Player Preview - Tinertia

Title: Tinertia
Developer: Candescent Games & Section Studios
Release Date: 3/Sept/2015

Official Site: http://bit.ly/1KP49zp
Steam Page: http://bit.ly/1JGVlcX

 

Hey what’s up, Serpentine here taking a look at the plat former, Tinertia, the first game developed by Candescent Games with some outsourced help from Section Studios. After crash landing on an unknown planet you will have to make your way through various different environments using nothing else but your rocket launcher and boost pack.

The key feature of Tinertia is that it’s a platforming game without a jump button or at least a traditional way to jump. Instead you will have to take advantage of your rocket launcher to rocket jump over obstacles and up the sides of walls. It is a little un-natural at first as you have to aim the rocket in the opposite direction you want to jump easily having you getting your directions confused during some of the faster paced sections but after playing it for a little while you will become accustomed to it. Speaking of fast, you can move extremely fast while chaining rocket jumps to the point where you can jump skip quite a few platforms if done right. You can also give yourself a little bit of directional boost that you can use only once while in the air that will give you just a little bit more out of your jump. Later on in the game this boost can also be used to time certain elements better for instance these traps, they activate either from a rocket hitting them or from you falling into them. Obviously you want the rocket to activate the trap but without using the boost you may fall into the trap with it, using the boost gives you that couple of seconds to allow the trap to close without you in it. The only way to regen your boost is by landing on a platform for a couple of seconds so again during some of the faster levels of the game you will have to use it sparingly as there may be a jump that requires the boost or you may just end up screwing up a jump, hitting the boost button and have nothing happen while you fall to your death.

Each level of the game will have both a rocket jump par and a time to beat to challenge yourself with if you’re up for it but its probably best not to aim for these on your first run, more of a challenge that you come back to later on. A lot of the rocket jump pars won’t allow for the extreme momentum rocket jump chains that you can do and is an alternative method of playing the game with precision as opposed to pure speed. As with most games the difficulty in the first couple of levels is rather easy however while you’re new to the rocket jumping mechanics even these early levels are somewhat difficult for your first time through. Coming back to these earlier levels and completing them for speed runs however will be much easier. Each couple of levels will introduce new mechanics to work with like 1 hit plat formers that will crumble under you when shot or lasers that turn deadly when activated. All these new mechanics culminate in the last couple of levels in the stage just before the stages boss fight.

The boss fights in Tinertia, at least for the first few stages, are time based with something chasing you, attempting to kill you weather that be rising sewage water or a robots hand with chainsaw fingers. There is usually another mechanic hidden in these fights too but I won’t spoil any of that for those that end up picking up the game. It will be trial and error for a while before you learn the right path and what angle to rocket jump at for each section, luckily the game offers an extremely fast reset so there is no waiting around for your next attempt on the boss or any other level for that matter.

Other features of the game include a speed run mode that allows you to play through a whole stage uninterrupted, so instead of receiving a time for each level at the end of the level you now only receive a time after you defeat the stages boss, if you die during a run you will still be respawned at the current levels checkpoint so you won’t have to do the whole stage again. Once you complete a run your time will be posted on the leader boards with a worldwide leader board and a friends list leader board for a bit of friendly competition. Finally there is a boss rush mode that allows you to take on all the bosses in the game 1 after the other. I do suggest playing the game with a controller as the game isn’t really designed for mouse and keyboard requiring directional inputs for some of the mechanics, feeling really odd when trying to do that with the wasd keys.

Altogether Tinertia is the kind of plat former that requires precise movements and speed rather than puzzles to solve or enemies to defeat. It is definitely an ideal game for any speed runners out there and is actually quite similar in difficulty with simplistic mechanics as Super Meat Boy. If you enjoy the challenge associated with games like Super Meat Boy where you have to be almost pixel perfect while still moving very quickly through the levels then Tinertia is definitely a game to check out.

Anyway, that’s been my player preview for Tinertia. The game officially released on the 3^rd of September and is available on Steam for $12 for the next week before going back to $15 or your regional equivalent. The game will also be releasing on Playstation 4, Xbox One, Mac and Linux alongside the PC. If you want to find out more about the game check out the links above. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you guys next time.

