Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Top Story
Warpback: What We Played in April 2016
April showers keep us indoor playing games! At least, that’s the excuse I’m giving for all the time we spent gaming last month. We hit up some old games, but also played lots of games that aren’t out yet at the PAX East Expo. Read on to find out what the Warp Zoned crew was busy with this month of April! (more…)
Handicapping the 2016 World Video Game Hall of Fame Finalists
We’re just a few days away from learning which games will be inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame this year. In 2015, Tetris, Super Mario Bros., Pong, Doom, World of Warcraft, and Pac-Man were selected as the inaugural class by the institution’s induction committee. The Hall’s Class of 2016 will be announced on Thursday, May 5, and five or six games are once again expected to rise above the other finalists.
But which of the 15 finalists will be honored this year? Using the Hall’s induction criteria as a guide, I can think we can determine the odds of which games will make it in and which will have to wait until next year. (more…)
Kickstart This! In the Shadows
Welcome to the new and improved Kickstart This!, where our spotlight will only shine on one lucky game project per week (though others might sneak in as a quick shout out). This time, while I could have gone with Clique by Dead Art Games, or The Dolls by Australian outfit Hush Interactive, I was instead swayed by In the Shadows from Colorspace Studios. While the other two games show promise, Colorspace really sold the concept and premise of their game in the trailer video.
Let’s dance with shadows… (more…)
The PAXpocalypse List: The Best of PAX East 2016
Believe it or not, we’re not living in a post-apocalyptic hellscape (depending on your political affiliation, insert your own Trump/Hillary joke here). But you’d never know it if all you had to go by was the 2016 PAX East show floor, which was overrun by dozens of titles that took place after the collapse of society… and a lot of them were pretty good.
But what if some disaster did befall the world and force PAX East attendees to forever wander the halls of the Boston Convention and Exhibition, feasting on whatever mac and cheese bowls or turkey legs they may find? That’s where Warp Zoned’s PAXpocalypse List comes in, because these are the games we’d keep playing if we could never venture outside again… (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Features, Mobile, PC, PS3, PS4, Top Story, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged 20XX, Catlateral Damage, Cuphead, Flinthook, Graceful Explosion Machine, Inversus, Just Shapes and Beats, PAX East 2016, Pit People, Refactor, Streamline, Tooth and Tail, Tumblestone, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Cuphead Hands-On Preview: A Shoot-Shoot-A-Hoot
There was no Cartoon Network when I was a little kid. Instead, a sugary haze of Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and G.I. Joe filtered into my home via regular broadcast channels on Saturday mornings. And after they turned the day over to programming for adults, I’d turn my attention to nearly six hours of non-stop Looney Tunes on TNT.
I loved the Looney Tunes, but occasionally, TNT programmers would slip in an older 20s or 30s short that didn’t have anything to do with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, or Foghorn Leghorn. I never knew what to make of those earlier attempts at animation, but I always felt like there was something unsettling about them. Brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, of Studio MDHR, saw the same sinister edge in these cartoons, and they tapped directly into it for their upcoming side-scrolling shooter, Cuphead. (more…)
Dear Diary: Saturday and Sunday at PAX East 2016 I Played…
Another PAX East has come to an end, but Mike “Gabe” Krahulik, Jerry “Tycho” Holkins, and game developers from around the world will return to Boston next year for more shenanigans. In the meantime, I’ve got an overflowing notebook and thoughts on more than a dozen titles from the final days of the expo. (more…)
Posted in Features, PC, PS4, Retro, Top Story, Xbox One
Tagged 20XX, Cuphead, Flinthook, Just Shapes and Beats, Knee Deep, Mages of Mystralia, Metrico+, PAX East 2016, Perception, Rogue Stormers, Streamline, Tooth and Tail, Umbrella Corps
Dear Diary: Friday at PAX East 2016 I Played…
The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center has opened the doors for PAX East once again. And once that overwhelming feeling went away, I managed to pay a visit to more than a few indie developers on Friday. So here’s a quick look at what I managed to play on the first day of PAX East 2016… (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Features, Mobile, PC, PS3, PS4, Top Story, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Deathstate, Graceful Explosion Machine, Inversus, PAX East 2016, Pit People, Refactor
Salt and Sanctuary Review: Derivative, But Who’s Complaining?
It is often said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. If this is true, the folks at From Software must be fanning themselves like a Victorian lady in search of a fainting couch, because Salt and Sanctuary is an unashamed imitation of Dark Souls. In fact, licensing aside, it essentially is a Souls game. Of course, Salt and Sanctuary is not the first game to copy the formula established by From Software, but where others have become mired in being too much like Dark Souls, Salt and Sanctuary strikes out in new, interesting directions and successfully transposes the Souls style onto a 2D action-platformer. (more…)
Posted in PS4, Reviews, Top Story
Tagged Salt and Sanctuary