamer Soul: Gunsport originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seen@PAX South: PAX Plays Pokemon

S. Prell — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 13:15:00 EST

[You are now watching PAX South Plays Pokemon - Input your commands below]
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Seen@PAX South: PAX Plays Pokemon originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 24 Jan 2015 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breach and Clear: Deadline brings tactical thinking to zombie slaughter

S. Prell — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 17:30:00 EST

A zombie apocalypse is no excuse for sloppy tactics. That's the thinking behind Breach and Clear: Deadline, an undead twist on the top-down strategy genre and offshoot of the iOS/Android game Breach and Clear.

In Deadline, ransacked interiors and mangled streets are home to various forms of infected; parasitic worms capable of "hyper-evolution" have invaded the soft, squishy bodies of the former humans that once lived here.

Okay, so they're not technically undead zombies, but the upside is that Mighty Rabbit is using the hyper-evolving worms as justification for a new campaign, a wide variety of enemies and a fresh gameplay experience.

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Breach and Clear: Deadline brings tactical thinking to zombie slaughter originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 23 Jan 2015 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to make top down horror like Noct scary? Ditch zombies

Anthony John Agnello — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 17:00:00 EST

Noct, a new survival horror shooter by Chris Eskins, shouldn't be scary. Outwardly simplistic, Noct borrows the top down perspective of Devolver label-mate Hotline Miami as well 360-degree style shooting but ditches the color and detail. Dark, drab, and obscure, the black and white action is filtered through the ambient light of satellite night vision. Your blob of a character so easily killed is glimpsed through snaky sharp brambles and wandering down empty streets and detail-less warehouses. Noct should feel isolating but not scary. It's too distant, both in fidelity and in action. Yet it got me to yell, "Nope!" just like its characters do before they're run down by the blurry outline of a giant arachnid or wandering, ravenous, ill-defined bovine beast.

Continue reading How to make top down horror like Noct scary? Ditch zombies

How to make top down horror like Noct scary? Ditch zombies originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 23 Jan 2015 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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