Player Preview - Kyn

Title: Kyn

Developer: Tangrin Entertainment

Release Date: 28th of July

Official Site: http://bit.ly/1Dm7ST9

Steam Page:  http://bit.ly/1MGQbkr

Hey what’s up, Serpentine here taking a look at the Action RPG, Kyn, the first full 3D title developed by Tangrin Entertainment, a 2 man development team. Kyn has you playing as two Magni warriors that have just recently acquired their powers after a lengthy ritual underground. The Viking world as they once knew it has changed with once peaceful creatures turning hostile against humans due to an unknown power.

Controlling the individual characters will give you access to their 2 abilities and 1 ultimate. These aren’t tied to the characters and can be swapped with any other ability in the game with 3 distinct categories in Mind, Body and Control. With these 3 categories the game allows for 4 different play style for each of your characters. They can be an archer, a mage, a soldier with a sword and board or finally a berserker with a 2 handed axe. There is one more outlier in the form of an assassin wielding a dagger but during my time with the game I didn’t really find it all that viable. The ultimate abilities you have access to can do a couple of different things depending on which rare stone you pair with it and you will have to pair a stone to be able to use it. Your ultimate will charge differently depending on the stone equipped for instance a life stone requires you heal units to gain charges or for the death stone you have to kill units to gain charges. 

The combat in the game requires a lot of multi-tasking between your units position, abilities, target and you get thrown into it while still completing what could be considered the tutorial area. You can take individual control of each character and you will have to, to be able to use their abilities and move them into the appropriate positions for instance moving your archer away from all the enemies trying to kill you so that your tank can actually tank. Moving your characters as a group adds some features that are a little confusing at first but is actually a great way to organize your squad’s formation. Your squad will keep its spacing between each of the characters when moving the squad as a whole. You can also choose which direction your squad formation is facing by just holding right click and dragging so that the arrows are facing the enemy. This is especially useful for when you come across an unexpected encounter as you will already be prepared for combat and not have to spend the first few second getting your tank up to the front line.

If things do get a little bit too crazy you can enable a slow motion mode to give you some more time to think and manoeuvre through the situation. While its not really needed for the normal difficulty mode, if you’re playing on a higher difficulty this mode will become essential. One of the more impressive features of the game shows-up during the combat with creatures you are attacking actually being crippled by damage. The first stage of damage will have the enemy slowed then they will drop to the ground and start crawling around before you can finally land the finishing blow, something you don’t really see in many games and adds a nice touch of immersion and tactical play of crippling enemies so that they are easier to deal with.

Outside of combat each of your main characters have item slots for armour and weapons. These items can dropped from killing enemies, purchased from a store in towns and also from chests that are scattered around the world sometimes in plain sight, other times hidden in secret areas of the map. These items use the standard coloured rarity system with white being common and purple being rare, the higher the rarity the more additional effects the item will have rather than just plain base stat increases. Comparing the items currently equipped and in your inventory is as easy as mousing over the item, a small stat box for each character will pop-up and tell the stat upgrades and downgrades. You will have to take note of the bonus stats as a 10 damage axe can be better than a 15 damage axe because it has + 5 fire damage and + 5 poison damage or something similar.

Other features of the game include some interesting puzzles to solve, breaking up the gameplay here and there. The puzzles aren’t too hard at least at the beginning of the game and have so far been based around pressure plates activating certain map elements. You can also craft your own weapons and armour from resources gathered while completing missions out in the world as well as buying and selling these items at your home towns shop. Kyn’s music is something else to take note of as it’s fantastic and really adds that kind of almost lord of the rings feel to the game especially when paired with the beautiful environments.

All together Kyn sends you on an epic journey across the world going from luscious green meadows to snowy mountains and large cities under siege all in the search of answers for the sudden aggression from an unknown antagonist. While Kyn does a lot of things right there are some elements of the game that lack that final bit of polish for instance your characters inventory screen is fairly basic visually and there are some difficulties clicking on friendly and hostile units while moving. The base of the game is great it’s just the little things that could have done with a little bit more. If you enjoy Action RPG’s and like a good mystery story wise, Kyn is defiantly worth a look.

Anyway, that’s been my player preview for Kyn. The game officially released on the 28^th of July and is available on numerous online stores including Steam. If you want to find out more about the game check out the links below. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you guys next time.

