Awesome Indie Games: Papers Please

I think the five dollars I spent last weekend on Papers Please is easily one of the best purchases I've made on Steam. Papers Please puts you in the working role of an immigration inspector working at a border checkpoint to the fictitious country, Arstotzka. You are tasked with inspecting the documents of incoming immigrants and keeping an eye out for forged passports, terrorists, criminals and smugglers. If all the information in the papers of the immigrant match up, you can admit them into your country. If not, they get a big ole' fat denial and in some cases, you can have immigrants arrested. Making mistakes earns you citations and racking up too many and you'll have your pay docked.

Your pay is central to the game. The more immigrants you successfully approve or deny the more money you make, but you only have so much time in a day and if you go too fast, you can miss small discrepancies. At the end of each day, you are shown how much money you made or lost and are allowed to manage your expenses. Your money pays for rent, food, and heat for you and your family. Rent is mandatory but you can decide whether or not to pay for heat and food. Careful though, ignore them and your family members will get sick and you'll need to pay for medicine. I'm sure you can guess what happens if you don't pay for medicine.

It doesn't sound too hard but you realize at the very start of the game you're in for a rough ride. When you arrive to work, you are given very little instruction on how to do your job; likely similar to how lower-class working conditions were in that period. The game definitely makes you feel like a replaceable cog in the machine. When you start to feel like you're getting the hang of it, the game changes things up and adds in new documents to inspect, tools to scan or procedures to use. Things are usually changed day-to-day so you need to remain ever vigilant.

You're also challenged with moral dilemmas like a mother trying to see her son for the first time in 10 years without the right papers or a man trying to escape his war-torn country for safety in yours. I was surprised how my attitude quickly became very selfish. Helping people would directly hurt me and my family and that's what was important to me.  But not all of these encounters are given in complete selflessness, a revolutionary group seeking reform will compensate you for your cooperation in their plans.

Papers Please has 20 different endings, I've only unlocked 5 of them myself. Some are only slightly different while others give you a drastically different ending. You can also unlock an endless mode. In both story and endless modes, the entrants are randomized so you can't retry days and expect the game to follow a script that you can memorize. I definitely recommend Papers Please for any puzzle or simulation enthusiasts but it also makes a fun experience for more casual players.

Alien Isolation Developer Diary: The Stuff of Nightmares

While Sega's Aliens: Colonial Marines game was an utter failure, Alien: Isolation certainly looks like a step in the right direction. Developed by Creative Assembly, the team best known for the Total War games is developing Alien: Isolation to be much more of a survivor-horror adventure experience where players are fighting to survive a single unpredictable Alien.

Players take control of Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda approximately 15 years after the events of Alien. Amanda is searching for information regarding the disappearance of her mother when one of her leads take her to a space station. Unbeknownst to her however, the station has been overrun by a Xenomorph. According to Creative assembly, the Alien cannot be killed and players must use stealth tactics to survive. Weapons in the game are sparse and are only used to fight non-alien enemies.

Alien: Isolation can be compared to games like Amnesia or Outlast where players need to monitor how much noise they make and hide using their surroundings to escape enemies. One significant change which makes the idea of playing Alien: Isolation terrifying is that the Alien A.I. has been programmed to learn from the player and use the senses of sight, smell and sound to hunt down the player. The Alien is also programmed to not follow a predetermined path making it's movements and behaviors unpredictable which will certainly add to the scare factor and give the game some originality on subsequent plays.

I have much higher hopes for Alien: Isolation than I did for Aliens: Colonial Marines. The game is being designed to fit the horror genre more and emulate the look and feel of the original Alien movie with the retro sci-fi technology. I'm a survival-horror junkie and Alien: Isolation looks like it has the potential to be a truly definitive title for the Alien franchise. What do you think? Will Alien: Isolation be a success or is it destined to flop like its predecessors?

