Rockstar Games' highly anticipated sequel to Red Dead Redemption has released a glorious new trailer to remind us that 2018 can't come fast enough.
In this new trailer we get a little bit of the story- it follows the trail of outlaw Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang as they're pursued across the American heartland. It looks like there'll be plenty of fighting and stealing along the way. Red Dead Redemption 2 seems to improve upon the last installment in every possible facet. Better graphics, a bigger world, and presumably another epic western tale of blood and glory.
We'll need to ready our rifles and revolvers in preparation for this wonderful prequel.
Red Dead Redemption is set to arrive in spring 2018 on PS4 and XBox One.
I was a huge fan of Slaughter, it's a tremendous 3rd person shooter game with a ton of action, humor, and fun all crammed onto Android devices. Then I found out there was a sequel on the way and hyped it over on Droidgamers.
I've been eagerly awaiting more news of how far along the game has been and what the status might currently be. Recently creator/developer Ray "Venomized Art" Spark has mentioned the game's release is "just around the corner," with no specific date given. Though it should be noted that it was sitting at around 60% complete as of a month ago, and as of 20 minutes ago, he released a teaser video with the comment that it is, "Almost finished."
I can only tell readers to watch the videos and go check out the first game to get a feel for it- this is one that I highly recommend, as I said before, "Slaughter is a genuine treat for anyone that likes short and sweet 3rd person shooter games. It's has good controls, lots of shooting, humor, and a lot of replayability." Though I should note that there ARE sound effects, but they aren't in the trailer- here's a trailer/gameplay of the first showing them, so please don't be offput by not hearing anything in these teasers.
Slaughter 2 puts players in the shoes of a Special Forces soldier (some of whom shot at Russel, the protagonist of the first game), and will cross over with the first game at some point. This game should reveal the secrets of the first's captured city, and the developer has said he hopes this one will be about twice the length in terms of gameplay.
In previous contact with the developer he's stated the game contains better graphics, animations, new weapons and enemies, as well as including a lot more trivia, texts, and secrets.
The first Slaughter is available for .99 on Google Play
Fans have been clamoring for news of the beloved Gearbox franchise Borderlands for another installment since the Pre-Sequel hit systems in late 2014. There was the cancelled mobile MMORPG Borderlands Online that looked great, and then we got a tidbit of hope when Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford said at PAX East 2016 that, "Obviously, there is going to be another Borderlands."
Now, after the lackluster Battleborn, Pitchford came out and stated that Gearbox has 90% of their studio's productivity focused on, "Working on the thing I think most of you guys want us to be working on," heavily insinuating the singular game fans are looking forward to- Borderlands 3, or more likely Borderworlds- a more fitting title after the finale of Borderlands 2. Many of us are extremely hyped as Gearbox's last game hasn't been nearly as captivating, and they could really use a blockbuster to get fans back.
While he didn't expressly state the name of the game, as Gearbox is now a publisher and can't officially announce a game until they are formally announced, it was a definite teaser- as some of the tech demo they showed at GDC 2017 featured a very distinct art style (see video above).
All else that is known is that Battleborn's Art Director Scott Kester is serving in the same role on Borderlands 3, and the original Borderlands' writer Mikey Neumann, will be writing it again.
As a long time fan of Sega, from their great system Genesis to their amazing game series' like Streets of Rage, I was truly excited to see they were doing what I complained Nintendo should've done years ago- port their games to the mobile market via iOS and Android. So far, Sega's ports have brought us classic games such as Altered Beast, Ristar, Kid Chameleon, and Phantasy Star 2, and now, they've brought the fantasy arcade turned Genesis beat 'em up Golden Axe to the Sega Forever lineup.
Players can once again take on the role of a Dwarf, Barbarian, or Amazon Warrior to battle the dreaded Death Adder for the legendary Golden Axe to restore peace to the land of Yuria. Slay enemies, ride beasts, and cast spells all along the journey to take back the ravaged kingdom!
Starting with the good, the Sega Forever titles get some upgrades from the old version. There's a choice in graphics, either the original or new smooth versions, there's also a slightly easier mode, leaderboards, and a new duel mode where players can face off wave after wave of enemies. They've also stated that there is a, "Multiplayer experience coming soon."
Now, sadly, the bad part. As with all the other Sega Forever games (the exception being Phantasy Star 2- it doesn't require the quick responses of the other games), Golden Axe is another great old school gaming experience once again marred by awful controls. I noticed numerous times where my character wouldn't respond to inputs, or the controls were off just enough to be frustrating- like trying to make a jump across a gap and instead falling to your death, and I'm not fully positive on this, but I believe some enemy hit boxes were altered, because there's a bunch of times where I'd swing directly through enemies and they'd remain untouched.
It's also unbelievably irritating to get caught in stun-locked to death sandwiched between enemies because the controls lag or unresponsive d-pad inputs leave you standing still. The game was originally designed as a quarter-muncher arcade meant to siphon peoples' pockets of coins to make money, and the irksome unfairness of the arcade difficulty is greatly exacerbated by the d-pad input problems.
In reality, a small patch could easily fix this. It's the biggest issue with the wonderful games they've been putting out, and if Sega wants to start making money off of these they need to specifically fix the controls. They've begun a trend that retro gamers want, and have started down the right path, they just need to hone it in and really make these games shine.
Despite its flaws, Golden Axe is still a good addition to the growing Sega Forever library with its extras and the promise of an online co-op on the way we can hopefully look forward to fixes yet to come. I honestly hope they do fix the consistent control problems, because Sega has a monstrous library of tremendous games worth replaying, or bringing to a completely new audience, and this is the singular stumbling block in the way.
Golden Axe via the App Store and Google Play. It's free to play with adds, but has a $1.99 IAP that removes adds and allows for an