Category: GameClub

GAME CLUB PLAYS: ALIEN: ISOLATION

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Hello, Internet and welcome to our next round of Game Club. I’m TruLegendKiller, and for this round of Game Club we will be playing through Alien: Isolation. I was hoping this would have fallen into October but it is what it is. Released in October of 2014 to, largely, high reviews. Classified as an action-adventure game, make no mistake, this is a survival horror. And one at its finest. Developed by Creative Assembly (the minds behind the Total War series and the upcoming Halo Wars 2) the game is based on the Alien science fiction horror film from Ridley Scott. By based, I mean a direct sequel to the first film. This is no James Cameron science fiction action film. The game takes it back to the series roots of horror. In other words, it is you, and a monster, and you are struggling to survive. And because of this reason, this is why we are playing this game.

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I have been an Alien fan for many years. Equally, I have been a horror fan as well. Most horror games have little to no effect on me. Games like Five Nights At Freddy’s or Outlast hold little interest to me. Those games throw jump scares and think it makes it amazing horror. In my opinion they do not. What makes good horror is when it is natural. When no matter what you do, be it have weapons or reach a save point, you can still lose. That is what makes this game so amazing. The Xenomorph’s AI is smart, it learns, it predicts, it adapts. In games like Outlast you can hide in a locker and the AI will almost never find you. Here… Well, never think you are safe. Oh, you found a check point? The Xenomorph will kill you as you are trying to save.

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Set in the year 1237, 15 years after the events of the first film. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter to the missing Ellen Ripley. Approached by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation with the promise of maybe finding her mother. After the flight recorder of the Nostromo was located, she is tasked with recovering it from a space station. This is where the nightmare begins. This is where your nightmare begins.

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This is a long game and will, likely, take several episodes of Game Club to get through. There are 19 main story missions. As such, try to play up to mission 7 (Seegson Synthetics). Good luck, have fun, and get good.

Until next time.

Stay Geeky Faithful Readers. 

Game Club Plays: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

Hey everyone, Scrooloose here again with another great pick for the Twinstiq Game Club. This week it's going to be The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

This is a mystery narrative title with some kind of noir elements and plenty of puzzle solving that was released in 2014. That was a mouth full I know. Ethan Carter was originally rendered in Unreal Engine 3 and is still one of most highly detailed and aesthetically beautiful games out there to date. In 2015 there was a free redux version released that used the more powerful Unreal Engine 4 and the difference is noticeable not only visibly, but also in terms of performance and various forms of refinement. Nowadays there's even a VR version of the game released as DLC. Ethan Carter is available for PC through Steam and GoG as well as for PS4 so you'll have a couple of options for playing. Sadly there is no Mac port.

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As said above this is a narrative title set in the first person where the player takes the role of Paul Prospero, a detective tasked to find out what happened in the game's setting, Red Creek Valley. Pretty simple in its execution The Vanishing of Ethan Carter says from the beginning that it will not hold your hand. That means a few things: Firstly, there's no real tutorial, suck it up and figure it out. Secondly, there are no forced story elements so you as the player are allowed to go as deep or as shallow in the game play as you like. Thirdly, there are no real hints aside from the clues that Paul will find via exploration.

I personally really love this game and it's worth the full price of admission. Beautiful environments, minimal loading screens, lots of exploration and puzzle solving and a pretty well told story make this one my pick for this Game Club round. It's also a relatively short game, I spent about five hours on my first play through. We at the Game Club hope you'll join us on our journey to solve The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

System Requirements for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter are as follows:

MINIMUM:

    • OS: Windows 64-bit
    • Processor: Intel Core2 Duo or equivalent AMD
    • Memory: 6 GB RAM
    • Graphics: DirectX11 compliant card with 1GB of VRAM
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Storage: 9 GB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX9c compliant

Twinstiq Gameclub Plays: Beneath A Steel Sky

Welcome, everyone to another edition of game club.  Game club is not at all like Fight Club.  We absolutely encourage you to talk about it.

As ever, we go in rounds and for this particular round, I’ve picked the stellar adventure game Beneath A Steel Sky.

Read on past the break to find out how this is going to work and what you need to do to get the game. Read more

Twinstiq Game Club Plays: Mark of the Ninja

What's up everyone? Welcome to another Twinstiq Game Club, I'm Scrooloose and this week we'll be playing my pick: Mark of the Ninja. title_2_to_1

This is an action adventure, stealth title where the player is put into the role of a ninja that has been thrust into a conflict of ancient tradition and modern day technology. Mark of the Ninja focuses on patience, stealth and deliberate action to complete the challenges it presents players with.

All in all this title has about 10 hours of play time to enjoy with some puzzle solving, player character development, and lots of ways to complete its many levels. This is a really great, fun to play 2d side scroller adventure game that will test your thumbs abilities to press buttons in a timely fashion. I enjoyed the crap out of it myself and I hope you'll all join us in playing so you can experience this one for yourselves.

  • I recommend playing with a controller, but honestly mouse and keyboard works just fine.
  • We're only playing through level 5, The Fall of the Hessian Tower.
  • This will be the standard version of the game (Not the special edition)
  • Mark of the Ninja is $15 on Steam and GoG. It's also available for Xbox 360.