My Time with Titanfall

So it's been about a week since Titanfall dropped but I still wanted to share some of my experience with the game here. I hope it can also serve as an opinion from someone not affiliated with any huge media sources.

I've been saying it for a while that Respawn did what Infinity Ward and Treyarch, could not. They took the first-person shooter genre and exciting online-play of games like Call of Duty and made it fun again. The game adds enough new features and uses the maps in very creative ways that allow play to flow so smoothly making the experience of playing Titanfall one of the best and unique online shooter experiences I've ever had. When I first sat down to play the game with my brothers, we traded the controller between matches without moving from the couch for at least seven hours. That's something we haven't done since the first Modern Warfare game and there are very few games, even now, that I could play for seven hours straight.

What makes Titanfall so engaging is the versatility the game offers you. The game takes place in the future and players take control of pilots on the battlefield equipped with what Respawn has termed, 'jump-kits.' These jump-kits allow players to traverse along walls, scale buildings and other structures and attack enemy titans from above. The wall-running mechanic works so well and you feel so cool while doing it. You can shoot and aim while wall-running which takes a little more refinement but wall-running works perfectly for reaching new vantage points, flanking and just getting around the map in general in an effective way. The maps are built for this mechanic and there was never a point where I thought, "damn, I wish there was a wall here." It's strange how easy the wall-running comes. In one map, the first time I played, I just started running and jumping and found myself running along the rooftops of buildings. It comes so naturally and the maps flow in a way that make it so simple and fun.

The maps are also designed large enough to fit the massive titans. Theoretically, there can be 12 titans on the map at a time if every player on each team has earned one but the most titans I recall in a game at one time was 8, still an impressive amount. Titans are earned by players racking up kills; each kill reduces the amount of time before your titan is ready. Playing in the titan is where Titanfall is really able to mix things up. Even as an opposing pilot, you need to think and be more cautious with the giant mechs out on the field. One thing to always keep in mind though is that pilots aren't as under-powered as you might think.

For instance, I jumped out of my titan at one point and took to the rooftops while my titan continued fighting another foe on the ground. While my titan engaged the enemy, I jumped from the roof onto the back of the titan and began blasting into the core dealing some heavy damage. This left the pilot in a bit of a predicament. Eventually my titan and myself would cause enough damage to 'doom' the enemy titan. This gives the pilot a certain amount of time to save his or herself and eject before their titan implodes. He could try to save his titan by getting out and trying to shoot me but my titan would make quick work of him. He could also stay in his titan and cause as much damage to my titan as possible before being finished off. You can usually depend on the titan's A.I. to do what you'd expect it to do as well and any kills it earns while you aren't in it count toward your score.

Engaging titan to titan is also a blast. Equipped with giant guns and rocket launchers, the battles can get really out of hand fast if you're not careful. One ability titans have to counter these deadly weapons is a shield that allows them to block all incoming fire and then launch it back at the enemy titan. It's pretty wild seeing all the bullets, rockets and whatever else accumulate mid-air and then send it back. You can also get in close and personal and start throwing punches. Engage a weakened titan in melee combat and you might perform an 'execution' which allows you to rip the enemy pilot from the cockpit and crush them. when your titan takes to much damage, it goes into a 'doomed' state which gives you a certain amount of time to eject from your cockpit, hundreds of feet into the air. One ability I loved to equip my titan with was the 'nuclear ejection.' Upon eject, your titan's nuclear core would obliterate anything in range making it a good tactic if you're ever swarmed by titans.

Customizable loadouts are available for both pilots and titans and offer a wide range of options. You can create the perfect pilot load-out for turning titans into scrap metal or take a stealthier approach with specific skills related to active camo. Customization feels more key when it comes to the titan however. You can chose from three models. The Atlas is the default model balanced in both armor and damage. It has good mobility and can hold its own in a fight while dealing a fair amount of damage. The Ogre on the other hand has the highest damage output and armor but lacks mobility. But if mobility is what you crave, you can chose the Stryder at the sacrifice of damage and armor. With a slew of weapons and perk-like upgrades you can make a titan perfect for many styles of play.