Player Preview - Brawlhalla

Title: Brawlhalla
Developer: Blue Mammoth Games
Status: Closed Beta

Official Site: http://bit.ly/1HtNIFi
Steam Page: http://bit.ly/1EYf95S

Hey what’s up, Serpentine here taking a look at the 2d fighting game, Brawlhahla, the first game developed by Blue Mammoth Games. Brawlhala is commonly compared to the Nintendo exclusive Super Smash Brothers and there are a bunch of similarities however where super smash opts for craziness with character abilities and items, Brawhala instead focuses more on balance and strategic directional move sets.

The core gameplay is simple enough to understand and get into. You have two different types of attacks, one heavy attack that takes some time to get off and one quick attack. You also have a dodge that makes you untouchable for about half a second and is extremely important to utilise during a fight to dodge heavy attacks that would otherwise deal a ton of damage to you. The depth however comes with the direction that you’re moving as it will change up how you attack with 4 different directional attacks that also take on a new form while you’re in the air. This attack scheme transitions over to the weapons you pick up too. Each character has access to 2 of the 5 total weapons in the game and this is where each characters uniqueness also comes into it. While all the weapons quick attacks remain the same for every character it’s the heavy attacks that make each character unique with different animations and positioning’s.

There are currently 14 different characters available to play all with a unique primary and secondary weapon combination. The characters range from pirates, kings, aliens, ninjas, cowboys and more all done in a great art style that is easy to distinguish one character from the other so you know what abilities to look out for during a match. When the game officially releases there will be a free weekly character rotation requiring to spend the in-game currency to unlock a character forever.

Brawlhala has a couple of items that randomly drop during a match including weapons that drop as a glowing coloured sword. There are 3 other items including a mine that explodes on contact or attaches itself to a surface until someone does come into contact with it. A bomb that explodes on contact causing a bunch of damage. A spiked ball which is used purely as something to throw at your enemies. Finally there is a horn that summons a weapon to your position, flying in from the side of the screen damaging and knocking any enemies it passes by. Again the item selection is perfect for the balance of the game rewarding skill rather than a random lucky item drop like the power hammer in Super Smash brothers. However I wouldn’t mind seeing an arcade muck around game mode where the items do get a bit crazy.

Brawlhala already has a bunch of game modes for both online and offline play including local multiplayer given that every player has a controller or keyboard ofcourse. For online play you can take to the ranked 1v1 mode were you each have 3 lives and the winner moves up the rankings. This mode offers a cool feature with match history shown before you enter the game showing your win loss record against the opponent if you have ever faced off against them before. The other official online mode is free for all mode against 4 players. More game modes and mode customizations can be found in custom matches with 4 alternatives including time and stock based matches and the more unique additions of BrawlBall, an American football style game mode were you try to get touchdowns in your enemies’ base, and Bombsketball, basically basketball only with bombs. All these game modes excluding the ranked 1v1 mode are all available in offline play as well as single player. There is one unique singleplayer mode though in Tournament Mode were you can take on the full lineup of characters from the game in an attempt to get to the finals and win. I will say that the bots are a little on the easy side at the moment especially after playing against other players in the ranked mode, they do provide a good way to learn the game but currently are pretty lousy competition. I did notice that they are only medium difficulty bots so I imagine there is still a hard difficulty AI in the works. Also in the works are 2 new game modes that will increase the maximum player count from 4 to 8 with an 8 player free for all mode and a 4v4 team based mode.

Other features of the game include some customisation options that includes full colour reworks of characters that are freely avaialalbe. On the premium currency side of things you can purchase skins for your character which on average costs around about $6. Weapon skins are also available averaging the $3 mark each. Finally you can also purchase taunts to use during matches, these also average around the $6 mark.  In single player mode you will have access to major and minor relics that can change up your stats in what seems to be a sort of handicap system to get everyone on an even playing field. A playback or replay system is also in development so if you ever want to rewatch one of your matches you can.

Altogether Brawlhala is a highly competitive and enjoyable fighting game that will finally be the PC’s answer to the incredibly popular Nintendo exclusive Super Smash Brothers. With its vast selection of characters and the weapon system it will be hard not to find a character that suits your play style from heavy hitters to quick assassins and everything in-between. If you’re at all interested in Super Smash Brothers or 2D fighters in general, definitely check out Brawlhala.

Anyway, that’s been my player preview for Brawlhala, the game is currently in Closed Beta with no known release date as of yet. If you want to find out more about the game check out the links below. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you guys next time.