System requirements for Mark of the Ninja are as follows:

Windows

MINIMUM:

    • OS:Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP2, Windows 7 SP1
    • Processor:AMD Phenom 9750 or Pentium D 800+
    • Memory:2 GB RAM
    • Graphics:NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800 GT or ATI Radeon™ HD 3000+ or better
    • DirectX®:9.0c
    • Hard Drive:2.5 GB HD space
    • Sound:100% DirectX9.0c compatible sound card and drivers

RECOMMENDED:

    • OS:Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP2, Windows 7 SP1
    • Processor:Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
    • Memory:2 GB RAM
    • Graphics:NVIDIA® 9600GT or ATI Radeon™ HD 5000+ or better
    • DirectX®:9.0c
    • Hard Drive:2.5 GB HD space
    • Sound:100% DirectX9.0c compatible sound card and drivers

Mac

MINIMUM :

    • OS: OS X 10.7 Lion or later
    • Processor: 2.4 GHz
    • Memory: 2 GB
    • Hard Drive:2.5 GB HD space
    • Video Card: 512 MB VRAM, NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800 GT or ATI Radeon™ HD 3000+ or better

SteamOS / Linux

MINIMUM :

    • Processor: 2.4 GHz
    • Memory: 2 GB
    • Hard Drive:2.5 GB HD space
    • Video Card: 512 MB VRAM, NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800 GT or ATI Radeon™ HD 3000+ or better

Twinstiq Game Club Plays: Bothers – A Tale of Two Sons

Welcome to Twinstiq's Game club, where we each nominate a game and then - as a team - play the game to completion, talking about it in a little weekly podcast on a Sunday.

Right now, we are playing Bothers - A Tale of Two Sons.

If you want to play along with us, we encourage you to do so! This game will only be played this week since it's so short. If you want to to join our discussion of the game, we will be talking about it on September 18th at 12:00pm PST.

First, you'll need to buy the game. Either from your local retailer or through digital Download on PSN, Xbox Live, or Steam. The game will run you $14.99 USD.

IMPORTANT: This game MUST be played with a controller that features TWO Analogue sticks.

Sorry Mouse lovers there is just no getting around this one, but I promise you its still worth your time.

If you want to interact with us on Steam, you can find the Game Club Curation Page here.

And the actual Twinstiq Game Club Group page here.

Again we will be discussion the game on Google Hangouts on August 14th at 12:00pm PST, if joining said discussion interests you please DM @Yoda0VGs on Twitter or email me.

Twinstiq Game Club Plays: Hammerfight

Welcome back to the Twinstiq Game Club where the first rule of Game Club is to always talk about Game Club. I'm Scrooloose and this week we rolled for my nomination and the crew will be playing: Hammerfight.

This is a 2D physics based title set in a fantasy world where the player takes the role of a "rider", an operator of a flying machine who happens to belong to a long line of warriors in a tribe called the Gaiar. Various sects and tribes inhabit the world of floating islands and eventually the player is captured by a rival and forced into slavery. Hammerfight's story is linear and fairly short at only around four hours but there are several modes that will unlock during your play through to increase your play time.

Flying Machines and Weapons

Players will use a flying machine that can mount various melee weapons to use in combat ranging from a simple stone mace on a chain to swords, axes and even whip chains. All controls are made using your mouse, so make sure your DPI is as high as it can be since the faster you sweep your mouse the harder your machine will swing that weapon.hammerfight

As you play you'll gain currency to allow the purchase of new weapons and armor that can be combined to make a pretty imposing flying machine. You'll will also earn glory which will evolve the look of the craft and gain player titles.

Hammerfight does have multiplayer via multiple mouse support on a single screen. I've never tried it since it honestly sounds pretty inconvenient but it's available.

Story

The story itself is actually pretty nice if a bit predictable and literally translated, but it'll feel complete when all is said and done. As I mentioned above the story mode will take about four hours if everything goes smooth for you. Stages are very short but often times very challenging, expect to die over and over. As you play you'll unlock an Arena mode where you can battle multiple NPCs as long as you like earning money and glory. You'll also unlock the Hall mode. This is where you'll purchase and practice with them, once purchased they're always available in the hall should you wish to try different combinations. There's also a Hammerball mode. A sort of sport where the player uses a hammer to bat a ball back and forth on the screen against NPCs for a score and lots of money.

If You Plan To Join Us

Alright guys that's what we're playing this time around and we hope you'll join us. I'll list some items below explaining our agenda and what to expect.

  • We'll be playing through up to chapter 3 in the first week. Then finishing the game the next week.
  • Try lots of weapon combinations. There are a surprising amount of ways to combine different weapon types and various armors. You're sure to find one that fits your play style.
  • Hammerfight is fun but don't expect AAA polish. For the most part this game will play smoothly on any machine. Make sure your mouse DPI is as high as it can get to make your experience better. The screen will get pretty chaotic and make it difficult to track your character amidst the action, this can be frustrating. The game menu will help calibrate your mouse but is otherwise very limited.
  • Pick it up from Steam HERE. Hammerfight is not available from GoG.
  • Finally, enjoy your play through and keep an eye out for updates on the Twinstiq Game Club via You Tube and right here on the Twinstiq website itself.

System Specs For Hammerfight Are As Follows:

Windows:

  • OS: Windows 98SE / ME / XP / Vista
  • Processor: Athlon / Pentium III 2 GHz
  • Memory: 256 Mb
  • Graphics: DirectX 8.0 compatible with 64 Mb VRAM
  • DirectX®: 8.0
  • Hard Drive: 150 Mb
  • Sound: DirectX 8.0 compatible

Mac:

  • OS: Mac OS X 10.5 or later
  • Processor: Intel (32 or 64 bit)
  • Memory: 256 Mb
  • Graphics: Any GPU supported by Mac OS X
  • Hard Drive: 150 Mb
  • Sound: Any hardware supported by Mac OS X

SteamOS Linux:

  • OS: Compatible with Ubuntu 11.04
  • Processor: x86 or amd64 2GHz
  • Memory: 256 Mb
  • Graphics: Any reasonable GPU supported
  • Hard Drive: 150 Mb
  • Sound: Any reasonable hardware supported