One of my only gripes with Titanfall is the lack of a single player campaign. The campaign is all played online. There are still cut-scenes, character and a story but all the gameplay is done online. It's interesting but I would have preferred the classic single player campaign, or at least a co-op type of deal. However, in campaign, you can play through as both factions offering different unlocks and story perspectives which is cool. I also realize that this genre appeals more to people that don't normally play a campaign and this may be Respawn's way of 'testing the waters.' This doesn't detract from the great experience that Titanfall offers. I definitely recommend playing Titanfall, especially if you're someone that hates Call of Duty. This is leagues ahead of Call of Duty and I expect it to really turn the tide when it comes to the CoD series. It's still early for Titanfall and the Xbox One but I don't doubt that it will eventually replace CoD and become the go-to shooter for fans of the genre.

Revived by Reboot: Devil May Cry

The Devil May Cry series from Capcom  has had players slaying demons and stringing combos together since 2001. The games follow Dante, a human with demonic powers who makes a living fighting and occasionally saving the world from demons. The games were all well received and the series had quite a following being one of the most popular stylistic action games on shelves. After four entries in the series though, Capcom decided to switch things up, reboot the game and start from scratch. Nobody really saw it coming and fans complained it didn't need a reboot.

As promotional material and trailers became available, fans really began to voice their concern, some threatening to never buy Capcom games ever again. I completely disagree though. The games never seemed to have a solid story nor did they ever continue from game to game. That isn't a bad thing but they just weren't being executed right and they were beginning to feel stale. The gameplay was fun, but that isn't always enough. This reboot really served to revive the Devil May Cry series.

One of the first major changes of the series was to the main character, Dante himself. Dante's long white hair was traded for a modern brunette cut and he was given a more "western" look. Promotions were released early on depicting the younger-looking Dante as a delinquent, punky guy. He definitely has the, I'm too cool for everything look, which I think put a lot of people off initially. Fans of the series were frustrated with the re-imagination of Dante but I honestly can't fathom why. The original Dante looked like some kind of gigolo stripper. Of course, I loved the series when I was younger and I thought Dante was awesome, but compared to the new Dante, the shirtless, leather pants wearing Dante of the original series just seemed silly in retrospect.

New Dante                                Vs.                                         Old Dante        

The redesign of Dante wasn't the only improvement however; it was only one of many. Perhaps my favorite improvement was to the actual story of the game. Instead of featuring some dude who runs a shop called Devil May Cry and contracts himself out as a demon killer, the reboot decided to take a less corny route. The reboot focused on telling the origin story (many reboots do these days) of Dante and begins with him before he even began fighting against the demonic forces. I won't spoil the story here but it does a great job of explaining where Dante's demonic powers emanate from and his motivation for fighting against the demons. It reveals a lot about Dante as a character and his grim past and the war between demons and angels and how mankind fits into the picture. The game also does a great job of creating an engaging story without sacrificing the self-reflexive humor and occasional one-liners of the original series; the only main difference is the voice actors in the reboot and their ability to not make the game sound like a B rated film on the SyFy channel.

The third and arguably greatest improvement the reboot featured was the enhanced combat. Don't get me wrong, the combat in the original games was amazing and the fact that the reboot was able to improve upon that, is phenomenal. Capcom spiced up the combat with new weapons players earn through the course of the game which can be switched on the fly without ever pausing or using a menu. Dante is still armed with his trademark sword Rebellion and trusty pistols, Ebony and Ivory but he can also equip an arsenal worth of other useful weapons.

