April was a crazy month for Warp Zoned! We went to PAX East and the East Coast Game Conference, played a ton of games, and caught up on our backlogs. Read on to find out all the games we played last month!
John Scalzo
Editor-In-Chief
Take me out to the ballgame… take me out to the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and Crackerjack… I don’t care if I ever get back. So let’s root root root for R.B.I. Baseball 14… the first downloadable game from MLB Advanced Media. R.B.I. Baseball 14 is the return of the classic baseball sim that you probably played a lot of in the 80s. It’s an enjoyable download, but the game is so beholden to the 80s style that you’ll find yourself wondering if your copy of Bases Loaded still works. For the record, it does, and it’s still great.
After a few rounds of R.B.I. Baseball 14, I jetted off to Boston for the annual PAX East convention. I spent most of my time on the show floor with Turtle Rock’s Evolve, and I’m eagerly awaiting its Fall release. I also took Transistor and Wolfenstein: The New Order for a spin, and the demos procured both games a spot on my list of most anticipated May releases. With more indie games on the show floor than ever before, I also put a ton of time into Hyper Light Drifter (an awesome Zelda-like), Delver’s Drop (another awesome Zelda-like), Max Gentlemen (1800s hat stacking at its finest), Tumblestone (a great multiplayer puzzler), Tetropolis (a puzzle platformer with Tetris pieces, can you believe it?), and We Are Doomed (if you love twin-stick shooters, you’ll love We Are Doomed).
Finally, I found a new iOS time-waster and I am just loving it. Impossible Road is a minimalist endless runner that puts players in control of a ball hurtling down a procedurally-generated roller coaster (with no rails) that is forever on a downward slope. It’s like Rainbow Road on steroids, and it is a fantastic mobile game to play in short bursts (that quickly turn into long stretches).
Nicole Kline
Senior Editor
I played so many games in April I can hardly keep track of them all! I played Fez (and 100%-ed it) again, this time on the Vita, which was magical. I also played all of InFamous: Second Son on good, and then started it up again on evil. It’s addictive!! There was a ton of TowerFall: Ascension happening, as well as some Nidhogg, and, of course, lots of 2048 and Doge 2048.
I started up Phoenix Wright: And Justice for All on my DS, and got back into Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, which I’m determined to beat. I wasn’t crazy about Mercenary Kings but took it for a spin anyway. I played Monument Valley from start to finish in one sitting, which inspired me to finally buy Where Is My Heart?, which I also played all the way through (though definitely not in one sitting!).
At PAX East, I played so much: A.N.N.E., Brawlhalla, Broforce, Catlateral Damage, Duet, Hyper Light Drifter, Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake, Oblitus, Rats! Time Is Running Out, Secret Ponchos, SlashDash, Soda Drinker Pro, Tetropolis, and, of course, We Are Doomed.
And at the East Coast Game Conference, I finally played the latest demo for Mark of the Old Ones, which is currently on Kickstarter (and was mentioned by Andrew Rainnie in his latest Kickstart This!). This was an amazing gaming month for me!
Andrew Rainnie
UK Correspondent
April was a bit of an Ubisoft double for me, having finished the highly enjoyable Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist on the Wii U, only to jump right into Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which is the most engrossing game in the series yet. Not only is the gameplay great, but the intrigue of what is happening in the present-day sections, running parallel to Edward’s story, really pushes the game forward.
I have also been enjoying the hell out of Bouncy Bit, a simple yet addictive mobile game that has replaced Flappy Bird as my toilet game of choice.
Mike Ryan
Staff Writer
I found most of my April dedicated to playing more Rayman Legends – I just can’t get enough of the game (I even reviewed it). Also, being the start of baseball season, I purchased a couple of the minigames for Nintendo’s Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball. For about $2.00 a pop, you certainly get a lot of mileage out of them. And what would this time of year be without a little spring cleaning? After a few months of abandonment, I got back into Animal Crossing New Leaf. I had a lot of cockroaches to step on and a lot of weeds to pull, but I’m glad to be back.