These new weapons include a scythe that makes juggling multiple enemies at a time a cinch, an ax for obliterating armored foes, a pair of bladed boomerangs for crowd control and some heavy iron fists for pummeling enemies into a pulp. Dante also gains grappling weapons he can use to pull himself toward enemies or pull the enemies toward him for some deadly punishment. These new weapons allow players to create some seriously insane combos and makes the gameplay fun for newcomers as well. They also help create plenty of variety to increase your stylish rank score which earn you more points to spend on new abilities and upgrades. The combos and weapon switching isn't hard at all. You can be very effective without button mashing and without concentrating on any complicated button presses. The combat is very fluid, smooth and you feel like a total badass the entire time.

I know there have been some bad reboots out there but in some cases, I think a reboot can definitely turn things around for a series and reinvigorate the experience of the game. Devil May Cry is only one example and while many fans of the original series condemned the reboot, the game received mostly positive reviews. I'm eager for news concerning the sequel and I hope to see Capcom follow up with more demon slaying action. What do you think? Did this reboot save the series, or should Capcom have stayed with their original formula?

Batman: Arkham Knight Announced with Trailer

Rocksteady has wasted no time in their development of another Arkham title with Batman hitting the streets of Gotham once again to round up the criminals. The trailer lasts an awesome four minutes and  depicts Gotham, overrun with criminals and villains like Two Face and Penguin. The city seems to be in the process of being evacuated as citizens flee in terror. Thomas Wayne, father of Bruce narrates the trailer as Batman jumps into sweet looking new Batmobile and kicks some butt.

The trailer looks great and the game is looking a little different from the previous Arkham titles. Bruce, while still muscular looks a little slimmer. He's not quite as buff and his arms don't look to short for his body. His body looks more realistic and more proportional than it had before. That kind of bothered me in the other games and I thought he always looked a little strange. His suit also looks, Blacker? There's definitely something cooler looking about the suit but I can't quite pinpoint it.

Despite how awesome it looks though, this announcement is also very surprising, especially after Arkham Origins was just released in October. Arkham Knight is already available for pre-order and is currently slated for a October 14th release. That's a pretty fast turn around for a game. I'm wary for what this means for the Arkham series. Arkham Origins was met with generally postive reviews, but many noted the game was more of the same and did little to mix things up.

So what does that mean for Arkham Knight? Is it too soon for another Arkham game, or does it just need to be done right? Will Rocksteady take the advice of the fans and change things up a bit, or should we expect more of the same? And on that note, what do you want from this new entry? What would really get you excited for this game? Speaking of exciting things, I almost forgot to mention, Rocksteady also revealed that sweet new Batmobile is integral to the game and Gotham is being built to accommodate some driving! Yeah, just think about that for a little bit.

Dark Souls II: Strategy Guide Debate

As the release date for Dark Souls II draws closer (March 11) and my anticipation builds, I've been considering whether or not to purchase a strategy guide. When I jumped into the first Dark Souls game last year, I was lucky enough to be able to reference a number of online, user submitted guides whenever I ran into trouble, which was a lot. Finding strategies for bosses, weapon locations, examining character builds, bugs and exploits, and which way to go next where all invaluable pieces of information as I played through the game.

Now with Dark Souls II on the horizon, I have the chance to go in completely cold since it will take quite some time for walkthroughs to make their way onto the internet. I could of course buy the strategy guide, but I'm afraid it would ruin the experience. I could easily use the guide to find out if I'm going the right way, missing a weapon or a secret area or just doing everything wrong. It'd be so convenient, which is part of the problem. It might sound kind of masochistic, but I want this kick to kick my butt. I think that's a good deal of where the fun will emanate from. Having the guide would just give me all the answers, like cheating on a test. I could also resort to purchasing the guide and using it only for emergencies, when I get stuck and I feel completely and utterly hopeless.

That's where I'm at with my internal debate. I'm leaning toward going in completely cold but I don't want the game to frustrate me to the point that I just end up hating it and giving up. What do you think? Does Dark Souls II warrant an occasion to grab the guide or should I go in blind.